Quantitative Stability and Optimality Conditions in Convex Semi-Infinite and Infinite Programming

This paper concerns parameterized convex infinite (or semi-infinite) inequality systems whose decision variables run over general infinite-dimensional Banach (resp. finite-dimensional) spaces and that are indexed by an arbitrary fixed set T . Parameter perturbations on the right-hand side of the inequalities are measurable and bounded, and thus the natural parameter space is $l_{\infty}(T)$. Based on advanced variational analysis, we derive a precise formula for computing the exact Lipschitzian bound of the feasible solution map, which involves only the system data, and then show that this exact bound agrees with the coderivative norm of the aforementioned mapping. On one hand, in this way we extend to the convex setting the results of [4] developed in the linear framework under the boundedness assumption on the system coefficients. On the other hand, in the case when the decision space is reflexive, we succeed to remove this boundedness assumption in the general convex case, establishing therefore results new even for linear infinite and semi-infinite systems. The last part of the paper provides verifiable necessary optimality conditions for infinite and semi-infinite programs with convex inequality constraints and general nonsmooth and nonconvex objectives. In this way we extend the corresponding results of [5] obtained for programs with linear infinite inequality constraints

Late vacuum choice and slow roll approximation in gravitational particle production during reheating

In the transition between inflation and reheating, the curvature scalar typically undergoes oscillations which have significant impact on the density of gravitationally produced particles. The commonly used adiabatic vacuum prescription for the extraction of produced particle spectra becomes a non-reliable definition of vacuum in the regimes for which this oscillatory behavior is important. In this work, we study particle production for a scalar field non-minimally coupled to gravity, taking into account the complete dynamics of spacetime during inflation and reheating. We derive an approximation for the solution to the mode equation during the slow-roll of the inflaton and analyze the importance of Ricci scalar oscillations in the resulting spectra. Additionally, we propose a prescription for the vacuum that allows to safely extrapolate the result to the present, given that the test field interacts only gravitationally. Lastly, we calculate the abundance of dark matter this mechanism yields and compare it to observations.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figure

Effectiveness of a program of physical activity in people with serious mental disorder

En el presente estudio se analiza el impacto que ha tenido un Programa de actividad física y deporte en un grupo de 28 personas con Trastorno Mental Grave (TMG). Se realizó una evaluación antes del comienzo del Programa y otra a los cuatro meses, tomando medidas antropométricas, de capacidad física funcional, equilibrio y coordinación, así como del funcionamiento social y las actividades de la vida cotidiana. Los resultados mostraron mejorías estadísticamente significativas en aquellas personas que asistieron a más del 50% de las sesiones en todas las variables antropométricas, y de condición física funcional y cualidades motrices, así como en la Escala de Funcionamiento Personal y Social (PSP).Por otro lado, la asistencia al programa fue alta, manteniéndose en el mismo el 80% de las personas que lo iniciaron. Se discute la relevancia de los resultados y la necesidad de implantar este tipo de intervenciones en el TMGIn this paper the effectiveness of a physical activity and sport program is analyzed in a group of 28 people with Severe Mental Illness (SMI). An assessment was made before the start of the program and again after four months, measuring anthropometric variables, physical functional ability, balance and coordination, and social functioning and activities of daily life. The results showed statistically significant improvements in those who attended more than 50% of the sessions in all anthropometric variables, and functional fitness and motor skills, as well as the Personal and Social Performance Scale (PSP). Moreover, assistance to the program was high, keeping the same 80% of people who started it. The relevance of the results and the need to implement such interventions in the SMI is discusse

Estudio de la biocompatibilidad in vitro de formulaciones acrílicas autocurables portadoras de bisfosfonatos de nueva síntesis

En este trabajo se presenta el estudio de la biocompatibilidad in vitro, empleando cultivos celulares de fibroblastos embrionarios humanos, de tres sistemas acrílicos de liberación controlada de bisfosfonatos (BFs). Estos sistemas, basados en metacrilato de metilo (MMA), metacrilato de vitamina E (MVE) y trietilenglicol dimetacrilato (TEGDMA), han sido diseñados para su aplicación en el tratamiento de enfermedades caracterizadas por una elevada resorción osteoclástica. En su preparación se ha empleado un BP comercializado (alendronato; ALN) y dos de nueva síntesis, pertenecientes a la segunda y tercera generaciones, el ácido 1-hidroxi-2-[4-aminofenil]etano-1,1-difosfónico (APBP) y el ácido 1-hidroxi-2-[3-indolil]etano-1,1-difosfónico (IBP), respectivamente. La citotoxicidad de MVE ha sido notablemente inferior a la medida para TEGDMA. La citotoxicidad de APBP e IBP se ha comparado con la de ALN, obteniéndose unos valores para la concentración IC50, de15,56, 9,86 y 6,25 mmol/l para APBP, ALN e IBP, respectivamente. Los niveles de citotoxicidad liberada han sido superiores para la formulación portadora de ALN, situándose a continuación los cementos cargados con IBP y APBP. Cuando los cultivos se han establecido sobre la superficie de las formulaciones, se han detectado unos niveles de proliferación celular y adhesión superiores para los sistemas de liberación de IBP y APBP, siendo además inferior en estos casos la mortalidad celular.This paper reports the in vitro biocompatibility study, using human embryonic fibroblast cultures, of three acrylic systems for controlled release of bisphosphonates (BFs). These systems, that are based on methyl methacrylate (MMA), vitamin E methacrylate (MVE) and triethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA), have been designed for its application in the treatment of pathologies characterized by a high osteoclastic resorption. A commercial BP (alendronate; ALN) and two novel BPs, belonging to the second and third generations, 1-hydroxy-2-[4-aminophenyl]ethane-1,1-diphosphonic acid (APBP) and 1-hydroxy-2-[3-indolyl]ethane-1,1-diphosphonic acid (IBP), respectively, have been used in their preparation. The cytotoxicity of MVE has been notably lower than that measured for TEGDMA. Cytotoxicity of APBP and IBP was evaluated along with that of ALN, and the following values of the IC50, concentration were obtained for APBP, ALN and IBP respectively: 15.56, 9.86 and 6.25 mmol/l. The cytotoxicity levels obtained from the extracts of the cured systems were higher for the formulation containing ALN, followed by the cements loaded with IBP and APBP. When the cultures were seeded directly on the formulations surface, higher levels of cellular proliferation and adhesion were obtained for the systems containing IBP and APBP, the cellular mortality being also inferior in these cases

Calculation of kinetic parameters βeff and Λ with modified open source Monte Carlo code OpenMC(TD)

This work presents the methodology used to expand the capabilities of the Monte Carlo code OpenMC for the calculation of reactor kinetic parameters: effective delayed neutron fraction βeff and neutron generation time Λ. The modified code, OpenMC(Time-Dependent) or OpenMC(TD), was then used to calculate the effective delayed neutron fraction by using the prompt method, while the neutron generation time was estimated using the pulsed method, fitting Λ to the decay of the neutron population. OpenMC(TD) is intended to serve as an alternative for the estimation of kinetic parameters when licensed codes are not available. The results obtained are compared to experimental data and MCNP calculated values for 18 benchmark configurations.Fil: Romero Barrientos, J.. Comision Chilena de Energia Nuclear; Chile. Universidad de Chile; ChileFil: Marquez Damian, Jose Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentina. European Spallation Source; SueciaFil: Molina, F.. Comision Chilena de Energia Nuclear; Chile. Universidad Andrés Bello; ChileFil: Zambra, M.. Comision Chilena de Energia Nuclear; Chile. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Aguilera, P.. Comision Chilena de Energia Nuclear; Chile. Universidad de Chile; ChileFil: López Usquiano, F.. Comision Chilena de Energia Nuclear; Chile. Universidad de Chile; ChileFil: Parra, B.. Instituto de Física Corpuscular; EspañaFil: Ruiz, A.. Comision Chilena de Energia Nuclear; Chile. Universidad de Chile; Chil

Operational realization of quantum vacuum ambiguities

We provide a reinterpretation of the quantum vacuum ambiguities that one encounters when studying particle creation phenomena due to an external and time-dependent agent. We propose a measurement-motivated understanding: Each way of measuring the number of created particles selects a particular vacuum. This point of view gives a clear and physical meaning to the time evolution of the number of particles produced by the agent as the counts in a specific detector and, at the same time relates commonly used quantization prescriptions to particular measurement setups.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Quantitative Stability of Linear Infinite Inequality Systems under Block Perturbations with Applications to Convex Systems

The original motivation for this paper was to provide an efficient quantitative analysis of convex infinite (or semi-infinite) inequality systems whose decision variables run over general infinite-dimensional (resp. finite-dimensional) Banach spaces and that are indexed by an arbitrary fixed set $J$. Parameter perturbations on the right-hand side of the inequalities are required to be merely bounded, and thus the natural parameter space is $l_{\infty}(J)$. Our basic strategy consists of linearizing the parameterized convex system via splitting convex inequalities into linear ones by using the Fenchel-Legendre conjugate. This approach yields that arbitrary bounded right-hand side perturbations of the convex system turn on constant-by-blocks perturbations in the linearized system. Based on advanced variational analysis, we derive a precise formula for computing the exact Lipschitzian bound of the feasible solution map of block-perturbed linear systems, which involves only the system's data, and then show that this exact bound agrees with the coderivative norm of the aforementioned mapping. In this way we extend to the convex setting the results of [3] developed for arbitrary perturbations with no block structure in the linear framework under the boundedness assumption on the system's coefficients. The latter boundedness assumption is removed in this paper when the decision space is reflexive. The last section provides the aimed application to the convex case

Maternal genetic inheritance of red pericarp in the grain of maize

The diversity of colors in the grain of corn is wide, from whites to blacks and including a continuum of various shades of yellows, pinks, reds, purples and blues. The most abundant commercial colors are yellow and white, however other colors have become more important because of the presence of pigments to which are attributed favorable effects as a food. The pigments are also considered natural barriers of the grain against the invasion of pests and diseases in the production fields. The colors of the grain of corn occur in three different parts of the seed: the cover of the grain or pericarp, derived from the maternal tissue, with a diploid genetic content; the endo-sperm, including the aleurone layers that are cells in the grain immediately below the pericarp with a chromosome content of 3n; and the embryo, with a genetic content of 2n. The red color considered in this study is present in the pericarp ignoring possible effects in other tissues of grain and other organs of the plant. In this study, we used materials with colorless or red pericarp, and white or yellow endosperm; with the purpose of describing the type of inheritance of this character in the grain of corn. The results indicated a maternal genetic inheritance with classical complete dominance of the red color of pericarp over the clear or transparent phenotype, where the red color of the grains on ear is determined by the genotype of the mother grain but not by the seed embryo genotypes, which is characterized by uniformity of grain color of the ear. This type of inheritance could be useful in the development of pigmented varieties of higher food quality for humans

Mitochondrial DNA genetic relationships at the ancient Neolithic site of Tell Halula

The extent of racemization of aspartic acid (Asp) -expressed as D/L ratio- has been used as a marker of biomolecular degradation in ancient remains. However, Asp racemization rate is highly variable, and depends on biochemical and geochemical factors. In this paper we aim to determine to which extent the fraction analyzed and the kind of sample used may influence the D/L Asp ratios. Other factors, such as burial site and sample preservation conditions, are also considered. D/L Asp ratios were obtained in 38 ancient human samples from 30 different individuals in which Real Time PCR quantification and amplification of short mtDNA fragments had been previously achieved. Four samples were taken from bones, 16 from whole teeth and 18 from dentine. In 7 cases whole tooth and dentine fractions from the same individual were analyzed. The samples belonged to 8 archaeological sites from Pre-pottery Neolithic B (PPNB), Cardial Neolithic and Chalcolithic time periods. Results show significant differences between the D/L Asp ratios obtained in dentine and whole tooth fractions from the same tooth and individual, as well as among dentine samples from the same archaeological site and among samples of the same age from different, though nearby, archaeological sites. Ancient DNA (aDNA) could be characterized in the majority of the samples, independently from their racemization values, which suggests that other factors, apart from the sample preservation stage, are more significantly affecting the racemization rate. A generalized use of the Asp racemization ratio as a threshold value for ancient DNA preservation needs to be questioned until further methodological standardization is considered

Calmness of partially perturbed linear systems with an application to the central path

In this paper we develop point-based formulas for the calmness modulus of the feasible set mapping in the context of linear inequality systems with a fixed abstract constraint and (partially) perturbed linear constraints. The case of totally perturbed linear systems was previously analyzed in [Cánovas MJ, López MA, Parra J, et al. Calmness of the feasible set mapping for linear inequality systems. Set-Valued Var Anal. 2014;22:375–389, Section 5]. We point out that the presence of such an abstract constraint yields the current paper to appeal to a notable different methodology with respect to previous works on the calmness modulus in linear programming. The interest of this model comes from the fact that partially perturbed systems naturally appear in many applications. As an illustration, the paper includes an example related to the classical central path construction. In this example we consider a certain feasible set mapping whose calmness modulus provides a measure of the convergence of the central path. Finally, we underline the fact that the expression for the calmness modulus obtained in this paper is (conceptually) implementable as far as it only involves the nominal data.This research has been partially supported by Grant MTM2014-59179-C2-(1,2)-P from MINECO, Spain, and FEDER ‘Una manera de hacer Europa’, European Union