Enfoque UTE

pp. 1 - 11

Authors: Roberto Maldonado Jibaja, Paola Carrillo Herrera, Lucía Ramírez Cárdenas, Francisco Carvajal Larenas

The aim of this study was to develop a beverage obtained from the fermentation of the soluble extract of germinated quinoa under the action of traditional yogurt cultures (S. thermophilus and L. bulgaricus ) and probiotic cultures (Lactobacillus. acidophilus and Bifidobacterium ). Two factors under study were established: the xanthan gum percentage (0.30%, 0.40 % and 0.50% w/w) and sucrose:fructose relation (90:10, 70:30, 50:50) added in the formulation. The quantified variables were: acidity, pH, viscosity and phase separation. The study was conducted under the completely randomized design (CRD), analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey mean separation test with a confidence level of 95 %. The best treatment included 0.50 % xanthan gum and sucrose:fructose relation of 90:10 in its formulation. The product was subjected to sensory tests in which it was determined that the product liked to consumers (score of 3.2 points on a 5-point hedonic scale). Finally, a fermented drink made from quinoa was obtained with 9 g of protein per 200 g of product and with a shelf life estimated in 70 days at 4oC. This product could be an alternative to fermented beverages such as cow's milk yogurt and soy-fermented drink.

pp. 12 - 28

Authors: Patricio Xavier Lozano Rodríguez, Aracely Armas, Martha Gualán, Miguel Guallpa

To promote conservation processes it is essential to know the biodiversity under analysis. The objective of the present work was to determine the composition, diversity and floristic importance of El Bosque Los Búhos to generate a baseline that allows the management of the resource for academic purposes. A description of the floristic composition was made, the alpha (α) and beta (β) biodiversity indexes were determined and the ecological importance of the species (IVI's) was calculated. The data indicate that the floristic composition of the forest is formed in three strata by 56 species, 18 orders and 27 families. The arboreal stratum presents a biodiversity average (2,534-Margalef) and high dominance (0,8367-Simpson), the shrub layer has low biodiversity (1,811-Margalef) and low dominance (0,4441-Simpson), and the herbaceous stratum presents biodiversity average (3,882-Margalef) and high dominance (0,7101-Simpson). The species with the highest IVI's for the arboreal stratum are Mimosa quitensis (Benth.1848), Acacia retinodes (Schltdl.1847), y Tecoma stans (L.) Juss. ex Kunth. 1819). For the shrub layer are Agave americana (L.1753), Lantana megapotamica (Spreng. Tronc. 1974), Retama sphaerocarpa (L. Boiss. 1840) y Opuntia cylindrica (Lam. DC. 1828). Finally for the herbaceous stratum is Carpobrotus edulis (L.) N.E.Br. 1926).

pp. 42 - 49

Authors: José Omar Cabrera Escobar, Raúl Vinicio Cabrera Escobar

For the construction of the specimens welded by the GMAW process of the aluminum alloy 5086-H116, advance speeds of 300, 400, 500, 600 and 700 mm / min are used that are within the recommended range, the same as they allowed the energy contributed to the union. From the results obtained in the different tests, it was determined that the most suitable welding advance speed is 500 mm / min (with a contributed energy of 335.34 J / mm), this energy is the most suitable mechanical in the 5086-H116 alloy welding at an amperage of 148 A. At this energy level, the lowest loss of magnesium occurs; the particle size of Al3Mg2 is finer and easier distributed evenly on the α matrix, that allows obtaining the best mechanical properties.

pp. 106 - 115

Authors: Alexy Fabián Vinueza Lozada, Jorge Andrés Narváez Hidalgo

In this paper, the design and aerodynamic simulation of a rotor for horizontal axis wind turbine for the Cerro Villonaco was carried out. The aerodynamic design aimed for a blade with an optimal geometry, which is defined by the chord and the twist angle of the airfoil. The design parameters conferred to the project were given by the characteristics of the wind in the Villonaco Wind Farm. Results were validated with an aerodynamic simulation, developed in a software employing the mathematical model known as blade element momentum theory, to verify its optimum performance against the requirements established with a TSR, with the goal to set a design method for subsequent investigations. Finally, a rotor analysis was carried out, obtaining an output mechanical power of 107 KW, thus corroborating the design power with the characteristics of the Villonaco Wind Farm.

pp. 80 - 92

Authors: LUIS FERNANDO TOAPANTA RAMOS, Gabriel Alejandro Bohórquez Peñafiel, Luis Eduardo Caiza Vivas, William Quitiaquez Sarzosa

The objective of this research work is to understand the behavior of water flow through gradual contraction. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a useful approach to solve the equations that describe the movement of fluids, using numerical methods and computational techniques. This area of mechanics provides the fundamentals of pipe hydraulics and channel hydraulics. A study of the flow through the pipeline has been made to calculate the children in the changes of the geometry. The energy losses derived from the pipes. Calculation of the cases: the occurrences of the incidents in the geometry on the part of the student and also with the help of the ANSYS software fluently. Calculations were used using the K-epsilon model. This simulation provides the values of pressure, velocity and kinetic turbulence in several sections of the pipe where water is its flow.

pp. 1 - 14

Authors: Victoria Zamora Cujilema, Gabriel Alejandro Mariño Brito, Carlos Ernesto González Gallardo, María Belén Jácome Villacres, Elena Rosario Beltrán Sinchiguano

The objective of this research was to study the effect of the clarification process by tangential microfiltration (MFT) and the static clarification in cold at 6 °C for six days, on the content of polyphenols and the antioxidant capacity of the Jamaica flower (Hibiscus sabdariffa L) wine, made from fresh chalices. Physicochemical analyzes (soluble solids, pH, turbidity, titratable acidity expressed as tartaric and malic acid, color and turbidity) and biochemical analyzes were performed by spectrophotometry of total polyphenols content (Folin-Ciocalteu method) and antioxidant capacity (TEAC method). The antioxidant capacity of the fermented wort without clarification treatment was superior to the fermented wort clarified by MFT at 2 bar and inferior to the fermented wort clarified in cold at 6 °C and for six days. The antioxidant activity of the fermented must clarified by MFT at 2 bar is lower compared to the cold static clarification process with an antioxidant activity of 8.21 mM of Trolox equivalent / 100 ml. The process of clarification in cold at 6 °C and for six days contains greater capacity of antioxidant, but in function of the cleaning (NTU) as attribute of quality is low in comparison to the one obtained by tangential microfiltration to 2 bar.

pp. 27 - 35

Authors: José Efraín Miranda Yuquilema, A Marin-Cárdenas, M González-Pérez, A Valla-Cepeda, D Baño-Ayala

With the objective of evaluating the repercussion of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Kluyveromyces fragilis L-4UCLV on the productive indicators and the health of the pigs in the different productive stages, two experiments (I and II) were carried out. 14 and 42 hybrid pigs CC21 (Yorkshire - Landrace / L35 Duroc) were used, respectively, distributed in two and three groups of 7 and 14 animals each. Control (T1); prepared-A (T2) and prepared-B (T3). T2, contained L. acidophillus and T3, L. acidophilus more K. fragilis (L-4 UCLV). A completely randomized design was used to evaluate weight gain (WG), average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion (FC), food efficiency (FE), incidence of diarrhea and mortality. WG, ADG, FC and FE were higher (p<0.05) in T2 in experiment I and in T3 in the second. The incidence of diarrhea and the percentage of mortality was lower (p <0.05) in T2 and T3. In conclusion, with the use of probiotic preparations, the productive parameters are improved and the incidence of diarrhea and mortality in all the stages studied is reduced.

pp. 48 - 58

Authors: Gabriela Pilco, Dayana Borja, Lorena Goetschel, Paulette Andrade, Jorge Irazabal, Paúl Vargas-Jentzsch, José Luis Guil-Guerrero, Víctor Rueda-Ayala, Luis Alejandro Ramos

The bromatological composition of banana peel (Musa paradisiaca) produced in Ecuador was determined and the fractions and phytochemical groups responsible for its antimicrobial activity were identified. The bromatological analysis determined a humidity of 88.94% and 11.06% of total solids (1.55% of ash, 0.47% of fat, 0.74% of protein, 0.87% of fiber and 8.3% total carbohydrates). To obtain the fractions, two methods of maceration were applied. The first used four solvents of different polarities, such as petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate and water. The extracts were subjected to phytochemical screening tests that identify the presence of fatty compounds, sterols, triterpenes, saponins and tannins. The second method used 70% ethanol as solvent and five fractions were generated. Tests of antimicrobial activity by the agar diffusion method were performed in Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli using the crude ethanolic extract and its fractions, microbiological activity was evidenced. Phytochemical screening assays and chromatography were performed on each fraction and extract identifying the main groups of compounds responsible for the antimicrobial activity.

pp. 70 - 76

Authors: Ramiro Sebastián Vargas Cruz, Lourdes Cecilia Ruiz Salvador, María Cristina Navas Lema

Eggs should comply with strict quality control processes. The first step of the quality process is egg candling analysis. Egg candling is a non-destructive procedure that consists on applying light against an egg to detect abnormalities. This process is usually done manually at small and medium poultry factories. Manual egg candling is prone to human mistakes and can cause health problems to the workers. It is necessary to implement an automated process. The following study briefly describes a device that merges automated and manual egg candling analysis. Furthermore, it goes beyond the design and describes valid solutions regarding occupational safety and malnutrition that can emerge due to the implementation of this innovative design.

pp. 198 - 207

Authors: Sonia Carmita Rosero Haro, José Arcos, Miguel Guallpa, Holguer Guaraca

Afforestation and reforestation programs with emphasis on ecological sustainability focus their efforts on the protection of water sources, eroded soils recovery, and the establishment of agroforestry systems in high altitude areas, where quality plants are required. The present study aims to determine the response in aerial and foliar growth of nursery yagual (Polylepis racemosa) to the application of different nutritive solutions after transplantation. A completely randomized blocks (RCB) experimental design was established with seven treatments and four repetitions. The treatments consisted in the use of a mixture of three fertilizers (ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and mono potassium phosphate) at three different concentrations (100-50-100 (D1), 150-75-150 (D2), 200-100-200 (D3) mg.L-1NPK respectively), and two application frequencies (two (F1) and three (F2) times per week), plus a control treatment. The analyzed variables were the total height (hT) and the number of leaves (N° H). According to the results, the largest height and the greatest number of leaves were obtained when fertilizing with 200-100-200 mg.L-1 NPK, with three times per week applications for 120 days. On the other hand, the treatment that rendered the shortest plants and lowest number of leaves was the D1-F1 combination, which, in the case of leaf number, was not significantly different from the control.

pp. 106 - 116

Authors: Soledad Subía, Rodolfo Jefferson Rubio Aguiar

It was determined the best experimental conditions for the production and evaluation of microalgae biomass, which come from Limoncocha, for the purpose of proving the feasibility of use in biofuel acquisition. Different crops were monitored in order to obtain the growth kinetics of microalgae and establish the yield with which they are produced on a laboratory scale controlling the different variables that interfere in this process. Once the biomass was gotten in the photo bioreactors, it was characterized to know its composition and lipid content. The productivity for the first consortium Vischeria/Scenedesmus sp was of 0,088 g L-1 day-1, which reached a total of 5030000 cel/mL and for the second consortium Chlorella/Monoraphidium Contortum sp was of 0,091 g L-1 day-1 with a total of 5537636 cel/mL. For the lipid composition through Soxhlet method by using a mixture of chloroform / methanol as solvents, the gotten results were from 16% out of the total lipids for Vischeria/Scenedesmus sp consortium and 42 % for Chlorella/Monoraphidium Contortum sp consortium.

pp. 125 - 137

Authors: Pamela Andrea Paula, Luis Zambrano, Paulina Paula

Climate change is a global problem that affects the state of conservation of ecosystems in all regions of the world; as well as in the Chimborazo Fauna Production Reserve, which is linked to anthropogenic activities inside and outside it, such as the extensive and intensive grazing of sheep and cattle that have caused effects on vegetation and soil given to the consumption of native plants and all ecosystem processes because they are related to each other. The methodology used to achieve optimal discrimination of vegetation change and conservation status is obtained through the application of satellite images LANDSAT 5, LANDSAT 7, orthophotos and aerial photographs from 1962 to 1966 up to 2010 distributed in three periods; using procedures such as supervised classification and the calculation of the Normalized Differential Index of Vegetation. Anthropogenic activity for the period 1962-1966 determines 0.26% and snow is 10.30%, while for the period 2010-2011, the percentage of intervention increases to 9.54% and the snow decreases to 4.46%, evidencing the loss of perpetual snow due to solar radiation.

pp. 149 - 158

Authors: Edilberto Antonio Llanes Cedeño, Juan Carlos Rocha-Hoyos, Diana Belén Peralta Zurita, Julio César Leguísamo Milla

At present it is very important to estimate the contribution of the vehicle fleet in the inventories of polluting emissions for the city of Quito due to its geographical characteristic that places it at a height above 2810 m. In this research, the emission factors en route of three fuels used mainly by light vehicles in Ecuador are evaluated; Super gasoline with 93 octane; Extra gasoline with 87 octanes; and Ecopaís gasoline (Extra gasoline and 5% bioethanol). A Chevrolet Aveo 1.6 L vehicle was used, instrumented with an on-board system to obtain information on pollutant emissions and total fuel consumption in a pre-determined route of 12 km, at an average speed of 40 km/h. The simplified combustion model was used to develop a mass balance with respect to the amount of carbon present in the fuel, and thus obtain the emission factors ( ) in grams of pollutant per kilometer traveled. The results obtained are: Extra gasoline: CO 3.194 g/km, HC 0.060 g/km and NOx 0.142 g/km; Gasoline 92 Super: CO 4.770 g/km, HC 0.099 g/km and NOx 0.281 g/km; and Ecopaís gasoline: CO 5.939 g/km, HC 0.082 g/km and NOx 0.279 g/km.

pp. 208 - 222

Authors: Félix Vladimir Bonilla Venegas, Marcelo Javier Moya, Anatoly Vitalyevich Evgeny, Anatolevich Lukyanov, Leonardo Emanuel Marín Pillajo

The aim of this work is control the Mitsubishi RV-2JA Robot using sEMG surface electromyographic signals. The sEMG signals were obtained from the hand through a Myo bracelet with surface sensors. Myo surface sensors are able to detect the electromyographic signals generated by the muscles. The integration of the system was performed in Matlab's Simulink platform to process, identify, validate and control the robot through the electromyographic signals. The hand gestures analysis was performed using a temporal approximation that allowed the extraction of characteristics of the signals. It was determined that the parameters Electromyographic Integrated, Mean Absolute Value, Quadratic Mean and Variance have direct correlation with the type of Hand movement. In order to classify the first movements like spread fingers, wave right, wave left, elder and voor, we used 6 neural networks, which allow to activate 3 degrees of freedom of the robot. For the integration and verification of the real-time system, the hardware in loop simulation (HIL) was applied. This simulation allowed the execution of the plant model, the connection with the appropriate control and communication system to verify that the system controls the robot.

pp. 188 - 197

Authors: Rubén Dario Vega Mejía, Martín León, Patricia Lara

The large amount of petroleum coke produced in Venezuela, leadsed to its use as a filtering controller in oil-based fluids. Initially, the coke was subjected to an oil extraction process using the Soxhlet method and extraction of sulfur by means of microwaves. Then an infrared Spectroscopy (IR) was performed and compared with another spectroscopy of natural petroleum coke, where the effectiveness of the applied process was evidenced. Were made, four (4) drilling fluid (12 ppg) with coke as filter driver, varying its concentration in 6, 8, 10 and 12 lb / bl and after dynamic aging (300 ° F, 100 lpcm) the physical properties of plastic viscosity, yield point, gel 10 s, gel 10 min and filtrate were studied, obtaining a range of values of 25.3-26.3; 5.7-6.3; 4-5; 7-10 and 10.3-10.9 respectively. A statistical study of split plots demonstrated that there were significant statistical differences between the physical properties of the formulated fluids and the physical properties of a standard fluid with lignite as a filtering controller. It was concluded that despite the statistical differences presented, the use of petroleum coke as a filter controller for the conditions under study is possible.

pp. 1 - 11

Authors: Ricardo Llugsi Cañar, Renato Escandón

The present work focuses on the development of a prototype for capturing and processing thermal images from an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The system consists of two parts: an "air" stage installed in a DJI Phantom 3 Standard. And another programmed into a receiving PC called "ground". The “air” system is composed by a Flir Lepton thermal camera, a Raspberry Pi card and a GPS module (for georeferencing). After that the images are sent to the PC using an Ad-Hoc network. The PC performs an analysis of the information through the use of histograms and edge detection (Canny algorithm). An algorithm is obtained in order to discriminate photographs with clearly heat points. Through the use of the algorithm the probability of detecting false positives in the images is reduced avoiding a waste of time and power during the processing. Finally, to verify the correct operation of the system, the prototype was tested in adverse weather conditions (fog) in the Pululahua Volcano sector.

pp. 25 - 33

Authors: Priscila Cedillo, Paola Beltrán, Paúl Rodriguez-Ch, Freddy Serrano, Alexandra Bermeo

Today, the population of elderly people has increased significantly in relation to the total world population. In recent years, this segment of population has shown a greater adherence and interest in technological advances, among them the Internet and its services; this, with the aim of develop different activities such as entertainment, obtain current information, learning different topics, among others. However, applications and websites do not take into account the specific requirements of elderly people. Hence, it is necessary to have methodologies, processes and tools that take into account appropriate forms of interaction specific to this vulnerable sector of the population. This article is an extension to the one presented at the INCISCOS 2017 conference, which proposed a methodology for the creation of massive online courses, called MOOCEP. In this work, it has been considered convenient to test the devices created with the use of MOOCEP, by presenting these resources to elderly people, in order to make a comparison of the before and after knowledge of the various topics presented in the learning platform.

pp. 43 - 52

Authors: Verónica Egas-Reyes, Raúl Hinojosa-Alcocer, Diego Ordóñez-Camacho

Virtual reality technologies enable the representation of a vast array of existing and fictitious environments into virtual, digital scenes. These scenes allow for the easy integration of users into a controlled laboratory, allowing them to participate on a variety of scientific studies. Many different areas, like psychology, have already integrated virtual technologies into its field; nevertheless, there are still many open problems related. The main focus of this work is to find out if the virtual environments could replace traditional pen and paper psychological test. Thanks to the use of the two one sided equivalence test, results showed significant statistical equivalence.

pp. 67 - 78

Authors: Estevan Gómez-Torres, Roger Jaimes, Orlando Hidalgo, Sergio Luján-Mora

Knowing the opinion of a sector of the population can be as important to launch a product in marketing, as to know the opinion of voters, in politics. In Ecuador, the social network Twitter has become one of the main means of direct interaction between political figures and the population. So a study that reflects feelings in Spanish by idioms of each region, gives us a great opportunity to study the relationship between the level of acceptance on Twitter of a candidate and the election results. The contribution of this article is the analysis of feelings (SA) using a tool for NLP adapted to the variation of Spanish used in Ecuador, taking advantage of the fact that most of the literature has focused on the English language, while adaptations for languages, like Spanish, they are minimal and are still in process due to the complexity inherent in the language.

pp. 90 - 101

Authors: Rodrigo Arturo Proaño Escalante, Andrés Fernando Gavilanes Molina

Assurance the security of information, information systems, services and networks implies socializing, also knowing how to respond to an event where such information security has been violated and how manage the identified digital evidence. The present paper is a solution, based on international standards and complying with the current Law of Ecuador. Digital evidence will be identified at the scene of a computer incident by the authorized persons. The authorization must indicate what motivates, authorizes and limits the identification of evidence. The phase of obtaining the digital evidence identified will depend on the established internal circumstances and policies. The preservation of the objective evidence is carried out through chain of custody, the verifiable, complete and reliable results are reported. The previously described strategy was applied as a case study to the incidents of violation of logical securities. The digital evidence found in the place was recognized, extracted, preserved and informed about. Throughout the process, the chain of custody was implemented, which assurance the integrity and reliability of the data. In each phase it was recorded as, when, where and who manipulated both digital signs and digital devices.

pp. 118 - 126

Authors: Edwin Cabrera-Goyes, Diego Ordóñez-Camacho

This research has two main objectives. First, to determine experimentally the relationship between RSSI and distance. Second, with trilateration techniques, to establish the location of the receiver device in the experimental environment. The main contributions are: to determine how Bluetooth devices interact between them and how they differ when dealing with RSSI measures; to collect data over controlled distances applying to it regression analysis to establish the RSSI – distance relationship; to evaluate the basic trilateration techniques to produce a functional prototype for an indoor positioning system using Android devices. Results are encouraging considering that even with an extremely heterogeneous hardware and software configuration, it was possible to get a high average precision.

pp. 138 - 148

Authors: Catalina Astudillo, Fabián Carvajal, Juan Pablo Carvallo, Esteban Crespo-Martínez, Marcos Orellana, Rosalva Vintimilla

Information security is a growing concern in companies and organizations, being even higher when linked to financial platforms where sensitive information exists. This article explains the techniques used in the pentesting performed on the ERP software developed in APEX 5 by the University of Azuay. To achieve this goal, six stages has been considered for perform a penetration test: I) Conceptualization, where is defined the scope of the tests to be performed. II) Preparation of the laboratory, which identifies some of the tools used to initiate the safety tests. III) Obtaining of information, where the possible objects are recognized and scanned in greater depth to identify intrinsic characteristics for subsequently exploit them. IV) Analysis of the vulnerabilities found in the previous stage. V) Exploitation of vulnerabilities; and VI) Post-exploitation, a stage that contemplates the destruction of evidence of the attack and the conservation of the connection and the accesses obtained to extract information. All these stages were carried out within the facilities of the “Universidad del Azuay”, considering the development environment in which this software is currently located.

pp. 166 - 176

Authors: Eduardo Cueva, Juan Lucero, Alex Guzmán, Juan Rocha, Luis Espinoza

Purpose of this paper is the review of the literature and analyze the progress and application that battery technologies have made in the automotive industry, due to the implementation of electrified systems in the power train, that are used in hybrid and electric vehicles. The technologies which are used, were classified by the materials applied in the construction of the electrochemical cells, lead acid, lithium ion and nickel metal hydride were the chosen ones. It was identified the most important characteristics as the capacity, the nominal voltage of their cells, among others. Lead-acid batteries will continue to occupy a considerable market share because of their cost, but they cannot be used as propulsion batteries. Nickel-metal hydride batteries withstand higher work stress and have higher energy density, so they are mainly used in hybrid vehicles. Because of the demand for energy and power, that electric vehicles need, is used the lithium-ion technology.

pp. 188 - 203

Authors: Alexy Fabian Vinueza Lozada, Nelson Ramiro Gutiérrez Suquillo

In this paper, the study of the behavior of the brake pads of an ABS system was carried out using the finite element analysis method, where one of the most critical actions is to perform quality meshing, so that this allows improving the convergence of results by optimizing the computational load, which enables the problem to be solved in less time. The use of software tools to carry out this type of study has the advantage that in the post-processing the type of parameters that can be studied can be chosen, in this case, mechanical and thermal variables that allowed to characterize the behavior of the materials were analyzed. The study was carried out for two materials: Trimat MN1081 which is composed of steel and non-ferrous filaments and Trimat GZC composed of zinc fibers, in this way important characteristics of these materials were obtained, such as stress, deformation, penetration, the flow heat and energy. Based on the method developed and the results obtained, a study will be conducted with alternative materials, which will allow determining the feasibility of using these materials in search of optimal results in both mechanical characteristics and costs.

pp. 217 - 225

Authors: I. J. Chico-Morales, S. K. Narváez-Pupiales, A. C. Umaquinga-Criollo, P. D. Rosero-Montalvo

The crawling of babies is the way to discover and learn their motor, cognitive, social, and emotional functions, among others. Because of this, infants are exposed to different dangers such as falls, burns, bodily injuries among the most common, where the home is the place of major incidents. Due to the above, the present investigation focuses on the development of an embedded system within an intelligent textile that allows accidents to be noticed. The system is in a garment in the form of a harness that has a connection with knee pads with magnetic sensors. These elements are responsible for detecting magnetic security tapes previously placed in places of greatest danger in the home. As a result, the system issues an alert with a reaction time of 7.6 seconds, after the system is activated.

pp. 1 - 15

Authors: Marco Yamba-Yugsi, Sergio Luján-Mora

We are experiencing constant technological change, which implies that learning and training requirements have been increased, they are increasingly high. One of these changes are Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). As this is a new technology in our environment, the amount of desertion is high, it is essential to the analysis, to know the reasons of the high amounts of desertion and reduce the dropout of users in MOOC courses. For that, it is proposed to meet the different factors of the problem, for example, previous experience of users in making the MOOC courses, the level of satisfaction in the interaction with platforms that have courses MOOC and satisfaction by the end of a course. Additionally, knowing the user’s profile will make it easier for future courses suit them, although entails increasing the team and tailor a course to users, for the purpose of that they feel supported, intending to follow course and that they possess a new learning experience.

pp. 31 - 45

Authors: Estevan Gómez Torres, Nelson Herrera Herrera, Magí Paúl Díaz

The use of mobile devices has gradually increased. Every day, the number of organizations adopting systems which include some type of mobile payments is becoming bigger. Because of this reason, it is mandatory to have agile and quick systems to guarantee security and reliability, not only for the user but also for the operator. In that way, users will get a high-quality service based on mobile technologies. An analysis of NFC Technology has been made in this paper taking into consideration a proposal of a system development including mobile payments, which could be used in the transportation system of Metro of Quito. To assure the response time and transactional security, the use of cloud computing is recommended.

pp. 62 - 76

Authors: Vicente Merchán, Rocío Rodríguez

Nowadays, leadership and the style of governing have become one of the quality criteria that challenges the Government of Technologies and Information Systems (GoTIS) value-based on public domain. In this aspect, the excellence models and GoTIS standards play a vital role in the success of the organizations due to their usefulness as systems that help the improvement towards the organizational excellence. Two of them are the Ibero-american Model of Excellence in Public Administration and the GoTIS standard ISO/IEC 38500. This paper takes them into account to create a new assessment model of GoTSI, the same one that is validated through the opinion of leaders of technologies and information systems of high-level. The work provides two sub-criteria, eleven dimensions and five components of assessment. This model will allow GoTIS assess itself as a principle of quality and, from there, make an improvement and an organizational change of the processes and GoTIS team decisions. Similarly, it will also help to open the way to the development of new quality criteria from a specific and comprehensive view.

pp. 92 - 106

Authors: Aníbal Rubén Mantilla Guerra

In order to contribute to the treatment of diabetes, which is one of the main causes of death in Ecuador and in the world, a research project is being developed to create equipment that allows the effective control and treatment of this disease. The electronic equipment created for nutrition control, allows the diabetic patient to have information about the amount of calories they should ingest in consideration of their activities and their medical treatment. The mechatronic equipment for the physical exercise of people with diabetic foot, allows the application of therapies according to the severity of the affection. Considering that this is a delicate and complex treatment, the equipment helps the patients to alleviate its discomfort, to decrease the time of recovery and in some cases even to avoid amputation. The construction of the biomedical equipment for the control of nutrition is completed. While the equipment for the treatment of diabetic foot is in a stage of development of prototypes and tests. Both equipment has been conceived and developed with rigorous engineering methods and under quality standards, making an important contribution to research, development of science, technology, and innovation.

pp. 122 - 134

Authors: Juan Pablo Rojas, Julio César Bustos, Diego Ordóñez Camacho

QBus is a system that locates the bus routes circulating in the city of Quito. It consists of a mobile application which uses either Bluetooth Low Energy technology or Quick Response codes to identify the stops. It is based on the location of the user to show the nearest stops and search the available bus routes. The application shows relevant information of each route and, using a digital map, draws its path and the stops it performs. In addition to this, it offers the "How do I get there" functionality that allows the user to search the available bus routes to move from one point to another within the city. In order to comply with this process, QBus performs a search of the bus routes that have stops near the points of origin and destination; this functionality indicates to the user the stop in which he must take the bus and in which it must get off. On the other hand the system consists of a web portal which allows to manage all the information of the application, ie cooperatives, stops and bus routes in a graphical way through the use of the Google Maps V3 API.

pp. 148-159

Authors: Rodrigo Arturo Proaño Escalante, Ciro Napoleón Saguay Chafla, Segundo Bolívar Jácome Canchig, Fanny Sandoval Zambrano

One of the problems that the IT auditor has when expressing an opinion about a finding is the subjectivity that can be due to many aspects, among the main ones: emotional, technical skills or abilities with which this opinion can be right or wrong. This is a major problem because the audit report issued may have distortions of the facts. On the other hand, the development of the expert systems involves capturing the knowledge of the human and transferring it to a computer program in which all the characteristics of this knowledge are emulated and considering a group of rules, the system can make decisions as a human does. Advances in artificial intelligence over the last few years have led to the development of these knowledge-based systems increasing and the results obtained are more real. The use of these systems presents a promising future in the field of computer audit. The objective of this article is to give a general idea of the characterization and use of knowledge based systems, the way they are implemented and their application to the audit of information systems as a tool to help the opinion issue at the moment of realization of an audit.

pp. 172-185

Authors: Alex Cazañas, Andre de San Miguel, Esther Parra

One strategy used to assure that an interface meets user requirements is to conduct usability testing. When conducting such testing one of the unknowns is sample size. Since extensive testing is costly, minimizing the number of participants can contribute greatly to successful resource management of a project. Even though a significant number of models have been proposed to estimate sample size in usability testing, there is still not consensus on the optimal size. Several studies claim that 3 to 5 users suffice to uncover 80% of problems in a software interface. However, many other studies challenge this assertion. This study analyzed data collected from the user testing of a web application to verify the rule of thumb, commonly known as the “magic number 5”. The outcomes of the analysis showed that the 5-user rule significantly underestimates the required sample size to achieve reasonable levels of problem detection.

pp. 201-216

Authors: Germán Oswaldo Cárdenas, Jairo Aponte

Many researchers have highlighted the scarcity of empirical studies that systematically examine the advantages and disadvantages of the use of visualization techniques for software understanding activities. Such studies are crucial for gathering and analyzing objective and quantifiable evidence about the usefulness of proposed visualization techniques and tools, and ultimately, for guiding the research in software visualization. This paper presents a controlled experiment aimed at assessing the impact of a graph-based visualization technique on comprehension tasks. Six common comprehension tasks were performed by 20 undergraduate software engineering students. The completion time and the accuracy of the participants’ responses were measured. The results indicate that on one hand the use of the graph-based visualization increases the correctness (by 21.45% in average) but on the other hand it does not reduce the completion time in program comprehension tasks.

pp. 232-243

Authors: D. Viveros-Melo, M. Ortega-Adarme, X. Blanco Valencia, A. E. Castro-Ospina, S. Murillo Rendón, D. H. Peluffo-Ordóñez

Case-based reasoning (CBR) is a process used for computer processing that tries to mimic the behavior of a human expert in making decisions regarding a subject and learn from the experience of past cases. CBR has demonstrated to be appropriate for working with unstructured domains data or difficult knowledge acquisition situations, such as medical diagnosis, where it is possible to identify diseases such as: cancer diagnosis, epilepsy prediction and appendicitis diagnosis. Some of the trends that may be developed for CBR in the health science are oriented to reduce the number of features in highly dimensional data. An important contribution may be the estimation of probabilities of belonging to each class for new cases. In this paper, in order to adequately represent the database and to avoid the inconveniences caused by the high dimensionality, noise and redundancy, a number of algorithms are used in the preprocessing stage for performing both variable selection and dimension reduction procedures. Also, a comparison of the performance of some representative multi-class classifiers is carried out to identify the most effective one to include within a CBR scheme. Particularly, four classification techniques and two reduction techniques are employed to make a comparative study of multiclass classifiers on CBR.

pp. 257 - 272

Authors: Mónica Moreno-Revelo, Sandra Patascoy-Botina, Andrés Pantoja-Buchelli, Javier Revelo Fuelagán, José Rodríguez-Sotelo, Santiago Murillo-Rendón, Diego Peluffo-Ordoñez

An arrhythmia is a pathology that consists on altering the heartbeat. Although, the 12-lead electrocardiogram allows evaluation of the electrical behavior from heart to determine certain pathologies, there are some arrhythmias that are difficult to detect with this type of electrocardiography. In this sense, it is necessary the use of the Holter monitor because it facilitates the records of the heart electrical activity for long periods of time, it is usually 24 up to 48 hours. Due to the extension of the records provided by the monitor, it is common to use computational systems to evaluate diagnostic and morphological features of the beats in order to determine if there is any type of abnormality. These computational systems can be based on supervised or unsupervised pattern recognition techniques, however considering that the first option requires a visual inspection about the large number of beats present in a Holter record, it is an arduous task, as well as it involves monetary costs. Consequently, throughout this paper we present the design of a complete system for the identification of arrhythmias in Holter records using unsupervised pattern recognition techniques. The proposed system involves stages of preprocessing of the signal, segmentation and characterization of beats, as well as feature selection and clustering. In this case, the technique k-means is used. These steps are applied within the framework of a segment-based methodology that improves the detection of minority classes. Additionally, initialization criteria are considered, which allow to enhance quality measures, especially sensitivity. As a result, it is determined that using k-means with the max-min initialization and a number of groups equal to 12, it is possible to obtain the best results, with values of: 99.36%, 91.31% and 99.16% for accuracy, sensitivity and specificity, respectively.

pp. 287 - 299

Authors: Marcelo V. García, Edurne Irisarri, Federico Pérez

Nowadays, factory automation systems need to cope with very different challenges, such as big data, IIoT, etc. These challenges lead to a new generation of automation systems based on the so-called Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) globally connected to form a flexible System of Cyber-Physical Production Systems (SoCPPS). CPPSs require acquisition of production system data and smart data processing to extract information to improve the overall system performance. To achieve that it is needed to bridge the gap between the control systems and higher layers. This paper discusses an approach to use the IEC 61499 function block concept to exchange data between plant floor and higher layers using an industrial standard like OPC UA. The OPC UA server offers subscription mechanisms, making possible the integration of several resources residing at plant floor. As it runs on embedded devices, the proposal makes possible to acquire plant information at low cost, enabling at the same time, a component-based design for enterprise plant floor control with independence of the hardware platform used.

pp. 315 - 328

Authors: Oswaldo Moscoso-Zea, Sergio Lujan-Mora

Knowledge Management (KM) is a practice that allows the creation, use, distribution and transfer of knowledge in organizations. Different KM frameworks exist that include business intelligence or enterprise architecture (EA) components for the implementation of KM in organizations. EA tools are used to digitize, relate and visualize the following dimensions of knowledge: organizational structure, business processes, applications and technology. The objective of this paper is to assess the role of EA as a key component in KM and to suggest software evaluation methodologies that can be adapted for the field of EA. For this, an investigation was realized to identify the existing software evaluation methodologies in the market and to filter those that can be adapted for the field of EA. The methodology used for the research was qualitative and exploratory using a case study performed in an international logistic service provider. The case study describes the process done for the selection of the evaluation methodology. Furthermore, it describes the steps for knowledge digitization.

pp. 344 - 357

Authors: Alex Cazañas, Esther Parra

This paper presents a literature review on the topic of web design, specifically with regard to mobile web design. The aim of the review is to identify and analyze major strategies and approaches to design for small-screen-size devices. Three strategies consistently appeared across the reviewed literature, namely, responsive web design, adaptive web design, and separate site. The analysis of these strategies intends to provide a clear understanding of their advantages and disadvantages, in terms of cost and user experience.

pp. 374 - 383

Authors: Xavier Sotomayor, Diego Ordóñez Camacho

The Websockets Shared Virtual Whiteboard, is a system for cooperative work, that allows its users to collaborate remotely, online and in real time. The system provides with a virtual whiteboard acting as a shared workspace where any user´s interactions synchronize automatically and immediately with all the other users. Server side, the system is implemented with the Java Enterprise Edition, mainly using WebSockets technology. Client side, no installing process is necessary, given that any recent browser supporting WebSockets through Javascript, whether on desktop or mobile systems, is able to integrate itself into a working session. The chosen configuration allows the users to hand-draw, and use geometric figures and text boxes; it is possible to save any stage of the working environment to file and reload it for a different session; moreover, a chat tool has been incorporated, which provides with a complementary workspace for adding contextual explanations to the session, everything in a collaborative environment.

pp. 1 - 13

Authors: César del Río

This paper reviews what stage the central banks of the world’s leading economies are at in their study and adoption of distributed ledger technology (DLT) to reengineer their various systems and functions. A brief description of DLT will be given, followed by an analysis of central banks’ publications and pronouncements to determine what each central bank is doing on their journey to DLT adoption. It was found that of the central banks for which information was available, all of them have expressed interest in DLT and have evaluated it to some extent. Nevertheless, no central bank has an operational DLT-based system at this point. This is because some issues remain regarding the speed, cost of processing, security, transparency and privacy, legal settlement finality, scalability and network effects of the technology. As DLT matures, the expectation is that these issues will begin to be resolved.

pp. 26 - 36

Authors: Michael Álvarez González, Lamberto Álvarez Gil, Romel Vázquez Rodríguez

The paper presents the evaluation and the analysis of three types of filter geometry to evaluate the filtration risk in Zaza Reservoir, taking as starting point the historic characteristics of the fluctuation of water levels inside the earth dam. The work is based on the experience of a multidisciplinary team and previous research with bi-dimensional models, using the Finite Elements Method for the solution of basic engineering problems. Also, the results of the installation of a new filter system with a geospatial index are evaluated (under criteria of threats, vulnerability, and risk) with spatial visualization data in a Geographical Information System for thematic maps generation, that represent how much the water level varies inside the dam according to the different filters evaluated.

pp. 46 - 52

Authors: María José Jijón, Teresa Guerrero Villegas, Adriana Barahona, Pablo Aguilar Barriga

Macadamia nut is considered "the queen of nuts", because of its high energy content and nutritional value. Certain types of nuts are considered to be non-commercial due to their color; therefore, the aim of this study was determining a method of surface bleaching using additives that do not affect the taste, smell and texture of the walnut. Color is a sensory quality of food; it’s an indicator and a critical quality factor in fresh and processed products. Three food additives were used as bleaching agents: 1% citric acid for 2 minutes and 3% for 1 minute, 0.1% ascorbic acid for 1 minute and 0.3% for 3 minutes, and 5 and 10% sodium bicarbonate for 1 minute. For all treatments, color analysis, walnut moisture, sensory analysis of odor, taste and texture were carried out. Walnuts were bleached superficially after drying. The results indicate that the best treatment for bleaching macadamia nut is ascorbic acid at 0.3%, with this it is possible to add a more homogeneous and natural color to the nut, free of blackish spots.

pp. 67 - 75

Authors: JE Miranda-Yuquilema, A Marín-Cárdenas, M González-Pérez, D Sánchez-Macías

The aim of this work was to evaluate the physical, microbiological, fibrous and lactic acid changes of cassava silage with cowpea used on biological mix. Fifty kg whole cassava (root, stem and leaves), 20 kg of cowpea flour and 4 L of microbial culture containing Lactobacillus acidophillus, Streptococcus thermophillus and Klyumyces fragilis (L-4 UCLV) were used. The evaluated treatments were: Y100integral cassava (Y100), integral cassava more 20% cowpea (Y+C), and integral cassava more 20% cowpeas and 8% of microbial culture (Y+C+BP). The ensiled material was preserved in sterile glass bottles with wide mouth. A completely randomized design was used. The physicochemical, microbiological, fibrous and lactic acid characteristics were evaluated. For 18 months, the dry matter, crude and true protein, lactic acid contents and the microbial viability was higher (P <0.05) in Y+C+BP treatments from 2 to 18 months. The fibrosity and the pH of the silage was also lower (P <0.05) at the end of the study in this treatment Y+C+BP. It is concluded that with the inclusion of the microbial mix in the cassava silage with cowpea, it is possible to preserve the physicochemical and microbiological properties for 18 months, as well as the values of dry matter, crude and true protein, and lactic acid contents were improved.

pp. 89 - 102

Authors: Luis Hidalgo Aguilera, Jimmy Imbaquingo, Daniel Mideros

An automatic machine has been designed to obtain threads and ribbons through a continuous rotational cutting process. This machine processes plastic bottles used as containers for storage and transportation of soft drinks and non-carbonated drinks with a capacity of three liters. It is a mechatronic design, composed of simple mechanical / pneumatic, electrical and control systems, which allows to process up to fifty bottles per hour. A variety of products can be obtained; from threads with approximately 46.5 m in length and 1.6 mm thick (width) to ribbons with 11.3 m in length and 6.7 mm in width per bottle can be obtained. These products are economic raw material obtained from waste material such as plastic bottles, which are highly polluting elements of the environment due to the small percentage that is recycled especially in Ecuador. This raw material can have applications in some manufacturing processes such as the manufacture of brooms, ropes, baskets, bags, fasteners among others.