Mathematical models for the arrangement and the cleaning of the river basin and surroundings of the river sandy grounds to its passage by the city of Salta (Argentina)

The province of Salta is located the Northwest of Argentina in the border with Bolivia, Chile and Paraguay. Its Capital is the city of Salta that concentrates half of the inhabitants of the province and has grown to 600000 hab., from a small active Spanish town well founded in 1583. The city is crossed by the Arenales River descending from close mountains at North, source of water and end of sewers. But with actual growing it has become a focus of infection and of remarkable unhealthiness. It is necessary to undertake a plan for the recovery of the river, directed to the attainment of the well-being and to improve the life?s quality of the Community. The fundamental idea of the plan is to obtain an ordering of the river basin and an integral management of the channel and its surroundings, including the cleaning out. The improvement of the water?s quality, the healthiness of the surroundings and the improvement of the environment, must go hand by hand with the development of sport activities, of relaxation, tourism, establishment of breeding grounds, kitchen gardens, micro enterprises with clean production and other actions that contribute to their benefit by the society, that being a basic factor for their care and sustainable use. The present pollution is organic, chemical, industrial, domestic, due to the disposition of sweepings and sewer effluents that affects not only the flora and small fauna, destroying the biodiversity, but also to the health of people living in their margins. Within the plan it will be necessary to consider, besides hydric and environmental cleaning and the prevention of floods, the planning of the extraction of aggregates, the infrastructure and consolidation of margins works and the arrangement of all the river basin. It will be necessary to consider the public intervention at state, provincial and local level, and the private intervention. In the model it has been necessary to include the sub-model corresponding to the election of the entity to be the optimal instrument to reach the proposed objectives, giving an answer to the social, environmental and economic requirements. For that the authors have used multi-criteria decision methods to qualify and select alternatives, and for the programming of their implementation. In the model the authors have contemplated the short, average and long term actions. They conform a Paretooptimal alternative which secures the ordering, integral and suitable management of the basin of the Arenales River, focusing on its passage by the city of Salta.

Ontology Development by Reuse

This chapter presents methodological guidelines that allow engineers to reuse generic ontologies. This kind of ontologies represents notions generic across many fields, (is part of, temporal interval, etc.). The guidelines helps the developer (a) to identify the type of generic ontology to be reused, (b) to find out the axioms and definitions that should be reused and (c) to adapt and integrate the generic ontology selected in the domain ontology to be developed. For each task of the methodology, a set of heuristics with examples are presented. We hope that after reading this chapter, you would have acquired some basic ideas on how to take advantage of the great deal of well-founded explicit knowledge that formalizes generic notions such as time concepts and the part of relation.

Methodological guidelines for reusing general ontologies

Currently, there is a great deal of well-founded explicit knowledge formalizing general notions, such as time concepts and the part_of relation. Yet, it is often the case that instead of reusing ontologies that implement such notions (the so-called general ontologies), engineers create procedural programs that implicitly implement this knowledge. They do not save time and code by reusing explicit knowledge, and devote effort to solve problems that other people have already adequately solved. Consequently, we have developed a methodology that helps engineers to: (a) identify the type of general ontology to be reused; (b) find out which axioms and definitions should be reused; (c) make a decision, using formal concept analysis, on what general ontology is going to be reused; and (d) adapt and integrate the selected general ontology in the domain ontology to be developed. To illustrate our approach we have employed use-cases. For each use case, we provide a set of heuristics with examples. Each of these heuristics has been tested in either OWL or Prolog. Our methodology has been applied to develop a pharmaceutical product ontology. Additionally, we have carried out a controlled experiment with graduated students doing a MCs in Artificial Intelligence. This experiment has yielded some interesting findings concerning what kind of features the future extensions of the methodology should have.

The effect of boundary conditions in the numerical solution of 3-D thermoelastic problems

After the extensive research on the capabilities of the Boundary Integral Equation Method produced during the past years the versatility of its applications has been well founded. Maybe the years to come will see the in-depth analysis of several conflictive points, for example, adaptive integration, solution of the system of equations, etc. This line is clear in academic research. In this paper we comment on the incidence of the manner of imposing the boundary conditions in 3-D coupled problems. Here the effects are particularly magnified: in the first place by the simple model used (constant elements) and secondly by the process of solution, i.e. first a potential problem is solved and then the results are used as data for an elasticity problem. The errors add to both processes and small disturbances, unimportant in separated problems, can produce serious errors in the final results. The specific problem we have chosen is especially interesting. Although more general cases (i.e. transient)can be treated, here the domain integrals can be converted into boundary ones and the influence of the manner in which boundary conditions are applied will reflect the whole importance of the problem.

Escaparates de la modernidad : la tienda como laboratorio de arquitectura

El proyecto de una tienda concentra un poco de todo aquello que interesa al arquitecto: conforma una suerte de encrucijada en la que se dan cita, junto a cuestiones disciplinares que la hacen muy atractiva y ponen a prueba su habilidad como proyectista, la necesidad de aunar recursos compositivos procedentes de otros terrenos periféricos a la arquitectura para dar una respuesta adecuada a los requerimientos específicos de imagen y persuasión que la actividad comercial comporta. Las difíciles condiciones de partida, habitualmente configuraciones espaciales no excesivamente favorables, donde las preexistencias y los contornos coartan y encierran un espacio al que hay que dotar de un nuevo orden; el tamaño reducido y las posibilidades de control total de la obra que de éste se derivan; el corto plazo de tiempo y la rapidez de respuesta que la estrategia comercial impone; su posición estratégica, en relación directa con la calle, y la mayor evidencia que, por tanto, se le asigna a la fachada y al escaparate como ‘primeros anuncios’ de la actividad; la integración y el comentario recíproco entre arquitectura y objeto que tiene lugar en su seno…, son algunas de las razones que explican este interés y justifican que la tienda −ese espacio acotado tan apto para el invento y la innovación−, constituya un banco de pruebas donde poder ensayar nuevos conceptos de la arquitectura al reunir espacial y temporalmente los condicionantes ideales requeridos para la experimentación y la comprobación de hallazgos. Aunque escasas, existen en la arquitectura contemporánea tiendas que han logrado ocupar por méritos propios un lugar destacado dentro de la obra de sus autores. Entre las merecedoras de ese reconocimiento habría que citar la ‘mítica’ sastrería Kniže proyectada por Adolf Loos a comienzos del siglo XX en Viena, el Negozio Vitrum que Giuseppe Terragni diseñara en Como en los años treinta, o la sucursal londinense de las líneas aéreas de Iraq construida en los sesenta por Alison y Peter Smithson. La elección, lejos de ser gratuita, obedece a razones fundadas. Dentro de las circunstancias temporales en las que se gestaron −las tres fueron proyectadas y construidas a lo largo del pasado siglo en un arco que abarca algo más de cincuenta años (1907-1961)−, los ejemplos seleccionados aúnan toda una serie de ‘coincidencias’ entre las que no resulta difícil establecer ciertos paralelismos: las tres marcan la talla de unos creadores que fueron capaces de dedicar la misma intensidad creativa a estos temas ‘menores’, corroborando que el carácter de la arquitectura también puede hacerse grande en lo pequeño; las tres, debido al momento de madurez en el que se abordó su diseño, reflejan su condición de laboratorio experimental al servicio de los intereses proyectuales que en ese momento ocupaban la mente de los arquitectos; las tres corroboran hipótesis ya apuntadas en arquitecturas anteriores, prueban líneas de trabajo no materializadas por falta de oportunidad y testan de manera menos comprometida soluciones que luego se trasladarán a obras con mayor vocación de permanencia; obras −y esto es algo especialmente sorprendente− con las que mantuvieron una estrecha relación en el espacio y en el tiempo, convirtiéndose incluso en plataformas de experimentación paralelas: baste en este sentido con apuntar la cercanía física −a ‘metros’ de distancia− y temporal −realizadas en los mismos años− entre la sastrería Kniže (1907- 1913;1928) y la Casa en la Michaelerplatz (1910-11); la tienda Vitrum (1930) y la Casa del Fascio (1929; 1932-36) o las oficinas de venta de las Iraqi Airways (1960-61) y la sede del The Economist (1959-64). Esta potencialidad que la tienda encierra para erigirse en laboratorio de experimentación y ensayo de la arquitectura, constituye la clave de la investigación que la tesis propone. ABSTRACT A little of everything that interests the architect is concentrated in the designing of a shop: it forms a kind of crossroads bringing together, apart from certain disciplinary questions rendering it particularly attractive and testing one’s ability as a designer, the need to coordinate compositional resources from fields peripheral to architecture in order to devise an adequate response to the specific requirements of image and persuasion that are part and parcel of business activity. The difficult start-up conditions, the generally not overly favourable spatial configurations ‒where the pre-existing conditions and shape of the site encroach on and enclose a space which has to be given a new order‒, the reduced size and possibilities afforded in terms of controlling the work, the short time frame and the rapid response imposed by the business tactics and its strategic position and direct frontal relationship with the street, make the shopfront and the display window are the ‘first advertisements” of the activity, or the integration and the reciprocal commentary between architecture and what takes place within: these are but some of the reasons explaining this interest and justifying the claim that the shop –a dimensional space so well suited to invention and innovation− constitutes a test-bed for trying out new concepts of architecture, combining in space and time the ideal conditions for experiment and the examination of its findings. Albeit not numerous, there are shops in contemporary architecture which have managed on their own merit to obtain a special place among the works of their authors. Among those earning such recognition, one should mention the ‘mythical’ Kniže tailoring establishment designed by Adolf Loos at the beginning of the 20th century in Vienna, the Negozio Vitrum designed by Giuseppe Terragni in Como in the thirties, or the London offices of Iraqi Airways built in the sixties by Alison and Peter Smithson. This selection, far from gratuitous, is based on well-founded reasons. Within the circumstances of the time-frame in which they were developed −the three were designed and built during the 20th century in a period that spans just over fifty years (1907-1961)− the chosen examples bring together a whole series of ‘coincidences’ where it is not difficult to draw certain parallels: the three bear witness to the stature of creators who were capable of devoting the same creative intensity to these ‘minor’ themes, thus corroborating the fact that the nature of the architecture can also be great in less important works; the three, thanks to the moment of maturity in which their design was carried out, reflect their condition as an experimental laboratory at the service of the particular designing interests which at the time occupied the minds of these architects; the three confirm hypotheses already displayed in previous architectures, they test lines of work which had not materialised through lack of opportunity, and in a less comprised manner check solutions that were later transferred to works with a greater vocation for permanence; works −and this is something especially surprising – with which they maintained a close relationship in time and space, even becoming parallel experimental platforms: in this sense, we need only to mention the physical proximity –just metres away− and proximity in time –built within the same years− between the Kniže shop (1907-1913; 1928) and the House of Michaelerplatz (1910-11); the Vitrum shop (1930) and the Casa del Fascio (1929;1932-36); and the Iraqi Airways sales offices (1960-61) and the headquarters of The Economist (1959-64). The potential of the shop to set itself up as an experimental laboratory and architectural rehearsal constitutes the main focus of the research put forward by this thesis.

DNA methylation and adaptive response in forest tree species

Progressive increase of temperatures as well as longer seasonal drought periods revealed by climate studies correspond to fast environmental changes that forest species face with their actual genetic background. Natural selective processes cannot develop an adaptive response within this time frame. Thus the capability of forest tree species to adapt to the new environments will depend on their genetic background, but also rely on their phenotypic plasticity. Several reports have shown the involvement of epigenetic modifiers as the basis of the phenotypic plasticity, and in particular to the adaptation to abiotic stresses. DNA methylation (methylation of cytosine residues)is one the most important epigenetic modification in eukaryotes. Itis involved in specific biological processes such as gene transcription regulation, gene silencing, mobile element control or genome imprinting.Therefore, there is a great interest in analyzing cytosine methylation levels and distribution within the genome

Optimized edge appearance probability for cooperative localization based on tree-reweighted nonparametric belief propagation

Nonparametric belief propagation (NBP) is a well-known particle-based method for distributed inference in wireless networks. NBP has a large number of applications, including cooperative localization. However, in loopy networks NBP suffers from similar problems as standard BP, such as over-confident beliefs and possible nonconvergence. Tree-reweighted NBP (TRW-NBP) can mitigate these problems, but does not easily lead to a distributed implementation due to the non-local nature of the required so-called edge appearance probabilities. In this paper, we propose a variation of TRWNBP, suitable for cooperative localization in wireless networks. Our algorithm uses a fixed edge appearance probability for every edge, and can outperform standard NBP in dense wireless networks.

Genetic diversity and relationships in accessions from different cultivar groups and origins in the tree tomato (Solanum betaceum Cav.)

Abstract Tree tomato (Solanum betaceum) is an Andean small tree cultivated for its juicy fruits. Little information is available on the characterization of genetic resources and breeding of this neglected crop. We have studied the molecular diversity with AFLP markers using 11 combinations of primers of a collection of 25 S. betaceum accessions belonging to four cultivar groups, most of which had been previously morphologically characterized, as well as one accession of the wild relative S. cajanumense.Atotal of 197 AFLP fragments were scored, of which 84 (43 %) were polymorphic. When excluding S. cajanumense from the analysis, the number of polymorphic AFLP fragments was 78 (40 %). Unique AFLP fingerprints were obtained for every accession, but no AFLP fragments specific and universal to any of the four cultivar groups were found. The total genetic diversity (HT) of cultivated accessions was HT = 0.2904, while for cultivar groups it ranged from HT = 0.1846 in the orange group to HT = 0.2498 in the orange pointed group. Genetic differentiation among cultivar groups (GST) was low (GST = 0.2248), which was matched by low values of genetic distance among cultivar groups. The diversity of collections from Ecuador, which we hypothesize is a center of diversity for tree tomato, was similar to that from other origins (HT = 0.2884 and HT = 0.2645, respectively). Cluster and PCoA analyses clearly separated wild S. cajanumense from the cultivated species. However, materials of different cultivar groups and origins were intermingled in both analyses. The Mantel test correlation coefficient of the matrices of morphological and AFLP distances was low (-0.024) and non-significant. Overall, the results show that a wide diversity is present in each of the cultivar groups, indicate that Ecuador may be regarded as a center of accumulation of diversity for this crop, and confirm that AFLP and morphological characterization data are complementary. The results obtained are of value for the conservation of genetic resources and breeding of tree tomato, as an assessment of the genetic diversity and relationships among differen

Nonparametric generalized belief propagation based on pseudo-junction tree for cooperative localization in wireless networks

Non-parametric belief propagation (NBP) is a well-known message passing method for cooperative localization in wireless networks. However, due to the over-counting problem in the networks with loops, NBP’s convergence is not guaranteed, and its estimates are typically less accurate. One solution for this problem is non-parametric generalized belief propagation based on junction tree. However, this method is intractable in large-scale networks due to the high-complexity of the junction tree formation, and the high-dimensionality of the particles. Therefore, in this article, we propose the non-parametric generalized belief propagation based on pseudo-junction tree (NGBP-PJT). The main difference comparing with the standard method is the formation of pseudo-junction tree, which represents the approximated junction tree based on thin graph. In addition, in order to decrease the number of high-dimensional particles, we use more informative importance density function, and reduce the dimensionality of the messages. As by-product, we also propose NBP based on thin graph (NBP-TG), a cheaper variant of NBP, which runs on the same graph as NGBP-PJT. According to our simulation and experimental results, NGBP-PJT method outperforms NBP and NBP-TG in terms of accuracy, computational, and communication cost in reasonably sized networks.

Active Optical Sensors for Tree Stem Detection and Classification in Nurseries.

Active optical sensing (LIDAR and light curtain transmission) devices mounted on a mobile platform can correctly detect, localize, and classify trees. To conduct an evaluation and comparison of the different sensors, an optical encoder wheel was used for vehicle odometry and provided a measurement of the linear displacement of the prototype vehicle along a row of tree seedlings as a reference for each recorded sensor measurement. The field trials were conducted in a juvenile tree nursery with one-year-old grafted almond trees at Sierra Gold Nurseries, Yuba City, CA, United States. Through these tests and subsequent data processing, each sensor was individually evaluated to characterize their reliability, as well as their advantages and disadvantages for the proposed task. Test results indicated that 95.7% and 99.48% of the trees were successfully detected with the LIDAR and light curtain sensors, respectively. LIDAR correctly classified, between alive or dead tree states at a 93.75% success rate compared to 94.16% for the light curtain sensor. These results can help system designers select the most reliable sensor for the accurate detection and localization of each tree in a nursery, which might allow labor-intensive tasks, such as weeding, to be automated without damaging crops.

Epigenetic variability in the genetically uniform forest tree species Pinus pinea L

There is an increasing interest in understanding the role of epigenetic variability in forest species and how it may contribute to their rapid adaptation to changing environments. In this study we have conducted a genome-wide analysis of cytosine methylation pattern in Pinus pinea, a species characterized by very low levels of genetic variation and a remarkable degree of phenotypic plasticity. DNA methylation profiles of different vegetatively propagated trees from representative natural Spanish populations of P. pinea were analyzed with the Methylation Sensitive Amplified Polymorphism (MSAP) technique. A high degree of cytosine methylation was detected (64.36% of all scored DNA fragments). Furthermore, high levels of epigenetic variation were observed among the studied individuals. This high epigenetic variation found in P. pinea contrasted with the lack of genetic variation based on Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) data. In this manner, variable epigenetic markers clearly discriminate individuals and differentiates two well represented populations while the lack of genetic variation revealed with the AFLP markers fail to differentiate at both, individual or population levels. In addition, the use of different replicated trees allowed identifying common polymorphic methylation sensitive MSAP markers among replicates of a given propagated tree. This set of MSAPs allowed discrimination of the 70% of the analyzed trees.