Dynamics of F=1 87Rb condensates at finite temperatures

We investigate the dynamics of a F=1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensate of 87Rb atoms confined in a quasi-one-dimensional trap both at zero and at finite temperature. At zero temperature, we observe coherent oscillations between populations of the various spin components and the formation of multiple domains in the condensate. We study also finite temperature effects in the spin dynamics taking into account the phase fluctuations in the Bogoliubov-de Gennes framework. At finite T, despite complex multidomain formation in the condensate, population equipartition occurs. The length scale of these spin domains seems to be determined intrinsically by nonlinear interactions.Comment: 6 pages + 5 figures; matches the published version (and corrects some typos there

Anticipated regret and self-esteem in the Allais paradox

Our experiment aims at studying the impact of self-esteem on risk-prone choices in an Allais-type decision context using hypothetical money. We use an Internet protocol in order to reach a large heterogeneous student population sample. An anticipated regret explanation for the certainty effect implies that self-esteem is a crucial psychological variable in what concerns risky decision, but only when the choice is between a safe option and a risky option. Thus, in our experiment, we hypothesize that low self-esteem people will choose more frequently the safe option (rather than the risky-prone option) than high self-esteem people, whereas low self-esteem and high self-esteem individuals will show the same pattern of choices between two different risk-based options. Our data confirm our hypothesis. Regarding risky choices preferences, we also observe that females, non economists and older people significantly exhibit safer choice preferences than other participants. We find also that men and students in economics are more likely to conform to expected utility theory than females and other social science students respectively. We then discuss what these findings mean for economic regret theory, and suggest that a complete theory of decision-making under risk should introduce both situational and motivational explanations of individual behaviour.Allais paradox; Risk; Regret aversion; Self-esteem; Internet experiment; Gender differences

Environmental performance of rainwater harvesting strategies in Mediterranean buildings

Purpose: The rapid urbanization and the constant expansion of urban areas during the last decades have locally led to increasing water shortage. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) systems have the potential to be an important contributor to urban water self-sufficiency. The goal of this study was to select an environmentally optimal RWH strategy in newly constructed residential buildings linked to rainwater demand for laundry under Mediterranean climatic conditions, without accounting for water from the mains. Methods: Different strategies were environmentally assessed for the design and use of RWH infrastructures in residential apartment blocks in Mediterranean climates. The harvested rainwater was used for laundry in all strategies. These strategies accounted for (i) tank location (i.e., tank distributed over the roof and underground tank), (ii) building height considering the number of stories (i.e., 6, 9, 12, and 15), and (iii) distribution strategy (i.e., shared laundry, supply to the nearest apartments, and distribution throughout the building). The RWH systems consisted of the catchment, storage, and distribution stages, and the structural and hydraulic calculations were based on Mediterranean conditions. The quantification of the environmental performance of each strategy (e.g., CO2eq. emissions) was performed in accordance with the life cycle assessment methodology. Results and discussion: According to the environmental assessment, the tank location and distribution strategy chosen were the most important variables in the optimization of RWH systems. Roof tank strategies present fewer impacts than their underground tank equivalents because they enhance energy and material savings, and their reinforcement requirements can be accounted for within the safety factors of the building structure without the tank. Among roof tanks and depending on the height, a distribution strategy that concentrates demand in a laundry room was the preferable option, resulting in reductions from 25 to 54 % in most of the selected impact categories compared to distribution throughout the building. Conclusions: These results may set new urban planning standards for the design and construction of buildings from the perspective of sustainable water management. In this sense, a behavioral change regarding demand should be promoted in compact, dense urban settlements.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Addressing the life cycle of sewers in contrasting cities through an eco-efficiency approach

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: [Petit‐Boix, A. , Arnal, C. , Marín, D. , Josa, A. , Gabarrell, X. and Rieradevall, J. (2017), Addressing the Life Cycle of Sewers in Contrasting Cities through an Eco‐Efficiency Approach. Journal of Industrial Ecology. . doi:10.1111/jiec.12649], which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12649. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-ArchivingEvaluating the sustainability of the urban water cycle is not straightforward, although a variety of methods have been proposed. Given the lack of integrated data about sewers, we applied the eco-efficiency approach to two case studies located in Spain with contrasting climate, population, and urban and sewer configurations. Our goal was to determine critical variables and life cycle stages and provide results for decision making. We used life cycle assessment and life cycle costing to evaluate their environmental and economic impacts. Results showed that both cities have a similar profile, albeit their contrasting features, that is, operation and maintenance, was the main environmental issue (50% to 70% of the impacts) and pipe installation registered the greatest economic capital expenditure (70% to 75%) due to labor. The location of the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) is an essential factor in our analysis mainly due to the topography effects (e.g., the annual pump energy was 13 times greater in Calafell). Using the eco-efficiency portfolio, we observed that sewers might be less eco-efficient than WWTPs and that we need to envision their design in the context of an integrated WWTP-sewer management to improve sewer performance. In terms of methodological approach, the bidimensional nature of eco-efficiency enables the benchmarking of product systems and might be more easily interpreted by the general public. However, there are still some constraints that should be addressed to improve communication, such as the selection of indicators discussed in the article.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Tosvinyl and besvinyl as protecting groups of imides, azinones, nucleosides, sultams, and lactams. Catalytic conjugate additions to tosylacetylene.

The use of the 2-(4-methylphenylsulfonyl)ethenyl (tosvinyl, Tsv) group for the protection of the NH group of a series of imides, azinones (including AZT), inosines, and cyclic sulfonamides has been examined. The Tsv-protected derivatives are obtained in excellent yields by conjugate addition to tosylacetylene (ethynyl p-tolyl sulfone). The stereochemistry of the double bond can be controlled at will: with only 1 mol % of Et3N or with catalytic amounts of NaH, the Z stereoisomers are generated almost exclusively, while the E isomers are obtained using a stoichiometric amount of DMAP. Analogous phenylsulfonylvinyl-protected groups (with the besvinyl or Bsv group instead of Tsv) are obtained stereospecifically by reaction with (Z)- or (E)-bis(phenylsulfonyl)ethene. For lactams and oxazolidinones, this last method is much better. The Tsv and Bsv groups are stable in the presence of non-nucleophilic bases and to acids. They can be removed highly effectively via a conjugate addition-elimination mechanism using pyrrolidine or sodium dodecanethiolate as nucleophiles

End-binding 1 protein overexpression correlates with glioblastoma progression and sensitizes to <i>Vinca</i>-alkaloids <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i>

International audienceEnd-binding 1 protein (EB1) is a key player in the regulation of microtubule (MT) dynamics. Here, we investigated the role of EB1 in glioblastoma (GBM) tumor progression and its potential predictive role for response to Vinca-alkaloid chemotherapy. Immunohistological analysis of the 109 human GBM cases revealed that EB1 overexpression correlated with poor outcome including progression-free survival and overall survival. Downregulation of EB1 by shRNA inhibited cell migration and proliferation in vitro. Conversely, EB1 overexpression promoted them and accelerated tumor growth in orthotopically-transplanted nude mice. Furthermore, EB1 was largely overexpressed in stem-like GBM6 that display in vivo a higher tumorigenicity with a more infiltrative pattern of migration than stem-like GBM9. GBM6 showed strong and EB1-dependent migratory potential. The predictive role of EB1 in the response of GBM cells to chemotherapy was investigated. Vinflunine and vincristine increased survival of EB1-overexpressing U87 bearing mice and were more effective to inhibit cell migration and proliferation in EB1-overexpressing clones than in controls. Vinca inhibited the increase of MT growth rate and growth length induced by EB1 overexpression. Altogether, our results show that EB1 expression level has a prognostic value in GBM, and that Vinca-alkaloid chemotherapy could improve the treatment of GBM patients with EB1-overexpressing tumor

Floods and consequential life cycle assessment: integrating flood damage into the environmental assessment of stormwater Best Management Practices

Stormwater management is essential to reducing the occurrence of flooding events in urban areas and to adapting to climate change. The construction of stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) entails a series of life cycle environmental impacts but also implies avoided burdens, such as replacing urban infrastructure after flooding. The aim of this paper is to integrate flood damage prevention into the life cycle assessment (LCA) of BMPs for quantifying their net environmental impact (NEI) and environmental payback (EP) from a consequential LCA standpoint. As a case study, the application of a filter, swale and infiltration trench (FST) in a Brazilian neighborhood was assessed considering a high-intensity rainfall event. The potential avoided impacts were related to cars and sidewalks that were not destroyed due to flooding. In terms of CO2eq. emissions, the environmental investment related to the FST was recovered when the destruction of one car or 84 m2 of sidewalk was prevented. The NEI of the FSTs resulted in significant impact reductions (up to 700%) with respect to not accounting for the avoided products. This approach can be implemented to any type of BMP, and more accurate estimations can be made with data for different events and different types of material damage.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Clinical–pathologic significance of cancer stem cell marker expression in familial breast cancers

Human breast cancer cells with a CD44(+)/CD24(−/low) or ALDH1+ phenotype have been demonstrated to be enriched for cancer stem cells (CSCs) using in vitro and in vivo techniques. The aim of this study was to determine the association between CD44(+)/CD24(−/low) and ALDH1 expression with clinical–pathologic tumor characteristics, tumor molecular subtype, and survival in a well characterized collection of familial breast cancer cases. 364 familial breast cancers from the Ontario Familial Breast Cancer Registry (58 BRCA1-associated, 64 BRCA2-associated, and 242 familial non-BRCA1/2 cancers) were studied. Each tumor had a centralized pathology review performed. TMA sections of all tumors were analyzed for the expression of ER, PR, HER2, CK5, CK14, EGFR, CD44, CD24, and ALDH1. The Chi square test or Fisher’s exact test was used to analyze the marker associations with clinical–pathologic tumor variables, molecular subtype and genetic subtype. Analyses of the association of overall survival (OS) with marker status were conducted using Kaplan–Meier plots and log-rank tests. The CD44(+)/CD24(−/low) and ALDH1+ phenotypes were identified in 16% and 15% of the familial breast cancer cases, respectively, and associated with high-tumor grade, a high-mitotic count, and component features of the medullary type of breast cancer. CD44(+)/CD24(−/low) and ALDH1 expression in this series were further associated with the basal-like molecular subtype and the CD44(+)/CD24(−/low) phenotype was independently associated with BRCA1 mutational status. The currently accepted breast CSCs markers are present in a minority of familial breast cancers. Whereas the presence of these markers is correlated with several poor prognostic features and the basal-like subtype of breast cancer, they do not predict OS