Online Learning Algorithm for Time Series Forecasting Suitable for Low Cost Wireless Sensor Networks Nodes

Time series forecasting is an important predictive methodology which can be applied to a wide range of problems. Particularly, forecasting the indoor temperature permits an improved utilization of the HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning) systems in a home and thus a better energy efficiency. With such purpose the paper describes how to implement an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) algorithm in a low cost system-on-chip to develop an autonomous intelligent wireless sensor network. The present paper uses a Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) to monitor and forecast the indoor temperature in a smart home, based on low resources and cost microcontroller technology as the 8051MCU. An on-line learning approach, based on Back-Propagation (BP) algorithm for ANNs, has been developed for real-time time series learning. It performs the model training with every new data that arrive to the system, without saving enormous quantities of data to create a historical database as usual, i.e., without previous knowledge. Consequently to validate the approach a simulation study through a Bayesian baseline model have been tested in order to compare with a database of a real application aiming to see the performance and accuracy. The core of the paper is a new algorithm, based on the BP one, which has been described in detail, and the challenge was how to implement a computational demanding algorithm in a simple architecture with very few hardware resources.Comment: 28 pages, Published 21 April 2015 at MDPI's journal "Sensors

On the convenience of heteroscedasticity in highly multivariate disease mapping

Highly multivariate disease mapping has recently been proposed as an enhancement of traditional multivariate studies, making it possible to perform the joint analysis of a large number of diseases. This line of research has an important potential since it integrates the information of many diseases into a single model yielding richer and more accurate risk maps. In this paper we show how some of the proposals already put forward in this area display some particular problems when applied to small regions of study. Specifically, the homoscedasticity of these proposals may produce evident misfits and distorted risk maps. In this paper we propose two new models to deal with the variance-adaptivity problem in multivariate disease mapping studies and give some theoretical insights on their interpretation

Deterioro cognitivo y horas de sueño en mayores de 65 años no institucionalizados: estudio en farmacia comunitaria

Objetivo: Determinar factores de riesgo, relacionados con el estilo de vida, asociados con la presencia de deterioro cognitivo en personas mayores de 65 años.Método: Para ello se diseñó un estudio observacional transversal con personas mayores de 65 años no institucionalizadas mediante entrevista personal estructurada. El estudio se realizó en 14 farmacias de la Comunidad Valenciana desde marzo 2011 hasta marzo de 2013. Se utilizan como test de cribado el Short Portable Mental State Questionnaire (SPMSQ) de Pfeiffer y el Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) versión NORMACODERM de Blesa. Se definió deterioro cognitivo por SPMSQ ≥ 3 (para analfabetos ≥ 4) y/o MMSE ≤ 24.Resultados: Participaron en el estudio 729 personas. Se encontró que el 17,6% de los participantes (n = 128) presentaban resultados compatibles con deterioro cognitivo. Se determinó que dormir 9 o más horas diarias es causa o consecuencia y, por tanto, un factor de riesgo y/o de alarma en el desarrollo de deterioro cognitivo en personas mayores de 65 años. El ejercicio físico y pocas horas de sueño no obtuvo relación con el deterioro cognitivo.Conclusión: El cambio de hábitos de sueño en el anciano (pasar a dormir más horas) es una señal de alerta para estudiar la presencia de un posible deterioro cognitivo

Las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación en el tratamiento de la fobia a animales pequeños en la infancia

Algunos de los miedos presentes en la infancia se mantienen y provocan un malestar significativo e interfieren en la vida diaria del niño, entre ellos las fobias específicas a los animales. Existen tratamientos bien establecidos basados en la exposición para este problema (Davis, May y Whiting, 2011). No obstante, uno de los problemas que presentan, es la no aceptación en muchos casos por parte de los pacientes, ya que los encuentran demasiado aversivos. Los avances en las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TICs) han permitido desarrollar nuevos procedimientos que se están aplicando con éxito en el tratamiento de fobias específicas en adultos. Sin embargo, existen escasas investigaciones sobre el empleo de las TICs en niños. El objetivo del presente trabajo es evaluar, en un estudio de N= 1, si el uso de imágenes, juegos de ordenador y realidad aumentada puede facilitar el tratamiento de la fobia a los animales pequeños y ayudar a preparar a los niños para que sean capaces de realizar la exposición en vivo al animal temido.Some of the fears present during childhood remain and cause significant distress and interfere in the child’s daily life, including specific animal phobias. Well-established treatments based on exposure are available for this problem (Davis, May, & Whiting, 2011). However, one of the main problems treatments face is the frequent rejection by patients because they consider them too aversive. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have managed to develop new procedures which are being implemented successfully in the treatment of specific phobias in adults. However, there is little research in the use of ICTs in children. The aim of this paper is to assess in a N= 1 study whether the use of images, computer games, and Augmented Reality can facilitate the treatment of fear to small animals and help to prepare the children to be able to conduct in vivo exposure to the feared animal

Validation of the dutch eating behavior questionnaire for children (DEBQ-C) for use with Spanish children

Introduction: The Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire for children was developed by Van Strien and Oosterveld (2008) to measure three different eating behaviors (emotional eating, restrained eating and external eating); it is an adaptation of the DEBQ for adults. Objective: The purpose of this study is to analyze the psychometric properties of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire for Children (DEBQ-C) with a Spanish sample. Method: The DEBQ-C was administered to 473 children (240 boys and 233 girls), from 10 to 14 years old. The sample included a Clinical Overweight Group (COG; n = 81) comprising children who were receiving weight loss treatments, a Non Clinical Overweight Group (NCOG, n = 31) comprising children who were overweight but not in treatment, and a Normal Weight Group (NWG, n = 280). Results: Results showed that the DEBQ-C had acceptable internal consistency (a = 0.70). Temporal stability was good for “External Eating” and “Restrained Eating” scales. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the three-factor solution had good fit indices. Furthermore, the clinical overweight participants scored significantly higher on “External Eating” and “Restrained Eating” compared to the normal weight children. Conclusion: The DEBQ-C proved to be an effective instrument for researching children’s eating behaviors.Introducción: El cuestionario holandés de comportamiento alimentario para niños fue desarrollado por Van Strien y Oosterveld (2008) para medir tres conductas diferentes de ingesta (comer emocional, comer restrictivo, y comer externo). Este cuestionario es una adaptación del DEBQpara adultos. Objetivo: El propósito de este estudio es analizar las propiedades psicométricas del Cuestionario Holandés de Comportamiento Alimentario Infantil (DEBQ-C) con una muestra española. Método: El DEBQ-C se administró a un total de 473 niños (240 niños y niñas 233), de 10 a 14 años de edad. La muestra incluye un grupo clínico de niños con sobrepeso (COG, n = 81) que comprende los niños que estaban recibiendo tratamientos de pérdida de peso, un grupo de niños no clínico con sobrepeso (NCOG, n = 31) que comprende los niños que tenían sobrepeso pero que no estaban en tratamiento, y un grupo normopeso (NWG, n = 280). Resultados: Los resultados indican que el DEBQ-C mostró una coherencia interna aceptable (a = 0,70). La estabilidad temporal fue buena para las escalas “comer externo” y “comer restrictivo”. El análisis factorial confirmatorio mostró que la solución de tres factores presenta buenos índices de ajuste. Además, los participantes con sobrepeso clínicos puntuaron significativamente más alto en “comer externo“ y “comer restrictivo” en comparación con los niños de peso normal. Conclusiones: Se demuestra que el DEBQ-C es un instrumento eficaz para la investigación del comportamiento alimentario en niños.CIBERobn is an initiative of ISCIII. This study has been supported in part by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica 2008-2011) in the project (PSI2008-04392/PSIC

Linguistic choice in a corpus of brand slogans: repetition or variation

This article analyses the linguistic choices realized in a corpus of brand slogans. Our main hypothesis is that these choices are determined by the socio-semantics of two factors: repetition and variation. Repetition and variation are twin strategies to enhance memorability of the product in the potential consumer. The results of our research are a classification system of linguistic choices in brand slogans at four levels: phonological, lexico-grammatical, syntactic and semantic.Musté Ferrero, P.; Stuart, KDC.; Botella Trelis, AP. (2015). Linguistic choice in a corpus of brand slogans: repetition or variation. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences. 198:350-358. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.454S35035819

A journalistic corpus: a methodology for the analysis of the financial crisis in Spain

In this paper, we propose a methodological approach to the linguistic study of a journalistic corpus. It analyzes the monitoring of the financial crisis in Spain in 2012 by two of the most important Spanish newspapers. The paper describes ongoing research into expressions of opinion in the discourse of the news about the financial crisis in Spain. In other words, this corpus-driven study investigates the expression of opinions through language in order to develop a semantic analysis of newspaper discourse. The methodological approach involves both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The investigation focuses on the analysis of the language used to present and evaluate the events related to the financial crisis as a prelude to unmask the ideologies implicit in texts.Botella Trelis, AP.; Stuart, KDC.; Gadea, L. (2015). A journalistic corpus: a methodology for the analysis of the financial crisis in Spain. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences. 198:42-51. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.417S425119

CLEAR.TEXT Enhancing the Modernization Public Sector Organizations by Deploying Natural Language Processing to Make Their Digital Content CLEARER to Those with Cognitive Disabilities

The CLEAR.TEXT project (TED2021-130707B-I00) researches how natural language processing technology can support the authoring of accessible content in Spanish for people with cognitive disabilities. Our main objective is to research, implement, deploy, evaluate, and ultimately provide robust technologies for natural language processing to support the authoring of accessible Spanish content for public sector organisations (at local, regional and national level) that is intelligible to people with cognitive disability, thereby widening their inclusion and empowerment in Europe. It is expected to impact positively the quality of life of people with cognitive disabilities, facilitating their access to educational, vocational, cultural, and social opportunities in public sector organisations.This research work is part of the CLEAR.TEXT project (TED2021-130707B-I00), funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR