The link between water access and subjective well-being: some methods and proposals.

The study of happiness or subjective well-being has traditionally been studied within the disciplines of psychology or sociology. Although economics has contemplated happiness in research terms, it has only recently been studied in any depth. In this paper we offer several proposals in order to investigate the relationship between water access and happiness, suggesting some situations that would merit further research. Moreover, we have included some methodological notes in order to achieve this objective. This relationship can be useful in two ways. Firstly, it can favour the contemplation of water access as a human right. Secondly, it can serve as a framework for the decision-making process carried out by Governments and NGOs in developing countries.

Accurate Stereo Visual Odometry with Gamma Distributions

Point-based stereo visual odometry systems typically estimate the camera motion by minimizing a cost function of the projection residuals between consecutive frames. Under some mild assumptions, such minimization is equivalent to maximizing the probability of the measured residuals given a certain pose change, for which a suitable model of the error distribution (sensor model) becomes of capital importance in order to obtain accurate results. This paper proposes a robust probabilistic model for projection errors, based on real world data. For that, we argue that projection distances follow Gamma distributions, and hence, the introduction of these models in a probabilistic formulation of the motion estimation process increases both precision and accuracy. Our approach has been validated through a series of experiments with both synthetic and real data, revealing an improvement in accuracy while not increasing the computational burden.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Project "PROMOVE: Advances in mobile robotics for promoting independent life of elders", funded by the Spanish Government and the "European Regional Development Fund ERDF" under contract DPI2014-55826-R

A general protocol to afford enantioenriched linear homoprenylic amines

The reaction of a readily obtained chiral branched homoprenylamonium salt with a range of aldehydes, including aliphatic substrates, affords the corresponding linear isomers in good yields and enantioselectivities.We thank the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación for their financial support (CTQ2011-24165). I. B. acknowledges the Generalitat Valenciana for a predoctoral fellowship (ACIF/2011/159)

Results of a Professional Medical Counseling/surveillance in Preoperative Weight Loss

Background:Preoperative weight loss reduces the risk for complications after bariatric surgery.Objectives:To evaluate the effectiveness of a preoperative counseling program compared to general recommendations alone.Setting: Obesity Surgery Unit. Reina Sofia General University Hospital.  Murcia (southeast Spain).Methods: Prospective, randomized controlled study including 162 patients. Participants were randomly assigned to our preoperative intensive behavioral/lifestyle program (Counseling Group:55, 78% women) or to receive general nutritional recommendations (Reference Group:49, 82% women). Primary endpoint was a between-group comparison of percent excess weight loss (%EWL) at 4 months.Results: Counseling Group: baseline Body Mass Index (BMI)1was 45.9±7.3kg/m2 when  enrolled into the education program and reduced to to BMI2:43.2±5.6kg/m2 the day before the operation. After the motivational intervention, we got an average loss of 7.3±3.7kg of body weight and 12.4%EWL in 16 weeks.Reference Group: mean BMI1 was 45.5±7.3kg/m2. The day before surgery, BMI2 was: 46.1±6.1kg/m2. Over a period of 16 weeks the average weight gain was 1.8±1.1kg and -3%EWL (p=0.12). Weight gain was observed in 55% of these patients.The comparison of the mean %EWL in both groups did not reveal any statistically significant differences.  Conclusions: The educational intervention was not statistically significant more effective than general nutritional recommendations in achieving weight loss

Regio- and Stereoselective Aminopentadienylation of Carbonyl Compounds

A simple and robust protocol is detailed for the preparation of enantioenriched α-substituted (1,4-pentadien-3-yl)amine derivatives. The methodology involves the addition of an in situ formed pentadienyl indium reagent to chiral tert-butylsulfinimines, previously formed in the same pot. The addition takes place with excellent γ-regio- and diastereoselectivity for a wide range of carbonyl compounds, including α-unsubstituted aldehydes and methyl alkyl ketones. The catalytic hydrogenation of the sulfinamines obtained provides a convenient access to chiral α-substituted (3-pentyl)amines. The hydroboration–oxidation of the α-(1,4-pentadien-3-yl)amine derivatives, followed by a cyclization under Mitsunobu conditions, takes place with an excellent diastereoselectivity governed by the chiral sulfinyl group.We thank the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (CTQ2011-24165) for financial support. I.B. acknowledges the Generalitat Valenciana for a predoctoral fellowship (ACIF/2011/159). E.B. acknowledges the Council of Higher Education- Turkey for a postdoctoral fellowship (16.10.12-B.09.6.YÖK.0.71.01-207.02-12285)

Diastereoselective Allylation of Carbonyl Compounds and Imines: Application to the Synthesis of Natural Products

We thank the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Grant Nos. CTQ2007-65218 and Consolider Ingenio 2010-CSD-2007-00006 and CTQ2011-24165), the Generalitat Valenciana (Grant No. PROMETEO/2009/039 and FEDER), and the University of Alicante for generous and continuous financial support

On the role of global flow instability analysis in closed loop flow control

Control of linear flow instabilities has been demonstrated to be an effective theoretical flow control methodology, capable of modifying transitional flows on canonical geometries such as the plane channel and the flat-plate boundary layer. Extending the well-developed theoretical flow control techniques to flows over or through complex geometries requires addressing the issue of efficient capturing of the leading members of the global eigenspectrum pertinent to such flows. The present contribution describes state-of-the-art modal global instability analysis methodologies recently developed in our group, based on matrix formation and time-stepping, respectively. The relative performance of these algorithms is assessed on the recovery of BiGlobal and TriGlobal eigenspectra in the spanwise periodic and the cubic lid-driven cavity, respectively; the adjoint eigenspectrum in the latter flow is recovered for the first time. For three-dimensional flows without any homogeneous spatial direction, the time-stepping methodology was found to outperform the matrix-forming approach and permit recovering the leading TriGlobal eigenmodes in an three-dimensional open cavity of aspect ratio L : D : W = 5 : 1 : 1; theoretical flow control of this configuration is underway

Synthesis of Propargylamines by Cross-Dehydrogenative Coupling

Propargylamines are versatile compounds for heterocyclic synthesis, some of which are current drugs prescribed to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease. There are different methods to synthesize propargylamines, however, modern chemistry has moved progressively to rely on new strategies that meet the principles of Green Chemistry. In this context, propargylamines are readily accessible by the cross-dehydrogenative coupling (CDC) of two C-H bonds (i.e., NCsp3-H and Csp-H bonds); surely, CDC can be considered the most atom-economic and efficient manner to form C-C bonds. The aim of this review is to provide a comprehensive survey on the synthesis of propargylamines by the CDC of amines and terminal alkynes from three fronts: (a) transition-metal homogeneous catalysis, (b) transition-metal heterogeneous catalysis and (c) photoredox catalysis. A section dealing with the asymmetric synthesis of chiral propargylamines is also included. Special attention is also devoted to the proposed reaction mechanisms.This work was generously supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MICIU; grant no. CTQ2017-88171-P), the Generalitat Valenciana (GV; grant no. AICO/2017/007) and the Instituto de Síntesis Orgánica (ISO). I.B. is also grateful to the Spanish MICIU for a Juan de la Cierva-incorporación grant (no. IJCI-2017-33706)

Calibración extrínseca de un conjunto de cámaras RGB-D sobre un robot móvil

La aparición de las cáqmaras RGB-D como sensores robóticos de bajo coste ha supuesto la inclusión habitual de varios de estos dispositivos en una creciente cantidad de vehiculos y robots. En estos casos, la calibraci on precisa de las transformaciones espaciales existentes entre las c amaras del mismo robot es de capital importancia a la hora de obtener medidas ables del entorno. Este articulo evalua el metodo de calibracion con formula cerrada descrito en [7] y lo extiende con una propuesta alternativa basada en un m etodo iterativo y una extension robusta de este ultimo en dos escenarios: i) un entorno simulado con cambios en el nivel de ruido de las observaciones, en el numero de observaciones obtenidas, en la proporcion de outliers y en las posiciones relativas de las c amaras, y ii) una con guraci on particular de 3 c amaras RGB- D sobre un robot real. Los resultados de la evaluacion muestran una mayor precision para nuestra propuesta iterativa robusta en todos los escenarios analizados. El codigo fuente de la implementacion de estos metodos en C++ se proporciona para su uso publico.Proyecto PROMOVE:DPI2014-55826-R (MINECO). Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech