Análisis temporal de la sostenibilidad a través de indicadores sintéticos. Una aplicación a las empresas de aguas portuguesas

En este trabajo proponemos evaluar la evolución de la sostenibilidad a través de un nuevo indicador sintético dinámico basado en la programación por metas. Dicho indicador permite cuantificar, para cada observación, si los cambios son debidos a factores externos o internos. Para ilustrar su funcionamiento, lo aplicamos a la evaluación de la sostenibilidad, entre 2012 y 2015, de 129 empresas de aguas portuguesas.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Competencias mediáticas para una ciudadanía crítica. Una reflexión activa desde el arte y la tecnología

La reflexión que planteamos analiza los cambios producidos en la forma de hacer propaganda política. Sobre todo nos centramos en cómo históricamente la propaganda política se hizo desde una perspectiva del uso del arte al servicio del poder y en la actualidad las nuevas tecnologías proponen nuevos valores a los términos procedentes del arte y una aplicación ambigua, que va desde la práctica política hasta la espectacularización de los mensajes

Evaluación dinámica de la sostenibilidad de empresas de aguas portuguesas

En este trabajo se pretende realizar una evaluación mediante indicadores sintéticos, de la sostenibilidad de empresas de aguas portuguesas a lo largo de dos periodos de tiempo. Para ello se utilizarán los datos públicos de dichas empresas en 2012 y 2015 y se analizará el cambio producido en el indicador por el comportamiento de las mismas, intentando mostrar aquellas que tienen un buen comportamiento temporal y a que es debido el mismo.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Sistema de instrumentación y control para la optimización energética de una piscina climatizada

El desconocimiento de los mecanismos que provocan las pérdidas térmicas en los vasos de las piscinas climatizadas provoca una fallida e ineficiente estrategia en la operación de las mismas. Una gestión energética más eficiente, junto con la utilización de fuentes de energía renovables como único aporte térmico, pueden producir una reducción considerable en los costes energéticos relativos a su explotación (hasta en un 80%). El objeto de este trabajo consiste en la instalación de un sistema de instrumentación y control que permita conocer todos los flujos energéticos que se dan en una piscina que incorpora dos fuentes de energía renovables distintas: solar y biomasa. Ambos sistemas satisfacen la demanda de cinco puntos de consumo distintos: calefacción de la sala de la piscina, calefacción de vestuarios y otras estancias, calentamiento del vaso de natación, calentamiento del vaso de chapoteo, y calentamiento de agua de las duchas (ACS). Este sistema de instrumentación y control permite validar empíricamente los distintos modelos propuestos en la bibliografía con el fin de optimizar la gestión de este tipo de instalaciones térmicas. La completa instrumentación incorpora 9 caudalímetros, 19 sondas de temperatura y una de humedad relativa, y es capaz de registrar 75 parámetros distintos con lapsos de tiempo de 10 minutos. La arquitectura del sistema está basada en módulos inalámbricos, con una centralita constituida por un computador conectado a internet para favorecer su acceso a distancia mediante ordenador, Tablet o teléfono móvil. Los datos registrados servirán para validar un modelo de simulación dinámica para piscinas climatizadas. De esta manera, se puede optimizar su consumo energético mediante una correcta gestión de sus instalaciones térmicas.Es necesario agradecer al Ayuntamiento de Archena por su incansable lucha en favor de la eficiencia energética de su instalación, así como por decidida apuesta por llevar a cabo esta instalación que tanto conocimiento podrá aportar a la ciencia

Long-term exhaustion of the inbreeding load in Drosophila melanogaster

Inbreeding depression, the decline in fitness of inbred individuals, is a ubiquitous phenomenon of great relevance in evolutionary biology and in the fields of animal and plant breeding and conservation. Inbreeding depression is due to the expression of recessive deleterious alleles that are concealed in heterozygous state in noninbred individuals, the so-called inbreeding load. Genetic purging reduces inbreeding depression by removing these alleles when expressed in homozygosis due to inbreeding. It is generally thought that fast inbreeding (such as that generated by full-sib mating lines) removes only highly deleterious recessive alleles, while slow inbreeding can also remove mildly deleterious ones. However, a question remains regarding which proportion of the inbreeding load can be removed by purging under slow inbreeding in moderately large populations. We report results of two long-term slow inbreeding Drosophila experiments (125–234 generations), each using a large population and a number of derived lines with effective sizes about 1000 and 50, respectively. The inbreeding load was virtually exhausted after more than one hundred generations in large populations and between a few tens and over one hundred generations in the lines. This result is not expected from genetic drift alone, and is in agreement with the theoretical purging predictions. Computer simulations suggest that these results are consistent with a model of relatively few deleterious mutations of large homozygous effects and partially recessive gene actionAgencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) | Ref. PGC2018-095810-B-I00Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) | Ref. PID2020-114426GB-C21Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED431C 2020-0

Capacidad ergódica de sistemas MIMO basados en antenas con polarización dual

MIMO systems based on dual-polarized antennas at transmitter and receiver constitute an interesting alternative to conventional MIMO configurations. This paper analyzes the ergodic capacity of such systems in urban micro- and picocellular environments. The MIMO channel is modeled by using a site-specific ray-tracing propagation tool. This technique permits to analyze the impact of environmental parameters, like antennas location and orientation, on the system performance. Ergodic capacity estimations in a specific urban environment are presented

MicroRNAs Sequencing for Understanding the Genetic Regulation of Plant Genomes

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous non-coding RNAs that play important regulatory roles in animals and plants by targeting mRNAs for cleavage or translational repression. Small RNAs are classified into different types by their biogenesis and mode of action, such as miRNAs, siRNAs, piRNAs, and snoRNAs. In the case of miRNAs, this specific type regulates gene expression in plants and animals by targeting mRNAs for cleavage and translational repression, respectively. Diverse miRNAs regulate plant development, metabolism, and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. The identification of miRNAs has been accomplished in diverse species, organs and developmental or diverse biotic and abiotic stress conditions. Novel massive sequencing techniques and further bioinformatics analysis have allowed the identification of hundreds of miRNAs in Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, Malus domestica, Zea mays, Solanum lycopersicum, and other plants. Functional characterization of a given miRNA in a specific biological context has shown their role in the fine-tuning mechanisms of posttranscriptional gene regulation. In this chapter, besides making a summary of genome-wide miRNA profiling in plants, we describe how gain and loss of function approaches influence plant phenotypes that affect development, physiology or stress responses, pointing to miRNAs as effective tools for the generation of new plant phenotypes that improve plant productivity and conservation

Prevalence, etiology, and outcome of catheterization laboratory false alarms in patients with suspected ST-elevation myocardial infarction

[Abstract] Introduction and objectives. To investigate the prevalence, causes and outcome of catheterization laboratory false alarms (CLFAs) in a regional primary angioplasty network. Methods. A prospective registry of 1,662 patients referred for primary angioplasty between January 2003 and August 2008 was reviewed to identify CLFAs (i.e. when no culprit coronary lesion could be found). Results. No culprit coronary lesion could be identified in 120 patients (7.2%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 5.9- 8.5%). Of these, 104 (6.3%, 95% CI, 5.1-7.4%) had a discharge diagnosis other than ST-elevation myocardial infarction, 91 (5.5%; 95% CI, 4.3-6.6%) had no significant coronary disease, and 64 (3.8%; 95% CI, 2.9-4.8%) tested negative for cardiac biomarkers. The most frequent alternative diagnoses were: previous Q-wave myocardial infarction (18 cases), nonspecific ST-segment abnormalities (11), pericarditis (10) and transient apical dyskinesia (10). The 30-day mortality rate was similar in patients with and without culprit lesions (5.8% vs. 5.8%; P=.99). The prevalence of CLFAs was slightly higher in patients not previously evaluated by a cardiologist and referred from emergency departments in hospitals without catheterization laboratories than in those referred by cardiologists from emergency departments at hospitals with such facilities (9.5% vs. 6.1%; P=.02; odds ratio=1.64; 95% CI, 1.08-2.5). The prevalence of CLFAs was not significantly higher in patients referred by physicians with out-of-hospital emergency medical services (7.2%; P=.51; odds ratio=1.37; 95% CI, 0.79-2.37). Conclusions. The prevalence of CLFAs was 7.2%, with the criterion of no culprit coronary lesion. Our findings suggest that different patterns of referral to catheterization laboratories could account for small variations in the prevalence of CLFAs.[Resumen] Introducción y objetivos. Determinar prevalencia, causas y pronóstico de las «falsas alarmas» al laboratorio de hemodinámica (FALH) en una red regional de angioplastia primaria. Métodos. Registro prospectivo de 1.662 pacientes remitidos para angioplastia primaria entre enero de 2003 y agosto de 2008. Se definió FALH como ausencia de lesión coronaria causal. Resultados. En 120 pacientes (7,2%; intervalo de confianza [IC] del 95%, 5,9-8,5) no se identificó ninguna lesión coronaria causal. De ellos, 104 (6,3%; IC del 95%, 5,1-7,4) recibieron un diagnóstico alternativo a IAMCEST, 91 (5,5%; IC del 95%, 4,3-6,6) no presentaron enfermedad coronaria significativa y 64 (3,8%; IC del 95%, 2,9-4,8) presentaron marcadores de daño miocárdico negativos. Los diagnósticos alternativos más frecuentes fueron: infarto con onda Q previo (18 casos), alteraciones inespecíficas del segmento ST (11), pericarditis (10) y discinesia apical transitoria (10). La mortalidad a 30 días fue similar en los pacientes con y sin lesión causal (el 5,8 frente al 5,8%; p = 0,99). La prevalencia de FALH fue discretamente superior entre los pacientes remitidos desde los servicios de urgencias de hospitales no intervencionistas sin evaluación previa por un cardiólogo que entre los remitidos por cardiólogos desde el servicio de urgencias del hospital intervencionista (el 9,5 frente al 6,1%; p = 0,02; odds ratio [OR] = 1,64; IC del 95%, 1,08-2,5). No observamos un exceso de FALH entre los pacientes remitidos por médicos de UVI Móviles-061 (7,2%; p = 0,51; OR = 1,37; IC del 95%, 0,79-2,37). Conclusiones. Hemos observado una prevalencia de FALH del 7,2% de acuerdo con el criterio de ausencia de lesión coronaria causal. Nuestros resultados indican que diferentes modelos de activación del laboratorio de hemodinámica podrían justificar discretas variaciones en la prevalencia de FALH

Autonomous aerial robot for high-speed search and intercept applications

In recent years, high-speed navigation and environment interaction in the context of aerial robotics has become a field of interest for several academic and industrial research studies. In particular, Search and Intercept (SaI) applications for aerial robots pose a compelling research area due to their potential usability in several environments. Nevertheless, SaI tasks involve a challenging development regarding sensory weight, onboard computation resources, actuation design, and algorithms for perception and control, among others. In this work, a fully autonomous aerial robot for high-speed object grasping has been proposed. As an additional subtask, our system is able to autonomously pierce balloons located in poles close to the surface. Our first contribution is the design of the aerial robot at an actuation and sensory level consisting of a novel gripper design with additional sensors enabling the robot to grasp objects at high speeds. The second contribution is a complete software framework consisting of perception, state estimation, motion planning, motion control, and mission control in order to rapidly and robustly perform the autonomous grasping mission. Our approach has been validated in a challenging international competition and has shown outstanding results, being able to autonomously search, follow, and grasp a moving object at 6 m/s in an outdoor environment.Agencia Estatal de InvestigaciónKhalifa Universit

CryoEM structures of the SARS-CoV-2 spike bound to antivirals

(Póster 63) Background: Single-particle cryoelectron microscopy (cryoEM) has played a key role in the fight against COVID-19. The molecular mechanisms for the action of some of the currently approved drugs targeting the SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, the fast developments of the current available vaccines and antibody therapies are examples of the impact of the knowledge gained from the cryoEM structures of SARS-CoV-2 proteins in complex with proteins (ACE2 or antibodies/nanobodies) or small compounds. Our aim is to use this technology to understand structurally how certain antiviral compounds and proteins targeting the spike may inhibit viral entry. Methods: 1) Production of wild-type and mutated spike and ACE2 proteins using baculovirus/insect cells. 2) Spike binding kinetics: protein-protein and protein-small compound interactions measured by BLI Biolayer interferometry (BLI) and/or microscale Thermophoresis (MST). 3) Buffer optimization for cryoEM grid preparation of spike variants by thermal shift assays and negative-staining electron microscopy (NSEM). These techniques are also used to adjust the molar ratio of spike:ACE2 and spike:small-compound complexes. 4) Structural characterization by cryoEM. Results: At IBV-CSIC we have created a pipeline for the production and characterization of several spike variants and ACE2 decoys. While this pipeline is described in detail in other oral/poster communications, this communication is centered around one of the pillars within this pipeline; the structural characterization of possible drug candidates bound to the SARS-CoV-2 spike by cryoEM. In this way, we have successfully solved structures of the spike bound to: A) protein inhibitors as ACE2 decoys; B) a small inhibitory compound; C) mixtures of proteins and small-compound (nanobody-heparan derivative) working cooperatively as inhibitors. These protein/drug candidates were previously selected based on the results obtained in our interactomics platform, whereas their concentration and the buffer conditions for cryoEM grids preparation were established based on thermal shift assays and NSEM. Conclusion: CryoEM is a powerful tool to directly visualize the effect caused by a potential drug on a protein target. In a short period of time we have developed this technique in our institute to be applied to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, not only to obtain high-resolution structures of SARS- CoV-2 spike variants of concern (see WP4) but also to obtain the structures of complexes of the spike with various inhibitory compounds of very different nature