Improving the Working Memory During Early Childhood Education Through the Use of an Interactive Gesture Game-Based Learning Approach

One of the most socially and culturally advantageous uses of human–computer interaction is enhancing playing and learning for children. In this paper, gesture interactive game-based learning (GIGL) is tested to see if these kinds of applications are suitable to stimulate working memory (WM) and basic mathematical skills (BMS) in early childhood (5–6 years old) using a hand gesture recognition system. Hand gesture is being performed by the user and to control a computer system by that incoming information. The research was developed using a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test and post-test, using both an experimental and control group through three phases: the first one was the prior evaluation of the learner’s skills; a second phase in which the use of the technology was developed; and a final phase of evaluation. In the evaluation phases, working memory was measured using the Corsi task, and the basic mathematical skills using the test for the diagnosis of basic mathematical competencies (TEDI-MATH). The results provide clear evidence that the use of these technologies improved both working memory and basic mathematical skills. We can conclude that the children who used GIGL technology showed a significant increase in their learning performance in WM and BMS, surpassing those who did normal school activitiesS

MULTIMODAL AND MULTIDIMENSIONAL GEODATA VISUALIZATION SYSTEM

It has been observed that Virtual Geographic Environments (VGEs) has been taking a lot of attention over the last decade, particularly within the domain of geographical information systems (GIS) and geographic analysis area. In this paper, we shed the light on the benefits of implementing archaeological visualization systems through the use of Google Earth application. Our application helps the end users and archaeologists working in data exploration and excavation analysis to deal with new web services that allows them to visualize huge amount of data in a new and usable way. For the purposed of our study, have tested our system with data from The Rocha Castle (an historic castle in the Galicia region (Spain) that was built in the 12th century). The system provides access to the excavation database and automatically updates the visualization, whenever the database is changed. The system can handle various types of Data, which could be, one, two or three-dimensional data. The paper aims to answer four fundamental questions regarding archaeological GIS systems: I. How to integrate a one and three dimensions representation into the same scenes? II. How to adapt data resolution to fit them into a particular Level of Visualization Detail (LOD) III. How to optimize data retrieval for efficient recovery data interpolation or continuous visualization? And finally IV. How to represent many objects in the same coordinates without overlapping

Automatic decision support system based on SAR data for oil spill detection

This is the accepted manuscript of the following article: Mera, D., Cotos, J., Varela-Pet, J., G. Rodríguez, P. and Caro, A. (2014). Automatic decision support system based on SAR data for oil spill detection. Computers & Geosciences, 72, pp.184-191Global trade is mainly supported by maritime transport, which generates important pollution problems. Thus, effective surveillance and intervention means are necessary to ensure proper response to environmental emergencies. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been established as a useful tool for detecting hydrocarbon spillages on the oceans surface. Several Decision Support Systems have been based on this technology. This paper presents an automatic oil spill detection system based on SAR data which was developed on the basis of confirmed spillages and it was adapted to an important international shipping route off the Galician coast (northwest Iberian Peninsula). The system was supported by an adaptive segmentation process based on wind data as well as a shape oriented characterization algorithm. Moreover, two classifiers were developed and compared. Thus, image testing revealed up to 95.1% candidate labeling accuracy. Shared-memory parallel programming techniques were used to develop algorithms in order to improve above a 25% of the system processing timeThe authors wish to thank the financial support provided by the ‘Deputación da Coruña’ under the ‘Bolsas de Investigación 2013’ programmeS

Aprendizaje experiencial e introducción de estresores en el diseño de una práctica centrada en procesos de gestión

La formación de los futuros ingenieros de software requiere de un equilibrio entre el desarrollo de habilidades técnicas y blandas (i.e, soft-skills) Este trabajo explora el diseño de una sesión práctica que, basada en principios de aprendizaje experiencial de Kolb, persigue que aprendan de la reflexión y experiencia durante la realización de un mini-proyecto en equipo bajo condiciones de estrés. Entre los procesos propuestos en la práctica están el control de la calidad o la gestión de cambios que no son intuitivos para los alumnos y se abandonan rápidamente bajo presión. El diseño introduce estresores de manera controlada para forzar errores de los que los alumnos puedan aprender. Con esto se persigue que los estudiantes sean más conscientes de la relevancia de las habilidades no-técnicas y de gestión.Soft-skills must be fostered over and above technical skills in order to ensure balanced and resourceful future software engineers. This work explores the design of a workshop session, which based on experiential learning principles seeks learning from own experience by reflecting and iterating on a team project. In the designed session, some processes such as quality control or changes management are especially promoted since they are not typically intuitive to students and are abandoned under pressure. The design introduces stressors in a controlled and timed manner in order to cause forced mistakes to trigger learning. This pursues that students become more aware of the relevance of managerial and non-technical skills.Agradecimientos a la beca MICINN-Juan de la Cierva (IJC2018-037522-I), al proyecto KUSISQA (014-2019-FONDECYT-BM-INC.INV), a Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria (grant accreditation ED431G-2019/04) y FEDER

Perfil de los pacientes que acuden al médico internista para valoración de osteoporosis: registro OSTEOMED

Producción CientíficaAntecedentes y objetivo: La osteoporosis se considera un trastorno generalizado del esqueleto en el que existe una alteración de la resistencia ósea que predispone a la persona a un mayor riesgo de fractura. Este estudio transversal pretende recoger y presentar las principales características clínicas de los pacientes que acuden a la consulta de los médicos internistas en Espa˜na. Conocer estas características podría facilitar la puesta en marcha de planes de actuación para mejorar la atención de estos pacientes de manera más eficaz y eficiente. Material y métodos: A través del análisis del registro OSTEOMED (Osteoporosis en Medicina Interna), este trabajo presenta las principales características clínicas de los pacientes con osteoporosis que acudieron a las consultas de Medicina Interna en 23 centros hospitalarios espa˜noles entre 2012 y 2017. Se han analizado los motivos de consulta, los valores densitométricos, la presencia de comorbilidades, el tratamiento prescrito y otros factores relacionados con el estilo de vida. Resultados: En total se evaluó a 2.024 pacientes con osteoporosis (89,87% mujeres, 10,13% hombres). La edad media de los pacientes fue de 64,1 ± 12,1 a˜nos (mujeres, 64,7 ± 11,5 a˜nos; hombres, 61,2 ± 14,2 a˜nos). No hubo diferencia entre sexos en la historia de caídas recientes (9,1-6,7%), mientras que sí se apreció en la ingesta diaria de calcio de lácteos (553,8 ± 332,6 mg en mujeres vs. 450,2 ± 303,3 mg en hombres; p < 0,001) y en causas secundarias de osteoporosis(13% de hombres vs. 6,5% de mujeres; p < 0,001). En la muestra se observaron un total de 404fracturas (20%), destacando el número de fracturas vertebrales confirmadas (17,2%, 35,6% enhombres vs. 15,2% de las mujeres; p < 0,001). Una gran parte de los pacientes no recibía eltratamiento indicado y presentaba bajos niveles de actividad física y exposición solar. Un por-centaje importante de pacientes presentó comorbilidades asociadas, siendo las más frecuentesla hipertensión (32%) y la dislipidemia (28%).Conclusiones: Estos resultados definen el perfil del paciente con osteoporosis que acude a laconsulta de Medicina Interna en Espa˜na. Además, ponen de manifiesto el carácter multisistémicode esta entidad que junto con su elevada prevalencia determinan que las consultas específicasde Medicina Interna dedicadas a su manejo son el lugar adecuado para la atención de estos pacientes