Fir system identification using a linear combination of cumulants

A general linear approach to identifying the parameters of a moving average (MA) model from the statistics of the output is developed. It is shown that, under some constraints, the impulse response of the system can be expressed as a linear combination of cumulant slices. This result is then used to obtain a new well-conditioned linear method to estimate the MA parameters of a nonGaussian process. The proposed approach does not require a previous estimation of the filter order. Simulation results show improvement in performance with respect to existing methods.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

El médico en el Hospital de Nuestra Señora de Gracia de Zaragoza en el siglo XVIII

El Hospital Real y General de Nuestra Señora de Gracia de Zaragoza, fundado en 1425 por Alfonso V el Magnánimo, era, durante la Edad Moderna, uno de los tres grandes hospitales de la antigua Corona de Aragón. Como rezaba su lema, Domus infrmorum urbzs et orbis, sus puertas estaban abiertas a los expósitos y a todo tipo de enfermos, incluidos los dementes, procedentes no sólo de Aragón, sino también de los reinos vecinos e, incluso, de lugares más apartados. Lo corrobora el hecho de que, todavía en el siglo XVLII, encontremos entre los sacerdotes de la Casa confesores de lengua ((vascongada)),f rancesa e italiana, amén de los de lengua castellana (1)

New hos-based parameter estimation methods for speech recognition in noisy environments

The problem of recognition in noisy environments is addressed. Often, a recognition system is used in a noisy environment and there is no possibility of training it with noisy samples. Classical speech analysis techniques are based on second-order statistics and their performance dramatically decreases when noise is present in the signal under analysis. New methods based on higher order statistics (HOS) are applied in a recognition system and compared against the autocorrelation method. Cumulant-based methods show better performance than autocorrelation-based methods for low SNRPeer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Clima institucional y habilidades gerenciales en la gestión educativa de la Red 07 San Juan de Lurigancho 2016

La presente investigación tiene problema principal Cuál es la influencia del clima institucional, habilidades gerenciales dentro en la gestión educative Red 07 San Juan de Lurigancho 2016?, asimismo tuvo como objetivo determinar la influencia del Clima institucional, habilidades gerenciales en la gestión educativa de la Red 07 San Juan de Lurigancho 2016. La investigación realizada fue de enfoque cuantitativo, aplicada, de nivel no experimental, correlacional causal de corte transversal. La población estuvo conformada por 90 docentes, quienes nos brindaron información sobre las variables, de estudio y. para la recolección de datos se utilizó tres instrumentos uno por cada variable respectivamente como técnica de recopilación de datos de las variables y se empleó como instrumento se utilizó el cuestionario. Los resultados finales de acuerdo al estadístico de Pseudo R-cuadrado: indica que el clima institucional y las habilidades gerenciales influyen de manera significativa en la gestión educativa de la Red 07 San Juan de Lurigancho 2016 (r2 = 0.108)

The influence of publicity campaign and available resources on the eating habits of school age children between 10 and 12 years old of the Community of Madrid

Actualmente existe una gran preocupación por los hábitos saludables, interés que se acrecienta aún más en adolescentes, para los cuales la percepción de la imagen corporal es de vital importancia y los distintos mensajes que les llegan del exterior cobran prioridad en muchos casos sobre los que reciben en un entorno más doméstico. Consecuencia de esto son campañas publicitarias dirigidas a la formación en hábitos saludables. Objetivo de esta investigación es poner de manifiesto que las campañas publicitarias y el uso de internet como fuente de información aportan ventajas en la formación de hábitos saludables frente a otros recursos más tradicionales. Para ello se trabajan distintas metodologías. Un grupo control sólo utiliza el libro de texto como único recurso y el grupo experimental trabaja con campañas y recursos de Internet. Se trata de comparar si se interiorizan mejor los hábitos con una u otra metodología. Se han trabajado con preadolescentes de 10- 12 años utilizando un pre test para conocer sus hábitos alimentarios en ambos grupos y un pos test tras las sesiones impartidas con las distintas metodologías los datos obtenidos en esta experiencia muestran mejores resultados de aprendizaje de los hábitos analizados en alumnos que usaron Internet como fuente de información. Por tanto, se pone de relieve la necesidad de que comunicación y educación exploren y desarrollen sinergias para lograr alcanzar objetivos educativos concretos.In today's society, there is great concern about health habits. This interest is even larger if it comes from teenagers, for whom the perception of their body image is of vital importance. For these people, ongoing messages coming from external environments are getting higher priority from those received in a domestic background. A consequence of this situation is the use of advertising campaigns focusing on training in healthy habits. The objective of this research is to show that the advertising campaigns and the use of Internet as a source of information are bringing benefits for learning in the creation of healthy habits over traditional educational resources. For this document two different methodologies were developed for comparison purposes. In a first control group only textbook was used as a single educational resource, and in a second experimental group campaigns and Internet resources were used. Then, we compared healthy habits with both methodologies, studying contents about healthy eating in tweens of 11 to 12 years using a pre-test to meet their dietary habits and having a post test after the sessions taught with different methodologies. The data obtained in this experiment show better learning results when analyzing habits in students who used the Internet as an information resource. Therefore, it underscores the objective needed for communication and education to explore and to develop synergies to achieve more specific educational goals

El médico en el Hospital de Nuestra Señora de Gracia de Zaragoza en el siglo XVIII

El Hospital Real y General de Nuestra Señora de Gracia de Zaragoza, fundado en 1425 por Alfonso V el Magnánimo, era, durante la Edad Moderna, uno de los tres grandes hospitales de la antigua Corona de Aragón. Como rezaba su lema, Domus infrmorum urbzs et orbis, sus puertas estaban abiertas a los expósitos y a todo tipo de enfermos, incluidos los dementes, procedentes no sólo de Aragón, sino también de los reinos vecinos e, incluso, de lugares más apartados. Lo corrobora el hecho de que, todavía en el siglo XVLII, encontremos entre los sacerdotes de la Casa confesores de lengua ((vascongada)),f rancesa e italiana, amén de los de lengua castellana (1)

Community-acquired bacterial pneumonia in adult HIV-infected patients

Despite active antiretroviral therapy (ART), community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients and incurs high health costs. Areas covered: This article reviews the most recent publications on bacterial CAP in the HIV-infected population, focusing on epidemiology, prognostic factors, microbial etiology, therapy, and prevention. The data discussed here were mainly obtained from a non-systematic review using Medline, and references from relevant articles. Expert commentary: HIV-infected patients are more susceptible to bacterial CAP. Although ART improves their immune response and has reduced CAP incidence, these patients continue to present increased risk of pneumonia in part because they show altered immunity and because immune activation persists. The risk of CAP in HIV-infected patients and the probability of polymicrobial or atypical infections are inversely associated with the CD4 cell count. Mortality in HIV-infected patients with CAP ranges from 6% to 15% but in well-controlled HIV-infected patients on ART the mortality is low and similar to that seen in HIV-negative individuals. Vaccination and smoking cessation are the two most important preventive strategies for bacterial CAP in well-controlled HIV-infected patients on ART

Causes of death in a contemporary cohort of patients with invasive aspergillosis

Information regarding the processes leading to death in patients with invasive aspergillosis (IA) is lacking. We sought to determine the causes of death in these patients, the role that IA played in the cause, and the timing of death. The factors associated with IA-related mortality are also analyzed. We conducted a multicenter study (2008-2011) of cases of proven and probable IA. The causes of death and whether mortality was judged to be IA-related or IA-unrelated were determined by consensus using a six-member review panel. A multivariate analysis was performed to determine risk factors for IA-related death. Of 152 patients with IA, 92 (60.5%) died. Mortality was judged to be IA-related in 62 cases and IA-unrelated in 30. The most common cause of IA-related death was respiratory failure (50/62 patients), caused primarily by Aspergillus infection, although also by concomitant infections or severe comorbidities. Progression of underlying disease and bacteremic shock were the most frequent causes of IA-unrelated death. IA-related mortality accounted for 98% and 87% of deaths within the first 14 and 21 days, respectively. Liver disease (HR 4.54; 95% CI, 1.69-12.23) was independently associated with IA-related mortality, whereas voriconazole treatment was associated with reduced risk of death (HR 0.43; 95% CI, 0.20-0.93). In conclusion, better management of lung injury after IA diagnosis is the main challenge for physicians to improve IA outcomes. There are significant differences in causes and timing between IA-related and IA-unrelated mortality and these should be considered in future research to assess the quality of IA car

Perfluoroalkyl substances in striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) from the NW Mediterranean Sea: Biomagnification and temporal trends (1990-2021)

Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) are widely recognized as a class of pollutants known for their ability to bioaccumulate and biomagnify in the environment. In this study, the objective is to determine the biomagnification rates of PFAS in sexually mature striped dolphins and assess the temporal trends of PFAS concentrations over the past three decades (1990-2021) in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea. Thirteen out of the 19 targeted PFAS compounds were detected in the digestive content of the dolphins, while all 17 PFAS compounds were detected in the liver samples. Concentrations of PFAS in the digestive content ranged from 50 to 1611 ng/g, while the liver samples showed concentrations ranging from 268 to 7014 ng/g. The most prevalent compounds found in both types of samples were linear perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (n-PFOS) and perfluorooctanesulfonamide (FOSA), which were present in all samples. Additionally, perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUnDA), perfluorotridecanoic acid (PFTrDA), and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) were also detected in significant quantities. Interestingly, the study found that long-chain PFAS compounds exhibited greater biomagnification rates compared to short-chain PFAS compounds in striped dolphins. This suggests a potential impact on the health of these marine mammals due to the accumulation of long-chain PFAS in their systems. The analysis of the samples indicated that half of the digestive content samples exceeded the Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) concentrations, indicating that the consumption of polluted prey may pose health risks for striped dolphins. When examining the temporal trends, the concentrations of most long-chain PFAS compounds showed an increase from 1990 to 2004-2009. However, concentrations appeared to stabilize during the period of 2014-2021, potentially reflecting the impact of country regulations and industry initiatives aimed at reducing PFAS pollution. These findings underscore the persistent presence of banned PFAS compounds in the marine ecosystem and highlight the need for ecological risk assessments and the development of management strategies to mitigate PFAS pollution in marine environments. In conclusion, this study provides valuable insights into the biomagnification rates of PFAS in striped dolphins and highlights the persistent nature of these pollutants in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea. The identification of specific PFAS compounds and their temporal trends contribute to the understanding of PFAS pollution and support future efforts in assessing ecological risks and implementing effective management strategies in marine ecosystems

Outcome of Enterococcus faecalis infective endocardits according to the length of antibiotic therapy: Prelininary data from a cohort of 78 patients.

Background International guidelines recommend 4 weeks of treatment with ampicillin plus gentamicin (A+G) for uncomplicated native valve Enterococcus faecalis infective endocarditis (EFIE) and 6 weeks in the remaining cases. Ampicillin plus ceftriaxone (A+C) is always recommended for at least 6w, with no available studies assessing its suitability for 4w. We aimed to investigate differences in the outcome of EFIE according to the duration (4 versus 6 weeks) of antibiotic treatment (A+G or A+C). Methods Retrospective analysis from a prospectively collected cohort of 78 EFIE patients treated with either A+G or A+C. Results 32 cases (41%) were treated with A+G (9 for 4w, 28%) and 46 (59%) with A+C (14 for 4w, 30%). No significant differences were found in 1-year mortality according to the type of treatment (31% and 24% in A+G and A+C, respectively; P = 0.646) or duration (26% and 27% at 4 and 6w, respectively; P = 0.863). Relapses were more frequent among survivors treated for 4w than in those treated for 6w (3/18 [17%] at 4w and 1/41 [2%] at 6w; P = 0.045). Three out of 4 (75%) relapses occurred in cirrhotic patients. Conclusions A 4-week course of antibiotic treatment might not be suitable neither for A+G nor A+C for treating uncomplicated native valve EFIE