Low-mass star-formation studies deal with the birth of individual solar-type stars as it occurs in nearby molecular clouds. While this isolated mode of star formation may not represent the most common form of stellar birth, its study often provides rst evidence for the general ingredients of star formation, such as gravitational infall, disk formation, or out ow acceleration. Here I brie y review the current status and the main challenges in our understanding of low-mass star formation, with emphasis in the still mysterious pre-stellar phase. In addition to presenting by-now classical work, I also show how ALMA is starting to play a decisive role driving progress in this eld.

This study explores the dynamics of wellbeing co-creation in sports communities of non-professional athletes through their everyday consumption of extended service encounters. With the use of ethnographic methods and using extreme sports communities (Surf, and Triathlon) of non-professional athletes in Colombia as a case study, the researchers explored how wellbeing evolves as forms of active integration of competences, materials, communities, and images reproducing actual and recreating new consumption practices. The findings show evidence that extreme sports consumption can be acknowledged as a social practice in the Colombian extreme sports consumption community of non-professional athletes, reaching three main outcomes. Firstly, the study suggests that wellbeing co-creation in the Colombian extreme sports communities emerge through the active integration of a constellation of elements in the extreme sports consumption practice. Secondly it has been found that the practice of extreme sports emerges as a heterogeneous consumption community where groups of practitioners can be classified into broader groups, according to the hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing meanings they are pursuing, and which may interact in function of more than one subculture or social community at a time. Finally, participants co-create wellbeing through their consumption practices within the sports community being both an operand and operant resources within the community; in short, participants transform sacred, profane, material, intangible, individual, social, relational, contextual, hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of the practice within the performance of it. This study contributes TSR researchers to the understanding of both hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing in leisure activities. The study may validate the idea that stronger ties in communities provoke a more diverse constellation of practices beyond the sport practice, expanding the knowledge of social supportive third places, commercial friendships and betrayals acknowledging their dynamics in social contexts; and the role of restorative servicescapes, expanding them to virtual and “through materials place” roles. From a managerial perspective this study shows how wellbeing is constructed within social constellations of resources that interact interdependently and go beyond commercial intent.

Behavior of stoichiometric and near-stoichiometric NiAl at plasma spray deposition, without and with a bond coat, for coating layers realization on a low alloyed steel substrate, has been investigated. In all variants, NiAl particle melting and subsequent welding at the impact with substrate were observed, forming a relatively compact and adherent coating layer with the NiAl stability maintaining - all assuring the coating layer oxidation and corrosion resistance. Good results from these points of view, also validated through corrosion tests, were obtained for 45:55 Ni:Al composition without a bond coat but adopting an Ar protective surrounding of plasma jet.

Nanostructured aluminum powders were obtained by means of planetary ball milling with methanol as the Process Control Agent (PCA). The behavior, during milling, was considered measuring the microhardness and grain size at different milling times. Bulk near-full density samples were sintered using the Spark Plasma Sintering technology with different schedules: temperature of and , pressure of 30 MPa and 60 MPa and different modes of applying the pressure were changed in order to understand the behavior during sintering. All the samples retained their nanostructure with an increase of the grain size from about 46 up to 70-90 nm.

Ceramic-Metal Functionally Graded Materials (FGM) are of great interest for application as Thermal Barrier Coating (TBC) or Wear Resistant Coating (WRC). Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) is a promising techniques for time-saving consolidation of laminated/graduated powder systems: SPS is a pressure-assisted electrical sintering method which directly applies a pulsed DC current as heat source. In the present work, production of FGMs by means of Spark Plasma Sintering is considered; effect of sintering condition on density, hardness and fracture toughness is studied. Problems correlated to this new processing technology are discussed.