A model to develop a platform for personalised health applications

Antecedentes Europa vive una situaci��n insostenible. Desde el 2008 se han reducido los recursos de los gobiernos a ra��z de la crisis econ��mica. El continente Europeo envejece con ritmo constante al punto que se prev�� que en 2050 habr�� s��lo dos trabajadores por jubilado [54]. A esta situaci��n se le a��ade el aumento de la incidencia de las enfermedades cr��nicas, relacionadas con el envejecimiento, cuyo coste puede alcanzar el 7% del PIB de un pa��s [51]. Es necesario un cambio de paradigma. Una nueva manera de cuidar de la salud de las personas: sustentable, eficaz y preventiva m��s que curativa. Algunos estudios abogan por el cuidado personalizado de la salud (pHealth). En este modelo las pr��cticas m��dicas son adaptadas e individualizadas al paciente, desde la detecci��n de los factores de riesgo hasta la personalizaci��n de los tratamientos basada en la respuesta del individuo [81]. El cuidado personalizado de la salud est�� asociado a menudo al uso de las tecnolog��as de la informaci��n y comunicaci��n (TICs) que, con su desarrollo exponencial, ofrecen oportunidades interesantes para la mejora de la salud. El cambio de paradigma hacia el pHealth est�� lentamente ocurriendo, tanto en el ��mbito de la investigaci��n como en la industria, pero todav��a no de manera significativa. Existen todav��a muchas barreras relacionadas a la econom��a, a la pol��tica y la cultura. Tambi��n existen barreras puramente tecnol��gicas, como la falta de sistemas de informaci��n interoperables [199]. A pesar de que los aspectos de interoperabilidad est��n evolucionando, todav��a hace falta un dise��o de referencia especialmente direccionado a la implementaci��n y el despliegue en gran escala de sistemas basados en pHealth. La presente Tesis representa un intento de organizar la disciplina de la aplicaci��n de las TICs al cuidado personalizado de la salud en un modelo de referencia, que permita la creaci��n de plataformas de desarrollo de software para simplificar tareas comunes de desarrollo en este dominio. Preguntas de investigaci��n RQ1 >Es posible definir un modelo, basado en t��cnicas de ingenier��a del software, que represente el dominio del cuidado personalizado de la salud de una forma abstracta y representativa? RQ2 >Es posible construir una plataforma de desarrollo basada en este modelo? RQ3 >Esta plataforma ayuda a los desarrolladores a crear sistemas pHealth complejos e integrados? M��todos Para la descripci��n del modelo se adopt�� el est��ndar ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010por ser lo suficientemente general y abstracto para el amplio enfoque de esta tesis [25]. El modelo est�� definido en varias partes: un modelo conceptual, expresado a trav��s de mapas conceptuales que representan las partes interesadas (stakeholders), los artefactos y la informaci��n compartida; y escenarios y casos de uso para la descripci��n de sus funcionalidades. El modelo fue desarrollado de acuerdo a la informaci��n obtenida del an��lisis de la literatura, incluyendo 7 informes industriales y cient��ficos, 9 est��ndares, 10 art��culos en conferencias, 37 art��culos en revistas, 25 p��ginas web y 5 libros. Bas��ndose en el modelo se definieron los requisitos para la creaci��n de la plataforma de desarrollo, enriquecidos por otros requisitos recolectados a trav��s de una encuesta realizada a 11 ingenieros con experiencia en la rama. Para el desarrollo de la plataforma, se adopt�� la metodolog��a de integraci��n continua [74] que permiti�� ejecutar tests autom��ticos en un servidor y tambi��n desplegar aplicaciones en una p��gina web. En cuanto a la metodolog��a utilizada para la validaci��n se adopt�� un marco para la formulaci��n de teor��as en la ingenier��a del software [181]. Esto requiere el desarrollo de modelos y proposiciones que han de ser validados dentro de un ��mbito de investigaci��n definido, y que sirvan para guiar al investigador en la b��squeda de la evidencia necesaria para justificarla. La validaci��n del modelo fue desarrollada mediante una encuesta online en tres rondas con un n��mero creciente de invitados. El cuestionario fue enviado a 134 contactos y distribuido en algunos canales p��blicos como listas de correo y redes sociales. El objetivo era evaluar la legibilidad del modelo, su nivel de cobertura del dominio y su potencial utilidad en el dise��o de sistemas derivados. El cuestionario inclu��a preguntas cuantitativas de tipo Likert y campos para recolecci��n de comentarios. La plataforma de desarrollo fue validada en dos etapas. En la primera etapa se utiliz�� la plataforma en un experimento a peque��a escala, que consisti�� en una sesi��n de entrenamiento de 12 horas en la que 4 desarrolladores tuvieron que desarrollar algunos casos de uso y reunirse en un grupo focal para discutir su uso. La segunda etapa se realiz�� durante los tests de un proyecto en gran escala llamado HeartCycle [160]. En este proyecto un equipo de dise��adores y programadores desarrollaron tres aplicaciones en el campo de las enfermedades cardio-vasculares. Una de estas aplicaciones fue testeada en un ensayo cl��nico con pacientes reales. Al analizar el proyecto, el equipo de desarrollo se reuni�� en un grupo focal para identificar las ventajas y desventajas de la plataforma y su utilidad. Resultados Por lo que concierne el modelo que describe el dominio del pHealth, la parte conceptual incluye una descripci��n de los roles principales y las preocupaciones de los participantes, un modelo de los artefactos TIC que se usan com��nmente y un modelo para representar los datos t��picos que son necesarios formalizar e intercambiar entre sistemas basados en pHealth. El modelo funcional incluye un conjunto de 18 escenarios, repartidos en: punto de vista de la persona asistida, punto de vista del cuidador, punto de vista del desarrollador, punto de vista de los proveedores de tecnolog��as y punto de vista de las autoridades; y un conjunto de 52 casos de uso repartidos en 6 categor��as: actividades de la persona asistida, reacciones del sistema, actividades del cuidador, \engagement" del usuario, actividades del desarrollador y actividades de despliegue. Como resultado del cuestionario de validaci��n del modelo, un total de 65 personas revis�� el modelo proporcionando su nivel de acuerdo con las dimensiones evaluadas y un total de 248 comentarios sobre c��mo mejorar el modelo. Los conocimientos de los participantes variaban desde la ingenier��a del software (70%) hasta las especialidades m��dicas (15%), con declarado inter��s en eHealth (24%), mHealth (16%), Ambient Assisted Living (21%), medicina personalizada (5%), sistemas basados en pHealth (15%), inform��tica m��dica (10%) e ingenier��a biom��dica (8%) con una media de 7.25_4.99 a��os de experiencia en estas ��reas. Los resultados de la encuesta muestran que los expertos contactados consideran el modelo f��cil de leer (media de 1.89_0.79 siendo 1 el valor m��s favorable y 5 el peor), suficientemente abstracto (1.99_0.88) y formal (2.13_0.77), con una cobertura suficiente del dominio (2.26_0.95), ��til para describir el dominio (2.02_0.7) y para generar sistemas m��s espec��ficos (2_0.75). Los expertos tambi��n reportan un inter��s parcial en utilizar el modelo en su trabajo (2.48_0.91). Gracias a sus comentarios, el modelo fue mejorado y enriquecido con conceptos que faltaban, aunque no se pudo demonstrar su mejora en las dimensiones evaluadas, dada la composici��n diferente de personas en las tres rondas de evaluaci��n. Desde el modelo, se gener�� una plataforma de desarrollo llamada \pHealth Patient Platform (pHPP)". La plataforma desarrollada incluye librer��as, herramientas de programaci��n y desarrollo, un tutorial y una aplicaci��n de ejemplo. Se definieron cuatro m��dulos principales de la arquitectura: el Data Collection Engine, que permite abstraer las fuentes de datos como sensores o servicios externos, mapeando los datos a bases de datos u ontolog��as, y permitiendo interacci��n basada en eventos; el GUI Engine, que abstrae la interfaz de usuario en un modelo de interacci��n basado en mensajes; y el Rule Engine, que proporciona a los desarrolladores un medio simple para programar la l��gica de la aplicaci��n en forma de reglas \if-then". Despu��s de que la plataforma pHPP fue utilizada durante 5 a��os en el proyecto HeartCycle, 5 desarrolladores fueron reunidos en un grupo de discusi��n para analizar y evaluar la plataforma. De estas evaluaciones se concluye que la plataforma fue dise��ada para encajar las necesidades de los ingenieros que trabajan en la rama, permitiendo la separaci��n de problemas entre las distintas especialidades, y simplificando algunas tareas de desarrollo como el manejo de datos y la interacci��n as��ncrona. A pesar de ello, se encontraron algunos defectos a causa de la inmadurez de algunas tecnolog��as empleadas, y la ausencia de algunas herramientas espec��ficas para el dominio como el procesado de datos o algunos protocolos de comunicaci��n relacionados con la salud. Dentro del proyecto HeartCycle la plataforma fue utilizada para el desarrollo de la aplicaci��n \Guided Exercise", un sistema TIC para la rehabilitaci��n de pacientes que han sufrido un infarto del miocardio. El sistema fue testeado en un ensayo cl��nico randomizado en el cual a 55 pacientes se les dio el sistema para su uso por 21 semanas. De los resultados t��cnicos del ensayo se puede concluir que, a pesar de algunos errores menores prontamente corregidos durante el estudio, la plataforma es estable y fiable. Conclusiones La investigaci��n llevada a cabo en esta Tesis y los resultados obtenidos proporcionan las respuestas a las tres preguntas de investigaci��n que motivaron este trabajo: RQ1 Se ha desarrollado un modelo para representar el dominio de los sistemas personalizados de salud. La evaluaci��n hecha por los expertos de la rama concluye que el modelo representa el dominio con precisi��n y con un balance apropiado entre abstracci��n y detalle. RQ2 Se ha desarrollado, con ��xito, una plataforma de desarrollo basada en el modelo. RQ3 Se ha demostrado que la plataforma es capaz de ayudar a los desarrolladores en la creaci��n de software pHealth complejos. Las ventajas de la plataforma han sido demostradas en el ��mbito de un proyecto de gran escala, aunque el enfoque gen��rico adoptado indica que la plataforma podr��a ofrecer beneficios tambi��n en otros contextos. Los resultados de estas evaluaciones ofrecen indicios de que, ambos, el modelo y la plataforma ser��n buenos candidatos para poderse convertir en una referencia para futuros desarrollos de sistemas pHealth. ABSTRACT Background Europe is living in an unsustainable situation. The economic crisis has been reducing governments' economic resources since 2008 and threatening social and health systems, while the proportion of older people in the European population continues to increase so that it is foreseen that in 2050 there will be only two workers per retiree [54]. To this situation it should be added the rise, strongly related to age, of chronic diseases the burden of which has been estimated to be up to the 7% of a country's gross domestic product [51]. There is a need for a paradigm shift, the need for a new way of caring for people's health, shifting the focus from curing conditions that have arisen to a sustainable and effective approach with the emphasis on prevention. Some advocate the adoption of personalised health care (pHealth), a model where medical practices are tailored to the patient's unique life, from the detection of risk factors to the customization of treatments based on each individual's response [81]. Personalised health is often associated to the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), that, with its exponential development, offers interesting opportunities for improving healthcare. The shift towards pHealth is slowly taking place, both in research and in industry, but the change is not significant yet. Many barriers still exist related to economy, politics and culture, while others are purely technological, like the lack of interoperable information systems [199]. Though interoperability aspects are evolving, there is still the need of a reference design, especially tackling implementation and large scale deployment of pHealth systems. This thesis contributes to organizing the subject of ICT systems for personalised health into a reference model that allows for the creation of software development platforms to ease common development issues in the domain. Research questions RQ1 Is it possible to define a model, based on software engineering techniques, for representing the personalised health domain in an abstract and representative way? RQ2 Is it possible to build a development platform based on this model? RQ3 Does the development platform help developers create complex integrated pHealth systems? Methods As method for describing the model, the ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010 framework [25] is adopted for its generality and high level of abstraction. The model is specified in different parts: a conceptual model, which makes use of concept maps, for representing stakeholders, artefacts and shared information, and in scenarios and use cases for the representation of the functionalities of pHealth systems. The model was derived from literature analysis, including 7 industrial and scientific reports, 9 electronic standards, 10 conference proceedings papers, 37 journal papers, 25 websites and 5 books. Based on the reference model, requirements were drawn for building the development platform enriched with a set of requirements gathered in a survey run among 11 experienced engineers. For developing the platform, the continuous integration methodology [74] was adopted which allowed to perform automatic tests on a server and also to deploy packaged releases on a web site. As a validation methodology, a theory building framework for SW engineering was adopted from [181]. The framework, chosen as a guide to find evidence for justifying the research questions, imposed the creation of theories based on models and propositions to be validated within a scope. The validation of the model was conducted as an on-line survey in three validation rounds, encompassing a growing number of participants. The survey was submitted to 134 experts of the field and on some public channels like relevant mailing lists and social networks. Its objective was to assess the model's readability, its level of coverage of the domain and its potential usefulness in the design of actual, derived systems. The questionnaires included quantitative Likert scale questions and free text inputs for comments. The development platform was validated in two scopes. As a small-scale experiment, the platform was used in a 12 hours training session where 4 developers had to perform an exercise consisting in developing a set of typical pHealth use cases At the end of the session, a focus group was held to identify benefits and drawbacks of the platform. The second validation was held as a test-case study in a large scale research project called HeartCycle the aim of which was to develop a closed-loop disease management system for heart failure and coronary heart disease patients [160]. During this project three applications were developed by a team of programmers and designers. One of these applications was tested in a clinical trial with actual patients. At the end of the project, the team was interviewed in a focus group to assess the role the platform had within the project. Results For what regards the model that describes the pHealth domain, its conceptual part includes a description of the main roles and concerns of pHealth stakeholders, a model of the ICT artefacts that are commonly adopted and a model representing the typical data that need to be formalized among pHealth systems. The functional model includes a set of 18 scenarios, divided into assisted person's view, caregiver's view, developer's view, technology and services providers' view and authority's view, and a set of 52 Use Cases grouped in 6 categories: assisted person's activities, system reactions, caregiver's activities, user engagement, developer's activities and deployer's activities. For what concerns the validation of the model, a total of 65 people participated in the online survey providing their level of agreement in all the assessed dimensions and a total of 248 comments on how to improve and complete the model. Participants' background spanned from engineering and software development (70%) to medical specialities (15%), with declared interest in the fields of eHealth (24%), mHealth (16%), Ambient Assisted Living (21%), Personalized Medicine (5%), Personal Health Systems (15%), Medical Informatics (10%) and Biomedical Engineering (8%) with an average of 7.25_4.99 years of experience in these fields. From the analysis of the answers it is possible to observe that the contacted experts considered the model easily readable (average of 1.89_0.79 being 1 the most favourable scoring and 5 the worst), sufficiently abstract (1.99_0.88) and formal (2.13_0.77) for its purpose, with a sufficient coverage of the domain (2.26_0.95), useful for describing the domain (2.02_0.7) and for generating more specific systems (2_0.75) and they reported a partial interest in using the model in their job (2.48_0.91). Thanks to their comments, the model was improved and enriched with concepts that were missing at the beginning, nonetheless it was not possible to prove an improvement among the iterations, due to the diversity of the participants in the three rounds. From the model, a development platform for the pHealth domain was generated called pHealth Patient Platform (pHPP). The platform includes a set of libraries, programming and deployment tools, a tutorial and a sample application. The main four modules of the architecture are: the Data Collection Engine, which allows abstracting sources of information like sensors or external services, mapping data to databases and ontologies, and allowing event-based interaction and filtering, the GUI Engine, which abstracts the user interface in a message-like interaction model, the Workow Engine, which allows programming the application's user interaction ows with graphical workows, and the Rule Engine, which gives developers a simple means for programming the application's logic in the form of \if-then" rules. After the 5 years experience of HeartCycle, partially programmed with pHPP, 5 developers were joined in a focus group to discuss the advantages and drawbacks of the platform. The view that emerged from the training course and the focus group was that the platform is well-suited to the needs of the engineers working in the field, it allowed the separation of concerns among the different specialities and it simplified some common development tasks like data management and asynchronous interaction. Nevertheless, some deficiencies were pointed out in terms of a lack of maturity of some technological choices, and for the absence of some domain-specific tools, e.g. for data processing or for health-related communication protocols. Within HeartCycle, the platform was used to develop part of the Guided Exercise system, a composition of ICT tools for the physical rehabilitation of patients who suffered from myocardial infarction. The system developed using the platform was tested in a randomized controlled clinical trial, in which 55 patients used the system for 21 weeks. The technical results of this trial showed that the system was stable and reliable. Some minor bugs were detected, but these were promptly corrected using the platform. This shows that the platform, as well as facilitating the development task, can be successfully used to produce reliable software. Conclusions The research work carried out in developing this thesis provides responses to the three three research questions that were the motivation for the work. RQ1 A model was developed representing the domain of personalised health systems, and the assessment of experts in the field was that it represents the domain accurately, with an appropriate balance between abstraction and detail. RQ2 A development platform based on the model was successfully developed. RQ3 The platform has been shown to assist developers create complex pHealth software. This was demonstrated within the scope of one large-scale project, but the generic approach adopted provides indications that it would offer benefits more widely. The results of these evaluations provide indications that both the model and the platform are good candidates for being a reference for future pHealth developments.

Analysis of a rate-adaptive reconciliation protocol and the effect of leakage on the secret key rate

Quantum key distribution performs the trick of growing a secret key in two distant places connected by a quantum channel. The main reason is so that the legitimate users can bound the information gathered by the eavesdropper. In practical systems, whether because of finite resources or external conditions, the quantum channel is subject to fluctuations. A rate-adaptive information reconciliation protocol, which adapts to the changes in the communication channel, is then required to minimize the leakage of information in the classical postprocessing. We consider here the leakage of a rate-adaptive information reconciliation protocol. The length of the exchanged messages is larger than that of an optimal protocol; however, we prove that the min-entropy reduction is limited. The simulation results, both in the asymptotic and in the finite-length regime, show that this protocol allows to increase the amount of a distillable secret key.

The online case study development for the teaching of building structures reinforcement

The Reinforcement of Building Structures is one of the topics of the Master in Building Innovation Technology (MBIT) of Universidad Polit��cnica de Madrid (UPM). Since the beginning of the delivery of this master, case studies have been chosen as the teaching methodology. For the 2011-2012 course the online education of this subject was implemented, instead of the classical learning based on attendance. Through ICT���s (Information and Communication Technologies) students are provided with much more and more selective information than through the classical learning. ICT���s can be used for search, enquiries and reporting. Using the online tools has been proved, through the results obtained and based on the surveys made amongst students, to be a successful experience.

Positional Accuracy in Smart-Phones and Its Effect on LBS Applications.

Location-based services (LBS) highly rely on the location of the mobile user in order to provide the service tailored to that location. This location is calculated differently depending on the technology available in the used mobile device. No matter which technology is used, the location will never be calculated 100% correctly; instead there will always be a margin of error generated during the calculation, which is referred to as positional accuracy. This research has reviewed the eight most common positioning technologies available in the major current smart-phones and assessed their positional accuracy with respect to its usage by LBS applications. Given the vast majority of these applications, this research classified them into thirteen categories, and these categories were also classified depending on their level criticality as low, medium, or high critical, and whether they function indoor or outdoor. The accuracies of different positioning technologies are compared to these two criteria. Low critical outdoor and high critical indoor applications were found technologically covered; high and medium critical outdoor ones weren?t fully resolved. Finally three potential solutions are suggested to be implemented in future smartphones to resolve this technological gap: Real-Time Kinematics Global Positioning System (RTK GPS), terrestrial transmitters, and combination of Wireless Sensors Network and Radio Frequency Identification (WSN-RFID).

Background and approach to a definition of smart buildings

There is no doubt that there is no possibility of finding a single reference about domotics in the first half of the 20th century. The best known authors and those who have documented this discipline, set its origin in the 1970���s, when the x-10 technology began to be used, but it was not until 1988 when Larousse Encyclopedia decided to include the definition of "Smart Building". Furthermore, even nowadays, there is not a single definition widely accepted, and for that reason, many other expressions, namely "Intelligent Buildings" "Domotics" "Digital Home" or "Home Automation" have appeared to describe the automated buildings and homes. The lack of a clear definition for "Smart Buildings" causes difficulty not only in the development of a common international framework to develop research in this field, but it also causes insecurity in the potential user of these buildings. That is to say, the user does not know what is offered by this kind of buildings, hindering the dissemination of the culture of building automation in society. Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to propose a definition of the expression ���Smart Buildings��� that satisfactorily describes the meaning of this discipline. To achieve this aim, a thorough review of the origin of the term itself and the historical background before the emergence of the phenomenon of domotics was conducted, followed by a critical discussion of existing definitions of the term "Smart Buildings" and other similar terms. The extent of each definition has been analyzed, inaccuracies have been discarded and commonalities have been compared. Throughout the discussion, definitions that bring the term "Smart Buildings" near to disciplines such as computer science, robotics and also telecommunications have been found. However, there are also many other definitions that emphasize in a more abstract way the role of these new buildings in the society and the future of mankind.

Evaluation of the utilization of electric vehicles for building energy management in hotels

Governments are working in new policies to slow down total energy consumption and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, promoting the deployment of electric vehicles (EVs) in all countries. In order to facilitate this deployment and help to reduce the final costs of their batteries, additional utilization of EVs when those are parked has been proposed. EVs can be used to minimize the total electricity cost of buildings (named vehicle to building applications, V2B). In this paper an economic evaluation of EVs in the Building Energy Management System is shown. The optimal storage capacity and its equivalent number of EVs are determined. This value is then used for determining the optimal charging schedule to be applied to the batteries. From this schedule, the total expected profit is derived for the case of a real hotel in Spain.

A semantic middleware architecture focused on data and heterogeneity management within the Smart Grid

There is an increasing tendency of turning the current power grid, essentially unaware of variations in electricity demand and scattered energy sources, into something capable of bringing a degree of intelligence by using tools strongly related to information and communication technologies, thus turning into the so-called Smart Grid. In fact, it could be considered that the Smart Grid is an extensive smart system that spreads throughout any area where power is required, providing a significant optimization in energy generation, storage and consumption. However, the information that must be treated to accomplish these tasks is challenging both in terms of complexity (semantic features, distributed systems, suitable hardware) and quantity (consumption data, generation data, forecasting functionalities, service reporting), since the different energy beneficiaries are prone to be heterogeneous, as the nature of their own activities is. This paper presents a proposal on how to deal with these issues by using a semantic middleware architecture that integrates different components focused on specific tasks, and how it is used to handle information at every level and satisfy end user requests.

How network operators can enhance ambient assisted living applications through next generation networks

Within the technological framework of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), consumers are currently requesting multimedia services with simplicity of use, reliability, security and service availability through mobile and fixed access. Network operators are proposing the Next Generation Networks (NGN) to address the challenges of providing both services and network convergence. Apart from these considerations, there is a need to provide social and healthcare assistance services in order to support the progressive aging in the elderly population. In order to achieve this objective, the Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) initiative proposes ICT systems and services to promote autonomy and an independent life among the elderly. This paper describes the design and implementation of a group of services, called ���service enablers���, which helps AAL applications to be supported in NGN. The presented enablers are identified to support the teleconsulting applications requirements in an NGN environment, involving the implementation of a virtual waiting room, a virtual whiteboard, a multimedia multiconference and a vital-signs monitoring presence status. A use case is defined and implemented to evaluate the developed enablers' performance.

Integration of a data acquisition system based on FlexRIO technology with EPICS

EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System) lies in a set of software tools and applications which provide a software infrastructure for building distributed data acquisition and control systems. Currently there is an increase in use of such systems in large Physics experiments like ITER, ESS, and FREIA. In these experiments, advanced data acquisition systems using FPGA-based technology like FlexRIO are more frequently been used. The particular case of ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), the instrumentation and control system is supported by CCS (CODAC Core System), based on RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) operating system, and by the plant design specifications in which every CCS element is defined either hardware, firmware or software. In this degree final project the methodology proposed in Implementation of Intelligent Data Acquisition Systems for Fusion Experiments using EPICS and FlexRIO Technology Sanz et al. [1] is used. The final objective is to provide a document describing the fulfilled process and the source code of the data acquisition system accomplished. The use of the proposed methodology leads to have two diferent stages. The first one consists of the hardware modelling with graphic design tools like LabVIEWFPGA which later will be implemented in the FlexRIO device. In the next stage the design cycle is completed creating an EPICS controller that manages the device using a generic device support layer named NDS (Nominal Device Support). This layer integrates the data acquisition system developed into CCS (Control, data access and communication Core System) as an EPICS interface to the system. The use of FlexRIO technology drives the use of LabVIEW and LabVIEW FPGA respectively. RESUMEN. EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System) es un conjunto de herramientas software utilizadas para el desarrollo e implementaci��n de sistemas de adquisici��n de datos y control distribuidos. Cada vez es m��s utilizado para entornos de experimentaci��n f��sica a gran escala como ITER, ESS y FREIA entre otros. En estos experimentos se est��n empezando a utilizar sistemas de adquisici��n de datos avanzados que usan tecnolog��a basada en FPGA como FlexRIO. En el caso particular de ITER, el sistema de instrumentaci��n y control adoptado se basa en el uso de la herramienta CCS (CODAC Core System) basado en el sistema operativo RHEL (Red Hat) y en las especificaciones del dise��o del sistema de planta, en la cual define todos los elementos integrantes del CCS, tanto software como firmware y hardware. En este proyecto utiliza la metodolog��a propuesta para la implementaci��n de sistemas de adquisici��n de datos inteligente basada en EPICS y FlexRIO. Se desea generar una serie de ejemplos que cubran dicho ciclo de dise��o completo y que ser��an propuestos como casos de uso de dichas tecnolog��as. Se proporcionar�� un documento en el que se describa el trabajo realizado as�� como el c��digo fuente del sistema de adquisici��n. La metodolog��a adoptada consta de dos etapas diferenciadas. En la primera de ellas se modela el hardware y se sintetiza en el dispositivo FlexRIO utilizando LabVIEW FPGA. Posteriormente se completa el ciclo de dise��o creando un controlador EPICS que maneja cada dispositivo creado utilizando una capa software gen��rica de manejo de dispositivos que se denomina NDS (Nominal Device Support). Esta capa integra la soluci��n en CCS realizando la interfaz con la capa EPICS del sistema. El uso de la tecnolog��a FlexRIO conlleva el uso del lenguaje de programaci��n y descripci��n hardware LabVIEW y LabVIEW FPGA respectivamente.

Evaluaci��n del dispositivo Raspberry Pi como elemento de despliegue de servicios en el marco de las Smart Grids

La tendencia actual de las redes de telecomunicaciones conduce a pensar en un futuro basado en el concepto emergente de las Smart Cities�� que tienen como objetivo el desarrollo urbano basado en un modelo de sostenibilidad que responda a las necesidades crecientes de las ciudades. Dentro de las Smart Cities podemos incluir el concepto de Smart Grid, el cual est�� referido a sistemas de administraci��n y producci��n de energ��a eficientes, que permitan un sistema energ��tico sostenible, y que den cabida a las fuentes de energ��a renovables. Sistemas de este tipo se muestran a los usuarios como un conjunto de servicios con los que interactuar sin ser tan s��lo un mero cliente, sino un agente m��s del entorno energ��tico. Por otro lado, los sistemas de software distribuidos son cada vez m��s comunes en una infraestructura de telecomunicaciones cada vez m��s extensa y con m��s capacidades. Dentro de este ��mbito tecnol��gico, las arquitecturas orientadas a servicios han crecido exponencialmente sobre todo en el sector empresarial. Con sistemas basados en estas arquitecturas, se pueden ofrecer a empresas y usuarios sistemas software basados en el concepto de servicio. Con la progresi��n del hardware actual, la miniaturizaci��n de los equipos es cada vez mayor, sin renunciar por ello a la potencia que podemos encontrar en sistemas de mayor tama��o. Un ejemplo es el dispositivo Raspberry Pi, que contiene un ordenador plenamente funcional contenido en el tama��o de una cajetilla de tabaco, y con un coste muy reducido. En este proyecto se pretenden aunar los tres conceptos expuestos. De esta forma, se busca utilizar el dispositivo Raspberry Pi como elemento de despliegue integrado en una arquitectura de Smart Grid orientada a servicios. En los trabajos realizados se ha utilizado la propuesta definida por el proyecto de I+D europeo e-GOTHAM, con cuya infraestructura se ha tenido ocasi��n de realizar diferentes pruebas de las descritas en esta memoria. Aunque esta arquitectura est�� orientada a la creaci��n de una Smart Grid, lo experimentado en este PFG podr��a encajar en otro tipo de aplicaciones. Dentro del estudio sobre las soluciones software actuales, se ha trabajado en la evaluaci��n de la posibilidad de instalar un Enterprise Service Bus en el Raspberry Pi y en la optimizaci��n de la citada instalaci��n. Una vez conseguida una instalaci��n operativa, se ha desarrollado un controlador de un dispositivo f��sico (sensor/actuador), denominado Dispositivo L��gico, a modo de prueba de la viabilidad del uso del Raspberry Pi para actuar como elemento en el que instalar aplicaciones en entornos de Smart Grid o Smart Home. El ��xito logrado con esta experimentaci��n refuerza la idea de considerar al Raspberry Pi, como un importante elemento a tener en cuenta para el despliegue de servicios de Smart Cities o incluso en otros ��mbitos tecnol��gicos. ABSTRACT. The current trend of telecommunication networks lead to think in a future based on the emerging concept of Smart Cities, whose objective is to ensure the urban development based on a sustainable model to respond the new necessities of the cities. Within the Smart cites we can include the concept of Smart Grid, which is based on management systems and efficient energy production, allowing a sustainable energy producing system, and that includes renewable energy sources. Systems of this type are shown to users as a set of services that allow users to interact with the system not only as a single customer, but also as other energy environment agent. Furthermore, distributed software systems are increasingly common in a telecommunications infrastructure more extensive and with more capabilities. Within this area of technology, service-oriented architectures have grown exponentially especially in the business sector. With systems based on these architectures, can be offered to businesses and users software systems based on the concept of service. With the progression of the actual hardware, the miniaturization of computers is increasing, without sacrificing the power of larger systems. An example is the Raspberry Pi, which contains a fully functional computer contained in the size of a pack of cigarettes, and with a very low cost. This PFG (Proyecto Fin de Grado) tries to combine the three concepts presented. Thus, it is intended to use the Raspberry Pi device as a deployment element integrated into a service oriented Smart Grid architecture. In this PFG, the one proposed in the European R&D e-GOTHAM project has been observed. In addition several tests described herein have been carried out using the infrastructure of that project. Although this architecture is oriented to the creation of a Smart Grid, the experiences reported in this document could fit into other applications. Within the study on current software solutions, it have been working on assessing the possibility of installing an Enterprise Service Bus in the Raspberry Pi and optimizing that facility. Having achieved an operating installation, it has been developed a driver for a physical device (sensor / actuator), called logical device, for testing the feasibility of using the Raspberry Pi to act as an element in which to install applications in Smart Grid and Smart Home Environments. The success of this experiment reinforces the idea of considering the Raspberry Pi as an important element to take into account in the deployment of Smart Cities services or even in other technological fields.

Estudio del Fen��meno Social Media en las grandes corporaciones del sector TIC

Este trabajo trata el estudio de la implementaci��n y desarrollo de las diversas plataformas del social media: redes sociales y del conocimiento, blogs y herramientas colaborativas en el ��mbito corporativo de la empresa. El estudio recopila informaci��n de consultoras tecnol��gicas, de art��culos y de diversas plataformas social media y se realiza una investigaci��n sobre el tema planteado. Se incluye el an��lisis de 42 encuestas a profesionales de dos grandes empresas de las telecomunicaciones en Espa��a. Estas dos empresas cuentan una con cerca de 28000 empleados y la otra con m��s 300 empleados en sus filiales espa��olas. Ambas tienen una importante presencia internacional. Estas dos empresa se diferencian de otras empresas del sector de las telecomunicaciones en que est��n apostando en la implementaci��n del social media en sus procesos internos. Adem��s se incluye el estudio y an��lisis de las estad��sticas de uso y de una series de encuestas realizadas en el muro de la red social corporativa de una multinacional de las telecomunicaciones durante tres meses. Se presenta una nueva cultura social de empresa innovadora en ��reas como la gesti��n del conocimiento, comunicaci��n interna, formaci��n e innovaci��n. Y se ofrece una visi��n cuantitativa y de la implantaci��n del social media en los procesos de una empresa. Se desarrolla una exposici��n donde se detalla el proceso de estudio de las diferentes plataformas social media y ��reas de aplicaci��n en la empresa, el estudio de los aspectos legales de su aplicaci��n y uso y la implementaci��n y desarrollo. Asimismo se expone un an��lisis te��rico-pr��ctico del c��lculo del retorno de la inversi��n (ROI) y por ��ltimo un an��lisis de la informaci��n recopilada en las encuestas y en el estudio estad��stico de la red social corporativa. Los datos de las encuestas fueron analizados mediante estad��stica descriptiva basada en gr��ficos y tablas de contingencia donde se calculan residuos y porcentajes totales para analizar la dependencia entre el social media, eficiencia, productividad y cuenta de resultados, adem��s del an��lisis de la aportaci��n del social media a la misi��n, comunicaci��n interna y gesti��n del conocimiento en la empresa. Tambi��n se realizan c��lculos de distribuciones Chi-cuadrado para demostrar la dependencia del social media-productividad y del GAP que relaciona la importancia y el nivel de satisfacci��n del social media. En el an��lisis te��rico-pr��ctico se toman como par��metros los beneficios, costes, flexibilidad y riesgo. Los beneficios van ligados a la productividad, gesti��n del conocimiento, capital humano y procesos internos. Los costes a las licencias de software, administraci��n, implementaci��n y formaci��n. A partir de estos par��metros se realiz�� el estudio de un modelo de empresa que representa a una gran empresa de las TIC en Espa��a. Los datos para el estudio son estimativos dentro de la realidad, debido a que la intenci��n no es saber estos valores reales sino el estudio te��rico-pr��ctico del m��todo y su aplicaci��n para el calculo del ROI. El estudio estad��stico del la red social se realizo durante tres meses y se obtuvo el progreso de uso de la red social en eventos tales como: n��mero de participantes activos, mensajes publicados, archivos subidos, grupos activos y tipos y plataformas de acceso. Del estudio de los datos estad��sticos de estos eventos se obtuvieron indicadores de participaci��n, actividad y conocimiento de la red social que son ��tiles par el calculo del ROI. En conclusi��n, se demuestran las mejoras que ofrece el social media en campos como la comunicaci��n interna, gesti��n del conocimiento, formaci��n e innovaci��n. Y gracias a estas mejoras el aumento de la productividad y eficiencia del profesional y asimismo un potencial retorno de la inversi��n (ROI). ABSTRACT. This paper deals with the study of the implementation and development of the different platforms of social media: social networks and knowledge, blogs and collaborative tools in the corporate enterprise level. The study collects information technology consulting, articles and several social media platforms and an investigation into the question raised is performed. Analysis of 42 surveys of professionals from two big companies telecommunications in Spain are included. These two companies have one about 28000 employees and another with more than 300 employees at its Spanish subsidiaries. Both have a strong international presence. These two companies differ from other companies in the telecommunications sector they are betting in the implementation of social media in their internal processes. Furthermore, the study and analysis of usage statistics and a series of surveys on the wall of the corporate social network of a multinational telecommunications is included for three months. A new social culture enterprise is presented innovative in areas such as knowledge management, internal communications, training and innovation. And a quantitative vision into implementation of social media in the processes of a company is offered. They develops an exhibition where shown the process of studying the different social media platforms and application areas in the company, the study of the legal aspects of your application and use and implementation and development. A theoretical and practical analysis also exposed of calculation of return on investment (ROI) and finally an analysis of the information collected in surveys and statistical study of corporate social network. The survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics based on graphs and contingency tables where waste and total percentages are calculated for analyze the dependence between the social media, efficiency, productivity and income statement, plus analysis of the contribution of social media on the mission, internal communication and knowledge management in the company. Also Calculations of chi-square distributions are conducted to demonstrate the dependence between of productivity and social media and the GAP that relates the importance and satisfaction level in social media. The theoretical and practical analysis parameters are the benefits, costs, flexibility and risk. The benefits are linked to productivity, knowledge management, human capital and internal processes. The costs are linked the software licensing, management, implementation and training. Based on these parameters was performed the study of a business model that represents a large ICT company in Spain. The data for the study are estimates within the reality, because the intention is not to know these real values but the theoretical and practical study and application of the method for calculating the ROI. Statistical analysis of the social network was made during or three months and was obtained the progress of social network use at events such as: number of active participants, messages posted, files uploaded, active groups and types and access platforms. Into study of statistical data of these events were obtained indicators of participation, activity and knowledge of the social network that are useful for calculating the ROI. In conclusion, the improvements offered by the social media in areas such as internal communication, knowledge management, training and innovation are shown. And thanks to these improvements increase the productivity and efficiency of professional and also a potential return on investment (ROI).

Methodology for developing and application outsourcing in the cloud using SOA

New technologies such as, the new Information and Communication Technology ICT, break new paths and redefines the way we understand business, the Cloud Computing is one of them. The on demand resource gathering and the per usage payment scheme are now commonplace, and allows companies to save on their ICT investments. Despite the importance of this issue, we still lack methodologies that help companies, to develop applications oriented for its exploitation in the Cloud. In this study we aim to fill this gap and propose a methodology for the development of ICT applications, which are directed towards a business model, and further outsourcing in the Cloud. In the former the Development of SOA applications, we take, as a baseline scenario, a business model from which to obtain a business process model. To this end, we use software engineering tools; and in the latter The Outsourcing we propose a guide that would facilitate uploading business models into the Cloud; to this end we describe a SOA governance model, which controls the SOA. Additionally we propose a Cloud government that integrates Service Level Agreements SLAs, plus SOA governance, and Cloud architecture. Finally we apply our methodology in an example illustrating our proposal. We believe that our proposal can be used as a guide/pattern for the development of business applications.

Autonomous Acquisition of Natural Situated Communication

An important part of human intelligence, both historically and operationally, is our ability to communicate. We learn how to communicate, and maintain our communicative skills, in a society of communicators ��� a highly effective way to reach and maintain proficiency in this complex skill. Principles that might allow artificial agents to learn language this way are in completely known at present ��� the multi-dimensional nature of socio-communicative skills are beyond every machine learning framework so far proposed. Our work begins to address the challenge of proposing a way for observation-based machine learning of natural language and communication. Our framework can learn complex communicative skills with minimal up-front knowledge. The system learns by incrementally producing predictive models of causal relationships in observed data, guided by goal-inference and reasoning using forward-inverse models. We present results from two experiments where our S1 agent learns human communication by observing two humans interacting in a realtime TV-style interview, using multimodal communicative gesture and situated language to talk about recycling of various materials and objects. S1 can learn multimodal complex language and multimodal communicative acts, a vocabulary of 100 words forming natural sentences with relatively complex sentence structure, including manual deictic reference and anaphora. S1 is seeded only with high-level information about goals of the interviewer and interviewee, and a small ontology; no grammar or other information is provided to S1 a priori. The agent learns the pragmatics, semantics, and syntax of complex utterances spoken and gestures from scratch, by observing the humans compare and contrast the cost and pollution related to recycling aluminum cans, glass bottles, newspaper, plastic, and wood. After 20 hours of observation S1 can perform an unscripted TV interview with a human, in the same style, without making mistakes.

Integrated approach to foreign language in the building engineering degree at the Universidad Polit��cnica Madrid

The European Union has been promoting linguistic diversity for many years as one of its main educational goals. This is an element that facilitates student mobility and student exchanges between different universities and countries and enriches the education of young undergraduates. In particular,a higher degree of competence in the English language is becoming essential for engineers, architects and researchers in general, as English has become the lingua franca that opens up horizons to internationalisation and the transfer of knowledge in today���s world. Many experts point to the Integrated Approach to Contents and Foreign Languages System as being an option that has certain benefits over the traditional method of teaching a second language that is exclusively based on specific subjects. This system advocates teaching the different subjects in the syllabus in a language other than one���s mother tongue, without prioritising knowledge of the language over the subject. This was the idea that in the 2009/10 academic year gave rise to the Second Language Integration Programme (SLI Programme) at the Escuela Arquitectura Tecnica in the Universidad Politecnica Madrid (EUATM-UPM), just at the beginning of the tuition of the new Building Engineering Degree, which had been adapted to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) model. This programme is an interdisciplinary initiative for the set of subjects taught during the semester and is coordinated through the Assistant Director Office for Educational Innovation. The SLI Programme has a dual goal; to familiarise students with the specific English terminology of the subject being taught, and at the same time improve their communication skills in English. A total of thirty lecturers are taking part in the teaching of eleven first year subjects and twelve in the second year, with around 120 students who have voluntarily enrolled in a special group in each semester. During the 2010/2011 academic year the degree of acceptance and the results of the SLI Programme are being monitored. Tools have been designed to aid interdisciplinary coordination and to analyse satisfaction, such as coordination records and surveys. The results currently available refer to the first semester of the year and are divided into specific aspects of the different subjects involved and into general aspects of the ongoing experience.

Analysis of the suitability of existing medical ontologies for building a scalable semantic interoperability solution supporting multi-site collaboration in oncology

Semantic interoperability is essential to facilitate efficient collaboration in heterogeneous multi-site healthcare environments. The deployment of a semantic interoperability solution has the potential to enable a wide range of informatics supported applications in clinical care and research both within as ingle healthcare organization and in a network of organizations. At the same time, building and deploying a semantic interoperability solution may require significant effort to carryout data transformation and to harmonize the semantics of the information in the different systems. Our approach to semantic interoperability leverages existing healthcare standards and ontologies, focusing first on specific clinical domains and key applications, and gradually expanding the solution when needed. An important objective of this work is to create a semantic link between clinical research and care environments to enable applications such as streamlining the execution of multi-centric clinical trials, including the identification of eligible patients for the trials. This paper presents an analysis of the suitability of several widely-used medical ontologies in the clinical domain: SNOMED-CT, LOINC, MedDRA, to capture the semantics of the clinical trial eligibility criteria, of the clinical trial data (e.g., Clinical Report Forms), and of the corresponding patient record data that would enable the automatic identification of eligible patients. Next to the coverage provided by the ontologies we evaluate and compare the sizes of the sets of relevant concepts and their relative frequency to estimate the cost of data transformation, of building the necessary semantic mappings, and of extending the solution to new domains. This analysis shows that our approach is both feasible and scalable.