A new surface joining technique for the design of shoe lasts

The footwear industry is a traditional craft sector, where technological advances are difficult to implement owing to the complexity of the processes being carried out, and the level of precision demanded by most of them. The shoe last joining operation is one clear example, where two halves from different lasts are put together, following a specifically traditional process, to create a new one. Existing surface joining techniques analysed in this paper are not well adapted to shoe last design and production processes, which makes their implementation in the industry difficult. This paper presents an alternative surface joining technique, inspired by the traditional work of lastmakers. This way, lastmakers will be able to easily adapt to the new tool and make the most out of their know-how. The technique is based on the use of curve networks that are created on the surfaces to be joined, instead of using discrete data. Finally, a series of joining tests are presented, in which real lasts were successfully joined using a commercial last design software. The method has shown to be valid, efficient, and feasible within the sector.

Measurement of wide frequency range structural microvibrations with a pocket digital camera and sub-pixel techniques

Analysis of vibrations and displacements is a hot topic in structural engineering. Although there is a wide variety of methods for vibration analysis, direct measurement of displacements in the mid and high frequency range is not well solved and accurate devices tend to be very expensive. Low-cost systems can be achieved by applying adequate image processing algorithms. In this paper, we propose the use of a commercial pocket digital camera, which is able to register more than 420 frames per second (fps) at low resolution, for accurate measuring of small vibrations and displacements. The method is based on tracking elliptical targets with sub-pixel accuracy. Our proposal is demonstrated at a 10 m distance with a spatial resolution of 0.15 mm. A practical application over a simple structure is given, and the main parameters of an attenuated movement of a steel column after an impulsive impact are determined with a spatial accuracy of 4 µm.

Measurement of wide frequency range structural microvibrations with a pocket digital camera and sub-pixel techniques

Analysis of vibrations and displacements is a hot topic in structural engineering. Although there is a wide variety of methods for vibration analysis, direct measurement of displacements in the mid and high frequency range is not well solved and accurate devices tend to be very expensive. Low-cost systems can be achieved by applying adequate image processing algorithms. In this paper, we propose the use of a commercial pocket digital camera, which is able to register more than 420 frames per second (fps) at low resolution, for accurate measuring of small vibrations and displacements. The method is based on tracking elliptical targets with sub-pixel accuracy. Our proposal is demonstrated at a 10 m distance with a spatial resolution of 0.15 mm. A practical application over a simple structure is given, and the main parameters of an attenuated movement of a steel column after an impulsive impact are determined with a spatial accuracy of 4 µm.

Thermogravimetry and Py–GC/MS techniques as fast qualitative methods for comparing the biochemical composition of Nannochloropsis oculata samples obtained under different culture conditions

Microalgae have many applications, such as biodiesel production or food supplement. Depending on the application, the optimization of certain fractions of the biochemical composition (proteins, carbohydrates and lipids) is required. Therefore, samples obtained in different culture conditions must be analyzed in order to compare the content of such fractions. Nevertheless, traditional methods necessitate lengthy analytical procedures with prolonged sample turn-around times. Results of the biochemical composition of Nannochloropsis oculata samples with different protein, carbohydrate and lipid contents obtained by conventional analytical methods have been compared to those obtained by thermogravimetry (TGA) and a Pyroprobe device connected to a gas chromatograph with mass spectrometer detector (Py–GC/MS), showing a clear correlation. These results suggest a potential applicability of these techniques as fast and easy methods to qualitatively compare the biochemical composition of microalgal samples.

Augmented and Virtual Reality techniques for footwear

The use of 3D imaging techniques has been early adopted in the footwear industry. In particular, 3D imaging could be used to aid commerce and improve the quality and sales of shoes. Footwear customization is an added value aimed not only to improve product quality, but also consumer comfort. Moreover, customisation implies a new business model that avoids the competition of mass production coming from new manufacturers settled mainly in Asian countries. However, footwear customisation implies a significant effort at different levels. In manufacturing, rapid and virtual prototyping is required; indeed the prototype is intended to become the final product. The whole design procedure must be validated using exclusively virtual techniques to ensure the feasibility of this process, since physical prototypes should be avoided. With regard to commerce, it would be desirable for the consumer to choose any model of shoes from a large 3D database and be able to try them on looking at a magic mirror. This would probably reduce costs and increase sales, since shops would not require storing every shoe model and the process of trying several models on would be easier and faster for the consumer. In this paper, new advances in 3D techniques coming from experience in cinema, TV and games are successfully applied to footwear. Firstly, the characteristics of a high-quality stereoscopic vision system for footwear are presented. Secondly, a system for the interaction with virtual footwear models based on 3D gloves is detailed. Finally, an augmented reality system (magic mirror) is presented, which is implemented with low-cost computational elements that allow a hypothetical customer to check in real time the goodness of a given virtual footwear model from an aesthetical point of view.

High speed image techniques for construction safety net monitoring in outdoor conditions

Póster presentado en SPIE Photonics Europe, Brussels, 16-19 April 2012.

COMPENDIUM: a text summarisation tool for generating summaries of multiple purposes, domains, and genres

In this paper, we present a Text Summarisation tool, compendium, capable of generating the most common types of summaries. Regarding the input, single- and multi-document summaries can be produced; as the output, the summaries can be extractive or abstractive-oriented; and finally, concerning their purpose, the summaries can be generic, query-focused, or sentiment-based. The proposed architecture for compendium is divided in various stages, making a distinction between core and additional stages. The former constitute the backbone of the tool and are common for the generation of any type of summary, whereas the latter are used for enhancing the capabilities of the tool. The main contributions of compendium with respect to the state-of-the-art summarisation systems are that (i) it specifically deals with the problem of redundancy, by means of textual entailment; (ii) it combines statistical and cognitive-based techniques for determining relevant content; and (iii) it proposes an abstractive-oriented approach for facing the challenge of abstractive summarisation. The evaluation performed in different domains and textual genres, comprising traditional texts, as well as texts extracted from the Web 2.0, shows that compendium is very competitive and appropriate to be used as a tool for generating summaries.

Blending in English Charactoons

This article deals with both the word-formation mechanism of blending and the creative process involved in providing characters with proper names in cartoons or TV series for children in English. The study addresses the nature and features of proper and common names, two apparently well-distinguished categories, as well as, and basically fictional proper names, by suggesting differences between fictional proper names and other types of proper and common names. Furthermore, it discusses the presence of blending in fiction and in fictional proper names, with special reference to charactonyms. The main focus of this work is on blended charactonyms in cartoons addressed to children, which for the purposes of this study will be called cartoonyms or charactoons. Questions such as the following are addressed: the formation or creation of cartoonyms or charactoons from pre-existing material; the semantic motivations behind their formation; their resulting structural complexity; their particularly descriptive, expressive and meaningful nature; as well as how suitable they are to the genre in which they are used.

An ethnopharmacological and historical analysis of “Dictamnus”, a European traditional herbal medicine

Ethnopharmacological relevance and background: “Dictamnus” was a popular name for a group of medicinal herbaceous plant species of the Rutaceae and Lamiaceae, which since the 4th century have been used for gynaecological problems and other illnesses BCE and still appear in numerous ethnobotanical records. Aims: This research has as four overarching aims: Determining the historical evolution of medical preparations labelled “Dictamnus” and the different factors affecting this long-standing herbal tradition. Deciphering and differentiating those medicinal uses of “Dictamnus” which strictly correspond to Dictamnus (Rutaceae), from those of Origanum dictamnus and other Lamiaceae species. Quantitatively assessing the dependence from herbal books, and pharmaceutical tradition, of modern Dictamnus ethnobotanical records. Determining whether differences between Western and Eastern Europe exist with regards to the Dictamnus albus uses in ethnopharmacology and ethnomedicine. Methods: An exhaustive review of herbals, classical pharmacopoeias, ethnobotanical and ethnopharmacological literature was conducted. Systematic analysis of uses reported which were standardized according to International Classification of Diseases – 10 and multivariate analysis using factorial, hierarchical and neighbour joining methods was undertaken. Results and discussion: The popular concept “Dictamnus” includes Origanum dictamnus L., Ballota pseudodictamnus (L.) Benth. and B. acetabulosa (L.) Benth. (Lamiaceae), as well as Dictamnus albus L. and D. hispanicus Webb ex Willk. (Rutaceae), with 86 different types of uses. Between 1000 and 1700 CE numerous complex preparations with “Dictamnus” were used in the treatment of 35 different pathologies. On biogeographical grounds the widespread D. albus is a far more likely prototypical “Dictamnus” than the Cretan endemic Origanum dictamnus. However both form integral parts of the “Dictamnus” complex. Evidence exists for a sufficiently long and coherent tradition for D. albus and D. hispanicus, use to treat 47 different categories of diseases. Conclusions: This approach is a model for understanding the cultural history of plants and their role as resources for health care. “Dictamnus” shows how transmission of traditional knowledge about materia medica, over 26 centuries, represents remarkable levels of development and innovation. All this lead us to call attention to D. albus and D. hispanicus which are highly promising as potential herbal drug leads. The next steps of research should be to systematically analyse phytochemical, pharmacological and clinical evidence and to develop safety, pharmacology and toxicology profiles of the traditional preparations.