Implementation of a robust coded structured light technique for dynamic 3D measurements

This paper presents the implementation details of a coded structured light system for rapid shape acquisition of unknown surfaces. Such techniques are based on the projection of patterns onto a measuring surface and grabbing images of every projection with a camera. Analyzing the pattern deformations that appear in the images, 3D information of the surface can be calculated. The implemented technique projects a unique pattern so that it can be used to measure moving surfaces. The structure of the pattern is a grid where the color of the slits are selected using a De Bruijn sequence. Moreover, since both axis of the pattern are coded, the cross points of the grid have two codewords (which permits to reconstruct them very precisely), while pixels belonging to horizontal and vertical slits have also a codeword. Different sets of colors are used for horizontal and vertical slits, so the resulting pattern is invariant to rotation. Therefore, the alignment constraint between camera and projector considered by a lot of authors is not necessary

Real-Time implementation of a blind authentication method using self-synchronous speech watermarking

A blind speech watermarking scheme that meets hard real-time deadlines is presented and implemented. In addition, one of the key issues in these block-oriented watermarking techniques is to preserve the synchronization. Namely, to recover the exact position of each block in the mark extract process. In fact, the presented scheme can be split up into two distinguished parts, the synchronization and the information mark methods. The former is embedded into the time domain and it is fast enough to be run meeting real-time requirements. The latter contains the authentication information and it is embedded into the wavelet domain. The synchronization and information mark techniques are both tunable in order to allow a con gurable method. Thus, capacity, transparency and robustness can be con gured depending on the needs. It makes the scheme useful for professional applications, such telephony authentication or even sending information throw radio applications.

The EU ‘2020 Energy Initiative’: The post-Lisbon pattern of change in EU energy policy

El novembre de 2010, la Comissió Europea ha finalment donat a conèixer la seva "Energia 2020 Comunicació", un document estratègic en el marc més ampli del programa "Europa 2020". Una estratègia per al desenvolupament sostenible intel · ligent, i creixement inclusiu posa les bases d'un nou enfocament a la política d'energia a la UE. En el marc d'Europa 2020, la Iniciativa d'Energia recopila els resultats que ja s'han obtingut a través de la Estratègia de Lisboa 2000-2010, s'identifiquen les deficiències del passat i i introdueix nous objectius ambiciosos per a la UE en matèria de política energètica.

Implementation of zonal control algorithms in adaptive optical systems with sparse control matrices

Miralls deformables més i més grans, amb cada cop més actuadors estan sent utilitzats actualment en aplicacions d'òptica adaptativa. El control dels miralls amb centenars d'actuadors és un tema de gran interès, ja que les tècniques de control clàssiques basades en la seudoinversa de la matriu de control del sistema es tornen massa lentes quan es tracta de matrius de dimensions tan grans. En aquesta tesi doctoral es proposa un mètode per l'acceleració i la paral.lelitzacó dels algoritmes de control d'aquests miralls, a través de l'aplicació d'una tècnica de control basada en la reducció a zero del components més petits de la matriu de control (sparsification), seguida de l'optimització de l'ordenació dels accionadors de comandament atenent d'acord a la forma de la matriu, i finalment de la seva posterior divisió en petits blocs tridiagonals. Aquests blocs són molt més petits i més fàcils de fer servir en els càlculs, el que permet velocitats de càlcul molt superiors per l'eliminació dels components nuls en la matriu de control. A més, aquest enfocament permet la paral.lelització del càlcul, donant una com0onent de velocitat addicional al sistema. Fins i tot sense paral. lelització, s'ha obtingut un augment de gairebé un 40% de la velocitat de convergència dels miralls amb només 37 actuadors, mitjançant la tècnica proposada. Per validar això, s'ha implementat un muntatge experimental nou complet , que inclou un modulador de fase programable per a la generació de turbulència mitjançant pantalles de fase, i s'ha desenvolupat un model complert del bucle de control per investigar el rendiment de l'algorisme proposat. Els resultats, tant en la simulació com experimentalment, mostren l'equivalència total en els valors de desviació després de la compensació dels diferents tipus d'aberracions per als diferents algoritmes utilitzats, encara que el mètode proposat aquí permet una càrrega computacional molt menor. El procediment s'espera que sigui molt exitós quan s'aplica a miralls molt grans.

A WiMAX-based implementation of network MIMO for indoor wireless systems

It is well known that multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques can bring numerous benefits, such as higher spectral efficiency, to point-to-point wireless links. More recently, there has been interest in extending MIMO concepts tomultiuser wireless systems. Our focus in this paper is on network MIMO, a family of techniques whereby each end user in a wireless access network is served through several access points within its range of influence. By tightly coordinating the transmission and reception of signals at multiple access points, network MIMO can transcend the limits on spectral efficiency imposed by cochannel interference. Taking prior information-theoretic analyses of networkMIMO to the next level, we quantify the spectral efficiency gains obtainable under realistic propagation and operational conditions in a typical indoor deployment. Our study relies on detailed simulations and, for specificity, is conducted largely within the physical-layer framework of the IEEE 802.16e Mobile WiMAX system. Furthermore,to facilitate the coordination between access points, we assume that a high-capacity local area network, such as Gigabit Ethernet,connects all the access points. Our results confirm that network MIMO stands to provide a multiple-fold increase in spectralefficiency under these conditions.

En route to a more democratic European Union – An analysis of the communication strategies of European Citizens’ Initiatives (ECIs)

L’èxit de l’iniciativa ciutadana europea (ICE) com a instrument de democràcia directa a nivell europeu està directament relacionat amb la seva promulgació. Els ciutadans d’arreu Europa han d’estar informats sobre aquest nou mecanisme per tal que es dugui a terme, la qual cosa suposa una dificultat. Aquest estudi qualitatiu ens mostra els recursos i problemes en la divulgació de les ICE. Una anàlisi basat en entrevistes amb diferents organitzadors d’aquestes ICE que ens dona algunes idees sobre les seves estratègies de comunicació, així com l’ús d’eines de comunicació i relacions amb els mitjans de comunicació. A banda de les dificultats lingüístiques i financeres hi ha altres obstacles més específics relacionats amb l’ICE.

Copyright issues related to the implementation of Open Access policies

The presentation provides an overview of the copyright issues related to the implementation of Open Access policies. It focuses on the need to obtain permission to reproduce and disseminate a copy of any published paper taking into account any copyright transfer signed by authors. This permission is needed to implement Green Open Access policies through repositories. Moreover it explores the use of open content licenses in repositories and journals to move to the Gold Open Access model that offers not only free access to full text but full reuse of contributions.

Europeans and Biotechnology in 2010. Winds of change?

George Gaskell and colleagues designed, analysed and interpreted the Eurobarometer 73.1 on the Life Sciences and Biotechnology as part of the research project Sensitive Technologies and European Public Ethics (STEPE), funded by the Science in Society Programme of the EC’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7).

Implementation of the Rijndael-AES algorithm on a Sage-Math worksheet

La principal motivació d'aquest treball ha estat implementar l'algoritme Rijndael-AES en un full Sage-math, paquet de software matemàtic de lliure distribució i en actual desenvolupament, aprofitant les seves eines i funcionalitats integrades.

Oral pathogens in duwl's: risk of infection and strategies for their control

Water lines are an important source of potentíal contamination. Every dental unit is equipped with small-bore flexible plastic tubing to bring water to different hand pieces, such as the air/water syringe, the ultrasonic scaler or the high-speed hand piece. Most dental units are connected directly to municipal distribution systems for potable water and chlorinated or not, this water contains diverse...

Barley development as affected by rate of change of photoperiod

The rate of leaf appearance of barley varies substantially with time of sowing. This variation has been related to both the length and the rate of change of photoperiod at the time of plant emergence. An outdoor pot experiment was conducted to test if rate of change of photoperiod directly affects phasic development and rate of leaf emergence of spring barley. Two photoperiod-sensitive cultivars (Bandulla and Galleon) were subjected to five photoperiod regimes: two constant photoperiods, of 14 and 15·5 h, and three different rates of change of photoperiod of c. 2, 9 and 13 min/day from seedling emergence to awn initiation. Photoperiod treatments significantly affected the duration from seedling emergence to awn initiation in both cultivars. Rate of change of photoperiod did not affect the rate of development towards awn initiation independently of the absolute daylength it produced. Although Bandulla had a longer duration than Galleon at any photoperiod regime, the cultivars did not vary in their sensitivity to photoperiod. When this phase was divided into the leaf initiation (LI) and spikelet initiation (SI) phases, it was evident that the sensitivity to photoperiod was not constant, being in general higher during the SI than during the LI phase. However, the magnitude of the change in sensitivity was cultivar-dependent, indicating that sensitivity to photoperiod during the different phases could be under independent genetic control. Final numbers of primordia (leaves together with maximum spikelet number) were negatively affected by increasing photoperiods, but once again, there was no evidence of any effect of the rate of change of photoperiod which was independent of the average photoperiod. Both cultivars showed similar sensitivities for final leaf number but maximum spikelet number was more sensitive to photoperiod in Galleon than in Bandulla. Highly significant linear relationships between leaf number and thermal time were found for all combinations of cultivars and photoperiod regimes (r2 > 0·98). The rate of leaf appearance (RLA) was similar for both cultivars (c. 0·0185 leaves/°Cd) and did not alter during plant development or in response to the change in photoperiod at awn initiation. The range in RLA was greater for Galleon (0·0170–0·0205 leaves/°Cd) than for Bandulla (0·0173–0·0186 leaves/°Cd). Neither of these cultivars exhibited a significant relationship between rate of leaf emergence and photoperiod or rate of change of photoperiod. The lack of significant relationships between RLA and length or rate of change of photoperiod is in contrast with previous reports using time of sowing as a main treatment.

Tobacco control policies in hospitals before and after the implementation of a national smoking ban in Catalonia, Spain

Background: Diverse projects and guidelines to assist hospitals towards the attainment of comprehensive smoke-free policies have been developed. In 2006, Spain government passed a new smoking ban that reinforce tobacco control policies and banned completely smoking in hospitals. This study assesses the progression of tobacco control policies in the Catalan Network of Smokefree Hospitals before and after a comprehensive national smoking ban. Methods: We used the Self-Audit Questionnaire of the European Network for Smoke-free Hospitals to score the compliance of 9 policy standards (global score = 102). We used two crosssectional surveys to evaluate tobacco control policies before (2005) and after the implementation of a national smoking ban (2007) in 32 hospitals of Catalonia, Spain. We compared the means of the overall score in 2005 and 2007 according to the type of hospital, the number of beds, the prevalence of tobacco consumption, and the number of years as a smoke-free hospital. Results: The mean of the implementation score of tobacco control policies was 52.4 (95% CI:45.4-59.5) in 2005 and 71.6 (95% CI: 67.0-76.2) in 2007 with an increase of 36.7% (p < 0.01). The hospitals with greater improvement were general hospitals (48% increase; p < 0.01), hospitals with > 300 beds (41.1% increase; p < 0.01), hospitals with employees' tobacco consumption prevalence 35-39% (72.2% increase; p < 0.05) and hospitals that had recently implemented smoke-free policies (74.2% increase; p < 0.01). Conclusion: The national smoking ban appears to increase tobacco control activities in hospitals combined with other non-bylaw initiatives such as the Smoke-free Hospital Network.

Tobacco control policies in hospitals before and after the implementation of a national smoking ban in Catalonia, Spain

Background: Diverse projects and guidelines to assist hospitals towards the attainment of comprehensive smoke-free policies have been developed. In 2006, Spain government passed a new smoking ban that reinforce tobacco control policies and banned completely smoking in hospitals. This study assesses the progression of tobacco control policies in the Catalan Network of Smokefree Hospitals before and after a comprehensive national smoking ban. Methods: We used the Self-Audit Questionnaire of the European Network for Smoke-free Hospitals to score the compliance of 9 policy standards (global score = 102). We used two crosssectional surveys to evaluate tobacco control policies before (2005) and after the implementation of a national smoking ban (2007) in 32 hospitals of Catalonia, Spain. We compared the means of the overall score in 2005 and 2007 according to the type of hospital, the number of beds, the prevalence of tobacco consumption, and the number of years as a smoke-free hospital. Results: The mean of the implementation score of tobacco control policies was 52.4 (95% CI:45.4-59.5) in 2005 and 71.6 (95% CI: 67.0-76.2) in 2007 with an increase of 36.7% (p < 0.01). The hospitals with greater improvement were general hospitals (48% increase; p < 0.01), hospitals with > 300 beds (41.1% increase; p < 0.01), hospitals with employees' tobacco consumption prevalence 35-39% (72.2% increase; p < 0.05) and hospitals that had recently implemented smoke-free policies (74.2% increase; p < 0.01). Conclusion: The national smoking ban appears to increase tobacco control activities in hospitals combined with other non-bylaw initiatives such as the Smoke-free Hospital Network.