Evaluación heurística de la usabilidad en contextos específicos

En la tesis existe un contrato de cesión de derechos.La atención a la usabilidad de los sistemas de información, como requisito no funcional, es especialmente relevante al tratarse de un factor crítico que determina buena parte del volumen de desarrollos correctivos que van a necesitar los productos en su fase de mantenimiento y el grado de aceptación del usuario hacia dicho sistema, producto o programa. Para evaluar el grado de usabilidad de las interfaces y detectar precozmente el mayor número de problemas se diseñan planes de evaluación que seleccionarán y combinarán distintas herramientas teniendo en cuenta las características de la interfaz, los objetivos prioritarios de la evaluación y la fase de desarrollo del producto o prototipo objeto del análisis; así como cualesquiera otras circunstancias o condicionantes, sea el coste o el tiempo, la formación del personal, etc. La Evaluación Heurística es una herramienta de evaluación de la usabilidad basada en la intervención de expertos. Consiste en la comprobación de los elementos de una lista de heurísticas que, por su naturaleza, no pueden comprobarse automáticamente y requieren del criterio de un experto. Supone un método de bajo coste y buen rendimiento de detección de fallos que se adapta a distintos productos y objetivos, a las características de las distintas fases de desarrollo y, en definitiva, a muy distintos planes de evaluación. En la literatura coexisten distintas propuestas de listas heurísticas de carácter general que, en dominios específicos, deben adaptarse a las características del contexto para maximizar su eficacia. Un ejemplo es la heurística propuesta en esta Tesis, adaptada a la interacción con interfaces móviles. Estas listas adaptadas también se han multiplicado en la literatura atendiendo a distintos aspectos de los planes de evaluación. De este modo el volumen de propuestas a disposición de los evaluadores, para su selección y potencial combinación, resulta bastante inmanejable Tomando un contexto tan específico como los videojuegos —juegos a partir de ahora— , sin embargo, una revisión sistemática de la literatura permite observar que la lista generalista de Nielsen sigue siendo la más usada, incluso cuando resulta insuficiente a la hora de abarcar las características específicas y novedosas de este dominio de aplicación. Partiendo de las hipótesis de que el gran número de propuestas, con distintas características y objetivos, supone un obstáculo a la hora de que los evaluadores puedan seleccionar la más ajustada a su caso y de que incluso una selección ajustada desaprovecharía potenciales ventajas de otras propuestas, se ha desarrollado una herramienta denominada MUSE (Meta-heUristics uSability Evaluation tool) que es capaz de generar una lista heurística personalizada para un plan de evaluación específico tomando como base las distintas propuestas de la bibliografía y automatizando al máximo su selección y filtrado. Una evaluación preliminar de la herramienta aventura resultados prometedores en cuanto a su capacidad de mejorar la detección de vulneraciones de la usabilidad frente al uso de herramientas genéricas en el caso del contexto específico de los juegos y, particularmente, cuando los evaluadores involucrados no son expertos. La presente Tesis comprende, por tanto, tres trabajos principales: • La construcción y análisis de una heurística adaptada a un contexto específico: interfaces móviles. • Una revisión sistemática de la bibliografía que presenta el estado de las evaluaciones de usabilidad de juegos en el ámbito académico.• El desarrollo de la herramienta MUSE usando como base la concepción modular de las heurísticas y su manejo desde una metaheurística capaz de adaptarse, potencialmente, a nuevos contextos específicos y características concretas de los planes de evaluación, generando listas más eficaces

Heuristic usability evaluation on games: a modular approach

Heuristic evaluation is the preferred method to assess usability in games when experts conduct this evaluation. Many heuristics guidelines have been proposed attending to specificities of games but they only focus on specific subsets of games or platforms. In fact, to date the most used guideline to evaluate games usability is still Nielsen’s proposal, which is focused on generic software. As a result, most evaluations do not cover important aspects in games such as mobility, multiplayer interactions, enjoyability and playability, etc. To promote the usage of new heuristics adapted to different game and platform aspects we propose a modular approach based on the classification of existing game heuristics using metadata and a tool, MUSE (Meta-heUristics uSability Evaluation tool) for games, which allows a rebuild of heuristic guidelines based on metadata selection in order to obtain a customized list for every real evaluation case. The usage of these new rebuilt heuristic guidelines allows an explicit attendance to a wide range of usability aspects in games and a better detection of usability issues. We preliminarily evaluate MUSE with an analysis of two different games, using both the Nielsen’s heuristics and the customized heuristic lists generated by our tool.Unión Europea PI055-15/E0

Academic methods for usability evaluation of serious games: a systematic review

In the last years, there has been an increasing interest in the design of video games as a tool for education, training, health promotion, socialization, etc. Usability, which is a key factor in any video game, becomes even more important in these so-called Bserious games^, where the users’ special characteristics should be considered, and the game efficacy depends on the users’ adherence and engagement. However, evaluation of the usability of this kind of games requires a redefinition of techniques, methods and even terminology. In this paper, we elicit six research questions and conduct a systematic review of the scientific literature, which resulted in the selection of 187 papers that contained the most relevant responses. The conclusions of this systematic review illustrate the general status of current academic usability evaluations of these games and the main trends in the selection of methodologies and how are they applied. This view may be a very valuable foundation for future researchMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación PROCUR@-IPT-2011-1038-90000

Accessibility in Health related Virtual Learning Environments

Supporting patients and informal carers is an essential task in managing chronic diseases. Many of these diseases are either directly linked to disabilities or are age related and, thus, also strongly correlated with potential disabilities. Furthermore, as the population ages it is becoming more and more common to give an old person with a set of mild disabilities acting as informal carer of another person with some type of chronic disease. Support material and professional help can be provided through the use of an eLearning platform. These platforms are usually known as Learning Management Systems (LMS) or Virtual Learning Environments (VLE). People with disabilities, linked to physical and/or cognitive impairments can obtain an extraordinary advantage from access to eLearning but, in practice, they find important barriers when the Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) and contents are not delivered in the suitable adapted forms according to their needs and preferences. All VLEs are supported by a set of different technological layers. Those layers can interfere with the final user gaining access to such adapted resources. Conflicts with user agents, assistive technologies and the delivery format of the resources are the most common problems. The accessibility of current VLEs, a mature technology, provides an interesting case study regarding the types of problems that can be encountered by users in current web application

A Mobile Memory Game for Patients with Acquired Brain Damage: A Preliminary Usability Study

Memory rehabilitation and training is an important activity for patients with Acquired Brain Damage, including Cerebral Vascular Accident (stroke) and Traumatic Brain Injury patients. Although many interactive web-based and computer applications have been developed, the use of mobile devices apps has not been sufficiently studied from the point of view of its usability for these users. In this paper, a preliminary usability and accessibility study of a memory game for mobile devices (developed from scratch under Android OS) is presented. This study, based on the Shadow Expert Technique, allows improving the prototype and provides useful hints for increasing acceptability of Android applications, not only by Acquired Brain Damage patients but also by other people with cognitive disorders.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PROCUR@-IPT-2011-1038-900000European Project GameUp AAL-2011-4-09

Preparación de bioles orgánicos

Los biofertilizantes provienen de animales, restos vegetales, alimentos y otras fuentes orgánicas naturales, los bioles se están usando para sustituir a los fertilizantes químicos que son los que están dañando el medio ambiente. Con el uso de fertilizantes orgánicos estamos cuidando en medio ambiente, sin dañar nuestros suelos y sobre todo no contaminando los mantos acuíferos, de igual manera se está cuidando la salud humana ya que se producen alimentos libres de químicos. Con este manual estamos enseñando paso a paso como producir nuestros biofertilizantes con el fin de reducir o evitar el uso de fertilizantes químicos

¿Cómo formar en la didáctica de especialidad a futuros docentes de educación básica?

Este artículo argumenta la importancia de concebir al profesor de educación general básica también como un profesor disciplinar. En el escenario actual, la política educativa señala que estos docentes deben manejar conocimientos disciplinares en nivel experto, cuestión que es problemática porque se devuelve al campo profesional como una forma de colonización de quienes son formados disciplinariamente. Ejemplificamos, mediante la exposición de elementos teóricos y curriculares de nuestro modelo de formación, un camino alternativo a esta oposición entre saberes didácticos-disciplinares y pedagógicos. Se conceptualiza la disciplina, articulada a la didáctica, como una manera de pensar el mundo. Argumentamos que la formación debe realizarse sobre la base de modelos didácticos específicos

Extracellular Vesicles From Liver Progenitor Cells Downregulates Fibroblast Metabolic Activity and Increase the Expression of Immune-Response Related Molecules

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) mediate cell-to-cell crosstalk whose content can induce changes in acceptor cells and their microenvironment. MLP29 cells are mouse liver progenitor cells that release EVs loaded with signaling cues that could affect cell fate. In the current work, we incubated 3T3-L1 mouse fibroblasts with MLP29-derived EVs, and then analyzed changes by proteomics and transcriptomics. Results showed a general downregulation of protein and transcript expression related to proliferative and metabolic routes dependent on TGF-beta. We also observed an increase in the ERBB2 interacting protein (ERBIN) and Cxcl2, together with an induction of ribosome biogenesis and interferon-related response molecules, suggesting the activation of immune system signaling

Genomic mutation profile in progressive chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients prior to first-line chemoimmunotherapy with FCR and rituximab maintenance (REM)

Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) is the most prevalent leukemia in Western countries and is notable for its variable clinical course. This variability is partly reflected by the mutational status of IGHV genes. Many CLL samples have been studied in recent years by next-generation sequencing. These studies have identified recurrent somatic mutations in NOTCH1, SF3B1, ATM, TP53, BIRC3 and others genes that play roles in cell cycle, DNA repair, RNA metabolism and splicing. In this study, we have taken a deep-targeted massive sequencing approach to analyze the impact of mutations in the most frequently mutated genes in patients with CLL enrolled in the REM (rituximab en mantenimiento) clinical trial. The mutational status of our patients with CLL, except for the TP53 gene, does not seem to affect the good results obtained with maintenance therapy with rituximab after front-line FCR treatment

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries