XANUI: A Textual Platform-Independent Model for Rich User Interfaces

In recent years, several model-driven proposals have defined user interface models that can represent both behavioural and aesthetic aspects. However, the software industry has ignored the majority of these proposals because the quality of the rich user interfaces generated out of these models is usually low and their code generators are not flexible, i.e., the UI templates cannot be customised easily. Furthermore, these proposals do not facilitate the separation between the visual design of the UI, normally performed by graphic designers in the industry, and the visualisation of data, which has been previously modelled using another domain-specific language. This paper proposes a new textual domain-specific language called XANUI, which could be embedded in XML-based UI pages, e.g., HTML or XML. The designed language provides the mechanisms to bind visual components with data structures already existing, and to define the behaviour of these components based on events. In this paper, XANUI is integrated in two OOH4RIA development processes, i.e., the traditional data-intensive and the new design-first process, thus reusing the OOH4RIA models and transformations to generate a complete rich Internet application for any platform or device. In order to validate this approach, the XANUI solution is applied to the development of a RIA with two UI types: a) the administration view of a Web application using HTML5 and AngularJS, and b) a catalogue application for e-Commerce using Windows RT in a Tablet PC

Impact of Programming Exposure on the Development of Computational Thinking Capabilities: An Empirical Study

Today’s digital society has turned the development of students’ computational thinking capabilities into a critical factor for their future success. As higher education institutions, we need to take responsibility for this development in every degree course we offer, and provide students with the kind of subjects and activities that best contribute to this aim. In this paper, we study the impact of following an introductory programming course on the development of the computational thinking capabilities of university students. In order to achieve this aim, a concurrent cohort observational study was carried out in which we measured both the subjective and objective computational thinking capabilities of 104 participants (50 first year students enrolled on a Bachelor’s degree course in Psychology at the Catholic University of Murcia (UCAM), and 54 first year students enrolled on a Bachelor’s degree course in Health Information Systems at the University of Alicante (UA)). The statistical procedures applied to test our hypotheses were a two-way mixed ANOVA, a paired-sample T-test and an independent-sample T-test. The data shows that the group at UA had an initial higher subjective perception of their computational capabilities than the group at UCAM. This perception was supported by their objective scores, which were also significantly higher. However, the subjective assessment of computational capability of the UA group diminished after exposure to the programming course, contrasting with the fact that their objective computational capabilities improved significantly. In the UCAM group, both subjective and objective capabilities remained constant over time. Based on these results, we can conclude that computational thinking capabilities are not developed naturally, but need to be trained. Providing such training to all our students, and not only to those enrolled on undergraduate degrees in engineering, is of paramount importance to allow them to face the challenges of their future professions. This paper empirically demonstrates the extent to which exposing subjects to a programming course may contribute to this aim.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness (Access@City) under Contract TIN2016-78103-C2-2-R, in part by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities under Contract RTI2018-098156-B-C54, in part by the Co-Financed by FEDER funds (MINECO/ FEDER/UE), and in part by the EduTech Project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union under Grant 609785-EPP-1-2019-1-ES-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP

MoSIoT: Modeling and Simulating IoT Healthcare-Monitoring Systems for People with Disabilities

The need to remotely monitor people with disabilities has increased due to growth in their number in recent years. The democratization of Internet of Things (IoT) devices facilitates the implementation of healthcare-monitoring systems (HMSs) that are capable of supporting disabilities and diseases. However, to achieve their full potential, these devices must efficiently address the customization demanded by different IoT HMS scenarios. This work introduces a new approach, called Modeling Scenarios of Internet of Things (MoSIoT), which allows healthcare experts to model and simulate IoT HMS scenarios defined for different disabilities and diseases. MoSIoT comprises a set of models based on the model-driven engineering (MDE) paradigm, which first allows simulation of a complete IoT HMS scenario, followed by generation of a final IoT system. In the current study, we used a real scenario defined by a recognized medical publication for a patient with Alzheimer’s disease to validate this proposal. Furthermore, we present an implementation based on an enterprise cloud architecture that provides the simulation data to a commercial IoT hub, such as Azure IoT Central.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under contract PID2019-111196RB-I00, called “Development of IoT Systems for People with Disabilities” (Access@IoT), and also was partially funded by the GVA through the AICO/2020/143 project

Pensamiento computacional y género: un estudio observacional

El propósito de este estudio ha sido medir el efecto del género en la percepción y desarrollo del pensamiento computacional en alumnos de primer curso de grados universitarios. Para ello se ha realizado un estudio observacional en el que, para una muestra de 79 estudiantes de primer curso del grado de Psicología de la UCAM, se midió tanto su nivel de pensamiento computacional objetivo como su auto-percepción acerca de sus habilidades computacionales. Durante la fase de análisis de datos se aplicaron sendos t-tests para muestras independientes. Los resultados muestran que existen diferencias estadísticamente significativas en cuanto a la percepción de auto-eficacia computacional entre hombres y mujeres, diferencias que no se corresponden con los niveles objetivos, que no presentan diferencias estadísticamente significativas. Se hace por tanto necesario concienciar a las estudiantes de lo erróneo de esta auto-percepción con el fin de motivarlas a la asunción de retos computacionales que entrenen esta habilidad durante su formación.The purpose of the study was to study the effect of gender on the perception and development of the computational thinking capabilities of first year university students. An observational study was conducted in which 79 students of Psychology at the UCAM were measured with respect to both their computational thinking objective capabilities and their subjective perception regarding those same capabilities. During the data analysis, two t-tests for independent samples were applied. The results show that there are statistically significant differences between males and females regarding their auto-perception of computational efficacy. Such differences are not supported by statistically significant differences in objective performance. These results suggest the necessity to increase awareness among female students of this fact in order to increase their engagement in computational challenges that further train their ability during their education

Memoria de la red de coordinación del tercer curso del grado en Ingeniería Multimedia

Durante el presente curso se ha constatado el asentamiento del tercer curso del grado en Ingeniería Multimedia, lo que se deriva de los informes de seguimiento de las asignaturas del curso que, en su gran mayoría, no han destacado problema alguno (con alguna excepción de la que se informa). Por otro lado, se ha llevado a cabo una iniciativa para contrastar si las dependencias entre las asignaturas de tercero con respecto a sus precedentes en el plan de estudios responden en realidad a los planteamientos que se hicieron durante el diseño del mismo, intentando descubrir carencias o inconsistencias en los contenidos. De esta manera, se han detectado dependencias que no son tales, dependencias que faltan y temarios de asignaturas básicas en los que, desde el punto de vista de las asignaturas de tercero faltan o sobran contenidos

Desarrollo de competencias transversales en el Grado en Ingeniería Informática

Las competencias establecidas en el currículum transversal de la Universidad de Alicante (competencias transversales) son fundamentales para los egresados de nuestras titulaciones tanto para aumentar su empleabilidad como para dotarlos de herramientas que puedan poner en práctica como ciudadanas y ciudadanos en su vida diaria. Sin embargo, parece que las competencias transversales no se tienen en cuenta de una manera formal y, por tanto, no se establece como trabajarlas y evaluarlas de manera coordinada entre todas las asignaturas de una titulación, de tal manera que los estudiantes las adquieran de una manera exitosa. En esta red de investigación en docencia universitaria se ha comenzado a analizar el desarrollo de las competencias transversales por parte de las asignaturas del Grado en Ingeniería Informática con el fin conocer el estado actual y empezar a planificar la adquisición de competencias transversales de los estudiantes de manera coordinada (incluyendo entre otras, el trabajo en equipo, hablar en público, liderazgo y el idioma inglés)

MDWEnet: a practical approach to achieving interoperability of model-driven web engineering methods

Current model-driven Web Engineering approaches (such as OO-H, UWE or WebML) provide a set of methods and supporting tools for a systematic design and development of Web applications. Each method addresses different concerns using separate models (content, navigation, presentation, business logic, etc.), and provide model compilers that produce most of the logic and Web pages of the application from these models. However, these proposals also have some limitations, especially for exchanging models or representing further modeling concerns, such as architectural styles, technology independence, or distribution. A possible solution to these issues is provided by making model-driven Web Engineering proposals interoperate, being able to complement each other, and to exchange models between the different tools. MDWEnet is a recent initiative started by a small group of researchers working on model-driven Web Engineering (MDWE). Its goal is to improve current practices and tools for the model-driven development of Web applications for better interoperability. The proposal is based on the strengths of current model-driven Web Engineering methods, and the existing experience and knowledge in the field. This paper presents the background, motivation, scope, and objectives of MDWEnet. Furthermore, it reports on the MDWEnet results and achievements so far, and its future plan of actions

Evaluación de la implantación transversal de 3º del grado en Ingeniera Multimedia

Durante el presente curso se han llevado a cabo las tareas para la evaluación de la implantación del grado en Ingeniería Multimedia en el marco de los nuevos estudios dentro del EEES, lo cual implica un trabajo extenso de análisis y recopilación del tratamiento concreto que se está dando a la adquisición por parte del alumnado de las diferentes competencias planteadas para cada asignatura en su ficha correspondiente y en la memoria para la solicitud de la verificación del título. Esto ha permitido tener una visión global de cuáles son los medios que se ponen para evaluar dichas competencias y también, desde un punto de vista más cercano, qué calendario de evaluación “ve” el alumno. En esta memoria nos hemos centrado en los aspectos relacionados con el curso tercero del grado

Adapting the presentation layer in rich Internet applications

Rich Internet Applications offer Web surfers a richer user experience, mainly due to better responsiveness and enhanced user interface capabilities. In recent years, existing design methodologies targeting traditional Web 1.0 applications were extended to also support RIAs. These extensions do not yet cover all design concerns typically encountered in state-of-the-art Web applications. One yet unsupported aspect is the personalization of content and presentation to the specific user and his/her context, exploiting the extra capabilities offered by RIAs. This article addresses this hiatus and presents an extension of the OOH4RIA approach to include presentation personalization support, focusing on Rich Internet Applications.This work has been co-supported by the ESPIA project (TIN2007-67078) from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and the DEMETER (GVPRE/2008/063) project from the Valencia Ministry of Enterprise, University and Science (Spain)