Study of transfer reactions induced by a 16C beam

Recent experiments have evidenced the existence of new nuclear shell gaps at N=14 and N=16 in neutron-rich oxygen isotopes associated with the vanishing of the N=20 shell gap. However, in the neutron-rich carbon isotopes, the extent to which these gaps persist is unclear. In an effort to answer this question we have attempted to probe the low-lying level structure of 17C using the (d,p) transfer reaction to locate the single-particle orbitals involved in the formation of the N=14 and N=16 shell gaps. The experiment was carried out at the GANIL facility. A 16C beam at 17.2 AMeV produced by fragmentation was used to bombard a CD2 target. The light ejectiles were detected using the TIARA silicon strip array while a Si-Si-CsI telescope was placed at zero degrees to identify beam-like residues. In addition, four HPGe-EXOGAM clover detectors were used to measure the gamma-rays arising from 17C bound excited states. The measured angular distributions confirm the spin and parity assignments of 3/2+, 1/2+ and 5/2+ for the ground and the first and second excited states located at 217 keV and 335 keV respectively. The spectroscopic factors deduced for these excited states indicate a large single particle strength, in agreement with shell model calculations. With a strong l = 0 valence neutron component and a low separation energy, the first excited state of 17C appears as a good one-neutron halo candidate

Modeling non-thermal emission from stellar bow shocks

Runaway O- and early B-type stars passing throughout the interstellar medium at supersonic velocities and characterized by strong stellar winds may produce bow shocks that can serve as particle acceleration sites. Previous theoretical models predict the production of high energy photons by non-thermal radiative processes, but their efficiency is still debated. We aim to test and explain the possibility of emission from the bow shocks formed by runaway stars traveling through the interstellar medium by using previous theoretical models. We apply our model to AE Aurigae, the first reported star with an X-ray detected bow shock, to BD+43 3654, in which the observations failed in detecting high energy emission, and to the transition phase of a supergiant star in the late stages of its life.From our analysis, we confirm that the X-ray emission from the bow shock produced by AE Aurigae can be explained by inverse Compton processes involving the infrared photons of the heated dust. We also predict low high energy flux emission from the bow shock produced by BD+43 3654, and the possibility of high energy emission from the bow shock formed by a supergiant star during the transition phase from blue to red supergiant.Bow shock formed by different type of runaway stars are revealed as a new possible source of high energy photons in our neighbourhood

The Value of Transfer of Knowledge in Bridging the Gender Gap in STEM

This article belongs to the Special Issue Co-education and Sustainability in Higher Education[Abstract] Spanish researchers’ recent evaluations regarding the transfer of knowledge have shown that activities that could help close the gender gap in STEM areas are penalized upon evaluation. The results were very disappointing and, upon inspection, could lead readers to reach certain conclusions: first, Spanish researchers transfer research to society in a mediocre way; second, female researchers are even less capable of transferring knowledge in a profitable, beneficial way; and third, activities without a high economic impact for either society or research institutions are not promoted and do not boost the prestige of researchers in this research area. With the help of an ad hoc questionnaire responded to by 513 researchers (both male and female), we examined the causes of the low scores received by female researchers and whether transfer of knowledge activities focused on promoting STEM among female students end up penalizing the female researchers dedicated to those activities. This issue is compounded by the problem of the low visibility of female role models for young female students. The conscientious analysis of the results of the questionnaire may help to improve the fairness of future application rounds, avoiding subsequent disastrous results and encouraging researchers and administrators to work toward fostering an equal society, even if no economic value is directly derived from female-led researc

Warm molecular gas temperature distribution in six local infrared bright Seyfert galaxies

We simultaneously analyze the spectral line energy distributions (SLEDs) of CO and H2 of six local luminous infrared (IR) Seyfert galaxies. For the CO SLEDs, we used new Herschel/SPIRE FTS data (from J=4-3 to J=13-12) and ground-based observations for the lower-J CO transitions. The H2 SLEDs were constructed using archival mid-IR Spitzer/IRS and near-IR VLT/SINFONI data for the rotational and ro-vibrational H2 transitions, respectively. In total, the SLEDs contain 26 transitions with upper level energies between 5 and 15000 K. A single, constant density, model (n$_{H_2}$ ~ 10$^{4.5-6}$ cm$^{-3}$) with a broken power-law temperature distribution reproduces well both the CO and H2 SLEDs. The power-law indices are $\beta_1$ ~ 1-3 for warm molecular gas (20 K < T 100 K). We show that the steeper temperature distribution (higher $\beta$) for hot molecular gas can be explained by shocks and photodissociation region (PDR) models, however, the exact $\beta$ values are not reproduced by PDR or shock models alone and a combination of both is needed. We find that the three major mergers among our targets have shallower temperature distributions for warm molecular gas than the other three spiral galaxies. This can be explained by a higher relative contribution of shock excitation, with respect to PDR excitation, for the warm molecular gas in these mergers. For only one of the mergers, IRASF 05189-2524, the shallower H2 temperature distribution differs from that of the spiral galaxies. The presence of a bright active galactic nucleus in this source might explain the warmer molecular gas observed.Comment: A&A in press; 15 pages, 7 figures. Fixed several typo

Distributed AOA-based source positioning in NLOS with sensor networks

©2016 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.This paper focuses on the problem of positioning a source using angle-of-arrival measurements taken by a wireless sensor network in which some of the nodes experience non lineof-sight (LOS) propagation conditions. In order to mitigate the errors induced by the nodes in NLOS, we derive an algorithm that combines the expectation-maximization algorithm with a weighted least-squares estimation of the source position so that the nodes in NLOS are eventually identified and discarded. Moreover, a distributed version of this algorithm based on a diffusion strategy that iteratively refines the position estimate while driving the network to a consensus is presented.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

The fonds classification schedule of the Historical Provincial Archives: a new proposal

[Resumen] La primera propuesta de normalización para elaborar los cuadros de organización de fondos de los Archivos Históricos Provinciales fue presentada en 1980, y revisada en 1994. Pero, llegados a 2011, nos parece preciso reflexionar nuevamente sobre las necesidades de organización de estos centros, tomando en consideración el gran volumen de los documentos custodiados, los retos de la identificación y organización de fondos, y las necesidades de consulta por los usuarios. Nos parece evidente que es preciso incorporar a la praxis archivística nuevos criterios de clasificación, estrictamente funcionales, tomando como referencia no sólo la legislación de creación/reordenación de unidades administrativas, sino otros documentos organizativos de las administraciones, que permitiesen mantener criterios más estables en referencia a las unidades productoras de documentos. Además, no podemos olvidar las nuevas herramientas con que cuenta el archivero, (ISAD(G), ISAAR(CPF), ISDF, ISDIAH), que van a permitirnos incorporar estructuradamente datos no sólo descriptivos de los documentos, sino también relativos a los productores, a sus funciones, a los centros custodios, etc. En esta línea, presentamos una propuesta de cuadro de clasificación teórico que toma como base para la incorporación a la clasificación de fondos la estructura presupuestaria funcional de que se dotan a sí mismas las administraciones, tanto del Estado como la de la Comunidad Autónoma, en su caso, entendiendo que dota de estabilidad a la propia clasificación, y que nos va a permitir establecer criterios organizativos con vocación de permanencia, facilitándonos, además, una mayor coherencia y continuidad en la información.[Abstract] The first proposal to regulate the classification schedule of the Historical Provincial Archives in Spain was presented in 1980 and later reviewed in 1994. Now, in 2011, it seems necessary to reconsider the organisation of these centres taking into account the big amount of documents, the challenges of identification and organisation of fonds, and the requirements needed by users for consultation. It is clear that strictly, functional, new criteria must be added to the archival praxis. To achieve this, the reference source will be not only the legislation on creation and regulation of the agencies but also other documents related to their management, which will allow the producers of records to maintain more permanent criteria. On the other hand, we can?t ignore the new tools (ISAD (G), ISAAR (CPF), ISDF, ISDIAH) that give the archivist the possibility to include not only descriptive data of the records but also those related to the producers, their functions, the centres of keeping, etc. Following this procedure, we present a new proposal of a theoretical classification schedule based on the functional budgetary structure, provided either by the State or the Autonomous Communities, in order to add the fonds classification. On the whole, the own classification will become more steady allowing to establish more permanent criteria as well as providing more coherence and continuity in the information

A geo-data collection strategy to assess housing in its social, environmental, and spatial aspects

Blocks of flats are the most abundant built element in many cities and their quality is an important issue. Undergraduate students often occupy these accommodations and this group describes a wide range of housing situations that makes it possible to assess their quality. This research aims to describe the data collection strategy in an ongoing research project in the city of A Coruña (Spain), oriented towards assessing the ordinary blocks of flats where the students live (shared flats, apartments). The method uses several sources (a questionnaire, cartographic viewers, the cadastre, and municipal historical archives) and a sophisticated strategy to be non-intrusive, efficient, and user-friendly. This information would allow an understanding of both students' changes of residence and their locations within the city. Formal methods are applied to estimate ordinary interior designs based on external configurations and consequently verify them with users and public archives. This holistic strategy creates a georeferenced database by adopting efficient procedures, thus reducing user inquiries. The case of A Coruña confirms the variability of housing conditions and the complex phenomena involved, including possible correlations between housing quality and economic/social parameters, which can be studied with the developed database

Transparency Policies in European Public Broadcasters: Sustainability, Digitalisation and Fact-Checking

Over the last few years, European public broadcasters have promoted the concept of public service media as one of their main values. To this end, transparency policies have been implemented as a mechanism of corporate projection by strengthening their role as an essential service. The objective of this article is to ascertain the existence of this type of policies among European public broadcasters. To this end, a nominal group was made with 24 experts who were surveyed, thus generating new indicators of transparency and accountability strategies around sustainability and digitalization. The contents of the websites of RTVE (Spain), RTP (Portugal), France TV (France), RAI (Italy), BBC (UK), RTÉ (Ireland), ZDF (Germany), VRT (Belgium), and SVT (Sweden) were also analyzed, paying attention to such indicators and strategies. The main results include the identification of differences on the basis of the ideal models described by Hallin and Mancini; a commitment to credibility (fact-checking) to the detriment of diversity of opinions; and a connection between the political system and the media system, which, preliminarily, determines the level of transparency of these public entitiesThe results of this research are part of the work of the “Equipo de Investigaciones Políticas” (USC). It is also part of the project “Nuevos valores, gobernanza, financiación y servicios audiovisuales públicos para la sociedad de Internet: contrastes europeos y españoles” (2019–2021) financed by the Spanish Ministry of Innovation and Universities (RTI2018-096065-B-I00)S