DISEÑO DE HERRAMIENTA HIDROLÓGICA COMO APOYO A LOS SISTEMAS DE ALERTA TEMPRANA ANTE INUNDACIONES

Las inundaciones son uno de los fenómenos naturales que se presenta con mayor frecuencia alrededor del mundo afectando a gran número de personas y causando cuantiosos daños. México no es la excepción pues, dada su ubicación geográfica, cada año se ve afectado por fenómenos meteorológicos que afectan gran parte de su territorio. Como consecuencia, las inundaciones son uno de los desastres naturales que más afectan a su población. Por tal razón, la preparación ante estos desastres naturales es esencial para una respuesta oportuna que permita salvaguardar vidas humanas y bienes materiales, además de la rápida recuperación por parte de la población afectada y las autoridades. Es en este sentido que la presente investigación tiene como objetivo la implementación de una herramienta hidrológica que sirva de apoyo para la construcción de sistemas de alerta temprana ante inundaciones, mediante el acoplamiento y automatización de paquetes informáticos de aplicación hidrológica, hidráulica y sistemas de información geográfica. La implementación de herramientas hidrológicas incluyó dos modelos lluvia-escurrimiento, HEC-HMS Y CEQUEAU. Modelos ampliamente conocidos y utilizados, cuyas capacidades ya han sido demostradas en numerosas investigaciones, además de la implementación de un modelo de hidrograma unitario espacialmente distribuido. La parte hidráulica incluyó la implementación del modelo HEC-RAS para la modelación del tránsito de avenidas producto de las modelaciones hidrológicas. Las pruebas se desarrollaron en la cuenca del río La Sierra (Chiapas-Tabasco). La aplicación de los desarrollos productos de esta investigación demuestra la factibilidad de acoplar herramientas hidrológicas e hidráulicas con un sistema de información geográfica para la evaluación de riesgos por inundación, monitoreo de indicadores como precipitación y la predicción del comportamiento hidrológico e hidráulico de una cuenca con base en la modelación matemática

Singularities and undefinitions in the calibration functions of sonic anemometers

A mathematical model of the process employed by a sonic anemometer to build up the measured wind vector in a steady flow is presented to illustrate the way the geometry of these sensors as well as the characteristics of aerodynamic disturbance on the acoustic path can lead to singularities in the transformation function that relates the measured (disturbed) wind vector with the real (corrected) wind vector, impeding the application of correction/calibration functions for some wind conditions. An implicit function theorem allows for the identification of those combinations of real wind conditions and design parameters that lead to undefined correction/ calibration functions. In general, orthogonal path sensors do not show problematic combination of parameters. However, some geometric sonic sensor designs, available in the market, with paths forming smaller angles could lead to undefined correction functions for some levels of aerodynamic disturbances and for certain wind directions. The parameters studied have a strong influence on the existence and number of singularities in the correction/ calibration function as well as on the number of singularities for some combination of parameters. Some conclusions concerning good design practices are included

Effects of the water level on the flow topology over the Bolund island.

We have analyzed the influence of the actual height of Bolund island above water level on different full-scale statistics of the velocity field over the peninsula. Our analysis is focused on the database of 10-minute statistics provided by Risø-DTU for the Bolund Blind Experiment. We have considered 10-minut.e periods with near-neutral atmospheric conditions, mean wind speed values in the interval [5,20] m/s, and westerly wind directions. As expected, statistics such as speed-up, normalized increase of turbulent kinetic energy and probability of recirculating flow show a large dependence on the emerged height of the island for the locations close to the escarpment. For the published ensemble mean values of speed-up and normalized increase of turbulent kinetic energy in these locations, we propose that some ammount of uncertainty could be explained as a deterministic dependence of the flow field statistics upon the actual height of the Bolund island above the sea level

Development of a Social Gamified Platform for e-Learning

The way in which nowadays education is evolving, makes it possible to associate it with MOOCs courses and gamification techniques to improve learning outcomes of students. To this end, this paper shows the development of an educational e-learning platform built upon the Elgg social framework, where a set of gamification elements were added: Points, achievements, leaderboards and rewards. For the future, effectiveness validations will be carried out with students as well as further developments with other types of gamification elements

Mobile Instant Messaging Apps: Usability Evaluation on iOS and Android Platforms and Recommendations for Developers

With the current growth in the use of smartphone devices, and the large amount of Mobile Instant Messaging applications available in the markets, this co-occurrence makes it highly valuable to evaluate the usability of this kind of applications in order to provide more satisfying user experiences. Within this paper, a systematic usability evaluation of Mobile Instant Messaging applications is presented, which will be applied to both iOS and Android platforms. Based on the results, it is suggested that this type of mobile applications present serious problems in performing tasks, poor user interfaces and lack of information about privacy and security features. Likewise, along with the results, this paper presents a list of usability recommendations to help developers improve their Instant Messaging applications

El Turismo residencial en Malinalco, un destino rural del interior de México

El turismo residencial en Malinalco, Estado de México, como un destino de turismo doméstico del interior del país, presenta un comportamiento migratorio y de mercado muy diferente al modelo dominante del turismo residencial de la costa, conformado mayormente por flujos internacionales. Así entonces, la presente investigación refiere el resultado de un estudio diacrónico sobre la evolución de los componentes de oferta y demanda del turismo residencial y los impactos que se manifiestan en una segunda fase de su desarrollo. Para ello, se realiza el comparativo entre los rasgos que presentaba este tipo de turismo en el año 2004 y en el actual 2014, develándose el patrón prevaleciente, los cambios ocurridos y las tendencias que se preven para la siguiente década

A review on the recent history of wind power ramp forecasting.

Forecasting large and fast variations of wind power (the so called ramps) helps achieve the integration of large amounts of wind energy. This paper presents a survey on wind power ramp forecasting, reflecting the increasing interest on this topic observed since 2007. Three main aspects were identified from the literature: wind power ramp definition, ramp underlying meteorological causes and experi-ences in predicting ramps. In this framework, we additionally outline a number of recommendations and potential lines of research

Examining Potential of Scents for Enhancement of User Performance with Mobile Apps

Intelligent mobile phones, or simply smartphones, have seen a large widespread usage among the entire world population during the last years. These devices are, in fact, considered as an essential tool in our current day to day life activities. Aromatherapy could be defined as the medical usage of essential oils derived from diverse types of vegetables. Although this paper does not look through direct medical usages or benefits, it is focused on one of its main effects, the stimuli to enhance focus. This study makes use of one of the main essential oils, rosemary, as olfactory stimuli over regular users performing a set of tasks with mobile apps. Results of the experimental group, when compared to regular users not affected with olfactory stimuli, aim to suggest that there is not a clear impact on mobile users' performance. Nonetheless, more research is needed to categorize the effects of aromatherapy on mobile users.FPU research staff education program of the “University of Alcala” (UAH), grant no. 30400M000.541.A 640.0