Advanced titanium scaffolds obtained by directional freeze-drying: on the influence of processing conditions

Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain under Grant No. MAT2010-20855Junta de Andalucía (Spain) / FEDER (EU), through the project Ref. P12-TEP-140

On the presence of Heterocarpus ensifer Milne Edwards, 1881 (Decapoda, Pandalidae) in the Spanish Mediterranean

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Hole spin driving by strain-induced spin-orbit interactions

Hole spins in semiconductor quantum dots can be efficiently manipulated with radio-frequency electric fields owing to the strong spin-orbit interactions in the valence bands. Here we show that the motion of the dot in inhomogeneous strain fields gives rise to linear Rashba spin-orbit interactions (with spatially dependent spin-orbit lengths) and g-factor modulations that allow for fast Rabi oscillations. Such inhomogeneous strains may build up spontaneously due to process and cool down stress. We discuss spin qubits in Ge/GeSi heterostructures as an illustration. We highlight that Rabi frequencies can be enhanced by one order of magnitude by shear strain gradients as small as $3\times 10^{-6}$ nm$^{-1}$ within the dots. This underlines that spin in solids can be very sensitive to strains and opens the way for strain engineering in hole spin devices for quantum information and spintronics.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figure

Hole spin manipulation in inhomogeneous and non-separable electric fields

The usual models for electrical spin manipulation in semiconductor quantum dots assume that the confinement potential is separable in the three spatial dimensions and that the AC drive field is homogeneous. However, the electric field induced by the gates in quantum dot devices is not fully separable and displays significant inhomogeneities. Here, we address the electrical manipulation of hole spins in semiconductor heterostructures subject to inhomogeneous vertical electric fields and/or in-plane AC electric fields. We consider Ge quantum dots electrically confined in a Ge/GeSi quantum well as an illustration. We show that the lack of separability between the vertical and in-plane motions gives rise to an additional spin-orbit coupling mechanism (beyond the usual linear and cubic in momentum Rashba terms) that modulates the principal axes of the hole gyromagnetic g-matrix. This non-separability mechanism can be of the same order of magnitude as Rashba-type interactions, and enables spin manipulation when the magnetic field is applied in the plane of the heterostructure even if the dot is symmetric (disk-shaped). More generally, we show that Rabi oscillations in strongly patterned electric fields harness a variety of g-factor modulations. We discuss the implications for the design, modeling and understanding of hole spin qubit devices

Running Economy: Reproductibility at submaximal high speed

INTRODUCTION: The running economy (RE) has been traditionally determined by measuring the steady-state consumption of oxygen at a specific speed; however few studies has been designed to evaluate the reproductibility of the RE at a high rate of maximum oxygen consumption after repeated submaximal efforts within the same session. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was valuate if the reproductibility of running economy at submaximal high speed could be affected by two previous submaximal efforts. METHODS: In this study participated 19 subjects (mean±SD; age, 21.8±2.5 years; body mass, 71.0±10.6 and height, 175.2±8.1). During three days of assessment separately for at least 24h of recovery, subjects performed the following tests. Day 1 a maximum incremental test, to determine the intensities. Day 2 a test of running economy at 80% of VO2max. Day 3 a test of running economy at 30, 70 and 80% of VO2max separated by 5 min of recovery. t-student test was conducted to measure test-retest differences in RE the p value were set al ≤0.05. RESULTS: No significant differences were found in the Running Economy at 80% of VO2max determined in both economy tests RE 220.1± 21.6vs 219.6±20.6 (ml·kg-1·km-1), ICC; 0.92, CV; 4.4 ± 2.6. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study showed exercises sessions at 30 and 70 of VO2max performed before the submaximal exercise test (80% of VO2max) did not affected the RE during an exercise test performed at 80% of VO2max

Second Order Sliding Mode Control of a STATCOM with Saturated Inputs

This paper presents a robust controller for a STATCOM device with saturated inputs. As the primary assumption, the proposed design considers the presence of unknown but bounded external perturbations and parametric variations. This proposal has a cascade structure, where a saturated super twisting control algorithm closes the currents control loop, and a high-gain proportional-integral (PI) algorithm ensures the voltage regulation. Thus, the exposed scheme provides an adequate performance of the STATCOM, considering the saturation of the inputs with the anti-windup feature. Posteriorly, a proper stability analysis presents the conditions for the appropriate operation of the closed-loop system in saturation and non-saturation regimes. Numerical simulations are also included to show the performance of the proposed controller

Magnetic solid-phase extraction based on poly 4-vinyl pyridine for HPLC-FLD analysis of naproxen in urine samples

Producción Científica: A magnetic solid phase extraction technique followed by liquid chromatography with a fluorescence detector for naproxen analysis in human urine samples was developed. The method includes the extraction of naproxen with a magnetic solid synthetized with magnetite and poly 4-vinylpriridine, followed by the magnetic separation of the solid phase and desorption of the analyte with methanol. Under optimal conditions, the linear range of the calibration curve was 0.05–0.60 μg L−1, with a limit of detection of 0.02 μg L−1. In all cases values of repeatability were lower than 5.0% with recoveries of 99.4 ± 1.3%. Precision and accuracy values are adequate for naproxen (Npx) analysis in urine samples

Signature of microRNA expression during osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow MSCs reveals a putative role of miR-335-5p in osteoarthritis

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate, the existence of a signature of differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) during osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow MSCs from OA and healthy donors and to describe their possible implication in joint regeneration through modulation of molecular mechanisms involved in homeostatic control in OA pathophysiology. Methods: Following phenotypic assessment of BM-MSCs obtained from OA diagnosed patients (n = 10) and non-OA (n = 10), total small RNA was isolated after osteogenic induction for 1, 10 and 21 days, miRNA profiles were generated using a commercial expression array of 754 well-characterized miRNAs. MiRNAs, with consistent differential expression were selected for further validation by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis. Results: A total of 246 miRNAs were differentially expressed (fold change >=+/- 2, P <= 0.05) between OA and non-OA BM-MSC samples; these miRNAs showed variable interactions depending on the cell and differentiation status. Two miRNAs, hsa-miR-210 and hsa-miR-335-5p out of 21 used for validation showed a significant downregulated expression during induced osteogenesis. In particular hsa-miR-335-5p, a critical regulator in bone homeostasis, was further studied. hsa-miR-335-5p downregulation in OA-MSCs, as well as their host coding gene, MEST, were also assessed. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this study represents the most comprehensive assessment to date of miRNA expression profiling in BM-MSCs from OA patients and their role during osteogenic differentiation. We describe the existence of a correlation between miR-335-5p expression and OA indicating the putative role of this miRNA in OA features. These findings, may contribute to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in MSCs mediated homeostatic control in OA pathophysiology that could be applicable in future therapeutic approaches.This work was supported in part by institutional grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III CP10/00346 and PI10/00178 and the Spanish society of orthopaedics surgery and traumatology (SECOT).; J.R. Lamas is supported by the Miguel Servet program from ISCIII-Fondo Investigacion Sanitaria-Spain (CP10/00346).S

Biology (growth and reproduction) of the Mediterranean deep-water rose shrimp (Parapenaeus longirostris (Lucas, 1846), Crustacea, Decapoda) from the Alicante Gulf (s.e. Spain).

The deep-water rose shrimp (Parapenaeus longirostris) is a demersal species and an important resource for the trawl fishery in the Alicante Gulf (S.E. Spain). This paper describes, for first time in this area, certain biometric relationships, as well as growth parameters and reproductive patterns of the species. The results showed a sexual size dimorphism, with a negative allometry of relative growth and high rates of absolute growth, both particularly in males. However, females dominated in the catch proportion. The spawning period occurred throughout the year, but especially in June-July and in October-November and the maturation stage for females takes place within the second year of life