At present, many projects are being developed with human-computer interfaces in different areas but few are related to music. In this work we present a scorewriter application that uses electrooculography as input interface. For one side, the hardware used to record the electrooculogram consists mainly of a low-cost Arduino based microcontroller board that will receive the signal from the electrodes, collect it and send it via USB to the computer. On the other hand, we use free software to implement the application running on the computer. This application is in charge of processing, classifying (using a neural network) and translating the signal into commands to finally build the song and play it. The modularity of the application allows it to be easily modified for other tasks using the same interface. Due to the nature of the application it is very suitable for entertainment. Furthermore, due to the characteristics of its interface it is also suitable for people with reduced mobility who want to easily perform simple music composition tasks.

Learning to program can be very difficult for the students involved. Students must master language syntax, programming theory and problem solving techniques in a short period of time. A non-traditional approach might help students to overcome these difficulties. Several studies have proposed the use of the physical computing paradigm. This paradigm takes the computational concepts "out of the screen" and into the real world so that the student can interact with them. Following this paradigm we designed different learning modules - to be used in lectures and laboratory sessions- to teach C/C++ and MATLAB. Lecturers explain a computational concept and, afterwards, reinforce it using the physical computing modules. For example, conditional structures are illustrated using a photocell and several LEDs, arrays are explained using musical melodies, etc. The effectiveness of the physical computing modules was assessed by means of learning outcomes and students perceptions. Surveys conducted at the beginning and end of the course were analyzed using the Technological Acceptance Model (TAM). Results indicate that the students were highly motivated and found the modules very enjoyable. As a consequence we observed a significant increase in the retention rate of this course.

In this paper we review the fundamentals of Adaptive Cruise Control/Stop-and-Go systems based on model predictive control theory. Driver's decisions can be formulated as few very general constraints, for which the mathematical expression is derived in depth. The resulting control system can adjust a car velocity to maintain an intervehicle security distance, avoid collisions, stop and eventually accelerate, and observe other considerations such as passengers' comfort without human intervention.

Many complex systems of theoretical and practical interest can be modeled as hybrid systems, i.e., systems that exhibit both continuous and discrete dynamics. This work focuses on the explicit predictive control of hybrid systems using two free Matlab/Simulink toolboxes designed specifically to synthesize and simulate controllers for this kind of systems. A case study is considered. The system is modeled, from experimental results, after the longitudinal dynamics of a commercial car at low speed. Simulation results are analyzed and a comparative study of both toolboxes is carried out.

This paper deals with the formal formulation of Fractional-Order Generalized Predictive Control, a generalization of GPC that makes use of fractional-order operators in its cost function. A thorough mathematical description of FGPC is given and the main similarities and differences between GPC and FGPC are highlighted.

The standard DP (dynamic programming) algorithms are limited by the substantial computational demands they put on contemporary serial computers. In this work, the theory behind the solution to serial monadic dynamic programming problems highlights the theory and application of parallel dynamic programming on a general-purpose architecture (cluster or network of workstations). A simple and well-known technique, message passing, is considered. Several parallel serial monadic DP algorithms are proposed, based on the parallelization in the state variables and the parallelization in the decision variables. Algorithms with no interpolation are also proposed. It is demonstrated how constraints introduce load unbalance which affect scalability and how this problem is inherent to DP.