Asistente de corrección y validación de ejercicios

La implantación del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior ha supuesto modificar las metodologías docentes para hacer mayor hincapié en evaluar el esfuerzo del alumno mediante mecanismos de evaluación continua. Este sistema potencia la capacidad de los alumnos de cursar con éxito las asignaturas. Sin embargo, el proceso de evaluación continua aumenta la carga de trabajo del profesor de manera significativa y resulta poco factible en asignaturas cursadas por un gran número de alumnos. Nuestro objetivo es desarrollar una serie de herramientas que faciliten y agilicen la corrección de ejercicios entregados por medio digital para favorecer el uso de la evaluación continua en grupos de alumnos numerosos. Para cumplir dicho propósito, nos planteamos los objetivos de implementar una herramienta que compruebe que un ejercicio respeta unas especificaciones de entrega, desarrollar la interfaz gráfica de esta herramienta para su uso por parte de los alumnos, y por último, implementar una herramienta para que el profesor pueda generar documentos de especificación. El resultado obtenido ha cumplido con las expectativas y objetivos marcados. Las herramientas desarrolladas en PoVALE, son extensibles e intuitivas, podrían ser continuadas y mejoradas, ya que tienen potencial para ser usadas en las nuevas titulaciones para ayudar a los profesores en la corrección de ejercicios

Women’s experiences of gynaecological consultations – uncovering its technological toolboxes: challenges in a Brazilian context

Historically, the medical definition of women as an object of biomedical knowledge has restricted the way by which gynecology is understood. In Brazil’s Unified Health System (Sistema Unificado de Saúde – SUS, in Portuguese), it is the responsibility of gynaecological care services to identify, diagnose and treat reproductive related conditions. However, gynaecological consultations are based predominantly on a medicalised model of diagnosis, treatment and disease management which often fails to address the wider determinants of women’s reproductive health and its impact on their general health and life chances. This paper is focused on the way the Brazilian health system has responded to women’s health needs in gynaecological consultations, given its central role in maintaining and promoting women’s health. it explores variations between “what should be” and “what is” offered to Brazilian women in gynaecological consultations. The authors argue that while gynaecological consultations in Brazil (and elsewhere) are currently restricted to programmatic targets, complaints and symptoms associated with sexual and reproductive functions; consultations could be used to respond to women’s needs, using a broader life course approach if a combination of health technologies ‘toolboxes’ are employed. Implementation of care services utilising a ‘toolbox’ approach provides an opportunity to truly follow the principle of ‘integrality’, one of the doctrinal principles of the Brazilian health system, which furthermore could have application in women’s health care services elsewhere

FREEWAT: FREE and open source tools for WATer resource management

This talk will present FREEWAT: an HORIZON 2020 project financed by the EU Commission under the call WATER INNOVATION: BOOSTING ITS VALUE FOR EUROPE. FREEWAT main result will be an open source and public domain GIS integrated modelling environment for the simulation of water quantity and quality in surface water and groundwater with an integrated water management and planning module. FREEWAT aims at promoting water resource management by simplifying the application of the Water Framework Directive and other EU water related Directives. Specific objectives of the FREEWAT project are: to coordinate previous EU and national funded research to integrate existing software modules for water management in a single environment into the GIS based FREEWAT and to support the FREEWAT application in an innovative participatory approach gathering technical staff and relevant stakeholders (in primis policy and decision makers) in designing scenarios for the proper application of water policies. The open source characteristics of the platform allow to consider this an initiative ad includendum (looking for inclusion of other entities), as further research institutions, private developers etc. may contribute to the platform development. The core of the FREEWAT platform will be the SID&GRID (Rossetto et al. 2013) framework in its version ported to the QGIS desktop. SID&GRID will be complemented with solute transport (also density dependent) capabilities in aquifers within the MARSOL (2014) EU FP7 project. Activities will be mainly carried out on two branches: (i) integration of modules, so that the software will fit the end-users requirements, including tools for better producing feasibility and management plans; (ii) a set of activities devoted to fix bugs and to provide a well-integrated interface for the different tools implemented. Further capabilities to be integrated are: - a dedicated module for water management and planning that will help to manage and aggregate all the distributed data coming from the simulation scenarios; - a whole module for calibration, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis; - a module for solute transport in the unsaturated zone; - a module for crop growth and water requirements in agriculture; - tools for dealing with groundwater quality issues; - tools for the analysis, interpretation and visualization of hydrogeological data. Through creating a common environment among water research/professionals, policy makers and implementers, FREEWAT main impact will be on enhancing science- and participatory approach and evidence-based decision making in water resource management, hence producing relevant and appropriate outcomes for policy implementation. Synergies with the UNESCO HOPE initiative on free and open source software in water management greatly boost the value of the project. Large stakeholders involvement is thought to guarantee results dissemination and exploitation

Effective bioremediation of clarithromycin and diclofenac in wastewater by microbes and Arundo donax L

: Bioremediation of pharmaceuticals has gained large research efforts, but there is still a need to improve the performance of bioremediation systems by selecting effective organisms. In this study, we characterized the capability to remove clarithromycin (CLA) and diclofenac (DCF) by the bacterium Streptomyces rochei, and the fungi Phanerochaete chrysosporium and Trametes versicolor. The macrolide antibiotic CLA and the non-steroid anti-inflammatory DCF were selected because these are two of the most frequently detected drugs in water bodies. Growth and content of the PhCs and a DCF metabolite (MET) by the energy crop Arundo donax L. were also evaluated under hydroponic conditions. The removal rate (RR) by S. rochei increased from 24 to 40% at 10 and 100 µg CLA L-1, respectively, averaged over incubation times. At 144 h, the RR by P. chrysosporium was 84%, while by T. versicolor was 70 and 45% at 10 and 100 CLA µg L-1. The RR by S. rochei did not exceed 30% at 1 mg DCF L-1 and reached 60% at 10 mg DCF L-1, whereas approached 95% and 63% by P. chrysosporium and T. versicolor, respectively, at both doses. Root biomass and length of A. donax were strongly affected at 100 µg CLA L-1. CLA concentration in roots and shoots increased with the increase of the dose and translocation factor (TF) was about 1. DCF severely affected both shoot fresh weight and root length at the highest dose and concentration in roots and shoots increased with the increase of the dose. DCF concentrations were 16-19 times higher in roots than in shoots, and TF was about 0.1. MET was detected only in roots and its proportion over the parent compound decreased with the increase of the DCF dose. This study highlights the potential contribution of A. donax and the tested microbial inoculants for improving the effectiveness of bioremediation systems for CLA and DCF removal

Factors associated with hospitalization and death among TB/HIV co-infected persons in Porto Alegre, Brazil

In locations with a high rate of tuberculosis (TB) and HIV infection, there are a number of strategies to prevent negative outcomes such as opportunistic infections, hospitalizations and death, and this article investigates risk factors for the occurrence of hospitalization and death in cases of TB/HIV co-infection in the south of Brazil. The data are taken from a population-based retrospective cohort study on cases of TB/HIV co-infection from 2009 to 2013 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Sociodemographic, epidemiological and clinical variables were analyzed. Relative risk (RR) estimates for hospitalization and death were determined by regression models. There were 2,419 co-infection cases, of which 1,527 (63.1%) corresponded to hospitalizations, and 662 (27.4%) to death. The occurrence of hospitalization was associated with ≤ 7 years of schooling (RR = 3.47, 95%CI: 1.97–6.29), 8–11 years of schooling (RR = 2.56, 95%CI: 1.44–4.69), place of origin—district health authorities Northwest/Humaitá/Navegantes/Ilhas (RR = 2.01, 95%CI: 1.44–2.82), type of entry into the surveillance system as in cases of reentry after withdrawal (RR = 1,35, 95%CI: 1.07–1.70), closure in surveillance as in withdrawal of treatment (RR = 1.47, 95%CI: 1.18–1.83) and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (RR = 3.94, 95%CI: 1.97–8.81). The occurrence of death was associated with age (RR = 1.07, 95%CI: 1,01–1,14), ≤ 7 years of schooling (RR = 3.94, 95%CI: 2.26–7.09), 8–11 years of schooling (RR = 2.84, 95%CI: 1.61–5.16), place of origin—district health authorities Baltazar (RR = 2.05, 95%CI: 1.48–2.86), type of entry in the surveillance system as cases of re-entry after withdrawal (RR = 1.53, 95%CI: 1.22–1.91), relapse (RR = 1.33, 95%CI: 1.03–1.73). The occurrence of hospitalizations and deaths is high among co-infected patients. Our estimation approach is important in order to identify, from the surveillance data, the risk factors for hospitalization and death in co-infected patients, so that they may receive more attention from the Brazilian national healthcare system

Integration of the MODFLOW Lak7 package in the FREEWAT GIS modelling environment

The MODFLOW Lake Package is integrated into the FREEWAT GIS environment in order to simulate surface water - groundwater interaction using state of the art techniques for numerical simulations, thus allowing the improved consideration of surface water bodies for water resources management. Surface water bodies, both stationary and flowing, can strongly affect groundwater elevations and flow patterns which in turn may affect the qualitative and quantitative state of groundwater resources. With the advancement of numerical simulation techniques and increased model complexity, FREEWAT facilitates the usage of the lake package through existing QGIS tools to edit model layer geometry as well as an intuitive and simple user interface for the specification of constant and time variable lake properties as defined through MODFLO

The freewat platform for planning and management of conjunctive use of ground- and surface-water

Simulation techniques, data analysis tools, FREEWAT platform, water-related Directive

Using numerical modeling tools for managed aquifer recharge at induced riverbank filtration schemes

Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR),  Lucca, Italy,  FREEWAT platform, modelling