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In the contemporary world, where the escalating demand for energy and the imperative for sustainable sources, notably solar energy, have taken precedence, the investigation into solar radiation (SR) has become indispensable. Characterized by its intermittency and volatility, SR may experience considerable fluctuations, exerting a significant influence on energy supply security. Consequently, the precise prediction of SR has become imperative, particularly in the context of the potential proliferation of photovoltaic panels and the need for optimized energy management. Several works in the existing literature review the state of the art in SR prediction, focusing on trends identified using machine learning (ML) or deep learning (DL) techniques. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding the integration of optimization algorithms with ML and DL techniques for SR prediction. This systematic review addresses this gap by studying prediction models for SR that leverage metaheuristic optimization algorithms alongside artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, aiming primarily for maximum prediction accuracy. Metaheuristic algorithms such as Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) have featured in 29% and 12.1% of the analyzed articles, respectively, while intelligent approaches like Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Extreme Learning Machine (ELM), and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) have emerged as the predominant choices, collectively accounting for 43.9% of the studies. Analysis has encompassed studies examining SR across hourly, daily, and monthly intervals, with daily intervals representing 48.7% of the focus. Noteworthy variables including temperature, humidity, wind speed, and atmospheric pressure have surfaced, capturing proportions of 90%, 68.2%, 56%, and 41.4%, respectively, within the reviewed literature.

Introducción: La Atención Farmacéutica requiere que los pacientes comprendan la información brindada. La inclusión de ayudas visuales podría mejorar la comprensión de textos complejos como son los prospectos de los medicamentos. Nuestro objetivo fue evaluar los efectos de la inclusión de pictogramas farmacéuticos sobre la comprensión de instrucciones elementales para el uso de medicamentos por estudiantes que finalizan la enseñanza básica. Método: De un total de 309 alumnos participantes, se aleatorizaron 160 para leer tres prospectos de medicamentos de uso frecuente (ibuprofeno, amoxicilina/ácido clavulánico y omeprazol), mientras que 149 recibieron pictogramas junto a los prospectos. La aleatorización fue alterna según la posición de los alumnos en el aula. La comprensión fue estimada mediante cuestiones básicas del uso de medicamentos. Resultados: En el grupo control solo el 38.75% de los alumnos contestaron correctamente cuándo tomar el ibuprofeno en relación a las comidas el 32.25% acertaron cual es la dosis habitual del antibiótico y el 61.88% identificó la indicación del omeprazol. En los tres casos, se encontraron diferencias significativas en favor de la comprensión en el grupo experimental (OR = 1.93; 95% IC, 1.23 – 3.05; p = 0.0041, OR = 3.87; 95% IC, 2.43 – 6.25; p = 10-7 y OR = 3.55; 95% IC, 2.07 – 6.29; p = 3.67x10-5 respectivamente). Conclusiones: La inclusión de pictogramas farmacéuticos en los prospectos es una estrategia sencilla que podría potencialmente favorecer el uso racional del medicamento.

Although healthcare and medical technology have advanced significantly over the past few decades, heart disease continues to be a major cause of mortality globally. Electrocardiography (ECG) is one of the most widely used tools for the detection of heart diseases. This study presents a mathematical model based on transfer functions that allows for the exploration and optimization of heart dynamics in Laplace space using a genetic algorithm (GA). The transfer function parameters were fine-tuned using the GA, with clinical ECG records serving as reference signals. The proposed model, which is based on polynomials and delays, approximates a real ECG with a root-mean-square error of 4.7% and an R2 value of 0.72. The model achieves the periodic nature of an ECG signal by using a single periodic impulse input. Its simplicity makes it possible to adjust waveform parameters with a predetermined understanding of their effects, which can be used to generate both arrhythmic patterns and healthy signals. This is a notable advantage over other models that are burdened by a large number of differential equations and many parameters.

Paciente acude a la farmacia comunitaria por un trastorno del sueño solicitando tratamiento. Se indica Melatonina tras presentar insomnio clínico moderado en el Insomnia Severity Index. Pese a que 2 semanas después del principio del tratamiento refirió estar mejor, 2 meses después deja de ser así. Al realizar un seguimiento se sospecha de la existencia de problemas relacionados con los medicamentos por lo que se le deriva al servicio de Revisión de Uso de los Medicamentos. En dicho servicio se detectan varios problemas con su medicación habitual. Entre ellos, se detecta una confusión entre cápsulas de cafeína pertenecientes a su nieto con el que convive y el producto indicado en el servicio de indicación farmacéutica. Gracias al seguimiento del servicio de indicación farmacéutica se ha producido una derivación que ha solventado varios problemas relacionados con los medicamentos.

A multifractal analysis based on the time series of temperature, pressure, relative humidity, wind speed, and wind direction was performed for 16 weather stations located in the hydrographic basin of the Guadalupe River in Baja California, Mexico. Our analysis included a 38-year dataset from MERRA-2 database, we investigated the multifractal nature of daily time series data for climatic variables associated with the Santa Ana Winds. We employed the Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (MFDFA) method to extract multifractal complexity parameters (α0, ∆α, and r). This was adequate to evaluate the multifractality of the time series that represented the conditions of the phenomenon’s occurrence. From the estimation of the generalized Hurst exponent (hq), it was possible to characterize the time series of the meteorological variables in terms of the characteristics of persistence, anti-persistence, or randomness. Finally, the values corresponding to the parameters and characteristics of the multifractal spectrum or singularities can be used as quantitative and qualitative indicators to describe the dynamics of meteorological processes during the occurrence of the Santa Ana winds in the Guadalupe basin.

Abstract Denitrification is a respiratory process by which nitrate is reduced to dinitrogen. Incomplete denitrification results in the emission of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide and this is potentiated in acidic soils, which display reduced denitrification rates and high N2O/N2 ratios compared to alkaline soils. In this work, impact of pH on the proteome of the soil denitrifying bacterium Paracoccus denitrificans PD1222 was analysed with nitrate as sole energy and nitrogen source under anaerobic conditions at pH ranging from 6.5 to 7.5. Quantitative proteomic analysis revealed that the highest difference in protein representation was observed when the proteome at pH 6.5 was compared to the reference proteome at pH 7.2. However, this difference in the extracellular pH was not enough to produce modification of intracellular pH, which was maintained at 6.5 ± 0.1. The biosynthetic pathways of several cofactors relevant for denitrification and nitrogen assimilation like cobalamin, riboflavin, molybdopterin and nicotinamide were negatively affected at pH 6.5. In addition, peptide representation of reductases involved in nitrate assimilation and denitrification were reduced at pH 6.5. Data highlight the strong negative impact of pH on NosZ synthesis and intracellular copper content, thus impairing active NosZ assembly and, in turn, leading to elevated nitrous oxide emissions.

Se presenta una revisión de las metodologías reportadas en la literatura para estimar el coeficiente de pérdidas en curvas simples de tuberías e instaladas en serie con forma en L, S, U y Z. La información se expone organizada en orden cronológico y homogenizada para su comparación, proporcionando el coeficiente en función del ángulo de la curva, de la relación del radio con respecto al diámetro interno y del número de Reynolds. A partir de este análisis, se exhibe un sumario, donde se contrastan características y parámetros considerados en cada metodología, así como la presentación de resultados y especificaciones de validez. Con ello, se ha encontrado que se dispone de metodologías diferentes para obtener el coeficiente de pérdidas, mediante las cuales se obtienen valores distintos, que pueden deberse principalmente a desigualdades en el material analizado y en los factores adoptados en las investigaciones. Las curvas simples e instaladas en serie más estudiadas son de ángulo de 90º con condición gradual y en forma-U (180º), respectivamente. Los trabajos más sugeridos para estimar el coeficiente en curvas son los de Kirchbach (1929) e Ito (1959, 1960); sin embargo, en el manual de Idel’chik (1966) se presenta la más amplia información para todos los dispositivos estudiados.

BackgroundImproving anesthesia administration for elderly population is of particular importance because they undergo considerably more surgical procedures and are at the most risk of suffering from anesthesia-related complications. Intraoperative brain monitors electroencephalogram (EEG) have proved useful in the general population, however, in elderly subjects this is contentious. Probably because these monitors do not account for the natural differences in EEG signals between young and older patients. In this study we attempted to systematically characterize the age-dependence of different EEG measures of anesthesia hypnosis.MethodsWe recorded EEG from 30 patients with a wide age range (19–99 years old) and analyzed four different proposed indexes of depth of hypnosis before, during and after loss of behavioral response due to slow propofol infusion during anesthetic induction. We analyzed Bispectral Index (BIS), Alpha Power and two entropy-related EEG measures, Lempel-Ziv complexity (LZc), and permutation entropy (PE) using mixed-effect analysis of variances (ANOVAs). We evaluated their possible age biases and their trajectories during propofol induction.ResultsAll measures were dependent on anesthesia stages. BIS, LZc, and PE presented lower values at increasing anesthetic dosage. Inversely, Alpha Power increased with increasing propofol at low doses, however this relation was reversed at greater effect-site propofol concentrations. Significant group differences between elderly patients (>65 years) and young patients were observed for BIS, Alpha Power, and LZc, but not for PE.ConclusionBIS, Alpha Power, and LZc show important age-related biases during slow propofol induction. These should be considered when interpreting and designing EEG monitors for clinical settings. Interestingly, PE did not present significant age differences, which makes it a promising candidate as an age-independent measure of hypnotic depth to be used in future monitor development.

PID controllers are widely used and adaptable to various types of systems. However, for the response to be adequate under different conditions, the PID gains must be adjusted. The tuning is made according to the difference between the reference value and the real value (error). This work presents a self-adjusting PID controller based on a backpropagation artificial neural network. The network calculates the appropriate gains according to the desired output, that is, the dynamic response desired which is composed of the transient part and the stationary part of the step response of a system. The contribution of the work is that in addition to using the error for network training, the maximum desired values of overshoots, settling times, and stationary errors were used as input data for the network. An offline training database was created using genetic algorithms to obtain the dynamic response data associated with PID gains. The genetic algorithm allows getting data in different operating ranges and allows using only stable gains combinations. The database was used for training. Subsequently, the neural network estimates an appropriate gain combination, adapting to the error and the desired response. The method performance is evaluated by controlling the speed of a direct current motor. The results indicate an average error of 4% for the database between the requested and system response. On the other hand, the gains estimated by the network in the test dataset (1544 combinations) did not cause instability and complying with the expected dynamic response in 86% of the dataset.

The direct current (DC) motors are widely used; therefore, they are subject to multiple studies, different control techniques or analyses require a dynamic DC motor model. The parameters are needed to complete the model, which can be challenging to obtain. Therefore, multiple parametric estimation techniques have been developed. This paper presents a metaheuristic cuckoo search algorithm modified for motors as a parametric estimation tool. A cost function is based on the current and velocity error obtained when an input voltage step is applied to the motor. The main difference with similar works is that we used the steady-state equations to determine the parameters. The algorithm proposed is compared with the Steiglitz–McBride and the original cuckoo search algorithms to evaluate its performance objectively. Simulated and experimental results show that the algorithm proposed can calculate the parameters with better accuracy than the original cuckoo search and Steiglitz–McBride. The modifications made to the original algorithm of the cuckoo search allowed finding the values of the parameters motor with a root mean square error of less than 0.1% for signals obtained with simulation and less than 1% for real signals sampled at 0.001 s.

En este trabajo se presenta la segunda versión del programa de cómputo DRENAS (drenaje agrícola subterráneo), el cual incluye tres soluciones analíticas y una solución de elemento finito tipo Galerkin de la ecuación diferencial del drenaje agrícola en su forma unidimensional; puede ejecutarse bajo sistemas operativos Windows de 32 bits y 64 bits. Los modelos analíticos y numéricos incluidos en la versión 1.0 del programa se reprogramaron en Visual Basic 2017, realizando modificaciones para mejorar sus capacidades de cálculo, registro de datos y visualización de resultados. El modelo numérico se amplió para resolver la ecuación de Boussinesq no lineal con coeficientes variables, incluyendo el término de recarga vertical, y para manejar las opciones de usar en la frontera de los drenes condiciones tipo Dirichlet, radiación lineal o radiación fractal. Los resultados proporcionados por el módulo de la solución numérica del programa fueron validados satisfactoriamente haciendo uso de una solución analítica y un experimento de drenaje.

Due to the complexity imposed by all the attributes of the fracture network of many naturally fractured reservoirs, it has been observed that fluid flow does not necessarily represent a normal diffusion, i.e., Darcy’s law. Thus, to capture the sub-diffusion process, various tools have been implemented, from fractal geometry to characterize the structure of the porous medium to fractional calculus to include the memory effect in the fluid flow. Considering infinite naturally fractured reservoirs (Type I system of Nelson), a spatial fractional Darcy’s law is proposed, where the spatial derivative is replaced by the Weyl fractional derivative, and the resulting flow model also considers Caputo’s fractional derivative in time. The proposed model maintains its dimensional balance and is solved numerically. The results of analyzing the effect of the spatial fractional Darcy’s law on the pressure drop and its Bourdet derivative are shown, proving that two definitions of fractional derivatives are compatible. Finally, the results of the proposed model are compared with models that consider fractal geometry showing a good agreement. It is shown that modified Darcy’s law, which considers the dependency of the fluid flow path, includes the intrinsic geometry of the porous medium, thus recovering the heterogeneity at the phenomenological level.

There are a great many epidemiological models that have been implemented to describe COVID-19 data; however, few attempted to reproduce the entire phenomenon due to the complexity of modeling recurrent outbreaks. In this work a fractional growth model with delay is developed that implements the Caputo fractional derivative with 0<β≤1. Furthermore, in order to preserve the nature of the phenomenon and ensure continuity in the derivatives of the function, a method is proposed to construct an initial condition function to implement in the model with delay. This model is analyzed and generalized to model recurrent outbreaks. The model is applied to fit data of cumulative confirmed cases from Mexico, the United States, and Russia, obtaining excellent fitting corroborated by the coefficient of determination, where R2>0.9995 in all cases. Lastly, as a result of the implementation of the delay effect, the global phenomenon was decomposed into its local parts, allowing for directly comparing each outbreak and its different characteristics.

In gravity irrigation, how water is distributed in the soil profile makes it necessary to study and develop methodologies to model the process of water infiltration and redistribution. In this work, a model is shown to simulate the advancing front in border irrigation based on the one dimensional equations of Barré de Saint-Venant for the surface flow and the equation of Green and Ampt for the flow in a porous medium. The solutions were obtained numerically using a finite difference Lagrangian scheme for the surface flow and the Raphson method for the subsurface flow. The model was validated with data obtained from the literature from an irrigation test and its predictive capacity was compared with another model and showed excellent results. The hydrodynamic parameters of the soil, necessary to obtain the optimal irrigation discharge, were obtained through the solution of the inverse problem using the Levenberg–Marquardt optimization algorithm. Finally, the results found here allow us to recommend that this model be used to design and model border irrigation, since the infiltration equation uses characteristic parameters of the physical soil.

(1) Background: Vaccination is the most effective intervention to control seasonal influenza morbidity and mortality. The present study aimed to determine the influenza vaccination coverage in the Military Health Corps personnel in the 2020–2021 season, as well as the time trend and the possible influence of the pandemic on coverage, in order to study the reasons that led to the non-vaccination of health professionals and to analyze adverse drug reactions (ADRs). (2) Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted from February to May 2021. All FAS CMS personnel were included. A self-administered questionnaire was sent by e-mail to the selected personnel. (3) Results: Vaccination coverage in the 2016–2017 season was 15.8% (n = 276), in the 2019–2020 season it was 17.41% (n = 424), and in the 2020–2021 season it was 24.22% (n = 590). The percentage of vaccinated men was higher than the percentage of women. In 2019 and 2020 the most vaccinated group was 31–40 years old. Lieutenants had the highest vaccination uptake in 2019 and 2020. The personnel with the highest uptake of vaccines were those in the specialty of nursing in each of 2016, 2019 and 2020, with >30 years of time worked in 2016. In terms of factors leading to refusal of vaccination, the most reported was “not considered a risk group” (23.0%), and the least reported was “avoidance of vaccine administration” (2.2%). Eighty individuals presented adverse reactions after vaccine administration (9.6%). (4) Conclusions: The rate of influenza vaccination among healthcare professionals was lower during the 2020 season compared to the previous season, but was expected to increase in the upcoming 2021 season.

Título PT: Tratamento farmacológico para COVID-19 em protocolos Latinoamérica: Uma revisão narrativa da eficácia e da segurança Introducción: La pandemia causada por el SARS-Cov-2 ha puesto a la comunidad científica mundial en ritmo acelerado de investigación y busca por un tratamiento efectivo para COVID-19. Objetivo: Identificar y evaluar medicamentos en protocolos latinoamericanos de tratamiento farmacológico para el COVID-19. Método: Se analiza la evidencia y resultados de mega ensayo disponibles hasta la fecha sobre los medicamentos más frecuentes. Resultados: Los medicamentos más frecuentes en protocolos nacionales son hidroxicloroquina, lopinavir/ritonavir y remdesivir. Ninguno de los medicamentos que recopilan mayor cantidad de datos provenientes de estudios clínicos, a excepción de la dexametasona en un subgrupo reducido de pacientes, mostró, hasta el momento, diferencias significativas en la mortalidad. Conclusiones: La situación emergente de la COVID-19 ha determinado la toma de decisiones apresuradas y controversiales con base en estudios cuestionables y/o de baja calidad. Esto pone de relieve el carácter provisorio de la información y la posibilidad de generar cambios a medida que se dispongan de más resultados. La autorización anticipada de medicamentos expone un problema conocido. A pesar de que la agilidad regulatoria es necesaria en este momento, la velocidad no debe sobreponerse a los patrones básicos éticos y de confianza en la evidencia.

Chávez, C., Mota, C., Fuentes, C., & Quevedo, A. (enero-febrero, 2018). Modelación bidimensional de la infiltración del agua en surcos aplicando el gradiente conjugado. Tecnología y Ciencias del Agua, 9(1), 89-100, DOI: 10.24850/j-tyca-2018-01-06. El conocimiento de la distribución del bulbo de humedad durante un evento de riego ayuda a comprender de mejor manera la profundidad de mojado. El flujo del agua en suelo es modelado con la ecuación de Richards, sin embargo, la mayoría de las soluciones requiere de mucho tiempo computacional o la solución está acotada a un dominio en específico. En este trabajo se resuelve la ecuación de Richards 2D usando dos esquemas: un esquema implícito en todo el perfil y un esquema mixto: explícito en la zona no saturada e implícito en la saturada. El esquema implícito se resolvió con el gradiente conjugado para problemas no lineales usando en la superficie una función sinusoidal. La comparación se realizó entre los dos esquemas, y los resultados de perfiles de humedecimiento y lámina infiltrada fueron similares, dado un criterio de error. El proceso de infiltración se simuló en un evento de riego por surcos mediante tirante constante en los tres surcos, y en un segundo evento se les impuso un tirante diferente a cada uno. Los perfiles de distribución de humedad que se obtienen durante el tiempo simulado pueden ayudar a dar recomendaciones de las desventajas de establecer un tirante diferente en los surcos durante un evento de riego.

Erythrodiol (EO) is a pentacyclic triterpenic alcohol found in olive tree leaves and olive oil, and it has important effects on the health properties and quality of olive oil. In this study, we characterized the cytotoxic effects of EO on human hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) cells by studying changes in cell viability, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, antioxidant defense systems, and the proteome. The results reveal that EO markedly decreased HepG2 cell viability without changing ROS levels. The concentrations of glutathione and NADPH were significantly reduced, with selective changes in the activity of several antioxidant enzymes: glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase. Proteomic data reveal that EO led to the complete elimination or decreased abundance of 41 and 3 proteins, respectively, and the abundance of 29 proteins increased. The results of functional enrichment analysis show that important metabolic processes and the nuclear transport of mature mRNA were impaired, whereas AMP biosynthesis and cell cycle G2/M phase transition were induced. The transcription factors and miRNAs involved in this response were also identified. These potent antiproliferative effects make EO a good candidate for the further analysis of its hepatic antitumor effects in in vivo studies.

Solid-state transformers (SSTs) are becoming an important solution to control active distribution systems. Their significant flexibility in comparison with traditional magnetic transformers is essential to ensure power quality and protection coordination at the distribution level in scenarios of large penetration of distributed energy resources such as renewables, electric vehicles and energy storage. However, the power electronic interface of SSTs decouples the nature of the inertial and frequency responses of distribution loads, deteriorating the frequency stability, especially under the integration of large-scale solar and wind power plants. Despite the virtual inertia/voltage sensitivity-based algorithms that have been proposed, the frequency sensitivity of loads and the capability of guaranteeing optimal control, considering the operating restrictions, have been overlooked. To counteract this specific issue, this work proposes a predictive control-driven approach to provide SSTs with frequency response actions by a strategy that harnesses the voltage and frequency sensibility of distribution loads and considers the limitations of voltage and frequency given by grid codes at distribution grids. In particular, the control strategy is centered in minimizing the NADIR of frequency transients. Numerical results are attained employing an empirically-validated model of the power system frequency dynamics and a dynamic model of distribution loads. Through proportional frequency control, the results of the proposed algorithm are contrasted. It is demonstrated that the NADIR improved about 0.1 Hz for 30% of SST penetration.

Growth models have been widely used to describe behavior in different areas of knowledge; among them the Logistics and Gompertz models, classified as models with a fixed inflection point, have been widely studied and applied. In the present work, a model is proposed that contains these growth models as extreme cases; this model is generalized by including the Caputo-type fractional derivative of order 0<β≤1, resulting in a Fractional Growth Model which could be classified as a growth model with non-fixed inflection point. Moreover, the proposed model is generalized to include multiple sigmoidal behaviors and thereby multiple inflection points. The models developed are applied to describe cumulative confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Mexico, US and Russia, obtaining an excellent adjustment corroborated by a coefficient of determination R2>0.999.

Abstract Background Traditionally, technical proficiency for spinal anesthesia has been assessed using observational scales such as global rating scales or task specific checklists. However more objective metrics are required in order to improve novice’s training programs. The aim of this study is to validate the hand motion analysis of the Imperial College Surgical Assessment Device (ICSAD) in a simulated model of spinal anesthesia. Methods Three groups of physicians with different levels of experience were video recorded performing a spinal anesthesia in a simulated lumbar puncture torso. Participants’ technical performance was assessed with ICSAD, a Global Rating Scale (GRS) and a specific Checklist. Differences between the 3 groups were determined by Kruskal-Wallis test with post hoc Dunn’s correction for multiple comparisons. Spearman correlation coefficient between ICSAD variables and the scores of the observational scales were calculated to establish concurrent validity. Results Thirty subjects participated in the study: ten novice (first year residents), 10 intermediate (third year residents) and 10 experts (attending anesthesiologists). GRS scores were significantly higher in experts, than intermediates and novices. Regarding total path length, number of movements and procedural time measured with ICSAD, all groups had significant differences between them (p = 0.026, p = 0.045 and p = 0.005 respectively). Spearman correlation coefficient was −0,46 (p = 0.012) between total path length measured with ICSAD and GRS scores. Conclusions This is the first validation study of ICSAD as an assessment tool for spinal anesthesia in a simulated model. Using ICSAD can discriminate proficiency between expert and novices and correlates with previously validated GRS. Its use in the assessment of spinal anesthesia proficiency provides complementary data to existing tools. Our results could be used to design future training programs with reliable goals to accomplish.

López-Lambraño, A. A., Fuentes, C., González-Sosa, E., & López-Ramos, A. A. (julio-agosto, 2017). Pérdidas por intercepción de la vegetación y su efecto en la relación intensidad, duración y frecuencia (IDF) de la lluvia en una cuenca semiárida. Tecnología y Ciencias del Agua, 8(4), 37-56. Se cuantifica el componente hidrológico de la intercepción en vegetación semiárida y se evalúa el efecto en la relación intensidad-duración-frecuencia de la precipitación. La intercepción se determina mediante la simulación de lluvias a diferentes intensidades sobre muestras con cubierta vegetal herbácea; se obtienen los componentes del balance hidrológico, como lámina precipitada, lámina escurrida, lámina almacenada en un espesor de suelo a un contenido de humedad inicial dado y lámina drenada. A partir de precipitaciones máximas, en 24 horas se obtienen las curvas intensidad-duración-frecuencia (IDF) de la precipitación para periodos de retorno de 2, 5, 10, 25, 50 y 100 años, estableciendo cuatro escenarios con diferentes cubiertas vegetales para evaluar el efecto del componente de la intercepción en dichas curvas. De las simulaciones de lluvia que se realizan, se encuentra que el porcentaje interceptado en vegetación herbácea tiene un valor promedio de 2.33% del total de la precipitación incidente. Las curvas IDF son afectadas en un 2.89% para el escenario que se conforma sólo por cubierta vegetal herbácea; para el escenario con cubierta vegetal arbórea se tiene un efecto de 11.15%, y un 19.85% para el escenario que se conforma por vegetación herbácea y arbórea. Lo anterior da origen a que los caudales de diseño o volúmenes de escurrimiento directo en una cuenca disminuyan de manera significativa.

The current study aims to describe mortality by suicide in relation to variables such as age, gender, marital status, method, time, day, evolutionary stage, and occupation of individuals in the cities of Santa Marta and Bucaramanga during the period 2010-2014. A total of 208 suicides were analyzed. 89 cases were reported in Santa Marta, Magdalena, and 119 cases, in Bucaramanga, Santander. In the same way, it is highlighted that 84% of cases occurred in men and 16%, in women. A retrospective descriptive analysis of the data provided by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Sciences was done. Besides, Pearson’s X test was used to determine the association between gender and method used, day and time of death. Among the main results -and in relation to completed suicides-, there is a higher proportion of men (84%), compared to women (16%). In addition, the behavior of suicide frequencies per year shows a stable pattern of 22.1% for the 2010 and 2011. Then, it begins to decline slightly, reaching 16.3% of deaths due to suicidal behavior in 2014. Among the main conclusions, it was found that there is not a statistically signiicant association between gender and the method used to commit suicide. Regarding the day and hour, it was concluded that weekends and Thursdays are the days when the frequency of suicides increases, especially during the irst 12 hours of day. Finally, it is highlighted that 41% of the suicide victims were single and 45% did not perform professional tasks

Introducción. La temida complicación de la tiroidectomía es la parálisis de las cuerdas vocales secundaria a lesiones del nervio laríngeo recurrente. En este estudio se analiza una técnica de reconstrucción para estas lesiones neurales. Objetivo. Describir los resultados funcionales de la reconstrucción inmediata de las lesiones del nervio larín- geo recurrente con la técnica de Horsley. Material y métodos. Se llevó a cabo un estudio prospectivo entre enero del 2000 y diciembre del 2015, en pa- cientes con sección del nervio laríngeo recurrente y reconstrucción de Horsley, en el cual se evalúan: a) los índices del análisis acústico de voz [tiempo máximo de fonación, perturbación involuntaria de la frecuencia (jitter), perturbación de la amplitud (shimmer) y frecuencia fundamental], b) los hallazgos estroboscópicos, y c) el índice de discapacidad vocal. El análisis estadístico se hizo con la prueba exacta de Fisher y con el programa SPSSTM. Resultados. Se practicaron 1.547 tiroidectomías y se produjeron 10 secciones del nervio laríngeo recurrente (0,64 %): dos (0,12 %) inadvertidas (p=0,0001) y 8 (0,51 %) advertidas por infiltración tumoral. En los exámenes de la calidad de voz, se encontraron: frecuencias fundamentales bajas con medias de 104,79 ± 0,29 Hz en hom- bres (valor de referencia, VR=141,74) y de 208,12 ± 22,72 Hz en mujeres (VR=241,08), que se correlaciona con un jitter de 1,39 ± 0,99 % (VR=1,04); y también, disminución del tiempo máximo de fonación (media=10,9 ± 3,07 s). El índice de percepción de calidad de la voz fue de discapacidad leve de la voz (22,7 ± 11,8). La estroboscopia mostró cierre completo de la glotis en nueve pacientes (90 %) (p=0,005), con una posición adecuada de los cartílagos aritenoides, en siete. Conclusiones. La tasa de lesión inadvertida del nervio laríngeo recurrente en el Hospital Militar Central es de 0,12 %. La técnica de Horsley tiene unos resultados funcionales satisfactorios en el 90 % de los casos.

Fuentes, C. (2019): “El Tratado de Marrakech, ¿libros para ciegos?”. Revista Española de Discapacidad, 7 (I): 251-255.

In the present work, we construct several artificial neural networks (varying the input data) to calculate the saturated hydraulic conductivity (KS) using a database with 900 measured samples obtained from the Irrigation District 023, in San Juan del Rio, Queretaro, Mexico. All of them were constructed using two hidden layers, a back-propagation algorithm for the learning process, and a logistic function as a nonlinear transfer function. In order to explore different arrays for neurons into hidden layers, we performed the bootstrap technique for each neural network and selected the one with the least Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) value. We also compared these results with pedotransfer functions and another neural networks from the literature. The results show that our artificial neural networks obtained from 0.0459 to 0.0413 in the RMSE measurement, and 0.9725 to 0.9780 for R2, which are in good agreement with other works. We also found that reducing the amount of the input data offered us better results.

The infiltration phenomena has been studied by several authors for decades, and numerical and approximate results have been shown through the asymptotic solution in short and long times. In particular, it is worth highlighting the works of Philip and Parlange, who used time and volumetric content as independent variables and space as a dependent variable, and found the solution as a power series in t1/2 that is valid for short times. However, several studies show that these models are not applicable to anomalous flows, in which case the application of fractional calculus is needed. In this work, a fractional time derivative of a Caputo type is applied to model anomalous infiltration phenomena. Fractional horizontal infiltration phenomena are studied, and the fractional Boltzmann transform is defined. To study fractional vertical infiltration phenomena, the asymptotic behavior is described for short and long times considering an arbitrary diffusivity and hydraulic conductivity. Finally, considering a constant flux-dependent relation and a relation between diffusivity and hydraulic conductivity, a fractional cumulative infiltration model applicable to various types of soil is built; its solution is expressed as a power series in tν/2, where ν∈(0,2) is the order of the fractional derivative. The results show the effect of superdiffusive and subdiffusive flows in different types of soil.

The present work proposes a new model to capture high heterogeneity of single phase flow in naturally fractured vuggy reservoirs. The model considers a three porous media reservoir; namely, fractured system, vugular system and matrix; the case of an infinite reservoir is considered in a full-penetrating wellbore. Furthermore, the model relaxes classic hypotheses considering that matrix permeability has a significant impact on the pressure deficit from the wellbore, reaching the triple permeability and triple porosity model wich allows the wellbore to be fed by all the porous media and not exclusively by the fractured system; where it is considered a pseudostable interporous flow. In addition, it is considered the anomalous flow phenomenon from the pressure of each independent porous medium and as a whole, through the temporal fractional derivative of Caputo type; the resulting phenomenon is studied for orders in the fractional derivatives in (0, 2), known as superdiffusive and subdiffusive phenomena. Synthetic results highlight the effect of anomalous flows throughout the entire transient behavior considering a significant permeability in the matrix and it is contrasted with the effect of an almost negligible matrix permeability. The model is solved analytically in the Laplace space, incorporating the Tartaglia–Cardano equations.

In the study of water transference in soil according to Darcy law, the knowledge of hydrodynamic characteristics, formed by the water retention curve θ(ψ), and the hydraulic conductivity curve K(ψ) are of great importance. The first one relates the water volumetric content (θ) with the water-soil pressure (ψ); the second one, the hydraulic conductivity (K) with the water-soil pressure. The objective of this work is to establish relationships between both curves using concepts of probability theory and fractal geometry in order to reduce the number of unknown functions. The introduction of four definitions used at the literature of the pore effective radius that is involve in the general model has permitted to establish four new specials models to predict the relative hydraulic conductivity. Some additional considerations related to the definitions of flow effective area and the tortuosity factor have allow us to deduce four classical models that are extensively used in different studies. In particular, we have given some interpretations of its empirical parameters in the fractal geometry context. The resulting functions for hydrodynamic characteristics can be utilized in many studies of water movement in the soil.

Proteomics is a crucial tool for unravelling the molecular dynamics of essential biological processes, becoming a pivotal technique for basic and applied research. Diverse bioinformatic tools are required to manage and explore the huge amount of information obtained from a single proteomics experiment. Thus, functional annotation and protein–protein interactions are evaluated in depth leading to the biological conclusions that best fit the proteomic response in the system under study. To gain insight into potential applications of the identified proteins, a novel approach named “Applied Proteomics” has been developed by comparing the obtained protein information with the existing patents database. The development of massive sequencing technology and mass spectrometry (MS/MS) improvements has allowed the application of proteomics nonmodel microorganisms, which have been deeply described as a novel source of metabolites. Between them, Nannochloropsis gaditana has been pointed out as an alternative source of biomolecules. Recently, our research group has reported the first complete proteome analysis of this microalga, which was analysed using the applied proteomics concept with the identification of 488 proteins with potential industrial applications. To validate our approach, we selected the UCA01 protein from the prohibitin family. The recombinant version of this protein showed antiproliferative activity against two tumor cell lines, Caco2 (colon adenocarcinoma) and HepG-2 (hepatocellular carcinoma), proving that proteome data have been transformed into relevant biotechnological information. From Nannochloropsis gaditana has been developed a new tool against cancer—the protein named UCA01. This protein has selective effects inhibiting the growth of tumor cells, but does not show any effect on control cells. This approach describes the first practical approach to transform proteome information in a potential industrial application, named “applied proteomics”. It is based on a novel bioalgorithm, which is able to identify proteins with potential industrial applications. From hundreds of proteins described in the proteome of N. gaditana, the bioalgorithm identified over 400 proteins with potential uses; one of them was selected as UCA01, “in vitro” and its potential was demonstrated against cancer. This approach has great potential, but the applications are potentially numerous and undefined.

Se presenta un método para realizar la estimación de parámetros de infiltración con base en el empleo de las ecuaciones de Saint-Venant para describir el flujo del agua sobre el suelo, y la ecuación de Green y Ampt para representar el flujo del agua en el suelo. La estimación de los parámetros hidrodinámicos de conductividad hidráulica a saturación y presión en el frente de humedad, se realiza aplicando el método Levenberg-Marquardt. El modelo así obtenido, permite el ajuste de los parámetros hidrodinámicos a partir de datos de pruebas de avance de riego por melgas y de la textura del suelo.

The snap-off is an instability phenomenon that takes place during the immiscible two-phase flow in porous media due to competing forces acting on the fluid phases and at the interface between them. Different theoretical approaches have been proposed for the development of mathematical models that describe the dynamics of a fluid/fluid interface in order to analyze the snap-off mechanism. The models studied here are based on the “small-slope” approach and were derived from the mass conservation and other governing equations of two-phase flow at pore scale in circular capillaries for pure and complex interfaces. The models consist of evolution equations; highly nonlinear partial differential equations of fourth order in space and first order in time. Although the structure of the models for each type of interface is similar, different numerical techniques have been employed to solve them. Here, we propose a unifying numerical framework to solve the group of such models. Such a framework is based on the Fourier pseudo-spectral differentiation method which uses the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and the inverse FFT (IFFT) algorithms. We compared the solutions obtained with this method to the results reported in the literature in order to validate our framework. In general, acceptable agreements were obtained in the dynamics of the snap-off.

In the present work, we evaluate the prediction capability of six pedotransfer functions (PTFs), reported in the literature, for the saturated hydraulic conductivity estimations (KS). We used a database with 900 measured samples obtained from the Irrigation District 023, in San Juan del Rio, Queretaro, Mexico. Additionally, six new PTFs were constructed for KS from clay percentage, bulk density, and saturation water content data. The results show, for the evaluated models, that one model presents an overestimation for KS > 0.5 cm h−1 values, three models have an underestimation for KS > 1.0 cm h−1, and two models have a good correlation (R2 > 0.98) but more than three parameters are necessary. Nevertheless, the last two models require 3–4 parameters in order to obtain optimization. On the other hand, the models proposed in this work have a similar correlation with fewer parameters. The fit is seen to be much better than using the existing ones, achieving a correlation of R2 = 0.9822 with only one variable and R2 = 0.9901 when we use two.

In recent years, groundwater levels have been decreasing due to the demand in agricultural and industrial activities, as well as the population that has grown exponentially in cities. One method of controlling the progressive lowering of the water table is the artificial recharge of water through wells. With this practice, it is possible to control the amount of water that enters the aquifer through field measurements. However, the construction of these wells is costly in some areas, in addition to the fact that most models only simulate the well as if it were a homogeneous profile and the base equations are restricted. In this work, the amount of infiltrated water by a well is modeled using a stratified media of the porous media methodology. The results obtained can help decision-making by evaluating the cost benefit of the construction of wells to a certain location for the recharge of aquifers.

Soil water movement is important in fields such as soil mechanics, irrigation, drainage, hydrology, and agriculture. The Richards equation describes the flow of water in an unsaturated porous medium, and analytical solutions exist only for simplified cases. However, numerous practical situations require a numerical solution (1D, 2D, or 3D) depending on the complexity of the studied problem. In this paper, numerical solution of the equation describing water infiltration into soil using the finite difference method is studied. The finite difference solution is made via iterative schemes of local balance, including explicit, implicit, and intermediate methods; as a special case, the Laasonen method is shown. The found solution is applied to water transfer problems during and after gravity irrigation to observe phenomena of infiltration, evaporation, transpiration, and percolation.

The aim of this study is the deduction of an analytic representation of the optimal irrigation flow depending on the border length, hydrodynamic properties, and soil moisture constants, with high values of the coefficient of uniformity. In order not to be limited to the simplified models, the linear relationship of the numerical simulation with the hydrodynamic model, formed by the coupled equations of Barré de Saint-Venant and Richards, was established. Sample records for 10 soil types of contrasting texture were used and were applied to three water depths. On the other hand, the analytical representation of the linear relationship using the Parlange theory of infiltration proposed for integrating the differential equation of one-dimensional vertical infiltration was established. The obtained formula for calculating the optimal unitary discharge is a function of the border strip length, the net depth, the characteristic infiltration parameters (capillary forces, sorptivity, and gravitational forces), the saturated hydraulic conductivity, and a shape parameter of the hydrodynamic characteristics. The good accordance between the numerical and analytical results allows us to recommend the formula for the design of gravity irrigation.

Denitrification is a respiratory process that produces nitrous oxide as an intermediate, which may escape to the atmosphere before its reduction to dinitrogen through the nitrous oxide reductase NosZ. In this work, the denitrification process carried out by Paracoccus denitrificans PD1222 has been explored through a quantitative proteomic analysis. Under anaerobic conditions, with nitrate as sole nitrogen source, the synthesis of all the enzymes involved in denitrification, the respiratory nitrate, nitrite, nitric oxide, and nitrous oxide reductases, was increased. However, the periplasmic and assimilatory nitrate reductases decreased. Synthesis of transporters for alcohols, D-methionine, sulfate and copper, most of the enzymes involved in the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and proteins involved in other metabolic processes like lysine catabolism, fatty acids degradation and acetyl-CoA synthesis, was increased during denitrification in P. denitrificans PD1222. As consequence, an enhanced production of the central metabolite acetyl-CoA was observed. After establishing the key features of the denitrification proteome, its changes by the influence of a competitive electron acceptor, oxygen, or competitive nitrogen source, ammonium, were evaluated.

Se presenta un método de diseño de riego por melgas basado en la aplicación de un modelo que emplea las ecuaciones de Saint-Venant para describir el flujo del agua sobre el suelo, y la ecuación de Green y Ampt para representar el flujo del agua en el suelo. La principal ventaja del modelo presentado es el poco tiempo de cómputo que requiere para su aplicación, en comparación con el necesario para ejecutar un modelo hidrodinámico completo reportado en la literatura, mismo que emplea las ecuaciones de Saint-Venant para el flujo del agua sobre el suelo, acopladas internamente con la ecuación de Richards, que permite modelar el flujo del agua en el suelo. Con base en los resultados obtenidos mediante la aplicación del modelo para diez tipos de suelo diferentes se han elaborado cuadros de diseño operativo del riego por melgas.

La extracción de terceros molares incluidos; con una dirección errática que no puede corregirse, espacio alveolar insuficiente o la falta de valor funcional, es una forma de prevenir problemas patológicos a nivel local y a distancia en el organismo, por ello es sustentable avalar este procedimiento. En este ensayo se establece las consideraciones más importantes a tomar en cuenta por los profesionales de la odontología.

Natural fibers, such as bamboo, flax, hemp, and coir, are usually different in terms of microstructure and chemical composition. The mechanical properties of natural fibers strongly depend on the organization of cell walls and the cellulose micro-fibril angle in the dominant cell wall layers. Bamboo, flax, and hemp are known for high strength and stiffness, while coir has high elongation to failure. Based on the unique properties of the fibers, fiber hybridization is expected to combine the advantages of different natural fibers for composite applications. In this paper, a study on bamboo/coir fiber hybrid composites was carried out to investigate the hybrid effect of tough coir fibers and brittle bamboo fibers in the composites. The tensile behavior of unidirectional composites of bamboo fibers, coir fibers, and hybrid bamboo/coir fibers with a thermoplastic matrix was studied. The correlation between the tensile properties of the fibers and of the hybrid composites was analyzed to understand the hybrid effects. In addition, the failure mode and fracture morphology of the hybrid composites were examined. The results suggested that, with a low bamboo fiber fraction, a positive hybrid effect with an increase of composite strain to failure was obtained, which can be attributed to the high strain to failure of the coir fibers; the bamboo fibers provided high stiffness and strength to the composites.

Water infiltration is simulated by obtaining the time infiltrated depth evolution and humidity profiles with the numerical solution of the two-dimensional Richards’ equation. The contact time hypothesis is accepted in this study and used to apply a unique form on time of the water depth evolution in the solution domain (furrow), as boundary condition. The specific form of such evolution in time was obtained from results reported in the literature based on the internal numerical full coupling of the Saint-Venant and Richards’ equations in border irrigation. Moreover, the equivalent hydraulic area between the border and the furrow was achieved by scaling the values of water depth. The analysis was made for three contrasting soil textures, and the comparison was done by computing the root mean square error (RMSE) indicator. The comparison was performed from the selection of five finite element meshes with different densities to discretize the solution domain of the two-dimensional Richards’ equation, combined with several time steps. Finally, a comparison was made between infiltrated depth evolution calculated with a constant water depth in the furrow to the one proposed in this work, finding important differences between both approaches. To expand the scope of this study and for a fuller exploration of the subject, the results were compared with results obtained by applying the HYDRUS-2D software. The results confirm that it is important to consider an internal full coupling of the Saint-Venant and Richards´ equations to improve furrow irrigation simulations.

Long-term starvation provokes a metabolic response in the brain to adapt to the lack of nutrient intake and to maintain the physiology of this organ. Here, we study the changes in the global proteomic profile of the rat brain after a seven-day period of food deprivation, to further our understanding of the biochemical and cellular mechanisms underlying the situations without food. We have used two-dimensional electrophoresis followed by mass spectrometry (2D-MS) in order to identify proteins differentially expressed during prolonged food deprivation. After the comparison of the protein profiles, 22 brain proteins were found with altered expression. Analysis by peptide mass fingerprinting and MS/MS (matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization-time of flight mass spectrometer, MALDI-TOF/TOF) enabled the identification of 14 proteins differentially expressed that were divided into 3 categories: (1) energy catabolism and mitochondrial proteins; (2) chaperone proteins; and (3) cytoskeleton, exocytosis, and calcium. Changes in the expression of six proteins, identified by the 2D-MS proteomics procedure, were corroborated by a nanoliquid chromatography-mass spectrometry proteomics procedure (nLC-MS). Our results show that long-term starvation compromises essential functions of the brain related with energetic metabolism, synapsis, and the transmission of nervous impulse.

El gasto óptimo de riego, es decir, aquel para el cual se obtiene la mayor eficiencia de uniformidad manteniendo valores elevados de las eficiencias de aplicación y de requerimiento de riego, se determina para el caso en que se tiene la presencia de un manto freático en el perfil de suelo en riego por melgas. El cálculo se efectúa haciendo uso de un modelo de simulación desarrollado por los autores de este trabajo, el cual hace posible describir las cuatro fases del riego por melgas, y tiene como base el acoplamiento numérico de las ecuaciones de Saint-Venant y la ecuación de Richards; las primeras describen el flujo del agua con una superficie libre que tiene lugar sobre el suelo y la segunda permite simular la transferencia de agua en el suelo. Se ha obtenido que no obstante la presencia de un manto freático en el perfil del suelo, la relación entre la longitud de la melga y el gasto óptimo es básicamente lineal, situación que se presenta en el caso de un perfil de suelo semiinfinito; en otras palabras, se deduce que la dependencia básicamente lineal que guardan la longitud de la melga y el gasto óptimo de riego es independiente de la condición inicial de distribución de las presiones en el suelo.

The primarily linear relationship was verified between the length of a plot and optimal irrigation flow, which is the flow needed to obtain the maximum value of the uniformity coefficient, resulting in high values for application efficiency and the amount of irrigation required. This verification was performed by applying a complete hydrodynamic model using numerical methods, based on Saint-Venant equations to describe water surface flow and internally coupled with the Richards equation in order to model it. Operating design tables for plot irrigation were developed based on the results obtained from applying the model to 10 different types of soil.

Se analizan dos modelos mecanicistas para simular el funcionamiento hidráulico de un sistema de drenaje agrícola subterráneo; el primer modelo resuelve la ecuación de Richards sobre un dominio bidimensional, usando una condición de frontera tipo radiación no lineal en el perímetro del dren; el segundo modelo aplica la ecuación de Boussinesq con coeficiente de almacenamiento variable en un dominio unidimensional, imponiendo en los drenes condiciones de frontera de radiación fractal. Se evalúa la capacidad de descripción de ambos modelos de simulación, considerando el caso de un acuífero libre somero con recarga vertical nula, obteniéndose que la aproximación basada en la ecuación de Richards proporciona mejores descripciones de los procesos de transferencia de masa y energía que ocurren en los sistemas de drenaje agrícola, y que la ecuación de Boussinesq no puede describir simultáneamente las transferencias de masa y energía descritas con la ecuación de Richards. Se muestra, por una parte, que cuando el modelo de Boussinesq se usa en la resolución de problemas inversos para estimar la conductividad hidráulica a saturación del suelo (Ks), se obtienen valores para este parámetro mayores a los calculados con el modelo basado en la ecuación de Richards. Por otra parte, se denota que cuando Ks es estimada a partir del modelo de Richards y el valor así obtenido es usado en el modelo de Boussinesq para estimar la separación entre drenes, se obtienen separaciones más cortas de lo necesario.

Classical models to describe water uptake by roots use mechanistic or empirical functions to represent the sink term in the water transfer equation, which does not allow for analyzing the effect of the root system geometry on extraction patterns. A model to simulate water uptake was developed in order to eliminate this limitation. This model considers the roots to be one boundary of the domain and uses a radiation condition which allows for representing the water flow resistance at the soil-root interface. This resistance is neglected by the models reported in the literature because they use a Dirichlet boundary condition for the roots (specified pressure). The radiation condition is established, which contains parameters that represent the properties of the plants and hydraulic soil as well as the resistance to water flow at the soil-root interface. A finite element solution is obtained for the two-dimensional form of the water transfer equation subject to the radiation condition at the roots. This model is applied to the analysis of a water uptake case, with typical values for the plants' properties and considering the variability of the resistance of the soil-root interface. Since the resistance at the soil-root interface is shown to define the magnitude of the water uptake by roots, this variable cannot be neglected when analyzing the water uptake phenomenon.

The movement of water in an agricultural subsurface drainage system is analyzed using a model based on the coupling of the Richards equation and the Boussinesq equation, with variable storage capacity subject to the drain fractal boundary radiation condition. The model is used to describe the hydraulic operation of a drainage system installed in the field, which allows for studying drain separations of 40 m and 25 m. Most of the hydraulic characterization of the system is conducted independently of drainage tests using a methodology based on the granulometric curve and total porosity of the soil. The experimental evolutions of the drained depth and the decrease in the hydraulic head associated with a 40 m separation between drains allow for calibrating two parameters of the proposed model: the pressure scale related to the soil-water retention curve and the scale parameter of the fractal radiation. The experimental evidence corresponding to a 25 m separation between drains enables showing that the scale parameter of fractal radiation is independent of the drain separation, and that it can be assumed to be proportional to the saturated hydraulic conductivity of the soil. It is shown that the classical hypotheses regarding agricultural drainage represent, in a simplified manner, the transfers developed in the partially-saturated zone, considering the recharge term in the Boussinesq equation to be null and or equal to the evapotranspiration rate; transferring uncertainty about what happens in the zone to the parameters estimated based on drainage tests.