Backbending of Dy isotopes described with the neutron-photon IBA plus two-quasiparticle model

The formalism of the neutron-photon interacting boson model, extended to include two-quasiparticle excitations, is used in a study of the high spin states of 154,156,158Dy isotropes. Good agreement is obtained between the calculated energies and transition rates and the experimental results

Impacto territorial de la dependencia en España: población afectada y costes asociados a su atención

La aprobación y puesta en marcha de la Ley de Dependencia hasupuesto un nuevo campo de actuación para las políticas públicas. De acuerdo adicha Ley, son las Comunidades Autónomas las responsables de ofrecer los servicios.Por ello parece oportuno plantearse si el impacto será igual en todas ellas.Este trabajo trata de evaluar el número de personas dependientes con derecho aayudas públicas en cada territorio y el coste asociado a su atención, tanto en elinstante actual como hasta 2015, año en el que el sistema público de atención estaráplenamente desarrollado

Test of the proton-neutron interacting boson-fermion model in the region around A=190

We present systematic calculations on nuclei in the region around A=190 within the framework of the proton-neutron interacting boson-fermion model. Energy levels and electromagnetic properties of both positive and negative parity states in odd proton (77Ir,79Au) and odd neutron (78Pt) nuclei are compared with experimental data. A general good agreement is obtained with a few adjustable parametersComisión Asesora de Investigación Científica y Técnica 2868-8

Non-linear models of disability and age applied to census data

It is usually considered that the proportion of handicapped people grows with age. Namely, the older the man/woman is, the more level of disability he/she suffers. However, empirical evidence shows that this assessment is not always true, or at least, it is not true in the Spanish population. This study tries to assess the impact of age on disability in Spain. It is divided into three different parts. The first one is focused in describing the way disability is measured in this work. We used a former index defined by the authors that distinguishes between men and women. The second one is focused in a literature review about the methods used in this paper. This section emphasizes on local regression, feed forward neural networks and BARS. Finally, in the last section estimations are undertaken. Several methods are used and, therefore, there are fairly differences in the results, not only among the methodologies, but also between genders

Why using a general model in Solvency II is not a good idea : an explanation from a Bayesian point of view

The passing of Directive 2009/138/CE (Solvency II) has opened a new era in the European insurance market. According to this new regulatory environment, the volume of own resources will be determined depending on the risks that any insurer would be holding. So, nowadays, the model to estimate the amount of economic capital is one of the most important elements. The Directive establishes that the European entities can use a general model to perform these tasks. However, this situation is far from being optimal because the calibration of the general model has been made using figures that reflects and average behaviour. This paper shows that not all the companies operating in a specific market has the same risk profile. For this reason, it is unsatisfactory to use a general model for all of them. We use the PAM clustering method and afterwards some Bayesian tools to check the results previously obtained. Analysed data (public information belonging to Spanish insurance companies about balance sheets and income statements from 1998 to 2007) comes from the DGSFP (Spanish insurance regulator)

Hierarchical Lee-Carter model estimation through data cloning applied to demographically linked countries

Some groups of countries are connected not only economically, but also social and even demographically. This last fact can be exploited when trying to forecast the death rates of their populations. In this paper we propose a hierarchical specification of the Lee-Carter model and we assume that there is a common latent mortality factor for all of them. We introduce an estimation procedure for this kind of structures by means of a data cloning methodology. To our knowledge, this is the first time that this methodology is used in the actuarial field. It allows approximating the maximum likelihood estimates, which are not affected by the prior distributions assumed for the calculus. Finally, we apply the methodology to some France, Italy, Portugal and Spain data. The forecasts obtained using this methodology can be considered as very satisfactory

Model uncertainty approach in mortality projection with model assembling methodologies

Forecasting mortality rates has become a key task for all who are concerned with payments for non-active people, such as Social Security or life insurance firms managers. The non-ending process of reduction in the mortality rates is forcing to continuously improve the models used to project these variables. Traditionally, actuaries have selected just one model, supposing that this model were able to generate the observed data. Most times the results have driven to a set of questionable decisions linked to those projections. This way to act does not consider the model uncertainty when selecting a specific one. This drawback can be reduced through model assembling. This technique is based on using the results of a set of models in order to get better results. In this paper we introduce two approaches to ensemble models: a classical one, based on the Akaike information criterion (AIC), and a Bayesian model averaging method. The data are referred to a Spanish male population and they have been obtained from the Human Mortality Database. We have used four of the most widespread models to forecast mortality rates (Lee-Carter, Renshaw-Haberman, Cairns-Blake-Dowd and its generalization for including cohort effects) together with their respective Bayesian specifications. The results suggest that using assembling models techniques gets more accurate predictions than those with the individual models

La información digital actual, un nuevo modelo de contenido educativo para un entorno de aprendizaje ubicuo

The exponential advance regarding the new technologies is making the learning settings develop new strategies and patterns of educational contents. The current information can be integrated into these patterns of contents. The characteristics of the U–learning or ubiquitous setting benefit the integration of these patterns of informative contents. In this article, we will explain a justification and analysis of these new patterns. We are going to start by paying attention to the close relationship found between the right to the access to information and the right to education. From another point of view, we will also study these relationships according to the qualities of the temporary nature of the contents. Furthermore, we will analyse what the requirements are and under which circumstances we can afford the use of information as a learning content making use of technologies of ubiquitous computing. A new tool called process of I– Normalization is introduced; that tool contributes to the production of these contents of information, for them to obtain certain degree of accessibility, usefulness and adaptability suitable to as many ranges of setting and learning programmes as possible (Tu-Learning an Moodle included).El avance exponencial de las tecnologías emergentes está obligando a desarrollar nuevas estrategias y modelos de contenidos digitales educativos en los entornos de aprendizaje en línea. En dichos modelos de contenidos se puede integrar la información digital actualizada. Las características del u-learning o aprendizaje ubicuo hacen propicia la integración de dichos modelos de contenido informativo y de conocimiento. En este artículo se realiza una justificación y análisis del uso de estos nuevos modelos. Comenzaremos viendo la relación estrecha que existe entre el derecho al acceso a la información y el derecho a la educación. Desde otra perspectiva, también estudiaremos estas relaciones desde las cualidades de temporalidad de contenidos. Además se analizan cuáles son los requisitos y las circunstancias en las que se puede permitir el uso de la información como contenido de aprendizaje aplicando sistemas de computación ubicua. Se aporta una nueva herramienta para la normalización de procesos llamada I-Normalización que hace que la producción de esos contenidos de información obtenga unos grados de accesibilidad , usabilidad y adaptabilidad aceptables para la mayor gama de entornos y plataformas de aprendizaje que sean posible (incluida Tu-Learning y Moodle)

EFECTOS CE MUTACIONES GENÉTICAS PUNTUALES EN LA ACTIVIDAD ENZIMÁTICA DE FAD3, UNA ENZIMA IMPLICADA EN LA PRODUCCIÓN DE ÁCIDOS GRASOS OMEGA 3

Las desaturasas de ácidos grasos son enzimas que introducen un enlace doble o insaturado en la cadena alquílica de un ácido graso. La mayoría de estas enzimas son proteínas de membrana con fuerte carácter hidrofóbico lo que complica su purificación y cristalización por lo que se desconoce su estructura y los residuos que constituyen su centro activo. Se sabe que presentan 3 cajas de histidinas que están muy conservadas entre las distintas desaturasas y entre diferentes especies vegetales y se cree que estas cajas de histidinas podrían participar coordinando átomos de hierro para la reacción de insaturación, en un mecanismo básicamente desconocido. Existen mutantes de la planta modelo Arabidopsis thaliana deficientes en la insaturación de ácidos grasos cuyo estudio permitirá identificar residuos implicados en la función de las ω3 desaturasas. En este trabajo se clonó el gen FAD3 (que codifica para una ω3 desaturasa reticular) de tres líneas vegetales (Arabidopsis thaliana silvestre, mutante fad3 y mutante fad378) en el vector pGEM-T Easy y se llevaron a cabo reacciones de secuenciación detectando una mutación puntual en el aminoácido 103 del mutante fad378 y otra mutación puntual en el aminoácido 292 del mutante fad3. Puesto que estas mutaciones puntuales anulan la actividad desaturasa de FAD3 se puede decir que los aminoácidos de las posiciones citadas son imprescindibles para la actividad enzimática, ya sea porque forman parte de su centro activo o porque están implicados en el correcto plegamiento de la enzima

Spin-label EPR study in thylakoid membranes from a new herbicide-resistant D1 mutant from soybean cell cultures deficient in fatty acid desaturation

El pdf del artículo es la versión post-print.Fatty acid desaturation effect on the lipid fluidity in thylakoid membranes isolated from the STR7 mutant was investigated by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) using spin label probes. The spectra of both 5- and 16-n-doxylstearic acid probes were measured as a function of the temperature between 10-305 K and compared to those of the wild type. This complete thermal evolution provides a wider picture of the dynamics. The spectra of the 5-n-doxylstearic acid probe were identical in both STR7 mutant and wild type thylakoids as well as their temperature evolution. However, differences were found with the 16-n-doxylstearic acid probe at temperatures between 230-305 K. The differences in the thermal evolution of the EPR spectra can be interpreted as a 5-10 K shift toward higher temperatures of the probe motional rates in the STR7 mutant as compared with that in the wild type. At temperatures below 230 K no differences were observed. The results indicated that the lipid motion in the outermost region of the thylakoids is the same in the STR7 mutant than in the wild type while the fluidity in the inner region of the STR7 mutant membrane decreases. Our data point out a picture of the STR7 thylakoid membrane in which the lipid motion is slower most probably as a consequence of fatty acid desaturation deficiency.M.A. and I.G.-R. were recipients of a contract and a fellowship, respectively, from the Ministerio de Educación y Cultura of Spain. This work was supported by the Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica (Grant PB98-1632) and by the Diputación General de Aragón (Project P17/98).Peer reviewe