Generating multimedia presentations that summarize the behavior of dynamic systems using a model-based approach

This article describes a knowledge-based method for generating multimedia descriptions that summarize the behavior of dynamic systems. We designed this method for users who monitor the behavior of a dynamic system with the help of sensor networks and make decisions according to prefixed management goals. Our method generates presentations using different modes such as text in natural language, 2D graphics and 3D animations. The method uses a qualitative representation of the dynamic system based on hierarchies of components and causal influences. The method includes an abstraction generator that uses the system representation to find and aggregate relevant data at an appropriate level of abstraction. In addition, the method includes a hierarchical planner to generate a presentation using a model with dis- course patterns. Our method provides an efficient and flexible solution to generate concise and adapted multimedia presentations that summarize thousands of time series. It is general to be adapted to differ- ent dynamic systems with acceptable knowledge acquisition effort by reusing and adapting intuitive rep- resentations. We validated our method and evaluated its practical utility by developing several models for an application that worked in continuous real time operation for more than 1 year, summarizing sen- sor data of a national hydrologic information system in Spain.

Herramientas de programación multimedia en IOS y Android

En este proyecto se realiza un estudio sobre herramientas que facilitan la creación y distribución de aplicaciones en distintas plataformas móviles, con el fin de poder seleccionar la herramienta más apropiada en función del proyecto a desarrollar. Previo al estudio de las herramientas para el desarrollo en plataformas múltiples se realiza un estudio de las herramientas y metodologías que facilitan los propietarios de los entornos IOS y Android. Este estudio previo permitirá al lector conocer en más detalle las particularidades de cada uno de estos dos entornos, así como las pautas y buenas prácticas a seguir en el desarrollo de aplicaciones para dispositivos móviles. Una vez finalizado el estudio, el lector sabrá escoger una herramienta de desarrollo adaptada a cada proyecto en función de su objeto, los recursos disponibles y las habilidades de los miembros del equipo de desarrollo. Adicionalmente al estudio, y como ejemplo de aplicación, en el proyecto se realiza un caso práctico de selección de herramienta y aplicación de la herramienta seleccionada a un proyecto de desarrollo concreto. El caso práctico consiste en la creación de un entorno que permite generar aplicaciones para la visualización de apuntes. Las aplicaciones permitirán ver contenidos de tipo multimedia como ficheros de texto, sonidos, imágenes, vídeos y enlaces a contenidos externos. Además estas aplicaciones se generarán sin que el autor de las mismas tenga que modificar alguna de las líneas del código. Para ello, se han definido una serie de ficheros de configuración en los que el autor de la aplicación deberá indicar los contenidos a mostrar y su ubicación. Se han seleccionado recursos de tipo “código abierto” para el desarrollo del caso práctico, con el fin de evitar los costes asociados a las posibles licencias. El equipo de desarrollo del caso práctico estará formado únicamente por el autor de este proyecto de fin de grado, lo que hace del caso de estudio un desarrollo sencillo, de manera que su futuro mantenimiento y escalabilidad no deberían verse afectados por la necesidad de contar con equipos de desarrolladores con conocimientos específicos o complejos. ABSTRACT. This document contains a study of tools that ease the creation and the distribution of the applications through different mobile platforms. The objective o this document is to allow the selection of the most appropriate tool, depending on the development objectives. Previous to this study about the tools for developing on multiple platforms, a study of IOS and Android tools and their methodologies is included on this document. This previous analysis will allow the reader to know in more detail the peculiarities of each of these environments, together with theirs requirements and the best practices of the applications development for mobile devices. By the end of this document the reader would be able to choose the adequate development tool for a project depending of its objective, its available resources and the developers team’s capabilities. Beside this study and as example of case study this final project includes a practical case of tool selection and its application to a specific development. The case study consists in the creation of an environment that allows generating applications to visualise notes. These applications will allow seeing contents of multimedia type such as: text files, sounds, images, videos, and links to external content. Furthermore these applications will be generated without their author having to modify any line of code, because a group of configuration files will be defined for such purpose. The author of the application only has to update this configuration with the content to show by the application and its location. The selected resources for the case study were of the type “open source” in order to avoid the cost associated to the potential licenses. The developers’ team for this case study has only one member, the author of this final project document and practical case developer. As a result the case study is a very simple development in a way that the future potential maintenance and scalability should not depend on the necessity of a highly qualified developers’ teams with a very specific knowledge on mobile platforms development.

Nuevos métodos y herramientas para la creación y utilización de recursos multimedia en la educación

La educación y los entornos educativos están en constante evolución. Tanto alumnos como educadores cambian de hábitos, de maneras de aprender, de gustos, de dispositivos que manejan y de aplicaciones que usan regularmente entre otras cosas. Todos estos cambios vienen acompañados y fomentados en gran medida por la evolución paralela que experimenta la tecnología, tanto software en los programas utilizados, como hardware en los dispositivos y capacidades de éstos. La educación debe también adaptarse a estos cambios, tanto personales como tecnológicos y sacar el mayor provecho de ellos. El uso de Sistemas de Gestión del Aprendizaje está muy extendido en todos los centros educativos. Estos sistemas poseen un gran número de características y funcionalidades que permiten desde la aplicación de un modelo didáctico totalmente tradicional en el que el profesor imparte un contenido y los alumnos lo reciben a uno totalmente innovador en el que ocurren procesos totalmente diferentes. Por otro lado, el potencial que ofrecen los recursos multimedia no ha sido completamente aprovechado en la educación y supone una gran oportunidad. Esta tesis doctoral propone un conjunto de métodos y herramientas para la creación y el uso de recursos multimedia en la educación. Para ello el desarrollo de esta tesis parte de la definición de un modelo didáctico social, colaborativo y centrado en el alumno que servirá de hilo conductor y que integrará los diferentes y métodos y herramientas estudiados y desarrollados. En un primer paso se identifican varias herramientas y métodos para el aula, tales son la grabación de clases, donde se crea y posteriormente se mejora un carrito portátil de grabación que da muy buen resultado, las herramientas de grabación de screencast y la videoconferencia. Estas herramientas además se integran en una plataforma colaborativa dando lugar a una arquitectura completa y escalable que permite la realización de dichas actividades y la interconexión sencilla con el Sistema de Gestión del Aprendizaje. A continuación y ya en un entorno totalmente online se desarrolla una nueva plataforma de e-learning llamada Virtual Science Hub (ViSH) que consta de cuatro funcionalidades principales, red social, videoconferencia, repositorio educativo y herramienta de autor. En esta plataforma se aplicaron técnicas de recomendación proactiva tanto de recursos educativos como de otros usuarios similares. Por último se validó el modelo educativo completo usando algunas de las herramientas identificadas y desarrolladas en dos escenarios diferentes con gran éxito. Finalmente, esta tesis discute las conclusiones obtenidas a lo largo de la extensa investigación llevada a cabo y que ha propiciado la consecución de una buena base teórica y práctica para la creación de herramientas y métodos para la generación y el uso de recursos multimedia en la educación. ABSTRACT Education and learning environments are constantly evolving. Students and educators change the things their habits, their ways of learning, the things they like or the devices and applications that they use regularly among other things. All these changes are accompanied and fostered by the parallel evolution that technology experiences, both in the software programs used as in the hardware and capabilities of these devices. Education must also adapt to these changes, both personal and technological and get the most out of them. Learning Management Systems are widely used in all educational centers. These systems have a large number of features and functionalities. They allow from the implementation of a traditional teaching model in which the teacher gives content and students receive it to one absolutely innovative teaching model where totally different processes occur. Furthermore, the potential of multimedia resources has not been fully exploited in education and can be a great opportunity. This thesis proposes a set of methods and tools for the creation and use of multimedia in education. The development of this thesis starts with the definition of a social, collaborative and learner-centered model, that serves as a common thread and that integrates different tools and methods studied and developed. In a first step, several tools and methods for the classroom are identified, such as recording, where a portable kit is created and then improved giving very good results, screencast recording and videoconferencing. These tools also are integrated into a collaborative platform resulting in a complete, scalable architecture that enables the execution of such activities and a simple interconnection with the Learning Management System. In an fully online environment a new e-learning platform called Virtual Science Hub (ViSH) is created. It consists of four main features that combine and complement each other, social network, videoconferencing, educational repository and authoring tool. In this platform proactive recommendation of both educational resources and similar users is applied. In a last step the entire educational model using some of the tools identified and developed is successfully validated in two different scenarios. Finally, this thesis discusses the findings obtained during the extensive research carried out and has led to the achievement of a good theoretical and practical basis for the development of tools and methods for the generation and use of multimedia in education.

La multimedia y sus aplicaciones: elaboración de un video promocional para la carrera de ingeniería de sistemas

¿Por qué la multimedia? Tradicionalmente, la manera de presentar la información en los computadores ha sido la de los reportes y pantallas, en las que aparecen texto, números y ocasionalmente gráficos. A pesar de que estos medios son efectivos para cierto tipo de comunicaciones, su consulta causa normalmente tedio a las personas, y una información valiosa puede perderse por una manera poco efectiva de comunicarla.

Archetypes Library: Design of a Didactic Multimedia Contribute to Improving the Image of Librarianship in Costa Rica Society

This document describes each step of the research conducted to understand the factors that may be influencing the low enrollment of freshmen who have experienced the “Escuela de Bibliotecologia, Documentacion e Informacion de la Universidad Nacional” in recent years. It also raises a didactic - multimedia, in response to identified needs, to help improve the problems encountered by making use of technological tools with an educational foundation that fosters reflection of the population to be targeted by the product. Finally, it presents the conclusions and recommendations drawn from the research.

Teaching Communications, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities with Multimedia: A University-Middle School Service-Learning Project

Se describe el uso de tecnología en forma de presentaciones de multimedia para facilitar la enseñanza de las Normas para el Aprendizaje de una Lengua Extranjera del Concilio Americano para la Enseñanza de Lenguas extranjeras. Las normas abarcan las comunicaciones, las culturas, las conexiones, las comparaciones y las comunidades. El estudiantado universitario aprende a crear, con multimedia, presentaciones sobre un tema cultural en la lengua meta. El componente de aprendizaje por servicio comunitario se fundamenta en las presentaciones creadas para estudiantes de colegio, quienes tienen acceso a las presentaciones en un sitio web de la universidad.A description is provided of how the use of technology in the form of multimedia presentations enhances the teaching of the Five C Standards for Foreign Language Learning of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages: communications, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities. University students learn to create multimedia presentations on a cultural topic in the target language. The service-learning component provides the multimedia presentations for middle-school students who access them from the university website.

Insulin and leptin relations in obesity: a multimedia approach

Obesity has been recognized as a worldwide public health problem. It significantly increases the chances of developing several diseases, including Type II diabetes. The roles of insulin and leptin in obesity involve reactions that can be better understood when they are presented step by step. The aim of this work was to design software with data from some of the most recent publications on obesity, especially those concerning the roles of insulin and leptin in this metabolic disturbance. The most notable characteristic of this software is the use of animations representing the cellular response together with the presentation of recently discovered mechanisms on the participation of insulin and leptin in processes leading to obesity. The software was field tested in the Biochemistry of Nutrition web-based course. After using the software and discussing its contents in chatrooms, students were asked to answer an evaluation survey about the whole activity and the usefulness of the software within the learning process. The teaching assistants (TA) evaluated the software as a tool to help in the teaching process. The students' and TAs' satisfaction was very evident and encouraged us to move forward with the software development and to improve the use of this kind of educational tool in biochemistry classes.

A synchronous multimedia annotation system for secure collaboratories

In this paper, we describe the Vannotea system - an application designed to enable collaborating groups to discuss and annotate collections of high quality images, video, audio or 3D objects. The system has been designed specifically to capture and share scholarly discourse and annotations about multimedia research data by teams of trusted colleagues within a research or academic environment. As such, it provides: authenticated access to a web browser search interface for discovering and retrieving media objects; a media replay window that can incorporate a variety of embedded plug-ins to render different scientific media formats; an annotation authoring, editing, searching and browsing tool; and session logging and replay capabilities. Annotations are personal remarks, interpretations, questions or references that can be attached to whole files, segments or regions. Vannotea enables annotations to be attached either synchronously (using jabber message passing and audio/video conferencing) or asynchronously and stand-alone. The annotations are stored on an Annotea server, extended for multimedia content. Their access, retrieval and re-use is controlled via Shibboleth identity management and XACML access policies.

Pol??ticas judici??rias no Brasil: o judici??rio como autor de pol??ticas p??blicas

O artigo salienta a import??ncia de se incorporar o Poder Judici??rio nos estudos de pol??ticas p??blicas, sobretudo a partir do foco sobre as a????es desenvolvidas pelos tribunais e, principalmente, pelo Conselho Nacional de Justi??a. Devido ao papel estrat??gico do Judici??rio nas democracias contempor??neas, urge-se compreender melhor as transforma????es experimentadas no Brasil e em diversos pa??ses, sobretudo a partir do fortalecimento dos conselhos encarregados de prover maior accountability, coordena????o e controle para os sistemas judiciais. A partir das especificidades da Justi??a brasileira, o CNJ assume um papel central de concep????o e elabora????o de pol??ticas para incrementar a atua????o jurisdicional e torn??-la mais c??lere, efetiva e responsiva ??s necessidades sociais. Prop??e-se ent??o o aprofundamento da an??lise e do debate cr??ticos sobre os fundamentos, din??mica, constru????o institucional, limites e potencialidades dos processos relacionados ?? formula????o e ?? implementa????o de pol??ticas judici??rias.

Bravos companheiros e fantasmas 5 : estudos críticos sobre o autor capixaba

Maria Amélia Dalvi, Orlando Lopes, Reinaldo Santos Neves, organizadores

Artur Ribeiro: Com menos dinheiro continuariam a fazer-se bons filmes de autor"

O projecto “Principais tendências no cinema português contemporâneo” nasceu no Departamento de Cinema da ESTC, com o objectivo de desenvolver investigação especializada a partir de um núcleo formado por alunos da Licenciatura em Cinema e do Mestrado em Desenvolvimento de Projecto Cinematográfico, a que se juntaram professores-investigadores membros do CIAC e convidados. O que agora se divulga corresponde a dois anos e meio de trabalho desenvolvido pela equipa de investigação, entre Abril de 2009 e Novembro de 2011. Dada a forma que ele foi adquirindo, preferimos renomeá-lo, para efeitos de divulgação, “Novas & velhas tendências no cinema português contemporâneo”.

Code offloading on real-time multimedia systems: a framework for handling code mobility and code offloading in a QoS aware environment

Actualmente, os smartphones e outros dispositivos móveis têm vindo a ser dotados com cada vez maior poder computacional, sendo capazes de executar um vasto conjunto de aplicações desde simples programas de para tirar notas até sofisticados programas de navegação. Porém, mesmo com a evolução do seu hardware, os actuais dispositivos móveis ainda não possuem as mesmas capacidades que os computadores de mesa ou portáteis. Uma possível solução para este problema é distribuir a aplicação, executando partes dela no dispositivo local e o resto em outros dispositivos ligados à rede. Adicionalmente, alguns tipos de aplicações como aplicações multimédia, jogos electrónicos ou aplicações de ambiente imersivos possuem requisitos em termos de Qualidade de Serviço, particularmente de tempo real. Ao longo desta tese é proposto um sistema de execução de código remota para sistemas distribuídos com restrições de tempo-real. A arquitectura proposta adapta-se a sistemas que necessitem de executar periodicamente e em paralelo mesmo conjunto de funções com garantias de tempo real, mesmo desconhecendo os tempos de execução das referidas funções. A plataforma proposta foi desenvolvida para sistemas móveis capazes de executar o Sistema Operativo Android.

Towards the detection of deception in interactive multimedia environments

A classical application of biosignal analysis has been the psychophysiological detection of deception, also known as the polygraph test, which is currently a part of standard practices of law enforcement agencies and several other institutions worldwide. Although its validity is far from gathering consensus, the underlying psychophysiological principles are still an interesting add-on for more informal applications. In this paper we present an experimental off-the-person hardware setup, propose a set of feature extraction criteria and provide a comparison of two classification approaches, targeting the detection of deception in the context of a role-playing interactive multimedia environment. Our work is primarily targeted at recreational use in the context of a science exhibition, where the main goal is to present basic concepts related with knowledge discovery, biosignal analysis and psychophysiology in an educational way, using techniques that are simple enough to be understood by children of different ages. Nonetheless, this setting will also allow us to build a significant data corpus, annotated with ground-truth information, and collected with non-intrusive sensors, enabling more advanced research on the topic. Experimental results have shown interesting findings and provided useful guidelines for future work. Pattern Recognition

Multimedia fate modeling and comparative impact on freshwater ecosystems of pharmaceuticals from biosolids-amended soils

This study modeled the impact on freshwater ecosystems of pharmaceuticals detected in biosolids following application on agricultural soils. The detected sulfonamides and hydrochlorothiazide displayed comparatively moderate retention in solid matrices and, therefore, higher transfer fractions from biosolids to the freshwater compartment. However, the residence times of these pharmaceuticals in freshwater were estimated to be short due to abiotic degradation processes. The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory mefenamic acid had the highest environmental impact on aquatic ecosystems and warrants further investigation. The estimation of the solid-water partitioning coefficient was generally the most influential parameter of the probabilistic comparative impact assessment. These results and the modeling approach used in this study serve to prioritize pharmaceuticals in the research effort to assess the risks and the environmental impacts on aquatic biota of these emerging pollutants.

Industrial multimedia put into practice

Recent developments in the factory floor technologies together with the widespread use of TCP/IP and the Internet are increasing the eagerness to support a new wide class of devices and applications, such as industrial multimedia applications, in factory floor networks. This paper presents how this new field of applications can be put into practice, via a manufacturing cell field trial being implemented. This manufacturing automation field trial involves the use of traditional distributed computer control systems and 'factory-floor-oriented' multimedia (e.g. voice, video) application services.