Modelling energy consumption in supermarkets to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions using EnergyPlus

New refrigeration system configurations and other innovating technologies in retail supermarkets need to be considered to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. In supermarkets, there is a strong interaction between the refrigerated display cases, supermarket structure, internal machinery, customers, and the store’s HVAC system. The impact of these interactions on the energy and carbon emissions of a medium sized supermarket in Paris was modelled using EnergyPlus™. The results were calibrated against a typical UK store and validated against the Paris store. The effects of applying the technologies identified to have the greatest potential to reduce carbon emissions (changing the refrigerant to R744, switching from gas to electrical heating and adding doors to chilled cabinets) were modelled. The impact of climate change on ambient temperature and the impact of changes to the grid conversion factor were predicted for the store in Paris from 2020 to 2050

Acute dizziness in rural practice: Proposal of a diagnostic procedure

Acute dizziness is a frequent index symptom in the emergency department as well as in the rural practice office. Most acute dizziness, however, is not dangerous, but some types are highly dangerous. Clinical routine acute dizziness can be separated into frequent benign syndromes including benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), vestibular neuritis, Meniθre's disease or vestibular migraine, and what is here referred to as the «white shark» of dizziness, i.e. a stroke in the posterior circulation or more rarely a tumor in the posterior fossa. A practical concept is presented to clarify most frequent acute dizziness syndromes using clinical and low budget methods

Phase transitions in magnetic and superconducting systems with fluctuating valence. Chemical potential evidence

We investigate the critical behaviour of the chemical potential and average occupation numbers using the extended s—f model with intersite Cooper pairing for systems with fluctuating valence. The model is able to describe phase transitions from normal ferromagnet to normal paramagnet at Τ = Τc, from superconducting paramagnet to normal paramagnet at Τ = Ts, as well as reentrant phase transitions with three critical temperatures Τs1, Tc and Τs2 (Ts1 < Tc < Τ52). Present investigation, as well as recent results obtained for another models suggest one-to-one correspondence between critical temperatures of the system and kinks appearing in the temperature dependence of the chemical potential and average occupation numbers. This, in turn, indicates a possibility to apply the measurement of the chemical potential vs. temperature as an experimental universal tool when looking for phase transitions in solids

Chemical potential as a detector of phase transitions in solids

We show that the chemical potential exhibits small but distinct kinks at all critical temperatures as the evidence for phase transitions in the electronic system, structural phase transitions included. In the case of, at least, two kinds of interacting electrons average occupation numbers exhibit the same behavior

Analytical and stability studies on medical cosmetics

Two simple and sensitive spectrofluorimetric (method Ι) and spectrophotometric (method ΙΙ) methods have been developed for the determination of some chloride containing toothpastes and panthenol-containing cosmetic preparations respectively. Method Ι is based on quantitative fluorescence quenching of (terbium-salicylate-hexamine ternary complex) by fluoride which could be measured at λem/λex of 547nm/322nm. The ∆Fconcentration plot was rectilinear over the concentration range of 0.5-20 µg/ml. Method ΙΙ depends reaction of panthenol with nitrobenzoxadiazole chloride (NBD-Cl) and measuring the absorbance of the resultant product at 480nm. The absorbance- concentration plot was rectilinear over the concentration range of 2-20 µg/m

Role of communal and private forestland tenure regimes in regulating forest ecosystem goods and services in Rombo district, Tanzania

This study was undertaken to compare provisioning of forest ecosystem goods and services in Manuo Hill Communal Forest and Shirima Private Forest in Rombo District, Tanzania. Fuel wood was a key forest ecosystem good and biodiversity protection was a key forest ecosystem service identified. Manuo Hill communal forest had lower endowments values in terms of number of stems (1376 stems/ha), basal area (2.6 m2/ha),  volume (7.3 m3/ha) and carbon stock (2.1 tons/ha) compared to the Shirima private forest with 2214 stems/ha, basal area of 3.2 m2/ha, volume of 11.2 m3/ha and carbon stock of 3.2 tons/ha. Only volume andcarbon stock were significantly different between the forests. Species diversity was more or less similar between the forests. Tree removals were higher in communal (1.5 m3/ha) than in private (1.0 m3/ha) but they were not significantly different. Endowments in terms of tenure rights were better in communal forest than in private. More people were entitled to fuel woodfrom communal forest (78%) than from private (32%). Environmental benefits of biodiversity protection were entitled to everybody in both forests. It was concluded that no single tenure regime can achieve all objectives of forest management. Instead, balancing between different tenures is recommended.Key words: forest ecosystems, tenure regimes, endowment and  entitlement, goods and services

Effects of Rotation on the Minimum Mass of Primordial Progenitors of Pair Instability Supernovae

The issue of which stars may reach the conditions of electron/positron pair formation instability is of importance to understand the final evolution both of the first stars and of contemporary stars. The criterion to enter the pair instability regime in density and temperature is basically controlled by the mass of the oxygen core. The main sequence masses that produce a given oxygen core mass are, in turn, dependent on metallicity, mass loss, and convective and rotationally-induced mixing. We examine the evolution of massive stars to determine the minimum main sequence mass that can encounter pair-instability effects, either a pulsational pair instability (PPISN) or a full-fledged pair-instability supernova (PISN). We concentrate on zero-metallicity stars with no mass loss subject to the Schwarzschild criterion for convective instability, but also explore solar metallicity and mass loss and the Ledoux criterion. As expected, for sufficiently strong rotationally-induced mixing, the minimum main sequence mass is encountered for conditions that induce effectively homogeneous evolution such that the original mass is converted almost entirely to helium and then to oxygen. For this case, we find that the minimum main sequence mass is ~40 Msun to encounter PPISN and ~65 Msun to encounter a PISN. When mass-loss is taken into account those mass limits become ~50 Msun for PPISN and ~80 Msun for PISN progenitors. The implications of these results for the first stars and for contemporary supernovae is discussed.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figure

7-O-methylpunctatin, a novel homoisoflavonoid, inhibits phenotypic switch of human arteriolar smooth muscle cells

Remodeling of arterioles is a pivotal event in the manifestation of many inflammation-based cardio-vasculopathologies, such as hypertension. During these remodeling events, vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) switch from a contractile to a synthetic phenotype. The latter is characterized by increased proliferation, migration, and invasion. Compounds with anti-inflammatory actions have been successful in attenuating this phenotypic switch. While the vast majority of studies investigating phenotypic modulation were undertaken in VSMCs isolated from large vessels, little is known about the effect of such compounds on phenotypic switch in VSMCs of microvessels (microVSMCs). We have recently characterized a novel homoisoflavonoid that we called 7-O-methylpunctatin (MP). In this study, we show that MP decreased FBS-induced cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and adhesion. MP also attenuated adhesion of THP-1 monocytes to microVSMCs, abolished FBS-induced expression of MMP-2, MMP-9, and NF-?B, as well as reduced activation of ERK1/2 and FAK. Furthermore, MP-treated VSMCs showed an increase in early (myocardin, SM-22?, SM-?) and mid-term (calponin and caldesmon) differentiation markers and a decrease in osteopontin, a protein highly expressed in synthetic VSMCs. MP also reduced transcription of cyclin D1, CDK4 but increased protein levels of p21 and p27. Taken together, these results corroborate an anti-inflammatory action of MP on human microVSMCs. Therefore, by inhibiting the synthetic phenotype of microVSMCs, MP may be a promising modulator for inflammation-induced arteriolar pathophysiology. - 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Funding: This work was supported by the American University of Beirut (Grant # MPP 320133 to A.E.), University of Petra (Grant #: 5/4/2019) to A.B., E.B., and A.E., and the National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS) to M.F.Scopu