Students and teacher's perceptions and motivation in a Galician Plurilingual High School: a study in CLIL Physics and Chemistry

Programa Oficial de Doutoramento en Estudos Ingleses Avanzados: Lingüística, Literatura e Cultura . 5018P01[Resumo] Nas últimas décadas, a educación en linguas estranxeiras e as súas políticas volvéronse un dos elementos máis significativos promocionados desde a Unión Europea (Cumio de Milán, 1985, Tratado de Maastrich, 1992, MCER, 2001) para atender a realidade multilingüe e plurilingüe dos seus estados membros. Con este propósito, implementáronse diferentes iniciativas nos últimos anos como AICLE (Aprendizaxe Integrado de Contidos e Lingua Estranxeira). En Galicia AICLE introduciuse mediante o Decreto para o Plurilingüismo 79/2010 e a Orde do 12 de maio de 2011. Nembargante, a pesar do crecemento do número de centros plurilingües (Villar, 2016, 2017), non hai estudos sobre a motivación e as percepcións sobre AICLE en institutos galegos plurilingües. Esta tese de doutoramento estuda as percepcións e motivación en relación a AICLE en tres grupos de estudantes de Física e Química AICLE (N=61) e o seu profesor nun instituto plurilingüe nunha cidade galega. Os resultados principais do estudo mostran que o uso do inglés na clase motiva o estudantado debido o seu carácter instrumental (Gardner & Lambert, 1972) e o seu valor extrínsico (Deci & Ryan, 2000). En canto o profesor, a súa motivación é principalmente intrínsica.[Resumen] En las últimas décadas, la educación en lenguas extranjeras y sus políticas se han vuelto uno de los elementos clave promocionados desde la Unión Europea (Cumbre de Milán, 1985, Tratado de Maastrich, 1992, MCER, 2001) para atender a la realidad multilingüe y plurilingüe de sus estados miembros. Con este propósito, se han implementado diferentes iniciativas en los últimos años como AICLE (Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos y Lengua Extranjera). En Galicia AICLE se ha introducido mediante el Decreto para el Plurilingüismo 79/2010 y la Orden del 12 de mayo de 2011. Sin embargo, a pesar del crecemento del número de centros plurilingües (Villar, 2016, 2017), non hay estudios sobre la motivación e las percepciones sobre AICLE en institutos gallegos plurilingües. Esta tesis de doctorado estudia las percepciones y motivación en relación a AICLE en tres grupos de alumnos de Física y Química AICLE (N=61) y su profesor en un instituto plurilingüe en una ciudad gallega. Los resultados principales del estudio muestran que el uso del inglés en la clase motiva a los estudantes debido a su carácter instrumental (Gardner & Lambert, 1972) y a su valor extrínsico (Deci & Ryan, 2000). En cuanto al profesor, su motivación es principalmente intrínsica.[Abstract] In the last couple of decades, foreign language education and its policies has become one of the key points encouraged by the European Union (Milan Summit, 1985; Maastrich Treaty, 1992; CEFR, 2001) so to cater to the multilingual and plurilingual reality in the member states. In order to accomplish this, several initiatives have taken place in the last couple of years such as CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning). In Galicia, CLIL has been introduced by the Plurilingual Decree 79/2010 and the Orde do 12 de maio de 2011. However, despite its ever increasing number of plurilingual centres (Villar, 2016, 2017), no CLIL research on motivation and perceptions in Galician plurlingual high-schools has been carried out. This doctoral dissertation studies the perceptions and motivation regarding CLIL in three CLIL Physics and Chemistry students’ groups (N=61) and their CLIL teacher in a plurilingual high-school located in a city in Galicia. The main results of the study show that using English in the CLIL classroom motivates students because of its instrumental (Gardner and Lambert, 1972) and extrinsic (Deci & Ryan, 2000) value while the CLIL teacher shows to be overall intrinsically motivated

Performance Variables and Technical Penalties of the Split Leap

Los autores desean mostrar su agradecimiento a las gimnastas participantes en este estudio por su esfuerzo entusiasta e implicación durante la ejecución de la habilidad de salto analizadaSe analizó la relación entre las penalizaciones técnicas obtenidas en la ejecución de un elemento gimnástico aislado con el nivel competitivo de las gimnastas, sus características antropométricas y las variables temporales y angulares más importantes analizadas en dicha habilidad. Fueron seleccionadas 29 gimnastas (17,1 ± 3,1 años) procedentes de distintos niveles competitivos. Tres entrenadores evaluaron la ejecución mediante una adaptación del Código de Puntuación. Se observaron asociaciones significativas directas e indirectas (p < 0,05): bajo índice de adiposidad (rho = 0,643), tiempo total de batida (rho = 0,619), tiempo total de vuelo (rho = - 0,596), máxima amplitud articular de caderas (rho = - 0,902) y máxima extensión de los tobillos (rho = - 0,738). La valoración de las penalizaciones así como el uso del nivel competitivo y del Salto Zancada como test específico han resultado ser herramientas útiles para la valoración del rendimientoThe aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between the following aspects: the technical penalties obtained in the execution of an isolated gymnastics element, the competitive level of the gymnasts, their anthropometric characteristics, and the most important temporal and angular variables analyzed in this skill. Twenty nine gymnasts (aged 17.1 ± 3.1 years) from different competition levels were selected. Three coaches evaluated the execution through an adaptation of the Code of Points. Significant direct and indirect associations were observed (p < 0.05): low adiposity index (rho = 0.643), take-off total time (rho = 0.619), flight total time (rho = - 0.596), maximum range of motion of the hips (rho = - 0.902), and maximum extension of ankles (rho = - 0.738). The assessment of penalties as well as the use of competitive level and Split Leap as specific tests, have demonstrated to be useful tools for evaluating performanc

Patterns of Social Activity Engagement Among Older Hispanics and Their Relationship to Sociodemographic and Health Variables

The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of social activity engagement in a sample of older Hispanics (Puerto Rican, Dominican, and other Hispanic) and determine whether these patterns differed significantly from the comparison non-Hispanic White group. This article also analyzes how ethnicity, sociodemographic, and health variables (health problems and depression) relate to each of the activity engagement patterns. The factor analysis of social activities from the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire yielded three factors, which describe engagement in social activities as: children and relatives active, friends and activities active, and senior services active. The results from the regression analyses show that Hispanic ethnicity and education are positively associated with being more engaged in activities with children and relatives, whereas being male and especially a male living alone is inversely associated with this pattern. In addition, being friends and activities active shows positive association with education, the participant living alone, and experiencing more language inclusion; however, it is inversely associated with depression, age, being male, and number of health problems. Finally, engaging in activities offered by senior services is only significantly associated with increased age and the number of health problems. The interpretations of these findings, directions for future research, and implications for activity professionals/recreation therapists are also discussed

Concurrent focal-plane generation of compressed samples fromtime-encoded pixel values

Compressive sampling allows wrapping the relevant content of an image in a reduced set of data. It exploits the sparsity of natural images. This principle can be employed to deliver images over a network under a restricted data rate and still receive enough meaningful information. An efficient implementation of this principle lies in the generation of the compressed samples right at the imager. Otherwise, i. e. digitizing the complete image and then composing the compressed samples in the digital plane, the required memory and processing resources can seriously compromise the budget of an autonomous camera node. In this paper we present the design of a pixel architecture that encodes light intensity into time, followed by a global strategy to pseudo-randomly combine pixel values and generate, on-chip and on-line, the compressed samples.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC 2015-66878-C3-1-RJunta de Andalucía TIC 2338-2013Office of Naval Research (USA) N000141410355CONACYT (Mexico) MZO-2017-29106

A prototype node for wireless vision sensor network applications development

This paper presents a prototype vision-enabled sensor node based on a commercial vision system of reduced size and power consumption. The wireless infrastructure for the deployment of a distributed smart camera network based on these nodes is provided by commercial motes. The smart camera, based on a low-power bio-inspired processing scheme, enables in-node image processing and vision tools. This permits to elaborate a lighter representation of the scene, keeping the relevant information in terms of detected elements, features and events, alleviating the data transmission through the network. Therefore by passing only the relevant information to the neighboring sensor nodes, distributed and collaborative vision is possible with the limited data rates available in commercial wireless sensor networks. Communication between the different components of the system is supported by the available UARTs and GPIOs. Several examples of in-node image processing and feature detection has been tested in the prototype, and information at different abstraction levels has been broadcasted to the network.Junta de Andalucía 2006-TIC-2352Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TEC2009-1181

Estudio de volumen molar y refracción molar de miscelas de triglicéridos (triacetina, tributirina o tricaprilina) y alcoholes (etanol, 1-butanol o 1-hexanol)

Values of molar refraction for every studied mixtures show linear plots versus molar fractions of triglyceride. Values of molar volume show this behaviour, but only for tributyrin-butanol or tricaprylin-butanol miscellas. However, in tributyrin-ethanol mixtures, volume contractions have been found, whereas triacetin-butanol and tributyrin-hexanol show volume expansions. These facts are related to the mode of being structured of the alcohol and triglyceride molecules in mixtures. A linear relationship between molar volume and temperature have been found, and also a linear dependence between the coefficient of thermal expansion at constant pressure and the molar fraction of triglyceride.Los valores de la refracción molar en todas las miscelas estudiadas presentan variaciones lineales frente a la fracción molar de triglicérido. la misma variación que presentan los valores del volumen molar de las miscelas tributirina y tricaprilina en butanol. Sin embargo, en las miscelas de tributirina-etanol se encuentran contracciones de volumen mientras que en las de triacetina-butanol y tributirina-hexanol expansiones, atribuidas en ambos casos a la forma de estructurarse las moléculas de alcohol y triglicérido en las miscelas. Por otra parte, se encuentra una variación lineal entre el volumen molar de las miscelas y la temperatura, y se establece una relación lineal entre el coeficiente de dilatación térmico molar a presión constante y la fracción molar de triglicérido en los cinco sistemas estudiados

Estudio de volumen molar y refracción molar de miscelas de triglicéridos (triacetina, tributirina o tricaprilina) y alcoholes (etanol, 1-butanol o 1-hexanol)

Values of molar refraction for every studied mixtures show linear plots versus molar fractions of triglyceride. Values of molar volume show this behaviour, but only for tributyrin-butanol or tricaprylin-butanol miscellas. However, in tributyrin-ethanol mixtures, volume contractions have been found, whereas triacetin-butanol and tributyrin-hexanol show volume expansions. These facts are related to the mode of being structured of the alcohol and triglyceride molecules in mixtures.&#13; A linear relationship between molar volume and temperature have been found, and also a linear dependence between the coefficient of thermal expansion at constant pressure and the molar fraction of triglyceride.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Los valores de la refracción molar en todas las miscelas estudiadas presentan variaciones lineales frente a la fracción molar de triglicérido. la misma variación que presentan los valores del volumen molar de las miscelas tributirina y tricaprilina en butanol. Sin embargo, en las miscelas de tributirina-etanol se encuentran contracciones de volumen mientras que en las de triacetina-butanol y tributirina-hexanol expansiones, atribuidas en ambos casos a la forma de estructurarse las moléculas de alcohol y triglicérido en las miscelas.&#13; Por otra parte, se encuentra una variación lineal entre el volumen molar de las miscelas y la temperatura, y se establece una relación lineal entre el coeficiente de dilatación térmico molar a presión constante y la fracción molar de triglicérido en los cinco sistemas estudiados

Reciclado de residuos cerámicos en materiales absorbentes acústicos

The scope of this investigation is to develop a material mainly composed (80% w/w) of ceramic wastes that can be applied in the manufacture of road traffic noise reducing devices. The characterization of the product has been carried out attending to its acoustic, physical and mechanical properties, by measuring the sound absorption coefficient at normal incidence, the open void ratio, density and compressive strength. Since the sound absorbing behavior of a porous material is related to the size of the pores and the thickness of the specimen tested, the influence of the particle grain size of the ceramic waste and the thickness of the samples tested on the properties of the final product has been analyzed. The results obtained have been compared to a porous concrete made of crushed granite aggregate as a reference commercial material traditionally used in similar applications. Compositions with coarse particles showed greater sound absorption properties than compositions made with finer particles, besides presenting better sound absorption behavior than the reference porous concrete. Therefore, a ceramic waste-based porous concrete can be potentially recycled in the highway noise barriers field.El objetivo de este trabajo es desarrollar un material absorbente acústico compuesto fundamentalmente por residuos cerámicos (80% p) que se pueda utilizar en la fabricación de dispositivos reductores de ruido de carretera. La caracterización del producto se ha llevado a cabo atendiendo a sus propiedades acústicas, físicas y mecánicas, determinando el coeficiente de absorción acústica a incidencia normal, porosidad abierta, densidad y resistencia a compresión. La absorción acústica de un material poroso está fuertemente determinada por el tamaño de poro y por la longitud dela probeta sometida a ensayo. De este modo, se ha analizado la influencia del tamaño de partícula del residuo cerámico y del espesor de las muestras estudiadas en las propiedades del producto final. Los resultados obtenidos se han comparado con los obtenidos para un hormigón poroso elaborado con árido grueso, que se ha tomado como producto de referencia tradicionalmente empleado en este tipo de aplicaciones. Las composiciones elaboradas con el residuo de mayor tamaño de partícula han mostrado mayor absorción acústica, incluso mayor que las del hormigón poroso comercial. Por tanto, un hormigón poroso elaborado con residuos cerámicos puede ser potencialmente empleado como material en la fabricación de barreras acústicas de carretera

Moderate alcohol drinking is not associated with risk of depression in older adults

The scarce research on the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on mental health among older adults suggests a protective effect against depression. We prospectively examined the association between patterns of moderate alcohol consumption, depression and psychological distress, using information from 5, 299 community-dwelling older adults from the ELSA and Seniors-ENRICA cohorts. A Mediterranean drinking pattern (MDP) was defined as moderate alcohol intake (<40 g/day for men; <24 g/day for women) with a preference for wine and drinking only with meals. Depression was ascertained with the 10-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-10), a self-report of clinically-diagnosed depression, or being on anti-depressant medication (Seniors-ENRICA); and with the 8-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) (ELSA). Psychological distress was assessed with the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12). Compared to never drinkers, moderate drinkers showed comparable scores on the ENRICA-GDS-10 (PRR (95%CI): 1.03 (0.84–1.26)), the ENRICA-GHQ-12 (0.88 (0.73–1.06)), the ELSA-CES-D (0.92 (0.79–1.06)) and the ELSA-GHQ-12 (0.75 (0.55–1.01). The MDP was not associated with the GDS-10 or GHQ-12 scores, or with clinically-diagnosed depression; however drinkers with a preference for wine showed an increased number of psychological distress symptoms (1.31 (1.03–1.66)). In conclusion, we found no consistent protective association between moderate alcohol consumption and depression in older adults

A low-pass filter with automatic frequency tuning for a bluetooth receiver

A third-order Gm-C Chebyshev low-pass filter with high linearity and automatic frequency programmability has been designed. The filter is intended to be used as a channel-select filter for a zero-IF Bluetooth receiver. The frequency tuning scheme is simpler and has more relaxed specifications than conventional ones. The filter bandwidth is 0.5 MHz and the overall scheme dissipates 1.1 mA from a 1.8-V supply. The third-order intermodulation (IM3) distortion of the filter for a 1Vpp two-tone signal centered at 350 kHz is -67dB.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TEC2007-67460-C03-02