Experiencing multilingual identities and interculturality through learning and socialising in languages: The ecologies of two “language cafés”

This study investigates two “language cafés” (LCs), i.e., public events which provide an informal learning space for (foreign) language socialisation. Underpinned by social constructionism, an ecological approach to language research, and ethnographically-inspired methods of data collection, the study sheds light on the co-construction of the LCs as meaningful sites for languaging and language socialisation, and explores their affordances for experiencing and performing one’s multilingual identities and interculturality. Adopting a reflexive stance, the researcher participated in the LCs as a language learner drawing on her multilingual repertoire and subjectivities, thus contributing to researching multilingually praxis by demonstrating the affordances of translanguaging as methodology. Data were collected through participant-observation, audio-recording of naturally-occurring conversations in the LCs, semi-structured interviews and focus groups, participants’ written reflections, and a researcher’s reflective journal. The findings show that participants co-constructed the LCs to seek out alternative and decentred ways of dwelling in their languages by making them part of their everyday lives and leisure activities, regardless of proximity to “target language” countries. The pleasure of languaging and the value of LCs as an intellectual and social hobby often outweighed the instrumental value of these events for the development of language skills. Further, the LCs mobilised participants’ multilingual identities and their sense of multilingual social selves which prompted them to draw on their previous language socialisation experiences. Finally, the LCs offered a safe space to engage in multiperspectivity and learn about each other’s worldviews, as well as to connect with like-minded, cosmopolitan, multilingual speakers. This doctoral thesis contributes to the field of language learning beyond the classroom by focusing on how languages are lived intersubjectively, rather than merely learned or acquired. This is consistent with a poststructuralist view of language and intercultural learning as experiencing new ways of being in the world, and much more than the development of skills

Flexible system of multiple RGB-D sensors for measuring and classifying fruits in agri-food Industry

The productivity of the agri-food sector experiences continuous and growing challenges that make the use of innovative technologies to maintain and even improve their competitiveness a priority. In this context, this paper presents the foundations and validation of a flexible and portable system capable of obtaining 3D measurements and classifying objects based on color and depth images taken from multiple Kinect v1 sensors. The developed system is applied to the selection and classification of fruits, a common activity in the agri-food industry. Being able to obtain complete and accurate information of the environment, as it integrates the depth information obtained from multiple sensors, this system is capable of self-location and self-calibration of the sensors to then start detecting, classifying and measuring fruits in real time. Unlike other systems that use specific set-up or need a previous calibration, it does not require a predetermined positioning of the sensors, so that it can be adapted to different scenarios. The characterization process considers: classification of fruits, estimation of its volume and the number of assets per each kind of fruit. A requirement for the system is that each sensor must partially share its field of view with at least another sensor. The sensors localize themselves by estimating the rotation and translation matrices that allow to transform the coordinate system of one sensor to the other. To achieve this, Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm is used and subsequently validated with a 6 degree of freedom KUKA robotic arm. Also, a method is implemented to estimate the movement of objects based on the Kalman Filter. A relevant contribution of this work is the detailed analysis and propagation of the errors that affect both the proposed methods and hardware. To determine the performance of the proposed system the passage of different types of fruits on a conveyor belt is emulated by a mobile robot carrying a surface where the fruits were placed. Both the perimeter and volume are measured and classified according to the type of fruit. The system was able to distinguish and classify the 95% of fruits and to estimate their volume with a 85% of accuracy in worst cases (fruits whose shape is not symmetrical) and 94% of accuracy in best cases (fruits whose shape is more symmetrical), showing that the proposed approach can become a useful tool in the agri-food industry.This project has been supported by the National Commission for Science and Technology Research of Chile (Conicyt) under FONDECYT grant 1140575 and the Advanced Center of Electrical and Electronic Engineering - AC3E (CONICYT/FB0008)

Optimal interpolation of satellite and ground data for irradiance nowcasting at city scales

We use a Bayesian method, optimal interpolation, to improve satellite derived irradiance estimates at city-scales using ground sensor data. Optimal interpolation requires error covariances in the satellite estimates and ground data, which define how information from the sensor locations is distributed across a large area. We describe three methods to choose such covariances, including a covariance parameterization that depends on the relative cloudiness between locations. Results are computed with ground data from 22 sensors over a 75×80 km area centered on Tucson, AZ, using two satellite derived irradiance models. The improvements in standard error metrics for both satellite models indicate that our approach is applicable to additional satellite derived irradiance models. We also show that optimal interpolation can nearly eliminate mean bias error and improve the root mean squared error by 50%

Análisis de la implementación del proceso administrativo de la Empresa Inspectorate Services Perú SAC, Pataz 2022

La investigación se basa en el análisis de la implementación del proceso administrativo de la empresa en estudio; con dicho propósito se ha determinado como base Teórica general de la Administración que en la actualidad es la dirección de las actividades en una organización, esto implica la planeación, organización, dirección y control de las actividades que se realizan, así mismo la teoría la de los factores de Herzberg, tiene como finalidad de mejorar el comportamiento de las personas en su centro de trabajo, el tipo de investigación que ha sido aplicada es enfoque cuantitativo, diseño no experimental de corte transversal, nivel explicativo causal, método hipotético deductivo, para obtener los datos se utilizó la técnica de la encuesta tipo preguntas, la población estuvo conformada por 57 colaboradores de la empresa, en la actualidad es contratista geológico y topográfico de compañía, de acuerdo a los resultados del análisis descriptivo e inferencial, concluyeron que el proceso administrativo no es eficiente ya que el personal indica que la dirección es el proceso que tiene el nivel considerado como malo representado un 51.97%, la planeación también es el proceso considerado como malo alcanzando un 44.30% ya que no existe un proceso de toma de decisiones

Beam formulation and FE framework for architected structures under finite deformations

The breakthrough in additive manufacturing (AM) techniques is opening new routes into the conceptualisation of novel architected materials. However, there are still important roadblocks impeding the full implementation of these technologies in different application fields such as soft robotics or bioengineering. One of the main bottlenecks is the difficulty to perform topological optimisation of the structures and their functional design. To help this endeavour, computational models are essential. Although 3D formulations provide the most reliable tools, these usually present very high computational costs. Beam models based on 1D formulations may overcome this limitation but they need to incorporate all the relevant mechanical features of the 3D problem. Here, we propose a mixed formulation for Timoshenko-type beams to consistently account for axial, shear and bending contributions under finite deformation theory. The framework is formulated on general bases and is suitable for most types of materials, allowing for the straightforward particularisation of the constitutive description. To prove validity of the model, we provide original experimental data on a 3D printed elastomeric material. We first validate the computational framework using a benchmark problem and compare the beam formulation predictions with numerical results from an equivalent 3D model. Then, we further validate the framework and illustrate its flexibility to predict the mechanical response of beam-based structures. To this end, we perform original experiments and numerical simulations on two types of relevant structures: a rhomboid lattice and a bi-stable beam structure. In both cases, the numerical results provide a very good agreement with the experiments by means of both quantitative and qualitative results. Overall, the proposed formulation provides a useful tool to help at designing new architected materials and metamaterial structures based on beam components. The framework presented may open new opportunities to guide AM techniques by feeding machine learning optimisation algorithms.The authors acknowledge support from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 under Grant number PID2020-117894GA-I00, and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 947723, project: 4D-BIOMAP). DGG acknowledges support from the Talent Attraction grant (CM 2018 - 2018-T2/IND-9992) from the Comunidad de Madrid. JAR acknowledges support from the Programa de Apoyo a la Realización de Proyectos Interdiscisplinares de I + D para Jóvenes Investigadores de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and Comunidad de Madrid, Spain (project: OPTIMUM)

Pluralismo jurídico en Colombia: Una vista a la aplicación de la justicia ancestral de las comunidades indígenas y negras

El pluralismo jurídico en Colombia le ha abierto la puerta a las comunidades especiales en el país para que puedan poner en prácticas sus formas propias de administración de justicia; dichas prác-ticas buscan la resolución de conflictos que se encuentren dentro de estas colectividades de una manera pacífica y así mismo creando pequeños precedentes entre éstos para abstenerse de cometer algunas conductas punibles que lleven a una sanción por parte de las autoridades.En el presente artículo encontraremos cómo desarrolla Colombia el pluralismo jurídico y cómo las comunidades indígenas y negras reconocidas por el Estado están facultadas para administrar justi-cias, cómo se desarrolla el sistema jurídico y cómo la administración de justicia les permite a estas personas seguir conservando sus tradiciones culturales

Dynamics for a 2-vertex Quantum Gravity Model

We use the recently introduced U(N) framework for loop quantum gravity to study the dynamics of spin network states on the simplest class of graphs: two vertices linked with an arbitrary number N of edges. Such graphs represent two regions, in and out, separated by a boundary surface. We study the algebraic structure of the Hilbert space of spin networks from the U(N) perspective. In particular, we describe the algebra of operators acting on that space and discuss their relation to the standard holonomy operator of loop quantum gravity. Furthermore, we show that it is possible to make the restriction to the isotropic/homogeneous sector of the model by imposing the invariance under a global U(N) symmetry. We then propose a U(N) invariant Hamiltonian operator and study the induced dynamics. Finally, we explore the analogies between this model and loop quantum cosmology and sketch some possible generalizations of it.Comment: 28 pages, v2: typos correcte

Influence of data sources and processing methods on theoretical river network quality

ABSTRACT: Stream ecosystem research and water resource management need to be considered over broad spatial scales. Moreover, the investigation of the spatial configuration and habitat characteristics of streams requires an accurate and precise spatial framework to reflect a catchment's physical reality that can successfully explain observed patterns at smaller scales. In this sense, geographic information systems represent an essential tool to satisfy the needs of researchers and managers. Specifically, theoretical river networks (TRNs) extracted from digital elevation models (DEMs) have become much more common in recent years, as they can provide a suitable spatial network and hierarchical organisation to sort out river ecosystem information from reach to catchment levels. Nevertheless, the quality of the extracted TRN depends greatly on the spatial resolution of the DEM and the methodology used in the network extraction processes. In this study, we compare the quality of 9 TRNs extracted from DEMs with different spatial resolutions ranging from regional (5 m) to national (25 m) and global scales (90 m) using the ArcHydro, Hec-GeoHMS and Netstream software packages. To achieve our goal, we compared (i) the DEM-derived slope; (ii) the spatial accuracy of the TRNs in relation to a control river network; (iii) the structure of the TRNs through analysis of the number of river segments, average river segment length and total river length by stream order, drainage density and the mean upstream slope throughout the TRN; and (iv) the ability of variables derived from TRNs to discriminate among stream types classified according to flow type and substrate composition. We demonstrated that not only DEM spatial resolution but also the DEM data source and raster creation process exert an important influence on terrain characteristics derived from DEMs and TRN properties. Moreover, TRNs extracted with NetStream generally showed better performance than those extracted with ArchHydro and HecGeoHMS. Nevertheless, river network extraction quality, DEM spatial resolution and extraction algorithms exhibit complex relationships due to the large number of interacting factors.The work described in this paper is part of a research project financed by the National Plan (2008-2011) for Research in Science & Technology of the Spanish Government (Project CTM2009-07447). The authors appreciate the valuable suggestions of anonymous reviewers that greatly improvement the document

Loop quantum gravity and Planck-size black hole entropy

The Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) program is briefly reviewed and one of its main applications, namely the counting of black hole entropy within the framework is considered. In particular, recent results for Planck size black holes are reviewed. These results are consistent with an asymptotic linear relation (that fixes uniquely a free parameter of the theory) and a logarithmic correction with a coefficient equal to -1/2. The account is tailored as an introduction to the subject for non-experts.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures. Contribution to the Proceedings of the NEB XII International Conferenc

Rhodium-NHC-Catalyzed gem-Specific O-Selective Hydropyridonation of Terminal Alkynes

The dinuclear complex Rh(mu-Cl)(eta(2)-coe)(IPr)](2) is an efficient catalyst for the O-selective Markovnikov-type addition of 2-pyridones to terminal alkynes. DFT calculations support a hydride-free pathway entailing intramolecular oxidative protonation of a pi-alkyne by a kappa N-1-hydroxypyridine ligand. Subsequent O-nucleophilic attack on a metallacyclopropene species affords an O-alkenyl-2-oxypyridine chelate rhodium intermediate as the catalyst resting state. The release of the alkenyl ether is calculated as the rate-determining step