Centro de Investigación de Ciencias Humanas y de la Educación
Thumbnail Image
Parent Organisation

2024 2024 2023 2023 2022 2022 2021 2021 2020 2020 2019 2019 2018 2018 0 0 5 5 10 10 15 15 20 20 25 25 30 30 35 35 40 40 45 45

Filters

Reset filters

Settings
Now showing 1 - 10 of 149
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Effects of a dual intervention (motor and virtual reality-based cognitive) on cognition in patients with mild cognitive impairment: a single-blind, randomized controlled trial

2024 , Buele, Jorge , Avilés-Castillo, Fátima , Carolina Del-Valle-Soto , Varela Aldas, José , Guillermo Palacios-Navarro

Abstract Background The increase in cases of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) underlines the urgency of finding effective methods to slow its progression. Given the limited effectiveness of current pharmacological options to prevent or treat the early stages of this deterioration, non-pharmacological alternatives are especially relevant. Objective To assess the effectiveness of a cognitive-motor intervention based on immersive virtual reality (VR) that simulates an activity of daily living (ADL) on cognitive functions and its impact on depression and the ability to perform such activities in patients with MCI. Methods Thirty-four older adults (men, women) with MCI were randomized to the experimental group (n = 17; 75.41 ± 5.76) or control (n = 17; 77.35 ± 6.75) group. Both groups received motor training, through aerobic, balance and resistance activities in group. Subsequently, the experimental group received cognitive training based on VR, while the control group received traditional cognitive training. Cognitive functions, depression, and the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs) were assessed using the Spanish versions of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-S), the Short Geriatric Depression Scale (SGDS-S), and the of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL-S) before and after 6-week intervention (a total of twelve 40-minutes sessions). Results Between groups comparison did not reveal significant differences in either cognitive function or geriatric depression. The intragroup effect of cognitive function and geriatric depression was significant in both groups (p < 0.001), with large effect sizes. There was no statistically significant improvement in any of the groups when evaluating their performance in ADLs (control, p = 0.28; experimental, p = 0.46) as expected. The completion rate in the experimental group was higher (82.35%) compared to the control group (70.59%). Likewise, participants in the experimental group reached a higher level of difficulty in the application and needed less time to complete the task at each level. Conclusions The application of a dual intervention, through motor training prior to a cognitive task based on Immersive VR was shown to be a beneficial non-pharmacological strategy to improve cognitive functions and reduce depression in patients with MCI. Similarly, the control group benefited from such dual intervention with statistically significant improvements. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06313931; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06313931.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Virtual System for Industrial Processes: Distillation Towers

2021 , Jacome E.M. , Toaquiza J.F. , Mullo G.M. , Andaluz V.H. , Varela Aldas, José

In this paper a realistic and intuitive virtual environment of a distillation tower system is developed. The three-dimensional model of the system is based on a real system, which is replicated in Blender software to be later implemented in Unity, in order to simulate its behavior. By showing the evolution of the system, control and monitoring maneuvers are implemented, so that the virtual animation is similar to a real process. The application developed is intended to provide support in the learning process of an operator in the work area. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Augmented Reality Application with Multimedia Content to Support Primary Education

2023 , Buele, Jorge , Espinoza J. , Ruales, María Belén , Camino-Morejón V.M. , Ayala-Chauvin, Manuel Ignacio

Education is continually reinventing itself to meet the growing needs of learners. In the context of an emergency, confinement and mobilization difficulties have necessitated the adoption of online education. This new offer brings technological means to conventional processes, but its main disadvantage is the limited access in some places. This has motivated the present study, which proposes the development of a mobile application using augmented reality (AR) to complement primary education. This application aims to disseminate multimedia content without needing a stable internet connection. A high-performance computer is required for the design and a mid-range smartphone for its execution. Four scripts are generated in c# programming language using Visual Studio. The environment and the three-dimensional objects are developed using Unity software and the packages ARFoundation, Unity MARS, and Vuforia. Two groups of 13 children each participated in the experimental testing. The experimental group used the application for two weeks to complement the virtual classes in the subjects of language, natural sciences, and mathematics. The analysis with SPSS software shows a statistically significant increase in the average grades compared to the control group. This research shows that the use of technology can contribute to improving the current teaching-learning processes. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Towards sustainable businesses in Latin America: The role of worker's Dark Triad personality traits

2023 , Afshar Jahanshahi A. , Mendoza M.I.R. , Juan Carlos Andrango Vicuña

Having sustainable businesses becomes priority for many Latin American countries these years. Socially responsible behaviors (SRBs) of employees in the workplace plays important roles in making businesses more sustainability oriented. The main aims of this research to identify those employees, which involve less in two types of SRBs: societal behaviors and sustainability-oriented behaviors at the workplace by considering their Dark Triad personality traits. By using survey-based data from 550 workers in Peru and Ecuador, we found a negative relationship between workers Dark Triad personality traits (Machiavilism and Psychopathy) and their socially responsible behaviors in the workplace. Furthermore, our results show that workers with higher level of Machiavilism and psychopathy has lower level of environmental concerns, which in turn reduce their intentions to involve in socially responsible behaviors in the workplace. Our study advances sustainable business research in Latin America by providing workers Machiavellianism and Psychopathy as a novel predictor of socially responsible behaviors of employees at the workplace. © 2023 ERP Environment and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

A Simple Method for Implementation of a Solar Oven for Lumber Drying

2024 , Escudero-Villa P. , Pachacama A. , Núñez-Sánchez J. , Topón-Visarrea L.

In Ecuador, the small and medium-sized wood industries dedicated to the manufacture of boards use a form of natural drying, which takes six months to two years depending on the moisture content, the type of wood, and the thickness. In regular bases, the natural drying process requires six months to obtain dry wood that can be processed to final products, which causes delays in the delivery of production batches and loss of time, affecting the internal economy. In this work, we present a design for a simple implementation of a solar oven to dry wood and derivatives. For this objective, we included the oven chamber physical dimensioning, the requirements and thermodynamic analysis, and a comparison with the standard traditional method. The oven was dimensioned to keep a range of temperature from 15 to 45° in a chamber of . The result of this design allows a time saving of 66.67% and profits of 304% per month for a standard wood processed. These results are possible due to the specific geographical location and climate of Ecuador, which directly influence the effectiveness of a solar oven. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2024.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Psychometric Properties of the Acoso Sexual en las Instituciones de Educación Superior Scale (ASIES) in an Ecuadorian Sample [Propiedades psicométricas de la Escala de Acoso Sexual en las Instituciones de Educación Superior (ASIES) en una muestra ecuatoriana]

2023 , Guarderas P. , de Lourdes Larrea M. , Moreta-Herrera R. , Reyes-Valenzuela C. , Vaca D., Acosta D.

Sexual harassment has become increasingly common in Ecuador’s higher education centers. However, due to the lack of instruments that evaluate sexual harassment, the magnitude of this phenomenon in Ecuador is unknown. This research aims to analyze the construct validity and internal consistency reliability of a sexual harassment measurement scale in higher education institutions (ASIES). The instrument analyzes 21 behaviors related to sexual harassment. The sample consisted of 4628 people. A descriptive analysis of the items, item-total correlation analysis, and both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis are performed to test the internal structure of the scale. It was found that the 4-factor model and a second-order factor presented a better fit (CFI = .99, TLI = .99, SRMR = .075, and RMSEA = .018). The results confirm the four dimensions proposed. Copyright: © 2023. International Journal of Psychological Research provides open access to all its contents under the terms of the license creative commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

A theoretical study of the electronic properties of hydrogenated spherical-like SiC quantum dots with C-rich and Si-rich compositions

2024 , Ojeda-Martínez M. , Thirumuruganandham S.P. , Baños A.T. , Figueroa, J.L.C.

Quantum dots have many potential applications in opto-electronics, energy storage, catalysis, and medical diagnostics, silicon carbide quantum dots could be very attractive for many biological and technological applications due to their chemical inertness and biocompatibility, however, there are seldom theoretical studies that could boost the development of these applications. In this work, the electronic properties of hydrogenated spherical-like SiC quantum dots with C-rich and Si-rich compositions are investigated using density functional theory calculations. The quantum dots are modeled by removing atoms outside a sphere from an otherwise perfect SiC crystal, the surface dangling bonds are passivated with H atoms. Our results exhibit that the electronic properties of the SiC-QD are strongly influenced by their composition and diameter size. The energy gap is always higher than that of the crystalline SiC, making these SiC QD's suitable for applications at harsh temperatures. The density of states and the energy levels show that the Si-rich quantum dots had a higher density of states near the conduction band minimum, which indicates better conductivity. These results could be used to tune the electronicproperties of SiC quantum dots for optoelectronic applications. © 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Vortex Optimization of a Low-Head Gravity Hydroelectric Power Plant

2022 , Ayala-Chauvin, Manuel Ignacio , Rojas-Asuero H. , Riba-Sanmartí G. , Ramón-Campoverde J.

Gravitational Water Vortex Power Plant (GWVPP) is a Small-Scale Hydropower System which converts energy in a moving fluid to rotational energy. The main advantage of this technology is the low head hydraulic requirements. The aim of this work is to optimize the hydraulic geometry of the vortex, to achieve this, two prototypes (A and B) were designed and built to validate the proposed design process. The prototype A has a flat-bottom chamber and prototype B has a conical chamber outlet; both induce spiraling fluid streamlines. Prototypes were studied numerically and experimentally. The numerical study was developed in ANSYS CFX R19.0 software and the experimental phase was carried out in the fluid’s laboratory of the Technical University of Loja in Ecuador. The results show that the conical chamber improves strong free-surface vortex formation and increases water velocity in the center of the vortex flow. Finally, the proposed design method was validated and allows to reproduce the hydraulic structures of the gravity water vortex power plant. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Determining of university desertion: survival analysis

2022 , Núñez-Naranjo, Aracelly Fernanda

University desertion is the subject of analysis by several authors over the years. The different causes for which a student abandons his studies and the ways to reduce it, entail the interest of the study. The research was positive with a quantitative approach. The data collection was carried out through a survey, and an observation sheet to the student’s files, we proceeded with the analysis of the Kaplan Meier survival curve, on a base made up of 1078 undergraduate students enrolled in the first semester. in 2014 with follow-up to 2019. It is concluded that the existing university dropout factors are personal and social. The incident variables are age, gender, marital status, region, school, family, venue, modality, homologation, and career. There are no significant differences in ethnicity, school, age and quintile, averages. © 2022, Associacao Iberica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de Informacao. All rights reserved.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Salty Taste Intensity Classifier Through Multivariate Analysis

2022 , Fuentes E.M. , Varela Aldas, José , Verdú S. , Grau Meló R. , Barat J.M. , Alcañiz M.

Voltammetric electronic Tongues (VET) are widely used on the industry, especially when focused on sample classification, adulteration recognizement and quality control, a VET equipment developed by the Interuniversity Institute of Molecular Recognition and Technological Development of the UPV-UV (IDM) was employed to develop the study, the results of each test were 7920 data, and different Chloride of Sodium concentrations such as 1.25 mM, 2.5 mM, 5 mM and 10 mM were tested. This is a part of a series of studies related with basic flavor recognize though VET, so the aim of this work was to study the capability of the VET to recognize different intensity of salt concentrations, supported on multivariate analysis. The results showed a concordance of more than 70.31% in the separation of samples, allowing to conclude as acceptable the performance of the classifier and the data acquired through the voltammetric electronic tongues. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

View