Cambios sociales y cambios en los comportamientos alimentarios en la España de la segunda mitad del siglo XX

A partir de la evolución de la estructura del gasto alimentario en los hogares españoles a lo largo de los últimos cuarenta, el artículo analiza la relación entre los cambios sociales, económicos, tecnológicos, demogrdficos, ideológicos, sanitarios, de estética corporal, etc. y los cambios habidos en 10s comportamientos alimentarios. Estos cambios permiten caracterizar una ccmodemidad alimentarias cuyos contenidos referirían a una articulación dinámica y compleja entre una revalorizacibn de las tradiciones culinarias y una udlización cada vez más frecuente de los productos elaborados por las industrias alimentarias.

La "Segunda Revolución Verde": algunos elementos para el debate

La noticia del referéndum llevado a cabo enSuiza sobre la utilización de transgénicos en su agricultura, vuelve a poner de actualidad el tema de los organismos modificados genéticamente (OMG). Plantas que crecen en condiciones extremas, que tienen mayores y mejores rendimientos, que generan incluso sus propios insecticidas y herbicidas o son capaces de recuperar suelos contaminados; cereales enriquecidos con vitaminas, con sustancias precursoras o con fármacos, etc., etc., son algunas de las promesas de la llamada "Segunda Revolución Verde", pero también la punta del iceberg. Más allá de la cual se encuentran el "coste" de este tipo de tecnologías, sus efectos colaterales; los sectores implicados, los intereses en juego y también la convergencia con otras ciencias y tecnologías.

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

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

"Epigrafía anfórica de Mas Castellar-Pontós (segunda parte)"

El trabajo que a continuación presentamos es una breve noticia que completa la publicación, iniciada en esta misma revista (García Sánchez 1997), del corpus de inscripciones impresas sobre ánforas halladas en las sucesivas campañas de excavación del yacimiento de Mas Castellar de Pontós (Alt Emporda, Girona), dirigidas por la Dra. Enriqueta Pons i Brun.

Creando comunidades de práctica y conocimiento en la Universidad: una experiencia de trabajo entre las universidades de lengua catalana

En la sociedad actual, la educación y la formación a través de comunidades de práctica, virtuales o presenciales, se convierte en una práctica habitual que, con mayor o menor fortuna, está siendo experimentada en diferentes ám- bitos formativos (en la universidad, en la empresa, en el sistema escolar, en la educación no formal, etc.). Partiendo de la idea de que la misión de la Universidad en los inicios del siglo xxi sigue siendo la difusión del conocimiento científico, consideramos que la creación de comunidades de práctica es un reto necesario a asumir por todos los profesionales de la educación y la formación, dado que a través de ellas se puede, por una parte, transferir y generar nuevo conocimiento y por otra, lograr mejores prácticas en el campo de la investigación y la docencia. Todo este planteamiento nos permite avalar la necesidad de desarrollar un trabajo que tenga como finalidad la conformación de una comunidad de práctica entre profesores universitarios, noveles y experimentados.

Estudio comparativo del diseño de cuatro tratamientos ortopodológicos para la descarga de la segunda cabeza metatarsal

En este artículo se analizan los resultados obtenidos mediante un sistema de plantillas instrumentadas (Biofoot-IBV) de cuatro diseños diferentes de alternativas terapéuticas para el tratamiento de una sobrecarga de la segunda cabeza metatarsal. Dicho sistema permite obtener datos numéricos precisos y fiables, de los diferentes tratamientos, de las presiones soportadas por la segunda cabeza metatarsal, permitiendo el análisis cuantitativo de estos datos y en consecuencia comprobar cual de ellos es el más efectivo para esta patología.

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

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

La cartografía colonial española durante la Segunda República (1931-1936)

La Segunda República dedicó cuantiosos recursos, económicos y humanos, a la cartografía de las posesiones coloniales. Los sucesivos gobiernos republicanos mantuvieron una fuerte continuidad, organizativa y funcional, en el ámbito de la cartografía colonial, sin que se detecte ningún cambio significativo respecto a los planes trazados en etapas anteriores. La actividad cartográfica continuó centrada en el territorio de Marruecos, y fue protagonizada por una unidad dependiente del Ministerio de la Guerra, la Comisión Geográfica de Marruecos y Límites. En este trabajo, que se apoya en fuentes primarias, se ofrece una descripción del marco institucional de la cartografía colonial durante el período republicano, se identifica a sus artífices, y se da cuenta de los levantamientos cartográficos realizados.

En busca de la lengua perfecta: pasado, presente y futuro

Análisis de las lenguas artificiales más importantes que se han creado a lo largo de la historia con el objetivo de encontrar una lengua perfecta común para todos y presentación del Rodinio, una nueva lengua artificial basada en una serie de criterios en busca de esa perfección.

Abordagem Bayesiana da curva de lactação de cabras Saanen de primeira e segunda ordem de parto

O objetivo deste trabalho foi utilizar o método Bayesiano no ajuste do modelo de Wood a dados de produção de leite de cabras da raça Saanen. Dois grupos de animais da primeira e segunda lactação foram considerados. Amostras das distribuições marginais a posteriori dos parâmetros do modelo de Wood e das funções de produção derivadas desses parâmetros - pico de produção, tempo do pico de produção, persistência e produção total de leite - foram obtidas pelo algoritmo Gibbs Sampler. As inferências foram feitas em cada população e os resultados mostraram diferenças na taxa de decréscimo da produção após o pico e na persistência, indicando maior produção nos animais de segunda lactação. Realizou-se um estudo de simulação de dados para avaliar o método Bayesiano sob diferentes estruturas de matrizes de covariâncias dos parâmetros. Os resultados desse estudo indicam que o método é eficiente no estudo das curvas de lactação quando a matriz de covariância apresenta alta correlação dos parâmetros.