A Review of the Passiv Haus Concept and an Examination of How This Was Applied to a Supermarket in Ireland

The aim of this research is to garner a full understanding of low energy construction across a variety of sectors in countries throughout the world, and then investigate how the Passiv Haus concept was applied to a Supermarket in Ireland. In order to carry out this investigation, a case study was performed on the energy efficiency and performance of a Tesco store in Tramore. It was found that its electrical cosumption was 24% lower than equivalent stores which were not built to the high specification of the Passiv Haus Standard. As this supermarket is the first of its kind in the world, and with both the SEAl and the European Parliament pushing for this method of construction to be adopted, this standard will most likely in some shape or form become a new building standard in Ireland. This supermarket offers a unique insight into what can be expected in building design and construction in this sector if it is undertaken

Critical Exponents without the Epsilon Expansion

We argue that the sharp-cutoff Wilson renormalization group provides a powerful tool for the analysis of second-order and weakly first-order phase transitions. In particular, in a computation no harder than the calculation of the 1-loop effective potential, we show that the Wilson RG yields the fixed point couplings and critical exponents of 3-dimensional $O(N)$ scalar field theory, with results close to those obtained in high-order \ep-% expansion and large-$N$ calculations. We discuss the prospects for an even more precise computation.Comment: 8 pages, CLNS 94/1279, late

ACUTE VS. DEVELOPMENTAL ACCLIMATION SHAPES PARENTAL AND GRANDPARENTAL EFFECTS OF OCEAN WARMING ON MARINE STICKLEBACKS

Transgenerational plasticity (TGP) can buffer populations against rapid environmental change, yet little is known about the underlying mechanisms or how long these effects persist. We tested for adaptive TGP in response to simulated ocean warming across parental and grandparental generations of marine sticklebacks, and investigated mitochondrial respiration capacity (MRC) as a potential mechanism underlying growth responses. Acute exposure to elevated temperature during reproductive conditioning led to strong maternal TGP benefits on F1 offspring growth, with a matching pattern for MRC, providing an intuitive mechanistic basis for maternal acclimation persisting into adulthood. Developmental acclimation to elevated temperature, however, led to negative maternal effects on F2 offspring growth and no detectable maternal effects on MRC. But, maternal grandmother TGP benefits were still present for both growth and MRC, perhaps resulting from epigenetic marks on mitochondrial genes acquired during acute exposure. In summary, both parental and grandparental TGP will play a role in mediating some of the impacts of climate change, but the mechanisms underlying offspring phenotype plasticity may differ depending on whether mothers experience acute or developmental acclimation

Radiatively-Induced First-Order Phase Transitions: The Necessity of the Renormalization Group

We advocate a (Wilson) renormalization-group (RG) treatment of finite-temperature first-order phase transitions, in particular those driven by radiative corrections such as occur in the standard model, and other spontaneously-broken gauge theories. We introduce the scale-dependent coarse-grained free energy S_\La[\phi] which we explicitly calculate, using the Wilson RG and a (4-\ep)-expansion, for a scalar toy model that shares many features of the gauged case. As argued by Langer and others, the dynamics of the phase transition are described by S_\La[\phi] with \La of order the bubble wall thickness, and {\it not} by the usual (RG-improved) finite-temperature effective action which is reproduced by S_\La[\phi] for \La\to 0. We argue that for weakly first-order transitions (such as that in the standard model) the (4-\ep)-expansion is necessary to control an inevitable growth of the effective scale-dependent coupling towards the strong-coupling regime, and that diagrammatic resummation techniques are unlikely to be appropriate.Comment: 26 pages, two figures, LaTex macropackage. References added and appendix A revised. LBL preprint LBL-3457

Feasibility of assessment of skeletal muscle mass on a single cross-sectional image at the level of the fourth thoracic vertebra

Background Skeletal muscle mass (SMM) determined on computed tomography (CT) is emerging as a novel imaging biomarker. Cross-sectional area (CSA) of SMM at the level of the third lumbar vertebra (L3) on abdominal imaging is considered the clinical reference standard for measuring SMM. In certain patient groups, such as those with oncological or non-oncological lung disease like COVID-19, a chest CT may be available while an abdominal CT is not. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether determining SMM on a chest CT is a feasible alternative to abdominal CT.  Research question What is the correlation between SMM measurements at the level of L3 and the level of the fourth thoracic vertebra (Th4)?  Study design and methods  In this study we retrospectively analyzed abdominal and thoracic series of whole-body CT-scans of trauma patients (N = 47) and head and neck cancer patients (N = 194). All abdominal muscles were delineated on a single axial slice at the level of L3. The erector spinae, levator scapulae, rhomboideus minor and major and pectoralis minor and major muscles were delineated on a single axial slice at the level of Th4. CSA of the muscles at Th4 and the L3 level were compared using linear regression, and a multivariate linear regression model was established.  Results Muscle CSA at level Th4 strongly correlates with L3 muscle CSA (r = 0.791, p < 0.05). A multivariate model incorporating the patient characteristics arm positioning, age, sex, and weight achieved a stronger correlation (r = 0.856, p < 0.05). Interpretation: Skeletal muscle CSA measured at the level of Th4 is a feasible alternative to measurements at L3. This allows diagnosing low SMM using clinically available thoracic CT-scans. SMM measurements at the level of Th4 may become a prognostic or triage tool when faced with mechanical ventilator shortage

Occupational Risks during a Monkeypox Outbreak, Wisconsin, 2003

Veterinary staff were at high risk; standard veterinary infection-control guidelines should be followed

Pseudobulges in the Disk Galaxies NGC 7690 and NGC 4593

We present Ks-band surface photometry of NGC 7690 (Hubble type Sab) and NGC 4593 (SBb). We find that, in both galaxies, a major part of the "bulge" is as flat as the disk and has approximately the same color as the inner disk. In other words, the "bulges" of these galaxies have disk-like properties. We conclude that these are examples of "pseudobulges" -- that is, products of secular dynamical evolution. Nonaxisymmetries such as bars and oval disks transport disk gas toward the center. There, star formation builds dense stellar components that look like -- and often are mistaken for -- merger-built bulges but that were constructed slowly out of disk material. These pseudobulges can most easily be recognized when, as in the present galaxies, they retain disk-like properties. NGC 7690 and NGC 4593 therefore contribute to the growing evidence that secular processes help to shape galaxies. NGC 4593 contains a nuclear ring of dust that is morphologically similar to nuclear rings of star formation that are seen in many barred and oval galaxies. The nuclear dust ring is connected to nearly radial dust lanes in the galaxy's bar. Such dust lanes are a signature of gas inflow. We suggest that gas is currently accumulating in the dust ring and hypothesize that the gas ring will starburst in the future. The observations of NGC 4593 therefore suggest that major starburst events that contribute to pseudobulge growth can be episodic.Comment: 10 pages, 3 Postscript figures; requires emulateapj.cls, apjfonts.sty, and psfig.sty; accepted for publication in ApJ; for a version with full resolution figures, see http://chandra.as.utexas.edu/~kormendy/n7690.pd

Which Compound to Select in Lead Optimization? Prospectively Validated Proteochemometric Models Guide Preclinical Development

In quite a few diseases, drug resistance due to target variability poses a serious problem in pharmacotherapy. This is certainly true for HIV, and hence, it is often unknown which drug is best to use or to develop against an individual HIV strain. In this work we applied ‘proteochemometric’ modeling of HIV Non-Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase (NNRTI) inhibitors to support preclinical development by predicting compound performance on multiple mutants in the lead selection stage. Proteochemometric models are based on both small molecule and target properties and can thus capture multi-target activity relationships simultaneously, the targets in this case being a set of 14 HIV Reverse Transcriptase (RT) mutants. We validated our model by experimentally confirming model predictions for 317 untested compound – mutant pairs, with a prediction error comparable with assay variability (RMSE 0.62). Furthermore, dependent on the similarity of a new mutant to the training set, we could predict with high accuracy which compound will be most effective on a sequence with a previously unknown genotype. Hence, our models allow the evaluation of compound performance on untested sequences and the selection of the most promising leads for further preclinical research. The modeling concept is likely to be applicable also to other target families with genetic variability like other viruses or bacteria, or with similar orthologs like GPCRs