Peak effect in laser ablated DyBa2Cu3O7-d films at microwave frequencies at subcritical currents

In this paper we report the observation of a peak in the microwave surface resistance (at frequencies ~10GHz) of laser ablated DyBa2Cu3O7-d films in magnetic field ranging from 2 to 9kOe (||c) close to the superconducting transition temperature (Tc(H)). The exact nature of peak is sample dependent but it follows a general behaviour. The peak shifts to lower temperature when the magnetic field is increased. It has strong frequency dependence and the peak is pronounced at frequencies close to the depinning frequency of the flux line lattice. From the observed temperature and field dependence we argue that this peak is associated with the order disorder transition of the flux line lattice close to Tc(H).Comment: 8 pages, 2 pages (accepted for publication in JAP, Intermag symposium proceeding

Effective action in DSR1 quantum field theory

We present the one-loop effective action of a quantum scalar field with DSR1 space-time symmetry as a sum over field modes. The effective action has real and imaginary parts and manifest charge conjugation asymmetry, which provides an alternative theoretical setting to the study of the particle-antiparticle asymmetry in nature.Comment: 8 page

QED vacuum between an unusual pair of plates

We consider the photon field between an unusual configuration of infinite parallel plates: a perfectly conducting plate $(\epsilon\to\infty)$ and an infinitely permeable one $\mu\to\infty)$. After quantizing the vector potential in the Coulomb gauge, we obtain explicit expressions for the vacuum expectation values of field operators of the form $_0$ and $<{\hat B}_i{\hat B}_j>_0$. These field correlators allow us to reobtain the Casimir effect for this set up and to discuss the light velocity shift caused by the presence of plates (Scharnhorst effect \cite{Scharnhorst,Barton,BarScharn}) for both scalar and spinor QED.Comment: Latex, 16 pages, no figure

A methodology to qualitatively select upcycled building materials from urban and industrial waste

The rising concern about climate change and other challenges faced by the planet led society to look for different design solutions and approaches towards a more balanced relationship between the built and natural environment. The circular economy is an effective alternative to the linear economic model inspired by natural metabolisms and the circular use of resources. This research explores how innovative strategies can be integrated for evaluating local urban and industrial wastes into sustainable building materials. A literature review is conducted focusing on circular design strategies, re-use, recycle, and waste transformation processes. Then, a methodology for the selection of upcycled and re-used building materials is developed based on Ashby’s method. A total of thirty-five types of partition walls, which include plastic, wood, paper, steel, aluminium, and agricultural wastes, are evaluated using a multi-criteria decision aid (M-MACBETH). Among these solutions, ten types of walls show high-performance thermal and sound isolation, fourteen types are effective for coating, and two exhibit structural reliability. Regardless of their functional limitations, the proposed solutions based on waste materials bear great potential within the construction industry.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

How Many Templates for GW Chirp Detection? The Minimal-Match Issue Revisited

In a recent paper dealing with maximum likelihood detection of gravitational wave chirps from coalescing binaries with unknown parameters we introduced an accurate representation of the no-signal cumulative distribution of the supremum of the whole correlator bank. This result can be used to derive a refined estimate of the number of templates yielding the best tradeoff between detector's performance (in terms of lost signals among those potentially detectable) and computational burden.Comment: submitted to Class. Quantum Grav. Typing error in eq. (4.8) fixed; figure replaced in version

Epigenomics in Hurthle Cell Neoplasms: Filling in the Gaps Towards Clinical Application

It has been widely described that cancer genomes have frequent alterations to the epigenome, including epigenetic silencing of various tumor suppressor genes with functions in almost all cancer-relevant signalling pathways, such as apoptosis, cell proliferation, cell migration and DNA repair. Epigenetic alterations comprise DNA methylation, histone modification, and microRNAs dysregulated expression and they play a significant role in the differentiation and proliferation properties of TC. In this review, our group assessed the published evidence on the tumorigenic role of epigenomics in Hurthle cell neoplasms (HCN), highlighting the yet limited, heteregeneous and non-validated data preventing its current use in clinical practice, despite the well developed assessment techniques available. The identified evidence gaps call for a joint endeavour by the medical community towards a deeper and more systematic study of HCN, aiming at defining epigenetic markers in early diagnose, allowing for accurate stratification of maligancy and disease risk and for effective systemic treatment.This work was financed by FEDER—Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020 —Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI), Portugal 2020, and by Portuguese funds through FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/ Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação in the framework of the project “Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences” (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274). Additional funding by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalization—COMPETE2020, and Portuguese national funds via FCT, under project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016390: CANCEL STEM and from the FCT under the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031438: The other faces of telomerase: Looking beyond tumor immortalization (PDTC/MED_ONC/ 31438/2017). Additional funding through the Sociedade Portuguesa de Endocrinologia, Diabetes e Metabolismo – Bolsa Edward Limbert MERCK/SPEDM 2019. SC is supported by FCT in the framework of a PhD grant (SFRH/BD/ 147650/2019)

Polysensitization to Pollens Analyzed and Re-interpreted with ImmunoCAP ISAC®

Introdução: O ImmunoCAP ISAC® visa a detecção in vitro de IgE específica sérica (IgEe) para múltiplos alergénios moleculares. Objectivos: Analisar os resultados do ImmunoCAP ISAC® (ISAC) em doentes com alergia respiratória e aparente polissensibilização a pólenes. Métodos: Seleccionámos 34 doentes com alergia respiratória e testes cutâneos por picada (TC) positivos para extractos de 2 ou mais pólenes. Foi determinada a IgEe para alergénios moleculares por ISAC. Analisámos os resultados obtidos para os pólenes testados pelos dois métodos (gramíneas, parietária, artemísia, salsola, oliveira, plátano, bétula). Resultados: A mediana de idades é de 18 anos (56% sexo masculino). Nos TC o maior número de positividades verifica -se para gramíneas (n=33) e o menor para bétula (n=10). Por ISAC, o maior número de positividades observa -se para gramíneas (n=31 doentes), surgindo a bétula em segundo (n=20) e o plátano em último (n=6). O número de resultados positivos é, em geral, maior nos TC do que no ISAC. A concordância entre os métodos é elevada para gramíneas (91%), variando entre 79% e 47% para os restantes pólenes. À excepção da bétula, os casos discordantes resultam sobretudo de positividade nos TC com resultado negativo no ISAC; para a bétula, resultam da situação oposta. Nos casos de discordância entre os métodos a frequência de sensibilização a panalergénios (Phl p 7, Phl p 12, Bet v 2, Bet v 4) é superior. Discussão: A melhor concordância entre os métodos verificou -se para as gramíneas. Para os restantes pólenes há um número considerável de doentes em que, apesar de TC positivos, o ISAC é negativo para os respectivos pólenes. Numa percentagem elevada, este fenómeno surge associado à sensibilização a panalergénios, podendo esta ser responsável por resultados falsamente positivos nos TC, causando um padrão de polissensibilização aparente. O ISAC dá um contributo útil para a discriminação entre polissensibilização e reactividade cruzada em alguns doentes, permitindo reformular a estratégia terapêutica

Variação temporal da biomassa do café arábica arborizado e a pleno sol, através de índices de vegetação.

Abstract. In recent years, several works have been accomplished in order to analyze the spectral response of coffee crop fields cultivated in full sun. However, the number of papers related to the monitoring of shaded coffee systems is reduced although this kind of cultivation is very important from the perspective of climate change and agriculture. In addition, the biomass of coffee systems can store carbon, which is a mitigation action. In this context, this paper presents the assessment of the meteorological variation joined with the biomass increase in three different coffee plantation systems: full sun, shaded coffee associated with legumes (SAF), and shaded coffee with Macadamia trees. We used Landsat-5 images from 2004 to 2010, and the NDVI and SAVI indexes. LAI index measured in the test area during all 2009 year. The results showed that the shaded coffee systems presented the NDVI and SAVI indexes with higher values than those found with the system of planting in full sun what corroborates the idea of greater amount of biomass in this type of planting. All indexes present the seasonal rain variation. One month after a large period of drought the indexes NDVI, SAVI and LAI decrease. The NDVI and SAVI indexes presented high correlation with the measured LAI. The shaded coffee system and the full sun coffee reached high vegetation indexes what indicate a high concentration of biomass. This factor should be considered in the decision making process since is important to take advantage of cultivation systems acting as carbon sinks.SBSR 2011

Casimir Energy For a Massive Dirac Field in One Spatial Dimension: A Direct Approach

In this paper we calculate the Casimir energy for a massive fermionic field confined between two points in one spatial dimension, with the MIT Bag Model boundary condition. We compute the Casimir energy directly by summing over the allowed modes. The method that we use is based on the Boyer's method, and there will be no need to resort to any analytic continuation techniques. We explicitly show the graph of the Casimir energy as a function of the distance between the points and the mass of the fermionic field. We also present a rigorous derivation of the MIT Bag Model boundary condition.Comment: 8 Pages, 4 Figure

Perturbations in Bouncing Cosmological Models

I describe the features and general properties of bouncing models and the evolution of cosmological perturbations on such backgrounds. I will outline possible observational consequences of the existence of a bounce in the primordial Universe and I will make a comparison of these models with standard long inflationary scenarios.Comment: 9 pages, no figure