Reconstruction of tree branching structures from UAV-LiDAR data

The reconstruction of tree branching structures is a longstanding problem in Computer Graphics which has been studied over several data sources, from photogrammetry point clouds to Terrestrial and Aerial Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging technology. However, most data sources present acquisition errors that make the reconstruction more challenging. Among them, the main challenge is the partial or complete occlusion of branch segments, thus leading to disconnected components whether the reconstruction is resolved using graph-based approaches. In this work, we propose a hybrid method based on radius-based search and Minimum Spanning Tree for the tree branching reconstruction by handling occlusion and disconnected branches. Furthermore, we simplify previous work evaluating the similarity between ground-truth and reconstructed skeletons. Using this approach, our method is proved to be more effective than the baseline methods, regarding reconstruction results and response time. Our method yields better results on the complete explored radii interval, though the improvement is especially significant on the Ground Sampling Distance In terms of latency, an outstanding performance is achieved in comparison with the baseline method.Junta de Andalucia 1381202-GEU PYC20-RE-005-UJAEuropean Commission Spanish Government PID2021-126339OB-I00 FPU17/01902 FPU19/0010

Consumer behavior in the disposition of disliked gifts

La entrega y recepción de regalos ha sido investigada en diversos campos, incluido el comportamiento del consumidor. El presente estudio analiza el comportamiento de disposición de regalos no gustados de una muestra de 958 individuos adultos en Ecuador (un país latinoamericano). A nivel descriptivo, el método de disposición más frecuente de este tipo de regalos es el almacenamiento. A nivel multivariante, la edad, el género, el ingreso y el colectivismo del receptor; el impacto del regalo en la relación dador-receptor; el tiempo transcurrido desde la recepción del regalo; el precio estimado del regalo y si el regalo fue o no usado; predicen el método de disposición de los regalos no gustados. Adicionalmente se discuten estos resultados y sus implicaciones.Giving and receiving gifts have been investigated in many fields of study, including consumer behavior. This study analyzes the behavior of a sample of 958 adults from Ecuador (a Latin American country), focusing on the disposition of gifts that recipients do not like. At the descriptive level, the most common disposition method of these gifts is storage. At the multivariate level, age, gender, income, and collectivism of receiver; the gift impact on the giver-receiver relationship; the time elapsed since the receiving of the gift; the estimated price of the gift and whether the gift was used or not predict the disposition method of the disliked gift. These results and their implications are discussed

Estrategia de la empresa Chester en el simulador de negocios Capstone

La primera parte de este reporte expone el marco teórico en el que se presentan los conceptos de estrategia y modelos de negocio desde el punto de vista de diferentes autores, así como la diferencia entre ellos. También se explica el Balanced Scorecard como un método de evaluación para medir la correcta implementación de la estrategia. Se continúa con el análisis de las condiciones competitivas de la industria de fabricación de sensores, los segmentos de mercado existentes y sus preferencias. Después se define la política básica de la empresa de sensores Chester, se establecen los objetivos y la estrategia que eligió su equipo directivo para alcanzarlos. Posteriormente, se analizan los resultados que obtiene la empresa en ocho años de operaciones, de 2017 a 2024, desde el punto de vista de los cuatro departamentos que contempla el Balanced Scorecard: finanzas, cliente, procesos internos y aprendizaje. Para cada ciclo de dos años se menciona cuál es el posicionamiento de la empresa con respecto a los competidores, se analizan las estrategias que siguen las demás compañías de la industria y se evalúa la necesidad de implementar cambios con respecto al planteamiento estratégico inicial para superar sus objetivos en los siguientes años. Se concluye con reflexiones acerca de la competencia, del curso, de la maestría y de la institución

Sustainable Edge Computing: Challenges and Future Directions

An increasing amount of data is being injected into the network from IoT (Internet of Things) applications. Many of these applications, developed to improve society's quality of life, are latency-critical and inject large amounts of data into the network. These requirements of IoT applications trigger the emergence of Edge computing paradigm. Currently, data centers are responsible for a global energy use between 2% and 3%. However, this trend is difficult to maintain, as bringing computing infrastructures closer to the edge of the network comes with its own set of challenges for energy efficiency. In this paper, we propose our approach for the sustainability of future computing infrastructures to provide (i) an energy-efficient and economically viable deployment, (ii) a fault-tolerant automated operation, and (iii) a collaborative resource management to improve resource efficiency. We identify the main limitations of applying Cloud-based approaches close to the data sources and present the research challenges to Edge sustainability arising from these constraints. We propose two-phase immersion cooling, formal modeling, machine learning, and energy-centric federated management as Edge-enabling technologies. We present our early results towards the sustainability of an Edge infrastructure to demonstrate the benefits of our approach for future computing environments and deployments.Comment: 26 pages, 16 figure

Digital analog converter for the extraction of test signals from mixed integrated circuits

The construction of integrated circuits involves testing the correct operation of its internal blocks. For this, a common practice is the integration of functional blocks to stimulate the internal subsystems and extract the responses to those stimuli. In this article, the design and simulation of a circuit for the extraction of the response signals of the devices under test in analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits is presented. The extraction block is a 2-stage 5-bit segmented A/D converter, operating at a sampling frequency of 10 MHz, implemented in a 0.12 µm technological process, which can be powered with 1.5 Vdc. This proposal offers a reduction in the area consumed, by requiring fewer comparators than other similar solutions found in the literature

The DEVStone Metric: Performance Analysis of DEVS Simulation Engines

The DEVStone benchmark allows us to evaluate the performance of discrete-event simulators based on the DEVS formalism. It provides model sets with different characteristics, enabling the analysis of specific issues of simulation engines. However, this heterogeneity hinders the comparison of the results among studies, as the results obtained on each research work depend on the chosen subset of DEVStone models. We define the DEVStone metric based on the DEVStone synthetic benchmark and provide a mechanism for specifying objective ratings for DEVS-based simulators. This metric corresponds to the average number of times that a simulator can execute a selection of 12 DEVStone models in one minute. The variety of the chosen models ensures we measure different particularities provided by DEVStone. The proposed metric allows us to compare various simulators and to assess the impact of new features on their performance. We use the DEVStone metric to compare some popular DEVS-based simulators

Clothing Disposal System by Gifting: Characteristics, Processes, and Interactions

The study of clothing disposal systems, involving the flow of clothing from one household to another, is of great interest because of the positive social and environmental consequences. Based on 35 in-depth interviews with adult men and women in Ecuador, a Latin American country, the authors sought to expand knowledge regarding one of these systems: clothing disposal by gifting to family, friends, and acquaintances. The respondents’ narratives indicated that the clothing disposal system by gifting is noncentric; based on social exchange, it strengthens the links between givers and recipients while allowing for clothes to circulate for a longer time. The data also indicated an intersection between age and gender, offering insight into how the process of clothing disposal by gifting develops within households. In some disposal events reported by participants, the clothing disposal system by gifting demonstrated autonomy, but in other events, it interacted with the clothing marketing system.Universidad Tecnológica Indoaméric

Dihydropyridine Receptors as Voltage Sensors for a Depolarization-evoked, IP3R-mediated, Slow Calcium Signal in Skeletal Muscle Cells

The dihydropyridine receptor (DHPR), normally a voltage-dependent calcium channel, functions in skeletal muscle essentially as a voltage sensor, triggering intracellular calcium release for excitation-contraction coupling. In addition to this fast calcium release, via ryanodine receptor (RYR) channels, depolarization of skeletal myotubes evokes slow calcium waves, unrelated to contraction, that involve the cell nucleus (Jaimovich, E., R. Reyes, J.L. Liberona, and J.A. Powell. 2000. Am. J. Physiol. Cell Physiol. 278:C998–C1010). We tested the hypothesis that DHPR may also be the voltage sensor for these slow calcium signals. In cultures of primary rat myotubes, 10 μM nifedipine (a DHPR inhibitor) completely blocked the slow calcium (fluo-3-fluorescence) transient after 47 mM K+ depolarization and only partially reduced the fast Ca2+ signal. Dysgenic myotubes from the GLT cell line, which do not express the α1 subunit of the DHPR, did not show either type of calcium transient following depolarization. After transfection of the α1 DNA into the GLT cells, K+ depolarization induced slow calcium transients that were similar to those present in normal C2C12 and normal NLT cell lines. Slow calcium transients in transfected cells were blocked by nifedipine as well as by the G protein inhibitor, pertussis toxin, but not by ryanodine, the RYR inhibitor. Since slow Ca2+ transients appear to be mediated by IP3, we measured the increase of IP3 mass after K+ depolarization. The IP3 transient seen in control cells was inhibited by nifedipine and was absent in nontransfected dysgenic cells, but α1-transfected cells recovered the depolarization-induced IP3 transient. In normal myotubes, 10 μM nifedipine, but not ryanodine, inhibited c-jun and c-fos mRNA increase after K+ depolarization. These results suggest a role for DHPR-mediated calcium signals in regulation of early gene expression. A model of excitation-transcription coupling is presented in which both G proteins and IP3 appear as important downstream mediators after sensing of depolarization by DHPR

Estudio de caso Baldwin. De un monopolio a la búsqueda del liderazgo

El presente documento describe la experiencia de los autores al desarrollar una estrategia para la empresa Baldwin en el simulador de negocios Capstone en la modalidad de estudio de caso, con el fin de exponer los aprendizajes adquiridos para la obtención de grado de la maestría en administración. El primer capítulo aborda el marco teórico donde se muestran los fundamentos básicos sobre planeación estratégica, gestión y modelo de negocios, se analizan diferentes casos de estudio de empresas que han sido disruptivas en la transformación de la industria. En el segundo capítulo se describen las principales características y funcionamiento del simulador Captone. Por otro lado, se expone el panorama de la industria de sensores y se detalla la estructura de la empresa Baldwin, así como su modelo de negocio y estrategia genérica. En los capítulos del tres al seis se muestran los resultados obtenidos de acuerdo con las decisiones tomadas por el equipo directivo de Baldwin durante los ocho años simulados y se realiza una comparación con los principales competidores en la industria siguiendo la metodología Balanced Scorecard, herramienta definida para evaluar los resultados de la organización. En el capítulo siete se presentan los resultados finales derivados de las estrategias ejecutadas por Baldwin y su competencia. Además, las reflexiones de los autores acerca del paso por la maestría en administración y la modalidad de estudio de caso.ITESO, A.C