Internet usage and digital divide among Spanish university students

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have altered and became an important part of habits and customs within all social environments. This is no less true for Universities. Since the mid 90s, the spreading of the Internet has caused changes in all aspects of University life. The ways in which we learn, teach, research, read and communicate have all changed; and of course, ICTs have also made accessing knowledge and information easier. In this sense, the main aim of this study was to gain a full understanding of the habits and uses (Teo, 2001) of university students as regards ICTs, with particular emphasis on their use of the Internet. The results of this study were obtained through an investigation between the students of the University of Alicante (Spain) during 2005. The research technique used to obtain data were an electronic survey, and the final sample consisted of 5.169 cases, from a population of 29.657 students. The results show that the effects of the digital divide are minimal within the university population and the digital illiteracy amongst students is minimal but in spite of that the majority of users only display passive uses of the Internet. A more plausible reason of these results would seem to be that large multinationals aim to control an open space such as the Internet, establishing their own use agenda and indicating how the Internet should be used and with which content

Brecha digital y uso de las TIC en estudiantes universitarios

Tanto el acceso a las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) como la capacitación para usarlas y el buen uso de las mismas son elementos que intervienen de un modo u otro en toda la etapa universitaria de un estudiante. En esta comunicación se muestra, de modo preliminar, los resultados sobre el acceso a las TIC y los usos que hacen los estudiantes universitarios de los servicios Web 2.0, así como su presencia en las redes sociales. La población objeto de este estudio de caso son los estudiantes matriculados en primer curso del grado de Trabajo Social de la Universidad de Alicante en el curso 2013-2014. La metodología utilizada en esta investigación es cuantitativa mediante la aplicación de la técnica de la encuesta electrónica autoaplicada a través de Internet

Internet aplicado a la empresa: marketing y comunicación

En este registro se incluyen únicamente la portada y el índice de la obra

The Use of Languages in Digital Communication at European ‎Universities in Multilingual Settings

Within a context of an intense internationalization process, the creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), as well as the proliferation of rhetoric aligned with multilingualism, has, in practice, favored mainly the growth of English in tertiary education to the detriment of other European languages. This research focuses on electronic means at European universities in multilingual settings, quantifying the use of languages in a population of 88 universities by means of content analysis. The results show the poor presence of minority languages (ML), except for Spanish universities, and the limited implementation of English. Among the potential explanatory variables, the geographic area is the variable that is most strongly associated with the use of languages, although others, such as the Regional Authority Index (RAI), the vital status of minority languages, or the legal recognition of the minority language, are also significantly related to the use of a minority language.This work was supported by the Conselleria d’Educació, Investigació, Cultura i Esport de la Generalitat Valenciana, Valencian regional government (Spain), under grant “Subvenció per al foment de treballs d’investigació i estudis en l’àmbit de la planificació lingüística i la lingüística aplicada”, 2022 edition

Docosahexaenoic acid biosynthesis via fatty acyl elongase and Δ4-desaturase and its modulation by dietary lipid level and fatty acid composition in a marine vertebrate

The present study presents the first "in vivo" evidence of enzymatic activity and nutritional regulation of a Δ4-desaturase-dependent DHA synthesis pathway in the teleost Solea senegalensis. Juvenile fish were fed diets containing 2 lipid levels (8 and 18%, LL and HL) with either 100 % fish oil (FO) or 75 % of the FO replaced by vegetable oils (VO). Fatty acyl elongation (Elovl5) and desaturation (Δ4Fad) activities were measured in isolated enterocytes and hepatocytes incubated with radiolabelled a-linolenic acid (ALA; 18:3n-3) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5n-3). Tissue distributions of elovl5 and Δ4fad transcripts were also determined, and the transcriptional regulation of these genes in liver and intestine was assessed at fasting and postprandially. DHA biosynthesis from EPA occurred in both cell types, although Elovl5 and Δ4Fad activities tended to be higher in hepatocytes. In contrast, no Δ6Fad activity was detected on 14C-ALA, which was only elongated to 20:3n-3. Enzymatic activities and gene transcription were modulated by dietary lipid level (LL > HL) and fatty acid (FA) composition (VO > FO), more significantly in liver than in intestine, which was reflected in tissue FA compositions. Dietary VO induced a significant up-regulation of Δ4fad transcripts in liver 6 h after feeding, whereas in fasting conditions the effect of lipid level possibly prevailed over or interacted with FA composition in regulating the expression of elovl5 and Δ4fad, which were down-regulated in liver of fish fed the HL diets. Results indicated functionality and biological relevance of the Δ4 LC-PUFA biosynthesis pathway in S. senegalensis

Elemental bioavailability in whey protein supplements

Whey protein (WP) as a dietary supplement for athletes and gym-users is characterized by a content of high-quality amino acids. The benefits of their consumption are well-known and mainly related to the improvements of strength and body composition. Nevertheless, there is a scarce information about the risk associated to their elemental composition. The aim was to evaluate the total content and bioavailability of twenty-five elements in twenty whey protein powder samples, using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry, and to evaluate the possible risk associated to the excessive daily intake of such products. Results showed that Na, K, Ca and Mg were the most predominant elements. After Hierarchical Cluster Analysis three different groups of whey protein supplements were observed. ANOVA analysis indicates that the concentration of the Na, K and Mg above mentioned elements is the key for the observed classification. The average elemental bioavailable fraction in the stomach is 45 % whereas in the intestine is 64 %. Most of the elements tested (nineteen) show gastric bioavailability higher than 60 %, being Al the lowest (37 %) and Co the highest one (76 %). According to our results, previously published data and recommendations of producers, WP samples can be considered save from the elemental composition point of view

1ª Encuesta sobre Internet y el Web de la Universidad de Alicante

Documento de trabajo con los resultados más destacados de la 1ª Encuesta sobre Internet y el Web de la Universidad de Alicante, curso 1999-2000. El objetivo principal de este estudio es conocer los aspectos relacionados con el uso que hace el alumnado de la UA de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC)

Transcriptional profiling of Neurospora crassa Δmak-2 reveals that mitogen-activated protein kinase MAK-2 participates in the phosphate signaling pathway

AbstractThe filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa is an excellent model system for examining molecular responses to ambient signals in eukaryotic microorganisms. Inorganic phosphate (Pi) is an essential growth-limiting nutrient in nature and is crucial for the synthesis of nucleic acids and the flow of genetic information. The genetic and molecular mechanisms controlling the response to Pi starvation in N. crassa include at least four genes (nuc-2, preg, pogv, and nuc-1), which are involved in a hierarchical regulatory activation network. In a previous work, we identified a number of genes modulated by NUC-2 protein, including the mak-2 gene, which codes for a mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), suggesting its participation in the phosphate signaling pathway. Thus, to identify other genes involved in metabolic responses to exogenous phosphate sensing and the functioning of the MAPK MAK-2, we performed microarray experiments using a mak-2 knockout strain (Δmak-2) grown under phosphate-shortage conditions by comparing its transcription profile to that of a control strain grown in low- and high-phosphate cultures. These experiments revealed 912 unique differentially expressed genes involved in a number of physiological processes related to phosphate transport, metabolism, and regulation as well as posttranslational modification of proteins, and MAPK signaling pathways. Quantitative Real-time PCR gene expression analysis of 18 selected genes, using independent RNA samples, validated our microarray results. A high Pearson correlation between microarray and quantitative Real-time PCR data was observed. The analysis of these differentially expressed genes in the Δmak-2 strain provide evidence that the mak-2 gene participates in the hierarchical phosphate-signaling pathway in N. crassa in addition to its involvement in other metabolic routes such as the isoprenylation pathway, thus revealing novel aspects of the N. crassa phosphorus-sensing network

Transcriptional profiling reveals the expression of novel genes in response to various stimuli in the human dermatophyte Trichophyton rubrum

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cutaneous mycoses are common human infections among healthy and immunocompromised hosts, and the anthropophilic fungus <it>Trichophyton rubrum </it>is the most prevalent microorganism isolated from such clinical cases worldwide. The aim of this study was to determine the transcriptional profile of <it>T. rubrum </it>exposed to various stimuli in order to obtain insights into the responses of this pathogen to different environmental challenges. Therefore, we generated an expressed sequence tag (EST) collection by constructing one cDNA library and nine suppression subtractive hybridization libraries.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The 1388 unigenes identified in this study were functionally classified based on the Munich Information Center for Protein Sequences (MIPS) categories. The identified proteins were involved in transcriptional regulation, cellular defense and stress, protein degradation, signaling, transport, and secretion, among other functions. Analysis of these unigenes revealed 575 <it>T. rubrum </it>sequences that had not been previously deposited in public databases.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this study, we identified novel <it>T. rubrum </it>genes that will be useful for ORF prediction in genome sequencing and facilitating functional genome analysis. Annotation of these expressed genes revealed metabolic adaptations of <it>T. rubrum </it>to carbon sources, ambient pH shifts, and various antifungal drugs used in medical practice. Furthermore, challenging <it>T. rubrum </it>with cytotoxic drugs and ambient pH shifts extended our understanding of the molecular events possibly involved in the infectious process and resistance to antifungal drugs.</p