Development of the instrumentation of the botafoc breakwater nº 8 caisson

Balearic Port Authority has developed an instrumentation system for the #8 caisson of the Botafoc breakwater that integrates 12 pressure sensors located at three surfaces, two in contact with the sea water and another with the bottom. This design was completed with an inertial system that measures the angular velocities and the accelerations over the three Cartesian axes. Consequently, the system measures actions (pressures) and reactions (movements and accelerations) experimented by the caisson, due to sea waves and/or other service loads. R+D department of the Port Authority and Polytechnic University of Madrid are working on two directions, the development of new theories on vertical breakwater design that go beyond Goda and Sainflou, and on the creation of a real-time critical structure alarm system, based on the instrumentation installed. This alarm system has two main parts: the instrumentation itself that collects data and processes it on real-time (the data processing compares the pressure law suffered by the caisson in every step process with the design critical state of the caisson, in this case the Goda pressure law for a 6.5 m wave), giving a security coefficient that points out the risk level on real-time; and the alarm system consisting of a monitoring panel located in the Port Control Center that shows the risk level and advises in case of an incidental evacuation of this critical portuary installation

Applying Deadlock Risk Assessment in Architectural Models of Real-Time Systems

Software Architectural Assessment is a key discipline to identify at early stages of a real-time system (RTS) synthesis the problems that may become critical in its operation. Typical mechanisms supporting concurrency, such as semaphores or monitors, usually lead to concurrency problems in execution time difficult to identify, reproduce and solve. For this reason it is crucial to understand the root causes of these problems and to provide support to identify and mitigate them at early stages of the system lifecycle. This paper aims to present the results of a research work oriented to the creation of a tool to assess deadlock risk in architectural models of a RTS. A concrete architectural style (PPOOA-UML) was used to represent PIM (Platform Independent Models) of a RTS architecture supported by the PPOOA-Visio CASE tool. A case study was used to validate the deadlock assessment tool created. In the context of one of the functions of a military transport aircraft, the auto-tuning function of the communications system was selected for the assessment of the deadlock risk. According to the results obtained some guidelines are outlined to minimize the deadlock risk of the system architecture

Biodiesel de Algas

El biodiésel es un biocombustible líquido renovable que está compuesto por ésteres monoalquílicos de ácidos grasos de cadena larga derivados de lípidos renovables tales como aceites vegetales que se mezclan, en diferentes porcentajes, con gasoil. La producción de biodiésel puede representar en algunos casos una alternativa económica y social en la reducción de la contaminación. Además representa una solución a nuestra actual dependencia de los combustibles fósiles derivados del petróleo. Así, el metiléster, el bioetanol y el biobutanol de origen biológico se pueden usar de dos maneras: al 100% o mezclados en ciertos porcentajes variables con el gasoil (dando lugar al combustible llamado biodiésel) o la gasolina

Recuperacion ambiental de las marismas del rio Guadalete y San Pedro

En tiempos precuaternarios, la zona marismal objeto de estudio se encontraba cubierta por las aguas marinas formando el antiguo estuario de los ríos Guadalete y San Pedro (Sant Petri). En tiempos más recientes, estas marismas de los ríos Guadalete y San Pedro forman parte del sistema de humedales necesarios para el anidamiento y migración de multitud de aves en la ruta entre los continentes europeo y africano, presentando así un indudable valor ecológico, comparable al del Coto de Doñana desde esta perspectiva de humedad, toma de apoyo a la migración de aves. La limitada inundación mareal debida a las numerosas acciones antrópicas sufridas por esta zona han provocado la desecación de la marisma, inicialmente amplia debida a los aproximadamente 4 m. de carrera de marea media en la zona. Esta ponencia presenta las conclusiones de una reflexión conceptual con una propuesta de regeneración ambiental que pretende solucionarlos problemas introducidos por la reciente acción antrópica (últimos 40 años), generando una zona ecológicamente estable que garantice además su desarrollo socioeconómico sostenible a largo plazo del entorno en el que se ubica

Desarrollo de herramientas para la gestión integral del litoral

La presión antrópica sobre la zona litoral, en países como España, hace necesario llevar a cabo una adecuada planificación, gestión y administración para lograr el desarrollo sostenible de esta frágil zona. Las adecuadas estrategias para alcanzar dicho objetivo, requieren la integración de información de diversas áreas del conocimiento, para ello esta en curso de realización el proyecto “Desarrollo de nuevas tecnologías de Modelización física del entorno costero y herramientas para su uso en la Gestión Integral del Litoral en España” (BIA2006-15555). Los objetivos que se plantean en el desarrollo de este proyecto son los siguientes

Caracterización del litoral español para el cultivo y aprovechamiento de algas

- Un Sistema de Información Geográfica (SIG o GIS, en su acrónimo inglés) es una integración organizada de hardware, software, datos geográficos y personal, diseñado para capturar, almacenar, manipular, analizar y desplegar en todas sus formas la información geográficamente referenciada con el fin de resolver problemas complejos de planificación y gestión. - Los SIG`s son herramientas que permiten la incorporación de información de diferentes fuentes, además de la visualización y control de los datos. -Es así como se presenta el subproyecto “Caracterización del litoral español para el cultivo y aprovechamiento de algas”. Este proyecto se enmarca en el Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica (I+D+I 2004-2007) convocado por el Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino

Application of Deadlock Risk Evaluation of Architectural Models

Software architectural evaluation is a key discipline used to identify, at early stages of a real-time system (RTS) development, the problems that may arise during its operation. Typical mechanisms supporting concurrency, such as semaphores, mutexes or monitors, usually lead to concurrency problems in execution time that are difficult to be identified, reproduced and solved. For this reason, it is crucial to understand the root causes of these problems and to provide support to identify and mitigate them at early stages of the system lifecycle. This paper aims to present the results of a research work oriented to the development of the tool called ‘Deadlock Risk Evaluation of Architectural Models’ (DREAM) to assess deadlock risk in architectural models of an RTS. A particular architectural style, Pipelines of Processes in Object-Oriented Architectures–UML (PPOOA) was used to represent platform-independent models of an RTS architecture supported by the PPOOA –Visio tool. We validated the technique presented here by using several case studies related to RTS development and comparing our results with those from other deadlock detection approaches, supported by different tools. Here we present two of these case studies, one related to avionics and the other to planetary exploration robotics. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Development of a critical structure state alarm system based on the instrumentation of the Botafoc breakwater nº 8 caisson

Balearic Port Authority has developed an instrumentation system for the #8 caisson of the Botafoc breakwater that integrates 12 pressure sensors located at three surfaces, two in contact with the sea water and another with the bottom. This design was completed with an inertial system that measures the angular velocities and the accelerations over the three Cartesian axes. Consequently, the system measures actions (pressures) and reactions (movements and accelerations) experimented by the caisson, due to sea waves and/or other service loads. R+D department of the Port Authority and Polytechnic University of Madrid are working on two directions, the development of new theories on vertical breakwater design that go beyond Goda and Sainflou, and on the creation of a real-time critical structure alarm system, based on the instrumentation installed. This alarm system has two main parts: the instrumentation itself that collects data and processes it on real-time (the data processing compares the pressure law suffered by the caisson in every step process with the design critical state of the caisson, in this case the Goda pressure law for a 6.5 m wave), giving a security coefficient that points out the risk level on real-time; and the alarm system consisting of a monitoring panel located in the Port Control Center that shows the risk level and advises in case of an incidental evacuation of this critical portuary installation

Geodetic works carried out in the Strait of Gibraltar

The proximity between Europe and Africa and the fact that the Strait of Gibraltar has historically acted as a link between races, cultures and religions have made absolutely necessary to establish a relationship between the Northern African coast and the Southern European equivalent. From the Nineteenth Century the possibility of building a permanent link between both continents through the Strait of Gibraltar has been taken into account. In order to establish that relationship it is necessary to have coastal zones completely geo-referenced, under the same geodetic system and with a unique projection system. The paper describes the work carried out in the Strait of Gibraltar for this purpose

A study the degree of concentration of the Spanish bunkering

This paper shows the Gini Coefficient of the Spanish bunkering, for the Spanish Port System 1960 to the year 2010 with the aim to describe the Spanish bunkering in these periods and propose future strategies. The stage of bunkering must change due to new regulations of marine fuels but to predict the future you must know the past On December 17 came into force on community standard marine fuels. After a complicated negotiation with the industry moves forward a project that is fully compliant with the guidelines of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and limiting the sulphur and particulate matter of marine fuels used by ships calling or transit through maritime space of the European Union. The impact of a possible extension at European level of the Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECA) as they are introduced in the Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978 (MARPOL) adopted by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO)