Designing and assessing virtual learning objects to foster english for specific purposes in higher education

Four Virtual Learning Objects (VLO) were designed to incorporate English for Specific Purposes (ESP) learning at a public university in Colombia. Each VLO comprised a series of Virtual Learning Scenarios (VLS), including a vocabulary bank, a set of activities related to the six linguistic competencies (listening comprehension, oral interaction, oral production, reading comprehension, writing production, writing interaction), and an assessment and feedback sections. The impact of the VLO on students' perceptions of their progress was measured through entry and exit surveys composed of a 5-point Likert scale, multiple choice and open-ended questions. 139 students from Software Engineering (18), Journalism (22), Bachelor of Arts in Natural Sciences (50) and Nursing (49) enrolled in the University English Courses (UEC) and five teachers participated. The results reveal that students' perceptions of the VLS are positive, as each VLO is innovative and motivates learning strategies. Additionally, each VLO improved students listening and speaking skills. Therefore, the researchers recommend that teachers who design and implement VLOs focus on providing their students with skills and knowledge necessary to their specific study fields.&nbsp

Application of plant indices (red band and near infrared) in avocado plantations

Avocado is a traditional fruit in the diet of Ecuadorians and requires proper management to ensure its production. The implementation of new technological alternatives, such as the use of spectroscopy indices, allows obtaining data that, when correlated, will optimize crop management. This research validated the use of plant indices based on the red band and near infrared with foliar nitrogen content. The following plant indices were used: normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and transformed vegetation index (TVI) from two orthomosaics obtained from images capturing red band and near infrared in avocado plantations. Regressions and correlations were performed between the vegetation indices and the results of the foliar analysis of nitrogen content, generating R2 values of 0.93 for NDVI and 0.95 for TVI. Plant index values can be used to estimate plant vigor based on foliar nitrogen content

El continuo de la psicosis: Evidencia psicométrica

Abstract: The psychosis continuum: Psychometric evidence. This paper has two goals. The first is to determine the factor structure of the proneness to hallucination in a sample of the Colombian population using the Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale Revised (LSHS-R). The second goal is to compare the results of the non-clinical population with the results of a group of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. The sample consisted of 230 persons, including 21 patients who were not in the active phase of the disease. The analysis found a two factor structure: Hallucinatory Experiences and Vivid Mental Events. Using Bayesian inference, we found credible differences between groups in the second factor and overlap in the values of the first factor.Resumen: Este trabajo tiene dos objetivos. El primero es determinar la estructura factorial de la propensión a la alucinación en una muestra de población colombiana general utilizando la Escala Revisada de Alucinaciones Launay-Slade (LSHS-R). Un se­gundo objetivo es comparar los resultados obtenidos en población general con los resultados obtenidos de un grupo de pacientes con diagnóstico de esquizofrenia. Participaron 230 personas, 21 de ellas pacientes que no se encontraban en fase activa de la enfermedad. La estructura encontrada fue de dos factores: Experiencias alucinatorias y Hechos mentales vívidos. Utilizando la inferencia bayesiana, se encontraron diferencias creíbles entre los grupos en el segundo factor y solapamiento en los valores del primer factor.Abstract: The psychosis continuum: Psychometric evidence. This paper has two goals. The first is to determine the factor structure of the proneness to hallucination in a sample of the Colombian population using the Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale Revised (LSHS-R). The second goal is to compare the results of the non-clinical population with the results of a group of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. The sample consisted of 230 persons, including 21 patients who were not in the active phase of the disease. The analysis found a two factor structure: Hallucinatory Experiences and Vivid Mental Events. Using Bayesian inference, we found credible differences between groups in the second factor and overlap in the values of the first factor.Resumen: Este trabajo tiene dos objetivos. El primero es determinar la estructura factorial de la propensión a la alucinación en una muestra de población colombiana general utilizando la Escala Revisada de Alucinaciones Launay-Slade (LSHS-R). Un se­gundo objetivo es comparar los resultados obtenidos en población general con los resultados obtenidos de un grupo de pacientes con diagnóstico de esquizofrenia. Participaron 230 personas, 21 de ellas pacientes que no se encontraban en fase activa de la enfermedad. La estructura encontrada fue de dos factores: Experiencias alucinatorias y Hechos mentales vívidos. Utilizando la inferencia bayesiana, se encontraron diferencias creíbles entre los grupos en el segundo factor y solapamiento en los valores del primer factor

A música: sua representação e recuperação sob o foco da ciência da informação

This article aims to bring a reflection from a brief literature review of the CI on the issue of representation and retrieval of musical information (IM) ”“ the work "noise" or musical documents ”“ from three perspectives ”“ subjective, objective and interpretive ”“ Alexander McLane (1996), who published the first review on the subject in a leading international journal in the area; and the seven facets proposed by J. Stephen Downie (2003) for musical information, each playing their roles in the field of information retrieval that is pitch, temporal, harmonic, timbral, editorial, textual and bibliographical. Also discusses the complexity of the development of a concept of IM and its resilience, but also ensuring the success of this recovery: the user.Este artículo pretende traer una reflexión, a partir de una breve revisión de la literatura de la CI, sobre la cuestión de la representación y recuperación de la información musical (IM) - la obra "sonora" o los documentos musicales - a partir de las tres perspectivas - subjetiva, objetiva e interpretativa - de Alexander Mclane (1996), que publicó la primera revisión sobre el tema en una destacada publicación internacional del área; y de las siete facetas propuestas por J. Stephen Downie (2003) para la información musical, cada una desempeñando sus papeles en el dominio de la recuperación de esa información que son: pitch, temporal, armónica, timbral, editorial, textual y bibliográfica. Discute también la complejidad de la elaboración de un concepto de IM y sus posibilidades de recuperación, pero también lo que garantiza el éxito de esa recuperación: el usuario.Este artigo pretende trazer uma reflexão, a partir de uma breve revisão da literatura da CI, sobre a questão da representação e recuperação da informação musical (IM) ”“ a obra “sonora” ou os documentos musicais ”“ a partir das três perspectivas ”“ subjetiva, objetiva e interpretativa ”“ de Alexander Mclane (1996), que publicou o primeiro review sobre o tema em uma destacada publicação internacional da área; e das sete facetas propostas por J. Stephen Downie (2003) para a informação musical, cada uma desempenhando os seus papeis no domínio da recuperação dessa informação que são: pitch, temporal, harmônica, timbral, editorial, textual e bibliográfica. Discute também a complexidade da elaboração de um conceito de IM e suas possibilidades de recuperação, mas também o que garante o sucesso dessa recuperação: o usuário

The organization of brazilian music information initiatives

Trabalho apresentado no XVII ENANCIB - Encontro Nacional de Pesquisa em Ciência da Informação, 2016, Salvador.A convivência em espaços virtuais contribui para potencializar o diálogo, particularmente quando o objetivo é o de preservar e disseminar a diversidade cultural. Aparatos tecnológicos no tratamento e na organização da informação da música, no caso da música brasileira, do Répertoire International des Sources Musicales, da Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil, da Library of Congress e do Acervo Digital do Instituto Antonio Carlos Jobim apresentam a possibilidade de promoverem modificações nas formas como os indivíduos se relacionam e aprendem ao oferecer novas possibilidades de contato, conhecimento e compartilhamento de experiências culturais, viáveis pelo acesso, conectividade e agilidade do espaço cibernético, que de outro modo estariam reduzidas ao conhecimento de pequenos grupos. A música enquanto uma manifestação material e imaterial não mais se restringe a um território ou a uma forma previamente determinada pela indústria cultural. O ciberespaço viabiliza a desterritorialização da interpretação e compreensão da expressão musical contribuindo para a construção da cibercultura, uma cultura com uma infinidade de atores com as mais diferentes formações sociais, políticas e culturais, com potencial para criar a transculturalidade ao antever a possibilidade de criações musicais independentemente de bases territoriais físicas e culturalmente restritivas. Este artigo pretende contribuir para a reflexão sobre a multiplicidade de mudanças e impactos promovidos pelos avanços tecnológicos. Novos horizontes possíveis são algo real e presente na sociedade atual. Neste artigo, descrevemos os aparatos tecnológicos com potencial para a criação de novos contextos e estruturas musicais e culturais com o propósito de potencializar a contribuição para a música brasileira diante de um quadro no qual faltam estudos de usuários e a dificuldade de interoperabilidade entre os sistemas internacionais e a iniciativa brasileira é algo a ser superado.The interaction in virtual spaces contributes to enhancing dialogue, particularly when the goal is to preserve and disseminate cultural diversity. Apparates living in virtual spaces contributes to enhancing dialogue, particularly when the goal is to preserve and disseminate cultural diversity. Technological devices for the treatment and organization of music information in the case of Brazilian music, Répertoire International des Sources Musicales, the Brazilian National Library, the Library of Congress and the Digital Archive of the Institute Antonio Carlos Jobim have the ability to promote changes in the ways how individuals relate and learn to offer new possibilities of contact, knowledge and sharing cultural experiences viable for access, connectivity and speed of cyberspace, which oth-erwise were so reduced to the knowledge of small groups. Music as a material manifestation immate-rial and is no longer restricted to a territory or a previously-form completed by the cultural industry. Cyberspace enables the dispossession of interpretation and understanding of musical expression con-tributing to the construction of cyberculture, a culture with a multitude of actors with the most differ-ent social formations, policies and cultural, with the potential to create transculturality to predict the possibility of musical creations regardless of physical and culturally restrictive territorial bases. This article aims to contribute to the reflection on the multiplicity of changes and impacts promoted by technological advances. Possible new horizons are something real and pre-feel in today's society. In this article, we describe the potential with technological devices for the creation of new contexts and musical and cultural structures for the purpose of potentiate contribution to Brazilian music in front of a picture in which there are few studies of users and the difficulty of interoperability between Interna-tional systems and the Brazilian initiative is something to be overcome

Population genomics and antimicrobial resistance dynamics of Escherichia coli in wastewater and river environments

Aquatic environments are key niches for the emergence, evolution and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance. However, the population diversity and the genetic elements that drive the dynamics of resistant bacteria in different aquatic environments are still largely unknown. The aim of this study was to understand the population genomics and evolutionary events of Escherichia coli resistant to clinically important antibiotics including aminoglycosides, in anthropogenic and natural water ecosystems. Here we show that less different E. coli sequence types (STs) are identified in wastewater than in rivers, albeit more resistant to antibiotics, and with significantly more plasmids/cell (6.36 vs 3.72). However, the genomic diversity within E. coli STs in both aquatic environments is similar. Wastewater environments favor the selection of conserved chromosomal structures associated with diverse flexible plasmids, unraveling promiscuous interplasmidic resistance genes flux. On the contrary, the key driver for river E. coli adaptation is a mutable chromosome along with few plasmid types shared between diverse STs harboring a limited resistance gene content

The clumpy structure of ϵ\epsilon Eridani's debris disc revisited by ALMA

$\epsilon$ Eridani is the closest star to our Sun known to host a debris disc. Prior observations in the (sub-)millimetre regime have potentially detected clumpy structure in the disc and attributed this to interactions with an (as yet) undetected planet. However, the prior observations were unable to distinguish between structure in the disc and background confusion. Here we present the first ALMA image of the entire disc, which has a resolution of 1.6"$\times$1.2". We clearly detect the star, the main belt and two point sources. The resolution and sensitivity of this data allow us to clearly distinguish background galaxies (that show up as point sources) from the disc emission. We show that the two point sources are consistent with background galaxies. After taking account of these, we find that resolved residuals are still present in the main belt, including two clumps with a $>3\sigma$ significance -- one to the east of the star and the other to the northwest. We perform $n$-body simulations to demonstrate that a migrating planet can form structures similar to those observed by trapping planetesimals in resonances. We find that the observed features can be reproduced by a migrating planet trapping planetesimals in the 2:1 mean motion resonance and the symmetry of the most prominent clumps means that the planet should have a position angle of either ${\sim10^\circ}$ or ${\sim190^\circ}$. Observations over multiple epochs are necessary to test whether the observed features rotate around the star.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Aplicación de índices vegetales (banda roja e infrarrojo cercano) en plantaciones de aguacate

Avocado is a traditional fruit in the diet of Ecuadorians and requires proper crop handling to guarantee high production. Implementations of new technological alternatives such as spectroscopy indexes that correlating each other will allow optimize avocado crop management. This research validated the use of red band and near infrared-based plant indices with leaf nitrogen content. The plant indices used were normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI) and transformed vegetation index (TVI). These indexes were developed from two orthomosaics obtaining images that capture red and near infrared bands. Regression and correlation analysis were performed between the vegetable indices and the foliar nitrogen content analysis, generating R² values of 0.93 for NDVI, and 0.95 for TVI. The values of the plant indexes can be used to estimate plant vigor based on the nitrogen content of the foliar area.El aguacate es una fruta tradicional en la dieta de los ecuatorianos y requiere un manejo adecuado que garantice su producción. La implementación de nuevas alternativas tecnológicas, como utilización de índices de espectroscopia, permite obtener datos que al correlacionarlos optimizarán el manejo del cultivo. Esta investigación validó el uso de índices vegetales basados en la banda roja e infrarrojo cercano con el contenido de nitrógeno foliar. Se utilizó los índices vegetales: índice normalizado diferencial de vegetación (NDVI) e índice de vegetación transformado (TVI) desde dos ortomosaicos obtenidos mediante imágenes que capturan banda roja e infrarrojo cercano en plantaciones de aguacate.  Se realizaron regresiones y correlaciones entre los índices vegetales y los resultados de los análisis foliares de contenido de nitrógeno, generando valores de R² de 0,93 para NDVI y 0,95 para TVI. Los valores de los índices vegetales pueden utilizarse para estimar el vigor de la planta basado en el contenido de nitrógeno foliar