435 research outputs found
Assessment of physical pre-treatments for the recovery of biosurfactants in corn steep water prior to advanced membrane-based water treatment
The aim of this work is to evaluate different physical pre-treatments for corn steep water (CSW) to obtain a cleaner, concentrated water stream in biosurfactants for further advanced water treatment, involving not only the decontamination of water but also the complete recycling of CSW. Three physical treatments were tested: i) decantation, ii) centrifugation, and iii) vacuum filtration under different temperatures. After these pre-treatments, several parameters were evaluated. Results showed that centrifugation at 4 °C (C4L) is the best alternative for concentrating biocompounds as it produced a cleaner stream with a greater lightness (from 0.45 to 92.9–96.2) and lower turbidity than decantation or vacuum filtration but with a higher content in biosurfactants. Moreover, it was observed that acidification of C4L produced a decrease in the surface tension properties of CSW compatible with the precipitation and/or denaturalization of lipopeptides and proteins, whereas basification did not produce any relevant effect. Acidification or basification during pre-treatment of CSW was therefore dismissed with the recommendation of performing a simple centrifugation step at 4 °C as a pre-treatment, prior to recovering bioactive compounds using advanced membrane water treatmentsUniversidade de Vigo / CISUGAgencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. PID2019-103873RJ-I00Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. RYC2021-030966-
The detection of single electrons by means of a Micromegas-covered MediPix2 pixel CMOS readout circuit
A small drift chamber was read out by means of a MediPix2 readout chip as
direct anode. A Micromegas foil was placed 50 m above the chip, and
electron multiplication occurred in the gap. With a He/Isobutane 80/20 mixture,
gas multiplication factors up to tens of thousands were achieved, resulting in
an efficiency for detecting single electrons of better than 90% . We recorded
many frames containing 2D images with tracks from cosmic muons. Along these
tracks, electron clusters were observed, as well as delta-rays.Comment: 15 pages, 9 included postscript figures, 5 separate jpeg figures,
submitted to Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A. A complete postscript version with
high resolution figures 1, 3, 11, 12 and 14 can be found at
http://www.nikhef.nl/~i06/RandD/final/letter4.p
A New First Class Algebra, Homological Perturbation and Extension of Pure Spinor Formalism for Superstring
Based on a novel first class algebra, we develop an extension of the pure
spinor (PS) formalism of Berkovits, in which the PS constraints are removed. By
using the homological perturbation theory in an essential way, the BRST-like
charge of the conventional PS formalism is promoted to a bona fide
nilpotent charge , the cohomology of which is equivalent to the
constrained cohomology of . This construction requires only a minimum number
(five) of additional fermionic ghost-antighost pairs and the vertex operators
for the massless modes of open string are obtained in a systematic way.
Furthermore, we present a simple composite "-ghost" field which
realizes the important relation , with the
Virasoro operator, and apply it to facilitate the construction of the
integrated vertex. The present formalism utilizes U(5) parametrization and the
manifest Lorentz covariance is yet to be achieved.Comment: 38 pages, no figure. Proof of triviality of delta-homology improved
and a reference adde
Covariant Quantization of Superstrings Without Pure Spinor Constraints
We construct a covariant quantum superstring, extending Berkovits' approach
by introducing new ghosts to relax the pure spinor constraints. The central
charge of the underlying Kac-Moody algebra, which would lead to an anomaly in
the BRST charge, is treated as a new generator with a new b-c system. We
construct a nilpotent BRST current, an anomalous ghost current and an
anomaly-free energy-momentum tensor. For open superstrings, we find the correct
massless spectrum. In addition, we construct a Lorentz invariant B-field to be
used for the computation of the integrated vertex operators and amplitudes.Comment: 30 page
Relating Green-Schwarz and Extended Pure Spinor Formalisms by Similarity Transformation
In order to gain deeper understanding of pure-spinor-based formalisms of
superstring, an explicit similarity transformation is constructed which
provides operator mapping between the light-cone Green-Schwarz (LCGS) formalism
and the extended pure spinor (EPS) formalism, a recently proposed
generalization of the Berkovits' formalism in an enlarged space. By applying a
systematic procedure developed in our previous work, we first construct an
analogous mapping in the bosonic string relating the BRST and the light-cone
formulations. This provides sufficient insights and allows us to construct the
desired mapping in the more intricate case of superstring as well. The success
of the construction owes much to the enlarged field space where pure spinor
constraints are removed and to the existence of the ``B-ghost'' in the EPS
formalism.Comment: 37pages, no figur
Recommended from our members
Pegasus IV: Discovery and Spectroscopic Confirmation of an Ultra-faint Dwarf Galaxy in the Constellation Pegasus
We report the discovery of Pegasus IV, an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy found in archival data from the Dark Energy Camera processed by the DECam Local Volume Exploration Survey. Pegasus IV is a compact, ultra-faint stellar system (r1 2 = 41-+68 pc; MV = −4.25 ± 0.2 mag) located at a heliocentric distance of 90-+64 kpc. Based on spectra of seven nonvariable member stars observed with Magellan/IMACS, we confidently resolve Pegasus IV’s velocity dispersion, measuring sv = 3.3-+1.11.7 km s−1 (after excluding three velocity outliers); this implies a mass-to-light ratio of M1 2 LV,1 2 = 167-+99224M☉ L☉ for the system. From the five stars with the highest signal-to-noise spectra, we also measure a systemic metallicity of [Fe/H] =-2.63-+0.300.26 dex, making Pegasus IV one of the most metal-poor ultra-faint dwarfs. We tentatively resolve a nonzero metallicity dispersion for the system. These measurements provide strong evidence that Pegasus IV is a dark-matter-dominated dwarf galaxy, rather than a star cluster. We measure Pegasus IV’s proper motion using data from Gaia Early Data Release 3, finding (μα*, μδ) = (0.33 ± 0.07, −0.21 ± 0.08) mas yr−1. When combined with our measured systemic velocity, this proper motion suggests that Pegasus IV is on an elliptical, retrograde orbit, and is currently near its orbital apocenter. Lastly, we identify three potential RR Lyrae variable stars within Pegasus IV, including one candidate member located more than 10 half-light radii away from the system’s centroid. The discovery of yet another ultra-faint dwarf galaxy strongly suggests that the census of Milky Way satellites is still incomplete, even within 100 kpc
J-PLUS: The javalambre photometric local universe survey
ABSTRACT: TheJavalambrePhotometric Local UniverseSurvey (J-PLUS )isanongoing 12-band photometricopticalsurvey, observingthousands of squaredegrees of theNorthernHemispherefromthededicated JAST/T80 telescope at the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre (OAJ). The T80Cam is a camera with a field of view of 2 deg2 mountedon a telescopewith a diameter of 83 cm, and isequippedwith a uniquesystem of filtersspanningtheentireopticalrange (3500–10 000 Å). Thisfiltersystemis a combination of broad-, medium-, and narrow-band filters, optimallydesigned to extracttherest-framespectralfeatures (the 3700–4000 Å Balmer break region, Hδ, Ca H+K, the G band, and the Mg b and Ca triplets) that are key to characterizingstellartypes and delivering a low-resolutionphotospectrumforeach pixel of theobservedsky. With a typicaldepth of AB ∼21.25 mag per band, thisfilter set thusallowsforanunbiased and accuratecharacterization of thestellarpopulation in our Galaxy, itprovidesanunprecedented 2D photospectralinformationforall resolved galaxies in the local Universe, as well as accuratephoto-z estimates (at the δ z/(1 + z)∼0.005–0.03 precisionlevel) formoderatelybright (up to r ∼ 20 mag) extragalacticsources. Whilesomenarrow-band filters are designedforthestudy of particular emissionfeatures ([O II]/λ3727, Hα/λ6563) up to z < 0.017, theyalsoprovidewell-definedwindowsfortheanalysis of otheremissionlines at higherredshifts. As a result, J-PLUS has thepotential to contribute to a widerange of fields in Astrophysics, both in thenearbyUniverse (MilkyWaystructure, globular clusters, 2D IFU-likestudies, stellarpopulations of nearby and moderate-redshiftgalaxies, clusters of galaxies) and at highredshifts (emission-line galaxies at z ≈ 0.77, 2.2, and 4.4, quasi-stellarobjects, etc.). Withthispaper, wereleasethefirst∼1000 deg2 of J-PLUS data, containingabout 4.3 millionstars and 3.0 milliongalaxies at r < 21mag. With a goal of 8500 deg2 forthe total J-PLUS footprint, thesenumbers are expected to rise to about 35 millionstars and 24 milliongalaxiesbytheend of thesurvey.Funding for the J-PLUS Project has been provided by the Governments of Spain and Aragón through the Fondo de Inversiones de Teruel, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO; under grants AYA2017-86274-P, AYA2016-77846-P, AYA2016-77237-C3-1-P, AYA2015-66211-C2-1-P, AYA2015-66211-C2-2, AYA2012-30789, AGAUR grant SGR-661/2017, and ICTS-2009-14), and European FEDER funding (FCDD10-4E-867, FCDD13-4E-2685
Cross-national variations in reported discrimination among people treated for major depression worldwide: The ASPEN/INDIGO international study
Background: No study has so far explored differences in discrimination reported by people with major depressive disorder (MDD) across countries and cultures. Aims: To (a) compare reported discrimination across different countries, and (b) explore the relative weight of individual and contextual factors in explaining levels of reported discrimination in people with MDD. Method: Cross-sectional multisite international survey (34 countries worldwide) of 1082 people with MDD. Experienced and anticipated discrimination were assessed by the Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC). Countries were classified according to their rating on the Human Development Index (HDI). Multilevel negative binomial and Poisson models were used. Results: People living in 'very high HDI' countries reported higher discrimination than those in 'medium/low HDI' countries. Variation in reported discrimination across countries was only partially explained by individual-level variables. The contribution of country-level variables was significant for anticipated discrimination only. Conclusions: Contextual factors play an important role in anticipated discrimination. Country-specific interventions should be implemented to prevent discrimination towards people with MDD
- …