Euro: A new color vision test in the pockets of three hundred million Europeans

Desde el 1 de enero de 2002, doce países de la Unión Europea tienen una nueva moneda común - el euro. Entre las muchas ventajas que el uso de esta moneda única pueda traer, hay una que es buena por casualidad desde el punto de vista del estudio de las anomalías en la visión del color: las monedas de euro sirven como una prueba concreta para detectar visión cromática anómala.As of 1 January 2002, twelve European Union countries have a new common currency - the euro. Amongst the many advantages that the use of this single currency may bring, there is one that is serendipitous from the viewpoint of studying anomalies in color vision: the eurocent coins serve as a ready-made test to detect anomalous chromatic vision.peerReviewe

Representational task formats and problem solving strategies in kinematics and work

Previous studies have reported that students employed different problem solving approaches when presented with the same task structured with different representations. In this study, we explored and compared students’ strategies as they attempted tasks from two topical areas, kinematics and work. Our participants were 19 engineering students taking a calculus-based physics course. The tasks were presented in linguistic, graphical, and symbolic forms and requested either a qualitative solution or a value. The analysis was both qualitative and quantitative in nature focusing principally on the characteristics of the strategies employed as well as the underlying reasoning for their applications. A comparison was also made for the same student’s approach with the same kind of representation across the two topics. Additionally, the participants’ overall strategies across the different tasks, in each topic, were considered. On the whole, we found that the students prefer manipulating equations irrespective of the representational format of the task. They rarely recognized the applicability of a ‘‘qualitative’’ approach to solve the problem although they were aware of the concepts involved. Even when the students included visual representations in their solutions, they seldom used these representations in conjunction with the mathematical part of the problem. Additionally, the students were not consistent in their approach for interpreting and solving problems with the same kind of representation across the two topical areas. The representational format, level of prior knowledge, and familiarity with a topic appeared to influence their strategies, their written responses, and their ability to recognize qualitative ways to attempt a problem. The nature of the solution does not seem to impact the strategies employed to handle the problem

Validación de una escena de realidad virtual aplicando mejoras hiperespectrales en el escenario

Los entornos de realidad virtual (RV) ofrecen cada vez más contenidos de mayor calidad y utilizan diferentes técnicas informáticas para mejorar la experiencia de uso final. En este trabajo, aplicamos técnicas de calibración del dispositivo de RV, creamos diferentes fuentes de luz, midiendo la radiancia de éstas en un entorno real e introducimos texturas espectrales en la representación de los objetos con el fin de aumentar la calidad del entorno de RV. Con el objetivo de validar la mejora conseguida, primero calculamos la diferencia de color entre los objetos reales y los virtuales sin y con texturas hiperespectrales. Además, realizamos un estudio cuantitativo mediante la observación de usuarios para demostrar que las texturas espectrales mejoran la percepción final del usuario en contenidos de RV.Este trabajo ha sido realizado gracias a la ayuda IB20094 y ha sido parcialmente financiado por el Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional

Validación de un test de daltonismo en 3D y realidad virtual

El avance tecnológico que se ha producido en los últimos 10 años está permitiendo de forma progresiva que la información digital se pueda mostrar en 3D y visualizar mediante gafas de Realidad Virtual (RV). Al igual que la tecnología avanza y se adapta, las pruebas para detectar deficiencias visuales del color también se van adecuando a las nuevas tecnologías. Esta adecuación, no debería ser un mero copiar y pegar determinadas láminas o intentar simular cápsulas de colores, que se presentarán al usuario en una aplicación móvil, o una página web, deberían tener una validación científica. Con esta premisa, se presenta la validación de una adaptación virtual del test de Farnsworth-Munsell 100-Hue, elaborado por los autores, que ha demostrado ser equivalente en la función de calificar y clasificar a los observadores

Lower Devonian faunistic succession from the Obejo-Valsequillo-Puebla la Reina Domain (Ossa-Morena Zone, Spain); a preliminary multidisciplinary approach

Lack of adequately palaeontological studies, complex tectonics and discontinuous outcrops difficult the knowledge of the Devonian litho –and biostratigraphic sequence from the Obejo-Valsequillo-Puebla de la Reina Domain and prompted us to start a multidisciplinary study (conodonts, brachiopods, corals, stromatoporids, ostracods, dacryoconarids, fish remains, biofacies) of the region. Herein we present data from four sections (Peñón Cortado –PCR, Pozo del Rincón -PZR, Guadámez 2 –GUA 2 and Zújar –ZUJ) that allow the establishment of a preliminary time framework for further studies

Monte Carlo Simulation of a Modified Chi Distribution with Unequal Variances in the Generating Gaussians. A Discrete Methodology to Study Collective Response Times

The Chi distribution is a continuous probability distribution of a random variable obtained from the positive square root of the sum of k squared variables, each coming from a standard Normal distribution (mean = 0 and variance = 1). The variable k indicates the degrees of freedom. The usual expression for the Chi distribution can be generalised to include a parameter which is the variance (which can take any value) of the generating Gaussians. For instance, for k = 3, we have the case of the Maxwell-Boltzmann (MB) distribution of the particle velocities in the Ideal Gas model of Physics. In this work, we analyse the case of unequal variances in the generating Gaussians whose distribution we will still represent approximately in terms of a Chi distribution. We perform a Monte Carlo simulation to generate a random variable which is obtained from the positive square root of the sum of k squared variables, but this time coming from non-standard Normal distributions, where the variances can take any positive value. Then, we determine the boundaries of what to expect when we start from a set of unequal variances in the generating Gaussians. In the second part of the article, we present a discrete model to calculate the parameter of the Chi distribution in an approximate way for this case (unequal variances). We also comment on the application of this simple discrete model to calculate the parameter of the MB distribution (Chi of k = 3) when it is used to represent the reaction times to visual stimuli of a collective of individuals in the framework of a Physics inspired model we have published in a previous work

RELAÇÃO ENTRE O ESTADO PSICOSSOCIAL DO CUIDADOR INFORMAL E O TEMPO DE CUIDADO DOS IDOSOS DA REGIÃO CENTRO DE PORTUGAL

O papel desempenhado pela família e cuidadores no tratamento dos idosos é essencial para a promoção e manutenção da sua qualidade de vida, garantindo a sua manutenção do domicílio por um período de tempo mais alargado. Objetivo: Compreender a existência da sobrecarga do cuidador informal e os fatores associados (apoio disponíveis e perfil), bem como estudar o estabelecimento relacional entre o tempo e a sobrecarga. Metodologia: Um questionário de dados sociodemográficos e QASCI (Questionário de Avaliação da Sobrecarga do Cuidador Informal) aplicado a 30 cuidadores da região centro de Portuga. Resultados: São caraterísticas do perfil do cuidador, 45 anos, casado, existência de coabitação e razões relacionadas com o dever e a ligação emocional subjacente

Percentile Study of chi Distribution. Application to Response Time Data.

As a continuation of our previous work, where a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution was found to model a collective's reaction times, in this work we will carry out a percentile study of the χ distribution for some freedom ranging from k = 2 to k = 10. The most commonly used percentiles in the biomedical and behavioral sciences have been included in the analysis. We seek to provide a look-up table with percentile ratios, taken symmetrically about the median, such that this distribution can be identified in practice in an easy way. We have proven that these ratios do not depend upon the variance chosen for the k generating Gaussians. In general, the χ probability density, generalized to take any value of the variance, represents an ideal gas in a k-dimensional space. We also derive an approximate expression for the median of the generalized χ distribution. In the second part of the results, we will focus on the practical case of k = 3, which represents the ideal gas in physics, and models quite well the reaction times of a human collective. Accurately, we will perform a more detailed scrutiny of the percentiles for the reaction time distribution of a sample of 50 school-aged children (7200 reaction times)

Alkane oxidation by a carboxylate-bridged dimanganese(III) complex

A new manganese(III) oxamato dimer possesing an unprecedented Mn2(μ-O2CR)(μ-OH2…O2CR) core has been synthesised, structurally and magnetically characterised, and used as a catalyst for the oxidation of alkanes to alcohols and ketones by Bu^tO2H and O2 in CH2Cl2 at rt.Blay Llinares, Gonzalo, [email protected] ; Fernandez Picot, Isabel, [email protected] ; Pedro Llinares, Jose Ramon, [email protected] ; Ruiz Garcia, Rafael, [email protected] ; Pardo Marin, Emilio Jose, [email protected] ; Lloret Pastor, Francisco, [email protected]

Bem-estar psicológico na reforma: a importância da preparação dos trabalhadores para a transição

  O envelhecimento da população é uma realidade atual da nossa sociedade e, portanto, torna-se fundamental a criação de estratégias para que esta fase da vida seja vivida de forma positiva e saudável. Não obstante, é impossível evitar certas perdas que vão ocorrendo ao longo do envelhecimento, pois fazem parte do próprio processo. A reforma é uma dessas perdas, a nível social, com um grande impacto na vida dos indivíduos e nas famílias uma vez que todos nós somos profissionalmente ativos durante grande parte das nossas vidas. Torna-se, assim, importante a criação de estratégias precoces que habilitem as pessoas adultas e profissionalmente ativas para prepararem o seu próprio processo de reforma, isto é, a transição do trabalho ativo para a aposentadoria. Uma dessas estratégias poderá ser a frequência de um curso que se destina a preparar as pessoas adultas para esta transição. O presente trabalho avança com hipóteses sobre o impacto desta estratégia no nível de bem-estar psicológico dos adultos. Palavras-chave: reforma; educação; satisfação com a vida; envelhecimento