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Technology in Favor of Disability: Prevalence Study in Ecuador

2021 , Arias Flores, Hugo Patricio , Acosta-Rodas P. , Jadán Guerrero, Janio , Ramos Galarza, Carlos

People with disabilities and special needs are very important part of the society, their needs have not been covered over time. Globalization and technological development helped identify the importance of various groups with disabilities. In Ecuador, this identification allows this social group to be visible and particularly people with visual disabilities, who represent approximately 11% of the population with disabilities. The objective of this research is to identify Ecuador’s cities that maintain a higher prevalence of people with disabilities. To comply with the study, a descriptive analysis was conducted from public information about people registered by the authorized government control body. Obtaining this information makes it possible to establish a baseline of attention with real data, which allows getting a greater focus on the development of this social group and the attention they should receive. © 2021, The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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Hedonic and Utilitarian Motivations in Predicting the Buy Intention of Technological Products: A Study in Developing and Emerging Countries

2021 , Cruz Cárdenas, Jorge , Zabelina E. , Deyneka O. , Ramos Galarza, Carlos

An area of great interest for business is establishing the factors that determine consumer intentions to purchase new technological products. The present study seeks to contribute to this field of research by establishing how the consumer’s hedonic and utilitarian motivations help explain their purchase intentions. The present study consisted of a survey completed by 725 people in Ecuador (a developing country) and 376 in Russia (an emerging country). The data obtained were analyzed with a multiple regression, with the purchase intentions of five technological products being the variable to be predicted and the two motivations for the use of technologies as the predictor variables. Various demographic variables were introduced as control variables. The results obtained point to a secondary role for demographic variables. On the other hand, and in a consistent manner, hedonic and utilitarian motivations were significant predictors positively associated with purchase intentions in both countries. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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Improve Accessibility and Visibility of Selected University Websites

2020 , Acosta-Vargas P. , Ramos Galarza, Carlos , Salvador-Ullauri L. , Chanchí G.E. , Jadán Guerrero, Janio

Currently, there are millions of websites, but not all of them are accessible and visible in search engines, and in the different devices and technologies used. The purpose of this research is to 1) suggest an accessibility evaluation model according to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 standards; 2) correlate Webometrics and SCImago rankings to improve visibility, and 3) determine whether an accessible website can improve visibility. As a case study, the authors applied to 30 web pages from Latin American universities. The results indicate that although an educational institution is in the first rankings of the Webometrics and SCImago classification, they do not necessarily satisfy web accessibility requirements. This study can be a guide for the definition of institutional efforts to improve accessibility and visibility in the design of more inclusive and visible websites. © 2020, The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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Impact of Technology on Eating Disorders

2023 , Ramos Galarza, Carlos , López-Cárdenas M.J. , Cruz Cárdenas, Jorge

Eating disorders are a wide range of abnormal behaviors related to food and the vision of the body, and they are diseases that can cause permanent damage to the human being until death. It has been seen that there is a close relationship in the impact of social networks and the use of various technologies that have led new generations to shape their perspective of the body and their food in a different and complicated way. Technology becomes the link that people use to relate to the world and allows them to create and transform themselves around body stereotypes that lead them to modify the quantity and quality of their food. On the other hand, technology also provides the human being with an addictive and possibly sedentary part, which makes the person stop being active, having as a consequence anomalies in their diet such as weight gain. This article aims to consider the role of technology in eating disorders. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

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Video Conferencing Platforms for Learning: Which is the Best Platform?

2022 , Cóndor-Herrera, Omar , Bolaños-Pasquel M. , Ramos Galarza, Carlos

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the education field was forced to develop virtual learning environments on videoconferencing platforms. The most used videoconferencing platforms are Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, and WhatsApp. This article aims to identify the perceptions that teachers have when using these platforms to determine which platform is the most optimal for developing the activities. The study involved 33 male and female teachers working at the high school and university levels. They responded to a survey that evaluated various aspects of four videoconferencing platforms: Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, and WhatsApp. The aspects evaluated were usability, platform design, benefits of the application for learning, and platform reliability. According to research results, survey participants said that, according to their perceptions, the best videoconferencing platform for the development of online classes is Zoom; WhatsApp, and Zoom are the easiest applications to learn to use; Google Meet is the most difficult to learn to use; and Zoom has the best interface design. The video conference platform that offers the best benefits for the teaching–learning process is Zoom. WhatsApp offers the least benefits in relation to the others. Based on the results, it can be stated that, according to the perceptions of the teachers surveyed, the platform that offers the best benefits in the areas evaluated is Zoom. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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Artificial Intelligence and Tomorrow’s Education

2021 , Cóndor-Herrera, Omar , Arias Flores, Hugo Patricio , Jadán Guerrero, Janio , Ramos Galarza, Carlos

Nowadays, there is a rapid technological progress around the world that has enabled realities long ago unimaginable. We live in a technological era that represents new possibilities and challenges for society, and for the educational models in each country [1]. Research on smart education, which has forced the educational community to rethink on new ways of learning and teaching has been developed globally. Due to the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), the educational model for both, teachers and students will change. Nevertheless, to transform educational systems, it is necessary to update and train students, educators, and administrators effectively [2]. This research aims to describe the possible applications of AI in education from: 1) the automation of administrative tasks; 2) collection and analysis of information [3] to create smart content; 3) the implementation of virtual assistants in the teaching-learning process; 4) the potential delivery of lectures by humanoid robots with AI. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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Mobile Technological Apps to Improve Frontal Lobe Functioning

2021 , Ramos Galarza, Carlos , Acosta-Rodas M. , Sanchez-Gordon S. , Calle-Jimenez T.

The technological proposal here elaborated consists of a cellphone app denominated Mind & Brain which encompasses subcomponents that allow the compensation of each frontal lobe function. In the component of planning, for example, this application allows a person to have an electronic diary to set daily activities to accomplish and will have the opportunity to set reminders and alarms with the patient´s own voice about the activities that must achieve in that specific day. For emotional regulation, the person will be able to be in control of every emotion and reaction. In monitoring, the subject must follow verbal instructions to solve successfully a problem, previously inserted. For decision making, the app will identify the possible consequences of choosing one or another option. With this technological innovation, people with any frontal lobe disorder will improve their quality of life. © 2021, The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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From Face-to-Face Learning to Virtual Learning: Students’ Perspective

2023 , Cóndor-Herrera, Omar , Bolaños-Pasquel, Mónica , Ramos Galarza, Carlos , Cruz Cárdenas, Jorge

This article reports the results found in an investigation which analyzed the perception that students have regarding the virtual learning process developed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study involved 38 students from a Latin American institution whose age ranged from 13 to 15 years of age, who carried out their academic activities virtually for a school year, once the school period ended, a survey was applied to collect information on the experience in virtual classes, once the results have been analyzed, it is evident that the vast majority of students issued responses in favor of virtual teaching and that virtual classes served to develop their skills in managing technological resources, on the other hand a number of participants They did not indicate the learning experience as positive or negative. This may be related to the fact that a group of participants did not have good quality internet. In the same way, the results reflect that the students consider that not having adequate equipment and good quality internet quality are a limitation in the learning process virtual lift. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

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Development of video games to improve the learning of data structures

2020 , Salvador-Ullauri L. , Salvador-Acosta B. , Ramos Galarza, Carlos , Acosta-Vargas P.

Computer engineering students have little interest in striving to understand the fundamentals of developing data structures at the origins of computing. In order to improve the learning of the Data Structure course, a strategy has been established for students to develop a simple video game in which the implementation of AVL trees, queues, and stacks shows the importance of using data structures during the development of computational applications. This work suggests a method to stimulate the learning of the essential elements of the software through the development of video games to emphasize the importance of the use of Data Structures. The students involved in this practice used graphic tools to represent the insertion and deletion operations that are performed on three types of Data Structures: AVL Tree, queue and stack. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.

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Virtual Tours of Museums to Promote Tourism

2024 , Cóndor-Herrera, Omar , Ramos Galarza, Carlos , Bolaños-Pasquel, Mónica

Museums represent a collection of ancient and modern knowledge which must be protected, disseminated, and transmitted in the best viable way. Digital development and technology in recent years have made it possible to transform the way of interacting with museums through virtual tours (Palmieri et al in Springer Series in Design and Innovation, pp 71–82, 2023 [1]), which gained strength in times of pandemic, the products generated for virtual tours range from physical reproductions/faithful virtual images of historical artifacts to digital libraries that can be used by experts and others, in addition to 360º technology which allows a 360° viewing angle to be covered in two axes. That is, we can see everything around the point where it was made the photo or video. In this article, the virtual tours offered by some museums are analyzed, as well as the use of these tours as a tourism marketing strategy, giving the user the opportunity to interact with the place they plan to visit in a new way (Cóndor-Herrera and Ramos-Galarza in Marketing and smart technologies. Smart innovation, systems and technologies, pp 443–449, 2022 [2]). © 2024, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.