Tourist Influence on Nightlife Noise

Although environmental noise from entertainment and leisure activities is causing a growing number of complaints from EU population, this noise issue is not covered by the current EU initiatives on environmental noise management. This noise problem is difficult to tackle strategically and technically – no specific standards have yet been established for measurements, methods and indicators, and the practical remedies are still limited. This paper reviews nightlife noise and more specifically how the presence of tourists influences the variation of the noise. Several case studies were conducted in some Spanish locations by the seasonal tourist incursion, mainly in the summer months. Variations in the nightlife noise in recreational zones during the weekends and “working days” are compared. This research also discusses data from different years and seasonal periods and reinforced with data obtained through surveys specifically designed for foreign tourists. These surveys reveal practical information about how tourists perceive noise, and their behaviour and reactions to it. Those data could be useful for Environmental Noise Authorities to develop noise action plans, as recreational noise is a source not considered when noise mapping by means of using simulation techniques

Spatial Interpolation contribution to noise maps uncertainty

Noise maps results are usually presented as contour graphs or isophone curves, which describe the sound levels as functions of spatial location. These maps are added to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), allowing sound level evaluation as a function of the continuous coordinates x and y, for a given height above ground. Although the outcome of the system is a continuous variable, the calculations that allow its evaluation are obtained in discrete points that form a calculation grid, which is created by the application of spatial sampling techniques. Using spatial interpolation tools, values are assigned to the locations in which measures or calculations have not been performed. The application of sampling and interpolation techniques (the type of grid, its density, the interpolation algorithms…) contributes to the uncertainty of the results. This paper describes a calculation method to quantify the uncertainty associated to the spatial sampling and interpolation process. We also propose a revision of the classical meaning of noise mapping uncertainty, taking into account the final application of the results

Diseño de investigación de un prototipo de sistema de medición y procesamiento de datos de calidad de aire utilizando IOT y BIG DATA

Diseñar un prototipo de sistema de adquisición, procesamiento y almacenamiento de datos de los elementos contaminantes de aire en la Ciudad de Guatemala. Diseñar una visualización web que muestre el nivel de contaminantes en el aire, en una región específica de la Ciudad de Guatemala, en tiempo real

Programación en paralelo y técnicas algorítmicas

Paralelización de tres de las técnicas algorítmicas más importantes de la programación secuencial: divide y vencerás, ramificación y acotación y programación dinámica. Se analizan los diferentes esquemas generales de paralelización aplicables, aportando estudios teóricos y prácticos relativos a la implementación de los mismos sobre sistemas multicomputadores basados en el transputer. En la técnica divide y vencerás se realiza un análisis teórico y práctico de diferentes algorítmicos sobre el problema de la ordenación y se propone un nuevo esquema jerárquico; en la ramificación y acotación se hace un estudio experimental de las diferentes técnicas aplicables y se ensaya un método para reducir el número de comunicaciones; en la programación dinámica se presentan tres nuevos algorítmicos para el problema de la mochila

Word order and informative functions (Topic and Focus) in spanish signed language (LSE) utterances

(2011). A reduced version of this paper will be published in Journal of Pragmatics.[Abstract] The aim of this paper is two-fold: firstly, to address the issue of word order in declarative utterances in LSE (Spanish Signed Language), and secondly, to analyse the function of the informative component (topic and focus) at utterance and discursive level in this language (given that research carried out to date in certain sign languages has revealed that this component plays a key function in utterance organisation). The conclusions of our study indicate that the following three word order options are possible: SOV, SVO and topicalisation of object and space-setting (at the start of the utterance). These orders may also vary at discourse level if the signer adopts a spatial organisation of events. As for the other item of the informative element, the focus, it has an emphatic value (information and contrastive focus) and is expressed by means of two types of binary structures: (a) a divided question-answer structure, and (b) a structure whose initial element expresses surprise, followed by the focalised element. From a discursive perspective, both topic and focus have several functions: the topic establishes the discursive theme, has an anaphoric function, and provides cohesion in the listing of elements; the focus structure is used with the function of conjunction (in particular, to introduce purpose, causal, and result clauses)

Measuring energy in dynamic probing

The penetration in these tests is intimately related to the potential energy of the hammer (nominal energy). So, it is necessary to understand correctly and deeply how this energy is transferred to the drive rods and how it is transmitted through the rods to the cone, to realize how the real behavior in these tests is. The penetration length really depends on the energy, not on that nominal energy, but on a portion of that energy that is effectively transferred to the rods (ENTHRU) and, in order to be more precise, the energy that reaches the cone (ENTHRUcone). The ENTHRU is measured by means of monitoring the upper part of the drive rods (close to the anvil). To calculate the ENTHRUcone it is necessary to correct the ENTHRU in three ways. First it is needed to take into account the energy loss in the energy transmission through the rods, and the energy loss due to the skin friction of the drive rods with the soil around them. It is also necessary to add the energy due to the rod weight that is penetrating into the soi

Un context ceràmic d'inicis del segle II d.C. a Tàrraco (Hispania Tarraconensis)

Analisi integral d'un context cerilmic d'inicis del segle II d.C. localitzat a Tarragona. A partir d'aquest i altres diposits excavats recentment s'intenta caracteritzar ceramològicament els primers decennis del segle II d.C. en aquesta ciutat.Full analysis of an archaeological deposit dated in the early second century AD found in Tarragona. Its closed relation with other cerarnic assemblages recently excavated has allowed a characterization in cerarnic terms for the first decades of the second century in this side

Niveles de lectura de estudiantes de licenciatura: el caso de una tabla y una gráfica de líneas

La enseñanza de la estadística ha cobrado auge en los últimos años, debido a ser considerada en las actuales políticas educativas como la promotora de una competencia necesaria en la sociedad. Esta competencia destaca entre sus puntos la capacidad de leer e interpretar información, de manera adecuada y crítica, presentada en cualquier tipo de representación. Se presenta un reporte de investigación cuyo objeto de estudio es la interpretación que realizan 36 estudiantes de licenciatura que llevaron a cabo la tarea de leer e interpretar una tabla y una gráfica de líneas. Esto con el objetivo de analizar el nivel de lectura que muestran al realizar dicha tarea, e identificar si el tipo de representación promueve niveles superiores de lectura; considerando dos marcos de referencia: los niveles de lectura de Curcio (1989) y Friel, Curcio y Bright (2001) para el análisis de la comprensión gráfica, y la jerarquía propuesta por Aoyama (2007) para la valoración crítica de la información y su integración con el contexto. El análisis de las interpretaciones evidencia que la mayoría de los estudiantes alcanzan el nivel 2, leer dentro de los datos, al enfocarse en la comparación de los datos; pocos jóvenes pudieron alcanzar los niveles superiores 3 y 4, leer más allá de los datos y leer detrás de los datos, respectivamente, al dar una predicción sobre una tendencia de los datos, o bien, al proporcionar hipótesis explicativas en términos de los datos que se muestran en la tabla o gráfica. Se observa que la valoración crítica de la información por parte del estudiante, se encuentra directamente relacionada con su conocimiento sobre el contexto, siendo este el que determina y caracteriza el nivel superior 4. Además, con base en nuestro análisis, podemos mencionar que la representación gráfica favorece en la interpretación de los estudiantes participantes para alcanzar niveles superiores de lectura