4,535 research outputs found
Controlling Legionella pneumophila in water systems at reduced hot water temperatures with copper and silver ionization
Background: Hospital-acquired Legionnaires’ disease is associated with the presence of Legionella pneumophila in hospital water systems. In the United Kingdom, the Department of Health recommends maintaining hot water temperatures >55°C and cold water temperatures <20°C at the point of delivery to prevent proliferation of L pneumophila in water systems. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of copper and silver ionization to control L pneumophila at deliberately reduced hot water temperatures (43°C) within a newly installed water system in a new building linked to a large health care facility in the United Kingdom. / Methods: One thousand, five hundred ninety-eight water samples were collected between September 2011 and June 2017. Samples were tested using accredited methods for L pneumophila, copper and silver ion levels, and total viable counts. Energy consumption and water usage data were also collected to permit carbon emission calculations. / Results: The results of 1,598 routine samples from September 2011 to June 2017, and the recordings of temperatures at outlets in this facility, demonstrated effective (100%) L pneumophila control throughout the study period with an average hot water temperature of 42°C. The energy savings and reduction of carbon emissions were calculated to amount to 33% and 24%, respectively, compared to an equivalent temperature-controlled system. Water system management interventions were required to achieve consistently adequate levels of copper and silver across outlets. / Conclusions: This study demonstrated that it is possible to control L pneumophila independent of temperature when copper and silver ionization is introduced into a new building in conjunction with an appropriately managed water system
Overcharging a Black Hole and Cosmic Censorship
We show that, contrary to a widespread belief, one can overcharge a near
extremal Reissner-Nordstrom black hole by throwing in a charged particle, as
long as the backreaction effects may be considered negligible. Furthermore, we
find that we can make the particle's classical radius, mass, and charge, as
well as the relative size of the backreaction terms arbitrarily small, by
adjusting the parameters corresponding to the particle appropriately. This
suggests that the question of cosmic censorship is still not wholly resolved
even in this simple scenario. We contrast this with attempting to overcharge a
black hole with a charged imploding shell, where we find that cosmic censorship
is upheld. We also briefly comment on a number of possible extensions.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figures, LaTe
Inductive learning spatial attention
This paper investigates the automatic induction of spatial attention
from the visual observation of objects manipulated
on a table top. In this work, space is represented in terms of
a novel observer-object relative reference system, named Local
Cardinal System, defined upon the local neighbourhood
of objects on the table. We present results of applying the
proposed methodology on five distinct scenarios involving
the construction of spatial patterns of coloured blocks
Evidence for a null entropy of extremal black holes
We present some arguments in support of a {\it zero} entropy for {\it
extremal} black holes. These rely on a combination of both quantum,
thermodynamic, and statistical physics arguments. This result may shed some
light on the nature of these extreme objects. In addition, we show that within
a {\it quantum} framework the capture of a particle by an initially extremal
black hole always results with a final nonextremal black hole.Comment: 11 page
Some recent rural radio talks
Cream stirring is important. - D.C. Mickle
Crossbreeding in pig production. - P. Beck
Salmonella infection in sheep. - I.J. Miller
Useful sprays for the home garden. A.A. Holland
Tapeworm of dogs and cats. P.B. Lewis
The poison plant and the animal. - R.D. Royce
Sire surveys to prove bulls. K. Needham
Peat as a substitute for horse manure. - L.T. Jone
The Speed of Fronts of the Reaction Diffusion Equation
We study the speed of propagation of fronts for the scalar reaction-diffusion
equation \, with . We give a new integral
variational principle for the speed of the fronts joining the state to
. No assumptions are made on the reaction term other than those
needed to guarantee the existence of the front. Therefore our results apply to
the classical case in , to the bistable case and to cases in
which has more than one internal zero in .Comment: 7 pages Revtex, 1 figure not include
Performance Bottlenecks in Digital Movie Systems
Digital movie systems offer great perspectives for multimedia applications. But the large amounts of data involved and the demand for isochronous transmission and playback are also great challenges for the designers of a new generation of file systems, database systems, operating systems, window systems, video encoder/decoder and networks. Today's research prototypes of digital movie systems suffer from severe performance bottlenecks, resulting in small movie windows, low frame rates or bad image quality (or all of these!). We consider the performance problem to be the most important problem with digital movie systems, preventing their widespread use today. In this paper we address performance issues of digital movie systems from a practical perspective. We report on performance experience gained with the XMovie system and new algorithms and protocols to overcome some of these bottlenecks
Problematizing Choice: Responsible consumers and sceptical citizens
About the book: Governance, Consumers and Citizens is the first book to bring together a study of governance with consumption, examining the changing place of the consumer as citizen in recent trends in governance, the tensions between competing ideas and practices of consumerism and the active role consumers play in the construction and practice of governance.
Radically pushing forward the debate on consumers and governance, this collection outlines new conceptions and posits new policy agendas. Bringing together international experts from political science, history, geography, social policy and media studies, this study shows how governance and consumption are intertwined in crucial aspects of public policy and contemporary politics
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