Evaluation of the Mineral Status of Two Ecosystems for Sustainable Goat Rearing in the Iberian Peninsula

The mineral status in two ecosystems typical of the Iberian Peninsula was evaluated. Ecosystem I was formed by forests and ecosystem II by hilly areas. The levels of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc and selenium in soils, rations and serum were measured. The concentratons of iron, copper, zinc and selenium were also checked in liver. Ecosystem I showed higher values of every mineral, except for phosphorus. Seasonal differences were recorded for rations and serum, with higher values in spring. The rations produced by both ecosystems met the mineral requirements of goats in lactation. Thus, both ecosystems are suitable for the development of an ecological goat farming system. However, extra supply of minerals, particularly calcium, may be needed in the maximum productions periods

Violent crimes in native and foreign national offenders

Although the foreign national population in Spanish prisons has doubled during the past decade from 22% to 44%, few studies have investigated the contribution of foreign nationals to criminality and their risk profiles compared to natives. The present paper compared rates of violent conviction in 917 native and 657 foreign national male offenders, and explored differences in risk factors for violence between groups using logistic regression, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV, respectively). Natives and foreign nationals showed no significant differences in the rate of violent conviction (19.6% vs. 17.2%, respectively). However, when multivariate models were developed to predict violence in the samples using logistic regression, between-group differences in the risk profiles of violent and non-violent offenders were found. Implications of the findings for research, public policy and risk management were explored

PI-based controller for low-power distributed inverters to maximise reactive current injection while avoiding over voltage during voltage sags

This paper is a postprint of a paper submitted to and accepted for publication in IET Power Electronics and is subject to Institution of Engineering and Technology Copyright. The copy of record is available at the IET Digital Library.In the recently deregulated power system scenario, the growing number of distributed generation sources should be considered as an opportunity to improve stability and power quality along the grid. To make progress in this direction, this work proposes a reactive current injection control scheme for distributed inverters under voltage sags. During the sag, the inverter injects, at least, the minimum amount of reactive current required by the grid code. The flexible reactive power injection ensures that one phase current is maintained at its maximum rated value, providing maximum support to the most faulted phase voltage. In addition, active power curtailment occurs only to satisfy the grid code reactive current requirements. As well as, a voltage control loop is implemented to avoid overvoltage in non-faulty phases, which otherwise would probably occur due to the injection of reactive current into an inductive grid. The controller is proposed for low-power rating distributed inverters where conventional voltage support provided by large power plants is not available. The implementation of the controller provides a low computational burden because conventional PI-based control loops may apply. Selected experimental results are reported in order to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme.Peer ReviewedPostprint (updated version

Miner PC Adviser El software asesor en la compra de computadores

Cuando se quiere comprar un computador específico y generalmente se tiene poca o ninguna idea de qué tipo de rendimiento se espera del computador, o simplemente se desea informar sobre la retroali-mentación que ofrecen otros usuarios basados en su experiencia, se busca en google y generalmente presenta cientos de reviews de usuarios hablando del tema. Con esa cantidad de resultados, probable-mente se podría sentir abrumado e intentar de encontrar la mejor manera de tomar ventaja de esas pilas de comentarios, algunas veces haciendo rápidas decisiones basándose solamente en algunos reviews que podrían llamar la atención. ¿Cómo se puede asegurar que se está tomando la decisión más infor-mada posible? En ese punto es cuando ingresa Miner PC Adviser. MPCA usa técnicas de Sentiment Analysis y Web Scraping para analizar la información relevante, lo cual le permite aconsejar al usuario acerca de comprar o no comprar el computador.When you want to buy a specific computer and generally have little to no clue on what kind of perfor-mance to expect out of said computer, or you generally just want to look into what kind of feedback other customers have based on their experiences with it, you google it and are generally presented with hundreds upon hundreds of customer reviews on the subject. With such a vast amount of results, you probably will feel overwhelmed and try to figure out how best to take advantage of these piles of feed-back, sometimes making snap decisions based on only some reviews that may be caught your eye. How can you make sure that you are making the most informed decision possible? This is where Miner PC Adviser steps in. MPCA uses Sentiment Analysis techniques and Web Scraping to analyze the amount of relevant data found, which in turn allows it to advise you whether or not to buy the comput-er.Ingeniero (a) de SistemasPregrad

Implementación y montaje de un banco de pruebas de inyección electrónica para el taller de Ingeniería Automotriz de la ESPOCH mediante la utilización de un motor Chevrolet Aveo de combustión interna a gasolina.

Se ha diseñado y construido un banco didáctico de inyección electrónica para el taller de la Escuela de Ingeniería Automotriz, con el objetivo de desarrollar experticia en la solución de problemas provenientes del funcionamiento de sensores y actuadores automotrices. El estudio inicia con la recopilación de información y determinación de herramientas principales para ejecutar la presente investigación, en este caso un motor Chevrolet Aveo, con una cilindrada de 1600 centímetros cúbicos, doble árbol de levas en la culata, mismo que se encuentra adosado en una estructura de acero la cual fue diseñada en SAP2000, tomando en cuenta normas de estética, seguridad y funcionalidad. Coordina funciones con un circuito electrónico de control y un ordenador. En base al VISUAL BASIC se elaboró un software que permite generar fallas de inyección electrónica a través del ordenador, el mismo que funciona con una placa electrónica de control. Tanto el banco didáctico como el software permiten a los estudiantes desarrollar sus destrezas de diagnóstico y localización de fallas como también su correcta solución. El sistema de inyección electrónica didáctico cuenta con 16 guías de prácticas que permiten dar un correcto uso al banco; así mismo, se debe aplicar el plan de mantenimiento como buena práctica técnica que alarga la vida útil de ésta importante herramienta de adiestramiento.It has been designed and built a teaching Engine with electronic fuel injection for the workshop at the School of Automotive Engineering, in order to develop expertise in solving problems from automotive sensors and actuators operation. The study begins with the data collection and determination of main tools to implement this research, in this case a Chevrolet Aveo engine, with a displacement of 1600 cubic centimeters, dual overhead camshaft cylinder head, attached to a steel structure which was designed in SAP2000 simulations, considering aesthetics standards, safety and functionality. Coordinates functions with an electronic control circuit and a computer. Software allows to generate failures of electronic injection through the computer was developed, based on VISUAL BASIC, it works with an electronic control board. Both the teaching engine as the software allows students to develop their skills of diagnosis and troubleshooting as its correct solution. The electronic injection system has 16 teaching practice guides that allow a correct usage of engine; must implement the maintenance plan a good technical practice that extends the life of this important training tool

Intervenciones con delincuentes juveniles en el marco de la Justicia: investigación y aplicaciones

Actualmente existen diversos programas educativos y de tratamiento aplicados con menores infractores que muestran diferentes grados de eficacia. El propósito principal de este trabajo es revisar los elementos educativos y otros factores susceptibles de jugar un papel relevante en la reducción del riesgo de reincidencia de los jóvenes infractores. Para ello se utilizarán dos fuentes básicas de información: la primera, los resultados disponibles en la investigación, tanto internacional como nacional, acerca de la eficacia de las intervenciones con jóvenes delincuentes; y la segunda, la realidad empírica concreta de los diversos ámbitos de cumplimiento de medidas judiciales con jóvenes infractores en España. El análisis conjunto de ambos elementos, conocimiento científico disponible y realidad española actual en esta materia, permitirá valorar en qué grado los factores de éxito a que apunta la investigación están siendo tomados en cuenta en las intervenciones educativas y de tratamiento aplicadas en España

Recidivism risk assessment in sex offenders

La evaluación del riesgo de conducta violenta es un campo emergente en la actual Psicología de la Delincuencia. A partir de la investigación sobre carreras criminales y predictores de riesgo, durante los últimos años se han desarrollado diferentes escalas de evaluación del riesgo de violencia. Uno de estos instrumentos es el Sexual Violence Risk Assessment-20 (SVR-20), traducido y adaptado al español en el Grupo de Estudios Avanzados en Violencia de la Universidad de Barcelona. El objetivo de este estudio es evaluar la capacidad del SVR-20 para predecir la reincidencia sexual en una muestra española de delincuentes sexuales. Para ello se ha aplicado el SVR-20 de forma retrospectiva a un grupo de 163 agresores sexuales ya excarcelados. La capacidad discriminativa del instrumento ha sido evaluada a través del modelo de regresión logística. Se obtuvo un porcentaje de clasificaciones correctas de los sujetos no reincidentes del 79,9% y de los sujetos reincidentes del 70,8%. La curva ROC obtenida muestra una buena capacidad discriminativa del SVR-20 con un valor de área bajo la curva (AUC) de 0.83. La principal conclusión de este estudio es que el SVR-20 es un instrumento de utilidad para mejorar los pronósticos de riesgo de violencia sexualViolent behaviour risk assessment is one of the most relevant research areas in current Psychology of Crime. Various scales for violence risk assessment have recently been developed from research about crime careers and risk factors. One of these instruments is the Sexual Violence Risk Assessment-20 (SVR-20), translated and adapted to Spanish by the Group of Advanced Studies in Violence of the University of Barcelona. The goal of this study is to verify the predictive capacity of the SVR-20 to predict sexual violence recidivism in a Spanish sample of sexual offender inmates. The method used was a retrospective study based in 163 sexual offender files and a 4-year time lag. The data were analysed with the logistic regression technique. Of the sample, 79.9% non-recidivist individuals were correctly classified, and 70.8% recidivist individuals. The ROC curve obtained for the model shows a very good discriminant capacity for the SVR-20, with a 0.83 AUC value. The main conclusion of this study is that the Spanish adaptation of SVR-20 is a good instrument to predict the risk of sexual violenceEste trabajo se ha desarrollado en el marco del Proyecto coordinado de investigación I+D (SEJ2005-09170-C04-01) titulado «Delincuencia violenta: programas de prevención, tratamiento y predicción», gracias a la financiación específica recibida del Centro de Estudios Jurídicos y Formación Especializada del Departamento de Justicia de la Generalitat de Cataluñ

Revisiting classical controller design and tuning with genetic programming

This paper introduces the application of a genetic programming (GP)-based method for the automated design and tuning of process controllers, representing a noteworthy advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) within the realm of control engineering. In contrast to already existing work, our GP-based approach operates exclusively in the time domain, incorporating differential operations such as derivatives and integrals without necessitating intermediate inverse Laplace transformations. This unique feature not only simplifies the design process but also ensures the practical implementability of the generated controllers within physical systems. Notably, the GP’s functional set extends beyond basic arithmetic operators to include a rich repertoire of mathematical operations, encompassing trigonometric, exponential, and logarithmic functions. This broad set of operations enhances the flexibility and adaptability of the GP-based approach in controller design. To rigorously assess the efficacy of our GP-based approach, we conducted an extensive series of tests to determine its limits and capabilities. In summary, our research establishes the GP-based approach as a promising solution for automating the controller design process, offering a transformative tool to address a spectrum of control problems across various engineering applications.This research was funded by Siemens Energy under the project C-11193.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Petri-nets-based controllers generation using genetic programming

Existing research has shown the effectiveness of genetic strategies in generating Petrin-Net (PN)-based controllers, but limitations exist in the ease of controller generation due to the designer’s ability and the system’s complexity. In the case of automated controller generators based on genetic programming (GP), limitations arise from the static nature of their chromosome over the evolution process. In this short paper we introduce a first discrete PN-based controller designer that can accept systems modeled either continuously or discretely, making it more flexible in handling a wide range of systems. By utilizing genetic algorithms and PNs, the program can generate controllers tailored to the specific requirements of a given system, including the optimal size of the controller. This novel approach has the potential for far-reaching applications in various fields.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

General parameter identification procedure and comparative study of Li-Ion battery models

Accurate and robust battery models are required for the proper design and operation of battery-powered systems. However, the parametric identification of these models requires extensive and sophisticated methods to achieve enough accuracy. This article shows a general and straightforward procedure, based on Simulink and Simscape of Matlab, to build and parameterize Li-ion battery models. The model parameters are identified with the Optimization Toolbox of Matlab, by means of an iterative process to minimize the sum of the squared errors. In addition, this procedure is applied to a selection of five different models available in the literature for electric vehicle applications, obtaining a comparative study between them. Also, the performance of each battery model is evaluated through two current profiles from two driven profiles known as the Urban Driving Cycle (ECE-15 or UDC) and the Hybrid Pulse Power Characterization (HPPC). The experimental results obtained from a Li-ion polymer battery have been compared with the data provided by the models, confirming the effectiveness of the proposed procedure, and also, the application field of each model as a function of the required accuracy.This work was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER funds through the research project “Storage and Energy Management for Hybrid Electric Vehicles based on Fuel Cell, Battery, and Supercapacitors”—ELECTRICAR-AG-(DPI2014- 53685-C2-1-R)