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The study aimed at examining the interplay the relationship among the ICT skills, e-supervision scheme of school heads, and teacher development in distance learning which longed to be a valuable undertaking in the time of pandemic where alternative delivery mode of education is implemented; skills of school heads in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have been challenged and brought impact to their administrative and academic role. Descriptive-correlational design was employed. The study revealed that school heads had very high ICT skills level in terms of utilization and competence, had very high e-supervision scheme level in terms of video conferencing, instant messaging, and office suite, and very high level of teacher development in distance learning. Correlation indicated that the higher the ICT skills level of school heads’ in terms of competence and utilization, the better is their e-supervision scheme and teacher development in distance learning. In essence, these findings demonstrate importance to maintain the high-level ICT skills, e-supervision scheme of school heads, and teacher development in distance learning, Similarly, data served as basis for a training program to make the school heads’ skills level higher on the indicators that ranked last.

La conectividad se define como el grado en que la estructura espacial del paisaje facilita el flujo de organismos y substancias. Diversos modelos conceptuales y evidencias empíricas atribuyen a la conectividad hidrológica un papel clave en el funcionamiento de los ecosistemas y paisajes áridos, pero aún falta una perspectiva integrada sobre los distintos aspectos y procesos hidrológicos y ecológicos que vinculan la conectividad con la degradación y la recuperación de zonas áridas. Aquí, describimos la conectividad ecohidrológica como una propiedad emergente de los ecosistemas y paisajes que captura la interacción entre conectividad hidrológica y procesos ecológicos, y discutimos cómo la conectividad ecohidrológica controla el funcionamiento de los ecosistemas áridos, subyace a las dinámicas de desertificación y puede manejarse para facilitar la recuperación de las zonas áridas degradadas. Una conectividad ecohidrológica disfuncional sería aquella en la que la mayor parte del flujo de recursos asociado a la conectividad del suelo desnudo a escala de ladera o paisaje no puede ser retenido y explotado por el efecto sumidero de la vegetación. Las actuaciones para la recuperación del sistema degradado irían encaminadas a interrumpir la conectividad general de la matriz suelo desnudo, fomentar la dinámica fuente-sumidero y potenciar la capacidad de sumidero de las manchas o teselas de vegetación. A escala de paisaje, la interrupción de la conectividad hidrológica puede, a su vez, crear teselas de hábitat y corredores para una gran variedad de especies, facilitando sus desplazamientos y, de este modo, su conservación y adaptación al cambio climático. Connectivity is defined as the degree to which the spatial structure of the landscape facilitates the flow of organisms and materials. Various conceptual models and empirical evidence attribute a key role to hydrological connectivity in the functioning of dryland ecosystems and landscapes, yet an integrated perspective on the different facets and processes that link connectivity with the degradation and recovery of drylands is still lacking. Here, we describe ecohydrological connectivity as an emergent property of ecosystems and landscapes that captures the interaction between hydrological connectivity and ecological proceses, and discuss how ecohydrological connectivity controls dryland ecosystem functioning, underlies the dynamics of desertification, and can be managed to facilitate the recovery of degraded drylands. A dysfunctional ecohydrological connectivity would be one in which most of the resource flow associated with bare soil connectivity at the slope or landscape scale cannot be retained and exploited by the sink effect of vegetation. Actions for the recovery of the degraded system would be aimed at interrupting the general connectivity of the bare soil matrix, promoting source-sink dynamics and enhancing the sink capacity of the vegetation patches or tiles. At the landscape scale, the disruption of hydrological connectivity can, in turn, create habitat patches and corridors for a wide variety of species, facilitating their movements and thus their conservation and adaptation to climate change. Este trabajo se ha realizado en el marco del proyecto DRYEX2 (CGL2017-89804-R), financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.

The oral administration of drugs to the pediatric population involves the extemporaneous preparation of liquid formulations. These formulations have studies on their physicochemical stability, but they often lack microbiological studies. The objective of this study is to check the microbiological quality of five oral liquid formulations prepared with different excipients, which represent five major combinations, in two conditions: kept unopened until the day of the test, and in a multi-dose vial opened daily. The formulations were prepared according to standard operating procedures. Half of each batch was packaged in vials that remained closed until the day of testing, and the other half in a single container which was opened daily. Both the vials and the containers had been previously sterilized. Microbiological tests were performed weekly during the first month of the study, and then every two weeks, until the expiration date. The microbiological quality of oral liquid formulations is determined by the Royal Spanish Pharmacopoeia. The conclusion was that none of the formulations prepared that were packaged in sterilized containers became contaminated, either in unopened vials or in multi-dose containers when they were opened daily.La administración oral de fármacos a la población pediátrica implica la preparación de fórmulas líquidas extemporáneas. Estas fórmulas tienen estudios de estabilidad fisicoquímica pero en muchas ocasiones carecen de estudios microbiológicos. El objetivo del estudio es comprobar la calidad microbiológica de cinco fórmulas orales líquidas, preparadas con diferentes excipientes, que representan mayoritariamente cinco combinaciones, en dos condiciones: conservadas sin abrir hasta el día del análisis y abriendo diariamente el envase multidosis. Se prepararon las fórmulas según los procedimientos normalizados de trabajo. La mitad del lote de cada fórmula se envasó en viales que estuvieron cerrados hasta el día del análisis y la otra mitad en un solo frasco que se abría diariamente. Tanto los viales como los frascos para el envasado estaban esterilizados previamente. El análisis microbiológico se realizó cada semana durante el primer mes de estudio y después cada dos semanas hasta llegar al periodo de caducidad. La calidad microbiológica de las fórmulas orales líquidas viene marcada por la Real Farmacopea Española. Se concluye que ninguna de las fórmulas elaboradas envasadas en contenedores esterilizados se contaminó ni en los viales cerrados ni en los frascos multidosis cuando se abrieron diariamente.

El objetivo de este trabajo es hacer un estudio del estado actual en cuanto a necesidades de análisis estadístico a lo largo del Grado en Biología. Principalmente, detectar la necesidad de formación estadística en general en las prácticas de los distintos años de dicho grado. A partir de las necesidades analíticas detectadas, se propondrán las soluciones para cada caso y la mejor manera de poner a disposición del alumnado la solución propuesta, así como el mecanismo de evaluación apropiado. Esta propuesta es en sí mismo una mejora de la formación integral y la capacidad analítica del alumnado del Grado en Biología. Finalmente, todo el material y mecanismos generados se pondrán a disposición del alumnado.

Implantación de los nuevos Grados, como sustitución de las Licenciaturas en los estudios universitarios, lleva consigo un proceso de Reacreditación, consistente en la revisión de una serie de parámetros de calidad, a realizar una vez terminada su implantación. Este proceso se ha desarrollado en tres ámbitos principales: la Gestión del Título, los Recursos de los que se dispone y, por último, los Resultados, y tiene como fin principal evaluar si los resultados obtenidos son adecuados para garantizar la continuidad de la impartición del Grado. El equipo de trabajo que ha llevado a cabo la revisión y ha puesto en marcha los procesos de mejora en el Grado de Biología de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Universidad de Alicante ha sido la Comisión de Título. La revisión que dicha Comisión ha realizado se ha centrado en evaluar la adquisición de competencias por parte de los estudiantes, en los recursos humanos y materiales que soportan el desarrollo del título, y en el análisis de la evolución de los resultados del mismo. Toda la información generada en este grupo de trabajo, ha sido volcada a la aplicación “AstUA” con la que se gestionan los programas de calidad de toda la Universidad de Alicante.

Un equipo multidisciplinar de profesores y profesoras que componen la Red Docente INVES e imparten docencia en la asignatura Iniciación a la Investigación en Biología, ha desarrollado una metodología propia de trabajo en equipo, en coordinación con el profesorado de la asignatura Estadística, con la que se comparten objetivos de aprendizaje comunes. El sistema de evaluación del trabajo colaborativo del alumnado se ha optimizado mediante el uso de rúbricas y auto-evaluación. Se ha propiciado la adquisición de competencias transversales mediante una dinámica de trabajo en grupo. El diseño y desarrollo de un proyecto de investigación bibliométrico, de temática biológica, es realizado por los y las estudiantes, y culmina con la edición de unas Jornadas Científicas. Con el fin de mejorar la eficiencia de la evaluación, se han consensuado criterios comunes de evaluación continua entre el profesorado. Ello ha determinado un incremento de la capacidad de aprendizaje del alumnado a lo largo de los cursos 2010-11 al 2013-14. La lectura y compresión de textos científicos en inglés junto a la formación de un grupo de Alto Rendimiento Académico con docencia en lengua inglesa completa la oferta formativa, permitiendo al alumnado implementar el objetivo general de compresión de lengua extranjera inglés en lo relativo al ámbito científico.

Ecosystem monitoring and assessment are often based on functional indicators, which provide integrated and yet simple and affordable measures of key ecosystem functions. The landscape function analysis (LFA) assesses ecosystem functioning through three indices that represent basic soil functions: surface stability, infiltration, and nutrient cycling. Given the high scale-dependency of hydrological and erosion processes in semiarid ecosystems, the validation of the stability and infiltration indices requires a multi-scale approach, which has not been applied by previous works. Using records from a four-year monitoring of a semiarid landscape in SE Spain, we evaluated the LFA infiltration and stability indices against quantitative measurements of water and sediment flows at multiple scales. At the finest scale, the indices correctly reflected the higher infiltration and lower sediment production of plant patches as compared with bare-soil interpatches. The infiltration index also captured the spatial variation in the infiltration capacity of bare-soil interpatches. At the hillslope scale, total runoff was inversely related to the average infiltration index for bare-soil interpatches, but it was not related to the global infiltration index, which combines the values from both bare-soil interpatches and plant patches. These results suggest that the hydrological response of semiarid hillslopes depends mainly on the variation in the functioning of bare-soil interpatches. Total sediment yield from the hillslope plots was not related to the stability index. At the catchment scale, both the bare-soil interpatch and the global infiltration indices correctly captured the variability in total runoff produced by three micro-catchments of comparable size. The bare-soil infiltration index predicted bare-soil infiltration rate and hillslope runoff better than common simple indicators of soil functioning such as soil organic carbon, stone cover, crusted bare-soil cover, bulk-density and plant cover, and exhibited a similarly high indicatory potential that a variety of plant spatial-pattern indicators. In contrast to the multi-scale validation of the infiltration index, the indicatory potential of the stability index was only proved for the most contrasting soil conditions in the study site, pointing to a lower sensitivity of this latter index.

In occidental Europe, Spain is one of countries the most severely affected by desertification (Arnalds & Arsher 2000). Particularly, South-eastern Spain is considered as one of the most threatened areas by desertification in Mediterranean Europe (Vallejo 1997). In 2003, the Valencia Regional Forest Service implemented a restoration demonstration project in this area. The project site is a small catchment (25 ha) located in the Albatera municipality. The catchment is highly heterogeneous, with terraced slopes, south-facing slopes and north-facing slopes. The restoration strategy was based on planting evergreen trees and shrubs which can grow quickly after disturbances, and on field treatments aimed at maximizing water collection (micro-catchments, planting furrows), organic amendment (compost), and conservation (tree shelters, mulching). On south landscape unit, the whole category of restoration treatments was applied: water micro-catchment + Tubex tree shelters + mulching & compost, while on north landscape unit: netting tree shelters + mulching & compost only were applied, while in terrace landscape unit: furrows + netting tree shelters + mulching & compost were applied. Survival and growth of the planted seedlings were used as metrics of restoration success. To assess the effects of the treatments applied for soil conservation, soil loss rates (from 2005 to 2009) were evaluated using the erosion pin method. We conclude that, despite the limiting conditions prevailing on the south unit, this landscape unit showed the highest survival and growth plant rates in the area. The best seedling performances on the south landscape unit were probably due to the highest technical efforts applied, consisting in the water micro-catchment installation and the Tubex plant shelters addition. In addition, soil loss rates followed decreasing trends throughout the assessment period. Soil loss rates were highest on south landscape unit in comparison with the other landscape units, due to the more accentuated relief. North landscape unit and terrace unit showed a net soil mass gain, probably reflecting the trapping of sediments produced by plantation works. Financial support from Ministerio de Educación y Ciencias of CODEX-R and TRESECO projects, and Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino of ESTRES project.

One of the most challenging issues in Mediterranean ecosystems to date has been to understand the emergence of discontinuous changes or catastrophic shifts. In the era of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which encompass ideas around Land Degradation Neutrality, advancing this understanding has become even more critical and urgent. The aim of this paper is to synthesize insights into the drivers, processes and management of catastrophic shifts to highlight ways forward for the management of Mediterranean ecosystems. We use a multidisciplinary approach that extends beyond the typical single site, single scale, single approach studies in the current literature. We link applied and theoretical ecology at multiple scales with analyses and modeling of human–environment–climate relations and stakeholder engagement in six field sites in Mediterranean ecosystems to address three key questions: i) How do major degradation drivers affect ecosystem functioning and services in Mediterranean ecosystems? ii) What processes happen in the soil and vegetation during a catastrophic shift? iii) How can management of vulnerable ecosystems be optimized using these findings? Drawing together the findings from the use of different approaches allows us to address the whole pipeline of changes from drivers through to action. We highlight ways to assess ecosystem vulnerability that can help to prevent ecosystem shifts to undesirable states; identify cost-effective management measures that align with the vision and plans of land users; and evaluate the timing of these measures to enable optimization of their application before thresholds are reached. Such a multidisciplinary approach enables improved identification of early warning signals for discontinuous changes informing more timely and cost-effective management, allowing anticipation of, adaptation to, or even prevention of, undesirable catastrophic ecosystem shifts.