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Trust and confidence in institutions: religious beliefs and educational attainment
Full text linkThe main objective of the paper is the analysis of intergenerational or cultural transmission of religious values during adolescence in order to explain interpersonal trust and confidence in institutions in adulthood. Trust and confidence in institutions outcomes are examined using the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) 2008 Religion III survey. Overall, the results are in line with previous literature: religious intensity and educational attainment are significantly and positively correlated with trust and confidence in institutions. When instrumental variables are used, the results suggest that religious engagement does not significantly explain interpersonal trust though it is significantly related to confidence in institution
Temporal uncoupling between demographic and genetic metrics in fisheries assessment: the European hake case study
Full text linkAn authentic ecological transition for fisheries sustainability requires the integration of all relevant biological criteria in assessment models. Current analyses aim to dissect the evolution of some demographic and genetic metrics in the overharvested Southern European hake fishery in the last four decades. Demographic data were drawn from the official records of ICES, while genetic data were obtained from a lustrum-based sampling series between 1975 and 2014. Opposite to Non-Adaptive Polymorphic Systems (NAPS) microsatellites, Adaptive Polymorphic Systems (APS) microsatellites succeeded at detecting genetic erosion at the maximum population overharvest in lustrum 1996–2000, a phenomenon also confirmed with the molecular variation of the mtDNA cytochrome b gene. We show that the maximum demographic mortality Z_NSSB (1986–1990) predated both the maximum genetic effective mortality Z_LDNe (1991–1995) as well as the maximum cohort-based mortality Z_ICES (1996–2000). Such temporal uncoupling between demographic and genetic metrics suggests that official cohort analyses are far from assessing the real biological status of the Southern European hake fishery to achieve its sustainability-oriented advice.Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. TED2021-132258B-I00Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED481A-2017/36
Negative assortative mating and maintenance of shell colour polymorphism in Littorina (Neritrema) species
Full text linkColour polymorphism is a widespread phenomenon in natural populations of several species. In particular, it is especially common on marine gastropod species from the genus Littorina. Recently, it has been argued that intrapopulation shell colour polymorphism in Littorina fabalis could be caused by negative frequency-dependent sexual selection via a mechanism of mate choice (indirectly estimated through negative assortative mating). Here we try to determine the existence of negative assortative mating in three species of the subgenus Neritrema (L. fabalis, L. obtusata, L. saxatilis) that share a similar shell colour polymorphism, to ascertain if this mechanism could represent an ancestral character in this subgenus that could be contributing to the maintenance of the colour polymorphism observed in each species. We collected or reanalysed from previous studies a sample of mating pairs of these three species from seven locations from NW Spain and NE Russia and estimated assortative mating using the IPSI index. Our results suggest that all species and populations show a systematic tendency towards negative assortative mating when shell colour is grouped in the broad categories ‘light’ and ‘dark’. Moreover, a more detailed analysis of each colour separately suggests that shell colour may not be the main target of assortative mating, but perhaps a physically-linked trait to the real target of selection. This hypothesis opens interesting new lines of research in Littorina snails.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad | Ref. CGL2016-75482-PMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades | Ref. RTI2018- 101274-J-I00Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED481A-2020/142Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades | Ref. FPU18/0464
Analysis of rain fade characteristics from experimental satellite measurements at Ka/Q bands for a temperate location Vigo, Spain
No full textRain is one of the most dominant factors for satellite communication systems link performance at frequencies above 10 GHz, increasing rapidly at higher frequencies. The prediction of time dynamics of the rain attenuation is required to improve the efficiency of various fade mitigation techniques (FMTs) to reduce signal fading. Fade duration and fade slope statistics are used to describe the dynamic behavior of attenuation experienced by radio communication links. The present study is based on experimental measurements from a Ka band (KaSAT) and Q band (AlphaSAT) beacon receiver at the frequencies 19. 7 GHz and 39. 4 GHz respectively. In this paper, annual and monthly variation of rain attenuation statistics for a temperate location Vigo, Spain is presented. Monthly variation of rain attenuation statistics is much larger than the yearly variation for the present location. This paper also analyzes the fade duration and fade slope statistics for both the bands. The conditional probability density function (PDF) of fade slope shows general symmetry between positive and negative slope values for both Ka and Q bands. All the measured statistics (1st order and 2nd order) are compared with the existing ITU-R and COST-205 models. Predictions of rain attenuation by both the models are close to the measured data. For fade duration statistics, as attenuation threshold increases, performance of both ITU-R and COST-205 models improves for Ka band. For Q band, COST model performs better compared to ITU-R model. Measured probability density function of fade slope fits with the ITU-R model more closely for Q band compared to Ka band.European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC)European Space Agency (ESA
Exploiting BIM objects for synthetic data generation toward indoor point cloud classification using deep learning
No full textAdvances in technology are leading to more and more devices integrating sensors capable of acquiring data quickly and with high accuracy. Point clouds are no exception. Therefore, there is increased research interest in the large amount of available light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data by point cloud classification using artificial intelligence. Nevertheless, point cloud labeling is a time-consuming task. Hence the amount of labeled data is still scarce. Data synthesis is gaining attention as an alternative to increase the volume of classified data. At the same time, the amount of Building Information Models (BIMs) provided by manufacturers on website databases is increasing. In line with these recent trends, this paper presents a deep-learning framework for classifying point cloud objects based on synthetic data sets created from BIM objects. The method starts by transforming BIM objects into point clouds deriving a data set consisting of 21 object classes characterized with various perturbation patterns. Then, the data set is split into four subsets to carry out the evaluation of synthetic data on the implemented flexible two-dimensional (2D) deep neural framework. In the latter, binary or greyscale images can be generated from point clouds by both orthographic or perspective projection to feed the network. Moreover, the surface variation feature was computed in order to aggregate more geometric information to images and to evaluate how it influences the object classification. The overall accuracy is over 85% in all tests when orthographic images are used. Also, the use of greyscale images representing surface variation improves performance in almost all tests although the computation of this feature may not be robust in point clouds with complex geometry or perturbations.Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED431C 2020/01Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. PID2019-105221RB-C43Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación | Ref. RYC2020-029193-IPrograma Iacobus VII | Ref. 3556314
Un análisis para diversos usos de los condicionales
No full textMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación | Ref. FFI2009-08828Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación | Ref. FFI2008-03092Diputación Provincial de Ourense | Ref. INOU11A-0
Automatic LiDAR-based lighting inventory in buildings
No full textConstruction industry is a large contributor in terms of energy consumption for all stages of the building life-cycle. Among building features, lightning management is a crucial element for energy saving. In this paper, an algorithm for the automatic detection of ceiling lightings is developed and tested. The main sections of the algorithm consist of ceiling extraction, point cloud to image conversion, and luminaires detection. Ceiling extraction is performed using RANSAC algorithm for plane detection. Point cloud conversion uses nearest neighbor rasterization and image binarization. The final step deals with luminaires detection and considers two types of lightning present in the dataset: fluorescent lightings are distinguished using a refined Harris corner detector while a Hough transformation is applied to find circular low energy bulbs. The algorithm results reflect a completeness of 100% with a geometric accuracy of 5.8 cm in the centroid determination of fluorescent lighting and 3.0 cm in low energy bulbs. The computing time ranges from 148.8 s in the detection of the fluorescent lighting to 105.9 s for the case of low energy bulbs, with point clouds of 90 and 60 million points, respectively.Xunta de Galicia | Ref. CN2012/269Xunta de Galicia | Ref. R2014/032Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad | Ref. TIN2013-46801-C4-4-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad | Ref. ENE2013-48015-C3-1-
Anomalous twin boundary formation in magnesium alloys by rapid solidification
Full text linkThe aim of this work is to investigate the formation of an anomalously high fraction of twin boundaries (TBs) during laser directed energy deposition (DED) of a Mg-3Al-1 Zn (wt.%) alloy. With that goal, single tracks are deposited using different combinations of scan speed and powder feed rate. The melt pool dimensions are related
to the DED parameters. Irrespective of the processing conditions, the resulting microstructures are always formed
by fine grains with a very weak texture. However, some DED parameter combinations give rise to a fraction of TBs that is significantly higher than that corresponding to a random texture. These TBs are characterized by an irregular morphology and by the presence of segregated atoms, solute clusters, and nanoparticles. Additionally,the lattice in the vicinity of the TBs is highly distorted and contains a high population of stacking faults. All these
characteristics set them apart from conventional tensile TBs, which exhibit a large degree of coherency and limited segregation. Rapid solidification is thus presented here as a novel avenue to design TBs with unique
properties in Mg alloys. This work paves the way for future studies on grain boundary design via additive manufacturing methods, a field that is still in its infancy.Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED431C 2023/25Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. PID2019-111285RB-I0
A invisível transversalidade da criatividade. Apresentação
Full text linkLa pandemia del COVID 19, que ha venido a tumbar una manera de entender el mundo y la vida, ha puesto de nuevo en evidencia la necesidad de los resultados creativos como consecuencia de mirar las cosas de manera diferente. La creatividad es uno de los conceptos más transversales que existen, con una importancia reconocida en todas las parcelas del pensamiento humano, a pesar de ello y del reconocimiento de las capacidades creativas, su aprendizaje y enseñanza sigue siendo escasa en la formación educativa, hablemos del nivel que sea. Estas cuestiones se tratan en las propuestas presentadas en este monográfico donde los escritos desde el ámbito educativo son mayoritarios, dejando entrever la importancia de esta ausencia que, a pesar de reformas, crisis y pandemias sigue sin tener el papel que le corresponde en la formación de las personas.A pandemia COVID 19, que trouxe uma nova forma de entender o mundo e a vida, veio destacar, uma vez mais, a necessidade de se procurarem encontrar soluções criativas através do desenvolvimento de um olhar diferenciado sobre as coisas. Não
obstante, a criatividade ser um dos conceitos mais transversais que existem, com reconhecida importância em todas as áreas do pensamento humano, o reconhecimento da relevância das capacidades criativas, da sua aprendizagem e do ensino são ainda
raros no meio educativo, em qualquer dos seus níveis. Estas questões são, aliás, tratadas nas pesquisas apresentadas neste volume,
onde os textos de âmbito pedagógico são maioritários, deixando antever a ausência de práticas contínuas de estímulo à criatividade na educação, apesar das reformas, crises e pandemias, que temos enfrentado, nos fazerem perceber a sua importância
na formação das pessoas.The COVID 19 pandemic, which brought a new way of understanding the world and our life, highlighted, once again, the need to seek for creative solutions through the development of a new look over things. Creativity is one of the most transversal concepts that exist, with recognized importance in all areas of human thought, yet an open acknowledgement of the relevance of creative abilities, their learning and teaching is still rare in the educational environment, at its different levels. These issues are, moreover, dealt with in the research presented in this volume, where texts of a pedagogical scope are the majority, allowing us to foresee the absence of continuous practices to stimulate creativity in education, despite the reforms, crises and pandemics that we have faced, making us realize its importancein educating people
Extracting DNA from soil or directly from isolated nematodes indicate dissimilar community structure for Europe-wide forest soils
Full text linkNematodes are numerous in soils and play a crucial role in soil food-webs. DNA metabarcoding offers a time-effective alternative to morphology-based assessments of nematode diversity. However, it is unclear how different DNA extraction methods prior to metabarcoding could affect community analysis. We used soils with woody vegetation from a European latitudinal gradient (29 sites, 39 to 79°N, ∼4500 km, covering six biomes) to systematically evaluate the effect of two sources of nematode DNA either directly extracted from soils vs. extracted from nematodes previously isolated from soils hypothesizing that the DNA source material may produce different diversities, community structures and abundances of feeding types. Nematode-sample DNA exhibited a higher richness, while no difference in Shannon diversity was found between the approaches. The DNA sources also created significantly different community structures, with greater differences observed across soil-extracted DNA than nematode-sample DNA. The most overrepresented species in nematode-sample DNA were Heterocephalobus elongatus, Eucephalobus striatus and Hexatylus sp., whereas Phasmarhabditis sp. and Eumonhystera filiformis were overrepresented in soil-extracted DNA. Read abundances of feeding types significantly differed between the DNA sources and across sites, with a significant effect of biome on both ecto- and endoparasitic herbivores in soil-extracted DNA and for ectoparasitic herbivores only in nematode-sample DNA. Collectively, our data suggest that choice of the DNA source material may lead to different patterns of nematode community composition across space and environmental conditions. Improving the sensitivity of the soil-extracted DNA method by developing protocols using larger amounts of soil and designing nematode-specific primers will make this approach an efficient screening tool to analyse nematode diversity and community structure complementing the labour-intensive isolation of intact nematodes from soils (nematode-sample DNA).Swiss National Science Foundation | Ref. IZCNZ0-174585European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) | Ref. ES140