Efficient recognition approaches for the interaction between humans and aerial robots

This project consists in a set of computer vision methods that serve as a baseline to perform HRI experiments. The methods are aimed to perform: visual marker detection, face detection and object recognition. Then we tested some of the methods by developing a demonstration scenario

3D CNNs on distance matrices for human action recognition

In this paper we are interested in recognizing human actions from sequences of 3D skeleton data. For this purpose we combine a 3D Convolutional Neural Network with body representations based on Euclidean Distance Matrices (EDMs), which have been recently shown to be very effective to capture the geometric structure of the human pose. One inherent limitation of the EDMs, however, is that they are defined up to a permutation of the skeleton joints, i.e., randomly shuffling the ordering of the joints yields many different representations. In oder to address this issue we introduce a novel architecture that simultaneously, and in an end-to-end manner, learns an optimal transformation of the joints, while optimizing the rest of parameters of the convolutional network. The proposed approach achieves state-of-the-art results on 3 benchmarks, including the recent NTU RGB-D dataset, for which we improve on previous LSTM-based methods by more than 10 percentage points, also surpassing other CNN-based methods while using almost 1000 times fewer parameters.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Advancement of new research in Carmona Roman Necropolis

La necrópolis romana de Carmona fue excavada fundamentalmente a finales del siglo xix. Desde entonces la significación cultural de los tipos de enterramientos que la caracterizan, cremaciones en cámaras hipogeas de carácter familiar, ha estado presente enThe necrópolis romana de Carmona was excavated mainly in the late nineteenth century. Since then the cultural significance of the burial typology that characterizes this site familiar cremation hypogean chambers has been under the debate of the romanizat

Tuomiokirkonkatu – Kokemuksia globaalista ja muutoksesta kotikadulla

Pro gradu -tutkielmassani tutkin Tampereen Tuomiokirkonkadulla asuvien ihmisten kokemusta globaalista ja globalisaatioon liittyvästä muutoksesta. Tutkimushaastattelut tehtiin kahdessa paikassa haastateltavien kotikadulla: Tuomiokirkonkadun ja Hämeenkadun risteyksessä sekä Tuomiokirkonpuistossa. Lähestyn kokemusta kehollisena ilmiönä ja tarkastelen sitä laajemmassa toimijuuden ja materiaalisen tilallisuuden kontekstissa. Tutkielmassa pyrin haastamaan uusliberalistiseen kapitalismiin kytkeytyneen globalisaatiodiskurssin, joka ei ota aidosti huomioon globalisaatioon liittyviä tilallisia eroja. Pyrin tavoittamaan globalisaation koskettaman eletyn kokemuksen, sen monimuotoisuuden ja rikkonaisuuden haastattelupaikkojen konkreettisissa tilallisuuksissa. Globalisaatio koskettaa paikkoja ja niissä eläviä ihmisiä eri tavoin. Samalla se muotoutuu yhteydessä paikoissa vallitsevien tilallisten järjestysten kanssa. Tilallisuuden konkreettinen luonne vaikuttaa ihmisten toimintaan samalla kun he altistuvat tilassa vaikuttaville diskursseille valtiosta, paikallisuudesta ja globaalista. Globalisaatioon liittyvä muutos koskettaa käsityksiä ajasta, tilasta ja niiden liikkeestä. Tutkimushaastatteluissani pyrin lähestymään muutosta sen kautta, miten haastateltavani sen näkevät. Toisaalta tämän työn teoreettisen pohjan kautta näen muutoksen maailman jatkuvana tilana, joka rakentuu sekä maailman fyysisten että sosiaalisten voimien kautta. Sen vuoksi muutokseen liittyy toimijuutta, joka sekä mahdollistaa, ohjaa että jarruttaa muutosta. Pyrin näkemään toimijuuden positiivisesti ja etsimään tapoja, joilla (globaalin) tilan yhteisyyttä, avoimuutta ja demokraattisuutta voidaan edistää paikallisesti. Tutkimuksen metodi on tilallistettu tutkimushaastattelu. Tilallistettu tutkimushaastattelu ottaa tilan aktiivisen toiminnallisen luonteen huomioon osana haastattelua. Tilalle altistuminen tuo esiin ristiriitoja, joita eletyn tilan ja vallitsevien diskurssien yhteentörmääminen ja -kietoutuminen tuottaa. Tilallisessa tutkimushaastattelussa ihminen nähdään kehollisena ja aktiivisena toimijana tilassa ja tilaa rakentavissa sosiaalisissa suhteissa. Tilallistetussa tutkimushaastattelussa otetaan huomioon myös tutkijan rooli kehollisena ja maailmaan sijoittuvana subjektina. Tutkimuksessa kävi ilmi, että ihmisten kokemus globaalista on osittain sidoksissa siihen liittyviin diskursseihin, erityisesti markkinadiskurssiin ja ihmisten liikkuvuuteen. Toisaalta henkilökohtaiset kokemukset tilasta sisälsivät erilaisia diskursseja paikasta, valtiosta ja globaalista. Tilalle altistuminen tuotti myös kehollisia kokemuksia ja ristiriitoja asioiden havaitsemisen välillä. Haastateltavat näkivät muutoksen osittain vääjäämättömänä ja ohjailemattomana, mutta epäilivät sen taustalla olevan tahoja, jotka ohjaavat muutosta arvostuksillaan ja politiikallaan. Tila määritti haasteltavien toimijuutta varsinkin liikkeen ja pysähtymisen kautta. Näen haastateltavien toimijuudessa, kehollisuuden tuomassa rikkonaisuudessa ja sopeutumisen kyvyssä kuitenkin mahdollisuuden tilan uudelleenneuvotteluun, kunhan sille rakennetaan tarvittavia areenoita

In vitro efficacy of daptomycin and teicoplanin combined with ethanol, clarithromycin or gentamicin as catheter lock solutions

Journal Article;BACKGROUND Despite widespread use, optimum choice of antimicrobial agents, concentrations, combinations and exposure times have not been determined for antibiotic lock technique (ALT). Our objective was to evaluate the efficacy of different antibiotic combinations using an in vitro model of catheter-related infection. Daptomycin (DAP) 5 mg/mL, teicoplanin (TEC) 5 mg/mL, both alone and combined with gentamicin (GM) 2.5 mg/mL, clarythromycin (CLA) 5 mg/mL or ethanol 35 % were evaluated against four clinical strains of methicillin resistant coagulase negative staphylococci. Lock solutions were renewed every 24 h. RESULTS After 72 h catheters were reincubated with culture media to investigate bacterial regrowth. All antibiotic combinations resulted in significant reductions (p < 0.05) of Log(10) cfu/mL at 72 h for both organisms compared with controls. DAP resulted in significant reductions of Log(10) for all organism versus TEC (p = 0.001). Only DAP reached the limit of detection at 72 h, however did not prevent regrowth after 24 h of ALT removal. DAP + Ethanol and TEC + ethanol eradicated biofilm at 72 h, but only DAP + ethanol (against all strains) and DAP + CLA (against two strains) prevented regrowth at 24 h after ALT removal. CONCLUSIONS Based on these data, ALT with DAP + ethanol and DAP + CLA should be explored in clinical trials.Ye

Toward sustainable and Cost-Effective CO2 conversion processes to Propylene Carbonate based on ionic liquids

The use of ionic liquids (ILs) for CO2 capture and utilization into a valuable product is attracting interest even though literature evaluating their sustainability is scarce. A liquid–liquid extraction (LLE)-based separation is recently proposed as an alternative to the high energy-consuming distillation-based reference approach to produce propylene carbonate (PC). In this work, the environmental impacts associated to the distillation-based reference and two proposed LLE-based approaches to produce PC are evaluated by means of process modeling and life cycle impact assessment tools. Simulations prove that tuning operating variables in terms of environmental benefits also improves the cost-effectiveness of the process. In addition, sustainability of the processes is nearly not altered by the IL selection when an effective recovery is designed. The emissions associated to the proposed approaches vary between 0.12 and 0.22 kg CO2 equiv. per kgPC, while the operational costs range from 3 to 8 $ per tPC. The water-mediated LLE-based approach imposes the best environmental, capital expenditures, and operating expenses performanceThe authors are very grateful to Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain (project PID2020-118259RB-I00) and Comunidad de Madrid (P2018/EMT4348) for financial support. The authors also thank Centro de Computación Científica de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid for computational facilities. E.H. thanks Spanish Ministerio de Universidades for awarding an FPU grant (FPU20/03198

Laser scanner and geophysical survey to delimitate, defining the geometrical design and setting up on the ground of the Osuna’s roman theatre

El uso conjunto del escáner láser y de la prospección geofísica nos ha permitido definir la forma del teatro romano de Osuna. Una actividad de bajo costo y nulo impacto sobre las ruinas que debe servir de base para una posterior planificación de su futuro.Geophysical survey and laser scanning allows us to define the shape of the Osuna’s roman theater. It is a low cost activity with no impact on the ruins that should serve as a basis for further planning of its future

Physical education and school bullying: a systematic review

Objectives: To evaluate the associations of physical education (PE) with school violence and bullying. Design: Systematic review. Method: Using a systematic search in Medline, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, and Scopus, relevant studies with a quantitative and qualitative design were identified that met previously established eligibility criteria. Quality was assessed (bias risk analysis) and data were extracted from a previously elaborated template. Results: The systematic review finally included 16 studies, of which 10 had a quantitative design (n = 12795), 5 a qualitative design (n = 79) and 1 a mixed design (n = 86). The high heterogeneity presented by the measures used in the included studies hindered the comparison of the outcomes and prevented meta-analysis of the data. Although there is insufficient evidence about the positive impact of PE on bullying prevention, the results of this review indicate that some aspects of PE programs could improve students’ skills to cope with these situations. Conclusions: The results of this review suggest the importance of PE in the prevention of bullying. Secondly, it is emphasized that bullying situations have a negative impact on students’ enjoyment of PE, leading to detrimental consequences for their physical and psychological health. Thirdly, the figure of the PE teacher as a key element to prevent and/or encourage bullying was obvious

Early Evaluation of Mobile Applications’ Resource Consumption and Operating Costs

The explosive growth of the mobile application market in recent years has led to a large concomitant mobile software industry whose components are, in many cases, startups and small-size software providers. The success of these applications and the firms behind them depends on a subtle balance between different dimensions mainly affected by their architectural design, such as user satisfaction, resource consumption, operating costs, and timing. The present communication describes a framework with a specific set of practices for identifying the boundaries of different architectural designs —in this article we apply it to estimate both the smartphone’s resource consumption and the operating costs in the cloud— and thus help in the architectural decision-making process. This will enable mobile software developers to predict at early stages which architectural design best suits their business model in accordance with the number of users and the expected use of the application and even provide an advance alert of when architectural choices will need to be reviewed, obviating the need for costly architectural re-design in further phasesMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades RTI2018-094591-B-I00Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades PGC2018-094905-B-I00Junta de Andalucía APOLO (US-1264651)Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación HORATIO (RTI2018-101204–B–C21)Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades RED2018-102654-TInterreg V-A España-Portugal (POCTEP) 0499-4IE-PLUS-4-EJunta de Andalucía UMA18-FEDERJA-180Junta de Extremadura GR18112Junta de Extremadura IB1803

Mechanical efficiency of high versus moderate intensity aerobic exercise in coronary heart disease patients: A randomized clinical trial.

Background: Mechanical efficiency (ME) refers to the ability of an individual to transfer energy consumed by external work. A decreased ME, could represent an increased energy cost during exercise and may, therefore, be limited in terms of physical activity. This study aimed to compare the influence of two different exercise protocols: moderate continuous training (MCT) versus high intensity interval training (HIIT), as part of a cardiac rehabilitation program on ME values among coronary patients. Methods: One hundred and ten coronary patients were assigned to either HIIT or MCT groups for 8 weeks. Incremental exercise tests in a cycle ergometer were performed to obtain VO2peak. Net energy expenditure (EE) and ME were obtained at intensities corresponding to the first (VT1) and second (VT2) ventilatory thresholds, and at VO2peak. Results: Both exercise programs significantly increase VO2peak with a higher increase in the HIIT group (2.96 ± 2.33 mL/kg/min vs. 3.88 ± 2.40 mL/kg/min, for patients of the MCT and HIIT groups, respectively, p < 0.001). The ME at VO2peak and VT2 only significantly increased in the HIIT group. At VT1, ME significantly increased in both groups, with a greater increase in the HIIT group (2.20 ± ± 6.25% vs. 5.52 ± 5.53%, for patients of the MCT and HIIT groups, respectively, p < 0.001). Conclusions: The application of HIIT to patients with chronic ischemic heart disease of low risk resulted in a greater improvement in VO2peak and in ME at VT1, than when MCT was applied. Moreover, only the application of HIIT brought about a significant increase in ME at VT2 and at VO2peak. (Cardiol J 2019; 26, 2: 130–137)post-print251 K