Laser sounding from space; report of the ESA Technology Working Group on Space Laser Sounding and Ranging

The purpose and principles of spaceborne lidar are described, giving particular attention to candidates for space deployment, including simple backscatter lidar for measuring of cloud top height, cloud extend and optical properties, differential absorption lidar providing high vertical resolution measurements of humidity, temperature and pressure, a wind profiling lidar with the unique capability of improved weather forecasting and global dynamics, and a ranging and altimeter lidar for very accurate measurement of surface features, including ground, sea and ice cap height for solid earth studies.

A repository for integration of software artifacts with dependency resolution and federation support

While developing new IT products, reusability of existing components is a key aspect that can considerably improve the success rate. This fact has become even more important with the rise of the open source paradigm. However, integrating different products and technologies is not always an easy task. Different communities employ different standards and tools, and most times is not clear which dependencies a particular piece of software has. This is exacerbated by the transitive nature of these dependencies, making component integration a complicated affair. To help reducing this complexity we propose a model-based repository, capable of automatically resolve the required dependencies. This repository needs to be expandable, so new constraints can be analyzed, and also have federation support, for the integration with other sources of artifacts. The solution we propose achieves these working with OSGi components and using OSGi itself.

Linked Data at the Spanish National Library and the application of IFLA RDFS models

The Spanish National Library (Biblioteca Nacional de España1. BNE) and the Ontology Engineering Group2 of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid are working on the joint project ?Preliminary Study of Linked Data?, whose aim is to enrich the Web of Data with the BNE authority and bibliographic records. To this end, they are transforming the BNE information to RDF following the Linked Data principles3 proposed by Tim Berners Lee.

Enseñanza (y aprendizaje) virtual de Geología por parte del alumno=Virtual education (and learning) of Geology by students

Una de las maneras más efectivas para asentar conocimientos se produce cuando, además de realizar un aprendizaje práctico, se intentan transmitir a otra persona. De hecho, los alumnos muchas veces prestan más atención a sus compañeros que al profesor. En la E.T.S.I. Minas de Madrid se ha llevado a cabo un programa de innovación educativa en asignaturas relacionadas con la Geología mediante nuevas tecnologías para mejorar el aprendizaje basado en el trabajo práctico personal del alumno, con la realización de vídeos en el medio físico (campo) en los que explican los aspectos geológicos visibles a diferentes escalas. Estos vídeos se han subido a las plataformas “moodle”, “facebook” y canal “youtube” donde compañeros, alumnos de otras Universidades y personas interesadas pueden consultarlos. De esta manera se pretende que, además de adquirir conocimientos geológicos, los alumnos adquieren el hábito de expresarse en público con un lenguaje técnico. Los alumnos manifestaron su satisfacción por esta actividad, aunque idea del rodaje de vídeos no resultó inicialmente muy popular. Se ha observado una mejora en las calificaciones, así como un incremento de la motivación. De hecho, los estudiantes manifestaron haber adquirido, además de los conceptos geológicos, seguridad a la hora de expresarse en público. Palabras clave: innovación educativa, nuevas tecnologías (TIC), Geología Abstract- Knowledge is gained by practice, but one of the most effective ways is when one tries to transmit it to others. Likewise, students pay more attention to their classmates than to teachers. In the Geological Engineering Department of the Madrid School of Mines, we have run an educational innovation program in courses related to Geology using new technologies (ITC) in order to increase the acquisition of geological knowledge. This program is designed mainly on the basis of individual and group work with video recordings in the field in which students explain geological concepts at various scales. These videos have been uploaded to the “Moodle”, “Facebook” and “YouTube” channel of the Madrid School of Mines, where other students from the same university or elsewhere can view them. Students acquire geological knowledge and the ability to address the general public using technical language. The realization of these videos has been warmly welcomed by students. Notably, they show increased motivation, accompanied by an improvement in grades, although at the beginning this program was not very popular because of student insecurity. Students have expressed that they learnt geological concepts but also gained confidence in public speaking using technical language

iCarer Project: Intelligent Care Guidance and Learning Services Platform for Informal Carers of the Elderly

The increasing ageing population is demanding new care approaches to maintain the quality of life of elderly people. Informal carers are becoming crucial agents in the care and support of elderly people, which can lead to those carers suffering from additional stress due to competing priorities with employment or due to lack of knowledge about elderly people?s care needs. Thus, support and stress relief in carers should be a key issue in the home-care process of these older adults. Considering this context, this work presents the iCarer project aimed at developing a personalized and adaptive platform to offer informal carers support by means of monitoring their activities of daily care and psychological state, as well as providing an orientation to help them improve the care provided. Additionally, iCarer will provide e-Learning services and an informal carers learning network. As a result, carers will be able to expand their knowledge, supported by the experience provided by expert counsellors and fellow carers. Additionally, the coordination between formal and informal carers will be improved, offering the informal carers flexibility to organize and combine their assistance and social activities.