Design of a Virtual Assistant to Improve Interaction Between the Audience and the Presenter

This article presents a novel design of a Virtual Assistant as part of a human-machine interaction system to improve communication between the presenter and the audience that can be used in education or general presentations for improving interaction during the presentations (e.g., auditoriums with 200 people). The main goal of the proposed model is the design of a framework of interaction to increase the level of attention of the public in key aspects of the presentation. In this manner, the collaboration between the presenter and Virtual Assistant could improve the level of learning among the public. The design of the Virtual Assistant relies on non-anthropomorphic forms with ‘live’ characteristics generating an intuitive and self-explainable interface. A set of intuitive and useful virtual interactions to support the presenter was designed. This design was validated from various types of the public with a psychological study based on a discrete emotions’ questionnaire confirming the adequacy of the proposed solution. The human-machine interaction system supporting the Virtual Assistant should automatically recognize the attention level of the audience from audiovisual resources and synchronize the Virtual Assistant with the presentation. The system involves a complex artificial intelligence architecture embracing perception of high-level features from audio and video, knowledge representation, and reasoning for pervasive and affective computing and reinforcement learning to teach the intelligent agent to decide on the best strategy to increase the level of attention of the audience

Spontaneous locomotion of a symmetric squirmer

The squirmer is a popular model to analyse the fluid mechanics of a self-propelled object, such as a micro-organism. We demonstrate that some fore-aft symmetric squirmers can spontaneously self-propel above a critical Reynolds number. Specifically, we numerically study the effects of inertia on axisymmetric squirmers characterised by a 'quadrupolar' fore-aft symmetric distribution of surface-slip velocity; under creeping-flow conditions, such squirmers generate a pure stresslet flow, the stresslet sign classifying the squirmer as either a 'pusher' or 'puller.' Assuming axial symmetry, and over the examined range of the Reynolds number $Re$ (defined based upon the magnitude of the quadrupolar squirming), we find that spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs in the puller case above $Re \approx 14.3$, with steady swimming emerging at the threshold via a supercritical pitchfork bifurcation, beyond which the swimming speed grows monotonically with $Re$

Endotelio e hipertensión arterial

Role of endothelial function in cardiovascular health and its relation with arterial hypertension has been demonstrated. Some studies show that endothelial dysfunction may produce arterial hypertension but other studies find that arterial hypertension per se produces endothelial damage. Due to the fact of various clinical conditions associated to endothelial dysfunction it is of great interest protection of the endothelium.Se ha demostrado el rol de la función endotelial en la salud cardiovascular y su relación con la hipertensión arterial. Ciertos estudios demuestran que la disfunción endotelial es un posible mecanismo que produce hipertensión arterial (HTA), mientras otros demuestran que la HTA per se produce daño endotelial. Se conoce varias condiciones clínicas asociadas a la disfunción endotelial, por lo que es de gran interés la protección del endotelio

The role of Internet in the development of future software projects

Purpose – The Internet has evolved, prompted in part by new Web 2.0 technologies, to become a more widespread platform for interaction, communication, and activism. Virtual communities, or groups of people informally bound together by shared expertise, synthesise this Internet evolution and theWeb 2.0 technology. Users increasingly want to engage online with one another and with organisations of all kinds. These novel Internet-based technologies dominate the new business models of the digital economy giving companies radical new ways to harvest the talents of innovators working outside corporate boundaries. One of the most illustrative examples of this new trend is the Open Source Software (OSS) projects development. This paper aims to analyse the structure and topology of the virtual community supporting one of the most successfully OSS projects, Linux. The objective is to provide conclusions for being successful in the development of future virtual communities. As companies learn to manage these virtual communities, they will develop smarter and faster ways to create value through them. Design/methodology/approach – The interactions of the virtual community members of an ARM-embedded Linux project website is analysed through social network analysis techniques. The participants’ activity is studied and some conclusions about the participation features are obtained using the Gini coefficient. In particular, a participation inequality behaviour or a concentration on a small number of developers is clearly observed. Findings – The paper deals with the guidelines that virtual communities should follow to be successful. Results about the structure of a successful virtual community and its time evolution are provided to determine the mentioned guidelines. Research limitations/implications – The research is limited to a particular virtual community engaged with the development of the ARM-embedded Linux OSS. Other successful virtual communities can be analysed, and the conclusions could be compared. Anyway, the proposed analysis methodology can be extended to other virtual communities. Originality/value – The paper fulfils the development and features of Internet virtual communities to be successful. Results have important implications over the development of new software business models based on virtual communities and open source software. Contributions about the best organisation of virtual communities leading to a successful development of the underlying project are presented.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia DPI2007- 60128Junta de Andalucía. Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa P07-TIC-0262

An empirical study of the driving forces behind online communities

Purpose – A large variety of online communities have emerged during the last years as a result of the challenges faced by both the business and scientific worlds. This trend has also been promoted by the development of internet and new Web 2.0 technologies. In this context, this paper is focused on the determinants of success of online communities. But, as a difference from other studies, these determinants are analyzed from the social network analysis perspective. Several constructs related to the community organization as a social network are proposed and their interrelations are hypothesized in a general research framework. The obtained results test the proposed model providing the most relevant antecedents of the project success. Design/methodology/approach – A case study based on Linux ports to non-conventional processor and environments is used to test the proposed model. Structural equation modeling analysis is used to validate the structural proposed model. Findings – The main antecedents of online communities’ success, quantifying the strength of the relation through the standardized path coefficients. Research limitations/implications – The research is limited to a particular set of online communities engaged with the development of the non-conventional Linux ports. However, they constitute a representative set of communities in the field of the open source projects (OSS) development, which are typically developed using a community of support. Originality/value – This paper fulfils the main antecedents causing the successful development of Internet virtual communities. Instead of using sources of data coming from users’ surveys, this study employs community interactions as a source of data. Results have important implications over the development of online communities, like software business models based on virtual communities and open source softwareMinisterio de Educación y Ciencia DPI2007-60128Junta de Andalucía. Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa P07-TIC-0262

Assessing determinants of programmatic performance of community management of malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea in children in Africa: protocol and data collection for a mixed methods evaluation of integrated community case management

BACKGROUND: Integrated community case management (iCCM) is a child health program designed to provide integrated community-based care for children with pneumonia, malaria, or diarrhea in hard-to-reach areas of low- and middle-income countries. The foundation of the intervention is service delivery by community health workers (CHWs) who depend on reliable provision of drugs and supplies, consistent supervision, comprehensive training, and community acceptance and participation to perform optimally. The effectiveness of the program may also depend on a number of other elements, including an enabling policy environment, financing mechanisms from the national to the local level, data transmission systems, and appropriate monitoring and evaluation. The extent to which these factors act upon each other to influence the effectiveness and viability of iCCM is both variable and challenging to assess, especially across different implementation contexts. OBJECTIVE: In this paper, we describe a mixed methods systems-based study protocol to assess the programmatic components of iCCM that are associated with intervention effectiveness and report preliminary results of data collection. METHODS: This protocol uses a mixed qualitative and quantitative study design based on a systems thinking approach within four iCCM programs in Malawi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Niger State and Abia State in Nigeria. Routine monitoring data are collected to determine intervention effectiveness, namely testing, treatment, and referral outcomes. Surveys with CHWs, supervisors, and caregivers are performed to collect quantitative data on their demographics, activities, and experiences within the program and how these relate to the areas of intervention effectiveness. Focus group discussions are conducted with these stakeholders as well as local traditional leaders to contextualize these data. Key informant interviews are undertaken with national- and district-level program stakeholders and officers knowledgeable in critical program processes. RESULTS: We performed 3836 surveys and 45 focus group discussions of 379 participants with CHWs, supervisors, caregivers, and traditional leaders, as well as 120 key informant interviews with district- and national-level program managers, health officers, and ministry officials. Policy and program documents were additionally collected for review. CONCLUSIONS: We expect that evidence from this study will inform child health programs and practice in low- and middle-income settings as well as future policy development within the iCCM intervention. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/33076

Una metodología para identificación y análisis de sistemas de producción agropecuarios en áreas de pequeños productores.

Guía para el personal técnico de los Distritos de Transferencia de Tecnología del ICA para el diagnóstico de campo. En primer término se discute el concepto de los principios metodológicos que se utilizan en el desarrollo del trabajo para la identificación de sistemas de producción (conjunto, región, conjunto productivo, factores modificables e inmodificables, arreglos solos, en asocio, en relevo, intercalado y múltiple, sistema de producción, unidad de producción familiar y tecnología local de producción). Luego se describe la concatenación y la aplicación de los conceptos previamente definidos, para la conformación del cuerpo de la metodología de identificación de sistemas propiamente dicha. Se ofrecen algunas guías de análisis para la definición de recomendaciones técnicas en primera aproximación para los sistemas de producción prioritarios. Se define el programa de exploración y ajuste tecnológico para solucionar los problemas identificados en los sistemas de producción. Para facilitar un mejor entendimiento, el documento se divide en dos secciones: en la primera se hace referencia a los sistemas agrícolas y en la segunda a los sistemas pecuario