The cloud hovering over the virtual campus

The Virtual Campus has been around for about 20 years. It provides an online environment that mimics the processes and services of the physical campuses and classrooms. Its adoption is almost complete in countries where Internet access has become ubiquitous. For a time seemed like the innovation in education was happening in the Virtual Campus, but this is no more. Personal Learning Environments, Life Long Learning, MOOCS, Open Educational Resources, Mobile Apps, Gamification, Social Networks, free Cloud based services... al of the above and even more hint that not all the learning today is happening at school or in the Virtual Campus.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

Exercise, sex and atrial fibrillation: arrhythmogenesis beyond Y-chromosome?

Although prevailing research trends favour large clinical trials and registries, meticulous observation during daily clinical practice remains a valuable source for hypothesis generation in medical research. Clinical experience has allowed the identification of several risk factors in the cardiovascular field...

Dispositius i serveis mòbils contra la fractura digital

La fractura digital reflexa la diferència que hi ha entre països, comunitats o persones en l'accés a les TIC. Per tant, la fractura digital divideix les persones en dos grups: els que tenen accés a les TIC i els que no en tenen. En general, hi ha grans diferències entre països rics i pobres en l'accés a les TIC. Només una tecnologia trenca aquesta tendència: els dispositius mòbils, concretament els telèfons mòbils. Segons l’informe sobre la Societat de la Informació que publica la Unió Internacional de Telecomunicacions (Internacional Telecommunication Union o ITU), els països pobres estan experimentant des de fa uns anys un important creixement en l’us dels telèfons mòbils. Segons la ITU: "It is a technology that has permeated more widely than any other into new areas, and we must examine how we can utilize this technology going forward, to help narrow the digital divide." Per tant, els dispositius mòbils són una de les tecnologies que tenen gran potencial per lluitar contra la fractura digital i per aconseguir el desenvolupament sostenible. Però, per què s’han estès més ràpidament que altres tecnologies, els telèfons mòbils?. Hi ha diversos factors que hi han contribuït. Un dels més importants és el cost relativament baix dels terminals mòbils. A la majoria de països del món, és possible aconseguir un telèfon mòbil per un preu relativament baix, que pot oscil.lar al voltant dels 40$. Moltes vegades aquest cost és excediu per una sola persona, pel que membres d’una família o d’una comunitat es veuen obligats a compartir un telèfon mòbil. També hi ha tot un mercat de segona ma que permet aconseguir telèfons mòbils a preus més baixos. Altres factors que han ajudat a la difusió dels telèfons mòbils també seran analitzats. Als països rics, no ens plantegem, compartir el telèfon mòbil amb una altra persona. El telèfon mòbil és un aparell personal. Però, què passa quan la gent es veu obligada a compartir un objecte que ha sigut dissenyat per l’us personal?. Quins són els usos que se'n fan dels telèfons mòbils als països pobres?. En aquesta contribució s’analitzaran algunes pràctiques que es fan dels telèfons mòbils als països pobres, com per exemple, l’enviament de diners a un familiar que es troba lluny o el servei de recàrrega de la bateria dels terminals mòbils ambulants. La difusió dels telèfons mòbils als països pobres també ha permès l’aparició de serveis oferts a través de dispositius mòbils. Entre aquests serveis, destaquen el que es coneix com mobile-banking, el mobile-health i el mobile-learning. L’aparició d’aquests serveis és una mostra de la contribució dels dispositius mòbils per lluitar contra la fractura digital a indrets on aquests serveis no es podrien oferir a través d’altres tecnologies. La difusió d’aquests serveis pot ser una contribució important pel desenvolupament sostenible. En aquesta contribució ens centrarem en el mobile learning. Analitzarem les iniciatives en el camp del mobile learning realitzades als països pobres i com pot contribuir el mobile learning per lluitar contra la fractura digital.Peer Reviewe

Debates on tech-related moral dilemas usign ethical theories to teach engineering ethics

A significant number of universities where engineering is taught acknowledge the influence on society and the environment of the scientific and technological practice, as well as the ethical problems it presents, and the need to provide their students with courses covering this as a subject. The accelerated pace of innovation in these fields amplifies the issue. Computer Engineering schools are no exception. So, the IEEE/ACM Computer Science Curriculum 2013, identifies social issues and professional practice as key knowledge areas that computer undergraduate students must learn. Students should be knowledgeable about the interplay of ethical issues, technical problems, and aesthetic values that play an important part in the development of computing systems. The authors have taught for many years an optional course about the social, and environmental aspects of ICT as well as ethics. In this paper, the authors propose an approach to study ethics in Computer engineering schools. The approach consists in providing students with general ethic frameworks to reason about moral dilemmas as well as providing the basics of deontology. The lessons are complemented with case studies where technology is a key factor. Students are assigned roles to work on the cases and in the end, a discussion is done in the classroom. After the lessons, the authors have observed that students are able to understand and use the tools provided by the teachers to reason about moral dilemmas.Peer ReviewedObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::4 - Educació de QualitatPostprint (published version

Diagnosis, pathophysiology, and management of exercise-induced arrhythmias

The cardiovascular benefits of physical activity are indisputable. Nevertheless, growing evidence suggests that both atrial fibrillation and right ventricular arrhythmia can be caused by intense exercise in some individuals. Exercise-induced atrial fibrillation is most commonly diagnosed in middle-aged, otherwise healthy men who have been engaged in endurance training for >10 years, and is mediated by atrial dilatation, parasympathetic enhancement, and possibly atrial fibrosis. Cardiac ablation is evolving as a first-line tool for athletes with exercise-induced arrhythmia who are eager to remain active. The relationship between physical activity and right ventricular arrhythmia is complex and involves genetic and physical factors that, in a few athletes, eventually lead to right ventricular dilatation, followed by subsequent myocardial fibrosis and lethal ventricular arrhythmias. Sinus bradycardia and atrioventricular conduction blocks are common in athletes, most of whom remain asymptomatic, although incomplete reversibility has been shown after exercise cessation. In this Review, we summarize the evidence supporting the existence of exercise-induced arrhythmias and discuss the specific considerations for the clinical management of these patients

Exercise and the heart: unmasking Mr Hyde

As physicians, we often face patients with cardiovascular risk factors or different kinds of heart disease. We prescribe statins, ACE inhibitors or β-blockers, but also (should) encourage our patients to engage in regular physical activity to reduce cardiovascular disease burden...

Coping with and addressing the risks of children TV and online devices usage: A review and proposal of guidelines for parents

Children start to be heavy users of media and connected devices as young as 5 years old. This widespread change of habits, while it is regarded as an opportunity for enhanced learning and acquisition of digital literacy, also raises concerns about the impact that is having and may have in the near future of children's health, development and exposure to risks. Parents have to cope with these concerns and address these risks as part of their duties. “Parental Mediation" is the management of the relation of children with media and online devices. Parental mediation is a form of socialization as parents influence their children’s behaviors and attitudes related to technology. This paper analyzes the risks and implications of the growing exposure of children to tech, goes through a number of studies on parental mediation, and proposes a set of guidelines for parental mediation.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Randomly stopped extreme Zipf extensions

In this paper, we extend the Zipf distribution by means of the Randomly Stopped Extreme mechanism; we establish the conditions under which the maximum and minimum families of distributions intersect in the original family; and we demonstrate how to generate data from the extended family using any Zipf random number generator. We study in detail the particular cases of geometric and positive Poisson stopping distributions, showing that, in log-log scale, the extended models allow for top-concavity (top-convexity) while maintaining linearity in the tail. We prove the suitability of the models presented, by fitting the degree sequences in a collaboration and a protein-protein interaction networks. The proposed models not only give a good fit, but they also allow for extracting interesting insights related to the data generation mechanism.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Dissenys combinatoris. Problemes i pràctiques

1999/200