A Transitional Year Level to Higher Education: Challenges, Experiences and Self-regulatory Strategies during the Final Year of the University Preparatory Level

Final Year level of the University Preparatory cycle (FYUP) –in Spanish 2º Bachillerato– is one of the most challenging academic courses. It is extremely demanding academically in itself and by the end of it students must also pass the university entry exam. Yet research has not investigated how students experience this year. We thus explored, using in-depth interviews with 75 students from two public high schools, their attitudes toward this academic year. Our results showed that (a) the participants struggled greatly during FYUP, experiencing high levels of academic stress (that affects their general well-being, mostly because of the high academic demands); (b) students were looking forward to their university experience but were concerned about failing or not finding their place; and (c) they reported a narrow range of learning, motivational, and emotional strategies. This study shows that students face significant learning and academic challenges during FYUP. A clear educational implication is that interventions should be implemented in earlier years to help the students be better prepared

Study of the damage evolution of the concrete under freeze-thaw cycles using traditional and non-traditional techniques

Some experiments have been performed to investigate the cyclic freeze-thaw deterioration of concrete, using traditional and non-traditional techniques. Two concrete mixes, with different pore structure, were tested in order to compare the behavior of a freeze-thaw resistant concrete from one that is not. One of the concretes was air entrained, high content of cement and low w/c ratio, and the other one was a lower cement content and higher w/c ratio, without air-entraining agent. Concrete specimens were studied under cyclic freeze-thaw conditions according to UNE-CENT/TS 12390-9 test, using 3% NaCl solution as freezing medium (CDF test: Capillary Suction, De-icing agent and Freeze-thaw Test). The temperature and relative humidity were measured during the cycles inside the specimens using embedded sensors placed at different heights from the surface in contact with the de-icing agent solution. Strain gauges were used to measure the strain variations at the surface of the specimens. Also, measurements of ultrasonic pulse velocity through the concrete specimens were taken before, during, and after the freeze-thaw cycles. According to the CDF test, the failure of the non-air-entraining agent concrete was observed before 28 freeze-thaw cycles; contrariwise, the scaling of the air-entraining agent concrete was only 0.10 kg/m 2 after 28 cycles, versus 3.23 kg/m 2 in the deteriorated concrete, after 28 cycles. Similar behavior was observed on the strain measurements. The residual strain in the deteriorated concrete after 28 cycles was 1150 m versus 65 m, in the air-entraining agent concrete. By means of monitoring the changes of ultrasonic pulse velocity during the freeze-thaw cycles, the deterioration of the tested specimens were assesse

Explaining residents' attitudes towards tourism and tourists: A new approach based on brand theory

ABSTRACT: Considering host communities as brands in the eyes of local people, our study examines how resident attitudes towards tourism and tourists are influenced by two brand factors: (a) equity perceptions related to their communities (i.e., brand equity) and (b) identification with their communities (i.e., brand identification). Our empirical results indicate that resident attitudes towards tourism are positively influenced by equity perceptions and identification, whereas attitudes towards tourists are positively influenced by attitudes towards tourism and identification with the community. These findings represent a step forward in better understanding how both types of resident attitudes are influenced by nontourism-related factors

Diseño de un Plan de Negocio Turístico para el Bar EMMA ubicado en Buena Vista del Sur Municipio de Diriamba, Departamento de Carazo durante el período de Agosto-Diciembre del 2007

El seminario de graduación tiene por objetivo: Favorecer y mejorar la sostenibilidad y la competitividad de las microempresas turísticas del departamento de Carazo hacia sus mercados, y así facilitar su permanencia en aquellos en que ya están insertas y su inserción en mercados futuros que se pretende alcanzar mediante el diseño del plan de negocios turístico elaborado por las carreras de Mercadotecnia, Turismo Sostenible y Contabilidad pública y finanzas. El siguiente documento del plan de negocio turístico está dividido en tres capítulos: Estudio de mercado: El presente estudio de mercado tiene como principal objetivo proporcionar información necesaria acerca de la demanda que puede tener un nuevo servicio en el Bar Emma, mediante un instrumento (Cuestionario) el cual se aplicó a la PEA ocupada en trabajos profesionales de los principales municipios del departamento de Carazo (Jinotepe, Diriamba, San Marcos) aplicando el instrumento a 46 personas. Una vez aplicado el instrumento se procedió a analizar la demanda y oferta que posee actualmente Bar Emma para determinar la demanda insatisfecha que no está siendo atendida. Además se establecieron sistemas de comercialización adecuados para comercializar el servicio turístico que ofertara Bar Emma tomando en cuenta las características propias del servicio, el mercado y la demanda. Posteriormente se determinó precios del servicio turístico a ofrecer considerando el margen de ganancia que espera el propietario y el nivel de ingreso del cliente ya que la mayoría su salario asciende a los C$ 4,000, contribuyendo el precio para la realización de las proyecciones de venta futuras del negocio (2008 al 2010). 5 Diseño del producto / servicio turístico: Luego de haber realizado el estudio de mercado se diseño el producto servicio turístico el cual inicia con la delimitación del área de estudio “Bar Emma”. El primer estudio consistió en identificar sus fortalezas, debilidades, oportunidades y amenazas la siguiente etapa la elaboración del modelo de oferta de servicios del bar, se realizaron observaciones, análisis y estudios de campo que permitieron la formulación de un nuevo concepto de empresa de servicios turísticos. Definido el modelo de desarrollo de infraestructura turística se procedió a realizar los estudios correspondientes para el diseño de productos / servicios turísticos del bar Emma que está compuesto por la planificación y organización del Bar y Restaurante, incluye los aspectos legales, organizacionales, administrativos, y las estrategias de marketing turísticos. Para el diseño se tomaron en cuenta los resultados obtenidos del estudio de mercado que incluyo la aplicación de encuestas a la Población Económicamente Activa Ocupada del departamento de Carazo y a los turistas nacionales y extranjeros que visitaban la ciudad de Granada. El diseño del producto / servicio turístico tiene por finalidad mejorar la oferta de la empresa, convirtiendo al bar Emma en una empresa prestadora de servicios turísticos “La Casona de Emma” bar y restaurante de un tenedor. 6 Estudio financiero: El estudio financiero consiste en elaborar un plan financiero que tiene como propósito determinar la Rentabilidad del negocio en tres año (2008, 2009 y 2010) para lo cual se utilizó herramientas financieras como: a) Elaborar un plan de Ventas que permitió proyectarlas en tres años. b) Elaborar un plan de compras que permitió proyectarlas en tres años. c) Elaborar un plan de gastos de operación para determinar el flujo de gastos de venta, administración y financieros de la Casona de Emma d) Elaborar un flujo de Efectivo que permitió el grado de liquides con que cuenta la empresa e) Determinamos un estudio a través de razones financiera para visualizar el desempeño financiero del negocio

Impact of a topical anaesthesia wound management formulation on pain, inflammation and reduction of secondary infections after tail docking in lambs

We examined several procedures for surgical tail docking; with and without general anaesthesia (GA), including the use of a topical wound gel formulation to provide pain relief (PR) and improve healing after surgery, containing local anaesthetics lignocaine and bupivacaine, with cetrimide and adrenalin. Forty-four lambs were recruited into four equal cohorts: Groups A and C, the tail was excised with a scalpel without anaesthesia or stitches; Groups B and D, the tail was surgically excised and stitched under GA; Groups C and D wounds were immediately sprayed with PR. Behavioural observations identified that Groups A and C displayed significantly less pain-related behaviours than Groups B and D shortly after the procedure, especially if treated with PR. Similarly, the mean of days when animals showed no signs of wound infection was longer in the groups not undergoing stitching. Finally, treatment with PR appeared to reduce the cortisol response and avoided the elevation of serum amyloid A in lambs where the tail was excised without general anaesthesia. In conclusion, surgical tail-docking without GA but where wounds are immediately sprayed with PR, appears as an affordable and more welfare-appropriate method for conducting tail docking in lambs

Un museo virtual proyecto inspirador para descubrir y aprender con investigación a través del diseño

Esta propuesta pretende socializar la experiencia de la cultura investigativa en la formación en programas de pregrados en la Facultad de Diseño, Comunicación y Bellas artes, integrando la investigación aplicada y la investigación formativa. Esta experiencia se muestra a través del proyecto institucional “Museo Virtual del Dr. Jorge Reynolds Pombo”, presentando las diferentes estrategias desde el aula, como son: Los proyectos pedagógicos de Aula, los Proyectos Integradores de Semestre, los semilleros de investigación y las opciones de grado, para la formación en investigación y su práctica, basados en núcleos problémicos inspirados en un proyecto real

Detection and elimination of pulse train instabilities in broadband fibre lasers using dispersion scan

[EN]We use self-calibrating dispersion scan to experimentally detect and quantify the presence of pulse train instabilities in ultrashort laser pulse trains. We numerically test our approach against two different types of pulse instability, namely second-order phase fluctuations and random phase instability, where the introduction of an adequate metric enables univocally quantifying the amount of instability. The approach is experimentally demonstrated with a supercontinuum fibre laser, where we observe and identify pulse train instabilities due to nonlinear propagation effects under anomalous dispersion conditions in the photonic crystal fibre used for spectral broadening. By replacing the latter with an all-normal dispersion fibre, we effectively correct the pulse train instability and increase the bandwidth of the generated coherent spectrum. This is further confirmed by temporal compression and measurement of the output pulses down to 15 fs using dispersion scan.The authors acknowledge funding from the Junta de Castilla y León (SA287P18) and FEDER funds; Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) (FIS2017-87970-R, EQC2018-004117-P, DI-15-07461, PTQ-15-07708); European EUREKA program CDTI-INNO-20171026; CCDR-N via the project Nanotechnology-based functional solutions (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000019); Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal (grants ‘UltraGraf’ M-ERA-NET2/0002/2016, M-ERA-NET2/0004/2016, UID/NAN/50024/2013, PTDC/FIS-OTI/32213/2017); Network of Extreme Conditions Laboratories - NECL and CCDR-N (NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000070, NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-022096); PT2020 (program 05/SI/2017 – SI I&DT Empresarial - DI, grant no. 33573; program 04/SI/2019 Projetos de I&D Industrial à Escala Europeia, grant no. 045932). BA acknowledges funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 798264

Worldwide prevalence of small ruminant lentiviruses in sheep: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Small Ruminant Lentiviruses (SRLV) are highly prevalent retroviruses with significant genetic diversity and antigenic heterogeneity that cause a progressive wasting disease of sheep called Maedi-visna. This work provides a systematic review and meta-analysis of the last 40 years (1981–2020) of scientific publications on SRLV individual and flock prevalence. Fifty-eight publications and 314 studies were included. Most articles used a single diagnostic test to estimate prevalence (77.6%), whereas articles using three or more tests were scarce (6.9%). Serological tests are more frequently used than direct methods and ELISA has progressively replaced AGID over the last decades. SRLV infection in sheep is widespread across the world, with Europe showing the highest individual prevalence (40.9%) and being the geographical area in which most studies have been performed. Africa, Asia, and North America show values between 16.7% to 21.8% at the individual level. South and Central America show the lowest individual SRLV prevalence (1.7%). There was a strong positive correlation between individual and flock prevalence (¿ = 0.728; p = 0.001). Despite the global importance of small ruminants, the coverage of knowledge on SRLV prevalence is patchy and inconsistent. There is a lack of a gold standard method and a defined sampling strategy among countries and continents

Efectos del ácido fólico sobre las características histológicas del páncreas en conejos alcohólicos adolescentes

Introducción: la  hepatitis y la pancreatitis constituyen las complicaciones más frecuentes del alcoholismo crónico. Objetivo: determinar el efecto del ácido fólico sobre las características histológicas del páncreas en la pancreatitis alcohólica de conejos machos adolescentes. Material y Métodos: se utilizaron 24 conejos adolescentes divididos en cuatro grupos experimentales: Grupo A (tratados con etanol), B (tratados con etanol y ácido fólico), C (tratados con ácido fólico) y D (control). A las 16  semanas de tratamiento se practicó  eutanasia; se extrajeron fragmentos del páncreas de 1cm3 para estudio histológico. Resultados: el grupo tratado con etanol presentó zonas normales alternando con zonas que mostraron material hialino y acidófilo en la luz de los conductos intra e interlobulillares y epitelio aplanado en los conductos intralobulillares pequeños, así como signos de tumefacción en los acinos. El grupo control y el tratado con ácido fólico no mostraron alteraciones histológicas. El grupo tratado con etanol y ácido fólico presentó una apariencia bastante normal con sólo escasos conductos alterados. Conclusiones: el consumo de etanol provocó alteraciones histológicas en el páncreas a la dosis y tiempo  utilizados, que pudieran catalogarse como una pancreatitis sub-aguda que fueron evitadas en gran medida con el tratamiento con ácido fólico. Palabras clave: alcoholismo, adolescencia, pancreatitis alcohólica, ácido fólico, conejo.</p