Motivación, desmotivación, sobremotivación y daños colaterales

En los últimos años han aparecido múltiples propuestas orientadas a hacer el aprendizaje más atractivo para los alumnos; desde el ya clásico Aprendizaje Basado en Problemas, incluyendo el Scenario Centered Curriculum, hasta los innovadores planteamientos pedagógicos basados en la gamificación. Todas estas aportaciones, aparte de mejorar la calidad de la enseñanza, persiguen un denominador común: despertar la motivación en el alumnado para el aprendizaje. Estas medologías han contribuido a mejorar sustancialmente los resultados específicos de las asignaturas en las que se han aplicado. Sin embargo, dado que las capacidades y la disponibilidad de los alumnos y alumnas no son ilimitadas, el hecho de hacer una asignatura más atractiva para el aprendizaje podría conducirles a reducir su grado de implicación en otras materias del mismo curso. De hecho, pocas son las veces en las que se hace un análisis de los efectos que puede tener el hecho de (sobre)estimular la motivación en una determinada asignatura sobre el resto de asignaturas. Así, el propósito de este artículo es invitar a la reflexión acerca de los daños colaterales que pueden aparecen como resultado de sobremotivar a los alumnos en una asignatura determinada. Concretamente, se realiza un análisis en tres asignaturas del Grado en Informática en las cuales se han aplicado estas nuevas estrategias pedagógicas. El resultado de dicho análisis sugiere que estas nuevas metodologías docentes deben aplicarse de manera transversal en todas las asignaturas de un mismo curso con el fin de obtener un nivel de motivación uniforme y una mejora evidente en la asimilación de los contenidos de todo el plan de estudios.SUMMARY -- In the recent years, several strategies have been proposed to boost the students learning effectiveness; from the already established Project Based Learning, including its variant Scenario Centered Curriculum, to innovative educational approaches based in appealing concepts such as gamification. Besides improving the teaching quality, all these proposals are actually committed to pursue another important goal: stimulate motivation towards learning. According to the latest contributions, such appealing proposals have considerably contributed to enhance the specific academic results of those subjects in which they have been applied. However, as students capabilities and availability are not unlimited, making a subject more appealing could drive them to reduce their involvement in other subjects of the same course. In fact, no broader analyses are often conducted to measure the consequences of (over)stimulating students on a specific subject. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the side effects from overstimulating students on a given scenario through new teaching methodologies. More specifically, such discussion is based on analysis conducted over three subjects of the Computing Engineering degree in which these new teaching methodologies are being applied. Presented results encourage practitioners to apply these new teaching techniques horizontally to all subjects in the same course—rather than focusing on a specific one—and, thus, drive students to reach an uniform motivation degree over all subjects to gain the same amount of knowledge from every matter.Peer Reviewe

User's experience in the visualization of architectural images in different environments

The visualization of images, both photographic and infographic, is a process that depends on a series of features that define the user (user profile: age, sex, culture or experience, etc.), the visual message (type of image, resolution, content, quality, etc.), and the display (size, resolution, type of screen immersive or not, etc.). When we can determine how the tree features relate, the communicative messages based on visual aspects will be more efficient for both the user and the technological output. The main objective of the research work presented in this paper is to determine whether differences in the visualization (immersive or not) of specific types of images (real and virtual) related to the architecture framework, differ depending on the gender of the user. The reflection of the existence of such differences in the future will allow us to define the characteristics of the image and the medium, and maximize the emotional communication of architectural ideas, depending on the type of user.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Códigos QR aplicados a la visualización de elementos arquitectónicos

Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Aplicación docente de Realidad Aumentada en cursos universitarios de representación de proyectos de Arquitectura

Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Intrasession and Intersession Repeatability of a new PCT-200 Corneal Topographer on Calibrated Steel Surfaces and Healthy Eyes

PURPOSE: To assess intrasession and intersession repeatability of a new tilted-cone, Placido-disc based corneal topographer (PCT-200, Optopol Tech., Poland) on calibrated steel surfaces and healthy human eyes. METHODS: Five repeated measures of surface topography were obtained on a set of four different calibrated steel spherical surfaces and on a sample 30 healthy human eyes in each of two sessions. Variance of apical radius, eccentricity and Fourier Indices was assessed both within and between sessions using analysis of variance (ANOVA), paired samples t-test and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). RESULTS: Repeated measurements on calibrated steel surfaces and human eye sample of all parameters were not significantly different within session (ANOVA) nor between sessions (paired samples t-test), p-values exceeded greatly 0.05 in all cases. ICCs were greater than 0.98 and 0.77 for steel surfaces and human eyes, respectively, for all parameters analysed. CONCLUSIONS: The new tilted-cone corneal topographer performs well in both spherical surfaces and healthy human eyes, providing with repeatable measures of corneal topography, comparable to other Placido-based devices currently in the market

Performance of the QuantiFERON-Cytomegalovirus (CMV) Assay for Detection and Estimation of the Magnitude and Functionality of the CMV-Specific Gamma Interferon-Producing CD8+ T-Cell Response in Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients

The performance of the QuantiFERON-cytomegalovirus (CMV) assay was compared to that of a flow cytometry intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) method for the detection of CMV-specific gamma interferon (IFN-γ)-producing CD8+ T-cell responses in allogeneic stem cell transplant (allo-SCT) recipients and for estimations of their magnitude and functionality. A total of 90 whole-blood specimens from 23 allo-SCT recipients was analyzed by both methods. Overall, the percentage of specimens that yielded concordant results by both methods was 68.8% (κ = 0.691; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.548 to 0.835), and the sensitivity of the QuantiFERON-CMV assay for the detection of positive IFN-γ T-cell responses (>0.2 IU/ml), taking the ICS method as the reference, was 76.3%. The magnitude of IFN-γ-producing CD8+ T-cell responses to CMV-specific peptides measured with the QuantiFERON-CMV assay correlated significantly (σ = 0.695; P = 0.001]) CMV-specific CD8+ T-cell responses, as quantitated by ICS. In summary, the data indicated that the QuantiFERON-CMV assay is less sensitive than the ICS method for the detection of CMV-specific IFN-γ-producing CD8+ T-cell responses in the allo-SCT setting. Nevertheless, it allowed the estimation of the total and polyfunctional CMV-specific IFN-γ-producing CD8+ T-cell responses in specimens that tested positive by both methods

Motivación, desmotivación, sobremotivación y daños colaterales

En los últimos años han aparecido múltiples propuestas orientadas a hacer el aprendizaje más atractivo para los alumnos; desde el ya clásico Aprendizaje Basado en Problemas, incluyendo el Scenario Centered Curriculum, hasta los innovadores planteamientos pedagógicos basados en la gamificación. Todas estas aportaciones, aparte de mejorar la calidad de la enseñanza, persiguen un denominador común: despertar la motivación en el alumnado para el aprendizaje. Estas metodologías han contribuido a mejorar sustancialmente los resultados específicos de las asignaturas en las que se han aplicado. Sin embargo, dado que las capacidades y la disponibilidad de los alumnos y alumnas no son ilimitadas, el hecho de hacer una asignatura más atractiva para el aprendizaje podría conducirles a reducir su grado de implicación en otras materias del mismo curso. De hecho, pocas son las veces en las que se hace un análisis de los efectos que puede tener el hecho de (sobre)estimular la motivación en una determinada asignatura sobre el resto de asignaturas. Así, el propósito de este artículo es invitar a la reflexión acerca de los daños colaterales que pueden aparecen como resultado de sobremotivar a los alumnos en una asignatura determinada. Concretamente, se realiza un análisis en tres asignaturas del Grado en Informática en las cuales se han aplicado estas nuevas estrategias pedagógicas. El resultado de dicho análisis sugiere que estas nuevas metodologías docentes deben aplicarse de manera transversal en todas las asignaturas de un mismo curso con el fin de obtener un nivel de motivación uniforme y una mejora evidente en la asimilación de los contenidos de todo el plan de estudios.In the recent years, several strategies have been proposed to boost the students learning effectiveness; from the already established Project Based Learning, including its variant Scenario Centered Curriculum, to innovative educational approaches based in appealing concepts such as gamification. Besides improving the teaching quality, all these proposals are actually committed to pursue another important goal: stimulate motivation towards learning. According to the latest contributions, such appealing proposals have considerably contributed to enhance the specific academic results of those subjects in which they have been applied. However, as students capabilities and availability are not unlimited, making a subject more appealing could drive them to reduce their involvement in other subjects of the same course. In fact, no broader analyses are often conducted to measure the consequences of (over)stimulating students on a specific subject. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the side effects from overstimulating students on a given scenario through new teaching methodologies. More specifically, such discussion is based on analysis conducted over three subjects of the Computing Engineering degree in which these new teaching methodologies are being applied. Presented results encourage practitioners to apply these new teaching techniques horizontally to all subjects in the same course—rather than focusing on a specific one—and, thus, drive students to reach an uniform motivation degree over all subjects to gain the same amount of knowledge from every matter

SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and COVID-19 severity

Background: The involvement of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in mediating immunopathogenetic events in COVID-19 patients has been suggested. By using several experimental approaches, we investigated the potential association between SARS-CoV-2 IgGs recognizing the spike (S) protein receptor-binding domain (RBD), neutralizing antibodies (NtAb) targeting S, and COVID-19 severity. Patients and Methods: This unicenter, retrospective, observational study included 51 hospitalized patients (24 at the intensive care unit; ICU). A total of 93 sera from these patients collected at different time points from the onset of symptoms were analyzed. SARS-CoV-2 RBD IgGs were quantitated by ELISA and NtAb50 titers were measured in a GFP reporter-based pseudotyped virus platform. Demographic and clinical data, complete blood counts, as well as serum levels of ferritin, Dimer-D, C reactive protein (CRP), lactose dehydrogenase (LDH), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were retrieved from clinical charts. Results: The overall correlation between levels of both antibody measurements was good (Rho=0.79; P=00.1). The percentage of patients who exhibited high NtAb50 titers (≥160) was similar (P=0.20) in ICU (79%) and non-ICU (60%) patients. Four ICU patients died; two of these achieved NtAb50 titers ≥1/160 while the other two exhibited a 1/80 titer. Very weak (Rho=>0.0-0.2-<0.4) correlations were observed between anti-RBD IgGs, NtAb50, and serum levels pro-inflammatory biomarkers. Conclusions: The data presented herein do not support an association between SARS-CoV-2 RBD IgG or NtAb50 levels and COVID-19 severityThis work was supported by a grant from the Generalitat Valenciana (Covid_19-SCI) to RG, and a grant by Valencian Government grant DIFEDER/2018/056 to JRD.N

Parâmetros hematológicos de tilápias-do-Nilo (Oreochromis niloticus) alimentadas com diferentes fontes de óleo

Objetivou-se avaliar a influência das fontes de óleo da dieta sobre os parâmetros hematológicos de tilápias-do-Nilo (Oreochromis niloticus). Foram utilizados 112 juvenis, com peso médio inicial de 50±12g, distribuídos em 16 caixas com capacidade total de 100L cada, num delineamento inteiramente casualizado com quatro tratamentos e quatro repetições, contendo sete peixes por repetição. Os tratamentos eram constituídos por: tratamento um - óleo de soja; tratamento dois - óleo de peixe; tratamento três - óleo de linhaça; tratamento quatro - óleo de oliva. As rações eram semipurificadas, isoproteicas (32% de proteína bruta) e isocalóricas (3200 kcal de energia bruta/kg de ração). Não houve diferença (P>0,05) entre os tratamentos quanto ao número e diferenciação de leucócitos, número de eritrócitos totais e níveis de hemoglobina. Os peixes do tratamento um apresentaram níveis superiores de hematócrito (P0.05). Fish from treatment one presented higher hematocrit rates compared with treatment two and treatment three (P<0.05). The highest level of mean corpuscular volume was observed in fish from treatment four (P<0.05). Fish from treatment three showed higher levels of mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration compared with treatment four (P<0.05). Dietary lipid sources can influence the hematological parameters of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). It was observed a trend of increased erythropoiesis in Nile tilapia fed diets with high levels of ω-6 series fatty acid. Dietary oils were not able to change the total number of erythrocytes and white blood cells in Nile tilapia

On the origin of the stellar halo and multiple stellar populations in the globular cluster NGC 1851

We propose that the observed stellar halo around the globular cluster (GC) NGC 1851 is evidence for its formation in the central region of its defunct host dwarf galaxy. We numerically investigate the long-term dynamical evolution of a nucleated dwarf galaxy embedded in a massive dark matter halo under the strong tidal field of the Galaxy. The dwarf galaxy is assumed to have a stellar nucleus (or a nuclear star cluster) that could be the progenitor for NGC 1851. We find that although the dark matter halo and the stellar envelope of the host dwarf of NGC 1851 can be almost completely stripped during its orbital evolution around the Galaxy, a minor fraction of stars in the dwarf can remain trapped by the gravitational field of the nucleus. The stripped nucleus can be observed as NGC 1851 with no/little dark matter whereas stars around the nucleus can be observed as a diffuse stellar halo around NGC 1851. The simulated stellar halo has a symmetric distribution with a power-law density slope of ~ -2 and shows no tidal tails within ~200pc from NGC 1851. We show that two GCs can merge with each other to form a new nuclear GC embedded in field stars owing to the low stellar velocity dispersion of the host dwarf. This result makes no assumption on the ages and/or chemical abundances of the two merging GCs. Thus the observed stellar halo and characteristic multiple stellar populations in NGC 1851 suggest that NGC 1851 could have formed initially in the central region of an ancient dwarf galaxy.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, accepted in MNRA