RELATORÍA: LAS ENERGÍAS RENOVABLES EN EL SECTOR AGROPECUARIO

Al finalizar la segunda semana de enero, abrí mi cuenta de correo y leí con gran preocupación un mensaje enviado por Sandra Luna, integrante de la Red por la Transición Energética. Esa nota periodística recoge las declaraciones del presidente del Grupo Intergubernamental de Expertos sobre Cambio Climático de la ONU (IPCC, siglas en inglés) Rajendra Pachauri, quien alerta sobre la inequívoca tendencia mundial hacia un acelerado incremento del Calentamiento Global: “el mundo está en camino de registrar un aumento en la temperatura de entre 1.1 y 6.4 grados Celsius, en función del crecimiento económico”. Pachauri participó junto a 250 científicos internacionales en la reunión del IPCC que se celebró en la ciudad australiana de Hobartpara preparar el quinto informe sobre cambio climático para la ONU. Todos los satisfactores, en su elaboración y consumo, demandan ciertos niveles de generación energética pero, ante el incremento poblacional, la producción de satisfactores: alimentarios, de vivienda, agua, transporte, escuelas, hospitales, y un largo etcétera, los escenarios son pesimistas. La disyuntiva es si se continúa por el mismo camino utilizando combustibles fósiles, o si se intenta transitar hacia las fuentes de energía renovable, adicionando una eficiencia energética con criterios de sostenibilidad. El IPCC es el principal organismo mundial de valoración del Cambio Climático (CC), y su tarea central es la elaboración de un informe periódico de evaluación con base en las investigaciones científicas, técnicas y socioeconómicas desarrolladas por expertos de todo el mundo. El primer y segundo informe del IPCC se publicó en 1990 y 1992, mientras que el tercero, en 1995, proporcionó información científica clave para la adopción del protocolo de Kioto, dos años más tarde. El cuarto documento, divulgado en 2007, mostró evidencias suficientes para afirmar que el calentamiento global es inequívoco y establece las actividades humanas como causa probable

Multiple mitochondrial introgression events and heteroplasmy in trypanosoma cruzi revealed by Maxicircle MLST and next generation sequencing

Background Mitochondrial DNA is a valuable taxonomic marker due to its relatively fast rate of evolution. In Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas disease, the mitochondrial genome has a unique structural organization consisting of 20–50 maxicircles (∼20 kb) and thousands of minicircles (0.5–10 kb). T. cruzi is an early diverging protist displaying remarkable genetic heterogeneity and is recognized as a complex of six discrete typing units (DTUs). The majority of infected humans are asymptomatic for life while 30–35% develop potentially fatal cardiac and/or digestive syndromes. However, the relationship between specific clinical outcomes and T. cruzi genotype remains elusive. The availability of whole genome sequences has driven advances in high resolution genotyping techniques and re-invigorated interest in exploring the diversity present within the various DTUs. Methodology/Principal Findings To describe intra-DTU diversity, we developed a highly resolutive maxicircle multilocus sequence typing (mtMLST) scheme based on ten gene fragments. A panel of 32 TcI isolates was genotyped using the mtMLST scheme, GPI, mini-exon and 25 microsatellite loci. Comparison of nuclear and mitochondrial data revealed clearly incongruent phylogenetic histories among different geographical populations as well as major DTUs. In parallel, we exploited read depth data, generated by Illumina sequencing of the maxicircle genome from the TcI reference strain Sylvio X10/1, to provide the first evidence of mitochondrial heteroplasmy (heterogeneous mitochondrial genomes in an individual cell) in T. cruzi. Conclusions/Significance mtMLST provides a powerful approach to genotyping at the sub-DTU level. This strategy will facilitate attempts to resolve phenotypic variation in T. cruzi and to address epidemiologically important hypotheses in conjunction with intensive spatio-temporal sampling. The observations of both general and specific incidences of nuclear-mitochondrial phylogenetic incongruence indicate that genetic recombination is geographically widespread and continues to influence the natural population structure of TcI, a conclusion which challenges the traditional paradigm of clonality in T. cruzi

Diet and Lifestyle in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

The liver is an essential metabolic organ which governs body energy metabolism connected with adipose tissue and skeletal muscle among other tissues. The prevalence of obesity has reached epidemic proportions in many countries around the world and continues to grow every year which is caused by multiple factors, with diet and lifestyle being the most researched and therefore most important. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the several metabolic complications associated with obesity. The pathology of NAFLD is difficult to recognize or diagnose especially in early stages without a biopsy and therefore can remain undetected for significant time allowing the disease to progress. The diagnosis of NAFLD is crucial to be able to start adequate treatment including changes in diet and lifestyle in the first stage of the disease when the pathology is reversible and prevent the development of severe forms of the disease such as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) or the irreversible cirrhosis stage. When the liver becomes damaged, this can lead to some metabolic alterations that have a severe and multifaceted impact in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), visceral obesity, and cardiovascular disease related to elevated plasmatic cholesterol, triglycerides, transaminases, and others that indicate hepatic disorders and oxidative stress. ..

Hi-Res activity recognition system based on EEG and WoT

Nowadays, the recognition of physical activity (PA) is a well-known problem with many solutions. Sev eral kind of algorithms, using MEMS sensors, al low determine the most likely activity. Indeed, these applications work well when physical activity is performed for long periods of time and steadily. However, indoors, these systems are not entirely suitable and have several problems. In this paper, thanks to the introduction of new context infor mation, such as EEG, and through communication between WoT based elements interface at home, it would be possible to perform a more accurate and low-level recognition. By using uPnP proto col and additional services, information from other smart housing elements with user device itself can be shared, enriching traditional systems based on ac-celerometry.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2009-14378-C02-01Junta de Andalucía TIC-805

An extended chronicle discovery approach to find temporal patterns between sequences

Sequences of events describing the behavior and actions of users or systems can be collected in sev eral domains. An episode is a collection of events that occurs relatively close to each other in a given partial order. Also, chronicles are a special type of temporal patterns, where temporal orders of events are quantified with numerical bounds and reflect the temporal evolution of the system over the time. In this paper, the problem of finding rules for de scribing or predicting the behavior of the sequences with the intention of characterizing some interest ing tasks is considered. Obtaining these patterns is the main objective of this work, where an automatic method to learn relevant and discriminating chron icles is proposed. The method extends existing al gorithms that have been proposed to find frequent episodes/chronicles in a single event sequence to the case of multiple sequences.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2009-14378-C02-01 (ARTEMISA)Junta de Andalucía TIC-8052 (Simon

Sensibilidad a la colocación de los marcadores en el modelo convencional de análisis cinemático de la marcha

La correcta evaluación del movimiento articular a través de sistemas de análisis del movimiento depende, entre otros factores, de la correcta colocación de los marcadores reflectantes sobre los sujetos analizados. En el modelo convencional de marcha, de los 15 marcadores de miembro inferior, la mayoría se localizan en puntos anatómicos fáciles de localizar y que tienen poca posibilidad de error. Sin embargo, hay dificultad en otros, como el de la articulación de la rodilla y, sobre todo, en los del muslo y pierna. En el estudio, se empleó un sistema VICON 460, con el que se analizó la cinemática de miembro inferior de 5 sujetos adultos sanos (2 mujeres, 3 varones). Para evaluar los movimientos articulares se empleó el modelo convencional de marcha. Determinada la posición correcta de los marcadores en cada sujeto, se procedió a la variación por separado de los marcadores de la rodilla, el muslo y la pierna, moviendo cada uno 15 mm anterior y posteriormente con relación a la posición inicial. Estos pequeños desplazamientos producen importantes variaciones en los resultados cinemáticos obtenidos. Entre ellas en el varo-valgo de rodilla, parámetro que es de gran utilidad a la hora de detectar errores en la colocación de los marcadores

A new back-propagation algorithm with momentum coefficient for medical datasets

The standard backward propagation of errors algo rithm (abbreviated as back-propagation algorithm) is commonly used for decision making in medicine. Using the back-propagation algorithm in medical diagnosis is desirable since it avoids human sub jectivity and applies a large knowledge base, which makes this algorithm very reliable. However, it is generally believed that it is very slow if it does con verge, especially if the network size is not of suf ficient size compared to the problem at hand. A drawback of the back-propagation algorithm is that it has a constant learning rate coefficient, while dif ferent regions of the error surface may have differ ent characteristic gradients. Variation in the nature of the surface may require a dynamic change of learning rate coefficient. A new back-propagation algorithm with momentum has been developed in order to be used to speed up the learning pro cess, which accelerates the convergence of back propagation algorithm.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2009-14378-C02-01Junta de Andalucía TIC-805

Application of the sine-cosine algorithm to the optimal design of a closed coil helical spring

This paper proposes the application of the sinecosine algorithm (SCA) to the optimal design of a closed coil helical spring. The optimization problem addressed corresponds to the minimization of total spring volume subject to physical constraints that represents the closed coil helical spring such as maximum working load, shear stress, and minimum diameter requirements, among other. The resulting mathematical formulation is a complex nonlinear and non-convex optimization model that is typically addressed in literature with trial and error methods or heuristic algorithms. To solve this problem efficiently, the SCA is proposed in this research. This optimization algorithm belongs to the family of the metaheuristic optimization techniques, it works with controlled random processes guided by sine and cosine trigonometric functions, that allows exploring and exploiting the solution space in order to find the best solution to the optimization problem. By presenting as main advantage an easy implementation at any programming language using sequential quadratic programming; eliminating the need to uses specialized and costly software. Numerical results demonstrating that the proposes SCA allows reaching lower spring volume values in comparison with literature approaches, such as genetic algorithms, particle swarm optimization methods, among others. All the numerical simulations have been implemented in the MATLAB software

Microwave irradiation synthesis to obtain La0.7-xPrxCa0.3MnO3 perovskites : electrical and electrochemical performance

Atzin Ferrel is grateful for her grants from CONACYT and SIP- IPN. The authors also appreciate the financial support provided by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), México, Comisión de Operación y Fomento de Actividades Académicas del IPN (COFAA), México and Secretaría de Investigación y Posgrado (SIP) of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) México through the CB2015–252181, 20201278, 20201279, 20201280, 20202443 and 20200909 projects as well as the SNI-CONACyT.La0.7-xPrxCa0.3MnO3 (LPCM) perovskites previously synthesized by the microwave-assisted method at 4 min and with different stoichiometry (x = 0.35, 0.52 and 0.63) were evaluated through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), electrical conductivity, thermal expansion coefficient (TEC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer- Emmet- Teller (BET) analysis and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) using yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) as an electrolyte. The results are discussed in terms of the potential as cathode material to be applied in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) applications at temperatures from 600 to 800 °C. Results derived from TGA showed that Pr promotes the uncoupling oxygen and oxygen vacancies favoring the fuel combusting. Also, TEC analysis revealed adequate stability between the YSZ electrolyte and the La0.7-xPrxCa0.3MnO3 to avoid cracking or failing, especially with high amount of Pr. The transition in morphology from irregular to regular shapes improves the BET and Barret- Joyner- Halenda (BJH) surfaces and promotes the triple phase boundary (TPB) connectivity. The electrical conductivity correlated to the availability in oxygen vacancies showed maximum conductivities in the order of 10−2 S cm−1. Activation energy (Ea) was found to be reduced with a minimum quantity of Pr (0.071 eV). EIS results indicate that the oxygen vacancies in the LPCM/YSZ system were better promoted with the highest amount of Pr = 0.63 (η = 0.9 V, 800 °C and 0.06 V of amplitude) in comparison with the minimum, Pr = 0.35 (η = 1.2 V, 800 °C and 0.06 V of amplitude).PostprintPeer reviewe