Escaner laser: modelo 3D y orto imágenes arquitectónicas de la iglesia de Santa María del Mar en Barcelona

El objetivo del Proyecto de escaneo de la iglesia de Santa Maria 2006, fue la generación de planos en CAD 2D como orto-imágenes de la recogida del modelo de nube de puntos en 3D en un periodo de tres meses. Esta nube de puntos trabaja como base de datos para la preservación del monumento investigado. Un volumen de trabajo general para obtener alta calidad, se propone una alta resolución del plano de la orto-imagen basado en la posibilidad dada de la explotación de los datos de nubes de puntos de alta densidad. La generación de superficies trianguladas se evita debido a una significante reducción del tiempo de post procesamiento.The aim of the Scanning of Santa Maria del Mar Project 2006 was the generation of 2D CAD plans as orthoimages from the collected 3D pointcloud model in a three month period. This pointcloud model works as the data base for the preservation of the monument investigated. A general workflow for obtaining high quality, high resolution orthoimage plans is proposed based on the possibility given by data exploitation of high density pointclouds. Triangulated surfaces generation is avoided for significant time reduction in post processing.Peer Reviewe

Microsatellite markers in Spanish lime (Melicoccus bijugatus Jacq., Sapindaceae), a neglected Neotropical fruit crop

Spanish lime (Melicoccus bijugatus Jacq.) is aNeotropical fruit tree cultivated, mainly, in orchards for self-consumption or local sale. The genus Melicoccus includes other nine species with edible fruits, some of these species are at risk of extinction. Like for the vast majority of tropical fruit trees, there is no information on the genetic diversity of Spanish lime and its related species, and this is mostly due to the lack of molecular markers. The objectives of this study were to present the first microsatellite markers developed for Spanish lime, testing its usefulness on a sample of cultivated accessions, as well as its transferability to Huaya India (M. oliviformis). To do this, we performed high-throughput sequencing of microsatellite-enriched libraries of Spanish lime using Roche 454, assembled 9567 DNA contig sequences and identified 10,117 microsatellites. After screening 384 of those microsatellites on four DNA samples, 31 polymorphic markers were used to screen 25 accessions of Spanish lime and five of Huaya India collected in Yucatan, Mexico. Genetic diversity was low in Spanish lime (A = 20.61, HE = 0.38) and similar for both sexes of this species. Neighbor-Joining and PCoA analyses clearly discriminated between the two Melicoccus species studied. Nine of the markers showed unique alleles for Huaya India. The set of microsatellite markers developed has a great potential to generate information in relation to conservation genetics, improvement of elite cultivars and breeding programs for Spanish lime and related species

Metodología para la explotación de datos escáner laser terrestre en SIG para estudios de accesibilidad física al patrimonio arquitectónico

La posibilidad de conocer y disfrutar del patrimonio arquitectónico de una ciudad ha sido inicialmente objeto de investigaciones y acciones por parte de las administraciones públicas y, en los últimos años, ha constituido el principal tema de estudio de la comunidad científica especializada en accesibilidad. Esto se debe por un lado a la creciente tendencia a promover el turismo cultural mediante la valorización de los recursos patrimoniales propios y, por otro lado, al interés de identificar y solucionar incidencias relacionadas con la accesibilidad física que permitan adoptar medidas para eliminar los obstáculos en el entorno físico, especialmente para aquellos colectivos de personas que sufren algún tipo de discapacidad. Existen determinados parámetros a tener en cuenta en un estudio de accesibilidad, como por ejemplo la existencia de pendientes o desniveles insuperables, el diseño y ubicación del mobiliario y la dimensión de los accesos, entre otros. El objetivo general de esta investigación es analizar la posibilidad de utilizar datos proporcionados por Escáner Láser Terrestre (TLS) para determinar y calcular algunos parámetros que permitan realizar una evaluación del grado de accesibilidad de un determinado entorno físico con valor histórico-arquitectónico. El TLS es un instrumento topográfico que permite obtener gran cantidad de medidas en forma de millones de coordenadas espaciales en el sistema de referencia propio del instrumento, y en un tiempo relativamente breve. Con la repetición de las medidas desde distintas posiciones sucesivamente y su posterior unión en un único sistema de referencia a través del reconocimiento de puntos homólogos, es posible obtener un modelo 3D de un entorno complejo. La nube de puntos global obtenida se complementa e integra con imágenes digitales a alta resolución y se optimiza para una mejor gestión de los datos. Una vez optimizada la nube de puntos, se pueden generar modelos digitales del terreno, a partir de los cuales y mediante análisis efectuados en un Sistema de Información Geográfica (GIS) es posible obtener un mapa de pendientes. Esta información es de gran relevancia pues permite la aplicación de criterios de accesibilidad y la evaluación de medidas encaminadas a asegurar la accesibilidad sobre el modelo virtual del entorno físico analizado, determinar una anchura insuficiente o la presencia de escalones u otros obstáculos. De la aplicación de la metodología propuesta a casos concretos se pretende validar su eficacia. Demostrar cómo a partir de la información aportada por el escáner laser, se puede explotar en un GIS, para evaluar algunos de los principales parámetros de accesibilidad física al patrimonio arquitectónico.The ability to know and enjoy the city's Architectural Heritage has been the main subject of studies by public authorities and the scientific community, specializing in research projects concerning accessibility planning in the last years. This is partly due to the growing trend to promote cultural tourism by promoting the assets themselves and, secondly, the interest to identify and fix issues related to physical accessibility for taking steps to eliminate barriers from the physical environment, especially for those groups of people with disabilities. There are certain parameters to be considered in a study of accessibility, such as gradients or slopes, design and location of furniture and the dimensions of access, among others. The overall objective of this project is to analyze the possibility of using data from Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) to determine and calculate some parameters that allow an assessment of the degree of accessibility of particular physical surroundings with architectural and historical value. The TLS is a surveying instrument for obtaining large number of measures in the form of millions of spatial coordinates in the reference frame of the instrument itself, and in a relatively short time. With repeated measures from different positions successively and subsequent union into a single reference system through the recognition of homologous points, one can obtain a 3D model of a complex environment. The global point cloud obtained complements and integrates with high-resolution digital images and is optimized for better data management. Once optimized the point cloud, can generate digital terrain models, from which and through analysis in Geographic Information System (GIS) can yield a slope map. This information is very important because allows the application of accessibility criteria and evaluation measures to ensure the accessibility of the virtual model of the physical environment analyzed to determine an insufficient width or the presence of steps or other obstacles. The implementation of the proposed methodology to specific cases is to validate its effectiveness. Demonstrate how from the information provided by the laser scanner, can be exploited in a GIS environment, to assess some of the main parameters of physical accessibility for Architectural Heritage.Peer Reviewe

Construcción de modelos de ciudad: una perpesctiva arquitectónica a partir de los productos del Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya

llevar a cabo proyectos arquitectónicos de forma eficiente y de calidad. Los pasos iniciales para comenzar un proyecto suelen tomar tiempo, ello se debe (en parte) a que la información primaria conlleva a la necesidad de buscar cartografía que permita contextualizar dicho proyecto. Esta información suele ser compleja, con un alto contenido de datos, difícil de comprender y manipular, especialmente dentro del ámbito arquitectónico. Este artículo describe una propuesta metodológica para la utilización de la información que ofrece el Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya en su página web de forma gratuita, con los programas de dibujo y de modelado más utilizados en el sector de la arquitectura, que permita detectar cuales son las ventajas y dificultades que presentan dichos productos a la hora de ser utilizados como herramientas en el desarrollo de proyectos arquitectónicos y modelos de ciudad.Currently a variety of drawing and modeling techniques exists, which allow carrying out quality architectural projects efficiently. The initial steps to start a project are often time consuming, this is due (in part) to the primary information leading to the need to seek appropriate cartography which allows contextualizing the project correctly. This information is often complex, with a high content of data, difficult to understand and manipulate, especially in the architectural field. This article describes a workflow for using the free information provided by the Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya on their website, with drawing and modeling software’s used in the field of architecture to detect, strengths and weakness posed by such products when they are used as tools in the development of architectural and city modelsPeer Reviewe

Evaluation of the immunomodulatory activities of the probiotic strain lactobacillus fermentum UCO-979C

Lactobacillus fermentum UCO-979C, a strain isolated from a human stomach, was previously characterized by its potential probiotic properties. The UCO-979C strain displayed the ability to beneficially regulate the innate immune response triggered by Helicobacter pylori infection in human gastric epithelial cells. In this work, we conducted further in vitro studies in intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) and in vivo experiments in mice in order to characterize the potential immunomodulatory effects of L. fermentum UCO-979C on the intestinal mucosa. Results demonstrated that the UCO-979C strain is capable to differentially modulate the immune response of IECs triggered by Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) activation through the modulation of TLR negative regulators' expression. In addition, we demonstrated for the first time that L. fermentum UCO-979C is able to exert its immunomodulatory effect in the intestinal mucosa in vivo. The feeding of mice with L. fermentum UCO-979C significantly increased the production of intestinal IFN-γ, stimulated intestinal and peritoneal macrophages and increased the number of Peyer's patches CD4+ T cells. In addition, L. fermentum UCO-979C augmented intestinal IL-6, reduced the number of immature B220+CD24high B cells from Peyer's patches, enhanced the number of mature B B220+CD24low cells, and significantly increased intestinal IgA content. The results of this work revealed that L. fermentum UCO-979C has several characteristics making it an excellent candidate for the development of immunobiotic functional foods aimed to differentially regulate immune responses against gastric and intestinal pathogens.Fil: Garcia Castillo, Valeria. Tohoku University; Japón. Universidad de Concepción; Chile. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos; ArgentinaFil: Komatsu, Ryoya. Tohoku University; JapónFil: Clua, Maria Patricia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos; ArgentinaFil: Indo, Yuhki. Tohoku University; JapónFil: Takagi, Michihiro. Tohoku University; JapónFil: Salva, Maria Susana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos; ArgentinaFil: Islam, M. Aminul. Bangladesh Agricultural University; Bangladesh. Tohoku University; JapónFil: Alvarez, Gladis Susana. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Bioquímica, Química y Farmacia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos; ArgentinaFil: Takahashi, Hideki. Tohoku University; JapónFil: Garcia Cancino, Apolinaria. Universidad de Concepción; ChileFil: Kitazawa, Haruki. Tohoku University; JapónFil: Villena, Julio Cesar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Centro de Referencia para Lactobacilos; Argentina. Tohoku University; Japó

DSM from TLS: a 3D planning verification tool GIS integration for terrestrial laser scanner data for Lloret de Mar historical centre planning

Peer Reviewe

Fast parallel IGA-ADS solver for time-dependent Maxwell's equations

We propose a simulator for time-dependent Maxwell's equations with linear computational cost. We employ B-spline basis functions as considered in the isogeometric analysis (IGA). We focus on non-stationary Maxwell's equations defined on a regular patch of elements. We employ the idea of alternating-directions splitting (ADS) and employ a second-order accurate time-integration scheme for the time-dependent Maxwell's equations in a weak form. After discretization, the resulting stiffness matrix exhibits a Kronecker product structure. Thus, it enables linear computational cost LU factorization. Additionally, we derive a formulation for absorbing boundary conditions (ABCs) suitable for direction splitting. We perform numerical simulations of the scattering problem (traveling pulse wave) to verify the ABC. We simulate the radiation of electromagnetic (EM) waves from the dipole antenna. We verify the order of the time integration scheme using a manufactured solution problem. We then simulate magnetotelluric measurements. Our simulator is implemented in a shared memory parallel machine, with the GALOIS library supporting the parallelization. We illustrate the parallel efficiency with strong and weak scalability tests corresponding to non-stationary Maxwell simulations.EXPERTIA (KK-2021/00048) SIGZE (KK-2021/00095) PDC2021-121093-I0

Strategies to parallelize a finite element mesh truncation technique on multi-core and many-core architectures

Achieving maximum parallel performance on multi-core CPUs and many-core GPUs is a challenging task depending on multiple factors. These include, for example, the number and granularity of the computations or the use of the memories of the devices. In this paper, we assess those factors by evaluating and comparing different parallelizations of the same problem on a multiprocessor containing a CPU with 40 cores and four P100 GPUs with Pascal architecture. We use, as study case, the convolutional operation behind a non-standard finite element mesh truncation technique in the context of open region electromagnetic wave propagation problems. A total of six parallel algorithms implemented using OpenMP and CUDA have been used to carry out the comparison by leveraging the same levels of parallelism on both types of platforms. Three of the algorithms are presented for the first time in this paper, including a multi-GPU method, and two others are improved versions of algorithms previously developed by some of the authors. This paper presents a thorough experimental evaluation of the parallel algorithms on a radar cross-sectional prediction problem. Results show that performance obtained on the GPU clearly overcomes those obtained in the CPU, much more so if we use multiple GPUs to distribute both data and computations. Accelerations close to 30 have been obtained on the CPU, while with the multi-GPU version accelerations larger than 250 have been achieved.Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Jaume

Characterization of the transcriptome of fast and slow muscle myotomal fibres in the pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus)

MDPS and EAM were supported by FAPESP, Proc. n° 12/02489-4 and 2011/09346-1. This work also received funding from CAPES, Proc. n° 2524/12. IAJ and DGDLS were supported by the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland pooling initiative and Scottish Funding Council grant number HR09011.Background: The Pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus) is a member of the Characiform family native to the Prata Basin (South America) and a target for the aquaculture industry. A limitation for the development of a selective breeding program for this species is a lack of available genetic information. The primary objectives of the present study were 1) to increase the genetic resources available for the species, 2) to exploit the anatomical separation of myotomal fibres types to compare the transcriptomes of slow and fast muscle phenotypes and 3) to systematically investigate the expression of Ubiquitin Specific Protease (USP) family members in fast and slow muscle in response to fasting and refeeding. Results: We generated 0.6 Tb of pair-end reads from slow and fast skeletal muscle libraries. Over 665 million reads were assembled into 504,065 contigs with an average length of 1,334 bp and N50=2,772 bp. We successfully annotated nearly 47% of the transcriptome and identified around 15,000 unique genes and over 8000 complete coding sequences. 319 KEGG metabolic pathways were also annotated and 380 putative microsatellites were identified. 956 and 604 genes were differentially expressed between slow and fast skeletal muscle, respectively. 442 paralogues pairs arising from the teleost-specific whole genome duplication were identified, with the majority showing different expression patterns between fibres types (301 in slow and 245 in fast skeletal muscle). 45 members of the USP family were identified in the transcriptome. Transcript levels were quantified by qPCR in a separate fasting and refeeding experiment. USP genes in fast muscle showed a similar transient increase in expression with fasting as the better characterized E3 ubiquitin ligases. Conclusion: We have generated a 53-fold coverage transcriptome for fast and slow myotomal muscle in the pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus) significantly increasing the genetic resources available for this important aquaculture species. We describe significant differences in gene expression between muscle fibre types for fundamental components of general metabolism, the Pi3k/Akt/mTor network and myogenesis, including detailed analysis of paralogue expression. We also provide a comprehensive description of USP family member expression between muscle fibre types and with changing nutritional status.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Understanding herbivore-plant-soil feedbacks to improve grazing management on Mediterranean mountain grasslands

The surface of many European mountain grasslands is decreasing due to global change and extensive grazing stands out as a key tool for their conservation. Sound knowledge of grassland ecosystem functioning and its feedback processes is required to implement sustainable grazing management. This study aimed to understand the effect of different grazing intensities on herbivore-plant-soil feedbacks in Mediterranean mountain grasslands. We estimated spatial distribution of sheep grazing intensity using GPS technology in order to assess the effect of grazing pressure on vegetation and soil properties measured throughout the study area. Our results showed that grazing intensity ranged from 0.06 to 2.85 livestock units / ha, corresponding to a gradient of pasture utilisation rates varying from 2.38% to 45.60% of annual productivity from pasture. Increasing grazing pressure was associated with smaller relative cover and species richness of non-leguminous forbs, while the opposite trends were observed for graminoids. Forage had a greater concentration of N and smaller C:N ratio in more heavily grazed areas. Increasing grazing intensity was also associated with higher values of total soil N, NO3-, NH4+, soil organic carbon, microbial biomass C and activity of ß-glucosidase. Higher litter quality was the main factor explaining greater content of soil organic matter, which favoured both soil microbes and plant productivity. Grazing induced changes in the plant community triggered positive hervibore-plant-soil feedbacks, as they ultimately improved forage quality and productivity, which significantly influenced the pasture preference of free-ranging domestic grazers. Our work showed that grazing management aiming pasture utilisation rates of around 45% is critical in sustaining positive herbivore-plant-soil feedbacks and preserving or enhancing the whole ecosystem functioning in the Mediterranean mountain grasslands studied. © 2021 The Author