AMELAT XXI: una experiencia de educación virtual de postgrado sobre América Latina

Este trabajo recoge la experiencia del proyecto AMELAT XXI, financiado por la Comisión Europea (2001-2003). El proyecto identificaba la necesidad de ofrecer formación de postgrado para aquellos que, deseosos de especializarse en estudios de América Latina, no pudiesen acceder a los estudios presenciales de las universidades tradicionales europeas. Algunos de los logros del mismo fueron la creación de dos cursos virtuales de postgrado sobre América Latina que están especialmente diseñados para estudiarse a distancia. Estos cursos, que son títulos propios de la UCM, se caracterizan por estar impartidos por profesores de seis universidades europeas gracias al uso de Internet y de las nuevas tecnologías aplicadas a la educació

A política urbana em Madri: um relato provisório

Different stages of urban policies in Madris is our central reflexion of this article, trying to identify periods of internal coherence according to the city model pursuit and the actions developed. The description of actions is completed with an analysis of main key points in order to understand the difference and similitudes of the city model implemented by different governments even from the same party. Therefore, different factors are taken into account: if urban policiy is centered in the internal logic of the city, or if by contrary is oriented to a global context; if city is thought as a political space or mainly as a place for beneficts, or if the leadership of the different stages is local or is belongs to other government levels.El artículo reflexiona sobre las diferentes etapas por las que ha transcurrido la política urbana de la ciudad de Madrid, tratando de delimitar fases que presenten coherencia interna respecto del modelo de ciudad que se persigue y las acciones que se impulsan. La descripción de acciones se completa con una reflexión sobre las claves que permitirían entender las diferencias y similitudes en el modelo de ciudad que plantean distintos gobiernos que pertenecen al mismo partido político. Así se consideran diversos factores: si la política urbana se concentra en la lógica interna de la propia ciudad o se orienta hacia una lógica global; si se considera la ciudad como un espacio político o como un espacio de oportunidades económicas o si el protagonismo o liderazgo de las distintas fases es local o de otros niveles de gobierno.O artigo reflexiona sobre as diferentes etapas pelas quais transcorreu a política urbana da cidade de Madri, buscando delimitar fases que apresentem coerência interna face ao modelo de cidade buscado e as ações impulsionadas. A descrição das ações completa-se com uma reflexão sobre as principais dimensões que permitiriam entender as diferenças e similaridades no modelo de cidade defendido por governos diferentes pertencentes ao mesmo partido político. Consideram-se, desse modo, os seguintes fatores: se a política urbana concentra-se na lógica interna da própria cidade ou se orienta à uma lógica global; se a cidade é considerada como um espaço político ou como um espaço de oportunidades econômicas; ou se o protagonismo ou liderança das diversas fases é local ou de outros níveis de governo

La autonomía territorial y la cuestión etnonacional de los pueblos indígenas: ¿se descoloniza el poder en México?

Este ensayo tiene como objetivo principal plantear los problemas ligados a la adopción de la autonomía territorial como el modelo de territorialidad política capaz de satisfacer las demandas de grupos étnicos culturalmente diferenciados y, a la vez, salvaguardar la soberanía del Estado-nación. Se aborda el análisis de la “colonialidad del poder” y se cuestiona hasta qué punto las estrategias indígenas de autonomía territorial luchan contra ella. De manera especial se estudiarán las demandas de autonomía territorial planteadas por las organizaciones indígenas en México, contrastándolas con algunas otras experiencias en Norteamérica y el Pacífico

Lo urbano y lo político: el caso español

Introducción

Translation universals in the oral production of bilingual children

Producción CientíficaThis paper investigates two of the most widely analyzed universals in translation research, namely simplification and explicitation. We examine the oral production of bilingual children with different language pairs as available in the CHILDES project (MacWhinney 2000) (i.e. the FerFuLice, Ticio, Deuchar, Vila, Genesee and Pérez-Bazán corpora) as well as in other compilation forms (i.e. Ronjat 1913; Leopold 1939-1949; Swain 1972; Lanza 1988, 1997, 2001; and Cossato 2008). We address two main issues: whether instances of simplification and explicitation appear in the production of non-instructed interpreters and, if so, how their occurrence relates to the type of data (i.e. spontaneous or experimental) and the language pair involved. The results show that children acquiring two first languages often translate and use simplification and explicitation at varying degrees irrespective of the language pair. We conclude that the analysis of acquisition data can contribute to shed light on the nature of these translation universals.Junta de Castilla y León - Consejería de Educación (VA046A06; UV 30/02)Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación - FEDER (BFF2002-00442)Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (HUM2007-62213/FILO

The acquisition of Spanish and English as two first languages through the analysis of natural interpreting in bilingual children

Producción CientíficaResearch on the acquisition of two first languages from birth (2L1A) has focused, among other issues, on how the grammars of the two languages being acquired interact (e.g. Bhatia & Ritchie, 2012 ; De Houwer, 2009 ; Deuchar & Quay, 2000 ; Döpke, 2000 ; Köppe & Meisel, 1995 ). A case in point is natural interpreting which evidences how bilingual children exposed to two languages from birth deal with the grammatical properties of the two languages and how this leads them to potentially convey the same message in either (or both) of these languages. More specifically, as part of the simultaneous processing of their two L1s, 2L1 bilingual children have been reported to often translate between their two L1s ( Álvarez de la Fuente & Fernández Fuertes, 2012 , 2015 ; Cossato, 2008 ; Harris, 1980a , 1980b ; Harris & Sherwood, 1978 ), a phenomenon that has been called natural interpreting ( Harris, 1977 , 2003). In this respect, natural interpreting can be included with other language contact phenomena, such as interlinguistic influence or code-switching, as a typical defining property of 2L1A. Therefore, in this study we aim to offer an analysis of the way in which Spanish-English bilingual children use natural interpreting in their 2L1A process by focusing on the Spanish-English bilingual corpora freely available through the CHILDES project ( MacWhinney, 2000 ).Junta de Castilla y León (programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación – Ref. VA046A06; UV 30/02)Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología- FEDER (BFF2002-00442)Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (HUM2007-62213/FILO

Novel Hyaluronic Acid-Chitosan Nanoparticles for Ocular Gene Therapy

purpose. Gene therapy offers a promising alternative for the treatment of ocular diseases. However, the implementation of this type of therapy is actually hampered by the lack of an efficient ocular gene delivery carrier. The main objective of the present work was to assess the effectiveness and investigate the mechanism of action of a new type of nanoparticle made of two bioadhesive polysaccharides, hyaluronic acid (HA) and chitosan (CS), intended for the delivery of genes to the cornea and conjunctiva. methods. The nanoparticles were obtained by a very mild ionotropic gelation technique. They were loaded with either the model plasmid pEGFP or pβ-gal. Transfection and toxicological studies were conducted in human corneal epithelial (HCE) and normal human conjunctival (IOBA-NHC) cell lines. The mechanism of internalization of the nanoparticles by the corneal and conjunctival cells was investigated by using fluorescence confocal microscopy. results. The nanoparticles had a size in the range of 100 to 235 nm and a ζ-potential of −30 to +28 mV. The results of the transfection studies showed that HA-CS nanoparticles were able to provide high transfection levels (up to 15% of cells transfected), without affecting cell viability. The confocal images indicated that HA-CS nanoparticles were internalized by fluid endocytosis and that this endocytic process was mediated by the hyaluronan receptor CD44. conclusions. The results give evidence of the potential of HA-CS nanoparticles for the targeting and further transfer of genes to the ocular surfaceS

Nanoengineering of vaccines using natural polysaccharides

Currently, there are over 70 licensed vaccines, which prevent the pathogenesis of around 30 viruses and bacteria. Nevertheless, there are still important challenges in this area, which include the development of more active, non-invasive, and thermo-resistant vaccines. Important biotechnological advances have led to safer subunit antigens, such as proteins, peptides, and nucleic acids. However, their limited immunogenicity has demanded potent adjuvants that can strengthen the immune response. Particulate nanocarriers hold a high potential as adjuvants in vaccination. Due to their pathogen-like size and structure, they can enhance immune responses by mimicking the natural infection process. Additionally, they can be tailored for non-invasive mucosal administration (needle-free vaccination), and control the delivery of the associated antigens to a specific location and for prolonged times, opening room for single-dose vaccination. Moreover, they allow co-association of immunostimulatory molecules to improve the overall adjuvant capacity. The natural and ubiquitous character of polysaccharides, together with their intrinsic immunomodulating properties, their biocompatibility, and biodegradability, justify their interest in the engineering of nanovaccines. In this review, we aim to provide a state-of-the-art overview regarding the application of nanotechnology in vaccine delivery, with a focus on the most recent advances in the development and application of polysaccharide-based antigen nanocarriers

Linguistic theory and bilingual systems: Simultaneous and sequential English/Spanish bilingualism

Producción CientíficaUsing data from simultaneous and sequential bilingualism, we address a series of learnability issues by investigating the acquisition of four different structures: (i) the [Gender] feature of the Spanish Determiner in the production of English/ Spanish mixed Determiner Phrases; (ii) the [Determiner] feature of Tense in the production of null/overt subjects; (iii) the morphosyntactic status of definite articles and clitics; and (iv) the morphosyntactic characteristics of Spanish deverbal compounds. We compare spontaneous and experimental data elicited from children and adults in order to show how these linguistic constructs can account for the differences and similarities between native and non-native bilingual systems. The data reveal clear-cut differences between native and non-native production/ interpretation. We attribute this to feature specification and the way in which both groups access the input.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología de España - FEDER (BFF2002-00442)Faculty of Arts of the University of Ottawa - Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (410-2004-2034

Objective assessment of gender differences in learning strategies

La Teoría de Metas de Logro señala la existencia de estas dos estrategias u orientaciones motivacionales: la orientación de resultado y la orientación de aprendizaje. La primera suele asociarse a la búsqueda del resultado exitoso e inmediato y la segunda a la comprensión profunda y largo mayor plazo de las diversas implicaciones de una tarea. Algunos estudios señalan que los varones, en comparación con las mujeres, tienden a desarrollar en mayor medida la orientación de resultado. El Test de Aprendizaje de Categorías (TAC), una prueba de atención y aprendizaje, permite discriminar estas dos modalidades de afrontamiento de la tarea. Para investigar las diferencias de género en estas orientaciones, se evaluó a 502 escolares de 6 a 12 años mediante el TAC. Los resultados confirman la existencia de ambos perfiles, aunque no aparecen diferencias de género. Se plantea que quizás estas diferencias surjan más adelante en la evolución debido al aprendizaje y la socialización. La enseñanza de patrones motivacionales adaptativos a largo plazo puede resultar muy beneficiosa para los niños en edad escolar.Goal Theory indicates the existence of two learning strategies and motivational goals: the performance-focused goals and learning-focused goals. The first one is usually associated with the aim of achieving immediate and good results while the second one is associates with deep and long-range comprehension. Some studies show that men, compared with women, tend to develop performance performance-focused goals. The Categories Learning Test (CLT), a test of attention and learning, discriminates these two patterns in children when solving a task. We evaluated 502 schoolchildren of 6-12 years by CLT. The results confirm the existence of both profiles, although not shown gender differences. It argues that these differences may arise later in development due to learning and socialization. Teaching adaptive goals and strategies can be very beneficial for school children