The relation between energy consumption and developed land; a model for the metropolitan area of Barcelona

The study of the developed land and the energy consumption is part of a main project, which objective is the development of a model for the evaluation of the environmental and energy efficiency of the interaction (mobility) and land use structure (called as 'territorial functionality'), applied to the metropolitan area of Barcelona . One of the most important points of the main project is the modeling of energy consumption, and developed land produced by the territorial functionality. This paper presents the calibrations results of econometrics models (log-log) for developed land, and electricity consumption. The used information for those models was; built surface by activity (cadastre), coverings of land uses of Catalonia (CREAF), electric consumption by economic activity (CNAE), meteorological variables, and operating time of activities. The analysis was for the 164 municipalities of the metropolitan area of Barcelona. The electric consumption was analyzed in different categories of activities like as residential, industrial, trade, financial services, hotels, transport, education, public lighting, etc. The artificial area was differentiated in three categories; cadastre surface, streets, and developed land without cadastre. Overall, the results show that the extension of developed land depends (with 0.8 R2) mainly from single-family homes, followed by industrial activities, and finally sport activities. The trade activities induce a contraction of developed land, result that is consistent with agglomeration economies. The different models calibrated for energy consumption show a strong dependence (with R2 between 0.5 and 0.9) first with built surface, and second with other variables such as weather condition in the municipality (minimum temperature in summer), and average operating time of the activities (mean work time, shopping time, etc). Finally, the electric consumption by public lighting depends significantly on the developed land, representing the union between the two dimensions of the study.

Revisió de la família Nolidae (Insecta, Lepidoptera) de la col·lecció del Museu de Zoologia de Barcelona

Abstract not availabl

Attentional Selection Accompanied by Eye Vergence as Revealed by Event-Related Brain Potentials

Altres ajuts: Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR)Neural mechanisms of attention allow selective sensory information processing. Top-down deployment of visual-spatial attention is conveyed by cortical feedback connections from frontal regions to lower sensory areas modulating late stimulus responses. A recent study reported the occurrence of small eye vergence during orienting top-down attention. Here we assessed a possible link between vergence and attention by comparing visual event related potentials (vERPs) to a cue stimulus that induced attention to shift towards the target location to the vERPs to a no-cue stimulus that did not trigger orienting attention. The results replicate the findings of eye vergence responses during orienting attention and show that the strength and time of eye vergence coincide with the onset and strength of the vERPs when subjects oriented attention. Our findings therefore support the idea that eye vergence relates to and possibly has a role in attentional selection

Estimation of Guitar Fingering and Plucking Controls based on Multimodal Analysis of Motion, Audio and Musical Score

This work presents a method for the extraction of instrumental controls during guitar performances. The method is based on the analysis of multimodal data consisting of a combination of motion capture, audio analysis and musical score. High speed video cameras based on marker identification are used to track the position of finger bones and articulations and audio is recorded with a transducer measuring vibration on the guitar body. The extracted parameters are divided into left hand controls, i.e. fingering (which string and fret is pressed with a left hand finger) and right hand controls, i.e. the plucked string, the plucking finger and the characteristics of the pluck (position, velocity and angles with respect to the string). Controls are estimated based on probability functions of low level features, namely, the plucking instants (i.e. note onsets), the pitch and the distances of the fingers (both hands) to strings and frets. Note onsets are detected via audio analysis, the pitch is extracted from the score and distances are computed from 3D Euclidean Geometry. Results show that by combination of multimodal information, it is possible to estimate such a comprehensive set of control features, with special high performance for the fingering and plucked string estimation. Regarding the plucking finger and the pluck characteristics, their accuracy gets lower but improvements are foreseen including a hand model and the use of high-speed cameras for calibration and evaluation.A. Perez-Carrillo was supported by a Beatriu de Pinos grant 2010 BP-A 00209 by the Catalan Research Agency (AGAUR) and J. Ll. Arcos was supported by ICT -2011-8-318770 and 2009-SGR-1434 projectsPeer reviewe

Noctúids (Insecta, Lepidoptera) nous o interessants per a la fauna de les Illes Gimnèsies

Abstract not availabl

Presentación social del cuerpo, postcolonialidad y discursos sobre la modernidad

The study of the body is an excellent field from which to investigate how modernity is conceptualized and expressed in any society. The aim of this article is to contribute to a better understanding of modernization processes in the context of African societies through the issue of the social presentation of the body. After a brief discussion on the controversial "tradition‐modernity" dichotomy, the article develops a theoretical framework focusing on the relationship that we can establish betweensocial presentation of the body and discourses about modernity. If this issue has an undoubtable interest in the academic milieu, it is undeniable that it also has social relevance and constitutes a clearly political topic as well. Subalternization ‐whether at the level of class, gender, ethnicity or age makes use of the social presentation of the body to mark, justify or maintain hierarchical relationships of social order.El cuerpo constituye un privilegiado ámbito de trabajo para indagar sobre cómo se conceptualiza y manifiesta la modernidad en cualquier sociedad. El objetivo de este artículo es contribuir a una mejor comprensión de los procesos de modernización en el contexto de las sociedades africanas a partir precisamente de la problemática de la presentación social del cuerpo. Tras una breve discusión sobre la tan controvertida dicotomía “tradición‐modernidad”, en el artículo se elabora un marco teórico centrado en la relación que podemos establecer entre presentación social del cuerpo y discursos sobre la modernidad. Si esta problemática posee un indudable interés para el ámbito académico, resulta innegable que también posee relevancia social y constituye, además, un tema claramente político. La subalternización, ya se trate a nivel de clase, de género, de etnia o de edad se sirve de la presentación social del cuerpo para marcar, justificar o mantener relaciones jerárquicas de orden social