Estimating time between creation and achievement of knowledge objects in learning groups through social network analysis

Networked collaboration performed over specific platforms designed for such purposes can provide knowledge about roles, intentions and effects regarding participants, their interaction among themselves and the interaction with the available knowledge objects. This study aims to propose a mechanism for discovering temporal behaviour underlying the raw data collected in log files from e-learning activity in specific platforms. The proposal is based on measuring and, subsequently, estimating time spans through social networks analysis (SNA). The main focus of this work is to match different temporal behaviours, shown during collaborative learning, with formal profiles identified inside a complex network of interactions. The final goal is to define a concrete mechanism to measure the response of participants, from the perspective that knowledge objects have been created by the partners in the same learning group

Computational simulations in materials for energy applications 1. Crystal and electronic structure in \u3ci\u3eLn\u3c/i\u3e-U-O compounds. 2. Dynamics of point defect interaction with dislocations in bcc iron.

Nuclear energy is a viable solution to the world’s energy demands. Nuclear energy applications involve rich and complex physics, with high energy events, the incorporation of fission products, and the production of point and extended defects. All these phenomena have an impact on the microstructure of the constituent materials and represent efficiency and safety concerns. A mature understanding of the microstructural evolution of the component materials in the nuclear reactor core is essential to have a safe and reliable process. Experimental investigation of materials in radiation environments is difficult and expensive, making computational simulations a suitable alternative. In this dissertation, employ computational methods to study the microstructural evolution of both nuclear fuel and the iron based reactor structural components, and the impact on their material properties. In the nuclear fuel side, we investigate the crystallographic and electronic structure of Ln-U-O compounds that may be formed inside nuclear fuel operational life by the incorporation of lanthanide fission products using density functional theory (DFT). We used a layered atomic model to propose ordered structures and compared their stability to disordered phases. We also employed the atom-in-molecule approach to study the oxidation state of uranium atoms, and the iconicity/covalency of the U-O bonds. In the structural components side, we studied the migration mechanisms of self-interstitial dumbbells and vacancies around single edge or screw dislocations. The actual saddle point energy and configuration as a function of position with respect of the dislocation core was calculated with the self-evolving atomistic kinetic Monte Carlo (SEAKMC) method, and used this data as an input for KMC calculations. This allowed the analysis of the migration paths, the range of interaction of point defects with dislocations, and the preferential absorption of self-interstitial dumbbells over vacancies, known as dislocation bias, which is responsible for swelling in irradiated materials. The understanding of the mechanism responsible for the microstructural changes, and how these changes impact the material properties is a key aspect to be able to develop materials with enhanced radiation resistance, and achieve high performance under extreme conditions that are vital for nuclear energy generation with improved efficiency and safety

Defining an Air Pollution Sensor Inside the Car

This paper provides the specification and definition of a system capable of reading pollution inside the cabin of an automobile and shows the measurements to all passengers. Requirements elicitation, system requirements analysis, system architectural design, software requirements analysis, software architectural design, software detailed design and unit construction phases from the automotive Spice process reference model will be explained in detail and some examples will be shown. This paper can function as a guide to define and specify a system using different methodologies between these phases. The system design proposed here can be a starting point for future applications related to automobile pollution measurements, for example, reading environmental pollution and monitoring automobile emissions.ITESO, A. C

A fuzzy-based approach for classifying students' emotional states in online collaborative work

(c) 2016 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works.Emotion awareness is becoming a key aspect in collaborative work at academia, enterprises and organizations that use collaborative group work in their activity. Due to pervasiveness of ICT's, most of collaboration can be performed through communication media channels such as discussion forums, social networks, etc. The emotive state of the users while they carry out their activity such as collaborative learning at Universities or project work at enterprises and organizations influences very much their performance and can actually determine the final learning or project outcome. Therefore, monitoring the users' emotive states and using that information for providing feedback and scaffolding is crucial. To this end, automated analysis over data collected from communication channels is a useful source. In this paper, we propose an approach to process such collected data in order to classify and assess emotional states of involved users and provide them feedback accordingly to their emotive states. In order to achieve this, a fuzzy approach is used to build the emotive classification system, which is fed with data from ANEW dictionary, whose words are bound to emotional weights and these, in turn, are used to map Fuzzy sets in our proposal. The proposed fuzzy-based system has been evaluated using real data from collaborative learning courses in an academic context.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A model for providing emotion awareness and feedback using fuzzy logic in online learning

Monitoring users’ emotive states and using that information for providing feedback and scaffolding is crucial. In the learning context, emotions can be used to increase students’ attention as well as to improve memory and reasoning. In this context, tutors should be prepared to create affective learning situations and encourage collaborative knowledge construction as well as identify those students’ feelings which hinder learning process. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to label affective behavior in educational discourse based on fuzzy logic, which enables a human or virtual tutor to capture students’ emotions, make students aware of their own emotions, assess these emotions and provide appropriate affective feedback. To that end, we propose a fuzzy classifier that provides a priori qualitative assessment and fuzzy qualifiers bound to the amounts such as few, regular and many assigned by an affective dictionary to every word. The advantage of the statistical approach is to reduce the classical pollution problem of training and analyzing the scenario using the same dataset. Our approach has been tested in a real online learning environment and proved to have a very positive influence on students’ learning performance.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Towards a framework for threaded inference in rule-based systems

Abstract: Information and communication technologies have shown a significant advance and fast pace in their performance and pervasiveness. Knowledge has become a significant asset for organizations, which need to deal with large amounts of data and information to produce valuable knowledge. Dealing with knowledge is turning the axis for organizations in the new economy. One of the choices to gather the goal of knowledge managing is the use of rule-based systems. This kind of approach is the new chance for expert-systems’ technology. Modern languages and cheap computing allow the implementation of concurrent systems for dealing huge volumes of information in organizations. The present work is aimed at proposing the use of contemporary programming elements, as easy to exploit threading, when implementing rule-based treatment over huge data volumes. Keywords: inference, thread, rule, expert, knowledge, framework

Desarrollo de la competencia lectora en secundaria

En México, los alumnos de telesecundaria obtienen los puntajes más bajos en competencia lectora. Este trabajo presenta los resultados de una investigación que tuvo como objetivo determinar la eficacia de un programa de comprensión lectora implementado en telesecundarias de una región marginada. El diseño fue experimental, con 16 grupos de octavo grado como grupo experimental y siete como control. Los resultados muestran que el grupo de control obtuvo los mismos puntajes antes y después de la intervención, mientras que el grupo experimental presentó una mejoría en la segunda evaluación, por lo que se considera que el programa fue eficaz.ITESO, A.C

Las creencias epistemológicas de alumnos y profesores de primero de secundaria

En este artículo se describen las creencias epistemológicas de alumnos y profesores de tres secundarias públicas en la zona metropolitana de Guadalajara. Se siguió el enfoque cuantitativo no experimental de tipo encuesta. El instrumento empleado fue el Inventario de Creencias Epistemológicas Sobre las Matemáticas desarrollado por Walker. La muestra incluyó 946 alumnos y diez profesores de primero de secundaria. Los resultados se analizaron desde la perspectiva cognitiva, particularmente desde los trabajos de Schommer y Perry, quienes consideran que las acciones pedagógicas y de aprendizaje de profesores y alumnos están influenciadas por su epistemología personal, entendida como un conjunto de creencias que afectan las maneras en las que las personas afrontan la tarea de aprender y enseñar. Los resultados muestran que tanto alumnos como profesores tienen creencias epistemológicas poco productivas para el aprendizaje o enseñanza de las matemáticas. Finalmente se analizan las implicaciones para el trabajo en el aula de secundaria.ITESO, A.C