"Élites intelectuales y modelos colectivos. Mundo Ibérico (XVI-XIX)" [Reseña]

Reseña de Ménica Quijada - Jesús Bustamante (eds.), "Élites intelectuales y modelos colectivos. Mundo Ibérico (XVI-XIX)", Colección Tierra Nueva e Cielo Nuevo, n° 45, Madrid: CSIC, 2002, 390 págs. ISBN: 84-00-08090-

Sánchez Aguirreolea, Daniel, El bandolero y la frontera, Un caso significativo: Navarra, Siglos XVI-XVIII, Madrid, Iberoamericana-Vervuert, 2006, 372 pp. ISBN: 84-8489-203-4. [RECENSIÓN]

Under the artificial constraints of strict scrutiny, however, the courts are free to veto the government\u27s choice of more effective, race-conscious means. The Supreme Court\u27s unfortunate and ill-conceived adoption of strict scrutiny as the constitutional standard for reviewing race-conscious affirmative action should be reconsidered for several reasons. This Article examines those reasons

Optical performance of the JWST MIRI flight model: characterization of the point spread function at high-resolution

The Mid Infra Red Instrument (MIRI) is one of the four instruments onboard the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), providing imaging, coronagraphy and spectroscopy over the 5-28 microns band. To verify the optical performance of the instrument, extensive tests were performed at CEA on the flight model (FM) of the Mid-InfraRed IMager (MIRIM) at cryogenic temperatures and in the infrared. This paper reports on the point spread function (PSF) measurements at 5.6 microns, the shortest operating wavelength for imaging. At 5.6 microns the PSF is not Nyquist-sampled, so we use am original technique that combines a microscanning measurement strategy with a deconvolution algorithm to obtain an over-resolved MIRIM PSF. The microscanning consists in a sub-pixel scan of a point source on the focal plane. A data inversion method is used to reconstruct PSF images that are over-resolved by a factor of 7 compared to the native resolution of MIRI. We show that the FWHM of the high-resolution PSFs were 5-10% wider than that obtained with Zemax simulations. The main cause was identified as an out-of-specification tilt of the M4 mirror. After correction, two additional test campaigns were carried out, and we show that the shape of the PSF is conform to expectations. The FWHM of the PSFs are 0.18-0.20 arcsec, in agreement with simulations. 56.1-59.2% of the total encircled energy (normalized to a 5 arcsec radius) is contained within the first dark Airy ring, over the whole field of view. At longer wavelengths (7.7-25.5 microns), this percentage is 57-68%. MIRIM is thus compliant with the optical quality requirements. This characterization of the MIRIM PSF, as well as the deconvolution method presented here, are of particular importance, not only for the verification of the optical quality and the MIRI calibration, but also for scientific applications.Comment: 13 pages, submitted to SPIE Proceedings vol. 7731, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wav

Status of Underground Radioactivity Measurements in HADES

The IRMM (Institute for Reference materials and Measurements) performs ultra low-level gamma-ray spectrometry at a depth of 225 m in the underground laboratory HADES. The facility currently houses 7 HPGe-detectors that are built and shielded using specially selected radiopure materials. The sandclay overburden of about 500 m water equivalent assures a muon flux reduction factor of about 5000, with subsequent reduction of the background of the detectors, which makes it possible to obtain detection limits close to 100 µBq for certain radionuclides. This paper describes the aim of the IRMM activities in the HADES laboratory, the equipment and the measurement program and gives examples of radiopurity measurements carried out in order to develop better low-level measurements.JRC.DG.D.5-Nuclear physic

Structural and functional findings in patients with moderate diabetic retinopathy

Purpose: To evaluate structural and functional ocular changes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) and moderate diabetic retinopathy (DR) without apparent diabetic macular edema (DME) assessed by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and microperimetry. Methods: This was a single-center cross-sectional descriptive study for which 75 healthy controls and 48 DM2 patients with moderate DR were included after applying exclusion criteria (one eye per patient was included). All eyes underwent a complete ophthalmic examination (axial length, macular imaging with swept-source OCT, and MAIA microperimetry). Macular thicknesses, ganglion cell complex (GCC) thicknesses, and central retinal sensitivity were compared between groups, and the relationships between the OCT and microperimetry parameters were evaluated. Results: Macular thickness was similar in both groups (242.17 ± 35.0 in the DM2 group vs 260.64 ± 73.9 in the control group). There was a diminution in the parafoveal area thickness in the DM2 group in the GCC complex. Retinal sensitivity was reduced in all sectors in the DM2 group. The central global value was 24.01 ± 5.7 in the DM2 group and 27.31 ± 2.7 in the control group (p < 0.001). Macular integrity was 80.89 ± 26.4 vs 64.70 ± 28.3 (p < 0.001) and total mean threshold was 23.90 ± 4.9 vs 26.48 ± 2.6 (p < 0.001) in the DM2 and control group, respectively. Moderate correlations were detected between the central sector of MAIA microperimetry and retina total central thickness (- 0.347; p = 0.0035). Age, visual acuity, and hemoglobin A1c levels also correlated with retinal sensitivity. Conclusion: Macular GCC thickness and central retinal sensitivity were reduced in patients with moderate DR without DME, suggesting the presence of macular neurodegeneration.[Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2021, The Author(s)

The success of Quercus ilex plantations in agricultural fields in eastern Spain

Twenty-five years after planting, we measured the survival, growth and reproduction of 153 Quercus ilex plantations promoted by the afforestation programme of the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy in agricultural fields in the east of the Iberian Peninsula, as a function of climatic aridity and stand characteristics related to water supply and competition among trees for water. Using field sampling, we found that, on average, 80% of the trees in plantations survived, more than 55% had already produced acorns and the tallest tree in each field exceeded 4 m, which are all higher values than those reported for forest plantations of this species in the same area and which represent the overcoming of the limitations imposed by climatic aridity on the natural regeneration of the species. A small proportion of the variation in all success variables was explained by water-related plantation characteristics, such as planting density, drought intensity in the year after planting, and soil permeability. However, climatic aridity only influenced the proportion of reproductive trees, but not the other variables of plantation success. However, most of the variation in planting success variables was linked to who owned the field, which nursery produced the seedlings, and the year of planting. Our results support the idea that the deep soils of agricultural fields counteract the negative effect of climatic aridity on plant performance, but that it is necessary to standardise nursery and planting practices, adapt planting density to the environmental characteristics of the site and provide irrigation supply in the early years to ensure the success of future plantations

Heptametallic, Octupolar Nonlinear Optical Chromophores with Six Ferrocenyl Substituents

New complexes with six ferrocenyl (Fc) groups connected to ZnII or Cd^(II) tris(2,2′-bipyridyl) cores are described. A thorough characterisation of their BPh_(4)− salts includes two single-crystal X-ray structures, highly unusual for such species with multiple, extended substituents. Intense, visible d(Fe^(II))→π* metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) bands accompany the π→π* intraligand charge-transfer absorptions in the near UV region. Each complex shows a single, fully reversible Fe^(III/II) wave when probed electrochemically. Molecular quadratic nonlinear optical (NLO) responses are determined by using hyper-Rayleigh scattering and Stark spectroscopy. The latter gives static first hyperpolarisabilities β_0 reaching as high as approximately 10^(−27) esu and generally increasing with π-conjugation extension. Z-scan cubic NLO measurements reveal high two-photon absorption cross-sections σ2 of up to 5400 GM in one case. DFT calculations reproduce the π-conjugation dependence of β_0, and TD-DFT predicts three transitions close in energy contributing to the MLCT bands. The lowest energy transition has octupolar character, whereas the other two are degenerate and dipolar in nature