Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

In this document, some specific methods are developed to carry out a classifier that is capable of identifying adult and calf manatees from different audios. The duration of the vocalizations will be evaluated with a noise elimination method based on the elimination of silences, then take advantage of this signal and evaluate one of the main parameters, the fundamental frequency which will be calculated in two methods (cepstrum and THD); In this way, compare the obtained values and evaluate them in a minimum distance classifier.

In Panama, the process of transporting and storing fruits and vegetables is done in a rudimentary manner, and in most cases the occupational health of workers is affected. Therefore, it is imperative the construction of a device that allows transporting, storing and protecting fruits and vegetables in the field in a safe way, which in turn considers the occupational health of those who operate it.  In order to carry out this research, information was collected through surveys of people working in agriculture in the Azuero Peninsula. The surveys were about the process of transporting and storing fruits and vegetables, as well as the experience of the farmers in this difficult task. The main objective of this research is to present a design and prototype of a mechanical device for transport and storage, which in turn provides safety for both the fruits and vegetables and the farmers. The results of the surveys show that the products suffer damage during transport and storage, due to the physical fatigue of the workers and the lack of a device that fulfills the functions required by the farmer. The results of this research showed that a device with these characteristics is of importance in our fields at a national level. The line of research for the construction of more prototypes to benefit the transport of fruits and vegetables is left open.

In this article, a study of coconut fiber and egg boxes as acoustic absorbers is proposed, where their efficiency is verified to reduce sound pressure levels towards the outside of a place, obtaining a decrease in pressure levels. between 5dB and 8dB, carried out with sound level meters from two different brands: Risepro and Tacklife to make comparisons through mobile device applications to project sounds at different frequencies. Finding positive results from both materials in terms of sound absorption, considering improvements to the coconut plates made for future projects. The main objective of these small tests is to verify, by means of sound level meters, that desired materials such as coconut fiber and egg boxes have characteristics of acoustic insulators, thus analyzing how they work at different frequencies trying to simulate the noises that occur in life. daily and in this way obtaining results that would be considered for future studies.

This project was developed with the objective of implementing an application that could identify the types of snakes located in both urban and rural sites, providing details on their level of danger as well as their benefit to the ecosystem, also if they are in danger of extinction. This article presents the development of the prototype in a methodological way, in which a bibliographic review and related projects were made to design a conceptual proposal. For the development of this prototype, artificial vision libraries were used which, through images stored in a neural network, venomous or nonvenomous snakes were identified. In addition, tests were conducted to validate the computer vision algorithm that identifies the types of snakes.

This article describes the analysis of the ability of duckweed (Lemna minor) to phytoremediate iron concentrations, comparing them with the ability of hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata) for seven days. To carry out this study, dechlorinated water was used, to which ferrous sulfate (II) heptahydrate (FeSO4∙7H2O) was added, and the different chemical and physical characteristics of the water were analyzed. Both the duckweed and the hydrilla presented a similar initial absorption capacity during the first 48 hours of the experiment, presenting a reduction percentage of the iron concentration in the water of 49.07% by the duckweed and 42.90% by the water lentils. for the hydrilla. By increasing the time interval (t > 1 day), the absorption process was gradually slowed down until a minimum reduction percentage of 1.10% was obtained for duckweed and 15.93% for hydrilla before presenting a desorption of 4.44% and 22.73% respectively at the end of the experiment. The hydrilla, with a percentage of iron reduction of 53.02%, compared to 51.44% of duckweed. Both species showed a great capacity to remove iron in water, with the potential to be an economically viable method for the phytoremediation of iron in an aquatic environment.

In Panama, the average relative humidity is 84.5%, therefore, there is concern because high relative humidity can bring respiratory problems due to bacteria and fungi. Therefore, it is imperative to lower its level in closed spaces. The relative humidity and temperature of sheets based on natural fibers (coconut tow), rice starch, coarse salt and silica gel were analyzed, using the DHT22 temperature and relative humidity sensor, still with an Arduino Uno board, with the main objective of prototyping, evaluating, analyzing and verifying if the mixture of these compounds absorbs relative humidity present in an enclosure. The results obtained due to the four experiments carried out showed that the sheets based on natural fibers do absorb relative humidity. It was also obtained that the heat transfer ratio of the sheets, the temperature variation, the area normal to the direction of heat transfer and the thermal conductivity of the material is inversely proportional to the relative humidity, while the thickness is directly proportional to it. The results of this research show that the sheets created are a type of material that tends to absorb a certain amount of relative humidity found in the surrounding environment but having an absorption limit. The use of these sheets based on natural fibers to absorb relative humidity must be studied in greater depth, for their possible uses on a commercial scale. 

Currently, the management of fruits in their post-harvest stage has been quite neglected by the Panamanian market; while large amounts are invested in planting and harvesting, no systems have been implemented to allow better management of these. Therefore, resulting in large economic losses combined with unused products that are discarded daily in sales centers by traders of various levels. With this in mind, we seek to develop a system based on computer vision to determine the ripening stage of a fruit and estimate its shelf life. This study focuses on the banana as a highly demanded fruit with several maturation stages. During the development, the temperature and humidity will be captured, and recording the elapsed time from its green stage to its rotting point, to generate a machine learning model that, given an image of an input banana, will infer as an answer the approximate time for reaching a point where it cannot be consumed or used to make derivative products. Once the models were created, these obtained satisfactory results that were checked with the reality of the banana's lifespan. The tests were carried out using a mobile application that allowed obtaining the estimates in real-time. Both, the application and the developed models, allowed to adequately estimate the ripening stage and shelf life of the fruit using artificial vision and machine learning algorithms.

User-centered design is a methodology and philosophy that consists of designing a product based on the target user’s needs with emphasis placed on factors such as efficiency, effectiveness, and user satisfaction. Utilizing this approach, students from the Technological University of Panama and Tufts University in Boston, collaborated in order to prototype a mobile application focused for caregivers supporting patients who suffer from dementia. Utilizing the user-centered design philosophy as a basis, both groups of students conducted a series of interviews with previous and current dementia patient caretakers through video calls on their computers and wrote down their findings. Afterwards, initial sketches were designed on paper and pencil, to then be passed on digitally. The final design of the application was made taking into account the findings regarding the caregivers’ needs, the patients’ habits, and any necessary aiding information to take care of them. The resulting prototype was validated by 4 end users, who confirmed its usability in accordance with the criteria established by the ISO 9241-11 standard.

The Punta Chame community is located on the Pacific slope of Panama. Currently, it is being widely affected by threats, which are related to the effects of climate change in Panama. This research has the objective of favoring disaster risk prevention and adaptation to climate change at the community level, through it they identified the main climate threats, vulnerabilities, and capacities in Punta Chame, using the method of semi-structured interviews to the actors of the community (local government, residents, businessmen), together with the Quick Risk Estimation Tool of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. From these analyzes, the main threats identified by the community are coastal erosion, coastal flooding, storm surges and gales. The interviews indicated gales as the main risk, while the tool pointed to fires as the highest threat. This information that was collected in this study was used to prepare an adaptation and risk management plan that increases the community's resilience to the effects of climate change.

Nowadays, the intent is to make the software development process faster and more effective; However, the main causes that prevents meeting this goal, are errors with the software requirements specifications and the absence of the necessary testing for the product that has been build. Thereby the resulting software doesn't reach the quality expected by the clients. Therefore, development teams must prioritize the testing stage and a correct definition of the requirements to avoid having an unstable product that can result in the loss of resources and dissatisfaction of stakeholders. In response to this problem, in the software field, different test-based practices have been designed to minimize errors in the development process. Among these practices are Test-Driven Development, Behavior-Driven Development, and Acceptance Test-Driven Development. Throughout this paper, we have conducted a literary review of these practices in the software development process, by analyzing their characteristics and differences.