Lost! On som?

Unitat didàctica sobre “Relleu I mapes” dissenyada en format webquest per alumnes de 3er d’ESO. El context d’aprenentatge planteja la següent aventura: L’avió d’uns expedicionaris s’estavella en una illa desconeguda després d’una tempesta. És una illa deserta I hauran d’esbrinar on són per poder escapar. L’avió està espatllat, així que hauran d’iniciar la seva expedició amb l’ajuda de l’únic nadiu que hi viu a la illa. Hauran d’aprendre a orientar-se amb elements de la natura i posar en pràctica el que saben de mapes i coordenades. La recerca que fan amb la webquest anirà orientada també a aprendre a elaborar un mapa topogràfic. Els objectius d’aprenentatge, procedimentals I actitudinals es recullen a la guía del professor, així com la programació per portar‐la a l’aula. La webquest distribueix els continguts d’aprenentatge en 4 rols diferents: “exploradora”, “cartògraf”, “pilot” I “nadiu”. Tots treballen individualment, en parelles d’experts I com a grup cooperatiu.

The economics of infertility

Infertility is a growing issue that affects thousands of Spanish couples; increasingly there are more and more people who cannot raise a family by themselves. Instead they have to resort to ART, adoption -local or international- or surrogacy abroad, a practice that many couples consider but that isn’t legalized in Spain. In this paper we have broken down each option in detail by analysing the market, differentiating its variants and specific steps, calculating its “price” and suggesting possible improvements that could be made from an economic perspective. We end our paper with the “SWOT” analysis of a hypothetical surrogacy market in Spain by calculating an estimated price, using the US as a reference, and the degree of acceptance it would have, based on the results of random surveys.

Application of theoretical models to financial innovation

The present paper is aimed at providing a general strategic overview of the existing theoretical models that have applications in the field of financial innovation. Whereas most financialdevelopments have relied upon traditional economic tools, a new stream of research is defining a novel paradigm in which mathematical models from diverse scientific disciplines are being applied to conceptualize and explain economic and financial behavior. Indeed, terms such as ‘econophysics’ or ‘quantum finance’ have recently appeared to embrace efforts in this direction. As a first contact with such research, the project will present a brief description of some of the main theoretical models that have applications in finance and economics, and will try to present, if possible, potential new applications to particular areas in financial analysis, or new applicable models. As a result, emphasiswill be put on the implications of this research for the financial sector and its future dynamics.

The underestimation of compliance to direct help requests explained by adaptive sampling

Helping behavior is any intentional behavior that benefits another living being or group (Hogg & Vaughan, 2010). People tend to underestimate the probability that others will comply with their direct requests for help (Flynn & Lake, 2008). This implies that when they need help, they will assess the probability of getting it (De Paulo, 1982, cited in Flynn & Lake, 2008) and then they will tend to estimate one that is actually lower than the real chance, so they may not even consider worth asking for it. Existing explanations for this phenomenon attribute it to a mistaken cost computation by the help seeker, who will emphasize the instrumental cost of “saying yes”, ignoring that the potential helper also needs to take into account the social cost of saying “no”. And the truth is that, especially in face-to-face interactions, the discomfort caused by refusing to help can be very high. In short, help seekers tend to fail to realize that it might be more costly to refuse to comply with a help request rather than accepting. A similar effect has been observed when estimating trustworthiness of people. Fetchenhauer and Dunning (2010) showed that people also tend to underestimate it. This bias is reduced when, instead of asymmetric feedback (getting feedback only when deciding to trust the other person), symmetric feedback (always given) was provided. This cause could as well be applicable to help seeking as people only receive feedback when they actually make their request but not otherwise. Fazio, Shook, and Eiser (2004) studied something that could be reinforcing these outcomes: Learning asymmetries. By means of a computer game called BeanFest, they showed that people learn better about negatively valenced objects (beans in this case) than about positively valenced ones. This learning asymmetry esteemed from “information gain being contingent on approach behavior” (p. 293), which could be identified with what Fetchenhauer and Dunning mention as ‘asymmetric feedback’, and hence also with help requests. Fazio et al. also found a generalization asymmetry in favor of negative attitudes versus positive ones. They attributed it to a negativity bias that “weights resemblance to a known negative more heavily than resemblance to a positive” (p. 300). Applied to help seeking scenarios, this would mean that when facing an unknown situation, people would tend to generalize and infer that is more likely that they get a negative rather than a positive outcome from it, so, along with what it was said before, people will be more inclined to think that they will get a “no” when requesting help. Denrell and Le Mens (2011) present a different perspective when trying to explain judgment biases in general. They deviate from the classical inappropriate information processing (depicted among other by Fiske & Taylor, 2007, and Tversky & Kahneman, 1974) and explain this in terms of ‘adaptive sampling’. Adaptive sampling is a sampling mechanism in which the selection of sample items is conditioned by the values of the variable of interest previously observed (Thompson, 2011). Sampling adaptively allows individuals to safeguard themselves from experiences they went through once and turned out to lay negative outcomes. However, it also prevents them from giving a second chance to those experiences to get an updated outcome that could maybe turn into a positive one, a more positive one, or just one that regresses to the mean, whatever direction that implies. That, as Denrell and Le Mens (2011) explained, makes sense: If you go to a restaurant, and you did not like the food, you do not choose that restaurant again. This is what we think could be happening when asking for help: When we get a “no”, we stop asking. And here, we want to provide a complementary explanation for the underestimation of the probability that others comply with our direct help requests based on adaptive sampling. First, we will develop and explain a model that represents the theory. Later on, we will test it empirically by means of experiments, and will elaborate on the analysis of its results.

Pensions and procrastination : how can employers help their employees save for the future?

In this paper I show that employees tend to procrastinate when they are expected to decide whether or not they would like to save using the defined contribution pension scheme offered by their employer. By auto-enrolling the employees or asking them to decide before a given deadline, employers can mitigate some of the problems caused by employee procrastination. However both of these mechanisms present their own problems, caused by default stickiness and other issues, so I discuss how employers can decide which is the right mechanism to use depending on the characteristics of their employees, and how to minimize the problems these mechanisms can cause.

An insight into co-operativism

The concept of co-operativism is analysed in this report. As an introduction to the subject, the values that socially friendly businesses work with are mentioned, as well as, the basic differences with regard to capitalist companies. In order to broaden the model, seven basic principles that drive such companies are analysed. Recently, due to the economic crisis, many capitalist companies have changed their way of running the business and have opted for cooperatives. Therefore, the steps they have to follow to become part of this view will be considered. So as to introduce a more critical view, benefits and drawbacks of cooperative companies will be borne in mind. In addition, no theoretical model is complete if real examples are not provided, thus in the final part, four companies will be studied. The first one being a company that has always been part of a group of cooperatives and which has enjoyed positive results all over; the second one, a company that has experienced the benefits of leaving the group; the third one, the cornerstone of such group, whose effort to relaunch the company have failed; and the final one, an acquired company whose future is uncertain due to its parent company's decline. To conclude, the final section is going to be devoted to heighten the problems that cooperatives have and which may have compromised their status as alternative models to capitalism.

Innovar en, desde y para el practicum: supervisión y evaluación de la transferencia de competencias

El objetivo de este artículo es presentar los resultados de un proceso de innovación docente que ha llevado a cabo el equipo del practicum de educación social de la Universidad de Barcelona, en dos niveles diferentes: la supervisión y la evaluación en la transferencia de competencias. El primer aspecto centra la mirada en la supervisión de los estudiantes para el desarrollo de su identidad y rol profesional. En este marco, el artículo presenta las funciones, y competencias que le subyacen de la supervisión en los diferentes momentos del proceso de las prácticas. El segundo aspecto aborda la evaluación de los aprendizajes de las prácticas. En este sentido, se presenta un instrumento que permite concretar los estándares de cada competencia con el fin de valorar el proceso de adquisición y aprendizaje. Este instrumento pretende informar a los estudiantes, de forma transparente, de los criterios por los cuáles van a ser evaluados, así como también, establecer un instrumento de registro para que los diferentes agentes educativos recojan el grado de consecución de las competencias en diferentes momentos del curso. En definitiva, se defiende la supervisión y la evaluación como elementos clave del proceso formativo activo y transformador de la formación de la identidad profesional. Palabras clave: practicum, estudiante, tutor‐universitario, tutor‐centro, supervisión, evaluación, transferencia de competencias

Estudio del Business Intelligence y desarrollo de un Cuadro de Mando para el Análisis de Ventas

El Business Intelligence ha pasado en los últimos 20 años de ser un capricho de unos pocos CIO, que podían permitirse destinar partidas presupuestarias para tal efecto, a convertirse en una realidad ya presente en muchas de las grandes empresas o una necesidad urgente para las que todavía no han implantado un sistema de esas características.La primera parte del presente documento, denominada “Estudio del Business Intelligence”, presenta una introducción a dicho concepto, desde la base. Explicando los conceptos teóricos clave necesarios para entender este tipo de soluciones, más adelante se comentan los componentes tecnológicos que van desde los procesos de extracción e integración de información a cómo debemos estructurar la información para facilitar el análisis. Por último, se repasan los diferentes tipos de aplicaciones que existen en el mercado así como las tendencias más actuales en este campo.La segunda parte del documento centra su foco en la implantación de un Cuadro de Mandos para el análisis de las ventas de una empresa, se identifican las diferentes fases del proyecto así como se entra en detalle de los requerimientos identificados. En último lugar, se presenta el desarrollo realizado del Cuadro de Mandos con tecnología Xcelsius, que permite exportar a flash el resultado y visualizarlo en cualquier navegador web.

QuesTInSitu: mejora del sistema de autoría y móvil para la creación, realización y monitorización de rutas abiertas de preguntas geolocalizadas

Aquest projecte te com a objectiu estendre el treball realitzat amb l‟eina QuesTInSitu, ques‟emmarca dins del món de les Tecnologies de la Informació i Comunicació (TIC) iconcretament en l‟àrea d‟E-Learning. Es presenta una aplicació Web, QuesTInSitu, la qual ésuna eina d‟autoria que permet crear preguntes geolocalitzades a sobre de mapes de GoogleMaps. Aquestes preguntes segueixen l‟especificació IMS Question & Test Interporability (QTI)i són gestionades pel motor de QTI NewApis.L‟usuari pot crear preguntes geolocalitzades i organitzar-les com a rutes (qüestionaris) sobre unmapa de qualsevol punt del món. Per una altre banda, s‟ofereix la possibilitat de respondre a lespreguntes geolocalitzades mitjançant mòbils 3G gràcies a una aplicació especialmentdissenyada per a dispositius mòbils on els usuaris poden respondre les preguntes i veure lapuntuació.Aquest PFC presenta nous aspectes de millora sobre l‟eina ja existent, com per exemple: un nousistema de monitorització, un nou sistema de rutes, noves funcionalitats tant de l‟aplicaciómòbil com de l‟aplicació web entre d‟altres. Aquests nous aspectes s‟han avaluat dins de nousescenaris educatius.

Partial correlation : Network analysis

The final year project came to us as an opportunity to get involved in a topic which has appeared to be attractive during the learning process of majoring in economics: statistics and its application to the analysis of economic data, i.e. econometrics.Moreover, the combination of econometrics and computer science is a very hot topic nowadays, given the Information Technologies boom in the last decades and the consequent exponential increase in the amount of data collected and stored day by day. Data analysts able to deal with Big Data and to find useful results from it are verydemanded in these days and, according to our understanding, the work they do, although sometimes controversial in terms of ethics, is a clear source of value added both for private corporations and the public sector. For these reasons, the essence of this project is the study of a statistical instrument valid for the analysis of large datasets which is directly related to computer science: Partial Correlation Networks.The structure of the project has been determined by our objectives through the development of it. At first, the characteristics of the studied instrument are explained, from the basic ideas up to the features of the model behind it, with the final goal of presenting SPACE model as a tool for estimating interconnections in between elements in large data sets. Afterwards, an illustrated simulation is performed in order to show the power and efficiency of the model presented. And at last, the model is put into practice by analyzing a relatively large data set of real world data, with the objective of assessing whether the proposed statistical instrument is valid and useful when applied to a real multivariate time series. In short, our main goals are to present the model and evaluate if Partial Correlation Network Analysis is an effective, useful instrument and allows finding valuable results from Big Data.As a result, the findings all along this project suggest the Partial Correlation Estimation by Joint Sparse Regression Models approach presented by Peng et al. (2009) to work well under the assumption of sparsity of data. Moreover, partial correlation networks are shown to be a very valid tool to represent cross-sectional interconnections in between elements in large data sets.The scope of this project is however limited, as there are some sections in which deeper analysis would have been appropriate. Considering intertemporal connections in between elements, the choice of the tuning parameter lambda, or a deeper analysis of the results in the real data application are examples of aspects in which this project could be completed.To sum up, the analyzed statistical tool has been proved to be a very useful instrument to find relationships that connect the elements present in a large data set. And after all, partial correlation networks allow the owner of this set to observe and analyze the existing linkages that could have been omitted otherwise.

Trabajo colaborativo en entornos e-learning y desarrollo de competencias transversales de trabajo en equipo: Análisis del caso del Máster en gestión de Proyectos en Cooperación Internacional, CSEU La Salle

Peer-reviewed

El verb hebreu ḥåyâ ʻviureʼ: origen etimològic d'un verb doblement dèbil

En aquest article s"ofereix la reconstrucció etimològica del verb hebreu ḥåyâ ʻviureʼ, un verb doblement dèbil, els orígens del qual van més enllà de l"estadi protosemític i s"endinsen en l"estadi antiquíssim del protoafroasiàtic. A partir dels testimonis de les llengües semítiques i afroasiàtiques més antigues, ens proposem oferir la reconstrucció de l"arrel protosemítica i protoafroasiàtica d"aquest verb hebreu i oferim nous comentaris etimològics que fins ara havien passat desapercebuts.

A lower bound in Nehari's theorem on the polydisc

By theorems of Ferguson and Lacey ($d=2$) and Lacey and Terwilleger ($d>2$), Nehari's theorem is known to hold on the polydisc $\D^d$ for $d>1$, i.e., if $H_\psi$ is a bounded Hankel form on $H^2(\D^d)$ with analytic symbol $\psi$, then there is a function $\varphi$ in $L^\infty(\T^d)$ such that $\psi$ is the Riesz projection of $\varphi$. A method proposed in Helson's last paper is used to show that the constant $C_d$ in the estimate $\|\varphi\|_\infty\le C_d \|H_\psi\|$ grows at least exponentially with $d$; it follows that there is no analogue of Nehari's theorem on the infinite-dimensional polydisc.

Alumnos en las consultas clínicas. Normas de estilo para un mejor aprovechamiento de las rotaciones clínicas de los estudiantes de medicina

Los estudiantes de medicina efectúan una parte de sus rotaciones en entornos como salas de hospitalización, consultas externas y centros de salud, donde comparten las experiencias clínicas con un médico al que llamaremos"tutor". La reforma de los planes docentes abordados por las facultades de medicina pone el acento en este tipo de prácticas [1,2]. El presente trabajo se enmarca en un esfuerzo de la Facultad de Medicina de la Universitat de Barcelona para hacer presente las habilidades de comunicación en la tarea docente [3,4], e indica algunas pautas para la recepción y acomodación de estos estudiantes, así como situaciones delicadas que deben ser resueltas con asertividad...

La traducció del Càntic dels Càntics de Carles Riba

Carles Riba’s activity as a translator of Greek classics (Xenophon, Plutarch, Homer, Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus) and works of important authors who wrote in Latin (Virgil), English (Edgar A. Poe) and German (Rilke, Hölderlin) is well known and has been widely studied. In contrast, the great humanist’s translations of books of the Bible -Song of Songs and the Book of Ruth- from Hebrew to Catalan have never been the subject of a monographic study. This piece of work is an edition and a detailed analysis of his version of the Song of Solomon. The notes in the text point out the translator’s contributions and uncertainties in a work published at a pivotal time in the Catalan language’s history