A Set of Prescribed Activities for Enhancing Requirements Engineering in the Development of Usable E-Government Applications

Over the last years, e-Government applications have become indispensable in every country as they help stakeholders carry out tasks with the administration. However, and despite their growing usage, most of these applications are created through a developercentered approach instead of a user-centered one, using traditional development processes that do not fit well with the diversity of stakeholders and existing legislation that involve e-Government applications today. Besides, usability is an important clue in the development of such solutions, so a user-centered approach, combined with a successful stakeholder and legislation analysis, should be considered overall. This paper is focused on addressing these concerns, and it provides a set of prescribed activities, tasks and products to be carried through a user-centered process in order to design usable web-based e-Government solutions. Specifically, our approach considers requirements engineering activities enhancing usability by analyzing the diversity and interests of the stakeholders involved, as well as the specific legislation as a source of organizational requirements. In addition, a validation is provided through a case study, showing the feasibility of the approach presentedThis work has been partially supported by the funding projects «Flexor» (grant number TIN2014-52129-R) granted by the Spanish Government and «eMadrid» (grant number S2013/ICE-2715) granted by the Madrid Research Council

Advanced titanium scaffolds obtained by directional freeze-drying: on the influence of processing conditions

Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain under Grant No. MAT2010-20855Junta de Andalucía (Spain) / FEDER (EU), through the project Ref. P12-TEP-140

Nueva lápida árabe de Trujillo

Fragment of a new Arab stone with Kufic inscription inside an arch and with merlons and flowers found at Trujillo (Cáceres).Fragmento de una nueva lápida árabe con inscripción cúfica enmarcada en un arco y con adornos de almenas y florones encontrada en Trujillo (Cáceres)

Design of a sun tracker for the automatic measurement of spectral irradiance and construction of an irradiance database in the 330-1100 nm range

An automatic global and direct solar spectral irradiance system has been designed based on two LICOR spectroradiometers equipped with fibre optics and remote cosine sensors. To measure direct irradiance a sun tracker based on step motors has been developed. The whole system is autonomous and works continuously. From the measurements provided by this system a spectral irradiance database in the 330-1100 nm range has been created. This database contains normal direct and global horizontal irradiances as well as diffuse irradiance on a horizontal plane, together with total atmospheric optical thickness and aerosol optical depth

Aristolochia quiricoana (Aristolochiaceae), a new species from southern Costa Rica

Background and Aims: Aristolochia is the largest genus in Aristolochiaceae and is widely distributed in the world. A recent synopsis of Aristolochia in Costa Rica recognized 19 species; nevertheless, recent botanical exploration in southwestern Costa Rica has revealed yet another new species of this genus. Methods: The new species resulted from fieldwork in Buenos Aires, Puntarenas Province. Specimens from several herbaria were examined, as well as the type material of the most morphologically similar species. Comments about its distribution, habitat, phenology, conservation status and morphological distinction from related species are provided. Key results: Aristolochia quiricoana, a member of Aristolochia series Thyrsicae, is described and illustrated from the southern Pacific region of Costa Rica, where it is apparently endemic. It is similar to A. ornithorhyncha, from which it is distinguished by its shorter pedicels, wider, oblong perigone limbs with a shorter appendix, and a different floral color pattern. Conclusions: The new taxon described here represents the 22nd species documented in Aristolochia series Thyrsicae, as well as the 20th species of the genus from Costa Rica

The BRIKEN Project: extensive measurements of ß-delayed neutron emitters for the astrophysical r process

An ambitious program to measure decay properties, primarily ß-delayed neutron emission probabilities and half-lives, for a significant number of nuclei near or on the path of the rapid neutron capture process, has been launched at the RIKEN Nishina Center. We give here an overview of the status of the project.Postprint (published version

A comparison of Microtops II and satellite ozone measurements in the period 2001-2011

Daily average total ozone Microtops measurements obtained during several campaigns conducted from 2001 to 2011 at latitudes from 31 to 68°N and in different seasons are compared with satellite observations. The Microtops ozone is derived using different wavelength combinations (Channel I, 305.5/312.5 nm; Channel II, 312.5/320 nm; and Channel III, 305.5/312.5/320 nm). Satellite data from TOMS, OMI, GOME, and GOME-2 are used in the comparison. The three Microtops channels show a high correlation with the satellite retrievals. Channel I shows the best results and produces a mean bias deviation (MBD) less than 2.14% with respect to TOMS, OMI and GOME. The MBD increases to 3% in the comparison against GOME-2, due to the small number of available data. In addition, the total ozone content provided by Channel I displays the more stable behavior during the ten-year period. The Channel III total ozone shows MBD values smaller than those observed for Channel I. However the Channels II and III present a larger variability and show a larger spread of the data. Consequently, Channel I appears as the best option for long term measurements with Microtops

Perinatal exposure to pesticides alters synaptic plasticity signaling and induces behavioral deficits associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Increasing evidence from animal and epidemiological studies indicates that perinatal exposure to pesticides cause developmental neurotoxicity and may increase the risk for psychiatric disorders such as autism and intellectual disability. However, the underlying pathogenic mechanisms remain largely elusive. This work was aimed at testing the hypothesis that developmental exposure to different classes of pesticides hijacks intracellular neuronal signaling contributing to synaptic and behavioral alterations associated with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). Low concentrations of organochlorine (dieldrin, endosulfan, and chlordane) and organophosphate (chlorpyrifos and its oxon metabolite) pesticides were chronically dosed ex vivo (organotypic rat hippocampal slices) or in vivo (perinatal exposure in rats), and then biochemical, electrophysiological, behavioral, and proteomic studies were performed. All the pesticides tested caused prolonged activation of MAPK/ERK pathway in a concentration-dependent manner. Additionally, some of them impaired metabotropic glutamate receptor-dependent long-term depression (mGluR-LTD). In the case of the pesticide chlordane, the effect was attributed to chronic modulation of MAPK/ERK signaling. These synaptic alterations were reproduced following developmental in vivo exposure to chlordane and chlorpyrifos-oxon, and were also associated with prototypical behavioral phenotypes of NDD, including impaired motor development, increased anxiety, and social and memory deficits. Lastly, proteomic analysis revealed that these pesticides differentially regulate the expression of proteins in the hippocampus with pivotal roles in brain development and synaptic signaling, some of which are associated with NDD. Based on these results, we propose a novel mechanism of synaptic dysfunction, involving chronic overactivation of MAPK and impaired mGluR-LTD, shared by different pesticides which may have important implications for NDD.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work was supported by the Intertalentum Postdoctoral Program (Marie Curie cofund UAM-UE, EU project 713366) for V.B. and by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (SAF2017-86983-R, PID2020-117651RB) and from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PCIN-2016– 095) for J.A.E.. V.B. was also recipient of the 2019 Eduardo Gallego postdoctoral fellowship from Fundación Francisco Cobos. M.I.C. was recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Economy (IJCI-2015–25507). E.LM. was recipient of a predoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (FPU18/02838).S

Functional Compartmentalization of Endosomal Trafficking for the Synaptic Delivery of AMPA Receptors during Long-Term Potentiation

Endosomal membrane trafficking in dendritic spines is important for proper synaptic function and plasticity. However, little is known about the molecular identity and functional compartmentalization of the membrane trafficking machinery operating at the postsynaptic terminal. Here we report that the transport of AMPA-type glutamate receptors into synapses occurs in two discrete steps, and we identify the specific endosomal functions that control this process during long-term potentiation. We found that Rab11-dependent endosomes translocate AMPA receptors from the dendritic shaft into spines. Subsequently, an additional endosomal trafficking step, controlled by Rab8, drives receptor insertion into the synaptic membrane. Separate from this receptor delivery route, we show that Rab4 mediates a constitutive endosomal recycling within the spine. This Rab4-dependent cycling is critical for maintaining spine size but does not influence receptor transport. Therefore, our data reveal a highly compartmentalized endosomal network within the spine and identify the molecular components and functional organization of the membrane organelles that mediate AMPA receptor synaptic delivery during plasticity.This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grants MH070417 (J.A.E.) and F31-MH070205 (T.C.B.). We thank Ronald Holz, Jeffrey Martens, Maria Soengas, and members of the Esteban laboratory for critical reading of this manuscript.Peer reviewe