Use of a Visual Programming Language and Mobile Devices to Improves Students' Understanding of Process Control Systems

Nuestra principal contribución es la aplicación del lenguaje de programación visual (VPL, de sus siglas en inglés “Visual Programming Language”) y los dispositivos móviles (MD, de sus siglas en inglés “Mobile Devices”) para el aprendizaje de los sistemas de control, lo cual mejoró la comprensión de estudiantes regulares considerados dentro de un diseño cuasiexperimental. El empleo de un ambiente de enseñanza que emplea VPL y MD para abordar los sistemas de control de procesos fue la clave para resolver las dificultades de aprendizaje que tenían el estudiante con el método de enseñanza tradicional, y que perduraban a pesar de ya que se estaba considerando la alineación constructiva entre instrucción, aprendizaje y evaluación, actividades auténticas y un enfoque de aprendizaje basado en el diseño. Los elementos gráficos utilizados por VPL, tomados de una biblioteca hecha de bloques reutilizables, con diferentes formas y colores, facilitan la comprensión de los sistemas de control de procesos. También VPL muestra todo el sistema de control de procesos de un vistazo a través de los diferentes MD utilizados, que fueron computadoras portátiles, tabletas y teléfonos inteligentes. Ayudó que todos estos MD son bien conocidos y fáciles de usar para los estudiantes. La evaluación comparativa del rendimiento de aprendizaje de los estudiantes, con y sin el uso de VPL y MD, mostró la efectividad del rediseño en el modo de enseñanza. Se facilitó el aprendizaje de los sistemas de control de procesos, reduciendo las dificultades de la enseñanza tradicional y mejorando la comprensión de los estudiantes. Además, la autoeficacia de los estudiantes se vio afectada positivamente

Proposals of a procedure to asses Pollutographs. Application to Murcia's Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). Póster

Directives 91/271/EEC and 93/481/EEC set norms regarding the management of Combined Sewer Overflows. European Commission monitors the implementation status and implementation programmes. In fact, during the year 2019 all the utilities should be able to quantify the pollution spilled during storm events. And afterwards, plans have to be developed in order to reduce the impact of such events. In this paper, we proposed a method to estimate the transported pollution during events as well as to serve as a tool for developing plans to lessen the corresponding pollution. The procedure is divided into three steps: A. Periodical measurements of all relevant pollutants, e.g. total suspended solids and chemical oxygen demand, in wet and dry weather. Such pollutant “concentrations” are correlated with the turbidity, updating the relation among them [1]. B. Continuous measures of the turbidity. Turbidity is continously register in the sewer areas near overflow spillways. Turbidimeters are a very convenient equipment for this purpose [2]. Actually, it is reliable, its measures are very correlated with the total suspended solid concentration and its maintenance is easy. In this way, combining A. and B. turbidity measures provide us a real-time estimation of the pollutant concentration. on real time. C. Assesment of each catchment hydrograph. Depending on the available data, this step could be based on a design, a measured or a simulated hydrograph. In order to apply this methodology to Murcia’s Combined Sewer System, we have used simulated hydrographs based on real measured rainfall. Murcia’s utility has developed a calibrated SWMM model, and therefore, using the rainfall data, it is possible to estimate hydrographs for all the relevant points of the system. D. Estimation of each catchment pollutograph. Combining the pollutant concentration, estimated in the previous steps, with the hydrographs, we can asses how the mass of pollutants are transported. This information allows us to comply with EU Directives, but it will also be useful to design Murcia’s strategy to minimize environmental impacts

Evaluating energy recovery potential in Murcia's water supply system

Murcia is the 7th most populated city in Spain. Its water supply system is extensively monitored through a large number of pressure gauges and flow meters. Murcia’s water supply network is fed from distribution reservoirs at enough elevation to avoid needing pumping stations for most of the city districts. Hydraulic resources have been evaluated throughout the water supply system. Besides the pressure reducing valves, where the assessment is quite straight forward [1], District Metered Areas (DMA) inlets have been evaluated. In these areas despite the hydraulic resources are not as great as in pressure reducing valves locations, their location is quite convenient. Actually, these positions are located inside the city, therefore making easy to use the produced energy in municipal self consumption or to provide facilities to the citizens. In order to perform such evaluation, a detailed model of the water supply network has been implemented in EPANET parting from a GIS model. The first step of the evaluation has consisted in the optimizing and validation of the model. Initially, the model was reviewed by comparing pressure and flow rate measurements in the main pipes. Then, an extensive experimental campaign was designed. In that campaign valves were switched so that each day a set of District Metered Areas (DMA) have just one metered inlet or at the most a very short number of metered inlets, whereas having a set of pressure measurements within the DMA. The obtained data was used to minimize errors in pressure time series, optimising roughness of the main pipes through Levenberg/Marquardt BFGS algorithm using EPANET ToolKit through Epanet-Octave [2]. Important roughness proposed changes tended to be located surrounding particular points, where errors in the GIS were located (mainly wrong diameter assignement). After patching all the errors the algorithm eased to localise, model errors were mostly below measures uncertainty, and therefore, the model was considered validated. Then, the hydraulic potential at the DMAs inlets has been evaluated by tracking the “instantaneous” minimum pressure and head within each DMA, as well as the flow rate entering the DMA. So that, the maximum head and the range of flow rates is established for the turbine. At the moment, once that all of these potentials have been assessed, a turbine prototype is being designed

Implantación de un sistema de entrenamiento funcional para la preparación física de un componente de infantería para las maniobras tipo Alpha.

Este trabajo se realizó con el objetivo de describir la Implantación de un sistema de entrenamiento funcional para la preparación física de un componente de infantería para las maniobras tipo Alpha. Está dividido en tres partes: en la primera parte se realizó una búsqueda bibliográfica sobre el entrenamiento funcional; en la segunda parte se llevó a cabo una descripción y clasificación de los distintos ejercicios que se realizan durante las maniobras para el posterior diseño del entrenamiento; la tercera y parte principal del trabajo, detalla y justifica el entrenamiento funcional dividido en tres mesociclos. Por último, en las conclusiones, se destaca la viabilidad de la implantación de este sistema de entrenamiento debido a su coste inexistente, a su versatilidad en las sesiones de entrenamiento y a la facilidad de adaptación a los medios e instalaciones disponibles.<br /

Performance Evaluation of a VLC Transmitter Based on the Split of the Power

IEEE Applied Power Electronics Conference and Exposition, San Antonio, (Estados Unidos de Norteamérica), marzo de 2018Visible Light Communication (VLC) has gained relevance during last years. It consists in using High-Brightness LEDs (HB-LEDs) both for lighting and for transmitting information changing the light intensity rapidly. However, there are some bottlenecks that are slowing down the deployment of this technology. One of the most important problems is that the HB-LED drivers proposed for addressing high data rates in VLC achieve poor power efficiency. Since these HB-LED drivers must be able to reproduce fast current waveforms, the use of Linear Power Amplifiers (LPAs) has been adopted, which clearly damage the power efficiency of HB-LED lighting. In order to alleviate this problem, a HB-LED driver made up of two DC-DC power converters is presented in this work. One of them is responsible for performing the communication functionality by operating at high switching frequency (10 MHz), whereas the second one fulfills the illumination functionality by ensuring a certain biasing point. The split of the power allows to minimize the power delivered by the fast-response DC-DC power converter. Thus, the efficiency can be maximized for scenarios with changing conditions (i.e., mobile transmitter and/or receiver, presence of mobile obstacles, etc.). In this sense, how the lighting level and the communication signal power affect both the power efficiency and the communication efficiency is deeply analyzed. The implemented prototype achieves an overall efficiency around 90%. In addition, the proposed VLC transmitter is able to reproduce a wide range of digital modulation schemes, including Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM

How logotype’s typography affects web conversions

Toda página web nace con uno o varios objetivos, sea informar, la captación de emails de suscriptores o la compra de productos por mencionar algunos ejemplos. Durante la última década se ha empezado a investigar el comportamiento del usuario en la página para llegar a cumplir dichos objetivos (en adelante conversiones online). Pretendemos estudiar cómo la tipografía contenida en los logotipos de una marca puede influir en dichas conversiones por medio de un experimento con una página web (landing page) de un festival de música, con una marca desconocida y totalmente nueva. Por medio de diferentes herramientas para la recopilación de datos de navegación, incluyendo la analítica web y de neuromarketing, analizaremos las diferencias entre las diferentes pruebas. Este estudio pretende ser un punto de partida para otros en este mismo campo.Every website is born with one or more goals, for instance to provide information, attracting subscribers’ emails or the buy of products. During the last decade on-page behavior research has started, in order to meet how people reach those objectives (also called online conversions). Our aim is to study how the type font contained in brand logos can influence such conversions through an experiment with a music festival web page (landing page) with a completely unknown new brand. Through different tools for navigation data collection, including web analytics and neuromarketing, we want to analyse the differences among the different tests. This study aims to be a starting point for others in this field

Desarrollo de un transmisor para comunicaciones en luz visible (VLC) basado en un convertidor CC/CC conmutado de respuesta rápida

XXIV Seminario Anual de Automática, Electrónica Industrial e Instrumentación 2017 (SAAEI'17), Valencia (España)En este artículo se presenta un sistema de transmisión de información usando luz visible (Visible-Light Communication, VLC) basado en un convertidor CC/CC conmutado de respuesta rápida y un sistema de caracterización en frecuencia de LEDs de alta eficiencia (High Brightness Light Emitting Diodes, HB-LED). Por una parte se presenta un sistema transmisor/receptor para caracterización en frecuencia de HBLEDs basado en un amplificador lineal como transmisor y un amplificador de transimpedancia y fotodiodo como receptor. Este sistema permite caracterizar la relación tensión/corriente/luz en frecuencia y permite el estudio de la utilidad de HB-LEDs en sistemas VLC. Debido a la baja eficiencia del amplificador lineal, se presenta además un convertidor CC/CC de respuesta rápida como propuesta de transmisor real para un sistema VLC con alta eficiencia y mayores niveles de potencia de transmisió

Pulmonary Sequestration Associated with Actinomycosis: A Case Report

Background: Bronchopulmonary sequestration is a rare congenital malformation of the lower respiratory tract; it consists of a nonfunctioning mass of lung tissue that is irrigated by an anomalous systemic artery. The association with Actinomyces superinfection has not been well established. Methods: We present the case of a 35-year-old woman with a history of recurrent episodes of pneumonia. Based on radiological and histopathological examination, she was diagnosed with intralobar bronchopulmonary sequestration associated with Actinomyces infection. Promoting clinical suspicion is essential to diagnose pulmonary actinomycosis in patients with recurrent pneumonia, to improve early recognition and timely management

Fabrication and deposition of copper and copper oxide nanoparticles by laser ablation in open air

The proximity of the “post-antibiotic era”, where infections and minor injuries could be a cause of death, there are urges to seek an alternative for the cure of infectious diseases. Copper nanoparticles and their huge potential as a bactericidal agent could be a solution. In this work, Cu and Cu oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by laser ablation in open air and in argon atmosphere using 532 and 1064 nm radiation generated by nanosecond and picosecond Nd:YVO4 lasers, respectively, to be directly deposited onto Ti substrates. Size, morphology, composition and the crystalline structure of the produced nanoparticles have been studied by the means of field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), the energy dispersive spectroscopy of X-rays (EDS), selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The UV-VIS absorbance of the thin layer of nanoparticles was also measured, and the antibacterial capacity of the obtained deposits tested against Staphylococcus aureus. The obtained deposits consisted of porous coatings composed of copper and copper oxide nanoparticles interconnected to form chain-like aggregates. The use of the argon atmosphere contributed to reduce significantly the formation of Cu oxide species. The synthesized and deposited nanoparticles exhibited an inhibitory effect upon S. aureus.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Power Efficient VLC Transmitter Based on Pulse-Width Modulated DC-DC Converters and the Split of the Power

Visible Light Communication (VLC) has gained relevance during the last years. It consists in using High-Brightness LEDs (HB-LEDs) both for lighting and for transmitting information changing the light intensity rapidly. However, there are some bottlenecks that are slowing down the deployment of this technology. One of the most important problems is that the HB-LED drivers proposed for addressing high data rates in VLC achieve poor power efficiency. Since these HB-LED drivers must be able to reproduce fast current waveforms, the use of Linear Power Amplifiers (LPAs) has been adopted, which clearly damages the power efficiency of HB-LED lighting. In order to alleviate this problem, a HB-LED driver made up of two DC-DC power converters is presented in this work. One of them is responsible for performing the communication functionality by operating at high switching frequency (10 MHz), whereas the second converter fulfills the illumination functionality by ensuring a certain biasing point. The split of the power allows us to minimize the power delivered by the fast-response DC-DC power converter, which suffers from high switching losses. Thus, the overall efficiency can be maximized for each particular communication scenario and for scenarios with changing condition