Experience in introduction of English terminology in engineering lessons: methodology and evaluation

This communication explains a experience for the introduction of English terminology in a technical degree of higher education. We present the methodology and assessment procedures used to evaluate the way the students perceived the introduction of terminology in English in two different subjects from 3rd and 5th year courses of a Computer Science degree in which English was not the vehicular language. We propose a strategy based on two main pillars, namely: 1) The design of materials, explanations, and exams, paying particular attention to the way in which the specific terminology was exposed to the students, and 2) The assessment of the impact in the students by means of the analysis of the feedback trough a set of enquiries. Our experience showed that the students responded very positively to the introduction of English terminology, and presented an affirmative feedback about the impact that an improvement of their linguistic abilities would have in their future work. Further, we present statistics regarding the use of English as the vehicular language for technical reports, which is envisaged as very useful by the students. Finally, we propose a set of questions for further debate which are centered in the role that English terminology should pay in technical degrees, and about the way in which universities should deploy resources in English languages within the different Syllabus

Curs DOW-ETSEQ. Una experiència docent compartida entre la URV i l'empresa DOW

Presentació del curs DOW – ETSEQ, que té l’objectiu de formar en continguts, valors i actituds i aportar informació de última generació sobre seguretat, medi ambient i qualitat

Utilización de laboratorios virtuales como soporte para la docencia de prácticas de laboratorio en Ingeniería de Materiales

En el presente trabajo se plantea como objetivo principal la optimización del proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje en la docencia de prácticas de laboratorio, caracterizadas por la limitación de equipamientos específicos, en el campo de las Ingenierías y concretamente el Ingeniería de Materiales, mediante un planteamiento innovador basado en el uso de laboratorios virtuales. Para ello se deben cubrir una serie de objetivos parciales, pero no por ello menos importantes, como favorecer el incremento de la participación de los estudiantes durante su proceso de formación experimental haciendo esta docencia interactiva, flexibilizar el proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje adecuándolo a las posibilidades y necesidades de cada alumno, y aumentar la calidad de la docencia de prácticas de laboratorio. Además hay que convertir a los alumnos en los principales protagonistas del proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje en la educación superior, mediante un planteamiento innovador

Anàlisi de les competències de gestió de projectes a alumnes d'enginyeria

Per la importància de l'àrea de les competències en l'educació superior europea i amb l'objectiu d'adaptar-les a la Declaració de Bologna, el nostre grup de treball va decidir fa dos anys testar i avaluar-les, realitzant un estudi a estudiants amb l'objectiu de conèixer més a fons la situació actual d’aquestes competències. Aquest anàlisi és necessari per aconseguir dissenyar una base de competències universitària el més correcte possible. Aquest article reflecteix l'anàlisi i l'evolució de competències en Gestió de Projectes utilitzant una aplicació informàtica anomenada Cycloid, participant estudiants de primer curs d'Enginyeria en Industries Agroalimentàries i Explotacions agropecuàries i Enginyeria del Disseny Industrial i Desenvolupament de Producte de l'Escola Politècnica Superior de la Universitat de Girona. El propòsit d'aquesta eina d'avaluació de competències anomenada Cycloid (TIC) es basa en una aplicació que ens ajuda en el procés d'avaluació de trenta competències concretes, personals i socials que poden ser distribuïdes en sis grans grups. Aquest model, identifica una feina genèrica en gestió de projectes, com una persona pot preparar-se per planificar, organitzar, dirigir i avaluar treballs complexos o projectes que requereixen una interacció sòlida i freqüent amb un altre grup de gent per planificar tot el projecte. En aquestes circumstàncies, els estudiants són adequats per avaluar els projectes personals i en termes generals, els estudis com a projecte. Al final, compararem diferents perfils d'estudiants en termes de situacions de treball i / o estudis. L'objectiu d'aquest anàlisi és millorar la qualitat de l'educació utilitzant el coneixement adquirit a través de les competències individuals. El nostre propòsit és obtenir resultats que ens indiquin quina és la situació actual i que és el que els alumnes voldrien millorar amb el temps (en gestió de projectes). Els estudiants, obtindran un títol i un nivell d'aprenentatge quan demostrin coneixement implícit dels seus estudis. Actualment, també han de demostrar un coneixement explícit a través de les competències. Aquesta avaluació individual descobrirà en què els estudiants estan més ben posicionats. Aquesta informació, ens serà útil en el moment d'elaborar un nou ensenyament i objectiu de mètodes d'ensenyament. Al mateix temps, donarà una informació important pels professors i universitats en termes de competències individuals i de grup

A behavior-based scheme using reinforcement learning for autonomous underwater vehicles

This paper presents a hybrid behavior-based scheme using reinforcement learning for high-level control of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Two main features of the presented approach are hybrid behavior coordination and semi on-line neural-Q_learning (SONQL). Hybrid behavior coordination takes advantages of robustness and modularity in the competitive approach as well as efficient trajectories in the cooperative approach. SONQL, a new continuous approach of the Q_learning algorithm with a multilayer neural network is used to learn behavior state/action mapping online. Experimental results show the feasibility of the presented approach for AUVs

Robust fault detection using consistency techniques for uncertainty handling

Often practical performance of analytical redundancy for fault detection and diagnosis is decreased by uncertainties prevailing not only in the system model, but also in the measurements. In this paper, the problem of fault detection is stated as a constraint satisfaction problem over continuous domains with a big number of variables and constraints. This problem can be solved using modal interval analysis and consistency techniques. Consistency techniques are then shown to be particularly efficient to check the consistency of the analytical redundancy relations (ARRs), dealing with uncertain measurements and parameters. Through the work presented in this paper, it can be observed that consistency techniques can be used to increase the performance of a robust fault detection tool, which is based on interval arithmetic. The proposed method is illustrated using a nonlinear dynamic model of a hydraulic system

Model-based objects recognition in man-made environments

We describe a model-based objects recognition system which is part of an image interpretation system intended to assist autonomous vehicles navigation. The system is intended to operate in man-made environments. Behavior-based navigation of autonomous vehicles involves the recognition of navigable areas and the potential obstacles. The recognition system integrates color, shape and texture information together with the location of the vanishing point. The recognition process starts from some prior scene knowledge, that is, a generic model of the expected scene and the potential objects. The recognition system constitutes an approach where different low-level vision techniques extract a multitude of image descriptors which are then analyzed using a rule-based reasoning system to interpret the image content. This system has been implemented using CEES, the C++ embedded expert system shell developed in the Systems Engineering and Automatic Control Laboratory (University of Girona) as a specific rule-based problem solving tool. It has been especially conceived for supporting cooperative expert systems, and uses the object oriented programming paradigm

Knowledge integration within an applied mobile robot summer course

This paper presents the use of a mobile robot platform as an innovative educational tool in order to promote and integrate different curriculum knowledge. Hence, it is presented the acquired experience within a summer course named ldquoapplied mobile roboticsrdquo. The main aim of the course is to integrate different subjects as electronics, programming, architecture, perception systems, communications, control and trajectory planning by using the educational open mobile robot platform PRIM. The summer course is addressed to a wide range of student profiles. However, it is of special interests to the students of electrical and computer engineering around their final academic year. The summer course consists of the theoretical and laboratory sessions, related to the following topics: design & programming of electronic devices, modelling and control systems, trajectory planning and control, and computer vision systems. Therefore, the clues for achieving a renewed path of progress in robotics are the integration of several knowledgeable fields, such as computing, communications, and control sciences, in order to perform a higher level reasoning and use decision tools with strong theoretical base

Local model predictive control experiences with differential driven wheeled mobile robots

This work extends a previously developed research concerning about the use of local model predictive control in differential driven mobile robots. Hence, experimental results are presented as a way to improve the methodology by considering aspects as trajectory accuracy and time performance. In this sense, the cost function and the prediction horizon are important aspects to be considered. The aim of the present work is to test the control method by measuring trajectory tracking accuracy and time performance. Moreover, strategies for the integration with perception system and path planning are briefly introduced. In this sense, monocular image data can be used to plan safety trajectories by using goal attraction potential fields

Asymmetric tunnels in P2MP LSPs as a label space reduction method

The objective of traffic engineering is to optimize network resource utilization. Although several works have been published about minimizing network resource utilization, few works have focused on LSR (label switched router) label space. This paper proposes an algorithm that takes advantage of the MPLS label stack features in order to reduce the number of labels used in LSPs. Some tunnelling methods and their MPLS implementation drawbacks are also discussed. The described algorithm sets up NHLFE (next hop label forwarding entry) tables in each LSR, creating asymmetric tunnels when possible. Experimental results show that the described algorithm achieves a great reduction factor in the label space. The presented works apply for both types of connections: P2MP (point-to-multipoint) and P2P (point-to-point)

A Label space reduction algorithm for P2MP LSPs using asymmetric tunnels

The aim of traffic engineering is to optimise network resource utilization. Although several works on minimizing network resource utilization have been published, few works have focused on LSR label space. This paper proposes an algorithm that uses MPLS label stack features in order to reduce the number of labels used in LSPs forwarding. Some tunnelling methods and their MPLS implementation drawbacks are also discussed. The algorithm described sets up the NHLFE tables in each LSR, creating asymmetric tunnels when possible. Experimental results show that the algorithm achieves a large reduction factor in the label space. The work presented here applies for both types of connections: P2MP and P2P

Mapping sub-flows to p2mp LSPs

In previous work we proposed a multi-objective traffic engineering scheme (MHDB-S model) using different distribution trees to multicast several flows. In this paper, we propose a heuristic algorithm to create multiple point-to-multipoint (p2mp) LSPs based on the optimum sub-flow values obtained with our MHDB-S model. Moreover, a general problem for supporting multicasting in MPLS networks is the lack of labels. To reduce the number of labels used, a label space reduction algorithm solution is also considered

Full label space reduction in MPLS networks: asymmetric merged tunneling

Traffic Engineering objective is to optimize network resource utilization. Although several works have been published about minimizing network resource utilization in MPLS networks, few of them have been focused in LSR label space reduction. This letter studies Asymmetric Merged Tunneling (AMT) as a new method for reducing the label space in MPLS network. The proposed method may be regarded as a combination of label merging (proposed in the MPLS architecture) and asymmetric tunneling (proposed recently in our previous works). Finally, simulation results are performed by comparing AMT with both ancestors. They show a great improvement in the label space reduction factor

A Gain Scheduling Model Predictive Controller for Blood Glucose Control in Type 1 Diabetes

This paper presents a control strategy for blood glucose(BG) level regulation in type 1 diabetic patients. To design the controller, model-based predictive control scheme has been applied to a newly developed diabetic patient model. The controller is provided with a feedforward loop to improve meal compensation, a gain-scheduling scheme to account for different BG levels, and an asymmetric cost function to reduce hypoglycemic risk. A simulation environment that has been approved for testing of artificial pancreas control algorithms has been used to test the controller. The simulation results show a good controller performance in fasting conditions and meal disturbance rejection, and robustness against model–patient mismatch and errors in meal estimation

Adaptive business intelligence for an open negotiation environment

Engineering of negotiation model allows to develop effective heuristic for business intelligence. Digital ecosystems demand open negotiation models. To define in advance effective heuristics is not compliant with the requirement of openness. The new challenge is to develop business intelligence in advance exploiting an adaptive approach. The idea is to learn business strategy once new negotiation model rise in the e-market arena. In this paper we present how recommendation technology may be deployed in an open negotiation environment where the interaction protocol models are not known in advance. The solution we propose is delivered as part of the ONE Platform, open source software that implements a fully distributed open environment for business negotiation