Collegial Forms of Implementation of Directionality in National Innovation Strategies

The normative turn that occurred as a result of radical reforms in science, technology, and innovation policies in various countries has sparked a broad discussion around the “directionality-neutrality” dilemma in science, technology, and innovation (STI) development strategies. However, despite a number of recent publications and science and innovation policy programs, the relationship between these two principles, including the practice of their application by government agencies, remains understudied. A representative analysis (using qualitative methods) of the two national STI councils and their role in strategy development, focusing on the process of approach selection and its value orientation, will fill this gap. On the basis of the collected information and scientific literature, the connection with different policy options is identified. It is shown that the role of the councils is determined by their powers and resources and the boundaries of relevant practices and directions for further research are outlined

Power system stability of a small sized isolated network supplied by a combined wind-pumped storage generation system: a case study in the Canary Islands

Massive integration of renewable energy sources in electrical power systems of remote islands is a subject of current interest. The increasing cost of fossil fuels, transport costs to isolated sites and environmental concerns constitute a serious drawback to the use of conventional fossil fuel plants. In a weak electrical grid, as it is typical on an island, if a large amount of conventional generation is substituted by renewable energy sources, power system safety and stability can be compromised, in the case of large grid disturbances. In this work, a model for transient stability analysis of an isolated electrical grid exclusively fed from a combination of renewable energy sources has been studied. This new generation model will be installed in El Hierro Island, in Spain. Additionally, an operation strategy to coordinate the generation units (wind, hydro) is also established. Attention is given to the assessment of inertial energy and reactive current to guarantee power system stability against large disturbances. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is shown by means of simulation results

The access to broadband services as a strategy to retain population in the depopulated countryside in Spain

The aim of this paper is to analyze at what extent the connectivity of small localities is a determinant of their demography. Specifically, we pay attention to three factors: the evolution of the population; the distance, measured both in kilometres and travel time, to the province capital, the usual city where the largest set of services is available; and finally, the coverage of different kinds of broadband services (from ADSL or 3.5 G to the fastest ones FTTH) in rural areas. An econometric model was estimated where the dependent variable captures the increase of inhabitants along 2017–2020 of the 5955 Spanish municipalities with a population between 101 and 10,000 inhabitants (73.3 % of all municipalities). The results point out to the following facts: digital connectivity of small localities is a determinant of their demography, whatever the technology used, but physical distance remains being a significant factor on the population growth (both if it is measured of physical distance or travelling time) to explain the population growth of each locality

Effect of a physical education-based dynamic stretching program on hamstring extensibility in female high-school students

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of a dynamic stretching development program followed by a four-week detraining period and maintenance program on hamstring extensibility in a physical education setting. A sample of 108 female high-school students aged 16-17 years from four classes were clustered randomly and assigned to either an experimental or a control group. During physical education sessions, the experimental group students performed a dynamic stretching program twice a week for eight weeks. Subsequently, after a four-week period of detraining, the experimental group students completed a maintenance program twice a week during four weeks. The results of the two-way analysis of variance showed that the physical education-based development program significantly improved students’ hamstring extensibility (p.05), the gains obtained previously were recovered after a four-week maintenance program (p<.001). Hence, a physical education-based dynamic stretching intervention is effective in improving and maintaining hamstring extensibility among female high-school students. However, after four weeks of detraining, students’ flexibility reverts to its baseline levels. These findings could help and guide teachers to design programs that guarantee a feasible and an effective development of flexibility in a physical education setting

¿Cómo cambian los niveles de extensibilidad isquiosural de los estudiantes durante un año académico? Un estudio longitudinal

The main purpose of the present study was to examine the students’ hamstring extensibility levels through an academic year. A sample of 128 11th-grade students from a high school center was assessed by the classic sit-and-reach test in pre-, mid- and post-academic year. The results showed that students’ hamstring extensibility level statistically significantly decreased from pre-academic year (22.1 ± 8.5 cm) to mid- (19.9 ± 8.6 cm; d = -0.26) and post-academic year (18.6 ± 9.3 cm; d = -0.41) (p < 0.001) and from mid-academic year to post-academic year (d = -0.16) (p < 0.001). The results of the McNemar’s test indicated that there was a statistically significant decrease on the proportion of students with normal hamstring extensibility level from pre-academic year to post-academic year (p < 0.05). In conclusion, high-school students lost hamstring extensibility levels during an academic year. As a result of this decrease, the number of students with hamstring extensibility shortening increased by 10.9%. Physical education teachers should implement stretching programs to avoid students’ hamstring extensibility shortening.El objetivo principal del presente estudio fue examinar los niveles de extensibilidad isquiosural de los estudiantes durante un curso académico. Una muestra de 128 estudiantes de 1º de bachillerato de un centro de educación secundaria se evaluó mediante la prueba de classic sit-and-reach al comienzo, mediados y final del curso académico. Los resultados mostraron que el nivel de extensibilidad de isquiosural de los estudiantes disminuyó estadísticamente significativamente desde el comienzo (22,1 ± 8,5 cm) a mediados (19,9 ± 8,6 cm, d = -0,26) y final del año académico (18,6 ± 9,3 cm; d = -0,41) (p < 0,001), y desde mediados al final (d = -0.16) (p < 0,001). Los resultados de la prueba de McNemar indicaron que hubo una disminución estadísticamente significativa en la proporción de estudiantes con un nivel de extensibilidad isquiosural normal desde el comienzo al final del curso académico (p < 0,05). En conclusión, los estudiantes de educación secundaria perdieron niveles de extensibilidad isquiosural durante un curso académico. Como resultado de esta disminución, el número de estudiantes con acortamiento de los músculos isquiosurales aumentó un 10,9%. Los profesores de educación física deberían implementar programas de estiramiento para prevenir el acortamiento de extensibilidad isquiosural de los estudiantes.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Actin cytoskeleton disruption is an early event upon exposure of cerebellar granule neurons to SIN-1-induced oxidative stress

In this work we have studied the alterations of the actin cytoskeleton in cultured cerebellar granule neurons during exposure to the peroxynitritereleasing agent SIN-1 for less than 2 hours. Actin polymerization state was assessed by fluorescence microscopy ratio images using double labelling for actin filaments (phallacidin) and monomers (DNase-I). In addition, agonists and antagonists of L-type Ca2+ channels and NMDA receptors were used in order to find out whether these compounds were able to attenuate or potentiate the effects of oxidative stress on the perturbation of the actin cytoskeleton. The results reveal that a flux of peroxynitrite as low as 0.5 ;M/min during 1h is sufficient to promote alterations of actin dynamics leading to partial actin cytoskeleton disruption and suggest that this is an early event linked to cytosolic calcium concentration changes

Mejoras en el proceso productivo y modernización mediante sustitución y tecnologías limpias en un molino de arroz

The rice production includes the agriculture, productive, and distribution process. There are the need of the integral analysis, with the purpose of improve their efficient and competitively. In this contex are presented improvements that impact in the production and productivity in milling rice sited in Arequipa region. For that is making a productive process diagnostic, a benchmarking with the sector enterprises, and the introduction of more celan production concepts.La producción de arroz, que comprende la agricultura, procesos productivos y distribución, requiere de análisis a fin de mejorar su eficiencia y competitividad. En este contexto, en el presente trabajo, se propone mejoras que redunden en la producción y productividad en un molino de arroz ubicado en la región Arequipa. Para tal fin se realiza un diagnóstico del proceso productivo, un benchmarking con las empresas del sector, así como se introducen conceptos de producción más limpia

Design, Implementation and Evaluation of SPOCs at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

The Universidad Carlos III de Madrid has been offering several face-to-face remedial courses for new students to review or learn concepts and practical skills that they should know before starting their degree program. During 2012 and 2013, our University adopted MOOC-like technologies to support some of these courses so that a blended learning methodology could be applied in a particular educational context, i.e. by using SPOCs (Small Private Online Courses). This paper gathers a list of issues, challenges and solutions when implementing these SPOCs. Based on these challenges and issues, a design process is proposed for the implementation of SPOCs. In addition, an evaluation is presented of the different use of the offered courses based on indicators such as the number of videos accessed, number of exercises accessed, number of videos completed, number of exercises correctly solved or time spent on the platform.Work partially funded by the RESET project under grant no. TIN2014-53199-C3-1-R (funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness), the REMEDISS project under grant no. IPT-2012-0882-430000 (funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness) and the “eMadrid” project (funded by the Regional Government of Madrid) under grant no. S2013/ICE-2715. Carlos Delgado Kloos wishes to acknowledge support from Fundación CajaMadrid to visit Harvard University and MIT in the academic year 2012-13