• Inspired by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, academics from the U. of Santiago are developing a model, based on a mathematical theory that defines in minutes an action plan to deal with disasters. They published a paper about this research in the indexed journal "International Journal of Computers, Communications & Control."

It has been two years since the earthquake in Japan happened. This catastrophe caused more than 15,000 deaths and the most important nuclear disaster of the 21st century: the Fukushima Nuclear Plant explosion. This disaster demonstrated the great amount of time required to determine an action plan to cope with these events and the consequent risk for human lives.

This kind of situations led researchers from our University to find a model that could improve these response times. The project manager is Oscar Vasquez, industrial engineer graduated in this University; he has a Master’s degree, from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, and currently he is a  Ph.D. candidate at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris VI. He works with Dr. Juan Sepúlveda, director of the Department of Industrial Engineering, and the academics Miguel Alfaro and Luis Valenzuela-Osorio. Together, they published a paper about this research in the indexed journal "International Journal of Computers, Communications & Control."

The title of the paper written by the research team, composed of industrial and electrical engineers, was "Disaster response project planning: a resolution method based on a theoretical model of games.” The research was published in April by the specialized journal.

Vasquez says the method is a good and fast solution to the problem of assigning activities among a number of available resources in disaster environments. Based on the mathematical theory of “game", they seek to deal with computer applications that are currently used to solve these situations. This is achieved by finding the balance point as part of a theoretical game where activities and resources are the players.

The researcher adds: "Getting a good answer just in seconds is a key issue in disaster situations, considering that the computational complexity of the problem might involve obtaining the optimal solution in hours or even days, a period of time in which the increasing disaster might cause the loss of human lives and infrastructure."

The results of the proposed model showed a difference of 15 percent in relation to the optimal solution, but less than 1 percent in relation to the time required by last generation software. "The idea behind this kind of environment is to save as many lives as possible, and this is achieved if  less time is used in order to give a good answer to the problem”, the specialist says.

Currently, the team is improving the resolution method, defining new subroutines and starting players. Preliminary results have shown a reduction of the gap between their results and the optimal solution, with a difference of only 9 percent.

By Lorena Jimenez
 

• The Latin American Network of Educational Portals included the work done by Dr. Juan Silva, director of the Center for Research and Innovation in Education and ICT (CIIET, in Spanish), in a publication that gathers together renowned Latin American experts in this field.

Professor Juan Silva Quiroz’ work was selected by the Latin American Network of Educational Portals (Relpe, in Spanish) to be included in a recently published compendium that gathers several papers and reflections on the use of technologies in the educational process. The name of the book is “Mirada Relpe: Reflexiones iberoamericanas sobre TIC y Educación” (Relpe’s view: Latin American reflections on ICT and Education), and it started to be developed in 2011.

Dr. Silva reflects on the relation between Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and education policies, particularly in the incorporation of these ICT in the Early Teaching Training (FID, in Spanish) process, as he considers them a determining factor to improve the quality of education, by training professionals in this field and enabling them to understand these tools and implement them in the classroom.

Relpe’s initiative has the purpose of establishing a regional view on how technologies are understood in education.

In the same way, professor Silva highlights the international significance of this initiative, as it provides different points of view on this matter. “Two of us wrote about ICT in teacher training; other expert wrote about videogames and another one wrote on Personal Learning Environments (PLE), etc. It is then a wide variety of work subjects or problems about technology and education presented, referenced or argued by leaders in this field,” he said.

He also added that the book includes some subjects that should be addressed since university education, particularly, in teacher training.

Potential of ICT tools

Regarding the advantages of using collaborative tools like ICT, professor Silva said that most of the teachers, especially at university level, do not see the potential of ICT tools, in terms of having opportunities to share knowledge at a national and international level. Assignments and presentations, he explained, can be modified and improved and will always be available in Prezi, blogs and Wikis, for example, under the logic of Web 2.0.

He also said that these participative and collaborative models are very useful, especially in teaching, which is normally perceived as an individualistic work. “In the traditional model, the teacher presents knowledge and students receive it. On the other hand, in a collaborative model, the teacher acts as a facilitator, as a mediator, and students have an active role in their knowledge- building process,” he added

Nowadays, Dr. Silva is part of a commission set up by the Ministry of Education to address the inclusion of ICT in the training of future teachers, and soon he will publish a book about different experiences of using ICT in early teacher training in Latin American, thanks to a teaching innovation project of the Academic Vice Presidency and sponsored by the Ministry of Education’s Center of Education and Technology (CET, in Spanish).

Translated by Marcela Contreras
 

• A research team of the Technological Faculty of Universidad de Santiago, led by Dr. Arturo Rodríguez, conducted a study on the perception of Chilean people with regards to the use of electromagnetic technologies and their effect on human health. According to the survey conducted, among 1,100 people in the Metropolitan Region, although 87.4 per cent think that these tools are harmful to health, 92 per cent would not stop using them.

Electromagnetic technologies (mobile phones, Wi-Fi devices, mobile phones antennas, among others) have reached almost all spheres of life. In spite of this, users do not know much about the electromagnetic radiation these devices emit and the risk that they pose, two factors that have been considered the cause of some health problems.

A multidisciplinary team of the New Technologies Research Group (GINT-USACH, in Spanish) led Dr. Arturo Rodríguez, professor at the Technological Faculty of Universidad de Santiago, conducted a study that collected the Chileans’ opinion about technologies and their effect on human health. The study was based on face-to-face surveys and included 1,100 people from different communes of the Metropolitan Region.

The poll conducted in the context of a Public Opinion Dicyt Project showed that Chilean people are highly dependent on electromagnetic technologies, although they are aware of the health risk that they may pose. 

According to the researchers, the conclusions reflect a society that prefers meeting its need for communication and interconnection over health care. For example, 87.4 per cent of the respondents perceive the use of electromagnetic technologies to be harmful to health; however, 62.9 per cent think that it is important to have access to them and they also use these technologies for work.

The researchers say that these results are similar to other practices that can be observed in many situations of daily life. For example, drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes, which are associated to different diseases; however, people would not stop using them. 

The survey showed illustrative data regarding technological dependence. Almost 90 per cent of the respondents said that they use electromagnetic technologies for company, while 92 per cent said that they were not willing to stop using them, in spite of the negative effects they may have.

Regarding the usefulness of these technologies, 39.4 per cent say that they are not totally convinced of using them for commercial transactions; besides, they do not consider these technologies useful tools in case of emergency. 

According to Dr. Rodríguez, “this phenomenon is due to the high presence of technology in daily life and the lack of education regarding the usefulness of technological devices and the need for their use. Technologies which are only oriented to meet needs will lead us to a society that cannot tolerate frustration; doubtlessly, to an increasingly troubled society.”

Translated by Marcela Contreras 

• Between August 30^th and September 04^th, 2015, internationally renowned researchers, and professors and students in the field of microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, biocatalysis and biotechnology, will meet at Universidad de Santiago to discuss the importance, developments and potential applications of extremophile microorganisms, which are able to thrive in extreme conditions. The Thermophiles 2015 Meeting is a world conference held every two years. For the first time, it will take place in South America and Universidad de Santiago will host its 13^th version. 

Between August 30^th and September 04^th, 2015, world-class scientists and students of the field of microbiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, biocatalysis and biotechnology will meet at Universidad de Santiago for the 13^th International Thermophiles Meeting 2015, a multidisciplinary forum held every two years to discuss the latest scientific developments, applications and importance of these microorganisms that live in different extreme environments of the world.

The purpose of this conference is to increase the knowledge of scientists and students in this research field and, at the same time, to invite them to explore its importance for biological sciences and industrial biotechnology.

“This is an excellent opportunity not only to expose our scientists and students to world-class science and scientists in this field, but also to propose new approaches and views to contribute to science in our country and Latin America,” Dr Jenny Blamey said. Dr Blamey is a professor at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology of Universidad de Santiago and is in charge of the forum organization.

“It is important to mention that Chile is considered one of the six geographic areas with the most diverse extreme environments in the planet; therefore, the scientific matters that will be discussed during this conference are very relevant to the future scientific and technological development in this field in our country,” she added.

Scientists invited

Dr Karl Stetter is one of the scientists who will give a presentation during the activity. He is from Germany, a pioneer in the field of biological sciences and the discoverer of the microorganism Pyroccocus furiosus. The DNA polymerase from Pyroccocus furiosus is currently used for gene amplification and genome elucidation.

Another participant in the forum will be Dr Juergen Wiegel. He is from Germany too and is one of the most renowned microbiologists in the world and recipient of the Bergey’s Award.  

Dr Michael W. Adams, a British professor with many publications on this research field who leads the most important laboratory of structural genomics of extremophile microorganisms, will open the conference.

For further information, go to the meeting official web page: http://www.thermophiles2015.cl

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• The project will enable academic exchange and collaborative research on matters of renewable energies with specialists of important foreign research centers, like Lancaster University, UK, and the Institute of Technology Assessment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria.

• The Network Project 140007 Isolated Energy Communities, led by the director of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IDEA, in Spanish), Dr Cristián Parker, was awarded funds by the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (Conicyt, in Spanish), in the 2014 Contest “Support to the formation of international networks among research centers”.

On November 13^th, at the IDEA facilities of Universidad de Santiago, a letter of intent was signed by two important research centers that formalized their participation in an international research network: Lancaster University, UK, and the Institute of Technology Assessment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria.

The participants in this meeting were the substitute director of IDEA, Dr Fernando Estenssoro; the researcher in charge of the project in Chile, Dr Cristián Parker; the national co-researcher, Dr Gloria Baigorrotegui; the researcher responsible for Austria, Dr Michael Ornetzeder, and the researcher for the UK, Gordon Walker.

Energy Communities

“The purpose is to make possible an academic exchange, at a researcher level, to understand what energy communities are,” Dr Parker said with regard to the objective of the project.

“We are in a period in which energy systems are being transformed and we are moving forward to renewable energies. But technologies are not something you implement on the first try: they are developed when they are accepted and adapted to the different needs and requirements of each community,” he said.

He specified that the idea is to study the research works on energy communities conducted in Europe and then promote their implementation in our country.

“We have selected two very interesting [research] groups for their progress, one in Austria (Institute of Technology Assessment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences) and one in the UK (Lancaster University), in such a way that we can have a benchmark and see how to promote the development of energy communities with renewable energies in Chile,” he said.

According to Dr Gloria Baigorrotegui, the European experience is interesting because, “there, in the seventies, they started without any funding, maybe in similar conditions to the ones we have today, but with a more economically promising and more advanced technological development.”

“These are the ways in which communities somehow organize their own energy systems and keep the benefits for themselves,” Dr Baigorrotegui added.

The project

The project involves seminars, publications in international indexed journals, as well as cooperation agreements that are being established with foreign institutions to continue with new research works and academic collaborations.

As the project has a multidisciplinary approach, it gathers academics of different areas, like Dr Fernando Estenssoro; Dr Ingeborg Mahla, professor at the Department of Electric Engineering, and Dr María Teresa Santander, professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering, among others

This project will help to extend the use of renewable energies in different communities, in different places of the country. It seeks to learn from the European experiences in these matters.

Universidad de Santiago’s hallmark

This project is in accordance with the social focus of our university, which impact should aim to solve the fundamental challenges of national development, in a creative way.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

·         Dr Rodrigo Contreras is conducting a study that seeks to control the action of the Botrytis cinerea fungus and provide a solution to the problem it poses for the national wine industry.

Currently, vineyards in Chile cover a 125,000 ha surface and they produce over 1,200 liters per year, making wine production an essential part of national economy.

According to the Chilean Bureau for Agricultural Studies and Policies (ODEPA; in Spanish), Chile is the fifth larger wine exporter in the world; however, these production is at risk of being affected by the grey rot caused by the Botrytis cinerea fungus that causes the partial or complete loss of the grapes.

In order to contribute to the wine industry in the country, Dr Rodrigo Contreras Arredondo (Faculty of Chemistry and Biology of Universidad de Santiago de Chile) is conducting a study that will allow controlling the problems produced by this fungus after the harvest process and during transportation.

The study is in the context of a Post Doc Fondecyt Project supported by Dr Leonora Mendoza, an expert in the study of natural botrycides.

The species studied by Dr Contreras is able to survive in spite of extreme environmental conditions. After eight years of working with this species under the supervision of Dr Gustavo Zúñiga, he developed a proposal that would allow using natural products to control grey rot without affecting human health.

Application

The Vegetal Biotechnology and Physiology Laboratory at Universidad de Santiago- according to the researcher- is the one that has most information on this endemic extremophile species and the use of its molecules. For this reason, the study is at an advanced stage and it will continue now with the application stage.

“The project is focused on fruit and wine industry, as exported grapes get damaged by the fungus after the harvest process and during transportation,” he says.

He says that the botrycide is applied after the harvest process to prevent the fungus from affecting the grapes in order to keep the seal quality and designation of origin that distinguishes these products. “We want to use the natural products synthesized by the plant; i.e., we are going to use the plants as factories of active molecules and we will apply those molecules to the post harvest fruits, avoiding the use of synthetic pesticides,” he says.

First, the applied study will be conducted in laboratory conditions, seeking for a method to strengthen production and protect the fruits. Then, Dr Contreras expects to elucidate the complete mechanism that would prevent rot grey from developing. He concludes by saying that this extremophilic plant is biodegradable and that it does not have harmful effects on humans.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Chilean and foreign experts met in a seminar organized by the Center of Studies in Sciences and Food Technology of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, where they discussed the different options that they currently have in wine industry and the use of yeasts to determine, control and counteract variables that can affect the quality of this product.

Wine industry is constantly seeking to increase its competitiveness through sustainable solutions. One of the main current challenges of genetics and biology in relation to fungi and yeasts is how to face the significant environmental changes that we are undergoing. In this context, different experts in this field met on November, 21^st, at the Plaza San Francisco Hotel, in Santiago, in the seminar Hongos y Levaduras del vino: del laboratorio a la mesa (Fungi and Yeasts for Wine: form the Lab to the Table). 

The activity was organized by the Center of Studies in Sciences and Food Technology (Cecta, in Spanish), of Universidad de Santiago de Chile and sponsored by the CONICYT REDES 150077 project and the Núcleo Milenio MNFISB (Fungal Integrativa and Synthetic Biology). Many speakers from France, USA and Chile participated in the event, including professors at Universidad de Santiago de Chile and at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

The seminar covered the different strategies currently used in wine industry and highlighted the importance of yeasts in the process of improving the quality of this product through different scientific methods.

Dr Jean-Luc Legras and Dr Bruno Blondin, both from the INRA Sciences pour l’Oenologie, Montpellier, France, were two of the foreign guests to the activity. Dr Blondin explained the difference between the selected yeast and native yeasts in wine elaboration.

For her part, Dr Angélica Ganga, professor at Universidad de Santiago de Chile, gave the presentation “La relación entre ciencia y las necesidades del sector productivo nacional” (The relation between science and the needs of the domestic productive sector), in which she highlighted the production of Chilean wine industry and its innovations.

Science and nature

In the context of the discussion about the consumption of natural non-genetically modified products, the experts said that modified yeasts- although they are created in laboratory- are not really different from the natural ones, as the modifications only seek to produce better quality wine. 

Dr Francisco Cubillos, researcher at the Cecta of Universidad de Santiago de Chile explained that there are two strategies: one is to generate non-modified organisms and the other, to use what is already in nature and through crossbreeding, obtain new organisms, new yeasts. 

Chilean wine industry is not behind regarding these strategies. According to Dr Cubillos, “The fact that we are able to do science in Chile with national yeasts or that we make efforts to generate technology to improve yeasts, places our country at an international level, comparable to what the best groups in the world are doing. If we are able to improve our yeasts, we can give wine an added value.”

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Dr. Alonso Arellano, academic at the Department of Metallurgical Engineering, conducts a Dicyt research which seeks patterns that allow the projection of a possible earthquake or volcanic eruption of great magnitude, through the analysis of high-resolution satellite images.

Predicting an earthquake is one of the highest aspirations of the researchers in this field worldwide. In a country like Chile, which is considered highly seismic, this search has become an essential need. In this context, a new process for early detection of earthquakes arises: the analysis of high resolution satellite images.

Dr. Alonso Arellano conducts a project funded by the Department of Scientific and Technological Research (Dicyt) in this field of research. He felt motivated in 2004 while he was doing a Ph.D. at the State University of Russia and subsequently investigated related phenomena, such as the case of the Popocatepetl volcano, located in the south of Mexico.
Through his project, called "Use of high-resolution satellite images for the study of strong earthquakes and related phenomena", additional information is sought to identify more patterns and better statistics.

Based on this information, associated phenomena could be addressed, through the analysis of high resolution satellite images for earthquake precursors. "To achieve this, images are analyzed before, during and after the earthquake. Then, each image is scanned in order to find typical structures, veins, fractures, faults, and thus confirm existing or new patterns,”  Arellano said.

According to this researcher, the study is based, on the assumption that the stress of the Earth’s crust can be seen in the form of lines. "The lines are visible when processing high resolution images captured by satellites, although they develop over 30 kilometers deep. For this reason, these images have become an important tool to detect areas of potential earthquakes,” he remarks.

Although in the last decade many similar investigations have been carried out by the international group led by Dr. Arellano in Chile, and by Dr. Dimitar Ouzounov in the United States, this study will differ in two aspects:  first, the use of the Chilean satellite FASAT Charlie, if the agreement with the Air Force, through the Aerophotogrametric Service, becomes effective. The second aspect is the use of software for the study of images, developed at the University of Santiago, Adelgeo.

Dr. Arellano’s collaborators are Ph.D. students in Engineering Science (Automatic and Process specializations) and the Master’s degree in Geomatics. As noted by professor Arellano, "they play an important role, because their motivation to do new things nourishes the investigation."

By Lorena Jimenez

• In the context of a series of seminars ran by the Department of Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, Dr. Ricardo Salazar informed about the scope of the research on treating waters contaminated by textile and pharmaceutical industry effluents through electrochemical methods.

In order to inform about the progress made by the Laboratory of Environmental Electrochemistry’s research group, Dr. Ricardo Salazar gave the presentation “Elimination of persistent organic pollutants in water by using electrochemical methods,” in the context of a series of seminars organized by the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology.

The activity gathered together academics and students who learned about the research being conducted at Universidad de Santiago with regards to eliminating organic compounds in water through advanced oxidation electrochemical processes. Particularly, the presentation referred to the Fondecyt project called “Degradation of dye-containing effluents from textile industry through electrochemical oxidation,” in which Dr. Salazar is the responsible investigator.

The objective of the study is to decontaminate waters that contain dyes and additives by means of electricity and solar energy, avoiding the use of chemical reactants.

“Today, we are working on the treatment of real samples of textile industrial effluents. To do so, we have built a pilot plant to treat larger volumes of contaminated water. We are also testing new electrodes for the process and we have extended the contaminant spectrum to pharmaceutical industrial effluents,” Dr. Salazar says about the status of the study, in which Dr. Julio Romero, from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering of Universidad de Chile, takes part as a co-investigator.

SERC Chile

Thanks to his achievements in this field, Dr. Salazar has accepted an invitation to take part as an investigator in a FONDAP project for the Chilean Solar Energy Research Center, SERC Chile, an agency that seeks to become a world leader in solar energy scientific research, with a particular emphasis in developing the potential of the Atacama Desert, Chile.

“I was invited as an associate investigator in the research line of “Solar Water Treatment”, which is coordinated by Dr. Lorena Cornejo Ponce, tenured professor at the Escuela Universitaria de Ingeniería Industrial, Informática y Sistemas (EUIIIS) of Universidad de Tarapacá. The idea is to contribute to the treatment of persistent organic pollutant-containing waters and their treatment through Solar photoelectro-Fenton degradation”, he says.

Translated by Marcela Contreras

• Through a Fondecyt Project led by Dr. Gustavo Zúñiga, a research team of Universidad de Santiago is carrying out measurements of the mosses at the Collins Glacier and the Ardley Peninsula, in order to analyze the impact of global warming on these populations and identify their tolerance mechanisms to resist environmental changes.

Dr. Gustavo Zúñiga, researcher at Universidad de Santiago; Marisol Pizarro, a graduate student of the Biotechnology PhD program of the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology, and  Gustavo Zúñiga-Líbano, an undergraduate student of the Biotechnology Engineering Program of the Faculty of Engineering, are now at the “Profesor Julio Escudero” base of the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH, in Spanish) studying the impact of global warming on Antarctic mosses in the context of the Fondecyt Project "Metabolomic responses of the Antarctic mosses Sanionia uncinata and Polytrichastrum alpinum to global warming".

While the researchers are in the Antarctica, they aim to establish a baseline with regards to the effect that global warming is having on the region and, particularly, to identify the environmental tolerance mechanisms of the Sanionia uncinata and Polytrichastrum alpinum mosses. In order to reach these goals, the study involves collecting samples and measuring the environmental variables in the Collins Glacier and the Ardley Peninsula.

“We must consider that the Antarctic Peninsula has been one of the areas most affected by global warming; in spite of this, there are no studies up to date regarding the response to this phenomenon at a molecular level and there are no studies that correlate the stress conditions that these species are enduring in the Antarctica, either,” Dr. Zúñiga explained. The study aims to describe the physiological and molecular changes caused by the increase in temperature, UVB radiation and the availability of water for these mosses.

The members of the Plant Physiology and Biotechnology Laboratory of the Department of Biology at the Faculty of Chemistry and Biology; Hans Köhler, a graduate student of the Biotechnology PhD program, and Dr. Rodrigo A. Contreras- who traveled in December to the Unión Glacier polar scientific station to work in the project by studying the lichens of the area– have also contributed to this study.