Public Art, strategies for the regeneration of public space

This paper discusses some of the key concepts in the consideration of public art as a central element in urban regeneration processes, especially in reference to its role in the processes of citizen participation.

En torno a los efectos de la edad en el aprendizaje escolar de una lengua extrangera

The purpose of this article is to treat a currently much debated issue, the effects of age on second language learning. To do so, we contrast data collected by our research team from over one thousand seven hundred young and adult learners with four popular beliefs or generalizations, which, while deeply rooted in this society, are not always corroborated by our data.Two of these generalizations about Second Language Acquisition (languages spoken in the social context) seem to be widely accepted: a) older children, adolescents and adults are quicker and more efficient at the first stages of learning than are younger learners; b) in a natural context children with an early start are more liable to attain higher levels of proficiency. However, in the context of Foreign Language Acquisition, the context in which we collect the data, this second generalization is difficult to verify due to the low number of instructional hours (a maximum of some 800 hours) and the lower levels of language exposure time provided. The design of our research project has allowed us to study differences observed with respect to the age of onset (ranging from 2 to 18+), but in this article we focus on students who began English instruction at the age of 8 (LOGSE Educational System) and those who began at the age of 11 (EGB). We have collected data from both groups after a period of 200 (Time 1) and 416 instructional hours (Time 2), and we are currently collecting data after a period of 726 instructional hours (Time 3). We have designed and administered a variety of tests: tests on English production and reception, both oral and written, and within both academic and communicative oriented approaches, on the learners' L1 (Spanish and Catalan), as well as a questionnaire eliciting personal and sociolinguistic information. The questions we address and the relevant empirical evidence are as follows: 1. "For young children, learning languages is a game. They enjoy it more than adults."Our data demonstrate that the situation is not quite so. Firstly, both at the levels of Primary and Secondary education (ranging from 70.5% in 11-year-olds to 89% in 14-year-olds) students have a positive attitude towards learning English. Secondly, there is a difference between the two groups with respect to the factors they cite as responsible for their motivation to learn English: the younger students cite intrinsic factors, such as the games they play, the methodology used and the teacher, whereas the older students cite extrinsic factors, such as the role of their knowledge of English in the achievement of their future professional goals. 2 ."Young children have more resources to learn languages." Here our data suggest just the opposite. The ability to employ learning strategies (actions or steps used) increases with age. Older learners' strategies are more varied and cognitively more complex. In contrast, younger learners depend more on their interlocutor and external resources and therefore have a lower level of autonomy in their learning. 3. "Young children don't talk much but understand a lot"This third generalization does seem to be confirmed, at least to a certain extent, by our data in relation to the analysis of differences due to the age factor and productive use of the target language. As seen above, the comparably slower progress of the younger learners is confirmed. Our analysis of interpersonal receptive abilities demonstrates as well the advantage of the older learners. Nevertheless, with respect to passive receptive activities (for example, simple recognition of words or sentences) no great differences are observed. Statistical analyses suggest that in this test, in contrast to the others analyzed, the dominance of the subjects' L1s (reflecting a cognitive capacity that grows with age) has no significant influence on the learning process. 4. "The sooner they begin, the better their results will be in written language"This is not either completely confirmed in our research. First of all, we perceive that certain compensatory strategies disappear only with age, but not with the number of instructional hours. Secondly, given an identical number of instructional hours, the older subjects obtain better results. With respect to our analysis of data from subjects of the same age (12 years old) but with a different number of instructional hours (200 and 416 respectively, as they began at the ages of 11 and 8), we observe that those who began earlier excel only in the area of lexical fluency. In conclusion, the superior rate of older learners appears to be due to their higher level of cognitive development, a factor which allows them to benefit more from formal or explicit instruction in the school context. Younger learners, however, do not benefit from the quantity and quality of linguistic exposure typical of a natural acquisition context in which they would be allowed to make use of implicit learning abilities. It seems clear, then, that the initiative in this country to begin foreign language instruction earlier will have positive effects only if it occurs in combination with either higher levels of exposure time to the foreign language, or, alternatively, with its use as the language of instruction in other areas of the curriculum.

En torno a los efectos de la edad en el aprendizaje escolar de una lengua extrangera

The purpose of this article is to treat a currently much debated issue, the effects of age on second language learning. To do so, we contrast data collected by our research team from over one thousand seven hundred young and adult learners with four popular beliefs or generalizations, which, while deeply rooted in this society, are not always corroborated by our data.Two of these generalizations about Second Language Acquisition (languages spoken in the social context) seem to be widely accepted: a) older children, adolescents and adults are quicker and more efficient at the first stages of learning than are younger learners; b) in a natural context children with an early start are more liable to attain higher levels of proficiency. However, in the context of Foreign Language Acquisition, the context in which we collect the data, this second generalization is difficult to verify due to the low number of instructional hours (a maximum of some 800 hours) and the lower levels of language exposure time provided. The design of our research project has allowed us to study differences observed with respect to the age of onset (ranging from 2 to 18+), but in this article we focus on students who began English instruction at the age of 8 (LOGSE Educational System) and those who began at the age of 11 (EGB). We have collected data from both groups after a period of 200 (Time 1) and 416 instructional hours (Time 2), and we are currently collecting data after a period of 726 instructional hours (Time 3). We have designed and administered a variety of tests: tests on English production and reception, both oral and written, and within both academic and communicative oriented approaches, on the learners' L1 (Spanish and Catalan), as well as a questionnaire eliciting personal and sociolinguistic information. The questions we address and the relevant empirical evidence are as follows: 1. "For young children, learning languages is a game. They enjoy it more than adults."Our data demonstrate that the situation is not quite so. Firstly, both at the levels of Primary and Secondary education (ranging from 70.5% in 11-year-olds to 89% in 14-year-olds) students have a positive attitude towards learning English. Secondly, there is a difference between the two groups with respect to the factors they cite as responsible for their motivation to learn English: the younger students cite intrinsic factors, such as the games they play, the methodology used and the teacher, whereas the older students cite extrinsic factors, such as the role of their knowledge of English in the achievement of their future professional goals. 2 ."Young children have more resources to learn languages." Here our data suggest just the opposite. The ability to employ learning strategies (actions or steps used) increases with age. Older learners' strategies are more varied and cognitively more complex. In contrast, younger learners depend more on their interlocutor and external resources and therefore have a lower level of autonomy in their learning. 3. "Young children don't talk much but understand a lot"This third generalization does seem to be confirmed, at least to a certain extent, by our data in relation to the analysis of differences due to the age factor and productive use of the target language. As seen above, the comparably slower progress of the younger learners is confirmed. Our analysis of interpersonal receptive abilities demonstrates as well the advantage of the older learners. Nevertheless, with respect to passive receptive activities (for example, simple recognition of words or sentences) no great differences are observed. Statistical analyses suggest that in this test, in contrast to the others analyzed, the dominance of the subjects' L1s (reflecting a cognitive capacity that grows with age) has no significant influence on the learning process. 4. "The sooner they begin, the better their results will be in written language"This is not either completely confirmed in our research. First of all, we perceive that certain compensatory strategies disappear only with age, but not with the number of instructional hours. Secondly, given an identical number of instructional hours, the older subjects obtain better results. With respect to our analysis of data from subjects of the same age (12 years old) but with a different number of instructional hours (200 and 416 respectively, as they began at the ages of 11 and 8), we observe that those who began earlier excel only in the area of lexical fluency. In conclusion, the superior rate of older learners appears to be due to their higher level of cognitive development, a factor which allows them to benefit more from formal or explicit instruction in the school context. Younger learners, however, do not benefit from the quantity and quality of linguistic exposure typical of a natural acquisition context in which they would be allowed to make use of implicit learning abilities. It seems clear, then, that the initiative in this country to begin foreign language instruction earlier will have positive effects only if it occurs in combination with either higher levels of exposure time to the foreign language, or, alternatively, with its use as the language of instruction in other areas of the curriculum.

Lipase Improvement: Goals and strategies

Lipases have received great attention as industrial biocatalysts in areas like oils and fats processing, detergents, baking, cheese making, surface cleaning, or fine chemistry . They can catalyse reactions of insoluble substrates at the lipid-water interface, preserving their catalytic activity in organic solvents. This makes of lipases powerful tools for catalysing not only hydrolysis, but also various reverse reactions such as esterification, transesterification, aminolysis, or thiotransesterifications in anhydrous organic solvents. Moreover, lipases catalyse reactions with high specificity, regio and enantioselectivity, becoming the most used enzymes in synthetic organic chemistry. Therefore, they display important advantages over classical catalysts, as they can catalyse reactions with reduced side products, lowered waste treatment costs, and under mild temperature and pressure conditions. Accordingly, the use of lipases holds a great promise for green and economical process chemistry.

Multimodal Strategies in Development.Predictive Value of early simultaneosgesture-speech comination

The present study investigates the predictive value of the early appearance of simultaneous pointing-speech combinations. An experimental task was used to obtain a communicative productive sample from nineteen children at 1;0 and 1;3. Infant’s communicative productions, in combination with gaze joint engagement patterns, were analyzed in relation to different social conditions. The results show a significant effect of age and social condition on infants’ communicative productions. Gesture-speech combinations seem to work as a strong communicative resource to attract the adult’s attention in social demanding communicative contexts. Gaze joint engagement was used in combination with simultaneous pointing-speech combinations to attract adults’ attention during social demanding conditions. Finally, the use of simultaneous pointing-speech combinations at 1;0 in demanding conditions predicted greater expressive vocabulary acquisition at 1;3 and 1;6. These results indicate that the use of gesture-speech combinations may be considered a significant step towards the early integration of language components.

Emotional intelligence and social interest : are they related constructs?

In the last 15 years, a new psychological construct has emerged in the field of psychology: Emotional Intelligence. Some models of Emotional Intelligence bear ressemblence with aspects of one of the core constructs of Adlerian Psychology: Social Interest. The authors investigated, if both constructs are also empirically related and which is their capacity to predict psychiatric symptoms and antisocial behavior. Results indicate that Social Interest and Emotional Intelligence are empirically different constructs; Social Interest was negatively correlated to aspects of antisocial attitudes (but not to antisocial behavior). Social Interest also failed to predict symptoms of psychological distress. Emotional Intelligence, in change, was a better predictor for mental problems than Social Interest. The results are discussed in view of the validity of Social Interest measurement.

Strategies and tools for preventing neurotoxicity: to test, to predict and how to do it

A change in paradigm is needed in the prevention of toxic effects on the nervous system, moving from its present reliance solely on data from animal testing to a prediction model mostly based on in vitro toxicity testing and in silico modeling. According to the report published by the National Research Council (NRC) of the US National Academies of Science, high-throughput in vitro tests will provide evidence for alterations in"toxicity pathways" as the best possible method of large scale toxicity prediction. The challenges to implement this proposal are enormous, and provide much room for debate. While many efforts address the technical aspects of implementing the vision, many questions around it need also to be addressed. Is the overall strategy the only one to be pursued? How can we move from current to future paradigms? Will we ever be able to reliably model for chronic and developmental neurotoxicity in vitro? This paper summarizes four presentations from a symposium held at the International Neurotoxicology Conference held in Xi"an, China, in June 2011. A. Li reviewed the current guidelines for neurotoxicity and developmental neurotoxicity testing, and discussed the major challenges existing to realize the NCR vision for toxicity testing. J. Llorens reviewed the biology of mammalian toxic avoidance in view of present knowledge on the physiology and molecular biology of the chemical senses, taste and smell. This background information supports the hypothesis that relating in vivo toxicity to chemical epitope descriptors that mimic the chemical encoding performed by the olfactory system may provide a way to the long term future of complete in silico toxicity prediction. S. Ceccatelli reviewed the implementation of rodent and human neural stem cells (NSCs) as models for in vitro toxicity testing that measures parameters such as cell proliferation, differentiation and migration. These appear to be sensitive endpoints that can identify substances with developmental neurotoxic potential. C. Sun ol reviewed the use of primary neuronal cultures in testing for neurotoxicity of environmental pollutants, including the study of the effects of persistent exposures and/or in differentiating cells, which allow recording of effects that can be extrapolated to human developmental neurotoxicity.

Successful business strategies during periods of crisis

Treball Final de Carrera ( TFC ) consistent en l'anàlisi de diferents tipus d'estratègies que les empreses poden aplicar centrant-se en les idees de Michael Porter i el desenvolupament d'aquestes idees per part de diferents professionals. El TFC està dividit en dos blocs, un de teòric i un de pràctic. El primer bloc consisteix en l'anàlisi dels diferents tipus d'estratègies derivades de les idees de Michael Porter. En aquest primer bloc, hem analitzat com a través del model de les cinc forces, Porter va arribar a les estratègies genèriques. Després hem analitzat les tres estratègies genèriques conjuntament amb l'estratègia híbrida i amb l'Estratègia de l'Oceà Blau. El segon bloc està format per diversos casos pràctics d'empreses que han aconseguit l'èxit durant l'actual període de crisi en els diferents sectors de l'economia. Aquestes empreses són Yoigo com a exemple de baix cost , Starbucks com implementació d'una estratègia de diferenciació i Ryan Air exemplificant una estratègia de segmentació enfocada als baixos costos. Finalment, hem analitzat a Toyota degut a la seva estratègia híbrida i Graphenea com una companyia que implementa Estratègia de l'Oceà Blau. Totes aquestes companyies han aconseguit l'èxit durant l'actual període de crisi. El motiu és que aquestes empreses van escollir un tipus d'estratègia d'acord amb l'estructura de la indústria en la qual operen. No obstant això, la implementació d'aquestes estratègies no assegura resultats d'èxit. L'adequada aplicació d'aquestes estratègies suposa per a les empreses una demostració de que aconseguir l'èxit durant períodes de recessió econòmica és possible, vinculat a una bona gestió estratègica.

Oral pathogens in duwl's: risk of infection and strategies for their control

Water lines are an important source of potentíal contamination. Every dental unit is equipped with small-bore flexible plastic tubing to bring water to different hand pieces, such as the air/water syringe, the ultrasonic scaler or the high-speed hand piece. Most dental units are connected directly to municipal distribution systems for potable water and chlorinated or not, this water contains diverse...

Diseño, aplicación y evaluación de un programa de educación emocional en un centro penitenciario

Introducción. El propósito de este estudio ha sido evaluar la incidencia que, sobre un grupo de internos de un centro penitenciario, ha tenido la aplicación de un programa de educación emocional para la mejora de la conciencia y la regulación emocional. Se pretendía ofrecer a los internos estrategias de regulación emocional que les fueran útiles en el centro penitenciario y a su vez les facilitaran su futura inclusión social. Método. Se ha utilizado un diseño cuasiexperimental de grupo único con grupo control. Para medir las variables se utilizaron distintos instrumentos, entre ellos una adaptación del CEE (GROP, 2001), un caso práctico (planteamiento de una situación generadora de emociones negativas), un análisis de las sanciones durante dos meses y un cuestionario de valoración de las actividades del programa por parte de los participantes. Resultados. Se destaca que la mayoría de ítems del cuestionario aplicado al grupo experimental mejoran después de formarse así como las respuestas dadas en la resolución del caso práctico. Sin embargo no se puede hablar de diferencias significativas en el caso de las sanciones si se compara con el grupo control. También los implicados valoraron positivamente el programa. Discusión. Los resultados manifiestan que la intervención del programa de educación emocional ha contribuido a la mejora de la conciencia y la regulación emocional del grupo experimental.

Evaluación de la educación emocional en el ciclo medio de Educación Primaria

El principal propósito de la educación consiste en favorecer el desarrollo integral de la persona, lo cual implica atender el aspecto cognitivo y afectivo. Tradicionalmente, se han priorizado sólo los contenidos cognitivos por este motivo queremos incidir sobre los afectos. El objetivo general de este trabajo de investigación que presentamos consiste en aplicar y evaluar un Programa de Educación Emocional (PEEP), integrado dentro del currículum de Primaria de ciclo medio que ayude a prevenir los efectos nocivos de las emociones negativas y facilite la relación consigo mismo y con los demás. Objetivo general que se constatara a partir de cuatro criterios: conseguir un mejor conocimiento de las propias emociones y de las emociones de los demás, desarrollar estrategias de regulación emocional, mejorar la autoestima, aprender habilidades de vida y socioemocionales. Pues, la finalidad es intervenir en la mejora de la educación emocional de los alumnos entre los 8 y los 10 años, en total 510 alumnos de los cuales 104 formaron la muestra de investigación. Fueron divididos en dos grupos el grupo experimental y el grupo control, ambos constituían una muestra homogénea y estadísticamente comparable por lo que podíamos plantearnos una intervención y valorar su incidencia. Los resultados indican que mejora el nivel de Educación Emocional (EE) de estos alumnos con un nivel de significación de p= 0,001. A partir de este momento, podemos concretar que los resultados conseguidos por los alumnos que han seguido la aplicación del programa mejoran significativamente. Este resultado, nos permite afirmar que el uso intencional del programa de educación emocional para mejorar el ámbito afectivo ha incidido positivamente en el proceso de aprendizaje de los alumnos. Sin embargo consideramos esencial llevar a cabo una formación y posterior evaluación del profesorado en EE, como paso previo necesario para una aplicación óptima del programa.

Breaking up the writing process: how wikis can support understanding the composition and revision strategies of young writers

Understanding how best to support immature writers in the development of their understanding of the writing process is an important concern for researchers and teachers. Social technologies have become key features of leisure and work place writing, yet knowledge about how to design educational settings that take full advantage of the affordances of web 2.0 technologies to support early writing is scarce. This paper presents a small scale study that investigated how writing in a wiki environment might facilitate and support students’ use of composition and revision strategies. Our findings show that wiki can enlarge young writers’ experience of the process of composition and revision both through their own efforts and by observing the process in others. In this study students employed a wide range of types of revisions both surface and text based changes. These revisions took place during the process of composition as well as at the end. It is argued here that writing in a wiki not only provides young writers with experience of a mode of composition prevalent in the contemporary work environment, but breaks up the process of writing in a way that may support students’ understanding of the processes of composition and revision.

Centrality and investment strategies at the beginning of industrialisation in mid-nineteenth-century Catalonia

We apply social networks analysis to the study of an important database on investment and companies" share in the Catalonia (Spain) of the nineteenth century. In contrast with most of the existing related literature, usually addressing power relationships across administration boards, we focus on the structure of interactions among individual investors and firms. Centrality analysis uncovers interesting roles played by certain economic sectors (e.g. textile and financial). Furthermore, the diverse composition (in terms of economic activity) of communities in the network (subgroups more densely connected internally than with the rest of the network) reveals a high investment diversification, which nicely agrees with a known characteristic of traditional Catalan business strategies.