Impact of product-related environmental regulations in Asia : descriptive statistics from a survey of firms in Penang, Malaysia

This paper summarizes the main results of a unique firm survey conducted in Penang, Malaysia in 2012 on product-related environmental regulations. The results show that firms receiving foreign-direct investment have adapted well to regulations but faced more rejections. Several research questions are addressed and examined by using the survey data. Major findings are as follows. First, adaptation involves changes in input procurement and market diversification, which potentially changes the structure of supply chains. Second, belonging to global supply chains is a key factor in compliance, but this requires firms to meet tougher customer requirements. Third, there is much room for government policy to play a role in assisting firms.

Impact of product-related environmental regulations in Asia : descriptive statistics from a survey of firms in Vietnam

This paper summarizes the main results of a unique firm survey conducted in Vietnam in 2011 on product-related environmental regulations (PRERs). The results of this survey are compared with the results of a corresponding survey of firms in Penang, Malaysia (Michida, et al. 2014b). The major findings are as follows. First, adaptation to PRERs involves changes in input procurement and results in market diversification, which potentially alters the structure of supply chains. This finding is consistent with the Malaysian survey result. Second, connections to global supply chains are key to compliance, but this requires firms to meet more stringent customer requirements. Third, government policy can play an important role in assisting firms to comply with PRERs.

Industrial agglomeration in Costa Rica : a descriptive analysis

This paper investigates the current situation of industrial agglomeration in Costa Rica, utilizing firm-level panel data for the period 2008-2012. We calculated Location Quotient and Theil Index based on employment by industry and found that 14 cantons have the industrial agglomerations for 9 industries. The analysis is in line with the nature of specific industries, the development of areas of concentration around free zones, and the evolving participation of Costa Rica in GVCs.

Descriptive analysis of the knowledge network formation in East Asia

This paper shows descriptively how the knowledge network in East Asia has been formed. In addition, the correlation between the knowledge network and economic growth is also examined. Evidence is provided to show that plugging into the knowledge network of developed countries could be a key for increasing innovativeness in a country.

Japanese import survey : descriptive analysis

Food importers, such as wholesalers and food processing firms, play an important role in sourcing food from abroad. They are also responsible for ensuring that imported food meets the food safety standards of the importing country. Often, assurance of conformity is done in collaboration with exporters. Thus, importers can influence how supply chains in developing countries are organized. This paper uses a unique dataset obtained from the Japanese market to examine how importers select suppliers and assure food quality.

The Islamic Crossed-Arch Domes in Cordoba: Geometry and Structural Analysis of the “Capilla de Villaviciosa”

Crossed-arch domes are a singular type of ribbed vaults. Their characteristic feature is that the ribs that form the vault are intertwined, forming polygons or stars, leaving an empty space in the centre. The earliest known vaults of this type are found in the Great Mosque of Córdoba, built ca. 960 a.C. The type spread through Spain, and the north of Africa in the 10th to the 16th Centuries, and was used by Guarini and Vittone in the 17th and 18th Centuries in Italy. However, it was used only in a few buildings. Though the literature about the structural behaviour of ribbed Gothic vaults is extensive, so far no structural analysis of crossed arch domes has been made. The purpose of this work is, first to show the way to attack such an analysis within the frame of Modern Limit Analysis of Masonry Structures (Heyman 1995), and then to apply the approach to study the stability of the dome of the Capilla de Villaviciosa. The work may give some clues to art and architectural historians to understand better the origin and development of Islamic dome architecture.

The Ciborium or Lantern Tower of Valencia Cathedral: Geometry, Construction and Stability

Early 18th century treatise writer Tomas Vicente Tosca1 includes in his Tratado de la montea y cortes de Canteria [On Masonry Design and Stone Cutting], what is an important documentary source about the lantern of Valencia Cathedral. Tosca writes about this lantern as an example of vaulting over cross arches without the need of buttresses. A geometrical description is followed by an explanation of the structural behavior which manifests his deep understanding of the mechanics of masonry structures. He tries to demonstrate the absence of buttresses supporting his thesis on the appropriate distribution of loads which will reduce the "empujos" [horizontal thrusts] to the point of not requiring more than the thickness of the walls to stand (Tosca [1727] 1992, 227-230). The present article2 assesses T osca' s appreciation studying how loads and the thrusts they generate are transmitted through the different masonry elements that constitute this ciborium. In order to do so, we first present a geometrical analysis and make considerations regarding its materials and construction methods to, subsequently, analyze its stability adopting an equilibrium approach within the theoretical framework of the lower bound limit analysis.

The Ciborium or Lantern Tower of Valencia Cathedral: Geometry, Construction and Stability

Early 18th century treatise writer Tomas Vicente Tosca1 includes in his Tratado de la montea y cortes de Canteria [On Masonry Design and Stone Cutting], what is an important documentary source about the lantern of Valencia Cathedral. Tosca writes about this lantern as an example of vaulting over cross arches without the need of buttresses. A geometrical description is followed by an explanation of the structural behavior which manifests his deep understanding of the mechanics of masonry structures. He tries to demonstrate the absence of buttresses supporting his thesis on the appropriate distribution of loads which will reduce the "empujos" [horizontal thrusts] to the point of not requiring more than the thickness of the walls to stand (Tosca [1727] 1992, 227-230). The present article2 assesses T osca' s appreciation studying how loads and the thrusts they generate are transmitted through the different masonry elements that constitute this ciborium. In order to do so, we first present a geometrical analysis and make considerations regarding its materials and construction methods to, subsequently, analyze its stability adopting an equilibrium approach within the theoretical framework of the lower bound limit analysis.

Unconstrained and Contactless Hand Geometry Biometrics

This paper presents a hand biometric system for contact-less, platform-free scenarios, proposing innovative methods in feature extraction, template creation and template matching. The evaluation of the proposed method considers both the use of three contact-less publicly available hand databases, and the comparison of the performance to two competitive pattern recognition techniques existing in literature: namely Support Vector Machines (SVM) and k-Nearest Neighbour (k-NN). Results highlight the fact that the proposed method outcomes existing approaches in literature in terms of computational cost, accuracy in human identification, number of extracted features and number of samples for template creation. The proposed method is a suitable solution for human identification in contact-less scenarios based on hand biometrics, providing a feasible solution to devices with limited hardware requirements like mobile devices

Using quantitative descriptive analysis and temporal dominance of sensations analysis as complementary methods for profiling commercial blackcurrant squashes

Quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) is used to describe the nature and the intensity of sensory properties from a single evaluation of a product, whereas temporal dominance of sensation (TDS) is primarily used to identify dominant sensory properties over time. Previous studies with TDS have focused on model systems, but this is the first study to use a sequential approach, i.e. QDA then TDS in measuring sensory properties of a commercial product category, using the same set of trained assessors (n = 11). The main objectives of this study were to: (1) investigate the benefits of using a sequential approach of QDA and TDS and (2) to explore the impact of the sample composition on taste and flavour perceptions in blackcurrant squashes. The present study has proposed an alternative way of determining the choice of attributes for TDS measurement based on data obtained from previous QDA studies, where available. Both methods indicated that the flavour profile was primarily influenced by the level of dilution and complexity of sample composition combined with blackcurrant juice content. In addition, artificial sweeteners were found to modify the quality of sweetness and could also contribute to bitter notes. Using QDA and TDS in tandem was shown to be more beneficial than each just on its own enabling a more complete sensory profile of the products.

Monte-Carlo dosimetry on a realistic cell monolayer geometry exposed to alpha particles

The energy and specific energy absorbed in the main cell compartments (nucleus and cytoplasm) in typical radiobiology experiments are usually estimated by calculations as they are not accessible for a direct measurement. In most of the work, the cell geometry is modelled using the combination of simple mathematical volumes. We propose a method based on high resolution confocal imaging and ion beam analysis (IBA) in order to import realistic cell nuclei geometries in Monte-Carlo simulations and thus take into account the variety of different geometries encountered in a typical cell population. Seventy-six cell nuclei have been imaged using confocal microscopy and their chemical composition has been measured using IBA. A cellular phantom was created from these data using the ImageJ image analysis software and imported in the Geant4 Monte-Carlo simulation toolkit. Total energy and specific energy distributions in the 76 cell nuclei have been calculated for two types of irradiation protocols: a 3 MeV alpha particle microbeam used for targeted irradiation and a 239Pu alpha source used for large angle random irradiation. Qualitative images of the energy deposited along the particle tracks have been produced and show good agreement with images of DNA double strand break signalling proteins obtained experimentally. The methodology presented in this paper provides microdosimetric quantities calculated from realistic cellular volumes. It is based on open-source oriented software that is publicly available.

Design, implementation and evaluation of an unconstrained and contactless biometric system based on hand geometry and stress detection

Esta tesis propone un sistema biométrico de geometría de mano orientado a entornos sin contacto junto con un sistema de detección de estrés capaz de decir qué grado de estrés tiene una determinada persona en base a señales fisiológicas Con respecto al sistema biométrico, esta tesis contribuye con el diseño y la implementación de un sistema biométrico de geometría de mano, donde la adquisición se realiza sin ningún tipo de contacto, y el patrón del usuario se crea considerando únicamente datos del propio individuo. Además, esta tesis propone un algoritmo de segmentación multiescala para solucionar los problemas que conlleva la adquisición de manos en entornos reales. Por otro lado, respecto a la extracción de características y su posterior comparación esta tesis tiene una contribución específica, proponiendo esquemas adecuados para llevar a cabo tales tareas con un coste computacional bajo pero con una alta precisión en el reconocimiento de personas. Por último, este sistema es evaluado acorde a la norma estándar ISO/IEC 19795 considerando seis bases de datos públicas. En relación al método de detección de estrés, esta tesis propone un sistema basado en dos señales fisiológicas, concretamente la tasa cardiaca y la conductancia de la piel, así como la creación de un innovador patrón de estrés que recoge el comportamiento de ambas señales bajo las situaciones de estrés y no-estrés. Además, este sistema está basado en lógica difusa para decidir el grado de estrés de un individuo. En general, este sistema es capaz de detectar estrés de forma precisa y en tiempo real, proporcionando una solución adecuada para sistemas biométricos actuales, donde la aplicación del sistema de detección de estrés es directa para evitar situaciónes donde los individuos sean forzados a proporcionar sus datos biométricos. Finalmente, esta tesis incluye un estudio de aceptabilidad del usuario, donde se evalúa cuál es la aceptación del usuario con respecto a la técnica biométrica propuesta por un total de 250 usuarios. Además se incluye un prototipo implementado en un dispositivo móvil y su evaluación. ABSTRACT: This thesis proposes a hand biometric system oriented to unconstrained and contactless scenarios together with a stress detection method able to elucidate to what extent an individual is under stress based on physiological signals. Concerning the biometric system, this thesis contributes with the design and implementation of a hand-based biometric system, where the acquisition is carried out without contact and the template is created only requiring information from a single individual. In addition, this thesis proposes an algorithm based on multiscale aggregation in order to tackle with the problem of segmentation in real unconstrained environments. Furthermore, feature extraction and matching are also a specific contributions of this thesis, providing adequate schemes to carry out both actions with low computational cost but with certain recognition accuracy. Finally, this system is evaluated according to international standard ISO/IEC 19795 considering six public databases. In relation to the stress detection method, this thesis proposes a system based on two physiological signals, namely heart rate and galvanic skin response, with the creation of an innovative stress detection template which gathers the behaviour of both physiological signals under both stressing and non-stressing situations. Besides, this system is based on fuzzy logic to elucidate the level of stress of an individual. As an overview, this system is able to detect stress accurately and in real-time, providing an adequate solution for current biometric systems, where the application of a stress detection system is direct to avoid situations where individuals are forced to provide the biometric data. Finally, this thesis includes a user acceptability evaluation, where the acceptance of the proposed biometric technique is assessed by a total of 250 individuals. In addition, this thesis includes a mobile implementation prototype and its evaluation.

Resonancias de los paradigmas científicos en las arquitecturas de la Escuela de Madrid

Los años cincuenta y sesenta son los años de la incorporación definitiva de la arquitectura española al panorama internacional. Entre los arquitectos que protagonizan ese salto sin retorno, se encuentra el grupo de aquellos que unos años más tarde serán denominados por Juan Daniel Fullaondo como Escuela de Madrid. Carlos Flores, en su libro Arquitectura Española Contemporánea 1880-1950, se refiere a esos arquitectos como aquellos que se aplicaban a la difícil tarea de restablecer en España un tipo de arquitectura que conectaba con las teorías, soluciones y lenguajes establecidos por Europa durante las primeras décadas del siglo XX. Sigfried Giedion plantea en Espacio, Tiempo y Arquitectura el origen de una nueva tradición, surgida a partir de la revolución óptica de principios de siglo. Con tradición se refiere a una nueva cultura, que abarca la interrelación de las diferentes actividades del hombre: la similitud de los métodos que se usan en la arquitectura, la construcción, la pintura, el urbanismo o la ciencia. Esa novedad, fundamentada en su independencia y desvinculación con el periodo anterior, se inscribe dentro del esquema evolutivo que Thomas Kuhn plantea en su texto La Estructura de la Revoluciones Científicas, conforme a periodos no acumulativos. Kuhn habla del surgimiento de anomalías en cada periodo, origen de las crisis de pensamiento cuya explicación precisará un necesario cambio paradigmático. En la ciencia, en el campo de la óptica Thomas Young demuestra a principios del siglo XIX la naturaleza ondulatoria de la luz con su experimento de doble rendija; en el electromagnetismo se produce el salto conceptual que supone la postulación de la existencia del campo eléctrico por parte de Michael Faraday, y en termodinámica la consideración apuntada por Planck de que la radiación de la energía de produce de forma discreta, a través de cuantos. En las artes plásticas, paralelamente, Gleizes y Metzinger, en su recopilación de logros cubistas recogida en Sobre el Cubismo, hablan de la evolución sufrida durante el siglo XIX por la pintura: desde el idealismo de principios de siglo, para pasando por el realismo y la representación impresionista de la realidad, concluir prescindiendo de la perspectiva clásica. También la matemática, una vez desarrolladas por Gauss o Lobachevsky y Bolyai geometrías coherentes que incumplen el quinto postulado de Euclides, terminará dando validez a través de Riemann a los espacios ambiente en los que habitan dichas geometrías, desvinculando la relación directa entre espacio geométrico –el espacio ambiente al que da lugar un tipo de geometría- y el espacio físico. Capi Corrales refleja en su libro Contando el Espacio, cómo hasta la teoría de la relatividad y el cubismo, las geometrías no euclídeas no se hicieron notorias también fuera del campo de las matemáticas. El origen de la nueva tradición con la que Giedion se refiere a la nueva cultura de la modernidad coincide con los saltos paradigmáticos que suponen la teoría de la relatividad en las ciencias y el cubismo en las artes plásticas. Ambas se prolongan durante las primeras décadas hasta la teoría cuántica y la abstracción absoluta, barreras que los dos principales precursores de la relatividad y el cubismo, Einstein y Picasso, nunca llegan a franquear. En ese sentido Giedion habla también, además del origen, de su desarrollo, e incorpora las aportaciones periféricas en la arquitectura de Brasil, Japón o Finlandia, incluyendo por tanto la revisión orgánica propugnada por Zevi como parte de esa nueva tradición, quedando abierta a la incorporación tardía de nuevas aportaciones al desarrollo de esa cultura de la modernidad. Eliminado el concepto de la estética trascendental de Kant del tiempo como una referencia absoluta, y asumido el valor constante de la velocidad de la luz, para la teoría de la relatividad no existe una simultaneidad auténtica. Queda así fijada la velocidad de la luz como uno de los límites del universo, y la equivalencia entre masa y energía. En el cubismo la simultaneidad espacial viene motivada por la eliminación del punto de vista preferente, cuyo resultado es la multiplicidad descriptiva de la realidad, que se visualiza en la descomposición en planos, tanto del objeto como del espacio, y la consecuente continuidad entre fondo y figura que en arquitectura se refleja en la continuidad entre edificio y territorio. Sin la consideración de un punto de vista absoluto, no existe una forma auténtica. El cubismo, y su posterior desarrollo por las vanguardias plásticas, hacen uso de la geometría como mecanismo de recomposición de la figura y el espacio, adoptando mecanismos de penetración, superposición y transparencia. Gyorgy Kepes indica en El Lenguaje de la Visión que la descomposición cubista del objeto implica la sucesiva autonomía de los planos, hasta convertirse en elementos constituyentes. Algo que refleja las axonometrías arquitectónicas de Van Doesburg y que culmina con los espacios propuestos por Mies van der Rohe en sus primeros proyectos europeos. Estos mecanismos, encuentran eco en los primeros planteamientos de Javier Carvajal: en la ampliación del Panteón de españoles del cementerio de Campo Verano, un recinto virtual reconstruido mentalmente a partir del uso de tres únicos planos; o en el Pabellón de Nueva York, que organiza su planta baja desde el recorrido, introduciendo el parámetro temporal como una dimensión más. Al uso diferenciado del plano como elemento constituyente, Carvajal incorpora su plegado y su disposición conformando envolventes como mecanismo de cualificación espacial y formal, potenciando la prolongación entre arquitectura y territorio. Una continuidad que quedará culminada en las dos viviendas unifamiliares construidas en Somosaguas. La descomposición volumétrica conduce a unos niveles de abstracción que hace precisa la incorporación de elementos de la memoria -fuentes, patios, celosías…- a modo de red de señales, como las que Picasso y Braque introducen en sus cuadros para permitir su interpretación. Braque insiste en el interés por el espacio que rodea a los objetos. Una búsqueda de la tactilidad del espacio contraria a la perspectiva que aleja el objeto del observador, y que en los jardines de las viviendas de Somosaguas parece emanar de su propia materialidad. Un espacio táctil alejado del espacio geométrico y que Braque identifica con el espacio representativo en el que Poincaré, en La Ciencia y la Hipótesis, ubica nuestras sensaciones. Desdibujar los límites del objeto prolonga el espacio indefinidamente. Con el paso en el arte griego del mito al logos, se abre paso a la matemática como herramienta de comprensión de la naturaleza hasta el siglo XIX. Leon Lederman, en Simetría y la Belleza del Universo, apunta a que una de las mayores contribuciones de la teoría de Einstein es hacer cambiar el modo de pensar la naturaleza, orientándolo hacia la búsqueda de los principios de simetría que subyacen bajo las leyes físicas. Considerando que la simetría es la invariancia de un objeto o un sistema frente a una transformación y que las leyes físicas son las mismas en cualquier punto del espacio, el espacio de nuestro universo posee una simetría traslacional continua. En la ocupación del espacio de las primeras propuestas de Corrales y Molezún aparecen estructuras subyacentes que responden a enlosetados: paralelogramos sometidos a transformaciones continuas, que la naturaleza identifica tridimensionalmente con los grupos cristalográficos. Las plantas del museo de Arte Contemporáneo de la Castellana, la residencia de Miraflores, el pabellón de Bruselas o la torre Peugeot pertenecen a este grupo. La arquitectura como proceso de ocupación continua del territorio y de su trasposición al plano de cubierta, se materializa en líneas estructurales coincidentes con la estructura matemática de sus simetrías de traslación cuya posibilidad de prolongación infinita queda potenciada por el uso de la envolvente transparente. Junto a esta transparencia literal, inherente al material, Colin Rowe y Robert Slutzky nos alertan sobre otra transparencia inherente a la estructura: la transparencia fenomenal, ilustrada por los cuadros de Juan Gris, y cuya intuición aparece reflejada en la casa Huarte en Puerta de Hierro de Madrid. Corrales y Molezún insisten en una lectura de su volumetría alejada de la frontalidad, en la que los contornos de sus cubiertas inclinadas y las visuales tangenciales sugeridas por la organización de sus recorridos introducen una estructura diagonal que se superpone al entendimiento ortogonal de su planta, dibujando una intrincada red de líneas quebradas que permiten al espacio fluctuar entre las secuencia volumétrica propuesta. Los datos relativos al contenido energético de la luz y el concepto de átomo parten de la consideración de la emisión de energía en cuantos realizada por Planck, y concluyen con una circunstancia paradójica: la doble naturaleza de la luz -demostrada por la explicación de Einstein del efecto fotoeléctrico- y la doble naturaleza de la materia -asumida por Bohr y demostrada por el efecto Compton-. Schrödinger y Heisenberg formularán finalmente la ecuación universal del movimiento que rige en las ondas de materia, y cuya representación matemática es lo que se conoce como función de onda. El objeto es así identificado con su función de onda. Su ondulatoriedad expresará la probabilidad de encontrarse en un lugar determinado. Gyorgy Kepes subraya la necesidad de simplificar el lenguaje para pasar de la objetividad que aún permanece en la pintura cubista a la abstracción total del espacio. Y es así como los artistas plásticos reducen los objetos a simples formas geométricas, haciendo aflorar a la vez, las fuerzas plásticas que los tensionan o equilibran, en un proceso que acaba por eliminar cualquier atisbo de materia. Robert Rosenblum en La Pintura Moderna y la Tradición del Romanticismo Nórdico habla de cómo ese rechazo de la materia en favor de un vacío casi impalpable, campos luminosos de color denso que difunden un sereno resplandor y parecen engendrar las energías elementales de la luz natural, está directamente vinculado a la relación con la naturaleza que establece el romanticismo nórdico. La expresión de la energía de la naturaleza concentrada en un vacío que ya había sido motivo de reflexión para Michael Faraday en su postulación del concepto de campo eléctrico. Sáenz de Oíza incide en la expresión de la condición material de la energía en su propuesta junto a José Luis Romany para la capilla en el Camino de Santiago. La evocación de diferentes fuerzas electromagnéticas, las únicas junto a las gravitatorias susceptibles de ser experimentadas por el hombre, aparecerán visualizadas también en el carácter emergente de algunas de sus obras: el Santuario de Aránzazu o Torres Blancas; pero también en la naturaleza fluyente de sus contornos, la dispersión perimetral de los espacios -el umbral como centro del universoo la configuración del límite como respuesta a las tensiones germinales de la naturaleza. Miguel Fisac, a la vuelta de su viaje a los países nórdicos, aborda una simplificación lingüística orientada hacia la adecuación funcional de los espacios. En el Instituto de Daimiel, el Instituto de formación del profesorado o los complejos para los Padres Dominicos en Valladolid o Alcobendas, organiza progresivamente la arquitectura en diferentes volúmenes funcionales, incidiendo de un modo paralelo en la manifestación de los vínculos que se establecen entre dichos volúmenes como una visualización de las fuerzas que los tensionan y equilibran. En ellos la prolongación de la realidad física más allá de los límites de la envolvente ya es algo más que una simple intuición. Un proceso en el que el tratamiento de la luz como un material de construcción más, tendrá un especial protagonismo. En la iglesia de la Coronación, la iluminación del muro curvo escenifica la condición ondulatoria de la luz, manifestándose como si de un patrón de interferencia se tratara. Frente a la disolución de lo material, el espacio se manifiesta aquí como un medio denso, alejado de la tradicional noción de vacío. Una doble naturaleza, onda y partícula, que será intuido también por Fisac en la materia a través de su uso comprometido del hormigón como único material de construcción. Richard Feynmann nos alerta de la ocupación del espacio por multitud de fuerzas electromagnéticas que, al igual que la luz, precisan de receptores específicos para captar su presencia. Sus célebres diagramas suponen además la visualización definitiva de los procesos subatómicos. Al igual que la abstracción absoluta en las artes plásticas, esas representaciones diagramáticas no son asimilables a imágenes obtenidas de nuestra experiencia. Una intuición plasmada en el uso del diagrama, que irán adquiriendo progresivamente los dibujos de Alejandro de la Sota. La sección del gimnasio Maravillas recoge los trazos de sus principales elementos constructivos: estructura, cerramientos, compartimentaciones…, pero también, y con la misma intensidad, los de las fuerzas que generan su espacio, considerando así su condición de elementos constituyentes. El vacío, nos deja claro Sota, es el lugar donde habitan dichas tensiones. La posterior simplificación de las formas acompañadas de la obsesión por su aligeramiento, la casi desaparición de la envolvente, incide en aquella idea con la que Paul Klee define la actividad del artista en su Teoría del Arte Moderno, y en la que se transmite el distanciamiento hacia lo aparente: No se trata de reproducir lo visible, se trata de volver visible. Así, en Bankunión y Aviaco, como en tantos otros proyectos, frente al objetivo de la forma, Sota plantea el límite como la acotación de un ámbito de actuación. Su propia representación aséptica y diagramática transmite la renuncia a una especificidad espacial. Gilles Deleuze expresa ese posicionamiento en Pintura, el Concepto de Diagrama: el diagrama como la posibilidad de cuadros infinitos, o la posibilidad infinita de cuadros. Aparece así una concepción probabilística del espacio en la que frente a la renuncia por la forma, la tendencia al aligeramiento, y lo difuso de su definición – ideas claras, definición borrosa, en palabras de Llinás referidas al modo de operar de Sota-, la insistente atención a algunos elementos como escaleras, protecciones o miradores parece trasmitir la idea de que la arquitectura queda condensada en aquellos acontecimientos que delatan su condición dinámica, transitoria. Primando la relación frente al objeto, el vínculo frente a lo tangible. English summary. The fifties and sixties were the years of the final incorporation of Spanish architecture to the international scene. Among the architects who star that no return leap, is the group of those who a few years later will be named by Juan Daniel Fullaondo as Escuela de Madrid. Carlos Flores, in his book Arquitectura Española Contemporánea 1880-1950, refers to those architects as those that applied to the difficult task of restoring in Spain an architecture that connected with theories, solutions and established languages in Europe during the first decades of the twentieth century. Sigfried Giedion proposes in Space, Time and Architecture, the origin of a new tradition, arising from the optical revolution at the beginning of the century. With tradition he refers to a new culture, covering the interplay of different human activities: the similarity of the methods used in architecture, building, painting, urban planning or science. This new feature, based on its independence and detachment from the previous period, is part of the evolutionary scheme that Thomas Kuhn proposes in his text The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, according to non-accumulative periods. Kuhn talks about the emergence of anomalies in each period, origin of thought crisis whose explanation will require a paradigm shift needed. In science, in the field of optical Thomas Young demonstrates at the early nineteenth century the wave nature of light with its double-slit experiment , in electromagnetism the postulation of the existence of the electric field by Michael Faraday involves a conceptual leap, and in thermodynamic, the consideration pointed by Planck about quantum energy radiation. In the arts, in a parallel process, Gleizes and Metzinger , in his collection of cubism achievements on their book Du Cubisme, speak of evolution occurring during the nineteenth century by the painting: from the idealism of beginning of the century, going for realism and impressionist representation of reality, and finishing regardless of the classical perspective . Mathematics also, once developed by Gauss and Lobachevsky and Bolyai consistent geometries that violate Euclid's fifth postulate , will end validating Riemann’s ambient spaces in which these geometries inhabit, decoupling the direct relationship between geometric space -the space environment that results in a type of geometry- , and physical space. Capi Corrales reflectes in his book Contando el Espacio, that non-Euclidean geometries were not noticeable outside the field of mathematics until the theory of relativity and cubism. The origin of the new tradition that Giedion relates to the new culture of modernity coincides with paradigmatic leaps pointed by the theory of relativity in science and Cubism in the visual arts. Both are extended during the first decades until quantum theory and absolute abstraction, barriers that the two main precursors of relativity and cubism, Einstein and Picasso never overcome. In that sense Giedion speaks about the origin, but also the development, and incorporates peripheral inputs from Brazil, Japan and Finland architecture, thus including organic revision advocated by Zevi as part of this new tradition, being open to the late addition of new contributions to the development of that culture of modernity. Removed the concept of Kant's transcendental aesthetics, of time as an absolute reference, and assumed the constant value of the speed of light, theory of relativity says there is no authentic concurrency. It is thus fixed the speed of light as one of the limits of the universe, and the equivalence of mass and energy. In cubism, spatial simultaneity results from the elimination of preferential points of view, resulting in the multiplicity descriptive of reality, which is displayed in decomposition levels, both the object and the space, and the resulting continuity between figure and background that architecture is reflected in the continuity between building and land. Without the consideration of an absolute point of view, there isn’t an authentic shape. Cubism, and its subsequent development by the vanguard arts, make use of geometry as a means of rebuilding the figure and space, taking penetration mechanisms, overlapping and transparency. Gyorgy Kepes suggest in Languaje of Vision, that cubist decomposition of the object involves successive planes autonomy, to become constituent elements. Something that reflects the Van Doesburg’s architectural axonometrics and culminates with the spaces proposed by Mies van der Rohe in his first European projects. These mechanisms are reflected in the first approaches by Javier Carvajal: the extension of Spanish Pantheon in Campo Verano Cemetery, virtual enclosure mentally reconstructed from 24 the use of only three planes, or in the Spanish Pavilion of New York, which organizes its ground floor from the tour, introducing the time parameter as an additional dimension. Carvajal adds to the differential use of the plane as a constituent, Carvajal incorporates its folding and forming enclosures available as a mechanism for spatial and formal qualification, promoting the extension between architecture and territory. A continuity that will be completed in the two houses built in Somosaguas. Volumetric decomposition, as the fragmentation achieved in the last cubist experiences, needs the incorporation of elements of memory - fountains, patios, shutters...- as a network of signals, such as those introduced by Picasso and Braque in their paintings to allow their interpretation. Braque insists in his interest in the space surrounding the objects. A search of the tactility of space contrary to the perspective, which moves the observer away from the object, and that in the gardens of Somosaguas seems to emanate from its own materiality. A tactile space away from the geometric space and Braque identified with the representative space in which Poincaré in La Science et l´hypothèse, located our feelings. To blur those boundaries of the object extends the space indefinitely. With the passage in Greek art from myth to logos, it opens up to mathematics as a tool for understanding the nature until the nineteenth century. Leon Lederman, in Symmetry and beautiful Universe, suggests that one of the greatest contributions of Einstein's theory is to change the mindset of nature, namely the search for symmetry principles that underlie physical laws. Considering that symmetry is the invariance of an object or system from a transformation and that physical laws are the same at any point in space, the space of our universe has a continuous translational symmetry. In the space occupation of the first proposals by Corrales and Molezún underlying structures appear that match enlosetados: parallelograms under continuous transformations, which nature identifies tridimensionally with the crystallographic groups. Plants in the Contemporary Art Museum in La Castellana, the residence in Miraflores, the Brussels pavilion or the Peugeot tower belong to this group. The architecture as a process of continuous occupation of the territory and of its transposition to the deck, embodied in structural lines coincide with the mathematical structure of the translational symmetry and infinite extension whose possibility is enhanced by the use of the transparent cover. Alongside this literal transparency inherent to the material, Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky alert us another transparency inherent in the structure: phenomenal transparency, illustrated by the Juan Gris’ works, and whose intuition is reflected in the Huarte’s house in Puerta de Hierro in Madrid. Corrales and Molezún insist on a reading of its volume away from the frontal, in which the outline of their inclined roofs and tangential visual suggested by the organization of his circulations introduce a diagonal structure which overlaps the orthogonal understanding of its plant, drawing an intricate web of broken lines that allow the space fluctuate between the volumetric sequence proposal. Information concerning to the energy mean of light and the concept of atom start from the consideration by Plank about the energy emission, and conclude with a paradoxical situation: the dual nature of light - demonstrated by the explanation of Einstein's photoelectric effect-, and the dual nature of matter -assumed by Bohr and demonstrated by the Compton effect-. Finally, Schrödinger and Heisenberg will formulate the universal movement equation governing in undulatory matter, whose mathematical representation is what is known as a wave function. The object is thus identified with its wave function. Its undulatory expression speaks about the probability of being found in a certain place. Gyorgy Kepes emphasizess the need to simplify the language to move from the objectivity that still remains in the cubist painting to the total abstraction of the space. And this is how artists reduced the objects to simple geometric shapes, making emerge at a time, the plastic forces that tense or balance them, in a process that eventually eliminate any trace of matter. Robert Rosenblum in Modern Painting and the Northern Romantic Tradition. Friedrich to Rothko talks about how this rejection of matter in an almost impalpable vacuum: dense color light fields that broadcast a serene glow and seem to generate the elemental energies of natural light is directly linked to the relationship with nature that sets the northern romanticism. An expression of the power of nature concentrated in a vacuum which had been reason for thought by Michael Faraday in his application of the concept of electric field. Saenz de Oíza touches upon the material expression of the energy in its proposal with Jose Luis Romany to the chapel on the Camino de Santiago. The presence of electromagnetic forces, the only ones with the gravitational one capable of being experienced by the man will also visualize in the emerging nature of some of his works: the sanctuary of Aránzazu or Torres Blancas, but also in the flowing nature of its contours, and the inclusion of interest in the realization of space fluctuating boundary: the threshold as the center of the universe. Miguel Fisac, back from his trip to the Northern Countries, starts on a linguistic simplification oriented to the functional adequacy of spaces. In the Daimiel Institute, in the Institute to Teacher Formation or in the complex to the Dominican Fathers in Valladolid or Alcobendas, progressively organized into different functional volumes architecture, focusing in a parallel way in the manifestation of the links established between these volumes as a visualization of the forces that tense and balance them. The prolongation of the physical reality beyond the limits of the envelope is already something more than a simple intuition. A process in which the treatment of light as a construction material, have a special role. In the Coronation church, curved wall lighting dramatizes the undulatory condition of the light, manifesting as if an interference pattern is involved. Versus the dissolution of the material, the space is expressed here as a dense atmosphere, away from the traditional notion of the vacuum. A dual nature, wave and particle, which is also sensed by Fisac in his committed use of concrete as a unique construction material. Richard Feynman alerts us to the occupation of space by many electromagnetic forces, which like the light, require specific receptors to capture their presence. His famous diagrams also involve the final visualization of atomic processes. As absolute abstraction in the visual arts, these representations are not assimilated to images obtained from our experience. A diagrammatic nature, abstracted from figuration, which will obtein the pictures of Alejandro de la Sota. The section of Maravillas gym collects traces of its main building blocks: structure, enclosures... but also, and with the same intensity, of the forces that generate their space as constituent elements. Sota makes it clear: the vacuum is where inhabit these tensions. The subsequent simplification of forms, accompanied by the obsession with his lightening, the near disappearance of the envelope, touches upon that idea which Paul Klee defines the activity of the artist in his Modern Art Theory, the spacing out to the apparent: it is not to reproduce the visible, it is to turn visible. Thus, in Bankunión and Aviaco, as in many other projects, against the shape, raises the limit as the dimension of a scope. His own aseptic and diagrammatic representation transmits waiver to a spatial specificity that Gilles Deleuze clearly expressed in Painting. The Concept Diagram: The diagram as the possibility of infinite pictures, or infinite possibility of the picture. Thus appears the probabilistic concept of space in which, opposite to the diffuse of its definition -clear ideas, diffuse definition, as Llinas said- the insistent attention to some elements like stairs, guards or lookouts seems to concentrate the architecture in its dynamic condition, transitional. The relationship opposite the object, the link opposite the tangible.

Influence of loudspeaker directivity and measurement geometry on direct acoustic levels over façades for acoustic insulation tests with the International Standard ISO 140-5

The International Standard ISO 140-5 on field measurements of airborne sound insulation of façades establishes that the directivity of the measurement loudspeaker should be such that the variation in the local direct sound pressure level (ΔSPL) on the sample is ΔSPL < 5 dB (or ΔSPL < 10 dB for large façades). This condition is usually not very easy to accomplish nor is it easy to verify whether the loudspeaker produces such a uniform level. Direct sound pressure levels on the ISO standard façade essentially depend on the distance and directivity of the loudspeaker used. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the test geometry for measuring sound insulation and explains how the loudspeaker directivity, combined with distance, affects the acoustic level distribution on the façade. The first sections of the paper are focused on analysing the measurement geometry and its influence on the direct acoustic level variations on the façade. The most favourable and least favourable positions to minimise these direct acoustic level differences are found, and the angles covered by the façade in the reference system of the loudspeaker are also determined. Then, the maximum dimensions of the façade that meet the conditions of the ISO 140-5 standard are obtained for the ideal omnidirectional sound source and the piston radiating in an infinite baffle, which is chosen as the typical radiation pattern for loudspeakers. Finally, a complete study of the behaviour of different loudspeaker radiation models (such as those usually utilised in the ISO 140-5 measurements) is performed, comparing their radiation maps on the façade for searching their maximum dimensions and the most appropriate radiation configurations.

Analysis of the performance of caissons with a yard and cylindrical geometry as a breakwater. Apollonius caisson

En el presente trabajo se analiza el cajón Apolonio como diseño conceptual para controlar la reflexión en monolitos de gravedad sometidos a esfuerzos dinámicos de oleaje.