‘Intelligent furniture’: the potential for heated armchairs to deliver thermal comfort with energy savings in the UK residential context

Personal heating (or cooling) has long been considereda meansfor reducing energy demand and providing thermalcomfort, most commonly in the form ofheated seats. In this paper, findings are reported ofwhat may be thefirstinvestigation of the potential forheatedfurniture to maintain occupantthermalcomfortin the UK residentialcontext. In a thermally-controlledenvironmental room, a thermal manikin was seated in aliving-room armchairequipped with an electrically-heatedblanket. Results suggested thatthemanikintotal heat fluxrecorded forthe PMVrange -0.5 to +0.5 withoutheatedblanketcould be achieved in aroom 0.7o C cooler but with theblanketoperating as compensation. Chest/backradiantasymmetry across the body, andsurfacecontacttemperatures oftheblanket, were both found to be well-within acceptable limits. The implication forresidential energy usage was analytically simulated usingan apartment (‘flat’) as a casestudy.This showed that energy-saving potential was dependanton the building’s thermal performance,thebuilding’s dimensions and occupantbehaviours. When extrapolated to theUK housing stock it wasfound thataround 5.6 TWh of energy might be saved by using heated armchairs in the UK instead of whole house heating systems. ‘Intelligent furniture’, in the form of heated armchairs canpotentially contribute to energysavingin the UK residential context, and further investigation iswarranted

Dermatoglyphic Patterns of Autistic Children in Nigeria

Dermatoglyphic patterns have positive correlation in a number of genetic diseases. This research was carried out to determine any possible relationship between dermatoglyphics and autism in Nigeria using digital and palmar patterns, total ridge count, a-b ridge count and crease pattern. The digital and palmar prints of 20 autistic subjects from an autistic centre in Port Harcourt, Rivers state Nigeria were taken with parental guidance. The percentage frequency distribution of the digital pattern of the autistic subject was 49.5% for the arch, 18.5% for the whorl, 28.5% for the ulnar loop and 3.5% for the radial loop against 44% for the ulnar loop, 25.5% for the arch, 22% for the whorl and 8.5% for the radial loop for normal subjects. The mean values of the a –b ridge counts on the right and left hands of autistic male were 34.66 and 33.33 against 36.40 and 31.33  in non-autistic children respectively while in  female they were 38.6 and 35.8 against 41.40 and 38.6 respectively. Though no statistical significant difference was observed when the two groups were compared (P>0.05). It was, however, observed that the number of the total ridge counts in the right and left hands of the autistic children were lower than those of the normal subjects. Thus, there is need for further investigation using larger sample size. The data from this study will serve as a good reference for future study on this subject in Nigeria. Key Words: Dermatoglyphics and Autis

Exploring the effect of baryons on the radial distribution of satellite galaxies with GAMA and IllustrisTNG

We explore the radial distribution of satellite galaxies in groups in the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey and the IllustrisTNG simulations. Considering groups with masses 12.0≤log10⁡(Mh/h−1M⊙)\u3c14.8 role= presentation style= box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: normal; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; position: relative; \u3e12.0≤log10(Mh/h−1M⊙)\u3c14.812.0≤log10⁡(Mh/h−1M⊙)\u3c14.8 at z \u3c 0.267, we find a good agreement between GAMA and a sample of TNG300 groups and galaxies designed to match the GAMA selection. Both display a flat profile in the centre of groups, followed by a decline that becomes steeper towards the group edge, and normalized profiles show no dependence on group mass. Using matched satellites from TNG and dark matter-only TNG-Dark runs we investigate the effect of baryons on satellite radial location. At z = 0, we find that the matched subhaloes from the TNG-Dark runs display a much flatter radial profile: namely, satellites selected above a minimum stellar mass exhibit both smaller halocentric distances and longer survival times in the full-physics simulations compared to their dark-matter only analogues. We then divide the TNG satellites into those which possess TNG-Dark counterparts and those which do not, and develop models for the radial positions of each. We find the satellites with TNG-Dark counterparts are displaced towards the halo centre in the full-physics simulations, and this difference has a power-law behaviour with radius. For the ‘orphan’ galaxies without TNG-Dark counterparts, we consider the shape of their radial distribution and provide a model for their motion over time, which can be used to improve the treatment of satellite galaxies in semi-analytic and semi-empirical models of galaxy formation

Hdelta-Selected Galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey I: The Catalog

[Abridged] We present here a new and homogeneous sample of 3340 galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) based solely on the observed strength of their Hdelta absorption line. These galaxies are commonly known as ``post-starburst'' or ``E+A'' galaxies, and the study of these galaxies has been severely hampered by the lack of a large, statistical sample of such galaxies. In this paper, we rectify this problem by selecting a sample of galaxies which possess an absorption Hdelta equivalent width of EW(Hdelta_max) - Delta EW(Hdelta_max) > 4A from 106682 galaxies in the SDSS. We have performed extensive tests on our catalog including comparing different methodologies of measuring the Hdelta absorption and studying the effects of stellar absorption, dust extinction, emission-filling and measurement error. The measured abundance of our Hdelta-selected (HDS) galaxies is 2.6 +/- 0.1% of all galaxies within a volume-limited sample of 0.05<z<0.1 and M(r*)<-20.5, which is consistent with previous studies of such galaxies in the literature. We find that only 25 of our HDS galaxies in this volume-limited sample (3.5+/-0.7%) show no evidence for OII and Halpha emission, thus indicating that true E+A (or k+a) galaxies are extremely rare objects at low redshift, i.e., only 0.09+/-0.02% of all galaxies in this volume-limited sample are true E+A galaxies. In contrast, 89+/-5% of our HDS galaxies in the volume-limited sample have significant detections of the OII and Halpha emission lines. We find 27 galaxies in our volume-limited HDS sample that possess no detectable OII emission, but do however possess detectable Halpha emission. These galaxies may be dusty star-forming galaxies. We provide the community with this new catalog of Hdelta-selected galaxies to aid in the understanding of these galaxies.Comment: Submitted to PASJ. Catalog of galaxies available at http://astrophysics.phys.cmu.edu/~tomo/ea

The nature of the dwarf population in Abell 868

We present the results of a study of the morphology of the dwarf galaxy population in Abell 868, a rich, intermediate redshift (z=0.154) cluster which has a galaxy luminosity function with a steep faint-end slope (alpha=-1.26 +/- 0.05). A statistical background subtraction method is employed to study the B-R colour distribution of the cluster galaxies. This distribution suggests that the galaxies contributing to the faint-end of the measured cluster LF can be split into three populations: dIrrs with B-R<1.4; dEs with 1.4<B-R<2.5; and contaminating background giant ellipticals (gEs) with B-R>2.5. The remvoal of the contribution of the background gEs from the counts only marginally lessens the faint-end slope (alpha=-1.22 +/- 0.16). However, the removal of the contribution of the dIrrs from the counts produces a flat LF (alpha=-0.91 +/- 0.16). The dEs and the dIrrs have similar spatial distributions within the cluster except that the dIrrs appear to be totally absent within a central projected radius of about 0.2 Mpc (Ho=75 km/s /Mpc). The number density of both dEs and dIrrs appear to fall off beyond a projected radius of about 0.35 Mpc. We suggest that the dE and dIrr populations of A868 have been associated with the cluster for similar timescales but that evolutionary processes such as `galaxy harassment' tend to fade the dIrr galaxies while having much less effect on the dE galaxies. The harassement would be expected to have the greatest effect on dwarfs residing in the central parts of the cluster.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures To be published in The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Exploring the effect of baryons on the radial distribution of satellite galaxies with GAMA and IllustrisTNG

We explore the radial distribution of satellite galaxies in groups in the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey and the IllustrisTNG simulations. Considering groups with masses 12.0 ≤ log10(M/−1M) < 14.8 at < 0.267, we find a good agreement between GAMA and a sample of TNG300 groups and galaxies designed to match the GAMA selection. Both display a flat profile in the centre of groups, followed by a decline that becomes steeper towards the group edge, and normalised profiles show no dependence on group mass. Using matched satellites from TNG and dark matter-only TNG-Dark runs we investigate the effect of baryons on satellite radial location. At = 0, we find that the matched subhaloes from the TNG-Dark runs display a much flatter radial profile: namely, satellites selected above a minimum stellar mass exhibit both smaller halo-centric distances and longer survival times in the full-physics simulations compared to their dark-matter only analogues. We then divide the TNG satellites into those which possess TNG-Dark counterparts and those which do not, and develop models for the radial positions of each. Wefindthesatellites with TNG-Dark counterparts are displaced towards the halo centre in the full-physics simulations, and this difference has a power-law behaviour with radius. For the ‘orphan’ galaxies without TNG-Dark counterparts, we consider the shape of their radial distribution and provide a model for their motion over time, which can be used to improve the treatment of satellite galaxies in semi-analytic and semi-empirical models of galaxy formation

Two decades of antenatal and delivery care in Uganda: a cross-sectional study using Demographic and Health Surveys.

BACKGROUND: Uganda halved its maternal mortality to 343/100,000 live births between 1990 and 2015, but did not meet the Millennium Development Goal 5. Skilled, timely and good quality antenatal (ANC) and delivery care can prevent the majority of maternal/newborn deaths and stillbirths. We examine coverage, equity, sector of provision and content of ANC and delivery care between 1991 and 2011. METHODS: We conducted a repeated cross-sectional study using four Uganda Demographic and Health Surveys (1995, 2000, 2006 and 2011).Using the most recent live birth and adjusting for survey sampling, we estimated percentage and absolute number of births with ANC (any and 4+ visits), facility delivery, caesarean sections and complete maternal care. We assessed socio-economic differentials in these indicators by wealth, education, urban/rural residence, and geographic zone on the 1995 and 2011 surveys. We estimated the proportions of ANC and delivery care provided by the public and private (for-profit and not-for-profit) sectors, and compared content of ANC and delivery care between sectors. Statistical significance of differences were evaluated using chi-square tests. RESULTS: Coverage with any ANC remained high over the study period (> 90% since 2001) but was of insufficient frequency; < 50% of women who received any ANC reported 4+ visits. Facility-based delivery care increased slowly, reaching 58% in 2011. While significant inequalities in coverage by wealth, education, residence and geographic zone remained, coverage improved for all indicators among the lowest socio-economic groups of women over time. The private sector market share declined over time to 14% of ANC and 25% of delivery care in 2011. Only 10% of women with 4+ ANC visits and 13% of women delivering in facilities received all measured care components. CONCLUSIONS: The Ugandan health system had to cope with more than 30,000 additional births annually between 1991 and 2011. The majority of women in Uganda accessed ANC, but this contact did not result in care of sufficient frequency, content, and continuum of care (facility delivery). Providers in both sectors require quality improvements. Achieving universal health coverage and maternal/newborn SDGs in Uganda requires prioritising poor, less educated and rural women despite competing priorities for financial and human resources

CMB anisotropy predictions for a model of double inflation

We consider a double-inflationary model with two massive scalar fields interacting only gravitationally in the context of a flat cold dark matter (CDM) Universe. The cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies produced in this theory are investigated in great details for a window of parameters where the density fluctuation power spectrum P(k) is in good agreement with observations. The first Doppler (``acoustic'') peak is a crucial test for this model as well as for other models. For the ``standard'' values of the cosmological parameters of CDM, our model is excluded if the height of the Doppler peak is sensibly higher than about three times the Sachs-Wolfe plateau.Comment: 12 pages LaTeX using revtex, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Validation of loci at 2q14.2 and 15q21.3 as risk factors for testicular cancer.

Testicular germ cell tumor (TGCT), the most common cancer in men aged 18 to 45 years, has a strong heritable basis. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have proposed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at a number of loci influencing TGCT risk. To further evaluate the association of recently proposed risk SNPs with TGCT at 2q14.2, 3q26.2, 7q36.3, 10q26.13 and 15q21.3, we analyzed genotype data on 3,206 cases and 7,422 controls. Our analysis provides independent replication of the associations for risk SNPs at 2q14.2 (rs2713206 at P = 3.03 × 10-2; P-meta = 3.92 × 10-8; nearest gene, TFCP2L1) and rs12912292 at 15q21.3 (P = 7.96 × 10-11; P-meta = 1.55 × 10-19; nearest gene PRTG). Case-only analyses did not reveal specific associations with TGCT histology. TFCP2L1 joins the growing list of genes located within TGCT risk loci with biologically plausible roles in developmental transcriptional regulation, further highlighting the importance of this phenomenon in TGCT oncogenesis