3D trapping of microbubbles by the Marangoni force.

In this Letter, we show 3D steady-state trapping and manipulation of vapor bubbles in liquids employing a low-power continuous-wave laser using the Marangoni effect. Light absorption from photodeposited silver nanoparticles on the distal end of a multi-mode optical fiber is used to produce bubbles of different diameters. The thermal effects produced by either the nanoparticles on the fiber tip or the light bulk absorption modulate the surface tension of the bubble wall and creates both longitudinal and transversal forces just like optical forces, effectively creating a 3D potential well. Using numerical simulations, we obtain expressions for the temperature profiles and present analytical expressions for the Marangoni force. In addition, using an array of three fibers with photodeposited nanoparticles is used to demonstrate the transfer of bubbles from one fiber to another by sequentially switching on and off the lasers

Diseño y evaluación de un programa para la mejora de la condición física en Educación Primaria: efecto sobre la autoestima y la intención de ser activo

The objective was to design a program to improve physical fitness and evaluate its effect on the intent to remain active and general self-esteem. An 8-week program of activities was designed to improve physical fitness in Physical Education, in addition to sports physical activity at recess. The quasi-experimental design included 70 schoolchildren (39 experimental group; 31 control group) from 6th grade of Primary Education. The high priority ALPHA-Fitness battery, the intentionality scale of being physically active in Primary Education, and the Multimedia and Multilingual Self-esteem Evaluation Questionnaire were used as measuring instruments. The effectiveness of the program was found in all the variables studied, especially in the improvement of cardiorespiratory capacity, jumping capacity and the socio-affective dimension of self-esteem. The importance of these programs in the improvement of the physical, psychological and social health of the students is highlighted.El objetivo fue diseñar un programa para mejorar la condición física y evaluar su efecto sobre la intencionalidad de seguir siendo activo y autoestima general. Se diseñó un programa de 8 semanas de actividades para mejorar la condición física en Educación Física, además de actividad física deportiva en los recreos. El diseño cuasiexperimental incluyó 70 escolares (39 grupo experimental; 31 grupo control) de 6º de Educación Primaria. Como instrumentos de medida se utilizaron la batería ALPHA-Fitness de alta prioridad, la Escala de intencionalidad de ser físicamente activo en Educación Primaria, y el Cuestionario Multimedia y Multilingüe de Evaluación de la Autoestima. Se encontró efectividad del programa en todas las variables estudiadas, en especial en la mejora de la capacidad cardiorrespiratoria, la capacidad de salto y la dimensión socioafectiva de la autoestima. Se destaca la importancia de estos programas en la mejora de la salud física, psicológica y social del alumnado

Exploring Ephemeral Features with Ground-Penetrating Radar: An Approach to Roman Military Camps

This is the final version. Available on open access from MDPI via the DOI in this recordThis paper addresses an experimental approach to the archaeological study of Roman camps in NW Iberia using ground-penetrating radar (henceforth GPR). The main goal is to explore the capabilities of GPR to extract datasets from ephemeral features, such as temporary camps or siege works, among others. This information aims to maximise the data available before excavation, orienting it to areas that could provide good results in terms of feature detection and contrast between soil matrix and archaeological deposits. This paper explores the potential of the GPR approach and volumetric data visualisation to improve our understanding of four ephemeral sites: Alto da Raia (Montalegre, Portugal–Calvos de Randín, Spain), Sueros de Cepeda (Villamejil, Spain), Los Andinales (Villsandino, Spain), and Villa María (Sasamón, Spain). Despite the focus of this paper, other survey techniques (namely LiDAR, aerial photography, and magnetometry) were used in combination with GPR. Further excavation of the sites provided ground truthing for all data remotely gatheredEuropean Commissio

The trade-off between taxi time and fuel consumption in airport ground movement

Environmental impact is a very important agenda item in many sectors nowadays, which the air transportation sector is also trying to reduce as much as possible. One area which has remained relatively unexplored in this context is the ground movement problem for aircraft on the airport’s surface. Aircraft have to be routed from a gate to a runway and vice versa and it is still unknown whether fuel burn and environmental impact reductions will best result from purely minimising the taxi times or whether it is also important to avoid multiple acceleration phases. This paper presents a newly developed multi-objective approach for analysing the trade-off between taxi time and fuel consumption during taxiing. The approach consists of a combination of a graph-based routing algorithm and a population adaptive immune algorithm to discover different speed profiles of aircraft. Analysis with data from a European hub airport has highlighted the impressive performance of the new approach. Furthermore, it is shown that the trade-off between taxi time and fuel consumption is very sensitive to the fuel-related objective function which is used

Optothermal generation, trapping, and manipulation of microbubbles.

The most common approach to optically generate and manipulate bubbles in liquids involves temperature gradients induced by CW lasers. In this work, we present a method to accomplish both the generation of microbubbles and their 3D manipulation in ethanol through optothermal forces. These forces are triggered by light absorption from a nanosecond pulsed laser (λ = 532 nm) at silver nanoparticles photodeposited at the distal end of a multimode optical fiber. Light absorbed from each laser pulse quickly heats up the silver-ethanol interface beyond the ethanol critical-point (∼ 243 °C) before the heat diffuses through the liquid. Therefore, the liquid achieves a metastable state and owing to spontaneous nucleation converted to a vapor bubble attached to the optical fiber. The bubble grows with semi-spherical shape producing a counterjet in the final stage of the collapse. This jet reaches the hot nanoparticles vaporizing almost immediately and ejecting a microbubble. This microbubble-generation mechanism takes place with every laser pulse (10 kHz repetition rate) leading to the generation of a microbubbles stream. The microbubbles' velocities decrease as they move away from the optical fiber and eventually coalesce forming a larger bubble. The larger bubble is attracted to the optical fiber by the Marangoni force once it reaches a critical size while being continuously fed with each bubble of the microbubbles stream. The balance of the optothermal forces owing to the laser-pulse drives the 3D manipulation of the main bubble. A complete characterization of the trapping conditions is provided in this paper

Marangoni force-driven manipulation of photothermally-induced microbubbles.

The generation and manipulation of microbubbles by means of temperature gradients induced by low power laser radiation is presented. A laser beam (λ = 1064 nm) is divided into two equal parts and coupled to two multimode optical fibers. The opposite ends of each fiber are aligned and separated a distance D within an ethanol solution. Previously, silver nanoparticles were photo deposited on the optical fibers ends. Light absorption at the nanoparticles produces a thermal gradient capable of generating a microbubble at the optical fibers end in non-absorbent liquids. The theoretical and experimental studies carried out showed that by switching the thermal gradients, it is possible to generate forces in opposite directions, causing the migration of microbubbles from one fiber optic tip to another. Marangoni force induced by surface tension gradients in the bubble wall is the driving force behind the manipulation of microbubbles. We estimated a maximum Marangoni force of 400nN for a microbubble with a radius of 110 μm

Measuring Enzymatic HIV-1 Susceptibility to Two Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors as a Rapid and Simple Approach to HIV-1 Drug-Resistance Testing

Simple and cost-effective approaches for HIV drug-resistance testing are highly desirable for managing increasingly expanding HIV-1 infected populations who initiate antiretroviral therapy (ART), particularly in resource-limited settings. Non-nucleoside reverse trancriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-based regimens with an NRTI backbone containing lamivudine (3TC) or emtricitabine (FTC) are preferred first ART regimens. Failure with these drug combinations typically involves the selection of NNRTI- and/or 3TC/FTC- resistant viruses. Therefore, the availability of simple assays to measure both types of drug resistance is critical. We have developed a high throughput screening test for assessing enzymatic resistance of the HIV-1 RT in plasma to 3TC/FTC and NNRTIs. The test uses the sensitive “Amp-RT” assay with a newly-developed real-time PCR format to screen biochemically for drug resistance in single reactions containing either 3TC-triphosphate (3TC-TP) or nevirapine (NVP). Assay cut-offs were defined based on testing a large panel of subtype B and non-subtype B clinical samples with known genotypic profiles. Enzymatic 3TC resistance correlated well with the presence of M184I/V, and reduced NVP susceptibility was strongly associated with the presence of K103N, Y181C/I, Y188L, and G190A/Q. The sensitivity and specificity for detecting resistance were 97.0% and 96.0% in samples with M184V, and 97.4% and 96.2% for samples with NNRTI mutations, respectively. We further demonstrate the utility of an HIV capture method in plasma by using magnetic beads coated with CD44 antibody that eliminates the need for ultracentifugation. Thus our results support the use of this simple approach for distinguishing WT from NNRTI- or 3TC/FTC-resistant viruses in clinical samples. This enzymatic testing is subtype-independent and can assist in the clinical management of diverse populations particularly in resource-limited settings

Coupling daily transpiration modelling with forest management in a semiarid pine plantation

Estimating forest transpiration is of great importance for Adaptive Forest Management (AFM) in the scope of climate change prediction. AFM in the Mediterranean region usually generates a mosaic of different canopy covers within the same forest. Several models and methods are available to estimate forest transpiration, but most require a homogeneous forest cover, or an individual calibration/validation process for each cover stand. Hence, a model capable of reproducing accurately the transpiration of the whole canopy-cover mosaic is necessary. In this paper, the use of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is proposed as a flexible tool for estimating forest transpiration using the forest cover as an input variable. To that end, sap flow, soil water content and other environmental variables were experimentally collected under five Aleppo pine stands of different canopy covers for two years. These sets of inputs were then used for the ANN training. Stand transpiration was accurately estimated using climate data, soil water content and forest cover through the ANN approach (correlation coefficient R = 0.95; Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient E = 0.90; root-meansquare error RMSE = 0.078 mm day -1 ). Finally, the input value for soil water content (when not available) was computed using the process-based model Gotilwa+. Then, this computed soil water content was used as input in the proposed ANN. This combination predicted the forest transpiration with values of R = 0.90, E = 0.63, and RMSE = 0.068 mm day -1 . Artificial Neural Network proved to be a useful and flexible tool to predict the transpiration dynamics of an Aleppo pine stand regardless of the heterogeneity of the forest cover produced by adaptive forest management

Chryseobacterium indologenes infection in a newborn: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p><it>Chryseobacterium indologenes </it>is an uncommon human pathogen. Most infections have been detected in hospitalized patients with severe underlying diseases who had indwelling devices implanted. Infection caused by <it>C. indologenes </it>in a newborn has not been previously reported.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We present a case of ventilator-associated pneumonia caused by <it>C. indologenes </it>in a full-term Caucasian newborn baby boy with congenital heart disease who was successfully treated with piperacillin-tazobactam.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>C. indologenes </it>should be considered as a potential pathogen in newborns in the presence of invasive equipment or treatment with long-term broad-spectrum antibiotics. Appropriate choice of effective antimicrobial agents for treatment is difficult because of the unpredictability and breadth of antimicrobial resistance of these organisms, which often involves resistance to many of the antibiotics chosen empirically for serious Gram-negative infections.</p