Lectura de pseudopalabras en árabe y español

El objetivo de este estudio consiste en analizar las diferencias entre la lectura de palabras en alumnos ecuatorianos y argelinos en Educación Primaria. La muestra está formada por un grupo de 128 alumnos de una escuela de Ecuador y por otro grupo de 113 alumnos de una escuela de Argel, pertenecientes a una clase social media y sin necesidades educativas especiales. Los participantes fueron evaluados en lectura de pseudopalabras en primero y segundo curso de Educación Primaria. Las palabras utilizadas en español fueron adaptadas al árabe, teniendo en cuenta la longitud y frecuencia de cada una de ellas en esta lengua. Se llevó a cabo un diseño factorial mixto 2x2, donde el factor intersujeto fue el tipo de lengua según la consistencia ortográfica (transparente y opaca) y el factor intrasujeto el nivel educativo (primero y segundo curso de educación primaria). Los resultados del ANOVA de medidas repetidas en un factor muestran efectos significativos de ambos factores (tipo de lengua y nivel educativo) y de su interacción. Se encontró mejor precisión lectora de pseudopalabras en los niños de lengua árabe en ambos niveles educativos, un aumento de la lectura de pseudopalabras entre los dos cursos en las dos lenguas, siendo más intenso en español, y una menor diferencia en lectura de pseudopalabras entre lenguas en segundo curso. Estos resultados van en la línea de aquellos estudios que defienden las diferencias en la adquisición de la lectura en lenguas de distinta consistencia, pero no concuerdan con aquellos que apuntan que las lenguas opacas son más tardías. Se resalta la necesidad de analizar las diferencias en otras edades más tempranas y en otras medidas lectoras, controlando el grado de consistencia lingüística.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Homophobia and heterosexism: Spanish Physical Education teachers’ perceptions

Physical education is traditionally a heteronormative environment, despite current studies highlighting the existence of positive changes in sport towards sexual diversity. In Spain, physical education teachers’ attitudes towards sexual minorities are an under-researched area. The current study identifies physical education teachers’ perceptions towards homophobia and heterosexism in their lessons, raising questions as to whether societies are hostile or more tolerant in regards to gays and lesbians in sport. This experimental and cross-sectional descriptive research involved 170 Physical Education teachers from mixed schools, using a modified version of the original questionnaire of homophobia and heterosexism perceptions by Morrow and Gill (2003). Results show heterosexist and homophobic behavior is apparent in physical education lessons, with teachers aware of these behaviours. Furthermore, it is highlighted that students use homosexually-themed language as an instrument to discriminate against gays and lesbians. This language use is not common among teachers, although when it is present, it is clearer and more frequent amongst male teachers

Maintaining a Linked Data Cloud and Data Service for Second World War History

One of the great promises of Linked Data is to provide a shared data infrastructure into which new data can be imported and aligned with, forming a sustainable, ever growing Linked Data Cloud (LDC). This paper studies and evaluates this idea in the context of the WarSampo LDC that provides a data infrastructure for Second World War related ontologies and data in Finland, including several mutually linked graphs, totaling ca 12 million triples. Two data integration case studies are presented, where the original WarSampo LDC and the related semantic portal were first extended by a dataset of hundreds of war cemeteries and thousands of photographs of them, and then by another dataset of over 4450 Finnish prisoners of war. As a conclusion, lessons learned are explicated, based on hands-on experience in maintaining the WarSampo LDC in a production environment.Peer reviewe

Current situation of rapid multiplication techniques for early generation seed potato production in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper provides insights on the principal actors in producing in vitro plantlets, cuttings, and minitubers, with emphasis on the technologies used, the production capacity in place, and challenges. One of the key findings is that the total production of minitubers in the seven countries increased tenfold from 2008 to 2017. In this regard, Kenya and Rwanda turn out to be the major investors and producers of EGS potato in SSA. Schematic representations are used to depict the organizational structures of national formal seed systems. Rapid multiplication techniques used, including aeroponics, hydroponics, and rooted apical cuttings, are described and their comparative advantages to the conventional technique outlined. We also provide an overview on the germplasm used in seed systems, with a special focus on end-users’ preferences. The paper also provides contextualized suggestions on how to improve the efficiency of the seed systems analyzed

KOMBINIRANO DJELOVANJE BITURATA I EKSTRAKTA YUCCA SCHIDIGERI NA GASTROINTESTINALNI SUSTAV SVINJA OKO ODBIJANJA

After the banning of antibiotics as growth promoters, animal production in the EU faced the problem of increased post-weaning disorders, and several solutions were proposed (acidifiers, probiotics, herb extracts, enzyme cocktails, etc.). Short chain fatty acids (SCFA) are the main end product of bacterial fermentation in the hind gut in monogastric animals and can be used as energy supply for the epithelial cells of gut mucosa. Thus the aim of the study was to test the usefulness of novel microencapsulated sodium butyrate and Yucca Schidigera extract (encourages friendly bacteria growth, reduces ammonia) preparation on pig performance and small intestine development in the critical weaning period. Microencapsulation helps to avoid stomach degradation and provides better distribution of the compounds along the small intestine. Suckling piglets, 14-day old, were divided into 2 groups, control and with butyrate addition. Control pigs received a standard feed supplemented with a microencapsulated acidifier (0.3%). Butyrate pigs received the same feed and acidifier, as controls, supplemented with butyrate/yucca preparation (0.3%). At days 28 (weaning), 35 and 56 of life, 6 pigs from each group were killed and the gastrointestinal tract was harvested and measured. The initial body weight (14 d) of pigs from the control group was higher than that of the experimental, but at day 56 it did not differ significantly (P=0.48). The relative stomach and pancreas weights in the experimental group showed a tendency toward higher values in all time points, and the small intestine relative weight in day 35 was higher as compared to the controls. The growth rate of the pigs at day 35 decreased significantly in the control (P=0.007), but did not in the experimental (P=0.058) group compared to day 31. Measurements of the small intestine sections revealed increased mucosa thickness in butyrate treated pigs. This was due to both villi and crypt enlargement. In conclusion, our results demonstrated the effectiveness sodium butyrate and Yucca Shidigera extract in the prevention of weaning problems in pigs, however further research on the novel preparation is needed.Nakon zabrane antibiotika kao promotora rasta, proizvodnja životinja u EU suočila se sa sve više poremećaja nakon odbijanja pa je predloženo nekoliko rješenja (acidifikatori, probiotici, biljni ekstrakti, kokteli enzima, itd.). Kratkolančane masne kiseline glavni su krajnji proizvod bakterijske fermentacije u stražnjem crijevu u monogastričnih životinja pa se mogu upotrijebiti za snabdijevanje energijom epitelnih stanica crijevne sluznice /mukoze. Stoga je cilj ovog rada bio testirati korisnost novog natrijevog biturata u mikrokapsuli i pripravka ekstrakta Yucca Schidigera (potiče rast dobročudnih bakterija, smanjuje amonijak) na performansu svinja i razvoj tankog crijeva u kritičnom razdoblju odbijanja. Mikrokapsule pomažu da se izbjegne oštećenje želuca i pruža bolju razdiobu spojeva duž tankog crijeva. Praščići na sisi, u dobi od 14 dana, bili su podijeljeni u dvije skupine, kontrolnu i skupinu s dodavanjem biturata. Kontrolni praščići dobivali su standardnu hranu s dodatkom acidifikatora/zakiseljivača u mikrokapsuli (0.03%). Praščići na bituratima dobivali su istu hranu i acidifikator/zakiseljivač s dodatkom biturata/yucca pripravka (0.03%). U dobi od 28 (odbijanje), 35 i 56 dana žrtvovano je 6 svinja iz svake skupine te je pregledan i izmjeren gastrointestinalni sustav. Početna tjelesna masa (14. dan) svinja iz kontrolne skupine bila je veća od mase svinja pokusne skupine ali 56. dan nije se značajno razlikovala (P=0.48). Relativne mase želuca i gušterače u pokusnoj skupini pokazale su tendenciju viših vrijednosti u svim razdobljima, a relativna masa tankog crijeva 35. dana bila je viša u usporedbi s kontrolnom skupinom. Stopa rasta svinja 35. dana znatno se smanjila u kontrolnoj skupini (P=0.007) ali ne u kontrolnoj skupini (P=0.058) u usporedbi s 31. danom. Mjere tankog crijeva pokazale su povećanu debljinu sluznice u svinja tretiranih bituratom. To se pripisuje povećanju dlačica i udubina (villi i crypt). U zaključku, naši su rezultati pokazali djelotvornost natrijevog biturata i ekstrakta Yucca Schidigeri u prevenciji problema odbijanja u svinja, međutim, potrebna su dalja istraživanja novih pripravaka

A Recombinant Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccine Candidate Attenuated by a Low-Fusion F Protein Is Immunogenic and Protective against Challenge in Cotton Rats

ABSTRACT Although respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the leading cause of lower respiratory tract infections in infants, a safe and effective vaccine is not yet available. Live-attenuated vaccines (LAVs) are the most advanced vaccine candidates in RSV-naive infants. However, designing an LAV with appropriate attenuation yet sufficient immunogenicity has proven challenging. In this study, we implemented reverse genetics to address these obstacles with a multifaceted LAV design that combined the codon deoptimization of genes for nonstructural proteins NS1 and NS2 (dNS), deletion of the small hydrophobic protein (ΔSH) gene, and replacement of the wild-type fusion (F) protein gene with a low-fusion RSV subgroup B F consensus sequence of the Buenos Aires clade (BAF). This vaccine candidate, RSV-A2-dNS-ΔSH-BAF (DB1), was attenuated in two models of primary human airway epithelial cells and in the upper and lower airways of cotton rats. DB1 was also highly immunogenic in cotton rats and elicited broadly neutralizing antibodies against a diverse panel of recombinant RSV strains. When vaccinated cotton rats were challenged with wild-type RSV A, DB1 reduced viral titers in the upper and lower airways by 3.8 log 10 total PFU and 2.7 log 10 PFU/g of tissue, respectively, compared to those in unvaccinated animals ( P < 0.0001). DB1 was thus attenuated, highly immunogenic, and protective against RSV challenge in cotton rats. DB1 is the first RSV LAV to incorporate a low-fusion F protein as a strategy to attenuate viral replication and preserve immunogenicity. IMPORTANCE RSV is a leading cause of infant hospitalizations and deaths. The development of an effective vaccine for this high-risk population is therefore a public health priority. Although live-attenuated vaccines have been safely administered to RSV-naive infants, strategies to balance vaccine attenuation with immunogenicity have been elusive. In this study, we introduced a novel strategy to attenuate a recombinant RSV vaccine by incorporating a low-fusion, subgroup B F protein in the genetic background of codon-deoptimized nonstructural protein genes and a deleted small hydrophobic protein gene. The resultant vaccine candidate, DB1, was attenuated, highly immunogenic, and protective against RSV challenge in cotton rats

Education and Training of Future Nuclear Engineers at DIN: From Advanced Computer Codes to an Interactive Plant Simulator

ABSTRACT This paper summarizes the work being performed at the Department of Nuclear Engineering (www.din.upm.es) of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid to improve the education and training of future Spanish nuclear engineers according to the Bologna rules. We present two main efforts introduced in our programme: i) the understanding of the current computational methodologies/codes starting from the nuclear data processing, then the lattice and core calculations codes, and finally the power plant simulators, ii) the development of practical teaching-learning experiences with an Interactive Graphical Simulator of a real nuclear power plant

Determination of the b quark mass at the M_Z scale with the DELPHI detector at LEP

An experimental study of the normalized three-jet rate of b quark events with respect to light quarks events (light= \ell \equiv u,d,s) has been performed using the CAMBRIDGE and DURHAM jet algorithms. The data used were collected by the DELPHI experiment at LEP on the Z peak from 1994 to 2000. The results are found to agree with theoretical predictions treating mass corrections at next-to-leading order. Measurements of the b quark mass have also been performed for both the b pole mass: M_b and the b running mass: m_b(M_Z). Data are found to be better described when using the running mass. The measurement yields: m_b(M_Z) = 2.85 +/- 0.18 (stat) +/- 0.13 (exp) +/- 0.19 (had) +/- 0.12 (theo) GeV/c^2 for the CAMBRIDGE algorithm. This result is the most precise measurement of the b mass derived from a high energy process. When compared to other b mass determinations by experiments at lower energy scales, this value agrees with the prediction of Quantum Chromodynamics for the energy evolution of the running mass. The mass measurement is equivalent to a test of the flavour independence of the strong coupling constant with an accuracy of 7 permil.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Study of Leading Hadrons in Gluon and Quark Fragmentation

The study of quark jets in e+e- reactions at LEP has demonstrated that the hadronisation process is reproduced well by the Lund string model. However, our understanding of gluon fragmentation is less complete. In this study enriched quark and gluon jet samples of different purities are selected in three-jet events from hadronic decays of the Z collected by the DELPHI experiment in the LEP runs during 1994 and 1995. The leading systems of the two kinds of jets are defined by requiring a rapidity gap and their sum of charges is studied. An excess of leading systems with total charge zero is found for gluon jets in all cases, when compared to Monte Carlo Simulations with JETSET (with and without Bose-Einstein correlations included) and ARIADNE. The corresponding leading systems of quark jets do not exhibit such an excess. The influence of the gap size and of the gluon purity on the effect is studied and a concentration of the excess of neutral leading systems at low invariant masses (<~ 2 GeV/c^2) is observed, indicating that gluon jets might have an additional hitherto undetected fragmentation mode via a two-gluon system. This could be an indication of a possible production of gluonic states as predicted by QCD.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, Accepted by Phys. Lett.