Modelling the failure risk for water supply networks with interval-censored data

[EN] In reliability, sometimes some failures are not observed at the exact moment of the occurrence. In that case it can be more convenient to approximate them by a time interval. In this study, we have used a generalized non-linear model developed for interval-censored data to treat the life time of a pipe from its time of installation until its failure. The aim of this analysis was to identify those network characteristics that may affect the risk of failure and we make an exhaustive validation of this analysis. The results indicated that certain characteristics of the network negatively affected the risk of failure of the pipe: an increase in the length and pressure of the pipes, a small diameter, some materials used in the manufacture of pipes and the traffic on the street where the pipes are located. Once the model has been correctly fitted to our data, we also provided simple tables that will allow companies to easily calculate the pipe's probability of failure in a future.The research by A. Debón was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain under grant no. MTM2013-45381-PGarcía Mora, MB.; Debón Aucejo, AM.; Santamaría Navarro, C.; Carrión García, A. (2015). Modelling the failure risk for water supply networks with interval-censored data. Reliability Engineering & System Safety. 144:311-318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2015.08.003S31131814

Politización y pericia financiera en las cajas de ahorros españolas: Patrones en la configuración de sus consejos

This study examines the politicization and financial knowledge-experience of the boards of directors of Spanish savings banks. To do this, we build a database with the biographic information of directors during the period 2004-2010. The results of the cluster analysis show the existence of four types of boards, depending on the politicization and the financial expertise of its members. Furthermore, we find that savings banks with higher financial expertise in their boards have higher levels of financial solvencyEsta investigación profundiza en la politización y conocimientos-experiencia financiera de los consejos de administración de las cajas de ahorros españolas. Para ello, construimos una base de datos con la información biográfica de sus consejeros del período 2004-2010. Los resultados del análisis clúster revelan la existencia de cuatro tipos de consejos en función de la politización y la pericia financiera de sus miembros. Asimismo, encontramos que las cajas con mayor pericia financiera en su consejo presentan mayores niveles de solvencia financier

Political directors and corporate social responsibility: Are political ideology and regional identity relevant?

This study analyzes the infuence of directors with political connections on corpo‑ rate social responsibility (CSR). Using a sample of Spanish savings banks (cajas) during the period 2004–2013, we analyze the infuence of political directors on the CSR of these entities, focusing on their ideology and regional identity. Our results indicate that the higher the proportion of directors with political ties on the board, the greater the allocation of resources to CSR activities. In addition to this positive efect of board politicization, we fnd that political directors’ liberal ideology posi‑ tively afects CSR, both directly and in moderating the relationship between political directors and CSR. Our results also validate that political directors’ regional iden‑ tity boosts the positive efect they have on CSR. Finally, we encounter various dif‑ ferences depending on the nature of the projects funded through CSR. Therefore, our study demonstrates the importance of delving into the characteristics of political directors to elucidate their efects on corporate policies.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Grant ECO201785356), the UAM - Comunidad de Madrid (SI3-PJI-2021-00276) and it benefted from the Professorship Excellence Program in accordance with the multi-year agreement signed by the Government of Madrid and the Autonomous University of Madrid (Line #3)

From current to possible selves: Self-descriptions of resilient post-compulsory secondary education Spanish students at risk of social exclusion

Being in a situation of social exclusion limits the potential of individuals and hinders their possibility to have a dignified life. In order to avoid social exclusion and marginalization, adequate access to formal education is vital. However, continuing education in marginalized neighborhoods poses a great challenge both to individuals and to their sense of self. In the present work, we took an approach to educational resilience based on the analysis of learner identity of students that present a trajectory of resilience in severely impoverished neighborhoods. The sample consisted of 132 students from such at-risk neighborhoods, who, despite this risk, completed mandatory secondary education successfully and continue their education beyond that level. They were administered a modified version of the Twenty Statements Test (TST) to measure current and possible selves related to their learner identity. The organization of the self, the emotional valence, the plane of action, the thematic reference, and thematic self-continuity were analyzed, as well as possible selves’ relationship with grade level, gender, and parental formal education. Results showed that, despite risk, their possible selves had high standards and were positive, reflexive, and connected to their current selves, which regulate and guide the students’ actions towards their goals. Academic experience and high parental formal education were related to the development of more personal and reflexive possible selves, reflecting the appropriation of school-related discourses about the self and the future. Interestingly, none of the variables was related to the emotional valence of self-descriptions. Students with a trajectory of resilience developed a highly positive sense of future self regardless of academic experience, gender, or parental formal education. Implications for resilience theory, identity research, and social intervention in at-risk contexts are discussed.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PSI2016–80112–PAgencia Estatal de Investigación PSI2016–80112–PComisión Europea PSI2016–80112–

Stakeholder governance and private benefits: The case of politicians in Spanish cajas

Our research focuses on the private benefits of politicians as board directors of Spanish savings banks (cajas). We use hand-collected data on the political affiliation and personal loans of 1,578 directors to investigate whether political directors used private benefits through excessive personal loans, loans granted to their political parties, or the institutions they represented. Our results show that a higher proportion of political directors on a board is associated with larger personal loans and with better terms than those granted to non-political directors. Furthermore, this higher proportion is also linked to larger loans granted to the public administrations that the political directors represented on the cajas’ governing board. Finally, we also find in-group favouritism based on the social identity theory and directors’ party identification. Therefore, political directors make greater use of private benefits when allocated to their political party and its members.This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Grant ECO2017-85356), the UAM - Comunidad de Madrid Research Project for Young Researchers (SI3-PJI-2021-00276) and it benefited from the Professorship Excellence Program in accordance with the multi-year agreement signed by the Government of Madrid and the Autonomous University of Madrid (Line #3). The authors gratefully acknowledge the helpful suggestions received from the four anonymous reviewers and the Associate Editor, Constantinos N. Leonidou. The authors also thank the comments received from B. Arrunada, ˜ G. Natividad, A. Martín-Oliver, V. Salas-Fumas ´ and N. Suarez, ´ and the participants at the Wolpertinger Conference held in Santander and at the SANFI Workshop held in Palermo

Teachers negotiating discourses of gender (in)equality : the case of equal opportunities reform in Andalusia

This article is focused on the analysis of the narratives produced by a group of teachers, experts in coeducation, while they were discussing their everyday activities. They are responsible for the implementation of a Plan for Gender Equality in public secondary schools in Andalusia (Spain). This study is based on contributions about doing gender view, according to which gender is not an attribute of individuals, but a way of making sense of interactions and practising a complex system as functioning on three levels: sociocultural, interactional, and individual. We use these levels to understand gender culture in schools through teachers’ discourse. Our interest lies particularly in the meanings, contradictions, difficulties, and conflicts experienced by expert teachers in co-education. Our study was based on group discussions with teachers in charge of the plan for equal opportunities between women and men in school settings. Results show teachers’ conflicts about meanings and how they are supposed to apply the Equality Plan. We observed interactional levels during these conflicts and analysed how teachers construct and validate their discourse

Torres Quevedo's mechanical calculator for second-degree equations with complex coefficients

Leonardo Torres Quevedo worked intensively in analogue calculating machines during the last years of the 19th century. The algebraic calculators were calculating machines in which numbers are represented by quantities of a given physical magnitude(s). The physical result is a magnitude of a physical quantity whose measurement in the coherent unit is the result of the algebraic equation. This article shows the three-dimensional (3D) modelling, virtual reconstruction and simulation of the first mechanical calculating machine for solving second-degree equations with complex coefficients, to prove that the functionality was correct and the machine could be built. Sketches of said machine provide enough information on the shape and mechanisms of the machine. By means of the simulation, it has been possible to prove its operation and feasibility of construction so that it is possible to replicate it as a real physical model. The mechanical calculator for second-degree equations with complex coefficients constituted a major milestone in the technological development of the time and helped to originate and improve the design of other algebraic calculators like the machine for solving eighth-degree equations

Demonstration of antibiotic-induced tolerance development in tropical agroecosystems through physiological profiling of sediment microbial communities

Agricultural use of antibiotics differs quantitatively and qualitatively in tropical and temperate countries. To gain insight into the nature and magnitude of physiological adaptations prompted by these drugs in microbial communities from tropical agroecosystems, we compared community-level physiological profiles of sediment bacteria from a protected wetland (PV), a pig farm (RD), treated (TIL1) and untreated effluents (TIL2) from a tilapia farm, an estuary close to shrimp farms (CA), and an irrigation channel adjacent to a rice plantation (AZ) exposed to a range of oxytetracycline (OTC) concentrations in Ecoplates (Biolog®). In addition, we used LC/MS/MS and plate counts to determine the concentration of OTC and the number of OTC-resistant bacteria in the samples, respectively. Water samples collected at RD contained maximum amounts of OTC (640 ng L-1), followed by TIL2 (249 ng L-1), TIL1 (72 ng L-1), and CA (85 ng L-1). In average, the microbial community of RD was more tolerant to OTC (EC50: 14.30 ± 3.12 mg L-1) than bacteria from CA (8.83 ± 1.85 mg Ll-1), TIL2 (EC50: 4.97 ± 1.43 mg L-1), TIL1 (4.25 ± 0.60 mg L-1), AZ (3.66 ± 0.97 mg L-1) and PV (3.77 ± 0.62 mg L-1). Congruently, PV, AZ, TIL1, CA, TIL2, and RD appeared in that order in a cumulative distribution of individual EC50 values and higher plate counts of bacteria resistant to 10 µg mL-1 (5.0x105- 1.5x107) and 100 µg mL-1 of OTC (1.5x104-8.4x105) were obtained for RD than for the other sites (10 µg ml-1: 4.8x104-3.3x105 and 100 µg mL-1: 1.0x102-4.4x103). These results are compatible with a scenario in which the basal level of tolerance to OTC that characterizes pristine environments (PV) is amplified in proportion to the intensity of antibiotic exposure (agriculture<aquaculture<swine farming).UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias de la Salud::Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Tropicales (CIET

ASPECTOS GENÉTICOS Y HORMONALES DEL SÍNDROME DE OVARIO POLIQUÍSTICO (SOP)

El síndrome de ovario poliquístico es la disfunción endocrino-metabólica más frecuente en la mujer, aparece generalmente después de la menarquia, se considera la principal causa de hiperandrogenismo (HA). Genera un desequilibrio hormonal de producción atípica de esteroides, estrógenos y andrógenos, impidiendo la ovulación con un crecimiento anormal de folículos. Además, ocasiona alteraciones en el ciclo menstrual, promueve la formación de quistes en los ovarios y el aumento de tamaño de estos, acné, hirsutismo, escaso desarrollo mamario, obesidad, infertilidad y cambios emocionales. Para su diagnóstico se hace uso del criterio de Rotterdam siendo este el más usado, en donde debe existir la presencia de 2 o 3 de los siguientes condicionantes: 1) oligoanovulación crónica 2) polisquistosis ovárica por ecografía 3) HA clínico o bioquímico, para su tratamiento esta direccionado a las características clínicas de cada paciente y al deseo reproductivo, los anticonceptivos orales son la primera línea de tratamiento ya que atenúan las manifestaciones de HA y brindan protección endometrial, mientras que en pacientes con oligoanovulación que desean embarazarse el citrato de clomifeno es el tratamiento recomendado, la metformina es recomendada su administración en pacientes intolerantes a la glucosa (diabetes tipo 2)

Training in pedagogical research: experiences of teachers under basic training in children´s pedagogy

Indagar sobre experiencias de formación investigativa desde las apreciaciones de docentes en formación a nivel de pedagogía infantil evidencia un problema fundamental: su caracterización, interpretación y actualización desde la tensión que supone su formación académica y su ejercicio profesional. En tal sentido, el artículo analiza las características subyacentes a este proceso desde las estudiantes del curso Opción de grado (periodos académicos 2018-1, 2018-2 y 2018-3) de la Licenciatura en Pedagogía Infantil (Distancia), carrera ofertada por la Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios – UNIMINUTO (Colombia) en la Vicerrectoría Regional Bogotá Sur. Para ello, el texto señala el desarrollo de una etnografía educativa por la cual se observaron (diarios de campo), indagaron (cuestionario virtual) y analizaron conceptualmente (resúmenes de análisis documental) las experiencias formativas en investigación de las estudiantes. Los resultados alcanzados, si bien afirman la relevancia del proceso para el desarrollo de sus prácticas pedagógicas, explicitan también una problemática en cuanto a su carácter procedimental, el cual les impide problematizar aquellas prácticas como escenario investigativo. Así pues, el texto infiere la necesidad de visibilizar los saberes adquiridos por las estudiantes en su experiencia formativa y profesional; apropiar como criterio pedagógico el acervo investigativo del docente y su capacidad para desarrollar procesos pedagógicos desde metodologías de formación y mediaciones virtuales diversas; y delimitar marcos conceptuales que permitan actualizar el proceso formativo en investigación con el interés de desplegar capacidades para apropiar los saberes emergentes de las prácticas pedagógicas como realidad investigativa para las docentes en formación.Inquiring about research training experiences drawing from the appreciation of teachers under basic training concerning child education shows a fundamental problem: their characterization, interpretation, and update arising from the tension between their academic training and their professional practice. Thus, the article analyzes the underlying characteristics of this process looking at students of the “Degree Option” course (academic periods 2018-1, 2018-2, and 2018-3) of the Bachelor’s Degree in Child Pedagogy (Distance), career offered by the Corporación Universitaria Minuto de Dios - UNIMINUTO (Colombia) in the Regional Vice-Rectory Bogotá Sur. To do this, the text indicates the development of an educational ethnography by which they were observed (field diaries), inquired (virtual questionnaire) and conceptually analyzed (summaries of documentary analysis) the research training experiences of the students. The results achieved, although they affirm the relevance of the process for the development of their pedagogical practices, also explain a problem regarding their procedural nature, which prevents them from problematizing those practices as a research scenario. Thus, the text infers the need to make visible the knowledge acquired by students in their training and professional experience; appropriate as a pedagogical criterion the research heritage of the teacher and his ability to develop pedagogical processes from training methodologies and diverse virtual mediations; and define conceptual frameworks that allow updating the training process in research with the interest of deploying capacities to appropriate the emerging knowledge of pedagogical practices as a research reality for teachers in training