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This paper presents a laboratory experiment for teaching Automation. The objective of this project is to allow the students of the Technical Engineering Schools of the University of La Laguna (Spain) to learn the theoretical and practical fundamentals of Automation Systems through a laboratory experiment based on a home automation application. Automation plays an increasingly important role in the centred of Engineering; as a result, several subjects in the curriculum plan at the Engineering School focus on this discipline. In recent years, our teaching efforts have been centred on designing appealing and modern laboratory experiments. With these practical experiments, students acquire a basic knowledge of Automation, along with complementary knowledge of the latest developments in the field. The laboratory session presented in this article draws its inspiration from the Smart Home, a recent field in applied Automation. Due to the impossibility of carrying out the control of a smart installation in a real house, a simulation experiment was designed for educational tasks. A scale model of a house was built, and all the sensors, the actuators and the control system were adapted to this scale model. A Programmable Logic Controller was selected as the control system. ß

For successful rearing of the flounder Paralichthys adspersus, it is important to optimize growth and survival in the early larval stages. Several authors indicate that the application of β-glucans and mannan-oligosaccharides (βG MOS) in rearing water should improve the larval health, diminishing the effects of physiological stress and physical damage that the aquaculture activities cause to the individuals. In order to evaluate the effect of βG MOS on P. adspersus incorporation on P. adspersus larval survival and growth in intensive culture, experiments were carried out with six-days post-hatch larvae, which had only just begun to feed on live prey (rotifers), and fifteen-day post-hatch larvae. Three treatments were used, applying 5 mg•L-1 , 10 mg•L-1 , and 15 mg•L-1 of βG MOS to the rearing water during the first five days of the experiment and then comparing the results with a control. The results indicate that applications of 5 mg•L-1 of βG MOS in the rearing water enhance larval survival and growth with respect to the control, whereas additions of 15 mg•L-1 of βG MOS suppressed both of these parameters. This effect increases for larvae that have recently absorbed the yolk sac. An histological analysis of the intestinal epithelium of the larvae suggests that βG MOS promotes the expression of monocytes (forerunner cells of macrophages) associated with the non-specific immune system of the fish.