Accurate EMC engineering on realistic platforms using an integral equation domain decomposition approach

This article investigates the efficiency, accuracy and versatility of a surface integral equation (SIE) multisolver scheme to address very complex and large-scale radiation problems including multiple scale features, in the context of realistic electromagnetic compatibility (EMC)/electromagnetic interference (EMI) studies. The tear-and-interconnect domain decomposition (DD) method is applied to properly decompose the problem into multiple subdomains attending to their material, geometrical, and scale properties, while different materials and arbitrarily shaped connections between them can be combined by using the so-called multiregion vector basis functions. The SIE-DD approach has been widely reported in the literature, mainly applied to scattering problems or small radiation problems. Complementarily, in this article, the focus is placed on realistic radiation problems, involving tens of antennas and sensors and including multiscale ingredients and multiple materials. Such kind of problems are very demanding in terms of both convergence and computational resources. Throughout two realistic case studies, the proposed SIE-DD approach is shown to be a powerful electromagnetic modeling tool to provide the accurate and fast solution which is indispensable to rigorously accomplish real-life EMC/EMI studies.Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. TEC2017-85376-C2-1-RAgencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. TEC2017-85376-C2-2-

Cyber-Physical Systems for Smart Water Networks: A Review

There is a growing demand to equip Smart Water Networks (SWN) with advanced sensing and computation capabilities in order to detect anomalies and apply autonomous event-triggered control. Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) have emerged as an important research area capable of intelligently sensing the state of SWN and reacting autonomously in scenarios of unexpected crisis development. Through computational algorithms, CPSs can integrate physical components of SWN, such as sensors and actuators, and provide technological frameworks for data analytics, pertinent decision making, and control. The development of CPSs in SWN requires the collaboration of diverse scientific disciplines such as civil, hydraulics, electronics, environment, computer science, optimization, communication, and control theory. For efficient and successful deployment of CPS in SWN, there is a need for a common methodology in terms of design approaches that can involve various scientific disciplines. This paper reviews the state of the art, challenges, and opportunities for CPSs, that could be explored to design the intelligent sensing, communication, and control capabilities of CPS for SWN. In addition, we look at the challenges and solutions in developing a computational framework from the perspectives of machine learning, optimization, and control theory for SWN.acceptedVersio

Applying case based reasoning for prioritizing areas of business management

Determining the importance of different management areas in a company provides guidance about the needs of increasing the analysis and actions focuses in particular topic. To do it, it is necessary to decompose the management in a coherent set of specific management areas and provide a way that allows the company to determine the importance of these areas for them. This paper presents a novel system that guides companies to obtain a classification of important management areas for them. It is focused on the use of a case based reasoning system because the variability and the evolution of companies as time passes requires using techniques with learning capabilities. The proposed system provides an automatic self-assessment system that provides companies an ordered list of their most important management areas. This system was implemented a year ago for the evaluation of Spanish companies. Currently, it is in production providing relevant information about the management areas of these companies

On the performance of a GPU-based SoC in a distributed spatial audio system

[EN] Many current system-on-chip (SoC) devices are composed of low-power multicore processors combined with a small graphics accelerator (or GPU) offering a trade-off between computational capacity and low-power consumption. In this context, spatial audio methods such as wave field synthesis (WFS) can benefit from a distributed system composed of several SoCs that collaborate to tackle the high computational cost of rendering virtual sound sources. This paper aims at evaluating important aspects dealing with a distributed WFS implementation that runs over a network of Jetson Nano boards composed of embedded GPU-based SoCs: computational performance, energy efficiency, and synchronization issues. Our results show that the maximum efficiency is obtained when the WFS system operates the GPU frequency at 691.2 MHz, achieving 11 sources-per-Watt. Synchronization experiments using the NTP protocol show that the maximum initial delay of 10 ms between nodes does not prevent us from achieving high spatial sound quality.This work has been supported by the Spanish Government through TIN2017-82972-R, ESP2015-68245-C4-1-P, the Valencian Regional Government through PROMETEO/2019/109 and the Universitat Jaume I through UJI-B2019-36.Belloch, JA.; Badía, JM.; Larios, DF.; Personal, E.; Ferrer Contreras, M.; Fuster Criado, L.; Lupoiu, M.... (2021). On the performance of a GPU-based SoC in a distributed spatial audio system. The Journal of Supercomputing (Online). 77(7):6920-6935. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-020-03577-46920693577

Supersymmetric One-family Model without Higgsinos

The Higgs potential and the mass spectrum of the N=1 supersymmetric extension of a recently proposed one-family model based on the local gauge group $SU(3)_c \otimes SU(3)_L \otimes U(1)_X$, which is a subgroup of the electroweak-strong unification group $E_6$, is analyzed. In this model the slepton multiplets play the role of the Higgs scalars and no Higgsinos are needed, with the consequence that the sneutrino, the selectron and six other sleptons play the role of the Goldstone bosons. We show how the $\mu$ problem is successfully addressed in the context of this model which also predicts the existence of a light CP-odd scalar.Comment: REVTeX 4, 10 pages. Included discussions about constraints coming from the rho-parameter and from Muon (g-2). References added. Version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Diseño y validación de un cuestionario sobre conocimientos de sexualidad responsable en jóvenes

ABSTRACT Background: Only very few instruments have been developed to assess sexual knowledge and practices. Most of the research to date has been carried out with adolescent samples, but not with university students, who are also at a particularly risky stage. The aim of this study was to design and validate a brief questionnaire to assess young´s sexual knowledge, practices and behaviors to design health education programs in the university context. Methods: We created a specific questionnaire about sexual pattern in university adolescents and a brief questionnaire consisted of 9 items (true/false) about contraception, sexuality and sexual transmission diseases. We carried out a pilot study, reliability (KR-20) and validity analyses using factorial analysis and examining the association with other variables. Results: 566 students from University of Seville participated during 2015/16. One item was eliminated because of comprehension (only 13.9% of correct answers) and weak or non significant associations (p > 0.05). Finally, the scale was formed by 8 items and had good internal consistency reliability (KR-20 = 0.57), and both factorial and external validity reliability. A three-factor model showed good data fit, χ2 (14, N=566)=17.48, p= 0.232, Comparative Fit Index CFI = 0.97, root mean squared error of prediction RMSEA = 0.02. Participants with less knowledge about sexuality were whose did not receive any information (M=6.82, SD=1.41), without partner (M=6.87, SD=1.35), had an abortion (M=6.43, SD=1.95) and did not use any contraceptive method (M=6.66, SD=0.58) or coitus interruptus (M=6.55, SD=1.39), and had less sexual relationships, e.g., once or twice a year (M=6.49, SD=1.70). Conclusions: This questionnaire is a short instrument to assess students´ practices and knowledge about sexuality and contraception. The analyses of reliability and validity have shown the good psychometric properties of this instrument.RESUMEN Fundamentos: Los instrumentos empleados para evaluar los conocimientos y prácticas en sexualidad son escasos. La mayor parte de la investigación hasta la fecha se ha realizado con población adolescente, pero no con jóvenes universitarios, que se encuentran también en una etapa de especial riesgo. El objetivo de este estudio fue diseñar y validar un instrumento breve que permita evaluar los conocimientos, prácticas y comportamientos sexuales de los jóvenes universitarios para poder desarrollar programas de educación sanitaria en el contexto universitario. Métodos: Se elaboró un cuestionario específicos sobre el patrón sexual en adolescentes universitarios y un cuestionario breve de 9 ítems dicotómicos de verdadero/falso sobre anticoncepción, sexualidad e infecciones de transmisión sexual. Se realizó un pilotaje, un análisis de fiabilidad (análisis de fiabilidad Kuder Richardson (KR) -20) y de validez, mediante análisis factorial y un estudio las relaciones con otras variables de interés. Resultados: Participaron 566 estudiantes de la Universidad de Sevilla que cursaron estudios durante el curso 2015/16. De los 9 ítems iniciales de la escala, se descartó uno por presentar asociaciones débiles o no significativas (p > 0,05) con el resto y problemas de comprensión, sólo fue acertado por el 13,9% de la muestra. Formada finalmente por 8 ítems, la escala ofreció una buena fiabilidad por consistencia interna (KR-20 = 0,57) y varias evidencias de validad (factorial y externa). Un modelo formado por tres factores alcanzó buen ajuste a los datos, χ2(14, N=566)=17,48, p= 0,232, índice de ajuste comparativo CFI= 0,97 y error cuadrático medio de aproximación (RMSEA)= 0,02. Los participantes que presentaron menos conocimientos de sexualidad fueron aquellos que no habían recibido formación (M=6,82, DT=1,41), que no tenían pareja (M=6,87, DT=1,35), que habían realizado una interrupción voluntaria del embarazo (M=6,43, DT=1,95), que no usaban ningún método anticonceptivo (M=6,66, DT=0,58) o la marcha atrás (M=6,55, DT=1,39), y que informaron de una menor frecuencia de relaciones sexuales, como una o dos veces al año (M=6,49, DT=1,70). Conclusiones: Este cuestionario supone una herramienta breve para conocer los hábitos y conocimientos del alumnado universitario en materia de sexualidad y anticoncepción. Los análisis de fiabilidad y validez realizados han mostrado las buenas propiedades psicométricas de este instrumento

Tear-and-interconnect domain decomposition scheme for solving multiscale composite penetrable objects

In this work, the tear-and-interconnect (T&I) surface-integral-equation (SIE) domain-decomposition (DD) approach-previously developed for non-penetrable bodies-, is extended to composite piecewise homogeneous penetrable objects including multiple materials and multiscale features. The main advantage of the proposed T&I scheme, with respect to conventional DD approach, is that it obviates the definition of large artificial surfaces (required for splitting the volumetric regions) with additional redundant unknowns, which avoids a significant increase in the computational cost, especially when dealing with large volumetric regions. In this sense, it has been shown that the T&I approach is an efficient and accurate alternative, which besides complements the conventional DD approach, since both are compatible and can be easily combined, which gives the possibility of applying one or the other as appropriate, depending on the specific characteristics of the problems to be solved in each case.Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. TEC2017-85376-C2-1-RAgencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. TEC2017-85376-C2-2-RGobierno Regional de Extremadura | Ref. IB18073Gobierno Regional de Extremadura | Ref. GR1805

Evaluation of MPEG-7-Based Audio Descriptors for Animal Voice Recognition over Wireless Acoustic Sensor Networks

Environmental audio monitoring is a huge area of interest for biologists all over the world. This is why some audio monitoring system have been proposed in the literature, which can be classified into two different approaches: acquirement and compression of all audio patterns in order to send them as raw data to a main server; or specific recognition systems based on audio patterns. The first approach presents the drawback of a high amount of information to be stored in a main server. Moreover, this information requires a considerable amount of effort to be analyzed. The second approach has the drawback of its lack of scalability when new patterns need to be detected. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes an environmental Wireless Acoustic Sensor Network architecture focused on use of generic descriptors based on an MPEG-7 standard. These descriptors demonstrate it to be suitable to be used in the recognition of different patterns, allowing a high scalability. The proposed parameters have been tested to recognize different behaviors of two anuran species that live in Spanish natural parks; the Epidalea calamita and the Alytes obstetricans toads, demonstrating to have a high classification performance