Profesionalización de los contenidos de las ciencias básicas con un enfoque interdisciplinar, nueva visión para la educación superior

La profesionalización de los contenidos es un tema de gran actualidad, constituyendo una necesidad en el mundo universitario contemporáneo, dado en lo fundamental por la contribución que esta tiene, en la formación profesional de los graduados. A partir de esta problemática, se presenta este artículo, cuyo objetivo es el siguiente: presentar las ideas rectoras de enfoque científico que regulan la profesio-nalización de los contenidos con un enfoque interdisciplinar para la Educación Superior como elemento esencial para la vinculación directa de los currículos de las asignaturas de formación básica y el perfil del profesional y su contextualización al desarrollo científico técnico del paí

ALERT Doctoral School 2012: advanced experimental techniques in geomechanics

The twenty-second session of the European Graduate School 2012 (called usually ALERT Doctoral School) entitled Advanced experimental techniques in geomechanics is organized by Cino Viggiani, Steve Hall and Enrique Romero.Postprint (published version

Quadrotor modeling and a pid control approach

Since there has been an important increase in unmanned vehicles systems research such as quadrotors, a mathematical model and PID control laws are studied. Based on some dynamic variables, PID control is applied to compute a controller to be then use in autopilot simulations. As this kind of VTOL vehicle seems to be unstable, the aim of this work is to change even other flight mechanics parameters and control gains to study attitude and altitude variations. A well-known computational tool is used for simulation purposes, performance analysis and validation

Antioxidant vitamin supplementation on muscle adaptations to resistance training: A double-blind, randomized controlled trial.

Objectives The aim of this study was to examine whether antioxidant vitamin supplementation with vitamin C (VitC) and vitamin E (VitE) affects the hypertrophic and functional adaptations to resistance training in trained men. Methods This was a double-blind, randomized controlled trial in which participants were supplemented daily with VitC and VitE ( n = 12) or placebo ( n = 11) while completing a 10-wk resistance training program accompanied by a dietary intervention (300 kcal surplus and adequate protein intake) designed to optimize hypertrophy. Body composition (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry), handgrip strength, and one-repetition maximum (1-RM), maximal force (F0), velocity (V0), and power (Pmax) were measured in bench press (BP) and squat (SQ) tests conducted before and after the intervention. To detect between-group differences, multiple-mixed analysis of variance, standardized differences, and qualitative differences were estimated. Relative changes within each group were assessed using a paired Student's t test. Results In both groups, similar improvements were produced in BP 1-RM , SQ 1-RM SQ, and BP F0 (P < 0.05) after the resistance training program. A small effect size was observed for BP 1-RM (d = 0.53), BP F0 (d = 0.48), and SQ 1-RM (d = –0.39), but not for SQ F0 (d = 0.03). Dominant handgrip strength was significantly increased only in the placebo group (P < 0.05). According to body composition data, a significant increase was produced in upper body fat-free mass soft tissue (FFMST; P < 0.05) in the placebo group, whereas neither total nor segmental FFMST was increased in the vitamin group. Small intervention effect sizes were observed for upper body FFSMT (d = 0.32), non-dominant and dominant leg FFMST (d = –0.39; d = –0.42). Although a significant increase in total body fat was observed in both groups (P < 0.05) only the placebo group showed an increase in visceral adipose tissue (P < 0.05), showing a substantial intervention effect (d = 0.85). Conclusions The data indicated that, although VitC/VitE supplementation seemed to blunt upper body strength and hypertrophy adaptations to resistance training, it could also mitigate gains in visceral adipose tissue elicited by an energy surplus.pre-print1,83 M

Ecological quality assessement of marinas: An integrative approach combining biological and environmental data

The importance of marinas as infrastructures for recreational boating is increasing substantially. However, information on their soft-bottom benthic communities, a key tool for managing programmes, is still scarce. We combined environment features with macro- and meiofaunal soft-bottom community information for assessing the ecological status of marinas with an integrative approach. To address this issue, we focused on eight marinas of the Southern Iberian Peninsula. Macro- and meiofauna data revealed high benthic heterogeneity at a spatial scale. The environmental variables which correlated best with macrofauna were mainly phosphorus, granulometry, and total organic carbon, and secondarily important variables were faecal coliforms, the biocide Irgarol, and heavy metals; total hydrocarbon concentration was also significant for meiofauna. Annelida was the dominant phylum in terms of number of species (37%) and abundance (66%) and were better descriptors of the environmental conditions than Arthropoda and Mollusca. Although identification to the species level is desirable and mandatory for assessing biological pollution, significant differences among marinas and correlations between fauna and abiotic variables were already detected at the level of family and order. This implies that biota assessment at higher levels may still be useful in monitoring programmes limited by time and budget constraints. The major novelty of this study lies in the development of an integrative assessment method based on the following selected ecological indicators: Marinas Environmental Pollution Index (MEPI), Biocontamination Index (BCI), macrofaunal biotic indices (AMBI, M-AMBI, BENTIX, MEDOCC and BENFES), macrofaunal taxa richness and Shannon-Wiener's diversity, and nematode:copepod index. This approach was able to discriminate marinas of the Southern Iberian Peninsula based on their ecological status, which ranged from poor to good. The method can be useful to design standards for assigning “sustainable quality seals” to those marinas with better values of ecological indicators.Financial support for this study was provided by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Project CGL 2017-82739-P co-financed by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación -AEI- and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional - FEDER-)

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Levels in Cord Blood from Growth Restricted Fetuses with Doppler Alteration Compared to Adequate for Gestational Age Fetuses

Background and Objectives: Fetal growth restriction (FGR) is a severe obstetric disease characterized by a low fetal size entailing a set of undesired consequences. For instance, previous studies have noticed a worrisome association between FGR with an abnormal neurodevelopment. However, the precise link between FGR and neurodevelopmental alterations are not yet fully understood yet. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a critical neurotrophin strongly implicated in neurodevelopmental and other neurological processes. In addition, serum levels of BDNF appears to be an interesting indicator of pathological pregnancies, being correlated with the neonatal brain levels. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze the blood levels of BDNF in the cord blood from fetuses with FGR in comparison to those with weight appropriate for gestational age (AGA). Materials and Methods: In this study, 130 subjects were recruited: 91 in group A (AGA fetuses); 39 in group B (16 FGR fetuses with exclusively middle cerebral artery (MCA) pulsatility index (PI) 95th percentile). Serum levels of BDNF were determined through ELISA reactions in these groups. Results: Our results show a significant decrease in cord blood levels of BDNF in FGR and more prominently in those with UA PI >95th percentile in comparison to AGA. FGR fetuses with exclusively decreased MCA PI below the 5th percentile also show reduced levels of BDNF than AGA, although this difference was not statistically significant. Conclusions: Overall, our study reports a potential pathophysiological link between reduced levels of BDNF and neurodevelopmental alterations in fetuses with FGR. However, further studies should be conducted in those FGR subjects with MCA PI < 5th percentile in order to understand the possible implications of BDNF in this group.Depto. de Salud Pública y Materno - InfantilFac. de MedicinaTRUEUnión EuropeaComunidad de MadridInstituto de Salud Carlos IIIHalekulani S.LFundación Santiago Dexeus Fontpu

Enantiopure 4‐oxazolin‐2‐ones and 4‐methylene‐2‐oxazolidinones as chiral building blocks in a divergent asymmetric synthesis of heterocycles

En este trabajo se describe la reactividad de las oxazolidin-2-onas en un ambiente quiral obteniéndose resultados novedosos, los cuales se describen extensamente.Enantiopure 3‐((R)‐ and 3‐((S)‐1‐phenylethyl)‐4‐oxazoline‐2‐ones were evaluated as chiral building blocks for the divergent construction of heterocycles with stereogenic quaternary centers. The N‐(R)‐ or N‐(S)‐1‐phenylethyl group of these compounds proved to be an efficient chiral auxiliary for the asymmetric induction of the 4‐ and 5‐positions of the 4‐oxazolin‐2‐one ring through thermal and MW‐promoted nucleophilic conjugated addition to Michael acceptors and alkyl halides. The resulting adducts were transformed via a cascade process into fused six‐membered carbo‐ and heterocycles. The structure of the reaction products depended on the electrophiles and reaction conditions used. Alternative isomeric 4‐methylene‐2‐oxazolidinones served as chiral precursors for a versatile and divergent approach to highly substituted cyclic carbamates. DFT quantum calculations showed that the formation of bicyclic pyranyl compounds was generated by a diastereoselective concerted hetero‐Diels‐Alder cycloaddition.Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Secretaria de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados de la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Universidad de Guanajuato y CONACYT

Improving the earthquake resilience of primary schools in the border regions of neighbouring countries

This work summarises the strategy adopted in the European research project PERSISTAH. It aims to increase the resilience of the population, focusing on the existing primary schools in the Algarve (Portugal) and Huelva (Spain) regions. Software was developed to assess the seismic safety of these schools, considering different earthquake scenarios. Seismic retrofitting measures were studied and numerically tested. Some of them were also implemented in the retrofitting activities of two case study schools (one in each country). It was found that the adopted ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) considerably affect the results obtained with the software, especially for offshore earthquake scenarios. Furthermore, the results show that the masonry buildings would be the most damaged school typologies for all the scenarios considered. Additionally, a set of guidelines was created to support the school community and the technicians related to the construction industry. The goal of these documents is to increase the seismic resilience of the population. Different activities were carried out to train schoolteachers in seismic safety based on the guidelines produced, obtaining positive feedback from them.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Materials and methods for the microencapsulation of substances of food and agricultural interest

Microencapsulation consists of trapping solid, liquid or gas particles inside an inert cover, in order to protect them from their environment. This technique has numerous biotechnological applications in the food, agricultural, and pharmaceutical industries, among others. Microcapsules are relevant for obtaining viable products and optimizing their efficacy, stability, safety and ease of application. There is a wide range of coating materials and techniques used for the microencapsulation of various substances of interest. A review of encapsulating materials and microencapsulation methods used in the food and agricultural industries is presented.Microencapsulation involves trapping solid, liquid, or gas particles within an inert cover to protect them from the environment. This technique has numerous biotechnological applications in the food, agricultural, pharmaceutical, and other industries. Microcapsules are relevant for obtaining viable products and optimizing their efficacy, stability, safety, and ease of application. There is a wide range of coating materials and techniques used to microencapsulate various substances of interest. This article presents a review of encapsulating materials and microencapsulation methods used in the food and agricultural industries

Initiation of lightning flashes simultaneously observed from space and the ground: Narrow bipolar events

We investigate the initiation of four lightning flashes detected from ground by means of the Colombia Lightning Mapping Array (Colombia-LMA) and simultaneously observed from space by the optical sensors of the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) on board the International Space Station (ISS), the Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM), and the Lightning Imaging Sensor on the ISS. The initiations of the flashes are characterized by isolated and predominant optical blue pulses (337.0 nm). In three of the flashes, red emissions (777.4 nm), a dominant line of hot lightning, were not detected during their initiation. In these cases, the initiations were also accompanied by bipolar VLF/LF waveform with a narrow short duration (<40 μs) and VHF emissions with high radio frequency power (<269 kW). The detection of the blue emissions without any red luminosity supports that the fast breakdown processes at the flash initiation can be exclusively of streamer nature. The onset of the fourth flash was associated with both blue and red radiation, and with weak narrow bipolar waveform in VLF/LF and low VHF power. The flashes initiated between the midlevel negative and upper positive charge regions. This paper presents and discusses the first fast breakdown processes observed simultaneously from ground by means a Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) and from space during the onset of lightning flashes.publishedVersio