A quaternion deterministic monogenic CNN layer for contrast invariance

Deep learning (DL) is attracting considerable interest as it currently achieves remarkable performance in many branches of science and technology. However, current DL cannot guarantee capabilities of the mammalian visual systems such as lighting changes. This paper proposes a deterministic entry layer capable of classifying images even with low-contrast conditions. We achieve this through an improved version of the quaternion monogenic wavelets. We have simulated the atmospheric degradation of the CIFAR-10 and the Dogs and Cats datasets to generate realistic contrast degradations of the images. The most important result is that the accuracy gained by using our layer is substantially more robust to illumination changes than nets without such a layer.The authors would like to thank to CONACYT and Barcelona supercomputing Center. Sebastián Salazar-Colores (CVU 477758) would like to thank CONACYT (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología) for the financial support of his PhD studies under Scholarship 285651. Ulises Moya and Ulises Cortés are member of the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores CONACyT.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Explosive Ordnance Victims and Risk Education: Lessons Learned from Colombia 2012-2019

In Colombia, the use of anti-personnel mines is the result of more than sixty years of armed conflict. The Office of the High Commissioner for Peace - Descontamina Colombia (OACP-DC), the current national mine action authority in Colombia, recorded 11,828 explosive ordnance (EO) victims between 1985 and 2019. Furthermore, Colombia is one of nine countries where new anti-personnel mines are still being emplaced by non-state armed groups, which presents a challenge for the mine action sector. The aim of explosive ordnance risk education (EORE) is to reduce the risk of accidents by raising awareness and promoting safe behavior among EO-affected communities, which also helps to strengthen communities’ relationships with mine action operators and facilitates information gathering during non-technical survey. This study, funded by The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. State Department\u27s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA), aims to provide a characterization of EO victims and EORE activities between 2012 and 2019 in Colombia, and to identify the lessons learned and challenges faced

EFECTO DE DIFERENTES CONCENTRACIONES DE GIBERELINA EN LA GERMINACIÓN Y CRECIMIENTO LONGITUDINAL DE Prunus subcorymbosa RUIZ EX KOEHNE

La especie Prunus subcorymbosa Ruiz ex Koehne es una especie nativa de Colombia propia de los bosques andinos, esta especie ha sido ampliamente utilizada debido a la dureza y durabilidad de su madera. En el presente estudio se evalúo el efecto del ácido giberélico (GA3) en la germinación y crecimiento inicial de semillas de P. subcorymbosa. La aplicación de GA3 se realizó en tres diferentes concentraciones (T1:750, T2:1500 y T3:3000 ppm) y se aplicaron a las semillas por medio de imbibición, se empleó un diseño experimental simple y completamente al azar, usando un tratamiento testigo (T0) el cual no se aplicó ácido giberélico. Los resultados obtenidos no presentaron diferencias significativas, sin embargo, T1 presentó menor periodo de germinación, mayor velocidad de germinación y el crecimiento longitudinal fue uno de los más altos. El efecto de GA3 interrumpió la latencia puesto que los tratamientos germinaron antes que el testigo

Fast single image defogging with robust sky detection

Haze is a source of unreliability for computer vision applications in outdoor scenarios, and it is usually caused by atmospheric conditions. The Dark Channel Prior (DCP) has shown remarkable results in image defogging with three main limitations: 1) high time-consumption, 2) artifact generation, and 3) sky-region over-saturation. Therefore, current work has focused on improving processing time without losing restoration quality and avoiding image artifacts during image defogging. Hence in this research, a novel methodology based on depth approximations through DCP, local Shannon entropy, and Fast Guided Filter is proposed for reducing artifacts and improving image recovery on sky regions with low computation time. The proposed-method performance is assessed using more than 500 images from three datasets: Hybrid Subjective Testing Set from Realistic Single Image Dehazing (HSTS-RESIDE), the Synthetic Objective Testing Set from RESIDE (SOTS-RESIDE) and the HazeRD. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach has an outstanding performance over state-of-the-art methods in reviewed literature, which is validated qualitatively and quantitatively through Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR), Naturalness Image Quality Evaluator (NIQE) and Structural SIMilarity (SSIM) index on retrieved images, considering different visual ranges, under distinct illumination and contrast conditions. Analyzing images with various resolutions, the method proposed in this work shows the lowest processing time under similar software and hardware conditions.This work was supported in part by the Centro en Investigaciones en Óptica (CIO) and the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), and in part by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Primer avance metodológico del estudio de la Cultura Material del poblado de Peñalosa, Jaén

En este trabajo se muestran los resultados del estudio morfométrico d e los materiales cerámicos de Peñalosa y del estudio microespacial de la distribución de los objetos en diferentes espacios de la zona norte del poblado de la Edad dle Bronce.Consejería de Cultura de la Junta de Andalucía Universidad de Granad

Functional traits driving species role in the structure of terrestrial vertebrate scavenger networks

Species assemblages often have a non-random nested organization, which in vertebrate scavenger (carrion-consuming) assemblages is thought to be driven by facilitation in competitive environments. However, not all scavenger species play the same role in maintaining assemblage structure, as some species are obligate scavengers (i.e., vultures) and others are facultative, scavenging opportunistically. We used a database with 177 vertebrate scavenger species from 53 assemblages in 22 countries across five continents to identify which functional traits of scavenger species are key to maintaining the scavenging network structure. We used network analyses to relate ten traits hypothesized to affect assemblage structure with the “role” of each species in the scavenging assemblage in which it appeared. We characterized the role of a species in terms of both the proportion of monitored carcasses on which that species scavenged, or scavenging breadth (i.e., the species “normalized degree”), and the role of that species in the nested structure of the assemblage (i.e., the species “paired nested degree”), therefore identifying possible facilitative interactions among species. We found that species with high olfactory acuity, social foragers, and obligate scavengers had the widest scavenging breadth. We also found that social foragers had a large paired nested degree in scavenger assemblages, probably because their presence is easier to detect by other species to signal carcass occurrence. Our study highlights differences in the functional roles of scavenger species and can be used to identify key species for targeted conservation to maintain the ecological function of scavenger assemblages.Generalitat Valenciana SEJI/2018/024, APOSTD/2019/016, CIDEGENT/ 2020/030, ACIF/2019/056Ministerio de Educación y Cultura CI-2017-32149, FJCI-2015-25632, IJC2018-036642-I, YC-2019-027216-I, RYC-2015-19231, RYC-2017-2273, GL2012-40013-C02-01/02, CGL2015- 66966-C2-1-R, CGL2015-66966-C2-1-R2, CGL2017-89905-R, RTI2018-099609-B-C21, RTI2018-099609-B-C22Govern de les Illes Balears PD/039/201National Science Centre in Poland 2013/08/M/ NZ9/00469, 2016/22/Z/NZ8/00Slovenian Research Agency P4-0059US Department of Energy DE- EM000439USA National Science Foundation #1255913California Department of Fish & Wildlife P0880013Junta de Andalucía RNM-192

Detection, counting, and classification of visual ganglia columns of drosophila pupae

Many neurobiologists use the fruit fly (Drosophila) as a model to study neuron interaction and neuron organization and then extrapolate this knowledge to the nature of human neurological disorders. Recently, the fluorescence microscopy images of fruit-fly neurons are commonly used, because of the high contrast. However, the detection of the neurons or cells is compromised by background signals, generating fuzzy boundaries. As a result, it is still common that in many laboratories, the detection, counting, and analysis of this microscope imagery is still a manual task. An automated detection, counting, and morphological analysis of these images can provide faster data processing and easier access to new information. The main objective of this work is to present a semi-automatic detection-counting system and give the main characteristics of images of the visual ganglia columns in Drosophila. We present the semi-automatic detection, count, segmentation and we concluded that it is possible to obtain an accuracy of 75% (with a Kappa statistic of 0.50) in the shape classification. Additionally, we develop python GUI CC Analyzer which can be used by neurobiology laboratories whose research interests are focused on this topic.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

A propósito de un caso de psicosis temprana: un nuevo paradigma en salud mental

La intervención precoz en las fases tempranas de las psicosis ha adquirido una creciente relevancia en los últimos años debido a sus potenciales implicaciones sobre la clínica y la evolución de la enfermedad. Es conocido que tras un primer episodio psicótico hay un "periodo crírico" que se extiende a los cinco años siguientes, siendo esta una fase de alta vulnerabilidad. El abordaje integral e intensivo durante este periodo tiene como finalidad optimizar el proceso de recuperación ayudando al paciente y a su familia a reconstruir sus vidas y evitar recaídas. A continuación exponemos la gestión de un caso en un reciente programa de intervención precoz en psicosis implementado en nuestra unidad de rehabilitación

Desarrollo de un modelo práctico interactivo de uso docente para identificación de especies de animales mamíferos a través del pelo

Implementación de una Aplicación Interactiva en entorno Java, que permite a los estudiantes la identificación y evaluación de restos de actividad animal por la identificación a través del pelo. Los estudiantes, partiendo de una muestra biológica de pelo, pueden llegar a establecer una relación entre ésta y la especia animal a la que pertenece, mediante un proceso interactivo de preguntas y establecimiento de decisiones en cascada mediante sistema de “Árbol de Decisión