A speech interface for air traffic control terminals

Several issues concerning the current use of speech interfaces are discussed and the design and development of a speech interface that enables air traffic controllers to command and control their terminals by voice is presented. A special emphasis is made in the comparison between laboratory experiments and field experiments in which a set of ergonomics-related effects are detected that cannot be observed in the controlled laboratory experiments. The paper presents both objective and subjective performance obtained in field evaluation of the system with student controllers at an air traffic control (ATC) training facility. The system exhibits high word recognition test rates (0.4% error in Spanish and 1.5% in English) and low command error (6% error in Spanish and 10.6% error in English in the field tests). Subjective impression has also been positive, encouraging future development and integration phases in the Spanish ATC terminals designed by Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea (AENA).

An interpolation tool for aerodynamic mesh deformation problems based on octree decomposition

Desarrollo de algoritmo de interpolación basado en descomposición octree y funciones radiales de soporte compacto para movimiento de mallas en problemas aerolásticos

MotoStudent, un paradigma de emprendimiento y educación no formal en la universidad

Muchas instituciones de educación superior de todo el mundo llevan tiempo dinamizando sus enseñanzas a fin de transmitir a sus egresados las nuevas competencias que demanda la sociedad del siglo XXI. Afortunadamente en España también existe una fuerte apuesta por la flexibilización de la educación superior, que se materializa en iniciativas tales como la competición internacional MotoStudent.

ArDIn: Arte, diseño e ingeniería

Si indagamos en el tiempo, como por ejemplo en el Renacimiento, descubriremos que el arte, el diseño y la ingeniería han estado relacionados entre sí y que esa unión ha favorecido la creación de grandes obras a lo largo de la historia. Para entender este proceso será necesario definir cada concepto para a continuación buscar el hilo conductor de un discurso que haga visibles las fuentes comunes de las que todos ellos se nutren. El propósito es abrir una línea de investigación que, indagando en el pasado y apoyándonos en el presente, nos permita ampliar las miras para que el arte, el diseño y la ingeniería retomen el espacio común que han compartido en diversas épocas.

MotoStudent, un paradigma de emprendimiento y educación no formal en la universidad

Resumen: Muchas instituciones de educación superior de todo el mundo llevan tiempo dinamizando sus enseñanzas a fin de transmitir a sus egresados las nuevas competencias que demanda la sociedad del siglo XXI. Afortunadamente en España también existe una fuerte apuesta por la flexibilización de la educación superior, que se materializa en iniciativas tales como la competición internacional MotoStudent. Abstract: A lot of educational superior institutions around the world have been dynamized their teaching methods trying to transmit to their graduates the new abilities that demands the XX’s century society. Fortunately in Spain it also exist a hard bet for the flexibility of the high education, materialized in initiatives as the international “MotoStudent” contest.

El "Anclaje y Ajuste", una herramienta de Marketing para analizar el poder de las referencias en el Arte, el Diseño y la Arquitectura = "Anchoring and Adjustment", a Marketing tool to analyse references in Art, Design and Architecture

El "Anclaje y Ajuste", una herramienta de Marketing para analizar el poder de las referencias en el Arte, el Diseño y la Arquitectura = "Anchoring and Adjustment", a Marketing tool to analyse references in Art, Design and Architecture

On the Use of Matrix-Free Shift-Invert Strategies For Global Flow Instability Analysis

A novel time-stepping shift-invert algorithm for linear stability analysis of laminar flows in complex geometries is presented. This method, based on a Krylov subspace iteration, enables the solution of complex non-symmetric eigenvalue problems in a matrix-free framework. Validations and comparisons to the classical exponential method have been performed in three different cases: (i) stenotic flow, (ii) backward-facing step and (iii) lid-driven swirling flow. Results show that this new approach speeds up the required Krylov subspace iterations and has the capability of converging to specific parts of the global spectrum. It is shown that, although the exponential method remains the method of choice if leading eigenvalues are sought, the performance of the present method could be dramatically improved with the use of a preconditioner. In addition, as opposed to other methods, this strategy can be directly applied to any time-stepper, regardless of the temporal or spatial discretization of the latter.

Negative density dependence and environmental heterogeneity effects on tree ferns across succession in a tropical montane forest.

Although tree ferns are an important component of temperate and tropical forests, very little is known about their ecology. Their peculiar biology (e.g., dispersal by spores and two-phase life cycle) makes it difficult to extrapolate current knowledge on the ecology of other tree species to tree ferns. In this paper, we studied the effects of negative density dependence (NDD) and environmental heterogeneity on populations of two abundant tree fern species, Cyathea caracasana and Alsophila engelii, and how these effects change across a successional gradient. Species patterns harbor information on processes such as competition that can be easily revealed using point pattern analysis techniques. However, its detection may be difficult due to the confounded effects of habitat heterogeneity. Here, we mapped three forest plots along a successional gradient in the montane forests of Southern Ecuador. We employed homogeneous and inhomogeneous K and pair correlation functions to quantify the change in the spatial pattern of different size classes and a case-control design to study associations between juvenile and adult tree ferns. Using spatial estimates of the biomass of four functional tree types (short- and long-lived pioneer, shade- and partial shade-tolerant) as covariates, we fitted heterogeneous Poisson models to the point pattern of juvenile and adult tree ferns and explored the existence of habitat dependencies on these patterns. Our study revealed NDD effects for C. caracasana and strong environmental filtering underlying the pattern of A. engelii. We found that adult and juvenile populations of both species responded differently to habitat heterogeneity and in most cases this heterogeneity was associated with the spatial distribution of biomass of the four functional tree types. These findings show the effectiveness of factoring out environmental heterogeneity to avoid confounding factors when studying NDD and demonstrate the usefulness of covariate maps derived from mapped communities.

Dynamic topic-based adaptation of language models: a comparison between different approaches

This paper presents a dynamic LM adaptation based on the topic that has been identified on a speech segment. We use LSA and the given topic labels in the training dataset to obtain and use the topic models. We propose a dynamic language model adaptation to improve the recognition performance in "a two stages" AST system. The final stage makes use of the topic identification with two variants: the first on uses just the most probable topic and the other one depends on the relative distances of the topics that have been identified. We perform the adaptation of the LM as a linear interpolation between a background model and topic-based LM. The interpolation weight id dynamically adapted according to different parameters. The proposed method is evaluated on the Spanish partition of the EPPS speech database. We achieved a relative reduction in WER of 11.13% over the baseline system which uses a single blackground LM.

Acerca de la intervención de la universidad en la cooperación al desarrollo de base tecnológica. Algunos casos de agua y saneamiento en la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

La comunidad universitaria no podía ser ajena a las actividades de cooperación, cuyo principal objetivo es la transformación de la sociedad en busca de los eternos ideales de lograr una sociedad más justa, más libre, a través del desarrollo global sostenible. La universidad va definiendo su marco de intervención afianzando progresivamente su presencia en el mundo de la cooperación. Para ello cuenta con un apreciable potencial científico, técnico y organizativo en continua evolución. Se presentan las ideas básicas del marco de intervención específico orientado a la mejora del acceso a servicios básicos

Flow around a hemisphere-cylinder at high angle of attack and low Reynolds number. Part II: POD and DMD applied to reduced domains

Three-dimensional direct numerical simulations (DNS) have been performed on a finite-size hemispherecylinder model at angle of attack AoA = 20◦ and Reynolds numbers Re = 350 and 1000. Under these conditions, massive separation exists on the nose and lee-side of the cylinder, and at both Reynolds numbers the flow is found to be unsteady. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) are employed in order to study the primary instability that triggers unsteadiness at Re = 350. The dominant coherent flow structures identified at the lower Reynolds number are also found to exist at Re = 1000; the question is then posed whether the flow oscillations and structures found at the two Reynolds numbers are related. POD and DMD computations are performed using different subdomains of the DNS computational domain. Besides reducing the computational cost of the analyses, this also permits to isolate spatially localized oscillatory structures from other, more energetic structures present in the flow. It is found that POD and DMD are in general sensitive to domain truncation and noneducated choices of the subdomain may lead to inconsistent results. Analyses at Re = 350 show that the primary instability is related to the counter rotating vortex pair conforming the three-dimensional afterbody wake, and characterized by the frequency St ≈ 0.11, in line with results in the literature. At Re = 1000, vortex-shedding is present in the wake with an associated broadband spectrum centered around the same frequency. The horn/leeward vortices at the cylinder lee-side, upstream of the cylinder base, also present finite amplitude oscillations at the higher Reynolds number. The spatial structure of these oscillations, described by the POD modes, is easily differentiated from that of the wake oscillations. Additionally, the frequency spectra associated with the lee-side vortices presents well defined peaks, corresponding to St ≈ 0.11 and its few harmonics, as opposed to the broadband spectrum found at the wake.

Flow around a hemisphere-cylinder at high angle of attack and low Reynolds number. Part I: Experimental and numerical investigation

Three-dimensional Direct Numerical Simulations combined with Particle Image Velocimetry experiments have been performed on a hemisphere-cylinder at Reynolds number 1000 and angle of attack 20◦. At these flow conditions, a pair of vortices, so-called “horn” vortices, are found to be associated with flow separation. In order to understand the highly complex phenomena associated with this fully threedimensional massively separated flow, different structural analysis techniques have been employed: Proper Orthogonal and Dynamic Mode Decompositions, POD and DMD, respectively, as well as criticalpoint theory. A single dominant frequency associated with the von Karman vortex shedding has been identified in both the experimental and the numerical results. POD and DMD modes associated with this frequency were recovered in the analysis. Flow separation was also found to be intrinsically linked to the observed modes. On the other hand, critical-point theory has been applied in order to highlight possible links of the topology patterns over the surface of the body with the computed modes. Critical points and separation lines on the body surface show in detail the presence of different flow patterns in the base flow: a three-dimensional separation bubble and two pairs of unsteady vortices systems, the horn vortices, mentioned before, and the so-called “leeward” vortices. The horn vortices emerge perpendicularly from the body surface at the separation region. On the other hand, the leeward vortices are originated downstream of the separation bubble, as a result of the boundary layer separation. The frequencies associated with these vortical structures have been quantified.