The giant gypsum crystals of Naica cave have fascinated scientists since their discovery in 2000. Human activity has changed the microclimate inside the cave, making scientists wonder about the potential environmental impact on the crystals. Over the last 9 years, we have studied approximately 70 samples. This paper reports on the detailed chemical–structural characterization of the impurities present at the surface of these crystals and the experimental simulations of their potential deterioration patterns. Selected samples were studied by petrography, optical and electronic microscopy, and laboratory X-ray diffraction. 2D grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, X-ray μ-fluorescence, and X-ray μ-absorption near-edge structure were used to identify the impurities and their associated phases. These impurities were deposited during the latest stage of the gypsum crystal formation and have afterward evolved with the natural high humidity. The simulations of the behavior of the crystals in microclimatic chambers produced crystal dissolution by 1–4% weight fraction under high CO2 concentration and permanent fog, and gypsum phase dehydration under air and CO2 gaseous environment. Our work suggests that most surface impurities are of natural origin; the most significant anthropogenic damage on the crystals is the extraction of water from the caves.

The day-to-day behaviors of undocumented immigrants are significantly affected when local law enforcement officials do the work of federal immigration enforcement. One such behavior, which has been widely discussed in debates over so-called sanctuary policies, is that undocumented immigrants are less likely to report crimes to the police when local law enforcement officials work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on federal immigration enforcement. However, the mechanism that explains this relationship of decreased trust in law enforcement has not yet been systematically tested. Do undocumented immigrants become less trusting of police officers and sheriffs when local law enforcement officials work with ICE on federal immigration enforcement? To answer this, we embedded an experiment that varied the interior immigration enforcement context in a survey (n = 512) drawn from a probability-based sample of undocumented immigrants. When local law enforcement officials work with ICE on federal immigration enforcement, respondents are statistically significantly less likely to say that they trust that police officers and sheriffs will keep them, their families, and their communities safe; will protect the confidentiality of witnesses to crimes even if they are undocumented; will protect the rights of all people equally, including undocumented immigrants; and will protect undocumented immigrants from abuse or discrimination.

Despite the well-known relevance of twin studies in the medical and social sciences and the growing number of twin registries throughout the world, Latin America has not fully incorporated into the twin research community. We describe the first steps taken toward developing a twin registry in Mexico: its aim, organization, recruiting potential and main short-term objectives.

Modern-day Guatemalan history is marked by the thirty-six-year-long civil war that ravaged the nation. The 1954 CIA-backed military coup of President Jacobo Arbenz led to an extended period of violence and armed conflict, the longest in Central American history. The civil war began in 1960. Military strategies included kidnappings, torture, disappearances, and death lists. More than 245,000 civilians were disappeared or killed and over 400 villages destroyed. In addition, over 1 million people were displaced from their homes. The armed conflict thus damaged the people, the environment, and the very psyche of Guatemala, creating a culture of corruption, fear, and silence. The civil war ended in late 1996 with the signing of the Peace Accords. However some scholars and activists argue that while the Accords were signed, peace has yet to be established in present-day Guatemala.

Cladding tubes of water-cooled nuclear reactors are usually made of Zircaloy and are an important retaining element for radionuclides present in the fuel both during predisposal activities such as reloading of fuel assemblies from interim storage casks to final disposal casks and during final disposal in the case of canister breaching. However, cladding integrity is affected by various processes during reactor operation and beyond, e.g. fuel cladding chemical interaction and fission product precipitation onto the inner cladding surface. Using experimental and modelling methods, the radionuclide inventory of an irradiated Zircaloy-4 plenum section is analyzed. Quantities of 235/238U, 237Np, 238/239/240/241/242Pu, 241/243Am, 243/244Cm besides 14C, 55Fe, 125Sb, 154Eu, and 134/137Cs were (radio-)chemically determined in digested Zircaloy-4 subsamples. Measured inventories of activation products in the Zr-alloy are in good agreement with calculated values. However, amounts of actinides and fission products exceed the calculated inventory by factor ∼57 (minor actinides and non-volatile fission products) and ∼114 (137Cs). Excess of minor actinides and part of enhanced Cs inventory originate from fuel residues deposited on the inner cladding surface during fuel rod fabrication, whereas vast amount of cesium is volatilized from subjacent fuel pellets and transported to the plenum.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: HIV is a chronic disease that affects the immune system. HIV+ people live more thanks to effective antiretroviral treatments. The scientific data demonstrate that HIV+ is associated to the cognitive impairment presented in the 50% of the patient. The objective of this study is to determine the correlation between emotional dysfunction and perceived stigma in HIV+ women and its effects HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: HIV+ women will be recruited form the Hispanic Longitudinal Cohort and evaluated questionnaires for emotional dysfunction and stigma, neuropsychological tests, and MRI. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We anticipated that women with HIV+ will experience higher levels of emotional dysfunction (ie, fear) and perceived stigma when compared with the control group. Women with HIV infection will present an association between emotional dysfunction most like fear and perceived stigma when compared with the control group. This correlation will be associated with HAND. The women with HIV infection will present circuit integrity dysfunction associated with emotional dysfunction and perceived stigma as determined by DTI and connectivity (MRI). DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: HIV stigma and emotional dysfunction have a negative impact in quality of life (QOL). This effect can be improved with several treatment interventions with eventual improvement in adherence, emotional control, and QOL.

Assuming that linguistic representation has been studied only by linguists using grammaticality judgments, Branigan & Pickering (B&P) present structural priming as a novel alternative. We show that their assumptions are incorrect for cognitive-functional linguistics, exposing converging perspectives on form/meaning pairings between generativists and cognitive-functional linguists that we hope will spark the cross-disciplinary discussion necessary to produce a cognitively plausible model of linguistic representation.

This paper describes the development of an L-Band (f0 = 1.575 GHz) high power and efficient solid state power amplifier (SSPA) designed for the European satellite navigation system (i.e. Galileo). The amplifier, developed in the framework of the European Project named SLOGAN, exploits the GH50-10 GaN technology available at United Monolithic Semiconductor foundry. The aim of the project is to offer, using as much as possible European technologies, a valid alternative to replace traveling wave tube amplifiers with more compact and reliable systems. All the SSPA functionalities, i.e. power supply, power conditioning and radio frequency amplification, are integrated in the developed architecture and accommodated in a single box with limited volume and mass. The required output power level is achieved by parallelizing several GaN die power bars of 12 and/or 25.6 mm. In continuous wave operating mode, the overall SSPA delivers an output power higher than 250 W at less than 2 dB of gain compression in the whole E1-band. Moreover, the registered gain and efficiency are higher than 67 dB and 54%, respectively.

The preliminary results of an analysis of the time-series photometric data of binary star GSC 02049-01164 (ROTSE1 J164341.65+251748.1) are presented. GSC 02049-01164 was observed for eight consecutive nights with the 0.84-m telescope of the San Pedro Martir Observatory in Mexico. The light curve of GSC 02049-01164 is typical of those of W UMa type binary stars. In an effort to gain a better understanding of the binary system and determine its physical properties we have analyzed the light curve with the software PHOEBE V.0 0.31a. We have found that GSC 02049-01164 binary system has a mass ratio of ~ 0.42, an inclination of ~ 85 degrees, a semi-major axis of ~ 2.24 R ⊙. It is likely that the two stellar components are in contact, with a degree of overcontact of 13%. The physical parameters of the stellar components have been derived.

For safety assessment analyses of the disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in deep geological repositories it is indispensable to evaluate the contribution of fission products to the instant release fraction (IRF). During the last three years the EURATOM FP7 Collaborative Project, “Fast / Instant Release of Safety Relevant Radionuclides from Spent Nuclear Fuel (CP FIRST-Nuclides)” was carried out to get a better understanding of the IRF.

Within CP FIRST-Nuclides, a leaching experiment with a cladded SNF pellet was performed in bicarbonate water (19 mM NaCl + 1 mM NaHCO3) under Ar /H2 atmosphere over 333 days. The cladded SNF pellet was obtained from a fuel rod segment which was irradiated in the Gösgen pressurized water reactor; the average burn-up of the segment was 50.4 MWd/kgUO2. In the multi-sampling experiment, gaseous and liquid samples were taken periodically. The moles of the fission gases Kr and Xe released in the gas phase and those of 129I and 137Cs released in solution were measured. Cumulative release fractions of (1.6 ± 0.2)·10-1 fission gases, (1.6 ± 0.1)·10-1 129I and (3.9 ± 0.2)·10-2 137Cs, respectively, were achieved after 333 days of leaching. Accordingly the release ratio of fission gases to 129I was 1:1 and the release ratio of fission gases to 137Cs was 4:1, respectively.

Full Stokes spectropolarimetric observations of a Mira star (χ Cyg) and a RV Tauri star (R Sct) are presented and analyzed comparatively. From their Stokes V data (circular polarization), we report the detection of a weak magnetic field at the surface of these cool and evolved radially pulsating stars. For both stars, we analyse this detection in the framework of their complex atmospheric dynamics, with the possibility that shock waves may imprint an efficient compressive effect on the surface magnetic field. We also report strong Stokes U and Stokes Q signatures associated to metallic lines (as a global trend), those linear polarimetric features appear to be time variable along the pulsating phase. More surprising, in the Stokes U and Stokes Q data, we also detect signatures associated to individual metallic lines (such as Sr i 460.7 nm, Na D2 588.9 nm), that are known (from the solar case) to be easily polarizable in case of a global asymmetry at the photospheric level.