Altruismo y misericordia

Los estudios sobre altruismo han producido en los últimos 20 años numerosas investigaciones que tratan de conocer mejor la conducta humana, considerada frecuentemente como algo enigmático. La teología aplicada a entender el amor al prójimo puede servirse provechosamente de este tipo de investigación para actualizar su método propio. Este artículo trata de ofrecer una revisión sistemática de los ensayos y artículos publicados desde 2010 para responder a las cuestiones pendientes en el estudio científico del altruismo que son más relevantes para la teología cristiana. Las conclusiones subrayarán el impacto que estos estudios tienen para una teología del amor en diálogo con las humanidades y las ciencias.«Altruism studies», as a sub-discipline has produced in the last 20 years a considerable amount of research in the attempt to better know that human behavior, often seen as «enigmatic». Theology applied to understand neighbor’s love can make good use of such research in order to update its own approach. The present paper tries to offer a systematic review of essays and articles published since 2010 in order to answer central questions still looming in the scientific study of altruism and of great importance for Christian anthropology. Concluding remarks will make the point on the impact that these series of studies has for a theology of love engaged on interdisciplinary dialogue with humanities and sciences

Meaning and Religion: Exploring Mutual Implications

“Meaning” and “religion” appear as deeply interlinked concepts in modern thought. Theology has often discovered religious faith as a “source of meaning” and philosophy of religion has tried to better describe that link to show how religion provides meaning, or is built through structures of meaning, or is a form of “meaning‑construction”. Cognitive approach may add new perspectives to better explain this implication. Recent attempts combine scientific methods and philosophical analysis to show how meaning is built and works, and how religion provides a specific sort of meaning, distinct from other forms in which meaning displays itself. Describing religion in terms of “meaning building” helps to better understand its specific role and function in the human mind, and offers a more balanced view on its cognitive dimensions. Different attempts to connect religion and meaning are reviewed in this paper in order to offer a complement to the new scientific study of religion

Las formulaciones emulsionables de Dimetildisulfuro (DMDS) y sus mezclas con cloropicrina como alternativas al bromuro de metilo

Desde hace mucho tiempo se sabe que plantas de los géneros Allium sp. y Brassica sp. poseen una cierta capacidad antimicrobiana. Este poder ha sido explicado por la presencia de radicales sulfuro de alilo y sulfuro de metilo derivados de sulfóxido de LCisteina existente en los ajos y las brasicas. Una de las sustancias más interesantes es el Disulfuro de dimetilo (DMDS) que es un importante compuesto de los Allium sp., especialmente del ajo. Aunque sus propiedades fumigantes se conocen desde hace poco tiempo, el DMDS se viene utilizando desde hace mucho en la industria petroquímica e incluso como agente de aromas por su fuerte olor a ajo. El DMDS es un fumigante de amplio espectro con efectos nematicida, fungicida insecticida y herbicida, que ejerce su acción a nivel de respiración mitocondrial bloqueando la actividad citocromo oxidasa de las células. Los efectos nematicidas se han podido comprobar contra Heterodera sp. y Meloidogyne sp., mediante aplicación en preplantación. Se le reconoce eficacia contra hongos del suelo como Sclerotium rolfsii, Rhizoctonia solani, Phytophthora cactorum pero no tan efectivo contra Macrophomina phaseolina y solo parcialmente contra Sclerotinia scleritiorum. Desde el año 2003 al 2007 hemos venido estudiando sus efectos como alternativa al bromuro de metilo en el cultivo de pimiento en las zonas del Bajo Segura (SURINVER, Pilar de la Horadada, Alicante) y en La Canal de Navarrès (VALSUR, SAT Bolbaite, Valencia) usando formulaciones emulsionables aplicadas con el riego localizado, tanto sólo como mezclado con diversas proporciones de cloropicrina (50%; 33%), con objeto de mejorar su eficacia fungicida. El DMDS sólo, a dosis elevadas (105 g/m2), tiene una capacidad herbicida notable; a menor dosis, sus mezclas con cloropicrina poseen un excelente efecto fumigante que mejora cuando se aplica bajo plástico VIF. El efecto fungicida también mejora ostensiblemente. Una vez depurada la técnica de aplicación la calidad y producción de pimiento es comparable a la obtenida con los tratamientos tradicionales con bromuro de metilo

Geological, geochemical and mineralogical characteristics of REE-bearing Las Mercedes bauxite deposit, Dominican Republic

Bauxite deposits, traditionally the main source of 'aluminum, have been recently targeted for their remarkable contents in rare earth elements (REE). With Sigma REE (lanthanoids + Sc + Y) concentrations systematically higher than similar to 1400 ppm (ay. = 1530 ppm), the Las Mercedes karstic bauxites in the Dominican Republic rank as one of the REE-richest deposits of its style.The bauxitic ore in the Las Mercedes deposit is mostly unlithified and has a homogeneous-massive lithostructure, with only local cross-stratification and graded bedding. The dominant arenaceous and round-grained texture is composed of bauxite particles and subordinate ooids, pisoids and carbonate clasts. Mineralogically, the bauxite ore is composed mostly of gibbsite and lesser amounts of kaolinite, hematite, boehmite, anatase, goethite, chromian spinel and zircon. Identified REE-minerals include cerianite and monazite-Ce, whose composition accounts for the steady enrichment in light-relative to medium-and heavy-REE of the studied bauxites.Considering the paleo-geomorphology of the study area, we propose that bauxites in the Las Mercedes deposit are the product of the erosion and deposition of lithified bauxites located at higher elevations in the Bahoruco ranges. Based on the available data, we suggest a mixed lithological source for the bauxite deposits at the district scale: bedrock carbonates and an igneous source of likely mafic composition. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/R c = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛR c) of approximately 30

Evidence for the Higgs-boson Yukawa coupling to tau leptons with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for H → τ τ decays are presented, based on the full set of proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC during 2011 and 2012. The data correspond to integrated luminosities of 4.5 fb−1 and 20.3 fb−1 at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV respectively. All combinations of leptonic (τ → `νν¯ with ` = e, µ) and hadronic (τ → hadrons ν) tau decays are considered. An excess of events over the expected background from other Standard Model processes is found with an observed (expected) significance of 4.5 (3.4) standard deviations. This excess provides evidence for the direct coupling of the recently discovered Higgs boson to fermions. The measured signal strength, normalised to the Standard Model expectation, of µ = 1.43 +0.43 −0.37 is consistent with the predicted Yukawa coupling strength in the Standard Model