Isocausal spacetimes may have different causal boundaries

We construct an example which shows that two isocausal spacetimes, in the sense introduced by Garc\'ia-Parrado and Senovilla, may have c-boundaries which are not equal (more precisely, not equivalent, as no bijection between the completions can preserve all the binary relations induced by causality). This example also suggests that isocausality can be useful for the understanding and computation of the c-boundary.Comment: Minor modifications, including the title, which matches now with the published version. 12 pages, 3 figure

Computability of the causal boundary by using isocausality

Recently, a new viewpoint on the classical c-boundary in Mathematical Relativity has been developed, the relations of this boundary with the conformal one and other classical boundaries have been analyzed, and its computation in some classes of spacetimes, as the standard stationary ones, has been carried out. In the present paper, we consider the notion of isocausality given by Garc\'ia-Parrado and Senovilla, and introduce a framework to carry out isocausal comparisons with standard stationary spacetimes. As a consequence, the qualitative behavior of the c-boundary (at the three levels: point set, chronology and topology) of a wide class of spacetimes, is obtained.Comment: 44 pages, 5 Figures, latex. Version with minor changes and the inclusion of Figure

Biochemical and molecular characterization of olive β-glucosidase in seven olive varieties during the ripening process: the role of β-glucosidase in determining the phenolic content of virgin olive oil.

Virgin olive oil (VOO) is one of the essential components of the Mediterranean diet, which includes a series of cultural habits, especially alimentary, shared to a greater or lesser extent, by all countries lapped by Mediterranean Sea. VOO is enriched with bioactive compounds which are related to its unique organoleptic characteristics, and also to its antioxidant properties, which have been associated to with the reduction of risk to suffer cardiovascular diseases and to a protective effect against cancer. The most important bioactive components in VOO are phenolics compounds [2].The phenolic composition of VOO is closely related to the content of phenolic glycosides initially present in the olive tissue. In parallel, some studies indicate that there is a positive correlation between the activity levels of β-glucosidase in the olive fruit and the final content of phenolic compounds in VOO. This enzyme plays a key role hydrolyzing phenolic profile of VOO. In consequence, its biochemical and molecular characterization is of great interest from a biotechnological point of view [1, 2].In this study, seven olive varieties (Abou-Kanani, Dokkar, Klon-14, Menya, Picual, Piñonera y Shengeh) with different phenolic contents have been selected in the World Olive Germplasm Bank. The phenolic profiles of fruits harvested at different ripening stages and their oils have been analyzed by HPLC and at the same time β-glucosidase activity has been measured in olive fruits at different ripening stages. The methods for β-glucosidase extraction and activity assessment have been optimized. Spectrophotometric activity assays have been carried out with the synthetic substrate p-nitrophenyl galactoside (p-NPG) using a calculated molar extinction coefficient (ε=552,8 M-1cm-1) for the p-nitrophenyl liberated in the reaction medium. The results obtained show that olive varieties with the highest content of phenolic glycosides in the fruit such as Piñonera, Dokkar or Menya, also have the largest β-glucosidase activity levels, which usually decrease ripening process. These results will be completed with the pertinent studies of gene expression [3]

Phase mapping of aging process in InN nanostructures: oxygen incorporation and the role of the zincblende phase

Uncapped InN nanostructures undergo a deleterious natural aging process at ambient conditions by oxygen incorporation. The phases involved in this process and their localization is mapped by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) related techniques. The parent wurtzite InN (InN-w) phase disappears from the surface and gradually forms a highly textured cubic layer that completely wraps up a InN-w nucleus which still remains from original single-crystalline quantum dots. The good reticular relationships between the different crystals generate low misfit strains and explain the apparent easiness for phase transformations at room temperature and pressure conditions, but also disable the classical methods to identify phases and grains from TEM images. The application of the geometrical phase algorithm in order to form numerical moire mappings, and RGB multilayered image reconstructions allows to discern among the different phases and grains formed inside these nanostructures. Samples aged for shorter times reveal the presence of metastable InN:O zincblende (zb) volumes, which acts as the intermediate phase between the initial InN-w and the most stable cubic In2O3 end phase. These cubic phases are highly twinned with a proportion of 50:50 between both orientations. We suggest that the existence of the intermediate InN:O-zb phase should be seriously considered to understand the reason of the widely scattered reported fundamental properties of thought to be InN-w, as its bandgap or superconductivity.Comment: 18 pages 7 figure

CLIWOC multilingual meteorological dictionary

This dictionary is the first attempt to express the wealth of archaic logbook wind force terms in a form that is comprehensible to the modern-day reader. Oliver and Kington (1970) and Lamb (1982) have drawn attention to the importance of logbooks in climatic studies, and Lamb (1991) offered a conversion scale for early eighteenth century English wind force terms, but no studies have thus far pursued the matter to any greater depth. This text attempts to make good this deficiency, and is derived from the research undertaken by the CLIWOC project1 in which British, Dutch, French and Spanish naval and merchant logbooks from the period 1750 to 1850 were used to derive a global database of climatic information. At an early stage in the project it was apparent that many of the logbook weather terms, whilst conforming to a conventional vocabulary, possessed meanings that were unclear to twenty-first century readers or had changed over time. This was particularly the case for the important element of wind force; but no special plea is entered for the evolution in nautical vocabulary, which often reflected more wide-ranging changes in the respective native languages.The key objective was to translate the archaic vocabulary of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century mariner into expressions directly comparable with the Beaufort Scale (see Appendix I). Only then could the projects scientific programme be embarked upon. This dictionary is the result of the largest undertaking into logbook studies that has yet been carried out. Several thousand logbooks from British, Dutch, French and Spanish archives were examined, and the exercise offered a unique opportunity to explore the vocabulary of the one hundred year period beginning in 1750. The logbooks from which the raw data have been abstracted range widely across the North and South Atlantic and the Indian Oceans. Only the Pacific, largely in consequence of the paucity of regular naval activity in that area, is not well represented. The range of climates encountered in this otherwise wide geographic domain gives ample opportunity for the full range of the mariners nautical weather vocabulary to be assessed, from the calms of the Equatorial regions, through the gales of the mid-latitude systems to the fearsome storms of the tropical latitudes. The Trade Winds belts, the Doldrums, the unsettled mid-latitudes, even the icy wastes of the high latitudes, are all embraced in this study. It is not here intended to pass any judgements on the climatological record of the logbooks, and this text seeks only to provide a means of understanding archaic wind force terms and, other than to indicate those items that were not commonly used, no information is given on the frequency with which different terms appeared in the logbooks. Attention is, furthermore, confined to Dutch, English, French and Spanish because these once great imperial powers were the only nations able to support wide-ranging ocean-going fleets with their attendant collections of logbooks and documents over this long period of time. The work is offered to the wider academic community in the hope that they will prove to be of as much value as it has been to the CLIWOC team

Effectiveness of a telerehabilitation intervention using ReCOVery APP of long COVID patients: a randomized, 3-month follow-up clinical trial

The main objective of this study is to analyze the clinical efficacy of telerehabilitation in the recovery of Long COVID patients through ReCOVery APP for 3 months, administered in the Primary Health Care context. The second objective is to identify significant models associated with an improvement in the study variables. An open-label randomized clinical trial was conducted using two parallel groups of a total of 100 Long COVID patients. The first group follows the treatment as usual methods established by their general practitioner (control group) and the second follows the same methods and also uses ReCOVery APP (intervention group). After the intervention, no significant differences were found in favour of the group intervention. Regarding adherence, 25% of the participants made significant use of the APP. Linear regression model establishes that the time of use of ReCOVery APP predicts an improvement in physical function (b = 0.001; p = 0.005) and community social support (b = 0.004; p = 0.021). In addition, an increase in self-efficacy and health literacy also contribute to improving cognitive function (b = 0.346; p = 0.001) and reducing the number of symptoms (b = 0.226; p = 0.002), respectively. In conclusion, the significant use of ReCOVery APP can contribute to the recovery of Long COVID patients. Trial Registration No.: ISRCTN91104012

High-pressure optical absorption in InN: Electron density dependence in the wurtzite phase and reevaluation of the indirect band gap of rocksalt InN

We report on high-pressure optical absorption measurements on InN epilayers with a range of free-electron concentrations (5×1017–1.6×1019 cm−3) to investigate the effect of free carriers on the pressure coefficient of the optical band gap of wurtzite InN. With increasing carrier concentration, we observe a decrease of the absolute value of the optical band gap pressure coefficient of wurtzite InN. An analysis of our data based on the k·p model allows us to obtain a pressure coefficient of 32 meV/GPa for the fundamental band gap of intrinsic wurtzite InN. Optical absorption measurements on a 5.7-μm-thick InN epilayer at pressures above the wurtzite-to-rocksalt transition have allowed us to obtain an accurate determination of the indirect band gap energy of rocksalt InN as a function of pressure. Around the phase transition (∼15 GPa), a band gap value of 0.7 eV and a pressure coefficient of ∼23 meV/GPa are obtained. ©2012 American Physical SocietyThis work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through Project No. MAT2010-16116.Ibáñez, J.; Segura, A.; García-Domene, B.; Oliva, R.; Manjón Herrera, FJ.; Yamaguchi, T.; Nanishi, Y.... (2012). High-pressure optical absorption in InN: Electron density dependence in the wurtzite phase and reevaluation of the indirect band gap of rocksalt InN. Physical Review B. 86:35210-1-35210-5. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.86.035210S35210-135210-586Wu, J. (2009). When group-III nitrides go infrared: New properties and perspectives. Journal of Applied Physics, 106(1), 011101. doi:10.1063/1.3155798Ueno, M., Yoshida, M., Onodera, A., Shimomura, O., & Takemura, K. (1994). Stability of the wurtzite-type structure under high pressure: GaN and InN. Physical Review B, 49(1), 14-21. doi:10.1103/physrevb.49.14Uehara, S., Masamoto, T., Onodera, A., Ueno, M., Shimomura, O., & Takemura, K. (1997). Equation of state of the rocksalt phase of III–V nitrides to 72 GPa or higher. Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids, 58(12), 2093-2099. doi:10.1016/s0022-3697(97)00150-9Pinquier, C., Demangeot, F., Frandon, J., Chervin, J.-C., Polian, A., Couzinet, B., … Maleyre, B. (2006). Raman scattering study of wurtzite and rocksalt InN under high pressure. Physical Review B, 73(11). doi:10.1103/physrevb.73.115211Ibáñez, J., Manjón, F. J., Segura, A., Oliva, R., Cuscó, R., Vilaplana, R., … Artús, L. (2011). High-pressure Raman scattering in wurtzite indium nitride. Applied Physics Letters, 99(1), 011908. doi:10.1063/1.3609327Li, S. X., Wu, J., Haller, E. E., Walukiewicz, W., Shan, W., Lu, H., & Schaff, W. J. (2003). Hydrostatic pressure dependence of the fundamental bandgap of InN and In-rich group III nitride alloys. Applied Physics Letters, 83(24), 4963-4965. doi:10.1063/1.1633681Franssen, G., Gorczyca, I., Suski, T., Kamińska, A., Pereiro, J., Muñoz, E., … Svane, A. (2008). Bowing of the band gap pressure coefficient in InxGa1−xN alloys. Journal of Applied Physics, 103(3), 033514. doi:10.1063/1.2837072Kamińska, A., Franssen, G., Suski, T., Gorczyca, I., Christensen, N. E., Svane, A., … Georgakilas, A. (2007). Role of conduction-band filling in the dependence of InN photoluminescence on hydrostatic pressure. Physical Review B, 76(7). doi:10.1103/physrevb.76.075203Shan, W., Walukiewicz, W., Haller, E. E., Little, B. D., Song, J. J., McCluskey, M. D., … Stall, R. A. (1998). Optical properties of InxGa1−xN alloys grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Journal of Applied Physics, 84(8), 4452-4458. doi:10.1063/1.368669Millot, M., Geballe, Z. M., Yu, K. M., Walukiewicz, W., & Jeanloz, R. (2012). Red-green luminescence in indium gallium nitride alloys investigated by high pressure optical spectroscopy. Applied Physics Letters, 100(16), 162103. doi:10.1063/1.4704367Franssen, G., Suski, T., Perlin, P., Teisseyre, H., Khachapuridze, A., Dmowski, L. H., … Schaff, W. (2006). Band-to-band character of photoluminescence from InN and In-rich InGaN revealed by hydrostatic pressure studies. Applied Physics Letters, 89(12), 121915. doi:10.1063/1.2356994Ibáñez, J., Segura, A., Manjón, F. J., Artús, L., Yamaguchi, T., & Nanishi, Y. (2010). Electronic structure of wurtzite and rocksalt InN investigated by optical absorption under hydrostatic pressure. Applied Physics Letters, 96(20), 201903. doi:10.1063/1.3431291Cuscó, R., Ibáñez, J., Alarcón-Lladó, E., Artús, L., Yamaguchi, T., & Nanishi, Y. (2009). Raman scattering study of the long-wavelength longitudinal-optical-phonon–plasmon coupled modes in high-mobility InN layers. Physical Review B, 79(15). doi:10.1103/physrevb.79.155210Cuscó, R., Alarcón-Lladó, E., Ibáñez, J., Yamaguchi, T., Nanishi, Y., & Artús, L. (2009). Raman scattering study of background electron density in InN: a hydrodynamical approach to the LO-phonon–plasmon coupled modes. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 21(41), 415801. doi:10.1088/0953-8984/21/41/415801Syassen, K. (2008). Ruby under pressure. High Pressure Research, 28(2), 75-126. doi:10.1080/08957950802235640Wu, J., Walukiewicz, W., Shan, W., Yu, K. M., Ager, J. W., Li, S. X., … Schaff, W. J. (2003). Temperature dependence of the fundamental band gap of InN. Journal of Applied Physics, 94(7), 4457-4460. doi:10.1063/1.1605815Wu, J., Walukiewicz, W., Li, S. X., Armitage, R., Ho, J. C., Weber, E. R., … Jakiela, R. (2004). Effects of electron concentration on the optical absorption edge of InN. Applied Physics Letters, 84(15), 2805-2807. doi:10.1063/1.1704853Wu, J., Walukiewicz, W., Shan, W., Yu, K. M., Ager, J. W., Haller, E. E., … Schaff, W. J. (2002). Effects of the narrow band gap on the properties of InN. Physical Review B, 66(20). doi:10.1103/physrevb.66.201403Rinke, P., Winkelnkemper, M., Qteish, A., Bimberg, D., Neugebauer, J., & Scheffler, M. (2008). Consistent set of band parameters for the group-III nitrides AlN, GaN, and InN. Physical Review B, 77(7). doi:10.1103/physrevb.77.075202Furthmüller, J., Hahn, P. H., Fuchs, F., & Bechstedt, F. (2005). Band structures and optical spectra of InN polymorphs: Influence of quasiparticle and excitonic effects. Physical Review B, 72(20). doi:10.1103/physrevb.72.205106Serrano, J., Rubio, A., Hernández, E., Muñoz, A., & Mujica, A. (2000). Theoretical study of the relative stability of structural phases in group-III nitrides at high pressures. Physical Review B, 62(24), 16612-16623. doi:10.1103/physrevb.62.16612Christensen, N. E., & Gorczyca, I. (1994). Optical and structural properties of III-V nitrides under pressure. 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Dynamical laws of superenergy in General Relativity

The Bel and Bel-Robinson tensors were introduced nearly fifty years ago in an attempt to generalize to gravitation the energy-momentum tensor of electromagnetism. This generalization was successful from the mathematical point of view because these tensors share mathematical properties which are remarkably similar to those of the energy-momentum tensor of electromagnetism. However, the physical role of these tensors in General Relativity has remained obscure and no interpretation has achieved wide acceptance. In principle, they cannot represent {\em energy} and the term {\em superenergy} has been coined for the hypothetical physical magnitude lying behind them. In this work we try to shed light on the true physical meaning of {\em superenergy} by following the same procedure which enables us to give an interpretation of the electromagnetic energy. This procedure consists in performing an orthogonal splitting of the Bel and Bel-Robinson tensors and analysing the different parts resulting from the splitting. In the electromagnetic case such splitting gives rise to the electromagnetic {\em energy density}, the Poynting vector and the electromagnetic stress tensor, each of them having a precise physical interpretation which is deduced from the {\em dynamical laws} of electromagnetism (Poynting theorem). The full orthogonal splitting of the Bel and Bel-Robinson tensors is more complex but, as expected, similarities with electromagnetism are present. Also the covariant divergence of the Bel tensor is analogous to the covariant divergence of the electromagnetic energy-momentum tensor and the orthogonal splitting of the former is found. The ensuing {\em equations} are to the superenergy what the Poynting theorem is to electromagnetism. See paper for full abstract.Comment: 27 pages, no figures. Typos corrected, section 9 suppressed and more acknowledgments added. To appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit