Primordial black hole evolution in two-fluid cosmology

Several processes in the early universe might lead to the formation of primordial black holes with different masses. These black holes would interact with the cosmic plasma through accretion and emission processes. Such interactions might have affected the dynamics of the universe and generated a considerable amount of entropy. In this paper we investigate the effects of the presence of primordial black holes on the evolution of the early universe. We adopt a two-fluid cosmological model with radiation and a primordial black hole gas. The latter is modelled with different initial mass functions taking into account the available constraints over the initial primordial black hole abundances. We find that certain populations with narrow initial mass functions are capable to produce significant changes in the scale factor and the entropy.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. Modified to match the published versio

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In urban road transportation, intersections are traffic bottlenecks with increased waiting delays and associated adverse effects. A recently proposed intelligent intersection management (IIM) approach, the Synchronous Intersection Management Protocol (SIMP), synchronizes the vehicles access to simple single-lane isolated intersections, outperforming competing approaches in various performance metrics. In this paper, we apply SIMP to multi-lane intersections, increasing significantly the applicability of the protocol while dealing with the additional complexity emerging from the multiple crossing conflicts. Using the SUMO simulator, we compare the performance of SIMP with two conventional (Round-Robin - RR and Trivial Traffic Light Control - TTLC) and two IIM approaches (Intelligent Traffic Light Control - ITLC and Q-learning based Traffic Light Control - QTLC) under continuous and interrupted upstream traffic flows scenarios in urban settings. The results using a maximum speed of 30km/h confirm the superiority of SIMP, improving traffic throughput (~14.4%) and reducing travel delays (~64.4%) and associated fuel consumption (~25.5%) when compared to the best of the other approaches.This work was supported in part by the National Funds through FCT/MCTES (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within the CISTER Research Unit under Grant UIDP/UIDB/04234/2020, in part by FCT and the Portuguese National Innovation Agency (ANI) under the CMU Portugal Partnership through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the Operational Competitiveness Programme and Internationalization (COMPETE 2020) under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement within the Project FLOYD under Grant 45912 and Grant POCI-01-0247-FEDER-045912, and in part by FCT under Ph.D. work under Grant 2021.05004.BD.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Medication economic burden of antidepressant non-adherence in Spain

Introduction: Non-adherence to antidepressants is associated with worse disease outcomes (morbidity and mortality) and correlates with higher healthcare resource utilization and costs.Methods: A population-based registry study was conducted to assess non-adherence and to analyze the economic burden of treatment and from non-adherence to antidepressants in 2021. Non-adherence was measured by the Medication Possession Ratio and those below 80% were classified as non-adherent.Results: In 2021, 246,718 patients (10.60% [95% CI: 10.48–10.72]) received antidepressants at a cost of €29 million. The median antidepressant cost per patient/year was €70.08€, ranging from €7.58 for amitriptyline to €396.66 for agomelatine. Out-of-pocket costs represented 6.09% of total expenditures, with a median copayment of €2.78 per patient. The 19.87% [95% CI 19.52–20.22)] of patients were non-adherent to antidepressants, costing €3.9 million (13.30% of total antidepressant costs). Non-adherence rates exceeded 20% for the tricyclic antidepressants, fluoxetine (23.53%), fluvoxamine (22.42%), and vortioxetine (20.58%). Venlafaxine (14.64%) and citalopram (14.88%) had the lowest non-adherence rates, of less than 15%. The median cost of non-adherent medications per patient/year was €18.96 and ranged from €2.50 (amitriptyline) to €133.42 (agomelatine).Conclusion: Reducing non-adherence to antidepressants is critical to improving clinical and economic outcomes. The implementation of interventions and standardized measures, including early detection indicators, is urgently needed. Antidepressants differ with regard to non-adherence and their cost, and this should be considered when prescribing this medication. The Medication Possession Ratio could be used by the healthcare provider and clinician to identify non-adherent patients for monitoring, and to take necessary corrective actions

Work-In-Progress: Worst-Case Response Time of Intersection Management Protocols

Intersections are critical elements of urban traffic management and are identified as bottlenecks prone to traffic congestion and accidents. Intelligent intersection management plays a significant role in improving traffic efficiency and safety determining, among other metrics, the waiting time that vehicles incur when crossing an intersection. This work presents a preliminary analysis of the worst-case response time of intersection management protocols that handle mixed traffic with autonomous and human-driven vehicles. We deduce theoretical bounds for such time considered as the interval between the injection of a vehicle in the road system and its departure from the intersection, considering different intersection management protocols for mixed traffic, namely the Synchronous Intersection Management Protocol (SIMP) and several configurations of the conventional Round-Robin (RR) policy. Simulation results validate the analytical bounds partially. Ongoing work addresses thequeue dynamics and its reliable detection by traffic simulators.This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) through the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program under Grant CMU/TIC/0022/2019 (CRUAV) and through the Research Unit UIDP/UIDB/04234/2020 (CISTER).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Facial disability index (FDI): adaptation to Spanish, reliability and validity

Objectives: To adapt to Spanish the facial disability index (FDI) described by VanSwearingen and Brach in 1995 and to assess its reliability and validity in patients with facial nerve paresis after parotidectomy. Study Design: The present study was conducted in two different stages: a) cross-cultural adaptation of the questionnaire and b) cross-sectional study of a control group of 79 Spanish-speaking patients who suffered facial paresis after superficial parotidectomy with facial nerve preservation. The cross-cultural adaptation process comprised the following stages: (I) initial translation, (II) synthesis of the translated document, (III) retro-translation, (IV) review by a board of experts, (V) pilot study of the pre-final draft and (VI) analysis of the pilot study and final draft. Results: The reliability and internal consistency of every one of the rating scales included in the FDI (Cronbach's alpha coefficient) was 0.83 for the complete scale and 0.77 and 0.82 for the physical and the social well-being subscales. The analysis of the factorial validity of the main components of the adapted FDI yielded similar results to the original questionnaire. Bivariate correlations between FDI and House-Brackmann scale were positive. The variance percentage was calculated for all FDI components. Conclusions: The FDI questionnaire is a specific instrument for assessing facial neuromuscular dysfunction which becomes a useful tool in order to determine quality of life in patients with facial nerve paralysis. Spanish adapted FDI is equivalent to the original questionnaire and shows similar reliability and validity. The proven reproducibi- lity, reliability and validity of this questionnaire make it a useful additional tool for evaluating the impact of facial nerve paralysis in Spanish-speaking patients

Base Case Analysis of a HYSOL Power Plant

Concentrating solar power (CSP) plants are regarded as an alternative solution for electricity generation. The main drawback of this technology is related to the intermittent and seasonal nature of the solar irradiation. As a consequence, most CSP plants have a reduced capacity factor and difficulties to supply electricity on demand to the grid. The integration of energy back-up systems may contribute to increasing power generation capacity and stability. Several options are being developed at present which are based on the incorporation of Thermal Energy Storage (TES) and also the use of auxiliary fuels. HYSOL is a new concept in CSP technology that relies on the integration of a molten salt TES system operating in hybrid mode with a biogas turbine with a Heat Recovery System (HRS). This paper illustrates the methodology and first results obtained during the development of the static model, considering a Base Case of HYSOL configuration. The study of this Base Case allows evaluating the impact of HYSOL technology, providing preliminary plant information and defining the required tools to be used in the project

Impact of plot size and model selection on forest biomass estimation using airborne LiDAR: A case study of pine plantations in southern Spain

We explored the usefulness of LiDAR for modelling and mapping the stand biomass of two conifer species in southern Spain. We used three different plot sizes and two statistical approaches (i.e. stepwise selection and genetic algorithm selection) in combination with multiple linear regression models to estimate biomass. 43 predictor variables derived from discrete-return LiDAR data (4 pulses per m2 ) were used for estimating the forest biomass of Pinus sylvestris Linnaeus and Pinus nigra Arnold forests. Twelve circular plots – six for each species – and three different fixed-radius designs (i.e. 7, 15, and 30 m) were estab lished within the range of the airborne LiDAR. The Bayesian information criterion and R2 were used to select the best models. As expected, the models that included the largest plots (30 m) yielded the highest R2 value (0.91) for Pinus sp. using genetic algorithm models. Considering P. sylvestris and P. nigra models separately, the genetic algorithm approach also yielded the highest R2 values for the 30-m plots (P. nigra: R2 = 0.99, P. sylvestris: R2 = 0.97). The results we obtained with two species and different plot sizes revealed that increasing the size of plots from 15 to 30 m had a low effect on modelling attempts.European Commission (EC) FP7-315165Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad QUERCUSAT (CLG2013-40790-R

Genetic transformation of garlic (Allium sativum L.) with tobacco chitinase and glucanase genes for tolerance to the fungus Sclerotium cepivorum

Garlic yield and quality have decreased due to white rot disease caused by Sclerotium cepivorum Berk. A transformation protocol to introduce tobacco chitinase and glucanase genes into garlic embryogenic calli using Agrobacterium tumefaciens has been established. LBA4404 strain having pC2301CHGLU plasmid with TaCh, glu, gus and nptII genes (coding for chitinase, glucanase, β-glucuronidase and neomycin phosphotransferase, respectively) was used. 30 putative transgenic clones were obtained from inoculated calli after six months. Histochemical assay revealed high gus activity in 43% of the clones. Molecular analysis of transgenic plants showed 92% of the clones carried TaCh gene. Eight culture media for plant regeneration from transgenic calli were evaluated; MTDZ-1 (thidiazuron 1 mg/l) medium induced the highest number of plants (38.4 plants). Transgenic plants were grown in the greenhouse and they developed normally. S. cepivorum in vitro bioassays showed 41 to 60% of mycelial invasion in the transgenic plants, and 80% in non-transgenic plants (control). Transformed plants were not completely resistant, but they showed a delay in fungal infection. This is the first report on the introduction of fungal resistance genes in garlic.Keywords: Allium sativum, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Sclerotium cepivorum, glucanase, chitinaseAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(22), pp. 3482-349

Léxico Estratigráfico de la Argentina. Volumen VII. Pérmico

Fe de Erratas: el ISSN de la Serie B aparece como 0328-2579 en la portada de este trabajo, pero no corresponde a otros trabajos de esta serie, en la cual es 0328-2759. Se utiliza este segundo, y se deja asentada la corrección en esta nota.Fil: Guitérrez, P.R. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia; Argentina.Fil: Ottone, E.G. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales-UBA; Argentina.Fil: Japas, S.M. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales-UBA; Argentina.por la Comisión Internacional de Estratigrafía a partir de la década del 50. Causas de diversa índole impidieron concretar tal participación, pero el material reunido comenzó a ser publicado en el año 1976 por el Servicio Geológico Nacional, en una publicación especial titulada “Léxico Estratigráfico de la República Argentina”. El único volumen completado incluye unidades estratigráficas ordenadas alfabéticamente desde la “A” a la “Ch”. Posteriormente, el Comité Argentino de Estratigrafía, dependiente de la Asociación Geológica Argentina, decidió que resultaba de fundamental importancia concretar la totalidad de una obra de tanta trascendencia. Para su organización, se siguió un criterio estratigráfico, más adecuado a la estructura del Comité y cantidad de información a publicar, y de más fácil utilización por parte de especialistas. De acuerdo a dicho criterio, el Léxico Estratigráfico de la Argentina debería incluir los siguientes volúmenes: I. Precámbrico, II. Cámbrico, III. Ordovícico, IV. Silúrico, V. Devónico, VI. Carbonífero, VII. Pérmico, VIII. Triásico, IX. Jurásico, X. Cretácico, XI. Paleógeno, XII. Neógeno, XIII. Cuaternario. Al igual que en el Léxico Estratigráfico Internacional, se previó que el orden de edición del Léxico Estratigráfico de la Argentina no necesariamente fuera el expuesto, de forma tal que sus diferentes partes pudieran ser publicadas a medida que se completasen. De la programación citada, en 1993 se editó el volumen IX. JURÁSICO (1993) y en 2002 el volumen VIII. TRIÁSICO (2002). A la fecha se da a conocer otra entrega, correspondiente al Sistema PÉRMICO. El esquema que se adoptó para la presentación del Léxico Estratigráfico de la Argentina se adecuó a las normas que se emplearon en el Léxico Estratigráfico Internacional