Eco-cities, Smart-cities : Soluciones a los retos de la ciudad contemporánea

Hoy en día las ciudades, como centros de innovación y economía global, constituyen el principal asentamiento de la humanidad. Con los avances tecnológicos de los últimos tiempos se ha impulsado el crecimiento económico, el consumo y la riqueza, propiciando una explosión demográfica sin precedentes, que se concentra sobre todo en las ciudades. Sin embargo, todo esto ha traído consigo graves consecuencias ambientales y sociales que amenazan a la humanidad y a la salud del planeta, como son el calentamiento global, la elevada contaminación, la congestión, la dispersión urbana, la pobreza urbana generalizada, etc. Así, desde el punto de vista de los diseños y planteamientos urbanos, han surgido diferentes modelos de ciudad que han intentado dar respuesta a estos males, algunos basados en la lógica ecológica, otros considerando a la tecnología como la única capaz de dar una solución eficaz. Actualmente, viene extendiéndose la idea de que lograr una ciudad verdaderamente sostenible y habitable pasa por acoger los conceptos ecológicos que permitan alcanzar la sostenibilidad, poniendo además la tecnología al servicio de los ciudadanos para lograr tales fines. Existen multitud de ejemplos de proyectos que se están construyendo o ya han sido ejecutados siguiendo las concepciones de alguno de estos modelos, basta saber si sus planteamientos han logrado solventar de una forma eficaz estas problemáticas.

Diseño de una plataforma Smart Services para Smart Cities

El objetivo principal de este Proyecto Fin de Carrera (PFC), consiste en diseñar una plataforma Smart Services dentro de una compañía, para proporcionar a sus clientes servicios de Smart Cities. Se diseñará una plataforma que en fase de implantación llegue a prestar servicios extremo a extremo a las AAPP (Ayuntamientos y concesionarios de servicios municipales). Es decir, desde la petición del servicio, hasta que el mismo se provisiona y se pone en marcha. El diseño de la solución para el Sistema de Gestión deberá cumplir con las siguientes características: 1. Gestión end-to-end de la Plataforma Smart Services. 2. Cobertura a los diferentes módulos funcionales del propio Sistema de Gestión: 3. Gestión del inventario. 4. Gestión de la provisión. 5. Monitorización y supervisión de la Plataforma Smart Services. 6. Gestión del servicio. 7. Escalabilidad: La solución propuesta debe garantizar la escalabilidad necesaria para poder atender a las necesidades de volumetría. 8. Sistema de Gestión implementado bajo herramientas Open Source.

Enseñanzas derivadas del Benchmark SMART 2013

El CEA francés, junto con EDF y la OIEA, recientemente organizaron un benchmark internacional y posterior workshop para evaluar las capacidades de simulación del comportamiento mecánico de estructuras nucleares de hormigón armado sometidas a acciones sísmicas. Principia, que fue el único participante español en el workshop, contribuyó a tres de las cuatro fases del ejercicio, que esencialmente consistía en simular los efectos de terremotos en un modelo a escala de una estructura nuclear típica, y en comparar los resultados con ensayos posteriores en mesa vibrante y con las predicciones de otros participantes. El artículo presenta algunas conclusiones obtenidas en los cálculos pre-ensayo, enriquecidas con observaciones producidas por las simulaciones adicionales llevadas a cabo una vez que se hicieron públicos los resultados de los ensayos.

Experience and lessons learnt from the SMART 2013 Benchmark

The French CEA, together with EDF and the IAEA, recently organised an international benchmark to evaluate the ability to model the mechanical behaviour of a typical nuclear reinforced concrete structure subjected to seismic demands. The participants were provided with descriptions of the structure and the testing campaign; they had to propose the numerical model and the material laws for the concrete (stage #1). A mesh of beam and shell elements was generated; for modelling the concrete a damaged plasticity model was used, but a smeared crack model was also investigated. Some of the initial experimental results, with the mock-up remaining in the elastic range, were provided to the participants for calibrating their models (stage #2). Predictions had to be produced in terms of eigen-frequencies and motion time histories. The calculated frequencies reproduced reasonably the experimental ones; the time histories, calculated by modal response analysis, also reproduced adequately the observed amplifications. The participants were then expected to predict the structural response under strong ground motions (stage #3), which increased progressively up to a history recorded during the 1994 Northridge earthquake, followed by an aftershock. These results were produced using an explicit solver and a damaged plasticity model for the concrete, although an implicit solver with a smeared crack model was also investigated. The paper presents the conclusions of the pre-test exercise, as well as some observations from additional simulations conducted after the experimental results were made available.

Money Smart Week April 25-29, 2016

Join us the week of April 25-29, 2016 to celebrate Money Smart Week 2016. We have great guest speakers from the financial institutions around the region come to talk about finances. Be present for each event and be entered into a drawing to receive $500 towards your student loan balance! A variety of food will be provided at each event too. The event is 4pm -5pm Monday to Friday at Inman E. Page Library.

Trusted Tiny Things : Making Devices in Smart Cities More Transparent

Postprint

Kinetic characterization of brush border myosin-I ATPase

Brush border myosin-I (BBM-I) is a single-headed unconventional myosin found in the microvilli of intestinal epithelial cells. We used stopped-flow kinetic analysis to measure the rate and equilibrium constants for several steps in the BBM-I ATPase cycle. We determined the rates for ATP binding to BBM-I and brush border actomyosin-I (actoBBM-I), the rate of actoBBM-I dissociation by ATP, and the rates for the steps in ADP dissociation from actoBBM-I. The rate and equilibrium constants for several of the steps in the actoBBM-I ATPase are significantly different from those of other members of the myosin superfamily. Most notably, dissociation of the actoBBM-I complex by ATP and release of ADP from actoBBM-I are both very slow. The slow rates of these steps may play a role in lengthening the time spent in force-generating states and in limiting the maximal rate of BBM-I motility. In addition, release of ADP from the actoBBM-I complex occurs in at least two steps. This study provides evidence for a member of the myosin superfamily with markedly divergent kinetic behavior.

Galectin-4 and Small Intestinal Brush Border Enzymes Form Clusters

Detergent-insoluble complexes prepared from pig small intestine are highly enriched in several transmembrane brush border enzymes including aminopeptidase N and sucrase-isomaltase, indicating that they reside in a glycolipid-rich environment in vivo. In the present work galectin-4, an animal lectin lacking a N-terminal signal peptide for membrane translocation, was discovered in these complexes as well, and in gradient centrifugation brush border enzymes and galectin-4 formed distinct soluble high molecular weight clusters. Immunoperoxidase cytochemistry and immunogold electron microscopy showed that galectin-4 is indeed an intestinal brush border protein; we also localized galectin-4 throughout the cell, mainly associated with membraneous structures, including small vesicles, and to the rootlets of microvillar actin filaments. This was confirmed by subcellular fractionation, showing about half the amount of galectin-4 to be in the microvillar fraction, the rest being associated with insoluble intracellular structures. A direct association between the lectin and aminopeptidase N was evidenced by a colocalization along microvilli in double immunogold labeling and by the ability of an antibody to galectin-4 to coimmunoprecipitate aminopeptidase N and sucrase-isomaltase. Furthermore, galectin-4 was released from microvillar, right-side-out vesicles as well as from mucosal explants by a brief wash with 100 mM lactose, confirming its extracellular localization. Galectin-4 is therefore secreted by a nonclassical pathway, and the brush border enzymes represent a novel class of natural ligands for a member of the galectin family. Newly synthesized galectin-4 is rapidly “trapped” by association with intracellular structures prior to its apical secretion, but once externalized, association with brush border enzymes prevents it from being released from the enterocyte into the intestinal lumen.

SMART, a simple modular architecture research tool: Identification of signaling domains

Accurate multiple alignments of 86 domains that occur in signaling proteins have been constructed and used to provide a Web-based tool (SMART: simple modular architecture research tool) that allows rapid identification and annotation of signaling domain sequences. The majority of signaling proteins are multidomain in character with a considerable variety of domain combinations known. Comparison with established databases showed that 25% of our domain set could not be deduced from SwissProt and 41% could not be annotated by Pfam. SMART is able to determine the modular architectures of single sequences or genomes; application to the entire yeast genome revealed that at least 6.7% of its genes contain one or more signaling domains, approximately 350 greater than previously annotated. The process of constructing SMART predicted (i) novel domain homologues in unexpected locations such as band 4.1-homologous domains in focal adhesion kinases; (ii) previously unknown domain families, including a citron-homology domain; (iii) putative functions of domain families after identification of additional family members, for example, a ubiquitin-binding role for ubiquitin-associated domains (UBA); (iv) cellular roles for proteins, such predicted DEATH domains in netrin receptors further implicating these molecules in axonal guidance; (v) signaling domains in known disease genes such as SPRY domains in both marenostrin/pyrin and Midline 1; (vi) domains in unexpected phylogenetic contexts such as diacylglycerol kinase homologues in yeast and bacteria; and (vii) likely protein misclassifications exemplified by a predicted pleckstrin homology domain in a Candida albicans protein, previously described as an integrin.

Brush border myosin-I truncated in the motor domain impairs the distribution and the function of endocytic compartments in an hepatoma cell line.

Myosins I, a ubiquitous monomeric class of myosins that exhibits actin-based motor properties, are associated with plasma and/or vesicular membranes and have been suggested as players for trafficking events between cell surface and intracellular membranous structures. To investigate the function of myosins 1, we have transfected a mouse hepatoma cell line (BWTG3) with cDNAs encoding the chicken brush border myosin-I (BBMI) and two variants truncated in the motor domain. One variant is deleted of the first 446 amino acids and thereby lacks the ATP binding site, whereas the other is deleted of the entire motor domain and lacks the ATP and actin binding sites. We have observed (i) that significant amounts of the truncated variants are recovered with membrane fractions after cell fractionation, (ii) that they codistribute with a compartment containing alpha2-macroglobulin internalized for 30 min as determined by fluorescent microscopy, (iii) that the production of BBMI-truncated variants impairs the distribution of the acidic compartment and ligands internalized for 30 min, and (iv) that the production of the truncated variant containing the actin binding site decreases the rate of alpha2-macroglobulin degradation whereas the production of the variant lacking the ATP binding site and the actin binding site increases the rate of a2-macroglobulin degradation. These observations indicate that the two truncated variants have a dominant negative effect on the distribution and the function of the endocytic compartments. We propose that an unidentified myosin-I might contribute to the distribution of endocytic compartments in a juxtanuclear position and/or to the regulation of the delivery of ligands to the degradative compartment in BWTG3 cells.

A few autoreactive cells in an autoimmune infiltrate control a vast population of nonspecific cells: a tale of smart bombs and the infantry.

Inflammatory infiltrates in tissue-specific autoimmune disease comprise a collection of T cells with specificity for an antigen in the target organ. These specific cells recruit a population of nonspecific T cells and macrophages. The rare tissue-specific T cells in the infiltrate have the capacity to regulate both the influx and the efflux of cells from the tissue. Administration of an altered peptide ligand for the specific T cell which triggers autoimmunity can lead to the regression of the entire inflammatory ensemble in a few hours. Interleukin 4 is a critical cytokine involved in the regression of the inflammatory infiltrate.

Molecular approaches to smart materials via interface recognition and conformationally switchable cavitands

In this thesis the molecular level design of functional materials and systems is reported. In the first part, tetraphosphonate cavitand (Tiiii) recognition properties towards amino acids are studied both in the solid state, through single crystal X-ray diffraction, and in solution, via NMR and ITC experiments. The complexation ability of these supramolecular receptors is then applied to the detection of biologically remarkable N-methylated amino acids and peptides using complex dynamic emulsions-based sensing platforms. In the second part, a general supramolecular approach for surface decoration with single-molecule magnets (SMMs) is presented. The self-assembly of SMMs is achieved through the formation of a multiple hydrogen bonds architecture (UPy-NaPy complexation). Finally we explore the possibility to impart auxetic behavior to polymeric material through the introduction of conformationally switchable monomers, namely tetraquinoxaline cavitands (QxCav). Their interconversion from a closed vase conformation to an extended kite form is studied first in solution, then in polymeric matrixes via pH and tensile stimuli by UV-Vis spectroscopy.

Capacity-building through English language training to improve long-term resettlement success: A case study of the refugees along the Thailand-Burma border

Achieving long-term resettlement success is a challenge for many refugees seeking to restart their lives after displacement and being uprooted from their lives. Refugees must deal with finding employment, integrating into a society immensely different from what they have known their whole lives, and starting over from scratch. Learning a new language enables refugees to progress towards integration and long-term resettlement success, however, resettled refugees face a multitude of barriers in the U.S. to accessing language classes and attaining English proficiency. This study seeks to bridge this problem by exploring the possibilities of implementing a standardized language training program in the refugee camps to better prepare refugees for resettlement. A case study of the refugees along the Thai-Burma border demonstrated the significance of learning English in the camps on eventual English proficiency as well as the need for increased partnerships to overcome the barriers of lack of motivation and lack of funding. The author explores the possibilities of implementing a language training program in the camps by determining need, interest, barriers, and perceptions through the use of interviews, surveys, and focus groups of camp refugees, resettled refugees, and key organizational representatives. The significance of these results offers the possibility of leveraging and unlocking resettlement as a durable solution for more of the world's refugees in protracted situations.

Short-term Load Forecasting Using Neural Network For Future Smart Grid Application

Short-term load forecasting of power system has been a classic problem for a long time. Not merely it has been researched extensively and intensively, but also a variety of forecasting methods has been raised. This thesis outlines some aspects and functions of smart meter. It also presents different policies and current statuses as well as future projects and objectives of SG development in several countries. Then the thesis compares main aspects about latest products of smart meter from different companies. Lastly, three types of prediction models are established in MATLAB to emulate the functions of smart grid in the short-term load forecasting, and then their results are compared and analyzed in terms of accuracy. For this thesis, more variables such as dew point temperature are used in the Neural Network model to achieve more accuracy for better short-term load forecasting results.