Simulations of Melting of Encapsulated CaCl2·6H2O for Thermal Energy Storage Technologies

We present in this work simulations using the finite difference approximation in 2D for the melting of an encapsulated phase-change material suitable for heat storage applications; in particular, we study CaCl2·6H2O in a cylindrical encapsulation of internal radius 8 mm. We choose this particular salt hydrate due to its availability and economic feasibility in high thermal mass building walls or storage. Considering only heat conduction, a thermostat is placed far from the capsule, providing heat for the melting of the phase-change material (PCM), which is initially frozen in a water bath. The difference in density between the solid and liquid phases is taken into account by considering a void in the solid PCM. A simple theoretical model is also presented, based on solving the heat equation in the steady state. The kinetics of melting is monitored by the total solid fraction and temperatures in the inner and outer surfaces of the capsule. The effect of different parameters is presented (thermostat temperature, capsule thickness, capsule conductivity and natural convection in the bath), showing the potential application of the method to select materials or geometries of the capsule

Aspectos relevantes de la ecología del jabalí (Sus Scrofa L., 1758) en Sierra Nevada

[ES]El jabalí constituye un elemento clave en el funcionamiento de los ecosistemas de Sierra Nevada. En este estudio se analizan diferentes aspectos biológicos y ecológicos que caracterizan a esta población, enfocándose con dos líneas de trabajo: desde el ámbito de ecología poblacional y desde la ecopatología. Dentro de la primera línea se han estudiado el patrón morfológico y de crecimiento, el comportamiento reproductivo de las jabalinas, la estructura de la población, el uso del hábitat, el área de campeo, la evolución de la densidad poblacional y la gestión. Dentro del ámbito ecopatológico se ha investigado la presencia de trece agentes patógenos de naturaleza infecciosa a través de un estudio epidemiológico prolongado durante siete años. Se determina que la población de jabalíes funciona como reservorio de ciertos patógenos y se establecen las pautas para manejar la carga infecciosa de la población mediante la gestión y la vigilancia epidemiológica.[EN]The wild boar is a key element regarding the function of Sierra Nevada ecosystems. In this study, different biological and ecological issues involving the Sierra Nevada wild boar population are analyzed. It focuses two basic aspects: population ecology and ecopathology. Within the first line, the morphological and growth patterns, the reproductive behavior of females, the population structure, the use of habitat, the home range, the dynamics of the population density and the management of this population as well, have been studied. Regarding the ecopathological study, the presence and epidemiology of thirteen pathogen agents have been investigated during a seven years period. We noticed that this species is a reservoir for certain pathogens. Moreover, different strategies devoted to manage the infecto-contagious agents of this wild boar population (e.g., management actions and epidemiological surveillance) are proposedTesis Univ. Jaén. Departamento de Biología Animal, Vegetal y Ecología, leída el 13 de noviembre de 201

La configuración urbana de Écija en el plano de Manuel Spínola en 1826

Urban cartography in the Spanish 19th century rose during the French occupation and the arrival of the Enlightenment. The maps became instruments that allowed for better city governance. Later, in the reign of Isabel II, the Royal Order of 1846 had as its main objective to establish the control of urban transformations in the main cities of the country through urban cartography. This required a high-plan production by the municipalities themselves, together with the work of cartographers and engineers. In the province of Seville, the cartographer Manuel Spínola de Quintana, worked on seven Andalusian towns, where Écija is one of them. Its plan is possibly the oldest in the city, dating from 1826. It is also the first to represent its urban periphery. It is an unpublished document of great planimetric quality due to its graphics and colouring, as well as its description of the city. A comparison is made with three other contemporary plans of Écija, with a detailed analysis, using Spínola’s plan as the main source. The comparative analysis has produced interesting results, such as a more accurate dating of one of the known plans, as well as evidence of the primacy of Spínola’s document. Finally, a detailed analysis makes it possible to appreciate the configuration of Écija at the beginning of the century, a key factor in future town planning. This is done through the elements of the urban area (parishes, convents, monasteries, squares, etc.), as well as those in its immediate surroundings (roads, farmlands, infrastructures, etc.).La cartografía urbana en el siglo XIX español experimentó un auge durante la ocupación francesa y la llegada de la Ilustración. Los planos pasaron a ser instrumentos que permitían una mejor gobernabilidad de la ciudad. En el reinado de Isabel II, el principal objetivo de la Real Orden de 1846 fue establecer el control de las transformaciones urbanas país a través de la cartografía. Ello demandó un levantamiento auspiciado por los propios municipios, unido al trabajo de cartógrafos e ingenieros. En la provincia de Sevilla, el cartógrafo Manuel Spínola de Quintana dejará constancia de siete poblaciones. Entre estas se encuentra el que es posiblemente el plano más antiguo de la ciudad de Écija, datado en 1826. Además, es el primero en representar su periferia urbana. Se trata de un documento inédito de gran calidad planimétrica debido tanto a su grafismo y cromatismo como su descripción de la ciudad. Se realiza una comparativa con otros tres planos coetáneos de Écija, así como un análisis detallado. Se han generado interesantes resultados como una datación más exacta de uno de los planos conocidos, así como evidenciar la primicia del de Spínola. Un análisis pormenorizado posibilita apreciar la configuración de Écija a principios de siglo, clave en la futura ordenación urbanística. A través de elementos del núcleo urbano (parroquias, conventos, plazas, etc.), así como de aquellos del entorno agreste inmediato (caminos, cultivos, infraestructuras, etc.)

The function of the NADPH thioredoxin reductase C-2-Cys peroxiredoxin system in plastid redox regulation and signalling

Protein disulphide–dithiol interchange is a universal mechanism of redox regulation in which thioredoxins (Trxs) play an essential role. In heterotrophic organisms, and non-photosynthetic plant organs, NADPH provides the required reducing power in a reaction catalysed by NADPH-dependent thioredoxin reductase (NTR). It has been considered that chloroplasts constitute an exception because reducing equivalents for redox regulation in this organelle is provided by ferredoxin (Fd) reduced by the photosynthetic electron transport chain, not by NADPH. This view was modified by the discovery of a chloroplast-localised NTR, denoted NTRC, a bimodular enzyme formed by NTR and Trx domains with high affinity for NADPH. In this review, we will summarize the present knowledge of the biochemical properties of NTRC and discuss the implications of this enzyme on plastid redox regulation in plants.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España y Fondos FEDER de la Comisión Europea. BIO2010-15430Junta de Andalucía. BIO-182 y CVI-591

Identity construction of the european medium sized city through themonasticism repercussions in Écija

The monasticism appeared during the dawn of Christianity has made a major contribution to Europe's culture and identity. The spread of Christian faith throughout the continent was achieved not only through a new morality and religion but also through art and convent architecture. The Middle Ages were the peak of this monastic production. Orders such as Cistercians or Dominicans would appear mainly in France and Italy spreading their rules and ways of life to the whole continent. It is a phenomenon that transcends borders, kingdoms and geographical elements, bringing together many people under the same identity.The flag of the Latin cross waved in the European Middle Ages. However, the reality in southern Iberian Peninsula was different. Al-Andalus stood as a bastion of Islam in Europe long before the appearance of the Ottoman Empire. At the end of the Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Castile began to occupy territories held by the Muslim Kingdom of Granada. The need to Christianisethe new conquered lands would call a multitude of monastic orders settled in Europe to focus their attention on the new Kingdom of Seville. The main cities such as Seville, Cordoba, etc. would be the most coveted for the new foundations. Nevertheless, Écija is located in the Guadalquivir river valley in a difficult position on the border with the Kingdom of Granada. In the 14th Century, Écija had close to 10,000 inhabitants, which, at the time, was a large number. A city which was an attraction point for Christian Communities, which according to their origin, 31% came from Italy, 22% from France, 37% from Spain and 10% from Jerusalem. The study of Écija shows the crossing of continental relationships through monasticism. How could the influence of Christianity manage to cover an entire continent to the most remote place? We could find the keys to understand the urban construction of western monasticism through the main average conventual cities in Andalusia

Heritage replacements: from convent to square and to contemporary architecture, Conventual urban transformations in Andalusian cities

In Andalusia (Spain), the conventual typology has shaped the urban centers of its cities following a process of implementation, which affects the traffic and internal organization of the city. In the mid-19th century, the confiscations led to the expropriation, demolition, and disappearance of a large part of their monastic spaces. The starting situations (size of cities, socioeconomic state in the 19th century or characteristics of the conventual foundations) gave rise to diverse urban responses. The bourgeoisie's need to "modernize" the cities led to the appearance of squares and the opening of new roads. On other occasions, the old factories were reused for the installation of new uses (prisons, barracks, markets, etc.), or their plots were used for new construction. Τhe case of Plaza Nueva in Seville from the demolition of the San Francisco Convent is studied. Also, together with other Andalusian examples, such as the San Antonio de Padua Convent in El Puerto, the current Plaza Isaac Peral and Los Descalzos Convent in Écija. The case of this last city constitutes the counterpoint in the convent reuse, without generating relevant urban spaces. Once again, the Plaza Nueva, due to its condition of the centrality of the Andalusian capital, constitutes the maximum exponent of this urban and symbolic revision. The economic power put into practice its urban capacity, again through architecture. It will finance new buildings as representative images of their brands, companies, and institutions. The testimonies of the convent activity, the new spaces emerged from the disentailment actions and their new contemporary symbols constitute sequential fragments of urban history. They are necessary for the cities for their valuation and heritage understanding. The study of these Andalusian cases can serve as a reference for the detection of similar processes in the European Mediterranean frame

Energy efficiency in Edge TPU vs. embedded GPU for computer-aided medical imaging segmentation and classification

Manuscrito enviado para su revisión por la revista "Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence" (Elsevier) el 25 de noviembre de 2022. Se envió la versión revisada el 26 de julio de 2023. El manuscrito fue aceptado el 11 de octubre de 2023, y desde el 28 de octubre aparece el artículo publicado en el portal ScienceDirect (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engappai.2023.107298).In this work, we evaluate the energy usage of fully embedded medical diagnosis aids based on both segmentation and classification of medical images implemented on Edge TPU and embedded GPU processors. We use glaucoma diagnosis based on color fundus images as an example to show the possibility of performing segmentation and classification in real time on embedded boards and to highlight the different energy requirements of the studied implementations. Several other works develop the use of segmentation and feature extraction techniques to detect glaucoma, among many other pathologies, with deep neural networks. Memory limitations and low processing capabilities of embedded accelerated systems (EAS) limit their use for deep network-based system training. However, including specific acceleration hardware, such as NVIDIA’s Maxwell GPU or Google’s Edge TPU, enables them to perform inferences using complex pre-trained networks in very reasonable times. In this study, we evaluate the timing and energy performance of two EAS equipped with Machine Learning (ML) accelerators executing an example diagnostic tool developed in a previous work. For optic disc (OD) and cup (OC) segmentation, the obtained prediction times per image are under 29 and 43 ms using Edge TPUs and Maxwell GPUs respectively. Prediction times for the classification subsystem are lower than 10 and 14 ms for Edge TPUs and Maxwell GPUs respectively. Regarding energy usage, in approximate terms, for OD segmentation Edge TPUs and Maxwell GPUs use 38 and 190 mJ per image respectively. For fundus classification, Edge TPUs and Maxwell GPUs use 45 and 70 mJ respectively.Manuscrito de 33 páginas

Online programming system for robotic fillet welding in Industry 4.0

Purpose Fillet welding is one of the most widespread types of welding in the industry, which is still carried out manually or automated by contact. This paper aims to describe an online programming system for noncontact fillet welding robots with "U"- and "L"-shaped structures, which responds to the needs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, the authors propose an online robot programming methodology that eliminates unnecessary steps traditionally performed in robotic welding, so that the operator only performs three steps to complete the welding task. First, choose the piece to weld. Then, enter the welding parameters. Finally, it sends the automatically generated program to the robot. Findings The system finally managed to perform the fillet welding task with the proposed method in a more efficient preparation time than the compared methods. For this, a reduced number of components was used compared to other systems: a structured light 3 D camera, two computers and a concentrator, in addition to the six-axis industrial robotic arm. The operating complexity of the system has been reduced as much as possible. Practical implications To the best of the authors' knowledge, there is no scientific or commercial evidence of an online robot programming system capable of performing a fillet welding process, simplifying the process so that it is completely transparent for the operator and framed in the Industry 4.0 paradigm. Its commercial potential lies mainly in its simple and low-cost implementation in a flexible system capable of adapting to any industrial fillet welding job and to any support that can accommodate it. Originality/value In this study, a robotic robust system is achieved, aligned to Industry 4.0, with a friendly, intuitive and simple interface for an operator who does not need to have knowledge of industrial robotics, allowing him to perform a fillet welding saving time and increasing productivity

Urinary bladder sigma-1 receptors: A new target for cystitis treatment

Supplementary material related to this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2020.104724.No adequate treatment is available for painful urinary bladder disorders such as interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome, and the identification of new urological therapeutic targets is an unmet need. The sigma-1 receptor (σ1-R) modulates somatic pain, but its role in painful urological disorders is unexplored. The urothelium expresses many receptors typical of primary sensory neurons (e.g. TRPV1, TRPA1 and P2X3) and high levels of σ1- R have been found in these neurons; we therefore hypothesized that σ1-R may also be expressed in the urothelium and may have functional relevance in this tissue. With western blotting and immunohistochemical methods, we detected σ1-R in the urinary bladder in wild-type (WT) but not in σ1-R-knockout (σ1-KO) mice. Interestingly, σ1-R was located in the bladder urothelium not only in mouse, but also in human bladder sections. The severity of histopathological (edema, hemorrhage and urothelial desquamation) and biochemical alterations (enhanced myeloperoxidase activity and phosphorylation of extracellular regulated kinases 1/2 [pERK1/2]) that characterize cyclophosphamide-induced cystitis was lower in σ1-KO than in WT mice. Moreover, cyclophosphamide-induced pain behaviors and referred mechanical hyperalgesia were dose-dependently reduced by σ1-R antagonists (BD-1063, NE-100 and S1RA) in WT but not in σ1-KO mice. In contrast, the analgesic effect of morphine was greater in σ1-KO than in WT mice. Together these findings suggest that σ1-R plays a functional role in the mechanisms underlying cyclophosphamide-induced cystitis, and modulates morphine analgesia against urological pain. Therefore, σ1-R may represent a new drug target for urinary bladder disorders.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) SAF2016-80540-REuropean Regional Development Funds (ERDF), Junta de Andalucia grant CTS 109Esteve PharmaceuticalsInnovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking 777500European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programmeEFPI

Using evolution strategies to reduce emergency services arrival time in case of accident

© 2013 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works[EN] A critical issue, especially in urban areas, is the occurrence of traffic accidents, since it could generate traffic jams. Additionally, these traffic jams will negatively affect to the rescue process, increasing the emergency services arrival time, which can determine the difference between life or death for injured people involved in the accident. In this paper, we propose four different approaches addressing the traffic congestion problem, comparing them to obtain the best solution. Using V2I communications, we are able to accurately estimate the traffic density in a certain area, which represents a key parameter to perform efficient traffic redirection, thereby reducing the emergency services arrival time, and avoiding traffic jams when an accident occurs. Specifically, we propose two approaches based on the Dijkstra algorithm, and two approaches based on Evolution Strategies. Results indicate that the Density-Based Evolution Strategy system is the best one among all the proposed solutions, since it offers the lowest emergency services travel times.This work was partially supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacióm , Spain, under Grant TIN2011-27543-C03-01, as well as by the Fundación Universitaria Antonio Gargallo, the Obra Social de Ibercaja, the Government of Aragon, and the European Social Fund (T91 Research Group).Barrachina Villalba, J.; Garrido, P.; Fogue, M.; Martínez, FJ.; Cano Escribá, JC.; Tavares De Araujo Cesariny Calafate, CM.; Manzoni, P. (2013). Using evolution strategies to reduce emergency services arrival time in case of accident. En 2013 IEEE 25th International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence. IEEE. 833-840. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICTAI.2013.127S83384