Teaching of thinking processes: methodology, metacognition and transference

We analyze the importance of teaching with the correct methodology in thinking processes. We also present an empirical study which shows the importance of teachers’ familiarity with these methodologies of thinking processes

Potential of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy for the Determination of Olive Oil Quality

The analysis of the physico-chemical parameters of quality of olive oil is still carried out in laboratories using chemicals and generating waste, which is relatively costly and time-consuming. Among the various alternatives for the online or on-site measurement of these parameters, the available literature highlights the use of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). This article intends to comprehensively review the state-of-the-art research and the actual potential of NIRS for the analysis of olive oil. A description of the features of the infrared spectrum of olive oil and a quick explanation of the fundamentals of NIRS and chemometrics are also included. From the results available in the literature, it can be concluded that the four most usual physico-chemical parameters that define the quality of olive oils, namely free acidity, peroxide value, K232, and K270, can be measured by NIRS with high precision. In addition, NIRS is suitable for the nutritional labeling of olive oil because of its great performance in predicting the contents in total fat, total saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids in olive oils. Other parameters of interest have the potential to be analyzed by NIRS, but the improvement of the mathematical models for their determination is required, since the errors of prediction reported so far are a bit high for practical application

Quantum Benchmarking: entanglement measures in quantum computers

Màster Oficial de Ciència i Tecnologia Quàntiques / Quantum Science and Technology, Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona. Curs: 2022-2023. Tutora : Alba Cervera-LiertaQuantum computation has emerged as a promising paradigm shift in the field of computing, and with the advent of new quantum computers, it has become crucial to assess and quantify their performance. Benchmarking, a wellestablished practice in the field, plays a vital role in this regard. One effective way to evaluate a quantum computer’s capabilities is by measuring the amount of entanglement it exhibits, as entanglement is a fundamental characteristic of quantum systems. In this thesis, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current landscape of quantum benchmarking and propose several protocols for estimating the Rényi entropy of quantum states, which offers valuable insights into the entanglement structure of these states. We present a protocol based on the renowned Swap test, specifically designed for future fault-tolerant devices, as well as another protocol based on randomized measurements to address the limitations of current NISQ devices. We have implemented these protocols on the quantum simulation framework of Qibo, ensuring an efficient and reliable execution on any quantum computer, in particular the one at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC). Through this work, we aim to contribute to the advancement of quantum benchmarking and facilitate the assessment of entanglement in quantum computing systems

The new wold-wide geo-economic older: Proverty of Africa and its factors

La pobreza de África en su conjunto, y sobre todo de la situada al Sur del Sahara, es resultado directo de los efectos adversos del capitalismo en su fase de globalización, incidiendo de una forma negativa en las posibilidades del crecimiento económico y progreso humano y social. La consecuencia es un empobrecimiento creciente que limita, e incluso detiene el progreso social y económico, paralizando el mismo desarrollo general de la sociedad, de manera que hay dos grandes brechas: la primera, la del continente africano en su conjunto con respecto al Primer Mundo, y la segunda, de reciente aparición, una vez se rompió el orden bipolar, que separa cada vez más a África Subsahariana, empobrecida (en muchas de cuyas regiones se ha paralizado el mismo crecimiento y desarrollo económicos), y la Septentrional, que ha hallado, lentamente, las vías del desarrollo humano. El resultado es la exportación, mediante los flujos migratorios, de fuerza de trabajo barata, hacia el Primer Mundo, que cumple la función no solo de obtención de tasas de beneficio más elevadas sino también el de regular, controlar y flexibilizar el mercado de trabajo, al tiempo que evita el aumento desmedido de la presión salarial y de la reivindicación sindical en los países receptores.Poverty on the whole of Africa and especially below the Sahara Desert becomes a direct result of the negative effects of capitalism, in its globalization phase, affecting in a very negative way in its economic growth as well as in its human and social progress. The consequence is an increasing impoverishment which limits and even detains the social and economic progress, stopping the general development of the society. Due to this fact two big splits can be found: first one in Africa on the whole with regard to the developed countries; second one which appeared recently, once the bipolar order failed, dividing more and more to the impoverished Sub-Saharan Africa (the growth and economic development have been paralysed); second one the Northern Africa which has found slowly a solution through human development. The result is the export, through migratory flows towards the developed countries of cheap labour force. With this migratory flow Northern Africa obtains not only bigger benefits but also regulates controls and softens the labour market. At the same time avoids fiscal pressure and social union unrest in the destination countries

Organization of the gene cluster for biosynthesis of penicillin in Penicillium nalgiovense and antibiotic production in cured dry sausages

[EN] Several fungal isolates obtained from two cured meat products from Spain were identified as Penicillium nalgiovense by their morphological features and by DNA fingerprinting. All P. nalgiovense isolates showed antibiotic activity in agar diffusion assays, and their penicillin production in liquid complex medium ranged from 6 to 38 μg · ml−1. We constructed a restriction map of the penicillin gene cluster of P. nalgiovense and found that the organization of the penicillin biosynthetic genes (pcbAB, pcbC, andpenDE) is the same as in Penicillium chrysogenum and Aspergillus nidulans. ThepcbAB gene is located in an orientation opposite that of the pcbC and penDE genes in all three species. Significant amounts of penicillin were found in situ in the casing and the outer layer of salami meat during early stages of the curing process, coinciding with fungal colonization, but no penicillin was detected in the cured salami. The antibiotic produced in situ was sensitive to penicillinaseS

El Antidarwinismo en Canarias: La obra de Rafael Lorenzo y García (1876-1877)

One of the protagonists of the darwinist controversy in the Canary Islands (Spain), during the Nineteenth Century, was the advocate and teacher Rafael Lorenzo y García. In this paper, I show his original thought, until now unknown, against the classical darwinism and next to the fixism.Moreover I analyse the philosophical and natural constants in his Estudios filosóficos (1876 y 1877).Uno de los protagonistas de la polémica darwinista en las Islas Canarias, durante el siglo XIX, fue el abogado y profesor Rafael Lorenzo y García. En el presente, se muestra su original pensamiento, hasta ahora inédito, contrario al darwinismo clásico y muy próximo al fijismo. Además se analizan las constantes filosóficas y naturales de sus Estudios filosóficos (1876 y 1877)

La prensa médica en Canarias: la revista La medicina canaria en el período de entreguerras (1925-1931)

La prensa científica en las Islas Canarias comenzó prácticamente con el siglo XX. La aparición de las revistas médicas especializadas marca el inicio de la divulgación de las nuevas técnicas terapéuticas y, sobre todo, supone el mejor medio de comunicación y actualización entre los profesionales de la medicina. La Medicina Canaria es una de las revistas de semejante proceso, con un desarrollo, temporal y temático, interesante para la historia de la ciencia, además de ofrecer el estado de la medicina y la higiene pública durante el período de entreguerras en las islas. De origen tinerfeño, extendió su ámbito de referencia al archipiélago en conjunto. En el presente, se somete a estudio los números conservados y se descubre su importancia histórica tanto en el plano divulgativo como en el médico.The scientific press in the Canary Islands (Spain) began practically in the Twentieth Century. The rise of medical reviews is the initial mark of the divulgation of new therapeutical techniques and, for all, the communication meeting point and improvement among the professionals. La Medicina Canaria is one of reviews which describes this process, with an interesting historical development —temporal and thematical— during the interwars period in the islands. From Tenerife, it was followed by the major part of physicians and well read people in the archipelago. In this paper, I study the conserved numbers of review and discover their historical importance, divulgative as much as medical

Silencing of the Aspergillopepsin B (pepB) Gene of Aspergillus awamori by Antisense RNA Expression or Protease Removal by Gene Disruption Results in a Large Increase in Thaumatin Production

[EN] Aspergillopepsin B was identified in culture broths of Aspergillus awamori by in situ detection of its proteolytic activity and by immunodetection with anti-aspergillopepsin B antibodies. Severe thaumatin degradation was observed after in vitro treatment of thaumatin with purified aspergillopepsin B. The pepB gene encoding aspergillopepsin B of A. awamori was cloned and characterized. It is located in chromosome IV of A. awamori, as shown by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and encodes a protein of 282 amino acids with high similarity to the aspergillopepsin B of Aspergillus niger var. macrosporus. The pepB gene is expressed at high rates as a monocistronic 1.0-kb transcript in media with casein at acidic pH values. An antisense cassette constructed by inserting the pepB gene in the antisense orientation downstream from the gpdA promoter resulted in a good level of antisense mRNA, as shown by reverse transcription-PCR. Partial silencing of the pepB gene by the antisense mRNA resulted in a 31% increase in thaumatin yield. However, significant residual degradation of thaumatin still occurred. To completely remove aspergillopepsin B, the pepB gene was deleted by double crossover. Two of the selected transformants lacked the endogenous pepB gene and did not form aspergillopepsin B. Thaumatin yields increased by between 45% in transformant APB 7/25 and 125% in transformant 7/36 with respect to the parental strain. Reduction of proteolytic degradation by gene silencing with antisense mRNA or total removal of the aspergillopepsin B by directed gene deletion was a very useful method for improving thaumatin production in A. awamori.S

Análisis del efecto de las poliaminas 1,3-diaminopropano y espermidina sobre el proteoma intracelular del hongo productor de penicilina Penicillium chrysogenum

Comunicaciones a congreso

Genome-wide transcriptome response of Streptomyces tsukubaensis to N-acetylglucosamine: effect on tacrolimus biosynthesis

[EN] Chitin is the second most abundant carbohydrate biopolymer present in soils and is utilized by antibiotic–producing Streptomyces species. Its monomer, N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), regulates the developmental program of the model organism Streptomyces coelicolor. GlcNAc blocks differentiation when growing on rich medium whilst it promotes development on poor culture media. However, it is unclear if the same GlcNAc regulatory profile observed in S. coelicolor applies also to other industrially important Streptomyces species. We report here the negative effect of GlcNAc on differentiation and tacrolimus (FK506) production by Streptomyces tsukubaensis NRRL 18488. Using microarrays technology, we found that GlcNAc represses the transcription of fkbN, encoding the main transcriptional activator of the tacrolimus biosynthetic cluster, and of ppt1, encoding a phosphopantheteinyltransferase involved in tacrolimus biosynthesis. On the contrary, GlcNAc stimulated transcription of genes related to amino acid and nucleotide biosynthesis, DNA replication, RNA translation, glycolysis and pyruvate metabolism. The results obtained support those previously reported for S. coelicolor, but some important differences were observed; for example genes involved in GlcNAc transport and metabolism and genes encoding transcriptional regulators such as crr, ptsI, nagE1, nagE2, nagB, chiA, chiJ, ngcE, dasR or atrA are not significantly induced in S. tsukubaensis by GlcNAc addition. Differences in the GlcNAc transport systems, in the physiology of S. tsukubaensis and S. coelicolor and/or the different composition of the culture media used are likely to be responsible for the discrepancies observed between these specieSIThis work was supported by the European Union through an ERA-IB (PIM2010EEI-00677) international cooperation project. M. Ordóñez-Robles received a FPU fellowship of the Ministry of Education (grant number AP2009-4508). We acknowledge Prof. Paloma Liras for helpful scientific discussion and the technical support of B. Martín, J. Merino and A. Casenave (INBIOTEC)