Asymmetric preparation of antifungal 1-(4 -chlorophenyl)-1-cyclopropyl methanol and 1-(4 -chlorophenyl)-2-phenylethanol. Study of the detoxification mechanism by Botrytis cinerea

Chiral alcohols are important as bioactive compounds or as precursors to such molecules. On the basis of the different antifungal properties of the enantiopure alcohol derivatives of 4-chlorophenyl cyclopropyl ketone and benzyl 4-chlorophenyl ketone, their enantioselective synthesis by chemical and biocatalytic methods was studied. The detoxification pathways by the phytopathogen fungus Botrytis cinerea are reported

Asymmetries and cooperation in the Free Trade Area of the Americas

Includes bibliographyAbstract The prospective Free Trade Agreement of the Americas seeks to link the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (with the exception of Cuba); with Canada and the United States, thereby forming the largest free trade area in the world. Given the huge asymmetries in the size and level of development of participating countries, the major challenge in this ambitious and complex process will be to ensure that all countries, especially the smallest and least developed ones, benefit from trade liberalization within the hemisphere. This study argues that whether FTAA translates into benefits for its members will depend largely on how these asymmetries are addressed. In particular, countries will need to conserve margins of flexibility in fostering productive development in order to increase their competitiveness and manage their capital accounts as instruments of macroeconomic regulation. According to the study, new and ambitious initiatives, such as the creation of cohesion or integration funds, and an increase in the international mobility of labour will also be necessary in order to achieve convergence in the levels of development of participating countries

Asimetrías y cooperación en el Area de Libre Comercio de las Américas

Incluye BibliografíaResumen El posible Acuerdo de Libre Comercio de las Américas(ALCA), busca vincular a los países de América Latina y el Caribe(con excepción de Cuba) con Canadá y los Estados Unidos, en lo que constituirá el área de libre comercio más grande del mundo. Dadas las enormes asimetrías de tamaño y nivel de desarrollo entre los países participantes, el gran desafío de este ambicioso y complejo proceso será que todos los países, sobre todo los más pequeños y menos desarrollados, puedan beneficiarse de la liberalización hemisférica del comercio. En este ensayo se argumenta que la posibilidad de que el ALCA se traduzca en beneficios para todos sus miembros dependerá, en gran parte, de la manera en que se encaren estas asimetrías. En particular, ello requiere que los países conserven márgenes de flexibilidad para fomentar el desarrollo productivo, a fin de aumentar la competitividad, y manejar la cuenta de capitales como instrumento de regulación macroeconómica. Por otra parte, se argumenta que para alcanzar una convergencia en los niveles de desarrollo de los países participantes es necesario considerar nuevas y ambiciosas iniciativas, como la creación de fondos de cohesión o integración así como el aumento de la movilidad internacional de mano de obra

EAEren eta Txinaren arteko harreman ekonomikoak: aukerak eta erronkak

Artikulu honen helburu nagusia da EAEren eta Txinaren arteko harreman ekonomikoak aztertzea: zein izan da harreman horien bilakaera eta zein egungo garrantzia? 80ko hamarkadatik Txinak lortu duen hazkunde ekonomiko biziaren eraginez bi ekonomien arteko loturak estutu egin dira: 2011n, EAEk Txinan erosi zuen bere guztizko inportazioen %5,3, eta Txinako merkatuan saldu zuen bere esportazio totalen %2,2. Halaber, gero eta enpresa gehiagok erabaki dute Txinan ezartzea. Argi dagoenez, Asiako Dragoi Handiaren hazkundeak aukerak eta erronkak dakartza herrialde garatu guztiontzat, eta EAEko ekonomiaren etorkizuna ere estuki lotuta egongo da inguru global berrian lehiakor izateko gaitasunarekin.KUTXA; Vicerrectorado de Campus de Gipuzkoa de la UPV/EH

Silicification and dolomitization of anhydrite nodules in argillaceous terrestrial deposits: an example of meteoric-dominated diagenesis from the Triassic of central Spain

Cauliflower-shaped nodules are widespread in a single red mudstone bed in the Buntsandstein (Triassic) facies of the Iberian Range. They consist mostly of quartz, dolomite and calcite, but other minerals, such as barite, kaolinite and iron oxyhydroxides, are also present. The nodules are spherical, ovoid or elongate in shape and range from 1 to 8 cm across. The surface of the nodules is irregular, and some show a pedogenic coating of microspar. The sedimentological and petrographic data suggest that the initial anhydrite nodules formed through a progressive increase in the porewater concentration of Ca2+ and SO4 2– in a vadose environment, occasionally under the influence of pedogenic processes. Partial replacement of the anhydrite by megaquartz occurred under more dilute conditions in the same type of setting, as indicated by the presence of organic filaments on the quartz crystal surfaces. In type A nodules, the dissolution of the innermost anhydrite was complete, and different types of quartz cement filled the porosity. Fracturing and meteoric cementation by calcite and minor amounts of kaolinite were the latest processes affecting these nodules. In type B nodules, the dissolution of the anhydrite was incomplete, inhibiting quartz cementation and enabling later dolomitization of the anhydrite. Dolomitization appears to have been driven by sulphate reduction, as indicated by the presence of bacterial bodies within the dolomite crystals. Dedolomitization and precipitation of barite, kaolinite and calcite spar cements occurred later under the influence of meteoric solutions. The nodules may mark the former locations of the water table and provide evidence for an episode of highly evaporitic conditions throughout wide areas of the basin. Their occurrence reveals not only a complex diagenetic history but is also indicative of palaeogeographic and palaeoclimatic conditions

Guía para la implementación de un callcenter basado en elastix interactuando con bases de datos MYSQL

Gracias a los avances en la tecnología que constantemente se realizan, los equipos, los dispositivos y los medios de comunicación del momento se van quedando atrás y los equipos que llegan aparecen con mejoras tanto de rendimiento como de productividad, por lo que si las empresas no se encuentran actualizando constantemente sus equipos, su producción podría disminuir y podrían quedarse atrás, frente a la competencia que si es capaz de mantener dicha producción. Los sistemas de voz evolucionan de forma constante, en lo referente a servicios y aplicaciones de los sistemas telefónicos digitales, trayendo consigo mejores prestaciones, interfaces amigables al usuario, y buscando siempre ofrecer mejor calidad en la transmisión de voz.Incluye bibliografía, anexos e índic

Convolutional Neural Networks for the classification of glitches in gravitational-wave data streams

We investigate the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (including the modern ConvNeXt network family) to classify transient noise signals (i.e.~glitches) and gravitational waves in data from the Advanced LIGO detectors. First, we use models with a supervised learning approach, both trained from scratch using the Gravity Spy dataset and employing transfer learning by fine-tuning pre-trained models in this dataset. Second, we also explore a self-supervised approach, pre-training models with automatically generated pseudo-labels. Our findings are very close to existing results for the same dataset, reaching values for the F1 score of 97.18% (94.15%) for the best supervised (self-supervised) model. We further test the models using actual gravitational-wave signals from LIGO-Virgo's O3 run. Although trained using data from previous runs (O1 and O2), the models show good performance, in particular when using transfer learning. We find that transfer learning improves the scores without the need for any training on real signals apart from the less than 50 chirp examples from hardware injections present in the Gravity Spy dataset. This motivates the use of transfer learning not only for glitch classification but also for signal classification.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figure

Virtual Reality Training Application for the Condition-Based Maintenance of Induction Motors

The incorporation of new technologies as training methods, such as virtual reality (VR), facilitates instruction when compared to traditional approaches, which have shown strong limitations in their ability to engage young students who have grown up in the smartphone culture of continuous entertainment. Moreover, not all educational centers or organizations are able to incorporate specialized labs or equipment for training and instruction. Using VR applications, it is possible to reproduce training programs with a high rate of similarity to real programs, filling the gap in traditional training. In addition, it reduces unnecessary investment and prevents economic losses, avoiding unnecessary damage to laboratory equipment. The contribution of this work focuses on the development of a VR-based teaching and training application for the condition-based maintenance of induction motors. The novelty of this research relies mainly on the use of natural interactions with the VR environment and the design’s optimization of the VR application in terms of the proposed teaching topics. The application is comprised of two training modules. The first module is focused on the main components of induction motors, the assembly of workbenches and familiarization with induction motor components. The second module employs motor current signature analysis (MCSA) to detect induction motor failures, such as broken rotor bars, misalignments, unbalances, and gradual wear on gear case teeth. Finally, the usability of this VR tool has been validated with both graduate and undergraduate students, assuring the suitability of this tool for: (1) learning basic knowledge and (2) training in practical skills related to the condition-based maintenance of induction motors.This research has been partially supported by Banco Santander under the scholarship program Santander Iberoamérica Research 2019/20. This investigation was partially supported by the ACIS project (Reference Number INVESTUN/21/BU/0002) of the Consejeria de Empleo of the Junta de Castilla y León (Spain)

Análisis por técnicas morfológicas y secuenciación de ADN del polen atmosférico de la Comunidad de Madrid: estudios preliminares. Morphological analysis and DNA sequencing of atmospheric pollen in Madrid region: preliminary study

Hasta el momento, el estudio de las partículas biológicas en el aire que respiramos, se ha dirigido, principalmente, al conocimiento y control del polen y esporas, aeroalérgenos cuyo impacto en salud es bien conocido. Recientemente la comunidad científica ha sugerido que el aire es un ecosistema en sí mismo, que tendría su propia “aerobiota”, compuesta principalmente por virus, bacterias, esporas de hongos y polen. Para estudiar en conjunto toda esta biodiversidad en el aire urbano en la Comunidad de Madrid, surge el consorcio pluridisciplinar AIRBIOTA-CM, que integra a cinco grupos de investigación de áreas muy diferentes, que pretenden obtener una visión conjunta sobre la composición y dinámica de las partículas biológicas del aire, optimizando los sistemas de muestreo y análisis. Las propuestas más novedosas de las investigaciones iniciadas por este consorcio, son la utilización de técnicas innovadoras de génetica molecular como la secuenciación masiva aplicada en metagenómica (“Next Generation Sequencing”, NGS) y el uso de nuevas estrategias de captación, como el empleo de aeronaves no tripuladas, para muestrear a diferentes alturas y en localizaciones geográficas urbanas que a priori puedan tener una composición diferente de la biota y tengan una actividad humana relevante. El proyecto se inicia en otoño de 2014, y los resultados preliminares que presentamos son los obtenidos mediante el análisis morfológico tradicional y el análisis del ADN del polen de una misma muestra procedente de un captador Burkard. Estos resultados evidencian que los captadores tipo Hirst utilizados por las redes aerobiológicas pueden emplearse también en los estudios de metagenómica, y que los datos obtenidos mediante la aplicación de ambos métodos de análisis coinciden a grandes rasgos, lo que revela que esta nueva metodología constituye una buena aproximación y posible alternativa al análisis morfológico, aunque se necesitan más estudios comparativos para adaptar bien esta tecnología. So far, the study of the biological particles in the air we breathe has been mainly directed at knowing and controlling pollen and spores, aeroallergens with a well-known health impact., It has been recently suggested that the air is an ecosystem in itself, and that it probably has its own biota, which would be composed mainly of viruses, bacteria, fungal spores, and pollen. The main objective of the AIRBIOTA-CM project is to study this diverse set of biological particles present in the urban air in the Community of Madrid using a multidisciplinary, innovative and integrative approach. The project is collaboration between five research groups in very different fields, which aim is to get an overview on the composition and dynamics of biological particles in the air to optimize the methods of sampling and analysis. As a methodological innovation, there is an attempt to apply the breakthroughs in metagenomics to the study of bioaerosols. In addition, new collection strategies have been used, such as the use of unmanned aerial vehicles by designing or adapting new samplers for these vehicles, to sample at different altitudes and in urban geographic locations that might presumably have a different composition of the biota and relevant human activity. The project started in autumn 2014. The preliminary results presented here refer to the comparison of results obtained by means of traditional (light microscopy) and metagenomics methods on atmospheric pollen in the Community of Madrid. The data obtained by both analyses coincide broadly, revealing that the molecular methodology is a good and possible alternative approach to morphological analysis, although more comparative studies to adapt well this technology are needed

Monitoring of airborne biological particles in outdoor atmosphere. Part 2: Metagenomics applied to urban environments

The air we breathe contains microscopic biological particles such as viruses, bacteria, fungi and pollen, some of them with relevant clinic importance. These organisms and/or their propagules have been traditionally studied by different disciplines and diverse methodologies like culture and microscopy. These techniques require time, expertise and also have some important biases. As a consequence, our knowledge on the total diversity and the relationships between the different biological entities present in the air is far from being complete. Currently, metagenomics and next-generation sequencing (NGS) may resolve this shortage of information and have been recently applied to metropolitan areas. Although the procedures and methods are not totally standardized yet, the first studies from urban air samples confirm the previous results obtained by culture and microscopy regarding abundance and variation of these biological particles. However, DNA-sequence analyses call into question some preceding ideas and also provide new interesting insights into diversity and their spatial distribution inside the cities. Here, we review the procedures, results and perspectives of the recent works that apply NGS to study the main biological particles present in the air of urban environments. [Int Microbiol 19(2): 69-80 (2016)]Keywords: airborne biological particles · metagenomics · next-generation sequencing (NGS) · air biomonitoring · urban aerobiolog