Resurrection of the sea pen genus Ptilella Gray, 1870 and description of Ptilella grayi n. sp. from the NE Atlantic (Octocorallia: Pennatulacea)

The order Pennatulacea covers a group of specialized and morphologically distinct octocorals found in all oceans from intertidal areas to more than 6000 m in depth. Sea pens constitute an important structural component in marine soft-bottom communities by increasing the complexity of these environments. Despite being both morphologically distinctive and ecologically important, the taxonomy and systematics of sea pens is still poorly understood. Recent molecular studies have shown the existence of convergent morphological features, making the current familial distribution of genera unstable. The genus Pennatula Linnaeus, 1758 was one of the first described octocoral genera. It is the type genus of its family, Pennatulidae. Colonies of this genus have a characteristic morphology. Recent sampling efforts in the northeastern Atlantic have provided a number of colonies initially attributable to the genus Pennatula. Both morphological and molecular (mtMutS, Cox1 and 28S genes) study of this material supports the polyphyletic nature of this genus and the need to resurrect the genus Ptilella Gray, 1870 to accommodate these and other species. A new species, Ptilella grayi n. sp., is described and illustrated. The species Pennatula bayeri is proposed to be a junior synonym of Pennatula bellissima (here also considered in the genus Ptilella)

Introducción a las técnicas de neuroimagen

La tomografía por emisión de positrones (PET) y la resonancia magnética (RM) ofrecen la posibilidad de estudiar la anatomía del cerebro y su plasticidad, y de detectar las zonas que se activan o las redes que tienen su actividad sincronizada al realizar determinadas tareas. Se hará una breve introducción de distintas técnicas de neuroimagen con ejemplos de aplicación.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Filogenia molecular y estimación del tiempo de divergencia en pennatuláceos (Cnidaria: Octocorallia: Pennatulacea)

Pennatulaceans are an important component of benthic marine communities usually related to soft bottoms. Despite their important ecological role, as yet little is known about their origin and divergence time. The first attempts to establish phylogenetic relationships among genera date from the early 20th century, when only morphological characters were available. In the last decade, phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial DNA sequences from a selected number of species have proposed a different hypothetical ancestor for this group, but their intergeneric relationships remain obscure. The present study is based on a combination of mitochondrial and nuclear markers (mtMutS, Cox1 and 28S rDNA), adding new molecular information about the phylogenetic relationships among the pennatulacean genera, including 38 new sequences belonging to 13 different species. Some of the phylogenetic relationships inferred in the present study question the current classification of sea pens based on morphology (at different taxonomic levels), clearly indicating that the two main groups Sessiliflorae and Subselliflorae, some of their main families (e.g. Pennatulidae, Umbellulidae, Virgulariidae) and some genera (e.g. Umbellula, Veretillum) are non-monophyletic. In addition, the veretillids, traditionally considered the most primitive pennatulaceans, are not shown as the earliest-diverging taxon. Moreover, an analysis of divergence time performed here suggested that the origin of the pennatulaceans dates from the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasian, ~144 Ma), in agreement with their sparsely known fossil record, while the initial divergence of most extant genera occurred in the Oligocene and Miocene times.Los pennatuláceos son un componente importante de las comunidades bentónicas marinas generalmente relacionados con fondos blandos. A pesar de su importante papel ecológico, la información sobre su origen y tiempo de divergencia es aún escasa. Los primeros intentos de establecer relaciones filogenéticas entre géneros datan de principios del siglo XX, cuando sólo estaban disponibles caracteres morfológicos. En la última década, los análisis filogenéticos basados en secuencias de ADN mitocondrial procedentes de un limitado número de especies han propuesto un ancestro hipotético diferente para este grupo, pero sus relaciones intergenéricas permanecen oscuras. La presente investigación está basada en una combinación de marcadores mitocondriales y nuclear (mtMutS, Cox1 y ADNr 28S), aportando nueva información molecular sobre las relaciones filogenéticas entre los géneros de pennatuláceos, incluyendo 38 nuevas secuencias pertenecientes a 13 especies. Algunas de las relaciones filogenéticas inferidas en el presente estudio cuestionan la actual clasificación de las plumas de mar basada en la morfología (a diferentes niveles taxonómicos), indicando claramente que los dos grupos principales Sessiliflorae y Subselliflorae, algunas de sus principales familias (por ejemplo Pennatulidae, Umbellulidae, Virgulariidae) y algunos géneros (por ejemplo Umbellula, Veretillum) son no-monofiléticos. Asimismo, los veretílidos, tradicionalmente considerados los pennatuláceos más primitivos, no se muestran como el taxón divergente más antiguo. Además, un análisis del tiempo de divergencia realizado en este trabajo sugirió que el origen de los pennatuláceos data del Cretácico Inferior (Berriasiano, ~ 144 Ma), de acuerdo con su escasamente conocido registro fósil, mientras que la divergencia inicial de la mayoría de los géneros existentes ocurrió en tiempos del Oligoceno y Mioceno

IT-REHAB : Integral Telerehabilitation System

The main functionalities of the physical rehabilitation module of IT-REHAB are briefly described in this paper. IT-REHAB is a telerehabilitation system under development for patients with physical or cognitive rehabilitation needs. It supports wireless biomechanical and physiological data collection and includes advanced functionalities based on a custom-designed Medium Access (MAC) protocol for improved bandwidth utilization and an immersive user interface that incorporates virtual reality elements for a motivating experience. Moreover, it includes affective computing technologies for pain intensity estimation, wearables for easy sensor devices setting up, and real-time communication between patients and therapists

Innovations for sustainability in the roll-out of the Sustainable Development Goals

Companies have been adapting their strategic decisions in order to align with Sustainable Development Goals since 2015. A motivation for companies to align their strategic decisions with Sustainable Development Goals is to gain legitimacy among supranational organizations, governments, and civil society. Some demonstrate the strength of their commitment to these goals by investing in innovations designed to boost their organizational performance; while others turn to greenwashing in a bid to maintain profits. Investing in sustainability innovations has become a key manifestation of firms’ commitment to Sustainable Development. This study aims to analyse the interaction between sustainability commitment, innovations for sustainability and organizational performance. A sample of 3,420 companies for the period 2015 to 2020 is used to test two working hypotheses. Despite the significant gains it brings in terms of sustainability performance, the results show that investing in innovation for sustainability carries the risk of short-term losses. This has several implications. Some companies may subscribe to Sustainable Development Goals in their pursuit of legitimacy rather than out of true commitment. However, actual engagement in innovation for sustainability can attract potential investors, and, in our view, should be encouraged by politicians and lawmakers

A methodology for the classification of gravel beaches

Beaches are highly flexible structures that can be deformed by several reasons, some natural as wind and swell and others not, as human actions. Gravel, considered as a component of the beach is not always separated from the rest of the materials. It is a part of the coastline sedimentary balance, usually with time and spatial scales much greater than those corresponding to the stretch of the coast under study. The conceptual and experimental difficulties of studying this kind of beach have meant that nowadays they are really unknown. In this paper, methodologies to classify and determinate the most important characteristics in gravel beaches are presented. The authors have studied 34 shingle beaches in the region of Alicante (Spain) from a database with their characteristics. Obtained data corresponds to the morphology of the beach, the materials that take part in its composition and the wave energy, considering its incidence, the wave height, the local period and its influence on the coastline. At the beginning, mathematical models are generated, allowing the expression of the relationships between the slope of berm and the rest of variables. To classify the beaches, a factor analysis has been used on the experimental data matrix, considering all the variables as predictive, obtaining in this way an index for beach classification with similar characteristics. Furthermore, to determine the predictive variables that allow characterizing the 34 beaches, a discriminant analysis has been applied over several sets of variables. In each case, a predictive model of cluster belonging is created, considering a discriminant function, and with the clustering function formed by different clusters. The methodologies developed in this paper will be applied later to other beaches as classification and variable selection methods

Determinación de 15 plaguicidas organoclorados y organofosforados en sedimentos del Lago Cocibolca (Mayo 1994-Junio 1997) Nicaragua

El número de estaciones monitoreadas en el Lago Cocibolca fueron 30; de las cuales en el 80% se detectó pp-DDE, lindano en el 60%, dieldrin 56% y metil-paratión en el 23%. Los valores máximos de los plaguicidas organoclorados detectados en el primer muestreo fueron: pp-DDE con 790.27 pg.g-1 en el punto No 3; lindano 181.30 pg.g-1 y dieldrin con 198.46 pg.g-1, ambos en el punto No 8; heptacloro 84.34 pg.g-1 y aldrin 67.67 pg.g-1, ambos en el punto No 6. El pp-DDT se detectó únicamente en el punto No 23 con 199.60 pg.g-1; el endrin con 66.80 pg.g-1 en el punto No 22. De los plaguicidas organofosforados analizados solamente se detectó la presencia de metil – paratión en un rango de concentración de 1500 pg.g-1 hasta 6 130 pg.g-1 en 7 estaciones. Las mayores concentraciones de plaguicidas organoclorados en el segundo muestreo correspondieron a: pp-DDE (1 352.70 pg.g-1),heptacloro (1 117.90 pg.g-1), lindano (812.0 pg.g-1), dieldrin (204.16 pg.g-1), heptacloroepóxido (386.64 pg.g-1) y endrin (124.13 pg.g-1). En ambos períodos de muestreo (Mayo 1994, Junio 1997) fue notoria la presencia de residuos de plaguicidas (clorados y fosforados) en el Lago Cocibolca, los cuales probablemente causaron la mortandad de peces, ya que las concentraciones de agroquímicos dectectados sobrepasan el límite de tolerancia para los peces y organismos acuáticos

Galerkin's formulation of the finite elements method to obtain the depth of closure

Coastal erosion and lack of sediment supply are a serious global problem. It is therefore necessary to determine the depth of closure (DoC) of a beach—key parameter in the calculation of the sand volume and the location of the beach protection elements—in a precise way. For this reason, this work generates a numerical model based on Galerkin's formulation of finite elements that provides sufficient precision for the determination of DoC with a minimum investment. Thus, after the generation of three models in which the difference was the dependent variables, the least complex has been chosen. It is composed of the variables: median sediment size, wave height and period associated with the mean flow, as well as the angle that the mean flow forms with respect to the studied profile in absolute value (α). The selected model has been compared with the most commonly used models currently in use, having an average absolute error of 0.36 m and an average MAPE of 70% over current models. In addition, it presents a high stability, since after the random disturbance of all the input variables (up to 5%), the model error remains stable, increasing the MAPE by a maximum of 7.4% and the average absolute error by 0.15 m. Therefore, it is possible to use the model to infer the DoC in other study areas where the values of the variables are similar to those studied here, although the selected method can be extrapolated to other parts of the world.This work was partially supported by the Universidad de Alicante through the project “Estudio sobre el perfil de equilibrio y la profundidad de cierre en playas de arena” (GRE15-02)

Comparativa del uso de HLLs en FPGA, GPU y Multicore para la aceleración de una aplicación de red IP

Afrontar la creación de aplicaciones a partir de lenguajes de alto nivel (High Level Lenguajes - HLLs) tiene la incuestionable ventaja de reducir el tiempo de desarrollo. Con ello, es viable una evaluación anticipada del prototipo para conocer cuanto antes si se alcanza el rendimiento especificado como objetivo. En este trabajo se han utilizando tres tecnologías de aceleración: multicore, coprocesador gráfico y coprocesador reconfigurable, que aprovechan el procesamiento paralelo, y se ha realizado una discusión crítica de su experiencia de uso a través de abstracciones de alto nivel. Las soluciones basadas en el uso de coprocesadores no sólo han aportado un nivel de rendimiento superior a la aplicación que se deseaba acelerar, sino que con vista al sistema final en producción, estas alternativas son especialmente interesantes por dejar libres los cores de procesamiento para la realización de las operaciones de envío/recepción en la red de comunicaciones