Josep Puig i Cadafalch, un deportista científico

La cubierta de este último número de apunts del año 2001 es un homenaje a Josep Puig i Cadafalch. Después de un año 2000 dedicado a Domènech i Montaner y a la espera de un 2002 gaudiniano, el año 2001 ha sido declarado año Josep Puig i Cadafalch, el tercero de los grandes arquitectos modernistas. Josep Puig i Cafafalch nació en Mataró el año 1867. Estudio en esta ciudad en el Colegio de Santa Ana de las Escuelas Pías, donde terminó el bachillerato a los dieciséis años. En 1883 inició simultáneamente la carrera de arquitecto en la Escuela Provincial de Arquitectura y la de Ciencias Físico-Matemáticas en la Universidad de Barcelona. En 1884 ingresó en la Academia de Bellas Artes, donde frecuentó las clases de pintura, escultura, grabado, estética e historia del arte. Como arquitecto sus realizaciones son numerosas y una gran parte de ellas enriquece todavía las calles de Barcelona. Se ha escrito mucho sobre sus obras y también sobre proyectos no consumados, como el de la Plaza de Cataluña y el de la Exposición Universal. Puede ser considerado como uno de los padres de la Patria. Su vida política, desde que de estudiante, militaba en el Centre Escolar Catalanista hasta que en 1917, a la muerte de Prat de la Riba, fue designado Presidente de la Mancomunidad de Cataluña, se manifestó esencialmente por su catalanidad. Su labor al frente de la Mancomunidad, especialmente en el campo cultural, fue extraordinaria. Después, el exilio hasta el año 1942, siendo primordial su activo papel en la recuperación de tradiciones catalanas, como la fiesta de Sant Jordi, y de instituciones, como el Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Puig i Cadafalch poseía un espíritu despierto, lleno de nobles inquietudes, pero al mismo tiempo tenía un carácter seco, con reacciones imprevisibles, a veces incluso violentas, en el cual destacaban la tenacidad y la intransigencia..

Josep Puig i Cadafalch, un esportista científic

La portada d’aquest últim número d’apunts de l’any 2001 és un homenatge a Josep Puig i Cadafalch. Després d’un any 2000 dedicat a Domenech i Montaner i a l’espera d’un 2002 gaudinià, l’any 2001 ha estat declarat any Josep Puig i Cadafalch , el tercer del grans arquitectes modernistes. Josep Puig i Cadafalch va néixer a Mataró l’any 1867. Va estudiar en aquesta ciutat en el Col·legi de Santa Anna de les Escoles Pies, on va acabar el batxillerat als setze anys. En 1883 va iniciar simultàniament la carrera d’arquitecte a l’Escola Provincial d’Arquitectura, i la de Ciències Físico-Matemàtiques a la Universitat de Barcelona. El 1884 va ingressar a l’Acadèmia de Belles Arts, on va freqüentar les classes de pintura, escultura, gravat, estètica i historia de l’art. Com a arquitecte, las seves realitzacions són nombroses i una gran part encara enriqueix els carrers de Barcelona. S’ha escrit molt sobre les seves obres i també sobre projectes no consumats, com el de la Plaça de Catalunya i el de l’Exposició Universal. Pot ser considerat justament com un dels pares de la Pàtria. La seva vida política, des que, d’estudiant, va militar en el Centre Escolar Catalanista fins que el 1917, a la mort de Prat de la Riba, va ser designat President de la Mancomunitat de Catalunya, es va manifestar essencialment per la seva catalanitat. La seva tasca al front de la Mancomunitat, especialment en el camp cultural, va ser extraordinària. Després, l’exili fins l’any 1942, essent aleshores primordial el seu paper actiu en la recuperació de tradicions catalanes, com la festa de Sant Jordi, i d’institucions, com l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans. Puig i Cadafalch posseïa un esperit despert, ple de nobles inquietuds, però, al mateix temps, tenia un caràcter sec, amb reaccions imprevisibles, a vegades fins i tot violentes, en el qual destacaven la tenacitat i la intransigència

Magnetic structure and phase diagram of TmB4

Magnetic structure of single crystalline TmB4 has been studied by magnetization, magnetoresistivity and specific heat measurements. A complex phase diagram with different antiferromagnetic (AF) phases was observed below TN1 = 11.7 K. Besides the plateau at half-saturated magnetization (1/2 MS), also plateaus at 1/9, 1/8 and 1/7 of MS were observed as function of applied magnetic field B//c. From additional neutron scattering experiments on TmB4, we suppose that those plateaus arise from a stripe structure which appears to be coherent domain boundaries between AF ordered blocks of 7 or 9 lattice constants. The received results suggest that the frustration among the Tm3+ magnetic ions, which maps to a geometrically frustrated Shastry-Sutherland lattice lead to strong competition between AF and ferromagnetic (FM) order. Thus, stripe structures in intermediate field appear to be the best way to minimize the magnetostatic energy against other magnetic interactions between the Tm ions combined with very strong Ising anisotropy.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, conference contribution - CSMAG 0

Transition to turbulence in particulate pipe flow

We investigate experimentally the influence of suspended particles on the transition to turbulence. The particles are monodisperse and neutrally-buoyant with the liquid. The role of the particles on the transition depends both upon the pipe to particle diameter ratios and the concentration. For large pipe-to-particle diameter ratios the transition is delayed while it is lowered for small ratios. A scaling is proposed to collapse the departure from the critical Reynolds number for pure fluid as a function of concentration into a single master curve.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Single-Center Denial Reasons for Potential Living Kidney Donors

Because of the benefits of preemptive living donor (LD) transplant, the desire for LD is rising. However, in the last decade, there has been no increase in LD in the U.S, possibility due to older donor candidate population leading to increased denial rates. We previously studied denial rates and cause for denial for donor candidates between 2009 and 2011. We herein present for comparison causes for denial for donor candidates between 8/2012 and 6/2015. During the interval, our acceptance criteria have not changed. Results: Between August 2012 and June 2015, we evaluated 644 potential living donors: 2012=88, 2013=222, 2014=220, 2015 (Jan-June) =114. Of these, 31% of candidates were denied: 26% for medical reasons, 5% for psychosocial reasons. Mean age of approved candidates = 41 (range: 18-75); average denied = 43 (range, 18-72). To compare, between 2009-2011, 36% candidates were denied (32% medical, 4% psychosocial). The mean age for approved candidates = 40, while denied candidates mean age = 47 (range, 18-64). Current candidates most common medical denials reasons were obesity and suboptimal kidney anatomy, although the distribution of reasons varies by age cohort. Historical group (2009-2011): most common medical denials were hypertension and poor kidney function. Psychosocial denial reasons included: mental illness, lack of support and substance abuse. Conclusion: Over an interval of 6.5 years, the rate of donor candidate denial at our center has not changed. Overall, there has been a change in major reasons for denial; importantly, reasons for denial vary by donor age

Diffractive deeply inelastic scattering in future electron-ion colliders

The impact of nonlinear effects in the diffractive observables that will be measured in future electron-ion collisions is investigated. We present, for the first time, the predictions for the diffractive structure function and reduced cross sections derived using the solution to the Balitsky--Kovchegov equation with the collinearly-improved kernel and including the impact-parameter dependence. We demonstrate that the contribution of the diffractive events is enhanced in nuclear collisions and that the study of the ratio between the nuclear and proton predictions will be useful to discriminate among different models of the dipole-target scattering amplitude and, consequently, will allow us to constrain the description of QCD dynamics in parton densities.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure

Coupled Biomechanical Response of the Cornea Assessed by Non-Contact Tonometry. A Simulation Study

The mechanical response of the cornea subjected to a non-contact air-jet tonometry diagnostic test represents an interplay between its geometry, the corneal material behavior and the loading. The objective is to study this interplay to better understand and interpret the results obtained with a non-contact tonometry test. A patient-specific finite element model of a healthy eye, accounting for the load free configuration, was used. The corneal tissue was modeled as an anisotropic hyperelastic material with two preferential directions. Three different sets of parameters within the human experimental range obtained from inflation tests were considered. The influence of the IOP was studied by considering four pressure levels (10–28 mmHg) whereas the influence of corneal thickness was studied by inducing a uniform variation (300–600 microns). A Computer Fluid Dynamics (CFD) air-jet simulation determined pressure loading exerted on the anterior corneal surface. The maximum apex displacement showed a linear variation with IOP for all materials examined. On the contrary, the maximum apex displacement followed a cubic relation with corneal thickness. In addition, a significant sensitivity of the apical displacement to the corneal stiffness was also obtained. Explanation to this behavior was found in the fact that the cornea experiences bending when subjected to an air-puff loading, causing the anterior surface to work in compression whereas the posterior surface works in tension. Hence, collagen fibers located at the anterior surface do not contribute to load bearing. Non-contact tonometry devices give useful information that could be misleading since the corneal deformation is the result of the interaction between the mechanical properties, IOP, and geometry. Therefore, a non-contact tonometry test is not sufficient to evaluate their individual contribution and a complete in-vivo characterization would require more than one test to independently determine the membrane and bending corneal behavior.The research leading these results has received funding from the European Union’s Seven Framework Program managed by REA Research Executive agency http://ec.europa.eu/research/rea (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement n° FP7-SME-2013 606634 and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (DPI2011-27939-C02-01)

The metal-poor end of the Spite plateau: II. Chemical and dynamical investigation

Context. The study of old, metal-poor stars deepens our knowledge on the early stages of the universe. In particular, the study of these stars gives us a valuable insight into the masses of the first massive stars and their emission of ionising photons. Aims. We present a detailed chemical analysis and determination of the kinematic and orbital properties of a sample of 11 dwarf stars. These are metal-poor stars, and a few of them present a low lithium content. We inspected whether the other elements also present anomalies. Methods. We analysed the high-resolution UVES spectra of a few metal-poor stars using the Turbospectrum code to synthesise spectral lines profiles. This allowed us to derive a detailed chemical analysis of Fe, C, Li, Na, Mg, Al, Si, CaI, CaII, ScII, TiII, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Sr, and Ba. Results. We find excellent coherence with the reference metal-poor First Stars sample. The lithium-poor stars do not present any anomaly of the abundance of the elements other than lithium. Among the Li-poor stars, we show that CS 22882-027 is very probably a blue-straggler. The star CS 30302-145, which has a Li abundance compatible with the plateau, has a very low Si abundance and a high Mn abundance. In many aspects, it is similar to the α-poor star HE 1424-0241, but it is less extreme. It could have been formed in a satellite galaxy and later been accreted by our Galaxy. This hypothesis is also supported by its kinematics

Numerical and experimental modelling of the centrifugal compressor stage – setting the model of impellers with 2D blades

The article deals with a description of results from research and development of a radial compressor stage. The experimental compressor and used numerical models are briefly described. In the first part, the comparisons of characteristics obtained experimentally and by numerical simulations for stage with vaneless diffuser are described. In the second part, the results for stage with vanned diffuser are presented. The results are relevant for next studies in research and development process