A Climatological Analysis of the Monsoon Break Following the Summer Monsoon Onset Over Luzon Island, Philippines

This study investigates the climatology of the monsoon break following the onset of the summer rainy season over Luzon Island (120–122.5°E, 13–22°N) in the Philippines from 1979–2017. The first post-onset monsoon break is remarkable in stations located over the north and central Luzon Island and occurs climatologically in early June. Composite analysis of the large-scale circulation features during the monsoon break period shows that this break is associated with the westward extension of the western North Pacific Subtropical High (WNPSH), which weakened the monsoon southwesterlies and induced enhanced low-level divergence over Luzon Island. The westward extension of the WNPSH may be facilitated by the phase change of the boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation (BSISO). About 59% (23/39) of the monsoon break cases occurred when suppressed convection, associated with the dry phases of the BSISO, is apparent over the western North Pacific. This suppressed convection favours the westward expansion of the WNPSH. With the occurrence of the monsoon break in early summer, the seasonal march of the early summer monsoon over the Philippines can be divided into three phases: (1) the monsoon onset phase, which occurs between mid to late May under the influence of the westerly/southwesterly low-level winds, (2) the monsoon break phase, when rainfall decreases over Luzon Island in early June, and (3) the monsoon revival phase, when rainfall increases again due to the intrusion of monsoon southwesterlies over the Philippines. This study highlights the complex features of the summer monsoon onset and the impact of the WNPSH on the local climate of the Philippines in early summer

Microcavity exciton-polariton mediated Raman scattering: Experiments and theory

We studied the intensity of resonant Raman scattering due to optical phonons in a planar II-VI-type semiconductor microcavity in the regime of strong coupling between light and matter. Two different sets of independent experiments were performed at near outgoing resonance with the middle polariton (MP)branch of the cavity. In the first, the Stokes-shifted photons were kept at exact resonance with the MP, varying the photonic or excitonic character of the polariton. In the second, only the incoming light wavelength was varied, and the resonant profile of the inelastic scattered intensity was studied when the system was tuned out of the resonant condition. Taking some matrix elements as free parameters, both independent experiments are quantitatively described by a model which incorporates lifetime effects in both excitons and photons, and the coupling of the cavity photons to the electron-hole continuum. The model is solved using a Green's function approach which treats the exciton-photon coupling nonperturbatively.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Máster Virtual en Ingeniería Biomédica con Cooperación al Desarrollo

En el presente trabajo presentamos nuestra experiencia en desarrollar un programa de máster oficial en Ingeniería Biomédica. Para ello nos planteamos un lugar en común con las ingenierías en el cual las necesidades en salud pudieran ser percibidas por los ingenieros a fin de desarrollar soluciones. Para conseguir el nivel adecuado, consideramos fundamental que la docencia de los conocimientos sea realizada por expertos de las respectivas áreas. Además, el máster nació con una clara vocación de ayuda al Desarrollo. Por ello, se trata de un máster impartido de forma virtual con el propósito de que cualquier alumno, desde cualquier punto lo pueda cursar (a excepción de las prácticas, que son presenciales y que las puede llevar a cabo en diferentes Centros Tecnológicos). En el presente máster se pretende llevar los estudios de tecnología e instrumentación biomédica a titulados superiores de distintas especialidades tanto de la ingeniería como de la biomedicina para la gestión, evaluación y aplicación de la tecnología sanitaria en el ámbito de la salud. Tiene una marcada vocación supranacional, donde la experiencia española y paraguaya en el área de la Ingeniería Biomédica se conjuga para ofrecer a los interesados en dicho postgrado una formación integral, globalizada y sobre todo competitiva. El máster se estructura en tres bloques: uno teórico que se imparte completamente on-line, un Practicum en empresas Tecnológicas y un Trabajo Fin de Máster que se defiende de manera presencial, o bien mediante videoconferencia.Deseamos mostrar nuestro agradecimiento a la Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional al Desarrollo (AECID) del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, a través de diferentes proyectos (códigos: B/7560/07; D/017286/08; D/025825/09; B/023244/09; A1/040169/11

Dual-polarized aperture-coupled patch antennas with application to retrodirective and monopulse arrays

An isolation technique, which does not require conventional circulators, is proposed for the realization of a simple and low-cost aperture-coupled circularly polarized antenna for application to full-duplex devices. The approach is based on the use of slotlines loops to provide surface current cancellation in specific regions of the antenna structure, leading to improved axial ratio and isolation between the ports in excess of 50 dB. Circular polarization is achieved by introducing a double-box hybrid coupler, which is optimized to obtain good matching and isolation of the quadrature signals. On this basis, both right- and left-hand circularly polarized beams are achieved by interchanging the transmitting and receiving antenna ports, enabling full-duplex operation and reconfigurability. While the antenna structure is designed for 2.45 GHz operation, one can take advantage of the proposed approach to tune the frequency of maximum isolation. Both single-element prototypes as well as a 2 × 2 array are fabricated and measured, showing good agreement with the simulations and validating the proposed isolation approach. The beam steering capabilities as well as the application to a Van Atta retrodirective antenna array and the possibilities of achieving delta and sum patterns for monopulse operation are also reported. The proposed full-duplex antenna can also represent an excellent solution for narrowband wireless power transmission systems

Lattice dynamics of Sb2Te3 at high pressures

We report an experimental and theoretical lattice dynamics study of antimony telluride (Sb 2Te 3) up to 26 GPa together with a theoretical study of its structural stability under pressure. Raman-active modes of the low-pressure rhombohedral (R-3m) phase were observed up to 7.7 GPa. Changes of the frequencies and linewidths were observed around 3.5 GPa where an electronic topological transition was previously found. Raman-mode changes evidence phase transitions at 7.7, 14.5, and 25GPa. The frequencies and pressure coefficients of the new phases above 7.7 and 14.5 GPa agree with those calculated for the monoclinic C2/m and C2/c structures recently observed at high pressures in Bi 2Te 3 and also for the C2/m phase in the case of Bi 2Se 3 and Sb 2Te 3. Above 25 GPa no Raman-active modes are observed in Sb 2Te 3, similarly to the case of Bi 2Te 3 and Bi 2Se 3. Therefore, it is possible that the structure of Sb 2Te 3 above 25 GPa is the same disordered bcc phase already found in Bi 2Te 3 by x-ray diffraction studies. Upon pressure release, Sb 2Te 3 reverts back to the original rhombohedral phase after considerable hysteresis. Raman- and IR-mode symmetries, frequencies, and pressure coefficients in the different phases are reported and discussed. © 2011 American Physical Society.This work has been done under financial support from Spanish MICINN under Project Nos. MAT2010-21270-C04-03/04 and CSD-2007-00045 and supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (MSM 0021627501). E. P.-G. acknowledges the financial support of the Spanish MEC under a FPI fellowship. Supercomputer time has been provided by the Red Espanola de Supercomputacion (RES) and the MALTA cluster.Gomis Hilario, O.; Vilaplana Cerda, RI.; Manjón Herrera, FJ.; Rodríguez-Hernández, P.; Pérez-González, E.; Muñoz, A.; Kucek, V.... (2011). 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Effect of Pressure on the Energy Gap of Bi2Te3. Journal of Applied Physics, 32(9), 1733-1735. doi:10.1063/1.1728426Khvostantsev, L. G., Orlov, A. I., Abrikosov, N. K., & Ivanova, L. D. (1980). Thermoelectric properties and phase transition in Sb2Te3 under hydrostatic pressure up to 9 GPa. Physica Status Solidi (a), 58(1), 37-40. doi:10.1002/pssa.2210580103Sakai, N., Kajiwara, T., Takemura, K., Minomura, S., & Fujii, Y. (1981). Pressure-induced phase transition in Sb2Te3. Solid State Communications, 40(12), 1045-1047. doi:10.1016/0038-1098(81)90248-9Khvostantsev, L. G., Orlov, A. I., Abrikosov, N. K., & Ivanova, L. D. (1985). Kinetic Properties and Phase Transitions in Sb2Te3 under Hydrostatic Pressure up to 9 GPa. physica status solidi (a), 89(1), 301-309. doi:10.1002/pssa.2210890132Thonhauser, T., Scheidemantel, T. J., Sofo, J. O., Badding, J. V., & Mahan, G. D. (2003). Thermoelectric properties ofSb2Te3under pressure and uniaxial stress. Physical Review B, 68(8). doi:10.1103/physrevb.68.085201Thonhauser, T. (2004). Influence of negative pressure on thermoelectric properties of Sb2Te3. Solid State Communications, 129(4), 249-253. doi:10.1016/j.ssc.2003.10.006Einaga, M., Tanabe, Y., Nakayama, A., Ohmura, A., Ishikawa, F., & Yamada, Y. (2010). New superconducting phase of Bi2Te3under pressure above 11 GPa. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 215, 012036. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/215/1/012036Zhang, J. L., Zhang, S. J., Weng, H. M., Zhang, W., Yang, L. X., Liu, Q. Q., … Jin, C. Q. (2010). Pressure-induced superconductivity in topological parent compound Bi2Te3. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(1), 24-28. doi:10.1073/pnas.1014085108Jacobsen, M. K., Kumar, R. S., Cornelius, A. L., Sinogeiken, S. V., Nico, M. F., Elert, M., … Nguyen, J. (2008). 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Semiconductors, 31(3), 276-278. doi:10.1134/1.1187126Polian, A., Gauthier, M., Souza, S. M., Trichês, D. M., Cardoso de Lima, J., & Grandi, T. A. (2011). Two-dimensional pressure-induced electronic topological transition in Bi2Te3. Physical Review B, 83(11). doi:10.1103/physrevb.83.113106Vilaplana, R., Santamaría-Pérez, D., Gomis, O., Manjón, F. J., González, J., Segura, A., … Kucek, V. (2011). Structural and vibrational study of Bi2Se3under high pressure. Physical Review B, 84(18). doi:10.1103/physrevb.84.184110Richter, W., & Becker, C. R. (1977). A Raman and far-infrared investigation of phonons in the rhombohedral V2–VI3 compounds Bi2Te3, Bi2Se3, Sb2Te3 and Bi2(Te1−xSex)3 (0 <x < 1), (Bi1−ySby)2Te3 (0 <y < 1). Physica Status Solidi (b), 84(2), 619-628. doi:10.1002/pssb.2220840226Sosso, G. C., Caravati, S., & Bernasconi, M. (2009). Vibrational properties of crystalline Sb2Te3from first principles. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 21(9), 095410. doi:10.1088/0953-8984/21/9/095410Dagens, L. (1978). Phonon anomaly near a Fermi surface topological transition. Journal of Physics F: Metal Physics, 8(10), 2093-2113. doi:10.1088/0305-4608/8/10/010Dagens, L., & Lopez-Rios, C. (1979). Thermodynamic properties of a metal near a Fermi surface topological transition: the anomalous electron-phonon interaction contribution. Journal of Physics F: Metal Physics, 9(11), 2195-2216. doi:10.1088/0305-4608/9/11/011Goncharov, A. ., & Struzhkin, V. . (2003). Pressure dependence of the Raman spectrum, lattice parameters and superconducting critical temperature of MgB2: evidence for pressure-driven phonon-assisted electronic topological transition. Physica C: Superconductivity, 385(1-2), 117-130. doi:10.1016/s0921-4534(02)02311-0Antonangeli, D., Farber, D. L., Said, A. H., Benedetti, L. R., Aracne, C. M., Landa, A., … Klepeis, J. E. (2010). Shear softening in tantalum at megabar pressures. Physical Review B, 82(13). doi:10.1103/physrevb.82.132101Santamaría-Pérez, D., Vegas, A., Muehle, C., & Jansen, M. (2011). Structural behaviour of alkaline sulfides under compression: High-pressure experimental study on Cs2S. The Journal of Chemical Physics, 135(5), 054511. doi:10.1063/1.3617236Vilaplana, R., Gomis, O., Manjón, F. J., Segura, A., Pérez-González, E., Rodríguez-Hernández, P., … Kucek, V. (2011). High-pressure vibrational and optical study of Bi2Te3. Physical Review B, 84(10). doi:10.1103/physrevb.84.104112Larson, P. (2006). Effects of uniaxial and hydrostatic pressure on the valence band maximum inSb2Te3: An electronic structure study. Physical Review B, 74(20). doi:10.1103/physrevb.74.205113Lošťák, P., Beneš, L., Civiš, S., & Süssmann, H. (1990). Preparation and some physical properties of Bi2−xInxSe3 single crystals. Journal of Materials Science, 25(1), 277-282. doi:10.1007/bf00544220Horák, J., Quayle, P. C., Dyck, J. S., Drašar, Č., Lošt’ák, P., & Uher, C. (2008). Defect structure of Sb2−xCrxTe3 single crystals. Journal of Applied Physics, 103(1), 013516. doi:10.1063/1.2826940Piermarini, G. J., Block, S., & Barnett, J. D. (1973). Hydrostatic limits in liquids and solids to 100 kbar. Journal of Applied Physics, 44(12), 5377-5382. doi:10.1063/1.1662159Errandonea, D., Meng, Y., Somayazulu, M., & Häusermann, D. (2005). Pressure-induced transition in titanium metal: a systematic study of the effects of uniaxial stress. Physica B: Condensed Matter, 355(1-4), 116-125. doi:10.1016/j.physb.2004.10.030Syassen, K. (2008). Ruby under pressure. High Pressure Research, 28(2), 75-126. doi:10.1080/08957950802235640Hohenberg, P., & Kohn, W. (1964). Inhomogeneous Electron Gas. Physical Review, 136(3B), B864-B871. doi:10.1103/physrev.136.b864Kresse, G., & Hafner, J. (1993). Ab initiomolecular dynamics for liquid metals. Physical Review B, 47(1), 558-561. doi:10.1103/physrevb.47.558Kresse, G., & Hafner, J. (1994). Ab initiomolecular-dynamics simulation of the liquid-metal–amorphous-semiconductor transition in germanium. Physical Review B, 49(20), 14251-14269. doi:10.1103/physrevb.49.14251Kresse, G., & Furthmüller, J. (1996). Efficiency of ab-initio total energy calculations for metals and semiconductors using a plane-wave basis set. Computational Materials Science, 6(1), 15-50. doi:10.1016/0927-0256(96)00008-0Kresse, G., & Furthmüller, J. (1996). Efficient iterative schemes forab initiototal-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set. Physical Review B, 54(16), 11169-11186. doi:10.1103/physrevb.54.11169Blöchl, P. E. (1994). Projector augmented-wave method. Physical Review B, 50(24), 17953-17979. doi:10.1103/physrevb.50.17953Kresse, G., & Joubert, D. (1999). From ultrasoft pseudopotentials to the projector augmented-wave method. Physical Review B, 59(3), 1758-1775. doi:10.1103/physrevb.59.1758Perdew, J. P., Ruzsinszky, A., Csonka, G. I., Vydrov, O. A., Scuseria, G. E., Constantin, L. A., … Burke, K. (2008). Restoring the Density-Gradient Expansion for Exchange in Solids and Surfaces. Physical Review Letters, 100(13). doi:10.1103/physrevlett.100.136406Mujica, A., Rubio, A., Muñoz, A., & Needs, R. J. (2003). High-pressure phases of group-IV, III–V, and II–VI compounds. Reviews of Modern Physics, 75(3), 863-912. doi:10.1103/revmodphys.75.863Blanco, M. A., Francisco, E., & Luaña, V. (2004). GIBBS: isothermal-isobaric thermodynamics of solids from energy curves using a quasi-harmonic Debye model. Computer Physics Communications, 158(1), 57-72. doi:10.1016/j.comphy.2003.12.001Cardona, M. (2004). Phonon widths versus pressure. High Pressure Research, 24(1), 17-23. doi:10.1080/08957950310001635819Cardona, M. (2004). Effects of pressure on the phonon–phonon and electron–phonon interactions in semiconductors. physica status solidi (b), 241(14), 3128-3137. doi:10.1002/pssb.200405202Ulrich, C., Mroginski, M. A., Goñi, A. R., Cantarero, A., Schwarz, U., Muñoz, V., & Syassen, K. (1996). Vibrational Properties of InSe under Pressure: Experiment and Theory. physica status solidi (b), 198(1), 121-127. doi:10.1002/pssb.2221980117Kulibekov, A. M., Olijnyk, H. P., Jephcoat, A. P., Salaeva, Z. Y., Onari, S., & Allakhverdiev, K. R. (2003). Raman scattering under pressure and the phase transition in ɛ-GaSe. physica status solidi (b), 235(2), 517-520. doi:10.1002/pssb.200301613Cheng, W., & Ren, S.-F. (2011). Phonons of single quintuple Bi2Te3and Bi2Se3films and bulk materials. Physical Review B, 83(9). doi:10.1103/physrevb.83.094301Buga, S. G., Serebryanaya, N. R., Dubitskiy, G. A., Semenova, E. E., Aksenenkov, V. V., & Blank, V. D. (2011). Structure and electrical properties of Sb2Te3and Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3metastable phases obtained by HPHT treatment. High Pressure Research, 31(1), 86-90. doi:10.1080/08957959.2010.52342

Inferring hidden Markov models from noisy time sequences: a method to alleviate degeneracy in molecular dynamics

We present a new method for inferring hidden Markov models from noisy time sequences without the necessity of assuming a model architecture, thus allowing for the detection of degenerate states. This is based on the statistical prediction techniques developed by Crutchfield et al., and generates so called causal state models, equivalent to hidden Markov models. This method is applicable to any continuous data which clusters around discrete values and exhibits multiple transitions between these values such as tethered particle motion data or Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) spectra. The algorithms developed have been shown to perform well on simulated data, demonstrating the ability to recover the model used to generate the data under high noise, sparse data conditions and the ability to infer the existence of degenerate states. They have also been applied to new experimental FRET data of Holliday Junction dynamics, extracting the expected two state model and providing values for the transition rates in good agreement with previous results and with results obtained using existing maximum likelihood based methods.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figure

Deficient IFN signaling by myeloid cells leads to MAVS-dependent virus-induced sepsis

The type I interferon (IFN) signaling response limits infection of many RNA and DNA viruses. To define key cell types that require type I IFN signaling to orchestrate immunity against West Nile virus (WNV), we infected mice with conditional deletions of the type I IFN receptor (IFNAR) gene. Deletion of the Ifnar gene in subsets of myeloid cells resulted in uncontrolled WNV replication, vasoactive cytokine production, sepsis, organ damage, and death that were remarkably similar to infection of Ifnar-/- mice completely lacking type I IFN signaling. In Mavs-/-×Ifnar-/- myeloid cells and mice lacking both Ifnar and the RIG-I-like receptor adaptor gene Mavs, cytokine production was muted despite high levels of WNV infection. Thus, in myeloid cells, viral infection triggers signaling through MAVS to induce proinflammatory cytokines that can result in sepsis and organ damage. Viral pathogenesis was caused in part by massive complement activation, as liver damage was minimized in animals lacking complement components C3 or factor B or treated with neutralizing anti-C5 antibodies. Disease in Ifnar-/- and CD11c Cre+Ifnarf/f mice also was facilitated by the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α, as blocking antibodies diminished complement activation and prolonged survival without altering viral burden. Collectively, our findings establish the dominant role of type I IFN signaling in myeloid cells in restricting virus infection and controlling pathological inflammation and tissue injury

Application of disruptive technologies in telemedicine for universal coverage of health services

[ES] La aplicación de tecnologías disruptivas en telemedicina facilita la accesibilidad a tecnologías diagnósticas de poblaciones remotas sin acceso a especialistas y mejora la cobertura universal de servicios de salud. Este estudio fue realizado por la Unidad de Telemedicina del Ministerio de Salud Pública y Bienestar Social (MSPBS) en colaboración con el Dpto. de Ingeniería Biomédica e Imágenes del Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias (IICS-UNA). Objetivo: Evaluar la utilidad de aplicaciones de tecnologías disruptivas en telemedicina para la cobertura universal de servicios de salud entre enero del 2014 y septiembre de 2019. Material y Método: Estudio de diseño observacional y descriptivo incluyó a 540.397 pacientes. Para el efecto se analizaron los resultados obtenidos por la red de telediagnóstico implementado en 67 hospitales del MSPBS. En dicho sentido se analizaron 540.397 diagnósticos remotos realizados entre enero del 2014 y septiembre de 2019. Resultados: D el total, el 33,174 % (179.274) correspondieron a estudios de tomografía, 64,825 % (350.313) a electrocardiografía (ECG), 1,997 % (10.791) a electroencefalografía (EEG) y 0,004 % (19) a ecografía. La concordancia entre el diagnóstico remoto y el diagnóstico “cara a cara” fue del 95 %. Conclusión: Con el diagnóstico remoto se logró una reducción del coste que supone un beneficio importante para cada ciudadano del interior del país. Los resultados obtenidos evidencian que la aplicación de tecnologías disruptivas en telemedicina puede contribuir para lacobertura universal de servicios con tecnologías diagnósticas, maximizando el tiempo y productividad del profesional, aumentando el acceso y la equidad, y disminuyendo los costos. Sin embargo, antes de su implementación generalizada se deberá contextualizar con el perfil epidemiológico regional.[EN] The application of disruptive technologies in telemedicine facilitates accessibility to diagnostic technologies of remote populations without access to specialists and improves universal coverage of health services. This study was carried out by the Telemedicine Unit of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare (MSPBS) in collaboration with the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging of the Institute of Research in Sciences (IICS-UNA). Objective: to evaluate the usefulness of disruptive technology applications in telemedicine for universal coverage of health services January 2014 to September 2019. Material and Method: observational and descriptive design study included 540,397 patients. For this purpose, the results obtained by the telediagnostic network implemented in 67 MSPBS hospitals were analyzed. In this regard, 540,397 remote diagnoses carried out between January 2014 and September 2019 were analysed. Results: of the total, 33.174% (179,274) were CT studies, 64.825% (350,313) electrocardiography (ECG), 1.997% (10,791) electroencephalography (EEG) and 0.004% (19) ultrasound. The concordance between remote diagnosis and "face-to-face" diagnosis was 95%. Conclusion: remote diagnosis achieved a cost reduction that is an important benefit for every citizen of the interior of the country. The results show that the application of disruptive technologies in telemedicine can contribute to the universal coverage of services with diagnostic technologies, maximizing the time and productivity of the professional, increasing access and equity, and lowering costs. However, prior to widespread implementation, the regional epidemiological profile should be contextualized