Domestic hot water production system in a hospital: Energy audit and evaluation of measures to boost the solar contribution

Hospitals consume large quantities of energy to produce hot water and offset the distribution and recirculation thermal losses. This paper analyses a solar thermal system combined with gas boilers for domestic hot water production in a medium-size hospital. The solar contribution to the total demand (27%) is below design expectations (75%), resulting in significant gas consumption. The energy audit conducted in the first part of the paper highlights the vast thermal loss through poorly insulated pipes as the primary cause of the poor solar fraction. This issue is endemic to hot water-intensive buildings. The second part of the paper addresses the techno-economic evaluation of energy retrofit measures to reach a solar fraction of 60%. The simulation results indicate that cost-optimised solutions generally expand the solar caption area by 43–57% and improve insulations to reduce thermal losses by 70%. Depending on carbon taxes, the cost of hot water production would be 31–41 cent-€/kWh, which represents a 15–45% reduction from the current costs. Under stringent climate policies, installing heat pumps may further enhance economic competitiveness. The indicators and charts developed in this work are helpful decision-making tools concerning the energy refurbishment of solar domestic hot water systems.The authors acknowledge the Universidad de Málaga and “Programa Operativo FEDER Andalucía 2014–2020″ the financial support of the contract UMA18-FEDERJA-247.Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBU

Entrepreneurs and Territorial Diversity: Success and Failure in Andalusia 2007–2015

This study was carried out as part of the research project entitled "Successes and failures in the practice of neo-endogenous rural development in the European Union (1991-2014)" funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness within its Excellence Programme, CSO2017-89657-P.Rural Europe today cannot be understood without considering the impact of the EU’s Liaisons Entre Actions de Developpement de l’Economie Rurale (LEADER) rural development programme. Although in general it has had a positive impact, research has also revealed spatial and social disparities in the distribution of funds. Our primary source was the files for all the LEADER projects processed in Andalusia between 2007 and 2015. In addition to successfully executed projects, we also focused on “unfunded” projects, those in which, although promoters had initiated the application procedure, a grant was never ultimately obtained. Project failure must be studied so as to avoid biased findings. We then classified these projects within the different types of rural area and analysed the behaviour of the different promoters in these areas. Relevant findings include: project success or failure varies according to the different types of rural area, as does the behaviour of the different promoters; the degree of rurality can hinder project success; young and female entrepreneurs were more likely to fail; the type of promoter is strongly influenced by the distance to cities in that companies and Individual Entrepreneurs tend to invest in periurban spaces, while public sector promoters such as Local Councils are more prominent in remote rural areasSpanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness within its Excellence Programme CSO2017-89657-

Comparison between xenogeneic and allogeneic adipose mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of acute cerebral infarct: Proof of concept in rats

Background: Rat adipose tissue-derived-mesenchymal stem cells (rAD-MSCs) have proven to be safe in experimental animal models of stroke. However, in order to use human AD-MSCs (hAD-MSCs) as a treatment for stroke patients, a proof of concept is needed. We analyzed whether the xenogeneic hAD-MSCs were as safe and effective as allogeneic rAD-MSCs in permanent Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion (pMCAO) in rats. Methods: Sprague–Dawley rats were randomly divided into three groups, which were intravenously injected with xenogeneic hAD-MSCs (2 × 106), allogeneic rAD-MSCs (2 × 106) or saline (control) at 30 min after pMCAO. Behavior, cell implantation, lesion size and cell death were evaluated. Brain markers such as GFAP (glial fibrillary acid protein), VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) and SYP (synaptophysin) and tumor formation were analyzed. Results: Compared to controls, recovery was significantly better at 24 h and continued to be so at 14 d after IV administration of either hAD-MSCs or rAD-MSCs. No reduction in lesion size or migration/implantation of cells in the damaged brain were observed in the treatment groups. Nevertheless, cell death was significantly reduced with respect to the control group in both treatment groups. VEGF and SYP levels were significantly higher, while those of GFAP were lower in the treated groups. At three months, there was no tumor formation. Conclusions: hAD-MSCs and rAD-MSCs were safe and without side effects or tumor formation. Both treatment groups showed equal efficacy in terms of functional recovery and decreased ischemic brain damage (cell death and glial scarring) and resulted in higher angiogenesis and synaptogenesis marker levelsThis research was supported by research grants FIS06/0575, FIS09/01606, FIS12/01754 and INVICTUS (RD12/0014/0006) (Spanish Neurovascular Network), Cellerix, and Research Institute Carlos III, Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain

TU Tau B: The Peculiar 'Eclipse' of a possible proto-Barium Giant

TU Tau (= HD 38218 = HIP 27135) is a binary system consisting of a C-N carbon star primary and an A-type secondary. We report on new photometry and spectroscopy which tracked the recent disappearance of the A-star secondary. The dimming of the A-star was gradual and irregular, with one or more brief brightenings, implying the presence of nonhomogeneities in the carbon star outflow. We also present evidence that the A-star is actively accreting s-process enriched material from the carbon star and suggest that it will therefore eventually evolve into a Barium giant. This is an important system as well because the A-type star can serve as a probe of the outer atmosphere of the carbon star.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, a number of amateur observatories made significant contributions to this research. Paper accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa

The rise and fall of the king : the correlation between FO Aquarii's low states and the White Dwarf's Spindown

The intermediate polar FO Aquarii experienced its first-reported low-accretion states in 2016, 2017, and 2018. We establish that these low states occurred shortly after the system's white dwarf (WD) began spinning down, after having spent a quarter-century spinning up. FO Aquarii is the only intermediate polar whose period derivative has undergone a sign change, and it has now done so twice. By combining our spin-pulse timings with previous data, we determine that the WD's spin period has varied quasi-sinusoidally since the system's discovery, and an extrapolation predicts that the white dwarf was spinning down during newly discovered low states in photographic plates from 1964, 1965, and 1974. Thus, FO Aquarii's low states appear to occur exclusively during epochs of spindown. Additionally, our time-series photometry of the 2016-18 low states reveals that the mode of accretion is extremely sensitive to the accretion rate; when the system is fainter than V~14.0, the accretion onto the WD is largely stream-fed, but when it is brighter, it is almost exclusively disk-fed. The system's grazing eclipse remained detectable throughout all observations, confirming the uninterrupted presence of a disk-like structure, regardless of the accretion state. Our observations are consistent with theoretical predictions that during the low states, the accretion disk dissipates into a ring of diamagnetic blobs. Finally, a new XMM-Newton observation from 2017 indicates that the system's anomalously soft X-ray spectrum and diminished X-ray luminosity in the wake of the 2016 low state appear to be long-lasting changes compared to pre-2016 observations.peer-reviewe

The opioid peptide beta-endorphin stimulates acrosome reaction in human spermatozoa

The acrosome reaction occurs in vivo following sperm capacitation and is essential for the acquisition of sperm fertilization ability. However, little is known about the molecular identity of the physiological acrosome reaction regulators. In addition to progesterone, which is produced by cumulus oophorus cells and known to regulate acrosome reaction by activating the specific calcium channel CatSper, endogenous opioid peptides such as beta-endorphin and met-enkephalin are present at high concentrations in the follicular fluid suggesting that the opioid system may be involved in the mechanisms regulating the acrosome reaction in humans. By using Reverse Transcription-PCR, western blot and immunofluorescence approaches, we described the presence and localization of the beta-endorphin precursor, pro-opiomelanocortinin the middle section and in flagellum of human spermatozoa, and inside the seminiferous tubules of human testis. Flow cytometry and intracellular calcium analyses showed that beta-endorphin causes an inversely dose-dependent increase in the percentage of acrosome-reacted sperm cells by a calcium-independent protein kinase C pathway. These findings are important for future studies of sperm physiology and provide new insight into the function of the opioid system as a target of fertility management.Peer Reviewe