Los depósitos de ceniza volcánica del Pleistoceno Superior-Holoceno de la región de Tafí del Valle-Cafayate, noroeste de Argentina

[EN]We identified volcanic ash deposits, whose thickness can exceed sometimes the 4 m, in the southeastern margin of La Puna and neighbouring areas (Provinces of Tucuman and Salta, Argentina). These Late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits show the existence of a highly explosive volcanism only some few thousand years ago, without comparison with any historical volcanic episode in northwestern Argentina. We have characterized the size distribution of ash (laser diffraction), morphology of particles (SEM), mineralogy (XRD) and the geochemistry of major and trace elements in bulk sample using mass spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS). The information provided by these deposits is of great interest to size adequately the geochemical impact models of ashfall in future volcanic eruptions in the Central Volcanic Zone of the Andes, quantifying the contribution of volcanic ash to the regional geochemical balances, both with respect to nutrients (e.g., Ca and Fe) and potentially toxic elements (e.g., As and F), among other elements of interest.[ES] Se han localizado diversos depósitos de ceniza volcánica, cuyos espesores llegan a superar en ocasiones los 4 m al suroeste de La Puna y áreas limítrofes (Provincias de Tucumán y Salta, Argentina). Estos depósitos son de edad Pleistoceno Superior y Holoceno y muestran la existencia hace pocos miles de años de volcanismo altamente explosivo, sin comparación con ningún episodio volcánico histórico en el noroeste de Argentina. Se han caracterizado la distribución granulométrica de la ceniza (difracción laser), la morfología de las partículas (microscopía electrónica de barrido), mineralogía (difracción de rayos X) y la geoquímica de elementos mayores y trazas en muestra total mediante espectrometría de masas (HR-ICP-MS). La información suministrada por estos depósitos tiene gran interés a la hora de dimensionar los modelos de impacto geoquímico de la caída de ceniza de futuras erupciones volcánicas en la Zona Volcánica Central de los Andes, cuantificando la contribución de la ceniza volcánica a los balances geoquímicos regionales, tanto por lo que respecta a nutrientes (p. ej., Ca y Fe), como de elementos potencialmente tóxicos (p. ej., As y F), entre otros elementos de interés.Agradecemos el apoyo técnico del labGEOTOP (infraestructura cofinanciada por FEDER, CSIC08-4E-001) del ICTJA-CSIC; de los Grupos PEGEFA (2009-SGR-972) y GEOVOL y fue financiado por el Proyecto QUECA (CGL2011-23307).Peer reviewe

Modeling Sustainability Reporting with Ternary Attractor Neural Networks

International Conference on Mining Intelligence and Knowledge Exploration. Cluj-Napoca, Romania, December 20–22, 2018This work models the Corporate Sustainability General Reporting Initiative (GRI) using a ternary attractor network. A dataset of years evolution of the GRI reports for a world-wide set of companies was compiled from a recent work and adapted to match the pattern coding for a ternary attractor network. We compare the performance of the network with a classical binary attractor network. Two types of criteria were used for encoding the ternary network, i.e., a simple and weighted threshold, and the performance retrieval was better for the latter, highlighting the importance of the real patterns’ transformation to the three-state coding. The network exceeds the retrieval performance of the binary network for the chosen correlated patterns (GRI). Finally, the ternary network was proved to be robust to retrieve the GRI patterns with initial noise.This work has been supported by Spanish grants MINECO (http://www.mineco.gob.es/) TIN2014-54580-R, TIN2017-84452-R, and by UAMSantander CEAL-AL/2017-08, and UDLA-SIS.MG.17.02

Galaxy cluster mass density profile derived using the submillimetre galaxies magnification bias

Context. The magnification bias is a gravitational lensing eect that produces an increase or decrease in the detection probability of background sources near the position of a lense. The special properties of the submillimetre galaxies (SMGs; steep source number counts, high redshift, and a very low cross-contamination with respect to the optical band) makes them the optimal background sample for magnification bias studies. Aims. We want to study the average mass density profile of tens to hundreds of clusters of galaxies acting as lenses that produce a magnification bias on the SMGs, and to estimate their associated masses and concentrations for dierent richness ranges. The cluster richness is defined as R = L200=L with L200 as the total r-band luminosity within the radius r200. Methods. The background sample is composed of SMGs observed by Herschel with 1:2 < z < 4:0 (mean redshift at 2:3) while the foreground sample is made up of galaxy clusters extracted from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III with photometric redshifts of 0:05 < z < 0:8 (mean redshift at 0:38). Measurements are obtained by stacking the SMG–cluster pairs to estimate the crosscorrelation function using the Davis-Peebles estimator. This methodology allows us to derive the mass density profile for a wide range of angular scales, 2250 arcsec or 101300 kpc for z = 0:38, with a high radial resolution, and in particular to study the inner part of the dark matter halo (<100 kpc). In addition, we also divide the cluster sample into five bins of richness and we analyse the estimated cross-correlation data using dierent combinations of the most common theoretical mass density profiles. Results. It is impossible to fit the data with a single mass density profile at all scales: in the inner part there is a clear excess in the mass density profile with respect to the outer part that we interpret as the galactic halo of the big central galaxy. As for the outer part, the estimated average masses increase with richness from M200c = 5:8 1013 M to M200c = 51:5 1013 M (M200c = 7:1 1013 M for the total sample). With respect to the concentration parameter, its average also increases with richness from C = 0:74 to C = 1:74 (C = 1:72 for the total sample). In the small-scale regions, the obtained average masses fluctuate around M200c = 34 1013 M with average concentration values of around C 4. Conclusions. The total average masses are in perfect agreement with the mass–richness relationship estimated from the cluster catalogue. In the bins of lowest richness, the central galactic halo constitutes 40% of the total mass of the cluster and its relevance decreases for higher richness values. While the estimated average concentration values of the central galactic halos are in agreement with traditional mass–concentration relationships, we find low concentrations for the outer part. Moreover, the concentrations decrease for lower richness values, probably indicating that the group of galaxies cannot be considered to be relaxed systems. Finally, we notice a systematic lack of signal at the transition between the dominance of the cluster halo and the central galactic halo (100 kpc). This feature is also present in previous studies using dierent catalogues and/or methodologies, but is never discussed

Characterization of the Taenia spp HDP2 sequence and development of a novel PCR-based assay for discrimination of Taenia saginata from Taenia asiatica

A previously described Taenia saginata HDP2 DNA sequence, a 4-kb polymorphic fragment, was previously used as the basis for developing PCR diagnostic protocols for the species-specific discrimination of T. saginata from T. solium and for the differentiation of T. saginata from T. asiatica. The latter was shown subsequently to lack the required specificity, so we undertook genetic studies of the HDP2 sequence from T. saginata and T. asiatica to determine why, and to develop a novel HDP2-PCR protocol for the simultaneous unambiguous identification of human taeniids. Sequencing and further analysis of the HDP2 DNA fragments of 19 Asiatic isolates of T. saginata and T. asiatica indicated that the HDP2 sequences of both species exhibited clear genomic variability, due to polymorphic variable fragments, that could correspond to the non-transcribed region of ribosomal DNA. This newly observed polymorphism allowed us to develop a novel, reproducible and reliable HDP2-PCR protocol which permitted the simultaneous discrimination of all T. saginata and T. asiatica isolates examined. This species-specific identification was based on, and facilitated by, the clear size difference in amplicon profiles generated: fragments of 1300 bp, 600 bp and 300 bp were produced for T. asiatica, amplicons of 1300 bp and 300 bp being obtained for T. saginata. Control T. solium samples produced one amplicon of 600 bp with the HDP2-PCR protocol. The assay has the potential to prove useful as a diagnostic tool in areas such as South East Asia where T. saginata, T. asiatica and T. solium coexist

Deep, Wide-field CCD Photometry for the Open Cluster NGC3532

We present the results of a deep, wide-field CCD survey for the open cluster NGC~3532. Our new $BV(RI)_{c}$ photometry effectively covers a one square degree area and reaches an unprecedented depth of $V\sim21$ to reveal that NGC~3532 is a rich open cluster that harbors a large number of faint, low-mass stars. We employ a number of methods to reduce the impact of field star contamination in the cluster color-magnitude diagrams, including supplementing our photometry with $JHK_{s}$ data from the 2MASS catalog. These efforts allow us to define a robust sample of candidate main sequence stars suitable for a purely empirical determination of the cluster's parameters by comparing them to the well-established Hyades main sequence. Our results confirm previous findings that NGC~3532 lies fairly near to the Sun [$(m-M)_0=8.46\pm0.05$; $492^{+12}_{-11}$~pc] and has an extremely low reddening for its location near the Galactic plane [$E(B-V)=0.028\pm0.006$]. Moreover, an age of $\sim300$\,Myr has been derived for the cluster by fitting a set of overshooting isochrones to the well-populated upper main-sequence. This new photometry also extends faint enough to reach the cluster white dwarf sequence, as confirmed by our photometric recovery of eight spectroscopically identified members of the cluster. Using the location of these eight members, along with the latest theoretical cooling tracks, we have identified $\sim30$ additional white dwarf stars in the $[V,~(B-V)]$ color-magnitude diagram that have a high probability of belonging to NGC~3532. The age we derive from fitting white dwarf isochrones to the locus of these stars, $300\pm100$\,Myr, is consistent with the age derived from the turnoff. Our analysis of the photometry also includes an estimation of the binary star fraction, as well as a determination of the cluster's luminosity and mass functions.Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ. 55 pages, 21 figures. High-quality version with complete data tables can be downloaded from http://www.phys.lsu.edu/~jclem/NGC3532

EWS-FLI1-mediated suppression of the RAS-antagonist Sprouty 1 (SPRY1) confers aggressiveness to Ewing sarcoma

Ewing sarcoma is characterized by chromosomal translocations fusing the EWS gene with various members of the ETS family of transcription factors, most commonly FLI1. EWS-FLI1 is an aberrant transcription factor driving Ewing sarcoma tumorigenesis by either transcriptionally inducing or repressing specific target genes. Herein, we showed that Sprouty 1 (SPRY1), which is a physiological negative feedback inhibitor downstream of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptors (FGFRs) and other RAS-activating receptors, is an EWS-FLI1 repressed gene. EWS-FLI1 knockdown specifically increased the expression of SPRY1, while other Sprouty family members remained unaffected. Analysis of SPRY1 expression in a panel of Ewing sarcoma cells showed that SPRY1 was not expressed in Ewing sarcoma cell lines, suggesting that it could act as a tumor suppressor gene in these cells. In agreement, induction of SPRY1 in three different Ewing sarcoma cell lines functionally impaired proliferation, clonogenic growth and migration. In addition, SPRY1 expression inhibited extracellular signal-related kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling induced by serum and basic FGF (bFGF). Moreover, treatment of Ewing sarcoma cells with the potent FGFR inhibitor PD-173074 reduced bFGF-induced proliferation, colony formation and in vivo tumor growth in a dose-dependent manner, thus mimicking SPRY1 activity in Ewing sarcoma cells. Although the expression of SPRY1 was low when compared with other tumors, SPRY1 was variably expressed in primary Ewing sarcoma tumors and higher expression levels were significantly associated with improved outcome in a large patient cohort. Taken together, our data indicate that EWS-FLI1-mediated repression of SPRY1 leads to unrestrained bFGF-induced cell proliferation, suggesting that targeting the FGFR/MAPK pathway can constitute a promising therapeutic approach for this devastating disease.FC-A, LG-G, JCL, AS, PG-M, SEL-P, SM and JA are supported by Asociación Pablo Ugarte and Miguelañez SA, ASION-La Hucha de Tomás, Fundación La Sonrisa de Alex and Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI12/00816 and Spanish Cancer Network RTICC RD12/0036/0027). TGPG is supported by a grant from ‘Verein zur Förderung von Wissenschaft und Forschung an der Medizinischen Fakultät der LMU München (WiFoMed)’, the Daimler and Benz Foundation in cooperation with the Reinhard Frank Foundation, by LMU Munich’s Institutional Strategy LMUexcellent within the framework of the German Excellence Initiative, the ‘Mehr LEBEN für krebskranke Kinder—Bettina-Bräu-Stiftung’, the Walter Schulz Foundation, the Fritz Thyssen Foundation (FTH-40.15.0.030MN) and by the German Cancer Aid (DKH-111886 and DKH-70112257). The ‘Genetics and Biology of Cancers’ team (TGPG, DS and OD) is supported by grants from the Ligue Nationale Contre Le Cancer (Equipe labellisée). This work was also supported by the European PROVABES, ASSET and EEC FP7 grants. We also thank the following associations for their invaluable support: the Société Française des Cancers de l’Enfant, Courir pour Mathieu, Dans les pas du Géant, Olivier Chape, Les Bagouzamanon, Enfants et Santé and les Amis de Claire. We thank Dr S Navarro (University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain) and Dr TJ Triche (Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA) for providing us with Ewing sarcoma cell lines A4573 and TTC-466, respectively.S

Measurement of top-pair cross section and top-quark mass in the di-lepton and full-hadronic channels with CMS

This note describes the selection and reconstruction of top-pair events with the CMS detector at the LHC, and the determination of the top-quark mass. Two of the three main channels, classified by the decay of the W boson arising in top decay, are considered here: di-lepton and fully hadronic \ttbar events. The performance of the selections, the resulting cross section measurements, and the mass reconstruction accuracy are evaluated based on a detailed simulation of the CMS detector

The ALHAMBRA Survey: Bayesian Photometric Redshifts with 23 bands for 3 squared degrees

The ALHAMBRA (Advance Large Homogeneous Area Medium Band Redshift Astronomical) survey has observed 8 different regions of the sky, including sections of the COSMOS, DEEP2, ELAIS, GOODS-N, SDSS and Groth fields using a new photometric system with 20 contiguous ~ $300\AA$ filters covering the optical range, combining them with deep $JHKs$ imaging. The observations, carried out with the Calar Alto 3.5m telescope using the wide field (0.25 sq. deg FOV) optical camera LAICA and the NIR instrument Omega-2000, correspond to ~700hrs on-target science images. The photometric system was designed to maximize the effective depth of the survey in terms of accurate spectral-type and photo-zs estimation along with the capability of identification of relatively faint emission lines. Here we present multicolor photometry and photo-zs for ~438k galaxies, detected in synthetic F814W images, complete down to I~24.5 AB, taking into account realistic noise estimates, and correcting by PSF and aperture effects with the ColorPro software. The photometric ZP have been calibrated using stellar transformation equations and refined internally, using a new technique based on the highly robust photometric redshifts measured for emission line galaxies. We calculate photometric redshifts with the BPZ2 code, which includes new empirically calibrated templates and priors. Our photo-zs have a precision of $dz/(1+z_s)=1$ for I<22.5 and 1.4% for 22.5<I<24.5. Precisions of less than 0.5% are reached for the brighter spectroscopic sample, showing the potential of medium-band photometric surveys. The global $P(z)$ shows a mean redshift =0.56 for I=0.86 for I<24.5 AB. The data presented here covers an effective area of 2.79 sq. deg, split into 14 strips of 58.5'x15.5' and represents ~32 hrs of on-target.Comment: The catalog data and a full resolution version of this paper is available at https://cloud.iaa.csic.es/alhambra

Stellar populations of galaxies in the ALHAMBRA survey up to z∼1z \sim 1. I. MUFFIT: A Multi-Filter Fitting code for stellar population diagnostics

We present MUFFIT, a new generic code optimized to retrieve the main stellar population parameters of galaxies in photometric multi-filter surveys, and we check its reliability and feasibility with real galaxy data from the ALHAMBRA survey. Making use of an error-weighted $\chi^2$-test, we compare the multi-filter fluxes of galaxies with the synthetic photometry of mixtures of two single stellar populations at different redshifts and extinctions, to provide through a Monte Carlo method the most likely range of stellar population parameters (mainly ages and metallicities), extinctions, redshifts, and stellar masses. To improve the diagnostic reliability, MUFFIT identifies and removes from the analysis those bands that are significantly affected by emission lines. We highlight that the retrieved age-metallicity locus for a sample of $z \le 0.22$ early-type galaxies in ALHAMBRA at different stellar mass bins are in very good agreement with the ones from SDSS spectroscopic diagnostics. Moreover, a one-to-one comparison between the redshifts, ages, metallicities, and stellar masses derived spectroscopically for SDSS and by MUFFIT for ALHAMBRA reveals good qualitative agreements in all the parameters. In addition, and using as input the results from photometric-redshift codes, MUFFIT improves the photometric-redshift accuracy by $\sim 10$-$20\%$, and it also detects nebular emissions in galaxies, providing physical information about their strengths. Our results show the potential of multi-filter galaxy data to conduct reliable stellar population studies with the appropiate analysis techniques, as MUFFIT.Comment: 31 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Running pace decrease during a marathon is positively related to blood markers of muscle damage

Completing a marathon is one of the most challenging sports activities, yet the source of running fatigue during this event is not completely understood. The aim of this investigation was to determine the cause(s) of running fatigue during a marathon in warm weather