9,447 research outputs found
Desalination effluents and the establishment of the non-indigenous skeleton shrimp Paracaprella pusilla Mayer, 1890 in the south-eastern Mediterranean
A decade long monitoring programme has revealed a flourishing population of the non-indigenous skeleton shrimp Paracaprella pusilla in the vicinity of outfalls of desalination plants off the Mediterranean coast of Israel. The first specimens were collected in 2010, thus predating all previously published records of this species in the Mediterranean Sea. A decade-long disturbance regime related to the construction and operation of the plants may have had a critical role in driving the population growth
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Trump-induced anxiety among Latina/os
During the 2016 election, Donald Trump castigated unauthorized immigrants as âmurderers and rapists.â During his presidency, he continued the use of this rhetoric, explicitly linking unauthorized migrants to threatening narratives. Here, we consider three questions: Did Donald Trump and his immigration positions serve as an âanxiety triggerâ for Latina/os? Are individuals with contextually stigmatized attributes especially sensitive to Trump and his policy proposals? Is Spanish language itself, an attribute negatively stigmatized in the context of the immigration issue, sufficient to increase deportation anxiety? Utilizing survey experiments of Latina/os, we demonstrate that exposure to a Trump immigration cue is sufficient to increase anxiety about deportation. We also demonstrate that stigmatized attributes predict anxiety, but do not moderate the effect of the Trump cue. Lastly, we provide evidence that survey language affects anxiety among Latina/os. In Studies 1 (n = 736) and 2 (n = 1,040), we show that exposure to information about Trumpâs immigration agenda significantly increases reports about deportation anxiety. In Study 3 (n = 1,734), we show that the Trump exposure condition induces heightened anxiety but that Latina/o attributes (language proficiency and use, immigration status, assessed phenotype) and identity strength have an independent effect on deportation anxiety. In Study 4 (n = 775), we randomized bilingual respondents into Spanish or English language survey protocols and found that comparable bilinguals exposed to Spanish language report higher levels of anxiety compared to English-language survey takers
Hospitalizations due to rotavirus gastroenteritis in Catalonia, Spain, 2003-2008
BACKGROUND: Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe gastroenteritis among young children in Spain and worldwide. We evaluated hospitalizations due to community and hospital-acquired rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVGE) and estimated related costs in children under 5 years old in Catalonia, Spain. RESULTS: We analyzed hospital discharge data from the Catalan Health Services regarding hospital admissions coded as infectious gastroenteritis in children under 5 for the period 2003-2008. In order to estimate admission incidence, we used population estimates for each study year published by the Statistic Institut of Catalonia (Idescat). The costs associated with hospital admissions due to rotavirus diarrhea were estimated for the same years. A decision tree model was used to estimate the threshold cost of rotavirus vaccine to achieve cost savings from the healthcare system perspective in Catalonia. From 2003 through 2008, 10655 children under 5 years old were admitted with infectious gastroenteritis (IGE). Twenty-two percent of these admissions were coded as RVGE, yielding an estimated average annual incidence of 104 RVGE hospitalizations per 100000 children in Catalonia. Eighty seven percent of admissions for RVGE occurred during December through March. The mean hospital stay was 3.7 days, 0.6 days longer than for other IGE. An additional 892 cases of presumed nosocomial RVGE were detected, yielding an incidence of 2.5 cases per 1000 child admissions. Total rotavirus hospitalization costs due to community acquired RVGE for the years 2003 and 2008 were 431,593 and 809,224 âŹ, respectively. According to the estimated incidence and hospitalization costs, immunization would result in health system cost savings if the cost of the vaccine was 1.93 ⏠or less. At a vaccine cost of 187 ⏠the incremental cost per hospitalization prevented is 195,388 ⏠(CI 95% 159,300; 238,400). CONCLUSIONS: The burden of hospitalizations attributable to rotavirus appeared to be lower in Catalonia than in other regions of Spain and Europe. The relatively low incidence of hospitalization due to rotavirus makes rotavirus vaccination less cost-effective in Catalonia than in other areas with higher rotavirus disease burden
Comparison of classifiers for human activity recognition
The human activity recognition in video sequences is a field where many types of classifiers have been used as well as a wide range of input features that feed these classifiers. This work has a double goal. First of all, we extracted the most relevant features for the activity recognition by only utilizing motion features provided by a simple tracker based on the 2D centroid coordinates and the height and width of each person's blob. Second, we present a performance comparison among seven different classifiers (two Hidden Markov Models (HMM), a J.48 tree, two Bayesian classifiers, a classifier based on rules and a Neuro-Fuzzy system). The video sequences under study present four human activities (inactive, active, walking and running) that have been manual labeled previously. The results show that the classifiers reveal different performance according to the number of features employed and the set of classes to sort. Moreover, the basic motion features are not enough to have a complete description of the problem and obtain a good classification. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007
Building Ontologies at the Knowledge Level using the Ontology Design Environment
This paper discusses how ontologies can be specified at the knowledge level using the set of intermediate representations (GĂłmez-PĂ©rez, FernĂĄndez & de Vicente 1996) proposed by METHONTOLOGY (FernĂĄndez, GĂłmez-PĂ©rez & Juristo 1997; and GĂłmez-PĂ©rez 1998). These intermediate representations bridge the gap between how people think about a domain and the languages in which ontologies are formalized. Thus, METHONTOLOGY enables experts and ontology makers unfamiliar with implementation environments to build ontologies from scratch. In this paper, we also present the ODE (Ontology Design Environment) as a software tool to specify ontologies at the knowledge level. ODE allows developers to specify their ontology by filling in tables and drawing graphs. Its multilingual generator module automatically translates the specification of the ontology into target languages
Open-loop position control in collaborative, modular Variable-Stiffness-Link (VSL) robots
â Collaborative robots (cobots) open up new avenues
in the fields of industrial robotics and physical Human-Robot
Interaction (pHRI) as they are suitable to work in close approximation and in collaboration with humans. The integration
and control of variable stiffness elements allow inherently safe
interaction. Apart from notable work on Variable Stiffness
Actuators, the concept of Variable-Stiffness-Link (VSL) manipulators promises safety improvements in cases of unintentional
physical collisions. However, position control of these type of
robotic manipulators is challenging for critical task-oriented
motions (e.g., pick and place). Hence, the study of open-loop
position control for VSL robots is crucial to achieve high
levels of safety, accuracy and hardware cost-efficiency in pHRI
applications. In this paper, we propose a hybrid, learning based
kinematic modelling approach to improve the performance
of traditional open-loop position controllers for a modular,
collaborative VSL robot. We show that our approach improves
the performance of traditional open-loop position controllers
for robots with VSL and compensates for position errors, in
particular, for lower stiffness values inside the links: Using
our upgraded and modular robot, two experiments have been
carried out to evaluate the behaviour of the robot during taskoriented motions. Results show that traditional model-based
kinematics are not able to accurately control the position
of the end-effector: the position error increases with higher
loads and lower pressures inside the VSLs. On the other
hand, we demonstrate that, using our approach, the VSL robot
can outperform the position control compared to a robotic
manipulator with 3D printed rigid links
Efectos de la diversificaciĂłn ganadera de las explotaciones agrĂcolas en la adopciĂłn de innovaciones
publishedTomo I . SecciĂłn: Sistemas Ganaderos-EconomĂa y GestiĂłn. SesiĂłn: Sostenibilidad. Ponencia nÂș 3
Characterization of a proximal Sp1 response element in the mouse Dlk2 gene promoter
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>DLK2 is an EGF-like membrane protein, closely related to DLK1, which is involved in adipogenesis. Both proteins interact with the NOTCH1 receptor and are able to modulate its activation. The expression of the gene <it>Dlk2 </it>is coordinated with that of <it>Dlk1 </it>in several tissues and cell lines. Unlike <it>Dlk1</it>, the mouse <it>Dlk2 </it>gene and its locus at chromosome 17 are not fully characterized.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The goal of this work was the characterization of <it>Dlk2 </it>mRNA, as well as the analysis of the mechanisms that control its basal transcription. First, we analyzed the <it>Dlk2 </it>transcripts expressed by several mouse cells lines and tissues, and mapped the transcription start site by 5' Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends. <it>In silico </it>analysis revealed that <it>Dlk2 </it>possesses a TATA-less promoter containing minimal promoter elements associated with a CpG island, and sequences for Inr and DPE elements. Besides, it possesses six GC-boxes, considered as consensus sites for the transcription factor Sp1. Indeed, we report that Sp1 directly binds to the <it>Dlk2 </it>promoter, activates its transcription, and regulates its level of expression.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results provide the first characterization of <it>Dlk2 </it>transcripts, map the location of the <it>Dlk2 </it>core promoter, and show the role of Sp1 as a key regulator of <it>Dlk2 </it>transcription, providing new insights into the molecular mechanisms that contribute to the expression of the <it>Dlk2 </it>gene.</p
Effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis on the nitrogen uptake of three durum wheat genotypes from two different organic sources
Research on nonlinear and quantum optics at the photonics and quantum information group of the University of Valladolid
We outline the main research lines in Nonlinear and Quantum Optics of the Group of Photonics and Quantum Information at the University of Valladolid. These works focus on Optical Solitons, Quantum Information using Photonic Technologies and the development of new materials for Nonlinar Optics. The investigations on optical solitons cover both temporal solitons in dispersion managed fiber links and nonparaxial spatial solitons as described by the Nonlinear Helmholtz Equation. Within the Quantum Information research lines of the group, the studies address new photonic schemes for quantum computation and the multiplexing of quantum data. The investigations of the group are, to a large extent, based on intensive and parallel computations. Some associated numerical techniques for the development of the activities described are briefly sketched
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