Stochastic resource allocation with a backhaul constraint for the uplink

We propose a novel stochastic radio resource alloca- tion strategy for the uplink that achieves long-term fairness in terms of similar bitrates considering backhaul and air-interface capacity limitations. We focus on a single cell scenario based on WCDMA technology. We propose to use a maximin criteria to introduce fairness among the different users’ throughputs. An stochastic approximation is implemented to obtain an online algorithm where the Lagrange multipliers are estimated at each scheduling period. Our results show that the proposed scheme achieves higher fairness among the users and, in some cases, a higher sum-rate compared with the well-known proportional fair scheduler.Postprint (author's final draft

Base station on/off strategies for wireless networks powered with energy harvesting sources

In this paper, we present a procedure for switching on and off base stations (BSs) that are powered with solar panels and have finite batteries. In the scenario under consideration it is considered that the BSs are placed at the same site with fully overlapped coverage areas and using different frequencies. We propose a decision strategy where we assume perfect knowledge of the traffic profile and a second approach where a robust Bayesian strategy is considered in order to account for possible error modeling in the traffic profile information.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Commission in the framework of the FP7 Network of Excellence in Wireless COMmunications NEWCOM# (Grant agreement no. 318306) and project TUCAN3G (Grant agreement no. ICT-2011-601102), from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad) through the project TEC2011-29006-C03-02 (GRE3N-LINK-MAC), project TEC2013-41315-R (DISNET), and FPI grant BES-2012-052850, and from the Catalan Government (AGAUR) through the grant 2014 SGR 60.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Economic analysis of the Spanish port sector reform during the 1990s

In the matter of port legislation, the nineties was a period of maximum interest in Spain. Two laws enacted in 1992 and 1997, respectively, aimed at increasing the autonomy of individual ports in the management and organization of its activities. Before 1992 two different models of management coexisted in the Spanish port system: autonomous decisionmaking ports and ports controlled in its decision-making by the Central Government. The question we address in this paper is how these legislative changes have affected the evolution of the levels of traffic of the Spanish port system from 1992, date of introduction of the first law, to 2003, date of approval of a third legislative change that remains out of this analysis for lack of sufficient data. We find an important impact of legislative changes on port traffic by way of an estimated econometric model over the 1966–2003 period. We control for the effect of other variables that might have influenced Spanish maritime traffic such as international maritime flows, taken as a proxy of globalization, or gross domestic product, under the hypothesis that maritime transport is a demand derived of economic activity. We provide evidence supporting that greater port autonomy had beneficial effects for the Spanish port system as a whol

Análisis del impacto de las leyes de 1992 y 1997 sobre el sistema portuario español

Over the nineties, several changes on Port legislation where implemented in Spain. The legislation was aimed at providing port authorities with greater autonomy in some areas. In this paper we analyze the impact of the reforms on merchandise trading. We try to ascertain the impact of the reforms on total merchandise trade series for Spain, by making use of unobserved components models and transfer function models.Port legislation; time series analysis; structural change; merchandise trade

User association strategies in HetNets leading to rate balancing under energy constraints

This paper deals with the development of several strategies for associating users to base stations (BSs) in heterogeneous networks. These strategies are able to balance the rate among users and BSs and increase the overall network utility. Constraints related to the energy availability at BSs are considered explicitly in the design, assuming that the BSs are equipped with batteries that are recharged through energy harvesting. We develop a general association strategy, and then we present several suboptimum but less complex solutions suitable for scenarios with high mobility or deployments of BSs with low computational capabilities. We also present an implementation that is to be executed in a distributed way among users and BSs without the need of having a central entity gathering all the information. The performance of the proposed strategies is evaluated through simulations in terms of rate balancing and the effect of the energy harvesting capabilities on the network throughput is shown. We also compare the proposed strategies with the traditional max-SINR user association approach.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Improvement in the production of mini - antobiodies anti-gluten

Motivation: : Gluten content from very foods, like barley, rye, wheat and in certain oat varieties, must be removed in individuals with celiac disease. Immune-based assays using monoclonal antibodies specific for these immunotoxic peptides would facilitate their detection in food. Two monoclonal antibodies, G12 and A1, were developed against a highly immunotoxic 33-mer peptide.(1)In most of the Western countries, the level of gluten content in food to be considered as gluten-free products is below 20 parts per million measured by ELISA based on specific anti-gluten peptide antibody (2). The company Biomedal S.L. designed minimized single chain antibodies (scFv) in away they can produce by bacterias, which specifically recognize peptides of gluten (3). The object of this work is to improve the production and specifity of these mini-antibodies.Methods: Several techniques have been used for the production of these scFv, like cloning and purifying in different strains. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), affinity chromatography IMAC and Western blot analysis have been carried out to measure the sensitivity of these antibodies.Results: ELISA and Western blot methods showed that most of antibodies wasn’t functional because they get degraded.Conclusions: To improve the detection of gluten by these ScFv, the production will be carried out in other strain to prevent degradation of the antibody

Editorial: Security and privacy in Internet of Things

J. M. de Fuentes, L. Gonzalez-Manzano and P. Peris-Lopez have been partially supported by MINECO grants TIN2013-46469-R and TIN2016-79095-C2-2-R, and CAM grant S2013/ICE-3095

Optimizing production of a single-chain antibody (scFv) against the 33-mer peptide in bacteria

Motivation: Celiac disease is a permanent intolerance to gluten from wheat, barley, rye and, in some patients, oats. Partiallydigested gluten peptides produced in the digestive tract cause inflammation of the small intestine. Monoclonal antibodies weredeveloped against a highly immunotoxic 33-mer peptide to facilitate their detection in food. One service that gives Biomedal, isthe diagnosis of gluten in food, and for this, they have developed single chain antibodies from monoclonal antibodies. Singlechain antibodies (scFv) are merging the variable regions of the heavy and light chain joined by a linker. Single chain ispowerful tools in research and clinical settings for the relative ease of produce them in large quantities, at low cost in bacteria.The main objective of the project it has been improved the production of ScFv in different strains of bacteria and optimize thepurification and production of functional antibody.Methods: Various induction test it has conducted at different concentrations of inducer and temperature in different strains ofEscherichia coli which have been transformed with different vectors with the ScFv coding region using different expressionsystems to identify which is the right to produce the most functional antibody. It also has optimized antibody purification byaffinity chromatography IMAC, It has been found that the antibody is active by ELISA, Western blotting and It has beenquantified by Bradford.Results and Conclusions: It has been able to purify in an ideal way the single chain antibody and has been seen thatremains functional because it recognizes gliadin peptides and 33-mer in grand part because there is a fraction which is notactive. Furthermore, it has not been able to improve the conditions of expression of the ScFv in any of the strains tested, wethink that the basal production of ScFv is able to kill the bacteria

Adquisición de competencias para elaborar Trabajos Fin de Grado a través de estrategias metodológicas activas

This study has been carried out with two groups of students from different degree courses at the University of Cordoba. Specifically, a group of 48 fourth-year university students enrolled in the subject Educational Intervention Strategies in the Pre-primary Education Degree and another group of 52 third-year students enrolled in the subject Medieval History of Spain in the History Degree. The aim was to check whether the students acquire the necessary competencies to carry out a future Final Degree Project and, more specifically, an innovation or research project, at the same time as they acquire specific competencies of the two subjects, which were taught through lectures combined with active methodological strategies such as guided discoverylearning and cooperative groups. The results show an increase in the development of these competencies in both groupsEste estudio se ha llevado a cabo con dos grupos de discentes de diferentes titulaciones de grado de la Universidad de Córdoba. Concretamente, un grupo de 48 universitarios matriculados en la asignatura de Estrategias de Intervención Educativa de 4º curso del Grado de Educación Infantil, y otro grupo de 52 alumnos matriculados en la asignatura de Historia Medieval de España de 3º curso del Grado de Historia. El objetivo ha sido comprobar si adquieren determinadas competencias relacionadas con la realización de un futuro Trabajo de Fin de Grado y, específicamente, de un proyecto de innovación o de investigación, a la vez que adquieren competencias específicas de dichas asignaturas. Estas fueron impartidas a través de clases expositivas combinadas con las estrategias metodológicas activas del aprendizaje por descubrimiento guiado y los grupos cooperativos. Los resultados de esta investigación muestran, en ambos grupos, un aumento en el desarrollo de dichas competencias

Ionoluminescence induced by swift heavy ions in silica and quartz: A comparative analysis

Ionoluminescence (IL) of the two SiO 2 phases, amorphous silica and crystalline quartz, has been comparatively investigated in this work, in order to learn about the structural defects generated by means of ion irradiation and the role of crystalline order on the damage processes. Irradiations have been performed with Cl at 10 MeV and Br at 15 MeV, corresponding to the electronic stopping regime (i.e., where the electronic stopping power S e is dominant) and well above the amorphization threshold. The light-emission kinetics for the two main emission bands, located at 1.9 eV (652 nm) and 2.7 eV (459 nm), has been measured under the same ion irradiation conditions as a function of fluence for both, silica and quartz. The role of electronic stopping power has been also investigated and discussed within current views for electronic damage. Our experiments provide a rich phenomenological background that should help to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for light emission and defect creationThis work has been supported by Spanish Ministry MICINN through the project MAT-2008-06794-C03-03, JCI-2009-05681, and by Madrid Community through the project TECHNOFUSION (S2009/ENE-1679). OPR is grateful to CONACyT, Mexico, for extending a postdoctoral fellowshi