Development of an ontology for the inclusion of app users with visual impairments

Approximately 15% of the world’s population have some form of disability and the majority use apps on their mobile devices to help them in their daily lives with communication, healthcare, or for entertainment purposes. It is not, however, easy for users with impairments to choose the most suitable apps since this will depend on their particular personal characteristics or circumstances in a specific context, and because such users require apps with certain accessibility features which are not always specified in the app description. In order to overcome such difficulties, it is necessary to obtain a user profile that gathers the user’s personal details, abilities, disabilities, skills, and interests to facilitate selection. The basis for our research work is to develop an app that recommends a set of apps to users with disabilities. In this respect, the focus of this paper is to obtain a semantic user profile model on which more precise search requests can be performed. The disability we have chosen to concentrate on is that of visual impairment. We propose an ontology-based user profile that matches users’ characteristics, disabilities, and interests, and which not only simplifies the classification process but also provides a mechanism for linking them with existing disability ontologies, assistive devices, accessibility concepts, etc. Moreover, thanks to the inclusion of semantic relations and rules, it is possible to reason and infer new information that can be used to make more personalized recommendations than a simple app store search.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Agencia Estatal de Investigacion) PID2019-109644RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/50110001103

A neural blockchain for a tokenizable e-Participation model

Currently, Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) and, especially, Blockchain technology represent a great opportunity for public institutions to improve citizen participation and foster democratic innovation. These technologies facilitate the simplification of processes and provide secure management of recorded data, guaranteeing the transmission and public transparency of information. Based on the combination of a Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) platform and G-Cloud solutions, our proposal consists of the design of an e-Participation model that uses a tokenizable system of the actions and processes undertaken by citizens in participatory processes providing incentives to promote greater participation in public affairs. In order to develop a sustainable, scalable and resilient e-Participation system, a new blockchain concept, which organizes the blocks as a neural system, is combined with the implementation of a virtual token to reward participants. Furthermore, this virtual token is deployed through a smart contract that the block itself produces, containing information about the transaction and all the documents involved in the process. Finally, our Neural Distributed Ledger (NDL) framework facilitates the interconnection of blockchain networks in a transparent, certified, secure, auditable, scalable and traceable way

Accessibility and Activity-Centered Design for ICT Users: ACCESIBILITIC Ontology

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are involved in daily human activities. Accessibility guarantees that individuals with different abilities can interact with ICTs. User pro le models are an explicit representation of the characteristics of an individual and are used to reason about what users need. They are implemented through ontologies. After identifying common and different aspects among important ontologies in the domain of accessibility and e-inclusion, we designed and implemented the ACCESIBILITIC ontology applying the NeOn methodology, speci cally by reusing and reengineering these ontologies. The strengths of our model include the user's ability to develop a high variety of activities despite his/her disabilities, support for inference processes, and providing answers to several competency questions. ACCESIBILITIC allows the representation of suitable technical support based on the user's capabilities when interacting with ICTs. To this end, we use an activity-centered design (ACD), which allows us to identify daily activities and to match these activities with a suitable technology to perform them.This research work is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness - Agencia Estatal de Investigación - with European Regional Development Funds (AEI/FEDER, UE) through the project ref. TIN2016-79484-R

Challenges in software applications for the cognitive evaluation and stimulation of the elderly

Background: Computer-based cognitive stimulation applications can help the elderly maintain and improve their cognitive skills. In this research paper, our objectives are to verify the usability of PESCO (an open-software application for cognitive evaluation and stimulation) and to determine the concurrent validity of cognitive assessment tests and the effectiveness of PESCO’s cognitive stimulation exercises.Methods: Two studies were conducted in various community computer centers in the province of Granada. The first study tested tool usability by observing 43 elderly people and considering their responses to a questionnaire. In the second study, 36 elderly people completed pen-and-paper and PESCO tests followed by nine cognitive stimulation sessions. Meanwhile, a control group with 34 participants used computers for nine non-structured sessions.Results: Analysis of the first study revealed that although PESCO had been developed by taking usability guidelines into account, there was room for improvement. Results from the second study indicated moderate concurrent validity between PESCO and standardized tests (Pearson’s r from .501 to .702) and highlighted the effectiveness of training exercises for improving attention (F = -4.111, p < .001) and planning (F = 5.791, p < .001) functions.Conclusions: PESCO can be used by the elderly. The PESCO cognitive test module demonstrated its concurrent validity with traditional cognitive evaluation tests. The stimulation module is effective for improving attention and planning skills.This research was jointly supported by funding from the Consortium Fernando de los Ríos and an Excellence Project (TIC-6600) from the Ministry of Innovation of the Regional Government of Andalusia in Spain. The University of Granada awarded a Research Grant to Sandra Rute-Pérez for this project

Desarrollo de sistemas virtuales para la generación de competencias relacionadas con la sostenibilidad ambiental en los estudios universitarios de economía e ingeniería

El trabajo empírico que desarrollamos a continuación tiene como objetivo principal contribuir al mejor conocimiento del estado actual y las previsiones de futuro en cuanto al desarrollo de competencias genéricas relacionadas con la sostenibilidad ambiental en los estudios universitarios. El trabajo final se ha centrado en dos ámbitos diferenciados de estudios, relacionados con las áreas de de economía e ingeniería, respectivamente. Para conseguir este objetivo hemos realizado un estudio de campo, remitiendo un cuestionario estructurado a los directores de los departamentos implicados en la docencia de los planes de estudios de la titulación de Administración y Dirección de Empresas y de las Ingenierías de Informática y Telecomunicaciones. En los siguientes apartados explicaremos con cierto detalle la planificación de la investigación empírica llevada a cabo y realizaremos los análisis oportunos para conseguir los objetivos propuestos. La estructura del trabajo empírico desarrollado engloba tres grandes partes. En primer lugar hemos realizado un análisis descriptivo de la población considerada así como de la muestra. A continuación, pasamos a estudiar, para cada una de las titulaciones objeto de estudio, cuál es la situación actual y previsión futura en cuanto al desarrollo de competencias relacionadas con la sostenibilidad ambiental. Posteriormente, identificamos la posible existencia de diferencias significativas entre las mismas.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovació

Aplicación de una metodología colaborativa de aprendizaje activo basada en juegos de rol, para desarrollar el pensamiento crítico

El Espacio Europeo de Educación centra el aprendizaje en el colectivo del alumnado, y aboga a que se promueva el pensamiento crítico y el aprendizaje activo. El profesorado universitario necesita metodologías específicas que ayuden al logro de esos objetivos, especialmente considerando que el alumnado suele carecer de experiencia en el desarrollo de pensamiento crítico en el aula. En el presente proyecto nos planteamos el diseño e implantación de la metodología docente denominada “grupos analíticos” (“Analytic teams”), basada en un aprendizaje activo colaborativo y centrado en el alumnado, que pretende fomentar el análisis crítico. El desarrollo se basa en dividir la tarea compleja del pensamiento crítico en las actividades involucradas y asignarlas como roles a distintos estudiantes, que posteriormente trabajarán en grupo para completar la tarea de pensamiento crítico para tener una visión global de la misma. Esta técnica hace que los estudiantes sientan más confianza en sí mismos y en la tarea asignada y, al percibir que cada persona aporta algo valioso al grupo, facilita la equidad en la participación en clase. Esta técnica favorece no solo el pensamiento crítico y el trabajo en grupo, sino también la motivación, al tener una tarea importante en el grupo. También favorece la escucha activa, al ser necesaria una comunicación y diálogo entre todos los miembros del grupo, y por ende la adquisición de conocimientos que cada uno pueda aportar o que se descubren durante la tarea. Todos estos elementos son fundamentales tanto para un aprendizaje global como para su futura vida laboral