Investigación cualitativa en educación: reexaminando sus teorías, prácticas y desarrollos en una era científico-política

Since it entered education in the mid-20th century, qualitative research has been a well-established methodology among educational researchers. Its strength lies in its nature, scope, and methodological flexibility to understand education's cultural, social, political and moral phenomena. Between the 1970s and 1980s, the relevance and superiority of quantitative vs. qualitative research in education were debated in academic forums. The paradigm debate was so intense that it reached political discussions. In 2002, the National Research Council (NRC) of the United States of America recommended the Federal Department of Education the exclusion of qualitative research from federal funds because it was not considered scientific research. A similar situation was observed in England and Australia. Since then, qualitative research has continued to develop as a model of educational research with the support of private funds. This paper revisits qualitative education research and examines its developments to reposition itself as a legitimate model of scholarly research in a political-scientific era.Desde su aparición en la educación a mediados del siglo XX, la investigación cualitativa ha sido una metodología plenamente asentada entre los investigadores de la educación. Su principal valor reside en su naturaleza, alcance y flexibilidad metodológica, que permite comprender los fenómenos culturales, sociales, políticos y éticos de la educación. Entre los años setenta y ochenta del siglo XX fue muy debatido en los foros académicos la idoneidad y superioridad de la investigación cuantitativa frente a la cualitativa en el mundo educativo. La polémica sobre los paradigmas fue tan intenso que llegó incluso a los debates políticos. En 2002, el National Research Council (NRC) de los Estados Unidos recomendó al Federal Department of Education la exclusión de la investigación cualitativa de cualquier asignación de fondos federales al no considerarla dentro del concpeto de investigación científica. Una situación similar ocurrió en Reino Unido y Australia. Desde entonces, la investigación cualitativa ha continuado desarrollándose como modelo de investigación educativa, pero únicamente con el apoyo de fondos privados. Este artículo revisa la situación actual de la investigación educativa cualitativa y examina su evolución con el fin de reposicionarla como un modelo legítimo de investigación académica en una era político-científica

Experimental Assessment of a Forward-Collision Warning System Fusing Deep Learning and Decentralized Radio Sensing

This paper presents the idea of an automatic forward-collision warning system based on a decentralized radio sensing (RS) approach. In this framework, a vehicle in receiving mode employs a continuous waveform (CW) transmitted by a second vehicle as a probe signal to detect oncoming vehicles and warn the driver of a potential forward collision. Such a CW can easily be incorporated as a pilot signal within the data frame of current multicarrier vehicular communication systems. Detection of oncoming vehicles is performed by a deep learning (DL) module that analyzes the features of the Doppler signature imprinted on the CW probe signal by a rapidly approaching vehicle. This decentralized CW RS approach was assessed experimentally using data collected by a series of field trials conducted in a two-lanes high-speed highway. Detection performance was evaluated for two different DL models: a long short-term memory network and a convolutional neural network. The obtained results demonstrate the feasibility of the envisioned forward-collision warning system based on the fusion of DL and decentralized CW RS

Educational research in the 21st century: challenges and opportunities for scientific effectiveness

ResumenA través de décadas, la investigación educativa ha sido objeto de mucho debate sobre cuál debe ser el propósito en el desarrollo del conocimiento científico en el campo de la educación. El propósito de este trabajo es presentar los antecedentes históricos de la disciplina de la investigación educativa: enfoques, objetivos y estrategias para la investigación en el campo de la educación. Del mismo modo, se presentan los desafíos y oportunidades de la investigación educativa. Los desafíos de la investigación educativa se identifican en las siguientes áreas: la naturaleza política de la educación; El problema de la definición de la investigación educativa como ciencia y la dislocación entre la investigación educativa y la práctica de la educación. Las oportunidades pueden situarse en el contexto de las siguientes áreas: consenso sobre el conocimiento de la educación conducente a un paradigma hacia la alineación, utilidad del conocimiento en la práctica de la profesión para establecer su efectividad científica e investigación de las políticas educativas. AbstractThrough decades, educational research has been the subject of much debate over what should be the purpose in the development of scientific knowledge in the field of education. The purpose of this paper is to present a historical background on the discipline of educational research: approaches, goals and strategies for research in the area of education. Similarly, the challenges and opportunities of educational research are presented. The challenges of educational research are identified in the following areas: the political nature of education; the problem of definition of educational research as a science and the dislocation between educational research and practice of education. Opportunities can be placed in the context of the following areas: consensus on the knowledge of education leading to a paradigm towards alignment, the utility of knowledge in the practice of the profession to establish their scientific effectiveness and research of education policies. Artículo revisado por pare

Experimental behavior of a masonry wall supported on a RC twoway slab

This paper discusses the experimental results of a prototype slab-wall that is subjected to vertical and horizontal cyclic loading. The key aspects under discussion are: (a) the differences between the capacity resistance of a wall supported on a slab vs. a wall supported on a fixed base, (b) the implications when shear walls are placed directly on transfer concrete slabs, and (c) the effects that these walls cause on the slabs. The most important results presented herein are the change on lateral stiffness and resistance capacity of the load-bearing wall supported on a slab versus the wall supported on a fixed base. Analytical finite element slab-wall models were built using ANSYS. During the experimental test process of horizontal loading, we detected that the stiffness of the slab-wall system decreased by a third compared to the one on the fixed base wall; a result that supported by the numerical models

Yield evaluation of rocoto pepper (Capsicum pubescens R and P) with application of calcium carbonate in greenhouses

The manzano chili is native to South America. It is characterized by having a fleshy pulp and is very popular in Latin American cuisine. In the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, Chili peppers of the jalapeño, serrano, chilaca and cayenne varieties are grown, while the manzano chili can be an option for greenhouse cultivation. The objective of the present work was to evaluate if the applications of calcium carbonate to the soil and to the plant (foliar route) influence the weight and number of fruits in manzano peppers under greenhouse conditions. The study was carried out in the greenhouse of the Faculty of Agrotechnological Sciences, of the Autonomous University of Chihuahua. For the generation of the treatments, the Taguchi method was used, creating 13 treatments, for 2 factors and 5 levels each factor, with 5 repetitions per treatment, using 65 plants in the study. Data analysis was performed using the quadratic response surface technique, adjusting the surface to determine the factor levels for optimal response. In order to obtain the highest weight in the three harvests 234.8 g, it is necessary to reduce the CaCO3 to the soil by 9%, while increasing the CaCO3 to the foliar by 100%. To increase the number of peppers from 59 to 70 in the three harvest periods, it is necessary to increase CaCO3 in the soil and foliar by 8.5% and 100%.Objective: To evaluate if the application of calcium carbonate on the soil and to the leaf influences the weight and number of fruits in rocoto pepper grown under greenhouse conditions. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study was carried out in the greenhouse of the Facultad de Ciencias Agrotecnológicas, of the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua. The Taguchi method was used to develop the 13 treatments, with two factors, five levels per factor, and five repetitions per treatment, using 65 plants under study. Data was analyzed using the quadratic response surface technique, fitting the surface to determine factor levels for optimal response. Results: Reducing soil CaCO3 by 9% and increasing leaf CaCO3 by 100% was necessary to obtain the highest weight in the three harvests (234.8 g). Findings/Conclusions: A rise in the number of rocoto peppers (from 59 to 70, in the three harvest periods) required an increase in the soil and foliar CaCO3 by 8.5% and 100%, respectively

Desafíos y tendencias del México actual

Conjunto de once ensayos cuyo propósito es suscitar la reflexión sobre las tendencias más importantes que marcan el inicio del siglo XXI en México y Jalisco, sin obviar las direcciones que a escala mundial toman la vida social, política y económica.ITESO, A.C

Assessment of the toll-like receptor 4 Asp299Gly, Thr399Ile and interleukin-8 -251 polymorphisms in the risk for the development of distal gastric cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The intensity of the inflammation induced by <it>Helicobacter pylori </it>colonization is associated with the development of distal gastric cancer (GC). The host response to <it>H</it>. <it>pylori </it>has been related to genetic polymorphisms that influence both innate and adaptive immune responses.</p> <p>Our aim was to investigate whether the presence of the <it>TLR4 Asp299Gly</it>, <it>TLR4 Thr399Ile </it>and <it>IL-8-251 </it>A/T polymorphisms had any influence in the development of distal GC in a Mexican population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We studied 337 patients that were divided in two groups: 78 patients with histologically confirmed distal GC and 259 non-cancer controls. The presence of <it>H. pylori </it>in the control population was defined by positive results of at least two of four diagnostic tests: serology, histology, rapid urease test and culture. Human DNA was purified and genotyped for <it>TLR4 Asp299Gly </it>polymorphism by pyrosequencing, for <it>TLR4 Thr399Ile </it>by PCR-RFLP and for <it>IL8-251 </it>by the amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS)-PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The non-cancer control group was found to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium at the polymorphic loci studied (chi-square _H-W= 0.58 for <it>IL8-251</it>, 0.42 for <it>TLR4 Asp299Gly </it>and 0.17 for <it>TLR4 Thr399Ile</it>). The frequencies of mutated alleles (homozygous plus heterozygous) were compared between cases and controls. We found no significant difference for <it>TLR4- Asp299Gly </it>[the 7.7% of distal GC patients and 7.7 % non-cancer controls (p = 0.82)] and for <it>TLR4 Thr399Ile </it>[the 1.3% of GC patients and the 5% of the control population (p = 0.2)]. In contrast, for <it>IL-8-251 </it>A/T, 80.77% of the GC patients and 66.4% in the control group age and gender matched had at least one copy of mutated allele (OR = 2.12, 95% CI = 1.1–4.2) (p = 0.023).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study showed that the <it>IL8-251*A </it>allele could be related to the development of distal gastric cancer in this Mexican population.</p

Gallbladder Cancer Predisposition: A Multigenic Approach to DNA-Repair, Apoptotic and Inflammatory Pathway Genes

Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is a multifactorial disease with complex interplay between multiple genetic variants. We performed Classification and Regression Tree Analysis (CART) and Grade of Membership (GoM) analysis to identify combinations of alleles among the DNA repair, inflammatory and apoptotic pathway genetic variants in modifying the risk for GBC. We analyzed 16 polymorphisms in 8 genes involved in DNA repair, apoptotic and inflammatory pathways to find out combinations of genetic variants contributing to GBC risk. The genes included in the study were XRCC1, OGG1, ERCC2, MSH2, CASP8, TLR2, TLR4 and PTGS2. Single locus analysis by logistic regression showed association of MSH2 IVS1+9G>C (rs2303426), ERCC2 Asp312Asn (rs1799793), OGG1 Ser326Cys (rs1052133), OGG1 IVS4-15C>G (rs2072668), CASP8 -652 6N ins/del (rs3834129), PTGS2 -1195G>A (rs689466), PTGS2 -765G>C (rs20417), TLR4 Ex4+936C>T (rs4986791) and TLR2 –196 to –174del polymorphisms with GBC risk. The CART analysis revealed OGG1 Ser326Cys, and OGG1 IVS4-15C>G polymorphisms as the best polymorphic signature for discriminating between cases and controls. In the GoM analysis, the data was categorized into six sets representing risk for GBC with respect to the investigated polymorphisms. Sets I, II and III described low intrinsic risk (controls) characterized by multiple protective alleles while sets IV, V and VI represented high intrinsic risk groups (GBC cases) characterized by the presence of multiple risk alleles. The CART and GoM analyses also showed the importance of PTGS2 -1195G>A polymorphism in susceptibility to GBC risk. In conclusion, the present multigenic approach can be used to define individual risk profiles for gallbladder cancer in North Indian population