Programación en C con aprendizaje activo, evaluación continua y trabajo en equipo: caso de estudio

La adaptación al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior ha supuesto el rediseño de parte de los planes de estudios por parte de las universidades. En este artículo se describe el proceso de concepción, diseño y despliegue de una asignatura de programación en C que incluye como principales novedades la adopción de una metodología de aprendizaje activo, un esquema de evaluación continua y la inclusión de trabajo en equipo. La asignatura se ha impartido en el curso 2009/2010 a cerca de 200 alumnos. Durante este período se ha obtenido abundante realimentación por parte de los alumnos sobre aquellos aspectos del curso más relevantes (positivos y negativos). Esta información ha permitido comprender más en detalle el proceso de asimilación y la efectividad de los cambios introducidos.Peer Reviewe

Course Quality Improvement using Mid-semester Feedback

Quality control mechanisms are becoming more important in higher educational institutions. Student evaluation of teaching is typically used to obtain feedback from students about a learning experience but its effect in the course may take too long. Fast feedback mechanisms, in exchange, look at obtaining feedback in a way that corrective measures can be applied quickly. In this paper, a process is described to obtain feedback from the students about a course, analyse the received results, and identify the most significant aspects. The process has been applied to a course and led to some adjustments that had immediate impact on the course.Work partially funded by the Learn3 project, "Plan Nacional de I+D+I TIN2008-05163/TSI", the Best Practice Network ICOPER (Grant No. ECP-2007-EDU-417007), the Flexo Project "Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnolóogica" (Ref. TSI-020301-2008-19), and the "Emadrid: Investigación y desarrollo de tecnologías para el e-learning en la Comunidad de Madrid" project (S2009/TIC-1650).Publicad

Programación en C con aprendizaje activo, evaluación continua y trabajo en equipo: caso de estudio

La adaptación al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior ha supuesto el rediseño de parte de los planes de estudios por parte de las universidades. En este artículo se describe el proceso de concepción, diseño y despliegue de una asignatura de programación en C que incluye como principales novedades la adopción de una metodología de aprendizaje activo, un esquema de evaluación continua y la inclusión de trabajo en equipo. La asignatura se ha impartido en el curso 2009/2010 a cerca de 200 alumnos. Durante este período se ha obtenido abundante realimentación por parte de los alumnos sobre aquellos aspectos del curso más relevantes (positivos y negativos). Esta información ha permitido comprender más en detalle el proceso de asimilación y la efectividad de los cambios introducidos.Este trabajo ha sido financiado en parte por el proyecto Emadrid: Investigación y desarrollo de tecnologías para el e-learning en la Comunidad de Madrid (Ref. S2009/TIC-1650), el proyecto Learn3 del Plan Nacional de I+D+I (Ref. TIN2008-05163/TSI) y el proyecto Flexo del Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica (Ref. TSI-020301-2008-19

Investigation of correlations between skin lesion count and concentrations of salivary biomarkers in pigs from suckling to fattening

Oral session 1[EN] ClearFarm project intends to develop a platform to monitor animal welfare continuously throughout the value chain of pigs and dairy cattle using sensor technology. This platform relies on algorithms (for each species), built up with relevant welfare indicators measured by PLF (Precision Livestock Farming) technology

Changes in a Comprehensive Profile of Saliva Analytes in Fattening Pigs during a Complete Productive Cycle : A Longitudinal Study

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a panel of 29 salivary biomarkers of stress, immunity, inflammation, redox homeostasis and other physiological functions can change in healthy fattening pigs when monitoring the different phases of their productive cycle and can be influenced by various sources of variations such as gender and performance parameters. Several analytes showed changes due to the productive cycle, with a majority of the analytes showing higher values at lactation and at the beginning of nursery. Additionally, differences were seen due to sex. These differences can be related in some cases with performance parameters and should be taken into consideration for an appropriate interpretation of the analytes. A comprehensive panel of 29 salivary analytes was measured in fattening pigs to evaluate its possible changes along their productive cycle. The identification of those changes would allow a better interpretation of the results according to the productive phase of the animal. Saliva samples were obtained from 49 Large-White pigs (24 females, 25 males) in suckling phase, at the beginning and the end of the nursery phase, and at the beginning and the end of the growing phase. Several analytes changed according to the phase of the productive cycle, with most of the analytes showing higher values at lactation and at the beginning of nursery. Additionally, differences were seen due to sex. When possible relations between performance parameters and analytes were evaluated, significant positive but weak relationships were found between weight at birth and salivary γ-glutamyl transferase, and between back-fat thickness and salivary lactate dehydrogenase. In conclusion, differences in the values of salivary analytes can be found in fattening pigs depending on the productive phase and sex of the animals

Socio-cultural, historical, political and economic dimensions of health and medicine

Health is one of the most important areas of human development and, along with quality of life, occupies a prominent place in the academic world, being studied from various theoretical perspectives and from different scientific disciplines. These studies try to explain, from the micro to the macro, what it means and what elements are involved in the health of individuals in particular and of society in general. However, given the diversity of perspectives, there is no consensus on the definition of health. At the beginning, the study of health focused on biomedical research into disease. This approach has shown its limits in understanding health in its most complete dimension, as defined by the World Health Organization as early as 1946 : “ health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity ” ( preamble to the WHO Constitution, 1946 ). This “ positive ” orientation of health is later taken up as a universal human right ( Declaration of Human Rights, art. 25 ), being considered today not only a right, but also a value in itself, an aspiration and a social demand....Peer reviewe

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Higher COVID-19 pneumonia risk associated with anti-IFN-α than with anti-IFN-ω auto-Abs in children

We found that 19 (10.4%) of 183 unvaccinated children hospitalized for COVID-19 pneumonia had autoantibodies (auto-Abs) neutralizing type I IFNs (IFN-alpha 2 in 10 patients: IFN-alpha 2 only in three, IFN-alpha 2 plus IFN-omega in five, and IFN-alpha 2, IFN-omega plus IFN-beta in two; IFN-omega only in nine patients). Seven children (3.8%) had Abs neutralizing at least 10 ng/ml of one IFN, whereas the other 12 (6.6%) had Abs neutralizing only 100 pg/ml. The auto-Abs neutralized both unglycosylated and glycosylated IFNs. We also detected auto-Abs neutralizing 100 pg/ml IFN-alpha 2 in 4 of 2,267 uninfected children (0.2%) and auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-omega in 45 children (2%). The odds ratios (ORs) for life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia were, therefore, higher for auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-alpha 2 only (OR [95% CI] = 67.6 [5.7-9,196.6]) than for auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-. only (OR [95% CI] = 2.6 [1.2-5.3]). ORs were also higher for auto-Abs neutralizing high concentrations (OR [95% CI] = 12.9 [4.6-35.9]) than for those neutralizing low concentrations (OR [95% CI] = 5.5 [3.1-9.6]) of IFN-omega and/or IFN-alpha 2

Geographic patterns of tree dispersal modes in Amazonia and their ecological correlates

Aim: To investigate the geographic patterns and ecological correlates in the geographic distribution of the most common tree dispersal modes in Amazonia (endozoochory, synzoochory, anemochory and hydrochory). We examined if the proportional abundance of these dispersal modes could be explained by the availability of dispersal agents (disperser-availability hypothesis) and/or the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits (resource-availability hypothesis). Time period: Tree-inventory plots established between 1934 and 2019. Major taxa studied: Trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 9.55 cm. Location: Amazonia, here defined as the lowland rain forests of the Amazon River basin and the Guiana Shield. Methods: We assigned dispersal modes to a total of 5433 species and morphospecies within 1877 tree-inventory plots across terra-firme, seasonally flooded, and permanently flooded forests. We investigated geographic patterns in the proportional abundance of dispersal modes. We performed an abundance-weighted mean pairwise distance (MPD) test and fit generalized linear models (GLMs) to explain the geographic distribution of dispersal modes. Results: Anemochory was significantly, positively associated with mean annual wind speed, and hydrochory was significantly higher in flooded forests. Dispersal modes did not consistently show significant associations with the availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits. A lower dissimilarity in dispersal modes, resulting from a higher dominance of endozoochory, occurred in terra-firme forests (excluding podzols) compared to flooded forests. Main conclusions: The disperser-availability hypothesis was well supported for abiotic dispersal modes (anemochory and hydrochory). The availability of resources for constructing zoochorous fruits seems an unlikely explanation for the distribution of dispersal modes in Amazonia. The association between frugivores and the proportional abundance of zoochory requires further research, as tree recruitment not only depends on dispersal vectors but also on conditions that favour or limit seedling recruitment across forest types