Language learning through cultural exchanges on site

The Spanish educational system has been engaged in a far-fetching language program that promotes a bilingual training for a high number of students in most primary and secondary state schools. At tertiary level, most universities in Spain, among them the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid-Spain (UPM, require a B2 certificate (CEFR) to enroll in the compulsory subject “English for Professional and Academic Communication” . Even though students are supposed to have achieved a B2 level on completing their secondary education, experience over the last years shows that they are far from this high-intermediate level. Fully aware of this problem the UPM is promoting several programs of Innovation in Education to help students bridge the gap and obtain the B2 certificate. The Language Learning through Cultural Exchanges on Site Program presented in this article is based on a partnership between the UPM and the University of British Columbia, Canada (BCU) . This program offers opportunities for language learning (English-Spanish)through in situ encounters and acts as a model for innovation in language and culture engagement. This initiative aims to follow novel methodological trends such as the promotion of autonomous learning, self-assessment and peer-assessmen

Enseñanza del idioma inglés a distancia: plataforma eCollege, UNAPEC Virtual

Departamento: Escuela de Idiomas, Universidad APECUno de los objetivos constantes de UNAPEC es mantenerse a la vanguardia en los métodos de enseñanza aprendizaje y ofertas académicas. La Escuela de Idiomas con más de 40 años de experiencia y excelencia en la enseñanza de varios idiomas, inicia el camino de la enseñanza a distancia del idioma inglés, mediante el campus virtual UNAPEC, con el fin de alcanzar una mayor cantidad de alumnos a nivel nacional e internacional. La intención de este trabajo es compartir la experiencia de enseñanza en el modelo de educación a distancia del idioma inglés de la Escuela de Idiomas de UNAPEC, con la oferta académica en línea del “Inglés Virtual”. La educación de hoy se caracteriza por aprovechar todos los nuevos recursos didácticos de simulación, interacción y elementos multimedia en la enseñanza de los idiomas. El Internet permite explorar un mundo de posibilidades mediante las plataformas o entornos virtuales de aprendizaje. Todo esto sirve como premisa para compartir la experiencia de logros del campus virtual UNAPEC en República Dominicana, mediante la plataforma eCollege. El proceso de implementación del Campus virtual, retos y oportunidades para seguir fortaleciendo esta nueva modalidad

A language exchange program: sustainability innovation in language and culture engagement

The Language Exchange Program between the UPM and UBCO acts as a model for sustainability innovation in language and culture engagement as the students can interact with native speakers in communication tasks. This interdisciplinary initiative supports the latest methodological principles observed in the Common European Framework for Languages [1], such as autonomous and lifelong learning, self-assessment and peer-assessment as well as the incorporation of new technologies to the learning proces

From Private Company to Water User Association and Natural Park over a Century: The Case of Riegos de Levante, Izquierda del Segura (Spain)

This work examines the transformations occurred with the shift from private company to water user association and natural park, looking at one collective irrigation system located in Alicante province (Spain): Riegos de Levante, Izquierda del Segura, one of the most extensive irrigation areas in Europe. Between 1918 and 2018, a process of change and transformation of both landscape and institutions occurred, considering: infrastructure expansion and its operation, the transfer of irrigation management responsibilities to water user association, after years of financial operations with water, thanks to state intervention, the coexistence of traditional agriculture with the modernisation of the irrigation systems, the history of an irrigation reservoir which was transformed into a natural site in 1988, or the evolution of the composition of water resources, taking into account the arrival of the Tajo-Segura transfer waters from the year 1979. The general objective is to understand key factors driving these changes, by means of a paradigmatic case study, as well as to identify policymaking and context-relevant dynamics that could enable it.This research was funded by the CampusHabitat5U network of excellence of Valencian public universities (https://iuaca.ua.es/es/campushabitat5u.html) and the Cátedra del Agua of the University of Alicante and the Diputación Provincial de Alicante (https://catedradelaguaua.org/)

Dynamic Kinetic Resolution of Hetero biaryl Ketones by Zinc- Catalyzed Asymmetr ic Hydrosil ylation

Adiastereo- and highly enantioselective dynamic kinetic resolution (DKR) of configurationally labile hetero- biaryl ketones is described. The DKR proceeds by zinc- catalyze dhydrosilylation of the carbonyl group ,thus leading to secondary alcohols bearing axial and central chirality .The strategy relies on the labilization of the stereogenic axis that takes place thanks to aLewis acid–base interaction between anitrogen atom in the heterocycle and the ketone carbonyl group .The synthetic utility of the methodology is demonstrated through stereospecific transformations into either N,N-ligands or appealing axially chiral, bifunctional thiourea organocata- lysts.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Grants CTQ2016-76908-C2-1-P, CTQ2016-76908-C2-2-P, contract RYC-2013-12585)European FEDER FundsJunta de Andalucía (Grant 2012/FQM 10787)European Union - Marie Skłodowska-Curie (COFUND—Grant Agreement n 8 8 291780

Middleware control systems design and analysis using message interpreted Petri Nets (MIPN)

Many distributed frameworks use a message-oriented middleware to interchange information among several independent distributed modules. Those modules make up complex systems implementing basic actions and reporting events about their state. This paper introduces the Message Interpreted Petri Net (MIPN) model to design, analyze, and execute the central control of these middleware systems. The MIPN is a new Petri net extension that adds message-based high-level information communications and hierarchic capabilities. It also contributes to the definition and study of new properties such as terminability for the hierarchy-wide analysis of a system. Special attention is given to the analyzability of the model. Useful relations between the individual properties of each MIPN and the global properties of a hierarchic MIPNs system are extracted through a mathematical analysis of the model. The goal is to analyze each net separately and then build up the properties of the whole system. This results in a great aid for the programmer and optimizes the development process. This paper also shows the actual integration of this new MIPN model in different robot control frameworks to design, analyze, execute, monitor, log, and debug tasks in such heterogeneous systems. Finally, some applications created with this framework in the fields of robotics, autonomous vehicles, and logistics are also presentedMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación | Ref. EXP00139978CER-2021100

Enhancing the Thermal Stability of Polypropylene by Blending with Low Amounts of Natural Antioxidants

"This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Hernández-Fernández, Joaquín, Emilio Rayón, Juan López, and Marina P. Arrieta. 2019. Enhancing the Thermal Stability of Polypropylene by Blending with Low Amounts of Natural Antioxidants. Macromolecular Materials and Engineering 304 (11). Wiley: 1900379. doi:10.1002/mame.201900379, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/mame.201900379. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving."[EN] Natural antioxidants are added in very low amounts to protect a polypropylene (PP) matrix against thermo-oxidative degradation during processing. Thus, PP is melt-blended with caffeic, chlorogenic, trans-ferrulic, and p-coumaric acids, and also with flavone and 3-hydroxyflavone at 0.1 wt% with respect to the PP matrix. Neat PP and PP blended with three traditional antioxidants are prepared for comparison. A complete structural, thermal, and mechanical characterization is conducted. Ferrulic acid and particularly caffeic acid increases the thermal stability, showing also the highest activation energy. The structural changes of PP-based films due to the polymer thermal degradation at high temperature (i.e., 400 degrees C) followed by FTIR reveal that antioxidants effectively delay the thermal degradation process. The wettability and the mechanical performance are also studied to get information regarding the industrial application of such films. While caffeic acid provides a more flexible material, ferrulic acid provides higher water resistance. Finally, AFM-QNM shows that PP with caffeic acid has the highest miscibility.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), PROMADEPCOL (MAT2017-84909-C2-2-R). M.P.A. thanks MINECO for Juan de la Cierva-incorporación postdoctoral contract (FJCI-2017-33536).Hernández-Fernández, J.; Rayón, E.; López-Martínez, J.; Arrieta, MP. (2019). Enhancing the Thermal Stability of Polypropylene by Blending with Low Amounts of Natural Antioxidants. Macromolecular Materials and Engineering. 304(11):1-13. https://doi.org/10.1002/mame.201900379S1133041

Consideración del valor en Nietzsche: más allá de la interpretación habermasiana.

En el contexto de la modernidad, donde la razón empezó a adquirir fuerza como facultad que dotaba de sentido a la vida, Nietzsche irrumpió con su escritura radicalmente subversiva: rechazó la razón y negó que hubiera una verdad que guiase el actuar humano. Interpretaron su pensamiento de varias maneras, pero una en especial fue la que amenazó la teoría nietzscheana hasta el punto de considerarla incoherente -sufría una crítica autorreferencial. Éste fue Habermas, quien, considerando que el filósofo alemán había rechazado la razón en pos del valor, caía en un nihilismo o en un inmenso mundo de los afectos donde no podía llevarse a cabo argumentación alguna. Sin embargo, puede que se trate de una lectura parcialmente incorrecta, ya que, entendemos, confunde dos cuestiones que ocupan planos diferentes: crítica al concepto de verdad y dualismo mundo verdadero mundo aparente. Esta última tiene como consecuencia aspectos tanto antropológicos, éticos u ontológicos. Es decir, va más allá de la epistemología. Por otro lado, el diagnostico habermasiano es que Nietzsche, al rechazar el concepto de razón, entra en un nihilismo del que no puede salir: como hemos visto, rechazar la razón no implica la nada, sino precisamente la aceptación del único mundo que merece ser vivido: la Ligera. Para mostrar que, por una parte, la crítica del conocimiento en Nietzsche supone la parte negativa de su extensa obra y que, por otra, ha de ser ampliada con una actividad productiva, nos introducimos en el concepto de valor, al cual llegaremos mediante la crítica del conocimiento desde el lenguaje que nos desvela los procesos artísticos que forman parte de la creación de conceptos y de verdades. Mediante ello y tras entender la relevancia del valorar y de dotar de sentido, llegaremos a la genealogía como método en esta travesía que empieza destrozando los cimientos de la cultura occidental y que nunca acaba. Como ya hemos señalado, el pensamiento nietzscheano ha de ser entendido en su expresión más amplia; es decir, sin dejar de lado la etapa más productiva. Para ello, y considerando la transvaloración de todos los valores como el proceso necesario que ha de continuar, incluso preceder y acompañar a la genealogía en su tarea de análisis crítico, nos adentramos en el mediodía que anunció Zaratustra. Ese momento en el que aparece el pensamiento del eterno retorno para desvelar la auténtica existencia: una gran mezcla, que no pierde fuerza, que se combina, que se combina una e infinitas veces hasta retornar a cada estado en el que ha estado: así irrepetibles veces, el ciclo eterno. Un ciclo eterno donde somos un cúmulo de afectos que se solapan, modifican e intercambian; afectos que interpretan y así valoran la realidad y cada aparición de la realidad. En esta selva de fugacidades y trueques no es posible asentar ninguna constancia: todo es máscara, no hay esencia sino apariencias. Precisamente aquí aparece la fuerza de la obra nietzscheana, detonando la actual forma de comprender la vida e invitándonos a experimentar la llegada del übermensch. Por tanto, a lo largo de este recorrido ha podido verse cómo en realidad, debido a una diferencia de propósito interno, la interpretación habermasiana no es del todo correcta en el sentido de que olvida o al menos no considera aspectos cruciales a la hora de entender el proceso de la obra nietzscheana

The metallogenic evolution of the Greater Antilles

The Greater Antilles host some of the world’s most important deposits of bauxite and lateritic nickel as well as significant resources of gold and silver, copper, zinc, manganese, cobalt and chromium. Beginning in Jurassic time, sedimentary exhalative base metal deposits accumulated in marine sedimentary rift basins as North and South America drifted apart. With the onset of intraoceanic subduction during the Early Cretaceous, a primitive (tholeiitic) island arc formed above a southwesterly-dipping subduction zone. Podiform chromite deposits formed in the mantle portion of the supra-subduction zone, directly above subducted Proto-Caribbean oceanic lithosphere. Within the nascent island arc, bimodal-mafic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits formed in a fore-arc setting; mafic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits formed later in mature back-arc basins. The Pueblo Viejo gold district, with five million ounces in production and twenty million ounces in mineable reserves, formed at 108-112Ma, in an apical rift or back-arc setting. By Late Cretaceous time, calc-alkaline volcanism was well established along the entire length of the Greater Antilles. Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits including shallow submarine deposits characteristic of the primitive island arc gave way to porphyry copper and epithermal precious metal deposits typical of the mature island arc. Oblique collision of the Greater Antilles with North America began in the Late Cretaceous in Cuba and migrated eastward. Orogenic gold and tungsten deposits that formed during the collision event are preserved in ophiolites and in metamorphic core complexes. Since the Eocene, regional tectonism has been dominated by strike-slip motion as the North American continent moved westward relative to the Caribbean Plate. Large nickel-cobalt laterite deposits were formed when serpentinites were exposed to weathering and erosion during the mid-Tertiary. Bauxite deposits were derived from the weathering of volcanic ash within a carbonate platform of Eocene to Miocene ag