AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER (ASD) IS A NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER CHARACTERIZED BY DEFICITS IN SOCIAL COMMUNICATION, THE PRESENCE OF RESTRICTED INTERESTS, REPETITIVE BEHAVIORS, AND DIFFICULTY PERFORMING ACTIVITIES AUTONOMOUSLY. REGARDING CHILDREN, PERSONAL AUTONOMY IS AFFECTED BY HAVING DIFFICULTIES IN CARRYING OUT ACTIVITIES APPROPRIATE TO THEIR AGE. ASD SPECIALISTS USE VARIOUS ACTIVITIES DURING INTERACTIONS WITH CHILDREN WITH ASD TO PROMOTE AND ENCOURAGE AUTONOMY. CURRENTLY, THERE ARE DIFFERENT ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES TO SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF AUTONOMY IN SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN WITH ASD. HOWEVER, THESE PROPOSALS PRESENT A SERIES OF DIFFICULTIES. IN THIS PAPER, WE PROPOSE A USER-FRIENDLY MOBILE APPLICATION THAT PROVIDES A SET OF ACTIVITIES DESIGNED BY ASD SPECIALISTS TO FOSTER THE PERSONAL AUTONOMY OF SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN WITH ASD. ALSO, OUR PROPOSAL ALLOWS ASD SPECIALISTS TO DYNAMICALLY CREATE AND ADAPT ACTIVITIES ACCORDING TO THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS AND NEEDS OF CHILDREN WITH ASD. DIFFERENT EVALUATIONS WERE CARRIED OUT WITH ASD SPECIALISTS, CHILDREN WITH ASD AND THEIR CAREGIVERS/RELATIVES TO STUDY THE USABILITY OF THE PROPOSAL. USER EXPERIENCES INDICATE POSITIVE AND ACCEPTABLE EVALUATIONS IN TERMS OF USEFULNESS, EASE OF USE, EASE OF LEARNING AND SATISFACTION.

THE APPLICATION OF DEEP LEARNING MODELS IN FRUIT ANALYSIS HAS GARNERED SIGNIFICANT ATTENTION DUE TO ITS POTENTIAL TO REVOLUTIONIZE THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR AND ENHANCE CROP MONITORING. THIS PAPER PRESENTS A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF RECENT RESEARCH EFFORTS IN FRUIT ANALYSIS USING DEEP LEARNING TECHNIQUES. THE STUDY DELVES INTO MODEL SELECTION, DATASET CHARACTERISTICS, EVALUATION METRICS, CHALLENGES, AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS IN THIS DOMAIN. VARIOUS MODEL ARCHITECTURES, INCLUDING CLASSICAL CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORKS (CNNS) AND ADVANCED DETECTION MODELS LIKE R-CNN AND YOLO, HAVE BEEN EXPLORED FOR TASKS RANGING FROM FRUIT CLASSIFICATION TO DETECTION. EVALUATION METRICS SUCH AS PRECISION, RECALL, F1-SCORE, AND MEAN AVERAGE PRECISION (MAP) HAVE BEEN COMMONLY USED TO ASSESS MODEL PERFORMANCE. CHALLENGES, INCLUDING DATA SCARCITY, LABELING COMPLEXITIES, VARIATIONS IN FRUIT CHARACTERISTICS, AND COMPUTATIONAL EFFICIENCY, HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED AND DISCUSSED. THE PAPER ALSO PRESENTS AN OVERVIEW OF AVAILABLE DATASETS, ENCOMPASSING BOTH PROPRIETARY AND PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE SOURCES. FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS INVOLVE EXPLORING ENHANCED DATA AUGMENTATION, MULTI-MODAL INTEGRATION, KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER ACROSS SPECIES, ROBUSTNESS IN DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENTS, IMPROVED COMPUTATIONAL EFFICIENCY, AND PRACTICAL INTEGRATION OF MODELS INTO REAL-WORLD AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS. THIS REVIEW PROVIDES VALUABLE INSIGHTS FOR RESEARCHERS AND PRACTITIONERS AIMING TO LEVERAGE DEEP LEARNING FOR FRUIT ANALYSIS IN THE PURSUIT OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND FOOD PRODUCTION.

USABILITY IS ONE OF THE MOST CRITICAL INDICATORS IN DETERMINING THE QUALITY OF A SOFTWARE PRODUCT. IT CORRESPONDS TO HOW USERS CAN USE A SOFTWARE SYSTEM TO ACHIEVE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES WITH EFFECTIVENESS, EFFICIENCY, AND SATISFACTION. A USABILITY EVALUATION IS NECESSARY TO ENSURE THAT THE SOFTWARE SYSTEM IS USABLE, BUT THIS HAS CERTAIN DISADVANTAGES (E.G., A HIGH COST OF TIME AND BUDGET FOR THE EVALUATION TO BE IMPLEMENTED). WHILE THESE DISADVANTAGES CAN BE A BIT DAUNTING DESPITE THE BENEFITS THEY PROVIDE, SOME TOOLS CAN AUTOMATICALLY GENERATE AND SUPPORT USABILITY TESTING. WE CONDUCTED A SYSTEMATIC MAPPING STUDY TO IDENTIFY THE TOOLS THAT SUPPORT AUTOMATIC USABILITY EVALUATION. WE IDENTIFIED A TOTAL OF 15 PRIMARY STUDIES. IN ADDITION, WE CLASSIFY THE TOOLS INTO FOUR CATEGORIES: MEASURE USABILITY, SUPPORT USABILITY EVALUATION, DETECT USABILITY PROBLEMS, AND CORRECT USABILITY PROBLEMS. WE IDENTIFIED THAT THE AUTOMATIC EVALUATION OF THE USABILITY OF WEB PLATFORMS AND MOBILE DEVICES IS THE MOST INTERESTING.

COMPUTER PROGRAMMING SKILLS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR A VARIETY OF DISCIPLINES IN THE FIELDS OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS (STEM). TO SUPPORT LEARNING OF PROGRAMMING IN PERSONALIZED WAYS, PROGRAMMING TUTORS (PTS) HAVE BEEN UTILIZED IN HIGHER EDUCATION CONTEXTS FOR DECADES. HOWEVER, IMPLEMENTATION OF PTS WITH MOBILE DEVICES HAS REMAINED UNEXPLORED FROM BOTH DESIGN AND ADOPTION STANDPOINTS. IN THIS RESEARCH, WE DESIGNED, IMPLEMENTED, AND TRIALLED A PT BASED ON TELEGRAM MESSENGER. THE TUTOR WAS INTRODUCED TO A COHORT OF ENGINEERING FRESHMEN () IN A COMPUTER PROGRAMMING COURSE; HOWEVER, IT WAS INTRODUCED AS AN OPTIONAL LEARNING TOOL WITH NO EXTRINSIC INCENTIVES FOR FOSTERING ITS ADOPTION. UNDER THESE CONDITIONS, STUDENTS? ACTIVITY WITH THE TOOL WAS MONITORED FOR 11 DAYS. A TOTAL OF 99 STUDENTS () CHOSE TO USE THE TUTOR AND DID SO AT LEAST ONCE. IN AVERAGE, STUDENTS WHO USED THE TUTOR SOLVED 9.2 TASKS OUT OF A MAXIMUM OF 18 (). THE USE OF NOTIFICATIONS WAS FOUND HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL TO MOTIVATE TUTOR USE: WITHIN 3 DAYS OF A STUDENT RECEIVING A REMINDER NOTIFICATION, 80.6% OF RESPONSES TO TASKS WERE REGISTERED. THE TUTOR SCORED A MEAN OF 73.8 () IN THE SYSTEMS USABILITY SCALE. STUDENTS SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT EMPHASIZED THE NEED FOR MORE ELABORATE FEEDBACK AFTER SUBMITTING THEIR RESPONSES TO PROBLEMS AND LEVELING OF TASK DIFFICULTY. REGARDING THE TUTOR?S BEST FEATURES, MOBILITY AND EASE OF USE OF THE INTERFACE WERE FOUND THE MOST PROMINENT.

AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER (ASD) IN CHILDREN IS CHARACTERIZED BY PERSISTENT DIFFICULTIES IN THEIR COMMUNICATION AND SOCIAL INTERACTION ABILITIES AND RECURRING AND RESTRICTED PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR. AS A RESULT, CHILDREN WITH ASD REQUIRE SPECIAL ASSISTANCE TO PRACTICE THE PHONETICS AND SEMANTICS OF WORDS, PHRASES, AND SENTENCES. APPLICATIONS TO SUPPORT TEACHING AND LEARNING OF LANGUAGE LITERACY FOR CHILDREN WITH ASD GENERALLY OMIT PHONETIC AND SEMANTIC ASPECTS OF COMMUNICATION AND OFFER LIMITED PEDAGOGICAL TAILORABILITY. THIS RESEARCH PRESENTS TELEO, A WEB APPLICATION THAT FACILITATES SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS CREATING LEARNING ACTIVITIES FOR SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN WITH ASD, AND THAT OVERCOMES THE LIMITATIONS OF OTHER APPLICATIONS. WITH TELEO, ACTIVITIES CAN BE TAILORED TO DIFFERENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND OFFER VARYING DEGREES OF DIFFICULTY FOR LEARNER TASKS. TO EVALUATE SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS? EXPERIENCE WITH THE TOOL, A TRIAL WAS CONDUCTED (N = 7), IN WHICH SUBJECTS CONDUCTED THREE DIFFERENT KINDS OF ACTIVITY CREATION TASKS. AN EVALUATION WAS CONDUCTED USING A USABILITY QUESTIONNAIRE AND INTERVIEWS WITH EACH TEACHER. RESULTS SHOW THAT TELEO PROVIDES TEACHERS WITH A COHERENT AND CONSISTENT SET OF FUNCTIONALITIES TO SUPPORT CREATING LITERACY ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN WITH ASD, AND THAT THE APPLICATION IS EASY TO USE. HOWEVER, DESPITE THESE POSITIVE RESULTS, OVEREMPHASIS ON SIMPLICITY IN THE DESIGN OF THE USER INTERFACE WAS FOUND TO HINDER TEACHERS? COMPREHENSION OF APPLICATION PROCESSES AND FEATURES. THUS, THESE REMAIN ASPECTS TO IMPROVE.

IN REAL-TIME SYSTEMS WITH CHANGES IN SPECIFICATIONS, RESOURCES STATUS, AND AMBIENT CONDITIONS, THE COMPUTATIONAL SUPPORT REQUIRES ADAPTING TO NEW CONDITIONS TO SATISFY THE GOALS DEFINED FOR THOSE APPLICATIONS. TECHNOLOGY-ENHANCED LEARNING APPLICATIONS (TEL) CAN BE FORMALIZED BY EDUCATIONAL MODELLING LANGUAGES (EML), WHICH PROVIDES A MECHANISM TO DESIGN, DEPLOY, AND EXECUTE LEARNING ACTIVITIES PROVIDING PEDAGOGICAL FLEXIBILITY. HOWEVER, THIS FLEXIBILITY IS FOCUSED ON DESIGN TIME AND NOT IN EXECUTION. CONSEQUENTLY, COMPLIANCE SATISFACTION IS A CHALLENGE WHEN FLEXIBILITY IN WORKFLOWS IS PROVIDED. IN ADDITION, DEADLOCK-FREENESS AND REACHABILITY ARE CRITICAL PROPERTIES IN LEARNING DESIGN EXECUTION OF APPLICATIONS BECAUSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES MUST BE ACHIEVED BY STUDENTS WITHOUT AVOIDABLE IMPEDIMENTS PROVIDED BY THE EXECUTION OF LEARNING APPLICATIONS AND THEIR CORRESPONDING TECHNICAL INFRASTRUCTURE. CURRENTLY, TO PROVIDE FLEXIBILITY TO LEARNING DESIGN SCENARIOS, REAL-TIME FLEXIBILITY AND REAL-TIME COMPLIANCE CANNOT BE BALANCED SINCE THE IMPROVEMENT OF FLEXIBILITY MECHANISM AFFECTS COMPLIANCE ASSESSMENT, AND VICE-VERSA. THE AIM OF THIS WORK IS TO EXPLORE REAL-TIME FLEXIBILITY FEATURES IN A WORKFLOW SPECIFICATION, SUPPORTING DEADLOCK-FREENESS AND REACHABILITY AS COMPLIANCE PARAMETERS DURING APPLICATION IN LEARNING DESIGN SCENARIOS. AN EXTENSION OF PETRI-NET FORMALISM WAS DEVELOPED AS A WORKFLOW SPECIFICATION. TO VALIDATE THIS APPROACH, A LEARNING SCENARIO WITH A SET OF TEST CASES WERE FORMULATED TO DEFINE PEDAGOGICAL AND VALIDATION CONSTRAINTS. RESULTS SHOW THAT A LEARNING SCENARIO INVOLVING CHANGES TO THE RUN-TIME CAN BE SUCCESSFULLY CREATED, DEPLOYED, AND EXECUTED. THESE CHANGES CAN BE BASED ON PROPERTIES THAT ARE INTRINSIC TO THE LEARNING SCENARIO, AS WELL AS ON OTHERS THAT ARE RELATED TO THE PROPOSED WORKFLOW SPECIFICATION BASE PETRI-NET.

REQUIREMENTS PRIORITIZATION IS AN ACTIVITY AIMED AT DETERMINING THE ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS TO INCLUDE IN A SOFTWARE RELEASE. ALTHOUGH THERE ARE SEVERAL PRIORITIZATION METHODS TO SYSTEMATIZE THIS TASK, THERE ARE STILL UNRESOLVED CHALLENGES. EXISTING METHODS DO NOT GUARANTEE THAT REQUIREMENTS PRIORITIZATION MEETS STAKEHOLDER EXPECTATIONS AND GOALS. THIS IS BECAUSE MOST PRIORITIZATION METHODS OPERATE BY CONSIDERING ONLY QUANTITATIVE INFORMATION, MAKING IT DIFFICULT TO FORMALLY CAPTURE STAKEHOLDER INTERESTS AND PERSPECTIVES THAT CAN RATHER BE MADE EXPLICIT IN QUALITATIVE TERMS. LIKEWISE, METHODS INCLUDING QUALITATIVE INFORMATION ONLY CONSIDER ELEMENTS ASSOCIATED WITH BENEFIT ESTIMATION, THAT IS, POSITIVE ASPECTS OF THE PROJECT, BUT NEGLECT COSTS OR NEGATIVE ASPECTS. AS A RESULT, THE PRIORITIZATION PROCESS IS DRIVEN BY A PARTIAL VIEW OF CONSTRAINTS. SUCH METHODS ALSO FAIL AT CAPTURING AND COMBINING EXPERT KNOWLEDGE THAT DECISION-MAKERS CAN BRING INTO THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS. IN THIS RESEARCH, WE PROPOSE A NOVEL METHOD FOR SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS PRIORITIZATION, WHICH FACILITATES INCORPORATING EXPERTS? QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT AT THE OUTSET OF THE PRIORITIZATION PROCESS AND CONSIDERS BOTH BENEFIT AND COST CONSTRAINTS. DETAILS OF THE METHOD ARE PRESENTED, TOGETHER WITH A CASE STUDY DESCRIBING A REAL APPLICATION SCENARIO. RECOMMENDATIONS AND GUIDELINES REGARDING THE APPLICATION OF THE METHOD ARE PROPOSED BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THE CASE STUDY.

MARITIME SUPPLY CHAINS ARE A HIGHLY DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH MULTIPLE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE STAKEHOLDERS INTERACT BY EXCHANGING DIGITAL DATA THROUGH VARIOUS SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES IN CYBERSPACE. THE MARITIME INDUSTRY IS IMMERSED IN A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PROCESS THAT IS EVOLVING TO BE HIGHLY DEPENDENT ON CYBER-PHYSICAL SYSTEMS COMPOSED OF INFORMATION AND OPERATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES. IN THE LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN REGION, THERE ARE MULTIPLE CHALLENGES IN CYBERSECURITY OF THE MARITIME INDUSTRY IN GENERAL, AS COUNTRIES PRESENT DIFFERENT MATURITY LEVELS IN THEIR CYBERSECURITY CAPABILITIES, PARTICULARLY IN PROTECTING CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURES, INCLUDING PORTS, TERMINALS AND INTERMODAL CONNECTIONS. THIS CHAPTER DESCRIBES CYBERTHREATS, VULNERABILITIES, RISKS AND RECENT CYBERATTACKS IN MARITIME SUPPLY CHAIN OPERATIONS IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (LAC), DISCUSSES ONGOING SUPRANATIONAL INITIATIVES TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF CYBERSECURITY CAPABILITIES FOR MARITIME SUPPLY CHAINS IN THE REGION, ANALYZES ADVANCES OF LAC COUNTRIES IN DEVELOPING CYBERSECURITY CAPABILITIES AND ADOPTING BEST PRACTICES FOR MARITIME SUPPLY CHAIN OPERATIONS, DISCUSSES THE REGION'S PROSPECTS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF CYBERSECURITY POLICY AND STRATEGY, AND PROVIDES RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DECISION-MAKERS AND TECHNICAL STAFF IN CHARGE OF MARITIME SUPPLY CHAIN OPERATIONS.

VIRTUAL REALITY IS A CONCEPT OF SPECIALIZED HARDWARE THAT GENERATES AN EXPERIENCE WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF INTENSITY AND INTERACTIVITY WITHIN ENVIRONMENTS IN WHICH USERS FEEL IMMERSED IN AN APPARENTLY REAL WORLD AND IS DEFINED BASED ON THE TECHNOLOGY. CURRENTLY, SEVERAL FIELDS, SUCH AS EDUCATION AND HEALTH, USE VIRTUAL REALITY. DUE TO THE WIDE RANGE OF USERS (CHILDREN, YOUTH, ADULTS, AND EVEN OLDER ADULTS) WHO CAN INTERACT WITH VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS, IT IS ESSENTIAL TO CONSIDER THE USABILITY OF THIS TYPE OF SOFTWARE SYSTEM. THE EVALUATION OF USABILITY IS CARRIED OUT THROUGH USABILITY TESTS. RESEARCH ON EVALUATING VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS? USABILITY IS SCATTERED IN SEVERAL SCIENTIFIC DATABASES. TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE, NO RESEARCH WORK COMPILES AND REPORTS GLOBALLY ON WHICH TECHNIQUES ARE USED TO EVALUATE THE USABILITY OF SUCH SOFTWARE SYSTEMS. WE CONDUCTED A SYSTEMATIC MAPPING STUDY TO ASSESS THE GENERAL PANORAMA OF TECHNIQUES RELATED TO USABILITY EVALUATION THAT ARE BEING USED IN VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS. WE IDENTIFIED A TOTAL OF 30 PRIMARY STUDIES. THE MAIN TECHNIQUES FOR USABILITY EVALUATION ARE INTERVIEWS, HEURISTIC EVALUATION, SURVEYS, USABILITY EXPERIMENTS AND EXPERT EVALUATION. SOME OF THESE TECHNIQUES ARE BEING USED TOGETHER. IN ADDITION, WE HAVE IDENTIFIED SOME WORKS THAT PROPOSE FRAMEWORKS OR METHODOLOGIES FOR EVALUATING THE USABILITY OF VIRTUAL REALITY SYSTEMS.

IT-RELATED WORKS ARE HIGHLY DEMANDED. HOWEVER, THIS DISCIPLINE DOES NOT HAVE SUFFICIENT AND ACCURATE DISSEMINATION. IN THIS CONTEXT, IT HAS MISSED THE APPLICATION OF COMPUTATIONAL THINKING ABILITIES, SUCH AS THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOGICAL REASONING, ALGORITHMIC THINKING, AND PROBLEM-SOLVING WITH CREATIVITY. A COMMON ISSUE IS THE CAPABILITY OF THESE TOOLS TO PROVIDE A DESIGN ENVIRONMENT, WHERE TEACHERS AND INSTRUCTORS CAN DESIGN AND DEPLOY MORE CONTEXTUALIZED AND CURRICULUM-ALIGNED ACTIVITIES. PROBLOCK IS PROPOSED AS A TOOL TO DEVELOP COMPUTATIONAL THINKING, IN THE CONTEXT OF LEARNING BASED ON PROBLEM-SOLVING. THE RESOLUTION OF THESE EXERCISES CAN BE CARRIED OUT USING THE BASIC CONCEPTS RELATED TO COMPUTER SCIENCE SUCH AS ABSTRACTION, DIVISION OF A PROBLEM INTO SUB-PROBLEMS, ALGORITHMIC SCHEMATIZATION, AND PROGRAMMING AS A TOOL TO CONCRETIZE EVERYTHING IN THE FINAL SOLUTION. AN EVALUATION OF THE PROBLOCK WAS CARRIED OUT WITH 15 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO MEASURE THE DEGREE OF USABILITY. USER EXPERIENCES INDICATE POSITIVE AND ACCEPTABLE EVALUATIONS IN TERMS OF USEFULNESS, EASE OF USE, EASE OF LEARNING, AND SATISFACTION.