On the Credibility of the Irish Pound in the EMS

This paper assesses the degree of credibility of the Irish Pound in the European Monetary System between 1983 and 1997. Different credibility indicators proposed in the literature are used to measure agents’ perceptions of the credibility of the ERM commitment in an attempt to distinguish between events stemming from problems in the ERM itself and those that appear to have been exclusive to Ireland.

obtención de barridos láser 3D nivelados conn el robot móvil Andábata en movimiento

Este artículo describe la adquisición de barridos tridimensionales (3D) nivelados en el robot móvil Andábata sin necesidad de detener su movimiento. Para ello, la computadora de Andábata debe integrar cada uno de los rangos láser, adquiridos con unos determinados ángulos de cabeceo y guiñada, con la información odométrica y las medidas de inclinación del vehículo para producir coordenadas Cartesianas niveladas referenciadas al inicio de cada barrido. Todo ello se ha realizado bajo el sistema operativo de robots ROS con la ayuda de paquetes estándard. El correcto funcionamiento de este esquema local de Localización y Modelado Simultáneos (SLAM) se ha comprobado experimentalmente sobre terreno inclinado.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

A feasibility study on the implementation of visibility algorithms for fault diagnosis in aircraft fuel systems

This paper discusses the applicability of Visibility Algorithms to detect faults in condition monitoring applications. The general purpose of Visibility Algorithms is to transform time series into graphs and study them through the characterisation of their associated network. Degradation of a component results in changes to the network. This technique has been applied using a test rig of an aircraft fuel system to show that there is a correlation between the values of key metrics of visibility graphs and the severity of four failure modes. We compare the results of using Horizontal Visibility algorithms against Natural Visibility algorithms. The results also show how the Kullback-Leibler divergence and statistical entropy can be used to produce condition indicators. Experimental results show that there is little dispersion in the values of condition indicators, leading to a low probability of false positives and false negatives

Design and conceptual development of a novel hybrid intelligent decision support system applied towards the prevention and early detection of forest fires

Forest fires have become a major problem that every year has devastating consequences at the environmental level, negatively impacting the social and economic spheres of the affected regions. Aiming to mitigate these terrible effects, intelligent prediction models focused on early fire detection are becoming common practice. Considering mainly a preventive approach, these models often use tools that indifferently apply statistical or symbolic inference techniques. However, exploring the potential for the hybrid use of both, as is already being done in other research areas, is a significant novelty with direct application to early fire detection. In this line, this work proposes the design, development, and proof of concept of a new intelligent hybrid system that aims to provide support to the decisions of the teams responsible for defining strategies for the prevention, detection, and extinction of forest fires. The system determines three risk levels: a general one called Objective Technical Fire Risk, based on machine learning algorithms, which determines the global danger of a fire in some area of the region under study, and two more specific others which indicate the risk over a limited area of the region. These last two risk levels, expressed in matrix form and called Technical Risk Matrix and Expert Risk Matrix, are calculated through a convolutional neural network and an expert system, respectively. After that, they are combined by means of another expert system to determine the Global Risk Matrix that quantifies the risk of fire in each of the study regions and generates a visual representation of these results through a color map of the region itself. The proof of concept of the system has been carried out on a set of historical data from fires that occurred in the Montesinho Natural Park (Portugal), demonstrating its potential utility as a tool for the prevention and early detection of forest fires. The intelligent hybrid system designed has demonstrated excellent predictive capabilities in such a complex environment as forest fires, which are conditioned by multiple factors. Future improvements associated with data integration and the formalization of knowledge bases will make it possible to obtain a standard tool that could be used and validated in real time in different forest areas

Novel cannabinoid release system : encapsulation of a cannabidiol precursor into γ-cyclodextrin metal-organic frameworks

Altres ajuts: acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICAltres ajuts: Jorge Rodríguez-Martínez acknowledges Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca from Generalitat de Catalunya (Sapin) for the FI-2018 fellowship.γ-Cyclodextrin-metal-organic frameworks (γ-CD-MOFs) are developed as a new promising and biocompatible material, which shows a great potential for drug delivery system (DDS) applications. γ-CD-MOFs were successfully synthesized using microwave-assisted technique from different potassium sources (KOH, KCl and KNO3). The encapsulation of olivetol (OLV) into these materials was investigated as an innovative model of DDS for cannabinoids. Loading of OLV in γ-CD-MOFs was performed by impregnation and co-crystallization methods. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) were employed to study the structural properties of γ-CD-MOF samples, showing the typical cubic crystals in case of KOH and trigonal morphologies in case of KCl and KNO3. Olivetol content was determined using UV-Vis spectrophotometry and its interaction with γ-CD-MOFs was investigated by Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy analysis (ATR-FTIR). OLV content was significantly higher when KCl or KNO3 were employed in combination with a cocrystallization method, while the drug encapsulation using KOH and the impregnation method was really poor. For the first time, γ-CD-MOFs loaded with cannabinoids were developed and they could be considered a novel strategy as DDS of these compounds

Highly stable UiO-66-NH2 by the microwave-assisted synthesis for solar photocatalytic water treatment

This work introduces the novel use of a highly stable UiO-66-NH2 in water with a linker release less than 0.2‰ (per-mile) in a wide pH range. The MOF was prepared by a fast microwave-assisted method comparing for the first time the effect of two Zr precursors: Zr oxychloride and organic Zr alkoxide; with synthesis temperatures 120–180 ºC. The use of oxychloride as Zr precursor led to a MOF with bigger particle and crystal size than the Zr alkoxide. The sample prepared with ZrOCl2 at 140 ºC resulted in the best crystallinity, highest textural definition (area 875 m2 g−1, pore volume 0.39 cm3 g−1), good optical properties for solar radiation absorption (bandgap 2.88 eV), and the highest photoactivity to remove sulfamethoxazole in water. The activity of the optimum UiO-66-NH2 sample was assessed in a continuous flow experiment, testing the ability of the simultaneous degradation of a six pharmaceutical mixture fed at a more realistic environmental scenario (500 μg L−1 each). The MOF showed an outstanding stability over 20 h with no detectable release of linker and high removal efficiencyRafael Rodríguez Solís is grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for his postdoctoral contract (Juan de la Cierva Formación, Ref. FJC2018-035513-I). Manuel Peñas Garzón acknowledges the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports for his predoctoral contract (Ref. FPU16/00576) contracts. This research was funded by the Spanish State Research Agency (PID2019-106186RB-100/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, Spain). The authors are also grateful to the supporting analyses provided by the external services of the Autonomous University of Madrid (SIdI), University of Extremadura (SAIUEx), University of Zaragoza (SAI), University of Málaga (SCAI) and Universidad Complutense of Madrid (CAI

Effect of activating agent on the properties of TiO2/activated carbon heterostructures for solar photocatalytic degradation of acetaminophen

Several activated carbons (ACs) were prepared by chemical activation of lignin with different activating agents (FeCl 3 , ZnCl 2 , H 3 PO 4 and KOH) and used for synthesizing TiO 2 /activated carbon heterostructures. These heterostructures were obtained by the combination of the activated carbons with a titania precursor using a solvothermal treatment. The synthesized materials were fully characterized (Wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WDXRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), N2 adsorption-desorption, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-Vis DRS) and further used in the photodegradation of a target pharmaceutical compound (acetaminophen). All heterostructures were composed of anatase phase regardless of the activated carbon used, while the porous texture and surface chemistry depended on the chemical compound used to activate the lignin. Among all heterostructures studied, that obtained by FeCl 3 -activation yielded complete conversion of acetaminophen after 6 h of reaction under solar-simulated irradiation, also showing high conversion after successive cycles. Although the reaction rate was lower than the observed with bare TiO 2 , the heterostructure showed higher settling velocity, thus being considerably easier to recover from the reaction mediumThis research was funded by the financial support from Spanish MINECO (project CTQ2016-78576-R). M. Peñas-Garzón is indebted to Spanish MECD for FPU16/00576 predoctoral contrac

Integration of the Wang & Mendel algorithm into the application of Fuzzy expert systems to intelligent clinical decision support systems

The use of intelligent systems in clinical diagnostics has evolved, integrating statistical learning and knowledge-based representation models. Two recent works propose the identification of risk factors for the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The first uses statistical learning to identify indicators associated with different levels of the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI). The second paper combines statistical and symbolic inference approaches to obtain risk indicators (Statistical Risk and Symbolic Risk) for a given AHI level. Based on this, in this paper we propose a new intelligent system that considers different AHI levels and generates risk pairs for each level. A learning-based model generates Statistical Risks based on objective patient data, while a cascade of fuzzy expert systems determines a Symbolic Risk using symptom data from patient interviews. The aggregation of risk pairs at each level involves a fuzzy expert system with automatically generated fuzzy rules using the Wang-Mendel algorithm. This aggregation produces an Apnea Risk indicator for each AHI level, allowing discrimination between OSA and non-OSA cases, along with appropriate recommendations. This approach improves variability, usefulness, and interpretability, increasing the reliability of the system. Initial tests on data from 4400 patients yielded AUC values of 0.74–0.88, demonstrating the potential benefits of the proposed intelligent system architecture.Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED481A-2020/03

Histological Characteristics of Gills and Dorsal Skin in Ambystoma leorae and Ambystoma rivulare: Morphological Changes for Living at High Altitude

Vertebrates exhibit structural changes in their cardiovascular and gas exchange systems in response to hypoxic conditions in high altitude environments. In highland neotenic mole salamanders, as other amphibians, the majority of gases exchange is carried out for skin and gills. But, in high altitude environments, the available oxygen is lower than it is in the air thus, the scarcity of oxygen limits the survival of organisms. Many studies on this subject have focused on understanding the hematological mechanisms that amphibians exhibit in response to hypoxia. However, little is known about possible morphological changes in respiratory structures that may permit increased gas exchange during respiration in high altitude amphibians like Ambystoma leorae and A. rivulare, two threatened Mexican salamander species. The aim of the present study was to describe and compare the histological characteristics of the gills and dorsal skin of A. leorae and A. rivulare from populations at low and high altitudes. We found that, in comparison to lowland organisms, highland ones exhibited more pronounced skin folds, greater numbers of secondary branches in the gills, thinner dorsal and gill epidermises, and greater quantity of melanin surrounding the gill blood vessels. These differences permit a greater capacity for gas exchange and also increase thermoregulatory capacity in high altitude environments.Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (grant 178723) Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SGPA/DGVS/02407/13)

Optimización del proceso de cambio de revestimiento del Shell en molino SAG para reducir los costos de mantenimiento en una empresa minera de Cajamarca

Este trabajo de investigación está enfocado en presentar alternativas técnica-operativas con el objetivo de mejorar el proceso del cambio de revestimiento del Molino SAG en una Empresa Minera de Cajamarca, con el propósito de reducir los costos que derivan de estos trabajos. Estas ideas de mejora se desarrollan en la presente tesis a través de tres aspectos claramente definidos; el primer aspecto que se toma en cuenta es la contratación de personal local, para realizar el trabajo de cambio de liners como alternativa ante la opción de contratar personal especializado de otros países para el desarrollo de un proyecto de cambio de liners. El segundo aspecto que se toma en cuenta es la utilización de herramientas de última tecnología, con el objetivo de lograr la eficiencia que facilitan el logro de los objetivos trazados durante el cambio de liners del molino semiautógeno (SAG). El tercer aspecto que se toma en cuenta está la propuesta del diseño y construcción de una herramienta auxiliar para el transporte de liners desde la parte inferior del molino hacia la parte superior y viceversa, esto como reemplazo de la grúa de 25 TM, que actualmente se viene utilizando para estos trabajos. Los tres aspectos anteriormente mencionados, tiene como principal finalidad lograr la eficiencia del proceso, durante la parada programada del molino SAG y finalmente lograr la reducción de costos, planteado en el objetivo general del presente trabajo de investigación. Se concluye que la Empresa Contratista internacional cobra por año $822,096 y la Empresa Contratista local$ 433,372. La diferencia de costos por año al contratar a la Empresa local, como alternativa ante la contratación de personal o Empresa internacional es de $ 388,724 (Trescientos ochenta y ocho mil setecientos veinticuatro dólares)