A Comparison of Hybrid Decision Making Methods for Emergency Support

Abstract A situation consisting in evaluating and choosing among alternative actions can be managed from the point of view of Decision Making (DM). This paper presents an approach to design and develop Decision Support Systems (DSS) to be applied in emergency situations. In these situations the decision maker is under heavy stress because each different decision implies different important outcomes related with human and economic losses. First of all, a domain knowledge base has to be built from both the properties of emergency situations and the actions devoted to counteract them. From this knowledge, three different DM methods, based on the Probability Theory and the Possibility Theory, process the incoming emergency information and choose the best action for putting out the emergency situation. The resulting decisions of each method over a set of plausible emergency situations can be evaluated by a domain expert and the method with the best average performance can be built in the DSS. This DSS can help a decision maker find out an optimal decision in a short period of time maximizing security and minimizing stress.Peer reviewe

A self-scalable distributed network simulation environment based on cloud computing

Producción CientíficaWhile parameter sweep simulations can help undergraduate students and researchers to understand computer networks, their usage in the academia is hindered by the significant computational load they convey. This paper proposes DNSE3, a service oriented computer network simulator that, deployed in a cloud computing infrastructure, leverages its elasticity and pay-per-use features to compute parameter sweeps. The performance and cost of using this application is evaluated in several experiments applying different scalability policies, with results that meet the demands of users in educational institutions. Additionally, the usability of the application has been measured following industry standards with real students, yielding a very satisfactory user experience.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Projects TIN2014-53199-C3-2-R and TIN2017-85179-C3-2-R)Junta de Castilla y León (programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación - Ref. VA082U16

Cryotherapy in the paediatric airway: Indications, success and safety

Airway obstruction; Cryobiopsy; Paediatric bronchoscopyObstrucción de las vías respiratorias; Criobiopsia; Broncoscopia pediátricaObstrucció de les vies respiratòries; Criobiòpsia; Broncoscòpia pediàtricaBackground and objective Cryotherapy in interventional bronchoscopy is a new treatment modality, which has recently been made available for the paediatric airway. Lack of experience and safety concerns have led to hesitant adaptation. The aim of this study was to assess indications, success rates and complications of airway cryotherapy in children. Methods Bronchoscopists from medical centre performing cryotherapy in patients between 0 and 18 years were invited to participate in a prospective study based on an online questionnaire. Patient and participant data were collected between June 2020 and June 2021. Results A total of 69 cryotherapy procedures were performed in 57 patients a for three main indications: Biopsy (30), restoration of airway patency (23) and foreign body aspiration (16). The overall success rate was 93%, the remaining 7% were performed for foreign body removal and required a switch of technique. Restoration of airway patency was successfully applied in various pathologies, including mucus plugs, bronchial casts and post traumatic stenosis. The diagnostic yield of transbronchial biopsies was 96%. No severe complications were encountered; one pneumothorax following a cryobiopsy required a chest drain for 48 h. No child was admitted to intensive care or died from a procedural complication. Conclusion In this largest paediatric case collection to date, cryotherapy was safe and carried a high success rate. Cryobiopsy compares favourably to the widely used forceps biopsy and could replace it in the future. Paediatric bronchoscopists are encouraged to add cryotherapy to their armamentarium of airway interventions.Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL

Towards the Enactment of Learning Situations Connecting Formal and Non-Formal Learning in SLEs

Producción CientíficaSmart Learning Environments hold promise of adapting learning processes to the individual context of students and connecting formal with non-formal learning. To do so, SLEs need to know the current context of the students, regardless of the physical or virtual space where learning takes place. This paper presents an architecture that assists in the deployment and enactment of learning situations across-spaces, able to sense and react to changes in the students’ context in order to adapt the learning process.ICSLE 2019: International Conference on Smart Learning EnvironmentsAgencia Estatal de Investigación - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (projects TIN2014-53199-C3-2-R / TIN2017-85179-C3-2-R)Comisión Europea (project 588438-EPP-1-2017-1-EL-EPPKA2-KA

CPWalker - Plataforma robótica para la rehabilitación y el entrenamiento de la marcha en pacientes con Parálisis Cerebral

Este artículo presenta una plataforma robótica para la rehabilitación post-quirúrgica de personas con parálisis cerebral (PC). La PC define un conjunto de trastornos de la postura y el movimiento que aparece debido a una lesión en el cerebro inmaduro. La cirugía ortopédica es el mejor tratamiento cuando existen problemas musculoesquéleticos severos. La plataforma CPWalker combina un andador inteligente y un exoesqueleto con interfaces avanzados (BCI, EMG) para la interacción humanorobot. En este trabajo se describe tanto el diseño conceptual como el desarrollo de la plataforma CPWalker.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO). Plan Nacional. CP-WalkerPeer Reviewe

7th International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality, TEEM 2019

Producción CientíficaProceedings of the 7th International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality, TEEM 2019, León, Spain, October 16-18, 2019.Smart Education promises personalized learning experiences that bridge formal and informal learning. Our proposal is to exploit the Web of Data to automatically create learning resources that can be, later on, recommended to a learner based on her learning interests and context. For example, a student enrolled in an arts course can get recommendations of learning resources (e.g., a quiz related to a monument she passes by) by exploiting existing geolocalized descriptions of historical buildings in the Web of Data. This paper describes a scenario to illustrate this idea and proposes a software architecture to support it. It also provides some examples of learning resources automatically created with a first prototype of a resource-generator module.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Univerisades (project grant TIN2017-85179-C3-2-R)Junta de Castilla y León (programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación - Ref. Project VA257P18

Casual Learn: A Smart Application to Learn History of Art

Producción CientíficaSmart Learning promises the connection between formal and informal learning, but how to offer informal learning tasks related to formal learning is still a challenge. This demonstration paper presents CasualLearn, a smart learning application that bridges formal and informal learning to learn History of Art in the Spanish region of Castile and Leon. CasualLearn uses a dataset of 16,221 contextualized informal learning tasks that were semi-automatically created exploiting Open Data from the Web. CasualLearn offers these tasks to students based on their context: their geolocation, the activity they do and the topics covered in their formal education. A demo application is currently available for Android devices.Junta de Castilla y León (Project VA257P18)Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Project TIN2017-85179-C3-2-R)European Commission (Project grant 588438-EPP-1-2017-1-EL-EPPKA2-KA

The potential of Open Data to automatically create learning resources for smart learning environments

Producción CientíficaSmart Education requires bridging formal and informal learning experience. However, how to create contextualized learning resources that support this bridging remains a problem. In this paper, we propose to exploit the open data available in the Web to automatically create contextualized learning resources. Our preliminary results are promising, as our system creates thousands of learning resources related to formal education concepts and physical locations in the student’s local municipality. As part of our future work, we will explore how to integrate these resources into a Smart Learning Environment.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (grant TIN2017-85179-C3-2-R)Junta de Castilla y León - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (grant VA257P18

Characteristics defining broccoli cultivars from different seed producers

El brócoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. Italica) se considera actualmente un alimento vegetal principal en los mercados debido a su alto valor nutricional, que contiene niveles elevados de fitoquímicos ampliamente descritos por tener efectos beneficiosos contra el cáncer y otras enfermedades. El brócoli es un cultivo interesante con un alto valor comercial porque complementa la industria del tomate, el principal ingreso agrícola en Badajoz, España. Se evaluaron nueve variedades de brócoli de cuatro viveros mediante el análisis de los parámetros agronómicos y de calidad. El rendimiento total y el número de cosechas fueron monitoreados. Se determinaron los parámetros que definen la calidad como el diámetro, el peso y la altura de las cabezas. También se analizaron la granulometría, la compacidad y la presencia de hojas internas en las cabezas. El diámetro y la altura de los brotes fueron estimados complementariamente. El análisis de los componentes principales se utilizó para investigar la relación entre las variables agronómicas y los cultivares y viveros. Los resultados revelaron que tanto el primer como el segundo componente principal explicaron más del 75% de la varianza y agruparon los datos según su origen cultivar y comercial. Además, las correlaciones entre las puntuaciones de esos componentes y los valores de los parámetros fenotípicos sugirieron que los pesos de la cabeza son los principales determinantes de las diferencias fenotípicas observadas entre los cultivares, mientras que la presencia de hojas internas y granulometría y el peso de la cabeza parecen ser rasgos clave que definen a los viveros.Broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica) is currently considered a main vegetable food in the markets due to its high nutritional value, containing elevated levels of phytochemicals widely described to have beneficial effects against cancer and other illnesses. Broccoli is an interesting crop with a high commercial value because it complements the tomato industry, the main agricultural income in Badajoz, Spain. Nine varieties of broccoli from four nurseries were evaluated by analyzing both agronomic and quality parameters. Total yield and number of harvests were monitored. Parameters defining quality like diameter, weight, and height of the heads were determined. Granulometry, compactness, and the presence of internal leaves in the heads were also analyzed. Diameter and height of sprouts were complementarily estimated. Principal component analysis was further employed to investigate the relationship between the agronomic variables and the cultivars and nurseries. Results revealed that both first and second principal components explained more than 75% of the variance and grouped data according their cultivar and commercial origin. Additionally, correlations between the scores of those components and the values of the phenotypic parameters suggested that head weights are main determinants of the phenotypic differences observed among the cultivars whereas the presence of internal leaves and granulometry and head weight appear to be key traits defining nurseries.• Junta de Extremadura. Ayuda GR15112 • Junta de Extremadura y Fondos FEDER. Ayuda GR15158peerReviewe