Virtual epitexts in the dissemination of children’s books: Toward an analytical model for author websites

Summary: Author websites form a corpus of epitexts (Lluch et al., 2015) that in the context of the knowledge society need to be studied to identify how authors present and disseminate their books and promote reading on the social web. The aim of the research is to identify the key aspects for an analytical model for the websites of authors of children’s books. To this end, from within the portal Picturebook Makers, we selected the websites of three authors: Oliver Jeffers, Isol and Manuel Marsol. We analysed these websites using a selection of three of parameters. The results show that this virtual public epitext is in some cases an adaptation of analogue models of dissemination, while in others, such as the site of Jeffers, it leans toward a transmedia discourse in which the book-trailer is an essential tool for promoting the work. Keywords: Virtual Public Epitext, author websites, picture book, book-trailer, transmedi

Design for social sustainability. A reflection on the role of the physical realm in facilitating community co-design

Understanding the environmental conditions that shape the physical support for developing social sustainability requires analysing the symbiotic relationship of people and place. Place is considered an essential aspect in shaping social identity, identification and cohesion. Thus, this paper explores the role of the physical realm in enabling co-design practices within community initiatives. It outlines two PhD research projects focused on strengthening community engagement using co-design approaches. It evidences its findings analysing two different settings. Firstly, a PhD research project exploring the mutual influences between spatial and service design also through the investigation of public spaces as platforms for strategic interventions with experimentations in the urban fabric of Milan (Italy). Secondly, a doctoral research exploring the value of community co-design on rural areas in the Highlands and Islands (Scotland) associated with Leapfrog, a three-year-funded project by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Conducted by two different research teams, we analyse to what extent participatory processes can strengthen communities and their identities, as well as reflecting on place-based approaches for design strategies of territories

Presence and regulation of D1 and D2 deiodinases in rat white adipose tissue

Thyroid hormones regulate adipogenic differentiation, lipogenic and lipolytic metabolism, and mitochondrial activity in adipose tissue. Triiodothyronine (T3) levels in tissues are regulated by the deiodinase enzymes. The objective was to study the activity and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of the 5′ outer-ring deiodinases (type 1 [D1] and type 2 [D2] deiodinase) and thyroid hormone concentrations in rat white adipose tissue (WAT), where only D1 activity had been described. Control, thyroidectomized, and thyroid hormone–treated rats were used. Type 1 and type 2 deiodinase mRNAs were determined in WAT by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction using Taqman probes; D1 and D2 activities were determined using reverse T3 and thyroxine (T4) as substrates. Thyroxine and T3 were measured by radioimmunoassay in plasma, liver, and adipose tissue. Type 1 and type 2 deiodinase mRNAs are present in epididymal rat WAT with similar abundance, which is 7% of the D2 mRNA levels in brown adipose tissue and 1% of D1 in liver. The Michaelis-Menten constants in WAT are 40 nmol/L T4 for D2 and 0.35 μmol/L reverse T3 for D1. Both D1 and D2 are regulated in rat epididymal WAT by thyroidal status. Thyroxine and T3 concentrations in plasma, liver, and WAT decreased after thyroidectomy and recovered after treatment with T4 + T3. Both D1 and D2 mRNAs increased in WAT from thyroidectomy rats; and T4 + T3 treatment inhibited them, especially D2 mRNA. Type 1 deiodinase activity did not change with thyroidal status, whereas D2 activity was inhibited by T4 + T3. The presence of both deiodinases in WAT suggests important roles in regulating T3 bioavailability for adipose tissue function and regulation of lipid metabolism and thermogenesis.Supported by SAF2006-01319 and SAF2009-2243 from MICINN and Fundacion Mutua Madrileña 2006.Peer Reviewe

Heuristic usability evaluation on games: a modular approach

Heuristic evaluation is the preferred method to assess usability in games when experts conduct this evaluation. Many heuristics guidelines have been proposed attending to specificities of games but they only focus on specific subsets of games or platforms. In fact, to date the most used guideline to evaluate games usability is still Nielsen’s proposal, which is focused on generic software. As a result, most evaluations do not cover important aspects in games such as mobility, multiplayer interactions, enjoyability and playability, etc. To promote the usage of new heuristics adapted to different game and platform aspects we propose a modular approach based on the classification of existing game heuristics using metadata and a tool, MUSE (Meta-heUristics uSability Evaluation tool) for games, which allows a rebuild of heuristic guidelines based on metadata selection in order to obtain a customized list for every real evaluation case. The usage of these new rebuilt heuristic guidelines allows an explicit attendance to a wide range of usability aspects in games and a better detection of usability issues. We preliminarily evaluate MUSE with an analysis of two different games, using both the Nielsen’s heuristics and the customized heuristic lists generated by our tool.Unión Europea PI055-15/E0

El Universo de Maurice Sendak: Una nueva manera de representar la infancia

El concepto de literatura infantil se ha ido definiendo a lo largo del tiempo a través de propuestas de autores que han marcado una forma de entender el discurso literario dirigido a la infancia. Maurice Sendak es, sin duda, uno de esos autores de tal modo que se le atribuye una suerte de “reinvención” de la literatura infantil. Tras establecer las bases sobre las que se asienta esta afirmación, se analizan desde esta perspectiva varias obras del autor, insistiendo particularmente en la metáfora como estrategia discursiva. La presencia de metáforas relacionadas con el ámbito de la comida constituye un elemento recurrente en la obra de Sendak, a manera de “intertexto restringido”, en un sentido muy amplio. The concept of Children’s Literature has been defined over time through proposals from authors who have made a way of understanding the literary discourse to children. Certainly, Maurice Sendak is one of those authors so he is attributed to a sort of «reinvention» of Children´s Literature. After establishing the basis on which this statement is based, we analyze –from this perspective– various works by the author, with particular emphasis on the metaphor as a discursive strategy. Thus the presence of related metaphors in the fields of food constitutes a recurring element in the work of Sendak, seen in a way as a «restricted intertextuality» in a very wide sense

Children´s Literature and Taboo Topics. Approaches to Kitty Crowther´S Work

This paper explores the work of Kitty Crowther, one of the authors who has managed over the last few years to create her own world in which the topics traditionally considered as difficult for the child reader, such as: solitude, death, absence, mourning, identity and sexism, arise in a natural way, emerging from her own conception of the reader. In this sense, Astrid Lindgren and Beatrix Potter have constituted inexcusable references in her work. This study is based on Nodelman (2008), Salisbury and Styles (2012), Nikolajeva (2014), Kümmerling-Meibauer (2015), Antoine-Andersen (2016) in order to analyze Kitty Crowther's work. Through analysis of her books we discover an innovative way of dealing with the more difficult topics of children's literature. The empathy with which the author presents topics such as death, loneliness, sexism or filial relationships emphasizes the idea of the illustrated literature's conception as a meeting space, where the creator expresses their stories through their own emotions and talks with the reader with honesty. This implies the need to deal with life with its lights and shadows in a conception of children's literary discourse very similar to that of Maurice Sendak

The participation of women from Ourense in secondary schools (1900-1930)

[Resumo] Neste texto analízase a evolución da incorporación da muller ourensá nos estudos secundarios no contexto galego e español, e mesmo cal era o pefil sociolóxico destas primeiras pioneiras así como o seu rendimento académico. Todo elo permitirá achegarmonos a derterminar cal era o interese que as move a realizar estudos sabendo que a mentalidade da época lles era adversa[Abstract] This text analyzes the evolution of the incorporation of women from Ourense into secondary schools in Galicia and on a national level, focusing on the sociological profile of these early pioneers and on their academic performance. This has enabled us to speculate on what drove them to carry out these studies, even though they were well-aware that the mentality at that time was against them

A ensinanza privada en Ourense a principios de século

[Resumo] Neste artigo dáse a coñece-lo proceso de expansión e reforma da escola priva- da da provincia de Ourense de principios do século XX no contexto das novas esixencias da lexislación escolar relativas ós centros de ensinanza non oficiais e da dinámica da socie- dade ourensá da época. Servíndonos de fontes primarias inéditas, o estudo permitiunos precisar aspectos tales como a distribución xeográfica das escolas, os seus tipos, os desti- natarios e as persoas que solicitan abrir unha escola particular e reconstruí-las condicións da escolarización dos nenos e nenas que asisten a estes centros, dando resposta ós seguintes interrogantes: ¿quen ensina?, ¿que se ensina?, ¿onde se ensina?, ¿cando se ensina?, ¿a quen se ensina? e ¿como se ensina? Desta análise infírese un modelo de escola privada que difire do que domina noutros ámbitos do territorio galego.[Abstract] This article presents the process of expansion and reform undergone by pri- vate schools in the province of Ourense in the 20th century in terms of the new impositions as required by the educational legislation passed to regulate non-official educational centers and in the context of the dynamics of the society of Ourense at that time. Drawing on unpu- blished primary sources, the study details aspects such as the geographic distribution of the schools, the types of schools, the student body targeted and the people who applied for a permit to open a private school. The study also reconstructs the conditions under which the children who attended these schools were educated, focusing on the following questions. Who were the teachers? What did they teach? Where did they teach? When did they teach? Who did they teach? How did they teach? This analysis points to a private school model that differs from the one prevalent in other areas of Galicia

TipC and the chorea-acanthocytosis protein VPS13A regulate autophagy in Dictyostelium and human HeLa cells

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Autophagy on 01/01/2015, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2015.1034413.Deficient autophagy causes a distinct phenotype in Dictyostelium discoideum, characterized by the formation of multitips at the mound stage. This led us to analyze autophagy in a number of multitipped mutants described previously (tipA–, tipB–, tipC–, and tipD–). We found a clear autophagic dysfunction in tipC– and tipD– while the others showed no defects. tipD codes for a homolog of Atg16, which confirms the role of this protein in Dictyostelium autophagy and validates our approach. The tipC-encoded protein is highly similar to human VPS13A (also known as Chorein), whose mutations cause the chorea-acanthocytosis syndrome. No member of the VPS13 protein family has been previously related to autophagy despite the presence of a region of similarity to Atg2 at the C terminus. This region also contains the conserved domain of unknown function DUF1162. Of interest, the expression of the TipC C-terminal coding sequence containing these 2 motifs largely complemented the mutant phenotype. Dictyostelium cells lacking TipC displayed a reduced number of autophagosomes visualized with the markers GFP-Atg18 and GFP-Atg8 and an impaired autophagic degradation as determined by a proteolytic cleavage assay. Downregulation of human VPS13A in HeLa cells by RNA interference confirmed the participation of the human protein in autophagy. VPS13A-depleted cells showed accumulation of autophagic markers and impaired autophagic fluxThis work was supported by grants BFU2009-09050 and BFU2012-32536 from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. We also thank the help of Obra Social Caja de Burgos para Jóvenes Excelentes. SMB is recipient of a predoctoral fellowship from Universidad Autónoma de Madri

Le choix des textes littéraires dans le contexte de l'espagnol comme langue seconde. La recherche qualitative avec des adolescents immigrés

This paper proposes key selection of literary texts for immigrant teenagers with A2 levels of communicative competence in Spanish. The design of investigation was shaped from a qualitative/ interpretive paradigm and court action research in four classrooms of Spanish as Second Language. The analysis of a sample of thirty young immigrants to the corpus read during the fieldwork, this brigs six variables less focused on explicit projection of migration, and more in regarding to the concept of distance as a transcendent element of the literary reading.En este artículo se proponen claves de selección de textos literarios para adolescentes inmigrantes de niveles A2 de competencia comunicativa en español. El diseño de la investigación se configura a partir del paradigma cualitativo/interpretativo de corte etnográfico y de la investigación-acción en el escenario de cuatro aulas de español. El análisis de una muestra de treinta jóvenes inmigrantes ante el corpus leído durante el trabajo de campo, aporta seis variables menos centradas en la proyección explícita de la migración, y más sujetas al concepto de distancia como elemento transcendente de la lectura literaria.Cet article touches de sélection de textes littéraires pour adolescents immigrants niveaux A2 de la compétence communicative en espagnol sont proposés. Le plan de recherche est configuré à partir du paradigme recherche qualitative / interprétative ethnographique et l'action sur scène quatre classes espagnoles. L'analyse d'un échantillon d'une trentaine de jeunes immigrants au corpus lire lors de travaux sur le terrain, six variables contribue moins axée sur projection explicite de la migration, et sous réserve de la notion de distance comme élément transcendant de la lecture littéraire