Energy solutions to one-dimensional singular parabolic problems with BVBV data are viscosity solutions

We study one-dimensional very singular parabolic equations with periodic boundary conditions and initial data in $BV$, which is the energy space. We show existence of solutions in this energy space and then we prove that they are viscosity solutions in the sense of Giga-Giga.Comment: 15 page

Twisted One-Dimensional Charge Transfer and Related Y-Shaped Chromophores with a 4 H-Pyranylidene Donor: Synthesis and Optical Properties

Three series of push-pull derivatives bearing 4H-pyranylidene as electron donor group and a variety of acceptors were designed. On one hand, one-dimensional chromophores with a thiophene ring (series 1H) or 5-dimethylaminothiophene moiety (series 1N) as an auxiliary donor, non-coplanar with the p-conjugated system, were synthesized. On the other hand, related two-dimensional (2D) Y-shaped chromophores (series 2) were also prepared to compare how the diverse architectures affect the electrochemical, linear, and second-order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties. The presence of the 5-dimethylaminothiophene moiety in the exocyclic C= C bond of the pyranylidene unit gives rise to oxidation potentials rarely low, and the protonation (with an excess of trifluoroacetic acid) of its derivatives results in the apparition of a new blue-shifted band in the UV-visible spectra. The analysis of the properties of derivatives with and without the additional thiophene ring shows that this auxiliary donor leads to a higher NLO response, accompanied by an enhanced transparency. Y-shaped chromophores of series 2 present a blue-shifted absorption, higher molar extinction coefficients, and higher Eox values compared to their linear twisted counterparts. As concerns NLO properties, 2D Y-shaped architecture gives rise to somewhat lower µß values (except for thiobarbiturate derivatives)

Role of transport performance on neuron cell morphology

The compartmental model is a basic tool for studying signal propagation in neurons, and, if the model parameters are adequately defined, it can also be of help in the study of electrical or fluid transport. Here we show that the input resistance, in different networks which simulate the passive properties of neurons, is the result of an interplay between the relevant conductances, morphology and size. These results suggest that neurons must grow in such a way that facilitates the current flow. We propose that power consumption is an important factor by which neurons attain their final morphological appearance.Comment: 9 pages with 3 figures, submitted to Neuroscience Letter

Pyranylidene/trifluoromethylbenzoic acid-based chromophores for dye-sensitized solar cells

The synthesis and photovoltaic study of five dyes based on 4H-pyranylidene moiety as donor moiety is reported. A thiophene unit conjugated with/without an ethynyl bond acts as the p-relay and benzoic acid as the anchor group with/without a trifluoromethyl group. Their electrochemical and optical properties are analyzed by using a joint experimental and theoretical approach. The presence of the trifluoromethyl group leads to an enhancement of the molar extinction coefficient, being slightly when a hexyl chain is introduced in the thiophene ring, but does not modify the oxidation potential. For the preparation of derived solar cells an antiaggregant is essential in all cases. The photovoltaic performance is sensitive to the structural modification of the dye: the CF3 group and the hexyl chain of the thiophene spacer were shown to improve the efficiency. The lack of a triple bond in the p-spacer involves a lower photovoltaic efficiency, and the trifluoromethyl group leads to a lower dye-load, but a decrease of the recombination processes. These results are in accordance with the electrochemistry impedance spectroscopy studies carried out. Moreover, the organic dyes have been also tested with a fluorescent lamp (indoor conditions), leading to an increase of the efficiency, reaching a 36% for the best dye. © 2022 The Author

The Efficacy of Probiotics, Prebiotic Inulin-Type Fructans, and Synbiotics in Human Ulcerative Colitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Studies of probiotics, fructan-type prebiotics, and synbiotics in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) show significant heterogeneity in methodology and results. Here, we study the efficacy of such interventions and the reasons for the heterogeneity of their results. Eligible random controlled trials were collected from the PUBMED and SCOPUS databases. A total of 18 placebo-controlled and active treatment-controlled (i.e., mesalazine) studies were selected with a Jadad score ≥ 3, including 1491 patients with UC. Data for prebiotics and synbiotics were sparse and consequently these studies were excluded from the meta-analysis. The UC remission efficacy of probiotics was measured in terms of relative risk (RR) and odds ratio (OR). Significant effects were observed in patients with active UC whenever probiotics containing bifidobacteria were used, or when adopting the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-recommended scales (UC Disease Activity Index and Disease Activity Index). By the FDA recommended scales, the RR was 1.55 (CI95%: 1.13⁻2.15, p-value = 0.007, I² = 29%); for bifidobacteria-containing probiotics, the RR was 1.73 (CI95%: 1.23⁻2.43, p-value = 0.002, I² = 35%). No significant effects were observed on the maintenance of remission for placebo-controlled or mesalazine-controlled studies. We conclude that a validated scale is necessary to determine the state of patients with UC. However, probiotics containing bifidobacteria are promising for the treatment of active UC. Keywords: ulcerative colitis; remission; probiotic; prebiotic; synbioti

Iminium Salts of ω-Dithiafulvenylpolyenals: An Easy Entry to the Corresponding Aldehydes and Doubly Proaromatic Nonlinear Optic-phores

A short, high-yielding route to ω-dithiafulvenylpolyenals (1) via the corresponding iminium salts (2) and starting from trimethyl-1,3-dithiolium tetrafluoroborate is reported. The Knoevenagel reactions of either 1 or 2 with isoxazolone-containing acceptors afford merocyanines 7 and 9, in a process that is often accompanied by a vinylene-shortening side reaction. Experimental and theoretical studies reveal that compounds 7 and 9, featuring two proaromatic end groups, are strongly polarized and show good second-order nonlinear optical responses

Detection of Ly\beta auto-correlations and Ly\alpha-Ly\beta cross-correlations in BOSS Data Release 9

The Lyman-$\beta$ forest refers to a region in the spectra of distant quasars that lies between the rest-frame Lyman-$\beta$ and Lyman-$\gamma$ emissions. The forest in this region is dominated by a combination of absorption due to resonant Ly$\alpha$ and Ly$\beta$ scattering. When considering the 1D Ly$\beta$ forest in addition to the 1D Ly$\alpha$ forest, the full statistical description of the data requires four 1D power spectra: Ly$\alpha$ and Ly$\beta$ auto-power spectra and the Ly$\alpha$-Ly$\beta$ real and imaginary cross-power spectra. We describe how these can be measured using an optimal quadratic estimator that naturally disentangles Ly$\alpha$ and Ly$\beta$ contributions. Using a sample of approximately 60,000 quasar sight-lines from the BOSS Data Release 9, we make the measurement of the one-dimensional power spectrum of fluctuations due to the Ly$\beta$ resonant scattering. While we have not corrected our measurements for resolution damping of the power and other systematic effects carefully enough to use them for cosmological constraints, we can robustly conclude the following: i) Ly$\beta$ power spectrum and Ly$\alpha$-Ly$\beta$ cross spectra are detected with high statistical significance; ii) the cross-correlation coefficient is $\approx 1$ on large scales; iii) the Ly$\beta$ measurements are contaminated by the associated OVI absorption, which is analogous to the SiIII contamination of the Ly$\alpha$ forest. Measurements of the Ly$\beta$ forest will allow extension of the usable path-length for the Ly$\alpha$ measurements while allowing a better understanding of the physics of intergalactic medium and thus more robust cosmological constraints.Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures; matches version accepted by JCA

Efficiency of Antimicrobial Electrospun Thymol-Loaded Polycaprolactone Mats in Vivo

Due to the prevalence of antimicrobial resistant pathogens, natural products with long-term antimicrobial activities are considered as potential alternatives. In this work, polycaprolactone (PCL) electrospun fibers with mean diameters around 299 nm and loaded with 14.92 ± 1.31% w/w thymol (THY) were synthesized. The mats had appropriate elongation at break (74.4 ± 9.5%) and tensile strength (3.0 ± 0.5 MPa) to be potentially used as wound dressing materials. In vivo studies were performed using eight to ten week-old male SKH1 hairless mice. The infection progression was evaluated through a semiquantitative method and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. The analyses of post-mortem samples indicated that THY-loaded PCL fibers acted as inhibitors of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 strain growth being as efficient as chlorhexidine (CLXD). Histopathological and immunohistochemical studies showed that the PCL-THY-treated wounds were almost free of an inflammatory reaction. Therefore, wound dressings containing natural compounds can prevent infection and promote wound healing and prompt regeneration. Copyrigh

Climate change effect on water quality in the Júcar River Basin

[EN] This study analyses the effect of climate change on water quality in the Júcar River Basin from future estimations of hydrological inputs and water temperature (WT). For this purpose, a large-scale water quality model was used to estimate the ecological status of all the water bodies, based on the concentrations of BDO5, P, NH4+ and NO3– for the future horizons 2020, 2050 and 2080. In this study, a greater number of water bodies with higher pollution levels (80-100% failures) were obtained in the horizons 2050 and 2080, which are located in the middle and lower parts of the basin. In addition, the degradation of BDO5 and the NH4+ is highly dependent on WT, highlighting the importance of considering this variable in the model.[ES] En este estudio se analiza el efecto del cambio climático en la calidad del agua de la cuenca del Júcar a partir de estimaciones futuras de aportaciones hidrológicas y temperatura del agua (Ta). Para ello, se utilizó un modelo de calidad de aguas a escala de cuenca con el que se estimó el estado ecológico de todas las masas de agua, basándose en las concentraciones de DBO5, P, NH4+ y NO3- para los horizontes futuros 2020, 2050 y 2080. De este análisis se obtuvo un incremento del número de masas con altos niveles de contaminación (80-100% incumplimientos) en los horizontes 2050 y 2080, localizadas sobre todo en la parte media y baja de la cuenca. Además, la degradación de la DBO5 y el NH4+ es muy dependiente de la temperatura del agua, poniendo de manifiesto la importancia de considerar esta variable en el modelo.Los autores agradecen al Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN) por financiar el proyecto RESPHIRA (PID2019106322RB-100) y a la Agencia Estatal de Investigación (MINECO) por financiar el proyecto ERAS (CTM2016-77804P), cofinanciado con Fondos FEDER. Además, también valoramos el apoyo de la Comunidad Europea en la financiación de los proyectos IMPREX (H2020-WATER-2014–2015, 641811) y SWICCA (ECMRWF-Copernicus-FA 2015/ C3S_441-LOT1/SMHI). Por último, agradecer al Programa de Apoyo para la Investigación y Desarrollo (PAID-01-17) de la Universitat Politècnica de València por fomentar y facilitar los contratos de formación de personal investigador.Suárez-Almiñana, S.; Paredes-Arquiola, J.; Andreu, J.; Solera, A. (2021). Efecto del cambio climático en la calidad del agua de la Cuenca del Júcar. Ingeniería del agua. 25(2):75-95. https://doi.org/10.4995/ia.2021.146447595252Ahmad, J.I., Dignum, M., Liu, G., Medema, G., van der Hoek, J.P. 2021. Changes in biofilm composition and microbial water quality in drinking water distribution systems by temperature increase induced through thermal energy recovery. 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Direct Operando Visualization of Metal Support Interactions Induced by Hydrogen Spillover During CO2 Hydrogenation

The understanding of catalyst active sites is a fundamental challenge for the future rational design of optimized and bespoke catalysts. For instance, the partial reduction of Ce4+ surface sites to Ce3+ and the formation of oxygen vacancies are critical for CO2 hydrogenation, CO oxidation, and the water gas shift reaction. Furthermore, metal nanoparticles, the reducible support, and metal support interactions are prone to evolve under reaction conditions; therefore a catalyst structure must be characterized under operando conditions to identify active states and deduce structure-activity relationships. In the present work, temperature-induced morphological and chemical changes in Ni nanoparticle-decorated mesoporous CeO2 by means of in situ quantitative multimode electron tomography and in situ heating electron energy loss spectroscopy, respectively, are investigated. Moreover, operando electron energy loss spectroscopy is employed using a windowed gas cell and reveals the role of Ni-induced hydrogen spillover on active Ce3+ site formation and enhancement of the overall catalytic performance