Digital Competence and Literacy: Developing New Narrative Formats. The «Dragon Age: Origins» Videogame

The approach of this article is centered on the concepts of digital competence and new narrative formats. We aim to apply these dimensions to the videogame «Dragon Age Origins», winner of the 2009 videogame of the year award. Its features - plot, characters and interactivity – make it ideal reading material in other formats and are highly motivational for young people. The development of digital competence signifies new literacy, and it is necessary to find new stimulating resources that combine the fun and formative dimensions. Equally relevant are multimodal texts (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2001), especially new narrative formats that imply social progress, as the ways of reading are different. The texts have acquired new formats with the same quality as books but they sometimes motivate users more. This is the case of «Dragon Age Origins», a dark heroic fantasy role-playing game set in a unique world containing a story to be read and experienced. Our analysis of the videogame discusses whether it should be considered a form of reading or not

Flame spread over solid fuels in opposite natural convection

The downward spread of a flame along the surface of a thermally thick solid fuel inclined at an angle to the vertical is investigated, The flow and the heat transfer in the flame front region that controls the spread rate are described numerically using a single-step Arrhenius model for the gas-phase reaction. The effect of the finite rate kinetics is discussed in terms of a Damköhler number defined as the square of the ratio of the speed of the planar stoichiometric flame of the fuel vapor to the characteristic speed induced by buoyancy in the flame front region. The computed spread rate is lower when the burning surface faces downward than when it faces upward due to the influence of the pressure gradient parallel to the surface

Recorriendo el mundo de Oz hasta llegar a Terramar. La importancia de diseñar buenos escenarios para el lector

Conferencias y Comunicaciones del primer Congreso Internacional de literatura fantástica y ciencia ficción, celebrado del 6 al 9 de mayo de 2008 en la Universidad Carlos III de Madri

The homotopy type of the contactomorphism groups of tight contact 33-manifolds, part I

We prove that that the homotopy type of the path connected component of the identity in the contactomorphism group is characterized by the homotopy type of the diffeomorphism group plus some data provided by the topology of the formal contactomorphism space. As a consequence, we show that every connected component of the space of Legendrian long knots in $\R^3$ has the homotopy type of the corresponding smooth long knot space. This implies that any connected component of the space of Legendrian embeddings in \NS^3 is homotopy equivalent to the space K(G,1)\times\U(2), with $G$ computed by A. Hatcher and R. Budney. Similar statements are proven for Legendrian embeddings in $\R^3$ and for transverse embeddings in \NS^3. Finally, we compute the homotopy type of the contactomorphisms of several tight $3$-folds: \NS^1 \times \NS^2, Legendrian fibrations over compact orientable surfaces and finite quotients of the standard $3$-sphere. In fact, the computations show that the method works whenever we have knowledge of the topology of the diffeomorphism group. We prove several statements on the way that have interest by themselves: the computation of the homotopy groups of the space of non-parametrized Legendrians, a multiparametric convex surface theory, a characterization of formal Legendrian simplicity in terms of the space of tight contact structures on the complement of a Legendrian, the existence of common trivializations for multi-parametric families of tight $\R^3$, etc.Comment: 77 pages. Comments are welcome

The first journalistic and literary collaborations by Francisco Umbral, recovered texts: Diario "Proa" and Revista "Arco" (19541956)

Francisco Umbral, un joven empleado de banca de Valladolid, plenamente decidido a dedicarse a su vocación por la escritura, publica, incitado por sus primos José Luis y José Antonio Perelétegui, sus primeros textos en dos publicaciones de León, el diario Proa y la revista Arco, ambas vinculadas al SEU de Falange Española. Este artículo recupera y analiza estas primeras colaboraciones periodísticas, un conjunto de dieciocho textos publicados entre los años 1954 y 1956 que destacan por su gran calidad y madurez. A través del análisis de estos textos podemos conocer los orígenes del periodismo y la literatura de Francisco Umbral, sus primeros pasos en diversos géneros: poesía, artículo de opinión, relato y entrevista. Se incluyen sus cuatro primeros poemas y en anexo el texto integro de su primer relato “Un hombre de mundo”, su primer artículo “Seudoteoría de la primavera”, y “La mañana”, citado por el propio escritor como el más destacado de esta época.Francisco Umbral, a young clerk of Valladolid, fully decided to dedicate himself to his writing vocation, publishs, incitted by his cousins José Luis and José Antonio Perelétegui, his first texts in two publications in León, Diario Proa and Revista Arco, both linked to SEU, of the spanish Falange. This article recuperates and analyzes this first journalistic collaborations, a joint of eighteen texts published between the years 1954 and 1956, that emphasizes by their high quality and maturity. With the analysis of these texts we can know the origins of the journalism and literature of Francisco Umbral, his first steps in some genders: poetry, opinion article, story and interview. We include his first poems and, in the annex, the completed text of his first story, “Un hombre de mundo”, his firs article, “Seudoteoría de la primavera” and “La mañana”, quoted by the writer as the most important of this time

Diseño del sistema de conexionado electrónico para los brazos del robot humanoide RH2

El presente Proyecto de Fin de Carrera, desarrollado en la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, tiene como finalidad el estudio y diseño del sistema de conexionado electrónico para los brazos del robot humanoide RH-2. Este conexionado debe adaptarse a la estructura mecánica del brazo robótico, teniendo en cuenta el espacio utilizable, los componentes a utilizar y la potencia consumida por cada uno de ellos. La realización del proyecto se basará en el estudio de la estructura mecánica del brazo robótico, la búsqueda y optimización de los componentes electrónicos que lo compondrán y el diseño de las PCB’s (Placas de Circuito Impreso) en base a toda la información recopilada anteriormente. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This Thesis Project, developed at the Carlos III University of Madrid, aims the study and design of the electronic connection for the arms of the Humanoid Robot RH-2. This connection must be adapted to the mechanical structure of the robotic arm, keeping in mind the usable space, the components used and the power consumed by them. The Project will be based on the study of the mechanical structure of the robotic arm, the search and optimization of the electronic components and the design of the PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) based on all the information previously collected.Ingeniería Técnica en Electrónic

The anchoring of gaseous jet diffusion flames in stagnant air

A numerical analysis is presented to describe the structure of the attachment region of gaseous jet diffusion flames in stagnant air. For the typical Reynolds numbers encountered in applications, the region of flame attachment, in the near wake at the injector rim, is small compared with the injector radius. The local flow, which we consider to be laminar, quasi-steady and two-dimensional, is determined by the wall value of the fuel stream velocity gradient and the chemical reaction time or residence time in the premixed flame of a stoichiometric mixture of the fuel stream and required amount of air. When the Karlovitz number, or product of the velocity gradient and the flame residence time, grows above a critical value the flame is lifted off the injector