Disruption of abscisic acid signaling constitutively activates Arabidopsis resistance to the necrotrophic fungus Plectosphaerella cucumerina.

Plant resistance to necrotrophic fungi is regulated by a complex set of signaling pathways that includes those mediated by the hormones salicylic acid (SA), ethylene (ET), jasmonic acid (JA), and abscisic acid (ABA). The role of ABA in plant resistance remains controversial, as positive and negative regulatory functions have been described depending on the plant-pathogen interaction analyzed. Here, we show that ABA signaling negatively regulates Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) resistance to the necrotrophic fungus Plectosphaerella cucumerina. Arabidopsis plants impaired in ABA biosynthesis, such as the aba1-6 mutant, or in ABA signaling, like the quadruple pyr/pyl mutant (pyr1pyl1pyl2pyl4), were more resistant to P. cucumerina than wild-type plants. In contrast, the hab1-1abi1-2abi2-2 mutant impaired in three phosphatases that negatively regulate ABA signaling displayed an enhanced susceptibility phenotype to this fungus. Comparative transcriptomic analyses of aba1-6 and wild-type plants revealed that the ABA pathway negatively regulates defense genes, many of which are controlled by the SA, JA, or ET pathway. In line with these data, we found that aba1-6 resistance to P. cucumerina was partially compromised when the SA, JA, or ET pathway was disrupted in this mutant. Additionally, in the aba1-6 plants, some genes encoding cell wall-related proteins were misregulated. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and biochemical analyses of cell walls from aba1-6 and wild-type plants revealed significant differences in their Fourier transform infrared spectratypes and uronic acid and cellulose contents. All these data suggest that ABA signaling has a complex function in Arabidopsis basal resistance, negatively regulating SA/JA/ET-mediated resistance to necrotrophic fungi.

Scour prediction and scour protections in offshore wind farms

This paper is the result of research whose main objective is to analyse different methods used for the prediction of maximum scour depth and scour extension, and for the design of scour protections in offshore wind farms located in shallow water, using medium and large diameter monopile foundations. Physical agents such as waves, currents and wind play a major role in the design of structures like offshore farms. As a result, the study has highlighted the need for introducing experience backed climate monomials such as the dimensionless wave height parameter (H0) and proposes the use of formulations that can express the extent of scour protections as a function of waves in transitional waters.

Dimensionless wave height parameter for preliminary design of scour protection in offshore wind farms

This article describes the results of an investigation aimed at the analysis methods used in the design of the protections against scour phenomenon on offshore wind farms in transitional waters, using medium and large diameter monopile type deep foundations.

Comparative study of breakwater crown wall – calculation methods

An investigation was undertaken consisting of a state-of-the-art and comparative analysis of currently available methods for calculating the structural stability of wave walls in sloping breakwaters. A total of six design schemes are addressed. The conditions under which the formulations and ranges of validity are explicitly indicated by their authors, are given. The lack of definition in parameters to be used and aspects not taken into account in their investigations are discussed and the results of this analysis are given in a final table.

An evolutionary algorithm for the surface structure problem

Many macroscopic properties: hardness, corrosion, catalytic activity, etc. are directly related to the surface structure, that is, to the position and chemical identity of the outermost atoms of the material. Current experimental techniques for its determination produce a “signature” from which the structure must be inferred by solving an inverse problem: a solution is proposed, its corresponding signature computed and then compared to the experiment. This is a challenging optimization problem where the search space and the number of local minima grows exponentially with the number of atoms, hence its solution cannot be achieved for arbitrarily large structures. Nowadays, it is solved by using a mixture of human knowledge and local search techniques: an expert proposes a solution that is refined using a local minimizer. If the outcome does not fit the experiment, a new solution must be proposed again. Solving a small surface can take from days to weeks of this trial and error method. Here we describe our ongoing work in its solution. We use an hybrid algorithm that mixes evolutionary techniques with trusted region methods and reuses knowledge gained during the execution to avoid repeated search of structures. Its parallelization produces good results even when not requiring the gathering of the full population, hence it can be used in loosely coupled environments such as grids. With this algorithm, the solution of test cases that previously took weeks of expert time can be automatically solved in a day or two of uniprocessor time.

SVis: A computational steering visualization environment for surface structure determination

The arrangement of atoms at the surface of a solid accounts for many of its properties: Hardness, chemical activity, corrosion, etc. are dictated by the precise surface structure. Hence, finding it, has a broad range of technical and industrial applications. The ability to solve this problem opens the possibility of designing by computer materials with properties tailored to specific applications. Since the search space grows exponentially with the number of atoms, its solution cannot be achieved for arbitrarily large structures. Presently, a trial and error procedure is used: an expert proposes an structure as a candidate solution and tries a local optimization procedure on it. The solution relaxes to the local minimum in the attractor basin corresponding to the initial point, that might be the one corresponding to the global minimum or not. This procedure is very time consuming and, for reasonably sized surfaces, can take many iterations and much effort from the expert. Here we report on a visualization environment designed to steer this process in an attempt to solve bigger structures and reduce the time needed. The idea is to use an immersive environment to interact with the computation. It has immediate feedback to assess the quality of the proposed structure in order to let the expert explore the space of candidate solutions. The visualization environment is also able to communicate with the de facto local solver used for this problem. The user is then able to send trial structures to the local minimizer and track its progress as they approach the minimum. This allows for simultaneous testing of candidate structures. The system has also proved very useful as an educational tool for the field.

Secundary school profile in science and technology versus the first year at the Technical University of Madrid. Cause of failure or quitting?

Se analiza el absentismo, el fallo y el abandono de los estudiantes en los primeros semestres del grado sobre la base de su formación en la educación secundaria.

Ingeniería Forestal y ambiental en medios insulares

Las Islas Canarias a pesar de su reducida extensión y del relativo poco peso específico a nivel mundial, no es ajena a los problemas globales detectados en la conservación de bosques y en la importancia que éstos tienen para obtener beneficios económicos, socioculturales y ambientales. La gestión forestal sostenible es en este sentido esencial para asegurar y compatibilizar los diversos beneficios del bosque. El papel específico de los bosques y su gestión son sin embargo temas aún por conocer en nuestras islas, por lo que el Año Internacional de los Bosques ha representado una oportunidad única para dar a conocer el mundo forestal y acercarlo a nuestra sociedad. El presente libro consta de 25 capítulos donde se ha contemplado la mayoría de los aspectos a tener en cuenta en la planificación y gestión del medio forestal y natural. Desde la historia forestal del archipiélago, hasta el uso y técnicas de manejo de los recursos naturales, incluyendo el agua, la energía en forma de biomasa y la selvicultura.

Escuela de arquitectura de Nantes y Palais de Tokio

Muchos son los aspectos que interesan en la arquitectura de Lacaton y Vassal y que son analizados en los distintos artículos que se incluyen en esta publicación. En ocasiones, las acciones humanas tienen la cualidad de despertar un interés que va más allá del objeto mismo para el que fueron realizadas. La mayor parte de los proyectos y obras de Lacaton y Vassal posee esta cualidad que, entre otras cosas, se traduce en un alto valor pedagógico que, en este caso, tiene carácter metodológico.

Refuerzo de pilares con tejidos de F.C.

Los pilares son los elementos estructurales más sensibles de una estructura, por lo que resulta muy frecuente su refuerzo. En el presente trabajo se realiza una campaña de ensayos de pilares en modelo reducido, para este fin. Se construyeron 30 pilares en modelo reducido, 15 de ellos de sección cuadrada y 15 de sección circular. En cada caso se formaron 3 lotes, 5 pilares sin refuerzo (pilares testigo), 5 pilares con una capa de refuerzo y 5 pilares con dos capas de refuerzo. Los ensayos se realizaron en las instalaciones de GEOCISA. El trabajo comprende un estudio teórico-experimental del comportamiento mecánico de pilares de hormigón armado reforzados por confinamiento mediante la técnica de adhesión de tejidos de fibra de carbono, sometidos a una carga axial. Se describen los modos de fallo de forma comparativa entre los distintos lotes, para plantear finalmente una serie de conclusiones y recomendaciones.

Intelligent automatic overtaking system using vision for vehicle detection

There is clear evidence that investment in intelligent transportation system technologies brings major social and economic benefits. Technological advances in the area of automatic systems in particular are becoming vital for the reduction of road deaths. We here describe our approach to automation of one the riskiest autonomous manœuvres involving vehicles – overtaking. The approach is based on a stereo vision system responsible for detecting any preceding vehicle and triggering the autonomous overtaking manœuvre. To this end, a fuzzy-logic based controller was developed to emulate how humans overtake. Its input is information from the vision system and from a positioning-based system consisting of a differential global positioning system (DGPS) and an inertial measurement unit (IMU). Its output is the generation of action on the vehicle’s actuators, i.e., the steering wheel and throttle and brake pedals. The system has been incorporated into a commercial Citroën car and tested on the private driving circuit at the facilities of our research center, CAR, with different preceding vehicles – a motorbike, car, and truck – with encouraging results.

La utilización de herramientas TIC para la reserva y seguimiento de tutorías como soporte al aprendizaje activo en el EEES

El Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES) centra la metodología de aprendizaje en el propio alumno, quien con la ayuda del profesor debe pasar a ser agente activo, protagonizando su propio aprendizaje. La acción tutorial desempeña un papel fundamental para catalizar esta ayuda facilitando una comunicación fluida entre ambos. El objetivo de este trabajo es determinar la influencia que la utilización de herramientas TIC para la reserva y seguimiento de tutorías puede ejercer en el proceso de aprendizaje activo de los alumnos. A tal fin se ha llevado a cabo un estudio empírico de carácter descriptivo-exploratorio centrado en la utilización de una herramienta TIC concreta en asignaturas de Grado de la E.U. de Informática de la UPM. Los instrumentos utilizados en la investigación han incluido dos cuestionarios orientados a conocer la opinión de los alumnos y profesores participantes, junto con los datos de asistencia a tutorías registrados por la herramienta TIC. Los resultados obtenidos reflejan, en opinión de los alumnos y profesores encuestados, una influencia positiva de la utilización de este tipo de herramientas en el proceso de aprendizaje activo de los estudiantes, en línea con el EEES.

Historia de la vida de S. Vicente Ferrer : Apostol de Europa : Hijo de la Nobilissima Ciudad de Valencia ...

Según Serrano Morales, en la imprenta del Molino de Rovella en 1713 trabajaba el impresor Juan González

La Celda Santa del glorioso padre y apostol valenciano S. Vicente Ferrer, venerada en su Real Convento de Predicadores de ... Valencia ...

Sign.: [calderón]-3[calderó]4, 4[calderón]2, A-T4

Biblioteca valenciana de los escritores que florecieron hasta nuestros días : con adiciones y enmiendas a la de D. Vicente Ximeno

v. I: Contiene autores hasta el año 1700. -- v. II: Contiene los autores desde el año 1701 hasta el presente de 1829