Knowledge integration within an applied mobile robot summer course

This paper presents the use of a mobile robot platform as an innovative educational tool in order to promote and integrate different curriculum knowledge. Hence, it is presented the acquired experience within a summer course named ldquoapplied mobile roboticsrdquo. The main aim of the course is to integrate different subjects as electronics, programming, architecture, perception systems, communications, control and trajectory planning by using the educational open mobile robot platform PRIM. The summer course is addressed to a wide range of student profiles. However, it is of special interests to the students of electrical and computer engineering around their final academic year. The summer course consists of the theoretical and laboratory sessions, related to the following topics: design & programming of electronic devices, modelling and control systems, trajectory planning and control, and computer vision systems. Therefore, the clues for achieving a renewed path of progress in robotics are the integration of several knowledgeable fields, such as computing, communications, and control sciences, in order to perform a higher level reasoning and use decision tools with strong theoretical base

Who we are and who can join us: National identity content and entry criteria for new immigrants

We argue that attitudes about immigration can be better understood by paying closer attention to the various ways in which national group boundaries are demarcated. We describe two related lines of work that address this. The first deals with national group definitions and, based on evidence from studies carried out in England and analyses of international survey data, argues that the relationship between national identification and prejudice toward immigrants is contingent on the extent to which ethnic or civic definitions of nationality are endorsed. The second, which uses European survey data, examines support for ascribed and acquired criteria that can be applied when determining who is permitted to migrate to one's country, and the various forms of national and individual threat that affect support for these criteria. We explain how the research benefits from a multilevel approach and also suggest how these findings relate to some current policy debates.

L'Acolliment de l'alumnat nouvingut als centres educatius

En els últims anys s’ha viscut a Catalunya, com a la resta d’Espanya un procés d’arribada continuo i creixent de persones provinents d’altres països. Evidentmentaquest fenomen repercuteix directament als centres educatius. A Catalunya, tenimalumnes procedents de més de 150 estats. Ha estat una arribada molt ràpida i amb una distribució que afecta a totes les comarques catalanes. Aquest augment de població nouvinguda que viu a Catalunya planteja al sistema educatiu català uns reptes importants. Concretament ens trobem davant de tradicions educatives molt diverses per aquests nens i nenes i les seves famílies, la pluralitat de llengües en les escoles i sobretot el desconeixement del català ( llengua vehicular en l’educació) de la majoria d’alumnes nouvinguts; els diferents orígens culturals i també la diferència de coneixements apresos prèviament pels alumnes; les expectatives de l’alumne i la seva família sobre el concepte d’escola. Totes aquestes variants provoquen una multitud de circumstàncies que dins d’una escola, poden generar un xoc si l’Administració educativa no aporta els recursos humans, econòmics i normatius adequats. Per això davant d’aquesta realitat, el Departament d’Educació posa en funcionament el curs 2004-2005 les aules d’acollida, com una resposta a aquest nou repte educatiu. La creació d’una aula d'acollida implica una dotació de professorat, una dotació informàtica amb el programari adient, una dotació econòmica inicial per a l’adquisició de material didàctic, formació específica per al tutor o la tutora de l’aula d’acollida i per als professionals que intervenen en el procés d’acollida, a càrrec dels assessors/es LIC ( llengua, interculturalitat i cohesió social) que el Departament d’Educació té arreu de Catalunya. Actualment el nombre d’aules d’acollida ha quedat estabilitzat, ja que degut a la crisi que afecta al nostre país no emigren tantes famílies d’origen estranger

Toward an integration of spirituality and religiousness into the psychosocial dimension of schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: Spirituality and religiousness have been shown to be highly prevalent among patients with schizophrenia. However, clinicians are rarely aware of the importance of religion and understand little of the value or difficulties it presents to treatment. This study aimed to assess the role of religion as a mediating variable in the process of coping with psychotic illness. METHOD: Semistructured interviews about religious coping were conducted with a sample of 115 outpatients with psychotic illness. RESULTS: For some patients, religion instilled hope, purpose, and meaning in their lives (71%), whereas for others, it induced spiritual despair (14%). Patients also reported that religion lessened (54%) or increased (10%) psychotic and general symptoms. Religion was also reported to increase social integration (28%) or social isolation (3%). It may reduce (33%) or increase (10%) the risk of suicide attempts, reduce (14%) or increase (3%) substance use, and foster adherence to (16%) or be in opposition to (15%) psychiatric treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Our results highlight the clinical significance of religion in the care of patients with schizophrenia. Religion is neither a strictly personal matter nor a strictly cultural one. Spirituality should be integrated into the psychosocial dimension of care. Our results suggest that the complexity of the relationship between religion and illness requires a highly sensitive approach to each unique story.

Retroviral Integration Site Selection

The stable insertion of a copy of their genome into the host cell genome is an essential step of the life cycle of retroviruses. The site of viral DNA integration, mediated by the viral-encoded integrase enzyme, has important consequences for both the virus and the host cell. The analysis of retroviral integration site distribution was facilitated by the availability of the human genome sequence, revealing the non-random feature of integration site selection and identifying different favored and disfavored genomic locations for individual retroviruses. This review will summarize the current knowledge about retroviral differences in their integration site preferences as well as the mechanisms involved in this process.

Inmigrantes en formación: desplazamientos y fijaciones de la cohesión social promovida por el Estado del Bienestar en la formación para la inserción laboral de las personas migrantes en Barcelona

En la investigación llevada a cabo nos hemos aproximado, desde un punto de vista cualitativo, a los recursos de formación para la inserción sociolaboral dirigidos a personas inmigrantes en la ciudad de Barcelona. Dicha formación forma parte de los recursos del sistema de bienestar español, caracterizado como mediterráneo (Esping-Andersen, 1990; Ferrara 1996; Moreno, 2002); y responde a los lineamientos de las políticas de integración dirigidas al mencionado colectivo. Para llevar a cabo el trabajo hemos adoptado la perspectiva metodológica de Antropología de las Políticas (Shore y Wright, 1997). La construcción del marco teórico bebió de los aportes que enfatizan el papel político de los Estados-nación en relación con los procesos migratorios (Sayad, 2010), señalando que la inmigración, lejos de ser un proceso que les “sucede” a las sociedades de recepción, es un fenómeno conformado por éstas (Geddes, 2006). La profunda transformación en los modos de la cohesión social (Castel, 1997) en las sociedades de recepción de personas inmigradas constituyen el contexto en el cual actúan las políticas de integración. A través de las condiciones de acceso a los recursos de formación para la inserción sociolaboral, mediante los contenidos impartidos y las maneras en que lo hacen, se configuran los inmigrantes “deseados” e “indeseados” funcionando como “fronteras organizativas”. Los resultados del análisis, indican que se espera que las personas inmigradas sean sujetos disponibles y activos, donde la formación emerge más que como un derecho que favorece y consolida la cohesión social o la “integración”, como un recurso que hay que “merecer”. Paralelamente a dicha emergencia, la formación se perfila como un dispositivo que antes que servir para la promoción social es un débil sustituto del empleo, fatigosamente anhelado por las personas que llevan a cabo los procesos formativos.

Retrats d'un poble en moviment: aproximació al fenomen migratori a Catalunya i als factors que influeixen en la integració de les persones nouvingudes

Les migracions han estat i són una constant en la història. Són fenòmens complexos, multidimensionals i multicausals, en constant evolució i que, en nombroses ocasions, han estat un factor determinant en les transformacions polítiques, socials, econòmiques i culturals de les regions d’origen, de destí i de trànsit. La immigració pot satisfer les necessitats del país d’origen i del país d’acollida. Però en les societats democràtiques planteja un altre repte: com integrar als immigrants com a ciutadans de ple dret? Aquest treball pretén endinsar-nos en la realitat de les migracions actuals a casa nostra, analitzant-la des d’una vessant teòrica i apropant-nos també a aquest fenomen a través d’un estudi de casos amb el qual ens endinsarem en la història de vida dels veritables protagonistes d’aquest episodi de la nostra història

Towards the integration of Metalib, SFX and PAPI: How to change your metasearcher transparently to the user

To guarantee the success of a virtual library is essential that all users can access all the library resources independently of the user's location.

Selective integration of auditory-visual looming cues by humans.

An object's motion relative to an observer can confer ethologically meaningful information. Approaching or looming stimuli can signal threats/collisions to be avoided or prey to be confronted, whereas receding stimuli can signal successful escape or failed pursuit. Using movement detection and subjective ratings, we investigated the multisensory integration of looming and receding auditory and visual information by humans. While prior research has demonstrated a perceptual bias for unisensory and more recently multisensory looming stimuli, none has investigated whether there is integration of looming signals between modalities. Our findings reveal selective integration of multisensory looming stimuli. Performance was significantly enhanced for looming stimuli over all other multisensory conditions. Contrasts with static multisensory conditions indicate that only multisensory looming stimuli resulted in facilitation beyond that induced by the sheer presence of auditory-visual stimuli. Controlling for variation in physical energy replicated the advantage for multisensory looming stimuli. Finally, only looming stimuli exhibited a negative linear relationship between enhancement indices for detection speed and for subjective ratings. Maximal detection speed was attained when motion perception was already robust under unisensory conditions. The preferential integration of multisensory looming stimuli highlights that complex ethologically salient stimuli likely require synergistic cooperation between existing principles of multisensory integration. A new conceptualization of the neurophysiologic mechanisms mediating real-world multisensory perceptions and action is therefore supported.

Increased audiovisual integration in cochlear-implanted deaf patients: independent components analysis of longitudinal positron emission tomography data.

It has been demonstrated in earlier studies that patients with a cochlear implant have increased abilities for audio-visual integration because the crude information transmitted by the cochlear implant requires the persistent use of the complementary speech information from the visual channel. The brain network for these abilities needs to be clarified. We used an independent components analysis (ICA) of the activation (H2 (15) O) positron emission tomography data to explore occipito-temporal brain activity in post-lingually deaf patients with unilaterally implanted cochlear implants at several months post-implantation (T1), shortly after implantation (T0) and in normal hearing controls. In between-group analysis, patients at T1 had greater blood flow in the left middle temporal cortex as compared with T0 and normal hearing controls. In within-group analysis, patients at T0 had a task-related ICA component in the visual cortex, and patients at T1 had one task-related ICA component in the left middle temporal cortex and the other in the visual cortex. The time courses of temporal and visual activities during the positron emission tomography examination at T1 were highly correlated, meaning that synchronized integrative activity occurred. The greater involvement of the visual cortex and its close coupling with the temporal cortex at T1 confirm the importance of audio-visual integration in more experienced cochlear implant subjects at the cortical level.

Interrogation of related clinical pan-azole-resistant Aspergillus fumigatus strains: G138C, Y431C, and G434C single nucleotide polymorphisms in cyp51A, upregulation of cyp51A, and integration and activation of transposon Atf1 in the cyp51A promoter.

Multiple Aspergillus fumigatus isolates from a patient with two aspergillomas complicating chronic pulmonary aspergillosis were pan-azole resistant. Microsatellite typing was identical for all isolates despite major phenotypic and some growth rate differences. Three different cyp51A mutations were found (G138C, Y431C, and G434C), of which the first two were demonstrated by heterologous expression in a hypersusceptible Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain to be at least partly responsible for elevated MICs. cyp51A and cyp51B gene duplication was excluded, but increased expression of cyp51A was demonstrated in three isolates selected for additional study (7-to 13-fold increases). In the isolate with the greatest cyp51A expression, an Aft1 transposon was found inserted 370 bp upstream of the start codon of the cyp51A gene, an integration location never previously demonstrated in Aspergillus. Two transcription start sites were identified at 49 and 136 bp upstream of the start codon. The role of the Aft1 transposon, if any, in modulating cyp51A expression remains to be established. Increased mRNA expression of the transporters AfuMDR1 and AfuMDR4 also was demonstrated in some isolates, which could contribute to azole resistance or simply represent a stress response. The diversity of confirmed and possible azole resistance mechanisms demonstrated in a single series of isogenic isolates is remarkable, indicating the ability of A. fumigatus to adapt in the clinical setting.

Perceived competition explains regional differences in stereotype content of immigrant groups

This research investigates differences in the stereotype content of immigrant groups between linguistic regions. We expected that immigrant groups who speak the local language of a specific linguistic region would be perceived as more competitive within this region than in another linguistic region. Further, we expected these differences would underlie regional differences in stereotype content, albeit only for the warmth dimension. Predictions were tested in the two largest linguistic regions of Switzerland. As expected, in the German-speaking region, locals perceived German immigrants as more competitive and thus as less warm, whereas in the French-speaking region, locals perceived French immigrants as more competitive and, consequently, as less warm. So, paradoxically, immigrants with strong integration potential are particularly disliked because they are regarded as direct competitors.