Primary Educational Strategies in Times of Digital Curriculum

Our contribution is based on the most noteworthy results of a research project focusing on teaching strategies at a time when the contents of the primary education curriculum are becoming digital. The expansion of the digital content industry is forcing a paradigm shift. In this paper we analyse the strategies implemented by teachers of the fifth and sixth year of primary school in relation with the digitisation of curricular content. With this aim, we planned our research following ethnographic methodology, analysing a period of two years of a case study. The main data collection tools we used are the analysis of the centre’s documents and website, semi-structured interviews with different participants, and direct observation of fifth and sixth year primary education classrooms.  We can infer from the analysis that technology facilitates processes of inclusion in the centre, enhancing collaborative and cooperative work. Furthermore, the use of digital devices promotes attention to diversity. The implementation of digital technologies in schools implies redefining teaching practices and teaching-learning processes.The results show that the addition of digital materials is a step forward in the centre’s attention to diversity, improving accessibility and overcoming the digital gap thanks to schools’ access to technological resources

Ethnic diversity in children's television: the case of Sofía the First

Miriam E. Aguasanta-Regalado – Universidad de Valencia - 0000-0003-2917-4111Juana M. Encarnación Cruz – Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo - 0000-0001-7542-3524Flor B. Fortuna Terrero – Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo - 0000-0002-7201-4749Ángel San Martín Alonso – Universidad de Valencia - 0000-0003-3565-4250Isabel M. Gallardo-Fernández – Universidad de Valencia - 0000-0001-7505-5469Recepción: 05.04.2022 | Aceptado: 18.04.2022Correspondencia a través de ORCID: Miriam E. Aguasanta-Regalado - 0000-0003-2917-4111Los medios de comunicación se han convertido en prescriptores sociales. Por ello es cada vez más importante examinar cómo estos dibujan y describen el contexto social, así como representan al otro. Problema de estudio: ¿cómo se construye la representación de la diversidad étnica en una serie infantil de televisión? Se hace uso del Análisis Crítico del Discurso como herramienta que permite examinar críticamente la imagen de la diversidad en el relato infantil. A la luz de la revisión se observa una mejora en la parte cuantitativa, presentando un mayor número de personajes de color. Se estima que la educación mediática es la estrategia idónea para desarrollar la capacidad de análisis crítico de los contenidos audiovisuales. Abstract: The media have become social prescribers. For this reason, it is increasingly important to examine how they draw and describe the social context, as well as how they represent the other. It is questioned how the representation of ethnic diversity is constructed in the television series? Critical Discourse Analysis is used as a tool that allows us to critically examine the image of diversity in children's stories. In light of the revision, an improvement is observed in the quantitative part, presenting a greater number of colored characters. It is estimated that media education would be the ideal strategy to develop the capacity for critical analysis of audiovisual content.Financiación: Ministerio de Educación Superior, Ciencia y Tecnología de la República Dominicana. Estudio de investigación asociado a un proyecto doctoral sobre la diversidad cultural en la televisión infantil

Diversidad étnica en la televisión infantil: el caso de La Princesa Sofía

The media have become social prescribers. For this reason, it is increasingly important to examine how they draw and describe the social context, as well as how they represent the other. It is questioned how the representation of ethnic diversity is constructed in the television series? Critical Discourse Analysis is used as a tool that allows us to critically examine the image of diversity in children's stories. In light of the revision, an improvement is observed in the quantitative part, presenting a greater number of colored characters. It is estimated that media education would be the ideal strategy to develop the capacity for critical analysis of audiovisual content. Los medios de comunicación se han convertido en prescriptores sociales. Por ello es cada vez más importante examinar cómo estos dibujan y describen el contexto social, así como representan al otro. Problema de estudio: ¿cómo se construye la representación de la diversidad étnica en una serie infantil de televisión? Se hace uso del Análisis Crítico del Discurso como herramienta que permite examinar críticamente la imagen de la diversidad en el relato infantil. A la luz de la revisión se observa una mejora en la parte cuantitativa, presentando un mayor número de personajes de color. Se estima que la educación mediática es la estrategia idónea para desarrollar la capacidad de análisis crítico de los contenidos audiovisuales

Prokaryotic Community Structure and Metabolisms in Shallow Subsurface of Atacama Desert Playas and Alluvial Fans After Heavy Rains: Repairing and Preparing for Next Dry Period

The Atacama Desert, the oldest and driest desert on Earth, displays significant rains only once per decade. To investigate how microbial communities take advantage of these sporadic wet events, we carried out a geomicrobiological study a few days after a heavy rain event in 2015. Different physicochemical and microbial community analyses were conducted on samples collected from playas and an alluvial fan from surface, 10, 20, 50, and 80 cm depth. Gravimetric moisture content peaks were measured in 10 and 20 cm depth samples (from 1.65 to 4.1% w/w maximum values) while, in general, main anions such as chloride, nitrate, and sulfate concentrations increased with depth, with maximum values of 13-1,125; 168-10,109; and 9,904-30,952 ppm, respectively. Small organic anions such as formate and acetate had maximum concentrations from 2.61 to 3.44 ppm and 6.73 to 28.75 ppm, respectively. Microbial diversity inferred from DNA analysis showed Actinobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria as the most abundant and widespread bacterial taxa among the samples, followed by Chloroflexi and Firmicutes at specific sites. Archaea were mainly dominated by Nitrososphaerales, Methanobacteria, with the detection of other groups such as Halobacteria. Metaproteomics showed a high and even distribution of proteins involved in primary metabolic processes such as energy production and biosynthetic pathways, and a limited but remarkable presence of proteins related to resistance to environmental stressors such as radiation, oxidation, or desiccation. The results indicated that extra humidity in the system allows the microbial community to repair, and prepare for the upcoming hyperarid period. Additionally, it supplies biomarkers to the medium whose preservation potential could be high under strong desiccation conditions and relevant for planetary exploration.Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad/Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional Grants [ESP2014-58494-R, ESP2015-69540-R, ESP2017-89053-C2-2-P]; NASA ASTEP "Life in the Atacama (LITA)" project [NNX11AJ87G]; NASA Astrobiology Institute Colaborative Agreement 7 (CAN-7) project [NNX15BB01A]; Comunidad de Madrid/European Union YEI program; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (MINECO); "Maria de Maeztu" program [MDM-2017-0737]Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Prokaryotic Community Structure and Metabolisms in Shallow Subsurface of Atacama Desert Playas and Alluvial Fans After Heavy Rains: Repairing and Preparing for Next Dry Period

The Atacama Desert, the oldest and driest desert on Earth, displays significant rains only once per decade. To investigate how microbial communities take advantage of these sporadic wet events, we carried out a geomicrobiological study a few days after a heavy rain event in 2015. Different physicochemical and microbial community analyses were conducted on samples collected from playas and an alluvial fan from surface, 10, 20, 50, and 80 cm depth. Gravimetric moisture content peaks were measured in 10 and 20 cm depth samples (from 1.65 to 4.1% w/w maximum values) while, in general, main anions such as chloride, nitrate, and sulfate concentrations increased with depth, with maximum values of 13–1,125; 168–10,109; and 9,904–30,952 ppm, respectively. Small organic anions such as formate and acetate had maximum concentrations from 2.61 to 3.44 ppm and 6.73 to 28.75 ppm, respectively. Microbial diversity inferred from DNA analysis showed Actinobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria as the most abundant and widespread bacterial taxa among the samples, followed by Chloroflexi and Firmicutes at specific sites. Archaea were mainly dominated by Nitrososphaerales, Methanobacteria, with the detection of other groups such as Halobacteria. Metaproteomics showed a high and even distribution of proteins involved in primary metabolic processes such as energy production and biosynthetic pathways, and a limited but remarkable presence of proteins related to resistance to environmental stressors such as radiation, oxidation, or desiccation. The results indicated that extra humidity in the system allows the microbial community to repair, and prepare for the upcoming hyperarid period. Additionally, it supplies biomarkers to the medium whose preservation potential could be high under strong desiccation conditions and relevant for planetary exploration.This work was funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad/Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional Grants no. ESP2014-58494-R, ESP2015-69540-R (MINECO/FEDER), ESP2017-89053-C2-2-P, and “María de Maeztu” program project no. MDM-2017-0737; the NASA ASTEP “Life in the Atacama (LITA)” project no. NNX11AJ87G, and NASA Astrobiology Institute Colaborative Agreement 7 (CAN-7) project No. NNX15BB01A. MF-M had a posdoctoral grant from the Comunidad de Madrid/European Union YEI program, and IG-C had a FPI grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (MINECO).With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (MDM-2017-0737).Peer reviewe

COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization due to SARS-CoV-2: A test-negative design study based on Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) sentinel surveillance in Spain

Background: With the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, influenza surveillance systems in Spain were transformed into a new syndromic sentinel surveillance system. The Acute Respiratory Infection Surveillance System (SiVIRA in Spanish) is based on a sentinel network for acute respiratory infection (ARI) surveillance in primary care and a network of sentinel hospitals for severe ARI (SARI) surveillance in hospitals. Methods: Using a test-negative design and data from SARI admissions notified to SiVIRA between January 1 and October 3, 2021, we estimated COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) against hospitalization, by age group, vaccine type, time since vaccination, and SARS-CoV-2 variant. Results: VE was 89% (95% CI: 83-93) against COVID-19 hospitalization overall in persons aged 20 years and older. VE was higher for mRNA vaccines, and lower for those aged 80 years and older, with a decrease in protection beyond 3 months of completing vaccination, and a further decrease after 5 months. We found no differences between periods with circulation of Alpha or Delta SARS-CoV-2 variants, although variant-specific VE was slightly higher against Alpha. Conclusions: The SiVIRA sentinel hospital surveillance network in Spain was able to describe clinical and epidemiological characteristics of SARI hospitalizations and provide estimates of COVID-19 VE in the population under surveillance. Our estimates add to evidence of high effectiveness of mRNA vaccines against severe COVID-19 and waning of protection with time since vaccination in those aged 80 or older. No substantial differences were observed between SARS-CoV-2 variants (Alpha vs. Delta).The data of the study was originally collectedas part of the following projects run by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control:“Establishing Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) surveillance and performing hospital-based COVID-19 transmission studies”, “Developing an infrastructure and performing vaccine effectiveness studies for COVID-19 vaccines in the EU/EEA”, and the “Vaccine Effectiveness, Burden and Impact Studies(VEBIS) of COVID-19 and Influenza".S

Vulnerable marine ecosystems and biological features of Gazul mud volcano (Gulf of Cádiz): A contribution towards a potential "Gulf of Cádiz" EBSA

The Gulf of Cádiz (GoC) represents an area of socioeconomic and scientific importance for oceanographic, geological and biological processes. An interesting feature of the GoC is the presence of a large amount of mud volcanoes (MVs) and diapirs that display different seepage, seabed types, oceanographic settings and biological communities. Detailed exploration of some MVs is still needed for detecting Vulnerable Marine ecosystems (VMEs) that seem to be rare in other areas of the GoC, improving the current knowledge on its biodiversity and ecological attributes. During different expeditions (MEDWAVES-ATLAS, INDEMARES-CHICA 0610 & 0412 and ISUNEPCA 0616) carried out in different years, biological samples and videos were obtained in Gazul MV (Spanish Margin of the GoC). The study of those samples and videos has revealed the presence of several ecologically important VMEs (e.g. 3 species of reef framework-forming corals, coral gardens including solitary scleractinians, gorgonians and antipatharians, as well as deep-sea sponge aggregations and chemosynthesis-related structures) and a large number of species occurring in this MV, including new records for the European margin, threatened species and non-previously described species. The combination of different environmental and anthropogenic factors allowed the present-day persistence of these VMEs in the GoC. Some of Gazul MV biological and ecological attributes fit several criteria of the Convention on Biological Diversity for EBSA description (e.g. 1,3,4,6) that, together with those of other areas of the GoC, may contribute to the future potential nomination of an EBSA in this area of the NE Atlantic

Microbiology and Nitrogen Cycle in the Benthic Sediments of a Glacial Oligotrophic Deep Andean Lake as Analog of Ancient Martian Lake-Beds

Potential benthic habitats of early Mars lakes, probably oligotrophic, could range from hydrothermal to cold sediments. Dynamic processes in the water column (such as turbidity or UV penetration) as well as in the benthic bed (temperature gradients, turbation, or sedimentation rate) contribute to supply nutrients to a potential microbial ecosystem. High altitude, oligotrophic, and deep Andean lakes with active deglaciation processes and recent or past volcanic activity are natural models to assess the feasibility of life in other planetary lake/ocean environments and to develop technology for their exploration. We sampled the benthic sediments (down to 269 m depth) of the oligotrophic lake Laguna Negra (Central Andes, Chile) to investigate its ecosystem through geochemical, biomarker profiling, and molecular ecology studies. The chemistry of the benthic water was similar to the rest of the water column, except for variable amounts of ammonium (up to 2.8 ppm) and nitrate (up to 0.13 ppm). A life detector chip with a 300-antibody microarray revealed the presence of biomass in the form of exopolysaccharides and other microbial markers associated to several phylogenetic groups and potential microaerobic and anaerobic metabolisms such as nitrate reduction. DNA analyses showed that 27% of the Archaea sequences corresponded to a group of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) similar (97%) to Nitrosopumilus spp. and Nitrosoarchaeum spp. (Thaumarchaeota), and 4% of Bacteria sequences to nitrite-oxidizing bacteria from the Nitrospira genus, suggesting a coupling between ammonia and nitrite oxidation. Mesocosm experiments with the specific AOA inhibitor 2-Phenyl-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl 3-oxide (PTIO) demonstrated an AOA-associated ammonia oxidation activity with the simultaneous accumulation of nitrate and sulfate. The results showed a rich benthic microbial community dominated by microaerobic and anaerobic metabolisms thriving under aphotic, low temperature (4°C), and relatively high pressure, that might be a suitable terrestrial analog of other planetary settings

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Overview of recent TJ-II stellarator results

The main results obtained in the TJ-II stellarator in the last two years are reported. The most important topics investigated have been modelling and validation of impurity transport, validation of gyrokinetic simulations, turbulence characterisation, effect of magnetic configuration on transport, fuelling with pellet injection, fast particles and liquid metal plasma facing components. As regards impurity transport research, a number of working lines exploring several recently discovered effects have been developed: the effect of tangential drifts on stellarator neoclassical transport, the impurity flux driven by electric fields tangent to magnetic surfaces and attempts of experimental validation with Doppler reflectometry of the variation of the radial electric field on the flux surface. Concerning gyrokinetic simulations, two validation activities have been performed, the comparison with measurements of zonal flow relaxation in pellet-induced fast transients and the comparison with experimental poloidal variation of fluctuations amplitude. The impact of radial electric fields on turbulence spreading in the edge and scrape-off layer has been also experimentally characterized using a 2D Langmuir probe array. Another remarkable piece of work has been the investigation of the radial propagation of small temperature perturbations using transfer entropy. Research on the physics and modelling of plasma core fuelling with pellet and tracer-encapsulated solid-pellet injection has produced also relevant results. Neutral beam injection driven Alfvénic activity and its possible control by electron cyclotron current drive has been examined as well in TJ-II. Finally, recent results on alternative plasma facing components based on liquid metals are also presentedThis work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium and has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2014–2018 under Grant Agreement No. 633053. It has been partially funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Inovación y Universidades of Spain under projects ENE2013-48109-P, ENE2015-70142-P and FIS2017-88892-P. It has also received funds from the Spanish Government via mobility grant PRX17/00425. The authors thankfully acknowledge the computer resources at MareNostrum and the technical support provided by the Barcelona S.C. It has been supported as well by The Science and Technology Center in Ukraine (STCU), Project P-507F