Life cycle and environmental assessment of calcium looping (CaL) in solar thermochemical energy storage

Calcium looping is a promising thermochemical energy storage process to be integrated into concentrating solar power plants. This work develops for the first time a comprehensive life cycle assessment of the calcium looping integration in solar plants to assess the potential of the technology from an environmental perspective. Two representative integrations are analysed, representing daily (hot) and seasonal (cold) storage designs. Similar performance environmental impacts are observed in both, with slightly better results for the seasonal storage case due to the simplified energy storage integration. The results show the moderate environmental impact of calcium looping thermochemical energy storage technology, resulting in lower equivalent carbon dioxide emissions 24 kg/MWh) than other energy storage options such as molten salt-based solar facilities (40 kg/MWh). Plant construction involves a higher energy demand for the process, whilst the operation and maintenance on the plant represent a moderate impact due to the low environmental impact of limestone, the unique raw material of the process, and the lower water consumption compared to typical concentrating solar power plants. Besides, the energy required for the system is first time analysed, obtaining an energy payback time of 2.2 years and 2.5 years depending on the storage strategy design.Unión Europea - Horizonte 2020 No 727348Junta de Andalucía PY20 RE00

Field cress genome mapping: Integrating linkage and comparative maps with cytogenetic analysis for rDNA carrying chromosomes

Field cress (Lepidium campestre L.), despite its potential as a sustainable alternative oilseed plant, has been underutilized, and no prior attempts to characterize the genome at the genetic or molecular cytogenetic level have been conducted. Genetic maps are the foundation for anchoring and orienting annotated genome assemblies and positional cloning of candidate genes. Our principal goal was to construct a genetic map using integrated approaches of genetic, comparative and cytogenetic map analyses. In total, 503 F2 interspecific hybrid individuals were genotyped using 7,624 single nucleotide polymorphism markers. Comparative analysis demonstrated that ~57% of the sequenced loci in L. campestre were congruent with Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) genome and suggested a novel karyotype, which predates the ancestral crucifer karyotype. Aceto-orcein chromosome staining and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses confirmed that L. campestre, L. heterophyllum Benth. and their hybrids had a chromosome number of 2n = 2x = 16. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that both species possess 2C roughly 0.4 picogram DNA. Integrating linkage and comparative maps with cytogenetic map analyses assigned two linkage groups to their particular chromosomes. Future work could incorporate FISH utilizing A. thaliana mapped BAC clones to allow the chromosomes of field cress to be identified reliably

Charge dynamics in the Mott insulating phase of the ionic Hubbard model

We extend to charge and bond operators the transformation that maps the ionic Hubbard model at half filling onto an effective spin Hamiltonian. Using these operators we calculate the amplitude of the charge density wave in different dimensions. In one dimension, the charge-charge correlations at large distance d decay as 1/(d^3 ln^{3/2}d), in spite of the presence of a charge gap, as a consequence of remaining charge-spin coupling. Bond-bond correlations decay as (-1)^d 1/(d ln^{3/2}d) as in the usual Hubbard model.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B printing errors corrected and some clarifications adde

A novel CCR2 antagonist inhibits atherogenesis in apoE deficient mice by achieving high receptor occupancy

CC Chemokine Receptor 2 (CCR2) and its endogenous ligand CCL2 are involved in a number of diseases, including atherosclerosis. Several CCR2 antagonists have been developed as potential therapeutic agents, however their in vivo clinical efficacy was limited. In this report, we aimed to determine whether 15a, an antagonist with a long residence time on the human CCR2, is effective in inhibiting the development of atherosclerosis in a mouse disease model. First, radioligand binding assays were performed to determine affinity and binding kinetics of 15a on murine CCR2. To assess the in vivo efficacy, western-type diet fed apoE-/- mice were treated daily with 15a or vehicle as control. Treatment with 15a reduced the amount of circulating CCR2+ monocytes and the size of the atherosclerotic plaques in both the carotid artery and the aortic root. We then showed that the long pharmacokinetic half-life of 15a combined with the high drug concentrations ensured prolonged CCR2 occupancy. These data render 15a a promising compound for drug development and confirms high receptor occupancy as a key parameter when targeting chemokine receptors

LARVAL HABITATS AND CATCHES OF SWORDFISH (XIPHIAS GLADIUS) IN THE BALEARIC ISLANDS (2001-2020): OCEANOGRAPHIC DRIVERS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESEARCH

Since 2001, ichthyoplankton and hydrographic surveys directed to tuna species have been conducted in the Balearic Islands, a main tuna spawning ground in the Mediterranean. These campaigns provide today key information about the interannual changes on larval abundances for Bluefin tuna and albacore, also allowing the investigation of the early-life ecology of various species. The Balearic Islands have been identified as a prominent oceanographic retention area within the western Mediterranean as well as the main spawning area for tuna species. Hence, the regular ichthyoplankton surveys become an opportunity to increase the knowledge of those species whose pelagic early-life stages are encountered during the summer in this area. This is the case of swordfish (Xiphias gladius). Here we analyse the possibility of applying those surveys to investigate the early life ecology of the Mediterranean swordfish, exploring the interannual changes on larval abundances and the hydrographic preferences of larval habitatsEn prens

Periodic and Quasiperiodic Motion of an Elongated Microswimmer in Poiseuille Flow

We study the dynamics of a prolate spheroidal microswimmer in Poiseuille flow for different flow geometries. When moving between two parallel plates or in a cylindrical microchannel, the swimmer performs either periodic swinging or periodic tumbling motion. Although the trajectories of spherical and elongated swimmers are qualitatively similar, the swinging and tumbling frequency strongly depends on the aspect ratio of the swimmer. In channels with reduced symmetry the swimmers perform quasiperiodic motion which we demonstrate explicitely for swimming in a channel with elliptical cross section

Synthesis and Pharmacological Evaluation of Triazolopyrimidinone Derivatives as Noncompetitive, Intracellular Antagonists for CC Chemokine Receptors 2 and 5

CC chemokine receptors 2 (CCR2) and 5 (CCR5) are involved in many inflammatory diseases; however, most CCR2 and CCR5 clinical candidates have been unsuccessful. (Pre)clinical evidence suggests that dual CCR2/CCR5 inhibition might be more effective in the treatment of such multifactorial diseases. In this regard, the highly conserved intracellular binding site in chemokine receptors provides a new avenue for the design of multitarget ligands. In this study, we synthesized and evaluated the biological activity of a series of triazolopyrimidinone derivatives in CCR2 and CCR5. Radioligand binding assays first showed that they bind to the intracellular site of CCR2, and in combination with functional assays on CCR5, we explored structure−affinity/activity relationships in both receptors. Although most compounds were CCR2-selective, 39 and 43 inhibited β-arrestin recruitment in CCR5 with high potency. Moreover, these compounds displayed an insurmountable mechanism of inhibition in both receptors, which holds promise for improved efficacy in inflammatory diseases.Medicinal Chemistr

Ground-state phase diagram of the one-dimensional half-filled extended Hubbard model

We revisit the ground-state phase diagram of the one-dimensional half-filled extended Hubbard model with on-site (U) and nearest-neighbor (V) repulsive interactions. In the first half of the paper, using the weak-coupling renormalization-group approach (g-ology) including second-order corrections to the coupling constants, we show that bond-charge-density-wave (BCDW) phase exists for U \approx 2V in between charge-density-wave (CDW) and spin-density-wave (SDW) phases. We find that the umklapp scattering of parallel-spin electrons disfavors the BCDW state and leads to a bicritical point where the CDW-BCDW and SDW-BCDW continuous-transition lines merge into the CDW-SDW first-order transition line. In the second half of the paper, we investigate the phase diagram of the extended Hubbard model with either additional staggered site potential \Delta or bond alternation \delta. Although the alternating site potential \Delta strongly favors the CDW state (that is, a band insulator), the BCDW state is not destroyed completely and occupies a finite region in the phase diagram. Our result is a natural generalization of the work by Fabrizio, Gogolin, and Nersesyan [Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 2014 (1999)], who predicted the existence of a spontaneously dimerized insulating state between a band insulator and a Mott insulator in the phase diagram of the ionic Hubbard model. The bond alternation \delta destroys the SDW state and changes it into the BCDW state (or Peierls insulating state). As a result the phase diagram of the model with \delta contains only a single critical line separating the Peierls insulator phase and the CDW phase. The addition of \Delta or \delta changes the universality class of the CDW-BCDW transition from the Gaussian transition into the Ising transition.Comment: 24 pages, 20 figures, published versio

Desmetilación activa del ADN: un mecanismo epigenético para la reactivación de genes silenciados

Los mecanismos de control epigenético son esenciales para una regulación estable de los patrones de expresión génica y desempeñan un papel central en los ciclos de vida de animales y plantas. La metilación de la citosina en el carbono 5 del anillo de pirimidina (5-meC) es una marca epigenética estable, pero reversible, que promueve el silenciamiento génico transcripcional. Comprender cómo se regula el estado de metilación del genoma a nivel global o local requiere una definición de los procesos enzimáticos que metilan y desmetilan el ADN. Sin embargo, aunque las enzimas responsables del establecimiento y mantenimiento de la metilación de ADN han sido bien caracterizadas, los mecanismos de desmetilación no se conocen con exactitud. Nuestro grupo, junto con otros, ha obtenido datos genéticos y bioquímicos que sugieren que dos proteínas de Arabidopsis con dominio ADN glicosilasa (ROS1 y DME) actúan como ADN desmetilasas capaces de activar la expresión de genes previamente silenciados. Nuestros resultados previos indican que ROS1 y DME catalizan la liberación de 5-meC del ADN mediante un mecanismo ADN glicosilasa. Estos resultados sugieren que una de las funciones de ROS1 y DME es iniciar el borrado de 5-meC mediante un proceso de escisión de bases y proporcionan una importante evidencia bioquímica a favor de la existencia de una ruta de desmetilación activa en plantas. En la actualidad, nuestro grupo de investigación se concentra en caracterizar funcionalmente este novedoso mecanismo de control epigenético mediante una aproximación multidisciplinar que combina metodologías del campo de la bioquímica, la genética y la biofísica. Este estudio suministrará una información esencial para entender los mecanismos responsables de la reprogramación epigenética en el núcleo celular, con aplicaciones potenciales en biotecnología y biomedicin

Improvements in the determination of ISS Ca II K parameters

Measurements of the ionized Ca II K line are one of the major resources for long-term studies of solar and stellar activity. They also play a critical role in many studies related to solar irradiance variability, particularly as a ground-based proxy to model the solar ultraviolet flux variation that may influence the Earth's climate. Full disk images of the Sun in Ca II K have been available from various observatories for more than 100 years and latter synoptic Sun-as-a-star observations in Ca II K began in the early 1970s. One of these instruments, the Integrated Sunlight Spectrometer (ISS) has been in operation at Kitt Peak (Arizona) since late 2006. The ISS takes daily observations of solar spectra in nine spectra bands, including the Ca II K and H line s. We describe recent improvements in data reduction of Ca II K observations, and present time variations of nine parameters derived from the profile of this spectral line