Integral development of an innovative concept of dump trailer body for carrying arid materials

The authors develop a new concept of dump trailer vehicle designed to carry arid materials, with a series of advantages and improvements with regard to equivalent structures. For this reason, design criteria and objectives that must have been carried out in executing different stages to reach the final 'optimum' vehicle have been taken into account. From a detailed study of previous performances for this type of vehicle, it is intended to reach a series of objectives involving redesign and modification. The structural lightening and changes must mean the improvement of structural performances, both in terms of rigidity and endurance. The improvement of these variables will make possible the launch of a new product incorporating an improvement over current models. Moreover, the inclusion of sandwich structures in the design of the dump box's floor and door supposes a great novelty, intended to achieve significant weight saving

Experiencias de Innovación Educativa y Colaboración: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid y Universidades Latinoamericanas

La utilización de las nuevas Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC) como estrategia para la innovación y mejora del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje en el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior representa uno de los componentes fundamentales para el logro de un sistema de calidad universitario. En este contexto la ETSI en Topografía, Geodesia y Cartografía de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) está realizando distintas acciones para contribuir a la calidad universitaria. La combinación de nuevas metodologías docentes y de evaluación, el uso habitual de la TIC y la transición de un modelo centrado en la enseñanza hacia un modelo centrado en el aprendizaje del alumno, tanto a nivel del propio proceso de enseñanzaaprendizaje como en los sistemas de evaluación y en la orientación tutorial han significado importantes contribuciones a la enseñanza presencial que se complementan con la puesta en marcha de propuestas basadas en las modalidades de enseñanza b-learning y e-learning. Por otra parte, estas acciones están promoviendo el desarrollo de Proyectos de Investigación Educativa en colaboración con Universidades Latinoamericanas, aprovechando las ventajas que ofrecen la TIC que determinan la progresiva desaparición de las restricciones espaciales y temporales

Las TIC: Instrumento de colaboración entre la UPM y Universidades Latinoamericanas

El Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior concede especial atención al logro de un sistema de calidad universitario que incluye la utilización de las nuevas Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC). En este contexto, se presentan muy encaminados los cambios introducidos para el uso de las TIC, en combinación con las nuevas metodologías docentes y de evaluación, que se vienen realizando en la ETSI en Topografía, Geodesia y Cartografía de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). Estos cambios, que centran el aprendizaje en el trabajo del alumno y el uso habitual de las TIC, representan una importante contribución a la enseñanza presencial y a la elaboración de propuestas basadas en las modalidades de enseñanza b-learning y e-learning, propuestas que están facilitando y promoviendo la realización de Proyectos de Investigación Educativa en colaboración con Universidades Latinoamericanas

MELHORIA DO PROCESSO DE CORREÇÃO GEOMÉTRICA DE IMAGENS CBERS-CCD PELO USO DE AMOSTRAS GEORREFERENCIADAS CLASSIFICADAS

As imagens da série de satélites CBERS são distribuídas gratuitamente, mas para que seja possível utilizá-las, é necessário aplicar um método de correção geométrica. É proposta uma melhoria do processo de correção automática de forma a selecionar as melhores amostras de referência a partir das quais é possível definir pontos de controle usados para o cálculo dos parâmetros do modelo usado na correção. Para demonstrar a eficácia, o método proposto é aplicado em um conjunto de imagens CBERS usando as amostras de imagens selecionadas

Cytochrome P450/ABC transporter inhibition simultaneously enhances ivermectin pharmacokinetics in the mammal host and pharmacodynamics in Anopheles gambiae

Mass administration of endectocides, drugs that kill blood-feeding arthropods, has been proposed as a complementary strategy to reduce malaria transmission. Ivermectin is one of the leading candidates given its excellent safety profile. Here we provide proof that the effect of ivermectin can be boosted at two different levels by drugs inhibiting the cytochrome or ABC transporter in the mammal host and the target mosquitoes. Using a mini-pig model, we show that drug-mediated cytochrome P450/ABC transporter inhibition results in a 3-fold increase in the time ivermectin remains above mosquito-killing concentrations. In contrast, P450/ABC transporter induction with rifampicin markedly impaired ivermectin absorption. The same ketoconazole-mediated cytochrome/ABC transporter inhibition also occurs outside the mammal host and enhances the mortality of Anopheles gambiae. This was proven by using the samples from the mini-pig experiments to conduct an ex-vivo synergistic bioassay by membrane-feeding Anopheles mosquitoes. Inhibiting the same cytochrome/xenobiotic pump complex in two different organisms to simultaneously boost the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic activity of a drug is a novel concept that could be applied to other systems. Although the lack of a dose-response effect in the synergistic bioassay warrants further exploration, our study may have broad implications for the control of parasitic and vector-borne diseases

Control of somatosensory cortical processing by thalamic posterior medial nucleus: A new role of thalamus in cortical function

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Current knowledge of thalamocortical interaction comes mainly from studying lemniscal thalamic systems. Less is known about paralemniscal thalamic nuclei function. In the vibrissae system, the posterior medial nucleus (POm) is the corresponding paralemniscal nucleus. POm neurons project to L1 and L5A of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) in the rat brain. It is known that L1 modifies sensory-evoked responses through control of intracortical excitability suggesting that L1 exerts an influence on whisker responses. Therefore, thalamocortical pathways targeting L1 could modulate cortical firing. Here, using a combination of electrophysiology and pharmacology in vivo, we have sought to determine how POm influences cortical processing. In our experiments, single unit recordings performed in urethane- anesthetized rats showed that POm imposes precise control on the magnitude and duration of supra- and infragranular barrel cortex whisker responses. Our findings demonstrated that L1 inputs from POm imposed a time and intensity dependent regulation on cortical sensory processing. Moreover, we found that blocking L1 GABAergic inhibition or blocking P/Q-type Ca2+ channels in L1 prevents POm adjustment of whisker responses in the barrel cortex. Additionally, we found that POm was also controlling the sensory processing in S2 and this regulation was modulated by corticofugal activity from L5 in S1. Taken together, our data demonstrate the determinant role exerted by the POm in the adjustment of somatosensory cortical processing and in the regulation of cortical processing between S1 and S2. We propose that this adjustment could be a thalamocortical gain regulation mechanism also present in the processing of information between cortical areas.This work was supported by a grant from Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (BFU2012- 36107

Overview of recent TJ-II stellarator results

The main results obtained in the TJ-II stellarator in the last two years are reported. The most important topics investigated have been modelling and validation of impurity transport, validation of gyrokinetic simulations, turbulence characterisation, effect of magnetic configuration on transport, fuelling with pellet injection, fast particles and liquid metal plasma facing components. As regards impurity transport research, a number of working lines exploring several recently discovered effects have been developed: the effect of tangential drifts on stellarator neoclassical transport, the impurity flux driven by electric fields tangent to magnetic surfaces and attempts of experimental validation with Doppler reflectometry of the variation of the radial electric field on the flux surface. Concerning gyrokinetic simulations, two validation activities have been performed, the comparison with measurements of zonal flow relaxation in pellet-induced fast transients and the comparison with experimental poloidal variation of fluctuations amplitude. The impact of radial electric fields on turbulence spreading in the edge and scrape-off layer has been also experimentally characterized using a 2D Langmuir probe array. Another remarkable piece of work has been the investigation of the radial propagation of small temperature perturbations using transfer entropy. Research on the physics and modelling of plasma core fuelling with pellet and tracer-encapsulated solid-pellet injection has produced also relevant results. Neutral beam injection driven Alfvénic activity and its possible control by electron cyclotron current drive has been examined as well in TJ-II. Finally, recent results on alternative plasma facing components based on liquid metals are also presentedThis work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium and has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2014–2018 under Grant Agreement No. 633053. It has been partially funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Inovación y Universidades of Spain under projects ENE2013-48109-P, ENE2015-70142-P and FIS2017-88892-P. It has also received funds from the Spanish Government via mobility grant PRX17/00425. The authors thankfully acknowledge the computer resources at MareNostrum and the technical support provided by the Barcelona S.C. It has been supported as well by The Science and Technology Center in Ukraine (STCU), Project P-507F

Harinas de planta entera de frijol (Vigna unguiculata) y de mazorca de maíz (Zea mays) como suplemento para becerros antes del destete

En los sistemas de producción de doble-propósito, el amamantamiento restringido mejora el ingreso por leche vendible, pero es negativo para el crecimiento de los becerros. Sin embargo, un arreglo de alimentación agropastoril la suplementación con cultivos podría mejorar el suministro de nutrientes. Este trabajo tuvo como objetivo estudiar el consumo de harinas de frijol y de mazorca de maíz, el consumo de leche y el crecimiento de becerros pre-destete. El ensayo tuvo una duración de 217 días y se usaron 30 becerros hijos de vacas mestizas de Brahmán x Holstein x Simmental. Se colocaron cinco becerros en tres tratamientos ubicados en dos bloques al azar. Los tratamientos fueron: harina de frijol (F), harina de maíz (M) y harina de frijol + harina de maíz (FM) todos a voluntad. Los becerros entraron al experimento entre 30 y 45 días de nacidos y después del ordeño permanecieron 30 minutos con sus madres, para luego ser llevados a potreros de Cynodon nlemfuensis durante 6 horas/día. En la tarde fueron alojados en corrales individuales donde se les ofreció el suplemento. La producción de leche vendible (P0,05) fueron 2,5 2,4 y 2,54 L/d; de suplementos (P0,05) 0,41 0,48 y 0,37 para F, M y FM, respectivamente. Se concluyó que el aporte de la leche para suplir los requerimientos de energía y proteína disminuye, debido a que su consumo permanece constante mientras que los requerimientos aumentan, pero los becerros tienen la capacidad de ajustar el consumo de los componentes de la dieta, cuando encuentran restricciones debidas a cantidad ofrecida, calidad y palatabilidad

Cortical Neural Computation by Discrete Results Hypothesis

One of the most challenging problems we face in neuroscience is to understand how the cortex performs computations. There is increasing evidence that the power of the cortical processing is produced by populations of neurons forming dynamic neuronal ensembles. Theoretical proposals and multineuronal experimental studies have revealed that ensembles of neurons can form emergent functional units. However, how these ensembles are implicated in cortical computations is still a mystery.Although cell ensembles have been associated with brain rhythms, the functional interaction remains largely unclear. It is still unknown how spatially distributed neuronal activity can be temporally integrated to contribute to cortical computations. A theoretical explanation integrating spatial and temporal aspects of cortical processing is still lacking.In this Hypothesis and Theory article, we propose a new functional theoretical framework to explain the computational roles of these ensembles in cortical processing. We suggest that complex neural computations underlying cortical processing could be temporally discrete and that sensory information would need to be quantized to be computed by the cerebral cortex. Accordingly, we propose that cortical processing is produced by the computation of discrete spatio-temporal functional units that we have called ‘Discrete Results' (Discrete Results Hypothesis). This hypothesis represents a novel functional mechanism by which information processing is computed in the cortex. Furthermore, we propose that precise dynamic sequences of ‘Discrete Results’ is the mechanism used by the cortex to extract, code, memorize and transmit neural information. The novel ‘Discrete Result' concept has the ability to match the spatial and temporal aspects of cortical processing. We discuss the possible neural underpinnings of these functional computational units and describe the empirical evidence supporting our hypothesis. We propose that FS interneuron may be a key element in our hypothesis providing the basis for this computation