Proyectos

The project deals with commutation principles in Euclidean Jordan Algebras, Normal Decomposition systems and Fan-Theobald-von Newman systems. It propose to deal with the generalization of these principles and the application to variational analysis and the Marcus-de Oliveira determinantal conjecture.

Como investigador de postdoctorado: - Realizar investigación sobre problemas asociados a la integración de plantas fotovoltaicas de gran tamaño a redes eléctricas. - Desarrollar plan personal de investigación y apoyar el logro de los objetivos de investigación del grupo. - Apoyar la investigación de estudiantes de pre y posgrado. - Apoyar en la escritura de proyectos de investigación y organización de eventos técnicos y de difusión. - Organizar reuniones del grupo de investigación. - Organizar seminario anual con expositores nacionales e internacionales. - Apoyar el reporte de las actividades y logros del grupo al equipo de gestión del centro. Como investigador adjunto: - Realizar investigación sobre problemas asociados a la integración de plantas fotovoltaicas de gran tamaño a redes eléctricas.

Como investigador de postdoctorado: - Realizar investigación sobre problemas asociados a la integración de plantas fotovoltaicas de gran tamaño a redes eléctricas. - Desarrollar plan personal de investigación y apoyar el logro de los objetivos de investigación del grupo. - Apoyar la investigación de estudiantes de pre y posgrado. - Apoyar en la escritura de proyectos de investigación y organización de eventos técnicos y de difusión. - Organizar reuniones del grupo de investigación. - Organizar seminario anual con expositores nacionales e internacionales. - Apoyar el reporte de las actividades y logros del grupo al equipo de gestión del centro. Como investigador adjunto: - Realizar investigación sobre problemas asociados a la integración de plantas fotovoltaicas de gran tamaño a redes eléctricas.

Concordia University/Geo Data Solutions Inc., R&D Dep. . Diseñar, simular y especificar partes para la implementación de un prototipo convertidor puente H semi-controlado de alta corriente. . Diseñar e implementar el sistema de control y adquisición de datos basado en plataforma Lab-View/CompactRIO.

Concordia University/Geo Data Solutions Inc., R&D Dep. . Diseñar, simular y especificar partes para la implementación de un prototipo convertidor puente H semi-controlado de alta corriente. . Diseñar e implementar el sistema de control y adquisición de datos basado en plataforma Lab-View/CompactRIO.

In the previous project the research focus was on the sensing principle and the development of prototype modules for a tactile proximity sensor (TPS). In the current project the focus is on the methods and algorithms with which the events in the near proximity of the robots can be modelled by means of these sensors. Collectively, the TPS on the robot surface and gripper constitute a smart skin. The application scenarios here are the Active Exploration of the Environment, Grasping and the Safe Human-Robot-Interaction. The methods to be developed will improve significantly on the quality of state of the art methods and expand the horizon of possible solutions for these problems. The capacitive measuring principle and the spatial resolution in both, the tactile and proximity modalities, enable an area-wide and distance based coverage of the robot surroundings. It is the first time that algorithms for Exploration, Grasping and Safe-Human-Robot-Interaction are presented that rely simultaneously on both tactile and proximity sensing with spatial resolution. The goal of the Exploration is to research which methods and strategies enable the robot to acquire a contact- and proximity-based world-model by means of TPS. The quality of state of the art solutions for grasping should be improved significantly. For the Safe-Human-Robot-Interaction algorithms should be developed that adapt the robots path and velocity according to the current situation as determined by the TPS. Also, new algorithms should make a TPS-based Interaction possible with the goal of robot controlling and programming by the human through tactile and proximity input. Finally, according to the context of the task and situation at hand (Exploration, Manipulation and Interaction) the robot should show an appropriate behaviour which is given by a behavioural strategy that will also be developed. The starting point in the project is the TPS-modules which were successfully developed in the previous project. At the beginning, research will be focused on the algorithms for signal processing that extract robust features from TPS for higher level tasks. This step is followed by the integration of TPS into a robot system realizing the smart skin. Building on these steps the methods for Exploration, Manipulation and Safe-Human-Interaction are developed. Finally, the results of the project will be shown and evaluated in a combined demonstration scenario that includes a robot endowed with TPS.

Amazonia is Earth's most iconic center of biological diversity and endemism and is among the most important terrestrial biomes due to its contributions to global systems ecology. This project seeks to answer an overarching question in biodiversity science: How was the modern Amazonian biota and its environment assembled across space and time? The research is designed to understand the evolutionary and environmental-ecological history of late Neogene-Recent Amazonia through a comparative approach that integrates across the disciplines of systematics, population biology, ecosystem structure and function, geology, Earth systems modeling and remote sensing, and environmental history. The project also investigates how biotic and environmental change over this time-period influenced Amazonian functional diversity in biogeochemical flows, and how these, in turn, shaped the dimensions of biodiversity seen today as well as the history of global-scale changes in biogeochemical cycling. The project, which is a collaboration with Brazilian scientists and funding agencies, represents the most integrative examination of Amazonian biodiversity and its history to date. The approaches taken describe a methodological template for analyzing information about the history of biotic and environmental change across large, ecologically complex landscapes that can be generalized to other systems. The project creates a large framework for formal and informal education including the training of students, development of a major museum exhibit on Amazonia, workshops for K-12 STEM teachers, publications in professional educational journals, and a web portal, The Evolutionary Encyclopedia of Amazonian Biodiversity, that will make all results available to the public, as well as serve as an informational platform about Amazonian biodiversity and its global importance. This award is being co-funded by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering.

Longstanding goals of scientific ocean drilling include determining the timing and amplitudes of global sea-level change, as well as the role of eustacy in the generation and preservation of continental margin stratigraphy. However, continental margin sedimentation is a function of both allogenic and autogenic processes, and extracting a eustatic record requires an understanding of local sedimentary processes and their influence on strata formation. IODP Expedition 317 to Canterbury Basin, New Zealand provides an opportunity to identify the regional processes involved in the formation of sedimentary sequences where temporally evolving across-shelf and along-margin sediment sources potentially interact with both eustasy and tectonics to generate margin stratigraphy. This study defines sedimentary petrofacies using petrographic and X-ray diffraction techniques and combines them with lithofacies to characterize sedimentation within unconformity-bounded sequences. Differentiating the relative influence of each sediment source is made possible by the unique aspects of the onshore geology and sediment supplied by the rivers of South Island, New Zealand: in this system sediment composition is a proxy for transport mode/direction, with mica-rich schist detritus being brought in from the south, and graywacke Torlesse detritus from the west. Higher-resolution analyses will target specific seismic sequences from the Pliocene to Recent that represent changing climatic and eustatic conditions. A primary hypothesis tested is that recurring lithofacies motifs that likely formed during high-amplitude Pleistocene sea-level cycles can be linked to sediment provenance, and even where less lithologically distinct, a recognizable signal may remain in the detrital fraction. Another hypothesis is that the formation of Plio- Pleistocene sequences along the Canterbury Margin is strongly influenced by the relative sediment supply from alongshore/shelf (Clutha/Waitaki rivers) versus cross-margin (Rangitata-Ashburton-Rakaia braided system) transport, with the latter becoming more dominant in the later Pleistocene, potentially leading to an autogenic increase in accommodation space that lead to increased sequence preservation. A holistic approach is used to test these hypotheses, similar to that applied in the MARGINS Source-to-Sink focus site on North Island, New Zealand. This methodology links newly acquired data from onshore outcrops, stream and coastal deposits (collected in conjunction with New Zealand colleagues) to Expedition 317 results in order to evaluate potential basin-wide changes in sediment supply and distribution. Temporal changes in the relative timing and routing of sediment to the Canterbury margin are determined from comparisons between the cross-shelf (U1351, U1353, U1354) and the two Canterbury slope sites (ODP Site 1119 and U1352). Discrete mineralogical observations from this study eventually will be compared to and combined with high-resolution elemental and carbonate analyses proposed by Fulthorpe et al. to provide key petrologic and mineralogic constraints on core and seismic data interpretation for the margin, including distinguishing lithologic changes that might correspond to Milankovitch cyclicity. The history of global sea level change and the impact of future sea-level rise related to global warming are one of the foremost issues facing society. Drilling results from the Canterbury Margin represent a key global component of a comprehensive IODP program to extract sea-level information from continental margin stratigraphy. Our data and results will be made publically available through the IODP portal as part of the IODP Sample, Data, and Obligations Policy and through presentations at meetings and publications. This study will provide educational opportunities for a number of high school, undergraduate and graduate students at CSU Northridge and the University of Florida. One high school student from Florida will participate as part of the UF Student Science Training Program (UF-SSTP), a seven-week residential research program for junior and senior-level high schools students considering science careers. Two undergraduate and two graduate students will participate in this project from CSUN and UF, including students from underrepresented groups and it is expected this participation will form the basis for their theses (BS/MS) or dissertation. The project includes an educational outreach program at UF as part of the UF Geogator program that provides presentations to local K-12 programs about Earth and our environment. The program will make the research on global sea-level change accessible to the local Florida community, where rising sea level and the hazards associated with it are a growing societal concern.