Dirac constraints in field theory and exterior differential systems

The usual treatment of a (first order) classical field theory such as electromagnetism has a little drawback: It has a primary constraint submanifold that arise from the fact that the dynamics is governed by the antisymmetric part of the jet variables. So it is natural to ask if there exists a formulation of this kind of field theories which avoids this problem, retaining the versatility of the known approach. The following paper deals with a family of variational problems, namely, the so called non standard variational problems, which intends to capture the data necessary to set up such a formulation for field theories; moreover, we will formulate a multisymplectic structure for the family of non standard variational problems, and we will relate this with the (pre)symplectic structure arising on the space of sections of the bundle of fields. In this setting the Dirac theory of constraints will be studied, obtaining among other things a novel characterization of the constraint manifold which arises in this theory, as generators of an exterior differential system associated to the equations of motion and the chosen slicing. Several examples of application of this formalism are discussed: Two of them motivated from the physical point of view, that is, electromagnetism and Poisson sigma models, and two examples of mathematical application. In the case of electromagnetism, it is shown that this formulation avoids the problems arising in the usual approach.Comment: 51 pages, aims; added examples and references, typos added, improved some content, to appear in "Journal of Geometric Mechanics"

Patterned probes for high precision 4D-STEM bragg measurements.

Nanoscale strain mapping by four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy (4D-STEM) relies on determining the precise locations of Bragg-scattered electrons in a sequence of diffraction patterns, a task which is complicated by dynamical scattering, inelastic scattering, and shot noise. These features hinder accurate automated computational detection and position measurement of the diffracted disks, limiting the precision of measurements of local deformation. Here, we investigate the use of patterned probes to improve the precision of strain mapping. We imprint a "bullseye" pattern onto the probe, by using a binary mask in the probe-forming aperture, to improve the robustness of the peak finding algorithm to intensity modulations inside the diffracted disks. We show that this imprinting leads to substantially improved strain-mapping precision at the expense of a slight decrease in spatial resolution. In experiments on an unstrained silicon reference sample, we observe an improvement in strain measurement precision from 2.7% of the reciprocal lattice vectors with standard probes to 0.3% using bullseye probes for a thin sample, and an improvement from 4.7% to 0.8% for a thick sample. We also use multislice simulations to explore how sample thickness and electron dose limit the attainable accuracy and precision for 4D-STEM strain measurements

Attitudes of undergraduate nursing students to cultural diversity: (Portuguese-Spanish) in a transboundary context.

Our main goal was to identify the attitudes of nursing students to cultural diversity in a healthcare setting, and find the potential relationship between this and the students' national background and their knowledge of cultural diversity. A descriptive observational study comparing two culturally different populations within a cross-border area (Algarve-Huelva) was conducted. The attitudes of the participants were measured across six categories: this study will describe the most significant ones. The cultural context is essential to the development of attitudes to immigration. Nursing care is a communicative act and encountering the "other" the core of the nursing professionals' work. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd

Long-term augmentation therapy with Alpha-1 Antitrypsin in an MZ-AAT severe persistent asthma

A young Caucasian female with severe bronchial asthma and Alpha1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency, MZ phenotype, experienced a quick and severe limitation of her physical capacity, which negatively affected her psychological state and social life, though she was under a strong antiasthmatic treatment. Given her declining health status and the significant chronic corticoid administration-related side-effects (including high reduction of muscle mass and bone density), a clinical trial with commercial intravenous AAT was proposed by the patient’s doctors, and accepted by the Spanish Ministry of Health, although it this therapy was not approved for MZ phenotypes yet. This new therapy quickly stopped lung function decline rate, dramatically reduced the number of hospital admissions of the patient, suppressed the oral administration of prednisone, reversed the corticosteroid-related health adverse effects, significantly improving her quality of life. Thus, although AAT replacement therapy is not approved nor indicated for the treatment of bronchial asthma in MZ patients, its favourable effects observed in this isolated case support the hypothesis that bronchial asthma could be due to pathogenic mechanisms related to a protease-antiprotease imbalance, what which could open new perspectives for future research on the fiel

Raman spectroscopy analysis of Paleolithic industry from Guadalteba terrace river, Campillos (Guadalteba county, Southern of Iberian Peninsula)

Artículo sobre la aplicación de la espectroscopía ramán a los materiales de la terraza fluvial del Río Guadalteba, en Campillos

Biogeochemistry of carbon in the Amazonian Floodplains over a 2000-km reach: insights from a process-based model.

The influence of Amazonian floodplains on the hydrological, sedimentary, and biogeochemical river budget was investigated over a 2000-km reach. A process-based model relying on the closure of chemical fluxes and isotopic signals was implemented. On average for the whole studied reach, the overall fluxes of carbon associated with mineralization and aquatic photosynthesis were estimated to 35.7 and 15.3 Tg C yr21, respectively. Almost 57% of the carbon sequestrated by photosynthesis comes from aerial sources (flooded forest); the remaining 43% resulted from aquatic sources (va´rzea grasses and phytoplankton). The process rates substantially fluctuate over the annual cycle, depending particularly on the extension of flooded area and on the river?floodplain connectivity. As the river level declines, the drastic decrease of turbidity and the lower supply of carbon substrates promote autotrophy to the detriment of heterotrophy, leading to substantial changes of pH and gaseous equilibria in the river water. The main consequences are (i) the side-chain oxidation of dissolved organic matter leading to the concomitant rises of the carbon to nitrogen atomic ratio and nitrate contents and (ii) the sorption of hydrophobic humic acids, which fractionate 13C and thus lead to 13C-depleted particulate organic matter (fine fraction) compared to remaining dissolved organic matter. As the river flow rises, the heterotrophy prevails over autotrophy and this tends to attenuate the chemical signature imprinted by the latter. The significant contribution of aerial autochthonous sources to the budget of carbon indicates that the fluxes of mineralization are sustained by the net primary production of river corridors. The variable extension of submerged areas defines the proportions of CO2 exported by the river and released to the atmosphere. The rate of CO2 outgassing on the studied reach (18.8 Tg C yr21) represents about 50% of the incoming dissolved inorganic carbon flux. The rate of methane emission is estimated as 2.2 Tg C yr21 and that of denitrification is estimated as 0.87 Tg N yr21, representing 1.5 times the flux of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) exported by the Amazon River at the station of O ´ bidos (0.64 Tg N yr21)