State space reparametrization for approximating nonlinear models in Bayesian state estimation

Recursive Bayesian state estimation is a powerful methodology which is useful for the integration of data about a process of interest while considering all the sources of uncertainty which are present in the observations and in modeling inaccuracies. However, in its general form it is intractable and approximations need to be made in order to use it in real life applications. The most widely used algorithm to perform recursive state estimation is the Kalman filter, which assumes that the probability distributions that it propagates are Gaussian and that the measurement and dynamical processes are linear. If these assumptions are satisfied, the Kalman filter is optimal. In most applications, however, this proves to be an oversimplification, due to which several techniques have arisen to handle model non-linearity and different types of distributions. In this thesis, a novel method for the estimation of distributions with nonlinear dynamical and measurement models is presented, which uses a reparametrization of the state space of the distributions in order to exploit the linear properties of the Kalman filter. This involves the mapping of the distribution into a different space, and a subsequent approximation as a Gaussian distribution. An analysis of the adequacy of this transformation is presented, which shows that it is a valid approach in a number of practically interesting filtering problems. The proposed approach is applied to the estimation of the state of Earth-orbiting objects, as it is a challenging estimation scenario which can benefit from the use of filter. Space situational awareness is increasingly important as near-Earth space becomes cluttered with satellites and debris. In this work, the sensors that are most commonly used to track objects in orbit, radars and telescopes, are modeled and a filter based on the previously discussed ideas is proposed. Finally, a multi-object estimation filter based on a recent estimation framework is presented which propagates high amounts of information while maintaining low computational complexity. This is important as there are many challenges to tracking large amounts of orbiting objects in a principled way using ground-based sensors, and naturally extends the single object filter described above to the multi-sensor, multi-object case

Reactive oxygen species generated in chloroplasts contribute to tobacco leaf infection by the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play fundamental roles in plant responses to pathogen infection, including modulation of cell death processes and defense-related gene expression. Cell death triggered as part of the hypersensitive response enhances resistance to biotrophic pathogens, but favors the virulence of necrotrophs. Even though the involvement of ROS in the orchestration of defense responses is well established, the relative contribution of specific subcellular ROS sources to plant resistance against microorganisms with different pathogenesis strategies is not completely known. The aim of this work was to investigate the role of chloroplastic ROS in plant defense against a typical necrotrophic fungus, Botrytis cinerea. For this purpose, we used transgenic Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco) lines expressing a plastid-targeted cyanobacterial flavodoxin (pfld lines), which accumulate lower chloroplastic ROS in response to different stresses. Tissue damage and fungal growth were significantly reduced in infected leaves of pfld plants, as compared with infected wild-type (WT) counterparts. ROS build-up triggered by Botrytis infection and associated with chloroplasts was significantly decreased (70–80%) in pfld leaves relative to the wild type. Phytoalexin accumulation and expression of pathogenesis-related genes were induced to a lower degree in pfld plants than in WT siblings. The impact of fungal infection on photosynthetic activity was also lower in pfld leaves. The results indicate that chloroplast-generated ROS play a major role in lesion development during Botrytis infection. This work demonstrates that the modulation of chloroplastic ROS levels by the expression of a heterologous antioxidant protein can provide a significant degree of protection against a canonical necrotrophic fungus.Fil: Rossi, Franco Rubén. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas ; ArgentinaFil: Krapp, Adriana del Rosario. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Bisaro, Fabiana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; Argentina. The Queens University of Belfast; IrlandaFil: Maiale, Santiago Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas ; ArgentinaFil: Pieckenstain, Fernando Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnológicas ; ArgentinaFil: Carrillo, Nestor Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; Argentin

Delimitación de zonas de manejo con modelos de elevación digital y profundidad de suelo

La variabilidad espacial del rendimiento de los cultivos esta relacionada con los atributos del terreno y la profundidad del suelo. El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo determinar la utilidad de los modelos de elevación digital (DEM) y profundidad de suelo para delimitar zonas de manejo homogéneas en lotes de producción. Se calcularon atributos del terreno extraídos del DEM (elevación, pendiente, curvatura plana y flujo de acumulación) y se analizó su relación espacial con el rendimiento de los cultivos y la profundidad del suelo en un lote de 47ha ubicado en el partido de Lobería, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Las campañas agrícolas analizadas fueron 2007/08 (soja), 2009/10 (trigo) y 2010/11 (soja). Se evaluó mediante ANOVA la significancia de las diferencias entre las potenciales zonas de manejo. Los atributos del terreno y profundidad de suelo explicaron entre un 67 y 90% de la variación del rendimiento de los cultivos. Además, permitieron delimitar zonas de manejo significativamente diferentes (p≤0,05). Los resultados sugieren que los datos de DEM y de profundidad de suelo pueden explicar la variabilidad espacial del rendimiento y constituyen una herramienta para delimitar zonas de manejo para orientar el manejo sitio-específico.Fil: Peralta, Nahuel Raúl. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina; Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Buenos Aires. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina;Fil: Costa, Jose Luis. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria; Argentina; Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Buenos Aires. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina;Fil: Castro Franco, Mauricio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina; Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Buenos Aires. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina;Fil: Balzarini Mónica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina

Groundwater protection using vulnerability maps and wellhead protection area (WHPA). A case study in México

The need to protect groundwater resources against quality deterioration due to anthropogenic activities is unquestionable. The concept of aquifer pollution vulnerability maps and of wellhead protection areas (WHPA) as protection toolsis not new; however, in spite of the elapsed time, their use has been increased as a result of the increase in economic development—and everything that this entails—and the increase in prohibitive costs of treating contaminated water or of the decontamination of aquifers. The study’s objective was to establish an integrated method that defines, first of all, the areas of highest vulnerability in the aquifer, and second, within these areas, the wells that most urgently need protection. To identify these wells, additional criteria were taken, such as well constructive data, pumped volume, and the region’s socioeconomic characteristics (social exclusión index). Once the wells were ranked, several of them were chosen as a pilot study to compare different methods for the delineation of WHPA based on calculated fixed radius and analytical methods and, this way, identify which method or methods best adapt to the characteristics of the study area. The Minkin analytical method proved to offer the best results since it protects well on both sides and achieves a balance in the well’s upgradient distances. It is also worth mentioning that the delimitation of the WHPAs in the study area was limited in respect to hydrogeologic and technical data

The prince and the pauper. A tale of anticancer targeted agents

Cancer rates are set to increase at an alarming rate, from 10 million new cases globally in 2000 to 15 million in 2020. Regarding the pharmacological treatment of cancer, we currently are in the interphase of two treatment eras. The so-called pregenomic therapy which names the traditional cancer drugs, mainly cytotoxic drug types, and post-genomic era-type drugs referring to rationally-based designed. Although there are successful examples of this newer drug discovery approach, most target-specific agents only provide small gains in symptom control and/or survival, whereas others have consistently failed in the clinical testing. There is however, a characteristic shared by these agents: -their high cost-. This is expected as drug discovery and development is generally carried out within the commercial rather than the academic realm. Given the extraordinarily high therapeutic drug discovery-associated costs and risks, it is highly unlikely that any single public-sector research group will see a novel chemical "probe" become a "drug". An alternative drug development strategy is the exploitation of established drugs that have already been approved for treatment of non-cancerous diseases and whose cancer target has already been discovered. This strategy is also denominated drug repositioning, drug repurposing, or indication switch. Although traditionally development of these drugs was unlikely to be pursued by Big Pharma due to their limited commercial value, biopharmaceutical companies attempting to increase productivity at present are pursuing drug repositioning. More and more companies are scanning the existing pharmacopoeia for repositioning candidates, and the number of repositioning success stories is increasing. Here we provide noteworthy examples of known drugs whose potential anticancer activities have been highlighted, to encourage further research on these known drugs as a means to foster their translation into clinical trials utilizing the more limited public-sector resources. If these drug types eventually result in being effective, it follows that they could be much more affordable for patients with cancer; therefore, their contribution in terms of reducing cancer mortality at the global level would be greater

La lucha por la tierra en México, 1976 - 1982

los materiales que conforman este numero de la revista de la facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales, son un esfuerzo por comprender problemas regionales de gran interés para el estudio de la realidad mexicana

Daily sitting for long periods increases the odds for subclinical atheroma plaques

Sedentarism is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), but currently it is not clear how a sedentary behavior such as long sitting time can affect atherosclerosis development. This study examined the relationship between sitting time and the prevalence of carotid and femoral subclinical atherosclerosis. A cross-sectional analysis based on a subsample of 2082 participants belonging to the Aragon Workers’ Health Study was carried out. Ultrasonography was used to assess the presence of plaques in carotid and femoral territories; the validated Spanish version of the questionnaire on the frequency of engaging in physical activity used in the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals’ was used to assess physical activity and sitting time; and demographic, anthropometric, and clinical data were obtained by trained personnel during the annual medical examination. Participants were categorized into <9 h/day and ≥9 h/day sitting time groups. After adjusting for several confounders, compared with participants that remain seated <9 h/day, those participants who remain seated ≥9 h/day had, respectively, OR = 1.25 (95%CI: 1.01, 1.55, p < 0.05) and OR = 1.38 (95%CI: 1.09, 1.74, p < 0.05) for carotid and any-territory plaque presence. Remaining seated ≥9 h/day is associated with higher odds for carotid and any-territory plaque presence independently of physical activity levels and other cardiovascular risk factors

A Comparative Study of the Validity and Reproducibility of Mesiodistal Tooth Size and Dental Arch with iTeroTM Intraoral Scanner and the Traditional Method

Introduction: The introduction of intraoral scanning offers an alternative for measuring mesiodistal tooth sizes