Activity of Universities in Social Networks: Correlations of Rankings, Students, Followers and Interactions

[Abstract] The Internet and social networks are widely used by students. For higher education, which operates in a highly competitive environment, marketing is a fundamental tool for universities to distinguish themselves and attract new students. Social networks are one of the best options for influencing university choice. The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between some indicators related to universities and their use of and results on social networks. We carried out quantitative correlational research to study the number of students and ranking position as university indicators as well as the number of followers, posts, and interactions (likes, comments, and shares) weekly and per post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Data were collected from 83 Spanish universities over 14 weeks in 2021. Correlation analysis showed that the number of students is closely related to the number of followers and interactions, although to varying degrees. The position of a university in the rankings exhibited a particularly significant correlation with their number of followers on almost all the networks. In addition, the higher the university in the ranking, the higher the number of interactions per post that it obtained on Facebook and Twitter. It was also found that universities with more followers had more interactions (likes, comments, and shares) with their posts. Finally, the number of posts was found to be positively related to the interactions per week but not to the interactions per post. This study has identified some significant relationships between the characteristics of all Spanish universities and their performance on four social networks, which may help universities become better at acting and communicating on them

La historia que nos explican los árboles

La dendroecologia és l’estudi dels anells dels arbres. S’aconsegueix crear cronologies a partir de l’estudi del anells del creixement dels arbres, els quals són un reflex de les condicions mediambientals i de les variacions del ecosistema. Ara per ara han aconseguit la reconstrucció climàtica dels últims 300 anys amb diferents espècies d’arbres. També estudien els processos implicats en la dinàmica del bosc en resposta a l’explotació humana o a pertorbacions naturals (com allaus o incendis).La dendroecología es el estudio de los anillos de los árboles. Se consigue crear cronologías a partir del estudio de los anillos del crecimiento de los árboles, los cuales son un reflejo de las condiciones medioambientales y de las variaciones del ecosistema. Hoy por hoy han conseguido la reconstrucción climática de los últimos 300 años con diferentes especies de árboles. También estudian los procesos implicados en la dinámica del bosque en respuesta a la explotación humana o a perturbaciones naturales (como aludes o incendios)

¿Qué comían nuestros antepasados?

Des de l’antiguitat ens hem sentit atrets pels nostres orígens. D’on venim? On anem? Tots els organismes vius són fruit d’un procés d’evolució. Això significa que cada espècie actual deriva d’una espècie anterior. Les espècies que es troben dins la nostra línia evolutiva les agrupem sota el nom d’homínids. Per saber per què som com som haurem d’esbrinar com eren i com vivien aquests homínids que formen part del nostre llinatge evolutiu. I una de les dades més importants de com vivien els nostres avantpassats evolutius és la seva dieta...Desde la antigüedad nos hemos sentido atraídos por saber sobre nuestros orígenes. ¿De dónde venimos? ¿Hacia dónde vamos? Todos los organismos vivos son el fruto de un proceso de evolución. Esto significa que cada especie actual deriva de poblaciones de una especie anterior. Las especies que se encuentran dentro de nuestra línea evolutiva las agrupamos bajo el nombre de homínidos. Para saber por qué somos cómo somos tendremos que averiguar cómo eran y cómo vivían estos homínidos que forman parte de nuestro linaje evolutivo. Uno de los datos más importantes de cómo vivían nuestros antepasados evolutivos es su dieta..

A educación literaria a través da lectura dos clásicos

Traballo Fin de Grao en Mestre/Mestra de Educación Primaria. Curso 2016-2017La educación literaria surge en reacción a la enseñanza de la literatura tradicional para transmitir el gusto por la lectura frente a la memorización de listas de obras y autores y al comentario de textos. Esta metodología ofrece una gran oportunidad de reinterpretar los clásicos para entenderlos como instrumentos que contribuyan al disfrute de la lectura al tiempo que sirven de modelo para mejorar la competencia comunicativa. Frente a esta metodología historicista y procesual del estudio de los clásicos y la imposición de su lectura, este trabajo propone, desde la perspectiva de la educación literaria, la incorporación de textos clásicos a la etapa de primaria como elementos que pueden impulsar el gusto por la lectura y la competencia literaria del alumnadoA educación literaria xurde en reacción ao ensino da literatura tradicional para transmitir o gusto pola lectura fronte á memorización de listas de obras e autores e ao comentario de textos. Esta metodoloxía ofrece unha gran oportunidade de reinterpretar os clásicos para entendelos como ferramentas que contribúan á lectura ao tempo que serven de modelo para mellorar a competencia comunicativa. Fronte a esta metodoloxía historicista e procesual do estudo dos clásicos e da imposición da súa lectura, este traballo propón, dende a perspectiva da educación literaria, a incorporación de textos clásicos á etapa de primaria como elementos que poden impulsar o gusto pola lectura e a competencia literaria do alumnadoThe literary education appears as a reaction against the traditional methods that had been used for teaching classic literature, for example, memorizing titles and writers or analysing texts. This methodology offers a great opportunity to understand the classics as instruments that can contribute to promote their reading and, at the same time, the communication in the mother tongue’s key competence. This investigation proposes the incorporation of the classics to the Elementary Education curriculum because they could be tools that stimulate reading, instead of keeping the historic method that is used nowadays to teach literature so these books will continue being rea

Book review: Educational Research

Reseña del libro: JORRÍN-ABELLÁN, Iván M., FONTANA ABAD, Mónica. Investigar en educación. Bartolomé Rubia-Avi (coord.). Madrid: Síntesis, 2021. 302 p. ISBN: 978-84-1357-072-3[Resumen] La investigación en educación está influenciada por la naturaleza social de los fenómenos que aborda. En consecuencia, el como la persona investigadora percibe e interpreta el contexto que le rodea influye en las decisiones que toma sobre la metodología de estudio. Partiendo de esta premisa, los autores del libro presentan una secuencia actualizada de pasos sobre los que se debe reflexionar durante el planteamiento y diseño de una investigación. Dirigido principalmente a investigadoras e investigadores noveles, este manual constituye una valiosa guía para favorecer la elaboración de estudios con una base sólida y bien informada. Mediante la conjunción de teoría y práctica, el lector encontrará aquí un gran apoyo para llevar a cabo estudios cualitativos, cuantitativos y mixtos de calidad.[Abstract] Educational research is highly influenced by the social nature of the phenomena it addresses. Consequently, how the researcher perceives and interprets the surrounding context influences the decision he or she makes about the study methodology. Based on this premise, the authors of the book present an updated sequence of steps that should be considered during the planning and design of a research project. This handbook, which is primarily aimed at novice researchers, constitutes an invaluable guide to assist in the preparation of solidly based and well-informed studies. Through the combination of theory and practice, the reader will find here great support to carry out qualitative, quantitative, and mixed quality studies

Variable-selection ANOVA Simultaneous Component Analysis (VASCA)

Motivation: ANOVA Simultaneous Component Analysis (ASCA) is a popular method for the analysis of multivariate data yielded by designed experiments. Meaningful associations between factors/interactions of the experimental design and measured variables in the dataset are typically identified via significance testing, with permutation tests being the standard go-to choice. However, in settings with large numbers of variables, like omics (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics) experiments, the ‘holistic’ testing approach of ASCA (all variables considered) often overlooks statistically significant effects encoded by only a few variables (biomarkers). Results: We hereby propose Variable-selection ASCA (VASCA), a method that generalizes ASCA through variable selection, augmenting its statistical power without inflating the Type-I error risk. The method is evaluated with simulations and with a real dataset from a multi-omic clinical experiment. We show that VASCA is more powerful than both ASCA and the widely adopted false discovery rate controlling procedure; the latter is used as a benchmark for variable selection based on multiple significance testing. We further illustrate the usefulness of VASCA for exploratory data analysis in comparison to the popular partial least squares discriminant analysis method and its sparse counterpart.Agencia Andaluza del Conocimiento, Regional Government of Andalucia , in SpainEuropean Commission B-TIC-136-UGR20State Research Agency (AEI) of SpainEuropean Social Fund (ESF) RYC2020-030536-IAEI PID2020-118139RB-I0

School Engagement, Academic Achievement, and Self-Regulated Learning

[Abstract] School engagement occupies a place of reference in recent educational psychology research owing to its potential to address poor school results and school dropout rates. However, there is a need for a unifying theoretical framework. The study proposed the characterization of school engagement and explored the extent to which different profiles are associated with academic performance and self-regulation. With a sample of 717 5th and 6th year primary school students, this study was carried out via the latent profile analysis (LPA). Two groups of low school engaged students—one characterized by low behavioral engagement (5.02%) and the other by low emotional engagement (6.55%)—were distinguished. The majority of participants showed moderately high (31.95%) or moderate (56.48%) levels of school engagement in its three dimensions. Students with high engagement had the best grades and managed their time and study surroundings better, were the most strategic in seeking information, and showed less maladaptive regulatory behavior. The differences between students exhibiting low behavioral and emotional engagement and those exhibiting moderate levels in these dimensions may center upon the management of contextual resources and management of information and help. This research supports the need to approach the study of school engagement by observing the combination of its emotional, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions.This study was performed thanks to financing from research project EDU2013-44062-P (MINECO) and EDU2017-82984-P (MEIC)

Responsible Research and Innovation: an opportunity to develop creative skills at Higher Education

[EN] During the last decades, research and innovation have experienced a revolution that has lead to new challenge, and creativity has been identified as a main skill for professional success. In this context, not only concerns about involving society in research and innovation processes have been increasing but also to make this process responsible. Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) has been defined as the approach for making research and innovation a collaborative, intergenerational and democratic process. The HEIRRI project aims to integrate RRI at all stages of education with the creation of different programs in Higher Eduaction. The aim of this study is assess how creativity has been developed in an RRI framework in the HEIRRI Summer School programme troughout an Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) approach. On the basis of the results, this paper highlights that the IBL approach, but also the RRI framework foster creativity development in a research proposal design but also that have an impact on how researchers’ perceive their profession. This paper concludes that integral elements of this pedagogical approach and RRI, such as discussion, multidisciplinarity and including different voices and perspectives are main ingredients to promote creativity in research and innovation processes and have a transformative potential.http://ocs.editorial.upv.es/index.php/HEAD/HEAD18Rodríguez, G.; Saladié, N.; Revuelta, G.; Vizuete, C.; Llorente, C.; Carrió, M. (2018). Responsible Research and Innovation: an opportunity to develop creative skills at Higher Education. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1255-1262. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD18.2018.8187OCS1255126

Antimicrobial, Antioxidant, and Immunomodulatory Properties of Essential Oils: A Systematic Review

Essential oils (EOs) are a mixture of natural, volatile, and aromatic compounds obtained from plants. In recent years, several studies have shown that some of their benefits can be attributed to their antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and also immunomodulatory properties. Therefore, EOs have been proposed as a natural alternative to antibiotics or for use in combination with antibiotics against multidrug-resistant bacteria in animal feed and food preservation. Most of the results come from in vitro and in vivo studies; however, very little is known about their use in clinical studies. A systematic and comprehensive literature search was conducted in PubMed, Embase®, and Scopus from December 2014 to April 2019 using di erent combinations of the following keywords: essential oils, volatile oils, antimicrobial, antioxidant, immunomodulation, and microbiota. Some EOs have demonstrated their efficacy against several foodborne pathogens in vitro and model food systems; namely, the inhibition of S. aureus, V. cholerae, and C. albicans has been observed. EOs have shown remarkable antioxidant activities when used at a dose range of 0.01 to 10 mg/mL in cell models, which can be attributed to their richness in phenolic compounds. Moreover, selected EOs exhibit immunomodulatory activities that have been mainly attributed to their ability to modify the secretion of cytokines.Part of the research currently in progress in the authors’ laboratory is funded by the company PAYMSA, S. A. through the grant #4501 managed by the Fundacion General Empresa-Universidad de Granada

Effects of Probiotics on Metabolic Syndrome: A Systematic Review of Randomized Clinical Trials

The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate whether the use of probiotics has any effect on the components of metabolic syndrome (MetS) before patients develop type 2 diabetes. A qualitative systematic review, following the Cochrane methodology, and a comprehensive literature search of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were conducted in PubMed and Scopus from inception until 4 July 2019. According to our inclusion criteria, nine clinical studies were finally analyzed, corresponding to six RCTs. Probiotics intake in patients with MetS resulted in improvements in body mass index, blood pressure, glucose metabolism, and lipid profile in some studies. Regarding inflammatory biomarkers, probiotics also positively affected the soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (sVCAM-1), interleukine-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and thrombomodulin. Despite the diversity of the published studies, the intake of probiotics for patients with MetS may offer a discrete improvement in some of the clinical characteristics of the MetS and a decrease in inflammatory biomarkers. Nevertheless, these beneficial effects seem to be marginal compared to drug therapy and a healthy lifestyle and clinically non-relevant