Simulação numérica de escoamentos hipersônicos sobre corpos rombudos pelo método de elementos finitos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Desenvolvimento de Interface gráfica como suporte para soluções numéricas das equações de Maxwell em coordenadas gerais – 3D

Neste trabalho, é implementada uma interface gráfica de usuários (GUI) usando a ferramenta Qt da Nokia (versão 3.0). A interface visa simplificar a criação de cenários para a realização de simulações paralelas usando a técnica numérica Local Nonorthogonal Finite Difference Time-Domain (LN-FDTD), aplicada para solucionar as equações de Maxwell. O simulador foi desenvolvido usando a linguagem de programação C e paralelizado utilizando threads. Para isto, a biblioteca pthread foi empregada. A visualização 3D do cenário a ser simulado (e da malha) é realizada por um programa especialmente desenvolvido que utiliza a biblioteca OpenGL. Para melhorar o desenvolvimento e alcançar os objetivos do projeto computacional, foram utilizados conceitos da Engenharia de Software, tais como o modelo de processo de software por prototipagem. Ao privar o usuário de interagir diretamente com o código-fonte da simulação, a probabilidade de ocorrência de erros humanos durante o processo de construção de cenários é minimizada. Para demonstrar o funcionamento da ferramenta desenvolvida, foi realizado um estudo relativo ao efeito de flechas em linhas de baixa tensão nas tensões transitórias induzidas nas mesmas por descargas atmosféricas. As tensões induzidas nas tomadas da edificação também são estudadas.

Programa computacional com interface gráfica para identificação estocástica de parâmetros modais de estruturas civis: aplicação em pontes e torres de linha de transmissão

O interesse no comportamento dinâmico de estruturas metálicas vem crescendo nas últimas décadas no Brasil, em decorrência de acidentes com colapso total de algumas estruturas devido às vibrações ambientes em diversas regiões do país. Na região amazônica, por exemplo, onde esse tipo de estrutura deve vencer obstáculos como florestas e rios de grande largura, casos de colapso total de estruturas metálicas também são relatados. O foco principal dessa dissertação é o estudo do comportamento modal de estruturas metálicas submetidas às vibrações ambientes cuja magnitude das forças de excitação é desconhecida. Dois estudos de caso são apresentados: no primeiro deles, o comportamento modal de uma torre de linha de transmissão de energia elétrica é investigado; e no segundo caso, tanto o comportamento modal como os níveis de desconforto de uma ponte são estudados. Os estudos realizados neste último caso visam avaliar os níveis de desconforto da ponte quando submetida às excitações ambientes como rajadas de vento e o tráfego de veículo de acordo a norma brasileira NBR 8800 (1986). Em ambos os estudos de caso foram realizadas análises experimentais e computacionais. Na etapa experimental, ambas as estruturas foram monitoradas com emprego de um conjunto de acelerômetros de baixa freqüência e também de um sistema de aquisição apropriados para ensaios de vibração de estruturas civis. Como é muito difícil medir a magnitude das forças de excitação ambientes, foram utilizados os métodos de identificação estocásticos SSI-DATA e SSI-COV para extração de parâmetros modais de estruturas civis a partir somente dos dados de resposta coletados nos ensaios de vibração. Entre as atividades desenvolvidas nessa etapa, destaca-se a criação de um programa computacional com recursos do Graphical User Interface (GUI) da plataforma Matlab®, destinado à identificação modal de estruturas civis com o emprego dos referidos métodos estocásticos. Esse programa é constituído de três módulos: o primeiro é destinado ao processamento e tratamento dos sinais coletados nos ensaios de vibração; o segundo é utilizado para adicionar as informações do posicionamento dos acelerômetros utilizados nos arquivos dos sinais de resposta; e o terceiro e último módulo é destinado à identificação a partir dos arquivos de dados de resposta processados nos dois primeiros módulos. Na etapa das análises teóricas, foram criados modelos numéricos utilizando o método dos elementos finitos para simular o comportamento dinâmico das estruturas analisadas. Comparando os resultados obtidos em ambas as etapas de análise, verifica-se que resultados experimentais e teóricos apresentaram parâmetros bastante próximos entre si nos primeiros modos de vibração. Os resultados experimentais mostraram que ambos os métodos estocásticos foram muito eficientes na identificação das estruturas ensaiadas.

GEDI: a user-friendly toolbox for analysis of large-scale gene expression data

Abstract Background Several mathematical and statistical methods have been proposed in the last few years to analyze microarray data. Most of those methods involve complicated formulas, and software implementations that require advanced computer programming skills. Researchers from other areas may experience difficulties when they attempting to use those methods in their research. Here we present an user-friendly toolbox which allows large-scale gene expression analysis to be carried out by biomedical researchers with limited programming skills. Results Here, we introduce an user-friendly toolbox called GEDI (Gene Expression Data Interpreter), an extensible, open-source, and freely-available tool that we believe will be useful to a wide range of laboratories, and to researchers with no background in Mathematics and Computer Science, allowing them to analyze their own data by applying both classical and advanced approaches developed and recently published by Fujita et al. Conclusion GEDI is an integrated user-friendly viewer that combines the state of the art SVR, DVAR and SVAR algorithms, previously developed by us. It facilitates the application of SVR, DVAR and SVAR, further than the mathematical formulas present in the corresponding publications, and allows one to better understand the results by means of available visualizations. Both running the statistical methods and visualizing the results are carried out within the graphical user interface, rendering these algorithms accessible to the broad community of researchers in Molecular Biology.

Gestión de pacientes de un Servicio de Urgencias Hospitalarias

[ES] Un servicio de urgencias de una zona ofrece asistencia sanitaria y tiene como principal objetivo atender la patología urgente que acude al hospital y el nivel de compromiso que se asume consiste en diagnosticar, tratar y estabilizar, en la medida posible, dicha patología urgente. Otro objetivo es gestionar la demanda de atención urgente por parte del ciudadano a través de un sistema de selección prioritaria inicial (Triaje) que selecciona, prioriza, organiza y gestiona la demanda de atención. Para poder controlar y realizar el trabajo de la forma más eficaz se utilizan herramientas de gestión necesarias para el control de los pacientes, desde que se realiza su ingreso en el servicio de urgencias hasta el alta del mismo. Las aplicaciones desarrolladas son las siguientes: Gestión de Pacientes en Urgencias: Esta aplicación asignará un estado inicial al paciente y permitirá ir cambiando el estado del mismo usando el método del Triaje (valoración), el más difundido en la medicina de urgencias. Además, se podrán solicitar pruebas diagnósticas y la visualización de marcadores de analíticas para comprobar su evolución. Finalmente, se podrá desarrollar un informe de alta para el paciente. Informadores de Urgencias: La aplicación gestiona la localización física del paciente dentro del servicio de urgencias, permitiendo asimismo el cambio entre las distintas localizaciones y el control para la información a los familiares de los mismos, pudiendo almacenar los familiares y teléfonos de contactos para que estos puedan ser informados. El desarrollo se ha realizado utilizando el MVC (modelo - vista - controlador) que es patrón de arquitectura que separa los datos de una aplicación, la interfaz gráfica de usuario y la lógica de control de componentes. El software utilizado para el desarrollo de las aplicaciones es CACHÉ de Intersystems que permite la creación de una base de datos multidimensional. El modelo de objetos de Caché se basa en el estándar ODMG (Object Database Management Group, Grupo de gestión de bases de datos de objetos) y soporta muchas características avanzadas. CACHÉ dispone de Zen, una biblioteca completa de componentes de objetos preconstruidos y herramientas de desarrollo basadas en la tecnología CSP (Caché Server Pages) y de objetos de InterSystems. ZEN es especialmente apropiado para desarrollar una versión Web de las aplicaciones cliente/servidor creadas originalmente con herramientas como Visual Basic o PowerBuilder.

Enabling the evolution of J2EE applications through reverse engineering and quality assurance

Enterprise Applications are complex software systems that manipulate much persistent data and interact with the user through a vast and complex user interface. In particular applications written for the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) are composed using various technologies such as Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) or Java Server Pages (JSP) that in turn rely on languages other than Java, such as XML or SQL. In this heterogeneous context applying existing reverse engineering and quality assurance techniques developed for object-oriented systems is not enough. Because those techniques have been created to measure quality or provide information about one aspect of J2EE applications, they cannot properly measure the quality of the entire system. We intend to devise techniques and metrics to measure quality in J2EE applications considering all their aspects and to aid their evolution. Using software visualization we also intend to inspect to structure of J2EE applications and all other aspects that can be investigate through this technique. In order to do that we also need to create a unified meta-model including all elements composing a J2EE application.

Software als Schutzgegenstand des Europäischen Urheberrechts

After 20 years of silence, two recent references from the Czech Republic (Bezpečnostní softwarová asociace, Case C-393/09) and from the English High Court (SAS Institute, Case C-406/10) touch upon several questions that are fundamental for the extent of copyright protection for software under the Computer Program Directive 91/25 (now 2009/24) and the Information Society Directive 2001/29. In Case C-393/09, the European Court of Justice held that “the object of the protection conferred by that directive is the expression in any form of a computer program which permits reproduction in different computer languages, such as the source code and the object code.” As “any form of expression of a computer program must be protected from the moment when its reproduction would engender the reproduction of the computer program itself, thus enabling the computer to perform its task,” a graphical user interface (GUI) is not protected under the Computer Program Directive, as it does “not enable the reproduction of that computer program, but merely constitutes one element of that program by means of which users make use of the features of that program.” While the definition of computer program and the exclusion of GUIs mirror earlier jurisprudence in the Member States and therefore do not come as a surprise, the main significance of Case C-393/09 lies in its interpretation of the Information Society Directive. In confirming that a GUI “can, as a work, be protected by copyright if it is its author’s own intellectual creation,” the ECJ continues the Europeanization of the definition of “work” which began in Infopaq (Case C-5/08). Moreover, the Court elaborated this concept further by excluding expressions from copyright protection which are dictated by their technical function. Even more importantly, the ECJ held that a television broadcasting of a GUI does not constitute a communication to the public, as the individuals cannot have access to the “essential element characterising the interface,” i.e., the interaction with the user. The exclusion of elements dictated by technical functions from copyright protection and the interpretation of the right of communication to the public with reference to the “essential element characterising” the work may be seen as welcome limitations of copyright protection in the interest of a free public domain which were not yet apparent in Infopaq. While Case C-393/09 has given a first definition of the computer program, the pending reference in Case C-406/10 is likely to clarify the scope of protection against nonliteral copying, namely in how far the protection extends beyond the text of the source code to the design of a computer program and where the limits of protection lie as regards the functionality of a program and mere “principles and ideas.” In light of the travaux préparatoires, it is submitted that the ECJ is also likely to grant protection for the design of a computer program, while excluding both the functionality and underlying principles and ideas from protection under the European copyright directives.

End-User Development Success Factors and their Application to Composite Web Development Environments

The Future Internet is expected to be composed of a mesh of interoperable Web services accessed from all over the Web. This approach has not yet caught on since global user-service interaction is still an open issue. Successful composite applications rely on heavyweight service orchestration technologies that raise the bar far above end-user skills. The weakness lies in the abstraction of the underlying service front-end architecture rather than the infrastructure technologies themselves. In our opinion, the best approach is to offer end-to-end composition from user interface to service invocation, as well as an understandable abstraction of both building blocks and a visual composition technique. In this paper we formalize our vision with regard to the next-generation front-end Web technology that will enable integrated access to services, contents and things in the Future Internet. We present a novel reference architecture designed to empower non-technical end users to create and share their own self-service composite applications. A tool implementing this architecture has been developed as part of the European FP7 FAST Project and EzWeb Project, allowing us to validate the rationale behind our approach.

Using the Journalistic Metaphor to Design User Interfaces That Explain Sensor Data

Facilitating general access to data from sensor networks (including traffic, hydrology and other domains) increases their utility. In this paper we argue that the journalistic metaphor can be effectively used to automatically generate multimedia presentations that help non-expert users analyze and understand sensor data. The journalistic layout and style are familiar to most users. Furthermore, the journalistic approach of ordering information from most general to most specific helps users obtain a high-level understanding while providing them the freedom to choose the depth of analysis to which they want to go. We describe the general characteristics and architectural requirements for an interactive intelligent user interface for exploring sensor data that uses the journalistic metaphor. We also describe our experience in developing this interface in real-world domains (e.g., hydrology).

Interfaz gráfica y fase de pruebas de software de vídeo forense (Sistema de codificación DV)

El presente proyecto fin de carrera, realizado por el ingeniero técnico en telecomunicaciones Pedro M. Matamala Lucas, es la fase final de desarrollo de un proyecto de mayor magnitud correspondiente al software de vídeo forense SAVID. El propósito del proyecto en su totalidad es la creación de una herramienta informática capacitada para realizar el análisis de ficheros de vídeo, codificados y comprimidos por el sistema DV –Digital Video-. El objetivo del análisis, es aportar información acerca de si la cinta magnética presenta indicios de haber sido manipulada con una edición posterior a su grabación original, además, de mostrar al usuario otros datos de interés como las especificaciones técnicas de la señal de vídeo y audio. Por lo tanto, se facilitará al usuario, analista de vídeo forense, información que le ayude a valorar la originalidad del contenido del soporte que es sujeto del análisis. El objetivo específico de esta fase final, es la creación de la interfaz de usuario del software, que informa tanto del código binario de los sectores significativos, como de su interpretación tras el análisis. También permitirá al usuario el reporte de los resultados, además de otras funcionalidades que le permitan la navegación por los sectores del código que han sido modificados como efecto colateral de la edición de la cinta magnética original. Otro objetivo importante del proyecto ha sido la investigación de metodologías y técnicas de desarrollo de software para su posterior implementación, buscando con esto, una mayor eficiencia en la gestión del tiempo y una mayor calidad de software con el fin de garantizar su evolución y sostenibilidad en el futuro. Se ha hecho hincapié en las metodologías ágiles que han ido ganando relevancia en el sector de las tecnologías de la información en las últimas décadas, sustituyendo a metodologías clásicas como el desarrollo en cascada. Su flexibilidad durante el ciclo de vida del software, permite obtener mejores resultados cuando las especificaciones no están del todo definidas, ajustándose de este modo a las condiciones del proyecto. Resumiendo las especificaciones técnicas del software, C++ es el lenguaje de programación orientado a objetos con el que se ha desarrollado, utilizándose la tecnología MFC -Microsoft Foundation Classes- para la implementación. Es un proyecto MFC de tipo cuadro de dialogo,creado, compilado y publicado, con la herramienta de desarrollo integrado Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. La arquitectura con la que se ha estructurado es la arquetípica de tres capas, compuesta por la interfaz de usuario, capa de negocio y capa de acceso a datos. Se ha visto necesario configurar el proyecto con compatibilidad con CLR –Common Languages Runtime- para poder implementar la funcionalidad de creación de reportes. Acompañando a la aplicación informática, se presenta la memoria del proyecto y sus anexos correspondientes a los documentos EDRF –Especificaciones Detalladas de Requisitos funcionales-, EIU –Especificaciones de Interfaz de Usuario , DT -Diseño Técnico- y Guía de Usuario. SUMMARY. This dissertation, carried out by the telecommunications engineer Pedro M. Matamala Lucas, is in its final stage and is part of a larger project for the software of forensic video called SAVID. The purpose of the entire project is the creation of a software tool capable of analyzing video files that are coded and compressed by the DV -Digital Video- System. The objective of the analysis is to provide information on whether the magnetic tape shows signs of having been tampered with after the editing of the original recording, and also to show the user other relevant data and technical specifications of the video signal and audio. Therefore the user, forensic video analyst, will have information to help assess the originality of the content of the media that is subject to analysis. The specific objective of this final phase is the creation of the user interface of the software that provides information about the binary code of the significant sectors and also its interpretation after analysis. It will also allow the user to report the results, and other features that will allow browsing through the sections of the code that have been modified as a secondary effect of the original magnetic tape being tampered. Another important objective of the project is the investigation of methodologies and software development techniques to be used in deployment, with the aim of greater efficiency in time management and enhanced software quality in order to ensure its development and maintenance in the future. Agile methodologies, which have become important in the field of information technology in recent decades, have been used during the execution of the project, replacing classical methodologies such as Waterfall Development. The flexibility, as the result of using by agile methodologies, during the software life cycle, produces better results when the specifications are not fully defined, thus conforming to the initial conditions of the project. Summarizing the software technical specifications, C + + the programming language – which is object oriented and has been developed using technology MFC- Microsoft Foundation Classes for implementation. It is a project type dialog box, created, compiled and released with the integrated development tool Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. The architecture is structured in three layers: the user interface, business layer and data access layer. It has been necessary to configure the project with the support CLR -Common Languages Runtime – in order to implement the reporting functionality. The software application is submitted with the project report and its annexes to the following documents: Functional Requirements Specifications - Detailed User Interface Specifications, Technical Design and User Guide.

Distributed Web Interface for Real-Time Spatial Audio Reproduction System

SSR es el acrónimo de SoundScape Renderer (tool for real-time spatial audio reproduction providing a variety of rendering algorithms), es un programa escrito en su mayoría en C++. El programa permite al usuario escuchar tanto sonidos grabados con anterioridad como sonidos en directo. El sonido o los sonidos se oirán, desde el punto de vista del oyente, como si el sonido se produjese en el punto que el programa decida, lo interesante de este proyecto es que el sonido podrá cambiar de lugar, moverse, etc. Todo en tiempo real. Esto se consigue sin modificar el sonido al grabarlo pero sí al emitirlo, el programa calcula las variaciones necesarias para que al emitir el sonido al oyente le llegue como si el sonido realmente se generase en un punto del espacio o lo más parecido posible. La sensación de movimiento no deja de ser el punto anterior cambiando de lugar. La idea era crear una aplicación web basada en Canvas de HTML5 que se comunicará con esta interfaz de usuario remota. Así se solucionarían todos los problemas de compatibilidad ya que cualquier dispositivo con posibilidad de visualizar páginas web podría correr una aplicación basada en estándares web, por ejemplo un sistema con Windows o un móvil con navegador. El protocolo debía de ser WebSocket porque es un protocolo HTML5 y ofrece las “garantías” de latencia que una aplicación con necesidades de información en tiempo real requiere. Nos permite una comunicación full-dúplex asíncrona sin mucho payload que es justo lo que se venía a evitar al no usar polling normal de HTML. El problema que surgió fue que la interfaz de usuario de red que tenía el programa no era compatible con WebSocket debido a un handshacking inicial y obligatorio que realiza el protocolo, por lo que se necesitaba otra interfaz de red. Se decidió entonces cambiar a JSON como formato para el intercambio de mensajes. Al final el proyecto comprende no sólo la aplicación web basada en Canvas sino también un servidor funcional y la definición de una nueva interfaz de usuario de red con su protocolo añadido. ABSTRACT. This project aims to become a part of the SSR tool to extend its capabilities in the field of the access. SSR is an acronym for SoundScape Renderer, is a program mostly written in C++ that allows you to hear already recorded or live sound with a variety of sound equipment as if the sound came from a desired place in the space. Like the web-page of the SSR says surely better explained: “The SoundScape Renderer (SSR) is a tool for real-time spatial audio reproduction providing a variety of rendering algorithms.” The application can be used with a graphical interface written in Qt but has also a network interface for external applications to use it. This network interface communicates using XML messages. A good example of it is the Android client. This Android client is already working. In order to use the application should be run it by loading an audio source and the wanted environment so that the renderer knows what to do. In that moment the server binds and anyone can use the network interface. Since the network interface is documented everyone can make an application to interact with this network interface. So the application can have as many user interfaces as wanted. The part that is developed in this project has nothing to do neither with audio rendering nor even with the reproduction of the spatial audio. The part that is developed here is about the interface used in the SSR application. As it can be deduced from the title: “Distributed Web Interface for Real-Time Spatial Audio Reproduction System”, this work aims only to offer the interface via web for the SSR (“Real-Time Spatial Audio Reproduction System”). The idea is not to make a new graphical interface for SSR but to allow more types of interfaces and communication. To accomplish the objective of allowing more graphical interfaces this project is going to use a new network interface. By now the SSR application is using only XML for data interchange but this new network interface support JSON. This project comprehends the server that launch the application, the user interface and the new network interface. It is done with these modules in order to allow creating new user interfaces that can communicate with the server or new servers that can communicate with the user interface by defining a complete network interface for data interchange.

Desarrollo de un sistema de reconocimiento facial

El objetivo principal alrededor del cual se desenvuelve este proyecto es el desarrollo de un sistema de reconocimiento facial. Entre sus objetivos específicos se encuentran: realizar una primera aproximación sobre las técnicas de reconocimiento facial existentes en la actualidad, elegir una aplicación donde pueda ser útil el reconocimiento facial, diseñar y desarrollar un programa en MATLAB que lleve a cabo la función de reconocimiento facial, y evaluar el funcionamiento del sistema desarrollado. Este documento se encuentra dividido en cuatro partes: INTRODUCCIÓN, MARCO TEÓRICO, IMPLEMENTACIÓN, y RESULTADOS, CONCLUSIONES Y LÍNEAS FUTURAS. En la primera parte, se hace una introducción relativa a la actualidad del reconocimiento facial y se comenta brevemente sobre las técnicas existentes para desarrollar un sistema biométrico de este tipo. En ella se justifican también aquellas técnicas que acabaron formando parte de la implementación. En la segunda parte, el marco teórico, se explica la estructura general que tiene un sistema de reconocimiento biométrico, así como sus modos de funcionamiento, y las tasas de error utilizadas para evaluar y comparar su rendimiento. Así mismo, se lleva a cabo una descripción más profunda sobre los conceptos y métodos utilizados para efectuar la detección y reconocimiento facial en la tercera parte del proyecto. La tercera parte abarca una descripción detallada de la solución propuesta. En ella se explica el diseño, características y aplicación de la implementación; que trata de un programa elaborado en MATLAB con interfaz gráfica, y que utiliza cuatro sistemas de reconocimiento facial, basados cada uno en diferentes técnicas: Análisis por componentes principales, análisis lineal discriminante, wavelets de Gabor, y emparejamiento de grafos elásticos. El programa ofrece además la capacidad de crear y editar una propia base de datos con etiquetas, dándole aplicación directa sobre el tema que se trata. Se proponen además una serie de características con el objetivo de ampliar y mejorar las funcionalidades del programa diseñado. Dentro de dichas características destaca la propuesta de un modo de verificación híbrido aplicable a cualquier rama de la biometría y un programa de evaluación capaz de medir, graficar, y comparar las configuraciones de cada uno de los sistemas de reconocimiento implementados. Otra característica destacable es la herramienta programada para la creación de grafos personalizados y generación de modelos, aplicable a reconocimiento de objetos en general. En la cuarta y última parte, se presentan al principio los resultados obtenidos. En ellos se contemplan y analizan las comparaciones entre las distintas configuraciones de los sistemas de reconocimiento implementados para diferentes bases de datos (una de ellas formada con imágenes con condiciones de adquisición no controladas). También se miden las tasas de error del modo de verificación híbrido propuesto. Finalmente, se extraen conclusiones, y se proponen líneas futuras de investigación. ABSTRACT The main goal of this project is to develop a facial recognition system. To meet this end, it was necessary to accomplish a series of specific objectives, which were: researching on the existing face recognition technics nowadays, choosing an application where face recognition might be useful, design and develop a face recognition system using MATLAB, and measure the performance of the implemented system. This document is divided into four parts: INTRODUCTION, THEORTICAL FRAMEWORK, IMPLEMENTATION, and RESULTS, CONCLUSSIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH STUDIES. In the first part, an introduction is made in relation to facial recognition nowadays, and the techniques used to develop a biometric system of this kind. Furthermore, the techniques chosen to be part of the implementation are justified. In the second part, the general structure and the two basic modes of a biometric system are explained. The error rates used to evaluate and compare the performance of a biometric system are explained as well. Moreover, a description of the concepts and methods used to detect and recognize faces in the third part is made. The design, characteristics, and applications of the systems put into practice are explained in the third part. The implementation consists in developing a program with graphical user interface made in MATLAB. This program uses four face recognition systems, each of them based on a different technique: Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Fisher’s Linear Discriminant (FLD), Gabor wavelets, and Elastic Graph Matching (EGM). In addition, with this implementation it is possible to create and edit one´s tagged database, giving it a direct application. Also, a group of characteristics are proposed to enhance the functionalities of the program designed. Among these characteristics, three of them should be emphasized in this summary: A proposal of an hybrid verification mode of a biometric system; and an evaluation program capable of measuring, plotting curves, and comparing different configurations of each implemented recognition system; and a tool programmed to create personalized graphs and models (tagged graph associated to an image of a person), which can be used generally in object recognition. In the fourth and last part of the project, the results of the comparisons between different configurations of the systems implemented are shown for three databases (One of them created with pictures taken under non-controlled environments). The error rates of the proposed hybrid verification mode are measured as well. Finally, conclusions are extracted and future research studies are proposed.

A component- and connector-based approach for end-user composite web applications development

Enabling real end-user development is the next logical stage in the evolution of Internet-wide service-based applications. Successful composite applications rely on heavyweight service orchestration technologies that raise the bar far above end-user skills. This weakness can be attributed to the fact that the composition model does not satisfy end-user needs rather than to the actual infrastructure technologies. In our opinion, the best way to overcome this weakness is to offer end-to-end composition from the user interface to service invocation, plus an understandable abstraction of building blocks and a visual composition technique empowering end users to develop their own applications. In this paper, we present a visual framework for end users, called FAST, which fulfils this objective. FAST implements a novel composition model designed to empower non-programmer end users to create and share their own self-service composite applications in a fully visual fashion. We projected the development environment implementing this model as part of the European FP7 FAST Project, which was used to validate the rationale behind our approach.

Hammer: an Android based application for end-user industrial robot programming

This paper presents a novel tablet based end-user interface for industrial robot programming (called Hammer). This application makes easier to program tasks for industrial robots like polishing, milling or grinding. It is based on the Scratch programming language, but specifically design and created for Android OS. It is a visual programming concept that allows non-skilled programmer operators to create programs. The application also allows to monitor the tasks while it is being executed by overlapping real time information through augmented reality. The application includes a teach pendant screen that can be customized according to the operator needs at every moment.

3D simulation of complex shading affecting PV systems taking benefit from the power of graphics cards developed for the video game industry

Shading reduces the power output of a photovoltaic (PV) system. The design engineering of PV systems requires modeling and evaluating shading losses. Some PV systems are affected by complex shading scenes whose resulting PV energy losses are very difficult to evaluate with current modeling tools. Several specialized PV design and simulation software include the possibility to evaluate shading losses. They generally possess a Graphical User Interface (GUI) through which the user can draw a 3D shading scene, and then evaluate its corresponding PV energy losses. The complexity of the objects that these tools can handle is relatively limited. We have created a software solution, 3DPV, which allows evaluating the energy losses induced by complex 3D scenes on PV generators. The 3D objects can be imported from specialized 3D modeling software or from a 3D object library. The shadows cast by this 3D scene on the PV generator are then directly evaluated from the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Thanks to the recent development of GPUs for the video game industry, the shadows can be evaluated with a very high spatial resolution that reaches well beyond the PV cell level, in very short calculation times. A PV simulation model then translates the geometrical shading into PV energy output losses. 3DPV has been implemented using WebGL, which allows it to run directly from a Web browser, without requiring any local installation from the user. This also allows taken full benefits from the information already available from Internet, such as the 3D object libraries. This contribution describes, step by step, the method that allows 3DPV to evaluate the PV energy losses caused by complex shading. We then illustrate the results of this methodology to several application cases that are encountered in the world of PV systems design. Keywords: 3D, modeling, simulation, GPU, shading, losses, shadow mapping, solar, photovoltaic, PV, WebGL