IDEALIST control and service management solutions for dynamic and adaptive flexi-grid DWDM networks

Wavelength Switched Optical Networks (WSON) were designed with the premise that all channels in a network have the same spectrum needs, based on the ITU-T DWDM grid. However, this rigid grid-based approach is not adapted to the spectrum requirements of the signals that are best candidates for long-reach transmission and high-speed data rates of 400Gbps and beyond. An innovative approach is to evolve the fixed DWDM grid to a flexible grid, in which the optical spectrum is partitioned into fixed-sized spectrum slices. This allows facilitating the required amount of optical bandwidth and spectrum for an elastic optical connection to be dynamically and adaptively allocated by assigning the necessary number of slices of spectrum. The ICT IDEALIST project will provide the architectural design, protocol specification, implementation, evaluation and standardization of a control plane and a network and service management system. This architecture and tools are necessary to introduce dynamicity, elasticity and adaptation in flexi-grid DWDM networks. This paper provides an overview of the objectives, framework, functional requirements and use cases of the elastic control plane and the adaptive network and service management system targeted in the ICT IDEALIST project

Sistema de información para un club “MachPoint”

La ejecución y desarrollo está orientado a un software administrativo en el cual su enfoque se genera esencialmente en clubes socio deportivos en los cuales es necesario la implementación de un programa para la adecuada administración del o de las áreas deportivas. En el área administrativa deportiva, para realizar de una manera rápida el manejo de recursos físicos y abstractos, suministrando optimo control de los recursos, dando inicio a un análisis y revisión de un Software el cual se centrara sobre el área de tenis de campo, para la hora de reservas y manejo de los recursos que intervienen en esta área.Tesis de la sede principal Uniminuto - Bogot

Sistema de información para un club “MachPoint”

La ejecución y desarrollo está orientado a un software administrativo en el cual su enfoque se genera esencialmente en clubes socio deportivos en los cuales es necesario la implementación de un programa para la adecuada administración del o de las áreas deportivas. En el área administrativa deportiva, para realizar de una manera rápida el manejo de recursos físicos y abstractos, suministrando optimo control de los recursos, dando inicio a un análisis y revisión de un Software el cual se centrara sobre el área de tenis de campo, para la hora de reservas y manejo de los recursos que intervienen en esta área.Tesis de la sede principal Uniminuto - Bogot

Sugar Cane, Software and Fashion: Public-Private Collaboration in Argentina

The design and implementation of productive development policies (PDPs) pose challenges for policymakers, especially in emerging economies. Although the existence of pervasive market and coordination failures pave the way for policy intervention, adopted instruments have often been less successful than expected, since policymakers usually lack important pieces of information, they generally do not have access to rigorous evaluations of current and former programs and State capabilities are frequently weak. Moreover, coordination problems between different agencies and/or levels of government often exist. The emergence of rent seeking and free riding behaviours, agency captures and corruption episodes are other factors that explain the abovementioned outcome. The lack of resilience of public policies in the light of frequent staff changes in the State bureaucracy also hinders PDPs effectiveness.Public-Private Collaboration Schemes (PPCs) may help to alleviate some of the factors that lead to problems in the design, implementation and monitoring of PDPs, insofar they may facilitate information exchange and coordination among the different agents involved, address some government failures, generate more transparency and contribute to the resilience of those policies. PPC may range from informal consultations with the private sector to the full involvement of the latter in the policy design, execution and monitoring stages, including schemes such as the participation of the private sector in advisory and supervisory bodies, technological and productive alliances, deliberation councils, etc.The evidence gathered from the case studies will allow us to highlight common factors that may lead to the success (or failure) of PPCS, as well as idiosyncratic features related to the objectives, actors and/or specific arrangements adopted in each case. The result of this analysis is presented in the final section, where we distil lessons that may be applied to other sectors/regions in order to a better diffusion and effectiveness of PPC schemes.Fil: Bisang, Roberto Oscar. No especifíca;Fil: Gonzalez, Andrea. No especifíca;Fil: Hallak, Juan Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Lopez, Andres Flavio. Centro de Investigaciones para la Transformación; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Ramos, Daniela. No especifíca;Fil: Rozemberg, Ricardo Daniel. No especifíca

Bioinspired design of triboceramics: Learning from the anisotropic microfracture response of dental enamel under sliding contact

[EN] In the quest for novel ceramics for tribological applications via bioinspired design, the differences in the fracture modes that arise upon scratching relevant locations of ceramic-like tooth enamel are investigated. It is found that fracture initiates from weak rod-sheath interfaces at relatively low loads, independent of the sliding direction. However, the geometry and propagation of the cracks depends on the orientation of the interfaces relative to the maximum tensile stress: scratching along the occlusal surface propagates approximately sinusoidal cracks, parallel to the sliding direction, while scratching along the cross-section produces straight cracks that propagate normal (scratch parallel to occlusal surface) or parallel (scratch perpendicular to occlusal surface) to the sliding direction. The formation of cracks is hindered in scratching near the enamel-dentine junction. Implications for the microstructural design of triboceramics (bulks and coatings) with improved durability are discussed.The authors wish to thank Dr Florencio Monje Gil for kindly providing tooth specimens from his clinic (CICOM, Centro de Implantologia Cirugia Oral y Maxilofacial, Badajoz, Spain). This study was supported by Junta de Extremadura, Spain, and FEDER/ERDF funds (grants IB16139 and GR18149), and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant PID2019-105377RB-I00). E. P.-C. gratefully acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) under grant FJCI-2015-27228.Sanchez-Gonzalez, E.; Rodriguez-Rojas, F.; Pinilla-Cienfuegos, E.; Borrero-Lopez, O.; Ortiz, AL.; Guiberteau, F. (2020). Bioinspired design of triboceramics: Learning from the anisotropic microfracture response of dental enamel under sliding contact. Ceramics International. 46(18):27983-27989. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2020.07.2922798327989461

Study X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy determination of interactions between gold nanoparticles and epidermal growth factor for potential use in biomedicine

Nowadays, biomedical applications of gold nanoparticles coupled with Epidermal Growth Factor have attracted huge attention because of its theranostic activity, which could be useful for diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, there is a great interest to know the nature of the intermolecular interactions between the gold nanoparticles and epidermal growth factor (EGF). A two-step synthesis was performed. In the first step, gold nanoparticles were synthesized by chemical reduction of tetrachloroauric acid using sodium citrate as reducing and capping agent. Secondly, gold nanoparticles were coupled with EGF. The obtained nanoparticles were characterized by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and zeta-potential before and after being coupled with the EGF. Gold nanoparticles with an average diameter of 8.09 nm were obtained. After coupled with EGF, the particle average diameter increased to 9.14 nm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed an electrostatic interaction between gold nanoparticles and EGF. Zeta potential corroborated these results. Thus, it was possible for the first time to identify the interactions between these two chemical species. Since gold nanoparticles may act as carriers of EGF, these results illustrate the great potential for the use of this bionanocomposite in neurodegenerative disease treatment.UAEME

Bifocal dual reflectarray with curved main surface

This paper presents a novel approach to synthesizing curved reflectarrays using Geometrical Optics (GO). It introduces the concepts of virtual normal and path length shift, which enable a vector-based formulation of the problem that can be solved using ray tracing techniques. The formulation is applied for the design of two different versions of a Dual Bifocal Reflectarray with a parabolic main surface and a flat subreflectarray. The first version aims to enhance the performance of the multibeam antenna by providing a focal ring located at the feed cluster plane. The second version focuses on improving the scanning characteristics of the antenna in the horizontal plane by incorporating two foci. The synthesis procedure yields samples of the path length shift or its derivatives. To reconstruct the phase distribution, an interpolation scheme is employed and described in this paper. Numerical results are presented for both the focal-ring and two-foci configurations, demonstrating the feasibility of this solution for multibeam or scanning satellite antennas operating in the Ka.European Space Research and Technology Centre | Ref. 4000117113/16/NL/AFMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad | Ref. PDC2021-120959-C21/C22Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación | Ref. RYC2021-033593-IXunta de Galicia | Ref. GRC-ED431C-2019/2

Randomized Clinical Trials of obesity treatments in Mexican population. Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Mexicans and Mexican Americans share similar culture, genetic background, and predisposition for obesity and diabetes. Randomized clinical trials (RCT) assessing obesity treatments (ObT) are reliable to assess efficacy. To date, there is no systematic review to investigate ObT tested by RCT in Mexican adults. Methods: We conducted systematic searches in Pubmed, Scopus, and Web of Science to retrieve ObT RCT from 1990 to 2019. The ObT included alternative medicine, pharmacological, nutritional, behavioral, and surgical interventions. The analyzed RCT were at least three months of duration, and reported: BMI, weight, waist circumference, triglycerides, glucose and blood pressure. Results: We found 634 entries; after removal of duplicates and exclusions based on eligibility criteria, we analyzed 43 and 2 multinational-collaborative studies. Most of the national studies had small sample sizes, and did not have replications from other studies. The nutrition/behavioral interventions were difficult to blind, and most studies had medium to high risk of bias. Random effects meta-analysis of nutritional/behavioral interventions and medications showed effects on BMI, waist circumference, and blood pressure. Simple measures like plain water instead of sweet beverages decreased triglycerides and systolic blood pressure. Participants with obesity and hypertension had beneficial effects with antioxidants, and the treatment with insulin increased weight in those with T2D. Conclusions: The RCT’s in Mexico reported effects on metabolic components despite small sample sizes and lack of replication. In the future we should analyze ObT in population living on the U.S.-Mexico border; therefore, bi-national collaboration is desirable to disentangle cultural effects on ObT response

Liver-specific insulin receptor isoform A expression enhances hepatic glucose uptake and ameliorates liver steatosis in a mouse model of diet-induced obesity

Among the main complications associated with obesity are insulin resistance and altered glucose and lipid metabolism within the liver. It has previously been described that insulin receptor isoform A (IRA) favors glucose uptake and glycogen storage in hepatocytes compared with isoform B (IRB), improving glucose homeostasis in mice lacking liver insulin receptor. Thus, we hypothesized that IRA could also improve glucose and lipid metabolism in a mouse model of high-fatdiet-induced obesity. We addressed the role of insulin receptor isoforms in glucose and lipid metabolism in vivo. We expressed IRA or IRB specifically in the liver by using adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) in a mouse model of diet-induced insulin resistance and obesity. IRA, but not IRB, expression induced increased glucose uptake in the liver and muscle, improving insulin tolerance. Regarding lipid metabolism, we found that AAV-mediated IRA expression also ameliorated hepatic steatosis by decreasing the expression of Fasn, Pgc1a, Acaca and Dgat2 and increasing Scd-1 expression. Taken together, our results further unravel the role of insulin receptor isoforms in hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism in an insulin-resistant scenario. Our data strongly suggest that IRA is more efficient than IRB at favoring hepatic glucose uptake, improving insulin tolerance and ameliorating hepatic steatosis. Therefore, we conclude that a gene therapy approach for hepatic IRA expression could be a safe and promising tool for the regulation of hepatic glucose consumption and lipid metabolism, two key processes in the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease associated with obesity