813 research outputs found
Statistical Complexity and Nontrivial Collective Behavior in Electroencephalografic Signals
We calculate a measure of statistical complexity from the global dynamics of
electroencephalographic (EEG) signals from healthy subjects and epileptic
patients, and are able to stablish a criterion to characterize the collective
behavior in both groups of individuals. It is found that the collective
dynamics of EEG signals possess relative higher values of complexity for
healthy subjects in comparison to that for epileptic patients. To interpret
these results, we propose a model of a network of coupled chaotic maps where we
calculate the complexity as a function of a parameter and relate this measure
with the emergence of nontrivial collective behavior in the system. Our results
show that the presence of nontrivial collective behavior is associated to high
values of complexity; thus suggesting that similar dynamical collective process
may take place in the human brain. Our findings also suggest that epilepsy is a
degenerative illness related to the loss of complexity in the brain.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure
The Seventh Workshop on Network Infrastructure Services (NetCloud 2017):Message from Workshop Organizers
The Seventh Workshop on Network Infrastructure Services (NetCloud 2017):Message from Workshop Organizers
A Framework to Evaluate Software Developer’s Productivity The VALORTIA Project
Currently, there is a lack in companies developing software in relation to assessing their staff’s productivity
before executing software projects, with the aim of improving effectiveness and efficiency. QuEF (Quality
Evaluation Framework) is a framework that allows defining quality management tasks based on a model.
The main purpose of this framework is twofold: improve an entity’s continuous quality, and given a context,
decide between a set of entity’s instances on the most appropriate one. Thus, the aim of this paper is to
make this framework available to evaluate productivity of professionals along software development and
select the most appropriate experts to implement the suggested project. For this goal, Valortia platform,
capable of carrying out this task by following the QuEF framework guidelines, is designed. Valortia is a
platform to certify users' knowledge on a specific area and centralize all certification management in its
model by means of providing protocols and methods for a suitable management, improving efficiency and
effectiveness, reducing cost and ensuring continuous quality.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2013-46928-C3-3-
A Performance Improvement Project to Improve Hand-off Communication Documentation within the Surgical Services Department
Over 80% of adverse events in healthcare are due to miscommunication. To improve patient safety, The Joint Commission recommended the use of standardized hand-off communication tools in 2012. One acute care hospital in Southeast Florida implemented standardized handoff reports in 2014 with few revisions since that time. The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light additional critical information was needed to keep patients and staff safe, such as laboratory results indicating the need for isolation precautions. The nurses within the surgical services noticed this critical information was not sufficiently included in the handoff report. The lack of this information led to unnecessary staff exposures and delays in treatment. The quality improvement nurse noticed a significant drop in the use of the standardized hand-off report form used during this time. This drop in compliance lead to concerns for patient and staff safety.
The purpose of this performance improvement project was to improve the quality of handoff reports as measured by the level of documentation using the standardized handoff report.
The project followed the Plan-Do-Check-Act model for performance improvement, monitoring documentation compliance and reporting the results to the leaders and staff. The handoff report form was revised with input from the staff, resulting in improved efficiency. The nurses’ level of satisfaction with the form improved resulting in improved compliance and reducing miscommunications
Chaos in Small-World Networks
A nonlinear small-world network model has been presented to investigate the
effect of nonlinear interaction and time delay on the dynamic properties of
small-world networks. Both numerical simulations and analytical analysis for
networks with time delay and nonlinear interaction show chaotic features in the
system response when nonlinear interaction is strong enough or the length scale
is large enough. In addition, the small-world system may behave very
differently on different scales. Time-delay parameter also has a very strong
effect on properties such as the critical length and response time of
small-world networks
NDT-Merge: A future tool for conciliating Software Requirements in MDE Environments
Requirements conciliation can result one of the most expensive
and critical tasks in Web development. It particularly depends on
analysts’ experiences since very frequently they have to use
manual solution to cope with requirements conciliation. After
some previous work presenting an approach oriented towards
Web requirements conciliation, this paper proposes a tool for
executing this task. It is based on the Model-driven paradigm and
it is included in the context of NDT (Navigational Development
Techniques) methodology.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2010-20057-C03-02Junta de Andalucía TIC-578
La enseñanza de las ciencias mediante proyectos didácticos en la Universidad de los Andes - Venezuela
Los paradigmas de la pedagogía científica incorporan estrategias activas, pero, en el trabajo de aula sigue prevaleciendo el modelo pasivo. En contraposición a esto, el presente ensayo describe la experiencia que hemos acumulado desde 1999 con el desarrollo de una metodología denominada Proyectos Didácticos para la Enseñanza de la Ciencia que tiene por finalidad principal aportar diferentes propuestas metodológicas para abordar el trabajo de aula y fuera de ésta, para el caso especial de la enseñanza de las ciencias. Esta estrategia implica la participación activa del estudiante diseñando propuestas prácticas o juegos para el desarrollo de diversos contenidos típicos de la ciencia en el contexto de la formación inicial de docentes en la Universidad de Los Andes
Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS): review of the literature
Obstructive sleep apnea and hypopnea syndrome is characterized by repeated airway collapse during sleep. The literature describes multiple causes of the disease. The main cause is a reduction of the expansion forces of the pharyngeal dilator muscles, as in situations of genioglossal muscle dysfunction, and discoordination between the inspiratory
activity of the muscle and respiratory effort, which play an important role in progression of the disease.
Other described causes are soft tissue disorders, such as macroglossia or tonsillar hypertrophy, and skeletal structural alterations such as micrognathia and retrognathia. The syndrome is also more frequent in obese people,
where the accumulation of fat in the neck region produces narrowing of the pharyngeal airway, thereby diminishing the passage of air.
This review focuses on the pathogenesis, epidemiology, main features and diagnosis of the disease, and on its
main forms of treatment
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