Asymptotic approach to Special Relativity compatible with a relativistic principle

We propose a general framework to describe Planckian deviations from Special Relativity (SR) compatible with a relativistic principle. They are introduced as the leading corrections in an asymptotic approach to SR going beyond the energy power expansion of effective field theories. We discuss the conditions in which these Planckian effects might be experimentally observable in the near future, together with the non-trivial limits of applicability of this asymptotic approach that such a situation would produce, both at the very high (ultraviolet) and the very low (infrared) energy regimes.Comment: 12 page

About Locality and the Relativity Principle Beyond Special Relativity

Locality of interactions is an essential ingredient of Special Relativity. Recently, a new framework under the name of relative locality \cite{AmelinoCamelia:2011bm} has been proposed as a way to consider Planckian modifications of the relativistic dynamics of particles. We note in this paper that the loss of absolute locality is a general feature of theories beyond Special Relativity with an implementation of a relativity principle. We give an explicit construction of such an implementation and compare it both with the previously mentioned framework of relative locality and the so-called Doubly Special Relativity theories.Comment: 10 pages, no figure

Rapid and sudden advection of warm and dry air in the Mediterranean Basin

Rapid advection of extremely warm and dry air is studied during two events in the Mediterranean Basin. On 27 August 2010 a rapid advection of extremely warm and dry air affected the northeast Iberian Peninsula during a few hours. At the Barcelona city center, the temperature reached 39.3 ° C, which is the maximum temperature value recorded during 230 yr of daily data series. On 23 March 2008 a rapid increase of temperature and drop of relative humidity were recorded for a few hours in Heraklion (Crete). During the morning on that day, the recorded temperature reached 34 °C for several hours on the northern coastline of this island.According to the World Meteorological Organization none of these events can be classified as a heat wave, which requires at least two days of abnormally high temperatures; neither are they a heat burst as defined by the American Meteorological Society, where abnormal temperatures take place during a few minutes. For this reason, we suggest naming this type of event flash heat. By using data from automatic weather stations in the Barcelona and Heraklion area and WRF mesoscale numerical simulations, these events are analyzed. Additionally, the primary risks and possible impacts on several fields are presented

A Monge–Kantorovich mass transport problem for a discrete distance

AbstractThis paper is concerned with a Monge–Kantorovich mass transport problem in which in the transport cost we replace the Euclidean distance with a discrete distance. We fix the length of a step and the distance that measures the cost of the transport depends of the number of steps that is needed to transport the involved mass from its origin to its destination. For this problem we construct special Kantorovich potentials, and optimal transport plans via a nonlocal version of the PDE formulation given by Evans and Gangbo for the classical case with the Euclidean distance. We also study how these problems, when rescaling the step distance, approximate the classical problem. In particular we obtain, taking limits in the rescaled nonlocal formulation, the PDE formulation given by Evans–Gangbo for the classical problem

Characterization of two second-site mutations preventing wild type protein aggregation caused by a dominant negative PMA1 mutant

The correct biogenesis and localization of Pma1 at the plasma membrane is essential for yeast growth. A subset of PMA1 mutations behave as dominant negative because they produce aberrantly folded proteins that form protein aggregates, which in turn provoke the aggregation of the wild type protein. One approach to understand this dominant negative effect is to identify second-site mutations able to suppress the dominant lethal phenotype caused by those mutant alleles. We isolated and characterized two intragenic second-site suppressors of the PMA1-D378T dominant negative mutation. We present here the analysis of these new mutations that are located along the amino-terminal half of the protein and include a missense mutation, L151F, and an in-frame 12bp deletion that eliminates four residues from Cys409 to Ala412. The results show that the suppressor mutations disrupt the interaction between the mutant and wild type enzymes, and this enables the wild type Pma1 to reach the plasma membraneThis work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación Grant BFU2008-0428

Consumo de tabaco y pseudoartrosis en cirugía lumbar instrumentada: Estudio comparativo

El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar si en los pacientes fumadores de más de 20 cigarrillos al día había una incidencia más alta de pseudoartrosis que en los pacientes no fumadores. El estudio retrospectivo se efectuó en un grupo de 100 pacientes (50 fumadores y 50 no fumadores), intervenidos por problemas degenerativos del caquis mediante artrodesis instrumentada y posterolateral a nivel lumbosacro. Cincuenta y tres pacientes eran varones y 47 mujeres, con una edad media de 49+-10 años. Para determinar la incidencia de pseudoartrosis se valoraron las masas de fusión a los 6 y 24 meses de la intervención y la situación clínica del paciente. A siete de los 100 pacientes se les diagnosticó pseudoartrosis (2 no fumadores y 5 fumadores); los 93 restantes que no presentaron pseudoartrosis, 48 correspondían a pacientes no fumadores y 45 eran fumadores (p=0,24). No hemos podido demostrar la asociación entre consumo de tabaco y mayor índice de pseudoartrosis en pacientes intervenidos de artrodesis lumbosacra.The aim of this study was to determine whether smokers (more than 20 cigarettes per day) had higher rate of pseudoarthrosis than the non-smokers after lumbar fusion. A retrospective study was designed with 100 patients (50 smokers and 50 non-smokers). All the patients were operated on, by doing a posterolateral fusion with instrumentation (transpedicular fixation), due to degenerative pathology of the lumbar spine. Fifty-three patients were males and 47 were females, with an average age of 49+-10 years. To determinate pseudoarthrosis two types of evaluation were performed: Radiographic evaluation in plain radiographs at 6 and 24 months after surgery and clinical assessment. Seven out of 100 patients were diagnosed as pseudoarthrosis (2 non-smokers and 5 smokers) and, of the remaining 93 patients, 48 were non-smokers and 28 smokers (p=0.24). No evidence was found of correlation between cigarette smoking and a higher rate of pseudoarthrosis in patients with an instrumental arthrodesis of the lumbar spine

Evaluation of draw solutions and commercially available forward osmosis membrane modules for wastewater reclamation at pilot scale

An intensive evaluation of draw solutions (DS) was performed by focusing on the wastewater reuse applications of hybrid forward osmosis (FO) processes. The substances studied were potassium formate, potassium phosphate, magnesium sulphate, sodium chloride, sodium polyacrylate and polyethylene glycol, and their osmotic pressure, conductivity, pH, thermostability, sunlight exposure, toxicity, FO filtration performance and replenishment costs were determined. Additionally, commercially available FO membrane modules were evaluated at pilot scale. The results revealed that the most relevant DS properties for wastewater reuse under the studied conditions were the DS regeneration method, DS replacement price, pH adjustment and toxicity. These properties were shown to be more relevant than filtration flux when a maximum DS osmotic pressure value of 10 bar was used. This was the limit for efficient DS recovery. When the different FO membranes were compared, thin-film composite (TFC) flat-sheet membranes showed the highest flux and the highest salt rejection, and the lowest permeability and salt rejection values were presented by cellulose triacetate (CTA) hollow fibre membranes. Based on the information obtained, a TFC-FO/nanofiltration (NF) demonstration plant will be constructed next to the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in San Pedro del Pinatar, in the region of Murcia (Spain). This represents the world's first FO demonstration plant for municipal wastewater reclamation and its results will allow this technology to be evaluated for wastewater reuse for agricultural purpose

Assigning pollution permits: are uniform auctions efficient?

We study the efficiency of the uniform auction as an allocation mechanism for emission permits among polluting firms. In our model, firms have private information about their abatement costs, which differ across firms and across units, and bidders' demands are linear. We show that there is a continuum of interior Bayesian-Nash equilibria, and only one is effcient, minimizing abatement costs. We find that the existence of many bidders is not a sufficient condition to guarantee an efficient equilibrium in the uniform auction. Additionally, bidders' types have to be uncorrelated