Development of Smart Sensing Devices for Ubiquitous Supervision Of The Cold Chain: Application To Perishable Commodities

Wireless sensing technologies allow continuous monitoring of physical parameters that influence the preservation of fruit and vegetables in cold storage, while the smart sensor concept refers to the incorporation of improved prediction capabilities on standard low cost transducers as to enhance quality assurance of stored commodities while reducing in the amount of data to be transmitted. Previous experience of the authors has shown the feasibility of predicting battery shortage due to its effects on measurement oscillations, door opening by means of the instantaneous gradient in temperature and relative humidity, and water loss and condensation on the cargo. In this work, measurements in 3 commercial cold chambers with a variety of horticultural products have been performed, using up to 7 wireless motes from two different manufacturers. The ASABE psychrometric model is used as a base for smart capabilities such as energy consumption estimation is implemented as related to the increase on air enthalpy based on a single Temperature-Relative Humidity sensor. The low cost characteristics of such device encourage the ubiquitous location in the commodities and even the diagnosis of working faults of valves in refrigeration system

Marcas de cola de cocodrilos y huellas de dinosaurio. Bathoniense?-Calloviense. Imilchil. Alto Atlas Central. Marruecos

Three types of ichnites from a new site discovered in Imilchil were studied and described. The structures of pes and manus prints and tail traces of tetrapods provide data to separate: real ichnites (theropod footprints and crocodile tail drag marks); and sauropod’ subtraces. Most of the theropod footprints are deformed by collapse of their walls, the sauropod subtraces show the strong deformation of about ten well-stratified sedimentary levels. The surface on which we can see theropod and crocodile ichnites is the tracking surface, i. e. the original surface on which they were printedSe estudian tres tipos de icnitas de un nuevo yacimiento descubierto en Imilchil. Las estructuras de las huellas de pies, manos y cola de tetrápodos proporcionan datos para separar: icnitas reales (pisadas terópodas y marcas de arrastre de cola de cocodrilos) y calcos saurópodos? La mayor parte de las huellas terópodas están deformadas por colapso de sus paredes, y las subhuellas saurópodas muestran la fuerte deformación de unos diez niveles sedimentarios bien estratificados. La superficie en la que se encuentran las huellas terópodas y las icnitas de cocodrilo son la superficie de marcha, es decir la superficie original sobre las que se imprimiero

Pharmacogenetics of Immunosuppressants in Solid Organ Transplantation: Time to Implement in the Clinic

Our aim in this chapter is to present the state of the art, including our own group research, in the field of immunosuppressant pharmacogenetics in the four main types of solid organ transplantation: kidney, heart, lung, and liver. The main focus will be on those findings in the field that have been widely investigated and then in those that are close to clinical implementation, mainly CYP3A5 genotyping for the adjustment of the initial tacrolimus dose. This recommendation will be discussed in more detail, explaining its clinical potential as well as its limitations. To end, a short opinion about the feasibility of implementation in the health systems as well as discussion about private companies selling pharmacogenetic tests will be presented

Rigid polyurethane foams with infused nanoclays: Relationship between cellular structure and thermal conductivity

Producción CientíficaA water blown rigid polyurethane (PU) formulation has been used to manufacture cellular nanocomposites containing different concentrations of montmorillonite nanoclays. The PU foams have been produced using a low shear mixing technique for dispersing the nanoclays and by reactive foaming to generate the cellular structure. A detailed characterization of the cellular structure has been performed. The effect of the nanoparticles on the reaction kinetics and the state of intercalation of the nanoparticles in the foams has been analyzed. The thermal conductivity and extinction coefficient of the different materials has been measured and the results obtained have been correlated with the materials structure. A strong reduction of cell size and modifications on cell size distribution, anisotropy ratio and fraction of material in the struts has been detected when the clays are added. In addition, a reduction of the thermal conductivity has been observed. Different theoretical models have been employed to explain thermal conductivity changes in terms of structural features. It has been found that, in addition to the modifications in the cellular structure, changes in the extinction coefficient and thermal conductivity of the matrix polymer play an important role on the final values of the thermal conductivity for these materials.We would like to acknowledge to Mr. Vela and Mr. Ferrer, from BASF Española S.L., for supplying the PU formulation employed in this research. The authors are grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education which supported this work with a FPU Grant Ref-AP-2008-03602 given to Mr. Estravís. In addition, Financial assistance from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, FEDER program (MAT 2012 – 34901 and MAT2015-69234-R), the Junta de Castile and Leon (VA035U13) and the EU Commission (FP7 program, EC project NanCore number 214148) is acknowledged

The AMASS approach for assurance and certification of critical systems

Safety-critical systems are subject to rigorous assurance and certification processes to guarantee that they do not pose unreasonable risks to people, property, or the environment. The associated activities are usually complex and time-consuming, thus they need adequate support for their execution. The activities are further becoming more challenging as the systems are evolving towards open, interconnected systems with new features, e.g. Internet connectivity, and new assurance needs, e.g. compliance with several assurance standards for different dependability attributes. This requires the development of novel approaches for cost-effective assurance and certification. With the overall goal of lowering assurance and certification costs in face of rapidly changing features and market needs, the AMASS project has created and consolidated the de-facto European-wide open solution for assurance and certification of critical systems. This has been achieved by establishing a novel holistic and reuse-oriented approach for architecture-driven assurance, multi-concern assurance, and for seamless interoperability between assurance and engineering activities along with third-party activities. This paper introduces the main elements of the AMASS approach and how to use them and benefit from them.The work leading to this paper has received funding from the AMASS project (H2020-ECSEL grant agreement no 692474; Spain’s MINECO ref. PCIN-2015-262)

Eficiencia en la venta electrónica del turismo: una aproximación al “mobile” como nuevo canal de ventas

La realidad que vivimos día a día no puede pasar desapercibida ante la presencia de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TICs); tanto es así que en algunos casos están llevando al cambio del paradigma de negocio tradicional, o en su caso, directamente está teniendo lugar la creación de empresas con base tecnológica. En este sentido, el turismo se encuadra como sector puntero, no sólo en nuestro país, sino en el resto del mundo, tal cual nos indica la Organización Mundial del Turismo (OMT). Esta situación nos lleva a analizar el espectro en el que nos movemos, qué herramientas son empleadas en la comercialización electrónica del turismo y como deben ser utilizadas éstas para su máximo rendimiento. Son muchas las empresas turísticas españolas que se engancharon al carro del comercio electrónico (e-commerce), y no habiendo consumado esta fase de adaptación, el mobilecommerce (m-commerce) comienza a invadir nuestro país, con importantes niveles de éxito contrastado en países como Reino Unido y Japón. Es por ello, que nos vemos inducidos no sólo a estudiar lo que ha ocurrido y está ocurriendo en el e-commerce, sino también a trabajar a fondo sobre la realidad del mobile como un potente instrumento de venta en el sector turístico.The reality we live day to day cannot go unnoticed in the presence of the Technologies of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), so much so that in some cases those ones are leading the traditional business paradigm, or in any case, it has taken place the directly creation of technology-based businesses. In this sense, tourism is considered as a leading sector, not only in our country, but throughout the world, as it is indicatedbythe World Tourism Organization (WTO). This situation moves us to analyze the spectrum in which we move, what tools are used in the tourism electronic marketing and how these should be used for maximum performance. Many Spanish tourism companies adopted the electronic commerce (e-commerce) model, but without have finished this adaptation phase the mobile commerce (m-commerce) began to invade our country, with significant levels of success in countries as United Kingdom and Japan. This reason we are studying what has happened and is happening in e-commerce, and work very hard about mobile as a powerful sales tool in the tourism sector

Supervision multidistribuida de un secadero solar de madera empleando sensores de bajo coste

Multi-distributed supervision of wood in solar dryers is carried out by means of high performance low cost ambient sensors. An experimental dryer of 0.3 m 3 is used for testing the proposed instrumentation mainly based on thermocouples and SENSIRION TM which are combined with the psychometric model defined by ASABE in order to assess the amount of water released by the wood during the drying process. Continuous monitoring enables the Implementation of automated control of the dryer by means of regulating the fan speed and the amount of re-circulated air

Reflexiones en torno a la evaluación de las actividades del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje

La evaluación es un proceso sistemático, continuo e integral destinado a determinar hasta qué punto han sido alcanzados los objetivos educativos. En ella se aúnan dos actividades fundamentales: medir y emitir juicios de valor a partir, de los datos. Sin embargo, a pesar de la claridad de estos conceptos la forma de evaluar a los alumnos todavía sigue plagada de importantes contradicciones entre los profesores, lo que manifiesta unas conductas didácticas alejadas de lo que debiera ser una pedagogía basada en la evidencia. El objetivo de este proyecto es evidenciar las citadas discrepancias, entre los agentes del proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje (alumnos y profesores), a la hora de elaborar, realizar y calificar las pruebas de evaluación (“exámenes”) de los alumnos de varias disciplinas relacionadas con la Biomedicina. La metodología empleada ha consistido en aplicar a los estudiantes un sencillo cuestionario con preguntas de elección múltiple. A partir de los resultados, se pretende reflexionar sobre conjunto de criterios sólidos que permitan realizar las evaluaciones de los alumnos con mayor validez, fiabilidad, objetividad y pertinencia, como recomienda la OMS en su Guía Pedagógica para el Personal de Salud

Reflexiones sobre el aprendizaje de la histología en biología y en ciencias de la salud

El conocimiento de la estructura, composición y función del organismo es fundamental en la formación de los graduados de Ciencias Biomédicas y de Ciencias de la Salud. Las células y los tejidos son los componentes básicos para comprender el normal funcionamiento del organismo y sus procesos patológicos. Por otra parte, la Histología es una de las disciplinas básicas con mayor cantidad de publicaciones sobre temas relacionados con su docencia. Sin embargo, a pesar de la abrumadora literatura existente, todavía no hay criterios claros sobre la pertinencia de los contenidos, los métodos en el aprendizaje y la evaluación de esta materia. En este trabajo; tras una revisión bibliográfica y a partir de la información aportada por profesores de Histología, se lo analizan las principales cuestiones que plantea el proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje de la Histología en el ámbito de Biomedicina (Biología, Medicina, Veterinaria, Enfermería, Nutrición, Fisioterapia, Biotecnología, etc.), a saber: su pertinencia, los contenidos a impartir, las estrategias y los medios didácticos a emplear y los métodos de evaluación. A partir de todos estos datos se describen los principales puntos fuertes y débiles de la Histología con las correspondientes sugerencias de cambio y adaptación al entorno actual