Datacab: a geographical‐information‐system‐based expert system for the design of cable networks

Telecommunication networks have evolved over time as a result of technological advances, and network topologies and equipment have become increasingly complex. Expert systems are being successfully applied to the management of telecommunication networks. However, applying expert systems to network design is another especially beneficial yet still not very common approach. In this paper we propose a rule‐based expert system called Datacab. Datacab was developed at Enditel Endesa in collaboration with the Electronic Technology Department of the University of Seville, for the automatic design of hybrid fibre coax (HFC) cable networks. Using data from a geographical information system as input, it automatically generates viable HFC network designs

Alpha power decreases associated with prediction in written and spoken sentence comprehension

Alpha and beta power decreases have been associated with prediction in a variety of cognitive domains. Recent studies in sentence comprehension have also reported alpha and/or beta power decreases preceding contextually predictable words, albeit with remarkable spatiotemporal variability across reports. To contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, and the sources of variability, the present study explored to what extent these prediction-related alpha and beta power decreases might be common across different modalities of comprehension. To address this, we re-analysed the data of two EEG experiments that employed the same materials in written and in spoken comprehension. Sentence contexts were weakly or strongly constraining about a sentence-final word, which was presented after a 1 s delay, either matching or mismatching the expectation. In written comprehension, alpha power (8-12 Hz) decreased before final words appearing in strongly (relative to weakly) constraining contexts, in line with previous reports. Furthermore, a similar oscillatory phenomenon was evidenced in spoken comprehension, although with relevant spatiotemporal differences. Altogether, the findings agree with the involvement of both modality-specific and general-domain mechanisms in the elicitation of prediction-related alpha power decreases in sentence comprehension. Specifically, we propose that this phenomenon might partly reflect richer and more precise information representation when linguistic contexts afford prediction

Heterogeneous data source integration for smart grid ecosystems based on metadata mining

The arrival of new technologies related to smart grids and the resulting ecosystem of applications andmanagement systems pose many new problems. The databases of the traditional grid and the variousinitiatives related to new technologies have given rise to many different management systems with several formats and different architectures. A heterogeneous data source integration system is necessary toupdate these systems for the new smart grid reality. Additionally, it is necessary to take advantage of theinformation smart grids provide. In this paper, the authors propose a heterogeneous data source integration based on IEC standards and metadata mining. Additionally, an automatic data mining framework isapplied to model the integrated information.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2013-40767-

Ahead of time: Early sentence slow cortical modulations associated to semantic prediction

According to prediction-based accounts of language comprehension, incoming contextual information is constantly used to guide the pre-activation of the most probable continuations to the unfolding sentences. However, there is still scarce evidence of the build-up of these predictions during sentence comprehension. Using event-related brain potentials, we investigated sustained processes associated to semantic prediction during online sentence comprehension. To address this, participants read sentences with varying levels of contextual constraint one word at a time. A 1000 ms interval preceded the final word, which could be congruent or incongruent. A slow sustained negativity developed gradually over the course of sentences, showing differences across conditions, with increasingly larger amplitudes for high than low levels of constraint. The effect was maximal in the interval preceding the closing word. This interval elicited a left- dominant slow negative potential with a graded amplitude modulation to contextual constraint, replicating previous results in speech comprehension. We argue that these slow potentials index the engagement of cognitive operations associated to semantic prediction. In addition, we replicated the finding of an earlier onset of the N400 effect (incongruent minus congruent) for high relative to low contextual constraint, suggesting facilitated processing for contextually-supported and highly expected words. Altogether, these results are consistent with prediction-based models of language comprehension and they also strengthen the value of investigating slow components as potential indices of mechanisms linked to language predictionPSI2013-43516-R, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness FPU "Ayudas para la Formación de Profesorado Universitario", Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Spor

Targeting the hemangioblast with a novel cell type-specific enhancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hemangioblasts are known as the common precursors for primitive hematopoietic and endothelial lineages. Their existence has been supported mainly by the observation that both cell types develop in close proximity and by in vitro differentiation and genetic studies. However, more compelling evidence will arise from tracking their cell fates using a lineage-specific marker.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We report the identification of a hemangioblast-specific enhancer (Hb) located in the <it>cis</it>-regulatory region of chick <it>Cerberus </it>gene (<it>cCer</it>) that is able to direct the expression of enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) to the precursors of yolk sac blood and endothelial cells in electroporated chick embryos. Moreover, we present the Hb-eGFP reporter as a powerful live imaging tool for visualizing hemangioblast cell fate and blood island morphogenesis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We hereby introduce the Hb enhancer as a valuable resource for genetically targeting the hemangioblast population as well as for studying the dynamics of vascular and blood cell development.</p

SABIO: Soft Agent for Extended Information Retrieval

In the current study, an integrated system called SABIO is presented. The current system applies Information Retrieval (IR) techniques developed for collections of textual documents to nontextual corpa. SABIO integrates a fuzzy logic-based procedure for IR. Its search algorithm improves the IR efficiency and decreases the computational burden by using a fuzzy logic-based procedure for IR. This procedure is integrated in a flexible and fault-tolerant, human-reasoning-based search algorithm. The Accumulated Knowledge Set (AKS) of the system is sorted in a hierarchic multilevel tree-structure-like ontology. The objects in the AKS are represented using a novel human-reasoning-based-method. This representation takes into account the occurrence of related terms. The system uses a novel fuzzy logic-based term-weighting (TW) method. The developed fuzzy logic method improves the classical term frequency–inverse document frequency (TF=IDF) method, generally used for TW. The abovementioned system is the core of a wizard for search into the website of the University of Seville, www.us.es, which is currently in testing

V-ATPase Proton Pumping Activity Is Required for Adult Zebrafish Appendage Regeneration

The activity of ion channels and transporters generates ion-specific fluxes that encode electrical and/or chemical signals with biological significance. Even though it is long known that some of those signals are crucial for regeneration, only in recent years the corresponding molecular sources started to be identified using mainly invertebrate or larval vertebrate models. We used adult zebrafish caudal fin as a model to investigate which and how ion transporters affect regeneration in an adult vertebrate model. Through the combined use of biophysical and molecular approaches, we show that V-ATPase activity contributes to a regeneration-specific H+ ef`flux. The onset and intensity of both V-ATPase expression and H+ efflux correlate with the different regeneration rate along the proximal-distal axis. Moreover, we show that V-ATPase inhibition impairs regeneration in adult vertebrate. Notably, the activity of this H+ pump is necessary for aldh1a2 and mkp3 expression, blastema cell proliferation and fin innervation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the role of V-ATPase during adult vertebrate regeneration.FCT fellowships: ( SFRH/BD/45131/2008, SFRH/BPD/29957/2006), FCT grant (POCTI-ISFL-4-66), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain (Subprograma Ramon y Cajal, reference RYC-2008-02753 and grant BFU2009-12279)

Tbx2 and Tbx3 Regulate the Dynamics of Cell Proliferation during Heart Remodeling

BACKGROUND: The heart forms from a linear tube that is subject to complex remodeling during embryonic development. Hallmarks of this remodeling are the looping of the heart tube and the regionalization into chamber and non-chamber myocardium. Cardiomyocytes in the future chamber myocardium acquire different cellular and physiological characteristics through activation of a chamber-specific genetic program, which is in part mediated by T-box genes. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDING: We characterize two new zebrafish T-box transcription factors, tbx3b and tbx2a, and analyze their role during the development of the atrioventricular canal. Loss- and gain-of-function analyses demonstrate that tbx3b and tbx2a are necessary to repress the chamber-genetic program in the non-chamber myocardium. We also show that tbx3b and tbx2a are required to control cell proliferation in the atrioventricular canal and that misregulation of cell proliferation in the heart tube influences looping. Furthermore, we characterize the heart phenotype of a novel Tbx3 mutation in mice and show that both the control of cell proliferation and the repression of chamber-specific genetic program in the non-chamber myocardium are conserved roles of Tbx3 in this species. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Taken together, our results uncover an evolutionarily conserved role of Tbx2/3 transcription factors during remodeling of the heart myocardium and highlight the importance of controlling cell proliferation as a driving force of morphogenesis

Customer Identification for Electricity Retailers Based on Monthly Demand Profiles by Activity Sectors and Locations

The increasing competition in the electric sector is challenging retail companies as they must assign its commercial efforts to attract the most profitable customers. Those are whose energy demand best fit certain target profiles, which usually depend on generation or cost policies. But, even when the demand profile is available, it is in an anonymous way, preventing its association to a particular client. In this paper, we explore a large dataset containing several millions of monthly demand profiles in Spain and use the available information about the associated economic sector and location for an indirect identification of the customers. The distance of the demand profile from the target is used to define a key performance indicator (KPI) which is used as the main driver of the proposed marketing strategy. The combined use of activity and location has been revealed as a powerful tool for indirect identification of customers, as 100,000 customers are uniquely identified, while about 300,000 clients are identifiable in small sets containing 10 or less consumers. To assess the proposed marketing strategy, it has been compared to the random attraction of new clients, showing a reduction of distance from the target of 40% for 10,000 new customers