Algunas aportaciones sobre la enseñanza y divulgación de la ciencia

Se aportan una serie de ideas y consideraciones sobre temas variados relacionados tanto con el ámbito de la enseñanza como con el de la divulgación de las ciencias experimentales y, de forma específica, la química y la física. Las ideas expuestas en este artículo son, en buena medida, fruto del trabajo asociado a la preparación y celebración de una Jornada en Madrid, en 2012, sobre "Enseñanza y divulgación de la química y la física". Los trabajos presentados en dicho evento se recopilaron en un libro (escrito por 132 autores de distintos niveles educativos y países), con el mismo título y de libre acceso en Internet. Se aboga por favorecer: (i) una divulgación científica rigurosa, con objetivos claros y acordes al público al que va destinada, (ii) una enseñanza con metodologías variadas, e (iii) la imbricación de actividades divulgativas (museos, certámenes, páginas web...) y educativas. We discuss different topics related to science teaching and science outreach, focused especially on chemistry and physics. These ideas were most ly obtained from a 2012 symposium in Madrid about “Teaching and Outreach of Chemistry and Physics.” The papers presented in this symposium, written by 132 authors from different countries and working at di fferent educational levels, were published in a book with the same symposium title and with free access by internet. We emphasize: (i) rigorous science outreach with clear objectives that are well-focuse d on the intended audience; (ii) teaching based on a variety of methodologies, and; (iii) the interconnect ion of several outreach and educational activities (museums, contests, web pages).

BioMet®Tools: from modeling and simulation to product design and development

BioMet®Tools is a set of software applications developed for the biometrical characterization of voice in different fields as voice quality evaluation in laryngology, speech therapy and rehabilitation, education of the singing voice, forensic voice analysis in court, emotional detection in voice, secure access to facilities and services, etc. Initially it was conceived as plain research code to estimate the glottal source from voice and obtain the biomechanical parameters of the vocal folds from the spectral density of the estimate. This code grew to what is now the Glottex®Engine package (G®E). Further demands from users in medical and forensic fields instantiated the development of different Graphic User Interfaces (GUI’s) to encapsulate user interaction with the G®E. This required the personalized design of different GUI’s handling the same G®E. In this way development costs and time could be saved. The development model is described in detail leading to commercial production and distribution. Study cases from its application to the field of laryngology and speech therapy are given and discussed.

Estimating tremor in Vocal Fold Biomechanics for Neurological Disease characterisation

Neurological Diseases (ND) are affecting larger segments of aging population every year. Treatment is dependent on expensive accurate and frequent monitoring. It is well known that ND leave correlates in speech and phonation. The present work shows a method to detect alterations in vocal fold tension during phonation. These may appear either as hypertension or as cyclical tremor. Estimations of tremor may be produced by auto-regressive modeling of the vocal fold tension series in sustained phonation. The correlates obtained are a set of cyclicality coefficients, the frequency and the root mean square amplitude of the tremor. Statistical distributions of these correlates obtained from a set of male and female subjects are presented. Results from five study cases of female voice are also given.

BioMet®Phon: A system to monitor phonation quality in the clinics

BioMet®Phon is a software application developed for the characterization of voice in voice quality evaluation. Initially it was conceived as plain research code to estimate the glottal source from voice and obtain the biomechanical parameters of the vocal folds from the spectral density of the estimate. This code grew to what is now the Glottex®Engine package (G®E). Further demands from users in laryngology and speech therapy fields instantiated the development of a specific Graphic User Interface (GUI’s) to encapsulate user interaction with the G®E. This gave place to BioMet®Phon, an application which extracts the glottal source from voice and offers a complete parameterization of this signal, including distortion, cepstral, spectral, biomechanical, time domain, contact and tremor parameters. The semantic capabilities of biomechanical parameters are discussed. Study cases from its application to the field of laryngology and speech therapy are given and discussed. Validation results in voice pathology detection are also presented. Applications to laryngology, speech therapy, and monitoring neurological deterioration in the elder are proposed.

Wavelet description of the Glottal Gap

The Glottal Source correlates reconstructed from the phonated parts of voice may render interesting information with applicability in different fields. One of them is defective closure (gap) detection. Through the paper the background to explain the physical foundations of defective gap are reviewed. A possible method to estimate defective gap is also presented based on a Wavelet Description of the Glottal Source. The method is validated using results from the analysis of a gender-balanced speakers database. Normative values for the different parameters estimated are given. A set of study cases with deficient glottal closure is presented and discussed.

Chemistry Education around the World: The First-Year Experience

En este trabajo se analizan y discuten las similitudes en el primer año de enseñanza de la química a nivel universitario en diferentes países. Este aspecto es una base fundamental que deben considerar, tanto profesores como alumnos, en programas de intercambio.

El color en la transfiguración del espacio: un estudio empírico de los dispositivos de transformación y configuración

La presente investigación analiza la capacidad del color de cualificar los espacios y propone una clasificación que ordene los diferentes dispositivos que actúan en este proceso. El objetivo de esta tesis es describir estos dispositivos estableciéndolos como parte inequívoca de cualquier proceso desencadenado por la presencia del binomio luz y color. El color ha sido objeto de estudio y experimentación a lo largo de la historia, en todas las artes y las distintas disciplinas relacionadas con la física, la percepción y la interacción. De este modo se realiza una aproximación teórica e histórica al color desde puntos de vista interdisciplinares, para llegar a comprender el modo en el que el color se acaba separando de la forma para pasar a formar parte de la configuración del espacio. Con el propósito de alcanzar este objetivo, se ha realizado un recorrido a través de diferentes teorías y manifestaciones artísticas realizadas en torno al color a lo largo de la Historia, para encontrar las claves de la relación del color con el espacio. Tomando de base este primer acercamiento al tema, se realiza un estudio empírico exhaustivo con modelos físicos con el fin de aislar los dispositivos que intervienen el este proceso en el que el color se pone en relación con el espacio; se analiza su variación a medida que fluctúan las características de los elementos que desencadenan los dispositivos. El objetivo es descubrir un orden, una taxonomía, que permita interpretar cualquier transformación producida por el color en el espacio. Posteriormente, se verifica la validez de esta clasificación estudiando siete espacios modelo en los que el color transfigura el espacio mediante la activación conjunta de varios de los dispositivos analizados. Se ha elegido este grupo de siete espacios debido a que, al tomarlos como suma, sus interiores engloban todos los fenómenos encontrados en el análisis previo. El conjunto de los dispositivos que actúan en cada espacio forma un sistema único e irrepetible que tiene que ver con su transfiguración espacial mediante la luz y el color. Estos sistemas constituyen parte de la génesis propia de cada espacio a través de una secuencia de dispositivos de transformación y configuración espacial que lo hace singular. Los dispositivos clasificados en esta investigación se encuentran en cualquier espacio en el que intervengan la luz y el color, agrupándose secuencialmente en sistemas determinados que cualifican el espacio arquitectónico. ABSTRACT This research analyzes the ability of the colour to qualify the spaces and proposes a classification to arrange the different devices that act in this process. The aim of this thesis is to describe these devices, unequivocally established as part of any process triggered by the presence of light and color pairing. Colour has been the subject of study and experimentation throughout history, in all the arts and disciplines related to physics, perception and interaction. Thus a theoretical and historical approach to the colour is developed from interdisciplinary points of view, in order to understand the way that colour separates from the form and is part of the space configuration. With the purpose of reaching this target, there has been a journey through the artistic movements and theories on colour throughout history, seeking for the key points of its relation with the space. Based on these first intuitions as a starting point, an exhaustive empirical study is made with physical models with the purpose of isolating the devices that participate in this process where colour is related with the space as well as analyzing their variation to the extent that the characteristics of the elements which cause them fluctuate. The objective is to discover an order, a taxonomy that allows to performing any transformation produced by the colour in the space. Afterwards, the validity of this classification is verified by studying seven model spaces in which the colour transfigures the space by the combined activation of several analyzed devices. These seven spaces were chosen due to all the phenomenon set in the previous analysis are included in their interior space. The group of devices that act on each space creates an unrepeatable and unique system that has to do with its spatial transfiguration by means of light and colour. These systems form part of the origin itself of each space through a sequence of devices of spatial transformation and configuration that make this space unique. The devices sorted in this research transform and configure any space in which light and colour participate, sequentially grouping together in determined systems that qualify the architectonic space.