Modeling at farm level: Positive Multi-Attribute Utility Programming

This article proposes a new mathematical programming model for the simulation of farmers’ decision-making. We have developed a model based on a multi-attribute utility approach that takes into consideration the most relevant attributes of farmers within a positive framework. This approach overcomes the limitations found in some mathematical models used in the literature to simulate farmers’ behavior. A five-step procedure is presented in order to elicit the utility function that reproduces farmers’ current decision-making. We illustrate this positive multi-attribute approach using a sample of farmers in an irrigated area in southern Spain, where our simulations demonstrate the accurateness of the model in reproducing actual farmers’ decision-making. We also find evidence that the model is able to explain the heterogeneous behavior of farmers within a homogeneous agricultural syste

Public perception of nursing professionals, mission, values, principles and its proximity to the theoretical construction of the discipline

Trabajo fin de grado en EnfermeríaIntroducción: Históricamente, ha existido una diferencia sustancial entre la percepción y valoración por parte de la ciudadanía de las profesiones de Medicina y Enfermería. Esta diferencia ha estado siempre reforzada no sólo por la propia concepción original y nacimiento de ambos campos, sino también, y en gran medida, por la asociación del médico como varón y la enfermera como mujer, acarreando con ello, aparte de una serie de prejuicios en base al ámbito profesional, otros tantos concebidos en torno los estereotipos de género. En los últimos tiempos, esta tendencia está cambiando en base a diversos factores, quedando no obstante convencionalismos negativos por derruir. Objetivo principal: Describir la percepción pública de los y las profesionales de Enfermería, su misión, valores y principios, y la proximidad a la construcción teórica de la disciplina. Objetivos secundarios: Analizar la percepción de los usuarios de Sistema Sanitario Público de la Comunidad de Madrid respecto a los valores, misión y principios de La Enfermería, así como las similitudes y diferencias en torno a la percepción social de los enfermeros y enfermeras. De igual forma, realizar la validación cultural y lingüística del cuestionario Nursing Attitude Questionnaire (NAQ). Metodología: Se trata de un estudio cuantitativo, de tipo descriptivo, transversal y multicéntrico, empleando el Nursing Attitude Questionnaire. La población de estudio se obtendrá a través de un muestreo estratificado polietápico, empleándose como criterios de inclusión a personas mayores de 14 años, residentes de la Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid y en posesión de una tarjeta sanitaria individualIntroduction: Historically, there has always been a substantial difference in the perception and assessment of image by the citizenship between nurses and doctors. This difference has always been reinforced not only by both fields’ birth and original conception but, to a large degree, by the gendered association of doctors as male and nurses as female. This association carries with it a huge number of prejudices based on professional fields and many others conceived around gender stereotypes. Although this disposition has recently begun to change, there are still some negative preconceptions that persist and are yet to be taken down. Main objective: To describe the public perception about nurses, their mission, goals, principles, and its proximity to the theoretical construction of the discipline. Secondary objectives: To analyze the user perception of the Public Health System of the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid regarding the values and principles of Nursery, as well as the similarities and differences in user perception between male and female nurses. Furthermore, to perform the cultural and linguistic validation of the Nursing Attitude Questionnaire (NAQ). Methodology: This is a quantitative, descriptive, transversal and multicentric study, using the Nursing Attitude Questionnaire. The study population is going to be procured by multi-stage stratified sampling, using as inclusion criteria people over 14 years, residing in Madrid and in possession of an individual health card

Transitar a la intemperie: jóvenes en busca de integración

Depto. de Sociología AplicadaFac. de Ciencias Políticas y SociologíaTRUEpu

Volatile-mediated interactions between Trichoderma harzianum and Acanthoscelides obtectus: A novel in vitro methodology to evaluate the impact of microbial volatile compounds on dry grain storage pests

.Biological interactions mediated by Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (BVOCs) is a well-established field that has been researched for decades. Although extensive focus is currently given to the control of insect pests using natural molecules, the study of volatile interactions between microorganisms and insects has been largely neglected and has only begun to attract more attention in recent years. In this work, we developed a novel protocol to assess the effects of microbial BVOCs directly produced by growing microbial strains on dry grain insect pests and the seed damage they cause, using VOC Chambers to evaluate both sealed and unsealed conditions. Four Trichoderma harzianum strains were tested against Acanthoscelides obtectus, a wild type and three of its transformants. These had been previously obtained by introducing the tri5 gene and thus overproducing the volatile trichodiene, or by silencing the erg1 gene, which encodes for a squalene epoxidase, therefore reducing ergosterol levels and increasing squalene ones in the fungus. Results demonstrated that ventilation plays a key role in these interactions. All fungal strains significantly increased adult mortality in sealed conditions, while this effect was barely noticeable in unsealed ones. Nevertheless, subsequent insect emergence from bean seeds and bean damage were still significantly reduced in both conditions. The erg1 silenced strains caused significantly higher levels of adult mortality than the rest in sealed conditions and lower insect emergence in both sealed and unsealed ones. Bean damage produced by insects was lower also when exposed to BVOCs from these strains in sealed conditions. Conversely, trichodiene overproduction did not show enhanced toxicity or significant reduction of insect emergence and bean damage in the tested conditions. Therefore, T. harzianum BVOCs, especially those from erg1 silenced strains, should be further researched for their potential use in the biological control of A. obtectus infestation in dry grain storing facilities. VOC Chambers have shown themselves to be a reliable method in the screening of in vitro volatile mediated interactions between growing microbial strains and insect pests.S

Fear recognition for women using a reduced set of physiological signals

This article belongs to the Section Biomedical Sensors.Emotion recognition is benefitting from the latest research into physiological monitoring and wireless communications, among other remarkable achievements. These technologies can indeed provide solutions to protect vulnerable people in scenarios such as personal assaults, the abuse of children or the elderly, gender violence or sexual aggression. Cyberphysical systems using smart sensors, artificial intelligence and wearable and inconspicuous devices can serve as bodyguards to detect these risky situations (through fear-related emotion detection) and automatically trigger a protection protocol. As expected, these systems should be trained and customized for each user to ensure the best possible performance, which undoubtedly requires a gender perspective. This paper presents a specialized fear recognition system for women based on a reduced set of physiological signals. The architecture proposed is characterized by the usage of three physiological sensors, lightweight binary classification and the conjunction of linear (temporal and frequency) and non-linear features. Moreover, a binary fear mapping strategy between dimensional and discrete emotional information based on emotional self-report data is implemented to avoid emotional bias. The architecture is evaluated using a public multi-modal physiological dataset with two approaches (subject-dependent and subject-independent models) focusing on the female participants. As a result, the proposal outperforms the state-of-the-art in fear recognition, achieving a recognition rate of up to 96.33% for the subject-dependent model.This activity is partially supported by Community of Madrid in the pluri-annual agreement with Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, in the line of action "Excelence with the University Faculty", V Regional Plan of Scientific Research and Technology Innovation 2016-2020, and by the Community of Madrid Region Government under the Synergic Program: EMPATIA-CM, Y2018/TCS-5046

The Tetrahymena metallothionein gene family: twenty-one new cDNAs, molecular characterization, phylogenetic study and comparative analysis of the gene expression under different abiotic stressors

Background: Ciliate metallothioneins (MTs) are included in family 7 of the MT superfamily. This family has been divided into two main subfamilies: 7a or CdMTs and 7b or CuMTs. All ciliate MTs reported have been isolated from different Tetrahymena species and present unique features with regard to standard MTs. Likewise, an expression analysis has been carried out on some of MT genes under metal stress, corroborating their classification into two subfamilies. Results: We isolated 21 new cDNAs from different Tetrahymena species to obtain a wider view of the biodiversity of these conserved genes. Structural analysis (cysteine patterns) and an updated phylogenetic study both corroborated the previous classification into two subfamilies. A new CuMT from a Tetrahymena-related species Ichthyophthirius multifiliis was also included in this general analysis. We detected a certain tendency towards the presentation of a CdMT tri-modular structure in Borealis group species with respect to Australis group. We report for the first time a semi-complete paralog duplication of a CdMT gene originating a new CdMT gene isoform in T. malaccensis. An asymmetry of the codon usage for glutamine residues was detected between Cd- and CuMTs, and the phylogenetic implications are discussed. A comparative gene expression analysis of several MT genes by qRTPCR revealed differential behavior among them under different abiotic stressors in the same Tetrahymena species. Conclusions: The Tetrahymena metallothionein family represents a quite conserved proteinstructure group with unique features with respect to standard MTs. Both Cd- and CuMT subfamilies present very defined and differentiated characteristics at several levels: cysteine patterns, modular structure, glutamine codon usage and gene expression under metal stress, among others. Gene duplication through evolution seems to be the major genetic mechanism for creating new MT gene isoforms and increasing their functional diversity

Subliminal Priming Effects of Masked Social Hierarchies During a Categorization Task: An Event-Related Brain Potentials Study

published: 07 July 2022Evidence so far shows that status detection increases attentional resources, especially for high hierarchies. However, little is known about the effects of masked social status cues on cognition. Here, we explore the masked priming effects of social status cues during a categorization task. For this purpose, we use Event-Related brain Potentials (ERP) time-locked to the presentation of two types of artworks (Christian, non-Christian) primed by masked social hierarchies sorted into two types (religious, military), and in two ranks (high, low) each. ERP results indicate early attention effects at N1, showing larger amplitudes for the processing of artworks after high and military ranks. Thereafter, the P3a increased for all artworks primed by religious vs. military figures, indicating a relevant role of task demands at this processing stage. Our results remark the automaticity of hierarchy detection and extend previous findings on the effects of social status cues on complex cognitive processes.This work was supported by the MINECO (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, PSI2013-43107-P) and Ministerio de Ciencia, Investigación y Universidades (Programa Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia, PSI2017-82357-P), Spai

Assessment of the perception of vertical subjectivity in children born preterm

Children born preterm have increased rates of paediatric mortality and morbidity. Prematurity has been associated with impaired visual perception and visuo-motor integration. The alteration of the perception of verticality translates into alterations of the vestibular system at central and/or peripheral level, which may manifest itself in symptoms such as imbalance, dizziness or even vertigo. The aim of this study was to compare subjective visual vertical (SVV) test scores in children born preterm with those of children born at term at ages between 7 and 10. One hundred ten children with no neurodevelopmental disorder of 7 to 10 years of age were studied using a mobile application on a smartphone attached to a wall by means of a rotating plate. The SVV test was compared between two groups: a group of 55 preterm children (53 very preterm children born under 32 weeks of gestational age and 2 preterm with very low birth weight) and another group of 55 children born at term (after 37 weeks of gestational age). The SVV results were analysed for comparison with respect to prematurity, sex and age. We found no significant differences in the SVV study in the comparison between preterm and term children. In addition, no significant differences were observed regarding sex or age between 7 and 10 years.Conclusion: We found no alterations in the perception of vertical subjectivity in children between 7 and 10 years of age, with antecedents of very preterm birth and/or very low birth weight

Trend to replacement of Experimental Animals

Para la aprobación, registro y comercialización de medicamentos, agroquímicos, productos de uso doméstico y sustancias cosméticas es necesario estudiar e informar al organismo regulador la potencial toxicidad. Por motivos éticos y económicos, en los últimos años se ha disminuido la utilización de animales de experimentación y se ha fomentado el desarrollo de metodologías alternativas. En el proceso de migración, la OCDE validó procedimientos para evaluar irritación y corrosión ocular y dérmica, mutagenicidad, fototoxicidad, sensibilización y absorción dérmica. Hoy en día es un área en constante investigación y desarrollo ya que aún no se ha logrado reemplazar completamente la calidad de los datos obtenidos en animales. Si bien la tendencia mundial al reemplazo de animales es clara, en Argentina aún no hemos dado el primer paso: no contamos con una ley que regule el uso de animales de experimentación. Las agencias reguladoras (SENASA y ANMAT) continúan solicitando ensayos con animales, pero han manifestado su interés en aceptar evidencia toxicológica obtenida por métodos alternativos. Desde el Laboratorio de Métodos Alternativos al uso de Animales de Experimentación que forma parte de la Plataforma Tecnológica EBAL nos hemos propuesto trabajar en el desarrollo, ejecución, perfeccionamiento y transferencia de metodología alternativa.For the approval, registration and commercialization of drugs, agrochemicals, household products and cosmetics substances is necessary to study and inform the regulatory organism about the potential toxicity. Due to ethical and economic reasons, the use of experimental animals has decreased in the last years and the development of alternative methods has been improved. During the process of replacement, the OECD validated procedures to test dermal and ocular irritation and corrosion, mutagenicity, phototoxicity, dermal sensitization and absorption. Nowadays this area is in constant investigation and development as it has not been already possible to completely replace data quality obtained in animals. Even though the global trend to replace animals is clear, in Argentina the first step has not been taken yet as there is not a law that restraint the use of experimental animals. Although procedures with animals are still requested by the regulatory agencies (SENASA and ANMAT), they have shown interest in accepting toxicological evidence obtained by alternative methods. In our Laboratory of Alternative Methods to the use of Experimental Animals which belongs to the EBAL Technological Platform we have proposed to work in development, execution, improvement and transference of alternative methods.Facultad de Periodismo y Comunicación Socia