Internal coherence in the Degree in Business Administration and Management: Learning Outcomes as a governance tool

[EN] Learning outcomes (LO) and its assessment as quality and governance indicators in the Higher Education (HE) Curricula, are very present in the international quality standards for HE. Assuring the internal coherence of the required elements to reach LO is currently a challenge for HE institutions. A study was conducted in the Degree in Business Administration and Management in Talavera (GADE) during the course 2012-2013 with the aim of analyzing the unit guides (UG) to assess the intracompetences coherence in the so called “verified curricula” and its corresponding learning activities, identifying the most practiced competences by doing the learning activities. The paper reveals by mean of the unit guides the range of criteria used to link learning activities with competences, contributing to detect incoherencies that allow working on improvement proposals for next courses. It is also revealed that UG are a key element in the assessment and improvement of the curricula’s quality. This paper comprises of several parts, starting with the framework for assessing and monitoring of the degrees, followed by the theoretical aspects of LO as coherence indicators for the curricula, then the competences developed are analyzed and tabulated by year, unit and so on, finally the findings are discussed and conclusion delivered[ES] Los Resultados de Aprendizaje (RA) y su evaluación como herramienta para medida de calidad y gobernanza en los planes de estudios están presentes en los estándares internacionales de calidad de la Educación Superior. Garantizar la coherencia interna de los diferentes elementos necesarios para la obtención de los RA supone un reto para las instituciones de educación superior. Durante el curso 2012/13 se realizó un estudio en el Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas (GADE) de Talavera, con los objetivos de analizar las guías docentes de las asignaturas para valorar la coherencia entre las competencias incluidas en la Memoria verificada por ANECA y las actividades de aprendizaje propuestas en la misma, así como facilitar el seguimiento del plan de estudios identificando las competencias que más se trabajan en las diferentes actividades de aprendizaje.El presente estudio contribuye a detectar incoherencias en las guías docentes (GD) ofreciéndose la posibilidad de propuestas de mejora para los próximos cursos académicos. También se pone de manifiesto que las GD son un factor clave para garantizar la evaluación y mejora de la calidad de un plan de estudios.El artículo se estructura en las siguientes partes: marco de evaluación y seguimiento de los grados; los RA como indicadores de coherencia en la implantación y seguimiento de un plan de estudios y, la experiencia en el Grado de Administración y Dirección de Empresas de Talavera. Se finaliza analizando y discutiendo los resultados obtenidos y extrayendo las conclusiones del estudio.Cano Montero, E.; Chamizo González, J.; Martín Vecino, T. (2016). Coherencia interna del Grado en Administración y dirección de Empresas: Resultados de Aprendizaje como herramienta de gobernanza. REDU. Revista de Docencia Universitaria. 14(1):321-346. doi:10.4995/redu.2016.5756.32134614

Similarities and differences in RANTES and (AOP)-RANTES-triggered signals : implications for chemotaxis

11 páginas, 8 figuras.Chemokines are a family of proinflammatory cytokines that attract and activate specific types of leukocytes. Chemokines mediate their effects via interaction with seven transmembrane G proteinÐcoupled receptors (GPCR). Using CCR5-transfected HEK-293 cells, we show that both the CCR5 ligand, RANTES, as well as its derivative, aminooxypentane (AOP)-RANTES, trigger immediate responses such as Ca2+ influx, receptor dimerization, tyrosine phosphorylation,and Gai as well as JAK/STAT association to the receptor. In contrast to RANTES, (AOP)-RANTES is unable to trigger late responses, as measured by the association of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) to the chemokine receptor complex, impaired cell polarization required for migration, or chemotaxis. The results are discussed in the context of the dissociation of the late signals, provoked by the chemokines required for cell migration, from early signals.Peer reviewe

Thermal properties on nanofluids based on a high temperature-heat transfer fluid and metallic nanoparticles for concentrating solar energy

In this work, nanofluids were prepared using commercial Cu nanoparticles and a commercial Heat Transfer Fluid (eutectic mixture of diphenyl oxide and biphenyl) as the base fluid. This fluid is used in Concentrating Solar Power plants. Different properties such as density, viscosity, heat capacity, and thermal conductivity were characterized. Nanofluids showed enhanced heat transfer efficiency. In detail, the incorporation of Cu nanoparticles led to an increase of the heat capacity up to 14%. Also, thermal conductivity was increased up to 13%. Finally, the performance of the nanofluids prepared increased up to 11% according to the Dittus-Boelter correlation.Papers presented to the 12th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Costa de Sol, Spain on 11-13 July 2016

Theoretical characterisation of nanofluids based on metallic nanoparticles and organic oils

Equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation was used to model a nanofluid system composed of Cu nanoparticles and organic oils as base fluid (eutectic mixture of diphenyl oxide and biphenyl). The base fluid selected was an experimental fluid used as High Temperature-Heat Transfer Fluid in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants. Thermodynamic properties as heat capacity and thermal conductivity were calculated and the results were compared with experimental data available. The comparison of some properties obtained from our simulated nanofluid system with experimental data let us to validate the model. The analysis of the Radial Function Distributions (RDFs) and the inspection of the Spatial Distribution Functions (SDFs) indicate the important role that plays the metal-oxygen interaction in the system. Dynamic properties as the diffusion coefficients of base fluid and nanofluid were computed according to Einstein relation by computing the mean square displacement (MSD).Papers presented to the 12th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Costa de Sol, Spain on 11-13 July 2016

Efficacy of individualised starting dose (isd) and fixed starting dose (fsd) of niraparib per investigator assessment (ia) in newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer (oc) patients

Niraparib is a poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor approved for maintenance treatment of patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent OC that responded to platinumbased chemotherapy and treatment in heavily-pretreated recurrent OC. Here we report efficacy in patients receiving the FSD and ISD in the PRIMA/ENGOT-OV26/GOG-3012 trial (NCT02655016)

Belowground Biodiversity Relates Positively to Ecosystem Services of European Forests

Environmental Biolog

Quantum gravity phenomenology at the dawn of the multi-messenger era—A review

The exploration of the universe has recently entered a new era thanks to the multi-messenger paradigm, characterized by a continuous increase in the quantity and quality of experimental data that is obtained by the detection of the various cosmic messengers (photons, neutrinos, cosmic rays and gravitational waves) from numerous origins. They give us information about their sources in the universe and the properties of the intergalactic medium. Moreover, multi-messenger astronomy opens up the possibility to search for phenomenological signatures of quantum gravity. On the one hand, the most energetic events allow us to test our physical theories at energy regimes which are not directly accessible in accelerators; on the other hand, tiny effects in the propagation of very high energy particles could be amplified by cosmological distances. After decades of merely theoretical investigations, the possibility of obtaining phenomenological indications of Planck-scale effects is a revolutionary step in the quest for a quantum theory of gravity, but it requires cooperation between different communities of physicists (both theoretical and experimental). This review, prepared within the COST Action CA18108 “Quantum gravity phenomenology in the multi-messenger approach”, is aimed at promoting this cooperation by giving a state-of-the art account of the interdisciplinary expertise that is needed in the effective search of quantum gravity footprints in the production, propagation and detection of cosmic messengers.publishedVersio

Systematic Review of Medicine-Related Problems in Adult Patients with Atrial Fibrillation on Direct Oral Anticoagulants

New oral anticoagulant agents continue to emerge on the market and their safety requires assessment to provide evidence of their suitability for clinical use. There-fore, we searched standard databases to summarize the English language literature on medicine-related problems (MRPs) of direct oral anticoagulants DOACs (dabigtran, rivaroxban, apixban, and edoxban) in the treatment of adults with atri-al fibrillation. Electronic databases including Medline, Embase, International Pharmaceutical Abstract (IPA), Scopus, CINAHL, the Web of Science and Cochrane were searched from 2008 through 2016 for original articles. Studies pub-lished in English reporting MRPs of DOACs in adult patients with AF were in-cluded. Seventeen studies were identified using standardized protocols, and two reviewers serially abstracted data from each article. Most articles were inconclusive on major safety end points including major bleeding. Data on major safety end points were combined with efficacy. Most studies inconsistently reported adverse drug reactions and not adverse events or medication error, and no definitions were consistent across studies. Some harmful drug effects were not assessed in studies and may have been overlooked. Little evidence is provided on MRPs of DOACs in patients with AF and, therefore, further studies are needed to establish the safety of DOACs in real-life clinical practice

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Photochemistry of α-Diketones in carbohydrates : anomalous Norrish typeII photoelimination and Norrish-Yang photocyclization promoted the internal carbonyl group

A series of four α-diketones placed as 1α-pyruvoyl tethers on D-glucopyranose and D-glucopyranosiduronic acid skeletons was prepared in order to determine the influence of captodative and stereoelectronic effects on the regioselectivity of the hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) in Norrish typeII photochemical processes. We observed that the 1,5-HAT regioselectivity can be switched between the two potentially abstractable syn-1,3-diaxial hydrogens at H6 and H8. Highly unusual photoproducts from Norrish typeII photoelimination and Norrish-Yang photocyclization initiated by the excited internal carbonyl group were obtained, in some cases in excellent synthetic yield. The 1,5-HAT transition state in the Norrish typeII photoelimination was investigated by photochemical experiments in the crystalline state