Large amplitude pairing fluctuations in atomic nuclei

Pairing fluctuations are self-consistently incorporated on the same footing as the quadrupole deformations in present state of the art calculations including particle number and angular momentum conservation as well as configuration mixing. The approach is complemented by the use of the finite range density dependent Gogny force which, with a unique source for the particle-hole and particle-particle interactions, guarantees a self-consistent interplay in both channels. We have applied our formalism to study the role of the pairing degree of freedom in the description of the most relevant observables like spectra, transition probabilities, separation energies, etc. We find that the inclusion of pairing fluctuations mostly affects the description of excited states, depending on the excitation energy and the angular momentum. $E0$ transition probabilities experiment rather big changes while $E2$'s are less affected. Genuine pairing vibrations are thoroughly studied with the conclusion that deformations strongly inhibits their existence. These studies have been performed for a selection of nuclei: spherical, deformed and with different degree of collectivity.Comment: 23 pages, 23 Figures, To be published in Phys. Rev.

Numerical simulation of fluids in microfluidics (microgravity conditions) with OpenFOAM

During the past decades, interest in droplet-based microfluidics has substantially increased due to its wide range of applications, such as biochemical analyses or material synthesis. Therefore, it is essential to predict and understand these droplets¿ generation mechanisms to control their size and, eventually, design the precise devices to produce them. This work presents numerical simulations of two phases of liquids in a rectangular T-shaped microchannel with a neck under microgravity conditions. The study will be made following the same scenario as the scientific paper [1], to do a trustworthy comparison between the two of them and verify the obtained results. Consequently, the liquids used will be deionized water for the dispersed phase and sunflower oil for the continuous one. The software utilised to carry out these numerical simulations was OpenFOAM. The chosen solver was InterFOAM, which is ideal for two incompressible, isothermal and immiscible fluids; considering that it uses the Volume Of Fluid (VOF) method. To process the obtained data, ParaView and Excel were used as well. Many parameters were modified and taken into account when performing the simulations until the perfect fit was found, such as the boundary conditions, the mesh quality or the microchannel length. After that, the main selected variables to analyse were the diameter, the volume and the velocity of the generated droplets. Finally, the study concludes that the results obtained during the simulations are not in good agreement with the literature, obtaining significant errors in the droplets volume. Moreover, the produced number of droplets is bigger than the expected. Taking all this into account, it is not possible to say that the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method is an accurate one when we aim to perform this type of experiment

A Glance at a Twisted Mind: A Psychoanalytic Approach to Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray

Traballo Fin de Grao en Lingua e Literatura Inglesas. Curso 2019-2020The Picture of Dorian Gray (Wilde, 1890) is a novel that has aroused the interest of many scholars because of this darkness and the complexity of the character in the title. Dorian Gray is presented as a handsome young man who is easily corrupted by his friend Lord Henry into a life of pleasure which stands in contrast with the Victorian morality of the time and which Wilde himself pursued, connected in his case to the Aesthetic Movement of which he was part. This character is particularly interesting to analyse because of his peculiar philosophy of life and his notorious behaviour. His later attempt at redemption at the end of Wilde’s novel is also remarkable. The aim of this dissertation is to analyse from a psychoanalytic perspective the psyche of the main character and how it stands in conflict with the Victorian morality of late-19th-century London. For this, I will have recourse to central concepts of psychoanalytical theory such as paranoia, neurosis, and narcissism that in Dorian may be said to achieve pathological proportions and that, in a way, explain his tragic ending. Freudian notions of the double and the triad Ego-Id-Superego will further serve to offer a wider picture of Dorian Gray, particularly in relation to the influence that Lord Henry and Basil exert over him. Major works by the father of psychoanalysis such as The Ego and the Id (1923) or On Narcissism (Freud, 1914) will be explicitly referred to and commented upo

A Causal Analysis of Life Expectancy at Birth. Evidence from Spain

Background: From a causal point of view, there exists a set of socioeconomic indicators concerning life expectancy. The objective of this paper is to determine the indicators which exhibit a relation of causality with life expectancy at birth. Methods: Our analysis applies the Granger causality test, more specifically its version by Dumitrescu–Hurlin, starting from the information concerning life expectancy at birth and a set of socioeconomic variables corresponding to 17 Spanish regions, throughout the period 2006–2016. To do this, we used the panel data involving the information provided by the Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare (MHCSW) and the National Institute of Statistics (NIS). Results: Per capita income, and the rate of hospital beds, medical staff and nurses Granger-cause the variable “life expectancy at birth”, according to the Granger causality test applied to panel data (Dumitrescu–Hurlin’s version). Conclusions: Life expectancy at birth has become one of the main indicators able to measure the performance of a country’s health system. This analysis facilitates the identification of those factors which exhibit a unidirectional Granger-causality relationship with life expectancy at birth. Therefore, this paper provides useful information for the management of public health resources from the point of view of the maximization of social benefits

Life Expectancy at Birth in Europe: An Econometric Approach Based on Random Forests Methodology

The objective of this work is to identify and classify the relative importance of several socioeconomic factors which explain life expectancy at birth in the European Union (EU) countries in the period 2008–2017, paying special attention to greenhouse gas emissions and public environmental expenditures. Methods: The Random Forests methodology was employed, which allows classification of the socioeconomic variables considered in the analysis according to their relative importance to explain health outcomes. Results: Per capita income, the educational level of the population, and the variable AREA (which reflects the subdivision of Europe into four relatively homogeneous areas), followed by the public expenditures on environmental and social protection, are the variables with the highest relevance in explaining life expectancy at birth in Europe over the perip.1 he peusto el correo e inciod 2008–2017. Conclusions: We have identified seven sectors as the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions: Electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply; manufacturing; transportation and storage; agriculture, forestry, and fishing; construction; wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; and mining and quarrying. Therefore, any public intervention related to environmental policy should be aimed at these economic sectors. Furthermore, it will be more effective to focus on public programs with higher relevance to the health status of the population, such as environmental and social protection expenditures

La persona adecuada en el momento adecuado: los miembros del comité de auditoría y la calidad de la información financiera

We analyze some personal characteristics of the members of the audit committee of the Spanish listed firms and the relation between these characteristics and earnings management. We find a non-linear relation with tenure, so that long tenures can initially compromise the directors’ independence but, after a given threshold, longer tenures improve the expertise of the members. Serving in too many boards has a negative influence on the ability of directors to detect earnings management, and higher academic background and more diverse professional background improve the directors’ abilities.En el presente trabajo analizamos la relación entre algunas características personales de los miembros del comité de auditoría de las empresas cotizadas españolas y la gestión del resultado. Nuestros resultados muestran una relación no lineal con la antigüedad en el consejo: mientras que en los primeros estadios una mayor duración puede comprometer la independencia de los consejeros, llega un punto en el que la mayor antigüedad en el comité incrementa su experiencia. Formar parte de un número excesivo de consejos redunda en una menor capacidad de los consejeros para detectar la gestión del resultado. Una formación académica más elevada y una experiencia profesional más diversa contribuyen a mejorar la calidad de la información financiera

Apoyo social percibido en personas trans

Las personas transexuales se encuentran en una situación de discriminación social reflejada en su salud y en la escasa investigación científica. La Teoría del Estrés Minoritario (Meyer, 1995) señala la importancia del apoyo social para el estrés de las minorías sexuales. En este estudio se pretende explorar el apoyo social y sus dimensiones en esta población. Participaron 81 personas, 36 transgénero de la Unidad de Trastornos de Identidad de Género del Principado de Asturias (UTIGPA) y 45 no trans como grupo control. Se aplicó The Mos Social Support Survey (Sherbourne y Stewart, 1991) para medir el apoyo social percibido y un cuestionario con variables sociodemográficas. Los resultados muestran que no existen diferencias en el apoyo social percibido entre ambos grupos. Sin embargo, las variables pareja, edad y situación laboral muestran cambios para la población transexual en algunas dimensiones. Estos hallazgos promueven futuras líneas de investigación que amplíen el conocimiento de este colectivo.Transgender are in a situation of social discrimination reflected in their health and in the scarce scientific research. The Theory of Minority Stress (Meyer, 1995) emphasizes social support for stress of sexual minorities. This study aims to explore social support and its dimensions in this population. 81 people participated, 36 transgender of Unidad de Trastornos de Identidad de Género del Principado de Asturias (UTIGPA) and 45 non-trans as a control group. The Mos Social Support Survey (Sherbourne and Stewart, 1991) was applied to measure the perceived social support and a sociodemographic questionnaire. The results show that there are no differences in perceived social support between both groups. However, variables such as couple, age and work situation show changes for the transsexual population in some dimensions. These findings encourgae future lines of research that expand the knowledge of this group

Una estimación del comercio interregional trimestral de bienes en España mediante técnicas de interpolación temporal

En este artículo se presenta la metodología básica y un análisis inicial de los primeros resultados obtenidos en la estimación del comercio intra e interregional español a nivel trimestral para el periodo 1995.I-2009.II. Partiendo de este objetivo básico, y siguiendo un esquema paralelo al utilizado en la estimación de la base de datos C-intereg sobre comercio de bienes con periodicidad anual (www.c-intereg.es ), se han estimado los correspondientes vectores trimestrales de comercio intra e interregional, emitidos y recibidos por cada Comunidad Autónoma frente al resto de España, tanto en unidades físicas (toneladas) como monetarias (euros). La metodología utilizada se basa en los procedimientos de desagregación e interpolación temporal tanto de tipo univariante (Chow-Lin, 1971) como multivariante (Di Fonzo, 1990, 1994), haciendo uso de un conjunto de indicadores de alta frecuencia, inéditos hasta el momento para este tipo de aplicaciones, relativos a los movimientos intra e interregionales de mercancías en España.Comunidad de Madrid. PS2007/HUM/497Proyecto C-intere

How to avoid order reduction when Lawson methods integrate nonlinear initial boundary value problems

It is well known that Lawson methods suffer from a severe order reduction when integrating initial boundary value problems where the solutions are not periodic in space or do not satisfy enough conditions of annihilation on the boundary. However, in a previous paper, a modification of Lawson quadrature rules has been suggested so that no order reduction turns up when integrating linear problems subject to time-dependent boundary conditions. In this paper, we describe and thoroughly analyse a technique to avoid also order reduction when integrating nonlinear problems. This is very useful because, given any Runge–Kutta method of any classical order, a Lawson method can be constructed associated to it for which the order is conserved.This work was funded by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and Regional Development European Funds through project PGC2018-101443-B-I00 and by Junta de Castilla y León and Feder through projects VA169P20