APLICACIONES EN INFORMÁTICA AVANZADA, SOCIEDAD LIMITADA. ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL SHAREHOLDER’S MEETING

Mrs. Regina María Llopis Rivas, as the Sole Administrator of the company APLICACIONES EN INFORMÁTICA AVANZADA, S.L., calls the Ordinary and Extraordinary General Shareholder´s Meeting, to be held in Sant Cugat del Vallés (Barcelona) at Avenida de la Torre Blanca, number 57, Edificio ESADECREAPOLIS, on June 21st, 2023 at 12:00pm.

THE CALL AND AGENDA FOR THE ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL SHAREHOLDER’S MEETING OF APLICACIONES EN INFORMÁTICA AVANZADA, S.L.

APLICACIONES EN INFORMÁTICA AVANZADA, SOCIEDAD LIMITADA.

Documentation for the merger by absorption between Aplicaciones en Informática Avanzada, S.L. and Holding Elequant, S.L.

APLICACIONES EN INFORMÁTICA AVANZADA, SOCIEDAD LIMITADA. EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL SHAREHOLDER’S MEETING

Mrs. Regina María Llopis Rivas, as the Sole Administrator of the company APLICACIONES EN INFORMÁTICA AVANZADA, S.L., calls the Extraordinary General Shareholders’ Meeting, to be held in Sant Cugat del Vallés (Barcelona) at Avenida de la Torre Blanca, number 57, Edificio ESADECREAPOLIS, on January 25th, 2023 at 11:00am.

 

THE CALL AND AGENDA FOR THE ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL SHAREHOLDER’S MEETING OF INFORMÁTICA AVANZADA S.L.

¡Los iguales para hoy!

Note: ONCE, the Spanish National Organization of the Blind, is a not-for-profit organization established in 1938. It is the only organization of blind and visually impaired persons in the whole country. Its aim is to provide to its members with the widest range of services possible, from education to employment, from rehabilitation to reading services. ONCE is a self-funded organization, with the selling of tickets for its own lottery as its main means of funding.

For Spanish readers, the title of this article will remind them of a bygone era in which ONCE sellers, walking the streets with their lottery tickets hanging from their chests or from their newly installed booths, called us to participate in what would later be called “la ilusión de todos los días” [every day’s dream].

What few people know is that this activity entailed solving an interesting and complex mathematical problem derived from ONCE’s concern for facilitating the job of its sellers, many of whom are blind.

The organization allowed each seller to choose the variety (number of attached columns of different numbers) and height (number of equal numbers in said columns) of those panels on which they hanged their lottery tickets for display, which they called “topes”. In this way, the offer could be adjusted to the usual clientele of each seller, who would sometimes be inclined to buy several identical numbers to share among friends, and some other times would buy different numbers to have more chances of winning the draw. Each seller chose how many tops of different sizes they wanted to have for sale.

The numbering of the adjacent columns in each top was tricky, since it had to give the impression of being very varied, having both high and low digits, rich in different digits and endings, and they had to be different every day. To facilitate the job of the sellers and prevent them from having to learn the list of all the numbers for sale every day, the organization thought of a series of rules that would make it possible to deduce, from the ticket number in the first column of each top, those of the tickets in the following columns, simply by adding certain amounts to the number of the previous column.

In addition, the printing of the coupons was also intended to prevent a seller from receiving too many tickets having what they considered as “less sellable” numbers such as, according to their own jargon, ugly numbers (because they have too many repeated digits) or the “pelaos” (those ending in several zeros), to mention just two examples.

As a consequence of all of the above, the printing of lottery tickets entailed configuring the arrangement of a series of rectangles of different sizes (the topes) inside a rectangle with a larger area (the plate of the ticket-printing machine). Thus, the different printed sheets would contain the numbered topes according to the established rules, ready to be cut, selected, and distributed.

The mathematical problem of locating rectangles is as simple to formulate as it is complex to solve. At ONCE, a blind person was in charge of figuring out how to best fit the different-sized topes requested by the sellers inside the rectangles of the printing plates. Armed with a voice recorder to record the positions as he was thinking about it, he gradually adjusted the settings of the topes to optimize the settings for the printing of the tickets, so that paper was not wasted and the cutting process was simplified for distribution among the sellers.

This was an arduous task, taking weeks to complete. Therefore, sellers were allowed to request to change their ticket portfolio only a few times a year, typically once a quarter.

To improve this situation, ONCE asked AIA to create an algorithm for optimizing the printing of tickets that would make it possible to have different topes each week and even each day. It is curious to note that the problem of placing several rectangles within a larger one is one of the first use cases of quantum computers currently under development. Following the same algorithmic ideas, about 20 years ago, AIA created this algorithm and included it in a complete solution that contemplated vendor requests, planned optimal printing, and assigned printed and cut topes to vendors.

Thanks to this solution, the frequency with which sellers could change their ticket portfolio increased, allowing variations to be set for key dates or periods, such as holidays or vacation periods in which the clientele of the seller can vary substantially. Today, two decades later, this solution created by AIA continues to be used every day by ONCE, being one of our most beloved and present success stories.

This December 13, 2022, on the day of its patron Saint Lucia, ONCE turns 84. From AIA we want to congratulate the organization on this day and thank you for allowing us to put our slogan “algorithms for a better world” into practice, with our humble contribution to the work of the organization.

This is the first in a series of posts in which AIA looks back on some of its past experiences in celebrating its 35th anniversary over the course of a year.

APLICACIONES EN INFORMÁTICA AVANZADA, SOCIEDAD LIMITADA

APLICACIONES EN INFORMÁTICA AVANZADA, SOCIEDAD LIMITADA. ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL SHAREHOLDER’S MEETING

Mrs. Regina María Llopis Rivas, as the Sole Administrator of the company APLICACIONES EN INFORMÁTICA AVANZADA, S.L., calls the Ordinary and Extraordinary General Shareholder´s Meeting, to be held in Sant Cugat del Vallés (Barcelona) at Avenida de la Torre Blanca, number 57, Edificio ESADECREAPOLIS, on June 29th, 2022 at 11:00am.

(more…)

APLICACIONES EN INFORMÁTICA AVANZADA, SOCIEDAD LIMITADA. ORDINARY AND EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL SHAREHOLDER’S MEETING

Mrs. Regina María Llopis Rivas, as the Sole Administrator of the company APLICACIONES EN INFORMÁTICA AVANZADA, S.L., to calls the Ordinary and Extraordinary General Shareholder´s Meeting to be held, in accordance with the provisions of article 20.1 of the bylaws, at Sant Cugat del Vallés (Barcelona), Avenida de la Torre Blanca, number 57, Edificio ESADECREAPOLIS, on June 29th, 2021 at 11:00am.

(more…)

seguridad cuántica

Algorithms for a safe Quantum messaging system

Grupo AIA ´s new project kick-off brings this technology closer to industrialization.

This is a previous project follow-up for the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), involved in error correction algorithms for encoding and decoding messages using “LDPC” (Low Density Parity Codes) for the encryption of messages transmitted by a quantum channel through optical fiber.

This second phase is targeted to industrialization – the before mentioned algorithms will be implemented using a specially-designed hardware (GPU’s) which considers the characteristics of parallel computation and memory management for optimal performance.

The developed software will manage safe key distribution for any application requiringit.

This technology will ensure a totally safe messaging system due to its quantum characteristics that will prevent intercepting and decrypting messages, unlike current technology which could eventually be compromised with the advancement of computational capacity.

Grupo AIA develops algorithms for Quantum Cryptography

AIA’s Innovation Team has completed a software library for post processing in Quantum Key Distribution. With this software, the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) will be able to implement fully secure communications over conventional optical fiber. Quantum Cryptography is posed as a key technology to replace current cryptographic methods, which face a growing risk of becoming obsolete because of the rapid advances in Quantum Computing.

A thesis transferring neutrino ´s experience to the industrial sector

Last November 27th, Sebastian Piña Otey has successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled “Deep learning and Bayesian techniques applied to Big Data in the industry and neutrino oscillations”. Although this doctorate thesis is physics centered, there is also an industrial component developed with AIA within the industrial doctorate program framework sponsored by the Catalonian Government called: “Doctorats Industrials de la Generalitat. Sebastian ´s thesis, codirected by Vicens Gaitan, AIA´s representative, along with Thorsten Lux, neutrino´s team main researcher from the Institut de Física d’Altes Energies (IFAE), has developed a project that connects neutrino oscillations (mentioned in a previous blog post) with cutting-edge Deep Learning technology.

The thesis has focused on a new approach for data analysis and extraction of relevant information for the T2K neutrino experiment (Tokai to Kamioka) in Japan. In particle physics experiments, and more particularly, neutrino experiments, data analysis has three main components: detectors´ direct data processing, theoretical model simulation and model parameters determination. These three key aspects are essential for a rigorous and correct scientifically based results´ delivery. Sebastian ´s research had an impact on all three aspects by introducing different proofs of concepts of new technologies.

Firstly, he has successfully implemented an algorithm of Graph Neural Networks to help detecting not physic ambiguous signs during the simulation of a T2K future detector. As a result, the effect on the neutrino can be rebuilt correctly, increasing the performance as compared to traditional techniques. (The paper has been submitted to the Physical Review D and is currently under evaluation. Pre-publication can be download at https://www.tdx.cat/ )

Secondly, Sebastian has combined the normalizing flows technology, invertible neural networks that allow to evaluate and generate data from a probability distribution based on traditional statistical techniques, rejection sampling under the algorithm of Exhaustive Neural Importance Sampling (ENIS). More precisely, along with his supervisors, they have applied ENIS to generate data from a typical neutrino event in T2K, the interaction called charged-current quasi-elastic (CCQE). This paper was published on July 16th in the Physical Review D

Finally, as mentioned in our previous blog post, the normalizing flows were used to determine the parameters of the two neutrino flavors oscillation model. This paper was also published in the Physical Review D on June 2nd

However, the experience gained by the somewhat exotic application of the neutrino oscillations was also transferred to the industrial field. Sebastian and Vicens worked with Red Eléctrica Española through Elewit and could show the impact and value added of these techniques on potential projects of our clients. Thus, Sebastian has successfully achieved our first industrial doctorate, potentiating AIA´s relation with the IFAE and showing the contribution of the industrial sector to pure research.