Design and calibration of a drill-guided system by laser for structural strengthening of historic bridge

Restoring the spans of a historic bridge requires installing tensors to ensure the structural and mechanical stability of the rows of stones that form the resistant body of the bridge. Once the positions where the structure-crossing tensors should be installed have been determined, the entry and exit points of each drill hole must be marked on both sides of the bridge. However, the exit point of each drill hole is not visible from the entry point, making it impossible to drill precisely. Here, we present a method based on a calibrated system that combines precision topography with laser technology. Using this method, drill holes longer than 12 m can be achieved with centimetric precision.     

Networked Commerce: Public Policy Issues in a Deregulated Communication Environment

Electronic commerce will generate a number of new policy issues, few of which are presently being considered. Lawmakers and regulators have been so focused on establishing appropriate rules for vendors and service providers that they have failed to consider the larger consequences that the ensuing network architecture may have for the economy as a whole. Examining the forces driving electronic commerce and its likely impact on network deployment given recent telecom reform, this article argues that the government should reconsider common carriage as a means of assuring network access in the future.     

Linking university and industry: An organizational experience in Mexico

This paper describes the experience gained in the Center for Technological Innovation since its creation three years ago within the National Autonomous University of Mexico. By offering the services of locating clients, drafting and negotiating contracts, providing specialized information services, and project follow-up, the Center pursues the establishment of effective ties between University projects and industrial production. In so doing, its staff informally assumes the critical “dgate-keeper” and “entrepreneur” roles, not easily accepted in other areas of the University.The main difficulties encountered so far have been in developing interdisciplinary projects, providing due academic recognition for technological activities and extending knowledge about innovation throughout the University. On the other hand, a great advantage is the interest shown by the academic community; likewise is UNAM's stability and autonomy, structural characteristics which have stimulated the development of technically sound teams over several decades. To date, the Center has provided support services for 125 projects and has participated in establishing 44 contracts between the University and industry.     

English language teaching in public primary schools in Mexico: the practices and challenges of implementing a national language education program

Over the past 15?years, many state governments in Mexico have initiated local programs to introduce English at the primary school level. In 2009, the Mexican Ministry of Education formalized the Programa Nacional de Inglés en Educación Básica (PNIEB) as part of the national curriculum, based on the argument that increasing the number of English speakers in Mexico is necessary for the country to be globally competitive and to follow the trend in other developing economies of augmenting English instruction in public education. This paper focuses on the implementation of PNIEB and the state programs that preceded it. The authors document the practices and challenges associated with the program based on data collected from interviews with the main stakeholders involved (students and parents, teachers, school principals, and program coordinators) and from classroom observations. The total data-set consisted of over 200 interviews and classroom observations spread over several years from 2008 to 2012. Several challenges are described, including the development of materials, the role of English in relation to other subject areas, and the training of teachers who often speak English but have uneven formal preparation. The status of the teachers, both as second-class citizens within the schools and the instability and irregularities with their contracts, was identified as the most significant challenge to the successful implementation of the programs.     

Enhancing Students’ Learning Process Through Self-Generated Tests

The use of new technologies in higher education has surprisingly emphasized students’ tendency to adopt a passive behavior in class. Participation and interaction of students are essential to improve academic results. This paper describes an educational experiment aimed at the promotion of students’ autonomous learning by requiring them to generate test type questions related to the contents of the course. The main idea is to make the student feel part of the evaluation process by including students’ questions in the evaluation exams. A set of applications running on our university online learning environment has been developed in order to provide both students and teachers with the necessary tools for a good interaction between them. Questions uploaded by students are visible to every enrolled student as well as to each involved teacher. In this way, we enhance critical analysis skills, by solving and finding possible mistakes in the questions sent by their fellows. The experiment was applied over 769 students from 12 different courses. Results show that the students who have actively participated in the experiment have obtained better academic performance.     

Development and Construct Validation of an Inventory for Assessing the Home Environment for Motor Development

A contemporary view of early childhood motor development considers environmental influences as critical factors in optimal growth and behavior, with the home being the primary agent. However, there has been minimal research examining the relationship between motor development and the home. The present study addresses this gap with the goal of creating an innovative parental self-report instrument to assess the quality and quantity of factors (affordances and events) in the home that are conducive to enhancing motor development in children ages 18–42 months. Following initial face validity determination, expert opinion feedback and selective pilot testing, construct validity was examined using 321 Portuguese families. Factor analysis techniques were used to: (a) compare competing factorial models according to previous theoretical assumptions, and (b) analyze the fit of the preferred model. Of the five plausible models tested, the five-factor solution provided the best fit to the data. Reliability was established through the scale reliability coefficient with a value of .85. The findings of this study suggest that the Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development Self-Report is a valid and reliable instrument to assess how well home environments afford movement and potentially promote motor development.     

Formatively assessing prospective teachers’ skills in leading mathematics discussions

Educational Studies in Mathematics - Mathematics discussions are important for helping students to develop conceptual understanding and to learn disciplinary norms and practices. In recent years,...     

History of Spanish Mathematics Education Focusing on PhD Theses

This article offers an overview of mathematics education in Spain, analyzing the production of PhD theses over the last 30 years. This period has been divided into four cycles that describe the evolution of Spanish research in the field of mathematics education, together with changes in university and social politics. This paper also includes a forecast of the number of theses that will be produced over the next 7 years, thus predicting the future progress and development of this area of research.     

Competency Maps: an Effective Model to Integrate Professional Competencies Across a STEM Curriculum

Curricula designed in the context of the European Higher Education Area need to be based on both domain-specific and professional competencies. Whereas universities have had extensive experience in developing students’ domain-specific competencies, fostering professional competencies poses a new challenge we need to face. This paper presents a model to globally develop professional competencies in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degree program, and assesses the results of its implementation after 4 years. The model is based on the use of competency maps, in which each competency is defined in terms of competency units. Each competency unit is described by a set of expected learning outcomes at three domain levels. This model allows careful analysis, revision, and iteration for an effective integration of professional competencies in domain-specific subjects. A global competency map is also designed, including all the professional competency learning outcomes to be achieved throughout the degree. This map becomes a useful tool for curriculum designers and coordinators. The results were obtained from four sources: (1) students’ grades (classes graduated from 2013 to 2016, the first 4 years of the new Bachelor’s Degree in Informatics Engineering at the Barcelona School of Informatics); (2) students’ surveys (answered by students when they finished the degree); (3) the government employment survey, where former students evaluate their satisfaction of the received training in the light of their work experience; and (4) the Everis Foundation University-Enterprise Ranking, answered by over 2000 employers evaluating their satisfaction regarding their employees’ university training, where the Barcelona School of Informatics scores first in the national ranking. The results show that competency maps are a good tool for developing professional competencies in a STEM degree.