Design for All in multimedia guides for museums

The Design for All principles define the characteristics which a device should possess in order for it be utilised by every type of user, independent of his or her sensory disabilities or technological competency. These principles are realised in the current work as an integrative tool with which to facilitate universal access to museums via multimedia and portable guides, making access available to all. Based on these principles, this article describes the main findings of the design and use of the MGA (Multimedia Guides for All) approach proposed in this paper. This approach involves a series of recommendations for the selection, application, preparation of content, and maintenance of this type of computerized device, in order to achieve these principles. Firstly, a comparative analysis of the principal types of electronic guides available in museums which incorporate accessibility criteria is provided. Subsequently, a real case study case is presented which conforms to the MGA approach. The MGA approach can be applied to other domains, which should be explored in further research. The conclusions in this article have been drawn from two R&D projects financed by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Science and Technology supported by the EC FEDER R&D Program.this article have been drawn from two R&D projects financed by the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Science and Technology supported by the EC FEDER R&D Program.Publicad

Development and psychometric properties of the stressors in Breast Cancer Scale.

Background: A diagnosis of breast cancer generates psychological stress, due not only to treatment and its side effects but also to the impact on different areas of the patient’s daily life. Although there are instruments for measuring psychological stress in the cancer context, there is currently no tool for assessing stressors specific to breast cancer. Aims: The aim of this study was to develop the Stressors in Breast Cancer Scale (SBCS). Method: A panel of experts evaluated the clarity and relevance of scale items, providing validity evidence based on test content. Psychometric properties of the scale were then analyzed. Results: Validity evidence based on the internal structure of the SBCS was obtained through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), following a cross-validation strategy. The CFA supported a second-order factor model with five dimensions: physical appearance and sex strains, health and daily difficulties, interpersonal relationship strains, healthcare strains, and worries and concerns about the future. This structure was invariant across two groups distinguished by time from cancer diagnosis (less than 3 and 3 years or more from diagnosis). Reliability, based on McDonald’s omega and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, ranged from 0.83 to 0.89 for factor scores, and reached 0.95 for total scores. Validity evidence was also provided by correlations with depression, anxiety, perceived stress, and perceived health and quality of life. Discussion: The results support the use of the SBCS for measuring stress as a stimulus in the breast cancer context. Implications for clinical practice and research are discussed.This study was supported by Grupo de investigación consolidado CTS-110, Junta de Andalucía y I Plan Propio y Transferencia de la Universidad de Málaga (ayuda de Publicación en Abierto, C.1

Uso de Dispositivos iPad para Lectura de Subtítulos en las Aulas

[Comunicación] V Congreso de Accesibilidad a los Medios Audiovisuales para Personas con Discapacidad, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Getafe), 18-19 de noviembre de 2010En este artículo se propone el uso de dispositivos iPad1 para que cada asistente interesado pueda leer los subtítulos en su propio dispositivo. El envío de los subtítulos se realiza de forma inalámbrica, a través de Internet, con una conexión de datos móvil. Esto facilita el despliegue de subtítulos en el aula sin necesidad de alterar o de adaptar las aulas.Publicad

Plasmaspheric Electron Content contribution inferred from ground and radio occultation derived Total Electron Content

The FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC satellite constellation has become an important source of remote sensing data globally distributed for the sounding of the atmosphere of the Earth and, in particular, the ionosphere. In this study, electron density profiles derived using the Improved Abel transform inversion in Radio Occultation (RO) scenarios are used as input data to derive some features regarding the topside and outside ionospheric contribution, hence, the plasmasphere in great extend, by means of the analysis of the integral values of the shape functions corresponding to each density profile. The novelty presented in this paper, with respect to previous works, is the use of experimental data from the FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC RO-derived electron densities to infer global characterizations and distribution of the Total Electron Content (TEC) into its main components: ionospheric TEC and plasmaspheric TEC, both contributing to TEC. The results show agreement with earlier modeled and observational data from previous local studies of the plasmaspheric contribution. The main conclusion of this research is that the plasmasphere contributes significantly to TEC and the ratio between plasmaspheric TEC and TEC has been climatologically analyzed for the whole year 2007 confirming that the major relative impact of the plasmasphere is during night time. The added value of this study is that the results obtained are globally distributed and can help to infer a proxy for the plasmaspheric contribution at any location over the globe thanks to the FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC coverage.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Preliminary NeQuick assessment for future single frequency users of GALILEO

The NeQuick model is the ionospheric mo del that will be used by the GALILEO single frequency user to compute ionospheric corrections. In this framework, the aim of this study is to show a preliminary assessment of the performance of the NeQuick model using as metrics an independent source of TEC (Total Electron Content) such as altimetric satellites (in this case, TOPEX/Poseidon) that provide direct measurements of TEC.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The Freundlich model of adsorption for calculation of specific surface areaS

The specific surface area of solids and the surface area occupied by the active phase (metal or oxide) on a support are parameters of the utmost importance in adsorption and catalysis. For the determination of the former, the BET equation is universally established. For the evaluation of the latter the works of selective chemisorption, initiated by Emmett and Brunauer (I ), for metals and by Bridges et al. (2) and Weller et al. (3), for oxides have come to represent important contributions. Some of the classical models of adsorption have also been used for evaluation of specific surfaces (Langmuir equation) (4) and the dispersion of supported metals or oxides (Freundlich equation) (5). Both of them are applicable to physisorption as well as chemisorption processes

Wide Area RTK: a satellite navigation system based on precise real-time ionospheric modelling

The Wide Area Real Time Kinematic (WARTK) is an augmentation system concept for multi-frequency users based on precise real-time ionospheric modeling. It is able to provide a high accuracy and integrity GNSS positioning service over continental areas using the infrastructure of a network of permanent ground monitor stations, such as the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) network of Ranging and Integrity Monitoring Stations (RIMS) in Europe. In this way, it allows an additional benefit to be obtained from these reference stations, that is, the network has the potential to support two independent systems: a satellite-based augmentation system, such as EGNOS, and a high-precision positioning service, based on WARTK. Indeed, thanks to the accuracy of the ionospheric corrections provided, WARTK users have available in real-time an extra constraint per satellite between the carrier phase ambiguities, which helps solve them quickly. Once such ambiguities have been solved, the GNSS user obtains navigation accurate to within 20 cm at the 95th percentile (about 10 cm RMS). Moreover, this precise positioning is achieved in a few minutes (with two frequency signals) or in a single epoch, after initial convergence of the tropospheric delay (with three frequency signals), even up to hundreds of kilometers away from the nearest reference station. While previous WARTK research has been devoted to implementing the concept and assessing its feasibility, considering in particular the accuracy achievable, the work reported in this paper focused on consolidating the results by analyzing a large and representative data set, and on deeper analysis of the integrity issue. It was carried out in the context of the Multi-constellation Regional System (MRS) project, within the European Space Agency GNSS Evolution Programme, with the aim of designing a high accuracy service for GPS and/or Galileo. Three months of actual data, from more than 25 permanent GPS stations in Europe, have been processed (some of them as a roving user), for high-, mid- and low-solar cycle conditions (in 2002, 2004 and 2006 respectively). In addition, several ionospheric storms occurred during the selected periods, with Dst values reaching up to −150 nT. Results based on these data show that user domain integrity was maintained for baselines of up to 400 km. At the 95th percentile, the daily horizontal and vertical position errors were 20 and 30 cm, respectively, and the corresponding protection levels were about 1 and 2 m. The convergence time was around 5 minutes with actual GPS constellation data. The benefits of using a multi-constellation system were also studied, with simulated GPS and three-frequency Galileo data, showing that it is possible to reduce the convergence time to a few seconds.Postprint (published version

Detoxifying enzymes at the cross-roads of inflammation, oxidative stress, and drug hypersensitivity: role of glutathione transferase P1-1 and aldose reductase

9 p.-2 figPhase I and II enzymes are involved in the metabolism of endogenous reactive compounds as well as xenobiotics, including toxicants and drugs. Genotyping studies have established several drug metabolizing enzymes as markers for risk of drug hypersensitivity. However, other candidates are emerging that are involved in drug metabolism but also in the generation of danger or costimulatory signals. Enzymes such as aldo-keto reductases (AKR) and glutathione transferases (GST) metabolize prostaglandins and reactive aldehydes with proinflammatory activity, as well as drugs and/or their reactive metabolites. In addition, their metabolic activity can have important consequences for the cellular redox status, and impacts the inflammatory response as well as the balance of inflammatory mediators, which can modulate epigenetic factors and cooperate or interfere with drug-adduct formation. These enzymes are, in turn, targets for covalent modification and regulation by oxidative stress, inflammatory mediators, and drugs. Therefore, they constitute a platform for a complex set of interactions involving drug metabolism, protein haptenation, modulation of the inflammatory response, and/or generation of danger signals with implications in drug hypersensitivity reactions. Moreover, increasing evidence supports their involvement in allergic processes. Here, we will focus on GSTP1-1 and aldose reductase (AKR1B1) and provide a perspective for their involvement in drug hypersensitivityThis work has been supported by grants SAF2012-36519 from MINECO and SAF-2015-68590-R from MINECO/FEDER and ISCIII RETIC RIRAAF RD12/0013/0008 to DP,and RD12/0013/0002 to J A.Peer reviewe

Web Educational Services for All: The APEINTA Project

Proceedings of: 8th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility (W4A'11), Hyderabad, India, March 28-29, 2011This paper presents the web-based educational services included in the APEINTA project. The main aim of APEINTA is to avoid barriers among the students and the education. Taking into account the advantage of cloud computing paradigm, the next web-based services are proposed: First, a captioning service, so students with hearing disabilities, for instance, could access to the verbatim speech of the teachers, even in a remote location; Second, a text-to-speech service, so students with speaking problems could participate in the class or in oral discussions or meetings, for instance, just writing in their personal devices; Third, a web-based educational system, so every student can access the pedagogical resources with time and location independenc