Manuel Pablo Rubio

Interactive Virtual Platform for Simulating a Concrete Compression Test

Laboratory practices in technical degrees are usually crowed, what makes that many students waste the opportunity of putting into practice the knowledge acquired in theoretical classes. Taking this into account, an interactive virtual platform (IVP) is presented in this paper for enhancing students´ self-learning of one of the most commonly material tests used in engineering: the compression test for concrete samples. In order to carry out such innovative teaching approach, a computational modeling of a virtual materials laboratory was developed by authors including an interactive compression test machine. This way, by using this IVP, students can freely interact with the virtual compression machine during out of class study time. According to this approach, the aim of this computational application is essentially didactic, since (i) this tool allows students to get familiar with concrete compression test and, in this way, (ii) the knowledge acquired by means of such tool can be really useful to improve the performance in students´ learning during their later pressential laboratory practices.

New Approach for the Teaching of Concrete Compression Tests in Large Groups of Engineering Students

AbstractThis paper presents a teaching approach aiming to give students the chance of applying theoretical concepts in virtual environments, thereby overcoming limitations in overcrowded classes or in large groups of engineering undergraduates using available testing equipment. The proposed approach deals with enhancing self-learning of one of the most common tests used in materials engineering and/or civil engineering, namely, the compression test of concrete samples. To achieve this goal, two didactic-propose computational tools were developed: a virtual laboratory (VL) and video tutorials (VTs). Furthermore, two different teaching/learning experiences are compared in this paper: (1) using actual laboratory after using both virtual environments (VL and VTs); and (2) using only virtual environments. In both cases the use of these virtual tools improves the student learning outcomes, especially when these resources fulfill a lack of real equipment. Besides, the results of survey questions show the high mo...

On the Use of Virtual Environments in Engineering Education

Virtual resources (VR) in the form of interactive media applications (IMA), didactic videos (DV), interactive virtual platforms (IVP) or Small Virtual Resources (SVR), etc. are becoming powerful didactic tools in university teaching. This is particularly important in the case of engineering studies where these VR allow overcoming spatial visualization problems, learning mechanisms operation, etc., and increasing the student motivation in learning process. Thus, the understanding of complex concepts in engineering can be solved. In this paper, a review of the student opinion with regard to the use of diverse VR is presented. To achieve this goal, during the last years (2013-2015) different VR in diverse forms (IMA, DV, IVP and SVR) were used in teaching of engineering degrees at three different engineering schools. The opinion of students was collected in the form of surveys applied at the end of the course. According to obtained results, students considered very useful the use of VR in teaching/learning. However, they do consider them necessary as a complement of the teacher master class. In addition, from students’ surveys, an estimation of the time distribution for each teaching activity can be draft which provides useful information for adapting the teaching of engineering studies. KEywORdS Didactic Videos, Engineering Education, Interactive Media Applications, Interactive Virtual Platforms, Small Virtual Resources, Virtual Environments, Virtual Resources

Improving the Quality of Health Service with Smart Communication

This article presents the Hippocrates of Cos Multi-Agent System 1.0 (HC-MAS 1.0) a multi-agent system (MAS) based on PAINALLI, an open MAS architecture based on virtual organizations. PAINALLI utilizes an agent-based model to facilitate the development of MAS and optimize the communication process in business organizations. The architecture and the system can access information and services ubiquitously from either land or mobile devices connected to wired or wireless networks. HC-MAS 1.0 supports the communication process for the healthcare services of a hospital. This paper presents the results obtained from the implementation of the system and demonstrates the advantages produced by the use of this new technology.

Dynamic Planning with Bayesian Network Applied in MAS

The application of information technology in the field of biomedicine has become increasingly important over the last several years. This paper presents a multi-agent system that incorporates agents with automatic planning capabilities based on the CBP-BDI (Case Based Planning) (Belief, Desire, Intention) architecture. This agent proposes a new reasoning agent model mechanism that can model complex processes as external services. The agents act as Web services coordinators that implement the four stages of the case-based planning cycle. The multi-agent system has been implemented in a real scenario to classify leukemia patients. The results obtained are presented within this paper and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed organizational model.

An Attack Detection Mechanism Based on a Distributed Hierarchical Multi-agent Architecture for Protecting Databases

This paper presents an innovative approach to detect and classify SQL injection attacks. The existing approaches are centralized while this proposal is based on a distributed hierarchical architecture to provide a robust and dynamic strategy. The strategy for the classification and detection of SQL injection attacks uses a combination based on detection by anomalies and misuses. The detection by anomaly uses a case-based reasoning mechanism incorporating a mixture of neural networks. The approach has been tested and the results are presented in this paper.