Performance evaluation and limitations of a vision system on a reconfigurable/programmable chip

This paper presents a survey of the characteristics of a vision system implemented in a reconfigurable/programmable chip (FPGA). System limitations and performance have been evaluated in order to derive specifications and constraints for further vision system synthesis. The system hereby reported has a conventional architecture. It consists in a central microprocessor (CPU) and the necessary peripheral elements for data acquisition, data storage and communications. It has been designed to stand alone, but a link to the programming and debugging tools running in a digital host (PC) is provided. In order to alleviate the computational load of the central microprocessor, we have designed a visual co-processor in charge of the low-level image processing tasks. It operates autonomously, commanded by the CPU, as another system peripheral. The complete system, without the sensor, has been implemented in a single reconfigurable chip as a SOPC. The incorporation of a dedicated visual co-processor, with specific circuitry for low-level image processing acceleration, enhances the system throughput outperforming conventional processing schemes. However, timemultiplexing of the dedicated hardware remains a limiting factor for the achievable peak computing power. We have quantified this effect and sketched possible solutions, like replication of the specific image processing hardware

Educational experiences detecting, using, and representing ternary relationships in database design

Conceptual models are applied as the first step in software design methodologies for collecting the semantics involved in the universe of discourse. Nevertheless, the abstraction process creates some misunderstandings for novice designers, such as difficulties in modeling some constructs and in understanding the semantics that they represent. This paper presents a thorough study of errors detected among Database Design students in Computer Science Engineering when they apply the abstraction process to generate a conceptual schema using a specific model. Specifically, the paper focuses on errors made in the design of ternary relationships. Some heuristics are proposed in order to help novice designers avoid these common errors, and an experimental study is presented to compare the number of errors made by the students before and after applying these heuristics. (Contains 10 figures, 2 tables, and 3 footnotes.)This work was supported in part by the Software Process Management platform project Modeling, Reuse and Measurement (TIN2004/07083), by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and by the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, which supports the APEINTA research and innovation project.Publicad

Integrating intelligent methodological and tutoring assistance in a CASE platform: The PANDORA experience

Database Design discipline involves so different aspects as conceptual and logical modelling knowledge or domain understanding. That implies a great effort to carry out the real world abstraction task and represent it through a data model. CASE tools emerge in order to automating the database development process. These platforms try to help to the database designer in different database design phases. Nevertheless, this tools are frequently mere diagrammers and do not carry completely out the design methodology that they are supposed to support; furthermore, they do not offer intelligent methodological advice to novice designers. This paper introduces the PANDORA tool (acronym of Platform for Database Development and Learning via Internet) that is being developed in a research project which tries to mitigate some of the deficiencies observed in several CASE tools, defining methods and techniques for database development which are useful for students and practitioners. Specifically, this work is focused on two PANDORA components: Conceptual Modelling and Learning Support subsystems

Learning to teach database design by trial and error

Proceedings of: 4th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems (ICEIS 2002), Ciudad Real, Spain, April 3-6, 2002The definition of effective pedagogical strategies for coaching and tutoring students according to their needs in each moment is a high handicap in ITS design. In this paper we propose the use of a Reinforcement Learning (RL) model, that allows the system to learn how to teach to each student individually, only based on the acquired experience with other learners with similar characteristics, like a human tutor does. This technique avoids to define the teaching strategies by learning action policies that define what, when and how to teach. The model is applied to a database design ITS system, used as an example to illustrate all the concepts managed in the model

La palabra y el dibujo: una experiencia con niños de la selva

Este trabajo está orientado a tratar de explicar el paso de lo oral a lo escrito en comunidades de la selva chiapaneca. En primer térmi-no no hay que perder de vista que cada grupo es diferente: los co- nocimientos previos de los niños, las expectativas de los padres, la cultura comunitaria y considerar el respeto a la lengua hablada en el lugar. Conocer el proceso de adquisición de la lectoescritura con un grupo de niños que pertenecen a una comunidad ágrafa de la Selva Lacandona y cómo el dibujo se logró utilizar como una her-ramienta para iniciar los trazos de la escritura y también como moti-vación para leer y entender la lectura. En Chiapas existe una antigua tradición de dibujar para comunicarse, como medio de expresión, por lo que es una práctica común en todos los lugares y tiempos con fines rituales, artísticos o para trasmisión de la memoria colectiva. El dibujo es el punto de partida con el que los niños pueden exteriori-zar sus emociones, fantasías y realidades al mundo exterior antes de utilizar signos como las palabras

La relación metodológica entre las webquest y el portafolio para la educación en valores

El presente trabajo expone la experiencia con las WebQuest como una metodología alternativa de enseñanza, aprendizaje y evaluación centrada en el estudiante de Educación Primaria. Este estudio forma parte de un proyecto financiado por la Fundación Marcelino Botín, desarrollado en Cantabria, en el que se pretende investigar de forma intensiva diversos recursos y estrategias didácticas para promover el desarrollo de valores en la población escolar. Las autoras crean un Programa de Educación Musical y Valores: "¿Escuchar te importa? Moviliza tus valores", diseñando y aplicando WebQuest como recurso didáctico para fomentar el trabajo cooperativo y acercar las nuevas tecnologías a los escolares.The present work exposes the experience with the WebQuest as an alternative methodology of education, learning and evaluation centred on the student of Primary Education. This study forms a part of a project financed by the Marcelino Botín Foundation developed in Cantabria, which tries to investigate in an intensive form diverse resources and didactic strategies to promote the development of values in the school population. The authoresses create a Program of Musical Education and Values: "Do you listen? Mobilizes your values ", designing and applying WebQuest as a didactic resource to foment the cooperative work and to bring the new technologies over to the students

Guidelines for representing complex cardinality constraints in binary and ternary relationships

Ternary relationships represent the association among three entities whose constraints database designers do not always know how to manage. In other words, it is very difficult for the designer to detect, represent and add constraints in a ternary relationship according to the domain requirements. To remedy the shortcomings in capturing the semantics required for the representation of this kind of relationship, the present paper discusses a practical method to motivate the designer's use of ternary relationships in a methodological framework. The method shows how to calculate cardinality constraints in binary and ternary relationships and to preserve the associated semantics until the implementation phase of the database development method.This work forms part of the ‘Thuban: Natural Interaction Platform for Virtual Attending in Real Environments’ project (TIN2008-02711), the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade through the project Semants (TSI-020100-2009-419) and also by the Spanish research projects: MA2VICMR: Improving the access, analysis and visibility of the multilingual and multimedia information in web for the Region of Madrid (S2009/TIC-1542).Publicad

Conocimientos y Prácticas sobre lactancia materna exclusiva en adolescentes embarazadas que asisten a atención prenatal al Hospital Amistad México-Nicaragua, Ticuantepe–Managua II semestre 2016

En los últimos años se ha visto un aumento de embarazos en adolescentes entre 12 y 18 años, con ello una gran disminución en la práctica de la lactancia materna, ya que las madres no llegan ni a los 6 meses dando lactancia materna exclusiva. Este estudio se está realizando ya que la lactancia materna exclusiva en nuestro país es de un 30% debido al desconocimiento de las adolescentes embarazadas en la práctica de la lactancia. El estudio es de tipo cuantitativo, restro- prospectivo, descriptivo y de corte transversal que se realizó en el Hospital Amistad México- Nicaragua Ticuantepe- Managua II semestre 2016, con el objetivo de analizar los conocimientos y prácticas sobre lactancia materna exclusiva en adolescentes embarazadas que asisten a atención prenatal. Los instrumentos a utilizar fueron la guía de encuesta, prueba de jueces para mejorar la confiabilidad de los instrumentos. La información recopilada fue procesada con el sistema Excel y microsf Word por lo tanto las variables en estudio son: Características sociodemográficas de las adolescentes embarazadas en estudio, Conocimientos que tienen las adolescentes embarazadas acerca de la lactancia materna exclusiva, Práctica que tienen las adolescentes embarazadas que han dado anteriormente la lactancia materna exclusiva, Plan de intervención teórico – práctico según resultados encontrados. Durante el estudio se encontró los siguientes resultados en las características sociodemográficas de las adolescentes embarazadas; se encontró que entre las edades 14-16 cuentan con un estado civil de unión estable, con relación a la escolaridad y procedencia en el área rural y en la urbana se encuentran adolescentes que no lograron terminar sus estudios. las adolescentes poseen una ocupación de ama de casa, además cuentan con conocimientos acerca de lactancia materna exclusiva, en las adolescentes que han dado anteriormente lactancia materna se encontró que la mayoría utilizan algunas de las posiciones más comunes, con que se sienten con mejor comodidad al momento del amamantamiento por tal razón se brinda la siguiente recomendación a la unidad de salud: que encaminen estrategias para seguir promocionando la lactancia materna a adolescentes embarazadas así mismo den a conocer los 10 pasos de una lactancia exitos

The Sustainability of Public Social Services: A Qualitative Study

[EN] The 2008 global economic crisis heightened social inequality and drastically reduced equal opportunities for many people. It had negative consequences for social regulation in many European countries, which have dismantled their public social policies. The objective of the study was to describe social workers’ perceptions of their lived experiences in di erent areas of the public social services system. A qualitative study was developed, based on a hermeneutic approach. Six in-depth interviews and two focus groups were conducted with 20 social workers employed by community social services and the Andalusian public health service (Spain). The professionals agreed that the public social services system has been eroded, that the lack of resources has consequences for workers and the general public alike, and that the public authorities and the administration are responsible for this situation. Social services have become distributors of scarce resources rather than a social protection system that empowers and accompanies the most vulnerable. The system must provide the necessary resources and structures so that they can escape the situation of poverty, exclusion and social injustice.S

Numerical Treatment of Fixed Point Applied to the Nonlinear Fredholm Integral Equation

The authors present a method of numerical approximation of the fixed point of an operator, specifically the integral one associated with a nonlinear Fredholm integral equation, that uses strongly the properties of a classical Schauder basis in the Banach space .This research partially supported by M.E.C. (Spain) and FEDER project no. MTM2006-12533 and by Junta de Andalucía Grant FQM359