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With the understanding that videogames have become a powerful resource not only for entertainment but also as an educational resource for foreign language teaching today, the objective of this study was to examine the use of the videogame "Broken Sword" for the teaching of French as a foreign language in a higher education setting. To assess the suitability of the video game as a foreign language teaching tool, a quantitative methodology based on a 22-item ad hoc questionnaire was used, through which we collected the assessment of the students. Despite the expectations and the high degree of participation and cooperation of the students surveyed, the results revealed an attitude of indifference regarding the videogame's contributions to language learning. We considered the results to be very positive, as for many of the students this exercise was not only a test with a language that they did not master yet, but also had technical difficulties that they had to overcome. The challenge of this experience invites us to continue working with new videogames titles and to improve our future methodological interventions.

Forty-five accessions of the genus Phaseolus from the orthodox seed collection of the National Center for Genetic Resources (CNRG) of the National Institute of Forestry, Agricultural, and Livestock Research (INIFAP) of Mexico were sequenced using RADseq. The species utilized were: P. acutifolius (14), P. coccineus (12), P. lunatus (8), P. dumosus (6), P. leptostachyus (2), P. filiformis (2), and P. vulgaris (1). A variant call file (VCF) was generated using GATK with the P. vulgaris reference genome GCF_000499845.1, identifying 97,103 shared SNPs among the species. These data have the potential to be used for studies of genetic diversity intra and interspecies, phylogeny, evolution, genetic resource conservation, and agricultural improvement.

Introduction. Teaching social skills to students with special educational needs is essential for their personal development and integration into society. Objectives. The purpose of this study was to validate a measurement instrument for the elements involved in teaching and learning social skills in students with special educational needs. Methods. Two studies were conducted to accomplish this objective. We first performed exploratory research on half of the sample consisting of 166 Greek teachers working in primary and secondary special and general education schools in the Western Macedonia region. Then, we conducted a confirmatory study on a sample of 185 Greek teachers who were also working in primary and secondary special and general education schools in the same region. All education professionals work with students with mild special educational needs. The instrument used was an "ad hoc" questionnaire consisting of 17 items of a 5-point Likert scale, to which different analyses were applied to verify its validity and reliability. Results. An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) showed a total of 3 factors corresponding to the "Preparedness of Teachers in Teaching Social Skills", the "Elements of Influence on Teachers' Suitability in Teaching Social Skills", and the "Elements that play an important role in Teaching Social Skills". Subsequently, a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was carried out, through which the results derived from the AFE were ratified. Conclusion. The findings reveal an instrument that is adequate in validity and reliability, in accordance with the literature, demonstrating that the model is consistent and coherent with the initial theoretical assumptions.

Spanish legislation obliges the public administration to ensure equal opportunities and support for access to higher education for people with disabilities. This work has one central goal: to analyse and understand the causes for the potential inequality for people with disabilities in accessing higher education in Spain and the barriers they encounter during their academic life. This paper focuses on the differences in inclusive education between people with disabilities and people without disabilities by sex, age, and type of university. A mixed research design is used: qualitative research of two focus groups and fourteen interviews to sixteen students with disabilities; and statistical analysis of the Social Integration and Health Survey 2012, using two-way and multi-way cross-tables. There are significant differences between presence of disability and learning variables. Controlling by sex and age, almost every age-group is significant. Using sex as independent variable, and controlling by disability, there is no relationship with the variables relating to barriers to accessing education; therefore, the larger differences by sex are in the group of people without disabilities.

Augmented reality is a great value resource in the area of education, as it allows the students to become immersed in a hybrid context between the real world and the digital one, bringing realities closer to the classroom which would otherwise be impossible to reach, improving the student's motivation and also facilitating the construction of significant learning within themselves. Also, its inclusion within the classroom does not imply great costs, as the necessary hardware requirements for its implementation are limited to the availability of a Smartphone or digital tablet and an internet connection, making it the ideal technology that can be integrated into any educational stage. In the present work, we present the evaluation of augmented reality as a didactic resource within Primary Education, by future teachers. The research is addressed from a quantitative methodology, through the use of a questionnaire, created ad hoc and composed by 32 items that refer to specific educational aspects such as inclusion, special education needs, the teaching-learning processes, etc. An incidental sample of 208 students was utilized, who were enrolled in the Primary Education Degree at the Faculty of Education of the University of Cordoba. The conclusions indicate that the future teachers, in their initial training, consider augmented reality as a tool that could be valuable and relevant for the development of the curricula, as well as inclusive education.

Introduction: This article has two objectives: a) to examine the factorial structure of the Spanish version of the EPQR-A through an exploratory factor analysis and b) to perform a confirmatory factor analysis to determine the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the EPQR-A in terms of construct validity in an adult academic population. Method: The sample was 826 university undergraduate students volunteered to complete the Spanish version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised-Abbreviated (EPQR-A) and to examine the concurrent validity of the EPQR-A, the Spanish version of the questionnaire Dysexecutive Questionnaire (DEX-Sp). We applied exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Result: The instrument demonstrated good psychometric properties and reinforcing the original dimensional structure of the scale. The EPQR-A has psychometric characteristics comparable to longer questionnaires, such as the EPQ-R; therefore, it has great suitability when inserted into more extensive protocols. Conclusion: The differences between males and females allow us to affirm that in late adolescence and early youth, promotion, prevention, and intervention health strategies differentiated by gender should be conducted

There is a significant body of research in "naturalistic designs" of augmented reality (AR), concerning different fields (medicine, education, arts etc). Although naturalistic approaches have the potential to enable new forms of experiencing and experimenting with AR technologies, it remains unclear how they can impact participants' motivation. From within an evaluation of the relevant literature and research results pertaining to naturalistic approaches to AR technology, this study aims to show how naturalistic approaches can be particularly effective in increasing the usefulness of the three widely recognized types of AR (marker-based AR, markerless and location-based AR). This study presents the results of an analysis of a review of articles of the peer-reviewed literature on naturalistic approaches applied to AR, considering the advantages, disadvantages and effectiveness of the combination of naturalistic approaches with AR across various domains. In total 33 studies published in peer-reviewed journals and conferences were analyzed. The implications of this research are that naturalistic approaches applied to AR technology help to foster positive attitudes towards AR, to facilitate collaboration and to enhance the users' social collaboration, personal development and skills in the use of AR software. Among all domains of applications of AR with naturalistic approaches (education, medicine, digital arts, cultural heritage), the domain of human-computer interaction has attracted more attention in experimental researches. Also, motion-sensing input devices are the kind of technology which appears more beneficial for these fields.

This article analyzes the Spanish regulations that regulate the legal procedures for the declaration of those areas that are contaminated by ionizing radiation and the legal framework for the recovery actions of these spaces. The analysis is also comprehensive of the controls to which potentially polluting activities with radionuclides are subjected. Given that this is a regulation that is still pending regulatory development for its effective application, the article reflects on what aspects should be regulated in this future regulation. In these analyses, special attention is paid to the question of who should assume responsibility for taking charge of the remediation work and the tasks that the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council has in all these processes. The article also addresses the regulations that regulate the radiological control of these spaces, considered in the legislation as manifestations of "existing exposure situations." Finally, the main radiologically affected areas in Spain are examined: Palomares, the Baquetas del Jarama, the Mendaña Marismas, the phosphogypsum ponds of Huelva, the Flix reservoir and El Hondón. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following research focuses on the mind maps learning strategy used by future education professionals as a resource that encourages planning, reflection, self-control, and meta-cognition in the development of knowledge, and that improves creativity, practicality, and systematicity when organizing the information. The aim of this work is to analyze the difficulties and troubles found by future education professionals during their learning of mind maps and their repercussion regarding their expectations of use in their future work as teachers. For this purpose, a quantitative methodology was adopted through the use of a questionnaire created ad hoc. This instrument was utilized to collect the students' assessment of the feelings experienced at the beginning of the mind maps learning process, the difficulties throughout this process and the expectations regarding the use of this technique. The main results of the study show that the difficulties for learning mind maps are a predicting factor of the feelings experienced during the beginning of the learning process. However, these feelings do not condition the expectations of use of the students in any shape or form.

At the present time, the use of video games goes beyond mere amusement or entertainment due to its potential for developing capacities, dexterity and skills. Thus, video games have extended to environments like that of education, serving as didactic resources within dynamics that respond to the interests and necessities of the 21st century student. In this study, we approach the design of video games in initial teacher training. In this respect, we aim to collect the student's views regarding the learning process of the different tools used for designing video games within a framework of collaborative learning. The investigation is approached through a quantitative methodology applying a 28-item questionnaire on the learning experience of designing video games. We used a sample of 200 second-year students majoring in Childhood Education during the 2013/2014 academic course. The results obtained show that the students value in a positive way the collaborative learning methodology for mastering the video games designing tools.

In this study, we tested the insectistatic and insecticidal effects of the ethanolic extract of stems and bark of Ficus petiolaris Kunth (Moraceae) in laboratory bioassays with an artificial diet against newly hatched larvae of the fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda Smith (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). The extract was evaluated at five different concentrations (500, 1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500 ppm). The 2500 ppm extract had the strongest inhibitory effects on larval (89%) and pupal (20%) weight as well as the highest mortality (80%). The positive control, methyl parathion (Methyl Parathion®) at 1%, eliminated 100% of the fall armyworm, and the negative control (artificial diet) had a mortality of only 5%. Chemical fractionation of F. petiolaris stem and bark extract produced five fractions of FpR1-5, each of which was evaluated at 250, 500, 750, 1000, and 1250 ppm. FpR4 presented the strongest inhibitory effect, reducing the weight of the larva and pupa by 35% and 18%, while FpR2 had the strongest insecticidal effect, with 90% mortality at 1250 ppm. The pure 8-Methoxypsoralen compound extracted from this fraction was even more effective, with 100% S. frugiperda mortality at 100 ppm. The 50% lethal concentration (LC50) of 8-Methoxypsoralen was 67.68 ppm. Our results indicate that the F. petiolaris extract showed toxic activity against the fall armyworm, and its compound 8-Methoxypsoralen showed strong insecticidal activity at low concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface water resources have played a fundamental role in the development of human societies. Considering that different agricultural and industrial activities are carried out in the Acacias River basin, the main objective of this research was to analyze the influence of land use on the water quality in this area by identifying the main sources that influence river water quality. The methodology consisted of establishing 12 sampling stations with different land uses at three times. The National Sanitation Foundation-Water Quality Index (NSF-WQI) was applied to the obtained water quality evaluation data. The main results showed that the stations associated with urban centers presented a higher concentration in the following variables: fecal coliforms, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and phosphates. The principal components analysis revealed a close relation between the parameters of fecal coliforms, phosphates and BOD, and the pollution processes by organic matter, which are probably related to domestic and industrial wastewater discharges, and to detergents in urbanized areas. The parameters with the greatest range of values were total dissolved solids and turbidity. These results coincide with what was observed in the correlation analysis. Finally, nitrates showed higher concentrations at stations 6 and 7, associated with agricultural and industrial influence areas (i.e., oil palm crops in the basin). This study about the Acacias River is, thus, extremely important for the region, and concludes that the river's self-purifying capacity allows improved water quality in the areas where the predominant land use is not associated with human settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]