Non-magnetic Anomaly at 1K Arising in Ferromagnetic Ce2.15(Pd1-xAgx)1.95In0.9

Magnetic and thermal properties of Ferromagnetic (FM) Ce2.15(Pd1-xAgx)1.95In0.9 alloys were studied in order to determine the Quantum Critical Point (QCP) at TC \u2192 0. The in- crease of band electrons produced by Pd/Ag substitution depresses TC (x) from 4.1K down to TC (x = 0.5)=1.1K, with a QCP extrapolated to xQCP 65 0.5. Magnetic susceptibility from T > 30K indicates an effective moment slightly decreasing from \u3bceff =2.56\u3bcB to 2.4\u3bcB at x=0.5. These values and the paramagnetic temperature \u3b8P 48 -10K exclude significant Kondo screening effects. The TC (x) reduction is accompanied by a weakening of the FM magnetization and the emergence of a specific heat Cm(T) anomaly at T 17 48 1K, without signs of magnetism detected from AC-susceptibility. The magnetic entropy collected around 4K (i.e. the TC of the x = 0 sample) practically does not change with Ag concentration: Sm(4K) 48 0.8 Rln2, suggesting a progressive transfer of FM degrees of freedom to the non-magnetic (NM) compo- nent. No antecedent was found concerning any NM anomaly emerging from a FM system at such temperature. The origin of this anomaly is attributed to an entropy bottleneck originated in the nearly divergent power law dependence for T > T 17

Fluid dynamic analysis of dual fluidized bed gasifier for solar applications

A hydrodynamic model of a dual fluidized bed gasifier (DFBG) is developed and its predictions are compared with measurements of solids flux and pressure profiles from a cold flow model (CFM). Then, the performance of a DFBG gasifier is theoretically analyzed in terms of solids circulation and solids distribution under changes in riser and loop seal aeration, solids inventory and particle size, and a sensitivity analysis is made to delimit the model prediction capability. Furthermore, the model is applied to analyze the effects of key design aspects of DFBG, such as the relative size of riser and gasifier, the connection between both units, the circulation rate of solids and their distribution around the system. The model is further used to extend the DFBG operation with external solar energy carried by heated solid particles, i.e. to design solar DFBG (SDFBG). The analysis is focused on the performance with high solids inventory in the gasifier to increase the char conversion (operation with a large solar share) and the control of solids circulation to meet the heat demand of the gasifier with the availability of solar energy. The operation with large solids inventory in the gasifier requires the size of the gasifier to increase considerably compared to that of the conventional DFBG. The substitution of the connection pipe between the riser and the bubbling bed (current design in commercial DFBG) by a lower loop seal enables better control of the solids circulation, thus, benefiting the solar design

Assessment of self-adapting local projection-based solvers for laminar and turbulent industrial flows

In this work, we study the performance of some local projection-based solvers in the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) of laminar and turbulent flows governed by the incompressible Navier\u2013Stokes Equations (NSE). On one side, we focus on a high-order term-by-term stabilization Finite Element (FE) method that has one level, in the sense that it is defined on a single mesh, and in which the projection-stabilized structure of standard Local Projection Stabilization (LPS) methods is replaced by an interpolation-stabilized structure. The interest of LPS methods is that they ensure a self-adapting high accuracy in laminar regions of turbulent flows, which turns to be of overall optimal high accuracy if the flow is fully laminar. On the other side, we propose a new Reduced Basis (RB) Variational Multi-Scale (VMS)-Smargorinsky turbulence model, based upon an empirical interpolation of the sub-grid eddy viscosity term. This method yields dramatical improvements of the computing time for benchmark flows. An overview about known results from the numerical analysis of the proposed methods is given, by highlighting the used mathematical tools. In the numerical study, we have considered two well known problems with applications in industry: the (3D) turbulent flow in a channel and the (2D/3D) recirculating flow in a lid-driven cavity

HPLC-DAD-ESI-QTOF-MS and HPLC-FLD-MS as valuable tools for the determination of phenolic and other polar compounds in the edible part and by-products of avocado

Avocado is a tropical fruit increasingly cultivated around the world due to global interest and rising consumption. Thus, there is also a surge in avocado by-products that needs assessment. The aim of this work is to compare the phenolic profile of avocado pulp, peel and seed when the fruit is at optimal ripeness for consumption and when overripe. Two analytical techniques were used: (1) HPLC-DAD-ESI-QTOF-MS was used for the first time to determine phenolic and other polar compounds in avocado peel and seed. Phenolic compounds quantified with these methods were in higher concentration in overripe than in pulp and seed of optimally ripe fruit. (2) HPLC-FLD-MS was used to specifically determine flavan-3-ols. Procyanidins to degree of polymerization 13 have been quantified singularly here for the first time. In addition, A- and B-type procyanidins from the degree of polymerization 2 to 6 were differentiated and quantified. The procyanidin concentration increased after ripening probably due to the release of tannins linked to cell-wall structures. Because of this situation and the presence of A-type procyanidins, avocado peel and seed from overripe fruit, the main by-products of avocado processing, hold interest for developing functional foods, nutraceuticals and cosmetics

Plant height and hydraulic vulnerability to drought and cold

Understanding how plants survive drought and cold is increasingly important as plants worldwide experience dieback with drought in moist places and grow taller with warming in cold ones. Crucial in plant climate adaptation are the diameters of water-transporting conduits. Sampling 537 species across climate zones dominated by angiosperms, we find that plant size is unambiguously the main driver of conduit diameter variation. And because taller plants have wider conduits, and wider conduits within species are more vulnerable to conduction-blocking embolisms, taller conspecifics should be more vulnerable than shorter ones, a prediction we confirm with a plantation experiment. As a result, maximum plant size should be short under drought and cold, which cause embolism, or increase if these pressures relax. That conduit diameter and embolism vulnerability are inseparably related to plant size helps explain why factors that interact with conduit diameter, such as drought or warming, are altering plant heights worldwide

The Auriga Project: the properties and formation mechanisms of disc galaxies across cosmic time

We introduce a suite of 30 cosmological magneto-hydrodynamical zoom simulations of the formation of galaxies in isolated Milky Way mass dark haloes. These were carried out with the moving mesh code arepo, together with a comprehensive model for galaxy formation physics, including active galactic nuclei (AGN) feedback and magnetic fields, which produces realistic galaxy populations in large cosmological simulations. We demonstrate that our simulations reproduce a wide range of present-day observables, in particular, two-component disc-dominated galaxies with appropriate stellar masses, sizes, rotation curves, star formation rates and metallicities. We investigate the driving mechanisms that set present-day disc sizes/scalelengths, and find that they are related to the angular momentum of halo material. We show that the largest discs are produced by quiescent mergers that inspiral into the galaxy and deposit high-angular momentum material into the pre-existing disc, simultaneously increasing the spin of dark matter and gas in the halo. More violent mergers and strong AGN feedback play roles in limiting disc size by destroying pre-existing discs and by suppressing gas accretion on to the outer disc, respectively. The most important factor that leads to compact discs, however, is simply a low angular momentum for the halo. In these cases, AGN feedback plays an important role in limiting central star formation and the formation of a massive bulge

Monitoring of the polarized H2O maser emission around the massive protostars W75N(B)-VLA 1 and W75N(B)-VLA 2

Context. Several radio sources have been detected in the high-mass star-forming region W75N(B), with the massive young stellar objects VLA 1 and VLA 2 shown to be of particular interest among them. These objects are thought to be at different evolutionary stages: VLA 1 is in the early stage of photoionization and driving a thermal radio jet, while VLA 2 is a thermal, collimated ionized wind surrounded by a dusty disk or envelope. In both sources, 22 GHz H2O masers have been detected in the past. Those around VLA 1 show a persistent linear distribution along the thermal radio jet, while those around VLA 2 have traced the evolution from a non-collimated to a collimated outflow over a period of ~20 yr. The magnetic field inferred from the H2O masers has shown an orientation rotation following the direction of the major-axis of the shell around VLA 2, whereas it is immutable around VLA 1. Aims. By monitoring the polarized emission of the 22 GHz H2O masers around both VLA 1 and VLA 2 over a period of six years, we aim to determine whether the H2O maser distributions show any variation over time and whether the magnetic field behaves accordingly. Methods. The European VLBI Network was used in full polarization and phase-reference mode in order to determine the absolute positions of the 22 GHz H2O masers with a beam size of ~1 mas and to determine the orientation and the strength of the magnetic field. We observed four epochs separated by two years from 2014 to 2020. Results. We detected polarized emission from the H2O masers around both VLA 1 and VLA 2 in all the epochs. By comparing the H2O masers detected in the four epochs, we find that the masers around VLA 1 are tracing a nondissociative shock originating from the expansion of the thermal radio jet, while the masers around VLA 2 are tracing an asymmetric expansion of the gas that is halted in the northeast where the gas likely encounters a very dense medium. We also found that the magnetic field inferred from the H2O masers in each epoch can be considered as a portion of a quasi-static magnetic field estimated in that location rather than in that time. This allowed us to study the morphology of the magnetic field around both VLA 1 and VLA 2 locally across a larger area by considering the vectors estimated in all the epochs as a whole. We find that the magnetic field in VLA 1 is located along the jet axis, bending toward the north and south at the northeasterly and southwesterly ends of the jet, respectively, reconnecting with the large-scale magnetic field. The magnetic field in VLA 2 is perpendicular to the expansion directions until it encounters the denser matter in the northeast, where the magnetic field is parallel to the expansion direction and agrees with the large-scale magnetic field. We also measured the magnetic field strength along the line of sight in three of the four epochs, with resulting values of -764mG<B||VLA1 < -676 mG and -355mG<B||VLA2<-2426 mG

Circulating Amino Acids and Risk of Peripheral Artery Disease in the PREDIMED Trial

Effective prevention and risk prediction are important for peripheral artery disease (PAD) due to its poor prognosis and the huge disease burden it produces. Circulating amino acids (AA) and their metabolites may serve as biomarkers of PAD risk, but they have been scarcely investigated. The objective was to prospectively analyze the associations of baseline levels of plasma AA (and their pathways) with subsequent risk of PAD and the potential effect modification by a nutritional intervention with the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet). A matched case-control study was nested in the PREDIMED trial, in which participants were randomized to three arms: MedDiet with tree nut supplementation group, MedDiet with extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) supplementation group or control group (low-fat diet). One hundred and sixty-seven PAD cases were matched with 250 controls. Plasma AA was measured with liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry at the Broad Institute. Baseline tryptophan, serine and threonine were inversely associated with PAD (ORfor 1 SD increase = 0.78 (0.61–0.99); 0.67 (0.51–0.86) and 0.75 (0.59–0.95), respectively) in a multivariable-adjusted conditional logistic regression model. The kynurenine/tryptophan ratio was directly associated with PAD (ORfor 1 SD increase = 1.50 (1.14–1.98)). The nutritional intervention with the MedDiet+nuts modified the association between threonine and PAD (p-value interaction = 0.018) compared with the control group. However, subjects allocated to the MedDiet+EVOO group were protected against PAD independently of baseline threonine. Plasma tryptophan, kynurenine/tryptophan ratio, serine and threonine might serve as early biomarkers of future PAD in subjects at a high risk of cardiovascular disease. The MedDiet supplemented with EVOO exerted a protective effect, regardless of baseline levels of threonine

Age at menopause and lung function: a Mendelian randomisation study

In observational studies, early menopause is associated with lower forced vital capacity (FVC) and a higher risk of spirometric restriction, but not airflow obstruction. It is, however, unclear if this association is causal. We therefore used a Mendelian randomisation (MR) approach, which is not affected by classical confounding, to assess the effect of age at natural menopause on lung function.We included 94\u200a742 naturally post-menopausal women from the UK Biobank and performed MR analyses on the effect of age at menopause on forced expiratory volume in 1\u2005s (FEV1), FVC, FEV1/FVC, spirometric restriction (FV

Assessment of genetically modified maize\ua04114 for food and feed uses, under Regulation (EC) No\ua01829/2003 (application EFSA-GMO-NL-2014-123)

Maize\ua04114 was developed through Agrobacterium\ua0tumefaciens-mediated transformation to provide protection against certain lepidopteran and coleopteran pests by expression of the Cry1F, Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1 proteins derived from Bacillus\ua0thuringiensis, and tolerance to the herbicidal active ingredient glufosinate-ammonium by expression of the PAT protein derived from Streptomyces viridochromogenes. The molecular characterisation data did not identify issues requiring assessment for food/feed safety. None of the compositional, agronomic and phenotypic differences identified between maize\ua04114 and the non-genetically modified (GM) comparator(s) required further assessment. There were no concerns regarding the potential toxicity and allergenicity of the newly expressed proteins Cry1F, Cry34Ab1, Cry35Ab1 and PAT, and no evidence that the genetic modification might significantly change the overall allergenicity of maize 4114. The nutritional value of food/feed derived from maize 4114 is not expected to differ from that derived from non-GM maize varieties and no post-market monitoring of food/feed is considered necessary. In the case of accidental release of viable maize\ua04114 grains into the environment, maize\ua04114 would not raise environmental safety concerns. The post-market environmental monitoring plan and reporting intervals are in line with the intended uses of maize\ua04114. The genetically modified organism (GMO) Panel\ua0concludes that maize\ua04114 is as safe as the non-GM comparator(s) and non-GM reference varieties with respect to potential effects on human and animal health and the environment in the context of the scope of this application