THEORETICAL-EXPERIMENTAL ASSESMENT OF BRAKING SISTEMS FOR INCLINED LIFTS ACCORDING TO EN 81:22-2014

[EN] The inclined lifts, in case of emergency braking, can experience high longitudinal decelerations that can lead to passengers’ collisions with lift walls and interior elements. In 2014 the CEN/TC10 WG1 published the part 22 of the norm series 81 with regard to the construction elements and installation of electrical lifts with inclined trajectory. This norm stablishes, amongst other requirements, the maximum and minimum deceleration levels in both longitudinal and vertical directions. Both requirements, in opposite senses and the definition of the braking system, do not cause design difficulties in case of high slopes, but in case of lifts with the slope under a certain level they can be needed, to guarantee the fulfilment of the norm, elements that allow and additional relative displacement between the braking system and the cabin. To define the performances and the optimal behaviour of these systems it has been defined a simulation model of the dynamical behaviour of the lift under the conditions of the norm tests. Additionally, in this work it is presented a calculation methodology to define the cabin allowable weight corridor, for each braking effort made by each safety gear model, and the simulations have been validated with the results of tests with different braking efforts, weights and lift slopes. The present work has been performed in cooperation with Thyssen Krupp Elevadores with the aim of improving the knowledge of the brake dynamics of inclined lifts.Valles Fernandez, B.; Martin López, AL.; Alcalá, E. (2016). THEORETICAL-EXPERIMENTAL ASSESMENT OF BRAKING SISTEMS FOR INCLINED LIFTS ACCORDING TO EN 81:22-2014. En XII Congreso de ingeniería del transporte. 7, 8 y 9 de Junio, Valencia (España). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 2538-2548. https://doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.2173OCS2538254

Coherent carrier dynamics in semiconductor superlattices

We investigate the coherent dynamics of carriers in semiconductor superlattices driven by ac-dc electric fields. We solve numerically the time-dependent effective-mass equation for the envelope function. We find that carriers undergo Rabi oscillations when the driving frequency is close to the separation between minibands.Comment: REVTEX (6 pages) and 3 figures (PostScript). Accepted in Physics Letters

How does the silvopastoral use modify the structure and population dynamics of mixed cypress and coihue forests?

Los bosques mixtos de ciprés de la cordillera (Austrocedrus chilensis) y coihue (Nothofagus dombeyi) del noroeste de la Patagonia están influenciados por fuertes presiones antrópicas como el uso silvopastoril, y en los cuales no existe una planificación sostenible. Los efectos de esta actividad son diversos y pueden producir impactos negativos a través de cambios en la composición y la dinámica del ecosistema. El objetivo fue caracterizar la estructura y composición de la comunidad vegetal de dosel y del sotobosque en bosques mixtos de ciprés y coihue bajo diferentes intensidades de uso silvopastoril, para inferir el impacto de ésta actividad sobre la dinámica poblacional del bosque. Se trabajó en tres establecimientos ganaderos con bosque bajo dos niveles de uso silvopastoril en un diseño de muestreo apareado. La comunidad del sotobosque fue afectada por la intensidad de uso, mostrando una mayor heterogeneidad y complejidad de la vegetación en zonas con alta intensidad, y una modificación en la arquitectura de los renovales de las principales especies del dosel por la mayor severidad del ramoneo. Estos cambios en el sotobosque potencialmente pueden generar cambios en los patrones de desarrollo de los renovales. Sin embargo, la intensidad de uso no tuvo un efecto significativo sobre la estructura demográfica de las poblaciones para las principales especies forestales, indicando que los establecimientos estudiados y la intensidad de uso silvopastoril no afectarían de manera diferencial la dinámica de la comunidad vegetal de dosel forestal.The mixed cypress (Austrocedrus chilensis) and coihue (Nothofagus dombeyi) forests of northwestern Patagonia are influenced by strong anthropic pressures such as silvopastoral, where sustainable management were not applied. The effects of this activity are diverse and can result in negative impacts through changes in the composition and dynamics of the plant community. The objective was to characterize the structure and composition of the canopy and understory vegetation of mixed cypress and coihue forests, under different intensities of silvopastoral use, to infer the impact of this activity on the population dynamics. We worked in three farms with livestock activity with forests under two use intensity levels (high and low) in a paired sampling design. The understory community was affected by the intensity of use, showing greater heterogeneity and complexity of the vegetation in areas of high intensity use and a modification in the architecture of the seedlings of the main canopy species due to the greater browsing severity. The changes found in the understory have the potential to cause changes in the developmental patterns of regeneration. However, the use intensity did not have a significant effect on the demographic structure of the populations of the major species indicating the studied farms and the different intensities of silvopastoral use that result, would not affect in a differential way the dynamics of the canopy community.Fil: Amoroso, Mariano Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural; ArgentinaFil: Chillo, María Verónica. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; ArgentinaFil: Alcalá, V. M.. Universidad del Aconcagua; ArgentinaFil: Rezzano, Carlos Abraham. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural; ArgentinaFil: Arpigiani, Daniela Fabiana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural; ArgentinaFil: Villacide, Ezequiel Martin. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural; Argentin

Accretion-ejection connection in the young brown dwarf candidate ISO-Cha1 217

As the number of observed brown dwarf outflows is growing it is important to investigate how these outflows compare to the well studied jets from young stellar objects. A key point of comparison is the relationship between outflow and accretion activity and in particular the ratio between the mass outflow and accretion rates ($\dot{M}_{out}$/$\dot{M}_{acc}$). The brown dwarf candidate ISO-ChaI 217 was discovered by our group, as part of a spectro-astrometric study of brown dwarfs, to be driving an asymmetric outflow with the blue-shifted lobe having a position angle of $\sim$ 20$^{\circ}$. The aim here is to further investigate the properties of ISO-ChaI 217, the morphology and kinematics of its outflow, and to better constrain ($\dot{M}_{out}$/$\dot{M}_{acc}$). The outflow is spatially resolved in the $[SII]\lambda \lambda 6716,6731$ lines and is detected out to $\sim$ 1\farcs6 in the blue-shifted lobe and ~ 1" in the red-shifted lobe. The asymmetry between the two lobes is confirmed although the velocity asymmetry is less pronounced with respect to our previous study. Using thirteen different accretion tracers we measure log($\dot{M}_{acc}$) [M$_{sun}$/yr]= -10.6 $\pm$ 0.4. As it was not possible to measure the effect of extinction on the ISO-ChaI 217 outflow $\dot{M}_{out}$ was derived for a range of values of A$_{v}$, up to a value of A$_{v}$ = 2.5 mag estimated for the source extinction. The logarithm of the mass outflow ($\dot{M}_{out}$) was estimated in the range -11.7 to -11.1 for both jets combined. Thus $\dot{M}_{out}$/$\dot{M}_{acc}$ [\Msun/yr] lies below the maximum value predicted by magneto-centrifugal jet launching models. Finally, both model fitting of the Balmer decrements and spectro-astrometric analysis of the H$\alpha$ line show that the bulk of the H I emission comes from the accretion flow.Comment: accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysic

Role of long non-coding RNAs in adipose tissue metabolism and associated pathologies

The incidence of obesity and its related disorders has increased dramatically in recent years and has become a pandemic. Adipose tissue is a crucial regulator of these diseases due to its endocrine capacity. Thus, understanding adipose tissue metabolism is essential to finding new effective therapeutic approaches. The "omic" revolution has identified new concepts about the complexity of the signaling pathways involved in the pathophysiology of adipose tissue-associated disorders. Specifically, advances in transcriptomics have allowed its application in clinical practice and primary or secondary prevention. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as critical regulators of adipose tissue since they can modulate gene expression at the epigenetic, transcriptional, and post-transcriptional levels. They interact with DNA, RNA, protein complexes, other noncoding RNAs, and microRNAs to regulate a wide range of physiological and pathological processes. Here, we review the emerging field of lncRNAs, including how they regulate adipose tissue biology, and discuss circulating lncRNAs, which may represent a turning point in the diagnosis and treatment of adipose tissue-associated disorders. We also highlight potential biomarkers of obesity and diabetes that could be considered as therapeutic targets.This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MCIN) (PID2020-114953RB-C21 to LH and DS, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund [ERDF], PID2020-114343GA-100 to MA, and PID2019-110063RA-I00 to JP and MC), the Biomedical Research Centre in Pathophysiology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN) (Grant CB06/03/0001 to LH), and the Merck Health Foundation (to LH). AC is a recipient of the Formación de Personal Investigador (FPI) doctoral fellowship from the MCIN.‬‬‬‬‬‬ We thank MCarmen Soler-Vázquez for her expert assistance in the preparation of Fig. 1

Exploiting oxidative phosphorylation to promote the stem and immunoevasive properties of pancreatic cancer stem cells

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the fourth leading cause of cancer death, has a 5-year survival rate of approximately 7–9%. The ineffectiveness of anti-PDAC therapies is believed to be due to the existence of a subpopulation of tumor cells known as cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are functionally plastic, and have exclusive tumorigenic, chemoresistant and metastatic capacities. Herein, we describe a 2D in vitro system for long-term enrichment of pancreatic CSCs that is amenable to biological and CSC-specific studies. By changing the carbon source from glucose to galactose in vitro, we force PDAC cells to utilize OXPHOS, resulting in enrichment of CSCs defined by increased CSC biomarker and pluripotency gene expression, greater tumorigenic potential, induced but reversible quiescence, increased OXPHOS activity, enhanced invasiveness, and upregulated immune evasion properties. This CSC enrichment method can facilitate the discovery of new CSC-specific hallmarks for future development into targets for PDAC-based therapies

Exploiting oxidative phosphorylation to promote the stem and immunoevasive properties of pancreatic cancer stem cells

© The Author(s) 2020Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the fourth leading cause of cancer death, has a 5-year survival rate of approximately 7–9%. The ineffectiveness of anti-PDAC therapies is believed to be due to the existence of a subpopulation of tumor cells known as cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are functionally plastic, and have exclusive tumorigenic, chemoresistant and metastatic capacities. Herein, we describe a 2D in vitro system for long-term enrichment of pancreatic CSCs that is amenable to biological and CSC-specific studies. By changing the carbon source from glucose to galactose in vitro, we force PDAC cells to utilize OXPHOS, resulting in enrichment of CSCs defined by increased CSC biomarker and pluripotency gene expression, greater tumorigenic potential, induced but reversible quiescence, increased OXPHOS activity, enhanced invasiveness, and upregulated immune evasion properties. This CSC enrichment method can facilitate the discovery of new CSC-specific hallmarks for future development into targets for PDAC-based therapies.We acknowledge and thank Dr. Nuria Malats and Jaime Villarreal from the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) for RNA sequencing and analysis, funded by Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS) grant PI18/01347. We thank Patricia Sánchez-Tomero and Marina Ochando-Garmendia for technical assistance and support and Dr. Raúl Sánchez Lanzas for assistance with autophagy experiments. We want to particularly acknowledge the patients and the BioBank Hospital Ramón y Cajal-IRYCIS (PT13/0010/0002) integrated in the Spanish National Biobanks Network for its collaboration and, in particular, Adrián Povo Retana for macrophage isolation. We would also like to thank the Transmission Electron Microscopy Unit Laboratory, part of the UAM Interdepartmental Investigation Service (SIdI); Coral Pedrero for exceptional help with in vivo experiments; and the laboratories of Dr. Amparo Cano and Dr. José González Castaño for reagents and helpful discussions. S.V. was a recipient of an Ayuda de Movilidad del Personal Investigador del IRYCIS, a mobility grant from the Instituto Ramón y Cajal de Investigación Sanitaria (IRYCIS), Madrid, Spain, and a pre-doctoral fellowship from the Comunidad de Madrid, Ayudas Para La Contratación De Investigadores Predoctorales Y Posdoctorales (PEJD-2017-PRE/BMD-5062), Madrid, Spain. This study was supported by a Rámon y Cajal Merit Award (RYC-2012-12104) from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain (to B.S.); funding from la Beca Carmen Delgado/Miguel Pérez-Mateo from AESPANC-ACANPAN Spain (to B.S.); a Conquer Cancer Now Grant from the Concern Foundation (Los Angeles, CA, USA) (to B.S.); a Coordinated grant (GC16173694BARB) from the Fundación Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC) (to B.S.); FIS grants PI18/00757 (to B.S.), PI16/00789 (to M.A.F.-M.), PI18/00267 (to L.G.-B.; co-financed through Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) “Una manera de hacer Europa”); a Miguel Servet award (CP16/00121) (to P.S.); a Max Eder Fellowship of the German Cancer Aid (111746) (to P.C.H.); and the German Research Foundation (DFG, CRC 1279 “Exploiting the human peptidome for Novel Antimicrobial and Anticancer Agents”; to P.C.H.)

Implementación del Diseño centrado en el usuario en el diseño de un prototipo de Aplicación Móvil para para Prevención de Diabetes

Currently the diabetes mellitus is one of the leading causes of deaths in Mexico, with the passage of time its death rate per year is increasing, and besides, it is beginning to present at younger ages. Thanks technological advances, it is now possible to develop tools focused on medicine for the diagnosis of diseases in early stages, that is why we propose the development of a prototype mobile ap-plication for Android systems. In this paper, the development of a mobile appli-cation prototype for Android systems is presented, through the stages of the Us-er Centered Design process according to the ISO 9241-210: 2010 standard. Which is intended that when you have the final version, be a tool of support, to help in the prevention of diabetes. For which reference was made to the Risk Factors Questionnaire. The purpose of the final application is to provide an easy-to-use tool that provides the potential risk of diabetes, and according to the result obtained, provide recommendations to their lifestyles, as well as a list of doctors and nutritionists who are in their city. Since the methodology used fo-cuses on the user throughout the development, a prototype was designed to simulate the functionality of the application, which was evaluated by several users to determine user satisfaction.Actualmente la diabetes mellitus es una de las principales causas de muertes en México, con el paso del tiempo, el índice de muertes al año va en aumento, además, esta enfermedad se empieza a presentar en edades más tempranas. Gracias al avance tecnológico, hoy en día, es posible desarrollar herramientas que permitan diagnosticar enfermedades en etapas tempranas. En este artículo, se presenta el desarrollo de un prototipo de aplicación móvil para sistemas An-droid, mediante las etapas del proceso de Diseño Centrado en el Usuario de acuerdo al estándar ISO 9241-210:2010. La cual se pretende que cuando se cuente con la versión final, sea una herramienta de apoyo, para ayudar en la prevención de la diabetes. Para lo cual se tomó de referencia el Cuestionario de Factores de Riesgo. El propósito de la aplicación final es proporcionar una he-rramienta fácil de usar y que proporcione el posible riesgo a contraer diabetes, y de acuerdo al resultado obtenido tras la recolección de datos, ofrecer recomen-daciones que impacten en el estilo de vida del paciente, asimismo, proporcionar una lista de médicos y nutriólogos ubicados en su localidad. Ya que la metodo-logía empleada centra al usuario en todo el desarrollo, se diseñó un prototipo que simula la funcionalidad de la aplicación, la cual se evaluó por varios usua-rios para determinar la satisfacción del usuario

Bcl3 Couples Cancer Stem Cell Enrichment With Pancreatic Cancer Molecular Subtypes

[Background & Aims]: The existence of different subtypes of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and their correlation with patient outcome have shifted the emphasis on patient classification for better decision-making algorithms and personalized therapy. The contribution of mechanisms regulating the cancer stem cell (CSC) population in different subtypes remains unknown. [Methods]: Using RNA-seq, we identified B-cell CLL/lymphoma 3 (BCL3), an atypical nf-κb signaling member, as differing in pancreatic CSCs. To determine the biological consequences of BCL3 silencing in vivo and in vitro, we generated bcl3-deficient preclinical mouse models as well as murine cell lines and correlated our findings with human cell lines, PDX models, and 2 independent patient cohorts. We assessed the correlation of bcl3 expression pattern with clinical parameters and subtypes. [Results]: Bcl3 was significantly down-regulated in human CSCs. Recapitulating this phenotype in preclinical mouse models of PDAC via BCL3 genetic knockout enhanced tumor burden, metastasis, epithelial to mesenchymal transition, and reduced overall survival. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting analyses, together with oxygen consumption, sphere formation, and tumorigenicity assays, all indicated that BCL3 loss resulted in CSC compartment expansion promoting cellular dedifferentiation. Overexpression of BCL3 in human PDXs diminished tumor growth by significantly reducing the CSC population and promoting differentiation. Human PDACs with low BCL3 expression correlated with increased metastasis, and BCL3-negative tumors correlated with lower survival and nonclassical subtypes. [Conclusions]: We demonstrate that bcl3 impacts pancreatic carcinogenesis by restraining CSC expansion and by curtailing an aggressive and metastatic tumor burden in PDAC across species. Levels of BCL3 expression are a useful stratification marker for predicting subtype characterization in PDAC, thereby allowing for personalized therapeutic approaches.This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grants AL 1174/4-1, AL1174/4-2, and Collaborative Research Center 1321 “Modeling and Targeting Pancreatic Cancer” to Hana Algül; SFB824 Z2 to Katja Steiger), the Deutsche Krebshilfe (grant 111646 to Hana Algül), a Ramon y Cajal Merit Award from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain (to Bruno Sainz Jr), a Coordinated Grant from Fundación Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (GC16173694BARB to Bruno Sainz Jr), funding from The Fero Foundation (to Bruno Sainz Jr), and a Proyecto de Investigacion de Salud, ISCIII, Spain (no. PI18/00757 to Bruno Sainz Jr). Jiaoyu Ai is supported by the “China Scholarship Council” grant program

Mechanical Energy Harvesting Performance of Ferroelectric Polymer Nanowires Grown via Template-Wetting.

Nanowires of the ferroelectric co-polymer poly(vinylidenefluoride-co-triufloroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)] are fabricated from solution within nanoporous templates of both "hard" anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) and "soft" polyimide (PI) through a facile and scalable template-wetting process. The confined geometry afforded by the pores of the templates leads directly to highly crystalline P(VDF-TrFE) nanowires in a macroscopic "poled" state that precludes the need for external electrical poling procedure typically required for piezoelectric performance. The energy-harvesting performance of nanogenerators based on these template-grown nanowires are extensively studied and analyzed in combination with finite element modelling. Both experimental results and computational models probing the role of the templates in determining overall nanogenerator performance, including both materials and device efficiencies, are presented. It is found that although P(VDF-TrFE) nanowires grown in PI templates exhibit a lower material efficiency due to lower crystallinity as compared to nanowires grown in AAO templates, the overall device efficiency was higher for the PI-template-based nanogenerator because of the lower stiffness of the PI template as compared to the AAO template. This work provides a clear framework to assess the energy conversion efficiency of template-grown piezoelectric nanowires and paves the way towards optimization of template-based nanogenerator devices