Monumental entrances at iberian Neolithic and Chalcolithic ditches enclosures. Entrance 1 at Perdigoes (Portugal) as case study

Ditched enclosures have been found in many European regions during the Neolithic and Copper Age. This widespread, almost pan-European monumental tradition has also been documented in the Iberian Peninsula in the last 25 years, although the impact of their discovery in the continental debates has been, for the most part, rather small. In these enclosed sites, ditches delimit spaces by establishing an inside and an outside. Crucially, however, in most enclosures known to date with enough detail, ditches show one or more interruptions interpreted as entrances or points of access that connect the outside with the inside. These entrances appear to be architectural elements of great importance and possibly special meanings. During the Neolithic, European ditched enclosures showed great formal variability, from the simplest (a break or discontinuity in the ditch's layout) to more complex forms such as the pince de crabe (crab's claw). Many of them show astrological awareness and/or orientation towards certain prominent features of the surrounding landscape. Changes in form and transformations through time, both of the entrance itself and of the nearby elements, are also very common. All in all, they are an important component of almost every ditched enclosure, and often some of the most visibly monumentalised areas of these sites. This presentation has two objectives. First, we shall examine the monumental character and the diversity of entrances at Southern Iberian Neolithic and Chalcolithic ditched enclosures (4th-3rd millennia cal BC). Second, we will focus on Entrance 1 at Perdigões (Portugal), its form, features and temporality, as a particular case to be contextualised in the wider Southern Iberian scene.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Temperature Assessment Of Microwave-Enhanced Heating Processes

[EN] In this study, real-time and in-situ permittivity measurements under intense microwave electromagnetic fields are proposed as a powerful technique for the study of microwave-enhanced thermal processes in materials. In order to draw reliable conclusions about the temperatures at which transformations occur, we address how to accurately measure the bulk temperature of the samples under microwave irradiation. A new temperature calibration method merging data from four independent techniques is developed to obtain the bulk temperature as a function of the surface temperature in thermal processes under microwave conditions. Additionally, other analysis techniques such as Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) or Raman spectroscopy are correlated to dielectric permittivity measurements and the temperatures of thermal transitions observed using each technique are compared. 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Stimuli-responsive selection of target DNA sequences by synthetic bZIP peptides

One of the strategies used by nature to regulate gene expression relies on the stimuli controlled combination of DNA-binding proteins. This in turn determines the target-binding site within the genome, and thereby whether a particular gene is activated or repressed. Here we demonstrate how a designed basic region leucine zipper-based peptide can be directed towards two different DNA sequences depending on its dimerization arrangement. While themonomeric peptide is non-functional, a C-terminal metallo-dimer recognizes the natural ATF/CREB-binding site (5'-ATGA cg TCAT-3'), and a N-terminal disulphide dimer binds preferentially to the swapped sequence (5-TCATcg ATGA-30'). As the dimerization mode can be efficiently controlled by appropriate external reagents, it is possible to reversibly drive the peptide to either DNA site in response to such specific inputs. This represents the firstexample of a designed molecule that can bind to more than one specific DNA sequence depending on changes in its environment.Fil: Mosquera, Jesus. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. Facultad de Quimica. Departamento de Quimica Organica; EspañaFil: Jimenez Balsa, Adrian. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. Facultad de Quimica. Departamento de Quimica Organica; EspañaFil: Dodero, Veronica Isabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Química del Sur; Argentina. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela; EspañaFil: Vázquez, M. Eugenio . Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. Facultad de Quimica. Departamento de Quimica Organica; EspañaFil: Mascareñas, José L. . Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. Facultad de Quimica. Departamento de Quimica Organica; Españ

Natural sonic crystal absorber constituted of seagrass (Posidonia Oceanica) fibrous spheres

[EN] We present a 3-dimensional fully natural sonic crystal composed of spherical aggregates of fibers (called Aegagropilae) resulting from the decomposition of Posidonia Oceanica. The fiber network is first acoustically characterized, providing insights on this natural fiber entanglement due to turbulent flow. The Aegagropilae are then arranged on a principal cubic lattice. The band diagram and topology of this structure are analyzed, notably via Argand representation of its scattering elements. This fully natural sonic crystal exhibits excellent sound absorbing properties and thus represents a sustainable alternative that could outperform conventional acoustic materials.This article is based upon work from COST Action DENORMS CA15125, supported by COST(European Cooperation in Science and Technology). The authors gratefully acknowledge the ANR-RGC METARoom (ANR-18-CE08-0021) project, the project HYPERMETA funded under the program Etoiles Montantes of the Region Pays de la Loire, and the project PID2019-109175GB-C22 funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. N.J. acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICINN) through grant "Juan de la Cierva - Incorporacion" (IJC2018-037897-I). The authors would like to thank V. Pagneux and R. Pico Vila for useful discussions and J. Barber and C. Dordoni for their help in collecting the samples.Barguet, L.; Romero-García, V.; Jimenez, N.; García-Raffi, LM.; Sánchez Morcillo, VJ.; Groby, J. (2021). Natural sonic crystal absorber constituted of seagrass (Posidonia Oceanica) fibrous spheres. Scientific Reports. 11(1):1-8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-79982-9S1811

Gap Solitons in acoustic layered media

[EN] In this work we study numerically the existence of gap solitons in an acoustic media. To approach the problem a set of coupled-mode equations are given. In order to obtain a solitary wave in a real media, it is necessary of two phenomena, dispersion and nonlinearity. Acoustic media, usually can present nonlinearity but also low dispersions. To increase dispersion, it is proposed to use a multi-layered medium, a kind of sonic crystal in 1D, that it is demonstrated to have high dispersion near some frequency bands. In this kind of media, it is possible to observe soliton wavesThis research was partially supported by Ministerio de Economía y ompetitividad under grant FIS2015-65998-C2-2. LJSC and AM acknowledge UPV for redoctoral contract FPI-Subprograma 1Salmerón Contreras, LJ.; García-Raffi, LM.; Jimenez, N.; Mehrem, A.; Picó Vila, R.; Sánchez Morcillo, VJ.; Staliunas, K. (2016). Gap Solitons in acoustic layered media. Universidade do Porto. 1-4. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/181071S1

Second harmonic propagation in Coupled Oscillators

[EN] In this work, we studied numerically, analytically and experimentally the nonlinear dynamics for a chain of magnates. Propagation the second harmonic depends on the medium parameters and the excitation signal (amplitude and frequency). From the experimental results which have a good agreement with the theoretical results, several phenomenons in nonlinear behavior can be study. The experiment also shows the generation of subharmonics.This research was partially supported by Ministerio de Economía y ompetitividad under grant FIS2015-65998-C2-2. LJSC and AM acknowledge UPV for predoctoral contract FPI-Subprograma 1Mehrem, A.; Sánchez Morcillo, VJ.; Jimenez, N.; Salmerón Contreras, LJ.; García-Andrés, FX.; Picó Vila, R.; García-Raffi, LM. (2016). Second harmonic propagation in Coupled Oscillators. Universidade do Porto. 1-4. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/181098S1

Solitary waves in nonlinear phononic crystals

[EN] We discuss two possible regimes of solitary wave formation in acoustic layered media. In the weakly dispersive limit, KdV-type solitons are formed, consisting of broad pulses with a width much larger than the lattice periodicity. Such KdV solitons are shown to exist even far from the weakly dispersive conditions. On the other hand, in the strongly dispersive regime, gap acoustic solitons are demonstrated. They are formed by a fast carrier wave inside the band-gap of the structure, near the Bragg frequency (whose propagation is not allowed in the case of linear waves), modulated by a wide envelope, whose width lies inside the gap. Gap solitons propagate slower than linear waves, or can be even reach a stationary non-propagating state within the medium. The parameters for a realistic acoustic medium supporting both types of solitary waves are discussedThe work was supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Innovation (MINECO) and European Union FEDER through project FIS2015-65998-C2-2.Mehrem, A.; Picó Vila, R.; Sánchez Morcillo, VJ.; García-Raffi, LM.; Salmerón-Contreras, LJ.; Jimenez, N.; Staliunas, K. (2016). Solitary waves in nonlinear phononic crystals. Universidade do Porto. 1-7. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/183355S1

Reconstruction of Past Environment and Climate Using Wetland Sediment Records from the Sierra Nevada

Understanding the effects of climate change and human activities on fragile mountain ecosystems is necessary to successfully managing these environments under future climate scenarios (e.g., global warming, enhanced aridity). This can be done through the study of paleoecological records, which can provide long paleoenvironmental databases containing information on how ecosystems reacted to climate change and human disturbances before the historical record. These studies can be particularly interesting when focusing on especially warm and/or dry past climatic phases. Biotic (pollen, charcoal) and abiotic (physical, geochemistry) analyses from wetland sediment records from the Sierra Nevada, southern Spain record changes in vegetation, fire history and lake sedimentation since ~11,700 years (cal yr BP). This multiproxy paleoecological study indicates that maxima in temperature and humidity occurred in the area in the Early and Middle Holocene, with a peak in precipitation between ~10,500 and 7000 cal yr BP. This is deduced by maxima in water runoff, the highest abundance of tree species and algae and high total organic carbon values recorded in the alpine wetland’s sedimentary records of the Sierra Nevada during that time period. In the last 7000 cal yr BP, and especially after a transition period between ~7000 and 5000 cal yr BP, a progressive aridification process took place, indicated by the decrease in tree species and the increase in xerophytic herbs in this region and a reduction in water runoff evidenced by the decrease in detritic input in the wetland sedimentary records. An increasing trend in Saharan dust deposition in the Sierra Nevada wetlands is also recorded through inorganic geochemical proxies, probably due to a coetaneous loss of vegetation cover in North Africa. The process of progressive aridification during the Middle and Late Holocene was interrupted by millennial-scale climatic oscillations and several periods of relative humid/droughty conditions and warm/cold periods have been identified in different temperature and/or precipitation proxies. Enhanced human impact has been observed in the Sierra Nevada in the last ~3000 cal yr BP through the increase in fires, grazing, cultivation, atmospheric pollution as well as reforestation by Pinus and the massive cultivation of Olea at lower altitudes.This study was supported by projects CGL2013-47038-R and CGL2017-85415-R funded by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional FEDER; Séneca Project 20788/PI/18; Junta de Andalucía I+D+i Junta de Andalucía 2020 Retos P-20-00059, FEDER Project B-RNM-144-UGR18, UGR-FEDER B-RNM-144-UGR18 Proyectos I + D + i del Programa Operativo FEDER 2018 and the research group RNM-190 (Junta de Andalucía). M.J.R.R. acknowledges the postdoctoral funding provided by the European Commission/H2020 (ERC-2017-ADG, project number 788616). J.C. acknowledges the postdoctoral funding provided by the Academy of Finland (project number 316702). A.G.-A. acknowledges the Ramón y Cajal fellowship RYC-2015-18966 provided by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of the Spanish Government. M.R.G. acknowledges funding by the Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación program in the University of Granada (IJCI-2017-33755) from Secretaría de Estado de I+D+i, Spain. RSA acknowledges several travel grants from Northern Arizona University to support this work

Reflection of sound by Sonic Crystals: an application to the aerospace engineering

[EN] From the acoustical point of view one of the most extreme events is the lift-off of a rocket. In such events, an enormous amount of energy is liberated in the form of acoustic waves that are reflected in the launch pad, coming back over the rocket and affecting both the rocket and the load contained in the fairing. Here we propose a possible solution to reduce the sound pressure level in the area of the spacecraft-launcher: placing structures based on Sonic Crystals (SCs) at the launch pad to control waves reflecting on it. In this work preliminary reults, in linear regime and without considering dissipation, about the use of SCs to control the reflected waves in a broadband range of frequencies are presented. This proof of concept is experimentally tested in a sub-scale system, that works at ultrasonic frequencies in water. Different types of SCs and different geometries of the reflecting backing are tested. In particular, geometries that mimic that of the VEGA's launch pad of the European Space Agency (ESA).Authors acknowledge the support of the European Space Agency under contract "Sonic Crystals For Noise Reduction At The Launch Pad" ESA ITT 1-7094 (ITI) and the 441-2015 Co-Sponsored PhD "Acoustic Reduction Methods for the Launch Pad". The work was supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Innovation (MINECO) and European Union FEDER through project FIS2015-65998-C2-2García-Raffi, LM.; Salmerón-Contreras, LJ.; Herrero-Durá, I.; Picó Vila, R.; Redondo, J.; Sánchez Morcillo, VJ.; Cebrecos, A.... (2016). Reflection of sound by Sonic Crystals: an application to the aerospace engineering. Universidade do Porto. 1-10. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/181078S11