329 research outputs found
Las enfermedades populares en la cultura española actual
Cabe suponer que cuando se goza de acceso universal a la sanidad, como sucede
en la España contemporánea, la creencia en enfermedades populares termina desapareciendo.
Sin embargo, una investigación de campo, desarrollada en el Suroeste de
Andalucía en la primavera de 2004, indica que aún resta en la generalidad de la población
un considerable conocimiento de un cierto número de enfermedades populares, y
en concreto de la denominada «Mal de ojo». A partir de los datos obtenidos mediante
un grupo de discusión con mujeres que curan estas enfermedades, la realización de una
serie de entrevistas a personas o bien muy familiarizadas con el Mal de ojo, o bien profanas
en esta enfermedad pero que creen en ella, y finalmente una revisión de materiales
de archivo. Este artículo describe un modelo actual explicativo del Mal de ojo y propone
algunas hipótesis sobre la pervivencia de la creencia en esta y otras enfermedades
populares.It might be assumed that in a situation of universal access to biomedical health care,
as is the case in contemporary Spain, folk illness beliefs would have vanished. Field research conducted in the spring of 2004 in Andalusia showed considerable knowledge
in the general population about a number of folk illnesses, including mal de ojo (evil
eye). Based on a focus group conducted with traditional healers, as well as in-depth
interviews with specialists in mal de ojo, in-depth interviews with lay people who believe
in this illness, and review of archival materials, this paper describes the contemporary
explanatory model of mal de ojo and offers some hypotheses as to why beliefs
in this illness, and other folk illnesses, persist
Performance Comparison of Marine Renewable Energy Converter Mooring Lines Subjected to Real Sea and Accelerated Loads
Accepted© EWTEC 2015One immediate challenge for the commercial development of floating Marine Renewable Energy Converters is reducing the weight and associated costs of mooring lines in deep water (>75m). Synthetic fibre ropes offer already a solution to the weight problems of using steel lines in deep-water offshore oil and gas installations as they have a very low weight in water. The present study focuses on the performance of fibre ropes in shallow waters, subjected to laboratory tests based on loads measured at sea in addition to (time) accelerated tests. Determining fatigue life is one of the most important aspects of long-term mooring analysis. At present, the fatigue analyses are usually based on S-N or T-N curves that are obtained with regular loads even when these loads are completely different to the ones measured at sea by a wave energy converter. The differences between the standard fatigue test and the real life of a mooring system are mainly the rate in which the loads are applied and the profile of the loads. Here, these two elements are analysed to get the fatigue damage, obtaining important differences in this measure
Las enfermedades populares en la cultura española actual : un estudio comparado sobre el mal de ojo
Cabe suponer que cuando se goza de acceso universal a la sanidad, como sucede
en la España contemporánea, la creencia en enfermedades populares termina desapareciendo.
Sin embargo, una investigación de campo, desarrollada en el Suroeste de
Andalucía en la primavera de 2004, indica que aún resta en la generalidad de la población
un considerable conocimiento de un cierto número de enfermedades populares, y
en concreto de la denominada «Mal de ojo». A partir de los datos obtenidos mediante
un grupo de discusión con mujeres que curan estas enfermedades, la realización de una
serie de entrevistas a personas o bien muy familiarizadas con el Mal de ojo, o bien profanas
en esta enfermedad pero que creen en ella, y finalmente una revisión de materiales
de archivo. Este artículo describe un modelo actual explicativo del Mal de ojo y propone
algunas hipótesis sobre la pervivencia de la creencia en esta y otras enfermedades
populares.It might be assumed that in a situation of universal access to biomedical health care,
as is the case in contemporary Spain, folk illness beliefs would have vanished. Field research conducted in the spring of 2004 in Andalusia showed considerable knowledge
in the general population about a number of folk illnesses, including mal de ojo (evil
eye). Based on a focus group conducted with traditional healers, as well as in-depth
interviews with specialists in mal de ojo, in-depth interviews with lay people who believe
in this illness, and review of archival materials, this paper describes the contemporary
explanatory model of mal de ojo and offers some hypotheses as to why beliefs
in this illness, and other folk illnesses, persist
Dark solitons in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates: from theory to experiments
This review paper presents an overview of the theoretical and experimental
progress on the study of matter-wave dark solitons in atomic Bose-Einstein
condensates. Upon introducing the general framework, we discuss the statics and
dynamics of single and multiple matter-wave dark solitons in the quasi
one-dimensional setting, in higher-dimensional settings, as well as in the
dimensionality crossover regime. Special attention is paid to the connection
between theoretical results, obtained by various analytical approaches, and
relevant experimental observations.Comment: 82 pages, 13 figures. To appear in J. Phys. A: Math. Theor
Planck Intermediate Results. IV. The XMM-Newton validation programme for new Planck galaxy clusters
We present the final results from the XMM-Newton validation follow-up of new
Planck galaxy cluster candidates. We observed 15 new candidates, detected with
signal-to-noise ratios between 4.0 and 6.1 in the 15.5-month nominal Planck
survey. The candidates were selected using ancillary data flags derived from
the ROSAT All Sky Survey (RASS) and Digitized Sky Survey all-sky maps, with the
aim of pushing into the low SZ flux, high-z regime and testing RASS flags as
indicators of candidate reliability. 14 new clusters were detected by XMM,
including 2 double systems. Redshifts lie in the range 0.2 to 0.9, with 6
clusters at z>0.5. Estimated M500 range from 2.5 10^14 to 8 10^14 Msun. We
discuss our results in the context of the full XMM validation programme, in
which 51 new clusters have been detected. This includes 4 double and 2 triple
systems, some of which are chance projections on the sky of clusters at
different z. We find that association with a RASS-BSC source is a robust
indicator of the reliability of a candidate, whereas association with a FSC
source does not guarantee that the SZ candidate is a bona fide cluster.
Nevertheless, most Planck clusters appear in RASS maps, with a significance
greater than 2 sigma being a good indication that the candidate is a real
cluster. The full sample gives a Planck sensitivity threshold of Y500 ~ 4 10^-4
arcmin^2, with indication for Malmquist bias in the YX-Y500 relation below this
level. The corresponding mass threshold depends on z. Systems with M500 > 5
10^14 Msun at z > 0.5 are easily detectable with Planck. The newly-detected
clusters follow the YX-Y500 relation derived from X-ray selected samples.
Compared to X-ray selected clusters, the new SZ clusters have a lower X-ray
luminosity on average for their mass. There is no indication of departure from
standard self-similar evolution in the X-ray versus SZ scaling properties.
(abridged)Comment: accepted by A&
Nonlinear Waves in Bose-Einstein Condensates: Physical Relevance and Mathematical Techniques
The aim of the present review is to introduce the reader to some of the
physical notions and of the mathematical methods that are relevant to the study
of nonlinear waves in Bose-Einstein Condensates (BECs). Upon introducing the
general framework, we discuss the prototypical models that are relevant to this
setting for different dimensions and different potentials confining the atoms.
We analyze some of the model properties and explore their typical wave
solutions (plane wave solutions, bright, dark, gap solitons, as well as
vortices). We then offer a collection of mathematical methods that can be used
to understand the existence, stability and dynamics of nonlinear waves in such
BECs, either directly or starting from different types of limits (e.g., the
linear or the nonlinear limit, or the discrete limit of the corresponding
equation). Finally, we consider some special topics involving more recent
developments, and experimental setups in which there is still considerable need
for developing mathematical as well as computational tools.Comment: 69 pages, 10 figures, to appear in Nonlinearity, 2008. V2: new
references added, fixed typo
Planck intermediate results. III. The relation between galaxy cluster mass and Sunyaev-Zeldovich signal
We examine the relation between the galaxy cluster mass M and
Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect signal D_A^2 Y for a sample of 19 objects for
which weak lensing (WL) mass measurements obtained from Subaru Telescope data
are available in the literature. Hydrostatic X-ray masses are derived from
XMM-Newton archive data and the SZ effect signal is measured from Planck
all-sky survey data. We find an M_WL-D_A^2 Y relation that is consistent in
slope and normalisation with previous determinations using weak lensing masses;
however, there is a normalisation offset with respect to previous measures
based on hydrostatic X-ray mass-proxy relations. We verify that our SZ effect
measurements are in excellent agreement with previous determinations from
Planck data. For the present sample, the hydrostatic X-ray masses at R_500 are
on average ~ 20 per cent larger than the corresponding weak lensing masses, at
odds with expectations. We show that the mass discrepancy is driven by a
difference in mass concentration as measured by the two methods, and, for the
present sample, the mass discrepancy and difference in mass concentration is
especially large for disturbed systems. The mass discrepancy is also linked to
the offset in centres used by the X-ray and weak lensing analyses, which again
is most important in disturbed systems. We outline several approaches that are
needed to help achieve convergence in cluster mass measurement with X-ray and
weak lensing observations.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, matches accepted versio
Polymer Flow Through Porous Media: Numerical Prediction of the Contribution of Slip to the Apparent Viscosity.
The flow of polymer solutions in porous media is often described using Darcy’s law with an apparent viscosity capturing the observed thinning or thickening effects. While the macroscale form is well accepted, the fundamentals of the pore-scale mechanisms, their link with the apparent viscosity, and their relative influence are still a matter of debate. Besides the complex effects associated with the rheology of the bulk fluid, the flow is also deeply influenced by the mechanisms occurring close to the solid/liquid interface, where polymer molecules can arrange and interact in a complex manner. In this paper, we focus on a repulsive mechanism, where polymer molecules are pushed away from the interface, yielding a so-called depletion layer in the vicinity of the wall. This depletion layer acts as a lubricating film that may be represented by an effective slip boundary condition. Here, our goal is to provide a simple mean to evaluate the contribution of this slip effect to the apparent viscosity. To do so, we solve the pore-scale flow numerically in idealized porous media with a slip length evaluated analytically in a tube. Besides its simplicity, the advantage of our approach is also that it captures relatively well the apparent viscosity obtained from core-flood experiments, using only a limited number of inputs. Therefore, it may be useful in many applications to rapidly estimate the influence of the depletion layer effect over the macroscale flow and its relative contribution compared to other phenomena, such as non-Newtonian effects
Research of the origin of a particular Tunisian group using a physical marker and Alu insertion polymorphisms
The aim of this study was to show how, in some particular circumstances, a physical marker can be used along with molecular markers in the research of an ancient people movement. A set of five Alu insertions was analysed in 42 subjects from a particular Tunisian group (El Hamma) that has, unlike most of the Tunisian population, a very dark skin, similar to that of sub-Saharans, and in 114 Tunisian subjects (Gabes sample) from the same governorate, but outside the group. Our results showed that the El Hamma group is genetically midway between sub-Saharan populations and North Africans, whereas the Gabes sample is clustered among North Africans. In addition, The A25 Alu insertion, considered characteristic to sub-Saharan Africans, was present in the El Hamma group at a relatively high frequency. This frequency was similar to that found in sub-Saharans from Nigeria, but significantly different from those found in the Gabes sample and in other North African populations. Our molecular results, consistent with the skin color status, suggest a sub-Saharan origin of this particular Tunisian group
Genetic parameters for somatic cell score according to udder infection status in Valle del Belice dairy sheep and impact of imperfect diagnosis of infection
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Somatic cell score (SCS) has been promoted as a selection criterion to improve mastitis resistance. However, SCS from healthy and infected animals may be considered as separate traits. Moreover, imperfect sensitivity and specificity could influence animals' classification and impact on estimated variance components. This study was aimed at: (1) estimating the heritability of bacteria negative SCS, bacteria positive SCS, and infection status, (2) estimating phenotypic and genetic correlations between bacteria negative and bacteria positive SCS, and the genetic correlation between bacteria negative SCS and infection status, and (3) evaluating the impact of imperfect diagnosis of infection on variance component estimates.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data on SCS and udder infection status for 1,120 ewes were collected from four Valle del Belice flocks. The pedigree file included 1,603 animals. The SCS dataset was split according to whether animals were infected or not at the time of sampling. A repeatability test-day animal model was used to estimate genetic parameters for SCS traits and the heritability of infection status. The genetic correlation between bacteria negative SCS and infection status was estimated using an MCMC threshold model, implemented by Gibbs Sampling.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The heritability was 0.10 for bacteria negative SCS, 0.03 for bacteria positive SCS, and 0.09 for infection status, on the liability scale. The genetic correlation between bacteria negative and bacteria positive SCS was 0.62, suggesting that they may be genetically different traits. The genetic correlation between bacteria negative SCS and infection status was 0.51. We demonstrate that imperfect diagnosis of infection leads to underestimation of differences between bacteria negative and bacteria positive SCS, and we derive formulae to predict impacts on estimated genetic parameters.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results suggest that bacteria negative and bacteria positive SCS are genetically different traits. A positive genetic correlation between bacteria negative SCS and liability to infection was found, suggesting that the approach of selecting animals for decreased SCS should help to reduce mastitis prevalence. However, the results show that imperfect diagnosis of infection has an impact on estimated genetic parameters, which may reduce the efficiency of selection strategies aiming at distinguishing between bacteria negative and bacteria positive SCS.</p
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