Escola catalana

Resumen de los autores en catalánEste artículo presenta dos experiencias basadas en el trabajo para proyectos. Las actividades realizadas se contextualizan en un curso de segundo de ESO, a lo largo de un crédito común doble llamado Expresión oral y escrita, de seis horas semanales (tres bloques de dos horas), y que aglutina el trabajo de lengua (castellana y catalana). No obstante, el trabajo para proyectos que se desarrollaron incluyó trabajos provinientes de disciplinas distintas. Por eso, el trabajo que se hace en el aula va más allà de cada materia. En este sentido las actividades realizadas para el alumnado incluyen, ademas de contenidos de lengua, contenidos del área de plástica y de tecnología en uno de los casos y de las tecnologías de la información y comunicación en el otro proyecto.CataluñaES

Utilización de sistemas informáticos para el diseño de estaciones de tratamiento de aguas residuales

Los sistemas informáticos para el diseño de Estaciones de Tratamiento de Aguas Residuales (ETAR) resultan de gran utilidad para la toma de decisiones relacionadas con la gestión de la calidad del agua en el medio natural. En este artículo se presenta el sistema DATAR, desarrollado para el diseño completo y riguroso de una ETAR que cumpla las especificaciones impuestas al vertido. Para ello se han desarrollado modelos matemáticos que describen los procesos que tienen lugar en los distintos elementos de tratamiento considerando los parámetros de calidad demanda biológica de oxígeno a los 5 días (DBO5), demanda química de oxígeno (DQO), sólidos suspendidos (SS), nitrógeno Kjeldhal (NKT) y fósforo total (PT). Se realiza un diseño simultáneo del tratamiento de fangos, considerándose los parámetros sólidos suspendidos volátiles (SSV) y su fracción biodegradable (SSVB) para el diseño riguroso de los sistemas de digestión de fangos. En este artículo se incluye la formulación de los modelos correspondientes a los procesos de tratamiento biológico por fangos activados y digestión aerobia y anaerobia de fangos. El diseño generado por DATAR incluye los aspectos relacionados con las dimensiones y maquinaria de todos los elementos del tratamiento, su disposición en planta y alzado así como las necesidades de potencia instalada y consumo de energía

Evolution of selenophosphate synthetases: emergence and relocation of function through independent duplications and recurrent subfunctionalization.

Selenoproteins are proteins that incorporate selenocysteine (Sec), a nonstandard amino acid encoded by UGA, normally a stop codon. Sec synthesis requires the enzyme Selenophosphate synthetase (SPS or SelD), conserved in all prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes encoding selenoproteins. Here, we study the evolutionary history of SPS genes, providing a map of selenoprotein function spanning the whole tree of life. SPS is itself a selenoprotein in many species, although functionally equivalent homologs that replace the Sec site with cysteine (Cys) are common. Many metazoans, however, possess SPS genes with substitutions other than Sec or Cys (collectively referred to as SPS1). Using complementation assays in fly mutants, we show that these genes share a common function, which appears to be distinct from the synthesis of selenophosphate carried out by the Sec- and Cys- SPS genes (termed SPS2), and unrelated to Sec synthesis. We show here that SPS1 genes originated through a number of independent gene duplications from an ancestral metazoan selenoprotein SPS2 gene that most likely already carried the SPS1 function. Thus, in SPS genes, parallel duplications and subsequent convergent subfunctionalization have resulted in the segregation to different loci of functions initially carried by a single gene. This evolutionary history constitutes a remarkable example of emergence and evolution of gene function, which we have been able to trace thanks to the singular features of SPS genes, wherein the amino acid at a single site determines unequivocally protein function and is intertwined to the evolutionary fate of the entire selenoproteome.R.G. group research was funded by grants BIO2011-26205 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and grant SGR-1430 from the Catalan Government. M.M. received a FPU doctoral fellowship AP2008-04334 from the Spanish Ministry of Education. T.G. group research was funded in part by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BIO2012-37161), a grant from the Qatar National Research Fund (Grant No. NPRP 5-298-3-086), and a grant from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC (Grant Agreement n. ERC-2012-StG-310325). R.G. and T.G. acknowledge support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2013-2017,” SEV-2012-0208. V.N.G. group research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) GM061603

Evolution of selenophosphate synthetases: emergence and relocation of function through independent duplications and recurrent subfunctionalization.

Selenoproteins are proteins that incorporate selenocysteine (Sec), a nonstandard amino acid encoded by UGA, normally a stop codon. Sec synthesis requires the enzyme Selenophosphate synthetase (SPS or SelD), conserved in all prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes encoding selenoproteins. Here, we study the evolutionary history of SPS genes, providing a map of selenoprotein function spanning the whole tree of life. SPS is itself a selenoprotein in many species, although functionally equivalent homologs that replace the Sec site with cysteine (Cys) are common. Many metazoans, however, possess SPS genes with substitutions other than Sec or Cys (collectively referred to as SPS1). Using complementation assays in fly mutants, we show that these genes share a common function, which appears to be distinct from the synthesis of selenophosphate carried out by the Sec- and Cys- SPS genes (termed SPS2), and unrelated to Sec synthesis. We show here that SPS1 genes originated through a number of independent gene duplications from an ancestral metazoan selenoprotein SPS2 gene that most likely already carried the SPS1 function. Thus, in SPS genes, parallel duplications and subsequent convergent subfunctionalization have resulted in the segregation to different loci of functions initially carried by a single gene. This evolutionary history constitutes a remarkable example of emergence and evolution of gene function, which we have been able to trace thanks to the singular features of SPS genes, wherein the amino acid at a single site determines unequivocally protein function and is intertwined to the evolutionary fate of the entire selenoproteome.. R.G. group research was funded by grants BIO2011-26205 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and grant SGR-1430 from the Catalan Government. M.M. received a FPU doctoral fellowship AP2008-04334 from the Spanish Ministry of Education. T.G. group research was funded in part by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BIO2012-37161), a grant from the Qatar National Research Fund (Grant No. NPRP 5-298-3-086), and a grant from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC (Grant Agreement n. ERC-2012-StG-310325). R.G. and T.G. acknowledge support of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2013-2017,” SEV-2012-0208. V.N.G. group research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) GM061603