Intensive Program ERASMUS: TOPCART. Geometric Documentation of the Heritage (administrative and academic documentation)

[EN] This academic activity has been the origin of other work that are also located in this repository. The first one is the dataset of information about the geometry of the Monastery recorded during the two years of fieldwork, then some bachelor thesis and papers are listed:

Cooperative learning strategies to teach nutrition to geriatric nursing staff

[EN] The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that cooperative learning strategies will help to increase nutrition knowledge of nurses and nursing assistants caring for the elderly in different institutional communities of the Basque Country, Spain. The target population was a sample of volunteers, 16 nurses and 28 nursing assistants. Training consisted of 12 nutrition education sessions using cooperative strategies conducted over a period of 3 consecutive weeks. The assessment instruments included two pretest and two posttest questionnaires with questions selected in multiplechoice format. The first questionnaire was about general knowledge of applied nutrition (0-88 point scale) and the second one on geriatric nutrition knowledge (0-18 point scale). Data were analyzed using SPSS vs. 11.0. The outcomes indicated a significant increase in general nutrition knowledge (difference between the pre- and posttest mean score: 14.5±10.1; P<0.001) and in geriatric nutrition knowledge for all participants (difference between the pre- and post-test mean score: 4.6±4.6; P<0.001). So the results indicated that cooperative learning strategies could improve the nutrition knowledge of nursing staff. Additionally, the results of this study provide direction to continuing nutrition education program planners regarding appropriate content and methodology for programs.

Keep an "eye" on the text: The Use of Self-mention in the Academic Writing of Experts

One of the most controversial inquiries in academic writing is whether it is admissible to use first person pronouns in a scientific paper or not. Many professors discourage their students from using them, rather favoring a more passive tone, and thus causing novices to avoid inserting themselves into their texts in an expert-like manner. Abundant research, however, has recently attested that negotiation of identity is plausible in academic prose, and there is no need for a paper to be void of an authorial identity. Because in the course of the English Studies Degree we have received opposing prompts in the use of I, the aim of this dissertation is to throw some light upon this vexed issue. To this end, I compiled a corpus of 16 Research Articles (RAs) that comprises two sub-corpora, one featuring Linguistics RAs and the other one Literature RAs, and each, in turn, consists of articles written by American and British authors. I then searched for real occurrences of I, me, my, mine, we, us, our and ours, and studied their frequency, rhetorical functions and distribution along each paper. The results obtained certainly show that academic writing is no longer the faceless prose that it used to be, for I is highly used in both disciplines and varieties of English. Concerning functions, the most typically used roles were the use of I to take credit for the writer’s research process, and also those involving plural forms. With respect to the spatial disposition, all sections welcomed first person pronouns, but the Method and the Results/Discussion sections seem to stimulate their appearance. On the basis of these findings, I suggest that an L2 writing pedagogy that is mindful not only of the language proficiency, but also of the students’ own identity may have a beneficial effect on the composition of their texts.

Academic spin-offs incubation strategies: the case of the Andalusian region

[EN] The objective of this paper is to analyze the incubation strategies developed in the universities of Andalusia, a relatively low-income region of Spain, to promote the creation of university spin-offs. These strategies are also compared to the incubation models noted in the literature. The performance of the university spin-offs created and its relation to the incubation strategies developed by the university are also analysed. The analysis is based on data from a survey of nine public universities that carry out strategies for the promotion of university spin-offs. The result of the analysis shows that university spin-off incubation strategies in Andalusia present specific characteristics not covered by certain models that are well-known in the literature on innovation. Then, a new stage in the process of the university spin-off incubation is proposed. We consider it to be a pre-strategic stage to the academic spin-off incubation strategies. The analysis also finds certain environmental factors associated to those spin-offs promoted by Andalusian universities that achieve the highest level of performance. This result suggests that previous to making any decision involving investment into developing incubation strategies, universities should gauge whether they have sufficient resources and the possibilities of connecting with a Technology Park.

Eskola Porrota. Hezitzaileen begirada.

[eus] Eskola Porrota kaltegarria da ez bakarrik jasotzen duten familientzat, gizarte osoarentzat baizik. Kezkagarria da gure eskolak ikasle guztien heziketa egokia ziurtatzeko kapazak ez izatea. Irakasleok ez badugu gure ikasle guztien arrakasta lortzeko baliabiderik, gure ahalegin guztiak alferrikako lana bihurtuko dira. Lan honetan, informazioaren bilketa egin da eta analisiaren bidez, Eskola Porrotaren esangura argitu nahi izan da, diziplinarteko ikuspuntu batetik: bere faktoreak, arrazoiak eta ondorioak identifikatzen dira, egoeraren azterketa bat egiten da eta irakasleentzat Eskola Porrota garaiz aurreikusteko eta saihesteko jarraibidea ere proposatzen da.