Educational Activities for Acquiring Skills in the EEES adapted Degrees

[EN] The main objective of this paper is to describe the performance of a serial of training activities focused on the acquisition of skills by different groups of undergraduate students related to science as a branch of knowledge. Specifically, we used those activities where students receive knowledge, such as theoretical classes (T), computational (PC) and laboratory (PL) sessions, exercises (P), ECTS tutorials and bachelor thesis (TFG). Among the different activities, it must also be highlighted the undergraduate dissertation. The activities were conducted in different courses of the Chemistry degree of the University of Extremadura, in order to obtain information from the different competences that appear in the verification report of this title. Finally, the students filled out a survey giving their opinion about the skills acquired in each of the activities. The results of the experience is that students achieve most of the skills considered in the title. Likewise, the results from the activities considered show that not all skills are achieved and other activities should be considered to cover those deficiencies. The activity that most contributes to the acquisition of transversal competences are laboratory practices, while for specific skills, the activities developed with large group of students (T and P) are the most significant. TFG is the activity that best covers most of competences, especially Basic and General.This work was sponsored by the Consejería de Infraestructuras y Desarrollo Tecnológico de la Junta de Extremadura (Project GR15003).Tolosa, S.; Hidalgo, A.; Ojalvo, EA.; Guiberteau, A. (2017). Educational Activities for Acquiring Skills in the EEES adapted Degrees. Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences. 4(1):47-60. doi:10.4995/muse.2017.6474SWORD47604

Educational Activities for Acquiring Skills in the EEES adapted Degrees

The main objective of this paper is to describe the performance of a serial of training activities focused on the acquisition of skills by different groups of undergraduate students related to science as a branch of knowledge. Specifically, we used those activities where students receive knowledge, such as theoretical classes (T), computational (PC) and laboratory (PL) sessions, exercises (P), ECTS tutorials and bachelor thesis (TFG). Among the different activities, it must also be highlighted the undergraduate dissertation. The activities were conducted in different courses of the Chemistry degree of the University of Extremadura, in order to obtain information from the different competences that appear in the verification report of this title. Finally, the students filled out a survey giving their opinion about the skills acquired in each of the activities. The results of the experience is that students achieve most of the skills considered in the title. Likewise, the results from the activities considered show that not all skills are achieved and other activities should be considered to cover those deficiencies. The activity that most contributes to the acquisition of transversal competences are laboratory practices, while for specific skills, the activities developed with large group of students (T and P) are the most significant. TFG is the activity that best covers most of competences, especially Basic and General

Effect of tert-butylhydroquinone on biodiesel properties during extreme oxidation conditions

The use of alternative sources for fuel production has been gaining attention in the past years. Thus, the role of biodiesel seems to be crucial, as it can contribute to the sustainable economic growth of developing countries. The main raw materials for biodiesel production are vegetable oils, obtaining fatty acid methyl (or ethyl) esters through transesterification with methanol (or ethanol). The properties of these natural feedstocks can influence the quality of biodiesel. Specifically, its oxidative stability is usually low, not complying with the lower limit established by standards. As a consequence, some properties of biodiesel (especially viscosity and acid number) can vary during storage due to oxidation. In order to avoid these undesirable effects, antioxidant addition, as well as the selection of stable oils, is necessary. Among them, tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) is one of the most popular additives. The aim of this work was to assess the evolution of some properties of biodiesel from different sources (cardoon, waste cooking, rapeseed and high-oleic safflower oil) during extreme oxidation conditions, evaluating the effectiveness of TBHQ addition on quality maintenance. As a result, the most unstable samples (cardoon and waste cooking biodiesel) required higher amounts of TBHQ (750 and 450 ppm, respectively) to comply with the standard (induction point = 8 h), whereas high-oleic safflower did not require any addition (induction point = 8.35 h). During extreme oxidation conditions, all the samples kept their viscosity and acid number values when the right amount of TBHQ was added, assuring their quality parameters during storage.- Junta de Extremadura. Ayudas para la realización de actividades de investigación y desarrollo tecnológico, divulgación de transferencia de conocimiento por los Grupos de Investigación de Extremadura) and the FEDER “Fondos Europeos de Desarrollo Regional (Una manera de hacer Europa)” for the financial support received (GR 18150 and IB18028; Project IB20016 and Research Group FMQM003).peerReviewe

Monitoring tert-Butylhydroquinone Content and Its Effect on a Biolubricant during Oxidation

The use of biolubricants as a replacement for petroleum-based products is becoming more and more important, due to the current global energy and crude oil scenario. Thus, the production of biolubricants (which could take place in biorefineries) should be as efficient as possible, obtaining high-quality products with suitable viscosity or oxidation stability values to compete with oil refineries. One of the ways to produce biolubricants is through double transesterification from vegetable oils, where the role of catalysts (usually homogeneous) is vital, as they can improve the yield of the process. However, they should be removed after the chemical reaction, which is difficult once the biolubricant is obtained. Otherwise, they could act as catalysts during oxidation, contributing to a further decrease in oxidation stability and provoking significant changes. To avoid this, antioxidant addition could be an interesting choice. The aim of this work was to assess TBHQ addition in frying oil biolubricants, monitoring properties such as viscosity, acid number, absorbance or TBHQ content (through voltammetry) during oxidation. TBHQ addition (2114 mg·L−1) kept the main quality parameters during oxidation compared to control samples. In contrast, TBHQ content decreased during oxidation (to 160 mg·L−1), which proved its antioxidant effect

Resolution by polarographic techniques of the ternary mixture of captan, captafol and folpet by using PLS calibration and artificial neuronal networks

The simultaneous polarographic determination of the ternary mixture of captan-captafol and folpet is studied. The polarographic signals of these compounds in their mixture show a high overlapping. For this reason different chemometric methods such as PLS, PCR and artificial neuronal network (ANN) have been utilized for the simultaneous determination of these compounds in mixtures. The calibration model is built from solutions containing river water of known pesticide concentrations and the signals obtained by Sampled DC and DPP (differential pulse polarography) have been used. The analysis of both synthetic and real samples (river water) has been carried out by PLS with satisfactory results in most cases. It is possible to determine 0.25 ppm of each pesticide in river water samples after a preconcentration step by extraction into diethyl ether. ANN has also been applied to improve the results obtained by the PLS tool when the sampled DC current is recorded or when liquid-solid extraction with C18 cartridges is performed. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Resolution by polarographic techniques of atrazine-simazine and terbutryn-prometryn binary mixtures by using PLS calibration and artificial neural networks

SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Análisis interuniversitario de los estudios de Químicas : postgrados

Se realiza un análisis interuniversitario de los estudios de Químicas. El primer objetivo: el estado del suplemento europeo al título (SET) en cada universidad para los estudios de Química. Se analiza el marco normativo de ambos países (España y Portugal) y se ve el estado de desarrollo que tiene cada universidad. Sólo la Universidad de Tras os Montes do Alto Duoro tenía desarrollado e implantado un modelo, el cuál merece una distinción a nivel europeo por lo que constituye un excelente punto de partida. En la Universidad de Burgos también existen unas pautas del vicerrectorado de ordenación académica para su puesta en funcionamiento pero faltaba el desarrollo para el caso concreto de los estudios de químicas. Posteriormente se considera que el modelo existente en la Universidad Tras os Montes do Alto Duoro es un excelente documento que puede asumirse en todas las universidades. El documento SET considerado se traslada a la Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad de Burgos para ser analizado por el consejo de titulación. Otro de los objetivos consistió en proponer un esquema para un curso de postgrado. Se acordó desarrollar un proyecto de máster en torno a la industria agroalimentaria. Se propone como título Tecnología de la química agroalimentaria y se diseña pensando en dirigirlo a un amplio abanico de titulados. Finalmente se presenta el esquema global del curso.Castilla y LeónConsejería de Educación. Dirección General de Universidades e Investigación; Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de Prado, Autovía Puente Colgante s. n.; 47071 Valladolid; +34983411881; +34983411939;ES