Bioclimatology, structure, and conservation perspectives of Quercus pyrenaica, Acer opalus subsp. Granatensis, and Corylus avellana deciduous forests on Mediterranean bioclimate in the South-Central part of the Iberian Peninsula

The plant variability in the southern Iberian Peninsula consists of around 3500 different taxa due to its high bioclimatic, geographic, and geological diversity. The deciduous forests in the southern Iberian Peninsula are located in regions with topographies and specific bioclimatic conditions that allow for the survival of taxa that are typical of cooler and wetter bioclimatic regions and therefore represent the relict evidence of colder and more humid paleoclimatic conditions. The floristic composition of 421 samples of deciduous forests in the south-central part of the Iberian Peninsula were analyzed. The ecological importance index (IVI) was calculated, where the most important tree species were Quercuspyrenaica, Aceropalus subsp. Granatensis, and Corylusavellana. These species are uncommon in the south-central part of the Iberian Peninsula, forming forests of little extension. An analysis of the vertical distribution of the species (stratum) shows that the majority of the species of stratum 3 (hemicriptophics, camephytes, geophites, and nanophanerophytes) are characteristic of deciduous forests, and their presence is positively correlated with high values of bioclimatic variables related to humidity and presence of water in the soil (nemoral environments), while they are negatively correlated with high values of bioclimatic variables related to high temperatures, evapotranspiration, and aridity. This work demonstrates that several characteristic deciduous forest taxa are more vulnerable to disappearance due to the loss of their nemoral conditions caused by gaps in the tree or shrub canopy. These gaps lead to an increase in evapotranspiration, excess insolation, and a consequent loss of water and humidity in the microclimatic conditions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Quantitation of Scanning Electron Microscopic Urinary Cytology

Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differences in cell surface morphology are identifiable between normal urothelium and malignant urothelia including the presence of pleomorphic microvilli (PMV). PMV have been reported in carcinomas of the urinary bladder, and they appear early in the pathogenesis of these tumors in animal models. Preliminary studies in our laboratory and others\u27 demonstrated similar changes in tissue and cytologic specimens from patients with bladder cancer. We observed and evaluated normal and neoplastic cells of the human bladder by SEM in a preliminary assessment of surface topography with regard to tumor growth, grade, and stage. However, while these SEM observations indicated that differences between normal and abnormal urothelia could be readily recognized, the distinction between the various types of atypical cells was not as clearly defined. Data collected so far indicates that changes in the surface topography of the exfoliated cells may possibly vary both in relation to tumor grade and stage. Based on these qualitative observations, we expanded our approach by using a computerized image analysis system directly interfaced with the SEM. The measurements which can be made include cell surface area, diameter, length, width, perimeter, orientation and number of PMV per unit area. Statistical analysis is also performed. The boundaries between cells are not recognizable by the system, making the single cells present in cytologic specimens ideal for evaluation. Uniform short microvilli are readily distinguished from PMV. Preliminary evaluation of 23 patients has distinguished specimens from malignant cases compared to patients with benign lesions

The contribution of 211 particles to the mechanical reinforcement mechanism of 123 superconducting single domains

Hardness and fracture toughness of Dy-123 single-domains were studied by Vickers micro-indentation. A significant anisotropy of the mechanical properties was observed. Hardness tests give higher values when performed in (001) planes rather than in planes parallel to the c-axis. Moreover cracks pattern around the indentation follows preferential orientation in planes parallel to the c-axis whereas a classical ''four-cracks'' pattern is observed in the (001) planes. It has been possible to show the crucial role played by the 211-particles in the deviating mechanism of cracks and the relevance of the 211-particle distribution high homogeneity in the material.Comment: 14 pages, including 5 figures and 1 Table. submitted to Supercond. Sci. Techno

Compact Radio Sources within 30" of Sgr A*: Proper Motions, Stellar Winds and the Accretion Rate onto Sgr A*

Recent broad-band 34 and 44 GHz radio continuum observations of the Galactic center have revealed 41 massive stars identified with near-IR counterparts, as well as 44 proplyd candidates within 30" of Sgr A*. Radio observations obtained in 2011 and 2014 have been used to derive proper motions of eight young stars near Sgr A*. The accuracy of proper motion estimates based on near-IR observations by Lu et al. and Paumard et al. have been investigated by using their proper motions to predict the 2014 epoch positions of near-IR stars and comparing the predicted positions with those of radio counterparts in the 2014 radio observations. Predicted positions from Lu et al. show an rms scatter of 6 mas relative to the radio positions, while those from Paumard et al. show rms residuals of 20 mas, which is mainly due to uncertainties in the IR-based proper motions. Under the assumption of homogeneous ionized winds, we also determine the mass-loss rates of 11 radio stars, finding rates that are on average $\sim$2 times smaller than those determined from model atmosphere calculations and near-IR data. Clumpiness of ionized winds would reduce the mass loss rate of WR and O stars by additional factors of 3 and 10, respectively. One important implication of this is a reduction in the expected mass accretion rate onto Sgr A* from stellar winds by nearly an order of magnitude to a value of few$\times10^{-7}$ \msol\ yr$^{-1}$. Finally, we present the positions of 318 compact 34.5 GHz radio sources within 30\arcs\ of Sgr A*. At least 45 of these have stellar counterparts in the near-IR $K_s$ (2.18 $\mu$m) and $L'$ (3.8$\mu$m) bands.Comment: 30 pages, 4 figures, ApJ (in press

Detecting hot stars in the Galactic centre with combined near- and mid-infrared photometry

{The Galactic centre (GC) is a unique astrophysical laboratory to study the stellar population of galactic nuclei because it is the only galactic nucleus whose stars can be resolved down to milliparsec scales. However, the extreme and spatially highly variable interstellar extinction towards the GC poses a serious obstacle to photometric stellar classification.} {Our goal is to identify hot, massive stars in the nuclear stellar disc (NSD) region through combining near-infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) photometry, and thus to demonstrate the feasibility of this technique, which may gain great importance with the arrival of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).} {We combined the GALACTICNUCLEUS NIR survey with the IRAC/Spitzer MIR survey of the GC. We applied the so-called Rayleigh-Jeans colour excess (RJCE) de-reddening method to our combined NIR-MIR data to identify potential hot stars in colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs).} {Despite the very low angular resolution of IRAC we find 12 clear candidates for young massive stars among the $1\,065$ sources that meet our selection criteria. Seven out of these 12 stars are previously known hot, massive stars belonging to the Arches and Quintuplet clusters, as well as sources detected by the Hubble Space Telescope/NICMOS Paschen-$\alpha$ survey. Five of our massive star candidates have not been previously reported in the literature.} {We show that the RJCE method is a valuable tool to identify hot stars in the GC using photometry alone. Upcoming instruments with high angular resolution MIR imaging capabilities such as the JWST could surely make more substantial use of this de-reddening method and help establish a far more complete census of hot, young stars in the GC area than what is possible at the moment.}Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Magnetotransport in the Kondo model with ferromagnetic exchange interaction

We consider the transport properties in an applied magnetic field of the spin S=1/2 Kondo model with ferromagnetic exchange coupling to electronic reservoirs, a description relevant for the strong coupling limit of underscreened spin S=1 Kondo impurities. Because the ferromagnetic Kondo interaction is marginally irrelevant, perturbative methods should prove accurate down to low energies. For the purpose of this study, we use a combination of Majorana diagrammatic theory with Density Matrix Numerical Renormalization Group simulations. In the standard case of antiferromagnetic Kondo exchange, we first show that our technique recovers previously obtained results for the T-matrix and spin relaxation at weak coupling (above the Kondo temperature). Considering then the ferromagnetic case, we demonstrate how the low-energy Kondo anomaly splits for arbitrary small values of the Zeeman energy, in contrast to fully screened Kondo impurities near the strong coupling Fermi liquid fixed point, and in agreement with recent experimental findings for spin S=1 molecular quantum dots.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, minor changes in V