Embodied Autonomy in Digital Ecosystems: From Bio-Inspired Agents to Cognitive Systems

This paper proposes to promote autonomy in digital ecosystems so that it provides agents with information to improve the behavior of the digital ecosystem in terms of stability. This work proposes that, in digital ecosystems, autonomous agents can provide fundamental services and information. The final goal is to run the ecosystem, generate novel conditions and let agents exploit them. A set of evaluation measures must be defined as well. We want to provide an outline of some global indicators, such as heterogeneity and diversity, and establish relationships between agent behavior and these global indicators to fully understand interactions between agents, and to understand the dependence and autonomy relations that emerge between the interacting agents. Individual variations, interaction dependencies, and environmental factors are determinants of autonomy that would be considered. The paper concludes with a discussion of situations when autonomy is a milestone

Evolución diacrónica del sistema verbal de movimiento en español: entrar y salir (ss. XII-XV)

Esta investigación es una tesis doctoral que tiene como objetivo el estudio de la evolución semántica de los verbos entrar y salir desde el punto de vista diacrónico en español medieval mediante la aplicación de las herramientas teóricas proporcionadas por la Lingüística cognitiva. A través de un corpus de documentaciones extraídas del Corpus del nuevo diccionario histórico del español de la Real Academia Española y que abarcan el intervalo desde el siglo XIII al XV, se analizan los valores semánticos de ambos verbos con la finalidad de determinar cómo fue desarrollándose su uso, qué significados generaron otros nuevos y cómo se relacionan entre sí los significados de un mismo verbo. Para llevar a cabo esta tarea se ha partido de la Teoría de los prototipos aplicada a la categorización léxica, así como de la Teoría de la metáfora y la metonimia. Asimismo, se ha analizado la estructura sintáctica de cada ejemplo, la selección léxica de los argumentos verbales y la tradición discursiva a la que pertenece cada documentación. De esta forma, es posible, no sólo describir la evolución semántica de ambos verbos, sino completar la información sobre las causas de su desarrollo diacrónico. Finalmente, se establecen las relaciones semánticas de carácter diacrónico existentes entre ambos verbos en tanto que miembros de un mismo grupo léxico, los verbos de movimiento, y se corrobora su vinculación más allá de una relación de antonimia de tipo primario.

Medium access control messaging scheme for cognitive radio networks

Los sistemas de radio cognitivos son una solución a la deficiente distribución del espectro inalámbrico de frecuencias. Usando acceso dinámico al medio, los usuarios secundarios pueden comunicarse en canales de frecuencia disponibles, mientras los usuarios asignados no están usando dichos canales. Un buen sistema de mensajería de control es necesario para que los usuarios secundarios no interfieran con los usuarios primarios en las redes de radio cognitivas. Para redes en donde los usuarios son heterogéneos en frecuencia, es decir, no poseen los mismos canales de frecuencia para comunicarse, el grupo de canales utilizado para transmitir información de control debe elegirse cuidadosamente. Por esta razón, en esta tesis se estudian las ideas básicas de los esquemas de mensajería de control usados en las redes de radio cognitivas y se presenta un esquema adecuado para un control adecuado para usuarios heterogéneos en canales de frecuencia. Para ello, primero se presenta una nueva taxonomía para clasificar las estrategias de mensajería de control, identificando las principales características que debe cumplir un esquema de control para sistemas heterogéneos en frecuencia. Luego, se revisan diversas técnicas matemáticas para escoger el mínimo número de canales por los cuales se transmite la información de control. Después, se introduce un modelo de un esquema de mensajería de control que use el mínimo número de canales y que utilice las características de los sistemas heterogéneos en frecuencia. Por último, se comparan diversos esquemas de mensajería de control en términos de la eficiencia de transmisión.

Bayesian tools for zero counts in compositional data

The log-ratio methodology makes available powerful tools for analyzing compositionaldata. Nevertheless, the use of this methodology is only possible for those data setswithout null values. Consequently, in those data sets where the zeros are present, aprevious treatment becomes necessary. Last advances in the treatment of compositionalzeros have been centered especially in the zeros of structural nature and in the roundedzeros. These tools do not contemplate the particular case of count compositional datasets with null values. In this work we deal with \count zeros" and we introduce atreatment based on a mixed Bayesian-multiplicative estimation. We use the Dirichletprobability distribution as a prior and we estimate the posterior probabilities. Then weapply a multiplicative modi¯cation for the non-zero values. We present a case studywhere this new methodology is applied.Key words: count data, multiplicative replacement, composition, log-ratio analysis

Developing and evaluating a pictogram-based Instant Messaging service for individuals with cognitive disabilities

Information and communication technologies pose accessibility problems to people with disabilities because its design fails to take into account their communication and usability requirements. The impossibility to access the services provided by these technologies creates a situation of exclusion that reduces the self-suficiency of disabled individuals and causes social isolation, which in turn diminishes their overall quality of life. Considering the importance of these technologies and services in our society, we have developed a pictogram-based Instant Messaging service for individuals with cognitive disabilities who have reading and writing problems. Along the paper we introduce and discuss the User Centred Design methodology that we have used to develop and evaluate the pictogram-based Instant Messaging service and client with individuals with cognitive disabilities taking into account their communication and usability requirements. From the results obtained in the evaluation process we can state that individuals with cognitive disabilities have been able to use the pictogram-based Instant Messaging service and client to communicate with their relatives and acquaintances, thus serving as a tool to help reducing their social and digital exclusion situation.

Semantic web adoption: online tools for web evaluation and metadata extraction

This work briefly analyses the difficulties to adopt the Semantic Web, and in particular proposes systems to know the present level of migration to the different technologies that make up the Semantic Web. It focuses on the presentation and description of two tools, DigiDocSpider and DigiDocMetaEdit, designed with the aim of verifYing, evaluating, and promoting its implementation.

Social capital and cognitive attainment

We review the different meanings that researchers have given to theconcept of social capital, differentiate four types – bridging, bonding,linking, and overheads –, and discuss their different functions as public,club, and common goods.For each form of social capital we distinguish its productivity (acollective characteristic) from the factors that account for individual’sdifferential access to its returns, and propose alternative ways formeasuring each.We show the utility of our theoretical and measuring approach byanalyzing the impact of the each form of social capital on 15 year-oldstudents’ cognitive attainment across OECD countries, using 2006 PISAdata.The results show that students’ cognitive attainments are a direct functionof the richness or productivity of each form of social capital and ofstudents’ degree of access to each.

Web containers / portals integrating tools and accessing distributed services

En aquest projecte he avaluat un seguit de plataformes per veure quina era la millor pertal d’integrar les eines que proporcionen serveis del projecte TENCompetence.Per començar el projecte plantejaré el context del projecte. Com se situa al marc del projecte TENCompetence on he desenvolupat aquest treball fi de carrera. Tot seguit es veuen quines eines disposem per tal d’accedir als diferents serveis que ens proporciona el projecte.Comento els escenaris on s’aplicarà la tecnologia que triem i finalment comento les diferents plataformes web on integrarem les diferents eines.A continuació he realitzat un capítol per tal de comentar l’anàlisi de requeriments del’escenari d’aplicació de cada pilot. Per a cada escenari aplico unes determinades eines a un determinat context, i per tant hi han unes necessitats concretes que he de recollir. Per plasmar-ho en paper he realitzat l’anàlisi de requeriments. Un cop recollides totes les dades he pogut feruna selecció de la plataforma contenidora que més s’escau a cada pilot.Amb els requeriments i la plataforma seleccionada, he realitzat un disseny per a cada pilot. Després de refinar el disseny he realitzat la implementació per tal de cobrir les necessitats dels pilots. També he aprofitat per veure quina tecnologia es pot utilitzar per tal d’integrar leseines dins de la plataforma.Amb la implementació feta he realitzat un seguit de proves per tal de veure els resultats aconseguits. Tot seguit he iniciat un procés iteractiu per tal refinar el disseny i millorar la implementació.

Cognitive stimulation through task-oriented telerobotics

The project presented, iCognos, consists of a flexible platform to assist end-users in performing a series of mental tasks with a sensitized mobile telerobotic platform aimed at mitigating the problems associated to cognitive disorders with an ecological cognition approach.

Comparing and validating hypothesis test procedures: Graphical and numerical tools

When the behaviour of a specific hypothesis test statistic is studied by aMonte Carlo experiment, the usual way to describe its quality is by givingthe empirical level of the test. As an alternative to this procedure, we usethe empirical distribution of the obtained \emph{p-}values and exploit itsinformation both graphically and numerically.

The switch from conventional to atypical antipsychotic treatment should not be based exclusively on the presence of cognitive deficits. A pilot study in individuals with schizophrenia.

Background: Atypical antipsychotics provide better control of the negative and affective symptoms of schizophrenia when compared with conventional neuroleptics; nevertheless, their heightened ability to improve cognitive dysfunction remains a matter of debate. This study aimed to examine the changes in cognition associated with long-term antipsychotic treatment and to evaluate the effect of the type of antipsychotic (conventional versus novel antipsychotic drugs) on cognitive performance over time. Methods: In this naturalistic study, we used a comprehensive neuropsychological battery of tests to assess a sample of schizophrenia patients taking either conventional (n = 13) or novel antipsychotics (n = 26) at baseline and at two years after. Results: Continuous antipsychotic treatment regardless of class was associated with improvement on verbal fluency, executive functions, and visual and verbal memory. Patients taking atypical antipsychotics did not show greater cognitive enhancement over two years than patients taking conventional antipsychotics. Conclusions Although long-term antipsychotic treatment slightly improved cognitive function, the switch from conventional to atypical antipsychotic treatment should not be based exclusively on the presence of these cognitive deficits.

European guidelines for the development of mechanisms/tools supporting the individual demand for training through use of training Vouchers

El projecte de TAV es basa en la transferència d'un sistema de vals de capacitació, i en com aquest sistema de vals és adaptable a altres països o regions. En el document s'analitzen diferents conceptes teòrics sobre la conveniència o no de la implantació d'aquest sistema. A més a més, aquest document és una guia per a les organitzacions interessades en l'adaptació del sistema de vals formatius al seu territori, mostrant els passos a seguir i oferint eines útils per aconseguir-ho.

A productivity map of cognitive pretest methos for improving survey questions

Interest in cognitive pretest methods for evaluating survey questionnaires has been increasing for the last three decades. However, analysing the features of the scientific output in the field can be difficult due to its prevalence in public and private institutes whose main mission is not scientific research. The aim of this research is to characterize the current state of scientific output in the field by means of two bibliometric studies for the period from 1980 to 2007. Study 1 analysed documents obtained from the more commonly used bibliographic databases. Study 2 supplemented the body of documents from Study 1 with documents from non-indexed journals, conference papers, etc. Results show a constant growth in the number of publications. The wide dispersion of publication sources, together with the highlighted role of the public and private institutions as centres of production, can also be identified as relevant characteristics of the scientific output in this field.

European guidelines for the development of mechanisms/tools supporting the individual demand for training through use of training Vouchers

El projecte de TAV es basa en la transferència d'un sistema de vals de capacitació, i en com aquest sistema de vals és adaptable a altres països o regions. En el document s'analitzen diferents conceptes teòrics sobre la conveniència o no de la implantació d'aquest sistema. A més a més, aquest document és una guia per a les organitzacions interessades en l'adaptació del sistema de vals formatius al seu territori, mostrant els passos a seguir i oferint eines útils per aconseguir-ho.

Self construction, cognitive conflicts and polarization in bulimia nervosa

This study explores the cognitive structures, understood as construct systems, of patients suffering from bulimia nervosa (BN). Previous studies investigated the construct systems of disordered eaters suggesting that they had a higher distance between their construction of the self and the «ideal self», and also more rigidity. In addition to these aspects, this study explored the presence of implicative dilemmas (ID). Thirty two women who met criteria for BN and were treated in a specialized center were compared to a non clinical group composed by 32 women matched by age. All participants were assessed using Repertory Grid Technique (RGT). In BN patients it was more common (71.9%) to find IDs than in controls (18.8%). They also showed higher polarization and higher self-ideal discrepancies (even more for those with a long history of BN). The measures provided by the RGT can be useful for the assessment of self-construction and cognitive conflicts in BN patients and to appreciate their role in this disorder. In addition, this technique could be helpful for clinicians to explore the patient"s constructs system, and specially to identify IDs that could be maintaining the symptoms or hindering change in order to focus on them to facilitate improvement.