The afterglow photosynthetic luminescence

The afterglow (AG) photosynthetic luminescence is a long-lived chlorophyll fluorescence emitted from PSII after the illumination of photosynthetic materials by FR or white light and placed in darkness. The AG emission corresponds to the fraction of PSII centers in the S2/3QB non-radiative state immediately after pre-illumination, in which the arrival of an electron transferred from stroma along cyclic/chlororespiratory pathway(s) produces the S2/3QB− radiative state that emits luminescence. This emission can be optimally recorded by a linear temperature gradient as sharp thermoluminescence (TL) band peaking at about 45°C. The AG emission recorded by TL technique has been proposed as a simple non-invasive tool to investigate the chloroplast energetic state and some of its metabolism processes as cyclic transport of electrons around PSI, chlororespiration or photorespiration. On the other hand, this emission has demonstrated to be a useful probe to study the effect of various stress conditions in photosynthetic materials.Junta de Andalucía PAIDI BIO-022Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad BIO2015-64169-

Fracturas del pilón tibial: Resultados del tratamiento quirúrgico

Se estudian 50 fracturas de pilón tibial tratadas quirúrgicamente. Las fracturas se clasificaron según el grado de conminución y desplazamiento en tres tipos siguiendo la clasificación de Rüedi y Allgöwer. Las técnicas quirúrgicas empleadas fueron la reducción abierta y fijación interna rígida en 35 casos y la reducción mediante ligamentotaxis con fijador externo y osteosístesis "a mínimo" de la superficie articular en 15. Los resultados clínicos globales fueron satisfactorios (excelentes y buenos) en el 80% de las fracturas tipo I y no satisfactorios (regulares y malos) en el 83% de las fracturas tipo III. Los resultados clínicos fueron mejores cuando se consiguió una buena reducción articular y cuanto menor era el grado de desplazamiento y hundimiento de la fractura.A retrospective study was made of 50 fractures of the tibial plateau treated surgically. The fractures were classified according the Rüedi and Allogöwer. The treatment was open reduction and osteosynthesis in 35 cases and osteotaxis and minimal osteosynthesis in 15. The clinical results were satisfactory in 80% fractures type I and no satisfactory in 83% fractures type III. Better clinical results were obtained when the articular reduction was good and the degree of fracture displacement and collapse was small

Expressing Robot Personality through Talking Body Language

Social robots must master the nuances of human communication as a mean to convey an effective message and generate trust. It is well-known that non-verbal cues are very important in human interactions, and therefore a social robot should produce a body language coherent with its discourse. In this work, we report on a system that endows a humanoid robot with the ability to adapt its body language according to the sentiment of its speech. A combination of talking beat gestures with emotional cues such as eye lightings, body posture of voice intonation and volume permits a rich variety of behaviors. The developed approach is not purely reactive, and it easily allows to assign a kind of personality to the robot. We present several videos with the robot in two different scenarios, and showing discrete and histrionic personalities.This work has been partially supported by the Basque Government (IT900-16 and Elkartek 2018/00114), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (RTI 2018-093337-B-100, MINECO/FEDER, EU)

Obtaining Adaptation of Virtual Courses by Using a Collaborative Tool and Learning Design

In this work is described a collaborative tool Learning Activity Management System, LAMS (Macquarie University, Australia) which has been developed for designing, managing and delivering online collaborative learning activities. It provides teachers with a highly intuitive visual authoring environment for creating sequences of learning activities. These activities can include a range of individual tasks, small group work and whole class activities based on both content and collaboration. Then a methodology to apply this tool is described

Photosynthetic cytochrome c550

Cytochrome c550 (cyt c550) is a membrane component of the PSII complex in cyanobacteria and some eukaryotic algae, such as red and brown algae. Cyt c550 presents a bis-histidine heme coordination which is very unusual for monoheme c-type cytochromes. In PSII, the cyt c550 with the other extrinsic proteins stabilizes the binding of Cl− and Ca2 + ions to the oxygen evolving complex and protects the Mn4Ca cluster from attack by bulk reductants. The role (if there is one) of the heme of the cyt c550 is unknown. The low midpoint redox potential (Em) of the purified soluble form (from − 250 to − 314 mV) is incompatible with a redox function in PSII. However, more positive values for the Em have been obtained for the cyt c550 bound to the PSII. A very recent work has shown an Em value of + 200 mV. These data open the possibility of a redox function for this protein in electron transfer in PSII. Despite the long distance (22 Å) between cyt c550 and the nearest redox cofactor (Mn4Ca cluster), an electron transfer reaction between these components is possible. Some kind of protective cycle involving a soluble redox component in the lumen has also been proposed. The aim of this article is to review previous studies done on cyt c550 and to consider its function in the light of the new results obtained in recent years. The emphasis is on the physical properties of the heme and its redox properties. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Photosynthesis Research for Sustainability: from Natural to Artificial.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación BFU2007-68107-C02-01Junta de Andalucía PADI CVI-26

Estimacion del consumo de agua en Vid vinifera cv. Cabernet sauvignon, usando la bandeja de evaporacion y el modelo de Penman-Monteith

Resumen (Spanish, English)39 p.Con el objetivo de determinar el consumo de agua de la vid mediante el uso de la bandeja de evaporación clase A y el modelo de Penman-Monteith, se realizó un ensayo durante la temporada 2000-2001 en un viñedo cv. Cabernet sauvignon, ubicado en el valle de Pencahue, VII región del Maule. El consumo de agua de la vid (Etreal) a través del modelo de Penman-Monteith, se determinó mediante el uso de una estación meteorológica automática, la cual fue ubicada al interior del viñedo. Mientras que la Etreal usando los datos de evaporación de bandeja fue corregida por un coeficiente de bandeja (kp) de 0.7 y por los coeficientes de cultivo (kc) de la vid recomendados por Doorembos y Pruitt (1977). La técnica de Reflectometría en el tiempo (TDR) fue usada para controlar la frecuencia de riego y para determinar el balance de agua en el suelo. Los resultados obtenidos en este estudio revelaron que el modelo de Penman-Monteith subestimó la evapotranspiración con respecto a la Etreal obtenida del balance de agua con un error de 0.85%, mientras que la bandeja sobreestimó la Etreal con un error de 6.86 %

The heterologous expression of a plastocyanin in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum improves cell growth under iron-deficient conditions

We have investigated if the heterologous expression of a functional green alga plastocyanin in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum can improve photosynthetic activity and cell growth. Previous in vitro assays showed that a single-mutant of the plastocyanin from the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is effective in reducing P. tricornutum photosystem I. In this study, in vivo assays with P. tricornutum strains expressing this plastocyanin indicate that even the relatively low intracellular concentrations of holo-plastocyanin detected (≈4 μM) are enough to promote an increased growth (up to 60%) under iron-deficient conditions as compared with the WT strain, measured as higher cell densities, content in pigments and active photosystem I, global photosynthetic rates per cell, and even cell volume. In addition, the presence of plastocyanin as an additional photosynthetic electron carrier seems to decrease the over-reduction of the plastoquinone pool. Consequently, it promotes an improvement in the maximum quantum yield of both photosystem II and I, together with a decrease in the acceptor side photoinhibition of photosystem II—also associated to a reduced oxidative stress—a decrease in the peroxidation of membrane lipids in the choroplast, and a lower degree of limitation on the donor side of photosystem I. Thus the heterologous plastocyanin appears to act as a functional electron carrier, alternative to the native cytochrome c6, under iron-limiting conditions.Junta de Andalucía PAIDI BIO-022Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BIO2015-64169-