Delineation of site‐specific management zones using estimation of distribution algorithms

In this paper, we present a novel methodology to solve the problem of delineating homogeneous site-specific management zones (SSMZ) in agricultural fields. This problem consists of dividing the field into small regions for which a specific rate of inputs is required. The objec- tive is to minimize the number of management zones, which must be homogeneous according to a specific soil property: physical or chem- ical. Furthermore, as opposed to oval zones, SSMZ with rectangular shapes are preferable since they are more practical for agricultural technologies. The methodology we propose is based on evolutionary computation, specifically on a class of the estimation of distribution algorithms (EDAs). One of the strongest contributions of this study is the representation used to model the management zones, which gener- ates zones with orthogonal shapes, e.g., L or T shapes, and minimizes the number of zones required to delineate the field. The experimental results show that our method is efficient to solve real-field and ran- domly generated instances. The average improvement of our method consists in reducing the number of management zones in the agricul- tural fields concerning other operations research methods presented in the literature. The improvement depends on the size of the field and the level of homogeneity established for the resulting management zones.IT1244-19 TIN2016-78365-R PID2019-104966GB-I0

Effects of maternal subnutrition during early pregnancy on cow hematological profiles and offspring physiology and vitality in two beef breeds

This experiment evaluated the effects of subnutrition during early gestation on hematology in cows (Bos Taurus) and on hematological, metabolic, endocrine, and vitality parameters in their calves. Parda de Montaña and Pirenaica dams were inseminated and assigned to either a control (CONTROL, 100% requirements) or a nutrient‐restricted group (SUBNUT, 65%) during the first third of gestation. Dam blood samples were collected on days 20 and 253 of gestation, and calf samples were obtained during the first days of life. Pirenaica dams presented higher red series parameters than Parda de Montaña dams, both in the first and the last months of gestation. During early pregnancy, granulocyte numbers and mean corpuscular hemoglobin were lower in Pirenaica‐SUBNUT than in Pirenaica‐CONTROL cows. Calves from the SUBNUT cows did not show a physiological reduction in red series values in early life, suggesting later maturation of the hematopoietic system. Poor maternal nutrition affected calf endocrine parameters. Newborns from dystocic parturitions showed lower NEFA concentrations and weaker vitality responses. In conclusion, maternal nutrition had short‐term effects on cow hematology, Pirenaica cows showing a higher susceptibility to undernutrition; and a long‐term effect on their offspring endocrinology, SUBNUT newborns showing lower levels of IGF‐1 and higher levels of cortisol.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Business and the European Union Regional Development Funds (INIA RTA 2013‐00059‐C02 and INIA RZP 2015‐001) and the Government of Aragon under the Grant Research Group Funds (A14_17R). A. Noya received a PhD grant from INIA‐Government of Aragon

2D experiments and numerical simulation of the oscillatory shallow flow in an open channel lateral cavity

Steady shallow flows past an open channel lateral cavity can induce the excitation of an eigenmode of a gravity standing wave inside the cavity, called seiche, which may be coupled with the shedding of vortices at the opening of the cavity. The presence of the seiche is of fundamental interest as it enhances the mass exchange between the main channel and the cavity. Measurements of the time evolution of the water surface are not often found in the literature for this type of flows. In this work, an experimental and numerical study of a shallow flow past a channel lateral cavity is carried out. The main novelty is the use of a pioneering non-intrusive experimental technique to measure the water surface at the channel-cavity region. This optical technique offers high resolution 2D data in time and space of the water surface evolution, allowing to determine the relevant features of the seiche oscillation. Such data are supplemented with Particle Image Velocimetry measurements. Furthermore, the experiments are numerically reproduced using a high-resolution depth-averaged URANS shallow water model, under the assumption that shallow water turbulence is mainly horizontal. The experimental and numerical results are analyzed in the frequency domain. High-resolution two-dimensional amplitude oscillation maps of the seiche phenomenon, as well as velocity fields, are presented. The high quality of the experimental data reported in this work makes this data set a suitable benchmark for numerical simulation models in order to evaluate their performance in the resolution of turbulent resonant shallow flows

Los derechos humanos de los hijos de los soldados alemanes tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial. El caso de Noruega

The children of the German soldiers in occupied areas during the Second World War lived a difficult situation once the war was over. They were children who had to grow up with the stigma of being children of the enemy, which was accompanied that of their biological mothers who suffered for having chosen an enemy as a couple (if this was the case). A particular case in point is Norway, where the fate of these children was combined with that of the children born out of the Lebensborn Project since in Norway almost as many racial purification centers were opened as in Germany. All of them grew up with the rejection of the societies in which they lived that saw in them an extension of their parents, who had been their occupier, giving them a treatment very different from the one they deserved because of their age. Some of these children turned to the European Court of Human Rights ten years ago with a complaint against Norway, considering themselves to be victims of the breach of the European Convention by this state.Los hijos de los soldados alemanes en zonas ocupadas durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial vivieron una situación difícil una vez concluida la contienda. Fueron niños que debieron crecer con el estigma propio de ser hijos del enemigo acompañado, en el mejor de los casos, cuando conviven con sus madres biológicas, con el que sufren ellas por haber elegido a un enemigo como pareja (si este fuera el caso). Un supuesto particular en este punto es el caso de Noruega, donde a estos menores se les unieron los niños del Proyecto Lebensborn, pues en este Estado se abrieron casi tantos centros como en Alemania. Todos ellos crecieron con el rechazo de las sociedades en las que habitaban que veían en ellos una prolongación de sus padres, que habían sido sus ocupantes, dispensándoles un tratamiento muy distinto del que por su edad merecían. Algunos de esos niños acudieron hace diez años al Tribunal Europeo de derechos humanos contra Noruega, al considerarse víctimas de la vulneración del Convenio Europeo por este Estado

Los hijos del enemigo: las víctimas silenciosas de los crímenes sexuales

Si los niños, debido a su vulnerabilidad, son víctimas de los conflictos armados en mayor medida que los adultos y los problemas originados por la guerra pueden lastrar su futuro, hay unos niños de los que no se habla, que sufren los efectos de la contienda una vez que esta ha concluido: son los hijos del enemigo, los nacidos como consecuencia de los crímenes sexuales, que debido a su origen son rechazados sistemáticamente por las comunidades maternas. Al estudio de la vulneración de sus derechos dedicaremos las páginas que componen este trabajo.The children, for their vulnerability, are victims of armed conflict to a greater extent than adults and problems caused by war can make their future difficult, there are children who are not spoken, who suffer the effects of conflict once this has been concluded: the enemy’s children those born as a result of sexual crimes, which by their origin are systematically rejected by the mother communities. The pages that compose this work study the violation of their rights

El altruismo en el ámbito universitario

Primeres Jornades de Foment de la Investigació de la FCHS (Any 1995-1996

Algoritmos Evolutivos para Descubrimiento de Reglas de Predicción en la Mejora de Sistemas Educativos Adaptativos basados en Web

Este artículo muestra la utilización de los algoritmos evolutivos para el descubrimiento de reglas de predicción que se utilizarán en la mejora de Cursos Hipermedia Adaptativos basados en Web. Se ha desarrollado una herramienta de minería de datos específica para descubrir relaciones entre los datos de utilización recogidos durante las ejecuciones de los distintos alumnos. Esta información puede ser de gran utilidad para el profesor o autor del curso, para la toma de decisiones sobre qué modificaciones son las más adecuadas para mejorar el aprendizaje de los alumnos. Para la realización de la búsqueda de reglas de predicción se ha utilizado programación genética basada en gramáticas multi-objetivo y se han comparado con algoritmos clásicos de descubrimiento de reglas.In this paper we show the use of evolutionary algorithms for discovering prediction rules to improve web-based adaptive hypermedia courses. We have developed a specific data mining tool to discover relationship between the usage data pickup during the execution of different students. This information can be very useful to the courseware author in order to make decisions about what are the most appropriated modifications to improve the learning of the students. In order to do prediction rule discovering we have used multi-objective grammar-based genetic programming and we have compared it with other classic algorithm for rule discovering

Learning a Battery of COVID-19 Mortality Prediction Models by Multi-objective Optimization

The COVID-19 pandemic is continuously evolving with drastically changing epidemiological situations which are approached with different decisions: from the reduction of fatalities to even the selection of patients with the highest probability of survival in critical clinical situations. Motivated by this, a battery of mortality prediction models with different performances has been developed to assist physicians and hospital managers. Logistic regression, one of the most popular classifiers within the clinical field, has been chosen as the basis for the generation of our models. Whilst a standard logistic regression only learns a single model focusing on improving accuracy, we propose to extend the possibilities of logistic regression by focusing on sensitivity and specificity. Hence, the log-likelihood function, used to calculate the coefficients in the logistic model, is split into two objective functions: one representing the survivors and the other for the deceased class. A multi-objective optimization process is undertaken on both functions in order to find the Pareto set, composed of models not improved by another model in both objective functions simultaneously. The individual optimization of either sensitivity (deceased patients) or specificity (survivors) criteria may be conflicting objectives because the improvement of one can imply the worsening of the other. Nonetheless, this conflict guarantees the output of a battery of diverse prediction models. Furthermore, a specific methodology for the evaluation of the Pareto models is proposed. As a result, a battery of COVID-19 mortality prediction models is obtained to assist physicians in decision-making for specific epidemiological situations.This research is supported by the Basque Government (IT1504- 22, Elkartek) through the BERC 2022–2025 program and BMTF project, and by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities: BCAM Severo Ochoa accreditation SEV-2017-0718 and PID2019-104966GB-I00. Furthermore, the work is also supported by the AXA Research Fund project “Early prognosis of COVID-19 infections via machine learning”