Effect of a science communication event on students’ attitudes towards science and technology

Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Traducció del testament de Charles Robert Darwin

Curs 2013-2014L’objectiu principal d’aquest treball és assumir el que podria ser un encàrrec real d’un text jurídic. Així que, en aquest treball es tradueix un testament. Els testaments són documents a través dels quals una persona disposa els seus béns per tal que després de la seva mort una altra se’n faci càrrec. El testament escollit ha estat el de Charles Robert Darwin, que va morir el 19 d’abril de 1882 a Down, en el comptat de Kent, Anglaterra, on hi visqué 40 anys, des del 1842 fins la seva mort. Aquest testament té unes particularitats concretes, ja que fa uns 190 anys que es va firmar. El dret successori anglès, regit per la Llei de successions de protecció de la família i tuïció de 1975 és molt diferent del dret successori català. Així doncs, coneixerem les diferències entre el dret successori català i l’anglès. També, veurem tots passos que han estat necessaris per portar a terme aquest treball.The main aim of this paper is to assume what could be a real translation assignment. In this case, I am translating a will. A will is a legal document in which a person states who should receive his or her possessions after he or she dies. This is the Charles Robert Darwin’s will, who died on 19 April 1882 at Down, in the County of Kent, England. He lived in Down House for 40 years, since 1842 to his decease. This will has particular features because of it was signed 190 ago. The source text is ruled by the Provisions for Family and Dependants Act 1975, but the Catalan rules are so different. It would be interesting to see the distinctions between these two worlds. Finally, we will see the all the steeps I have followed to translate this particular will

EXPLORA: una acció per apropar la ciència i la tecnologia al professorat de Secundària

L'Exploratori dels Recursos de la Natura és un projecte que ofereix activitats amb un eix vertebrador comú: l'aprofitament dels recursos de la natura. Entre les activitats que organitza, cal destacar els cursos EXPLORA, una acció adreçada al col·lectiu de professors d'ESO i Batxillerat amb la finalitat d'apropar la ciència i la tecnologia a l'alumnat de Secundària i fomentar vocacions cientificotècniques.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

FÒRUM de joves talents: un escenari no formal d’ensenyament/aprenentatge

Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Construcción del Cuestionario de Desarrollo Emocional de Adultos (QDE-A).

El propósito de este trabajo es presentar la construcción y aplicación del Questionari de Desarrollo Emocional para Adultos (QDE-A). Se trata de la versión catalana del Cuestionario de Desarrollo Emocional para Adultos (CDE-A). Los instrumentos disponibles para la medición de la competencia emocional son escasos y todos ellos sujetos a criticas centradas fundamentalmente en la falta de un marco teórico claro y de fundamentos empíricos firmes (Pérez, Petrides y Furnham, 2005). El QDE-A, se enmarca en la línea de investigación sobre educación emocional del GROP (Grupo de Investigación en Orientación Psicopedagógica). Se trata de un cuestionario de autoinforme basado en el marco teórico de la educación emocional desarrollado por el GROP (Bisquerra, 2000 y 2007) según el cual la competencia emocional se compone de cinco dimensiones: conciencia emocional, regulación emocional, autonomía emocional competencias sociales y competencias para la vida y el bienestar. El QDE-A ofrece una puntuación global y otra para cada una de estas dimensiones. En este artículo se expone el proceso de elaboración para llegar a la versión definitiva que en su forma extensa consiste en una escala que dispone de 48 ítems. Los datos se basan en una muestra de 1537 adultos. La fiabilidad medida por el alfa de Cronbach es de 0,92, para la escala completa y superior a 0.70 para cada una de las dimensiones. La correlación entre cada una de las dimensiones y la puntuación total es significativa en todos los casos con un nivel de p<0.01. El QDE-A responde a la necesidad de disponer de un instrumento riguroso, adaptado a la población catalana, que permite evaluar el nivel de competencia emocional en adultos y fundamentar las intervenciones en educación emocional

Does knowing the influenza epidèmic threshold has been reached influence the performance of influenza case definitions?

Background: Disease surveillance using adequate case definitions is very important. The objective of the study was to compare the performance of influenza case definitions and influenza symptoms in the first two epidemic weeks with respect to other epidemic weeks. Methods: We analysed cases of acute respiratory infection detected by the network of sentinel primary care physicians of Catalonia for 10 seasons. We calculated the diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the first two epidemic weeks and for other epidemic weeks. Results: A total of 4,338 samples were collected in the epidemic weeks, of which 2,446 (56.4%) were positive for influenza. The most predictive case definition for laboratory-confirmed influenza was the WHO case definition for influenza-like illness (ILI) in the first two epidemic weeks (DOR 2.10; 95% CI 1.57-2.81) and in other epidemic weeks (DOR 2.31; 95% CI 1.96-2.72). The most predictive symptom was fever. After knowing that epidemic threshold had been reached, the DOR of the ILI WHO case definition in children aged <5 years and cough and fever in this group increased (190%, 170% and 213%, respectively). Conclusions: During influenza epidemics, differences in the performance of the case definition and the discriminative ability of symptoms were found according to whether it was known that the epidemic threshold had been reached or not. This suggests that sentinel physicians are stricter in selecting samples to send to the laboratory from patients who present symptoms more specific to influenza after rather than before an influenza epidemic has been declared

Geographical differences in wooping cough in Catalonia, Spain, from 1990 to 2010

BACKGROUND: Whooping cough is a communicable disease whose incidence has increased in recent years in some countries with vaccination. Since 1981, in Catalonia (Spain), cases must be reported to the Public Health Department. In 1997, surveillance changed from aggregated counts to individual report and the surveillance system was improved after 2002. Catalan public health is universal with equal coverage geographically. The aim of this study was to determine whether there are differences in whooping cough incidence in rural and urban counties. METHODS: Cases in 1990-2010 were classified as rural or urban. Incidences and risk ratios (RR) between urban and rural counties and 95% CI were calculated. Associations between rural and urban counties and structural changes during the study period were analysed. RESULTS: Twelve years of the whole study period showed differences in incidence between rural and urban counties. The incidence was higher in urban counties in seven years and rural counties in five years. There was a positive association of whooping cough incidence in rural and urban counties in four-week periods. Structural changes were detected in the following four-week periods: 4th in 1993, 7th in 1996 and 3rd 2005 in rural counties and 5th 1993, 9th in 1996 and 8th in 2007 in urban counties. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in whooping cough between rural and urban counties were found. In most years, the incidence was higher in urban than in rural counties. Rural and urban counties show similar cyclic behaviour when four-week periods were considered

Hospital-acquired influenza infections detected by a surveillance system over six seasons, from 2010/2011 to 2015/2016

Background: In addition to outbreaks of nosocomial influenza, sporadic nosocomial influenza infections also occur but are generally not reported in the literature. This study aimed to determine the epidemiologic characteristics of cases of nosocomial influenza compared with the remaining severe cases of severe influenza in acute hospitals in Catalonia (Spain) which were identified by surveillance. Methods: An observational case-case epidemiological study was carried out in patients aged ≥18 years from Catalan 12 hospitals between 2010 and 2016. For each laboratory-confirmed influenza case (nosocomial or not) we collected demographic, virological and clinical characteristics. We defined patients with nosocomial influenza as those admitted to a hospital for a reason other than acute respiratory infection in whom ILI symptoms developed ≥48 h after admission and influenza virus infection was confirmed using RT-PCR. Mixed-effects regression was used to estimate the crude and adjusted OR. Results: One thousand seven hundred twenty-two hospitalized patients with severe laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infection were included: 96 (5.6%) were classified as nosocomial influenza and more frequently had > 14 days of hospital stay (42.7% vs. 27.7%, P < .001) and higher mortality (18.8% vs. 12.6%, P < .02). The variables associated with nosocomial influenza cases in acute-care hospital settings were chronic renal disease (aOR 2.44 95% CI 1.44-4.15) and immunodeficiency (aOR 1.79 95% CI 1.04-3.06). Conclusions: Nosocomial infections are a recurring problem associated with high rates of chronic diseases and death. These findings underline the need for adherence to infection control guidelines