A Multicriteria Goal Programming Model for Ranking Universities

[EN] This paper proposes the use of a goal programming model for the objective ranking of universities. This methodology has been successfully used in other areas to analyze the performance of firms by focusing on two opposite approaches: (a) one favouring those performance variables that are aligned with the central tendency of the majority of the variables used in the measurement of the performance, and (b) an alternative one that favours those different, singular, or independent performance variables. Our results are compared with the ranking proposed by two popular World University Rankings, and some insightful differences are outlined. We show how some top-performing universities occupy the best positions regardless of the approach followed by the goal programming model, hence confirming their leadership. In addition, our proposal allows for an objective quantification of the importance of each variable in the performance of universities, which could be of great interest to decision-makers.García García, F.; Guijarro, F.; Oliver-Muncharaz, J. (2021). A Multicriteria Goal Programming Model for Ranking Universities. Mathematics. 9(5):1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/math90504591179

Allogeneic Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Ameliorate Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis by Regulating Self-Reactive T Cell Responses and Dendritic Cell Function

Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have emerged as a promising therapy for autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS). Administration of MSCs to MS patients has proven safe with signs of immunomodulation but their therapeutic efficacy remains low. The aim of the current study has been to further characterize the immunomodulatory mechanisms of adipose tissue-derived MSCs (ASCs) in vitro and in vivo using the EAE model of chronic brain inflammation in mice. We found that murine ASCs (mASCs) suppress T cell proliferation in vitro via inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase- (COX-) 1/2 activities. mASCs also prevented the lipopolysaccharide- (LPS-) induced maturation of dendritic cells (DCs) in vitro. The addition of the COX-1/2 inhibitor indomethacin, but not the iNOS inhibitor L-NAME, reversed the block in DC maturation implicating prostaglandin (PG) E2 in this process. In vivo, early administration of murine and human ASCs (hASCs) ameliorated myelin oligodendrocyte protein- (MOG35-55-) induced EAE in C57Bl/6 mice. Mechanistic studies showed that mASCs suppressed the function of autoantigen-specific T cells and also decreased the frequency of activated (CD11c+ and CD11c+TNF-α+) DCs in draining lymph nodes (DLNs). In summary, these data suggest that mASCs reduce EAE severity, in part, through the impairment of DC and T cell function.This work has been financed by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain (http://www.isciii.es) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/es/funding/erdf/) from the European Union, through the Research Grants PI15/00794, CP09/00228, and CPII15/00032 (Per Anderson); PI12/01097, PI15/02015, and ISCIII Red de Terapia Celular (RD12/0019/0006, http://www.red-tercel.com/) (Francisco Martin); and PS09-00928 (Mario Delgado). Mario Delgado was supported by a grant (PSE-010000-2009-3) from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain (http://www.idi.mineco.gob.es/), and P09-CTS-4723 from the Junta de Andalucia (Proyecto de Excelencia). Francisco Martin is funded by the Fundación Progreso y Salud (Consejería de Salud, Junta de Andalucía, http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/fundacionprogresoysalud/)

Recognize the political to democratize education

Esta comunicación recupera la distinción que estableció la ciencia política contemporánea entre la política y lo político y plantea las implicancias que tiene reconocer lo político en la democratización de la educación. Según esta distinción, la política involucra acciones e instituciones que sirven al mantenimiento del orden establecido y lo político es el momento siempre originario, conflictivo y contingente de las relaciones humanas. Se sostiene que, para la democratización de la educación, reconocer lo político contribuye a que las acciones realizadas dentro de los marcos establecidos y los espacios privilegiados de la política sean una re-elección o una modificación consciente del orden educativo. Pero, por otro lado, también deja lugar a que lo político surja como algo ajeno al locus definido para la democracia en el sistema educativo o en la escuela, que surja como iniciativa de los propios participantes de la educación y que sirva como fuerza instituyente del orden educativoConsidering the distinction established by contemporary political science between politics and the political, this paper raises the implications of recognizing the political in the democratization of education. According to this distinction, politics involves actions and institutions that serve to maintain the established order whereas the political is the always original, conflictive and contingent moment of human relations. It is argued that, for the democratization of education, recognizing the political contributes to the conscious reelection or modification of the educational order within the actions carried out in the established frameworks and privileged spaces of politics. But it also leaves space for the political to emerge as something different to the locus defined for democracy in the education system or in the school, something that emerges as an initiative of the education protagonists and serves as an instituting force of the educational orderEsta investigación ha sido desarrollada en el marco del Proyecto I+D+i de Excelencia titulado "La democracia en las escuelas como fundamento de una educación para la Justicia Social" (EDU2017-82688-P) financiado por el Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitivida

Temporary status of teachers in spanish schools, a school inequity factor

El objetivo de la investigación es determinar la incidencia de la titularidad del centro, del hábitat y del nivel socioeconómico y cultural del contexto escolar en la interinidad del profesorado en los centros de secundaria en España. Para ello se ha realizado una explotación secundaria de los datos PISA-2015 que cuenta con la participación total de 6.736 estudiantes de secundaria y 201 centros. Los resultados indican que el porcentaje de presencia de profesores interinos es mayor en las escuelas de titularidad pública, independientemente del contexto. Además, los datos indican que el porcentaje de interinidad varía en función del tamaño de la población llegando hasta un 42% de profesores interinos en las escuelas públicas de las zonas rurales. En relación al nivel socioeconómico y cultural de las familias, las tasas de interinidad en los centros públicos aumentan a medida que se reduce el nivel socioeconómico y cultural de las familias. Con estos resultados se aportan evidencias empíricas acerca la inestabilidad del profesorado como un factor de inequidad social y se corrobora la necesidad de valorar el contexto educativo para el reconocimiento de las injusticias sociales en la reproducción de las desigualdades educativasThe research objective is to determine the incidence of the centre’s ownership, the habitat and of the socioeconomic and cultural level of the school context in the interim of teachers in secondary schools in Spain. In order to do this, a secondary exploitation of the PISA- 2015 data has been carried out, with the total participation of 6,736 high school students and 201 centers. The results indicate that the percentage of the presence of interim teachers is higher in public schools, regardless of the context. In addition, the data indicate that the percentage of internship varies according to the size of the population, reaching up to 42% of interim teachers in public schools in rural areas. Regarding the socioeconomic and cultural level of the families, the interim rates in public centers increase as the socioeconomic and cultural level of the families decreases. With these results, empirical evidence is provided about the instability of teachers as a factor of social inequity and corroborates the need to value the educational context for the recognition of social injustices in the reproduction of educational inequalitiesEsta investigación ha sido desarrollada en el marco del Proyecto I+D+i de Excelencia titulado "Escuelas en contextos socio-económicamente desafiantes: una aproximación desde la educación para la justicia social" (EDU2014-56118-P) financiado por el Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitivida

El uso del software estadístico R en la asignatura de finanzas cuantitativas: desarrollo de habilidades y competencias

[ES] Los cambios en la orientación de la docencia como consecuencia de la necesaria adaptación al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior incluyen la adopción de un nuevo paradigma, modificando la orientación docente. Así, se ha pasado de una enseñanza por contenidos a otra orientada a los resultados de aprendizaje y el desarrollo de competencias. La introducción del software estadístico R en las clases de laboratorio de la asignatura de Finanzas Cuantitativas supone un cambio en ese sentido. Entre otras ventajas, refuerza las competencias relacionadas con el aprendizaje de los contenidos del curso. Además, esta asignatura sirve ahora de punto de control de dos competencias transversales: uso crítico de la información y empleo de instrumentos específicos. En las clase prácticas de laboratorio, se emplea el software R para resolver problemas reales, evitando plantear simples problemas teóricos.[EN] The change in the teaching orientation due to the adaptation to the new European Higher Education Area (EHEA), involved a remarking new education paradigm, moving from a learning content to an orientation based on learning results and development of competences. The introduction of the R statistical software in the Quantitative Finance subject lab-sessions implied a change in this vein. Among others, it strengthened the competences related with the learning of the contents of the subject. Moreover, among the different transversal competences (TC) and skills (a total of nine TCs), the following competences were chosen as checkpoints: Critical synthesis of information and the use of specific tools. Under the methodological vision of action- research and the critical observation of teaching in the subject we use the lab-cases and sessions in order to propose actual cases, therefore, we avoid the use of simple practical exercises. By means of the R statistical software the main goal was to reach the objectives of the proposed three lab-sessions.Cervelló Royo, RE.; Guijarro, F.; Oliver-Muncharaz, J. (2017). The use of the R statistical software in the quantitative finance subject: development of skills and competences. Finance, Markets and Valuation. 3(2):109-116. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/102303S1091163

Practical values and uncertainty in regulatory decision making

Regulatory science, which generates knowledge relevant for regulatory decision‐making, is different from standard academic science in that it is oriented mainly towards the attainment of non‐epistemic (practical) aims. The role of uncertainty and the limits to the relevance of academic science are being recognized more and more explicitly in regulatory decision‐making. This has led to the introduction of regulation‐specific scientific methodologies in order to generate decision‐relevant data. However, recent practical experience with such non‐standard methodologies indicates that they, too, may be subject to important limitations. We argue that the attainment of non‐epistemic values and aims (like the protection of human health and the environment) requires not only control of the quality of the data and the methodologies, but also the selection of the level of regulation deemed adequate in each specific case (including a decision about which of the two, under‐regulation or over‐regulation, would be more acceptable)

Clasificación y selección de materiales de cambio de fase según sus características para su aplicación en sistemas de almacenamiento de energía térmica

Clasificación y selección de materiales de cambio de fase según sus características para su aplicación en sistemas de almacenamiento de energía térmic

Messenger RNA delivery by hydrazone-activated polymers

This is the Accepted Manuscript of the following article: Juanes, M., Creese, O., Fernández-Trillo, P., & Montenegro, J. (2019). Messenger RNA delivery by hydrazone-activated polymers. Medchemcomm, 10(7), 1138-1144. doi: 10.1039/c9md00231fThe intracellular delivery of DNA and RNA therapeutics requires the assistance of vectors and/or nucleotide modifications to protect the nucleic acids against host nucleases and promote cellular internalization and release. Recently, messenger RNA (mRNA) has attracted much attention due to its transient activity and lack of genome permanent recombination and persistent expression. Therefore, there is a strong interest in the development of conceptually new non-viral vectors with low toxicity that could improve mRNA transfection efficiency. We have recently introduced the potential of polyhydrazones and the importance of the degree of polymerization for the delivery of siRNA and plasmid DNA. Here, we demonstrate that this technology can be easily adapted to the more interesting complexation and delivery inside living cells of mRNA. The polyplexes resulting from the combination of the amphiphilic polyhydrazone were characterized and the transfection efficiency and cell viability were studied for a discrete collection of functionalized polyhydrazones. The results obtained demonstrated the versatility of these polymeric vectors as excellent candidates for the delivery of mRNA and validate the easy adaptability of the technology to more sensitive and therapeutically relevant nucleic acidsThis work has received financial support from Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) [CTQ2014-59646-R, SAF2017-89890-R], the Xunta de Galicia (ED431C 2017/25, 2016-AD031 and Centro singular de investigación de Galicia accreditation 2016–2019, ED431G/09) and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund - ERDF). M.J. received a F.P.I. fellowship from MINECO (CTQ2014-59646- R). J.M. received a Ramón y Cajal (RYC-2013-13784), an ERC Starting Investigator Grant (DYNAP- 677786) and a Young Investigator Grant from the Human Frontier Science Research Program (RGY0066/2017). F.F.T. thanks the Birmingham Science City and the European Regional Development Fund, and the University of Birmingham (John Evans Fellowship). O.C. thanks the Midlands Integrative Biosciences Training Partnership (MIBTP) for the PhD scholarshipS

Ranking the Performance of Universities: The Role of Sustainability

[EN] University rankings assess the performance of universities in various fields and aggregate that performance into a single value. In this way, the aggregate performance of universities can be easily compared. The importance of rankings is evident, as they often guide the policy of Higher Education Institutions. The most prestigious multi-criteria rankings use indicators related to teaching and research. However, many stakeholders are now demanding a greater commitment to sustainable development from universities, and it is therefore necessary to include sustainability criteria in university rankings. The development of multi-criteria rankings is subject to numerous criticisms, including the subjectivity of the decision makers when assigning weights to the criteria. In this paper we propose a methodology based on goal programming that allows objective, transparent and reproducible weighting of the criteria. Moreover, it avoids the problems associated with the existence of correlated criteria. The methodology is applied to a sample of 718 universities, using 11 criteria obtained from two prestigious university rankings covering sustainability, teaching and research. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to assess the robustness of the results obtained. This analysis shows how the weights of the criteria and the universities' rank change depending on the lambda parameter of the goal programming model, which is the only parameter set by the decision maker.Burmann, C.; García García, F.; Guijarro, F.; Oliver-Muncharaz, J. (2021). Ranking the Performance of Universities: The Role of Sustainability. Sustainability. 13(23):1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132313286S117132

PARP inhibition promotes endothelial-like traits in melanoma cells and modulates pericyte coverage dynamics during vasculogenic mimicry

Vasculogenic mimicry (VM) describes the ability of highly aggressive tumor cells to develop pseudovascular structures without the participation of endothelial cells. PARP1 is implicated in the activation of hypoxia-inducible factors, which are crucial in tumor neovascularization. We have explored the role of hypoxia and PARP inhibition in VM. In uveal melanoma xenografts, the PARP inhibitor olaparib improved in vivo pericyte coverage specifically of VM channels. This was concomitant with reduced metastasis in olaparib-treated VM+ tumors. PARP inhibition and hypoxia modulated melanoma tube formation in vitro, inducing a more sparse and regular tubular architecture. Wholetranscriptome profiling revealed that olaparib treatment under hypoxic conditions modulated the expression of genes implicated in vasculogenesis during tube formation, enhancing the endothelial-like phenotype of VM+ uveal melanoma cells. PARP inhibition, especially during hypoxia, upregulated PDGFβ, which is essential for pericyte recruitment. Our study indicates that PARP inhibitors may enhance the endothelial characteristics of VM+ cells, modulate pericyte coverage, and reduce metastatic spread in VM+ melanoma.Spanish Government Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain (MICINN) Spanish Government SAF2015-70520-R RTI2018-098968-B-I00 RTICC RD12/0036/0026CIBER Cancer ISCIII CB16/12/00421Junta de Andalucia PY20_01179Fundacion Domingo Martine