Intercultural Perspective on Impact of Video Games on Players: Insights from a Systematic Review of Recent Literature

[EN] The video-game industry has become a significant force in the business and entertainment world. Video games have become so widespread and pervasive that they are now considered a part of the mass media, a common method of storytelling and representation. Despite the massive popularity of video games, their increasing variety, and the diversification of the player base, until very recently little attention was devoted to understanding how playing video games affects the way people think and collaborate across cultures. This paper examines the recent literature regarding the impact of video games on players from an intercultural perspective. Sixty-two studies are identified whose aim is to analyze behavioral-change, content understanding, knowledge acquisition, and perceptional impacts. Their findings suggest that video games have the potential to help to acquire cultural knowledge and develop intercultural literacy, socio-cultural literacy, cultural awareness, self-awareness, and the cultural understanding of different geopolitical spaces, to reinforce or weaken stereotypes, and to some extent also facilitate the development of intercultural skills. The paper provides valuable insights to the scholars, teachers, and practitioners of cultural studies, education, social studies, as well as to the researchers, pointing out areas for future research.We are grateful for the thoughtful comments provided by the reviewers of this paper.Shliakhovchuk, O.; Muñoz García, A. (2020). Intercultural Perspective on Impact of Video Games on Players: Insights from a Systematic Review of Recent Literature. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice. 20(1):40-58. https://doi.org/10.12738/jestp.2020.1.004S405820

Digital game-based learning for D&I: conceptual design of an educational digital game Chuzme

[EN] There is a demand for tools facilitating intercultural, diversity and inclusion (D&I) education. Video games are one of the most advanced new media technologies, so it is only natural to suppose that they can offer remarkable possibilities for fostering learning in the area of intercultural, D&I education. This article explores theoretical guidelines in the design of Chuzme, a serious educational game that focuses on raising cultural selfawareness, the acknowledgement of cultural bias, and aims to generate positive attitudes towards migrants, refugees and expatriates amongst its players and to train to be an inclusive leader. It is hoped that this will serve as a useful reference to guide the development of similar titles in the future.Shliakhovchuk, O.; Muñoz García, A. (2020). Digital game-based learning for D&I: conceptual design of an educational digital game Chuzme. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 409-419. https://doi.org/10.4995/INN2019.2019.10561OCS40941

Thinking about the teaching of knowledge: The science, technology and society -STS- approach

La orientación CTS en la enseñanza de las ciencias en articulación con otros saberes, es un aspecto importante de la didáctica de la ciencia actual. En este artículo se hace una aproximación a la didáctica de las ciencias; asimismo, se describe los modelos didácticos contemporáneos en relación con las tendencias epistemológicas. Por último, se explica el papel de la didáctica de saberes dentro del enfoque Ciencia, Tecnología y Sociedad -CTS- teniendo en cuenta la naturaleza de la ciencia.The use of STS elements in teaching of sciences articulated with other fields of knowledge is an important aspect of the current science didactics. First of all, in this article, there is an approach to didactics of sciences. Likewise, the contemporary didactic models are described in relation with today’s epistemological trends. Finally, the role of didactics of knowledge is explained within the approach of Science, Technology and Society (STS), considering the nature of science

La necesidad de una alfabetización para el uso de la realidad aumentada. Pruebas y experimentos en el ámbito museístico

[ES] En las últimas dos décadas, los entornos culturales relacionados con el patrimonio han incrementado el uso de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) de forma notable. Con la reciente aparición de los nuevos dispositivos de Realidad Aumentada (AR) del tipo view through o "visión a través", se ha puesto de manifiesto la posibilidad real de materializar un sueño largamente anhelado: percibir e interactuar con contenidos virtuales en forma de hologramas anclados al espacio físico real. En nuestro empeño de aprovechar las nuevas capacidades de las gafas de AR, empezamos a desarrollar aplicaciones expositivas con el ánimo de testar nuevas narrativas asociadas a la unión de lo real y lo virtual en el mismo plano perceptivo. En junio de 2016, realizamos una primera experiencia sobre una reproducción de la obra del Jardín de las Delicias del Bosco con las gafas Hololens. Nuestro objetivo fue crear un prototipo que motivase el interés por una obra artística. Se creó una película con voz en off y grafismos animados para explicar la obra, pudiendo observar los datos visuales directamente sobre el cuadro, evitando distraerse mirando una pantalla fuera del campo visual de la obra. Pero en el desarrollo del experimento, fuimos conscientes de la problemática inclusión de lo virtual sobre la obra, y cómo esto afectaba a su percepción y valoración. A partir de esta primera experiencia fallida, empezamos a plantearnos qué contextos expositivos serían los más apropiados para integrar estas tecnologías, y desarrollamos Holomuseum: una aplicación desarrollada para crear exhibiciones de realidad aumentada, planteada como un asistente genérico de distribución de contenidos tridimensionales interactivos en el espacio. Los resultados arrojados tras una breve encuesta reflejaron varios problemas que todavía quedan por resolver en el diseño de estas experiencias. En esta comunicación exponemos y analizamos los resultados recopilados para plantear finalmente la necesidad de una museología 4.0 que dé soporte a la creación de experiencias óptimas.[EN] In the last two decades, cultural environments related to heritage have increased the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in a remarkable way. With the recent appearance of the new Augmented Reality (AR) devices of the «view through» type, we have the real possibility of materializing a long-awaited dream: perceiving and interacting with virtual contents in the form of holograms anchored to the real physical space. In our effort to take advantage of the new capabilities of AR glasses, we began to develop expository applications with the aim of testing new narratives associated with the union of the real and virtual on the same perceptual plane. In June 2016, we made a first experience about a reproduction of the work of the Jardín de las Delicias of El Bosco with Hololens glasses. Our goal was to create a prototype that motivated the interest in an artwork. A film with voice-over and animated graphics was created to explain the work, being able to observe the visual data directly on the painting, avoiding other distraction by looking to a screen outside the visual field of the work. But in the development of the experiment, we were aware of the problematic inclusion of the virtual on the work, and how this affected its perception and assessment. From this first failed experience, we began to consider which exhibition contexts would be the most appropriate to integrate these technologies, and we developed Holomuseum: an application developed to create augmented reality exhibitions, proposed as a generic assistant for the distribution of interactive three-dimensional contents in the space. The results obtained after a brief survey reflected several problems that still need to be resolved in the design of these experiences. In this communication we expose and analyze the collected results to finally raise the need for a 4.0 museology that supports the creation of optimal experiences.Muñoz García, A.; Martí Testón, A. (2018). La necesidad de una alfabetización para el uso de la realidad aumentada. Pruebas y experimentos en el ámbito museístico. Cuadiernu. (6):55-73. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/154018S5573

Virtual Reality-Based Interface for Advanced Assisted Mobile Robot Teleoperation

[EN] This work proposes a new interface for the teleoperation of mobile robots based on virtual reality that allows a natural and intuitive interaction and cooperation between the human and the robot, which is useful for many situations, such as inspection tasks, the mapping of complex environments, etc. Contrary to previous works, the proposed interface does not seek the realism of the virtual environment but provides all the minimum necessary elements that allow the user to carry out the teleoperation task in a more natural and intuitive way. The teleoperation is carried out in such a way that the human user and the mobile robot cooperate in a synergistic way to properly accomplish the task: the user guides the robot through the environment in order to benefit from the intelligence and adaptability of the human, whereas the robot is able to automatically avoid collisions with the objects in the environment in order to benefit from its fast response. The latter is carried out using the well-known potential field-based navigation method. The efficacy of the proposed method is demonstrated through experimentation with the Turtlebot3 Burger mobile robot in both simulation and real-world scenarios. In addition, usability and presence questionnaires were also conducted with users of different ages and backgrounds to demonstrate the benefits of the proposed approach. In particular, the results of these questionnaires show that the proposed virtual reality based interface is intuitive, ergonomic and easy to use.This research was funded by the Spanish Government (Grant PID2020-117421RB-C21 funded byMCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and by the Generalitat Valenciana (Grant GV/2021/181).Solanes, JE.; Muñoz García, A.; Gracia Calandin, LI.; Tornero Montserrat, J. (2022). Virtual Reality-Based Interface for Advanced Assisted Mobile Robot Teleoperation. Applied Sciences. 12(12):1-22. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12126071122121

Medidas multi-influencia como medio para caracterizar la firma global de un buque y proteger el entorno marino

The overall signature of a vessel comprises acoustic, magnetic, electric-field, pressure, and seismic radiations. Over the past years, the international community’s efforts have mainly centered on reducing the acoustic influence with the dual aim of decreasing the vessel’s detectability and reducing the levels of acoustic pollution generated in the marine environment. Nowadays, the need to act not only on the acoustic radiation but against the overall set of the vessel’s radiations is becoming increasingly clear, both in the military and the civilian fields, based on aspects like vessel stealthiness, security of harbor and critical infrastructures, and environmental protection. As a key element to achieve this goal, it is greatly important to have at our disposal highly modular and adaptable measurement systems covering the overall set of the vessel’s radiations, with a high capacity of data transmission to base centers to have the capacity to make measurements in all kinds of marine environments.La firma global de un buque está compuesta por radiaciones: acústica, magnética, de campo eléctrico, de presión y sísmica. A lo largo de los últimos años, los esfuerzos de la comunidad internacional se han centrado principalmente en reducir la influencia acústica, con el doble objetivo de disminuir la detectabilidad del buque y reducir el nivel de contaminación acústica generada en el entorno marino. En la actualidad, se está constatando con claridad la necesidad de actuar no sólo sobre la radiación acústica, sino sobre el conjunto global de las radiaciones del buque, tanto en el ámbito militar como en el ámbito civil, basado en aspectos como: la discreción de los buques, la seguridad en puertos e infraestructuras críticas y la protección ambiental. Como elemento clave para alcanzar esta meta, es de gran importancia tener a nuestra disposición sistemas de medida adaptables y altamente modulares que cubran el conjunto total de las radiaciones de los buques, con alta capacidad de transmisión de datos a centros base, con el objeto de tener la capacidad de realizar medidas en toda clase de entornos marinos

Action semantics at the bottom of the brain: Insights from dysplastic cerebellar gangliocytoma

Recent embodied cognition research shows that access to action verbs in shallow-processing tasks becomes selectively compromised upon atrophy of the cerebellum, a critical motor region. Here we assessed whether cerebellar damage also disturbs explicit semantic processing of action pictures and its integration with ongoing motor responses. We evaluated a cognitively preserved 33-year-old man with severe dysplastic cerebellar gangliocytoma (Lhermitte-Duclos disease), encompassing most of the right cerebellum and the posterior part of the left cerebellum. The patient and eight healthy controls completed two semantic association tasks (involving pictures of objects and actions, respectively) that required motor responses. Accuracy results via Crawford's modified t-tests revealed that the patient was selectively impaired in action association. Moreover, reaction-time analysis through Crawford's Revised Standardized Difference Test showed that, while processing of action concepts involved slower manual responses in controls, no such effect was observed in the patient, suggesting that motor-semantic integration dynamics may be compromised following cerebellar damage. Notably, a Bayesian Test for a Deficit allowing for Covariates revealed that these patterns remained after covarying for executive performance, indicating that they were not secondary to extra-linguistic impairments. Taken together, our results extend incipient findings on the embodied functions of the cerebellum, offering unprecedented evidence of its crucial role in processing non-verbal action meanings and integrating them with concomitant movements. These findings illuminate the relatively unexplored semantic functions of this region while calling for extensions of motor cognition models.Fil: Cervetto Manciameli, Sabrina Fabiana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; Argentina. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Abrevaya, Sofia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; ArgentinaFil: Martorell Caro, Miguel Angel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; ArgentinaFil: Kozono, Giselle. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; ArgentinaFil: Muñoz, Edinson. Universidad de Santiago de Chile; ChileFil: Ferrari, Jesica. Instituto de Neurología Cognitiva; ArgentinaFil: Sedeño, Lucas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; ArgentinaFil: Ibáñez Barassi, Agustín Mariano. Australian Research Council; Australia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; Argentina. Universidad Autónoma del Caribe; Colombia. Universidad Adolfo Ibañez; ChileFil: García, Adolfo Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentin

Teleoperation of industrial robot manipulators based on augmented reality

This research develops a novel teleoperation for robot manipulators based on augmented reality. The proposed interface is equipped with full capabilities in order to replace the classical teach pendant of the robot for carrying out teleoperation tasks. The proposed interface is based on an augmented reality headset for projecting computer-generated graphics onto the real environment and a gamepad to interact with the computer-generated graphics and provide robot commands. In order to demonstrate the benefits of the proposed method, several usability tests were conducted using a 6R industrial robot manipulator in order to compare the proposed interface and the conventional teach pendant interface for teleoperation tasks. In particular, the results of these usability tests show that the proposed approach is more intuitive, ergonomic, and easy to use. Furthermore, the comparison results also show that the proposed method clearly improves the velocity of the teleoperation task, regardless of the user's previous experience in robotics and augmented reality technology

A Methodology to Produce Augmented-Reality Guided Tours in Museums for Mixed-Reality Headsets

[EN] In recent years, the use of technology in the museum context has changed radically. It has switched from the display of information to offering emotive, immersive, and rich experiences with heritage. Virtual interactive media have the potential to put museums back into a relevant place in our increasingly digital society. The emergence of augmented-reality glasses offers the possibility to test and implement new methodologies compatible with this aim. However, most of the first examples developed in recent years did not take advantage of the possibilities of this new medium. This paper presents a novel methodology for producing mixed-reality applications for museums and heritage sites, with an intuitive, immersive, and natural way of operating. An experimental prototype designed for the archaeological museum of the Almoina is shown in the paper to demonstrate the benefits of the proposed system and methodology of production. In addition, the paper shows the results of several tests.This research was founded by the Generalitat Valenciana (Grant GV/2021/181) and by the Spanish Government (Grant PID2020-117421RB-C21 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033).Martí-Testón, A.; Muñoz García, A.; Solanes Galbis, JE.; Gracia Calandin, LI.; Tornero Montserrat, J. (2021). A Methodology to Produce Augmented-Reality Guided Tours in Museums for Mixed-Reality Headsets. Electronics. 10(23):1-21. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10232956121102