2,956 research outputs found
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
HeII Recombination Lines From the First Luminous Objects
The hardness of the ionizing continuum from the first sources of UV radiation
plays a crucial role in the reionization of the intergalactic medium (IGM).
While usual stellar populations have soft spectra, mini-quasars or metal-free
stars with high effective temperatures may emit hard photons, capable of doubly
ionizing helium and increasing the IGM temperature. Absorption within the
source and in the intervening IGM will render the ionizing continuum of
high-redshift sources inaccessible to direct observation. Here we show that
HeII recombination lines from the first luminous objects are potentially
detectable by the Next Generation Space Telescope. Together with measurements
of the hydrogen Balmer alpha emission line, this detection can be used to infer
the ratio of HeII to HI ionizing photons. A measurement of this ratio would
shed light on the nature and emission mechanism of the first luminous sources,
with important astrophysical consequences for the reheating and reionization of
the IGM.Comment: ApJ published version. Due to an error in one of the references, the
strength of the 1640 A line was underestimated in a previous version; this
line is now brighter by a factor of 1
Signatures of the order parameter of a superconducting adatom layer in quasiparticle interference patterns
Experiments have observed superconductivity in atomically-thin metallic
layers deposited on semiconducting substrates. As in any superconductor, it is
important to determine the structure of the superconducting pairing function in
order to reveal the mechanism responsible for superconductivity. To that end,
we study the possible superconducting states of two-dimensional triangular
lattices. We calculate the quasiparticle interference (QPI) patterns which
would result from various nearest-neighbor pairing order parameters, and show
how the QPI can be used to distinguish between those order parameters. The QPI
patterns are the momentum-space representations of real-space local
density-of-states fluctuations: the QPI signal at momentum reveals the
strength of scattering processes at that momentum transfer. We show how
characteristic differences between scattering from charge disorder (i.e.
impurities) and from order-parameter disorder (i.e. vortices) can be used to
identify the angular momentum of the superconducting pairs.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure
Deciphering the Role of Regulatory CD4 T Cells in Oral and Oropharyngeal Cancer : A Systematic Review
CO was supported by an Innes Will Scholarship, University of Aberdeen HotStart Summer Scholarship Scheme.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Current Challenges in Prostate Cancer Management and the Rationale behind Targeted Focal Therapy
Among men, prostate cancer has a high prevalence, with relatively lower cancer-specific mortality risk compared to lung and colon cancer. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening has increased prostate cancer awareness since its implementation as a screening tool almost 25 years ago, but, due to the largely indolent course of this disease and the unspecific nature of the PSA test, increased incidence has largely been associated with cancers that would not go on to cause death (clinically insignificant), leading to an overdiagnosis challenge and an ensuing overtreatment consequences. The overtreatment problem is exacerbated by the high risk of side effects that current treatment techniques have, putting patients' quality of life at risk with little or no survival benefit. The goals of this paper are to evaluate the rise, prevalence, and impact of the overdiagnosis and ensuing overtreatment problems, as well as highlight potential solutions. In this effort, a review of major epidemiological and screening studies, cancer statistics from the advent of prostate-specific antigen screening to the present, and reports on patient concerns and treatment outcomes was conducted to present the dominant factors that underlie current challenges in prostate cancer treatment and illuminate potential solutions
The Molecular Hydrogen Deficit in Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows
Recent analysis of five gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow spectra reveal the
absence of molecular hydrogen absorption lines, a surprising result in light of
their large neutral hydrogen column densities and the detection of H in
similar, more local star-forming regions like 30 Doradus in the Large
Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Observational evidence further indicates that the bulk
of the neutral hydrogen column in these sight lines lies 100 pc beyond the
progenitor and that H was absent prior to the burst, suggesting that direct
flux from the star, FUV background fields, or both suppressed its formation. We
present one-dimensional radiation hydrodynamical models of GRB host galaxy
environments, including self-consistent radiative transfer of both ionizing and
Lyman-Werner photons, nine-species primordial chemistry with dust formation of
H, and dust extinction of UV photons. We find that a single GRB progenitor
is sufficient to ionize neutral hydrogen to distances of 50 - 100 pc but that a
galactic Lyman-Werner background is required to dissociate the molecular
hydrogen in the ambient ISM. Intensities of 0.1 - 100 times the Galactic mean
are necessary to destroy H in the cloud, depending on its density and
metallicity. The minimum radii at which neutral hydrogen will be found in
afterglow spectra is insensitive to the mass of the progenitor or the initial
mass function (IMF) of its cluster, if present.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, accepted for Ap
On the Road to Immunotherapy : Prospects for Treating Head and Neck Cancers With Checkpoint Inhibitor Antibodies
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
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
Unmasking the interplay between mTOR and Nox4: novel insights into the mechanism connecting diabetes and cancer
Cancer was recently annexed to diabetic complications. Furthermore, recent studies suggest that cancer can increase the risk of diabetes. Consequently, diabetes and cancer share many risk factors, but the cellular and molecular pathways correlating diabetes and colon and rectal cancer (CRC) remain far from understood. In this study, we assess the effect of hyperglycemia on cancer cell aggressiveness in human colon epithelial adenocarcinoma cells in vitro and in an experimental animal model of CRC. Our results show that Nox (NADPH oxidase enzyme) 4-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production is deregulated in both diabetes and CRC. This is paralleled by inactivation of the AMPK and activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) C1 signaling pathways, resulting in 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodG) accumulation, induction of DNA damage, and exacerbation of cancer cell aggressiveness, thus contributing to the genomic instability and predisposition to increased tumorigenesis in the diabetic milieu. Pharmacologic activation of AMPK, inhibition of mTORC1, or blockade of Nox4 reduce ROS production, restore the homeostatic signaling of 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase/8-oxodG, and lessen the progression of CRC malignancy in a diabetic milieu. Taken together, our results identify the AMPK/mTORC1/Nox4 signaling axis as a molecular switch correlating diabetes and CRC. Modulating this pathway may be a strategic target of therapeutic potential aimed at reversing or slowing the progression of CRC in patients with or without diabetes.-Mroueh, F. M., Noureldein, M., Zeidan, Y. H., Boutary, S., Irani, S. A. M., Eid, S., Haddad, M., Barakat, R., Harb, F., Costantine, J., Kanj, R., Sauleau, E.-A., Ouhtit, A., Azar, S. T., Eid, A. H., Eid, A. A. Unmasking the interplay between mTOR and Nox4: novel insights into the mechanism connecting diabetes and cancer.Scopu
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