INTERNATIONAL IMPORTS AND THE SAFETY OF THE U.S. FOOD AND FIBER SYSTEM

The trend towards globalization has led an increase in the U.S. Food trade. Threats of bio-terrorism and safety of the agriculture production system have become larger concerns to U.S consumers and policy makers. This paper analyzes how agriculture imports have changed in the past years; and how the government has reacted to the vulnerability of the U.S. food supply system to bio terrorism and invasive pests. Changes in budgets for the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS), agencies who are in part responsible for the food security, were compared to the increase in imports to provide a gauge for the response of the Federal Government to these threats.globalization, food imports, food safety, bio terrorism, invasive pests and diseases, homeland security, APHIS, FSIS, Financial Economics, International Relations/Trade,

Planar Odometry from a Radial Laser Scanner. A Range Flow-based Approach

In this paper we present a fast and precise method to estimate the planar motion of a lidar from consecutive range scans. For every scanned point we formulate the range flow constraint equation in terms of the sensor velocity, and minimize a robust function of the resulting geometric constraints to obtain the motion estimate. Conversely to traditional approaches, this method does not search for correspondences but performs dense scan alignment based on the scan gradients, in the fashion of dense 3D visual odometry. The minimization problem is solved in a coarse-to-fine scheme to cope with large displacements, and a smooth filter based on the covariance of the estimate is employed to handle uncertainty in unconstraint scenarios (e.g. corridors). Simulated and real experiments have been performed to compare our approach with two prominent scan matchers and with wheel odometry. Quantitative and qualitative results demonstrate the superior performance of our approach which, along with its very low computational cost (0.9 milliseconds on a single CPU core), makes it suitable for those robotic applications that require planar odometry. For this purpose, we also provide the code so that the robotics community can benefit from it.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Spanish Government under project DPI2014-55826-R and the grant program FPI-MICINN 2012

A Primal-Dual Framework for Real-Time Dense RGB-D Scene Flow

This paper presents the first method to compute dense scene flow in real-time for RGB-D cameras. It is based on a variational formulation where brightness constancy and geometric consistency are imposed. Accounting for the depth data provided by RGB-D cameras, regularization of the flow field is imposed on the 3D surface (or set of surfaces) of the observed scene instead of on the image plane, leading to more geometrically consistent results. The minimization problem is efficiently solved by a primal-dual algorithm which is implemented on a GPU, achieving a previously unseen temporal performance. Several tests have been conducted to compare our approach with a state-of-the-art work (RGB-D flow) where quantitative and qualitative results are evaluated. Moreover, an additional set of experiments have been carried out to show the applicability of our work to estimate motion in realtime. Results demonstrate the accuracy of our approach, which outperforms the RGB-D flow, and which is able to estimate heterogeneous and non-rigid motions at a high frame rate.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Research supported by the Spanish Government under project DPI1011-25483 and the Spanish grant program FPI-MICINN 2012

Motion Cooperation: Smooth Piece-Wise Rigid Scene Flow from RGB-D Images

We propose a novel joint registration and segmentation approach to estimate scene flow from RGB-D images. Instead of assuming the scene to be composed of a number of independent rigidly-moving parts, we use non-binary labels to capture non-rigid deformations at transitions between the rigid parts of the scene. Thus, the velocity of any point can be computed as a linear combination (interpolation) of the estimated rigid motions, which provides better results than traditional sharp piecewise segmentations. Within a variational framework, the smooth segments of the scene and their corresponding rigid velocities are alternately refined until convergence. A K-means-based segmentation is employed as an initialization, and the number of regions is subsequently adapted during the optimization process to capture any arbitrary number of independently moving objects. We evaluate our approach with both synthetic and real RGB-D images that contain varied and large motions. The experiments show that our method estimates the scene flow more accurately than the most recent works in the field, and at the same time provides a meaningful segmentation of the scene based on 3D motion.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Spanish Government under the grant programs FPI-MICINN 2012 and DPI2014- 55826-R (co-founded by the European Regional Development Fund), as well as by the EU ERC grant Convex Vision (grant agreement no. 240168)

Estudio de factibilidad para la cuantificación de la potencia sobre la antena helicoidal del experimento VX-CR en la generación de plasma

Proyecto de Graduación (Licenciatura en Ingeniería Electrónica). Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica. Escuela de Ingeniería Electrónica, 2012.Para este caso en estudio, la generaci on de plasma implica dos caracter sticas el ectricas: alta frecuencia y alta potencia. En el espectro radioel ectrico, las se~nales a tratar se encuentran en el rango de alta frecuencia o HF(por sus siglas en ingl es) con potencias que van desde los 800[W] hasta los 13[KW]. Se proponen tres m etodos para cuanti car la potencia dada a la antena helicoidal puesta en la primer etapa del motor VASIMR R , as como sus respectivas ventajas y desventajas en el ambito t ecnico y econ omico que han de ser tomadas en cuenta a la hora de su implementaci on. La alta frecuencia o HF, introduce t ecnicas m as complejas dentro del an alisis e implementaci on, por ejemplo: los efectos de la capacitancia a tomar en cuenta en el factor de acople entre circuitos de una etapa y otra, an alisis de redes por medio de par ametros S y Z, t ecnicas para la fabricaci on de circuitos impresos con las cuales reducir la interferencia y mejorar el acople entre las distintas secciones del circuito

Online Estimation of 2D Wind Maps for Olfactory Robots

This work introduces a novel solution to approximate in real time the 2D wind flow present in a geometrically known environment. It is grounded on the probabilistic framework provided by a Markov random field and enables the estimation of the most probable wind field from a set of noisy observations, for the case of incompressible and steady wind flow. Our method delivers reasonably precise results without falling into common unrealistic assumptions like homogeneous wind flow, absence of obstacles, etc., and performs very efficiently (less than 0.5 seconds for an environment represented with a 100x100 cell grid). This approach is then quite suitable for applications that require real-time estimation of the wind flow, as for example, the localization of gas sources, prediction of the gas dispersion, or the mapping of the gas distribution of different chemicals released in a given scenario.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Reformulation of the symmetries of first-order general relativity

We report a new internal gauge symmetry of the n-dimensional Palatini action with cosmological term (n>3) that is the generalization of three-dimensional local translations. This symmetry is obtained through the direct application of the converse of Noether's second theorem on the theory under consideration. We show that diffeomorphisms can be expressed as linear combinations of it and local Lorentz transformations with field-dependent parameters up to terms involving the variational derivatives of the action. As a result, the new internal symmetry together with local Lorentz transformations can be adopted as the fundamental gauge symmetries of general relativity. Although their gauge algebra is open in general, it allows us to recover, without resorting to the equations of motion, the very well-known Lie algebra satisfied by translations and Lorentz transformations in three dimensions. We also report the analog of the new gauge symmetry for the Holst action with cosmological term, finding that it explicitly depends on the Immirzi parameter. The same result concerning its relation to diffeomorphisms and the open character of the gauge algebra also hold in this case. Finally, we consider the non-minimal coupling of a scalar field to gravity in n dimensions and establish that the new gauge symmetry is affected by this matter field. Our results indicate that general relativity in dimension greater than three can be thought of as a gauge theory.We thank Alejandro Perez, Carlo Rovelli, José D Vergara, and José A Zapata for their valuable comments. This work was supported in part by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT), México, Grant No. 237004-F

Philippines equity report: Investment case for financing equitable progress towards MDGs 4 and 5 in the Asia-Pacific region

A lack of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) equity analysis in recent years has led to a substantive gap in the literature. Responding to this, we use the best available country data and the most advanced methods to investigate the levels and distribution of, and the trends in, both MNCH mortality and intervention coverage. The findings shed light on inequities between rural and urban populations, and between different ethnic groups, development regions and wealth quintiles. Analyses of mortality over time allow the backtrack of mortality progress, enabling the evaluation of past policies' influences on reducing health inequity and of the appropriateness of current and potential future policy. Hence, this Equity Report aims to constitute a milestone for MNCH equity analyses in the Philippines ..

Materiales didácticos para el desarrollo de competencias comunicativas en la lengua kichwa con estudiantes de 3er año de EGB de la UECIB Sisid.

Bajo un enfoque cualitativo el presente trabajo de investigación se centró en el uso del kichwa como lengua de enseñanza en el 3er año de EGB de la UECIB “Sisid", institución donde el castellano predominaba en la enseñanza en el aula; por otra parte, los padres, que, aunque bilingües, preferían comunicarse con sus hijos en castellano, contribuyendo así a la pérdida del kichwa, generando diglosia y desembocando en una sustitución lingüística. El objetivo fue desarrollar competencias comunicativas en kichwa en los niños de 3er año de EGB de la UECIB “Sisid” mediante el uso materiales didácticos concretos con pertinencia cultural; teniendo las siguientes etapas: 1) diagnóstico de competencias comunicativas en kichwa, 2) creación de materiales didácticos concretos con pertinencia cultural, y 3) la implementación de una guía metodológica. En lo que consiste a la metodología para la recolección de datos, se empleó principalmente la observación y entrevistas; así mismo, como instrumento, el diario de campo contribuyó significativamente a este proceso permitiendo evidenciar los avances y mejoras en las competencias comunicativas en kichwa. En cada una de las actividades propuestas para el fortalecimiento de la lengua, la evaluación formativa se empleó como estrategia de evaluación, propiciando así que se puedan hacer ajustes a futuras actividades. Por lo tanto, la investigación disminuyó la brecha de diglosia y sustitución lingüística en los estudiantes del 3er año de EGB de la UECIB "Sisid", obteniendo resultados beneficiosos en la revitalización, preservación y promoción del kichwa como lengua de enseñanza hasta en un 90% de satisfacción. Por lo cual, con base en, los resultados obtenidos desde este trabajo se plantea el desarrollo de investigaciones futuras en torno al fortalecimiento de las lenguas ancestrales, así mismo, promover su preservación desde las instituciones educativas a edades tempranas. Uchillayachishkayuyay Uchillayachishkayuyay Cualitativo michapi killparispami, UECIB “Sisid” uchilla yachakuna wasimanta kichwa shimipi ashtawan rimanakunkapami kay taripay llamkayka kallarin, Shinapish ishkay shimi yachakuy ukupi castellano shimi, kichwa shimita wakllichishka, ashtawampish tayta mamakunaka kichwa shimita rimanakuna yachashpapish, wawakunawanka castellano shimillapimi rimanakuna yachaskakuna, chasnami kichwa shimita chinkachinaman chasniynakunkuna, kay shimita wakllichishpa, apamushkalla shimipi rimanakushpa. UECIBS kimsa niki patay yachakukunawan paktay llankayka kichwa shimipi rimanakunami kan, ayllullaktapi tiyashkakunawan yachaypa hillaykunata rurashpa, tawka nikikunapi: Shuk) Kichwa shimipi rimanakukkunata riksina, Ishkay) ayllullaktapi tiyashkakunawan yachaypa hillayta wiñachishpa Kimsa) ñan kamuta wiñachina. Taripak ñanpi yuyaykunata tantachinkapaka, Rikuriyay llankay tapuykunami rurarirka, chinallata illayshinaka yanapanmi, tukuy llankashka punchakunapi killkashkami ninanta yanaparka, Ashtawampish Rimanakuykunapi sinchiyashkakunatami riksichin. Paktay llankay nishka shina rimana shimikunata sinchiyachinkapa, evaluación formativa taripay ñanmi kamaykuykunata riksichinka, Chashnami Shamuk llankaykunataka sinchiyachirinka. Chinallata, UECIBS Sisid kimsa niki patay yachakukunapika shamushkalla shimitaka pishiyachishkami, Rimanapi,wakaychinapi, shuktakunaman yallichinapika kichwa shimika yachakuy ukupika iskun chunka yupaykunapimi sinchiyashka. Chaymanta, kay taripay llankay riksichishkakunamantami, ñawpa shimikunata sinchiyachinkapami shamuk pachapi taripaykuna rurarirka, chashnallata, Yachakuna wasikunamanta pachami wamprakuna uchillara kakpi kichwa shimita wakaychichun yachachina. UECIB kimsaniki patay yachakukunapi paktay llamkayka kichwa shimipi rimanakunami kan, Ayllullaktapi tiyashkakunawan yachaypa hillayta makikunawan rurashpa, Ashtawanpash tawka nikikunapimi kay llamkayka rurarirka; shukniki: tapuykunawan kichwa shimita wawakuna rimanakushkata riksina; ishkayniki: ayllullaktapi tiyashkakunawan yachaypa hillayta wiñachina; kimsaniki: ñankamuta wiñachina, tukukkunaka kichwa shimipi rimanakuypi hamutanakunapipish yachakuy paktashkatami rikuchirka. Kay riksichiktaka yachakukkunata, taytamamatami riksichirka. Tawka kamaykukwanmi kay llamkayka rurarirka, yachakuy wasipi tukuy rikushkakunata punchanta killkashkakunawanpish, shuk kichwa taki, castellano shimipipish, rikchakunapish kichwa shimipi killkashkakunata kamaykunkapak, Evaluación formativa nishka alli llamkayta rikuchishka. Ashtawanpish, taripay llamkayka diglosia nishka yuyayta sustitución lingüística nishka yuyaytami pishiyachirka, kaykunataka yachakuy ukupi, kichwa shimita rimanakunapi, wakaychinakunapi, yallichinakunapipash usachiyshka tawka allikaykunata.Under a qualitative approach, the present research work focused on the use of Kichwa as a teaching language in the 3rd year of EGB at UECIB "Sisid", an institution where Spanish predominated in classroom teaching; on the other hand, parents, who, although bilingual, preferred to communicate with their children in Spanish, thus contributing to the loss of Kichwa, generating diglossia and leading to linguistic substitution. The objective was to develop communicative competences in Kichwa in children of the 3rd year of EGB of the UECIB "Sisid" through the use of concrete didactic materials with cultural relevance; having the following stages: 1) diagnosis of communicative competences in Kichwa, 2) creation of concrete didactic materials with cultural relevance, and 3) the implementation of a methodological guide. Regarding the methodology for data collection, we mainly used participant observation and interviews; likewise, as an instrument, the field diary contributed significantly to this process, allowing us to demonstrate the progress and improvements in the communicative competencies in Kichwa. In each of the activities proposed to strengthen the language, formative evaluation was used as an evaluation strategy, thus allowing adjustments to be made to future activities. Therefore, the research decreased the gap of diglossia and linguistic substitution in the 3rd grade students.Azogue