Assessing the participatory design of a project-based course on computer network applications

New teaching methodologies which foster student involvement, such as project-based learning, are nowadays part of the study curriculum of many engineering schools. Project-based learning courses, however, often build upon other previously taught technical courses, where the technical content for the project to be developed is studied. That type of course design focuses on building the transversal capabilities of students, and the technical challenges of the project are the mean to acquire these non-technical skills. In this paper, we present and assess a project-based course on computer network applications of a computer science school, which has been designed to improve within the same course both the transversal and technical skills of the students. The proposition of interest is that the course not only aims to train the students’ transversal skills by a group work project, but also to practise new technical topics and technologies. We argue that the key element of the proposed course design is that each student project group defines with the instructor the project they would like to develop in the course. We present first the design of the course and then an assessment with questionnaires, which were conducted over two semesters with the students enrolled in the course. The obtained results indicate that the students achieved both technical and transversal skills, while the instructors need to be flexible to adapt to diverse technical topics of the proposed projects.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Multimedia big data computing for in-depth event analysis

While the most part of ”big data” systems target text-based analytics, multimedia data, which makes up about 2/3 of internet traffic, provide unprecedented opportunities for understanding and responding to real world situations and challenges. Multimedia Big Data Computing is the new topic that focus on all aspects of distributed computing systems that enable massive scale image and video analytics. During the course of this paper we describe BPEM (Big Picture Event Monitor), a Multimedia Big Data Computing framework that operates over streams of digital photos generated by online communities, and enables monitoring the relationship between real world events and social media user reaction in real-time. As a case example, the paper examines publicly available social media data that relate to the Mobile World Congress 2014 that has been harvested and analyzed using the described system.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

El sorgiment d'un nou imaginari a la ficció televisiva de qualitat

L'anàlisi de sèries nord-americanes d'èxit de públic i de crítica com El ala oeste de la Casa Blanca (The West Wing, NBC 1999-2006), Perdidos (Lost, ABC 2004-), Mujeres desesperadas(Desperate Housewives, ABC 2004-), House (House, M.D., Fox 2004-) i CSI: Las Vegas (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS 2000-) ens permet afirmar que els temes i els mites tradicionals perviuen en la ficció televisiva, independentment dels condicionants productius de la indústria audiovisual, compartint espai amb un nou imaginari televisiu autoreferencial. La recurrència temàtica i mítica pertany a l'àmbit del significat (pla del contingut) i les referències metatelevisives es troben en l'àmbit del significant (pla de l'expressió), amb les corresponents conseqüències quant a la creativitat i l'originalitat dels productes. La intertextualitat obeeix al plaer del reconeixement, ja que el nou imaginari televisiu sorgeix adaptant-se als nous interessos de l'audiència. Les referències metatelevisives es poden estructurar en funció d'una graella televisiva, d'acord amb la seva intencionalitat fagocitadora i aglutinadora de la resta de programació televisiva. El caràcter metatelevisiu es considera una característica pròpia del grau de maduresa del mitjà, així com l'autoreferencialitatAn analysis of successful US series, both in terms of audience and critics, such as The West Wing (NBC 1999-2006), Lost (ABC 2004- ), Desperate Housewives (ABC 2004- ), House, M.D. (Fox 2004- ) and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation CBS 2000- ) allows us to state that the traditional themes and myths survive in TV fiction, irrespective of the conditioning factors for production in the audiovisual industry, sharing space with a new self-referential TV imaginary. The recurrence of themes and myths belongs to the area of the signified(content plane) and meta-television references reside in the area of the signifier expression plane), with the corresponding consequences with regard to creativity and the originality of the products. Inter textuality obeys the pleasure of recognition, as the new TV imaginary arises and adapts itself to the audiences' new interests. The meta-television references can be structured along the lines of a TV grid, depending on their intention to devour and unite the rest of the TV programming. The meta-television nature is considered to be a characteristic of the medium's degree of maturity, as well as self-reference and hypervisibility

El text audiovisual : anàlisi des d'una perspectiva mediològica

El text audiovisual: Anàlisi des d'una perspectiva mediològica és una investigació de cinc sèries dels Estats Units: "El ala oeste de la Casa Blanca" (The west wing, NBC: 1999-2006), "Perdidos" (Lost, ABC: 2004- ), "Mujeres desesperadas" (Desperate housewives, ABC: 2004- ), "House" (House, Fox: 2004- ) i "CSI: Las Vegas" (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS: 2000- ), pel que fa als contextos productius, les característiques genèriques i les invariants temàtiques. S'hi desenvolupa una metodologia sincrètica (Lévi-Strauss, 1969; Dumézil, 1973; Ginzburg, 2003; Nagy, 2006), i s'estudia la seva adscripció a un gènere concret (perspectiva diacrònica) i la presència i actualització del mite mitjançant la recurrència temàtica (perspectiva sincrònica). La pervivència de la recurrència temàtica en les sèries és la hipòtesi de partida de la recerca. S'analitza la influència de les diferents eres televisives en la serialitat estudiada.Analysis of audiovisual texts from a mediological perspective is a study of five American series: "The West Wing", NBC, 1999-2006; "Lost", ABC, 2004 to the present; "Desperate Housewives", ABC, 2004 to the present; "House", Fox, 2004 to the present, and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation", CBS, 2000 to the present. The dissertation focuses on the production contexts of these series and their overall characteristics and thematic invariants. The research approach is structured according to a syncretic methodology. Insights from Lévi-Strauss, 1969; Dumézil, 1973; Ginzburg, 2003, and Nagy, 2006, are applied to a specific genre (thus providing a diachronic perspective) and to the presence and renewal of myth through thematic recurrence (giving a synchronic perspective). Continuity of thematic recurrence in these series is the hypothesis underlying the research. The influence on the series of various television eras is also studied

Diacronia del gènere hospitalari i figura paterna. Anàlisi d'un cas : «House»

L'article fa una anàlisi del gènere hospitalari nord-americà televisiu centrat en la sèrie House (House, M.D., Fox, 2004-). S'hi sintetitzen les característiques més rellevants de la sèrie pel que fa a la narrativa audiovisual i a les claus del seu èxit, i s'incideix especialment en la relació de la sèrie amb la resta de diacronia d'aquest subgènere dramàtic, així com en la multigenericitat estructural de la sèrie i la rellevància de determinats temes que n'asseguren l'esmentat èxit, com ara la figura paterna, un tema que articula els cinquanta anys d'existència del gènere hospitalari nord-americà.This paper analyzes the hospital TV genre in the USA, especially the series House, M.D. (Fox, 2004). The programme's most important features concerning the audiovisual narrative and its keys to success are presented as well as the relationship of this series to its own genre, a dramatic subgenre. The multiple genre-structure of House and the relevance of some themes -which are related to its success- are also studied. One example is the father figure, one of the themes that articulates fifty years of life of the hospital genre in the USA

Infoentretenimiento. El for­mato imparable de la era del espectáculo [Reseña]

Obra ressenyada: FERRÉ, Carme; GAYÀ, Catalina; FERRER, Iliana; LOZANO, Carlos; CARRILLO, Nereida; y MONTOYA, Diego. Infoentretenimiento. El formato imparable de la era del espectáculo. Barcelona, UOC, 2013

El film researcher

171 López de Solís, Iris. El film researcher. Barcelona: UOC, 2013. 118 p

Ressenyes

Obra ressenyada: Josep PERNAU, Memòries. D'Arbeca a l'Opus Mei. Barcelona: La Campana, 2004

A novel voltage sag approach during unintentional islanding scenarios: A survey from real recorded events

In this paper, a new voltage sag approach is analytically modelled and validated using both simulation and field measurements. The main aspect of this approach is to propose a new voltage sag feature which appears during unintentional islanding operations (IOs). The unintentional IO occurs when an induction motor is removed from the main utility following a circuit breaker (CB) clearing, transiently, the induction motors (IMs) are acting as generators maintaining the affected distribution feeder with voltage until it is reconnected. The voltage sag modelled in the current article follows an exponential form, as a matter of fact, here it will be demonstrated that the proposed model reaches satisfactorily the field measurements and evidences the dependability of the model adopted. Furthermore, it is worthwhile to note that this novel power quality (PQ) event has not been investigated yet and enhances voltage sag studies. Lastly, it is crucial to point out that all recorded events and a large amount of data needed so as to validate this transient, has been measured in a distribution network (DN) located in Spain.Postprint (published version