El Consumo Eléctrico Residencial en Chile en 2008

This paper analyses the causes of the unusual drop in electricity consumption in households in Chile during 2008. Changes in income, the price of energy and the price of the substitute explain 8% of the actual drop in consumption. Over 50% of the fall isElectricidad, regulación, paneles dinámicos

From the deposit to the exhibit floor: an exploration on giving museum objects personality and social life

Museum objects have fascinating stories but are often presented in a detached, objective way that tends to keep visitors at a distance. In a collaborative research we have explored a different way to present museum objects: fifteen exhibits from the museum deposit compete for one of the four display cases on the exhibit floor. Objects are given a personal voice and a character and they talk directly to the visitor: those that capture visitors' interest as physical presence or Twitter conversation stay on display; the lower scorer is replaced. We report the co-design and preliminary evaluation carried out in the museum with both museum professionals and casual visitors

Microenvironmental influence on microtumour infiltration patterns: 3D-mathematical modelling supported by: In vitro studies

Mathematical modelling approaches have become increasingly abundant in cancer research. Tumour infiltration extent and its spatial organization depend both on the tumour type and stage and on the bio-physicochemical characteristics of the microenvironment. This sets a complex scenario that often requires a multidisciplinary and individually adjusted approach. The ultimate goal of this work is to present an experimental/numerical combined method for the development of a three-dimensional mathematical model with the ability to reproduce the growth and infiltration patterns of a given avascular microtumour in response to different microenvironmental conditions. The model is based on a diffusion-convection reaction equation that considers logistic proliferation, volumetric growth, a rim of proliferative cells at the tumour surface, and invasion with diffusive and convective components. The parameter values of the model were fitted to experimental results while radial velocity and diffusion coefficients were made spatially variable in a case-specific way through the introduction of a shape function and a diffusion-limited-aggregation (DLA)-derived fractal matrix, respectively, according to the infiltration pattern observed. The in vitro model consists of multicellular tumour spheroids (MTSs) of an epithelial mammary tumour cell line (LM3) immersed in a collagen I gel matrix with a standard culture medium ("naive" matrix) or a conditioned medium from adipocytes or preadipocytes ("conditioned" matrix). It was experimentally determined that both adipocyte and preadipocyte conditioned media had the ability to change the MTS infiltration pattern from collective and laminar to an individual and atomized one. Numerical simulations were able to adequately reproduce qualitatively and quantitatively both kinds of infiltration patterns, which were determined by area quantification, analysis of fractal dimensions and lacunarity, and Bland-Altman analysis. These results suggest that the combined approach presented here could be established as a new framework with interesting potential applications at both the basic and clinical levels in the oncology area.Fil: Luján, Emmanuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Simulación Computacional para Aplicaciones Tecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Soto, Daniela. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Química Biológica; ArgentinaFil: Rosito, María Sol. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciónes Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; ArgentinaFil: Soba, Alejandro. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica; ArgentinaFil: Guerra, Liliana Noemi. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Química Biológica; ArgentinaFil: Calvo, Juan Carlos. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Química Biológica; ArgentinaFil: Marshall, Guillermo Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física del Plasma. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física del Plasma; ArgentinaFil: Suárez, Cecilia Ana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Física del Plasma. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Física del Plasma; Argentin

Do it together : the effect of curators, designers, and technologists sharing the making of new interactive visitors’ experiences

Tangible interaction offers new ways to engage users with digital systems through material means. We use ubiquitous computing to create reactive spaces and smart objects that seamlessly blend with the surroundings or the exhibition and bridge the gap between the physical and the digital. The technology is intentionally concealed to bring places and stories from the past into the present and create immersive experiences where technology complements heritage (as opposed to compete with it for visitors’ attention). The full integration of technology with the exhibition or heritage requires approaching the design of the visitors’ experience as a collaborative project that combines curatorial, technical and design aspects. As a multi-expertise team, we created, implemented, and evaluated thee concepts: an evocative experience in the trenches and camp of World War I in the Italian Alps; an interactive layer to tell the personal stories of those involved in the changes in The Hague during the Nazi occupation; and a set of multimedia installations to enrich a permanent collection of World War I artillery. The design effort was on both the creation of bespoke devices and the composition of content that was not didactic but open to personal interpretation: curators left traces for visitors to pick up, and when this occurred the experience was deeper and stronger. Our evaluations show that the powerful outcome cannot be ascribed to just one component, technology versus content. One empowers the other: an approach that simultaneously works on interaction and content is essential to make a design that exploits the place or the objects to a powerful final effect. Clearly, this challenges the traditional exhibition design process as curators become creative members of the team in charge of shaping, through the content, the final experience of the visitors. It is then a matter of rethinking not only the technology for heritage, but also the process, and for curators to become more daring with content

Multisensory interactive storytelling to augment the visit of a historical house museum

We present an interactive and multisensory intervention designed for a house museum. Digital technology holds great potential for such heritage sites, but current use is limited to the pre- and post-visit experience. Interviews with museum professionals highlighted their concerns about technology placed in historic houses and suggested four design principles that we used to carefully integrate interactive technology, and the value of a bespoke installation. The installation, the Interactive Tableaux, shows a novel use of digital interactive storytelling where we combined both tangible qualities and informational aspects while respecting the aesthetic of the house and its home feeling. We discuss the process of crafting a conversation in and with a particular place and present evidence from our evaluations that the interactive multisensory installation encouraged observation, reflection and conversation

Using tangible smart replicas as controls for an interactive museum exhibition

This paper presents the design, creation and use of tangible smart replicas in a large-scale museum exhibition. We describe the design rationale for the replicas, the process used in their creation, as well as the implementation and deployment of these replicas in a live museum exhibition. Deployment of the exhibition resulted in over 14000 visitors interacting with the system during the 6 months that the exhibition was open. Based on log data, interviews and observations, we examine the reaction to these smart replicas from the point of view of the museum curators and also of the museum's visitors and reflect on the fulfillment of our expectations. Keywords : Tangible interaction, museums, smart replicas

Prototyping tangibles : exploring form and interaction

In order to better explore the opportunities for tangible interaction in new areas such as the home or cultural heritage sites, we used multiple rapidly-developed prototypes that take advantage of existing technology. Physical prototypes allow us to give form to ideas and to evaluate the integration of form and function, two core components of tangible interaction. We discuss potentials and pitfalls when using off-the-shelf digital devices (by embedding a device, cracking it open and building on it, or collating board and parts) through six prototypes developed in two studies. Hacking devices to materialize our ideas proved excellent for fast prototyping. Technology imposed constraints and prompted different design solutions than initially intended offering unexpected ways to engage. On the basis of this experience we outline a process and offer guidelines for the fast prototyping of tangible interactions

Exploring the potential of the internet of things at a heritage site through co-design practice

Our multidisciplinary team faced the challenge of creating an engaging visiting experience for Chesters museum that hosts John Clayton’s collection of Roman antiquities found along Hadrian’s Wall. The museum, created in 1896, is still in its original form and has a large collection of altars and religious sculptures displayed in a continuous sequence on several rows, as was the fashion in Victorian and Edwardian times. This layout was overwhelming for most visitors who only spent very little time in the museum. In an iterative co-design process we generated multiple concepts and prototyped the most promising: the aim was to make the visitors slow down and look around in a meaningful way. We assessed three prototypes in place finding physical impediments and management issues for two. The design and implementation then focused on a single concept that explores the relationship between the Romans and their gods. The final interactive installation uses the Internet of Things technology to offer a personalised experience that engages visitors at a physical level while simultaneously provoking them to explore and take action. This paper contributes to a better understanding of how design practice can create a novel interactive visiting experience centered on meaning-making rather than on the latest technology