Innovación didáctica enmarcada en el aprendizaje basado en problemas (ABP) para la enseñanza de la Biología

The theoretical-conceptual and methodological components in this article, come mainly from an experience of three years of work with the PBL methodology that was part of a research oriented from the Master's in education SUE Caribbean of the University of Córdoba, with the purpose of determining the influence of the PBL methodology in the development of the scientific competence of ninth grade students in the area of Natural Sciences / Biology. The study is framed within the quasi-experimental design of chronological series with 4 evaluations (one pre and three post) with two intact groups: one experimental group (used the PBL methodology) and one control group (did not use the PBL), each one conformed by 30 students. The measuring instruments were questionnaires questions with multiple-choice only response. For the analysis of the result, ANOVA intra and inter-group was performed. The results obtained throughout the research process could establish that the implementation of the PBL approach allowed the appropriation of theories, contents and knowledge with which the student faced problems situations in which he required to investigate, explain and apply comprehensively. and responsibly the acquired knowledge, substantially improving the scientific competence in the students of the experimental group compared to the results of the control group. Los componentes teóricos-conceptuales y metodológicos en este artículo, provienen principalmente de una experiencia de tres años de trabajo con la metodología ABP como parte de una investigación orientada desde la Maestría en educación SUE Caribe IX cohorte de la Universidad de Córdoba, con el propósito de determinar la influencia de la metodología ABP en el desarrollo de la competencia científica de los estudiantes de Noveno grado en el área de las Ciencias Naturales/Biología. El estudio está enmarcado dentro del diseño cuasiexperimental de series cronológicas con 4 evaluaciones (una pre y tres post) con dos grupos intactos: un grupo experimental (usó la metodología ABP) y un grupo control (no usó el ABP), cada uno conformado por 30 estudiantes. Los instrumentos de medición fueron cuestionarios con 20 preguntas de selección múltiple única respuesta. Para el análisis de resultado se realizó ANOVA intra e inter-grupo. Los resultados obtenidos a lo largo del proceso de la investigación pudieron establecer que la implementación del enfoque ABP permitió la apropiación de teorías, contenidos y saberes con los que el estudiante afrontó de mejor manera situaciones problemas en las cuales requirió de indagar, explicar y aplicar comprensiva y responsablemente los conocimientos adquiridos, mejorando sustancialmente la competencia científica en los estudiantes del grupo experimental en comparación con los resultados del grupo control

Microwave extraction of bioactive compounds

Mikrovalna ekstrakcija predstavlja novu tehniku tretiranja i procesiranja prehrambenih proizvoda. U radu su prikazani primjeri mikrovalne ekstrakcije bioaktivnih spojeva. Prikazan je novi inovativni uređaj za mikrovalnu ekstrakciju i hidrodifuziju s gravitacijom. Prikazane su prednosti korištenja ovog uređaja, a to je kraće vrijeme ekstrakcije i ekstrakcija sa ili bez otapala. Nova metoda je uspoređivana sa standardnim metodama ekstrakcije. Mogu se vidjeti pozitivne i negativne strane mikrovalnog tretiranja te njihov utjecaj na razvoj oksidacije u suncokretovom ulju podvrgnutom mikrovalnom grijanju te uporaba mikrovalova kod ekstrakcije eteričnih ulja. Prikazane su i prednosti mikrovalne ekstrakcije eteričnih ulja iz aromatskog bilja bez uporabe otapala u usporedbi sa standardnom ekstrakcijom te određivanje antioksidativnih komponenata u ulju rižinih mekinja ekstrahiranih metodom mikrovalova. Opisana je usporedba mikrovalova i ultrazvuka, te pozitivne i negativne strane kombinacije mikrovalova i ultrazvuka.Microwave extraction presents novel extraction and treatment method for food processing. In paper, several examples of microwave extraction of bioactive compounds are presented. Also, novel innovative equipment for microwave extraction and hydrodiffusion with gravitation is presented. Advantage of using novel equipment for microwave extraction is shown, and it include, shorter treatment time, less usage or without any solvent use. Novel method is compared to standard extraction methods. Some positive and negative aspects of microwave heating can be observed, and also its influence on development of oxidation in sunflower oil subjected to microwave heating. Also, use of microwaves for the extraction of essential oils is shown. One can also see the advantages of solvent-free microwave extraction of essential oil from aromatic herbs in comparison with the standard extraction, and determination of antioxidant components in rice bran oil extracted by microwave-assisted method. Comparison of microwave and ultrasound extraction, as well as positive and negative aspects of the combination of microwaves and ultrasound is described

Kann bei Rindern Stress bei der Schlachtung durch ein positives Handling in den ersten Lebenstagen vermindert werden?

Die vorliegende Studie untersuchte, ob ein positives Handling innerhalb der ersten Lebenstage bei Mutterkuhkälbern einen stressreduzierenden Effekt auf die Tiere bei der Schlachtung hat

Use of Spectroscopic Techniques to Monitor Changes in Food Quality during Application of Natural Preservatives: A Review

Consumer demand for food of high quality has driven research for alternative methods of food preservation on the one hand, and the development of new and rapid quality assessment techniques on the other hand. Recently, there has been a growing need and interest in healthier food products, which has led to an increased interest in natural preservatives, such as essential oils, plant extracts, and edible films and coatings. Several studies have shown the potential of using biopreservation, natural antimicrobials, and antioxidant agents in place of other processing and preservation techniques (e.g., thermal and non-thermal treatments, freezing, or synthetic chemicals). Changes in food quality induced by the application of natural preservatives have been commonly evaluated using a range of traditional methods, including microbiology, sensory, and physicochemical measurements. Several spectroscopic techniques have been proposed as promising alternatives to the traditional time- consuming and destructive methods. This review will provide an overview of recent studies and highlight the potential of spectroscopic techniques to evaluate quality changes in food products following the application of natural preservatives

Highly efficient separation of actinides from lanthanides by a phenanthroline-derived bis-triazine ligand

The synthesis, lanthanide complexation, and solvent ex- traction of actinide(III) and lanthanide(III) radiotracers from nitric acid solutions by a phenanthroline-derived quadridentate bis-triazine ligand are described. The ligand separates Am(III) and Cm(III) from the lanthanides with remarkably high efficiency, high selectivity, and fast extraction kinetics compared to its 2,2'-bipyridine counterpart. Structures of the 1:2 bis-complexes of the ligand with Eu(III) and Yb(III) were elucidated by X-ray crystallography and force field calculations, respec-tively. The Eu(III) bis-complex is the first 1:2 bis-complex of a quadridentate bis-triazine ligand to be characterized by crystallography. The faster rates of extraction were verified by kinetics measurements using the rotating membrane cell technique in several diluents. The improved kinetics of metal ion extraction are related to the higher surface activity of the ligand at the phase interface. The improvement in the ligand's properties on replacing the bipyridine unit with a phenanthroline unit far exceeds what was anticipated based on ligand design alone

Polyacetylenes from Sardinian Oenanthe fistulosa: A Molecular Clue to risus sardonicus

An investigation of Oenanthe fistulosa from Sardinia afforded oenanthotoxin (1a) and dihydrooenanthotoxin (1b) from the roots and the diacetylenic epoxydiol 2 from the seeds. The absolute configuration of 1a and 1b was established as R by the modified Mosher's method, and the structure of 2 by chemical correlation with (+)-(3R,8S)-falcarindiol. Oenanthotoxin (1a) and dihydrooenanthotoxin (1b) were found to potently block GABAergic responses, providing a molecular rationale for the symptoms of poisoning from water-dropwort (Oenanthe crocata) and related plants. These observations bear relevance for a series of historical and ethnopharmacological observations on the identification of the Sardonic herb and the molecular details of the facial muscular contraction caused by its ingestion (risus sardonicus)

Stratospheric age of air variations between 1600 and 2100

The current understanding of preindustrial stratospheric age of air (AoA), its variability, and the potential natural forcing imprint on AoA is very limited. Here we assess the influence of natural and anthropogenic forcings on AoA using ensemble simulations for the period 1600 to 2100 and sensitivity simulations for different forcings. The results show that from 1900 to 2100, CO₂ and ozone-depleting substances are the dominant drivers of AoA variability. With respect to natural forcings, volcanic eruptions cause the largest AoA variations on time scales of several years, reducing the age in the middle and upper stratosphere and increasing the age below. The effect of the solar forcing on AoA is small and dominated by multidecadal total solar irradiance variations, which correlate negatively with AoA. Additionally, a very weak positive relationship driven by ultraviolett variations is found, which is dominant for the 11 year cycle of solar variability

Forcing of stratospheric chemistry and dynamics during the Dalton Minimum

The response of atmospheric chemistry and dynamics to volcanic eruptions and to a decrease in solar activity during the Dalton Minimum is investigated with the fully coupled atmosphere–ocean chemistry general circulation model SOCOL-MPIOM (modeling tools for studies of SOlar Climate Ozone Links-Max Planck Institute Ocean Model) covering the time period 1780 to 1840 AD. We carried out several sensitivity ensemble experiments to separate the effects of (i) reduced solar ultra-violet (UV) irradiance, (ii) reduced solar visible and near infrared irradiance, (iii) enhanced galactic cosmic ray intensity as well as less intensive solar energetic proton events and auroral electron precipitation, and (iv) volcanic aerosols. The introduced changes of UV irradiance and volcanic aerosols significantly influence stratospheric dynamics in the early 19th century, whereas changes in the visible part of the spectrum and energetic particles have smaller effects. A reduction of UV irradiance by 15%, which represents the presently discussed highest estimate of UV irradiance change caused by solar activity changes, causes global ozone decrease below the stratopause reaching as much as 8% in the midlatitudes at 5 hPa and a significant stratospheric cooling of up to 2°C in the mid-stratosphere and to 6°C in the lower mesosphere. Changes in energetic particle precipitation lead only to minor changes in the yearly averaged temperature fields in the stratosphere. Volcanic aerosols heat the tropical lower stratosphere, allowing more water vapour to enter the tropical stratosphere, which, via HOx reactions, decreases upper stratospheric and mesospheric ozone by roughly 4%. Conversely, heterogeneous chemistry on aerosols reduces stratospheric NOx, leading to a 12% ozone increase in the tropics, whereas a decrease in ozone of up to 5% is found over Antarctica in boreal winter. The linear superposition of the different contributions is not equivalent to the response obtained in a simulation when all forcing factors are applied during the Dalton Minimum (DM) – this effect is especially well visible for NOx/NOy. Thus, this study also shows the non-linear behaviour of the coupled chemistry-climate system. Finally, we conclude that especially UV and volcanic eruptions dominate the changes in the ozone, temperature and dynamics while the NOx field is dominated by the energetic particle precipitation. Visible radiation changes have only very minor effects on both stratospheric dynamics and chemistry

Soot aerosols from commercial aviation engines are poor ice-nucleating particles at cirrus cloud temperatures

Ice-nucleating particles catalyze ice formation in clouds, affecting climate through radiative forcing from aerosol–cloud interactions. Aviation directly emits particles into the upper troposphere where ice formation conditions are favorable. Previous studies have used proxies of aviation soot to estimate their ice nucleation activity; however, investigations with commercial aircraft soot from modern in-use aircraft engines have not been quantified. In this work, we sample aviation soot particles at ground level from different commercial aircraft engines to test their ice nucleation ability at temperatures ≤228 K as a function of engine thrust and soot particle size. Additionally, soot particles were catalytically stripped to reveal the impact of mixing state on their ice nucleation ability. Particle physical and chemical properties were further characterized and related to the ice nucleation properties. The results show that aviation soot nucleates ice at or above relative humidity conditions required for homogeneous freezing of solution droplets (RHhom). We attribute this to a mesopore paucity inhibiting pore condensation and the sulfur content which suppresses freezing. Only large soot aggregates (400 nm) emitted under 30 %–100 % thrust conditions for a subset of engines (2 out of 10) nucleate ice via pore condensation and freezing. For those specific engines, the presence of hydrophilic chemical groups facilitates the nucleation. Aviation soot emitted at thrust ≥ 100 % (sea level thrust) nucleates ice at or above RHhom. Overall, our results suggest that aviation soot will not contribute to natural cirrus formation and can be used in models to update impacts of soot–cirrus clouds.</p

Quantification of thermal ring flexibilities of aromatic and heteroaromatic compounds

The consequences of thermal fluctuations occurring at room temperatures on the aromatic character of a broad group of compounds were analyzed in three distinct ways. First of all, the ring deformations were modeled along normal coordinates coming from quantum thermo-chemistry computations. The amplitudes of vibrations were estimated according to absorbed energies at room temperature. Alternatively, in-plane and out-of-plane ring deformations were modeled via scanning procedure with partial relaxation of the molecular geometry. The influence of ring deformations on π–electron delocalization was expressed in terms of HOMA values. Besides, the ring deformability was defined as the averaged change of bond angles or dihedral angles constituting the ring that was associated with 1.5 kcal mol-1 increase of the system energy. The molecules structures adopted during vibrations at room temperature can lead to significant heterogeneity of structural index of aromaticity. The broad span of HOMA values was obtained for analyzed five- or six-membered aromatic and heteroaromatic rings. However, the averaged values obtained for such fluctuations almost perfectly match HOMA values of molecule in the ground state. It has been demonstrated that the ring deformability imposed by bond angle changes is much smaller than for dihedral angles with the same rise of system energy. Interestingly in the case of out-of-plane vibrations modeled by scanning procedure there is observed linear correlation between ring deformability and HOMA values. Proposed method for inclusion of thermal vibrations in the framework of π–electron delocalization provides natural shift of the way of thinking about aromaticity from a static quantity to a dynamic and heterogeneous one due to inclusion of a more realistic object of analysis – thermally deformed structures. From this perspective the thermal fluctuations are supposed to be non-negligible contributions to aromaticity phenomenon