New threats in the recovery of large carnivores inhabiting human-modified landscapes: the case of the Cantabrian brown bear (Ursus arctos).

Understanding mortality causes is important for the conservation of endangered species, especially in small and isolated populations inhabiting anthropized landscapes where both natural and human-caused mortality may hinder the conservation of these species. We investigated the mortality causes of 53 free-ranging brown bears (Ursus arctos) found dead between 1998 and 2023 in the Cantabrian Mountains (northwestern Spain), a highly human-modified region where bears are currently recovering after being critically threatened in the last century. We detected natural traumatic injuries in 52.63% and infectious diseases in 39.47% of the 38 bears for which the mortality causes were registered, with 21.05% of these cases presenting signs of both infectious diseases and traumas. More specifically, almost 30% of the bears died during or after intraspecific fights, including sexually selected infanticide (10.53%). In addition, primary infectious diseases such as infectious canine hepatitis, distemper, clostridiosis and colibacillosis caused the death of 15.79% of the bears. The number of direct human-caused deaths (i.e., shooting, poisoning, snare) decreased over the study period. This study also reveals three new mortality causes triggered by pathogens, two of which-Clostridium novyi and verotoxigenic Escherichia coli-not previously described in ursids, and the other one, canine distemper virus, never reported in brown bears as cause of death. New management strategies for the conservation of Cantabrian bears, which are urgently needed due to the rapid expansion of the population, should consider the mortality causes described in this study and must promote further research to elucidate how the high prevalence of infectious diseases may threaten the current recovery of the population.

Brillouin propagation modes of cold atoms undergoing Sisyphus cooling.

An exact expression for the average velocity of cold atoms in a driven, dissipative optical lattice in terms of the amplitudes of atomic density waves is derived from semiclassical equations for the phase space densities of the Zeeman ground-state sublevels. The calculations are for a J_{g}=1/2→J_{e}=3/2 transition, as it is customary in theoretical studies of Sisyphus cooling. While the driver, an additional beam of small amplitude, sets the atoms into directed motion, the new expression permits the quantification of the contribution to the atomic motion of a specific atomic wave, revealing unexpected counterpropagating contributions from many modes. Additionally, the method is shown to provide the generic threshold for the transition into the regime of infinite density, regardless of the details, or even the presence, of driving.

The Cantabrian capercaillie: A population on the edge.

The capercaillie Tetrao urogallus - the world's largest grouse- is a circumboreal forest species, which only two remaining populations in Spain: one in the Cantabrian mountains in the west and the other in the Pyrenees further east. Both have shown severe declines, especially in the Cantabrian population, which has recently been classified as "Critically Endangered". To develop management plans, information on demographic parameters is necessary to understand and forecast population dynamics. We used spatial capture-recapture (SCR) modeling and non-invasive DNA samples to estimate the current population size in the whole Cantabrian mountain range. In addition, for the assessment of population status, we analyzed the population trajectory over the last 42 years (1978-2019) at 196 leks on the Southern slope of the range, using an integrated population model with a Dail-Madsen model at its core, combined with a multistate capture-recapture model for survival and a Poisson regression for productivity. For 2019, we estimate the size of the entire population at 191 individuals (95% BCI 165-222) for an estimated 60 (48-78) females and 131 (109-157) males. Since the 1970s, our study estimates a shrinkage of the population range by 83%. The population at the studied leks in 2019 was at about 10% of the size estimated for 1978. Apparent annual survival was estimated at 0.707 (0.677-0.735), and per-capita recruitment at 0.233 (0.207-0.262), and insufficient to maintain a stable population. We suggest work to improve the recruitment (and survival) and manage these mountain forests for capercaillie conservation. Also, in the future, management should assess the genetic viability of this population.

Vibrational mechanics in higher dimension: Tuning potential landscapes.

This work extends the domain of vibrational mechanics to higher dimensions, with fast vibrations applied to different directions. In particular, the presented analysis considers the case of a split biharmonic drive, where harmonics of frequency ω and 2ω are applied to orthogonal directions in a two-dimensional setting. It is shown, both numerically and with analytic calculations, that this determines a highly tunable effective potential with the same symmetry as the original one. The driving allows one not only to tune the amplitude of the potential, but also to introduce an arbitrary spatial translation in the direction corresponding to the 2ω driving. The setup allows for generalization to implement translations in an arbitrary direction within the two-dimensional landscapes. The same principles also apply to three-dimensional periodic potentials.

Heat transport and surface functionalization in nanocomposites of boron nitride nanotubes and polyethylene.

This work explores the possibility for improving heat transport in a polymeric, electrical insulating material, such as polyethylene, by adding boron nitride nanotubes - a heat superdiffusive material. We use molecular dynamics simulations to study the nanocomposites formed by addition of the nanotubes to both amorphous and crystalline polyethylene, and also investigate the effect of surface functionalization using a silane coupling agent, which, being covalently attached to both the nanofiller and the polymer matrix, facilitates the heat transport between them. Even though transport is shown to deteriorate in each simulation when the coupling agents are added, they are expected to favor the nucleation of the crystalline regions about the nanotubes, thus significantly boosting heat conduction in the material along their direction.

An excess electron at polyethylene/vacuum interfaces using a reaction-field technique.

We study the surface states of an excess electron at polyethylene/vacuum interfaces using an accurate reaction-field method, specifically designed to take into account the long range interaction of the excess electron and the dielectric surface. The method is shown to validate the energy levels recently reported with a simple perturbation theory scheme, while providing a better description of the wave function at the vacuum. The use of a single particle pseudopotential allows the simulation of large interface samples, showing distinct differences between the electron surface states at amorphous and crystalline interfaces due to their different atomic density.

Avoided Crossing and sub-Fourier-sensitivity in Driven Quantum Systems.

The response of a linear system to an external perturbation is governed by the Fourier limit, with the inverse of the interaction time constituting a lower limit for the system bandwidth. This does not hold for nonlinear systems, which can thus exhibit sub-Fourier-behavior. The present Letter identifies a mechanism for sub-Fourier-sensitivity in driven quantum systems, which relies on avoided crossing between Floquet states. Features up to three orders of magnitude finer than the Fourier limit are presented.

A microscopic Kapitza pendulum.

Pyotr Kapitza studied in 1951 the unusual equilibrium features of a rigid pendulum when its point of suspension is under a high-frequency vertical vibration. A sufficiently fast vibration makes the top position stable, putting the pendulum in an inverted orientation that seemingly defies gravity. Kapitza's analytical method, based on an asymptotic separation of fast and slow variables yielding a renormalized potential, has found application in many diverse areas. Here we study Kapitza's pendulum going beyond its typical idealizations, by explicitly considering its finite stiffness and the dissipative interaction with the surrounding medium, and using similar theoretical methods as Kapitza. The pendulum is realized at the micrometre scale using a colloidal particle suspended in water and trapped by optical tweezers. Though the strong dissipation present at this scale prevents the inverted pendulum regime, new ones appear in which the equilibrium positions are displaced to the side, and with transitions between them determined either by the driving frequency or the friction coefficient. These new regimes could be exploited in applications aimed at particle separation at small scales.

Asymptotic theory of quasiperiodically driven quantum systems.

The theoretical treatment of quasiperiodically driven quantum systems is complicated by the inapplicability of the Floquet theorem, which requires strict periodicity. In this work we consider a quantum system driven by a biharmonic driving and examine its asymptotic long-time limit, the limit in which features distinguishing systems with periodic and quasiperiodic driving occur. Also, in the classical case this limit is known to exhibit universal scaling, independent of the system details, with the system's reponse under quasiperiodic driving being described in terms of nearby periodically driven system results. We introduce a theoretical framework appropriate for the treatment of the quasiperiodically driven quantum system in the long-time limit and derive an expression, based on Floquet states for a periodically driven system approximating the different steps of the time evolution, for the asymptotic scaling of relevant quantities for the system at hand. These expressions are tested numerically, finding excellent agreement for the finite-time average velocity in a prototypical quantum ratchet consisting of a space-symmetric potential and a time-asymmetric oscillating force.

The excess electron at polyethylene interfaces.

This work investigates the energy and spatial properties of excess electrons in polyethylene in bulk phases and, for the first time, at amorphous vacuum interfaces using a pseudopotential single-electron method (Lanczos diagonalisation) and density functional theory (DFT). DFT calculations are made employing two approaches: with pseudopotentials/plane waves and the local-density approximation; and with all-electron Gaussian basis functions at the B3LYP level of theory, supplemented with a lattice of ghost atoms. All three methods predict similar spatial localisation of the excess electron, but a reliable comparison of its energy can only be made between the Lanczos and DFT using Gaussian bases. While Lanczos predicts that an excess electron would preferentially localise in nanovoids with diameters smaller than 1 nm, DFT suggests that it would localise on surfaces in nanovoids larger than 1 nm. Overall we conclude that in DFT studies of polyethylene/vacuum interfaces at the current level of theory, orbital-based methods provide a useful representation of excess electron properties.

Virus-triggered exacerbation in allergic asthmatic children: neutrophilic airway inflammation and alteration of virus sensors characterize a subgroup of patients.

BACKGROUND: Viruses are important triggers of asthma exacerbations. They are also detected outside of exacerbation. Alteration of anti-viral response in asthmatic patients has been shown although the mechanisms responsible for this defect remain unclear. The objective of this study was to compare in virus-infected and not-infected allergic asthmatic children, aged 6 to 16 years, admitted to hospital for a severe exacerbation, the innate immune response and especially the expression of pattern recognition receptor (PRR) and their function. METHODS: Virus identification was performed both during the exacerbation and at steady state (eight weeks later). Data assessed at both periods included clinical features, anti-viral response and inflammation (in sputum and plasma), and PRR expression/function in blood mononuclear cells. RESULTS: Viruses were identified in 46 out of 72 children (median age 8.9 years) during exacerbation, and among them, in 17 at steady state. IFN-ß, IFN-γ and IL-29 levels in sputum and plasma were similar between infected and not infected patients at both times, as well as the expression of TLR3, RIG-I and MDA5 in blood monocytes and dendritic cells. Airway inflammation in infected patients was characterized by significantly higher IL-5 concentration and eosinophil count. Compared to patients only infected at exacerbation, the re-infected children significantly exhibited lower levels of IFN-γ in plasma and sputum at exacerbation associated with modifications in PRR expression and function in blood mononuclear cells. These re-infected patients also presented an airway neutrophilic inflammation at steady state. CONCLUSION: Our results reports in asthmatic children that impaired anti-viral response during virus-induced exacerbation is more pronounced in a subgroup of patients prone to re-infection by virus. This subgroup is characterized by altered PRR function and a different pattern of airway inflammation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This multicenter prospective study was approved by the regional investigational review board (ref: 08/07).

Hidden Symmetries, Instabilities, and Current Suppression in Brownian Ratchets.

The operation of Brownian motors is usually described in terms of out-of-equilibrium and symmetry-breaking settings, with the relevant spatiotemporal symmetries identified from the analysis of the equations of motion for the system at hand. When the appropriate conditions are satisfied, symmetry-related trajectories with opposite current are thought to balance each other, yielding suppression of transport. The direction of the current can be precisely controlled around these symmetry points by finely tuning the driving parameters. Here we demonstrate, by studying a prototypical Brownian ratchet system, the existence of hidden symmetries, which escape identification by the standard symmetry analysis, and which require different theoretical tools for their revelation. Furthermore, we show that system instabilities may lead to spontaneous symmetry breaking with unexpected generation of directed transport.

Irrationality and quasiperiodicity in driven nonlinear systems.

We analyze the relationship between irrationality and quasiperiodicity in nonlinear driven systems. To that purpose, we consider a nonlinear system whose steady-state response is very sensitive to the periodic or quasiperiodic character of the input signal. In the infinite time limit, an input signal consisting of two incommensurate frequencies will be recognized by the system as quasiperiodic. We show that this is, in general, not true in the case of finite interaction times. An irrational ratio of the driving frequencies of the input signal is not sufficient for it to be recognized by the nonlinear system as quasiperiodic, resulting in observations which may differ by several orders of magnitude from the expected quasiperiodic behavior. Thus, the system response depends on the nature of the irrational ratio, as well as the observation time. We derive a condition for the input signal to be identified by the system as quasiperiodic. Such a condition also takes into account the sub-Fourier response of the nonlinear system.

Thermal equilibrium in Einstein's elevator.

We report fully relativistic molecular-dynamics simulations that verify the appearance of thermal equilibrium of a classical gas inside a uniformly accelerated container. The numerical experiments confirm that the local momentum distribution in this system is very well approximated by the Jüttner function-originally derived for a flat spacetime-via the Tolman-Ehrenfest effect. Moreover, it is shown that when the acceleration or the container size is large enough, the global momentum distribution can be described by the so-called modified Jüttner function, which was initially proposed as an alternative to the Jüttner function.

Universal asymptotic behavior in nonlinear systems driven by a two-frequency forcing.

We examine the time-dependent behavior of a nonlinear system driven by a two-frequency forcing. By using a nonperturbative approach, we are able to derive an asymptotic expression, valid in the long-time limit, for the time average of the output variable which describes the response of the system. We identify several universal features of the asymptotic response of the system, which are independent of the details of the model. In particular, we determine an asymptotic expression for the width of the resonance observed by keeping one frequency fixed and varying the other one. We show that this width is smaller than the usually assumed Fourier width by a factor determined by the two driving frequencies, and independent of the model system parameters. Additional general features can also be identified depending on the specific symmetry properties of the system. Our results find direct application in the study of sub-Fourier signal processing with nonlinear systems.

Control of transport in two-dimensional systems via dynamical decoupling of degrees of freedom with quasiperiodic driving fields.

We consider the problem of the control of transport in higher-dimensional periodic structures by applied ac fields. In a generic crystal, transverse degrees of freedom are coupled, and this makes the control of motion difficult to implement. We show, both with simulations and with an analytical functional expansion on the driving amplitudes, that the use of quasiperiodic driving significantly suppresses the coupling between transverse degrees of freedom. This allows a precise control of the transport, and does not require a detailed knowledge of the crystal geometry.

Nucleation of breathers via stochastic resonance in nonlinear lattices.

By applying a staggered driving force in a prototypical discrete model with a quartic nonlinearity, we demonstrate the spontaneous formation and destruction of discrete breathers with a selected frequency due to thermal fluctuations. The phenomenon exhibits the striking features of stochastic resonance: a nonmonotonic behavior as noise is increased and breather generation under subthreshold conditions. The corresponding peak is associated with a matching between the external driving frequency and the breather frequency at the average energy given by ambient temperature.

Finite-size fluctuations and stochastic resonance in globally coupled bistable systems.

The dynamics of a system formed by a finite number N of globally coupled bistable oscillators and driven by external forces is studied focusing on a global variable defined as the arithmetic mean of each oscillator variable. Several models based on truncation schemes of a hierarchy of stochastic equations for a set of fluctuating cumulant variables are presented. This hierarchy is derived using Itô stochastic calculus, and the noise terms in it are treated using an asymptotic approximation valid for large N . In addition, a simplified one-variable model based on an effective potential is also considered. These models are tested in the framework of the phenomenon of stochastic resonance. In turn, they are used to explain in simple terms the very large gains recently observed in these finite systems.

Thermal equilibrium and statistical thermometers in special relativity.

There is an intense debate in the recent literature about the correct generalization of Maxwell's velocity distribution in special relativity. The most frequently discussed candidate distributions include the Jüttner function as well as modifications thereof. Here we report results from fully relativistic one-dimensional molecular dynamics simulations that resolve the ambiguity. The numerical evidence unequivocally favors the Jüttner distribution. Moreover, our simulations illustrate that the concept of "thermal equilibrium" extends naturally to special relativity only if a many-particle system is spatially confined. They make evident that "temperature" can be statistically defined and measured in an observer frame independent way.