Assessing the impact of the awareness level on a co-operative game

Context: When playing a co-operative game, being aware of your collaborators (where they are playing, what they are doing, the abilities they have, etc.) is essential for achieving the game's goals. This led to the definition of Gamespace Awareness in order to guide in the identification of the awareness needs in the form of a compilation of the awareness elements that a co-operative game should feature. Objective: Gamespace Awareness does not establish how much awareness information players must be provided with. This constitutes the main motivation for this work: to assess the impact of different levels of Gamespace Awareness elements on a co-operative game. Method: A multiplayer action game was developed that supports three different awareness configurations, each one featuring different awareness levels (high, medium and low). The impact of these awareness levels was measured as regards game score, time, players’ happiness while playing, enjoyment and perceived usefulness. Several techniques such as subjective surveys and facial expression analysis were used to measure these factors. Results: The analysis of the results shows that the higher the awareness, the better the game score. However, the highest level of player happiness was not achieved with the most awareness-enabled configuration; we found that the players’ enjoyment depends not only on their awareness level but also on their expertise level. Finally, the awareness elements related to the present and the future were the most useful, as could be expected in a multiplayer action game. Conclusions: The results showed that the medium level awareness obtained the best results. We therefore concluded that a certain level of awareness is necessary, but that excessive awareness could negatively affect the game experience

Influence of the Molecular Weight on PVA/GO Composite Membranes for Fuel Cell Applications

Composite polymer electrolyte membranes were prepared with poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA). Two different molecular weight (Mw), 67·103 and 130·103 g·mol−1 were selected, cross-linked with sulfosuccinic acid (SSA) and doped graphene oxide (GO). The effects on the membranes obtained from these polymers were characterized in order to evaluate the fuel cell performance. Electron microscopy showed a proper nanoparticle distribution in the polymer matrix. The chemical structure was evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The absence of a crystalline structure and the enhancement on the thermal stability with the addition of 1% of GO was demonstrated by thermal characterization. Total transference number and protonic conductivity were correlated to the performance of a hydrogen fuel cell. Overall, a power increase in the composite membranes with lower molecular weight was observed. Shorter polymer chains may improve protonic conductivity and consequently the fuel cell performance

Measurement of the broadband complex permittivity of soils in the frequency domain with a low-cost Vector Network Analyzer and an Open-Ended coaxial probe

The performance of a handheld Vector Network Analyzer (VNA), the nanoVNA, a low-cost, open-source instrument, was evaluated. The instrument measures the complex permittivity of dielectric media from 1-port reflection parameters in the 1 – 900 MHz bandwidth. We manufactured an open-ended coaxial probe using a SMA-N coaxial adapter to perform dielectric measurements. The accuracy of the nanoVNA was comparable to that of a commercial VNA between 1 and 500 MHz according to tests in reference organic liquids, while a lack of stability was found beyond 700 MHz. The self-manufactured open-ended coaxial probe was subjected to a Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis and its electromagnetic (EM) field penetration depth was determined to be 1.5 mm at 100 MHz, being reduced to 1.3 at 900 MHz and thus demonstrating a frequency-dependent support volume. The broadband complex permittivity of three mineral soils of varied textures was obtained for a range of bulk densities and water contents from dry to water-saturated conditions. The dielectric response of the soils approximated the well-known Topp et al. (1980) equation at high frequencies. At lower frequency however, higher permittivities were exhibited due to dielectric dispersion, which emphasizes the importance of EM-based soil moisture sensor operating frequency when considering sensor calibration or comparing the response of different sensors.This research was funded by Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), project numbers: AGL2016-77282-C3-3-R and PID2019-106226-C22 AEI/https:///https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033 | Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional, grant numbers: FPU17/05155 and FPU19/00020. Funding for David A. Robinson was provided by a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) award number NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK–ScaPE Programme Delivering National Capability. We also acknowledge funding from the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange, grant number: PPI/APM/2018/1/00048/U/001. The authors wish to thank Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA) for the funding provided. The authors also wish to thank Juan Antonio Albaladejo for his help in machining the experimental OE coaxial probe

Applying Thematic Analysis to define an Awareness Interpretation for Collaborative Computer Games

Abstract. Collaborative computer games have evolved from single-player to massively multiplayer games, usually involving collaboration to achieve team goals. As a consequence of such evolution, these players should be provided with feedback that enables them to perform collaborative tasks with other team members. The objective of this work is the analysis of current awareness interpretations in order to develop a new one that guides stakeholders while collect the needs of such games. This analysis has been conducted by means of a step-bystep Thematic Analysis of current interpretations that led us to extract the most relevant awareness elements defined in existing interpretations. This has resulted in the definition of Gamespace Awareness, a new interpretation based on a combination of the previously analyzed ones, which is suitable for collaborative computer games. Gamespace Awareness combines the potential awareness elements needed for collaborative computer games, making it possible to identify the awareness requirements of these games from the very beginning

Dielectric spectroscopy and application of mixing models describing dielectric dispersion in clay minerals and clayey soils

The number of sensors, ground-based and remote, exploiting the relationship between soil dielectric response and soil water content continues to grow. Empirical expressions for this relationship generally work well in coarse-textured soils but can break down for high-surface area and intricate materials such as clayey soils. Dielectric mixing models are helpful for exploring mechanisms and developing new understanding of the dielectric response in porous media that do not conform to a simple empirical approach, such as clayey soils. Here, we explore the dielectric response of clay minerals and clayey soils using the mixing model approach in the frequency domain. Our modeling focuses on the use of mixing models to explore geometrical effects. New spectroscopic data are presented for clay minerals (talc, kaolinite, illite and montmorillonite) and soils dominated by these clay minerals in the 1 MHz–6 GHz bandwidth. We also present a new typology for the way water is held in soils that we hope will act as a framework for furthering discussion on sensor design. We found that the frequency-domain response can be mostly accounted for by adjusting model structural parameters, which needs to be conducted to describe the Maxwell–Wagner (MW) relaxation effects. The work supports the importance of accounting for soil structural properties to understand and predict soil dielectric response and ultimately to find models that can describe the dielectric–water content relationship in fine-textured soils measured with sensors.The authors wish to thank Sally Logsdon for supplying the soils from USDA

Ambient Intelligence Environment for Home Cognitive Telerehabilitation

Higher life expectancy is increasing the number of age-related cognitive impairment cases. It is also relevant, as some authors claim, that physical exercise may be considered as an adjunctive therapy to improve cognition and memory after strokes. Thus, the integration of physical and cognitive therapies could offer potential benefits. In addition, in general these therapies are usually considered boring, so it is important to include some features that improve the motivation of patients. As a result, computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation systems and serious games for health are more and more present. In order to achieve a continuous, efficient and sustainable rehabilitation of patients, they will have to be carried out as part of the rehabilitation in their own home. However, current home systems lack the therapist’s presence, and this leads to two major challenges for such systems. First, they need sensors and actuators that compensate for the absence of the therapist’s eyes and hands. Second, the system needs to capture and apply the therapist’s expertise. With this aim, and based on our previous proposals, we propose an ambient intelligence environment for cognitive rehabilitation at home, combining physical and cognitive activities, by implementing a Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) that gathers, as far as possible, the knowledge of a rehabilitation expert. Moreover, smart sensors and actuators will attempt to make up for the absence of the therapist. Furthermore, the proposed system will feature a remote monitoring tool, so that the therapist can supervise the patients’ exercises. Finally, an evaluation will be presented where experts in the rehabilitation field showed their satisfaction with the proposed system.This work was partially supported by Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad/FEDER under TIN2016-79100-R grant. Miguel Oliver holds an FPU scholarship (FPU13/03141) from the Spanish Government

Association of acid phosphatase locus 1*C allele with the risk of cardiovascular events in rheumatoid arthritis patients

Introduction: Acid phosphatase locus 1 (ACP1) encodes a low molecular weight phosphotyrosine phosphatase implicated in a number of different biological functions in the cell. The aim of this study was to determine the contribution of ACP1 polymorphisms to susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as well as the potential contribution of these polymorphisms to the increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CV) observed in RA patients. Methods: A set of 1,603 Spanish RA patients and 1,877 healthy controls were included in the study. Information related to the presence/absence of CV events was obtained from 1,284 of these participants. All individuals were genotyped for four ACP1 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs10167992, rs11553742, rs7576247, and rs3828329, using a predesigned TaqMan SNP genotyping assay. Classical ACP1 alleles (*A, *B and *C) were imputed with SNP data. Results: No association between ACP1 gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to RA was observed. However, when RA patients were stratified according to the presence or absence of CV events, an association between rs11553742*T and CV events was found (P = 0.012, odds ratio (OR) = 2.62 (1.24 to 5.53)). Likewise, the ACP1*C allele showed evidence of association with CV events in patients with RA (P = 0.024, OR = 2.43). Conclusions: Our data show that the ACP1*C allele influences the risk of CV events in patients with R

Association of CD247 polymorphisms with rheumatoid arthritis: a replication study and a meta-analysis

Given the role of CD247 in the response of the T cells, its entailment in autoimmune diseases and in order to better clarify the role of this gene in RA susceptibility, we aimed to analyze CD247 gene variants previously associated with other autoimmune diseases (rs1052237, rs2056626 and rs864537) in a large independent European Caucasian population. However, no evidence of association was found for the analyzed CD247 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with RA and with the presence/absence of anti-cyclic citrullinated polypeptide. We performed a meta-analysis including previously published GWAS data from the rs864537 variant, revealing an overall genome-wide significant association between this CD247 SNP and RA with anti-CCP (OR = 0.90, CI 95% = 0.87-0.93, Poverall = 2.1×10−10). Our results show for first time a GWAS-level association between this CD247 polymorphism and RA risk

Measurement of the broadband complex permittivity of soils in the frequency domain with a low-cost vector network analyzer and an open-ended coaxial probe

The performance of a handheld Vector Network Analyzer (VNA), the nanoVNA, a low-cost, open-source instrument, was evaluated. The instrument measures the complex permittivity of dielectric media from 1-port reflection parameters in the 1 – 900 MHz bandwidth. We manufactured an open-ended coaxial probe using a SMA-N coaxial adapter to perform dielectric measurements. The accuracy of the nanoVNA was comparable to that of a commercial VNA between 1 and 500 MHz according to tests in reference organic liquids, while a lack of stability was found beyond 700 MHz. The self-manufactured open-ended coaxial probe was subjected to a Finite Element Method (FEM) analysis and its electromagnetic (EM) field penetration depth was determined to be 1.5 mm at 100 MHz, being reduced to 1.3 at 900 MHz and thus demonstrating a frequency-dependent support volume. The broadband complex permittivity of three mineral soils of varied textures was obtained for a range of bulk densities and water contents from dry to water-saturated conditions. The dielectric response of the soils approximated the well-known Topp et al. (1980) equation at high frequencies. At lower frequency however, higher permittivities were exhibited due to dielectric dispersion, which emphasizes the importance of EM-based soil moisture sensor operating frequency when considering sensor calibration or comparing the response of different sensors