The computer helps in the acquisition of educational knowledge. An experience with Spanish’s students

Traditionally, people have tried to compare the effectiveness of traditional teaching with Computer Aided Learning (CAL), however, it is very difficult to work out which of them is best. In our research we want to show that the use of the computers in learning processes can represent an important element in improving them. The results obtained show that many of the contents worked on with the help of the new technologies are better assimilated by the students as they get better results than using a traditional method. However, we should highlight that although we use the new technologies, the figure of the teacher will always be necessary and that in the design of computer applications the interaction of the technician with an expert in educational methods is very important.Traditionally, people have tried to compare the effectiveness of traditional teaching with Computer Aided Learning (CAL), however, it is very difficult to work out which of them is best. In our research we want to show that the use of the computers in learning processes can represent an important element in improving them. The results obtained show that many of the contents worked on with the help of the new technologies are better assimilated by the students as they get better results than using a traditional method. However, we should highlight that although we use the new technologies, the figure of the teacher will always be necessary and that in the design of computer applications the interaction of the technician with an expert in educational methods is very important

The computer helps in the acquisition of educational knowledge. An experience with Spanish’s students

Traditionally, people have tried to compare the effectiveness of traditional teaching with Computer Aided Learning (CAL), however, it is very difficult to work out which of them is best. In our research we want to show that the use of the computers in learning processes can represent an important element in improving them. The results obtained show that many of the contents worked on with the help of the new technologies are better assimilated by the students as they get better results than using a traditional method. However, we should highlight that although we use the new technologies, the figure of the teacher will always be necessary and that in the design of computer applications the interaction of the technician with an expert in educational methods is very important.Traditionally, people have tried to compare the effectiveness of traditional teaching with Computer Aided Learning (CAL), however, it is very difficult to work out which of them is best. In our research we want to show that the use of the computers in learning processes can represent an important element in improving them. The results obtained show that many of the contents worked on with the help of the new technologies are better assimilated by the students as they get better results than using a traditional method. However, we should highlight that although we use the new technologies, the figure of the teacher will always be necessary and that in the design of computer applications the interaction of the technician with an expert in educational methods is very important

从教育专业人士的角度看管理项目

The objective of this research is to know the opinion that education professionals have about the Management Project (PdD) of educational centres, after exploring different existing regulations in five autonomous communities (CCAA), in order to make a more unified proposal. The methodology used was qualitative, analysing different legislations of some CCAA, and quantitative by analysing the results obtained from a questionnaire applied to 530 professionals in the educational field. The results indicated that there are some discrepancies in the regulations of different CCAA. Education professionals consider that the PdD should have about 30 pages and that the most important sections are the objectives, lines of action and organization of the centre. Most consider that it should be presented to the Senate and the School Council that the time between the summons and the deposit should be 3 months and that it requires prior training. Differences were observed in the differential analysis according to age, gender, and professional profile. The conclusions are the importance of receiving specific formation on PdD is drawn and that the regulations should be standardized, considering the opinions of education professionals.El objetivo de esta investigación es conocer la opinión que tienen los/las profesionales de la educación sobre el Proyecto de Dirección (PdD) de centros educativos, después de explorar diferentes normativas existentes en cinco comunidades autónomas (CCAA), para poder realizar una propuesta más unificada. La metodología utilizada fue tanto cualitativa, analizando diferentes legislaciones de las cinco CCAA, como cuantitativa mediante el análisis de los resultados obtenidos a partir de un cuestionario aplicado a 530 profesionales del ámbito educativo. Los resultados indicaron que existen algunas discrepancias en la reglamentación de diferentes CCAA. Los/las profesionales de la educación consideran que el PdD debería tener unas 30 páginas y que los apartados más importantes son los objetivos, líneas de actuación y organización del centro. La mayoría cree que debe presentarse al Claustro y al Consejo Escolar, que el tiempo entre la convocatoria y el depósito debería ser de 3 meses y que requiere formación previa. En el análisis diferencial se observaron diferencias según la edad, género y perfil profesional. Como conclusión se extrae la importancia de recibir una formación específica sobre el PdD y que deberían homogeneizarse las reglamentaciones, considerando las opiniones de los/las profesionales de la educación.Цель данного исследования - выяснить мнение специалистов в области образования о проекте управления (ПУ) учебными заведениями, изучив различные существующие нормативные акты в пяти автономных сообществах (CCAA), чтобы иметь возможность сделать более унифицированное заключение. Использовалась как качественная методология - анализ различных законодательных актов в пяти автономных сообществах, так и количественная - анализ результатов, полученных с помощью анкеты, в которой приняли участие 530 специалистов в области образования. Результаты показали, что существуют некоторые расхождения в нормативных актах различных автономных округов. Специалисты в области образования считают, что объем ПУ должен составлять около 30 страниц и что наиболее важными разделами являются цели, направления деятельности и организация работы школы. Большинство из них считают, что он должен быть представлен коллективу школы и школьному совету, что время между обращением и представлением должно составлять 3 месяца и что для этого требуется предварительная подготовка. При дифференциальном анализе наблюдались различия в зависимости от возраста, пола и профессионального профиля. В заключение следует отметить важность специальной подготовки по ПУ и необходимость унификации нормативных документов с учетом мнения специалистов в области образования.本研究的目的是在探索西班牙五个大区现有的不同法规后，了解教育专业人士对学校管理项目（PdD）的看法，以便提出更加统一的建议。 我们使用定性研究方法分析五个大区的不同立法，同时也使用定量研究方法，通过对 530 名教育领域专业人士的问卷调查结果进行分析。 结果表明，不同大区的法规存在一定差异。教育专业人士认为 PdD 文本应该有 30 页左右，最重要的部分是中心的目标、行动方针和组织。大多数人认为应将其提交给学校理事会，在通知和交存之间应相隔应 3 个月的时长，并且需要事先培训。在差异分析中，研究在年龄、性别和职业概况方面观察到差异。 结论得出了接受 PdD 专门培训的重要性，并考虑教育专业人士的意见，制定规范

师范学位里的通用技能分析：从赫罗纳大学学生角度出发进行研究

تهدف الدراسة الحالية إلى معرفة الدرجة التي يتم بها العمل على كفاءات التدريس العامة (الفعالة, والشخصية, والنظامية) في درجات المعلم, والأهمية التي يوليها لها الطلاب وفي أي مواضيع من كل دورة يعملون أكثر من غيرها. تم تطوير استبيان إلكتروني حول الكفايات التي يجب أن يتمتع بها كل معلم, وفق مشروع Tuning. وقد تم التحقق من صحتها من قبل الخبراء وقدمت اتساقًا داخليًا كافيًا. وكانت العينة 285 من أصل 956 طالباً في مرحلة الماجستير في جامعة جيرونا. وفي النتائج، لوحظ أن الطلاب قيموا دائمًا الأهمية المعطاة للكفاءات المختلفة بدرجة أعلى من الدرجة التي تم العمل عليها. الأكثر قيمة هي العلاقات بين الأشخاص بينما الأقل قيمة هي الفعّالة. المهارة التي يتم العمل عليها كثيرًا هي العمل الجماعي والمهارة الأقل العمل عليها هي القدرة على العمل في سياق دولي. وتم التأكيد أيضًا على أن المواضيع التي يتم فيها العمل على المهارات بشكل أكبر هي التدريب العملي ومشروع الدرجة النهائية, من بين أمور أخرى. إن تخصص التربية في مرحلة الطفولة المبكرة هو الذي قدم أهم العلاقات وكان التخصص الأكثر تقديراً لأهمية الكفايات ودرجة العمل عليها. ويخلص إلى أنه من الضروري إعطاء أهمية أكبر للكفاءات العامة في عملية تدريب المعلمين والعمل بشكل أكبر على الكفاءات الدولية جنبا إلى جنب مع معرفة ثقافات وعادات البلدان الأخرىThe present study aims to determine the degree to which generic teaching competencies (instrumental, interpersonal, and systemic) are developed in Bachelor's degrees in Education, the importance given to them by students, and which courses focus more on them. An electronic questionnaire was developed based on the competencies that every teacher should have, according to the Tuning Project. It was validated by experts and showed adequate internal consistency. The sample consisted of 285 out of 956 Education students at the University of Girona. The results showed that students always rated the importance of different competencies higher than the degree to which they are actually developed. Interpersonal competencies were the most valued, while instrumental competencies were the least valued. The most developed competency was teamwork, while the least developed was the ability to work in an international context. It was also found that the competencies were more developed in a few determinate courses, like in the Practicum and Final Degree Project courses. The Early Childhood Education specialization presented the most significant relationships and placed greater importance on both the competencies and their degree of development. In conclusion, it is necessary to give greater importance to generic competencies in teacher training and to develop international competencies in conjunction with knowledge of other cultures and customs.El presente estudio pretende conocer el grado en que se trabajan las competencias docentes genéricas (instrumentales, interpersonales y sistémicas) en los Grados de Maestro, la importancia que le otorga el estudiantado y en qué asignaturas se trabajan más. Se elaboró un cuestionario electrónico que partió de las competencias que debería tener todo docente, según el proyecto Tuning. Fue validado por expertos y presentó una consistencia interna adecuada. La muestra fue de 285 de los 956 estudiantes de los Grados de Maestro de la Universidad de Girona. En los resultados se observó que el estudiantado siempre puntuaba más alta la importancia otorgada a las diferentes competencias que el grado en que se trabajan. Las más valoradas son las interpersonales mientras que las menos valoradas son las instrumentales. La competencia que más se trabaja es el Trabajo en equipo y la que menos es la Habilidad de trabajar en un contexto internacional. También se constató que en las asignaturas donde más se trabajan las competencias son en el Prácticum y en el Trabajo de Final de Grado, entre otras. La especialidad de Educación Infantil es la que presentó la mayoría de las relaciones significativas y fue la especialidad que más valoró la importancia de las competencias y el grado en que se trabajan. Se concluye que es necesario dar una mayor importancia a las competencias genéricas en el proceso formativo del profesorado y trabajar más las competencias internacionales juntamente con el conocimiento de culturas y las costumbres de otros países.O presente estudo pretende saber em que medida as competências docentes genéricas (instrumentais, interpessoais e sistémicas) são trabalhadas nos Cursos de Docência, a importância que lhes é dada pelos estudantes e em que disciplinas de cada curso são mais trabalhadas. Elaborou-se um questionário eletrónico com base nas competências que todos os professores deveriam ter, de acordo com o projeto Tuning. Foi validado por peritos e revelou uma consistência interna adequada. A amostra foi constituída por 285 dos 956 estudantes dos Cursos de Docência da Universidade de Girona. Os resultados demonstraram que os estudantes atribuíam sempre uma pontuação mais elevada à importância dada às diferentes competências do que a medida em que são trabalhadas. As mais valorizadas são as interpessoais, enquanto as menos valorizadas são as instrumentais. A competência mais trabalhada é o Trabalho em equipa e a menos trabalhada é Capacidade de trabalhar num contexto internacional. Também se constatou que as disciplinas em que as competências são mais trabalhadas são no Estágio e no Projeto Final de Curso, entre outras. A especialidade de Ensino Infantil foi a que apresentou a maioria das relações significativas e foi a especialidade que mais valorizou a importância das competências e a medida em que são trabalhadas. Conclui-se que é necessário dar maior importância às competências genéricas no processo formativo dos professores e trabalhar mais as competências internacionais, juntamente com o conhecimento das culturas e dos costumes de outros países.O presente estudo pretende saber em que medida as competências docentes genéricas (instrumentais, interpessoais e sistémicas) são trabalhadas nos Cursos de Docência, a importância que lhes é dada pelos estudantes e em que disciplinas de cada curso são mais trabalhadas. Elaborou-se um questionário eletrónico com base nas competências que todos os professores deveriam ter, de acordo com o projeto Tuning. Foi validado por peritos e revelou uma consistência interna adequada. A amostra foi constituída por 285 dos 956 estudantes dos Cursos de Docência da Universidade de Girona. Os resultados demonstraram que os estudantes atribuíam sempre uma pontuação mais elevada à importância dada às diferentes competências do que a medida em que são trabalhadas. As mais valorizadas são as interpessoais, enquanto as menos valorizadas são as instrumentais. A competência mais trabalhada é o Trabalho em equipa e a menos trabalhada é Capacidade de trabalhar num contexto internacional. Também se constatou que as disciplinas em que as competências são mais trabalhadas são no Estágio e no Projeto Final de Curso, entre outras. A especialidade de Ensino Infantil foi a que apresentou a maioria das relações significativas e foi a especialidade que mais valorizou a importância das competências e a medida em que são trabalhadas. Conclui-se que é necessário dar maior importância às competências genéricas no processo formativo dos professores e trabalhar mais as competências internacionais, juntamente com o conhecimento das culturas e dos costumes de outros países.该研究试图了解教师通用技能（工具技能、人际交往技能、系统性技能）在师范学位的涉及程度，学生的重视度以及哪个年级的哪门课程涉及更多的通用技能这三个方面。根据调优项目，我们设计了一项包含所有教师应具备技能的电子问卷。该问卷经过多名专家验证，呈现出适当的内部一致性。问卷样本来自赫罗纳大学师范学位956名学生中的285名。研究结果发现学生对不同通用技能的重视程度评分比学位所涉及的程度还要高。学生认为人际交往技能最重要，而认为工具技能最不重要。在学位里涉及最多的是小组合作技能，涉及最少的是在国际背景下的工作技能。研究还发现涉及技能最多的课程是实习课和本科论文课。幼儿教育专业的数据显示出最高的显著性关联。这个专业也是师范学位里涉及最多技能、给予技能最高重视程度的专业。研究结论显示在教师培养过程中需要给予通用技能更多的注重，也要更多地涉及包含其他国家文化习俗内容的国际技能

Conflict-free strides for vectors in matched memories

Address transformation schemes, such as skewing and linear transformations, have been proposed to achieve conflict-free access to one family of strides in vector processors with matched memories. The paper extends these schemes to achieve this conflict-free access for several families. The basic idea is to perform an out-of-order access to vectors of fixed length, equal to that of the vector registers of the processor. The hardware required is similar to that for the access in order.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

PAP1 signaling involves MAPK signal transduction

El pdf del artículo es la versión post-print.-- et al.Pancreatitis-associated protein 1 (PAP1) belongs to the Reg family of secretory proteins. Several important biological roles have been attributed to PAP1 but the signaling pathways activated by this protein remain only partially understood. Here, we describe the intracellular pathways triggered by PAP1 in a pancreatic acinar cell line. Taking advantage of the fact that PAP1 induces its own transcription, we performed ChIP assays to analyze the recruitment of transcriptional factors on its promoter. Our results show that PAP1 increased the transactivation activity of pap1 and the binding on its promoter of the nuclear factors C/EBPβ, P-CREB, P-ELK1, EGR1, STAT3, and ETS2, which are downstream targets of MAPK signaling. p44/42, p38, and JNK MAPKs activity increased after PAP1 treatment. In addition, pharmacological inhibition of these kinases markedly inhibited the induction of pap1 mRNA. Taken together, these results indicated that the mechanism of PAP1 action involves the activation of the MAPK superfamily.This work was supported by the FIS PI050599 and FIS PI081608 projects to E. Folch-Puy, Acción Integrada HF2006-0092 and CIBERehd to D. Closa and Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology BFU2007-63120 and CSD2006-49 to G. López-Rodas. CIBERehd is funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. E. Folch-Puy is the recipient of a Ramón y Cajal contract from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science. M. Ferrés-Masó is the recipient of a FIS-Instituto de Salud Carlos III contract PI050599.Peer reviewe

Task Packing: Efficient task scheduling in unbalanced parallel programs to maximize CPU utilization

Load imbalance in parallel systems can be generated by external factors to the currently running applications like operating system noise or the underlying hardware like a heterogeneous cluster. HPC applications working on irregular data structures can also have difficulties to balance their computations across the parallel tasks. In this article we extend, improve and evaluate more deeply the Task Packing mechanism proposed in a previous work. The main idea of the mechanism is to concentrate the idle cycles of unbalanced applications in such a way that one or more CPUs are freed from execution. To achieve this, CPUs are stressed with just useful work of the parallel application tasks, provided performance is not degraded. The packing is solved by an algorithm based on the Knapsack problem, in a minimum number of CPUs and using oversubscription. We design and implement a more efficient version of such mechanism. To that end, we perform the Task Packing “in place”, taking advantage of idle cycles generated at synchronization points of unbalanced applications. Evaluations are carried out on a heterogeneous platform using FT and miniFE benchmarks. Results showed that our proposal generates low overhead. In addition the amount of freed CPUs are related to a load imbalance metric which can be used as a prediction for it.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

The reg4gene, amplified in the early stages of pancreatic cancer development, is a promising therapeutic target

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.-- et al.[Background]: The aim of our work was to identify the genes specifically altered in pancreatic adenocarcinoma and especially those that are altered early in cancer development.[Methodology/Principal Findings]: Gene copy number was systematically assessed with an ultra-high resolution CGH oligonucleotide microarray in DNA from samples of pancreatic cancer. Several new cancer-associated variations were observed. In this work we focused on one of them, involving the reg4 gene. Gene copy number gain of the reg4 gene was confirmed by qPCR in 14 cancer samples. It was also found with increased copy number in most PanIN3 samples. The relationship betweena gain in reg4 gene copy number and cancer development was investigated on the human pancreatic cancer cell line Mia-PaCa2 xenografted under the skin of nude mice. When cells were transfected with a vector allowing reg4 expression, they generated tumors almost twice larger in size. In addition, these tumors were more resistant to gemcitabine treatment than control tumors. Interestingly, weekly intraperitoneal administration of a monoclonal antibody to reg4 halved the size of tumors generated by Mia-PaCa2 cells, suggesting that the antibody interfered with a paracrine/autocrine mechanism involving reg4 and stimulating cancer progression. The addition of gemcitabine resulted in further reduction, tumors becoming 5 times smaller than control. Exposure to reg4 antibody resulted in a significant decrease in intra-tumor levels of pAkt, Bcl-xL, Bcl-2, survivin and cyclin D1.[Conclusions/Significance]: It was concluded that adjuvant therapies targeting reg4 could improve the standard treatment of pancreatic cancer with gemcitabine.This work was supported by grants from INSERM, Ligue Contre le Cancer and INCA to JLI and by the FIS PI081608 project, Acción Integrada HF2006-0092 and CIBERehd. CIBERehd is funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III to EF-P and DC. EF-P is the recipient of a Ramón y Cajal contract from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and MF-M is the recipient of a FIS-Instituto de Salud Carlos III contract PI050599.Peer reviewe

Imágenes periodísticas de la inmigración. Aportaciones metodológicas al estudio de la comunicación visual

With the Framing theory as a reference, a content analysis was developed, with Spanish media news photographs and images about immigration as units of analysis. 558 news were selected, 55.44% were press messages and the rest, 44.56%, television news. The aspects studied for each of the images contained in the sample were referred to the presence or absence of the different actors and geographical and physical places in them, and linked to immigration. Using a factorial analysis of these variables, four visual news frames in the immigration news were located and, also, related with the textual news frames of immigration. Results showed the relation between both, making more visible and understandable the transmitted information. Also, we discuss about the role of these frames as a complement of the textual information and its effects on public opinion.Partiendo de los postulados de la teoría del encuadre o framing, se desarrolló un análisis de contenido de las imágenes aparecidas en las noticias españolas sobre inmigración. En total se seleccionaron 588 noticias (55.44% de prensa y 44.56% de televisión). Los aspectos estudiados para cada una de las imágenes de la muestra se refirieron a la presencia o ausencia de los diferentes actores y lugares físicos o geográficos emplazados en ellas. A partir de un análisis factorial de dichas variables se localizaron cuatro encuadres noticiosos visuales, que se pusieron en relación con los encuadres textuales sobre inmigración. Los resultados mostraron la relación entre ambos, haciendo más visible y entendible la información transmitida. Se discute sobre el papel de estos encuadres complementariamente a la información textual y sus efectos sobre la opinión pública

Synoptic weather patterns conducive to lightning-ignited wildfires in Catalonia

Wildfires cause substantial losses to socio-economic and natural assets, especially in Mediterranean climate regions. Despite human activity being the main cause of wildfires in Mediterranean European countries, lightning-ignited wildfires should also be considered a major disruptive agent as they can trigger large fires. In addition, recent studies on the potential climate change effects on wildfires pointed out that lightning-ignited wildfires may gain relevance in Mediterranean areas in the years to come. The present study analyses the synoptical weather patterns favouring lightning-ignited wildfires in Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula). Being able to identify areas with an elevated lightning-ignition survival at daily timescales would be of great assistance to wildfire management agencies, i.e. locating ignitions and potential holdover fires, preparing for days with multiple ignitions or routing detection flight paths. It is worth noticing that one of the reasons that lightning-caused wildfires are difficult to manage is that they can survive for several days after the ignition, emerging days later once surface vegetation becomes dry enough to support sustained combustion. For this reason, in a first step, a reliable lightning–wildfire association is needed to properly identify the date and time of the fire starter for each wildfire. Afterwards, the circulation types on the days of ignition are analysed. The study relies on a dataset of 870 lightning-ignited wildfires, gathered by the Forest Protection Agency of the autonomous government of Catalonia between 2005 and 2020. Lightning data were provided by the Lightning Location System operated by the Meteorological Service of Catalonia. Results show that lightning-ignited wildfires in Catalonia are related to a typical synoptic weather pattern dominated by a short-wave trough at 500 hPa, with three distinct associations: an Iberian thermal low (51 % of the fires), a northern flow (24 %) and prefrontal convection (13 %).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version