Mocarts: a lightweight radiation transport simulator for easy handling of complex sensing geometries

In functional neuroimaging (fNIRS), elaborated sensing geometries pairing multiple light sources and detectors arranged over the tissue surface are needed. A variety of software tools for probing forward models of radiation transport in tissue exist, but their handling of sensing geometries and specification of complex tissue architectures is, most times, cumbersome. In this work, we introduce a lightweight simulator, Monte Carlo Radiation Transport Simulator (MOCARTS) that attends these demands for simplifying specification of tissue architectures and complex sensing geometries. An object-oriented architecture facilitates such goal. The simulator core is evolved from the Monte Carlo Multi-Layer (mcml) tool but extended to support multi-channel simulations. Verification against mcml yields negligible error (RMSE~4-10e-9) over a photon trajectory. Full simulations show concurrent validity of the proposed tool. Finally, the ability of the new software to simulate multi-channel sensing geometries and to define biological tissue models in an intuitive nested-hierarchy way are exemplified

Minisatellite mutation rates increase with extra-pair paternity among birds

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Amos <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr></abbrgrp> suggested recently that a previously reported positive relationship between minisatellite mutation rates and extra-pair paternity among species of birds <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B2">2</abbr></abbrgrp> was confounded by transcription errors and selective inclusion of studies. Here we attempted to replicate the results reported by Amos <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr></abbrgrp>, but also tested for the relationship by expanding the data base by including studies published after our original paper.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We were able to replicate the positive association between mutation rate and extra-pair paternity in birds, even after controlling statistically for the confounding effecs of mean number of bands scored, using 133 species, compared to 81 species in our first report <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B2">2</abbr></abbrgrp>. We suggest that Amos <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr></abbrgrp> failed to reach a similar conclusion due to four different potential causes of bias. First, Amos <abbrgrp><abbr bid="B1">1</abbr></abbrgrp> missed 15 studies from the literature that we were able to include. Second, he used estimates of mutation rates that were based on both within- and extra-pair offspring, although the latter will cause bias in estimates. Third, he made a number of transcription errors from the original publications for extra-pair paternity, mutation rates, number of novel bands, and mean number of bands scored per individual. Fourth, he included <it>Vireo olivaceus </it>although the mutation rate estimate was based on one single offspring!</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There was a positive association between mutation rates and extra-pair paternity in birds, accounting for an intermediate effect size that explained 5–11% of the variance; estimates that are bound to be conservative due to many different causes of noise in the data. This result was robust to statistical control for potentially confounding variables, highlighting that it is important to base comparative studies on all available evidence, and that it is crucial to critically transcribe data while simultaneously checking published estimates for their correctness.</p

Investigations using data from Earth Resources Technology Satellite in the fields of agriculture/geography. Timber inventory (land use) in the Province of Huelva, Spain

A test site was chosen for the purpose of elaborating the patterns for the future total use of the satellite photographs. The election of the test site was made with the following criteria in mind: (1) a flat terrain for eliminating the dangers of shadows produced by a difficult topography; and (2) searching of well defined natural limits for the test site. Due to the lack of satellite photographs from the study area, a number of photos from the northern area of Spain have been studied from the point of view of obtaining answers from the spectra of the vegetation masses

Dispersive ππ→KKˉ\pi\pi\rightarrow K\bar K amplitude and giant CP violation in B to three light-meson decays at LHCb

The LHCb collaboration has recently reported the largest CP violation effect from a single amplitude, as well as other giant CP asymmetries in several $B$-meson decays into three charmless light mesons. It is also claimed that this is predominantly due to $\pi\pi\rightarrow K\bar K$ rescattering in the final state, particularly in the 1 to 1.5 GeV region. In these analyses the $\pi\pi\rightarrow K\bar K$ amplitude is by default estimated from the $\pi\pi$ elastic scattering amplitude and does not describe the existing $\pi\pi\rightarrow K\bar K$ scattering data. Here we show how the recent model-independent dispersive analysis of $\pi\pi\rightarrow K\bar K$ data can be easily implemented in the LHCb formalism. This leads to a more accurate description of the asymmetry, while being consistent with the measured scattering amplitude and confirming the prominent role of hadronic final state interactions, paving the way for more elaborated analyses.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. Minor corrections and discussions were added. Extended appendix with an additional improved model of the S-wave. Final version to appear in Phys.Rev.Let

The Key Role Transferring Knowledge of Nuclear España, The Spanish Nuclear Society Magazine

The magazine of the Spanish Nuclear Society (SNE), “Nuclear España” is a scientific-technical publication with almost thirty years of uninterrupted edition and more than 300 numbers published. Their pages approach technical subjects related to the nuclear energy, as well as the activities developed by the SNE, especially in national and international meetings. The main part of the magazine is composed by articles written by known specialist of the energy industry. One of the top goals of the magazine is to help on transferring the knowledge from the generation that built the nuclear power plants in Spain and the new generation of professionals that have started its nuclear career in the last years. Each number is monographic, trying to cover as many aspects on an issue as it is possible, with collaborations from the companies, the research centers and universities that helps to have complementary points of view. On the other hand the articles help to deep in the issue´s topic, broadening the view of the readers about the nuclear field and helping to share knowledge across the industry. The news section of the Magazine picks up the actuality of the sector as a whole. The editorial section reflects the opinion of the SNE Governing Board and the Magazine Committee on the subjects of interest in this field. On the other hand, the monthly interview sets out the professional outstanding opinions. With a total of eleven numbers per year, three of them have a noticeable international character: the one dedicated to the operative experiences on the Spanish and European nuclear power plants, the monographic issue devoted tothe Annual Meeting of the SNE and the international issue, which covers the last activities of the Spanish industry in international projects. Both first are bilingual issues (Spanish-English), whereas the international edition is published completely in English. Besides its diffusion through all the members of the SNE, the Magazine is distributed, in the national scope, to companies and organisms related to the nuclear power, universities, research centers, representatives of the Central, Autonomic and Local Administrations, mass media and communication professionals. It is also sent to the utilities and research centers in Europe, United States, South America and Asia

Modelo para la estimación de la oferta hídrica que incorpora el agua subterránea en microcuencas sin información hidrológica

(Eng) Surface water (SUP) and groundwater (SUB) interact inside the hydrological cycle according to geomorphologic and climatic characteristics that compose the landscape. Therefore, the impact on any of these compounds will inevitably affect the quantity and/or quality of the other. In this context, a simple method was proposed based on the general water balance equation; which incorporates the exchange flow of superficial and groundwater in the estimate of the total water availability (OHtotal) in a watershed, starting from minimum hydroclimologic and hydrogeologic data. This method was applied to the micro-basin of La Arenosa-La Margarita creek (Pereira, Colombia) and it was noticed that the input of the groundwater flow influences in the estimate of the water availability. Also, it was analyzed that these results are quite similar to the ones obtained by widely used theoretical models used in hydrology; such as the SCS, UNESCO, added tanks, Long-term hydric balance and Hydric Efficiency for the same study area. Thus, it was concluded that the proposed method is viable to be applied in micro-basins with little hydrologic and hydrogeological information.(Spa) El agua superficial (SUP) y subterránea (SUB) interactúan dentro del ciclo hidrológico según las características geomorfológicas y climáticas que configuran el paisaje; por tanto, los impactos sobre cualquiera de estos componentes afectarán inevitablemente la cantidad y/o calidad del otro. En este contexto, se propuso un método simple basado en la ecuación general de balance hídrico, que incorpora el flujo de intercambio SUP-SUB en la estimación de la oferta hídrica total (OHtotal) en una cuenca hidrográfica, a partir de datos hidroclimatológicos e hidrogeológicos mínimos. Este método fue aplicado en la microcuenca de la quebrada La Arenosa-La Margarita (Pereira, Colombia) y se observó que el aporte de flujo subterráneo influye en la estimación de la oferta hídrica. También se analizó que estos resultados son similares a los obtenidos por modelos teóricos ampliamente utilizados en la hidrología tales como el SCS, UNESCO, Tanques agregados, Balance Hídrico de Largo Plazo y Rendimiento Hídrico para la misma zona de estudio. Por lo tanto, se concluyó que el modelo propuesto es viable para su aplicabilidad en microcuencas con poca información de tipo hidrológico e hidrogeológico