CODAPACK3D. A new version of Compositional Data Package

The statistical analysis of compositional data should be treated using logratios of parts,which are difficult to use correctly in standard statistical packages. For this reason afreeware package, named CoDaPack was created. This software implements most of thebasic statistical methods suitable for compositional data.In this paper we describe the new version of the package that now is calledCoDaPack3D. It is developed in Visual Basic for applications (associated with Excel©),Visual Basic and Open GL, and it is oriented towards users with a minimum knowledgeof computers with the aim at being simple and easy to use.This new version includes new graphical output in 2D and 3D. These outputs could bezoomed and, in 3D, rotated. Also a customization menu is included and outputs couldbe saved in jpeg format. Also this new version includes an interactive help and alldialog windows have been improved in order to facilitate its use.To use CoDaPack one has to access Excel© and introduce the data in a standardspreadsheet. These should be organized as a matrix where Excel© rows correspond tothe observations and columns to the parts. The user executes macros that returnnumerical or graphical results. There are two kinds of numerical results: new variablesand descriptive statistics, and both appear on the same sheet. Graphical output appearsin independent windows. In the present version there are 8 menus, with a total of 38submenus which, after some dialogue, directly call the corresponding macro. Thedialogues ask the user to input variables and further parameters needed, as well aswhere to put these results. The web site http://ima.udg.es/CoDaPack contains thisfreeware package and only Microsoft Excel© under Microsoft Windows© is required torun the software.Kew words: Compositional data Analysis, Software

Medical image registration based on random line sampling

One of the key aspects in 3D-image registration is the computation of the joint intensity histogram. We propose a new approach to compute this histogram using uniformly distributed random lines to sample stochastically the overlapping volume between two 3D-images. The intensity values are captured from the lines at evenly spaced positions, taking an initial random offset different for each line. This method provides us with an accurate, robust and fast mutual information-based registration. The interpolation effects are drastically reduced, due to the stochastic nature of the line generation, and the alignment process is also accelerated. The results obtained show a better performance of the introduced method than the classic computation of the joint histogram

Modelatge basat en exemples de carrers d’una ciutat

L’objectiu d’aquest projecte és el desenvolupament d’una eina de generació de xarxes de carrers a partir d’exemples. L’eina ha de permetre generar una xarxa de carrers nova que sigui semblant a l’existent en un mapa vectorial donat. A més, també es pretén unir aquesta aplicació amb l’urbanEngine per tal de poder generar vistes en 3D sobre aquestes xarxes de carrers, a més d’ampliar les opcions de l’urbanEngine a l’hora de crear ciutats

Estudi de l’expansió de carrers en ciutats al llarg del temps

El Projecte s’ha desenvolupat dintre del Grup de Geometria i Gràfics de la Udg on es treballa amb projectes de desenvolupament urbanístic 3D. L’objectiu del projecte consisteix en construir una aplicació per simular l’evolució de ciutats expandint els carrers al llarg del temps. L’aplicació es desenvoluparà dintre del projecte urbanEngine incorporant la possibilitat d’expandir ciutats com una extensió d’aquest. A més es vol dissenyat una interfície gràfica d’usuari que faciliti les tasques de configuració i supervisió del sistema

Espacio y tiempo en el imaginario digital. La construcción técnico estética de la espacio-temporalidad contemporánea.

Partiendo de la idea ampliamente aceptada de que las TIC (Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación) han tenido una profunda influencia en los modos en que la sociedad contemporánea experimenta y concibe las nociones de espacio y tiempo, y sustentándose en el contexto de la importancia adquirida por dichas nociones en la comprensión de los procesos sociales en general y estéticos en particular, esta investigación ha tenido por objetivo analizar la espacio-temporalidad en el contexto específico de la era digital. Poniendo en relación la fenomenología de los dispositivos tecnológicos con las nuevas estrategias de representación y puesta en imagen del espacio y el tiempo, nuestro propósito ha sido mostrar no sólo cómo a través de las prácticas artísticas digitales puede identificarse y analizarse el imaginario espacio-temporal de la era digital, sino también cómo éstas –basadas en una larga trayectoria estética de intersecciones entre arte y tecnología- han revestido al espacio y al tiempo de nuevas fenomenologías posibles, dando lugar a nuevas formas de percibirlos y cumpliendo, por tanto, un papel activo en la configuración de dicho imaginario y sus sucesivas transformaciones. La perspectiva teórica adoptada para esta investigación parte de las teorías postmodernas del espacio y el tiempo –considerando autores como Harvey o Jameson-, recurriendo a la sociología del Imaginario Social desarrollada por Castoriadis, Castro-Nogueira o J. L. Pintos para comprender cómo el espacio y el tiempo adquieren significaciones particulares. Combinando estas bases teóricas con los estudios visuales y los trabajos de teóricos de los medios como McLuhan, De Kerckhove o Lev Manovich, se establecerían las posibles relaciones entre las tecnologías, las representaciones sociales del espacio y el tiempo – analizadas a partir de metáforas como “compresión espacio-temporal”, “espacio de los flujos” o “tiempo atemporal” y sus relaciones con el Ciberespacio- y la fenomenología espacio-temporal de las prácticas artísticas y sus estrategias de representación visual –tomando como objeto de estudio tipologías artísticas que van desde el Hipercine a la Realidad Virtual y Aumentada, los Medios Locativos o la Telepresencia. La conclusión que hemos podido extraer de este estudio es que si bien distintos tipos de tecnologías afectan operacional y perceptivamente a la construcción social de la espacio-temporalidad, los modos en que estas tecnologías han estetizado la propia realidad y los modos en que condicionan la construcción estética de las nociones de espacio y tiempo, tanto a partir de la propia fenomenología del dispositivo como de la experimentación creativa con el mismo, ejercen una profunda influencia sobre el imaginario social y espacio-temporal propios de la era digital.

La utilització dels "serious games" en el tractament dels trastorns mentals : una revisió

Aquest article de revisió analitza l'ús que s'està fent dels anomenats "serious games" en el tractament dels trastorns mentals. La recerca efectuada a les bases de dades Medline i PsycINFO han donat com a resultat la localització de 537 articles que fan referència als "serious games" i als "computer games", dels quals 71 ho fan a la seva aplicació en l'àmbit de la salut i 14 a l'àmbit mes concret dels trastorns mentals. S'han trobat estudis que contemplen tractaments per l'esquizofrènia, el Trastorn per Dèficit d'Atenció i Hiperactivitat (TDAH), el Trastorn per Estrès Posttraumàtic (TEPT), l'autisme, el retard mental i les fòbies. Hi ha resultats encoratjadors en quan a l'eficàcia dels tractaments utilitzant jocs d'ordinador, realitat virtual i realitat augmentada, si bé degut a ser un camp de recerca molt jove es necessita replicar molts estudis per tal de donar validesa científica als resultats provisionals obtinguts.

Institutional entrepreneurship and professionalization of the rural development of the sisal region in Brazil

This work analyses the professionalization of rural development in the Brazilian Northeastern region and how this created opportunities for entrepreneurship when the professional practices of funding bodies were transformed in accordance with local reality. This professionalization has its own characteristics, including fluid formats and the rolling out of networks, and it contributes to the theorization and dissemination of certain practices instead of being concentrated in professional associations and formal links with educational institutions. The main implications are commonly related to institutional processes related to professionalization, such as the emergence of certain organizational formats and the dissemination of professional practices that are considered legitimate. An additional consequence was observed in the area of rural development: the ideas and practices disseminated through professionalization were reinterpreted when the local entrepreneurs adapted them to their own thinking and needs.

Intelligent task-level grasp mapping for robot control

In the future, robots will enter our everyday lives to help us with various tasks.For a complete integration and cooperation with humans, these robots needto be able to acquire new skills. Sensor capabilities for navigation in real humanenvironments and intelligent interaction with humans are some of the keychallenges.Learning by demonstration systems focus on the problem of human robotinteraction, and let the human teach the robot by demonstrating the task usinghis own hands. In this thesis, we present a solution to a subproblem within thelearning by demonstration field, namely human-robot grasp mapping. Robotgrasping of objects in a home or office environment is challenging problem.Programming by demonstration systems, can give important skills for aidingthe robot in the grasping task.The thesis presents two techniques for human-robot grasp mapping, directrobot imitation from human demonstrator and intelligent grasp imitation. Inintelligent grasp mapping, the robot takes the size and shape of the object intoconsideration, while for direct mapping, only the pose of the human hand isavailable.These are evaluated in a simulated environment on several robot platforms.The results show that knowing the object shape and size for a grasping taskimproves the robot precision and performance

Measuring cytoskeleton and cellular membrane mechanical properties by atomic force microscopy.

Atomic force microscope is an invaluable device to explore living specimens at a nanometric scale. It permits to image the topography of the sample in 3D, to measure its mechanical properties and to detect the presence of specific molecules bound on its surface. Here we describe the procedure to gather such a data set on living macrophages.

Temporo-parietal cortex encodes location of the self: joining fMRI with neuroscience robotics to study bodily self-consciousness

Neuroimaging of the self has focused on high-level mechanisms such as language, memory or imagery of the self and implicated widely distributed brain networks. Yet recent evidence suggests that low-level mechanisms such as multisensory and sensorimotor integration may play a fundamental role in self-related processing. In the present study we used visuotactile multisensory conflict, robotics, virtual reality, and fMRI to study such low-level mechanisms by experimentally inducing changes in self-location. Participants saw a video of a person's back (body) or an empty room (no-body) being stroked while a MR-compatible robotic device stroked their back. The latter tactile input was synchronous or asynchronous with respect to the seen stroking. Self-location was estimated behaviorally confirming previous data that self-location only differed between the two body conditions. fMRI results showed a bilateral activation of the temporo-parietal cortex with a significantly higher BOLD signal increase in the synchronous/body condition with respect to the other conditions. Sensorimotor cortex and extrastriate-body-area were also activated. We argue that temporo-parietal activity reflects the experience of the conscious 'I' as embodied and localized within bodily space, compatible with clinical data in neurological patients with out-of-body experiences.

Student modeling based on fuzzy inference mechanisms

The paper presents a competence-based instructional design system and a way to provide a personalization of navigation in the course content. The navigation aid tool builds on the competence graph and the student model, which includes the elements of uncertainty in the assessment of students. An individualized navigation graph is constructed for each student, suggesting the competences the student is more prepared to study. We use fuzzy set theory for dealing with uncertainty. The marks of the assessment tests are transformed into linguistic terms and used for assigning values to linguistic variables. For each competence, the level of difficulty and the level of knowing its prerequisites are calculated based on the assessment marks. Using these linguistic variables and approximate reasoning (fuzzy IF-THEN rules), a crisp category is assigned to each competence regarding its level of recommendation.

Measurements of three-dimensional glenoid erosion when planning the prosthetic replacement of osteoarthritic shoulders.

The three-dimensional (3D) correction of glenoid erosion is critical to the long-term success of total shoulder replacement (TSR). In order to characterise the 3D morphology of eroded glenoid surfaces, we looked for a set of morphological parameters useful for TSR planning. We defined a scapular coordinates system based on non-eroded bony landmarks. The maximum glenoid version was measured and specified in 3D by its orientation angle. Medialisation was considered relative to the spino-glenoid notch. We analysed regular CT scans of 19 normal (N) and 86 osteoarthritic (OA) scapulae. When the maximum version of OA shoulders was higher than 10°, the orientation was not only posterior, but extended in postero-superior (35%), postero-inferior (6%) and anterior sectors (4%). The medialisation of the glenoid was higher in OA than normal shoulders. The orientation angle of maximum version appeared as a critical parameter to specify the glenoid shape in 3D. It will be very useful in planning the best position for the glenoid in TSR.

A Web a Três Dimensões

A utilização da Web para a divulgação de produtos e negócios através da Internet já não é novidade, novidade é a Web3D2, uma nova tecnologia concebido para lhe proporcionar inúmeros momentos de interactividade e dinamismo. Pretende-se assim fazer uma pequena abordagem dos objectos 3D na WWW, passando uma visão sobre a Web, identificando algumas as funcionalidades e serviços, a visualização de objecto 3D na Web, os navegadores comuns e os visualizadores que permitem visualizar conteúdos tanto 2D como 3D. Pretende-se desta forma partilhar e dar a conhecer os trabalhos e os avanços conseguidos na criação da das tecnologias Web3D, iniciando com uma contextualização da Web3D, fazendo uma passagem pelos mundos virtuais na Internet criados em Virtual Reality Modeling Language, realçando as dificuldades dessa linguagem na altura e os novos incentivos que deram origem a outras especificação como a X3D. Ainda são identificadas algumas plataformas e ferramentas de tecnologia Web3D, exemplos de algumas áreas onde se aplicam e a perspectiva para o futuro da Web3D centrada na visão do Web3D consortium.

Desenvolvimento de objectos tridimensionais na Web

Este trabalho de uma forma geral pretende apresentar os progressos realizados na área da Web3D, e que este sirva de guia para os potenciais interessados em descobrir as maravilhas que a tecnologia Web3D proporciona. Começa-se por fazer uma alusão sobre os objectos tridimensionais e mencionar exemplos de algumas áreas onde se aplicam. Depois é feita uma pequena abordagem do enquadramento dos objectos 3D na WWW, passando uma visão sobre a Web, identificando as funcionalidades e serviços, por fim uma vista de olhos sobre a visualização de objecto 3D na Web, identificando os navegadores comuns e os visualizadores que permitem visualizar conteúdos tanto 2D como 3D. A seguir são abordados os avanços conseguidos na Web3D, iniciando com uma contextualização da Web3D, fazendo uma passagem pelos mundos virtuais na Internet criados em Virtual Reality Modeling Language, realçando as dificuldades dessa linguagem na altura e os novos incentivos que deram origem a outras especificação como a X3D. Ainda são identificadas algumas plataformas e ferramentas de tecnologia Web3D, exemplos de algumas áreas onde se aplicam e a perspectiva para o futuro da Web3D centrada na visão do Web3D consortium. Por último, apresenta-se um caso prático onde estão descritas as etapas da construção, em modelo proposto, conversão e disponibilização do objecto 3D na Web

Editor i disseny d'interiors

L’OpenGL és un motor 3D que s’utilitza com a lligam entre el software i el hardware gràfic. Actualment és una de les tecnologies més utilitzades en el disseny d’aplicacions 3D. El treball està realitzat amb el programa Visual C++, que és el més recomanat per al desenvolupament d’aplicacions OpenGL. L’objectiu principal d’aquest treball és aprendre a programar amb aquest tipus de tecnologia que no hem estudiat durant el període de carrera. Un altre objectiu del treball era trobar una funció útil i pràctica per a l’aplicació i ens vam decantar per a realitzar un editor d’habitacions per un botiga o empresa de mobles. L’usuari pot de forma molt ràpida i senzilla dibuixar com és l’habitació que vol decorar de forma totalment personalitzada. El programa li generarà l’habitació en tres dimensions i amb els materials que s’han escollit (terra, parets, portes…). Després pot editar-hi mobles personalitzats o pertanyents a la llibreria del programa. El programa incorpora també una base de dades per a l’empresa que ens portarà la gestió de clients, habitacions, textures i mobles (permet ampliar la llibreria del programa). Un cop acabada l’habitació el programa ens hi permet fer una visita de forma interactiva i generar-ne la factura entre altres funcions. La conclusió principal després d’haver acabat aquest projecte, és que a part d’haver après OpenGL, hem aconseguit realitzar una aplicació molt pràctica de cares al disseny d’interiorisme.