The Economic and Emissions Reduction Potential of Air Source Heat Pumps as a Replacement for Natural Gas and Electric Resistance Space Heating in the Contiguous United States

It is widely believed that to reduce CO2 emissions the best strategy is to electrify everything, decarbonize the grid, and improve energy efficiency. This research looks specifically at the use of air source heat pumps (AHP) as a tool to reduce the CO2 emissions of heating energy in the residential sector. The landscape of residential energy use is complicated by a broad range of factors. We compare AHP, natural gas (NG), and electric resistance (ER) heating using data from energy prices, temperature, appliance efficiency, building efficiency and marginal emissions data from 2019 as well as modeled data of what emissions the future grid might produce. With this data we answer the question of what effect AHP units can have on mitigating carbon emissions associated with heating in the residential sector. Using modeled emissions data results show that 37.7% of homes that are currently using NG or ER heating could reduce their emissions by installing a heat pump while realizing an economic saving, another 61.8% could reduce emissions with an added cost. In total 99.7% of BTU’s used for heating in the United States could be delivered with lower emissions using air source heat pumps in place of electric resistance and natural gas. Houses that used other forms of heating or no heating at all were not included in this study. Using data from 2019, in total, 129 million metric tons (Mt) could be mitigated with a net savings of $10 billion at an average savings of$72.74 per tonne. Results show that the mitigation potential for replacing NG heating with AHP is greatly expanded as the grid becomes less carbon-intensive over time while the cost to do so is greatly reduced

Effectiveness of Ankle Strengthening using Pilates Reformer vs. Balance Board to Improve Balance in Dancers

This study was conducted to analyze the alignment of various collegiate dancers’ ankles in order to strengthen the muscles surrounding the ankle joint and improve balance. The research was conducted using a pre and post-test consisting of the Star Excursion Balance test and the Stork test. Participants from the Texas A&M dance program that did not have any lower extremity injuries in the six months prior to the study were randomly assigned to either the Pilates intervention group, balance board intervention group, or a control group who continued their regular training regimen. The participants met three times a week for five weeks to go through the intervention exercises. After the intervention period, a post test was conducted to collect data from the same tests used for the pre-test. It was predicted that the balance board group would have the greatest improvement because the exercises were fully weight bearing and challenged their balance more than the reformer group

High mass X-ray binaries in the LMC: dependence on the stellar population age and the "propeller" effect

We study population of compact X-ray sources in the Large Magellanic Cloud using the archival data of XMM-Newton observatory. The total area of the survey is approximately 3.8 square degrees with the limiting sensitivity of about 10^{-14} erg/s/cm^2, corresponding to the luminosity of 3*10^{33} erg/s at the LMC distance. Out of 460 point sources detected in the 2--8 keV energy band,the vast majority are background CXB sources, observed through LMC. Based on the properties of the optical and near-infrared counterparts of the detected sources we identified 9 likely HMXB candidates, and 19 sources, which nature is uncertain, thus, providing a lower and upper limits on the luminosity distribution of HMXBs in the observed part of LMC. When considered globally, the bright end of this distribution is consistent within statistical and systematic uncertainties with extrapolation of the universal luminosity function of HMXBs. However, there seems to be fewer low luminosity sources, log(Lx)<35.5, than predicted. We consider the impact of the ``propeller effect'' on the HMXB luminosity distribution and show, that it can qualitatively explain the observed deficit of low luminosity sources. We found significant field-to-field variations in the number of HMXBs across the LMC, which appear to be uncorrelated with the star formation rates inferred by the FIR and Halpha emission. We suggest that these variations are caused by the dependence of the HMXB number on the age of the underlying stellar population. Using the existence of large coeval stellar aggregates in the LMC, we constrain the number of HMXBs as a function of time elapsed since the star formation event in the range of from 1-2 Myr to 10-12 Myr.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures accepted to A&A (Minor changes made according to referee Comments

Effectiveness of Ankle Strengthening using Pilates Reformer vs. Balance Board to Improve Balance in Dancers

This study was conducted to analyze the alignment of various collegiate dancers’ ankles in order to strengthen the muscles surrounding the ankle joint and improve balance. The research was conducted using a pre and post-test consisting of the Star Excursion Balance test and the Stork test. Participants from the Texas A&M dance program that did not have any lower extremity injuries in the six months prior to the study were randomly assigned to either the Pilates intervention group, balance board intervention group, or a control group who continued their regular training regimen. The participants met three times a week for five weeks to go through the intervention exercises. After the intervention period, a post test was conducted to collect data from the same tests used for the pre-test. It was predicted that the balance board group would have the greatest improvement because the exercises were fully weight bearing and challenged their balance more than the reformer group

Promoting sexual well-being in social work education and practice

This paper explores the importance of including sexual well-being within social work practice and education. Social workers often work with individuals for whom opportunities for sexual expression are limited and who face discriminatory attitudes. Sexual well-being is a global concern, and is particularly relevant considering international interest in the influence of notions of well-being on mental and physical health. Implementation of new social care policy in England, underpinned by the well-being principle, provides practitioners with the opportunity to explore what is meaningful to individual’s well-being through person-centred approaches to practice. There is currently little coverage of sexual well-being within social work education, this means students and practitioners lack the knowledge and skills to challenge barriers. Promotion of the concept of sexual citizenship, with its associated rights and responsibilities, enables social workers to engage in rights focused practice. Sexual well-being is a sensitive subject and the social and personal barriers practitioners may experience in addressing this topic are explored

Beyond predator satiation : masting but also the effects of rainfall stochasticity on weevils drive acorn predation

Escaping seed predation is a classic "economy of scale" hypotheses (predator satiation hypothesis, Psh) to explain the selection for the synchronous production of massive and nil seed crops (masting) in plants. The Psh postulates that predator satiation occurs through a combination of (1) "functional satiation," as not all seeds can be consumed during a massive crop, and (2) "numerical satiation," as predator populations collapse during poor crop years. Many studies advocate for the Psh, but few have investigated the importance of masting compared to other factors for the control of predation extent. Namely, environmental cues prompting masting could also determine predator's success and, ultimately, influence directly and independently seed predation intensity. We explored this question in Mediterranean oaks, as they exhibit strong masting behavior; acorns are heavily predated upon by weevils; and rainfall stochasticity drives masting and the emergence of adult weevils from the soil. Results of two mid-term studies (4 and 11 yr) showed that acorn production and predation were highly variable across years, while the abundance of adult weevils was positively related to autumn rainfall and to the number of infested acorns the previous years. Ultimately, acorn predation was negatively influenced by inter-annual fluctuation of seed production (masting) yet, mainly and positively, prompted by autumn rainfall and acorn crop size (only in one site). Our results highlight the relevance of masting to reduce seed predation. Yet evidences that rainfall stochasticity directly determines the success of weevils, and it independently influences seed predation extent, indicate that environmental cues prompting masting may also fine-tune the output of this reproductive behavior. Additionally, local differences suggest that the relevance of masting may change with tree characteristics (low vs. high seed production) and landscape structure (isolated vs. dense forests). We also discuss what can be the effects of increasing drought in Mediterranean areas for this antagonistic interaction, triggered by rainfall