A Model to Define an eHealth Technological Ecosystem for Caregivers

The ageing of world population has a direct impact on the health and care systems, as it means an increase in the number of people needing care which leads to higher care costs and the need for more resources. In this context, informal caregivers play an important role as they enable dependent persons to stay at home and thus reduce care costs. However, long-term continuous care provision has also an impact in the physical and mental health of the caregivers. Moreover, geographical barriers make it difficult for caregivers to accessing psychoeducation as a way to alleviate their problems. To support caregivers in their needs and provide specialized training, technology plays a fundamental role. The present work provides the theoretical basis for the development of a technological ecosystem focused on learning and knowledge management processes to develop and enhance the caregiving competences of formal and informal caregivers, both at home and in care environments. In particular, a platform-specific model to support the definition of the ecosystem based on Open Source software components is presented, along with a Business Model Canvas to define the business structure as part of the human elements of the technological ecosystem

Human Interaction in Learning Ecosystems based on Open Source Solutions

Technological ecosystems are software solutions based on the integration of heterogeneous software components through information flows in order to provide a set of services that each component separately does not offer, as well as to improve the user experience. In particular, the learning ecosystems are technological ecosystems focused on learning and knowledge management in different contexts such as educational institutions or companies. The ecosystem metaphor comes from biology field and it has transferred to technology field to highlight the evolving component of software. Taking into account the definitions of natural ecosystems, a technological ecosystem is a set of people and software components that play the role of organisms; a series of elements that allow the ecosystem works (hardware, networks, etc.); and a set of information flows that establish the relationships between the software components, and between these and the people involved in the ecosystem. Human factor has a main role in the definition and development of this kind of solutions. In previous works, a metamodel has been defined and validated to support Model-Driven Development of learning ecosystems based on Open Source software, but the interaction in the learning ecosystem should be defined in order to complete the proposal to improve the development process of technological ecosystems. This paper presents the definition and modelling of the human interaction in learning ecosystem

Modelling the business structure of a digital health ecosystem

[EN]The current trend in digital solutions for the health sector is to move from fragmented services to progressively more integrated services provided by multiple stakeholders through technological ecosystem platforms. However, the business model is scarcely taken into account at the early stages of development of this type of ecosystems specially in the health sector. In the present paper a general approach towards the exploitation of a technological ecosystem focused on caregivers is presented. It follows the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) in order to develop different ecosystem’s exploitation alternatives, taking into account the ecosystem stakeholders and their main value propositions. This serves as a starting data model in the software development process from which different business exploitation alternatives can be elaborated

Analyzing navigation logs in MOOC: A case study

Continued use of various technological devices has massively increased the generation of digital data, which are recorded as an opportunity for research. In the educational case, it is common to analyze data generated in Learning Management Systems which allows better understand the learning process of the participants and make informed decisions for better e-learning processes and situations in which develop. This paper analyzes participants’ navigation logs in a MOOC hosted on the Coursera platform, for which a visual e-learning analytics process was performed. The results confirm that the videos of experts are an essential educational resource for learning in a MOOC, similarly, the discussion forums are an important resource which are recurrent social spaces in different navigation paths complementing other activities

Emissions of PCDD/Fs, PBDD/Fs, dioxin like-PCBs and PAHs from a cement plant using a long-term monitoring system

The aim of the present work was to assess the emission of different persistent organic pollutants from a cement plant over a period of one year, under normal operational conditions. Thus, a long-term sampling device was installed in the clinker kiln stack of the cement plant. The factory uses petroleum coke as primary fuel, but also alternative fuels such as solid recovered fuel (SRF), automotive shredder residue (ASR), sewage sludge, waste tires, and meat and bone meal (MBM) wastes, with an energy substitution level of about 40%. Both PCDD/Fs (together with dl-PCBs) and PBDD/Fs were continuously sampled, with a total of ten samples collected in 2–4 week periods. Also, PAHs were sampled during one-week periods, in order to evaluate their emissions in three different samples. The emission levels throughout the year were much lower than the set legal limits in all substances, being < 10 pg I-TEQ/Nm3 in the case of PCDD/Fs. The data obtained allowed calculation of updated emission factors for the cement sector, which were 8.5 ng I-TEQ/ton clinker for PCDD/Fs and 3.2 ng WHO-TEQ/ton clinker for PCBs. With respect to the congener distribution, 2,3,7,8-TCDF accounts for 60 to 68% of the total toxicity for PCDD/Fs, and in PBDD/F emissions, a clear predominance of octa-substituted species (both dioxin and furan) was found.Support for this work was provided by CEMEX ESPAÑA, S.A., a company owned by the CEMEX group (http://www.cemex.com). Authors acknowledge the financial support for this work provided by the following projects: Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain): CTQ2013-41006-R, Autonomous Community of Valencia Government (Spain): PROMETEOII/2014/007

Pretest y postest para evaluar la implementación de una metodología activa en la docencia de Ingeniería del Software

Pretest y postest es evaluar el efecto del cambio metodológico llevado a cabo en la asignatura de Ingeniería del Software I del Grado de Ingeniería Informática de la Universidad de Salamanca para mejorar las calificaciones finales obtenidas por los estudiantes que cursan la asignatura. Se trata de evaluar el impacto obtenido al implementar una metodología activa en una asignatura que en cursos anteriores ha utilizado una metodología tradicional

An Online Sales System to Be Managed by People with Mental Illness

The percentage of the population aged 65 and over is increasing during the last decades. It is one of the problems that the European health system, and in particular the Spanish system, has to face out. This increase is linked to the rising of dependent people, whose suffer progressive deterioration of both their physical and mental capacities. In this context, technology plays a key role in improving the quality of life, not only of older people but also their caregivers. A technological ecosystem to support patients with mental illness, their caregivers, and the connection with their relatives was developed in previous works. This solution is prepared to evolve according to the users’ and organization’s needs. In this sense, the present work describes the inclusion of a new software tool, an online sales platform that promotes active ageing, seeking that it can be used and managed by older people who may have cognitive impairment problems. Although there are many e-commerce platforms on the market, they not consider users with special needs. The objective has not been to develop a software prototype from scratch, but to focus on aspects relating to accessibility and usability to improve online stores and apply these improvements to an existing solution, following the philosophy of Open Source software development. This work aims to describe the definition process itself

The GALANTE photometric survey of the northern Galactic plane: Project description and pipeline

The GALANTE optical photometric survey is observing the northern Galactic plane and some adjacent regions using seven narrow- and intermediate-filters, covering a total of 1618 square degrees. The survey has been designed with multiple exposure times and at least two different air masses per field to maximize its photometric dynamic range, comparable to that of Gaia, and ensure the accuracy of its photometric calibration. The goal is to reach at least 1% accuracy and precision in the seven bands for all stars brighter than AB magnitude 17 while detecting fainter stars with lower values of the signal-to-noise ratio.The main purposes of GALANTE are the identification and study of extinguished O+B+WR stars, the derivation of their extinction characteristics, and the cataloguing of F and G stars in the solar neighbourhood. Its data will be also used for a variety of other stellar studies and to generate a high-resolution continuum-free map of the H{\alpha} emission in the Galactic plane. We describe the techniques and the pipeline that are being used to process the data, including the basis of an innovative calibration system based on Gaia DR2 and 2MASS photometry.Comment: 18 pages, accepted for publication in MNRA

Cuestionario de Aceptación de las Tecnologías Educativas para la Docencia en las Universidades Públicas Marroquíes

El proyecto “Apoyo al sistema de Educación superior en Marruecos en el marco de un acercamiento hacia el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior” (Appui au Système de l'Enseignement supérieur au Maroc dans le cadre d'un rapprochement avec l'Espace européen de l'Enseignem), es un proyecto europeo cuyo objetivo general del proyecto consiste en acompañar, asistir e impulsar la reforma del sistema de enseñanza superior de Marruecos en el marco de su visión estratégica 2015-2030 y su acercamiento al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior con el fin de mejorar la empleabilidad de los egresados y la gobernanza del sistema universitario. En el desarrollo del Componente 3 (Misión 3.1), Diversification des modalités d’enseignement (stratégie e-learning), es importante conocer la percepción y opinión de los profesores de las universidades públicas marroquíes sobre el estado, uso y prospección de las tecnologías educativas en su actividad docente. Con este fin, se ha diseñado un cuestionario basado en el modelo TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) extendido. Así, se plantea un modelo de evaluación en el que, además de evaluar las 3 dimensiones habituales de los modelos TAM (Utilidad percibida; Facilidad percibida; Intención conductual), se incluyen 7 dimensiones externas relativas a la influencia social (Norma subjetiva; Imagen social), el contexto profesional (Voluntariedad; Relevancia; Resultados de uso; Control externo de la herramienta) y el contexto personal (Ansiedad)

Questionnaire d'Indicateurs sur la Pénétration et l'Usage des Technologies Éducatives dans les Universités Publiques Marocaines

Le project “Appui au Système de l'Enseignement supérieur au Maroc dans le cadre d'un rapprochement avec l'Espace européen de l'Enseignem”, est un projet européen dont l'objectif général est d'accompagner, d'assister et de promouvoir la réforme du système d'enseignement supérieur marocain dans le cadre de sa vision stratégique 2015-2030 et de son approche de l'Espace Européen de l'Enseignement Supérieur afin d'améliorer l'employabilité des diplômés et la gouvernance du système universitaire Ce rapport présente le questionnaire à acquérir une connaissance de base relative à certains indicateurs par rapport à la pénétration et à l’usage des technologies éducatives dans les universités publiques marocaines