AALUMO: a user model ontology for ambient assisted living services supported in next-generation networks

Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) services are emerging as context-awareness solutions to support elderly people?s autonomy. The context-aware paradigm makes applications more user-adaptive. In this way, context and user models expressed in ontologies are employed by applications to describe user and environment characteristics. The rapid advance of technology allows creating context server to relieve applications of context reasoning techniques. Specifically, the Next Generation Networks (NGN) provides by means of the presence service a framework to manage the current user's state as well as the user's profile information extracted from Internet and mobile context. This paper propose a user modeling ontology for AAL services which can be deployed in a NGN environment with the aim at adapting their functionalities to the elderly's context information and state

Design and technical evaluation of an enhanced location-awareness service enabler for spatial disorientation management of elderly with mild cognitive impairment

The progressive ageing of population has turned the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) into a prevalent disease suffered by elderly. Consequently, the spatial disorientation has become a significant problem for older people and their caregivers. The ambient-assisted living applications are offering location-based services for empowering elderly to go outside and encouraging a greater independence. Therefore, this paper describes the design and technical evaluation of a location-awareness service enabler aimed at supporting and managing probable wandering situations of a person with MCI. Through the presence capabilities of the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) architecture, the service will alert patient's contacts if a hazardous situation is detected depending on his location. Furthermore, information about the older person's security areas has been included in the user profile managed by IMS. In doing so, the service enabler introduced contribute to “context-awareness” paradigm allowing the adaptation and personalization of services depending on user's context and specific conditions or preferences

New Insights Into Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) FatA and FatB Thioesterases, Their Regulation, Structure and Distribution

Sunflower seeds (Helianthus annuus L.) accumulate large quantities of triacylglycerols (TAG) between 12 and 28 days after flowering (DAF). This is the period of maximal acyl-acyl carrier protein (acyl-ACP) thioesterase activity in vitro, the enzymes that terminate the process of de novo fatty acid synthesis by catalyzing the hydrolysis of the acyl-ACPs synthesized by fatty acid synthase. Fatty acid thioesterases can be classified into two families with distinct substrate specificities, namely FatA and FatB. Here, some new aspects of these enzymes have been studied, assessing how both enzymes contribute to the acyl composition of sunflower oil, not least through the changes in their expression during the process of seed filling. Moreover, the binding pockets of these enzymes were modeled based on new data from plant thioesterases, revealing important differences in their volume and geometry. Finally, the subcellular location of the two enzymes was evaluated and while both possess an N-terminal plastid transit peptide, only in FatB contains a hydrophobic sequence that could potentially serve as a transmembrane domain. Indeed, using in vivo imaging and organelle fractionation, H. annuus thioesterases, HaFatA and HaFatB, appear to be differentially localized in the plastid stroma and membrane envelope, respectively. The divergent roles fulfilled by HaFatA and HaFatB in oil biosynthesis are discussed in the light of our data.España MINECO y FEDER Projects AGL2014- 53537-R y AGL2017-83449-

From Electronic to Telematic Vote: The VOTESCRIPT Project

Este artículo presenta los aspectos más relevantes del trabajo realizado por los autores dentro del proyecto VOTESCRIPT (TIC2000-1630-C02). El objetivo principal de este proyecto fue el análisis, definición e implementación de un sistema que abarcara todas las fases y elementos existentes en un proceso de votación electrónica sobre redes de ordenadores. El artículo incluye las soluciones propuestas dentro del proyectoMinisterio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2000-1630-C0

Assessment of a Global-to-Direct empirical model for the long-term characterization of Direct Normal Insolation

The statistical characterization of the solar resource (direct normal solar radiation) is a key point in the initial phases of a solar thermal electricity (STE) plant project. Ideally, this characterization should be based on long time series (at least 8 years) of on-site measured data of Direct Normal Insolation (DNI) and other meteorological parameters. Unfortunately, there are very few places around the world where such time series are available, so alternative methods have to be used. Most of them rely on the application of global-to-direct conversion models to long time series of Global Horizontal Insolation (GHI), measured or derived from satellite images, to estimate the long-term resource. Usually, a meteorological station including sensors for the measurement of DNI is installed at the selected project site at the beginning of the project. The data collected during the measurement campaign, which normally extends between a few months and 2 years, are used to adjust the conversion models and to correct the estimates. In this paper, a simple empirical model that relates monthly clearness index and monthly direct normal fraction is used to estimate monthly and annual long-term DNI from statistically representative monthly values of GHI. This model is adjusted with GHI and DNI data collected during measurement campaigns of different durations. We show that the accuracy of the proposed model is under +-5% and that this accuracy improves sharply with the duration of the test campaign. For this purpose, we have used 13 years of high quality DNI and GHI data from the radiometric station of the Group of Thermodynamics and Renewable Energies (GTER) of the University of Seville, Spain. The results suggest that, this simple empirical model is a good alternative to the present methodologies when short DNI measurement campaign but long-term GHI values are available

Response to fungal exudates of the rhizosphere isolate Pseudomonas sp. UMAF110 involves a GGDEF/EAL domain-containing protein

Pseudomonas sp. UMAF110, isolated from rhizosphere soil in Spain, display in vitro antagonism towards the pythopathogenic fungus Rosellinia necatrix and is able grow in fungal exudates (BM-RE medium). A transposon mutant library of this strain was constructed and several mutants were selected by their reduced competitiveness in BM-RE medium. Pseudomonas sp. UMAF110-G3, which contains the transposon into a gene encoding a putative REC/PAS/GGDEF/EAL protein, was selected for further characterization. Blastn searches using the sequence of the gene interrupted by the transposon in UMAF110-G3, here called cmpA (c-di-GMP Metabolizing Protein), yielded a single positive hit (98% cover, 78% identity) with a gene from a terpene-degrading Pseudomonas sp. strain isolated from soil. Context analysis of the cmpA gene in Pseudomonas sp. UMAF110 showed that this gene is located downstream from several genes involved in flagellar motility/chemotaxis. RT-PCR experiments further confirmed that cmpA form a transcriptional unit with the che gene cluster. Expression analysis of cmpA by qRT-PCR clearly showed upregulation of this gene after transfer of Pseudomonas sp. UMAF110 cells to BM-RE medium, suggesting a role for this operon in response to fungal exudates. Deletion of cmpA in Pseudomonas sp. UMAF110 did not affect the ability of the strain to form biofilms under the conditions tested. However, overexpression of wild type CmpA in Pseudomonas putida KT2440 negatively regulated biofilm formation in this strain. Together, these results suggest that CmpA could be involved in signal transduction pathways regulating flagellar motility/chemotaxis in response to fungal exudates.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Analysis of the distribution of measured and synthetic DNI databases and its effect on the expected production of a parabolic trough plan

The generation of a Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) is a common practice in solar energy projects. Therefore it is desirable that the TMY provides not only a good estimate of the solar resource in the long term, but also an adequate input for the estimation of the performance of the project during its lifetime. The main goal of this work is to analyze and compare the effect of using synthetic and measured time series on the statistical relationships between the annual Direct Normal Insolation (DNI) values and the corresponding electricity generation of a Solar Thermal Electricity (STE) plant. For this purpose we have used two DNI databases: (a) terrestrial database with thirteen years (2000 to 2012) of 5-second measurements for the location of Seville, Spain, and (b) synthetic database generated with the Meteonorm® V 6.1.0.23 software, by applying GHI-DNI conversion models to the measured monthly values of GHI for the same location. We have used the EOS code to estimate the electricity generation of a 50 MW parabolic trough plant with 8 equivalent hours of thermal energy storage (TES) capacity. The results show that the use of synthetic series introduces an additional uncertainty that has to be analyzed for each project, being in this study the differences between the measured and synthetic data around a 2-3% for the annual values and for the main statistical parameters

Insulators containing CuCl4X22? (X = H2O, NH3) units: Origin of the orthorhombic distortion observed only for CuCl4(H2O)2 2?

The origin of the difference in structure between compounds containing CuCl4X22? (X=H2O, NH3) units is analyzed by means of first-principles calculations. While NH3-containing compounds display tetragonal symmetry, H2O-containing ones display an orthorhombic distortion at low temperature where the equatorial Cl? ions are no longer equivalent. Our simulations of optical and vibrational transitions show good agreement with all available experimental optical absorption and Raman data. As a salient feature, the value of the force constant for the B1g mode, K(B1g), driving the orthorhombic distortion in the CuCl4(H2O)22? unit is found to be four times smaller than that calculated for CuCl4(NH3)22?, stressing that CuCl4(H2O)22? is in the verge of the D4h?D2h instability. The analysis of results obtained for different values of the distortion coordinate, Q(B1g), clearly shows that the softening undergone by K(B1g) in CuCl4(H2O)22? comes mainly from the vibronic admixture of the antibonding a?1g(?3z2-r2) orbital with the bb1g bonding (or charge transfer) level. This mechanism is thus similar to that responsible for distortions observed in some fluoroperovskites and oxoperovskites. The present results, quantifying the importance of vibronic effects in structural instabilities, clearly demonstrate that, contrary to what was suggested by several authors, the instability in CuCl4(H2O)22? is not related to the Jahn-Teller effect and that the orthorhombic distortion observed in the pure compound Rb2CuCl4(H2O)2 has a local origin.The support by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología under Project No. FIS2009-07083 is acknowledged

La Educación Inclusiva en los colegios de zonas rurales

Since Spain decided to embark on the development of inclusive schooling, studies have taken place to see if the inclusive principle is being developed satisfactorily. Inclusive schooling implies that all students, regardless of their particular characteristics, may be taught in ordinary schools, and in the majority of cases receive help in the classroom in which they have been integrated in order to cover any special educational needs. Our research aims to find out if schools situated in rural areas follow this principle and, once it has been put into practice, what strategies are being used. To this end, we designed a questionnaire addressed to Infant and Primary school teachers in the Sierra Sur area in the province of Jaén, in an agricultural context where most of the population live on olive picking and the cultivation of olive groves. Given the extension of the area, our research concentrated on schools situated in urban nuclei with a population of less than one thousand five hundred inhabitants. The results obtained demonstrate that rural areas do not take full advantage of the context they are in to favour inclusion processes and continue to develop proposals that are merely integrative.Desde que España apostó por el desarrollo de una escuela inclusiva, donde todos los alumnos, con independencia de sus particularidades personales, pueden ser escolarizados en colegios ordinarios, recibiendo en la mayoría de los casos, un apoyo dentro del aula donde está integrado para poder así paliar las necesidades educativas que se pudiesen presentar; ha sido tema de estudio si el principio de inclusión se está desarrollando de forma satisfactoria. Nuestro estudio ha querido indagar, si en los colegios situados en zonas rurales, llevan a cabo el desarrollo de este principio, y una vez puesto en práctica, con qué estrategias lo desarrollan. Para ello se ha elaborado un cuestionario para distribuirlo entre los docentes de Educación de Infantil y Primaria de la zona geográfica situada en la Sierra Sur de la provincia de Jaén, contexto evidentemente agrícola, donde la mayoría de la población vive del cultivo del olivar y la recolección de la aceituna. Debido al extenso territorio, se ha acotando nuestra investigación a colegios situados en núcleos urbanos con no más de mil quinientos habitantes. Los resultados obtenidos ponen de manifiesto que el ámbito rural no aprovecha su contexto para favorecer procesos de inclusión y sigue desarrollando propuestas simplemente integradoras

Internal electric fields and color shift in Cr3+-based gemstones

Seeking to better understand the origin of the different colors of emerald and ruby, both ab initio periodic and cluster calculations have been carried out. The calculations reproduce the interatomic distances measured for pure Be3Si6Al2O18 and Al2O3 as well as the Cr3+?O2? distances in emerald and ruby. The mean Cr3+?O2? distance for Be3Si6Al2O18:Cr3+ and Al2O3:Cr3+ is found to be practically equal to 1.97 Å, in agreement with recent experimental values. The present calculations confirm that the variations of optical properties due to Cr3+ impurities along the series of ionic oxides can be understood merely through the CrO69? unit but subject to the electric field due to the rest of the lattice ions. As a salient feature it is proved that changes in electronic density and covalency due to the internal field are not the cause of the color shift. Therefore, the red color of ruby is not due to the polarization of the electronic cloud around chromium as a result of the C3 local symmetry. The present study also demonstrates that the variation of the ligand field splitting parameter, 10Dq, induced by the internal electric field comes mainly from the contributions of first shells of ions around the CrO69? unit. As a consequence, 10Dq in emerald is not influenced by the internal field, as the contribution from Be2+ first neighbors is practically compensated by that of Si4+ second neighbors. In contrast, in ruby the t2g levels are shifted by the internal field 0.24 eV more than the eg ones, so explaining the color shift in this gemstone in comparison with emerald. This result is shown to arise partially from the asymmetric form of the internal electrostatic potential along the C3 axis in Al2O3.Support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología under Project No. FIS2009-07083 is acknowledge