Monitoring of river contamination derived from acid mine drainage using airborne imaging spectroscopy (HyMap data, South-West Spain)

Imaging spectroscopy is used in this work as an essential mapping tool to monitor changes in contaminated river sediments. Multidate hyperspectral image data (HyMap) are utilized to identify spatial mineral patterns, to detect temporal changes in mineralogy and to link these changes with geochemical processes and short-term climate characteristics. River sediments contaminated by acid mine drainage are covered by crusts with variably hydrated iron sulphate. The mineralogy of the crusts and the grain size of the underlying fluvial sediments overlap. The spectra used to build up maps from HyMap data are diagnosed mineralogically with archive spectral libraries from pyrite oxidation minerals from well-known sequences of minerals. The maps compiled from hyperspectral imagery display generalized oxidation shown by the coatings over river sediments following warm and dry periods with low water level. After the wet periods, the area covered by oxidized mineralogical phases recedes in favour of hydrated sulphate. The iteration of image processing algorithms and the mineralogical and potential contamination in a geological context are described. Change detection of the mineral crusts on the river sediments by mapping using hyperspectral remote sensing data may thus enable a quantitative and qualitative environmental evaluation by the regulators

Cartografía geomorfológica y procesos de activos en la cuenca media-alta del río Eria mediante técnicas de SIG.( Provincia de León, España)

El objetivo es la elaboración de la cartografía geomorfológica y de procesos geológicos activos de un tramo del curso medio de la cuenca del río Eria, en el sector suroccidental de la provincia de León utilizando técnicas de SIG. El trabajo se ha basado en la fotointerpretación de fotos aéreas en visión estereoscópica, estudio bibliográfico y aplicación de técnicas de SIG para el análisis de modelos digitales de terreno y mapas derivados (pendientes, alturas…) y para la representación cartográfica. Como resultado se distinguen tres dominios de relieve caracterizados por diferentes procesos geológicos: dominio de los relieves sobre sustrato paleozoico, dominio de los relieves de origen fluvial y dominio de las formas de origen antrópico. En el primero tienen gran relevancia las formas del relieve relacionadas con la estructura geológica hercínica, en donde aparecen procesos activos ligados a procesos gravitacionales, originando formas del relieve como canchales, coluviones, depósitos de piedemonte y. Debido a lo escarpado de este dominio, apenas existen infraestructuras humanas, por lo que la interferencia de los procesos activos con las mismas es baja. En el segundo dominio aparecen formas del relieve originadas por procesos activos relacionados con el encajamiento de la red fluvial y de sedimentación, pudiendo afectar a infraestructuras humanas. En el tercero aparecen actuaciones susceptibles de interferir con los procesos activos naturales, provocando efectos adversos para la población. La información cartográfica obtenida supone la base para un análisis de susceptibilidad espacial de los distintos peligros de origen geológico, útil para la planificación territorial.The aim of this work is to represent by means of GIS techniques the geomorphological and active geological processes map of the middle course of the Eria river, located in the southwestern León province, Spain. This study is based on aerial photointerpretation, bibliographic analysis of previous works, and on the application of GIS techniques. These techniques were used for the representation of the mapping units, and for analyzing a DTM and derived maps (slop, aspect, etc.), creating a spatial and attribute database.Three main relief domains were differentiated based on the predominant active geological processes: the domain of landforms developed on the Palaeozoic metamorphic rocks, the domain of fluvial landforms, and the domain of anthropogenic landforms. The first one is mainly related to active gravitational processes, but because of the low human occupation, the interaction with human infrastructures is almost negligible. The second one is mainly related to incision and sedimentation of the drainage network, interacting with some human infrastructures developed on the floodplains, alluvial fans and close to the river side. The third one is formed by human elements affecting and modifying at different levels the strength of the active geological processes. The resulting map act as a basis for further spatial susceptibility for geological hazards analysis, which is useful for land use planning

Fingerprinting the hydration products of hydraulic binders using snapshots from time-resolved in situ multinuclear mas nmr spectroscopy

The very early hydration behavior of a hydraulic binder phase, ye'elimite, Ca4Al6O12SO4, in the absence and in the presence of calcium sulfate, has been investigated. A time-resolved in situ multinuclear magic angle spinning (MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic suite involving 1H and 27Al MAS as well as two-dimensional 27Al multiple quantum MAS (MQMAS) experiments has been employed to detect the transient species and to govern the sequence of hydration reactions and the subsequent formation of the hydration products. The results of the study show that the rates of formation of ye'elimite hydration products vary substantially according to the absence or the presence of calcium sulfate. Hydrated calcium sulfoaluminate phases such as ettringite and monosulfate as well as aluminum hydroxide gel have been detected during the various stages of hydration. The direct observation of various transient species during the hydration stages of calcium aluminates and calcium sulfoaluminates illustrates the potential of a newly designed time-resolved in situ 1H MAS NMR experimental approach for fingerprinting phases and offers significant advantages over other established techniques in detecting transient species

Volume-preserving normal forms of Hopf-zero singularity

A practical method is described for computing the unique generator of the algebra of first integrals associated with a large class of Hopf-zero singularity. The set of all volume-preserving classical normal forms of this singularity is introduced via a Lie algebra description. This is a maximal vector space of classical normal forms with first integral; this is whence our approach works. Systems with a non-zero condition on their quadratic parts are considered. The algebra of all first integrals for any such system has a unique (modulo scalar multiplication) generator. The infinite level volume-preserving parametric normal forms of any non-degenerate perturbation within the Lie algebra of any such system is computed, where it can have rich dynamics. The associated unique generator of the algebra of first integrals are derived. The symmetry group of the infinite level normal forms are also discussed. Some necessary formulas are derived and applied to appropriately modified R\"{o}ssler and generalized Kuramoto--Sivashinsky equations to demonstrate the applicability of our theoretical results. An approach (introduced by Iooss and Lombardi) is applied to find an optimal truncation for the first level normal forms of these examples with exponentially small remainders. The numerically suggested radius of convergence (for the first integral) associated with a hypernormalization step is discussed for the truncated first level normal forms of the examples. This is achieved by an efficient implementation of the results using Maple

Topical Treatment with Cord Blood Serum in Glaucoma Patients: A Preliminary Report

Purpose. To report data happened to be observed in two glaucoma patients treated with Cord Blood Serum (CBS) eyedrops. Design. Case report. Retrospective data analysis Methods. CBS topical eyedrops, characterized in advance for growth factors (GFs) content, were administered for two months with the aim to relieve their subjective symptoms, in two patients who had referred ocular surface discomfort, although in absence of any sign of keratopathy. As patients were also affected by advanced glaucoma at risk of vision loss, and under treatment with hypotensive drugs, they had been also monitored over the same period with IOP controls and Visual field tests in our Unit. Results. During subsequent visits, data from Mean Deviation and Pattern Standard Deviation in the Visual fields were retrospectively collected and compared before and after treatment with CBS, and an amelioration was observed. Conclusions. CBS contains a combination of GFs, which potentially exert a neuroprotective action and candidate CBS as an interesting natural source to be delivered in neurodegenerative ocular disorders. The incidentally observed amelioration in these two patients deserves further investigation in this respec

Theory for Anomalous Terahertz Emission in Striped Cuprate Superconductors

Recent experiments in the doped cuprates La2−xBaxCuO4 have revealed the emission of anomalous terahertz radiation after impulsive optical excitation. The spectrum of this emission is sharply peaked in frequency at the Josephson plasma resonance. Notably, a prerequisite to this effect is that both superconducting and charge orders are present simultaneously. Here, we theoretically investigate the nonlinear electrodynamics of such striped superconductors and explore the origin of the observed radiation. We argue that photoexcitation is converted into a shift current by a second-order optical nonlinearity, which is activated by the breaking of inversion symmetry in certain stripe configurations. While such a low-frequency current impulsively drives both bulk and surface collective modes, we demonstrate that the observed emission is dominated by oscillations of the surface Josephson plasmon. Typically, surface excitations lie outside the light cone and are therefore silent; however, they can become bright due to the Bragg scattering off the charge order. We point out the importance of including Umklapp shift currents modulated at the stripe periodicity itself, which impulsively drive surface Josephson plasmons and lead to a resonant structure of outgoing radiation, consistent with the experiments

Design, synthesis and evaluation of benzothiazole derivatives as multifunctional agents

Oxidative stress is the product or aetiology of various multifactorial diseases; on the other hand, the development of multifunctional compounds is a recognized strategy for the control of complex diseases. To this end, a series of benzothiazole derivatives was synthesized and evaluated for their multifunctional effectiveness as antioxidant, sunscreen (filter), antifungal and antiproliferative agents. Compounds were easily synthesized via condensation reaction between 2-aminothiophenols and different benzaldehydes. SAR study, particularly in position 2 and 6 of benzothiazoles, led to the identification of 4g and 4k as very interesting potential compounds for the design of multifunctional drugs. In particular, compound 4g is the best blocker of hERG potassium channels expressed in HEK 293 cells exhibiting 60.32% inhibition with IC50 = 4.79 μM

Optically-induced Umklapp shift currents in striped cuprates

Motivated by recent experiments that observed low-frequency second-order optical responses in doped striped superconductors, here we investigate the nonlinear electrodynamics of systems exhibiting a charge density wave (CDW) order parameter. Due to the Bragg scattering off the CDW order, an incoming spatially homogeneous electric field in addition to zero momentum current generates Umklapp currents that are modulated in space at momenta of the reciprocal CDW lattice. In particular, here we predict and microscopically evaluate the Umklapp shift current, a finite momentum analog of the regular shift current which represents the second-order optical process that downconverts homogeneous AC electric field into low-frequency, zero momentum current. Specifically, we evaluate real-time response functions within mean-field theory via the Keldysh technique and use the Peierls substitution to compute observables at finite momenta in lattice models. We find that systems with certain lattice symmetries (such as inversion symmetry), where the regular shift current is disallowed, may give rise to the Umklapp one. We apply our framework to investigate lattice symmetries in layered materials with helical-like stripes and show that both types of shift currents provide insight into the nature of intertwined phases of matter. Finally, we discuss the relation of our findings to recent experiments in striped superconductors