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The MONITOOL project (2017-2023) was carried out to describe the relationships between total dissolved and labile metal concentrations measured in spot water samples and in concurrently deployed Diffusive Gradients in Thin-films (DGTs) passive samplers, respectively. The ultimate aim was to adapt existing marine metal Environmental Quality Standards (EQS ) for DGTs, enabling their use in the context of the European Directives (the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD)). Time-integrated metal concentrations provided by DGTs, representing several days, are an advantage compared to conventional spot sampling, especially in highly dynamic systems, such as transitional waters. Hence, the MONITOOL project aimed to provide a robust database of dissolved and labile metal concentrations in transitional and coastal waters, based upon co-deployments of DGTs and collection of spot water samples at several sampling sites (England, France, Ireland, Italy, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Scotland and Spain), followed subsequently by DGT and water metal analysis. Samplings were carried out in 2018 and 2022, following agreed protocols developed in the framework of the project. The MONITOOL dataset includes metal concentrations from DGTs, measured with Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS: Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) and in concurrently collected spot water samples by ICP-MS (Al, Cd, Co, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) and Anodic/Cathodic Stripping Voltammetry (ASV/CSV: Cd, Pb, Ni). Moreover, data on seawater physical-chemical parameters (salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, total suspended solids, dissolved organic carbon, and total organic carbon) is provided. This database presents the results obtained using, concurrently, different forms of sampling and analytical techniques, enabling the comparison of the results obtained by these strategies and allowing the adaptation of EQS in marine water (EQS to DGTs (EQS )

Video games are a new way of having fun, for their use technological devices are required which are quite common in the current youth population. The objective of this research is to analyze this type of communication and verify its incidence in today's youth, it is considered a descriptive methodology, with the analysis of data obtained by bibliographic review in articles and documents of a scientific nature and the application of a survey. young people between the ages of 18 and 29, of both sexes; evidencing that 82% of those surveyed use video games while 18% do not. The vast majority of the study population claims that they use these means of entertainment for 1 to 2 hours, which is quite a considerable amount of time, and as regards the activities that have been stopped due to playing, they have been fixing their room, do their homework, eat and bathe. Everything described above, allows us to conclude that if the proper use can be positive, an exaggerated use of video games can produce deviations such as: eating disorders and distortion of sleep schedules among the most relevant consequences in young people., Los videojuegos son una nueva manera de divertirse, para su uso se requiere de aparatos tecnológicos los cuales son bastante comunes en la población juvenil actual. El objetivo de esta investigación pretende analizar este tipo de comunicación y verificar su incidencia en la juventud actual, se considera una metodología de corte descriptiva, con el análisis de datos obtenidos por revisión bibliográfica en artículos y documentos de carácter científico y la aplicación de una encuesta a jóvenes de un rango entre 18 y 29 años de edad, de ambos sexos; evidenciando que el 82% de los encuestados utiliza videojuegos mientras que el 18%, no lo hace. La gran mayoría de la población de estudio aduce que utiliza estos medios de entretenimiento, de 1 a 2 horas, lo cual es un tiempo bastante considerable y en cuanto a las actividades que se han dejado de hacer por jugar, han sido arreglar su habitación, realizar sus deberes, alimentarse y bañarse. Todo lo descrito anteriormente, permite concluir que, si el uso adecuado puede ser positivo, un uso exagerado de los video juegos, puede llegar a producir desviaciones como: desórdenes alimenticios y distorsión de horarios de sueño entre las consecuencias más relevantes en los jóvenes.

In order to move forward in the acceptance of a novel contaminant monitoring technique (Diffusive Gradients in Thin-films: DGT) for assessment of marine water bodies, sensu the WFD, an Inter-Laboratories Comparison (ILC) exercise (nine Europeans laboratories) was organized in the framework of the Interreg Atlantic Area MONITOOL project, which focused on the use of the DGT technique for the measurement of WFD priority metals (Cd, Ni and Pb). Reproducible results were obtained for each metal by several laboratories, supporting the assertion that DGT analysis can be performed satisfactorily by laboratories experienced in measuring metals at trace levels in marine environments, even if they have limited practice in DGT analysis. According to the Z-score analysis, among the 9 participating laboratories, 3 had 100 % of satisfactory results for Cd, Ni, and Pb, 3 had >80 % satisfactory results and 2 had about 60 % satisfactory results. This work highlights the need to clearly describe the DGT method in order to control sources of contamination during analytical steps, in particular the resin gel retrieval and the elution steps. Such international intercomparison exercise is an important step to develop the laboratory network involved in DGT analysis and contributes to the improvement of data quality.

In order to move forward in the acceptance of a novel contaminant monitoring technique for the status assessment of marine water bodies, sensu the Water Framework Directive (WFD), an Inter-Laboratories Comparison (ILC) exercise was organized by Ifremer in the framework of the MONITOOL project - New tools for monitoring the chemical status in transitional and coastal waters under the EU WFD. This ILC focused on the use of DGT technique for the measurement of WFD priority metals (Cd, Ni and Pb). The objectives of this ILC were to test the performance of laboratories when analysing DGTs and to identify the critical handling (resin gel retrieval and elution) and analytical steps when working with DGT samplers, to establish recommendations to prevent misleading results.

Le présent document fournit des instructions pour les meilleures pratiques relatives à l’utilisation des échantillonneurs passifs à Gradient de Diffusion en couche mince (DGT) pour l’échantillonnage des eaux de transition et côtières à des fins de surveillance de la qualité de l’eau. La méthodologie définie dans ce guide a été développée par le consortium du projet Interreg MONITOOL de l’Union européenne afin d’assurer la comparabilité et la reproductibilité des données obtenues par chaque partenaire du projet dans les différentes régions. Le guide fournit des informations pratiques et détaillées sur tous les aspects à prendre en considération avant le déploiement de ces dispositifs et lors des étapes essentielles après leur déploiement, extraction et trai - tement ultérieur des échantillons pour l’analyse des métaux traces. Bien qu’il ne s’agisse pas d’un protocole standard, ces lignes directrices abordent la nécessité d’une approche commune et l’intention de promouvoir les meilleures pratiques.

The objective of this research aims to investigate the dynamics of the families of middle-level students, the current academic situation at home and their eventual return to education with the face-to-face modality and use of facilities in institutions with private or fiscal-commission financing. The research adopted a qualitative, descriptive approach in which a sample of 971 parents and / or student representatives with similar characteristics of private education in the urban area of ​​Cuenca, Ecuador participated. After obtaining the results of qualitative instruments such as structured surveys and analysis of documentary information, data were obtained that allowed describing criteria of social adaptation to the academic processes of students in their homes during the current pandemic, the reality of family health and possible contact with people infected or vulnerable to contagion in the sector of influence. Likewise, the study facilitated the approach of some consequences regarding the progressive or future return to physical classrooms, highlighting the criteria expressed by the studied sample that will serve as a preamble for decision-making by the zonal and district educational authorities in this academic field for the intermediate level., El objetivo de la presente investigación, pretende indagar sobre la dinámica de las familias de estudiantes de nivel medio, la situación académica actual en casa y su eventual retorno a la educación con la modalidad presencial y uso de instalaciones en instituciones con financiamiento particular o fiscomisional. La investigación adoptó el enfoque cualitativo de carácter descriptivo en el que participaron una muestra de 971 padres de familia y/o representantes estudiantiles con características similares de educación particular en la zona urbana de Cuenca, Ecuador. Luego de obtener los resultados producto de instrumentos cualitativos como encuestas estructuradas y análisis de información documental, se obtuvieron datos que permitieron describir criterios de adaptación social a los procesos académicos de los estudiantes en sus hogares durante la actual pandemia, la realidad de la salud familiar y el posible contacto con personas contagiadas o con vulnerabilidad de contagio en el sector de influencia. Así mismo el estudio, facilitó el planteamiento de algunas consecuencias respecto al retorno progresivo o futuro a las aulas físicas, resaltando los criterios expresados por la muestra estudiada que servirán de preámbulo para la toma de decisiones por parte de las autoridades educativas zonales y distritales en este campo académico para el nivel medio.

This document provides guidance on best practice for the use of Diffusive Gradient in Thin films (DGT) passive samplers devices in sampling of transitional and coastal waters for water quality monitoring. The methodology1 to be addressed in this guide was developed by the consortium of the European Union’s Interreg MONITOOL Project in order to ensure comparability and reproducibility of the data obtained from each project Partner in different regions. The guide provides practical and detailed information on all the aspects to be considered before the deployment of these devices and the essential steps for their deployment, retrieval and subsequent sample processing for the analysis of trace metals. Although it is not aimed as a standard protocol, these guidelines address the need for a common approach and the intention to promote best practice.

This protocol was developed based on the knowledge acquired in the framework of the Interreg MONITOOL project (EAPA_565/2016) where extensive sampling campaigns were performed in transitional and coastal waters covering eight European countries. It provides detailed procedures and guidelines for the sampling of these waterbodies by concurrent collection of discrete water samples and the deployment of Diffusive Gradient in Thin-films (DGT) passive samplers for the measurement of trace metal concentrations. In order to facilitate the application of this protocol by end-users, it presents steps to follow in the laboratory prior to sampling campaigns, explains the procedures for field campaigns (including in situ measurement of supporting parameters) and subsequent sample processing in the laboratory in preparation for trace metal analyse by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and voltammetry. The protocol provides a systematic, coherent field sampling and sample preparation strategy that was developed in order to ensure comparability and reproducibility of the data obtained from each project Partner in different regions. • Standardization of the concurrent sampling of transitional and coastal waters by DGT passive samplers and spot sampling. • Robust procedures and tips based on existing international standards and comprehensive practical experience. • Links to demonstration videos produced within the MONITOOL project.

El presente trabajo de investigación cualitativa analiza los discursos de mujeres bolivianas que migraron a España y emprendieron un negocio a su retorno a Bolivia. En ese sentido, se realiza un recorrido en base a las reflexiones, historias y experiencias de las entrevistadas, para indagar desde las causas que llevan a mujeres bolivianas a migrar hacia España, las características laborales durante su experiencia migratoria y por último los factores que motivan su retorno y posterior emprendimiento en Bolivia. Los resultados demuestran que los negocios y el emprendimiento son formas de resistencia de las mujeres bolivianas, quienes tienen que abrirse caminos en una sociedad en la que aún persisten grandes desigualdades., This qualitative research work analyses the discourses of Bolivian women who migrated to Spain, returned to Bolivia and later started a business. In this sense, based on the interviewees reflections, stories, and experiences, it investigates the causes why Bolivian women migrate to Spain, the labour characteristics during their migratory experience, and finally, the factors that motivate their return and subsequent entrepreneurship in Bolivia. The results show that business and entrepreneurship are forms of resistance of Bolivian women, who have to make their way in a society with significant inequalities.

Aquatic environments are key niches for the emergence, evolution and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance. However, the population diversity and the genetic elements that drive the dynamics of resistant bacteria in different aquatic environments are still largely unknown. The aim of this study was to understand the population genomics and evolutionary events of Escherichia coli resistant to clinically important antibiotics including aminoglycosides, in anthropogenic and natural water ecosystems. Here we show that less different E. coli sequence types (STs) are identified in wastewater than in rivers, albeit more resistant to antibiotics, and with significantly more plasmids/cell (6.36 vs 3.72). However, the genomic diversity within E. coli STs in both aquatic environments is similar. Wastewater environments favor the selection of conserved chromosomal structures associated with diverse flexible plasmids, unraveling promiscuous interplasmidic resistance genes flux. On the contrary, the key driver for river E. coli adaptation is a mutable chromosome along with few plasmid types shared between diverse STs harboring a limited resistance gene content.

The current situation in the world has developed new ways of looking at life and evaluating events that have become relevant in recent months, specifically since March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic took hold in Ecuador and the rest of the world. planet. It has unleashed a cultural crisis that increasingly impacts all fields of action and stands out in the teaching function and the change in the academic process. The research aims to analyze the impact that the emerging step from the modality of face-to-face studies to the virtual modality has had on the daily work of the teacher and its repercussion in the execution of its management; likewise focus attention on social isolation and alternative education processes that denote their study. It is considered a mixed approach based on the bibliographic review method supported by the application of structured surveys to teaching staff who have experienced the change. It could be noted that both the teaching staff and the students were not prepared to urgently and immediately adopt the current reality, which caused structural changes in the way they impart and receive information, as well as affects the resulting academic process., La situación actual en el mundo ha desarrollado nuevas formas de ver la vida y de valorar hechos que han tomado relevancia en los últimos meses, específicamente desde marzo del año 2020 en que la pandemia del Covid-19 tomó fuerza en el Ecuador y el resto del planeta. Ha desatado una crisis cultural que impacta de forma creciente en todos los campos de acción y se destaca en la función docente y el cambio en el proceso académico. La investigación pretende analizar el impacto que ha tenido el paso emergente de la modalidad de estudios presenciales a la modalidad virtual en la tarea diaria del docente y su repercusión en la ejecución de su gestión; así mismo centrar la atención en el aislamiento social y los procesos de educación alternativa que denotan su estudio. Se considera un enfoque mixto basado en el método de revisión bibliográfica apoyado en la aplicación de encuestas estructuradas al personal docente que ha vivenciado el cambio. Se pudo notar que tanto el personal docente como los estudiantes, no estuvieron preparados para adoptar de manera urgente e inmediata la realidad presente lo que ocasionó cambios estructurales en su forma de impartir y recibir información, así como afecciones en el proceso académico resultante.

Companies related to foreign trade in Ecuador face important challenges to improve their communication flows and, in this way, be more efficient and secure in the development of their daily activities. Currently, the costs of these companies are affected by shortcomings in these flows, which triggers inefficient inventory rotation, production losses, theft, loss of time and effort of personnel, illegal activities; situations that could be avoided with the management of efficient traceability of communication in cargo handling, so that immediate actions are taken in unforeseen situations. The investigative process developed, aims to analyze the management of organizational communication in this type of companies linked to the BASC “Business Alliance for Secure Commerce” standards for a safe trade in the Republic of Ecuador. The qualitative, descriptive approach supported by documentary research and structured surveys was applied to validate the elements of organizational communication. It was possible to verify that not all the elements of communication management are integrated into the aforementioned security regulations, in view of which the restructuring of the specific chapter to be considered in the publication of future versions is proposed., Las empresas vinculadas al comercio exterior en Ecuador enfrentan retos importantes para mejorar sus flujos de comunicación y, de esta manera lograr ser más eficaces y seguros en el desarrollo de sus actividades cotidianas. Actualmente, los costos de estas empresas se ven afectados por falencias en dichos flujos, lo que desencadena en ineficiente rotación de inventarios, pérdidas de producción, robos, pérdidas de tiempo y esfuerzo del personal, actividades ilícitas; situaciones que pudieran evitarse con el manejo de una trazabilidad eficiente de la comunicación en el manejo de la carga, de modo que se tomen acciones inmediatas ante situaciones imprevistas. El proceso investigativo desarrollado, pretende analizar la Gestión de la comunicación organizacional en este tipo de empresas vinculadas a las normas BASC “Business Alliance for Secure Commerce” para un comercio seguro en la República del Ecuador. Se aplicó el enfoque cualitativo de tipo descriptivo apoyado en investigación documental y en encuestas estructuradas para validar los elementos de la comunicación organizacional. Se pudo verificar que no todos los elementos de la gestión de la comunicación están integrados en las normas de seguridad mencionadas, ante lo cual se propone la reestructuración del capítulo específico a ser considerado en la publicación de versiones futuras.

The companies that are part of the supply chain in foreign trade in Ecuador, maintain their organizational development based on processes regulated by cargo safety standards, among which are the Basic Alliance for Secure Commerce (BASC) that they use They are transversal to the treatment of information and communication, but they are not explicitly stated. The objective of this research was to systematize theoretical assumptions about the components of Information Management (GI); and the Communication Management (GC), that allow to propose a model for its integration in processes regulated by BASC norms as a contributing resource. The research carried out has a qualitative focus and the applied method is the phenomenographic supported by semi-structured interviews with experts in order to analyze their procedures for dealing with information and internal and external communication of companies. It was found that organizations do not adequately manage information and communication, since they do not apply info-communicational principles, but instead focus on isolated treatments, regulations and in many cases only guided by technological means. Consequently, a first generic info-communication model is proposed that allows integrating the information and communication components for the benefit of organizational management., Las empresas que forman parte de la cadena de suministros en el comercio exterior en Ecuador, mantienen su desarrollo organizacional basado en procesos regulados por normas de seguridad en la carga entre las que se encuentran las Basic Alliance for Secure Commerce (BASC) que, utilizan de forma transversal al tratamiento de la información y la comunicación, pero no las declaran de manera explícita. El objetivo de esta investigación fue sistematizar presupuestos teóricos acerca de los componentes de la Gestión de Información (GI); y la Gestión de la Comunicación (GC), que permitan plantear un modelo para su integración en procesos regulados por normas BASC como un recurso coadyuvante. La investigación desarrollada tiene un enfoque cualitativo y el método aplicado es el fenomenográfico apoyado de entrevistas semiestructuradas a expertos a fin de analizar sus procedimientos para tratar la información y la comunicación interna y externa de las empresas. Se encontró que las organizaciones no gestionan adecuadamente la información y la comunicación, pues no aplican principios infocomunicacionales, sino que se enfocan en tratamientos aislados, normativas y en muchos casos únicamente guiados por medios tecnológicos. En consecuencia, se plantea un primer modelo genérico infocomunicacional que permite integrar los componentes de información y la comunicación en beneficio de la gestión organizacional.