Detection and classification of aircraft fixation elements during manufacturing processes using a convolutional neural network

The aerospace sector is one of the main economic drivers that strengthens our present, constitutes our future and is a source of competitiveness and innovation with great technological development capacity. In particular, the objective of manufacturers on assembly lines is to automate the entire process by using digital technologies as part of the transition toward Industry 4.0. In advanced manufacturing processes, artificial vision systems are interesting because their performance influences the liability and productivity of manufacturing processes. Therefore, developing and validating accurate, reliable and flexible vision systems in uncontrolled industrial environments is a critical issue. This research deals with the detection and classification of fasteners in a real, uncontrolled environment for an aeronautical manufacturing process, using machine learning techniques based on convolutional neural networks. Our system achieves 98.3% accuracy in a processing time of 0.8 ms per image. The results reveal that the machine learning paradigm based on a neural network in an industrial environment is capable of accurately and reliably estimating mechanical parameters to improve the performance and flexibility of advanced manufacturing processing of large parts with structural responsibility.This publication was carried out as part of the project Nuevas Uniones de estructuras aeronáuticas reference number IDI-20180754. This project has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Ciencia e Innovación and Centre for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI)

On the origin of high-field magnetic white dwarfs

Every two years, white dwarf researchers and enthusiasts meet to exchange their knowledge and discuss recent developments in white dwarf theory and observations. These proceedings are from the 18th European White Dwarf Workshop held at Pedagogical University of Cracow (Krakow, Poland) on 13th - 17th August, 2012. The scientific topics discussed in this Workshop included: pulsating white dwarfs; luminosity function, mass distribution, and populations; white dwarf structure and evolution; white dwarf catalogs and surveys; central stars of planetary nebulae; supernova progenitors; white dwarfs in novae and cataclysmic variables; white dwarfs in detached binaries; physical processes in white dwarfs and magnetic white dwarfs; and discs, dust and planets around white dwarfs. The conference was organized by four institutions: the Polish Astronomical Society, the Astronomy Department of the Pedagogical University of Cracow, the Jagiellonian University Astronomical Observatory, and the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Altogether, these proceedings include 87 talks and posters presented during the meeting.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Fitoperifiton asociado al río Acacias-Pajure en la Orinoquia colombiana

Phytoperiphyton refers to the autotrophic component belonging to the periphyton community, composed of aquatic microorganisms that have been monitored for their ecological importance and potential as bioindicators. Few investigations have been carried out on this community in the Colombian Orinoquia, a region with abundant water resources and multiple anthropic pressures, because it is the country’s main agricultural and energy source. Three monitorings were carried out at 12 points along the Acacias-Pajure River, where a total of 41 genera were identified. The highest records of richness were presented at monitoring points 6 and 7, associated with oil palm crops and livestock activity. Navicula (Ochrophyta) and Cosmarium (Charophyta) were the most frequent genera, Oedogonium (Chlorophyta) and Phormidium (Cyanobacteria) the most abundant along the river.El fitoperifiton hace referencia al componente autótrofo perteneciente a la comunidad del perifiton, compuesta por microorganismos acuáticos que han sido monitoreados por su importancia ecológica y potencial como bioindicadores. Son escasos los estudios que se han realizado sobre esta comunidad en la Orinoquia colombiana, región con un abundante recurso hídrico y con múltiples presiones antrópicas, debido a que es la principal despensa agrícola y energética del país. Se realizaron tres monitoreos en 12 puntos a lo largo del río Acacias-Pajure, en donde se identificaron un total de 41 géneros. Los mayores registros de riqueza se presentaron en los puntos de monitoreo 6 y 7, asociados a cultivos de palma de aceite y actividad ganadera. Navicula (Ochrophyta) y Cosmarium (Charophyta) fueron los géneros más frecuentes, Oedogonium (Chlorophyta) y Phormidium (Cyanobacteria) los más abundantes a lo largo del río

Evolutionary and pulsational properties of white dwarf stars

Abridged. White dwarf stars are the final evolutionary stage of the vast majority of stars, including our Sun. The study of white dwarfs has potential applications to different fields of astrophysics. In particular, they can be used as independent reliable cosmic clocks, and can also provide valuable information about the fundamental parameters of a wide variety of stellar populations, like our Galaxy and open and globular clusters. In addition, the high densities and temperatures characterizing white dwarfs allow to use these stars as cosmic laboratories for studying physical processes under extreme conditions that cannot be achieved in terrestrial laboratories. They can be used to constrain fundamental properties of elementary particles such as axions and neutrinos, and to study problems related to the variation of fundamental constants. In this work, we review the essentials of the physics of white dwarf stars. Special emphasis is placed on the physical processes that lead to the formation of white dwarfs as well as on the different energy sources and processes responsible for chemical abundance changes that occur along their evolution. Moreover, in the course of their lives, white dwarfs cross different pulsational instability strips. The existence of these instability strips provides astronomers with an unique opportunity to peer into their internal structure that would otherwise remain hidden from observers. We will show that this allows to measure with unprecedented precision the stellar masses and to infer their envelope thicknesses, to probe the core chemical stratification, and to detect rotation rates and magnetic fields. Consequently, in this work, we also review the pulsational properties of white dwarfs and the most recent applications of white dwarf asteroseismology.Comment: 85 pages, 28 figures. To be published in The Astronomy and Astrophysics Revie

Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover.

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives

Anales del III Congreso Internacional de Vivienda y Ciudad "Debate en torno a la nueva agenda urbana"

Acta de congresoEl III Congreso Internacional de Vivienda y Ciudad “Debates en torno a la NUEVa Agenda Urbana”, ha sido una apuesta de alto compromiso por acercar los debates centrales y urgentes que tensionan el pleno ejercicio del derecho a la ciudad. Para ello las instituciones organizadoras (INVIHAB –Instituto de Investigación de Vivienda y Hábitat y MGyDH-Maestría en Gestión y Desarrollo Habitacional-1), hemos convidado un espacio que se concretó con potencia en un debate transdisciplinario. Convocó a intelectuales de prestigio internacional, investigadores, académicos y gestores estatales, y en una metodología de innovación articuló las voces académicas con las de las organizaciones sociales y/o barriales en el Foro de las Organizaciones Sociales que tuvo su espacio propio para dar voz a quienes están trabajando en los desafíos para garantizar los derechos a la vivienda y los bienes urbanos en nuestras ciudades del Siglo XXI

Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries