Didactic Unit for Students of 1st year of Compulsory Secondary Education: developing oral comprehension and production skills

This project consists in an innovative teaching program comprising eight lesson plans devised for a 1st year of Compulsory Secondary Education (CSE) classroom. Based on an audiolingual and a communicative language teaching (CLT) approach and on the teaching of pronunciation for English as an international language, the aim of this didactic unit is to promote oral comprehension and expression skills in English and to offer a range of opportunities for intelligible pronunciation practice. To this end, I have first drawn on certain methodological approaches to teaching foreign languages (FL) so as to provide an account of the different methodologies available and to make connections with those used to carry out this teaching plan. Then, I have given an account of the Basque Decree 236/2015 in order to become familiar with the general principles and the requirements that have to be fulfilled during secondary education as regards the communicative competence. Next, I have specified the objectives of this teaching plan in relation to the latter and I have made a comparison between the contents in the school syllabus and those in my teaching program before specifying the methodology I have used. After that, I have explained the way in which the students will be assessed always bearing in mind the objectives set in the Basque Curriculum and in this didactic unit. Finally, I have developed this didactic unit in eight lesson plans; however, for space restrictions I have included a single one in the project and I have attached the rest in the various annexes at the end of it. Despite not having been implemented yet, this didactic program has been designed to be applied in the future. Hence, it is susceptible to change after its potential application depending on the teacher’s observations during and after the actual teaching takes place and on the students’ grades and their opinion towards the new approac

Evaluation of Valorisation Strategies to Improve Grape Stems’ Nutritional Value as an Ingredient for Ruminants’ Diets

Grape stems are a by-product of wine production which is managed as a waste. Animal feeding arises as a potential alternative. However, its practical use may be compromised by its high lignin content. In this sense, hydrolysis emerges as a strategy to increase fibre digestibility. In addition, due to its high and variable moisture content, it should be dried to prevent microbial deterioration and a washing pre-treatment to reduce sugar content becomes necessary to minimize drying problems due to sugar melting at high temperatures. Within this framework, this study assessed the effect of washing and three different hydrolysis on the nutritive value of grape stems. A factorial design was carried out, with washing (with or without) and hydrolysis (without, enzymatic, alkali, and alkali-enzymatic) as factors. When the washing pre-treatment was not applied, only the alkali hydrolysis process maintained in vitro digestibility, but at the expense of a lower fermentation efficiency. When the washing pre-treatment was applied, fibre contents were similar among hydrolysis processes, but the alkali hydrolysis improved in vitro digestibility with similar fermentation efficiency. In conclusion, the alkali hydrolysis maintained or improved the grape stem nutritive value depending on whether the washing pre-treatment was applied or not.This paper is supported by the PRIMA program under grant agreement No 2013, project NEWFEED. The PRIMA program is supported by the European Union

Asistencia Ventricular definitiva como alternativa al trasplante cardíaco en un paciente ingresado en una unidad de cuidados intensivos: un caso clínico

Rincon-Burgui, R., Jimeno-San Martin, L., Elorza, J., et al. "Asistencia Ventricular definitiva como alternativa al trasplante cardíaco en un paciente ingresado en una unidad de cuidados intensivos: un caso clínico" en XXXVIII Congreso Nacional de la Sociedad Española de Enfermería Intensiva y Unidades Coronarias, celebrado en Santander (España) del 10 de junio de 2012 al 13 de junio de 201

Didactic Unit for Students of 1st year of Compulsory Secondary Education: developing oral comprehension and production skills

This project consists in an innovative teaching program comprising eight lesson plans devised for a 1st year of Compulsory Secondary Education (CSE) classroom. Based on an audiolingual and a communicative language teaching (CLT) approach and on the teaching of pronunciation for English as an international language, the aim of this didactic unit is to promote oral comprehension and expression skills in English and to offer a range of opportunities for intelligible pronunciation practice. To this end, I have first drawn on certain methodological approaches to teaching foreign languages (FL) so as to provide an account of the different methodologies available and to make connections with those used to carry out this teaching plan. Then, I have given an account of the Basque Decree 236/2015 in order to become familiar with the general principles and the requirements that have to be fulfilled during secondary education as regards the communicative competence. Next, I have specified the objectives of this teaching plan in relation to the latter and I have made a comparison between the contents in the school syllabus and those in my teaching program before specifying the methodology I have used. After that, I have explained the way in which the students will be assessed always bearing in mind the objectives set in the Basque Curriculum and in this didactic unit. Finally, I have developed this didactic unit in eight lesson plans; however, for space restrictions I have included a single one in the project and I have attached the rest in the various annexes at the end of it. Despite not having been implemented yet, this didactic program has been designed to be applied in the future. Hence, it is susceptible to change after its potential application depending on the teacher’s observations during and after the actual teaching takes place and on the students’ grades and their opinion towards the new approac

Evaluation of Valorisation Strategies to Improve Spent Coffee Grounds’ Nutritional Value as an Ingredient for Ruminants’ Diets

Lignin in animal diets is a limiting factor due to its low digestibility. This study assessed the effects of thermal or mechanical pre-treatments and enzymatic hydrolysis on spent coffee grounds’ (SCG) nutritional value and digestibility. A first trial studied the effect of thermal pre-treatment and hydrolysis with removal of the liquid part and a second trial studied mechanical pre-treatment and hydrolysis with and without removal of the liquid part. Autoclaving did not improve the enzymatic performance nor the nutritional value. Hydrolysis reduced the digestibility of the solid phase and impaired its ruminal fermentation efficiency. Hydrolysates without removing the liquid part improved its nutritional value, but not compared with unprocessed SCG. Grinding increased crude protein and reduced crude fibre and protein, which led to greater fermentation and in vitro digestibility. Thus, grinding emerges as the most promising valorisation strategy to improve SCG nutritional characteristics and their use for animal feed, contributing to the circular economy

Asistencia Ventricular definitiva como alternativa al trasplante cardíaco en un paciente ingresado en una unidad de cuidados intensivos: un caso clínico

Rincon-Burgui, R., Jimeno-San Martin, L., Elorza, J., et al. "Asistencia Ventricular definitiva como alternativa al trasplante cardíaco en un paciente ingresado en una unidad de cuidados intensivos: un caso clínico" en XXXVIII Congreso Nacional de la Sociedad Española de Enfermería Intensiva y Unidades Coronarias, celebrado en Santander (España) del 10 de junio de 2012 al 13 de junio de 201

Spent Coffee Grounds Alter Bacterial Communities in Latxa Dairy Ewes

Antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of spent coffee grounds (SCG) make them a potential ingredient in a diet for ruminants. This study investigated the effects of SCG on rumen microbiota. For 51 days, 36 dairy ewes were assigned to the experimental treatments (0, 30, 50, and 100 g SCG/kg). Ruminal samples were collected on day 50. DNA was extracted and subjected to paired-end Illumina sequencing of the V3-V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA genes. Bioinformatic analyses were performed using QIIME (v.1.9.0). SCG increased dose-dependently bacterial diversity and altered bacterial structure. Further, 60, 78, and 449 operational taxonomic unit (OUT) were different between control and 30, 50 and 100 g/kg SCG groups, respectively. Higher differences were observed between the control and 100 g/kg SCG group, where OTU of the genera Treponema, CF231, Butyrivibrio, BF331, Anaeroplasma, Blautia, Fibrobacter, and Clostridium were enriched with SCG. Correlations between volatile fatty acids (VFA) and bacterial taxa were sparser in the SCG groups and had little overlap. Certain bacterial taxa presented different signs of the correlation with VFA in SCG and control groups, but Butyrivibrio and Blautia consistently correlated with branched-chain VFA in all groups. SCG induced shifts in the ruminal bacterial community and altered the correlation networks among bacterial taxa and ruminal VFA

Modelling of PEM Fuel Cell Performance: Steady-State and Dynamic Experimental Validation

This paper reports on the modelling of a commercial 1.2 kW proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), based on interrelated electrical and thermal models. The electrical model proposed is based on the integration of the thermodynamic and electrochemical phenomena taking place in the FC whilst the thermal model is established from the FC thermal energy balance. The combination of both models makes it possible to predict the FC voltage, based on the current demanded and the ambient temperature. Furthermore, an experimental characterization is conducted and the parameters for the models associated with the FC electrical and thermal performance are obtained. The models are implemented in Matlab Simulink and validated in a number of operating environments, for steady-state and dynamic modes alike. In turn, the FC models are validated in an actual microgrid operating environment, through the series connection of 4 PEMFC. The simulations of the models precisely and accurately reproduce the FC electrical and thermal performance