An Assessment on the Use of Stationary Vehicles as a Support to Cooperative Positioning

In this paper, we consider the use of stationary vehicles as tools to enhance the localisation capabilities of moving vehicles in a VANET. We examine the idea in terms of its potential benefits, technical requirements, algorithmic design and experimental evaluation. Simulation results are given to illustrate the efficacy of the technique.Comment: This version of the paper is an updated version of the initial submission, where some initial comments of reviewers have been taken into accoun

Historic preservation and disaster resilience : flooding in Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico

textSantiago de Querétaro is a UNESCO World Heritage City in central Mexico experiencing exacerbating rates of flooding in its historic center due to increased uphill urbanization overwhelming the aging drainage infrastructure. Historic districts are important economic drivers and shrines of heritage that should be considered when planning for disaster resiliency. This Report explores flood mitigation considerations for historic structures and districts, identifying those best suited for Querétaro and can be implemented at the parcel, district, or public administrative levels.Community and Regional Plannin

Evaluaci?n de la actividad bactericida de fracciones enriquecidas en flavonoides a partir de: psidium guajava l. (guayaba), calendula officinalis l. (cal?ndula), l. (romero) y matricaria chamomilla l. (manzanilla) sobre: erwinia carotovora (dye).

88 P?ginasLas plantas alimenticias son infectadas por bacterias originando graves problemas fitosanitarios que generan p?rdidas econ?micas a los agricultores. Estos microorganismos desarrollan resistencia hacia los antibi?ticos debido a su uso inadecuado. Una alternativa en el control de bacterias fitopat?genas es el empleo de extractos bot?nicos, con lo cual se busca reducir el impacto econ?mico y ambiental en el sector agr?cola. Empleando diversos ?rganos de Psidium guajava L. (guayaba), Calendula officinalis L. (cal?ndula), Rosmarinus officinalis L. (romero) y Matricaria chamomilla L. (manzanilla) se elaboraron extractos etan?licos, de los cuales se obtuvieron cuatro (4) fracciones mediante una serie eluotr?pica de solventes (?ter de petr?leo, acetato de etilo, n-butanol y agua). Los extractos y sus fracciones fueron caracterizados fitoqu?micamente con cromatograf?as en capa delgada para detectar flavonoides (fracci?n et?rea descartada) y su actividad in vitro se evalu? frente a la cepa E. carotovora mediante el m?todo de inhibici?n zonal (m?todo de difusi?n en agar), utilizando concentraciones de 5.000, 7.000 y 10.000 (?g/mL), con mediciones de halos de inhibici?n a las 24 y 48 horas. Los resultados obtenidos mediante estas pruebas determinaron un control positivo de las plantas P. guajava con su extracto etan?lico y sus 3 fracciones y C. officinalis en su fracci?n acetato de etilo. Los resultados obtenidos a partir del estudio de actividad biol?gica in vitro sugieren que las fracciones n-butanol y acuosa en la especia P. guajava y la fracci?n acetato de etilo en la especia C. officinalis son promisorias para futuros ensayos de actividad bactericida y otros estudios qu?micos.ABSTRACT Food plants are infected by causing serious phytosanitary problems caused economic losses to farmers bacteria. These microorganisms develop resistance to antibiotics due to improper use. An alternative in the control of plant pathogenic bacteria is the use of botanical extracts, which seeks to reduce the economic and environmental impact on the agricultural sector. Using various organs of Psidium guajava L. ( guava), Calendula officinalis L. (marigold), Rosmarinus officinalis L. (rosemary ) and Matricaria chamomilla L. (chamomile ) ethanol extracts were prepared , of which four (4) fractions were obtained by eluotropic series of solvents (petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and water). The extracts and fractions were characterized phytochemically with thin layer chromatography for any flavonoids (ethereal fraction discarded) and its in vitro activity was evaluated against strain E. carotovora by the method of zonal inhibition (diffusion method on agar) using concentrations of 5.000, 7.000 and 10.000 (?g/mL), with measurements of zones of inhibition at 24 and 48 hours. The results obtained by these tests determined a positive control of plants with P. guajava ethanol extract and its fractions and its 3 in the C. officinalis ethyl acetate fraction. The results obtained from the study of biological activity in vitro suggest that n - butanol fraction and water at P. guajava spice and ethyl acetate fraction in the spice C. officinalis are promising for future trials and other studies bactericidal activity chemicals.INTRODUCCI?N 16 1. MARCO TE?RICO 18 1.1 IMPORTANCIA DE LAS ENFERMEDADES FITOPAT?GENAS 18 1.2 FITOENFERMEDADES POR BACTERIAS 19 1.3 CONTROL DE BACTERIAS FITOPAT?GENAS 22 1.3.1 Uso de Antibi?ticos 22 1.4 EXTRACTOS VEGETALES Y SU PAPEL EN LA AGRICULTURA 23 1.4.1 Uso Mundial, Regional y Local. 23 1.4.2 Uso en el campo. 23 1.5 DESCRIPCI?N DE E. carotovora. 27 1.5.1 Generalidades. 27 1.5.2 Situaci?n actual 28 1.5.3 Identificaci?n taxon?mica seg?n la N.C.B.I. 28 1.5.4 Tratamiento 29 1.5.5 Incidencia. 29 1.6 DESCRIPCI?N BOT?NICA DE LAS ESPECIES VEGETALES 30 1.6.1 Descripci?n bot?nica P. guajava 30 1.6.1.1 Flavonoides reportados y actividad biol?gica 31 1.6.2 Descripci?n bot?nica R. officinalis 32 5 1.6.2.1 Flavonoides reportados y actividad biol?gica 32 1.6.3 Descripci?n bot?nica C. officinalis 33 1.6.3.1 Flavonoides reportados y actividad biol?gica 34 1.6.4 Descripci?n bot?nica M. Chamomilla 35 1.6.4.1 Flavonoides reportados y actividad biol?gica 36 1.7 FLAVONOIDES 36 2. PARTE EXPERIMENTAL 39 2.1 EQUIPOS REACTIVOS Y MATERIALES 39 2.1.1 Equipos 39 2.1.2 Reactivos 39 2.1.3 Materiales 40 2.2 MATERIAL VEGETAL 41 2.2.1 Material microbiol?gico 41 2.3 METODOLOGIA - ENSAYOS FITOQUIMICOS 41 2.3.1 Elaboraci?n de los extractos etan?licos de P. guajava, C. officinalis, R. officinalis y M. chamomilla 41 2.3.2 Fraccionamiento del extracto etan?lico 43 2.3.3 Detecci?n de flavonoides en extractos etan?licos y fracciones primarias de P. guajava, C. officinalis, R. officinalis y M. chamomilla 44 2.4 METODOLOG?A BIOL?GICA 45 2.4.1 Bioensayo de la actividad bactericida de los extractos y fracciones sobre E. carotovora 45 6 2.4.2 Determinaci?n de la concentraci?n inhibitoria para el control positivo (Cefalexina) 46 2.4.3 Disoluci?n de los extractos etan?licos y fracciones primarias 47 2.5 AN?LISIS ESTAD?STICO 48 2.5.1 M?todo estad?stico 48 3. RESULTADOS Y DISCUSI?N 49 3.1 EXTRACCI?N Y FRACCIONAMIENTO DE LOS EXTRACTOS ETAN?LICOS 49 3.2 ESTUDIO FITOQU?MICO POR CCD DE LOS EXTRACTOS Y FRACCIONES 52 3.2.1 An?lisis de los extractos 52 3.2.2 An?lisis de las fracciones 54 3.3 PRUEBAS DE ACTIVIDAD BIOL?GICA IN VITRO DE LOS EXTRACTOS ETAN?LICOS Y FRACCIONES OBTENIDAS DE P. GUAJAVA, R. OFFICINALIS, C. OFFICINALIS Y M.CHAMOMILLA SOBRE E. CAROTOVORA 59 3.4 RESULTADOS AN?LISIS ESTAD?STICO 66 4. CONCLUSIONES Y RECOMENDACIONES 78 4.1 CONCLUSIONES 78 4.2 RECOMENDACIONES 79 5. REFERENCIAS 8

Physical properties of seven binary and higher-order multiple OB systems

Analyses of multi-epoch, high-resolution (~ 50000) optical spectra of seven early-type systems provided various important new insights with respect to their multiplicity. First determinations of orbital periods were made for HD 92206C (2.022 d), HD 112244 (27.665 d), HD 164438 (10.25 d), HD 123056A (~ 1314 d) and HD 123056B (< 2 d); the orbital period of HD 318015 could be improved (23.445975 d). Concerning multiplicity, a third component was discovered for HD 92206C by means of He I line profiles. For HD 93146A, which was hitherto assumed to be SB1, lines of a secondary component could be discerned. HD 123056 turns out to be a multiple system consisting of a high-mass component A (~ O8.5) displaying a broad He II 5411 A feature with variable radial velocity, and of an inner pair B (~ B0) with double He I lines. The binary HD 164816 was revisited and some of its system parameters were improved. In particular, we determined its systemic velocity to be -7 km/s, which coincides with the radial velocity of the cluster NGC 6530. This fact, together with its distance, suggests the cluster membership of HD 164816. The OB system HD 318015 (V1082 Sco) belongs to the rare class of eclipsing binaries with a supergiant primary (B0.5/0.7). Our combined orbital and light-curve analysis suggests that the secondary resembles an O9.5III star. Our results for a limited sample corroborate the findings that many O stars are actually massive multiple systems.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures, to appear in Astronomy and Astrophysic

An assessment on the use of stationary vehicles to support cooperative positioning systems

In this paper, we evaluate the ability of stationary vehicles (e.g. parked or temporary stopped cars) as tools to enhance the capabilities of existing cooperative positioning algorithms in vehicular networks. First, some real-world facts are provided to support the feasibility of our ideas. Then, we examine the idea in greater details in terms of the technical requirements and methodological analysis, and provide a comprehensive experimental evaluation using dedicated simulations. The routing of a drone through an urban scenario is presented as a non-traditional application case, where the benefits of the proposed approach are reflected in a better utilisation of the flight time

Experimental Evidence of Generation and Reception by a Transluminal Axisymmetric Shear Wave Elastography Prototype

Experimental evidence on testing a non-ultrasonic-based probe for a new approach in transluminal elastography was presented. The proposed modality generated shear waves by inducing oscillatory rotation on the lumen wall. Detection of the propagated waves was achieved at a set of receivers in mechanical contact with the lumen wall. The excitation element of the probe was an electromagnetic rotational actuator whilst the sensing element was comprised by a uniform anglewise arrangement of four piezoelectric receivers. The prototype was tested in two soft-tissue-mimicking phantoms that contained lumenlike conduits and stiffer inclusions. The shear wave speed of the different components of the phantoms was characterized using shear wave elastography. These values were used to estimate the time-of-flight of the expected reflections. Ultrafast ultrasound imaging, based on Loupas' algorithm, was used to estimate the displacement field in transversal planes to the lumenlike conduit and to compare against the readouts from the transluminal transmission-reception tests. Experimental observations between ultrafast imaging and the transluminal probe were in good agreement, and reflections due to the stiffer inclusions were detected by the transluminal probe. The obtained experimental evidence provided proof-of-concept for the transluminal elastography probe and encouraged further exploration of clinical applications

Nonlinear dynamics of Long-Wavelength VCSELs subject to polarised optical injection

We present our work analysing the effects of polarised optical injection in Long-Wavelength Vertical-Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (LW-VCSELs). We review the properties of different phenomena such as polarisation switching (PS) and bistability (PB) as well as on the different nonlinear dynamics (periodic and chaotic) arising in these devices under different cases of polarised optical injection. © 2011 IEEE

When the Earth trembles in the americas: the experience of haiti and chile 2010.

The response of the nephrological community to the Haiti and Chile earthquakes which occurred in the first months of 2010 is described. In Haiti, renal support was organized by the Renal Disaster Relief Task Force (RDRTF) of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) in close collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and covered both patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) and patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The majority of AKI patients (19/27) suffered from crush syndrome and recovered their kidney function. The remaining 8 patients with AKI showed acute-to-chronic renal failure with very low recovery rates. The intervention of the RDRTF-ISN involved 25 volunteers of 9 nationalities, lasted exactly 2 months, and was characterized by major organizational difficulties and problems to create awareness among other rescue teams regarding the availability of dialysis possibilities. Part of the Haitian patients with AKI reached the Dominican Republic (DR) and received their therapy there. The nephrological community in the DR was able to cope with this extra patient load. In both Haiti and the DR, dialysis treatment was able to be prevented in at least 40 patients by screening and adequate fluid administration. Since laboratory facilities were destroyed in Port-au-Prince and were thus lacking during the first weeks of the intervention, the use from the very beginning on of a point-of-care device (i-STAT®) was very efficient for the detection of aberrant kidney function and electrolyte parameters. In Chile, nephrological problems were essentially related to difficulties delivering dialysis treatment to CKD patients, due to the damage to several units. This necessitated the reallocation of patients and the adaptation of their schedules. The problems could be handled by the local nephrologists. These observations illustrate that local and international preparedness might be life-saving if renal problems occur in earthquake circumstances