On Mining Conditions using Encoder-decoder Networks

A condition is a constraint that determines when something holds. Mining them is paramount to understanding many sentences properly. There are a few pattern-based approaches that fall short because the patterns must be handcrafted and it is not easy to characterise unusual ways to express conditions; there is one machine-learning approach that requires specific-purpose dictionaries, taxonomies, and heuristics, works on opinion sentences only, and was evaluated on a small dataset with Japanese sentences on hotels. In this paper, we present an encoder-decoder model to mine conditions that does not have any of the previous drawbacks and outperforms the state of the art in terms of effectiveness.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2013-40848-

Expresión escrita y necesidades educativas especiales : una línea de investigación en psicodidáctica

En este artículo se describe una línea de investigación psicodidáctica, cuyo objetivo es evaluar las necesidades educativas especiales en la expresión escrita. En el análisis se abordan dos dimensiones fundamentales: 1)Procesos cognitivos y metacognitivos y actitudes de los alumnos; 2) Características del texto, en el nivel macro-estructural y micro-estructural. En la investigación, de carácter exploratorio y cualitativo, se plantean interrogantes fundamentales sobre el tema, cuya respuesta se aborda desde una metodología mixta, en la que se combinan técnicas de análisis cualitativo y cuantitativo. De los resultados obtenidos en la investigación derivan aplicaciones en dos campos: 1) teórico: comprensión y explicación de la expresión escrita; 2) práctico: intervención didáctica para optimizar la habilidad de escribir.En aquest article es descriu una línia d'investigació psicodidàctica, amb l'objectiu d'avaluar les necessitats educatives especials en l'expressió escrita. En l'anàlisi s'aborden dues dimensions fonamentals: 1) Processos cognitius i metacognitius i actituds dels alumnes; 2) Característiques del text, en el nivell macro-estructural i micro-estructural. En la investigació, de caràcter exploratori i qualitativa, es plantegen interrogants fonamentals sobre la temàtica d'anàlisi qualitatiu i quantitatiu. Dels resultats obtinguts en la investigació se'n deriven aplicacions en dos camps: 1) teòric: comprensió i explicació de l'expressió escrita; 2) pràctic: intervenció didàctica per optimitzar l'habilitat d'escriure.In this paper a research trend is described. It is aimed at analyzing the written composition of pupils with special educational needs. Two issues are concerned: 1) Cognitive and metacognitive processes and attitude toward writing; 2) Text structures both at macro and micro-level. Research being of exploratory and qualitative nature, in its design essential questions about written composition are posed. In the methodology it will get together qualitative techniques and quantitative analyses. Results from research can contribute to the succes of teaching: 1) validating theoretical approaches; 2) suggesting new specified goals and strategies for teaching

Tendencias en la formación inicial del profesorado en educación especial

Este artículo se inscribe en el contexto de la formación de los futuros docentes y se centra en uno de sus componentes fundamentales: la formación inicial del profesorado en educación especial. Nuestra preocupación se centra pues en los conocimientos que los futuros profesores deben adquirir, así como en la forma de desarrollar sus actuaciones didácticas para contribuir eficazmente al desarrollo integral de sus alumnos. En este artículo, después de reflexionar sobre los nuevos requerimientos en la formación inicial del profesorado, se analizan algunos dilemas (formación categorial vs. genérica, formación generalista vs. específica) que se plantean en la teoría y en la práctica de la educación especial y se postula una propuesta integradora, que deriva de la filosofía de la escuela inclusiva: los profesores generalistas y especialistas, aun desempeñando distintas funciones, deben actuar colaborativamente y, por tanto, su formación debe ser común y diferenciada

The mammary cellular hierarchy and breast cancer.

Advances in the study of hematopoietic cell maturation have paved the way to a deeper understanding the stem and progenitor cellular hierarchy in the mammary gland. The mammary epithelium, unlike the hematopoietic cellular hierarchy, sits in a complex niche where communication between epithelial cells and signals from the systemic hormonal milieu, as well as from extra-cellular matrix, influence cell fate decisions and contribute to tissue homeostasis. We review the discovery, definition and regulation of the mammary cellular hierarchy and we describe the development of the concepts that have guided our investigations. We outline recent advances in in vivo lineage tracing that is now challenging many of our assumptions regarding the behavior of mammary stem cells, and we show how understanding these cellular lineages has altered our view of breast cancer

Are There Any Differences between the Texts Written by Students Who Are Blind, Those Who Are Partially Sighted, and Those with Normal Vision?

The aim was prepared in order to analyze the linguistic ability of children with visual impairment and children with normal vision. Several features of the narrative episodes produced were investigated, including quantity, quality, the connections between them and the structural elements which they consist of. Central tendency measures and dis-persion measures were applied, in addition to inferential measures. This leads us to the conclusion that the structural parts making up the texts depend on a great extent to the individual style of each subject. However, the two groups are markedly different in cer-tain parts. Finally, pupils who were older and educated to a higher level have shown greater development of narrative ability, engaging more with the essential part quite largely forgotten in the younger pupils’ texts. With regard to the connections established by the pupils between the various episodes making up their narratives, the texts produced by pupils with visual impairments show predominantly temporary connections. Significant differences were found between the texts written by students who had normal vision and those who were blind or partially sighted. The greatest differences were observed in the length of the text and the complete episodes: both measures were greater in the texts writ-ten by students with normal vision

Development of the Writing Skills of Students in Compulsory Education in Spain

Acquiring writing skills requires an entire academic lifetime but acceptable levels of proficiency should be covered in compulsory education. This research verifies the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels of writing skills in the Spanish education system. It compares both the development of knowledge and the associated difficulties in interviews with 40 students from the even years of primary and secondary education. Descriptive and correlational analyses were made, after coding their statements according to the theoretical model used. They revealed an unexpected stagnation, depending on the levels, with important educational implications.This research was financed by the Andalusian Regional Government (Spain) and the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), Programme for STRENGTHENING R&D&I at the University of Granada

Communication skills training in trainee primary school teachers in Spain

En http://www.ise-lv.eu/ufiles/1440677166JTEFS_2015_vol%2017_no%201.pdf ; http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jtes DOI: 10.1515/jtes-2015-0007Research on teacher training often focuses on learnersí perceptions of that training. The focus of this paper, which uses a research-to-practice approach, is instead on the views of the trainers. It evaluates the perceptions of university lecturers teaching classes as part of primary teachersí training degrees and assesses their views of the communication skills developed by their students to be used in their future careers. The study uses a 17-item ad-hoc questionnaire, completed by 152 lecturers from the University of Granada. Descriptive and inferential analyses are then carried out on the data collected using SPSS. The analysis results show how important lecturers believe it is for trainee teachers to develop communication skills, which they often lack. Although lecturers believe communication skills are very important, they also think that they are not developed as much as they should be in their classes, so trainee teachers cannot communicate as effectively as they should

In Vitro Mutagenic and Genotoxic Assessment of a Mixture of the Cyanotoxins Microcystin-LR and Cylindrospermopsin

The co-occurrence of various cyanobacterial toxins can potentially induce toxic effects different than those observed for single cyanotoxins, as interaction phenomena cannot be discarded. Moreover, mixtures are a more probable exposure scenario. However, toxicological information on the topic is still scarce. Taking into account the important role of mutagenicity and genotoxicity in the risk evaluation framework, the objective of this study was to assess the mutagenic and genotoxic potential of mixtures of two of the most relevant cyanotoxins, Microcystin-LR (MC-LR) and Cylindrospermopsin (CYN), using the battery of in vitro tests recommended by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for food contaminants. Mixtures of 1:10 CYN/MC-LR (CYN concentration in the range 0.04-2.5 µg/mL) were used to perform the bacterial reverse-mutation assay (Ames test) in Salmonella typhimurium, the mammalian cell micronucleus (MN) test and the mouse lymphoma thymidine-kinase assay (MLA) on L5178YTk± cells, while Caco-2 cells were used for the standard and enzyme-modified comet assays. The exposure periods ranged between 4 and 72 h depending on the assay. The genotoxicity of the mixture was observed only in the MN test with S9 metabolic fraction, similar to the results previously reported for CYN individually. These results indicate that cyanobacterial mixtures require a specific (geno)toxicity evaluation as their effects cannot be extrapolated from those of the individual cyanotoxins.España Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad AGL2015-64558-