Joint array combining and MLSE for single-user receivers in multipath Gaussian multiuser channels

The well-known structure of an array combiner along with a maximum likelihood sequence estimator (MLSE) receiveris the basis for the derivation of a space-time processor presentinggood properties in terms of co-channel and intersymbol interferencerejection. The use of spatial diversity at the receiver front-endtogether with a scalar MLSE implies a joint design of the spatialcombiner and the impulse response for the sequence detector. Thisis faced using the MMSE criterion under the constraint that thedesired user signal power is not cancelled, yielding an impulse responsefor the sequence detector that is matched to the channel andcombiner response. The procedure maximizes the signal-to-noiseratio at the input of the detector and exhibits excellent performancein realistic multipath channels.

Touching the void: exploring virtual objects through a vibrotactile glove

This paper describes a simple low-cost approach toadding an element of haptic interaction within a virtualenvironment. Using off-the-shelf hardware and software wedescribe a simple setup that can be used to explore physically virtual objects in space. This setup comprises of a prototype glove with a number of vibrating actuators to provide the haptic feedback, a Kinect camera for the tracking of the user's hand and a virtual reality development environment. As proof of concept and to test the efficiency of the system as well as its potential applications, we developed a simple application where we created 4 different shapes within a virtual environment in order to try toexplore them and guess their shape through touch alone.

Customization, transparency and proximity: a user- centered content strategy applied to the design of a virtual library website

We present a case study of the redesign of the organizational presentation and content of the Virtual Library website at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia, UOC), based on a user-centered design strategy. The aim of the redesign was to provide users with more intuitive, usable and understandable content (textual content, resources and services) by implementing criteria of customization, transparency and proximity. The study also presents a selection of best practices for applying these criteria to the design of other library websites.

Customization, transparency and proximity: a user- centered content strategy applied to the design of a virtual library website

We present a case study of the redesign of the organizational presentation and content of the Virtual Library website at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia, UOC), based on a user-centered design strategy. The aim of the redesign was to provide users with more intuitive, usable and understandable content (textual content, resources and services) by implementing criteria of customization, transparency and proximity. The study also presents a selection of best practices for applying these criteria to the design of other library websites.

Collaborative explicit plasticity framework: a conceptual scheme for the generation of plastic and group-aware user interfaces

The advent of new advances in mobile computing has changed the manner we do our daily work, even enabling us to perform collaborative activities. However, current groupware approaches do not offer an integrating and efficient solution that jointly tackles the flexibility and heterogeneity inherent to mobility as well as the awareness aspects intrinsic to collaborative environments. Issues related to the diversity of contexts of use are collected under the term plasticity. A great amount of tools have emerged offering a solution to some of these issues, although always focused on individual scenarios. We are working on reusing and specializing some already existing plasticity tools to the groupware design. The aim is to offer the benefits from plasticity and awareness jointly, trying to reach a real collaboration and a deeper understanding of multi-environment groupware scenarios. In particular, this paper presents a conceptual framework aimed at being a reference for the generation of plastic User Interfaces for collaborative environments in a systematic and comprehensive way. Starting from a previous conceptual framework for individual environments, inspired on the model-based approach, we introduce specific components and considerations related to groupware.

A user-friendly web portal for T-Coffee on supercomputers

Background: Parallel T-Coffee (PTC) was the first parallel implementation of the T-Coffee multiple sequence alignment tool. It is based on MPI and RMA mechanisms. Its purpose is to reduce the execution time of the large-scale sequence alignments. It can be run on distributed memory clusters allowing users to align data sets consisting of hundreds of proteins within a reasonable time. However, most of the potential users of this tool are not familiar with the use of grids or supercomputers. Results: In this paper we show how PTC can be easily deployed and controlled on a super computer architecture using a web portal developed using Rapid. Rapid is a tool for efficiently generating standardized portlets for a wide range of applications and the approach described here is generic enough to be applied to other applications, or to deploy PTC on different HPC environments. Conclusions: The PTC portal allows users to upload a large number of sequences to be aligned by the parallel version of TC that cannot be aligned by a single machine due to memory and execution time constraints. The web portal provides a user-friendly solution.

Customization, transparency and proximity: a user- centered content strategy applied to the design of a virtual library website

We present a case study of the redesign of the organizational presentation and content of the Virtual Library website at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Open University of Catalonia, UOC), based on a user-centered design strategy. The aim of the redesign was to provide users with more intuitive, usable and understandable content (textual content, resources and services) by implementing criteria of customization, transparency and proximity. The study also presents a selection of best practices for applying these criteria to the design of other library websites.

Feblesa de tutories: manca de feedback i autoregulació en l'estudiant d'infermeria. Valoració de l'avaluació continuada en l'assignatura Ciències Psicosocials Aplicades a la Salut en el Grau d'Infermeria (EEES), (2009-2010)

Resum: En el nou model derivat de l"Espai Europeu d"Educació Superior (EEES), l"ensenyament aprenentatge (E-A) es centra en l"estudiant, enfront del rol més destacat del professor en l"ensenyament tradicional. El procés d"experimentació al que assistim en el nostre medi, requereix la valoració de les primeres experiències. Objectiu: L"objectiu d"aquest estudi és identificar si la metodologia utilitzada en l"assignatura Ciències Psicosocials Aplicades a la Salut, en el Grau d"Infermeria a l"Escola d" infermeria de la Universitat de Barcelona, està ben enfocada per assolir una avaluació continuada de qualitat. Metodologia: Es presenta a traves d"un estudi descriptiu. La població estudiada mitjançant un qüestionari, ha estat els estudiants dels quatre grups de primer curs, del primer any de desenvolupament del Grau d"Infermeria en el nostre Centre, passades el curs acadèmic 2009-2010, amb una mostra total de 221 alumnes. Conclusions: Els resultats permeten tres franges interpretatives: 1) qualificació de notable que fa referència a la modalitat disciplinar i experiència docent del professorat, 2) qualificació entre notable i aprovat referida a la metodologia didàctica i organitzativa, 3) qualificació d"aprovat que fa referència a les tutories.

Feblesa de tutories: manca de feedback i autoregulació en l'estudiant d'infermeria. Valoració de l'avaluació continuada en l'assignatura Ciències Psicosocials Aplicades a la Salut en el Grau d'Infermeria (EEES), (2009-2010)

Resum: En el nou model derivat de l"Espai Europeu d"Educació Superior (EEES), l"ensenyament aprenentatge (E-A) es centra en l"estudiant, enfront del rol més destacat del professor en l"ensenyament tradicional. El procés d"experimentació al que assistim en el nostre medi, requereix la valoració de les primeres experiències. Objectiu: L"objectiu d"aquest estudi és identificar si la metodologia utilitzada en l"assignatura Ciències Psicosocials Aplicades a la Salut, en el Grau d"Infermeria a l"Escola d" infermeria de la Universitat de Barcelona, està ben enfocada per assolir una avaluació continuada de qualitat. Metodologia: Es presenta a traves d"un estudi descriptiu. La població estudiada mitjançant un qüestionari, ha estat els estudiants dels quatre grups de primer curs, del primer any de desenvolupament del Grau d"Infermeria en el nostre Centre, passades el curs acadèmic 2009-2010, amb una mostra total de 221 alumnes. Conclusions: Els resultats permeten tres franges interpretatives: 1) qualificació de notable que fa referència a la modalitat disciplinar i experiència docent del professorat, 2) qualificació entre notable i aprovat referida a la metodologia didàctica i organitzativa, 3) qualificació d"aprovat que fa referència a les tutories.

Privatization and PPPS in transportation infrastructure: Network effects of increasing user fees

PPPS: Problem: Public-private-partnerships in transport infrastructure characteristically increase user-fees. Purpose: We aim to identify the network effects of the use of PPPs and increased user tolls in road infrastructure. Methods: We study the increases in user tolls on motorways due to the use of PPPs in the US. Results and conclusions: Among other things, the monetization of motorways is associated with an increase in toll levels that has consequences for their users, and also for the rest of the sections of the network.

Feedback i oportunitats de millora: una avaluació orientada a l"aprenentatge actiu

This paper analyzes an innovative experience of formative assessment aimed at improving the teaching of Statistics, which could be easily extrapolated to other studies. We detail the implementation of the double correction, consisting of correcting students' work twice. With the first correction, carried out by classmates according to a rubric developed by the academic, possible errors or deficiencies are discovered, and students are provided with a feedback that allows them to correct and improve their work before being graded by the teacher; whereas in the second correction of the work, once upgraded, the professor evaluates and grades the work. As a result, there is a significant improvement in the quality of students" works, and an active learning from their own mistakes. Both contents and competencies are reinforced by the experience.

Negative feedback regulation of calcineurin-dependent Prz1 transcription factor by the CaMKK-CaMK1 axis in fission yeast

Calcium signals trigger the translocation of the Prz1 transcription factor from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. The process is regulated by the calciumactivated phosphatase calcineurin, which activates Prz1 thereby maintaining active transcription during calcium signalling. When calcium signalling ceases, Prz1 is inactivated by phosphorylation and exported to the cytoplasm. In budding yeast and mammalian cells, different kinases have been reported to counter calcineurin activity and regulate nuclear export. Here, we show that the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase Cmk1 is first phosphorylated and activated by the newly identified kinase CaMKK2 homologue, Ckk2, in response to Ca2+. Then, active Cmk1 binds, phosphorylates and inactivates Prz1 transcription activity whilst at the same time cmk1 expression is enhanced by Prz1 in response to Ca2+. Furthermore, Cdc25 phosphatase is also phosphorylated by Cmk1, inducing cell cycle arrest in response to an increase in Ca2+. Moreover, cmk1 deletion shows a high tolerance to chronic exposure to Ca2+, due to the lack of cell cycle inhibition and elevated Prz1 activity. This work reveals that Cmk1 kinase activated by the newly identified Ckk2 counteracts calcineurin function by negatively regulating Prz1 activity which in turn is involved in activating cmk1 gene transcription. These results are the first insights into Cmk1 and Ckk2 function in Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

User-Centered Design Gymkhana

The User-centered design (UCD) Gymkhana is a tool for human-computer interaction practitioners to demonstrate through a game the key user-centered design methods and how they interrelate in the design process.The target audiences are other organizational departments unfamiliar with UCD but whose work is related to the definition, cretaion, and update of a product service.

User Centered Desing in E-Learning Environments : from Usability to Learner Experience

The advent of the Internet had a great impact on distance education and rapidly e-learning has become a killer application. Education institutions worldwide are taking advantage of the available technology in order to facilitate education to a growing audience. Everyday, more and more people use e-learning systems, environments and contents for both training and learning. E-learning promotes educationamong people that due to different reasons could not have access to education: people who could nottravel, people with very little free time, or withdisabilities, etc. As e-learning systems grow and more people are accessing them, it is necessary to consider when designing virtual environments the diverse needs and characteristics that different users have. This allows building systems that people can use easily, efficiently and effectively, where the learning process leads to a good user experience and becomes a good learning experience.

Capturing user behavior in e-learning environments

Peer-reviewed