Autonomous detection of high-voltage towers employing unmanned aerial vehicles

Monitoring and controlling the power grid is extremely important to prevent power outages and blackouts. Traditionally, the most common methods for inspecting high-voltage towers and power lines include visual inspections by qualified personnel, inspections by helicopters, and, in some cases, the use of specialized robots, among others. These inspections aim to detect anomalies near the infrastructure, anomalies due to hotspots in the insulation or visual defects in the various structural elements. One of the main problems of these techniques is the high economic cost and the lack of accuracy. As an alternative, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are becoming more popular in the market, and the trend is gradually moving towards this technology, as it offers significant cost reduction, better mobility and flexibility, and great potential for obtaining high-quality images. This thesis (TFG) studies the feasibility of developing a system capable of autonomously detecting high-voltage towers using an unmanned aerial vehicle and conducting power line inspections. This system consists of a desktop application that allows the user to program legs of a flight plan, and a drone that executes them and detects the high-voltage towers using an artificial intelligence model. The system developed in this study is part of a contribution to the Drone Engineering Ecosystem (DEE), a platform for controlling and monitoring unmanned aerial vehicles using desktop and/or web applications. The main goal of this platform is the improvement and continuity of its development by future students.Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::9 - Indústria, Innovació i Infraestructur

Children with SLI can exhibit reduced attention to a talker's mouth

It has been demonstrated that children with specific language impairment (SLI) show difficulties not only with auditory but also with audiovisual speech perception. The goal of this study was to assess whether children with SLI might show reduced attention to the talker's mouth compared to their typically developing (TD) peers. An additional aim was to determine whether the pattern of attention to a talking face would be related to a specific subtype of SLI. We used an eye-tracker methodology and presented a video of a talker speaking the children's native language. Results revealed that children with SLI paid significantly less attention to the mouth than the TD children. More specifically, it was also observed that children with a phonological-syntactic deficit looked less to the mouth as compared to the children with a lexical-syntactic deficit

GiAnt: stereoscopic-compliant multi-scale navigation in VEs

International audienceNavigation in multi-scale virtual environments (MSVE) requires the adjustment of the navigation parameters to ensure optimal navigation experiences at each level of scale. In particular, in immersive stereoscopic systems, e.g. when performing zoom-in and zoom-out operations, the navigation speed and the stereoscopic rendering parameters have to be adjusted accordingly. Although this adjustment can be done manually by the user, it can be complex, tedious and strongly depends on the virtual environment. In this work we propose a new multi-scale navigation technique named GiAnt (GIant/ANT) which automatically and seamlessly adjusts the navigation speed and the scale factor of the virtual environment based on the user's perceived navigation speed. The adjustment ensures an almost-constant perceived navigation speed while avoiding diplopia effects or diminished depth perception due to improper stereoscopic rendering configurations. The results from the conducted user evaluation shows that GiAnt is an efficient multi-scale navigation which minimizes the changes of the scale factor of the virtual environment compared to state-of-the-art multi-scale navigation techniques

Estudi sobre l'aplicabilitat de piezoelèctrics com a sensors per a la previsió del dany en impacte

En aquest treball, s'estudiarà el comportament de dispositius piezoelèctrics davant esdeveniments d'impacte, amb la finalitat d'utilitzar-los com a sensors per preveure el dany ocasionat en un substrat determinat per única causa de l'impacte. Per fer-ho, es dissenyarà el pertinent circuit elèctric capaç de generar un senyal a partir de la resposta piezoelèctrica, i s'establirà un procediment de lectura d'aquest mitjançant un dispositiu, en aquest cas, un microcontrolador. A més es dissenyarà una configuració d'assaig i una matriu d'assajos, on sotmetent els sensors a impactes en un substrat determinat, es buscarà esclarir el comportament dels sensors envers diverses condicions d'impacte tenint en compte diferents variables com l'energia d'impacte o la velocitat d'impacte entre d'altres. Amb la informació provinent dels resultats dels assajos, i mitjançant raonaments científics es faran afirmacions i hipòtesis sobre el comportament dels sensors i es raonarà la viabilitat d'aplicar-los com a sensors per a la previsió del dany en impacte. Finalment i si escau, es proposaran noves vies per continuar la investigació amb la finalitat de confirmar o desmentir les afirmacions i hipòtesis mencionades en aquest treball.This project will study the behavior of piezoelectric devices against impact events, with the purpose of using them as sensors to foresee the damage caused in a certain substrate by only cause of the impact on itself. To do that, the corresponding electric circuit will be designed to generate an electric signal based on the piezoelectric response. After that, a procedure for reading this measurement through an external device will be established, concretely for the case of this project we will use a microcontroller. Besides that, the corresponding test method and test matrix will be designed, in which the sensors will be submitted to impact events placed in a specific substrate. We will try to clarify the behavior of piezoelectric sensors by exposing the substrate to different impact conditions, using diverse variables such as impact energy or impact speed among others. Using the information provided by the testing results, and through scientific reasoning, statements and hypothesis will be made related to sensor's behavior, and we will discuss the viability of applying them as impact damage sensors. Finally, and if applicable, new investigation lines will be purposed to continue the investigation with the intention of confirming or denying the already mentioned statements and hypothesis

Pathway databases and tools for their exploitation: benefits, current limitations and challenges

In past years, comprehensive representations of cell signalling pathways have been developed by manual curation from literature, which requires huge effort and would benefit from information stored in databases and from automatic retrieval and integration methods. Once a reconstruction of the network of interactions is achieved, analysis of its structural features and its dynamic behaviour can take place. Mathematical modelling techniques are used to simulate the complex behaviour of cell signalling networks, which ultimately sheds light on the mechanisms leading to complex diseases or helps in the identification of drug targets. A variety of databases containing information on cell signalling pathways have been developed in conjunction with methodologies to access and analyse the data. In principle, the scenario is prepared to make the most of this information for the analysis of the dynamics of signalling pathways. However, are the knowledge repositories of signalling pathways ready to realize the systems biology promise? In this article we aim to initiate this discussion and to provide some insights on this issue

From SNPs to pathways: integration of functional effect of sequence variations on models of cell signalling pathways

This article is available from

Abandono y prevalencia del tabaquismo: sexo, clase social y atención primaria de salud

ObjetivoValorar el papel conjunto de la clase social y la fuente de atención primaria de salud sobre la cesación.DiseñoEstudio transversal.EmplazamientoBarcelona (Cataluña, España), 2000-2001.ParticipantesMuestra de población residente no institucionalizada, con restricción a personas de 15-50 años que identifican una fuente habitual de atención primaria (n=4.178).Mediciones principalesObtenidas en la Encuesta de Salud. Las variables independientes son el sexo, la clase social y la fuente habitual de atención primaria de salud. Las variables dependientes son haber sido alguna vez fumador, haber dejado de fumar y fumar actualmente. Se estiman proporciones e intervalos de confianza (IC) del 95% ajustando por edad.ResultadosPor clase social se ve que más trabajadores manuales han sido fumadores. Por sexo se aprecia que más varones han fumado. La cesación general es similar en ambos sexos. El abandono muestra un gradiente social en varones. Por fuente de atención, la cesación parece mayor en usuarios de consultas privadas, pero los IC se solapan. Estratificando la fuente de atención primaria por clase social, aparece un efecto en varones pero los IC se solapan. La prevalencia en el momento de la encuesta es mayor para varones; parece emerger un gradiente por clase en varones, menor para mujeres donde los IC se solapan.ConclusionesLa clase social es un poderoso determinante del tabaquismo. Los varones de categoría ocupacional baja tienen mayor riesgo de empezar a fumar, menos probabilidades de dejarlo, y una mayor prevalencia. La proporción de cesaciones parece menor en usuarios de la red pública. La intervención sanitaria es eficaz, pero en términos poblacionales otros factores parecen tener mayor influencia.ObjectiveTo analyse the joint role of social class and primary health care in giving up smoking.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingBarcelona (Catalonia, Spain), 2000-2001.ParticipantsA sample of the resident non-institutionalized population, restricted to people aged 15-50 who have a habitual primary care source (n=4178).Main measurementsThese were obtained from the Barcelona Health Interview Survey. Independent variables include sex, social class and usual source of primary health care. Dependent variables are having ever been a smoker, having quit, and being a current smoker. Age-adjusted proportions were calculated (95% CI).ResultsSocial class shows that more manual workers have been smokers. Men smoked more than women. Overall quitting is similar in both sexes.Quitting showed a social gradient in men. Measurement of source of care showed quitting was higher among users of private clinics, but CI overlapped. On stratifying the source of Primary Care by social class, an effect seemed to emerge for men, but the CI overlapped. Prevalence at the time of the survey was higher for men; a class gradient in current prevalence emerged for men, but was less visible for women, where CI overlapped.ConclusionsSocial class is a powerful determinant of smoking. Men in low-classed jobs are at greater risk of starting to smoke, are less likely to give up, and smoke more. The proportion of quitting seems lower in of public clinics service users. Health advice is efficacious, but in population terms other factors seem to have greater influence

¿Qué determinan las opiniones sobre la justicia? Un estudio cuantitativo

El porcentaje de los españoles que tienen poca o nula confianza en la administración de justicia es del 55 porciento. ¿A qué se debe este nivel de confianza? ¿Depende de factores endógenos, es decir, debido al propiofuncionamiento de la justicia o, por el contrario, hay factores exógenos, como por ejemplo, la ideología, quedetermina la confianza de los individuos en dicha institución? Nuestros resultados indican que los factoresendógenos tienen un peso más importante que los exógenos en la determinación del nivel de confianza

Percepción social de la importancia, el impacto y los beneficios esperados de la celebración de los Juegos Mediterráneos de Tarragona en 2017

The purpose of this study was to analyse the evolution between 2009 and 2010 of residents of Tarragona's perceptions of the importance, impact and expected benefits of hosting the 2017 Mediterranean Games in Tarragona. A questionnaire was administered to two random samples of residents of Tarragona one year apart. The results showed high percentages of people who felt that this sporting event is either quite important or very important from an economic, social and sporting perspective and that it also has a high local and regional impact, albeit not so much at a national or international level. The residents felt that hosting the Mediterranean Games in Tarragona would be quite a benefit to almost all areas that are influential in a city's development (infrastructure, tourism, the economy, employment, sports and sports facilities), in addition to the advantages for political groups, athletes, and the organizing committee. The evolution of the two samples was negative for most aspects included in the survey. Lower means and percentages were observed in the 'quite' and 'a lot' categories for the 2010 sample. The results of this study are useful for events organizers in developing strategies to improve citizens' involvement, participation and identification with events.La finalidad de este estudio fue analizar la evolución entre los años 2009 y 2010 en la percepción de los tarraconenses sobre el grado de importancia, el impacto y los beneficios esperados de la celebración de los Juegos Mediterráneos de Tarragona en 2017. Se recogieron dos muestras de ciudadanos con un año de diferencia. Los resultados mostraron porcentajes elevados de personas que consideraban que este evento deportivo tiene bastante o mucha importancia económica, social y deportiva, así como una elevada repercusión a nivel local y autonómico, aunque no tan relevante a nivel estatal e internacional. Los tarraconenses consideraron que casi todas las áreas o sectores que influyen en el desarrollo de la ciudad (infraestructuras, turismo, economía, ocupación, práctica deportiva e instalaciones deportivas), los grupos políticos, los deportistas y el comité organizador se beneficiarían bastante o mucho de la celebración de los Juegos Mediterráneos en su ciudad. Asimismo la evolución entre las dos muestras fue negativa para la mayoría de aspectos consultados, observándose medias y porcentajes inferiores en las categorías de bastante y mucho para la muestra de 2010. Los resultados de este estudio son útiles a los organizadores del evento para desarrollar estrategias que permitan mejorar la implicación, participación e identificación de los ciudadanos con el evento.A finalidade deste estudo foi analisar a evolução entre os anos 2009 e 2010 na percepção dos tarraconenses sobre o grau de importância, impacto e benefícios expectáveis da celebração dos Jogos Mediterrâneos de Tarragona em 2017. Foram recolhidas duas amostras de cidadãos com um ano de diferença. Os resultados revelaram percentagens elevadas de pessoas que consideravam que este evento desportivo tem bastante ou muita importância económica, social e desportiva, assim como uma elevada repercussão a nível local e na comunidade autónoma, embora não tão relevante a nível estatal e internacional. Os tarraconenses consideraram quase todas as áreas ou sectores que influem no desenvolvimento da cidade (infraestruturas, turismo, economia, ocupação, prática desportiva e instalações desportivas), os grupos políticos, os desportistas e o comité organizador beneficiariam bastante ou muito da celebração dos Jogos Mediterrâneos na sua cidade. Contudo, a evolução entre as duas amostras foi negativa para a maioria dos aspectos analisados, observando-se médias e percentagens inferiores nas categorias bastante e muito para a amostra de 2010. Os resultados deste estudo são úteis aos organizadores do evento para que possam desenvolver estratégias que permitam melhorar a implicação, participação e identificação dos cidadãos com o evento

Análisis sobre el grado de conocimiento e identificación de los tarraconenses con la candidatura a los Juegos Mediterráneos de Tarragona en 2017

El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar la evolución entre los años 2009 y 2010 en el grado de conocimiento e identificación de los tarraconenses con la candidatura a los Juegos Mediterráneos de Tarragona en 2017. Se recogieron las opiniones de dos muestras de ciudadanos con un año de diferencia (N = 246 para 2009 y N = 307 para 2010). Los resultados mostraron una evolución positiva de un año a otro en aspectos como el conocimiento sobre lo que son los Juegos Mediterráneos, el grado de información recibida, el grado con el que se identifica la sociedad con este evento deportivo, el grado de dificultad percibida en la organización del mismo, el grado de preparación de la ciudad en servicios como la sanidad, los alojamientos y la restauración, el grado de coordinación entre las administraciones públicas o el trabajo realizado por la candidatura. No obstante, una gran parte de los ciudadanos no consideraban que la ciudad estuviese bastante o muy preparada en otras áreas como el transporte público o las instalaciones deportivas, observándose una evolución negativa entre los dos años en los accesos desde el exterior y en los servicios de limpieza y de seguridad. Los resultados de este estudio pueden ayudar a mejorar la implicación y participación de la ciudadanía en este tipo de acontecimientos deportivos