Implication of the oep16-1 mutation in a flu-independent, singlet oxygen-regulated cell death pathway in Arabidopsis thaliana

Singlet oxygen is a prominent form of reactive oxygen species in higher plants. It is easily formed from molecular oxygen by triplet–triplet interchange with excited porphyrin species. Evidence has been obtained from studies on the flu mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana of a genetically determined cell death pathway that involves differential changes at the transcriptome level. Here we report on a different cell death pathway that can be deduced from the analysis of oep16 mutants of A. thaliana. Pure lines of four independent OEP16-deficient mutants with different cell death properties were isolated. Two of the mutants overproduced free protochlorophyllide (Pchlide) in the dark because of defects in import of NADPH:Pchlide oxidoreductase A (pPORA) and died after illumination. The other two mutants avoided excess Pchlide accumulation. Using pulse labeling and polysome profiling studies we show that translation is a major site of cell death regulation in flu and oep16 plants. flu plants respond to photooxidative stress triggered by singlet oxygen by reprogramming their translation toward synthesis of key enzymes involved in jasmonic acid synthesis and stress proteins. In contrast, those oep16 mutants that were prone to photooxidative damage were unable to respond in this way. Together, our results show that translation is differentially affected in the flu and oep16 mutants in response to singlet oxygen.

Development of a Uniform Theory of Diffraction for Scattered and Surface Electromagnetic Field Analysis on a Cylinder

Con esta tesis ”Desarrollo de una Teoría Uniforme de la Difracción para el Análisis de los Campos Electromagnéticos Dispersados y Superficiales sobre un Cilindro” hemos iniciado una nueva línea de investigación que trata de responder a la siguiente pregunta: ¿cuál es la impedancia de superficie que describe una estructura de conductor eléctrico perfecto (PEC) convexa recubierta por un material no conductor? Este tipo de estudios tienen interés hoy en día porque ayudan a predecir el campo electromagnético incidente, radiado o que se propaga sobre estructuras metálicas y localmente convexas que se encuentran recubiertas de algún material dieléctrico, o sobre estructuras metálicas con pérdidas, como por ejemplo se necesita en determinadas aplicaciones aeroespaciales, marítimas o automovilísticas. Además, desde un punto de vista teórico, la caracterización de la impedancia de superficie de una estructura PEC recubierta o no por un dieléctrico es una generalización de varias soluciones que tratan ambos tipos de problemas por separado. En esta tesis se desarrolla una teoría uniforme de la difracción (UTD) para analizar el problema canónico del campo electromagnético dispersado y superficial en un cilindro circular eléctricamente grande con una condición de contorno de impedancia (IBC) para frecuencias altas. Construir una solución basada en UTD para este problema canónico es crucial en el desarrollo de un método UTD para el caso más general de una superficie arbitrariamente convexa, mediante el uso del principio de localización de los campos electromagnéticos a altas frecuencias. Esta tesis doctoral se ha llevado a cabo a través de una serie de hitos que se enumeran a continuación, enfatizando las contribuciones a las que ha dado lugar. Inicialmente se realiza una revisión en profundidad del estado del arte de los métodos asintóticos con numerosas referencias. As í, cualquier lector novel puede llegar a conocer la historia de la óptica geométrica (GO) y la teoría geométrica de la difracción (GTD), que dieron lugar al desarrollo de la UTD. Después, se investiga ampliamente la UTD y los trabajos más importantes que pueden encontrarse en la literatura. As í, este capítulo, nos coloca en la posición de afirmar que, hasta donde nosotros conocemos, nadie ha intentado antes llevar a cabo una investigación rigurosa sobre la caracterización de la impedancia de superficie de una estructura PEC recubierta por un material dieléctrico, utilizando para ello la UTD. Primero, se desarrolla una UTD para el problema canónico de la dispersión electromagnética de un cilindro circular eléctricamente grande con una IBC uniforme, cuando es iluminado por una onda plana con incidencia oblicua a frecuencias altas. La solución a este problema canónico se construye a partir de una solución exacta mediante una expansión de autofunciones de propagación radial. Entonces, ésta se convierte en una nueva expansión de autofunciones de propagación circunferencial muy apropiada para cilindros grandes, a través de la transformación de Watson. De esta forma, la expresión del campo se reduce a una integral que se evalúa asintóticamente, para altas frecuencias, de manera uniforme. El resultado se expresa según el trazado de rayos descrito en la UTD. La solución es uniforme porque tiene la importante propiedad de mantenerse continua a lo largo de la región de transición, a ambos lados de la superficie del contorno de sombra. Fuera de la región de transición la solución se reduce al campo incidente y reflejado puramente ópticos en la región iluminada del cilindro, y al campo superficial difractado en la región de sombra. Debido a la IBC el campo dispersado contiene una componente contrapolar a causa de un acoplamiento entre las ondas TEz y TMz (donde z es el eje del cilindro). Esta componente contrapolar desaparece cuando la incidencia es normal al cilindro, y también en la región iluminada cuando la incidencia es oblicua donde el campo se reduce a la solución de GO. La solución UTD presenta una muy buena exactitud cuando se compara numéricamente con una solución de referencia exacta. A continuación, se desarrolla una IBC efectiva para el cálculo del campo electromagnético dispersado en un cilindro circular PEC recubierto por un dieléctrico e iluminado por una onda plana incidiendo oblicuamente. Para ello se derivan dos impedancias de superficie en relación directa con las ondas creeping y de superficie TM y TE que se excitan en un cilindro recubierto por un material no conductor. Las impedancias de superficie TM y TE están acopladas cuando la incidencia es oblicua, y dependen de la geometría del problema y de los números de onda. Además, se ha derivado una impedancia de superficie constante, aunque con diferente valor cuando el observador se encuentra en la zona iluminada o en la zona de sombra. Después, se presenta una solución UTD para el cálculo de la dispersión de una onda plana con incidencia oblicua sobre un cilindro eléctricamente grande y convexo, mediante la generalización del problema canónico correspondiente al cilindro circular. La solución asintótica es uniforme porque se mantiene continua a lo largo de la región de transición, en las inmediaciones del contorno de sombra, y se reduce a la solución de rayos ópticos en la zona iluminada y a la contribución de las ondas de superficie dentro de la zona de sombra, lejos de la región de transición. Cuando se usa cualquier material no conductor se excita una componente contrapolar que tiende a desaparecer cuando la incidencia es normal al cilindro y en la región iluminada. Se discuten ampliamente las limitaciones de las fórmulas para la impedancia de superficie efectiva, y se compara la solución UTD con otras soluciones de referencia, donde se observa una muy buena concordancia. Y en tercer lugar, se presenta una aproximación para una impedancia de superficie efectiva para el cálculo de los campos superficiales en un cilindro circular conductor recubierto por un dieléctrico. Se discuten las principales diferencias que existen entre un cilindro PEC recubierto por un dieléctrico desde un punto de vista riguroso y un cilindro con una IBC. Mientras para un cilindro de impedancia se considera una impedancia de superficie constante o uniforme, para un cilindro conductor recubierto por un dieléctrico se derivan dos impedancias de superficie. Estas impedancias de superficie están asociadas a los modos de ondas creeping TM y TE excitadas en un cilindro, y dependen de la posición y de la orientación del observador y de la fuente. Con esto en mente, se deriva una solución UTD con IBC para los campos superficiales teniendo en cuenta las dependencias de la impedancia de superficie. La expansión asintótica se realiza, mediante la transformación de Watson, sobre la representación en serie de las funciones de Green correspondientes, evitando as í calcular las derivadas de orden superior de las integrales de tipo Fock, y dando lugar a una solución rápida y precisa. En los ejemplos numéricos realizados se observa una muy buena precisión cuando el cilindro y la separación entre el observador y la fuente son grandes. Esta solución, junto con el método de los momentos (MoM), se puede aplicar para el cálculo eficiente del acoplamiento mutuo de grandes arrays conformados de antenas de parches. Los métodos propuestos basados en UTD para el cálculo del campo electromagnético dispersado y superficial sobre un cilindro PEC recubierto de dieléctrico con una IBC efectiva suponen un primer paso hacia la generalización de una solución UTD para superficies metálicas convexas arbitrarias cubiertas por un material no conductor e iluminadas por una fuente electromagnética arbitraria. ABSTRACT With this thesis ”Development of a Uniform Theory of Diffraction for Scattered and Surface Electromagnetic Field Analysis on a Cylinder” we have initiated a line of investigation whose goal is to answer the following question: what is the surface impedance which describes a perfect electric conductor (PEC) convex structure covered by a material coating? These studies are of current and future interest for predicting the electromagnetic (EM) fields incident, radiating or propagating on locally smooth convex parts of highly metallic structures with a material coating, or by a lossy metallic surfaces, as for example in aerospace, maritime and automotive applications. Moreover, from a theoretical point of view, the surface impedance characterization of PEC surfaces with or without a material coating represents a generalization of independent solutions for both type of problems. A uniform geometrical theory of diffraction (UTD) is developed in this thesis for analyzing the canonical problem of EM scattered and surface field by an electrically large circular cylinder with an impedance boundary condition (IBC) in the high frequency regime, by means of a surface impedance characterization. The construction of a UTD solution for this canonical problem is crucial for the development of the corresponding UTD solution for the more general case of an arbitrary smooth convex surface, via the principle of the localization of high frequency EM fields. The development of the present doctoral thesis has been carried out through a series of landmarks that are enumerated as follows, emphasizing the main contributions that this work has given rise to. Initially, a profound revision is made in the state of art of asymptotic methods where numerous references are given. Thus, any reader may know the history of geometrical optics (GO) and geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD), which led to the development of UTD. Then, the UTD is deeply investigated and the main studies which are found in the literature are shown. This chapter situates us in the position to state that, as far as we know, nobody has attempted before to perform a rigorous research about the surface impedance characterization for material-coated PEC convex structures via UTD. First, a UTD solution is developed for the canonical problem of the EM scattering by an electrically large circular cylinder with a uniform IBC, when it is illuminated by an obliquely incident high frequency plane wave. A solution to this canonical problem is first constructed in terms of an exact formulation involving a radially propagating eigenfunction expansion. The latter is converted into a circumferentially propagating eigenfunction expansion suited for large cylinders, via the Watson transformation, which is expressed as an integral that is subsequently evaluated asymptotically, for high frequencies, in a uniform manner. The resulting solution is then expressed in the desired UTD ray form. This solution is uniform in the sense that it has the important property that it remains continuous across the transition region on either side of the surface shadow boundary. Outside the shadow boundary transition region it recovers the purely ray optical incident and reflected ray fields on the deep lit side of the shadow boundary and to the modal surface diffracted ray fields on the deep shadow side. The scattered field is seen to have a cross-polarized component due to the coupling between the TEz and TMz waves (where z is the cylinder axis) resulting from the IBC. Such cross-polarization vanishes for normal incidence on the cylinder, and also in the deep lit region for oblique incidence where it properly reduces to the GO or ray optical solution. This UTD solution is shown to be very accurate by a numerical comparison with an exact reference solution. Then, an effective IBC is developed for the EM scattered field on a coated PEC circular cylinder illuminated by an obliquely incident plane wave. Two surface impedances are derived in a direct relation with the TM and TE surface and creeping wave modes excited on a coated cylinder. The TM and TE surface impedances are coupled at oblique incidence, and depend on the geometry of the problem and the wave numbers. Nevertheless, a constant surface impedance is found, although with a different value when the observation point lays in the lit or in the shadow region. Then, a UTD solution for the scattering of an obliquely incident plane wave on an electrically large smooth convex coated PEC cylinder is introduced, via a generalization of the canonical circular cylinder problem. The asymptotic solution is uniform because it remains continuous across the transition region, in the vicinity of the shadow boundary, and it recovers the ray optical solution in the deep lit region and the creeping wave formulation within the deep shadow region. When a coating is present a cross-polar field term is excited, which vanishes at normal incidence and in the deep lit region. The limitations of the effective surface impedance formulas are discussed, and the UTD solution is compared with some reference solutions where a very good agreement is met. And in third place, an effective surface impedance approach is introduced for determining surface fields on an electrically large coated metallic circular cylinder. Differences in analysis of rigorouslytreated coated metallic cylinders and cylinders with an IBC are discussed. While for the impedance cylinder case a single constant or uniform surface impedance is considered, for the coated metallic cylinder case two surface impedances are derived. These are associated with the TM and TE creeping wave modes excited on a cylinder and depend on observation and source positions and orientations. With this in mind, a UTD based method with IBC is derived for the surface fields by taking into account the surface impedance variation. The asymptotic expansion is performed, via the Watson transformation, over the appropriate series representation of the Green’s functions, thus avoiding higher-order derivatives of Fock-type integrals, and yielding a fast and an accurate solution. Numerical examples reveal a very good accuracy for large cylinders when the separation between the observation and the source point is large. Thus, this solution could be efficiently applied in mutual coupling analysis, along with the method of moments (MoM), of large conformal microstrip array antennas. The proposed UTD methods for scattered and surface EM field analysis on a coated PEC cylinder with an effective IBC are considered the first steps toward the generalization of a UTD solution for large arbitrarily convex smooth metallic surfaces covered by a material coating and illuminated by an arbitrary EM source.

The major allergens of birch pollen and cow milk, Bet v 1 and Bos d 5, are structurally related to human licocalin 2, enabling them to manipulate T-helper cells depending on their load with siderophore-bound iron

We conclude that Bet v 1 and Bos d 5 not only structurally mimic human LCN2, but also functionally by their ability to bind iron via siderophores. The apo-forms promote Th2 cells, whereas the holo-forms appear to be immunosuppressive. These results provide for the first time a functional understanding on the principle of allergenicity of major allergens from entirely independent sources, like birch and milk.

Contribution to the Analysis, Design and Assessment of Compact Antenna Test Ranges At Millimeter Wavelengths - Contribución al Análisis, Diseño y Caracterización de Sistemas de Medida de Antenas en Rango Compacto para Frecuencias Milimétricas

This Doctoral Thesis entitled Contribution to the analysis, design and assessment of compact antenna test ranges at millimeter wavelengths aims to deepen the knowledge of a particular antenna measurement system: the compact range, operating in the frequency bands of millimeter wavelengths. The thesis has been developed at Radiation Group (GR), an antenna laboratory which belongs to the Signals, Systems and Radiocommunications department (SSR), from Technical University of Madrid (UPM). The Radiation Group owns an extensive experience on antenna measurements, running at present four facilities which operate in different configurations: Gregorian compact antenna test range, spherical near field, planar near field and semianechoic arch system. The research work performed in line with this thesis contributes the knowledge of the first measurement configuration at higher frequencies, beyond the microwaves region where Radiation Group features customer-level performance. To reach this high level purpose, a set of scientific tasks were sequentially carried out. Those are succinctly described in the subsequent paragraphs. A first step dealed with the State of Art review. The study of scientific literature dealed with the analysis of measurement practices in compact antenna test ranges in addition with the particularities of millimeter wavelength technologies. Joint study of both fields of knowledge converged, when this measurement facilities are of interest, in a series of technological challenges which become serious bottlenecks at different stages: analysis, design and assessment. Thirdly after the overview study, focus was set on Electromagnetic analysis algorithms. These formulations allow to approach certain electromagnetic features of interest, such as field distribution phase or stray signal analysis of particular structures when they interact with electromagnetic waves sources. Properly operated, a CATR facility features electromagnetic waves collimation optics which are large, in terms of wavelengths. Accordingly, the electromagnetic analysis tasks introduce an extense number of mathematic unknowns which grow with frequency, following different polynomic order laws depending on the used algorithmia. In particular, the optics configuration which was of our interest consisted on the reflection type serrated edge collimator. The analysis of these devices requires a flexible handling of almost arbitrary scattering geometries, becoming this flexibility the nucleus of the algorithmia’s ability to perform the subsequent design tasks. This thesis’ contribution to this field of knowledge consisted on reaching a formulation which was powerful at the same time when dealing with various analysis geometries and computationally speaking. Two algorithmia were developed. While based on the same principle of hybridization, they reached different order Physics performance at the cost of the computational efficiency. Inter-comparison of their CATR design capabilities was performed, reaching both qualitative as well as quantitative conclusions on their scope. In third place, interest was shifted from analysis - design tasks towards range assessment. Millimetre wavelengths imply strict mechanical tolerances and fine setup adjustment. In addition, the large number of unknowns issue already faced in the analysis stage appears as well in the on chamber field probing stage. Natural decrease of dynamic range available by semiconductor millimeter waves sources requires in addition larger integration times at each probing point. These peculiarities increase exponentially the difficulty of performing assessment processes in CATR facilities beyond microwaves. The bottleneck becomes so tight that it compromises the range characterization beyond a certain limit frequency which typically lies on the lowest segment of millimeter wavelength frequencies. However the value of range assessment moves, on the contrary, towards the highest segment. This thesis contributes this technological scenario developing quiet zone probing techniques which achieves substantial data reduction ratii. Collaterally, it increases the robustness of the results to noise, which is a virtual rise of the setup’s available dynamic range. In fourth place, the environmental sensitivity of millimeter wavelengths issue was approached. It is well known the drifts of electromagnetic experiments due to the dependance of the re sults with respect to the surrounding environment. This feature relegates many industrial practices of microwave frequencies to the experimental stage, at millimeter wavelengths. In particular, evolution of the atmosphere within acceptable conditioning bounds redounds in drift phenomena which completely mask the experimental results. The contribution of this thesis on this aspect consists on modeling electrically the indoor atmosphere existing in a CATR, as a function of environmental variables which affect the range’s performance. A simple model was developed, being able to handle high level phenomena, such as feed - probe phase drift as a function of low level magnitudes easy to be sampled: relative humidity and temperature. With this model, environmental compensation can be performed and chamber conditioning is automatically extended towards higher frequencies. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to go further into the knowledge of millimetre wavelengths involving compact antenna test ranges. This knowledge is dosified through the sequential stages of a CATR conception, form early low level electromagnetic analysis towards the assessment of an operative facility, stages for each one of which nowadays bottleneck phenomena exist and seriously compromise the antenna measurement practices at millimeter wavelengths.

Theoretical analysis and numerical verification of the consistency of viscous smoothed-particle-hydrodynamics formulations in simulating free-surface flows

The theoretical formulation of the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method deserves great care because of some inconsistencies occurring when considering free-surface inviscid flows. Actually, in SPH formulations one usually assumes that (i) surface integral terms on the boundary of the interpolation kernel support are neglected, (ii) free-surface conditions are implicitly verified. These assumptions are studied in detail in the present work for free-surface Newtonian viscous flow. The consistency of classical viscous weakly compressible SPH formulations is investigated. In particular, the principle of virtual work is used to study the verification of the free-surface boundary conditions in a weak sense. The latter can be related to the global energy dissipation induced by the viscous term formulations and their consistency. Numerical verification of this theoretical analysis is provided on three free-surface test cases including a standing wave, with the three viscous term formulations investigated.

Use of DFOT Heat Pulse Method ForWetting Pattern Determination in Drip Irrigation Emitters

Although there are numerous accurate measuring methods to determine soil moisture content in a spot, until very recently there were no precise in situ and in real time methods that were able to measure soil moisture content along a line. By means of the Distributed Fiber Optic Temperature Measurement method or DFOT, the temperature in 0.12 m intervals and long distances (up to 10,000 m) with a high time frequency and an accuracy of +0.2º C is determined. The principle of temperature measurement along a fiber optic cable is based on the thermal sensitivity of the relative intensities of backscattered photons that arise from collisions with electrons in the core of the glass fiber. A laser pulse, generated by the DTS unit, traversing a fiber optic cable will result in backscatter at two frequencies. The DTS quantifies the intensity of these backscattered photons and elapsed time between the pulse and the observed returned light. The intensity of one of the frequencies is strongly dependent on the temperature at the point where the scattering process occurred. The computed temperature is attributed to the position along the cable from which the light was reflected, computed from the time of travel for the light.

Recomputation based implementation of and-or parallel prolog

We argüe that in order to exploit both Independent And- and Or-parallelism in Prolog programs there is advantage in recomputing some of the independent goals, as opposed to all their solutions being reused. We present an abstract model, called the Composition- Tree, for representing and-or parallelism in Prolog Programs. The Composition-tree closely mirrors sequential Prolog execution by recomputing some independent goals rather than fully re-using them. We also outline two environment representation techniques for And-Or parallel execution of full Prolog based on the Composition-tree model abstraction. We argüe that these techniques have advantages over earlier proposals for exploiting and-or parallelism in Prolog.

Implementation and management of private traffic limitation in urban areas: experiences and methodologies.

This paper shows the results of a research aimed to formulate a general model for supporting the implementation and management of an urban road pricing scheme. After a preliminary work, to define the state of the art in the field of sustainable urban mobility strategies, the problem has been theoretically set up in terms of transport economy, introducing the external costs’ concept duly translated into the principle of pricing for the use of public infrastructures. The research is based on the definition of a set of direct and indirect indicators to qualify the urban areas by land use, mobility, environmental and economic conditions. These indicators have been calculated for a selected set of typical urban areas in Europe on the basis of the results of a survey carried out by means of a specific questionnaire. Once identified the most typical and interesting applications of the road pricing concept in cities such as London (Congestion Charging), Milan (Ecopass), Stockholm (Congestion Tax) and Rome (ZTL), a large benchmarking exercise and the cross analysis of direct and indirect indicators, has allowed to define a simple general model, guidelines and key requirements for the implementation of a pricing scheme based traffic restriction in a generic urban area. The model has been finally applied to the design of a road pricing scheme for a particular area in Madrid, and to the quantification of the expected results of its implementation from a land use, mobility, environmental and economic perspective.

La catedral de Ávila : evolución constructiva y análisis estructural

Esta tesis se enmarca en el ámbito de la Historia de la Construcción, se estudia la Catedral de Ávila desde un punto de vista técnico, necesario para completar la visión que de esta catedral se tenía. La interpretación de la documentación de archivo, que se encontraba dispersa e inconexa, ha permitido realizar una cronología revisada y completa de las campañas constructivas para el conjunto de la Catedral, desde el siglo XI al XXI. Mediante el análisis de los Contratos de Obra e Informes, se ha puesto de relieve conocimientos de técnicas constructivas medievales. Se plantean dos hipótesis para el orden en el proceso constructivo. En la zona del Cimorro, en relación con la supresión de la tribuna, colocación de los arbotantes y construcción de la fortificación y triple almenado. En el cuerpo de las naves, referida a la posible existencia de una tribuna, colocación del sistema de contrarresto que vemos actualmente y misión del arco entibo del coro. Se ha analizado la estabilidad estructural de la Catedral bajo el marco teórico del Análisis Límite para Estructuras de Fábrica, utilizando la restitución gráfica procedente del levantamiento topográfico realizado. Estos análisis han servido como comprobación de las hipótesis planteadas, por realizarse tanto para la situación actual como para las diferentes campañas constructivas propuestas. Se ha comprobado la validez de las reglas geométricas tradicionales para el análisis de la estructuras de fábrica en los elementos principales de la estructura gótica. Esta tesis incrementa el conocimiento de la historia mecánica del edificio interpretando el funcionamiento mecánico de sus arbotantes, proyectados de forma atípica, y la colocación de los arcos entibo y codales para conseguir la estabilidad del conjunto. La tesis cuenta con un anexo que recopila una extensa documentación gráfica: planimetría, iconografía y fotografía histórica; la trascripción inédita del Contrato de obra para la Capilla de San Segundo y un anexo de cálculo de la zona del Cimorro y del Cuerpo de Naves. This thesis aims to the field of Construction History. The Cathedral of Ávila is studied from a technical point of view, which was necessary to complete the existing knowledge about this Cathedral. The interpretation of archive documentation, which was disperse and unconnected before this work, has allowed the proposal of a revised and complete chronology of the diverse building stages of the Cathedral, dating from the XI century to the XXI century. The analysis of work contracts and of reports has revealed knowledge of medieval construction techniques. Two hypotheses are presented about the order in the construction process. The first hypothesis concerning the destruction of the tribune, the placing of the flying buttress and the building of the fortification and triple system of battlement in the area of the “Cimorro”. The second hypothesis regarding the naves: the possible existence of a tribune, the placing of the system of counterthrust, which can currently be seen, and the function of the “entibo” arch in the choir. The Structural Stability of the Cathedral has been analysed within the theoretical Framework of Limit Analysis to Masonry Structure, by using of the drawing proceeding from our lifting topographical. These analyses have proven the presented hypotheses, since they have been applied to the current situation as well as to the several building stage proposed in the chronology. The validity of the traditional geometric rules for the analysis of the masonry structure in the core elements of Gothic structures has been verified. This thesis increases the knowledge of the mechanical history of the building by interpreting the mechanical working of the flying buttress in an atypical arrangement and the placing of the “entibo” arch and “codal” arch in order to obtain the stability of the monument. The thesis incorporates supplementary material which can be categorized in three groups: 1) extensive graphic documentation (planning, iconography and history photography); 2) the hitherto unknown transcription of the “CONTRATO DE OBRA PARA LA CAPILLA DE SAN SEGUNDO”; 3) an appendix of Analysis of Calculation for the “Cimorro” and the naves.

Training organization of a middle-size company engaged in information technology services: theory and practice

In order to establish an active internal know-how -reserve~ in an information processing and engineering services . company, a training architecture tailored to the company as an whole must be defined. When a company' s earnings come from . advisory services dynamically structured i.n the form of projects, as is the case at hand, difficulties arise that must be taken into account in the architectural design. The first difficulties are of a psychological nature and the design method proposed here begjns wi th the definition of the highest training metasystem, which is aimed at making adjustments for the variety of perceptions of the company's human components, before the architecture can be designed. This approach may be considered as an application of the cybernetic Law of Requisita Variety (Ashby) and of the Principle of Conceptual Integrity (Brooks) . Also included is a description of sorne of the results of the first steps of metasystems at the level of company organization.

Microstructural segmentation of 3D images of alsphalt specimen using Matlab engine

En este proyecto se ha desarrollado un código de MATLAB para el procesamiento de imágenes tomográficas 3D, de muestras de asfalto de carreteras en Polonia. Estas imágenes en 3D han sido tomadas por un equipo de investigación de la Universidad Tecnológica de Lodz (LUT). El objetivo de este proyecto es crear una herramienta que se pueda utilizar para estudiar las diferentes muestras de asfalto 3D y pueda servir para estudiar las pruebas de estrés que experimentan las muestras en el laboratorio. Con el objetivo final de encontrar soluciones a la degradación sufrida en las carreteras de Polonia, debido a diferentes causas, como son las condiciones meteorológicas. La degradación de las carreteras es un tema que se ha investigado desde hace muchos años, debido a la fuerte degradación causada por diferentes factores como son climáticos, la falta de mantenimiento o el tráfico excesivo en algunos casos. Es en Polonia, donde estos tres factores hacen que la composición de muchas carreteras se degrade rápidamente, sobre todo debido a las condiciones meteorológicas sufridas a lo largo del año, con temperaturas que van desde 30° C en verano a -20° C en invierno. Esto hace que la composición de las carreteras sufra mucho y el asfalto se levante, lo que aumenta los costos de mantenimiento y los accidentes de carretera. Este proyecto parte de la base de investigación que se lleva a cabo en la LUT, tratando de mejorar el análisis de las muestras de asfalto, por lo que se realizarán las pruebas de estrés y encontrar soluciones para mejorar el asfalto en las carreteras polacas. Esto disminuiría notablemente el costo de mantenimiento. A pesar de no entrar en aspectos muy técnicos sobre el asfalto y su composición, se ha necesitado realizar un estudio profundo sobre todas sus características, para crear un código capaz de obtener los mejores resultados. Por estas razones, se ha desarrollado en Matlab, los algoritmos que permiten el estudio de los especímenes 3D de asfalto. Se ha utilizado este software, ya que Matlab es una poderosa herramienta matemática que permite operar con matrices para realización de operaciones rápidamente, permitiendo desarrollar un código específico para el tratamiento y procesamiento de imágenes en 3D. Gracias a esta herramienta, estos algoritmos realizan procesos tales como, la segmentación de la imagen 3D, pre y post procesamiento de la imagen, filtrado o todo tipo de análisis microestructural de las muestras de asfalto que se están estudiando. El código presentado para la segmentación de las muestras de asfalto 3D es menos complejo en su diseño y desarrollo, debido a las herramientas de procesamiento de imágenes que incluye Matlab, que facilitan significativamente la tarea de programación, así como el método de segmentación utilizado. Respecto al código, este ha sido diseñado teniendo en cuenta el objetivo de facilitar el trabajo de análisis y estudio de las imágenes en 3D de las muestras de asfalto. Por lo tanto, el principal objetivo es el de crear una herramienta para el estudio de este código, por ello fue desarrollado para que pueda ser integrado en un entorno visual, de manera que sea más fácil y simple su utilización. Ese es el motivo por el cual todos estos algoritmos y funciones, que ha sido desarrolladas, se integrarán en una herramienta visual que se ha desarrollado con el GUIDE de Matlab. Esta herramienta ha sido creada en colaboración con Jorge Vega, y fue desarrollada en su proyecto final de carrera, cuyo título es: Segmentación microestructural de Imágenes en 3D de la muestra de asfalto utilizando Matlab. En esta herramienta se ha utilizado todo las funciones programadas en este proyecto, y tiene el objetivo de desarrollar una herramienta que permita crear un entorno gráfico intuitivo y de fácil uso para el estudio de las muestras de 3D de asfalto. Este proyecto se ha dividido en 4 capítulos, en un primer lugar estará la introducción, donde se presentarán los aspectos más importante que se va a componer el proyecto. En el segundo capítulo se presentarán todos los datos técnicos que se han tenido que estudiar para desarrollar la herramienta, entre los que cabe los tres temas más importantes que se han estudiado en este proyecto: materiales asfálticos, los principios de la tomografías 3D y el procesamiento de imágenes. Esta será la base para el tercer capítulo, que expondrá la metodología utilizada en la elaboración del código, con la explicación del entorno de trabajo utilizado en Matlab y todas las funciones de procesamiento de imágenes utilizadas. Además, se muestra todo el código desarrollado, así como una descripción teórica de los métodos utilizados para el pre-procesamiento y segmentación de las imagenes en 3D. En el capítulo 4, se mostrarán los resultados obtenidos en el estudio de una de las muestras de asfalto, y, finalmente, el último capítulo se basa en las conclusiones sobre el desarrollo de este proyecto. En este proyecto se ha llevado han realizado todos los puntos que se establecieron como punto de partida en el anteproyecto para crear la herramienta, a pesar de que se ha dejado para futuros proyectos nuevas posibilidades de este codigo, como por ejemplo, la detección automática de las diferentes regiones de una muestra de asfalto debido a su composición. Como se muestra en este proyecto, las técnicas de procesamiento de imágenes se utilizan cada vez más en multitud áreas, como pueden ser industriales o médicas. En consecuencia, este tipo de proyecto tiene multitud de posibilidades, y pudiendo ser la base para muchas nuevas aplicaciones que se puedan desarrollar en un futuro. Por último, se concluye que este proyecto ha contribuido a fortalecer las habilidades de programación, ampliando el conocimiento de Matlab y de la teoría de procesamiento de imágenes. Del mismo modo, este trabajo proporciona una base para el desarrollo de un proyecto más amplio cuyo alcance será una herramienta que puedas ser utilizada por el equipo de investigación de la Universidad Tecnológica de Lodz y en futuros proyectos. ABSTRACT In this project has been developed one code in MATLAB to process X-ray tomographic 3D images of asphalt specimens. These images 3D has been taken by a research team of the Lodz University of Technology (LUT). The aim of this project is to create a tool that can be used to study differents asphalt specimen and can be used to study them after stress tests undergoing the samples. With the final goal to find solutions to the degradation suffered roads in Poland due to differents causes, like weather conditions. The degradation of the roads is an issue that has been investigated many years ago, due to strong degradation suffered caused by various factors such as climate, poor maintenance or excessive traffic in some cases. It is in Poland where these three factors make the composition of many roads degrade rapidly, especially due to the weather conditions suffered along the year, with temperatures ranging from 30 o C in summer to -20 ° C in winter. This causes the roads suffers a lot and asphalt rises shortly after putting, increasing maintenance costs and road accident. This project part of the base that research is taking place at the LUT, in order to better analyze the asphalt specimens, they are tested for stress and find solutions to improve the asphalt on Polish roads. This would decrease remarkable maintenance cost. Although this project will not go into the technical aspect as asphalt and composition, but it has been required a deep study about all of its features, to create a code able to obtain the best results. For these reasons, there have been developed in Matlab, algorithms that allow the study of 3D specimens of asphalt. Matlab is a powerful mathematical tool, which allows arrays operate fastly, allowing to develop specific code for the treatment and processing of 3D images. Thus, these algorithms perform processes such as the multidimensional matrix sgementation, pre and post processing with the same filtering algorithms or microstructural analysis of asphalt specimen which being studied. All these algorithms and function that has been developed to be integrated into a visual tool which it be developed with the GUIDE of Matlab. This tool has been created in the project of Jorge Vega which name is: Microstructural segmentation of 3D images of asphalt specimen using Matlab engine. In this tool it has been used all the functions programmed in this project, and it has the aim to develop an easy and intuitive graphical environment for the study of 3D samples of asphalt. This project has been divided into 4 chapters plus the introduction, the second chapter introduces the state-of-the-art of the three of the most important topics that have been studied in this project: asphalt materials, principle of X-ray tomography and image processing. This will be the base for the third chapter, which will outline the methodology used in developing the code, explaining the working environment of Matlab and all the functions of processing images used. In addition, it will be shown all the developed code created, as well as a theoretical description of the methods used for preprocessing and 3D image segmentation. In Chapter 4 is shown the results obtained from the study of one of the specimens of asphalt, and finally the last chapter draws the conclusions regarding the development of this project.

Detection of internal quality in kiwi with a new optical technique (TDRS)

A compact system based on time-resolved diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (TDRS) has been developed to measure internal fruit quality parameters and has been applied to the non-destructive estimation of firmness, sugar content and acidity of kiwifruits. This new optical technique, developed in medical applications and related areas, provides a complete optical characterisation of a diffusive sample as it estimates at the same time and independently the light absorption inside the tissues and the scattering across them. The working principle of the technique is the analysis of the attenuation and broadening of the time-distribution of the remitted light, and the correct interpretation with a proper theoretical model. This main advantage compared to conventional optical techniques (which are only able to register the global attenuation spectrum) added to the compact, portable prototype developed along a three-year work opens the possibilities of this new measurement method in the food industry.

The influence of transparency on self-evaluation as part of the university accreditation process in Peru.

In order to show the choice of transparency as the guiding principle of the accreditation process, the article evaluates its influence on the fundamental subprocess of self-evaluation, thereby confirming that transparency is an essential tool for continuous improvement of academic processes and those of educational quality management. It fosters educational innovation and permits the sustainability of the continuous accreditation process over time, resulting in greater probabilities of university self-regulation through systemization of the process, with the objective of continuous improvement of university degree programs. The article analyzes the influence of transparency on each activity of the self-evaluation process according to the Peruvian accreditation model prepared under the total quality approach, as a reference for other accreditation models, proposing concrete transparency actions and evaluating its influence on the stakeholder groups in the self-evaluation process, as well as on the efficiency and effectiveness of the process. It is concluded that transparency has a positive influence on the training of human capital and the formation of the university?s organizational culture, facilitating dissemination, understanding and involvement of the stakeholder groups in the continuous improvement of accreditation activities and increasing their acceptance of change and commitment to the process. It is confirmed that transparency contributes toward increasing the efficiency index of the self-evaluation process by reducing operating costs through adequate, accessible, timely contribution of information by the stakeholders and through the optimization of the time spent gathering relevant information. In addition, it is concluded that transparency contributes toward increasing the effectiveness index of self-evaluation by facilitating the achievement of its objectives through synthetic, useful, reliable interpretation of the education situation and the formulation of feasible improvement plans based on the adequacy, relevance, visibility, pertinence and truthfulness of the information analyzed.

Performance-based seismic design of a retaining wall

The design of containment walls suffering seismic loads traditionally has been realized with methods based on pseudoanalitic procedures such as Mononobe-Okabe's method, which it has led in certain occasions to insecure designs, that they have produced the ruin of many containment walls suffering the action of an earthquake. The recommendations gathered in Mononobe-Okabe's theory have been included in numerous Codes of Seismic Design. It is clear that a revision of these recommendations must be done. At present there is taking place an important review of the design methods of anti-seismic structures such as containment walls placed in an area of numerous earthquakes, by means of the introduction at the beginning of the decade of 1990 the Displacement Response Spectrum (DRS) and the Capacity Demand Diagram (CDD) that suppose an important change in the way of presenting the Elastic Response Spectrum (ERS). On the other hand in case of action of an earthquake, the dynamic characteristics of a soil have been referred traditionally to the speed of the shear waves that can be generated in a site, together with the characteristics of plasticity and damping of the soil. The Principle of the energy conservation explains why a shear upward propagating seismic wave can be amplified when travelling from a medium with high shear wave velocity (rock) to other medium with lower velocity (soil deposit), as it happened in the earthquake of Mexico of 1985. This amplification is a function of the speed gradient or of the contrast of impedances in the border of both types of mediums. A method is proposed in this paper for the design of containment walls in different soils, suffering to the action of an earthquake, based on the Performance-Based Seismic Design.

Service for the pseudonymization of electronic healthcare records based on ISO/EN 13606 for the secondary use of information

The availability of electronic health data favors scientific advance through the creation of repositories for secondary use. Data anonymization is a mandatory step to comply with current legislation. A service for the pseudonymization of electronic healthcare record (EHR) extracts aimed at facilitating the exchange of clinical information for secondary use in compliance with legislation on data protection is presented. According to ISO/TS 25237, pseudonymization is a particular type of anonymization. This tool performs the anonymizations by maintaining three quasi-identifiers (gender, date of birth and place of residence) with a degree of specification selected by the user. The developed system is based on the ISO/EN 13606 norm using its characteristics specifically favorable for anonymization. The service is made up of two independent modules: the demographic server and the pseudonymizing module. The demographic server supports the permanent storage of the demographic entities and the management of the identifiers. The pseudonymizing module anonymizes the ISO/EN 13606 extracts. The pseudonymizing process consists of four phases: the storage of the demographic information included in the extract, the substitution of the identifiers, the elimination of the demographic information of the extract and the elimination of key data in free-text fields. The described pseudonymizing system was used in three Telemedicine research projects with satisfactory results. A problem was detected with the type of data in a demographic data field and a proposal for modification was prepared for the group in charge of the drawing up and revision of the ISO/EN 13606 norm.