Comment on "Observation of neutronless fusion reactions in picosecond laser plasmas"

The paper by Belyaev et al. [Phys. Rev. E {\bf 72}, 026406 (2005)] reported the first experimental observation of alpha particles produced in the thermonuclear reaction $^{11}$B($p,\alpha$)$^{8}$Be induced by laser-irradiation on a $^{11}$B polyethylene (CH$_2$) composite target. The laser used in the experiment is characterized by a picosecond pulse duration and a peak of intensity of 2$\times10^{18}$ W/cm$^2$. We suggest that both the background-reduction method adopted in their detection system and the choice of the detection energy region of the reaction products are possibly inadequate. Consequently the total yield reported underestimates the true yield. Based on their observation, we give an estimation of the total yield to be higher than their conclusion, i.e., of the order of 10$^5 \alpha$ per shot.Comment: 3 figures, accepted for publication in the Comment section of Physical Review

A method for Cloud Mapping in the Field of View of the Infra-Red Camera during the EUSO-SPB1 flight

EUSO-SPB1 was released on April 24th, 2017, from the NASA balloon launch site in Wanaka (New Zealand) and landed on the South Pacific Ocean on May 7th. The data collected by the instruments onboard the balloon were analyzed to search UV pulse signatures of UHECR (Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays) air showers. Indirect measurements of UHECRs can be affected by cloud presence during nighttime, therefore it is crucial to know the meteorological conditions during the observation period of the detector. During the flight, the onboard EUSO-SPB1 UCIRC camera (University of Chicago Infra-Red Camera), acquired images in the field of view of the UV telescope. The available nighttime and daytime images include information on meteorological conditions of the atmosphere observed in two infra-red bands. The presence of clouds has been investigated employing a method developed to provide a dense cloudiness map for each available infra-red image. The final masks are intended to give pixel cloudiness information at the IR-camera pixel resolution that is nearly 4-times higher than the one of the UV-camera. In this work, cloudiness maps are obtained by using an expert system based on the analysis of different low-level image features. Furthermore, an image enhancement step was needed to be applied as a preprocessing step to deal with uncalibrated data

Adolfo Jorge Sánchez Hidalgo, Tradicionalismo Político y Filosofía del Derecho Privado en Juan Berchmans Vallet de Goytisolo, Atelier, Barcelona, 2020, 228 pp. [RECENSIÓN]

Recensión de la obra del profesor Sánchez Hidalgo publicada por la editorial Atelier a finales del año 2020, una monografía que nos recuerda las aportaciones del jurista catalán Vallet de Goytisolo en el terreno de la Filosofía del Derecho, sintetizadas por el profesor córdobes a través de tres capítulos dedicados a la filosofía política tradicionalista, la concepción ontológica del Derecho y los fundamentos del Derecho privado, respectivamente. Por último, el estudio de la obra de Vallet se cierra con unas extensas conclusiones críticas acerca de las principales tesis del prestigioso notario, explicadas a lo largo de sus páginas. Se trata de una estructuración muy clara y ordenada de la obra, lo que facilita su lectura y es de agradecer

Surgical treatment of solitary sternal metastasis from breast cancer Case report

Bone metastasis is a frequent and early complication of breast cancer. This case report describes a technique for a partial exeresis of the sternum and the reconstruction of the pleura with autologous dermis from the lower abdomen and the loss of substance with a myocutaneous flap

Criterios y sentidos de justicia en la dialéctica crociana

Presentar la magna obra de Benedetto Croce o resumirla en su totalidad, sería una tarea ardua y complicada. En esta sede, y sin pretensión de ser exhaustivos, solo queremos comentar algunas de sus principales observaciones sobre el fenómeno jurídico, tema este que siendo parte de su sistema dialéctico ha sido objeto de profundas críticas. Consideramos que una lectura superficial y ligada solamente a los primeros años de su producción intelectual puede engañar a quien decida acercarse a las complejas dinámicas espirituales de la filosofía crociana, ya que, en realidad, contemplando su obra a lo largo de su evolución, obtenemos una impresión intelectual de profundo significado. Analizamos, a continuación, si la justicia en Croce se sitúa en el momento económico o moral de la dialéctica del espíritu, supuesto que la dinámica de los distintos momentos de esa dialéctica nos podría hacer pensar que la justicia del fenómeno jurídico es equiparable a la mera satisfacción de intereses individuales. Será necesario comprobar, por tanto, si Croce supera esta concepción que lo ha hecho tan famoso: derecho=economía; filosofía del derecho=filosofía de la economíaTo present the great work of Benedetto Croce or summarize it, in its entirety, would be an difficult and complicated task. In this place, and without aim to be exhaustive, We only want to remember some of his main observations on the juridical phenomenon, this is a part of his dialectic system that has been object of deep critics. We believe that a superficial reading and focused only in the first years of his intellectual production can mislead those who want to approach the complex spiritual dynamics of Croce’s philosophy; because, certainly, it is possible to find a noble lesson, that is result of an intellectual evolution with a deep sense. We want to know if justice is placed in the economic or moral moment of the Croce’s dialectic of the Spirit. More over, the dynamics of the different moments of this dialectic thinking could make us to accept that the justice of the legal phenomenon is comparable with the only satisfaction of individual interests. It will be necessary to verify, therefore, if Croce surpasses or not the conception that has made him so famous: law-economy; philosophy of law-philosophy of economics

Somatic cell nuclear transfer: failures, successes and the challenges ahead

Somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) has a broad spectrum of potential applications, including rescue of endangered species, production of transgenic animals, drug production, and regenerative medicine. Unfortunately, the efficiency of SCNT is still disappointingly low. Many factors affecting cloning procedures have been described in several previous reviews; here we review the most effective improvements in SCNT, with a special emphasis on the effect of mitochondrial defects on SCNT embryo/ foetus development, an issue never touched upon before

The impaired development of sheep ICSI derived embryos is not related to centriole dysfunction

While intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is an asset in human Assisted Reproduction Technologies (ART), its outcomes, in terms of blastocyst, is still unacceptably low in ruminants. The picture typically found in ICSI derived bovine and ovine embryos is an asymmetry between a high activation rate, marked by a pronuclear development, and a low first cleavage rate. Abnormal centriole function has been indicated as a possible factor which undermines embryonic development following ICSI, especially when Freeze Dried spermatozoa (FD) are used. In order to verify the hypothesis that centriole dysfunction might be responsible for low ICSI outcomes in sheep, we have investigated micro-tubular dynamics, markedly aster nucleation, in fertilized sheep zygotes by ICSI with frozen/thawed (FT) and FD spermatozoa; In Vitro Fertilized (IVF) sheep oocytes were used as control. The spermatozoa aster nucleation was assessed at different time points following ICSI and IVF by immune-detection of α-tubulin. Pronuclear stage, syngamy and embryo development were assessed. No difference was noticed in the timing of aster nucleation and microtubule elongation in ICSI-FT derived embryos with control IVF ones, while a delay was recorded in ICSI-FD ones. The proportion of 2-pronuclear stage zygotes was similar in ICSI-FT and ICSI-FD (47% and 53%, respectively), both much lower comparing the IVF ones (73%). Likewise, syngamy was observed in a minority of both ICSI groups (28.5% vs 12.5% in ICSI-FT/FD respectively) comparing to IVF controls (50%), with a high number of zygotes blocked at the 2-pronuclear stage (71.5% vs 87.5% respectively). While no significant differences were noticed in the cleavage rate between ICSI-FD, ICSI-FT and IVF groups (31%, 34% and 44%) respectively, development to blastocyst stage was markedly compromised in both ICSI groups, especially with FD spermatozoa (10% in ICIS-FD and 19% in ICSI-FT vs 33% in IVF (P < 0.005, ICSI-FD vs IVF and P < 0.05, IVF vs ICSI-FT, respectively). Hence, here we have demonstrated that the reduced cleavage, and the ensuing impaired development to blastocysts stage of ICSI derived sheep embryos is not related to centriole dysfunction, as suggested by other authors. The major recorded problem is the lack of syngamy in ICSI derived zygotes, an issue that should be addressed in further studies to improve ICSI procedure in sheep embryos

A study on recovering the cloud-top height for the EUSO mission

In this paper we present some preliminary results on an optical-flow based technique aimed at recovering the cloud-top height from infra-red image sequences. This work has been carried out in the context of the development of the "Extreme Universe Space Observatory" mission (EUSO), an ESA led international mission for the investigation of the nature and origin of Extreme Energy Cosmic Rays. The knowledge of the cloud scenario is critical to measure the primary energy and the composition of EECRs. In this work we explore the feasibility for the cloud-top height recovery, of a technique based on a robust multi-resolution optical-flow algorithm. The robustness is achieved adopting a Least Median of Squares paradigm. The algorithm has been tested on semi-synthetic data (i.e. real data that have been synthetically warped in order to have a reliable ground truth for the motion field), and on real short sequences (pairs of frames) coming from the ATSR2 data set. Since we assumed the same geometry as for the ATSR2 data, the cloud top height could be recovered from the motion field by means of the widely used Prata and Turner equation