Symmetries of the Dirac operators associated with covariantly constant Killing-Yano tensors

The continuous and discrete symmetries of the Dirac-type operators produced by particular Killing-Yano tensors are studied in manifolds of arbitrary dimensions. The Killing-Yano tensors considered are covariantly constant and realize certain square roots of the metric tensor. Such a Killing-Yano tensor produces simultaneously a Dirac-type operator and the generator of a one-parameter Lie group connecting this operator with the standard Dirac one. The Dirac operators are related among themselves through continuous or discrete transformations. It is shown that the groups of the continuous symmetry can be only U(1) and SU(2), specific to (hyper-)Kahler spaces, but arising even in cases when the requirements for these special geometries are not fulfilled. The discrete symmetries are also studied obtaining the discrete groups Z_4 and Q. The briefly presented examples are the Euclidean Taub-NUT space and the Minkowski spacetime.Comment: 27 pages, latex, no figures, final version to be published in Class. Quantum Gravit

Effect of different dispersing agents in the non-isothermal kinetics and thermomechanical behavior of PET/TiO2 composites

This work is based on the analysis of the influence of dispersing agents on the non-isothermal kinetics, thermomechanical behavior and dispersing action of PET/TiO2 nanocomposites. The influence of two montanic waxes and an amide wax used as dispersing agents in the nucleating effect of the nanoparticles is studied. The dispersing agents are the following: a) a partly saponified ester of montanic acids (PSEMA), b) an ester of montanic acids with multifunctional alcohols (MAWMA) and c) an amide wax based on N,N '-Bisstearoyl ethylenediamine (AW). The non-isothermal kinetics based on the Avrami method revealed that MAWMA and PSEMA favors the nucleating effect of the nanoparticles when are included in PET. Birefringence microscopy points out the good dispersing capacity of MAWMA and AW and the termomechanical analysis confirmed that the ester of montanic acids with multifunctional alcohols MAWMA shows the best dispersing properties and best promotes the nucleating effect of the TiO2 nanoparticles when used for PET/TiO2 nanocomposites productionPostprint (author's final draft

CO2 Separation and Capture Properties of Porous Carbonaceous Materials from Leather Residues

Carbonaceous porous materials derived from leather skin residues have been found to have excellent CO2 adsorption properties, with interestingly high gas selectivities for CO2 (α > 200 at a gas composition of 15% CO2/85% N2, 273K, 1 bar) and capacities (>2 mmol·g−1 at 273 K). Both CO2 isotherms and the high heat of adsorption pointed to the presence of strong binding sites for CO2 which may be correlated with both: N content in the leather residues and ultrasmall pore sizes

Tunable membranes incorporating artificial water channels for high-performance brackish/low-salinity water reverse osmosis desalination

Membrane-based technologies have a tremendous role in water purification and desalination. Inspired by biological proteins, artificial water channels (AWCs) have been proposed to overcome the permeability/selectivity trade-off of desalination processes. Promising strategies exploiting the AWC with angstrom-scale selectivity have revealed their impressive performances when embedded in bilayer membranes. Herein, we demonstrate that self-assembled imidazole-quartet (I-quartet) AWCs are macroscopically incorporated within industrially relevant reverse osmosis membranes. In particular, we explore the best combination between I-quartet AWC and m-phenylenediamine (MPD) monomer to achieve a seamless incorporation of AWC in a defect-free polyamide membrane. The performance of the membranes is evaluated by crossflow filtration under real reverse osmosis conditions (15 to 20 bar of applied pressure) by filtration of brackish feed streams. The optimized bioinspired membranes achieve an unprecedented improvement, resulting in more than twice (up to 6.9 L center dot m-2 center dot h-1 center dot bar-1) water permeance of analogous commercial membranes, while maintaining excellent NaCl rejection (>99.5%). They show also excellent performance in the purification of low-salinity water under low-pressure conditions (6 bar of applied pressure) with fluxes up to 35 L center dot m-2 center dot h-1 and 97.5 to 99.3% observed rejection

From Waste to Healing Biopolymers: Biomedical Applications of Bio-Collagenic Materials Extracted from Industrial Leather Residues in Wound Healing

The biomedical properties of a porous bio-collagenic polymer extracted from leather industrial waste residues have been investigated in wound healing and tissue regeneration in induced wounds in rats. Application of the pure undiluted bio-collagen to induced wounds in rats dramatically improved its healing after 7 days in terms of collagen production and wound filling as well as in the migration and differentiation of keratinocytes. The formulation tested was found to be three times more effective than the commercial reference product Catrix® (Heal Progress (HP): 8 ± 1.55 vs. 2.33 ± 0.52, p < 0.001; Formation of Collagen (FC): 7.5 ± 1.05 vs. 2.17 ± 0.75, p < 0.001; Regeneration of Epidermis (RE): 13.33 ± 5.11 vs. 5 ± 5.48, p < 0.05)

La implementació, avaluació i millora d'una assignatura sostenibilista comú dels graus de l'Escola d'Enginyeria de Terrassa en el marc de l'EEES: estudi d'un cas real

La Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya com a universitat compromesa institucionalment amb el Desenvolupament Sostenible, incorpora una innovació curricular amb l’assignatura de “Tecnologies Mediambientals i Sostenibilitat” en la majoria dels graus amb atribucions professionals. Al ser aquesta assignatura obligatòria en totes les seves titulacions de grau, l’Escola d’Enginyeria de Terrassa delega al professorat de la Càtedra UNESCO de Sostenibilitat i del Departament d’Enginyeria Química la seva posada en marxa. La implementació es va basar en l’elaboració d’un llibre electrònic, a on es recullen tots els continguts necessaris (i més) per la impartició de l’assignatura, seminaris formatius, integració de competències genèriques i molt especialment l’avaluació de la competència de “Sostenibilitat i Compromís Social” tot seguint l’aplicació dels criteris de l’EEES. En el tercer curs lectiu 2011-2012 d’impartició de l’assignatura, l’estudiantat ha avaluat i valorat de forma molt positiva els aspectes innovadors docents, on l’estudiantat és actiu i participatiu. S’han enquestat a 375 estudiants/es de primer curs d’un total de 421 matriculats/des en el 1er quadrimestre del mateix curs. D’altra banda, l’aspecte pitjor avaluat (no vol dir negativament) ha estat la classe magistral. Una vegada analitzades les respostes i els comentaris de l’estudiantat, hem implementat canvis en el 2on quadrimestre del curs 2011-2012. Les noves incorporacions van en la línia d’afegir més activitats en les classes de teoria.Peer Reviewe

Exploring the physical channel of diffusion-based molecular communication by simulation

Diffusion-based molecular communication is a promising bio-inspired paradigm to implement nanonetworks, i.e., the interconnection of nanomachines. The peculiarities of the physical channel in diffusion-based molecular communication require the development of novel models, architectures and protocols for this new scenario, which need to be validated by simulation. With this purpose, we present N3Sim, a simulation framework for diffusion-based molecular communication. N3Sim allows to simulate scenarios where transmitters encode the information by releasing molecules into the medium, thus varying their local concentration. N3Sim models the movement of these molecules according to Brownian dynamics, and it also takes into account their inertia and the interactions among them. Receivers decode the information by sensing the particle concentration in their neighborhood. The benefits of N3Sim are multiple: the validation of channel models for molecular communication and the evaluation of novel modulation schemes are just a few examples.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft