A Model-Driven Approach for Business Process Management

The Business Process Management is a common mechanism recommended by a high number of standards for the management of companies and organizations. In software companies this practice is every day more accepted and companies have to assume it, if they want to be competitive. However, the effective definition of these processes and mainly their maintenance and execution are not always easy tasks. This paper presents an approach based on the Model-Driven paradigm for Business Process Management in software companies. This solution offers a suitable mechanism that was implemented successfully in different companies with a tool case named NDTQ-Framework.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2010-20057-C03-02Junta de Andalucía TIC-578

Influence of temperature and time on the Eu3+ reaction with synthetic Na-Mica-n (n = 2 and 4)

Bentonite is accepted as the best clay material for the engineered barrier of Deep Geological Repositories (DGRs). The performance of clay as the main component of the engineered barrier in the DGR has been intensively studied and the structure of the selected clay mineral play a crucial role. In this sense, a new family of synthetic swelling silicates, Na-Mica-n, with tuned layer charge (n) values between 2.0 and 4.0 per unit cell has recently been synthesized and a general synthetic method has been reported. These swelling high-charge micas could be highly valuable for the decontamination of harmful cations. The ability of these micas to immobilize Eu3+ under subcritical conditions has been probed. The adsorption was in both non-specific sites (cation exchange mechanism) and specific sites (chemical reaction or surface defects adsorption). Moreover, its adsorption capacity, under the same conditions is higher than in saponite and far superior to the bentonites.Junta de Andalucía P12-FQM-567European Union 29178

University students remembering attachment patterns learned through role playing

La presente investigación se enmarca dentro de los estudios para la mejora de los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje. El objetivo principal es observar el grado de recuerdo que muestra el alumnado universitario al preguntarles sobre el apego y los tipos de apego, que fueron explicados mediante simulaciones y juegos de roles en las clases de la asignatura “Psicología del desarrollo”. Los 110 participantes proceden de una muestra de alumnos de la Facultad de Educación-Centro de Formación del Profesorado de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Para alcanzar el objetivo se diseñó una investigación empírica utilizando metodología cualitativa. Se trata de comprobar si el alumnado recuerda en qué consiste el apego, el apego seguro, el apego inseguro ambivalente, el apego inseguro evitativo y el apego desorganizado. Los resultados encontrados muestran, en general, un alto grado de recuerdo, incluso, más de un año después de haber cursado la asignatura. En conclusión, el análisis parece mostrar la utilidad de este tipo de metodología docente para mejorar el aprendizaje del alumnado.This paper forms part of the studies for the improvement of the teaching-learning processes. The main aim is to observe the memory retention level of university students when asked about attachment and attachment patterns, which were explained through simulations and role playing in Developmental Psychology lessons. The 110 participants were drawn from a sample of students of the Faculty of Education - Professorship Formation Center from the Complutense University of Madrid. To reach the proposed aim, an empirical research is designed using quantitative methodology. The question is to verify whether students remember attachment, secure attachment, anxious attachment, avoidant attachment and disorganized attachment. The results show a high memory retention level, even more than a year after having attended the course. In conclusion, analysis reveals the usefulness of implementing this kind of teaching methodology to improve students learning.peerReviewe

El fandom de Blue Jeans: lectura y socialización literaria en línea

Both fans’ and writers’ social network participation configures an ecology of digital literary practices which alter how literary pieces are received and how readers and writers can potentially connect and interact. We explore the use of online affinity literary spaces through the literary universe of Spanish writer Blue Jeans. We proposed a case study. We analyzed 3,997 comments from digital spaces in the fandom (managed by the author or by the fans), and a semi-structured interview with Blue Jeans. Results indicate that (1) there fans socialize their affinity to literary reading differently according to the various spaces and who manages them (author, fans), (2) there are spaces more prone to literary socialization, and (3) keeping an active network for literary and reading socialization is a prominent part of the repertoire of the writer’s professionalization. Thanks to the horizontal interaction (writer/fans, fans/fans), Blue Jeans’ followers extract intercultural learnings revealing the potential of connecting vernacular contexts and formal education to educate generations of critical readers, without this involving the extraction of fandoms from their contexts. Finally, we propose some lines for future action in language and literary education such as tapping into the potential of social semiosis or the multiliteracies proposal.La participación de fans y autores en redes sociales configura una nueva ecología letrada digital que modifica la recepción de la obra literaria y las posibilidades de interacción entre lectores y escritores. Con un estudio de caso, exploramos el uso de varios espacios de afinidad y socialización del universo literario del escritor español Blue Jeans. Analizamos 3.997 comentarios de los espacios digitales de este fandom, con datos cuantitativos y cualitativos, además de una entrevista semiestructurada con el propio autor. Los resultados sugieren (1) diferencias relevantes en la socialización lectora según el tipo de espacio y su gestor (autor o fans), (2) correlaciones entre algún espacio y la socialización literaria, y (3) la relevancia de mantener activa una red de socialización lectora como parte del acervo de profesionalización del escritor. Gracias a la interacción entre iguales, los seguidores de Blue Jeans desarrollan aprendizajes de corte sociocultural, que revelan el potencial de relacionar contextos vernáculos y educación formal para formar generaciones lectoras y críticas, sin que ello implique extirpar la cultura fandom de sus contextos. Acabamos con algunas líneas de actuación futura en la educación lingüística y literaria, como la semiosis social o las multiliteracidades

Nonlinear dimensionality reduction for parametric problems: a kernel proper orthogonal decomposition

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Diez, P. [et al.]. Nonlinear dimensionality reduction for parametric problems: a kernel proper orthogonal decomposition. "International journal for numerical methods in engineering", 30 Desembre 2021, vol. 122, núm. 24, p. 7306-7327, which has been published in final form at DOI: 10.1002/nme.6831. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.Reduced-order models are essential tools to deal with parametric problems in the context of optimization, uncertainty quantification, or control and inverse problems. The set of parametric solutions lies in a low-dimensional manifold (with dimension equal to the number of independent parameters) embedded in a large-dimensional space (dimension equal to the number of degrees of freedom of the full-order discrete model). A posteriori model reduction is based on constructing a basis from a family of snapshots (solutions of the full-order model computed offline), and then use this new basis to solve the subsequent instances online. Proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) reduces the problem into a linear subspace of lower dimension, eliminating redundancies in the family of snapshots. The strategy proposed here is to use a nonlinear dimensionality reduction technique, namely, the kernel principal component analysis (kPCA), in order to find a nonlinear manifold, with an expected much lower dimension, and to solve the problem in this low-dimensional manifold. Guided by this paradigm, the methodology devised here introduces different novel ideas, namely, 1) characterizing the nonlinear manifold using local tangent spaces, where the reduced-order problem is linear and based on the neighboring snapshots, 2) the approximation space is enriched with the cross-products of the snapshots, introducing a quadratic description, 3) the kernel for kPCA is defined ad hoc, based on physical considerations, and 4) the iterations in the reduced-dimensional space are performed using an algorithm based on a Delaunay tessellation of the cloud of snapshots in the reduced space. The resulting computational strategy is performing outstandingly in the numerical tests, alleviating many of the problems associated with POD and improving the numerical accuracy.Generalitat de Catalunya, 2017-SGR-1278; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, CEX2018-000797-S; PID2020-113463RB-C32; PID2020-113463RB-C33Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Comparative analysis of the transition from early childhood education to primary education: factors affecting continuity between stages

p. 411-454The educational transition between early childhood education and primary education is a complex moment of change with repercussions throughout the academic life of the students. For this reason, it is important to seek continuity between both educational stages. A successful transition produces for the social, cognitive and emotional well-being of the student. The aim of this study is to find out how transition-related factors apply in ten European Union (EU) countries. The factors analyzed are the age of onset of transition, the teacher-student ratio, types of clustering, financing of the stage, responsibility, and both initial and in-service teacher training. The methodology followed in this study is documentary analysis and the main source of data search has been the European Commission's Eurydice portal. The results show differences in stage change within each country, especially in the explicit consideration of a transition period. The main conclusion is that there is a great difference between the northern and southern countries. The main differences between countries in the transitions from early childhood education to primary education in the EU are in the years of compulsory education, the teacher/student/unit ratio, the initial teacher training, and the decentralization of education.S

Physics-based manifold learning in scaffolds for tissue engineering: application to inverse problems

In the field of bone regeneration, insertion of scaffolds favours bone formation by triggering the differentiation of mesenchymal cells into osteoblasts. The presence of Calcium ions (Ca2+) in the interstitial fluid across scaffolds is thought to play a relevant role in the process. In particular, the Ca2+ patterns can be used as an indicator of where to expect bone formation. In this work, we analyse the inverse problem for these distribution patterns, using an advection-diffusion nonlinear model for the concentration of Ca2+. That is, given a set of observables which are related to the amount of expected bone formation, we aim at determining the values of the parameters that best fit the data. The problem is solved in a realistic 3D-printed structured scaffold for two uncertain parameters: the amplitude of the velocity of the interstitial fluid and the ionic release rate from the scaffold. The minimization in the inverse problem requires multiple evaluations of the nonlinear model. The computational cost is alleviated by the combination of standard Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD), to reduce the number of degrees of freedom, with an adhoc hyper-reduction strategy, which avoids the assembly of a full-order system at every iteration of the Newton’s method. The proposed hyper-reduction method is formulated using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) decomposition of suitable training sets, devised from the weak form of the problem. In the numerical tests, the hyper-reduced formulation leads to accurate results with a significant reduction of the computational demands with respect to standard POD.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Evolución de la agresividad pluviométrica en las cuencas hidrográficas españolas (1940-2010)

Entre los posibles efectos ambientales de la precipitación destaca la erosión del suelo. Desde distintos campos se ha estudiado la erosión, generalmente referida a un área local, pero son poco frecuentes los estudios referidos a su variabilidad temporal. El presente estudio se basa en la precipitación mensual estimada por el modelo SIMPA (Mtº de Medio Ambiente) para cada cuenca hidrográfica española durante 1940-2010. Las cuencas se han agrupado por analogía climática en seis zonas geográficas. Para cada año se calcula la agresividad pluviométrica mediante el índice modificado de erosión potencial de Fournier, IFM. Así, se genera la serie interanual, con IFM como nueva variable. Los resultados obtenidos permiten caracterizar la agresividad pluviométrica en España, determinar su evolución a lo largo de los últimos decenios y contrastar el comportamiento en los distintos ámbitos espaciales.Soil erosion is remarkable environmental effect caused by precipitation. From different fields has been studied erosion, but are rare studies related to variation in time. This study is based on monthly precipitation estimated by the SIMPA (Mtº of Environment) for each Spanish basin during 1940- 2010. The basins have been grouped into six areas analogy geographical climate. For each year is calculated rainfall aggressiveness through the modified index of erosion potential Fournier, IFM. The results obtained allow us to show the aggressiveness rainfall in Spain, to determine their evolution over the past decades and contrast the behavior in different spatial areas

Análisis de la comunicación financiera online como herramienta para la contribución a la reputación empresarial

Dissetenes Jornades de Foment de la Investigació de la FCHS (Any 2012)La situación de crisis actual afecta a todo tipo de empresas. Nuestra reflexión se centra en empresas de sectores clave para el crecimiento de un país y en concreto en su gestión empresarial. Por otro lado, pensamos que, la escasa gestión de la reputación de muchas marcas españolas, y su poco interés en promover una gestión corporativa basada en la reputación como valor estratégico, ha dificultado la excelencia empresarial de la mayoría de las corporaciones. Nuestra investigación se centrará en analizar el tipo y forma en que las empresas publican la información financiera online como herramienta de gestión de la reputación. Para ello analizamos, el contenido y la disposición de los Informes Anuales publicados en la web de empresas consideradas «marcas renombradas» en España y miembros del Foro de Marcas Renombradas Españolas (teniendo en cuenta que para pertenecer a dicho foro se han de cumplir requisitos cómo que el origen sea español, que la marca sea notoria, que la empresa esté internacionalizada, que sea líder y que se trate de una empresa de gran tamaño1 ). Concretando, en los sectores de infraestructuras, energéticas y telecomunicaciones por su importancia, según nuestra opinión, para el crecimiento de un país. Dicha investigación se basará en el análisis de una acción de comunicación financiera, el Informe Anual que estas empresas publican en el medio online, cómo lo hacen y para quién. El objetivo final recae en reconocer una serie de aspectos en común que estas empresas comparten cuando comunican sus Informes Anuales en la red. Esto nos permitirá afirmar, que con el ejercicio de unos pasos especializados en comunicación financiera online se puede llegar a los grupos de interés de forma positiva y por consiguiente reforzar la imagen de marca como empresa

Intra-annual rainfall variability in the Spanish hydrographic basins

Understanding the intra-annual distribution of rainfall is an important element for climatic classification and serves as a basis for natural resources management. The present study analyses multi-annual irregularities of the rainfall distribution throughout the year in the period 1941–2010, in the hydrographic basins of the Iberian Peninsula. In order to analyse its variation, the rainfall centralisation and dispersion parameters throughout the annual cycle were previously defined and calculated for each year. Inter-annual series of both parameters were generated, which allowed detecting their temporal behaviour in each of the basins and relating differentiated geographic areas. Independent of the total annual rainfall, greater temporal simultaneity is observed in the fluctuations of the intra-annual parameter ‘centralisation’ in the Atlantic basins and wider inter-annual oscillations in the Mediterranean basins. Around the year 1970, there was a displacement in the predominance of autumn rains, although the process is inverted in the last decades. Also from the decade of 1970 there is a general increase in the inter-annual variability of the ‘dispersion’ parameter, especially in the basins that drain towards the Atlantic Ocean. The ‘dispersion’ parameter allows detecting latitudinal (Cantabrian vs. Guadalquivir) and longitudinal (Atlantic vs. Mediterranean) patterns of intra-annual rainfall distribution irregularity in the Iberian Peninsula. The results obtained are also associated to atmospheric general circulation patterns of the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Western Mediterranean Oscillation. The monthly winter values of the North Atlantic Oscillation present a marked influence on dispersion, especially in the basins that discharge into the Atlantic Ocean, which show a double gradient: decreasing longitudinally from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean coast and latitudinally from north to south