Autophagy is activated and involved in cell death with participation of cathepsins during stress-induced microspore embryogenesis in barley

Microspores are reprogrammed towards embryogenesis by stress. Many microspores die after this stress, limiting the efficiency of microspore embryogenesis. Autophagy is a degradation pathway that plays critical roles in stress response and cell death. In animals, cathepsins have an integral role in autophagy by degrading autophagic material; less is known in plants. Plant cathepsins are papain-like C1A cysteine proteases involved in many physiological processes, including programmed cell death. We have analysed the involvement of autophagy in cell death, in relation to cathepsin activation, during stress-induced microspore embryogenesis in Hordeum vulgare. After stress, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cell death increased and autophagy was activated, including HvATG5 and HvATG6 up-regulation and increase of ATG5, ATG8, and autophagosomes. Concomitantly, cathepsin L/F-, B-, and H-like activities were induced, cathepsin-like genes HvPap-1 and HvPap-6 were up-regulated, and HvPap-1, HvPap-6, and HvPap-19 proteins increased and localized in the cytoplasm, resembling autophagy structures. Inhibitors of autophagy and cysteine proteases reduced cell death and promoted embryogenesis. The findings reveal a role for autophagy in stress-induced cell death during microspore embryogenesis, and the participation of cathepsins. Similar patterns of activation, expression, and localization suggest a possible connection between cathepsins and autophagy. The results open up new possibilities to enhance microspore embryogenesis efficiency with autophagy and/or cysteine protease modulators.España, MINECO AGL2014-52028-R and AGL2017-82447-

Review on the Simulation of Cooperative Caching Schemes for MANETs

In this paper, a review of the main simulation parameters utilized to evaluate the performance of cooperative caching schemes in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks is presented. Firstly, a taxonomy of twenty five caching schemes proposed in the literature about Mobile Ad Hoc Networks is defined. Those caching schemes are briefly described in order to illustrate their basis and fundamentals. The review takes into consideration the utilized network simulator, the wireless connection standard, the propagation model and routing protocol, the employed simulation area and number of data servers, the number of mobile devices and their coverage area, the mobility model, the number of documents in the network, the replacement policy and cache size, the mean time between requests, the document popularity distribution, the TTL (Time To Live) of the documents and the simulation time. Those simulation parameters have been compared among the evaluation of the studied cooperative caching schemes in order to obtain the most common utilized values. This work will allow to compare the performance of the proposed cooperative caching schemes using a common simulation environment.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Effect of mold temperature on the impact behavior and morphology of injection molded foams based on polypropylene polyethylene–octene copolymer blends

Producción CientíficaIn this work, an isotactic polypropylene (PP) and a polyethylene–octene copolymer (POE) have been blended and injection-molded, obtaining solids and foamed samples with a relative density of 0.76. Different mold temperature and injection temperature were used. The Izod impact strength was measured. For solids, higher mold temperature increased the impact resistance, whereas in foams, the opposite trend was observed. In order to understand the reasons of this behavior, the morphology of the elastomeric phase, the crystalline morphology and the cellular structure have been studied. The presence of the elastomer near the skin in the case of high mold temperature can explain the improvement produced with a high mold temperature in solids. For foams, aspects as the elastomer coarsening in the core of the sample or the presence of a thicker solid skin are the critical parameters that justify the improved behavior of the materials produced with a lower mold temperature.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (grant DI-15-07952

La atención a la situación de emergencia planetaria en los museos de ciencias: El inicio de un cambio necesario

En el presente trabajo analizamos el contenido de dos importantes museos franceses que han empezado a incorporar de forma clara y extensa, no meramente incidental, la atención a la actual situación de emergencia planetaria. Se trata de dos ejemplos notables de superación todavía parcial de la orientación tradicional de los museos como meros exponentes propagandísticos de los logros científicos y de respuesta positiva a los llamamientos de Naciones Unidas para que todos los educadores contribuyamos a favorecer la participación ciudadana en la toma de decisiones fundamentadas, generando actitudes y comportamientos orientados a la consecución de un futuro sostenible

Monitoring and detection of toothbrushing with smart watches and artificial intelligence.

It has been estimated that oral and dental diseases affect almost half of humanity, largely due to the infrequency with which a considerable proportion of the population brush their teeth (less than twice a day, with a regularity that markedly decreases for older ages). In this context, the automatic monitoring of dental hygiene routines may be of great interest, since it can help promote healthy habits and remind the user (especially older persons or patients in the initial stages of dementia) of the need to brushing her/his teeth after each meal.In this sense, although initially envisaged to track sporting performance, current smartwatches and smartbands have found a relevant field in HAR (Human Activity Recognition) systems, especially in those applications intended to supervise health status and personal well-being. Thus, these wearables offer a low-cost, non-invasive tool, which is already fully integrated into our daily lives, capable of informing us at all times about the evolution of diverse biosignals or health parameters and even generating alerts in case a medical alarm is suspected. This work proposes to combine wearables and the use of artificial intelligence techniques to detect manual mobility patterns caused by brushing teeth. Specifically, the article describes and evaluate a system based on convolutional neural networks, able to identify brushing gestures from samples of few seconds of inertial accelerometry signals gathered by wrist-worn devices. The architecture is systematically trained and validated with the signals provided by different public databases which were collected when different experimental subjects executed different manual actions. The results show the effectiveness of the detector, since it reaches a sensitivity and specificity greater than 95% when applied to discriminate brushing from other hand movements. In addition, the system is re-trained and assessed with the real-life samples captured by a smartwatch, where the neural model is implemented to operate and produce real-time decisionsThis work proposes to combine wearables and the use of artificial intelligence techniques to detect manual mobility patterns caused by brushing teeth. Specifically, the article describes and evaluate a system based on convolutional neural networks, able to identify brushing gestures from samples of few seconds of inertial accelerometry signals gathered by wrist-worn devices. The architecture is systematically trained and validated with the signals provided by different public databases which were collected when different experimental subjects executed different manual actions. The results show the effectiveness of the detector, since it reaches a sensitivity and specificity greater than 95% when applied to discriminate brushing from other hand actions. In addition, the system is re-trained and assessed with the real-life samples captured by a smartwatch, where the neural model could be implemented to operate and produce real-time decisions.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Estudio bajo condiciones extremas desde primeros principios: óxidos conductores transparentes, compuestos ab2x4 y semiconductores topológicos

En esta memoria se ha realizado el estudio con la presión de tres tipos de compuestos de gran interés tecnológico, mediante simulaciones ab initio dentro del marco de la Teoría del Funcional de la Densidad (DFT). Por una parte, se han estudiado los compuestos con estructura delafosita del tipo CuMO2 con M = Al, Ga, In. Estos compuestos presentan la particularidad de ser transparentes en el visible y presentar una buena conductividad. Se han determinado sus parámetros estructurales a presión cero y su evolución con la presión. De la misma forma, se ha llevado a cabo un estudio de sus propiedades ópticas, mecánicas y vibracionales buscando posibles indicios de inestabilidades estructurales. El segundo tipo de compuestos que hemos analizados son las adamantinas con estructura calcopirita defectuosa AGa2X4, con A = Hg, Cd y X = S, Se. Estos compuestos son interesantes debido a presentar una óptica no lineal, así como ser cruciales para entender los procesos que ocurren en transiciones de fase orden-desorden. Hemos simulado sus propiedades tanto a presión cero como con la presión, en búsqueda de parámetros o comportamientos que nos ayuden a entender los procesos que se producen en estos compuestos. Por último, hemos estudiado los compuestos binarios A2X3, con A = Bi, Sb y X = Te, Se, que forman parte de una nueva gama de materiales denominados aislantes topológicos: materiales que son aislantes en el volumen pero que presentan conductividad en su superficie. Además, estos compuestos se pueden exfoliar como el grafeno presentando una alta conductividad eléctrica y una baja conductividad térmica. Hemos determinado las transiciones de fase que experimentan con la presión, así como la transición topológica electrónica que experimentan

Los cineclubes de Guadalajara. Espacios para la difusión cultural y la exhibición de cine independiente

Los cineclubes funcionan como espacios para la difusión cultural, así como para la socialización, mediante la proyección de películas. En el Área Metropolitana de Guadalajara han existido muchos cineclubes a lo largo de los años, de los cuales muchos desafortunadamente se han visto descontinuados. Este proyecto pretende investigar acerca de la función que tienen los cineclubes en la difusión del cine producido en México, así como los retos que enfrentan para mantenerse en activo. Además, se resalta su importancia en la construcción de comunidades afines al arte cinematográfico.ITESO, A.C

Conscientious objection in the Health field

Grado en Derech

Megabenthic decapod crustacean assemblages on the Galician continental shelf and upper slope (north-west Spain)

The original publication is avaliable at www.springerlink.comThe structure of megabenthic decapod crustacean assemblages on the Galician (north-west Spain) continental shelf (100 to 200 depth) and upper slope (200 to 500 m) was analyzed based on surveys carried out in autumn and spring, from 1980 to 1987. Forty species belonging to 19 families were caught. The portunid crab "Polybius henslowii", a species with pelagic phases, was the most abundant species, but displayed strong spatial and temporal fluctuations. Other dominant species were the Norway lobster "Nephrops norvegicus", the portunid "Liocarcinus depurator", the galatheids "Munida intermedia" and "M. sarsi", and the shrimps "Solenocera membranacea", "Plesionika heterocarpus", "Pasiphaea sivado" and "Dichelopandalus bonnieri". Total abundance and biomass (average values excluding Polybius henslowii = 255 individuals and 2.06 kg/30 min tow) and species richness and diversity, Ht (6.85 species and Ht = 1.45 per tow) displayed a significant positive correlation with depth, and strong interannual fluctuations. The factors determining community organization were depth and, to a lesser extent, spatial structure. There was clear evidence of bathymetric zonation, differentiating between species characteristic of the slope ("D. bonnieri" and "Pasiphaea sivado"), shelf-slope edge ("Macropipus tuberculatus", "Pontophilus spinosus", "Munida sarsi", "S. membranacea", "Processa spp.") and shelf ("L. depurator", "Macropodia tenuirostris", "Paguridae" and "Chlorotocus crassicornis"). The spatial zonation was related to changes in oceanography and sediment along the continental margin. "Goneplax rhomboides", "N. norvegicus", "C. crassicornis" and "Alpheus glaber" are benthic species which generally exhibit burrowing behaviour, and they were found mainly in the southern area where there are fine sediments due to the outwelling from the Rías Baixas. Different benthopelagic shrimps ("Pontophilus spinosus", "Plesionika heterocarpus", "Processa spp." and "Pasiphaea sivado") were typical of the zone just north of Fisterra, characterized by a convergence of water masses bringing about an increase in productivity due to upwelling. The benthic anomuran and brachyuran crabs "Munida intermedia", "M. sarsi", "L. depurator" and "Macropipus tuberculatus" were characteristic of the northwestern zone between Fisterra and Estaca, where the infauna reaches high biomass despite coarser sediments with a lower concentration of organic material than in the southern area. Lastly, both the "Paguridae" and "Macropodia tenuirostris" were species typically found in the waters in the northern shelf. Based on interannual changes in assemblage structure, two periods could be distinguished: between 1980 and 1984, when "Polybius henslowii", "D. bonnieri" and "Pasiphaea sivado" had abundance peaks; and another period from 1985 to 1987 when "L. depurator", "Munida intermedia", "M. sarsi" and "Macropipus tuberculatus" increased in abundanc

Reflections on the creative process, analysis of strategic models for the development of creative thinking in the Industrial Designer

[EN] The purpose of this article is to analyze the different strategic models to understand and identify the factors that hinder the ability to develop divergent, open thinking free of technical and emotional bias to produce new and valuable things, or to apply solutions in a wide variety of ways. Studies on creators in the field of psychology, the process of development of traditional creativity applied in the degree in industrial design of the University Center UAEM Valle de Chalco in Mexico, and analogical reasoning through the sources of inspiration for creative production were taken into account. The information theory called "Hamming Distance" was used to verify if the real estimated value is congruent with the ideal estimated value, numerical values obtained from the different strategic models for creativity and postures emitted by the teachers of the area. As a result, new parameters were obtained to educate more effectively towards a creative thinking of industrial designers.Sánchez Estrada, OE.; Urbina Pérez, MG.; Pérez González, KG. (2020). Reflections on the creative process, analysis of strategic models for the development of creative thinking in the Industrial Designer. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 319-329. https://doi.org/10.4995/INN2019.2019.10210OCS31932