Manage entropy in Architectural Projects: assuming commitments and ordering diversity

It was primary to transfer to the student the importance of his own responsibility on the project, transcending the usual condition of mere academic practice in the school. Their projects are already real actions to transform the reality from the moment in which are the product of a responsible and critical thinking. To the regular development of the Subject of Architectural Projects with theoretical classes and collective corrections in Workshop of Projects, it was incorporated a series of methodologies to activate the individual and collective learning. The project critically acts on city model, proposes an architectural intervention with transformative will and the classroom becomes a social space where individual engagements and collective engagements are added. This dialectic with reality was concluded with the exhibition of projects, which the students explained to the neighbours as the end of the course, first in school and finally in their civic center.Fue primordial transferir al estudiante la importancia de su propia responsabilidad sobre el proyecto, trascendiendo la habitual condición de mera práctica escolar en la Escuela. Sus proyectos son ya verdaderas acciones para transformar la realidad desde el momento mismo en que son el producto de un pensamiento crítico y responsable. Al desarrollo habitual de la Asignatura de Proyectos Arquitectónicos con clases teóricas y correcciones colectivas en Taller de Proyectos se incorporan una serie de metodologías para activar individual y colectivamente el aprendizaje. El proyecto actúa críticamente sobre el modelo de ciudad, propone una intervención arquitectónica con voluntad transformadora y el aula se convierte en un espacio social donde se suman compromisos individuales y compromisos colectivos. Esta dialéctica con la realidad se concluyó con la exposición de los proyectos realizados, que los estudiantes explicaron ante los vecinos del barrio como final de curso, en la Escuela y en su Centro Cívico

A Framework to Evaluate Software Developer’s Productivity The VALORTIA Project

Currently, there is a lack in companies developing software in relation to assessing their staff’s productivity before executing software projects, with the aim of improving effectiveness and efficiency. QuEF (Quality Evaluation Framework) is a framework that allows defining quality management tasks based on a model. The main purpose of this framework is twofold: improve an entity’s continuous quality, and given a context, decide between a set of entity’s instances on the most appropriate one. Thus, the aim of this paper is to make this framework available to evaluate productivity of professionals along software development and select the most appropriate experts to implement the suggested project. For this goal, Valortia platform, capable of carrying out this task by following the QuEF framework guidelines, is designed. Valortia is a platform to certify users' knowledge on a specific area and centralize all certification management in its model by means of providing protocols and methods for a suitable management, improving efficiency and effectiveness, reducing cost and ensuring continuous quality.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2013-46928-C3-3-

A low-voltage low-power front-end for wearable EEG systems

A low-voltage and low-power front-end for miniaturized, wearable EEG systems is presented. The instrumentation amplifier, which removes the electrode drift and conditions the signal for a 10-bit A/D converter, combines a chopping strategy with quasi-FGMOS (QFG) transistors to minimize low frequency noise whilst enabling operation at 1 V supply. QFG devices are also key to the A/D converter operating at 1.2 V with 70dB of SNR and an oversampling ratio of 64. The whole system consumes less than 2uW at 1.2V.Published versio

Strong coupling theory for driven tunneling and vibrational relaxation

We investigate on a unified basis tunneling and vibrational relaxation in driven dissipative multistable systems described by their N lowest lying unperturbed levels. By use of the discrete variable representation we derive a set of coupled non-Markovian master equations. We present analytical treatments that describe the dynamics in the regime of strong system-bath coupling. Our findings are corroborated by ``ab-initio'' real-time path integral calculations.Comment: 4 LaTeX pages including 3 figure

Gain in Stochastic Resonance: Precise Numerics versus Linear Response Theory beyond the Two-Mode Approximation

In the context of the phenomenon of Stochastic Resonance (SR) we study the correlation function, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the ratio of output over input SNR, i.e. the gain, which is associated to the nonlinear response of a bistable system driven by time-periodic forces and white Gaussian noise. These quantifiers for SR are evaluated using the techniques of Linear Response Theory (LRT) beyond the usually employed two-mode approximation scheme. We analytically demonstrate within such an extended LRT description that the gain can indeed not exceed unity. We implement an efficient algorithm, based on work by Greenside and Helfand (detailed in the Appendix), to integrate the driven Langevin equation over a wide range of parameter values. The predictions of LRT are carefully tested against the results obtained from numerical solutions of the corresponding Langevin equation over a wide range of parameter values. We further present an accurate procedure to evaluate the distinct contributions of the coherent and incoherent parts of the correlation function to the SNR and the gain. As a main result we show for subthreshold driving that both, the correlation function and the SNR can deviate substantially from the predictions of LRT and yet, the gain can be either larger or smaller than unity. In particular, we find that the gain can exceed unity in the strongly nonlinear regime which is characterized by weak noise and very slow multifrequency subthreshold input signals with a small duty cycle. This latter result is in agreement with recent analogue simulation results by Gingl et al. in Refs. [18, 19].Comment: 22 pages, 5 eps figures, submitted to PR

Unidimensional model of the ad-atom diffusion on a substrate submitted to a standing acoustic wave I. Derivation of the ad-atom motion equation

The effect of a standing acoustic wave on the diffusion of an ad-atom on a crystalline surface is theoretically studied. We used an unidimensional space model to study the ad-atom+substrate system. The dynamic equation of the ad-atom, a Generalized Langevin equation, is analytically derived from the full Hamiltonian of the ad-atom+substrate system submitted to the acoustic wave. A detailed analysis of each term of this equation, as well as of their properties, is presented. Special attention is devoted to the expression of the effective force induced by the wave on the ad-atom. It has essentially the same spatial and time dependences as its parent standing acoustic wave

Studying the behavior of diuron in soil-water system. Use of cyclodextrins for soil remediation

Con el objetivo de estudiar el comportamiento del herbicida Diurón en el sistema suelo-agua, se realizaron ensayos de adsorción- desorción y de lixiviación en columnas de suelos. Para la adsorción del herbicida diurón en los suelos con propiedades físico-químicas diferentes, las variables significativas fueron la materia orgánica (MO), óxidos amorfos totales y la fracción arcilla. La desorción de los suelos presentó histéresis en todos los casos, aunque una histéresis positiva cuando se extrajo con Ca (NO3)2 y una histéresis negativa cuando se utilizó ciclodextrina (HPBCD). El porcentaje de diurón eluido en las columnas de suelos seleccionados alcanzó casi el 83,1% en un suelo arenoso con contenido en MO <1%, por el contrario, en el suelo con mayor contenido en MO, la cantidad eluida del herbicida fue sólo del 6,65%.In order to study the behavior of the herbicide Diuron in the soil-water system, adsorption- desorption tests and leaching in soil columns were performed. For the adsorption of diuron in soils with different physicochemical properties, significant variables were the organic matter (OM), total amorphous oxides and clay fraction. Soil desorption hysteresis was observed in all cases a positive hysteresis when extracted with Ca(NO3)2 and a negative hysteresis when cyclodextrin (HPBCD) was used. The percentage of diuron eluted from sore columns reached almost 83.1% in a sandy soil with OM <1%; on the contrary, in a soil with higher OM content, the amount of the herbicide eluted was 6.65%

Automatic blood glucose classification for gestational diabetes with feature selection: decision trees vs neural networks

Automatic blood glucose classification may help specialists to provide a better interpretation of blood glucose data, downloaded directly from patients glucose meter and will contribute in the development of decision support systems for gestational diabetes. This paper presents an automatic blood glucose classifier for gestational diabetes that compares 6 different feature selection methods for two machine learning algorithms: neural networks and decision trees. Three searching algorithms, Greedy, Best First and Genetic, were combined with two different evaluators, CSF and Wrapper, for the feature selection. The study has been made with 6080 blood glucose measurements from 25 patients. Decision trees with a feature set selected with the Wrapper evaluator and the Best first search algorithm obtained the best accuracy: 95.92%

An Analytical Study of Coupled Two-State Stochastic Resonators

The two-state model of stochastic resonance is extended to a chain of coupled two-state elements governed by the dynamics of Glauber's stochastic Ising model. Appropriate assumptions on the model parameters turn the chain into a prototype system of coupled stochastic resonators. In a weak-signal limit analytical expressions are derived for the spectral power amplification and the signal-to-noise ratio of a two-state element embedded into the chain. The effect of the coupling between the elements on both quantities is analysed and array-enhanced stochastic resonance is established for pure as well as noisy periodic signals. The coupling-induced improvement of the SNR compared to an uncoupled element is shown to be limited by a factor four which is only reached for vanishing input noise.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figure