Open-Source Drone Programming Course for Distance Engineering Education.

This article presents a full course for autonomous aerial robotics inside the RoboticsAcademy framework. This “drone programming” course is open-access and ready-to-use for any teacher/student to teach/learn drone programming with it for free. The students may program diverse drones on their computers without a physical presence in this course. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) applications are essentially practical, as their intelligence resides in the software part. Therefore, the proposed course emphasizes drone programming through practical learning. It comprises a collection of exercises resembling drone applications in real life, such as following a road, visual landing, and people search and rescue, including their corresponding background theory. The course has been successfully taught for five years to students from several university engineering degrees. Some exercises from the course have also been validated in three aerial robotics competitions, including an international one. RoboticsAcademy is also briefly presented in the paper. It is an open framework for distance robotics learning in engineering degrees. It has been designed as a practical complement to the typical online videos of massive open online courses (MOOCs). Its educational contents are built upon robot operating system (ROS) middleware (de facto standard in robot programming), the powerful 3D Gazebo simulator, and the widely used Python programming language. Additionally, RoboticsAcademy is a suitable tool for gamified learning and online robotics competitions, as it includes several competitive exercises and automatic assessment toolspost-print5214 K

Efficient deployment of remote laboratories with TwinCAT-PLCs and EjsS Plugins

This paper describes a new approach to streamline the development of Remote Laboratories (RL) for Control Education based on TwinCAT Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and Easy JavaScript Simulations (EJsS). On one hand, the TwinCAT PLC is used to implement the laboratory back-end (responsible of closing the feedback loop over the plant under study) with industrial real-time automation methodologies. On the other hand, EJsS is used: 1) to define the RL Human-Machine Interface (HMI) front-end (used by the students to parametrize & observe the evolution of the PLC behavior and signals) and 2) to smooth and centralize the majority of the tasks that the instructors have to perform to configure and deploy the RL. This second utility of EJsS, a novelty of the RL presented in this paper, is supported by an EJsS Plugin that has been especially designed with that purpose. Besides, it is worth noting that our new RL is supported by an improved version of ReNoLabs, developed in 2016 to be a lightweight middle-ware of RLs with EJsS HMI webpages and different types of backends, whose Node.js-based server has been updated to backup the functionality of the EJsS Plugin. This paper also shows how to use our approach to setup a RL and describes the main characteristics of two RLs that have been updated with it

Identification and Distribution of Human-Biting Ticks in Northwestern Spain

Ticks transmit a wide diversity of pathogens to a great variety of hosts, including humans. We conducted a tick surveillance study in northwestern Spain between 2014 and 2019. Ticks were removed from people and identified. Tick numbers, species, development stages, the timeline, seasonal and geographical distribution and epidemiological characteristics of people bitten by ticks were studied. We collected ticks from 8143 people. Nymphs of I. ricinus were the most frequently collected. Rhipicephalus bursa, R. sanguineus s.l., Hy. marginatum, Hy. lusitanicum, D. marginatus, D. reticulatus and H. punctata were also found, with adults as the main stage. The number of collected Hyalomma spp. and R. bursa has been progressively increasing over time. Although bites occurred throughout the year, the highest number of incidents was reported from April to July. The distribution patterns of the tick species were different between the north and the south of the region, which was related to cases detected in humans of the pathogens they carried. Adult men were more likely to be bitten by ticks than women. Ticks were most frequently removed from adults from the lower limbs, while for children, they were mainly attached to the head. Epidemiological surveillance is essential given the increase in tick populations in recent years, mainly of species potentially carrying pathogens causing emerging diseases in Spain, such as Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCFH).This research was funded by Junta de Castilla y León. Consejería de Sanidad.S

Implementing rover speed control in Paparazzi UAV

[Abstract] This paper presents the design, implementation and testing of a speed controller for an autonomous rover with an unicycle drive. The aim is to get the rover to follow the speed setpoint as accurately as possible based on low cost GPS measurements. The use of IMU and GPS measurements was investigated and a moving average filter was designed to use the GPS signal as feedback for the speed controller. This filter and speed control were implemented on a flight controller board on a small autonomous rover using the the Paparazzi UAV development framework. Outdoor tests were performed.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; PID2021-27648OB-C33Gobierno de la Comunidad de Madrid; PID2021-27648OB-C3

Legrado y cepillado endocervical durante la evaluación colposcopia en pacientes con citología anormal y colposcopia satisfactoria negativa

Revista Ciencias Biomédicas Vol.1, Núm. 2 (2010) Pag. 156 - 160Este estudio sugiere que el legrado endocervical puede ser de utilidad durante la evaluación colposcópica satisfactoria negativa de pacientes con una citología anormal. Rev. cienc. biomed. 2010; 1 (2): 155 – 161. EI objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar la utilidad del cepillado y legrado endocervical durante la evaluación colposcópica en pacientes con citología anormal y colposcopia satisfactoria negativa

New ideas for teaching Control Engineering with laboratory practices: a three phases methodology

[Resumen] En este artículo repasamos, mediante el estudio de un caso práctico, una metodología para integrar un Gemelo Digital en un curso deléarea de Ingeniería de Sistemas. Analizamos una práctica que se viene realizando desde hace años en un curso introductorio de Sistemas Lineales, y proponemos una metodología genérica para enfocar el uso de diferentes versiones: virtual, presencial y remota de una práctica de laboratorio e integrarlas de una manera racional que permita a los alumnos obtener el máximo beneficio. Presentamos también algunas ideas y sugerencias basadas en nuestra experiencia que pensamos que pueden resultar útiles a los lectores que deseen incorporar en su metodología docente este tipo de herramientas, como la integración de las herramientas interactivas utilizadas en un Sistema de Gestión del Aprendizaje (LMS), el uso de Analíticas del Aprendizaje (Learning Analytics) para reflexionar sobre la actividad y los resultados obtenidos o el préstamo de hardware de bajo coste a los alumnos para fomentar el aprendizaje autónomo.[Abstract] In this article we review, through a study case, a methodology to integrate a Digital Twin in a course in the area of Control Engineering. We analyze a practice that has been carried out for years in an introductory course on Linear Systems, and we propose a generic methodology to focus the use of different versions: virtual, hands-on and remote of a laboratory practice, and integrate them in a rational way that allows students get the most benefit. We also present some ideas and suggestions, based on our experience, that could be useful to readers who wish to incorporate this type of tool into their teaching methodology, such as the integration of interactive tools used in a Learning Management System (LMS), the use of Learning Analytics to reflect on the activity and the results obtained or the loan of low-cost hardware to students to encourage autonomous learning.Gobierno de la Comunidad de Madrid; Y2020/TCS-6420Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; PID2021-127648OB-C3

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) virus-specific antibody detection in blood donors, Castile-León, Spain, summer 2017 and 2018

BackgroundCrimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) is considered an emerging or even a probable re-emerging pathogen in southern Europe. Presence of this virus had been reported previously in Spain in 2010.AimWe aimed to evaluate the potential circulation of CCHFV in western Spain with a serosurvey in asymptomatic adults (blood donors).MethodsDuring 2017 and 2018, we conducted a CCHFV serosurvey in randomly selected asymptomatic blood donors from western Spain. Three assays using specific IgG antibodies against CCHFV were performed: the VectoCrimea ELISA test, an in-house ELISA and indirect immunofluorescence (EuroImmun) test with glycoprotein and nucleoprotein.ResultsA total of 516 blood donors participated in this cross-sectional study. The majority of the study participants were male (68.4%), and the mean age was 46.3 years. Most of the participants came from rural areas (86.8%) and 68.6% had contact with animals and 20.9% had animal husbandry practices. One in five participants (109/516, 21.1%) were engaged in at-risk professional activities such as agriculture and shepherding, slaughtering, hunting, veterinary and healthcare work (mainly nursing staff and laboratory technicians). A total of 15.3% of the participants were bitten by ticks in the days or months before the date of sampling. We detected anti-CCHFV IgG antibodies with two diagnostic assays in three of the 516 individuals and with one diagnostic assay in six of the 516 individuals.ConclusionSeroprevalence of CCHFV was between 0.58% and 1.16% in Castile-León, Spain. This is the first study in western Spain that showed circulation of CCHFV in healthy people.This study was supported by the Institute of Health Carlos III, ISCIII, Spain (www.isciii.es), grants: RICET RD16/0027/0018 (AM) and RD16/0003/0003 (MPSS), DTS16/00207 (AM), PI16/01784 (PFS), European Union co-financing by FEDER (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional) ‘Una manera de hacer Europa’.S