Culicidae (Diptera) selection of humans, chickens and rabbits in three different environments in the province of Chaco, Argentina

Studies were conducted to determine the selection of humans, chickens and rabbits by Culicidae in three different environments in the province of Chaco, Argentina. Mosquitoes were collected fortnightly using cylindrical metal traps containing animal bait (chickens and rabbits). The mosquitoes were collected between June 2001-May 2002. During the same period and with the same frequency, mosquitoes biting the human operators of the traps were collected during the first 15 min of exposure within different time intervals: from 09:00 am-11:00 am, 01:00 pm-03:00 pm, 05:00 pm-07:00 pm and 09:00 pm-10:00 pm. A total of 19,430 mosquitoes of 49 species belonging to 10 genera were collected. Culex species mainly selected chicken bait and Wyeomyia species selected rabbit bait. Ochlerotatus and Psorophora species were more abundant in rabbit-baited traps. Anopheles triannulatus, Coquillettidia nigricans, Ochlerotatus scapularis, Mansonia titillans and Psorophora albigenu showed a strong attraction for human bait. The Anopheles, Coquillettidia, Culex and Mansonia species were more active between 05:00 pm-09:00 pm, while Ochlerotatus, Psorophora, Haemagogus and Wyeomyia were most active from 09:00 am-07:00 pm. This study provides additional information about the biology and ecology of arbovirus vectors in Chaco.

Evaluation of MPI collectives for HPC applications on distributed virtualized environments

Through this study, we will measure how the collective MPI operations behaves in virtual and physical clusters, and its impact on the application performance. As we stated before, we will use as a test case the Weather Research and Forecasting simulations.

SLAM using an Imaging Sonar for Partially Structured Underwater Environments

In this paper we describe a system for underwater navigation with AUVs in partially structured environments, such as dams, ports or marine platforms. An imaging sonar is used to obtain information about the location of planar structures present in such environments. This information is incorporated into a feature-based SLAM algorithm in a two step process: (I) the full 360deg sonar scan is undistorted (to compensate for vehicle motion), thresholded and segmented to determine which measurements correspond to planar environment features and which should be ignored; and (2) SLAM proceeds once the data association is obtained: both the vehicle motion and the measurements whose correct association has been previously determined are incorporated in the SLAM algorithm. This two step delayed SLAM process allows to robustly determine the feature and vehicle locations in the presence of large amounts of spurious or unrelated measurements that might correspond to boats, rocks, etc. Preliminary experiments show the viability of the proposed approach

A Negotiation Style Recommender Based on Computational Ecology in Open Negotiation Environments

The system described herein represents the first example of a recommender system in digital ecosystems where agents negotiate services on behalf of small companies. The small companies compete not only with price or quality, but with a wider service-by-service composition by subcontracting with other companies. The final result of these offerings depends on negotiations at the scale of millions of small companies. This scale requires new platforms for supporting digital business ecosystems, as well as related services like open-id, trust management, monitors and recommenders. This is done in the Open Negotiation Environment (ONE), which is an open-source platform that allows agents, on behalf of small companies, to negotiate and use the ecosystem services, and enables the development of new agent technologies. The methods and tools of cyber engineering are necessary to build up Open Negotiation Environments that are stable, a basic condition for predictable business and reliable business environments. Aiming to build stable digital business ecosystems by means of improved collective intelligence, we introduce a model of negotiation style dynamics from the point of view of computational ecology. This model inspires an ecosystem monitor as well as a novel negotiation style recommender. The ecosystem monitor provides hints to the negotiation style recommender to achieve greater stability of an open negotiation environment in a digital business ecosystem. The greater stability provides the small companies with higher predictability, and therefore better business results. The negotiation style recommender is implemented with a simulated annealing algorithm at a constant temperature, and its impact is shown by applying it to a real case of an open negotiation environment populated by Italian companies

Towards smart user models in open environments

Our work is concerned with user modelling in open environments. Our proposal then is the line of contributions to the advances on user modelling in open environments thanks so the Agent Technology, in what has been called Smart User Model. Our research contains a holistic study of User Modelling in several research areas related to users. We have developed a conceptualization of User Modelling by means of examples from a broad range of research areas with the aim of improving our understanding of user modelling and its role in the next generation of open and distributed service environments. This report is organized as follow: In chapter 1 we introduce our motivation and objectives. Then in chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5 we provide the state-of-the-art on user modelling. In chapter 2, we give the main definitions of elements described in the report. In chapter 3, we present an historical perspective on user models. In chapter 4 we provide a review of user models from the perspective of different research areas, with special emphasis on the give-and-take relationship between Agent Technology and user modelling. In chapter 5, we describe the main challenges that, from our point of view, need to be tackled by researchers wanting to contribute to advances in user modelling. From the study of the state-of-the-art follows an exploratory work in chapter 6. We define a SUM and a methodology to deal with it. We also present some cases study in order to illustrate the methodology. Finally, we present the thesis proposal to continue the work, together with its corresponding work scheduling and temporalisation

Development of a multistrain bacterial bioreporter platform for the monitoring of hydrocarbon contaminants in marine environments.

Petroleum hydrocarbons are common contaminants in marine and freshwater aquatic habitats, often occurring as a result of oil spillage. Rapid and reliable on-site tools for measuring the bioavailable hydrocarbon fractions, i.e., those that are most likely to cause toxic effects or are available for biodegradation, would assist in assessing potential ecological damage and following the progress of cleanup operations. Here we examined the suitability of a set of different rapid bioassays (2-3 h) using bacteria expressing the LuxAB luciferase to measure the presence of short-chain linear alkanes, monoaromatic and polyaromatic compounds, biphenyls, and DNA-damaging agents in seawater after a laboratory-scale oil spill. Five independent spills of 20 mL of NSO-1 crude oil with 2 L of seawater (North Sea or Mediterranean Sea) were carried out in 5 L glass flasks for periods of up to 10 days. Bioassays readily detected ephemeral concentrations of short-chain alkanes and BTEX (i.e., benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes) in the seawater within minutes to hours after the spill, increasing to a maximum of up to 80 muM within 6-24 h, after which they decreased to low or undetectable levels. The strong decrease in short-chain alkanes and BTEX may have been due to their volatilization or biodegradation, which was supported by changes in the microbial community composition. Two- and three-ring PAHs appeared in the seawater phase after 24 h with a concentration up to 1 muM naphthalene equivalents and remained above 0.5 muM for the duration of the experiment. DNA-damage-sensitive bioreporters did not produce any signal with the oil-spilled aqueous-phase samples, whereas bioassays for (hydroxy)biphenyls showed occasional responses. Chemical analysis for alkanes and PAHs in contaminated seawater samples supported the bioassay data, but did not show the typical ephemeral peaks observed with the bioassays. We conclude that bacterium-based bioassays can be a suitable alternative for rapid on-site quantitative measurement of hydrocarbons in seawater.

The joint R&D project: The case of the first Brazilian microcontroller chip

ABSTRACT The interorganizational cooperation, through joint efforts with various actors, allows the high-tech companies to complement resources, especially in R&D projects. Collaborative projects have been identified in many studies as an important strategy to produce complex products and services in uncertain and competitive environments. Thus, this research aims at deepening the understanding of how the development dynamics of a collaborative R&D project in an industry of high technology occur. In order to achieve the proposed objective, the R&D project of the first microcontroller in the Brazilian semiconductor industry was defined as the object of analysis. The empirical choice is justified by the uniqueness of the case, besides bringing a diversity of actors and a level of complementarity of resources that were significant to the success of the project. Given the motivation to know who the actors were and what the main forms of interorganizational coordination were used in this project, interviews were carried out and a questionnaire was also made, besides other documents related to the project. The results presented show a network of nine actors and their roles in the interorganizational collaboration process, as well as the forms of social and temporal overlapping, used in the coordination of collective efforts. Focusing on the mechanisms of temporal and social integration highlighted throughout the study, the inclusion of R&D projects in the typology for interorganizational projects is proposed in this paper, which was also proposed by Jones and Lichtenstein (2008).

Inversion of crosshole seismic data in heterogenous environments : Comparison of waveform and ray-based approaches

High-resolution tomographic imaging of the shallow subsurface is becoming increasingly important for a wide range of environmental, hydrological and engineering applications. Because of their superior resolution power, their sensitivity to pertinent petrophysical parameters, and their far reaching complementarities, both seismic and georadar crosshole imaging are of particular importance. To date, corresponding approaches have largely relied on asymptotic, ray-based approaches, which only account for a very small part of the observed wavefields, inherently suffer from a limited resolution, and in complex environments may prove to be inadequate. These problems can potentially be alleviated through waveform inversion. We have developed an acoustic waveform inversion approach for crosshole seismic data whose kernel is based on a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) solution of the 2-D acoustic wave equations. This algorithm is tested on and applied to synthetic data from seismic velocity models of increasing complexity and realism and the results are compared to those obtained using state-of-the-art ray-based traveltime tomography. Regardless of the heterogeneity of the underlying models, the waveform inversion approach has the potential of reliably resolving both the geometry and the acoustic properties of features of the size of less than half a dominant wavelength. Our results do, however, also indicate that, within their inherent resolution limits, ray-based approaches provide an effective and efficient means to obtain satisfactory tomographic reconstructions of the seismic velocity structure in the presence of mild to moderate heterogeneity and in absence of strong scattering. Conversely, the excess effort of waveform inversion provides the greatest benefits for the most heterogeneous, and arguably most realistic, environments where multiple scattering effects tend to be prevalent and ray-based methods lose most of their effectiveness.

eKnowledge Project: Developing and piloting a forum tool to support the collaborative construction of knowledge on the UOC's Virtual Campus

Final report of the eKnowledge's project, an online forum tool that offers consultants and students the chance to create spaces for asynchronous communication and collaboration.

Reliable and persistent storage for CoDeS a distributed collaborative system

This research is aimed to find a solution for a distributed storage system adapted for CoDeS. By studying how DSSs work and how they are implemented, we can conclude how we can implement a DSS compatible with CoDeS requirements.

Antimicrobial peptide genes in Bacillus strains from plant environments

The presence of the antimicrobial peptide (AMP) biosynthetic genes srfAA (surfactin), bacA (bacylisin), fenD (fengycin), bmyB (bacyllomicin), spaS (subtilin), and ituC (iturin) was examined in 184 isolates of Bacillus spp. obtained from plant environments (aerial, rhizosphere, soil) in the Mediterranean land area of Spain. Most strains had between two and four AMP genes whereas strains with five genes were seldom detected and none of the strains had six genes. The most frequent AMP gene markers were srfAA, bacA, bmyB, and fenD, and the most frequent genotypes srfAA-bacA-bmyB and srfAAbacA-bmyB-fenD. The dominance of these particular genes in Bacillus strains associated with plants reinforces the competitive role of surfactin, bacyllomicin, fengycin, and bacilysin in the fitness of strains in natural environments. The use of these AMP gene markers may assist in the selection of putative biological control agents of plant pathogens

Slope processes in changing permafrost environments: a geomorphological and sedimentological approach

Estudi realitzat a partir d’una estada al Centro de Estudos Geograficos de la Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, entre 2011 i 2012. En aquest grup he desenvolupat la meva recerca focalitzada en ambients polars en presència de permafrost, concretament centrada en l’extrem nord-occidental de la Península Antàrtica (Shetland del Sud) i a l’Alt Àrtic (Svalvard). Ambdós àrees han registrat un augment de temperatura molt significatiu les darreres dècades. La meva recerca ha contemplat l’anàlisi de registres sedimentaris (lacustres, eòlics, vessant) i la monitorització de processos geomorfològics actuals a fi efecte d’entendre la dinàmica ambiental present i passada (i.e. clima). Amb aquesta finalitat he realitzat tres campanyes de treball de camp a l’Antàrtida i dues a l’Àrtic. El posterior treball de laboratori i d’oficina està propiciant nombroses publicacions que donen fe dels èxits assolits. A més, cal enfatitzar altres activitats desenvolupades durant la BP-A: coneixement de com organitzar i gestionar una campanya antàrtica, docència universitària, participació en comitès, associacions i tribunals de tesis doctorals, organització i participació en nombroses conferències, treball de camp en noves àrees d’estudi, referee per revistes internacionals, etc. Tanmateix, la concessió del projecte de recerca HOLOANTAR, del qual en sóc l’Investigador Responsable, ha estat l’èxit més important d’aquesta estada. Aquest projecte m’està conferint la capacitat de gestionar i integrar la recerca de 16 investigadors de diferents nacionalitats des d’una perspectiva multidisciplinar. Tothora, cal remarcar que no s’ha assolit un dels èxits que pretenia el meu projecte de BP-A: la transferència del bagatge i coneixement adquirit al sistema de recerca català. Malgrat haver presentat la meva candidatura per un contracte BP-B per tal que aquest background après a l’estranger revertís a Catalunya, el procés de selecció emprat en la convocatòria ho ha impedit i m’obliga a continuar la meva recerca a l’estranger.

Collage, a Collaborative Learning Design Editor Based on Patterns

This paper introduces Collage, a high-level IMS-LD compliant authoring tool that is specialized for CSCL (Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning). Nowadays CSCL is a key trend in elearning since it highlights the importance of social interactions as an essential element of learning. CSCL is an interdisciplinary domain, which demands participatory design techniques that allow teachers to get directly involved in design activities. Developing CSCL designs using LD is a difficult task for teachers since LD is a complex technical specification and modelling collaborative characteristics can be tricky. Collage helps teachers in the process of creating their own potentially effective collaborative Learning Designs by reusing and customizing patterns, according to the requirements of a particular learning situation. These patterns, called Collaborative Learning Flow Patterns (CLFPs), represent best practices that are repetitively used by practitioners when structuring the flow of (collaborative) learning activities. An example of an LD that can be created using Collage is illustrated in the paper. Preliminary evaluation results show that teachers, with experience in CL but without LD knowledge, can successfully design real collaborative learning experiences using Collage.

Computational Representation of Collaborative Learning Flow Patterns Using IMS Learning Design

The identification and integration of reusable and customizable CSCL (Computer Supported Collaborative Learning) may benefit from the capture of best practices in collaborative learning structuring. The authors have proposed CLFPs (Collaborative Learning Flow Patterns) as a way of collecting these best practices. To facilitate the process of CLFPs by software systems, the paper proposes to specify these patterns using IMS Learning Design (IMS-LD). Thus, teachers without technical knowledge can particularize and integrate CSCL tools. Nevertheless, the support of IMS-LD for describing collaborative learning activities has some deficiencies: the collaborative tools that can be defined in these activities are limited. Thus, this paper proposes and discusses an extension to IMS-LD that enables to specify several characteristics of the use of tools that mediate collaboration. In order to obtain a Unit of Learning based on a CLFP, a three stage process is also proposed. A CLFP-based Unit of Learning example is used to illustrate the process and the need of the proposed extension.

Towards reusability and tailorability in collaborative learning systems using IMS-LD and grid services

CSCL applications are complex distributed systems that posespecial requirements towards achieving success in educationalsettings. Flexible and efficient design of collaborative activitiesby educators is a key precondition in order to provide CSCL tailorable systems, capable of adapting to the needs of eachparticular learning environment. Furthermore, some parts ofthose CSCL systems should be reused as often as possible inorder to reduce development costs. In addition, it may be necessary to employ special hardware devices, computational resources that reside in other organizations, or even exceed thepossibilities of one specific organization. Therefore, theproposal of this paper is twofold: collecting collaborativelearning designs (scripting) provided by educators, based onwell-known best practices (collaborative learning flow patterns) in a standard way (IMS-LD) in order to guide the tailoring of CSCL systems by selecting and integrating reusable CSCL software units; and, implementing those units in the form of grid services offered by third party providers. More specifically, this paper outlines a grid-based CSCL system having these features and illustrates its potential scope and applicability by means of a sample collaborative learning scenario.