Quantum Navigation and Ranking in Complex Networks

Complex networks are formal frameworks capturing the interdependencies between the elements of large systems and databases. This formalism allows to use network navigation methods to rank the importance that each constituent has on the global organization of the system. A key example is Pagerank navigation which is at the core of the most used search engine of the World Wide Web. Inspired in this classical algorithm, we define a quantum navigation method providing a unique ranking of the elements of a network. We analyze the convergence of quantum navigation to the stationary rank of networks and show that quantumness decreases the number of navigation steps before convergence. In addition, we show that quantum navigation allows to solve degeneracies found in classical ranks. By implementing the quantum algorithm in real networks, we confirm these improvements and show that quantum coherence unveils new hierarchical features about the global organization of complex systems.Comment: title changed, more real networks analyzed, version published in scientific report

An approach to build in situ models for the prediction of the decrease of academic engagement indicators in Massive Open Online Courses

Producción CientíficaThe early detection of learners who are expected to disengage with typical MOOC tasks such as watching lecture videos or submitting assignments is necessary to enable timely interventions aimed at preventing it. This can be done by predicting the decrease of academic engagement indicators that can be derived for di_erent MOOC tasks and computed for each learner. A posteriori prediction models can yield a good performance but cannot be built using the information that is available in an ongoing course at the moment the predictions are required. This paper proposes an approach to build in situ prediction models using such information. Models were derived following both approaches and employed to predict the decrease of three indicators that quantify the engagement of learners with the main tasks typically proposed in a MOOC: watching lectures, solving _nger exercises, and submitting assignments. The results show that in situ models yielded a good performance for the prediction of all engagement indicators, thus showing the feasibility of the proposed approach. This performance was very similar to that of a posteriori models, which have the clear disadvantage that they cannot be used to make predictions in an ongoing course based on its data.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Projects TIN2014-53199-C3-2-R (AEI, FEDER), TIN2017-85179-C3-2-R)Junta de Castilla y León (programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación - Ref. VA277U14)European Commission (Proyect 588438-EPP-1-2017-1-EL-EPPKA2-KA

Evaluation of the design of the AEdEm Programme for Emotional Education in Secondary Education

Las intervenciones sistemáticas en el ámbito de la educación emocional son un recurso cada vez más utilizado para facilitar entre los adolescentes la adquisición de competencias emocionales. La revisión realizada en este trabajo de dichas intervenciones muestra que la mayor parte de ellas adopta la forma de programas de expertos sin llegar a integrar sus actuaciones dentro del currículo escolar. El presente trabajo detalla la evaluación del diseño del programa de la asignatura de Educación Emocional -Programa AEdEm- (Sánchez Román y Sánchez Calleja, 2015), impartida como obligatoria en 1º y 2º de la Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO) de un Instituto de Educación Secundaria. Este programa, persigue el desarrollo de las competencias emocionales siguiendo las aportaciones de autores como Bisquerra y Pérez-Escoda (2007) y Goleman (1995). La evaluación se ha llevado a cabo a través de la validación por jueces. Hemos contado con 10 docentes de diversas universidades españolas especializados en la materia, con el objetivo de conocer la racionalidad de la propuesta y la coherencia de sus componentes. Los criterios siguiendo las aportaciones de Osuna (2000) han sido: relevancia, pertinencia, adecuación, utilidad y viabilidad. Utilizando como instrumentos una escala de evaluación, para los cuatro primeros y el análisis de cuellos de botella, para el último. Los resultados muestran que el diseño del programa es válido, concretamente los expertos opinan del programa que es muy adecuado y bastante relevante, pertinente y útil.Systematic interventions in the field of emotional education are increasingly used to facilitate the acquisition of emotional skills among adolescents. The evaluation of such interventions in this study shows that most of them take the form of expert programmes, without their activities being integrated within the school curriculum. This paper presents an evaluation of the design of the Emotional Education course - AEdEm - (Sánchez Román & Sánchez Calleja, 2015), delivered as part of the 1st and 2nd year Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO) programme in a High School in Spain. The programme aims to develop emotional skills as defined in the work of authors such as Bisquerra & Pérez-Escoda (2007) and Goleman (1995). The evaluation was carried out using the process of validation by expert judges. We involved 10 lecturers from different Spanish universities all specializing in this field, with the aim of substantiating the rationality of the proposal and the coherence of its components. In accordance with the conclusions of Osuna (2000) we applied the criteria of: importance, relevance, appropriateness, usefulness and viability. The instruments we used for these criteria were an evaluation scale for the first four and bottleneck analysis for the final criterion. The results show that the design of the programme is valid, and experts say the programme is very appropriate and quite important, relevant and usefu

El papel facilitador de las TIC en un proceso de aprendizaje colaborativo.

La docencia universitaria no siempre responde a las demandas que la sociedad impondrá a los ahora estudiantes de enseñanza suprior. En numerosas ocasiones el afán por dar respuesta al mayor número posible de contenidos conceptuales hace que se disperse la atnción, tanto de la enseñanza como del aprendizaje, de formas de hacer y actitudes. En el presente artículo exponemos una experiencia de aprendizaje colaborativo que en buena medida trata de paliar estos ʺefectos secundariosʺ, propios de los tradicionales métodos de enseñanza universitaria. Nos centraremos aquí en las innovaciones en las que el docente puede incidir de manera más directa, las relacionadas con el proceso de enseñanza, puesto que sobre los procesos de aprendizaje quien mejor puede hacerlo es el alumnado (Bartolomé, 2004). Desarrollamos la innovación propuesta en la asignatura Organización y Desarrollo de Instituciones Educativas de quinto curso dl plan de estudios de la licenciatura en Psicopedagogía. La citada asignatura representa un claro ejemplo de lo que podría ser una materia teórica dentro de cualquier plan de estudios superiores de nuestro país. Apoyándonos en el aprendizaje por proyectos (Thomas,2000) y en el aprendizaje colaborativo apoyado por ordenador (Computer Supported collaborative learning),(Koschmann,1994) pretendemos generar una dinámica de cambio en el estilo docente, que acerque al alumnado a las tareas que en su futuro profesional deberá asumir, a la vez que facilitamos la adquisición de un amplio abanico de contenidos, necesarios para su formación como psicopedagogos/as. Como discusión final aportamos algunas consecuencias, positivas y negativas, que se desprenden de los procesos formativos de estas características; nos centraremos esencialmente en los perfiles del alumno y del profesorado implicados en procesos de innovación educativotecnológica.University teaching not always responds to the requests that the society will impose to the present‐day students. Nowadays the enthusiasm to give answer to the bigger possible number of conceptual contentses makes that attention scatter of procedures and attitudes. In the present article we display a learning collaborative experience that tries to palliate these side effects of traditional university teaching methods. We develop the innovation proposed in the subject ʺOrganización y Desarrollo de Instituciones Educativaʺ of the fifth course of bachelorʹs degree in Psicopedagogist. Aforementioned subject represents an example of a theoretic matter within any superior curriculum in our country. Starting from the Project Based Lerning methods ( Thomas, 2000 ) and in the Computer Supported collaborative learning ones ,we intend to generate a dynamics of change in the teaching style, to bring near the students to the tasks than in their professional future will have to assume

Amorphous Al-Ti Powders Prepared by Mechanical Alloying and Consolidated by Electrical Resistance Sintering

A novel processing method for amorphous Al50Ti50 alloy, obtained by mechanical alloying and subsequently consolidated by electrical resistance sintering, has been investigated. The characterisation of the powders and the confirmation of the presence of amorphous phase have been carried out by laser diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry and transmission electron microscopy. The amorphous Al50Ti50 powders, milled for 75 h, have a high hardness and small plastic deformation capacity, not being possible to achieve green compacts for conventional sintering. Moreover, conventional sintering takes a long time, being not possible to avoid crystallisation. Amorphous powders have been consolidated by electrical resistance sintering. Electrically sintered compacts with different current intensities (7–8 kA) and processing times (0.8–1.6 s) show a porosity between 16.5 and 20%. The highest Vickers hardness of 662 HV is reached in the centre of an electrically sintered compact with 8 kA and 1.2 s from amorphous Al50Ti50 powder. The hardness results are compared with the values found in the literature.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain) / Feder (EU) DPI2015-69550-C2-1-PMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain) / Feder (EU) DPI2015-69550-C2-2-

Social and digital empowerment of vulnerable library users of the Murcia Regional Library, Spain

This research is based on two qualitative techniques applied to further understand the levels of digital risk or empowerment of vulnerable users visiting Murcia Regional Library. Library users and staff, social workers, and the three most recent library managers were interviewed; participatory observation was applied. We studied the exclusion factors of users, their motivation for using library services, and their information and digital competencies. We conclude that these persons use the library primarily as a center for both leisure and media Internet purposes and also occasionally to study or job search. Nevertheless, and above all, they value the library as a comfortable, normalized, and inclusive space, in which they feel integrated and where, without limits, they can stay for leisure or practical purpose

Diversity of Sinorhizobium (Ensifer) meliloti Bacteriophages in the Rhizosphere of Medicago marina: Myoviruses, Filamentous and N4-Like Podovirus

Using different Sinorhizobium meliloti strains as hosts, we isolated eight new virulent phages from the rhizosphere of the coastal legume Medicago marina. Half of the isolated phages showed a very narrow host range while the other half exhibited a wider host range within the strains tested. Electron microscopy studies showed that phages M_ort18, M_sf1.2, and M_sf3.33 belonged to the Myoviridae family with feature long, contractile tails and icosaedral head. Phages I_sf3.21 and I_sf3.10T appeared to have filamentous shape and produced turbid plaques, which is a characteristic of phages from the Inoviridae family. Phage P_ort11 is a member of the Podoviridae, with an icosahedral head and a short tail and was selected for further characterization and genome sequencing. P_ort11 contained linear, double-stranded DNA with a length of 75239 bp and 103 putative open reading frames. BLASTP analysis revealed strong similarities to Escherichia phage N4 and other N4-like phages. This is the first report of filamentous and N4-like phages that infect S. melilot

Caracterización del sistema de excitación de una máquina síncrona

El control de la tensión de una máquina sincrónica se realiza modificando la corriente de su devanado de campo. Para tal fin se requiere de una excitatriz la cual en este trabajo está conformada por un circuito rectificador monofásico basado en tiristores. Para conseguir un buen diseño desde el punto de vista del control, se requiere de su caracterización, la cual es obtenida usando una función trigonométrica inversa, que es la usada en este trabajo.Voltage control in a synchronous machine is made modifying the current of the field winding. One exciter circuit based in thyristor circuit rectifier is required to control the field current. To get a good design since the control viewpoint, is necessary a characterization with an inverse trigonometric function, as used in this paper