Improving visual odometry for AUV navigation in marine environments

Visual odometry is usually integrated in the localization and control modules of underwater robots, combined with other data coming from diverse instruments and sensors, such as, Doppler Velocity Logs (DVL), pressure sensors or inertial units, to compute the vehicle motion and pose by means of death reckoning. Dead reckoning is subject to cumulative drift, and, in underwater scenarios is specially afected by the challenging structures, color textures and environmental conditions (currents, haze, water density, salinity, wind, etc...), increasing the need of specifc improvement or adjustment to this media. This article presents preliminary results of an evolution of the well known VISO2 stereo odometer, modifed in order to improve its performance when run online in marine scenarios, and from a moving Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) equipped with cameras pointing downwards to the sea bottom.Peer Reviewe

"Blanditos, débiles y sumisos”: La feminización de las víctimas de bullying

El objetivo del estudio es analizar la percepción que tienen los/as adolescentes de las víctimas de bullying desde una perspectiva de género, concretamente desde la aproximación de la Teoría Queer. Se lleva a cabo un estudio cualitativo a través de grupos de discusión, en el que participaron voluntariamente 93 adolescentes españoles (48 chicas y 45 chicos) con una media de edad de 13.7 años, escolarizados en los cuatro cursos de la Educación Secundaria Obligatoria. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto que las víctimas de bullying son descritas en base a características fundamentalmente asociadas a la feminidad tradicional, especialmente los chicos

Actitudes hacia la homosexualidad en adolescentes gallegos/as: aportaciones de la Pedagogía Queer

El objetivo del trabajo es analizar las actitudes hacia la homosexualidad e identificar su relación con los estereotipos de género. Participaron 1405 adolescentes gallegos/as con una media de edad de 15.12 años. Se observa que los chicos son más instrumentales y expresan actitudes más negativas hacia la homosexualidad y el lesbianismo. Por otra parte, las chicas son más expresivas y manifiestan actitudes más positivas hacia la homosexualidad tanto femenina como masculina. La instrumentalidad correlaciona positivamente con la homofobia y la expresividad correlaciona negativamente tanto con la homofobia como con la lesbofobia. Se destacan las aportaciones de la Pedagogía Queer

SPARC mediates metastatic cooperation between CSC and non-CSC prostate cancer cell subpopulations

Background Tumor cell subpopulations can either compete with each other for nutrients and physical space within the tumor niche, or co-operate for enhanced survival, or replicative or metastatic capacities. Recently, we have described co-operative interactions between two clonal subpopulations derived from the PC-3 prostate cancer cell line, in which the invasiveness of a cancer stem cell (CSC)-enriched subpopulation (PC-3M, or M) is enhanced by a non-CSC subpopulation (PC-3S, or S), resulting in their accelerated metastatic dissemination. Methods M and S secretomes were compared by SILAC (Stable Isotope Labeling by Aminoacids in Cell Culture). Invasive potential in vitro of M cells was analyzed by Transwell-Matrigel assays. M cells were co-injected with S cells in the dorsal prostate of immunodeficient mice and monitored by bioluminescence for tumor growth and metastatic dissemination. SPARC levels were determined by immunohistochemistry and real-time RT-PCR in tumors and by ELISA in plasma from patients with metastatic or non-metastatic prostate cancer. Results Comparative secretome analysis yielded 213 proteins differentially secreted between M and S cells. Of these, the protein most abundantly secreted in S relative to M cells was SPARC. Immunodepletion of SPARC inhibited the enhanced invasiveness of M induced by S conditioned medium. Knock down of SPARC in S cells abrogated the capacity of its conditioned medium to enhance the in vitro invasiveness of M cells and compromised their potential to boost the metastatic behavior of M cells in vivo. In most primary human prostate cancer samples, SPARC was expressed in the epithelial tumoral compartment of metastatic cases. Conclusions The matricellular protein SPARC, secreted by a prostate cancer clonal tumor cell subpopulation displaying non-CSC properties, is a critical mediator of paracrine effects exerted on a distinct tumor cell subpopulation enriched in CSC. This paracrine interaction results in an enhanced metastatic behavior of the CSC-enriched tumor subpopulation. SPARC is expressed in the neoplastic cells of primary prostate cancer samples from metastatic cases, and could thus constitute a tumor progression biomarker and a therapeutic target in advanced prostate cancer

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Relationship of Weather Types on the Seasonal and Spatial Variability of Rainfall, Runoff, and Sediment Yield in the Western Mediterranean Basin

Rainfall is the key factor to understand soil erosion processes, mechanisms, and rates. Most research was conducted to determine rainfall characteristics and their relationship with soil erosion (erosivity) but there is little information about how atmospheric patterns control soil losses, and this is important to enable sustainable environmental planning and risk prevention. We investigated the temporal and spatial variability of the relationships of rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield with atmospheric patterns (weather types, WTs) in the western Mediterranean basin. For this purpose, we analyzed a large database of rainfall events collected between 1985 and 2015 in 46 experimental plots and catchments with the aim to: (i) evaluate seasonal differences in the contribution of rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield produced by the WTs; and (ii) to analyze the seasonal efficiency of the different WTs (relation frequency and magnitude) related to rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield. The results indicate two different temporal patterns: the first weather type exhibits (during the cold period: autumn and winter) westerly flows that produce the highest rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield values throughout the territory; the second weather type exhibits easterly flows that predominate during the warm period (spring and summer) and it is located on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. However, the cyclonic situations present high frequency throughout the whole year with a large influence extended around the western Mediterranean basin. Contrary, the anticyclonic situations, despite of its high frequency, do not contribute significantly to the total rainfall, runoff, and sediment (showing the lowest efficiency) because of atmospheric stability that currently characterize this atmospheric pattern. Our approach helps to better understand the relationship of WTs on the seasonal and spatial variability of rainfall, runoff and sediment yield with a regional scale based on the large dataset and number of soil erosion experimental stations

Jellytoring: Real-Time Jellyfish Monitoring Based on Deep Learning Object Detection

During the past decades, the composition and distribution of marine species have changed due to multiple anthropogenic pressures. Monitoring these changes in a cost-effective manner is of high relevance to assess the environmental status and evaluate the effectiveness of management measures. In particular, recent studies point to a rise of jellyfish populations on a global scale, negatively affecting diverse marine sectors like commercial fishing or the tourism industry. Past monitoring efforts using underwater video observations tended to be time-consuming and costly due to human-based data processing. In this paper, we present Jellytoring, a system to automatically detect and quantify different species of jellyfish based on a deep object detection neural network, allowing us to automatically record jellyfish presence during long periods of time. Jellytoring demonstrates outstanding performance on the jellyfish detection task, reaching an F1 score of 95.2%; and also on the jellyfish quantification task, as it correctly quantifies the number and class of jellyfish on a real-time processed video sequence up to a 93.8% of its duration. The results of this study are encouraging and provide the means towards a efficient way to monitor jellyfish, which can be used for the development of a jellyfish early-warning system, providing highly valuable information for marine biologists and contributing to the reduction of jellyfish impacts on humans.Miguel Martin-Abadal was supported by Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (AEI,FEDER,UE), under contract DPI2017-86372-C3-3-R. Ana Ruiz-Frau was supported by a Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (JellyPacts project number 655475). Hilmar Hinz was supported through a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship financed by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España and the Conselleria d’Educació, Cultura i Universitats Comunidad Autónoma de las Islas Baleares (RyC 2013 14729). Yolanda Gonzalez-Cid was supported by Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (AEI,FEDER,UE), under contracts TIN2017-85572-P and DPI2017-86372-C3-1-R.Peer reviewe

Proyecto para la autofabricación de mascarillas con filtros bioactivos y tecnología de impresión 3D para la lucha contra la COVID en Baleares

La pandemia creada por la COVID19 está revisando todos los protocolos que hasta ahora se venían poniendo en marcha en la sanidad pública. Uno de ellos es el abastecimiento de equipos de protección individual de los centros sanitarios y hospitales que se vio comprometido durante los primeros meses de una pandemia con afectación global. Depender del suministro exterior de equipos de protección personales no contribuye a una rápida respuesta de protección. El proyecto Mask3D4All pretende definir un proceso de autoproducción de mascarillas faciales con capacidades virucidas mediante la evaluación de técnicas de fabricación 3D y la incorporación de soluciones salinas en los elementos filtrantes. Los resultados de este proyecto permitirán definir un protocolo de autoprotección no solo válido para los puntos calientes sanitarios, sino también para la protección del resto de la población y centros sociales al basar los estudios en materiales de fabricación nacional para afrontar un posible cierre del comercio entre países.All the protocols that have been implemented up to now in public health are reviewing due to the pandemic created by COVID19. One of them is the supply of individual protection equipment to health centers and hospitals that was compromised during the first months of a globally affecting pandemic. Relying on the outside supply of personal protective equipment does not contribute to a rapid protection response. The Mask3D4All project aims to define a process for the self-production of face masks with virucidal capabilities through the evaluation of 3D manufacturing techniques and the incorporation of saline solutions in the filter elements. The results of this project will make it possible to define a self-protection protocol not only valid for health hot spots, but also for the protection of the rest of the population and social centers by basing the studies on nationally manufactured materials to face a possible closure of trade between countries