Optimización de la gestión de redes de riego a presión a diferentes escalas mediante Inteligencia Artificial

Factors such as climate change, world population growth or the competition for the water resources make freshwater availability become an increasingly large and complex global challenge. Under this scenario of reduced water availability, increasing droughts frequency and uncertainties associated with a changing climate, the irrigated agriculture sector, particularly in the Mediterranean region, will need to be even more efficient in the use of the water resources. In Spain, many irrigation districts have been modernized in recent years, replacing the obsolete open channels by pressurized water distribution networks towards improvements in water use efficiency. Thanks to this, water use has reduced but the energy demand and the water costs have dramatically increased. Thus, strategies to reduce simultaneously water and energy uses in irrigation districts are required. This thesis consists of nine chapters, which include several models to optimize the management of the irrigation districts and increase the efficiency of water and energy use.Factores tales como el cambio climático, el crecimiento de la población mundial o la competencia por los recursos hídricos hacen que la disponibilidad de agua se esté convirtiendo en un desafío global cada vez más grande y complejo. En este escenario de reducción de la disponibilidad de agua, aumento de la frecuencia de las sequías y de las incertidumbres asociadas a un cambio climático, el sector de la agricultura de regadío, en particular en la región mediterránea, tendrá que ser aún más eficiente en el uso de los recursos hídricos. En España, muchas comunidades de regantes se han modernizado en los últimos años, sustituyendo los obsoletos canales abiertos por redes de distribución de agua a presión con el objetivo de mejorar la eficiencia en el uso del agua. Gracias a esto, el uso del agua se ha reducido, pero la demanda de energía y los costos del agua se han incrementado drásticamente. Por lo tanto, se requieren estrategias para reducir simultáneamente el uso de agua y energía en las comunidades de regantes. Esta tesis consta de nueve capítulos que incluyen varios modelos para optimizar la gestión de las comunidades de regantes y aumentar la eficiencia en el uso del agua y la energía

Polarization entanglement visibility of photon pairs emitted by a quantum dot embedded in a microcavity

We study the photon emission from a quantum dot embedded in a microcavity. Incoherent pumping of its excitons and biexciton provokes the emission of leaky and cavity modes. By solving a master equation we obtain the correlation functions required to compute the spectrum and the relative efficiency among the emission of pairs and single photons. A quantum regime appears for low pumping and large rate of emission. By means of a post-selection process, a two beams experiment with different linear polarizations could be performed producing a large polarization entanglement visibility precisely in the quantum regime.Comment: 13 pages and 6 figure

CG J1720-67.8: A Detailed Analysis of Optical and Infrared Properties of a New Ultracompact Group of Galaxies

We present here optical spectroscopy and BVRJHK(s) photometry of the recently discovered ultra-compact group of galaxies CG J1720-67.8. This work represents a considerable extension of the preliminary results we presented in a previous paper. Despite the complicated morphology of the group, a quantitative morphological classification of the three brightest members of the group is attempted based on photometric analysis. We find that one galaxy is consistent with a morphological type S0, while the other two are most probably late-type spirals that are already losing their identity due tothe interaction process. Information on the star formation activity and dust content derived from both spectroscopic data and optical and near-infrared colors are complemented with a reconstruction of far-infrared (FIR) maps from IRAS raw data. Enhanced star formation activity is revealed in all the group's members, including the early-type galaxy and the extended tidal tail, along which several tidal dwarf galaxy candidates are identified. The metallicity of the gaseous component is investigated and photoionization models are applied to the three main galaxies of the group, while a detailed study of the tidal dwarf candidates will appear in a companion paper. Subsolar metal abundances are found for all the three galaxies, the highest values being shown by the early-type galaxy (Z ~ 0.5 Zsolar).Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Optimizing CIGB-300 intralesional delivery in locally advanced cervical cancer

Background:We conducted a phase 1 trial in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer by injecting 0.5 ml of the CK2-antagonist CIGB-300 in two different sites on tumours to assess tumour uptake, safety, pharmacodynamic activity and identify the recommended dose.Methods:Fourteen patients were treated with intralesional injections containing 35 or 70 mg of CIGB-300 in three alternate cycles of three consecutive days each before standard chemoradiotherapy. Tumour uptake was determined using 99 Tc-radiolabelled peptide. In situ B23/nucleophosmin was determined by immunohistochemistry.Results:Maximum tumour uptake for CIGB-300 70-mg dose was significantly higher than the one observed for 35 mg: 16.1±8.9 vs 31.3±12.9 mg (P=0.01). Both, AUC 24h and biological half-life were also significantly higher using 70 mg of CIGB-300 (P<0.001). Unincorporated CIGB-300 diffused rapidly to blood and was mainly distributed towards kidneys, and marginally in liver, lungs, heart and spleen. There was no DLT and moderate allergic-like reactions were the most common systemic side effect with strong correlation between unincorporated CIGB-300 and histamine levels in blood. CIGB-300, 70 mg, downregulated B23/nucleophosmin (P=0.03) in tumour specimens.Conclusion:Intralesional injections of 70 mg CIGB-300 in two sites (0.5 ml per injection) and this treatment plan are recommended to be evaluated in phase 2 studies.Fil: Sarduy, M. R.. Medical-surgical Research Center; CubaFil: García, I.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Coca, M. A.. Clinical Investigation Center; CubaFil: Perera, A.. Clinical Investigation Center; CubaFil: Torres, L. A.. Clinical Investigation Center; CubaFil: Valenzuela, C. M.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Baladrón, I.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Solares, M.. Hospital Materno Ramón González Coro; CubaFil: Reyes, V.. Center For Genetic Engineering And Biotechnology Havana; CubaFil: Hernández, I.. Isotope Center; CubaFil: Perera, Y.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Martínez, Y. M.. Medical-surgical Research Center; CubaFil: Molina, L.. Medical-surgical Research Center; CubaFil: González, Y. M.. Medical-surgical Research Center; CubaFil: Ancízar, J. A.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Prats, A.. Clinical Investigation Center; CubaFil: González, L.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Casacó, C. A.. Clinical Investigation Center; CubaFil: Acevedo, B. E.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: López Saura, P. A.. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; CubaFil: Alonso, Daniel Fernando. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; ArgentinaFil: Gómez, R.. Elea Laboratories; ArgentinaFil: Perea Rodríguez, S. E.. Center For Genetic Engineering And Biotechnology Havana; Cuba. Centro de Ingeniería Genética y Biotecnología; Cub

Mind the Gap: A Study in Global Development through Persistent Homology

The Gapminder project set out to use statistics to dispel simplistic notions about global development. In the same spirit, we use persistent homology, a technique from computational algebraic topology, to explore the relationship between country development and geography. For each country, four indicators, gross domestic product per capita; average life expectancy; infant mortality; and gross national income per capita, were used to quantify the development. Two analyses were performed. The first considers clusters of the countries based on these indicators, and the second uncovers cycles in the data when combined with geographic border structure. Our analysis is a multi-scale approach that reveals similarities and connections among countries at a variety of levels. We discover localized development patterns that are invisible in standard statistical methods

Critical points: interctions between on-farm irrigation systems and water distribution network. Application in Bembezar M.D., Spain

Premio extraordinario de Trabajo Fin de Máster curso 2012-2013.Proyectos y Gestión de Plantas AgroindustrialesIn this work, a new model useful to analyze interactions between the on-farm irrigation system supplied by critical points and the water supply network management is developed. The model evaluates the impacts of changes in the pressure head and demand simultaneity on the irrigation systems and evaluates the emitters’ discharge and uniformity. Also, the potential reductions in yield due to lower uniformity are evaluated. The methodology is applied in Bembézar Irrigation District (Southern Spain). Results showed that the additional cost required for giving maximum pressure in the critical point does not offset the increase in yield. Hence, an increment from 91.7 % to 92.1 % in yield in the critical field would represent increases in energy consumption from 0.15 kWh m-3 to 0.17 kWh m-3. Also, the unit energy cost could be reduced in up to 0.11 kWh m-3 not implying significant reductions in yield. The importance of a good election of emitters in the critical fields is also evaluated

Avoiding unfairness of Owen allocations in linear production processes

This paper deals with cooperation situations in linear production problems in which a set of goods are to be produced from a set of resources so that a certain benefit function is maximized, assuming that resources not used in the production plan have no value by themselves. The Owen set is a well-known solution rule for the class of linear production processes. Despite their stability properties, Owen allocations might give null payoff to players that are necessary for optimal production plans. This paper shows that, in general, the aforementioned drawback cannot be avoided allowing only allocations within the core of the cooperative game associated to the original linear production process, and therefore a new solution set named EOwen is introduced. For any player whose resources are needed in at least one optimal production plan, the EOwen set contains at least one allocation that assigns a strictly positive payoff to such player. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.The authors want to thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology for providing financial support under Grants MTM200767433 and MTM201019576, and the Junta de Andalucia/Feder (Spain) under Grant FQM5849. Special thanks are due to two anonymous referees for their valuable comments and suggestions.Perea Rojas Marcos, F.; Puerto Albandoz, J.; Fernández García, FR. (2012). Avoiding unfairness of Owen allocations in linear production processes. European Journal of Operational Research. 220(1):125-131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2012.01.013S125131220