Integral mathematical model of power quality disturbances

Power quality (PQ) disturbances lead to severe problems in industries and electrical grids. To mitigate PQ problems, the accurate detection and classification of the possible disturbances are essential. A large number of studies exists in this field. The first research step in these studies is to obtain several distorted signals to test the classification systems. In this regard, the most common trend is the generation of signals from mathematical models. In the literature, we can find several models with significant differences among them. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no integral model that considers all types of distortions. This work presents an integral mathematical model based on the models found in the literature. The model also includes new types of combined disturbances. Twenty-nine disturbances are considered. Additionally, this work includes a software version of this integral model that is publicly available to be used by any interested researcher. In this way, PQ disturbances can be generated in a fast and automatic way. This software aims to facilitate future studies, supporting researchers in the modelling stage

Geographical variation in serological responses to recombinant Pneumocystis jirovecii major surface glycoprotein antigens

AbstractThe use of recombinant fragments of the major surface glycoprotein (Msg) of Pneumocystis jirovecii has proven useful for studying serological immune responses of blood donors and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive (HIV+) patients. Here, we have used ELISA to measure antibody titres to Msg fragments (MsgA, MsgB, MsgC1, MsgC3, MsgC8 and MsgC9 in sera isolated in the USA (n=200 and Spain (n=326), to determine whether geographical location affects serological responses to these antigens. Blood donors from Seville exhibited a significantly greater antibody titre to MsgC8, and significantly lower responses to MsgC3 and MsgC9, than did Cincinnati (USA) donors. Spanish blood donors (n=162 also exhibited elevated responses to MsgC1, MsgC8 and MsgC9 as compared with Spanish HIV+ (n=patients. HIV+ patients who had Pneumocystis pneumonia (PcP+) exhibited a higher response to MsgC8 than did HIV+ PcP- patients. These data show that geographical location plays a role in responsiveness to Msg fragments. Additionally, these fragments have utility in differentiating HIV+ PcP and HIV+ PcP+ among patient populations

El papel del Dublin Core en el desarrollo de las infraestructuras de datos espaciales

Las tendencias actuales de caracterización de recursos de información geográfica para su oferta a través de Infraestructuras de Datos Espaciales (IDE) se centran en la información geográfica más tradicional (mapas, coberturas, modelos digitales del terreno, etc.). Para ello han utilizado como soporte de descripción los trabajos del grupo TC 211 de ISO (fundamentalmente ISO 19115). No obstante, todavía queda una ingente cantidad de servicios e información más heterogéneos susceptibles de ser ofrecidos a través de una IDE. El reto que se plantea en estos momentos es la definición de una estrategia que posibilite la incorporación de estas fuentes y servicios de información garantizando la interoperabilidad entre sistemas, sin que ello vaya en detrimento de una descripción o caracterización de recursos, adecuada, completa y suficiente. Es en este contexto donde Dublin Core puede jugar un papel fundamental como norma de metadatos (ISO 15836) de propósito general, fomentando la interoperabilidad en distintos dominios informativos, entre ellos también la información geoespacial. El objetivo de este capítulo es presentar un modelo de utilización del conjunto de elementos y principios de Dublin Core como base para el proceso de asignación de metadatos asociados a todo tipo de recursos en el contexto de una IDE, así como las decisiones técnicas básicas que deberían tomarse para dar soporte a servicios de creación y búsqueda de información sobre este modelo general propuesto.Este trabajo ha sido parcialmente financiado por el proyecto TIC2003-09365-C02-01 del Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica y Desarrollo Tecnológico del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia de Españ

Cut-offs and response criteria for the Hospital Universitario la Princesa Index (HUPI) and their comparison to widely-used indices of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis

Objective To estimate cut-off points and to establish response criteria for the Hospital Universitario La Princesa Index (HUPI) in patients with chronic polyarthritis. Methods Two cohorts, one of early arthritis (Princesa Early Arthritis Register Longitudinal PEARL] study) and other of long-term rheumatoid arthritis (Estudio de la Morbilidad y Expresión Clínica de la Artritis Reumatoide EMECAR]) including altogether 1200 patients were used to determine cut-off values for remission, and for low, moderate and high activity through receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis. The areas under ROC (AUC) were compared to those of validated indexes (SDAI, CDAI, DAS28). ROC analysis was also applied to establish minimal and relevant clinical improvement for HUPI. Results The best cut-off points for HUPI are 2, 5 and 9, classifying RA activity as remission if =2, low disease activity if >2 and =5), moderate if >5 and <9 and high if =9. HUPI''s AUC to discriminate between low-moderate activity was 0.909 and between moderate-high activity 0.887. DAS28''s AUCs were 0.887 and 0.846, respectively; both indices had higher accuracy than SDAI (AUCs: 0.832 and 0.756) and CDAI (AUCs: 0.789 and 0.728). HUPI discriminates remission better than DAS28-ESR in early arthritis, but similarly to SDAI. The HUPI cut-off for minimal clinical improvement was established at 2 and for relevant clinical improvement at 4. Response criteria were established based on these cut-off values. Conclusions The cut-offs proposed for HUPI perform adequately in patients with either early or long term arthritis

Overview of recent TJ-II stellarator results

The main results obtained in the TJ-II stellarator in the last two years are reported. The most important topics investigated have been modelling and validation of impurity transport, validation of gyrokinetic simulations, turbulence characterisation, effect of magnetic configuration on transport, fuelling with pellet injection, fast particles and liquid metal plasma facing components. As regards impurity transport research, a number of working lines exploring several recently discovered effects have been developed: the effect of tangential drifts on stellarator neoclassical transport, the impurity flux driven by electric fields tangent to magnetic surfaces and attempts of experimental validation with Doppler reflectometry of the variation of the radial electric field on the flux surface. Concerning gyrokinetic simulations, two validation activities have been performed, the comparison with measurements of zonal flow relaxation in pellet-induced fast transients and the comparison with experimental poloidal variation of fluctuations amplitude. The impact of radial electric fields on turbulence spreading in the edge and scrape-off layer has been also experimentally characterized using a 2D Langmuir probe array. Another remarkable piece of work has been the investigation of the radial propagation of small temperature perturbations using transfer entropy. Research on the physics and modelling of plasma core fuelling with pellet and tracer-encapsulated solid-pellet injection has produced also relevant results. Neutral beam injection driven Alfvénic activity and its possible control by electron cyclotron current drive has been examined as well in TJ-II. Finally, recent results on alternative plasma facing components based on liquid metals are also presented. ISSN:0029-5515 ISSN:1741-432

CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research

Secuenciación de los contenidos de Lengua Castellana y Literatura para el segundo ciclo de la enseñanza secundaria obligatoria

Propuesta de concreción y distribución de los contenidos de lengua castellana y literatura para el segundo ciclo de la ESO, basada en los objetivos generales del área (véase la descripción temática), que traducen los objetivos generales de etapa establecidos en el desarrollo de la LOGSE, en relación con los contenidos específicos del área. Los bloques de contenido se basan en tres puntos: conceptos, procedimientos y actitudes. Se estructuran en tres ejes vertebradores complementarios: la comunicación, la reflexión sobre la lengua castellana y sobre la literatura. También se establecen las orientaciones metodológicas y para la evaluación que acompañan a cada bloque. Los criterios de secuenciación son los siguientes: Tratamiento recurrente de los contenidos, avanzando en extensión y profundidad. El punto de partida son los conocimientos previos del alumno. El proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje debe centrarse en el desarrollo de la capacidad de comprensión y expresión oral y escrita. La reflexión sobre la lengua debe ponerse al servicio del desarrollo de la competencia comunicativa del alumno. Respecto a la literatura, habrá que tratar de que el alumno lea con placer y desarrolle las capacidades de compresión y de expresión. Hay una primacía de los contenidos procedimentales sobre los conceptuales, contando con el carácter instrumental de la lengua.La RiojaES