Noves estratègies sintètiques per la síntesi de plataformes peptídiques multifuncionals amb potencial osteoinductiu

Treballs Finals de Grau de Química, Facultat de Química, Universitat de Barcelona, Any: 2019, Tutors: Vicente Marchán Sancho, Carles Mas Moruno, Helena Martín GómezIn biomaterials science, peptides are widely used to functionalize material surfaces and confer biological potential (i.e. bioactivity) to otherwise inert substrates. The attachment of biomolecules to material surfaces is commonly achieved by using specific anchors with chemical affinity for the substrates. Well-known examples include the use of amines to bind polymers through amide bonds, thiols to bind gold substrates or catechol groups to bind titanium and other metallic oxides. However, this implies that each synthesized peptide can be used only for a narrow range of materials. Thus, in most cases, changing the material of study requires synthesizing the same peptide with a distinct anchor, resulting in time-consuming and repetitive procedures. To solve this, this project aims to develop a novel and versatile click-based solid-phase synthetic strategy to prepare peptidic coatings for a variety of biomaterials. In detail, the project focuses on the solid-phase peptide synthesis of a branched peptidic structure (containing the RGD and DWIVA peptide sequences) and the optimization of the copper-catalysed azide-alkyne cycloaddition reaction to introduce three anchoring groups, namely an amine, a thiol and a catechol, to the peptidic backbone in solid phase. By means of solid-phase synthetic methods and characterization by analytical HPLC and mass spectrometry, the feasibility of this strategy has been demonstrated. It is expected this new method will find applications to coat a wide range of biomaterials in a straightforward and cost-efficient fashion

Los efectos distributivos del gasto público en enseñanza superior en España

Nuestro objetivo esencial consiste en calcular y analizar los efectos distributivos derivados de las subvenciones generales y específicas que se conceden a los estudiantes universitarios. De esta forma, podremos conocer en qué dirección redistribuyen la renta los programas de gasto público en enseñanza superior en España, con lo que aportaremos algo de luz al debate existente sobre la oportunidad de modificar el actual sistema de financiación de la enseñanza superior en España, y los programas de ayudas y becas al estudiante

Hacia la Educación Primaria bilingüe: Diseño de actividades AICLE para Plástica y Ciencias Sociales

Bilingual education has become an education innovation and research trend in the last ten years. In fact, it is a priority in the current education system. Therefore, training centres, such as Faculties of Education, must provide students with the necessary tools and knowledge to become professional teachers in plurilingual and pluricultural environments. Considering this, the present paper has two main aims: to show an innovation project carried out in the Bilingual Programme of the Faculty of Education in Albacete consisting in the creation of CLIL resources for Arts and Social Sciences; and to explain how this experience was an opportunity to delve into CLIL and other specific needs future teachers will have in plurilingual Primary schools. This study is framed within education innovation and follows action research, classroom research and the ethnographic case study approach. The results bring to light the benefits of this kind of projects on future teachers’ training, as well as their school placements and undergraduate dissertations, and demonstrate that Faculties of Education are working towards bringing the reality of schools to trainee teachers.La educación bilingüe se ha convertido en una tendencia de innovación e investigación educativa durante los últimos diez años; de hecho, es una prioridad del sistema educativo actual. Por tanto, los centros de formación, como las Facultades de Educación, deben proporcionar al alumno las herramientas y los conocimientos necesarios para que sean buenos profesionales en sus futuros centros plurilingües y pluriculturales. Así, este trabajo tiene dos objetivos: mostrar la implementación de un proyecto de innovación en la Modalidad Bilingüe de la Facultad de Educación de Albacete, que consistió en el diseño de recursos AICLE (Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos y Lenguas Extranjeras) para Plástica y Ciencias Sociales; y explicar cómo esta experiencia supuso una oportunidad para profundizar en CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Language, equivalente a AICLE) y otras necesidades específicas de los futuros maestros de Primaria en colegios plurilingües. Este estudio se enmarca en la innovación educativa y se sirve de la investigación-acción, la investigación en el aula y el enfoque etnográfico de estudios de caso. Los resultados pondrán de manifiesto los beneficios de este tipo de proyectos en la formación de los futuros maestros, en sus prácticas y Trabajo de Fin de Grado, y demostrarán que las mencionadas Facultades están trabajando para acercar la realidad de los colegios a las aulas universitarias

Performance in mathematics and digit ratio: evidence from 500 university students

We analyze the association between performance in a mathematics course among university students at the Faculty of Business and Economics and exposure to prenatal sex hormones using the second-to-fourth digit ratio. In a sample of 516 freshmen (304 women), we find an inverted U-shaped relationship between digit ratio and mathematics grades. Males and females show the same pattern in that subjects with both high and low digit ratios earn lower grades in mathematics, while subjects with the highest grades in mathematics have intermediate digit ratios. We also find that there is no statistically significant relationship between the digit ratio and the average grades earned by students in other courses except mathematics taken in the first semester at the Faculty of Business and Economics.Financial Support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (ECO2010-17049) and the University of Granada (PID 11-111)

Present and future of school intergenerational programmes: A study from Spain

Background: International research suggests the value of school Intergenerational Programmes (IPs) and intergenerational schools. However, there is a scarcity of studies at country level exploring the process of expanding from the introduction of intergenerational activities to adopting an intergenerational school model. Purpose: This study sought to further the understanding of the ways in which IPs are being incorporated into schools in Spain. Method: Primary and secondary schools in Spain that were carrying out intergenerational activities with educational purposes were identified. A sample of 25 schools was examined and key personnel were interviewed. Data from seven schools which had incorporated intergenerational work in the format of a programme were selected for further analysis. Qualitative thematic analysis of the seven selected cases ensued, in order to describe IP features including programme content and integration of the IP in the school curriculum. Findings: The analysis of the data from key personnel interviews found that intergenerational programmes were only partially integrated in the everyday life and academic activity of sampled schools. However, it was evident that key personnel also considered that the children who were participating felt affection for the older people involved and appeared to enjoy an authentic relationship with them; older participants also registered some apparent benefits. Key personnel concluded that these programmes did achieve their goals and bring about a high level of satisfaction. However, the study also indicated that the school IPs that were analysed were the fruit of individual rather than institutional interests, suggesting limited stakeholder involvement on the part of public authorities. Conclusions: Our study suggests that schools in Spain have not yet developed sufficiently to implement intergenerational education projects in line with international intergenerational schools elsewhere. Further analysis would be necessary to better comprehend the reasons for what seems to limit the integration and embedding of IPs into the curriculum. The study highlights a need to understand further how to infuse an intergenerational component in current formal pedagogical and educational school practices, with the aim of utilising the benefits of IPs for the improvement of compulsory education

Do envy and compassion pave the way to unhappiness? Social preferences and life satisfaction in a Spanish city

Mounting evidence shows that people’s self-reported life satisfaction (LS) is negatively related to income inequality. Under the interpretation that the relationship between macro-level variables and LS reflects individuals’ social preferences, this finding indicates that most people display inequality-averse preferences. We explore the relationship between self-reports on inequality aversion and LS in a citywide representative survey/experiment conducted in Spain. If self-reported well-being can be used to infer people’s social preferences, LS should correlate negatively with both “envy” and “compassion” scores (i.e., how much one suffers from disadvantageous and advantageous inequality, respectively). We find that LS relates negatively to envy but positively to compassion, which would imply that suffering from observing poorer others, paradoxically, increases well-being. Using an incentivized Dictator Game as a measure of generous behavior, we reject the hypothesis that the positive link between compassion and LS is actually driven by generosity. We discuss how these findings could indicate that the way LS is used to assess social preferences in the population should be revised

Propuesta de intervención en la educación musical en la etapa de educación infantil desde una perspectiva multicultural

Debido al notable aumento de población extranjera en nuestro país, la educación ha tenido que adaptarse para ofrecer una respuesta donde se fomente la interculturalidad a través de las distintas materias de la etapa de Educación Infantil. En concreto, nuestro interés se centra en cómo la interculturalidad se ha implementado en el ámbito musical. En esta investigación, ofrecemos una visión de la actual implicación de los centros en fomentar la interculturalidad. Exploramos además cuál es la formación recibida por los docentes de Educación Infantil en lo que a música e interculturalidad se refiere.Grado en Educación Infanti