A bellboy robot: Study of the effects of robot behaviour on user engagement and comfort

Producción CientíficaThis paper provides the results of various trial experiments in a hotel environment carried out using Sacarino, an interactive bellboy robot. We analysed which aspects of the robot design and behaviour are relevant in terms of user engagement and comfort when interacting with our social robot. The experiments carried out focused on the influence over proxemics, duration and effectiveness of the interaction taking into account three dichotomous factors related with the robot design and behaviour: robot embodiment (with/without robotic body), status of the robot (awake/asleep) and who starts communication (robot/user). Results show that users tend to maintain a personal distance when interacting with an embodied robot and that embodiment engages users in maintaining longer interactions. On the other hand, including a greeting model in a robot is useful in terms of engaging users to maintain longer interactions, and that an active-looking robot is more attractive to the participants, producing longer interactions than in the case of a passive-looking robot.Junta de Castilla y León (Programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación-Ref. VA036U14)Junta de Castilla y León (Programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación-Ref. VA013A12-2)Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Grant DPI2014-56500-R

Análisis del programa de restitución de tierras frente al estado de cosas inconstitucional declarado por la Corte Constitucional mediante Sentencia T-025 de 2004

La presente tesis tiene como objetivo principal realizar una descripción sobre el fenómeno de desplazamiento forzado en Colombia, así como de los avances que el Estado ha implementado en la política de prevención y atención de la población afectada por este fenómeno, en especial de los mecanismos de reparación establecidos para lograr el restablecimiento de derechos a través de la restitución de tierras. El Trabajo inicia por determinar las causas que originaron el desplazamiento forzado en Colombia hasta el año 2004, así como el análisis de los instrumentos institucionales, legales y presupuestales con los que contaba el Estado hasta este año para frenar el desplazamiento forzado por la violencia y revertir el proceso mediante la restitución de tierras. Posteriormente procede a realizar un estudio de las causas y fallas de los instrumentos con los que contaba el Estado para atender esta política y los motivos que llevaron a la Corte Constitucional para declarar el Estado de Cosas Inconstitucional mediante la sentencia T-025 de 2004. Finalmente se determina la suficiencia y adecuación de los instrumentos legales, institucionales y presupuestales que el Estado adopta para superar el Estado de Cosas Inconstitucional para concluir si estas medidas han cumplido con los objetivos propuestos.The main objective of this thesis is to describe the forced displacement in Colombia and how the Colombian state has implemented a prevention policy to all the affected population by giving them restitution of lands. This present document begins with the causes that originated forced displacement throughout the years up until 2004, then is analyses the state`s main policies to prevent this phenomena. I later tend to determine wether this state`s policies are worth to implement and how the country`s constitutional court gave sentence T025 2004. Finally legal and institutional suficiency and adequacy are determined in order for the state to determine if this state`s measurements have fulfilled the expectations.Magíster en Derecho EconómicoMaestrí

Las arcillas en sociedad: reconstruyendo el pasado y modelando el futuro. La Sociedad Española de Arcillas (SEA)

Se hace referencia a la historia de la Sociedad Española de Arcillas (SEA), una de las Sociedades científicas más veteranas de España, a la ciencia en torno a la que se proyecta, y a las perspectivas y objetivos que acompañan a la misma. El comienzo de esta sociedad científica se sitúa en 1959 con la fundación del grupo español de Minerales de la Arcilla (GEMA), que dio lugar a la SEA en 1971, la cual va camino de cumplir 64 años

Nitrate removal in saline water by photo-reduction using natural FeTiO as catalyst

As climate change progresses, there is an increasing interest on the use of non-conventional water sources such as brackish or saline waters. Nowadays, the main threat in Europe detected in these waterbodies is nitrate contamination. Within the multiple available methods studied for nitrate reduction, photocatalysis presents promising results, but this technology has not yet been tested in saline water. This work tackles the elimination of nitrate ([NO3−] =50 mg/L) in brackish and saline water ([sea salt] = 5–33 g/L) using ilmenite as photocatalyst and oxalic acid as an environmental-friendly reducing agent. The main challenge when working in saline water is to overcome oxalic acid scavenging by Ca2+ present in the water matrix. This can be solved either working at over stoichiometric concentrations of oxalic acid (≈300% stoich. dose) or acidifying the reaction media. The addition of hydrochloric acid ensures the protonation of oxalic acid, reducing drastically its precipitation as CaC2O4. Working at [C2O42−] = 180 mg/L, [FeTiO3] = 450 mg/L and [HCl 37%] = 13 mM, 73% total nitrogen (TN) elimination was reached after 420 min. Reaction temperature was also evaluated in the range of 20–80 °C, which allowed to calculate the Ea=9.8 kJ/mol. Finally, the effect of dissolved O2 on the TN reduction was assessed. Overall, photocatalytic nitrate reduction presents itself as a feasible technology regardless of the water salinit

Cellular Concrete Bricks with Recycled Expanded Polystyrene Aggregate

Cellular concrete bricks were obtained by using a lightweight mortar with recycled expanded polystyrene aggregate instead of sandy materials. After determining the block properties (absorption, compressive strength, and tensile stresses), it was found that this brick meets the requirements of the masonry standards used in Mexico. The obtained material is lighter than the commercial ones, which facilitates their rapid elaboration, quality control, and transportation. It is less permeable, which helps prevent moisture formation retaining its strength due to the greater adherence shown with dry polystyrene. It was more flexible, which makes it less vulnerable to cracking walls due to soil displacements. Furthermore, it is economical, because it uses recyclable material and has properties that prevent deterioration increasing its useful life. We recommend the use of the fully dry EP under a dry environment to obtain the best properties of brick

Devising an Electric Power System: A CDIO Approach Applied to Electrical Engineering

The study of electric power systems within the field of Electrical Engineering is usually approached by computer simulations because any actual test is quite complex to be implemented. Having the aim to improve student learning about this topic, a new subject called “Devising an Electric Power System” was organized following a CDIO (Conceive-Design- Implement-Operate) approach. The subject is programmed for one academic year and based entirely on laboratory work. The students are divided into three groups. Every group would have to work on a device that includes a solar PV generator and a pumping controlled drive, both connected to a three–phase grid. The process followed by the students along the academic year begins with a short theoretical introduction and simulation studies where they conceive and design control strategies. These control strategies are for the solar PV generator (i.e., programing the “Maximum Power Point Tracking” MPPT) as well as for the pumping electric drive (i.e., following a V/f strategy or a vector control). The process is continued by practical implementation of the simulated algorithms previously obtained. In this step, the students implement and operate the systems until they become robust and well adjusted, and ready for the intermediate partial competition among the three groups. During this practical implementation stage, the innovative competence is better enhanced. At the moment that each group has implemented an electric generator and an electric consumption (load), they follow the third and last part of the subject that is focused on “electric utility” business strategy. The students will have to comply with the rules of the electricity market by offering energy packages to be generated and consumed at a certain price. The price and volume of energy to be generated/consumed are determined by the convergence point of supply and demand, as determined by the marginal pricing model. Once the market is cleared, the students have to realize their generation/consumption commitments by operating the real power system they have conceived and implemented. After the first academic year of this subject, the students’ evaluation was highly acceptable. The specific technological contents of the subject were learnt by the method called “learning by doing” that allows students to improve their skills in team building, innovation and communications. In addition, a good work atmosphere among students and teachers has arisen

Obesity attenuates the effect of sleep apnea on active TGF-ss 1 levels and tumor aggressiveness in patients with melanoma

Active transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), a cytokine partially regulated by hypoxia and obesity, has been related with poor prognosis in several tumors. We determine whether obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) increases serum levels of active TGF-β1 in patients with cutaneous melanoma (CM), assess their relationship with melanoma aggressiveness and analyze the factors related to TGF-β1 levels in obese and non-obese OSA patients. In a multicenter observational study, 290 patients with CM were underwent sleep studies. TGF-β1 was increased in moderate-severe OSA patients vs. non-OSA or mild OSA patients with CM. In OSA patients, TGF-β1 levels correlated with mitotic index, Breslow index and melanoma growth rate, and were increased in presence of ulceration or higher Clark levels. In CM patients, OSA was associated with higher TGF-β1 levels and greater melanoma aggressiveness only in non-obese subjects. An in vitro model showed that IH-induced increases of TGF-β1 expression in melanoma cells is attenuated in the presence of high leptin levels. In conclusion, TGF-β1 levels are associated with melanoma aggressiveness in CM patients and increased in moderate-severe OSA. Moreover, in non-obese patients with OSA, TGF-β1 levels correlate with OSA severity and leptin levels, whereas only associate with leptin levels in obese OSA patients

High-Throughput Mass Measurement Of Single Bacterial Cells By Silicon Nitride Membrane Resonators

Trabajo presentado en la 36th International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), celebrada en Munich (Alemania), del 15 al 19 de enero de 2023.© 2023 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.We present a technological approach to precisely measure the dry mass of many individual cells of a bacteria colony. In this technique, bacteria are transported from aqueous solution into gas phase and subsequently guided to the surface of a silicon nitride membrane resonator. Abrupt downshifts in the membrane eigenfrequencies are measured upon every bacterium adhesion and are related to the dry mass of the cell by theoretical methods. We measure the dry mass of Escherichia coli K-12 and Staphylococcus epidermidis with an unprecedented throughput of 20 cells/min and with a mass resolution of ⁓1%. Finally, we apply the Koch & Schaechter model to assess the intrinsic sources of growth stochasticity.This work was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Grant Agreement No. 731868-VIRUSCAN and by the ERC CoG Grant 681275 “LIQUIDMASS”. We acknowledge the service from the Micro and Nanofabrication Laboratory an X-SEM laboratory at IMNCNM funded by the Comunidad de Madrid (Project S2018/NMT-4291 TEC2SPACE) and by MINECO (Project CSIC12-4E-1794 with support from FEDER, FSE). E. G. S. acknowledges financial support by the Spanish Science and Innovation Ministry through Ramón y Cajal grant RYC-2019-026626-I

AKT activation seems to be associated with apoptotic signals and not with pro-survival signals in a pristane-induced lupus model.

Several studies have shown that in addition to its role as a survival factor and tumor promoting agent, AKT is also able to exhibit pro-apoptotic effects under diverse conditions, including oxidative stress, cytokine stimulation and exposure to cytotoxic chemicals like staurosporine, methotrexate, docetaxel and etoposide. Moreover, phosphorylation of second mitochondria-derived activator of caspases (SMAC) by AKT promotes caspase-3 activation during etoposide-induced apoptosis in HeLa cells. Our data show that injection of pristane into the peritoneum induces apoptosis-mediated cell death of peritoneal exudate cells (PECs), as evidenced by the increased number of annexin V+ peritoneal cells and their increased levels of cleaved/active caspase-3. Indeed, the higher levels of activated caspase-3 protein in WT PECs, particularly at 2-weeks post pristane treatment, are indicative of a higher rate of apoptosis compared to Cd38¿/¿ cells. In contrast, no differences were observed in the levels of MCL-1, an anti-apoptotic protein and member of the BCL2 family. Furthermore, kinases ERK1/2 and AKT showed distinct activation kinetics in pristane-elicited PECs. Interestingly, caspase-3 activation followed similar kinetics to AKT activation in both WT and Cd38¿/¿ PECs, while ERK activation correlated with increased levels of MCL-1. In summary our data strongly suggest that in the pristane-induced lupus model AKT activation is associated with apoptotic signals and not with survival signals. Further studies, however, are required to identify specific pro- and anti-apoptotic target proteins that are phosphorylated by ERK or AKT following pristane treatment, and that regulate the apoptotic process

The thirty gigahertz instrument receiver for the Q-U-I Joint Tenerife experiment: concept and experimental results

This paper presents the analysis, design, and characterization of the thirty gigahertz instrument receiver developed for the Q-U-I Joint Tenerife experiment. The receiver is aimed to obtain polarization data of the cosmic microwave background radiation from the sky, obtaining the Q,U, and I Stokes parameters of the incoming signal simultaneously. A comprehensive analysis of the theory behind the proposed receiver is presented for a linearly polarized input signal, and the functionality tests have demonstrated adequate results in terms of Stokes parameters, which validate the concept of the receiver based on electronic phase switching