Shallow water simulations of Saturn's giant storms at different latitudes

Shallow water simulations are used to present a unified study of three major storms on Saturn (nicknamed as Great White Spots, GWS) at different latitudes, polar (1960), equatorial (1990), and mid-latitude (2010) (Sánchez-Lavega, 2004; Sánchez-Lavega et al., 2011). In our model, the three GWS are initiated by introducing a Gaussian function pulse at the latitude of the observed phenomena with controlled horizontal size and amplitude. This function represents the convective source that has been observed to trigger the storm. A growing disturbance forms when the pulse reacts to ambient winds, expanding zonally along the latitude band of the considered domain. We then compare the modeled potential vorticity with the cloud field, adjusting the model parameters to visually get the closest aspect between simulations and observations. Simulations of the 2010 GWS (planetographic latitude ~+40º, zonal velocity of the source ~-30 m s-1) indicate that the Coriolis forces and the wind profile structure shape the disturbance generating, as observed, a long region to the east of the convective source with a high speed peripheral anticyclonic circulation, and a long-lived anticyclonic compact vortex accompanied by strong zonal advection on the southern part of the storm forming a turbulent region. Simulations of the equatorial 1990 GWS (planetographic latitude +12º-+5º, zonal velocity of the source 365-400 m s-1) show a different behavior because of the intense eastward jet, meridional shear at the equatorial region, and low latitude dynamics. A round shaped source forms as observed, with the rapid growth of a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability on the north side of the source due to advection and to the strong meridional wind shear, whereas at the storm latitude the disturbance grows and propagates eastward. The storm nucleus is the manifestation of a Rossby wave, while the eastward propagating planetary-scale disturbance is a gravity-Rossby wave trapped around the equator. The simulated 1960 GWS disturbance (planetographic latitude +56º, zonal velocity 4 m s-1) formed a chain of periodic oval spots that mimic the few available observations of the phenomenon. For the mid and high latitude storms, simulations predict a strong injection of negative relative vorticity due to divergence of the upwelling storm material, which may produce large anticyclones on the anticyclonic side of the zonal profile, and a quick turbulent expansion on the background cyclonic regions. In general, simulations indicate that negative relative vorticity injected by storms determines the natural reaction to zonal winds at latitudes where Coriolis forces are dominant.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Survival language learning syllabuses revisited: a customized functional-notional approach

Research on survival English syllabuses has been scarce in the last decades. There is nothing worse than the solitude of a teacher facing a course with such characteristics as continuous hesitations about the materials, activities and the learners’ needs arise every now and then. Our contribution stems from Nation and Crabbe’s article “A Survival Language Learning Syllabus for Foreign Travel” published in System in 1991, where a topic-based syllabus is proposed. The two-year experimental use of Nation and Crabbe’s model, though successful, unveiled some shortcomings having to do with the inventory of situations and the lexical domain included therein. In the light of the limited period of instruction and the short-term benefits that these courses usually hold, a functional/ notional model has been designed for the purpose inasmuch as students seem to gain a wider scope at the end of the learning process.La investigación en torno a la programación de un curso de inglés de supervivencia ha sido bastante escasa en las últimas décadas, basada casi exclusivamente en la publicación de libros de texto, la mayoría aplicados a la enseñanza del inglés como segunda lengua. La presente contribución parte del artículo de Nation y Crabbe “A Survival Language Learning Syllabus for Foreign Travel” (1991), donde se propone un enfoque basado en tareas. El empleo del modelo propuesto por Nation y Crabbe, aunque positivo en cuanto a los resultados, revela algunas deficiencias relacionadas fundamentalmente con el inventario de situaciones así como el componente léxico de las mismas. Estos cursos, por lo general, se caracterizan por su escaso número de horas así como por las expectativas en los resultados. Por lo tanto, en el presente artículo se propone un modelo funcional/nocional para los cursos de estas características que permite obtener una mayor competencia comunicativa por parte de los alumnos

XO-7 b: A Transiting Hot Jupiter with a Massive Companion on a Wide Orbit

Transiting planets orbiting bright stars are the most favorable targets for follow-up and characterization. We report the discovery of the transiting hot Jupiter XO-7 b and of a second, massive companion on a wide orbit around a circumpolar, bright, and metal rich G0 dwarf (V = 10.52, Teff = 6250±100 K, [Fe/H] = 0.432 ± 0.057 dex). We conducted photometric and radial velocity follow-up with a team of amateur and professional astronomers. XO-7 b has a period of 2.8641424±0.0000043 days, a mass of 0.709±0.034 MJ, a radius of 1.373±0.026 RJ, a density of 0.340±0.027 g cm-3 , and an equilibrium temperature of 1743 ± 23 K. Its large atmospheric scale height and the brightness of the host star make it well suited to atmospheric characterization. The wide orbit companion is detected as a linear trend in radial velocities with an amplitude of ~ 100 m s-1 over two years, yielding a minimum mass of 4 MJ; it could be a planet, a brown dwarf, or a low mass star. The hot Jupiter orbital parameters and the presence of the wide orbit companion point towards a high eccentricity migration for the hot Jupiter. Overall, this system will be valuable to understand the atmospheric properties and migration mechanisms of hot Jupiters and will help constrain the formation and evolution models of gas giant exoplanets.The XO project is supported by NASA grant NNX10AG30G. I.R., F.V. and E.H. acknowledge support by the Spanish Ministry for Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIU) and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) through grant ESP2016- 80435-C2-1-R, as well as the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya/CERCA programme. The Joan Oró Telescope (TJO) of the Montsec Astronomical Observatory (OAdM) is owned by the Generalitat de Catalunya and operated by the Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC). NCS was supported by FCT - Funda c~ao para a Ci^encia e a Tecnologia through national funds and by FEDER - Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional through COMPETE2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalizaçao by these grants: UID/FIS/04434/2019; PTDC/FISAST/ 28953/2017 & POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028953 and PTDC/FIS-AST/32113/2017 & POCI-01-0145- FEDER-032113. HPO acknowledges support from Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) grant 131425- PLATO. This research made use of Photutils, an Astropy package for detection and photometry of astronomical sources (Bradley et al. 2019). This research has made use of the Exoplanet Orbit Database and the Exoplanet Data Explorer at exoplanets.org, the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia at exoplanet.eu, and the SIMBAD and VizieR databases at simbad.ustrasbg. fr/simbad/ and http://vizier.u-strasbg.fr/vizbin/ VizieR.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Cavitation during creep of Si3N4 polycrystals

Este trabajo está orientado a determinar las condiciones de tensión y temperatura para las cuales ocurre la nucleación y coalescencia de cavidades en dos materiales cerámicos a base de nitruro de silicio sinterizados bajo presión de gas. En particular, se indica que, aunque ambos materiales muestran significativos niveles de deformación estacionaria a tensiones menores que 90 MPa, a tensiones mayores las cavidades nuclean y coalescen, dando lugar a fluencia terciaria. Las observaciones microestructurales por microscopia electrónica de barrido sugieren que la cavitación está asociada al movimiento viscoso de la fase secundaria.This work is oriented to put forth the stress and temperature conditions for the nucleation and coalescence of cavities in two gas pressure-sintered silicon nitride-based ceramic materials. Particularly, it is indicated that, even though both materials show significant steady-state strain levels at stresses lower than 90 MPa, cavities nucleate and coalesce at higher stresses, thus giving rise to tertiary creep. The microstructural observations by SEM suggest that cavitation is associated to the viscous movement of the secondary phase

Analysis of planetary spacecraft images with SPICE

Spacecraft images are an invaluable source of information in Planetary Science. However, they must be processed and the initial stage is to navigate them, i.e., determine the longitude and latitude coordinates of each pixel on the image plane. The main goal of the present work is to develop an open-source tool to do so. It will be independent of proprietary software and implemented in a widely used language (Java, Python). It will be able to analyse planetary images taken by different spacecraft, such as New Horizons, Cassini or Voyager, with minimal user intervention. Here we present the first steps of the process illustrating the techniques to navigate an image of an ellipsoidal body, obtained from mission kernels using NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory SPICE library, considering that the attitude and position of the spacecraft are available; correct the camera attitude information; determine the image resolution for each pixel; and combine different images of a body to generate mosaics with high resolutio

Nuevos recursos educativos en el marco europeo: Creadictos (Festival de creatividad universitario)

El aprendizaje basado en problemas se ha convertido en una de las metodologías docente más útiles a la hora de que los alumnos pongan en práctica los conocimientos y que desarrollen las destrezas y habilidades metodológicas, técnicas y profesionales. El grado en Publicidad y RRPP de la Universidad Camilo José Cela cuenta con una técnica didáctica, el Festival de Creatividad (Creadictos), que supone una forma de trabajo consistente en enfrentar a los alumnos a un problema o situación. Esto les va a permitir: comprender mejor ese problema/situación profesional, identificar principios que sustentan el conocimiento y alcanzar objetivos de aprendizaje especialmente relacionados con el razonamiento y el juicio crítico

Tunable Polymeric Scaffolds for Enzyme Immobilization

The number of methodologies for the immobilization of enzymes using polymeric supports is continuously growing due to the developments in the fields of biotechnology, polymer chemistry, and nanotechnology in the last years. Despite being excellent catalysts, enzymes are very sensitive molecules and can undergo denaturation beyond their natural environment. For overcoming this issue, polymer chemistry offers a wealth of opportunities for the successful combination of enzymes with versatile natural or synthetic polymers. The fabrication of functional, stable, and robust biocatalytic hybrid materials (nanoparticles, capsules, hydrogels, or films) has been proven advantageous for several applications such as biomedicine, organic synthesis, biosensing, and bioremediation. In this review, supported with recent examples of enzyme-protein hybrids, we provide an overview of the methods used to combine both macromolecules, as well as the future directions and the main challenges that are currently being tackled in this field.This work is in the framework of a project that has received funding from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and FEDER funds in the frame of "Plan Nacional -Retos para la Sociedad" call with the grant references MAT2017-88808-R and PID2019-110239RB-I00. This work was performed under the Maria de Maeztu Units of Excellence Programme -MDM-2016-0618. AB thanks the Spanish Research Agency (AEI) for the funds within Ramon y Cajal programme (RYC2018-025923-I). AR-A thanks the Basque Government for his Ph.D. fellowship (PRE_2019_2_0147)

Contribuciones al conocimiento de la alianza Deschampsion mediae Br.-Bl. in Br.-Bl. et al. 1952 en las Sierras Subbéticas del Sur de la Península Ibérica

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