Colaboración empresa-universidad a través del APS:

This paper deals with a service-learning experience (SLA) that attempts to explore fields other than the traditional ones, while taking into account everything that has already been contributed in a solid way in the path taken in this field.Before the development of this experience, a double question arose: can the company and the world of entrepreneurship be an optimal place for service-learning and, more specifically, can it be developed from a publishing house?There are many contrasting experiences of PHC that are promoted by different social organizations and that connect with the university orviceversa; likewise, those others, fundamentally of practices, that from thecompany support and complete the university training. However, considering that there is a positive response to the questions posed, it orients us towards a type of training different from the ones presented, since it would require, on the one hand, that the company offer a product of a social nature (which can find friction with its intrinsic need for subsistence and economic gains) and on the other hand, that the University involve its students in the elaboration of that product (when it, as an institution, is not concerned with the creation of products, but rather with thepromotion of learning among its students).The publishing company Didacbookand the University Abat Oliba- CEU have undertaken a journey to answer the questions raised. Their shared pedagogical environment has provided a common space for innovative exploration in APS. This article presents their main findings and prospective.En este trabajo se aborda una experiencia de aprendizaje-Servicio (APS) que intenta explorar campos distintos a los tradicionales, si bien teniendo en cuenta todo lo que ya se ha aportado de forma sólida en el camino recorrido en este ámbito. Antes del desarrollo de la misma se planteaba una pregunta doble: ¿puede ser la empresa y el mundo del emprendimiento un lugar óptimo para el aprendizaje-servicio? ¿Y concretamente, se puede desarrollar desde una editorial? Son abundantes y contrastadas las experiencias de APS que se impulsan desde distintas organizaciones de carácter social y que conectan con la Universidad o viceversa; de igual forma, aquellas otras, fundamentalmente de prácticas, que desde la empresa apoyan y completan la formación universitaria. Sin embargo, considerar que existe una respuesta positiva a las preguntas planteadas nos orienta hacia un tipo de formación distinta a las expuestas,ya queexigiría por un lado alaempresa ofrecer un producto decaráctersocial (lo cual puedeencontrar fricción con su necesidad intrínseca de subsistencia y cuenta de ganancias económicas) y por otro a la Universidad la participación de su alumnado en la elaboración de ese producto (cuando per se ella, como institución, no se ocupa de la creación de productos, sino más bien de la promoción del aprendizaje entre sus estudiantes). La empresa editorial Didacbook y la Universidad Abat Oliba - CEU desde su grado de Magisterio han emprendido un camino para dar respuesta a las preguntas planteadas. Su compartido ámbito pedagógico ha propiciado un espacio común de exploración novedoso en APS. En este artículo se exponen sus principales hallazgos y prospectiva

Repeated Acceleration Ability (RAA): A new concept with reference to top-level field and assistant soccer referees

PURPOSE: To perform an exploratory characterization of repeated sprint sequences (RSS) and repeated acceleration sequences (RAS) in top level soccer referees. METHODS: 7 field and 7 assistant referees were monitored during 2007 America's Soccer Cup with GPS technology. Sprints of >18 km·h(-1) and accelerations of >1.5 m·s(-2) were considered as high intensity activities. RSS and RAS were defined as a minimum of 3 consecutive bouts interspersed with a maximum of 45 s. RESULTS: Field and assistant referees performed substantially more accelerations than sprints. Neither field nor assistant referees recorded any RSS. In contrast, total distance performing RAS amounted to ∼37% and ∼20% of the total distance covered by accelerations during the entire match for field and assistant referees, respectively. Only field referees exhibited fatigue-related reductions in RAS characteristics between halves. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study would appear to support the appropriateness of a repeated acceleration ability (RAA) concept, instead of the repeated sprint ability (RSA) concept, in soccer referees. Further studies should assess RAS in referees and athletes of different team sports for designing better training exercises and physiological testing

Gas exchange at whole plant level shows that a less conservative water use is linked to a higher performance in three ecologically distinct pine species

Increasing temperatures and decreasing precipitation in large areas of the planet as a consequence of global warming will affect plant growth and survival. However, the impact of climatic conditions will differ across species depending on their stomatal response to increasing aridity, as this will ultimately affect the balance between carbon assimilation and water loss. In this study, we monitored gas exchange, growth and survival in saplings of three widely distributed European pine species (Pinus halepensis, P. nigra and P. sylvestris) with contrasting distribution and ecological requirements in order to ascertain the relationship between stomatal control and plant performance. The experiment was conducted in a common garden environment resembling rainfall and temperature conditions that two of the three species are expected to encounter in the near future. In addition, gas exchange was monitored both at the leaf and at the whole-plant level using a transient-state closed chamber, which allowed us to model the response of the whole plant to increased air evaporative demand (AED). P. sylvestris was the species with lowest survival and performance. By contrast, P. halepensis showed no mortality, much higher growth (two orders of magnitude), carbon assimilation (ca. 14 fold higher) and stomatal conductance and water transpiration (ca. 4 fold higher) than the other two species. As a consequence, P. halepensis exhibited higher values of water-use efficiency than the rest of the species even at the highest values of AED. Overall, the results strongly support that the weaker stomatal control of P. halepensis, which is linked to lower stem water potential, enabled this species to maximize carbon uptake under drought stress and ultimately outperform the more water conservative P. nigra and P. sylvestris. These results suggest that under a hotter drought scenario P. nigra and P. sylvestris would very likely suffer increased mortality, whereas P. halepensis could maintain gas exchange and avoid water-induced growth limitation. This might ultimately foster an expansion of P. halepensis to higher latitudes and elevations.This work was supported by the projects ECOLPIN (AGL2011–24296) and Remedinal 3 (S2013/ MAE- 2719) of the Madrid Government, by a FPU fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (FPU13/03410) to DS and by EU Marie Curie (FP7–2013-IOF-625988) fellowship to EPSC

Climate- and successional-related changes in functional composition of European forests are strongly driven by tree mortality

Intense droughts combined with increased temperatures are one of the major threats to forest persistence in the 21st century. Despite the direct impact of climate change on forest growth and shifts in species abundance, the effect of altered demography on changes in the composition of functional traits is not well known. We sought to: (1) quantify the recent changes in functional composition of European forests; (2) identify the relative importance of climate change, mean climate and forest development for changes in functional composition; and (3) analyse the roles of tree mortality and growth underlying any functional changes in different forest types. We quantified changes in functional composition from the 1980s to the 2000s across Europe by two dimensions of functional trait variation: the first dimension was mainly related to changes in leaf mass per area and wood density (partially related to the trait differences between angiosperms and gymnosperms), and the second dimension related to changes in maximum tree height. Our results indicate that climate change and mean climatic effects strongly interacted with forest development and it was not possible to completely disentangle their effects. Where recent climate change was not too extreme, the patterns of functional change generally followed the expected patterns under secondary succession (e.g. towards late-successional short-statured hardwoods in Mediterranean forests and taller gymnosperms in boreal forests) and latitudinal gradients (e.g. larger proportion of gymnosperm-like strategies at low water availability in forests formerly dominated by broad-leaved deciduous species). Recent climate change generally favoured the dominance of angiosperm-like related traits under increased temperature and intense droughts. Our results show functional composition changes over relatively short time scales in European forests. These changes are largely determined by tree mortality, which should be further investigated and modelled to adequately predict the impacts of climate change on forest function

Assessment, design, and preparation of lime-based mortars reinforced with Ca(OH)2 and SiO2 nanoparticles for cultural heritage

Trabajo presentado en Green Conservation of Cultural Heritage - 2nd International Conference, celebrada en Palermo (Italia) del 16 al 18 de noviembre de 2017Peer reviewe