“Zombie attack” a new way to teach Chemistry

The Higher Education requires new models which allow training people able to adapt and survive in changing environments. It is based on the use of technologies and the adaptation of knowledge to people. It is about an education according to circumstances, which is adapted to context and virtual behaviour of people. One of the main difficulties that lecturers find in the classroom is how to maintain students' attention and interest in their subject, especially when students also think that the subject is not important for their training. In order to motivate these students, innovation in educational techniques and methodologies, such as experiential learning, are progressively being imposed to and/or coordinated with the traditional ones. Escape Room is a very modern concept in education, based on the development of mental skills for the solution of enigmas and problems. It is a tool to develop the cooperative, cognitive, deductive and logical reasoning skills of the students. In this work, an educational gamification experience based on the escape room concept is presented. The students have 1 hour and 30 minutes to carry out this activity. They will have to solve four puzzles and enigmas that will give them the key to open a treasure chest and finally let them escape from the classroom. Logic, ingenuity and teamwork will allow participants to develop not only chemical competence, but also other basic skills. The story that is told throughout the escape room is a zombie attack: the city has been infected (with a virus) and only the occupants of the room where the activity takes place have not been infected. In addition, they can all protect themselves if they are able to open the chest where the antidote is located. The aim of this activity is to enhance the knowledge acquired throughout the semester as well as the development of skills.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Detection and modelling of staircases using a wearable depth sensor

In this paper we deal with the perception task of a wearable navigation assistant. Specifically, we have focused on the detection of staircases because of the important role they play in indoor navigation due to the multi-floor reaching possibilities they bring and the lack of security they cause, specially for those who suffer from visual deficiencies. We use the depth sensing capacities of the modern RGB-D cameras to segment and classify the different elements that integrate the scene and then carry out the stair detection and modelling algorithm to retrieve all the information that might interest the user, i.e. the location and orientation of the staircase, the number of steps and the step dimensions. Experiments prove that the system is able to perform in real-time and works even under partial occlusions of the stairway

Estudio de la relación entre el bienestar personal y la adaptación de conducta en el marco de la escuela salugénica

Se ha estudiado la relación entre el bienestar y la adaptación en una muestra de 245 estudiantes de enseñanza secundaria. Utilizamos la escala de bienestar psicológico (EBP) y el inventario de adaptación de conducta (IAC). Los resultados revelan diferencias significativas en bienestar psicológico en función del nivel de adaptación, pero no en función del género ni de la edad. Se ha obtenido una alta correlación entre el bienestar psicológico y la adaptación global, personal, familiar, escolar y social. También se ha comprobado que el bienestar psicológico puede ser explicado a partir de la adaptación escolar y la adaptación social. Dentro del marco de la escuela salugénica, se concluye la necesidad de mejorar la adaptación de los escolares en los ámbitos anteriores, de cara a mejorar el bienestar personal y avanzar en el proceso de inclusión académica.S'ha estudiat la relació entre el benestar i l'adaptació en una mostra de 245 estudiants d'ensenyament secundari. Utilitzem l'escala de benestar psicològic (EBP) i l'inventari d'adaptació de conducta (IAC). Els resultats revelen diferències significatives en benestar psicològic en funció del nivell d'adaptació, però no en funció del gènere ni de l'edat. S'ha obtingut una alta correlació entre el benestar psicològic i l'adaptació global, personal, familiar, escolar i social. També s'ha comprovat que el benestar psicològic pot ser explicat a partir de l'adaptació escolar i l'adaptació social. Dins el marc de l'escola salugènica, es conclou la necessitat de millorar l'adaptació dels escolars en els àmbits anteriors, de cara a millorar el benestar personal i avançar en el procés d'inclusió escolar.We have studied the relationship between welfare and adaptation in a sample of 245 secondary school. We used the Psychological Well-being Scale (BCS) and the Adaptive Behavior Inventory (IAC). The results reveal significant differences in psychological wellbeing based on the level of adaptation, but not by gender or age. There have been a high correlation between psychological well-being and global adaptation, personal, family, school and social. Also the psychological well-being can be explained from the school adjustment and social adaptation. Within the framework of the school salugénica concluded the need to improve the adaptation of schoolchildren in the above areas in order to improve staff welfare and advance the process of school inclusion

Sub-arcsecond Morphology of Planetary Nebulae

Planetary nebulae (PNe) can be roughly categorized into several broad morphological classes. The high quality images of PNe acquired in recent years, however, have revealed a wealth of fine structures that preclude simplistic models for their formation. Here we present narrow-band, sub-arcsecond images of a sample of relatively large PNe that illustrate the complexity and variety of small-scale structures. This is especially true for bipolar PNe, for which the images reveal multi-polar ejections and, in some cases, suggest turbulent gas motions. Our images also reveal the presence or signs of jet-like outflows in several objects in which this kind of component has not been previously reported.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in PAS

Preparation and Loading with Rifampicin of Sub-50 nm Poly(ethyl cyanoacrylate) Nanoparticles by Semicontinuous Heterophase Polymerization

We report the preparation of poly(ethyl cyanoacrylate) (PECA) nanoparticles by semicontinuous heterophase polymerization carried out at monomer starved conditions at three monomer addition rates. Particles in the nanometer range were obtained, the size of which diminishes with decreasing monomer addition rate as shown by the fact that particles with mean diameters of ca. 42 and 30 nm were obtained at the faster and intermediate dosing rates, respectively, whereas two populations of particles, one of 15.5 and the other of 36 nm in mean diameters, were produced at the slower dosing rate. The obtained molecular weights were from 2,200 to 3,500 g/mol, depending on the addition rate, which are typical of the anionic polymerizations of cyanoacrylates in aqueous dispersions at low pHs. The rifampicin (RIF) loading into the nanoparticles was successful since the entire drug added was incorporated. The drug release study carried out at pH of 7.2 indicated a faster release from the free RIF at intermediate and larger release times as expected since, in the nanoparticles, first the drug has to diffuse through the nanoparticle structure. The comparison of several drug release models indicates that the RIF release from PECA nanoparticles follows that of Higuchi

Harmonic states for the free particle

Different families of states, which are solutions of the time-dependent free Schr\"odinger equation, are imported from the harmonic oscillator using the Quantum Arnold Transformation introduced in a previous paper. Among them, infinite series of states are given that are normalizable, expand the whole space of solutions, are spatially multi-localized and are eigenstates of a suitably defined number operator. Associated with these states new sets of coherent and squeezed states for the free particle are defined representing traveling, squeezed, multi-localized wave packets. These states are also constructed in higher dimensions, leading to the quantum mechanical version of the Hermite-Gauss and Laguerre-Gauss states of paraxial wave optics. Some applications of these new families of states and procedures to experimentally realize and manipulate them are outlined.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures. Title changed, content added, references adde

VP2 potentiates the proteccion induced by VP6 against the rotavirus infection in a DNA vaccine model

Viruses like particles (VLPs) composed of VP2/VP6 are very effective in inducing protection against the rotavirus infection in animal models. Individually, VP6 also can induce protection against the infection; however, there is no information about the immunogenicity of VP2. The aim of this work was to evaluate the efficacy of DNA vaccines that codify for VP2 and VP6 alone or combined to induce protection against the rotavirus infection. Murine rotavirus VP2 and VP6 genes were cloned into the pCDNA-3 vector. Adult BALB/c mice were inoculated 3 times by intramuscular injections with 100 or 200 mg of pCDNA-3VP2 and pCDNA-3VP6, alone or combined. Two weeks after the last inoculation, mice were challenged with the murine rotavirus EDIM. We found that both plasmids pCDNA-3VP2 and pCDNA-3VP6 were able to induce rotavirus-specific serum antibodies, but not intestinal rotavirus-specific IgA. Only pCDNA-3VP6 at 200 mg could induce 30 % protection against the infection. Co-administration of 100 mg of pCDNA-3VP2 with 100 mg of pCDNA-3VP6 induced 35 % protection. When different ratios of pCDNA-3VP2/pCDNA-3VP6 were used, it was found that the co-administration of 10 µg pCDNA-3VP2/ 100 µg pCDNA-3VP6 gave the best result with up to 55 % protection. These results indicate that the DNA plasmid expressing VP6 is a better vaccine candidate that the one expressing VP2 but co-administration of both plasmids is a good alternative to potentiate the protection induced by VP6, probably by the formation of VLPs VP2/VP6 in vivo

Model-dependent radiative corrections to tau- -> pi- pi0 nu revisited

The long-distance electromagnetic radiative corrections to tau- -> pi- pi0 nu are re-evaluated. A meson dominance model is used to describe the emission of real photons in this decay. Results obtained for the hadronic spectrum and the decay rate in photon inclusive reactions are compared with previous calculations based on the chiral resonance theory. Independent tests in tau -> pi pi nu gamma that can help to validate the predictions of one of the two models are briefly discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, talk given by GLC at the 9th International Workshop on Tau Lepton Physics, Pisa (Italy), september 200

“Education Network” a new way to teach Chemistry

The complexity of chemistry has implications for the teaching of chemistry. That chemistry is a very complex subject. The majority of the students at University think that chemistry is a difficult discipline and they have difficulty in understanding the concepts. Moreover, students' interest in chemistry decreases the first year at university. The reason for this decrease might be that the contents of chemistry laboratory classes are boring, out of date and lacking of dynamism that students experience through visual media tools. For these reasons, new programs and methodologies should be developed. Those are based on making chemistry relevant through problem solving and collaborative learning hold promise for reforming chemistry education. It is about an education according to circumstances, which is adapted to context and virtual behaviour of people. It's time to CRUSH boredom by transforming your classroom into an Escape Room adventure. School-based escape games are a great teaching tool. The students while playing, learn. The most important point is that they won’t realize they’re doing both at the same time. In this work, an educational gamification experience based on the escape room concept was developed. The first (Do It Yourself) DIY Escape Room was built the year before at Mechanical Engineer Degree started, that took more than three weeks of work. It was presented to other professors to the same subject at different degrees. That DIY Escape Room was modified and adapted to each group. Each professor changed the clues, problems and so on in order to orientate the topic as much as possible to their students.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

The common envelope origins of the fast jet in the planetary nebula M 3-38

We present the analysis of Multi-Espectr\'ografo en GTC de Alta Resoluci\'on para Astronom\'ia (MEGARA) high-dispersion integral field spectroscopic observations of the bipolar planetary nebula (PN) M 3-38. These observations unveil the presence of a fast outflow aligned with the symmetry axis of M 3-38 that expands with a velocity up to $\pm$225 km s$^{-1}$. The deprojected space velocity of this feature can be estimated to be $\approx$320$^{+130}_{-60}$ km s$^{-1}$, which together with its highly collimated morphology suggests that it is one of the fastest jet detected in a PN. We have also used Kepler observations of the central star of M 3-38 to unveil variability associated with a dominant period of 17.7 days. We attribute this to the presence of a low-mass star with an orbital separation of $\approx$0.12-0.16 au. The fast and collimated ejection and the close binary system point towards a common envelope formation scenario for M 3-38.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, Accepted ApJ Lette