Digital journalism competences. Systematic review of the scientific literature on new professional profiles of the journalist

El estudio emprende un análisis de la literatura científica que ha centrado su interés en la formación en nuevas tecnologías de los profesionales de la información. Con esa finalidad, el trabajo acota la revisión a 119 artículos indexados en las bases de datos Web of Science (54) y Scopus (65), entre 1998 y 2017. El objetivo del estudio es determinar cuáles son las competencias tecnológicas más demandadas por la industria, y cuáles son los valores inalterables del periodismo. La exploración del corpus especulativo determina el siguiente resultado: los profesionales, los empresarios y las audiencias concuerdan que la pervivencia de un periodismo de calidad depende de la integración del entorno tecnológico, el económico y el de los principios esenciales de la profesión. La discusión plantea un tema de fondo en los que investigadores debemos profundizar: cómo las universidades pueden contribuir a la mejorara el periodismo en esos tres aspectos. The study undertakes an analysis of the scientific literature that has focused its interest on the training in new technologies for information professionals. With this purpose, the work limits the review to 119 indexed articles in the Web of Science (54) and Scopus (65) from 1998 until 2017. The objective of the study is to identify what are the technological competences most demanded by the industry, and which are the inalterable values of journalism. An exploration of the speculative corpus determines the following result: the professionals, the businessmen and the audiences agree on the continuity of quality journalism depends on the integration of three environments: the technological, the economic and that of the fundamental principles of the profession. The argument raise a theme where researchers must deepen how the universities can contribute to the improvement of journalism in these three areas

Utilization of recycled polypropylene, cellulose and newsprint fibres for production of green composites

This work investigates the feasibility of using the recycled polypropylene (rPP), cellulose (CF) and newsprint (NP) fibres in polyolefin reinforced composites. Recycled PP filled with 40 wt.% of cellulose (rPP/CF) or newsprint (rPP/NP), with the addition of impact modifier (IM) and compatibilizing agent (CA), have been prepared with ex-trusion melting and injection moulding. Melting and crystallization behaviour of plain matrix and composites were measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Morphological and mechanical properties were also studied using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and tensile testing, respectively. Thermal stability of composites was similar to neat rPP for both types of the filler used. Though, the crystallinity was progressively decreased with the addition of CF or NP. The DSC further revealed an occurrence of the two distinct melting transitions, meaning that the examined materials were not based on pure polypropylene (PP), but are rather blends of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and PP, what has been confirmed also by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The largest single source of contaminations in recycled PP comes from HDPE since both polymers are identified by a similar density and can be accidentally mixed during the conventional physical separation process. Composites reinforced with CF have shown better mechanical performances than those based on reclaimed NP fibres, what can be attributed to the initial fibre quality. Tensile strength of the composites filled with CF and NP fibres was 36 MPa and 29 MPa, respectively, in disparity to 23 MPa measured for neat rPP. The fibre addition further resulted in substantial increase in Young modulus of the composites. The addition of CF and NP fibres lead to an improved modulus of elasticity by 16 and 47%, respectively. Waste paper in the form of recovered cellulose or reclaimed newsprint fibre can thus meet all the technical requirements to become an alternative to inor-ganic fillers in thermoplastic composites

Quantification of the influence of the C, Cr and P contents on the permeability of hydrogen through Fe alloys

[EN] Ferritic-martensitic steels are candidate materials for blanket structural components of future thermonuclear fusion reactors. However, the tritium inventory that can be retained in different components of the reactor and its ability to migrate through the walls of any material may affect the correct operation of any fusion device. Therefore, the permeability of hydrogen isotopes through ferritic-martensitic steels, which depends on its metallurgical composition, becomes a key issue. The European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA) supplied 9 Fe alloys with controlled chemical alloying element contents and microstructure. The main alloying elements were C, Cr and P and they appeared in various concentrations in the 9 alloys. They were experimentally analyzed by means of the gas evolution permeation technique with temperatures ranging from 423 K to 823 K and for high purity hydrogen loading pressures ranging from 5.0 x 102 Pa to 1.5 x 105 Pa. The transport regime turned out to be diffusive and it was studied in depth, so that the permeability of each alloy was characterized by an Arrhenius-type regression for the aforementioned temperature range. This work summarizes all the experimental measurements carried out for the permeability of hydrogen through the 9 alloys. It provides a quantification of the influence of the composition of the alloy on this transport parameter, posing different mathematical expressions for the variation of the permeability as a function of the contents of C, Cr and P.This work has been carried out in the framework of research projects funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MEC08/98) , the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU-EHU08-34) and the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA MAT-REMEV) . The authors would also like to thank the FEMaS Coordinated Action project for the support in knowledge exchange among different research groups and Pilar Fernandez from CIEMAT for the preparation of the tested samples

Clima escolar y percepciones del profesorado tras la implementación de un programa de convivencia escolar

En este estudio se evalúa la percepción del clima escolar de dos grupos de profesores de dos centros educativos. El primer grupo (grupo experimental) ha implantado un programa de convivencia escolar, el otro (grupo de control) no. En esta investigación participaron 48 profesores que cumplimentaron la Escala de Percepción del Clima y del Funcionamiento del Centro (24 del centro experimental y 24 del centro que sirvió como grupo de control). Se encontraron diferencias estadísticamente significativas a favor del centro experimental en diferentes ítems de la escala, así como en dos de los seis factores evaluados. En líneas generales, los docentes perciben un mejor clima y un mejor funcionamiento en el centro experimental.The aim of this work was to assess the perceptions about school climate in two groups of teachers from two different primary schools. The first group (experimental group) has implemented a program of school coexistence, the other (control group) did not. This research involved 48 teachers who completed the Perception Scale Climate (24 from experimental center and 24 from control group). Statistically significant differences were found in favor of experimental center. Differences between the experimental center and control group were found in different scale items, as well as in two of the six evaluated factors. In general, teachers from the experimental group perceived better school climate than teachers from control group

Encapsulation of Lactobacillus plantarum in casein-chitosan microparticles facilitates the arrival to the colon and develops an immunomodulatory effect

The current work describes the capability of casein-chitosan microparticles to encapsulate Lactobacillus plantarum (CECT 220 and WCFS1 strains) and evaluates their ability to target the distal areas of the gut and to stimulate the immune system. Microparticles were prepared by complex coacervation, between sodium caseinate and chitosan in an aqueous suspension of the bacteria, and dried by spray-drying. In order to increase the survival rate of the loaded bacteria, microparticles were cross-linked with one of the following cross-linkers: tripolyphosphate, calcium salts or vanillin. Overall, microparticles displayed a mean size of about 7.5 μm with a bacteria loading of about 11 Log CFU/g, when cross-linked with vanillin (MP-LP-V). For conventional microparticles, the payload was 10.12 Log CFU/g. The storage stability study at 25 ◦C/60% RH, MP-LP-V offered the highest degree of protection without signif- icant modification of the payload in 260 days. Compared with control (aqueous suspension of bacteria), MP-LP-V also displayed a significantly higher degree of protection against probiotic inactivation in simulated gastric and intestinal fluids. In vivo results evidenced that microparticles, orally administered to rats, were able to reach the distal ileum and colon in about 4 h post-administration. Additionally, the effect of the daily administration of 107 CFU/mouse of MP-LP-V, for 3 weeks, induced an immunomodulatory effect characterized by an important enhancement of Th1 and Th17 responses. In conclusion, these microparticles seem to be a promising strategy for increasing survival and efficacy of probiotics, allowing the formulation of cost-effective and more stable and effective probiotic-based nutraceuticals

Current challenges of research on filamentous fungi in relation to human welfare and a sustainable bio-economy: a white paper.

The EUROFUNG network is a virtual centre of multidisciplinary expertise in the field of fungal biotechnology. The first academic-industry Think Tank was hosted by EUROFUNG to summarise the state of the art and future challenges in fungal biology and biotechnology in the coming decade. Currently, fungal cell factories are important for bulk manufacturing of organic acids, proteins, enzymes, secondary metabolites and active pharmaceutical ingredients in white and red biotechnology. In contrast, fungal pathogens of humans kill more people than malaria or tuberculosis. Fungi are significantly impacting on global food security, damaging global crop production, causing disease in domesticated animals, and spoiling an estimated 10 % of harvested crops. A number of challenges now need to be addressed to improve our strategies to control fungal pathogenicity and to optimise the use of fungi as sources for novel compounds and as cell factories for large scale manufacture of bio-based products. This white paper reports on the discussions of the Think Tank meeting and the suggestions made for moving fungal bio(techno)logy forward

Casein nanoparticles as carriers for the oral delivery of folic acid

Alimentary proteins can be viewed as an adequate material for the preparation of nanoparticles and microparticles. They offer several advantages such as their digestibility, price and a good capability to interact with a wide variety of compounds and nutrients. The aim of this work was to prepare and characterize casein nanoparticles for the oral delivery of folic acid. These nanoparticles were prepared by a coacervation process, stabilized with either lysine or arginine and, finally, dried by spray‐drying. For some batches, the effect of a supplementary treatment of nanoparticles (before drying) with hydrodynamic high pressure on the properties of the resulting carriers was also evaluated. The resulting nanoparticles displayed a mean size close to 150 nm and a folic acid content of around 25 mg per mg nanoparticle. From the in vitro release studies, it was observed that casein nanoparticles acted as gastro‐resistant devices and, thus, folic acid was only released under simulated intestinal conditions. For the pharmacokinetic study, folic acid was orally administered to laboratory animals as a single dose of 1 mg/kg. Animals treated with folic acidloaded casein nanoparticles displayed significantly higher serum levels than those observed in animals receiving an aqueous solution of the vitamin. As a consequence the oral bioavailability of folic acid when administered in casein nanoparticles was calculated to be around 52%, a 50% higher than with the traditional aqueous solution. Unfortunately, the treatment of casein nanoparticles by hydrodynamic high pressure modified neither the release profile of the vitamin nor its oral bioavailability

Family Size Evolution in Drosophila Chemosensory Gene Families: A Comparative Analysis with a Critical Appraisal of Methods

Gene turnover rates and the evolution of gene family sizes are important aspects of genome evolution. Here, we use curated sequence data of the major chemosensory gene families from Drosophila-the gustatory receptor, odorant receptor, ionotropic receptor, and odorant-binding protein families-to conduct a comparative analysis among families, exploring different methods to estimate gene birth and death rates, including an ad hoc simulation study. Remarkably, we found that the state-of-the-art methods may produce very different rate estimates, which may lead to disparate conclusions regarding the evolution of chemosensory gene family sizes in Drosophila. Among biological factors, we found that a peculiarity of D. sechellia's gene turnover rates was a major source of bias in global estimates, whereas gene conversion had negligible effects for the families analyzed herein. Turnover rates vary considerably among families, subfamilies, and ortholog groups although all analyzed families were quite dynamic in terms of gene turnover. Computer simulations showed that the methods that use ortholog group information appear to be the most accurate for the Drosophila chemosensory families. Most importantly, these results reveal the potential of rate heterogeneity among lineages to severely bias some turnover rate estimation methods and the need of further evaluating the performance of these methods in a more diverse sampling of gene families and phylogenetic contexts. Using branch-specific codon substitution models, we find further evidence of positive selection in recently duplicated genes, which attests to a nonneutral aspect of the gene birth-and-death process

Sequencing of \u3ci\u3eAspergillus nidulans\u3c/i\u3e and comparative analysis with \u3ci\u3eA. fumigatus\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eA. oryzae\u3c/i\u3e

The aspergilli comprise a diverse group of filamentous fungi spanning over 200 million years of evolution. Here we report the genome sequence of the model organism Aspergillus nidulans, and a comparative study with Aspergillus fumigatus, a serious human pathogen, and Aspergillus oryzae, used in the production of sake, miso, and soy sauce. Our analysis of genome structure provided a quantitative evaluation of forces driving long-term eukaryotic genome evolution. It also led to an experimentally validated model of mating-type locus evolution, suggesting the potential for sexual reproduction in A. fumigatus and A. oryzae. Our analysis of sequence conservation revealed over 5,000 non-coding regions actively conserved across all three species. Within these regions, we identified potential functional elements including a previously uncharacterized TPP riboswitch and motifs suggesting regulation in filamentous fungi by Puf family genes. We further obtained comparative and experimental evidence indicating widespread translational regulation by upstream open reading frames. These results enhance our understanding of these widely studied fungi as well as provide new insight into eukaryotic genome evolution and gene regulation. Document includes all supplementary information (820 pages). Supplementary files are also attached below as Related files. THERE IS NO SUPPLEMENTARY FILE #7. PDF file size (with supplementary files included) is 10 Mbytes. An optimized version of the ARTICLE ONLY is attached as a Related File and is 1.9 Mbytes

Sequencing of \u3ci\u3eAspergillus nidulans\u3c/i\u3e and comparative analysis with \u3ci\u3eA. fumigatus\u3c/i\u3e and \u3ci\u3eA. oryzae\u3c/i\u3e

The aspergilli comprise a diverse group of filamentous fungi spanning over 200 million years of evolution. Here we report the genome sequence of the model organism Aspergillus nidulans, and a comparative study with Aspergillus fumigatus, a serious human pathogen, and Aspergillus oryzae, used in the production of sake, miso, and soy sauce. Our analysis of genome structure provided a quantitative evaluation of forces driving long-term eukaryotic genome evolution. It also led to an experimentally validated model of mating-type locus evolution, suggesting the potential for sexual reproduction in A. fumigatus and A. oryzae. Our analysis of sequence conservation revealed over 5,000 non-coding regions actively conserved across all three species. Within these regions, we identified potential functional elements including a previously uncharacterized TPP riboswitch and motifs suggesting regulation in filamentous fungi by Puf family genes. We further obtained comparative and experimental evidence indicating widespread translational regulation by upstream open reading frames. These results enhance our understanding of these widely studied fungi as well as provide new insight into eukaryotic genome evolution and gene regulation. Document includes all supplementary information (820 pages). Supplementary files are also attached below as Related files. THERE IS NO SUPPLEMENTARY FILE #7. PDF file size (with supplementary files included) is 10 Mbytes. An optimized version of the ARTICLE ONLY is attached as a Related File and is 1.9 Mbytes