Visual learning style in Engineering. Utility in the teaching of the electric field

[ES] La contracci´on/compresi´on experimentada por los programas de la ense˜nanza de la Ingenier´ıa, desde los cinco/seis cursos cl´asicos a los cuatro del Grado actual, propicia un proceso de ense˜nanza-aprendizaje que sobrevuela muchos contenidos sin poder detenerse en ellos. Los alumnos contactan con los conceptos te´oricos y los algoritmos correspondientes, e identifican las actuaciones matem´aticas pertinentes, pero la penuria crediticia priva de las habilidades instrumentales para aplicarlas. El resultado puede ser un aprendizaje parcial y superficial. Este trabajo propone una actuaci´on docente para que el alumno adquiera habilidades en MATLAB como respuesta a necesidades concretas detectadas en el alumnado de materias vinculadas con Ingenier´ıa El´ectrica. Se parte de dos consideraciones iniciales: la constataci´on del predominio del estilo de aprendizaje visual de los alumnos de la UPCT por un lado, y por el otro, de la filosof´ıa de que las matem´aticas, para ser productivas en la Ense˜nanza de la Ingenier´ıa, necesitan del ordenador.[EN] The contraction/compression experienced by the engineering education programs, from the classical five/-six courses to the four courses of the current Degree, promotes a teaching-learning process that overflows many contents without being able to reflect on them. The students contact the theoretical concepts and the corresponding algorithms, and identify the pertinent mathematical actions, but the credit shortage deprives of the instrumental abilities to apply them. The result can be a partial and superficial learning. This work proposes a teaching performance for the student to acquire skills in MATLAB as a response to specific needs detected in the students of matters concerned with Electrical Engineering. Two starting points can be considered: the verification of the predominance of the visual learning style of the studentsof the Technical University of Cartagena (UPCT), and the philosophy that mathematics needs computersto be productive in the Teaching of Engineering.Vicéns Moltó, J.; Zamora Parra, B.; Hervás, R. (2020). Estilo de aprendizaje visual en la Ingeniería. Utilidad en la docencia de la rama eléctrica. Modelling in Science Education and Learning. 13(1):29-36. https://doi.org/10.4995/msel.2020.12117OJS2936131Chapra, Steven C. (2018) Applied numerical methods with MATLAB for engineers and scientists. McGraw-Hill Education, New York. 715 pp.Felder, R. M., Soloman, B. A., Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire. https://www.webtools.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/Felder, R. M., Silverman, L. (1988). Learning and Teaching Styles in Engineering Education. Journal of Engineering Education, 78(7), 674-681.Hoffman, J., Johnson, C., Logg, A. (2004). Dreams of Calculus. Perspectives on Mathematics Educa-tion. http://www.bodysoulmath.org/books/dreams-of-calculus.pdf https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18586-1Stewart, J. ( 2016 ). Calculus, Eighth Edition. CengageLearning, Boston. 1545 pp.Vicéns J. L. (2012). Una modalidad de tutor-facilitador en la enseñanza de la ingeniería, en Gaviria, J. L., Palmero M. C., Alonso, P. (Eds.). Entre generaciones: Educación, herencia y promesas. Actas del XV Congreso Nacional y V Iberoamericano de Pedagogía. Ed. ICCE, Madrid, 440-449.Vicéns J.L., Zamora, B., Hervás, M. R. (2018a). Una aplicación de los estilos de aprendizaje en la Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, en Miralles, P., Guerrero, C. (Eds.). Metodologías docentes innovadoras en la enseñanza universitaria. Editum. Murcia, 403-415.Vicéns J.L., Zamora, B., Hervás, M. R. (2018b). Un Análisis de las actitudes visuales y verbales de alumnos noveles de Grado de Ingeniería en la Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena. Libro de Ac-tas del XXVI Congreso Universitario de Innovación Educativa en las Enseñanzas Técnicas. Escuela Politécnica de Ingeniería de Gijón, 621-632

In vitro microbial inoculum: A review of its function and properties

This review considers microbial inocula used in in vitro systems from the perspective of their ability to degrade or ferment a particular substrate, rather than the microbial species that it contains. By necessity, this required an examination of bacterial, protozoal and fungal populations of the rumen and hindgut with respect to factors influencing their activity. The potential to manipulate these populations through diet or sampling time are examined, as is inoculum preparation and level. The main alternatives to fresh rumen fluid (i.e., caecal digesta or faeces) are discussed with respect to end-point degradabilities and fermentation dynamics. Although the potential to use rumen contents obtained from donor animals at slaughter offers possibilities, the requirement to store it and its subsequent loss of activity are limitations. Statistical modelling of data, although still requiring a deal of developmental work, may offer an alternative approach. Finally, with respect to the range of in vitro methodologies and equipment employed, it is suggested that a degree of uniformity could be obtained through generation of a set of guidelines relating to the host animal, sampling technique and inoculum preparation. It was considered unlikely that any particular system would be accepted as the 'standard' procedure. However, before any protocol can be adopted, additional data are required (e.g., a method to assess inoculum 'quality' with respect to its fermentative and/or degradative activity), preparation/inoculation techniques need to be refined and a methodology to store inocula without loss of efficacy developed. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

The requirements to enhance the design of context-aware mobile patient monitoring systems using wireless sensors

Designing and developing Context-aware Mobile Patient Monitoring Systems (CMPMS) using wireless sensors are emerging in the biomedical informatics domain.However, previous studies related to this topic are fragmented.In fact, the literature has no standard types and sources of context information.These types and sources are required to design such systems.In addition, there is no standard context reasoning approach to facilitate the development of these systems.To address these absences, this paper is a survey of the CMPMS in the biomedical informatics to identify potential types and sources of context information as well as the context reasoning approaches that are required to be addressed in designing and developing such systems. The results are expected to help researchers to enhance the design and facilitate the development of CMPMS

Development of an electrochemical immunoassay for detection of gatifloxacin in swine urine*

To detect gatifloxacin (GAT) residue in swine urine, an electrochemical immunoassay was established. An indirect competitive immunoassay was developed, in which the coating antigen is immobilized in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) plate and GAT residue from the sample competes with the limited binding sites in added anti-GAT antibody. Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugated to goat anti-rabbit IgG was used as the enzymatic label. A carbon fiber working electrode was constructed and current signals were detected by using hydrogen peroxide as a substrate and hydroquinone as an electrochemical mediator. The electrochemical immunoassay was evaluated by analysis of GAT in buffer or swine urine and an average value of half inhibition concentration (IC50) of 8.9 ng/ml was obtained. Excellent specificity of the antibody was achieved with little cross-reaction with lomefloxacin (3.0%), ciprofloxacin (3.0%), and ofloxacin (1.9%) among commonly used (fluoro)quinolones. In conclusion, the immunoassay system developed in this research can be used as a rapid, powerful and on-site analytical tool to detect GAT residue in foods and food products

Opportunistic infections and AIDS malignancies early after initiating combination antiretroviral therapy in high-income countries

Background: There is little information on the incidence of AIDS-defining events which have been reported in the literature to be associated with immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) after combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) initiation. These events include tuberculosis, mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), herpes simplex virus (HSV), Kaposi sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), cryptococcosis and candidiasis. Methods: We identified individuals in the HIV-CAUSAL Collaboration, which includes data from six European countries and the US, who were HIV-positive between 1996 and 2013, antiretroviral therapy naive, aged at least 18 years, hadCD4+ cell count and HIV-RNA measurements and had been AIDS-free for at least 1 month between those measurements and the start of follow-up. For each AIDS-defining event, we estimated the hazard ratio for no cART versus less than 3 and at least 3 months since cART initiation, adjusting for time-varying CD4+ cell count and HIV-RNA via inverse probability weighting. Results: Out of 96 562 eligible individuals (78% men) with median (interquantile range) follow-up of 31 [13,65] months, 55 144 initiated cART. The number of cases varied between 898 for tuberculosis and 113 for PML. Compared with non-cART initiation, the hazard ratio (95% confidence intervals) up to 3 months after cART initiation were 1.21 (0.90-1.63) for tuberculosis, 2.61 (1.05-6.49) for MAC, 1.17 (0.34-4.08) for CMV retinitis, 1.18 (0.62-2.26) for PML, 1.21 (0.83-1.75) for HSV, 1.18 (0.87-1.58) for Kaposi sarcoma, 1.56 (0.82-2.95) for NHL, 1.11 (0.56-2.18) for cryptococcosis and 0.77 (0.40-1.49) for candidiasis. Conclusion: With the potential exception of mycobacterial infections, unmasking IRIS does not appear to be a common complication of cART initiation in high-income countries. © 2014 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins