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

Role of instrumental factors in Meibomian gland contrast assessment

Purpose: Meibomian gland contrast has been suggested as a potential biomarker in Meibomian gland dysfunction. This study analysed the instrumental factors related to contrast. The objectives were to determine whether the mathematical equations used to compute gland contrast (e.g., Michelson or Yeh and Lin), impact the ability to identify abnormal individuals, to ascertain whether contrast between the gland and the background could be an effective biomarker and to assess whether using contrast-enhancement on the gland image improves its diagnostic efficacy. Methods: A total of 240 meibography images from 40 participants (20 controls and 20 having Meibomian gland dysfunction or blepharitis), were included. The Oculus Keratograph 5M was used to capture images from the upper and lower eyelids of each eye. The contrast of unprocessed images and those pre-processed with contrast-enhancement algorithms were analysed. Contrast was measured on the eight central glands. Two equations for contrast computation were used, and the contrast both between glands and within a gland were calculated. Results: Significant differences were found between the groups for inter-gland area in the upper (p = 0.01) and lower eyelids (p = 0.001) for contrast measured with the Michelson formula. Similar effects were observed when using the Yeh and Lin method in the upper (p = 0.01) and lower eyelids (p = 0.04). These results were obtained for images enhanced with the Keratograph 5M algorithm. Conclusions: Meibomian gland contrast is a useful biomarker of disease related to the Meibomian glands. Contrast measurement should be determined using contrast-enhanced images in the inter-gland area. However, the method used to compute contrast did not influence the results.Sección Deptal. de Óptica (Óptica)Depto. de Optometría y VisiónFac. de Óptica y OptometríaTRUEEuropean Fund for Regional DevelopmentAgencia Estatal de Investigación (España)Universidad Complutense de Madrid (España)Banco SSantander (España)pu

A Comparative Study of Two Imaging Techniques of Meibomian Glands

Received: 6 February 2023; Revised: 28 February 2023; Accepted: 13 March 2023; Published: 15 March 2023In the present study, two different meibographers, Oculus Keratograph 5M (K5M) that uses 840 nm infrared light and the Visible Light Non-Contact Meibographer (VLNCM) that uses 610 nm visible light have been used to obtain meibography images from normal and Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD) population. The main objective has been to validate and demonstrate that the use of visible light is useful for observation and quantification of MG in clinical practice. Twenty participants were enrolled in this prospective study. The upper eyelids of one randomly chosen eye were used to obtain results. Forty images were captured and analysed. Three specialized observers were recruited to grade images using Pult and Riede Pult 5-degree scale, in two different sessions. Intra-observer agreement between sessions for both devices was shown. Inter-observer variability analysis showed discrepancy between meiboscores obtained from observers with K5M (p-value < 0.05), except for session 2 in the pathology group, while no statistical difference was found with VLNCM. Repeatability analysis found no statistically significant differences between sessions. Correlation between meibographers showed no statistically significant difference and a moderate correlation coefficient between meiboscores graded with the two devices. The current study suggests that VLNCM can allow MG to be properly visualized and classified in the upper eyelids.Sección Deptal. de Óptica (Óptica)Fac. de Óptica y OptometríaTRUEe European Fund for Regional Development (EFRD-FEDER, EU)Gobierno de EspañaBanco Santander (España)pu

A Binaural Neuromorphic Auditory Sensor for FPGA: A Spike Signal Processing Approach

This paper presents a new architecture, design flow, and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) implementation analysis of a neuromorphic binaural auditory sensor, designed completely in the spike domain. Unlike digital cochleae that decompose audio signals using classical digital signal processing techniques, the model presented in this paper processes information directly encoded as spikes using pulse frequency modulation and provides a set of frequency-decomposed audio information using an address-event representation interface. In this case, a systematic approach to design led to a generic process for building, tuning, and implementing audio frequency decomposers with different features, facilitating synthesis with custom features. This allows researchers to implement their own parameterized neuromorphic auditory systems in a low-cost FPGA in order to study the audio processing and learning activity that takes place in the brain. In this paper, we present a 64-channel binaural neuromorphic auditory system implemented in a Virtex-5 FPGA using a commercial development board. The system was excited with a diverse set of audio signals in order to analyze its response and characterize its features. The neuromorphic auditory system response times and frequencies are reported. The experimental results of the proposed system implementation with 64-channel stereo are: a frequency range between 9.6 Hz and 14.6 kHz (adjustable), a maximum output event rate of 2.19 Mevents/s, a power consumption of 29.7 mW, the slices requirements of 11 141, and a system clock frequency of 27 MHz.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2012-37868-C04-02Junta de Andalucía P12-TIC-130

CCS and NH_3 Emission Associated with Low-Mass Young Stellar Objects

In this work we present a sensitive and systematic single-dish survey of CCS emission (complemented with ammonia observations) at 1 cm, toward a sample of low- and intermediate-mass young star-forming regions known to harbor water maser emission, made with NASA's 70 m antenna at Robledo de Chavela, Spain. Out of the 40 star-forming regions surveyed in the CCS (2_(1)-1_(0)) line, only six low-mass sources show CCS emission: one transitional object between the prestellar and protostellar Class 0 phase (GF9-2), three Class 0 protostars (L1448-IRS3, L1448C, and B1-IRS), a Class I source (L1251A), and a young T Tauri star (NGC 2071 North). Since CCS is considered an "early-time" (≲10^5 yr) molecule, we explain these results by either proposing a revision of the classification of the age of NGC 2071 North and L1251A, or suggesting the possibility that the particular physical conditions and processes of each source affect the destruction/production of the CCS. No statistically significant relationship was found between the presence of CCS and parameters of the molecular outflows and their driving sources. Nevertheless, we found a significant relationship between the detectability of CCS and the ammonia peak intensity (higher in regions with CCS), but not with its integrated intensity. This tendency may suggest that the narrower ammonia line widths in the less turbulent medium associated with younger cores may compensate for the differences in ammonia peak intensity, rendering differences in integrated intensity negligible. From the CCS detection rate we derive a lifetime of this molecule of ≃(0.7-3) × 10^4 yr in low-mass star-forming regions

In silico drug prescription for targeting cancer patient heterogeneity and prediction of clinical outcome

In silico drug prescription tools for precision cancer medicine can match molecular alterations with tailored candidate treatments. These methodologies require large and well-annotated datasets to systematically evaluate their performance, but this is currently constrained by the lack of complete patient clinicopathological data. Moreover, in silico drug prescription performance could be improved by integrating additional tumour information layers like intra-tumour heterogeneity (ITH) which has been related to drug response and tumour progression. PanDrugs is an in silico drug prescription method which prioritizes anticancer drugs combining both biological and clinical evidence. We have systematically evaluated PanDrugs in the Genomic Data Commons repository (GDC). Our results showed that PanDrugs is able to establish an a priori stratification of cancer patients treated with Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) inhibitors. Patients labelled as responders according to PanDrugs predictions showed a significantly increased overall survival (OS) compared to non-responders. PanDrugs was also able to suggest alternative tailored treatments for non-responder patients. Additionally, PanDrugs usefulness was assessed considering spatial and temporal ITH in cancer patients and showed that ITH can be approached therapeutically proposing drugs or combinations potentially capable of targeting the clonal diversity. In summary, this study is a proof of concept where PanDrugs predictions have been correlated to OS and can be useful to manage ITH in patients while increasing therapeutic options and demonstrating its clinical utilityThis work was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Marie-Curie Career Integration Grant (CIG334361); and Paradifference Foundatio

Multifractal fluctuations of the precipitation in Spain (1960–2019)

Datos de investigación disponibles en: http://www.aemet.es/es/datos_abiertos/AEMET_OpenDataIn this work, an analysis of multifractal parameters of daily precipitation series over the Iberian Peninsula was performed in two 30-year periods to explore whether these properties follow any pattern. Fluctuations of precipitation series show three different scaling regions. Only two distinct regimes for small and large timescales can be confirmed, while intermediate scales are part of a transition region. It is also observed a certain degree of multifractality, which is higher for small timescales. At these scales, there is a high persistence which follows the spatial gradient of the annual precipitation. Moreover, multifractal parameters of the precipitation are modified according to complex spatial and temporal patterns. Only persistence uniformly decreases in the last period. Other relevant findings are the changes in the asymmetry of multifractal spectra in the eastern belt at larger timescales, which might be related to the change in the behavior of the Mediterranean cyclones.Datos de investigación disponibles en: http://www.aemet.es/es/datos_abiertos/AEMET_OpenDaDatos de investigación disponibles en: http://www.aemet.es/es/datos_abiertos/AEMET_OpenD

Analysis of Air Mean Temperature Anomalies by Using Horizontal Visibility Graphs

The last decades have been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface. An increasing interest in climate variability is appearing, and many research works have investigated the main effects on different climate variables. Some of them apply complex networks approaches to explore the spatial relation between distinct grid points or stations. In this work, the authors investigate whether topological properties change over several years. To this aim, we explore the application of the horizontal visibility graph (HVG) approach which maps a time series into a complex network. Data used in this study include a 60-year period of daily mean temperature anomalies in several stations over the Iberian Peninsula (Spain). Average degree, degree distribution exponent, and global clustering coefficient were analyzed. Interestingly, results show that they agree on a lack of significant trends, unlike annual mean values of anomalies, which present a characteristic upward trend. The main conclusions obtained are that complex networks structures and nonlinear features, such as weak correlations, appear not to be affected by rising temperatures derived from global climate conditions. Furthermore, different locations present a similar behavior and the intrinsic nature of these signals seems to be well described by network parameters

GPLSI Compendium App

GPLSI Compendium App se trata de una aplicación móvil que hará las veces de un sistema de gestión y difusión de contenidos digitales, en la que el usuario podrá realizar resúmenes de textos de diferentes webs, tales como artículos o noticias, y posteriormente compartir esos resúmenes en sus redes sociales o a través del correo. Se le proporcionarán varios métodos de resumen, así como las descripciones y un pequeño tutorial de cómo utilizar la aplicación