An approach for joint estimation of physical and logical security by semantic modelling

Key activities in critical systems are the monitoring, observation and comprehension of different phenomena, aimed at providing an updated and meaningful description of the monitored scenario, as well as its possible evolutions, to enable proper decisions and countermeasures for the protection and safety of people and things. The threats coming from many different sources, internally and externally. The diffusion of new technologies have made more accessible the assets of a system. In this thesis we demonstrate that the use of a semantic model for the information management it is suitable in order to meet these issues. In particular, thesis proposes and implement a methodology and approach for the early situation awareness recognizing a threat situation on time, for decision support to automatically activate recovery strategies. The threat on which the thesis focus on are regarded the logical and physical security. In particular for the logical security estimation will be presented a an approach guided by metrics. Then will be presented some results and example of real application

Eye quietness and quiet eye in expert and novice golf performance: an electrooculographic analysis

Quiet eye (QE) is the final ocular fixation on the target of an action (e.g., the ball in golf putting). Camerabased eye-tracking studies have consistently found longer QE durations in experts than novices; however, mechanisms underlying QE are not known. To offer a new perspective we examined the feasibility of measuring the QE using electrooculography (EOG) and developed an index to assess ocular activity across time: eye quietness (EQ). Ten expert and ten novice golfers putted 60 balls to a 2.4 m distant hole. Horizontal EOG (2ms resolution) was recorded from two electrodes placed on the outer sides of the eyes. QE duration was measured using a EOG voltage threshold and comprised the sum of the pre-movement and post-movement initiation components. EQ was computed as the standard deviation of the EOG in 0.5 s bins from –4 to +2 s, relative to backswing initiation: lower values indicate less movement of the eyes, hence greater quietness. Finally, we measured club-ball address and swing durations. T-tests showed that total QE did not differ between groups (p = .31); however, experts had marginally shorter pre-movement QE (p = .08) and longer post-movement QE (p < .001) than novices. A group × time ANOVA revealed that experts had less EQ before backswing initiation and greater EQ after backswing initiation (p = .002). QE durations were inversely correlated with EQ from –1.5 to 1 s (rs = –.48 - –.90, ps = .03 - .001). Experts had longer swing durations than novices (p = .01) and, importantly, swing durations correlated positively with post-movement QE (r = .52, p = .02) and negatively with EQ from 0.5 to 1s (r = –.63, p = .003). This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring ocular activity using EOG and validates EQ as an index of ocular activity. Its findings challenge the dominant perspective on QE and provide new evidence that expert-novice differences in ocular activity may reflect differences in the kinematics of how experts and novices execute skills

Investigation of virtual worlds as a platform to support healthy aging for older people

Due to the aging of the population in recent years, it is becoming essential to find innovative activities to help the increasing older population maintain an active lifestyle and delay the need for institutionalized care. Virtual worlds, which have many potential values such as in providing social engagement, could be used to support older people in this aspect. Despite this, most research and design of virtual worlds today are based on young users and do not coincide well with the interests and requirements of older people. It is therefore necessary to investigate how virtual worlds can be designed to not only meet the needs of older users but also to provide opportunities for social engagement and support healthy aging. In the first stage of the research, a series of studies were carried out with older virtual world users to investigate their characteristics, interests and activities. This includes a qualitative interview study and an empirical study. Older users were able to develop interpersonal relationships in virtual worlds and were interested in activities which made useful contribution to society or those which allowed them to socialize with people who share similar interests. Next, two experiment studies were carried out, the first to investigate age related differences in virtual social interaction and the second to determine how different factors influence the social interaction experience. Factors such as navigation were found to influence social interaction and the study revealed limitations relating to the usefulness of the avatar. The findings from this thesis helps extend our theoretical understanding of the interactions and activities of older people in virtual worlds and how previously identified concepts regarding virtual social interaction relate to older users. In addition, the findings were also applied into guidelines to aid developers in creating better virtual worlds to facilitate social interaction and healthy aging

E-learning de las matemáticas universitarias : tendencias tecnológicas emergentes y adaptación al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior

This paper analyzes several key aspects of online mathematics education at university level. In the context of this specification shall mean the term 'mathematical education' in a general sense, which includes disciplines such as applied mathematics, statistics, operations research, etc. The use of Internet-based methodologies to provide university education in mathematics is a rapidly growing phenomenon that increasingly are adding more universities around the world. The type of content and learning objectives specific to these disciplines make the university mathematics education a particular field of study, especially when the training is done using a methodology based on the use of Internet and specialized software. While there are many related studies, on the one hand, with secondary mathematics education and, secondly, with online training or e-learning, this is one of the first doctoral thesis addresses the issue of Mathematical E-Learning (MEL) in higher education. Thus, the ultimate mission of this paper is to analyze what are the methodological and technological trends that are being used today in MEL, discuss how it has evolved in practice MEL Spain during the adaptation process to the European Space of Higher Education (ESHE) and MEL examining good practices worldwide that may be useful for academics and researchers in the field.Aquest treball analitza diferents aspectes clau de la formació matemàtica en línia en l'àmbit universitari. En el context d'aquesta memòria, s'entendrà el terme formació matemàtica en un sentit general, que inclou disciplines com ara la matemàtica aplicada, l'estadística, la investigació operativa, etc. L'ús de metodologies basades en Internet per oferir formació universitària en matemàtiques és un fenomen en plena expansió al qual cada cop es van sumant més universitats a tot el món. El tipus de continguts i objectius d’aprenentatge propis d’aquestes disciplines fan de la formació matemàtica universitària un camp d’estudi particular, més encara quan aquesta formació es fa utilitzant una metodologia basada en l’ús d’Internet i programari especialitzat. Si bé hi ha molts estudis relacionats, d'una banda, amb la formació matemàtica a secundària i, de l'altra, amb la formació en línia, aquesta és una de les primeres tesis doctorals que aborda la temàtica del Mathematical E-Learning (MEL) en educació superior. Així, la missió última d’aquest treball és analitzar quines són les tendències metodològiques i tecnològiques que s'estan fent servir actualment a MEL, discutir com ha evolucionat a Espanya la pràctica del MEL durant el procés d'adaptació a l'Espai Europeu d'Educació Superior (EEES), i examinar bones pràctiques a MEL a escala internacional que puguin ser útils per a acadèmics i investigadors de l'àmbit.El presente trabajo analiza diferentes aspectos clave de la formación matemática online en el ámbito universitario. En el contexto de esta memoria, se entenderá el término formación matemática en un sentido general, que incluye disciplinas tales como la matemática aplicada, la estadística, la investigación operativa, etc. El uso de metodologías basadas en Internet para ofrecer formación universitaria en matemáticas es un fenómeno en plena expansión al que cada vez se van sumando más universidades en todo el mundo. El tipo de contenidos y objetivos de aprendizaje propios de estas disciplinas hacen de la formación matemática universitaria un campo de estudio particular, más aún cuando esta formación se hace utilizando una metodología basada en el uso de Internet y software especializado. Si bien existen muchos estudios relacionados, por un lado, con la formación matemática en secundaria y, por otro, con la formación online o e-learning, esta es una de las primeras tesis doctorales que aborda la temática del Mathematical E-Learning (MEL) en educación superior. Así, la misión última del presente trabajo es analizar cuáles son las tendencias metodológicas y tecnológicas que se están usando en la actualidad en MEL, discutir cómo ha evolucionado en España la práctica del MEL durante el proceso de adaptación al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES), y examinar buenas prácticas en MEL a nivel internacional que puedan ser de utilidad para académicos e investigadores del ámbito.Societat de la informació i el coneixemen