644 research outputs found
Flux-cutting and flux-transport effects in type-II superconductor slabs in a parallel rotating magnetic field
The magnetic response of irreversible type-II superconductor slabs subjected
to in-plane rotating magnetic field is investigated by applying the circular,
elliptic, extended-elliptic, and rectangular flux-line-cutting critical-state
models. Specifically, the models have been applied to explain experiments on a
PbBi rotating disk in a fixed magnetic field , parallel to the flat
surfaces. Here, we have exploited the equivalency of the experimental situation
with that of a fixed disk under the action of a parallel magnetic field,
rotating in the opposite sense. The effect of both the magnitude of the
applied magnetic field and its angle of rotation upon the
magnetization of the superconductor sample is analyzed. When is smaller
than the penetration field , the magnetization components, parallel and
perpendicular to , oscillate with increasing the rotation angle. On
the other hand, if the magnitude of the applied field, , is larger than
, both magnetization components become constant functions of at
large rotation angles. The evolution of the magnetic induction profiles inside
the superconductor is also studied.Comment: 12 pages, 29 figure
Practical Characterization of Cell-Electrode Electrical Models in Bio-Impedance Assays
This paper presents the fitting process followed to adjust the parameters of the electrical model associated to a cell-electrode system in Electrical Cell-substrate Impedance Spectroscopy (ECIS) technique, to the experimental results from cell-culture assays. A new parameter matching procedure is proposed, under the basis of both, mismatching between electrodes and time-evolution observed in the system response, as consequence of electrode fabrication processes and electrochemical performance of electrode-solution interface, respectively. The obtained results agree with experimental performance, and enable the evaluation of the cell number in a culture, by using the electrical measurements observed at the oscillation parameters in the test circuits employed.Ministerio de EconomĂa y Competitividad TEC2013-46242-C3-1-
Equilibration of Concentrated Hard Sphere Fluids
We report a systematic molecular dynamics study of the isochoric
equilibration of hard-sphere fluids in their metastable regime close to the
glass transition. The thermalization process starts with the system prepared in
a non-equilibrium state with the desired final volume fraction {\phi} but with
a prescribed non-equilibrium static structure factor S_0(k; {\phi}). The
evolution of the {\alpha}- relaxation time {\tau}{\alpha} (k) and long-time
self-diffusion coefficient DL as a function of the evolution time tw is then
monitored for an array of volume fractions. For a given waiting time the plot
of {\tau}{\alpha} (k; {\phi}, tw) as a function of {\phi} exhibits two regimes
corresponding to samples that have fully equilibrated within this waiting time
({\phi} \leq {\phi}(c) (tw)), and to samples for which equilibration is not yet
complete ({\phi} \geq {\phi}(c) (tw)). The crossover volume fraction {\phi}(c)
(tw) increases with tw but seems to saturate to a value {\phi}(a) \equiv
{\phi}(c) (tw \rightarrow \infty) \approx 0.582. We also find that the waiting
time t^(eq)_w({\phi}) required to equilibrate a system grows faster than the
corresponding equilibrium relaxation time, t^(eq)({\phi}) \approx 0.27 \times
[{\tau}{\alpha} (k; {\phi})]^1.43, and that both characteristic times increase
strongly as {\phi} approaches {\phi}^(a), thus suggesting that the measurement
of equilibrium properties at and above {\phi}(a) is experimentally impossible
Monitoring Muscle Stem Cell Cultures with Impedance Spectroscopy
The aim of this work is to present a new circuit for the real-time monitoring the processes of cellular growth
and differentiation of skeletal myoblast cell cultures. An impedance spectroscopy Oscillation-Based
technique is proposed for the test circuit, converting the biological system into a voltage oscillator, and
avoiding the use of very high performance circuitry or equipment. This technique proved to be successful in
the monitoring of cell cultures growth levels and could be useful for determining the degree of
differentiation achieved, of practical implications in tissue engineering.Ministerio de EconomĂa y Competitividad TEC2013-46242-C3-1-
A Multi-Omics Analysis Pipeline for the Metabolic Pathway Reconstruction in the Orphan Species Quercus ilex
Holm oak (Quercus ilex) is the most important and representative species of the Mediterranean forest and of the Spanish agrosilvo-pastoral âdehesaâ ecosystem. Despite its environmental and economic interest, Holm oak is an orphan species whose biology is very little known, especially at the molecular level. In order to increase the knowledge on the chemical composition and metabolism of this tree species, the employment of a holistic and multi-omics approach, in the Systems Biology direction would be necessary. However, for orphan and recalcitrant plant species, specific analytical and bioinformatics tools have to be developed in order to obtain adequate quality and data-density before to coping with the study of its biology. By using a plant sample consisting of a pool generated by mixing equal amounts of homogenized tissue from acorn embryo, leaves, and roots, protocols for transcriptome (NGS-Illumina), proteome (shotgun LC-MS/MS), and metabolome (GC-MS) studies have been optimized. These analyses resulted in the identification of around 62629 transcripts, 2380 protein species, and 62 metabolites. Data are compared with those reported for model plant species, whose genome has been sequenced and is well annotated, including Arabidopsis, japonica rice, poplar, and eucalyptus. RNA and protein sequencing favored each other, increasing the number and confidence of the proteins identified and correcting erroneous RNA sequences. The integration of the large amount of data reported using bioinformatics tools allows the Holm oak metabolic network to be partially reconstructed: from the 127 metabolic pathways reported in KEGG pathway database, 123 metabolic pathways can be visualized when using the described methodology. They included: carbohydrate and energy metabolism, amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. The TCA cycle was the pathway most represented with 5 out of 10 metabolites, 6 out of 8 protein enzymes, and 8 out of 8 enzyme transcripts. On the other hand, gaps, missed pathways, included metabolism of terpenoids and polyketides and lipid metabolism. The multi-omics resource generated in this work will set the basis for ongoing and future studies, bringing the Holm oak closer to model species, to obtain a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying phenotypes of interest (productive, tolerant to environmental cues, nutraceutical value) and to select elite genotypes to be used in restoration and reforestation programs, especially in a future climate change scenario
Responses and Differences in Tolerance to Water Shortage under Climatic Dryness Conditions in Seedlings from Quercus spp. and Andalusian Q. ilex Populations
Analyzing differences in tolerance to drought in Quercus spp., and the characterization of these responses at the species and individual population level, are imperative for the selection of resilient elite genotypes in reforestation programs. The main objective of this work was to evaluate differences in the response and tolerance to water shortage under in five Quercus spp. and five Andalusian Q. ilex populations at the inter- and intraspecies level. Six-month-old seedlings grown in perlite were subjected to drought treatments by withholding water for 28 days under mean 37 °C temperature, 28 W m-2 solar irradiance, and 41% humidity. The use of perlite as the substrate enabled the establishment of severe drought stress with reduction in water availability from 73% (field capacity) to 28% (dryness), corresponding to matric potentials of 0 and â30 kPa. Damage symptoms, mortality rate, leaf water content, photosynthetic, and biochemical parameters (amino acids, sugars, phenolics, and pigments) were determined. At the phenotypic level, based on damage symptoms and mortality, Q. ilex behaved as the most drought tolerant species. Drought caused a significant decrease in leaf fluorescence, photosynthesis rate, and stomatal conductance in all Quercus spp. analyzed, being less pronounced in Q. ilex. There were not differences between irrigated and non-irrigated Q. ilex seedlings in the content of sugar and photosynthetic pigments, while the total amino acid and phenolic content significantly increased under drought conditions. As a response to drought, living Q. ilex seedlings adjust stomata opening and gas exchange, and keep hydrated, photosynthetically active, and metabolically competent. At the population level, based on damage symptoms, mortality, and physiological parameters, the eastern Andalusian populations were more tolerant than the western ones. These observations inform the basis for the selection of resilient genotypes to be used in breeding and reforestation programs
Some Like It Fat: Comparative Ultrastructure of the Embryo in Two Demosponges of the Genus Mycale (Order Poecilosclerida) from Antarctica and the Caribbean
0000-0002-7993-1523© 2015 Riesgo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License [4.0], which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article
Effect of Defoliation Frequency on Forage Yield from Intensive Silvopastoral Systems Compared to a Monoculture Grassland
Livestock production in the tropical regions of the world faces serious constraints as a result of climate change. Monoculture based pastures require the use of large amounts of nitrogen fertilizers to sustain production throughout the year. In general terms, tropical grasses are of low quality and when consumed by ruminant species, contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases (methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide) (Herrero et al. 2009; Place et al. 2009). The establishment of intensive silvopastoral systems (iSPS) with associated shrubs legumes and grasses can increase the yield and quality of forage as well as fixation and transfer of atmospheric nitrogen (N) (Murgueitio et al. 2011). Therefore, the costs of nitrogen fertilizers and the emissions of greenhouse gases under practical conditions can be reduced. The intensive silvopastoral system is a kind of agroforestal practice that it is environmentally friendly and at the same time improves productivity of livestock systems. However, several aspects of its management have not been fully evaluated.
This is the case of the response to defoliation, which is an important management factor associated to the overall biomass productivity (Solorio 2005)
Characterization of Implanted Stents through Neointimal Tissue Bioimpedance Simulations
This work describes how is possible the definition
of the light hole or lumen in implanted stents affected by
restenosis processes using the BioImpedance (BI) as biomarker.
The main approach is based on the fact that neointimal tissues
implied in restenosis can be detected and measured thanks to
their respective conductivity and dielectric properties. For this
goal, it is proposed a four-electrode setup for bioimpedance
measurement. The influence of the several involved tissues in
restenosis: fat, muscle, fiber, endothelium and blood, have been
studied at several frequencies, validating the setup and
illustrating the sensitivity of each one. Finally, a real example
using a standard stent, has been analyzed for stable and
vulnerable plaques in restenosis test cases, demonstrating that
the proposed method is useful for the stent obstruction test.
Bioimpedance simulation test has been performed using the
electric physics module in COMSOL MultiphysicsÂź.Junta de AndalucĂa 2017/TIC-17
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