http://hdl.handle.net/2117/223 2013-05-23T16:54:42Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19381 Title: Quark: a method to assist software architects in architectural decision-making Authors: Ameller, David; Franch Gutiérrez, Javier Abstract: Quality attributes (QAs) and constraints are among the principal drivers of architectural decision-making. QAs are improved or dam- aged by architectural decisions (ADs), while constraints directly include or exclude parts of the architecture (e.g., logical components or technologies). We may determine the impact of a AD, or which parts of the architecture are a ected by a constraint, but at the end it is hard to know if we are respecting the quality requirements (requirements over the QAs) and the imposed constraints with all the ADs made. In the usual approach, architects use their own experience to produce software architectures that comply with the expected quality requirements and imposed constraints, but at the end, especially for crucial decisions, the architect has to deal with complex trade-o s between QAs and juggle with possible incompatibilities raised by the imposed constraints. In this paper we present Quark, a method to assist software architects in architectural decision-making, and the conceptualization of the relationship between QRs and ADs de ned in Arteon, an ontology to represent and manage architectural knowledge. Finally, we also give an insight into the Quark and Arteon implementation, the ArchiTech tool. 2013-05-23T12:36:44Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19378 Title: A summary of virtualization techniques Authors: Rodríguez Haro, Fernando; Freitag, Fèlix; Navarro Moldes, Leandro; Hernández Sánchez, Efraín; Farías Mendoza, Nicandro; Guerrero Ibañez, Juan Antonio; González Potes, Apolinar Abstract: Nowadays, virtualization is a technology that is applied for sharing the capabilities of physical computers by splitting the resources among OSs. The concept of Virtual Machines (VMs) started back in 1964 with a IBM project called CP/CMS system. Currently, there are several virtualization techniques that can be used for supporting the execution of entire operating systems. We classify the virtualization techniques from the OS view. First, we discuss two techniques that executes modified guest OSs: operating system-level virtualization and para-virtualization. Second, we discuss two techniques that executes unmodified guest OSs: binary translation and hardware assisted. Finally, we present a summary of resource management facilities for capacity planning and consolidation of server applications. 2013-05-23T10:14:43Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19377 Title: Designing national IP/MPLS networks with flexgrid optical technology Authors: Velasco Esteban, Luis Domingo; Wright, Paul; Lord, Andrew; Junyent Giralt, Gabriel Abstract: We propose a two-step procedure to design flexgrid-based national networks. Locations are first partitioned into a set of metro areas interconnected through a flexgrid optical network. Next, each network is designed separately. Optimal results show a future large (>200 nodes) flexgrid core network inter-connecting small (~10 nodes) metro regions. 2013-05-23T08:06:25Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19376 Title: BoVDW: Bag-of-Visual-and-Depth-Words for gesture recognition Authors: Hernandez Vela, Antonio; Bautista, Miguel Angel; Perez-Sala, Xavier; Ponce, Víctor; Baró, Xavier; Pujol, Oriol; Angulo Bahón, Cecilio; Escalera, Sergio Abstract: We present a Bag-of-Visual-and-Depth-Words (BoVDW) model for gesture recognition, an extension of the Bag-of-Visual-Words (BoVW) model, that benefits from the multimodal fusion of visual and depth features. State-of-the-art RGB and depth features, including a new proposed depth descriptor, are analysed and combined in a late fusion fashion. The method is integrated in a continuous gesture recognition pipeline, where Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) algorithm is used to perform prior segmentation of gestures. Results of the method in public data sets, within our gesture recognition pipeline, show better performance in comparison to a standard BoVW model. 2013-05-23T07:28:50Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19370 Title: Empowering automatic data-center management with machine learning Authors: Berral García, Josep Lluís; Gavaldà Mestre, Ricard; Torres Viñals, Jordi Abstract: The Cloud as computing paradigm has become nowadays crucial for most Internet business models. Managing and optimizing its performance on a moment-by-moment basis is not easy given as the amount and diversity of elements involved (hardware, applications, workloads, customer needs...). Here we show how a combination of scheduling algorithms and data mining techniques helps improving the performance and profitability of a data-center running virtualized web-services. We model the data-center's main resources (CPU, memory, IO), quality of service (viewed as response time), and workloads (incoming streams of requests) from past executions. We show how these models to help scheduling algorithms make better decisions about job and resource allocation, aiming for a balance between throughput, quality of service, and power consumption. 2013-05-22T11:19:56Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19369 Title: Towards an implementation of a social electronic reminder for pills Authors: Gómez Sebastià, Ignasi; Garcia Gasulla, Dario; Álvarez Napagao, Sergio; Vázquez Salceda, Javier; Cortés García, Claudio Ulises Abstract: Non-compliance with prescribed medication is a major problem for elder people living alone in developed countries. Forgetfulness and confusion can lead to it, specially when multiple pathologies require a cocktail of diff erent medications each delivered at different time intervals during di fferent periods of time. Assistive technologies, a recent application area for a wide range of Arti cial Intelligence techniques and tools, have been e ectively used for supporting people in their daily activities. This paper introduces the design and implementation of a system for assisting elder people on following the treatment prescribed by a professional, with the novelty of being based in social and organisational aware assistive technology. 2013-05-22T09:00:23Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19368 Title: Full high-dynamic range images for dynamic scenes Authors: Ramírez Orozco, Raissel; Martín, Ignacio; Loscos, Céline; Vázquez Alcocer, Pere Pau Abstract: The limited dynamic range of digital images can be extended by composing photographs of the same scene taken with the same camera at the same view point at di erent exposure times. This is a standard procedure for static scenes but a challenging task for dynamic ones. Several methods have been presented but few recover high dynamic range within moving areas. We present a method to recover full high dynamic range (HDR) images from dynamic scenes, even in moving regions. Our method has 3 steps. Firstly, areas a ected by motion are detected to generate a ghost mask. Secondly, we register dynamic objects over a reference image (the best exposed image in the input sequence). Thirdly, we combine the registered input photographs to recover HDR values in a whole image using a weighted average function. Once matching is found, the assembling step guarantees that all aligned pixels will contribute to the nal result, including dynamic content. Tests were made on more than 20 sets of sequences, with moving cars or pedestrians and di erent background. Our results show that Image Mapping Function approach detects best motion regions while Normalized Cross Correlation o ers the best deal speed-accuracy for image registration. Results from our method o ers better result when moving object are roughly rigid and their movement is mostly rigid. The nal composition is an HDR image with no ghosting and all dynamic content present in HDR values. 2013-05-22T08:40:29Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19367 Title: Moodbile: a Moodle web services extension for mobile applications Authors: Piguillem Poch, Jordi; Alier Forment, Marc; Casany Guerrero, María José; Mayol Sarroca, Enric; Galanis, Nikolaos; García Peñalvo, Francisco Javier; Conde García, Miguel Ángel Abstract: The Moodle 2.0 Web Services architecture has been designed to optimize bulk operations or administrative tasks. Therefore, it does not support external applications accessing activity modules. For this reason, the Moodbile project aims to provide an extension of the Moodle 2.0 Web Services architecture in order to provide access to external applications such as m-learning applications, from within Moodle. To validate this extension, three m-learning applications have been developed: an HTML5 client that may be used from most mobile browsers, an Android-native app and an iOS-native app. 2013-05-22T08:05:12Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19366 Title: IT or not to be: the impact of Moodle in the education of developing countries Authors: García Almiñana, Jordi; Somé, Michel; Ayguadé Parra, Eduard; Cabré Garcia, José M.; Casany Guerrero, María José; Frigola Bourlon, Manel; Galanis, Nikolaos; García-Cervigon Gutiérrez, Manuel; Guerrero Zapata, Manel; Muñoz Gracia, María del Pilar Abstract: E-learning environments, such as Moodle, provide a technology that fosters the improvement of the educational system in developed countries, where education is traditionally performed with relatively high standards of quality. A large number of case studies and research have been conducted to demonstrate how e-learning technologies can be applied to improve both training and learning processes. However, these technologies have not been proved efficient when applied to developing countries. The challenges that must be addressed in developing countries, both technological and societal, are much more complex and the possible solution margins are more constrained than those existing in the context where these technologies have been created. In this paper we show how Moodle can be used to improve the quality of education in developing countries and, even more important, how can be used to turn the educational system more sustainable and effective in the long-term. We describe our experience in implementing a programming course in Moodle for the Higher School of Informatics at the Université Polytechnique de Bobo-Dioulasso, in Burkina Faso (West Africa), joining efforts with local professors in designing and implementing the learning system. The case example has been designed having in mind a number of contextual problems: lack of lecturers, excessive teaching hours per lecturer, massive classes, and curricula organization and stability, among others. We finally discuss how the teaching effort is reduced, the students’ knowledge and capacity improves, and the institutional academic model can be guaranteed with the proposal. For this reason, we claim that information technologies in developing countries are a cost-effective way to guarantee the objectives originally defined in the academic curricula and, therefore, deal with the problem of the education. 2013-05-22T07:16:25Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19365 Title: Apoyo institucional del ICE-UPC a las dinámicas de innovación docente: Proyecto RIMA Authors: Martínez Martínez, María del Rosario; Salán Ballesteros, Maria Núria; Adam, Araceli; Darnell, Isabel; Corral Manuel de Villena, Ignacio de; Gallego Fernández, María Isabel; Portet Cortés, Esperanza; Torra Bitlloch, Immaculada Abstract: En los últimos años, desde el Instituto de Ciencias de la Educación de la Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña (ICE - UPC), se ha incentiva do l a Innovación Docente mediante múltiples iniciativas. Desde 2007, con la creación del Proyecto RIMA (Investigación e Innovación en Metodologías de Aprendizaje - Recerca i Innovació en Metodologies d’Aprenentatge) y de su entorno virtual asociado (www.upc.ed u/rima), el apoyo a la innovación docente se completa con un proyecto coordinado, que facilita la confluencia de esfuerzos de grupos de profesorado con interés en este ámbito. En la presente comunicación y partiendo de los resultados y experiencias de los últimos años en adaptación e implantación de metodologías de innovación docente en la UPC, se realiza una reflexión sobre la acogida e incidencia de esta iniciativa en la adaptación a los nuevos planes de estudio del Espacio Europeo de E ducación Superior ( EEES), y en el planteamiento de nuevos objetivos institucionales referidos tanto al tema de la participación en innovación docente como a las nuevas metodologías y a la mejora de la calidad docente. 2013-05-21T17:25:49Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19354 Title: FRA: A new fuzzy-based routing approach for optical transport networks Authors: Ahvar, E.; Marín Tordera, Eva; Yannuzzi, Marcelo; Masip Bruin, Xavier; Ahvar, S. Abstract: Providing networks with QoS guarantees is one of the key issues to support current and future expected clients' demands. In this scenario, QoS routing is definitely critical as being responsible for defining those optimal routes supporting traffic forwarding throughout the whole network. This paper proposes two new QoS-aware RWA algorithms dealing with the routing inaccuracy problem, aiming at reducing blocking probability while limiting signaling overhead and balancing network load. The proposed algorithms extend the work already published by the authors on prediction based routing by adding a novel fuzzy-based technique featuring a powerful tool for modeling uncertainty. The proposed algorithms are compared with a well-known RWA algorithm and results show the benefit of introducing the fuzzy techniques in the RWA selection. 2013-05-20T07:09:37Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19349 Title: Segmentation robust to the vignette effect for machine vision systems Authors: Karatzas, D; Rusiñol, Marçal; Antens, Coen; Ferrer Sumsi, Miquel Abstract: The vignette effect (radial fall-off) is commonly encountered in images obtained through certain image acquisition setups and can seriously hinder automatic analysis processes. In this paper we present a fast and efficient method for dealing with vignetting in the context of object segmentation in an existing industrial inspection setup. The vignette effect is modelled here as a circular, non-linear gradient. The method estimates the gradient parameters and employs them to perform segmentation. Segmentation results on a variety of images indicate that the presented method is able to successfully tackle the vignette effect. 2013-05-17T14:48:37Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19347 Title: Combination of OCR engines for page segmentation based on performance evaluation Authors: Ferrer Sumsi, Miquel; Valveny, Ernest Abstract: In this paper we present a method to improve the performance of individual page segmentation engines based on the combination of the output of several engines. The rules of combination are designed after analyzing the results of each individual method. This analysis is performed using a performance evaluation framework that aims at characterizing each method according to its strengths and weaknesses rather than computing a single performance measure telling which is the "best" segmentation method. 2013-05-17T14:31:18Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19344 Title: An iterative algorithm for approximate median graph computation Authors: Ferrer Sumsi, Miquel; Bunke, Horst Abstract: Recently, the median graph has been shown to be a good choice to obtain a representative of a given set of graphs. It has been successfully applied to graph-based classification and clustering. In this paper we exploit a theoretical property of the median, which has not yet been utilized in the past, to derive a new iterative algorithm for approximate median graph computation. Experiments done using five different graph databases show that the proposed approach yields, in four out of these five datasets, better medians than two of the previous existing methods. 2013-05-17T14:07:48Z http://hdl.handle.net/2117/19343 Title: On the design of a UAS flight plan monitoring and edition system Authors: Pastor Llorens, Enric; Santamaria Barnadas, Eduard; Royo Chic, Pablo; López Rubio, Juan; Barrado Muxí, Cristina Abstract: This paper addresses various aspects of the design and development of the pilot interface for the exploitation of highly advanced flight plan capabilities specifically designed for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). This flight plan capabilities are built on top a flexible and reusable hardware/software architecture designed to facilitate the development of UAS-based applications. This flexibility is organized into an user-parameterizable UAS Service Abstraction Layer (USAL). The USAL defines a collection of standard services are their interrelations as a basic starting point for further development by UAS users. Previous research presented the advanced flying capabilities of a UAS as an extension of the Flight Control System (FCS) functionalities. Assuming a UAS with a FCS that ensures safe and stable maneuvers, we complement it with a highly capable flight plan management system. USAL flight plan is characterized by offering semantically much richer constructs than those present in most current UAS autopilots, which rely on simple lists of waypoints. This list of waypoints approach has several important limitations: it is difficult to specify complex trajectories and it does not support constructs such as conditional forks or iterations, small changes may imply having to deal with a considerable amount of waypoints and it provides no mechanism for adapting to mission time circumstances. To address these issues a new flight plan specification mechanism is proposed, that incorporates a leg concept extended to accommodate higher level constructs for specifying iterations and forks. Additional leg types, referred to as parametric leg, are also introduced. The trajectory defined by a parametric leg is automatically generated as a function of mission variables, enabling dynamic behavior and providing a very valuable means for adapting the flight to the mission evolution. Another level of adaption is provided by the conditions governing the decision-making in intersection le- - gs and the finalization of iterative legs. In this work we will focus on the development of the pilot interface for the exploitation of the introduced flight plan capabilities. The interface design requirements address an increase level of automated operation and support to react to unexpected requirements due to mission changes. Therefore, this interaction includes the available mechanisms to update the flight-plan according to UAS mission requirements, skip parts of it, react to operational contingencies, etc. 2013-05-17T14:02:55Z