The development of a resource-efficient photovoltaic system

This paper presents the measures taken in the demonstration of the photovoltaic case study developed within the European project ‘Towards zero waste in industrial networks’ (Zerowin), integrating the D4R (Design for recycling, repair, refurbishment and reuse) criteria at both system and industrial network level. The demonstration is divided into three phases. The first phase concerns the development of a D4R photovoltaic concept, the second phase focused on the development of a specific component of photovoltaic systems and the third phase was the demonstration of the D4R design in two complete photovoltaic systems (grid-connected and stand-alone). This paper includes a description of the installed photovoltaic systems, including a brief summary at component level of the lithium ion battery system and the D4R power conditioning system developed for the pilot installations. Additionally, industrial symbioses within the network associated with the photovoltaic systems and the production model for the network are described

Mitochondrial DNA variability in spanish sheep breeds

Mitochondrial DNA variability was studied in indigenous Iberian sheep and results analysed for each of the four morphological trunks. Three maternal lineages, B, A and C were identified. Mean nucleotide diversity for each of the ovine groups was estimated, showing a lower value for the churro trunk, intermediate values for entrefino and merino trunks, while the iberian group had the greatest mitochondrial diversity. Within the churro trunk all mitochondrial DNA sequences belonged to haplogroup B, also known as European type, and among churro breeds Latxa sheep showed the lowest diversity of all Iberian sheep analysed. A few animals of the entrefino trunk showed a maternal A, or Asiatic, lineage, namely Spanish Manchega and Portuguese Serra da Estrela sheep. In the merino group Merino Branco breed showed differences with the rest of sheep, particularly much greater nucleotide diversity and the presence of animals of maternal lineage A. On the other hand, moderate diversity was evident among the rest of merino populations, as it was the case of Spanish pure Merino for which all animals belonged to maternal lineage B. Finally, the iberian trunk showed the highest mean nucleotide diversity and in this group maternal lineage C was identified. The presence of this mitochondrial DNA type was evident in both breeds corresponding to this trunk: Montesina and Ojalada. This result is of particular relevance since this maternal lineage has been discovered quite recently and mainly in Asiatic ovines.Se estudió la variabilidad en el DNA mitocondrial en distintas razas ovinas ibéricas y los resultados obtenidos se analizaron para cada uno los cuatro troncos etnológicos. Se identificaron los tres linajes maternos conocidos como B, A y C. La diversidad nucleotídica promedio estimada para cada uno de los grupos ovinos fue menor para el tronco churro, intermedia para los grupos entrefino y merino, mientras que el tronco ibérico mostró la mayor diversidad mitocondrial. En el tronco churro todas las secuencias de DNA mitocondrial correspondieron al haplogrupo B, también denominado europeo, y entre sus razas la Latxa fue la de menor diversidad de todos las razas Ibéricas analizadas. En el tronco entrefino se identificaron unos pocos animales del linaje materno A, o asiático, en concreto en la raza española Manchega y en la portuguesa Serra da Estrela. En la agrupación merina se encontraron diferencias entre la raza Merino Branco y el resto, mostrando la primera una diversidad nucleotídica muy superior, así como la presencia de algunos animales del linaje A. Por el contrario, en el resto de las poblaciones merinas, entre ellas el Merino puro español, se detectó una variabilidad moderada y sus animales pertenecían en todos los casos al linaje materno B. Finalmente, el tronco ibérico presentó el valor promedio más elevado de diversidad nucleotídica y en esta agrupación ovina se identificó el linaje materno C. La presencia de este tipo de DNA mitocondrial fue puesta de manifiesto en ambas razas representantes de este tronco, Montesina y Ojalada. Este resultado es de particular relevancia dado que este linaje materno ha sido descubierto no hace mucho tiempo y fundamentalmente en ovinos asiáticos

Una nota sobre Winloki: una interfaz de usuario para Loki

WinLoki is a graphical interface under Microsoft Windows® for the Simon Heath’s program Loki. This program uses Bayesian methodologies to carry out QTL (Quantitative Trait Loci) mapping analyses giving estimates of the position, effect and number of QTLs involved. WinLoki shares with Loki its nice characteristics and has some useful utilities in a Windows® environment. The aim of WinLoki is to help researchers to the use of Loki without needing significant informatics background. The source code, executable files and user’s guides (in Spanish and English versions) are freely available at http://winloki. sourceforge.net/. The performance of WinLoki is illustrated via the analysis of a half-daughter pedigree of Spanish Friesian cattle on bovine chromosome 6 for the traits Fore Teat Placement and Rear Teat Placement.WinLoki es una interfaz gráfica en entorno Microsoft Windows® para el programa Loki, originalmente desarrollado por Simon Heath bajo licencia libre. Este programa utiliza metodologías bayesianas para localización de QTL (Quantitative Trait Loci) estimando su posición, efectos y número. WinLoki hereda todas las características de Loki e incorpora otras utilidades enfocadas a facilitar su uso en entorno Microsoft Windows® con el objetivo de ayudar a los investigadores que no dispongan de amplios conocimientos informáticos o de programación y estén acostumbrados a utilizar Windows como sistema operativo. El código fuente del programa WinLoki, los archivos ejecutables y las guías de usuario en versiones española e inglesa, se encuentran disponibles y para libre acceso en la página de Internet http://winloki.sourceforge.net/. Como ejemplo del funcionamiento de WinLoki se analizó un pedigrí de medio hermanas de padre, de ganado Frisón Español para los caracteres Colocación de Pezones Anteriores y Colocación de Pezones Posteriores en el cromosoma 6 bovin

Quantum-well states in ultrathin Ag(111) films deposited onto H-passivated Si(111)-(1x1) surfaces

Ag(111) films were deposited at room temperature onto H-passivated Si(111)-(1x1) substrates, and subsequently annealed at 300 C. An abrupt non-reactive Ag/Si interface is formed, and very uniform non-strained Ag(111) films of 6-12 monolayers have been grown. Angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy has been used to study the valence band electronic properties of these films. Well-defined Ag sp quantum-well states (QWS) have been observed at discrete energies between 0.5-2eV below the Fermi level, and their dispersions have been measured along the GammaK, GammaMM'and GammaL symmetry directions. QWS show a parabolic bidimensional dispersion, with in-plane effective mass of 0.38-0.50mo, along the GammaK and GammaMM' directions, whereas no dispersion has been found along the GammaL direction, indicating the low-dimensional electronic character of these states. The binding energy dependence of the QWS as a function of Ag film thickness has been analyzed in the framework of the phase accumulation model. According to this model, a reflectivity of 70% has been estimated for the Ag-sp states at the Ag/H/Si(111)-(1x1) interface.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Curie temperature enhancement of electron doped Sr2_2FeMoO6_6 perovskites studied by photoemission spectroscopy

We report here on the electronic structure of electron-doped half-metallic ferromagnetic perovskites such Sr$_{2-x}$La$_x$FeMoO$_6$ ($x$=0-0.6) as obtained from high-resolved valence-band photoemission spectroscopy (PES). By comparing the PES spectra with band structure calculations, a distinctive peak at the Fermi level (E$_F$) with predominantly (Fe+Mo) t$_{2g}^\downarrow$ character has been evidenced for all samples, irrespectively of the $x$ values investigated. Moreover, we show that the electron doping due to the La substitution provides selectively delocalized carriers to the t$_{2g}^\downarrow$ metallic spin channel. Consequently, a gradual rising of the density of states at the E$_F$ has been observed as a function of the La doping. By changing the incoming photon energy we have shown that electron doping mainly rises the density of states of Mo parentage. These findings provide fundamental clues for understanding the origin of ferromagnetism in these oxides and shall be of relevance for tailoring oxides having still higher T$_C$

Three years of Fermi GBM Earth Occultation Monitoring: Observations of Hard X-ray/Soft Gamma-Ray Sources

The Gamma ray Burst Monitor (GBM) on board Fermi has been providing continuous data to the astronomical community since 2008 August 12. In this paper we present the results of the analysis of the first three years of these continuous data using the Earth occultation technique to monitor a catalog of 209 sources. From this catalog, we detect 99 sources, including 40 low-mass X-ray binary/neutron star systems, 31 high-mass X-ray binary neutron star systems, 12 black hole binaries, 12 active galaxies, 2 other sources, plus the Crab Nebula, and the Sun. Nine of these sources are detected in the 100-300 keV band, including seven black-hole binaries, the active galaxy Cen A, and the Crab. The Crab and Cyg X-1 are also detected in the 300-500 keV band. GBM provides complementary data to other sky-monitors below 100 keV and is the only all-sky monitor above 100 keV. Up-to-date light curves for all of the catalog sources can be found at http://heastro.phys.lsu.edu/gbm/.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

The pre-outburst flare of the A 0535+26 August/September 2005 outburst

We study the spectral and temporal behavior of the High Mass X-ray Binary A 0535+26 during a `pre-outburst flare' which took place ~5 d before the peak of a normal (type I) outburst in August/September 2005. We compare the studied behavior with that observed during the outburst. We analyse RXTE observations that monitored A 0535+26 during the outburst. We complete spectral and timing analyses of the data. We study the evolution of the pulse period, present energy-dependent pulse profiles both at the initial pre-outburst flare and close to outburst maximum, and measure how the cyclotron resonance-scattering feature (hereafter CRSF) evolves. We present three main results: a constant period P=103.3960(5)s is measured until periastron passage, followed by a spin-up with a decreasing period derivative of Pdot=(-1.69+/-0.04)x10^(-8)s/s at MJD 53618, and P remains constant again at the end of the main outburst. The spin-up provides evidence for the existence of an accretion disk during the normal outburst. We measure a CRSF energy of Ecyc~50kev during the pre-outburst flare, and Ecyc~46kev during the main outburst. The pulse shape, which varies significantly during both pre-outburst flare and main outburst, evolves strongly with photon energy.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in A&A Letters. To be published in parallel to Postnov et al. 200