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This contribution reports the development and characterization of an optical system based on parallel Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBGs) to monitor the movements of the wrist and fingers of a hand. The system consisted of a reflective configuration made of FBGs detecting the movements of the fingers and one more located on the wrist as a reference. All FBGs were multiplexed in order to collect the basic movements of the hand. Fibers were embedded in polydimethylsiloxane for protection and to give flexibility to the optical detection setup. Measurements of strain, angle and torsion were performed during the experiments, obtaining sensitivities up to 1.29 pm/ \mu \varepsilon in strain and 64.23 pm/° in angle. Also, a study on the influence of a single sensor on the performance of the whole system was analyzed for a complete study of this proof of concept. The obtained results present a simple system that can be used to monitor the positions of the hand or for the rehabilitation of patients suffering from neuromotor or post-stroke diseases. This work was supported in part by the National Research Agency through the Project from Spanish under Grant TEC2016-78047-R, in part by the Government of Navarra Project from Spanish under Grant SENSMOV: 0011-1365-2017-000135, in part by the Brazilian Projects of Fundação Araucária, in part by the Secretaria de Estado da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior do Paraná (SETI), in part by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), in part by Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP), and in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Brazil, under Grant 001.

The number of women in scientific and technological careers is quite small compared to the number of men in the same careers. To equalize these numbers, the Public University of Navarra started a new initiative in 2017. The goal of this project is to make more-women in STEM visible, in order to serve as example for the young girls. It is brought to life by means of a theatre play called “Yo quiero ser cientifica” (translated as “I want to be a female scientist”). This play is divided into two parts: in the first one 9 teachers perform the role of 9 historical female scientists, by means of 9 monologues; in the second part, the same 9 teachers tell their experience as contemporary scientists. The feedback obtained through surveys, a contest and a final debate with the attendees show that this kind on initiatives are really necessary.

The Public University of Navarre joined with Navarre Government has created the Women, Science and Technology Chair. This chair arises due to the plummeting tendency of the percentage of women in STEM degrees with the aim of reversing this trend. The programme of activities is defined throughout this contribution by six activities: a Theatre Play, a Poster Award on Final Degree/Masters Project, The 1st Week of Women, Science and Technology, the Promotion of Technical Degrees in schools and high-schools, a Workshop about Gender Stereotypes and the Fostering of Women among Science and Environment. Each activity gained great success and the preset goals were highly accomplished, especially, the 1st Week of Women, Science and Technology activity. The latter achieved a great success both in participation and in repercussion, contributing to visualize the role of women in science and technology. Authors are grateful to Navarre Government, Caja Navarra Foundation, Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT-Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad), Public University of Navarre, IEEE CAS Spain Chapter and the Chair in Renewable Energy of the Public University of Navarre.

In case of Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease, kidney volume provides an indicator of disease progression. To estimate such growth, ultrasound is a safe and low cost imaging technique, albeit limited to regular shape organs. We developed a new measurement method with skin silicon templates to obtain parallel and equidistant images of the kidney, as a series of transverse sections. With NEFROVOL software, nephrologists are able to contour kidney boundaries, reconstruct a 3D renal representation and calculate its volume, including extremely irregularly shaped. We conducted a phantom study with sweet potatoes, volunteers and patients with transplanted or enlarged kidneys. The volumetric error decreases from 22% to 15% as the number of sections increases from 4 or 5 to 6 or 9 for patients and potatoes respectively. Best precision was estimated with 9 sections for 15 cm sweet potatoes and 6 sections for 11 cm healthy kidneys. The best skin template is one with two positions for the internal frame, with one section every 1.5 cm.

Coal has been for centuries a central energy source to fulfill industrial and domestic needs. Its large scale extraction produced huge amount of debris that were piled in the neighboring of the mines, quite often going into combustion triggered by events like forest fires or lightning. When in this state it can continue for years, releasing substantial emissions of toxic and greenhouse gases with recognized impact in the environment and, more serious in the short term, in the life quality of the populations located nearby. Continuous monitoring of combustion temperature and emission levels of certain gases opens the possibility to plan corrective actions to minimize their negative impact. Optical fiber technology is well-suited to this purpose and here it is described the main attributes of a fiber optic sensing system projected to gather data on distributed temperature and gas emission in these harsh environments., European Commission

We experimentally demonstrate a 46-km hybrid network that combine point and distributed Brillouin sensors. The proposed sensor network multiplexes low-cost intensity point sensors based on fiber-optic tapers, which are able to measure vibrations in the 0.01 to 50 Hz frequency range. The sensor network with a double-bus is a low noise configuration, which offers a higher optical signal to noise ratio and dynamic range than a single-bus. Thus, the number of sensors to be multiplexed could increase or we could reach further distances. The system also deploys remote distributed Raman amplification to extend the sensing range. This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia under Projects TEC2007-67987-C02-02 and TEC2010-20224-C02-01.

We introduce a novel Brillouin optical time domain analysis (BOTDA) sensor in which pump pulses are shaped in the electrical instead of the optical domain. A single electro optic modulator is driven by RF pulses to generate a pulsed pump with ultra-high extinction ratio (80dB). Therefore, the spectral distortions and measurements inaccuracies induced by pulse leakage in BOTDA setups that pulse the pump using optical devices are completely avoided. Moreover, no additional active components are needed to obtain the pump and probe signals, thus the cost of the setup, which is one of the major drawbacks of Brillouin distributed sensors, is reduced and its commercial feasibility enhanced. We report a 10Km temperature distributed sensor with 0.8°C temperature resolution and 24m spatial resolution with no distortion caused by pulse leakage.