1,959 research outputs found
Application of mineralogical, petrological and geochemical tools for evaluating the palaeohdrogeological evolution of the PADAMOT study sites
The role of Work Package (WP) 2 of the PADAMOT project – ‘Palaeohydrogeological Data
Measurements’ - has been to study late-stage fracture mineral and water samples from
groundwater systems in Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and the Czech Republic, with the aim
of understanding the recent palaeohydrogeological evolution of these groundwater systems. In
particular, the project sought to develop and evaluate methods for obtaining information about
past groundwater evolution during the Quaternary (about the last 2 million years) by examining
how the late-stage mineralization might record mineralogical, petrographical and geochemical
evidence of how the groundwater system may have responded to past geological and
climatological changes.
Fracture-flow groundwater systems at six European sites were studied:
• Melechov Hill, in the Bohemian Massif of the Czech Republic: a shallow (0-100 m)
dilute groundwater flow system within the near-surface weathering zone in fractured
granitic rocks;
• Cloud Hill, in the English Midlands: a (~100 m) shallow dilute groundwater flow system
in fractured and dolomitized Carboniferous limestone;
• Los Ratones, in southwest Spain: an intermediate depth (0-500 m) dilute groundwater
flow system in fractured granitic rocks;
• Laxemar, in southeast Sweden: a deep (0-1000 m) groundwater flow system in fractured
granitic rocks. This is a complex groundwater system with potential recharge and
flushing by glacial, marine, lacustrine and freshwater during the Quaternary;
• Sellafield, northwest England: a deep (0-2000 m) groundwater flow system in fractured
Ordovician low-grade metamorphosed volcaniclastic rocks and discontinuous
Carboniferous Limestone, overlain by a Permo-Triassic sedimentary sequence with
fracture and matrix porosity. This is a complex coastal groundwater system with deep
hypersaline sedimentary basinal brines, and deep saline groundwaters in crystalline
basement rocks, overlain by a shallow freshwater aquifer system. The site was glaciated
several times during the Quaternary and may have been affected by recharge from glacial
meltwater;
• Dounreay, northeast Scotland: a deep (0-1400 m) groundwater flow system in fractured
Precambrian crystalline basement overlain by fractured Devonian sedimentary rocks.
This is within the coastal discharge area of a complex groundwater system, comprising
deep saline groundwater hosted in crystalline basement, overlain by a fracture-controlled
freshwater sedimentary aquifer system. Like Sellafield, this area experienced glaciation
and may potentially record the impact of glacial meltwater recharge.
In addition, a study has been made of two Quaternary sedimentary sequences in Andalusia in
southeastern Spain to provide a basis of estimating the palaeoclimatic history of the region that
could be used in any reconstruction of the palaeoclimatic history at the Los Ratones site:
• The Cúllar-Baza lacustrine sequence records information about precipitation and
palaeotemperature regimes, derived largely from the analysis of the stable isotope (δ18O
and δ13C) signatures from biogenic calcite (ostracod shells).
• The Padul Peat Bog sequence provided information on past vegetation cover and
palaeogroundwater inputs based on the study of fossil pollen and biomarkers as proxies
for past climate change.
Following on from the earlier EC 4th Framework EQUIP project, the focus of the PADAMOT
studies has been on calcite mineralization. Calcite has been identified as a late stage mineral, closely associated with hydraulically-conductive fractures in the present-day groundwater
systems at the Äspö-Laxemar, Sellafield, Dounreay and Cloud Hill sites. At Los Ratones and
Melechov sites late-stage mineralization is either absent or extremely scarce, and both the
quantity and fine crystal size of any late-stage fracture mineralization relevant to Quaternary
palaeohydrogeological investigations is difficult to work with. The results from the material
investigated during the PADAMOT studies indicate that the fracture fillings at these sites are
related to hydrothermal activity, and so do not have direct relevance as Quaternary indicators.
Neoformed calcite has not been found at these two sites at the present depth of the investigations.
Furthermore, the HCO3
- concentration in all the Los Ratones groundwaters is mainly controlled
by complex carbonate dissolution. The carbonate mineral saturation indices do not indicate
precipitation conditions, and this is consistent with the fact that neoformed calcite, ankerite or
dolomite have not been observed petrographically
N-body simulations of galaxies and groups of galaxies with the Marseille GRAPE systems
I review the Marseille GRAPE systems and the N-body simulations done with
them. I first describe briefly the available hardware and software, their
possibilities and their limitations. I then describe work done on interacting
galaxies and groups of galaxies. This includes simulations of the formation of
ring galaxies, simulations of bar destruction by massive compact satellites, of
merging in compact groups and of the formation of brightest members in clusters
of galaxies.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, to be published in "Non-linear Dynamics and
Chaos in Astrophysics", eds. J.R. Buchler, S. Gottesman, J. Hunter and H.
Kandrup, Annals of the New York Academy of Science
New molecular approaches in adipogenesis regulation: The connexin 43 role
Indexación: Scopus; Redalyc.La prevalencia de la obesidad a nivel mundial se ha incrementado
rápidamente durante los últimos años debido principalmente
a los cambios en el estilo de vida de la población
con un aumento significativo en el consumo de energía y disminución
de los niveles de actividad física. Es por esto que
la comunidad científica está interesada en comprender de
forma más profunda los mecanismos que regulan la fisiopatología
de la obesidad. Dentro de los diferentes blancos de
estudio se encuentra la adipogénesis, cuyo entendimiento es
fundamental para comprender el desarrollo de la obesidad y
las patologías asociadas a esta. Recientemente ha surgido
importantes evidencias que involucran a la proteína de canales
de “Gap Junction” conexina 43 (Cx43) en la regulación
de los procesos relacionados con adipogénesis, cuyo papel
es básicamente anti-adipogénico, sin embargo, nuevas funciones
de Cx43 en la regulación de la formación del tejido
adiposo siguen descubriéndose.The global prevalence of obesity has been increased rapidly
over the past few years mainly due to changes in the lifestyle
of the population with a significant increase in energy
consumption and decreased levels of physical activity. As a
result, the scientific community is interested in a deeper understanding
of the mechanisms that regulate the pathophysiology
of obesity. In this context, adipogenesis process is an
important target of study to understand the obesity and associated
pathologies. Recently has been emerged important
evidence that involve gap junction channel protein connexin
43 (Cx43) in the regulation of processes related to adipogenesis,
whose role is fundamentally anti-adipogenic. However,
new functions of Cx43 in the regulation of adipose tissue
function also continued to emerge.http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=5594990800
Atomic layering at the liquid silicon surface: a first- principles simulation
We simulate the liquid silicon surface with first-principles molecular
dynamics in a slab geometry. We find that the atom-density profile presents a
pronounced layering, similar to those observed in low-temperature liquid metals
like Ga and Hg. The depth-dependent pair correlation function shows that the
effect originates from directional bonding of Si atoms at the surface, and
propagates into the bulk. The layering has no major effects in the electronic
and dynamical properties of the system, that are very similar to those of bulk
liquid Si. To our knowledge, this is the first study of a liquid surface by
first-principles molecular dynamics.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
Four Light Neutrinos in Singular Seesaw Mechanism with Abelian Flavor Symmetry
The four light neutrino scenario, which explains the atmosphere, solar and
LSND neutrino experiments, is studied in the framework of the seesaw mechanism.
By taking both the Dirac and Majorana mass matrix of neutrinos to be singular,
the four neutrino mass spectrum consisting of two almost degenerate pairs
separated by a mass gap eV is naturally generated. Moreover the
right-handed neutrino Majorana mass can be at GeV scale unlike
in the usual singular seesaw mechanism. Abelian flavor symmetry is used to
produce the required neutrino mass pattern. A specific example of the flavor
charge assignment is provided to show that maximal mixings between the
and are respectively attributed to the
atmosphere and solar neutrino anomalies while small mixing between two pairs to
the LSND results. The implication in the other fermion masses is also
discussed.Comment: Firnal version to appear in PR
Large-amplitude driving of a superconducting artificial atom: Interferometry, cooling, and amplitude spectroscopy
Superconducting persistent-current qubits are quantum-coherent artificial
atoms with multiple, tunable energy levels. In the presence of large-amplitude
harmonic excitation, the qubit state can be driven through one or more of the
constituent energy-level avoided crossings. The resulting
Landau-Zener-Stueckelberg (LZS) transitions mediate a rich array of
quantum-coherent phenomena. We review here three experimental works based on
LZS transitions: Mach-Zehnder-type interferometry between repeated LZS
transitions, microwave-induced cooling, and amplitude spectroscopy. These
experiments exhibit a remarkable agreement with theory, and are extensible to
other solid-state and atomic qubit modalities. We anticipate they will find
application to qubit state-preparation and control methods for quantum
information science and technology.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure
Finite Theories and the SUSY Flavor Problem
We study a finite SU(5) grand unified model based on the non-Abelian discrete
symmetry A_4. This model leads to the democratic structure of the mass matrices
for the quarks and leptons. In the soft supersymmetry breaking sector, the
scalar trilinear couplings are aligned and the soft scalar masses are
degenerate, thus solving the SUSY flavor problem.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, 1 figur
Early microgliosis precedes neuronal loss and behavioural impairment in mice with a frontotemporal dementia-causing CHMP2B mutation
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD)-causing mutations in the CHMP2B gene lead to the generation of mutant C-terminally truncated CHMP2B. We report that transgenic mice expressing endogenous levels of mutant CHMP2B developed late-onset brain volume loss associated with frank neuronal loss and FTD-like changes in social behaviour. These data are the first to show neurodegeneration in mice expressing mutant CHMP2B and indicate that our mouse model is able to recapitulate neurodegenerative changes observed in FTD. Neuroinflammation has been increasingly implicated in neurodegeneration, including FTD. Therefore, we investigated neuroinflammation in our CHMP2B mutant mice. We observed very early microglial proliferation that develops into a clear pro-inflammatory phenotype at late stages. Importantly, we also observed a similar inflammatory profile in CHMP2B patient frontal cortex. Aberrant microglial function has also been implicated in FTD caused by GRN, MAPT and C9orf72 mutations. The presence of early microglial changes in our CHMP2B mutant mice indicates neuroinflammation may be a contributing factor to the neurodegeneration observed in FTD
- …