Two-dimensional Banach spaces with Polynomial numerical index zero

We study two-dimensional Banach spaces with polynomial numerical indices equal to zero.Comment: 12 pages, to appear in Linear Algebra App

MapReduce-based Solutions for Scalable SPARQL Querying

The use of RDF to expose semantic data on the Web has seen a dramatic increase over the last few years. Nowadays, RDF datasets are so big and rconnected that, in fact, classical mono-node solutions present significant scalability problems when trying to manage big semantic data. MapReduce, a standard framework for distributed processing of great quantities of data, is earning a place among the distributed solutions facing RDF scalability issues. In this article, we survey the most important works addressing RDF management and querying through diverse MapReduce approaches, with a focus on their main strategies, optimizations and results

Subsidence damage assessment of a Gothic church using differential interferometry and field data

The Santas Justa and Rufina Gothic church (fourteenth century) has suffered several physical, mechanical, chemical, and biochemical types of pathologies along its history: rock alveolization, efflorescence, biological activity, and capillary ascent of groundwater. However, during the last two decades, a new phenomenon has seriously affected the church: ground subsidence caused by aquifer overexploitation. Subsidence is a process that affects the whole Vega Baja of the Segura River basin and consists of gradual sinking in the ground surface caused by soil consolidation due to a pore pressure decrease. This phenomenon has been studied by differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry techniques, which illustrate settlements up to 100 mm for the 1993–2009 period for the whole Orihuela city. Although no differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry information is available for the church due to the loss of interferometric coherence, the spatial analysis of nearby deformation combined with fieldwork has advanced the current understanding on the mechanisms that affect the Santas Justa and Rufina church. These results show the potential interest and the limitations of using this remote sensing technique as a complementary tool for the forensic analysis of building structures.Roberto Tomás is supported by a Generalitat Valenciana fellowship BEST-2011/225. The European Space Agency (ESA) Terrafirma project has funded all the SAR data processing with the SPN technique. Additionally, this study has been partially financed by the projects: TEC-2008-06764, TEC2011-28201-C02-02 ACOMP/2010/082, VIGROB-157, and 15224/PI/10

Relationship between fibre orientation and tensile strength of natural collagen membranes for heart valve leaflets

Heart valve prostheses are used to replace native heart valves which that are damaged because of congenital diseases or due to ageing. Biological prostheses made of bovine pericardium are similar to native valves and do not require any anticoagulation treatment, but are less durable than mechanical prostheses and usually fail by tearing. Researches are oriented in improving the resistance and durability of biological heart valve prostheses in order to increase their life expectancy. To understand the mechanical behaviour of bovine pericardium and relate it to its microstructure (mainly collagen fibres concentration and orientation) uniaxial tensile tests have been performed on a model material made of collagen fibres. Small Angle Light Scattering (SALS) has been also used to characterize the microstructure without damaging the material. Results with the model material allowed us to obtain the orientation of the fibres, relating the microstructure to mechanical performanc

Outflow of hot and cold molecular gas from the obscured secondary nucleus of NGC3256: closing in on feedback physics

The nuclei of merging galaxies are often deeply buried in dense layers of gas and dust. In these regions, gas outflows driven by starburst and AGN activity are believed to play a crucial role in the evolution of these galaxies. However, to fully understand this process it is essential to resolve the morphology and kinematics of such outflows. Using near-IR integral-field spectroscopy obtained with VLT/SINFONI, we detect a kpc-scale structure of high-velocity molecular hydrogen (H2) gas associated with the deeply buried secondary nucleus of the IR-luminous merger NGC3256. We show that this structure is likely the hot component of a molecular outflow, which is detected also in the cold molecular gas by Sakamoto et al. This outflow, with a molecular gas mass of M(H2)~2x10^7 Msun, is among the first to be spatially resolved in both the hot H2 gas with VLT/SINFONI and the cold CO-emitting gas with ALMA. The hot and cold components share a similar morphology and kinematics, with a hot-to-cold molecular gas mass ratio of ~6x10^-5. The high (~100 pc) resolution at which we map the geometry and velocity structure of the hot outflow reveals a biconical morphology with opening angle ~40 deg and gas spread across a FWZI~1200 km/s. Because this collimated outflow is oriented close to the plane of the sky, the molecular gas may reach maximum intrinsic outflow velocities of ~1800 km/s, with an average mass outflow rate of at least ~20 Msun/yr. By modeling the line-ratios of various near-IR H2 transitions, we show that the H2 gas in the outflow is heated through shocks or X-rays to a temperature of ~1900K. The energy needed to drive the outflow is likely provided by a hidden Compton-thick AGN or by the nuclear starburst. We show that the global kinematics of the molecular outflow in NGC3256 mimic those of CO-outflows that have been observed at low spatial resolution in starburst- and active galaxies.Comment: Accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics (accepted 29 Aug 2014 v.3, initial submission v.1 14 March 2014), 13 pages, 8 figure

PACDIN statement of methods

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Vehicle System Dynamics on 2014 available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/00423114.2014.963126[EN] PAntograph-Catenary Dynamic Interaction (PACDIN) is a code developed by the vehicle technology research centre (CITV) of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia in collaboration with the railway company Talgo S.L. The model of the catenary is a finite element model using absolute nodal coordinates. It is based on a general formulation that can be applied for analysing a wide range of catenary configurations, including stitch wire, transitions or non-straight path tracks. The formulation is fully non-linear and includes large deformations, dropper slackening and contact interaction. The model is linearised when deformations are small, as in the case of the benchmark dynamic analysis. The results of the PACDIN code show a good agreement with the average results of other benchmark codes.The authors wish to thank Generatitat Valenciana for the financial support received in the framework of the PROMETEO 2012/023 Programme.Tur Valiente, M.; Baeza González, LM.; Fuenmayor Fernández, F.; Garcia, E. (2014). PACDIN statement of methods. Vehicle System Dynamics. 53(3):402-411. https://doi.org/10.1080/00423114.2014.963126S402411533Shabana, A. A. (1998). Nonlinear Dynamics, 16(3), 293-306. doi:10.1023/a:1008072517368BERZERI, M., & SHABANA, A. A. (2000). DEVELOPMENT OF SIMPLE MODELS FOR THE ELASTIC FORCES IN THE ABSOLUTE NODAL CO-ORDINATE FORMULATION. Journal of Sound and Vibration, 235(4), 539-565. doi:10.1006/jsvi.1999.2935Gerstmayr, J., & Shabana, A. A. (2006). Analysis of Thin Beams and Cables Using the Absolute Nodal Co-ordinate Formulation. Nonlinear Dynamics, 45(1-2), 109-130. doi:10.1007/s11071-006-1856-1Tur, M., García, E., Baeza, L., & Fuenmayor, F. J. (2014). A 3D absolute nodal coordinate finite element model to compute the initial configuration of a railway catenary. Engineering Structures, 71, 234-243. doi:10.1016/j.engstruct.2014.04.015Collina, A., & Bruni, S. (2002). Numerical Simulation of Pantograph-Overhead Equipment Interaction. Vehicle System Dynamics, 38(4), 261-291. doi:10.1076/vesd.38.4.261.828

Tuning Rules for Active Disturbance Rejection Controllers via Multiobjective Optimization - A Guide for Parameters Computation Based on Robustness

[EN] A set of tuning rules for Linear Active Disturbance Rejection Controller (LADRC) with three different levels of compromise between disturbance rejection and robustness is presented. The tuning rules are the result of a Multiobjective Optimization Design (MOOD) procedure followed by curve fitting and are intended as a tool for designers who seek to implement LADRC by considering the load disturbance response of processes whose behavior is approximated by a general first-order system with delay. The validation of the proposed tuning rules is done through illustrative examples and the control of a nonlinear thermal process. Compared to classical PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) and other LADRC tuning methods, the derived functions offer an improvement in either disturbance rejection, robustness or both design objectives.This work was supported in part by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades, Spain, under Grant RTI2018-096904-B-I00.Martínez, BV.; Sanchís Saez, J.; Garcia-Nieto, S.; Martínez Iranzo, MA. (2021). Tuning Rules for Active Disturbance Rejection Controllers via Multiobjective Optimization - A Guide for Parameters Computation Based on Robustness. Mathematics. 9(5):1-34. https://doi.org/10.3390/math90505171349

On the Effects of Image Quality Degradation on Minutiae- and Ridge-Based Automatic Fingerprint Recognition

The effect of image quality degradation on the verification performance of automatic fingerprint recognition is investigated. We study the performance of two fingerprint matchers based on minutiae and ridge information under varying fingerprint image quality. The ridge-based system is found to be more robust to image quality degradation than the minutiae-based system for a number of different image quality criteria.Comment: Published at IEEE International Carnahan Conference on Security Technology (ICCST

Switchable CAR T cell strategy against osteosarcoma

Immunotherapy with chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) cells has changed the treatment of hematological malignances, but they are still a challenge for solid tumors, including pediatric sarcomas. Here, we report a switchable CAR T cell strategy based on anti-FITC CAR T cells and a switch molecule conjugated with FITC for targeting osteosarcoma (OS) tumors. As a potential target, we analyzed the expression of B7-H3, an immune checkpoint inhibitor, in OS cell lines. In addition, we evaluate the capacity of an anti-B7-H3 monoclonal antibody conjugated with FITC (anti-B7-H3-FITC mAb) to control the antitumor activity of anti-FITC CAR T cells. The effector functions of anti-FITC CAR T cells against OS, measured in vitro by tumor cell killing activity and cytokine production, are dependent on the presence of the anti-B7-H3-FITC mAb switch. Moreover, OS cells stimulate anti-FITC CAR T cells migration. In vivo, anti-B7-H3 mAb penetrates in the tumor and binds 143B OS tumor cells. Furthermore, anti-FITC CAR T cells reach tumor region and exert antitumor effect in an OS NSG mouse model only in the presence of the switch molecule. We demonstrate that anti-B7-H3-FITC mAb redirects the cytotoxic activity of anti-FITC CAR T cells against OS tumors suggesting that switchable CAR T cell platforms might be a plausible strategy against OS.This research was funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII): PI20CIII-00040 and RD21/0017/0005, Red Española de Terapias Avanzadas TERAV-ISCIII (NextGenerationEU. Plan de Recuperación Transformación y Resiliencia), the Asociación Pablo Ugarte, the Fundación Oncohematología Infantil and AFANION for grants support. LH is benefciary of a grant under the Talent Attraction Program of the Comunidad de Madrid (2018-T2/BMD-10337). AM-M is benefciary of a grant under the PhD ISCIII-PFIS program (FI18CIII/00017) and is a member of the PhD Program in Molecular Biosciences of Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. PR-G is enrolled in the Doctoral Program in Biomedical Sciences and Public Health as a trainee researcher at the UNED International Doctoral School. AntiFITC CAR single chain variable fragment (scFv) encoding plasmid was kindly provided by Dr. Michael Jensen from Seattle Children´s Research Institute, Washington, USA. The authors wish to thank the donors, and the Biobank Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro Majadahonda (HUPHM)/Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Puerta de Hierro-Segovia de Arana (IDIPHISA) (PT17/0015/0020 in the Spanish National Biobanks Network) for the human specimens used in this study. Images for the graphical scheme of experiments were obtained and modifed from SMART—Servier Medical Art under a Creative Common Attribution 3.0 Unported License.S

Implementación del contenido de las asignaturas del Máster de Ingeniería Geológica

La adaptación al espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES) del título de Ingeniería Geológica que se imparte actualmente en la Universidad de Alicante consistirá en la implantación el próximo curso 2014/15 del Máster Universitario en Ingeniería Geológica. La Universidad de Alicante ha decidido, al menos por el momento, no implantar el correspondiente título de grado, apostando por la continuidad de esta rama de la Ingeniería a través de la estructura de un máster. Máster que vendría a sustituir lo que en la actualidad es el segundo ciclo de la titulación de Ingeniería Geológica. Durante el curso 2012/13 la red denominada “Desarrollo curricular del máster universitario oficial en Ingeniería Geológica”, formada por un equipo multidisciplinar de profesores y una alumna de la antigua titulación, trabajó en la confección de los criterios a seguir para una correcta confección de las guías docentes de la titulación. La actual red docente, en base al trabajo anteriormente realizado, ha desarrollado, durante el presente curso académico, las fichas de las asignaturas de este nuevo título, siendo éste el objetivo principal del trabajo realizado. Para ello, se ha llevado a cabo una labor de coordinación entre los integrantes de la red, que representan los principales ámbitos de conocimiento implicados en la titulación, con el fin de dar forma al desarrollo curricular del Máster Universitario Oficial en Ingeniería Geológica. La metodología empleada para tal fin ha abarcado desde reuniones de la red al completo, reuniones de mesas sectoriales por tipo de materia y conversaciones bilaterales entre representantes de asignaturas dependientes. Estas reuniones han sido tanto presenciales como virtuales, a través de la herramienta Skype, así como conversaciones telefónicas