Evaluación de la integridad ecológica del suelo en olivares con prácticas agrícolas contrastadas

El manejo adecuado del suelo agrícola es fundamental para favorecer su integridad ecológica y promover la sostenibilidad de los agroecosistemas. El objetivo principal de este estudio es la evaluación de la integridad ecológica del suelo en olivares con manejo agrícola contrastado. A su vez, se pretende validar la cromatografía circular de Pfeiffer como herramienta útil, barata y fácil de entender para la evaluación y el seguimiento de la integridad ecológica de los suelos agrícolas. Para ello, se han analizado indicadores químicos y biológicos de calidad para 10 pares de muestras de suelo, con manejo ecológico y con manejo convencional, y se realizaron cromatogramas de todas ellas. Se correlacionaron estadísticamente los valores cuantitativos de los indicadores de calidad con las características cualitativas mostradas en los cromatogramas. La concentración de carbono y la actividad microbiológica mostraron las correlaciones más fuertes. La integridad ecológica del suelo en los olivares con prácticas agroecológicas es mayor que la de los olivares convencionales adyacentes. La fuerte diferenciación radial, la intensa coloración, la mayor integración entre zonas, el desarrollo de la zona central y las amplitudes de las zonas externa e intermedia fueron las características principales de la integridad ecológica de los suelos mostrados en los cromatogramas. Estos resultados proporcionan evidencia de que los patrones mostrados en los cromatogramas proporcionan una información integrada y fiable del estado del suelo en los casos en los que se necesita una comparación de su fertilidad. Son necesarios más estudios con el fin de establecer mejores correlaciones entre los indicadores cuantitativos y cualitativos de calidad y para una mejor comprensión y uso de la técnica cromatográfica como herramienta para la evaluación de la integridad del suelo.Appropriate management of agricultural soils is fundamental to improve their ecological integrity and promote the sustainability of agroecosystems. The main objective of this study is to assess the ecological integrity of the soil in olive groves with contrasting agricultural management. At the same time, the aim is to validate Pfeiffer circular chromatography as a useful, cheap and easy tool to understand for the assessment and monitoring of the ecological integrity of agricultural soils. For this purpose, chemical and biological quality indicators have been analysed for 10 pairs of soil samples, ecologically managed and conventionally managed, and chromatograms were performed for all of them. The quantitative values of the quality indicators were statistically correlated with the qualitative characteristics shown in the chromatograms. Carbon concentration and microbiological activity showed the strongest correlations. The ecological integrity of the soil in olive orchards with agroecological practices is higher than in adjacent conventional olive orchards. Strong radial differentiation, intense colouration, higher integration between zones, development of the central zone and the amplitudes of the outer and intermediate zones were the main characteristics of the ecological integrity of the soils shown in the chromatograms. These results provide evidence that the patterns shown in the chromatograms provide integrated and reliable information on soil status in cases where a comparison of soil fertility is needed. Further studies are needed in order to establish better correlations between quantitative and qualitative indicators of quality and for a better understanding and use of the chromatographic technique as a tool for the assessment of soil integrity.Máster Universitario en Restauración de Ecosistemas (M139

UAV payload and mission control hardware/software architecture

This paper presents an embedded hardware/software architecture specially designed to be applied on mini/micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). An UAV is low-cost non-piloted airplane designed to operate in D-cube (Dangerous-Dirty-Dull) situations [8]. Many types of UAVs exist today; however with the advent of UAV's civil applications, the class of mini/micro UAVs is emerging as a valid option in a commercial scenario. This type of UAV shares limitations with most computer embedded systems: limited space, limited power resources, increasing computation requirements, complexity of the applications, time to market requirements, etc. UAVs are automatically piloted by an embedded system named “Flight Control System”. Many of those systems are commercially available today, however no commercial system exists nowadays that provides support to the actual mission that the UAV should perform. This paper introduces a hardware/software architecture specially designed to operate as a flexible payload and mission controller in a mini/micro UAV. Given that the missions UAVs can carry on justify their existence, we believe that specific payload and mission controller s for UAV should be developed. Our architectonic proposal for them orbits around four key elements: a LAN based distributed and scalable hardware architecture, a service/subscription based software architecture and an abstraction communication layer.Peer Reviewe

Use of biochar as an alternative material for the treatment of polluted wastewater

Biochar is the product of biomass decomposition, whose physicochemical characteristics are associated with its origin and the combustion method used. Among these properties, the surface area, the formation of macro and micropores, and the presence of functional groups stand out. Due to these characteristics, biochar becomes an alternative material with high adsorption capacity of toxic compounds present in contaminated wastewater. This work provides information on the generation mechanisms of biochar and how they interfere in its physicochemical characteristics. It also describes the parameters involved in the pollutant removal processes and mentions the treatments under which biochar can be subjected to improve its adsorption capacity. Finally, the possible uses or the appropriate final disposal of biochar in order to contribute to the circular economy strategy are indicated

Motion Detection by Microcontroller for Panning Cameras

Motion detection is the first essential process in the extraction of information regarding moving objects. The approaches based on background difference are the most used with fixed cameras to perform motion detection, because of the high quality of the achieved segmentation. However, real time requirements and high costs prevent most of the algorithms proposed in literature to exploit the background difference with panning cameras in real world applications. This paper presents a new algorithm to detect moving objects within a scene acquired by panning cameras. The algorithm for motion detection is implemented on a Raspberry Pi microcontroller, which enables the design and implementation of a low-cost monitoring system.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Thin-Wall Machining of Light Alloys: A Review of Models and Industrial Approaches

Thin-wall parts are common in the aeronautical sector. However, their machining presents serious challenges such as vibrations and part deflections. To deal with these challenges, di erent approaches have been followed in recent years. This work presents the state of the art of thin-wall light-alloy machining, analyzing the problems related to each type of thin-wall parts, exposing the causes of both instability and deformation through analytical models, summarizing the computational techniques used, and presenting the solutions proposed by di erent authors from an industrial point of view. Finally, some further research lines are proposed

Deep learning-based anomalous object detection system powered by microcontroller for PTZ cameras

Automatic video surveillance systems are usually designed to detect anomalous objects being present in a scene or behaving dangerously. In order to perform adequately, they must incorporate models able to achieve accurate pattern recognition in an image, and deep learning neural networks excel at this task. However, exhaustive scan of the full image results in multiple image blocks or windows to analyze, which could make the time performance of the system very poor when implemented on low cost devices. This paper presents a system which attempts to detect abnormal moving objects within an area covered by a PTZ camera while it is panning. The decision about the block of the image to analyze is based on a mixture distribution composed of two components: a uniform probability distribution, which represents a blind random selection, and a mixture of Gaussian probability distributions. Gaussian distributions represent windows in the image where anomalous objects were detected previously and contribute to generate the next window to analyze close to those windows of interest. The system is implemented on a Raspberry Pi microcontroller-based board, which enables the design and implementation of a low-cost monitoring system that is able to perform image processing.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Histone Mutants Separate R Loop Formation from Genome Instability Induction

R loops have positive physiological roles, but they can also be deleterious by causing genome instability, and the mechanisms for this are unknown. Here we identified yeast histone H3 and H4 mutations that facilitate R loops but do not cause instability. R loops containing single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), versus RNA-DNA hybrids alone, were demonstrated using ssDNA-specific human AID and bisulfite. Notably, they are similar size regardless of whether or not they induce genome instability. Contrary to mutants causing R loop-mediated instability, these histone mutants do not accumulate H3 serine-10 phosphate (H3S10-P). We propose a two-step mechanism in which, first, an altered chromatin facilitates R loops, and second, chromatin is modified, including H3S10-P, as a requisite for compromising genome integrity. Consistently, these histone mutations suppress the high H3S10 phosphorylation and genomic instability of hpr1 and sen1 mutants. Therefore, contrary to what was previously believed, R loops do not cause genome instability by themselves.European Research Council ERC2014 AdG669898Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BFU2013-42918-P, BFU2016-75058-

RoboARCH: An autonomous robot for analysis and documentation of historical architectures

The Mediterranean basin has an impressive amount of millenarian urban structures which have been modelled along centuries. Unfortunately, they are sometimes damaged due to both the passage of time as well as bad preservation criteria. In order to avoid these situations or reduce their effects, new preservation criteria have arisen in the last decades. These criteria aim to revitalize the historical value of these architectural remains from a cultural and economic perspective. In this line of research, the “Archaeology of Architecture” applies the theoretical principles of the archaeology to study buildings and streets, offering new methodologies of analysis. An important part of these methodologies incorporates new technologies, such as 3D scanners, robotic total stations, or virtual and augmented reality, to the data acquisition and processing tasks. The application of these technologies in the area of Historical Heritage results in a breakthrough in the graphic documentation of monuments and archaeological remains, which allows the development of new preservation strategies. Among all these new technologies, this abstract proposes the use of an autonomous robot to help identifying elements inside a building. The robot navigates through the environment, collects data and compares them against well-known historical and architectural archetypes, to find a set of candidates for each perceived pattern. The advantages of the proposed system when compared against current state-of-the-art techniques are the following: (i) the robot explores the environment autonomously using SLAM (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping) algorithms and acquires colour and depth information; (ii) no special markers, such as the targets or spheres usually employed by robotic total stations, are required; (iii) the system uses advanced image processing methods to automatically provide a first characterization of perceived borders, that will help in different identification processes, from single elements to more complex structures; (iv) obtained data are compared against historical and architectural archetypes included in a data base; (v) evaluation of the object position inside the stratigraphic sequence of the wall.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

La velocidad en el fútbol

P. 176-242Revisión de metodologías para analizar y medir la velocidad y la agilidad en el fútbol. Se recogen las diferencias de velocidad entre futbolistas atendiendo a parámetros como la edad, el entrenamiento en pretemporada, el nivel competitivo y la posición en el campo. Se concluye, entre otras cosas, que la velocidad de desplazamiento más específica del futbolista es la aceleración, que se ve mejorada con el entrenamiento de pretemporad

Responsabilidad social corporativa en entidades financieras centrada en la ocupación.

El trabajo presente está dedicado a estudiar las medidas actuales de responsabilidad social corporativa en entidades financieras, centrada en el problema de ocupación que tan presente está en España actualmente. Se centra en los 5 bancos que reúnen más activos en España, estos son: Bankia, BBVA, Sabadell, Santander y La Caixa. Primeramente, encontraremos una amplia contextualización del tema con explicaciones, evoluciones y análisis generales de la responsabilidad social corporativa y el movimiento okupa actual que nos ayudará a entender el tema y tener una visión y una perspectiva global. Seguidamente, encontramos un análisis de las políticas públicas españolas relacionadas con el tema para acabar finalmente con un análisis especifico de las medidas en cada entidad financiera mencionada y propuestas de mejora.<br /