Important international media have already publicized the discovery that, for the first time, shows a plant imitating several ''hosts''.

The vine Boquila trifoliolata, native to the temperate rainforest of Chile and Argentina, is the protagonist of a notable discovery in nature made by the researcher at the University of La Serena, Dr. Ernesto Gianoli Molla.Through research, the scientist verified that the leaves of this climbing plant can imitate the leaves of multiple support trees (hosts) and their mimicry patterns are consistent with a herbivory avoidance hypothesis. 

The discovery was made by Dr. Ernesto Gianoli together with his student from the U. de Concepción, Fernando Carrasco Urra. The article was published last week in the journal Current Biology (Elsevier) (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982214002693) and immediately caught the attention of important international media.

National Geographichttp://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/04/24/the-most-versatile-impressionist-in-the-forest/) and Science (http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/04/scienceshot-chameleon-vine-discovered-chile) have already announced this discovery that shows the remarkable imitation capacity of this plant, while this week the magazine Nature will join in.

As the biologists point out in their article, mimicry in animals is quite common, while documented cases in plants are rare and the associated benefits rarely elucidated. 

In the case of Boquila trifoliolata (family Lardizabalaceae), the imitation of the leaves of its supporting trees is carried out in terms of size, shape, thickness and color of the blade, as well as the orientation and length of the petiole, and even, the appearance of a thorn at the leaf apex. 

As the researchers highlight, the case of other plants that have the capacity to mimic another species or its characteristics has previously been reported, but this is the first time that a single individual can imitate multiple and varied hosts.

According to the data obtained by the authors, this ability gives these plants some protection against forest herbivores, such as insects and small snails.

Dr. Ernesto Gianoli and Fernando Carrasco have not yet determined how this plant – which is already beginning to be called in the media ''the chameleon vine'' – can capture the characteristics of its nearby trees. At the moment, it is presumed that it would have the ability to do so by detecting signals hidden in odors or chemicals secreted by hosts, or by means of microbes that can transport activation gene signals between Boquila trifoliolata and the mimic species.

The discovery

As the biologist from the University of La Serena tells National Geographic, the discovery was part of a naturalistic observation walk through the forest, when he decided to take a break from the usual sampling and measurement work that his studies of forest plants entail. temperate climates of Chile.

At that time, Dr. Ernesto Gianoli discovered the strange capacity of Boquila trifoliolata, which grew in the sector exhibiting very different leaves, while similar to its nearby plants and trees.

Thus Fernando Carrasco's undergraduate thesis project was born and the research began that made it possible to verify the extraordinary capabilities of the aforementioned vine, in which they were even able to show that the leaves of Boquila can vary up to 10 times the size of their leaves and from very light to very dark their color.

The relevance of this finding, which in the words of Ernesto Gianoli "can lead us to understand a new way by which the phenotype of plants is controlled", has led the authors of the main biology textbook in English (Campbell ) contact you to give special coverage to the case in the next edition of the book.

In the host study house, students of Commercial Engineering, Construction Engineering, Food Engineering, Ped. in Spanish and Philosophy, Ped. in English and Journalism who have a disability actively participate in the activities prepared for them.

The Support Program for Students with Disabilities (PAED) at the University of La Serena and the Inclusive Higher Education Network in the Coquimbo Region (REDESIC) were the organizers of a training day on Teaching Strategies with a Universal Approach, aimed to teachers of different careers from educational institutions that serve students with sensory and/or motor disabilities.

The activity took place during the morning in Room 2 of the Teaching Improvement Unit of the ULS, with the objective of learning some suggestions for adapting study materials and teaching aids so that university students with sensory or physical disabilities can take different courses. 

Aspects such as the adaptation of methodologies, teaching materials, evaluation techniques and others were addressed. The rapporteurs were the person in charge of the PAED and president of REDESIC Region of Coquimbo, Georgina García, academic of the Department of Education of the University of La Serena; the PAED professional, Andrea Irarrázabal; and the kinesiologist from the U. Pedro de Valdivia, Joel García.

The types of disabilities addressed are vision problems (total blindness and low vision), hearing (profound deafness or hearing loss) and physical problems (limitations in the execution of movements and/or chronic diseases). Regarding them, various international investigations provide advice and suggestions to optimize student performance in classes.

For example, Georgina García emphasized that the use of accessible, flexible and simple instructions is recommended; communicate content effectively; consider the different paces of learning; minimize physical effort and maximize attention to learning; consider the characteristics of the students in the instructions; create learning communities; and generate welcoming and inclusive environments.

Other aspects to consider are: providing multiple means of representation (occupying different channels: auditory, visual or motor), multiple means for action and expression (different ways to learn and make known what has been learned) and multiple means of engagement (offering options so that they feel involved and motivated to learn).

The ULS academic also urged attendees not to generalize the behavior of people with disabilities, even if they have the same condition; find out with the student himself what he requires before modifying the environment or determining supports; do not force him to receive help, avoid overprotection and promote autonomy; and make non-significant curricular adjustments to guarantee conditions of equity.

In the same way, he recommended for classroom work to ensure that they have a seat in the front row, ensure that they have good lighting, allow the use of recorders or other recording materials, and adapt PowerPoint presentations (dark background, white letters and short texts). ), verbalize visual information, adapt evaluation formats (Braille, larger print or orally), have visible warning signs (for example, for classroom changes) and allow longer times for their work or dissertations, among others. suggestions that will help young people achieve their best academic performance.

In the afternoon, the workshop was replicated with numerous preschool, basic and secondary school teachers from different educational establishments in the area.

Let us remember that the Support Program for Students with Disabilities at the U. de La Serena has as its fundamental purpose to provide comprehensive support – academic, social and health – to university students with sensory and/or motor disabilities. In addition, guide their academics and families so that they can support these students, so that they can respond satisfactorily to the academic, social and emotional demands that any professional training process implies. 

It is important to mention that the entry and participation of students with disabilities in this Program is voluntary. Currently, 6 young people studying Commercial Engineering, Construction Engineering, Food Engineering, Ped. in Spanish and Philosophy, Ped. in English and Journalism actively participate in initiatives that support different areas of their personal and professional training. 

Students, academics and administrators who wish to have more information about the PAED can visit the Resource Room of the Central Library ''Irma Salas'' (Anfión Muñoz corner Infante) on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to 13 p.m. :00 a.m. and on Tuesdays from 12:30 p.m. to 16:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Inclusive Higher Education Network in the Coquimbo Region is headed by the U. of La Serena and has among its members the UCN, UPV, U. Central and Colegio Maristas Nuestra Señora de Andacollo.

Coinciding with the passage of the aircraft, the validation of the remotely detected data was carried out through a Terrain Group, whose members made measurements and took samples of soil and vegetation in various types of agricultural fields.

For the second consecutive year, the UAVSAR (Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission, a NASA air vehicle that has a polarimetric L-band radar sensor, flew over a large part of the Coquimbo Region with the purpose of making soil moisture measurements. by radar remote sensing. An international cooperation project was incorporated this year to the four fields measured in 2013 (Juan Soldado, Callegari, La Alpina and Las Cardas). and from the University of La Serena, through the head of the Central Laboratory for Analysis and Applied Research of the state campus, Mg. Héctor Maureira, who added to the analysis the vineyards of Tamaya and Tabalí (Province of Limarí) with the objective of creating a Water Management Model for the cultivation of the vine, using satellite data, which will provide a decision-making tool for managing the irrigation, through maps of Evapotranspiration, Temperature and Humidity of Soil and Vegetation, and Water Stress.

It is expected that through the use of satellite information it will be possible to increase yield and quality related to key parameters such as: yield per hectare, sugar content and bunch density. "All of the above can be achieved through the information generated by maps, which will make it possible to adopt an efficient irrigation strategy, knowing when and how much water to use," said Maureira, who maintained that the model could also be expanded to other crops or natural plant covers of our region, currently exposed to a long period of drought.

For the validation of the data remotely detected by the radar, the support of a Field Group made up of more than 70 people was required, which, coinciding with the passage of the aircraft, made measurements and took samples of soil and vegetation in the fields. aforementioned agriculture.

''Soil samples were taken to measure humidity and also samples of biomass, that is, of vegetables. To these is added the measurement of the roughness of the terrain and the temperature, which are elements that serve to correct the radar images,'' explained the ULS researcher, Héctor Maureira, adding that this sampling was in charge of of students and professionals from the University of La Serena, the Catholic University of the North, the Mayor University, the Oterra Natural Resources Study Center and the Santo Tomas Institute and Technical Training Center, after lining up and marking points of the Chilean Army (Regiment No. 21 Coquimbo) and the Chilean Navy (Maritime Government of Coquimbo). While personnel from the Investigative Police of Chile (Metropolitan Region), carried out the georeferencing of the sampling points, "in order to achieve absolute precision of the point in which the sample is taken, which is compared with the information that generates the plane," said the expert. 

The field work had the collaboration of these institutions and the University of Chile - Ceza Arid Zones Study Center, the Ministry of Public Works, Agrícola Callegari Ltda., Agrícola La Alpina Ltda., Viña Tabalí SA and Viña Tamaya SA In addition, This mission was sponsored by the Compañía Minera del Pacífico. 

According to what was indicated by the person in charge of the NASA-UAVSAR Mission in the Coquimbo Region, Héctor Maureira, it is expected that the results of the samples and the information obtained by the plane will be ready by the end of July.

The NASA-UAVSAR mission constitutes a test of the sensors that is being carried out through various places on Earth to validate those that will be incorporated into the SMAP (Soil Moisture Activ Passiv) satellite that will be launched on November 5, 2014. with which periodic measurements of soil humidity of the entire planet will be obtained, serving as a basic input for the creation of humidity and drought models, which will allow us to understand, together with other data, the climatological processes suffered by the region

The activity included the participation of the Rector of the ULS, Dr. Nibaldo Avilés, and the guest speaker Mg. Lic. Ricardo Marcelo Coca, dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the National University of San Juan, Argentina. 

With the participation of the new students of the Master's Degree ''Leadership, Strategic Management and Communication in Organizations'', the welcome ceremony for this postgraduate program was held, which is being taught in its 5th version after several years of successful results.

The activity had as a special guest, the dean of the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of the National University of San Juan Argentina, Ricardo Marcelo Coca, who in his presentation addressed the importance of the generation of knowledge and technological scientific development, are linked to social development. In this regard, Dean Coca emphasized that "it is very relevant that the issue of business is not disconnected from ethics and the development of people and in this regard we have social commitments that require us to be more responsible every day."

On the occasion, the director of the Master's Degree, Dr. Luperfina Rojas, pointed out that this program ''allows us to provide an alternative for continuity of studies for our graduates; It is a transversal master's degree, in which we have students who are commercial engineers, psychologists, journalists, lawyers, among other professionals, which allows us to address such important topics as leadership, communication and strategic management and, as a transversal axis, ethics.' '.

Dr. Rojas added that ''for us this process has been very important, this is the fifth generation of students who have entered and we have important challenges such as the accreditation of the program and the opportunity to teach it in Argentina at the National University of San Juan . We are happy, we have made notable progress with the graduates, which shows us that we are on the right path, given that the people who have entered have been climbing in their professional lives, that is important because it shows that from this Master's degree onwards they They manage to differentiate themselves.

With this postgraduate program, the professional acquires extensive skills to develop a strategic vision, manage it, form and lead work teams, developing effective communication skills and mastery in the development of messages that position and empower their organization. 

To do this, this graduate will have a solid theoretical base complemented with an ethical-value perspective that will allow him to act correctly in the application of the relevant processes and theories to create, maintain and optimize, from a strategic point of view, internal and external communications. of any organization, whether public or private, so that they positively impact the social and economic profitability of the organization.

Its duration is four semesters and the modality of operation is every week, on Fridays and Saturdays.

It should be noted that the activity also included the participation of the Rector of the University of La Serena, Dr. Nibaldo, Avilés Pizarro, the academic vice-rector, Dr. Jorge Catalán, the dean of the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences, Mg. Jorge Fernández, and university authorities.

Master Talk

Within the framework of the activities carried out on the same day, during the afternoon the Master Talk ''Universities of Argentina'' was given by Dean Coca to the students of the courses of the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences in the framework of the 2014 anniversary.

The activity was marked by a large attendance of authorities, academics and students, who were able to learn about the development of Higher Education in Argentina through this exhibition.

Professionals from the Fund for the Promotion of Scientific and Technological Development (FONDEF) are spread throughout the country to publicize the scope of the First FONDEF IDeA contest, aimed at scientists and researchers and whose call will open soon.

Managers, academics and researchers met in the Alejandro Cobarruvias room at the ULS, in order to learn about the scope of the call for funding applied research projects.

During the talk, the project executive and coordinator of the FONDEF health area, Alfredo Liu, explained in detail the characteristics of the contest, the objectives of the first and second stages, and fundamentally the application requirements, amounts to which they can access those who present an initiative, subsidy system, execution deadlines and financeable item, among others.

''In this stage of dissemination, our main objective is the researchers, we have resources to allocate to good projects and we hope to receive many proposals from all regions, which achieve excellent results. This also positions us as an instrument for allocating public resources for applied research in our country,'' Liu said.

It should be noted that the projects can reach an amount of 150 million pesos for execution in a period of 24 months. These could continue in a second stage, to continue scaling in the development of the technology that is expected to be obtained.

Those attending the meeting were also able to learn more about the details of the process, learning about specific aspects of the application platform through brief training.

This competitive fund requires active participation from universities, supporting initiatives and focusing their efforts on solving local problems, which is why the vice-rector of the University of La Serena, Dr. Jorge Catalán, valued the opportunity that researchers have. to know and access these resources. ''Hopefully this will be a great incentive for academics to participate in FONDEF projects, since they link scientific development with technological development and that naturally has an important impact on the community. Since we are interested, due to our declared social responsibility, in having the university contribute to the regional and national community, this is a very good way to have projects that can be sustainable and to be able to carry out initiatives that are of social benefit in the most as wide as possible,'' he said.

According to what was stated by the FONDEF executive, those who benefit receive advice and support during the execution period of the ideas, thanks to the participation of an area committee that works hand in hand with each initiative. ''We want research and infrastructure capabilities to be developed in the regions,'' Liu said.

The activity, attended by academics from various areas of knowledge, was organized by the Research Directorate of the University of La Serena and as Dr. Eduardo Notte points out, ''there are stages that the University has to go through, we have been doing a lot of development in basic research and now it is important that people apply for application projects. This is an activity that is done to encourage and inform that there are participation instances where application projects are financed with the purpose of the work teams presenting their projects, verifying how applicable they are and if they require external resources to carry them out. .

The Inaugural Class was led by the anthropologist and academic from the ULS Department of Education, Dr. Érika Zúñiga, who presented: ''The Native Peoples in the Educational Stories of the Nation''.

In the Pentagon room of the Andrés Bello Campus, the opening ceremony of the 2014 academic year of the Interdisciplinary Master's Degree in Latin American Studies, MIEL, was held, a high-level study program from the University of La Serena, with a marked investigative focus, which from a Interdisciplinary optics aim to generate knowledge and train scientists in the space of the humanities, with a view to contributing to comprehensive sociocultural development in Latin America.