Efficient explicit finite volume schemes for the shallow water equations with solute transport

This work is concerned with the design and the implementation of efficient and novel numerical techniques in the context of the shallow water equations with solute transport, capable to improve the numerical results achieved by existing explicit approaches. When dealing with realistic applications in Hydraulic Engineering, a compromise between accuracy and computational time is usually required to simulate large temporal and spatial scales in a reasonable time. With the aim to improve the existent numerical methods in such a way to increase accuracy and reduce computational time. Three main contributions are envisaged in this work: a pressure-based source term discretization for the 1D shallow water equations, the analysis and development of a Large Time Step explicit scheme for the 1D and 2D shallow water equations with source terms and the numerical coupling between the 1D and the 2D shallow water equations in a 1D-2D coupled model. The first improvement roughly consists of exploring the pressure and bed slope source terms that appear in the 1D and 2D shallow water equations to discretize them in an intelligent way to avoid extremely reductions in the time step size. On the other hand, the implementation of a Large Time Step scheme is carried out. In order to relax the stability condition associated to explicit schemes and to allow large time step sizes, reducing consequently the numerical diffusion associated to the original explicit scheme. Finally, two 1D-2D coupled models are developed. They are demonstrated to be fully conservative and are able to approximate well the results obtained by a fully 2D model in terms of accuracy, while the computational effort is clearly reduced. All the advances are analysed by means of different test cases, including not only academic configurations but also realistic applications, in which the numerical results achieved by the new numerical techniques proposed in this work are compared with the conventional approaches

Vitiligo-like lesions located over In-transit metastases of malignant melanoma as a clinical marker of complete response to pembrolizumab.

Anti-programmed cell death (PD)-1 therapies in metastatic tumors have a high incidence of immune adverse events, including cutaneous manifestations such as vitiligo-like lesions. This side effect is associated with increased survival and it is a clinical marker of response to treatment. This case report is a graphic representation of the appearance of vitiligo-like lesions over in-transit metastases of malignant melanoma linked to a complete response to treatment with pembrolizumab

Solute Transport Control at Channel Junctions Using Adjoint Sensitivity

Water quality control and the control of contaminant spill in water in particular are becoming a primary need today. Gradient descent sensitivity methods based on the adjoint formulation have proved to be encouraging techniques in this context for river and channel flows. Taking into account that most channels and rivers include junctions with other branches, the objective of this study is to explore the adjoint technique on a channel network to reconstruct the upstream boundary condition of the convection-reaction equation. For this purpose, the one-dimensional shallow water equations and the transport equation for a reactive solute are considered. The control is formulated through the gradient-descent technique supplied with a first-order iterative process. Both the physical and the adjoint equations are supplied with suitable internal boundary conditions at the junction and are numerically solved using a finite volume upwind scheme. The results reveal that the adjoint technique is capable of reconstructing the inlet solute concentration boundary condition in an acceptable number of iterations for both steady state and transient configurations using a downstream measurement location. It was also observed that the reconstruction of the boundary condition tends to be less effective the further away the measurement station is from the target

Investigación de la enseñanza ética de los periodistas en España. Análisis bibliométrico y prescripciones formativas aplicadas (2005-2015)

Producción CientíficaEl artículo recoge un estudio bibliométrico de las investigaciones publicadas en revistas científicas indexadas del ámbito español sobre la enseñanza de la ética y la deontología periodísticas en el periodo 2005-2015 con el fin de realizar un balance del estado de la investigación y detectar los puntos fuertes y las posibles carencias analíticas, además de establecer prescripciones en un momento de transformación comunicativa. Metodología. Se recurre a una metodología cualitativa de revisión documental y análisis de contenido que contribuye a una actualización del campo de conocimiento. Resultados. El estudio detecta un limitado interés por parte de los investigadores españoles, con un número escaso de autores y universidades implicadas en la reflexión sobre la formación ética del periodista y con una nula colaboración entre centros en un momento relevante de cambio formativo y de convergencia mediática. Discusión. Se detectan lagunas de investigación destacables tales como la importancia que debe tener la asignatura en los planes de estudio o la adaptación de la materia al entorno digital. La falta de estudios al respecto prescribe la necesidad de ahondar en una enseñanza de la ética con base filosófica aplicada al ejercicio periodístico.Artículo elaborado en el marco del Proyecto de Innovación Docente “Evaluación y Desarrollo de Metodologías Docentes en Comunicación y Competencia Mediática

Putrescine biosynthetic pathways modulate root growth differently in tomato seedlings grown under different N sources

The biosynthesis of putrescine is mainly driven by arginine decarboxylase (ADC) and ornithine decarboxylase (ODC). Hence, in this study, we generated independent ADC and ODC transgenic silenced tomato lines (SilADC and SilODC, respectively) to test the effect of defective ADC and ODC gene expression on root development under nitrate (NN) or ammonium (NA) conditions. The results showed that SilODC seedlings displayed an increase in ADC expression that led to polyamine accumulation, suggesting a compensatory effect of ADC. However, this effect was not observed in SilADC seedlings. These pathways are involved in different growth processes. The SilADC seedlings showed an increase in fresh weight, shoot length, lateral root number and shoot:root ratio under the NN source and an enhancement in fresh weight, and shoot and root length under NA conditions. However, SilODC seedlings displayed greater weight and shoot length under the NN source, whereas a decrease in lateral root density was found under NA conditions. Moreover, two overexpressed ODC lines were generated to check the relevance of the compensatory effect of the ADC pathway when ODC was silenced. These overexpressed lines showed not only an enhancement of almost all the studied growth parameters under both N sources but also an amelioration of ammonium syndrome under NA conditions. Together, these results reflect the importance of both pathways in plant growth, particularly ODC silencing, which requires compensation by ADC induction.Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Jaume

Role of 5 α -dihydrotestosterone in testicular development of gilthead seabream following finasteride administration

In teleosts, spermatogenesis is regulated by pituitary gonadotropins and sex steroids. 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT), derived from testosterone (T) through the action of 5α-reductase, has recently been suggested to play a physiologically important role in some fish species. In this study, gilthead seabream, Sparus aurata L., males received an implant of 1μg T/g body mass (bm) or vehicle alone and, 7 days later, 1 mg finasteride (FIN, an inhibitor of 5α-reductase)/kg bm or vehicle. Serum levels of T, 11-ketotestosterone (11KT), DHT and 17β-estradiol (E2), and the mRNA levels of the main enzymes involved in their synthesis, were analysed. T promoted a transient increase in the serum levels of T, 11KT and E2 but a decrease in those of DHT at day 15 following T injection, in accordance with the up-regulation of mRNA levels of the enzymes involved in T transformation to 11KT (coding genes: cyp11b1 and hsd11b) and the down-regulation of mRNA levels of the enzyme responsible for T transformation to DHT (coding gene:srd5a). Interestingly, a similar effect was observed when FIN was in- jected. However, when fish were injected with T and FIN successively (T + FIN), control levels were not re-covered at the end of the experimental period (28 days). DHT seems to regulate E2 serum levels via the down-regulation of mRNA levels of aromatase (coding gene:cyp19a1a), which is needed for the transformation of T into E2. The testis histology, together with the proliferative rates recorded upon T, FIN or T + FIN treatment, suggests that DHT is involved in the onset of the meiotic phase of spermatogenesis.Versión del edito

Crisis of work as a social integration factor

Este artículo ha analizado el proceso de deterioro del trabajo como fuente de derechos sociales y como elemento socialmente integrador, en el marco de paso de una norma salarial o social de empleo estable a otra basada en la desregulación del mismo. Se han empleado técnicas cuantitativas, con la explotación de fuentes estadísticas secundarias; y cualitativas, a través del análisis explicativo de entrevistas a expertos del ámbito institucional. Los resultados de la investigación ponen de manifiesto el surgimiento de un nuevo modelo de cohesión social excluyente basado en la intensificación y generalización de las diferencias sociales y la precarización del trabajo. En este nuevo modelo se observa que las estrategias de integración de las personas tienen cada vez menos apoyo público, y éstas quedan abandonadas, lo que se manifiesta en los cuatro ámbitos de clasificación de los factores de riesgo de exclusión social: estructural, institucional, relacional y personalThis article analyzes the process of deterioration of the work as a source of social rights and as a social integration element. The context of this process is the passage of a wage-labour society with stable employment to other where the labour relations are deregulated. This aim was tackled by means of quantitative and qualitative techniques. Secondary sources of statistical information were used together with interviews to experts of the institutional sphere. The results of this research show the emergence of a new exclusive model of social cohesion based on intensification and generalization of social inequalities and job insecurity. In this new model of social cohesion, it is noted that the integration strategies of people have less and less support from Government and people are neglected. This process appears in the four spheres that classify the social exclusion risks factors: the structural, the institutional, the relational and the individual

Heparan sulfate proteoglycans undergo differential expression alterations in left sided colorectal cancer, depending on their metastatic character

Abstract Background Heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) are complex molecules which play a role in the invasion and growth and metastatic properties of cancerous cells. In this work we analyze changes in the patterns of expression of HSPGs in left sided colorectal cancer (LSCRC), both metastatic and non-metastatic, and the results are also compared with those previously obtained for right sided tumors (RSCRCs). Methods Eighteen LSCRCs were studied using qPCR to analyze the expression of both the proteoglycan core proteins and the enzymes involved in heparan sulfate chain biosynthesis. Certain HSPGs also carry chondroitin sulfate chains and so we also studied the genes involved in its biosynthesis. The expression of certain genes that showed significant expression differences were also analysed using immunohistochemical techniques. Results Changes in proteoglycan core proteins were dependent on their location, and the main differences between metastatic and non-metastatic tumors affected cell-surface glypicans, while other molecules were quite similar. Glypicans were also responsible for the main differences between RS- and LS- malignances. Regarding the biosynthesis of heparan sulfate chains, differential alterations in transcription depending on the presence or not of metastasis affected genes involved in the modification of uronic acid (epimerization and 2-O sulfation), and some isoforms responsible for sulfation of glucosamine (NDST1, HS6ST1). Moreover, in RSCRCs differences were preferentially found in the expression of genes involved in C6 and C3 sulfation of glucosamine, but not in NDSTs or SULFs. Finally, synthesis of chondroitin sulfate showed some alterations, which affected various steps, including polimerization and the modification of chains, but the main variations dependent on the presence of metastases were epimerization and 6C sulfation; however, when compared with RSCRCs, the essential divergences affected polymerization of the chains and the 6C sulfation of the galactosamine residue. Conclusions We evidenced alterations in the expression of HSPGs, including the expression of cell surface core proteins, many glycosiltransferases and some enzymes that modify the GAG chains in LSCRCs, but this was dependent on the metastatic nature of the tumor. Some of these alterations are shared with RSCRCs, while others, focused on specific gene groups, are dependent on tumor localization

Exogenous Carbon Compounds Modulate Tomato Root Development

NO3 − is not only a nutrient, but also a signaling compound that plays an important role in several plant processes, like root development. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of three different exogenous C compounds (sucrose, glucose, 2-oxoglutarate) added to NO3 − nutrition on C/N, auxin and antioxidant metabolisms in 10-day-old tomato seedlings. Sucrose and glucose supplementation enhanced primary root (PR) length, lateral root number and root density, while 2-oxoglutarate negatively affected them. This phenomenon was accompanied by a slight increase in NRT2.1 and GS1 gene expression, together with an increase in LAX2 and LAX3 and a decrease in LAX4 in the roots growing under sucrose and glucose sources. The addition of 2-oxoglutarate enhanced the expression of NiR, GDH, PEPC1, LAX1, LAX3 and the antioxidant gene SOD Cl. Taken together, these findings contribute to a better understanding of how these C sources can modulate N uptake and C/N, auxin and antioxidant gene expression, which could be useful for improving nitrogen use efficienc

Algoritmos de regulación en flujos transitorios bidimensionales

El uso de métodos numéricos para predecir la forma de la lámina de agua o las variaciones de caudal en caso de flujos tanto estacionarios como no estacionarios es, hoy en día, una práctica necesaria dentro de la tecnología hidráulica moderna, ya que ofrece la posibilidad de evaluar, de una forma no muy costosa, la respuesta de los sistemas hidráulicos frente a una gran variedad de situaciones prácticas. En particular, la simulación numérica de flujos transitorios permite acceder, entre otras cosas, a la predicción de tiempos de tránsito de las ondas, alcanzados por los valores máximos en distintos puntos del dominio de cálculo. Esta información es esencial para el diseño de estrategias de prevención y puede ser combinada con algoritmos de regulación y optimización. Los problemas que acarrean las grandes precipitaciones y las consiguientes inundaciones es un tema de interés creciente en los últimos años. Grandes pérdidas económicas y sociales son las principales consecuencias que traen consigo estas inundaciones. Para poder actuar de una manera efectiva contra esto, una opción es la utilización de áreas de inundación controlada para almacenar la mayor parte de la crecida y devolver el agua al río una vez haya finalizado. Esto es, por otra parte, un reto, debido a que la aplicación de estos conceptos a cuencas urbanizadas que fueron desarrolladas hace mucho tiempo con zonas bajas ocupadas por infraestructura industrial, comercial y residencial se antoja muy complicada. El trabajo consiste en familiarizarse con modelos de simulación transitoria para flujos bidimensionales existentes en el grupo de investigación, recopilar información de elementos y algoritmos de regulación, establecer un caso test de aplicación y programar la combinación de ambos elementos para ensayar su potencial utilidad