The Technology Gap and the Growth of the Firm: A Case Study of China's Mobile-phone Handset Industry

We have examined the way in which local Chinese firms confronted with a technology gap have achieved growth, using the Chinese handset industry as a case study. Chinese local firms have lacked technology, and have therefore turned to outside firms for development, design, and manufacturing, while they themselves have focused on sales and marketing, using their advantage of familiarity with the Chinese market. Consequently, by establishing a growth condition in which their selection of boundaries counterbalances the technology gap they have been able to expand their market share in comparison with foreign firms.

Climate change technology transfer to developing countries: evidence analysis and policy recommendations

Developing countries are experiencing unprecedented levels of economic growth. As a result, they will be responsible for most of the future growth in energy demand and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Curbing GHG emissions in developing countries has become one of the cornerstones of a future international agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC). However, setting caps for developing countries’ GHG emissions has encountered strong resistance in the current round of negotiations. Continued economic growth that allows poverty eradication is still the main priority for most developing countries, and caps are perceived as a constraint to future growth prospects. The development, transfer and use of low-carbon technologies have more positive connotations, and are seen as the potential path towards low-carbon development. So far, the success of the UNFCCC process in improving the levels of technology transfer (TT) to developing countries has been limited. This thesis analyses the causes for such limited success and seeks to improve on the understanding about what constitutes TT in the field of climate change, establish the factors that enable them in developing countries and determine which policies could be implemented to reinforce these factors. Despite the wide recognition of the importance of technology and knowledge transfer to developing countries in the climate change mitigation policy agenda, this issue has not received sufficient attention in academic research. Current definitions of climate change TT barely take into account the perspective of actors involved in actual climate change TT activities, while respective measurements do not bear in mind the diversity of channels through which these happen and the outputs and effects that they convey. Furthermore, the enabling factors for TT in non-BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) developing countries have been seldom investigated, and policy recommendations to improve the level and quality of TTs to developing countries have not been adapted to the specific needs of highly heterogeneous countries, commonly denominated as “developing countries”. This thesis contributes to enriching the climate change TT debate from the perspective of a smaller emerging economy (Chile) and by undertaking a quantitative analysis of enabling factors for TT in a large sample of developing countries. Two methodological approaches are used to study climate change TT: comparative case study analysis and quantitative analysis. Comparative case studies analyse TT processes in ten cases based in Chile, all of which share the same economic, technological and policy frameworks, thus enabling us to draw conclusions on the enabling factors and obstacles operating in TT processes. The quantitative analysis uses three methodologies – principal component analysis, multiple regression analysis and cluster analysis – to assess the performance of developing countries in a number of enabling factors and the relationship between these factors and indicators of TT, as well as to create groups of developing countries with similar performances. The findings of this thesis are structured to provide responses to four main research questions: What constitutes technology transfer and how does it happen? Is it possible to measure technology transfer, and what are the main challenges in doing so? Which factors enable climate change technology transfer to developing countries? And how do different developing countries perform in these enabling factors, and how can differentiated policy priorities be defined accordingly? vi Resumen Los paises en desarrollo estan experimentando niveles de crecimiento economico sin precedentes. Como consecuencia, se espera que sean responsables de la mayor parte del futuro crecimiento global en demanda energetica y emisiones de Gases de Efecto de Invernadero (GEI). Reducir las emisiones de GEI en los paises en desarrollo es por tanto uno de los pilares de un futuro acuerdo internacional en el marco de la Convencion Marco de las Naciones Unidas para el Cambio Climatico (UNFCCC). La posibilidad de compromisos vinculantes de reduccion de emisiones de GEI ha sido rechazada por los paises en desarrollo, que perciben estos limites como frenos a su desarrollo economico y a su prioridad principal de erradicacion de la pobreza. El desarrollo, transferencia y uso de tecnologias bajas en carbono tiene connotaciones mas positivas y se percibe como la via hacia un crecimiento bajo en carbono. Hasta el momento, la UNFCCC ha tenido un exito limitado en la promocion de transferencias de tecnologia (TT) a paises en desarrollo. Esta tesis analiza las causas de este resultado y busca mejorar la comprension sobre que constituye transferencia de tecnologia en el area de cambio climatico, cuales son los factores que la facilitan en paises en desarrollo y que politicas podrian implementarse para reforzar dichos factores. A pesar del extendido reconocimiento sobre la importancia de la transferencia de tecnologia a paises en desarrollo en la agenda politica de cambio climatico, esta cuestion no ha sido suficientemente atendida por la investigacion existente. Las definiciones actuales de transferencia de tecnologia relacionada con la mitigacion del cambio climatico no tienen en cuenta la diversidad de canales por las que se manifiestan o los efectos que consiguen. Los factores facilitadores de TT en paises en desarrollo no BRIC (Brasil, Rusia, India y China) apenas han sido investigados, y las recomendaciones politicas para aumentar el nivel y la calidad de la TT no se han adaptado a las necesidades especificas de paises muy heterogeneos aglutinados bajo el denominado grupo de "paises en desarrollo". Esta tesis contribuye a enriquecer el debate sobre la TT de cambio climatico con la perspectiva de una economia emergente de pequeno tamano (Chile) y el analisis cuantitativo de factores que facilitan la TT en una amplia muestra de paises en desarrollo. Se utilizan dos metodologias para el estudio de la TT a paises en desarrollo: analisis comparativo de casos de estudio y analisis cuantitativo basado en metodos multivariantes. Los casos de estudio analizan procesos de TT en diez casos basados en Chile, para derivar conclusiones sobre los factores que facilitan u obstaculizan el proceso de transferencia. El analisis cuantitativo multivariante utiliza tres metodologias: regresion multiple, analisis de componentes principales y analisis cluster. Con dichas metodologias se busca analizar el posicionamiento de diversos paises en cuanto a factores que facilitan la TT; las relaciones entre dichos factores e indicadores de transferencia tecnologica; y crear grupos de paises con caracteristicas similares que podrian beneficiarse de politicas similares para la promocion de la transferencia de tecnologia. Los resultados de la tesis se estructuran en torno a cuatro preguntas de investigacion: .Que es la transferencia de tecnologia y como ocurre?; .Es posible medir la transferencia de tecnologias de bajo carbono?; .Que factores facilitan la transferencia de tecnologias de bajo carbono a paises en desarrollo? y .Como se puede agrupar a los paises en desarrollo en funcion de sus necesidades politicas para la promocion de la transferencia de tecnologias de bajo carbono?

Development and Assessment of the Competence Creativity Applied to Technical Drawing

The results obtained after incorporating the competence “creativity” to the subject Technical Drawing of the first course of the Degree in Forestry, Technical University of Madrid, are presented in this study.At first, learning activities which could serve two functions at the same time -developing students’ creativity and developing other specific competences of the subject- were considered. Besides, changes in the assessment procedure were made and a method which analyzes two aspects of the assessment of the competence creativity was established. On the one hand, the products are evaluated by analyzing the outcomes obtained by students in the essays suggested and by establishing a parameter to assess the creativity expressed in those essays. On the other, an assessment of the student is directly carried out through a psychometric test which has been previously chosen by the team.Moreover, these results can be applied to similar or could be of general application

An Analysis of the Influence of Students´ Technological Culture on Their Technology

decade has raised the interest among the research community on the acceptance and use of these systems by both teachers and students. At first, the implementation of LMS was based on their technical design and the adaptation of the learning processes to the virtual environment, neglecting students’ characteristics when the systems were deployed, which led to expensive and failing implementations. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) proposes a framework which allows the study of the acceptance and use of technology that takes into consideration the students’ characteristics and how they affect the acceptance and the degree of use of educational technology. This study questions the role of the user’s attitude towards use of LMS and uses the UTAUT to examine the moderating effect of technological culture in the adoption of LMS in Spain. The results from the comparison and analysis of three different models confirm the relevance of attitude towards use as an antecedent of intention to use the system, as well as the important moderating effect of gender and technological culture. The discussion of results suggests the need for a more in-depth analysis and interrelations of cultural dimensions in the adoption of educational technologies and learning management systems

Educational innovation applied in the UNESCO chair of mining and industrial heritage

The “Innovatio Educativa Tertio Millennio” group has been 10 years developing educational innovation techniques, actually has reached the level of teaching on the technical teachers has developed, and share them with other groups, that can implement them in their teaching activities. UNESCO Chair of Mining and Industrial Heritage has been years working on heritage, and on the one hand teaching in conservation and maintenance of heritage, and on the other doing raise awareness of the meaning of heritage, the social value and as must be managed effectively. Recently these two groups work together, thus is spreading in a much more effective manner the concepts of heritage, its meaning, its value, and how to manage it and provide effective protection. On one hand being a work of dissemination based on internet and on radio broadcasting, and on the other one of teaching based on educational innovation, and courses, conferences, and face-to-face seminars or distance platforms.

Multi-dimensional classification using Bayesian networks for stationary and evolving streaming data

Hoy en día, con la evolución continua y rápida de las tecnologías de la información y los dispositivos de computación, se recogen y almacenan continuamente grandes volúmenes de datos en distintos dominios y a través de diversas aplicaciones del mundo real. La extracción de conocimiento útil de una cantidad tan enorme de datos no se puede realizar habitualmente de forma manual, y requiere el uso de técnicas adecuadas de aprendizaje automático y de minería de datos. La clasificación es una de las técnicas más importantes que ha sido aplicada con éxito a varias áreas. En general, la clasificación se compone de dos pasos principales: en primer lugar, aprender un modelo de clasificación o clasificador a partir de un conjunto de datos de entrenamiento, y en segundo lugar, clasificar las nuevas instancias de datos utilizando el clasificador aprendido. La clasificación es supervisada cuando todas las etiquetas están presentes en los datos de entrenamiento (es decir, datos completamente etiquetados), semi-supervisada cuando sólo algunas etiquetas son conocidas (es decir, datos parcialmente etiquetados), y no supervisada cuando todas las etiquetas están ausentes en los datos de entrenamiento (es decir, datos no etiquetados). Además, aparte de esta taxonomía, el problema de clasificación se puede categorizar en unidimensional o multidimensional en función del número de variables clase, una o más, respectivamente; o también puede ser categorizado en estacionario o cambiante con el tiempo en función de las características de los datos y de la tasa de cambio subyacente. A lo largo de esta tesis, tratamos el problema de clasificación desde tres perspectivas diferentes, a saber, clasificación supervisada multidimensional estacionaria, clasificación semisupervisada unidimensional cambiante con el tiempo, y clasificación supervisada multidimensional cambiante con el tiempo. Para llevar a cabo esta tarea, hemos usado básicamente los clasificadores Bayesianos como modelos. La primera contribución, dirigiéndose al problema de clasificación supervisada multidimensional estacionaria, se compone de dos nuevos métodos de aprendizaje de clasificadores Bayesianos multidimensionales a partir de datos estacionarios. Los métodos se proponen desde dos puntos de vista diferentes. El primer método, denominado CB-MBC, se basa en una estrategia de envoltura de selección de variables que es voraz y hacia delante, mientras que el segundo, denominado MB-MBC, es una estrategia de filtrado de variables con una aproximación basada en restricciones y en el manto de Markov. Ambos métodos han sido aplicados a dos problemas reales importantes, a saber, la predicción de los inhibidores de la transcriptasa inversa y de la proteasa para el problema de infección por el virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana tipo 1 (HIV-1), y la predicción del European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) a partir de los cuestionarios de la enfermedad de Parkinson con 39 ítems (PDQ-39). El estudio experimental incluye comparaciones de CB-MBC y MB-MBC con los métodos del estado del arte de la clasificación multidimensional, así como con métodos comúnmente utilizados para resolver el problema de predicción de la enfermedad de Parkinson, a saber, la regresión logística multinomial, mínimos cuadrados ordinarios, y mínimas desviaciones absolutas censuradas. En ambas aplicaciones, los resultados han sido prometedores con respecto a la precisión de la clasificación, así como en relación al análisis de las estructuras gráficas que identifican interacciones conocidas y novedosas entre las variables. La segunda contribución, referida al problema de clasificación semi-supervisada unidimensional cambiante con el tiempo, consiste en un método nuevo (CPL-DS) para clasificar flujos de datos parcialmente etiquetados. Los flujos de datos difieren de los conjuntos de datos estacionarios en su proceso de generación muy rápido y en su aspecto de cambio de concepto. Es decir, los conceptos aprendidos y/o la distribución subyacente están probablemente cambiando y evolucionando en el tiempo, lo que hace que el modelo de clasificación actual sea obsoleto y deba ser actualizado. CPL-DS utiliza la divergencia de Kullback-Leibler y el método de bootstrapping para cuantificar y detectar tres tipos posibles de cambio: en las predictoras, en la a posteriori de la clase o en ambas. Después, si se detecta cualquier cambio, un nuevo modelo de clasificación se aprende usando el algoritmo EM; si no, el modelo de clasificación actual se mantiene sin modificaciones. CPL-DS es general, ya que puede ser aplicado a varios modelos de clasificación. Usando dos modelos diferentes, el clasificador naive Bayes y la regresión logística, CPL-DS se ha probado con flujos de datos sintéticos y también se ha aplicado al problema real de la detección de código malware, en el cual los nuevos ficheros recibidos deben ser continuamente clasificados en malware o goodware. Los resultados experimentales muestran que nuestro método es efectivo para la detección de diferentes tipos de cambio a partir de los flujos de datos parcialmente etiquetados y también tiene una buena precisión de la clasificación. Finalmente, la tercera contribución, sobre el problema de clasificación supervisada multidimensional cambiante con el tiempo, consiste en dos métodos adaptativos, a saber, Locally Adpative-MB-MBC (LA-MB-MBC) y Globally Adpative-MB-MBC (GA-MB-MBC). Ambos métodos monitorizan el cambio de concepto a lo largo del tiempo utilizando la log-verosimilitud media como métrica y el test de Page-Hinkley. Luego, si se detecta un cambio de concepto, LA-MB-MBC adapta el actual clasificador Bayesiano multidimensional localmente alrededor de cada nodo cambiado, mientras que GA-MB-MBC aprende un nuevo clasificador Bayesiano multidimensional. El estudio experimental realizado usando flujos de datos sintéticos multidimensionales indica los méritos de los métodos adaptativos propuestos. ABSTRACT Nowadays, with the ongoing and rapid evolution of information technology and computing devices, large volumes of data are continuously collected and stored in different domains and through various real-world applications. Extracting useful knowledge from such a huge amount of data usually cannot be performed manually, and requires the use of adequate machine learning and data mining techniques. Classification is one of the most important techniques that has been successfully applied to several areas. Roughly speaking, classification consists of two main steps: first, learn a classification model or classifier from an available training data, and secondly, classify the new incoming unseen data instances using the learned classifier. Classification is supervised when the whole class values are present in the training data (i.e., fully labeled data), semi-supervised when only some class values are known (i.e., partially labeled data), and unsupervised when the whole class values are missing in the training data (i.e., unlabeled data). In addition, besides this taxonomy, the classification problem can be categorized into uni-dimensional or multi-dimensional depending on the number of class variables, one or more, respectively; or can be also categorized into stationary or streaming depending on the characteristics of the data and the rate of change underlying it. Through this thesis, we deal with the classification problem under three different settings, namely, supervised multi-dimensional stationary classification, semi-supervised unidimensional streaming classification, and supervised multi-dimensional streaming classification. To accomplish this task, we basically used Bayesian network classifiers as models. The first contribution, addressing the supervised multi-dimensional stationary classification problem, consists of two new methods for learning multi-dimensional Bayesian network classifiers from stationary data. They are proposed from two different points of view. The first method, named CB-MBC, is based on a wrapper greedy forward selection approach, while the second one, named MB-MBC, is a filter constraint-based approach based on Markov blankets. Both methods are applied to two important real-world problems, namely, the prediction of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase and protease inhibitors, and the prediction of the European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) from 39-item Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39). The experimental study includes comparisons of CB-MBC and MB-MBC against state-of-the-art multi-dimensional classification methods, as well as against commonly used methods for solving the Parkinson’s disease prediction problem, namely, multinomial logistic regression, ordinary least squares, and censored least absolute deviations. For both considered case studies, results are promising in terms of classification accuracy as well as regarding the analysis of the learned MBC graphical structures identifying known and novel interactions among variables. The second contribution, addressing the semi-supervised uni-dimensional streaming classification problem, consists of a novel method (CPL-DS) for classifying partially labeled data streams. Data streams differ from the stationary data sets by their highly rapid generation process and their concept-drifting aspect. That is, the learned concepts and/or the underlying distribution are likely changing and evolving over time, which makes the current classification model out-of-date requiring to be updated. CPL-DS uses the Kullback-Leibler divergence and bootstrapping method to quantify and detect three possible kinds of drift: feature, conditional or dual. Then, if any occurs, a new classification model is learned using the expectation-maximization algorithm; otherwise, the current classification model is kept unchanged. CPL-DS is general as it can be applied to several classification models. Using two different models, namely, naive Bayes classifier and logistic regression, CPL-DS is tested with synthetic data streams and applied to the real-world problem of malware detection, where the new received files should be continuously classified into malware or goodware. Experimental results show that our approach is effective for detecting different kinds of drift from partially labeled data streams, as well as having a good classification performance. Finally, the third contribution, addressing the supervised multi-dimensional streaming classification problem, consists of two adaptive methods, namely, Locally Adaptive-MB-MBC (LA-MB-MBC) and Globally Adaptive-MB-MBC (GA-MB-MBC). Both methods monitor the concept drift over time using the average log-likelihood score and the Page-Hinkley test. Then, if a drift is detected, LA-MB-MBC adapts the current multi-dimensional Bayesian network classifier locally around each changed node, whereas GA-MB-MBC learns a new multi-dimensional Bayesian network classifier from scratch. Experimental study carried out using synthetic multi-dimensional data streams shows the merits of both proposed adaptive methods.

Survey on student motivation and approval of educational environment at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid within the European Higher Education area implementation

A recent study elaborated by Vicerrectorado de Ordenación Académica y Planificación Estratégica of Technical University of Madrid (UPM) defines the satisfaction of the university student body as "the response that the University offers to the expectations and demands of service of the students, considered in a general way ". Besides an indicator of academic and institutional insertion of the student, the assessment of student engagement allows us to adapt the academic offer and the extension services of the University to the real needs of the students. The process of convergence towards the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) raises the need to form in competitions, that is to say, of developing in our students capacities and knowledge beyond the purely theoretical-practical thing. Therefore, the perception and experience of the educational process and environment by the students is an important issue to be addressed to accomplish their expectations and achieve a curriculum accordingly to EHEA expectations. The present study aims to explore the student motivation and approval of the educational environment at the UPM. To this end a total of 97 students enrolled in the undergraduate program of Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering and Agronomic Engineering at UPM were surveyed. The survey consisted of 40 questions divided in three blocks. The first one of 20 questions of personal character in that they were gathering, besides the sex and the age, the degree of fulfilment, implication and dedication with the institution and the academic tasks. In the second block we identify 10 questions related to the perception of the student on the teaching quality, and finally a block of 10 questions regarding the Bologna Process. The students personal motivation was moderately high, with a score of 3.6 (all scores are provided on a 5-point scale), being the most valuable items obtaining a university degree (4,3) and the friendship between students (4,2). Any significant difference was shown between sexes (P=0.23) since the averages for this block of questions were of 3.7±0.3 and 3.5±0.4 for women and men respectively. The students are moderately satisfied with their graduate studies with an average score of 3,2, being the questions that reflect a minor satisfaction the research profile of the teachers (2,8) and the organization of the Schools (2,9). The best valued questions are related to the usefulness and quality of the degrees, with 3,5 and 3,4 respectively, and to the interest of the courses within the degree (3,4). For sexes, the results of this block of questions are similar (3.1±0.3 and 3.2±0.3 for men and women respectively=0.79). Also, there were no differences (P=0.39) between the students who arrange work and studies or do not work (3.1±0.2 and 3.2±0.3 respectively). In conclusion, students at UPM present an acceptable degree of motivation and satisfaction with regard to the studies and services that offer their respective Schools. Both characteristics receive the same value both for men and for women and so much for students who arrange work and studies as for those who devote themselves only to studying. In a significant way, students who are more engaged and are in-class attendants present the major degree of satisfaction.Overall, there is a great lack of information regarding the Bologna Process. In fact to the majority, they would like to know more on what it is, what it means and what changes will involve its implementation.

Riskmática: Una tecnología educativa desarrollada con Unity

Historically, teachers have always searched for a connection with their students to make education interesting and a vital experience. In the 19th century, pedagogue Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi taught children how to sum using wood blocks. His successors have followed his legacy and today they use a wide variety of media, including board games, in order to reach out to their students. These methods are denominated educational technologies, which are defined as the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources. With the advent of the information technologies, teachers have at their disposal new media with which they can increase the interest of their students. This technologic revolution is changing the present educational model. The objective of this dissertation is to develop an educational videogame in order to help students learn mathematics. To reach this goal, the videogame has been developed with the game engine Unity as the main tool. Additionally, agile software development methodologies as well as other software engineering techniques have also been used. The result is Riskmatica, an educational videogame based on geographical domination in which knowledge is the best weapon. The players must conquer enemy teritories answering correctly a mathecatical question. Moreover the videogame has the functionality required to configure a new game and input new questions. To conclude, this project has created an educational technology which greatly appeals to students and that can be used by the educators to improve their lessons in mathematics.---RESUMEN---A lo largo de la historia, los educadores siempre han buscado conectar con los alumnos para poder captar su interés y hacer que la educación se convierta en una experiencia vital. El pedagogo Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi conseguía esto en el siglo XIX, enseñando a niños a contar con bloques de madera. Sus sucesores han seguido su legado y hoy en día utilizan variedad de medios con los que motivar a sus alumnos, en algunos casos los juegos de mesa. Estos métodos son denominados tecnologías educativas, que se definen como los estudios y prácticas éticas que facilitan y mejoran la enseñanza, mediante la creación, el uso y el empleo de procesos y recursos tecnológicos. Con el advenimiento de las tecnologías de la información, los educadores tienen a su disposición un nuevo medio con el que llegar al alumnado. Esta revolución tecnológica está cambiando el modelo educativo actual. El objetivo de este proyecto es el de crear un videojuego educativo que ayude a los alumnos a estudiar matemáticas. Para lograrlo se ha utilizado el popular motor de videojuego Unity como herramienta principal. También se han empleado metodologías ágiles de desarrollo además de otras técnicas de ingeniería del software. El resultado es Riskmática, un videojuego educativo de dominación geográfica en el que el arma más eficaz es el conocimiento. Los jugadores deberán conquistar territorios a sus adversarios mediante la respuesta de preguntas de carácter matemático. Además el videojuego cuenta con la funcionalidad necesaria para configurar una partida e introducir nuevas preguntas. Como conlusión, este proyecto ha logrado crear una tecnología educativa muy atractiva para los alumnos con la que los profesores pueden mejorar la enseñanza de las matemáticas.

A technological framework based on automatic messaging for improving adherence of diabetic patients

En todo el mundo se ha observado un crecimiento exponencial en la incidencia de enfermedades crónicas como la hipertensión y enfermedades cardiovasculares y respiratorias, así como la diabetes mellitus, que causa un número de muertes cada vez mayor en todo el mundo (Beaglehole et al., 2008). En concreto, la prevalencia de diabetes mellitus (DM) está aumentando de manera considerable en todas las edades y representa un serio problema de salud mundial. La diabetes fue la responsable directa de 1,5 millones de muertes en 2012 y 89 millones de años de vida ajustados por discapacidad (AVAD) (OMS, 2014). Uno de los principales dilemas que suelen asociarse a la gestión de EC es la adherencia de los pacientes a los tratamientos, que representa un aspecto multifactorial que necesita asistencia en lo relativo a: educación, autogestión, interacción entre los pacientes y cuidadores y compromiso de los pacientes. Medir la adherencia del tratamiento es complicado y, aunque se ha hablado ampliamente de ello, aún no hay soluciones “de oro” (Reviews, 2002). El compromiso de los pacientes, a través de la participación, colaboración, negociación y a veces del compromiso firme, aumentan las oportunidades para una terapia óptima en la que los pacientes se responsabilizan de su parte en la ecuación de adherencia. Comprometer e involucrar a los pacientes diabéticos en las decisiones de su tratamiento, junto con expertos profesionales, puede ayudar a favorecer un enfoque centrado en el paciente hacia la atención a la diabetes (Martin et al., 2005). La motivación y atribución de poder de los pacientes son quizás los dos factores interventores más relevantes que afectan directamente a la autogestión de la atención a la diabetes. Se ha demostrado que estos dos factores desempeñan un papel fundamental en la adherencia a la prescripción, así como en el fomento exitoso de un estilo de vida sana y otros cambios de conducta (Heneghan et al., 2013). Un plan de educación personalizada es indispensable para proporcionarle al paciente las herramientas adecuadas que necesita para la autogestión efectiva de la enfermedad (El-Gayar et al. 2013). La comunicación efectiva es fundamental para proporcionar una atención centrada en el paciente puesto que influye en las conductas y actitudes hacia un problema de salud ((Frampton et al. 2008). En este sentido, la interactividad, la frecuencia, la temporalización y la adaptación de los mensajes de texto pueden promover la adherencia a un régimen de medicación. Como consecuencia, adaptar los mensajes de texto a los pacientes puede resultar ser una manera de hacer que las sugerencias y la información sean más relevantes y efectivas (Nundy et al. 2013). En este contexto, las tecnologías móviles en el ámbito de la salud (mHealth) están desempeñando un papel importante al conectar con pacientes para mejorar la adherencia a medicamentos recetados (Krishna et al., 2009). La adaptación de los mensajes de texto específicos de diabetes sigue siendo un área de oportunidad para mejorar la adherencia a la medicación y ofrecer motivación a adultos con diabetes. Sin embargo, se necesita más investigación para entender totalmente su eficacia. Los consejos de texto personalizados han demostrado causar un impacto positivo en la atribución de poder a los pacientes, su autogestión y su adherencia a la prescripción (Gatwood et al., 2014). mHealth se puede utilizar para ofrecer programas de asistencia de autogestión a los pacientes con diabetes y, al mismo tiempo, superar las dificultades técnicas y financieras que supone el tratamiento de la diabetes (Free at al., 2013). El objetivo principal de este trabajo de investigación es demostrar que un marco tecnológico basado en las teorías de cambios de conducta, aplicado al campo de la mHealth, permite una mejora de la adherencia al tratamiento en pacientes diabéticos. Como método de definición de una solución tecnológica, se han adoptado un conjunto de diferentes técnicas de conducta validadas denominado marco de compromiso de retroacción conductual (EBF, por sus siglas en inglés) para formular los mensajes, guiar el contenido y evaluar los resultados. Los estudios incorporan elementos del modelo transteórico (TTM, por sus siglas en inglés), la teoría de la fijación de objetivos (GST, por sus siglas en inglés) y los principios de comunicación sanitaria persuasiva y eficaz. Como concepto general, el modelo TTM ayuda a los pacientes a progresar a su próxima fase de conducta a través de mensajes de texto motivados específicos y permite que el médico identifique la fase actual y adapte sus estrategias individualmente. Además, se adoptan las directrices del TTM para fijar objetivos personalizados a un nivel apropiado a la fase de cambio del paciente. La GST encierra normas que van a ponerse en práctica para promover la intervención educativa y objetivos de pérdida de peso. Finalmente, los principios de comunicación sanitaria persuasiva y eficaz aplicados a la aparición de los mensajes se han puesto en marcha para aumentar la efectividad. El EBF tiene como objetivo ayudar a los pacientes a mejorar su adherencia a la prescripción y encaminarlos a una mejora general en la autogestión de la diabetes mediante mensajes de texto personalizados denominados mensajes de retroacción automáticos (AFM, por sus siglas en inglés). Después de una primera revisión del perfil, consistente en identificar características significativas del paciente basadas en las necesidades de tratamiento, actitudes y conductas de atención sanitaria, el sistema elige los AFM personalizados, los aprueba el médico y al final se transfieren a la interfaz del paciente. Durante el tratamiento, el usuario recopila los datos en dispositivos de monitorización de pacientes (PMD, por sus siglas en inglés) de una serie de dispositivos médicos y registros manuales. Los registros consisten en la toma de medicación, dieta y actividad física y tareas de aprendizaje y control de la medida del metabolismo. El compromiso general del paciente se comprueba al estimar el uso del sistema y la adherencia del tratamiento y el estado de los objetivos del paciente a corto y largo plazo. El módulo de análisis conductual, que consiste en una serie de reglas y ecuaciones, calcula la conducta del paciente. Tras lograr el análisis conductual, el módulo de gestión de AFM actualiza la lista de AFM y la configuración de los envíos. Las actualizaciones incluyen el número, el tipo y la frecuencia de mensajes. Los AFM los revisa periódicamente el médico que también participa en el perfeccionamiento del tratamiento, adaptado a la fase transteórica actual. Los AFM se segmentan en distintas categorías y niveles y los pacientes pueden ajustar la entrega del mensaje de acuerdo con sus necesidades personales. El EBF se ha puesto en marcha integrado dentro del sistema METABO, diseñado para facilitar al paciente diabético que controle sus condiciones relevantes de una manera menos intrusiva. El dispositivo del paciente se vincula en una plataforma móvil, mientras que una interfaz de panel médico permite que los profesionales controlen la evolución del tratamiento. Herramientas específicas posibilitan que los profesionales comprueben la adherencia del paciente y actualicen la gestión de envíos de AFM. El EBF fue probado en un proyecto piloto controlado de manera aleatoria. El principal objetivo era examinar la viabilidad y aceptación del sistema. Los objetivos secundarios eran también la evaluación de la eficacia del sistema en lo referente a la mejora de la adherencia, el control glucémico y la calidad de vida. Se reclutaron participantes de cuatro centros clínicos distintos en Europa. La evaluación del punto de referencia incluía datos demográficos, estado de la diabetes, información del perfil, conocimiento de la diabetes en general, uso de las plataformas TIC, opinión y experiencia con dispositivos electrónicos y adopción de buenas prácticas con la diabetes. La aceptación y eficacia de los criterios de evaluación se aplicaron para valorar el funcionamiento del marco tecnológico. El principal objetivo era la valoración de la eficacia del sistema en lo referente a la mejora de la adherencia. En las pruebas participaron 54 pacientes. 26 fueron asignados al grupo de intervención y equipados con tecnología móvil donde estaba instalado el EBF: 14 pacientes tenían T1DM y 12 tenían T2DM. El grupo de control estaba compuesto por 25 pa cientes que fueron tratados con atención estándar, sin el empleo del EBF. La intervención profesional tanto de los grupos de control como de intervención corrió a cargo de 24 cuidadores, entre los que incluían diabetólogos, nutricionistas y enfermeras. Para evaluar la aceptabilidad del sistema y analizar la satisfacción de los usuarios, a través de LimeSurvey, se creó una encuesta multilingüe tanto para los pacientes como para los profesionales. Los resultados también se recopilaron de los archivos de registro generados en los PMD, el panel médico profesional y las entradas de la base de datos. Los mensajes enviados hacia y desde el EBF y los archivos de registro del sistema y los servicios de comunicación se grabaron durante las cinco semanas del estudio. Se entregaron un total de 2795 mensajes, lo que supuso una media de 107,50 mensajes por paciente. Como se muestra, los mensajes disminuyen con el tiempo, indicando una mejora global de la adherencia al plan de tratamiento. Como se esperaba, los pacientes con T1DM recibieron más consejos a corto plazo, en relación a su estado. Del mismo modo, al ser el centro de T2DM en cambios de estilo de vida sostenible a largo plazo, los pacientes con T2DM recibieron más consejos de recomendación, en cuanto a dietas y actividad física. También se ha llevado a cabo una comparación de la adherencia e índices de uso para pacientes con T1DM y T2DM, entre la primera y la segunda mitad de la prueba. Se han observado resultados favorables para el uso. En lo relativo a la adherencia, los resultados denotaron una mejora general en cada dimensión del plan de tratamiento, como la nutrición y las mediciones de inserción de glucosa en la sangre. Se han llevado a cabo más estudios acerca del cambio a nivel educativo antes y después de la prueba, medidos tanto para grupos de control como de intervención. Los resultados indicaron que el grupo de intervención había mejorado su nivel de conocimientos mientras que el grupo de control mostró una leve disminución. El análisis de correlación entre el nivel de adherencia y las AFM ha mostrado una mejora en la adherencia de uso para los pacientes que recibieron los mensajes de tipo alertas, y unos resultados no significativos aunque positivos relacionados con la adherencia tanto al tratamiento que al uso correlacionado con los recordatorios. Por otra parte, los AFM parecían ayudar a los pacientes que no tomaban suficientemente en serio su tratamiento en el principio y que sí estaban dispuestos a responder a los mensajes recibidos. Aun así, los pacientes que recibieron demasiadas advertencias, comenzaron a considerar el envío de mensajes un poco estresante. El trabajo de investigación llevado a cabo al desarrollar este proyecto ofrece respuestas a las cuatro hipótesis de investigación que fueron la motivación para el trabajo. • Hipótesis 1 : es posible definir una serie de criterios para medir la adherencia en pacientes diabéticos. • Hipótesis 2: es posible diseñar un marco tecnológico basado en los criterios y teorías de cambio de conducta mencionados con anterioridad para hacer que los pacientes diabéticos se comprometan a controlar su enfermedad y adherirse a planes de atención. • Hipótesis 3: es posible poner en marcha el marco tecnológico en el sector de la salud móvil. • Hipótesis 4: es posible utilizar el marco tecnológico como solución de salud móvil en un contexto real y tener efectos positivos en lo referente a indicadores de control de diabetes. La verificación de cada hipótesis permite ofrecer respuesta a la hipótesis principal: La hipótesis principal es: es posible mejorar la adherencia diabética a través de un marco tecnológico mHealth basado en teorías de cambio de conducta. El trabajo llevado a cabo para responder estas preguntas se explica en este trabajo de investigación. El marco fue desarrollado y puesto en práctica en el Proyecto METABO. METABO es un Proyecto I+D, cofinanciado por la Comisión Europea (METABO 2008) que integra infraestructura móvil para ayudar al control, gestión y tratamiento de los pacientes con diabetes mellitus de tipo 1 (T1DM) y los que padecen diabetes mellitus de tipo 2 (T2DM). ABSTRACT Worldwide there is an exponential growth in the incidence of Chronic Diseases (CDs), such as: hypertension, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, as well as diabetes mellitus, leading to rising numbers of deaths worldwide (Beaglehole et al. 2008). In particular, the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is largely increasing among all ages and constitutes a major worldwide health problem. Diabetes was directly responsible for 1,5 million deaths in 2012 and 89 million Disability-adjusted life year (DALYs) (WHO 2014). One of the key dilemmas often associated to CD management is the patients’ adherence to treatments, representing a multi-factorial aspect that requires support in terms of: education, self-management, interaction between patients and caregivers, and patients’ engagement. Measuring adherence is complex and, even if widely discussed, there are still no “gold” standards ((Giardini et al. 2015), (Costa et al. 2015). Patient’s engagement, through participation, collaboration, negotiation, and sometimes compromise, enhance opportunities for optimal therapy in which patients take responsibility for their part of the adherence equation. Engaging and involving diabetic patients in treatment decisions, along with professional expertise, can help foster a patient-centered approach to diabetes care (Martin et al. 2005). Patients’ motivation and empowerment are perhaps the two most relevant intervening factors that directly affect self-management of diabetes care. It has been demonstrated that these two factors play an essential role in prescription adherence, as well as for the successful encouragement of a healthy life-style and other behavioural changes (Heneghan et al. 2013). A personalised education plan is indispensable in order to provide the patient with the appropriate tools needed for the effective self-management of the disease (El-Gayar et al. 2013). Effective communication is at the core of providing patient-centred care since it influences behaviours and attitudes towards a health problem (Frampton et al. 2008). In this regard, interactivity, frequency, timing, and tailoring of text messages may promote adherence to a medication regimen. As a consequence, tailoring text messages to patients can constitute a way of making suggestions and information more relevant and effective (Nundy et al. 2013). In this context, mobile health technologies (mHealth) are playing significant roles in improving adherence to prescribed medications (Krishna et al. 2009). The tailoring of diabetes-specific text messages remains an area of opportunity to improve medication adherence and provide motivation to adults with diabetes but further research is needed to fully understand their effectiveness. Personalized text advices have proven to produce a positive impact on patients’ empowerment, self-management, and adherence to prescriptions (Gatwood et al. 2014). mHealth can be used for offering self-management support programs to diabetes patients and at the same time surmounting the technical and financial difficulties involved in diabetes treatment (Free et al. 2013). The main objective of this research work is to demonstrate that a technological framework, based on behavioural change theories, applied to mHealth domain, allows improving adherence treatment in diabetic patients. The framework, named Engagement Behavioural Feedback Framework (EBF), is built on top of validated behavioural techniques to frame messages, guide the definition of contents and assess outcomes: elements from the Transtheoretical Model (TTM), the Goal-Setting Theory (GST), Effective Health Communication (EHC) guidelines and Principles of Persuasive Technology (PPT) were incorporated. The TTM helps patients to progress to a next behavioural stage, through specific motivated text messages, and allow clinician’s identifying the current stage and tailor its strategies individually. Moreover, TTM guidelines are adopted to set customised goals at a level appropriate to the patient’s stage of change. The GST was used to build rules to be applied for enhancing educational intervention and weight loss objectives. Finally, the EHC guidelines and the PPT were applied to increase the effectiveness of messages. The EBF aims to support patients on improving their prescription adherence and persuade them towards a general improvement in diabetes self-management, by means of personalised text messages, named Automatic Feedback Messages (AFM). After a first profile screening, consisting in identifying meaningful patient characteristics based on treatment needs, attitudes and health care behaviours, customised AFMs are selected by the system, approved by the professional, and finally transferred into the patient interface. During the treatment, the user collects the data into a Patient Monitoring Device (PMD) from a set of medical devices and from manual inputs. Inputs consist in medication intake, diet and physical activity, metabolic measurement monitoring and learning tasks. Patient general engagement is checked by estimating the usage of the system and the adherence of treatment and patient goals status in the short and the long term period. The Behavioural Analysis Module, consisting in a set of rules and equations, calculates the patient’s behaviour. After behavioural analysis is accomplished, the AFM library and the dispatch setting are updated by the AFM Manager module. Updates include the number, the type and the frequency of messages. The AFMs are periodically supervised by the professional who also participates to the refinement of the treatment, adapted to the current transtheoretical stage. The AFMs are segmented in different categories and levels and patients can adjust message delivery in accordance with their personal needs. The EBF was integrated to the METABO system, designed to facilitate diabetic patients in managing their disease in a less intrusive approach. Patient device corresponds in a mobile platform, while a medical panel interface allows professionals to monitoring the treatment evolution. Specific tools allow professional to check patient adherence and to update the AFMs dispatch management. The EBF was tested in a randomised controlled pilot. The main objective was to examine the feasibility and acceptance of the system. Secondary objectives were also the assessment of the effectiveness of system in terms of adherence improvement, glycaemic control, and quality of life. Participants were recruited from four different clinical centres in Europe. The baseline assessment included demographics, diabetes status, profile information, knowledge about diabetes in general, usage of ICT platforms, opinion and experience about electronic devices and adoption of good practices with diabetes. Acceptance and the effectiveness evaluation criteria were applied to evaluate the performance of the technological framework. The main objective was the assessment of the effectiveness of system in terms of adherence improvement. Fifty-four patients participated on the trials. Twenty-six patients were assigned in the intervention group and equipped with mobile where the EBF was installed: 14 patients were T1DM and 12 were T2DM. The control group was composed of 25 patients that were treated through a standard care, without the usage of the EBF. Professional’s intervention for both intervention and control groups was carried out by 24 care providers, including endocrinologists, nutritionists, and nurses. In order to evaluate the system acceptability and analyse the users’ satisfaction, an online multi-language survey, using LimeSurvey, was produced for both patients and professionals. Results were also collected from the log-files generated in the PMDs, the professional medical panel and the entries of the data base. The messages sent to and from the EBF and the log-files of the system and communication services were recorded over 5 weeks of the study. A total of 2795 messages were submitted, representing an average of 107,50 messages per patient. As demonstrated, messages decrease over time indicating an overall improvement of the care plan’s adherence. As expected, T1DM patients were more loaded with short-term advices, in accordance with their condition. Similarly, being the focus of T2DM on long-term sustainable lifestyle changes, T2DM received more reminders advices, as for diet and physical activity. Favourable outcomes were observed for treatment and usage adherences of the intervention group: for both the adherence indices, results denoted a general improvement on each care plan’s dimension, such as on nutrition and blood glucose input measurements. Further studies were conducted on the change on educational level before and after the trial, measured for both control and intervention groups. The outcomes indicated the intervention group has improved its level of knowledge, while the control group denoted a low decrease. The correlation analysis between the level of adherences and the AFMs showed an improvement in usage adherence for patients who received warnings message, while non-significantly yet even positive indicators related to both treatment and usage adherence correlated with the Reminders. Moreover, the AFMs seemed to help those patients who did not take their treatment seriously enough in the beginning and who were willing to respond to the messages they received. Even though, patients who received too many Warnings, started to consider the message dispatch to be a bit stressful. The research work carried out in developing this research work provides responses to the four research hypothesis that were the motivation for the work: •Hypothesis 1: It is possible to define a set of criteria to measure adherence in diabetic patients. •Hypothesis 2: It is possible to design a technological framework, based on the aforementioned criteria and behavioural change theories, to engage diabetic patients in managing their disease and adhere to care plans. •Hypothesis 3: It is possible to implement the technological framework in the mobile health domain. •Hypothesis 4: It is possible to use the technological framework as a mobile health solution in a real context and have positive effects in terms of diabetes management indicators. The verification of each hypothesis allowed us to provide a response to the main hypothesis: The Main Hypothesis is: It is possible to improve diabetic adherence through a mHealth technological framework based on behavioural change theories. The work carried out to answer these questions is explained in this research work. The framework was developed and applied in the METABO project. METABO is an R&D project, co-funded by the European Commission (METABO 2008) that integrates mobile infrastructure for supporting the monitoring, management, and treatment of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients.

Discourses and values underpin public debate on fracking in Spain: a case study at the crossroad

In the EU context extraction of shale and oil gas by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) differs from country to country in terms of legislation and implementation. While fossil fuel extraction using this technology is currently taking place in the UK, Germany and France have adopted respective moratoria. In between is the Spanish case, where hydrocarbon extraction projects through fracking have to undergo mandatory and routine environmental assessment in accordance with the last changes to environmental regulations. Nowadays Spain is at the crossroad with respect to the future of this technology. We presume a social conflictt in our country since the position and strategy of the involved and confronted social actors -national, regional and local authorities, energy companies, scientists, NGO and other social organization- are going to play key and likely divergent roles in its industrial implementation and public acceptance. In order to improve knowledge on how to address these controverted situations from the own engineering context, the affiliated units from the Higher Technical School of Mines and Energy Engineering at UPM have been working on a transversal program to teach values and ethics. Over the past seven years, this pioneering experience has shown the usefulness of applying a consequentialist ethics, based on a case-by-case approach and costs-benefits analysis both for action and inaction. As a result of this initiative a theoretical concept has arisen and crystallized in this field: it is named Inter-ethics. This theoretical perspective can be very helpful in complex situations, with multi-stakeholders and plurality of interests, when ethical management requires the interaction between the respective ethics of each group; professional ethics of a single group is not enough. Under this inter-ethics theoretical framework and applying content analysis techniques, this paper explores the articulation of the discourse in favour and against fracking technology and its underlying values as manifested in the Spanish traditional mass media and emerging social media such as Youtube. Results show that Spanish public discourse on fracking technology includes the costs-benefits analysis to communicate how natural resources from local communities may be affected by these facilities due to environmental, health and economic consequences. Furthermore, this technology is represented as a solution to the "demand of energy" according to the optimistic discourse while, from a pessimistic view, fracking is often framed as a source "environmental problems" and even natural disasters as possible earthquakes. In this latter case, this negative representation could have been influenced by the closure of a macro project to store injected natural gas in the Mediterranean Sea using the old facilities of an oil exploitation in Amposta (Proyecto Cástor). The closure of this project was due to the occurrence of earthquakes whose intensity was higher than the originally expected by the experts in the assessment stage of the project.

A Ciência nos Telejornais Brasileiros (O papel educativo e a compreensão pública das matérias de CT&I)

Este trabalho investiga a cobertura de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (CT&I) nos telejornais brasileiros de canal aberto, no horário nobre (das 19h15 às 22h), para verificar a função educativa da mídia na abordagem de assuntos de CT&I. O corpus desta pesquisa compõe-se de um recorte dos seguintes telejornais: Jornal da Band, Jornal Nacional, Jornal da Record, Jornal da Cultura e SBT Brasil. A proposta foi avaliar, comparativamente, as matérias jornalísticas que tratam especificamente de CT&I, em relação ao formato, à linguagem e aos conteúdos de cada um dos programas estudados. Este trabalho empregou a metodologia de Análise de Discurso de linha Francesa (AD). Esta pesquisa, de natureza qualitativa, também englobou um Estudo de Recepção sobre as reportagens selecionadas. O procedimento utilizado para isso foi o de Grupos Focais. Dessa forma, buscou-se analisar o processo de Comunicação que envolve as matérias telejornalísticas de CT&I das mensagens à recepção. Este estudo verificou que CT&I é um assunto presente nos telejornais brasileiros mesmo quando ocorrem fatos imprevisíveis (de outras editorias) que influenciam significativamente a cobertura dos noticiários televisivos. Constatou também que não há, entre os telejornais selecionados, um padrão de aprofundamento e contextualização dos assuntos CT&I, mas que a abordagem varia até dentro de uma única edição. As emissoras, mesmo reconhecendo a importância de CT&I, ainda oscilam entre uma abordagem contextualizada e a simples descrição do fato principal. A linguagem empregada pelos telejornais para o tratamento de assuntos de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação é, predominantemente, clara e simples. No entanto, foi possível verificar algumas nuances, com o uso de termos específicos da linguagem científica sem que a matéria oferecesse qualquer explicação sobre tais conceitos. A experiência dos Grupos Focais revelou que os telespectadores não são passivos em relação aos conteúdos científicos dos programas telejornalísticos. De modo geral, o público se interessa por CT&I e sabe avaliar qualitativamente as matérias. Analisar como as matérias sobre CT&I produzem sentidos e qual a contribuição que estas podem dar à Compreensão Pública da Ciência possibilitou reflexões relevantes sobre as limitações e os potenciais da televisão e das mensagens veiculadas, assim como o interesse e a visão crítica a respeito dos assuntos de CT&I.(AU)

A Ciência nos Telejornais Brasileiros (O papel educativo e a compreensão pública das matérias de CT&I)

Este trabalho investiga a cobertura de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação (CT&I) nos telejornais brasileiros de canal aberto, no horário nobre (das 19h15 às 22h), para verificar a função educativa da mídia na abordagem de assuntos de CT&I. O corpus desta pesquisa compõe-se de um recorte dos seguintes telejornais: Jornal da Band, Jornal Nacional, Jornal da Record, Jornal da Cultura e SBT Brasil. A proposta foi avaliar, comparativamente, as matérias jornalísticas que tratam especificamente de CT&I, em relação ao formato, à linguagem e aos conteúdos de cada um dos programas estudados. Este trabalho empregou a metodologia de Análise de Discurso de linha Francesa (AD). Esta pesquisa, de natureza qualitativa, também englobou um Estudo de Recepção sobre as reportagens selecionadas. O procedimento utilizado para isso foi o de Grupos Focais. Dessa forma, buscou-se analisar o processo de Comunicação que envolve as matérias telejornalísticas de CT&I das mensagens à recepção. Este estudo verificou que CT&I é um assunto presente nos telejornais brasileiros mesmo quando ocorrem fatos imprevisíveis (de outras editorias) que influenciam significativamente a cobertura dos noticiários televisivos. Constatou também que não há, entre os telejornais selecionados, um padrão de aprofundamento e contextualização dos assuntos CT&I, mas que a abordagem varia até dentro de uma única edição. As emissoras, mesmo reconhecendo a importância de CT&I, ainda oscilam entre uma abordagem contextualizada e a simples descrição do fato principal. A linguagem empregada pelos telejornais para o tratamento de assuntos de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação é, predominantemente, clara e simples. No entanto, foi possível verificar algumas nuances, com o uso de termos específicos da linguagem científica sem que a matéria oferecesse qualquer explicação sobre tais conceitos. A experiência dos Grupos Focais revelou que os telespectadores não são passivos em relação aos conteúdos científicos dos programas telejornalísticos. De modo geral, o público se interessa por CT&I e sabe avaliar qualitativamente as matérias. Analisar como as matérias sobre CT&I produzem sentidos e qual a contribuição que estas podem dar à Compreensão Pública da Ciência possibilitou reflexões relevantes sobre as limitações e os potenciais da televisão e das mensagens veiculadas, assim como o interesse e a visão crítica a respeito dos assuntos de CT&I.(AU)

O ESTUDANTE DA EAD (EDUCAÇÃO A DISTÂNCIA): UM ESTUDO DE PERFIL E INTERAÇÃO GERACIONAL

A aprendizagem formal e tradicional tem dado lugar a um cenário desafiador no qual educador e educando não comungam do mesmo espaço físico. A Educação a Distância (EAD), ainda é vista como uma solução que agrega cada vez mais alunos de diferentes idades que desejam uma graduação de ensino superior ou a continuidade dela. A pesquisa com o título: “O estudante da EAD (educação a distância): um estudo de perfil e interação geracional” propõe conhecer as características do perfil atual do estudante da EAD, abordando o diálogo entre as gerações no ambiente social escolar. O enfoque da pesquisa é qualitativa, exploratória e descritiva com dados que foram coletados através de entrevista com 08 alunos das gerações X e Y para assim entender se este perfil tem sido renovado com alunos mais jovens, do que a faixa etária de 25 a 45 anos. O resultado demonstra que alunos na faixa de 17 a 24 anos a cada ano aumentam 1% das matrículas. Já a faixa de 25 a 45 anos prevalece com 70% das matrículas. Portanto, este resultado revela que o perfil do aluno EAD ainda é o do jovem adulto, para adulto mais experiente, que busca a graduação com o propósito de progressão no ambiente profissional. As duas gerações citadas geração X e geração Y, mesmo em contextos históricos diferenciados de valores, crenças e comportamentos participam atualmente de uma transformação social que contempla os meios de produção do trabalho, a formação educacional e as relações sociais. O diálogo intergeracional direciona a um aprendizado compartilhado, participativo na troca de experiências mutuas. Para a geração X o jovem atual não é mais nomeado como o que precisa escutar e aprender, mas tem muito a partilhar, principalmente diante da facilidade com os meios tecnológicos. E para a geração Y, na partilha não há barreiras de idade, mas a segurança de interagir e se comunicar diante da troca de experiências

Desenvolvimento de video educativo para a aprendizagem do autocateterismo vesical intermitente

A bexiga neurogênica é uma disfunção vesical decorrente principalmente da lesão medular. O cateterismo vesical intermitente é o tratamento mais indicado na atualidade, deve ser realizado de 4 a 6 vezes ao dia, durante toda a vida, visando a proteção do trato urinário superior e a aquisição da continência urinária. Na reabilitação desses indivíduos, a autocateterização vesical é um desafio enfrentado na busca pela autonomia, privacidade, inserção social e participação. Os vídeos educativos são utilizados para o aprendizado do autocateterismo em vários países, por serem de fácil utilização e acesso via internet. Apesar disso, não existem vídeos realizados para o contexto brasileiro, levando em consideração os cateteres urinários e a técnica utilizada no Brasil. Este estudo teve como objetivo desenvolver e validar um vídeo educativo para a realização do autocateterismo vesical intermitente limpo. Trata-se de um estudo quantitativo, desenvolvido em duas fases: 1ª fase com a avaliação de vídeos educativos públicos direcionados para a aprendizagem do autocateterismo vesical intermitente com a técnica limpa; e 2ª Fase, com o desenvolvimento e validação de um vídeo educativo voltado para aprendizagem do autocateterismo. O levantamento dos vídeos utilizou um site de compartilhamento de vídeos utilizando o descritor \"autocateterismo\". Os vídeos foram avaliados por três juízes da área de saúde. O processo de desenvolvimento e validação do roteiro do vídeo educativo utilizou questionários previamente ratificados. Participaram dessas etapas, respectivamente, 18 e 17 juízes experts em reabilitação e/ou no ensino em saúde. O levantamento mostrou que apenas 3,5% (172) do total de vídeos disponíveis no site pesquisado eram voltados para o aprendizado do autocateterismo no contexto brasileiro. Seis vídeos eram específicos para o autocateterismo, dos quais quatro tinham informações desatualizadas ou incorretas, apenas dois atingiram a pontuação aceitável. Na validação do roteiro observou-se um predomínio de participantes do sexo feminino (94,44%), com idade de 30 a 60 anos, dos quais 72,22% possuíam mestrado e 50% atuavam há mais de cinco anos na área de reabilitação. O roteiro foi considerado validado com 96,29% das respostas dos juízes \"concordo\" ou \"concordo totalmente\" nas questões referentes ao quesito objetivo, 91,09% para quesito conteúdo, 98,12% em relação ao quesito relevância, 75% quanto ao quesito ambiente, 71,11% no quesito linguagem verbal e 92,70% referente à inclusão de tópicos. A produção do vídeo contou com uso de tecnologia 3D e apoio de uma equipe técnica especializada. No que se refere à validação do conteúdo do vídeo educativo, o conteúdo do vídeo foi considerado validado com 100% dos juízes que responderam \"concordo\" ou \"concordo totalmente\" nas questões referentes à funcionalidade, 86,27% referentes à usabilidade, 97,06% no quesito eficiência, 100% para técnica audiovisual, 94,11% quanto ao ambiente e 97,05% procedimento. O vídeo educativo foi avaliado positivamente tanto pela qualidade das informações quanto pela didática do ensino, mostrando a relevância da validação de materiais educativos. A expectativa é disseminar o vídeo educativo em diferentes centros de reabilitação e Universidades, visando propagar e tornar o conhecimento sobre a temática mais acessível à sociedade e aos profissionais de saúde, em especial os de reabilitação. Além de incentivar e embasar metodologicamente o desenvolvimento de outros vídeos educativos na área da saúde

Characterization of goniochromism: current status and pending challenges

Clase invitada impartida en marzo 2011 en la asignatura "Colour on industry" del máster Erasmus Mundus "Color in Informaticas and Media Technology" en la Universidad de Granada.