Hydrogeological model of Mijas mountain aquifers under different climate conditions (Málaga, Spain)

Carbonate aquifers represent an important source of freshwater, both for urban and agricultural uses. This is particularly true in semiarid regions, where intensive pumping has often led to aquifer overexploitation. One example is the Mijas mountain carbonate diffuse flow system (80 km2), located to the SW of the city of Malaga, Spain. From a geolo-gical standpoint, this area consists of Triassic dolomitic and calcareous rocks, which overlay Palaeozoic metapelites. The geological structure is formed by ESE-WNW folds and the me-tapelites anticlinal cores have divided the study area into four aquifer systems. The recharge of Mijas mountain aquifers comes from direct infiltration of rainfall, while pumping is the main discharge. To improve the knowledge of geological and hydrodynamic parameters, and therefore to improve water resources management, a hydrogeological model has been developed with Processing Modflow 8.0.42. Piezometric level and spring flows have been modelled, under steady and transient-flow conditions for a 35-year period. Five future scenarios were simulated for different rainfall and pumping conditions. Outcomes confirm that the water level evolution is determined by the quantity and distribution of rainfall during the hydrological year, with the same pumping rate. The results also suggest that current trends are likely to raise sustainability issues in the future.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Chilean Teachers Responses to and Understanding of Student Interaction with Diverse Peers in the Classroom

Chile’s educational inequality has sparked intense debates in recent years (Cabalin & Bellei, 2013; Stromquist & Sanyal, 2013). While there is a wide consensus concerning the crucial role that teachers play in fostering inclusion in the classroom, research suggests that Chilean teachers, often without intent or awareness, reinforce exclusionary student interactions marked by social class and gender hierarchies (Carrasco, Zamora, & Castillo, 2015; SERNAM, 2009; Tijoux, 2013). Although teachers’ motivation and concern for questions related to exclusion and inclusion in education are spreading, navigating exclusionary dynamics can be particularly challenging especially since teachers’ initial and continuing professional education seldom addresses these issues (Sleeter, Montecinos, & Jiménez, 2016). Informed by literature on social justice education, the legislative framework that regulates exclusion and non-discrimination policies and practices, and empirical research on social class and gender dynamics in Chilean schools, this exploratory study uses qualitative methods (Creswell, 2009) to gain a nuanced understanding of teachers’ understanding of and responses to discriminatory behavior in the classrooms. Two 1-hour interviews were conducted with eight Chilean urban middle school teachers from different gender and social class background. The first interview asked about their understanding of and responses to vignettes portraying social class or gender-based discrimination dynamics in a classroom; the second interview inquired about some of the professional, personal, and contextual factors that may be shaping their understandings and responses. Three significant findings emerged from the qualitative analysis of the data. First, teachers’ “big ideas” of exclusion and inclusion in education appear to be aligned with public policies focusing on non-discrimination, yet this alignment does not necessarily translate into more inclusive practices in their classrooms. Second, most of the teachers interviewed appear to respond to students’ discriminatory behavior based on prior personal experiences, or by the use of a trial-and-error approach, which suggests a lack of professional development opportunities focusing on how to proactively respond to these dynamics in the classroom. Third, teachers’ biographies, personal experiences, and knowledge of educational psychology inform their understanding of and responses to discriminatory behavior in the classrooms. These findings build on relevant literature discussing social class and gender dynamics in Chilean schools, suggesting the value of promoting professional development opportunities to help teachers bridge their understanding of exclusionary dynamics at the macro level with their responses at the micro level

Melanins and lipids in Lycoperdon perlatum fruit bodies

5 pages, 1 figure, 3 tables, 27 references.After sequential degradation with sodium persulphate and potassium permanganate, the characteristics of the dark pigments from the soil gasteromycete Lycoperdonperlatum were described. Several aromatic acids (phenolic and benzenecarboxylic) were detected by glc-ms of the degradation products, but the aliphatic content of these polymer fractions was predominant, containing a high proportion of protein and showing fatty acids similar to those previously found in the lipid fraction. An acid soluble fraction of melanin, of a highly aliphatic nature, was also present in Lycoperdon fruit bodies.Peer reviewe

The behaviour of diborane-reduced fulvic acids in flash pyrolysis

7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, 25 references.-- Publicado en el capítulo: Session 1: Isolation, Fractionation, and Characterization.-- Humic Substances in the Aquatic and Terrestrial Environment, Proceedings of an International Symposium, celebrado del 21-23, agosto, 1989 en Linköping, Suecia.-- Este volumen 33, referido en la Citación, consta de 514 páginas, 150 figuras y 57 tablas.It is suggested that the striking structural changes introduced in humic substances by reduction with diborane may be useful in studying the role of carboxyl groups in the behaviour of these substances in flash pyrolysis. In the preliminary results shown in this communication, pyrograms of two fulvic acids of different origins and the corresponding diborane reduced substances are compared. It was found that the diborane reduction was responsible for both qualitative and quantitative changes in the pyrolytic patterns of the fulvic acids. These patterns feflect the changes in the reactivity and structural stability of the fulvic materials caused by the disappearance of the carboxyl groups.Peer reviewe

El Community Manager en las principales empresas de España: una aproximación a su formación y su situación laboral

The number of companies developing their presence in Social Media is growing. As a consequence, new professional profiles have appeared. Nowadays the Community Manager is the most known. This research is aimed at analysing the profession of Community Manager in leading companies in Spain. Therefore, following a quantitative descriptive methodology based on the survey, this research aims to obtain data about the employment situation of these professionals as well as their training and their connection to the field of communication and public relations. The results obtained show that they are employees with a certain stability and seniority in their companies, linked to the field of communication, especially journalism, and who have undergone a process of retraining.El número de empresas que desarrollan su presencia en medios sociales es cada vez mayor. Como consecuencia, han aparecido nuevos perfiles profesionales. El Community Manager es el más conocido actualmente. El principal objetivo de esta investigación es analizar la profesión de Community Manager en las principales empresas de España. Por ello, a través de una metodología descriptiva de carácter cuantitativo basada en la encuesta, se pretende obtener datos acerca de la situación laboral de estos profesionales, así como de su formación y su relación con el campo de la comunicación y las relaciones públicas. Los resultados reflejan que se trata de empleados con cierta estabilidad y antigüedad en su empresa, vinculados al campo de la comunicación, especialmente el periodismo, que se han sometido a un proceso de reciclaje

Method to guide the design of project based learning activities based on educational theories

Project Based Learning (PjBL) has shown to be effective in engineering to acquire both professional and lifelong learning skills. Nevertheless, some authors assert it is not an easy instructional method to implement. It requires teaching skills and entails some difficulties for both students and teachers, specially related to the time and effort needed to put it into practice. In some countries, the implementation of PjBL has a limited scope, restricted to single courses that do not have a great repercussion in the curriculum. Moreover, some teachers tend to implement PjBL intuitively, based on their teaching experience instead of following important PjBL principies or instructional practices. To facilítate the proliferation and better establishment of PjBL in these countries, it is necessary to engage more teachers in best practices of this methodology, applying its main instructional principies and adequate educational theories. In this way, they could overeóme the difficulties mentioned above and obtain better results in their experiences. This study is aimed at defining a method to design activities based on PjBL. This method guides teachers in the use of PjBL principies and several instructional design models. In particular, the method deals with the definition and articulation of an appropriate problem. In addition, it faces three fundamental issues in active learning and especially in PjBL: Students' Motivation, Supporting Students' Work and Autonomous Working. This proposal is specially focused on those academic contexts in which instructors are starting to use this methodology and students are not used to dealing with ill-structured projeets, and consequently they could find important difficulties in its implementation. The method has been put into practice in three courses, where first results seem to be satisfactory according to a survey conducted by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Results spanning the last six years of this survey have been analyzed. Currently, it is being used to implement a multidisciplinary project which covers four courses in a Master's degree. Finally, a collaborative online tool and teacher workshop further supports this method

La oxidación con perborato como método para el estudio de la composición de biopolímeros orgánicos y de las sustancias húmicas del suelo

Comunicación presentada a la citada Bienal, celebrada del 16-20 de septiembre, 1985, en Barcelona, España.Se propone un método degradativo aplicable a las sustancias de tipo húmico basado en la des polimerización progresiva de la muestra por acción del peróxido de hidrógeno generado por un exceso de NaB02.H202 que reacciona simultáneamente con los propios grupos carboxilos del sustrato.Peer reviewe

Measuring the influence of Cooperative Learning and Project Based Learning on problem solvin skill.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects obtained after applying two active learning methodologies (cooperative learning and project based learning) to the achievement of the competence problem solving. This study was carried out at the Technical University of Madrid, where these methodologies were applied to two Operating Systems courses. The first hypothesis tested was whether the implementation of active learning methodologies favours the achievement of ?problem solving?. The second hypothesis was focused on testing if students with higher rates in problem solving competence obtain better results in their academic performance. The results indicated that active learning methodologies do not produce any significant change in the generic competence ?problem solving? during the period analysed. Concerning this, we consider that students should work with these methodologies for a longer period, besides having a specific training. Nevertheless, a close correlation between problem solving self appraisal and academic performance has been detected

Integration of three instructional design models within the organization of PBL activities

This work is aimed at defining a method to design courses based on Project Based Learning methodology. This proposal is specially focused on those academic contexts in which instructors are starting to use this methodology and students are not used to dealing with illstructured projects, and consequently they could find important difficulties in its implementation. To reach this goal, this method is based on several instructional design models, learning theories and PBL principles. In particular, the method faces three fundamental issues in active learning and especially in PBL: Students’ Motivation, Supporting Students’ Work and Autonomous Working. Engaging instructors to follow these models when they are designing the course facilitates the subsequent success during the course implementation. The method has been put into practice in three courses, where first results seem to be satisfactory according to a survey conducted by the University. Results of this survey over for the last six years have been analysed. Besides the description of the method, we present a collaborative online tool that supports i

Estudio de la naturaleza de las fracciones alteradas de lignina mediante degradación secuencial de la húmina heredada de los suelos

Comunicación presentada a la citada Bienal, celebrada del 16-20 de septiembre, 1985, en Barcelona, España.Es bien conocido que la elevada resistencia a la biodegradación de las ligninas se traduce en un largo periodo de residencia media incluso en los ecosistemas biológicamente más activos. Mientras que una parte de la lignina se convierte en compuestos de bajo peso molecular, también se acumula una fracción alterada que difiere del material de partida por la pérdida de grupos metoxilo e incorporación de grupos oxigenados y nitrogenados. En el caso del humus de los suelos, dichos procesos se conocen como de humificación directa, y conducen a la formación de la húmina heredada.Peer reviewe