Recruitment patterns of decapod crustacean megalopae in a shallow inlet (SW Spain) related to life history strategies

Decapod crustacean megalopae were sampled weekly (spring/neap tides) during late-spring/summer of 1998 by using two planktonic nets located close to the surface and the bottom, at a fixed station in the mouth of the Rı́o San Pedro inlet (SW Spain). Sampling was carried out during 25 h cycles to ascertain the flux of megalopae in relation to the main environmental (diel, tidal, tidal amplitude) cycles. The hypothesis that megalopae of some species may be using tidal-stream transport as a mechanism of re-invading the inlet was tested and the relationship between megalopal behaviour and life history strategy was analysed. In general, the flux of megalopae was higher during spring tides, but such differences were only statistically significant for Pisidia longicornis and Liocarcinus sp.2 due to the considerable interdate variation. With the exception of Macropodia sp., megalopae were more abundant close to the bottom. The diel/tidal flux of most abundant species suggested two different patterns of behaviour: megalopae of Liocarcinus spp., Panopeus africanus, Uca tangeri and Brachynotus sexdentatus seemed to be re-invading the inlet (specially at nocturnal floods), while megalopae of Ilia nucleus, Nepinnotheres pinnotheres and Macropodia sp. may have been just looking for a suitable place for settlement. The first group corresponded to the species whose zoeal development occurs in open sea, and the second one to species that complete their life cycle within the studied system, suggesting a relationship between the duration of the larval phase and the life cycle strategy of the species

Influence of MWCNT/surfactant dispersions on the mechanical properties of Portland cement pastes

This work studies the reinforcing effect of Multi Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT) on cement pastes. A 0.35% solid concentration of MWCNT in powder was dispersed in deionized water with sodium dodecyl sulfate (cationic surfactant), cetylpyridinium chloride (anionic surfactant) and triton X-100 (amphoteric surfactant) using an ultrasonic tip processor. Three concentrations of each surfactant (1mM, 10mM and 100mM) were tested, and all samples were sonicated until an adequate dispersion degree was obtained. Cement pastes with additions of carbon nanotubes of 0.15% by mass of cement were produced in two steps; first the dispersions of MWCNT were combined with the mixing water using an ultrasonic tip processor to guarantee homogeneity, and then cement was added and mixed until a homogeneous paste was obtained. Direct tensile strength, apparent density and open porosity of the pastes were measured after 7 days of curing. It was found that the MWCNT/surfactants dispersions decrease the mechanical properties of the cement based matrix due to an increased porosity caused by the presence of surfactants. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd

Temperature measurements on ES steel sheets subjected to perforation by hemispherical projectiles

In this paper is reported a study on the behaviour of ES mild steel sheets subjected to perforation by hemispherical projectiles. Experiments have been conducted using a pneumatic cannon within the range of impact velocities 5m/s<=V0<=60m/s. The experimental setup allowed evaluating initial velocity, failure mode and post-mortem deflection of the plates. The tests have been recorded using high speed infrared camera. It made possible to obtain temperature contours of the specimen during impact. Thus, special attention is focussed on the thermal softening of the material which is responsible for instabilities and failure. Assuming adiabatic conditions of deformation, the increase of temperature may be related to the plastic deformation. The critical strain leading to target-failure is evaluated coupling temperature measurements with numerical simulations and with analytical predictions obtained by means of the Rusinek-Klepaczko constitutive relation [Rusinek, A., Klepaczko, J.R. Shear testing of sheet steel at wide range of strain rates and a constitutive relation with strain rate and temperature dependence of the flow stress. Int J Plasticity. 2001; 17, 87-115]. It has been estimated that the process of localization of plastic deformation which leads to target-failure involves local values close to for the boundary value problem approached. Subsequently, this failure strain level has been applied to simulate the perforation process and the numerical results obtained show satisfactory agreement with the experiments in terms of ballistic limit, temperature increase and failure mode of the target.The researchers of the University Carlos III of Madrid are indebted to the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (Project CCG08 UC3M/MAT 4464) and to the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España (Project DPI/2008 06408)Publicad

A Microwave Blackbody Target for Cosmic Microwave Background Spectral Measurements in the 10-20GHz range

The Tenerife Microwave Spectrometer (TMS) is a ground-based radio-spectrometer that will take absolute measurements of the sky between 10-20 GHz. To ensure the sensitivity and immunity to systematic errors of these measurements, TMS includes an internal calibration system optimised for the TMS band, and cooled down to 4 K. It consists of an Aluminium core, composed of a baseplate and a bed of pyramidal elements coated with an absorber material and a metallic shield. The absorber coating is made of a commercial resin ECCOSORB CR/MF 117. To achieve the high stability (+/- 1 mK/h), temperature homogeneity (thermal gradients {AT = 0.999) requirements of the reference unit, careful consideration has been given to the RF and thermal properties of the materials, as well as their geometry. In summary, this paper presents a comprehensive account of the design, characterisation, and test results of the TMS reference system.Comment: 45 pages, 36 figures, JINS

Ab initio study of the influence of nanoscale doping inhomogeneities in the phase separated state of La1−x_{1-x}Cax_{x}MnO3_3

The chemical influence in the phase separation phenomenon that occurs in perovskite manganites is discussed by means of ab initio calculations. Supercells have been used to simulate a phase separated state, that occurs at Ca concentrations close to the localized to itinerant crossover. We have first considered a model with two types of magnetic ordering coexisting within the same compound. This is not stable. However, a non-isotropic distribution of chemical dopants is found to be the ground state. This leads to regions in the system with different effective concentrations, that would always accompany the magnetic phase separation at the same nanometric scale, with hole-rich regions being more ferromagnetic in character and hole-poor regions being in the antiferromagnetic region of the phase diagram, as long as the system is close to a phase crossover.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl

Photoluminescence Activation of Organic Dyes via Optically Trapped Quantum Dots

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in ACS Nano, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher.[EN] Laser tweezers afford quantum dot (QD) manipulation for use as localized emitters. Here, we demonstrate fluorescence by radiative energy transfer from optically trapped colloidal QDs (donors) to fluorescent dyes (acceptors). To this end, we synthesized silica-coated QDs of different compositions and triggered their luminescence by simultaneous trapping and two-photon excitation in a microfluidic chamber filled with dyes. This strategy produces a near-field light source with great spatial maneuverability, which can be exploited to scan nanostructures. In this regard, we demonstrate induced photoluminescence of dye-labeled cells via optically trapped silica-coated colloidal QDs placed at their vicinity. Allocating nanoscale donors at controlled distances from a cell is an attractive concept in fluorescence microscopy because it dramatically reduces the number of excited dyes, which improves resolution by preventing interferences from the whole sample, while prolonging dye luminescence lifetime due to the lower power absorbed from the QDs.H.R.-R. is supported by an FPI-UAM 2015 fellowship (BES-2009-027909). Authors acknowledge funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through MAT2017-85617-R and MAT2015-71806-R. B.H.J. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the Maria de Maeztu (IFIMAC) and Severo Ochoa (IMDEA Nanoscience) Programmes for Units of Excellence in R&D.Rodríguez-Rodríguez, H.; Acebrón, M.; Iborra, F.; Arias-Gonzalez, JR.; Juárez, B. (2019). Photoluminescence Activation of Organic Dyes via Optically Trapped Quantum Dots. ACS Nano. 13(6):7223-7230. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.9b02835S7223723013

The relationship between truncation and phosphorylation at the C-terminus of tau protein in the paired helical filaments of Alzheimer's disease

Acknowledgements: Authors want to express their gratitude to Dr. P. Davies (Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA) and Lester I. Binder (NorthWestern, Chicago, IL, USA) for the generous gift of mAbs (TG-3, Alz-50, and MC1), and (TauC-3), respectively, and to M. en C. Ivan J. Galván-Mendoza for his support in confocal microscopy, and Ms. Maricarmen De Lorenz for her secretarial assistance. We also want to express our gratitude to the Mexican Families who donate the brain of their loved ones affected with Alzheimer's disease, and made possible our research. This work was financially supported by CONACyT grant, No. 142293 (For R.M).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Changes in white adipose tissue metabolism induced by resveratrol in rats.

BACKGROUND: A remarkable range of biological functions have been ascribed to resveratrol. Recently, this polyphenol has been shown to have body fat lowering effects. The aim of the present study was to assess some of the potential underlying mechanisms of action which take place in adipose tissue. METHODS: Sixteen male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into two groups: control and treated with 30 mg resveratrol/kg body weight/d. All rats were fed an obesogenic diet and after six weeks of treatment white adipose tissues were dissected. Lipoprotein lipase activity was assessed by fluorimetry, acetyl-CoA carboxylase by radiometry, and malic enzyme, glucose-6P-dehydrogenase and fatty acid synthase by spectrophotometry. Gene expression levels of acetyl-CoA carboxylase, fatty acid synthase, lipoprotein lipase, hormone-sensitive lipase, adipose triglyceride lipase, PPAR-gamma, SREBP-1c and perilipin were assessed by Real time RT-PCR. The amount of resveratrol metabolites in adipose tissue was measured by chromatography. RESULTS: There was no difference in the final body weight of the rats; however, adipose tissues were significantly decreased in the resveratrol-treated group. Resveratrol reduced the activity of lipogenic enzymes, as well as that of heparin-releasable lipoprotein lipase. Moreover, a significant reduction was induced by this polyphenol in hormone-sensitive lipase mRNA levels. No significant changes were observed in other genes. Total amount of resveratrol metabolites in adipose tissue was 2.66 ± 0.55 nmol/g tissue. CONCLUSIONS: It can be proposed that the body fat-lowering effect of resveratrol is mediated, at least in part, by a reduction in fatty acid uptake from circulating triacylglycerols and also in de novo lipogenesis

La suplementación de los piensos de las conejas con EPA y DHA mejora el perfil insaturado de los ácidos grasos de la leche y sus parámetros reproductivos

Se ha valorado la influencia del enriquecimiento de las dietas de conejas reproductoras con ácidos grasos poliinsaturados de cadena larga (AGPI) de origen animal (EPA y DHA) durante 2 ciclos sobre sus parámetros reproductivos y la composición de su leche. Un total de 124 conejas se alimentaron desde la recría hasta el segundo destete con dos dietas isofibrosas, isoenergéticas e isoproteicas formuladas con dos fuentes de grasa distintas. El grupo control (C;n=62) recibió un pienso con un 3% de grasa mezcla mientras que el del grupo experimental (P;n=62) contenía un 6% de un suplemento con un 50% de extracto etéreo concentrado en DHA y EPA a partir de aceite de salmón atlántico (Optomega-50, Optivite International Ltd., Barcelona, España)