Modular Planar Antenna at X-band for satellite communications

An antenna which has been conceived as a portable system for satellite communications based on the recommendations ITU-R S.580-6 [1] and ITU-R S.465-5 [2] for small antennas, i.e., with a diameter lower than 50 wavelengths, is introduced. It is a planar and a compact structure with a size of 40×40×2 cm. The antenna is formed by an array of 256 printed elements covering a large bandwidth (14.7%) at X-Band. The specification includes transmission (Tx) and reception (Rx) bands simultaneously. The printed antenna has a radiation pattern with a 3dB beamwidth of 5°, over a 31dBi gain, and a dual and an interchangeable circular polarizatio

Portable low profile antenna at X-band

An antenna which has been conceived as a portable system for satellite communications based on the recommendations ITU-R S.580-6 and ITU-R S.465-5 for small antennas, i.e., with a diameter lower than 50 wavelengths, is introduced. It is a planar and a compact structure with a size of 40×40×2 cm. The antenna is formed by an array of 256 printed elements covering a large bandwidth (14.7%) at X-Band with a VSWR of 1.4:1. The specification includes transmission (Tx) and reception (Rx) bands simultaneously. The printed antenna has a radiation pattern with a 3dB beamwidth of 5°, over a 31dBi gain, and a dual and an interchangeable circular polarization

LEGITIMATION OF VIRTUE EDUCATION IN TEACHER TRAINING DISCOURSE DURING SOVIET LATVIA

Soviet virtue education had a relevant place in the discourse of the founders of communism and in the Communist Party’s documents. Virtue education played a central role in the construction of the future Soviet society and the raising of the New Soviet Man, a conscious communist, productive worker and soldier. This paper addresses two research questions: how was character and virtue education conceptualized, legitimized and implemented in Soviet Latvia? What elements of the Soviet approach to character education facilitated the consolidation of totalitarianism in Latvia?This research is based on written academic sources published in Soviet Latvia about virtue education and intended to school teachers: two teaching manuals for teacher training (Jesipovs Gončarovs, 1948; Iļjina, 1971), and three collections scientific papers written by the leading educational academics of the Soviet Latvia published by the Latvian State University in 1962, 1964 and 1967 within the series “Questions about Upbringing in the Soviet school”.The findings highlight the understanding of virtue education during this period, and how it was ideologically, socially and pedagogically legitimized in the academic discourse and pedagogical literature addressed to school teachers.

Modificación de las actitudes del alumnado de secundaria hacia la práctica de actividad

La orientación de las actitudes hacia la práctica física se presenta como un aspecto importante para la adquisición y mantenimiento de hábitos físico-deportivos en la adolescencia durante su tiempo de ocio. En este trabajo se resentan los resultados logrados a través de un programa de intervención en Educación Física orientada a la salud en alumnos de 4o de E.S.O., caracterizado por desarrollar conocimiento aplicado a la práctica, espíritu crítico respecto a reencias sociales sobre salud inadecuadas y disfrute en la práctica, utilizando para ello, entre otros recursos, foros de debate en Internet.The orientation of attitudes towards physical practice is shown to be an important aspect for teenagers to acquire and keep up sports and physical habits during their free time. In this paper we set out the results achieved through a health-oriented Physical Education intervention programme in pupils in the fourth year of Secondary Education, characterised by developing knowledge applied to practice and a critical spirit regarding unsuitable social beliefs about health and enjoyment in practice, using, among other resources, Internet forums. The results of the investigation show, at a statistical level, a very remarkable increase both in the attitudes towards the process and towards the product in the intervention group (or Physical-Health Education group) unlike the control group (or Physical Education group). Therefore, as a whole, we can conclude by highlighting the suitability of the intervention aimed at modifying attitudes towards health-oriented physical practic

Modèles de domaines vitaux du pic casqué (Celeus galeatus), du pic ouentou (Dryocopus lineatus) et du pic robuste (Campephilus robustus) à Misiones, en Argentine, dans une perspective globale

Home range mapping studies of birds inform about area requirements and responses to land management as reflected by home range sizes and by resource selection within home ranges. Tracking studies of woodpeckers (Picidae) so far have been concentrated in temperate regions. In the subtropical Atlantic Forest of northeast Argentina, we assessed interspecific differences in home range sizes in old-growth forests and selectively logged forests of Helmeted Woodpecker (Celeus galeatus, a globally threatened species), Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus), and Robust Woodpecker (Campephilus robustus). Helmeted Woodpecker had larger breeding home ranges in selectively logged forests, averaging 105 ± 39 ha for pairs, versus 60 ± 13 ha in old-growth forests. Lineated Woodpecker breeding home ranges of pairs averaged 56 ± 22 ha, and those of Robust Woodpecker 43 ± 22 ha, with no differences between forest types. Helmeted Woodpeckers had an unusual separation between the home ranges of males and females in breeding pairs, with a mean area overlap of only 8% ± 9% near the nest tree, resulting in large home ranges for pairs. Helmeted Woodpecker and Robust Woodpecker individuals that were followed into the post-breeding stage had marked expansions of their home range sizes relative to breeding home ranges. To place our findings with Atlantic Forest woodpeckers in perspective we reviewed whether woodpecker home range sizes increase with latitude and body mass globally. For 29 populations of 22 woodpecker species, a power regression model with these factors explained 24.1% of variation in breeding home range sizes, with 17.1% of variation explained by latitude alone. Woodpecker species with larger home ranges than predicted values were three species of North American woodpeckers of coniferous forests, as well as the Helmeted Woodpecker. Our results of smaller home ranges in old-growth forests for the Helmeted Woodpecker affirm an association of this species with such forests. We urge the conservation of the few remaining tracts of old-growth Atlantic Forest and more restoration of logged forests to mature conditions.Les études de cartographie des domaines vitaux des oiseaux informent au sujet des exigences territoriales et des réponses à la gestion des terres telles qu’elles sont reflétées par la taille des domaines vitaux et par la sélection des ressources au sein des domaines vitaux. Les études de suivi portant sur les pics (Picidae) se sont jusqu’à présent concentrées sur les régions tempérées. Dans la forêt atlantique subtropicale du nord-est de l’Argentine, nous avons évalué les différences interspécifiques en termes de taille du domaine vital dans les forêts anciennes et les forêts exploitées de manière sélective du pic casqué (Celeus galeatus, une espèce menacée à l’échelle mondiale), du pic ouentou (Dryocopus lineatus) et du pic robuste (Campephilus robustus). Le pic casqué présentait un domaine de reproduction plus étendu dans les forêts exploitées de manière sélective, avec en moyenne 105 ± 39 ha pour les couples, contre 60 ± 13 ha dans les forêts anciennes. Les domaines de reproduction du pic ouentou pour les couples étaient en moyenne de 56 ± 22 ha, alors qu'ils étaient de 43 ± 22 ha pour le pic robuste, quel que soit le type de forêt. Chez les pics casqués, on constate une séparation inhabituelle entre les domaines vitaux des mâles et des femelles des couples reproducteurs, avec un chevauchement moyen de ces zones de seulement 8 à 9 % à proximité de l’arbre où se trouve le nid, de sorte que le domaine vital des couples est très étendu. Les pics casqués et les pics robustes individuels qui ont été suivis au cours de la phase post-reproduction présentaient des extensions nettes de la taille de leur domaine vital par rapport à celle de leur domaine de reproduction. Pour mettre en perspective nos résultats concernant les pics de la forêt atlantique, nous avons essayé de savoir si la taille du domaine vital des pics augmente avec la latitude et la masse corporelle à l’échelle mondiale. Pour 29 populations de 22 espèces de pics, un modèle de régression de puissance prenant en compte ces facteurs a expliqué la variation de 24,1 % de la taille des domaines de reproduction, une variation de 17,1 % étant expliquée par la seule latitude. Les espèces de pics possédant des domaines vitaux plus étendus que les valeurs prévues étaient trois espèces de pics nord-américains habitant les forêts de conifères, ainsi que le pic casqué. Nos résultats concernant les domaines vitaux plus petits dans les forêts anciennes pour le pic casqué confirment l’association de cette espèce avec ces forêts. Nous incitons à la conservation des quelques territoires restants de forêt atlantique ancienne et à une restauration supérieure des forêts exploitées jusqu’à maturité.Fil: Lammertink, J. Martjan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; Argentina. Cornell University; Estados UnidosFil: Fernández, Juan Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales y Agrimensura; Argentin

Mobile Robot Lab Project to Introduce Engineering Students to Fault Diagnosis in Mechatronic Systems

This document is a self-archiving copy of the accepted version of the paper. Please find the final published version in IEEEXplore: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TE.2014.2358551This paper proposes lab work for learning fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) in mechatronic systems. These skills are important for engineering education because FDD is a key capability of competitive processes and products. The intended outcome of the lab work is that students become aware of the importance of faulty conditions and learn to design FDD strategies for a real system. To this end, the paper proposes a lab project where students are requested to develop a discrete event dynamic system (DEDS) diagnosis to cope with two faulty conditions in an autonomous mobile robot task. A sample solution is discussed for LEGO Mindstorms NXT robots with LabVIEW. This innovative practice is relevant to higher education engineering courses related to mechatronics, robotics, or DEDS. Results are also given of the application of this strategy as part of a postgraduate course on fault-tolerant mechatronic systems.This work was supported in part by the Spanish CICYT under Project DPI2011-22443

Methods for autonomous wristband placement with a search-and-rescue aerial manipulator

A new robotic system for Search And Rescue (SAR) operations based on the automatic wristband placement on the victims’ arm, which may provide identification, beaconing and remote sensor readings for continuous health monitoring. This paper focuses on the development of the automatic target localization and the device placement using an unmanned aerial manipulator. The automatic wrist detection and localization system uses an RGB-D camera and a convolutional neural network based on the region faster method (Faster R-CNN). A lightweight parallel delta manipulator with a large workspace has been built, and a new design of a wristband in the form of a passive detachable gripper, is presented, which under contact, automatically attaches to the human, while disengages from the manipulator. A new trajectory planning method has been used to minimize the torques caused by the external forces during contact, which cause attitude perturbations. Experiments have been done to evaluate the machine learning method for detection and location, and for the assessment of the performance of the trajectory planning method. The results show how the VGG-16 neural network provides a detection accuracy of 67.99%. Moreover, simulation experiments have been done to show that the new trajectories minimize the perturbations to the aerial platform.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

El hogar inteligente

La sociedad actual ha acogido la tecnología con los brazos abiertos : pocos subsistirían un día sin móvil y hay quien tiene un televisor mayor que su salón. Muchos vivimos en hogares tecnológicos, pero ¿vivimos ya en hogares inteligentes

Paleoecología del género Anchitherium von Meyer, 1834 (Equidae, Perissodactyla, Mammalia) en España: evidencias a partir de las faunas de macromamíferos

En el presente trabajo se interpreta la paleoecología y evolución del équido Anchitherium VON MEYER, 1834 por medio del análisis multifactorial (análisis de componentes principales, análisis discriminante) de las faunas de macromamíferos del Rambliense-Vallesiense inferior de la Península Ibérica. El análisis conjunto con faunas tropicales y subtropicales actuales permite inferir algunas de las características ambientales (temperatura, estacionalidad térmica) bajo las cuales se desarrollan dichas comunidades del Mioceno. Los resultados obtenidos también muestran la posibilidad de interpretar el bioma de una localidad en función de su fauna de macromamíferos, pudiéndose inferir la presencia en el Mioceno ibérico de laurisilvas, bosques tropicales y sabanas. Se observa una relación entre el tamaño relativo de la dentición respecto al tamaño corporal de Anchitherium y las variaciones en la temperatura. Las poblaciones que ocupaban ambientes térmicamente más estacionales presentaban una dentición relativamente mayor respecto al tamaño corporal que las habitantes de ambientes menos estacionales. Esto podría estar relacionado con un menor consumo de frutos determinado por una disminución en la disponibilidad anual de los mismos en las zonas con mayor estacionalidad térmica y un aumento en el consumo de follaje, menos nutritivo. La abundancia relativa de Anchitherium en los yacimientos parece determinada principalmente por las condiciones de temperatura, siendo más abundante cuanto menor es esta. Este hecho podría estar relacionado con las condiciones ambientales que los Anchitheriinae tuvieron que superar para atravesar Beringia antes de alcanzar Eurasia. Se estudian los biomas ocupados por cada especie de Anchitherium. Los dos clados propuestos por SÁNCHEZ et al. (1998) muestran un comportamiento similar. Especies más o menos ubiquistas y adaptadas a ambientes forestales densos dan lugar a especies más derivadas y adaptadas en mayor medida a los ambientes con una estación seca (bosques tropicales y sabanas), predominantes en la Península Ibérica durante el período estudiado. Este proceso es más acusado en el segundo linaje que en el primero. Durante la zona MN 6, una especie ubiquista, el inmigrante norteño A. hippoides entra en la península y sustituye a las especies presentes hasta el momento. Este proceso se relaciona con un progresivo aumento de la humedad ambiental que provocaría una reorganización de la fauna. Finalmente se expone un escenario ambiental para la evolución de Anchitherium en España. En él se muestra la relación de alternancia existente entre Equidae y Rhinocerotidae como grupo faunístico dominante durante el Mioceno. [ABSTRACT] The paleoecology and evolution of the equid Anchitherium VON MEYER, 1834 is studied in this paper by means of multifactorial analysis (principal components analysis, discriminant analysis) of the Ramblian-lower Vallesian large mammal faunas from the Iberian Peninsula. Joint analysis of subtropical and tropical recent faunas and Miocene faunas allow the establishment of several environmental characteristics (temperature, thermal seasonality) of the ecosystems of those Miocene communities. Our results indicate that it is possible to infer the biome of a locality based on its macromammal fauna. It has been able to infer the presence in the Iberian Miocene of temperate evergreen forests, tropical deciduous forests and savannas. A relationship is observed between the relative size of the dentition regarding the corporal size in Anchitherium and the temperature variations. Populations that occupied more thermally seasonal environments presented a relatively bigger dentition regarding their corporal size than the non-seasonally environment inhabitants. This could be related with a diminished consumption of fruits caused by a lesser fruit availability in the more thermal seasonality areas, and a higher consumption of leaves, less nutritive than fruits. The relative abundance of Anchitherium in the fossil local faunas seems mainly settled by temperature, being more abundant in faunas from colder fossil sites. This fact could be related with the environmental conditions that Anchitheriinae had to overcome to cross Beringia before reaching Eurasia. Biomes occupied by each Anchitherium species are studied. The two clades proposed by SÁNCHEZ et al. (1998) shown a similar behaviour. More or less ubiquitous species, adapted to dense forest environments, are substituted by more derived species adapted to ecosystems with a dry station (tropical deciduous forests and savannas), the predominant biomes in the Iberian Peninsula during the studied period. This process is more pronounced in the second lineage than in the first one. Another ubiquitous species, the northern immigrant A. hippoides come into the Iberian Peninsula in MN 6 zone and replace the rest of species. This process is related with the progressive increment in environmental humidity causing a faunal reorganization. Finally an environmental scenario for the evolution of Anchitherium in Spain is exposed. An alternation relationship as faunal dominant group during the Miocene between Equidae and Rhinocerotidae is shown