EL proceso incorrecto al antropocentrismo

Son numerosos los que quieren ver en la crisis ecológica que atravesamos una razón suficiente para el rechazo del legado judea-heleno-cristiano: el antropocentrismo dominante dentro de la tradición occidental sería el principio de todos nuestros males y convendría superarlo. Los ataques más virulentos vienen de la corriente más radical del pensamiento ecologista, la deep ecology. El lugar de encuentro de los que lo invocan es el biocentrismo. Se trata de oponer el igualitarismo bioesférico, es decir el "derecho igualmente compartido" entre todas las especies de "vivir y crecer", al antropocentrismo, acusado de perjudicar, en resumidas cuentas, a la propia "calidad de la vida humana

Fermi Surface of Alpha-Uranium at Ambient Pressure

We have performed de Haas-van Alphen measurements of the Fermi surface of alpha-uranium single crystals at ambient pressure within the alpha-3 charge density wave (CDW) state from 0.020 K - 10 K and magnetic fields to 35 T using torque magnetometry. The angular dependence of the resulting frequencies is described. Effective masses were measured and the Dingle temperature was determined to be 0.74 K +/- 0.04 K. The observation of quantum oscillations within the alpha-3 CDW state gives new insight into the effect of the charge density waves on the Fermi surface. In addition we observed no signature of superconductivity in either transport or magnetization down to 0.020 K indicating the possibility of a pressure-induced quantum critical point that separates the superconducting dome from the normal CDW phase.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 3 table

Driving the blue fleet: Temporal variability and drivers behind bluebottle (Physalia physalis) beachings off Sydney, Australia

Physalia physalis, the bluebottle in Australia, are colonial siphonophores that live at the surface of the ocean, mainly in tropical and subtropical waters. P. physalis are sometimes present in large swarms, and with tentacles capable of intense stings, they can negatively impact public health and commercial fisheries. P. physalis, which does not swim, is advected by ocean currents and winds acting on its gas-filled sail. While previous studies have attempted to model the drift of P. physalis, little is known about its sources, distribution, and the timing of its arrival to shore. In this study, we present a dataset with four years of daily P. physalis beachings and stings reports at three locations off Sydney's coast in Australia. We investigate the spatial and temporal variability of P. physalis presence (beachings and stings) in relation to different environmental parameters. This dataset shows a clear seasonal pattern where more P. physalis beachings occur in the Austral summer and less in winter. Cold ocean temperatures do not hinder the presence of P. physalis and the temperature seasonal cycle and that observed in P. physalis presence/absence time-series are out of phase by 3-4 months. We identify wind direction as the major driver of the temporal variability of P. physalis arrival to the shore, both at daily and seasonal time-scales. The differences observed between sites of the occurrence of beaching events is consistent with the geomorphology of the coastline which influences the frequency and direction of favorable wind conditions. We also show that rip currents, a physical mechanism occurring at the scale of the beach, can be a predictor of beaching events. This study is a first step towards understanding the dynamics of P. physalis transport and ultimately being able to predict its arrival to the coast and mitigating the number of people who experience painful stings and require medical help

Pressure Evolution of a Field Induced Fermi Surface Reconstruction and of the Neel Critical Field in CeIn3

We report high-pressure skin depth measurements on the heavy fermion material CeIn3 in magnetic fields up to 64 T using a self-resonant tank circuit based on a tunnel diode oscillator. At ambient pressure, an anomaly in the skin depth is seen at 45 T. The field where this anomaly occurs decreases with applied pressure until approximately 1.0 GPa, where it begins to increase before merging with the antiferromagnetic phase boundary. Possible origins for this transport anomaly are explored in terms of a Fermi surface reconstruction. The critical magnetic field at which the Neel ordered phase is suppressed is also mapped as a function of pressure and extrapolates to the previous ambient pressure measurements at high magnetic fields and high pressure measurements at zero magnetic field.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Enhancing shopping experiences in smart retailing

The retailing market has undergone a paradigm-shift in the last decades, departing from its traditional form of shopping in brick-and-mortar stores towards online shopping and the establishment of shopping malls. As a result, “small” independent retailers operating in urban environments have suffered a substantial reduction of their turnover. This situation could be presumably reversed if retailers were to establish business “alliances” targeting economies of scale and engage themselves in providing innovative digital services. The SMARTBUY ecosystem realizes the concept of a “distributed shopping mall”, which allows retailers to join forces and unite in a large commercial coalition that generates added value for both retailers and customers. Along this line, the SMARTBUY ecosystem offers several novel features: (i) inventory management of centralized products and services, (ii) geo-located marketing of products and services, (iii) location-based search for products offered by neighboring retailers, and (iv) personalized recommendations for purchasing products derived by an innovative recommendation system. SMARTBUY materializes a blended retailing paradigm which combines the benefits of online shopping with the attractiveness of traditional shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. This article provides an overview of the main architectural components and functional aspects of the SMARTBUY ecosystem. Then, it reports the main findings derived from a 12 months-long pilot execution of SMARTBUY across four European cities and discusses the key technology acceptance factors when deploying alike business alliances

Homogenous recycling of transuranium elements from irradiated fast reactor fuel by the EURO-GANEX solvent extraction process

The EURO-GANEX process was developed forco-separating transuranium elements from irradiatednuclear fuels. A hot flow-sheet trial was performed in acounter-current centrifugal contactor setup, using a genuinehigh active feed solution. Irradiated mixed (carbide,nitride) U80Pu20 fast reactor fuel containing 20 % Pu wasthermally treated to oxidise it to the oxide form which wasthen dissolved in HNO3. From this solution uranium wasseparated to >99.9 % in a primary solvent extraction cycleusing 1.0 mol/L DEHiBA (N,N-di(2-ethylhexyl)isobutyramidein TPH (hydrogenated tetrapropene) as the organicphase. The raffinate solution from this process, containing10 g/L Pu, was further processed in a second cycle of solventextraction. In this EURO-GANEX flow-sheet, TRU andfission product lanthanides were firstly co-extracted intoa solvent composed of 0.2 mol/L TODGA (N,N,N′,N′-tetran-octyl diglycolamide) and 0.5 mol/L DMDOHEMA (N,N′-dimethyl-N,N′-dioctyl-2-(2-hexyloxy-ethyl) malonamide)dissolved in Exxsol D80, separating them from most otherfission and corrosion products. Subsequently, the TRUwere selectively stripped from the collected loaded solventusing a solution containing 0.055 mol/L SO3-Ph-BTP(2,6-bis(5,6-di(3-sulphophenyl)-1,2,4-triazin-3-yl)pyridinetetrasodium salt) and 1 mol/L AHA (acetohydroxamicacid) in 0.5 mol/L HNO3; lanthanides were finally strippedusing 0.01 mol/L HNO3. Approximately 99.9 % of the TRUand less than 0.1 % of the lanthanides were found in theproduct solution, which also contained the major fractionsof Zr and Mo

Summary of the performances of the superconducting electron cyclotron resonance ion source at 14 GHz

This article deals with the most recent performance of the superconducting electron cyclotron resonance ion source (SERSE) working at 14 GHz with high magnetic fields after the required conditioning and optimization of several operating parameters. SERSE has now achieved an outstanding level of performance in delivering highly charged ion beams in argon and oxygen gases: the results obtained while operating in a stainless steel chamber and with an aluminum liner are shown and discussed

The Sentinel-3 Mission Performance Center

As part of the Sentinel-3 mission and in order to ensure the highest quality of products, ESA in cooperation with EUMETSAT has set up the Sentinel-3 Mission Performance Centre (S-3 MPC). This facility is part of the Payload Data Ground Segment (PDGS) and aims at controlling the quality of all generated products, from L0 to L2. The S-3 MPC is composed of a Coordinating Centre (CC), where the core infrastructure is hosted, which is in charge of the main routine activities (especially the quality control of data) and the overall service management. Expert Support Laboratories (ESLs) are involved in calibration and validation activities and provide specific assessment of the products (e.g., analysis of trends, ad hoc analysis of anomalies, etc.). The S-3 MPC interacts with the Processing Archiving Centres (PACs) and the Marine centre at EUMETSAT

Autofluorescence endoscopic spectro-imaging and 2D-cartography for in situ localisation and diagnosis of cancerous lesions

Early diagnosis is the most efficient way to struggle against cancer. Among all the existing techniques, optical methods (photodiagnosis from NUV to NIR) show important characteristics required by the physicians : high sensitivity, non-ionising radiations and non-traumatic measurements. They are particularly well suited to the detection of cancers in hollow organs, that are usually superficial and hardly visible with classical endoscopy. This paper describes a methodological approach based on the use of tissue autofluorescence, applicable in clinical endoscopy, and leading to the definition of diagnosis indicators from the spectral parameters. Following a state-of-the-art on autofluorescence spectroscopic (LIFS) and endoscopic imaging methods, we present the efficiency of fibered LIFS in terms of sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of esophagus cancerous lesions (clinical study over 25 patients). We then present the technological characteristics of an autofluorescence endoscopic imaging prototype developed in our labs as well as its calibration. A second part is devoted to endoscopic image registration and mosaicing and to optics aberration correction in perspective of the automatic construction of a panoramic image (cartography) of the organ’s explored areas. Finally, exploiting the fluorescence data provided by the imager, the feasibility of the superimposition of spatial and spectral information is validated with a phantom.Le diagnostic précoce est le moyen le plus efficace de lutte contre le cancer. Parmi toutes les techniques possibles, les méthodes optiques (photodiagnostic du proche UV au proche IR) présentent des caractéristiques importantes recherchées par les médecins : grande sensibilité, radiations non ionisantes et mesures atraumatiques. Elles sont particulièrement bien adaptées à la détection des cancers des organes creux, par nature superficiels et difficilement décelables en endoscopie classique. Cet article décrit une approche méthodologique fondée sur l’exploitation de l’autofluorescence tissulaire, applicable en endoscopie clinique, et conduisant à l’élaboration d’indicateurs diagnostiques issus des paramètres spectraux. Après un état de l’art sur les méthodes spectroscopiques (LIFS) et d’imagerie endoscopique d’autofluorescence, nous montrons l’efficacité de la LIFS fibrée en terme de sensibilité et de spécificité pour le diagnostic de lésions cancéreuses de l’oesophage (étude clinique sur 25 patients). Nous présentons ensuite les caractéristiques technologiques et le calibrage du prototype d’imageur endoscopique d’autofluorescence développé. Une seconde partie traite du pré-traitement, du recalage et du mosaïquage des images endoscopiques appliqués à la construction automatique d’une image panoramique (cartographie) à partir de séquences vidéos des zones explorées de l’organe. Finalement, en exploitant les informations de fluorescence fournies par l’imageur, la faisabilité d’une superposition des informations spatiale et spectrale est validée sur fantôme