Combined Method for Evaluating Accessibility in Serious Games

Nowadays, one of the learning resources in the educational area are serious games, also called training games; they are games designed with a different purpose than fun, whose main objective is to reinforce the new concepts more creatively. However, not all existing serious games are accessible in a way that allows access to a more significant number of users. Therefore, this research proposes to apply a combined method to evaluate accessibility in serious games, considering the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. As a case study, we evaluated the accessibility of 82 serious games developed by Physical Education Technology Interactive Simulations at the University of Colorado. We propose to replicate this combined method for users with various types of disabilities, considering the various accessibility barriers. As future work, we suggest generating an accessibility heuristic evaluation focused on serious games, based on the accessibility issues identified. Finally, we believe it is essential to strengthen accessibility policies in each country, as well as implement best practices that generate innovation by incorporating diversity in building and designing more inclusive serious games.This research was funded by Universidad de Las Américas-Ecuador, as part of an internal research project FGE.PAV.19.11

A Heuristic Method for Evaluating Accessibility in Web-Based Serious Games for Users with Low Vision

Nowadays, serious games have become a beneficial resource in the learning process; they are part of our culture and promote social inclusion. Designing accessible serious games is a complete challenge, even more for non-experts. Most existing serious games do not meet accessibility standards because of a lack of methods that include standards and help create more accessible serious games. For this reason, our research presents a heuristic method with three modifications to Giorgio Brajnik’s barrier walkthrough method and based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1). We defined 28 barriers for the users with low vision and the related impact and persistence variables by defining severity ranges to evaluate accessibility. This method allows measuring the accessibility of web-based serious games; the method proposed in this article can be a good help for non-experts. As a case study, this heuristic method was applied to 40 web-based serious games. The evaluators concluded that serious games should apply WCAG 2.1 to achieve an adequate and inclusive accessibility level. However, this study has limitations; the heuristic method depends on the evaluators’ experience. This work can contribute to studies related to accessibility heuristics in serious games; it can also help construct a software tool that applies WCAG 2.1 and helps experts and non-experts evaluate accessibility in serious games.This research was funded by Universidad de Las Américas-Ecuador, as part of an internal research project FGE.PAV.19.11

Salt resistance genes revealed by functional metagenomics from brines and moderate-salinity rhizosphere within a hypersaline environment

Hypersaline environments are considered one of the most extreme habitats on earth and microorganisms have developed diverse molecular mechanisms of adaptation to withstand these conditions. The present study was aimed at identifying novel genes from the microbial communities of a moderate-salinity rhizosphere and brine from the Es Trenc saltern (Mallorca, Spain), which could confer increased salt resistance to Escherichia coli. The microbial diversity assessed by pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene libraries revealed the presence of communities that are typical in such environments and the remarkable presence of three bacterial groups never revealed as major components of salt brines. Metagenomic libraries from brine and rhizosphere samples, were transferred to the osmosensitive strain E. coli MKH13, and screened for salt resistance. Eleven genes that conferred salt resistance were identified, some encoding for well-known proteins previously related to osmoadaptation such as a glycerol transporter and a proton pump, whereas others encoded proteins not previously related to this function in microorganisms such as DNA/RNA helicases, an endonuclease III (Nth) and hypothetical proteins of unknown function. Furthermore, four of the retrieved genes were cloned and expressed in Bacillus subtilis and they also conferred salt resistance to this bacterium, broadening the spectrum of bacterial species in which these genes can function. This is the first report of salt resistance genes recovered from metagenomes of a hypersaline environment. © 2015 Mirete, Mora-Ruiz, Lamprecht-Grandío, de Figueras, Rosselló-Móra and González-Pastor.This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CGL2012-39627-C03/02 and 03); the latter also supported with European Regional Development Fund (FEDER). MM-R Ph.D. is supported by fellowship CVU 265934 of the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT), MexicoPeer Reviewe

Comparación del comportamiento de dos escayolas amasadas con aguas contaminadas

Not availableLas investigaciones que se publican actualmente acerca de la físico-química del yeso como material de construcción resultan relativamente escasas si se tiene en cuenta que, pese a tratarse de un material conocido y utilizado desde hace milenios, todavía hoy se ignoran algunos aspectos de su comportamiento

Modeling Bacterial Species: Using Sequence Similarity with Clustering Techniques

Existing studies have challenged the current definition of named bacterial species, especially in the case of highly recombinogenic bacteria. This has led to considering the use of computational procedures to examine potential bacterial clusters that are not identified by species naming. This paper describes the use of sequence data obtained from MLST databases as input for a k-means algorithm extended to deal with housekeeping gene sequences as a metric of similarity for the clustering process. An implementation of the k-means algorithm has been developed based on an existing source code implementation, and it has been evaluated against MLST data. Results point out to potential bacterial clusters that are close to more than one different named species and thus may become candidates for alternative classifications accounting for genotypic information. The use of hierarchical clustering with sequence comparison as similarity metric has the potential to find clusters different from named species by using a more informed cluster formation strategy than a conventional nominal variant of the algorithm

Tamaño del infarto cerebral aterotrombótico del territorio carotídeo según sus factores de riesgo

Introducción: La mayoría de los infartos cerebrales aterotrombóticos son debidos a aterosclerosis extracraneal y a los factores de riesgo que lo condicionan. Objetivo: Caracterizar a pacientes con ictus aterotrombótico de territorio anterior según tamaño, sexo y factores de riesgo aterotrombótico. Métodos: Se realizó un estudio transversal a 63 pacientes que acudieron al Hospital Militar Central "Dr. Carlos J. Finlay" con diagnóstico de infarto cerebral aterotrombótico reciente de territorio carotídeo, a los que se les realizó tomografía de cráneo simple, entre los años 2011 y 2013. Resultados: Predominaron los infartos grandes (57,1 %) en hombres (80,6 %) y de forma general también fue el sexo masculino el más afectado (68,3 %). La mayoría de los pacientes que tuvieron tanto infartos medianos (59,3 %) como infartos grandes (58,3 %), refirieron de 3 a 4 factores de riesgo aterotrombótico (58,7 %). Prevaleció la hipertensión arterial (82,5 %), con mayor coincidencia con los infartos medianos (88,9 %), que con los infartos grandes (77,8 %). Conclusiones: El ictus aterotrombótico reciente de territorio de irrigación carotídeo se caracterizó en esta serie, por infartos grandes y mayor afectación de adultos mayores, hipertensos, del sexo masculino. La existencia de 3 a 4 factores de riesgo en cada paciente prevalece tanto en los que presentan infarto cerebral mediano como grande

Aterosclerosis carotídea en el infarto cerebral aterotrombótico del territorio vascular homónimo

Introducción: El eco-Doppler carotídeo es la prueba de elección en el estudio inicial y de seguimiento del ictus aterotrombótico. Objetivo: Describir los hallazgos ecográficos en ambos ejes carotídeos en pacientes con infarto cerebral aterotrombótico del territorio vascular homónimo. Métodos: Se realizó una investigación observacional con todos los pacientes (63), que acudieron al Hospital Militar Central "Dr. Carlos J. Finlay", entre octubre del 2012 y septiembre del 2013, con diagnóstico clínico y tomográfico de infarto cerebral aterotrombótico de territorio anterior, a los que se les realizó eco-Doppler carotídeo. Resultados: Se contabilizaron mayor cantidad de placas de ateromas en el eje carotídeo homolateral al ictus aterotrombótico (54,3 %) y la gran mayoría de estos fueron inestables (98,4 %). La placa tipo III (50 %), la irregularidad del contorno (54,1%) y la estenosis menor del 49 % (57,6 %) fueron los hallazgos ecográficos que dominaron en el eje contralateral al infarto. En ambas carótidas también fueron las placas tipo III (47,1 %), la irregularidad de los contornos (51,6 %), las estenosis no significativas (54,3 %) y la inestabilidad de estas (94,4 %), las que predominaron. Conclusiones: La aterosclerosis carotídea en el ictus aterotrombótico describe mayoritariamente placas tipo III irregulares, que provocan estenosis menores del 49 % en ambos ejes carotídeos y la inestabilidad es casi constante, con una incidencia ligeramente mayor en el eje carotídeo homolateral al infarto. La frecuencia del resto de las cualidades de las placas de ateromas enunciadas, domina levemente en el eje carotídeo contralateral

Guidelines to Establish an Office of Student Accessibility Services in Higher Education Institutions

The objective of this paper is to propose a set of guidelines to establish an office of Student Accessibility Services (SAS) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The proposed guidelines help to integrate disjointed knowledge to facilitate its interpretation and implementation during deployment of basic support services in favor of students with disability. These guidelines can help to mitigate complexity in providing SAS for the first time in HEIs. These guidelines cover both the design and implementation of an office of SAS and its management. Knowledge was found through a multivocal literature review (MLR), which allowed to capture not only academic approaches but also vantage points and experiences from practice. Key concepts and aspects were organized into eight components (five related to the design and implementation, and three associated with the management context). An expert appraisal method was used as a proof of concept, which complemented a previously performed preliminary implementation example. Obtained results demonstrated the pertinence of the conceptual proposal and confirmed guidelines capability for full implementation in a real-world scenario.This research work has been co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, project EduTech (609785-EPP-1-2019-1-ES-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP)

Comparison of condylar position in normal occlusion, Class II Division 1, Class II Division 2 and Class III malocclusions using CBCT imaging

The aim of this study was to establish the condylar position in a group of patients with normal occlusion, compared to Class II Div 1, Class II Div 2 and Class III malocclusions using CBCT imaging. Retrospective case-control study carried out by analyz

MAG3 renogram deconvolution in kidney transplantation: utility of the measurement of initial tracer uptake

The study of renal retention function by deconvolution analysis of renographic curves is useful to calculate quantitative parameters in renal studies. The aim of the work is to evaluate the usefulness of 99mTc-MAG3 renogram deconvolution in renal function monitoring of kidney graft recipients. Methods: forty-three kidney grafts and 112 renograms were studied: 41 were diagnosed as functioning graft, 35 as acute tubular necrosis, 24 as acute rejection, 8 as obstruction and 4 as cyclosporin toxicity. The parameters calculated were mean transit time (MTT), time at 20% of renal retention function (T20) and initial uptake (IU). Results: MTT and T20 were significantly longer in obstructives than in functioning grafts (p < 0.001). Initial uptake was significantly lower in acute tubular necrosis (ATN) and acute rejection (p < 0.001) and in obstructives (p < 0.05) than in functioning grafts. The joint evaluation of MTT and IU allowed to diagnose cases with graft function severely impaired. Conclusion: initial uptake is useful in evaluating post-transplantation complications and in combination with MTT and T20 reflects renal dysfunction severity