Topological entropy and periods of self–maps on compact manifolds

Let (M; f) be a discrete dynamical system induced by a self{map f defined on a smooth compact connected n{dimensional manifold M. We provide sufficient conditions in terms of the Lefschetz zeta function in order that: (1) f has positive topological entropy when f is C1, and (2) f has infinitely many periodic points when f is C1 and f(M) ⊆ Int(M). Moreover, for the particular manifolds Sn, Sn x Sm, CPn and HPn we improve the previous sufficient conditions.The first author of this work was partially supported by MINECO grant number MTM2014-51891-P and Fundación Séneca de la Región de Murcia grant number 19219/PI/14. The second author is partially supported by a MINECO grant MTM2013-40998-P, an AGAUR grant number 2014SGR-568, and the grants FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IRSES 318999 and 316338

Resultado y proceso en psicoterapia cognitivo-constructivista integradora

Este artículo presenta un estudio intensivo, combinando métodos estadísticos diversos, del resultado y el proceso de los tratamientos psicoterapéuticos llevados a cabo en el Servei d’Assessorament i Assistència Psicológica Blanquerna de Barcelona, y analiza pormenorizadamente las relaciones entre resultado (mejoría) y proceso (alianza terapéutica). Más concretamente (a) el proceso terapéutico en términos de la relación entre alianza terapéutica y resultado de la psicoterapia; y (b) los efectos de las rupturas de la alianza terapéutica y el empeoramiento sintomático sobre el resultado y el proceso de la terapia. Los clientes incluidos en este estudio fueron 239 y los instrumentos fueron el Cuestionario de Evaluación de Resultados CORE Outcome Measure y la versión reducida del WAI (Working Alliance Inventory) para la evaluación de proceso. Los resultados, además del buen resultado de la terapia y el mantenimiento de los cambios, demostraron la importancia de diferentes aspectos de la alianza terapéutica como predictores del resultado y el proceso terapéutico

Relation of plasma flow structures to passive particle tracer orbits

The properties of plasma flow topological structures are compared with those of passive tracer particles within a framework of the continuous random walk (CTRW) approach. Vortices may cause some of the trapping of particles, while large scale flows may carry them from vortex to vortex. The results indicate that most of the trappings that are completed during the calculation correspond to tracers trapped on broken filaments, including possible multiple trappings. The probability distribution function of the trapping times is then a function of the filament length, and has a lognormal character, like the distribution of filament lengths

Achieving accurate FTIR measurements on high performance bandpass filters

The sources of ordinate error in FTIR spectrometers are reviewed with reference to measuring small out-of-band features in the spectra of bandpass filters. Procedures for identifying instrumental artefacts are described. It is shown that features well below 0.01%T can be measured reliably

Valorización energética de la biomasa : aplicación en industrias del sector agroalimentario

La utilización de la biomasa proveniente del sector agroalimentario como una fuente de energía renovable es de gran interés en la actualidad. Ésta puede generar energía, a través de procesos tanto termoquímicos como bioquímicos, susceptible de utilizarse en forma de calor, energía mecánica o electricidad, y en diferentes estados de agregación: sólida, líquida o gas. La Digestión Anaerobia de vertidos de destilerías vínicas es un ejemplo idóneo de los procesos bioquímicos de conversión de la biomasa para obtener energía, ya que la vinaza se genera en el propio proceso de obtención del alcohol etílico (destilación de vinos y subproductos de la vinificación) producido por fermentación de una disolución azucarada y el metano se genera en la digestión anaerobia del residuo de la destilación. En este trabajo se estudia el funcionamiento y operación de diferentes tecnologías anaerobias susceptibles de ser utilizadas para la degradación de vertidos de destilerías vínicas (vinazas de vino) en condiciones anaerobias termofílicas (55°C), estableciéndose una comparación entre procesos con biomasa en suspensión y sistemas con biomasa adherida de tipo filtro anaerobio. En este último caso, además, se comparan diferentes tipos de materiales soportes y se analiza el efecto de la tasa de recirculación sobre el proceso.____________________________________Nowadays, the use of food industry biomass as a resource of renewable energy is a very interesting management alternative. Biomass can be converted to energy via thermal, biochemical and mechanical processes. This energy can be used like heat, mechanic o electric energies, and in different aggregation states (solid, liquid or gaseous). Anaerobic digestion of wine distilleries wastewater (vinasses) is a suitable example of biochemical conversion process of biomass to obtain energy. Vinasses are generated in the obtaining of ethylic alcohol on wine and wine-subproducts distillation process. This alcohol is previously generated in the biological fermentation of sugars from must. Subsequently, the biogas, mainly methane, can be obtained from anaerobic digestion of the residue of alcohol distillation, the vinasses. This work presents the main operational conditions of different anaerobic technologies used for anaerobic digestion of wine distilleries wastewater (vinasses) in the thermophilic range of temperature (55ºC). This study makes the comparison between technologies that used suspended biomass and fixed-film biorreactors (anaerobic filters). In the anaerobic filter technology there is a comparison between different support media and different recirculation rate regimes and its influence in the process

Modulation of Dendritic Cell Responses by Parasites: A Common Strategy to Survive

Parasitic infections are one of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in our planet and the immune responses triggered by these organisms are critical to determine their outcome. Dendritic cells are key elements for the development of immunity against parasites; they control the responses required to eliminate these pathogens while maintaining host homeostasis. However, there is evidence showing that parasites can influence and regulate dendritic cell function in order to promote a more permissive environment for their survival. In this review we will focus on the strategies protozoan and helminth parasites have developed to interfere with dendritic cell activities as well as in the possible mechanisms involved

Androgen receptor immunoreactivity in forebrain axons and dendrites in the rat

As members of the steroid receptor superfamily, androgen receptors (ARs) have been traditionally identified as transcription factors. In the presence of ligand, ARs reside in the nucleus, where, upon ligand binding, the receptors dimerize and bind to specific response elements in the promoter region of hormone-responsive genes. However, in this report, we describe the discovery that ARs are also present in axons and dendrites within the mammalian central nervous system. AR expression in axons was identified in the rat brain at the light microscopic level using two different antibodies directed against the N terminus of the AR protein and nickel intensified 3′-3′-diaminobenzidine, and also using fluorescence methods and confocal microscopy. This distribution was confirmed at the ultrastructural level. In addition, AR immunoreactivity was identified in small dendrites at the ultrastructural level. AR-immunoreactive axons were observed primarily in the cerebral cortex and were rare in regions where nuclear AR expression is abundant. The observation that ARs are present in axons and dendrites highlights the possibility that androgens play an important and novel extranuclear role in neuronal function.Peer Reviewe

Nonlinear response of single-molecule nanomagnets: equilibrium and dynamical

We present an experimental study of the {\em nonlinear} susceptibility of Mn$_{12}$ single-molecule magnets. We investigate both their thermal-equilibrium and dynamical nonlinear responses. The equilibrium results show the sensitivity of the nonlinear susceptibility to the magnetic anisotropy, which is nearly absent in the linear response for axes distributed at random. The nonlinear dynamic response of Mn$_{12}$ was recently found to be very large and displaying peaks reversed with respect to classical superparamagnets [F. Luis {\em et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 92}, 107201 (2004)]. Here we corroborate the proposed explanation -- strong field dependence of the relaxation rate due to the detuning of tunnel energy levels. This is done by studying the orientational dependence of the nonlinear susceptibility, which permits to isolate the quantum detuning contribution. Besides, from the analysis of the longitudinal and transverse contributions we estimate a bound for the decoherence time due to the coupling to the phonon bath.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, resubmitted to Phys. Rev. B with minor change

Oxy-combustion characteristics of torrefied biomass and blends under O2/N2, O2/CO2 and O2/CO2/H2O atmospheres

The combined use of bio-fuels along with CO2 capture techniques is the basis for the so-called negative emissions energy systems. In this paper, oxy-fuel combustion of two torrefied biomasses is experimentally investigated in a lab-scale entrained flow reactor. The torrefied biomasses are fired alone, and co-fired with coal (50%). Two oxygen concentrations (21% and 35%) and four steam concentrations are tested: 0% (dry recycle oxy-combustion), 10% (wet recycle oxy-combustion), 25% and 40% (towards the concept of oxy-steam combustion). The tests are designed to get the same mean residence time for all the fuels and conditions. Burnout degrees are significantly increased (up to 9 and 16 percentage points) when the share of torrefied biomass is raised, with a slightly better behavior of the torrefied pine in comparison to the torrefied agro-biomass. C-fuel conversion to CO2 follows a similar trend to the observed for the burnout degrees. NO formation rates are reduced when oxy-firing torrefied biomass alone in comparison to the blends, with maximum diminutions of 16.9% (torrefied pine) and 8.5% (torrefied agro-biomass). As regards the effect of steam, the best results are found for the 25% H2O atmospheres in most of the cases, yielding maximum conversions along with minimum NO levels