The QUEST-La Silla AGN Variability Survey: Connection between AGN Variability and Black Hole Physical Properties

Sá,nchez-Sá,ez, P.,Lira, P.,Mejí,a-Restrepo, J.,Ho, L. C.,Aré,valo, P.,Kim, M.,Cartier, R.,Coppi, P. American Astronomical Society 2018 The Astrophysical journal Vol.864 No.1

Space Telescope and Optical Reverberation Mapping Project. VII. Understanding the Ultraviolet Anomaly in NGC 5548 with X-Ray Spectroscopy

Mathur, S.,Gupta, A.,Page, K.,Pogge, R. W.,Krongold, Y.,Goad, M. R.,Adams, S. M.,Anderson, M. D.,Aré,valo, P.,Barth, A. J.,Bazhaw, C.,Beatty, T. G.,Bentz, M. C.,Bigley, A.,Bisogni, S.,Borman, G. American Astronomical Society 2017 The Astrophysical Journal Vol.846 No.1

<P>During the Space Telescope and Optical Reverberation Mapping Project observations of NGC 5548, the continuum and emission-line variability became decorrelated during the second half of the six-month-long observing campaign. Here we present Swift and Chandra X-ray spectra of NGC 5548 obtained as part of the campaign. The Swift spectra show that excess flux (relative to a power-law continuum) in the soft X-ray band appears before the start of the anomalous emission-line behavior, peaks during the period of the anomaly, and then declines. This is a model-independent result suggesting that the soft excess is related to the anomaly. We divide the Swift data into on-and off-anomaly spectra to characterize the soft excess via spectral fitting. The cause of the spectral differences is likely due to a change in the intrinsic spectrum rather than to variable obscuration or partial covering. The Chandra spectra have lower signal-to-noise ratios, but are consistent with the Swift data. Our preferred model of the soft excess is emission from an optically thick, warm Comptonizing corona, the effective optical depth of which increases during the anomaly. This model simultaneously explains all three observations: the UV emission-line flux decrease, the soft-excess increase, and the emission-line anomaly.</P>

SPACE TELESCOPE AND OPTICAL REVERBERATION MAPPING PROJECT.VI. REVERBERATING DISK MODELS FOR NGC 5548

Starkey, D.,Horne, Keith,Fausnaugh, M. M.,Peterson, B. M.,Bentz, M. C.,Kochanek, C. S.,Denney, K. D.,Edelson, R.,Goad, M. R.,Rosa, G. De,Anderson, M. D.,Aré,valo, P.,Barth, A. J.,Bazhaw, C.,Borm American Astronomical Society 2017 The Astrophysical journal Vol.835 No.1

<P>We conduct a multiwavelength continuum variability study of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 5548 to investigate the temperature structure of its accretion disk. The 19 overlapping continuum light curves (1158 angstrom to 9157 angstrom) combine simultaneous Hubble Space Telescope, Swift, and ground-based observations over a 180 day period from 2014 January to July. Light-curve variability is interpreted as the reverberation response of the accretion disk to irradiation by a central time-varying point source. Our model yields the disk inclination i = 36 degrees +/- 10 degrees, temperature T-1= (44 +/- 6) x 10(3) K at 1 light day from the black hole, and a temperature-radius slope (T proportional to r(-alpha)) of alpha = 0.99 +/- 0.03. We also infer the driving light curve and find that it correlates poorly with both the hard and soft X-ray light curves, suggesting that the X-rays alone may not drive the ultraviolet and optical variability over the observing period. We also decompose the light curves into bright, faint, and mean accretion-disk spectra. These spectra lie below that expected for a standard blackbody accretion disk accreting at L/L-Edd = 0.1.</P>

Evaluation of Microbial Load in Oropharyngeal Mucosa from Tannery Workers

Diana C. Castellanos-Arévalo,Andrea P. Castellanos-Arévalo,David A. Camarena-Pozos,Juan G. Colli-Mull,María Maldonado-Vega 한국산업안전보건공단 산업안전보건연구원 2015 Safety and health at work Vol.6 No.1

Background: Animal skin provides an ideal medium for the propagation of microorganisms and it is usedlike raw material in the tannery and footware industry. The aim of this study was to evaluate and identifythe microbial load in oropharyngeal mucosa of tannery employees. Methods: The health risk was estimated based on the identification of microorganisms found in theoropharyngeal mucosa samples. The study was conducted in a tanners group and a control group. Samples were taken from oropharyngeal mucosa and inoculated on plates with selective medium. In thesamples, bacteria were identified by 16S ribosomal DNA analysis and the yeasts through a presumptivemethod. In addition, the sensitivity of these microorganisms to antibiotics/antifungals was evaluated. Results: The identified bacteria belonged to the families Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, Neisseriaceae,Alcaligenaceae, Moraxellaceae, and Xanthomonadaceae, of which some species are consideredas pathogenic or opportunistic microorganisms; these bacteria were not present in the control group. Forty-two percent of bacteria identified in the tanners group are correlated with respiratory diseases. Yeasts were also identified, including the following species: Candida glabrata, Candida tropicalis, Candidaalbicans, and Candida krusei. Regarding the sensitivity test of bacteria identified in the tanners group, 90%showed sensitivity to piperacillin/tazobactam, 87% showed sensitivity to ticarcillin/clavulanic acid, 74%showed sensitivity to ampicillin/sulbactam, and 58% showed sensitivity to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid. Conclusion: Several of the bacteria and yeast identified in the oropharyngeal mucosa of tanners havebeen correlated with infections in humans and have already been reported as airborne microorganismsin this working environment, representing a health risk for workers.

Triggering strategy for defragmentation process in Elastic Optical Networks using Machine Learning techniques

Dávalos Enrique,Enciso José-Luis,Silva Nicolás,Pinto-Ríos Juan,Leiva Ariel 한국통신학회 2023 ICT Express Vol.9 No.5

Bandwidth fragmentation is a critical problem for Elastic Optical Networks (EON), and spectrum defragmentation is the most important strategy to mitigate this phenomenon. In this work we propose a Machine Learning (ML) based method for estimating the Blocking Rate, which, when exceeding a threshold, triggers a defragmentation process. This is done in order to achieve better results in terms of the number of blocking demands and the number of re-routed connections. The performance of the proposed method was compared with two other known strategies: fixed-time (FT) defragmentation, and triggering based on one fragmentation metric (BFR). Simulation results were evaluated using two multi-objective metrics. Experimental results show that the proposed method is more efficient than the other two, being the best method in 85.7% of comparisons using the Pareto Coverage metric, and obtaining 47.4% of non-dominated solutions in the Pareto Front.

Parametric analysis based on energy and exergy balances of a condensing boiler

Rubén Arévalo-Ramírez,Javier Aros-Taglioni 대한기계학회 2023 JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Vol.37 No.3

Condensing boilers are highly efficient equipment increasingly used to heat water for heating or industrial use, characterized by taking advantage of the residual heat of the combustion gases, including the condensation latent heat of water vapor. The present work analyzes important aspects to optimize the design and operation of this type of equipment from the energy and exergy point of view, specifically, the effect that changes in fuel, water inlet temperature (20-70 °C), excess air used in combustion (5-100 %) and relative humidity of the air (10-100 %), have on their energy and exergy efficiencies. For this purpose, the energy and exergy balance equations for the reactive and heat exchange processes that occur within it were implemented and solved using the computational program engineering equation solver (EES). The model was validated by comparing its results with the efficiency curve of a commercial condensing boiler model. The results show an important effect of the fuel type on the operating ranges in condensing and non-condensing modes and on the energy efficiency values, finding that the technology is widely justified when used with natural gas, and not so much with the other fuels analyzed. Likewise, a favorable effect of the reduction of excess air for combustion on energy efficiency can be seen, which is why it is advisable to operate this equipment with the least possible amount of air that guarantees good combustion. On the other hand, exergy efficiency has the highest values using natural gas, and benefits from a higher water return temperature and lower excess air. The greatest irreversibilities are found in the main coil and the combustion chamber.

Efficacy of physical and chemical treatments on the inactivation of bovine leukosis virus present in milk

Rocío Silvia Sandoval-Monzón,Irma Cecilia Karla Arévalo-Rodriguez,Aldo Alberto Carrillo-Torres,Luis Felipe Ruiz-García 대한백신학회 2021 Clinical and Experimental Vaccine Research Vol.10 No.1

Purpose: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of pasteurization, freezing, the addition of formaldehyde and peroxymonosulfate on the inactivation of the bovine leukemia virus (BLV) present in milk. Materials and Methods: A sheep bioassay was carried out in 40 sheep, which were intraperitoneally inoculated with leukocytes from milk infected by the BLV previously treated with one of the virus inactivation methods. Five study groups were evaluated: (1) control group: milk without previous treatment, (2) pasteurization group: milk treated by pasteurization, (3) freezing group: milk treated by freezing for 36 hours, (4) formaldehyde group: 0.1% formaldehyde, and (5) peroxymonosulfate group: 0.05% peroxymonosulfate. The inoculated animals were followed for 10 weeks. Results: At week 10 post-inoculation, all the animals (8/8) of the control group and the peroxymonosulfate group were seropositive to BLV, while no animals were seropositive (0/8) to BLV in the remaining three groups. Statistically significant differences were found between the pasteurization, freezing and formaldehyde groups with respect to the control (p<0.001) and peroxymonosulfate groups (p<0.001). Conclusion: The results indicate that pasteurization, freezing and formaldehyde processes are efficient in inactivating the BLV and can be used in milk to prevent the transmission of the virus.

Long-term evolution of continence and quality of life after sphincteroplasty for obstetric fecal incontinence

Vicente Pla-Martí,Jose Martín-Arévalo,Rosa Martí-Fernández,David Moro-Valdezate,Stephanie García-Botello,Alejandro Espí-Macías,Miguel Mínguez-Pérez,Maria Dolores Ruiz-Carmona,Jose Vicente Roig-Vila 대한대장항문학회 2022 Annals of Coloproctolgy Vol.38 No.1

Purpose: This study was performed to evaluate the long-term evolution of continence and patient’s quality of life after surgical treatment for obstetric fecal incontinence. Methods: A prospective longitudinal study was conducted including consecutive patients who underwent sphincteroplasty for severe obstetric fecal incontinence. The first phase analyzed changes in continence and impact on quality of life. The second phase studied the long-term evolution reevaluating the same group of patients 6 years later. Degree of fecal incontinence was calculated using the Cleveland Clinic Score (CCS). Quality of life assessment was carried out with the Fecal Incontinence Quality of Life scale. Results: Thirty-five patients with median age of 55 years (range, 28 to 73 years) completed the study. Phase 1 results: after a postoperative follow-up of 30 months (4 to 132 months), CCS had improved significantly from a preoperative of 15.7±3.1 to 6.1±5.0 (P<0.001). Phase 2 results: median follow-up in phase 2 was 110 months (76 to 204 months). The CCS lowered to 8.4±4.9 (P=0.04). There were no significant differences between phases 1 and 2 in terms of quality of life; lifestyle (3.47± 0.75 vs. 3.16±1.04), coping/behavior (3.13±0.83 vs. 2.80±1.09), depression/self-perception (3.65±0.80 vs. 3.32± 0.98), and embarrassment (3.32±0.90 vs. 3.12±1.00). Conclusion: Sphincteroplasty offers good short-medium term outcomes in continence and quality of life for obstetric fecal incontinence treatment. Functional clinical results deteriorate over time but did not impact on patients’ quality of life.

Brain-lung interaction: a vicious cycle in traumatic brain injury

Ariana Alejandra Chacón-Aponte,Érika Andrea Durán-Vargas,Jaime Adolfo Arévalo-Carrillo,Iván David Lozada-Martínez,Maria Paz Bolaño-Romero,Moscote-Salazar Luis Rafael,Pedro Grille,Janjua Tariq 대한중환자의학회 2022 Acute and Critical Care Vol.37 No.1

The brain-lung interaction can seriously affect patients with traumatic brain injury, triggering a vicious cycle that worsens patient prognosis. Although the mechanisms of the interaction are not fully elucidated, several hypotheses, notably the “blast injury” theory or “double hit” model, have been proposed and constitute the basis of its development and progression. The brain and lungs strongly interact via complex pathways from the brain to the lungs but also from the lungs to the brain. The main pulmonary disorders that occur after brain injuries are neurogenic pulmonary edema, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and ventilator-associated pneumonia, and the principal brain disorders after lung injuries include brain hypoxia and intracranial hypertension. All of these conditions are key considerations for management therapies after traumatic brain injury and need exceptional case-by-case monitoring to avoid neurological or pulmonary complications. This review aims to describe the history, pathophysiology, risk factors, characteristics, and complications of brain-lung and lung-brain interactions and the impact of different old and recent modalities of treatment in the context of traumatic brain injury.

Passivity‑based controller for a high‑energy‑quality active rectifier–DC motor system: an FPGA implementation

Rubén Heredia‑Barba,José Antonio Juárez‑Abad,Jesús Linares‑Flores,Marco Antonio Contreras‑Ordaz,Jorge Luis Barahona‑Ávalos 전력전자학회 2023 JOURNAL OF POWER ELECTRONICS Vol.23 No.4

This study presents a passivity-based controller for a single-phase active rectifier–DC motor (SPAR-DCM) system. The mainobjective in the mechanical stage (DCM) is to regulate and maintain the desired angular speed of the motor under sudden load torque changes. Moreover, in the electric power stage, namely single-phase active rectifier (SPAR), the power factor (PF) should stay close to unity. We designed an Online Algebraic Estimator (OAE) to estimate the load torque parameter, adapted to the linear controller based on the exact static error dynamic passive output feedback (ESEDPOF) to minimize its effects. To synchronize the SPAR-DCM system with the grid, we used a second-order general integrator phase-locked loop to generate the necessary reference signals for the ESEDPOF controller. The arithmetic processing is programmed at mediumscale field-programmable gate array Spartan-6 XC6SLX16 through a detailed architecture design in 32 bits and in floating point, according to the standard IEEE-754. Experimental results verified the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the PF value is close to unity through power quality measurements.