Charmonium Production at Forward Rapidity in pp, p-Pb and Pb-Pb Collisions, with ALICE

This contribution focuses on latest ALICE results on charmonium forward production in proton-proton (pp), proton-lead (p-Pb) and lead-lead (Pb-Pb) collisions at the TeV scale. In p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions, measurements are presented in the form of the charmonium nuclear modification factor (the properly normalized ratio of its production cross section in heavy ion collisions to its pp counterpart) as a function of the charmonium rapidity and transverse momentum. These measurements are compared to available theoretical calculations. Possible interpretations of these results in terms of gluon saturation, initial and final state energy loss, color screening and recombination are also discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 11 figures, Conference Proceedings Large Hadron Collider Physics (LHCP) Conference, 201

The Aging Neuromuscular System and Motor Performance

Age-related changes in the basic functional unit of the neuromuscular system, the motor unit, and its neural inputs have a profound effect on motor function, especially among the expanding number of old (older than ∼60 yr) and very old (older than ∼80 yr) adults. This review presents evidence that age-related changes in motor unit morphology and properties lead to impaired motor performance that includes 1) reduced maximal strength and power, slower contractile velocity, and increased fatigability; and 2) increased variability during and between motor tasks, including decreased force steadiness and increased variability of contraction velocity and torque over repeat contractions. The age-related increase in variability of motor performance with aging appears to involve reduced and more variable synaptic inputs that drive motor neuron activation, fewer and larger motor units, less stable neuromuscular junctions, lower and more variable motor unit action potential discharge rates, and smaller and slower skeletal muscle fibers that coexpress different myosin heavy chain isoforms in the muscle of older adults. Physical activity may modify motor unit properties and function in old men and women, although the effects on variability of motor performance are largely unknown. Many studies are of cross-sectional design, so there is a tremendous opportunity to perform high-impact and longitudinal studies along the continuum of aging that determine 1) the influence and cause of the increased variability with aging on functional performance tasks, and 2) whether lifestyle factors such as physical exercise can minimize this age-related variability in motor performance in the rapidly expanding numbers of very old adults

As políticas ferroviárias ibéricas (1845-1860)

Portugal and Spain started to invest in railways about 15 years after other countries in Europe did the same. The strategies pursued by both these countries were rather different. Whereas Spain tried to create a legal framework wide enough to compass all the details of construction, Portugal opted for a more flexible approach, which could adapt to specific contexts. Comparing the Spanish bibliography about these issues with the Portuguese parliamentary debates and approved laws, the following text aims do describe and explain both countries railway strategies and how the Spanish approach brought an earlier success to this nation

A construção da rede ferroviária do Minho : (1845-1892)

In the second half of the nineteenth century, after 30 years of political turmoil, Portugal was finally able to build transport infrastructures on a large scale. The first rails were deployed in 1852, but it was not until 1867 that railways in Minho were decreed, even though this idea had been proposed to the government since the 1850s. However, only in the 1870s did construction actually begin. Based on the debates that took place in both houses of the Portuguese parliament (as well as the Dicionário Biográfico Parlamentar to identify the congressmen) and on the reports of the Portuguese engineers, to which content analysis was applied, this study aims to explain the development of the Minho railway network between the 1850s and the 1890s, a period of great investments in public works

As viagens ferroviárias em Portugal (1845-1896)

Between 1852 and 1893 more than two thousand kilometres of railway were built in Portugal, changing the way people travelled across the Kingdom. Before that, travel only took place by river, by sea along the coast or by land where the lack of obstacles allowed it. This new form of transportation shortened distances and thus gave Portuguese travellers more time. Based on contemporary parliamentary debates, the technical opinions of Portuguese engineering (both manuscript in the records of the Ministry of Public Works and published in technical journals) and contemporary fictional literature, this study aims to describe and explain some of the changes to travelling habits in Portugal. We shall see that new habits were brought on by the railway, as well as new concerns and new opportunities, and it quickly became a widely-used public service

Portuguese Railways in the Second Half of the Nineteenth and Early Years of the Twentieth Century

Acknowledgments. I wish to acknowledge the institutional and academic support provided by CITCEM— Transdisciplinary Research Centre Culture, Space and Memory, Portugal (UID/HIS/04059), CIUHCT— Interuniversity Research Centre for the History of Sciences and Technology, Portugal (UID/HIS/00286), and the Department of History, United Kingdom. legal umbrella provided by the decree-law 57/2016 and law 57/2017).In 1850, after three decades of political turmoil, Portugal started investing in major public works, particularly, in the construction of a national railway network. This strategy followed closely the suggestions of the Saint-Simonian technocrats with whom Portuguese engineers had been engaging since the 1820s. Additionally, it came in response to the longtime neglect suffered by the Portuguese transportation system, which hindered communications and trade between different areas of the kingdom and with neighboring Spain. The main goal of the investment was to modernize the national transport system, attract to Portuguese harbors a large portion of the traffic between Europe, Africa, and America, and, in general terms, put the nation on the path of progress. By the end of the nineteenth century, total mileage of the Portuguese rail network exceeded 2,300 km. This article analyzes the role of railways in the improvement of communications between the Portuguese provinces, their appropriation in a unified nation-state, the degree of integration of the Portuguese economy with the Spanish and European economies, and the construction/reinvention of Portugal as a modern and technological nation. To achieve these goals, I will use three key concepts: territorial appropriation, circulation, and globalization. Sources include statistics of railway operation and previous works analyzing the impact of railways on the Portuguese transport system and economy, the outcomes of operating transnational lines, and the importance of technology for the reinvention of Portugal during the second half of the nineteenth century.preprintpublishe

a methodological proposal

Publisher Copyright: © 2024 Universidad de Malaga, Departamento de Historia del Arte. All rights reserved.Photography has been used to record different features of human societies since its invention in the first half of the nineteenth century. After years of being used as an illustrative tool in history, photography conquered its place as a primary source since the mid-1980s. In this article I add to this debate with a methodological approach to use photography in history of science and technology (including medicine and engineering). I argue that photography offers an exclusive view to understanding how science and technology were implemented, used, represented, and presented to the public. I offer both practical guidelines and a theoretical framework, based on Barthesian semiotics. I claim that this proposal has the potential to be used as a common denominator between assorted photographic collections and therefore to allow broader comparisons across different historical and geographic contexts. Moreover, it promotes the critical view of photography that should not be taken by its face value, but it should be understood within its sociotechnical and technoscientific context. I focus on photographs from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but this approach may be applied to more recent photographic collections. This reflection certainly has its limitations and shortcomings, and it is naturally open to improvements, through its practical application to photographic collections.publishersversionpublishe

a speculative approach to a theoretical framework

Funding Information: The author wishes to acknowledge the financial support provided by FCT -Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. and the institutional and academic support provided by CIUHCT - Interuniversity Research Centre for the History of Sciences and Technology, Almada, Portugal (UID/HIS/00286), and the Department of History of the University of York, York, United Kingdom. Funding Information: This work was funded by national funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (PIDDAC/OE), within the Unit CIUHCT (UIDB/00286/2020). Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.Photography has been recording different aspects of human activity since the early nineteenth century. Additional innovations since then have rendered it less expensive, less cumbersome and more accessible to users. Today, the universe of photographs is immense. In this paper, I offer a theoretical approach to the use of photography in mobility and transport history. I argue that photography is much more than a mere illustrative resource and that it can be used as a primary source that provides visual materiality to aspects of transportation in the past (subjects, objects and landscapes), which can complement information found in written sources. Moreover, I speculate that photography may have a double role: as a vehicle that transports observers to faraway locations and ideas and landscapes back to observers; and as a tool for territorial appropriation of peripheral territories by core regions.publishersversionpublishe

The Photographic Reportage of the Kwamato Campaign in South Angola (1907)

In 1907, a Portuguese military expedition was sent to Angola to subdue the Kwamato. Two photographers accompanied the troops and photographed moments of rest, training, and combat. It was the first Portuguese photographic reportage of war. This article analyses a group of photographs of the Kwamato campaign as an example of photography of war. Using a methodology based on discourse analysis in journalism, this article illustrates how photography represented colonial warfare as part of a narrative of imperial dominance where modern technology was crucial, and how this representation was presented and normalised to the Portuguese mainland public in the illustrated press.publishersversionpublishe