Second-order electromagnetic transitions of nuclei

Treballs Finals de Grau de Física, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2023, Tutor: Javier MenéndezThe excited states of atomic nuclei typically decay via electromagnetic transitions. In this work, we study second-order electromagnetic double-magnetic dipole transitions for different nuclei: 20Ne, 48Ti, 40Ca and 72Ge. We calculate nuclear matrix elements using the nuclear shell model with different valence spaces and nuclear interactions, and we estimate the quality of the results by comparing related calculations with data of first-order electromagnetic transitions and energy spectra. The theoretical results can be used to predict second-order electromagnetic half-lives which could be compared with future experiments

Derivative Design: A new approach for an organic growth of historic Usonian Houses

The main goal of this thesis is to embrace Derivative Design as a methodology to define design principles for the development of sympathetic additions to historic Usonian Houses. The thesis has a Usonian house, 4 Wright Way, as a case of study. 4 Wright Way is a house located in Usonia Homes, in Pleasantville, New York; it was designed by David Henken in 1949 as part of the first group of homes built in the community under Frank Lloyd Wright's review and approval. 4 Wright Way and Usonia Homes are physical manifestations of David Henken's vision of establishing a cooperative suburban community based on Wright's Usonian ideal. Usonia Homes was designated a Historic District and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. Through the application of a Derivative Design methodology, this thesis develops two proposals for the design of 4 Wright Way's new addition, having as its final goals to assist in the prevention of the complete dilution of Wright's Usonian concept, to preserve the joint effort of David Henken and the original Usonian members to build the largest Usonian community in the country, and to prove that Derivative Design is a helpful tool to facilitate the work of other architects facing the problem of expanding historic Usonian houses

Approaching the lesbian-Muslim intersection: experiences of queer women from Muslim backgrounds in Catalonia

Màster d'Estudis de Dones, Gènere i Ciutadania, Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Geografia i Història: Curs: 2021-2022, Tutor: Gerard Coll Planas[eng] This master’s thesis approaches the intersection of ‘lesbian’ and ‘Muslim’ through the lived experiences of four queer women from Muslim backgrounds in the Global North, specifically in Catalonia. By exploring their discourses, we can identify the negotiations and navigations of their social locations in a queer intersection, acknowledging that the concept of ‘lesbian/queer Muslim’ is an oxymoron in Islamic and Western hegemonic discourses. This interdisciplinary study is based on four in-depth semi-structured interviews that revealed common sites of tension in their experiences. These were approached in a variety of ways that overcome the dichotomy of resistance and subordination. Ultimately, by focusing on their lived experiences, we can grasp the nuances and render visible how they bind and unbind these different dimensions of their lives.[cat] Aquest treball de fi de màster s’aproxima a la intersecció ‘lesbiana’ i ‘musulmana’ a través de les ‘experiències viscudes’ de quatre dones queer d’orígens i/o contextos musulmans al Nord Global, concretament a Catalunya. Explorant els seus discursos, podem identificar les negociacions i navegacions de la seva intersecció queer, partint del fet que el concepte de ‘musulmana lesbiana/queer’ és un oxímoron en els discursos hegemònics occidentals i islàmics. Aquest estudi interdisciplinari està basat en quatre entrevistes en profunditat semiestructurades que revelen espais de tensió comuns a les seves experiències. Alhora, mostra que les maneres en què s’hi aproximen són molt variades i superen la dicotomia de resistència i subordinació. Posant el focus en les ‘experiències viscudes’ podem captar els matisos i fer visible les maneres com articulen aquestes diferents dimensions de les seves vides

RNAseq analysis of fast skeletal muscle in restriction-fed transgenic coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) : an experimental model uncoupling the growth hormone and nutritional signals regulating growth

Background Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) transgenic for growth hormone (Gh) express Gh in multiple tissues which results in increased appetite and continuous high growth with satiation feeding. Restricting Gh-transgenics to the same lower ration (TR) as wild-type fish (WT) results in similar growth, but with the recruitment of fewer, larger diameter, muscle skeletal fibres to reach a given body size. In order to better understand the genetic mechanisms behind these different patterns of muscle growth and to investigate how the decoupling of Gh and nutritional signals affects gene regulation we used RNA-seq to compare the fast skeletal muscle transcriptome in TR and WT coho salmon. Results Illumina sequencing of individually barcoded libraries from 6 WT and 6 TR coho salmon yielded 704,550,985 paired end reads which were used to construct 323,115 contigs containing 19,093 unique genes of which >10,000 contained >90 % of the coding sequence. Transcripts coding for 31 genes required for myoblast fusion were identified with 22 significantly downregulated in TR relative to WT fish, including 10 (vaspa, cdh15, graf1, crk, crkl, dock1, trio, plekho1a, cdc42a and dock5) associated with signaling through the cell surface protein cadherin. Nineteen out of 44 (43 %) translation initiation factors and 14 of 47 (30 %) protein chaperones were upregulated in TR relative to WT fish. Conclusions TR coho salmon showed increased growth hormone transcripts and gene expression associated with protein synthesis and folding than WT fish even though net rates of protein accretion were similar. The uncoupling of Gh and amino acid signals likely results in additional costs of transcription associated with protein turnover in TR fish. The predicted reduction in the ionic costs of homeostasis in TR fish associated with increased fibre size were shown to involve multiple pathways regulating myotube fusion, particularly cadherin signaling.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

A historical perspective on pharmacopoeia

Drugs were doubtless developed when man’s life started on Earth. All beings, and humans too have always sought ways to overcome their ailments and diseases. Humans have tried to improve their living conditions and lengthen their life using various objects from the wildlife that once, intuitively and empirically, improved their health or at least palliated their ailments. Perhaps the origin of the pharmacopoeias, could be the set of useful remedies for curing human illnesses that have come through Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Chinese, Indian, Greek, Roman, Islamic and Christian cultures and that throughout history have been improving and adapting.peer-reviewe