Estrategias comunicativas y de intervención en adopción

Hablaremos sobre lo significa ser adoptado, qué efectos e implicaciones tiene sobre la identidad de las personas, preguntas y dudas que genera, y especialmente qué ideas pueden ser útiles para ayudar, orientar y entender las dificultades que pueden surgir en relación a la adopción. También repasaremos algunos de los mitos más extendidos acerca de lo que le ocurre al adoptado y a sus familias, y cuáles de esas ideas tienen algún tipo de soporte científico. Veremos cómo evoluciona y se transforma la comprensión del adoptado sobre la propia adopción, sobre los hechos que motivaron la separación de su familia biológica, y cuáles son las estrategias y herramientas que suelen usar para enfrentar estos dilemas. El objetivo principal es ofrecer al alumnado de Educación Social estrategias comunicativas y de intervención para trabajar con niños y niñas adoptados

Concepciones de los futuros profesores sobre enseñanza y aprendizaje de las matemáticas

Se aportan aspectos parciales de una investigación encaminada a describir la evolución de las concepciones y creencias de los futuros profesores de matemáticas de secundaria al cursar una asignatura de Didáctica de la Matemática. Se exploran las concepciones y creencias de los estudiantes para profesor mediante un cuestionario abierto que se aplica al inicio y al final de la asignatura. A través de un análisis de contenido se clasifican las respuestas. Se analiza e interpreta la evolución de los sujetos en función de la cantidad y calidad de las respuestas

Strategies for the analysis of large social media corpora: sampling and keyword extraction methods

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, social media platforms such as Twitter have been of great importance for users to exchange news, ideas, and perceptions. Researchers from fields such as discourse analysis and the social sciences have resorted to this content to explore public opinion and stance on this topic, and they have tried to gather information through the compilation of large-scale corpora. However, the size of such corpora is both an advantage and a drawback, as simple text retrieval techniques and tools may prove to be impractical or altogether incapable of handling such masses of data. This study provides methodological and practical cues on how to manage the contents of a large-scale social media corpus such as Chen et al. (JMIR Public Health Surveill 6(2):e19273, 2020) COVID-19 corpus. We compare and evaluate, in terms of efficiency and efficacy, available methods to handle such a large corpus. First, we compare different sample sizes to assess whether it is possible to achieve similar results despite the size difference and evaluate sampling methods following a specific data management approach to storing the original corpus. Second, we examine two keyword extraction methodologies commonly used to obtain a compact representation of the main subject and topics of a text: the traditional method used in corpus linguistics, which compares word frequencies using a reference corpus, and graph-based techniques as developed in Natural Language Processing tasks. The methods and strategies discussed in this study enable valuable quantitative and qualitative analyses of an otherwise intractable mass of social media data.Funding for open access publishing: Universidad de Málaga/CBUA. This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation [Grant No. PID2020-115310RB-I00], the Regional Govvernment of Andalusia [Grant No. UMA18-FEDERJA-158] and the Spanish Ministry of Education and Vocational Training [Grant No. FPU 19/04880]. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBU

Quorum sensing as a mechanism to harness the wisdom of the crowds

Bacteria release and sense small molecules called autoinducers in a process known as quorum sensing. The prevailing interpretation of quorum sensing is that by sensing autoinducer concentrations, bacteria estimate population density to regulate the expression of functions that are only beneficial when carried out by a sufficiently large number of cells. However, a major challenge to this interpretation is that the concentration of autoinducers strongly depends on the environment, often rendering autoinducer-based estimates of cell density unreliable. Here we propose an alternative interpretation of quorum sensing, where bacteria, by releasing and sensing autoinducers, harness social interactions to sense the environment as a collective. Using a computational model we show that this functionality can explain the evolution of quorum sensing and arises from individuals improving their estimation accuracy by pooling many imperfect estimates – analogous to the ‘wisdom of the crowds’ in decision theory. Importantly, our model reconciles the observed dependence of quorum sensing on both population density and the environment and explains why several quorum sensing systems regulate the production of private goods.</p

Andalusian university students’ perception of their European identity: international orientation and experiences

Multicultural European societies increasingly demand internationally oriented citizens, who are willing to actively participate in civic life and able to successfully access the labour market. The European dimension in education supposedly endows youngsters with civic values, multiculturalist attitudes and plurilingual competences which ultimately lead to raising awareness of their Europeanness. Formative years at university, pivotal to students’ individual life course and projects, are a decisive stage in the development of supranational, collective identity formation. Similarly, pan-European study programmes are aimed at inspiring a sense of European citizenship and identity, the most renowned of which within the Higher Education context is Erasmus+. By conducting focus group interviews, this paper probes Andalusian university students’ understanding of their European identity and verifies the causal dynamics between European identity-taking and foreign country sojourns, comparing the perceptions expressed by returnees to those by students who have not had the opportunity to participate in international study programmes (ISP) at higher education yet. Results evidence students’ apparent supranational orientation, general awareness of commonalities across Europe and utilitarian outlooks on the EU, although not a clear discernment of its institutions or a marked European identity.This study has been supported by the R + D project‘Musical aptitude, reading fluency and intercultural literacy of European university students” Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación ; (FFI2016-75452-R),funded by the Spanish MINISTERIO DE ECONOMÍA, INDUSTRIA Y COMPETITIVIDAD’.This study has been supported by the R + D project ‘Musical aptitude, readingfluency and intercultural literacy of European university students” Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación ; (FFI2016-75452-R), funded by the Spanish MINISTERIO DE ECONOMÍA, INDUSTRIA Y COMPETITIVIDA

Assessing RAP Multi-Recycling Capacity by the Characterization of Recovered Bitumen Using DSR

This paper addresses the changes in bitumen properties during multi-recycling cycles, both before and after ageing. The rheology of recovered bitumen was characterized using the dynamic shear rheometer. The softening point and penetration value were also determined. The analysis showed that the bitumen’s properties could be recovered even after more than one recycling cycle. The bitumen recovered from the second recycling cycle presented an average reduction of 45% in terms of complex modulus when compared with the first recycling cycle. The bitumen from the RAP mixtures presented a similar susceptibility to ageing. The analysis clearly showed that RAP has the potential to be multi-recycled.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology SFRH/BD/114715/201

Análisis de la sensibilidad del ensayo de resonancia por impacto como herramienta para determinar las propiedades elásticas de materiales bituminosos

The modulus value of bituminous materials is a key factor in the design of road pavements and the estimation of their life service. This parameter can be measured in laboratory but, unfortunately, this requires the deterioration of the pavement so as the consumption of time and resources. Therefore, this study analyses the feasibility of using impact resonance frequency tests as an alternative to traditional methods for determining the dynamic modulus of bituminous mixtures. The sensitivity of this technique has been studied by analyzing its repeatability and reproducibility, studying the variations in the values measured by modifying the dimensions of the specimens, test temperatures and types of mixture tested. In addition, this non-destructive technique has been compared with other traditional tests used to determine the elastic properties of bituminous materials. The results show that this test could be an interesting tool to characterize the properties and damage state of asphalt layers.El valor de módulo de los materiales bituminosos es un factor clave en el diseño de pavimentos y la estimación de su vida de servicio. Este parámetro puede ser medido en laboratorio pero, desafortunadamente, esto requiere deteriorar el pavimento así como el consumo de tiempo y recursos. Por ello, este estudio analiza la viabilidad de usar el ensayo de frecuencia de resonancia mediante impacto como alternativa a los métodos tradicionales para determinar el módulo dinámico de mezclas bituminosas. La sensibilidad de esta técnica se ha estudiado analizando su repetibilidad y reproducibilidad, estudiando variaciones en los valores medidos al modificar dimensiones de probetas, temperaturas y tipos de mezcla ensayados. Además, esta técnica no destructiva se ha comparado con otros ensayos tradicionales empleados para determinar propiedades elásticas de materiales bituminosos. Los resultados muestran este ensayo como una herramienta interesante para caracterizar las propiedades y estado de daño de las capas de asfalto

The use of Tik Tok in higher education as a motivating source for students

This article presents a study conducted at the University of Málaga with the participation of second-year students from the Degree in English Studies. It focuses on a Tik Tok project that the participants had to edit for the British History class in the academic year 2020/2021. The students’ reception of said project as an innovative learning tool, both as applied to English as a second language and to the content of the courses, was analysed and measured using a questionnaire that was elaborated ad hoc and properly validated. Our results indicate great success and acceptance of the activity on the part of the students, who consider that this innovative approach to learning being highly integrated with new technologies fosters the comprehension and active learning of the subject, thus enhancing comprehension in a stimulating and motivating way. Key words: Tik Tok, learning tool, innovative approach, new technologies, motivation.Este artículo describe un estudio llevado a cabo en la Universidad de Málaga en el Grado de Estudios Ingleses con alumnos del segundo curso en la asignatura Historia y Civilización de las Islas Británicas. En él se presenta un proyecto basado en Tik Tok que los alumnos tuvieron que realizar en la clase de Historia Británica durante el curso académico 2020/2021. Tras describir el proyecto mencionado anteriormente, se analizó y midió mediante un cuestionario, elaborado para este propósito y debidamente validado, la recepción que los estudiantes tuvieron de dicho proyecto como una herramienta integradora del proceso digital y a su vez motivadora, tanto dentro del contexto de la lengua inglesa como con el contenido de la asignatura de historia, dentro del ámbito de un aprendizaje integrado en contenidos y lengua. Los resultados obtenidos son muy positivos y muestran una gran aceptación por parte del alumnado, que considera que el aprendizaje compuesto por un alto componente digital motiva e implica a los alumnos de manera fructífera y efectiva, fomentando así el aprendizaje de una manera más significativa. Palabras clave: Tik Tok, herramienta de aprendizaje, enfoque innovador, nuevas tecnologías, motivación

Imaginarios culturales en la publicidad internacional: Cannes 1998-2002

In an increasingly globalized market economy advertising by international enterprises acquires alto a global nature in an attempt lo reach a wide multicultural audience from diverse cultural backgrounds. TV advertising resorts to a series of techniques in the depiction of cultural difference, such as simplification, stereotyping and comic effect, among others, with the aim of shocking the target audience into absorbing the commercial messages in question. Even though there seems to have appeared a line of advertising that holds a respectful attitude towards the elements of cultural difference, still there is a general lack of sensibility and concern towards certain cultures or collectives traditionally occupying a subaltern position. In conclusion, the nurturing of the audience’s prejudices is favoured lay multinational firms as the most effective means of selling their products, regardless of the possible distorted images that they may project

Study of Surfactant Additives for the Manufacture of Warm Mix Asphalt: From Laboratory Design to Asphalt Plant Manufacture

Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA), manufactured at a lower temperature than the traditional Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA), allows for important economic and environmental benefits when considered for application in roads. Nonetheless, despite the benefits, its application in pavement for roads is not as widespread as desired from an environmental point of view; more in-depth studies to investigate its development and wider applicability are required. Thus, the present paper aims to contribute to the implementation of this cleaner technology to produce WMA (based on chemical additives) for its application in pavement for roads, including from the stage of the design of the material in the laboratory (by selecting the most appropriate manufacturing temperature and additive type and dosage) to its production in a conventional industrial plant for its use in a trial section. Results demonstrate that it is possible to reduce the manufacturing temperature of asphalt mixtures by using chemical additives, recording similar mechanical behaviour (or even superior) to conventional hot mixtures when specific studies are developed for the optimal design of the WMA. It was also shown that these mixtures could be produced in a conventional asphalt plant without implementing important changes in equipment, which implies a cost-effective solution that can readily be incorporated into traditional plant procedures