Prediction of PM10 concentrations using Fuzzy c-Means and ANN

Salamanca has been considered among the most polluted cities in Mexico. The vehicular park, the industry and the emissions produced by agriculture, as well as orography and climatic characteristics have propitiated the increment in pollutant concentration of Particulate Matter less than 10 μg/m3 in diameter (PM10). In this work, a Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network has been used to make the prediction of an hour ahead of pollutant concentration. A database used to train the Neural Network corresponds to historical time series of meteorological variables (wind speed, wind direction, temperature and relative humidity) and air pollutant concentrations of PM10. Before the prediction, Fuzzy c-Means clustering algorithm have been implemented in order to find relationship among pollutant and meteorological variables. These relationship help us to get additional information that will be used for predicting. Our experiments with the proposed system show the importance of this set of meteorological variables on the prediction of PM10 pollutant concentrations and the neural network efficiency. The performance estimation is determined using the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE). The results shown that the information obtained in the clustering step allows a prediction of an hour ahead, with data from past 2 hours

Microcalcifications Detection using PFCM and ANN

This work presents a method to detect Microcalcifications in Regions of Interest from digitized mammograms. The method is based mainly on the combination of Image Processing, Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence. The Top-Hat transform is a technique based on mathematical morphology operations that, in this work is used to perform contrast enhancement of microcalcifications in the region of interest. In order to find more or less homogeneous regions in the image, we apply a novel image sub-segmentation technique based on Possibilistic Fuzzy c-Means clustering algorithm. From the original region of interest we extract two window-based features, Mean and Deviation Standard, which will be used in a classifier based on a Artificial Neural Network in order to identify microcalcifications. Our results show that the proposed method is a good alternative in the stage of microcalcifications detection, because this stage is an important part of the early Breast Cancer detection

Inverse kinematics of a 6 DoF human upper limb using ANFIS and ANN for anticipatory actuation in ADL-based physical Neurorehabilitation

Objective: This research is focused in the creation and validation of a solution to the inverse kinematics problem for a 6 degrees of freedom human upper limb. This system is intended to work within a realtime dysfunctional motion prediction system that allows anticipatory actuation in physical Neurorehabilitation under the assisted-as-needed paradigm. For this purpose, a multilayer perceptron-based and an ANFIS-based solution to the inverse kinematics problem are evaluated. Materials and methods: Both the multilayer perceptron-based and the ANFIS-based inverse kinematics methods have been trained with three-dimensional Cartesian positions corresponding to the end-effector of healthy human upper limbs that execute two different activities of the daily life: "serving water from a jar" and "picking up a bottle". Validation of the proposed methodologies has been performed by a 10 fold cross-validation procedure. Results: Once trained, the systems are able to map 3D positions of the end-effector to the corresponding healthy biomechanical configurations. A high mean correlation coefficient and a low root mean squared error have been found for both the multilayer perceptron and ANFIS-based methods. Conclusions: The obtained results indicate that both systems effectively solve the inverse kinematics problem, but, due to its low computational load, crucial in real-time applications, along with its high performance, a multilayer perceptron-based solution, consisting in 3 input neurons, 1 hidden layer with 3 neurons and 6 output neurons has been considered the most appropriated for the target application.

La educación física en los primeros años del franquismo (1939-1945)

La Educación Física tuvo una configuración específica en la instauración del régimen franquista, por intereses ideológicos y políticos, que determinó sus características y evolución. En este estudio se aportan hechos y circunstancias para una mejor comprensión de las razones que llevaron a su dependencia del aparato político del Movimiento, separándola del ámbito educativo al que, en buena lógica, debió ser adscrita.

ANN and Fuzzy c-Means applied to environmental pollution prediction

Salamanca, situated in center of Mexico is among the cities which suffer most from the air pollution in Mexico. The vehicular park and the industry, as well as orography and climatic characteristics have propitiated the increment in pollutant concentration of Sulphur Dioxide (SO2). In this work, a Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network has been used to make the prediction of an hour ahead of pollutant concentration. A database used to train the Neural Network corresponds to historical time series of meteorological variables and air pollutant concentrations of SO2. Before the prediction, Fuzzy c-Means and K-means clustering algorithms have been implemented in order to find relationship among pollutant and meteorological variables. Our experiments with the proposed system show the importance of this set of meteorological variables on the prediction of SO2 pollutant concentrations and the neural network efficiency. The performance estimation is determined using the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE). The results showed that the information obtained in the clustering step allows a prediction of an hour ahead, with data from past 2 hours.

Analysis of the discharge capacity of radial-gated spillways using CFD and ANN - Oliana Dam case study.

The paper focuses on the analysis of radial-gated spillways, which is carried out by the solution of a numerical model based on the finite element method (FEM). The Oliana Dam is considered as a case study and the discharge capacity is predicted both by the application of a level-set-based free-surface solver and by the use of traditional empirical formulations. The results of the analysis are then used for training an artificial neural network to allow real-time predictions of the discharge in any situation of energy head and gate opening within the operation range of the reservoir. The comparison of the results obtained with the different methods shows that numerical models such as the FEM can be useful as a predictive tool for the analysis of the hydraulic performance of radial-gated spillways.

La censura del tema deportivo en la prensa durante la posguerra española (1939-1945)

La presente tesis doctoral pretende arrojar nueva luz sobre la utilización de la prensa durante los primeros años del franquismo. En concreto, el objetivo ha sido estudiar la censura del tema deportivo dentro del sistema censorio de los primeros años de posguerra civil en España, una área no estudiada hasta hoy y que entendemos fundamental para entender el desarrollo del deporte durante el llamado primer franquismo. Para ello, se estudiaron de manera pormenorizada los actores principales y los pasos básicos del proceso de censura; los métodos utilizados, tanto materiales como personales, para hacer efectiva ésta; y, por último, sus manifestaciones reales en el ámbito de la información deportiva: qué se censuró, por parte de quién, de qué forma y por qué motivos. De este modo, pretendemos llenar una de las lagunas de investigación que aún quedan dentro del estudio de la censura de prensa durante el franquismo. La metodología utilizada es la técnica historiográfica. Basado en el análisis crítico y en la interpretación de fuentes primarias, dicho método trata de establecer marcos históricos de referencia a través del estudio pormenorizado de las circunstancias del pasado. Ello implica una estructura algo distinta a la de las tesis doctorales de otras áreas de estudio puesto que, exceptuando la introducción, toda la tesis es la exposición de los resultados de la investigación llevada a cabo. Se ha utilizado cuantiosa documentación de los archivos General de la Administracion (Alcalá de Henares) y Centrale dello Stato (Roma) no manejada anteriormente por ningún investigador. La prensa periódica de la época y la legislación que afecta a nuestro tema de estudio también han sido ampliamente investigadas, tanto en el contexto español como en el italiano. Nuestra investigación arroja los siguientes resultados. Efectivamente, existió censura de prensa en el tema deportivo en las siguientes temáticas fundamentales: cuestiones económicas, autoridades y jerarquías, uso del lenguaje y comportamiento de los deportistas. En la mayor parte de los casos, la censura se ejerce en la información deportiva por razones ajenas al propio deporte. No se puede afirmar que existan diferencias en el tratamiento general entre medios de la Prensa del Movimiento y otros de titularidad privada o eclesiástica, si bien la aplicación de la censura no fue homogénea sino arbitraria en muchos casos. El sistema de censura de prensa español del primer franquismo toma la mayoría de sus rasgos del modelo fascista italiano, aunque tiene alguna característica propia como la censura previa y el catolicismo imperante. ABSTRACT This doctoral thesis aims to shed light on the use of press during the first years of francoism. The particular objective was to study the censorship of the sport topic into the general system of censorship carried out after the Spanish Civil War. It is a subject comparatively understudied to date but a key aspect to understand the development of sport during the so called early francoism. To this end, an in-depth study was made on key actors, main steps of censorship process, human and material methods used to ensure its effectiveness, and the actual manifestations in sports information area: what was censored, by whom, how and why. This should ensure us to fill the historiographical gap within the research on Francoʼs press censorship. Methodology used was historiographic research. It is based on critical analysis and interpretation of primary sources and seeks to establish historical reference frameworks tracing back the past in detail. It determines a different doctoral thesis structure in some aspects. Except the introduction, the whole document is the report and explanation of the results of research. A large amount of unexplored documents from the Archivo General de la Administración (Alcalá de Henares, Spain) and the Archivio Centrale dello Stato (Rome, Italy) has been used. The press of the period and legislation about our topic have also been analysed in detail both in Spain and Italy. Our research states these results. We can affirm that press censorship actually existed on sports topic in these thematic priorities: economical issues, authorities and hierarchies, use of language and sportsmen behaviours. In most cases, the censorship of sports information is exercised for reasons unconnected to sport. It cannot be concluded that general differences were applied in press censorship between State-owned media and private or church media although its implementation was non-uniform and arbitrary in many cases. The system of press censorship in Spain during the early francoism is clearly inspired by fascist Italy system copying most of its features although Spain had a few specific characteristics like prior censorship and catholicism.

Building resilience to water scarcity in Southern Spain: A case study of rice farming in Doñana protected wetlands

Agricultural water management needs to evolve in view of increased water scarcity, especially when farming and natural protected areas are closely linked. In the study site of Don?ana (southern Spain), water is shared by rice producers and a world heritage biodiversity ecosystem. Our aim is to contribute to defining adaptation strategies that may build resilience to increasing water scarcity and minimize water conflicts among agricultural and natural systems. The analytical framework links a participatory process with quantitative methods to prioritize the adaptation options. Bottom-up proposed adaptation measures are evaluated by a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) that includes both socioeconomic criteria and criteria of the ecosystem services affected by the adaptation options. Criteria weights are estimated by three different methods?analytic hierarchy process, Likert scale and equal weights?that are then compared. Finally, scores from an MCA are input into an optimization model used to determine the optimal land-use distribution in order to maximize utility and land-use diversification according to different scenarios of funds and water availability. While our results show a spectrum of perceptions of priorities among stakeholders, there is one overriding theme that is to define a way to restore part of the rice fields to natural wetlands. These results hold true under the current climate scenario and evenmore so under an increased water scarcity scenario.

Towards mitigation of greenhouse gases by small changes in farming practices: understanding local barriers in Spain.

Small changes in agricultural practices have a large potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the implementation of such practices at the local level is often limited by a range of barriers. Understanding the barriers is essential for defining effective measures, the actual mitigation potential of the measures, and the policy needs to ensure implementation. Here we evaluate behavioural, cultural, and policy barriers for implementation of mitigation practices at the local level that imply small changes to farmers. The choice of potential mitigation practices relevant to the case study is based on a literature review of previous empirical studies. Two methods that include the stakeholders? involvement (experts and farmers) are undertaken for the prioritization of these potential practices: (a) Multi-criteria analysis (MCA) of the choices of an expert panel and (b) Analysis of barriers to implementation based on a survey of farmers. The MCA considers two future climate scenarios ? current climate and a drier and warmer climate scenario. Results suggest that all potential selected practices are suitable for mitigation considering multiple criteria in both scenarios. Nevertheless, if all the barriers for implementation had the same influence, the preferred mitigation practices in the case study would be changes in fertilization management and use of cover crops. The identification of barriers for the implementation of the practices is based on the econometric analysis of surveys given to farmers. Results show that farmers? environmental concerns, financial incentives and access to technical advice are the main factors that define their barriers to implementation. These results may contribute to develop effective mitigation policy to be included in the 2020 review of the European Union Common Agricultural Policy.

Antonio Palacios Ramilo (1874-1945): la arquitectura del metropolitano y su idea de metrópoli

Este póster es un resumen de mi tesis, que se ocupa del estudio de las intervenciones arquitectónicas que Antonio Palacios realizó para la Compañía Metropolitano Alfonso XIII entre los años 1917 y 1945. Los objetivos contemplados son: - Análisis de los espacios arquitectónicos, tanto subterráneos (estaciones, pasillos, vestíbulos), como exteriores (bocas y templetes, edificios auxiliares, subestaciones, cocheras...). -Estudio formal y constructivo de elementos característicos; materiales, sistemas, procedimientos. - Elementos estratégicos, decorativos, de diseño... empleados por Palacios en la configuración de la red del metropolitano; la constitución de una imagen corporativa. - Relación de la intervención de Palacios con actuaciones similares en otras ciudades europeas. - Repercusión urbana del tendido de la red de Metro en el momento en que trabaja Palacios; su relación con Otamendi, operaciones urbanas como la nueva avenida de Reina Victoria y la colonia Metropolitana. -Vinculación del arquitecto con la nueva escala metropolitana, reflejada ésta en singulares y, por lo general, "ideales", proyectos urbanos del autor. -Contribución, en definitiva, a un mejor conocimiento de la figura de Palacios, a través de su obra industrial construida.