Desarrollo de un prototipo de sistema de riego automatizado para zonas urbanas de la ciudad de Cuenca

Nuestro proyecto está conformado por varias estructuras tanto en el hardware como una electroválvula, un soporte, motor paso a paso, etc. y su software efectuado con Visual Basic y Arduino, esto con el objetivo de crear un sistema de riego ya sea a escala pequeña para un jardín en el patio de una casa hasta zonas extensas que conforman los regadíos de maizales, áreas verdes de colegios, etc. El prototipo de sistema de riego automatizado se realizó por ser práctico para las personas, dando comodidad en el hogar puesto que no se tendría que hacer un mayor esfuerzo por salir y regar sus plantas ya que lo harían mediante una aplicación. La idea surge a partir de la observación de cultivos y plantas marchitadas por falta de agua, esto normalmente se da por la falta de tiempo que se tiene en el día a día o por no recordar la presencia de las plantas. Como se especificó en el punto uno, nos hemos enfocado en zonas domésticas, es decir, a escalas pequeñas como jardines, áreas de trabajo, de oficina, etc. La funcionalidad se basa en poder regar plantas en un determinado tiempo, en nuestro caso hemos incluido la función de escoger cuanta cantidad de agua se desea regar. La cantidad de agua se relaciona con la cantidad de tiempo que se mantiene abierta la electroválvula

Automatización para Control, Monitoreo de Interruptores y transformador en Subestación Eléctrica Reductora de San Blas.

Proyecto de Graduación (Bachillerato en Ingeniería Electrónica). Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica. Escuela de Ingeniería Electrónica, 2002.Este proyecto trata acerca de la automatización de la Subestación Eléctrica Reductora de San Blas, localizada en Cartago, Costa Rica. Mediante esta subestación se controla el flujo eléctrico que abastece las zonas de San Rafael, Los Ángeles y Cartago. La automatización consistió en el control remoto de las funciones de cierre y apertura de los cuatro reconectadores dentro de la subestación a través del sistema SCADA de JASEC. Además se logró adquirir e integrar en el mismo sistema la información referente a niveles de voltaje y corriente, junto con otras variables de gran importancia para determinar la calidad del servicio brindado. En el diseño y la implementación se utilizó un controlador lógico programable (PLC), el cual fue colocado dentro de un gabinete de control ubicado en la caseta de la subestación, el cual establece comunicaciones mediante protocolo Modbus mediante puerto tipo Ethernet en TCP/IP. Cuatro medidores de variables, cada uno fue colocado en cada reconectador, formando una red RS-485, la cual posteriormente es transformada en el gabinete de control a red tipo Ethernet. Para las comunicaciones se incluyó en el gabinete de control un MODEM con capacidades de conexión a largas distancias, además de un “switch” para redes Ethernet. En el mismo gabinete de control se incluyó una fuente de alimentación ininterrumpible que abastece de energía a todos los equipos de comunicación y de control.Junta Administrativa del Servicio Eléctrico de Cartago JASE

Current experience in testing mitochondrial nutrients in disorders featuring oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction: rational design of chemoprevention trials

An extensive number of pathologies are associated with mitochondrial dysfunction (MDF) and oxidative stress (OS). Thus, mitochondrial cofactors termed “mitochondrial nutrients” (MN), such as α-lipoic acid (ALA), Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), and l-carnitine (CARN) (or its derivatives) have been tested in a number of clinical trials, and this review is focused on the use of MN-based clinical trials. The papers reporting on MN-based clinical trials were retrieved in MedLine up to July 2014, and evaluated for the following endpoints: (a) treated diseases; (b) dosages, number of enrolled patients and duration of treatment; (c) trial success for each MN or MN combinations as reported by authors. The reports satisfying the above endpoints included total numbers of trials and frequencies of randomized, controlled studies, i.e., 81 trials testing ALA, 107 reports testing CoQ10, and 74 reports testing CARN, while only 7 reports were retrieved testing double MN associations, while no report was found testing a triple MN combination. A total of 28 reports tested MN associations with “classical” antioxidants, such as antioxidant nutrients or drugs. Combinations of MN showed better outcomes than individual MN, suggesting forthcoming clinical studies. The criteria in study design and monitoring MN-based clinical trials are discussed

Morphological and Molecular Taxonomic Identification and Phylogenetics of Criconematoidea

The superfamily Criconematoidea has been studied since 1886. It is composed of two families: Criconematidae (subfam. Criconematinae, Hemicycliophorinae) and Tylenchulidae (subfam. Tylenchulinae, Paratylenchinae and Tylenchocriconematinae). Multiple species in genera have been identified and differences and similarities have been found. Species belonging to genera Mesocriconema and Criconemoides show very few differences making their identification difficult. Seventy two populations were studied. They were collected in Arkansas and/or received from the following states: California, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina and Tennessee. Populations of the following species were identified: Mesocriconema curvatum, M. kirjanovae, M. onoense, M. ornatum, M. sphaerocephala, M. surinamense, M. vadense, M. xenoplax, Criconemoides informis, Bakernema inaequale, C. petasum, C. sphagni, C. mutabile, Ogma octangulare, Xenocriconemella macrodora, Hemicriconemoides chitwoodi, Hemicycliophora epicharoides, H. gigas, H. labiata, H. typica, H. pruni, H. shepherdi, H. vidua, H. zuckermani, Gracilacus straeleni and Paratylenchus labiosus. The new species reported are Mesocriconema ozarkiense n. sp., Criconema arkaense n. sp., Criconema warrenense n. sp., Hemicaloosia uarki n. sp and Hemicycliophora wyei n. sp. In addition, species were characterized morphologically and molecularly using the conserved region 18S for some species and the Internal transcriber spacer 1, ITS1, from ribosomal DNA for all. Phylogenetic studies were performed using both rDNA amplicons to study the relationship among genera and species rejecting the hypothesis of a common ancestor

Degradation of 4-Chlorophenol in a Batch Electrochemical Reactor Using BDD Electrodes

The influence of current density (j) (0.25, 0.30, 0.25 and 0.40 A/cm2), initial pH (2.6, 6.5 and 12), stirring speed (As) (400, 500 and 600 rpm), and initial concentration of 4-chlorophenol ([4-CP]0) (300, 500 and 700 mg/L) on degradation of persistent pollutant in a batch electrochemical cell without divisions is presented in this paper. The electrochemical cell was composed of two boron-doped diamond electrodes (BDD). The results of the study showed that best conditions for total degradation of 4-CP were: j of 0.40 A/cm , initial pH of 6.5, As of 500 rpm, and [4-CP]0 of 500 mg/L, after 150 min of reaction time. Removal of total organic carbon (TOC) was 83% at these conditions. The byproducts were identified by UHPLC. This allowed for the proposal of a degradation pathway of 4-CP at the best conditions. Furthermore, these results demonstrate that the electrochemical method employed in this study allows high percentages (96%) of degradation of 4-CP and that the process is applicable to wastewater treatment.CONACYT 26909

The VMC survey - XI : Radial Stellar Population Gradients in the Galactic Globular Cluster 47 Tucanae

Copyright American Astronomical SocietyWe present a deep near-infrared color-magnitude diagram of the Galactic globular cluster 47 Tucanae, obtained with the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) as part of the VISTA near-infrared Y, J, Ks survey of the Magellanic System (VMC). The cluster stars comprising both the subgiant and red giant branches exhibit apparent, continuous variations in color-magnitude space as a function of radius. Subgiant branch stars at larger radii are systematically brighter than their counterparts closer to the cluster core; similarly, red-giant-branch stars in the cluster's periphery are bluer than their more centrally located cousins. The observations can very well be described by adopting an age spread of ~0.5 Gyr as well as radial gradients in both the cluster's helium abundance (Y) and metallicity (Z), which change gradually from (Y = 0.28, Z = 0.005) in the cluster core to (Y = 0.25, Z = 0.003) in its periphery. We conclude that the cluster's inner regions host a significant fraction of second-generation stars, which decreases with increasing radius; the stellar population in the 47 Tuc periphery is well approximated by a simple stellar population.Peer reviewe

Developmental Programming of Obesity and Liver Metabolism by Maternal Perinatal Nutrition Involves the Melanocortin System

Maternal obesity predisposes offspring to metabolic dysfunction and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). Melanocortin-4 receptor (Mc4r)-deficient mouse models exhibit obesity during adulthood. Here, we aim to determine the influence of the Mc4r gene on the liver of mice subjected to perinatal diet-induced obesity. Female mice heterozygous for Mc4r fed an obesogenic or a control diet for 5 weeks were mated with heterozygous males, with the same diet continued throughout pregnancy and lactation, generating four offspring groups: control wild type (C_wt), control knockout (C_KO), obese wild type (Ob_wt), and obese knockout (Ob_KO). At 21 days, offspring were genotyped, weaned onto a control diet, and sacrificed at 6 months old. Offspring phenotypic characteristics, plasma biochemical profile, liver histology, and hepatic gene expression were analyzed. Mc4r_ko offspring showed higher body, liver and adipose tissue weights respect to the wild type animals. Histological examination showed mild hepatic steatosis in offspring group C_KO. The expression of hepatic genes involved in regulating inflammation, fibrosis, and immune cell infiltration were upregulated by the absence of the Mc4r gene. These results demonstrate that maternal obesogenic feeding during the perinatal period programs offspring obesity development with involvement of the Mc4r system

Sequencing of 15 622 Gene-bearing BACs Clarifies the Gene-dense Regions of the Barley Genome

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) possesses a large and highly repetitive genome of 5.1 Gb that has hindered the development of a complete sequence. In 2012, the International Barley Sequencing Consortium released a resource integrating whole-genome shotgun sequences with a physical and genetic framework. However, because only 6278 bacterial artificial chromosome (BACs) in the physical map were sequenced, fine structure was limited. To gain access to the gene-containing portion of the barley genome at high resolution, we identified and sequenced 15 622 BACs representing the minimal tiling path of 72 052 physical-mapped gene-bearing BACs. This generated ~1.7 Gb of genomic sequence containing an estimated 2/3 of all Morex barley genes. Exploration of these sequenced BACs revealed that although distal ends of chromosomes contain most of the gene-enriched BACs and are characterized by high recombination rates, there are also gene-dense regions with suppressed recombination. We made use of published map-anchored sequence data from Aegilops tauschii to develop a synteny viewer between barley and the ancestor of the wheat D-genome. Except for some notable inversions, there is a high level of collinearity between the two species. The software HarvEST:Barley provides facile access to BAC sequences and their annotations, along with the barley–Ae. tauschii synteny viewer. These BAC sequences constitute a resource to improve the efficiency of marker development, map-based cloning, and comparative genomics in barley and related crops. Additional knowledge about regions of the barley genome that are gene-dense but low recombination is particularly relevant

Las primeras reacciones de las compañías ferroviarias españolas al inicio de la competencia automovilística antes de la Guerra Civil

Editada en la Fundación Empresa PúblicaEl trabajo introduce un nuevo elemento explicativo del «problema ferroviario» distinto a la crisis económica o a la acción del Estado y surgido desde finales de la década de los veinte: la competencia del automóvil. Así, se analiza cómo antes de la Guerra Civil el transporte motorizado por carretera había comenzado a competir con el ferroviario, al menos en los tráficos más rentables. Posteriormente se analizan las diversas medidas propuestas por las compañías para intentar contrarrestar esta creciente competencia y los escasos logros prácticos conseguidos.This paper explains the so-called «Spanish railways problem» as a consequence of the new competition that this traditional mean of transport suffered from the rapid development of the automobile industry. Road transportation more than any other factor was the cause of the financial difficulties of the railways companies before the Civil War. We also study the reaction of these firms and the failures of all measures that were taken.Publicad