International science : teacher's guide 3.

Guía del profesor para el tercer nivel, de una serie de tres, de ciencias para apoyar a los alumnos entre once y catorce años que no tienen el inglés como lengua materna. Contiene respuestas a las actividades didácticas, experimentos, notas sobre las actividades del cuaderno de trabajo del alumno y glosario.

Research methods in education.

El libro recoge todos los métodos empleados en las distintas etapas de la investigación educativa. Está dividido en cinco partes (el contexto de la investigación educativa, la planificación de la investigación educativa, los estilos de investigación, las estrategias para la recolección de datos, y la investigación y el análisis de datos), y trata temas como la ética en la investigación social y educativa, el muestreo, el diseño de cuestionarios, el análisis cuantitativo y cualitativo de datos, estadística, y la investigación basada en Internet. Contiene referencias a páginas web con material de apoyo y ejemplos prácticos de la teoría presentada.

Identification of resilience factors in rail engineering work

This paper discusses an ongoing project that aims at improving the potential for resilience of a system responsible for the planning of rail engineering work delivery. It focuses on the use of a human factors based approach as a way to achieve this end. In particular, the paper discusses the initial data collected by means of interviews and how this process gave way to a two fold goal: Understanding how the planning process works in reality and identifying any critical aspects of the system from a Resilience Engineering perspective. Given the nature of the process under study, information flows and communication issues have been given particular attention throughout the data collection and analysis stages. Initial data confirms that the planning process is greatly reliant on the capability of people using their knowledge and skills to communicate in a dynamic informational environment. Finally, the added value of the interviews is discussed from a human factors perspective and as a mean towards the aim of better understanding resilience in rail engineering planning.

Resilience in rail engineering work

This paper discusses an ongoing project that aims at improving the potential for resilience of a system responsible for the planning of rail engineering work delivery. This is being addressed by means of a methodology based on the observation and analysis of “real” planning activities, using resilience engineering concepts as a background. Interviews with planners have been carried out to provide an overview of the planning process and steer more in-depth investigation. Analysis of historic information and observation of planners’ main activities is underway. Given the nature of the process under study, information flows and communication issues have been given particular attention throughout the data collection and analysis stages. Initial data confirms that the planning process is greatly reliant on the capability of people using their knowledge and skills to communicate in a dynamic informational environment. Evidence was found of communication breakdowns at the boundaries of different planning levels and teams. The fact that the process is divided amongst several different areas of the organisation, often with different goals and needs, creates potential sources of conflict and tension.

Understanding safety and production risks in rail engineering planning and protection

Much of the published human factors work on risk is to do with safety and within this is concerned with prediction and analysis of human error and with human reliability assessment. Less has been published on human factors contributions to understanding and managing project, business, engineering and other forms of risk and still less jointly assessing risk to do with broad issues of ‘safety’ and broad issues of ‘production’ or ‘performance’. This paper contains a general commentary on human factors and assessment of risk of various kinds, in the context of the aims of ergonomics and concerns about being too risk averse. The paper then describes a specific project, in rail engineering, where the notion of a human factors case has been employed to analyse engineering functions and related human factors issues. A human factors issues register for potential system disturbances has been developed, prior to a human factors risk assessment, which jointly covers safety and production (engineering delivery) concerns. The paper concludes with a commentary on the potential relevance of a resilience engineering perspective to understanding rail engineering systems risk. Design, planning and management of complex systems will increasingly have to address the issue of making trade-offs between safety and production, and ergonomics should be central to this. The paper addresses the relevant issues and does so in an under-published domain – rail systems engineering work.

A promessa percebida : O papel do Contrato Psicológico no setor do retalho : um estudo exploratório comparativo

O Contrato Psicológico (CP) começou a ser alvo de estudo em 1960 por Argyris (1960). Desde essa altura o seu interesse foi ganhando dimensão, mas só em 1990, através dos estudos de Rousseau (1989) é que a sua problemática adquiriu maior consistência, e as organizações começaram a entender esta dinâmica como fundamental para o seu sucesso. Esta dissertação visa contribuir com conhecimento empírico para o desenvolvimento dos estudos nesta área, partindo da fundamentação teórica de autores que consolidaram a definição do conceito Contrato Psicológico (e.g. Rousseau, 1990; Morrison, 1994; Robinson,1996). Assim, teoricamente, para além de se apresentar o conceito, explica-se a sua a dinâmica, desenvolvimento e os diferentes tipos de Contrato Psicológico. Ao longo deste estudo, vai ser também abordado o contributo que o CP tem nas práticas de Gestão de Recursos Humanos (GRH), e a importância deste no comportamento dos indivíduos que levam as empresas a atingir o sucesso, visto o CP funcionar como ferramenta que orienta a relação empregado-entidade patronal através das perceções e expetativas que ambas as partas criam. Posto isto, é feita a análise da perceção do Contrato Psicológico no setor do retalho, comparando-se uma empresa de grande retalho com os seus clientes do pequeno retalho. Este estudo é, marcadamente, de cariz quantitativo, descritivo-comparativo e exploratório. Recorreu-se ao inquérito por questionário, como instrumento privilegiado de recolha de dados. A amostra, selecionada por conveniência, é constituída por 73 indivíduos (37 do grande retalho e 36 pequeno retalho). Adotou-se o questionário desenvolvido por Rousseau (2008), traduzido para português e já testado em população de língua oficial portuguesa, por Palanteão (2011). Os resultados demonstram existir diferenças nos dois setores de retalho: no grande retalho o tipo de CP predominante é o relacional, focado na estabilidade e lealdade; enquanto que no pequeno retalho predomina o transicional, assente na incerteza e no desgaste.

Temperature- and Pressure-induced Proton Transfer in the 1:1 Adduct Formed between Squaric Acid and 4,4 '-Bipyridine

We have applied a combination of spectroscopic and diffraction methods to study the adduct formed between squaric acid and bypridine, which has been postulated to exhibit proton transfer associated with a single-crystal to single-crystal phase transition at ca. 450 K. A combination of X-ray single-crystal and very-high flux powder neutron diffraction data confirmed that a proton does transfer from the acid to the base in the high-temperature form. Powder X-ray diffraction measurements demonstrated that the transition was reversible but that a significant kinetic energy barrier must be overcome to revert to the original structure. Computational modeling is consistent with these results. Modeling also revealed that, while the proton transfer event would be strongly discouraged in the gas phase, it occurs in the solid state due to the increase in charge state of the molecular ions and their arrangement inside the lattice. The color change is attributed to a narrowing of the squaric acid to bipyridine charge-transfer energy gap. Finally, evidence for the possible existence of two further phases at high pressure is also presented.

Preparation and properties of gallaborane, GaBH6: structure of the gaseous molecule H2Ga(μ-H)2BH2 as determined by vibrational, electron diffraction, and ab initio studies, and structure of the crystalline solid at 110 K as determined by x-ray diffraction``

Gallaborane (GaBH6, 1), synthesized by the metathesis of LiBH4 with [H2GaCl]n at ca. 250 K, has been characterized by chemical analysis and by its IR and 1H and 11B NMR spectra. The IR spectrum of the vapor at low pressure implies the presence of only one species, viz. H2Ga(μ-H)2BH2, with a diborane-like structure conforming to C2v symmetry. The structure of this molecule has been determined by gas-phase electron diffraction (GED) measurements afforced by the results of ab initio molecular orbital calculations. Hence the principal distances (rα in Å) and angles ( α in deg) are as follows: r(Ga•••B), 2.197(3); r(Ga−Ht), 1.555(6); r(Ga−Hb), 1.800(6); r(B−Ht), 1.189(7); r(B−Hb), 1.286(7); Hb−Ga−Hb, 71.6(4); and Hb−B−Hb, 110.0(5) (t = terminal, b = bridging). Aggregation of the molecules occurs in the condensed phases. X-ray crystallographic studies of a single crystal at 110 K reveal a polymeric network with helical chains made up of alternating pseudotetrahedral GaH4 and BH4 units linked through single hydrogen bridges; the average Ga•••B distance is now 2.473(7) Å. The compound decomposes in the condensed phases at temperatures exceeding ca. 240 K with the formation of elemental Ga and H2 and B2H6. The reactions with NH3, Me3N, and Me3P are also described.

Conversational success in Williams syndrome: communication in the face of cognitive and linguistic limitations

Williams syndrome (WS) is characterized by apparent relative strengths in language, facial processing and social cognition but by profound impairment in spatial cognition, planning and problem solving. Following recent research which suggests that individuals with WS may be less linguistically able than was once thought, in this paper we begin to investigate why and how they may give the impression of linguistic proficiency despite poor standardized test results. This case study of Brendan, a 12-year-old boy with WS, who presents with a considerable lack of linguistic ability, suggests that impressions of linguistic competence may to some extent be the result of conversational strategies which enable him to compensate for various cognitive and linguistic deficits with a considerable degree of success. These conversational strengths are not predicted by his standardized language test results, and provide compelling support for the use of approaches such as Conversation Analysis in the assessment of individuals with communication impairments.

Trapping of palindromic ligands within native transthyretin prevents amyloid formation

Transthyretin (TTR) amyloidosis is a fatal disease for which new therapeutic approaches are urgently needed. We have designed two palindromic ligands, 2,2’-(4,4’-(heptane 1,7-diylbis(oxy))bis(3,5-dichloro-4,1-phenylene)) bis(azanediyl)dibenzoic acid (mds84) and 2,2’-(4,4’-(undecane-1,11-diylbis(oxy))bis(3,5-dichloro-4,1-phenylene)) bis(azanediyl)dibenzoic acid (4ajm15), that are rapidly bound by native wild-type TTR in whole serum and even more avidly by amyloidogenic TTR variants. One to one stoichiometry, demonstrable in solution and by MS, was confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis showing simultaneous occupation of both T4 binding sites in each tetrameric TTR molecule by the pair of ligand head groups. Ligand binding by native TTR was irreversible under physiological conditions, and it stabilized the tetrameric assembly and inhibited amyloidogenic aggregation more potently than other known ligands. These superstabilizers are orally bioavailable and exhibit low inhibitory activity against cyclooxygenase (COX). They offer a promising platform for development of drugs to treat and prevent TTR amyloidosis.