Validation of the Morale Questionnaire for Military Operational Theaters [Validación del cuestionario de moral para zonas de Operaciones Militares]

AbstractTo assess the morale of the troops has been a concern of military leaders throughout history, mainly because of the level of involvement that this factor could have in the resolution of conflicts on the battlefield. The purpose of this research was to obtain evidence of the validity of the internal structure of the Morale Questionnaire used by the Spanish Armed Forces in military operations overseas.  Two subsamples of 250 Spanish soldiers deployed on an international mission in Lebanon participated in the study.  The questionnaire was applied at the beginning and at the end of the mission, respectly. The results obtained throughExploratory and Confirmatory Factorial Analysis and Structural Equation Modelling, allowed to assess the questionnaire statistically obtaining a tool that consists of 26 items, agglutinated in six factors. The theoretical dimensions of the original tool were mostly maintained. This will permit Spanish Armed Forces to have a reliable measuring instrument that will facilitate specific predictions about morale and its consecuences on the battlefield.ResumenEvaluar la moral de las tropas ha sido una preocupación de los líderes militares a lo largo de la historia, principalmente por el nivel de participación que este factor podría tener en la resolución de conflictos en el campo de batalla. El objetivo de esta investigación fue obtener evidencias sobre la validez de la estructura interna del cuestionario de moral utilizado por las Fuerzas Armadas Españolas en operaciones militares en el exterior. Dos submuestras de 250 soldados españoles desplegados en una misión internacional en Líbano participaron en el estudio. El cuestionario se aplicó al principio y al final de la misión. Los resultados obtenidos a través del Análisis factorial exploratorio y confirmatorio, así como el Modelo de ecuaciones estructurales, permitieron validar el cuestionario obteniendo estadísticamente una herramienta que consta de 26 ítems, aglutinados en seis factores. Las dimensiones teóricas de la herramienta original se mantuvieron en su mayoría. Esto permitirá a las Fuerzas Armadas españolas tener un instrumento de medición confiable que facilitará predicciones específicas sobre la moral y sus consecuencias en el campo de batalla

The short term influence of aboveground biomass cover crops on C sequestration and β-glucosidase in a vineyard ground under semiarid conditions

© 2014 Ministerio de Agricultura Pesca y Alimentacion. All Rights Reserved. Tillage and semiarid Mediterranean climatic conditions accelerate soil organic matter losses in Spanish vineyards. Previous studies showed that cover crops can increase soil organic carbon (SOC) in Mediterranean vineyards. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the influence of two different cover crops in the short term on soil C sequestration in a semiarid vineyard and to study the potential use of both β-glucosidase enzimatic activity (GLU) and the GLU/SOC ratio in order to assess the SOC increase. The experiment was carried out in a cv. Tempranillo (Vitis vinifera L.) vineyard on a Oxyaquic Xerorthent soil in Rioja winegrowing region (NE, Spain). The experimental design was established in 2009 with three treatments: conventional tillage; sown barley cover crop (Hordeum vulgare, L.); sown Persian clover cover crop (Trifolium resupinatum L.). Carbon in the aboveground biomass with each cover crop was monitored. Soil was sampled in June 2011 and June 2012, and SOC, GLU and the GLU/SOC ratio were determined. After 3 years both cover crops increased SOC at soil surface with C sequestration rates of 0.47 and 1.19 t C ha–1 yr–1 for BV and CV respectively. GLU and GLU/SOC ratio increased in both cover crops at 0-5 cm soil depth. The C sequestration rates and GLU were related to the cover crops aboveground biomass. In consequence, in semiarid vineyards under cover crops GLU could be an appropriate indicator to asses the increase of SOC and the soil quality improvement in the short-term (2-3 years).This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, INIA and European Social Fund through project INIA-RTA 2009-00101-00-00. F. Peregrina thanks the INIA (Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria) and European Social Fund for its post-doctoral grants and E. Pérez-Álvarez thanks the INIA for her pre-doctoral grant.Peer Reviewe

Creation and management of a gym in Mata Jove Secondary School

Comunicaciones. Área tématica 4: Otras experiencias de aprendizaje cooperativo[ES] En el presente trabajo se describe el apasionante proyecto que el alumnado y profesorado del IES Mata Jove de Gijón han llevado a cabo de manera conjunta durante el curso académico 2019/2020, consistente en poner en funcionamiento y gestionar de manera cooperativa un gimnasio en el centro educativo. Los primeros esfuerzos se centraron en conseguir material, reconvertir el antiguo taller de electromecánica en un verdadero gimnasio y organizarse por departamentos de trabajo. Así, tras 6 meses de dedicación, se pudo abrir al público el Matafit, un espacio deportivo a coste cero y autogestionado por el alumnado de 1º de Bachillerato para uso y disfrute de todos sus compañeros durante los periodos de recreo y las clases de Educación Física.[EN] This work describes the exciting project that students and teachers of Mata Jove School (Gijón/Spain) have carried out together along the 19/20 academic year, creating and managing a gym. First efforts were focused in obtaining materials, turning and old workshop into a real gym and organizing ourselves in work departments. Thus, after six months of hard work, Mata Fit opened its doors, becoming in a low cost and self-managed sport center that offers the students the possibility of working out during Physical Education lessons and playtime

A survey on acoustic positioning systems for location-based services

Positioning systems have become increasingly popular in the last decade for location-based services, such as navigation, and asset tracking and management. As opposed to outdoor positioning, where the global navigation satellite system became the standard technology, there is no consensus yet for indoor environments despite the availability of different technologies, such as radio frequency, magnetic field, visual light communications, or acoustics. Within these options, acoustics emerged as a promising alternative to obtain high-accuracy low-cost systems. Nevertheless, acoustic signals have to face very demanding propagation conditions, particularly in terms of multipath and Doppler effect. Therefore, even if many acoustic positioning systems have been proposed in the last decades, it remains an active and challenging topic. This article surveys the developed prototypes and commercial systems that have been presented since they first appeared around the 1980s to 2022. We classify these systems into different groups depending on the observable that they use to calculate the user position, such as the time-of-flight, the received signal strength, or the acoustic spectrum. Furthermore, we summarize the main properties of these systems in terms of accuracy, coverage area, and update rate, among others. Finally, we evaluate the limitations of these groups based on the link budget approach, which gives an overview of the system's coverage from parameters such as source and noise level, detection threshold, attenuation, and processing gain.Agencia Estatal de InvestigaciónResearch Council of Norwa

PLS-PM analysis of forest fires using remote sensing tools. The case of Xurés in the Transboundary Biosphere Reserve

Forest fires have environmental, social and economic impacts in many areas. Various factors related to territory directly influence both the number and the surface area of each fire. The link between different variables (climate, social and environmental) in the risk of fire and in the characteristics of fires is studied here through Partial Least Squares - Path Models. In addition, images from the Sentinel-2 sensor and geographic information systems are used to create a cartographic base of fires in the Transboundary Biosphere Reserve of Galicia and the Site of Community Importance of Xurés (Galicia) between 2015 and 2020. In all, seven variables are analyzed in this study area using the partial least squares-path modeling method: climate, topography, land use, type of environmental protection, the anthropogenic factor, fire defense, and fire data (severity and area). The parameters for each variable are used to obtain weights and thus determine the importance of each one. The areas where the problem of forest fires is greatest are those with the greatest environmental protection. Up to 31% of the surface area of the Natura 2000 Network was burned in the 6-year study period. Topography and land use are also shown to be relevant factors in the effects of forest fires in this territory. By contrast, higher population density and the development of infrastructures such as roads and water tanks mitigate the impact of fires. The problem of forest fires encompasses many variables that need to be studied. By contextualizing each study area as far as possible, specific measures to prevent and reduce damage can be drawn up.Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. PCI2020–120705-2Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade de Vigo/CISU

EFECTO DEL USO DE NUCLEOTIDOS SOBRE LA GANANCIA DE PESO Y ESTRUCTURA INTESTINAL DE CUYES (CAVIA PORCELLUS) EN CRECIMIENTO. AREQUIPA 2014

ANÁLISIS BIBLIOGRÁFICO SOBRE EL CUY GENERALIDADES SOBRE EL CUY CLASIFICACIÓN MANEJO DE LA PRODUCCIÓN DE CUYES CLASIFICACIÓN TAXONÓMICA ANATOMÍA Y FISIOLOGÍA DEL CUY NECESIDADES NUTRITIVAS ALIMENTACIÓN NUCLEÓTIDOS FORMACIÓN FUNCIONES IMPORTANCIA LEVADURA DE CERVEZA (SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE) INOSITOL ÁCIDO GLUTÁMIC

Human activity recognition applying computational intelligence techniques for fusing information related to WiFi positioning and body posture

IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems (FUZZ-IEEE), IEEE WCCI 2010, 18/07/2010-23/07/2010, Barcelona, España.This work presents a general framework for people indoor activity recognition. Firstly, a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) localization system implemented as a Fuzzy Rulebased Classifier (FRBC) is used to obtain an approximate position at the level of discrete zones (office, corridor, meeting room, etc). Secondly, a Fuzzy Finite State Machine (FFSM) is used for human body posture recognition (seated, standing upright or walking). Finally, another FFSM combines bothWiFi localization and posture recognition to obtain a robust, reliable, and easily understandable activity recognition system (working in the desk room, crossing the corridor, having a meeting, etc). Each user carries with a personal digital agenda (PDA) or smart-phone equipped with a WiFi interface for localization task and accelerometers for posture recognition. Our approach does not require adding new hardware to the experimental environment. It relies on the WiFi access points (APs) widely available in most public and private buildings. We include a practical experimentation where good results were achieved.Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciónComunidad de Madri

Concretos sustentables expuestos a altas temperaturas

Concretos fueron elaborados reemplazando cemento Portland ordinario por nano-SiO2 geotérmica y humo de sílice. Se curaron a 20ºC y 100% de humedad hasta 7 años y después fueron expuestos a altas temperaturas (350°C, 550°C y 750°C). Se les evaluó la velocidad de ultrasonidos (UPV), análisis termogravimétrico/diferencial (TG/DTA), difracción de rayos X (DRX) y microscopía electrónica de barrido (MEB). La pérdida de peso y la reducción en la UPV fue mayor para los especímenes adicionados (NSG y HS) en comparación con el espécimen de referencia (CPC 100%), además se apreció una mayor degradación en la microestructura de los especímenes con adiciones

Neurofeedback training with a motor imagery-based BCI: neurocognitive improvements and EEG changes in the elderly

Producción CientíficaNeurofeedback training (NFT) has shown to be promising and useful to rehabilitate cognitive functions. Recently, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) were used to restore brain plasticity by inducing brain activity with a NFT. In our study, we hypothesized that a NFT with a motor imagery-based BCI (MI-BCI) could enhance cognitive functions related to aging effects. To assess the effectiveness of our MI-BCI application, 63 subjects (older than 60 years) were recruited. This novel application was used by 31 subjects (NFT group). Their Luria neuropsychological test scores were compared with the remaining 32 subjects, who did not perform NFT (control group). Electroencephalogram (EEG) changes measured by relative power (RP) endorsed cognitive potential findings under study: visuospatial, oral language, memory, intellectual and attention functions. Three frequency bands were selected to assess cognitive changes: 12, 18, and 21 Hz (bandwidth 3 Hz). Significant increases (p<0.01) in the RP of these frequency bands were found. Moreover, results from cognitive tests showed significant improvements (p<0.01) in four cognitive functions after performing five NFT sessions: visuospatial, oral language, memory, and intellectual. This established evidence in the association between NFT performed by a MI-BCI and enhanced cognitive performance. Therefore, it could be a novel approach to help elderly people.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (TEC2014-53196)Junta de Castilla y León (VA059U13

Modelling of live fuel moisture content in different vegetation scenarios during dry periods using meteorological data and spectral indices

Wildfires are of increasing concern to society, the scientific community and managers. Each year the forest fire season is becoming longer or deseasonalised. One of the main factors in fire behaviour is the live fuel moisture content. Climatological variables such as air humidity, temperature and precipitation directly affect the fuel that is likely to burn. Soil moisture also contributes to fire spread and severity. For these reasons, an analysis of fuel moisture is carried out at 3 sampling sites in the interior of Galicia (Spain), through multiple linear regression models. The 3 plots represent different characteristics for shrub growth: one plot is composed of pine trees, another plot contains a high density of undergrowth and the last plot was burned in 2020 and is regenerating undergrowth. A specific model was generated for each plot from field samples of live fuel and soil field samples collected from September to May, meteorological variables obtained from the stations and Sentinel-2 satellite spectral indices for the field sampling days.The best resulting spectral index for plots without trees was the NDI45, but with a low correlation (R2 < 0.2), while in the plot with pine trees it was the SAVI index (R2 = 0.85). On the other hand, specific model equations were estimated combining these spectral indices with the soil moisture samples and the average temperature of the last 7 days. In all cases the result was considerably improved (R2 between 0.72 and 0.91). These models can be helpful in estimating the probability of fire danger, outside the summer season, with long periods of drought, enabling decision making by managers in each region.Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. PCI2020-120705-2Universidade de Vigo/CISU