Chemical trends in the Galactic halo from APOGEE data

Indexación: Web of Science; Scopus.The galaxy formation process in the A cold dark matter scenario can be constrained from the analysis of stars in the Milky Way's halo system. We examine the variation of chemical abundances in distant halo stars observed by the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment ( APOGEE), as a function of distance from the Galactic Centre ( r) and iron abundance ([M/H]), in the range 5 less than or similar to r less than or similar to 30 kpc and - 2.5 15 kpc and [M/H] > - 1.1 (larger in the case of O, Mg, and S) with respect to the nearest halo stars. This result confirms previous claims for low-alpha stars found at larger distances. Chemical differences in elements with other nucleosynthetic origins (Ni, K, Na, and Al) are also detected. C and N do not provide reliable information about the interstellar medium from which stars formed because our sample comprises red giant branch and asymptotic giant branch stars and can experience mixing of material to their surfaces.https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/mnras/stw286

"Earth observation for land-atmosphere interaction science", Preface

Non peer reviewe

Effects of Mindfulness Based Interventions on Mind Wandering in Students

The Effect of Mindfulness-based Interventions on College Students’ Mind Wandering Recent research has found that the human attention span has decreased to a short eight seconds, one second shorter than a goldfish (Patrick, 2015). Research suggests the mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) improve individuals’ attention abilities, including working memory capacity (Kane & McVay, 2012). Mind wandering is one aspect of attention, and is defined as thoughts flowing freely without any direction or control of the individual having them. One study found that even eight minutes of a mindfulness activity decreases mind wandering (Mrazek, Smallwood, & Schooler, 2012). These results show that short mindfulness activities can have a worthwhile effect on students’ attentional processes, which has potential implications for students such as increasing working memory capacity and reading comprehension (Kane & McVay, 2012; Smallwood, McSpadden, & Schooler, 2008). The purpose of this study, therefore is to discover if mindfulness-based intervention does decrease mind wandering in college students. In a randomized controlled trial study, 30 participants were recruited and were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a recording led relaxation task, a recording led mindfulness-based intervention, or a control task of reading an article. Researchers used a mind wandering probe to measure the amount of mind wandering done by each participant throughout all sessions. This probe followed each intervention and included four questions to see how much effort the participant put into the intervention and how well they felt that they followed directions. Data is currently being analyzed from the 30 completed participants by two research assistants in the CRESP lab. Past research calls for well-designed studies to support mindfulness as an effective intervention for students, and this study supports the theory that mindfulness interventions are indeed useful for decreasing mind wandering in students. References: Kane, Michael J. & McVay, Jennifer C. (2012). What Mind Wandering Reveals About Executive-Control Abilities and Failures. Association for Psychological Science, 21(5), 348-354. DOI: 0.1177/0963721412454875 Mrazek, M. D., Smallwood, J., & Schooler, J. W. (2012). Mindfulness and Mind-Wandering: Finding Convergence Through Opposing Constructs. Emotion. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0026678 Smallwood, J., McSpadden, M. & Schooler, J. W. (2008). When attention matter: The curious incident of the wandering mind. Memory and Cognition, 36(6), 1144-1150. DOI: 10.3758/MC.36.6.1144 Patrick, Josh. (2015, September 28) Taking time to unplug. SunHerald. Retrieved from http://www.sunherald.com/latest-news/article37514199.htm

Proposing 3D Thermal Technology for Heritage Building Energy Monitoring

[EN] The energy monitoring of heritage buildings has, to date, been governed by methodologies and standards that have been defined in terms of sensors that record scalar magnitudes and that are placed in specific positions in the scene, thus recording only some of the values sampled in that space. In this paper, however, we present an alternative to the aforementioned technologies in the form of new sensors based on 3D computer vision that are able to record dense thermal information in a three-dimensional space. These thermal computer vision-based technologies (3D-TCV) entail a revision and updating of the current building energy monitoring methodologies. This paper provides a detailed definition of the most significant aspects of this new extended methodology and presents a case study showing the potential of 3D-TCV techniques and how they may complement current techniques. The results obtained lead us to believe that 3D computer vision can provide the field of building monitoring with a decisive boost, particularly in the case of heritage buildingsThis research was funded by the European Regional Development Fund (SBPLY/19/180501/000094 project) and the Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-108271RB-C31 and PID2019108271RB-C33).Adan, A.; Pérez, V.; Vivancos, J.; Aparicio Fernandez, CS.; Prieto, SA. (2021). Proposing 3D Thermal Technology for Heritage Building Energy Monitoring. Remote Sensing. 13(8):1-25. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13081537S12513

Muscle, functional and cognitive adaptations after flywheel resistance training in stroke patients : a pilot randomized controlled trial

Resistance exercise (RE) improves neuromuscular function and physical performance after stroke. Yet, the effects of RE emphasizing eccentric (ECC; lengthening) actions on muscle hypertrophy and cognitive function in stroke patients are currently unknown. Thus, this study explored the effects of ECC-overload RE training on skeletal muscle size and function, and cognitive performance in individuals with stroke. Thirty-two individuals with chronic stroke (≥6 months post-stroke) were randomly assigned into a training group (TG; n = 16) performing ECC-overload flywheel RE of the more-affected lower limb (12 weeks, 2 times/week; 4 sets of 7 maximal closed-chain knee extensions; <2 min of contractile activity per session) or a control group (CG; n = 16), maintaining daily routines. Before and after the intervention, quadriceps femoris volume, maximal force and power for each leg were assessed, and functional and dual task performance, and cognitive functions were measured. Quadriceps femoris volume of the more-affected leg increased by 9.4 % in TG. Muscle power of the more-affected, trained (48.2 %), and the less-affected, untrained limb (28.1 %) increased after training. TG showed enhanced balance (8.9 %), gait performance (10.6 %), dual-task performance, executive functions (working memory, verbal fluency tasks), attention, and speed of information processing. CG showed no changes. ECC-overload flywheel resistance exercise comprising 4 min of contractile activity per week offers a powerful aid to regain muscle mass and function, and functional performance in individuals with stroke. While the current intervention improved cognitive functions, the cause-effect relationship, if any, with the concomitant neuromuscular adaptations remains to be explored. Clinical Trial

Radio structures of the nuclei of nearby Seyfert galaxies and the nature of the missing diffuse emission

We present archival high spatial resolution VLA and VLBA data of the nuclei of seven of the nearest and brightest Seyfert galaxies in the Southern Hemisphere. At VLA resolution (~0.1 arcsec), the nucleus of the Seyfert galaxies is unresolved, with the exception of MCG-5-23-16 and NGC 7469 showing a core-jet structure. Three Seyfert nuclei are surrounded by diffuse radio emission related to star-forming regions. VLBA observations with parsec-scale resolution pointed out that in MRK 1239 the nucleus is clearly resolved into two components separated by ~30 pc, while the nucleus of NGC 3783 is unresolved. Further comparison between VLA and VLBA data of these two sources shows that the flux density at parsec scales is only 20% of that measured by the VLA. This suggests that the radio emission is not concentrated in a single central component, as in elliptical radio galaxies, and an additional low-surface brightness component must be present. A comparison of Seyfert nuclei with different radio spectra points out that the ``presence'' of undetected flux on milli-arcsecond scale is common in steep-spectrum objects, while in flat-spectrum objects essentially all the radio emission is recovered. In the steep-spectrum objects, the nature of this ``missing'' flux is likely due to non-thermal AGN-related radiation, perhaps from a jet that gets disrupted in Seyfert galaxies because of the denser environment of their spiral hosts.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures; paper accepted for publication in MNRA