Tree-level unitarity, causality and higher-order Lorentz and CPT violation

Higher-order effects of CPT and Lorentz violation within the SME effective framework including Myers-Pospelov dimension-five operator terms are studied. The model is canonically quantized by giving special attention to the arising of indefinite-metric states or ghosts in an indefinite Fock space. As is well-known, without a perturbative treatment that avoids the propagation of ghost modes or any other approximation, one has to face the question of whether unitarity and microcausality are preserved. In this work, we study both possible issues. We found that microcausality is preserved due to the cancellation of residues occurring in pairs or conjugate pairs when they become complex. Also, by using the Lee-Wick prescription, we prove that the $S$ matrix can be defined as perturbatively unitary for tree-level $2\to 2$ processes with an internal fermion line.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figure

Short communication. Phenological growth stages of saffron plant (Crocus sativus L.) according to the BBCH Scale

Phenological studies are important for understanding the influence of climate dynamics on vegetative growth, flowering and fruiting on plants and can be used in many scientific subjects, such as Agronomy, Botany and Plant Biology, but also Climatology as a result of the current global interest in climate change monitoring. The purpose of the detailed specific culture descriptions of the principal growth stages in plants is to provide an instrument for standardization of data recording. To date, there was no coding method to describe developmental stages on saffron plant (Crocus sativus L.). Because of the increasing world-wide interest on this crop, a novel growth development code based on the BBCH extended scale is proposed in this paper. Six principal growth stages were set up, starting from sprouting, cataphylls and flowers appearance, plant appearance and development, replacement corms development, plant senescence and corm dormancy. Each principal growth stage is subdivided into secondary growth stages. Descriptive keys with illustrations are included to make effective use of the system

An identification procedure for woolly soft-flesh peaches by instrumental assessment

Woolliness in peaches, a negative attribute of sensory texture characterized by the lack of crispness and juiciness, also known as mealiness in other fruits, has been identified fruit-by fruit by instrumental means. The use of a non-supervised clustering data analysis procedure, studying crispness and juiciness, enables four instrumental degrees of texture degradation to be defined, of which woolliness appears to be the last stage. This procedure also provides some information on several experimental factors (ripeness stages, storage time and storage temperature) with regard to the onset of woolliness. It is confirmed through this study that, in Maycrest peaches, woolliness starts to appear after 2 weeks of storage at 5°C. Fruits classified at harvest in 'first' and 'second' ripeness stages are more susceptible to woolliness than those in the third ripeness stage. This clustering procedure may also be effective for studying other species, varieties and quality attributes of fruit

Single-cell immune profiling of Meniere Disease patients

This work was supported by B-CTS-68-UGR20 Grant by FEDER Funds, PI17/1644 and PI20-1126 grants from ISCIII by FEDER Funds from the EU, CLINMON-2 from the Meniere's Society UK, and Impact Data Science (IMP0001) . MF is funded by F18/00228 grant from ISCIII by FEDER Funds from the EU. AEB is funded by the EU's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, Grant Agreement Number 848261. LF is funded by CD20/0153 grant from ISCIII by FEDER Funds from the EU. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada/CBUA.Background: Meniere Disease (MD) is an inner ear syndrome, characterized by episodes of vertigo, tinnitus and fluctuating sensorineural hearing loss. The pathological mechanism leading to sporadic MD is still poorly understood, however an allergic inflammatory response seems to be involved in some patients with MD. Objective: Decipher an immune signature associated with the syndrome. Methods: We performed mass cytometry immune profiling on peripheral blood from MD patients and controls. We analyzed differences in state and differences in abundance of the different cellular subsets. IgE levels were quantified through ELISA on supernatant of cultured whole blood. Results: We have identified two clusters of individuals according to the single cell cytokine profile. These clusters presented differences in IgE levels, immune cell population abundance, including a reduction of CD56dim NKcells, and changes in cytokine expression with a different response to bacterial and fungal antigens. Conclusion: Our results support a systemic inflammatory response in some MD patients that show a type 2 response with allergic phenotype, which could benefit from personalized IL-4 blockers.FEDER Funds B-CTS-68-UGR20, B-CTS-68-UGR20Instituto de Salud Carlos III Spanish Government PI17/1644, PI20-1126, CD20/0153, 848261EUMeniere's Society UKImpact Data Science F18/00228Horizon 2020 IMP0001Universidad de Granada/CBU

Profitability Assessment of Windfarm Overplanting in Spain

The efforts made by European institutions to decarbonise the electricity system over the last decade have led Spain to become the fifth country in the world in terms of wind power plant capacity in 2021. This major achievement is still far from being able to contain and limit CO2 emissions. By 2030, it is expected that, together with photovoltaic energy, Spain will reach 74 % of renewable generation in its electricity system. Wind technology is currently very mature in onshore wind farms and its relatively low cost makes this technology attractive to investors. However, the best wind sites were the first places to be occupied by the first turbine generations. On the other hand, newer wind farms occupy sites with less wind resource but have more efficient turbines. To improve the profitability of the wind farm and increase its production, the feasibility of other alternatives such as overplanting or storage is beginning to be investigated. Overplanting aims to optimise the use of the transmission system by increasing wind capacity above the transmission capacity limit. In this work, we measure the profitability of an overplanting strategy by quantifying the parameters that make profitable the investment. The developed model optimised the production of energy taking into account technical and financial parameters in order to cover a wide range of situations. We analysed the case of a specific site with 25 2 MW turbines with the Python tool PyWake. The results obtained show that for each new turbine the annual energy produced (AEP) grows by around 3.87 GWh per turbine added (a cut of 1.69 GWh due to congestion of the transmission system). The study shows improvements in profitability when the electricity price exceeds 70 €/MWh

Best Nursing Intervention Practices to Prevent Non-Communicable Disease: A Systematic Review.

Objectives: To explore nursing health education interventions for non-communicable disease patients. Methods: The design was a systematic review of research work published between 2008 and 2018. The data sources included the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, COCHRANE, and LILACS. The studies that met the inclusion were assessed, and the analysis for methodological quality through the recommended tools CASPe, and JADAD. Results: Fifteen original studies from eight counties were included in the review; Findings revealed 13 studies with randomized samples and six used power analysis. Nurses’ interventions included house calls, home care, and individual and group health education. Conclusion: Nursing interventions showed 76.4% the effectiveness of results in patient outcomes to promote and improve healthier lifestyles and quality of life of noncommunicable disease patients. This review discloses the significant impact of nursing health education interventions. Nursing leadership and political decision-makers should consider providing programs to enhance health education knowledge and abilities. All of this can favor the sustainability of the global economy by changing the life style of thousands of people worldwide.post-print970 K

Advances on the investigation of landslides by space-borne synthetic aperture radar interferometry

Landslides are destructive geohazards to people and infrastructure, resulting in hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars of damage every year. Therefore, mapping the rate of deformation of such geohazards and understanding their mechanics is of paramount importance to mitigate the resulting impacts and properly manage the associated risks. In this paper, the main outcomes relevant to the joint European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) Dragon-5 initiative cooperation project ID 59,339 “Earth observation for seismic hazard assessment and landslide early warning system” are reported. The primary goals of the project are to further develop advanced SAR/InSAR and optical techniques to investigate seismic hazards and risks, detect potential landslides in wide regions, and demonstrate EO-based landslide early warning system over selected landslides. This work only focuses on the landslide hazard content of the project, and thus, in order to achieve these objectives, the following tasks were developed up to now: a) a procedure for phase unwrapping errors and tropospheric delay correction; b) an improvement of a cross-platform SAR offset tracking method for the retrieval of long-term ground displacements; c) the application of polarimetric SAR interferometry (PolInSAR) to increase the number and quality of monitoring points in landslide-prone areas; d) the semiautomatic mapping and preliminary classification of active displacement areas on wide regions; e) the modeling and identification of landslides in order to identify triggering factors or predict future displacements; and f) the application of an InSAR-based landslide early warning system on a selected site. The achieved results, which mainly focus on specific sensitive regions, provide essential assets for planning present and future scientific activities devoted to identifying, mapping, characterizing, monitoring and predicting landslides, as well as for the implementation of early warning systems.This work was supported by the ESA-MOST China DRAGON-5 project with ref. 59339, by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the State Agency of Research (AEI), and the European Funds for Regional Development under grant [grant number PID2020-117303GB-C22], by the Conselleria de Innovación, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital in the framework of the project CIAICO/2021/335, by the Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 41874005 and 41929001], the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central University [grant numbers 300102269712 and 300102269303], and China Geological Survey Project [grant numbers DD20190637 and DD20190647]. Xiaojie Liu and Liuru Hu have been funded by Chinese Scholarship Council Grants Ref. [grant number 202006560031] and [grant number 202004180062], respectively

Socio-emotional strengths against psychopathology and suicidal ideation in fear of COVID-19

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused a global health crisis. It also leads to different types of psychosocial problems in society as a result of preventive health measures and the disease itself. Among others, psychopathological symptoms and suicide behaviors have increased. The PsicorecurSOS COVID-19 online protocol was designed. At baseline, 1020 Spanish adults were assessed, during confinement, for sociodemographics, fear of COVID-19, anxious-depressive symptoms, covitality, and suicidal ideation. Reliability, descriptive, and frequency analyses were carried out, and the computer tool SPSS PROCESS was used to carry out a conditional process analysis (model 59). A total of 595 participants were included (58.30% response rate from baseline; mean age = 37.18 [SD = 13.30]; 72.44% female). Regarding suicidal ideation, 12% responded differently to “never,” 19.3% exceeded the cutoff point on the anxiety scale, and 24% on the depression scale. Moderate mediation analysis explained 27% of the variance in suicidal ideation. In addition, the indirect effect of moderate mediation was significant (b = −.004, SE = .002 with the presence of covitality; and b = .01, SE = .003 absence of covitality). Sex and age did not influence the overall outcome of the model. The data from this study can serve as a starting point for generating social and health treatment initiatives based on self-examination of anxiety-depressive symptoms and increasing socio-emotional skills in order to prevent and alleviate the psychosocial effects of the pandemic.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature

Geosensors to Support Crop Production: Current Applications and User Requirements

Sensor technology, which benefits from high temporal measuring resolution, real-time data transfer and high spatial resolution of sensor data that shows in-field variations, has the potential to provide added value for crop production. The present paper explores how sensors and sensor networks have been utilised in the crop production process and what their added-value and the main bottlenecks are from the perspective of users. The focus is on sensor based applications and on requirements that users pose for them. Literature and two use cases were reviewed and applications were classified according to the crop production process: sensing of growth conditions, fertilising, irrigation, plant protection, harvesting and fleet control. The potential of sensor technology was widely acknowledged along the crop production chain. Users of the sensors require easy-to-use and reliable applications that are actionable in crop production at reasonable costs. The challenges are to develop sensor technology, data interoperability and management tools as well as data and measurement services in a way that requirements can be met, and potential benefits and added value can be realized in the farms in terms of higher yields, improved quality of yields, decreased input costs and production risks, and less work time and load