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In the context of European Higher Education students face an increasing focus on independent, individual learning—at the expense of face-to-face interaction. Hence learners are, all too often, not provided with enough opportunities to negotiate in the target language. The current case study aims to address this reality by going beyond conventional approaches to provide students with a hybrid game-based app, combining individual and collaborative learning opportunities. The 4-week study was carried out with 104 German language students (A1.2 CEFR) who had previously been enrolled in a first-semester A1.1 level course at a Spanish university. The VocabTrainerA1 app—designed specifically for this study—harnesses the synergy of combining individual learning tasks and a collaborative murder mystery game in a hybrid level-based architecture. By doing so, the app provides learners with opportunities to apply their language skills to real-life-like communication. The purpose of the study was twofold: on one hand we aimed to measure learner motivation, perceived usefulness and added value of hybrid game-based apps; on the other, we sought to determine their impact on language learning. To this end, we conducted focus group interviews and an anonymous Technology Acceptance Model survey (TAM). In addition, students took a pre-test and a post-test. Scores from both tests were compared with the results obtained in first-semester conventional writing tasks, with a view to measure learning outcomes. The study provides qualitative and quantitative data supporting our initial hypotheses. Our findings suggest that hybrid game-based apps like VocabTrainerA1—which seamlessly combine individual and collaborative learning tasks—motivate learners, stimulate perceived usefulness and added value, and better meet the language learning needs of today’s digital natives. In terms of acceptance, outcomes and sustainability, the data indicate that hybrid game-based apps significantly improve proficiency, hence are indeed, effective tools for enhanced language learning.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the non-linear aspects of the asymmetry-performance relationship under varying conditions of trust and innovation. Its novel approach is useful for addressing the strategic elements of supply chain management (SCM) relationships based on trust and innovation decisions. Design/methodology/approach Results are based on a study of 90 managers from small- and medium-sized firms in Spain. Instead of a classical linear relationship analysis, the authors performed a non-linear analysis, using polynomial modeling and Warp 3 partial least squares method, which provides a more nuanced view of the data and constitutes an original approach to empirical research in SCM. Findings This study adds a new viewpoint on SC relationships by suggesting that not all trust and innovation development leads directly to performance improvement. The principal finding is, in varying trust and innovation contexts, that the influences of asymmetry on performance have uneven characteristics and follow non-linear paths. Research limitations/implications This study focuses on only one particular institutional environment in one country. The data are also cross-sectional, which makes it difficult to empirically test causality. Practical implications The findings provide rational insights to managers on when it is appropriate to reduce (or not) asymmetric relationships with partners. Originality/value Trust and innovation are important and ones of the key requirements of supply chain relationships in any environment, this study argues that the interactions of key SCM elements that drive members to better performance are more complex and non-linear.

Abstract. In this work we present GOAL (Genetics for Ontology Alignments) a new approach to compute the optimal ontology alignment function for a given ontology input set. Although this problem could be solved by an exhaustive search when the number of similarity measures is low, our method is expected to scale better for a high number of measures. Our approach is a genetic algorithm which is able to work with several goals: maximizing the alignment precision, maximizing the alignment recall, maximizing the f-measure or reducing the number of false positives. Moreover, we test it here by combining some cutting-edge similarity measures over a standard benchmark, and the results obtained show several advantages in relation to other techniques.

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ResumenEn este artículo se presenta un sistema multiusuario específicamente diseñado para facilitar el aprendizaje colaborativo de idiomas a través de dispositivos móviles. El sistema facilita una versión móvil que implementa una tarea de aprendizaje, llamada Terminkalender, que fue diseñada inicialmente para ser realizada en soporte papel y que se usó con éxito durante varios años con estudiantes del nivel A1 de alemán (MCERL). Dicha tarea requiere que los estudiantes intercambien mensajes escritos a fin de planificar y anotar en un calendario personal una serie de citas para actividades. Si bien la versión en papel ya tenía gran potencial para motivar a los estudiantes a interactuar entre ellos y usar la lengua meta, la app tiene un valor añadido, ya que no solo facilita el proceso de interacción entre los propios estudiantes sino que, además, permite a los docentes revisar y analizar las interacciones producidas a partir de los registros almacenados. Para ello se ha implementado un conjunto de elementos software que incluye: un portal web, un chat para la comunicación textual, un servicio de retroalimentación en tiempo real y una herramienta para registrar las interacciones entre los usuarios. La experiencia presentada permite estimar el potencial que tiene el sistema para analizar el comportamiento de los usuarios y sus patrones de interacción, así como para evaluar diferentes indicadores de rendimiento relacionados con el uso y las competencias en lengua meta.Palabras clave: software educativo; enseñanza de lenguas; aprendizaje en grupo; telecomunicación; sistema multimedia. AbstractThis paper presents a multi-user mobile learning system-specifically designed to enhance collaborative language learning through mobile devices. The system delivers an app version of a paper-based learning task, called Terminkalender, which has successfully been used for several years with students from an A1-level German language course (CEFR). The