181 research outputs found

    Análisis cinemático de robots manipuladores redundantes: Aplicación a los robots Kuka LWR 4+ y ABB Yumi

    Get PDF
    En este trabajo se presenta un análisis cinemático aplicado a dos manipuladores serie redundantes: el Kuka LWR 4+ y el ABB Yumi. En particular, se deriva la cinemática directa para ambos manipuladores y se resuelve el problema de la cinemática inversa. Para el Kuka LWR 4+ dicha solución se obtiene en forma analítica, mientras que para el ABB Yumi se sigue un enfoque analítico y numérico. Además, se calculan simbólicamente tanto las singularidades del Kuka LWR 4+ como las direcciones singulares asociadas a éstas. Este estudio contribuye al conocimiento cinemático de dos manipuladores redundantes de gran actualidad e interés para la comunidad robótica, y proporciona información útil para el diseño de diferentes algoritmos y leyes de control.Postprint (author's final draft

    Human behavioural adaptations to interglacial lakeshore environments

    Get PDF
    The Schöningen 13II-4 “Spear Horizon” is among the most famous lakeshore archaeological sites dating from the Middle Pleistocene in Europe. Multiple well-crafted wooden spears recovered together with a large assemblage of butchered horse bones at Schöningen stimulated a new outlook of the behavioural capabilities of Palaeolithic hunters. Since these discoveries, a wealth of geological and palaeoecological data have been generated to reconstruct the wider Schöningen interglacial lakeshore environment. Yet, the underlying social and economic behaviours of Middle Pleistocene hominins reflected in the archaeological record itself have received less attention. To address these shortcomings, we began a comprehensive zooarchaeological and taphonomic analysis of the entire large mammalian assemblage from the Schöningen 13II-4 “Spear Horizon”, with the goal of re-focusing attention to the “human component” of this important site. Here we present the preliminary results of our research

    The combined impact of sauerkraut with Leuconostoc mesenteroides to enhance immunomodulatory activity in Escherichia coli-infected mice

    Get PDF
    This study investigated the combined impact of sauerkraut and Leuconostoc mesenteroides culture on immunomodulatory activity in experimental animal. The in vivo immunomodulatory activity of Escherichia coli-infected Balb-C mice was ascertained in fermented sauerkrauts [test vs. control]. Both sauerkrauts enhanced the adaptive immune response [evidenced by an increase in CD4+ CD8+ IFN-γ, TNFα] and innate immune response [represented by a decrease of CD68-IL-6]. Nev- ertheless, the in vivo immunomodulatory activity of sauerkraut combined with L. mesenteroides was higher than that shown in sauerkraut control solely

    Origins and genetic legacy of prehistoric dogs

    Get PDF
    Dogs were the first domestic animal, but little is known about their population history and to what extent it was linked to humans. We sequenced 27 ancient dog genomes and found that all dogs share a common ancestry distinct from present-day wolves, with limited gene flow from wolves since domestication but substantial dog-to-wolf gene flow. By 11,000 years ago, at least five major ancestry lineages had diversified, demonstrating a deep genetic history of dogs during the Paleolithic. Coanalysis with human genomes reveals aspects of dog population history that mirror humans, including Levant-related ancestry in Africa and early agricultural Europe. Other aspects differ, including the impacts of steppe pastoralist expansions in West and East Eurasia and a near-complete turnover of Neolithic European dog ancestry

    Nutritional, Health, and Technological Functionality of Lupin Flour Addition to Bread and Other Baked Products: Benefits and Challenges

    Get PDF
    Lupin is an undervalued legume despite its high protein and dietary fiber content and potential health benefits. This review focuses on the nutritional value, health benefits, and technological effects of incorporating lupin flour into wheat-based bread. Results of clinical studies suggest that consuming lupin compared to wheat bread and other baked products reduce chronic disease risk markers; possibly due to increased protein and dietary fiber and bioactive compounds. However, lupin protein allergy has also been recorded. Bread quality has been improved when 10% lupin flour is substituted for refined wheat flour; possibly due to lupin-wheat protein cross-linking assisting bread volume and the high water-binding capacity (WBC) of lupin fiber delaying staling. Above 10% substitution appears to reduce bread quality due to lupin proteins low elasticity and the high WBC of its dietary fiber interrupting gluten network development. Gaps in understanding of the role of lupin flour in bread quality include the optimal formulation and processing conditions to maximize lupin incorporation, role of protein cross-linking, antistaling functionality, and bioactivity of its γ-conglutin protein

    Genetic turnovers and northern survival during the last glacial maximum in European brown bears.

    Get PDF
    The current phylogeographic pattern of European brown bears (Ursus arctos) has commonly been explained by postglacial recolonization out of geographically distinct refugia in southern Europe, a pattern well in accordance with the expansion/contraction model. Studies of ancient DNA from brown bear remains have questioned this pattern, but have failed to explain the glacial distribution of mitochondrial brown bear clades and their subsequent expansion across the European continent. We here present 136 new mitochondrial sequences generated from 346 remains from Europe, ranging in age between the Late Pleistocene and historical times. The genetic data show a high Late Pleistocene diversity across the continent and challenge the strict confinement of bears to traditional southern refugia during the last glacial maximum (LGM). The mitochondrial data further suggest a genetic turnover just before this time, as well as a steep demographic decline starting in the mid-Holocene. Levels of stable nitrogen isotopes from the remains confirm a previously proposed shift toward increasing herbivory around the LGM in Europe. Overall, these results suggest that in addition to climate, anthropogenic impact and inter-specific competition may have had more important effects on the brown bear's ecology, demography, and genetic structure than previously thought

    Changing environments during the Middle-Upper Palaeolithic transition in the eastern Cantabrian Region (Spain): direct evidence from stable isotope studies on ungulate bones

    Get PDF
    Environmental change has been proposed as a factor that contributed to the extinction of the Neanderthals in Europe during MIS3. Currently, the different local environmental conditions experienced at the time when Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) met Neanderthals are not well known. In the Western Pyrenees, particularly, in the eastern end of the Cantabrian coast of the Iberian Peninsula, extensive evidence of Neanderthal and subsequent AMH activity exists, making it an ideal area in which to explore the palaeoenvironments experienced and resources exploited by both human species during the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition. Red deer and horse were analysed using bone collagen stable isotope analysis to reconstruct environmental conditions across the transition. A shift in the ecological niche of horses after the Mousterian demonstrates a change in environment, towards more open vegetation, linked to wider climatic change. In the Mousterian, Aurignacian and Gravettian, high inter-individual nitrogen ranges were observed in both herbivores. This could indicate that these individuals were procured from areas isotopically different in nitrogen. Differences in sulphur values between sites suggest some variability in the hunting locations exploited, reflecting the human use of different parts of the landscape. An alternative and complementary explanation proposed is that there were climatic fluctuations within the time of formation of these archaeological levels, as observed in pollen, marine and ice cores.This research was funded by the European Commission through a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (FP7- PEOPLE-2012-CIG-322112), by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (HAR2012-33956 and Ramon y Cajal-2011-00695), the University of Cantabria and Campus International to ABMA. Radiocarbon dating at ORAU was funded by MINECO-HAR2012-33956 project. J.J was supported initially by the FP7- PEOPLE-2012-CIG-322112 and later by a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2014-656122). Laboratory work, associated research expenses and isotopic analysis were kindly funded by the Max Planck Society to M.R
    corecore