On the Design of Ambient Intelligent Systems in the Context of Assistive Technologies

The design of Ambient Intelligent Systems (AISs) is discussed in the context of assistive technologies. The main issues include ubiquitous communications, context awareness, natural interactions and heterogeneity, which are analyzed using some examples. A layered architecture is proposed for heterogeneous sub-systems integration with three levels of interactions that may be used as a framework to design assistive AISs.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2001-1868-C0

Soil and water pollution in a banana production region in tropical Mexico

The effects of abundant Mancozeb (Mn, Zn— bisdithiocarbamate) applications (2.5 kg ha-1week-1 for 10 years) on soil and surface-, subsurface- and groundwater pollution were monitored in a banana production region of tropical Mexico. In soils, severe manganese accumulation was observed, wheras the main metabolite ethylenethiourea was near the detection limit. Surface and subsurface water was highly polluted with ethylenethiourea, the main metabolite of Mancozeb (22.5 and 4.3 lg L-1, respectively), but not with manganese. In deep ground water, no ethylenethiourea was detected. The level of pollution in the region presents a worrisome risk for aquatic life and for human health

Aplicación del método SPH al estudio hidráulico de estructuras. Análisis hidrodinámico del aliviadero en pozo de la presa de Nagore (Navarra)

ResumenSon muchos los trabajos de calibración realizados que avalan la validez del método de hidrodinámica suavizada de partículas (SPH) para el análisis de flujos turbulentos en lámina libre. Sin embargo, sus altos requerimientos computacionales no permitían su empleo en trabajos reales. El desarrollo de las técnicas de supercomputación en unidades de procesamiento gráfico (GPU) ha modificado esta situación y está permitiendo su utilización como herramienta de diseño.CEDEX ha desarrollado el modelo SPHERIMENTAL basado en esta tecnología con el fin de apoyar los experimentos realizados con modelación física. Esto ha permitido calibrar el modelo y emplearlo en el estudio de fenómenos complejos.Se presentan los trabajos realizados para la comprobación hidrodinámica de flujos en lámina libre del aliviadero en pozo de la presa de Nagore (Navarra), describiendo tanto los trabajos de calibración previos como los resultados obtenidos.AbstractMany calibration works have been performed to support the validity of the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method for studying turbulent-free surface flows. However, its high computational requirements made it difficult to use in real cases. The development of techniques for supercomputing graphics processing units (GPU) has changed this situation, and is allowing its use as a design tool.CEDEX has developed a model based on this technology, SPHERIMENTAL, in order to support studies on physical modelling. This has enabled the model to be calibrated in order to study complex phenomena.This paper shows the works done to check the hydrodynamics free surface flows in the Nagore dam morning glory spillway, describing both the previous calibration works and the results obtained

Editorial: Human rights and inequity in health access of Central American Migrants

Frontiers in Public Health is very pleased to publish this journal issue focusing on the health access of immigrants. Contributions to this journal issue include five articles that rely on different methodologies while focusing on diverse geographic world regions and target populations. This editorial summarizes these features while also highlighting the unique contributions of each article

Efectos psicológicos evidentes en el desarrollo integral de los menores trabajadores del barrio San José del Municipio de Sahagún Córdoba

Tablas, graficas, anexosLa investigación se realizó con el objetivo de determinar los efectos psicológicos evidentes en el desarrollo integral de los menores trabajadores del barrio San José en el municipio de Sahagún – Córdoba. Esto, teniendo en cuenta que existen en Colombia casi 2.500.000 niños trabajando, la mayoría desarrollando actividades que conllevan a peligros como: violencia, abuso, adicción, etc. Lo que los predispone a padecer trastornos psicosociales y los hace más vulnerables ante situaciones laborales que tengan alta exigencia mental y física, partiendo del reconocimiento de que el nivel de vulnerabilidad de los niños está directamente condicionado a su estado de maduración física y psicológica. Los menores trabajadores del barrio San José no son ajenos a esta problemática; en éste barrio se concentra la mayor población infantil de trabajadores del municipio de Sahagún. Aquí, se observan niños y niñas en la calle vendiendo boletas, frutas, fritos, bolis, helados, y otros alimentos que producen en sus casas o en las de particulares que los utilizan como vendedores. Estos pequeños están constantemente expuestos al peligro, pues pasan gran parte de su tiempo en la calle, donde adoptan hábitos y comportamientos inadecuados que los desestabilizan emocionalmente. La investigación aborda la problemática del menor trabajador, apoyándose en referentes teóricos como la teoría del desarrollo integral, teorías del desarrollo humano, en los documentos emitidos por la Organización Internacional del Trabajo, y conceptualizaciones sobre psicología, pedagogía y lúdica. Se destacan autores como: Papalia, Erick Erickson, Jean Piaget, y otros, además se tienen en cuenta aportes tomados de otros trabajos e investigaciones relacionados con esta problemática.The investigation(research) was realized by the aim(lens) to determine the psychological evident effects in the integral development of the hard-working minors of the neighborhood San Jose in Sahagún's municipality - Cordoba. This, bearing in mind that almost 2.500.000 children exist in Colombia working, the majority developing activities that they carry to dangers of violence, abuse or addiction. What it(he,she) predisposes to suffer disorders psicosociales and makes them more vulnerable to labor situations with high mental and physical exigency, departing from the recognition from that the level of vulnerability of the children is directly determined to his(her,your) condition(state) of physical and psychological ripeness. The hard-working minors of the neighborhood San Jose are not foreign to this problematics; in this one there centers the major infantile population of workers of Sahagún's municipality. Children and girls are observed in the street sellers of ballots, fruits, pies and lotteries between(among) others. Small these are constant exposed to the danger, damaging his(her,your) fundamental rights; they spend(pass) great part(report) of his(her,your) time in the street, adopting habits of inadequate behavior that they carry to emotional and behavioral evident changes. It is a question of a qualitative investigation (research) of descriptive type, approached from a critical social approach. In her(it) there were in use the survey, the direct observation and participant and the interview, as principal technologies(skills) for identifying the psychological effects of the work in the children and girls I object of study; the population consists of 60 hard-working minors of the neighborhood San Jose, of which a portion did not take as a sample, but for his(her, your) size it(he, she) was feasible that the sample was corresponding(fitting) to the total of the population

High spatial resolution optical imaging of the multiple T Tauri system LkH{\alpha} 262/LkH{\alpha} 263

We report high spatial resolution i' band imaging of the multiple T Tauri system LkH$\alpha$ 262/LkH$\alpha$ 263 obtained during the first commissioning period of the Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager (AOLI) at the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope, using its Lucky Imaging mode. AOLI images have provided photometry for each of the two components LkH$\alpha$ 263 A and B (0.41 arcsec separation) and marginal evidence for an unresolved binary or a disc in LkH$\alpha$ 262. The AOLI data combined with previously available and newly obtained optical and infrared imaging show that the three components of LkH$\alpha$ 263 are co-moving, that there is orbital motion in the AB pair, and, remarkably, that LkH$\alpha$ 262-263 is a common proper motion system with less than 1 mas/yr relative motion. We argue that this is a likely five-component gravitationally bounded system. According to BT-settl models the mass of each of the five components is close to 0.4 M$_{\odot}$ and the age is in the range 1-2 Myr. The presence of discs in some of the components offers an interesting opportunity to investigate the formation and evolution of discs in the early stages of multiple very low-mass systems. In particular, we provide tentative evidence that the disc in 263C could be coplanar with the orbit of 263AB.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, Accepted 2016 May

Testing the Unification Model for AGN in the Infrared: are the obscuring tori of Type 1 and 2 Seyferts different?

We present new mid-infrared (MIR) imaging data for three Type-1 Seyfert galaxies obtained with T-ReCS on the Gemini-South Telescope at subarcsecond resolution. Our aim is to enlarge the sample studied in a previous work to compare the properties of Type-1 and Type-2 Seyfert tori using clumpy torus models and a Bayesian approach to fit the infrared nuclear spectral energy distributions (SEDs). Thus, the sample considered here comprises 7 Type-1, 11 Type-2, and 3 intermediate-type Seyferts. The unresolved IR emission of the Seyfert 1 galaxies can be reproduced by a combination of dust heated by the central engine and direct AGN emission, while for the Seyfert 2 nuclei only dust emission is considered. These dusty tori have physical sizes smaller than 6 pc radius, as derived from our fits. Unification schemes of AGN account for a variety of observational differences in terms of viewing geometry. However, we find evidence that strong unification may not hold, and that the immediate dusty surroundings of Type-1 and Type-2 Seyfert nuclei are intrinsically different. The Type-2 tori studied here are broader, have more clumps, and these clumps have lower optical depths than those of Type-1 tori. The larger the covering factor of the torus, the smaller the probability of having direct view of the AGN, and vice-versa. In our sample, Seyfert 2 tori have larger covering factors and smaller escape probabilities than those of Seyfert 1. All the previous differences are significant according to the Kullback-Leibler divergence. Thus, on the basis of the results presented here, the classification of a Seyfert galaxy as a Type-1 or Type-2 depends more on the intrinsic properties of the torus rather than on its mere inclination towards us, in contradiction with the simplest unification model.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figures, Appendix including supplementary figures. Accepted by Ap

Regulation of Arabidopsis gene expression by low fluence rate UV-B independently of UVR8 and stress signaling

UV-B exposure of plants regulates expression of numerous genes concerned with various responses. Sudden exposure of non-acclimated plants to high fluence rate, short wavelength UV-B induces expression via stress-related signaling pathways that are not specific to the UV-B stimulus, whereas low fluence rates of UV-B can regulate expression via the UV-B photoreceptor UV RESISTANCE LOCUS 8 (UVR8). However, there is little information about whether non-stressful, low fluence rate UV-B treatments can activate gene expression independently of UVR8. Here, transcriptomic analysis of wild-type and uvr8 mutant Arabidopsis exposed to low fluence rate UV-B showed that numerous genes were regulated independently of UVR8. Moreover, nearly all of these genes were distinct to those induced by stress treatments. A small number of genes were expressed at all UV-B fluence rates employed and may be concerned with activation of eustress responses that facilitate acclimation to changing conditions. Expression of the gene encoding the transcription factor ARABIDOPSIS NAC DOMAIN CONTAINING PROTEIN 13 (ANAC13) was studied to characterise a low fluence rate, UVR8-independent response. ANAC13 is induced by as little as 0.1 μmol m−2 s−1 UV-B and its regulation is independent of components of the canonical UVR8 signaling pathway COP1 and HY5/HYH. Furthermore, UV-B induced expression of ANAC13 is independent of the photoreceptors CRY1, CRY2, PHOT1 and PHOT2 and phytochromes A, B, D and E. ANAC13 expression is induced over a range of UV-B wavelengths at low doses, with maximum response at 310 nm. This study provides a basis for further investigation of UVR8 and stress independent, low fluence rate UV-B signaling pathway(s)