Effects of competition in education: A case study in an e-learningenvironment

This is an electronic version of the paper presented at the IADIS Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems, held in Freiburg on 2010We analyse the effects of competition in education. We identify the benefits and drawbacks of forcing students to compete themselves during their learning process, and investigate a number of features a competitive learning activity should have in order to motivate students, and improve their academic performance. More specifically, by using a simple Web system, we conduct a competition undertaken for a symbolic value, performed in a short period of time, and characterised by all participants feeling like they have a chance to win. Following these principles, empirical results with 77 students show that a balance between competition and cooperation is achieved, and the focus on the learning goals instead of on the competition itself remains

Inferring user intent in web search by exploiting social annotations

This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in Proceedings of the 33rd international ACM SIGIR conference on Research and development in information retrieval, http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1835449.1835636In this paper, we present a folksonomy-based approach for implicit user intent extraction during a Web search process. We present a number of result re-ranking techniques based on this representation that can be applied to any Web search engine. We perform a user experiment the results of which indicate that this type of representation is better at context extraction than using the actual textual content of the document.This research was partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education (TIN2008-06566-C04-02) and the Regional Government of Madrid (S2009TIC-1542)

Increasing oil accumulation in olive mesocarp: Cloning and characterization of phospholipid: diacylglycerol acyltransferase (PDAT) genes from olive fruit

Motivation: To identify, characterize and study the regulation of genes and enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of triacylglycerols, in order to increase oil accumulation in olive mesocarp. In particular, to investigate the contribution of phospholipid:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (PDAT) genes (Dahlqvist et al., 2000).   Methods: Isolation of full-length cDNA clones by PCR, sequencing of amplified fragments, and sequence analysis using bioinformatic tools. Gene expression analysis using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Functional expression in a mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Sandager et al., 2002), using a yeast vector containing an inducible GAL1 promoter. Results: A cDNA sequence, designated OepPDAT2, encoding phospholipid:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (PDAT) has been isolated from olive. Gene expression analysis has been performed in Picual and Arbequina cultivars using different olive tissues and in olive mesocarp under different abiotic stresses such as draught, low and high temperature, darkness and wounding. Overexpression in yeast is being carried out in a quadruple mutant of S. cerevisiae that cannot synthesize triacylglycerols to confirm gene identity. Conclusions: Sequence analysis suggests that the OepPDAT2 gene encodes a PDAT enzyme. Gene expression analysis in olive seed and mesocarp tissues indicates that OePDAT2 participates in triacylglycerol synthesis during development and ripening of olive fruit, and it is transcriptionally regulated by different environmental factor

Spectral multipliers in group algebras and noncommutative Calderón-Zygmund theory

In this paper we solve three problems in noncommutative harmonic analysis which are related to endpoint inequalities for singular integrals. In first place, we prove that an L2-form of Hörmander's kernel condition suffices for the weak type (1,1) of Calderón-Zygmund operators acting on matrix-valued functions. To that end, we introduce an improved CZ decomposition for martingale filtrations in von Neumann algebras, and apply a very simple unconventional argument which notably avoids pseudolocalization. In second place, we establish as well the weak L1 endpoint for matrix-valued CZ operators over nondoubling measures of polynomial growth, in the line of the work of Tolsa and Nazarov/Treil/Volberg. The above results are valid for other von Neumann algebras and solve in the positive two open problems formulated in 2009. An even more interesting problem is the lack of L1 endpoint inequalities for singular Fourier and Schur multipliers over nonabelian groups. Given a locally compact group G equipped with a conditionally negative length ψ:G→R+, we prove that Herz-Schur multipliers with symbol m∘ψ satisfying a Mikhlin condition in terms of the ψ-cocycle dimension are of weak type (1,1). Our result extends to Fourier multipliers for amenable groups and imposes sharp regularity conditions on the symbol. The proof crucially combines our new CZ methods with novel forms of recent transference techniques. This L1 endpoint gives a very much expected inequality which complements the L∞→BMO estimates proved in 2014 by Junge, Mei and ParcetJ. Parcet and J.M. Conde-Alonso were partially supported by Spanish Grant PID2019-107914GB-I00 and Severo Ochoa Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D CEX2019-000904-S , funded by: MCIN/ AEI / 10.13039/501100011033. J.M. Conde-Alonso has also been supported by the Madrid Government ( Comunidad de Madrid -Spain) under the Multiannual Agreement with Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in the line of action encouraging youth research doctors, in the context of the V PRICIT, project SI1/PJI/2019-00514 . L. Cadilhac was supported by the French ( Agence Nationale de la Recherche ) grant ANR-19-CE40-0002

Balanced measures, sparse domination and complexity-dependent weight classes

We study sparse domination for operators defined with respect to an atomic filtration on a space equipped with a general measure $\mu$. In the case of Haar shifts, $L^p$-boundedness is known to require a weak regularity condition, which we prove to be sufficient to have a sparse domination-like theorem. Our result allows us to characterize the class of weights where Haar shifts are bounded. A surprising novelty is that said class depends on the complexity of the Haar shift operator under consideration. Our results are qualitatively sharp

Spain's Master of Leadership in Civil Engineering: case study

The paper suggests the value of developing a civil engineering graduate program focused on management, leadership, and innovation. Described are the creation and operation of a Master of Leadership in Civil Engineering (MLCE) program in Spain supported by a private foundation, organized by one of Spain’s youngest civil engineering schools, and involving collaboration with the nation’s other nine civil engineering schools.Postprint (published version