Lasso Estimation of an Interval-Valued Multiple Regression Model

A multiple interval-valued linear regression model considering all the cross-relationships between the mids and spreads of the intervals has been introduced recently. A least-squares estimation of the regression parameters has been carried out by transforming a quadratic optimization problem with inequality constraints into a linear complementary problem and using Lemke's algorithm to solve it. Due to the irrelevance of certain cross-relationships, an alternative estimation process, the LASSO (Least Absolut Shrinkage and Selection Operator), is developed. A comparative study showing the differences between the proposed estimators is provided

Comparison of charge modulations in La1.875_{1.875}Ba0.125_{0.125}CuO4_4 and YBa2_2Cu3_3O6.6_{6.6}

A charge modulation has recently been reported in (Y,Nd)Ba$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6+x}$ [Ghiringhelli {\em et al.} Science 337, 821 (2013)]. Here we report Cu $L_3$ edge soft x-ray scattering studies comparing the lattice modulation associated with the charge modulation in YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.6}$ with that associated with the well known charge and spin stripe order in La$_{1.875}$Ba$_{0.125}$CuO$_4$. We find that the correlation length in the CuO$_2$ plane is isotropic in both cases, and is $259 \pm 9$ \AA for La$_{1.875}$Ba$_{0.125}$CuO$_4$ and $55 \pm 15$ \AA for YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.6}$. Assuming weak inter-planar correlations of the charge ordering in both compounds, we conclude that the order parameters of the lattice modulations in La$_{1.875}$Ba$_{0.125}$CuO$_4$ and YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.6}$ are of the same order of magnitude.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure

Crystalline Structure and Vacancy Ordering across a Surface Phase Transition in Sn/Cu(001)

We report a surface X-ray diffraction study of the crystalline structure changes and critical behavior across the (3√2 × √2)R45° → (√2 × √2)R45° surface phase transition at 360 K for 0.5 monolayers of Sn on Cu(100). The phase transition is of the order-disorder type and is due to the disordering of the Cu atomic vacancies present in the low temperature phase. Two different atomic sites for Sn atoms, characterized by two different heights, are maintained across the surface phase transition.This work was funded by the Spanish MINECO under Grants FIS2011-23230 and MAT2014-52477-C5-5-P. E.G.M. and P.S. acknowledge financial support from MINECO through the “Maria de Maeztu” Programme for Units of Excellence in R&D (MDM-2014-0377).Peer Reviewe

La Seguridad como una asignatura indispensable para un Ingeniero del Software

La seguridad informática ha venido cobrando mayor importancia para las organizaciones dado el marcado crecimiento de las nuevas tecnologías de la información, servicios Web, comercio electrónico, etc. Es por ello que existe la necesidad de contar con nuevos profesionales en este entorno. Para ello, es necesario contar con asignaturas de Seguridad en las escuelas universitarias, que doten al futuro profesional de los conocimientos necesarios para afrontar con éxito las necesidades que el mundo empresarial actual demanda. Así, aprovechando el estado actual de implantación del sistema europeo de créditos, en este artículo se resume una propuesta de grado de informática, y se presenta la asignatura de Seguridad de Sistemas Software, ubicada en el perfil de Ingeniería del Software, definiendo el contenido de dicha asignatura de acuerdo a las directrices del sistema ECTS, y a las necesidades reales que cualquier ingeniero del software puede encontrarse en el mundo empresarial actual.Peer Reviewe

Care of peripheral intravenous catheters in three hospitals in Spain: Mapping clinical outcomes and implementation of clinical practice guidelines

BACKGROUND: Peripheral intravenous catheters (PIVCs) are the most widely used invasive devices worldwide. Up to 42% of PIVCs are prematurely removed during intravenous therapy due to failure. To date, there have been few systematic attempts in European hospitals to measure adherence to recommendations to mitigate PIVC failures. AIM: To analyse the clinical outcomes from clinical practice guideline recommendations for PIVC care on different hospital types and environments. METHODS: We conducted an observational study in three hospitals in Spain from December 2017 to April 2018. The adherence to recommendations was monitored via visual inspection in situ evaluations of all PIVCs inserted in adults admitted. Context and clinical characteristics were collected by an evaluation tool, analysing data descriptively. RESULTS: 646 PIVCs inserted in 624 patients were monitored, which only 52.7% knew about their PIVC. Regarding PIVC insertion, 3.4% (22/646) patients had at least 2 PIVCs simultaneously. The majority of PIVCs were 20G (319/646; 49.4%) and were secured with transparent polyurethane dressing (605/646; 93.7%). Most PIVCs (357/646; 55.3%) had a free insertion site during the visual inspection at first sight. We identified 342/646 (53%) transparent dressings in optimal conditions (clean, dry, and intact dressing). PIVC dressings in medical wards were much more likely to be in intact conditions than those in surgical wards (234/399, 58.7% vs. 108/247, 43.7%). We identified 55/646 (8.5%) PIVCs without infusion in the last 24 hours and 58/646 (9.0%) PIVCs without infusion for more than 24 hours. Regarding PIVC failure, 74 (11.5%) adverse events were identified, all of them reflecting clinical manifestation of phlebitis. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that the clinical outcome indicators from CPG for PIVC care were moderate, highlighting differences between hospital environments and types. Also, we observed that nearly 50% of patients did not know what a PIVC is

Deseo y actividad sexual en hombres y mujeres mayores

Considering that, aging is associated with changes that could significantly affect sexuality, and that individuals over 65 years are a group of great sexual heterogeneity, the main purpose of this work is to explore the differences between older men and women in terms of sexual desire, activity, and practices. This study was carried out through a questionnaire survey in order to analyse the differences between the men and women in terms of sexual activity during the past year, sexual desire and practices. Results show us that sexual activity in general, and the type of sexual practice in particular, as well as the frequency of such practices, reflect relevant differences between older women and men. Specifically, results of this work reveal that there are men who acknowledge a greater concern about the decrease in frequency of sexual practices; however, a significantly more pronounced decrease in the frequency of these practices in the past year occurs among women. Although there may be significant differences in some specific sexual practices and in the level of sexual desire and impulse between men and women, a significant number of men and women are sexually active throughout their old ageConsiderando que la edad está asociada con cambios que podrían afectar significativamente a la sexualidad, y que los individuos de más de 65 años son un grupo de importante heterogeneidad sexual, el propósito de este trabajo es observar las diferencias entre hombres y mujeres mayores en términos de deseo, prácticas y actividad sexual. Este estudio se llevó a cabo mediante la implementación de un cuestionario para analizar las diferencias entre mujeres y hombres mayores de 65 años en base a su actividad, deseo y prácticas sexuales en el último año. Los resultados muestran que la actividad sexual en general y el tipo de práctica sexual en particular, así como la frecuencia de dichas prácticas, reflejan diferencias relevantes entre mujeres y hombres mayores. Específicamente, los resultados de este trabajo revelan que hay hombres que reconocen una mayor preocupación por el descenso en la frecuencia de las prácticas sexuales; sin embargo, es entre las mujeres donde se produce un mayor descenso en la frecuencia de estas prácticas durante el último año. Aunque parecen existir diferencias significativas en algunas prácticas sexuales específicas y en el nivel de deseo sexual entre hombres y mujeres, un número significativo de hombres y mujeres son sexualmente activos durante su vejezS

High-pressure greenschist to blueschist facies transition in the Maimón Formation (Dominican Republic) suggests mid-Cretaceous subduction of the Early Cretaceous Caribbean Arc

The Maimón Formation (Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic) is formed of metamorphosed bi-modal mafic-felsic volcanic rocks and sedimentary horizons of Early Cretaceous age deposited in the forearc of the nascent Caribbean island arc. Two structural-metamorphic zones depict an inverted metamorphic gradient: the Ozama shear zone, which records intense mylonitic and phyllonitic deformation and ubiquitous metamorphic recrystallization, tectonically overlies the much less deformed and variably recrystallized rocks of the El Altar zone. The presence of ferri-winchite and high-Si phengite, first reported in this paper, in the peak metamorphic assemblage of rocks of the Ozama shear zone (actinolite + phengite + chlorite + epidote + quartz + albite ± ferri-winchite ± stilpnomelane) point to subduction-related metamorphism. Pseudosection calculations and intersection of isopleths indicate peak metamorphic conditions of ~ 8.2 kbar at 380 °C. These figures are consistent with metamorphism in the greenschist/blueschist facies transition, burial depths of ~ 25-29 km and a thermal gradient of ~ 13-16 °C/km. Our new data dispute previous models pointing to metamorphism of Maimón rocks under a steep thermal gradient related to burial under a hot peridotite slice. Instead, we contextualize the metamorphism of the Maimón Formation in a subduction scenario in which a coherent slice of the (warm) Early Cretaceous forearc was engulfed due to intra-arc complexities and regional-scale-driven tectonic processes operating in the late Early Cretaceous. Integration of our findings with previous studies on metamorphic complexes in Hispaniola suggests that a major tectonic event affecting the whole arc system took place at c. 120-110 Ma

A mild neurofibromatosis type 1 phenotype produced by the combination of the benign nature of a leaky NF1-splice mutation and the presence of a complex mosaicism

Here we analyze the genetic and molecular basis responsible for a very benign phenotype observed in an NF1 patient. Quantification of cells carrying the NF1 mutation in different samples derived from the three embryonic layers revealed mosaicism. Furthermore, the construction of a minigene with patient's mutation (c.3198 − 314G>A) confirmed its benign nature due to the leakiness of the splicing mechanism that generated a proportion of correctly spliced transcripts. Hence, we concluded that the mild phenotype observed in this patient is the result of the presence of mosaicism together with the benign nature of a leaky NF1-splice mutation. Finally, with the aim of developing a personalized therapeutic approach for this patient, we demonstrated correction of the splicing defect by using specific antisense morpholino oligomers. Our results provide an example of the molecular complexity behind disease phenotypes and highlight the importance of using comprehensive genetic approaches to better assess phenotype-genotype correlation

Geomicrobiological heterogeneity of lithic habitats in the extreme environment of Antarctic nunataks: a potential early Mars analog

Nunataks are permanent ice-free rocky peaks that project above ice caps in polar regions, thus being exposed to extreme climatic conditions throughout the year. They undergo extremely low temperatures and scarcity of liquid water in winter, while receiving high incident and reflected (albedo) UVA-B radiation in summer. Here, we investigate the geomicrobiology of the permanently exposed lithic substrates of nunataks from Livingston Island (South Shetlands, Antarctic Peninsula), with focus on prokaryotic community structure and their main metabolic traits. Contrarily to first hypothesis, an extensive sampling based on different gradients and multianalytical approaches demonstrated significant differences for most geomicrobiological parameters between the bedrock, soil, and loose rock substrates, which overlapped any other regional variation. Brevibacillus genus dominated on bedrock and soil substrates, while loose rocks contained a diverse microbial community, including Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria and abundant Cyanobacteria inhabiting the milder and diverse microhabitats within. Archaea, a domain never described before in similar Antarctic environments, were also consistently found in the three substrates, but being more abundant and potentially more active in soils. Stable isotopic ratios of total carbon (δ 13C) and nitrogen (δ 15N), soluble anions concentrations, and the detection of proteins involved in key metabolisms via the Life Detector Chip (LDChip), suggest that microbial primary production has a pivotal role in nutrient cycling at these exposed areas with limited deposition of nutrients. Detection of stress-resistance proteins, such as molecular chaperons, suggests microbial molecular adaptation mechanisms to cope with these harsh conditions. Since early Mars may have encompassed analogous environmental conditions as the ones found in these Antarctic nunataks, our study also contributes to the understanding of the metabolic features and biomarker profiles of a potential Martian microbiota, as well as the use of LDChip in future life detection missions.This project has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN)/European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) project no. RTI2018-094368-B-I00; the European Research Council Consolidator grant no. 818602; and the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) project no. MDM-2017-0737, Unidad de Excelencia “María de Maeztu” to Centro de Astrobiología

Spatial modeling for low pathogenicity avian influenza virus at the interface of wild birds and backyard poultry

Low pathogenicity avian influenza virus (LPAIV) is endemic in wild birds and poultry in Argentina, and active surveillance has been in place to prevent any eventual virus mutation into a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV), which is exotic in this country. Risk mapping can contribute effectively to disease surveillance and control systems, but it has proven a very challenging task in the absence of disease data. We used a combination of expert opinion elicitation, multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA), and ecological niche modeling (ENM) to identify the most suitable areas for the occurrence of LPAIV at the interface between backyard domestic poultry and wild birds in Argentina. This was achieved by calculating a spatially‐explicit risk index. As evidenced by the validation and sensitivity analyses, our model was successful in identifying high‐risk areas for LPAIV occurrence. Also, we show that the risk for virus occurrence is significantly higher in areas closer to commercial poultry farms. Although the active surveillance systems have been successful in detecting LPAIV‐positive backyard farms and wild birds in Argentina, our predictions suggest that surveillance efforts in those compartments could be improved by including high‐risk areas identified by our model. Our research provides a tool to guide surveillance activities in the future, and presents a mixed methodological approach which could be implemented in areas where the disease is exotic or rare and a knowledge‐driven modeling method is necessary