Implementation of Open Source applications “Serious Game” for rehabilitation

Serious Games and Virtual Reality (VR) are present nowadays as an alternative to traditional rehabilitation therapies. This project describes the workflow to develop videogames for health monitoring as well as a source of entertainment for physiotherapy patients, primarily patients that suffer hemiparesis caused by a neurological disease like a stroke. We propose the last version of Microsoft Kinect sensors as low cost game controller and the software Unity to develop Open Source Rehabilitation Serious Games. These Serious Games try to imitate physiotherapy sessions performed in movement recovery therapies, reducing the waiting list of patients together with time and costs to hospitals. The premise is that the gameplay makes patients execute upper body exercises alongside equilibrium training, meanwhile they are monitored extracting useful data and results for the physicians.Ingeniería Biomédic

Analysis and operational challenges of dynamic ride sharing demand responsive transportation models

There is a wide body of evidence that suggests sustainable mobility is not only a technological question, but that automotive technology will be a part of the solution in becoming a necessary albeit insufficient condition. Sufficiency is emerging as a paradigm shift from car ownership to vehicle usage, which is a consequence of socio-economic changes. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) now make it possible for a user to access a mobility service to go anywhere at any time. Among the many emerging mobility services, Multiple Passenger Ridesharing and its variants look the most promising. However, challenges arise in implementing these systems while accounting specifically for time dependencies and time windows that reflect users’ needs, specifically in terms of real-time fleet dispatching and dynamic route calculation. On the other hand, we must consider the feasibility and impact analysis of the many factors influencing the behavior of the system – as, for example, service demand, the size of the service fleet, the capacity of the shared vehicles and whether the time window requirements are soft or tight. This paper analyzes - a Decision Support System that computes solutions with ad hoc heuristics applied to variants of Pick Up and Delivery Problems with Time Windows, as well as to Feasibility and Profitability criteria rooted in Dynamic Insertion Heuristics. To evaluate the applications, a Simulation Framework is proposed. It is based on a microscopic simulation model that emulates real-time traffic conditions and a real traffic information system. It also interacts with the Decision Support System by feeding it with the required data for making decisions in the simulation that emulate the behavior of the shared fleet. The proposed simulation framework has been implemented in a model of Barcelona’s Central Business District. The obtained results prove the potential feasibility of the mobility concept.Postprint (published version

Disfunción tubárica. Una novedosa comorbilidad en migraña episódica y migraña crónica

La migraña es una enfermedad neurológica prevalente, recurrente y potencialmente discapacitante en su forma crónica. Numerosas comorbilidades han sido descritas como factores de riesgo para su cronificación. Hipótesis del trabajo El estudio sistematizado de la disfunción tubárica (DT) en los pacientes con migraña episódica (ME) o crónica (MC), podría suponer una nueva comorbilidad a tener en cuenta en su desarrollo, al menos en parte. Objetivos Traducir y adaptar en lengua española el cuestionario “Seven-Items Eustachian Tube Dysfunction Questionnaire” (ETDQ-7), para el cribado de la DT en países hispanohablantes. Describir en nuestra muestra el grado de asociación encontrado entre la DT y los pacientes con diagnóstico de ME y MC frente a un grupo de controles no migrañosos.

Analysis and operational challenges of dynamic ride sharing demand responsive transportation models

© . This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/There is a wide evidence that sustainable mobility is not only a technological question, automotive technology will be part of the solution as a necessary but not sufficient condition, sufficiency is emerging as a combination of a paradigm shift from car ownership to vehicle usage consequence of socio-economic changes, withthe application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) that make possible for a userto have access to a mobility service from anywhere to anywhere at any time. Among the many emergent mobility services Multiple Passenger Ridesharing and its variants look the more promising. However, implementations of these systems accounting specifically for time dependencies, and time windows reflecting users’ needs raise challenges in terms of real-time fleet dispatching and dynamic route calculation. On the other handthe feasibility and impacts analysis in terms of the many factors influencing the behavior of the system, as for example the service demand, the size of the service fleet, the capacity of the shared vehicles, the time windows requirements, soft or tight. This paper analyzes both aspects. The first is approached in terms of a Decision Support System whose solutions are computed in terms of ad hoc heuristics of variants of Pick Up and Delivery Problems with Time Windows and Feasibility and Profitability criteria rooted on Dynamic Insertion Heuristics. For the evaluation of the applications a Simulation Framework is proposed based on a microscopic simulation model thatemulates real-time traffic conditions and a real traffic information system, and interacts with the Decision Support System feeding it with the required data to make the decisions that are implemented in the simulation to emulate the behavior of the shared fleet. The proposed simulation framework has been implemented in a model of Barcelona’s Central Business District. The paper is completed with the discussion of the achieved resultsPeer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Modelo de simulación del cultivo de la palma aceitera

El cultivo de la palma aceitera (Elaeis guineensis Jacq) en el mundo y, concretamente, en Honduras es el principal motivo que ha impulsado la realización de este trabajo. En él, se estudia la relación existente entre factores climáticos y edafológicos con los rendimientos en plantaciones de palma en Honduras. La producción mundial de aceite de palma en 2006 fue de 37 millones de toneladas, obtenidas en una superficie de 8,2 Mha. Actualmente se considera que es una posible fuente de energía renovable y de carburante líquido. Es un cultivo en expansión en las zonas tropicales y subtropicales, particularmente en Honduras. Su cultivo es susceptible a cambios climáticos y a las condiciones edafológicas, los cuales son determinantes de su rendimiento. En este trabajo se desarrolla un modelo de simulación dinámico, utilizando el software VENSIM ® DSS versión 4.0, para estudiar el potencial de crecimiento y desarrollo de la palma en Honduras en relación con factores climáticos y edafológico

ChildCI Framework: Analysis of Motor and Cognitive Development in Children-Computer Interaction for Age Detection

This article presents a comprehensive analysis of the different tests proposed in the recent ChildCI framework, proving its potential for generating a better understanding of children's neuromotor and cognitive development along time, as well as their possible application in other research areas such as e-Health and e-Learning. In particular, we propose a set of over 100 global features related to motor and cognitive aspects of the children interaction with mobile devices, some of them collected and adapted from the literature. Furthermore, we analyse the robustness and discriminative power of the proposed feature set including experimental results for the task of children age group detection based on their motor and cognitive behaviors. Two different scenarios are considered in this study: i) single-test scenario, and ii) multiple-test scenario. Results over 93% accuracy are achieved using the publicly available ChildCIdb_v1 database (over 400 children from 18 months to 8 years old), proving the high correlation of children's age with the way they interact with mobile devices.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 6 table

The detection layout problem

The main traffic models, either for planning or operational purposes, use as major data input Origin-Destination (OD) trip matrices describing the patterns of traffic behavior across the network. OD matrices become in this way a critical requirement of Advanced Traffic Management or Information Systems supported by Dynamic Traffic Assignment models. However, as far as OD matrices are not directly observable, the current practice consist of adjusting an initial or seed matrix from link flow counts provided by an existing layout of traffic counting stations. The adequacy of the detection layout strongly determines the quality of the adjusted OD. Usual approaches to the Detection Layout problem assume that detectors are located at network links but some of the Information and Communication Technologies specially those based on the detection of the electronic signature of on board devices, as for example Bluetooth devices, allow the location of sensor at intersections. This paper proposes a reformulation of the link detection layout problem adapting the classical set covering approaches with side constraints and solving it efficiently by a tabu search metaheuristic. For the intersection layout covering problem a reformulation is proposed in terms of a node covering problem with side constraints that for practical purposes can be efficiently solved with standard professional solvers.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Exploring link covering and node covering formulations of detection layout problem

The primary data input used in principal traffic models comes from Origin-Destination (OD) trip matrices, which describe the patterns of traffic behavior across the network. In this way, OD matrices become a critical requirement in Advanced Traffic Management and/or Information Systems that are supported by Dynamic Traffic Assignment models. However, because OD matrices are not directly observable, the current practice consists of adjusting an initial or seed matrix from link flow counts which are provided by an existing layout of traffic counting stations. The adequacy of the detection layout strongly determines the quality of the adjusted OD. The usual approaches to the Detection Layout problem assume that detectors are located at network links. The first contribution of this paper proposes a modified set that formulates the link detection layout problem with side constraints. It also presents a new metaheuristic tabu search algorithm with high computational efficiency. The emerging Information and Communication Technologies, especially those based on the detection of the electronic signature of on-board devices (such as Bluetooth devices) allow the location of sensors at intersections. To explicitly take into account how these ICT sensors operate, this paper proposes a new formulation in terms of a node covering problem with side constraints that, for practical purposes, can be efficiently solved with standard professional solvers such as CPLEX.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Desarrollo de la osificación del canal semicircular posterior: estudio tomográfico

Hemos realizado un estudio sobre la osificación del canal semicircular posterior en fetos humanos mediante Tomografía Computarizada, utilizando 39 series embriológicas en edades comprendidas entre 19 semanas y 38 semanas. Los primeros signos de osificación del canal semicircular posterior se aprecian en la semana 19. En este proceso intervienen varios núcleos de osificación, el primero en aparecer es el núcleo vestibular o anterior (19 semanas), posteriormente el núcleo mastoideo o posterior (20 semanas). En este proceso hay que añadir la intervención de la rama común de los canales verticales y el centro compacto; este último contribuye a la formación de las paredes del canal laberíntico. El centro compacto presenta en su interior una estructura cartilaginosa que va siendo progresivamente sustituida por hueso. La osificación del canal semicircular posterior sigue una secuencia cronológica bien definida, pero con un ritmo de osificación variable. En el estudio tomográfico hemos observado como los canales semicirculares posteriores están completamente osificados a las 25 semanas