SANTANDER ACQUIRES ABBEY: THE JACK PROJECT

The case ‘Santander Acquires Abbey: The Jack Project’ examines the managerial decisionmaking process in 2004 prior to the acquisition of Abbey. The primary argument highlights how the strategic management of information systems is a ‘core competence’ within the Santander’s growth strategy based on mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Students are asked to put themselves in the position of José María Fuster (CIO Grupo Santander). Their first task is to assess the information technology (IT) strategies of Santander and Abbey, and understand their value and roles. The second task is to explore the differences between ‘customer-centric’ and ‘product centric’ IT platforms and their alignment with business and growth strategies. As a final task, students are asked to assess how this merger could be performed by leveraging the IT capacity that Grupo Santander had developed for the acquisition – despite the doubts expressed about its feasibility by financial analysts. The case was written for general management programs, as well as MBA and executive MBA degree courses in information systems strategy

Rapid diagnostic tests for malaria: past, present and future

Prompt and accurate diagnosis of malaria is part of an effective disease management (1) , because if not treated malaria can quickly become life-threatening, whereas false positives increase treatment costs and drug-induced resistance, giving a wrong idea of therapeutic efficacy. Since the symptoms of malaria are nonspecific, the observation of clinical features alone might not be enough and should be confirmed with a parasitological analysis. Microscopic examination of Giemsa-stained thin and/or thick blood smears remains the conventional approach for diagnosis (2). The sensitivity of this relatively inexpensive method is excellent, allowing the detection of as few as 5 parasites per µL of blood, and permitting also the determination of the infecting species and of the developmental stage of circulating parasites. In addition, smears provide a permanent record for quality assessment of the diagnosis. However, microscopy requires considerable expertise learned through extended training, the procedure is labor-intensive and time-consuming, and the variability in stains and in techniques used to collect and process blood affects slide interpretation (3). Finally, routine clinical microscopy cannot reliably detect very low parasitemias (<5 parasites/µL) or sequestered parasites, and mixed infections are often missed, especially when Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium ovale are present, as their densities are often low relative to Plasmodium falciparum

A study on assessment results in a large scale Flipped Teaching Experience

[EN] During the last academic year, Universitat Politècnica de Valencia (UPV) developed a large scale experience in flipped teaching (FT), with 64 different courses and 3083 students (2512 unique). Teachers could decide to participate in the experience on their own, and in quite a number of courses we have groups with FT and groups without it. Assessment of the students was done using classical systems (mostly written exams). Evaluation of the experience was done through several ways: First we did a qualitative survey to teachers and students, and then we carried out an analytical study about the results of the assessments, comparing between years, between FT and classical courses and also internally in the courses with FT and classical groups. Results of this analysis show that students like the FT system and that they got statistically significant better results in the classical assessments, with at least a 5% gain. Also we have no correlation results with the perceived teacher quality and the student group size. So this study allows to verify the capabilities of FT approach in higher educational institutions.http://ocs.editorial.upv.es/index.php/HEAD/HEAD18Turró, C.; Morales, JC.; Busquets-Mataix, J. (2018). A study on assessment results in a large scale Flipped Teaching Experience. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1039-1048. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD18.2018.8141OCS1039104

Implantació d'un EMAS a la UPC

La present ponència s’emmarca dins de les iniciatives “motor de canvi” que està portant a terme la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), dins del seu compromís amb la Sostenibilitat. Aquest projecte s’inclou dins del Pla UPC Sostenible 2015, i s’està realitzant actualment en el Campus del Baix Llobregat i en el Campus de Manresa, com a prova pilot. S’està desenvolupant un model de Sistema de Gestió Ambiental (SGA), en aquest cas basat en EMAS, adaptat a les organitzacions del coneixement (OdC). La innovació del projecte es basa en la inclusió de la part de recerca i docència d’una universitat dins un SGA-EMAS. El projecte vol demostrar-ne l’adaptabilitat i sobretot la replicabilitat a la resta d’OdC. L’objectiu és dissenyar un model teòric i assajar-lo en els campus amb diferents participants, per a mostrar l’abast de la seva efectivitat.Peer Reviewe

Human-computer cooperation platform for developing real-time robotic applications

[EN] This paper presents a human-computer cooperation platform, which permits the coordination between the user and the tool to improve the development of real-time control applications (e.g., mobile robots). These applications have functional (robot objectives) and temporal requirements to accomplish (deadlines guarantee of tasks). The simulation tool has been designed in order to permit the testing and validation of these two requirements. To this end, the tool is composed of two independent simulators interconnected through a shared memory: the robot simulator (functional level) and the real-time task scheduler simulator (task execution level). Robotic applications can be defined with the robot simulator while the real-time scheduler simulator permits to analyze the schedulability of the robotic tasks. The real-time task simulator incorporates a flexible task model where the task temporal parameters (e.g., computation time) adapt to the requirements of the application (e.g., number of objects in scenes); thus, the use of the CPU is not overestimated. A key issue of the framework is the human-computer interface, which allows the monitoring of different parameters of the application: robot objectives, task schedule, robot speed, computation time, CPU utilization, deadline misses. The usefulness of the simulation tool is shown through different robotic navigation experiments. Finally, the simulation tool has been used to evaluate the proposed flexible model of tasks compared to a traditional fixed temporal parameters task model. Results show that the robot fulfills the objectives earlier, about 32% on average, and consumes on average about 15% less CPU to accomplish the objectives.Domínguez Montagud, CP.; Martínez-Rubio, J.; Busquets Mataix, JV.; Hassan Mohamed, H. (2019). Human-computer cooperation platform for developing real-time robotic applications. The Journal of Supercomputing. 75(4):1849-1868. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-018-2343-4S18491868754Dominguez C, Hassan H, Crespo A (2007) Real-time embedded architecture for pervasive robots. In: The 2007 International Conference on Intelligent Pervasive Computing (IPC 2007), pp 531–536Audsley NC, Burns A, Davis RI, Tindell KW, Wellings AJ (1995) Fixed priority pre-emptive scheduling: an historical perspective. Real Time Syst 8(2–3):173–198Stankovic JA, Lee I, Mok A, Rajkumar R (2005) Opportunities and obligations for physical computing systems. Computer 38(11):23–31Zhen Z, Qixin C, Lo C, Lei Z (2009) A CORBA-based simulation and control framework for mobile robots. Robotica 27(3):459Ferretti G, Magnani G, Porrati P, Rizzi G, Rocco P, Rusconi A (2008) Real-time simulation of a space robotic arm. In: IROSQadi A, Goddard S, Huang J, Farritor S (2005) A performance and schedulability analysis of an autonomous mobile robot. In: 17th Euromicro Conference on Real-Time Systems (ECRTS’05), pp 239–248Goud GR, Sharma N, Ramamritham K, Malewar S (2006) Efficient real-time support for automotive applications: a case study. In: 12th IEEE International Conference on Embedded and Real-Time Computing Systems and Applications (RTCSA’06), pp 335–341Pedreiras P, Luis A (2003) The flexible time-triggered (FTT) paradigm: an approach to QoS management in distributed real-time systems. In: Proceedings International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium, p 9Li H, Sweeney J, Ramamritham K, Grupen R, Shenoy P (2003) Real-time support for mobile robotics. In: The 9th IEEE Real-Time and Embedded Technology and Applications Symposium. Proceedings, pp 10–18Chetto H, Chetto M (1989) Some results of the earliest deadline scheduling algorithm. IEEE Trans Softw Eng 15(10):1261–1269Liu R, Zhang X (2017) Systems of natural-language-facilitated human-robot cooperation: a review. arXiv:1701.08269v2Tsarouchi P, Makris S, Chryssolouris G (2016) Human–robot interaction review and challenges on task planning and programming. Int J Comput Integr Manuf 29(8):916–931Moniz A (2013) Organizational concepts and interaction between humans and robots in industrial environments. In: IEEE-RAS-IARP Joint Workshop on Technical Challenges for Dependable Robots in Human Environment, TokyoMayer MP, Odenthal B, Faber M, Winkelholz C, Schlick CM (2014) Cognitive engineering of automated assembly processes. Hum Factors Ergon Manuf Serv Ind 24(3):348–368Agostini A, Torras C, Wörgötter F (2011) Integrating task planning and interactive learning for robots to work in human environments. In: IJCAIKwon W, Suh I (2014) Planning of proactive behaviors for human–robot cooperative tasks under uncertainty. Knowl Based Syst 72:81–95Chen F, Sekiyama K, Sasaki H, Huang J, Sun B, Fukuda T (2011) Assembly strategy modeling and selection for human and robot coordinated cell assembly. In: 2011 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, pp 4670–4675Gombolay M, Wilcox R, Diaz A, Yu F (2013) Towards successful coordination of human and robotic work using automated scheduling tools: an initial pilot study. In: Proceedings of Robotics: Science and Systems, Human–Robot Collaboration WorkshopGombolay MC, Gutierrez RA, Clarke SG, Sturla GF, Shah JA (2015) Decision-making authority, team efficiency and human worker satisfaction in mixed human–robot teams. Auton Robots 39(3):293–312Frontoni E, Mancini A, Caponetti F, Zingaretti P (2006) A framework for simulations and tests of mobile robotics tasks. In: 2006 14th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation, pp 1–6I. Embarcadero Technologies, C++ Builder 10.2. https://www.embarcadero.com

Superparamagnetic nanoparticles with efficient near-infrared photothermal effect at the second biological window

Superparamagnetic nanoparticles (iron oxide nanoparticles¿IONs) are suitable for hyperthermia after irradiating with radiofrequency radiation. Concerning the suitability for laser ablation, IONs present a low molar absorption coefficient in the near-infrared region close to 800 nm. For this reason, they are combined with other photothermal agents into a hybrid composite. Here, we show that IONs absorb and convert into heat the infrared radiation characteristic of the so-called second-biological window (1000-1350 nm) and, in consequence, they can be used for thermal ablation in such wavelengths. To the known excellent water solubility, colloidal stability and biocompatibility exhibited by IONs, an outstanding photothermal performance must be added. For instance, a temperature increase of 36 °C was obtained after irradiating at 8.7 W cm−2 for 10 min a suspension of IONs at iron concentration of 255 mg L−1. The photothermal conversion efficiency was ~72%. Furthermore, IONs showed high thermogenic stability during the whole process of heating/cooling. To sum up, while the use of IONs in the first bio-window (700-950 nm) presents some concerns, they appear to be good photothermal agents in the second biological window