2001: The Crystal Monolith

In the famous movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”, Stanley Kubrick and Arthur Clarke claim that an extraterrestrial civilization catalyzed the evolution of hominids on our planet. To represent such a powerful civilization, they use a crystal. To date, it seems that we have not been contacted by advanced civilizations and that we are alone to manage our own future. Yet Kubrick and Clarke perhaps intuitively touched a truth about the power of crystals. An argument is developed here that genuine crystals, mainly quartz single crystals, were the earliest catalysts of the abstract thinking, symbolism, and consciousness

Influence of AbrasiveWaterjet Parameters on the Cutting and Drilling of CFRP/UNS A97075 and UNS A97075/CFRP Stacks

The incorporation of plastic matrix composite materials into structural elements of the aeronautical industry requires contour machining and drilling processes along with metallic materials prior to final assembly operations. These operations are usually performed using conventional techniques, but they present problems derived from the nature of each material that avoid implementing One Shot Drilling strategies that work separately. In this work, the study focuses on the evaluation of the feasibility of AbrasiveWaterjet Machining (AWJM) as a substitute for conventional drilling for stacks formed of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) and aluminum alloy UNS A97050 through the study of the influence of abrasive mass flow rate, traverse feed rate and water pressure in straight cuts and drills. For the evaluation of the straight cuts, Stereoscopic Optical Microscopy (SOM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) techniques were used. In addition, the kerf taper through the proposal of a new method and the surface quality in different cutting regions were evaluated. For the study of holes, the macrogeometric deviations of roundness, cylindricity and straightness were evaluated. Thus, this experimental procedure reveals the conditions that minimize deviations, defects, and damage in straight cuts and holes obtained by AWJM

Operating with Quantum Integers: an Efficient 'Multiples of' Oracle

Quantum algorithms are a very promising field. However, creating and manipulating these kind of algorithms is a very complex task, specially for software engineers used to work at higher abstraction levels. The work presented here is part of a broader research focused on providing operations of a higher abstraction level to manipulate integers codified as a superposition. These operations are designed to be composable and efficient, so quantum software developers can reuse them to create more complex solutions. Specifically, in this paper we present a 'multiples of' operation. To validate this operation we show several examples of quantum circuits and their simulations, including its composition possibilities. A theoretical analysis proves that both the complexity of the required classical calculations and the depth of the circuit scale linearly with the number of qubits. Hence, the 'multiples of' oracle is efficient in terms of complexity and depth. Finally, an empirical study of the circuit depth is conducted to further reinforce the theoretical analysis.Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures, preprint submitted to SummerSOC 202

Some Initial Guidelines for Building Reusable Quantum Oracles

The evolution of quantum hardware is highlighting the need for advances in quantum software engineering that help developers create quantum software with good quality attributes. Specifically, reusability has been traditionally considered an important quality attribute in terms of efficiency of cost and effort. Increasing the reusability of quantum software will help developers create more complex solutions, by reusing simpler components, with better quality attributes, as long as the reused components have also these attributes. This work focuses on the reusability of oracles, a well-known pattern of quantum algorithms that can be used to perform functions used as input by other algorithms. In particular, in this work, we present several guidelines for making reusable quantum oracles. These guidelines include three different levels for oracle reuse: the ideas inspiring the oracle, the function which creates the oracle, and the oracle itself. To demonstrate these guidelines, two different implementations of a range of integers oracle have been built by reusing simpler oracles. The quality of these implementations is evaluated in terms of functionality and quantum circuit depth. Then, we provide an example of documentation following the proposed guidelines for both implementations to foster reuse of the provided oracles. This work aims to be a first point of discussion towards quantum software reusability. Additional work is needed to establish more specific criteria for quantum software reusability.Comment: 10 page

Monitorización de víctimas con manipuladores aéreos en operaciones de búsqueda y rescate

En este trabajo se presenta el primer dispositivo de monitorización de víctimas para su colocación automática con robots manipuladores aéreos. Se trata de un sistema sensorial distribuido para la evaluación de forma continua del estado de salud de víctimas de catástrofes. Se describen el sensor diseñado y el sistema de comunicaciones, así como la aplicación mediante la colocación del sensor basado en el uso de sistemas aéreos no tripulados (UAS) o robots manipuladores aéreos. El dispositivo de monitorización continua ofrece ventajas sobre el sistema de triage actual ya que permite obtener datos de la evolución de cada víctima. Recoge medidas de las constantes vitales de las víctimas, que son publicadas mediante protocolos de Internet de las Cosas (IoT) que permiten su procesado de forma remota. Además, posee métodos basados en aprendizaje profundo para la detección automática de la posición relativa de la muñeca del brazo de una persona con respecto al manipulador aéreo. Se han realizado experimentos preliminares de obtención de medidas y de colocación de sensores mediante una versión preliminar del sensor, cuyos resultados se incluyenUniversidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Dismorfia muscular y uso de sustancias ergogénicas. Una revisión sistemática.

El uso de sustancias ergogénicas (USE) no se restringe a la consecución de un mayor desempeño atlético, actualmente también es una conducta de cambio corporal, vía el desarrollo muscular; no obstante, poco se sabe de la relación entre dismorfia muscular (DM) y USE. Por tanto se realizó una revisión sistemática de los estudios empíricos que, durante la última década (2004-2014), la han examinado. De entrada, destaca el hecho de que, de los 22 artículos analizados, solo en 13 se explicita este interés. Además, aunque los datos documentados delinean algunas vertientes relevantes, como la existencia de una alta concomitancia (60-90%) de DM y USE, en general las evidencias son aún incipientes e inciertas, principalmente debido a la gran disparidad metodológica entre estudios y, particularmente, en cuanto a los indicadores, los parámetros y las medidas que, en el contexto de la DM, se han venido empleando para evaluar USE

Exploring the ring-closing metathesis for the construction of the solomonamide macrocyclic core: identification of bioactive precursors

New synthetic strategies directed toward the novel cyclopeptides solomonamides have been explored utilizing an olefin metathesis as the key reaction. In the various strategies investigated, we worked on minimally oxidized systems, and the olefin metathesis reaction demonstrated efficiency and validity for the construction of the macrocyclic core. The described synthetic strategies toward the solomonamides are well suited for the subsequent access to the natural products and represent flexible and diversityoriented routes that allow for the generation of a variety of analogues via oxidative transformations. In addition, preliminary biological evaluations of the generated solomonamide precursors revealed antitumor activity against various tumor cell lines.This work was financially supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) (ref BIO2014-56092-R, CTQ2014-60223-R and CTQ2016-76311-R) and Junta de Andalucía and “Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional-FEDER” (P12 CTS-1507). I.C.-S. thanks Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte for a predoctoral fellowship (FPU programme)

Diffusion and Precipitation Processes in Iron-Based Silica Gardens

Silica gardens are tubular structures that form along the interface of multivalent metal salts and alk. solns. of sodium silicate, driven by a complex interplay of osmotic and buoyant forces together with chem. reaction. They display peculiar plant-​like morphologies and thus can be considered as one of the few examples for the spontaneous biomimetic self-​ordering of purely inorg. materials. Recently, we could show that silica gardens moreover are highly dynamic systems that remain far from equil. for considerable periods of time long after macroscopic growth is completed. Due to initial compartmentalization, drastic concn. gradients were found to exist across the tube walls, which give rise to noticeable electrochem. potential differences and decay only slowly in a series of coupled diffusion and pptn. processes. The effect of the nature of the metal cations on the dynamic behavior of the system has been studied. The authors have grown single macroscopic silica garden tubes by controlled addn. of sodium silicate sol to pellets of iron(II) and iron(III) chloride. In the following, the concns. of ionic species were measured as a function of time on both sides of the formed membranes, while electrochem. potentials and pH were monitored online by immersing the corresponding sensors into the two sepd. soln. reservoirs. At the end of the expts., the solid tube material was furthermore characterized with respect to compn. and microstructure by a combination of ex situ techniques. The collected data are compared to the previously reported case of cobalt-​based silica gardens and used to shed light on ion diffusion through the inorg. membranes as well as progressive mineralization at both surfaces of the tube walls. These results reveal important differences in the dynamics of the three studied systems, which can be explained based on the acidity of the metal cations and the porosity of the membranes, leading to substantially dissimilar time-​dependent soln. chem. as well as distinct final mineral structures. The insight gained in this work may help to better understand the diffusion properties and pptn. patterns in tubular iron (hydr)​oxide​/silicate structures obsd. in geol. environments and during steel corrosion

Fundamentos de electrónica analógica

La presente obra está dirigida a estudiantes de ingeniería, y trata de introducir al lector en los fundamentos de Ia electrónica analógica, analizando componentes básicos, como el diodo o distintos tipos de transistores, y estudiando configuraciones de amplificación multietapa y diferenciales. Dado el fuerte carácter introductorio que impregnan toda Ia obra, Ia teoría tiene un peso muy importante en Ia misma. Difícilmente se puede llevar a cabo el diseño o implementación de un circuito electrónico analógico si no se domina con claridad el funcionamiento de cada uno de los componentes. Estos cimientos teóricos son los que trata de afianzar este texto. Sin embargo, este carácter teórico no implica que el texto no sea de aplicación. Precisamente son estos conceptos teóricos los que dan a Ia obra su sentido práctico, que surge al proporcionar al lector métodos estructurados para el diseño y análisis de sistemas electrónicos analógicos básicos. Este carácter práctico se refuerza especialmente en los estudios de los amplificadores multietapa y diferencia

Total Oxidation of Propane Using CeO2 and CuO-CeO2 Catalysts Prepared Using Templates of Different Nature

[EN] Several CeO2 and CuO-CeO2 catalysts were prepared using different methods, i.e., a homogeneous precipitation with urea, a nanocasting route using CMK-3 carbon as a hard template and a sol¿gel process using Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) polymer as a soft template, and tested in the total oxidation of propane. The catalysts were characterized by a number of physicochemical techniques (XRD, N2 adsorption, TPR, XPS, Raman spectroscopy) showing distinct characteristics. For each series, Cu-Ce-O catalysts with low Cu-loadings (5 wt % CuO) showed the highest activity, higher than those samples either without copper or with high Cu-loading (13 wt % CuO). The incorporation of copper leads to an increase of the concentration of bulk defects but if the Cu-loading is too high the surface area drastically falls. The highest activity in the total oxidation of propane was achieved by Cu-containing ceria catalysts synthesized using a polymer as a template, as this method yields high surface area materials. The surface area and the number of bulk/sub-surface defects of the ceria seem to be the main properties determining the catalytic activityThe authors would like to acknowledge the DGICYT in Spain CTQ2012-37925-C03-2, CTQ2015-68951-C3-1-R, CTQ2015-68951-C3-3-R. Authors from ITQ also thank Project SEV-2012-0267 for financial support. B.S, R.S and A.M.D also thank UV-INV-AE16-484416.Solsona, B.; Sanchis, R.; Dejoz, AM.; Garcia, T.; Ruiz-Rodríguez, L.; López Nieto, JM.; Cecilia, JA.... (2017). Total Oxidation of Propane Using CeO2 and CuO-CeO2 Catalysts Prepared Using Templates of Different Nature. Catalysts. 7(4):96-110. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal7040096S961107