Sustainable Strategic Urban Planning: Methodology for Urban Renovation At District Level

Sustainable urban renovation is characterized by multiple factors (e.g. technical, socio-economic, environmental and ethical perspectives), different spatial scales and a number of administrative structures that should address the evaluation of alternative scenarios or solutions. This defines a complex decision problem that includes different stakeholders where several aspects need to be considered simultaneously. In spite of the knowledge and experiences during the recent years, there is a need of methods that lead the decision-making processes. In response, a methodology based on the global idea and implications of working towards a more sustainable and energy efficient cities as a holistic procedure for urban renovation at district level is proposed in the European Smart City project CITyFiED. The methodology has the energy efficiency as main pillar and the local authorities as client. It is composed of seven phases that ensures an effective dialogue among all the stakeholders, aiming to understand the objectives and needs of the city to define a set of Strategies for Sustainable Urban Renovation and their integration within the Strategic Urban Planning of the cities.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement N° 609129. The authors would like to thank the rest of the partners of the CITyFiED project for their help and support

One-dimensional model for the analysis of thin-walled composite beams

Se presenta un modelo monodimensional para el análisis de barras con sección de pared delgada constituidas por materiales compuestos. Cada pared está formada por un conjunto de láminas ortótropas que dan lugar a laminados que pueden ser incluso anisótropos. La formulación hace uso de los modelos de Navier–Bernoulli y Vlasov para describir la flexión y la torsión, respectivamente, a nivel de barra, y del modelo de Love–Kirchhoff para plantear las relaciones de comportamiento a nivel de lámina. Como primer resultado, se consigue una matriz de rigidez de dimensiones 5 × 5 que relaciona los esfuerzos y las deformaciones monodimensionales a nivel de sección. Posteriormente, utilizando el Principio de los Trabajos Virtuales y las funciones de forma apropiadas se obtiene la matriz de rigidez de un elemento tipo viga. El método es aplicable a barras con secciones de forma arbitraria con cualquier esquema de laminado, tanto abiertas como cerradas. Se presentan ejemplos de secciones con rigidez circunferencial uniforme (CUS) y con rigidez circunferencial asimétrica (CAS), para el estudio de los acoplamientos axil–torsión y flexión–torsión, respectivamente. La técnica ha sido validada comparando los resultados obtenidos con los deducidos por otros autores.Peer Reviewe

Efficient Leading Zero Count (LZC) Implementations for Xilinx FPGAs

Leading zero count (LZC) is a fundamental building block in floating-point arithmetic and data sketches. These applications are increasingly being implemented on field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), however, existing architectures for LZC target application-specific integrated circuits and to the best of our knowledge specific LZC implementations tailored to FPGA structures have not been presented. In this letter, the implementation of LZC on Xilinx FPGA is considered and it is shown that by carefully adapting the LZC design to the FPGA structure, more efficient implementations can be obtained. In more detail, LZC designs for different bit widths are presented and evaluated. The results show that significant reductions in the FPGA resources needed are obtained that reach 33% lookup tables (LUTs) saving for 32-bit vectors and 20% LUTs saving for 64-bit vectors.The work of Pedro Reviriego was supported in part by the ACHILLES Project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under Grant PID2019-104207RB-I00; and in part by the Madrid Government (Comunidad de Madrid-Spain) through the Multiannual Agreement with Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) in the line of Excellence of University Professors under Grant EPUC3M21 in the Context of the V Plan Regional de Investigación Científica e Innovación Tecnológica (V PRICIT).Publicad

VR-ZYCAP: A versatile resourse-level ICAP controller for ZYNQ SOC

This article belongs to the Special Issue Architecture and CAD for Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs)Hybrid architectures integrating a processor with an SRAM-based FPGA fabric—for example, Xilinx ZynQ SoC—are increasingly being used as a single-chip solution in several market segments to replace multi-chip designs. These devices not only provide advantages in terms of logic density, cost and integration, but also provide run-time in-field reconfiguration capabilities. However, the current reconfiguration capabilities provided by vendor tools are limited to the module level. Therefore, incremental run-time configuration memory changes require a lengthy compilation time for off-line bitstream generation along with storage and reconfiguration time overheads with traditional vendor methodologies. In this paper, an internal configuration access port (ICAP) controller that provides a versatile fine-grain resource-level incremental reconfiguration of the programmable logic (PL) resources in ZynQ SoC is presented. The proposed controller implemented in PL, called VR-ZyCAP, can reconfigure look-up tables (LUTs) and Flip-Flops (FF). The run-time reconfiguration of FF is achieved through a reset after reconfiguration (RAR)-featured partial bitstream to avoid the unintended state corruption of other memory elements. Along with versatility, our proposed controller improves the reconfiguration time by 30 times for FFs compared to state-of-the-art works while achieving a nearly 400-fold increase in speed for LUTs when compared to vendor-supported software approaches. In addition, it achieves competitive resource utilization when compared to existing approaches.This research was funded by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under the ACHILLES project, grant number PID2019-104207RB-I00 and by Taif University Researchers Supporting fund, grant number (TURSP-2020/144), Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia

Towards Low Latency and Resource-Efficient FPGA Implementations of the MUSIC Algorithm for Direction of Arrival Estimation

The estimation of the Direction of Arrival (DoA) is one of the most critical parameters for target recognition, identification and classification. MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) is a powerful technique for DoA estimation. The algorithm requires complex mathematical operations like the computation of the covariance matrix for the input signals, eigenvalue decomposition and signal peak search. All these signal processing operations make real-time and resource-efficient implementation of the MUSIC algorithm on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) a challenge. In this paper, a novel design approach is proposed for the FPGA-implementation of the MUSIC algorithm. This approach enables a significant reduction in both FPGA resources and latency. In more detail, the proposed design enables the estimation of DoA in real-time scenarios in 2μ sec with 30% to 50% fewer resources as compared to existing techniques.The work of Pedro Reviriego was supported in part by the Architecting Intelligent Cost-effective Central Offices to enable 5G Tactile Internet (ACHILLES) through the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity under Project PID2019-104207RB-I00, in part by the Madrid Government (Comunidad de Madrid-Spain) through the Multiannual Agreement with Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) in the line of Excellence of University Professors under Grant EPUC3M21, and in part by the Context of the V Plan Regional de Investigación Científica e Innovación Tecnológica (V PRICIT) (Regional Program of Research and Technological Innovation)

Na+, K+-ATPase Subunit Composition in a Human Chondrocyte Cell Line; Evidence for the Presence of α1, α3, β1, β2 and β3 Isoforms

Membrane transport systems participate in fundamental activities such as cell cycle control, proliferation, survival, volume regulation, pH maintenance and regulation of extracellular matrix synthesis. Multiple isoforms of Na+, K+-ATPase are expressed in primary chondrocytes. Some of these isoforms have previously been reported to be expressed exclusively in electrically excitable cells (i.e., cardiomyocytes and neurons). Studying the distribution of Na+, K+-ATPase isoforms in chondrocytes makes it possible to document the diversity of isozyme pairing and to clarify issues concerning Na+, K+-ATPase isoform abundance and the physiological relevance of their expression. In this study, we investigated the expression of Na+, K+-ATPase in a human chondrocyte cell line (C-20/A4) using a combination of immunological and biochemical techniques. A panel of well-characterized antibodies revealed abundant expression of the α1, β1 and β2 isoforms. Western blot analysis of plasma membranes confirmed the above findings. Na+, K+-ATPase consists of multiple isozyme variants that endow chondrocytes with additional homeostatic control capabilities. In terms of Na+, K+-ATPase expression, the C-20/A4 cell line is phenotypically similar to primary and in situ chondrocytes. However, unlike freshly isolated chondrocytes, C-20/A4 cells are an easily accessible and convenient in vitro model for the study of Na+, K+-ATPase expression and regulation in chondrocytes

Primary care utilisation patterns among an urban immigrant population in the Spanish National Health System

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is evidence suggesting that the use of health services is lower among immigrants after adjusting for age and sex. This study takes a step forward to compare primary care (PC) utilisation patterns between immigrants and the native population with regard to their morbidity burden.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This retrospective, observational study looked at 69,067 individuals representing the entire population assigned to three urban PC centres in the city of Zaragoza (Aragon, Spain). Poisson models were applied to determine the number of annual PC consultations per individual based on immigration status. All models were first adjusted for age and sex and then for age, sex and case mix (ACG System^®).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The age and sex adjusted mean number of total annual consultations was lower among the immigrant population (children: IRR = 0.79, p < 0.05; adults: IRR = 0.73, p < 0.05). After adjusting for morbidity burden, this difference decreased among children (IRR = 0.94, p < 0.05) and disappeared among adults (IRR = 1.00). Further analysis considering the PC health service and type of visit revealed higher usage of routine diagnostic tests among immigrant children (IRR = 1.77, p < 0.05) and a higher usage of emergency services among the immigrant adult population (IRR = 1.2, p < 0.05) after adjusting for age, sex and case mix.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although immigrants make lower use of PC services than the native population after adjusting the consultation rate for age and sex, these differences decrease significantly when considering their morbidity burden. These results reinforce the 'healthy migration effect' and discount the existence of differences in PC utilisation patterns between the immigrant and native populations in Spain.</p

Análisis de vibraciones aeroelásticas en estructuras esbeltas sometidas a cargas de viento

En este trabajo se estudian las vibraciones inducidas por el desprendimiento alternado de torbellinos en estructuras cilíndricas esbeltas usando un algoritmo de acoplamiento en el contexto de los elementos finitos. Para ello, se resuelven las ecuaciones de Navier-Stokes en 2D para flujo incompresible alrededor de la sección transversal junto con las ecuaciones del movimiento de la estructura. Para resolver el campo fluido se utiliza un método de paso fraccionado de segundo orden con segregación de la presión. El movimiento de la malla del fluido es tenido en cuenta mediante una formulación ALE. La estabilización de los términos de convección y de presión se consigue mediante subescalas ortogonales cuasi-estáticas. En la simulación no se incluye ningún modelo de turbulencia. Para la resolución del problema estructural se considera un modelo monodimensional de barras de sección de pared delgada. El problema dinámico se resuelve mediante el método estándar de Newmark de segundo ordenDepartamento de Construcciones Arquitectónicas, Ingeniería del Terreno y Mecánica de los Medios Continuos y Teoría de las Estructura

One-dimensional model for the analysis of thin-walled composite beams

Se presenta un modelo monodimensional para el análisis de barras con sección de pared delgada constituidas por materiales compuestos. Cada pared está formada por un conjunto de láminas ortótropas que dan lugar a laminados que pueden ser incluso anisótropos. La formulación hace uso de los modelos de Navier–Bernoulli y Vlasov para describir la flexión y la torsión, respectivamente, a nivel de barra, y del modelo de Love–Kirchhoff para plantear las relaciones de comportamiento a nivel de lámina. Como primer resultado, se consigue una matriz de rigidez de dimensiones 5 × 5 que relaciona los esfuerzos y las deformaciones monodimensionales a nivel de sección. Posteriormente, utilizando el Principio de los Trabajos Virtuales y las funciones de forma apropiadas se obtiene la matriz de rigidez de un elemento tipo viga. El método es aplicable a barras con secciones de forma arbitraria con cualquier esquema de laminado, tanto abiertas como cerradas. Se presentan ejemplos de secciones con rigidez circunferencial uniforme (CUS) y con rigidez circunferencial asimétrica (CAS), para el estudio de los acoplamientos axil–torsión y flexión–torsión, respectivamente. La técnica ha sido validada comparando los resultados obtenidos con los deducidos por otros autores.Peer Reviewe