Propuesta de organización y revisión de tratamiento didáctico de los cursos de ciclo medio.

El proyecto tiene como finalidad reorganizar el ciclo medio de la EGB y facilitar la homogeneidad del quinto curso integrado por alumnos que no han superado los objetivos del ciclo inicial. En el desarrollo de la experiencia se organizan cinco grupos de carácter móvil y flexible en función de los progresos de los alumnos y según el nivel de adquisición de técnicas instrumentales. Estos alumnos, en horario de mañana, se reúnen con la profesora de apoyo, y realizan actividades y ejercicios de recuperación. Sobre todo se incide en la adquisición de destrezas lingüísticas y matemáticas, (el proyecto adjunta en las páginas 32-40 una programación vertical para el área de lengua y en las páginas 41-51 una para el de matemáticas). Después de asistir a estas sesiones de refuerzo y recuperación los alumnos se incorporan a sus respectivas aulas. La valoración del proyecto es positiva ya que se ha observado una mejoría en los alumnos retrasados, pero el trabajo realizado con ellos no tendría una verdadera repercusión si no hay una continuación de la experiencia en años sucesivos.

El medio físico : topografía y relieve.

Este material puede tener una utilización amplia, tanto en sentido vertical (aplicarse a los distintos cursos y niveles con las debidas adaptaciones ), como en el horizontal (trabajo interdisciplinar en el que colaboren las distintas asignaturas que se interesen por el medio físico. Su abanico de posibilidades es extenso: desde EGB a BUP; desde programaciones de ciencias Sociales hasta otras de Ciencias Naturales. La estructuración del contenido de la carpeta comprende 4 capítulos subdivididos en un total de 14 secciones. Tras la introducción, comienza presentando los instrumentos básicos para el estudio del relieve y sus elementos fundamentales, y pasa, después, a su análisis pormenorizado, desde el tiempo geológico al modelado actual. Con este esquema general, en cada apartado se hace un planteamiento del tema, una presentación de los materiales, y una serie de sugerencias para su utilización en clase. Los materiales en sí contienen textos significativos, modelos y tipos característicos de formas del relieve (diapositivas, bloques, diagramas), croquis y perfiles topográficos y una variada serie de mapas topográficos, fotografías aéreas, etc. A la hora de ilustrar ejemplos se ha dado preferencia a los españoles. La carpeta se cierra con una sección dedicada a la 'acción del hombre sobre el medio' y un Vocabulario.

Technoflow among spanish and swedish students : a confirmatory factor multigroup analysis. 'Tecnoflow en estudiantes españoles y suecos : un análisis factorial confirmatorio con análisis multigrupo'.

Este artículo pertenece a una sección de la revista dedicada a psicología social. - Resumen tomado parcialmente de la revista

Un modelo alternativo al algoritmo vertical de la multiplicación : el algoritmo de red.

La autora, tras revisar las teorías sobre la adquisición de la multiplicación, el proceso de construcción de las relaciones multiplicativas, y partiendo de una experiencia con niños sobre la utilización del algoritmo tipo red (S. XV) para un mejor aprendizaje de la multiplicación aritmética, inicia su investigación partiendo de la hipótesis de que este método basado en el producto cartesiano, se ajusta mejor a las estructuras del pensamiento, y por tanto, permite una mejor comprensión también en sujetos adultos. Compuesta por 17 sujetos entre 26 y 52 años, 16 mujeres y 1 hombre, pertenecientes a Educación Permanente de Adultos de Elda (Alicante), aunque la investigación sólo la finalizaron 4 sujetos por muerte experimental del 76'5 por ciento. La investigación utiliza un diseño de pretest-postest. Pruebas 'ad hoc' utilizadas en el pretest-postest que consistían en una serie de ítems que, independientemente dan información sobre los distintos aspectos de la multiplicación. Programa escolar utilizado para la enseñanza de la multiplicación. Resolución de problemas reales, cotidianos, de los sujetos por medio de la operación de multiplicar. Análisis cualitativo de los datos comparados en el pretest y el postest, enumeración de los progresos y/o estancamientos de los sujetos de la investigación. El método del algoritmo en red sí permite la capacitación de los individuos pues posibilita la construcción de estructuras multiplicativas. Desde el punto de vista empírico esto es válido, aunque, en los sujetos de esta investigación, debido a sus especiales características no ha podido ser discriminativo para la comprobación de la hipótesis. Aunque el algoritmo empleado ha favorecido la comprensión de la multiplicación, no ha motivado suficientemente a los sujetos por diversos motivos: A) No se ajusta a sus intereses que son el aprendizaje de las tablas de multiplicar. B) Confunden rapidez con efectividad. C) No tiene relación con las nociones anteriores sobre el tema. D) Siguen anclados en estructuras aditivas por lo que no encuentran significado a otra entidad matemática.

Multilevel bootstrap analysis with assumptions violated

Resumen tomado de la publicación

Exploratory factor analysis in validation studies : Uses and recommendations

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n

Significado sedimentológico de los niveles con Assilinas de la Formación Armancies (Eoceno medio) y sus equivalentes laterales

In this paper we show some sedimentological characteristics of Assilina beds from Armancies Fm. (middle Eocene) and their lateral equivalents that let us to remark some aspects of their genesis. We arrive to the conclusion that, in occidental sector (Bagá-Campdevanol), ‘las barras de Assilinas’ from the Armancies Fm. are grain flow channels, first sedimented at W of Terrades and after slided, from E to W in a turbidite basin, without any coarse clastic

The biometeorology of high-altitude insect layers.

Flight at high altitude is part of a migration strategy that maximises insect population displacement. This thesis represents the first substantial analysis of insect migration and layering in Europe. Vertical-looking entomological radar has revealed specific characteristics of high-altitude flight: in particular layering (where a large proportion of the migrating insects are concentrated in a narrow altitude band). The meteorological mechanisms underpinning the formation of these layers are the focus of this thesis. Aerial netting samples and radar data revealed four distinct periods of high-altitude insect migration: dawn, daytime, dusk, and night-time. The most frequently observed nocturnal profiles during the summertime were layers. It is hypothesised that nocturnal layers initiate at a critical altitude (200–500 m above ground level) and time (20:00–22:00 hours UTC). Case study analysis, statistical analysis, and a Lagrangian trajectory model showed that nocturnal insect layers probably result from the insects’ response to meteorological conditions. Temperature was the variable most correlated with nocturnal insect layer presence and intensity because insects are poikilothermic, and temperatures experienced during high-altitude migration in temperate climates are expected to be marginal for many insects’ flight. Hierarchical effects were detected such that other variables—specifically wind speed—were only correlated with insect layer presence and intensity once temperatures were warm. The trajectory model developed comprised: (i) insect flight characteristics; (ii) turbulent winds (which cause vertical spread of the layer); and (iii) mean wind speed, which normally leads to horizontal displacements of hundreds of kilometres in a single migratory flight. This thesis has revealed that there is considerable migratory activity over the UK in the summer months, and a range of fascinating phenomena can be observed (including layers). The UK has moved from one of the least studied to perhaps the best studied environments of aerial insect migration and layering in the world.

Analysis of convectively-generated gravity waves in mesoscale model simulations and wind profiler observations

The characteristics of convectively-generated gravity waves during an episode of deep convection near the coast of Wales are examined in both high resolution mesoscale simulations [with the (UK) Met Oce Unified Model] and in observations from a Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere (MST) wind profiling Doppler radar. Deep convection reached the tropopause and generated vertically propagating, high frequency waves in the lower stratosphere that produced vertical velocity perturbations O(1 m/s). Wavelet analysis is applied in order to determine the characteristic periods and wavelengths of the waves. In both the simulations and observations, the wavelet spectra contain several distinct preferred scales indicated by multiple spectral peaks. The peaks are most pronounced in the horizontal spectra at several wavelengths less than 50 km. Although these peaks are most clear and of largest amplitude in the highest resolution simulations (with 1 km horizontal grid length), they are also evident in coarser simulations (with 4 km horizontal grid length). Peaks also exist in the vertical and temporal spectra (between approximately 2.5 and 4.5 km, and 10 to 30 minutes, respectively) with good agreement between simulation and observation. Two-dimensional (wavenumber-frequency) spectra demonstrate that each of the selected horizontal scales contains peaks at each of preferred temporal scales revealed by the one- dimensional spectra alone.

A new look at stratospheric sudden warmings. Part III. Polar vortex evolution and vertical structure

The evolution of the Arctic polar vortex during observed major mid-winter stratospheric sudden warmings (SSWs) is investigated for the period 1957-2002, using European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ERA-40 Ertel’s potential vorticity (PV) and temperature fields. Time-lag composites of vertically weighted PV, calculated relative to the SSW onset time, are derived for both vortex displacement SSWs and vortex splitting SSWs, by averaging over the 15 recorded displacement and 13 splitting events. The evolving vertical structure of the polar vortex during a typical SSW of each type is clearly illustrated by plotting an isosurface of the composite PV field, and is shown to be very close to that observed during representative individual events. Results are verified by comparison with an elliptical diagnostic vortex moment technique. For both types of SSW, little variation is found between individual events in the orientation of the developing vortex relative to the underlying topography, i.e. the location of the vortex during SSWs of each type is largely fixed in relation to the Earth’s surface. During each type of SSW, the vortex is found to have a distinctive vertical structure. Vortex splitting events are typically barotropic, with the vortex split occurring near-simultaneously over a large altitude range (20-40 km). In the majority of cases, of the two daughter vortices formed, it is the ‘Siberian’ vortex that dominates over its ‘Canadian’ counterpart. In contrast, displacement events are characterized by a very clear baroclinic structure; the vortex tilts significantly westward with height, so that the top and bottom of the vortex are separated by nearly 180◦ longitude before the upper vortex is sheared away and destroyed.

Radar studies of the vertical distribution of insects migrating over southern Britain: the influence of temperature inversions on nocturnal layer concentrations

Insects migrating over two sites in southern UK (Malvern in Worcestershire, and Harpenden in Hertfordshire) have been monitored continuously with nutating vertical-looking radars (VLRs) equipped with powerful control and analysis software. These observations make possible, for the first time, a systematic investigation of the vertical distribution of insect aerial density in the atmosphere, over temporal scales ranging from the short (instantaneous vertical profiles updated every 15 min) to the very long (profiles aggregated over whole seasons or even years). In the present paper, an outline is given of some general features of insect stratification as revealed by the radars, followed by a description of occasions during warm nights in the summer months when intense insect layers developed. Some of these nocturnal layers were due to the insects flying preferentially at the top of strong surface temperature inversions, and in other cases, layering was associated with higher-altitude temperature maxima, such as those due to subsidence inversions. The layers were formed from insects of a great variety of sizes, but peaks in the mass distributions pointed to a preponderance of medium-sized noctuid moths on certain occasions.

Factors controlling the distribution of ozone in the West African lower troposphere during the AMMA (African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis) wet season campaign

Ozone and its precursors were measured on board the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe 146 Atmospheric Research Aircraft during the monsoon season 2006 as part of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) campaign. One of the main features observed in the west African boundary layer is the increase of the ozone mixing ratios from 25 ppbv over the forested area (south of 12° N) up to 40 ppbv over the Sahelian area. We employ a two-dimensional (latitudinal versus vertical) meteorological model coupled with an O3-NOx-VOC chemistry scheme to simulate the distribution of trace gases over West Africa during the monsoon season and to analyse the processes involved in the establishment of such a gradient. Including an additional source of NO over the Sahelian region to account for NO emitted by soils we simulate a mean NOx concentration of 0.7 ppbv at 16° N versus 0.3 ppbv over the vegetated region further south in reasonable agreement with the observations. As a consequence, ozone is photochemically produced with a rate of 0.25 ppbv h−1 over the vegetated region whilst it reaches up to 0.75 ppbv h−1 at 16° N. We find that the modelled gradient is due to a combination of enhanced deposition to vegetation, which decreases the ozone levels by up to 11 pbbv, and the aforementioned enhanced photochemical production north of 12° N. The peroxy radicals required for this enhanced production in the north come from the oxidation of background CO and CH4 as well as from VOCs. Sensitivity studies reveal that both the background CH4 and partially oxidised VOCs, produced from the oxidation of isoprene emitted from the vegetation in the south, contribute around 5–6 ppbv to the ozone gradient. These results suggest that the northward transport of trace gases by the monsoon flux, especially during nighttime, can have a significant, though secondary, role in determining the ozone gradient in the boundary layer. Convection, anthropogenic emissions and NO produced from lightning do not contribute to the establishment of the discussed ozone gradient.

Structural analysis of PEO-PBO copolymer monolayers at the air-water interface

X-ray reflectivity (XR) and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD) have been used to examine an oxyethylene-b-oxybutylene (E23B8) copolymer film at the air-water interface. The XR data were fitted using both a one- and a two-layer model that outputted the film thickness, roughness, and electron density. The best fit to the experimental data was obtained using a two-layer model (representing the oxyethylene and oxybutylene blocks, respectively), which showed a rapid thickening of the copolymer film at pressures above 7 mN/m. The large roughness values found indicate a significant degree of intermixing between the blocks and back up the GIXD data, which showed no long range lateral ordering within the layer. It was found from the electron density model results that there is a large film densification at 7 mN/m, possibly suggesting conformational changes within the film, even though no such change occurs on the pressure-area isotherm at the same surface pressure.

Factors controlling the distribution of ozone in the West African lower troposphere during the AMMA (African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis) wet season campaign

Ozone and its precursors were measured on board the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe 146 Atmospheric Research Aircraft during the monsoon season 2006 as part of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) campaign. One of the main features observed in the west African boundary layer is the increase of the ozone mixing ratios from 25 ppbv over the forested area (south of 12 degrees N) up to 40 ppbv over the Sahelian area. We employ a two-dimensional ( latitudinal versus vertical) meteorological model coupled with an O-3-NOx-VOC chemistry scheme to simulate the distribution of trace gases over West Africa during the monsoon season and to analyse the processes involved in the establishment of such a gradient. Including an additional source of NO over the Sahelian region to account for NO emitted by soils we simulate a mean NOx concentration of 0.7 ppbv at 16 degrees N versus 0.3 ppbv over the vegetated region further south in reasonable agreement with the observations. As a consequence, ozone is photochemically produced with a rate of 0.25 ppbv h(-1) over the vegetated region whilst it reaches up to 0.75 ppbv h(-1) at 16 degrees N. We find that the modelled gradient is due to a combination of enhanced deposition to vegetation, which decreases the ozone levels by up to 11 pbbv, and the aforementioned enhanced photochemical production north of 12 degrees N. The peroxy radicals required for this enhanced production in the north come from the oxidation of background CO and CH4 as well as from VOCs. Sensitivity studies reveal that both the background CH4 and partially oxidised VOCs, produced from the oxidation of isoprene emitted from the vegetation in the south, contribute around 5-6 ppbv to the ozone gradient. These results suggest that the northward transport of trace gases by the monsoon flux, especially during nighttime, can have a significant, though secondary, role in determining the ozone gradient in the boundary layer. Convection, anthropogenic emissions and NO produced from lightning do not contribute to the establishment of the discussed ozone gradient.

Theoretical and experimental investigation of wall confluent jets ventilation and comparison with wall displacement ventilation

This paper reports CFD and experimental results of the characteristics of wall confluent jets in a room. The results presented show the behaviour of wall confluent jets in the form of velocity profiles, the spreading rate of jets on the surface, jets decay, etc. The empirical equations derived are compared with other types of air jets. In addition, the flow in wall confluent jets is compared with the flow in displacement ventilation supply, with regards to the vertical and horizontal spreading on the floor. It is concluded that the jet momentum of wall confluent jets can be more conserved than other jets. Thus, wall confluent jets have a greater spread over the floor than displacement flow.