NEO Threat Mitigation Software Tools within the NEOShield Project and Application to 2015 PDC

Protecting Earth from the threat implied by the Near Earth Objects (NEO) is gaining momentum in recent years. In the last decade a number of mitigation methods have been pushed forward as a possible remedy to that threat, including nuclear blasts, kinetic impactor, gravity tractors and others. Tools are required to evaluate the NEO deflection performances of each of the different methods, coupled with the orbital mechanics associated to the need to transfer to the target orbit and maybe rendezvous with it. The present suite of tools do provide an integral answer to the need of determining if an asteroid is to collide with Earth (NIRAT tool), compute the required object deflection (NEODET tool) and assess the design features of the possible mitigation space missions (RIMISET tool). The tools are presented, their design analyzed as well as the methods and architecture implemented. Results are provided for the hypothetical NEO 2015 PDC proposed for this conference

Integrated End-to-End NEO Threat Mitigation Software Suite

Protecting Earth from the threat implied by the Near Earth Objects (NEO) is gaining momentum in recent years. In the last decade a number of mitigation methods have been pushed forward as a possible remedy to that threat, including nuclear blasts, kinetic impactor, gravity tractors and others. Tools are required to evaluate the NEO deflection performances of each of the different methods, coupled with the orbital mechanics associated to the need to transfer to the target orbit and maybe rendezvous with it. The present suite of tools do provide an integral answer to the need of determining if an asteroid is to collide with Earth (NIRAT tool), compute the required object deflection (NEODET tool) and assess the design features of the possible mitigation space missions (RIMISET tool). The tools are presented, their design analyzed as well as the methods and architecture implemented. Results are provided for two asteroids 2011 AG5 (using the orbit determination solution where this asteroid still was a risk object) and 2007 VK184 and the obtained data discussed in comparison to other results

Exploiting semantic segmentation to boost reinforcement learning in video game environments

In this work we explore enhancing performance of reinforcement learning algorithms in video game environments by feeding it better, more relevant data. For this purpose, we use semantic segmentation to transform the images that would be used as input for the reinforcement learning algorithm from their original domain to a simplified semantic domain with just silhouettes and class labels instead of textures and colors, and then we train the reinforcement learning algorithm with these simplified images. We have conducted different experiments to study multiple aspects: feasibility of our proposal, and potential benefits to model generalization and transfer learning. Experiments have been performed with the Super Mario Bros video game as the testing environment. Our results show multiple advantages for this method. First, it proves that using semantic segmentation enables reaching higher performance than the baseline reinforcement learning algorithm without modifying the actual algorithm, and in fewer episodes; second, it shows noticeable performance improvements when training on multiple levels at the same time; and finally, it allows to apply transfer learning for models trained on visually different environments. We conclude that using semantic segmentation can certainly help reinforcement learning algorithms that work with visual data, by refining it. Our results also suggest that other computer vision techniques may also be beneficial for data prepossessing. Models and code will be available on github upon acceptanceOpen Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work is part of the preliminary tasks related to the Harvesting Visual Data (HVD) project (PID2021- 125051OB-I00) funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacin of the Spanish Governmen

Development and validation of a questionnaire for assessing the characteristics of diet and physical activity in patients with type 2 diabetes

Resumen tomado de la publicaciónDesarrollo y validación de un cuestionario para medir las características de la dieta y la actividad física en pacientes con diabetes tipo 2. Antecedentes: el objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar las propiedades psicométricas del cuestionario Motiva.Diaf-DM2, diseñado para medir la adherencia a las recomendaciones dietéticas y de actividad física en pacientes con diabetes tipo 2. Método: participaron 206 pacientes que asistieron a consultas en atención primaria, cuya media de edad era de 69,63 años (DE = 11,05). El 39,3% fueron mujeres. Para evaluar la fiabilidad test-retest se seleccionaron 40 pacientes de la muestra inicial de entre los que tenían otra cita en el centro de salud, a los que se les administró nuevamente el cuestionario dos semanas tras la primera entrega. Resultados: se observó que la fiabilidad de las puntuaciones era adecuada en cuanto a consistencia interna (αprimer factor = .756; αsegundo factor = .821) y estabilidad temporal (r primer factor = .604; r segundo factor = .638). La estructura del test es bidimensional. Las puntuaciones de la segunda dimensión (actividad física) convergen con las puntuaciones de las necesidades psicológicas básicas (r actividad física = .281), resiliencia (r = .216) y hemoglobina glicosilada (r = -.182). Conclusiones: Motiva.Diaf-DM2 ha demostrado tener una adecuada fiabilidad y validez para evaluar la adherencia a las recomendaciones relacionadas con la dieta y la actividad física en pacientes con diabetes tipo 2.Universidad de Oviedo. Biblioteca de Psicología; Plaza Feijoo, s/n.; 33003 Oviedo; Tel. +34985104146; Fax +34985104126; [email protected]

Metodología para la estimación de carbono en bosque mediterráneo chileno mediante imágenes hiperespectrales

El problema del cambio climático, se debe en parte al aumento de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero (GEI), uno de ellos en particular, especialmente el CO2. Los ecosistemas forestales intervienen en la lucha contra el cambio climático a través de la absorción de grandes cantidades de CO2 gracias a la fotosíntesis. Chile participa en el llamado 'Mercado de bonos de Carbono' como emisor de éstos, por lo que está desarrollando políticas de gestión, a través de las cuales, disminuyan las emisiones de carbono asociadas a la deforestación, haya un manejo forestal mejorado y se valoricen los productos maderables. Por otro lado, en multitud de estudios científicos se demuestra que las imágenes hiperespectrales son una buena herramienta para estimar variables biofísicas de las cubiertas vegetales. Dentro de este marco, este proyecto pretende desarrollar una metodología para estimar la cantidad de carbono capturado en los bosques nativos chilenos de la región mediterránea a través de una imagen de alta resolución espectral. A partir de la información de esta imagen se generan 8 índices de vegetación, los cuales se correlacionan con el contenido de carbono capturado de muestras medidas en terreno. El objetivo es generar un algoritmo que permita estimar el contenido de carbono en este tipo de bosque. La zona de estudio está cercana a la ciudad de Santiago de Chile, en el paraje de San Carlos de Apoquindo, donde se encuentra una buena representación del bosque mediterráneo chileno. El vuelo para la captura de la imagen se realizó en enero del 2013 mediante el sensor Hyspex VNIR-1600 HS, el cual tiene una resolución espacial de 32 cm, y una resolución espectral de 160 bandas distribuidas en el espectro del visible y del infrarrojo cercano. En el mes de octubre se recoge información de campo, esta información consiste en medidas dendrométricas de las especies localizadas en la zona de estudio, que posteriormente se implementa en la funciones alométricas, desarrolladas por la empresa Oterra, para el cálculo de carbono en campo

Aprendizaje cooperativo como método de prevención e intervención contra el bullying

This research proposes an educational methodology, known as cooperative learning, as a method of prevention and/or intervention against bullying. With the use of this kind of innovative learning, which involves group work and cooperation as fundamental axes, social acceptance and flexible conflicts resolution among peers increases and it also improves the school climate. Working in a cooperative way reduces the competitiveness and the individuality among peers, as well as it promotes the group cohesion and the integration of the excluded students.En el presente artículo, se propone una metodología educativa, denominada aprendizaje cooperativo, como método de prevención y/o intervención contra el bullying o maltrato escolar entre iguales. Con la utilización de este tipo de estrategia pedagógica en el aula, que conlleva la utilización del trabajo grupal y la cooperación como ejes fundamentales, aumenta la aceptación social de los alumnos y facilita la resolución de conflictos entre iguales de un modo más flexible, lo que redunda en la mejora del clima social. Con el aprendizaje cooperativo, disminuye la competitividad e individualidad entre los alumnos, así como se fomenta la cohesión grupal y la integración de los estudiantes con exclusión

Life Cycle Assessment of different physical-chemical and biological technologies for biogas desulfurization in sewage treatment plants

Biogas desulfurization can be carried out by physical-chemical or biological technologies. Biological technologies are generally described as more environmentally friendly than physical-chemical techniques, although it is difficult to find studies in which the associated environmental burdens are compared. Therefore, the aim of the work described here was to perform a life cycle assessment to compare the environmental impact of four common desulfurization technologies for hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas produced in sewage treatment plants. The desulfurization technologies studied were aerobic biotrickling filtration, anoxic biotrickling filtration, caustic chemical scrubbing and adsorption on impregnated activated carbon. The environmental assessment was extended with a Capital Expenditures (CAPEX) and Operational Expense (OPEX) analysis. Furthermore, an extra scenario (no desulfurization with biogas combustion) was compared with biogas desulfurization by aerobic biofiltration coupled to energy valorization (best-case treatment scenario). Results indicate that biological technologies are much more favorable in most environmental impact categories than physicalchemical technologies and, as expected, are more favorable than the non-treatment scenario. In all desulfurization technologies the most contributing stage to the total environmental burdens was the daily desulfurization operation. The chemical scrubber was the worst scenario except for the “Climate Change”. In terms of the “Climate Change” (carbon dioxide equivalent emission), aerobic and anoxic desulfurization would emit 13.9 and 18.7 kg CO2 kg-1 S-H2S treated, respectively. The anoxic process could be improved to emit only 7.2 kg CO2 kg-1 S-H2S treated if the nitrate source was produced in a nitrification reactor built at the sewage treatment plant. Caustic chemical scrubber desulfurization and impregnated activated carbon desulfurization would emit 30.0 and 42.1 kg CO2 kg-1 S-H2S treated, respectively. To all impact categories, the contribution of sulfur compounds was less than 5%. The aerobic biotrickling filtration had the lower environmental impacts. However, the anoxic biotrickling filtration was the best approach if a nitrification reactor was already on-site.The Spanish Government provided financial support to carry out the research work through the project CTM2012-37927-C03 “Monitoring, modelling and control towards the optimization of anoxic and aerobic desulfurizing biotrickling filters”. Department of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engi neering (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) is a unit of Biochemical Engineering of the Xarxa de Referencia en Biotecnologia de Catalunya (XRB), Generalitat de Catalunya

Exportación de tomate en Canarias: ¿Un patrón estacional estable?

[EN] This paper studies the evolution of the weekly exports of Canary Island tomatoes after the entry of Spain in the European Union. A first analysis of deterministic components reveals their instability, clearly related to changes in the EU commercial regulations of access to European markets, and the presence of many outliers due to different reasons. These factors must be considered in the study of stochastic seasonality of the series. Furthermore, it is necessary to take into account the weekly frequency data and the existence of periods without exports in order to capture its behaviour and, in particular, the nature of its seasonal component.[ES] En este trabajo se analiza el patrón estacional de la exportación semanal de tomate canario desde el ingreso de España en la Unión Europea. Un primer examen de los componentes determinísticos de la serie revela la inestabilidad de éstos, claramente vinculada a los cambios en la normativa comercial de acceso a los mercados europeos, así como la presencia de numerosas observaciones anómalas causadas por fenómenos de diversa índole. Estas circunstancias afectan al estudio detallado de la estacionalidad estocástica de la serie bajo estudio, que reúne dos características —la frecuencia semanal de las observaciones y la existencia de períodos sin exportación— cuya consideración es imprescindible para recoger apropiadamente la conducta de las exportaciones y, concretamente, la naturaleza del comportamiento estacional de las mismas.Martín Rodríguez, G.; Cano Fernández, VJ.; Cáceres Hernández, JJ. (2002). Canary Island tomato exports: A stable seasonal pattern?. Economía Agraria y Recursos Naturales - Agricultural and Resource Economics. 2(2):53-72. doi:10.7201/earn.2002.02.0353722

The IFMIF-DONES remote handling control system: Experimental setup for OPC UA integration

The devices used to carry out Remote Handling (RH) manipulation tasks in radiation environments address requirements that are significantly different from common robotic and industrial systems due to the lack of repetitive operations and incompletely specified control actions. This imposes the need of control with human-in -the-loop operations. These RH systems are used on facilities such PRIDE, CERN, ESS, ITER or IFMIF-DONES, the reference used for this work. For the RH system is crucial to provide high availability, robustness against radiation, haptic devices for teleoperation and dexterous operation, and smooth coordination and integration with the centralized control room. To achieve this purpose is necessary to find the best approach towards a standard control framework capable of providing a standard set of functionalities, tools, interfaces, communications, and data formats to the different types of mechatronic devices that are usually considered for Remote Handling tasks. This previous phase of homogenization is not considered in most facilities, which leads towards a costly integration process during the commissioning phase of the facility.In this paper, an approach to the IFMIF-DONES RH Control framework with strong standard support based on protocols such as OPC UA has been described and validated through an experimental setup. This test bench includes a set of physical devices (PLC, conveyor belt and computers) and a set of OPC UA compatible software tools, configured and operable from any node of the University of Granada network. This proof-of-concept mockup provides flexibility to modify the dimension and complexity of the setup by using new virtual or physical devices connected to a unique backbone. Besides, it will be used to test different aspects such as control schemes, failure injection, network modeling, predictive maintenance studies, operator training on simulated/ real scenarios, usability or ergonomics of the user interfaces before the deployment. In this contribution, the results are described and illustrated using a conveyor belt set-up, a small but representative reference used to validate the RH control concepts here proposed.European Union via the Euratom Research and Training Programme 101052200 - EUROfusio

How relevant is the place where first-year college students live in relation to the increase in body mass index?

Producción Científica1) Objective: This study analyzes the evolution of the body mass index (BMI) throughout the academic year associated with changes in the lifestyle associated with the place where students live during the course, lifestyle design, and health strategies for the university community. (2) Methods: A total of 93 first-year nursing students participated in this study. Data were collected throughout the course by administering self-reported questionnaires about eating habits and lifestyles, weight, and height to calculate their BMI and place of residence throughout the course. Data were analyzed using statistical analysis (Mann–Whitney, chi-square, Student’s t-test, repeated-measures analysis of variance, and least significant difference tests). (3) Results: We found that the mean BMI increases significantly throughout the course among all students regardless of sex, age, eating habits, or where they live during the course. At the beginning of the course, the mean BMI was 22.10 ± 3.64. The mean difference between the beginning of the course and the middle has a value of p-value < 0.015 and between the middle of the course and the end a p-value < 0.009. The group that increased the most is found among students who continue to live in the family nucleus rather than those who live alone or in residence. Students significantly changed their eating and health habits, especially those who live alone or in residence. (4) Conclusions: There is an increase in BMI among students. It is necessary to carry out seminars or talks that can help students understand the importance of good eating practices and healthy habits to maintain their weight and, therefore, their health, in the short, medium, and long term and acquire a good quality of life.Este trabajo fue apoyado por subvenciones (Grants 2019-GRIN-26896, 2020-GRIN-29192