A microscopy technique based on bio-impedance sensors

It is proposed a microscopy for cell culture applications based on impedance sensors. The imagined signals are measured with the Electrical Cell-Substrate Spectroscopy (ECIS) technique, by identifying the cell area. The proposed microscopy allows real-time monitoring inside the incubator, reducing the contamination risk by human manipulation. It requires specific circuits for impedance measurements, a two-dimensional sensor array (pixels), and employing electrical models to decode efficiently the measured signals. Analogue Hardware Description Language (AHDL) circuits for cell-microelectrode enables the use of geometrical and technological data into the system design flow. A study case with 8x8 sensor array is reported, illustrating the evolution and power of the proposed image acquisition.Junta de Andalucía P0-TIC-538

Data-Analytics Modeling of Electrical Impedance Measurements for Cell Culture Monitoring

High-throughput data analysis challenges in laboratory automation and lab-on-a-chip devices’ applications are continuously increasing. In cell culture monitoring, specifically, the electrical cell-substrate impedance sensing technique (ECIS), has been extensively used for a wide variety of applications. One of the main drawbacks of ECIS is the need for implementing complex electrical models to decode the electrical performance of the full system composed by the electrodes, medium, and cells. In this work we present a new approach for the analysis of data and the prediction of a specific biological parameter, the fill-factor of a cell culture, based on a polynomial regression, data-analytic model. The method was successfully applied to a specific ECIS circuit and two different cell cultures, N2A (a mouse neuroblastoma cell line) and myoblasts. The data-analytic modeling approach can be used in the decoding of electrical impedance measurements of different cell lines, provided a representative volume of data from the cell culture growth is available, sorting out the difficulties traditionally found in the implementation of electrical models. This can be of particular importance for the design of control algorithms for cell cultures in tissue engineering protocols, and labs-on-a-chip and wearable devices applicationsEspaña, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y Universidades project RTI2018-093512-B-C2

Robust human-robot collaboration for polishing tasks in the automotive industry

[ES] La presente tesis aborda la Interacción Humano-Robot para tareas industriales de tratamiento superficial, con el objetivo de obtener una verdadera sinergia entre el operador humano y el sistema robotizado, así como un funcionamiento robusto. En concreto, la tesis establece las bases sobre las cuales un robot con asistencia por teleoperación o autónomamente interacciona con los humanos y con los otros robots en la zona de trabajo. Las propuestas se validan mediante experimentación real utilizando hasta dos robots manipuladores 6R y 7R respectivamente. Las principales contribuciones son: - Asistencia robótica para el lijado industrial con aproximación suave a la superficie y restricciones de límite - Control de robots bimanuales usando teleoperación asistida para tareas de tratamiento superficial - Interfaz basada en Realidad Aumentada para la teleoperación de robots bimanuales La aplicación de técnicas de Control en Modo Deslizante (SMC, por sussiglas en inglés) tanto convencional como no convencional y una arquitectura de control basada en prioridades son las herramientas clave para el desarrollo de estas contribuciones.[CA] La present tesi aborda la Interacció Humà-Robot per a tasques industrials de tractament de superfícies, amb l'objectiu d'obtindre una veritable sinergia entre l'operador humà i el sistema robotitzat, així com un funcionament robust. En concret, la tesi estableix les bases sobre les quals un robot amb assistència per teleoperació o autònomament interacciona amb els humans i amb els altres robots a la zona de treball. Les propostes es validen mitjançant experimentació real utilitzant fins a dos robots manipuladors 6R i 7R, respectivament. Les principals contribucions són: - Assistència robòtica per al poliment industrial amb aproximació suau a la superfície i restriccions de límit - Control de robots bimanuals emprant teleoperació assistida per a tasques de tractament superficial - Intefaç basada en Realitat Augmentada per a la teleoperació de robots bimanuals L'aplicació de tècniques de Control en Mode Lliscant (SMC, per les seues sigles en anglés)tant convencional com no convencional i una arquitectura de control basada en prioritats són les eines clau pel desenvolupament d'aquestes contribucions.[EN] The present thesis work addresses Human-Robot Interaction for industrial surface treatment tasks, aiming to attain a true synergy between the human operator and the robot system, as well as a robust performance. Specifically, this thesis establishes the basis on which a robot, either assisted by teleoperation or working autonomously, interacts with humans and with other robots in its working area. These proposals are validated through real experimentation using up to two robot manipulators, 6R and 7R respectively. The main contributions are: - Robotic assistance for industrial sanding with a smooth approach to the surface and boundary constraints - Bimanual robot control using assisted teleoperation for surface treatment tasks - Augmented reality-based interface for bimanual robot teleoperation The appliance of conventional and non-conventional Sliding Mode Control (SMC) techniques and a priority-based control architecture are the fundamental tools for the development of these contributions.García Fernández, A. (2023). Robust human-robot collaboration for polishing tasks in the automotive industry [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/19867

Efficient memory management in video on demand servers

In this article we present, analyse and evaluate a new memory management technique for video-on-demand servers. Our proposal, Memory Reservation Per Storage Device (MRPSD), relies on the allocation of a fixed, small number of memory buffers per storage device. Selecting adequate scheduling algorithms, information storage strategies and admission control mechanisms, we demonstrate that MRPSD is suited for the deterministic service of variable bit rate streams to intolerant clients. MRPSD allows large memory savings compared to traditional memory management techniques, based on the allocation of a certain amount of memory per client served, without a significant performance penaltyPublicad

Microcontroller-Based Sinusoidal Voltage Generation for Electrical Bio-Impedance Spectroscopy Applications

A sinusoidal voltage wave generator is proposed based on the use of micro- processor digital signals with programmable duty-cycles, with application to real-time Electrical Cell-substrate Impedance Spectroscopy (ECIS) assays in cell cultures. The working principle relies on the time convolution of the programmed microcontroller (μC) digital signals. The expected frequency is easily tuned on the bio-impedance spectroscopy range [100 Hz, 1 MHz] thanks to the μC clock frequency selection. This system has been simulated and tested on the 8 bits μC Arduino™ Uno with ATmega328 version. Results obtained prove that only three digital signals are required to fit the general specification in ECIS experiments, below 1% THD accuracy, and show the appropriateness of the system for the real-time monitoring of this type of biological experiments.Spanish founded Project: TEC 2013- 46242-C3-1-P: Integrated Microsystem for Cell Culture AssaysFEDE

Esencialismo, normativismo, posmodernismo: las interpretaciones sobre la etnicidad en la Arqueología española

En el marco del presente artículo se ofrece una perspectiva diacrónica de las formas en las que la Arqueología española ha abordado el estudio de la etnicidad pretérita y por ende de la imagen generada sobre los "pueblos" peninsulares. Para ello se comienza con un repaso de los antecedentes presentes en la historiografía de la Edad Moderna, para pasar posteriormente a las etapas iniciales de la disciplina, a la introducción del método de la escuela alemana y a la influencia del franquismo. Por último, en la parte final del trabajo se abordan las aproximaciones llevadas a cabo desde inicios de los años 1980, así como el notable interés y debate que viene generando la temática en el ámbito popular de la mano del desarrollo del Estado de las Autonomías.This article presents a diachronic view of the ways in which Spanish Archaeology has approached the study of past ethnicity and consequently the image this has created of the peninsular “peoples”. To this end we begin with a review of the precedents contained in the historiography of the Early Modern Period which will be followed by a look at the initial phases of the discipline, the introduction of the cultural-historical method of the German School and the influence of the Franco regime. In the final section we will examine the approaches used since the beginning of the 1980s as well as the public interest and debate this issue has created as a result of the development of the Autonomous Communities

Esencialismo, normativismo, posmodernismo: las interpretaciones sobre la etnicidad en la Arqueología española

This article presents a diachronic view of the ways in which Spanish Archaeology has approached the study of past ethnicity and consequently the image this has created of the peninsular “peoples”. To this end we begin with a review of the precedents contained in the historiography of the Early Modern Period which will be followed by a look at the initial phases of the discipline, the introduction of the cultural-historical method of the German School and the influence of the Franco regime. In the final section we will examine the approaches used since the beginning of the 1980s as well as the public interest and debate this issue has created as a result of the development of the Autonomous Communities.En el marco del presente artículo se ofrece una perspectiva diacrónica de las formas en las que la Arqueología española ha abordado el estudio de la etnicidad pretérita y por ende de la imagen generada sobre los “pueblos” peninsulares. Para ello se comienza con un repaso de los antecedentes presentes en la historiografía de la Edad Moderna, para pasar posteriormente a las etapas iniciales de la disciplina, a la introducción del método de la escuela alemana y a la influencia del franquismo. Por último, en la parte final del trabajo se abordan las aproximaciones llevadas a cabo desde inicios de los años 1980, así como el notable interés y debate que viene generando la temática en el ámbito popular de la mano del desarrollo del Estado de las Autonomías

Static Analysis of Usefulness States in Transition P systems

Transition P Systems are a parallel and distributed computational model based on the notion of the cellular membrane structure. Each membrane determines a region that encloses a multiset of objects and evolution rules. Transition P Systems evolve through transitions between two consecutive configurations that are determined by the membrane structure and multisets present inside membranes. Moreover, transitions between two consecutive configurations are provided by an exhaustive non-deterministic and parallel application of evolution rules. But, to establish the rules to be applied, it is required the previous calculation of useful, applicable and active rules. Hence, computation of useful evolution rules is critical for the whole evolution process efficiency, because it is performed in parallel inside each membrane in every evolution step. This work defines usefulness states through an exhaustive analysis of the P system for every membrane and for every possible configuration of the membrane structure during the computation. Moreover, this analysis can be done in a static way; therefore membranes only have to check their usefulness states to obtain their set of useful rules during execution

On new omnibus tests of uniformity on the hypersphere

Two new omnibus tests of uniformity for data on the hypersphere are proposed. The new test statistics leverage closed-form expressions for orthogonal polynomials, feature tuning parameters, and are related to a "smooth maximum" function and the Poisson kernel. We obtain exact moments of the test statistics under uniformity and rotationally symmetric alternatives, and give their null asymptotic distributions. We consider approximate oracle tuning parameters that maximize the power of the tests against generic alternatives and provide tests that estimate oracle parameters through cross-validated procedures while maintaining the significance level. Numerical experiments explore the effectiveness of null asymptotic distributions and the accuracy of inexpensive approximations of exact null distributions. A simulation study compares the powers of the new tests with other tests of the Sobolev class, showing the benefits of the former. The proposed tests are applied to the study of the (seemingly uniform) nursing times of wild polar bears.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables. Supplementary material: 11 pages, 1 figure, 3 table

Data-driven stabilizations of goodness-of-fit tests

Exact null distributions of goodness-of-fit test statistics are generally challenging to obtain in tractable forms. Practitioners are therefore usually obliged to rely on asymptotic null distributions or Monte Carlo methods, either in the form of a lookup table or carried out on demand, to apply a goodness-of-fit test. Stephens (1970) provided remarkable simple and useful transformations of several classic goodness-of-fit test statistics that stabilized their exact-$n$ critical values for varying sample sizes $n$. However, detail on the accuracy of these and subsequent transformations in yielding exact $p$-values, or even deep understanding on the derivation of several transformations, is still scarce nowadays. We illuminate and automatize, using modern tools, the latter stabilization approach to (i) expand its scope of applicability and (ii) yield semi-continuous exact $p$-values, as opposed to exact critical values for fixed significance levels. We show improvements on the stabilization accuracy of the exact null distributions of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Cram\'er-von Mises, Anderson-Darling, Kuiper, and Watson test statistics. In addition, we provide a parameter-dependent exact-$n$ stabilization for several novel statistics for testing uniformity on the hypersphere of arbitrary dimension. A data application in astronomy illustrates the benefits of the advocated stabilization for quickly analyzing small-to-moderate sequentially-measured samples.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, 8 table