Overheating in Scotland : lessons from 26 monitored low energy homes

There is growing awareness in the UK that overheating is a significant problem and one that is likely to intensify with climate change, increasing urbanisation, an ageing population and the move towards ?low energy? buildings. Recent research suggested that while overheating may be an issue in the South of England, particularly in urban areas, it was not likely to be an issue for Scotland and the North of the UK in the medium term. This notion is reflected in the lack of awareness of the issue in Scotland. Monitoring of 26 new-build low energy and Passivhaus homes across Scotland over a two year period indicates overheating is prevalent in living areas and in particular in bedrooms where it is acknowledged that respite from high temperatures is important. This paper describes the quantitative and qualitative results, assesses relevant factors, comments on predictive tools used and seeks a robust series of measures to avoid overheating in future low energy homes in Scotland

Mode Bifurcation and Fold Points of Complex Dispersion Curves for the Metamaterial Goubau Line

In this paper the complex dispersion curves of the four lowest-order transverse magnetic modes of a dielectric Goubau line ($\epsilon>0, \mu>0$) are compared with those of a dispersive metamaterial Goubau line. The vastly different dispersion curve structure for the metamaterial Goubau line is characterized by unusual features such as mode bifurcation, complex fold points, both proper and improper complex modes, and merging of complex and real modes

Antibiotic resistance of Enterococcus species isolated from raw foods of animal origin in South West part of Slovakia

We determined the prevalence and antibiotic resistance of enterococci isolated from raw foods of animal origin. All samples were positive for enterococci. The lowest count of enterococci was found in pork (2.00 log CFU/cm2), while bryndza cheese contained the highest count (4.99 log CFU/g). Among the 349 Enterococcus isolates, 49% were E. faecalis, 29% E. faecium, and 13% Enterococcus spp. Tetracycline and gentamicin resistance was the most common. We found the highest tetracycline resistance levels (91%) in isolates from poultry samples. The isolates from the poultry samples also displayed multidrug resistance to all antibiotics tested. The most common vancomycin-resistant species in poultry and milk was E. faecalis. In contrast, the pork samples contained vancomycin-resistant E. faecium isolates. It is interesting to note that vancomycin resistance in the pork and poultry samples was found only in combination with either four (28%) or all five (14%) of the tested antibiotics. Our results suggest that raw products of animal origin are possible reservoirs of multi-antibiotic resistant enterococci in the food chain

Economic Analysis of Alvimopan—A Clarification and Commentary

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98345/1/phar1193.pd

CD4+ cytolytic effectors are inefficient in the clearance of Listeria monocytogenes

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) recognize and lyse target cells through the interaction of the T-cell receptor complex with the class I or class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC). The production of class I-restricted CTL has been shown to be critical to the elimination of specific pathogens including . However, the function of class II-restricted CTL in the clearance of intracellular pathogens is poorly understood. H-2β-microglobulin-deficient mice (βM−/−) are not able to produce CD8 CTL in response to infection with . We used this model to evaluate the efficacy of class II-restricted CTL, in the absence of a class I-restricted response, during a primary infection with . We demonstrate that, despite their effectiveness in adoptive transfer of protection, -specific CD4 class II-restricted cytotoxic lymphocytes are ineffective in decreasing titres of in the spleen after an established infection. In βM−/− mice, persistence of in the spleen was found preferentially in class II-negative cells. Surprisingly, class I-restricted CTL from C57BL/6 mice were capable of decreasing bacterial titres during an established infection even in the absence of detectable class I on the surface of cells from βM−/− mice. These data strongly suggest that, in the absence of a class I-restricted response, pathogens that elicit a class II-restricted cytotoxic response may escape prompt eradication by the immune system

Mean-field dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a time-dependent triple-well trap: Nonlinear eigenstates, Landau-Zener models and STIRAP

We investigate the dynamics of a Bose--Einstein condensate (BEC) in a triple-well trap in a three-level approximation. The inter-atomic interactions are taken into account in a mean-field approximation (Gross-Pitaevskii equation), leading to a nonlinear three-level model. New eigenstates emerge due to the nonlinearity, depending on the system parameters. Adiabaticity breaks down if such a nonlinear eigenstate disappears when the parameters are varied. The dynamical implications of this loss of adiabaticity are analyzed for two important special cases: A three level Landau-Zener model and the STIRAP scheme. We discuss the emergence of looped levels for an equal-slope Landau-Zener model. The Zener tunneling probability does not tend to zero in the adiabatic limit and shows pronounced oscillations as a function of the velocity of the parameter variation. Furthermore we generalize the STIRAP scheme for adiabatic coherent population transfer between atomic states to the nonlinear case. It is shown that STIRAP breaks down if the nonlinearity exceeds the detuning.Comment: RevTex4, 7 pages, 11 figures, content extended and title/abstract change

Effects of a localized beam on the dynamics of excitable cavity solitons

We study the dynamical behavior of dissipative solitons in an optical cavity filled with a Kerr medium when a localized beam is applied on top of the homogeneous pumping. In particular, we report on the excitability regime that cavity solitons exhibits which is emergent property since the system is not locally excitable. The resulting scenario differs in an important way from the case of a purely homogeneous pump and now two different excitable regimes, both Class I, are shown. The whole scenario is presented and discussed, showing that it is organized by three codimension-2 points. Moreover, the localized beam can be used to control important features, such as the excitable threshold, improving the possibilities for the experimental observation of this phenomenon.Comment: 9 Pages, 12 figure

Analysis of a three-component model phase diagram by Catastrophe Theory

We analyze the thermodynamical potential of a lattice gas model with three components and five parameters using the methods of Catastrophe Theory. We find the highest singularity, which has codimension five, and establish its transversality. Hence the corresponding seven-degree Landau potential, the canonical form Wigwam or $A_6$, constitutes the adequate starting point to study the overall phase diagram of this model.Comment: 16 pages, Latex file, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Photoabsorption spectra of the diamagnetic hydrogen atom in the transition regime to chaos: Closed orbit theory with bifurcating orbits

With increasing energy the diamagnetic hydrogen atom undergoes a transition from regular to chaotic classical dynamics, and the closed orbits pass through various cascades of bifurcations. Closed orbit theory allows for the semiclassical calculation of photoabsorption spectra of the diamagnetic hydrogen atom. However, at the bifurcations the closed orbit contributions diverge. The singularities can be removed with the help of uniform semiclassical approximations which are constructed over a wide energy range for different types of codimension one and two catastrophes. Using the uniform approximations and applying the high-resolution harmonic inversion method we calculate fully resolved semiclassical photoabsorption spectra, i.e., individual eigenenergies and transition matrix elements at laboratory magnetic field strengths, and compare them with the results of exact quantum calculations.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, submitted to J. Phys.

Resonances in a spring-pendulum: algorithms for equivariant singularity theory

A spring-pendulum in resonance is a time-independent Hamiltonian model system for formal reduction to one degree of freedom, where some symmetry (reversibility) is maintained. The reduction is handled by equivariant singularity theory with a distinguished parameter, yielding an integrable approximation of the Poincaré map. This makes a concise description of certain bifurcations possible. The computation of reparametrizations from normal form to the actual system is performed by Gröbner basis techniques.