Las presentaciones de trabajo en lengua inglesa: una propuesta de curso on-line.

Desde la explosión de crecimiento de internet que comenzó en los años 90, se han ido creando y poniendo a disposición de los usuarios diversas herramientas para compartir información y servicios de diversas formas, desde el nacimiento del primer navegador hasta nuestros días, donde hay infinidad de lenguajes aplicables al ámbito web. En esta fase de crecimiento, en primer lugar, de cara a usuarios individuales, saldrían herramientas que permitirían a cada cual hacer su web personal, con sus contenidos expuestos. Más adelante se fue generando el fenómeno “comunidad”, con, por ejemplo, foros, o webs en las que había múltiples usuarios que disfrutaban de contenidos o servicios que la web ofreciese. Este crecimiento del mundo web en lo comunitario ha avanzado en muchas ramas,entre ellas, por supuesto, la educacional, surgiendo plataformas como la que es base del proyecto que a continuación se presenta, y herramienta básica y prácticamente ya imprescindible en la enseñanza universitaria: Moodle. Moodle es una herramienta diseñada para compatir recursos y diseñar actividades para el usuario potencial, complementando su aprendizaje en aula, o incluso siendo una vía autónoma de aprendizaje en sí misma. Se ha realizado un estudio sobre el estado de saludo de los contenidos que se exponen en Moodle, y se ha encontrado que una gran mayoría de los cursos que se pueden visitar tienen un gran número de carencias. Por un lado, hay pocos con material original explotado exclusivamente para el curso, y, si tienen material original, no se ha observado una especial atención por la maquetación. Por otro lado, hay muchos otros sin material original, y, en ambos casos, no se ha encontrado ningún curso que ofrezca material audiovisual exclusivo para el curso, presentando algunos en su lugar material audiovisual encontrado en la red (Youtube, etc). A la vista de estos hechos, se ha realizado un proyecto que intenta aportar soluciones ante estas carencias, y se presenta un curso procedente de diversas referencias bibliográficas, para la parte textual, y material audiovisual original e inédito que también se ha explotado específicamente para este curso. Este material ha sido por un lado vídeo, que se ha visionado, editado y subtitulado con software de libre distribución, y por otro lado, audio, que complementa un completo glosario que se ha añadido como extra al curso y cuyo planteamiento no se ha encontrado en ningún curso online de los revisados. Todo esto se ha envuelto en una maquetación cuidada que ha sido fruto del estudio de los lenguajes web html y CSS, de forma que, por un lado, el curso sea un lugar agradable en el que aprender dentro de internet, y por otro, se pudiesen realizar ciertas operaciones que sin estos conocimientos habrían sido imposibles, como la realización del glosario o la incrustación de imágenes y vídeos. A su vez, se ha tratado de dar un enfoque didáctico a toda la memoria del proyecto, de forma que pueda ser de utilidad a un usuario futuro que quisiese profundizar en los usos de Moodle, introducirse en el lenguaje web, o introducirse en el mundo de la edición de vídeo. ABSTRACT: Since the explosion of Internet growth beginning in the 90s, many tools have been created and made available for users to share information and services in various ways, from the birth of the first browser until today, where there are plenty of web programming languages. This growth stage would give individual users tools that would allow everyone to make an own personal website, with their contents exposed. Later, the "community" phenomenon appeared with, for example, forums, or websites where multiple users enjoyed the content or web services that those websites offered. Also, this growth in the web community world has progressed in many fields, including education, with the emerge of platforms such as the one that this project uses as its basis, and which is the basic and imperative tool in college education: Moodle. Moodle is a tool designed to share resources and design activities for the potential user, completing class learning, or even letting this user learn in an autonomous way. In this project a study on the current situation of the content present in Moodle courses around the net has been carried out, and it has been found that most of them lack of original material exploited exclusively for the courses, and if they have original material, there has been not observed concern on the layout where that material lies. On the other hand, there are many other with non original material, and in both cases, there has not been found any course that offers audio- visual material made specifically for the course, instead of presenting some audiovisual material found on the net (Youtube, etc). In view of these facts, the project presented here seeks to provide solutions to these shortcomings, presenting a course with original material exploited from various references, and unpublished audioevisual material which also has been exploited specifically for this course. This material is, on one hand, video, which has been viewed, edited and subtitled with free software, and on the other, audio, which complements a comprehensive glossary that has been added as an extra feature to the course and whose approach was not found in any of the online courses reviewed. All of this has been packaged in a neat layout that has been the result of the study of web languages HTML and CSS, so that first, the course was a pleasant place to learn on the internet, and second, certain operations could be performed which without this knowledge would have been impossible, as the glossary design or embedding images and videos. Furthermore, a didactic approach has been adopted to the entire project memory, so it can be useful to a future user who wanted to go deeper on the uses of Moodle, containing an intro into the web language, or in the world video editing.

Supporting eradication of maternal child malnutrition in developing countries: a case from Nicaragua scenario.

World Health Organization actively stresses the importance of health, nutrition and well-being of the mother to foster children development. This issue is critical in the rural areas of developing countries where monitoring of health status of children is hardly performed since population suffers from a lack of access to health care. The aim of this research is to design, implement and deploy an e-health information and communication system to support health care in 26 rural communities of Cusmapa, Nicaragua. The final solution consists of an hybrid WiMAX/WiFi architecture that provides good quality communications through VoIP taking advantage of low cost WiFi mobile devices. Thus, a WiMAX base station was installed in the health center to provide a radio link with the rural health post "El Carrizo" sited 7,4 km. in line of sight. This service makes possible personal broadband voice and data communication facilities with the health center based on WiFi enabled devices such as laptops and cellular phones without communications cost. A free software PBX was installed at "San José de Cusmapa" health care site to enable communications for physicians, nurses and a technician through mobile telephones with IEEE 802.11 b/g protocol and SIP provided by the project. Additionally, the rural health post staff (midwives, brigade) received two mobile phones with these same features. In a complementary way, the deployed health information system is ready to analyze the distribution of maternal-child population at risk and the distribution of diseases on a geographical baseline. The system works with four information layers: fertile women, children, people with disabilities and diseases. Thus, authorized staff can obtain reports about prenatal monitoring tasks, status of the communities, malnutrition, and immunization control. Data need to be updated by health care staff in order to timely detect the source of problem to implement measures addressed to alleviate and improve health status population permanently. Ongoing research is focused on a mobile platform that collects and automatically updates in the information system, the height and weight of the children locally gathered in the remote communities. This research is being granted by the program Millennium Rural Communities of the Technical University of Madrid.

Comparative assessment of global irradiation from a satellite estimate model (CM SAF) and on-ground measurements (SIAR): a Spanish case study

An analysis and comparison of daily and yearly solar irradiation from the satellite CM SAF database and a set of 301 stations from the Spanish SIAR network is performed using data of 2010 and 2011. This analysis is completed with the comparison of the estimations of effective irradiation incident on three different tilted planes (fixed, two axis tracking, north-south hori- zontal axis) using irradiation from these two data sources. Finally, a new map of yearly values of irradiation both on the horizontal plane and on inclined planes is produced mixing both sources with geostatistical techniques (kriging with external drift, KED) The Mean Absolute Difference (MAD) between CM SAF and SIAR is approximately 4% for the irradiation on the horizontal plane and is comprised between 5% and 6% for the irradiation incident on the inclined planes. The MAD between KED and SIAR, and KED and CM SAF is approximately 3% for the irradiation on the horizontal plane and is comprised between 3% and 4% for the irradiation incident on the inclined planes. The methods have been implemented using free software, available as supplementary ma- terial, and the data sources are freely available without restrictions.

Electrical Power Fluctuations in a Network of DC/AC inverters in a Large PV Plant: relationship between correlation, distance and time scale

This paper analyzes the correlation between the fluctuations of the electrical power generated by the ensemble of 70 DC/AC inverters from a 45.6 MW PV plant. The use of real electrical power time series from a large collection of photovoltaic inverters of a same plant is an impor- tant contribution in the context of models built upon simplified assumptions to overcome the absence of such data. This data set is divided into three different fluctuation categories with a clustering proce- dure which performs correctly with the clearness index and the wavelet variances. Afterwards, the time dependent correlation between the electrical power time series of the inverters is esti- mated with the wavelet transform. The wavelet correlation depends on the distance between the inverters, the wavelet time scales and the daily fluctuation level. Correlation values for time scales below one minute are low without dependence on the daily fluctuation level. For time scales above 20 minutes, positive high correlation values are obtained, and the decay rate with the distance depends on the daily fluctuation level. At intermediate time scales the correlation depends strongly on the daily fluctuation level. The proposed methods have been implemented using free software. Source code is available as supplementary material.

Comparative assessment of global irradiation from a satellite estimate model (CM SAF) and on-ground measurements (SIAR): a Spanish case study

An analysis and comparison of daily and yearly solar irradiation from the satellite CM SAF database and a set of 301 stations from the Spanish SIAR network is performed using data of 2010 and 2011. This analysis is completed with the comparison of the estimations of effective irradiation incident on three different tilted planes (fixed, two axis tracking, north-south hori- zontal axis) using irradiation from these two data sources. Finally, a new map of yearly values of irradiation both on the horizontal plane and on inclined planes is produced mixing both sources with geostatistical techniques (kriging with external drift, KED) The Mean Absolute Difference (MAD) between CM SAF and SIAR is approximately 4% for the irradiation on the horizontal plane and is comprised between 5% and 6% for the irradiation incident on the inclined planes. The MAD between KED and SIAR, and KED and CM SAF is approximately 3% for the irradiation on the horizontal plane and is comprised between 3% and 4% for the irradiation incident on the inclined planes. The methods have been implemented using free software, available as supplementary ma- terial, and the data sources are freely available without restrictions.

Evaluación del potencial fotovoltaico del Campus Sur de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

El presente proyecto engloba el estudio del potencial fotovoltaico del Campus Sur de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Este estudio se divide en tres partes. En primer lugar, se calcula la productividad del campus. En segundo lugar, se diseña la disposición de los generadores fotovoltaicos en los terrenos disponibles. Como paso final, se realiza un estudio económico de distintos supuestos. Para realizar los cálculos de productividad, se utiliza IESPRO, un programa desarrollado en Matlab©, junto con una aplicación complementaria desarrollada en el mismo lenguaje. Gracias a estos dos software es posible obtener una estimación muy realista de la energía anual generada. El aprovechamiento del terreno se estudia con la ayuda del software libre Sketchup©. Gracias a esta aplicación, es posible la reconstrucción del Campus Sur en 3D. Dicha reconstrucción incluye edificaciones y vegetación, facilitando la distribución de los generadores fotovoltaicos en todas las zonas, pudiendo evitar zonas con sombreado o no aptas para la instalación, y maximizando la utilización del terreno. El conjunto de los análisis anteriores permiten determinar el rendimiento energético del Campus Sur en sus distintas configuraciones, es decir, únicamente instalando generadores fotovoltaicos en las azoteas de los edificios, o la instalación en todo el terreno disponible, el cual incluye las azoteas y los descampados. Este rendimiento energético, comparado con el consumo anual de todo el campus, permite estimar el coste financiero de llevar a cabo la instalación y su rentabilidad, todo ello detallado en el estudio económico. El estudio económico se basa en dos supuestos, el primero de ellos, únicamente tiene en cuenta la instalación en las azoteas de los edificios. El segundo estudio, incluye los descampados y las azoteas. Con estos dos estudios se puede verificar la viabilidad del proyecto, facilitando datos concretos sobre las ventajas de cada uno de ellos. ABSTRACT. The aim of this work is to study the photovoltaic potential in the South Campus of the Polytechnic University of Madrid. The work has been divided into three parts. The first one is focused on the calculus of the solar harvesting productivity of the South Campus. The second part is centered in the development of the complete photovoltaic system layout design, taking into account the available placement. In the third part, an economic study considering several different scenarios is carried out. In order to calculate the solar productivity, the MATLAB based software tool IESPRO together with a complementary application developed in MATLAB as well, have been used. These programs allow to obtain an accurate estimation of the generated annual energy. The land use is studied with the help of free software SketchUp. With this application, it is possible to rebuild the South Campus in 3D. This reconstruction includes: buildings and vegetation, facilitating the distribution of photovoltaic generators in all areas, to avoid shaded or unsuitable areas for the installation, and maximizing land use. All the above analysis allow determining the energy efficiency of the South Campus for two different configurations, i.e., installing solar photovoltaic arrays only on the roofs of the buildings, or installing solar photovoltaic arrays throughout the land available, including vacant lots and rooftops. The facilities final cost and the cost effectiveness are estimated by comparing the energy efficiency with the South Campus total consumption. This study is based on two different scenarios: the first one considers the solar arrays installation in the buildings roofs, and the second one includes in the layout the vacant lots and rooftops. These studies allow verifying the feasibility of the project, and provide specific information related to the advantages and drawbacks of each scenario.

Seismic performance case study of bridge pile cap foundation

The purpose of this report is to build a model that represents, as best as possible, the seismic behavior of a pile cap bridge foundation by a nonlinear static (analysis) procedure. It will consist of a reproduction of a specimen already built in the laboratory. This model will carry out a pseudo static lateral and horizontal pushover test that will be applied onto the pile cap until the failure of the structure, the formation of a plastic hinge in the piles due to the horizontal deformation, occurs. The pushover test consists of increasing the horizontal load over the pile cap until the horizontal displacement wanted at the height of the pile cap is reached. The output of this model will be a Skeleton curve that will plot the lateral load (kN) over the displacement (m), so that the maximum movement the pile cap foundation can reach before its failure can be calculated. This failure will be achieved when the load at that specific shift is equal to 85% of the maximum. The pile cap foundation finite element model was based on pile cap built for a laboratory experiment already carried out by the Master student Deming Zhang at Tongji University. Two different pile caps were tested with a difference in height above the ground level. While one has 0:3m, the other rises 0:8m above the ground level. The computer model was calibrated using the experimental results. The pile cap foundation will be programmed in a finite element environment called OpenSees (Open System for Earthquake Engineering Simulation [28]). This environment is a free software developed by Berkeley University specialized, as it name says, in the study of earthquakes and its effects on structures. This specialization is the main reason why it is being used for building this model as it makes it possible to build any finite element model, and perform several analysis in order to get the results wanted. The development of OpenSees is sponsored by the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center through the National Science Foundation engineering and education centers program. OpenSees uses Tcl language to program it, which is a language similar to C++.

Técnicas y herramientas de análisis de vulnerabilidades de una red

El presente documento pretende ofrecer una visión general del estado del conjunto de herramientas disponibles para el análisis y explotación de vulnerabilidades en sistemas informáticos y más concretamente en redes de ordenadores. Por un lado se ha procedido a describir analíticamente el conjunto de herramientas de software libre que se ofrecen en la actualidad para analizar y detectar vulnerabilidades en sistemas informáticos. Se ha descrito el funcionamiento, las opciones, y la motivación de uso para dichas herramientas, comparándolas con otras en algunos casos, describiendo sus diferencias en otros, y justificando su elección en todos ellos. Por otro lado se ha procedido a utilizar dichas herramientas analizadas con el objetivo de desarrollar ejemplos concretos de uso con sus diferentes parámetros seleccionados observando su comportamiento y tratando de discernir qué datos son útiles para obtener información acerca de las vulnerabilidades existentes en el sistema. Además, se ha desarrollado un caso práctico en el que se pone en práctica el conocimiento teórico presentado de forma que el lector sea capaz de asentar lo aprendido comprobando mediante un caso real la utilidad de las herramientas descritas. Los resultados obtenidos han demostrado que el análisis y detección de vulnerabilidades por parte de un administrador de sistemas competente permite ofrecer a la organización en cuestión un conjunto de técnicas para mejorar su seguridad informática y así evitar problemas con potenciales atacantes. ABSTRACT. This paper tries to provide an overview of the features of the set of tools available for the analysis and exploitation of vulnerabilities in computer systems and more specifically in computer networks. On the one hand we pretend analytically describe the set of free software tools that are offered today to analyze and detect vulnerabilities in computer systems. We have described the operation, options, and motivation to use these tools in comparison with other in some case, describing their differences in others, and justifying them in all cases. On the other hand we proceeded to use these analyzed tools in order to develop concrete examples of use with different parameters selected by observing their behavior and trying to discern what data are useful for obtaining information on existing vulnerabilities in the system. In addition, we have developed a practical case in which we put in practice the theoretical knowledge presented so that the reader is able to settle what has been learned through a real case verifying the usefulness of the tools previously described. The results have shown that vulnerabilities analysis and detection made by a competent system administrator can provide to an organization a set of techniques to improve its systems and avoid any potential attacker.

Aprendizaje, simulación y desarrollo sobre las tecnologías de voz y datos

El objetivo del Proyecto Fin de Carrera (PFC) es el de conocer, simular y crear una red VoIP sobre una red de datos en un entorno docente, más concretamente, en la asignatura Redes y Servicios de telecomunicación en Grado en Ingeniería de Telecomunicaciones en la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). Una vez se adquieran los conocimientos necesarios, se propondrán una serie de prácticas para que los alumnos se vayan familiarizando con el software y hardware utilizados, de manera que, se irá subiendo el grado de dificultad hasta que puedan realizar una auténtica red VoIP por sí mismos. A parte de la realización de las prácticas, los alumnos deberán pasar una prueba de los conocimientos adquiridos al final de cada práctica mediante preguntas tipo test. Los sistemas elegidos para la implantación de una red VoIP en los módulos de laboratorio son: 3CX System Phone y Asteisk-Trixbox. Los cuales, son capaces de trabajar mediante gestores gráficos para simplificar el nivel de dificultad de la configuración. 3CX es una PBX que trabaja sobre Windows y se basa exclusivamente en el protocolo SIP. Esto facilita el manejo para usuarios que solo han usado Windows sin quitar funcionalidades que tienen otras centralitas en otros sistemas operativos. La versión demo activa todas las opciones para poder familiarizarse con este sistema. Por otro lado, Asterisk trabaja en todas las plataformas, aunque se ha seleccionado trabajar sobre Linux. Esta selección se ha realizado porque el resto de plataformas limitan la configuración de la IP PBX, esta es de código abierto y permite realizar todo tipo de configuraciones. Además, es un software gratuito, esto es una ventaja a la hora de configurar novedades o resolver problemas, ya que hay muchos especialistas que dan soporte y ayudan de forma gratuita. La voz sobre Internet es habitualmente conocida como VoIP (Voice Over IP), debido a que IP (Internet Protocol) es el protocolo de red de Internet. Como tecnología, la VoIP no es solo un paso más en el crecimiento de las comunicaciones por voz, sino que supone integrar las comunicaciones de datos y las de voz en una misma red, y en concreto, en la red con mayor cobertura mundial: Internet. La mayor importancia y motivación de este Proyecto Fin de Carrera es que el alumno sea capaz de llegar a un entorno laboral y pueda tener unos conocimientos capaces de afrontar esta tecnología que esta tan a la orden del día. La importancia que estas redes tienen y tendrán en un futuro muy próximo en el mundo de la informática y las comunicaciones. Cabe decir, que se observa que estas disciplinas tecnológicas evolucionan a pasos agigantados y se requieren conocimientos más sólidos. ABSTRACT. The objective of my final project during my studies in university was, to simulate and create a VoIP network over a data network in a teaching environment, more specifically on the subject of telecommunications networks and services in Telecommunication Engineering Degree in Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM). Once acquiring the necessary knowledge a number of practices were proposed to the students to become familiar with the software and hardware used, so that it would rise to the level of difficulty that they could make a real VoIP network for themselves. Parts of the experimental practices were that students must pass a test of knowledge acquired at the end of each practice by choice questions. The systems chosen for the implementation of a VoIP network in the laboratory modules are: 3CX Phone System and Asteisk - Trixbox. Which were able to work with graphics operators to simplify the difficulty level of the configuration. 3CX is a PBX that works on Windows and is based solely on the SIP protocol. This facilitates handling for users who have only used Windows without removing functionality with other exchanges in other operating systems. Active demo version all options to get to grips with this system. Moreover, Asterisk works on all platforms, but has been selected to work on Linux. This selection was made because other platforms limit the IP PBX configuration, as this is open source and allows all kinds of configurations. Also, Linux is a free software and an advantage when configuring new or solve problems, as there are many specialists that support and help for free. Voice over Internet is commonly known as VoIP (Voice Over IP), because IP (Internet Protocol) is the Internet protocol network. As technology, VoIP is not just another step in the growth of voice communications, but communications of integrating data and voice on a single network, and in particular, in the network with the largest global coverage: Internet. The increased importance and motivation of this Thesis is that the student is able to reach a working environment and may have some knowledge to deal with these technologies that is so much the order of the day. The importances of these networks have and will be of essences in the very near future in the world of computing and communications. It must be said it is observed that these technological disciplines evolve by leaps and bounds stronger knowledge required.

Ciberdelincuencia. Desarrollo y persecución tecnológica

Cada día nos acercamos más a un mundo globalizado, en que Internet está marcando el paso. Este proyecto fin de carrera es una foto del estado actual de la ciberdelincuencia. La ciberdelincuencia y el ciberdelito son conceptos que difieren depende de quién los defina, en este proyecto vemos algunas de estas definiciones y los diferentes tipos de ciberdelito. También intenta hacer un pronóstico razonado de lo que será el ciberdelito en los próximos años. El proyecto hace un recorrido por la jurisprudencia y cómo los estados intentan luchar contra ella y ajustar su legislación al momento actual. Destacando además la problemática de perseguir delitos que se producen en distintos países y en los que en muchos casos el delincuente se encuentra en un país diferente de la víctima. Hace un recorrido por quien o puede ser víctima del ciberdelito, viendo como están aumentando las víctimas potenciales gracias a la gran penetración de Internet debida a la proliferación de los dispositivos móviles. También cómo se están estableciendo mecanismos a nivel mundial de colaboración entre estados, tanto a nivel policial y judicial como de investigación y desarrollo. Los ciberdelincuentes aprovechan las características implícitas de Internet, buscando ocultarse, por ello se dedica un capítulo de este proyecto a las principales redes de ocultación, conocidas como redes oscuras. En esta parte se hace especial hincapié en el uso de la red TOR, principal medio de ocultación a nivel mundial, y cómo funciona técnicamente, ya que sus definiciones y protocolos son conocidos al ser software libre. Una vez conocido que ciberdelitos hay y como se producen, recorremos los distintos medios para la defensa y mitigación de los distintos ataques, esta parte del proyecto intenta desde un punto técnico acercarnos a lo que podemos hacer para defendernos, aunque algunos de los ataques son prácticamente imposibles de perseguir. Además de ver cómo defendernos de los posibles ataques dirigidos vemos cómo proteger las comunicaciones, a través principalmente, del cifrado de todo lo que enviamos a través de Internet. ABSTRACT. Every day we are moving to a global world, Internet is leading this change. This thesis end of grade is a picture of the current state of the cybercrime. Cybercrime is a concept that differ depending on who is defining it. This document shows some of these definitions and the different types of cybercrime. Also it tries to make a reasoned forecast about the cybercrime in the near future. The document run through the jurisprudence and how the states tries to adjust its legislation to the current moment. Emphasizing the problematic to prosecute crimes that are committed in different countries and crimes of which the cybercriminal is in a different country to the victim. In addition, the document define who may be a victim of cybercrime and how the number of potential victims are increasing because of the growth of the Internet penetration rate due to the proliferation of mobile devices. Also it shows how the worldwide mechanisms are being established to collaborate among states on police and judicial context, and also on the research and development. Cybercriminals exploit the characteristics of the Internet to hide from police, a chapter of this thesis talks about the nets known as darknets. This part emphasis on the use of the TOR network and how it works technically. TOR is the main net to communicate on the Internet anonymously. We can know how it works because it is free software and the specifications are public. Once that we know how the cybercrime work and how many types are, we study the different ways to defense and mitigate the effects of attacks. In this part of the thesis we approach what we can do to defend our systems with technical perspective, even if some of attacks are impossible to pursue. Also, we explain how to keep our communications private, mainly though the encrypting methods when we transmit data over the Internet.

Dynamic behaviour of underspanned suspension road bridges under traffic loads

Underspanned suspension bridges are structures with important economical and aesthetic advantages, due to their high structural efficiency. However, road bridges of this typology are still uncommon because of limited knowledge about this structural system. In particular, there remains some uncertainty over the dynamic behaviour of these bridges, due to their extreme lightness. The vibrations produced by vehicles crossing the viaduct are one of the main concerns. In this work, traffic-induced dynamic effects on this kind of viaduct are addressed by means of vehicle-bridge dynamic interaction models. A finite element method is used for the structure, and multibody dynamic models for the vehicles, while interaction is represented by means of the penalty method. Road roughness is included in this model in such a way that the fact that profiles under left and right tyres are different, but not independent, is taken into account. In addition, free software {PRPgenerator) to generate these profiles is presented in this paper. The structural dynamic sensitivity of underspanned suspension bridges was found to be considerable, as well as the dynamic amplification factors and deck accelerations. It was also found that vehicle speed has a relevant influence on the results. In addition, the impact of bridge deformation on vehicle vibration was addressed, and the effect on the comfort of vehicle users was shown to be negligible.

MIA - a free and open source software for gray scale medical image analysis

Background Gray scale images make the bulk of data in bio-medical image analysis, and hence, the main focus of many image processing tasks lies in the processing of these monochrome images. With ever improving acquisition devices, spatial and temporal image resolution increases, and data sets become very large. Various image processing frameworks exists that make the development of new algorithms easy by using high level programming languages or visual programming. These frameworks are also accessable to researchers that have no background or little in software development because they take care of otherwise complex tasks. Specifically, the management of working memory is taken care of automatically, usually at the price of requiring more it. As a result, processing large data sets with these tools becomes increasingly difficult on work station class computers. One alternative to using these high level processing tools is the development of new algorithms in a languages like C++, that gives the developer full control over how memory is handled, but the resulting workflow for the prototyping of new algorithms is rather time intensive, and also not appropriate for a researcher with little or no knowledge in software development. Another alternative is in using command line tools that run image processing tasks, use the hard disk to store intermediate results, and provide automation by using shell scripts. Although not as convenient as, e.g. visual programming, this approach is still accessable to researchers without a background in computer science. However, only few tools exist that provide this kind of processing interface, they are usually quite task specific, and don’t provide an clear approach when one wants to shape a new command line tool from a prototype shell script. Results The proposed framework, MIA, provides a combination of command line tools, plug-ins, and libraries that make it possible to run image processing tasks interactively in a command shell and to prototype by using the according shell scripting language. Since the hard disk becomes the temporal storage memory management is usually a non-issue in the prototyping phase. By using string-based descriptions for filters, optimizers, and the likes, the transition from shell scripts to full fledged programs implemented in C++ is also made easy. In addition, its design based on atomic plug-ins and single tasks command line tools makes it easy to extend MIA, usually without the requirement to touch or recompile existing code. Conclusion In this article, we describe the general design of MIA, a general purpouse framework for gray scale image processing. We demonstrated the applicability of the software with example applications from three different research scenarios, namely motion compensation in myocardial perfusion imaging, the processing of high resolution image data that arises in virtual anthropology, and retrospective analysis of treatment outcome in orthognathic surgery. With MIA prototyping algorithms by using shell scripts that combine small, single-task command line tools is a viable alternative to the use of high level languages, an approach that is especially useful when large data sets need to be processed.

Modification and Developer Metrics at the Function Level: Metrics for the Study of the Evolution of a Software Project

Software evolution, and particularly its growth, has been mainly studied at the file (also sometimes referred as module) level. In this paper we propose to move from the physical towards a level that includes semantic information by using functions or methods for measuring the evolution of a software system. We point out that use of functions-based metrics has many advantages over the use of files or lines of code. We demonstrate our approach with an empirical study of two Free/Open Source projects: a community-driven project, Apache, and a company-led project, Novell Evolution. We discovered that most functions never change; when they do their number of modifications is correlated with their size, and that very few authors who modify each; finally we show that the departure of a developer from a software project slows the evolution of the functions that she authored.

Quantitative Determination of the Relationship between Internal Validity and Bias in Software Engineering Experiments: Consequences for Systematic Literature Reviews

Quality assessment is one of the activities performed as part of systematic literature reviews. It is commonly accepted that a good quality experiment is bias free. Bias is considered to be related to internal validity (e.g., how adequately the experiment is planned, executed and analysed). Quality assessment is usually conducted using checklists and quality scales. It has not yet been proven;however, that quality is related to experimental bias. Aim: Identify whether there is a relationship between internal validity and bias in software engineering experiments. Method: We built a quality scale to determine the quality of the studies, which we applied to 28 experiments included in two systematic literature reviews. We proposed an objective indicator of experimental bias, which we applied to the same 28 experiments. Finally, we analysed the correlations between the quality scores and the proposed measure of bias. Results: We failed to find a relationship between the global quality score (resulting from the quality scale) and bias; however, we did identify interesting correlations between bias and some particular aspects of internal validity measured by the instrument. Conclusions: There is an empirically provable relationship between internal validity and bias. It is feasible to apply quality assessment in systematic literature reviews, subject to limits on the internal validity aspects for consideration.

Studying the laws of software evolution in a long-lived FLOSS project

ome free, open-source software projects have been around for quite a long time, the longest living ones dating from the early 1980s. For some of them, detailed information about their evolution is available in source code management systems tracking all their code changes for periods of more than 15 years. This paper examines in detail the evolution of one of such projects, glibc, with the main aim of understanding how it evolved and how it matched Lehman's laws of software evolution. As a result, we have developed a methodology for studying the evolution of such long-lived projects based on the information in their source code management repository, described in detail several aspects of the history of glibc, including some activity and size metrics, and found how some of the laws of software evolution may not hold in this case