Todo se rompe

"Everything breaks" is a fantasy and psychological story. It narrates part of the life of a family disrupted by the disappearance of Mariana, one of two sisters, for nine days. The story is told from the point of view of Berenice, the younger sister, and the mother: in the confluence of their voices, in the exposure of their memories, the weight that a misfortune can put on domestic life and modify their reality."Todo se rompe" es un cuento de corte fantástico y psicológico. En él se narra parte de la vida de una familia trastocada por la desaparición de Mariana, una de dos hermanas, durante nueve días. La historia se cuenta desde el punto de vista de Berenice, la hermana menor, y la madre: en la confluencia de sus voces, en la exposición de sus recuerdos, se advierte el peso que una desgracia puede poner sobre la vida doméstica y modificar su realidad.&nbsp

Caracterización de la calidad tecnológica y nutricional, de variedades mejoradas y criollas de frijol negro tropical (Phaseolus vulgaris L.).

En los Campos Experimentales Cotaxtla y La Posta se caracterizó la calidad tecnológica y nutricional de variedades mejoradas de frijol negro tropical, liberadas por el INIFAP en el trópico húmedo: Jamapa, Negro Huasteco-81, Negro Veracruz, Negro Cotaxtla- 91, Negro Tacaná y dos criollos regionales: “Arbolito” y “Palito”. Se efectuó la cuantificación de humedad (%), peso (g), tamaño (mL), testa (%), absorción de agua (%), tiempo de cocción (min) (métodos de Mattson y Sensorial, índice de cocción (%), espesor del caldo, proteína (%), fibra cruda (%), grasa (%), carbohidratos solubles (%), triptofano (g/100 g de proteína), germinación (%) micoflora (%). Las variedades mejoradas presentaron buena calidad tecnológica; se caracterizaron como materiales de grano pequeño, blandos y suaves; tuvieron tiempos de cocción muy semejantes, un índice de tiempo de cocción > 47 %, característico de granos recién cosechados; proporcionaron caldo ralo y mostraron buena calidad nutricional, sobresalieron Negro Veracruz con el mayor contenido de proteína (27 %) y Negro Tacana con la mejor concentración de triptofano (1,27 g/100 g de proteína). En la calidad como semilla el mejor fue Negro Veracruz, con un 99 % de germinación y el Negro Cotaxtla-91 con solo 10 % de micoflora

Exploring the effect of soil management intensity on taxonomic and functional diversity of ants in Mediterranean olive groves

Agricultural intensification is one of the major drivers behind biodiversity loss in Mediterranean agroecosystems. The intensification of olive groves as monoculture in large areas of the southern Spain has had important effects on biodiversity and ecological processes. In the present study, we explore the olive grove soil management practices effects on taxonomic and functional diversity of ants along a gradient of soil management intensity. We predict that both species richness and functional diversity decrease with an increasing intensification of olive grove soil management. We used pitfall traps to sample ants in 24 olive groves subject to different soil management regimes in southern Spain, and then compared ant species richness and functional diversity (FD). Nonploughed organic farms showed higher species richness. Ploughing was observed to be the soil management practice with the greatest negative effect on ant species richness. Three functional traits significantly responded to soil management intensity, with tibia length and head width showing a higher FD in organic farms and diet showing a lower FD in ploughed farms. The results of the present study highlight the negative effects of olive grove ploughing on ant biodiversity and provide novel evidence of the nonploughing organic farming role with respect to maintaining higher levels of ant functional diversityFinancial support was received from the Spanish Ministryof Economy and Competitiveness (Project CGL2014-53782-P

Propiedades estructurales, electrónicas y magnéticas de la multicapa MnN/GaN: un estudio ab initio

En este trabajo se realizan cálculos de primeros principios para investigar la estabilidad estructural, las propiedades estructurales, electrónicas y magnéticas de la multicapa 1x1 MnN/GaN. Los cálculos fueron realizados utilizando el método ondas planas aumentadas y linealizadas FP-LAPW, como está implementado en el código wien2k. Se encontró que la fase más favorable de cristalización para la multicapa es la hexagonal tipo wurtzita, con posibilidad de adoptar, mediante presión externa, la fase NaCl; así mismo, pudo verse que la presión de transición es ~ 9,4 GPa. A partir de la densidad de estados, se observó que la multicapa posee un comportamiento metálico y un momento magnético de 4 magnetones de bohr/ celda. Por lo tanto, la multicapa se puede utilizar como un posible contacto metal/semiconductor y en espintrónica

Polyethylene Nail Brace for Ingrown Toenails Treatment: A Randomized Clinical Trial

[Abstract] Background: Onychocryptosis is one of the most prevailing onychopathies and one of the usual reasons for visiting podiatry clinics. In this research, we aim to evaluate the e ectiveness of a procedure of nail reeducation technique via a strip of polyethylene in subjects with stage I or IIa onychocryptosis, in which pathological toenail curves are present. Methods: This research was a randomized clinical trial (ACTRN12615000834550). The sample was made up of 94 cases of stage I or IIa onychocryptosis, according to the Mozena classification. Briefly, 46 cases were treated with the combination of a spicule technique and nail brace with a polyethylene plastic strip, and 48 were only treated with the spicule technique. Results: The combination of the spicule technique and the nail brace technique with a strip of polyethylene had a significantly lower recurrence rate compared to that achieved with just the spicule technique, twelve months after the beginning of the study (N.S. = 0.000 for = 0.05). The change in the nail width achieved with the nail brace technique, twelve months after the beginning of the study, was statistically significant (N.S. = 0.000 for = 0.05). Conclusions: The recurrence rate of the spicule technique alone was significantly higher than the combined technique of spicule with nail brace. A nail brace with a strip of polyethylene reduces the recurrence rate of onychocryptosis

Estudio por primeros principios de las propiedades estructurales y electrónicas de la multicapa CrN/GaN

In this work we perform first-principles calculations to investigate the structural and electronic properties of the 1x1 CrN/GaN multilayer. The calculations were executed in zincblende and wurtzite phase, since they are the ground states of chromium nitride CrN and gallium nitride GaN, respectively. However, we study the stability of the multilayer in the NaCl phase, in order to predict possible phase transitions. We found that the most favorable phase for the multilayer is the hexagonal wurtzite type, with possibility of passing to the NaCl phase by applying an external pressure. Our calculations indicate that the pressure of transition is 13,5 GPa. From the density of states, we found that the multilayer present a metallic behavior produced by the hybrid orbitals d-Cr and N-p that cross level Fermi.En este trabajo realizamos cálculos de primeros principios para investigar las propiedades estructurales y electrónicas de la multicapa 1x1 CrN / GaN. Los cálculos se ejecutaron en fase de zincblende y wurtzita, ya que son los estados fundamentales del nitruro de cromo CrN y el nitruro de galio GaN, respectivamente. Sin embargo, estudiamos la estabilidad de la multicapa en la fase de NaCl, para predecir posibles transiciones de fase. Descubrimos que la fase más favorable para la multicapa es el tipo de wurtzita hexagonal, con posibilidad de pasar a la fase de NaCl aplicando una presión externa. Nuestros cálculos indican que la presión de transición es de 13,5 GPa. A partir de la densidad de estados, encontramos que la multicapa presenta un comportamiento metálico producido por los orbitales híbridos d-Cr y N-p que cruzan el nivel de Fermi

High Efficiency Power Amplifier Based on Envelope Elimination and Restoration Technique

Due to complex envelope and phase modulation employed in modern transmitters it is necessary to use power amplifiers that have high linearity. Linear power amplifiers (classes A, B and AB) are commonly used, but they suffer from low efficiency especially if the transmitted signal has high peak to average power ratio (PAPR). Kahn's technique based on envelope elimination and restoration (EER) is based on idea that high efficiency power supply (envelope amplifier) could be used to modulate the envelope of high efficient non linear power amplifiers (classes D or E). This paper presents solutions for power amplifier that performs envelope modulation and class E amplifier that is used as a non linear amplifier. The envelope amplifier is implemented as a multilevel converter in series with linear regulator and can provide up to 100 W of instantaneous power and reproduce 2 MHz sine wave. The implemented Class E amplifier can operate at 120 MHz with efficiency near to 85%. The envelope amplifier and class E amplifier have been integrated and efficiency and linearity of the implemented transmitter has been measured and presente

Adaptive threshold PCA for fault detection and isolation

Fault diagnosis is an important issue in industrial processes to avoid economic losses, process damage, and to guarantee safe working conditions for the operators. For high scale industrial processes the data-driven based methods are the best solution for process monitoring and fault diagnosis. Thus, in this paper, the principal component analysis is shown to detect and isolate faults. Also, a dynamic threshold is implemented to avoid false alarms because incipient faults are difficult to be detected. As a case of study, the Tennessee Eastman (TE) process is used to apply this strategy because the interaction among five units with internal control loops makes difficult to have an approached model. As results are shown the detection times, for cases where were analyzed incipient faults, the time required for fault detection must be improved, in this work, an adaptive threshold was used to reduce the false alarms but it also increases the detection times. It was concluded that the Q chart gave a better result for fault detection; the isolation times were similar to the detection ones. Two incipient faults could not be detected, the fault detection rate was similar to the shown in literature, but the detection times were better in 35% of the cases, unfortunately for four faults the detection times were bigger than the reported in other papers. It is proposed to help this method with independent component analysis due it is not guaranteed to have a Gaussian distribution in the samples

Hardening of cobalt ferrite nanoparticles by local crystal strain release: implications for rare earth free magnets

In this work, we demonstrate that the reduction of the local internal stress by a low-temperature solvent-mediated thermal treatment is an effective post-treatment tool for magnetic hardening of chemically synthesized nanoparticles. As a case study, we used nonstoichiometric cobalt ferrite particles of an average size of 32(8) nm synthesized by thermal decomposition, which were further subjected to solvent-mediated annealing at variable temperatures between 150 and 320 °C in an inert atmosphere. The postsynthesis treatment produces a 50% increase of the coercive field, without affecting neither the remanence ratio nor the spontaneous magnetization. As a consequence, the energy product and the magnetic energy storage capability, key features for applications as permanent magnets and magnetic hyperthermia, can be increased by ca. 70%. A deep structural, morphological, chemical, and magnetic characterization reveals that the mechanism governing the coercive field improvement is the reduction of the concomitant internal stresses induced by the low-temperature annealing postsynthesis treatment. Furthermore, we show that the medium where the mild annealing process occurs is essential to control the final properties of the nanoparticles because the classical annealing procedure (T > 350 °C) performed on a dried powder does not allow the release of the lattice stress, leading to the reduction of the initial coercive field. The strategy here proposed, therefore, constitutes a method to improve the magnetic properties of nanoparticles, which can be particularly appealing for those materials, as is the case of cobalt ferrite, currently investigated as building blocks for the development of rare-earth free permanent magnets.This work was supported by EU-H2020 AMPHIBIAN Project (Grant no. 720853). A.L.O. acknowledges support from the Universidad Pública de Navarra (Grant no. PJUPNA2020). Open access funding provided by Universidad Pública de Navarra