Information-Driven Gas Distribution Mapping for Autonomous Mobile Robots.

The ability to sense airborne pollutants with mobile robots provides a valuable asset for domains such as industrial safety and environmental monitoring. Oftentimes, this involves detecting how certain gases are spread out in the environment, commonly referred to as a gas distribution map, to subsequently take actions that depend on the collected information. Since the majority of gas transducers require physical contact with the analyte to sense it, the generation of such a map usually involves slow and laborious data collection from all key locations. In this regard, this paper proposes an efficient exploration algorithm for 2D gas distribution mapping with an autonomous mobile robot. Our proposal combines a Gaussian Markov random field estimator based on gas and wind flow measurements, devised for very sparse sample sizes and indoor environments, with a partially observable Markov decision process to close the robot's control loop. The advantage of this approach is that the gas map is not only continuously updated, but can also be leveraged to choose the next location based on how much information it provides. The exploration consequently adapts to how the gas is distributed during run time, leading to an efficient sampling path and, in turn, a complete gas map with a relatively low number of measurements. Furthermore, it also accounts for wind currents in the environment, which improves the reliability of the final gas map even in the presence of obstacles or when the gas distribution diverges from an ideal gas plume. Finally, we report various simulation experiments to evaluate our proposal against a computer-generated fluid dynamics ground truth, as well as physical experiments in a wind tunnel.

El San Juan de Dios y las trabajadoras: la vida social de un hospital y la crisis de la salud en Colombia / The San Juan de Dios Hospital and its workers: the social life of a hospital and the health crisis in Colombia

Resumen Este artículo describe algunos eventos significativos de los 15 años de lucha (1999-2014) de un grupo de mujeres por la reactivación del Hospital San Juan de Dios y por continuar siendo trabajadoras después de las reformas neoliberales en Colombia. La etnografía presentada propone herramientas para la comprensión de las dimensiones morales forjadas a partir de un conflicto por el reconocimiento de derechos y demuestra que el hospital, más que un conjunto arquitectónico, es un idioma activado por las trabajadoras para afirmar su humanidad, un vehículo para la elaboración simbólica de una causa y un medio para entender la construcción de colectividades a partir de gramáticas emocionales.

Abstract This article describes some significant events of the fifteen years of struggle (1999-2014) of a group of women for the reactivation of the San Juan de Dios Hospital and to stay on as workers after the neoliberal reforms in Colombia. The ethnography presented proposes tools for the understanding of the moral dimensions forged from a conflict for the recognition of rights and shows that the hospital, more than being an architectural complex, is a language activated by the workers to affirm their humanity, a vehicle for the symbolic elaboration of a cause and a means to understand the construction of collectives based on emotional terminology.

[On the sidelines of society: crack use, deviation, criminalization and social exclusion - a narrative review]. / À margem: uso de crack, desvio, criminalização e exclusão social ­ uma revisão narrativa.

The article comprises a narrative review of the scientific literature, aiming to identify and discuss the contexts of vulnerability and social exclusion faced by users of crack cocaine and other substances who live on the sidelines of society in the Brazilian and international context. The paper summarizes insights from different theoretical frameworks, focusing on an integrated perspective of substance use and abuse, with an emphasis on the use of crack and its inter-relationships with social vulnerability, marginalization, social exclusion and deviation. In a first step, broad aspects of qualitative research on drugs are outlined. The subsequent section highlights issues associated with exclusion and social vulnerability of crack users, followed by an assessment of the main associations mentioned in the literature on drug use and criminal involvement. Finally, the concept of "sidelines of society" is discussed, as exemplified by situations and events experienced by users of crack and other substances, as mentioned in the literature.

À margem: uso de crack, desvio, criminalização e exclusão social - uma revisão narrativa / On the sidelines of society: crack use, deviation, criminalization and social exclusion - a narrative review

Resumo O artigo faz uma revisão narrativa da literatura científica visando identificar e discutir os contextos de vulnerabilidade e exclusão social que situam os usuários de crack e outras drogas à margem da norma social no contexto brasileiro e internacional. Lança-se mão de uma variedade de marcos teóricos de modo a integrar as áreas temática do uso de drogas, com ênfase no de crack e sua inter-relação com vulnerabilidade social, marginalidade, exclusão social e desvio. Inicialmente são discutidos aspectos gerais da pesquisa qualitativa em drogas. Em seguida são pontuadas questões acerca da exclusão e vulnerabilidade social dos usuários de crack, seguido das principais associações descritas na literatura sobre uso de drogas e envolvimento criminal. Por fim, o conceito de “margens do Estado” é discutido através do exemplo de situações vivenciadas pelos usuários de crack e outras drogas, como relatado pela literatura.

Abstract The article comprises a narrative review of the scientific literature, aiming to identify and discuss the contexts of vulnerability and social exclusion faced by users of crack cocaine and other substances who live on the sidelines of society in the Brazilian and international context. The paper summarizes insights from different theoretical frameworks, focusing on an integrated perspective of substance use and abuse, with an emphasis on the use of crack and its inter-relationships with social vulnerability, marginalization, social exclusion and deviation. In a first step, broad aspects of qualitative research on drugs are outlined. The subsequent section highlights issues associated with exclusion and social vulnerability of crack users, followed by an assessment of the main associations mentioned in the literature on drug use and criminal involvement. Finally, the concept of “sidelines of society” is discussed, as exemplified by situations and events experienced by users of crack and other substances, as mentioned in the literature.

[The San Juan de Dios Hospital and its workers: the social life of a hospital and the health crisis in Colombia]. / El San Juan de Dios y las trabajadoras: la vida social de un hospital y la crisis de la salud en Colombia.

This article describes some significant events of the fifteen years of struggle (1999-2014) of a group of women for the reactivation of the San Juan de Dios Hospital and to stay on as workers after the neoliberal reforms in Colombia. The ethnography presented proposes tools for the understanding of the moral dimensions forged from a conflict for the recognition of rights and shows that the hospital, more than being an architectural complex, is a language activated by the workers to affirm their humanity, a vehicle for the symbolic elaboration of a cause and a means to understand the construction of collectives based on emotional terminology.

Este artículo describe algunos eventos significativos de los 15 años de lucha (1999-2014) de un grupo de mujeres por la reactivación del Hospital San Juan de Dios y por continuar siendo trabajadoras después de las reformas neoliberales en Colombia. La etnografía presentada propone herramientas para la comprensión de las dimensiones morales forjadas a partir de un conflicto por el reconocimiento de derechos y demuestra que el hospital, más que un conjunto arquitectónico, es un idioma activado por las trabajadoras para afirmar su humanidad, un vehículo para la elaboración simbólica de una causa y un medio para entender la construcción de colectividades a partir de gramáticas emocionales.