Software Design Guidelines for Usability

For years, the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) community has crafted usability guidelines that clearly define what
characteristics a software system should have in order to be easy to use. However, in the Software Engineering (SE)
community keep falling short of successfully incorporating these recommendations into software projects. From a SE
perspective, the process of incorporating usability features into software is not always straightforward, as a large number
of these features have heavy implications in the underlying software architecture. For example, successfully including an
“undo” feature in an application requires the design and implementation of many complex interrelated data structures and
functionalities. Our work is focused upon providing developers with a set of software design patterns to assist them in the
process of designing more usable software. This would contribute to the proper inclusion of specific usability features
with high impact on the software design. Preliminary validation data show that usage of the guidelines also has positive
effects on development time and overall software design quality

¿ Trastornos de personalidad en la adolescencia?

El objetivo de este trabajo es el estudio de la existencia o no de trastornos de personalidad en la adolescencia, tema sometido a debate en el campo de la psiquiatría, mediante un diseño de caso único. Se utilizaron criterios de inclusión y de exclusión para elegir un caso clínico relevante que se prestara a realizar una discusión de la que extraer conclusiones teóricas sobre dicho debate. Este caso es ilustrativo de un grupo de pacientes que ya en su adolescencia presentan patrones relacionales distintivos y característicos similares a los patrones de personalidad del adulto. Basándonos en los datos del caso y en la revisión de artículos relacionados con este tema, pensamos que es necesario reconocer la existencia de los trastornos de personalidad ya en la adolescencia, siendo de vital importancia el estudio y el seguimiento de los mismosOtroGrado en Medicin

Cursos de formación continua on-line de la SEM. Cinco años de actividad.

Se presentan los objetivos y las actividades llevadas a cabo en el área de formación continua on-line de la Sociedad Española de Microbiología (SEM)

Operational effectiveness of passing zones depending on their length and traffic volume

Most studies on two-lane highway operations have focused on the percentage of following vehicles or the adjustment of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) procedure to local data. The HCM proposes the length of no-passing zones as a model parameter; however, the distribution and characteristics of passing zones are not addressed. In fact, only a few studies on the expected number of passes in a passing zone have been carried out. This research presents an analysis of the effectiveness of passing zones in terms of their length and traffic volume. Data were collected from four passing zones on a rural highway in Spain. The two-way traffic volumes ranged from 100 to 900 vehicles per hour (vph), and the passing zone lengths ranged from 265 to 1,270 m. More than 1,600 passing maneuvers were recorded. The operational effectiveness of the passing zones was obtained from the passing frequency and the passing rate. The results indicated that the longer the passing zone, the higher the passing frequency; however, the results stabilized with lengths above 1,100 m. Balanced flows with two-way traffic volumes between 600 and 700 vph optimized the number of passes. Nevertheless, the increase in the passing frequency with the traffic volume was lower than with the increase in following vehicles. The results were validated with data from another 12 passing zones. Finally, HCM adjustments based on the percentage of no-passing zones did not reliably represent the effectiveness of passing zones. Therefore, the effectiveness of every passing zone should be considered, and adjustment factors should be modified to maximize the passing opportunities for traffic volumes between 600 and 700 vph.The authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, which subsidized the research project, and the Spanish Ministry of Public Works for its collaboration during the field study.Moreno Chou, AT.; Llorca Garcia, C.; García García, A.; Pérez Zuriaga, AM. (2013). Operational effectiveness of passing zones depending on their length and traffic volume. Transportation Research Record. (2395):57-65. doi:10.3141/2395-07S57652395Romana, M. G. (1999). Passing Activity on Two-Lane Highways in Spain. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1678(1), 90-95. doi:10.3141/1678-12Al-Kaisy, A., & Freedman, Z. (2010). Estimating Performance on Two-Lane Highways. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2173(1), 72-79. doi:10.3141/2173-09Al-Kaisy, A., & Karjala, S. (2010). Car-Following Interaction and the Definition of Free-Moving Vehicles on Two-Lane Rural Highways. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 136(10), 925-931. doi:10.1061/(asce)te.1943-5436.0000148Al-Kaisy, A., & Durbin, C. (2011). Platooning on Two-lane Two-way Highways: An Empirical Investigation. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 16, 329-339. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.04.454Gattis, J. L., Alguire, M. S., Townsend, K., & Rao, S. (1997). Rural Two-Lane Passing Headways and Platooning. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1579(1), 27-34. doi:10.3141/1579-04Dixon, M. P., Sarepali, S. S. K., & Young, K. A. (2002). Field Evaluation of Highway Capacity Manual 2000 Analysis Procedures for Two-Lane Highways. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1802(1), 125-132. doi:10.3141/1802-15Polus, A., & Cohen, M. (2009). Theoretical and Empirical Relationships for the Quality of Flow and for a New Level of Service on Two-Lane Highways. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 135(6), 380-385. doi:10.1061/(asce)0733-947x(2009)135:6(380)Rozenshtein, S., Polus, A., & Cohen, M. (2012). Models for Estimating Drivers following on Two-Lane Rural Highways. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2286(1), 68-75. doi:10.3141/2286-08Al-Kaisy, A., & Durbin, C. (2008). Evaluating new methodologies for estimating performance on two-lane highways. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, 35(8), 777-785. doi:10.1139/l08-020Llorca, C., & García, A. (2011). Evaluation of Passing Process on Two-Lane Rural Highways in Spain with New Methodology Based on Video Data. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2262(1), 42-51. doi:10.3141/2262-0

Daytime and Nighttime Passing Maneuvers on a Two-Lane Rural Road in Spain

[EN] Passing is one of the most complex driving maneuvers performed on two-lane rural roads and has important effects on road safety and traffic operation. Passing is affected by driving behavior, road geometry, traffic volume, and traffic composition as well as external factors. Research was developed to compare the passing process under daytime and nighttime conditions. An experimental method was designed to collect video data of passing maneuvers on a two-lane rural road segment located near Valencia, Spain. Two methods were used: (a) external observations of four passing zones with six video cameras and (b) an instrumented vehicle equipped with video cameras and laser rangefinders, driven slightly below the operating speed along a segment of the same road so it would be passed by other vehicles. A total of 291 maneuvers were observed, up to 20% of which were at night. Macroscopic analysis results indicated that approximately 17% of passes were at night, even though passing frequency and passing demand decreased at night. Also, the behaviors of individual drivers who passed other vehicles were different at night and during the day. Maneuvers limited by the presence of an opposing vehicle were performed more quickly at night, even if the accepted gaps were longer. In this case, a more difficult perception of distances to opposing vehicles and of vehicle speeds explained the differences. In contrast, maneuvers limited by sight distance (without a visible opposing vehicle) were slower at night. This observation matched a traditional hypothesis: passing at night is safer because the headlights of an opposing vehicle allow a driver to anticipate the vehicle's position before it becomes visible.The authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for subsidizing the research project as well as the Spanish Ministry of Public Works and the Spanish General Traffic Directorate for collaboration during the field study.Llorca Garcia, C.; Moreno Chou, AT.; García García, A.; Pérez Zuriaga, AM. (2013). Daytime and Nighttime Passing Maneuvers on a Two-Lane Rural Road in Spain. Transportation Research Record. (2358):3-11. doi:10.3141/2358-01S311235

Estudio calorimétrico de carbonizados de huesos de pollo, bovino y porcino empleando solventes orgánicos e inorgánicos

Se determinaron las entalpías de inmersión de carbonizadosde huesos de pollo, bovino y porcino utilizando solventes orgánicos e inorgánicos como parte de su caracterización fisicoquímica. Se buscó la correlación entre el valor del área superficial de estos materiales con la capacidad de adsorción de 4-nitrofenol en solución acuosa y con las interacciones energéticas que tienen lugar durante el proceso de adsorción. Se encontró que cuanto mayor sea el valor del área superficial del carbonizado y el contenido de grupos básicos totales habrá una disminución en la capacidad de adsorciónde 4-nitrofenol. En cuanto a las calorimetrías de inmersión de los sólidosen soluciones de 4-nitrofenol se observó que cuando aumenta la concentración de las soluciones de mojado las interacciones energéticas también aumentan hasta que se alcanzan concentraciones que exceden la capacidad de interacción sólido-líquido, en estas soluciones, los valores de las entalpías de inmersión varían entre 7,7 y 42,6 Jg-1

A church in concrete: the placing of an undergraduate project.

[EN] The lecture introduces the process of a unique construction –a church- conceived in exposed white concrete, with a very defined texture and with desire to become part of a contemporary line of sacred architecture. Transforming difficulty into opportunity became the projectÅLs motto, to cope with the crisis that started in 2008. This is the narration of the process of renunciations that where necessarily made for its construction, and how this scarcity gave way to the experimenting with concrete to produce some of the elements of the Liturgy, including the altar, which will become the synthesis of the project.[ES] La ponencia presenta el proceso de una obra singular –una iglesia- concebida en hormigón blanco visto, con una materialidad muy definida y la voluntad de integrarse en una línea contemporánea de arquitectura sacra. Transformar la dificultad en oportunidad se convirtió en el lema del proyecto para poder sortear la crisis iniciada en 2008. Es así como se relata el proceso de renuncias necesarias para su construcción y cómo esta escasez permite recurrir a la experimentación con el hormigón para fabricar los elementos de la liturgia, entre ellos el altar, que se convertirá en la síntesis del proyecto.Moreno Hernández, Á.; Espinosa García-Valdecasas, A.; Espinosa García-Valdecasas, M. (2018). Una iglesia entre hormigón: la puesta en obra de un proyecto docente. En CIAB 8. VIII Congreso Internacional de arquitectura blanca. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 142-149. https://doi.org/10.4995/CIAB8.2018.7438OCS14214

Sustainable Crafts: Describing Conceptual Evolution Through a Bibliometric Analysis and Systematic Literature Review

Sustainability has been progressively incorporated into all dimensions of society as a response to the negative externalities of the traditional production model, and the craft sector has been no stranger to this. Thus, the present work constitutes a bibliometric analysis of 894 research articles from the Scopus database on sustainable crafts in the 21st century, identifying the growth trends, published articles, and the most productive journals, authors, institutions, and countries. Additionally, we have identified the main research topics that have emerged in sustainable crafts in three time periods: before the international financial crisis, the post-crisis period, and, finally, within the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals set out by the United Nations (UN). Based on the bibliometric indicators analysed, we conclude that this research area has grown exponentially, particularly in response to the Sustainable Development Goals, increasing the abundance and diversity of the issues investigated.RRREMAKEREuropean Commission 10100806

Análisis de sensibilidad en el muestreo en poblaciones finitas

Las conclusiones de un análisis estadístico dependen en gran medida de las hipótesis de partida, en general expresadas en términos de un modelo, y de las observaciones experimentales. Esta dependencia motiva la necesidad de estudiar estimadores, tests ... que sean robustos ante determinadas perturbaciones del modelo, de identificar las observaciones atípicas o amortiguar el efecto de su presencia, y de evaluar el impacto de cada una de las opservaciones sobre las conclusiones del estudio. Naturalmente, la reflexión anterior es válida en el muestreo en poblaciones finitas. El estudio de las referencias a los problemas antes señalados, en el contexto del muestreo en poblaciones finitas, pone de manifiesto un desarrollo desigual de los distintos tópicos, y la importancia del esquema probabilístico desde el que se aborda la inferencia: población fija o modelo de superpoblación. En este trabajo se presentan algunas de las referencias sobre los problemas descritos. En particular, se recogen algunos resultados referentes a la robustez del estimador de razón y una recopilación exhaustiva de los diagnósticos de influencia en el muestreo en poblaciones finitas