Effect of mold temperature on the impact behavior and morphology of injection molded foams based on polypropylene polyethylene–octene copolymer blends

Producción CientíficaIn this work, an isotactic polypropylene (PP) and a polyethylene–octene copolymer (POE) have been blended and injection-molded, obtaining solids and foamed samples with a relative density of 0.76. Different mold temperature and injection temperature were used. The Izod impact strength was measured. For solids, higher mold temperature increased the impact resistance, whereas in foams, the opposite trend was observed. In order to understand the reasons of this behavior, the morphology of the elastomeric phase, the crystalline morphology and the cellular structure have been studied. The presence of the elastomer near the skin in the case of high mold temperature can explain the improvement produced with a high mold temperature in solids. For foams, aspects as the elastomer coarsening in the core of the sample or the presence of a thicker solid skin are the critical parameters that justify the improved behavior of the materials produced with a lower mold temperature.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (grant DI-15-07952

The Americans and Realist Spy Television: The Contemporary Relevance of an Apparently Outdated Genre.

El cine de espías, sobre todo en su rama más realista, es un género que tuvo su auge en los años cercanos a la llamada guerra fría y que a primera vista parecería no tener ninguna conexión con la sociedad actual. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar y señalar como las características de este género específico, aparecen actualizadas y adaptadas en la serie The Americans. El análisis apunta a que la suma de sus características clásicas más la renovación del género, lo convierten en el vehículo adecuado para transmitir las inquietudes que el individuo contemporáneo tiene en relación a los conflictos que se presentan al intentar compaginar su vida privada y familiar con las exigencias de una sociedad que cada vez demanda más a sus ciudadanos

A Fuzzy Inference Model Based on an Uncertainty Forward Propagation Approach

The management of uncertainty and imprecision is becoming more and more important in knowledge-based systems. Fuzzy logic provides a systematic basis for representing and inferring with this kind of knowledge. This paper describes an approach for fuzzy inference based on an uncertainty forward propagation method and a change in the granularity of the elements involved. The proposed model is able to handle very general kinds of facts and rules, and it also verifies the most usual properties required by a fuzzy inference model

Dynamic Daylight Metrics for Electricity Savings in Offices: Window Size and Climate Smart Lighting Management

Daylight performance metrics provide a promising approach for the design and optimization of lighting strategies in buildings and their management. Smart controls for electric lighting can reduce power consumption and promote visual comfort using different control strategies, based on affordable technologies and low building impact. The aim of this research is to assess the energy efficiency of these smart controls by means of dynamic daylight performance metrics, to determine suitable solutions based on the geometry of the architecture and the weather conditions. The analysis considers different room dimensions, with variable window size and two mean surface reflectance values. DaySim 3.1 lighting software provides the simulations for the study, determining the necessary quantification of dynamic metrics to evaluate the usefulness of the proposed smart controls and their impact on energy efficiency. The validation of dynamic metrics is carried out by monitoring a mesh of illuminance-meters in test cells throughout one year. The results showed that, for most rooms more than 3.00 m deep, smart controls achieve worthwhile energy savings and a low payback period, regardless of weather conditions and for worst-case situations. It is also concluded that dimming systems provide a higher net present value and allow the use of smaller window size than other control solutions

Substance P and Neurokinin-1 Receptor System in Thyroid Cancer: Potential Targets for New Molecular Therapies

In recent years, numerous approaches have been developed to comprehend the molecular alterations underlying thyroid cancer (TC) oncogenesis and explore novel therapeutic strategies for TC. It is now well established that the neurokinin-1 receptor (NK-1R) is overexpressed in cancer cells and that NK-1R is essential for the viability of cancer cells. The binding of substance P (SP) to NK-1R in neoplastic cells plays a pivotal role in cancer progression by promoting neoplastic cell growth, protecting tumor cells from apoptosis, triggering invasion and metastasis through the enhanced migration of cancer cells, and stimulating endothelial cell proliferation for tumor angiogenesis. Remarkably, all types of human TC (papillary, follicular, medullary, anaplastic), as well as metastatic lesions, exhibit the overexpression of SP and NK-1R compared to the normal thyroid gland. TC cells synthesize and release SP, which exerts its multiple functions through autocrine, paracrine, intracrine, and neuroendocrine processes, including the regulation of tumor burden. Consequently, the secretion of SP from TC results in increased SP levels in plasma, which are significantly higher in TC patients compared to controls. Additionally, NK-1R antagonists have demonstrated a dose-dependent antitumor action. They impair cancer cell proliferation on one side and induce apoptosis of tumor cells on the other side. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that NK-1R antagonists inhibit neoplastic cell migration, thereby impairing both invasiveness and metastatic abilities, as well as angiogenesis. Given the consistent overexpression of NK-1R in all types of TC, targeting this receptor represents a promising therapeutic approach for TC. Therefore, NK-1R antagonists, such as the drug aprepitant, may represent novel drugs for TC treatment

A bilevel framework for decision-making under uncertainty with contextual information

In this paper, we propose a novel approach for data-driven decision-making under uncertainty in the presence of contextual information. Given a finite collection of observations of the uncertain parameters and potential explanatory variables (i.e., the contextual information), our approach fits a parametric model to those data that is specifically tailored to maximizing the decision value, while accounting for possible feasibility constraints. From a mathematical point of view, our framework translates into a bilevel program, for which we provide both a fast regularization procedure and a big-M-based reformulation that can be solved using off-the-shelf optimization solvers. We showcase the benefits of moving from the traditional scheme for model estimation (based on statistical quality metrics) to decision-guided prediction using three different practical problems. We also compare our approach with existing ones in a realistic case study that considers a strategic power producer that participates in the Iberian electricity market. Finally, we use these numerical simulations to analyze the conditions (in terms of the firm’s cost structure and production capacity) under which our approach proves to be more advantageous to the producer.This work was supported in part by the European Research Council (ERC) under the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No. 755705), in part by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (AEI/10.13039/501100011033) through project PID2020-115460GB-I00, and in part by the Junta de Andalucía (JA), the Universidad de Málaga and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) through the research projects P20_00153 and UMA2018‐FEDERJA‐001. M. Á. Muñoz is also funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the State Training Subprogram 2018 of the State Program for the Promotion of Talent and its Employability in R&D&I, within the framework of the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2017-2020 and by the European Social Fund. Finally, the authors thankfully acknowledge the computer resources, technical expertise, and assistance provided by the SCBI (Supercomputing and Bioinformatics) center of the University of Malaga

The Solar Disk at High Energies

High energy cosmic rays illuminate the Sun and produce an image that could be observed in up to five different channels: a cosmic-ray shadow (whose energy dependence has been studied by HAWC); a gamma-ray flux (observed at E 200 GeV by Fermi-LAT); a muon shadow (detected by ANTARES and IceCube); a neutron flux (undetected, as there are no hadronic calorimeters in space); a flux of high energy neutrinos. Since these signals are correlated, the ones already observed can be used to reduce the uncertainty in the still undetected ones. Here we define a simple setup that uses the Fermi-LAT and HAWC observations to imply very definite fluxes of neutrons and neutrinos from the solar disk. In particular, we provide a fit of the neutrino flux at 10 GeV–10 TeV that includes its dependence on the zenith angle and on the period of the solar cycle. This flux represents a neutrino floor in indirect dark matter searches. We show that in some benchmark models the current bounds on the dark matter–nucleon cross section push the solar signal below this neutrino floor.Spanish GovernmentJunta de Andalucia PID2019-107844GB-C21/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 FQM 101 P18-FR-505

Diseño de bicicleta urbana personalizable

[EN] This work refers to the design of a customizable urban bike based on the study and analysis of bikes that are used in a regular way in everyday life in the urban environment. It would be developed following the next steps: 1. Study of current customizable bikes. 2. Determination of possible improvements. 3. 3D modeling and design of the proposal of a new customizable bike.[ES] El Trabajo de Fin de Grado que tiene como título Diseño de Bicicleta Urbana Personalizable va a consistir en el estudio y análisis de las diferentes bicicletas que se usan de manera habitual y cotidiana en el ambiente urbano. En primer lugar, se recopilará toda la información de manera que se obtengan las características imprescindibles y dando paso también a posibles mejoras. El siguiente paso será el diseño de un nuevo concepto de bicicleta que se desmarque del mercado, teniendo como propósito fundamental la creación de un medio de transporte personalizable por el usuario. El resultado final comprenderá el diseño de la bicicleta personalizable, contando con su modelado en 3D para que pueda verificarse la resistencia y demás características necesarias para, si se desea, poder realizar un prototipo real y posteriormente comercializarse.González Muñoz, JM. (2017). Diseño de bicicleta urbana personalizable. Universitat Politècnica de València. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/8671

“Stirring Troubled Waters”: Carrie’s Alter Ego and Role Reversal in Dreiser’s Sister Carrie.

Español:Publicada en 1900, Sister Carrie es la primera novela de Theodore Dreiser. Cuenta la historia de la joven Carrie Meeber, y cómo esta se abre un camino en las grandes ciudades de Chicago y Nueva York al final del siglo. Termina corrompida por las expectativas de una mujer de su tiempo, y se convierte en la amante de dos hombres. Su camino ascendente en la escala social coincide con la decadencia de los hombres que ella utilizó como peldaños. Así, junto a sus acciones, la descripción del narrador dio lugar a una nueva interpretación sobre su figura: una cazafortunas. Sin embargo, las contradicciones arrastran al lector en un remolino de confusas emociones respecto al personaje de Carrie y, por tanto, nos limitan a tomar una posición clara en la historia cuyo final puede ser ambiguo. Esta disertación tiene como objetivo explorar cómo Carrie podría ser percibida, por un lado, como una oportunista, al mismo tiempo que es un personaje que desafía las expectativas de género de su tiempo. Esta lectura contradictoria se debe a un choque en la actitud y la acción de Carrie y también en las descripciones que el narrador hace de ella. Mi análisis pretende mostrar cómo el narrador induce una representación de Carrie como materialista al mismo tiempo que refuerza y subvierte los roles de género. Este análisis podría finalmente servir de guía al lector para ayudarnos a posicionarnos en la novela.Inglés:Published in 1900, Sister Carrie is Theodore Dreiser’s first novel. It tells the story of a young woman, Carrie Meeber, and how she clears herself a space in the big cities of Chicago and New York at the turn of the century. She ends up corrupted by the expectations of a woman of her time and becomes the mistress of two men. Her way to the top of the social ladder comes with the decay of the men she used as steps. Thus, together with her actions, the narrator’s description gave rise to a new interpretation of her figure: a gold digger. However, contradictions in the narrator's descriptions of her lead the reader into a swirl of confusing emotions towards Carrie’s character and hence, limit us to take a clear position in the story in which the ending can be defined as ambiguous. This dissertation aims to explore how Carrie could be on the one hand perceived as an opportunist, while also being a character who challenges the gender expectations of her time. This contradictory reading is due to a clash in Carrie’s attitude and action and also in the narrator’s descriptions of her. My analysis pretends to show how the narrator induces a portrayal of Carrie as a materialist while at the same time reinforcing and subverting gender roles. This analysis might finally serve as a guide to the reader to help us take a stand in the novel.<br /

Assessing the risk of an emerging zoonosis of worldwide concern : anisakiasis

The authors sincerely thank the Biobanking platform at the PARASITE project (EU FP7 PARASITE project (GA no. 312068)) for providing host-parasite data. We thank Rosa Fernández and Cristina Martínez from CETMAR for their help during creation and divulgation of the questionnaires. We also thank Arturo del Rey Moreno (“Antequera” hospital) for his helpful comments. We are also grateful to “Subdirección General de Economía Pesquera” of “Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente” (MAGRAMA) of the Spanish government for providing anchovy trade statistics for 2013. M. Bao is supported by a PhD grant from the University of Aberdeen and also by financial support of the contract from the EU Project PARASITE (grant number 312068).Peer reviewedPublisher PD