Alberto Alvarellos González - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Alberto Alvarellos González

Chemosensors

Radon (Rn) is a biological threat to cells due to its radioactivity. It is capable of penetrating... more Radon (Rn) is a biological threat to cells due to its radioactivity. It is capable of penetrating the human body and damaging cellular DNA, causing mutations and interfering with cellular dynamics. Human exposure to high concentrations of Rn should, therefore, be minimized. The concentration of radon in a room depends on numerous factors, such as room temperature, humidity level, existence of air currents, natural grounds of the buildings, building structure, etc. It is not always possible to change these factors. In this paper we propose a corrective measure for reducing indoor radon concentrations by introducing clean air into the room through forced ventilation. This cannot be maintained continuously because it generates excessive noise (and costs). Therefore, a system for predicting radon concentrations based on Machine Learning has been developed. Its output activates the fan control system when certain thresholds are reached.

Presented at: Coastal Structures Conference 2019, Hannover, Germany, September 30th – October 2nd... more Presented at: Coastal Structures Conference 2019, Hannover, Germany, September 30th – October 2nd, 2019

Wave breaking / run-up / overtopping and their impact on the stability of rubble-mound breakwater... more Wave breaking / run-up / overtopping and their impact on the stability of rubble-mound breakwaters (both at trunk and roundhead) are not adequately characterized yet for climate change scenarios. The same happens with the influence of high-incidence angles on such phenomena. To study these phenomena a stretch of a rubble-mound breakwater (head and part of the adjoining trunk, with a slope of 1(V):2(H)) was built in the wave basin of the LUH, The trunk of the breakwater was 7.5 m long and the head had the same cross section as the exposed part of breakwater. The model was 9.0 m long, 0.82 m high and 3.0 m wide. The angle between the longitudinal axis of the breakwater and the tank wall was 70º. Two types of armour elements (rock and Antifer cubes) were tested. 60 tests were carried out in this experiment to assess, under extreme wave conditions (wave steepness of 0.055) with different incidence wave angles (from 40º to 90º), the structure behaviour in what concerns wave run-up, wave ...

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 2021

Several port authorities are involved in the R+D+i projects for developing port management decisi... more Several port authorities are involved in the R+D+i projects for developing port management decision-making tools. We recorded the movements of 46 ships in the Outer Port of Punta Langosteira (A Coruña, Spain) from 2015 until 2020. Using this data, we created neural networks and gradient boosting models that predict the six degrees of freedom of a moored vessel from ocean-meteorological data and ship characteristics. The best models achieve, for the surge, sway, heave, roll, pitch and yaw movements, a 0.99, 0.99, 0.95, 0.99, 0.98 and 0.98 R2 in training and have a 0.10 m, 0.11 m, 0.09 m, 0.9°, 0.11° and 0.15° RMSE in testing, all below 10% of the corresponding movement range. Using these models with forecast data for the weather conditions and sea state and the ship characteristics and berthing location, we can predict the ship movements several days in advance. These results are good enough to reliably compare the models’ predictions with the limiting motion criteria for safe workin...

In this work we present the software architecture used to implement a ship movement prediction sy... more In this work we present the software architecture used to implement a ship movement prediction system based on a deep learning model. In previous works of the group we recorded the movement of several cargo vessels in the Outer Port of Punta Langosteira (Spain) and created a deep neural network that classifies the vessel movement given the vessel dimensions, the sea state and weather conditions. In this work we present the architectural design of a software system that allows to deploy machine learning models and publish the results it provides in a web application. We later use this architecture to deploy the deep neural network we have mentioned, creating a tool that is able to predict the behavior of a moored vessel 72 h in advance. Monitoring the movement of a moored vessel is a difficult and expensive task and port operators do not have a tool that predicts whether a moored vessel is going to exceed the recommended movements limits. With this work we provide that tool, believin...

Advances in Computational Intelligence, 2017

Wave overtopping is a dangerous phenomenon. When it occurs in a commercial port environment, the ... more Wave overtopping is a dangerous phenomenon. When it occurs in a commercial port environment, the best case scenario will be the disruption of activities and even this best case scenario has a negative financial repercussion.

Engineering Proceedings, 2021

Life expectancy in Western countries is increasing. The fact that humans are living longer lives ... more Life expectancy in Western countries is increasing. The fact that humans are living longer lives presents new challenges to people’s quality of life. Some of the problems that most affect older people are the problems associated with cognitive impairment. The development of a tool that helps psychologists to carry out different types of tests is the main objective of this work. To this end, an interdisciplinary group of psychologists and engineers have joined forces to create a tool that generates a series of standardised metrics to guide clinicians and help them make decisions about a patient’s cognitive impairment.

Atmosphere, 2020

Climate change and sustainability have recently been object of study due to the impact on the pla... more Climate change and sustainability have recently been object of study due to the impact on the planet and on human activity of the first and the benefits that could derive from the efficiency of the second. Particularly, urban environments are locations that represent a high percentage of emissions of gases, waste, resources use and so forth. However, they are places where great changes can be made, in an attempt to accomplish the urgent challenge to adapt to current and projected rates of climate change. Research has shown that a fruitful approach to urban sustainability is to describe indicators that measure the effectiveness of current processes of urban infrastructures, analyze areas in need of improvement and measure the effect of any actions taken. The significant feature of this research relies on its global approach, considering both major worldwide used and less widely-spread frameworks and the analysis of the 32 selected tools and guidelines, including over 2000 indicators....

Applied Sciences, 2021

Air pollution is the fourth-largest overall risk factor for human health worldwide. Ambient air p... more Air pollution is the fourth-largest overall risk factor for human health worldwide. Ambient air pollution (outdoors) and household air pollution (indoors) cause about 6.5 million premature deaths. The World Health Organization has established that between 3% and 14% of lung cancer cases are due to radon gas, making it the most important cause of lung cancer after smoking. This work presents a fully automated, low-cost indoor air quality control system that can monitor temperature, pressure, humidity, total volatile organic compounds (TOVC), and radon concentration. Using the radon concentration as an air quality measure, we created a prediction algorithm. The system uses those predictions to control a ventilation system automatically. We tested the algorithm for different prediction windows and compared the results with those without the ventilation system in a radon research room. In this room, the radon concentration is high 100% of the time, reaching a level eleven times higher t...

Proceedings, 2020

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the International Agency for Resear... more The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have declared Radon gas a human carcinogen. Spain has several regions with high radon concentrations, Galicia (northwestern Spain) being one with the highest Radon concentration. In this work, we present the development of an open-source and low-cost radon monitoring and alert system. The system has two parts: devices and the backend. The devices integrate a Radon sensor, capable of measuring Radon levels every 10 min, and several environmental sensors capable of measuring temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, and air pollution. The devices send all the information to the backend, which stores it, exposes it in a web interface, and uses the historical data to predict the radon levels for the following hours. If the radon levels are predicted to overpass the threshold in the next hour, the system issues an alert via several channels (email and MQTT) to the confi...

Sensors, 2020

Radon gas has been declared a human carcinogen by the United States Environmental Protection Agen... more Radon gas has been declared a human carcinogen by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Several studies carried out in Spain highlighted the high radon concentrations in several regions, with Galicia (northwestern Spain) being one of the regions with the highest radon concentrations. The objective of this work was to create a safe and low-cost radon monitoring and alert system, based on open source technologies. To achieve this objective, the system uses devices, a collection of sensors with a processing unit and a communication module, and a backend, responsible for managing all the information, predicting radon levels and issuing alerts using open source technologies. Security is one of the largest challenges for the internet of things, and it is utterly important in the current scenario, given that high radon concentrations pose a health risk. For this reason, this work focuses on securing the entire ...

Water, 2019

A port’s operating capacity and the economic performance of its concessions are intimately relate... more A port’s operating capacity and the economic performance of its concessions are intimately related to the quality of its operational conditions. This paper presents an analytical methodology for estimating the movements of a moored vessel based on field measurements and forecast data, specifically including ship dimensions and meteorological and maritime conditions. The methodology was tested and validated in the Outer Port of Punta Langosteira, A Coruña, Spain. It was determined that the significant wave height outside the port, and the ratio of the vessel’s length divided by its beam (L/B), are the variables that most influence movements. Furthermore, heave and surge are the movements with a better value of the coefficient of determination (R2 values of 0.71 and 0.67, respectively), the sway (R2 = 0.30) and roll (R2 = 0.27) being the worst when using the available forecast variables of the Outer Port of Punta Langosteira. Despite their low R2 values, sway and roll models are able ...

Defect and Diffusion Forum, 2019

A set of scale-model tests carried out to enlarge the range of wave steepness values analysed in ... more A set of scale-model tests carried out to enlarge the range of wave steepness values analysed in run-up, overtopping and armour layer stability studies, focusing on oblique extreme wave conditions and on their effects on a gentler slope breakwater’s trunk armour and roundhead, is presented in this paper. A stretch of a rubble mound breakwater (head and part of the adjoining trunk, with a slope of 1(V):2(H)) was built in a wave basin at the Leibniz University Hannover to assess, under extreme wave conditions (wave steepness of 0.055) with different incident wave angles (from 40º to 90º), the structure behaviour in what concerns wave run-up, wave overtopping and damage progression of the armour layer. Two types of armour elements (rock and Antifer cubes) were tested. Non-intrusive methodologies including a new application of laser scanning technique for the assessment of both armour layer damage and wave run-up and overtopping were used. It is expected that such work will contribute a...

Proceedings, 2019

In order to characterize the spatial and temporal variability of the rainfall, we have developed ... more In order to characterize the spatial and temporal variability of the rainfall, we have developed an observation system to monitor the precipitation over the metropolitan area of A Coruña. The observation system (called TREBOADA) consists of a network of rain gauges, comprising gauges operated by the regional weather agency and rain gauges deployed specifically for TREBOADA. The latter ones are built using low cost technology, which significantly reduces the cost of each gauge. Data from the rain gauges are combined with rain observations from the meteorological radar to produce high resolution rain products.

Ocean Engineering, 2019

Minimizing the stay of a vessel in port can lead to improvements in harbor efficiency. Currently,... more Minimizing the stay of a vessel in port can lead to improvements in harbor efficiency. Currently, downtimes of cargo operations or their performance reduction because of excessive vessel motion are especially relevant. This work aims to evaluate the operational conditions of moored vessels in the inner port of A Coruña (Spain), comparing them with motion thresholds established by international standards for cargo operations. To this end, motions of 19 ships were monitored. Data analysis revealed large angular motions, particularly roll and yaw, including amplitudes that exceeded the limiting criteria of the standards in most of the analyzed vessels, with no registered downtime. Regarding linear movements, heave and surge recorded lower amplitudes compared to the values of standard thresholds. The specific behavior of each vessel was analyzed in terms of its size, maritime conditions, and mooring location. Field campaigns such as those performed in this work are an effective way of analyzing the operational conditions of ports, which could help in identifying problems in the mooring zone.

Advances in Civil Engineering, 2018

Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings is a strategic objective in the European Union, and... more Increasing the energy efficiency of buildings is a strategic objective in the European Union, and it is the main reason why numerous studies have been carried out to evaluate and reduce energy consumption in the residential sector. The process of evaluation and qualification of the energy efficiency in existing buildings should contain an analysis of the thermal behavior of the building envelope. To determine this thermal behavior and its representative parameters, we usually have to use destructive auscultation techniques in order to determine the composition of the different layers of the envelope. In this work, we present a nondestructive, fast, and cheap technique based on artificial neural network (ANN) models that predict the energy performance of a house, given some of its characteristics. The models were created using a dataset of buildings of different typologies and uses, located in the northern area of Spain. In this dataset, the models are able to predict the U-opaque va...

Resumen--En este artículo se presenta una técnica de análisis de imagen para la detección de prot... more Resumen--En este artículo se presenta una técnica de análisis de imagen para la detección de proteínas en imágenes de geles 2D, muy utilizadas en proteómica. Esta técnica se basa en combinar un operador de segunda derivada DoG con un algoritmo genético para el ...

Advancing Artificial Intelligence through Biological Process Applications

The Artificial NeuroGlial Networks, which try to imitate the neuroglial brain networks, appeared ... more The Artificial NeuroGlial Networks, which try to imitate the neuroglial brain networks, appeared in order to process the information by means of artificial systems based on biological phenomena. They are not only made of artificial neurons, like the artificial neural networks, but also they are made of elements which try to imitate glial cells. An important glial role related with the processing of the brain information has been recently discovered but, as the functioning of the biological neuroglial networks is not exactly known, it is necessary to test several and different possibilities for creating Artificial NeuroGlial Networks. This chapter shows the functioning methodology of the Artificial NeuroGlial Networks and the application of a possible implementation of artificial glia to classification problems.

PLoS ONE, 2011

Compelling evidence indicates the existence of bidirectional communication between astrocytes and... more Compelling evidence indicates the existence of bidirectional communication between astrocytes and neurons. Astrocytes, a type of glial cells classically considered to be passive supportive cells, have been recently demonstrated to be actively involved in the processing and regulation of synaptic information, suggesting that brain function arises from the activity of neuron-glia networks. However, the actual impact of astrocytes in neural network function is largely unknown and its application in artificial intelligence remains untested. We have investigated the consequences of including artificial astrocytes, which present the biologically defined properties involved in astrocyte-neuron communication, on artificial neural network performance. Using connectionist systems and evolutionary algorithms, we have compared the performance of artificial neural networks (NN) and artificial neuron-glia networks (NGN) to solve classification problems. We show that the degree of success of NGN is superior to NN. Analysis of performances of NN with different number of neurons or different architectures indicate that the effects of NGN cannot be accounted for an increased number of network elements, but rather they are specifically due to astrocytes. Furthermore, the relative efficacy of NGN vs. NN increases as the complexity of the network increases. These results indicate that artificial astrocytes improve neural network performance, and established the concept of Artificial Neuron-Glia Networks, which represents a novel concept in Artificial Intelligence with implications in computational science as well as in the understanding of brain function.