Modeling Sensor Knowledge of a National Hydrologic Information System

In this paper we describe our experience in modeling and using sensor knowledge of a national hydrologic information system in Spain. We developed a web application called VSAIH supported by a knowledge-based system to analyze sensor data and to generate explanations that help users to make decisions based on hydrologic behavior. In the paper, we describe the characteristics of the infrastructure of hydrologic sensors and the representa-tion we used to model sensor knowledge to provide support to the VSAIH application. We also describe semi-automatic procedures that we applied to construct the final model

Los bufadors de Ares: un elemento estratégico para combatir el viento en las paredes de los azagadores

La trashumancia ha sido durante muchos siglos una actividad económica estratégica y que ha generado un inmenso patrimonio cultural, tanto material como inmaterial. Uno de los elementos constructivos inherente a las migraciones de ganado, especialmente en ámbito mediterráneo, son los muros que acotan los caminos, es decir, los azagadores o cañadas. Esas paredes, que constituyen por sí mismas un valioso elemento arquitectónico, todavía nos deparan algunas sorpresas, como los bufadors, una especie de ventanas diseñadas para dejar pasar el viento y garantizar la durabilidad de los muros de piedra en seco.Transhumance has been for many centuries a strategic economic activity and has generated an immense cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible. One of the constructive elements inherent in the migration of cattle, especially in Mediterranean area, are the walls that mark the ways of the animals, such us azagadores or cañadas. These walls, which themselves constitute a valuable architectural element, produce still some surprises, as bufadors, a kind of windows designed to let the wind go through them. These elements guarantee the durability of the drystone walls.La trashumancia ha sido durante muchos siglos una actividad económica estratégica y que ha generado un inmenso patrimonio cultural, tanto material como inmaterial. Uno de los elementos constructivos inherente a las migraciones de ganado, especialmente en ámbito mediterráneo, son los muros que acotan los caminos, es decir, los azagadores o cañadas. Esas paredes, que constituyen por sí mismas un valioso elemento arquitectónico, todavía nos deparan algunas sorpresas, como los bufadors, una especie de ventanas diseñadas para dejar pasar el viento y garantizar la durabilidad de los muros de piedra en seco

Collaborative Development within Open Source Communities

Open source communities are one of the most successful-- and least appreciated--examples of high-performance collaboration and community building on the Internet today. Open source communities began as loosely organized, ad-hoc communities of contributors from all over the world who shared an interest in meeting a common need. However, the organization of these communities has proven to be very flexible and capable of carrying out all kind of developments, ranging from minor projects to huge programs such as Apache (Höhn, & Herr, 2004; Mockus, Fielding, & Herbsleb, 2005

Characterization and Classification of Collaborative Tools

Traditionally, collaboration has been a means for organizations to do their work. However, the context in which they do this work is changing, especially in regards to where the work is done, how the work is organized, who does the work, and with this the characteristics of collaboration. Software development is no exception; it is itself a collaborative effort that is likewise affected by these changes. In the context of both open source software development projects and communities and organizations that develop corporate products, more and more developers need to communicate and liaise with colleagues in geographically distant places about the software product they are conceiving, designing, building, testing, debugging, deploying and maintaining. Thus, work teams face sizeable collaborative challenges, for which they have need of tools that they can use to communicate and coordinate their Work efficiently

Looking at metaphors: a picture-word priming task as a test for the existence of conceptual metaphor

Since 1987 a number of scholars have investigated the conceptualization of anger in several linguistic studies (Lakoff & Koveckes 1987, King, 1989, Matsuki, 1995). In their research, a body of conceptual metaphors have been identified that are supposed to structure the way we think about the emotion. In this paper, we evaluate the claim that conceptual metaphors are stable structures in the speakers’ minds (Murphy 1996; Lakoff & Kövecses 1980; Glucksberg & McGlone 1999). The present experiment was designed to investigate the use of conceptual metaphors by speakers of peninsular Spanish in relation to the emotion concept ANGER. The study evaluates the claim that conceptual metaphors are stable and automatic cross-domain conceptual projections in the speaker’s minds (Lakoff, 1993: 227-228, 245). Specifically, we examine the participation of domains like HOT FLUID or PRESSURIZED CONTAINER in the processing of anger expressions. Our specific goal is to study whether the activation of such source domains facilitates the recognition of anger words in a categorization task. In order to test this, a priming experiment was conducted in which subjects had to perform a categorization task after being exposed to an image. When the image was related to the source domain of an angerrelated conceptual metaphor (Lakoff & Kövecses, 1987, Soriano, 2005), the emotion was more easily identified in the subsequent task than it was after an unrelated image

El patrimonio rural iletrado. Nuevos recursos para el desarrollo en áreas de montaña

Aquest article analitza els problemes actuals del denominat patrimoni illetrat, és a dir, eixa part del patrimoni rural que ha estat generada pels habitants locals, gràcies a la saviesa dels quals disposem avui d’una sèrie de construccions –i altres elements com la toponímia, el folklore…– que tenen un indubtable valor com testimoniatge de les maneres de vida en la muntanya mediterrània. Les amenaces a la perdurabilitat d’aquests elements són evidents en el segle XXI, encara que és major la potencialitat d’aquest patrimoni per a impulsar el desenvolupament endogen d’aquestes comarques que han estat maltractades en les últimes sis dècades pel despoblament.This article analyzes the current problems of the patrimony called uncultured, that is to say, this part of the rural patrimony that has been created by the local inhabitants, thanks to which wisdom we have today a series of constructions –and other elements as the toponymy, the folklore …– an undoubted value as testimony of the manners of life in the Mediterranean mountain. The risks to the sustainability of these elements are evident in the XXIst century, though it’s major the potential of this patrimony to stimulate the endogenous development of these regions.Este artículo analiza los problemas actuales del denominado patrimonio iletrado, es decir, esa parte del patrimonio rural que ha sido legada por los habitantes locales, gracias a cuya sabiduría disponemos hoy de una serie de construcciones –y otros elementos como la toponimia, el folklore…– que tienen un indudable valor como testimonio de los modos de vida en la montaña mediterránea. Las amenazas a la perdurabilidad de esos elementos son evidentes en el siglo XXI, aunque todavía es mayor la potencialidad de ese patrimonio para impulsar el desarrollo endógeno de esas comarcas que han sido maltratadas en las últimas seis décadas por el despoblamiento

Generating text descriptions for geographically distributed sensors

Sensor networks, with thousands of geographically distributed sensors and different types of quantitative measures, need software tools to help users understand the meaning of measures. In this paper we pay attention to the problem of automatic generation of geographic descriptions in natural language for geographically distributed sensors. We describe this problem in the context of a web application in the domain of hydrology which is part of a more complex multimedia presentation system that combines text and graphics. We describe the web application and the algorithm that we designed to generate the geographic descriptions for sensors. Besides GIS data files, our method uses two information sources: an online server for geographic names (Geonames) and a specific knowledge base with text patterns that we constructed to process sensor identifiers. The evaluation results confirm that online geographic information resources such as Geonames are useful to generate names for sensors but they need to be combined with other more specific information sources (such as our knowledge base) to obtain good descriptions. We also compare our method with related work and show future lines of work

Integrability of a linear center perturbed by a fifth degree homogeneous polynomial

In this work we study the integrability of two-dimensional autonomous system in the plane with linear part of center type and non-linear part given by homogeneous polynomials of fifth degree. We give a simple characterisation for the integrable cases in polar coordinates. Finally we formulate a conjecture about the independence of the two classes of parameters which appear on the system; if this conjecture is true the integrable cases found will be the only possible ones

Integrability of a linear center perturbed by a fourth degree homogeneous polynomial

In this work we study the integrability of a two-dimensional autonomous system in the plane with linear part of center type and non-linear part given by homogeneous polynomials of fourth degree. We give sufficient conditions for integrability in polar coordinates. Finally we establish a conjecture about the independence of the two classes of parameters which appear in the system; if this conjecture is true the integrable cases found will be the only possible ones