A study of Improving Energy Efficiency of small supermarkets by modelling interaction between building, HVAC, Refrigeration and display product.

There is evidence that food retail has shifted towards smaller stores and food products requiring less time for cooking. Small supermarkets (<400m2) usually located within urban areas have higher energy intensity than larger supermarkets because of the high ratio of food against non-food products. An energy and thermal small supermarket model was developed based on EnergyPlus using a coupling approach on the interdependence of subsystems and verified with operational data. Simulations of energy efficient retrofits indicate savings of up to 17% with integrated improvements of building design, lighting, refrigeration and HVAC systems. Analysis of refrigeration type and food ratios indicates reduction of total and refrigeration energy consumption with decreasing frozen foods, but increase for the HVAC system making its choice more critical. Location within the urban heat island also has a small impact on the total energy use more pronounced for the HVAC and depending on the refrigeration system.EPSR

Coupling night ventilative and active cooling to reduce energy use in supermarkets with high refrigeration loads

Night ventilation is used extensively as a low energy strategy to cool buildings in climates where night temperatures are suitable. It can be used for spaces utilising natural or mechanical ventilation systems as well as active refrigerant cooling. Most published work focuses on domestic and relatively simple in operation commercial buildings such as offices. This paper presents a study of the cooling benefits of night ventilation for frozen food supermarkets with high cooling demand. Supermarkets present a unique space conditioning challenge because of the interaction between the HVAC system and the refrigerated display cabinets. HVAC systems are the largest consumer of energy after refrigeration in supermarkets depending on system design, geographical location and controls. The most common HVAC system used in supermarkets is the constant air volume (CAV) system integrating heating, cooling and ventilation in one system although different types of systems to decouple cooling and ventilation such as a combination of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) for heating and cooling and mechanical balanced or extract ventilation have been tried out to improve thermal comfort and reduce energy use. This paper presents two case-studies (CS) which differ from typical supermarkets as they belong in a frozen food supermarket chain. CS1 is served by a typical CAV system for heating, cooling and ventilation (coupled HVAC), while CS2 provides conditioned air through a VRF system and ducted extract ventilation (decoupled HVAC). First, an analysis of their measured energy use and indoor environmental conditions is presented to highlight similarities and differences of the two systems. Then, a coupling approach for dynamic simulation of the air-conditioning with the refrigeration system by EnergyPlus is presented and the resulting models are validated against the monitored data from the two case-study supermarkets. Using the validated models, a parametric study of the coupled operation of night ventilation and active cooling for the climatic conditions of south east England is carried out and optimisation strategies are modelled. The parametric analysis indicates that the air flow rate of night ventilation and climatic conditions are significantly correlated with the impact of night ventilation on the total energy consumption of the supermarket. Simulations have revealed that night ventilation results to lower cooling energy use for both HVAC systems. Night ventilation is in use in CS1 but optimised control strategy with lower air flow rate reduced the total annual energy use of the store by 3% due to reduction in fan energy use and active cooling, although refrigeration energy use was remain stable. In CS2 active cooling during the night is replaced with night ventilative cooling which leads to a reduction of energy use by 3.3%. Such a percentage reduction equates to 35 kWh/m2/annum. The paper discusses the differences of the two systems (all air or decoupling of ventilation from heating/cooling) in terms of HVAC energy use, total energy use, impact on the refrigeration system and the importance of controls for the night ventilative cooling

Energy analysis of alternative CO 2 refrigeration system configurations for retail food applications in moderate and warm climates

Refrigeration systems are crucial in retail food stores to ensure appropriate merchandising of food products. This paper compares four different CO2 refrigeration system configurations in terms of cooling performance, environmental impact, power consumption and annual running costs. The systems studied were the conventional booster refrigeration system with gas bypass (reference system), the all CO2 cascade system with gas bypass, a booster system with a gas bypass compressor, and integrated cascade all CO2 system with gas bypass compressor. The weather conditions of London, UK, and Athens, Greece, were used for the modelling of energy consumption and environmental impacts to represent moderate and warm climatic conditions respectively. The control strategies for the refrigeration systems were derived from experimental tests in the laboratory on a conventional booster refrigeration system. The results from the analysis showed that the CO2 booster system with gas bypass compressor can provide best performance with 5.0% energy savings for the warm climate and 3.65% for the moderate climate, followed by the integrated cascade all CO2 system with gas bypass compressor, with 3.6% and 2.1% savings over the reference system for the warm and moderate climates respectively.This study was supported by the Research Councils UK Energy programme, Grant No: EP/K011820/1 and GEA Searle, now Kevlion. The authors wish to acknowledge the cash and in-kind contributions of these organisations as well as the support received from Brunel University London and the RCUK National Centre for Sustainable Energy use in Food Chains (CSEF)

Benevolent characteristics promote cooperative behaviour among humans

Cooperation is fundamental to the evolution of human society. We regularly observe cooperative behaviour in everyday life and in controlled experiments with anonymous people, even though standard economic models predict that they should deviate from the collective interest and act so as to maximise their own individual payoff. However, there is typically heterogeneity across subjects: some may cooperate, while others may not. Since individual factors promoting cooperation could be used by institutions to indirectly prime cooperation, this heterogeneity raises the important question of who these cooperators are. We have conducted a series of experiments to study whether benevolence, defined as a unilateral act of paying a cost to increase the welfare of someone else beyond one's own, is related to cooperation in a subsequent one-shot anonymous Prisoner's dilemma. Contrary to the predictions of the widely used inequity aversion models, we find that benevolence does exist and a large majority of people behave this way. We also find benevolence to be correlated with cooperative behaviour. Finally, we show a causal link between benevolence and cooperation: priming people to think positively about benevolent behaviour makes them significantly more cooperative than priming them to think malevolently. Thus benevolent people exist and cooperate more

Characterization of Endothelial Cells Associated with Hematopoietic Niche Formation in Humans Identifies IL-33 As an Anabolic Factor

Bone marrow formation requires an orchestrated interplay between osteogenesis, angiogenesis, and hematopoiesis that is thought to be mediated by endothelial cells. The nature of the endothelial cells and the molecular mechanisms underlying these events remain unclear in humans. Here, we identify a subset of endoglin-expressing endothelial cells enriched in human bone marrow during fetal ontogeny and upon regeneration after chemotherapeutic injury. Comprehensive transcriptional characterization by massive parallel RNA sequencing of these cells reveals a phenotypic and molecular similarity to murine type H endothelium and activation of angiocrine factors implicated in hematopoiesis, osteogenesis, and angiogenesis. Interleukin-33 (IL-33) was significantly overexpressed in these endothelial cells and promoted the expansion of distinct subsets of h

Activation of NF-κB driven inflammatory programs in mesenchymal elements attenuates hematopoiesis in low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes

Activation of NF-κB signaling in mesenchymal cells is common in LR-MDS.Activation of NF-κB in mesenchymal cells leads to transcriptional overexpression of inflammatory factors including negative regulators of hematopoiesis.Activation of NF-κB attenuates HSPC numbers and function ex vivo

FCC-ee: The Lepton Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 2

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics, the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched, as an international collaboration hosted by CERN. This study covers a highest-luminosity high-energy lepton collider (FCC-ee) and an energy-frontier hadron collider (FCC-hh), which could, successively, be installed in the same 100 km tunnel. The scientific capabilities of the integrated FCC programme would serve the worldwide community throughout the 21st century. The FCC study also investigates an LHC energy upgrade, using FCC-hh technology. This document constitutes the second volume of the FCC Conceptual Design Report, devoted to the electron-positron collider FCC-ee. After summarizing the physics discovery opportunities, it presents the accelerator design, performance reach, a staged operation scenario, the underlying technologies, civil engineering, technical infrastructure, and an implementation plan. FCC-ee can be built with today’s technology. Most of the FCC-ee infrastructure could be reused for FCC-hh. Combining concepts from past and present lepton colliders and adding a few novel elements, the FCC-ee design promises outstandingly high luminosity. This will make the FCC-ee a unique precision instrument to study the heaviest known particles (Z, W and H bosons and the top quark), offering great direct and indirect sensitivity to new physics

FCC Physics Opportunities: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 1

We review the physics opportunities of the Future Circular Collider, covering its e+e-, pp, ep and heavy ion programmes. We describe the measurement capabilities of each FCC component, addressing the study of electroweak, Higgs and strong interactions, the top quark and flavour, as well as phenomena beyond the Standard Model. We highlight the synergy and complementarity of the different colliders, which will contribute to a uniquely coherent and ambitious research programme, providing an unmatchable combination of precision and sensitivity to new physics