Latin and Greek in Computing: Ancient Words in a New World

In computing, old words are reused by giving them new meanings. However, many people may not be aware of the origin of ancient words that have found new uses in computing. We advocate for basic computing science and engineering courses to cover the origins of the most common ancient words used in computing.We thank Mariano Arnal for his comments and suggestions on words and their origins. This work was supported in part by the ACHILLES project PID2019-104207RB-I00 funded by the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación 10.13039/501100011033. (We can see that Greek mythology also influences researchers when naming their projects. In our case, we took the name from the famous character in Homers' Iliad.

in conversation with...RCR arquitectes. Part I: around the limits of drawing. Missing ingravity

[EN] RCR arquitectes share representation systems with other studios of similar entity. The homogenization that digitalization tends to impose leads us to identify an important repertoire of similar graphic representations throughout the Western wold. All the regulations that determine the whole of projects that come out of the offices also accentuates this uniform interpretation. In any case, it is possible to locate specific alterations of each studio that present different and enriching realities for the architectural graphic panorama. Probably, in these anomalies is where the most unique spirit that characterizes each studio is revealed, also in that of Rafael, Carme and Ramón. There is no great literature to help decipher the capital importance that your drawings have in the whole of your career. Undoubtedly, your wash painting technique composes the necessary torrent from which your works are nourished. This technique has characterized your identity as a study throughout these years of work. As you point out, it is an instrument with an almost automatic path between thought and arm. An agile path that leads you to present your ideas in a vigorous and abstract way. These spots of tinted water allow a prudential distance regarding the final form that the proposal will adopt and facilitate the conceptual debate, the genuine essence of their contributions. These drawings, of different formats, can be more or less precise (or fuzzy) contaminated, generally, with strokes and notes of thick pen that seek to set nuances and precepts that articulate the forthcoming project. This material reflects the maximum commitment between the architects and their work. RCR does not operate from a superficial inertia; all your works concentrate a rich number of variants that certify this strenuous intellectual work. William J. R. Curtis points out that your creations, both graphic and constructive, are developed during a long but harmonious process, and he evidences that necessary link that exists between both facets of your professional work (Curtis, 2017, p.6). In 2007 the professor Juan Antonio Cortés showed, under the heading of “Nature, painting, architecture” certain reflections that connected the RCR architecture with rhythmic issues ran by the painter Pierre Soulages, and also with the assertion of the existence of a particular style of the office, cemented through different variations anchored to a specific (personal) conception of the architectural fact (Cortés, 2007, p.22). His drawings are key to understand this intellectual and uncommon reality, and they are in continuous search for essences that make new interventions born from a thick line. At this point, it is necessary to argument how the architecture of your office is an international reference of first level. Nevertheless, the target of your drawings makes us glimpse an “artistic vis” of powerful constitution. Without a doubt, the future will confirm this pictorial explosion within the creative universe of RCR.[ES] RCR arquitectes comparten sistemas de representación con otras oficinas de igual entidad. La homogenización que la digitalización tiende a imponer nos conduce a localizar un importante repertorio de representaciones gráficas similares a lo largo y ancho de Occidente. Toda la normativa que condiciona el conjunto de los proyectos que salen de los despachos también acentúa esta lectura uniforme. En cualquier caso es posible localizar alteraciones específicas de cada despacho que nos presentan realidades diferentes y enriquecedoras para el panorama gráfico arquitectónico. Probablemente en estas anomalías es donde se revela el espíritu más singular que anida en cada oficina, también en la de Rafael, Carme y Ramón.No existe una gran literatura que ayude a descifrar la importancia, capital, que tienen sus dibujos en el conjunto de su trayectoria. Indudablemente, sus aguadas configuran el torrente necesario del que se nutren sus obras. Es una técnica que ha caracterizado su identidad como estudio a lo largo de estos años de trabajo. Como apuntan, es un instrumento con un recorrido casi automático entre el pensamiento y el brazo. Un camino ágil que les conduce a presentar sus ideas de forma vigorosa y abstracta. Esas manchas de agua tintada permiten una lejanía prudencial con respecto a la forma última que adoptará la propuesta y facilitan el debate conceptual, la esencia genuina de sus aportaciones. Esos dibujos, de diferentes formatos, pueden ser más o menos precisos (o difusos) contaminados, generalmente, con trazos y apuntes de gruesa lapicera que buscan fijar matices y preceptos que articulan el proyecto venidero. Este material trasluce el compromiso máximo entre los arquitectos y su trabajo. RCR no opera desde una inercia superficial, todas sus obras concentran una rica cantidad de variantes que certifican ese extenuante trabajo intelectual. William J. R. Curtis apunta que sus creaciones, gráficas y constructivas, se desarrollan durante un proceso largo pero armonioso, evidencia esa ligación, necesaria, que existe entre ambas facetas de su quehacer profesional (Curtis, 2017, p.6).En 2007 el catedrático Juan Antonio Cortés evidenciaba, bajo el epígrafe de “Naturaleza, pintura, arquitectura” ciertas reflexiones que ligaban a la arquitectura de RCR con cuestiones rítmicas trabajadas por el pintor Pierre Soulages y también con la aseveración de la existencia de un estilo propio de la oficina cimentado a través de diferentes variaciones ancladas a una concepción específica (personal) del hecho arquitectónico (Cortés, 2007, p.22). Sus dibujos son claves para llegar a comprender esta realidad intelectual, singular como pocas, y en continua búsqueda de esencias que sustancien nuevas intervenciones nacidas desde un trazo grueso. En este punto se hace necesario señalar cómo la arquitectura de su oficina es un referente internacional de primera magnitud pero el camino que apuntan sus dibujos, en sí mismos, nos hace atisbar una “vis artística” de poderosa constitución. Sin duda alguna, el futuro confirmará esta eclosión pictórica dentro del universo creativo de RCR.Merino Gómez, E.; Moral Andrés, F.; Delgado Jiménez, A. (2018). conversando con...RCR arquitectes. Parte I: De los límites del dibujo. Nostalgia de la ingravidez. EGA. Revista de Expresión Gráfica Arquitectónica. 23(34):24-41. doi:10.4995/ega.2018.10934SWORD24412334CURTIS, William J.R., Maps of intentions, landscapes of ideas: the ink wash sketches of RCR. En VV.AA., RCR. Landscape of ideas. The sketches of RCR architects. ORIS: Zagreb, 2017. p.7-8CORTÉS, Juan Antonio, Los atributos de la naturaleza. En VV.AA., RCR arquitectes. El Croquis: Madrid, 2007. pp. 6-24SCHIRREN, M. Bruno Taut: Alpine Architektur: eine Utopie= Bruno Taut: alpine architecture: a utopia. Prestel, Munich, 2004.TAUT, B. Houses and People of Japan, Sanseido Company, 1958

Survival of three-dimensional representation in urban cartographies

[EN] The objective of this paper is to show how the visual power of tridimensional urban cartographies prevented their extinction when all evolutionary signs concerning graphical representation codes predicted just the contrary. The volumetric representation of cities, that during the medieval interlude was nothing but the result of the limits of scientific knowledge, seemed meant to disappear once the mathematical and topographical principles which ruled ichnographic representation were described. Nevertheless, the immediate legibility allowed by tridimensional representations along with their incontestable beauty, contributed to extend throughout the centuries a way of representation that has survived up till the present time[ES] El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar cómo la potencia visual de las cartografías urbanas tridimensionales impidió su desaparición cuando todos los signos evolutivos relativos a los códigos de la representación gráfica de las ciudades auguraban lo contrario. La representación volumétrica de la ciudad, que durante el paréntesis medieval no fue más que el producto de la limitación científica, parecía condenada a extinguirse a medida que se describían los principios matemáticos y topográficos que ordenan la representación icnográfica. Sin embargo, la legibilidad inmediata que permite la representación tridimensional unida a su incontestable belleza contribuyó a prorrogar en el tiempo un modo de representación que ha pervivido hasta la actualidad.Merino Gómez, E.; Moral Andrés, F. (2017). Pervivencia de la representación tridimensional en las cartografías urbanas. EGA. Revista de Expresión Gráfica Arquitectónica. 22(30):190-197. doi:10.4995/ega.2017.7830.SWORD1901972230Alvargonzález Rodríguez, R., 2002. Notas sobre cartografía urbana histórica de Espa-a. In Historia Contemporánea, 24, pp. 59-81.Bevilacqua, M., 2010. Vedute delle ville e d’altri luoghi della Toscana. Roma: Artemide.Boutier, J., 1997. L'affirmation de la cartographie urbaine `a grande ´échelle dans l'Europe de la Renaissance. In Per un atlante storico del Mezzogiorno e della Sicilia. Omaggio a Bernard Lepetit, (Enrico Iachello, Biagio Salvemini, eds). Napoli: Liguori, pp. 107-127.Gea Ortigas, M. I., 2015. Guía del plano de Texeira (1656). Madrid: Ediciones La Librería.Maier, J. (2015). Rome Measured and Imagined. doi:10.7208/chicago/9780226127774.001.0001Masetti, C., 2010. La imagen cartográfica de Roma entre fines del cuatrocientos y la primera mitad del quinientos. In Revista de estudios colombinos. June 2010, nº 6, pp. 31-42.Pinto, J. A. (1976). Origins and Development of the Ichnographic City Plan. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 35(1), 35-50. doi:10.2307/988969Sanz García, J.M., 2000. Doscientos cincuenta a-os de intentos planimétricos en Madrid. De Marcelli (1622) al general Ibá-ez (1872-74), pasando por Ensenada (1749). In Catastro. October 2000, pp. 23-31

Playing with Words: Comparing the Vocabulary and Lexical Richness of ChatGPT and Humans

The introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) generative language models such as GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) and tools such as ChatGPT has triggered a revolution that can transform how text is generated. This has many implications, for example, as AI-generated text becomes a significant fraction of the text in many disciplines, would this have an effect on the language capabilities of readers and also on the training of newer AI tools? Would it affect the evolution of languages? Focusing on one specific aspect of the language: words; will the use of tools such as ChatGPT increase or reduce the vocabulary used or the lexical richness (understood as the number of different words used in a written or oral production) when writing a given text? This has implications for words, as those not included in AI-generated content will tend to be less and less popular and may eventually be lost. In this work, we perform an initial comparison of the vocabulary and lexical richness of ChatGPT and humans when performing the same tasks. In more detail, two datasets containing the answers to different types of questions answered by ChatGPT and humans are used, and the analysis shows that ChatGPT tends to use fewer distinct words and lower lexical richness than humans. These results are very preliminary and additional datasets and ChatGPT configurations have to be evaluated to extract more general conclusions. Therefore, further research is needed to understand how the use of ChatGPT and more broadly generative AI tools will affect the vocabulary and lexical richness in different types of text and languages

De Garengeot’s hernia patients entirely treated laparoscopically: a safe and feasible alternative—a systematic review

Purpose Less than 450 cases of femoral hernias containing the vermiform appendix have been published since De Garenge- ot’s first description. A laparoscopic treatment option opened 15 years ago seems reliable and safe. A literature review of all the patients who have benefited from this new therapeutic alternative is presented. Methods A systematic review using the German Society of Surgery’s recommendations was performed for De Garengeot’s hernias totally treated laparoscopically. Keywords searched included “De Garengeot hernia” OR “femoral hernia appendix” OR “crural hernia appendix.” Results Only 29 out of 225 De Garengeot hernia’s manuscripts were identified describing patients entirely treated lapa- roscopically: 25 patients by a transabdominal preperitoneal hernia repair (TAPP) and 4 patients by a total extraperitoneal (TEP) procedure; 85.1% were females. The mean age was 71 years. Twenty-two patients had pre-operative imaging tests, sonography (2), computed tomography (14), or both (6). Nevertheless, only 56% had a preoperative diagnosis. Twenty-one cases required urgent treatment, while programmed surgery was possible in 7 instances. An appendix-sparing procedure could be done in 16% of the TAPPs. No postoperative complications occurred. The median hospital stay was 2.5 days. Conclusions The best surgical approach for a De Garengeot’s hernia is not defined, and many critical questions remain unan- swered. A better understanding of the diagnosis and treatment of this peculiar hernia will supply guidelines for clinicians who may encounter it hereafter. A fully laparoscopic approach seems perfectly safe and feasible for this entity, and it could be considered the first-line alternative if enough expertise is availableOpen Access funding provided by the University of the Basque Country thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature

Arquitecturas textuales: la invención visual a través de la recepción de la narrativa

The emulation of architectures from other architectures is the general source of inspiration for architectural creation. Mimesis exercises based on narrated architectures are much more complex, to the extent that words leave spots of indeterminacy that are difficult to fill in for the recipient. The ways of bridging the textual gaps to recreate buildings which are coded only in words allow us to discuss reception theories, typically literary, from the perspective of their connections with architecture. This research analyzes the role of the “model reader” of architecture and his possibilities as an emulator agent of architectures that have come to us through written texts.La emulación de arquitecturas a partir de otras arquitecturas es la fuente general de inspiración para la creación arquitectónica. Mucho más complejos resultan los ejercicios de mímesis a partir de arquitecturas narradas, en la medida en la que la palabra deja al receptor espacios de indeterminación difíciles de completar. Los modos de salvar las lagunas textuales para recrear edificios existentes solo en el verbo permiten discutir las teorías de la recepción, típicamente literarias, desde la perspectiva de sus conexiones con la arquitectura. En la presente investigación se analiza el papel del “lector modelo” de arquitectura y sus posibilidades como agente emulador de arquitecturas que nos han llegado a través de los textos escritos

The continued usefulness of vocabulary tests for evaluating large language models

In their seminal article on semantic vectors, Landauer and Dumain (1997) proposed testing the quality of AI language models with a challenging vocabulary test. We show that their Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) test remains informative for contemporary major language models, since none of the models was perfect and made errors on divergent items. The TOEFL test consists of target words with four alternatives to choose from. We further tested the models on a Yes/No test that requires distinguishing between existing words and made-up nonwords. The models performed significantly worse on the nonword items, in line with other observations that current major language models provide non-existent information. The situation was worse when we generalized the tests to Spanish. Here, most models gave meanings/translations for the majority of random letter sequences. On the plus side, the best models began to perform quite well, and they also pointed to nonwords that were unknown to the test participants but can be found in dictionaries

La Casa que Habla

La Casa que Habla es un museo transmedia que parte de un metaverso y talleres presenciales para resguardar la memoria de los objetos que poseemos a partir del diseño sostenible. Involucra a la comunidad en la consciencia sobre el impacto ambiental de sus hábitos de consumo y la disposición de los residuos sólidos voluminosos, generando cuidado del medio ambiente desde la preservación y reúso de muebles de madera y otros materiales factibles de reúso que han pasado de generación en generación en las familias. El proyecto se enmarca en una de las aristas de la sostenibilidad: el diseño sostenible, iniciativa que también ha venido tomando fuerza en el contexto de las economías circulares o verdes. El punto de partida es el modelo de negocio de Lurdes, Grupo MLP S.A.S, propiedad de la familia Merino Palacio, y en sus más de 30 años de experiencia en los temas de reúso y restauración de muebles. En este texto podrá encontrar el punto de partida e investigaciones con usuario desde un proyecto transmedia para generar consciencia ambiental.The Talking House is a transmedia museum that starts from a metaverse and face-to-face workshops to safeguard the memory of the objects we own based on sustainable design. It involves the community in raising awareness of the environmental impact of their consumption habits and disposal of bulky solid waste, generating care for the environment from the conservation and reuse of wooden furniture and other feasible reuse materials that have gone from generation to generation in families. The project is part of one of the pillars of sustainability: sustainable design, an initiative that has also been gaining strength in the context of circular or green economies. The starting point is the business model of Lurdes, Grupo MLP S.A.S, owned by the Merino Palacio family, and its more than 30 years of experience in the areas of furniture reuse and restoration. In this text you can find the starting point and user research for a transmedia project to generate environmental awareness

Frequency and Characteristics of familial melanoma in Spain: the FAM-GEM-1 Study.

Familial history of melanoma is a well-known risk factor for the disease, and 7% melanoma patients were reported to have a family history of melanoma. Data relating to the frequency and clinical and pathological characteristics of both familial and non-familial melanoma in Spain have been published, but these only include patients from specific areas of Spain and do not represent the data for the whole of Spain. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An observational study conducted by the Spanish Group of Melanoma (GEM) analyzed the family history of patients diagnosed with melanoma between 2011 and 2013 in the dermatology and oncology departments. RESULTS: In all, 1047 patients were analyzed, and 69 (6.6%) fulfilled criteria for classical familial melanoma (two or more first-degree relatives diagnosed with melanoma). Taking into account other risk factors for familial melanoma, such as multiple melanoma, pancreatic cancer in the family or second-degree relatives with melanoma, the number of patients fulfilling the criteria increased to 165 (15.8%). Using a univariate analysis, we determined that a Breslow index of less than 1 mm, negative mitosis, multiple melanoma, and a history of sunburns in childhood were more frequent in familial melanoma patients, but a multivariate analysis revealed no differences in any pathological or clinical factor between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Similar to that observed in other countries, familial melanoma accounts for 6.6% of melanoma diagnoses in Spain. Although no differences in the multivariate analysis were found, some better prognosis factors, such as Breslow index, seem more frequent in familial melanoma, which reflect a better early detection marker and/or a different biological behavior

El coste de la construcción medieval: materiales, recursos y sistemas constructivos para la petrificación del paisaje entre los siglos XI y XIII

Edición a cargo de Rocío Maira Vidal y Ana RodríguezLa dificultad de estudiar los costes de la construcción entre los siglos XI y XIII por la ausencia de documentos originales que hagan mención a las cuentas y gastos revela la necesidad de abordar su estudio a partir de nuevos caminos. En este libro se propone una nueva metodología para acometer el estudio de los costes a partir del análisis comparativo de los sistemas constructivos y de los recursos empleados. La nueva metodología propuesta permite conocer aquellas actividades que supusieron un mayor gasto para los promotores de las obras por requerir abundante mano de obra, una alta especialización de sus trabajadores o cuantiosos recursos naturales, a veces distantes de la obra. Confiamos que este libro responderá interesantes cuestiones sobre el desarrollo de la economía y la sociedad plenomedievales.Peer reviewe