Developing Requests in EFL Instructional Contexts: The Role of Age

Treball Final de Grau en Estudis Anglesos. Codi: EA0938. Curs acadèmic: 2019/2020Over the last five decades, the field of pragmatics has grown largely, so many researchers have attempted to provide useful approaches to teach pragmatics in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) educational contexts. As English is taught all around the world, interaction between foreigners can only be achieved by this common language. However, speakers’ pragmatic competence is necessary to make this interaction successful since it involves not only knowing the grammatical rules but also the behaviours that go beyond language. However, coursebooks used in EFL contexts do not provide the necessary pragmatic information to develop speakers’ pragmatic knowledge (Kasper 2001; Kasper & Roever 2005). Hence, this paper proposes a teaching approach covering such deficiencies by taking into account the role of age in the instruction of request speech acts. Following this purpose, this study first explores significant research in pragmatics such as the speech act theory (Austin, 1962 & Searle, 1969) and the politeness theory (Brown and Levinson, 1987). Then, focusing on communicative competence, a detailed representation of the different models proposed throughout the years is developed. Afterwards, the theoretical conditions for Second Language (SL) learning are described in order to apply and consider them in the present teaching proposal. The last two sections of the theoretical background are devoted to the explanation of the request speech act and the role of age in the instruction of it. Regarding the pedagogical proposal, input, output and feedback are provided in a teaching plan disaggregated into five main processes following Usó-Juan’s (2010) approach for the instruction of requests

Los fueros y ordenanzas medievales: embrión del gobierno de los cabildos coloniales hispanoamericanos

Las concesiones otorgadas por los reyes y señores cristianos para favorecer la repoblación de los lugares reconquistados militarmente a los musulmanes se transformaron en fueros y cartas de población. Con posterioridad, dichos elementos jurídicos dieron paso a las ordenanzas concejiles que permitieron el desarrollo normativo de variados aspectos de los diferentes concejos. Las ordenanzas se limitaron a normalizar el ámbito territorial y competencial que les era propio. El descubrimiento de tierras americanas llevó consigo el establecimiento de múltiples asentamientos de población que necesitaron de leyes para el buen gobierno de los mismos. Las ordenanzas municipales bajomedievales, bien de iniciativa comunal o de inspiración institucional externa, sirvieron de fuente legislativa para la organización de la sociedad urbana colonial.The concessions initially granted by kings and Christian lords to attract settlers to the lands conquered from the Muslims were later transformed into fueros and charters. In turn, these fueros gave way to by-laws (ordenanzas). The discovery of America brought with it the establishment of numerous settlements, which needed their own laws and regulations. The by-laws of the Late Middle Ages served as a model for the organisation of these new colonial settlements

Development of a new advanced elastoplastic constitutive model that considers soil behavior at small strains: the EPHYSS model

The Elastoplastic Hysteretic Small Strain (EPHYSS) model is an advanced elastoplastic model as a result from the combination of the Hysteretic Quasi-Hypoelastic (HQH) model that considers strain-induced anisotropy and can reproduce the nonlinear reversible, hysteretic and dependent on recent history soil behavior, and the Cap-Cone Hardening Soil Modified (HSMOD) model that can reproduce soil plastic behavior. EPHYSS model uses state variables that define different short and long-term memory levels which provide it with robustness for the reproduction of soil hysteretic behavior and confers it a great versatility and adaptability to experimental results. It also corrects some inconsistencies of the Hardening Soil with Small Strain Stiffness (HS-SS) model of Plaxis whose effects can have a considerable influence on the numerical simulations of boundary problems. The performance of EPHYSS and a comparison with the HS-SS model is presented in some experimental and numerical tests, and in a boundary value problem of a large excavation in Barcelona.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Low lateral stiffness underground structures for improved seismic performance: application to the Kobe Daikai station

Underground cut-and-cover structures are commonly designed as rigid box sections; however, in practical applications, connections between walls and slabs are frequently rather hinged (because of ease of construction). The abovementioned rigid configurations are highly sensitive to seismic ground motions, due to their important lateral stiffness and internal hyperstaticity; conversely, structures with articulated (or sliding) members have a smaller lateral stiffness, and would be significantly less affected by seismic waves, as would simply accommodate the imposed strains. This flexible solution has been widely considered in practice, but has received little attention from the academic community; this paper tries to close this gap by investigating preliminarily the seismic performance of box-section underground structures with hinged or sliding members. The well-known Daikai Station, damaged by the 1995 Kobe earthquake is analyzed in this paper as a highly relevant case study. An alternative solution is proposed for that station; both simplified and precise calculations have been performed. The simplified calculations are linear static analyses of the station-soil system; the soil-structure interaction is represented by a simple classical model. The precise calculations are nonlinear time-history analyses of an integrated finite element model of the station and the surrounding soil. Both types of analyses refer to the traditional and the proposed solutions of the station. The results of the static and dynamic analyses are satisfactorily compared; they prove that the proposed flexible solution is fully feasible and provides better seismic performance. Finally, another paper by the same authors presented a supplementary case study on a 2-story 3-bay subway station; the outcomes of these two studies could contribute to ground this constructive solution for shallow underground rectangular cut-and-cover structures in seismic areas (both for new construction and retrofit). Noticeably, this approach can be utilized for both cast-in-place and precast structures.This research has been partially funded by the Spanish Research Agency (AEI) of the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICIN) through project with reference: PID2020-117374RB-I00 / AEI / 10.13039/501100011033. The study of Mr. Xiangbo Bu in the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC-BarcelonaTech) is funded by Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC No. 201906560013). These supports are gratefully acknowledged.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Novel seismic design solution for underground structures. Case study of a 2-story 3-bay subway station

This paper proposes an innovative seismic design approach for shallow rectangular cut-and-cover underground subway or railway stations. The traditional approach is to design rigid frame-like structures by connecting rigidly the main horizontal and vertical structural elements (side walls, top, bottom and intermediate slabs, and central columns); on the contrary, the proposed strategy consists of joining them by means of hinged and sliding connections, in order to obtain structures whose lateral stiffness is almost zero. The objective of this approach is to be able to adapt to the transverse racking motion imposed by the seismic ground motion without significantly increasing the internal forces in the structural members. The aforementioned flexibility of the joints is achieved by interposing rubber bearings between the connected structural elements. As a case study, an existing 2-story 3-bay subway station located in Southwest China is redesigned with the proposed technology; its seismic performance is numerically investigated by performing nonlinear dynamic analyses for a number of horizontal transverse input ground motions (accelerograms) representing the site seismicity. Such inputs are scaled to fit PGAs ranging from 0.1 to 0.6 g. As expected, the results of the time-history analyses reveal that the seismic damage to the structural members is significantly alleviated in the sliding-hinged alternative solution. This conclusion can be understood as a preliminary confirmation of the satisfactory seismic performance of the proposed technology.This work has received support from the Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC No. 201906560013) with UPC - Barcelona Tech - CSC joint project, which is gratefully acknowledged.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Criminal liability of corporate officers for complicity in human rights violations. The «Ford-Müller» case in Argentina

Al hilo de las sentencias del caso «Ford-Müller» en Argentina, por las que dos dirigentes de la empresa Ford Motor Argentina fueron condenados por complicidad en delitos cometidos durante la Dictadura por las fuerzas armadas y de seguridad contra trabajadores con lazos sindicales, el presente artículo analiza algunas de las dificultades que enfrentan los tribunales penales nacionales al atribuir responsabilidad penal a directivos de empresas multinacionales por complicidad en violaciones de los derechos humanos. Concretamente, el trabajo se centra en los problemas de aplicabilidad de ciertos criterios de imputación provenientes del Derecho penal internacional y el Derecho internacional de los derechos humanos para atribuir responsabilidad penal con base en tipos penales nacionales.On the basis of the Ford-Müller-case judgments in Argentina, by which two Ford Motor Argentina’s corporate officers were convicted for complicity in crimes committed during the dictatorship by the armed and security forces against unionised workers, this article analyses some of the difficulties faced by national criminal courts when attributing criminal liability to multinational companies’ corporate officers for complicity in human rights violations. Specifically addressed is the problema facecd when applicating attribution criteria from International Criminal Law and Human Rights International Law to adscribe criminal liability based on national criminal legal figures

El pensamiento musical de Alfred Schutz en el período bergsoniano (1924-1928)

This paper aims to study the musical thought of Alfred Schutz during the so called Bergsonian period from 1924 to 1928. Starting from the theory of life forms as strata of consciousness we will delve into the Bergsonian concept of durée in the musical field and we will follow Schutz’s reflections on the combination of word, music, gesture and action in opera, as well as the two different ways of approaching the essence of opera, that is, to place and interpret the Thou-relationship before the spectator, in the work of Mozart and Wagner.El presente trabajo estudia el pensamiento musical de Alfred Schutz durante el denominado período bergsoniano que abarca los años 1924 a 1928. Partiendo de la teoría de las formas de vida como estratos de la conciencia profundizaremos en el concepto bergsoniano de durée en el ámbito musical y seguiremos las reflexiones de Schutz sobre la combinación de palabra, música, gesto y acción en la ópera, así como de las dos diferentes maneras de abordar la esencia de la ópera, esto es, la presentación e interpretación de la relación Tú delante del espectador, en la obra de Mozart y Wagner

La inteligencia emocional en el ámbito enfermero

[EN]Este trabajo pretende mediante una revisión bibliográfica dar a conocer, en términos sencillos, el concepto de Inteligencia emocional (I.E) en general y específicamente en el ámbito enfermero y estudiantes de enfermería, a través de un proceso que sigue las distintas teorías que han tomado importancia a lo largo del tiempo, desde Salovey y Mayer, recalcando la importancia del maestro por excelencia Daniel Goleman. En el marco teórico nos vemos inmersos en la práctica de la IE y vamos accediendo, a través de los puntos clave teóricos en el ámbito sanitario y más concretamente en la Enfermería, partiendo del modelo biopsicosocial sanitario que tenemos. Se intentará ver cómo aplicar la IE ante los pacientes, dando ciertos consejos a través del marco teórico a aplicar en la propia Enfermería y en el desarrollo del estudiante en prácticas, en cuanto a la autorregulación de sus emociones. Se realizará una breve descripción de los avances y nuevos descubrimientos sobre el tema tratado a través de las bases neurofisiológicas que nos llevan a ser como somos. Finalmente podremos observar que la inteligencia emocional comienza su desarrollo en la infancia y que con el uso de la neuroplasticidad se pueden adquirir nuevas características para desenvolverse dentro de este ámbito. Y sobre todo cómo la autoconciencia, base de la empatía, es imprescindible para un mejor desarrollo de nuestro trabajo como enfermeros/as

Conjunto de pinturas murales en el Parque Alcosa. Análisis del contexto y del proceso de realización

[ES] Consiste en un conjunto de pinturas murales realizadas en el Parque Alcosa de Alfafar, Valencia, según el contexto histórico-social y localización en el que se encuentra cada mural.[EN] It consists of a set of mural paintings made in the Alcosa Park of Alfafar, Valencia, according to the historical-social context and location where each mural is located.López Villalba, A. (2019). Conjunto de pinturas murales en el Parque Alcosa. Análisis del contexto y del proceso de realización. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/131783TFG