Monitoring and analyzing exoplanetary transits from Argentina

Photometric observations of transits can be used to derive physical and orbital parameters of the system, like the planetary and stellar radius, orbital inclination and mean density of the star. Furthermore, monitoring possible periodic variations in transit timing of planets is important, since small changes can be caused by the presence of other planets or moons in the system. On the other hand, long term changes in the transit length can be due to the orbital precession of the planets. For these reasons we started an observational program dedicated to observe transits of known exoplanets with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of these planetary systems. In this work we present our first results obtained using the observational facilities in Argentina including the 2.15 telescope at CASLE

Mate Marote: a BigData platform for massive scale educational interventions

In this paper we present Mate Marote, a web platform for massive scale educational interventions. We focus on the scaling requirements needed on these kind of deployments. We show the designed architecture, how these decisions solve the imposed requirements and the implementation. To test this development, we performed a small pilot intervention where the whole system was evaluated. We conclude that Mate Marote is ready for production deployment and enabled to middleto- massive scale interventions. For this purpose, we have deployed this platform in CEIBAL program at Uruguay with more than 100K potential users.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Mate Marote: a BigData platform for massive scale educational interventions

In this paper we present Mate Marote, a web platform for massive scale educational interventions. We focus on the scaling requirements needed on these kind of deployments. We show the designed architecture, how these decisions solve the imposed requirements and the implementation. To test this development, we performed a small pilot intervention where the whole system was evaluated. We conclude that Mate Marote is ready for production deployment and enabled to middleto- massive scale interventions. For this purpose, we have deployed this platform in CEIBAL program at Uruguay with more than 100K potential users.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

The bacterial effector HopX1 targets JAZ transcriptional repressors to activate jasmonate signaling and promote infection in Arabidopsis

Pathogenicity of Pseudomonas syringae is dependent on a type III secretion system, which secretes a suite of virulence effector proteins into the host cytoplasm, and the production of a number of toxins such as coronatine (COR), which is a mimic of the plant hormone jasmonate-isoleuce (JA-Ile). Inside the plant cell, effectors target host molecules to subvert the host cell physiology and disrupt defenses. However, despite the fact that elucidating effector action is essential to understanding bacterial pathogenesis, the molecular function and host targets of the vast majority of effectors remain largely unknown. Here, we found that effector HopX1 from Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci (Pta) 11528, a strain that does not produce COR, interacts with and promotes the degradation of JAZ proteins, a key family of JA-repressors. We show that hopX1 encodes a cysteine protease, activity that is required for degradation of JAZs by HopX1. HopX1 associates with JAZ proteins through its central ZIM domain and degradation occurs in a COI1-independent manner. Moreover, ectopic expression of HopX1 in Arabidopsis induces the expression of JA-dependent genes, represses salicylic acid (SA)-induced markers, and complements the growth of a COR-deficient P. syringae pv. tomato (Pto) DC3000 strain during natural bacterial infections. Furthermore, HopX1 promoted susceptibility when delivered by the natural type III secretion system, to a similar extent as the addition of COR, and this effect was dependent on its catalytic activity. Altogether, our results indicate that JAZ proteins are direct targets of bacterial effectors to promote activation of JA-induced defenses and susceptibility in Arabidopsis. HopX1 illustrates a paradigm of an alternative evolutionary solution to COR with similar physiological outcome.S.G-I was supported by a ‘‘Juan de la Cierva’’ fellowship from the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation. This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation grants BIO2010-21739, CSD2007-00057 and EUI2008- 03666 to R.S. J.P.R is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow (FT0992129)

Up-scaling Mate Marote: a university-industry interaction experience

The new digital era opens up great possiblilities in education. Mate Marote is a platform including activities and educational games for massive scale interventions. Recent creation of Fundación Sadosky, has favored the collaboration between industry and academia in projects involving novel methods and ideas with big scale software platforms which require experience in architecture and high-end software development. The collaboration established showed exceptional conditions for the mutual benefit: the incorporation of academic research in educational neuroscience in the industry and the transference of well-established methodology and software development experience in the academic environment.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Up-scaling Mate Marote: a university-industry interaction experience

The new digital era opens up great possiblilities in education. Mate Marote is a platform including activities and educational games for massive scale interventions. Recent creation of Fundación Sadosky, has favored the collaboration between industry and academia in projects involving novel methods and ideas with big scale software platforms which require experience in architecture and high-end software development. The collaboration established showed exceptional conditions for the mutual benefit: the incorporation of academic research in educational neuroscience in the industry and the transference of well-established methodology and software development experience in the academic environment.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Traditional versus decentralized innovation strategies of multinational enterprises

In this paper we investigate innovation strategies of foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) by distinguishing between traditional centralized and newer decentralized competence models. In centralized competence models, MNEs maintain core research and development (R&D) functions at home, and conduct design and market screening in host locations. In decentralized competence models, MNEs also undertake R&D in host country locations. We test empirically the interrelations and heterogeneities among these three types of host country affiliate innovation activities: design, market-screening, and R&D. Our results indicate that traditional and new roles of MNEs are complements, although the determinants of each strategy are somewhat different. The presence of local knowledge spillovers is positively associated with the probability that an affiliate does R&D, design, and market-screening activities. R&D activities are more likely to appear when an affiliate has more developed internal capabilities and has been operating for a longer time in the host country. Our findings provide some support for the predictions of decentralized competence models

A General Limitation on Monte Carlo Algorithms of Metropolis Type

We prove that for any Monte Carlo algorithm of Metropolis type, the autocorrelation time of a suitable ``energy''-like observable is bounded below by a multiple of the corresponding ``specific heat''. This bound does not depend on whether the proposed moves are local or non-local; it depends only on the distance between the desired probability distribution $\pi$ and the probability distribution $\pi^{(0)}$ for which the proposal matrix satisfies detailed balance. We show, with several examples, that this result is particularly powerful when applied to non-local algorithms.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX plus subeqnarray.sty (included at end), NYU-TH-93/07/01, IFUP-TH33/9