El pintor Daniel Cortina Mestre. Noves aportacions sobre la seua obra: el "Retrat de María Godina de Bellveser"

De Daniel Cortina Mestre, pintor nacido en Valencia, se tienen escasos datos sobre su vida y obra. El presente artículo es una aportación en dicho sentido a partir del Retrato de María Godina de Bellveser, obra inédita suya que pertenece a una colección particular. A partir de esta obra, se aportan nuevos datos sobre la vida y formación de su autor, y se analiza su relación con el concepto de retrato vigente en aquel momento. (A

Black-box Testing of Quantum Systems

Quantum Computing is a growing field in Computer Science, Physics and Mathematics because it presents stunning results in solving very complex problems faster that any classical computer. However, the physical difficulties that Quantum Mechanics presents, added to the complex development of quantum algorithms, made the field to be very prone to errors. Thus, ensuring the quality of the devices and algorithms will take a very important role in the future of the field. In this Thesis we present a brief introduction to Quantum Mechanics, followed by a new possible testing framework based on a formalism that we call Hybrid Turing Machines. This formalism allows to design complex systems by joining quantum and classical Turing Machines. Finally, we present a study of one of the very few techniques in Quantum Testing for black boxes, called Self Testing, along with a practical experiment

Diseño y fabricación de un mosquetón para sujeción del animal de compañía en sus paseos diarios.

[ES] El mosquetón para el arnés o collar de una mascota es un elemento de unión intermedio entre la sujeción que porta en su cuerpo el animal y la correa con la que el dueño controla su paseo. Este elemento debe de soportar tensiones ejercidas por el impulso del animal sobre el usuario que sujeta el extremo contrario de la correa. Los mosquetones comerciales suelen ser económicos y de factura sencilla, teniendo en común un elemento móvil que es el que se encarga de sellar a la unión alrededor de un anillo de metal que va unido al arnés o collar del animal en cuestión. En este proyecto consistirá en diseñar un nuevo enganche de mosquetón para mascota con la capacidad de unirse con tan solo aproximarlo a la otra mitad de este, la cual residirá permanentemente en el arnés del animal. Una vez unidos magnéticamente, se desplegará el mecanismo de cierre sin acción del usuario uniendo de manera solida ambas secciones. Y finamente conocer cuál será el mejor modelo de fabricación para dicho diseño mecánico, así como los distintos materiales en los que se podría conformar dicho artefacto.[EN] The carabiner for a pet's harness or collar, is an intermediate connecting element between the fastening that the animal carries on its body and the strap with which the owner controls his walk. This element must withstand tensions exerted by the impulse of the animal on the user who holds the opposite end of the strap. Commercial carabiners are usually cheap and simple, having in common a mobile element that is responsible for sealing the joint around a metal ring that is attached to the harness or collar of the animal in question. This project will consist of designing a new carabiner hitch for pets with the ability to join just by bringing it closer to the other half of it, which will permanently reside in the animal's harness. Once magnetically attached, the closure mechanism will unfold without user action, solidly joining both sections. And finally, to know what will be the best manufacturing model for said mechanical design, as well as the different materials in which said artifact could be formed.Montoyo Gomis, P. (2021). Diseño y fabricación de un mosquetón para sujeción del animal de compañía en sus paseos diarios. Universitat Politècnica de València. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/174114TFG

Development of the Pixel Detector for the Belle II experiment and top quark mass measurement in radiative events at the future electron-positron linear collider

Durante los últimos cien años, los numerosos descubrimientos en los colisionadores de partículas y desarrollos teóricos han conducido a los físicos de partículas a construir el Modelo Estándar, el modelo teórico más exitoso hasta la fecha. Sin embargo, a pesar de su gran éxito, el Modelo Estándar no describe toda la fenomenología observada actualmente en los diferentes experimentos. Es por ello que se necesitan nuevos colisionadores que proporcionen observaciones de nueva física que nos ayuden a construir modelos que describan dicha fenomenología. Para enfrentarse al reto, la comunidad de física de partículas se une formando grandes colaboraciones, con el propósito de diseñar y construir los colisionadores del futuro. Los trabajos detallados en esta tesis se unen a estos esfuerzos, haciendo una pequeña contribución al progreso del campo. La tesis está dividida en dos partes, con un total de seis capítulos. La primera parte describe el desarrollo y construcción del Detector de Píxeles (PXD), el detector más interno del experimento Belle II en el colisionador SuperKEKB. La segunda parte detalla la propuesta de un nuevo observable para medir la masa del quark top en los futuros colisionadores lineal electrón-positrón. En los primeros dos capítulos se establece el contexto necesario para entender los trabajos realizados como parte de la tesis. El primer capítulo introduce la física de partículas desde el punto de vista fenomenológico, haciendo hincapié en los éxitos y carencias del Modelo Estándar, y sus posibles sucesores. El segundo, establece la importancia de los colisionadores de partículas como la principal herramienta de progreso en el campo, e introduce la nueva generación de colisionadores leptónicos: SuperKEKB, la factoría de mesones de B de la Organización de Investigación de Aceleradores de Alta Energía de Japón (KEK); el Colisionador Lineal International (ILC), la propuesta internacional para construir un colisionador lineal en Japón; y, el Colisionador Lineal Compacto (CLIC), la propuesta de la Organización Europea para la Investigación Nuclear (CERN) de construcción de un colisionador lineal en la frontera franco-suiza. Los capítulos tercero y cuarto describen el Detector de Píxeles basado en la tecnología de Transistor de Efecto Campo Desertizado (DEPFET) y su proceso de producción respectivamente, incluyendo el control de calidad de ésta llevado a cabo como contribución del Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC) en la construcción del PXD. El capítulo quinto resume la caracterización completa (tanto de su parte digital como de la analógica) de uno de los módulos del PXD, incluyendo estudios en detalle sobre la optimización de la respuesta del sensor y la ganancia interna de los píxeles. Por último, el capítulo sexto propone un nuevo observable para realizar medidas de alta precisión de la masa del quark top en colisionadores leptónicos lineales. Dicho observable es definido como la sección eficaz diferencial del proceso electrón-positrón produciendo un par top-antitop en asociación con un fotón de radiación de estado inicial (ISR), en función de la energía del fotón radiado. Como parte de esta tesis, el potencial del método es estudiado utilizando un robusto marco teórico de última generación para los proyectos ILC y CLIC bajo condiciones realistas.The last hundred years of discoveries at particle colliders and theoretical breakthroughs have allowed particle physicists to elaborate the Standard Model, the most successful theoretical model to date. In spite of its huge success, the Standard Model cannot describe all the observed phenomenology in the different experiments. New colliders are needed to provide the much-needed new physics that will allow us to elaborate models that resolve these unexplained phenomena. To face this challenge, the particle physics community unites forming large collaborations, with the purpose of building the colliders of the future. The works in this thesis join these efforts, making a small contribution to the progress of the field. This thesis is divided in two well defined parts, divided in six Chapters. The first part is dedicated to the development of the Pixel Detector (PXD), the innermost detector of the Belle II experiment in the SuperKEKB collider. The second part is focused on the proposal of a new observable to measure the mass of the top quark in the continuum of the future linear collider. The first two Chapters give the necessary context to understand the works carried out as part of the thesis. In particular, Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the particle physics field from the phenomenologist point of view, peeking at the Standard Model, its accomplishments, its shortcomings, and its most plausible successors. Chapter 2 introduces the new generation of lepton colliders: the SuperKEKB collider, the International Linear Collider (ILC) and the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC). Chapters 3 and 4 describe the DEPFET-based Pixel Detector and its production, respectively, including the quality control of the PXD production carried out at the clean room of the MPG Halbleiterlabor in Munich as the IFIC contribution to the PXD collaboration. Chapter 5 summarizes the characterization of a PXD module, including the measurement of the sensor internal gain. Finally, Chapter 6 introduces a new observable, analyzing the potential of ILC and CLIC to produce precise measurements of the top quark mass in radiative events in the continuum within a theoretically sound renormalization scheme

Angular and Energy Distributions of Electrons Produced in Arbitrary Biomaterials by Proton Impact

We present a simple method for obtaining reliable angular and energy distributions of electrons ejected from arbitrary condensed biomaterials by proton impact. Relying on a suitable description of the electronic excitation spectrum and a physically motivated relation between the ion and electron scattering angles, it yields cross sections in rather good agreement with experimental data in a broad range of ejection angles and energies, by only using as input the target composition and density. The versatility and simplicity of the method, which can be also extended to other charged particles, make it especially suited for obtaining ionization data for any complex biomaterial present in realistic cellular environments.The authors recognize the financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad and the European Regional Development Fund (Project No. FIS2010–17225). PdV acknowledges financial support from the European Union’s FP7-People Program (Marie Curie Actions) within the Initial Training Network No. 608163 "ARGENT". Support from the European COST Action MP1002 NanoIBCT is gratefully acknowledged

Historia oral, vida y muerte en la región rural andina. :El caso del llashaco, en la comunidad de Bacpancel, provincia del Azuay, en el austro ecuatoriano

El propósito de esta investigación es comprender el papel que cumple una narración andina referente a un personaje llamado llashaco en la comunidad de Bacpancel (provincia del Azuay, Ecuador). El relato hace referencia a hechos y personajes del pasado que, sin embargo, siguen teniendo incidencia en la vida cotidiana de la comunidad en el presente. Un análisis antropológico que involucre esta historia oral nos permite aproximarnos a las formas en las que algunos hechos históricos son simbolizados y transformados en narraciones que tienen como fin, en este caso, anunciar la muerte y la inseguridad vividas en las comunidades rurales andinas, en general, y en Bacpancel, en particular. La importancia de la narración radica en el hecho de que es un relato con la capacidad de transformar tanto la temporalidad como la espacialidad y el sentido que le son otorgados a espacios de vida, como lo son los cerros en las regiones rurales andinas, simbolizando el tránsito entre la vida y la muerte. Es también importante pues es un ejemplo del sincretismo generado entre la cultura tradicional prehispánica y las realidades traídas durante la colonia, como es el caso de enfermedad de la lepra, que dieron origen a la historia del llashaco. La investigación es fruto de un largo período de vinculación del investigador con la comunidad. Para el momento específico de la indagación se realizó, además, una serie de entrevistas con el fin de obtener distintas versiones del relato mencionado. El documento está en cuatro capítulos. En el primero presentamos el relato sobre el llashaco y sus variaciones; en el segundo capítulo analizamos la percepción, concepción y el manejo del espacio por parte de los pobladores de la comunidad. En el tercer capítulo nos acercamos a una interpretación referente a la manera como se comprende la muerte desde la perspectiva de la antropología tanatológica. Finalmente, en el cuarto capítulo presentamos lo que consideramos central en cuanto a los resultados de la investigación: comprender el rol del relato sobre el llashaco en término de denuncia y construcción social sobre la (in)seguridad.The purpose of this research is to understand the role of an Andean narrative regarding a character called llashaco in the community of Bacpancel (province of Azuay, Ecuador). The story refers to facts and characters from the past that, however, continue to have an impact on the daily life of the community in the present. An anthropological analysis that involves this oral history allows us to approach the ways in which some historical facts are symbolized and transformed into narratives that have the purpose, in this case, to announce the death and insecurity experienced in the Andean rural communities, in general, and in Bacpancel, in particular. The importance of the narrative lies in the fact that it is a story with the ability to transform both temporality and spatiality and the meaning that are granted to living spaces, such as hills in rural Andean regions, symbolizing the transit between life and death. It is also important because it is an example of the syncretism generated between the traditional pre-Hispanic culture and the realities brought during the colony, as is the case of leprosy disease, which gave rise to the history of Llashaco. The research is the result of a long period of linking the researcher with the community. For the specific moment of the investigation, a series of interviews were also carried out in order to obtain different versions of the aforementioned story. The document is in four chapters. In the first we present the story about the llashaco and its variations; In the second chapter we analyze the perception, conception and management of space by the residents of the community. In the third chapter we approach an interpretation referring to the way death is understood from the perspective of tanatological anthropology. Finally, in the fourth chapter we present what we consider central in terms of the results of the investigation: to understand the role of the story about llashaco in terms of denunciation and social construction about (in)security

Excitation and ionisation cross-sections in condensed-phase biomaterials by electrons down to very low energy: application to liquid water and genetic building blocks

Electronic excitations and ionisations produced by electron impact are key processes in the radiation-induced damage mechanisms in materials of biological relevance, underlying important medical and technological applications, including radiotherapy, radiation protection in manned space missions and nanodevice fabrication techniques. However, experimentally measuring all the necessary electronic interaction cross-sections for every relevant material is an arduous task, so it is necessary having predictive models, sufficiently accurate yet easily implementable. In this work we present a model, based on the dielectric formalism, to provide reliable ionisation and excitation cross-sections for electron-impact on complex biomolecular media, considering their condensed-phase nature. We account for the indistinguishability and exchange between the primary beam and excited electrons, for the molecular electronic structure effects in the electron binding, as well as for low-energy corrections to the first Born approximation. The resulting approach yields total ionisation cross-sections, energy distributions of secondary electrons, and total electronic excitation cross-sections for condensed-phase biomaterials, once the electronic excitation spectrum is known, either from experiments or from a predictive model. The results of this methodology are compared with the available experimental data in water and DNA/RNA molecular building blocks, showing a very good agreement and a great predictive power in a wide range of electron incident energies, from the large values characteristic of electron beams down to excitation threshold. The proposed model constitutes a very useful procedure for computing the electronic interaction cross-sections for arbitrary biological materials in a wide range of electron incident energies.This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 840752, from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad and the European Regional Development Fund (Project no. PGC2018-096788-B-I00), from the Fundación Séneca (Project no. 19907/GERM/15) and from the Conselleria d'Educació, Investigació, Cultura i Esport de la Generalitat Valenciana (Project no. AICO/2019/070). PdV acknowledges further financial support provided by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad by means of a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellowship (FJCI-2017-32233)

Simulation of the energy spectra of swift light ion beams after traversing cylindrical targets: a consistent interpretation of experimental data relevant for hadron therapy

We have performed detailed simulations of the energy spectra, recorded at several angles, of proton and helium ion beams after traversing thin cylindrical targets of different nature (liquid water and ethanol jets, as well as a solid aluminium wire), in order to reproduce a series of measurements intended to assess the stopping power of 0.3–2 MeV ions. The authors of these experiments derived values of the stopping power of liquid water (a quantity essential for the evaluation of radiation effects in materials, particularly for radiotherapy purposes) that are ~10% lower than what is expected from other measurements and theories. In our simulations, instead of treating the stopping power as an unknown free parameter to be determined, we use as input the electronic stopping power accurately calculated within the dielectric formalism. We take into account in the simulations the different interactions that each projectile can experience when moving through the target, such as electronic stopping, nuclear scattering or electron charge-exchange processes. The detailed geometry of the target is also accounted for. We find that our simulated energy distributions are in excellent agreement with the published measurements when the diameter of the cylindrical targets is slightly reduced, what is compatible with the potential evaporation of the liquid jets. On the basis of such an excellent agreement, we validate the accuracy of the model we use to calculate electronic excitation cross sections for ions in condensed matter in its range of applicability (particularly the electronic stopping power) needed for charged particle transport models, and we offer a consistent, but alternative, interpretation for these experiments on ion irradiation of cylindrical targets.Financial support was provided by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades and the European Regional Development Fund (Projects No. FIS2014-58849-P and PGC2018-096788-B-I00), as well as by the Fundación Séneca - Agencia de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Región de Murcia (Project No. 19907/GERM/15). PdV also acknowledges financial support provided by the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung/Foundation through a postdoctoral fellowship

Protein tyrosine phosphatase-1B modulates pancreatic β-cell mass

Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) is a negative regulator of the insulin signalling pathway. It has been demonstrated that PTP1B deletion protects against the development of obesity and Type 2 Diabetes, mainly through its action on peripheral tissues. However, little attention has been paid to the role of PTP1B in β-cells. Therefore, our aim was to study the role of PTP1B in pancreatic β-cells. Silencing of PTP1B expression in a pancreatic β-cell line (MIN6 cells) reveals the significance of this endoplasmic reticulum bound phosphatase in the regulation of cell proliferation and apoptosis. Furthermore, the ablation of PTP1B is able to regulate key proteins involved in the proliferation and/or apoptosis pathways, such as STAT3, AKT, ERK1/2 and p53 in isolated islets from PTP1B knockout (PTP1B (-)/(-)) mice. Morphometric analysis of pancreatic islets from PTP1B (-)/(-) mice showed a higher β-cell area, concomitantly with higher β-cell proliferation and a lower β-cell apoptosis when compared to islets from their respective wild type (WT) littermates. At a functional level, isolated islets from 8 weeks old PTP1B (-)/(-) mice exhibit enhanced glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Moreover, PTP1B (-)/(-) mice were able to partially reverse streptozotocin-induced β-cell loss. Together, our data highlight for the first time the involvement of PTP1B in β-cell physiology, reinforcing the potential of this phosphatase as a therapeutical target for the treatment of β-cell failure, a central aspect in the pathogenesis of Type 2 Diabete