Animando a la lectura

Se comparte una experiencia en la que se pone en marcha un proyecto de animaci??n a la lectura para la comunidad educativa. Conscientes de las dificultades y faltas de estrategias con que se enfrentaba el alumnado a la lectura, se articulan una serie de actuaciones desde centros de inter??s, vinculados a los ???d??as d???, y desde un enfoque inclusivo, mediante la propuesta de actividades que favorezcan el desarrollo de la competencia lectora y el gusto por la lectura en un clima participativo.

Experiencias con iPads en la escuela primaria

Resumen basado en el de la publicaci??n

Gymkana TIC

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n

Facebook e inovação pedagógica : um projeto de autoformação

A investigadora fixou o objetivo de se atualizar a nível profissional, por autoformação. Considera ser relevante para o ensino que se aposte em estratégias /atividades inovadoras sob um ponto de vista pedagógico, assentes nas novas tecnologias. Neste contexto, a questão de partida foi: como pode a docente inovar na sua prática pedagógica com impacto no desenvolvimento das suas competências digitais e profissionais? Pode inovar, explorando, a nível educativo, as caraterísticas de uma rede social como o Facebook, que é intuitiva e permite o acesso por computador. Além disso, aposta na natureza ubíqua, desenhada para Tablet ou telemóvel, em mobilidade. Possibilita a comunicação síncrona e assíncrona. Pode ser rentabilizada em dois níveis: no da Web 1.0, para pesquisa e arquivo; e no da Web 2.0, para criação/cocriação. Nesta investigação, o paradigma da Web 2.0 facultou a conceção de uma Wiki e de outros produtos criativos. Sendo inábil em tecnologia digital, a docente investigadora pretendeu inverter a situação ao começar pelo Facebook, que se revelou uma forma muito pragmática de ir aprendendo, paulatinamente, a operar outras ferramentas digitais e de consolidar uma autoformação em espiral ascendente. O Trabalho de Projeto, de que ora se lavra este relatório, seguiu a metodologia de investigação-ação, pelo modelo de Whitehead (1989). Foram cinco fases distintas: desde a identificação do problema até à sua superação, passando pelas fases intermédias de planificação do trabalho e de implementação. A última fase foi a reformulação, isto é, a planificação do ano letivo seguinte, com base na experimentação anterior e nos resultados obtidos. Dos resultados obtidos, destacam-se os seguintes: os discentes empenharam-se nas inovações digital e pedagógica porque compreenderam que a docente as concebeu para eles e eram adequadas às suas capacidades; elucidaram a docente, quando esta teve dúvidas de ordem digital; aprovaram o método eclético que concilia o tradicional com o moderno, sem exageros; apreciaram que a docente se implicasse, conferindo um cunho pessoal às aulas; aceitaram bem a entrada do Facebook em meio escolar, com a associação do telemóvel, para partilha de informação e de conhecimento; o Facebook ajudou a docente a desenvolver as aprendizagens tecnológicas e a comunicar com os alunos; os intervenientes reconheceram que podem criar produtos propositadamente para exibir na página, entrando portanto, na Web 2.0.

Evaluación del mercado del servicio de telefonía móvil celular en el Ecuador: 2000-2007

El desenvolvimiento del mercado de la telefonía móvil bajo el modelo económico neoliberal y el esquema monetario de dolarización aplicado a partir del año 2000 en la economía del Ecuador, sugieren un tema interesante para la investigación y el análisis académico. La presencia de tres operadoras con cobertura nacional en el mercado de telefonía móvil ecuatoriano, CONECEL-Porta, OTECEL-Movistar y TELECSA-Alegro PCS, las dos primeras con presencia en el mercado desde 1993 y la última relativamente nueva, desde el año 2003 han mostrado distintas suertes en un escenario económico caracterizado por el régimen de libre competencia y la intención del gobierno actual por implantar nuevas políticas socioeconómicas denominadas de socialismo moderno. Este trabajo realiza una evaluación del mercado del servicio de telefonía móvil en el Ecuador, analizando aspectos relativos con la penetración del servicio, recursos escasos, interconexión, precios, productos, cobertura y lo más importante, una estimación de la percepción de los usuarios, autoridades y empresas operadoras sobre la calidad y la satisfacción de los usuarios. La renovación de los contratos de concesión de las principales operadoras CONECEL y OTECEL, crea el momento oportuno para que el Estado analice la situación del sector y busque nuevos y mejores instrumentos de regulación considerando una realidad inevitable, la convergencia. De allí, que al finalizar este trabajo presentaremos propuestas de orden regulatorio que permitan a las autoridades de telecomunicaciones del Ecuador actuar con eficiencia técnica y jurídica, cumpliendo y haciendo cumplir derechos y obligaciones de operadores y usuarios, privilegiando la innovación, la calidad de los servicios móviles y por supuesto la satisfacción de los usuarios.

Observations of the diurnal cycle of outgoing longwave radiation from the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget instrument

The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget instrument on Meteosat-8, located over Africa, provides unprecedented temporal sampling (~17 minutes) of the broadband emitted thermal and reflected solar radiances. We analyse the diurnal cycle of the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) fluxes derived from the thermal radiances for July 2006. Principal component (PC) analysis separates the signals of the surface temperature response to solar heating and of the development of convective clouds. The first two PCs explain most of the OLR variations: PC1 (surface heating) explains 82.3% of the total variance and PC2 (cloud development) explains 12.8% of the variance. Convection is initiated preferentially over mountainous regions and the cloud then advects downstream in the ambient flow. Diurnal variations are much weaker over the oceans, but a coherent signal over the Gulf of Guinea suggests that the cloudiness is modulated by the diurnally varying contrast between the Gulf and the adjacent land mass.

Tropospheric planetary wave dynamics and mixture modeling: Two preferred regimes and a regime shift

Investigation of preferred structures of planetary wave dynamics is addressed using multivariate Gaussian mixture models. The number of components in the mixture is obtained using order statistics of the mixing proportions, hence avoiding previous difficulties related to sample sizes and independence issues. The method is first applied to a few low-order stochastic dynamical systems and data from a general circulation model. The method is next applied to winter daily 500-hPa heights from 1949 to 2003 over the Northern Hemisphere. A spatial clustering algorithm is first applied to the leading two principal components (PCs) and shows significant clustering. The clustering is particularly robust for the first half of the record and less for the second half. The mixture model is then used to identify the clusters. Two highly significant extratropical planetary-scale preferred structures are obtained within the first two to four EOF state space. The first pattern shows a Pacific-North American (PNA) pattern and a negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and the second pattern is nearly opposite to the first one. It is also observed that some subspaces show multivariate Gaussianity, compatible with linearity, whereas others show multivariate non-Gaussianity. The same analysis is also applied to two subperiods, before and after 1978, and shows a similar regime behavior, with a slight stronger support for the first subperiod. In addition a significant regime shift is also observed between the two periods as well as a change in the shape of the distribution. The patterns associated with the regime shifts reflect essentially a PNA pattern and an NAO pattern consistent with the observed global warming effect on climate and the observed shift in sea surface temperature around the mid-1970s.

Dynamic behavior of Arabidopsis eif4a-iii, putative core protein of exon junction complex: fast relocation to nucleolus and splicing speckles under hypoxia

Here, we identify the Arabidopsis thaliana ortholog of the mammalian DEAD box helicase, eIF4A-III, the putative anchor protein of exon junction complex (EJC) on mRNA. Arabidopsis eIF4A-III interacts with an ortholog of the core EJC component, ALY/Ref, and colocalizes with other EJC components, such as Mago, Y14, and RNPS1, suggesting a similar function in EJC assembly to animal eIF4A-III. A green fluorescent protein (GFP)-eIF4A-III fusion protein showed localization to several subnuclear domains: to the nucleoplasm during normal growth and to the nucleolus and splicing speckles in response to hypoxia. Treatment with the respiratory inhibitor sodium azide produced an identical response to the hypoxia stress. Treatment with the proteasome inhibitor MG132 led to accumulation of GFP-eIF4A-III mainly in the nucleolus, suggesting that transition of eIF4A-III between subnuclear domains and/or accumulation in nuclear speckles is controlled by proteolysis-labile factors. As revealed by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching analysis, the nucleoplasmic fraction was highly mobile, while the speckles were the least mobile fractions, and the nucleolar fraction had an intermediate mobility. Sequestration of eIF4A-III into nuclear pools with different mobility is likely to reflect the transcriptional and mRNA processing state of the cell.

Aberrant mRNA Transcripts and the Nonsense-Mediated Decay Proteins UPF2 and UPF3 Are Enriched in the Arabidopsis Nucleolus

The eukaryotic nucleolus is multifunctional and involved in the metabolism and assembly of many different RNAs and ribonucleoprotein particles as well as in cellular functions, such as cell division and transcriptional silencing in plants. We previously showed that Arabidopsis thaliana exon junction complex proteins associate with the nucleolus, suggesting a role for the nucleolus in mRNA production. Here, we report that the plant nucleolus contains mRNAs, including fully spliced, aberrantly spliced, and single exon gene transcripts. Aberrant mRNAs are much more abundant in nucleolar fractions, while fully spliced products are more abundant in nucleoplasmic fractions. The majority of the aberrant transcripts contain premature termination codons and have characteristics of nonsense-mediated decay (NMD) substrates. A direct link between NMD and the nucleolus is shown by increased levels of the same aberrant transcripts in both the nucleolus and in Up-frameshift (upf) mutants impaired in NMD. In addition, the NMD factors UPF3 and UPF2 localize to the nucleolus, suggesting that the Arabidopsis nucleolus is therefore involved in identifying aberrant mRNAs and NMD.

Quality of medicines stored together in multi-compartment compliance aids

Background and Objective: Dispensing medicines into compliance aids is a common practice in pharmacy contrary to manufacturers’ advice and studies have shown the appearance of light-sensitive tablets is compromised by such storage; we previously found evidence of reduced bioavailability at elevated temperature and humidity. Our objective was to examine the physicochemical stability of two generic atenolol tablets in different compliance aids and with aspirin co-storage at room temperature and at 40 °C/75% relative humidity. Methods: The physicochemical stability of atenolol tablets was evaluated after 28 days of storage and compared with controls by examining visual appearance, weight, disintegration, dissolution, friability and hardness to accepted standards and using a previously validated HPLC method for chemical assay. Results and Discussion: The response to storage was brand-dependent and not straightforward. With one make of atenolol (Alpharma), storage in compliance aids even at room temperature impacted on physical stability, reducing tablet hardness, with storage in Dosett® exerting a greater impact than storage in Medidos® (t-test P < 0·001). Co-storage at elevated temperature and humidity also impacted on the appearance of non-coated aspirin tablets (Angette™). The chemical stability of atenolol was not affected and we did not find evidence of changes to bioavailability with either make. Certainly data for one atenolol make (CP Pharmaceuticals) co-stored with aspirin (Angette™ and Nu-Seals) in both compliance aids at room temperature provided evidence of short-term stability. But medicines are dispensed into compliance aids in multi-factorial ways so our study highlights not only the lack of evidence but also a realization that evidence to support real practice may not be accomplished through research. Conclusion: Reassuring practitioners of the continued stability of medicines in compliance aids under the countless condition in which they are dispensed in practice may requires a different approach involving medical device regulators and more definitive professional guidance.

Rational conversion of substrate and product specificity in a Salvia monoterpene synthase: structural insights into the evolution of terpene synthase function

Terpene synthases are responsible for the biosynthesis of the complex chemical defense arsenal of plants and microorganisms. How do these enzymes, which all appear to share a common terpene synthase fold, specify the many different products made almost entirely from one of only three substrates? Elucidation of the structure of 1,8-cineole synthase from Salvia fruticosa (Sf-CinS1) combined with analysis of functional and phylogenetic relationships of enzymes within Salvia species identified active-site residues responsible for product specificity. Thus, Sf-CinS1 was successfully converted to a sabinene synthase with a minimum number of rationally predicted substitutions, while identification of the Asn side chain essential for water activation introduced 1,8-cineole and alpha-terpineol activity to Salvia pomifera sabinene synthase. A major contribution to product specificity in Sf-CinS1 appears to come from a local deformation within one of the helices forming the active site. This deformation is observed in all other mono- or sesquiterpene structures available, pointing to a conserved mechanism. Moreover, a single amino acid substitution enlarged the active-site cavity enough to accommodate the larger farnesyl pyrophosphate substrate and led to the efficient synthesis of sesquiterpenes, while alternate single substitutions of this critical amino acid yielded five additional terpene synthases.

Optimal protection of stabilised dry live bacteria from bile toxicity in oral dosage forms by bile acid adsorbent resins

We previously found that dried live bacteria of a vaccine strain can be temporarily sensitive to bile acids and suggested that Bile Adsorbing Resins (BAR) can be used in oral vaccine tablets to protect dried bacteria from intestinal bile. Here, we report a quantitative analysis of the ability of BAR to exclude the dye bromophenol blue from penetrating into matrix tablets and also sections of hard capsule shells. Based on this quantitative analysis, we made a fully optimised formulation, comprising 25% w/w of cholestyramine in Vcaps™ HPMC capsules. This gave effectively 100% protection of viability from 4% bile, with 4200-fold more live bacteria recovered from this formulation compared to unprotected dry bacteria. From the image analysis, we found that the filler material or compaction force used had no measurable effect on dye exclusion but did affect the rate of tablet hydration. Increasing the mass fraction of BAR gave more exclusion of dye up to 25% w/w, after which a plateau was reached and no further dye exclusion was seen. More effective dye exclusion was seen with smaller particle sizes (i.e. cholestyramine) and when the BAR was thoroughly dried and disaggregated. Similar results were found when imaging dye penetration into capsule sections or tablets. The predictions of the dye penetration study were tested using capsules filled with dried attenuated Salmonella vaccine plus different BAR types, and the expected protection from bile was found, validating the imaging study. Surprisingly, depending on the capsule shell material, some protection was given by the capsule alone without adding BAR, with Vcaps™ HPMC capsules providing up to 174-fold protection against 1% bile; faster releasing Vcaps Plus™ HPMC capsules and Coni Snap™ gelatin capsules gave less protection.

Toward a combined seasonal weather and crop productivity forecasting system: Determination of the working spatial scale

A methodology is presented for the development of a combined seasonal weather and crop productivity forecasting system. The first stage of the methodology is the determination of the spatial scale(s) on which the system could operate; this determination has been made for the case of groundnut production in India. Rainfall is a dominant climatic determinant of groundnut yield in India. The relationship between yield and rainfall has been explored using data from 1966 to 1995. On the all-India scale, seasonal rainfall explains 52% of the variance in yield. On the subdivisional scale, correlations vary between variance r(2) = 0.62 (significance level p < 10(-4)) and a negative correlation with r(2) = 0.1 (p = 0.13). The spatial structure of the relationship between rainfall and groundnut yield has been explored using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. A coherent, large-scale pattern emerges for both rainfall and yield. On the subdivisional scale (similar to 300 km), the first principal component (PC) of rainfall is correlated well with the first PC of yield (r(2) = 0.53, p < 10(-4)), demonstrating that the large-scale patterns picked out by the EOFs are related. The physical significance of this result is demonstrated. Use of larger averaging areas for the EOF analysis resulted in lower and (over time) less robust correlations. Because of this loss of detail when using larger spatial scales, the subdivisional scale is suggested as an upper limit on the spatial scale for the proposed forecasting system. Further, district-level EOFs of the yield data demonstrate the validity of upscaling these data to the subdivisional scale. Similar patterns have been produced using data on both of these scales, and the first PCs are very highly correlated (r(2) = 0.96). Hence, a working spatial scale has been identified, typical of that used in seasonal weather forecasting, that can form the basis of crop modeling work for the case of groundnut production in India. Last, the change in correlation between yield and seasonal rainfall during the study period has been examined using seasonal totals and monthly EOFs. A further link between yield and subseasonal variability is demonstrated via analysis of dynamical data.