Broadband transverse susceptibility in multiferroic Y-type hexaferrite Ba0.5Sr1.5Zn2Fe12O22

Producción CientíficaNoncollinear spin systems with magnetically induced ferroelectricity from changes in spiral magnetic ordering have attracted significant interest in recent research due to their remarkable magnetoelectric effects with promising applications. Single phase multiferroics are of great interest for these new multifunctional devices, being Y-type hexaferrites good candidates, and among them the ZnY compounds due to their ordered magnetic behaviour over room temperature. Polycrystalline Y type hexaferrites with composition Ba0.5Sr1.5Zn2Fe2O22 (BSZFO) were sintered in 1050 °C–1250 °C temperature range. Transverse susceptibility measurements carried out on these BSZFO samples in the temperature range 80–350 K with DC fields up to ± 5000 Oe reveal different behaviour depending on the sintering temperature. Sample sintered at 1250 °C is qualitatively different, suggesting a mixed Y and Z phase like CoY hexaferrites. Sintering at lower temperatures produce single phase Y-type, but the transverse susceptibility behaviour of the sample sintered at 1150 °C is shifted at temperatures 15 K higher. Regarding the DC field sweeps the observed behaviour is a peak that shifts to lower values with increasing temperature, and the samples corresponding to single Y phase exhibit several maxima and minima in the 250 K–330 K range at low DC applied field as a result of the magnetic field induced spin transitions in this compound.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades; Agencia Estatal de Investigación with FEDER (MAT2016-80784-P

Alpha-divergence minimization for deep Gaussian processes

This paper proposes the minimization of α-divergences for approximate inference in the context of deep Gaussian processes (DGPs). The proposed method can be considered as a generalization of variational inference (VI) and expectation propagation (EP), two previously used methods for approximate inference in DGPs. Both VI and EP are based on the minimization of the Kullback-Leibler divergence. The proposed method is based on a scalable version of power expectation propagation, a method that introduces an extra parameter α that specifies the targeted α-divergence to be optimized. In particular, such a method can recover the VI solution when α → 0 and the EP solution when α → 1. An exhaustive experimental evaluation shows that the minimization of α-divergences via the proposed method is feasible in DGPs and that choosing intermediate values of the α parameter between 0 and 1 can give better results in some problems. This means that one can improve the results of VI and EP when training DGPs. Importantly, the proposed method allows for stochastic optimization techniques, making it able to address datasets with several millions of instancesThe authors gratefully acknowledge the use of the facilities of Centro de Computación Científica (CCC) at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. The authors also acknowledge financial support from Spanish Plan Nacional I+D+i, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, grant PID2019-106827GB-I00 / AEI / 10.13039/50110001103

Determinants of Food Safety Level in Fruit and Vegetable Wholesalers’ Supply Chain: Evidence from Spain and France

Food safety management in short supply chains of fruit and vegetables, controlled by large retailers, has been widely studied in the literature. However, when it comes to traditional long supply chains, which include a greater number of intermediaries and wholesalers who, in some cases, play a dual role as resellers and producers, the mechanisms which promote the use of safety certifications have yet to be clearly defined. The present study intended to fill this gap in the literature and shed light on the food safety level that exists in this channel. In addition, this work attempted to identify the existence of differences between both sales systems. For this purpose, the empirical research studied the most important variables that influence the food safety level of some of the main European fruit and vegetable wholesalers. A survey was thus designed and later applied to Spanish and French intermediaries working in key wholesale markets and in the southeast of Spain, which is the leading commercialization area of these products in Europe. The results revealed the positive influence of specific customers (big retailers) on establishing stricter safety controls within wholesale companies. It was also observed that specific wholesalers also play an important role in the system, namely those dedicated to importing, but which are also responsible for quality and safety inspection of agri-food products exported from third countries into the European Union

Líquenes psammófilos de Las Naves de la Reserva Biológica de Doñana (Huelva)

Se han estudiado las comunidades de líquenes psammó fi los en Las Naves de la Reserva Biológica de Doñana (Huelva), su composición y su relación con el medio físico y las comunidades de matorral. Se han descrito seis comunidades liquénicas asociadas a cinco comunida- des de vegetación leñosa. Las diferencias en la composición liquénica parecen responder al microambiente creado por las comunidades le- ñosas en función de la disponibilidad de luz, suelo desnudo y pertur- baciónOn a etudié les communautées des lichens psammophiles de Las Naves de la Reserve Biologique de Doñana (Huelva, Espagne), leur composition et leur relation avec le milieu et avec les communautées des plantes du matorral. Six communautées de lichens ont été décri- tes et associées á cinq communautées du matorral. Les differences en composition des lichens paraissent répondre au microhabitat crée par les communautées du matorral en fonction de la disponibilité de la lumière, du sol nu et de la pérturbationThe composition of several communities of psammophilous lichens, and their relationships with environment and plant communities were studied in the Naves of Doñana Biological Reserve (Huelva, Spain). The six lichen communities described were associated to fi ve woody plant species. Differences in lichen species composition seem to be due to the microenvironment created by the woody plant communities, related to light availability, bare soil and disturbanc

Enebrales costeros gaditanos. II. Composición y diversidad

Se ha estudiado la composición de leñosas y la diversidad de los enebrales costeros gaditanos. Éstos están caracterizados por la presencia de especies como Calicotome villosa, Chamaerops humilis, Cistus albidus, Clematis flammula, Ononis natrix, Rhamnus alaternus, R. oleoides, Ruscus aculeatus, Sedum sediforme, Sideritis arborescens, Smilax aspera, Teucrium lusitanicum y Thymelaea hirsuta, que permiten distinguir las poblaciones a lo largo del litoral. En cuanto a la diversidad, las comunidades de los acantilados son más diversas que las de los sistemas dunares y las repoblaciones de pinos. Entre estas últimas el manejo de los árboles y el sotobosque producen situaciones contrastadas. Los enebrales costeros están sometidos a condiciones ambientales muy duras, que hacen que tanto la cobertura vegetal como la diversidad sean bajas. La elevación de la costa y la plantación de pinos reducen la movilidad del sustrato y el depósito de espray salino, lo que produce un cambio en la composición de especies y, en general, un aumento de la diversida

Enebrales costeros gaditanos. I. Estatus poblacional

ecosistema climácico de las dunas y acantilados de Cádiz. En el presente trabajo se presentan datos sobre su estado de conservación, prestando principal atención a su estatus poblacional y a la proporción de sexos de sus poblaciones. La población de enebro marítimo de la provincia de Cádiz ha sido estimada en unos 10.500 individuos, que se concentran principalmente en el Parque Natural de La Breña y Marismas del Barbate y la costa de Chiclana y Conil, aunque también son relevantes las poblaciones de Punta Camarinal y Punta Paloma. Todas las poblaciones muestran la existencia de regeneración natural, aunque las proporciones de individuos adultos son muy altas en el pinar de repoblación de Punta Paloma (cerca del 90%) y en la costa de Chiclana y Conil (75%), probablemente debido a los efectos de la propia repoblación y al intenso pisoteo respectivamente. También se ha detectado una mayor proporción de individuos masculinos en poblaciones sometidas a fuertes vientos de levante, probablemente debido al mayor coste reproductivo que deben soportar los individuos femenino

Searches for Atmospheric Long-Lived Particles

Long-lived particles are predicted in extensions of the Standard Model that involve relatively light but very weakly interacting sectors. In this paper we consider the possibility that some of these particles are produced in atmospheric cosmic ray showers, and their decay intercepted by neutrino detectors such as IceCube or Super-Kamiokande. We present the methodology and evaluate the sensitivity of these searches in various scenarios, including extensions with heavy neutral leptons in models of massive neutrinos, models with an extra $U(1)$ gauge symmetry, and a combination of both in a $U(1)_{B-L}$ model. Our results are shown as a function of the production rate and the lifetime of the corresponding long-lived particles.Comment: 33 pages, 19 figures. v2: Minor changes, references added. Version accepted for publication in JHE

Usos de Lengua Materna (L1) y Lengua Meta (L2) en un Contexto de Inmersión Real

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)The study of L1 and L2 uses by graduate students in a genuine immersion context or study abroad has not been widely explored. This study is an attempt to provide new insights from the perspective of the interactional and sociocultural sociolinguistics while maintaining constant links with studies in Second Language Acquisition and study abroad. The data collection stage of this study took place at the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain during the summer of 2005. For data collection, the researcher used participant observation. Students also completed a questionnaire about their uses of L1 and L2 while in their home country and during their stay in Spain, one at the beginning and another by the end of their studies in Salamanca. Results first concluded that the uses of L1 seem to be linked to the students’ own effort to carry out their class work or to learn more about the language or the topic they are working on in class, without being directly related with their instructor’s primary objective. Similar uses have been reported by Antón & DiCamilla (1999), Alley (2005), Brooks & Donato (1994), and Centeno-Cortés & Jiménez (2004). Secondly, perceived uses of L2 in the classroom were mostly related with those reported by Tarone & Swain (1995), that is, students used L2 for academic purposes. Thirdly, the L1-L2 switching supported by the findings of Liebscher y Dailey-O’Cain (2005) seems to indicate that students perceive themselves as a bilingual speech community and take it for granted that their interlocutor is proficient in both languages. Finally, the study suggests some pathway for future research including the reasons for the poor L2 use by students whose supposed proficiency level is advanced as reported in the study. Additionally, some pedagogical implications are provided

A Multi-User Interactive Coral Reef Optimization Algorithm for Considering Expert Knowledge in the Unequal Area Facility Layout Problem

The problem of Unequal Area Facility Layout Planning (UA-FLP) has been addressed by a large number of approaches considering a set of quantitative criteria. Moreover, more recently, the personal qualitative preferences of an expert designer or decision-maker (DM) have been taken into account too. This article deals with capturing more than a single DM’s personal preferences to obtain a common and collaborative design including the whole set of preferences from all the DMs to obtain more complex, complete, and realistic solutions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the preferences of more than one expert designer have been considered in the UA-FLP. The new strategy has been implemented on a Coral Reef Optimization (CRO) algorithm using two techniques to acquire the DMs’ evaluations. The first one demands the simultaneous presence of all the DMs, while the second one does not. Both techniques have been tested over three well-known problem instances taken from the literature and the results show that it is possible to obtain sufficient designs capturing all the DMs’ personal preferences and maintaining low values of the quantitative fitness function

Association between serum copper levels and risk of cardiovascular disease: A nested case-control study in the PREDIMED trial

This research was funded by the official funding agency for biomedical research of the Spanish government, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), through grants provided to research networks specifically developed for the trial (RTIC G03/140; RTIC RD 06/0045 “PREDIMED”), and JR14/00008, and through Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), and by grants from Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC06/2007), the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria–Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (Proyecto de Investigación (PI04-2239, PI05/2584, CP06/00100, PI07/0240, PI07/1138, PI07/0954, PI 07/0473, PI10/01407, PI10/02658, PI11/01647, P11/02505 and PI13/00462), the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Recursos y teconologia agroalimentarias (AGL)-2009-13906-C02 and AGL2010-22319-C03 and AGL2013-49083C3-1-R), the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad-Fondos FEDER-Instituto de Salud Carlos III (UNGR15-CE-3380), the Fundación Mapfre 2010, the Consejería de Salud de la Junta de Andalucía (PI0105/2007), the Public Health Division of the Department of Health of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia, the Generalitat Valenciana (Generalitat Valenciana Ayuda Complementatia GVACOMP) 06109, GVACOMP2010-181, GVACOMP2011-151), Conselleria de Sanitat y AP; Atención Primaria (CS) 2010-AP-111, and CS2011-AP-042), Regional Government of Navarra (P27/2011), and Centre Català de la Nutrició de l'Institut d'Estudis Catalans. Hojiblanca and Patrimonio Communal Olivarero donated extra-virgin olive oil; the California Walnut Commission donated walnuts; Borges donated almonds; La Morella Nuts donated hazelnuts. The authors would like to thank the Universidad de Malaga/ Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Andalucía (CBUA) for funding the Open Access fees for the publication. The authors would like to thank the Aula de Dieta Mediterránea y Vida Saludable de la Real Academia de Medicina de Andalucía Oriental, Ceuta y Melilla for its financial support in the analytical determination of copper levels.Background and aim: Certain trace elements have been associated with increased cardiovascular risk. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between serum copper (S -Cu) levels and the risk of a first event of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in a population of older adults with high cardiovascular risk. Methods and results: We conducted a case-control study nested within the PREDIMED trial. During a median follow-up of 4.8 years, a total of 207 incident cases diagnosed with CVD were matched for sex, age, and intervention group with 436 controls. Personal interviews, reviews of medical records, and validated questionnaires were used to assess known CVD risk factors. Biological serum samples were collected annually. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis was used to determine S-Cu levels. Adjusted odds ratios were calculated using multivariate conditional logistic regression models. All participants had S-Cu levels within the reference values, 750 mg/L to 1450 mg/L. Among men, but not among women, the mean S-Cu concentration was higher in cases 1014.1 mg/L than in controls 959.3 mg/L; (p = 0.004). In men, the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio for CVD was 2.36 (95% CI 1.07-5.20 for the comparison of the highest vs. the lowest quartile; p for trend = 0.02), in women, it was 0.43 (95% CI 0.11-1.70; p for trend = 0.165). Conclusion: In older Spanish men with high cardiovascular risk, a significant association was observed between high S-Cu levels, but still within the reference values, and an increased risk of a first event of CVD. Our findings suggest a sex difference in CVD risk and S-Cu levels. To confirm this relationship and to analyze the differences observed between men and women, further studies are needed.Spanish government, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII)Centro de Investigación Biomedica en Red de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn) RTIC G03/140, RTIC RD 06/0045, JR14/00008Centro Nacional de Investigaciones CardiovascularesFondo de Investigación Sanitaria-Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional CNIC06/2007Instituto de Salud Carlos III Spanish Government PI04-2239, PI05/2584, CP06/00100, PI07/0240, PI07/1138, PI07/0954, PI 07/0473, PI10/01407, PI10/02658, PI11/01647, P11/02505, PI13/00462,Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad-Fondos FEDER-Instituto de Salud Carlos III 2009-13906-C02, AGL2010-22319-C03, AGL2013-49083C3-1-RFundacion Mapfre UNGR15-CE-3380Consejería de Salud de la Junta de AndalucíaPublic Health Division of the Department of Health of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia PI0105/2007Center for Forestry Research & Experimentation (CIEF)Conselleria de Sanitat y AP 06109, GVACOMP2010-181, GVACOMP2011-151Atención Primaria (CS) 2010-AP-111, CS2011-AP-042onal Government of Navarra 2010-AP-111, CS2011-AP-042Centre Catala de la Nutricio de l'Institut d'Estudis Catalans P27/2011Universidad de Málaga/ Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Andalucía (CBUA)Real Academia de Medicina de Andalucía Orienta