Architecting E-Coaching systems: a first step for dealing with their intrinsic design complexity

E-coaching systems are a highly valuable asset for promoting healthier lifestyles. However, the design of these systems is intrinsically complex. This article proposes a loosely coupled architecture to support the modeling of e-coaching solutions, reducing design complexity and enhancing the flexibility required for the e-coaching process.Fondecyt Project (Chile) 1150252 Conicyt Chile (CONICYT-PCHA/Doctorado Nacional) 2013-2113007

A Context-Aware Model to Provide Positioning in Disaster Relief Scenarios

Artículo de publicación ISIThe effectiveness of the work performed during disaster relief efforts is highly dependent on the coordination of activities conducted by the first responders deployed in the affected area. Such coordination, in turn, depends on an appropriate management of geo-referenced information. Therefore, enabling first responders to count on positioning capabilities during these activities is vital to increase the effectiveness of the response process. The positioning methods used in this scenario must assume a lack of infrastructure-based communication and electrical energy, which usually characterizes affected areas. Although positioning systems such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) have been shown to be useful, we cannot assume that all devices deployed in the area (or most of them) will have positioning capabilities by themselves. Typically, many first responders carry devices that are not capable of performing positioning on their own, but that require such a service. In order to help increase the positioning capability of first responders in disaster-affected areas, this paper presents a context-aware positioning model that allows mobile devices to estimate their position based on information gathered from their surroundings. The performance of the proposed model was evaluated using simulations, and the obtained results show that mobile devices without positioning capabilities were able to use the model to estimate their position. Moreover, the accuracy of the positioning model has been shown to be suitable for conducting most first response activities.Fondecyt (Chile) 1150252 European Community FP7-288535 FP7-317879 Spanish government TIN2013-47245-C2-1-R Generalitat de Catalunya as a Consolidated Research Group 2014-SGR-88

EDIPS: an Easy to Deploy Indoor Positioning System to support loosely coupled mobile work

Artículo de publicación ISILoosely coupled mobile work is characterized by nomadic workers collaborating in sporadically and ondemand ways. Supporting nomadic workers’ interactions requires knowing the location of the potential collaborator; therefore, indoor/outdoor positioning systems play a key role. Locating persons in outdoor environments is well addressed by Global Positioning Systems (GPS); however, for the indoor scenario, the solution is not so clear. Although several proposals for indoor positioning have been reported in the literature, most of them demand important setup efforts. This article presents the Easy to Deploy Indoor Positioning System (EDIPS), a WiFi-based system able to support the typical location requirements involved in loosely coupled mobile work. EDIPS is aimed for fast deployment and real-time operations rather than for location accuracy. The system was preliminary evaluated as a support for locating medical interns’ in a simulated hospital. The results obtained indicate the solution is able to locate nomadic workers in an indoor scenario, with enough accuracy to support loosely coupled mobile work, while requiring minimal setup effort.This work was partially supported by Fondecyt (Chile), grant No 1110241, LACCIR grant R1210LAC002, and Proyecto Enlace VID 2010 (University of Chile), Grant ENL 10/10

Mediating intergenerational family communication with computer-supported domestic technology

The proliferation of social media tools for facilitating interpersonal communication has inadvertently modified the ways in which intergenerational exchanges are supported. However, such technology has generally not acknowledged the complexity of designing social interaction mechanisms involving older adults, where the provided technology services and the actual needs of elderly people are not necessarily aligned. As a way to bridge this gap, we developed SocialConnector, a computer-supported domestic system that facilitates and mediates social interaction among older adults and other family members using their preferred interaction paradigms and communication media. This paper reports on the results of an empirical in-the-wild study evaluating the mediation effect of the proposed system with a sample of nine families over nine weeks. The study results show that older adults using SocialConnector were more engaged in interacting within their close social networks, whereas social awareness notification messages did encourage user participation between family members and their older adults. By addressing the lessons learned in this study, social computing designers and practitioners would be in a better position to identify plausible solutions that would improve user experience and the effectiveness of computer-supported mediation strategies in intergenerational communication settings

Cyber-physical systems, internet of things and big data

Advances in wireless communication, in computing and in sensing devices, along with the cost reduction of these technologies, have prompted and accelerated the development of Cyber-Physical Systems that adopt the Internet of Things paradigm to provide several types of services, such as surveillance, weather monitoring, management of vehicular traffic, control of production activities, etc. The development and the adoption of these systems are still facing various challenges that the research community and the industry are actively trying to solve. On one hand, the development challenges are mainly related to security, robustness, availability, adequate performance and energy consumption optimization. On the other hand, the use of these systems produces large amounts of fine-grained data that need to be processed and interrelated, typically requiring big data analytics for the extraction of useful knowledge that can be used by the software services controlling these systems. This paper introduces the novel contributions for the design, implementation and use of these systems, which are part of the special issue on Cyber-Physical Systems, Internet of Things and Big Data. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V

Enhancing the student learning experience in software engineering project courses

Carrying out real-world software projects in their academic studies helps students to understand what they will face in industry, and to experience first-hand the challenges involved when working collaboratively. Most of the instructional strategies used to help students take advantage of these activities focus on supporting agile programming, which is appropriate for capstone courses. This is not always recommended in initial software engineering project courses, however, where novice developers run projects in teams while simultaneously taking other courses. To enhance the learning and teamwork experience in this latter instructional scenario, this paper proposes a formative monitoring method, reflexive weekly monitoring (RWM), for use in project courses that involve disciplined software processes and loosely coupled work. RWM uses self-reflection and collaborative learning practices to help students be aware of their individual and team performance. RWM was applied in a case study over nine consecutive semesters. The results obtained indicate that RWM was effective in enhancing the learning experience in the instructional scenario studied. While students in the monitored teams were more effective and coordinated, and experienced a higher sense of team belonging and satisfaction, little evidence was found of them being more productive than students working in non-monitored teams.Project Fondef IDeA IT13I20010 Conicyt Chile (CONICYT-PCHA/Doctorado Nacional) 2012-2112054