Family memory and the Crusades

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Waste Water Transformed into Heat Energy

This study investigates the feasibility of utilising ground water ingress into the Glasgow Subway system. At present this unused excess water is being discharged into the city’s drainage system as waste. This valuable resource could be channelled through a Water Source Heat Pump (WSHP) to produce heat energy for domestic or public use (heating and domestic hot water). A study has been carried out in order to calculate the heat contained in the water. Water flow and water temperature have been recorded over a ten month period (since May 2014) at fifteen different points within the network of underground tunnels. Water sampling has also been undertaken at all of these points, with chemical analysis results for six of them already obtained. The measurements will continue for at least seven more months to have readings for an 18 months period. A feasibility study to review the number of support factors (i.e. Renewable Heat Incentive) that could profit the subway system has been undertaken as well. Options have been discussed and a selection of a site inside the tunnels for a pilot system has been decided and is due to be installed in June 2015. The findings of this study are expected to develop an appropriate renewable solution through a cost effective heat pump system design. This waste water will be collected and used as renewable energy. During this process energy will be produced from a waste product using a sustainable and environmental friendly method. A similar approach ought to be transferable to many other subway systems around the world, some of which experience ground water ingress

Heat recovery from air in underground transport tunnels

The performance of a typical air source heat pump could be increased dramatically by a relatively stable air temperature with a high humidity, even during the peak heating months. In this short communication we show such conditions exist in the underground transport tunnels of the Glasgow Subway system, where we had conducted an annual survey of air flow, air temperature and relative humidity at thirty different points within the subway network. We found relatively stable temperatures and sufficient air movement inside the twin tunnels (average temperature during winter = 15 °C, annual variation = 2.6 °C; average air flow = 16.47 m3/h) indicating higher system efficiency compared to a conventional air source heat pump installation. Potential energy and carbon savings are discussed

Testable two-loop radiative neutrino mass model based on an LLQdcQdcLLQd^cQd^c effective operator

A new two-loop radiative Majorana neutrino mass model is constructed from the gauge-invariant effective operator $L^i L^j Q^k d^c Q^l d^c \epsilon_{ik} \epsilon_{jl}$ that violates lepton number conservation by two units. The ultraviolet completion features two scalar leptoquark flavors and a color-octet Majorana fermion. We show that there exists a region of parameter space where the neutrino oscillation data can be fitted while simultaneously meeting flavor-violation and collider bounds. The model is testable through lepton flavor-violating processes such as ${\mu} \to e{\gamma}$, $\mu \to eee$, and $\mu N \to eN$ conversion, as well as collider searches for the scalar leptoquarks and color-octet fermion. We computed and compiled a list of necessary Passarino-Veltman integrals up to boxes in the approximation of vanishing external momenta and made them available as a Mathematica package, denoted as ANT.Comment: 42 pages, 11 figures, typo in Eq. (4.9) as well as wrong chirality structures in Secs. 4.5 and 5.2 corrected, final results unchange

The Gravitational Lens Candidate FBQ 1633+3134

We present our ground-based optical imaging, spectral analysis, and high resolution radio mapping of the gravitational lens candidate FBQ 1633+3134. This z=1.52, B=17.7 quasar appears double on CCD images with an image separation of 0.66 arcseconds and a flux ratio of ~3:1 across BVRI filters. A single 0.27 mJy radio source is detected at 8.46 GHz, coincident to within an arcsecond of both optical components, but no companion at radio wavelengths is detected down to a flux level of 0.1 mJy (3 sigma). Spectral observations reveal a rich metal-line absorption system consisting of a strong Mg II doublet and associated Fe I and Fe II absorption features, all at an intervening redshift of z=0.684, suggestive of a lensing galaxy. Point spread function subtraction however shows no obvious signs of a third object between the two quasar images, and places a detection limit of I > 23.0 if such an object exists. Although the possibility that FBQ 1633+3134 is a binary quasar cannot be ruled out, the evidence is consistent with it being a single quasar lensed by a faint, metal-rich galaxy.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by AJ. A calibration error affecting B and V band apparent magnitudes has been corrected. The conclusions of the paper are not change

A Dose Relationship Between Brain Functional Connectivity and Cumulative Head Impact Exposure in Collegiate Water Polo Players.

A growing body of evidence suggests that chronic, sport-related head impact exposure can impair brain functional integration and brain structure and function. Evidence of a robust inverse relationship between the frequency and magnitude of repeated head impacts and disturbed brain network function is needed to strengthen an argument for causality. In pursuing such a relationship, we used cap-worn inertial sensors to measure the frequency and magnitude of head impacts sustained by eighteen intercollegiate water polo athletes monitored over a single season of play. Participants were evaluated before and after the season using computerized cognitive tests of inhibitory control and resting electroencephalography. Greater head impact exposure was associated with increased phase synchrony [r (16) > 0.626, p < 0.03 corrected], global efficiency [r (16) > 0.601, p < 0.04 corrected], and mean clustering coefficient [r (16) > 0.625, p < 0.03 corrected] in the functional networks formed by slow-wave (delta, theta) oscillations. Head impact exposure was not associated with changes in performance on the inhibitory control tasks. However, those with the greatest impact exposure showed an association between changes in resting-state connectivity and a dissociation between performance on the tasks after the season [r (16) = 0.481, p = 0.043] that could also be attributed to increased slow-wave synchrony [F (4, 135) = 113.546, p < 0.001]. Collectively, our results suggest that athletes sustaining the greatest head impact exposure exhibited changes in whole-brain functional connectivity that were associated with altered information processing and inhibitory control

Design of a Hypersonic Waterjet Apparatus Driven by High Explosives

The design and construction of a hypersonic waterjet apparatus is described. Jet velocities from 0.5 to 5 km/s have been achieved using a high explosive charge. Images are obtained in situ on various target substrates using a high-speed framing camera. Experimental results are shown for the impact of high velocity waterjets on propellants and high explosive samples. By observing the impact of the waterjet at a wide range of velocities a safety threshold can be determined where no reaction takes place

Helicobacter pylori Eradication in Patients with Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura: A Review and the Role of Biogeography

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is typically a diagnosis of exclusion, assigned by clinicians after ruling out other identifiable etiologies. Since a report by Gasbarrini et al. in 1998, an accumulating body of evidence has proposed a pathophysiological link between ITP and chronic Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection. Clinical reports have described a spontaneous resolution of ITP symptoms in about 50% of chronic ITP patients following empirical treatment of H. pylori infection, but response appears to be geography dependent. Studies have also documented that ITP patients in East Asian countries are more likely to express positive antibody titers against H. pylori-specific cytotoxic-associated gene A (CagA), a virulence factor that is associated with an increased risk for gastric diseases including carcinoma. While a definitive mechanism by which H. pylori may induce thrombocytopenia remains elusive, proposed pathways include molecular mimicry of CagA by host autoantibodies against platelet surface glycoproteins, as well as perturbations in the phagocytic activity of monocytes. Traditional treatments of ITP have been largely empirical, involving the use of immunosuppressive agents and immunoglobulin therapy. However, based on the findings of clinical reports emerging over the past 20 years, health organizations around the world increasingly suggest the detection and eradication of H. pylori as a treatment for ITP. Elucidating the exact molecular mechanisms of platelet activation in H. pylori-positive ITP patients, while considering biogeographical differences in response rates, could offer insight into how best to use clinical H. pylori eradication to treat ITP, but will require well-designed studies to confirm the suggested causative relationship between bacterial infection and an autoimmune disease state.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (T320D010978-26)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (P01CA028842-23)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (P30ES002109