Quasi-universal relations for generalized Skyrme stars

First proposed in 2013 by Yagi and Yunes, the quasi-universal \emph{I-Love-Q relations} consist of a set of relations between the moment of inertia, the spin-induced quadrupole moment and the electric quadrupolar tidal deformability of neutron stars which are independent of the Equation of State (EoS) within an accuracy of $\sim1\%$. In this work, we show that these relations hold for different Skyrme-based nuclear matter EoS and also for the star-like solutions of different Einstein-BPS-Skyrme-models, some of which do not even present a barotropic equation of state. Further, other quasi-universal relations are analyzed, and together with recent GW observations, we use them to select the generalized Skyrme model that better reproduces observations. Our results reaffirm both the universality of the \emph{I-Love-Q} relations and the suitability of generalized Skyrme models to describe nuclear matter inside neutron stars.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figure

SAR Nets: An Evaluation of Semantic Segmentation Networks with Attention Mechanisms for Search and Rescue Scenes.

This paper evaluates four semantic segmentation models in Search-and-Rescue (SAR) scenarios obtained from ground vehicles. Two base models are used (U-Net and PSPNet) to compare different approaches to semantic segmentation, such as skip connections between encoder and decoder stages and using a pooling pyramid module. The best base model is modified by including two attention mechanisms to analyze their performance and computational cost. We conduct a quantitative and qualitative evaluation using our SAR dataset defining eleven classes in disaster scenarios. The results demonstrate that the attention mechanisms increase model performance while minimally affecting the computation time.This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Gobierno de España, project PID2021-122944OB-I00. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Kaon condensation in skyrmion matter and compact stars

We address the possibility of the appearance of a charged kaon condensate in neutron star cores described within a generalized Skyrme model. Our treatment of strange degrees of freedom is based on the Bound State Approach by Callan and Klebanov, which allows to obtain an in-medium effective potential for the $s$-wave kaon condensate. We predict the onset of kaon condensation at a certain threshold density - whose value depends on the parameters of the model, and ranges between 1.5 and 2.5 times saturation density -, and obtain both the particle fractions and equation of state for dense matter in the kaon condensed phase. Finally, we discuss the effect of such condensates on the mass-radius curves and other observable properties of neutron stars with kaon condensed cores.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figure

Valorization alternatives for a highly unused biomass (Small-spotted catshark discards and by-products) in the framework of LIFE iSEAS project

1 póster presentado en el Total Food Conference 2014 Science and technology for the economic and sustainable exploitation of agri-food chain wastes and co-products, Norwich, Uk, 11-13 November (2014)The authors thank the finnancial support received from the LIFE + Program of the European Union (LIFE Project‐ LIFE13 ENV/ES/000131N

Natural ventilation and lighting actuator cell for intelligent building facades

La arquitectura sostenible se ha convertido en un aspecto cada vez más relevante en la sociedad actual, y uno de sus principales pilares es la eficiencia energética en los edificios. En este sentido, la incorporación de elementos arquitectónicos inteligentes y automatizados puede contribuir significativamente tanto a la optimización del consumo energético como a la experiencia de los usuarios y la funcionalidad de los edificios. En este trabajo se presenta el diseño y la implementación de una celosía de apertura automática para una fachada, que permite la regulación de la entrada de luz y la ventilación natural en el interior del edificio. Se describen los principios de funcionamiento de la celosía, su diseño y los materiales utilizados en su fabricación. La fachada inteligente también cuenta con sensores que permiten monitorizar las condiciones ambientales en el interior y exterior del edificio, ajustando automáticamente la iluminación y la ventilación en función de las necesidades de los usuarios y las condiciones climáticas. La celda propuesta, forma parte de una fachada inteligente que consta de varias celdas interconectadas que integran diferentes tecnologías y elementos arquitectónicos que representan una solución arquitectónica innovadora y eficiente que puede contribuir significativamente a la sostenibilidad y el confort de los edificios.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

A new consistent Neutron Star Equation of State from a Generalized Skyrme model

We propose a new equation of state for nuclear matter based on a generalized Skyrme model which is consistent with all current constraints on the observed properties of neutron stars. This generalized model depends only on two free parameters related to the ranges of pressure values at which different submodels are dominant, and which can be adjusted so that mass-radius and deformability constraints from astrophysical and gravitational wave measurements can be met. Our results support the Skyrme model and its generalizations as good candidates for a low energy effective field-theoretic description of nuclear matter even at extreme conditions such as those inside neutron stars.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. Minor typos fixed. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.

Visual Attention Mechanism for a Social Robot

This paper describes a visual perception system for a social robot. The central part of this system is an artificial attention mechanism that discriminates the most relevant information from all the visual information perceived by the robot. It is composed by three stages. At the preattentive stage, the concept of saliency is implemented based on ‘proto-objects’ [37]. From these objects, different saliency maps are generated. Then, the semiattentive stage identifies and tracks significant items according to the tasks to accomplish. This tracking process allows to implement the ‘inhibition of return’. Finally, the attentive stage fixes the field of attention to the most relevant object depending on the behaviours to carry out. Three behaviours have been implemented and tested which allow the robot to detect visual landmarks in an initially unknown environment, and to recognize and capture the upper-body motion of people interested in interact with it

Production of hyaluronic acid by Streptococcus zooepidemicus on protein substrates obtained from Scyliorhinus canicula discards

This work investigates the production of hyaluronic acid (H) by Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus in complex media formulated with peptones obtained from Scyliorhinus canicula viscera by-products. Initially, in batch cultures, the greatest productions were achieved using commercial media (3.03 g/L) followed by peptones from alcalase hydrolyzed viscera (2.32 g/L) and peptones from non-hydrolyzed viscera (2.26 g/L). An increase of between 12% and 15% was found in subsequent fed-batch cultures performed on waste peptones. Such organic nitrogen sources were shown to be an excellent low-cost substrate for microbial H, saving more than 50% of the nutrient costs.We appreciate the excellent technical support of Margarita Nogueira and Ana I. Duran (IIM-CSIC). We also thank to Ramiro Martinez (Novozymes A/S, Spain) for supplying us with alcalase. English used in this manuscript has been reviewed by Concorde Language School S.L. (Vigo, Spain). Isabel Rodriguez Amado was awarded with a postdoctoral contract from the Xunta de Galicia (Plan I2C, 2012). This research was funded by the projects MARMED 2011-1/164 (Atlantic Area Programme, EU), 0687_NOVOMAR_1_P (POCTEP Programme, EU) and iSEAS LIFE13 ENV/ES/000131 (LIFE+ Programme, EU)

Object Detection from Thermal Infrared and Visible Light Cameras in Search and Rescue Scenes

Visual object recognition is a fundamental challenge for reliable search and rescue (SAR) robots, where vision can be limited by lighting and other harsh environmental conditions in disaster sites. The goal of this paper is to explore the use of thermal and visible light images for automatic object detection in SAR scenes. With this purpose, we have used a new dataset consisting of pairs of thermal infrared (TIR) and visible (RGB) video sequences captured from an all-terrain vehicle moving through several realistic SAR exercises participated by actual first response organisations. Two instances of the open source YOLOv3 convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture are trained from annotated sets of RGB and TIR images, respectively. In particular, frames are labelled with four representative classes in SAR scenes comprising both persons civilian and first-responder) and vehicles (Civilian-car and response-vehicle). Furthermore, we perform a comparative evaluation of these networks that can provide insight for future RGB/TIR fusion.This work has been done in the framework of the TRUST-ROB project, funded by the Spanish Government (RTI2018-093421-B-I00). Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech