A self-organized Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for a home-event managed system: Design of a cost efficient 6LoWPAN-USB gateway with RFID security

This Thesis investigates the most appropriate choices from a hardware and software design perspective, trying to find a cost-efficient solution for the implementation of a simple and scalable wireless sensor network. The present work goes through the elements that form part of a constrained network and focuses on the design by analysing several network protocol alternatives, radio transmission mechanisms, different hardware devices and software implementations. The construction of a gateway board that starts and coordinates a sensor network is the main target of the thesis. The gateway is connected externally through a USB interface that can be connected to a computer. Inside the WSN, the sensor nodes are connected to the gateway over IEEE 802.15.4 standard for low-power radio based links. The network is designed to be compliant with the TCP/IP stack by means of 6LoWPAN, an adaptation layer protocol used for comprising IPv6 headers. In addition, a small implementation of CoAP (Constrained Application Protocol) is developed that allows interoperability with the sensor nodes on the application layer level. A security mechanism provides packet encryption and identification of nodes by means of RFID reader connected to the gateway and RFID tags attached to the sensor nodes storing security information.Floriano Sánchez, SA. (2015). A self-organized Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for a home-event managed system: Design of a cost efficient 6LoWPAN-USB gateway with RFID security. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/56609.Archivo delegad

La nacionalidad de las comedias vistas en España entre 1980 y 2009

La investigación estudia la variable de la nacionalidad en los largometrajes calificados como comedia en España entre 1980 y 2009. Utilizando la base de datos de películas calificadas, se extrae la nacionalidad de 2731 películas. Los resultados muestran que el 92 % del total tienen procedencia estadounidense o europea (el 21 % del total es cine español). Se detecta además una pequeña aunque relevante presencia de las coproducciones entre España e Hispanoamérica (en torno al 2 % del total), y entre los proveedores secundarios, con una presencia minoritaria pero recurrente, se encuentran países como Canadá, Méjico, Australia, Irlanda y Argentina.This research essay explores the variable of nationality in films described as comedy in Spain, between the years 1980 and 2009. Using the Spanish Ministry of Culture Database of qualified films as main source of information, the variable “nationality” is extracted out of a sample of 2731 films. The results show that a 92% of the films come from the United States or Europe (the 21% of the total are Spanish films). A small although relevant presence of co-productions between Spain and Latin America is also detected (about the 2% of the total), and among secondary purveyors, with a minority although recurrent presence, are countries like Canada, Mexico, Australia, Ireland and Argentina

Frontal sinus mucocele with intracranial and intraorbital extension

ABSTRACT Introduction: Frontal sinus mucoceles can present with a multitude of different symptoms including ophthalmic disturbances. Even benign, they have a tendency to expand by eroding the surrounding bony walls that displaces and destroys structures by pressure and bony resorption. Case report: A 32-year-old man with diplopia, proptosis of the right eye and headache was presented. The diagnosis was frontal sinus mucocele with intracranial and intraorbital extension. Possible clinical manifestations of mucoceles, diagnostic imaging techniques and treatment used are discussed. Conclusion: Frontal mucoceles are benign and curable, early recognition and management of them is of paramount importance, because they can cause local, orbital or intracranial complications

Frontal sinus mucocele with intracranial and intraorbital extension

ABSTRACT Introduction: Frontal sinus mucoceles can present with a multitude of different symptoms including ophthalmic disturbances. Even benign, they have a tendency to expand by eroding the surrounding bony walls that displaces and destroys structures by pressure and bony resorption. Case report: A 32-year-old man with diplopia, proptosis of the right eye and headache was presented. The diagnosis was frontal sinus mucocele with intracranial and intraorbital extension. Possible clinical manifestations of mucoceles, diagnostic imaging techniques and treatment used are discussed. Conclusion: Frontal mucoceles are benign and curable, early recognition and management of them is of paramount importance, because they can cause local, orbital or intracranial complications

Ground-based detection of an extended helium atmosphere in the Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-69b

Hot gas giant exoplanets can lose part of their atmosphere due to strong stellar irradiation, affecting their physical and chemical evolution. Studies of atmospheric escape from exoplanets have mostly relied on space-based observations of the hydrogen Lyman-{\alpha} line in the far ultraviolet which is strongly affected by interstellar absorption. Using ground-based high-resolution spectroscopy we detect excess absorption in the helium triplet at 1083 nm during the transit of the Saturn-mass exoplanet WASP-69b, at a signal-to-noise ratio of 18. We measure line blue shifts of several km/s and post transit absorption, which we interpret as the escape of part of the atmosphere trailing behind the planet in comet-like form. [Additional notes by authors: Furthermore, we provide upper limits for helium signals in the atmospheres of the exoplanets HD 209458b, KELT-9b, and GJ 436b. We investigate the host stars of all planets with detected helium signals and those of the three planets we derive upper limits for. In each case we calculate the X-ray and extreme ultraviolet flux received by these planets. We find that helium is detected in the atmospheres of planets (orbiting the more active stars and) receiving the larger amount of irradiation from their host stars.]Comment: Submitted to Science on 14 March 2018; Accepted by Science on 16 November 2018; Published by Science on 6 December 2018. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use. The definitive version was published in Science, on 6 December 2018 - Report: pages 21 (preprint), 4 figures - Supplementary materials: 22 pages, 10 figures, 3 table

Detection of He I λ10830\lambda10830 \AA{} absorption on HD 189733 b with CARMENES high-resolution transmission spectroscopy

We present three transit observations of HD 189733 b obtained with the high-resolution spectrograph CARMENES at Calar Alto. A strong absorption signal is detected in the near-infrared He I triplet at 10830 \AA{} in all three transits. During mid-transit, the mean absorption level is $0.88\pm0.04$ % measured in a $\pm$10 km s$^{-1}$ range at a net blueshift of $-3.5\pm0.4$ km s$^{-1}$ (10829.84--10830.57 \AA{}). The absorption signal exhibits radial velocities of $+6.5\pm3.1$ km s$^{-1}$ and $-12.6\pm1.0$ km s$^{-1}$ during ingress and egress, respectively; measured in the planetary rest frame. We show that stellar activity related pseudo-signals interfere with the planetary atmospheric absorption signal. They could contribute as much as 80% of the observed signal and might also affect the radial velocity signature, but pseudo-signals are very unlikely to explain the entire signal. The observed line ratio between the two unresolved and the third line of the He I triplet is $2.8\pm0.2$, which strongly deviates from the value expected for an optically thin atmospheres. When interpreted in terms of absorption in the planetary atmosphere, this favors a compact helium atmosphere with an extent of only 0.2 planetary radii and a substantial column density on the order of $4\times 10^{12}$ cm$^{-2}$. The observed radial velocities can be understood either in terms of atmospheric circulation with equatorial superrotation or as a sign of an asymmetric atmospheric component of evaporating material. We detect no clear signature of ongoing evaporation, like pre- or post-transit absorption, which could indicate material beyond the planetary Roche lobe, or radial velocities in excess of the escape velocity. These findings do not contradict planetary evaporation, but only show that the detected helium absorption in HD 189733 b does not trace the atmospheric layers that show pronounced escape signatures.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Modulation of Antioxidant Enzymatic Activities by Certain Antiepileptic Drugs (Valproic Acid, Oxcarbazepine, and Topiramate): Evidence in Humans and Experimental Models

It is estimated that at least 100 million people worldwide will suffer from epilepsy at some point in their lives. This neurological disorder induces brain death due to the excessive liberation of glutamate, which activates the postsynaptic N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptors, which in turn cause the reuptake of intracellular calcium (excitotoxicity). This excitotoxicity elicits a series of events leading to nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activation and the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Several studies in experimental models and in humans have demonstrated that certain antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) exhibit antioxidant effects by modulating the activity of various enzymes associated with this type of stress. Considering the above-mentioned data, we aimed to compile evidence elucidating how AEDs such as valproic acid (VPA), oxcarbazepine (OXC), and topiramate (TPM) modulate oxidative stress

Water vapour detection in hot Jupiters with the CARMENES NIR channel

Stars and planetary system

Water vapor detection in the transmission spectra of HD 209458 b with the CARMENES NIR channel

Aims: We aim at detecting H$_2$O in the atmosphere of the hot Jupiter HD 209458 b and perform a multi-band study in the near infrared with CARMENES. Methods: The H$_2$O absorption lines from the planet's atmosphere are Doppler-shifted due to the large change in its radial velocity during transit. This shift is of the order of tens of km s$^{-1}$, whilst the Earth's telluric and the stellar lines can be considered quasi-static. We took advantage of this to remove the telluric and stellar lines using SYSREM, a principal component analysis algorithm. The residual spectra contain the signal from thousands of planetary molecular lines well below the noise level. We retrieve this information by cross-correlating the spectra with models of the atmospheric absorption. Results: We find evidence of H$_2$O in HD 209458 b with a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 6.4. The signal is blueshifted by --5.2 $^{+2.6}_{-1.3}$ km s$^{-1}$, which, despite the error bars, is a firm indication of day-to-night winds at the terminator of this hot Jupiter. Additionally, we performed a multi-band study for the detection of H$_2$O individually from the three NIR bands covered by CARMENES. We detect H$_2$O from its 1.0 $\mu$m band with a S/N of 5.8, and also find hints from the 1.15 $\mu$m band, with a low S/N of 2.8. No clear planetary signal is found from the 1.4 $\mu$m band. Conclusions: Our significant signal from the 1.0 $\mu$m band in HD 209458 b represents the first detection of H$_2$O from this band, the bluest one to date. The unfavorable observational conditions might be the reason for the inconclusive detection from the stronger 1.15 and 1.4 $\mu$m bands. H$_2$O is detected from the 1.0 $\mu$m band in HD 209458 b, but hardly in HD 189733 b, which supports a stronger aerosol extinction in the latter.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures; accepted for publication in A&