A Crystalline Criterion for Good Reduction on Semi-stable K3-Surfaces over a p-Adic Field

In this thesis we prove a $p$-adic analogous of the Kulikov-Persson-Pinkham classification theorem for the central fibre of a degeneration of $K3$-surfaces in terms of the nilpotency degree of the monodromy of the family \citep{Persson:1981wp}. Namely, let $X_K$ be a be a smooth, projective $K3$-surface which has a minimal semistable model $X$ over \mcal O_K. If we let $N_{st}$ be the monodromy operator on D_{st}(H^2_{\et}(X_{\oln K},\Qp)), then we prove that the degree of nilpotency of $N_{st}$ determines the type of the special fibre of $X$. As a consequence we give a criterion for the good reduction of the semi-stable $K3$-surface $X_K$ over the $p$-adic field $K$ in terms of its $p$-adic representation H^2_{\et}(X_{\oln K},\Qp), which is similar to the criterion of good reduction for $p$-adic abelian varieties and curves given by \citep{Coleman:1997vg} and \citep{Iovita:2013ts}

Irregular alignment of arbitrarily long DNA sequences on GPU

The use of Graphics Processing Units to accelerate computational applications is increasingly being adopted due to its affordability, flexibility and performance. However, achieving top performance comes at the price of restricted data-parallelism models. In the case of sequence alignment, most GPU-based approaches focus on accelerating the Smith-Waterman dynamic programming algorithm due to its regularity. Nevertheless, because of its quadratic complexity, it becomes impractical when comparing long sequences, and therefore heuristic methods are required to reduce the search space. We present GPUGECKO, a CUDA implementation for the sequential, seed-and-extend sequence-comparison algorithm, GECKO. Our proposal includes optimized kernels based on collective operations capable of producing arbitrarily long alignments while dealing with heterogeneous and unpredictable load. Contrary to other state-of-the-art methods, GPUGECKO employs a batching mechanism that prevents memory exhaustion by not requiring to fit all alignments at once into the device memory, therefore enabling to run massive comparisons exhaustively with improved sensitivity while also providing up to 6x average speedup w.r.t. the CUDA acceleration of BLASTN.Funding for open access publishing: Universidad Málaga/CBUA /// This work has been partially supported by the European project ELIXIR-EXCELERATE (grant no. 676559), the Spanish national project Plataforma de Recursos Biomoleculares y Bioinformáticos (ISCIII-PT13.0001.0012 and ISCIII-PT17.0009.0022), the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (UMA18-FEDERJA-156, UMA20-FEDERJA-059), the Junta de Andalucía (P18-FR-3130), the Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga IBIMA and the University of Málaga

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Latin America

The PLATINO and PREPOCOL population-based studies documented the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in several Latin American (Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Montevideo, Santiago and Caracas) and Colombian (Medellin, Bogota, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga and Cali) cities. COPD ranged between 6.2 and 19.6% in individuals ≥40 years of age, with substantial rates of underdiagnosis (up to 89%) but also overdiagnosis, mostly due to the lack of spirometric confirmation. The main risk factor was tobacco smoking, but male gender and age were also associated with COPD. COPD in never smokers represented about one third of the cases and was associated with previous history of tuberculosis or a diagnosis of asthma. COPD associated with biomass smoke exposure was a common clinical phenotype in Latin America, found as a risk factor in PREPOCOL and other observational studies in the region. Smoking has been decreasing in Latin America and efforts have been made to implement cleaner biomass stoves. Unfortunately, treatment of COPD in Latin America remains highly variable with low rates of smoking cessation counselling, low use of inhaled bronchodilators and influenza vaccination. A primary-care approach to COPD, particularly in the form of integrated programs is lacking but would be critical to improving rates of diagnosis and treatment of COPD

Monitoring sea level by tide gauges and GPS at Barcelona and Estartit harbours

The presentation is directed to the description of the actual situation of the geodetic infrastructure of Barcelona and l’Estartit sites for sea level determination and contribution to regional sea level risePostprint (published version

First biological data of Ceresa nigripectus (Hemiptera: Membracidae), a common treehopper on alfalfa crops in Argentina

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.; Fabaceae) is essential for argentinean agricultural development, but diseases like "witches' broom', caused by the ArAWB phytoplasma, are limiting factors for the production of this crop. Insects that visit alfalfa have been poorly studied. The treehopper, Ceresa nigripectus Remes Lenicov (Hemiptera: Membracidae) is very frequent in alfalfa crops; ArAWB was detected in several individuals of this treehopper, but the ability of this species to transmit the pathogen has not yet been demonstrated. The Membracidae family is a poorly studied group in Argentina. No data on the biology of C. nigripectus are available, and therefore the aim of this contribution is to provide information on its behavioral and biological parameters as a first step toward its control. The studies were conducted in the laboratory under controlled conditions. Ceresa nigripectus populations were maintained on healthy alfalfa plants; the treehoppers were checked daily, the occurrence of molts was noted, and diverse aspects of nymphal and adult behavior were also recorded. A life table was built combining the observational data from 7 cohorts. Oviposition sites were characterized by dissecting plants and through staining methods. Ceresa nigripectus could complete its life cycle entirely by using only alfalfa as a host. Females do not tend their broods. Eggs are laid individually and rarely 2 or 3 were found in the same slit. Eggs were located in the stems, in the nodes (in the axils of the leaves) or in the internodal space, between the epidermis and cortical tissues. The pre-ovipositional period was about 6 days, and the average duration of the egg stage was 20 days. The duration of nymphal period was variable, between 32 to 63 days, with a mean of 45 days. Two periods of high mortality were recognized, i.e., in the first instar, and during the second week of the adult stage. Longevity of adults averaged 61 days, but some individuals survived up to 202 days; females lived longer than males. In laboratory colonies, the sex ratio was about 1.3:1 females:males. All the developmental stages of the treehopper were tended by the ant Camponotus punctulatus Mayr. Data regarding behavioral aspects and new distributional information are also provided.La alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.; Fabaceae) es esencial para el desarrollo de la agricultura argentina y enfermedades como la “escoba de bruja”, causada por el fitoplasma ArAWB, son un factor limitante para la producción del cultivo. La fauna que visita este forraje ha sido escasamente estudiada en Argentina. Ceresa nigripectus Remes Lenicov es muy frecuente en alfalfa; estudios de laboratorio verificaron la presencia del ArAWB, pero su capacidad para transmitir la enfermedad todavía no ha sido demostrada. Membracidae es un grupo poco estudiado en el país, no hay datos sobre la biología de C. nigripectus y por ello el objetivo de esta contribución es proporcionar información sobre sus parámetros biológicos y comportamentales. Los estudios se realizaron en laboratorio bajo condiciones controladas. C. nigripectus se mantuvo sobre plantas sanas de alfalfa y para estudiar el ciclo de vida, los individuos fueron controlados diariamente observando presencia de mudas; aspectos del comportamiento de ninfas y adultos también fueron registrados. Se construyó una tabla de vida mediante la combinación de datos obtenidos en siete cohortes. La localización de posturas se realizó por disección de las plantas y a través de métodos de tinción. Esta especie es capaz de completar todo su ciclo de vida sobre alfalfa. Se estableció que las hembras de C. nigripectus no atienden a su progenie. Los huevos son depositados individualmente y pocas veces se encontraron dos o tres en la misma postura, la que se encuentra principalmente en los nudos (en las axilas de las hojas) o en el entrenudo (entre la epidermis y tejidos corticales). El período de pre-oviposición es corto (seis días) y la duración promedio del estado de huevo es 20 días. El período ninfal es variable, entre 32 y 63 días, con una media de 45 días. Se reconocieron dos períodos de alta mortalidad: el primer estadío ninfal, y durante la segunda semana de vida de los adultos. La longevidad promedió 61 días, pero algunos individuos vivieron hasta 202 días; las hembras viven más que los machos. En laboratorio, la proporción de sexos es aproximadamente 1,3:1 hembras:machos. Tanto ninfas como adulto son atendidos por la hormiga Camponotus punctulatus Mayr. Se proporcionan también datos relativos al comportamiento y distribución de la especie.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse