The ISA Lab workshop: a Project based learning iniciative

[EN] In the context of higher education in the XXI century, the different stakeholders (markets, firms, households, States) assume prospective University graduates will be responsible for providing solutions to the most challenging societal problems, delivering sustainable projects and contributing to improve the quality of life of citizenship controlling for the local but also global impact. Academic staff adapt their role continuously to foster students into the acquisition of competences and skills to better fulfill the societal demands.This paper deals with the process of conceptualization, design and implementation of a PBL workshop in an international and multidisciplinary environment. The ISA lab workshop was envisioned by an academic who ideated, planned, designed and empowered others into action. The result was the first edition of the ISA lab workshop, an international multidisciplinary workshop on sustainability.http://ocs.editorial.upv.es/index.php/HEAD/HEAD18Orozco-Messana, J.; De La Poza, E. (2018). The ISA Lab workshop: a Project based learning iniciative. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1593-1600. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD18.2018.8395OCS1593160

Socio-ecological considerations on the persistence of Mexican heirloom maize

The vulnerability of 59 Mexican landraces of maize was assessed in relation to five socio-ecological factors, namely, social and economic marginalization, association with indigenous peoples, high biodiversity regions, environmental suitability for cultivation, and climate change effects. The most marginalized states had the highest number of landraces, 80% of which were found in predominantly or substantially indigenous municipalities. While only one third of 152 regions of high biodiversity had collection records, 47 landraces had at least one collection record in these regions. Eleven races can be cultivated in at least 10% of the Mexican territory, while 13 can occupy less than 1% under current environmental conditions. Given a projected temperature increase of 0.5 ºC and a 5% reduction in annual precipitation, 66% of the landraces could disappear during the current decade. A normalized Vulnerability Index was constructed (can have values from 0.00 for non-threatened landraces to 1.00 for the most vulnerable) that averaged 0.76 ± 0.02 for the 59 landraces. The most vulnerable third of the landraces were threatened by being from a region of low marginalization combined with a limited potential distribution both under current conditions and under the climate change scenario considered

Alternative Splicing of Transcription Factors' Genes: Beyond the Increase of Proteome Diversity

Functional modification of transcription regulators may lead to developmental changes and phenotypical differences between species. In this work, we study the influence of alternative splicing on transcription factors in human and mouse. Our results show that the impact of alternative splicing on transcription factors is similar in both species, meaning that the ways to increase variability should also be similar. However, when looking at the expression patterns of transcription factors, we observe that they tend to diverge regardless of the role of alternative splicing. Finally, we hypothesise that transcription regulation of alternatively spliced transcription factors could play an important role in the phenotypical differences between species, without discarding other phenomena or functional families

Conocimiento y uso de Métodos de Planificación Familiar en las mujeres de 15 a 44 años de edad usuarias del C.S.R.D de San Miguel de Ocampo 2013-2014

Introducción: Las mujeres están iniciando su vida sexual a temprana edad y lo hacen sin utilizar ningún método de planificación familiar, aunque ellas refieren conocerlos, o tengan un mal conocimiento sobre el uso. Objetivo: Determinar el conocimiento y el uso de métodos de planificación familiar en las mujeres de 15 a 44 años de edad usuarias del Centro de Salud Rural Disperso de San Miguel Ocampo durante el periodo 2013-2014. Método: Estudio prospectivo, descriptivo, transversal y observacional, realizado mediante la aplicación de un cuestionario de 18 preguntas, a 236 mujeres de 15 a 44 años de edad usuarias del Centro de Salud Rural Disperso de San Miguel Ocampo, que determina el conocimiento y el uso de métodos de planificación familiar y la edad de inicio de vida sexual. Resultados: De las 236 mujeres encuestadas, el 51% tiene un conocimiento malo, el 26% regular, y un 23% conocimiento bueno. Por grupo de edad el conocimiento malo lo presentó el grupo de 15 a 24 años. El preservativo es el método más utilizado y el DIU el menos utilizado. La edad promedio de inicio de vida sexual es a los 16 años. Un 42% refirió utilizar algún método de planificación familiar, siendo la mayoría con un 58% que no utiliza actualmente ningún método de planificación familiar. Conclusiones: El conocimiento malo resultó predominante, y el preservativo es el método de planificación familiar más utilizado

Asymmetries of the Stokes V profiles observed by HINODE SOT/SP in the quiet Sun

We present the first classification of SOT/SP circular polarization measurements with the aim of highlighting exhaustively the whole variety of Stokes V shapes emerging from the quiet Sun. k-means is used to classify HINODE SOT/SP Stokes V profiles observed in the quiet Sun network and internetwork (IN). We analyze a 302 x 162 square arcsec field-of-view (FOV) which can be considered a complete sample of quiet Sun measurements performed at at the disk center with 0.32 arcsec angular resolution and 0.001 polarimetric sensitivity. Such a classification allows us to divide the whole dataset in classes, with each class represented by a cluster profile, i.e., the average of the profiles in the class. The set of 35 cluster profiles derived from the analysis completely characterizes SOT/SP quiet Sun measurements. The separation between network and IN profile shapes is evident - classes in the network are not present in the IN, and vice versa. Asymmetric profiles are approximatively 93 % of the total number of profiles. Among these, approximatively 34 % of the profiles are strongly asymmetric profiles, and they can be divided in three families: blue-lobe, red-lobe, and Q-like profiles. The blue-lobe profiles tend to be associated with upflows (granules), whereas the red-lobe and Q-like ones appear in downflows (intergranular lanes). Such profiles need to be interpreted considering model atmospheres different from a uniformly magnetized Milne-Eddington (ME) atmosphere, i.e., characterized by gradients and/or discontinuities in the magnetic field and velocity along the line-of-sight (LOS).Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Designing a programme for Sustainability in Vietnam: Smart Sustainable Vietnamese Cities, SSVC

[EN] This work deals with the design and development of the SSVC module, which is organised and implemented by European Higher Education Institutions in partnership with Vietnamese Universities. The reform of the Higher Education in Vietnam requires new pedagogical practices and methods which are used in the SSVC module. In addition, the  process of design must include the adjustment of the European content and pedagogical methods into Vietnamese circumstances. Finally, the programme needs to be piloted and assessed.http://ocs.editorial.upv.es/index.php/HEAD/HEAD18Rietbergen, M.; De La Poza, E.; Orozco-Messana, J. (2018). Designing a programme for Sustainability in Vietnam: Smart Sustainable Vietnamese Cities, SSVC. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1601-1606. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD18.2018.8396OCS1601160

A procedure for identifying homologous alternative splicing events

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The study of the functional role of alternative splice isoforms of a gene is a very active area of research in biology. The difficulty of the experimental approach (in particular, in its high-throughput version) leaves ample room for the development of bioinformatics tools that can provide a useful first picture of the problem. Among the possible approaches, one of the simplest is to follow classical protein function annotation protocols and annotate target alternative splice events with the information available from conserved events in other species. However, the application of this protocol requires a procedure capable of recognising such events. Here we present a simple but accurate method developed for this purpose.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have developed a method for identifying homologous, or equivalent, alternative splicing events, based on the combined use of neural networks and sequence searches. The procedure comprises four steps: (i) BLAST search for homologues of the two isoforms defining the target alternative splicing event; (ii) construction of all possible candidate events; (iii) scoring of the latter with a series of neural networks; and (iv) filtering of the results. When tested in a set of 473 manually annotated pairs of homologous events, our method showed a good performance, with an accuracy of 0.99, a precision of 0.98 and a sensitivity of 0.93. When no candidates were available, the specificity of our method varied between 0.81 and 0.91.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The method described in this article allows the identification of homologous alternative splicing events, with a good success rate, indicating that such method could be used for the development of functional annotation of alternative splice isoforms.</p

Experiences in Transdisciplinary Education for the Sustainable Development of the Built Environment, the ISAlab Workshop

[EN] There is a growing recognition and acceptance that society needs to develop new pathways to achieve a more sustainable;future. Our current model of development poses significant challenges when it comes to achieving a more just society based on respect for nature and human rights, and demands a sustainable economy supported by a new circular model supporting the UN sustainable development goals. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) accordingly have developed Master programs that are responsible for providing fundamental services in the joint effort towards sustainability. Meanwhile, leading Universities around the world have developed other very relevant programs. The open and unstructured challenge of sustainability poses an obstacle to existing academic structures. Specifically, the built environment is one of the leading contributors to challenges addressed in the programs such as: Anthropogenic climate change, resource depletion, waste generation and pollution, poverty, and inequity. The Interdisciplinary Sustainable Architecture lab (ISAlab) explores these issues as part of a multidisciplinary approach involving the collaboration of leading Universities from different areas on the world through an innovative initiative. This paper explores the experiences of the ISAlab workshop, which has been taking place yearly in Valencia since 2017. The workshop draws together students from a range of disciplines from across engineering and science, law and the social sciences and from a range of countries and backgrounds, including North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Its purpose is to facilitate a rich co-creative learning environment led by (engineering) academic faculties from across Europe (Spain, the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands and Ireland) as well as North America (the US and Canada), as well as local experts who helped provide participants with appropriate context and guidance. The objective is educating future engineers that are capable of finding robust ways to implement sustainability at a practical level on the built environment, taking account of the multidisciplinary perspective and with the incentive of solving real-life problems.This research has been co-funded by the Erasmus+ KA2 program of the European Union under the "SAUNAC" project.Orozco-Messana, J.; De La Poza, E.; Calabuig-Moreno, R. (2020). Experiences in Transdisciplinary Education for the Sustainable Development of the Built Environment, the ISAlab Workshop. Sustainability. 12(3):1-13. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12031143S113123Maruna, M. (2019). Toward the Integration of SDGs in Higher Planning Education: Insights from Integrated Urbanism Study Program in Belgrade. Sustainability, 11(17), 4519. doi:10.3390/su11174519Fortuin, K. P. J. (Karen), & van Koppen, C. S. A. (Kris). (2015). Teaching and learning reflexive skills in inter- and transdisciplinary research: A framework and its application in environmental science education. Environmental Education Research, 22(5), 697-716. doi:10.1080/13504622.2015.1054264Balaras, C. A., Droutsa, K. G., Dascalaki, E. G., Kontoyiannidis, S., Moro, A., & Bazzan, E. (2019). Urban Sustainability Audits and Ratings of the Built Environment. Energies, 12(22), 4243. doi:10.3390/en12224243Olmos-Gómez, M. del C., Estrada-Vidal, L. I., Ruiz-Garzón, F., López-Cordero, R., & Mohamed-Mohand, L. (2019). Making Future Teachers More Aware of Issues Related to Sustainability: An Assessment of Best Practices. Sustainability, 11(24), 7222. doi:10.3390/su11247222Tejedor, G., Segalàs, J., & Rosas-Casals, M. (2018). Transdisciplinarity in higher education for sustainability: How discourses are approached in engineering education. Journal of Cleaner Production, 175, 29-37. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.11.085Riley, D. R., Thatcher, C. E., & Workman, E. A. (2006). Developing and applying green building technology in an indigenous community. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 7(2), 142-157. doi:10.1108/14676370610655922Akamatsu, D., Nakaya, M., & Koizumi, R. (2019). Effects of Metacognitive Strategies on the Self-Regulated Learning Process: The Mediating Effects of Self-Efficacy. Behavioral Sciences, 9(12), 128. doi:10.3390/bs9120128Aleksić, A., Načinović Braje, I., & Rašić Jelavić, S. (2019). Creating Sustainable Work Environments by Developing Cultures that Diminish Deviance. Sustainability, 11(24), 7031. doi:10.3390/su11247031There are no mistakes on the bandstand https://archive.org/details/StefonHarris_2011

PMut2: a web-based tool for predicting pathological mutations on proteins

Amino acid substitutions in proteins can result in an altered phenotype which might lead to a disease. PMut2 is a method that can predict whether a mutation has a pathological effect on the protein function. It uses current machine learning algorithms based on protein sequence derived information. The accuracy of PMut2 is as high as 82%, with a Matthews correlation coefficient of 0,62. PMut2 predictions can be obtained through a modern website which also allows to apply the same machine learning methodology that is used to train PMut2 to custom training sets, allowing users to build their own tailor-made predictors

Optical nonlinear dynamics with cold atoms in a cavity

This paper presents the nonlinear dynamics of laser cooled and trapped cesium atoms placed inside an optical cavity and interacting with a probe light beam slightly detuned from the 6S1/2(F=4) to 6P3/2(F=5) transition. The system exhibits very strong bistability and instabilities. The origin of the latter is found to be a competition between optical pumping and non-linearities due to saturation of the optical transition.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, LaTe