Letargo invernal en albaricoquero (Prunus armeniaca L). Análisis de diversos factores que afectan su evolución.

[SPA] El letargo invernal es un mecanismo desarrollado por los árboles de clima templado, que crecen en climas con estaciones bien diferenciadas, para evitar el impacto de las bajas temperaturas invernales. La satisfacción de unas determinadas necesidades de frío invernal específicas para cada variedad es esencial para un adecuado desarrollo de las yemas florales y vegetativas, condicionando el momento y calidad de la floración, así como la posterior fructificación. Si bien se ha conseguido un notable progreso en las últimas décadas, todavía existen importantes incertidumbres en el conocimiento de su inducción, mantenimiento y salida. Así pues, el objetivo de este trabajo de investigación es intentar aportar nuevas evidencias que ayuden a esclarecer aquellos aspectos aún sin resolver asociados al complejo proceso del letargo invernal en albaricoquero, tales como: i) las similitudes y diferencias entre especies o variedades, así como entre localizaciones con diferentes condiciones climáticas; ii) la idoneidad de diversos métodos de estimación de las necesidades de frío para la salida del letargo en zonas de inviernos cálidos; iii) el efecto, a veces contradictorio en función de la bibliografía, de distintas temperaturas o combinaciones de éstas sobre la evolución y salida del letargo; iv) la eficiencia del sombreado así como la utilización de tratamientos químicos para romper el letargo, en condiciones de insuficiente acumulación de frío; v) la identificación de regiones del genoma (QTLs) asociadas a las necesidades de frío invernal o a la fecha de floración, etapa previa al desarrollo de marcadores moleculares específicos para su utlización en mejora genética asistida. La elección de la especie albaricoquero como modelo de estudio la justifica por un lado el hecho de que han sido escasas las investigaciones sobre letargo invernal realizadas en esta especie vegetal y, por otro, la sustancial importancia económica de este cultivo en el sureste de España. Además, el desarrollo de variedades de albaricoquero con bajas necesidades de frío resulta esencial para la introducción y cultivo de esta especie en áreas con una escasa acumulación de frío. Con el objetivo de obtener una visión global del proceso del letargo invernal en la especie albaricoquero, se evaluaron variedades que cubrían el rango completo de necesidades de frío de la especie, y parte de los ensayos realizados se llevaron a cabo en distintas localizaciones caracterizadas por clima mediterráneo, tales como Murcia (España), Toscana (Italia) y la Región de Western Cape (Sudáfrica).[ENG] Dormancy is a mechanism developed by temperate fruit trees grown in climates with welldifferentiated seasons against the impact of low winter temperatures. The chill requirement fulfilment for each cultivar is essential for achieving an optimum development of vegetative and reproductive buds, which will affect timing and level of flowering and fructification. Although considerable progress has been achieved in the last few decades, large functional gaps of knowledge still exist regarding bud-dormancy induction, maintenance and release.Thus, the objective of this research work is to supply new evidence that may contribute to the general understanding of those aspects that remain unclear in the complex trait of dormancy, such as: i) the similarities and differences among different species or cultivars, as well as among locations with different climatic conditions; ii) the suitability of different methods for assessing chilling requirements for breaking of dormancy in mild winter areas; iii) the effect, sometimes uneven according to the literature, of different temperatures or combinations of temperatures over dormancy progression and dormancy release; iv) the efficiency of shading during endodormancy and chemical rest breaking agents for breaking dormancy in conditions of insufficient chill accumulation; and v) the identification of regions of genome (QTLs) controlling chilling requirements or flowering time, which is the first step to develop specific molecular markers for using molecular assisted selection in breeding programmes. The apricot species has been used as plant material not only due to the fact that few published studies have addressed apricot dormancy, but also because of the economical importance of this crop in the southeast of Spain. The development of low chill apricot cultivars is a neccesary step towards the introduction and growing of this species in marginal chill areas. With the purpose of obtaining representative results related to dormancy in the apricot species, a group of cultivars ranging the chilling requirement of apricot was studied. In addition, the studies were approached through experimentation in different climatic conditions that characterize the Mediterranean climate, in regions such as Murcia (Spain), Tuscany (Italy) and the Western Cape (South Africa).Universidad Politécnica de CartagenaPrograma de doctorado en Tecnología Agraria y Alimentari

Architecture extensions for efficient managament of scratch-pad Memory

Nowadays, many embedded processors include in their architecture on-chip static memories, so called scratch-pad memories (SPM). Compared to cache, these memories do not require complex control logic, thus resulting in increased efficiency both in silicon area and energy consumption. Last years, many papers have proposed algorithms to allocate memory segments in SPM in order to enhance its usage. However, very few care about the SPM architecture itself, to make it more controllable, more power efficient and faster. This paper proposes architecture extensions to automatically load code into the SPM whilst it is fetched for execution to reduce the SPM updating delays, which motivates a very dynamic use of the SPM. We test our proposal in a derivation of the Simplescalar simulator, with typical embedded benchmarks. The results show improvements, on average, of 30.6% in energy saving and 7.6% in performance compared to a system with cache. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.This research was sponsored by local Government “Generalitat Valenciana” under project GV07/ 2007/122.Busquets Mataix, JV.; Catalá, C.; Martí Campoy, A. (2011). Architecture extensions for efficient managament of scratch-pad Memory. En Integrated Circuit and System Design. Power and Timing Modeling, Optimization, and Simulation. Springer Verlag (Germany). (6951):43-52. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24154-3_5S43526951Banakar, R., Steinke, S., Lee, B.-S., Balakrishnan, M., Marwedel, P.: Scratchpad memory: design alternative for cache on-chip memory in embedded systems. In: CODES 2002, pp. 73–78 (2002)Verma, M., Wehmeyer, L., Marwedel, P.: Cache-Aware Scratchpad Allocation Algorithm. In: DATE 2004, pp. 1264–1269 (2004)Verma, M., Marwedel, P.: Advanced memory optimization techniques for low-power embedded processors, pp. I-XII, 1–188. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)Nguyen, N., Dominguez, A., Barua, R.: Memory allocation for embedded systems with a compile-time-unknown scratch-pad size. In: CASES 2005, pp. 115–125 (2005)Egger, B., Kim, C., Jang, C., Nam, Y., Lee, J., Min, S.L.: A dynamic code placement technique for scratchpad memory using postpass optimization. In: CASES 2006, pp. 223–233 (2006)Egger, B., Lee, J., Shin, H.: Scratchpad memory management for portable systems with a memory management unit. In: EMSOFT 2006, pp. 321–330 (2006)Egger, B., Lee, J., Shin, H.: Dynamic scratchpad memory management for code in portable systems with an MMU. ACM Trans. Embedded Comput. Syst. 7(2) (2008)Cho, H., Egger, B., Lee, J., Shin, H.: Dynamic data scratchpad memory management for a memory subsystem with an MMU. In: LCTES 2007, pp. 195–206 (2007)Janapsatya, A., Parameswaran, S., Ignjatovic, A.: Hardware/software managed scratchpad memory for embedded system. In: ICCAD 2004, pp. 370–377 (2004)Balakrishnan, M., Marwedel, P., Wehmeyer, L., Grunwald, N., Banakar, R., Steinke, S.: Reducing Energy Consumption by Dynamic Copying of Instructions onto Onchip Memory. In: ISSS 2002, pp. 213–218 (2002)Poletti, F., Marchal, P., Atienza, D., Benini, L., Catthoor, F., Mendias, J.M.: An integrated hardware/software approach for run-time scratchpad management. In: DAC 2004, pp. 238–243 (2004)Li, L., Gao, L., Xue, J.: Memory Coloring: A Compiler Approach for Scratchpad Memory Management. In: IEEE PACT 2005, pp. 329–338 (2005)Lee, L.H., Moyer, B., Arends, J.: Instruction fetch energy reduction using loop caches for embedded applications with small tight loops. In: ISLPED 1999, pp. 267–269 (1999)Victorio, J.A., Torres Moren, E.F., Yúfera, V.V.: Vatios: Simulador de Procesador con Estimación de Potencia. XVIII Jornadas de Paralelismo, Zaragoza (2007)Burger, D., Austin, T.M.: The SimpleScalar Tool Set Version 2.0. Technical Report 1342, Computer Sciences Department. University of Wisconsin–Madison (May 1997)Brooks, D., Tiwari, V., Martonosi, M.: Wattch: a framework for architectural-level power analysis and optimizations. In: ISCA 2000, pp. 83–94 (2000)Tarjan, D., Thoziyoor, S., Jouppi, N.: CACTI 4.0, P. HPL-2006- 86 20060606The Mälardalen WCET research group. The Mälardalen WCET benchmarks homepage, http://www.mrtc.mdh.se/projects/wcet/benchmarks.htmlCho, D., Pasricha, S., Issenin, I., Dutt, N.D., Ahn, M., Paek, Y.: Adaptive Scratch Pad Memory Management for Dynamic Behavior of Multimedia Applications. IEEE Trans. on CAD of Integrated Circuits and Systems (TCAD) 28(4), 554–567 (2009

The Role of Probiotics and Prebiotics in the Prevention and Treatment of Obesity

Obesity is a global pandemic complex to treat due to its multifactorial pathogenesis—an unhealthy lifestyle, neuronal and hormonal mechanisms, and genetic and epigenetic factors are involved. Scientific evidence supports the idea that obesity and metabolic consequences are strongly related to changes in both the function and composition of gut microbiota, which exert an essential role in modulating energy metabolism. Modifications of gut microbiota composition have been associated with variations in body weight and body mass index. Lifestyle modifications remain as primary therapy for obesity and related metabolic disorders. New therapeutic strategies to treat/prevent obesity have been proposed, based on pre- and/or probiotic modulation of gut microbiota to mimic that found in healthy non-obese subjects. Based on human and animal studies, this review aimed to discuss mechanisms through which gut microbiota could act as a key modifier of obesity and related metabolic complications. Evidence from animal studies and human clinical trials suggesting potential beneficial effects of prebiotic and various probiotic strains on those physical, biochemical, and metabolic parameters related to obesity is presented. As a conclusion, a deeper knowledge about pre-/probiotic mechanisms of action, in combination with adequately powered, randomized controlled follow-up studies, will facilitate the clinical application and development of personalized healthcare strategies.Supported by funds from European Union 7th FP KBBE.2013.2.2-02—MyNewGut Project (“Factors influencing the human gut microbiome and its effect on the development of diet-related diseases and brain development”, Grant Agreement 613979) and from Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness GD-Brain Projects (SAF2015-69265-c2.2)

ContPrac: una aplicación para el control de prácticas de laboratorio

En el presente artículo se presenta una aplicación que tiene como objetivo facilitar la gestión de las prácticas de laboratorio (asistencia de los alumnos, tiempo empleado en la resolución) con la que se pueden extrapolar datos para la mejora de las mismas. En asignaturas con un gran número de alumnos, y de procedencia muy diversa, proporciona una inestimable ayuda para mejorar las prácticas

Impact of Probiotics on the Prevention and Treatment of Gastrointestinal Diseases in the Pediatric Population

Despite the high prevalence of gastrointestinal disorders (GIDs) in infants and children, especially those categorized as functional GIDs (FGIDs), insufficient knowledge about their pathophysiology has limited both symptomatic diagnosis and the development of optimal therapies. Recent advances in the field of probiotics have made their potential use as an interesting therapeutic and preventive strategy against these disorders possible, but further efforts are still needed. In fact, there is great controversy surrounding this topic, generated by the high variety of potential probiotics strains with plausible therapeutic utility, the lack of consensus in their use as well as the few comparative studies available on probiotics that record their efficacy. Taking into account these limitations, and in the absence of clear guidelines about the dose and timeframe for successful probiotic therapy, our review aimed to evaluate current studies on potential use of probiotics for the prevention and treatment of the most common FGIDs and GIDs in the pediatric population. Furthermore, matters referring to know major action pathways and key safety recommendations for probiotic administration proposed by major pediatric health agencies shall also be discussed

Experiencias en innovación docente: aspectos positivos y negativos de un caso real

Este trabajo presenta los resultados y conclusiones obtenidas por los profesores de la asignatura Microprocesadores y Computadores tras cinco años de aplicar metodologías docentes que tratan de mejorar la calidad del aprendizaje de los alumnos. Durante este periodo se han aplicado metodologías poco habituales, tanto para la adquisición de conocimientos y habilidades por parte de los alumnos, como en la evaluación del proceso de aprendizaje. Simultáneamente, se ha consultado a los alumnos sobre la idoneidad de la organización de la asignatura, y la satisfacción al cursar la misma. El resultado de esta consulta, basada en una serie de cuestionarios y en conversaciones directas con los alumnos, ha permitido identificar los aspectos positivos y negativos de la utilización de metodologías poco habituales. El éxito o fracaso de la experiencia depende de múltiples factores, y este trabajo pone de manifiesto que algunos de estos factores son externos a la asignatura. Además de los alumnos, el profesorado, y los contenidos y organización de la propia asignatura, existen otros agentes, como el departamento, el centro o los planes de estudio que condicionan y pueden determinar la aceptación, y por tanto, la utilidad de las innovaciones planteadas. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que innovar en la docencia tiene sus riesgos, especialmente cuando no se realiza en un entorno favorable, en el que priman otros aspectos aparte de los meramente docentes

Influencia de programas de actividad física en la calidad del sueño de personas mayores de 55 años

Los trastornos del sueño suponen una importante patología clínica, por lo que adoptar hábitos saludables al dormir resulta clave para la calidad del sueño y de la vida. Por ello existe gran interés por adoptar medidas que prevengan sus efectos adversos, especialmente durante la vejez, destacando principalmente los programas de actividad física porque facilitan la activación de las estructuras cognoscitivas de los sujetos, aumentando su nivel de actividad, calidad de vida e higiene del sueño. Partiendo de dichas argumentaciones, se pretende comprobar, mediante un estudio cuasiexperimental, si una intervención con diferentes programas de actividad física puede producir cambios significativos en diversas variables relacionadas con la calidad del sueño en sujetos mayores de 55 años. Los resultados resaltan la utilidad de los programas de actividad física para mejorar su calidad del sueño. Se hace necesario investigar si invertir en este tipo de programas que favorecen la prevención y el mantenimiento de la salud y la calidad de vida de la persona, es más rentable que invertir en servicios sanitarios.Sleeping disorders are an important clinical pathology, but adopting healthy habits proves to be beneficial towards improving both quality of sleep and life. Consequently, there exists a great deal of interest in implementing measures that prevent the adverse effects of such disorders, particularly those that appear with old age. Most notable among these measures are physical fitness programs, as they facilitate the activation of cognitive structures among participants, increasing their level of activity, quality of life, and sleep hygiene. Taking these ideas as a starting point, it was the intention of the authors to verify, by means of a quasi-experimental study, whether the application of different physical fitness programs is able to produce significant changes in the different variables related to the quality of sleep among subjects over 55 years of age. The results highlight the usefulness of physical fitness programs for improving quality of sleep hygiene. As a result, this makes it necessary to evaluate whether investing in these types of programs, which favor the prevention of health problems and maintain overall health and quality of life among people, are more profitable than investing in healthcare services.Os transtornos do sono supõem uma importante patologia clínica, pelo que adoptar hábitos saudáveis ao dormir é de vital importância para a qualidade do sono e da vida. Como tal, existe um grande interesse na adopção de medidas que previnam os seus efeitos adversos, especialmente durante a velhice, com principal destaque para os programas de actividade física uma vez que facilitam a activação das estruturas cognitivas dos sujeitos, aumentando o seu nível de actividade, qualidade de vida e higiene do sono. Partindo destes argumentos, pretende-se comprovar, mediante um estudo quase-experimental, se uma intervenção com diferentes programas de actividade física pode produzir mudanças significativas em diversas variáveis relacionadas com a qualidade do sono em sujeitos maiores de 55 anos. Os resultados enfatizam a utilidade dos programas de actividade física para melhorar a qualidade de sono. É igualmente necessário investigar se investir neste tipo de programas favorece a prevenção e manutenção da saúde e da qualidade de vida da pessoa, e se é mais rentável que investir em serviços de saúde