Geometric description of BTZ black holes thermodynamics

We study the properties of the space of thermodynamic equilibrium states of the Ba\~nados-Teitelboim-Zanelli (BTZ) black hole in (2+1)-gravity. We use the formalism of geometrothermodynamics to introduce in the space of equilibrium states a $2-$dimensional thermodynamic metric whose curvature is non-vanishing, indicating the presence of thermodynamic interaction, and free of singularities, indicating the absence of phase transitions. Similar results are obtained for generalizations of the BTZ black hole which include a Chern-Simons term and a dilatonic field. Small logarithmic corrections of the entropy turn out to be represented by small corrections of the thermodynamic curvature, reinforcing the idea that thermodynamic curvature is a measure of thermodynamic interaction

Effects of Topography and Surface Soil Cover on Erosion for Mining Reclamation: The Experimental Spoil Heap at El Machorro Mine (Central Spain)

Mining reclamation tries to reduce environmental impacts, including accelerated runoff, erosion and sediment load in the nearby fluvial networks and their ecosystems. This study compares the effects of topography and surface soil cover on erosion on man-made slopes coming from surface mining reclamation in Central Spain. Two topographic profiles, linear and concave, with two surface soil covers, subsoil and topsoil, were monitored for two hydrologic years. Sediment load, rill development and plant colonization from the four profiles were measured under field conditions. The results show that, in the case of this experiment, a thick and non-compacted topsoil cover on a linear slope yielded less sediment than carbonate colluvium or topsoil cover on a concave slope. This study also shows that vegetation establishment, which plays an important role in erosion control, depends on topography. Plant cover was more widespread and more homogeneous on linear profiles with topsoil cover. On concave slopes, plant establishment was severely limited on the steepest upper part and favoured in the bottom. This study suggests that management of topography and surface soil cover should be approached systematically, taking three outcomes into consideration: (i) topsoil can lead to a successful mining reclamation regardless of topography, (ii) created concave slopes can lead to a successful mining reclamation and (iii) topography determines the vegetation colonization pattern.The experiment was funded by a research contract between the Spanish mining company 602 CAOBAR S.A. and the Department of Geodynamics of the Complutense University of Madrid 603 (research contract numbers 234/2007, 290/2008 261/2009). The data analyses and manuscript 604 production were developed within two Research Projects, CGL2009-14508-C02-01 and 605 CGL2010-21754-C02, of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology and by the 606 Ecological Restoration network REMEDINAL-2 (S2009/AMB-1783).Peer reviewe

Wildlife and Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic resistance is a major human health problem. While health care facilities are main contributors to the emergence, evolution and spread of antibiotic resistance, other ecosystems are involved in such dissemination. Wastewater, farm animals and pets have been considered important contributors to the development of antibiotic resistance. Herein, we review the impact of wildlife in such problem. Current evidence supports that the presence of antibiotic resistance genes and/or antibiotic resistant bacteria in wild animals is a sign of anthropic pollution more than of selection of resistance. However, once antibiotic resistance is present in the wild, wildlife can contribute to its transmission across different ecosystems. Further, the finding that antibiotic resistance genes, currently causing problems at hospitals, might spread through horizontal gene transfer among the bacteria present in the microbiomes of ubiquitous animals as cockroaches, fleas or rats, supports the possibility that these organisms might be bioreactors for the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes among human pathogens. The contribution of wildlife in the spread of antibiotic resistance among different hosts and ecosystems occurs at two levels. Firstly, in the case of non-migrating animals, the transfer will take place locally; a One Health problem. Paradigmatic examples are the above mentioned animals that cohabit with humans and can be reservoirs and vehicles for antibiotic resistance dissemination. Secondly, migrating animals, such as gulls, fishes or turtles may participate in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance across different geographic areas, even between different continents, which constitutes a Global Health issue. Copyright © 2022 Laborda, Sanz-García, Ochoa-Sánchez, Gil-Gil, Hernando-Amado and Martínez

Morphosedimentary and phytogeography reconstruction of the middle section of the river Jarama (Madrid, Spain) during the second half of the Holocene.

[Abstract] Two sites located on the alluvial plain of the Jarama River, near Madrid, Spain, have been studied using geological, palynological and xylological techniques. Uniquely for this region, numerous wood subfossils of Alnus and Ulmus have been found together with an strobile of Pinus halepensis. This has allowed the stablishment of a coherent radiocarbon chronology, which demonstrates that these sedimentary environments began to develop during the mid Holocene. The dated sediments, which also contains appreciable amounts of pollen, have been deposited upon older palaeosols which has in turn developed directly on the geological substrate. Palynological analyses of these levels have provided valuable insights into the floristic composition of the communities associated with the different biotopes present in the area. As a result of these multiproxy analyses an interpretation of Holocene landscape history and vegetation dynamics is presente

Encapsulation and release mechanisms in coordination polymer nanoparticles

The interplay of guest encapsulation and release mechanisms in nanoscale metal-organic vehicles and its effect on the drug-delivery kinetics of these materials were investigated through a new multidisciplinary approach. Two rationally-designed molecular guests were synthesized, which consist of a red-fluorescent benzophenoxazine dye covalently tethered to a coordinating catechol group and a protected, non-coordinating catechol moiety. This allowed loading of the guests into compositionally and structurally equivalent coordination polymer particles through distinct encapsulation mechanisms: coordination and mechanical entrapment. The two types of particles delivered their fluorescent cargo with remarkably different kinetic profiles, which could be satisfactorily modeled considering degradation- and diffusion-controlled release processes. This demonstrates that careful selection of the method of guest incorporation into coordination polymer nanoparticles allows selective tuning of the rate of drug delivery from these materials and, therefore, of the time window of action of the encapsulated therapeutic agents. Drug-release mechanisms uncovered! Coordination polymer nanoparticles loaded with coordinated and mechanically entrapped fluorescent guests were prepared as benchmark systems to investigate diffusion- and degradation-controlled drug delivery from these materials (see figure)

The Palaeocene Cerro Munro tonalite intrusion (Chubut Province, Argentina): A plutonic remnant of explosive volcanism?

The Cerro Munro sub-volcanic intrusion is emplaced in the back-arc (400 km from the trench) as small sub-circular tonalite-granodiorite plutons with abundant radial porphyritic dikes. U-Pb zircon SHRIMP data give an age of crystallization of 57 Ma ± 1.4 Ma. It is located to the east of the North Patagonian Batholith (NPB) that shows a protracted and episodic magmatic history from Cretaceous to Miocene time. The NPB Palaeogene episode is characterized by the lack of magmatic activity at the arc axis, as small plutonic emplacements move to the fore-arc and back-arc. This Palaeogene tectono-magmatic episode is ruled by the detachment of the Aluk plate during the Aluk-Farallon-SAM triple junction, active at that time along northern Patagonia active margin, changing the Cretaceous ?NPB orogenic? setting to a Palaeogene ?Munro transitional? tectono-magmatic setting. Near the contacts, the tonalite contains abundant enclaves of igneous appearance and variable size from several cm to dm, described as autoliths. The study of autoliths and host tonalite reveals interesting results on the processes of fractionation in a thermally zoned magma chamber. Autoliths, and in a large extent the host tonalite, represent disguised cumulates from which a hydrous silicic liquid was extracted. Barometry calculations from mineral chemistry in both autoliths and tonalites record a shallow pressure of emplacement of 0.5 kbar. Rhyolite-dacite flows and ignimbrites, surrounding the northern contact of the Cerro Munro tonalite, may represent the exsolved liquid from the plutonic cumulates. The study by cathodoluminiscence and electron backscattered diffraction techniques from a rhyolite-hosted quartz supports this protracted history of the Cerro Munro magma chamber.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y MuseoCentro de Investigaciones GeológicasConsejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnica

The Palaeocene Cerro Munro tonalite intrusion (Chubut Province, Argentina): A plutonic remnant of explosive volcanism?

The Cerro Munro sub-volcanic intrusion is emplaced in the back-arc (400 km from the trench) as small sub-circular tonalite-granodiorite plutons with abundant radial porphyritic dikes. U-Pb zircon SHRIMP data give an age of crystallization of 57 Ma ± 1.4 Ma. It is located to the east of the North Patagonian Batholith (NPB) that shows a protracted and episodic magmatic history from Cretaceous to Miocene time. The NPB Palaeogene episode is characterized by the lack of magmatic activity at the arc axis, as small plutonic emplacements move to the fore-arc and back-arc. This Palaeogene tectono-magmatic episode is ruled by the detachment of the Aluk plate during the Aluk-Farallon-SAM triple junction, active at that time along northern Patagonia active margin, changing the Cretaceous ?NPB orogenic? setting to a Palaeogene ?Munro transitional? tectono-magmatic setting. Near the contacts, the tonalite contains abundant enclaves of igneous appearance and variable size from several cm to dm, described as autoliths. The study of autoliths and host tonalite reveals interesting results on the processes of fractionation in a thermally zoned magma chamber. Autoliths, and in a large extent the host tonalite, represent disguised cumulates from which a hydrous silicic liquid was extracted. Barometry calculations from mineral chemistry in both autoliths and tonalites record a shallow pressure of emplacement of 0.5 kbar. Rhyolite-dacite flows and ignimbrites, surrounding the northern contact of the Cerro Munro tonalite, may represent the exsolved liquid from the plutonic cumulates. The study by cathodoluminiscence and electron backscattered diffraction techniques from a rhyolite-hosted quartz supports this protracted history of the Cerro Munro magma chamber.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y MuseoCentro de Investigaciones GeológicasConsejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnica

Geometrothermodynamics of five dimensional black holes in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet-theory

We investigate the thermodynamic properties of 5D static and spherically symmetric black holes in (i) Einstein-Maxwell-Gauss-Bonnet theory, (ii) Einstein-Maxwell-Gauss-Bonnet theory with negative cosmological constant, and in (iii) Einstein-Yang-Mills-Gauss-Bonnet theory. To formulate the thermodynamics of these black holes we use the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy relation and, alternatively, a modified entropy formula which follows from the first law of thermodynamics of black holes. The results of both approaches are not equivalent. Using the formalism of geometrothermodynamics, we introduce in the manifold of equilibrium states a Legendre invariant metric for each black hole and for each thermodynamic approach, and show that the thermodynamic curvature diverges at those points where the temperature vanishes and the heat capacity diverges.Comment: New sections added, references adde