Universidad Católica del Norte

Anti-predation behavior resolves sexual conflict over mating rate and duration in a protandric-simultaneous hermaphrodite

The reproductive interests of males and females rarely coincide, and thus, sexual conflict should be widespread in sexual species and favor the evolution of traits that bias the outcome of mating interactions towards the participant’s own interests. Sexual conflict theory has ach...

Synergism Between Krameria lappacea (Dombey) Burdet & B.B.Simpson Extracts and Gentamicin Against Gram-Positive Bacteria

Background: Combination therapy is increasingly explored as an alternative approach to manage bacterial infections and limit the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Building on traditional medicinal knowledge, this study aimed to investigate the potential synergistic antibacteria...

Visible-spectrum image analysis for copper concentration measurement in heap leach solutions: Characterization of photographic and model parameters using a laboratory prototype

Heap leaching is widely used for the recovery of copper from low-grade oxide ores. Continuous monitoring of copper concentration in the pregnant leach solution (PLS) is essential for tracking leaching kinetics, determining optimal irrigation termination, and balancing metallurgic...

Dynamics of coupled nonlinear diffusion–reaction systems

We study two coupled nonlinear Fisher–Kolmogorov equations with anomalous diffusion. Because analytical solutions are difficult to obtain, we use a reduced collective-coordinate method based on two time-dependent power-law assumptions. This approach reduces the original partial d...

Coastal streetlights shape intertidal sessile community abundance and are associated with altered post-disturbance recovery in urban rocky shores

Coastal urban environments concentrate high levels of artificial light at night (ALAN), yet how persistent light pollution interacts with urban habitat conditions to shape intertidal community structure remains poorly understood. Here, we combined field surveys on natural rocky p...

Integrating Remote Sensing and Indigenous Knowledge: A Community-Commanded Approach to Heritage Management in the Atacama Desert

Abstract This article presents the Zapar project, a community-commanded initiative developed in collaboration with the Atacameño Community of Toconao (northern Chile), which repositions remote sensing (RS) technologies through Indigenous governance and ethical frameworks. By embe...

A new bubblegum coral from the Nazca Ridge reveals chitin as the structural scaffold of skeleton-less Paragorgia colonies

Abstract Bubblegum corals ( Paragorgia ; Corallidae) form among the largest branching colonies in deep-sea environments despite lacking an axial skeleton. How these octocorals maintain structural cohesion using only sub-millimeter sclerites has remained unexplained. Here we descr...

Beyond the menu: assessing the environmental and social impact of institutional meals

Purpose This study aims to assess institutional meals’ environmental and social sustainability by analyzing 50 dishes served at a public university cafeteria in Chile. It seeks to identify inefficiencies and propose practical improvements by considering factors such as carbon foo...

Future of lithium industry in Chile and the national lithium strategy: integration of solar evaporation, direct lithium extraction, and controlled reinjection

The lithium industry in Chile is undergoing a critical transition from an extensive evaporitic model to a more efficient, sustainable, and technologically integrated operation. This paper analyzes the main challenges of the Salar de Atacama, considering its high lithium concentra...

Ten years after: a review of squidpop assays to test predation in aquatic habitats

Ten years have passed since the introduction of a standardized methodology for measuring consumption rates by animals in aquatic environments, known as “squidpops”. Its low-cost, easy-to-implement design made it an alternative for studies aiming to compare consumption rates acros...

Varying Gravity from a Modified Fractional Model: Observational Constraints and Slow–Fast Dynamics

We investigate a fractional gravity model in which both the Hubble parameter and the gravitational constant evolve dynamically due to fractional renormalization-group effects. The model incorporates a scalar field coupled to a time-varying G, generating nonlocal corrections chara...

Atomic clocks and gravitational waves as probes of non-metricity

Abstract Non-metricity provides a natural extension of Riemannian geometry, yet its experimental signatures remain largely unexplored. In this work we investigate how spacetime non-metricity can be probed through high-precision observations, focusing on atomic clocks and gravitat...

Do state borders constrain internal mobility? Evidence from Brazil

This paper documents that state borders are a meaningful source of friction in internal labour mobility in Brazil, a large emerging economy with substantial labour-market informality and historically heterogeneous borders. Using geocoded municipality-to-municipality migration and...

On Pell, Narayana and Padovan Languages and Their Generalizations

In this article, we study several languages associated with classical integer sequences such as the Pell, Narayana, and Padovan sequences, as well as various generalizations. Some of these languages arise naturally in the context of graph theory. We show that a subset of these la...

Psychometric Properties of the Spanish Version of the Gender Ideology and LGBTQ+ Lobby Conspiracies Scale (GILC): Evidence from a Chilean Sample

Conspiracy beliefs targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) individuals have attracted increasing attention in social and political psychology due to their role in prejudice, social exclusion, and resistance to social change. Despite growing interest in t...

Highly suppressed tensor-to-scalar ratio from a modified Lennard–Jones inflationary potential

Abstract The increasingly stringent observational bounds on primordial gravitational waves strongly constrain inflationary model building, favoring scenarios that predict highly suppressed tensor perturbations. While many viable constructions rely on non-canonical kinetic terms,...

Power, Governance and Resilience in a Chilean Fruit Agro-Export Value Chain: A Social Simulation Approach

The fruit agro-export value chain in northern Chile faces governance and water-related challenges that affect its resilience and long-term sustainability. In the context of sustainable agriculture, these challenges highlight the need for integrated approaches to understand how so...