NA62 is a fixed target experiment to measure very rare decays of Kaons at CERN Super Proton Synch... more NA62 is a fixed target experiment to measure very rare decays of Kaons at CERN Super Proton Synchrotron accelerator. The NA62 experiment line comprises several large detectors installed inside a vacuum vessel with a length of 250 m and an internal diameter of up to 2.8 m. The vacuum installation consists of 170 remote controlled pumps, valves and gauges. The operational specifications of NA62 require a complex vacuum control system: tight interaction between vacuum controllers and detector controllers, including pumping or venting vetoes, and detector start-stop interlocks; most of the valves are interlocked, including the large vacuum sector gate valves; the vacuum devices are driven by 20 logic processes. The vacuum control system is based on commercial Programmable Logical Controllers (Siemens PLC: S7300 series) and a Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition application (Siemens SCADA: WINCC OA). The control software is built upon the standard framework used in CERN accelerators ...
In ultra-high vacuum systems, obtaining the composition of a mass spectrum is often a challenging... more In ultra-high vacuum systems, obtaining the composition of a mass spectrum is often a challenging task due to the highly overlapping nature of the individual profiles of the gas species that contribute to that spectrum, as well as the high differences in terms of degree of contribution (several orders of magnitude). This problem is even more complex when not only the presence but also a quantitative estimation of the contribution (partial pressure) of each species is required. This paper aims at estimating the relative contribution of each species in a target mass spectrum by combining a state-of-the-art machine learning method (multilabel classifier) to obtain a pool of candidate species based on a threshold applied to the probability scores given by the classifier with a genetic algorithm that aims at finding the partial pressure at which each one of the species contributes to the target mass spectrum. For this purpose, we use a dataset of synthetically generated samples. We explo...
Energy efficiency in buildings requires having good predic- tion of the variables that define the... more Energy efficiency in buildings requires having good predic- tion of the variables that define the power consumption in the building. Temperature is the most relevant of these variables because it affects the operation of the cooling systems in summer and the heating systems in win- ter, while being also the main variable that defines comfort. This paper presents the application of classical methods of time series forecasting, such as Autoregressive (AR), Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and Robust MLR (RMLR) models, along with others derived from more complex ma- chine learning techniques, including Multilayer Perceptron with Non-linear Autoregressive Exogenous (MLP-NARX) and Extreme Learning Machine (ELM), to forecast temperature in buildings. The results obtained in the temperature prediction of several rooms of a building show the goodness of machine learning methods as compared to traditional approaches.
The global pandemic of COVID-19 has changed our daily habits and has undoubtedly affected our sma... more The global pandemic of COVID-19 has changed our daily habits and has undoubtedly affected our smartphone usage time. This paper attempts to characterize the changes in the time of use of smartphones and their applications between the pre-lockdown and post-lockdown periods in Spain, during the first COVID-19 confinement in 2020. This study analyzes data from 1940 participants, which was obtained both from a survey and from a tracking application installed on their smartphones. We propose manifold learning techniques such as clustering, to assess, both in a quantitative and in a qualitative way, the behavioral and social effects and implications of confinement in the Spanish population. We also determine the Big Five personality traits along with addiction, Social Digital Pressure and depression indicators for every group determined by the clustering.
NA62 is the follow-up of the NA48 experiment, in the SPS North Area of CERN, and reuses a large f... more NA62 is the follow-up of the NA48 experiment, in the SPS North Area of CERN, and reuses a large fraction of its detectors and beam line equipment. Still, there are many new vacuum devices in the beam line (including pumps, valves & gauges), which required a thorough modification of the control system and a large number of new controllers, many of which were custom-made. The NA62 vacuum control system is based on the use of PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition). The controllers and signal conditioning electronics are accessed from the PLC via a field bus (Profibus); optical fibre is used between surface racks and the underground gallery. The control hardware was completely commissioned during 2014. The nominal pressure levels were attained in all sectors of the experiment. The remote control of all devices and the interlocks were successfully tested. This paper summarizes the architecture of the vacuum control system of NA62, the t...
Extreme Learning Machine, ELM, is a newly available learning algorithm for single layer feedforwa... more Extreme Learning Machine, ELM, is a newly available learning algorithm for single layer feedforward neural networks (SLFNs), and it has proved to show the best compromise between learning speed and accuracy of the estimations. In this paper, a methodology based on Optimal-Pruned ELM (OP-ELM) for function approximation enhanced with variable selection using the Delta Test is introduced. The least angle regression (LARS) algorithm is used after variable selection to rank the input variables, and scaling is also introduced as a way to estimate the influence of each input in the output value. The performance is assessed on a dataset related to anthropometric measurements for children weight prediction. The accurate results show that this combination of techniques is very promising to solve real world problems and represents a good alternative to classic backpropagation methods.
Unifloral honeys are highly demanded by honey consumers, especially in Europe. To ensure that a h... more Unifloral honeys are highly demanded by honey consumers, especially in Europe. To ensure that a honey belongs to a very appreciated botanical class, the classical methodology is palynological analysis to identify and count pollen grains. Highly trained personnel are needed to perform this task, which complicates the characterization of honey botanical origins. Organoleptic assessment of honey by expert personnel helps to confirm such classification. In this study, the ability of different machine learning (ML) algorithms to correctly classify seven types of Spanish honeys of single botanical origins (rosemary, citrus, lavender, sunflower, eucalyptus, heather and forest honeydew) was investigated comparatively. The botanical origin of the samples was ascertained by pollen analysis complemented with organoleptic assessment. Physicochemical parameters such as electrical conductivity, pH, water content, carbohydrates and color of unifloral honeys were used to build the dataset. The foll...
Fungal flora on ripe grape and fungi characterization are very critical for assessing the risk of... more Fungal flora on ripe grape and fungi characterization are very critical for assessing the risk of OTA presence in wine, a mycotoxin classified as possible carcinogen to humans. In the present work, the PCR-RFLP technique has been applied to the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region of the rDNA to carry out the characterization of potential OTA producing species of Aspergillus section Nigri from different grape varieties grown in Spain. The toxin production levels of the different isolates have also been analysed and the ability of natamycin, a fungicide, to control fungal development and OTA production in vitro has been studied, as well as the interaction with environmental factors (water activity, temperature). The results obtained from in vitro cultures of 205 isolates of species in Aspergillus section Nigri showed that 74.2 % of A. carbonarius isolates and 14.3 % of A. tubingensis isolates were capable of producing OTA at different levels. No isolate of A. niger showed OTA producing capacity und...
Since several years ago, power consumption forecast has at- tracted considerable attention from t... more Since several years ago, power consumption forecast has at- tracted considerable attention from the scientific community. Although there exist several works that deal with this issue, it remains open. The good management of energy consumption in HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems for large households and public buildings may benefit from a sustainable development in terms of economy and environmental preservation. In this paper, several Machine Learning tech- niques are evaluated and compared with a linear technique (Robust Multi- ple Linear Regression) and a na¨ove method. All methods have been applied to five buildings of the University of Leon (Spain), the results indicate non- linear techniques outperform the linear one in most scenarios.
The assessment of mortality in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors is typical... more The assessment of mortality in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors is typically a challenging task given the large amount of collected variables and the imbalance between classes. This is the case of the ESCARVAL-RISK dataset, a large cardiovascular followup record spanning 4 years. This study intends to give insight into: a) the performance of variable selection methods, b) the best class balancing method and c) choosing an adequate classifier to predict mortality. We conclude that combining ADASYN with SVM classifiers without and with AUC score-based feature selection, and RUSBoost combined with boosting tree ensembles are the most suitable methodologies among the tested.
Spain is a relevant producer of oats (Avena sativa), but to date there has been no study on the o... more Spain is a relevant producer of oats (Avena sativa), but to date there has been no study on the occurrence/co-occurrence of mycotoxins in oats marketed in Spain. The present study is addressed to overcome this lack of knowledge. One hundred oat kernel samples were acquired across different Spanish geographic regions during the years 2015–2019 and analyzed for mycotoxin content using an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–ESI–MS/MS) method and matrix-matched calibration. The focus was on the regulated mycotoxins although other relevant mycotoxins were considered. The percentage of incidence (levels ≥ limit of detection), mean and range (ng/g) of mycotoxins were as follows: zearalenone (66%, mean 39.1, range 28.1–153), HT-2 toxin (47%, mean 37.1, range 4.98–439), deoxynivalenol, (34%, mean 81.4, range 19.1–736), fumonisin B1 (29%, mean 157.5, range 63.2–217.4), and T-2 toxin, (24%, mean 49.9, range 12.3–321). Fumonisin B2...
Fusarium-controlling fungicides are necessary to limit crop loss. Little is known about the effec... more Fusarium-controlling fungicides are necessary to limit crop loss. Little is known about the effect of antifungal formulations at sub-lethal doses, and their interaction with abiotic factors, on Fusarium culmorum and F. proliferatum development and on zearalenone and fumonisin biosynthesis, respectively. In the present study different treatments based on sulfur, trifloxystrobin and demethylation inhibitor fungicides (cyproconazole, tebuconazole and prothioconazole) under different environmental conditions, in Maize Extract Medium, are assayed in vitro. Several machine learning methods (neural networks, random forest and extreme gradient boosted trees) have been applied for the first time for modeling growth of F. culmorum and F. proliferatum and zearalenone and fumonisin production, respectively. The most effective treatment was prothioconazole, 250 g/L + tebuconazole, 150 g/L. Effective doses of this formulation for reduction or total growth inhibition ranged as follows ED50 0.49-1.70, ED90 2.57-6.02 and ED100 4.0-8.0 µg/mL, depending on the species, water activity and temperature. Overall, the growth rate and mycotoxin levels in cultures decreased when doses increased. Some treatments in combination with certain aw and temperature values significantly induced toxin production. The extreme gradient boosted tree was the model able to predict growth rate and mycotoxin production with minimum error and maximum R2 value.
Cereal grains are essential ingredient in food, feed and industrial processing. One of the major ... more Cereal grains are essential ingredient in food, feed and industrial processing. One of the major causes of cereal spoilage and mycotoxin contamination is the presence of toxigenic Fusarium spp. Nanoparticles have immense applications in agriculture, nutrition, medicine or health but their possible impact on the management of toxigenic fungi and mycotoxins have been very little explored. In this report, the potential of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) (size 14-100 nm) against the major toxigenic Fusarium spp. affecting crops and their effect on mycotoxin accumulation is evaluated for the first time. The studied Fusarium spp. (and associated mycotoxins) were F. graminearum and F. culmorum (deoxynivalenol, 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol and zearalenone), F. sporotrichioides and F. langsethiae (T-2 and HT-2 toxins), F. poae (nivalenol), F. verticillioides and F. proliferatum (fumonisins B1 and B2) and F. oxysporum (mycotoxins no detected). The factors fungal species, AgNP dose (range 2-45 μg/mL), exposure time (range 2-30 h) and their interactions significantly influence spore viability, lag period and growth rate (GR) in subsequent cultures in maize-based medium (MBM) of all the studied species. The effective lethal doses (ED50, ED90 and ED100) to control spore viability and GR were in the range 1->45 μg/mL depending on the remaining factors. At high exposure times (20-30 h), the three effective doses ranged 1-30 μg/mL for all the studied species. At the end of the incubation period (10 days) mycotoxin levels in MBM cultures inoculated with fungal spores from treatments were strongly related with the size reached by the colony at that time. None of the treatments produced stimulation in conidia germination, GR or mycotoxin biosynthesis with respect to controls. Thus, the antifungal effect of the assayed AgNPs against the tested Fusarium spp. suggests that AgNPs could be a new antifungal ingredient in bioactive polymers (paints, films or coating) likely to be implemented in the agro-food sector for controlling these important toxigenic Fusarium spp. and their main associated mycotoxins.
The joint range of motion (ROM) is an important clinical parameter used to assess the loss of fun... more The joint range of motion (ROM) is an important clinical parameter used to assess the loss of functionality resulting from joint bleedings in people with haemophilia. These episodes require a close follow‐up and, to decrease patients' hospital dependence, telemedicine tools are needed. Therefore, this study is aimed to analyse the validity of the Microsoft Kinect V2 sensor with corrected angle measurement to be used in the monitoring of elbow ROM in people with haemophilia.
Abstract The potential use of nanotechnology in the control of toxigenic fungi and mycotoxin prod... more Abstract The potential use of nanotechnology in the control of toxigenic fungi and mycotoxin production has been little explored. In this report, engineered silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized and characterized by single particle Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. Then, their effectiveness in the control of the growth of the main aflatoxigenic and ochratoxigenic species affecting foods and aflatoxins (AFs) and ochratoxin A (OTA) production was studied. The target species and their associated mycotoxins were Aspergillus flavus (AFB1 and AFB2), A. parasiticus (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2), A. carbonarius, A. niger, A. ochraceus, A. steynii, A. westerdijkiae and Penicillium verrucosum (OTA). Spore suspensions supplemented with AgNPs (average diameter size 30 nm, range 14–100 nm) at doses 0–45 μg/mL were incubated for 2–30 h. At selected exposure times aliquots were removed and cultured on maize-based medium (MBM) for 10 days. In these cultures, percentage of viable spores, effective doses (EDs) to inhibit the number of viable spores to 50%, 90% and 100%, colony lag phases, colony growth rates (GR), EDs to inhibit the colony GR to 50%, 90% and 100% were estimated. AF and OTA levels were determined by UPLC-MS/MS. Under the assayed conditions, effective doses of the AgNPs against all the studied fungal species could be estimated. These doses generally decreased with increasing exposure time and were higher for A. flavus and A. parasiticus than for ochratoxigenic species. Colonies from spores treated at high exposure times (20–30 h) and variable AgNP doses showed long lag phases or even did not occur depending on the fungal species. Colony GR, as well as AF and OTA levels in MBM cultures decreased when AgNP dose and contact period increased. The factors species, AgNP dose, exposure time and their interactions significantly affect fungal growth and AF and OTA accumulation in MBM. The results suggest that AgNPs only or as active ingredient hosted in paints, films or other polymers could be a good strategy in the management of the main aflatoxigenic and ocratoxigenic species affecting food and AF and OTA contamination.
Abstract This paper addresses several topics of great interest in computer security in recent yea... more Abstract This paper addresses several topics of great interest in computer security in recent years: computer users’ behavior, security incidents and fraud exposure on the Internet, due to their high economic and social cost. Traditional research has been based mainly on gathering information about security incidents and fraud through surveys. The novelty of the present study is given by the use of Self-Organizing Maps (SOMs), a visual data mining technique. SOMs are applied to two data sets acquired using two different methodologies for collecting data about computer security. First, a traditional online survey about fraud exposure, security and user behavior was used. Second, in addition to surveys, real data obtained from some of the users’ computers were also considered. In this way, the answers of the users can be benchmarked with the true situation of their computers. The surveys and the scanning of the computers were conducted in Spain from December 2013 to June 2014 by the National Observatory of Telecommunications and Information Society of the Spanish Ministry of Industry, performing 9181 surveys and 6350 computer scans in total. SOMs were applied to the datasets in their entirety first, and then a local analysis of the most interesting zones was carried out by zooming in on them. This approach allows for more detailed knowledge extraction. We conclude that SOMs enhance insight and interpretability about both data sets by untangling hidden relationships between variables, and could be helpful for similar future studies.
Patients with hemophilia need to strictly follow exercise routines to minimize their risk of suff... more Patients with hemophilia need to strictly follow exercise routines to minimize their risk of suffering bleeding in joints, known as hemarthrosis. This paper introduces and validates a new exergaming software tool called HemoKinect that intends to keep track of exercises using Microsoft Kinect V2's body tracking capabilities. The software has been developed in C++ and MATLAB. The Kinect SDK V2.0 libraries have been used to obtain 3D joint positions from the Kinect color and depth sensors. Performing angle calculations and center-of-mass (COM) estimations using these joint positions, HemoKinect can evaluate the following exercises: elbow flexion/extension, knee flexion/extension (squat), step climb (ankle exercise) and multi-directional balance based on COM. The software generates reports and progress graphs and is able to directly send the results to the physician via email. Exercises have been validated with 10 controls and eight patients. HemoKinect successfully registered elbo...
NA62 is a fixed target experiment to measure very rare decays of Kaons at CERN Super Proton Synch... more NA62 is a fixed target experiment to measure very rare decays of Kaons at CERN Super Proton Synchrotron accelerator. The NA62 experiment line comprises several large detectors installed inside a vacuum vessel with a length of 250 m and an internal diameter of up to 2.8 m. The vacuum installation consists of 170 remote controlled pumps, valves and gauges. The operational specifications of NA62 require a complex vacuum control system: tight interaction between vacuum controllers and detector controllers, including pumping or venting vetoes, and detector start-stop interlocks; most of the valves are interlocked, including the large vacuum sector gate valves; the vacuum devices are driven by 20 logic processes. The vacuum control system is based on commercial Programmable Logical Controllers (Siemens PLC: S7300 series) and a Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition application (Siemens SCADA: WINCC OA). The control software is built upon the standard framework used in CERN accelerators ...
In ultra-high vacuum systems, obtaining the composition of a mass spectrum is often a challenging... more In ultra-high vacuum systems, obtaining the composition of a mass spectrum is often a challenging task due to the highly overlapping nature of the individual profiles of the gas species that contribute to that spectrum, as well as the high differences in terms of degree of contribution (several orders of magnitude). This problem is even more complex when not only the presence but also a quantitative estimation of the contribution (partial pressure) of each species is required. This paper aims at estimating the relative contribution of each species in a target mass spectrum by combining a state-of-the-art machine learning method (multilabel classifier) to obtain a pool of candidate species based on a threshold applied to the probability scores given by the classifier with a genetic algorithm that aims at finding the partial pressure at which each one of the species contributes to the target mass spectrum. For this purpose, we use a dataset of synthetically generated samples. We explo...
Energy efficiency in buildings requires having good predic- tion of the variables that define the... more Energy efficiency in buildings requires having good predic- tion of the variables that define the power consumption in the building. Temperature is the most relevant of these variables because it affects the operation of the cooling systems in summer and the heating systems in win- ter, while being also the main variable that defines comfort. This paper presents the application of classical methods of time series forecasting, such as Autoregressive (AR), Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and Robust MLR (RMLR) models, along with others derived from more complex ma- chine learning techniques, including Multilayer Perceptron with Non-linear Autoregressive Exogenous (MLP-NARX) and Extreme Learning Machine (ELM), to forecast temperature in buildings. The results obtained in the temperature prediction of several rooms of a building show the goodness of machine learning methods as compared to traditional approaches.
The global pandemic of COVID-19 has changed our daily habits and has undoubtedly affected our sma... more The global pandemic of COVID-19 has changed our daily habits and has undoubtedly affected our smartphone usage time. This paper attempts to characterize the changes in the time of use of smartphones and their applications between the pre-lockdown and post-lockdown periods in Spain, during the first COVID-19 confinement in 2020. This study analyzes data from 1940 participants, which was obtained both from a survey and from a tracking application installed on their smartphones. We propose manifold learning techniques such as clustering, to assess, both in a quantitative and in a qualitative way, the behavioral and social effects and implications of confinement in the Spanish population. We also determine the Big Five personality traits along with addiction, Social Digital Pressure and depression indicators for every group determined by the clustering.
NA62 is the follow-up of the NA48 experiment, in the SPS North Area of CERN, and reuses a large f... more NA62 is the follow-up of the NA48 experiment, in the SPS North Area of CERN, and reuses a large fraction of its detectors and beam line equipment. Still, there are many new vacuum devices in the beam line (including pumps, valves & gauges), which required a thorough modification of the control system and a large number of new controllers, many of which were custom-made. The NA62 vacuum control system is based on the use of PLCs (Programmable Logic Controllers) and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition). The controllers and signal conditioning electronics are accessed from the PLC via a field bus (Profibus); optical fibre is used between surface racks and the underground gallery. The control hardware was completely commissioned during 2014. The nominal pressure levels were attained in all sectors of the experiment. The remote control of all devices and the interlocks were successfully tested. This paper summarizes the architecture of the vacuum control system of NA62, the t...
Extreme Learning Machine, ELM, is a newly available learning algorithm for single layer feedforwa... more Extreme Learning Machine, ELM, is a newly available learning algorithm for single layer feedforward neural networks (SLFNs), and it has proved to show the best compromise between learning speed and accuracy of the estimations. In this paper, a methodology based on Optimal-Pruned ELM (OP-ELM) for function approximation enhanced with variable selection using the Delta Test is introduced. The least angle regression (LARS) algorithm is used after variable selection to rank the input variables, and scaling is also introduced as a way to estimate the influence of each input in the output value. The performance is assessed on a dataset related to anthropometric measurements for children weight prediction. The accurate results show that this combination of techniques is very promising to solve real world problems and represents a good alternative to classic backpropagation methods.
Unifloral honeys are highly demanded by honey consumers, especially in Europe. To ensure that a h... more Unifloral honeys are highly demanded by honey consumers, especially in Europe. To ensure that a honey belongs to a very appreciated botanical class, the classical methodology is palynological analysis to identify and count pollen grains. Highly trained personnel are needed to perform this task, which complicates the characterization of honey botanical origins. Organoleptic assessment of honey by expert personnel helps to confirm such classification. In this study, the ability of different machine learning (ML) algorithms to correctly classify seven types of Spanish honeys of single botanical origins (rosemary, citrus, lavender, sunflower, eucalyptus, heather and forest honeydew) was investigated comparatively. The botanical origin of the samples was ascertained by pollen analysis complemented with organoleptic assessment. Physicochemical parameters such as electrical conductivity, pH, water content, carbohydrates and color of unifloral honeys were used to build the dataset. The foll...
Fungal flora on ripe grape and fungi characterization are very critical for assessing the risk of... more Fungal flora on ripe grape and fungi characterization are very critical for assessing the risk of OTA presence in wine, a mycotoxin classified as possible carcinogen to humans. In the present work, the PCR-RFLP technique has been applied to the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region of the rDNA to carry out the characterization of potential OTA producing species of Aspergillus section Nigri from different grape varieties grown in Spain. The toxin production levels of the different isolates have also been analysed and the ability of natamycin, a fungicide, to control fungal development and OTA production in vitro has been studied, as well as the interaction with environmental factors (water activity, temperature). The results obtained from in vitro cultures of 205 isolates of species in Aspergillus section Nigri showed that 74.2 % of A. carbonarius isolates and 14.3 % of A. tubingensis isolates were capable of producing OTA at different levels. No isolate of A. niger showed OTA producing capacity und...
Since several years ago, power consumption forecast has at- tracted considerable attention from t... more Since several years ago, power consumption forecast has at- tracted considerable attention from the scientific community. Although there exist several works that deal with this issue, it remains open. The good management of energy consumption in HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems for large households and public buildings may benefit from a sustainable development in terms of economy and environmental preservation. In this paper, several Machine Learning tech- niques are evaluated and compared with a linear technique (Robust Multi- ple Linear Regression) and a na¨ove method. All methods have been applied to five buildings of the University of Leon (Spain), the results indicate non- linear techniques outperform the linear one in most scenarios.
The assessment of mortality in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors is typical... more The assessment of mortality in patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors is typically a challenging task given the large amount of collected variables and the imbalance between classes. This is the case of the ESCARVAL-RISK dataset, a large cardiovascular followup record spanning 4 years. This study intends to give insight into: a) the performance of variable selection methods, b) the best class balancing method and c) choosing an adequate classifier to predict mortality. We conclude that combining ADASYN with SVM classifiers without and with AUC score-based feature selection, and RUSBoost combined with boosting tree ensembles are the most suitable methodologies among the tested.
Spain is a relevant producer of oats (Avena sativa), but to date there has been no study on the o... more Spain is a relevant producer of oats (Avena sativa), but to date there has been no study on the occurrence/co-occurrence of mycotoxins in oats marketed in Spain. The present study is addressed to overcome this lack of knowledge. One hundred oat kernel samples were acquired across different Spanish geographic regions during the years 2015–2019 and analyzed for mycotoxin content using an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–ESI–MS/MS) method and matrix-matched calibration. The focus was on the regulated mycotoxins although other relevant mycotoxins were considered. The percentage of incidence (levels ≥ limit of detection), mean and range (ng/g) of mycotoxins were as follows: zearalenone (66%, mean 39.1, range 28.1–153), HT-2 toxin (47%, mean 37.1, range 4.98–439), deoxynivalenol, (34%, mean 81.4, range 19.1–736), fumonisin B1 (29%, mean 157.5, range 63.2–217.4), and T-2 toxin, (24%, mean 49.9, range 12.3–321). Fumonisin B2...
Fusarium-controlling fungicides are necessary to limit crop loss. Little is known about the effec... more Fusarium-controlling fungicides are necessary to limit crop loss. Little is known about the effect of antifungal formulations at sub-lethal doses, and their interaction with abiotic factors, on Fusarium culmorum and F. proliferatum development and on zearalenone and fumonisin biosynthesis, respectively. In the present study different treatments based on sulfur, trifloxystrobin and demethylation inhibitor fungicides (cyproconazole, tebuconazole and prothioconazole) under different environmental conditions, in Maize Extract Medium, are assayed in vitro. Several machine learning methods (neural networks, random forest and extreme gradient boosted trees) have been applied for the first time for modeling growth of F. culmorum and F. proliferatum and zearalenone and fumonisin production, respectively. The most effective treatment was prothioconazole, 250 g/L + tebuconazole, 150 g/L. Effective doses of this formulation for reduction or total growth inhibition ranged as follows ED50 0.49-1.70, ED90 2.57-6.02 and ED100 4.0-8.0 µg/mL, depending on the species, water activity and temperature. Overall, the growth rate and mycotoxin levels in cultures decreased when doses increased. Some treatments in combination with certain aw and temperature values significantly induced toxin production. The extreme gradient boosted tree was the model able to predict growth rate and mycotoxin production with minimum error and maximum R2 value.
Cereal grains are essential ingredient in food, feed and industrial processing. One of the major ... more Cereal grains are essential ingredient in food, feed and industrial processing. One of the major causes of cereal spoilage and mycotoxin contamination is the presence of toxigenic Fusarium spp. Nanoparticles have immense applications in agriculture, nutrition, medicine or health but their possible impact on the management of toxigenic fungi and mycotoxins have been very little explored. In this report, the potential of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) (size 14-100 nm) against the major toxigenic Fusarium spp. affecting crops and their effect on mycotoxin accumulation is evaluated for the first time. The studied Fusarium spp. (and associated mycotoxins) were F. graminearum and F. culmorum (deoxynivalenol, 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol and zearalenone), F. sporotrichioides and F. langsethiae (T-2 and HT-2 toxins), F. poae (nivalenol), F. verticillioides and F. proliferatum (fumonisins B1 and B2) and F. oxysporum (mycotoxins no detected). The factors fungal species, AgNP dose (range 2-45 μg/mL), exposure time (range 2-30 h) and their interactions significantly influence spore viability, lag period and growth rate (GR) in subsequent cultures in maize-based medium (MBM) of all the studied species. The effective lethal doses (ED50, ED90 and ED100) to control spore viability and GR were in the range 1->45 μg/mL depending on the remaining factors. At high exposure times (20-30 h), the three effective doses ranged 1-30 μg/mL for all the studied species. At the end of the incubation period (10 days) mycotoxin levels in MBM cultures inoculated with fungal spores from treatments were strongly related with the size reached by the colony at that time. None of the treatments produced stimulation in conidia germination, GR or mycotoxin biosynthesis with respect to controls. Thus, the antifungal effect of the assayed AgNPs against the tested Fusarium spp. suggests that AgNPs could be a new antifungal ingredient in bioactive polymers (paints, films or coating) likely to be implemented in the agro-food sector for controlling these important toxigenic Fusarium spp. and their main associated mycotoxins.
The joint range of motion (ROM) is an important clinical parameter used to assess the loss of fun... more The joint range of motion (ROM) is an important clinical parameter used to assess the loss of functionality resulting from joint bleedings in people with haemophilia. These episodes require a close follow‐up and, to decrease patients' hospital dependence, telemedicine tools are needed. Therefore, this study is aimed to analyse the validity of the Microsoft Kinect V2 sensor with corrected angle measurement to be used in the monitoring of elbow ROM in people with haemophilia.
Abstract The potential use of nanotechnology in the control of toxigenic fungi and mycotoxin prod... more Abstract The potential use of nanotechnology in the control of toxigenic fungi and mycotoxin production has been little explored. In this report, engineered silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized and characterized by single particle Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. Then, their effectiveness in the control of the growth of the main aflatoxigenic and ochratoxigenic species affecting foods and aflatoxins (AFs) and ochratoxin A (OTA) production was studied. The target species and their associated mycotoxins were Aspergillus flavus (AFB1 and AFB2), A. parasiticus (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2), A. carbonarius, A. niger, A. ochraceus, A. steynii, A. westerdijkiae and Penicillium verrucosum (OTA). Spore suspensions supplemented with AgNPs (average diameter size 30 nm, range 14–100 nm) at doses 0–45 μg/mL were incubated for 2–30 h. At selected exposure times aliquots were removed and cultured on maize-based medium (MBM) for 10 days. In these cultures, percentage of viable spores, effective doses (EDs) to inhibit the number of viable spores to 50%, 90% and 100%, colony lag phases, colony growth rates (GR), EDs to inhibit the colony GR to 50%, 90% and 100% were estimated. AF and OTA levels were determined by UPLC-MS/MS. Under the assayed conditions, effective doses of the AgNPs against all the studied fungal species could be estimated. These doses generally decreased with increasing exposure time and were higher for A. flavus and A. parasiticus than for ochratoxigenic species. Colonies from spores treated at high exposure times (20–30 h) and variable AgNP doses showed long lag phases or even did not occur depending on the fungal species. Colony GR, as well as AF and OTA levels in MBM cultures decreased when AgNP dose and contact period increased. The factors species, AgNP dose, exposure time and their interactions significantly affect fungal growth and AF and OTA accumulation in MBM. The results suggest that AgNPs only or as active ingredient hosted in paints, films or other polymers could be a good strategy in the management of the main aflatoxigenic and ocratoxigenic species affecting food and AF and OTA contamination.
Abstract This paper addresses several topics of great interest in computer security in recent yea... more Abstract This paper addresses several topics of great interest in computer security in recent years: computer users’ behavior, security incidents and fraud exposure on the Internet, due to their high economic and social cost. Traditional research has been based mainly on gathering information about security incidents and fraud through surveys. The novelty of the present study is given by the use of Self-Organizing Maps (SOMs), a visual data mining technique. SOMs are applied to two data sets acquired using two different methodologies for collecting data about computer security. First, a traditional online survey about fraud exposure, security and user behavior was used. Second, in addition to surveys, real data obtained from some of the users’ computers were also considered. In this way, the answers of the users can be benchmarked with the true situation of their computers. The surveys and the scanning of the computers were conducted in Spain from December 2013 to June 2014 by the National Observatory of Telecommunications and Information Society of the Spanish Ministry of Industry, performing 9181 surveys and 6350 computer scans in total. SOMs were applied to the datasets in their entirety first, and then a local analysis of the most interesting zones was carried out by zooming in on them. This approach allows for more detailed knowledge extraction. We conclude that SOMs enhance insight and interpretability about both data sets by untangling hidden relationships between variables, and could be helpful for similar future studies.
Patients with hemophilia need to strictly follow exercise routines to minimize their risk of suff... more Patients with hemophilia need to strictly follow exercise routines to minimize their risk of suffering bleeding in joints, known as hemarthrosis. This paper introduces and validates a new exergaming software tool called HemoKinect that intends to keep track of exercises using Microsoft Kinect V2's body tracking capabilities. The software has been developed in C++ and MATLAB. The Kinect SDK V2.0 libraries have been used to obtain 3D joint positions from the Kinect color and depth sensors. Performing angle calculations and center-of-mass (COM) estimations using these joint positions, HemoKinect can evaluate the following exercises: elbow flexion/extension, knee flexion/extension (squat), step climb (ankle exercise) and multi-directional balance based on COM. The software generates reports and progress graphs and is able to directly send the results to the physician via email. Exercises have been validated with 10 controls and eight patients. HemoKinect successfully registered elbo...
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Papers by Fernando Mateo