Non-Abelian Chern-Simons-Higgs vortices with a quartic potential

We have constructed numerically non-Abelian vortices in an SU(2) Chern-Simons-Higgs theory with a quartic Higgs potential. We have analyzed these solutions in detail by means of improved numerical codes and found some unexpected features we did not find when a sixth-order Higgs potential was used. The generic non-Abelian solutions have been generated by using their corresponding Abelian counterparts as initial guess. Typically, the energy of the non-Abelian solutions is lower than that of the corresponding Abelian one (except in certain regions of the parameter space). Regarding the angular momentum, the Abelian solutions possess the maximal value, although there exist non-Abelian solutions which reach that maximal value too. In order to classify the solutions it is useful to consider the non-Abelian solutions with asymptotically vanishing $A_t$ component of the gauge potential, which may be labelled by an integer number $m$. For vortex number $n=3$ and above, we have found uniqueness violation: two different non-Abelian solutions with all the global charges equal. Finally, we have investigated the limit of infinity Higgs self-coupling parameter and found a piecewise Regge-like relation between the energy and the angular momentum.Comment: 9 pages, 13 figure

Electrochemical reduction of carbamazepine in ethanol and water solutions using a glassy carbon electrode

The electrochemical reduction of carbamazepine in ethanol and water using a glassy carbon electrode has been studied. In all experimental conditions of scan rate and concentration of carbamazepine an irreversible cathodic wave was observed by cyclic voltammetry (CV). Electrochemical parameters and a plausible EqC mechanism have been reported from the electrochemical measurements and digital simulation. The values of thermodynamic E1/2 were correlated with solvent polarity parameters that it can be interesting for biological, pharmaceutical and forensic purposes. Limits of Detection (LOD) for DPV are 1.1 and 9.0 g/mL (4.65x10-6 and 3.81x10-5 M) in ethanol and water, respectively. The precision and recoveries obtained for tablets and plasma samples showed that the method could be successfully used for analysis

Electrochemical analysis on compounds of the vitamin B6 family using glassy carbon electrodes

The electrochemical reduction of vitamin B6 group and related compounds has been performed at pH neutral using glassy carbon electrodes. Irreversible bi- or tetra-electronic processes controlled by diffusion on the top of the wave are observed for these substances by cyclic voltammetry. In most cases the first electron transfer was the rate determining step of the electrode process. In depth electroanalytical behaviour of the most important members of the vitamin-6 family, from a biological point of view, is also presented. Limits of detection (99, 59, 286 and 19 μM respectively), linearity ranges (200-1000, 100-800, 400-1600 and 40-200 μM respectively) precision as RSD(%) (0.45, 4.11, 6.45 and 4.98 % respectively) and recovery (%) values (99.7, 97.7, 104.4 and 98.9) for Pyridoxal, Pyridoxal-5’-Phosphate, Pyridoxamine and Pyridoxic Acid are presented. The use of glassy carbon electrodes for the analysis of urine samples gives an example of the potential use of these for the analysis of biological samples

Temperature effect on the electrooxidation of gamma hdroxybutyric acid (GHB) on platinum catalyst through cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, impedance spectroscopy and SERS spectroelectrochemistry

A study of the electro-oxidation of gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) on platinum electrode in acidic media has been investigated by cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in the temperature range between 5 and 30ºC. The variation of the j-E curves allows the determination of activation energy in a wide interval of potentials where three characteristic oxidation peaks appear. The j-t curves were registered at the more positive potentials corresponding with the A and B peaks. Stationary current intensity measurements allowed the determination of the activation energy in pure kinetic region conditions. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy made also possible the study of the electrochemical behavior in the same potential region. Temperature dependence of the charge-transfer resistance (Rct) and the rate constant associated with the surface coverage by an adsorbed intermediate (-1=Ro/L) during the GHB electro-oxidation process were evaluated and discussed. In all cases, the values of activation energy, below 30 kJ/mol, suggest that a complex mechanism takes place for the GHB electro-oxidation free of strong interactions with the platinum surface. In situ Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) spectroelectrochemistry spectra corresponding to coadsorbed species, including intermediates of reaction, have been analyzed at several potentials

Analysis of Clinical Parameters, Drug Consumption and Use of Health Resources in a Southern European Population with Alcohol Abuse Disorder during COVID-19 Pandemic

The disruption in healthcare attention to people with alcohol dependence, along with psychological decompensation as a consequence of lockdown derived from the COVID-19 pandemic could have a negative impact on people who suffer from alcohol abuse disorder. Observational real world data pre-post study included 9966 men aged >16 years registered as having the diagnosis of alcohol abuse disorder in the electronic medical records (EMR) of the Aragon Regional Health Service (Spain). Clinical (Glutamate-oxaloacetate -GOT-, Glutamate pyruvate -GPT-, creatinine, glomerular filtration, systolic blood pressure -SBP-, diastolic blood pressure -DBP-, total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides, and body mass index -BMI-), pharmacological (dose per inhabitant per day, DHD, of drugs used in addictive disorders, benzodiazepines and antidepressants) and health resource use variables (primary and specialized care) were considered. A Student''s t-test for matched samples was performed to analyze the changes in clinical variables between alcohol abuse disorder patients with and without COVID-19. Only creatinine and LDL showed a significant but clinically irrelevant change six months after the end of the strict lockdown. The total number of DHDs for all drugs included in the study (except for benzodiazepines), decreased. In the same way, the use of health services by these patients also decreased. The impact of COVID-19 among this group of patients has been moderate. The reorganization of health and social services after the declaration of the state of alarm in our country made possible the maintenance of care for this vulnerable population

The dynamically hot stellar halo around NGC 3311: a small cluster-dominated central galaxy

An important open question is the relation between intracluster light and the halos of central galaxies in galaxy clusters. Here we report results from an on going project with the aim to characterize the dynamical state in the core of the Hydra I (Abell 1060) cluster around NGC 3311. Methods: We analyze deep long-slit absorption line spectra reaching out to ~25 kpc in the halo of NGC 3311. Results: We find a very steep increase in the velocity dispersion profile from a central sigma_0=150 km/s to sigma_out ~450 km/s at R ~ 12 kpc. Farther out, to ~25 kpc, sigma appears to be constant at this value, which is ~60% of the velocity dispersion of the Hydra I galaxies. With its dynamically hot halo kinematics, NGC 3311 is unlike other normal early-type galaxies. Conclusions: These results and the large amount of dark matter inferred from X-rays around NGC 3311 suggest that the stellar halo of this galaxy is dominated by the central intracluster stars of the cluster, and that the transition from predominantly galaxy-bound stars to cluster stars occurs in the radial range 4 to 12 kpc from the center of NGC 3311. We comment on the wide range of halo kinematics observed in cluster central galaxies, depending on the evolutionary state of their host clusters.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in A&

Antifungal and Antioxidant Activity of Asteriscus graveolens subsp. odorus Essential Oil

The essential oil of air-dried Asteriscus graveolens subsp. odorus, plant of southern Morocco, obtained by hydrodistillation were analysed by capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Twenty eight compound accounting 69.14% of the total oil was identified. The oxygenated sesquiterpenes 6-oxocyclonerolidol (30.72%) and epi-?-cadinol (14.50%) were the main constituents. The essential oil was tested for antifungal activity through mycelial growth inhibition tests in vitro against three agricultural pathogenic fungi: Penicillium digitatum, P. expansum and Botrytis cinerea. The essential oil at 125, 150, 200, 250, 500, 1000 and 2000 ppm was highly effective against mycelial growth of P. digitatum with 100% inhibition from the first day of incubation. Complete inhibition was also observed at 150, 200, 250, 500, 1000 and 2000 ppm concentrations of the essential oil from the first day of incubation for P. expansum. The doses 500, 1000 and 2000 ppm showed a percentage inhibition of 100% from day one for B. cinerea. Asteriscus graveolens subsp. odorus essential oil was also tested at different concentrations on Citrus fruits (Citrus reticulata Blanco cv. Nules) inoculated with P. digitatum (105 conidia ml-1, giving a fungistatic or fungicidal effect. In addition, the oil was subjected to screening for its possible antioxidant activity. For that, the in vitro assay based on the scavenging of the stable radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) was used. The Asteriscus graveolens subsp. odorus essential oil gave a value of CI50 0.2498 mg/ml. It inhibition percentage of free radical was slightly lower than that of BHT (the control compound) for all concentrations used. Our findings demonstrate that Asteriscus graveolens subsp. odorus essential oil possesses antioxidant and antifungal activities that might be a natural potential source of preservative and antifungal compounds used in food, in cosmetics and in pharmaceuticals products. Keywords: Medicinal plant, antifungal activity, antioxidant activity, citrus fruits, natural product

Desarrollo e implementación de un conjunto didáctico de circuitos electrónicos básicos con fines educativos

Numerosos estudios aseguran que las clases interactivas mejoran el rendimiento de los estudiantes, así como fomentan su interés en el aprendizaje.Los alumnos aprenden más y mejor cuando participan activamente en el proceso de enseñanza/aprendizaje: cuanto mayor es su participación en su propio aprendizaje, más profunda es la comprensión y la retención a largo plazo, ya que lo estudiado pasa a formar parte del andamiaje mismo de su conocimiento. Por lo tanto, con esta iniciativa, se pretende dar protagonismo al alumnado, de forma que pueda probar y comprobar directamente, de su propia mano, lo explicado en clase. Para ello, se implementa físicamente un conjunto de circuitos electrónicos básicos, tanto analógicos como digitales, de forma que los estudiantes puedan verificar la funcionalidad que cada circuito realiza y probar los diversos montajes, analizados y explicados en el aula, a través de un panel de prueba que pueden manejar ellos mismos. Este panel de prueba consiste, para cada diseño desarrollado, en una placa de circuito impreso interactiva en la que los alumnos pueden comprobar el funcionamiento de cada diseño. En esta placa se disponen los diversos componentes que conforman el montaje así como las conexiones para poder comprobar su funcionamiento y medir tanto tensiones como intensidades. De esta forma se dispone de una herramienta didáctica de gran valor educativo que abarca los contenidos más elementales que debe tener cualquier materia sobre electrónica básica; cubriéndose, de esta forma, los conocimientos de asignaturas como “Fundamentos de Electrónica”, presente en las diversas titulaciones de la Escuela Politécnica Superior de la Universidad de Málaga.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Observational constraints to boxy/peanut bulge formation time

Boxy/peanut bulges are considered to be part of the same stellar structure as bars and both could be linked through the buckling instability. The Milky Way is our closest example. The goal of this letter is determining if the mass assembly of the different components leaves an imprint in their stellar populations allowing to estimate the time of bar formation and its evolution. To this aim we use integral field spectroscopy to derive the stellar age distributions, SADs, along the bar and disc of NGC 6032. The analysis shows clearly different SADs for the different bar areas. There is an underlying old (>=12 Gyr) stellar population for the whole galaxy. The bulge shows star formation happening at all times. The inner bar structure shows stars of ages older than 6 Gyrs with a deficit of younger populations. The outer bar region presents a SAD similar to that of the disc. To interpret our results, we use a generic numerical simulation of a barred galaxy. Thus, we constrain, for the first time, the epoch of bar formation, the buckling instability period and the posterior growth from disc material. We establish that the bar of NGC 6032 is old, formed around 10 Gyr ago while the buckling phase possibly happened around 8 Gyr ago. All these results point towards bars being long-lasting even in the presence of gas.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter

Resolving galaxies in time and space: II: Uncertainties in the spectral synthesis of datacubes

In a companion paper we have presented many products derived from the application of the spectral synthesis code STARLIGHT to datacubes from the CALIFA survey, including 2D maps of stellar population properties and 1D averages in the temporal and spatial dimensions. Here we evaluate the uncertainties in these products. Uncertainties due to noise and spectral shape calibration errors and to the synthesis method are investigated by means of a suite of simulations based on 1638 CALIFA spectra for NGC 2916, with perturbations amplitudes gauged in terms of the expected errors. A separate study was conducted to assess uncertainties related to the choice of evolutionary synthesis models. We compare results obtained with the Bruzual & Charlot models, a preliminary update of them, and a combination of spectra derived from the Granada and MILES models. About 100k CALIFA spectra are used in this comparison. Noise and shape-related errors at the level expected for CALIFA propagate to 0.10-0.15 dex uncertainties in stellar masses, mean ages and metallicities. Uncertainties in A_V increase from 0.06 mag in the case of random noise to 0.16 mag for shape errors. Higher order products such as SFHs are more uncertain, but still relatively stable. Due to the large number statistics of datacubes, spatial averaging reduces uncertainties while preserving information on the history and structure of stellar populations. Radial profiles of global properties, as well as SFHs averaged over different regions are much more stable than for individual spaxels. Uncertainties related to the choice of base models are larger than those associated with data and method. Differences in mean age, mass and metallicity are ~ 0.15 to 0.25 dex, and 0.1 mag in A_V. Spectral residuals are ~ 1% on average, but with systematic features of up to 4%. The origin of these features is discussed. (Abridged)Comment: A&A, accepte