The cooperative learning: Understanding and increasing the knowledge of the facilities design without a professor extra effort

[EN] Lecturing has been prevailing in higher education. This teaching and learning model hinders the understanding of fundamental concepts in practical courses. The cooperative learning allows an improvement in the student’s achievements, attitudes and persistence. The main goal of this work is to implement the cooperative learning in the teaching of the design of industrial facilities. This methodology aims to solve part of the problems of recently graduate students when they undertake engineering projects lacking knowledge. Finally, the results of an end-of-course satisfaction survey, conducted to assess this experience, are also presented.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Servicio de Orientación y Formación Docente (Guidance and Teacher Education Service) from University of Extremadura under the context of actions for the Consolidation of the European Higher Education at the University of Extremadura.Ferrera, C.; Fernández, J.; Marcos, A. (2014). The cooperative learning: Understanding and increasing the knowledge of the facilities design without a professor extra effort. Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences. 1(2):1-18. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/muse.2014.3262.SWORD11812Aubert, A., Flecha, A., García, C., Flecha, R. and Racionero, S. (2008). Aprendizaje dialógico en la sociedad de la Información. Barcelona. Ed. Hipatia.Aubert, A., Medina, A. and Sánchez, M., (2000). De las agrupaciones flexibles a los grupos interactivos. VIII Conferencia de sociología de la educación, Madrid, Espa-a.Castells M., Flecha, R., Freire, P., Giroux, H., Macedo, D. and Willis, P. (1994). Nuevas perspectivas críticas en educación. Ed Paredes.Chickering, A. W. and Gamson, Z. F. (1987). Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education. Wingspread Journal.Dale, E. (1946). Audio-visual methods in teaching. New York: The Dryden Press.Downing, C. E. and Liu, C. (2012). Getting Students to Teach Each Other: Doing More with Less in IS Education Journal of Information Technology and Application in Education Vol. 1 Iss. 4, 195-206.Flecha, R., Lloret, C. and García, J. M. (1977). Transformemos la escuela. Ed. Renacimiento.Flecha, R. (1997). Compartiendo palabras. El aprendizaje de las personas a través del diálogo. Ed. Paidós Ibérica.Lewis, K. G. (1994) Teaching Large Classes (How to Do It Well and Remain Sane), Chapter 25 in Handbook of College Teaching, edited by K.W. Prichard and R.McL. Sawyer. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.Luzuriaga, L. (1977). Historia de la educación y la pedagogía. Ed. Losada.Mazur, E. (1992). Qualitative vs. Quantitative Thinking: Are We Teaching the Right Thin?", Optics and Photonics News.Mazur, E., & Hilborn, R. C. (1997). Peer Instruction: A User’s Manual. Physics Today, 50(4), 68-69. doi:10.1063/1.881735Michaelsen, L. K., (1983). Team Learning in Large Classes. Chapter 2 in Learning in Groups, New Directions for Teaching and Learning series, 14. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Michaelsen, L. K., Knight, A. B. and Fink, L. D. (2003). Preface. In L. K. Michaelsen, A. B. Knight, & L. D. Fink (Eds.), Team-based learning: A transformative use of small groups, (pp. vii-xi). Westport, CT: Praeger.Nyquist, J. D., Abbott, R. D., Wulff, D. H. and Sprague, J. (1991). Preparing the Professorate of Tomorrow to Teach: Selected Readings in TA Training. Kendall/Hunt.Paris, S. G. and Turner, J. C. (1994). Situated motivation. In P. R. Pintrich, D. R. Brown, & C. E. Weinstein (Eds.), Student motivation, cognition, and learning: Essays in honor of Wilbert J. McKeachie (pp. 213-238). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Saye. D. (1997). An alternative technique for teaching mathematics: students teach. Proceddings of the 23rd AMATYC Annual Conference Atlanta, USA.Sheetz, L. P. (1995). Recruiting trends: 1995-1996. East Lansing, MI: Collegiate Employment Research Institute, Michigan State University.Smith, F. (1998). The book of learning and forgetting. New York: Teachers College Press.Stanly, C. and Porter, M. E. (2002). Engaging Large Classes: Strategies and Techniques for College Faculty . Onker Publishing.Sugata, M., Dangwal, R., Chatterjee, S., Jha, S., Bisht R. S. and Kapur, P. (2005). Acquisition of Computer Literacy on Shared Public Computers: Children and the "Hole in the wall". Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 21(3), 407-426.Redish, E. F. (2003). Teaching physics with the physics suite. John Wiley & Sons.Weimer, M. (2002). Learner-centered teaching: Five key changes to practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Winchester-Seeto, T. (2002). Assesment of collaborative work-collaboration versus assesment. Invited paper. Annual Uniserve Science Symposium. University of Sydney. Australia

Key odorants of the typical aroma of Sherry vinegar

A representative Sherry vinegar was analysed by gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O). Two GC-O techniques were used targeting compounds with impact on the perceived quality of Sherry vinegar, i.e. detection frequency and aroma extract dilution analysis. A total of 108 aromatic notes were detected and 64 of them were identified. Diacetyl, isoamyl acetate, acetic acid, and sotolon reached the highest frequency and flavour dilution (FD) factors. Ethyl acetate accounted for the maximum frequency but had only a FD factor of 4. Similarity tests were performed between the Sherry vinegar and model solutions of all possible combinations of these compounds. The highest value from the similarity test was observed when diacetyl, ethyl acetate and sotolon were added simultaneously. The profile of this model solution and the representative Sherry vinegar showed a good similarity in the general aroma description, which emphasises the important contribution of these 3 compounds to the global aroma of this vinegar

Thermal impact from a thermoelectric power plant on a tropical coastal lagoon

Tropical coastal areas are sensitive ecosystems to climate change, mainly due to sea level rise and increasing water temperatures. Furthermore, they may be subject to numerous stresses, including heat releases from energy production. The Urias coastal lagoon (SE Gulf of California), a subtropical tidal estuary, receives cooling water releases from a thermoelectric power plant, urban and industrial wastes, and shrimp farm discharges. In order to evaluate the plant thermal impact, we measured synchronous temperature time series close to and far from the plant. Furthermore, in order to discriminate the thermal pollution impact from natural variability, we used a high-resolution hydrodynamic model forced by, amongst others, cooling water release as a continuous flow (7.78 m3 s?1) at 6 °C overheating temperature. Model results and field data indicated that the main thermal impact was temporally restricted to the warmest months, spatially restricted to the surface layers (above 0.6 m) and distributed along the shoreline within ?100 m of the release point. The methodology and results of this study can be extrapolated to tropical coastal lagoons that receive heat discharges.<br/

Structural analysis of APOB variants, p.(Arg3527Gln), p.(Arg1164Thr) and p.(Gln4494del), causing Familial Hypercholesterolaemia provides novel insights into variant pathogenicity

Free PMC Article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4672294/Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is an inherited autosomal dominant disorder resulting from defects in the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), in the apolipoprotein B (APOB) or in the proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) genes. In the majority of the cases FH is caused by mutations occurring within LDLR, while only few mutations in APOB and PCSK9 have been proved to cause disease. p.(Arg3527Gln) was the first mutation in APOB being identified and characterized. Recently two novel pathogenic APOB variants have been described: p.(Arg1164Thr) and p.(Gln4494del) showing impaired LDLR binding capacity, and diminished LDL uptake. The objective of this work was to analyse the structure of p.(Arg1164Thr) and p.(Gln4494del) variants to gain insight into their pathogenicity. Secondary structure of the human ApoB100 has been investigated by infrared spectroscopy (IR) and LDL particle size both by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and electron microscopy. The results show differences in secondary structure and/or in particle size of p.(Arg1164Thr) and p.(Gln4494del) variants compared with wild type. We conclude that these changes underlie the defective binding and uptake of p.(Arg1164Thr) and p.(Gln4494del) variants. Our study reveals that structural studies on pathogenic variants of APOB may provide very useful information to understand their role in FH disease

Evaluation of different postharvest conditions to preserve the amount of bioactive compounds, physicochemical quality parameters and sensory attributes of ‘Sweetheart’ cherries.

Sweet cherries (Prunus avium L.) ‘Sweetheart’ were harvested at different production regions from Portugal (Cova da Beira and Portalegre) and Spain (Valle de Jerte). Cherries were harvested at their commercial maturation according to the empirical knowledge of external color corresponding to good quality. Fruits were stored and evaluated in order to study their quality on the harvest day and during a period of 21 days, at cold storage (1 ºC, 95% RH). The sweet cherry ‘Sweetheart’ is a well-known variety and a highly appreciated one but fruits present a short shelf life. On the other hand the effect of different “terroir” on cherry characteristics should be known and clarified. Fruits from day 0, considered without storage, were kept at 20ºC and analyzed. Every weak, 3 replicas were randomly picked up and 10 fruits from each one were submitted to several analyses after fruit temperature stabilized at 20ºC. Several quality parameters were evaluated: external colour (L*, a*, b*), texture, soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA) and the ratio between soluble solid contents (SSC) and tritratable acidity (TA). Fruits from different orchards and locations were significantly different according to these parameters. Fruits from Cova da Beira were less firm comparing with other two regions, Valle de Jerte and Portalegre, which may indicate a higher maturation rate at harvest in those fruits. This is in accordance with SSC/titratable acidity rate suggesting a late harvest in Cova da Beira comparing with other two orchards, however fruits from Cova da Beira exhibit a poor color at harvest. These results clearly showed a lower correlation between SSC and firmness considering fruits origin

A self-consistent dynamical model of the Milky Way disc adjusted to Gaia data

Context. Accurate astrometry achieved by Gaia for many stars in the Milky Way provides an opportunity to reanalyse the Galactic stellar populations from a large and homogeneous sample and to revisit the Galaxy gravitational potential. Aims. This paper shows how a self-consistent dynamical model can be obtained by fitting the gravitational potential of the Milky Way to the stellar kinematics and densities from Gaia data. Methods. We derived a gravitational potential using the Besancon Galaxy Model, and computed the disc stellar distribution functions based on three integrals of motion (E, Lz, I3) to model stationary stellar discs. The gravitational potential and the stellar distribution functions are built self-consistently, and are then adjusted to be in agreement with the kinematics and the density distributions obtained from Gaia observations. A Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) is used to fit the free parameters of the dynamical model to Gaia parallax and proper motion distributions. The fit is done on several sets of Gaia data, mainly a subsample of the GCNS (Gaia catalogue of nearby stars to 100 pc) with G< 17, together with 26 deep fields selected from eDR3, widely spread in longitudes and latitudes. Results. We are able to determine the velocity dispersion ellipsoid and its tilt for subcomponents of different ages, both varying with R and z. The density laws and their radial scale lengths for the thin and thick disc populations are also obtained self-consistently. This new model has some interesting characteristics that come naturally from the process, such as a flaring thin disc. The thick disc is found to present very distinctive characteristics from the old thin disc, both in density and kinematics. This lends significant support to the idea that thin and thick discs were formed in distinct scenarios, as the density and kinematics transition between them is found to be abrupt. The dark matter halo is shown to be nearly spherical. We also derive the solar motion with regards to the Local Standard of Rest (LSR), finding U· = 10.79 ± 0.56 km s-1, V· = 11.06 ± 0.94 km s-1, and W· = 7.66 ± 0.43 km s-1, in close agreement with recent studies. Conclusions. The resulting fully self-consistent gravitational potential, still axisymmetric, is a good approximation of a smooth mass distribution in the Milky Way and can be used for further studies, including finding streams, substructures, and to compute orbits for real stars in our Galaxy

Microscopic theory for quantum mirages in quantum corrals

Scanning tunneling microscopy permits to image the Kondo resonance of a single magnetic atom adsorbed on a metallic surface. When the magnetic impurity is placed at the focus of an elliptical quantum corral, a Kondo resonance has been recently observed both on top of the impurity and on top of the focus where no magnetic impurity is present. This projection of the Kondo resonance to a remote point on the surface is referred to as quantum mirage. We present a quantum mechanical theory for the quantum mirage inside an ideal quantum corral and predict that the mirage will occur in corrals with shapes other than elliptical

Enzyme-Powered Gated Mesoporous Silica Nanomotors for On-Command Intracellular Payload Delivery

[EN] The introduction of stimuli-responsive cargo release capabilities on self-propelled micro- and nano- motors holds enormous potential in a number of applications in the biomedical field. Herein, we report the preparation of mesoporous silica nano-particles gated with pH-responsive supramolecular nanovalves and equipped with urease enzymes which act as chemical engines to power the nanomotors. The nanoparticles are loaded with different cargo molecules ([Ru(bpy)(3)]Cl-2 (bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine) or doxorubicin), grafted with benzimidazole groups on the outer surface, and capped by the formation of inclusion complexes between benzimidazole and cyclodextrin-modified urease. The nanomotor exhibits enhanced Brownian motion in the presence of urea. Moreover, no cargo is released at neutral pH, even in the presence of the biofuel urea, due to the blockage of the pores by the bulky benzimidazole:cyclodextrin-urease caps. Cargo delivery is only triggered on-command at acidic pH due to the protonation of benzimidazole groups, the dethreading of the supramolecular nanovalves, and the subsequent uncapping of the nanoparticles. Studies with HeLa cells indicate that the presence of biofuel urea enhances nanoparticle internalization and both [Ru(bpy)(3)]Cl-2 or doxorubicin intracellular release due to the acidity of lysosomal compartments. Gated enzyme-powered nanomotors shown here display some of the requirements for ideal drug delivery carriers such as the capacity to self-propel and the ability to "sense" the environment and deliver the payload on demand in response to predefined stimuli.A.L.-L. is grateful to La Caixa Banking Foundation for his Ph.D. grant. A.G.-F. thanks the Spanish government for her FPU fellowship. The authors are grateful to the Spanish Government (MINECO Projects MAT2015-64139-C4-1, CTQ2014-58989- PCTQ2015-71936-REDT, CTQ2015-68879-R (MICRODIA) and CTQ2015-72471-EXP (Enzwim)), the BBVA foundation (MEDIROBOTS), the CERCA Programme by the Generalitat de Catalunya, and the Generalitat Valenciana (Project PROMETEO/2018/024 and PROMETEOII/2014/061) for support. T.P. thanks MINECO for the Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellowship and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, under the Marie Sk¿odowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF2018, DNA-bots). A.C.H. thanks MINECO for the Severo Ochoa fellowship. The authors would like to thank A. Miguel Lopez for the development of the python code for motion analysis.Llopis-Lorente, A.; García-Fernández, A.; Murillo-Cremaes, N.; Hortelao, A.; Patiño, T.; Villalonga, R.; Sancenón Galarza, F.... (2019). Enzyme-Powered Gated Mesoporous Silica Nanomotors for On-Command Intracellular Payload Delivery. ACS Nano. 13(10):12171-12183. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.9b067061217112183131