Videogame focused on the autism spectrum disorder among children and their understanding of emotions

Treball final de Grau en Disseny i Desenvolupament de Videojocs. Codi: VJ1241. Curs acadèmic: 2017/2018This document is a memory for my final project of the degree on Design and Development of Videogames. I will explain the entire development process. from the idea to the final testing. It consists in a videogame, a graphic adventure, focused on showing children with autism spectrum disorder how to recognise and understand a range of emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger or fear. In this adventure, the player starts a journey, where each different place we come by will be based on one of those basic feelings. I will initially focus on a fully functional game with at least two or three emotions/villages, and then I will expand it. Moreover, it will include some narrative mechanics in order to increase the playability and increase the number of narrative lines. This game has been developed with Unity3D for computer, and will be playable in English and Spanish. Last but not least, this project is supported on existing scientific work (links added at the end). For instance, I will be using one of the methods described in [2] to visually express emotions, which consists on associating each one to a specific non-verbal code, like colors or symbols, that will be unique for each village. Last but not least, I got a lot of help from the Autism center of Castellón, in regard to collect information and being with children in their activities

Investigation of Solar Hybrid Electric/Thermal System with Radiation Concentrator and Thermoelectric Generator

An experimental study of a solar-concentrating system based on thermoelectric generators (TEGs) was performed. The system included an electrical generating unit with 6 serially connected TEGs using a traditional semiconductor material, Bi2Te3, which was illuminated by concentrated solar radiation on one side and cooled by running water on the other side. A sun-tracking concentrator with a mosaic set of mirrors was used; its orientation towards the sun was achieved with two pairs of radiation sensors, a differential amplifier, and two servomotors. The hot side of the TEGs at midday has a temperature of around 200°C, and the cold side is approximately 50°C. The thermosiphon cooling system was designed to absorb the heat passing through the TEGs and provide optimal working conditions. The system generates 20 W of electrical energy and 200 W of thermal energy stored in water with a temperature of around 50°C. The hybrid system studied can be considered as an alternative to photovoltaic/thermal systems, especially in countries with abundant solar radiation, such as Mexico, China, and India

Pathological Gambling and Associated Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Emotion Regulation, and Anxious-Depressive Symptomatology

Background and aims Pathological gambling is associated with comorbid disorders, such as anxiety, depression, and drug and alcohol abuse. Difficulties of emotion regulation may be one of the factors related to the presence of addictive disorders, along with comorbid symptomatology in pathological gamblers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the difficulties of emotion regulation, drug and alcohol abuse, and anxious and depressive symptomatology in pathological gamblers, and the mediating role of difficulties of emotion regulation between anxiety and pathological gambling. Methods The study sample included 167 male pathological gamblers (mean age = 39.29 years) and 107 non-gamblers (mean age = 33.43 years). Pathological gambling (SOGS), difficulties of emotion regulation (DERS), drug and alcohol abuse (MUTICAGE CAD-4), and anxious and depressive symptomatology (SA-45) were measured. Student’s t, Pearson’s r, stepwise multiple linear regression and multiple mediation analyses were conducted. The study was approved by an Investigational Review Board. Results Relative to non-gamblers, pathological gamblers exhibited greater difficulties of emotion regulation, as well as more anxiety, depression, and drug abuse. Moreover, pathological gambling correlated with emotion regulation difficulties, anxiety, depression, and drug abuse. Besides, emotion regulation difficulties correlated with and predicted pathological gambling, drug and alcohol abuse, and anxious and depressive symptomatology. Finally, emotion regulation difficulties mediated the relationship between anxiety and pathological gambling controlling the effect of age, both when controlling and not controlling for the effect of other abuses. Discussion and conclusions These results suggest that difficulties of emotion regulation may provide new keys to understanding and treating pathological gambling and comorbid disorders

Compromiso organizacional y estrés ocupacional: estudio de caso en una empresa de distribución y venta de gas LP en Costa Rica

1 archivo PDF (14 páginas). magyefoAl inicio de este estudio se propusieron dos posibles tipos de relaciones entre estrés laboral y compromiso organizacional (co): lineal negativa y lineal positiva en una muestra de empleados de una empresa en Costa Rica. Los instrumentos usados, Índice de tensión relacionada al trabajo y Cuestionario de co, mostraron consistencia interna con Alfas de Cronbach de 0.825 y 0.862, respectivamente. El coeficiente de correlación de Pearson fue -0.17 entre ambas variables. El signo negativo sugiere una relación lineal negativa que coincide con los resultados de Kobasa (1982:707), quien propone que el co protege a los individuos de los efectos negativos del estrés, porque les permite mantener la dirección y el significado en su trabajo. Sin embargo, la débil correlación encontrada no alcanza a demostrar algún efecto mediador del co sobre el estrés. Por lo tanto, no hay evidencia para apoyar los hallazgos de Begley y Czajka (1993:552) relacionados con el efecto atenuante del co durante el tumulto organizacional. Se recomienda, a futuro, investigar la correlación entre ambas variables con instrumentos de evaluación que consideren los tres componentes de co del modelo de Meyer y Allen (1997:11), usar una escala para medir estrés que incluya tanto elementos de “distrés” como de “eustres” y considerar modelos alternativos que expliquen el efecto mediador sobre el estrés de otros factores organizacionales, tales como el apoyo social, según lo proponen Karasek y Theorell (1990). Asimismo, se sugiere que, además de los estudios paramétricos, se realicen entrevistas a profundidad con muestras cualitativas de empleados con evidencia de estrés. ABSTRACT: At the beginning of this study, two possible relations between Occupational Stress and Organizational Commitment were proposed: direct and inverse relation for a sample of employees in a Costa Rica`s Company. The instruments that were used, Job-Related Tension Index & Shortened Organizational Commitment Questionnaire, showed internal consistency with Alfas of Cronbach of 0.825 and 0.862 respectively. The Pearson correlation index between both variable was -0.17, which means an inverse relationship in alignment with results obtained by Kobasa (1982:707), who proposed that Organizational Commitment protects employees of the negative effects of stress, because it enables them to keep a direction and sense of meaning in their job. Nevertheless, the weak correlation does not support the mitigation effect of Organizational Commitment over Occupational Stress. Therefore, there is no evidence to support the findings of Begley y Czajka (1993:552), regarding the mitigating effect of Organizational Commitment during organizational turmoil. For future research, it is recommended to investigate the correlation between both variables using instruments that include the three components of commitment according to the model of Meyer & Allen (1997:11), use any instrument to measure Occupational Stress that combines both “distress” and “eustres” elements and consider alternate models that explain the mitigating effect on stress of other organizational factors, such as social support, as proposed by Karasek y Theorell (1990). Likewise, it is suggested that in addition to “parametric” evaluations, detailed interviews are performed with employees that show evidence of stress. PALABRAS CLAVE: Compromiso organizacional, estrés laboral, cambio organizacional, organización. KEYWORDS: Organizational commitment, job stress, organizational change, organization

Tradición y cambio en la división del trabajo comunitario: el proceso artesanal de tapetes de lana en una comunidad indígena zapoteca

El proceso de producción artesanal de tapetes de lana de la comunidad de Teotitlán, ubicada en la región de los Valles Centrales de Oaxaca, Oaxaca, México se organiza con un alto grado de valoración hacia los elementos étnico-religiosos compartidos en la comunidad. El objetivo del trabajo fue mostrar cómo la elaboración de tapetes es un ejemplo de organización de energía humana que responde a una división del trabajo tradicional donde la organización de la producción se basa en un sistema de organización del trabajo comunitario y diferenciado que asigna roles distintos a mujeres y varones que son reproducidos gracias a un sistema simbólico que incluye normas de conducta. Se buscó conocer la percepción de los sujetos y las posibilidades de cambio dentro de una organización del trabajo dominada por la visión de la comunidad. Los principales resultados mostraron que la condición de emprendedor es valorada en la comunidad, sin embargo se subsume a la condición étnica, es decir a la reproducción explícita de la estructura social e implícita a través de la subjetividad ligada a las actividades religiosas y seculares. La división del trabajo en la producción de tapetes se organiza considerando el prestigio, los valores tradicionales y la asignación de roles por género. El éxito empresarial se entiende como un éxito de la comunidad, en tanto debe existir un equilibrio entre el uso de los recursos y la producción de tapetes, por sobre el éxito individual o de un solo empresario