State of the issue and new challenges of Social Work: reflections of recently graduated professionals from Peru and Spain

Currently the primacy of the market economy in most of the nations is constituted as a global phenomenon, which has direct consequences on the structure of the different states socio-political systems. In this framework, the way in which the relations between the market and each nation-state are materialized, including their intervention strategies, generate differential contexts with relevant implications in various areas, including education. These relationships deeply affect the social protection systems and especially the Public System of Social Services, traditionally associated with the most vulnerable and less economically solvent population. The discipline of Social Work is no stranger to this situation, living in recent years convulsive moments both in terms of the construction of own knowledge and in the practice of the profession. Given this situation, it is intended to obtain the discourse that social workers have on aspects as important as the relevance of the training model, the significance given to research, the social imaginary around the discipline or the adequacy of the available resources for the exercise of the profession.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Large-scale cloudscapes using noise

Clouds have been of particular interest in computer graphics due to the challenge they present. Clouds are considered fuzzy objects, and need specialized algorithms to model and render realistically. Many techniques exist to model and render clouds that have had much success. This research will take existing techniques in cloud modeling and rendering and create a new technique combining those with noise. The idea is that noise can be used to model large-scale repeatable 3D cloudscapes and to be able to model such cloudscapes much more quickly than current techniques. This would be beneficial to developers of virtual universes that have very many worlds numbering in the ten to hundreds to create convincing cloudscapes on each distinct world

Un estudio sobre interacciones y comunicación en educación matemática a distancia

Con base en el supuesto de que cuando se está tratando de comunicar una idea o un concepto matemático, lo que se comunica no es el objeto mismo, sino representaciones de éste, las cuales pueden manifestarse en contextos algebraicos, gráficos, numéricos y otros; nos cuestionamos acerca de los procesos de comunicación de tales representaciones en un medio escrito como los chat y los foros asincrónicos. En nuestra investigación hemos tratado de identificar y caracterizar los objetos ostensivos (Bosch y Chevallard, 1999) que son activados cuando se intenta comunicar una identidad matemática particular en situación escolar utilizando los medios de comunicación escrita, propios de la educación a distancia. En particular centramos nuestra atención en el fenómeno didáctico que hemos denominado estabilización ostensiva

MT1a mRNA Expression in Human Lung Cells (BEAS 2B) After Airborne PM10 and Copper Exposure: A Possible Biomarker for Asthma

Puerto Ricans have the highest prevalence, morbidity and mortality of asthma than any other ethnic group in the U.S. and can be triggered by different stimuli such as airborne Particle pollution (PM). PM transfers transition metals, including cooper, to the human airways generating reactive oxygen species (ROS). Metallothionein protein (MT1A) is a free radical scavenger expected to be induced in lung cells by PM exposure; however, this has never been proven nor demonstrated. The hypothesis involves the amounts of PM10 in 2004, which would be significantly higher in the urban sites during months of March and June, thereby increasing PM metal exposure and inducing MT1A gene at the urban site. PM10 filters for Urban (Guaynabo) and rural (Fajardo) site were provided by the PREQB. Organic extracts were prepared from filters by means of Soxhlet Extraction and heavy metals were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. BEAS-2B cells were cultured and exposed to PM10 during 4 hrs. RNA was isolated and relative mRNA levels of MT1A were determined by RT-PCR. Urban PM10 concentrations were 35 ug/m3 and 60ug/m3 for the months of March and June, respectively. Concentrations of copper for this urban PM10 were 29.6 ppm and 50.3 ppm, for March and June, respectively. Exposure to Cu leads to an MT1A expression in lung cells demonstrating its response to metal exposure. Cellular response for the mRNA expression of MT1A was greater in relative high inflammation markers than in PM10 samples

El concepto de función: un breve recorrido epistemológico

Puede decirse que uno de los componentes fundamentales en la matemática escolar o especializada de nuestros tiempos es aquel concerniente al concepto de función. Su fragua ha sido el tiempo, y los fraguadores, los actores temporales que lo han moldeado, desde ideas primitivas de relación, pasando por prácticas de modelización de fenómenos naturales, hasta llegar a formar un objeto matemático imprescindible, de belleza única, de mucha sustancia concentrada en definiciones estáticas, que ocultan en sí mismas un impetuoso dinamismo

High cell density cultivation of Escherichia coli K4 in a microfiltration bioreactor: a step towards improvement of chondroitin precursor production

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The bacteria <it>Escherichia coli </it>K4 produces a capsular polysaccharide (K4 CPS) whose backbone is similar to the non sulphated chondroitin chain. The chondroitin sulphate is one of the major components of the extra-cellular matrix of the vertebrate connective tissues and a high value molecule, widely employed as active principle in the treatment of osteoarthritis. It is usually obtained by extraction from animal tissues, but the risk of virus contaminations, as well as the scarceness of raw material, makes this productive process unsafe and unable to satisfy the growing market demand. In previous studies a new biotechnological process to produce chondroitin from <it>Escherichia coli </it>K4 capsular polysaccharide was investigated and a 1.4 g·L^-1K4 CPS concentration was reached using fed-batch fermentation techniques. In this work, on the trail of these results, we exploited new fermentation strategies to further improve the capsular polysaccharide production.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The inhibitory effect of acetate on the bacterial cells growth and K4 CPS production was studied in shake flask conditions, while a new approach, that combined the optimization of the feeding profiles, the improvement of aeration conditions and the use of a microfiltration bioreactor, was investigated in three different types of fermentation processes. High polysaccharide concentrations (4.73 ± 0.2 g·L^-1), with corresponding average yields (0.13 ± 0.006 g_{K4 CPS}·g_cdw^-1), were obtained; the increase of K4 CPS titre, compared to batch and fed-batch results, was of 16-fold and 3.3-fold respectively, while average yield was almost 3.5 and 1.4 fold higher.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The increase of capsular polysaccharide titre confirmed the validity of the proposed fermentation strategy and opened the way to the use of the microfiltration bioreactor for the biotechnological production of chondroitin.</p

El rol de la clase social, la educación y el desempleo parentales en el desarrollo cognitivo infantil

Objective: Assessing the association between socioeconomic gradient and cognitive development among children of a Spanish birth cohort aged 5-6 years from a gender perspective. Method: Cognitive development was assessed on 525 children aged 5-6 years in the INMA-Valencia cohort, with the Global Cognitive Score (GCS) from McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities. Information on social class, education level and employment was collected for both parents in addition to other sociodemographic factors, parental, family and child characteristics. The relationship between maternal and paternal socioeconomic gradient and cognitive development was assessed by linear regressions and comparing the variance explained by each indicator measured in the mother and father. Results: Maternal socioeconomic gradient indicators explained more variance on GCS than paternal. Maternal education and paternal social class had an important individual effect that stayed after adjusting by other parental, child and family determinants. In the multivariable analysis, maternal education, age and intelligence, paternal social class and the child’s age and sex were significantly associated with cognitive development. Conclusions: Diverse socioeconomic gradient factors have an important influence on cognitive development, maternal education being the strongest determinant. Policies should be implemented to mitigate the negative effects of this gradient on child development.Objetivo: Evaluar la asociación del gradiente socioeconómico y el desarrollo cognitivo en ni˜nos y ni˜nas de una cohorte espa˜nola a los 5-6 a˜nos de edad desde una perspectiva de género. Método: Se evaluó el desarrollo cognitivo en 525 ni˜nos/as de 5-6 a˜nos de la cohorte INMA-Valencia, mediante la Puntuación Global Cognitiva (PGC) de las Escalas McCarthy para ni˜nos y ni˜nas. Se recogió información de ambos progenitores sobre clase social, nivel de estudios y empleo, además de otros factores sociodemográficos, características parentales, de la familia y del ni˜no o la ni˜na. La relación entre el gradiente socioeconómico materno y paterno y el desarrollo cognitivo se evaluó mediante modelos de regresión lineal y comparando la varianza explicada por cada uno de los indicadores medidos en la madre y en el padre. Resultados: Los indicadores de gradiente socioeconómico de la madre explicaron más varianza del índice de PGC que los del padre. La educación materna y la clase social paterna tuvieron un importante efecto individual, que se mantuvo tras ajustar por otros determinantes de los progenitores, del ni˜no o de la ni˜na, y del entorno familiar. En el análisis multivariante, la educación, la edad y la inteligencia maternas, la clase social paterna, y la edad y el sexo del infante se asociaron significativamente con el desarrollo cognitivo. Conclusiones: Distintos factores del gradiente socioeconómico tienen influencia en el desarrollo cognitivo, siendo la educación materna el determinante más fuerte. Deberían implementarse políticas para paliar los efectos negativos de este gradiente en el desarrollo infantil