Use of baited remote underwater video (BRUV) and motion analysis for studying the impacts of underwater noise upon free ranging fish and implications for marine energy management

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd Free-ranging individual fish were observed using a baited remote underwater video (BRUV) system during sound playback experiments. This paper reports on test trials exploring BRUV design parameters, image analysis and practical experimental designs. Three marine species were exposed to playback noise, provided as examples of behavioural responses to impulsive sound at 163–171 dB re 1 μPa (peak-to-peak SPL) and continuous sound of 142.7 dB re 1 μPa (RMS, SPL), exhibiting directional changes and accelerations. The methods described here indicate the efficacy of BRUV to examine behaviour of free-ranging species to noise playback, rather than using confinement. Given the increasing concern about the effects of water-borne noise, for example its inclusion within the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive, and the lack of empirical evidence in setting thresholds, this paper discusses the use of BRUV, and short term behavioural changes, in supporting population level marine noise management

Estudio de técnicas de odometría visual monocular

En nuestros días, incorporar la navegación autónoma a vehículos y robots en general, se ha convertido en una temática en pleno auge con potenciales aplicaciones como facilitar operaciones de salvamento y rescate en entornos hostiles, la domótica y hasta la exploración espacial. Para lograr esta preciada capacidad cobra especial importancia el estudio de la estimación de movimiento y reconstrucción del entorno, cuya investigación viene desarrollándose desde hace ya algunos años. Existen numerosas formas de enfocar estas materias, entre las que encontramos la odometría visual de una sola cámara, o monocular: el propósito del presente estudio será elaborar un exhaustivo análisis sobre este tema. Para ello, presentaremos las líneas de investigación dominantes en este campo, clasificando las técnicas más populares del estado del arte. Acto seguido abordaremos la exploración más detallada de una de estas técnicas, tanto teórica como experimentalmente, dando paso a efectuar diversas pruebas en un entorno especialmente dedicado a ello, pudiendo así examinar cómo se implementa en la práctica.Nowadays, incorporating autonomous navigation to vehicles and robots in general has become a booming theme with potential applications such as facilitating rescue operations in hostile environments, home automation and even space exploration. In order to achieve this precious capacity, the study of the estimation of movement and reconstruction of the environment, whose research has been developing for some years now, is particularly important. There are several ways to approach these subjects, among which we find monocular visual odometry: the purpose of this study will be to elaborate an exhaustive analysis on this subject. To do this, we will present the dominant research lines in this field, classifying the most popular techniques of the state of the art. Then we will discuss the more detailed exploration of one of these techniques, both theoretically and experimentally, giving way to carry out various tests in an environment specially dedicated to it, thus being able to examine how it is implemented in practice.Universidad de Sevilla. Grado en Ingeniería de las Tecnologías de Telecomunicació

Lusternik-Schnirelmann invariants in proper homotopy theory

We introduce and study proper homotopy invariants of the Lusternik-Schnirelmann type, p-cat (-), p-Cat(-), and cat e(-) in the category of Γ2-locally compact spaces and proper maps. As an application, Rn (n Φ 3) is characterized as (i) the unique open manifold X with p-Cat(ΛΓ) = 2, or (ii) the unique open manifold with one strong end and p-cat( c) = 2

Late Gothic German Vault Design Methods and Its Relationship with Spanish Ribbed Vaults

The arrival of European master masons to Burgos and Toledo during the mid-fifteenth century was essential for the promotion of the late Gothic ribbed vault design techniques in Spain. The Antigua Chapel in Seville Cathedral, designed by the Spanish master mason Simón de Colonia on 1497, provides an outstanding case study on this subject. This vault is characterized by the interlacing of the ribs near the springing, reflecting the influence of German ribbed vault designs. This paper analyses the relationship between German ribbed vaults and their design methods with those of Spanish ribbed vaults; with particular attention to the presence of ribs that cut through one another above the springing, materialized in the work of Simón de Colonia. This characteristic is reflected in some manuscripts in the German area, like the Wiener Sammlungen (15th-16th centuries) and the Codex Miniatus 3 (ca. 1560-1570), but no Spanish documents of the same period make reference to it

Effects of nursery environmental cycles on larval red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) growth and survival

Red drum early larval stages migrate through coastal inlets and settle into shallow seagrass meadows within estuaries. This study describes environmental rhythms (ER) in red drum nursery habitats and evaluates their role in larval growth. Well-defined diel ER were observed in temperature (amplitude: 2 to 4.5°C) and dissolved oxygen (DO) (range: 2.9-7.5 mg O2 L-1), and sporadic cooling caused by cold fronts. We exposed groups of settlement sized larvae (4.9 mm standard length) to two oscillating temperature treatments (amplitudes: 3 and 6°C; daily mean 27°C), an oscillating DO treatment (range: 2.4-6.1 mg O2 L-1; daily mean 4.2 mg O2 L-1) and a control (no cycles; daily mean 27°C, 6.4 mg O2 L-1). Relative to controls, growth was significantly reduced in the DO treatment but not in the temperature treatments. Survival was similar in all treatments. Fish previously exposed to temperature cycles maintained faster growth rates and higher food intake than control fish when exposed to a simulated cold front. These results suggest that (1) ER may impart a physiological advantage to fish, (2) acclimation to oscillating DO environments is unlikely, and (3) field estimates of environmental characteristics based upon averaged daily point samples are inadequate for predicting fish growth

Aprendizaje progresivo basado en proyectos en el ámbito de la Ingeniería Biomédica: diseño, construcción y programación de un ECG basado en un microcontrolador de bajo coste

En la coyuntura sanitaria y educacional en la que se encuentra la sociedad desde hace unos años, el Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech confeccionó unos planes de estudio para una serie de grados que pretendían cubrir la necesidad del Ingeniero Informático dentro de la rama sanitaria. Estos grados, con un primer ciclo común, se subdividen en el segundo ciclo en tres especialidades. Una de ellas es la denominada Ingeniería Biomédica, que forma a Ingenieros con conocimiento de Informática a nivel de Hardware para el diseño y mantenimiento de maquinaria e instrumentación de aplicación en hospitales y centros sanitarios. Este grado se imparte actualmente en la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Informática de la Universidad de Sevilla. En este contexto, la asignatura “Instrumentación Biomédica” tiene un papel fundamental para el aprendizaje del funcionamiento y diseño de instrumentos de pequeña y mediana escala dentro del ámbito anteriormente especificado. En este trabajo se plantea un mecanismo escalonado y basado en problemas [1,2] para el aprendizaje de los diversos instrumentos electrónicos de aplicación sanitaria. El objetivo del mecanismo de aprendizaje es aportar al alumnado conocimientos básicos acerca del funcionamiento y diseño de todo tipo de sensores y actuadores electrónicos, a la vez que se les introduce en la programación de un microcontrolador de bajo coste y basado en Arduino para manejar dichos periféricos. De forma progresiva se van integrando los conocimientos de todas las prácticas a lo largo del curso para, finalmente, ser capaces de confeccionar y desarrollar un electrocardiógrafo portátil mediante un microcontrolador, una sonda, un amplificador operacional, un display gráfico, una placa de prototipado y diversos componentes electrónicos básicos tales como potenciómetros, pulsadores y diodos led para el control del funcionamiento del instrumento.SUMMARY -- In the current situation of Health and Education. the Andalusia Tech International Excellence Campus drew up a curriculum for three degrees that are intended to cover the need of Computer Engineer within the healthcare industry. These degrees, with a common first cycle of two years, have three specialties in the second cycle. One of them is the Biomedical Engineering, which trains engineers with knowledge of Computer Hardware level for the design and maintenance of machinery and instrumentation for application in hospitals and health centers. This degree is currently offered at the Technical Superior School of Computer Science at the University of Seville. In this context, the course "Biomedical Instrumentation" has a fundamental role for learning the operation and design of small and medium-scaled instruments. In this paper, a step-by-step and problem-based learning is explained inside the Biomedical Instrumentation course. The main objective of this learning mechanism is to provide basic knowledge about performance and design medical instruments with several types of electronic sensors and actuators, while students are introduced in the programming of a low-cost Arduino-based to handle these peripherals. Progressively they integrate the knowledge of all practices sesions throughout the course to finally be able to prepare and develop a portable electrocardiograph by a microcontroller, a probe, an operational amplifier, a graphical display, a prototyping board and several basic electronic components such as potentiometers, pushbuttons and leds for controlling the operation of the instrument

Characterising the size and shape of metallic nano-structures by their acoustic vibrations

© 2020 The Royal Society of Chemistry. The characterisation of metallic nano-structures is of great importance as their optical properties are strongly dependent on their size and shape. Inaccurate size or shape characterisation can result in misleading measurements in applications such as bio-imaging and sensing. Characterisation techniques such as dynamic light scattering, electron microscopy or atomic force microscopy are commonly used; however, performing sub-surface measurements (inside semi-transparent objects) or in liquid media are very challenging. Here, we use time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy to characterise the size and shape of metallic nano-structures in a water surrounding medium by using their vibrational modes. We show that this technique can achieve size measurements with a precision of 3 nm for the largest nano-structures which are in agreement with electron microscopy images. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ability to probe individual nano-structures despite being located in the same optical point spread function (PSF). Combining the high precision and sub-optical measurements provided by this technique with the ability to insert metallic nano-structures inside biological samples might open a way to perform 3D characterisation measurements

Signos neuromusculares anormales tras la anestesia con romifidina-propofol-halotano en dos algas

Dos galgas (ASA I, con edades de 1.5 y 8 años) incluídas en un estudio anestésico experimental, mostraron signos de una reacción neuromuscular epileptiforme con mioclonías, movimientos natatorios de las extremidades anteriores y opistótonos, durante el inicio de la recuperación anestésica en varios procedimientos anestésicos. Ninguna tenía antecedentes de epilepsia. Las dos fueron anestesiadas con los siguientes protocolos anestésicos: 1. Romifidina (ROM) Ilvl-Atropina (ATR)- Propofol (PRO)-Halotano (HAL), 2. ROM IV-ATRPRO-HAL. 3. Xilacina (XIL)-ATR-PRO-HAL, 4. Medetomidina (MED)-ATR-PRO-HAL y 5. ROMATR-Tiopental sódico (TIO)-HAL. Las perras no fueron sometidas a ninguna intervención quirúrgica. La anestesia se mantuvo durante 60 minutos en todos los casos. Las variables anestésicas y los parámetros sanguíneos estudiados se mantuvieron dentro de los rangos normales. La galga mayor mostró el cuadro descrito en los protocolos 1, 2 y 3 (más marcado en el 2), mientras que la más joven sólo los presentó en el 2, y con una menor intensidad en los signos clínicos. En todos los casos, éstos aparecieron de 2 a 5 minutos después de terminar la administración de halotano, y tras 15 minutos, y adoptar las pacientes el decúbito esternal, los signos cesaron. No fue necesario administrar ningún fármaco para aliviar el cuadro convulsivo. A partir de entonces, la recuperación fue normal y las pacientes no mostraron posteriormente síntomas nerviosos.Two female Greyhounds (ASA I, aged 1.5 and 8 years) showed signs of a neuromuscular epileptiforrn activity, with paddling, opisthotonus and shivering, during the anaesthetic recovery in some anaesthetic protocols. No epilepsy history was registered befare in any patient. The dogs were anaesthetized with the following procedures: 1. Romifidine (ROM) IMAtropine (ATR)-Propofol (PRO)-Halothane (HAL), 2. ROM IV-ATR-PRO-HAL. 3. Xylazine (XIL)-ATR-PROHAL, 4. Medetomidine (MED)-ATR-PRO-HAL y 5. ROM-ATR-Thiopentone (TIO)-HAL. The older Greyhound showed an epileptiforrn activity in the protocols 1, 2 and 3 (more intense in 2), however the younger one only exhibited these signs in the protocol 2. The older one suffered excitatory phenomena deeper than the other one. In all cases, signs began 2-5 minutes after the end of the halothane administration, and after 15 minutes, when the patients adopted the sternal recumbency the signs disappeared. Anaesthetic variables and haematological values were within normal limits. No drug was administered for treating the excitatory phenomena. The recovery was normal and the dogs did not exhibite nervous signs later

Estructura y variabilidad genética del bisonte americano (Bison bison) en México

Controlling for genetic variables to managing conservation populations. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genetic markers were used to analyze genetic structure and variability in an American bison population in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. A total of 174 individuals were sampled and analysis done of 42,366 SNP distributed in 29 chromosomes. Estimates were done of expected (He) and observed (Ho) heterozygosity, polymorphic information content (PIC), the fixation index (FST), the Shannon index (SI), linkage disequilibrium (LD), kinship relationships (Rij; %), and effective population size (Ne). A genetic structure analysis was run to infer how many lines or genomes (k) define the studied population. A panel with 2,135 polymorphic SNPs was identified and selected, with an average of 74 SNP per chromosome. In the exclusion process, 84.5 % were monomorphic, 8.5 % had a usable percentage less than 90 %, 6.3 % had a minor allele frequency less than 0.01 and 0.70 % exhibited Hardy-Weinberg disequilibrium (P<0.05). Estimated values were 0.30 for the SI, 0.187 for Ho, 0.182 for He, -0.029 for the FST, and 0.152 for PIC. Of the 15,051 Rij estimates generated, the average value was 7.6 %, and 45.1 % were equal to zero. The Ne was 12.5, indicating a possible increase of 4 % in consanguinity per generation. Three genetic lines were identified (proportions = 0.730, 0.157 and 0.113), and, given the study population’s origin, are probably associated with natural selection or genetic drift. Genetic variability, as well as Rij levels, must be considered in conservation schemes.Los objetivos fueron analizar la estructura y variabilidad genética del bisonte americano con marcadores genéticos de tipo SNP. Se muestrearon 174 bisontes y se analizaron 42,366 SNP distribuidos en los 29 cromosomas. Se estimó la heterocigosis esperada (He) y observada (Ho), contenido de información polimórfica (CIP), índice de fijación (FIS), índice de Shannon (IS), desequilibrio de ligamiento y relación de parentesco (Rij; %), así como el tamaño efectivo de población (Ne). Se realizó un análisis de estructura genética para inferir cuántas líneas o genomas (k) definen la población. Se identificó y seleccionó un panel con 2,135 SNP polimórficos, con un promedio de 74 SNP por cromosoma. En el proceso de exclusión,  84.5 % fueron monomórficos,  8.5 % con porcentaje de usables menor a 90 %, 6.3 % con frecuencia del alelo menor inferior a 0.01 y 0.70 % por desequilibrio Hardy-Weinberg (P<0.05). Las estimaciones de IS, Ho, He, FIS y CIP fueron de 0.30, 0.187, 0.182, -0.029 y 0.152, respectivamente. Se generaron 15,051 estimaciones de Rij, el valor promedio de éstas fue 7.6 %, y el 45.1 % de ellas fue igual a cero. El Ne fue de 12.5, señalando un posible incremento de consanguinidad por generación de 4 %. Se identificaron tres líneas genéticas, con proporciones de 0.730, 0.157 y 0.113; dado el origen de la población, se asocian a selección natural o deriva genética. La variabilidad genética, así como los niveles de la Rij, se deben de considerar en esquemas de conservación

Formulación integral del análisis dinámico de materiales transversalmente isótropos

Muchos materiales compuestos pueden ser tratados a nivel macroscópico como medios homogéneos de comportamiento transversalmente isótropo. A su vez, el análisis de problemas dinámicos en medios homogéneos. isótropos o no, clásticolincales puede formularse en términos ele un conjunto de Ecuaciones Integrales ele Contorno (EIC), fácilmente resolubles mediante el Método de los Elementos de Contorno (MEC). Para ello es necesario conocer la solución fundamental clastodinámica (i.e., la respues­ta de un medio infinito a la aplicación ele una carga puntual) en una forma relativamente sencilla. Partiendo de la solución fundamental propuesta por Wang y Achenbach ( 1995) para materiales transversalmente isótropos. se presenta aquí la formulación e implementación numérica de un código de Elementos de Contorno que permite el aná­lisis dinámico ele este tipo ele mediosMany fiber reinforced composites can be idealized as being effectively homogeneous and having a transversely isotropic type of behavior. The formulation of the three-dimensional elastodynamic problem for linear homogeneous solids can be reduced to a set of Boundary Integral Equations (BJE's) for field quantities. These equations can be solved in a simple dtraightforward manner by thc Boundary Element Methocl (BEM). For a succesful implementation of this method. the elastodynamic fundlamental solution (i.e., the response of an unbounded solid due to the application of a point force) must be known in a relatively simple form. In this work, the ellective implementation of the fundamental solution proposed by Wang and Achenbach ( 1995) for transversely isotropic materials is studied in detail. enabling it for its use with a Bounclary Element code for the dynamic analysis of transversely isotropic media