Measurement of urea and creatinine in saliva of dogs : a pilot study

Urea and creatinine in saliva have been reported to be possible markers of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in humans. The aim of this study was to assess if urea and creatinine could be measured in canine saliva, and to evaluate their possible changes in situations of CKD

An energy-efficient internet of things (IoT) architecture for preventive conservation of cultural heritage

[EN] Internet of Things (IoT) technologies can facilitate the preventive conservation of cultural heritage (CH) by enabling the management of data collected from electronic sensors. This work presents an IoT architecture for this purpose. Firstly, we discuss the requirements from the artwork standpoint, data acquisition, cloud processing and data visualization to the end user. The results presented in this work focuses on the most critical aspect of the architecture, which are the sensor nodes. We designed a solution based on LoRa and Sigfox technologies to produce the minimum impact in the artwork, achieving a lifespan of more than 10 years. The solution will be capable of scaling the processing and storage resources, deployed either in a public or on-premise cloud, embedding complex predictive models. This combination of technologies can cope with different types of cultural heritage environments.This work was partially funded by the Generalitat Valenciana project AICO/2016/058 and by the Plan Nacional de I+D, Comision Interministerial de Ciencia y TecnologiA (FEDER-CICYT) under the project HAR2013-47895-C2-1-P.Perles Ivars, A.; Pérez Marín, E.; Mercado Romero, R.; Segrelles Quilis, JD.; Blanquer Espert, I.; Zarzo Castelló, M.; García Diego, FJ. (2018). An energy-efficient internet of things (IoT) architecture for preventive conservation of cultural heritage. Future Generation Computer Systems. 81:566-581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2017.06.030S5665818

MOOC on "Ultra-dense networks for 5G and its evolution": challenges and lessons learned

Proceeding of: 31st Annual Conference of the European Association for Education in Electrical and Information Engineering (EAEEIE 2022), Coimbra, Portugal, 26 June-1 July 2022Many of the new mobile communication devices will be things that power and monitor our homes, city infrastructure and transport. Controlling drones thousands of miles away, performing remote surgeries or being immersed in video with no latency will also be a huge game changer. Those are some of the few things that make the fifth generation (5G) a revolution expected to be a thrust to the economy. To that end, the design and density of deployment of new networks is also changing becoming more dense, what introduces new challenges into play. What else will it add to previous generations? The MOOC about Ultra-dense networks for 5G and its evolution has been prepared by the researchers of an European MSCA ITN, named TeamUp5G, and introduces the most important technologies that support 5G mobile communications, with an emphasis on increasing capacity and reducing power. The content spans from aspects of communication technologies to use cases, prototyping and the future ahead, not forgetting issues like interference management, energy efficiency or spectrum management. The aim of the MOOC is to fill the gap in graduation and post-graduation learning on content related to emerging 5G technologies and its applications, including the future 6G. The target audience involves engineers, researchers, practitioners and students. This paper describes the content and the learning outcomes of the MOOC, the main tasks and resources involved in its creation, the joint contributions from the academic and non-academic sector, and aspects like copyright compliance, quality assurance, testing and details on communication and enrollment, followed by the discussion of the lessons learned.This work has received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie ETN TeamUp5G, grant agreement No. 813391

Inovação no Desenvolvimento do Curso Online Acessível a Todos (MOOC) sobre “Redes Ultra-densas 5G e sua Evolução”

Muitos dos novos dispositivos de comunicações móveis serão aparelhos que alimentam e monitorizam as nossas casas, infraestruturas urbanas e transportes. Controlar drones a milhares de quilómetros de distância, realizar cirurgias remotas ou estar imerso em vídeo com latência reduzida transformará certamente o acesso às tecnologias de informação e comunicação digitais. Estes são alguns dos aspetos que tornarão a quinta geração das comunicações móveis (5G) uma revolução, um impulso para a economia, e o foco de todos os intervenientes atuais na área das telecomunicações. Com este intuito, o planeamento e a crescente densidade de implantação destas novas redes introduzem novos desafios de otimização. Que elementos serão adicionados em relação às gerações anteriores? Baseados num Curso Online Acessível a Todos (MOOC) anteriormente desenvolvido na UC3M (UC3M Staff, 2022), o MOOC sobre redes ultra-densas 5G e sua evolução foi elaborado pelos investigadores da Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) ITN/ETN Europeia (teamUp5G Reserachers, 2022), denominada TeamUp5G (Teamup5G, 2022; Pérez Leal et al., 2020) e apresenta as tecnologias mais importantes que suportam comunicações móveis 5G, com ênfase no aumento de capacidade e redução de energia, que facilitam o desenvolvimento de redes com pequenas células. Os conteúdos abrangem aspectos desde tecnologias de comunicação até casos de utilização, prototipagem e o futuro próximo, sem esquecer questões como a gestão de interferência, eficiência energética ou gestão de espectro. O objetivo do MOOC (TeamUp5G, 2022) é preencher a lacuna na aprendizagem ao nível dos estudos de graduação e pós-graduação, em conteúdos relacionados com tecnologias 5G emergentes e suas aplicações, incluindo a 6G futura. O público-alvo envolve engenheiros, investigadores, profissionais e estudantes. O artigo descreve o conteúdo e os resultados de aprendizagem do MOOC, as principais tarefas e recursos envolvidos na sua criação, as contribuições conjuntas do setor académico e não académico, e aspectos como a conformidade relativamente aos direitos de autor, garantia de qualidade, testes e detalhes sobre comunicação e inscrição, seguidos da discussão das lições extraídas.Este trabalho foi financiado pelo programa de investigação e inovação Horizonte 2020 da União Europeia através da Rede Europeia de Estágios (ETN) Marie Skłodowska-Curie TeamUp5G, acordo de bolsa N.º 813391, pela SNF Scientific Exchange - AISpectrum (projecto 205842) e UIDB/50008/2020. Os autores agradecem as contribuições da equipa audiovisual da UC3M responsáveis pela edição do MOOC, e da equipa responsável pelos direitos de autor e pela gravação na plataforma edX.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Strategies for GHG mitigation in Mediterranean cropping systems. A review

In this review we aimed to synthetize and analyze the most promising GHGs mitigation strategies for Mediterranean cropping systems. A description of most relevant measures, based on the best crop choice and management by farmers (i.e., agronomical practices), was firstly carried out. Many of these measures can be also efficient in other climatic regions, but here we provide particular results and discussion of their efficiencies for Mediterranean cropping systems. An integrated assessment of management practices on mitigating each component of the global warming potential (N2O and CH4 emissions and C sequestration) of production systems considering potential side-effects of their implementation allowed us to propose the best strategies to abate GHG emissions, while sustaining crop yields and mitigating other sources of environmental pollution (e.g. nitrate leaching and ammonia volatilization)

Energy Estimation of Cosmic Rays with the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is part of the Pierre Auger Observatory and is used to detect the radio emission of cosmic-ray air showers. These observations are compared to the data of the surface detector stations of the Observatory, which provide well-calibrated information on the cosmic-ray energies and arrival directions. The response of the radio stations in the 30 to 80 MHz regime has been thoroughly calibrated to enable the reconstruction of the incoming electric field. For the latter, the energy deposit per area is determined from the radio pulses at each observer position and is interpolated using a two-dimensional function that takes into account signal asymmetries due to interference between the geomagnetic and charge-excess emission components. The spatial integral over the signal distribution gives a direct measurement of the energy transferred from the primary cosmic ray into radio emission in the AERA frequency range. We measure 15.8 MeV of radiation energy for a 1 EeV air shower arriving perpendicularly to the geomagnetic field. This radiation energy -- corrected for geometrical effects -- is used as a cosmic-ray energy estimator. Performing an absolute energy calibration against the surface-detector information, we observe that this radio-energy estimator scales quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy as expected for coherent emission. We find an energy resolution of the radio reconstruction of 22% for the data set and 17% for a high-quality subset containing only events with at least five radio stations with signal.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy

We measure the energy emitted by extensive air showers in the form of radio emission in the frequency range from 30 to 80 MHz. Exploiting the accurate energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we obtain a radiation energy of 15.8 \pm 0.7 (stat) \pm 6.7 (sys) MeV for cosmic rays with an energy of 1 EeV arriving perpendicularly to a geomagnetic field of 0.24 G, scaling quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy. A comparison with predictions from state-of-the-art first-principle calculations shows agreement with our measurement. The radiation energy provides direct access to the calorimetric energy in the electromagnetic cascade of extensive air showers. Comparison with our result thus allows the direct calibration of any cosmic-ray radio detector against the well-established energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Supplemental material in the ancillary file

Adipose Tissue Gene Expression of Factors Related to Lipid Processing in Obesity

BACKGROUND: Adipose tissue lipid storage and processing capacity can be a key factor for obesity-related metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance and diabetes. Lipid uptake is the first step to adipose tissue lipid storage. The aim of this study was to analyze the gene expression of factors involved in lipid uptake and processing in subcutaneous (SAT) and visceral (VAT) adipose tissue according to body mass index (BMI) and the degree of insulin resistance (IR). METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: VLDL receptor (VLDLR), lipoprotein lipase (LPL), acylation stimulating protein (ASP), LDL receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1) and fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) gene expression was measured in VAT and SAT from 28 morbidly obese patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) or high IR, 10 morbidly obese patients with low IR, 10 obese patients with low IR and 12 lean healthy controls. LPL, FABP4, LRP1 and ASP expression in VAT was higher in lean controls. In SAT, LPL and FABP4 expression were also higher in lean controls. BMI, plasma insulin levels and HOMA-IR correlated negatively with LPL expression in both VAT and SAT as well as with FABP4 expression in VAT. FABP4 gene expression in SAT correlated inversely with BMI and HOMA-IR. However, multiple regression analysis showed that BMI was the main variable contributing to LPL and FABP4 gene expression in both VAT and SAT. CONCLUSIONS: Morbidly obese patients have a lower gene expression of factors related with lipid uptake and processing in comparison with healthy lean persons

Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above 4×10184{\times}10^{18} eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding $4{\times}10^{18}$ eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers with zenith angles greater than $60^{\circ}$ detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above $5.3{\times}10^{18}$ eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law $E^{-\gamma}$ with index $\gamma=2.70 \pm 0.02 \,\text{(stat)} \pm 0.1\,\text{(sys)}$ followed by a smooth suppression region. For the energy ($E_\text{s}$) at which the spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence of suppression, we find $E_\text{s}=(5.12\pm0.25\,\text{(stat)}^{+1.0}_{-1.2}\,\text{(sys)}){\times}10^{19}$ eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO