Vehículos eléctricos : hacia la sostenibilidad en la movilidad

Los automoviles de propulsión convencional están destinados a desaparecer hacia 2050 y a ser sustituidos por alternativas mucho más eficientes. La electricidad, de momento y a pesar de que aún queda mucho por pulir, ha tomado ventaja y es la apuesta más firme que baraja Europa de cara al futuro

Mobile Robot Lab Project to Introduce Engineering Students to Fault Diagnosis in Mechatronic Systems

This document is a self-archiving copy of the accepted version of the paper. Please find the final published version in IEEEXplore: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TE.2014.2358551This paper proposes lab work for learning fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) in mechatronic systems. These skills are important for engineering education because FDD is a key capability of competitive processes and products. The intended outcome of the lab work is that students become aware of the importance of faulty conditions and learn to design FDD strategies for a real system. To this end, the paper proposes a lab project where students are requested to develop a discrete event dynamic system (DEDS) diagnosis to cope with two faulty conditions in an autonomous mobile robot task. A sample solution is discussed for LEGO Mindstorms NXT robots with LabVIEW. This innovative practice is relevant to higher education engineering courses related to mechatronics, robotics, or DEDS. Results are also given of the application of this strategy as part of a postgraduate course on fault-tolerant mechatronic systems.This work was supported in part by the Spanish CICYT under Project DPI2011-22443

Novel silver containing antimicrobial coatings for implant materials. new applications of Ag(I) coordination networks

Modern medicine continuously develops new artificial short-term or permanent devices to assist in the performance of physiological functions. Implantation of medical devices represents one of the most important risk factors of all nosocomial infections, when implant materials become infected due to bacterial adhesion and subsequent formation of bio films. The latter are impossible to treat with antibiotics and represent a dramatic complication for the patient, leading to implant replacement, in the worst case to death. Therefore, prevention of bacterial adhesion and bio film formation is important. We have developed new coordination compounds with silver ions and specially designed ligands. This way, one can tune the structure, the light stability and, most importantly for the biological application, the solubility. With an appropriate chemical linker, one is able to connect such compounds to metallic surfaces forming a nano-structured coating. We analyzed the coated surfaces and present the nano-structured surface topography. The chemical composition of the coating on Au(111) as a model surface, the antimicrobial properties of the coated implants, and, on a molecular level, the interaction of silver ions with peptide sequences and subsequent silver nanoparticle formation are presented in this thesis. We have investigated this coating using several methods, namely powder X-ray, XPS, AFM, SEM, micro- and nano-calorimetry and antimicrobial studies with different bacteria. XPS and powder x-ray analyses have shown that the deposited compound is [Ag(L)NO3], described previously. The AFM revealed peak-like nano-structures and the SEM measurements the bigger sized crystalline structures 0.5-1000 µm. AAS method have been used to determine the silver loading on the surface in function the crystallisation time and the concentration. The results show that we are able to control the silver loading on the surface choosing the appropriate treating conditions. Our silver coordination compound was shown to form regular material coatings on different metal substrates. Several anti-microbial tests were carried out. Flow-chamber experiments with S. sanguinis have been done to test the coating on dental implant material. The vitality of adhered bacteria was evaluated by applying a dual fluorescent staining, with the result that 99% of bacteria were killed. Plating of coated samples (Au(111) and titanium and steel restorative implant materials) in agar in presence of S. epidermis or S. aureus for 24h showed the formation of large inhibition zones of the order of >2 cm. In vivo microbiological assays show a high efficiency of the silver coating against S. epidermis. The antimicrobial properties were confirmed by microcalorimetry, measuring the bacterial cell multiplication heat. Furthermore the antimicrobial properties are proven for dental as well as general implant materials. To study the working mechanism of the silver inside of the bacteria and determining the silver affinity of some amino acids and short amino acid sequences, on-bead screening of split-and-mix libraries have been used. It is a powerful tool for the identification of peptides that attach the silver and induce the formation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) when using either light or a chemical reducing agent. It allowed identifying simple tripeptides that would have been difficult to predict rationally. In addition, the study revealed peptide motives that generate AgNPs with distinctly different sizes. Some microbiological assays have been done using isothermal microcalorimetry method to test the antimicrobial effect of the generated AgNPs. We have thus developed a new coating which is able to stop bacterial adhesion and multiplication, while being biocompatible with fibroblasts

Design of Electric Racing Vehicles: An experience of interdisciplinary project-based education in engineering

This paper describes a project based learning program carried out in the E.T.S.I.I. of the University of Malaga, Spain, whose main objective is the organization of a team for the development of experimental electric racing vehicles and their evaluation in competitive races. It is shown the work done during the first two years of the project, highlighting the most important aspects of the experience: the training focused on senior students (capstone courses), the training focused on freshmen (cornerstone courses) and the university-industry collaboration for the manufacture of the prototypes and equipment designed.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Aplicación de los principios de la Gestión del Conocimiento y la Calidad a las tareas docentes universitarias en el contexto del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior

El presente trabajo se centra en la adaptación de la práctica docente universitaria bajo los principios de las teorías de la Gestión del Conocimiento y la Calidad en el contexto de cambio y adaptación de los planes de estudio al marco del nuevo Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior. El trabajo se estructura en los apartados que siguen. En la introducción se presentan los conceptos básicos aplicados. En el segundo apartado se analiza el papel de los fundamentos de la gestión del conocimiento en el contexto del EEES. En el tercer apartado se presenta el diseño del modelo docente propuesto, técnicas empleadas, estructura, etc. En el cuarto apartado se presentan los resultados de la aplicación del modelo en el entorno y la realidad docente obtenidos en la implementación real del modelo en los varios años. En el quinto apartado se analiza el efecto y las posibilidades de las nuevas tecnologías en el contexto del modelo propuesto. Por último, en las conclusiones, se presentan una serie de reflexiones sobre el modelo, su operatividad y resultados.This paper proposes some advices for improving university-teaching processes using a Knowledge Management (KM) and Total Quality Management (TQM) approach. This effort is motivated by the profound pedagogical changes due to the new European Higher Education Space (EHES). The paper presents a conceptual model that includes a cause-effect diagram and diverse techniques and aids. Actual experiences of several years implementing the model in several courses are reported

Ingeniería Basada en Modelos en Prácticas de Robótica

Muñoz-Ramírez, A.J., Fernández-Lozano, J.J. y Gómez-de-Gabriel, J.M. (2015), "Ingeniería Basada en Modelos en Prácticas de Robótica", XXXVI Jornadas de Automática CEA/IFAC, Bilbao 2015.En este artículo se recoge la experiencia de usar una herramienta de desarrollo de ingeniería basada en modelos ó MDE (Model-Driven Engineering) para la realización de clases prácticas de robótica. La principal característica de los enfoques es que se prescinde de la fase de programación, por lo que se puede pasar del diseño a la implementación de manera autom´atica permitiendo dedicar más tiempo a los objetivos del aprendizaje. Para determinar la eficiencia de estas herramientas se ha utilizado una plataforma robótica móvil y se han realizado experimentos con alumnos utilizando Simulink con generación de código de Arduino y se han medido los resultados de manera subjetiva y objetiva.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Enabling Remote Responder Bio-Signal Monitoring in a Cooperative Human–Robot Architecture for Search and Rescue

The roles of emergency responders are challenging and often physically demanding, so it is essential that their duties are performed safely and effectively. In this article, we address real-time bio-signal sensor monitoring for responders in disaster scenarios. In particular, we propose the integration of a set of health monitoring sensors suitable for detecting stress, anxiety and physical fatigue in an Internet of Cooperative Agents architecture for search and rescue (SAR) missions (SAR-IoCA), which allows remote control and communication between human and robotic agents and the mission control center. With this purpose, we performed proof-of-concept experiments with a bio-signal sensor suite worn by firefighters in two high-fidelity SAR exercises. Moreover, we conducted a survey, distributed to end-users through the Fire Brigade consortium of the Provincial Council of Málaga, in order to analyze the firefighters’ opinion about biological signals monitoring while on duty. As a result of this methodology, we propose a wearable sensor suite design with the aim of providing some easy-to-wear integrated-sensor garments, which are suitable for emergency worker activity. The article offers discussion of user acceptance, performance results and learned lessons.This work has been partially funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Gobierno de España, projects RTI2018-093421-B-I00 and PID2021-122944OB-I00. Partial funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málag

Was There a Cambrian Explosion on Land? The Case of Arthropod Terrestrialization

Arthropods, the most diverse form of macroscopic life in the history of the Earth, originated in the sea. Since the early Cambrian, at least ~518 million years ago, these animals have dominated the oceans of the world. By the Silurian-Devonian, the fossil record attests to arthropods becoming the first animals to colonize land, However, a growing body of molecular dating and palaeontological evidence suggests that the three major terrestrial arthropod groups (myriapods, hexapods, and arachnids), as well as vascular plants, may have invaded land as early as the Cambrian-Ordovician. These dates precede the oldest fossil evidence of those groups and suggest an unrecorded continental 'Cambrian explosion' a hundred million years prior to the formation of early complex terrestrial ecosystems in the Silurian-Devonian. We review the palaeontological, phylogenomic, and molecular clock evidence pertaining to the proposed Cambrian terrestrialization of the arthropods. We argue that despite the challenges posed by incomplete preservation and the scarcity of early Palaeozoic terrestrial deposits, the discrepancy between molecular clock estimates and the fossil record is narrower than is often claimed. We discuss strategies for closing the gap between molecular clock estimates and fossil data in the evolution of early ecosystems on lan

A survey of techniques for reducing interference in real-time applications on multicore platforms

This survey reviews the scientific literature on techniques for reducing interference in real-time multicore systems, focusing on the approaches proposed between 2015 and 2020. It also presents proposals that use interference reduction techniques without considering the predictability issue. The survey highlights interference sources and categorizes proposals from the perspective of the shared resource. It covers techniques for reducing contentions in main memory, cache memory, a memory bus, and the integration of interference effects into schedulability analysis. Every section contains an overview of each proposal and an assessment of its advantages and disadvantages.This work was supported in part by the Comunidad de Madrid Government "Nuevas Técnicas de Desarrollo de Software de Tiempo Real Embarcado Para Plataformas. MPSoC de Próxima Generación" under Grant IND2019/TIC-17261

Resolving tricky nodes in the tree of life through amino acid recoding

Genomic data allowed a detailed resolution of the Tree of Life, but ''tricky nodes'' such as the root of the animals remain unresolved. Genome-scale datasets are heterogeneous as genes and species are exposed to different pressures, and this can negatively impacts phylogenetic accuracy. We use simulated genomic- scale datasets and show that recoding amino acid data improves accuracy when the model does not account for the compositional heterogeneity of the amino acid alignment. We apply our findings to three datasets addressing the root of the animal tree, where the debate centers on whether sponges (Porifera) or comb jellies (Ctenophora) represent the sister of all other animals. We show that results from empirical data follow predictions from simulations and suggest that, at the least in phylogenies inferred from amino acid sequences, a placement of the ctenophores as sister to all the other animals is best explained as a tree reconstruction artifact