Perceptions of human rights and ethics in the training among military leaders: The case of Latin American leaders at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

The United States Army has been training ethics, human rights and democracy to Latin American military and civilian personnel, in the past, through the School of the Americas and lately, in the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC).The purpose of this study was to examine ethics, human rights and democracy in the context of the Latin American soldiers, police officers and civilian students attending The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). Eight Latin American Officers and Noncommissioned officers were the focus of the study. A qualitative methodology research was used to investigate the perceptions held by the students attending The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) located at Fort Benning, Georgia, regarding ethics, human rights and democratic principles

Delirium and anomie in the work of Lebbeus Woods

El artículo ofrece una perspectiva crítica de la obra de Lebbeus Woods (1940, Lansing, Michigan – 2012, New York), desde el argumento del concepto de delirio. Este enfoque, en paralelo al de la desregulación posmoderna de la disciplina, muestra a la propia arquitectura contemporánea como sujeto delirante y una conducta divergente en Woods derivada de una anomia mayor que la tan extendida en la práctica arquitectónica contemporánea. Para entender la marginalidad de este arquitecto heterodoxo, se esbozan su contexto de procedencia y los datos biográficos básicos, periodizando la trayectoria de su creatividad expansiva en la que el concepto de anarquitectura fue central. Se comprueba así como supera los límites, cercano al delirio en la extensión y gran intensidad de su obra, persistiendo en una experimentación fabuladora y en su renuncia a edificar, en la que resiste durante toda su vida, operando fuera del sistema de códigos y políticas de construcción mucho más allá de cuando esto se consideraba distinguido. Aún cuando su pensamiento es neoliberal, Woods milita en los márgenes del capitalismo hasta que construye su única estructura, invitado por Steven Holl en 2007 a proyectar el Pabellón de Luz en el Sliced Porosity Block, un enorme complejo multifuncional en Chengdu (China). El Pabellón, acabado una semana antes de su muerte, condensa la evolución del ideario de Woods. El análisis de este proyecto sirve de conclusión final.The article offers a critical perspective of the work of Lebbeus Woods (1940, Lansing, Michigan - 2012, New York), from the argument of the concept of delirium. This approach, in parallel to that of the postmodern deregulation of the discipline, shows contemporary architecture itself as a delirious subject and a divergent conduct in Woods, derived from an anomie greater than that which is so extensive in contemporary architectural practice. In order to understand the marginality of this heterodox architect, his context of origin and basic biographical data are outlined, periodising the career of his expansive creativity, in which the concept of Anarchitecture was central. It is shown how he went beyond the limits, close to delirium, in the extent and great intensity of his work, persisting in fantasist experimentation and in his refusal to build. This he maintained throughout his life, operating outside, the system of building codes and policies, well beyond a time when this was considered distinguished. Even though his thinking was neoliberal, Woods served in the margins of Capitalism until he built his only structure. He was invited by Steven Holl, in 2007, to design the Light Pavilion in the Sliced Porosity Block, an enormous multifunctional complex in Chengdu (China). The Pavilion, finished one week before his death, condenses the evolution of Woods’ ideology. The analysis of this project serves as a final conclusion

Comparative study of several machine learning algorithms for classification of unifloral honeys

Unifloral honeys are highly demanded by honey consumers, especially in Europe. To ensure that a honey belongs to a very appreciated botanical class, the classical methodology is palynological analysis to identify and count pollen grains. Highly trained personnel are needed to perform this task, which complicates the characterization of honey botanical origins. Organoleptic assessment of honey by expert personnel helps to confirm such classification. In this study, the ability of different machine learning (ML) algorithms to correctly classify seven types of Spanish honeys of single botanical origins (rosemary, citrus, lavender, sunflower, eucalyptus, heather and forest honeydew) was investigated comparatively. The botanical origin of the samples was ascertained by pollen analysis complemented with organoleptic assessment. Physicochemical parameters such as electrical conductivity, pH, water content, carbohydrates and color of unifloral honeys were used to build the dataset. The following ML algorithms were tested: penalized discriminant analysis (PDA), shrinkage discriminant analysis (SDA), high-dimensional discriminant analysis (HDDA), nearest shrunken centroids (PAM), partial least squares (PLS), C5.0 tree, extremely randomized trees (ET), weighted k-nearest neighbors (KKNN), artificial neural networks (ANN), random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM) with linear and radial kernels and extreme gradient boosting trees (XGBoost). The ML models were optimized by repeated 10-fold cross-validation primarily on the basis of log loss or accuracy metrics, and their performance was compared on a test set in order to select the best predicting model. Built models using PDA produced the best results in terms of overall accuracy on the test set. ANN, ET, RF and XGBoost models also provided good results, while SVM proved to be the worst

A block algorithm for the algebraic path problem and its execution on a systolic array

The solution of the algebraic path problem (APP) for arbitrarily sized graphs by a fixed-size systolic array processor (SAP) is addressed. The APP is decomposed into two subproblems, and SAP is designed for each one. Both SAPs combined produce a highly implementable versatile SAP. The proposed SAP has p*p processing elements (PEs) solving the APP of an N-vertex graph in N/sup 3//p/sup 2/+N/sup 2//p+3p-2 cycles. With slight modifications in the operations performed by the PEs, the problem is optimally solved in N/sup 3//p/sup 2/+3p-2 cycles.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Effect of Vinyl Flooring on the Modal Properties of a Steel Footbridge

Damping ratios associated with non structural elements play an important role in mitigating the pedestrian-induced vibrations of slender footbridges. In particular, this paper analyses the effect of vinyl flooring on the modal parameters of steel footbridges. Motivated by the unexpected high experimental damping ratios of the first vibration modes of a real footbridge, whose deck was covered by a vinyl flooring, this paper aims at assessing more accurately the experimental damping ratios generated by this non-structural element on steel footbridges. For this purpose, a laboratory footbridge was built and vinyl flooring was installed on it. Its numerical and experimental modal parameters without and with the vinyl flooring were determined. The operational modal analysis method was used to estimate experimentally the modal parameters of the structure. The damping ratios associated with the vinyl flooring were obtained via the substraction between the experimental damping ratios of the laboratory footbridge with and without the vinyl flooring. An average increase of the damping ratios of 2.069% was observed due to the vinyl flooring installed. According to this result, this type of pavement may be a useful tool to significantly increase the damping ratios of steel footbridges in order to reduce pedestrian-induced vibrationsMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad DPI2014-53947-RFondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional DPI2014-53947-

3D Visual Data-Driven Spatiotemporal Deformations for Non-Rigid Object Grasping Using Robot Hands

Sensing techniques are important for solving problems of uncertainty inherent to intelligent grasping tasks. The main goal here is to present a visual sensing system based on range imaging technology for robot manipulation of non-rigid objects. Our proposal provides a suitable visual perception system of complex grasping tasks to support a robot controller when other sensor systems, such as tactile and force, are not able to obtain useful data relevant to the grasping manipulation task. In particular, a new visual approach based on RGBD data was implemented to help a robot controller carry out intelligent manipulation tasks with flexible objects. The proposed method supervises the interaction between the grasped object and the robot hand in order to avoid poor contact between the fingertips and an object when there is neither force nor pressure data. This new approach is also used to measure changes to the shape of an object’s surfaces and so allows us to find deformations caused by inappropriate pressure being applied by the hand’s fingers. Test was carried out for grasping tasks involving several flexible household objects with a multi-fingered robot hand working in real time. Our approach generates pulses from the deformation detection method and sends an event message to the robot controller when surface deformation is detected. In comparison with other methods, the obtained results reveal that our visual pipeline does not use deformations models of objects and materials, as well as the approach works well both planar and 3D household objects in real time. In addition, our method does not depend on the pose of the robot hand because the location of the reference system is computed from a recognition process of a pattern located place at the robot forearm. The presented experiments demonstrate that the proposed method accomplishes a good monitoring of grasping task with several objects and different grasping configurations in indoor environments.The research leading to these result has received funding from the Spanish Government and European FEDER funds (DPI2015-68087R), the Valencia Regional Government (PROMETEO/2013/085) as well as the pre-doctoral grant BES-2013-062864

Detección de deformaciones 3D calculando esqueletos de curvaturas

El artículo presenta un método de análisis 3D para medir la variación en superficies planas. El método está orientado a la detección de deformaciones elásticas en objetos formados por superficies planas. Estas deformaciones son causadas habitualmente cuando dos cuerpos, uno sólido y otro elástico, intersectan, generando una presión de contacto entre sus caras. El método describe una estrategia para modelar la forma de las deformaciones, usando una aproximación matemática basada principalmente en dos conceptos: Histograma y Mapa de Curvatura. En concreto se describe el algoritmo encargado de la detección de deformaciones, con el objetivo de realizar tareas de control visual e inspecciones para el proceso de manipulado con manos robóticas. Los resultados de varios experimentos se muestran de tal forma que se logra evaluar la validez y robustez del método para detectar y medir deformaciones en tareas de agarre. Para realizar estos experimentos, varias escenas virtuales fueron creadas con el fin de simular el contacto entre los dedos de una mano robot y un objeto elástico.La investigación que nos ha llevado a estos resultados ha sido financiada por el Gobierno Español y lo fondos europeos FEDER (DPI2012-32390) y el Gobierno Regional de Valencia (PROMETEO/2013/085)

Visual perception for the 3D recognition of geometric pieces in robotic manipulation

During grasping and intelligent robotic manipulation tasks, the camera position relative to the scene changes dramatically because the robot is moving to adapt its path and correctly grasp objects. This is because the camera is mounted at the robot effector. For this reason, in this type of environment, a visual recognition system must be implemented to recognize and “automatically and autonomously” obtain the positions of objects in the scene. Furthermore, in industrial environments, all objects that are manipulated by robots are made of the same material and cannot be differentiated by features such as texture or color. In this work, first, a study and analysis of 3D recognition descriptors has been completed for application in these environments. Second, a visual recognition system designed from specific distributed client-server architecture has been proposed to be applied in the recognition process of industrial objects without these appearance features. Our system has been implemented to overcome problems of recognition when the objects can only be recognized by geometric shape and the simplicity of shapes could create ambiguity. Finally, some real tests are performed and illustrated to verify the satisfactory performance of the proposed system.The research leading to these result has received funding from the Spanish Government and European FEDER funds (DPI2012-32390) and the Valencia Regional Government (PROMETEO/2013/085)

Are private refuges effective for conserving ecosystem properties?

A fin de evaluar la contribución a la conservación de las reservas privadas, se comparó el funcionamiento ecosistémico de esta modalidad de conservación (Reserva) con el de parques nacionales (Parque) y establecimientos agropecuarios con manejo tradicional (Tradicional) contiguos. El análisis se basó sobre tres descriptores de la dinámica estacional de las ganancias de carbono del ecosistema, derivados de datos espectrales provistos por el sensor MODIS: la integral del Índice de Vegetación Normalizado (IVN-I) (un índice espectral relacionado a las ganancias totales de carbono), el rango relativo (RRel) y el mes de ocurrencia del valor máximo de IVN (MMax); los descriptores caracterizan la estacionalidad y fenología de la vegetación. Se trabajó en tres regiones biogeográficas contrastantes de la Argentina (Selva Paranaense, Pampa Mesopotámica, y Pampa Interior). En la Selva Paranaense, la Reserva mostró un valor de IVN-I menor al Parque, pero mayor al Tradicional (P<0.05). La estacionalidad de las ganancias de carbono (RRel) fue menor en el Parque que en los otros dos manejos. En la Pampa Mesopotámica, la vegetación de monte ribereño fue más productiva (mayor IVN-I) en el Parque que bajo manejo tradicional y la Reserva presentó un comportamiento intermedio. La vegetación pastizal presentó las mayores ganancias de carbono en la Reserva, en comparación con el Tradicional y el Parque. La vegetación emblemática del área (los palmares) no difirió entre tipos de manejo. La estacionalidad sólo fue menor en el Parque en el monte ribereño. En la Pampa Interior, las diferencias entre Reserva y Tradicional, tanto de IVN-I como de RRel, no fueron significativas para ningún tipo de vegetación o manejo. El MMax no difirió entre tipos de manejo en ninguna de las tres regiones. Los resultados de este trabajo demuestran que para la mayor parte de los atributos ecosistémicos considerados, las Reservas presentaron valores más próximos a la situación de referencia (el Parque) que las alternativas de manejo tradicional. La conservación privada sería, por lo tanto, eficiente para la conservación de procesos y servicios ecosistémicos ligados a la dinámica de las ganancias de carbono.To evaluate the contribution to conservation of private refuges, we compared the ecosystem functioning of this type of conservation (Refuge) with contiguous national parks (Park) and rural ranches and farms under traditional management (Traditional). We assume the Park as the reference situation, in as much they constitute the areas with the lowest human intervention. The analysis was based on three descriptors of the seasonal dynamics of the carbon gains, derived from spectral data provided by the MODIS sensor: the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index integral (NDVI-I), a spectral index related to the total carbon gains of the ecosystem; the relative range [RRel: (maximum NDVI–minimum NDVI)/(NDVI-I)], and the month of occurrence of the maximum value of NDVI (MMax). These last two attributes characterize the seasonality and phenology of vegetation. We worked on three contrasting biogeographic regions of Argentina [Paranaense forest (Misiones province), Mesopotamic Pampa (Entre Ríos province), Interior Pampa (Córdoba province)]. In the Paranaense forest, the Refuge presented a lower NDVI-I value than the Park, but higher than the Traditional (P<0.05). The seasonality of the vegetation carbon gains (RRel) was lower on the Park than for the other two managements. In the Mesopotamic Pampa, the gallery forests were the most productive unit (higher NDVI-I). The Refuge presented an intermediate behavior. Grasslands presented the highest NDVI-I on the Refuge (P<0.05). The emblematic vegetation of this region (the palm savannas), did not differ among managements. The seasonality was lower in the gallery forests of the Park. In the Interior Pampa, the differences between Refuge and Traditional, both in NDVI-I and RRel, were not significantly different among vegetation types or managements. The MMax did not differ between managements for any of the regions studied. Our results showed that for most of the ecosystem attributes considered, the Refuge presented values more similar to those of the reference situation (the Park) than to the traditional management alternatives. Private conservation therefore has being efficient for the conservation and maintenance of the ecosystemic processes and services bounded to the dynamic of the vegetation carbon gains.Fil: Roldán, Mateo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; ArgentinaFil: Caminati, Alejandra. Fundación Vida Silvestre; ArgentinaFil: Biganzoli, Fernando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Métodos Cuantitativos y Sistemas de Información; ArgentinaFil: Paruelo, José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentin

Redes neuronales y preprocesado de variables para modelos y sensores en bioingeniería

El propósito de esta Tesis Doctoral es proponer una alternativa viable a la aproximación de modelos y procesos en el ámbito científico y, más concretamente, en aplicaciones complejas de bioingeniería, en las cuales es imposible o muy costoso encontrar una relación directa entre las señales de entrada y de salida mediante modelos matemáticos sencillos o aproximaciones estadísticas. Del mismo modo, es interesante lograr una compactación de los datos que necesita un modelo para conseguir una predicción o clasificación en un tiempo y con un coste de implementación mínimos. Un modelo puede ser simplificado en gran medida al reducir el número de entradas o realizar operaciones matemáticas sobre éstas para transformarlas en nuevas variables. En muchos problemas de regresión (aproximación de funciones), clasificación y optimización, en general se hace uso de las nuevas metodologías basadas en la inteligencia artificial. La inteligencia artificial es una rama de las ciencias de la computación que busca automatizar la capacidad de un sistema para responder a los estímulos que recibe y proponer salidas adecuadas y racionales. Esto se produce gracias a un proceso de aprendizaje, mediante el cual se presentan ciertas muestras o �ejemplos� al modelo y sus correspondientes salidas y éste aprende a proponer las salidas correspondientes a nuevos estímulos que no ha visto previamente. Esto se denomina aprendizaje supervisado. También puede darse el caso de que tal modelo asocie las entradas con características similares entre sí para obtener una clasificación de las muestras de entrada sin necesidad de un patrón de salida. Este modelo de aprendizaje se denomina no supervisado. El principal exponente de la aplicación de la inteligencia artificial para aproximación de funciones y clasificación son las redes neuronales artificiales. Se trata de modelos que han demostrado sobradamente sus ventajas en el ámbito del modelado estadístico y de la predicción frente a otros métodos clásicos. NMateo Jiménez, F. (2012). Redes neuronales y preprocesado de variables para modelos y sensores en bioingeniería [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/16702Palanci