Nuria Medina-Medina

Personalized Web Accessibility using Client-Side Refactoring

According to W3C accessibility standards, most Web applications are neither accessible nor usable for people with disabilities. Developers often solve this problem by building separate accessible applications, but these applications are seldom usable and typically offer less functionality than the original. Another common solution is to maintain a single application, but create an accessible view by applying on-the-fly transformations to each requested page-a solution that rarely suits all audiences. A third solution is described here: let users improve Web accessibility in their client browsers through interface refactorings, which offer many customized, accessible views of a single application.

An author tool based on SEM-HP for the creation and evolution of adaptive hypermedia systems

This paper presents JSEM-HP, an author tool for the development of semantic, adaptive and evolutionary hypermedia systems based on the model SEM-HP. The proposed development process has four iterative phases, associated to four interacting subsystems: memorization, in which the author creates a specific kind of semantic network that gives semantic coherence to the information offered to the user; presentation, which allows to select different subsets of the semantic net; navigation, which permits to define an order to navigate the items according to their semantic relations; and learning, which takes care of user modeling and adaptation. The tool supports the evolution of the systems created with it, assuring that changes made in a subsystem keep this subsystem and the whole system in a consistent state. The user adaptation supported by the tool allows the semantic net that is offered to the user to be dynamically adapted to the user knowledge, so he will not access the information he is not ready to understand, and he will have awareness of his process of learning.

A software system evolutionary and adaptive framework: application to agent-based systems

In this paper we present part of our current work: a proposal on a Software System evolutionary framework. This proposal is based mainly on previous work carried out by the GEDES (Group of Specification, Development and Evolution of Software) Research Group. Within this framework, we try to model the way a Software System can evolve, and especially, the evolution of Agent-based systems. We present the way systems evolve based on the application of operators and the understanding of definition of focusing on which should be these operators, and invariants in Agent-based systems, as well as introducing examples of actions and restrictions applied.

Diversity of structures and adaptive methods on an evolutionary hypermedia system

SEM-HP is a model for the development of evolutionary and adaptive hypermedia systems by means of: a development process that consists in iterative and evolutionary phases; a layered architecture that captures each phase in subsystems divided into two levels of abstraction (system and metasystem); and an author tool that implements the model. The paper focuses on the capability of adaptation of the hypermedia systems developed according to the SEM-HP model, in particular, the learning subsystem that is in charge of performing the user adaptation. SEM-HP offers two important contributions: supporting the process of evolution of the development of adaptive hypermedia systems, ensuring easy, flexible and consistent maintenance; and the orientation support is that inherent to the navigational structure itself.

Sc@ut: Platform for Communication in Ubiquitous and Adaptive Environments Applied for Children with Autism

Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems (AAC) are an emergent technology for improving the social integration of people with temporary or permanent communication difficulties. One problem which arises is the need to adapt these systems to the different users and situations by taking their capabilities, skills and progress into account. In this regard, we propose an adaptive architecture on a ubiquitous computation paradigm, which is being applied for children with autism. This paper proposes a two-tier architecture consisting of a communicator and a context meta-model. It allows child communication to be represented and controlled using a PDA device by means of a wireless network. The main aim of the architecture is to facilitate communication, adapting to changes in user and scenario.

Sample reproducibility of genetic association using different multimarker TDTs in genome-wide association studies: Characterization and a new approach

Multimarker Transmission/Disequilibrium Tests (TDTs) are very robust association tests to population admixture and structure which may be used to identify susceptibility loci in genome-wide association studies. Multimarker TDTs using several markers may increase power by capturing high-degree associations. However, there is also a risk of spurious associations and power reduction due to the increase in degrees of freedom. In this study we show that associations found by tests built on simple null hypotheses are highly reproducible in a second independent data set regardless the number of markers. As a test exhibiting this feature to its maximum, we introduce the multimarker -Groups TDT ( ), a test which under the hypothesis of no linkage, asymptotically follows a distribution with degree of freedom regardless the number of markers. The statistic requires the division of parental haplotypes into two groups: disease susceptibility and disease protective haplotype groups. We assessed the test behavior by performing an extensive simulation study as well as a real-data study using several data sets of two complex diseases. We show that test is highly efficient and it achieves the highest power among all the tests used, even when the null hypothesis is tested in a second independent data set. Therefore, turns out to be a very promising multimarker TDT to perform genome-wide searches for disease susceptibility loci that may be used as a preprocessing step in the construction of more accurate genetic models to predict individual susceptibility to complex diseases.

Personalized Guided Routes in an Adaptive Evolutionary Hypermedia System

In this paper we describe an adaptation method for adaptive hypermedia systems, consisting in personalized guided routes for the SEM-HP model. SEM-HP is a layered, systemic, semantic and evolutionary model for the development of adaptive hypermedia systems, which adapt to the particular features and interests of each user. For evolution it uses a Metasystem, which offers to the author a set of evolutionary actions that permit the hypermedia system to evolve in a flexible and consistent way. In SEM-HP a hypermedia system is composed by four subsystems, each of which offers a different functionality to the user and to other subsystems. User adaptation is carried out by the learning subsystem, which keeps and updates an user model, which includes the user knowledge about the informational elements offered by the system, his preferences and his goal, which is to reach a certain degree of knowledge. Guided routes direct the user through the hypermedia system, so the user goal can be reached in an optimal way.

Evolution in adaptive hypermedia systems

In this paper, the need of mechanisms of evolution in adaptive hypermedia systems is argued. Moreover, the basic characteristics of these systems are described and the user adaptation carried out in them is situated in the context of evolution models. Finally, SEM-HP, an evolutionary and adaptive hypermedia system, is presented and outlined.

A Comprehensive Taxonomy for Serious Games

This article highlights the importance of establishing comprehensive taxonomies in the booming sector of serious games. Although various authors have proposed partial classification systems in this field, very little has so far been published on serious game taxonomies which serve to classify any type of serious game. This article proposes a comprehensive serious game taxonomy. The aim of this taxonomy is to gather the particular features of video game design and development, the platforms used to run the games, and operational aspects such as use, users, and distribution by highlighting the idiosyncrasies of the serious component. To this end, 16 criteria are discussed in this work. The taxonomy collects a large number of features that will be useful for those looking for a serious game (e.g., to teach a subject or train a skill). If they wish to use an existing game, the taxonomy helps to choose between the different options. If they need to develop a custom game, the taxonomy details the design alternatives to consider. The proposal has been applied on 22 serious games, and some interesting conclusions are drawn from this study. In addition, a web application has been built to support the proposal.

Adaptation and user modeling in hypermedia learning environments using the SEM-HP model and the JSEM-HP tool

This paper presents a model, called SEM-HP, which enables the development of evolutionary hypermedia systems that can adapt their functioning to each user and their structure to a particular group of users. The individual adaptation feature manages a user model that includes the personal data, experience, preferences, knowledge, and interests of each user. It applies knowledge-based adaptation techniques to the following tasks: (1) personalized selection of the navigation structure, (2) hiding and disabling of links to inappropriate information, (3) positive annotation of interesting links, (4) generation of guided routes, and (5) building of personalized conceptual summaries. The group adaptation feature uses transition matrices to model the navigational activities of a group of users and, based on these, suggests modifications to evolve the navigation structures defined by the author to bring them closer to the mental concept of the majority of users. The paper also introduces a general taxonomy of user models that makes it possible to classify any model according to various features of its structure and management. In addition, the taxonomy is used to classify the UM managed in SEM-HP, thus revealing its strengths and weaknesses. The last part of the paper describes a teaching experiment performed using the JSEM-HP tool, which is based on the SEM-HP model. This description includes the educational system created with the tool, the usage of the tool in the classroom, the evaluation performed after the tool was used, and the results obtained.