Investigación basada en el diseño de Co-CrehAs: co-creación de material educativo adaptado a alumnos de alta capacidad para mejorar su motivación

This study defines a process for co-creating educational materials (Co-CrehAs) which aims to improve the motivation of high-ability students, where not only do the students themselves participate, but so too their teachers and family. from the process defined here, a software platform, (also called Co-CrehAs), has been developed. This platform includes AdapthAs; the adaptation model that considers the numerous variables for these students. To develop CoCrehAs, a case study implementing five experiences was carried out using design-based Research (dbR) methodology. The results of the MSLQ-44 test (Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire) showed that the self-efficacy, selfregulation, use of cognitive strategies and intrinsic value aspects of motivation improved throughout the experiences. It was observed that Co-CrehAs and the use of AdapthAs helped high ability students focus on co-creating and group work since “assessment anxiety” diminished as the students went through the experiences. The results obtained allow us to see that co-creating educational materials that are adapted to the needs of high ability students helps them improve their overall motivation in the learning processEste estudio define un proceso de co-creación de materiales educativos (Co-CrehAs) que tiene como objetivo mejorar la motivación de los alumnos con altas capacidades, donde no solo participan los propios alumnos, sino también sus profesores y familiares. A partir del proceso definido aquí, se ha desarrollado una plataforma de software (también llamada Co-CrehAs). Esta plataforma incluye AdapthAs; el modelo de adaptación que considera las numerosas variables para estos alumnos. Para desarrollar Co-CrehAs, se llevó a cabo un estudio de caso implementando cinco experiencias utilizando la metodología de Investigación basada en diseño (dbR). Los resultados de la prueba MSLQ-44 (Cuestionario de estrategias motivadas para el aprendizaje) mostraron que la autoeficacia, la autorregulación, el uso de estrategias cognitivas y los aspectos de valor intrínseco de la motivación mejoraron a lo largo de las experiencias. Se observó que los Co-CrehAs y el uso de AdapthAs ayudaron a los estudiantes de alta capacidad a concentrarse en la creación conjunta y el trabajo en grupo, ya que la "ansiedad de evaluación" disminuyó a medida que los estudiantes pasaban por las experiencias. Los resultados obtenidos permiten comprobar que la cocreación de materiales didácticos adaptados a las necesidades de los alumnos de alta capacidad les ayuda a mejorar su motivación global en el proceso de aprendizaj

Arquitectura de servicios adaptativos para un proceso de co-creación con estudiantes con altas capacidades

With the aim of motivating High Ability students in their learning process, we propose their participation in the co‑creation of their own learning material. However, their participation is not enough because the process should also be a personal experience adapted to students’ characteristics and context. For that purpose, we defined a learning material co‑creation process, called Co‑CreHAs, which guides the adaptation of co‑created material according to High Ability students’ learning needs. For said adaptation, we implemented AdaptHAs (i.e., the model used to adapt Co‑CreHAs). In this paper, we present the design and validation of the architecture of adaptive services of AdaptHAs. Such architecture design is based on the analysis of the characteristics of high abilities and the co‑creation process. This analysis allowed us to identify the kind of adaptation profiles that needed to be defined, participants’ aspects that would be worked on in each profile, and the parts of the process where we could use those profiles in order to personalize it. The architecture was validated through the analysis of three real co‑creation experiences with High Ability students, their parents, and their teachers using the Co-CreHAs extension for Moodle, which was developed applying said architecture. The results of this validation show that the architecture guides the adaptation of the co‑creation and the development of software that can be implemented to put into practice such co‑creation with the adaptive services previously defined. Furthermore, we observed that the proposed process and the implemented adaptation can influence High Ability students’ motivation to co-create their own learning material.Con el objetivo de ayudar a motivar a los estudiantes con altas capacidades en su proceso de aprendizaje, se propone que participen en la co-creación de su material educativo. Pero la participación no es suficiente, es importante hacer que esta se convierta en una experiencia personal y cercana a sus características y a su contexto. Para conseguirlo, se ha definido un proceso de co-creación de material educativo, denominado Co-CreHAs, en el que se orienta su adaptación de acuerdo a las necesidades del estudiante con altas capacidades. Esta adaptación se desarrolla en AdaptHAs, que es el módulo de adaptación de Co-CreHAs. En este artículo, se presentan el diseño y la validación de la arquitectura de los servicios adaptativos de AdaptHAs, de los cuales, el diseño se basa en el análisis de las características de las altas capacidades y del proceso de co-creación. Gracias a dicho análisis, se identificaron el tipo de perfiles de adaptación a definir, los aspectos de los participantes que se trabajarían en cada perfil y los momentos del proceso de co-creación en que se podrían usar los perfiles definidos para personalizarlo. Asimismo, la validación de la arquitectura se hace a través del análisis de tres experiencias de co-creación con estudiantes con altas capacidades, sus padres y sus profesores, para el cual se ha usado la extensión Co-CreHAs para Moodle, desarrollada en el marco de la arquitectura. Con base en dicha validación, se observó que la arquitectura propuesta es una guía para la adaptación de la co-creación y para el desarrollo de un software que permita llevarla a la práctica con los servicios adaptativos definidos. También se estima que el proceso propuesto y la adaptación implementada influyen en la motivación de los estudiantes con altas capacidades frente a la co-creación de su material educativo

Eicosapentaenoic acid/docosahexaenoic acid 1:1 ratio improves histological alterations in obese rats with metabolic syndrome

Background Marine polyunsaturated fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) have been associated with improvement in the Metabolic Syndrome (MS). The aim of this study is to evaluate how three fish-oil diets with different eicosapentaenoic acid/docosahexaenoic acid ratios (EPA/DHA ratio) affect the histology of liver, kidney, adipose tissue and aorta in a preliminary morphological study. This work uses an animal model of metabolic syndrome in comparison with healthy animals in order to provide information about the best EPA:DHA ratio to prevent or to improve metabolic syndrome symptoms. Methods 35 Wistar rats, as a control, and 35 spontaneously hypertensive obese rats (SHROB) were fed for 13 weeks with 3 different suplemmentation of fish oil containing EPA and DHA ratios (1:1, 2:1 and 1:2, respectively). All samples were stained with haematoxylin/eosin stain, except aorta samples, which were stained also with Verhoeff and van Gieson’s stain. A histological study was carried out to evaluate changes. These changes were statistically analyzed using SPSS IBM 19 software. The quantitative data were expressed by mean ± SD and were compared among groups and treatments using ANOVA with post-hoc tests for parametric data and the U-Mann–Whitney for non-parametric data. Qualitative data were expressed in frequencies, and compared with contingency tables using χ2 statistics. Results EPA:DHA 1:1 treatment tended to improve the density and the wrinkling of elastic layers in SHROB rats. Only Wistar rats fed with EPA:DHA 1:1 treatment did not show mast cells in adipose tissue and has less kidney atrophy. In both strains EPA:DHA 1:1 treatment improved inflammation related parameters in liver and kidney. Conclusions EPA:DHA 1:1 treatment was the most beneficial treatment since improved many histological parameters in both groups of rats.This investigation was supported, in part, by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Grants AGL2009-12374-C03-01,-02 and -03). EM acknowledges the Panamanian government (SENACYT / IFARHU) for her pre-doctoral fellowship. We thank URV’s Language Service for rewriting the English version of this paper. SUPPORTED BY: Proyectos de Investigación Fundamental, Ministerio Español de Ciencia e Innovación, Plan Nacional 2009.Referencia: AGL2009-12374-C03-01, -02 and -03.Peer Reviewe

Structural basis for selective recognition of acyl chains by the membrane-associated acyltransferase PatA

The biosynthesis of phospholipids and glycolipids are critical pathways for virtually all cell membranes. PatA is an essential membrane associated acyltransferase involved in the biosynthesis of mycobacterial phosphatidyl-myo-inositol mannosides (PIMs). The enzyme transfers a palmitoyl moiety from palmitoyl-CoA to the 6-position of the mannose ring linked to 2-position of inositol in PIM1/PIM2. We report here the crystal structures of PatA from Mycobacterium smegmatis in the presence of its naturally occurring acyl donor palmitate and a nonhydrolyzable palmitoyl-CoA analog. The structures reveal an alpha/beta architecture, with the acyl chain deeply buried into a hydrophobic pocket that runs perpendicular to a long groove where the active site is located. Enzyme catalysis is mediated by an unprecedented charge relay system, which markedly diverges from the canonical HX4D motif. Our studies establish the mechanistic basis of substrate/membrane recognition and catalysis for an important family of acyltransferases, providing exciting possibilities for inhibitor design.This work was supported by the European Commission Contract HEALTH-F3-2011-260872, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness Contract BIO2013-49022-C2-2-R, and the Basque Government (to M.E.G.); Slovak Research and Development Agency Contract No. DO7RP-0015-11 (to K.M.) and the NIH/NIAID grant AI064798 (to M.J.). D.A.-J. acknowledges the support from Fundacion Biofisica Bizkaia. We gratefully acknowledge Sonia Lopez-Fernandez (Unit of Biophysics, CSIC, UPV/EHU, Spain), Drs E. Ogando and T. Mercero (Scientific Computing Service UPV/EHU, Spain) for technical assistance. We thank the Swiss Light Source (SLS), and the Diamond Light Source (DLS) for granting access to synchrotron radiation facilities and their staff for the onsite assistance. We specially thank the BioStruct-X project to support access to structural biology facilities. We also acknowledge all members of the Structural Glycobiology Group (Spain) for valuable scientific discussions. The following reagent was obtained through BEI Resources, NIAID, NIH: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Strain H37Rv, Purified Phosphatidylinositol Mannosides 1 and 2 (PIM1,2), NR-14846

GeoServicios de AMB y migración a OpenStreetMap

Este documento resume el trabajo realizado por la Mancomunitat de Municipis de l’Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB) para la difusión por Internet de la información cartográfica que generan y la colaboración con la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) para migrar el callejero de los municipios que componen el AMB a formato OpenStreetMap (OSM). La difusión gratuita por Internet de la mayor parte, los más utilizados, de los productos que componen el catálogo de Cartografía de la MMAMB pretende facilitar a todos los interesados el acceso a esta infraestructura tan valiosa. Se ha desarrollado también una exportación de los datos que conforman la “Guia de carrers de l’AMB” a OSM. Los objetivos de esta exportación son: la evaluación de la cesión de datos públicos a OSM; el establecimiento de los protocolos necesarios para usar datos procedentes de OSM; la creación de un portal web usando la tecnología de OSM para que los diferentes municipios puedan realizar la edición distribuida de datos cartográficos de AMB; y el uso de herramientas libres para la renderización de mapas, tanto en tiempo real como diferido.Postprint (published version