DEVELOPING TECHNICAL ENGLISH SKILLS FOR CIVIL ENGINEERING STUDENTS

Traditionally, Spanish schools of civil engineering provide their students a class on “Technical English” in order to develop their language skills. However, this class does not cover all the skills that the student would need in the labor market and mainly focuses in the reading and writing skills, and in a lower degree in the speaking and listening ones. This paper proposes a series of innovative and informal training activities, such as cine-forum on technical civil engineering topics and role playing on real professional situations, that allow Spanish civil engineering students to develop English skills, that can rarely be worked in the classroom (i.e. speaking, negotiating and conversing), which encourage debate, participation, and foster their self-confidence to speak about technical-English topics in public. Although the students’ level of English is much lower than expected, they all agree on the importance of technical English for their future career. The results also show the students’ lack in skills that are difficult to train in regular classes (speaking and talking). Consequently, this situation would require to provide complementary activities like the ones suggested in this project in order to develop these skills and increase the students’ demand for engineering classes taught in English

Развитие навыков технического английского языка для сту дентов-строителей

Traditionally, Spanish schools of civil engineering provide their students a class on “Technical English” in order to develop their language skills. However, this class does not cover all the skills that the student would need in the labor market and mainly focuses in the reading and writing skills, and in a lower degree in the speaking and listening ones. This paper proposes a series of innovative and informal training activities, such as cine-forum on technical civil engineering topics and role playing on real professional situations, that allow Spanish civil engineering students to develop English skills, that can rarely be worked in the classroom (i. e. speaking, negotiating and conversing), which encourage debate, participation, and foster their self-confidence to speak about technical-English topics in public. Although the students’ level of English is much lower than expected, they all agree on the importance of technical English for their future career. The results also show the students’ lack in skills that are difficult to train in regular classes (speaking and talking). Consequently, this situation would require to provide complementary activities like the ones suggested in this project in order to develop these skills and increase the students’ demand for engineering classes taught in English.Традиционно для студентов испанских строительных университетов проводятся курсы технического английского языка для повышения их уровня владения языком. Однако эти курсы ориентированы на чтение и письмо, в меньшей степени — на навыки разговорного языка и не охватывают всех компетенций, требующихся на рынке труда. В этой статье предлагается ряд новых и неформальных учебных методов (использование кинокамер при изучении вопросов гражданского строительства и ролевой игры в реальных профессиональных ситуациях), которые позволяют испанским студентам-строителям развивать навыки английского языка, которые трудно получить в обычном классе, что развивает уверенность, позволяет студентам овладевать навыками ведения переговоров, бесед, участвовать в дискуссиях. Хотя уровень владения английским языком испанских студентов намного ниже, чем ожидалось, все они согласны с важностью овладения техническим английским для дальнейшей карьеры. Результаты опросов также показывают отсутствие у студентов навыков, которые трудно тренировать в обычных классах (речь и разговоры). Таким образом, для развития навыков владения английским языком для студентов‑строителей требуются дополнительные методики, которые предлагаются в этом проекте

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

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Optimal traffic plate scanning location for OD trip matrix and route estimation in road networks

During the last decade, there has been a substantial interest in how to determine the optimal number and locations of traffic counters for origin-destination (OD) trip matrices estimation. On the contrary, the optimal allocation of plate scanning devices has received very limited attention, even though several authors have demonstrated that plate scanning (route identification) techniques are much more informative than those based on traditional link count information. This paper provides techniques for obtaining the optimal number and location of plate scanning devices for a given prior OD distribution pattern under different situations, i.e. maximum route identifiability or budget constraints. Two rules analogous to the counting location problem are developed, and several integer linear programming models fulfilling these rules are proposed. The proposed methods are finally illustrated by their application into Nguyen-Dupuis and Cuenca networks.Plate scanning OD trip matrix estimation Route identification Traffic count location problem

La información a largo plazo como herramienta clave para la evaluación de los cambios ambientales en las tablas de Daimiel: LTER-Daimiel

La mayor parte de los procesos ecológicos sólo pueden entenderse desde una perspectiva temporal larga. Los ecosistemas están cambiando de un modo tan complejo que todavía estamos intentando detectar cómo lo hacen y a qué ritmo ante la compleja red de estresores a que están sometidos. Las observaciones a largo plazo existentes en el nodo LTER-Daimiel nos permiten evaluar las causas y los efectos de los principales cambios ambientales ocurridos en Las Tablas de Daimiel durante los últimos 70 años. En este trabajo presentamos tres ejemplos que ponen de manifiesto la validez de las observaciones a largo plazo en la interpretación de diversos fenómenos ambientales ocurridos en el humedal, en contraposición a lo que proporcionan registros temporales limitados

Supplementary Material for: Evaluation of the CRUSADE Risk Score for Predicting Major Bleeding in Patients with Concomitant Kidney Dysfunction and Acute Coronary Syndromes

<p><b><i>Background:</i></b> Kidney dysfunction (KD) has been associated with increased risk for major bleeding (MB) in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and may be in part related to an underuse of evidence-based therapies. Our aim was to assess the predictive ability of the Can Rapid risk stratification of Unstable angina patients Suppress ADverse outcomes with Early implementation of the ACC/AHA guidelines (CRUSADE) risk score in patients with concomitant ACS and chronic kidney disease. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We conducted a retrospective analysis of a prospective registry including 1,587 ACS patients. In-hospital MB was prospectively recorded according to the CRUSADE and Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC) criteria. KD was defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 mL/min/1.73 m². <b><i>Results:</i></b> The predictive ability of the CRUSADE risk score was assessed by discrimination and calibration analyses. A total of 465 (29%) subjects had KD. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, we found high CRUSADE risk score values to be associated with a higher rate of in-hospital MB; however, among patients with KD, it was not associated with BARC MB. Regardless of the MB definition, the predictive ability of the CRUSADE score in patients with KD was lower: area under the curve (AUC) 0.71 versus 0.79, <i>p</i> = 0.03 for CRUSADE MB and AUC 0.65 versus 0.75, <i>p</i> = 0.02 for BARC MB. Hosmer-Lemeshow analyses showed a good calibration in all renal function subgroups for both MB definitions (all <i>p </i>values >0.3). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> The CRUSADE risk score shows a lower accuracy for predicting in-hospital MB in KD patients compared to those without KD.</p

Gender policies and advertising and marketing practices that affect women&#x0027;s health

Background: The three papers of this doctoral thesis are based on the social construction of reality through the analysis of communication relating to health issues. We have analysed the contents of parliamentary, institutional, and mass media to uncover whether their communications create, transmit, and perpetuate gender biases and/or stereotypes, which may have an impact on people&#x0027;s health, with a particular focus on women. Objective: To analyse decision making and the creation of gender awareness policies and actions affecting women&#x0027;s health: (1) political debates about abortion, (2) gender awareness communication campaigns and educational actions, and (3) pharmaceutical advertising strategies. Design: Quantitative and qualitative methods were employed, and the research included observational studies and systematic reviews. To apply a gender perspective, we used the level of gender observation proposed by S. Harding, which states that: (1) gender is the basis of social norms and (2) gender is one of the organisers of the social structure. Results: Sixty percentage of the bills concerning abortion introduced in the Spanish Parliament were initiated and led by pro-choice women&#x0027;s groups. Seventy-nine percent of institutional initiatives aimed at promoting equality awareness and were in the form of educational actions, while unconventional advertising accounted for 6 percent. Both initiatives focused on occupational equality, and very few actions addressed issues such as shared responsibility or public policy. With regard to pharmaceutical advertising, similar traditional male&#x2013;female gender roles were used between 1975 and 2005. Conclusions: Gender sensitivity continues to be essential in changing the established gender system in Spanish institutions, which has a direct and indirect impact on health. Greater participation of women in public policy and decision-making are critical for womens&#x2019; health, such as the issue of abortion. The predominance of women as the target group of institutional gender awareness campaigns proves that the gender perspective still lacks the promotion of shared responsibilities between men and women. There is a need for institutions that act as &#x2018;policy watchdogs&#x2019; to control the gender biases in mass media and pharmaceutical marketing as well as to ensure the proper implementation and maintenance of Spanish equality laws