A near zero consumption building as an urban acupuncture for a vertical slum. A case study in the city of Malaga, Spain

Vertical slum is defined as a particularly vulnerable height building, with serious problems of functionality, safety and habitability. Venezuela’s Tower of David is a famous example. Vertical slums are associated with an important level of physical degradation, coupled with a precarious socioeconomic situation of its occupants. Their inability to create a community for proper and mandatory maintenance increases their physical deterioration. The abandonment of the original owners is replaced by a system of occupation and illegal activities. In many cases, with an interest in maintaining the building in a state of precariousness, which annuls any attempt to rehabilitate it Facing this situation, the intervention is proposed through an urban acupuncture project, understood as a project of expropriation and physical rehabilitation of the building, associated to a project of social rehabilitation in a disadvantaged environment. It is about creating a hybrid building associated with four objectives 1- Create a hybrid building with a mixed offer of social and housing services: sheltered housing for seniors, residence and accommodation for young entrepreneurs. The idea of a social condenser is related to studies of the hybrid building such as the Downtown Athletic Club in New York, or the Rokade Tower and Maartenshof residence (Groningen, The Netherlands). 2- Incorporate the sustainability parameters directed to a building almost zero. 3- Incorporate a model of provision of housing services, managed by the municipality, but with the possibility of incorporating NGOs 4- Design a social rehabilitation project that facilitates the creation of a web of social-based companies or cooperatives that fosters entrepreneurship, and that can actively participate in the rehabilitation and maintenance of the neighborhood itself. This paper applies these principles to a building in Malaga as a case study and 10 strategies are developed and analysed in regards to its physical, social and sustainable transformation.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

A community of marine bacteria with potential to biodegrade petroleum-based and biobased microplastics

The biodegradability conditions for both, petroleum-based plastics and bioplastics needs to be evaluated under environmentally realistic conditions. We assessed the biodegradability of low-density polyethylene and biobased polyethylene terephthalate microplastic films by a consortium of marine bacteria during 45 days. Bacterial growth and pH were higher in the samples inoculated with bacteria, compared to the controls. Fourier Infrared spectroscopy-Attenuated Total Reflectance and scanning electron microscopy indicated changes in the chemical functional groups, and the presence of fractures and biofilms in the surface of both plastics exposed to the bacterial community, respectively. The chemical oxygen demand further indicated signs of biodegradation of both polymers. Specific groups of bacteria showed preference for each type of microplastic. Overall, our results show signs of biodegradation, or at least biodeterioration and biofragmentation, of both types of plastics, when subjected to the selected bacterial community. Biobased PET was no more prone to biodegradation than con-ventional, petroleum-based LDPE.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mapa de los espacios tranquilos y seguros para el uso de la bicicleta en la ciudad de Málaga

La expansión de la bicicleta como medio de transporte urbano en la ciudad de Málaga se ha logrado en gran medida gracias a la creación de infraestructuras que permiten conectar puntos estratégicos de la misma. Aun así, el desarrollo de la red de carriles bici no puede cubrir todos los espacios de la ciudad para que puedan ser transitados en bicicleta y este aspecto lastra la posibilidad de que pueda seguir creciendo el uso de la bicicleta como medio de transporte. Frente a este problema, en este trabajo se presenta un estudio realizado en la ciudad de Málaga para cartografiar todos los espacios de la trama urbana que por diferentes razones (comerciales, urbanísticas, arquitectónicas, sociales, etc) no son utilizados masivamente por los ciudadanos y cumplen unos requisitos y condiciones convirtiéndose en zonas de paso rápido y seguro en los desplazamientos de los ciclistas por la ciudad. El mapeo de estos espacios permite conectar más puntos de la ciudad que hasta ahora no se podía utilizando simplemente la red de carriles bici existentes. El mapeo de la red de espacios tranquilos y seguros para la bicicleta se convierte en una herramienta digital útil para ciclistas y ciudadanía al ofrecer información sobre rutas tranquilas y seguras alternativas a la propia del carril bici dentro de la ciudad. Asimismo, resulta un instrumento de valor para la propia administración local ya que le permite conocer las deficiencias y oportunidades que ofrece el entorno urbano como infraestructura para el uso de la bicicleta. A partir de toda la información cartografiada se obtienen algunas conclusiones como la identificación de zonas o barrios mejor conectados (mediante el uso de la bicicleta), discontinuidades o puntos de peligrosidad, indicadores y condiciones urbanas que fomentan el uso de la bicicleta a partir de los que establecer medidas y actuaciones concretas en la ciudad.Proyecto: Espacios Tranquilos y Saludables para la bicicleta de la Catedrá de Tecnologías Emergentes para la Ciudadanía. Red de Cátedras Estratégicas del Vicerectodado de Proyectos Estratégicos. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Postretention stability after orthodontic closure of maxillary interincisor diastemas

Anterior spaces may interfere with smile attractiveness and compromise dentofacial harmony. They are among the most frequent reasons why patients seek orthodontic treatment. However, midline diastema is commonly cited as a malocclusion with high relapse incidence by orthodontists. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the stability of maxillary interincisor diastemas closure and the association of their relapse and interincisor width, overjet, overbite and root parallelism. Material and Methods: Sample comprised 30 patients with at least a pretreatment midline diastema of 0.5 mm or greater after eruption of the maxillary permanent canines. Dental casts and panoramic radiographs were taken at pretreatment, posttreatment and postretention. Results: Before treatment, midline diastema width was 1.52 mm (SD=0.88) and right and left lateral diastema widths were 0.55 mm (SD=0.56) and 0.57 mm (SD=0.53), respectively. According to repeated measures analysis of variance, only midline diastema demonstrated significant relapse. In the overall sample the average relapse of midline diastema was 0.49 mm (SD=0.66), whilst the unstable patients showed a mean space reopening of 0.78 mm (SD=0.66). Diastema closure in the area between central and lateral incisors showed great stability. Multivariate correlation tests showed that only initial diastema width (β=0.60) and relapse of overjet (β=0.39) presented association with relapse of midline diastema. Conclusions: Midline diastema relapse was statistically significant and occurred in 60% of the sample, while lateral diastemas closure remained stable after treatment. Only initial diastema width and overjet relapse showed association with relapse of midline diastema. There was no association between relapse of interincisor diastema and root parallelism

A Bridge between Society and Universities: A Documentary Analysis of Science Shops

Citizen science surfaced as a new way of conducting research and science shops are one of the initiatives in which citizen collaboration with scientists has been most visible. These organisations provide independent and participatory support for research in response to civil society's problems/needs. Although science shops have pioneered the furthering of citizen participation, the general public is still scantly aware of their existence. This study aimed to explore that matter, identifying and analysing the literature on science shops with bibliometric techniques. Different sources of information have been consulted; namely, Web of Science and SCOPUS database; Google Scholar; CORDIS European Projects Database; and My News. The information collected from 158 documents was analysed and their main characteristics identified. A map of science shops was constructed to show existing initiatives and those mentioned in the texts. We also offer a chronology of the main milestones on the subject mentioned in the texts. The results show the importance that countries like those in Europe, especially The Netherlands, attach to these activities and it is evident that the content can be very varied, although the environmental issues are highlighted.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 700583

Implementing technology in healthcare : insights from physicians

Technology has significantly changed the way health organizations operate. However, the role it plays in healthcare systems remains unclear. This aim of this study was to evaluate the opinion of physicians regarding e-health and determine what factors influence their opinion and describe the advantages, inconveniences and threats they may perceive by its use. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study. A questionnaire which had been previously designed and validated by the authors was used to interview physicians from the Barcelona Medical Association. 930 physicians were contacted by phone to participate in the study. Seven hundred sixty physicians responded to the questionnaire (response rate: 82%). The usefulness of telemedicine scored 7.4 (SD 1.8) on a scale from 1-10 (from the lowest to the highest) and the importance of the Internet in the workplace was 8.2 points (SD 1.8). Therapeutic compliance (7.0 -SD 1.8-) and patient health (7.0 -SD 1.7-) showed the best scores, and there were differences between professionals who had and had not previously participated in a telemedicine project (p < 0.05). The multivariate regression model explained the 41% of the variance for 7 factors: participation in telemedicine project (p < 0.001), quality of clinical practice (p < 0.001), patient health (p < 0.001), professional workload (p = 0.005), ease-of-use of electronic device (p = 0.007), presence of incentives for telemedicine (p = 0.011) and patient preference for in-person visits (p = 0.05). Physicians believe in the usefulness of e-health. Professionals with previous experience with it are more open to its implementation and consider that the benefits of technology outweigh its possible difficulties and shortcomings. Physicians demanded projects with appropriate funding and technology, as well as specific training to improve their technological abilities. The relationship of users with technology differs according to their personal or professional life. Although a 2.0 philosophy has been incorporated into many aspects of our lives, healthcare systems still have a long way to go in order to adapt to this new understanding of the relationship between patients and their health. The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12911-017-0489-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Psychometric properties of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire - Preschool revision (APQ-Pr) in 3 year-old Spanish preschoolers

Parenting practices should be assessed and taken into account at an early age, since it is well documented that they are strongly related to children's development. This study provides data on the psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire for Preschool children (APQ-Pr). A community sample of 622 (310 boys and 312 girls) 3 year-old children and their parents, participated in the study. Data were obtained from parents' reports and correspond to a semi-structured diagnostic interview and self-report questionnaires evaluating parenting and children's psychological states. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor solution: positive parenting, inconsistent parenting and punitive parenting. These scales scores showed moderate to good internal consistence (omega values ranged from .54 to .86). Inconsistent parenting scores achieved the strongest associations with external measures of psychopathology, especially for externalizing and conduct problems, as well as for functional impairment, the poorest associations being for the positive parenting scores. Results support the validity of the Spanish APQ-Pr, which is potentially a useful measure for the study of parenting practices regarding preschool children and their relation to conduct problems

Scientific Landscape of Citizen Science Publications: Dynamics, Content and Presence in Social Media

Citizen science (CS) aims primarily to create a new scientific culture able to improve upon the triple interaction between science, society, and policy in the dual pursuit of more democratic research and decision-making informed by sound evidence. It is both an aim and an enabler of open science (OS), to which it contributes by involving citizens in research and encouraging participation in the generation of new knowledge. This study analyses scientific output on CS using bibliometric techniques and Web of Science (WoS) data. Co-occurrence maps are formulated to define subject clusters as background for an analysis of the impact of each on social media. Four clusters are identified: HEALTH, BIO, GEO and PUBLIC. The profiles for the four clusters are observed to be fairly similar, although BIO and HEALTH are mentioned more frequently in blogposts and tweets and BIO and PUBLIC in Facebook and newsfeeds. The findings also show that output in the area has grown since 2010, with a larger proportion of papers (66%) mentioned in social media than reported in other studies. The percentage of open access documents (30.7%) is likewise higher than the overall mean for all areas.This project received funding from the European Unions’ Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant 741657, with the name SciShops.eu. The content of this article does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Responsibility for the information and views expressed in the article lies entirely with the authors