HLStool: Una herramienta de Síntesis de Alto Nivel para el aprendizaje del estudiante en asignaturas de ATC

La utilización de herramientas de Síntesis de Alto Nivel (SAN) es una práctica habitual en las empresas dedicadas al diseño de circuitos. El principal beneficio de estas herramientas se basa en la reducción del “tiempo de lanzamiento al mercado”, ya que permiten evaluar múltiples soluciones en un tiempo reducido. En esta contribución, se propone el uso de una herramienta de síntesis altamente visual y amigable que contenga los algoritmos clásicos para enseñar al alumno las técnicas básicas de SAN, y adicionalmente familiarizarle con el método de trabajo de las compañías de diseño de circuitos. Con esta contribución se propone ofrecer una formación más completa a los futuros graduados que cursen asignaturas del área de la Arquitectura y Tecnología de Computadores.The use of High-Level Synthesis (HLS) tools is a common practice in circuit design companies. The main benefit of these tools consists of diminishing time to market, as they provide multiple solutions to explore in a reduced amount of time. In this paper we propose the use of a highly visual synthesis tool, which implements the classic algorithms to teach students the basic HLS concepts and to get them closer to the companies’ methodology. In this way, Computer Architecture and Technology related subjects will offer a more complete programme to the future graduates.Universidad de Granada: Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Computadores; Vicerrectorado para la Garantía de la Calidad

Una Orquesta Sinfónica como Ejemplo de Aplicación de un Sistema Empotrado Distribuido

El presente artículo trata sobre el diseño e implementación de una orquesta sinfónica distribuida haciendo uso del paquete de Lego Mindstorms, como proyecto final enmarcado dentro de la asignatura Sistemas Empotrados Distribuidos. En esta contribución se aplican los conocimientos obtenidos en dicha asignatura, en la que se fomenta la aplicación de los mismos para la realización de proyectos novedosos. En este artículo se describen el diseño, las diversas tecnologías evaluadas y la implementación final.This paper discusses the design and implementation of a distributed symphony orchestra using the Lego Mindstorms package, as a final project belonging to the Distributed Embedded Systems subject. In this contribution, the knowledge achieved during the subject is applied. It must be noted that the application of the studied contents to create novel projects is greatly encouraged. In this paper the design, the evaluation of several technologies, as well as the final implementation, are presented.Universidad de Granada: Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Computadores; Vicerrectorado para la Garantía de la Calidad

Bomberman modo multijugador

Este trabajo presenta el proyecto Bomberman, realizado en la asignatura Sistemas Empotrados Distribuidos, perteneciente a la titulación del Máster en Ingeniería Informática de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. En este trabajo se describe e implementa una adaptación del conocido juego Bomberman en modo multijugador (dos jugadores). En esta versión los dos jugadores tratarán de salir de un laberinto o derrotar a su contrincante para ganar. Este proyecto utiliza dos placas de desarrollo S3CEV40 representado a cada jugador, una Raspberry Pi 2, dos cables hembra-hembra de 9 pines y dos adaptadores a 9 pines-USB para conectar cada cable desde cada placa S3CEV40 a la Raspberry.This paper presents the Bomberman project, carried out in the Distributed Embedded Systems subject, which belongs to the Computer Science Master that is taught at the Complutense University of Madrid. This work describes and implements an adaptation of the well-known Bomberman game in multiplayer mode (for two players). In this version, the two players will try to escape from a labyrinth or to destroy his opponent to win. This project use two S3CEV40 boards to represent the players, a Raspberry Pi 2, two female-to-female 9 pin cables and two 9 pins-to-USB adapters to connect each board to the Raspberry.Universidad de Granada: Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Computadores; Vicerrectorado para la Garantía de la Calidad

El rol de la consistencia del mensaje y de la estrategia de marca en el capital de marca de un destino

La estrategia de comunicación seguida para difundir un destino turístico contribuye a su competitividad. El objetivo de esta investigación es conocer la importancia de la consistencia de los mensajes entre medios y de la estrategia de posicionamiento de marca en la difusión de un destino turístico. Con esta finalidad, se ha diseñado un experimento manipulando la consistencia del mensaje (alta consistencia vs baja consistencia de mensajes) y la estrategia de posicionamiento seguida por el destino (marca destino-único vs marca destino-múltiple). Los resultados obtenidos indican que la generación de una comunicación con mensajes altamente consistentes así como un posicionamiento basada en una estrategia de marca-única contribuyen a aumentar el Customer Based Destination Brand Equity. Además, se comprueba que el efecto de posicionamiento puede estar moderado por la consistencia de los mensajes a los que está expuesto el consumidor. Los resultados alcanzados suponen un avance en la literatura académica y una aportación para el sector profesional.A well-implemented communication strategy to raise the profile of a tourist destination contributes to its competitiveness. The aim of the present study is to understand the importance of message consistency across different media, and of the brand positioning strategy, in the promotion of a tourist destination. An experiment is conducted, manipulating (a) the degree of message consistency (high vs. low) and (b) the positioning strategy followed by the destination (sole-destination brand vs. multiple-destination brand). The results of the investigation suggest that communications based on highly consistent messages, and a sole-destination brand positioning strategy, contribute to increasing Customer-Based Destination Brand Equity. Further, the work demonstrates that the effect of positioning may be moderated by the degree of consistency between the messages to which the consumer is exposed. The findings represent a contribution to both the academic literature and to the professional sector.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad ECO-2012-39217Junta de Andalucía P11 SEJ-810

Sistema de Seguridad Basado en una Plataforma Heterogénea Distribuida

Este trabajo presenta el proyecto “Ecosistema Digital de Seguridad”, realizado en la asignatura Sistemas Empotrados Distribuidos, perteneciente a la titulación Máster en Ingeniería Informática de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. En este trabajo se describe e implementa un sistema de seguridad por medio de una plataforma heterogénea, cuyo objetivo es la verificación de los usuarios autorizados. En concreto, la placa Raspberry Pi se encarga del reconocimiento de la imagen y la contraseña, mientras que la STM32F4 Discovery sirve de interfaz con el usuario, recibiendo la contraseña y enviándosela a la Raspberry a través de la interfaz RS-232.This work presents the project en titled “Digital Security Ecosystem”, carried out as a final project in th e Distributed Embedded Systems subject, which belongs to the Computer Engineering Master, at the Complutense University of Madrid. In this work, a security system is described and implemented through a hetero geneous platform, whose objective consists of the authorized users’ verification. Concretely , the Raspberry Pi board is responsible for identifying the image and the password, while the STM32F4 Discovery board acts as the user interface, receivi ng the password which will be sent to the Raspberry by using the RS-232 interface.Universidad de Granada: Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Computadores; Vicerrectorado para la Garantía de la Calidad

Sistema Empotrado Distribuido para el Control de Accesos - RFIDoors

Con el paso del tiempo se ha ido ampliando la utilización de sistemas con identificación por radiofrecuencia (RFID) en los distintos ámbitos de la sociedad actual. En este trabajo se presenta la implementación de un sistema empotrado distribuido compuesto por elementos de fácil adquisición y de bajo coste como la Raspberry Pi, los módulos RFID o los sensores de ultrasonidos, cuyo objetivo es controlar y gestionar un sistema de autenticación para la apertura y cierre de puertas. Como complemento, este sistema consta además de un servidor y una aplicación para la parte administrativa y operativa del sistema.Nowadays, the use of the systems with radio frequency identification (RFID) is becoming widespread in different scenarios of society. This paper presents the implementation of a Distributed Embedded System composed of low-cost components such as Raspberry Pi, RFID modules, ultrasound sensors and others, whose objective is to manage an authentication system for the opening and closing of doors. Furthermore, this system incorporates a server and an application for the administrative and operative part of the system.Universidad de Granada: Departamento de Arquitectura y Tecnología de Computadore

Effectiveness of a strategy that uses educational games to implement clinical practice guidelines among Spanish residents of family and community medicine (e-EDUCAGUIA project):A clinical trial by clusters

This study was funded by the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias FIS Grant Number PI11/0477 ISCIII.-REDISSEC Proyecto RD12/0001/0012 AND FEDER Funding.Background: Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have been developed with the aim of helping health professionals, patients, and caregivers make decisions about their health care, using the best available evidence. In many cases, incorporation of these recommendations into clinical practice also implies a need for changes in routine clinical practice. Using educational games as a strategy for implementing recommendations among health professionals has been demonstrated to be effective in some studies; however, evidence is still scarce. The primary objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a teaching strategy for the implementation of CPGs using educational games (e-learning EDUCAGUIA) to improve knowledge and skills related to clinical decision-making by residents in family medicine. The primary objective will be evaluated at 1 and 6months after the intervention. The secondary objectives are to identify barriers and facilitators for the use of guidelines by residents of family medicine and to describe the educational strategies used by Spanish teaching units of family and community medicine to encourage implementation of CPGs. Methods/design: We propose a multicenter clinical trial with randomized allocation by clusters of family and community medicine teaching units in Spain. The sample size will be 394 residents (197 in each group), with the teaching units as the randomization unit and the residents comprising the analysis unit. For the intervention, both groups will receive an initial 1-h session on clinical practice guideline use and the usual dissemination strategy by e-mail. The intervention group (e-learning EDUCAGUIA) strategy will consist of educational games with hypothetical clinical scenarios in a virtual environment. The primary outcome will be the score obtained by the residents on evaluation questionnaires for each clinical practice guideline. Other included variables will be the sociodemographic and training variables of the residents and the teaching unit characteristics. The statistical analysis will consist of a descriptive analysis of variables and a baseline comparison of both groups. For the primary outcome analysis, an average score comparison of hypothetical scenario questionnaires between the EDUCAGUIA intervention group and the control group will be performed at 1 and 6months post-intervention, using 95% confidence intervals. A linear multilevel regression will be used to adjust the model. Discussion: The identification of effective teaching strategies will facilitate the incorporation of available knowledge into clinical practice that could eventually improve patient outcomes. The inclusion of information technologies as teaching tools permits greater learning autonomy and allows deeper instructor participation in the monitoring and supervision of residents. The long-term impact of this strategy is unknown; however, because it is aimed at professionals undergoing training and it addresses prevalent health problems, a small effect can be of great relevance. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02210442.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Prevalence of disability in a composite ≥75 year-old population in Spain: A screening survey based on the International Classification of Functioning

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The prevalence and predictors of functional status and disability of elderly people have been studied in several European countries including Spain. However, there has been no population-based study incorporating the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework as the basis for assessing disability. The present study reports prevalence rates for mild, moderate, and severe/extreme disability by the domains of activities and participation of the ICF.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Nine populations surveyed in previous prevalence studies contributed probabilistic and geographically defined samples in June 2005. The study sample was composed of 503 subjects aged ≥75 years. We implemented a two-phase screening design using the MMSE and the World Health Organization-Disability Assessment Schedule 2^ndedition (WHO-DAS II, 12 items) as cognitive and disability screening tools, respectively. Participants scoring within the positive range of the disability screening were administered the full WHO-DAS II (36 items; score range: 0-100) assessing the following areas: Understanding and communication, Getting along with people, Life activities, Getting around, Participation in society, and Self-care. Each disability area assessed by WHO-DAS II (36 items) was reported according to the ICF severity ranges (No problem, 0-4; Mild disability, 5-24; Moderate disability, 25-49; Severe/Extreme disability, 50-100).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The age-adjusted disability prevalence figures were: 39.17 ± 2.18%, 15.31 ± 1.61%, and 10.14 ± 1.35% for mild, moderate, and severe/extreme disability, respectively. Severe and extreme disability prevalence in mobility and life activities was three times higher than the average, and highest among women. Sex variations were minimal, although life activities for women of 85 years and over had more severe/extreme disability as compared to men (OR = 5.15 95% CI 3.19-8.32).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Disability is highly prevalent among the Spanish elderly. Sex- and age-specific variations of disability are associated with particular disability domains.</p

Regulatory sites for splicing in human basal ganglia are enriched for disease-relevant information

Genome-wide association studies have generated an increasing number of common genetic variants associated with neurological and psychiatric disease risk. An improved understanding of the genetic control of gene expression in human brain is vital considering this is the likely modus operandum for many causal variants. However, human brain sampling complexities limit the explanatory power of brain-related expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) and allele-specific expression (ASE) signals. We address this, using paired genomic and transcriptomic data from putamen and substantia nigra from 117 human brains, interrogating regulation at different RNA processing stages and uncovering novel transcripts. We identify disease-relevant regulatory loci, find that splicing eQTLs are enriched for regulatory information of neuron-specific genes, that ASEs provide cell-specific regulatory information with evidence for cellular specificity, and that incomplete annotation of the brain transcriptome limits interpretation of risk loci for neuropsychiatric disease. This resource of regulatory data is accessible through our web server, http://braineacv2.inf.um.es/

Identification of novel risk loci, causal insights, and heritable risk for Parkinson's disease: a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies

Background Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in Parkinson's disease have increased the scope of biological knowledge about the disease over the past decade. We aimed to use the largest aggregate of GWAS data to identify novel risk loci and gain further insight into the causes of Parkinson's disease. Methods We did a meta-analysis of 17 datasets from Parkinson's disease GWAS available from European ancestry samples to nominate novel loci for disease risk. These datasets incorporated all available data. We then used these data to estimate heritable risk and develop predictive models of this heritability. We also used large gene expression and methylation resources to examine possible functional consequences as well as tissue, cell type, and biological pathway enrichments for the identified risk factors. Additionally, we examined shared genetic risk between Parkinson's disease and other phenotypes of interest via genetic correlations followed by Mendelian randomisation. Findings Between Oct 1, 2017, and Aug 9, 2018, we analysed 7·8 million single nucleotide polymorphisms in 37 688 cases, 18 618 UK Biobank proxy-cases (ie, individuals who do not have Parkinson's disease but have a first degree relative that does), and 1·4 million controls. We identified 90 independent genome-wide significant risk signals across 78 genomic regions, including 38 novel independent risk signals in 37 loci. These 90 variants explained 16–36% of the heritable risk of Parkinson's disease depending on prevalence. Integrating methylation and expression data within a Mendelian randomisation framework identified putatively associated genes at 70 risk signals underlying GWAS loci for follow-up functional studies. Tissue-specific expression enrichment analyses suggested Parkinson's disease loci were heavily brain-enriched, with specific neuronal cell types being implicated from single cell data. We found significant genetic correlations with brain volumes (false discovery rate-adjusted p=0·0035 for intracranial volume, p=0·024 for putamen volume), smoking status (p=0·024), and educational attainment (p=0·038). Mendelian randomisation between cognitive performance and Parkinson's disease risk showed a robust association (p=8·00 × 10−7). Interpretation These data provide the most comprehensive survey of genetic risk within Parkinson's disease to date, to the best of our knowledge, by revealing many additional Parkinson's disease risk loci, providing a biological context for these risk factors, and showing that a considerable genetic component of this disease remains unidentified. These associations derived from European ancestry datasets will need to be followed-up with more diverse data. Funding The National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health (USA), The Michael J Fox Foundation, and The Parkinson's Foundation (see appendix for full list of funding sources)