Effects of Lorentz invariance violation on cosmic ray photon emission and gamma ray decay processes

In this work, we use Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) introduced as a generic modification to particle dispersion relations to study some consequences of single photon emission, known as vacuum Cherenkov radiation, and photon decay processes in cosmic and gamma rays. These processes are forbidden in a Lorentz invariant theory but allowed under the hypothesis of LIV. We show that the emission rate have a dependency on the cosmic ray primary mass and the electric charge that could modify the UHECR spectrum. Furthermore, LIV dramatically enhances photon decay into an electro-positron pair above certain energy threshold. This last effect can then be used to set limits to the LIV energy scale from the direct observation of very high energy cosmic photon events by telescopes of gamma-rays.Comment: Proceedings of the 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2017), Busan, Kore

Diseño de investigación de una estrategia inclusiva para personas con problemas de baja visión, dirigida a las empresas ubicadas en la ciudad capital de Guatemala

Identificar los procesos de inclusión laboral de personas en condición de baja visión, en empresas del sector privado de la ciudad Capital, con el fin de fomentar la igualdad en la sociedad guatemalteca, así estimar la cantidad de personas mayores de 16 años diagnosticadas con baja visión y analizar las competencias que puede adquirir una persona con baja visión al llevar un proceso correcto con especialistas en el tema, así mismo desarrollar una estrategia laboral inclusiva

Recurrent inhibition in the cerebral cortex

Neuronal activity can be modulated by endogenous control mechanisms that either facilitate or suppress it. With this idea in mind, we attempted to evaluate and correlate spinal neuronal activity with the amplitude of corticogram (ECoG) event related potentials (ERP) in the presence of nociceptive stimulation in rats. We evaluated the ERP in response to noxious stimuli, endogenous analgesic actions, different frequencies, and heterotopic nociceptive stimulation, as well as in conjunction with recordings from neurons in the spinal cord that are activated by noxious stimuli. Computational tasks enabled us to establish correlations between the amplitude of ERP and neuronal firing of cells in the spinal dorsal horn. Our results show that the ERP amplitude could be modified by previous activity in the cerebral cortex, but the activity in the spinal cord did not change. Previous activity could originate spontaneously or could be driven by sensory stimulation. A recurrent inhibitory cortical action is proposed that could explain the suppression of pain perception during electrical or magnetic transcranial stimulation, as well as during heterotopic stimulation. This study aims to uncover a local recurrent inhibitory cortical action that could modify the sensory information.Postprint (author's final draft

Ruminal ammonia concentration and fermentation kinetics of commercial herbal feed additives with amino acids

The objective of this study was to characterize the chemical composition of rumen fermentation while estimating it’s in vitro protein degradation (from ruminal ammonia concentration) and kinetics regarding two herbal feed plant additives. The tested herbal mixtures were elaborated with Phaseolus mango and Linum usitatissimum, providing lysine (Lys) and Trigonella foenum-graecum and Allium sativa, providing Methionine (Met). They were compared to alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and solvent extracted soybean meal (Glicine max), as standard sources of protein using the in vitro gas production technique modified to estimate N-NH3, recording fermentation kinetics and dry matter digestibility (72 h), in a completely randomized design followed by Tukey test. Ruminal ammonia concentration in the herbal mixtures was lower (P<0.05) than in the standard protein sources, indicating that protein from herbal mixtures could resist ruminal degradation. Herbal additives with Lys or Met showed minimum N-NH3 concentration in the first 4 h of incubation. At 8 h, the concentration was 0.27 and 0.54 mg dL-1 for the herbal products with Lys and Met, significantly lower than solvent extracted soybean meal and alfalfa (1.15 and 2.24 mg dL-1 respectively, P<0.05). Highlights The tested herbal mixture elaborated with Phaseolus mango and Linum usitatissimum, provide bypass Lysine. The tested herbal mixture elaborated with Trigonella foenum-graecum and Allium sativa, provide bypass Methionine. Ruminal ammonia concentration in the herbal mixtures was lower than in the standard protein sources. Protein from herbal mixtures could resist ruminal degradation.The objective of this study was to characterize the chemical composition of rumen fermentation while estimating it’s in vitro protein degradation (from ruminal ammonia concentration) and kinetics regarding two herbal feed plant additives. The tested herbal mixtures were elaborated with Phaseolus mango and Linum usitatissimum, providing lysine (Lys) and Trigonella foenum-graecum and Allium sativa, providing Methionine (Met). They were compared to alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and solvent extracted soybean meal (Glicine max), as standard sources of protein using the in vitro gas production technique modified to estimate N-NH3, recording fermentation kinetics and dry matter digestibility (72 h), in a completely randomized design followed by Tukey test. Ruminal ammonia concentration in the herbal mixtures was lower (P<0.05) than in the standard protein sources, indicating that protein from herbal mixtures could resist ruminal degradation. Herbal additives with Lys or Met showed minimum N-NH3 concentration in the first 4 h of incubation. At 8 h, the concentration was 0.27 and 0.54 mg dL-1 for the herbal products with Lys and Met, significantly lower than solvent extracted soybean meal and alfalfa (1.15 and 2.24 mg dL-1 respectively, P<0.05). Highlights The tested herbal mixture elaborated with Phaseolus mango and Linum usitatissimum, provide bypass Lysine. The tested herbal mixture elaborated with Trigonella foenum-graecum and Allium sativa, provide bypass Methionine. Ruminal ammonia concentration in the herbal mixtures was lower than in the standard protein sources. Protein from herbal mixtures could resist ruminal degradation

Evolución comparada de la industria alimentaria leonesa

[ES] Evolución comparada de la industria alimentaria leones

Design and validation of a scalable, reconfigurable and low-cost structural health monitoring system

Producción CientíficaThis paper presents the design, development and testing of a low-cost Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system based on MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems) triaxial accelerometers. A new control system composed by a myRIO platform, managed by specific LabVIEW software, has been developed. The LabVIEW software also computes the frequency response functions for the subsequent modal analysis. The proposed SHM system was validated by comparing the data measured by this set-up with a conventional SHM system based on piezoelectric accelerometers. After carrying out some validation tests, a high correlation can be appreciated in the behavior of both systems, being possible to conclude that the proposed system is sufficiently accurate and sensitive for operative purposes, apart from being significantly more affordable than the traditional one.Junta de Castilla y León y Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) - (grant VA095P17 and VA228P20

Assessment of pavement deflection under vehicle loads using a 3D-DIC system in the field

This study aims to introduce the use of 3D-digital image correlation (DIC) to the in situ testing of pavements and to support the development of techniques for a rapid evaluation of the conservation status of existing roads. Little research was found on this topic. The passage of a car wheel on an asphalt pavement was adopted as a case study. The DIC measurements were compared to those gathered by contact sensors. From a qualitative point of view, the DIC measurements captured the realistic shape of a deflection basin. From a quantitative point of view, the deflection values provided by the DIC system had a mean error of 0.015 mm and a standard deviation of 0.011 mm. At the moment of highest load, these errors had a mean value and standard deviation of − 0.016 mm and 0.021 mm, respectively. Thus, to improve the accuracy of the system, we propose modifying the camera support, speckle pattern, and control of natural lightWe thank Extraco S.A. for allowing us to perform the test on their company facilities. This work was supported by the Strategic Researcher Cluster BioReDes funded by the Xunta de Galicia (Regional Government of Galicia) under project ref. ED431E 2018/09 and by the Xunta de Galicia under the grant “Financial aid for the consolidation and structure of competitive units of investigation in the universities of the University Galician System (2020-22)” under project ref. ED341B 2016/30. This work was also made possible due to the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), since Dr. Bastos was contracted in the frame of the postdoctoral grant Juan de la Cierva – Formación (FJC2019-039743-I/AEI/10.13039/501100011033)S

Effects of trichothecene production by Trichoderma arundinaceum isolates from bean-field soils on the defense response, growth and development of bean plants (Phaseolus vulgaris)

[EN] The trichothecene toxin-producing fungus Trichoderma arundinaceum has potential as a biological control agent. However, most biocontrol studies have focused only on one strain, IBT 40837. In the current study, three Trichoderma isolates recovered from bean-field soils produced the trichothecene harzianum A (HA) and trichodermol, the latter being an intermediate in the HA biosynthesis. Based on phylogenetic analysis, the three isolates were assigned to the species T. arundinaceum. Their genome sequences had a high degree of similarity to the reference IBT 40837 strain, in terms of total genome size, number of predicted genes, and diversity of putative secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters. HA production by these bean-field isolates conferred significant in vitro antifungal activity against Rhizoctonia solani and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, which are some of the most important bean pathogens. Furthermore, the bean-field isolates stimulated germination of bean seeds and subsequent growth of above ground parts of the bean plant. Transcriptomic analysis of bean plants inoculated with these T. arundinaceum bean-field soil isolates indicated that HA production significantly affected expression of plant defense-related genes; this effect was particularly significant in the expression of chitinase-encoding genes. Together, these results indicate that Trichoderma species producing non-phytotoxic trichothecenes can induce defenses in plants without negatively affecting germination and developmentSIThis work is a part of the Spanish I+D+i Grants RTI2018-099600-B-I00 and PID2021-123874OB-I00, financed by the MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033. GC-H was awarded with a Grant from the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport (Spain) (Grant number FPU15/04681). NM-R was awarded with a Grant from the Junta de Castilla y León (Spain) (ORDEN EDU/875/2021, July 13th, 2021

Charge and spin excitations of insulating lamellar copper oxides

A consistent description of low-energy charge and spin responses of the insulating Sr_2CuO_2Cl_2 lamellar system is found in the framework of a one-band Hubbard model which besides $U$ includes hoppings up to 3^{rd} nearest-neighbors. By combining mean-field calculations, exact diagonalization (ED) results, and Quantum Monte Carlo simulations (QMC), we analyze both charge and spin degrees of freedom responses as observed by optical conductivity, ARPES, Raman and inelastic neutron scattering experiments. Within this effective model, long-range hopping processes flatten the quasiparticle band around $(0,\pi)$. We calculate also the non-resonant A_{1g} and B_{1g} Raman profiles and show that the latter is composed by two main features, which are attributed to 2- and 4-magnon scattering.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, To be published in PRB (july

Size and material of model parasitic eggs affect the rejection response of Western Bonelli's Warbler: Phylloscopus bonelli

Given the high costs of brood parasitism, avian hosts have adopted different defences to counteract parasites by ejecting the foreign egg or by deserting the parasitized nest. These responses depend mainly on the relative size of the host compared with the parasitic egg. Small hosts must deal with an egg considerably larger than their own, so nest desertion becomes the only possible method of egg rejection in these cases. The use of artificial model eggs made of hard material in egg-recognition experiments has been criticized because hard eggs underestimate the frequency of egg ejection. However, no available studies have investigated the effect of softer material. Here, we test the potential effect of size of dummy parasitic eggs in relation to egg-rejection behaviour (egg ejection and nest desertion rates) in Western Bonelli's Warbler Phylloscopus bonelli, a small host, using plasticine non-mimetic eggs of three different sizes. In addition, we tested the potential effect of material, comparing ejection and desertion responses between real and plasticine eggs. As predicted, small eggs were always ejected, whereas nest desertion occurred more frequently with large eggs, thus suggesting that nest desertion occurs because of the constraints imposed by the large eggs. We found that plasticine may misrepresent the responses to experimental parasitism, at least in small host species, because this material facilitates egg ejection, provoking a decrease in nest desertion rate. Thus, particular caution is needed in the interpretation of the results in egg-rejection experiments performed using dummy eggs made of soft materials