Supporting Usability and Reusability Based on eLearning Standards

The IMS-QTI, and other related specifications have been developed to support the creation of reusable and pedagogically neutral assessment scenarios and content, as stated by the IMS Global Learning Consortium. In this paper we discuss how current specifications both constrain the design of assessment scenarios, and limit content reusability. We also suggest some solutions to overcome these limitations. The paper is based on our experience developing and testing an IMS QTI Lite compliant assessment authoring tool, QAed. It supports teacher centering, which is quite neglected when designing such tools. In the paper we also discuss how to make compatible standards support and user centering in eLearning applications and provide some recommendations for the design of the user interfaces

Evaluating the impact of strategic personnel policies using a MILP model: the public university case

Purpose: The main purpose of the paper is to evaluate the impact of diverse personnel policies around personnel promotion in the design of the strategic staff plan for a public university. The strategic staff planning consists in the determination of the size and composition of the workforce for an organization. Design/methodology/approach: The staff planning is solved using a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model. The MILP model represents the organizational structure of the university, the personnel categories and capacity decisions, the demand requirements, the required service level and budget restrictions. All these aspects are translated into a set of data, as well as the parameters and constraints building up the mathematical model for optimization. The required data for the model is adopted from a Spanish public university. Findings: The development of appropriate policies for personnel promotion can effectively reduce the number of dismissals while proposing a transition towards different preferable workforce structures in the university. Research limitations/implications: The long term staff plan for the university is solved by the MILP model considering a time horizon of 8 years. For this time horizon, the required input data is derived from current data of the university. Different scenarios are proposed considering different temporal trends for input data, such as in demand and admissible promotional ratios for workers. Originality/value: The literature review reports a lack of formalized procedures for staff planning in universities taking into account, at the same time, the regulations on hiring, dismissals, promotions and the workforce heterogeneity, all considered to optimize workforce size and composition addressing not only an economic criteria, but also the required workforce expertise and the quality in the service offered. This paper adopts a formalized procedure developed by the authors in previous works, and exploits it to assess the impact of various personnel policies in the staff planning for a particular university case, and this is the principal contribution of the paper.Postprint (published version

Utilización de polímeros de bajo band-gap en células fotovoltaicas

[SPA]En esta investigación se ha estudiado el efecto de la temperatura del tratamiento térmico, de la duración del proceso de spin coating y del solvent annealing y de la adición de diyodooctano (DIO) sobre los parámetros característicos de células solares orgánicas (OSCs) fabricadas con un polímero de bajo gap energético: el PDPP3T. Para ello, se fabricaron OSCs de heterounión dispersa por spin coating y se caracterizaron sus propiedades tras someterlas a distintos tratamientos. Los resultados revelaron que la realización del tratamiento térmico después de la deposición de los contactos metálicos conlleva la disminución del PCE de las células. Bajos tiempos de spin coating mejoran la eficiencia de las OSCs, la cual se incrementa aún más tras 1 h de solvent annealing. La adición de DIO a la disolución de la capa activa resulta en un aumento de la fotocorriente generada y en un descenso importante del FF de las células. El máximo PCE (1,84 %) se consiguió para la siguiente combinación de parámetros: ningún tratamiento térmico; tiempo de spin coating, 20 s; duración del solvent annealing, 1 h; y concentración de DIO de la capa activa, 2,5 % v/v.[ENG]In the present work we study the effect of the thermal annealing temperature, the spin coating and solvent annealing time and the addition of diiodooctane (DIO) to the active layer solution over the characteristic parameters of bulk heterojunction OSCs produced by spin coating with a low band-gap polymer: PDPP3T. The results revealed that the thermal annealing after contacts deposition reduces the PCE of the cells. Short spin coating times and 1 h of solvent annealing enhance the power conversion efficiency of the cells. The addition of DIO to the active layer solution results in higher short circuit photocurrent, but lower FF values. The maximum PCE value is 1,84 % and was obtained under the following experimental conditions: non thermal annealing; spin coating time, 20 s; solvent annealing duration, 1 h; and DIO concentration in active layer solution, 2,5 % v/v.Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería IndustrialUniversidad Politécnica de Cartagen

An approach to the reality of rural public schools in Andalusia

Se aborda la situación actual de las escuelas rurales analizando la legislación específica en Andalucía; valorando la realidad organizativo-didáctica que demandan y la situación del profesorado que accede a las mismas: permanencia efímera, así como formación inicial y continua no adecuadas. Las conclusiones evidencian que los centros rurales se resisten a sustituir el sentido de acogida de la comunidad educativa, por la prevalencia del rendimiento de cuentas, que deja a un lado la “integridad” del ser humano, determinante de la “integralidad” de los elementos constitutivos de la persona, así como la ausencia de arraigo de los maestros a esas realidades culturalesThe current situation of rural schools is analyzed by analyzing the specific legislation in Andalusia; valuing the organizational-didactic reality that they demand and the situation of the teaching staff that accesses them: ephemeral permanence, as well as inadequate initial and continuous training. The conclusions show that rural centers are reluctant to replace the sense of welcome of the educational community, because of the prevalence of accountability, which leaves aside the "integrity" of the human being, determinant of the “integrality” of the elements constitutive of the person, as well as the lack of roots of teachers to these cultural realitie

Toughness of the corona of two graphs

The toughness of a non-complete graph G = (V , E) is defined as τ (G) = min{|S|/ω(G − S)}, where the minimum is taken over all cutsets S of vertices of G and ω(G − S) denotes the number of components of the resultant graph G − S by deletion of S. The corona of two graphs G and H , written as G ◦ H , is the graph obtained by taking one copy of G and |V (G)| copies of H , and then joining the ith vertex of G to every vertex in the ith copy of H . In this paper, we investigate the toughness of this kind of graphs and obtain the exact value for the corona of two graphs belonging to some families as paths, cycles, stars, wheels or complete graphs.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia MTM2008-06620-C03-02Generalitat de Cataluña 1298 SGR2009Junta de Andalucía P06-FQM-0164

Stated preference survey for estimating passenger transfer penalties: design and application to Madrid

Transfers in multimodal urban trips imply a disutility for travellers, who perceive them as a penalty when using public transport. It is therefore important to estimate the utility associated to transfers and the main factors affecting it, to allow policymakers to reduce users´ perceived disutility and enhance their intention to use public transport. The aim of this paper is to develop a Stated Preference experiment to estimate the penalty perceived by commuters (workers and students) when making transfers in multimodal urban trips

Qualitative Analysis of the Professional Identity of Pre-Service Teachers

The professional teaching identity is a construct in continuous evolution. The university stage is the period in which pre-service teachers come into contact with the field in which they will later develop their professional practice. This article focuses its analysis on objectives such as the impact of the vocation on the professional teaching identity and the influence that the environment exerts on the professional identity of future teachers. For this, a qualitative investigation has been carried out, in which 23 students of the Infant Education degree have been interviewed. The content analysis and speech analysis have been carried out through the Nvivo 12 Plus software. which provided clues that have allowed examining the professional identity of Early Childhood Education teachers. Results corroborate the incidence of aspects such as experiences in the first years of life and the formation of attitudes in relation to others in the formation of the teaching vocation. As well as other stories such as the student\u27s personality, the stimulation of the environment or the existence of teachers with good practice in the construction of identity in aspiring teachers. The relevance of the university stage in the initial training in the profession is highlighted, especially the realization of practices in schools (practicum) as critical aspects in the identity construction of the participants, impacting on their professional decision, in the construction of their conception of education and teaching in addition to influencing a prospective view of the teacher who wishes to become

Adults and Elders and their use of ICTs. Media Competence of Digital Immigrants

The undisputed presence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in our lives has led to the development of new forms of social, interactive and critical relationships. This study aims to compare the level of media competencies, in relation to six established categories, of two population groups: adults (aged 18-55) and elders (aged over 55). The sample was composed of 714 people from the eight provinces making up the Spanish region of Andalusia. The study conducted was based on the selection and comparison of results of specific items drawn from two separate questionnaires, directed to both population groups. The data were statistically processed in accordance with the distribution of the sample proportions. The objective was to identify and contrast the degree of digital literacy of these two groups, in terms of their use, productivity and interaction with technological tools. The results highlight the needs and demands of both groups in terms of technology, critical reading and audio-visual production. It is notable that adults aged 18 to 30 have a higher level of expertise in the interaction and language dimensions, while those aged 30 and above perform better in critical and participative dimensions offered by such media, such as reflection, analysis and creation. In the over-55 group, there is a direct correlation between income bracket and level of media skills, the latter significantly diminishing with age