Early effects of estrogen on the rat ventral prostate

Complex interactions between androgen and estrogen (E2) regulate prostatic development and physiology. We analyzed the early effects of a high single dose of E2 (25 mg/kg body weight) and castration (separately or combined) on the adult 90-day-old male Wistar rat ventral prostate. Androgen levels, prostate weight, and the variation in the relative and absolute volume of tissue compartments and apoptotic indices were determined for 7 days. Castration and exogenous E2 markedly reduced ventral prostate weight (about 50% of the control), with a significant reduction in the epithelial compartment and increased stroma. The final volume of the epithelium was identical at day 7 for all treatments (58.5% of the control). However, E2 had an immediate effect, causing a reduction in epithelial volume as early as day 1. An increase in smooth muscle cell volume resulted from the concentration of these cells around the regressing epithelium. The treatments resulted in differential kinetics in epithelial cell apoptosis. Castration led to a peak in apoptosis at day 3, with 5% of the epithelial cells presenting signs of apoptosis, whereas E2 caused an immediate increase (observed on day 1) and a sustained (up to day 7) effect. E2 administration to castrated rats significantly increased the level of apoptosis by day 3, reaching 9% of the epithelial cells. The divergent kinetics between treatments resulted in the same levels of epithelial regression after 7 days (~30% of control). These results show that E2 has an immediate and possibly direct effect on the prostate, and anticipates epithelial cell death before reducing testosterone to levels as low as those of castrated rats. In addition, E2 and androgen deprivation apparently cause epithelial cell death by distinct and independent pathways.48749

Municipal organic solid waste composting: development of a tele-monitoring and automation control system

The Organic Solid Waste (OSW) generation have experienced high growth in the last decades. Moreover, the treatment and management of them have become a priority in the environmental policy of many cities, due to the sanitary and environmental problems related to the OSW elimination. Between 2 and 3 metric tons per day of organic residues are generated in the local market square of Fusagasugá-Colombia, without having any transformation program or technological alternatives for their decomposition. This paper presents the design and implementation of an experimental reactor for composting that includes a measurement stage, signal conditioning, data acquisition (DAQ), and data storage, together with a control and telemetric supervision system through a Human-Machine Interface (HMI), which allows manipulation of some key variables of the composting process remotely via the Internet

METAMORFISMO DE PRESION INTERMEDIA EN LA REGION CENTRAL DEL MACIZO DE SANTANDER, CORDILLERA ORIENTAL, ANDES COLOMBIANOS

  The Central Santander Massif exposes its metamorphic basement, which mainly consists of medium- to high-grade pelitic schists, paragneisses, migmatites and orthogneisses. For delineating its metamorphic evolution, we have examinated mineral assemblages, metamorphic reactions and P-T conditions of metamorphic rocks of this region. Metamorphism has occurred under conditions of high-temperature and medium-pressure (Barrovian type metamorphism), and three metamorphic zones were developed: staurolite-kyanite, sillimanite and migmatite zones. Pressure and temperatura conditions, estimated by TWQ program, are in the range of 5.0-9.5 kbar and 630-727oC. The P-T path of the metamorphic units is clockwise suggesting a collision model for this region of the Colombian Andes.   Keywords: Metamorphism; Santander Massif; Barrovian type; P-T path; collision            La región central del Macizo de Santander expone su basamento metamórfico, el cual consiste de esquistos pelíticos, paraneises, migmatitas y ortoneises de medio a alto grado. Para delinear su evolución metamórfica, hemos examinado las paragénesis minerales, reacciones metamórficas y condiciones de P-T de las rocas metamórficas de esta región. El metamorfismo ocurrió bajo condiciones de alta temperatura y presión intermedia (metamorfismo tipo Barroviano), con el desarrollo de tres zonas metamórficas: estaurolita-cianita, silimanita y migmatita. Las condiciones de presión y temperatura, estimadas mediante el programa TWQ, están en el rango de 5.0-9.5 kbar y 630-727oC. La trayectoria de PT de las unidades metamórficas es en sentido horario sugiriendo un modelo de colisión para esta región de los Andes Colombianos.   Palabras claves: Metamorfismo; Macizo de Santander; tipo Barroviano; trayectoria de P-T; colisión

ESTUDIO FENOLÓGICO DE Licania arborea Seem (CHRYSOBALANACEAE) EN JIQUIPILAS, CHIAPAS; MÉXICO

Phenological studies allow understanding the periods of time of appearance and permanence of the life stages of a plant and their climatic relationship, with flowering and fructification being the most important, which ensure understanding the range of the phenomena with the purpose of management and propagation. The flowering and fructification events of Licania arborea were evaluated, as well as their relation with precipitation and temperature. Events were observed during the period of 2013 to 2014 on 10 trees located in the municipalities of Jiquipilas, Chiapas, México, applying Fournier’s numerical scale (1974); the climate data were obtained at the Las Flores bioclimate station (CONAGUA), and a simple regression analysis was performed, adjusting a model of Y square-inverse of X, finding that the phenological events take place once a year, where the flowering is seen from October to March, while the fructification extends from January to July. The flowering is related to the temperature (p=0.0006) (r2=0.70) and correlation coefficient of 0.84, proving that temperature plays an important role in the production of flowers.Los estudios fenológicos permiten conocer los periodos de tiempo de aparición y permanencia de las etapas de vida de una planta y su relación climática, siendo las más importantes la floración y fructificación, las cuales aseguran conocer la extensión de los fenómenos con fines de manejo y propagación. Se evaluaron los eventos de floración y fructificación de Licania arborea y su relación con la precipitación y temperatura. Durante el periodo del 2013 a 2014 se realizó la observación de los eventos, en 10 árboles localizados en el municipio de Jiquipilas, Chiapas, México, aplicando la escala numérica de Fournier (1974), los datos climatológicos fueron obtenidas en la estación bioclimática Las Flores (CONAGUA), y se realizó un análisis de regresión simple, ajustado a un modelo de Y cuadrada-inversa de X, registrando que los eventos fenológicos ocurren una vez al año, donde la floración se presenta de octubre a marzo, mientras que la fructificación se extiende de enero a julio. La floración se relaciona con la temperatura (p=0.0006) (r2=0.70) y coeficiente de correlación de 0.84, demostrando que la temperatura juega un papel muy importante en la producción de flores

COARSE-EMOA: An indicator-based evolutionary algorithm for solving equality constrained multi-objective optimization problems

Many real-world applications involve dealing with several conflicting objectives which need to be optimized simultaneously. Moreover, these problems may require the consideration of limitations that restrict their decision variable space. Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) are capable of tackling Multi-objective Optimization Problems (MOPs). However, these approaches struggle to accurately approximate a feasible solution when considering equality constraints as part of the problem due to the inability of EAs to find and keep solutions exactly at the constraint boundaries. Here, we present an indicator-based evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithm (EMOA) for tackling Equality Constrained MOPs (ECMOPs). In our proposal, we adopt an artificially constructed reference set closely resembling the feasible Pareto front of an ECMOP to calculate the Inverted Generational Distance of a population, which is then used as a density estimator. An empirical study over a set of benchmark problems each of which contains at least one equality constraint was performed to test the capabilities of our proposed COnstrAined Reference SEt - EMOA (COARSE-EMOA). Our results are compared to those obtained by six other EMOAs. As will be shown, our proposed COARSE-EMOA can properly approximate a feasible solution by guiding the search through the use of an artificially constructed set that approximates the feasible Pareto front of a given problem

Applying MILP-based algorithms to automated job-shop scheduling problems in aircraft-part manufacturing

This work presents efficient algorithms based on Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) for complex job-shop scheduling problems raised in Automated Manufacturing Systems. The aim of this work is to find alternative solution approaches of production and transportation operations in a multi-product multistage production process that can be used to solve industrial-scale problems with reasonable computational effort. The MILP model developed must take into account; dissimilar recipes, single unit per production stage, re-entrant flows, sequence- dependent free transferring times and load transfer movements in a single automated material-handling device. In addition, logical-based strategies are proposed to iteratively find and improve the solutions generated over time. These approaches were tested in different real-world problems appeared in the surfacetreatment process of metal components in aircraft manufacturing industry.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Applying MILP-based algorithms to automated job-shop scheduling problems in aircraft-part manufacturing

This work presents efficient algorithms based on Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) for complex job-shop scheduling problems raised in Automated Manufacturing Systems. The aim of this work is to find alternative solution approaches of production and transportation operations in a multi-product multistage production process that can be used to solve industrial-scale problems with reasonable computational effort. The MILP model developed must take into account; dissimilar recipes, single unit per production stage, re-entrant flows, sequence- dependent free transferring times and load transfer movements in a single automated material-handling device. In addition, logical-based strategies are proposed to iteratively find and improve the solutions generated over time. These approaches were tested in different real-world problems appeared in the surfacetreatment process of metal components in aircraft manufacturing industry.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Applying MILP-based algorithms to automated job-shop scheduling problems in aircraft-part manufacturing

This work presents efficient algorithms based on Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) for complex job-shop scheduling problems raised in Automated Manufacturing Systems. The aim of this work is to find alternative solution approaches of production and transportation operations in a multi-product multistage production process that can be used to solve industrial-scale problems with reasonable computational effort. The MILP model developed must take into account; dissimilar recipes, single unit per production stage, re-entrant flows, sequence- dependent free transferring times and load transfer movements in a single automated material-handling device. In addition, logical-based strategies are proposed to iteratively find and improve the solutions generated over time. These approaches were tested in different real-world problems appeared in the surfacetreatment process of metal components in aircraft manufacturing industry.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

A prototype reactor to compost agricultural wastes of Fusagasuga Municipality. Colombia

Crop and animal production generate a high level of organic waste that causes negative effects on the environment and communities. The use of composting processes can improve the quality of these biowastes. Additionally, the application of technologies such as telemetry and remote sensors, allows optimizing the transformation of organic matter in a more controlled and efficient way. The city of Fusagasugá is well known in agriculture. However, it lacks sustainable management of the organic waste system. In this study, after a three-dimensional electromechanical design, a prototype reactor to compost agricultural wastes of Fusagasuga municipality will provide. The capacity of this prototype reactor is considered to be 20 litres. In order to control temperature and humidity of biowastes in different working conditions, it is used A PI controller with 3 temperature and a humidity sensors. With these sensors the compost materials temperature and humidity will remain at 65 °C and 55–60%. By using a special form of temperature sensor placement, the time to oxygenate the compost materials will be found. Furthermore, this system is integrated by a Human-Machine Interface (HMI), which allows the supervision and manipulation from a remote access user

3D Spectroscopic Observations of Star-Forming Dwarf Galaxies

We give an introduction into the observational technique of integral field or 3D spectroscopy. We discuss advantages and drawbacks of this type of observations and highlight a few science projects enabled by this method. In the second part we describe our 3D spectroscopic survey of Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxies. We show preliminary results from data taken with the VIMOS integral field unit and give an outlook on how automated spectral analysis and forthcoming instruments can provide a new view on star formation and associated processes in dwarf galaxies.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the JENAM 2010 Symposium "Dwarf Galaxies: Keys to Galaxy Formation and Evolution" (Lisbon, 9-10 September 2010), P. Papaderos, S. Recchi, G. Hensler (eds.), Springer Verlag (2011), in pres