Learning science in a STS perspective: a didactic experience with 5th grade students

Many schools? practices are still centred on a traditional transmission-reception model, leading students to have a deformed image of Science, not facing it as a living body of knowledge, not relating it to their day-to-day problems and not discussing the relations between Science, Technology and Society. Besides, students lose interest on science classes. This was the case of a 5th grade class which we observed. To address this problem a pedagogical action was prepared, on the theme ?The Cell- the basic unit of life?, that would allow students to discuss the Science, Technology and Society (STS) relations. Several didactic materials were created, developed and applied, seeking to incorporate the syllabus to real day-to-day life situations, in order to improve student?s science and technology literacy and enhance skills, attitudes and values acquisition, decisive to raise informed and democratically active citizens, capable of taking decisions in regards to scientific, technological and sociological events. The aim of the study was to understand the impact of this pedagogical approach in the student learning and perceptions about STS interactions. A qualitative methodology was used. Data collection was based on observation, field notes, questionnaires, group interviews, document-analysis and video and audio- recordings. Data analysis indicates that the developed intervention strategy, with STS orientation, contributed to students learning, improving in parallel, their conceptions about STS interactions and the image they have on the subject of Natural Sciences.C917-B3FD-1A62 | Maria Lu?sa Vieira das Nevesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Diseño de la trama urbana y cobertura de las redes de transporte público

Una de las claves en su uso del transporte público es la accesibilidad de la población a las paradas o estaciones. Los planificadores del transporte han buscado siempre localizaciones de paradas y estaciones en espacios con un volumen importante de población residente y/o empleo en su entorno inmediato. En los últimos años, se conjugan también políticas urbanísticas para generar nuevos desarrollos urbanos orientados al uso del transporte público. Se busca potenciar las llamadas 3D: densidad, diversidad de usos y diseño urbano. En esta comunicación el objetivo es analizar cómo influye el diseño de la trama urbana en la cobertura de las redes de transporte público (cantidad de población y el empleo en el entorno próximo de las estaciones). La metodología se apoya en el uso de Sistemas de Información Geográfica, sobre los que se han diseñado varios tipos de viarios, y para los que miden las superficies cubiertas y las distancias recorridas a estaciones localizadas en el centro de cada uno de ellos. Posteriormente, se hace un ejercicio de simulación donde se ha tomado el Metro de la ciudad de Madrid, y se han superpuesto sobre todas las estaciones de la red cada uno de los viarios tipo. Así, es posible calcular la población y el empleo cubiertos para cada uno de los escenarios tipo y compararla con la cobertura y la calidad de acceso a las estaciones a través del viario real de la ciudad. Al mantenerse fija las distribuciones de población y empleo, las diferencias se explican exclusivamente por el diseño de la trama urbana. Los resultados muestran como viarios orientados las estaciones incrementan notablemente la población y el empleo cubiertos

Transformation-Optics Description of Nonlocal Effects in Plasmonic Nanostructures

We develop an insightful transformation-optics approach to investigate the impact that nonlocality has on the optical properties of plasmonic nanostructures. The light-harvesting performance of a dimer of touching nanowires is studied by using the hydrodynamical Drude model, which reveals nonlocal resonances not predicted by previous local calculations. Our method clarifies the interplay between radiative and nonlocal effects in this nanoparticle configuration, which enables us to elucidate the optimum size that maximizes its absorption and field enhancement capabilitiesThis work was supported by the ESF plasmonbionanosense program, the Leverhulme Trust, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Why sports should embrace bilateral asymmetry: a narrative review

(1) Background: Asymmetry is ubiquitous in nature and humans have well-established bilateral asymmetries in their structures and functions. However, there are (mostly unsubstantiated) claims that bilateral asymmetries may impair sports performance or increase injury risk. (2) Objective: To critically review the evidence of the occurrence and effects of asymmetry and sports performance. (3) Development: Asymmetry is prevalent across several sports regardless of age, gender, or competitive level, and can be verified even in apparently symmetric actions (e.g., running and rowing). Assessments of bilateral asymmetries are highly task-, metric-, individual-, and sport-specific; fluctuate significantly in time (in magnitude and, more importantly, in direction); and tend to be poorly correlated among themselves, as well as with general performance measures. Assessments of sports-specific performance is mostly lacking. Most studies assessing bilateral asymmetries do not actually assess the occurrence of injuries. While injuries tend to accentuate bilateral asymmetries, there is no evidence that pre-existing asymmetries increase injury risk. While training programs reduce certain bilateral asymmetries, there is no evidence that such reductions result in increased sport-specific performance or reduced injury risk. (4) Conclusions: Bilateral asymmetries are prevalent in sports, do not seem to impair performance, and there is no evidence that suggests that they increase injury risk

Statistical Signatures of Photon Localization

The realization that electron localization in disordered systems (Anderson localization) is ultimately a wave phenomenon has led to the suggestion that photons could be similarly localized by disorder. This conjecture attracted wide interest because the differences between photons and electrons - in their interactions, spin statistics, and methods of injection and detection - may open a new realm of optical and microwave phenomena, and allow a detailed study of the Anderson localization transition undisturbed by the Coulomb interaction. To date, claims of three-dimensional photon localization have been based on observations of the exponential decay of the electromagnetic wave as it propagates through the disordered medium. But these reports have come under close scrutiny because of the possibility that the decay observed may be due to residual absorption, and because absorption itself may suppress localization. Here we show that the extent of photon localization can be determined by a different approach - measurement of the relative size of fluctuations of certain transmission quantities. The variance of relative fluctuations accurately reflects the extent of localization, even in the presence of absorption. Using this approach, we demonstrate photon localization in both weakly and strongly scattering quasi-one-dimensional dielectric samples and in periodic metallic wire meshes containing metallic scatterers, while ruling it out in three-dimensional mixtures of aluminum spheres.Comment: 5 pages, including 4 figure

The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) as indicator of the soil degradation.

In this work we presenl lhe lemporal evolulion 01 lhe vegelalion and Iheir relalionship wilh lhe soil degradalion in an area loealed in Northeasl 01 lhe Madrid Communily (Spain)

Study protocol : the empirical investigation of methods to correct for measurement error in biobanks with dietary assessment

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Lattice potentials and fermions in holographic non Fermi-liquids: hybridizing local quantum criticality

We study lattice effects in strongly coupled systems of fermions at a finite density described by a holographic dual consisting of fermions in Anti-de-Sitter space in the presence of a Reissner-Nordstrom black hole. The lattice effect is encoded by a periodic modulation of the chemical potential with a wavelength of order of the intrinsic length scales of the system. This corresponds with a highly complicated "band structure" problem in AdS, which we only manage to solve in the weak potential limit. The "domain wall" fermions in AdS encoding for the Fermi surfaces in the boundary field theory diffract as usually against the periodic lattice, giving rise to band gaps. However, the deep infrared of the field theory as encoded by the near horizon AdS2 geometry in the bulk reacts in a surprising way to the weak potential. The hybridization of the fermions bulk dualizes into a linear combination of CFT1 "local quantum critical" propagators in the bulk, characterized by momentum dependent exponents displaced by lattice Umklapp vectors. This has the consequence that the metals showing quasi-Fermi surfaces cannot be localized in band insulators. In the AdS2 metal regime, where the conformal dimension of the fermionic operator is large and no Fermi surfaces are present at low T/\mu, the lattice gives rise to a characteristic dependence of the energy scaling as a function of momentum. We predict crossovers from a high energy standard momentum AdS2 scaling to a low energy regime where exponents found associated with momenta "backscattered" to a lower Brillioun zone in the extended zone scheme. We comment on how these findings can be used as a unique fingerprint for the detection of AdS2 like "pseudogap metals" in the laboratory.Comment: 42 pages, 5 figures; v2, minor correction, to appear in JHE