613 research outputs found
Background and approach to a definition of smart buildings
There is no possibility of finding a single reference about domotics in the first half of the 20th century. The best known authors and those who have documented this discipline, set its origin in the 1970’s, when the x-10 technology began to be used, but it was not until 1988 when Larousse Encyclopedia decided to include the definition of "Smart Building". Furthermore, even nowadays, there is not a single definition widely accepted, and for that reason, many other expressions, namely "Intelligent Buildings" "Domotics" "Digital Home" or "Home Automation" have appeared to describe the automated buildings and homes. The lack of a clear definition for "Smart Buildings" causes difficulty not only in the development of a common international framework to develop research in this field, but it also causes insecurity in the potential user of these buildings. Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to propose a definition of the expression “Smart Buildings” that satisfactorily describes the meaning of this discipline. To achieve this aim, a thorough review of the origin of the term itself and the historical background before the emergence of the phenomenon of domotics was conducted, followed by a critical discussion of existing definitions of the term "Smart Buildings" and other similar terms. The extent of each definition has been analyzed, inaccuracies have been discarded and commonalities have been compared. Throughout the discussion, definitions that bring the term "Smart Buildings" near to disciplines such as computer science, robotics and also telecommunications have been found
Capillary rise of a liquid between two vertical plates making a small angle.
The penetration of a wetting liquid in the narrow gap between two vertical plates making a small angle is analyzed in the framework of the lubrication approximation. At the beginning of the process, the liquid rises independently at different distances from the line of intersection of the plates except in a small region around this line where the effect of the gravity is negligible. The maximum height of the liquid initially increases as the cubic root of time and is attained at a point that reaches the line of intersection only after a certain time. At later times, the motion of the liquid is confined to a thin layer around the line of intersection whose height increases as the cubic root of time and whose thickness decreases as the inverse of the cubic root of time. The evolution of the liquid surface is computed numerically and compared with the results of a simple experiment
High speed single photon detection in the near-infrared
InGaAs avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are convenient for single photon
detection in the near-infrared (NIR) including the fibre communication bands
(1.31/1.55 m). However, to suppress afterpulse noise due to trapped
avalanche charge, they must be gated with MHz repetition frequencies, thereby
severely limiting the count rate in NIR applications. Here we show gating
frequencies for InGaAs-APDs well beyond 1 GHz. Using a self-differencing
technique to sense much weaker avalanches, we reduce drastically afterpulse
noise. At 1.25 GHz, we obtain a detection efficiency of 10.8% with an
afterpulse probability of 6.16%. In addition, the detector features low jitter
(55 ps) and a count rate of 100 MHz
Model of the meniscus of an ionic liquid ion source.
A simple model of the transfer of charge and ion evaporation in the meniscus of an ionic-liquid ion source working in the purely ionic regime is proposed on the basis of order-of-magnitude estimates which show that, in this regime, _i_ the flow in the meniscus is dominated by the viscosity of the liquid and is affected very little by the mass flux accompanying ion evaporation, and _ii_ the effect of the space charge around the evaporating surface is negligible and the evaporation current is controlled by the finite electrical conductivity of the liquid. The model predicts that a stationary meniscus of a very polar liquid undergoing ion evaporation is nearly hydrostatic and can exist only below a certain value of the applied electric field, at which the meniscus attains its maximum elongation but stays smooth. The electric current vs applied electric field characteristic displays a frozen regime of negligible ion evaporation at low fields and a conduction-controlled regime at higher fields, with a sharp transition between the two regimes owing to the high sensitivity of the ion evaporation rate to the electric field. A simplified treatment of the flow in the capillary or liquid layer through which liquid is delivered to the meniscus shows that the size of the meniscus decreases and the maximum attainable current increases when the feeding pressure is decreased, and that appropriate combinations of feeding pressure and pressure drop may lead to high maximum currents
Estudio de la influencia de la automatización en el proyecto arquitectónico
Estudio de la influencia de la automatización en el proyecto arquitectónic
Inducción de polifenoloxidasa en frutos de lulo (solanum quitoense) como respuesta a la infección con colletotrichum acutatum
Se evaluó la actividad polifenoloxidasa (PFO) en corteza de frutos de lulo con el fin de determinar su participación en respuestas hacia el patógeno Colletotrichum acutatum, causante de la antracnosis. Se estudiaron condiciones para la adecuada extracción de esta enzima, encontrándose que con buffer fosfatos 100 mM pH 7, 1% SDS y 1% PVPP se logran las mayores actividades. Se determinaron como mejores parámetros para medir la actividad de la enzima extraída, sustrato catecol 40 mM, pH 7,0, 23 °C y 30 µL de extracto. Para determinar su posible inducción en la interacción con el patógeno, se realizó un ensayo in vivo usando frutos verdes, pintones y maduros, inoculados con el hongo o con agua estéril. A nueve tiempos postinoculación se determinó la actividad PFO encontrándose que hay una respuesta diferencial con el tiempo y la madurez de los frutos y por efecto del patógeno. Se obtuvo aumento de actividad en lulos verdes a 48, 96 y 144 horas postinoculación (hpi) y en maduros a la mayoría de los tiempos evaluados, siendo éste estado en el que se presentó la respuesta más notable de inducción. En pintones aumentó solo a 72 y 144 hpi. Los mayores valores se registraron en general para frutos en estado verde. Los frutos respondieron al estrés ocasionado por la herida activando también esta enzima. La inducción de actividad se presentó a tiempos más rápidos en los frutos menos afectados por la enfermedad (verdes y maduros), por lo que se puede postular una relación positiva entre inducción de PFO y respuesta de tolerancia a la antracnosis.Polyphenol oxidase (PFO) activity induction was evaluated in lulo fruits to determine the role of this enzyme in resistance responses towards the pathogen Colletotrichum acutatum which causes anthracnose disease. We studied the experimental conditions to obtain the enzyme, using lulo peel, and found that extraction with phosphates buffer 100 mM pH 7, 1% SDS y 1% PVPP showed higher activities. The adequate parameters for activity measurement was also evaluated and established as cathecol 40 mM, pH 7,0, 23 °C and 30 µL of extract. Then, we performed an in vivo assay using lulo fruits in three maturity stages, green, semimature and mature, which were inoculated with the fungus or with sterile water. Enzymatic induction of this protein was studied at nine postinoculation times, and it was found that the induction was differential according to the time, the maturity stage, and as consequence of pathogen presence. The PFO activity increased in green fruits at 48, 96 y 144 (hours postinoculation (hpi), and in mature lulos for the majority of times studied, with the most significant induction response at this stage. In semimature lulo, the induction was observed only at 72 and 144 hpi. The highest nominal value of activity was found in green fruits. Fruits responded to incision with enzyme activation. The increase in the activity of the enzyme was faster in the fruits with the minor anthracnose symptoms than the ones that were more affected. Therefore, it is possible to postulate a positive relation between PFO induction and tolerance to anthracnose symptoms
Identifying Topics in Social Media Posts using DBpedia
This paper describes a method for identifying topics in text published in social media, by applying topic recognition techniques that exploit DBpedia. We evaluate such method for social media in Spanish and we provide the results of the evaluation performed
Sistema único de preservación para muestras geológicas : Nucleoteca La Concepción, Venezuela
El sistema único de preservación para muestras geológicas en Venezuela es el resultado de estudios y experiencias propias practicadas en los últimos 30 años en la toma, manejo, preservación, estudio, almacenamiento, administración y custodio de muestras geológicas tanto de superficie como del subsuelo en PDVSA Exploración, formando parte fundamental del patrimonio de estado en las nucleotecas a escala nacional. El sistema permitirá estandarizar y homologar entre las empresas del estado la preservación y transferir a las empresas estatales de Sur y Centro América un sistema de cajas plásticas en polietileno de alta densidad resistente en el tiempo para lograr una óptima preservación de la fauna, flora y estructuras sedimentarias con capacidad de garantizar la permanencia dentro de los testigos sin alteración externa. La diversidad actual en las nucleotecas de materiales de preservación tales como fibra de madera de densidad media (MDF), plástico polipropileno cargado con talco, bolsas de tela y plásticas generó a través de los años la degradación de los materiales y por ende, problemas de rotulación, estado físico y preservación general de las muestras. Ésto, aunado a los altos costos operacionales en la toma de testigos para descubrir nuevos yacimientos, hacen necesario mantener inalterable el estado natural de la litología presente, lo cual es garantizado por un sistema único y estándar en el custodio de las muestras geológicas.Sesiones libresFacultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse
Multi-component lattice-Boltzmann model with interparticle interaction
A previously proposed [X. Shan and H. Chen, Phys. Rev. E {\bf 47}, 1815,
(1993)] lattice Boltzmann model for simulating fluids with multiple components
and interparticle forces is described in detail. Macroscopic equations
governing the motion of each component are derived by using Chapman-Enskog
method. The mutual diffusivity in a binary mixture is calculated analytically
and confirmed by numerical simulation. The diffusivity is generally a function
of the concentrations of the two components but independent of the fluid
velocity so that the diffusion is Galilean invariant. The analytically
calculated shear kinematic viscosity of this model is also confirmed
numerically.Comment: 18 pages, compressed and uuencoded postscript fil
Chaos in resonant-tunneling superlattices
Spatio-temporal chaos is predicted to occur in n-doped semiconductor
superlattices with sequential resonant tunneling as their main charge transport
mechanism. Under dc voltage bias, undamped time-dependent oscillations of the
current (due to the motion and recycling of electric field domain walls) have
been observed in recent experiments. Chaos is the result of forcing this
natural oscillation by means of an appropriate external microwave signal.Comment: 3 pages, LaTex, RevTex, 3 uuencoded figures (1.2M) are available upon
request from [email protected], to appear in Phys.Rev.
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