Occupancy Patterns Scoping Review Project

Understanding the occupancy and heating patterns of UK domestic consumers is important for understanding the role of demand-side technologies, such as occupancy-based smart heating controls to manage energy consumption more efficiently.The research undertakes a systematic scoping review to identify and assess the quality of the UK and international evidence on occupancy patterns, to critically review the common methods of measuring occupancy, and to discuss the potential role of occupancy-based smart heating controls in meeting energy savings, thermal comfort and usability requirements.This report was prepared by a team at the University of Southampton and commissioned by the former Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).<br/

Módulo de aprendizaje para el conocimiento de la danza diablada de Puno en estudiantes del 5to de primaria de la I.E. “San Antonio Marianistas” – 2019

El estudio tuvo como objetivo determinar la incidencia de la aplicación del módulo de aprendizaje para el conocimiento de la danza diablada de Puno aplicada en estudiantes del quinto grado de primaria de la I.E. “San Antonio Marianistas” Callao, 2019. La metodología empleada fue un enfoque cuantitativo, diseño preexperimental, longitudinal, tipo aplicada, nivel explicativo. La población participante en la investigación fue de 120 estudiantes de quinto grado, de las secciones A, B, C y D; además, una muestra de 32 estudiantes del quinto grado de primaria de la sección D. La variable de estudio se midió a través de dos pruebas de conocimientos: un pre-test al inicio de la investigación y post-test, que se evaluó luego de la aplicación del módulo de aprendizaje de la danza diablada de Pun

Artificial Immune System for Solving Global Optimization Problems

In this paper, we present a novel model of an artificial immune system (AIS), based on the process that suffers the T-Cell. The proposed model is used for global optimization problems. The model operates on four populations: Virgins, Effectors (CD4 and CD8) and Memory. Each of them has a different role, representation and procedures. We validate our proposed approach with a set of test functions taken from the specialized literature, we also compare our results with the results obtained by different bio-inspired approaches and we statistically analyze the results gotten by our approach.Fil: Aragon, Victoria Soledad. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Departamento de Informática. Laboratorio Investigación y Desarrollo En Inteligencia Computacional; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Luis; ArgentinaFil: Esquivel, Susana C.. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Departamento de Informática. Laboratorio Investigación y Desarrollo en Inteligencia Computacional; ArgentinaFil: Coello Coello, Carlos A.. CINVESTAV-IPN; Méxic

Designing an Environmental Zone in a Mediterranean City to Support City Logistics

[EN] European cities are facing enormous challenges in accessibility and livability terms due to several European directives, which are compulsory in the mid/long term, traffic congestion levels are still increasing, and air pollution and noise disturbs citizens’ lives. This work presents the study carried out in a Mediterranean city to define an Environmental Zone with traffic restrictions for vehicles in the historical centre of the city of Cartagena (Spain) by exploring different urban logistics measures to tackle main problems caused by freight deliveries and pickups in the city centre. These solutions aimed to enhance the efficiency of vehicles, and to reduce both traffic congestion the environmental impacts caused by freight delivery in the city in order to improve urban sustainability.The research that has led to these results forms part of the work conducted by the students of the subject “Industrial Logistics” in the Master of Industrial Engineering during academic year 2016-2017 at the Technical University of Cartagena.Ros-Mcdonnell, L.; De-La-Fuente-Aragon, MV.; Ros-Mcdonnell, D.; Cardós Carboneras, M. (2018). Designing an Environmental Zone in a Mediterranean City to Support City Logistics. International Journal of Production Management and Engineering. 6(1):1-9. doi:10.4995/ijpme.2018.8771SWORD196

The Uneven Reach of Decentralization: A Case Study among Indigenous Peoples in the Bolivian Amazon

Decentralization reforms aim at strengthening democracy by promoting political participation among citizens. Research shows (1) that information is a prerequisite for political participation and (2) that people face different private costs in acquiring information. Here we combine the two lines of research and ask: what private costs hamper the acquisition of information on decentralization? For the analysis, we use data from an indigenous population of lowland Bolivia. We surveyed 319 Tsimane’ adults in 12 villages. We found that nine years after the passage of the decentralization laws, knowledge about those reforms had only partially reached the Tsimane’. People who live closer to municipal towns, had more schooling, and participated in the market economy were more aware of decentralization. Political authorities trying to spread the potential benefits of decentralization should address the structural limitations of the dissemination of political knowledge

CONTRIBUCIÓN A LA GOBERNANZA DEL AGUA SUBTERRÁNEA MEDIANTE LA RECARGA ARTIFICIAL EN SAN ANTONINO, OAXACA / CONTRIBUTION GROUNDWATER GOVERNANCE, BY MEANS OF RECHARGE IN SAN ANTONINO, OAXACA

Como en la gran parte de México, la comunidad de San Antonino Castillo Velasco perteneciente al Estado de Oaxaca, sufre pérdida de volúmenes en sus mantos freáticos debido a tres factores principales: 1) aumento en la demanda por crecimiento poblacional, 2) el cambio del medio físico como deforestación, cambio de uso de suelo, contaminación por aguas servidas, afectación del cambio climático entre otros, y 3) deficiente administración de las aguas subterráneas que permite un aprovechamiento intensivo, pérdida de manantiales, uso deficiente del riego parcelario. En este trabajo se presentan resultados en la identificación y contribución hacia una gobernanza efectiva del recurso hídrico subterráneo, mediante la atención a las subfunciones de una gobernanza basada en la comunidad, con la finalidad de fortalecer la participación pública, flexibilidad institucional y la promoción de un sistema de recarga artificial que apoye la sustentabilidad del acuífero libre de San Antonino, Oaxaca. Desde 1985, fecha en que iniciaron sus trabajos de recarga artificial, la comunidad ha logrado recuperar el nivel freático de antaño. Los resultados de este trabajo permiten en los actores sociales mejorar el conocimiento de su territorio, visibilizar el reconocimiento de su capital social y fortalecer sus instituciones de regulación, normativos y culturales-cognitivos

Ratio of the Dead to Wounded (D/W) Indicators and Associated Factors in Major Earthquakes of America from 1960 to 2011

Corrigendum to “Ratio of the Dead to Wounded (D/W) Indicators and Associated Factors in Major Earthquakes of America from 1960 to 2011”. Journal of Earthquakes 2015; 436960, http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/436960.The paper presented deals with the casualties, mortality, and morbidity occurred during the major earthquakes of America during a period of 51 years. The work provides statistical evidence that the deaths/wounded (D/W) ratio used for many agencies in the planning of the preparation and response activities to earthquakes does not fit the relation 1 : 3. In addition, a model is presented in order to evaluate the possible association between different analysis variables such as the subregion of the American continent affected, population density, HDI, and the time and magnitude of the earthquake and the effects of these on the death toll, the number of the wounded, and the D/W indexes. Although the model generated it is not robust enough for decision making, it could be useful and improvable in order to apply it in the planning and management of these kinds of natural disasters. For these reasons, we think that it would be interesting to do further progress in this line of research by making a more comprehensive study of the variables associated with mortality and morbidity, using a more representative sample of earthquakes that sure will confirm the results presented in this work.This work was funded by the Spanish Field Epidemiology Training Program and was done as part of research activities of Ana Ayuso-Alvárez, M.S., Marcello S. Rossi S., D.S., and Dante Culqui, M.S., in the Spanish Field Epidemiology Training Program.S

Cluster vs. Field Elliptical Galaxies and Clues on their Formation

Using new observations for a sample of 931 early-type galaxies we investigate whether the \mg2--\so relation shows any dependence on the local environment. The galaxies have been assigned to three different environments depending on the local overdensity: clusters, groups, and field, having used our completeredshift database to guide the assignment of galaxies. It is found that cluster, group and field early-type galaxies follow almost identical \mg2--\so\ relations, with the largest \mg2 zero-point difference (clusters minus field) being only $0.007\pm 0.002$ mag. No correlation of the residuals is found with the morphological type or the bulge to disk ratio. Using stellar population models in a differential fashion, this small zero-point difference implies a luminosity-weighted age difference of only $\sim 1$ Gyr between the corresponding stellar populations, with field galaxies being younger. The mass-weighted age difference could be significantly smaller, if minor events of late star formation took place preferentially in field galaxies. We combine these results with the existing evidence for the bulk of stars in cluster early-type galaxies having formed at very high redshift, and conclude that the bulk of stars in galactic spheroids had to form at high redshifts (z\gsim 3), no matter whether such spheroids now reside in low or high density regions. The cosmological implications of these findings are briefly discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in the ApJ.

Diet composition of an invasive population of Lithobates catesbeianus (American Bullfrog) from Argentina

The American bullfrog Lithobates catesbeianus has been introduced around the world, with invasive populations reported from almost all South American countries. A population of this species was introduced in the Calingasta department of San Juan province, which is an arid environment in western Argentina. This work provides information on the dietary composition of an invasive population of L. catesbeianus, and compares the degree of dietary overlap between adults and juveniles. Stomach contents of 169 bullfrogs (82 adults and 87 juveniles) were analysed. Adults consumed 40 prey taxa and Hymenoptera (Insecta) was the most numerous prey item (41.8%), followed by Araneae (13.6%) and Aeglidae (13.4%). Juveniles consumed 29 prey taxa and Hymenoptera constituted the highest percentage in prey number (77.2%). The trophic overlap niche index at the same level shows a value of 0.64 overlap in dietary community between adults and juveniles of this bullfrog. Aeglidae was volumetrically the most important trophic item (25.4%), followed by Anura (25.02%). Our results showed that cannibalism in bullfrogs is more common than the consumption of native anurans, coinciding with that reported in other populations of introduced bullfrogs. The high similarity in the diets of both size classes and the association between the size of the predator and prey suggest that the impact caused by bullfrogs throughout their ontogeny is high andprobablyhasanimpactontheirprey.Freshwatercrabsarethemainitemsinthe diet of Lithobates catesbeianus in other introduced populations and are usually the most conspicuous at our study site. The crabs in freshwater ecosystems are part of the lowest trophic level in the food chain. The major threats to the southern region’s freshwater crabs include deforestation, farming and exotic species. Lithobates catesbeianus has a generalist diet and high overlap between adults and juveniles.Fil: Quiroga, Lorena Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología; ArgentinaFil: Moreno Avila, María Daniela. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología; ArgentinaFil: Cataldo, Ariel Anibal. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología; ArgentinaFil: Aragon y Traverso, Juan Héctor. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología; ArgentinaFil: Pantano, María Victoria. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología; ArgentinaFil: Olivares Toselli, Juan Pablo Segundo. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología; ArgentinaFil: Sanabria, Eduardo Alfredo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Juan; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Facultad de Filosofía, Humanidades y Artes. Instituto de Ciencias Básicas; Argentin