Evaluación del campo sonoro y acondicionamiento acústico de espacios patrimoniales de planta centralizada: el caso del oratorio San Felipe Neri

Durante las últimas décadas, se ha potenciado la recuperación del espacio sonoro de edificios patrimoniales en los que la acústica ha tenido un papel significativo. Los recintos de planta centralizada se convierten en un caso de estudio singular por sus formas y características geométricas. En este trabajo se realiza un análisis sobre las condiciones acústicas del oratorio de San Felipe Neri, templo filipense que acogió las Cortes Españolas en 1811. Su planta oval y su valor como patrimonio histórico lo hacen objeto de estudio, mientras que su actual uso compartido como centro religioso y centro de interpretación justifican la orientación acústica. La metodología se basa en el uso de herramientas informáticas para la simulación de un modelo virtual del citado oratorio a partir de su geometría y materialidad. Se obtienen y analizan los resultados de parámetros acústicos que permiten caracterizar el estado actual, facilitando así futuras propuestas de rehabilitación para su acondicionamiento acústico.In recent decades, heritage buildings where acoustics has (or used to have) a significant role have seen their sound field´s restoration developed. Therefore, centralized buildings turn out to be a unique case, given their geometrical shape and characteristics. This thesis analyses the acoustic properties of the oratory of San Felipe Neri, a Philippian temple where Cortes de Cádiz settled in 1811. Its elliptical plan and heritage value make it a study subject, while its current function as both a religious centre and an interpretation centre justify an acoustic approach. The methodology is based on simulation software, using a virtual model of the building with its same geometry and materials. That has led to obtain and analyse acoustic parameters so its current status can now be established. Furthermore, those data should help to improve its acoustic conditioning in future refurbishments.Universidad de Sevilla. Grado en Fundamentos de la Arquitectur

Flujo laminar estable de un fluido viscoso e incompresible por un tubo de sección elíptica

El presente trabajo de investigación aplicó los conceptos, principios o leyes de la dinámica de fluidos al problema del flujo laminar estable o estacionario de fluidos viscosos e incompresibles por tuberías, en particular, al flujo por un tubo de sección elíptica. Para ello, se utilizó la ecuación de Navier-Stokes y la ecuación de continuidad, acompañado de condiciones de frontera, resolviendo analíticamente y hallando la distribución o perfil de velocidades del flujo así como también el gasto volumétrico por segundo que fluye a lo largo del tubo de sección elíptica. A modo de comprobación o contrastación, se aplicó estos resultados al caso de un tubo de sección circular, con resultados positivos. En conclusión, mediante un método físico-matemático propio aplicado al caso investigado, se encontró una expresión analítica concreta del perfil de velocidades para el flujo laminar estable de un fluido viscoso e incompresible por un tubo de sección elíptica. A partir de este perfil también se encontró el correspondiente gasto volumétrico por segundo o caudal volumétrico, culminando con una comprobación de estas expresiones cuando se aplican a tubos de sección circular, cuyos resultados, a diferencia del caso de tubos de sección elíptica, sí pueden encontrarse en la bibliografía de los cursos básicos de ciencias e ingeniería

Using FPGA for visuo-motor control with a silicon retina and a humanoid robot

The address-event representation (AER) is a neuromorphic communication protocol for transferring asynchronous events between VLSI chips. The event information is transferred using a high speed digital parallel bus. This paper present an experiment based on AER for visual sensing, processing and finally actuating a robot. The AER output of a silicon retina is processed by an AER filter implemented into a FPGA to produce a mimicking behaviour in a humanoid robot (The RoboSapiens V2). We have implemented the visual filter into the Spartan II FPGA of the USB-AER platform and the Central Pattern Generator (CPG) into the Spartan 3 FPGA of the AER-Robot platform, both developed by authors.Unión Europea IST-2001-34124 (CAVIAR)Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC-2003-08164-C03-0

Iniciación a la realización de presentaciones orales en Educación Secundaria Obligatoria: Análisis del formato y emociones por parte de los estudiantes

In recent years, the growing negative perception of science subjects by students has been widely evaluated. Furthermore, due to the changes implemented in university systems, it is increasingly necessary to include teaching practices that may be attractive at lower academic levels, such as oral presentations supported by educational technology. These practices are proposed as a teaching resource that can improve the attitudes of students towards this type of subjects. In the present work, the variant perception of emotions of 60 last-year secondary students is analysed through three questionnaires that report on emotions before, during and after the oral presentation. It is observed how emotions vary according to the moment of their analysis. Subsequently, the students were administered a questionnaire on aspects related to the format described for the oral presentations. The participants highlight the importance of this type of activities in their future, both academic and work, and point out some key facilitating aspects in this intervention. The current educational context and the results obtained in this study suggest the implementation of this type of oral activities, in order to improve students’ digital, communication and expression skills.En los últimos años, se ha evaluado ampliamente la negativa percepción creciente hacía las asignaturas de ciencias por parte del alumnado. Además, debido a los cambios implementados en los sistemas universitarios cada vez es más necesario incluir prácticas docentes, como las exposiciones orales apoyadas en la tecnología educativa, en niveles académicos inferiores que puedan ser a su vez prácticas atractivas. Dichas prácticas se plantean como un recurso docente que pueda mejorar las actitudes del alumnado frente a este tipo de asignaturas. En el presente análisis se analiza la percepción variante de las emociones de 60 alumnos de último curso de Educación Secundaria a través de tres cuestionarios que informan sobre las emociones antes, durante y después de la presentación oral. Se observa cómo las emociones varían según el momento de su análisis. Posteriormente, el alumnado ha sido sometido a un cuestionario donde se engloban cuestiones relacionadas con el formato descrito para la realización de las exposiciones orales. Los participantes destacan la importancia de este tipo de actividades en su futuro tanto estudiantil como laboral y señalan algunos aspectos claves facilitadores en dicha práctica. El contexto educativo actual y los resultados obtenidos en el presente estudio sugieren la realización de este tipo de actividades orales en los estudiantes, con el fin de mejorar sus competencias digitales, comunicativas y de expresión

FPGA Implementations Comparison of Neuro-cortical Inspired Convolution Processors for Spiking Systems

Image convolution operations in digital computer systems are usually very expensive operations in terms of resource consumption (processor resources and processing time) for an efficient Real-Time application. In these scenarios the visual information is divided in frames and each one has to be completely processed before the next frame arrives. Recently a new method for computing convolutions based on the neuro-inspired philosophy of spiking systems (Address-Event-Representation systems, AER) is achieving high performances. In this paper we present two FPGA implementations of AERbased convolution processors that are able to work with 64x64 images and programmable kernels of up to 11x11 elements. The main difference is the use of RAM for integrators in one solution and the absence of integrators in the second solution that is based on mapping operations. The maximum equivalent operation rate is 163.51 MOPS for 11x11 kernels, in a Xilinx Spartan 3 400 FPGA with a 50MHz clock. Formulations, hardware architecture, operation examples and performance comparison with frame-based convolution processors are presented and discussed.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TEC2006-11730-C03-02Junta de Andalucía P06-TIC-0141

On the AER Convolution Processors for FPGA

Image convolution operations in digital computer systems are usually very expensive operations in terms of resource consumption (processor resources and processing time) for an efficient Real-Time application. In these scenarios the visual information is divided into frames and each one has to be completely processed before the next frame arrives in order to warranty the real-time. A spike-based philosophy for computing convolutions based on the neuro-inspired Address-Event- Representation (AER) is achieving high performances. In this paper we present two FPGA implementations of AER-based convolution processors for relatively small Xilinx FPGAs (Spartan-II 200 and Spartan-3 400), which process 64x64 images with 11x11 convolution kernels. The maximum equivalent operation rate that can be reached is 163.51 MOPS for 11x11 kernels, in a Xilinx Spartan 3 400 FPGA with a 50MHz clock. Formulations, hardware architecture, operation examples and performance comparison with frame-based convolution processors are presented and discussed.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TEC2006-11730-C03-02Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TEC2009-10639-C04-02Junta de Andalucía P06-TIC-0141

The negative binomial distribution as a renewal model for the recurrence of large earthquakes

The negative binomial distribution is presented as the waiting time distribution of a cyclic Markov model. This cycle simulates the seismic cycle in a fault. As an example, this model, which can describe recurrences with aperiodicities between 0 and 0.5, is used to fit the Parkfield, California earthquake series in the San Andreas Fault. The performance of the model in the forecasting is expressed in terms of error diagrams and compared with other recurrence models from literature

A LVDS Serial AER Link

Address-Event-Representation (AER) is a communication protocol for transferring asynchronous events between VLSI chips, originally developed for bio-inspired processing systems (for example, image processing). Such systems may consist of a complicated hierarchical structure with many chips that transmit data among them in real time, while performing some processing (for example, convolutions). The event information is transferred using a high speed digital parallel bus (typically 16 bits and 20ns-40ns per event). This paper presents a testing platform for AER systems that allows to analyse a LVDS Serial AER link. The interface allows up to 0.7 Gbps (~40Mev/s, 16 bits/ev). The eye diagram ensures that the platform could support 1.2 Gbps.Commission of the European Communities IST-2001-34124 (CAVIAR)Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC-2003-08164-C03-0

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

Image convolution using a probabilistic mapper on USB-AER board

In this demo we propose a method for computing real time convolution on AER images. For that we use signed events. The AER events produced on an AER retina or an image/video to AER conversor, are processed using a probabilistic multi event mapper that produces more than one event for each incoming event according to an assigned probability. Kernel convolution size are limited by mapping tables size (on board RAM) and AER bus bandwidth. On reconstruction signed events needs to be simplified (subtracted) to get final convolved image. For that two different methods are proposed.Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC-2006-08164-C03-02Junta de Andalucía P06-TIC-0141