La matemática, la ciencia que ayuda a combatir incendios

El proyecto LUMES y el ENJAMBRE contribuirán a desarrollar tecnologías para optimizar los esfuerzos dedicados a la extinción de fuegos y permitirán reducir la superficie afectada, así como aumentar la seguridad de las brigadas, mejorar la coordinación en las operaciones de extinción etc. Además, la implementación de estos dos planes permitirá reducir los costes de inversión, operación y mantenimiento en las operacionesS

Surname regions and dialectal variation in the Asturian linguistic space

Studies on the correlations between spatial distribution of linguistic varieties and genetic structure of populations began by dealing with geographic spaces and extensive linguistic families. In the last two decades, researchers with this type of interdisciplinary approach have also begun to study more reduced linguistic and population domains. This paper examines geolinguistic and onomastic information in a linguistic and administrative space of a limited extension of the Principality of Asturias. The information on the surnames of this region, taken from the inhabitants’ register, is used to identify surname regions and check correlations with dialect areas described in this space. The results obtained in this research show many similarities in the distribution of surname regions with dialect areas recognized by traditional dialectology studies. The conclusions of the study present the results obtained together with some of the explanatory proposals on the historical constitution of the linguistic diversity of this areaThis work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad [FFI2015-65208-P and MTM2016-76969-P], European Regional Development Fund (multiannual financial framework 2014-2020]) and the Xunta de Galicia (TecAnDali research network, ED341DR2016/011)S

A crosslinguistic study of voiceless fricative sibilants in Galician and European Portuguese

This study examines the sibilant fricatives produced by seventeen Galician and twenty-two Portuguese speakers. Galician and Portuguese are closely related languages that present important continuities, although it is in their phonological and phonetic systems that they diverge most obviously. By means of the analysis of spectra and spectral moments, chiefly the spectral mean, postalveolar sibilants and front (alveolar or alveolo-dental) sibilants are differentiated in both Galician and Portuguese. Much variation has been found in front sibilant realizations among speakers and even between different realizations by the same speaker. This variation is especially striking among male Galician speakers, where it was possible to distinguish three different articulations, identified here as an apico-aveolar [s̺], a lamino-alveolar [s], and a lamino-dental [s̪] sibilant. The research results point to a loss of phonetic diversity on the Portuguese side of the political border, while in Galicia it is better preserved, although it is losing groundThis paper was written within the project “Cambio lingüístico no galego actual”, funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitivity of the Spanish Government (FFI2012-33845), and within the Tecnoloxías e Análise dos Datos Lingüísticos network, funded by the Xunta de Galicia (R2014/007

Evaluation of turbulence-related high-frequency tidal current velocity fluctuation

Within the development needed for economy viability of tidal stream energy, adaptability of laboratory converters to sea flow conditions is a milestone. The objective of this work is to investigate the high frequency fluctuations in current velocity magnitude and direction related to the turbulent nature of the flow and present a new method for their prediction. With this purpose, high frequency data measured by two ADV (32 Hz) and two ADCP (8 Hz) at four different points in the sea area surrounding Goto Islands (Japan) are analyzed. The data were divided in short-time samples (3-min data for ADV and 5-min data for ADCP) and treated separately. Velocity magnitude fits a normal distribution, with prediction levels higher than 95% for a margin of error of 0.25 m/s when comparing different percentiles between 0.1 and 99.9. Flow direction is analyzed in terms of opening angle between two representative percentiles equidistant from the median (99.9-0.1, 95-5, …), giving as a result a leptokurtic distribution, more outlier-prone than normal. Empirically, for opening angles 99.9-0.1, 97.7-2.3 and 95-5, slopes of 6.79 (6 in normal distribution), 4.17 (4) and 3.38 (3.29) were found, with results similar to a theoretical normal distribution for narrower angles. The new prediction method for high frequency fluctuations is based in this direct correlation between velocity magnitude and direction fluctuations with turbulence intensity and transverse turbulence intensity, respectively. These two parameters can be estimated indirectly by numerical models, giving rise to a tool for the prediction of turbulence-related high frequency fluctuationThe authors would like to thank the Ministry of Environment of Japan for permission to publish of the data used in this study, which were obtained through the project for Promotion of Realization of Tidal Current Power Generation supported by the ministry in 2014 and 2015S

An Integer Linear Programming Model to Select and Temporally Allocate Resources for Fighting Forest Fires

Optimal planning of the amount and type of resources needed for extinguishing a forest fire is a task that has been addressed in the literature, using models obtained from operational research. In this study, a general integer linear programming model is proposed, which addresses the allocation of resources in different time periods during the planning period for extinguishing a fire, and with the goal of meeting Spanish regulations for the non-negligence of fronts and periods of rest for pilots and brigades. A computer program and interface were developed using the R language. By means of an example using historical data, we illustrate the model at work and its exact resolution. Then, we carry out a simulation study to analyze the obtained objective functions and resolution times. Our simulation study shows that an exact solution can be obtained very quickly without requiring heuristic algorithms, provided that the planning period does not exceed five hoursThis research received financial support from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain through grants MTM2014-53395-C3-2-P, MTM2016-76969-P and MTM2017-87197-C3-3-P, and from ITMATI, Technological Institute of Industrial Mathematics, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, through the Enjambre project. Both are gratefully acknowledgedS

Effectiveness of a Psychosocial Therapy with SMS in Immigrant Women with Different Degrees of Depression

Immigrant women who are forced to adapt to a new cultural context often live in low income situations, have informal jobs, and experience social inclusion difficulties; these women frequently have mental health and social relationship problems. We conducted an experimental investigation with a group of vulnerable immigrant women who were receiving support from public social services. Our goal was to analyze the effectiveness of a bio-psychosocial therapy system with text messages to personal mobile phones. We grouped women by different degrees of depression. We studied psychosocial characteristics from personalized interviews and developed message banks to advise healthy habits and accompany moods. We programmed a remote delivery system, and for 26 days, each woman (n = 44) received four of our messages. We analyzed changes in mood and depression at the beginning and at the end of therapy and observed positive changes. The analysis of the initial and final (Personal Health Questionnaire) PHQ−9 quartile intervals shows that text messages significantly improve the mood and depression symptoms of immigrant women when the initial PHQ−9 value is greater than 5 (moderate depression)This research was funded by Autonomous Government of Galicia-Spain: General Directorate of Social Inclusion and the Postdoctoral Research ProgramS

Analysis of location and spatial distribution of elderly women victims of gender violence

Little is known about abuse and violence against elderly women, as well as prevention and intervention strategies. We present the results of an investigation that has as its objective the elaboration of the Location Map of elderly women victims of gender violence, analyzing their territorial distribution in the specific case of the Autonomous Community of Galicia, Spain, and its relationship with environmental, social, and territorial variables. The results of our research on the location and distribution of the rates of elderly women victims of gender violence show its direct relationship with low demographic density, aging, and dependency, which is associated with disabled people. The mapping resulting can facilitate the territorial planning of social and health services aimed at elderly women in rural areas. The interquartile classification makes it possible to delimit areas of intervention at a spatial level, differentiating those municipalities with the highest and lowest prevalenceS

Enrichment of rare genetic variants in astrocyte gene enriched co-expression modules altered in postmortem brain samples of schizophrenia

The transcriptome profiles of the cingulate gyrus region from the postmortem brain tissues of a set of well-characterized patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) and matched controls were investigated using an integrated approach that analyzed both the alterations in transcription expression pattern and rare genetic variants in expressed genes. We demonstrated increased expression of astrocyte-related genes using spatiotemporal co-expression modules that have previously been established for developing human brain, and showed these results are independent of medication dosage. The relationship between genetic variants and expression pattern in the context of neurodevelopment was further investigated, and we identified an enrichment of rare genetic variants in a set of signature genes that were specific to astrocytes and up-regulated in the patients with SCZ. Our result suggested the involvement of astrocyte malfunction in SCZ pathophysiology. In addition, our approach indicated a novel strategy of narrowing down genetic variants that might contribute to the pathophysiology in the patients with SCZ to a subset of genes that are highly expressed in an affected brain regionThis work was partially supported by a National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) Young Investigator Award (to B.X.)S

Application of decomposition techniques in a wildfire suppression optimization model

Resource assignment and scheduling models provides an automatic and fast decision support system for wildfire suppression logistics. However, this process generates challenging optimization problems in many real-world cases, and the computational time becomes a critical issue, especially in realistic-size instances. Thus, to overcome that limitation, this work studies and applies a set of decomposition techniques such as augmented Lagrangian, branch and price, and Benders decomposition’s to a wildfire suppression model. Moreover, a reformulation strategy, inspired by Benders’ decomposition, is also introduced and demonstrated. Finally, a numerical study comparing the behavior of the proposals using different problem sizes is conductedThis research work is supported by the R+D+I project grants PID2020-116587GB-I00 and PID2021-124030NB (C31 and C32), funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”/EU. Second author investigation is funded by the Xunta de Galicia (contract post-doctoral 2019-2022). We acknowledge the computational resources provided by CESGA. Third author acknowledges support from the Xunta de Galicia through the ERDF (ED431C-2020-14 and ED431G 2019/01), and “CITIC”S

I-MATH map of company demand for mathematical technology: TransMATH

This document details a Spanish prospectus on the level of knowledge, use and demand for mathematical technology by commercial companies. It is aimed at detecting problems in the corporate field for which Mathematicians could provide the complementary or fundamental tools, determine the demand for mathematical training, and define where necessary new lines of research in Mathematics aimed at solving these problem