'El futuro' del español como lengua segunda y extranjera

La enseñanza y aprendizaje de la gramática de la lengua española como lengua segunda y extranjera es un proceso altamente complejo, cuyas aristas debería incluir la variación para que tanto estudiosos del tema, escritores de material bibliográfico, docentes como alumnos contáramos con una herramienta facilitadora y, pensamos, eficaz, para su abordaje y para un empleo funcional en búsqueda del acto comunicativo exitoso (Searle, 1986). Por esta razón compartimos una línea de investigación que se desprende de la tesis en etapa de desarrollo de la maestría de UBA en Análisis del Discurso titulada ?El futuro de los políticos. Un estudio de la variación morfosintáctica en el empleo de los tiempos de futuro en el discurso político? dirigida por la Doctora Angelita Martínez. Se trata de un estudio de variación etnopragmático(García, E. 1995; Martínez, A. 1995) que sigue los principios de la Escuela de Columbia (Contini Morava, 1995; Diver, 1995; Reid, 2004) sobre las formas morfosintácticas de futuro en el español rioplatense de los políticos de la actualidad. Con un corpus de 161 emisiones de futuro sintáctico (FS) y futuro perifrástico(FP) nos proponemos probar si el factor de la edad del orador político ejerce influencia en la selección o no. Según los significados básicos de las formas, los gramáticos de todos los tiempos han coincidido en que cuando los hablantes quieren expresar certeza optan por el FP mientras que el FS expresa mayor lejanía, y por ende, menor certeza. Sin embargo, en el discurso de los políticos argentinos con frecuencia se observa el empleo del FS, y no pensamos que éstos quieran comunicar incerteza de sus dichos ni promesa, sino, postulamos, que hacen uso de esta forma para expresar la acción futura como algo que inevitablemente ocurrirá, más allá de posibilidad de manipulación o incidencia, casi como una profecía, y que dejan el FP para expresar la posibilidad de manipulación sobre esos hechos futuros (Martínez & Mailhes, 2012; Mailhes, 2011, 2012a,b,c, 2014)

'El futuro' del español como lengua segunda y extranjera

La enseñanza y aprendizaje de la gramática de la lengua española como lengua segunda y extranjera es un proceso altamente complejo, cuyas aristas debería incluir la variación para que tanto estudiosos del tema, escritores de material bibliográfico, docentes como alumnos contáramos con una herramienta facilitadora y, pensamos, eficaz, para su abordaje y para un empleo funcional en búsqueda del acto comunicativo exitoso (Searle, 1986). Por esta razón compartimos una línea de investigación que se desprende de la tesis en etapa de desarrollo de la maestría de UBA en Análisis del Discurso titulada ?El futuro de los políticos. Un estudio de la variación morfosintáctica en el empleo de los tiempos de futuro en el discurso político? dirigida por la Doctora Angelita Martínez. Se trata de un estudio de variación etnopragmático(García, E. 1995; Martínez, A. 1995) que sigue los principios de la Escuela de Columbia (Contini Morava, 1995; Diver, 1995; Reid, 2004) sobre las formas morfosintácticas de futuro en el español rioplatense de los políticos de la actualidad. Con un corpus de 161 emisiones de futuro sintáctico (FS) y futuro perifrástico(FP) nos proponemos probar si el factor de la edad del orador político ejerce influencia en la selección o no. Según los significados básicos de las formas, los gramáticos de todos los tiempos han coincidido en que cuando los hablantes quieren expresar certeza optan por el FP mientras que el FS expresa mayor lejanía, y por ende, menor certeza. Sin embargo, en el discurso de los políticos argentinos con frecuencia se observa el empleo del FS, y no pensamos que éstos quieran comunicar incerteza de sus dichos ni promesa, sino, postulamos, que hacen uso de esta forma para expresar la acción futura como algo que inevitablemente ocurrirá, más allá de posibilidad de manipulación o incidencia, casi como una profecía, y que dejan el FP para expresar la posibilidad de manipulación sobre esos hechos futuros (Martínez & Mailhes, 2012; Mailhes, 2011, 2012a,b,c, 2014)

Fundamentos teóricos para una didáctica del español en contextos de interculturalidad. Subjetividad, lengua y diversidad cultural en educación

En el texto El dinamismo lingüístico en el aula intercultural. Su aplicación en talleres para docentes (en prensa),Angelita Martínez, Adriana Speranza y Guillermo Fernández brindan fundamentos conceptuales para la construcción de secuencias didácticas en el contexto de la enseñanza del español como lengua extranjera. En el capítulo "Diversidad lingüística y enseñanza de la lengua: hacia la concreción de una práctica educativa que contemple la realidad multicultural de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires y la Provincia de Buenos Aires", se refieren a la consideración de antecedentes de intervención en el marco de políticas educativas vinculadas con la educación intercultural en Argentina. Ello supone tener en cuenta el trabajo de investigaciones dedicadas a la problemática del contacto lingüístico, incluyendo el bilingüismo, en diversas situaciones que incumben al trabajo docente en las aulas. En el texto se rescata el conocimiento obtenido a través del trabajo efectuado con docentes y estudiantes. Añaden que los resultados de las investigaciones sobre la temática de las variedades del español en situaciones de contacto con otras lenguas posibilitan avanzar con respecto a la elaboración de propuestas docentes en el marco de la integración. La existencia del interculturalismo se presenta de este modo como un fenómeno que enriquece la práctica y la capacitación docente en los contextos áulicos. Cabe añadir al respecto que la realidad lingüística y cultural en la actualidad está surcada por movimientos migratorios que "impone un saber" a los profesionales de la educación, y que les suma la tarea de constituirse en lo que el sociólogo Tenti Fanfani (2006) llama "agentes culturales", a saber, responsables de acompañar los procesos de transformación que atraviesa la sociedad actual, más allá de impartir conocimientos disciplinares específicos. Es menester para este trabajo en el campo de la educación un enfoque complejo e interdisciplinario que promueva estrategias y enriquecimientos teóricos

TRIBUNAL ARBITRAL DE "ESCOBAR Y MARTÍNEZ S.A. E&M S.A. VS. CENTRO COMERCIAL DE SUBA (CENTRO SUBA) PROPIEDAD HORIZONTAL"

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Hacia la construcción de un diagnóstico de educación para la paz en el colegio IED José Joaquín Castro Martínez

El presente proyecto se enmarca como un informe diagnóstico sobre la educación para la paz en el IED José Joaquín Castro Martínez. Es importante resaltar que este informe no pretende abarcar aspectos investigativos sobre el conflicto, la violencia escolar o la educación para la paz; lo que se busca es a partir de un diagnóstico del colegio posibilitar un posterior diseño de una estrategia de intervención para esta institución educativa ubicada en la localidad de San Cristóbal en la ciudad de Bogotá. Este diagnóstico pretende ser una avance en este tipo de experiencias en el colegio, el cual se espera propicie un impacto positivo en las dinámicas del conflicto que viven día a día los estudiantes de la institución educativa reseñada, y propiciar así un mayor conocimiento de las problemáticas de los y las estudiantes en relación a una cultura de paz, entendida esta desde 4 aspectos: primero el respeto a sí mismo, al otro y a su entorno; segundo, resolución y resignificacion positiva del conflicto; tercero, prevención del consumo de SPA; y cuarto convivencia escolar.

¡Latin jazz! : a syncretic journey from Spain, Cuba, the United States and back

The creative work, ¡Latin Jazz! is a 50 minute radio documentary to be broadcast on ABC Classic FM. It looks at the evolution of Latin jazz from Spain, Cuba and the United States. It examines the social effects on the style and specifically on the syncretic movement between the countries. The documentary traces my travel to Madrid, Spain and looks at Latin jazz through a deconstruction of the style, musical examples and interviews with prominent artists. Artists interviewed were Chano Domínguez, a Spanish flamenco jazz pianist, Bobby Martínez an American saxophonist, Alain Pérez a Cuban bassist and Pepe Rivero a Cuban pianist. The exegesis supports the radio documentary by examining the style in more depth, and is broken into three main sections. First it traces the historical relationship that occurred through the Ida y Vuelta (To and Fro), the similarities and influences through the habanera, the decíma and the religion of Santería. This is followed by specific musical elements within Latin jazz such as instrumentation, clave, harmony and improvisation, whilst the third section looks at the influences of the new syncretic movement back to Spain.

Computer vision onboard UAVs for civilian tasks

Computer vision is much more than a technique to sense and recover environmental information from an UAV. It should play a main role regarding UAVs’ functionality because of the big amount of information that can be extracted, its possible uses and applications, and its natural connection to human driven tasks, taking into account that vision is our main interface to world understanding. Our current research’s focus lays on the development of techniques that allow UAVs to maneuver in spaces using visual information as their main input source. This task involves the creation of techniques that allow an UAV to maneuver towards features of interest whenever a GPS signal is not reliable or sufficient, e.g. when signal dropouts occur (which usually happens in urban areas, when flying through terrestrial urban canyons or when operating on remote planetary bodies), or when tracking or inspecting visual targets—including moving ones—without knowing their exact UMT coordinates. This paper also investigates visual serving control techniques that use velocity and position of suitable image features to compute the references for flight control. This paper aims to give a global view of the main aspects related to the research field of computer vision for UAVs, clustered in four main active research lines: visual serving and control, stereo-based visual navigation, image processing algorithms for detection and tracking, and visual SLAM. Finally, the results of applying these techniques in several applications are presented and discussed: this study will encompass power line inspection, mobile target tracking, stereo distance estimation, mapping and positioning.

Structural damage detection using frequency response functions and neural networks

This paper illustrates the damage identification and condition assessment of a three story bookshelf structure using a new frequency response functions (FRFs) based damage index and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). A major obstacle of using measured frequency response function data is a large size input variables to ANNs. This problem is overcome by applying a data reduction technique called principal component analysis (PCA). In the proposed procedure, ANNs with their powerful pattern recognition and classification ability were used to extract damage information such as damage locations and severities from measured FRFs. Therefore, simple neural network models are developed, trained by Back Propagation (BP), to associate the FRFs with the damage or undamaged locations and severity of the damage of the structure. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated and validated by using the real data provided by the Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA. The illustrated results show that the PCA based artificial Neural Network method is suitable and effective for damage identification and condition assessment of building structures. In addition, it is clearly demonstrated that the accuracy of proposed damage detection method can also be improved by increasing number of baseline datasets and number of principal components of the baseline dataset.

L1 Learning Strategy Instruction does make a difference in EFL listening: An empirical study.

In language learning, listening is the basic skill which learners should begin to develop other skills, namely speaking, reading and writing. This sequence of language learning in most English as Foreign Language (EFL) settings goes against the stream, learning first reading and writing and later listening and speaking. This study investigates the effects of cognitive, process-based approach to instructing EFL listening strategies over 11 weeks during a semester in Persian (L1). Lower intermediate female participants (N = 50) came from a couple of EFL classrooms in an English Language Institute in Iran. The experimental group (n = 25) listened to their classroom activities using a methodology that led learners through four cognitive processes (guessing, making inference, identifying topics and repetition) in Persian was basically successful in EFL listening. The same teacher taught the control group (n = 25), which listened to the same classroom listening activities without any guided attention to the learning strategy process in Persian. A pre and post listening test made by a group of experts in the language institute tracked any development in light of cognitive learning strategy instruction in EFL listening through L1. The hypothesis was that the experimental group received the guided attention in L1 during the classroom listening activities made greater gains and was verified despite the partial improvement of the control group.

The inaccuracy of national character stereotypes

Consensual stereotypes of some groups are relatively accurate, whereas others are not. Previous work suggesting that national character stereotypes are inaccurate has been criticized on several grounds. In this article we (a) provide arguments for the validity of assessed national mean trait levels as criteria for evaluating stereotype accuracy and (b) report new data on national character in 26 cultures from descriptions (N= 3323) of the typical male or female adolescent, adult, or old person in each. The average ratings were internally consistent and converged with independent stereotypes of the typical culture member, but were weakly related to objective assessments of personality. We argue that this conclusion is consistent with the broader literature on the inaccuracy of national character stereotypes

Stereotypes of age differences in personality traits : universal and accurate?

Age trajectories for personality traits are known to be similar across cultures. To address whether stereotypes of age groups reflect these age-related changes in personality, we asked participants in 26 countries (N = 3,323) to rate typical adolescents, adults, and old persons in their own country. Raters across nations tended to share similar beliefs about different age groups; adolescents were seen as impulsive, rebellious, undisciplined, preferring excitement and novelty, whereas old people were consistently considered lower on impulsivity, activity, antagonism, and Openness. These consensual age group stereotypes correlated strongly with published age differences on the five major dimensions of personality and most of 30 specific traits, using as criteria of accuracy both self-reports and observer ratings, different survey methodologies, and data from up to 50 nations. However, personal stereotypes were considerably less accurate, and consensual stereotypes tended to exaggerate differences across age groups.

An upstream open reading frame is essential for feedback regulation of ascorbate biosynthesis in arabidopsis

Ascorbate (vitamin C) is an essential antioxidant and enzyme cofactor in both plants and animals. Ascorbate concentration is tightly regulated in plants, partly to respond to stress. Here, we demonstrate that ascorbate concentrations are determined via the posttranscriptional repression of GDP-l-galactose phosphorylase (GGP), a major control enzyme in the ascorbate biosynthesis pathway. This regulation requires a cis-acting upstream open reading frame (uORF) that represses the translation of the downstream GGP open reading frame under high ascorbate concentration. Disruption of this uORF stops the ascorbate feedback regulation of translation and results in increased ascorbate concentrations in leaves. The uORF is predicted to initiate at a noncanonical codon (ACG rather than AUG) and encode a 60- to 65-residue peptide. Analysis of ribosome protection data from Arabidopsis thaliana showed colocation of high levels of ribosomes with both the uORF and the main coding sequence of GGP. Together, our data indicate that the noncanonical uORF is translated and encodes a peptide that functions in the ascorbate inhibition of translation. This posttranslational regulation of ascorbate is likely an ancient mechanism of control as the uORF is conserved in GGP genes from mosses to angiosperms.

Pedagogical tools designed to promote engagement and active learning in the biomedical sciences and allied health disciplines

Perceiving students, science students especially, as mere consumers of facts and information belies the importance of a need to engage them with the principles underlying those facts and is counter-intuitive to the facilitation of knowledge and understanding. Traditional didactic lecture approaches need a re-think if student classroom engagement and active learning are to be valued over fact memorisation and fact recall. In our undergraduate biomedical science programs across Years 1, 2 and 3 in the Faculty of Health at QUT, we have developed an authentic learning model with an embedded suite of pedagogical strategies that foster classroom engagement and allow for active learning in the sub-discipline area of medical bacteriology. The suite of pedagogical tools we have developed have been designed to enable their translation, with appropriate fine-tuning, to most biomedical and allied health discipline teaching and learning contexts. Indeed, aspects of the pedagogy have been successfully translated to the nursing microbiology study stream at QUT. The aims underpinning the pedagogy are for our students to: (1) Connect scientific theory with scientific practice in a more direct and authentic way, (2) Construct factual knowledge and facilitate a deeper understanding, and (3) Develop and refine their higher order flexible thinking and problem solving skills, both semi-independently and independently. The mindset and role of the teaching staff is critical to this approach since for the strategy to be successful tertiary teachers need to abandon traditional instructional modalities based on one-way information delivery. Face-to-face classroom interactions between students and lecturer enable realisation of pedagogical aims (1), (2) and (3). The strategy we have adopted encourages teachers to view themselves more as expert guides in what is very much a student-focused process of scientific exploration and learning. Specific pedagogical strategies embedded in the authentic learning model we have developed include: (i) interactive lecture-tutorial hybrids or lectorials featuring teacher role-plays as well as class-level question-and-answer sessions, (ii) inclusion of “dry” laboratory activities during lectorials to prepare students for the wet laboratory to follow, (iii) real-world problem-solving exercises conducted during both lectorials and wet laboratory sessions, and (iv) designing class activities and formative assessments that probe a student’s higher order flexible thinking skills. Flexible thinking in this context encompasses analytical, critical, deductive, scientific and professional thinking modes. The strategic approach outlined above is designed to provide multiple opportunities for students to apply principles flexibly according to a given situation or context, to adapt methods of inquiry strategically, to go beyond mechanical application of formulaic approaches, and to as much as possible self-appraise their own thinking and problem solving. The pedagogical tools have been developed within both workplace (real world) and theoretical frameworks. The philosophical core of the pedagogy is a coherent pathway of teaching and learning which we, and many of our students, believe is more conducive to student engagement and active learning in the classroom. Qualitative and quantitative data derived from online and hardcopy evaluations, solicited and unsolicited student and graduate feedback, anecdotal evidence as well as peer review indicate that: (i) our students are engaging with the pedagogy, (ii) a constructivist, authentic-learning approach promotes active learning, and (iii) students are better prepared for workplace transition.

The grumpy stump - ultrasound and stump appendicitis

BACKGROUND: Stump appendicitis, the inflammation of an incompletely removed appendix, is a rare clinical presentation. Sonography can be useful in the diagnosis of the condition; by either directly visualising the inflamed stump, or by identifying signs of peri-caecal inflammation that can raise suspicion of the condition. SUMMARY OF WORK: A potential case of stump appendicitis was identified. This prompted a review of literature focused on the incidence of stump appendicitis, utility of ultrasound to identify an inflamed appendiceal stump, and surgical techniques used in appendectomy. SUMMARY OF RESULTS: Stump appendicitis is rare, with as few as 61 cases identified in literature during the last 60 years1. Of the two common techniques of appendectomy, which are ligation and invagination, the former can sometimes leave a residual stump that acts as a potential lumen for the pathophysiological process of appendicitis to recur. Established sonographic criteria for appendicitis also apply to the residual stump. Sonographic secondary signs that suggest the presence of acute appendicitis2 have also been demonstrated in cases of stump appendicitis3, even in the absence of an identifiable stump. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Appendicitis is usually dismissed in patients with a history of appendectomy. Though uncommon, sonographers should be aware of stump appendicitis in post-appendectomy patients that present with right iliac fossa pain from months to decades later. REFERENCE(S) 1. Subramanian A, Liang MK. A 60-year literature review of stump appendicitis: The need for a critical view. Am J Surg; 2012;203(4):503–7. 2. Reddan T, Corness J, Mengersen K, Harden F. Ultrasound of paediatric appendicitis and its secondary sonographic signs: providing a more meaningful finding. J Med Radiat Sci. 2015;DOI: 10.1002/jmrs.154 3. Martínez Chamorro E, Merina Castilla A, Muñoz Fraile B, Koren Fernández L, Borruel Nacenta S. Stump appendicitis: Preoperative imaging findings in four cases. Abdom Imaging. 2013;38(6):1214–9.

Content of zinc, iron and their absorption inhibitors in Nicaraguan common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.).

Protein-energy malnutrition and mineral deficiencies are two of the three forms of nutritional deficiencies that affect most developing countries due to inadequate access to food and diets based on a sole crop. Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the staple crop of Nicaragua and it has the potential to improve the nutritional status of the poorest group of the nation. Its high content of both protein and nonhaem iron provides many nutrients, but inhibitors also may prevent absorption of iron and zinc by the human consumer. A proper production chain must be followed to ensure the best grain quality for the consumer. To achieve food security, both production and high nutritional content must be maintained. Four nationally important accessions of common bean, with different harvesting dates, were selected to be submitted to two treatments: to evaluate the impact of storage conditions on the end quality of the grain. The duration of the study was six months with sampling every six weeks, and the two treatments were controlled one stored at 40°C and 75 RH %, and the other was stored in in-situ conditions. Proximate and mineral composition was evaluated as well as tannin, phytate and bioavailability. Significant differences among different accessions were found, being the most significant in protein, Fe and Zn content, tannins and phytate. Protein values ranged from 21-23%. Iron content was 61-81 mg/kg but only 3-4% was bioavailable. Zinc content was 21-25 mg/kg and 10-12% was bioavailable. The concentration of phytate ranged from 8.6-9.6 mg/g while tannin values ranged within 37.7-43.8 mg/g. Storage at high temperatures was demonstrated to have an impact on certain nutritional compounds and proved detrimental to final grain quality. Soluble sugar content and tannin content decreased after six months in both storage conditions, IDF decreased in the in-situ and SDF in the stress. The iron content and bioavailability in INTA Biofortificado were not as outstanding as expected, so experiments should be conducted to compare its iron uptake and delivery with other cultivars.