Design issues in the production of hyper‐books and visual‐books

This paper describes an ongoing research project in the area of electronic books. After a brief overview of the state of the art in this field, two new forms of electronic book are presented: hyper‐books and visual‐books. A flexible environment allows them to be produced in a semi‐automatic way starting from different sources: electronic texts (as input for hyper‐books) and paper books (as input for visual‐books). The translation process is driven by the philosophy of preserving the book metaphor in order to guarantee that electronic information is presented in a familiar way. Another important feature of our research is that hyper‐books and visual‐books are conceived not as isolated objects but as entities within an electronic library, which inherits most of the features of a paper‐based library but introduces a number of new properties resulting from its non‐physical nature

A model for hypermedia learning environments based on electronic books

Designers of hypermedia learning environments could take advantage of a theoretical scheme which takes into account various kinds of learning activities and solves some of the problems associated with them. In this paper, we present a model which inherits a number of characteristics from hypermedia and electronic books. It can provide designers with the tools for creating hypermedia learning systems, by allowing the elements and functions involved in the definition of a specific application to be formally represented A practical example, CESAR, a hypermedia learning environment for hearing‐impaired children, is presented, and some conclusions derived from the use of the model are also shown

Deux etapes pour la création dynamique d'activités Pédagogiques

Research on distance learning platforms aims to define models for the structure, deployment, management and use of these intelligent environments. Within this context, this paper presents a model of dynamic generation of pedagogical activities. The basic idea is that pedagogical activities are neither static nor predefined, but they can be dynamically created starting from basic documents, and presented in different ways according to the student model. The basic documents are not associated to only one activity. They are conceived to be re-used in different activities. The paper presents in particular an implementation of a problem solving activity, generated from a two-step process, which shows how adaptability and reusability can be really effective thanks to the integration of tecnologies such as XML, DOM, XSL and the potential of the Java language by using servlets and Js

The NURAXI web-based learning environment architecture

The fast evolution of today world impels corporations to provide their employees just-in-time training, adapted training and more generally continuous education. To be able to satisfy this demand, authors need means to specify once didactic material and then to reuse, select, adapt and distribute it to different users in different contexts. Since September 1998, Mediatech is developing the NURAXI multimedia research platform aimed at the design, generation, deployment, management and use of intelligent distance learning environments. NURAXI interacts with the user on the basis of the competency assessment (initial, on-going progress and final), the individual learning style and collaborative learning. Our solution is departing from a document type based organization of courses and training material towards a functionality and competency based model. We consider models and structures for information, knowledge and competencies more appropriate to the new on-line delivery environment than the document-based old one (html-based or not). From a technological point of view, this was made possible by the recent arrival of XML technology, coupled with Java and Web application technology

A distance learning environment architecture

This paper presents the core architecture of NURAXI, a multimedia research platform aimed at the design, generation, deployment, management and use of intelligent distance learning environments. It describes the actors and services that are involved in the production and use of intelligent distance learning environments, the structures that are at the heart of the environment, and the processes that use these structures. The competence notion is the central component around which both author's and student's interactions gravitate. An author generates the training material on the basis of competencies to be acquired by a student, and the means to get them, i.e. the related activities and contents. A student accesses the pedagogical material by first selecting his/her learning objectives. The training path is made of dynamically created pedagogical activities. Examples of implemented activities are also shown in the paper. The platform presents a number of interesting features including re-usability of didactic components; adaptability of the training material to the student model; dynamic definition of the training path; modularity, and interoperability thanks to the adoption of standard and open solutions in terms of document structures, ontologies, design and implementation techniques. All these advantages derive from the integration of technologies such as the XML paradigm, Servlets, Software Agents, and Distributed Databases

Hand Hygiene and Glove Use Behavior in an Italian Hospital

In an Italian hospital, we observed that hand hygiene was performed in 638 (19.6%) of 3,253 opportunities, whereas gloves were worn in 538 (44.2%) 1,218 of opportunities. We observed an inverse correlation between the intensity of care and the rate of hand hygiene compliance (R2=0.057; P<.001), but no such association was observed for the rate of glove use compliance (R2 = 0.014; P = .078). Rates of compliance with hand hygiene and glove use recommendations follow different behavioral pattern

Il progetto C95 e l’uso di tecnologie mobili per la formazione

L’articolo descrive l’esperienza d’uso di tecnologie mobili interattive nella formazione degli autotrasportatori all’interno del progetto ERASMUS+ C95 Challeng