CALL-enhanced L2 listening skills – aiming for automatization in a multimedia environment

Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and L2 listening comprehension skill training are bound together for good. A neglected macroskill for decades, developing listening comprehension skill is now considered crucial for L2 acquisition. Thus this paper makes an attempt to offer latest information on processing theories and L2 listening comprehension research, as they are the foundations of our methodological proposal. It also establishes a set of criteria for the design and pedagogical exploitation of online and offline listening materials delivered through the latest technology (DVDs and TV satellite recordings) in order to achieve learners’ automatization of L2 input processing. In this vein, we carry out a gradual approach to take the L2 learner from a lower-intermediate to an advanced L2 listening competence. Finally, an L2 listening comprehension training course delivered through the Labint multimedia digital lab and its online branch is also presente

Quality of Interpreting in criminal proceedings in Spain under European Directive 2010/64/EU

In spite of the proliferation of translation and interpreting degrees in Spanish universities, most court and police interpreting is not carried out by translation and interpreting graduates. This is due to various factors, including the tensions amongst the different legal interpreting (LI) stakeholders—certified LIs, court LIs ; low socioprofessional recognition of court interpreters—often lower than that of unskilled workers and the lack of specific legal interpreting training, due to the foregoing. These conditions have long created a vicious circle. Under the new European Directive1 that has just come into force, and which will have to be transposed to their jurisdictions by European member states by October 2013, every defendant has a right to good quality interpreting. Therefore both the working conditions and the training of interpreters will have to undergo radical transformations in Spain in order to meet the standards set by the Directive, such as the creation of a national register, or perhaps national and regional registers of certified interpreters, and the adoption of a code of conduct. At the same time, the social and professional status and role of legal interpreters in Spain is in need of an urgent update considering the ongoing changes in the situation. Up to now, the system has been dominated by outsourcing of court interpreting services in most Spanish regions. This paper addresses these issues in the light of a number of initiatives that have come from different stakeholders regarding the professional regulation that is needed in the Spanish legal context. The hope is that such initiatives will contribute to a win-win situation for all parties and eliminate unfair practices

On the Bloch space and convolution of functions in the LpL^p-valued case

We introduce the convolution of functions in the vector valued spaces $H^1(L^P)$ and $H^1(L^q)$ by means of Young's Theorem, and we use this to show that Bloch functions taking values in certain space of operators define bilinear bounded maps in the product of those spaces for $1\leq p,q\leq 2$. As a corollary, we get a Marcinkiewicz-Zygmund type result

Memoria prospectiva infantil: Revisión y propuestas

Decenes Jornades de Foment de la Investigació de la FCHS (Any 2004-2005)En la investigación psicológica, hablar de memoria en niños (y en adultos) ha sido sinónimo de hablar de memoria retrospectiva, es decir, de cómo los niños (y los adultos) recuerdan información sobre su pasado. Sin embargo, curiosamente, no se ha prestado tanta atención al estudio de otro tipo de memoria muy necesaria en nuestras vidas cotidianas, la memoria prospectiva. La memoria prospectiva hace referencia a cómo recordamos llevar a cabo alguna acción intencionada en algún momento del futuro (e.g., tomarse una pastilla después del desayuno). En este trabajo, se presenta en primer lugar una breve revisión de las investigaciones evolutivas sobre la memoria prospectiva en los niños. En segundo lugar, se proponen algunos ámbitos de investigación interesantes cara al futuro inmediato

Memoria de testigos en adultos con retraso mental: Algunos datos preliminares

Decenes Jornades de Foment de la Investigació de la FCHS (Any 2004-2005)En este estudio en curso, se pasa una tarea típica de memoria de testigos a un grupo de 10 adultos con retraso mental leve-moderado, con el objetivo de analizar las respuestas que una población con estas características da a distintos formatos de pregunta. En primer lugar, en una sesión conjunta, los sujetos vieron un fragmento de película en vídeo de unos 8 minutos de duración. Tres semanas después se les entrevistó individualmente sobre este vídeo mediante un cuestionario. En este cuestionario, había distintos tipos de preguntas formulados en diferentes formatos. Aquí presentamos tan solo algunos datos preliminares sobre las respuestas a las preguntas abiertas y a las preguntas cerradas sugeridas. Al comparar dichos datos con los obtenidos en trabajos similares realizados con adultos y niños, se ha encontrado básicamente que el porcentaje de aciertos es mucho menor en el grupo de retraso mental que en adultos y niños en edad escolar, especialmente en el caso de las preguntas cerradas sugeridas

Legal interpreting in Spain at a turning point

The publication in the European Union of Directive 2010/64/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings has been a turning point in a great number of aspects related to court and police interpretation. The main objective of the Directive is to ensure quality legal interpretation throughout the process, as part of the right to defence and to a fair trial. Spain, as a Member State of the EU, has the obligation to transpose this European Directive into its domestic law. Therefore, this is a historic moment in which two main factors converge: the need to change the legislation to bring it in line with the new Directive and the need to implement measures to ensure compliance with new mandates. This paper reviews the present state of legal interpretation in Spain from the point of view of legislation and that of service provision and analyses the measures that Spain should take to ensure that court and police interpretations are carried out with due guarantees. These measures include the training of interpreters and legal operators, the creation of accreditation systems and records, as well as the consolidation of the professional profile of interpreters

The interplay between social media communication, brand equity and brand engagement in tourist destinations: An analysis in an emerging economy

The consolidation of Web 2.0 has modified the way people communicate and interact with tourists. User-generated social media communication continues to increase: to the detriment of traditional media channels, where the message is controlled by destination marketing organizations. Moreover, uncontrolled user-generated communication is increasingly considered more reliable than traditional, controlled communication. All this has considerably modified tourist perceptions regarding destination image and brand equity. From a business perspective, a line of thought addressing the study of these interrelationships has emerged in the literature, going so far as to consider their impact on brand engagement. Despite the current prevalence and relevance of social media communication as a loyalty-building factor in a context as competitive as the tourism sector, relatively little literature has addressed it in emerging tourist destination scenarios. Hence, the present paper presents an analysis of how – and to what extent – social media communication, both controlled and uncontrolled by the destination organization, has an impact on destination brand equity and destination brand engagement. More specifically, this study applies it to an emerging economy scenario: Metropolitan Lima, Peru. The implications of our research, presented at the end of the paper, are of interest – both as a contribution to the literature and from the perspective of tourist destination management – and can serve to aid the economic and social development of emerging economies

Production and supervision of Spanish Doctoral Theses on Advertising: 1971-2010

Este estudio analiza la producción y dirección de tesis doctorales sobre publicidad en las universidades españolas. No sólo en las universidades que cuentan con facultades de Comunicación o Información, sino en todas aquellas que cuentan con alguna tesis doctoral sobre el tema y cuyo director figura de forma expresa. Para ello, se ha trabajado con una producción total de 260 tesis doctorales durante un período que abarca desde la creación de la Licenciatura de Publicidad en la universidad española en 1971 hasta el año 2010. Para los diferentes análisis se han aplicado técnicas bibliométricas. En el análisis se prestó atención a la evolución de la producción anual de las tesis doctorales, la distribución de la producción en las universidades, y en las facultades y departamentos responsables de las tesis doctorales. Finalmente, se analizó la producción de los directores de las tesis; así como los niveles de colaboración o cooperación en la dirección. El número de directores asciende a doscientos catorce. Las tesis dirigidas por más de un director se elevan a 25.This study analyses the production and supervision of doctoral theses on advertising in Spanish universities. Universities with Faculties of Communication or Information Science have been included, as have any others that had theses on advertising and in which the supervisor fi gures expressly. We worked with 260 doctoral dissertations from the period ranging the creation of the BA in Advertising in Spain in 1971 until 2010. Bibliometric techniques were applied for performing the different analyses. During the study we focussed on the evolution of the annual production of doctoral theses, the distribution of production among the universities, and also among the faculties or departments responsible for doctoral theses. Finally, we analysed the scholarly production of the supervisors themselves, as well as the levels of collaboration or cooperation during the supervision. A total of two hundred and fourteen supervisors were studied; twenty five theses had more than one supervisor.PublicadoPublicad

Estudio coste-beneficio de la vacunación contra varicela en Aragón [A cost-benefit analysis of varicella vaccination in Aragon]

Fundamento: La varicela, enfermedad infecto- contagiosa que afecta a la infancia de forma benigna, puede complicarse en adultos y niños vulnerables y ser mortal. Existen vacunas eficaces. Se estudiaron retrospectivamente los costes que supuso esta enfermedad en la población aragonesa en el período 2004-2014 y las hospitalizaciones generadas. Se compararon con los gastos que supondría haber vacunado a esas personas y también los gastos de vacunar a la población de 1 año de edad durante todo ese período. Mediante un análisis coste-beneficio, se evaluó el impacto económico de la vacunación. Método: Se utilizaron datos de la Autonomía de Aragón (España) de estos 11 años (incidencia anual de varicela, altas hospitalarias por este motivo, precio de la consulta de atención primaria y de hospitalización de cada año, así como el coste de días de trabajo según el salario mínimo anual y medicaciones utilizadas). Se calcularon los costes capitalizados, se compararon con los gastos capitalizados de vacunación y se realizó un análisis de sensibilidad. Resultados: Se obtuvo un índice beneficio-coste de 1, 6 vacunando y revacunando a todos los niños que se enfermaron. Resultó un índice beneficio- coste de 1, 24 al vacunar a toda la población de 12 meses con vacuna de 28, 59€. En estos 11 años, el 53% de las hospitalizaciones fueron niños menores de 5 años. Conclusiones: Las campañas públicas de vacunación con 2 dosis a población menor de 4 años suponen ahorro y rentabilidad porque el precio de la vacuna permite un índice beneficio-coste superior a 1. Es esperable una gran disminución de hospitalizaciones en la población de 3-4 años. Background. Varicella, a contagious and infectious disease that is usually benign in children, may become complicated among adults and vulnerable children and may even be life-threatening. There are effective vaccines. A retrospective study was conducted about costs and resulting hospitalizations related to this disease in the population of Aragon in the 2004-2014 period. Costs were compared to the expenses that would have been incurred if those people had received the vaccine and also to the expenses of vaccinating the 1-year-old population over the entire period. A cost-benefit analysis was done to assess the economic impact of varicella vaccination. Method. Data for the 11-year period were provided by the Autonomous Community of Aragon (Spain) and induded annual varicella incidence, hospital discharges of varicella cases, costs of primary health care visits and hospitalizations for each year, costs of each workday as per the minimum annual salary and of drugs used). Capitalized costs were estimated and compared to capitalized expenses of vaccination, and a sensitivity analysis was performed. Results. A benefit-cost ratio of 1.6 was obtained considering that all children who had varicella had been vaccinated and had received a booster dose. A benefit-cost ratio of 1.24 was obtained considering that the vaccine had been administered to every 1-year-old individual at a price of EUR 28.59 per vaccine. Over the 11-year period, 53% of hospitalizations corresponded to children younger than 5 years old. Conclusions. Public campaigns for the immunization of children younger than 4 years old with 2 doses lead to cost savings and are cost-effective because the vaccine price results in a benefit-cost ratio greater than 1. A major reduction is expected in the number of hospitalizations among children aged 3-4 years

Creencias adultas sobre la memoria infantil

Setenes Jornades de Foment de la Investigació de la FCHS (Any 2001-2002)El objetivo de este trabajo es identificar las ideas previas que una muestra de estudiantes universitarios tienen sobre diferentes aspectos del funcionamiento de la memoria infantil. Para ello, hemos elaborado un cuestionario que aborda distintos aspectos relacionados con el desarrollo de la memoria en los niños. Dicho cuestionario ha sido pasado a 70 estudiantes de la Universitat Jaume I. En general, los resultados indican un acierto cercano al 30% del conjunto de los ítems presentados, realizando predicciones particularmente correctas sobre el funcionamiento de la metamemoria y el fenómeno de la amnesia infantil. Sin embargo, no sucede lo mismo con el desarrollo estratégico y con el funcionamiento temprano de la memoria