Centro de Investigación de Ciencias Humanas y de la Educación
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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.

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Digital Animation, Health Education in Post COVID-19 Scenario

2024 , Oleas, J , Aguayza-Mendieta C. , Avilés-Castillo, Fátima , Sanchez D.

In post pandemics scenario, viral respiratory diseases are show up very often in changeable and usually cold weather locations. Ecuadorian cities in Andean region have altitude and unpredictable climate characteristics where respiratory diseases are frequent. COVID-19, influenza, flu and other infections are still present in the environment This research shows a development and application of digital animation, showing the audiovisual production processes developed through digital tools, products in educational contexts, adapted to the global health situation post pandemics. The study shows a mixed-type research divided into two phases. The first stage, for information collection, determined the needs for learning topics that collaborates in COVID-19 prevention in elementary education population through digital cartoons as a tool using social media as broadcast medium. The second stage, the animated product evaluation, inside an application scenario, in elementary schools in Riobamba city, that was exhibited through social networks. Through qualitative and quantitative research approaches, it has been possible to demonstrate the animation (digital cartoons) relevance in educational areas. Likewise, the study shows teachers and parents positive predisposition of digital animation use, as a learning tool and its use for educational content transmission, which is something new in the Ecuadorian school scene. © 2024, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Visual Servoing NMPC Applied to UAVs for Photovoltaic Array Inspection

2024 , Velasco-Sanchez E. , Recalde, Luis F. , Guevara B.S. , Varela-Aldas J. , Candelas F.A. , Puente S.T. , Gandolfo D.C.

The photovoltaic (PV) industry is seeing a significant shift toward large-scale solar plants, where traditional inspection methods have proven to be time-consuming and costly. Currently, the predominant approach to PV inspection using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is based on the capture and detailed analysis of aerial images (photogrammetry). However, the photogrammetry approach presents limitations, such as an increased amount of useless data and potential issues related to image resolution that negatively impact the detection process during high-altitude flights. In this work, we develop a visual servoing control system with dynamic compensation using nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) applied to a UAV. This system is capable of accurately tracking the middle of the underlying PV array at various frontal velocities and height constraints, ensuring the acquisition of detailed images during low-altitude flights. The visual servoing controller is based on extracting features using RGB-D images and employing a Kalman filter to estimate the edges of the PV arrays. Furthermore, this work demonstrates the proposal in both simulated and real-world environments using the commercial aerial vehicle (DJI Matrice 100), with the purpose of showcasing the results of the architecture. © 2016 IEEE.

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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).

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Prevention of Failures in the Footwear Production Process by Applying Machine Learning

2022 , Tierra-Arévalo M. , Ayala-Chauvin, Manuel Ignacio , Nacevilla C. , de la Fuente-Morato A.

At present, the handcrafted footwear sector is affected by the high competitiveness due to the increasing automation of companies. In this sense, in order to improve its competitiveness, a system was proposed to predict the failures of a production system and to carry out preventive maintenance actions. Samples were taken from 25 productions and 7 activities were established: cutting, stitching, pre fabrication, final preparation, gluing, assembly and finishing. The company produces batches of 90 pairs per day, with a standard time of 274.53 min and a promised productivity of 1.8. A support vector machine model was developed to predict the possible failures of the process taking as a reference the standard time of each stage. Finally, the results allow predicting the faults to optimise the production process by applying Support Vector Machine (SVM). © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

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IoT-Based User Interface for Remote Control of a Mobile Robot

2023 , Varela Aldas, José , Palacios-Navarro G.

Recent advancements in mobile robot research have resulted in the development of precise robot control tools, while information technology research has focused on the Internet of Things (IoT) in the context of the fourth industrial revolution. This study evaluates a user interface designed for remote control of the Crowbot BOLT robot. This robot utilizes the ESP32 board and is controlled through the M5Stack Core2 kit with a touch screen. The user interface offers two modes of operation: touch-based buttons for movement control and gyroscope control based on the M5Stack’s angular position. Communication between the robot and the user interface is established using the MQTT protocol through the ThingSpeak server, allowing control from any location with a line of sight and internet connectivity. Operation data is collected by recording control orders and measuring sending times, while user acceptance is evaluated using an IoT-based technology acceptance model. The results indicate the need for remote control response time improvement and reveal low scores in perceived usefulness and influence social. In conclusion, the study demonstrates the feasibility of remote control of a mobile robot using the MQTT protocol, providing valuable insights for similar applications and considering user recommendations for future enhancements and system expansion. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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Voltammetric Electronic Tongues Applied to Classify Sucrose Samples Through Multivariate Analysis

2021 , Fuentes, E.M. , Varela Aldas, José , Verdú S. , Meló R.G. , Alcañiz M.

The aim of the present study was to classify samples of sugar with different concentrations through a Voltammetric Electronic tongues (VET), with a generic pulse sequence consisted of 22 pulses ranging from –1000 mV to + 1000 mV with a duration of 20 ms/pulse over different samples such as 1.25mM, 2.5mM, 5mM and 10mM, of sucrose concentration, these were measured 4 times each concentration and the test was developed 4 times, giving a total number of 506.880 data supervised learning algorithm using support vector machine was employed, choosing a linear function as a classifying element. In the training, 75% of the data was used to determine the coefficients of the classification function, and the remaining (25%) was used to evaluate the performance of the proposal. The results showed a concordance of more than 80% in the separation of sample, allowing to conclude as acceptable the performance of the classifier and the data acquired through the voltammetric tongue. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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