A taxonomy for planning and designing smart mobility services

The development of smart mobility initiatives requires specialized and contextualized policies addressing the needs and interests of many stakeholders involved. Since the development of such policies is challenging, there is a need to learn from the experience of many cities around the world offering efficient and successfully adopted smart mobility services. However, in practice, the information provided about such initiatives is shallow and unstructured. To address this issue, we study the state of the art in mobility services, reviewing scientific publications and 42 smart mobility services delivered by nine smart cities around the world, and we propose a taxonomy for planning and designing smart mobility services. The taxonomy provides a common vocabulary to discuss and share information about such services. It comprises eight dimensions: type of services, maturity level, users, applied technologies, delivery channels, benefits, beneficiaries, and common functionality. The contribution of the proposed taxonomy is to serve as a tool for guiding policy makers by identifying a spectrum of mobility services that can be provided, to whom, what technologies can be used to deliver them, and what is the delivered public value so to justify their implementation. In addition, the taxonomy can also assist researchers in further developing the domain. By identifying common functionality, it could also help Information Technology (IT) teams in building and maintaining smart mobility services. Finally, we further discuss usage scenarios of the taxonomy by policy makers, IT staff and researchers.NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000037, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (EFDR). The first author is also supported by the Portuguese funding agency, FCT, under grant PD/BD/52238/201

The Glutaredoxin GLRX-21 Functions to Prevent Selenium-Induced Oxidative Stress in Caenorhabditis elegans

Selenium is an essential micronutrient that functions as an antioxidant. Yet, at higher concentrations, selenium is pro-oxidant and toxic. In extreme cases, exposures to excess selenium can lead to death or selenosis, a syndrome characterized by teeth, hair and nail loss, and nervous system alterations. Recent interest in selenium as an anti- tumorigenic agent has reemphasized the need to understand the mechanisms underlying the cellular consequences of increased selenium exposure. We show here, that in the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, selenium has a concentration range in which it functions as an antioxidant, but beyond this range it exhibits a dose- and time-dependent lethality. Oxidation-induced fluorescence emitted by the dye, carboxy-H2DCFDA, indicative of reactive oxygen species formation was significantly higher in animals after a brief exposure to 5mM sodium selenite. Longer-term exposures lead to a progressive selenium-induced motility impairment that could be partially prevented by coincident exposure to the cellular antioxidant–reduced glutathione. The C elegans glrx-21 gene belongs to the family of glutaredoxins (glutathione-dependent oxidoreductases) and the glrx-21(tm2921) allele is a null mutation that renders animals hypersensitive for the selenium-induced motility impairment, but not lethality. In addition, the lethality of animals with the tm2921 mutation exposed to selenium was unaffected by the addition of reduced glutathione, suggesting that GLRX-21 is required for glutathione to moderate this selenium-induced lethality. Our findings provide the first description of selenium-induced toxicity in C elegans and support its use as a model for elucidating the mechanisms of selenium toxicity

“You’re kind of considered like a leper”: A Narrative Inquiry Into How The Significant Academic Struggle of Academic Probation Impacts Women Undergraduate Science Students’ Sense of Belonging at an Institution

While there has been significant research on both how academic struggles impact college students, as well as factors that impact the sense of belonging for college students, there has been little research examining how a significant academic struggle impacts a students’ perception of sense of belonging at that institution. This qualitative study explores how an academic struggle impacts students’ sense of belonging at that institution, as well as other findings from this study

Dear Solitary Black Student

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A Market Study of Organic and Fair Trade Coffee in Bolivia

The purpose of this research is to study the commercialization of Fairtrade and Organic coffee in the Bolivia. Fairtrade and Organic coffee are alternative trade systems designed to promote the equitable and environmentally sustainable production of coffee. However, these alternative trading systems often fail to meet these goals. The producers and environment these systems are intended to protect remain marginalized. These failures are due to a number of local institutions. In order to better understand these institutions, this research conducted interviews of various stakeholders including producers, cooperative leaders, organic/Fair Trade certifiers, government agencies and private buyers. All these stakeholders influence the success of the alternative trade systems. By better understanding how these stakeholders impact the commercialization of coffee in Bolivia; new policies can be develop to improve the outcomes of alternative trade, to benefit both producers and the environment. This is especially critical in Bolivia because of the environmentally sensitive area in which coffee is grown, the potentially damaging impact of coca on the region and, the devastating economic impact to farmers

Sicole: diagnóstico y tratamiento computarizado de la dislexia en español

En este articulo realizamos un recorrido sobre las investigaciones más relevantes en el campo de la tecnología aplicada al diseño instruccional, las cuales marcan las pautas de diseño de los programas educativos actuales y presentamos los criterios pedagógicos y tecnológicos que hemos seguido en el diseño e implementación de un ITS para la diagnóstico, evaluación y tratamiento de niños con Dislexia en el lenguaje español. Este trabajo se halla dentro del marco de un proyecto de investigación interdisciplinar titulado SICOLE, formado por psicólogos, pedagogos e informáticos.In this paper we present the most significant researchers in the area of technology applied to instructional design. Also, we describe the pedagogical and technological principles followed in the design and implementation of an Intelligent Tutorial System for assessment and treatment of dyslexic children in Spanish language. This work is result of a multidisciplinary research with engineers, teachers and psychologists and it has been funded by «Fondos Europeos para el Desarrollo Regional» (FEDER), 1FD97-1140, and the «Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica» (DIGICYT). This package has being used in several Spanish schools as part of its validation process

Procedure for Selecting a Transmission Mode Dependent on the State-of-Charge and State-of-Health of a Lithium-ion Battery in Wireless Sensor Networks with Energy Harvesting Devices

Diverse methods and considerations have been proposed to manage the available energy in an efficient manner in Wireless Sensor Networks. By incorporating Energy Harvesting Devices in these type of networks it is possible to reduce the dependency of the availability of the Energy Storage Devices, particularly the lithium-ion battery. Recently, the State-of-Charge and State-of-Health of the battery have been considered as inputs for the design of the Medium- Access-Control protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks. In this article, different guidelines are proposed for the design of Medium-Access-Control protocols used in Wireless Sensor Networks with Energy Harvesting Devices considering the State-of-Charge and State-of-Health as indicators for the estimation of the transmission time of the sensor node. The proposed guidelines consider different currents used during the transmission to estimate the State-of-Charge and Stateof- Health of the battery. The incorporation of these indicators aim to improve the decision-making process of the sensor node when transmitting.Diverse methods and considerations have been proposed to manage the available energy in an efficient manner in Wireless Sensor Networks. By incorporating Energy Harvesting Devices in these type of networks it is possible to reduce the dependency of the availability of the Energy Storage Devices, particularly the lithium-ion battery. Recently, the State-of-Charge and State-of-Health of the battery have been considered as inputs for the design of the Medium- Access-Control protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks. In this article, different guidelines are proposed for the design of Medium-Access-Control protocols used in Wireless Sensor Networks with Energy Harvesting Devices considering the State-of-Charge and State-of-Health as indicators for the estimation of the transmission time of the sensor node. The proposed guidelines consider different currents used during the transmission to estimate the State-of-Charge and Stateof- Health of the battery. The incorporation of these indicators aim to improve the decision-making process of the sensor node when transmitting