Open University of Catalonia

About: Open University of Catalonia is a education organization based out in Barcelona, Spain. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Context (language use) & Higher education. The organization has 1943 authors who have published 4646 publications receiving 64200 citations. The organization is also known as: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya & UOC.

Combining Monte Carlo simulation with heuristics for solving the inventory routing problem with stochastic demands

Abstract: In this paper, we introduce a simulation-based algorithm for solving the single-period Inventory Routing Problem (IRP) with stochastic demands. Our approach, which combines simulation with heuristics, considers different potential inventory policies for each customer, computes their associated inventory costs according to the expected demand in the period, and then estimates the marginal routing savings associated with each customer-policy entity. That way, for each customer it is possible to rank each inventory policy by estimating its total costs, i.e., both inventory and routing costs. Finally, a multi-start process is used to iteratively construct a set of promising solutions for the IRP. At each iteration of this multi-start process, a new set of policies is selected by performing an asymmetric randomization on the list of policy ranks. Some numerical experiments illustrate the potential of our approach.

Between Myth and Reality: Language Classrooms in Spanish and Catalan Social Integration Programmes.

Abstract: It is generally taken for granted that teaching the language of the region to newcomers will prevent social stratification and will enable them to participate in the society and economy. Nevertheless, there are significant drawbacks with regard to the coordination of these language classrooms. This article will problematise the fact that these language courses are equated with social integration, and it will also underline that these sites may, indeed, reproduce the unequal position of new speakers in relation to power and linguistic capital. I draw on the qualitative data collected in social integration programmes in Madrid and Barcelona between 2010 and 2014, and I will explain what kinds of linguistic resources were distributed in these classrooms as well as the positioning of these learners in relation to power.

DWT-Based High Capacity Audio Watermarking

Abstract: This letter suggests a novel high capacity robust audio watermarking algorithm by using the high frequency band of the wavelet decomposition, for which the human auditory system (HAS) is not very sensitive to alteration. The main idea is to divide the high frequency band into frames and then, for embedding, the wavelet samples are changed based on the average of the relevant frame. The experimental results show that the method has very high capacity (about 5.5 kbps), without significant perceptual distortion (ODG in [―1, 0] and SNR about 33 dB) and provides robustness against common audio signal processing such as added noise, filtering, echo and MPEG compression (MP3).

Renaming teaching practice through teacher reflection using critical incidents on a virtual training course

Abstract: This study approaches teacher learning from a dialogical viewpoint where lecturers’ voices used in a training course context reflect how lecturers generated new professional discourse. The design of the training course considered the analysis of several critical incidents (CIs) in online teaching. An analytical framework based on lecturers’ discourse and ways of thinking about teaching was used to identify types of renaming teaching practice. The empirical element of the study analysed the written utterances about teaching provided by 12 online instructors in order to determine what kinds of new discourse emerged during the analysis of 15 CIs in online teaching. Results showed that local discourse is the lecturers’ most commonly used discourse, prototypical incidents generated more professional discourse than personal and real CIs, and professional discourse can be created by means of at least nine different ways of articulating discourse. On the basis of these results, some pedagogical implicatio...