PRACTICA. A Virtual Reality Platform for Specialized Training Oriented to Improve the Productivity

With the proliferation of Virtual reality headset that are emerging into a consumer-oriented market for video games, it will open new possibilities for exploiting the virtual reality (VR). Therefore, the PRACTICA project is defined as a new service aimed to offering a system for creating courses based on a VR simulator for specialized training companies that allows offering to the students an experience close to reality. The general problem of creating these virtual courses derives from the need to have programmers that can generate them. Therefore, the PRACTICA project allows the creation of courses without the need to program source code. In addition, elements of virtual interaction have been incorporated that cannot be used in a real environment due to risks for the staff, such as the introduction of fictional characters or obstacles that interact with the environment. So to do this, artificial intelligence techniques have been incorporated so these elements can interact with the user, as it may be, the movement of these fictional characters on stage with a certain behavior. This feature offers the opportunity to create situations and scenarios that are even more complex and realistic.This project aims to create a service to bring virtual reality technologies closer and artificial intelligence for non-technological companies, so that they can generate (or acquire) their own content and give it the desired shape for their purposes

Editor’s Note

This special issue has been designed with the primary objective of demonstrating the diversity of fields where AI is used and, consequently, how it is gaining increasing importance as a tool for analysis and research. In this sense, there are works related to the following topics: the use of AI with the IoT, campaign management, topic models and fusion methods, sales forecasting, price forecasting for electricity market, NLP techniques in computational medicine, evaluation of patient triage in hospital emergency settings, algorithms for solving the assignment problem, scheduling strategy for scientific workflow, driver fatigue detection mechanisms, virtual reality and specialized training, image segmentation, web service selection, multimedia documents adaptation, 3D navigation in virtual environments, multi-criteria decision-making methods and emotional states classification

MOBEEZE. Natural Interaction Technologies, Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence for Gait Disorders Analysis and Rehabilitation in Patients with Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is the most common degenerative disorder after Alzheimer's disease. Generally affecting elderly groups, it has a strong limiting effect on physical functioning and performance of roles, vitality and general perception of health. Since the disease is progressive, the patient knows he's going to get worse. The deterioration is significant not only in mobility but also in pain, social isolation, and emotional reactions. Freezing is a phenomenon associated with this disease and it is characterized by a motor disorder that leaves the patient literally stuck to the ground. Mobeeze is designed with the main objective of providing health personnel with a tool to analyse, evaluate and monitor the progress of patients’ disorders as well as the personalization and adaptation of rehabilitation sessions in patients with Parkinson's disease. Based on the characteristics measured in real time which will allow the strengthening effects of rehabilitation and help to assimilate them in the long term. The creation of Mobeeze allows the constitution of a system of analysis and evaluation of march disorders in real time, through natural interaction, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. In this project, we will analyse if these non-invasive technologies reduce the stress induced to the patient when he is feeling evaluated

Towards a Solution to Create, Test and Publish Mixed Reality Experiences for Occupational Safety and Health Learning: Training-MR

Artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, Human Augmentation, virtual reality, or mixed reality have been rapidly implemented in Industry 4.0, as they improve the productivity of workers. This productivity improvement can come largely from modernizing tools, improving training, and implementing safer working methods. Human Augmentation is helping to place workers in unique environments through virtual reality or mixed reality, by applying them to training actions in a totally innovative way. Science still has to overcome several technological challenges to achieve widespread application of these tools. One of them is the democratisation of these experiences, for which is essential to make them more accessible, reducing the cost of creation that is the main barrier to entry. The cost of these mixed reality experiences lies in the effort required to design and build these mixed reality training experiences. Nevertheless, the tool presented in this paper is a solution to these current limitations. A solution for designing, building and publishing experiences is presented in this paper. With the solution, content creators will be able to create their own training experiences in a semiassisted way and eventually publish them in the Cloud. Students will be able to access this training offered as a service, using Microsoft HoloLens2. In this paper, the reader will find technical details of the Training-MR, its architecture, mode of operation and communicatio

mFish Alpha Pilot: Building a Roadmap for Effective Mobile Technology to Sustain Fisheries and Improve Fisher Livelihoods.

In June 2014 at the Our Ocean Conference in Washington, DC, United States Secretary of State John Kerry announced the ambitious goal of ending overfishing by 2020. To support that goal, the Secretary's Office of Global Partnerships launched mFish, a public-private partnership to harness the power of mobile technology to improve fisher livelihoods and increase the sustainability of fisheries around the world. The US Department of State provided a grant to 50in10 to create a pilot of mFish that would allow for the identification of behaviors and incentives that might drive more fishers to adopt novel technology. In May 2015 50in10 and Future of Fish designed a pilot to evaluate how to improve adoption of a new mobile technology platform aimed at improving fisheries data capture and fisher livelihoods. Full report

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ROMANIA

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main opportunities and limitations of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The survey was defined with the aim to involve the highest possible number of relevant CSR topics and give the issue a more wholesome perspective. It provides a basis for further comprehension and deeper analyses of specific CSR areas. The conditions determining the success of CSR in Romania have been defined in the paper on the basis of the previously cumulative knowledge as well as the results of various researches. This paper provides knowledge which may be useful in the programs promoting CSR.Corporate social responsibility, Supportive policies, Romania

Supervisory Practices in a Virtual Internship Program: A Multi-Case Study

This study explored certain leadership methods that eSupervisors were utilizing with eInterns through the theoretical lenses of House’s (1971) path-goal theory of leadership and the effectiveness of these methods on learning outcomes. The overarching research question that guided this study was: How do eSupervisors contribute to the learning growth of eInterns? A qualitative multi-case study was conducted on a population of eSupervisors, current eInterns (students), and past eInterns (graduates) that were associated with the Virtual Student Foreign Service (VSFS) program. VSFS is a program aimed at exposing students to working opportunities in the government. The findings from this study imply that there are a number of ways in which eSupervisors can contribute to the learning growth of eInterns. These contributions will vary depending on the eInterns, the environmental characteristics, the leadership approach taken, and the motivational factors involved. The significance in applying this research today falls in line with the booming growth of distance education programs the trend of incorporating technology in the classrooms

An aesthetic for sustainable interactions in product-service systems?

Copyright @ 2012 Greenleaf PublishingEco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability. However the application of this concept is still very limited because its implementation and diffusion is hindered by several barriers (cultural, corporate and regulative ones). The paper investigates the barriers that affect the attractiveness and acceptation of eco-efficient PSS alternatives, and opens the debate on the aesthetic of eco-efficient PSS, and the way in which aesthetic could enhance some specific inner qualities of this kinds of innovations. Integrating insights from semiotics, the paper outlines some first research hypothesis on how the aesthetic elements of an eco-efficient PSS could facilitate user attraction, acceptation and satisfaction

Telework Argentina : telework for sustainable development

Spanish version available in IDRC Digital Library: Telework Argentina : teletrabajo para el desarrollo sustentableFocusing on three cities: Buenos Aires (Argentina), Mexico City and Lima (Peru), this project assesses the extent telework could contribute to reducing vehicle emissions and saving energy, both in the home and at the workplace. The project also explores the social, cultural and economic implications of telework, its impact on family dynamics, gender roles, and work‐life balance. As this collection of papers demonstrates, emerging economies look to telework to address a range of issues, from creating effective business models, injecting more social equity into the labour market, promoting greater access to educational opportunities and pursuing more sustainable ways of working