Analisis del desplazamiento de la carga en vendimiadoras mediante el metodo de los elementos discretos

El pesado dinámico de las tolvas en una vendimiadora se ve afectado por diversas fuentes de variación. Una de ellas es el desplazamiento de la carga en su interior, debido principalmente a las inclinaciones del terreno a las que está expuesta la máquina. Este trabajo se ha realizado para cuantificar cómo se ve afectada la señal de la célula de carga en función de las inclinaciones de la máquina. El trabajo se ha dividido en dos partes: pruebas experimentales y modelización. La primera parte ha consistido en la realización de pruebas de laboratorio en las que la máquina vendimiadora, equipada con los correspondientes sensores y utilizando esferas de hidrogel como material para llenar la tolvas, fue sometida a distintas inclinaciones. En la segunda parte del trabajo se ha desarrollado un modelo de elementos discretos para simular el comportamiento de las esferas en el interior de la tolva y su efecto sobre la distribución de la carga. En un primer análisis de los datos se ha concluido que inclinaciones del terreno inferiores a 5° tendrían un efecto mínimo sobre el desplazamiento de la carga, y en consecuencia sobre la señal de la célula de carg

A low CMB variance in the WMAP data

We have estimated the CMB variance from the three-year WMAP data, finding a value which is significantly lower than the one expected from Gaussian simulations using the WMAP best-fit cosmological model, at a significance level of 98.7 per cent. This result is even more prominent if we consider only the north ecliptic hemisphere (99.8 per cent). Different analyses have been performed in order to identify a possible origin for this anomaly. In particular we have studied the behaviour of single radiometers and single year data as well as the effect of residual foregrounds and 1/f noise, finding that none of these possibilities can explain the low value of the variance. We have also tested the effect of varying the cosmological parameters, finding that the estimated CMB variance tends to favour higher values of $n_s$ than the one of the WMAP best-fit model. In addition, we have also tested the consistency between the estimated CMB variance and the actual measured CMB power spectrum of the WMAP data, finding a strong discrepancy. A possible interpretation of this result could be a deviation from Gaussianity and/or isotropy of the CMB.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures. Some new tests added. Section 5 largely modified. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Efectos de la variabilidad ambiental en la abundancia de especies marinas comerciales en el norte del golfo de California

Studies have shown that environmental variables significantly affect variation in stock abundance of marine populations. The northern Gulf of California (NGC) is a highly productive region of interest due to its fish resources and diversity. Conservation of the marine species inhabiting the region is of public interest. Our study analysed the influence of physical environmental factors on several commercial marine species, using catch per unit effort (CPUE) as a proxy for abundance. Generalized additive models were used to test the significance of selected environmental variables on stock abundance. Deseasonalized cross-correlation analysis was used to examine time-lagged correlations between CPUE and abiotic variables to identify response timings. The results suggest that for most commercial species the sea surface temperature and the long-term climate Pacific Decadal Oscillation index are the predominant predictors for species abundance, followed by the Colorado River discharge. The Multivariate ENSO Index and the Pacific-North American pattern indices also showed specific effects on certain species. The NGC is a highly dynamic region, where species respond to environmental changes according to the characteristics of their life histories.Diversas investigaciones han demostrado que las variables ambientales influyen significativamente en la variación en la abundancia de las poblaciones marinas. El norte del golfo de California (NGC) es una región altamente productiva de interés por sus recursos pesqueros y biodiversidad. La conservación de las especies marinas en la región es de interés público. Nuestro estudio analizó la influencia de los factores ambientales físicos sobre varias especies marinas comerciales, usando la captura por unidad de esfuerzo (CPUE) como proxy de la abundancia. Se usaron modelos de aditivos generalizados para probar que variables ambientales influyen significativamente sobre la abundancia del stock. Se utilizó un análisis de correlación cruzada desestacionalizado para examinar correlaciones con retraso entre la CPUE y las variables abióticas para identificar tiempos de respuesta. Los resultados sugieren que para la mayoría de las especies comerciales, la temperatura superficial del mar y el índice de la Oscilación Decadal del Pacífico son los predictores predominantes de la abundancia de especies, seguidos de la descarga del río Colorado. El índice multivariado ENOS y el índice del Patrón del Pacífico de América del Norte mostraron efectos en algunas especies. El NGC es una región altamente dinámica, donde las especies responden a los cambios ambientales de acuerdo con las características de sus historias de vida

Wildfire crisis in Galicia in 2006: change in this spatial distribution model

Resume

Banco de La Concepción: A new Natura 2000 Marine Site off Canary Islands

The main objective of the LIFE+ INDEMARES project is to contribute to the protection and sustainable use of the biodiversity in the Spanish seas through the identification of valuable areas for the Natura 2000 Network. The Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) has been in charge of implementing scientific surveys to map sensitive habitats of seven of the ten INDEMARES areas, and to determine the fisheries footprint over these areas. Banco de La Concepci´on is one of the areas chosen to be depicted in the frame of INDEMARES project. Located at 71 km to the NE of Lanzarote, at the coordinates 29º 55’ Latitude N and 12º 45’ Longitude W, Banco de la Concepci´on raises from 2,541 m up to its summit at 170 m deep. The biological richness of Banco de la Concepci´on is very influenced by the deep water up-welling phenomena, which create a high productivity, attracting a multitude of pelagic species, such as cetaceans, turtles, sharks, and tunas looking for food. In its vicinity, fishery resources such as goraz, anglerfish, and hakes, are abundant, and a rich invertebrate fauna cohabits in their bottoms. Banco de la Concepci´on is a traditional fishing area of oceanic pelagic species, and very good to catch demersal fish; it is highly visited by Galician and Portuguese drifters and long liners that fish in Mauritania, and mainly by the Andalusian longliners. In general, its main impacts are related to uncontrolled fishing pressure. The available information on the anthropogenic impact of the area was scarce, and its level of research was very poor as well, before INDEMARES project. Methodology approach complies with a multidisciplinary perspective, having described the area from geological, oceanographic, biological and fisheries points of view. Several surveys have taken place since 2009 to 2013 at Banco de La Concepci´on waters. Traps, longlines, beam trawls, benthic dredges and box corers have been used to sample benthic fauna. These last two, plus EM 3002 multibeam echosounder, PS 18 parametric sub bottom profiler, EA600 monobeam sounder, Seapath 200 positioning sensor and SV Plus sound velocity calibration sensor were used to make a geophysical study which provides a range of environmental factors. CTD was used to depict physical conditions of the water column. Finally, Remote Operated Vehicle Liropus 2000 and different photogrammetric tugged sleds were used to make a great effort of visual sampling. Data from VMS (Vessel Monitoring System) were used, combined with interviews to users (fishers), to describe the fishery uses in the area. Results from all this field work provide enough information for the administrations to establish a new Natura 2000 area, trying to reconcile protection of biodiversity and artisanal local economic activities. This establishment should take place at the end of a process of public consultation to stakeholders which is taking place in the present and which will help to shape the future Management Plan which will give details about permitted and prohibited uses

Sensitive Habitats and fishing footprint off Canary Islands seamounts Amanay and El Banquete

The main objective of the LIFE+ INDEMARES project is to contribute to the protection and sustainable use of the biodiversity in the Spanish seas through the identification of valuable areas for the Natura 2000 Network. The Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO) has been in charge of implementing scientific surveys to map sensitive habitats of seven of the ten INDEMARES areas, and to determine the fisheries footprint over these areas. Sur y Oriente de Fuerteventura y Lanzarote is one of the areas chosen to be depicted in the frame of INDEMARES project, although the study about benthic habitats and fishery footprint carried by IEO has restricted to Amanay and El Banquete Seamounts. El Banquete really is the extension of southern continental shelf while Amanay seamount is located at 25 km from Jand´ıa Lighthouse (S of Fuerteventura) and 55 km from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, at the coordinates 28º 07’ Latitude N and 14º 44’ LongitudeW, both volcanic buildings raise from more than 2,000 m up to their summits at 25-30 m deep, separated by a 1.500 m deep channel. The biological richness of Amanay and El Banquete seamounts is very influenced by the deep water up-welling phenomena, which create a high productivity, attracting a multitude of pelagic species, such as cetaceans, turtles, sharks, and tunas looking for food. There is also a high influence from Saharian up-welling. Both the seamounts tops and their vicinities are often visited by a large artisanal local fishing fleet which profits of their fishery resources; also a rich invertebrate fauna cohabits in their bottoms. In general, its main impacts are related to uncontrolled fishing pressure, and maritime navigation. The available information on the anthropogenic impact of the area was scarce, and its level of research was very poor as well, before INDEMARES project. Methodology approach complies with a multidisciplinary perspective, having described the area from geological, oceanographic, biological and fisheries points of view. Several surveys have taken place since 2009 to 2013 at Amanay and El Banquete waters. Traps, longlines, beam trawls, benthic dredges and box corers have been used to sample benthic fauna. These last two, plus EM 3002 multibeam echosounder, PS 18 parametric sub bottom profiler, EA600 monobeam sounder, Seapath 200 positioning sensor and SV Plus sound velocity calibration sensor were used to make a geophysical study which provides a range of environmental factors. CTD was used to depict physical conditions of the water column. Finally, different photogrammetric tugged sleds were used to make a great effort of visual sampling. Data from VMS (Vessel Monitoring System) were used, combined with interviews to users (fishers), landing samplings and scientific observation onboard, to describe the fishery uses in the area

Scalar quantities as detectors of non-Gaussianity on CMB maps

We study the power of several scalar quantities constructed on the sphere (presented in Monteserin et al. 2005) to detect non-Gaussianity on the temperature distribution of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The test has been performed using non-Gaussian CMB simulations with injected skewness or kurtosis generated through the Edgeworth expansion. We have also taken into account in the analysis the effect of anisotropic noise and the presence of a Galactic mask. We find that the best scalars to detect an excess of skewness in the simulations are the derivative of the gradient, the fractional isotropy, the Laplacian and the shape index. For the kurtosis case, the fractional anisotropy, the Laplacian and the determinant are the quantities that perform better.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 13 pages, 3 figure

The potential of Ganoderma lucidum extracts as bioactive ingredients in topical formulations, beyond its nutritional benefits

Ganoderma lucidum was characterized in terms of nutritional value and chemical composition. Thereafter, ethanolic Soxhlet extracts were evaluated for antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antityrosinase, antimicrobial and cytotoxic effects, and further characterized in terms of phenolic acids, polysaccharides and triterpenoids. Finally, the obtained extracts were tested as cosmeceutical ingredients. G. lucidum proved to be a source of macronutrients and important bioactive compounds such as terpenoids, specially triterpenoids, and polysaccharides. In the extracts, ganoderic acids C2, A and H were the most abundant triterpenic acids and protocatechuic, p-hydroxibenzoic and syringic acids the identified phenolics. The developed cosmeceutical formulation preserved the extract bioactivities, presented a light-yellow colour and a pH of 4.6, which is considered appropriate for cosmeceutical's design. Behind the important nutritional/bioactive composition of G. lucidum, a potential towards its valorisation in the field of cosmeceuticals is foreseeable, as deduced from the bioactivities of its ethanolic extract and preservation in the tested formulation.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology and FEDER for CIMO (UID/AGR/00690/2013) and to POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006984 (LA LSRE-LCM) funded by ERDF through POCI-COMPETE2020 and FCT. To NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000006, funded by NORTE 2020, under PT2020 through FERDF. Also for financial support to S.A.H. (SFRH/BPD/101413/2014) grant and L.B and R.M.C. contracts. A.M.G.-P. is also thankful to the Spanish MINECO/FEDER for financial support through the project AGL2015-64522-C2-2-R.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Development of mushroom-based cosmeceutical formulations with anti-inflammatory, anti-tyrosinase, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties

The cosmetic industry is in a constant search for natural compounds or extracts with relevant bioactive properties, which became valuable ingredients to design cosmeceutical formulations. Mushrooms have been markedly studied in terms of nutritional value and medicinal properties. However, there is still slow progress in the biotechnological application of mushroom extracts in cosmetic formulations, either as antioxidants, anti-aging, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory agents or as hyperpigmentation correctors. In the present work, the cosmeceutical potential of ethanolic extracts prepared from Agaricus bisporus, Pleurotus ostreatus, and Lentinula edodes was analyzed in terms of anti-inflammatory, anti-tyrosinase, antioxidant, and antibacterial activities. The extracts were characterized in terms of phenolic acids and ergosterol composition, and further incorporated in a base cosmetic cream to achieve the same bioactive purposes. From the results obtained, the final cosmeceutical formulations presented 85%-100% of the phenolic acids and ergosterol levels found in the mushroom extracts, suggesting that there was no significant loss of bioactive compounds. The final cosmeceutical formulation also displayed all the ascribed bioactivities and as such, mushrooms can further be exploited as natural cosmeceutical ingredients.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Planck intermediate results: VIII. Filaments between interacting clusters

[Context]: About half of the baryons of the Universe are expected to be in the form of filaments of hot and low-density intergalactic medium. Most of these baryons remain undetected even by the most advanced X-ray observatories, which are limited in sensitivity to the diffuse low-density medium. [Aims]: The Planck satellite has provided hundreds of detections of the hot gas in clusters of galaxies via the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect and is an ideal instrument for studying extended low-density media through the tSZ effect. In this paper we use the Planck data to search for signatures of a fraction of these missing baryons between pairs of galaxy clusters. [Methods]: Cluster pairs are good candidates for searching for the hotter and denser phase of the intergalactic medium (which is more easily observed through the SZ effect). Using an X-ray catalogue of clusters and the Planck data, we selected physical pairs of clusters as candidates. Using the Planck data, we constructed a local map of the tSZ effect centred on each pair of galaxy clusters. ROSAT data were used to construct X-ray maps of these pairs. After modelling and subtracting the tSZ effect and X-ray emission for each cluster in the pair, we studied the residuals on both the SZ and X-ray maps. [Results]: For the merging cluster pair A399-A401 we observe a significant tSZ effect signal in the intercluster region beyond the virial radii of the clusters. A joint X-ray SZ analysis allows us to constrain the temperature and density of this intercluster medium. We obtain a temperature of kT = 7.1 ± 0.9 keV (consistent with previous estimates) and a baryon density of (3.7 ± 0.2) × 10-4 cm -3. Conclusions. The Planck satellite mission has provided the first SZ detection of the hot and diffuse intercluster gas. © 2013 ESO.The development of Planck has been supported by: ESA; CNES and CNRS/INSU-IN2P3-INP (France); ASI, CNR, and INAF (Italy); NASA and DoE (USA); STFC and UKSA (UK); CSIC, MICINN and JA (Spain); Tekes, AoF and CSC (Finland); DLR and MPG (Germany); CSA (Canada); DTU Space (Denmark); SER/SSO (Switzerland); RCN (Norway); SFI (Ireland); FCT/MCTES (Portugal); and PRACE (EU).Peer Reviewe