Anonimat i ciutadania: dret a la indiferència en contextos urbans

The right to the indifference implies a hnowledgement for everybody of a clear distinction between what is public ans what is private, wich is the base of the citizenry. This right has been systematically denied to those who are excluded by society. The fact of being immigrant makes this people to feel trapped in their private life, like being a slave of their privacy. Btt this privacy is not absolute, because it is exposed to the public eye, and so it is ut of the right deserved by our privacy o keep away from the other’s judgement. The main factor of exclusion is which oblies some people to do what those, recognised as citizens, would complemently deny to do: wasting time giving reasons.El derecho a la indiferencia implica el reconocimiento, de todos, de una clara distinción entre público y privado, base fundamental del principio de ciudadanía. Este derecho se niega por sistema al llamado «otro cultural», al que también se le quita el derecho a la vida privada y a la vida pública. La persona marcada como «inmigrante» o «étnica» se vé atrapadao en una vida privada de la que no puede escapar, ya que se la considera esclava de su supuesta «cultura». Esta omnipresencia de su vida privada le inhabilita para ser aceptada en la esfera pública y le condena a vivir recluido en su privacidad; una privacidad, pero, que tampoco es plenamente privada, puesto que constantmente está expuesta a la mirada pública y, por lo tanto, está desprovista del derecho que toda privacidad tiene de permanecer protegida de los juicios ajenos y de las indiscreciones. El primer factor de la exclusión es, pues, el que obliga a ciertas personas a hacer lo que los ciudadanos con plenos derechos se negarían a hacer: pasarse el tiempo dando explicaciones

L’activité minière préhistorique dans le Nord-Est de la péninsule Ibérique. Étude sur la Coveta de l’Heura et l’exploitation du cuivre à la Solana del Bepo (Tarragone, Espagne)

Cet article présente le résultat d’une étude détaillée de la mine de la Solana del Bepo (Tarragone, Espagne), ainsi que du site archéologique de la Coveta de l’Heura qui lui est lié. Ces deux gisements, découverts peu après les années 1950, n’avaient été étudiés que de façon très générale. Ces études ne résolvaient pas les questions en rapport avec les vestiges qui y ont été retrouvés. D’un point de vue méthodologique, notre étude tient compte des aspects archéologiques, historiques et archéométriques, ce qui permet de situer la mine dans son contexte. Nous ne disposons pas de données chronologiques directes du site de la Solana del Bepo, puisque les nombreux objets macrolithiques destinés à l’extraction minière qui y ont été retrouvés ont bénéficié seulement d’un faible diagnostic de ce point de vue. Nous pouvons, en revanche, dater le site voisin de la Coveta de l’Heura entre le Chalcolithique récent et le Bronze ancien et moyen. D’autre part, la caractérisation isotopique des mines du bassin du Montsant, dont la Solana del Bepo fait partie, et leur comparaison avec les analyses d’isotopes pratiquées sur des vestiges de la région, permettent d’affirmer que l’exploitation minière du bassin pendant la Préhistoire est une réalité démontrable. Les instruments d’exploitation minière récupérés à la Solana del Bepo sont constitués d’un ensemble de 81 outils macrolithiques, dont la plupart sont des pics avec un degré élevé d’élaboration, et qui présentent dans leur grande majorité des dispositifs d’emmanchement. La Coveta de l’Heura a été utilisée, entre autres fonctions, comme grotte funéraire, atelier de confection de pointes de flèches en silex et atelier métallurgique. Ses caractéristiques matérielles correspondent pour la plupart au Chalcolithique récent, ce qui a été corroboré par une datation au 14C, et en raison de ses similarités avec les groupes languedociens de la fin du Néolithique. Concernant ce dernier aspect, il convient de mentionner la présence de formes céramiques qui ont un lien évident avec les groupes chronoculturels du Véraza- Fontbouïsse, ainsi qu’une perle en plomb – un élément très caractéristique de Fontbouïsse – élaborée cependant avec du métal du bassin minier de Molar-Bellmunt-Falset, géographiquement proche de celui du Montsant. Si nous considérons la région que nous étudions dans le contexte du Nord-Est de la péninsule Ibérique, il est évident que c’est la zone qui dispose du plus grand nombre de preuves d’activités minières et métallurgiques pour la période qui englobe le Chalcolithique récent (2800-2300 cal. BC) et le Bronze ancien et moyen (2300-1300 cal. BC). Concernant la première période, il conviendrait d’y inclure les preuves d’exploitation de minerai des bassins miniers du Montsant et de Molar-Bellmunt-Falset, constituées respectivement par les haches plates en cuivre de la Cova M d’Arbolí et par la perle en plomb de la Coveta de l’Heura. Les sept vases à réduire les minerais de cuivre découverts se placent chronologiquement dans un moment indéterminé de cette frange temporelle (2800-1300 BC). Le poignard aux trois rivets de la Cova de la Font Major (L’Espluga de Francolí), daté de ca 1850 cal. BC, a été élaboré avec du minerai de cuivre du Montsant, ce qui certifie son exploitation entre le Bronze ancien et le Bronze moyen. D’autre part, la découverte récente d’une nouvelle mine préhistorique dans le bassin du Montsant, la mine de la Turquesa ou del Mas de les Moreres, en cours d’étude, a permis le mise au jour de nouveaux outils miniers et fourni de nouvelles données analytiques, aussi bien du point de vue de la composition que de l’isotopique, qui permettent une meilleure caractérisation de l’exploitation minière du Nord-Est de la Péninsule Ibérique.En aquest article presentem el resultat d’un estudi detallat de la mina de la Solana del Bepo (Tarragona, Espanya), així com del jaciment de la Coveta de l’Heura que ha estat tradicionalment vinculat al primer. Descoberts la dècada dels 50, aquests jaciments només han estat estudiats de manera molt general, sense resoldre les problemàtiques a ells associades. Des del punt de vista metodològic, es tenen en consideració tant els aspectes arqueològics com els històrics i arqueomètrics, cosa que permet situar la mina en el seu context. No disposem de dades cronològiques directes de la Solana del Bepo i els instruments macrolítics recuperats destinats a l’explotació minera només proporcionen indicacions tipo-cronològiques febles. Per contra, podem datar la Coveta de l’Heura en el calcolític final i el bronze inicial. La caracterització isotòpica de les mines de la conca del Montsant, de la qual forma part la Solana, i la comparació d’aquestes dades amb les anàlisis isòpiques realitzades sobre peces metàl · liques de la regió permeten afirmar que recuperats a la Solana constitueixen un conjunt de 81 artefactes, la major part dels quals són pics, la majoria amb un alt grau de transformació, i presenten quasi sempre dispositius d’emmanegament. La Coveta de l’Heura fou utilitzada successivament com a taller de puntes de sílex, com a cova funerària, i com a taller metal · lúrgic. Les evidències materials recuperades a la cova corresponen en bona part al calcolític final, cosa que una datació radiocarbònica i les seves similituds amb els grups llenguadocians de finals del neolític corroboren. Diferents formes ceràmiques tenen lligams evidents amb els grups crono-culturals de Véraza-Fontbouïsse, mentre que una dena de collaret en plom constitueix un element molt característic de Fontbouïsse, tot i que està elaborada localment amb mineral de la veïna conca prioratina de Molar-Bellmunt-Falset. En el context català l’alt Priorat constitueix una de les zones amb més testimonis d’activitats mineres i metal · lúrgiques en el període que engloba el calcolític recent (2800-2300 cal. BC) i el bronze inicial (2300-1300 cal. BC). En el primer d’aquests períodes se situen proves d’explotació de les conques dels Montsant i de Molar-Bellmunt-Falset, les destrals planes de coure de la cova M d’Arbolí en el primer cas i la dena de collaret de plom en el segon, entre altres. Les troballes de vasos de reducció a la comarca i els seus voltants s’inscriuen en un moment indeterminat d’aquesta franja temporal (2800-1300 cal. BC). El punyal amb tres reblons de la cova de la Font Major de l’Espluga de Francolí, datat ca 1850 cal. BC, fou elaborat amb coure del Montsant, fet que certifica l’explotació en aquests moments. Per altra banda, la descoberta recent d’una nova mina prehistòrica, la Mina de la Turquesa o del Mas de les Moreres, en curs d’estudi, ha permès recuperar un important lot d’estris miners de pedra, així com noves dades analítiques que permeten una caracterització millor de les explotacions mineres a Catalunya.Since the year 2000 we have been undertaking a research programme into prehistoric mining and metallurgy. It focuses on the contextual and archaeometric characterisation (composition and lead isotope analyses) of the Priorat mining and metallurgy basins (Tarragona province, Spain) : the Molar-Bellmunt-Falset basin to the south and the Montsant basin to the north. In recent years our research has focused on the latter zone, which has a high density of metal mineral resources (copper and lead). Our work to date has followed three parallel and interconnected lines of research : a) geomineral surveys and the analytical characterisation of more than a dozen mines in the area ; b) archaeometric analyses and the study and reinterpretation of archaeological data from earlier field research ; and c) the localisation and excavation of a previously unstudied prehistoric copper mine, La Turquesa or Mas de les Moreres (Cornudella de Montsant). The contribution we present here focuses on the second line of research and is based on a detailed study of La Solana del Bepo mine, as well as the related La Coveta de l’Heura (Ulldemolins) archaeological site. Both sites were discovered just before the middle of the last century, but only very generalist studies have been made of them to date. None of these studies has emphasised the importance of the documented archaeological evidence of prehistoric mining and metallurgy in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula. In methodological terms, this study takes into account the archaeological, historical and archaeometric aspects, thus placing the sites in their correct regional context. The mining tools found at La Solana del Bepo are unique in the whole north-east : the assemblage of finds from the survey consists of 81 macrolithic artefacts, mainly highly intensively manufactured picks, most of which have fittings for handles. The main aspects revealed by the traceological study and analysis of the tools are the use of local rock types, the continuous reuse of tools, even after they were broken, and the presence of copper residue on some percussion surfaces. We have no direct chronological data as, although abundant, the tools provide little information in this respect ; however, we can date the neighbouring La Coveta de l’Heura archaeological site between the Late Chalcolithic (2800-2300 cal. BC) and the Early to Middle Bronze Age (2300-1300 cal. BC). On the other hand, the isotopic characterisation of the Montsant basin mines, of which Solana del Bepo is one, and its comparison with the isotopic analyses of finds from the area, prove that mining activities were carried out there during prehistory. La Coveta de l’Heura, located barely half a kilometre from Solana del Bepo, is an archaeological site in a para-dolmenic shelter that at different times has served as a collective burial site, a flint arrowhead workshop and a metallurgic workshop. The evidence for metallurgy consists of a smelting vessel, pieces of copper-bearing mineral, various bronze smelting remains, a copper awl and a rolled bronze plate bead. The assemblage of finds, which shows affinities with the Fontbouïsse horizon, is mainly from the Late Neolithic/ Chalcolithic and we have a radiometric dating to corroborate this. Especially noteworthy are the pottery finds that are clearly related to the Neolithic of the Languedoc, as well as a lead bead, a type of ornament highly characteristic of Fontbouïsse and the only one of its type documented to date on the whole of the Iberian Peninsula. However, in this case the bead is made of local lead. Other finds, for example the evidence of bronze, indicate that the shelter was also used during the Early and Middle Bronze Age. If we look at our study zone in the context of the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula, there can be no doubt that both in relative and absolute terms it is the area with the largest amount of evidence of prehistoric mining and metallurgy. It is in the Late Chalcolithic (2800-2300 ca. BC) that we have to place the evidence of mineral exploitation in the Montsant and Molar-Bellmunt-Falset mining basins, a chronology corroborated by lead isotope data from the flat axes found at Cova M in Arbolí and the lead bead from La Coveta de l’Heura. With the current state of art, we are unable to specify between that period and the Early and Middle Bronze Age (2300-1300 cal. BC). We can highlight the find of eight smelting vessels, one of which appears to have been used for smelting mineral ore from the Montsant basin. The three-rivet dagger from La Cova de la Font Major (L’Espluga de Francolí), dated to c. 1850 cal. BC, was made of copper mineral from Montsant and confirms mining in that area between the Early and Middle Bronze Age. On the other hand, the recent discovery of a previously unknown prehistoric mine in the Montsant basin, La Turquesa or Mas de les Moreres, which is still being studied, has given us another unique set of mining tools (almost 75 implements), together with analytical data, both compositional and isotopic, with which we can improve our characterisation of mining in the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula

Observational constraints to boxy/peanut bulge formation time

Boxy/peanut bulges are considered to be part of the same stellar structure as bars and both could be linked through the buckling instability. The Milky Way is our closest example. The goal of this letter is determining if the mass assembly of the different components leaves an imprint in their stellar populations allowing to estimate the time of bar formation and its evolution. To this aim we use integral field spectroscopy to derive the stellar age distributions, SADs, along the bar and disc of NGC 6032. The analysis shows clearly different SADs for the different bar areas. There is an underlying old (>=12 Gyr) stellar population for the whole galaxy. The bulge shows star formation happening at all times. The inner bar structure shows stars of ages older than 6 Gyrs with a deficit of younger populations. The outer bar region presents a SAD similar to that of the disc. To interpret our results, we use a generic numerical simulation of a barred galaxy. Thus, we constrain, for the first time, the epoch of bar formation, the buckling instability period and the posterior growth from disc material. We establish that the bar of NGC 6032 is old, formed around 10 Gyr ago while the buckling phase possibly happened around 8 Gyr ago. All these results point towards bars being long-lasting even in the presence of gas.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter

Impact of a tire fire accident on soil pollution and the use of clay minerals as natural geo-indicators

Following the occurrence of a fire at a tire landfill in the surrounding area of Madrid City (Spain), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and trace elements present in soils were analyzed to assess the impact of the fire. The capacity of the soils’ clay mineral fraction to reflect this air pollution incident was studied. Fourteen soil samples were collected at different distances under the smoke plume, and they were subjected to high-performance liquid chromatography–photodiode array detection, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and X-ray diffraction analyses. Clay minerals content showed a strong correlation with the pollutants potentially released in the tire fire, acenaphthene, pyrene, benzo(a)pyrene and benzo(a)fluoranthene. Trace metals Zn and Se were related to the proximity of the tire fire without any relationship with clay minerals content. This work suggests the use of natural clay minerals as potential PAHs geo-indicators in response to air pollution, complementary to current air and biological analysesThis work has been economically supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain, Project AGL2016-78490-

La primera explotació de coure a Catalunya. Dades arqueològiques i arqueomètriques de la Mina de la Turquesa (Cornudella de Montsant, Priorat)

Aquest treball exposa l’estat de la recerca a la mina de coure de la Turquesa (Cornudella de Montsant Priorat) l’explotació prehistòrica que vam identificar l’any 2011. Es van realitzar tres campanyes d’excavació que han permès recuperar i estudiar 117 artefactes lítics miners i s’han analitzat mostres de minerals i roques del jaciment amb diverses tècniques (isòtops de plom fluorescència de raigs X i difracció de raigs X). Els resultats obtinguts permeten detectar coincidències amb altres elements metal·lúrgics de la zona i datar la primera explotació de la mina durant el III mil·lenni cal ANE

Addressing potential sources of variation in several non-destructive techniques for measuring firmness in apples

Measurements of firmness have traditionally been carried out according to the Magness Taylor (MT) procedure; using a texture analyser or penetrometer in reference texture tests. Non-destructive tests like the acoustic impulse response of acoustic firmness sensors (AFSs), a low-mass impact firmness sensor Sinclair International (SIQ-FT) and impact test (Lateral Impact – UPM) have also been used to measure texture and firmness. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the influence of different sources of variation in these three non-destructive tests and to evaluate their respective capabilities of discriminating between fruit maturity at two different harvest dates, turgidity before and after dehydration treatment and ripening after different storage periods. According to our results, fruit studied an unexpected AFS trend with turgidity. Contact measurements (Lateral Impact – UPM and SIQ-FT) appeared highly sensitive to changes in turgidity, but were less able to follow changes in ripening caused by storage period. Contact measurements were suitable for detecting differences between fruits from different harvest dates and showed higher correlation coefficients with reference texture tests than acoustic measurements. The Lateral Impact – UPM test proved better at separating fruits according to turgidity than the SIQ-FT instrumen

Análisis de la actividad científica de la Comunidad Autónoma de la Región de Murcia. Biomedicina 1999-2005.

An analysis of scientific activity in Biomedicine in Murcia between 1999-2005 is presented

Distribution and salinity tolerance of the invasive isopod Synidotea laticauda in the Guadalquivir estuary (SW Spain): Field and laboratory observations

Trabajo presentado en ECSA 56 (Coastal systems in transition: From a 'natural' to an 'anthropogenically-modified' state), celebrado en Bremen del 4 al 7 de septiembre de 2016.The effects of the exotic species in native communities are unpredictable and ecological studies should be required for environmental management. In Europe, the exotic species Synidotea laticauda has been introduced in several estuaries but there was not any previous biological study about these non-native populations. The spatio-temporal field distribution of S. laticauda in the last 30 km of the Guadalquivir estuary (salinities 0 to 30) was assessed during 7 years (August 1997-June 2004) by sampling at each new moon with a mesh size net of 1 mm. Survival and osmoregulatory patterns of the species under different experimental salinity conditions were also estimated. This exotic species is a permanent resident of the estuary, with presence of juveniles and adults during most of the year, but showing maximum densities in the warmest period (summer to early autumn). Spatial patterns were closely related to the salinity gradient: the highest densities were observed between 10 and 30 of salinity, with a maximum at 20 (≈ isosmotic point). In fact, the isopod is a weak osmoregulator, which maintains the osmolality of the hemolymph partially independent of the medium osmolality (in a salinity range of 5 to 25). Moreover, survival experiments showed a high tolerance (mortality < 30%) to sudden salinity changes between 2 and 35 and virtually no mortality in salinities (15-25) close to the isosmotic point (20). Osmoregulatory and survival patterns were not dependent on sex but they seemed to be specific-dependent on salinity acclimation. Although it is a euryhaline species, its weak osmoregulatory capacity explains its salinity-dependent distribution pattern. Our results provide a framework to predict the distribution of this invasive species under sceneries of climate change and consequent freshwater scarcity.N

Using Kinect to classify Parkinson's disease stages related to severity of gait impairment

Background: Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease associated with motor problems such as gait impairment. Different systems based on 3D cameras, accelerometers or gyroscopes have been used in related works in order to study gait disturbances in PD. Kinect has also been used to build these kinds of systems, but contradictory results have been reported: some works conclude that Kinect does not provide an accurate method of measuring gait kinematics variables, but others, on the contrary, report good accuracy results. Methods: In this work, we have built a Kinect-based system that can distinguish between different PD stages, and have performed a clinical study with 30 patients suffering from PD belonging to three groups: early PD patients without axial impairment, more evolved PD patients with higher gait impairment but without Freezing of Gait (FoG), and patients with advanced PD and FoG. Those patients were recorded by two Kinect devices when they were walking in a hospital corridor. The datasets obtained from the Kinect were preprocessed, 115 features identified, some methods were applied to select the relevant features (correlation based feature selection, information gain, and consistency subset evaluation), and different classification methods (decision trees, Bayesian networks, neural networks and K-nearest neighbours classifiers) were evaluated with the goal of finding the most accurate method for PD stage classification. Results: The classifier that provided the best results is a particular case of a Bayesian Network classifier (similar to a Naïve Bayesian classifier) built from a set of 7 relevant features selected by the correlation-based on feature selection method. The accuracy obtained for that classifier using 10-fold cross validation is 93.40%. The relevant features are related to left shin angles, left humerus angles, frontal and lateral bents, left forearm angles and the number of steps during spin. Conclusions: In this paper, it is shown that using Kinect is adequate to build a inexpensive and comfortable system that classifies PD into three different stages related to FoG. Compared to the results of previous works, the obtained accuracy (93.40%) can be considered high. The relevant features for the classifier are: a) movement and position of the left arm, b) trunk position for slightly displaced walking sequences, and c) left shin angle, for straight walking sequences. However, we have obtained a better accuracy (96.23%) for a classifier that only uses features extracted from slightly displaced walking steps and spin walking steps. Finally, the obtained set of relevant features may lead to new rehabilitation therapies for PD patients with gait problems

Stellar Population gradients in galaxy discs from the CALIFA survey

While studies of gas-phase metallicity gradients in disc galaxies are common, very little has been done in the acquisition of stellar abundance gradients in the same regions. We present here a comparative study of the stellar metallicity and age distributions in a sample of 62 nearly face-on, spiral galaxies with and without bars, using data from the CALIFA survey. We measure the slopes of the gradients and study their relation with other properties of the galaxies. We find that the mean stellar age and metallicity gradients in the disc are shallow and negative. Furthermore, when normalized to the effective radius of the disc, the slope of the stellar population gradients does not correlate with the mass or with the morphological type of the galaxies. Contrary to this, the values of both age and metallicity at $\sim$2.5 scale-lengths correlate with the central velocity dispersion in a similar manner to the central values of the bulges, although bulges show, on average, older ages and higher metallicities than the discs. One of the goals of the present paper is to test the theoretical prediction that non-linear coupling between the bar and the spiral arms is an efficient mechanism for producing radial migrations across significant distances within discs. The process of radial migration should flatten the stellar metallicity gradient with time and, therefore, we would expect flatter stellar metallicity gradients in barred galaxies. However, we do not find any difference in the metallicity or age gradients in galaxies with without bars. We discuss possible scenarios that can lead to this absence of difference.Comment: 24 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in A&