Facial Animation and motion capture: key role for the communication

In the last 100 years we have observed a great development of the technology. This development applied to the mass media as the radio, the cinema, the television, or Internet have influence in the human communication and the interaction of the society with the technologies. The new communicative environments need new actors (avatars) with high communicate face expression. The modeling and the animation of an expressive human face are the greatest challenges in computer graphics because we are able to detect the nuances of even the most basic movement of the face. The cinema and the video games are the fields that more have worked the creation of virtual, “real” and believable characters. With this work, we have analyzed the concrete case of the 3D animation cinema, studying how the technologies of character’s creation (with or without motion capture technique) can generate a major empathy with the user. Nowadays, the animation technique called motion capture is usually present in the production of animation cinema. Our main objectives are to evaluate if these skills can improve the facial animation and if this progress generates amplified emotional response on users

Gamification in higher education: the learning perspective

During the last decades there has been a great development of utilitarian systems, applied to the most varied areas, in which games are found. Digital games (or video games) entered everyday life at an increasing rate and became a popular form of entertainment enjoyed by people of all age and social groups (Williams et al., 2009). The first videogames came from a playful reappropriation of oscilloscopes (Tavinor, 2009). Since then, there has been a wide spread of game consoles (from Pong in 1972 to Xbox in 2002, etc.) as well as other video game applications. For example, in 2011, Gartner predicted that gamed-in information systems and services would become an integral part of organizational systems such as consumer goods marketing and customer loyalty with 70 percent of the largest organizations, according to (Burke, 2011) to have at least an application with principles of gamification. These forecasts went even further and the entrance of the gamification extended to the most diverse areas, namely Healthcare, Education, Finance, Wellness, and Corporate Governance. The use of gamification in unlikely areas such as politics, it is a growing trend as described in (Angelovska, 2019) “this coincides with the beginning of the 2020 US political campaigns.” Despite hype and growth expectations, several applications fail with gamification, leading to the appearance of designations like “game over for gamification” (Smith, 2015). This situation is justified by the way the gamification was used and one of the examples illustrating this same misuse is the experience of motivating housekeepers to become more efficient at Disneyland and at the Paradise Pier Hotels. The failure was related to the existence of public monitors that showed placards with efficiency numbers in green for the fastest employees, and red for the others. However, despite the unsuccessful experiences, gamification continues to be seen as a “tool” with great potential, as companies continue to invest in gamification projects, with estimates suggesting a market growth of 48% by 2019 ( Technavio, 2015), and with values in 2016 of 4.91 billion US dollars to nearly 12 billion in 2021 (Statista, 2018)

Accesibilidad Web en entornos culturales

La página WEB de cualquier institución se ha convertido en los últimos años en un referente comunicativo de sus actividades. Si nos centramos en el mundo de la cultura, los museos siguen siendo un referente en cuanto a sus contenidos tanto por calidad como por cantidad de obras que atesoran. En este artículo nos hemos centrado en analizar y evaluar la accesibilidad de la WEB de diversos entornos culturales de referencia para las personas con algún tipo de disfunción física, personas que habitualmente se encuentran con que los diseños atractivos y usables no acaban de ser accesibles para sus necesidades. El uso de herramientas validación o criterios de accesibilidad y usabilidad permiten un mayor rendimiento de dichos entornos WEB, y del estudio de dichos espacios que cumplen buenos criterios podemos extraer unas directrices básicas de diseño que permitan incrementar su accesibilidad a usuarios con cierto grado de discapacidad

Performance Indicators for the Evolution of Areas of Innovation:Porto Digital Case

Areas of Innovation (AOIs) need urban, economic, social and governance development. Building upon the theories of Triple Helix, Knowledge-Based Urban Development, Clusters of Innovation, and the evolution phases of AOIs, this study presents in a novel way, key performance indicators (KPI) that can be used to track and monitor the progress of an innovation district in distinct phases of development towards the achievement of its goals. Using the Porto Digital Case in Recife, the most awarded project in Brazil underway for 20 years at a Triple Helix hybrid organization Núcleo Gestor do PortoDigital (NGPD), performance indicators are analysed and classified. This yields further understanding of which stage of development they have become operative (from inception to maturity), which dimensions affected (namely, urban, economic, social and governance), and who (Triple Helix agents) has been involved with the major actionpower over it.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Indicadores de rendimiento para la evolución de las áreas de innovación: el caso de Porto Digital

Les àrees d'innovació (AOI) necessiten un desenvolupament urbà, econòmic, social i de governança. Sobre la base de les teories de Triple Hèlix, Desenvolupament Urbà basat en el Coneixement, Clústers d'Innovació i les fases d'evolució de les AOI, aquest estudi presenta de manera nova, indicadors clau de rendiment (KPI) que es poden utilitzar per seguir i supervisar el progrés d'un districte d'innovació en fases diferents de desenvolupament cap a la consecució dels seus objectius. Utilitzant el cas de Porto Digital a Recife, el projecte més premiat al Brasil durant 20 anys, en una organització híbrida de Triple Helix, Núcleo Gestor do Porto Digital (NGPD), els indicadors de rendiment són analitzats i classificats. Això dona una major comprensió de quines fases de desenvolupament s'han convertit en operatives (des de la creació fins a la maduresa), quines dimensions han afectat (urbana, econòmica, social i governança), i qui (agents de la triple hèlix) ha estat involucrat amb el poder d'acció principal sobre ella.Areas of Innovation (AOIs) need urban, economic, social and governance development. Building upon the theories of Triple Helix, Knowledge-Based Urban Development, Clusters of Innovation, and the evolution phases of AOIs, this study presents in a novel way, key performance indicators (KPI) that can be used to track and monitor the progress of an innovation district in distinct phases of development towards the achievement of its goals. Using the Porto Digital Case in Recife, the most awarded project in Brazil underway for 20 years at a Triple Helix hybrid organization Núcleo Gestor do Porto Digital (NGPD), performance indicators are analysed and classified. This yields further understanding of which stage of development they have become operative (from inception to maturity), which dimensions affected (namely, urban, economic, social and governance), and who (Triple Helix agents) has been involved with the major action power over it.Las áreas de innovación (AOI) necesitan un desarrollo urbano, económico, social, y de gobernanza. Sobre la base de las teorías de Triple Hélix, Desarrollo Urbano basado en el Conocimiento, Clústers de Innovación,y las fases de evolución de las AOI, este estudio presenta de manera original indicadores clave de rendimiento (KPI), que se pueden utilizar para seguir y supervisar el progreso de un distrito de innovación en fases diferentes de desarrollo hacia la consecución de sus objetivos. Utilizando el caso de Porto Digital en Recife, el proyecto más premiado en Brasil durante los últimos 20 años, en una organización híbrida de Triple Hélice, Núcleo Gestor de Porto Digital (NGPD), los indicadores de rendimiento se analizan y clasifican. Esto permite una mejor comprensión de cuáles son las fases de desarrollo que se han convertido en operativas (desde la creación a la madurez), qué dimensiones han influido (urbana, económica, social, de gobernanza), y quién (agentes de la triple hélice) ha estado involucrado con el mayor poder de acción sobre ella

Mind the Gap:New types of innovation habitats to help startups grow and scale faster: The Digital Catapult Centres in UK

This developmental paper makes an analogy with the much known British expression “Mind the Gap”, considering innovation habitats as instruments that can mitigate the gaps in the system and catalyse the innovation process, especially the relationships among startups and other actors in the system. These habitats represent a new form of innovation support, distinct from established instruments like technology parks and incubators, operating at a lower level of investment with activities that are typically co-produced with their participants. In the literature, and in empirical studies, we may find a range of innovation habitats, with their own remits and definitions. This paper begins with an exploration of such issues, focusing on an innovative policy initiative supported by Innovate UK (formerly UK Technology Strategy Board): the Digital Catapult Centres. The overall research objective is to understand the critical factors behind the implementation and operation of these Centres. The research also aims to obtain a better understanding of public policies to support them and the results generated by such Centres

Analítica académica aplicada al estudio de la relación entre el perfil inicial de los estudiantes universitarios y las tasas de abandono temprano

Los estudiantes que ingresaron a la universidad en los últimos dos años han completado sus estudios preuniversitarios en varios períodos de confinamiento y una combinación de formación convencional y virtual. En este escenario, las motivaciones del estudiante y la forma en que enfrenta los desafíos de su primer año de universidad están muy relacionadas y dependen de muchas variables personales y sociales de su entorno inmediato. Este trabajo se centra en identificar, clasificar y evaluar un conjunto de indicadores a partir de las percepciones de docentes y auxiliares docentes en diferentes campos de estudio mediante la aplicación de técnicas cuantitativas y cualitativas. Los resultados de un estudio piloto desarrollado mostraron que los maestros identificaron a los estudiantes en riesgo de abandono temprano en sus cursos y tomaron medidas proactivas para monitorearlos y motivarlos, reduciendo así el abandono escolar.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

User's experience in the visualization of architectural images in different environments

The visualization of images, both photographic and infographic, is a process that depends on a series of features that define the user (user profile: age, sex, culture or experience, etc.), the visual message (type of image, resolution, content, quality, etc.), and the display (size, resolution, type of screen immersive or not, etc.). When we can determine how the tree features relate, the communicative messages based on visual aspects will be more efficient for both the user and the technological output. The main objective of the research work presented in this paper is to determine whether differences in the visualization (immersive or not) of specific types of images (real and virtual) related to the architecture framework, differ depending on the gender of the user. The reflection of the existence of such differences in the future will allow us to define the characteristics of the image and the medium, and maximize the emotional communication of architectural ideas, depending on the type of user