The Ushnus in the astronomy of the Inca culture

Inferences are made about the relationship that existed between the Ushnus, pyramid-shaped, terraced structures used by the Incas in the most important ceremonies of the Tawantinsuyo, and Inka Astronomy. We draw attention to Ayni, Kawsaypacha, Duality, and Tinkuy principles, multidimensional codes of conduct and wisdom that are at the root of the Andean cosmovision and on their perception of the world and the Cosmos. These principles, examined as postulates, allow to elaborate axiomatic propositions to identify the Ushnus with ancient Astronomy practices. In a complementary statement, starting from a bi-conditional proposition, we may infer through reciprocal corollaries that the Inka earliest roots to a holistic learning and educational ambient in the Tawantinsuyo was not elitist, instead it was based on a epistemological construct that differs from the corresponding Western educational ambients. An epistemological and cognitive approach allows to identify an ancient elaborate process of knowledge construction, based on the four fundamental principles, corresponding to different levels of assimilation and comprehension. As a complementary aspect, we identify some of the most preserved Ushnus of the Inka “Empire.” Then we complement this contribution with a broader interpretation for the Ushnus.     

Adaptation of Pressure Based CFD Solvers for Mesoscale Atmospheric Problems

General purpose Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solvers are frequently used in small-scale urban pollution dispersion simulations without a large extent of ver- tical flow. Vertical flow, however, plays an important role in the formation of local breezes, such as urban heat island induced breezes that have great significance in the ventilation of large cities. The effects of atmospheric stratification, anelasticity and Coriolis force must be taken into account in such simulations. We introduce a general method for adapting pressure based CFD solvers to atmospheric flow simulations in order to take advantage of their high flexibility in geometrical modelling and meshing. Compressibility and thermal stratification effects are taken into account by utilizing a novel system of transformations of the field variables and by adding consequential source terms to the model equations of incompressible flow. Phenomena involving mesoscale to microscale coupled effects can be analyzed without model nesting, applying only local grid refinement of an arbitrary level. Elements of the method are validated against an analytical solution, results of a reference calculation, and a laboratory scale urban heat island circulation experiment. The new approach can be applied with benefits to several areas of application. Inclusion of the moisture transport phenomena and the surface energy balance are important further steps towards the practical application of the method.     

Spatial trends in heavy metals and nitrogen deposition in Navarra (Northern Spain) based on moss analysis

A biomonitoring survey using the moss species Hypnum cupressiforme Hedw. was performed in the North of Navarra (Spain) in 2006. The levels of V, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Zr, Cd, Hg and Pb, and the total nitrogen content were determined in the samples by means of ICP-MS, CV-AA, and the Kjeldahl method. PCA analysis showed a differentiation between lithogenic (V, Cr, Mn, Ni, As and Zr) and anthropogenic elements (Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd, Hg and Pb). Spatial distribution maps were drawn using the kriging method, in order to identify the most affected areas and the main pollution sources. A similar spatial distribution was observed for the elements belonging to each group separated by the PCA, showing an important contribution from metal industries located in the Basque Country, as well as influence of long-range transboundary pollution processes. Background levels were also determined for the study area, along with the contamination factor for the different elements analysed. Mosses seemed to be good biomonitors of N deposition in areas of accumulation.     

Effect of growth on active biomonitoring with terrestrial mosses

The effects of growth of autoirrigated, shaded transplants of Pseudoscleropodium purum on the quantification of tissue concentrations of Cd, Cu, Hg, V and Zn, were investigated in 4 exposure periods, each of 56 days, at 7 sampling sites (contaminated and uncontaminated). Concentrations of the elements in the basal portions of the moss shoots were compared with the concentrations in the portions of the shoots that grew during the exposure period. Mercury and V were present at lower concentrations in the new portions of the shoots than in the basal portions, whereas the opposite was true for Cd, Cu and Zn. The magnitude of error introduced by growth was not negligible, and in some cases was higher than 40%, relative to the results obtained by analysis of the whole shoot. Devitalization of moss prior to its use as transplant material is recommended to avoid growth of the plant during the exposure period.     

HIDDRA: a highly independent data distribution and retrieval architecture for space observation missions

Institutions such as NASA, ESA or JAXA find solutions to distribute data from their missions to the scientific community, and their long term archives. This is a complex problem, as it includes a vast amount of data, several geographically distributed archives, heterogeneous architectures with heterogeneous networks, and users spread around the world. We propose a novel architecture that solves this problem aiming to fulfill the requirements of the final user. Our architecture is a modular system that provides a highly efficient parallel multiprotocol download engine, using a publisher/subscriber policy which helps the final user to obtain data of interest transparently. We have evaluated a first prototype, in collaboration with the ESAC centre in Villafranca del Castillo (Spain) that shows a high scalability and performance, opening a wide spectrum of opportunities.     

Classification of BeppoSAX’s gamma-ray bursts

The BeppoSAX Catalog has been very recently published. In this paper we analyze—using the Maximum Likelihood (ML) method—the duration distribution of the 1003 GRBs listed in the catalog with duration. The ML method can identify the long and the intermediate duration groups. The short population of the bursts is identified only at a 96% significance level. MC simulation has been also applied and gives a similar significance level; 95%. However, the existence of the short bursts is not a scientific question after the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory’s observation. Our minor result is this well-known fact that in the BeppoSAX data the short bursts are under-represented, mainly caused by the different triggering system. Our major result is the identification of the intermediate group in the BeppoSAX data. Therefore, four different satellites (CGRO, Swift, RHESSI and BeppoSAX) observed the intermediate type Gamma-Ray Burst.     

Integral-field high spatial resolution spectroscopy of the giant Hii region NGC5461

We present preliminary results obtained from integral-field (IFU) data of the giant extragalactic Hii region NGC5461, located in a spiral arm (RA=14^h03^m41.4^s, dec=+54°19′05″) of M101. The spatial and spectral information obtained with IFUs allows us to decompose the Hii region and analyze it at high resolution.     

Gas kinematics in the halo of the warm ULIRG PKS1345+12

We use long-slit spectra taken with the William Herschel Telescope on La Palma and high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope imaging to study the gas kinematic in the halo of the ultraluminous infrared/radio galaxy PKS1345+12 (z=0.122). Our long-slit spectra show line splitting at the locations of massive star clusters ( $10^{6}<M_{\mathrm{SSC}}^{\mathrm{YSP}}<10^{7}$ M_⊙), indicating that they are moving at up to 450 km?s^?1 with respect to the local ambient gas. Given their kinematics, it is plausible that these super star clusters have been formed either in fast-moving gas streams or tidal tails that are falling back into the nuclear regions as part of the merger process, or as a consequence of jet-induced star formation linked to the extended, diffuse radio emission detected in the halo of the galaxy.