Building Fuzzy Elevation Maps from a Ground-based 3D Laser Scan for Outdoor Mobile Robots

Mandow, A; Cantador, T.J.; Reina, A.J.; Martínez, J.L.; Morales, J.; García-Cerezo, A. "Building Fuzzy Elevation Maps from a Ground-based 3D Laser Scan for Outdoor Mobile Robots," Robot2015: Second Iberian Robotics Conference, Advances in Robotics, (2016) Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol. 418. This is a self-archiving copy of the author’s accepted manuscript. The final publication is available at Springer via http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-27149-1.The paper addresses terrain modeling for mobile robots with fuzzy elevation maps by improving computational speed and performance over previous work on fuzzy terrain identification from a three-dimensional (3D) scan. To this end, spherical sub-sampling of the raw scan is proposed to select training data that does not filter out salient obstacles. Besides, rule structure is systematically defined by considering triangular sets with an unevenly distributed standard fuzzy partition and zero order Sugeno-type consequents. This structure, which favors a faster training time and reduces the number of rule parameters, also serves to compute a fuzzy reliability mask for the continuous fuzzy surface. The paper offers a case study using a Hokuyo-based 3D rangefinder to model terrain with and without outstanding obstacles. Performance regarding error and model size is compared favorably with respect to a solution that uses quadric-based surface simplification (QSlim).This work was partially supported by the Spanish CICYT project DPI 2011-22443, the Andalusian project PE-2010 TEP-6101, and Universidad de Málaga-Andalucía Tech

Broken R-parity, stop decays, and neutrino physics

We discuss the phenomenology of the lightest stop in models where R-parity is broken by bilinear superpotential terms. In this class of models we consider scenarios where the R-parity breaking two-body decay ~t_1->\tau^+b competes with the leading three-body decays such as ~t_1->W^+b~\chi^0_1. We demonstrate that the R-parity violating decay can be sizable and in some parts of the parameter space even the dominant one. Moreover we discuss the expectations for \~t_1->\mu^+b and ~t_1->e^+b. The recent results from solar and atmospheric neutrinos suggest that these are as important as the tau bottom mode. The \~t_1->l^+b decays are of particular interest for hadron colliders, as they may allow a full mass reconstruction of the lighter stop. Moreover these decay modes allow cross checks on the neutrino mixing angle involved in the solar neutrino puzzle complementary to those possible using neutralino decays. For the so--called small mixing angle or SMA solution ~t_1->e^+b should be negligible, while for the large mixing angle type solutions all ~t_1->l^+b decays should have comparable magnitude.Comment: 51 pages, 6 figures, LaTeX2e and RevTeX4, published versio

Estudi sobre indicadors de mort a escorxadors catalans

Escorxadors; Benestar animal; Mort; Control oficialMataderos; Bienestar animal; Muerte; Control oficialSlaughterhouses; Animal welfare; Death; Official controlL’anterior treball de la Comunitat de Pràctica (CoP) de Benestar Animal va avaluar el compliment del Reglament (CE) 1099/2009, relatiu a la protecció dels animals en el moment de la matança, mitjançant una enquesta adreçada als serveis veterinaris oficials d’escorxador (SVOE) i que va ser contestada pels companys de 43 escorxadors arreu del territori català que incloïen 64 línies de sacrifici. Es va observar entre les respostes dels SVOE que en 16 de les 64 línies d’algunes de les espècies sacrificades, independentment que s’hi fes un bon atordiment, hi havia un nombre significatiu d’animals que podien presentar signes de vida a l’inici de la preparació de la canal. En part, aquesta deficiència es pot atribuir a la idea estesa que en la fase de sacrifici és suficient aplicar un bon atordiment per aconseguir que no hi hagi signes de vida. No obstant això, l’apartat 3 de l’annex III del Reglament esmentat indica clarament que “la preparació de la canal o l’escaldada només s’han d’efectuar quan s’hagi comprovat la falta de signes de vida de l’animal”. Per tant, no sols cal vetllar per un correcte atordiment en la fase de matança, sinó que també cal comprovar la mort de l’animal abans d’iniciar la preparació de la canal mitjançant l’absència de signes de vida. El treball d’aquesta CoP estudia aquesta fase de mort de l’animal prèvia a la preparació de la canal o l’escaldada, que representa un punt crític de benestar animal a l’escorxador.El anterior trabajo de la Comunidad de Práctica (CoP) de Bienestar Animal evaluó el cumplimiento del Reglamento (CE) 1099/2009, relativo a la protección de los animales en el momento de la matanza, mediante una encuesta dirigida a los servicios veterinarios oficiales de matadero (SVOE) y que fue contestada por los compañeros de 43 mataderos en todo el territorio catalán que incluían 64 líneas de sacrificio. Se observó entre las respuestas de los SVOE que en 16 de las 64 líneas de algunas de las especies sacrificadas, independientemente de que se hiciera un buen aturdimiento, había un número significativo de animales que podían presentar signos de vida al inicio de la preparación de la canal. En parte, esta deficiencia puede atribuirse a la idea extendida de que en la fase de sacrificio es suficiente aplicar un buen aturdimiento para conseguir que no haya signos de vida. No obstante, el apartado 3 del anexo III del citado Reglamento indica claramente que “la preparación de la canal o escaldada sólo deben efectuarse cuando se haya comprobado la falta de signos de vida del animal”. Por tanto, no sólo hay que velar por un correcto aturdimiento en la fase de matanza, sino que también es necesario comprobar la muerte del animal antes de iniciar la preparación de la canal mediante la ausencia de signos de vida. El trabajo de esta CoP estudia esta fase de muerte del animal previa a la preparación de la canal o escaldada, que representa un punto crítico de bienestar animal en el matadero.The previous work of the Animal Welfare Community of Practice (CoP) evaluated compliance with Regulation (EC) 1099/2009, regarding the protection of animals at the time of slaughter, through a survey addressed to the official veterinary services of slaughterhouse (SVOE) and that was answered by colleagues from 43 slaughterhouses throughout the Catalan territory that included 64 slaughter lines. It was observed among the responses of the SVOE that in 16 of the 64 lines of some of the species sacrificed, regardless of whether a good stunning was done, there was a significant number of animals that could show signs of life at the beginning of the preparation of the stunning. channel. In part, this deficiency can be attributed to the widespread idea that in the slaughter phase it is enough to apply a good stun to ensure that there are no signs of life. However, section 3 of annex III of the aforementioned Regulation clearly indicates that "the preparation of the carcass or scalding must only be carried out when the lack of signs of life of the animal has been verified". Therefore, it is not only necessary to ensure correct stunning in the slaughter phase, but it is also necessary to verify the death of the animal before starting the preparation of the carcass through the absence of signs of life. The work of this CoP studies this phase of death of the animal prior to the preparation of the carcass or scalding, which represents a critical point of animal welfare in the slaughterhouse

Neutrino Masses and Mixings from Supersymmetry with Bilinear R--Parity Violation: A Theory for Solar and Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations

The simplest unified extension of the MSSM with bi-linear R--Parity violation naturally predicts a hierarchical neutrino mass spectrum, in which one neutrino acquires mass by mixing with neutralinos, while the other two get mass radiatively. We have performed a full one-loop calculation of the neutralino-neutrino mass matrix in the bi-linear \rp MSSM, taking special care to achieve a manifestly gauge invariant calculation. Moreover we have performed the renormalization of the heaviest neutrino, needed in order to get meaningful results. The atmospheric mass scale and maximal mixing angle arise from tree-level physics, while solar neutrino scale and oscillations follow from calculable one-loop corrections. If universal supergravity assumptions are made on the soft-supersymmetry breaking terms then the atmospheric scale is calculable as a function of a single \rp violating parameter by the renormalization group evolution due to the non-zero bottom quark Yukawa coupling. The solar neutrino problem must be accounted for by the small mixing angle (SMA) MSW solution. If these assumptions are relaxed then one can implement large mixing angle solutions, either MSW or just-so. The theory predicts the lightest supersymmetic particle (LSP) decay to be observable at high-energy colliders, despite the smallness of neutrino masses indicated by experiment. This provides an independent way to test this solution of the atmospheric and solar neutrino anomalies.Comment: 46 pages, references added + several misprints correcte

Mancha3D code: Multi-purpose Advanced Non-ideal MHD Code for High resolution simulations in Astrophysics

The Mancha3D code is a versatile tool for numerical simulations of magnetohydrodynamic processes in solar/stellar atmospheres. The code includes non-ideal physics derived from plasma partial ionization, a realistic equation of state and radiative transfer, which allows performing high quality realistic simulations of magneto-convection, as well as idealized simulations of particular processes, such as wave propagation, instabilities or energetic events. The paper summarizes the equations and methods used in the Mancha3D code. It also describes its numerical stability and parallel performance and efficiency. The code is based on a finite difference discretization and memory-saving Runge-Kutta (RK) scheme. It handles non-ideal effects through super-time stepping and Hall diffusion schemes, and takes into account thermal conduction by solving an additional hyperbolic equation for the heat flux. The code is easily configurable to perform different kinds of simulations. Several examples of the code usage are given. It is demonstrated that splitting variables into equilibrium and perturbation parts is essential for simulations of wave propagation in a static background. A perfectly matched layer (PML) boundary condition built into the code greatly facilitates a non-reflective open boundary implementation. Spatial filtering is an important numerical remedy to eliminate grid-size perturbations enhancing the code stability. Parallel performance analysis reveals that the code is strongly memory bound, which is a natural consequence of the numerical techniques used, such as split variables and PML boundary conditions. Both strong and weak scalings show adequate performance up till several thousands of CPUs

Testing neutrino mixing at future collider experiments

Low energy supersymmetry with bilinear breaking of R-parity leads to a weak-scale seesaw mechanism for the atmospheric neutrino scale and a radiative mechanism for the solar neutrino scale. The model has striking implications for collider searches of supersymmetric particles. Assuming that the lightest SUSY particle is the lightest neutralino we demonstrate that (i) The neutralino decays inside the detector even for tiny neutrino masses. (ii) Measurements of the neutrino mixing angles lead to predictions for the ratios of various neutralino branching ratios implying an independent test of neutrino physics at future colliders, such as the Large Hadron Collider or a Linear Collider.Comment: LaTex, 35 pages, 20 figures included, version 2, section on model shortened, Fig. 13 replaced, typos corrected, version to appear in Phys.Rev.

Stau LSP and comparison with H^+(-) phenomenology

In supersymmetric models with explicit breaking of R-parity the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) may be the lightest stau, \stau_1. Such a scenario would provide a clear sign of R-parity violating SUSY, although its phenomenology may resemble that of a charged Higgs boson, $H^\pm$. We discuss various ways of distinguishing a LSP \stau_1 from $H^\pm$ at future colliders, and address the case of \stau_1 mimicking the signal for $H^\pm$. As an example we suggest that the recent L3 signal for $H^+H^-\to qq'qq'$ and $H^+H^-\to qq'\tau\nu_{\tau}$ could be more easily explained by a LSP \stau_1.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures, Revtex, short discussion and references adde

Reciprocal responses in the interaction between Arabidopsis and the cell-content feeding chelicerate herbivore spider mite

Most molecular-genetic studies of plant defense responses to arthropod herbivores have focused on insects. However, plant-feeding mites are also pests of diverse plants, and mites induce different patterns of damage to plant tissues than do well-studied insects (e.g. lepidopteran larvae or aphids). The two-spotted spidermite (Tetranychus urticae) is among the most significant mite pests in agriculture, feeding on a staggering number of plant hosts. To understand the interactions between spider mite and a plant at the molecular level, we examined reciprocal genome-wide responses of mites and its host Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Despite differences in feeding guilds, we found that transcriptional responses of Arabidopsis to mite herbivory resembled those observed for lepidopteran herbivores. Mutant analysis of induced plant defense pathways showed functionally that only a subset of induced programs, including jasmonic acid signaling and biosynthesis of indole glucosinolates, are central to Arabidopsis's defense to mite herbivory. On the herbivore side, indole glucosinolates dramatically increased mite mortality and development times. We identified an indole glucosinolate dose-dependent increase in the number of differentially expressedmite genes belonging to pathways associated with detoxification of xenobiotics. This demonstrates that spider mite is sensitive to Arabidopsis defenses that have also been associated with the deterrence of insect herbivores that are very distantly related to chelicerates. Our findings provide molecular insights into the nature of, and response to, herbivory for a representative of a major class of arthropod herbivores

ENE-COVID nationwide serosurvey served to characterize asymptomatic infections and to develop a symptom-based risk score to predict COVID-19

Objectives: To characterize asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections and develop a symptom-based risk score useful in primary healthcare. Study design and setting: Sixty-one thousand ninty-two community-dwelling participants in a nationwide population-based serosurvey completed a questionnaire on COVID-19 symptoms and received an immunoassay for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies between April 27 and June 22, 2020. Standardized prevalence ratios for asymptomatic infection were estimated across participant characteristics. We constructed a symptom-based risk score and evaluated its ability to predict SARS-CoV-2 infection. Results: Of all, 28.7% of infections were asymptomatic (95% CI 26.1-31.4%). Standardized asymptomatic prevalence ratios were 1.19 (1.02-1.40) for men vs. women, 1.82 (1.33-2.50) and 1.45 (0.96-2.18) for individuals <20 and ≥80 years vs. those aged 40-59, 1.27 (1.03-1.55) for smokers vs. nonsmokers, and 1.91 (1.59-2.29) for individuals without vs. with case contact. In symptomatic population, a symptom-based score (weights: severe tiredness = 1; absence of sore throat = 1; fever = 2; anosmia/ageusia = 5) reached standardized seroprevalence ratio of 8.71 (7.37-10.3), discrimination index of 0.79 (0.77-0.81), and sensitivity and specificity of 71.4% (68.1-74.4%) and 74.2% (73.1-75.2%) for a score ≥3. Conclusion: The presence of anosmia/ageusia, fever with severe tiredness, or fever without sore throat should serve to suspect COVID-19 in areas with active viral circulation. The proportion of asymptomatics in children and adolescents challenges infection control.The ENE-COVID study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Health, the Institute of Health Carlos III, and the Spanish National Health System. The funders were in- volved in the study logistics, but they had no role in study design or in the collection, analysis, interpretation of data, or the decision to submit the article for publicationS

Acute Kidney Injury is Aggravated in Aged Mice by the Exacerbation of Proinflammatory Processes

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is more frequent in elderly patients. Mechanisms contributing to AKI (tubular cell death, inflammatory cell infiltration, impaired mitochondrial function, and prolonged cell-cycle arrest) have been linked to cellular senescence, a process implicated in regeneration failure and progression to fibrosis. However, the molecular and pathological basis of the age-related increase in AKI incidence is not completely understood. To explore these mechanisms, experimental AKI was induced by folic acid (FA) administration in young (3-months-old) and old (1-year-old) mice, and kidneys were evaluated in the early phase of AKI, at 48 h. Tubular damage score, KIM-1 expression, the recruitment of infiltrating immune cells (mainly neutrophils and macrophages) and proinflammatory gene expression were higher in AKI kidneys of old than of young mice. Tubular cell death in FA-AKI involves several pathways, such as regulated necrosis and apoptosis. Ferroptosis and necroptosis cell-death pathways were upregulated in old AKI kidneys. In contrast, caspase-3 activation was only found in young but not in old mice. Moreover, the antiapoptotic factor BCL-xL was significantly overexpressed in old, injured kidneys, suggesting an age-related apoptosis suppression. AKI kidneys displayed evidence of cellular senescence, such as increased levels of cyclin dependent kinase inhibitors p16ink4a and p21cip1, and of the DNA damage response marker γH2AX. Furthermore, p21cip1 mRNA expression and nuclear staining for p21cip1 and γH2AX were higher in old than in young FA-AKI mice, as well as the expression of senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) components (Il-6, Tgfb1, Ctgf, and Serpine1). Interestingly, some infiltrating immune cells were p21 or γH2AX positive, suggesting that molecular senescence in the immune cells (“immunosenescence”) are involved in the increased severity of AKI in old mice. In contrast, expression of renal protective factors was dramatically downregulated in old AKI mice, including the antiaging factor Klotho and the mitochondrial biogenesis driver PGC-1α. In conclusion, aging resulted in more severe AKI after the exposure to toxic compounds. This increased toxicity may be related to magnification of proinflammatory-related pathways in older mice, including a switch to a proinflammatory cell death (necroptosis) instead of apoptosis, and overactivation of cellular senescence of resident renal cells and infiltrating inflammatory cells