Active thermal mass enhancement using phase change materials

Buildings account for around 40% of energy consumption in the UK. For over twenty years active thermal mass systems have been a feature in low-energy buildings in northern Europe. By passing ventilation air, and utilising night ventilation, through the hollow core structures efficient heating and cooling has been achieved. Despite the success, such systems suffer from space overheating and efficiency losses during extended hot periods. Control strategies have largely mitigated this effect however low cost retrofit solutions that enhance the system are of interest. This research therefore investigates the benefit of using innovative phase change material (PCM) solutions to enhance thermal comfort and reduced energy usage of traditional active thermal mass systems. A prototype PCM enhancement was constructed, with energy saving and comfort benefits investigated under controlled laboratory conditions. In absolute terms the PCM solution offered an additional 12.5% energy storage capacity and a 29% increase in active surface area, coupled with the existing sensible thermal mass. Under laboratory conditions the PCM addition saved an additional 0.1 kWh per day, delayed AC onset by 1.2 h and offered an average 1.0 °C reduction in room temperature during 8 h of fixed internal heat gain, contrasted against the original active thermal mass system

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Interpreting measures of tuberculosis transmission : a case study on the Portuguese population

Background: Tuberculosis remains a high burden for Human society despite considerable investments in its control. Unique features in the history of infection and transmission dynamics of tuberculosis pose serious limitations on the direct interpretation of surveillance data and call for models that incorporate latent processes and simulate specific interventions.Methods: A transmission model was adjusted to the dataset of active tuberculosis cases reported in Portugal between 2002 and 2009. We estimated key transmission parameters from the data (i.e. time to diagnosis, treatment length, default proportion, proportion of pulmonary TB cases). Using the adjusted model to the Portuguese case, we estimated the total burden of tuberculosis in Portugal. We further performed sensitivity analysis to heterogeneities in susceptibility to infection and exposure intensity.Results: We calculated a mean time to diagnose of 2.81 months and treatment length of 8.80 months in Portugal. The proportion defaulting treatment was calculated as 0.04 and the proportion of pulmonary cases as 0.75. Using these values, we estimated a TB burden of 1.6 million infected persons, corresponding to more than 15% of the Portuguese population. We further described the sensitivity of these estimates to heterogeneity.Conclusions: We showed that the model reproduces well the observed dynamics of the Portuguese data, thus demonstrating its adequacy for devising control strategies for TB and predicting the effects of interventions

Características socio-demográficas de los pacientes con exacerbación de la enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica (EPOC)

Introduction, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an irreversible pathological process characterized by a limitation of airflow that increases progressively and is associated with an abnormal pulmonary inflammatory response to harmful particles or gases, mainly caused by smoking. It directly affects the patient since it is a pathology with which he will have to carry the rest of his life, adapt to the limitations that he will develop over time and cope with the exacerbations that he develops, Objectives, Validate the instrument to determine the socio demographic characteristics of patients with exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Methodology, it is a mixed investigation; quantitative, qualitative, retrospective, with a snowball selection sample technique, it is a field work, cross-sectional and descriptive, Instruments, the quantitative instrument-questionnaire and the qualitative instrument-interview were validated by the judgment of 16 experts, a Master of Public Health Respiratory Therapist participated, a specialist in Pneumology, 3 General Practitioners, 2 Master of Public Health Dentists, 4 graduates Master in Public Health Nursing, 3 Respiratory Therapists with experience in the management of patients with COPD and 2 master nutritionists in Public Health, Results, the pilot plan was with the snowball selection technique and its result showed that in the quantitative instrument: Cronbach's alpha, a score of 0.8 was obtained, a reliability of Good-High, in the qualitative instrument: an average of 89; category: emotional 85, family 83 and socioeconomic 87 as a result is rated 80-100 very reliable, Conclusions, the instrument was validated by expert judgment, reaching a score of 89 "Reliability" is considered a "Very Reliable" instrument to determine the socio demographic characteristics of patients with               exacerbation of COPD.Introducción, La enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica (EPOC) es un proceso patológico irreversible que se caracteriza por una limitación del flujo aéreo que incrementa de manera progresiva y se asocia con una respuesta inflamatoria pulmonar anormal a partículas o a gases nocivos, principalmente causada por el tabaquismo, afecta de manera directa al paciente ya que es una patología con la que tendrá que conllevar es resto de su vida, adaptarse a las limitaciones que esta ira desarrollando con el pasar del tiempo y sobrellevar las exacerbaciones que desarrolle, Objetivos, Validar del instrumento para determinar las características socio demográficas de los pacientes con exacerbación de Enfermedad Pulmonar Obstructiva Crónica, Metodología, es una investigación mixta; cuantitativa, cualitativa, retrospectivo, con técnica para muestra de selección bola de nieve, es un trabajo de campo, de corte transversal y descriptiva, Instrumentos, el instrumento cuantitativo-cuestionario y el instrumento cualitativo-entrevista fueron validados por juicio de 16 expertos, , participó un Terapeuta respiratorio magister en Salud Pública, un médico especialista en Neumología, 3 Médicos generales, 2 Odontólogos maestrante en Salud Publica, 4 licenciados/as en Enfermería maestrantes en Salud Publica, 3 Terapeutas Respiratorios con experiencia en el manejo de pacientes con la EPOC y 2 nutricionistas maestrantes en Salud Publica, Resultados, el plan piloto fue con la técnica de selección bola de nieve y su resultado demostró que en el instrumento cuantitativo: alfa de Cronbach se obtuvo una calificación de 0.8 una confiabilidad de Bueno-Alto, en el instrumento cualitativo: se obtuvo un promedio de 89; categoría: emocional 85, familiar 83 y socioeconómica 87 como resultado se califica de 80-100 muy confiable, Conclusiones, se realizó la validación del instrumento por juicio de expertos alcanzando puntaje de 89 “Confiabilidad” queda considerado como instrumento “Muy Confiable” determinar las características socio demográficas de los pacientes con exacerbación de la EPOC

Measurement of the cross section for isolated-photon plus jet production in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector

The dynamics of isolated-photon production in association with a jet in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a dataset with an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb−1. Photons are required to have transverse energies above 125 GeV. Jets are identified using the anti- algorithm with radius parameter and required to have transverse momenta above 100 GeV. Measurements of isolated-photon plus jet cross sections are presented as functions of the leading-photon transverse energy, the leading-jet transverse momentum, the azimuthal angular separation between the photon and the jet, the photon–jet invariant mass and the scattering angle in the photon–jet centre-of-mass system. Tree-level plus parton-shower predictions from Sherpa and Pythia as well as next-to-leading-order QCD predictions from Jetphox and Sherpa are compared to the measurements

Search for black holes and other new phenomena in high-multiplicity final states in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

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