A New Intervention Procedure for Improving Classroom Behavior of Neglected Children: Say Do Say Correspondence Training

Although neglect is the most common form of child maltreatment, a review of the literature since 1980 reveals a lack of controlled child neglect intervention programs. The aim of this study is to assess a new intervention program to improve the classroom behavior of children exposed to neglect only, by reducing disruptive conduct and promoting adaptive conduct. Two matched groups were selected with children of the same ages, sex, and social class (cultural and economic level) and with mothers of similar ages. The experimental group comprised of five children suffering from neglect and no other type of maltreatment. The control group had five children not abused or neglected. All the children were in the same class at school. The percentage of time per session that each child spent engaged in disruptive behavior was measured (baseline) and was found significantly higher among neglected children. Say-Do-Say Correspondence Training was applied with the neglected children and a rapid, significant reduction in their disruptive behavior was observed (and statistically confirmed), bringing such behavior down to the level of the control (i.e., non-neglected) children. These results were maintained when the intervention was halted. We concluded that the adaptive and classroom behavior of neglected children can be improved with this non-intrusive intervention

Perceptual Styles and Cannabis Consumption Prediction in Young People

Given that risk perception has been found to be both a vulnerability and a protective factor with respect to consumption, the objectives of this study were to find out whether there exist specific patterns of risk perception associated with cannabis use and, if so, how they relate to cannabis consumption and to the sources of information on drugs accessed by young people. An ex post facto study was carried out with 1851 young Andalusians aged 18 to 29, using an adaptation of the Andalusian Government “Andalusian Population versus Drugs” survey. For the first objective, a cluster analysis was carried out in which three perceptual style groups were formed: “Strict”, “Permissive-Awareness” and “Lax”. Cannabis use in the “lax” group was found to be 14.31 times more frequent than in the “strict” group and 2.75 times more frequent than in the “permissive-awareness” group. A logistic regression analysis was also performed, which correctly predicted 80.4% of users and non-consumers. Correlation was found between perceptual styles and the sources of information used about drugs. This study identified three different risk perception styles that heavily correlated to cannabis consumption and to the type of sources young Andalusians use to obtain information about drugs, suggesting the need for a change in preventive policy

The Effectiveness of Day Hospitals in the Personal Recovery of Mental Disorder Patients during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: In recent years, a new recovery model has gained ground in which recovery is understood as a process of change where individuals are able to improve their health and wellbeing, lead self-sufficient lives and strive to achieve their maximum potential (personal recovery). Despite the existence of data regarding the effectiveness of mental health day hospitals (MHDHs) in reducing relapses in terms of hospital admissions and emergencies, no studies have to date assessed how this change affected the new personal recovery model. Objectives: To verify the effectiveness of MHDHs in improving personal recovery processes among people with mental disorders (MDs). Methods: A prospective cohort study. A group of patients receiving follow-up at MHDHs was compared with another group of patients receiving follow-up in other therapeutic units over a period of three months. Results: Patient recovery at the MHDHs, assessed using the Individual Recovery Outcomes Counter (I.ROC), was found to be significantly better than that of patients attended in other units. Conclusions: MHDHs can contribute to the recovery of people with MDs. This is particularly important at a time when some patients may have experienced impediments to their recovery processes due to the pandemic

Disseny i implementació d’un quadcòpter

The purpose of this project is to design a drone capable of stabilizing autonomously, and its later implementation. First different controllers have been studied in order to decide which of them was the most appropriate for the device; the communication of the selected controller with a remote control station has been analyzed; a chassis where to put on all items of the drone has been chosen; and engines able to make the device fly have been selected. It has been necessary to adapt the power source system because the engine voltage input is higher than the one of the controller and the communication system on board. So it has been designed a buck converter. Subsequently, it has been studied what sensors were needed for the application, and how to treat the data obtained to obtain better estimates of the position of the device. To check the sensor an experiment has been done. It consisted on placing the drone in positions in where the direction was known to determine the accuracy of the measurements. At the same time, flight dynamics of devices with the described characteristics has been studied, and a proportional derivative control system has been proposed. With this control system, the user can control the orientation and the height of the device. While the implementation of control orientation worked, it has not been possible to implement height control because the barometer failed to work properly. Finally, wireless communication range has been checked. The drone has been implemented. However, it is unable to take off properly. It seems to be powerful enough to do it, but the control system does not keep the device horizontal enough for the flight to be controllable

Disseny i implementació d’un quadcòpter

The purpose of this project is to design a drone capable of stabilizing autonomously, and its later implementation. First different controllers have been studied in order to decide which of them was the most appropriate for the device; the communication of the selected controller with a remote control station has been analyzed; a chassis where to put on all items of the drone has been chosen; and engines able to make the device fly have been selected. It has been necessary to adapt the power source system because the engine voltage input is higher than the one of the controller and the communication system on board. So it has been designed a buck converter. Subsequently, it has been studied what sensors were needed for the application, and how to treat the data obtained to obtain better estimates of the position of the device. To check the sensor an experiment has been done. It consisted on placing the drone in positions in where the direction was known to determine the accuracy of the measurements. At the same time, flight dynamics of devices with the described characteristics has been studied, and a proportional derivative control system has been proposed. With this control system, the user can control the orientation and the height of the device. While the implementation of control orientation worked, it has not been possible to implement height control because the barometer failed to work properly. Finally, wireless communication range has been checked. The drone has been implemented. However, it is unable to take off properly. It seems to be powerful enough to do it, but the control system does not keep the device horizontal enough for the flight to be controllable

Consumo masivo de alcohol y adicciones en jóvenes universitarios

Aunque el uso de las drogas es muy antiguo y las diferentes civilizaciones y sociedades las han consumido en distinto grado, forma con diferentes fines, ideando también diversas estrategias para abordar los problemas que acarreaban, es en la Edad Contemporánea cuando dichos problemas son conceptualizados como una cuestión de salud pública y, vinculado a esta conceptualización, se empieza a hacer estudios sobre sus causas y consecuencias, adquiriendo un papel muy relevante el estudio del uso de las drogas por parte de la población joven. Es en este contexto donde se enmarca la presente tesis doctoral, en la preocupación por intentar avanzar en el conocimiento de las causas del consumo, de cómo los y las jóvenes entienden y se relacionan con las drogas. Para ello, en primer lugar, se hace una introducción teórica sobre el consumo de sustancias, su historia, nosología y etiología con el objetivo de tratar de esclarecer desde dónde partimos, qué sabemos y qué saben los jóvenes sobre estas cuestiones. En esta revisión teórica aparecen diversas ideas relevantes de las que emanan los objetivos de estas tesis. Una de las variables destacadas en la literatura como relevantes a la hora de explicar y comprender el consumo de sustancias es la percepción de riesgo, entendida como la creencia que un individuo tiene acerca de los peligros que van asociados al consumo de una determinada sustancia. Es por ello que el primer objetivo de esta tesis es, precisamente, caracterizar esa percepción de riesgo y ver de qué manera se relaciona con el consumo de sustancias tanto legales como ilegales. Para ello se llevó a cabo un estudio, con un diseño prospectivo y transversal ex post facto, en una muestra de 2776 jóvenes de 18 a 29 años de Andalucía. Se utilizó un cuestionario adaptado del empleado en otros estudios de investigación sobre la población universitaria en Andalucía y algunas agencias nacionales (Ruiz-Olivares et al. 2010), que incluía preguntas sobre datos sociodemográficos, patrones de consumo, percepción del riesgo y adicciones sin sustancia. Los resultados mostraron diferencias en la percepción de riesgo de las diferentes sustancias, existiendo ciertos sesgos en cuanto a los daños que pueden causar unas u otras sustancias, dejando claro que existe todavía desconocimiento sobre algunas drogas y sus posibles efectos y consecuencias, como la relación entre el consumo de alcohol y trastornos mentales, la percepción de que el cannabis es menos peligroso que el tabaco o el desconocimiento de qué efectos pueden tener los inhalantes. Se encontraron, además, diferencias en función del sexo, siendo la percepción de riesgo un poco más elevada en las mujeres para algunas drogas como el cannabis. Se planteó un segundo objetivo consistente en conocer cómo se relaciona el consumo de alcohol, cannabis y otras drogas con la percepción del riesgo de sufrir un accidente de tráfico bajo los efectos de dichas sustancias, y ver si había diferencias en función del sexo. Los resultados mostraron una correlación negativa entre el consumo y la percepción de riesgo, de manera que, a mayor consumo, menor percepción de riesgo de sufrir un accidente de tráfico y viceversa, siendo, para las mujeres, más alta la percepción de riesgo y menor el consumo. Por último, se plantea un tercer objetivo con la intención de determinar si existen patrones de percepción de riesgo y si éstos se relacionan con el consumo. Para ello se realizó un análisis de clúster que nos permitió identificar tres grupos que aglutinaban las puntuaciones de percepción de riesgo: un primer grupo, que llamamos estricto, cuyas puntuaciones indican que consideran que las drogas siempre causan problemas. Un segundo grupo se ha denominado laxo, los cuales consideran que las drogas causan problemas a veces o rara vez. El tercer grupo denominado consciente-permisivo se caracteriza por considerar que drogas ilegales excepto el cannabis, casi siempre causan problemas. Se encontró una fuerte relación entre estilo perceptivo y consumo, obteniéndose una Odds Ratio entre los clústeres “estricto” y “laxo” para el consumo de cannabis en los últimos 30 días de 14.1, y entre el clúster conscientepermisivo y el laxo de 2,75. Por último, ser realizó un análisis de regresión logística para tratar de predecir el consumo de cannabis mediante el estilo perceptivo, obteniendo como resultado que con esta variable, el consumo de alcohol y tabaco y la edad con la que tomó contacto con la bebida (combinados) y el cannabis, se predecía correctamente el 97,6% de los casos de consumo de cannabis, lo cual resulta bastante útil de cara a la prevención, aunque al ser un estudio trasversal no podemos conocer la direccionalidad. Con el objeto de aportar más datos que puedan ayudar a la prevención, se analizaron también las fuentes de información por la que los y las jóvenes obtenían información referente a las drogas y su consumo, viéndose como, por lo general, las personas que consumen utilizan fuentes menos fiables como son los amigos, o personas en contacto con las drogas. En un segundo estudio se planteó el abordaje de otro problema que es objeto de preocupación en nuestra sociedad. Nos referimos al consumo de alcohol y a ciertos fenómenos de reciente aparición como el llamado botellón, donde se dan unos patrones específicos de consumo conocidos como binge drinking o atracón. Para ello, con una muestra de 2000 jóvenes de la Universidad de Córdoba, se utilizó un diseño trasversal descriptivo y se aplicó un cuestionario en el cual se medían, además de datos sociodemográficos, pautas de consumo, asistencia y tipo de consumo en el botellón. Nos planteamos como primer objetivo específico conocer cuánto consumía el alumnado en función del curso, la rama de estudio y el sexo, categorizando el consumo en moderado (menos de 2UBE para mujeres y 3 para hombres), elevado (de 2 a 4 para mujeres y 3-6 para hombres) y muy elevado (más de 4 para mujeres y 6 para hombres). Encontramos que el 50% de los y las estudiantes tienen un consumo perjudicial de alcohol, además de diferencias significativas en función de la rama, curso y sexo en cuanto al consumo. Para conocer con más profundidad el fenómeno del botellón, nos planteamos el objetivo de caracterizar el consumo asociado a su realización, preguntando acerca de la frecuencia de las borracheras (44% de los hombres y 22% de las mujeres se había emborrachado en el último mes), el binge drinking (70% hombres y 50% de las mujeres tenían este tipo de consumo en el botellón), la frecuencia con la que asistían (16% mujeres y 20% hombres habían hecho botellón todas las semanas), la cantidad de alcohol consumida (7,3 UBE de media para hombres y 5,1 para mujeres) y el consumo de otras sustancias (el 40% consumía otras sustancias, principalmente tabaco, cannabis y cocaína). Por último, quisimos conocer como percibían las y los jóvenes el consumo, además de donde y con quién se habían iniciado en dicho consumo, perfilándose así nuestro último sub-objetivo. Los resultados nos muestran cómo un 46% de las mujeres y un 40% de los hombres apenas ven consecuencias negativas en el consumo, afirmando que obtienen placer y bienestar al consumirlo (19% mujeres y 27% hombres) o mejora en las relaciones sociales (20% para ambos sexos). El 62% de las mujeres y el 54% de los hombres iniciaron su consumo en fiestas, y en un 90% de los casos lo hicieron con amigos. A raíz de los datos obtenidos en ambos estudios, donde se refleja la relación existente entre la percepción de riesgo y el consumo de sustancias, además de los datos de consumo de alcohol en población universitaria y su caracterización, nos permiten contar con una información muy relevante de cara al diseño de programas de prevención específicos para la población joven, ya que, como se puede observar tanto en este estudio como en las encuestas nacionales, los datos de consumo indican que no se ha producido una reducción significativa en el consumo de algunas sustancias como el alcohol a lo largo del tiempo con las medidas tomadas hasta ahora. Es por ello que se hace necesario plantear nuevas alternativas y programas que ayuden a los jóvenes a ser conscientes y responsables con el consumo, más que desde las posturas clásicamente prohibicionistas, que como se ha visto no funcionan, apostando por una adecuada información y educación que permita el uso consciente y responsable por parte de los individuos, contando con la colaboración tanto de usuarios como de las instituciones a la hora de programar estas medidas preventivas, tratando de frenar el abuso y los problemas que este acarrea.Drug use is an age-old phenomenon. with Different civilizations and societies have consumed narcotic substances to different degrees, in different forms and for different purposes, and devised different strategies to deal with the problems they entailed. But it is only in the contemporary age that these problems have been conceptualized as a public health issue and as a result studies have subsequently begun to be carried out into their causes and consequences. Studies into the use of drugs by the young population have taken on particular relevance, and this doctoral thesis has as its objective to further our knowledge of the causes of consumption and of how young people understand and relate to drugs. To do so, we first overviewed existing theories concerning substance consumption and the history, nosology and etiology of drugs, as a means of clarifying our point of departure and establishing what we know and what young people know about these issues. This overview provided a number of ideas which helped us formulate the thesis’s objectives. One of the variables identified in literature as relevant when explaining and understanding substance consumption is risk perception, understood as an individual’s belief about the dangers associated with the consumption of a given substance. The first objective of the thesis was therefore precisely to characterize risk perception and try to find out how it relates to the consumption of both legal and illegal substances. To this end, a transversal, prospective ex post facto study was carried out on a sample of 2,776 young people between the ages of 18 and 29 in Andalusia, Spain. The questionnaire used, adapted from that used in other research studies into the university population in Andalusia and by some national agencies (Ruiz- Olivares et al. 2010, EDADES, ESTUDES), included questions on sociodemographic data, consumption patterns, risk perception and nonsubstance addictions. The results showed differences in risk perception for different substances, with certain biases regarding the harm that can be caused by one or another substance. They also clearly indicated that there is still a lack of knowledge about certain aspects of drugs and their possible effects and consequences, such as the relationship between alcohol consumption and mental disorders, the perception that cannabis is less dangerous than tobacco and ignorance about what effects inhalants can have. Differences were also found between sexes, with risk perception slightly higher in women for some drugs such as cannabis. The second objective was to find out how the consumption of alcohol, cannabis and other drugs is related to perception of the risk of having a traffic accident under the effects of those substances, and, again, to see if there were differences according to sex. The results showed a negative correlation between consumption and risk perception: the higher the consumption, the lower the risk perceived of suffering a traffic accident and viceversa, with risk perception being higher and consumption lower for women. Finally, the third objective proposed was to determine the existence of risk perception patterns and whether these are related to consumption. For this purpose, a cluster analysis was carried out that allowed us to identify three groups covering the whole spectrum of risk perception scores: a first group, which we called strict, whose scores indicated that they consider that drugs always cause problems; a second group, denominated lax, which considered drugs to cause problems only sometimes or rarely; and a third group called aware-permissive which thought that all illegal drugs except cannabis almost always cause problems. A strong relationship was found between perceptual style and consumption, with Odds Ratios for cannabis consumption within the last 30 days of 14.1 between the "strict" and "lax" clusters, and 2.75 between the conscious-permissive and lax clusters. Finally, a logistic regression analysis was carried out to predict cannabis consumption by means of perceptual style. With this variable, alcohol and tobacco consumption and the age at which individuals began to drink and consume cannabis, 97.6% of the cases of cannabis consumption were correctly predicted. This was quite useful for prevention, although, as it was a cross-sectional study, there was no indication of directionality. To obtain more data that could help prevention, the young people’s sources of information about drugs and their use were also analyzed, the general view being that people who use drugs generally turn to less reliable sources such as friends or people in contact with drugs. A second study addressed another problem that is a cause of concern in our society: alcohol consumption and the recent appearance of certain specific patterns of drinking behavior like binge-drinking and, in Spain, Young people’s outdoor drinking parties known as botellones. For this study, involving a sample of 2,000 young people from the University of Cordoba, a descriptive cross-sectional design was used and a questionnaire was applied in which, in addition to sociodemographic data, consumption patterns, attendance and the type of alcohol consumed in botellones were measured. Our priority objective was to find out how much alcohol students consumed by year and subject of study and by sex. Consumption was categorized as moderate (less than 2 standard drink units for women and 3 for men), high (from 2 to 4 for women and from 3 to 6 for men) and very high (over 4 for women and over 6 for men). We found that 50% of students had harmful levels of alcohol consumption, with significant differences in consumption depending on year and field of study and sex.. To learn more about the botellón phenomenon, we set ourselves the goal of characterizing the consumption parameters typically associated with such parties. Students were asked about frequency of drunkenness (44% of men and 22% of women had been drunk in the last month), binge drinking (70% of men and 50% of women had indulged in this type of consumption in a botellón), frequency of attendance (16% of women and 20% of men went to a botellón every week), the amount of alcohol consumed (an average of 7.3 standard drink units for men and 5.1 for women) and the use of other substances (40% of those surveyed said they consumed other substances, mainly tobacco, cannabis and cocaine). Finally, we wanted to know how young people perceived alcohol consumption, and where and with whom they had first started drinking, thus profiling our last sub-objective. We found that 46% of women and 40% of men hardly perceive any negative consequences in alcohol consumption, affirming that they obtain pleasure and well-being from drinking (19% of women and 27% of men) or that it improves their social relationships (20% for both sexes). 62% of the women and 54% of the men first started drinking at parties, and in 90% of cases they did so with friends. The data obtained in both studies reflecting the relationship which exists between risk perception and substance consumption, and the data on the level and nature of alcohol consumption among the university population provided us with information that is very useful for designing specific prevention programs for young people. As can be observed both in this study and in national surveys, consumption data shows that no significant long term reduction in the consumption of certain substances has been achieved by the measures implemented so far. It is therefore necessary to propose new alternatives and programs for raising young people’s awareness and making them more responsible vis-à-vis consumption rather than relying on classic prohibitive measures which, as we have seen, do not work. There is a need for commitment to the provision of appropriate information and education which will facilitate conscientious, responsible use of substances by individuals, and for collaboration by both users and institutions in the programming of such preventive measures in an attempt to curb substance abuse and all its associated problems

Anaerobic co-digestion of municipal sewage sludge and fruit/vegetable waste: effect of different mixtures on digester stability and methane yield

There are different options for the management of fruit and vegetable wastes (FVWs), but the most environmental-friendly is the anaerobic digestion, because it allows an optimum recovery of materials and energy from the two by-products: biogas and digestate. Nevertheless, in many cases there are economic and technical problems that cause the selection of other alternatives. Frequently these wastes are produced in large quantities but only during few weeks of the year. In these cases, this is the most important economic problem, because large digesters that would be used only for short time periods every year would be required. In addition, a close control of the pH of the digester is required for this kind of residues, for which the hydrolysis is usually faster than the methanogenesis, so large concentrations of fatty acids should be prevented to maintain the adequate pH value for anaerobic digestion that should be neutral or slightly alkaline. Both problems can be simultaneously overcome by the co-digestion with other residues that are produced throughout the year. Among the benefits of co-digestion, one of the most important is the improvement in the feedstock characteristics, since it may allow a more equilibrate composition resulting in a better performance of the digester in treatment capacity, and a better quality of biogas and digestate. The co-digestion with other substrates with a complementary composition that are produced throughout the year and that are already managed by anaerobic digestion is probably the optimum management option. For these cases, if the existing anaerobic digester is oversized and allows the introduction of additional volumes of wastes, the mean retention time of the digestate should be maintained. Therefore, the anaerobic co-digestion of fruit and vegetable waste (FVW) and municipal sewage sludge (MSS) under mesophilic condition and a constant hydraulic retention time (20 d) is studied. The effects on digester performance of the FVW:MSS ratio and the organic loading rate (OLR) were examined. The OLR is the mass of volatile solids fed per volume of digestate and day.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Subjective well-being and vulnerability related to problematic Internet use among university students with and without disabilities: A comparative study

This study aims to observe whether people with disabilitiesexperience problematic Internet use (PIU) like that of youngpeople without disabilities; to relate PIU to psychological dis-tress in young disabled people and to determine whether theseproblems are similar to or different from those experienced byyoung people without disabilities. The sample comprised 408university students with disabilities and 1386 university stu-dents without disabilities from several Spanish universities. PIUwas evaluated using theInternet Addiction Test(IAT) and psy-chological distress was evaluated using theClinical Outcomes inRoutine Evaluation‐Outcome Measure(CORE‐OM). The groupof university students with disabilities showed less PIU thanthe nondisabled students, but the worst scores in variablesreferencing psychological discomfort were found among thosestudents with disabilities who also had PIU. Although the re-sults are not completely generalizable, PIU is related to biggerproblems in disabled people for whom it represents a higherrisk than for people without disabilities

Understanding long-term hunting statistics: the case of Spain (1972-2007)

Hunting is assuming a growing role in the current European forestry and agroforestry landscape. However, consistent statistical sources that provide quantitative information for policy-making, planning and management of game resources are often lacking. In addition, in many instances statistical information can be used without sufficient evaluation or criticism. Recently, the European Commission has declared the importance of high quality hunting statistics and the need to set up a common scheme in Europe for their collection, interpretation and proper use. This work aims to contribute to this current debate on hunting statistics in Europe by exploring data from the last 35 years of Spanish hunting statistics. The analysis focuses on the three major pillars underpinning hunting activity: hunters, hunting grounds and game animals. First, the study aims to provide a better understanding of official hunting statistics for use by researchers, game managers and other potential users. Second, the study highlights the major strengths and weaknesses of the statistical information that was collected. The results of the analysis indicate that official hunting statistics can be incomplete, dispersed and not always homogeneous over a long period of time. This is an issue of which one should be aware when using official hunting data for scientific or technical work. To improve statistical deficiencies associated with hunting data in Spain, our main suggestion is the adoption of a common protocol on data collection to which different regions agree. This protocol should be in accordance with future European hunting statistics and based on robust and well-informed data collection methods. Also it should expand the range of biological, ecological and economic concepts currently included to take account of the profound transformations experienced by the hunting sector in recent years. As much as possible, any future changes in the selection of hunting statistics should allow for comparisons between new variables with the previous ones

Buenas prácticas de innovación docente en la Universidad de Córdoba

La propuesta presenta un sistema informático, único hasta la fecha, que permite evaluar las competencias de los alumnos en sus asignaturas, titulaciones y centros de la Universidad de Córdoba. El proyecto, cuyo presupuesto es de 2.160 euros, se divide en tres fases siendo la primera de ellas el desarrollo de los cuestionarios y, la segunda la administración del sistema completo por medio de varios tipos de posibles usuarios del mismo. La tercera fase es un módulo de resultados que permite el estudio del estado y el grado de adquisición de cada una de las competencias evaluadas desde varios puntos de vist