Regional frequency analysis of annual maximum daily rainfall in Navarra. Quantiles mapping

[EN] The determination of the law of frequency of precipitations is essential for the design of different hydraulic infrastructures as well as for the analysis and determination of flood areas. The objective of this paper is to present the quantiles of the extreme daily rainfall in Navarre, obtained through a regional frequency analysis, and its spatial representation. 142 manual rainfall stations, located in the Autonomous Community of Navarra and in the surrounding area, have been considered for the study. The duration of registration of the series is greater than 20 years. The Regional Frequency Analysis has been carried out according to the Hosking and Wallis methodology obtaining six homogeneous regions and their most appropriate distribution functions. The mapping has been made applying two interpolation methods: the inverse distance weighted; and the ordinary geostatistical Kriging. The selected method has been the Kriging.[ES] La determinación de la ley de frecuencias de precipitaciones resulta imprescindible para el diseño de diferentes infraestructuras hidráulicas así como para el análisis y determinación de zonas inundables. El objetivo de este artículo es presentar los cuantiles de las precipitaciones diarias extremas en el territorio de la Comunidad Foral de Navarra, obtenidos mediante un análisis regional de frecuencia (ARF), y su representación espacial. Se ha partido de las 142 estaciones pluviométricas manuales, localizadas en la Comunidad Foral de Navarra y en el entorno de la misma, con duración de registro superior a 20 años. El Análisis Regional de Frecuencias (ARF) se ha realizado según la metodología de Hosking y Wallis, obteniendo seis regiones homogéneas y sus funciones de distribución más adecuadas. Para la elaboración de los mapas se han aplicado dos métodos de interpolación: el de la distancia inversa ponderada; y el geoestadístico Kriging ordinario. Después del análisis comparativo se ha elegido el Kriging.Este trabajo de investigación se ha financiado y se ha desarrollado gracias al contrato de investigación “OTRI2015021115”, firmado entre la Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA) y la empresa pública Navarra de Infraestructuras Locales S.A. (NILSA), titulado “Sistemas de drenaje urbano sostenible. Bioretención. Caracterización de parámetros locales”. Especial agradecimiento a los técnicos de NILSA responsables de la supervisión del trabajo, Ana Marta Las Heras y Gregorio Berrozpe, por su interés, rigor y seguimiento. Expresar nuestro agradecimiento también al Servicio de Meteorología y Climatología de Navarra perteneciente al Gobierno de Navarra por haber facilitado las series de datos de precipitación, especialmente a su responsable D. Joaquín del Valle de Lersundi, que en todo momento ha manifestado su apoyo incondicional, y a Miren Otazu, técnica de Tragsatec.López, J.; Goñi, M.; San Martín, I.; Erro, J. (2019). Análisis regional de frecuencias de las precipitaciones diarias extremas en Navarra. Elaboración de los mapas de cuantiles. Ingeniería del Agua. 23(1):33-51. https://doi.org/10.4995/ia.2019.10058SWORD3351231Abdi, A., Hassanzadeh, Y., Ouarda, T.B.M.J. 2017. Regional frequency analysis using Growing Neural Gas network. Journal of Hydrology, 550, 92-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2017.04.047Adamowski, K., Alila, Y., Pilon, P.J. 1996. Regional rainfall distribution for Canada. Atmospheric Research, 42, 75-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/0169-8095(95)00054-2Akkala, A., Devabhaktuni, V., Kumar, A. 2010. Interpolation techniques and associated software for environmental data. Environmental Progress and Sustainable Energy, 29(2), 134-141. https://doi.org/10.1002/ep.10455Almasi A., Ahmad J., Toomanian N., 2014. 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Desinformación en tiempos de pandemia: tipología de los bulos sobre la Covid-19

Se presenta un análisis de contenido de todos los bulos (N=292) relacionados con la pandemia Covid-19 identificados por las tres plataformas de verificación acreditadas en España, durante el primer mes del estado de alarma decretado por el Gobierno (14 marzo 2020 – 13 abril 2020). El estudio muestra que los bulos sobre el coronavirus fueron diseminados principalmente en las redes sociales y, entre ellas, sobre todo en las cerradas, como la aplicación móvil de mensajería WhatsApp. También detecta las particularidades formales y de contenido más frecuentes de los contenidos falsificados. Los resultados revelan que la pandemia, además de generar un gran número de bulos sobre salud y ciencia, casi un tercio de la muestra, también propició la difusión de numerosos contenidos falsos de tema político y gubernamental. El artículo explora los formatos, fuentes y territorios de procedencia de los bulos. Más allá de sus resultados empíricos, este estudio realiza contribuciones teóricas en el marco de los emergentes estudios sobre desórdenes informativos. En concreto, aporta una definición propia de bulo, así como una tipología en la que se identifican cuatro tipos de bulos: broma, exageración, descontextualización y engaño. A partir de esos cuatro tipos, se propone un ‘diagrama de gravedad de los bulos’

Twitter as a Tool for Teaching and Communicating Microbiology: The #microMOOCSEM Initiative

Online social networks are increasingly used by the population on a daily basis. They are considered a powerful tool for science communication and their potential as educational tools is emerging. However, their usefulness in academic practice is still a matter of debate. Here, we present the results of our pioneering experience teaching a full Basic Microbiology course via Twitter (#microMOOCSEM), consisting of 28 lessons of 40-45 minutes duration each, at a tweet per minute rate during 10 weeks. Lessons were prepared by 30 different lecturers, covering most basic areas in Microbiology and some monographic topics of general interest (malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, etc.). Data analysis on the impact and acceptance of the course were largely affirmative, promoting a 330% enhancement in the followers and a >350-fold increase of the number of visits per month to the Twitter account of the host institution, the Spanish Society for Microbiology. Almost one third of the course followers were located overseas. Our study indicates that Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) via Twitter are highly dynamic, interactive, and accessible to great audiences, providing a valuable tool for social learning and communicating science. This strategy attracts the interest of students towards particular topics in the field, efficiently complementing customary academic activities, especially in multidisciplinary areas like Microbiology.Versión del edito

Evaluation of the effects of erythritol on gene expression in Brucella abortus

Bacteria of the genus Brucella have the unusual capability to catabolize erythritol and this property has been associated with their virulence mainly because of the presence of erythritol in bovine foetal tissues and because the attenuated S19 vaccine strain is the only Brucella strain unable to oxydize erythritol. In this work we have analyzed the transcriptional changes produced in Brucella by erythritol by means of two high throughput approaches: RNA hybridization against a microarray containing most of Brucella ORF's constructed from the Brucella ORFeome and next generation sequencing of Brucella mRNA in an Illumina GAIIx platform. The results obtained showed the overexpression of a group of genes, many of them in a single cluster around the ery operon, able to co-ordinately mediate the transport and degradation of erythritol into three carbon atoms intermediates that will be then converted into fructose-6P (F6P) by gluconeogenesis. Other induced genes participating in the nonoxidative branch of the pentose phosphate shunt and the TCA may collaborate with the ery genes to conform an efficient degradation of sugars by this route. On the other hand, several routes of amino acid and nucleotide biosynthesis are up-regulated whilst amino acid transport and catabolism genes are down-regulated. These results corroborate previous descriptions indicating that in the presence of erythritol, this sugar was used preferentially over other compounds and provides a neat explanation of the the reported stimulation of growth induced by erythritol

A born-again global firm: Inés Rosales SAU in the traditional sector of pastry production

The literature on internationalisation processes in family businesses has boomed with the emergence of new approaches and different perspectives. One of these schemes analyses the so-called born-again global firms, mostly technology companies, which experienced an internationalisation process after one or more serious incidents affecting it. The case of Ines Rosales extends the frontier of the meaning of a global born-again firm to firms in industries and traditional products. One of its most striking aspects is that the flagship product is centennial and based on basic ingredients. In addition, the production process of the firm mix production by hand and mechanised developments. Inés Rosales shows the ability of a family Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) in a process of internationalisation even in culturally distant markets through the traditional cake of olive oil.Universidad Pablo de Olavide. Departamento de Economía, Métodos Cuantitativos e Historia EconómicaPreprin

Physical properties of naked DNA influence nucleosome positioning and correlate with transcription start and termination sites in yeast

Abstract Background In eukaryotic organisms, DNA is packaged into chromatin structure, where most of DNA is wrapped into nucleosomes. DNA compaction and nucleosome positioning have clear functional implications, since they modulate the accessibility of genomic regions to regulatory proteins. Despite the intensive research effort focused in this area, the rules defining nucleosome positioning and the location of DNA regulatory regions still remain elusive. Results Naked (histone-free) and nucleosomal DNA from yeast were digested by microccocal nuclease (MNase) and sequenced genome-wide. MNase cutting preferences were determined for both naked and nucleosomal DNAs. Integration of their sequencing profiles with DNA conformational descriptors derived from atomistic molecular dynamic simulations enabled us to extract the physical properties of DNA on a genomic scale and to correlate them with chromatin structure and gene regulation. The local structure of DNA around regulatory regions was found to be unusually flexible and to display a unique pattern of nucleosome positioning. Ab initio physical descriptors derived from molecular dynamics were used to develop a computational method that accurately predicts nucleosome enriched and depleted regions. Conclusions Our experimental and computational analyses jointly demonstrate a clear correlation between sequence-dependent physical properties of naked DNA and regulatory signals in the chromatin structure. These results demonstrate that nucleosome positioning around TSS (Transcription Start Site) and TTS (Transcription Termination Site) (at least in yeast) is strongly dependent on DNA physical properties, which can define a basal regulatory mechanism of gene expression

Negative responses of highland pines to anthropogenic activities in inland Spain: a palaeoecological perspective

Palaeoecological evidence indicates that highland pines were dominant in extensive areas of the mountains of Central and Northern Iberia during the first half of the Holocene. However, following several millennia of anthropogenic pressure, their natural ranges are now severely reduced. Although pines have been frequently viewed as first-stage successional species responding positively to human disturbance, some recent palaeobotanical work has proposed fire disturbance and human deforestation as the main drivers of this vegetation turnover. To assess the strength of the evidence for this hypothesis and to identify other possible explanations for this scenario, we review the available information on past vegetation change in the mountains of northern inland Iberia. We have chosen data from several sites that offer good chronological control, including palynological records with microscopic charcoal data and sites with plant macro- and megafossil occurrence. We conclude that although the available long-term data are still fragmentary and that new methods are needed for a better understanding of the ecological history of Iberia, fire events and human activities (probably modulated by climate) have triggered the pine demise at different locations and different temporal scales. In addition, all palaeoxylological, palynological and charcoal results obtained so far are fully compatible with a rapid human-induced ecological change that could have caused a range contraction of highland pines in western Iberia

Bladder cancer index: cross-cultural adaptation into Spanish and psychometric evaluation

BACKGROUND: The Bladder Cancer Index (BCI) is so far the only instrument applicable across all bladder cancer patients, independent of tumor infiltration or treatment applied. We developed a Spanish version of the BCI, and assessed its acceptability and metric properties. METHODS: For the adaptation into Spanish we used the forward and back-translation method, expert panels, and cognitive debriefing patient interviews. For the assessment of metric properties we used data from 197 bladder cancer patients from a multi-center prospective study. The Spanish BCI and the SF-36 Health Survey were self-administered before and 12 months after treatment. Reliability was estimated by Cronbach's alpha. Construct validity was assessed through the multi-trait multi-method matrix. The magnitude of change was quantified by effect sizes to assess responsiveness. RESULTS: Reliability coefficients ranged 0.75-0.97. The validity analysis confirmed moderate associations between the BCI function and bother subscales for urinary (r = 0.61) and bowel (r = 0.53) domains; conceptual independence among all BCI domains (r ≤ 0.3); and low correlation coefficients with the SF-36 scores, ranging 0.14-0.48. Among patients reporting global improvement at follow-up, pre-post treatment changes were statistically significant for the urinary domain and urinary bother subscale, with effect sizes of 0.38 and 0.53. CONCLUSIONS: The Spanish BCI is well accepted, reliable, valid, responsive, and similar in performance compared to the original instrument. These findings support its use, both in Spanish and international studies, as a valuable and comprehensive tool for assessing quality of life across a wide range of bladder cancer patients