World of Warcraft Stats System: Evolution and Casualization

Since World of Warcraft release, it has remained as the MMORPG with more subscribers of the market, and during that time, it has evolved in diverse ways. One of the aspects that have suffered more changes is its character stats system, which is an elemental part of this game. By studying it, we can learn much about the game evolution. Some players feel that the game has evolved to appeal to more casual audiences. In this study, we will analyze the development of World of Warcraft character stats system through the expansions while trying to determine if these changes have promoted the casualization of the game. Study results could be interesting for game designers and game researchers as an example of the long-term evolution of one of the most important computer games in history

Comparative Analysis of Online Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools

In many countries, it is mandatory that Web information systems are accessible so that people with disabilities can use them. The developers of web information systems must ensure that their systems are accessible, and for this it can help the use of automatic evaluation tools. This paper presents the results of a comparative analysis of the performance of online accessibility evaluation tools. This analysis can be useful for developers of information systems, as it provides information that can be taken into account when deciding the tool or tools of this type that they will use in their projects. The paper also includes a proposal for classification of different types of tools that evaluate software accessibility, considering two dimensions: its usage and functionality

Innovative evaluation by projects for course with mixed computer science degrees

This paper explains the evaluationmethod applied to a specific capstone course, called "Ubiquitous computing", taught in different Computer Science Degrees of the University of Alcala (Spain). Along the previous editions of the course several issues have been discovered, which are intended to be solved with the proposedmethod thatwas used as evaluation system of the subject in year 2016&-2017. The issues are related to the number of students of each degree that compose the group each year, the contents' deviation, the lowmarks obtained in previous years, themethodologicalmismatch in relationwith other subjects and the bad alignment of the evaluation method used before. With the idea of obtaining better marks, a closer experience to the real situation in software companies and higher satisfaction level of the students, the learning experience proposed implies teamwork, a project-based learning perspective and a balanced use of the technologies. Taking the results obtained through its implantation along the last academic year, it can be concluded that the evaluation method shown in this document enhances the learning process and the contents are closer to the course initial conception, and students got more involved and obtained better results

Accessibility in video games: a systematic review

Video games are software products with several purposes that are growing in strength and weight in society. However, thereis one noticeable problem about them; in most cases, their developers most often do not take into consideration peoplewith disabilities when they are creating video game applications. People with disabilities are thus partially or completelyexcluded from their use. Prior to any additional work, it is required to have an updated state of the art about this topic. Thispaper shows the results of a systematic literature review conducted to define the current status of video games accessibility.The type of review is broader than usual, so it is a systematic mapping study (a specific class of systematic review). Besideselaborating the state of the art (qualitative information), we identified and analyzed related works (45 relevant studies) toprovide quantitative information of the performed search (including graphs and tables), such as the number of articles foundby phases, their sources, their research type, the research questions answered, the kind of disability addressed, and the typeand year of publications. None of the studied initiatives can guarantee universally accessible video game applications. Ourproposal is to create an integral software engineering methodology that considers accessibility guidelines, techniques, strategies,human factors, etc. in the video game software development process.European Commisio

Combining Multiple Web Accessibility Evaluation Reports using Semantic Web Technologies

This paper describes a process for automatic combination of testing reports for the accessibility of Web applications, obtained by different testing tools and applying different standards on Web accessibility. Interoperability is guaranteed using semantic Web technologies, which allow describing the reports by RDF (Resource Description Framework) triples. The reports refer to elements of a knowledge base consisting of vocabularies, ontologies and rules of inference, in which the conceptual relations between accessibility standards, as WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) or Section 508 among others, are formalized previously. A software prototype that uses the Apache Jena framework for implementing the process is presented

Fair bandwidth allocation algorithm for PONS based on network utility maximization

Network utility maximization (NUM) models have been successfully applied to address multiple resource- allocation problems in communication networks. This paper explores, for the first time to our knowledge, their application to modeling the bandwidth-allocation problem in passive optical networks (PONs) and long-reach PONs. Using the NUM model, we propose the FEx-DBA (fair excess-dynamic bandwidth allocation) algorithm, a new DBA scheme to allow a fair and efficient allocation of the upstream channel capacity. The NUM framework provides the mathematical support to formally define the fairness concept in the resource allocation and the guidelines to devise FEx-DBA. A simulation study is conducted, whereby FEx-DBA is compared to a state-of-the-art proposal. We show that FEx-DBA (i) provides bandwidth guarantees to the users according to the service level agreement (SLA) contracted and fairly distributes the excess bandwidths among them; (ii) has a stable response and fast convergence when traffic or SLAs change, avoiding the oscillations appearing in other proposals; (iii) improves average delay and jitter measures; and (iv) only depends on a reduced set of parameters, which can be easily tuned.This work has been funded by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (TEC2014-53071-C3-2-P and TEC2015-71932-REDT)

Objective assessment of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) using an infinite runner-based computer game: A pilot study

This article belongs to the Special Issue New Advances in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).In the last few years, several computerized tasks have been developed to increase the objectivity of the diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This article proposes the 'running raccoon' video game to assess the severity of inattention in patients diagnosed with ADHD. Unlike existing tests, the proposed tool is a genuine video game in which the patient must make a raccoon avatar jump to avoid falling into different gaps. The distance to the gap is recorded for each jump. To evaluate the proposed game, an experiment was conducted in which 32 children diagnosed with ADHD participated. For each participant, the median and interquartile range of these distances were calculated, along with the number of omissions. Experimental results showed a significant correlation between the participants' inattention (measured by the Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms and Normal Behavior rating scale (SWAN) inattention subscale) with each of these three measures. In addition to its accuracy, other benefits are its short duration and the possibility of being run on both standard computers and mobile devices. These characteristics facilitate its acceptance in clinical environments or even its telematic use. The obtained results, together with the characteristics of the video game, make it an excellent tool to support clinicians in the diagnosis of ADHD.This research was partially funded by the Spanish National Project, grant number RTI2018-101857-B-I00

Optimizing Lighting in the Workplace and Occupational Risk Prevention through Mobile Applications

Nowadays, there are many problems arising from the exploitation of energy resources and the production and use of energy. This research aims to analyze in which way the development of a mobile application may help on registering the lighting levels from different kind of environments, allowing to manage and assess consumption, comply with current regulations. Furthermore, the application provides information about how to optimize the use of energy and prevent occupational risks resulting from mismanagement. To do this relevant information is stored for the evaluation of the measurements through a rule engine that behaves as an expert system capable of guiding in the decision-making process

Evaluación del sexismo ambivalente en las y los profesionales de la red de salud mental de Andalucía. Resultados preliminares

Una línea de investigación clave actualmente en Psicología es el estudio del constructo sexismo que aparece relacionado con factores de riesgo psicosocial y de salud en población femenina general. El objetivo de nuestra investigación se dirige al análisis del sexismo ambivalente (hostil y benévolo) en profesionales de salud mental pública de Andalucía mediante un estudio correlacional en una muestra de 945 profesionales, analizando la relación entre sexismo ambivalente y algunas características sociodemográficas, laborales y profesionales. Los resultados mostraron puntuaciones bastantes bajas en sexismo (inferiores a las encontradas en otros estudios) así como diferencias de género significativas tanto en sexismo hostil como benévolo, siendo más sexistas los hombres. De todas las profesiones de la red de salud mental, la Psicología Clínica se mostró como la menos sexista. No se encontraron diferencias significativas en sexismo en función del Modelo Teórico, salvo en quienes usaron Perspectiva de Género, que aparecieron como menos sexistas. Se encontró que a mayor sexismo menor detección de problemas relacionados con la desigualdad de género en la consulta, pero no se encontró relación entre sexismo y formación recibida en Perspectiva de Género.A currently very important line of research in psychology is about Ambivalent Sexism (that has two sub-components: hostile sexism –SH- and benevolent sexism –SB-). This construct appears related to health and psychosocial risk factors in the general female population. This research aims to investigate the relationship between the ambivalent sexism and some features of the professionals of mental health in Andalusia. Using a correlational methodology, we examined the relationship between sexism and some socio-demographic and labor characteristics of 415 professionals working in public mental health services in Andalusia. The results showed that scores in both types of sexism were quite low (less than those found in other studies), and significant differences were found between men and women in sexism (men scored higher on both types of sexism). Of all the network of mental health professions, clinical psychology seems the less sexist. No significant differences were found in sexism depending on the theoretical model (c-behavioural, psychoanalysis, systemic…), except with those who adopted a gender perspective, which appeared as less sexist. Finally, sexism was negatively related to the detection of problems associated with gender in the consultation, but not with training in gender issues

Modeling Fire Danger in Galicia and Asturias (Spain) from MODIS images

Forest fires are one of the most dangerous natural hazards, especially when they are recurrent. In areas such as Galicia (Spain), forest fires are frequent and devastating. The development of fire risk models becomes a very important prevention task for these regions. Vegetation and moisture indices can be used to monitor vegetation status; however, the different indices may perform differently depending on the vegetation species. Eight different spectral indices were selected to determine the most appropriate index in Galicia. This study was extended to the adjacent region of Asturias. Six years of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) images, together with ground fire data in a 10 × 10 km grid basis were used. The percentage of fire events met the variations suffered by some of the spectral indices, following a linear regression in both Galicia and Asturias. The Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) was the index leading to the best results. Based on these results, a simple fire danger model was established, using logistic regression, by combining the EVI variation with other variables, such as fire history in each cell and period of the year. A seventy percent overall concordance was obtained between estimated and observed fire frequency