Investigando la percepción de las ventajas medioambientales de un producto adaptable

The aim of adaptable design is to create products that can easily adapt to different needs. The objective if this study is to analyze the effectivenes in communication to promote an adaptable baby stroller, in order to know the user perception of the advantages derived from its adaptability, as well as the environmental ones, and if there is correlation between them. It is also intended to determine whether age or previous experience with this type of product can influence this perception. To this effect, a study with 54 participants has been conducted. Results show that users percieve the advantages and find the adaptable design interesting. Valuation of the advantages of the product is affected by previous user experience with the need for adaptability. Valuation of the environmental benefits is independent from the degree of experiense, as well as from the age of the participants (between 30 and 45 years old).El diseño adaptable tiene como objetivo crear productos que puedan adaptarse fácilmente a diferentes necesidades. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar la efectividad en la comunicación realizada para promover un cochecito de bebé adaptable, en aras de conocer la percepción que tienen los usuarios tanto de las ventajas derivadas de su adaptabilidad como de las medioambientales y si existe una correlación entre ambas. También se pretende determinar si la edad o experiencia previa con este tipo de productos influyen en esta percepción. Para ello, se ha realizado un estudio con 54 participantes. Los resultados muestran que los usuarios perciben las ventajas y consideran interesante el diseño adaptable. La estimación de las ventajas del producto se ve afectada por la experiencia previa del usuario con la necesidad de adaptabilidad. La estimación de los beneficios ambientales es independiente tanto del grado de experiencia como de la edad de los participantes (entre 30 y 45 años)

Analysing observer preferences when presenting a product in a rendered scene: 2D vs. autostereoscopic 3D displays

This research compares the way the image of a product included within a rendered scene shown on an autostereoscopic 3D display is rated versus the same image shown in a 2D display. The purpose is to understand the observer's preferences and to determine the features that a composition should have to highlight the product and to make its presentation more attractive to observers, thereby helping designers and advertisers who use both displays to prepare images to make them more effective when visually presenting a product. The results show that observers like the images on autostereoscopic 3D displays slightly more than those presented by means of 2D displays. On both displays the product is perceived more quickly when it is larger than the other elements and is shown with greater chromatic contrast, but a composition is seen as more attractive when the chromatic relationship between all the elements is more harmonious

Relación entre el grado de creatividad y la calidad de los resultados de diseño

This work analyses the relationship between the degree of creativity, measured through the level of novelty and the level of usefulness, and the quality of the design outcomes. To do so, a total of twelve conceptual designs obtained in a design experiment were measured and compared. In this experiment, four teams of three designers solved different design problems, applying brainstorming, SCAMPER and functional analysis as design methods. The quality of the design solutions have been evaluated in terms of feasibility and effectiveness by experts through a questionnaire. Feasibility and effectiveness were then compared with the novelty, usefulness and creativity, the results showing that as novelty increases, feasibility tends to be lower, and the more usefulness the design offers, the more effective it isEste trabajo analiza la relación entre el grado de creatividad, medido a través del nivel de novedad y el nivel de utilidad, con la calidad de las soluciones del diseño. Para ello, un total de doce soluciones conceptuales obtenidas en un experimento de diseño han sido medidas y comparadas. En el experimento cuatro equipos de tres diseñadores cada uno, resolvieron distintos problemas de diseño aplicando el brainstorming, el SCAMPER y el análisis funcional como métodos de diseño. La calidad de las soluciones de diseño se ha evaluado por expertos en términos de factibilidad y efectividad usando un cuestionario. La factibilidad y la efectividad se comparado con la novedad, la utilidad y la creatividad, observando que cuando aumenta la novedad, la factibilidad tiende a reducirse y que, cuando mayor es la utilidad mayor es el grado de efectividad también.This study has been possible thanks to the research projects P1·1B2010-51 “Estimulación y evaluación de la creatividad en el diseño de productos en equipos de diseño distribuidos” and P11A2008-04 “Determinación de la influencia de métodos creativos en el proceso de diseño y del grado de novedad y utilidad de las soluciones”, funded by the Universitat Jaume

Matrimonio forzado y crimen internacional: una nueva tendencia normativa y jurisprudencial

La clarificación de las conductas que implican la comisión de un crimen internacional continúa plenamente abierta al debate. En particular, los matrimonios forzados están dando lugar a una acalorada discusión académica y práctica por si deben ser catalogados como crimen de lesa humanidad. Y si quedarían englobados en unos u otros enunciados que definen este delito (esclavitud sexual u otros actos inhumanos). Esta cuestión se debe analizar con base en dos criterios: Primero, lo que recoge la práctica normativa internacional, mediante la apropiada interpretación de las normas adoptadas y los presupuestos básicos que configuraron su elaboración. Segundo, lo que deriva de los criterios jurisprudenciales en materia de matrimonios forzados aplicados por una gran variedad de tribunales penales internacionales. El análisis exige apresar la perspectiva concerniente a los delitos de violencia y esclavitud sexual; y todo desde el enfoque del sector de la protección internacional de los derechos humanos. En síntesis, el propósito del trabajo es precisar si los matrimonios forzados están ganando autonomía conceptual y normativa en el orden internacional.

Influence of presentation means on industrial product evaluations with potential users: a first study by comparing Tangible Virtual Reality and presenting a product in a real setting

Nowadays Virtual Reality allows products to be presented to potential users, but as they cannot feel them physically, their perception of some product attributes can be distorted. Conversely, the mixture of visual and touch feelings that Tangible Virtual Reality (TVR) offers could act as a similar approach to knowing products in real settings. This is a first study to compare the evaluation of product attributes presented in a real setting and by Tangible Virtual Reality to verify the possible equivalence of both means. The Semantic Differential Method was used to evaluate product attributes by creating a semantic scale with 16 bipolar pairs. Seventy-seven people (mean age of 21.7) evaluated one product by both means in an alternate viewing order. The results revealed that the product that was chosen was rated with more positive attributes in some bipolar pairs when experienced via TVR, while it was better rated in others when experienced in a real environment. The Wilcoxon test (α=0.05) corroborated that the presentation means used to evaluate the product influenced the evaluation of 15 of 16 attributes

Optimal Charging Scheduling of Electric Vehicles in Smart Grids by Heuristic Algorithms

Transportation electrification has become an important issue in recent decades and the large scale deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) has yet to be achieved. The smart coordination of EV demand addresses an improvement in the flexibility of power systems and reduces the costs of power system investment. The uncertainty in EV drivers' behaviour is one of the main problems to solve to obtain an optimal integration of EVs into power systems. In this paper, an optimisation algorithm to coordinate the charging of EVs has been developed and implemented using a Genetic Algorithm (GA), where thermal line limits, the load on transformers, voltage limits and parking availability patterns are taken into account to establish an optimal load pattern for EV charging-based reliability. This methodology has been applied to an existing residential low-voltage system. The results indicate that a smart charging schedule for EVs leads to a flattening of the load profile, peak load shaving and the prevention of the aging of power system elements.This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism under contract DOMOCELL TSI-020100-2009-849

Immune-metabolic balance in stressed rats during Candida albicans infection

We evaluated the host metabolic response to chronic varied stress during infection with the fungus Candida albicans. We used four groups of female Wistar rats: normal uninfected and unstressed, stressed, C. albicans infected and infected, and stressed. Infected rats reacted with rapid metabolic adjustments, evident as anorexia and body weight loss, partly mediated by glucocorticoids and TNF-á. Higher circulating levels of IL-6 and glucose (p < 0.05) revealed the progress and catabolic effect of the inflammatory response. Infected and stressed rats instead showed anorexia associated with infection and weight loss as the result of reduced food intake. This group exhibited a prompt reduction in circulating leptin on day 3 (p < 0.05), reduction in glucose levels and depletion of hepatic glycogen depots. We also evaluated the contribution of TNF-á, glucocorticoids, and food deprivation to liver damage. Lipid peroxidation in liver detected in the infected and infected-stressed groups was exacerbated by the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist RU 486, suggesting the modulatory activity of glucocorticoids, while hepatic fat accumulation and glycogen depletion decreased with anti-TNF-á treatment. Food deprivation exacerbated liver injury while the response to stress contributed to greater fungal colonization. Our findings emphasize the impact of metabolic alterations on tissue damage when the host immune activity is modulated by stress mediators.Fil: Rodriguez Galan, Maria Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología; ArgentinaFil: Porporatto, Carina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Villa María. Universidad Nacional de Villa María. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia de Villa María; ArgentinaFil: Sotomayor, Claudia Elena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología; ArgentinaFil: Cano, Roxana Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología; ArgentinaFil: Cejas, Hugo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Medicina; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología; ArgentinaFil: Correa, Silvia Graciela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología; Argentin

Influence of the dominant thinking style in the degree of novelty of designs in virtual and traditional working environments.

One's thinking and reasoning style defines individual preferences when interacting and communicating with others. This work aims to analyse whether the thinking and reasoning style of the design teams exerts an influence on the degree of novelty of the design outcomes in two working environments: a face-to-face environment and a virtual environment. To address this, an experiment was set up in which 21 teams, each made up of 3 design students, were asked to obtain new solutions to 2 design problems, one of them in a face-to-face environment and the other in a virtual environment. The teams were defined according to their thinking and reasoning style, and the novelty of the design outcomes was measured with the SAPPhIRE model of causality. The results show that, overall, the degree of novelty is very similar in both environments, although it is a little higher in virtual environments. Teams with a rational style produce more novel results when using information and communication technologies than in a face-to-face environment. Teams with an interpersonal style, on the other hand, generate the least novel solutions when using technologies and produce the most novel solutions when they work in a face-to-face environment.His work has been carried out thanks to the research project with code P11B2010-51 entitled "Estimulación y evaluación de la creatividad en el diseño de productos en equipos de diseño distribuidos", and funded by Universitat Jaume