Quantum diffusion on a cyclic one dimensional lattice

The quantum diffusion of a particle in an initially localized state on a cyclic lattice with N sites is studied. Diffusion and reconstruction time are calculated. Strong differences are found for even or odd number of sites and the limit N->infinit is studied. The predictions of the model could be tested with micro - and nanotechnology devices.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

Violence against women. The aggressor's profile: approaches to evaluation of the risk

La Administración de Justicia es cada vez más consciente de la importancia de que la pericia médica en los casos de violencia familiar se haga de forma completa, rigurosa y científica. Por ello, desde hace seis años pusimos nuestra experiencia y conocimientos a su servicio creando la "Unidad de Valoración Médico-forense de Violencia Familiar" en la Universidad de Granada, al objeto de realizar una pericia médico-legal integral en cada caso de violencia, dirigida a establecer una valoración global y completa de la víctima, del agresor y de los hijos, cuando los hay. En el presente trabajo se describe la sistemática utilizada en la evaluación psicológico-psiquiátrica de las partes involucradas en el problema y los resultados que nos permiten establecer los diversos perfiles de maltratadores. La comparación entre los resultados obtenidos en el perfil de personalidad de la víctima y del agresor permite comprender cómo surge la dinámica de la violencia y cuáles son los detonantes del comportamiento maltratador, así como el nivel de riesgo que este representa para aquélla. Esta valoración integral puede proporcionar al juez, al fiscal y a los letrados una información rigurosa y objetiva sobre la que apoyar la mejor decisión para todos los implicados y las medidas a adoptar en cada caso.Judges and Justice more and more realise the importance of medical expert reports in cases of domestic violence being made in a complete, rigorous and scientific way. For this reason, for the last six years we have placed our experience and knowledge at their service by creating the "Forensic Evaluation of Domestic Violence Unit" in the University of Granada. Our purpose was to carry out integral medical expertise in each case of violence, trying to establish a global and complete evaluation, of both victim and aggressor (and their children, when there are any). This paper describes the systematic protocol we have used for the psychological-psychiatric evaluation of the parts involved in the problem, as well as the obtained results which allow as to establish the diverse aggressor profiles. The comparison between the results for the profile of victim and aggressor personalities allows a comprehension of how the dynamics of the violence arises and what is the trigger for the aggressive behavior, as well as the level of risk that the aggressor represents for the victim. This global evaluation can provide to judge, prosecutor, and lawyers rigorous and objective information as a basis for the best decision for both victim and aggressor as well as for the measures to adopt in each cas

Effect of Xylanase on the Technological Behaviour of Wheat Flours

The objective of this work is to investigate the effect of enzyme xylanase on the technological behaviour of wheat flours, particularly in alveograms and bread making, using two flour qualities and two bread making methods. The enzyme used was xylanase from Bacillus subtilis which is sold for mainly for baking applications. Breads were made applying both the French and the pan bread methods. Experts scored the external and internal characteristics of breads. Increase in enzyme concentration produced a decrease in maximum pressure (P) and tensile strength/extensibility (P/L) but deformation energy (W) remained almost constant in the alveogram. This means that the water released by the hydrolysis of insoluble pentosans has reduced the tenacity of the dough. The higher the enzyme concentration, the lower the dough consistency during kneading. Besides, the greatest improvement of quality was produced when xylanase was added to low quality flour and when the French type bread making method was applied.Fil: Osella, C.. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química. Instituto de Tecnología de Los Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: de la Torre, M. A. G.. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química. Instituto de Tecnología de Los Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Erben, Melina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química. Instituto de Tecnología de Los Alimentos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Gallardo, A.. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química. Instituto de Tecnología de Los Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Sanchez, H.. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ingeniería Química. Instituto de Tecnología de Los Alimentos; Argentin

Monte Carlo studies of the intrinsic time-domain response of nanoscale three-branch junctions

We present a Monte Carlo time-domain study of nanostructured ballistic three-branch junctions (TBJs) excited by both step-function and Gaussian picosecond transients. Our TBJs were based on InGaAs 2-dimensional electron gas heterostructures and their geometry followed exactly the earlier experimental studies. Time-resolved, picosecond transients of both the central branch potential and the between-the-arms current demonstrate that the bandwidth of the intrinsic TBJ response reaches the THz frequency range, being mainly limited by the large-signal, intervalley scattering, when the carrier transport regime changes from ballistic to diffusive

Impact of the representation of the infiltration on the river flow during intense rainfall events in JULES

Intense rainfall can lead to flash flooding and may cause disruption, damage and loss of life. Since flooding from intense rainfall (FFIR) events are of a short duration and occur within a limited area, they are generally poorly predicted by Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. This is because of the high spatio-temporal resolution required and because of the way the convective rainfall is described in the model. Moreover, the hydrological process descriptions of Land Surface Models (LSMs) are not necessarily suitable to deal with cases of intense rainfall. In this study different representations of infiltration into the soil were developed in the JULES land surface scheme with the aim of improving prediction of the amount of surface runoff, and thus ultimately river flow. Infiltration and surface runoff are explored in a test case of intense rainfall with a variable maximum infiltration. The modelled hydraulic conductivity profile is modified with depth to reduce the rate of outgoing fluxes. The new infiltration scheme is then applied to different UK catchments. The resulting river flow is evaluated against a benchmark river flow calculated using default infiltration in JULES and also observations. The results demonstrate improved representation of the highest flows with this new variable maxiumum infiltration scheme in some catchments but limited improvement elsewhere. This scheme shows best improvement in the wettest areas of the UK where the annual mean precipitation is above 1200 mm. This work highlights the requirement for substantial further work on the hydrological process representation in JULES

Improving coastal livelihoods through sustainable aquaculture practices - a report to the collaborative APEC Grouper Research and Development Network

Wild-harvest fisheries for live reef fish are largely over-exploited or unsustainable because of over-fishing and the widespread use of destructive fishing practices such as blast and cyanide fishing. Sustainable aquaculture – such as that of groupers – is one option for meeting the strong demand for reef fish, as well as potentially maintaining or improving the livelihoods of coastal communities. This report from a short study by the STREAM Initiative draws on secondary literature, media sources and four diverse case studies from at-risk reef fisheries, to frame a strategy for encouraging sustainable aquaculture as an alternative to destructive fishing practices. It was undertaken as a component of the APEC-funded project Collaborative Grouper Research and Development Network (FWG/01/2001) to better understand how recent technical advances in grouper culture and other complementary work – including that of the Asia-Pacific Marine Finfish Aquaculture Network (APMFAN) hosted by NACA – could better support the livelihoods of poor coastal communities. (PDF contains 49 pages

A charge density wave-like instability in a doped spin-orbit assisted weak Mott insulator

Layered perovskite iridates realize a rare class of Mott insulators that are predicted to be strongly spin–orbit coupled analogues of the parent state of cuprate high-temperature superconductors. Recent discoveries of pseudogap, magnetic multipolar ordered6 and possible d-wave superconducting phases in doped Sr_2IrO_4 have reinforced this analogy among the single layer variants. However, unlike the bilayer cuprates, no electronic instabilities have been reported in the doped bilayer iridate Sr_3Ir_2O_7. Here we show that Sr_3Ir_2O_7 realizes a weak Mott state with no cuprate analogue by using ultrafast time-resolved optical reflectivity to uncover an intimate connection between its insulating gap and antiferromagnetism. However, we detect a subtle charge density wave-like Fermi surface instability in metallic electron doped Sr_3Ir_2O_7 at temperatures (T_(DW)) close to 200 K via the coherent oscillations of its collective modes, which is reminiscent of that observed in cuprates. The absence of any signatures of a new spatial periodicity below T_(DW) from diffraction, scanning tunnelling and photoemission based probes suggests an unconventional and possibly short-ranged nature of this density wave order

The influence of topography on vertical velocity of air in relation to severe storms near the Southern Andes Mountains

On the basis of 180 storms which took place between 2004 and 2011 over the province of Mendoza (Argentina) near to the Andes Range at southern mid-latitudes, we consider those registered in the northern and central crop areas (oases). The regions affected by these storms are currently protected by an operational hail mitigation project. Differences with previously reported storms detected in the southern oasis are highlighted. Mendoza is a semiarid region situated roughly between 32S and 37S at the east of the highest Andes top. It forms a natural laboratory where different sources of gravity waves, mainly mountain waves, occur. In this work, we analyze the effects of flow over topography generating mountain waves and favoring deep convection. The joint occurrence of storms with hail production and mountain waves is determined from mesoscale numerical simulations, radar and radiosounding data. In particular, two case studies that properly represent diverse structures observed in the region are considered in detail. A continuous wavelet transform is applied to each variable and profile to detect the main oscillation modes present. Simulated temperature profiles are validated and compared with radiosounding data. Each first radar echo, time and location are determined. The necessary energy to lift a parcel to its level of free convection is tested from the Convective Available Potential Energy and Convection Inhibition. This last parameter is compared against the mountain waves' vertical kinetic energy. The time evolution and vertical structure of vertical velocity and equivalent potential temperature suggest in both cases that the detected mountain wave amplitudes are able to provide the necessary energy to lift the air parcel and trigger convection. A simple conceptual scheme linking the dynamical factors taking place before and during storm development is proposed.Fil: de la Torre, Alejandro. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Pessano, H.. Universidad Tecnologica Nacional. Facultad Regional San Rafael; ArgentinaFil: Hierro, Rodrigo Federico. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Santos, J. R.. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Llamedo Soria, Pablo Martin. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ingeniería; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Alexander, Pedro Manfredo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Intercomparison of general circulation models for hot extrasolar planets

We compare five general circulation models (GCMs) which have been recently used to study hot extrasolar planet atmospheres (BOB, CAM, IGCM, MITgcm, and PEQMOD), under three test cases useful for assessing model convergence and accuracy. Such a broad, detailed intercomparison has not been performed thus far for extrasolar planets study. The models considered all solve the traditional primitive equations, but employ di↵erent numerical algorithms or grids (e.g., pseudospectral and finite volume, with the latter separately in longitude-latitude and ‘cubed-sphere’ grids). The test cases are chosen to cleanly address specific aspects of the behaviors typically reported in hot extrasolar planet simulations: 1) steady-state, 2) nonlinearly evolving baroclinic wave, and 3) response to fast timescale thermal relaxation. When initialized with a steady jet, all models maintain the steadiness, as they should—except MITgcm in cubed-sphere grid. A very good agreement is obtained for a baroclinic wave evolving from an initial instability in pseudospectral models (only). However, exact numerical convergence is still not achieved across the pseudospectral models: amplitudes and phases are observably di↵erent. When subject to a typical ‘hot-Jupiter’-like forcing, all five models show quantitatively di↵erent behavior—although qualitatively similar, time-variable, quadrupole-dominated flows are produced. Hence, as have been advocated in several past studies, specific quantitative predictions (such as the location of large vortices and hot regions) by GCMs should be viewed with caution. Overall, in the tests considered here, pseudospectral models in pressure coordinate (PEBOB and PEQMOD) perform the best and MITgcm in cubed-sphere grid performs the worst