OPserver: interactive online-computations of opacities and radiative accelerations

Codes to compute mean opacities and radiative accelerations for arbitrary chemical mixtures using the Opacity Project recently revised data have been restructured in a client--server architecture and transcribed as a subroutine library. This implementation increases efficiency in stellar modelling where element stratification due to diffusion processes is depth dependent, and thus requires repeated fast opacity reestimates. Three user modes are provided to fit different computing environments, namely a web browser, a local workstation and a distributed grid.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Las tobas/travertinos del barranco de Calabozo: Un ejemplo de construcción rápida de un edificio carbonático alimentado por una tubería de regadío

El barranco de Calabozo, en la Isla de Gran Canaria, muestra como rasgo excepcional la presencia de un edificio tobáceo/travertínico alimentado por una tubería de un sistema de regadío. La tubería se abasteció de pozos cuyas aguas son ricas en gases de origen volcánico y tienen temperaturas que alcanzan los 31ºC. En estas condiciones el agua se mineraliza con rapidez, enriqueciéndose en HCO3- y CO32-. Cuando sale de la tubería se desgasifica rápidamente (pierde el CO2) precipitando el carbonato que forma el edificio carbonático. El edificio del barranco de Calabozo es un edificio bioconstruido colgante, formado por: a) canal abastecedor (la tubería), b) pendiente c) barreras o cascadas y 4) pozas. El edificio funcionó escasas décadas y su tasa de crecimiento fue muy rápida. Esto explicaría los tres aspectos característicos de este edificio: 1) las barreras son bioconstrucciones de macrofitas, 2) las facies cristalinas gruesas son dominantes y responden a un desequilibrio fuerte por pérdida rápida de CO2 y 3) se observan rasgos diagéneticos a pesar de lo reciente que es el edificio. Las macrofitas ejercieron un papel de soporte para los precipitados inorgánicos, pero los microorganismos también jugaron un papel importante en la precipitación de las microfacies micríticas

An Interpretation of Article 24 of the Constitution of Japan: Reconsidering the Principle of \u27\u27Gender Equality\u27\u27 from the Perspective of \u27\u27the Dilemma of Difference\u27\u27

This paper presents a novel methodology to calculate cation diffusion coefficients and activation energies in cubic Y2O3–ZrO2 by Molecular Dynamics. The calculation is based upon modulating the interaction potential to promote cation mobility within the lattice. The technique was calibrated by measuring static properties and oxygen self-diffusion characteristics, and then applied to cation diffusion. The respective activation energies and diffusion coefficients agree well with experimental findings. Preliminary results about grain boundary cation diffusion are presented for the first time as a proof of the potentiality of the procedureMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación MAT2009-14351-C02-01, MAT2009-14351-C02-02Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional y Desarrollo 53687

Role of Mitochondrial Complex IV in Age-Dependent Obesity

Aging is associated with progressive white adipose tissue (WAT) enlargement initiated early in life, but the molecular mechanisms involved remain unknown. Here we show that mitochondrial complex IV (CIV) activity and assembly are already repressed in white adipocytes of middle-aged mice and involve a HIF1A-dependent decline of essential CIV components such as COX5B. At the molecular level, HIF1A binds to the Cox5b proximal promoter and represses its expression. Silencing of Cox5b decreased fatty acid oxidation and promoted intracellular lipid accumulation. Moreover, local in vivo Cox5b silencing in WAT of young mice increased the size of adipocytes, whereas restoration of COX5B expression in aging mice counteracted adipocyte enlargement. An age-dependent reduction in COX5B gene expression was also found in human visceral adipose tissue. Collectively, our findings establish a pivotal role for CIV dysfunction in progressive white adipocyte enlargement during aging, which can be restored to alleviate age-dependent WAT expansion

Overview of IFMIF-DONES diagnostics: Requirements and techniques

The IFMIF-DONES Facility is a unique first-class scientific infrastructure whose construction is foreseen in Granada, Spain, in the coming years. Strong integration efforts are being made at the current project phase aiming at harmonizing the ongoing design of the different and complex Systems of the facility. The consolidation of the Diagnostics and Instrumentation, transversal across many of them, is a key element of this purpose. A top-down strategy is proposed for a systematic Diagnostics Review and Requirement definition, putting emphasis in the one-of-a-kind instruments necessary by the operational particularities of some of the Systems, as well as to the harsh environment that they shall survive. In addition, other transversal aspects such as the ones related to Safety and Machine Protection and their respective requirements shall be also considered. The goal is therefore to advance further and solidly in the respective designs, identify problems in advance, and steer the Diagnostics development and validation campaigns that will be required. The present work provides an overview of this integration strategy as well as a description of some of the most challenging Diagnostics and Instruments within the facility, including several proposed techniques currently under study

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

Nuclear Star Formation Activity and Black Hole Accretion in Nearby Seyfert Galaxies

Recent theoretical and observational works indicate the presence of a correlation between the star-formation rate (SFR) and active galactic nucleus (AGN) luminosity (and, therefore, the black hole accretion rate, Ṁ_(BH) of Seyfert galaxies. This suggests a physical connection between the gas-forming stars on kpc scales and the gas on sub-pc scales that is feeding the black hole. We compiled the largest sample of Seyfert galaxies to date with high angular resolution (~0.''4-0.''8) mid-infrared (8-13 μm) spectroscopy. The sample includes 29 Seyfert galaxies drawn from the AGN Revised Shapley-Ames catalog. At a median distance of 33 Mpc, our data allow us to probe nuclear regions on scales of ~65 pc (median value). We found no general evidence of suppression of the 11.3 μm polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission in the vicinity of these AGN, and we used this feature as a proxy for the SFR. We detected the 11.3 μm PAH feature in the nuclear spectra of 45% of our sample. The derived nuclear SFRs are, on average, five times lower than those measured in circumnuclear regions of 600 pc in size (median value). However, the projected nuclear SFR densities (median value of 22 M_☉ yr^(–1) kpc^(–2)) are a factor of 20 higher than those measured on circumnuclear scales. This indicates that the SF activity per unit area in the central ~65 pc region of Seyfert galaxies is much higher than at larger distances from their nuclei. We studied the connection between the nuclear SFR and Ṁ_(BH) and showed that numerical simulations reproduce our observed relation fairly well