A Meta-Model Integration for Supporting Knowledge Discovery in Specific Domains: A Case Study in Healthcare

[EN]Knowledge management is one of the key priorities of many organizations. They face di erent challenges in the implementation of knowledge management processes, including the transformation of tacit knowledge—experience, skills, insights, intuition, judgment and know-how—into explicit knowledge. Furthermore, the increasing number of information sources and services in some domains, such as healthcare, increase the amount of information available. Therefore, there is a need to transform that information in knowledge. In this context, learning ecosystems emerge as solutions to support knowledge management in a di erent context. On the other hand, the dashboards enable the generation of knowledge through the exploitation of the data provided from di erent sources. The model-driven development of these solutions is possible through two meta-models developed in previous works. Even though those meta-models solve several problems, the learning ecosystem meta-model has a lack of decision-making support. In this context, this work provides two main contributions to face this issue. First, the definition of a holistic meta-model to support decision-making processes in ecosystems focused on knowledge management, also called learning ecosystems. The second contribution of this work is an instantiation of the presented holistic meta-model in the healthcare domain

Specifying information dashboards’ interactive features through meta-model instantiation

[EN]Information dashboards1 can be leveraged to make informed decisions with the goal of improving policies, processes, and results in different contexts. However, the design process of these tools can be convoluted, given the variety of profiles that can be involved in decision-making processes. The educative context is one of the contexts that can benefit from the use of information dashboards, but given the diversity of actors within this area (teachers, managers, students, researchers, etc.), it is necessary to take into account different factors to deliver useful and effective tools. This work describes an approach to generate information dashboards with interactivity capabilities in different contexts through meta-modeling. Having the possibility of specifying interaction patterns within the generative workflow makes the personalization process more fine-grained, allowing to match very specific requirements from the user. An example of application within the context of Learning Analytics is presented to demonstrate the viability of this approach

A meta-model to develop learning ecosystems with support for knowledge discovery and decisionmaking processes.

There are software solutions to solve most of the problems related to information management in any company or institutions, but still, there is a problem for transforming information into knowledge. Technological ecosystems emerge as a solution to combine existing tools and human resources to solve different problems of knowledge management. In particular, when the ecosystem is focused on learning processes associated with knowledge are named learning ecosystems. The learning ecosystem metamodel defined in previous works solves several problems related to the definition and implementation of these solutions. However, there are still challenges associated with improving the analysis and visualization of information as a way to discover knowledge and support decision making processes. On the other hand, there is a metamodel proposal to define customized dashboards for supporting decision-making processes. This proposal aims to integrate both metamodels as a way to improve the definition of learning ecosystems

Rayleigh-wave attenuation by a semi-infinite two-dimensional elastic-band-gap crystal

In this paper, we report experiments on the scattering of surface-elastic waves by a periodic array of cylindrical holes. The experiments were performed in a marble quarry by drilling cylindrical holes in two different configurations: honeycomb and triangular lattices. The attenuation spectra of the surface waves show the existence of absolute band gaps for elastic waves in these semi-infinite two-dimensional crystals. Results are compared with theoretical calculations based on a scalar-wave approach. The scaling property of the underlying theory has led us to explore the possible application of the results obtained to the attenuation of surface waves in seismic movements.This work was partially supported by the Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología of Spain, Contract No. MAT97-0698-C04. We also thank the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas for the special funding to perform this experiment.Peer reviewe

A Meta-modeling Approach to Take into Account Data Domain Characteristics and Relationships in Information Visualizations

[EN]Visual explanations are powerful means to convey information to large audiences. However, the design of information visualizations is a complex task, because a lot of factors are involved (the audience profile, the data domain, etc.). The complexity of this task can lead to poor designs that could make users reach wrong conclusions from the visualized data. This work illustrates the process of identifying features that could make an information visualization confusing or even misleading with the goal of arranging them into a meta-model. The metamodel provides a powerful resource to automatically generate information visualizations and dashboards that take into account not only the input data, but also the audience’s characteristics, the available data domain knowledge and even the data context

Technological Ecosystems in the Health Sector: a Mapping Study of European Research Projects

The European Union has a substantial investment in research and development and demand side-measures in the health sector in order to promote new initiatives, prevent disease and foster healthy lifestyles. In particular, the European Commission and other European entities have funded research projects focused on the use of technology in the health sector. In this context, health research initiatives have evolved from user-centred monolithic solutions into collaborative partnerships of different stakeholders that gather around different technological platforms. In order to identify the lacks and opportunities in this area, a systematic mapping study was conducted with the aim of identifying and analysing the recent research projects developed in Europe related to technological ecosystems in the health sector. The study covered closed European research projects from 2003 to 2018. This paper aims to extend that systematic mapping study through ongoing research projects. The analysis of these research projects provides an overview of the current trends and identify the lacks and opportunities to define new advances in this research area. Moreover, the comparison between the first mapping study focused on closed projects, and the current study, allows getting an overview of the evolution of technological ecosystems in the health sector

Multimedia Analysis of Spanish Female Role Models in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

Horizontal segregation in the higher education framework is a problem that goes up in the work environment. Women are assuming traditional gender roles due to phenomena such as the threat of stereotyping, which prevents them from opting for higher studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This research work arises within the project W-STEM, “Building the Future of Latin America: Involving Women in STEM”. The research aims to investigate women’s academic and professional development in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through their personal experience in making career-related decisions. The research was developed by applying a qualitative method. During the year 2020, video semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-one women professionals in the STEM field. Of the twenty-one participants, six are linked to science, eight to technology, fifteen to engineering and one to mathematics. Due to their research lines, some of them are located in more than one STEM area, for example, in technology and engineering. These women were interviewed about their choice of studies and training, their jobs, professional achievements, family and social environment and their perspective on the gender gap in STEM. They all agree on horizontal segregation and consider it necessary to motivate girls and young women to study what they like. Furthermore, they all show passion for their work

Conservation Agriculture and its contribution to the achievement of agri-environmental and economic challenges in Europe

Conservation Agriculture is an ecosystem approach to farming capable of providing solutions for numerous of the agri-environmental concerns in Europe. Certainly, most of the challenges addressed in the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) could be tackled through Conservation Agriculture (CA). Not only the agri-environmental ones, but also those concerning farmer and rural communities’ prosperity. The optimisation of inputs and similar yields than conventional tillage, make Conservation Agriculture a profitable system compared to the tillage based agriculture. Whereas this sustainable agricultural system was conceived for protecting agrarian soils from its degradation, the numerous collateral benefits that emanate from soil conservation, i.e., climate change mitigation and adaptation, have raised Conservation Agriculture as one of the global emerging agrosciences, being adopted by an increasing number of farmers worldwide, including Europe

Dos nuevas versiones breves del Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire y su relación con la depresión y ansiedad

The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) (Garnefski, et al., 2001) is a 36-item instrument for measuring cognitive strategies of emotional regulation. There is a brief, 18-item version that measures the same nine strategies as the full version (Garnefski and Kraaij, 2006a). The aim of this study was to develop a brief form of the CERQ, taking into account two different proposals: a 27-item and an 18-item instrument, the latter focusing solely on the assessment of the two general factors obtained in the second-order structure of the original CERQ model and identified in previous studies as adaptive strategies and less adaptive strategies. Participants in the study were 872 individuals aged 18-58 (mean 33.86, SD=8.43). The confirmatory factor analyses yield adequate overall indices in both versions, together with satisfactory validity. In the discussion, it is argued that the 27-item version is more appropriate for the specific rating of the nine regulation strategies people employ, and we propose the 18-item version as a suitable instrument in clinical context for an overall rating of an individual’s cognitive emotion regulation profile, furthermore, the criterion validity with depression and anxiety keeps similar to the larger versions. El Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) (Garnefski, et al., 2001) es un instrumento de 36 ítems que mide las estrategias cognitivas de la regulación emocional. Hay una versión breve de 18 elementos que mide las mismas nueve estrategias que la versión completa (Garnefski y Kraaij, 2006a). El objetivo de este estudio fue desarrollar una versión breve, teniendo en cuenta dos propuestas: un instrumento de 27 ítems y otro de 18, el cual se centra exclusivamente en la evaluación de los dos factores generales obtenidos en la estructura de segundo orden del CERQ original e identificado en estudios previos como estrategias adaptativas y estrategias menos adaptativas. Los participantes en el estudio fueron 872 personas de 18 a 58 años (M = 33.86; DT = 8.43). El análisis factorial confirmatorio, proporciona índices globales adecuados en ambas versiones, junto con una validez satisfactoria. En la discusión, se argumenta que la versión de 27 ítems es más apropiada para la evaluación específica de las nueve estrategias de regulación que emplean las personas, y proponemos la versión de 18 ítems como un instrumento adecuado en el contexto clínico para una calificación global del perfil de regulación emocional cognitiva, además, la validez de criterio con depresión y ansiedad se mantiene similar a las versiones completas

Following up the progress of doctoral students and advisors’ workload through data visualizations: a case study in a PhD program.

One of the most important aspects to consider during the development of a PhD is the students’ progress, both for their advisors and the students themselves. However, several achievements of different natures are involved during a PhD (research stays, publications, seminars, research plans, etc.). For these reasons, we propose a set of data visualizations to support decision-making processes in a PhD program. A preliminary requirement elicitation process was carried out to obtain a design basis for the implementation and integration of these tools in the PhD portal. Once the visualizations were implemented, a usability study was performed to measure the perceived usability of the newly added PhD portal functionalities. This paper presents the design process and usability study outcomes of applying data visualizations to the learning outcomes of the PhD Programme in Education in the Knowledge Society at the University of Salamanca