Cognitive intervention proposal in older people: cognitive stimulation and emotional intelligence program for older people

La realidad sociodemográfica actual, con un elevado número de personas de edad avanzada y demás variables, conlleva algunos cambios en cuanto a las demandas de la población en atención socio-sanitaria. Así, aparece una demanda relacionada con la estimulación de las capacidades cognitivas, existiendo prácticamente en todos los Centros de Día y Programas de Envejecimiento Activo este tipo de actividades. En los últimos años, ha cobrado auge también, dentro de la Psicología de la Vejez, el estudio de los cambios emocionales que experimentan los individuos de edades avanzadas, el estudio del denominado “Envejecimiento Emocional”. Así, el presente proyecto pretende conjugar ambos aspectos, la estimulación cognitiva junto con la educación de las emociones. Teniendo como objetivo general elaborar e implementar un Programa de Estimulación Cognitiva e Inteligencia Emocional para personas mayores sin deterioro cognitivo, del centro de la Ciudad de Almería. Permitirá, no sólo, evaluar y analizar la relación entre diferentes conceptos como son Calidad de Vida, Inteligencia Emocional, Satisfacción Vital, Atención y Memoria Cotidiana; sino también, constatar la mejora en las tareas cognitivas del propio programa (tiempo y aciertos) y los beneficios para la Calidad de Vida, Inteligencia Emocional, Satisfacción Vital, Atención y Memoria Cotidiana, de acercar ambos aspectos, incluyendo las Nuevas Tecnologías, a las personas mayores del centro de Almería, mejorando también la actividad e integración social de estas, así como, la igualdad de oportunidades [Agradecimientos: Este trabajo cuenta con la colaboración del Proyecto Almería Urban].Our current sociodemographic reality, with a large number of older persons and other variables, leads to some changes in the population’s demands for socio-health care. Thus, there is a demand for the stimulation of cognitive capacities, and this type of activities is carried in practically all the Day-Care Centers and Active Ageing Programs. In recent years, within Psychology of Ageing, the study of the emotional changes undergone by older individuals—the study of the so-called “Emotional Ageing”—has also reached a peak. Thus, the present project has the aim of combining both aspects, cognitive stimulation and the education of emotions. The general goal is to design and implement a Program of Cognitive Stimulation and Emotional Intelligence for older people with no cognitive impairment, in the center of the City of Almería. It would only allow us to assess and analyze the relation between different concepts, such as Quality of Life, Emotional Intelligence, Life Satisfaction, Attention and Daily Memory, and also to confirm the improvement in the cognitive tasks of the program (time and correct responses) and the benefits for the above-mentioned variables of introducing both aspects—including the New Technologies—to the older people of the center of Almería. This would also improve their activity and social integration, as well as provide them with equal opportunities [Acknowledgements: This work was carried out with the collaboration of the Proyecto Almería Urban].peerReviewe

Analysis of Required Investigations of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Spain

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) are the most common source of occupational health problems in Western countries. In Spain, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) can be reported either as accidents or occupational diseases. When reported as an occupational disease, a full diagnosis is performed, as the compensation system needs the approval of the social security authority and a mandatory investigation has to be performed. Although many methods are available for investigating the causes of occupational accidents, occupational diseases have not been analysed with the same depth, and there is a lack of investigation methods. This paper aims to analyse the role of 43 occupational investigations of causes of musculoskeletal diseases in the prevention cycle. This study is based on the occupational investigations performed by workplaces’ occupational health and safety specialists when musculoskeletal diseases are reported. The analysis of the data involves descriptive statistics and the Φ coeffcient. Based on administrative data, 68 workplaces employing 15,260 workers were surveyed and 41 workplaces with 13,201 workers submitted valid questionnaires to be analysed. The most frequent cause of reported musculoskeletal disease, in terms of primary risk, is repetitive movement. The only proposed measure with a significant association to the exposure by repetitive movements is job rotation (alternating workers between tasks within a job or between activities as a means to vary different levels of exposure). The investigation of occupational diseases has been useful in most of the cases for proposing preventive measures. Most of the workplaces surveyed have performed investigations and adopted preventive measures, but the managers of some workplaces were not aware of any disease notification regarding their workers when surveyed. More research is needed to provide tools for this important task

Comparison of Neural Networks for High-Sampling Rate NILM Scenario

2022 IEEE International Symposium on Medical Measurements and Applications (MeMeA), 22-24 June 2022, Messina, Italy.The common objective of techniques employed to identify the use of household appliances is related to energy efficiency and the reduction of energy consumption. In addition, through load monitoring it is possible to assess the degree of independence of tenants with minimal invasion of privacy and thus develop sustainable health systems capable of providing the required services remotely. Both approaches should initially deal with the load identification stage. For that purpose, this work presents three different solutions that take the events of the electrical current signal acquired at high frequency and process them for classification by using two different topologies of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). The data of interest used as input for the ANN in the proposals are the normalized signal captured around the events, the images created by dividing that signal into sections and organizing them in a matrix, and the images coming from the Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT) of the signal around the event. The dataset BLUED is used to carry out the validation of the proposal, where some of the proposed architectures obtain an F1 score above 90% for more than fifteen devices under classification.Universidad de AlcaláAgencia Estatal de Investigació

Redes sociales en internet y consecuencias de su uso en estudiantes universitarios

La irrupción de las redes sociales en la sociedad, está produciendo nuevas formas de comunicación e interacción entre las personas. Además, están desencadenando algunas consecuencias para los usuarios. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar el uso que hacen los estudiantes universitarios de las redes sociales y conocer las consecuencias de su utilización y los comportamientos socialmente inadecuados. Para la recogida de la información se utilizó el Cuestionario de Redes Sociales. Se trata de un instrumento elaborado ad hoc integrado por un total de 45 ítems, con respuesta de elección múltiple y aplicación a modo de entrevista estructurada. En este trabajo, se analizaron aspectos relacionados con las consecuencias que puede producir el uso de las redes sociales. Además, se analizó información relacionada con el conocimiento de los estudiantes universitarios de los peligros provocados por el uso de Internet. Entre las principales conclusiones a las que se llegaron con este estudio destacamos que las redes sociales y el uso de internet puede producir algunos problemas en los usuarios.Social networks has produced new forms of communication and interaction between people. The objective of this study is to analyze what is the application university students does to social networks. Moreover, we would like to know the consequences of their use in an inappropriate conduct. The research methodology focuses on a self-administered questionnaire call ad hoc which contains a total of 45 items, with multiple choice answer and it has application as a structured interview. We investigate issues related on the consequences that may result in the use of social networks. We collected information about the perception that college students had about the damage that internet use does. Finally, we come to the conclusion that social networks and Internet use can developed some problems for users.peerReviewe

Fixed-point Processing for an IR Positioning System based on QADA Receivers

2022 IEEE 12th International Conference on Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation (IPIN), 5-8 September, 2022, Beijing, China.Indoor optical positioning systems have increased in popularity in recent years because they can provide centimeter accuracy in three dimensions (3D) utilizing light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and photoreceptors. This work presents the design of a positioning system, which is based on a set of four photoreceptors functioning as beacons at known places for a single LED to be positioned. However, it might be extended to additional emitters with some medium access control. The associated processing is explained, as well as the basic assumptions to be addressed when approaching its hardware implementation, such as the preliminary partitioning of tasks between hardware and software, and the fixed-point representation of the processing to be implemented in hardware. The system has been validated by simulation in a 2 × 2 × 3.4 m3 volume, yielding mean absolute errors around 0.004 m for the X and Y axes, and around 0.01 m for the Z-axis, as well as lower standard deviations than 0.004 m for the X and Y axes and 0.01 m for the Z-axis.Agencia Estatal de InvestigaciónUniversidad de Alcal

Review of UAV positioning in indoor environments and new proposal based on US measurements

Este documento se considera que es una ponencia de congresos en lugar de un capítulo de libro.10th International Conference on Indoor Positioning and Indoor Navigation (IPIN 2019) Pisa, Italy, September 30th - October 3rd, 2019The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has increased dramatically in recent years because of their huge potential in both civil and military applications and the decrease in prize of UAVs products. Location detection can be implemented through GNSS technology in outdoor environments, nevertheless its accuracy could be insufficient for some applications. Usability of GNSS in indoor environments is limited due to the signal attenuation as it cross through walls or the absence of line of sight. Considering the big market opportunity of indoor UAVs many researchers are devoting their efforts in the exploration of solutions for their positioning. Indoor UAV applications include location based services (LBS), advertisement, ambient assisted living environments or emergency response. This work is an update survey in UAV indoor localization, so it can provide a guide and technical comparison perspective of different technologies with their main advantages and drawbacks. Finally, we propose an approach based on an ultrasonic local positioning system.Universidad de AlcaláJunta de Comunidades de Castilla-La ManchaMinisterio de Economía, Industria y Competitivida

La influencia de la personalidad parental como predictor de la configuración del apego y de los problemas de conducta en la infancia

The exercise of paternity arises from the personality traits of the parents (Desjardins, Zelenski and Coplan, 2008; Lomanowska, Boívin, Hertzman and Fleming, 2017). The first traces in the scientific literature that describe this reality can be found in Belsky’s work (1984). It refers to the influence of the parents’ personal characteristics in educational styles (Prinzie, Stams, Dekovic, Reijntjes and Belsky, 2009). Vondra, Bittman and Belsky (2008) relate personality and paternity through three dimensions: parental psychological differentiation, negative affect and psychological disorder. They argue that the ability to raise will be modulated by the personality and adjustment exhibited by the parents. In this way, certain personality traits, such as negative parental or emotional psychopathy, condition the appreciation of behavioral problems in childhood (Angelini, Klijs, Smidt and Mierau, 2016; Desjardins, Zlenski and Goplan, 2008; Lomanowka, et al ., 2017; Oliver, Wright and Coffman, 2009). In fact, it has been found that maternal personal characteristics predict child behavior. The psychological well-being of mothers correlates with the problems in the development of their children (Camsranesi, 2016; Nikolaev, Baranova and Petunova, 2016). In this investigation we have analyzed the relationship between parental personality traits in the development of attachment and the appearance of behavioral problems. For this we have used different validated and commercialized objective psychometric tests. At the same time, as it is indicated in the literature for the measurement of attachment at the ages established in the investigation, we have used a projective test. The results obtained in the evaluated educational center ratify us and verify a very high correlation in the parental personality type triangle, attachment configuration and behavioral problems.El ejercicio de la paternidad se haya condicionado por los rasgos de personalidad de los progenitores (Desjardins, Zelenski y Coplan, 2008; Lomanowska, Boívin, Hertzman y Fleming, 2017). Las primeras huellas en la literatura científica que describen esta realidad podemos encontrarlas en el trabajo de Belsky (1984). Alude a la influencia de las características personales de los progenitores en los estilos educativos (Prinzie, Stams, Dekovic, Reijntjes y Belsky, 2009). Vondra, Bittman y Belsky (2008) relacionan personalidad y paternidad por medio de tres dimensiones: diferenciación psicológica parental, afecto negativo y trastorno psicológico. Defienden que la habilidad para la crianza se verá modulada por la personalidad y ajuste exhibido por los progenitores. De este modo, ciertos rasgos de personalidad, tales como la psicopatía parental o emocional negativa, condicionan la apreciación de problemas conductuales en la infancia (Angelini, Klijs, Smidt y Mierau, 2016; Desjardins, Zlenski y Goplan, 2008; Lomanowka, et al., 2017; Oliver, Wright y Coffman, 2009). De hecho, se ha encontrado que las características personales maternas predicen comportamientos infantiles. El bienestar psicológico de las madres correlaciona con los problemas en el desarrollo de sus hijos/as (Camsranesi, 2016; Nikolaev, Baranova y Petunova, 2016). En esta investigación hemos analizado las relaciones existentes entre los rasgos de personalidad parental en el desarrollo del apego y la aparición de problemas de conducta. Para ello hemos utilizado distintas pruebas psicométricas objetivas validadas y comercializadas. A la vez, como se indica en la literatura, para la medición del apego en las edades establecidas en la investigación, hemos utilizado una prueba proyectiva. Los resultados obtenidos en el centro educativo evaluado nos ratifican y verifican una muy alta correlación en el triángulo tipo personalidad parental, configuración del apego y problemas de conducta

Detecting relative amplitude of IR signals with active sensors and its application to a positioning system

Nowadays, there is an increasing interest in smart systems, e.g., smart metering or smart spaces, for which active sensing plays an important role. In such systems, the sample or environment to be measured is irradiated with a signal (acoustic, infrared, radio‐frequency…) and some of their features are determined from the transmitted or reflected part of the original signal. In this work, infrared (IR) signals are emitted from different sources (four in this case) and received by a unique quadrature angular diversity aperture (QADA) sensor. A code division multiple access (CDMA) technique is used to deal with the simultaneous transmission of all the signals and their separation (depending on the source) at the receiver’s processing stage. Furthermore, the use of correlation techniques allows the receiver to determine the amount of energy received from each transmitter, by quantifying the main correlation peaks. This technique can be used in any system requiring active sensing; in the particular case of the IR positioning system presented here, the relative amplitudes of those peaks are used to determine the central incidence point of the light from each emitter on the QADA. The proposal tackles the typical phenomena, such as distortions caused by the transducer impulse response, the near‐far effect in CDMA‐based systems, multipath transmissions, the correlation degradation from non‐coherent demodulations, etc. Finally, for each emitter, the angle of incidence on the QADA receiveris estimated, assuming that it is on a horizontal plane, although with any rotation on the vertical axis Z. With the estimated angles and the known positions of the LED emitters, the position (x, y, z) of the receiver is determined. The system is validated at different positions in a volume of 3 × 3 × 3.4 m3 obtaining average errors of 7.1, 5.4, and 47.3 cm in the X, Y and Z axes, respectively.Agencia Estatal de InvestigaciónUniversidad de AlcaláJunta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Manch

Analysis of predicting factors which cause functional dependence among elderly people

El presente estudio, analiza la relación que existe entre diversos factores susceptibles de ser considerados predictores de la dependencia (nivel educativo, percepción de la salud, percepción de las limitaciones a causa de enfermedades, realización de ejercicio físico, consumo de alcohol y tabaco, satisfacción vital, y nivel de ingresos) y el nivel de dependencia mostrado por los diferentes sujetos en las actividades básicas e instrumentales de la vida diaria. Así, podemos ver como a medida que aumenta el nivel educativo, la satisfacción vital, la realización de actividades físicas y el consumo de alcohol (para las actividades básicas) disminuye el nivel de dependencia. Y por otro lado, a medida que aumenta la percepción negativa hacia la salud, la percepción de incapacidad y el consumo de tabaco (para las actividades instrumentales) aumenta también el nivel de dependencia.This paper analyzes the relation which exists among various factors which can be considered to cause dependence (education level, physical exercise, consumption of alcohol and tobacco, life satisfaction, and income level) and the level of dependency demonstrated by different subjects during basic and instrumental activities of daily living. In this way, we can observe that as education level, life satisfaction, physical activity and consumption of alcohol increase (with basic activities) level of dependency decreases. Furthermore, we can observe that as negative perception toward health, perception of incapability and tobacco consumption increase (with instrumental activities) level of dependency increases.Trabajo subvencionado por el Programa Nacional I+D del Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (Ref.: BSO2003-01894)