Determinación biométrica de Paradoxides mureroensis Sdzuy 1958

En este trabajo se estudian las diferentes medidas biométricas tomadas en más de 100 ejemplares de Paradoxides mureroensis SozUY 1958 con el fin de obtener las características cuantitativas precisas de dicha especie. Su correcta identificación ayuda a situar la base del Cámbrico Medio

Wearable Fall Detector Using Recurrent Neural Networks

Falls have become a relevant public health issue due to their high prevalence and negative effects in elderly people. Wearable fall detector devices allow the implementation of continuous and ubiquitous monitoring systems. The effectiveness for analyzing temporal signals with low energy consumption is one of the most relevant characteristics of these devices. Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) have demonstrated a great accuracy in some problems that require analyzing sequential inputs. However, getting appropriate response times in low power microcontrollers remains a difficult task due to their limited hardware resources. This work shows a feasibility study about using RNN-based deep learning models to detect both falls and falls’ risks in real time using accelerometer signals. The effectiveness of four different architectures was analyzed using the SisFall dataset at different frequencies. The resulting models were integrated into two different embedded systems to analyze the execution times and changes in the model effectiveness. Finally, a study of power consumption was carried out. A sensitivity of 88.2% and a specificity of 96.4% was obtained. The simplest models reached inference times lower than 34 ms, which implies the capability to detect fall events in real-time with high energy efficiency. This suggests that RNN models provide an effective method that can be implemented in low power microcontrollers for the creation of autonomous wearable fall detection systems in real-time

Constant rate thermal analysis for thermal stability studies of polymers

This paper explores the relationship between the shapes of temperature-time curves obtained from experimental data recorded by means of constant rate thermal analysis (CRTA) and the kinetic model followed by the thermal degradation reaction. A detailed shape analysis of CRTA curves has been performed as a function of the most common kinetic models. The analysis has been validated with simulated data, and with experimental data recorded from the thermal degradation of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), poly(1,4-butylene terephthalate) (PBT), polyethylene (PE) and poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). The resulting temperature-time profiles indicate that the studied polymers decompose through phase boundary, random scission, diffusion and nucleation mechanisms respectively. The results here presented demonstrate that the strong dependence of the temperature-time profile on the reaction mechanism would allow the real kinetic model obeyed by a reaction to be discerned from a single CRTA curve.Junta de Andalucía TEP-03002Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación MAT 2008-06619/MA

TPU Cloud-Based Generalized U-Net for Eye Fundus Image Segmentation

Medical images from different clinics are acquired with different instruments and settings. To perform segmentation on these images as a cloud-based service we need to train with multiple datasets to increase the segmentation independency from the source. We also require an ef cient and fast segmentation network. In this work these two problems, which are essential for many practical medical imaging applications, are studied. As a segmentation network, U-Net has been selected. U-Net is a class of deep neural networks which have been shown to be effective for medical image segmentation. Many different U-Net implementations have been proposed.With the recent development of tensor processing units (TPU), the execution times of these algorithms can be drastically reduced. This makes them attractive for cloud services. In this paper, we study, using Google's publicly available colab environment, a generalized fully con gurable Keras U-Net implementation which uses Google TPU processors for training and prediction. As our application problem, we use the segmentation of Optic Disc and Cup, which can be applied to glaucoma detection. To obtain networks with a good performance, independently of the image acquisition source, we combine multiple publicly available datasets (RIM-One V3, DRISHTI and DRIONS). As a result of this study, we have developed a set of functions that allow the implementation of generalized U-Nets adapted to TPU execution and are suitable for cloud-based service implementation.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2016-77785-

CO2 multicyclic capture of pretreated/doped CaO in the Ca-looping process. Theory and experiments

We study in this paper the conversion of CaO-based CO2 sorbents when subjected to repeated carbonation/calcination cycles with a focus on thermally pretreated/doped sorbents. Analytical equations are derived to describe the evolution of conversion with the cycle number from a unifying model based on the balance between surface area loss due to sintering in the loopingcalcination stage and surface area regeneration as a consequence of solid-state diffusion during the looping-carbonation stage. Multicyclic CaO conversion is governed by the evolution of surface area loss/regeneration that strongly depends on the initial state of the pore skeleton. In the case of thermally pretreated sorbents, the initial pore skeleton is highly sintered and regeneration is relevant whereas, for nonpretreated sorbents, the initial pore skeleton is soft and regeneration is negligible. Experimental results are obtained for sorbents subjected to a preheating controlled rate thermal analysis (CRTA) program. By applying this preheating program in a CO2 enriched atmosphere, CaO can be subjected to a rapid carbonation followed by a slow rate controlled decarbonation, which yields a highly sintered skeleton displaying a small conversion in the first cycle and self-reactivation in the next ones. Conversely, carbonation of the sorbent at a slow controlled rate enhances CO2 solid-state diffusion, which gives rise, after a quick decarbonation, to a highly porous skeleton. In this case, CaO conversion in the first cycle is very large but it decays abruptly in subsequent cycles. Data on CaO conversion retrieved from the literature and from further experimental measurements performed in our work are analyzed as influenced by a variety of experimental variables such as preheating temperature program, preheating exposition time, atmosphere composition, presence of additives, and carbonation/calcination conditions. Conversion data are well fitted by the proposed model equations, which are of help for a quantitative interpretation on the effect of experimental conditions on the multicyclic sorbent performance as a function of sintering/ regeneration parameters inferred from the fittings and allow foreseeing the critical conditions to promote reactivation. The peculiar behavior of some pretreated sorbents, showing a maximum of conversion at a small number of cycles, is explained in the light of the mode

Fernado Amor y Mayor, new information for his biography and analysis of geological contributions of his work

n la primera parte de este trabajo se exponen nuevos datos sobre la vida y la obra de Fernando Amor y Mayor, obtenidos tras la investigación realizada en diversos archivos e instituciones. Se proponen nuevas interpretaciones sobre el desarrollo de su vida académica, se discuten algunas opiniones expresadas por anteriores biógrafos y se presentan documentos inéditos que aclaran el lugar donde en la actualidad reposan sus restos mortales. En la segunda parte de este trabajo se analizan las aportaciones geológicas y paleontológicas de Fernando Amor, fruto de sus recorridos como naturalista por la provincia de Córdoba, durante los años que fue catedrático de Historia Natural del Instituto, de su viaje a Marruecos realizado en 1859 y de las labores geológicas llevadas a cabo como miembro de la Comisión Científica del Pacífico, entre 1862 y 1863, así como de su actividad como recolector de objetos naturales. También se pone de relieve su colaboración con los geólogos franceses que en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX realizaban trabajos en España, a los que acompañó en diversas ocasiones durante sus estudios por la provincia de Córdoba, y como experto conocedor del terreno les facilitó datos de gran relieve paleontológico y estratigráfico.The first part of this work presents new data on the life and work of Fernando Amor y Mayor obtained after research in various archives and institutions. New interpretations are proposed on the development of his academic life, discusses some opinions expressed by previous biographers, and presents unpublished documents that clarify the place where his remains rest. The second part of this paper discusses the geological and paleontological contributions of Fernando Amor, fruit of this travels as a naturalist in the province of Córdoba, during the years he was Professor of Natural History of the Institute. It includes his trip to Morocco in 1859 and geological work performed as a member of the Pacific Scientic Commission, between 1862 and 1863, and his activity as a collector of natural objects. It also highlights his collaboration with French geologists in Spain in the second half of the nineteenth century. He accompanied them on several aoccasions during his studies in the province of Córdoba, and, as an expert on the field, he provided important paleontological and straigraphical dataDepto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEpu

Calcimicrobial-archaeocyath-bearing clasts from marine slope deposits of the Cambrian Mount Wegener Formation, Coats Land, Shackleton Range, Antarctica

The carbonate clasts from the Mount Wegener Formation provide sedimentological, diagenetic and palaeontological evidences of the destruction and resedimentation of a hidden/unknown Cambrian carbonate shallow-water record at the Coats Land region of Antarctica. This incomplete mosaic could play a key role in comparisons and biostratigraphic correlations between the Cambrian record of the Transantarctic Mountains, Ellsworth-Whitmore block and Antarctic Peninsula at the Antarctica continent. Moreover, it represents a key record in future palaeobiogeographic reconstructions of South Gondwana based on archaeocyathan assemblages

Approach to History of Spanish Paleontology

El desarrollo de los estudios paleontológicos en España es solidario con la evolución de la Ciencia en nuestro país y refleja sus avances y estancamientos. Para su análisis se pueden considerar como hitos fundamentales el reflejo de los "huesos de gigantes" en los cronistas de Indias, el Aparato de Torrubia y su relación con las hipótesis diluvistas, la fundación de Organismos, Instituciones y revistas científicas, la introducción de la Paleontología como materia docente en la Escuela de Minas y en la Universidad y la difusión de las ideas darwinistas, todos ellos tuvieron como consecuencia el despegue de la Paleontología española en el último tercio del siglo XIX y en el primero del XX.The development of paleontological studies in Spain has gone hand and hand with the evolution of Science in our country, and it reflects on its advancements and stallings. For its analisys we can consider as main events the noticing of "giant bones" by the chroniclers of the New World, the "Aparato" of Torrubia and its relation with the flooding hypotheses, the foundation of Scientific Organisms, Institutions and Journals, the introduction of Paleontology as a subject in Mining School and in the University, and the difussion of darwinian ideas. All these had as their main consequence the raising of spanish paleontology in the last third of the Nineteenth Century and first third of the Twentieth.Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasFALSEpu

Mr. José Macpherson y Hemas (1832-1902) one scientist and three institutions: the Sociedad Española de Historia Natural, the Institución Libre de Enseñanza and the Sociedad Geográfica de Madrid

Se analiza la participación de D. José Macpherson en la fundación y desarrollo inicial de tres Instituciones científicas españolas en el último tercio del siglo XIX, Sociedad Española de Historia Natural, Institución Libre de Enseñanza y Sociedad Geográfica de Madrid, su grado de vinculación y colaboración con cada una de ellas, así como los trabajos que publicó en las revistas que editaron, destacando sus importantes aportaciones al conocimiento geológico de nuestro país.Mr. José Macpherson’s involvement in the establishment and initial development of three of Spanish scientific Institutions in the last third of the Twentieth Century, the Sociedad Española de Historia Natural, the Institución Libre de Enseñanza and the Sociedad Geográfica de Madrid, is reviewed. His degree of involvement and collaboration with each of them is also appraised, together with his papers published in the journals they edited, calling the attention towards his contribution to the geological understanding of our country.Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEEspaña. Ministerio de Educación y Cienciapu