Urban Landscapes of Power in the Iberian Peninsula from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages (ULP.PILAEMA Project) Isabel Sánchez

Debates surrounding late antique societies have attracted renewed interest from an archaeological perspective. Attention given to this period between the fifth and the eighth centuries reflects present-day issues closely related to urban landscapes and long-term change in the human occupation of space. The aim of the ULP.PILAEMA Project is to examine the interaction of new elites on urban life between the late Roman and early Middle Ages through the study of the main components of townscape. The project is articulated around a series of key Spanish case studies selected on the basis of the quality of their architecture and topography and the reconstructions that this evidence facilitates for late antiquity. Taken together, the examples chosen present a coherent and up-to-date perspective of how cities transformed as symbolic places. The goal of the project is to explore ways in which topographies of governance were configured and to identify urban patterns to compare with other places and regions in Western Europe. Understanding the rise of bishoprics, monasteries and official buildings and their built environment as an expression of social interactions has Urban Landscapes of Power in the Iberian Peninsula 139 allowed us to explain the origins and development of early medieval centres of power in Spain

Optical ladder operators in the Glauber-Fock oscillator array

In this study, we investigate the stationary states of the Glauber-Fock oscillator waveguide array. We begin by transforming the associated Hamiltonian into the form of a quantum harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian, allowing the implementation of a supersymmetric (SUSY) approach. By considering the simplest case for the intertwining operator, the optical ladder operators are straightforwardly constructed and shown to map eigensolutions into eigensolutions of the corresponding Hamiltonian operator, in pretty much the same manner as it is done for the quantum harmonic oscillator case. The ladder of the corresponding (eigen) supermodes is then easily established

Exact Solution to the Driven Jaynes-Cummings System

We investigate the dynamics of the driven Jaynes-Cummings model, where a two-level atom interacts with a quantized field and both, atom and field, are driven by an external classical field. Via an invariant approach, we are able to transform the corresponding Hamiltonian into the one of the standard Jaynes-Cummings model. Subsequently, the exact analytical solution of the Schr\"odinger equation for the driven system is obtained and employed to analyze some of its dynamical variables.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Nomophobia in teenagers: digital lifestyle, social networking and smartphone abuse

Smartphone use influences teenagers’ behaviors and lifestyles, not always in a positive way. Abuse and dependence on the use of this device is what has led to the study of nomophobia. The objective of this research is to measure the level of nomophobia in adolescents, and to study their digital consumption habits. The study seeks to analyze the relationships between risk of nomophobia, digital behavior, age and smartphone use. A structured questionnaire has been applied to a sample of 850 students aged 12 to 16. The data has been analyzed with SPSS and SPAD. Multivariate statistical characterization, one of the most recent data mining techniques, has been used to study differences in teenagers’ behaviors according to their risk of nomophobia, and to find related explanatory variables. Teenagers’ nomophobia risk ranges from mild to moderate, showing a relation with age, academic performance and intensity of use of mobile social networking apps. The risk of nomophobia responds to differences in students’ digital, social, relational and educational behaviors, and exhibits differences according to academic performance, age, gender, motivation and self-perception

Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Spanish version of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons-Foot and Ankle Module (AAOS-FAMsp)

Background The current study performed a cross-cultural adaptation to Spanish and examined the internal and external validation of the AAOS-FAM questionnaire. Methods A direct translation (English to Spanish) and a reverse translation (Spanish to English) were performed by two independent professional native translators. Cronbach’s α coefficients were calculated to analyse the internal consistency of the measure. The factor structure and construct validity were analysed after extraction by maximum likelihood (EML); extraction was necessary if the following three requirements were met: accounting for ≥10 % of variance, Eigenvalue >1.0 and a scree plot inflexion point. The standard error of measurement and minimal detectable change 90 (MDC90) were calculated. Criterion validity was calculated by analysing the correlation between the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons-Foot and Ankle Module (Spanish version) (AAOS-FAMsp) and Spanish versions of the questionnaires FFI and FHSQ. Results Regarding internal consistency, Cronbach’s α was 0.877, and in the test-retest analysis, the ICC ranged between 0.899 and 0.942. Error measures were calculated by MDC90 and SEM, which showed values of 3.444 and 1.476 %, respectively. The analysis demonstrated a goodness of fit chi-squared value of 803.166 (p p r = 0.206 (p r = 0.665 (p Conclusions The results indicate that AAOS-FAMsp has satisfactory psychometric properties, facilitating the inclusion of Spanish-speaking individuals into both research and clinical practice

Influence of climate change on the flowering of temperate fruit trees

It is well known that winter chilling is necessary for the flowering of temperate trees. The chilling requirement is a criterion for choosing a species or variety at a given location. Also chemistry products can be used for reducing the chilling-hours needs but make our production more expensive. This study first analysed the observed values of chilling hours for some representative agricultural locations in Spain for the last three decades and their projected changes under climate change scenarios. Usually the chilling is measured and calculated as chilling-hours, and different methods have been used to calculate them (e.g. Richarson et al., 1974 among others) according to the species considered. For our objective North Carolina method (Shaltout and Unrath, 1983) was applied for apples, Utah method (Richardson et al. 1974) for peach and grapevine and the approach used by De Melo-Abreu et al. (2004) for olive trees. The influence of climate change in temperate trees was studied by calculating projections of chilling-hours with climate data from Regional Climate Models (RCMs) at high resolution (25 km) from the European Project ENSEMBLES (http://www.ensembles-eu.org/). These projections will allow for analysing the modelled variations of chill-hours between 2nd half of 20C and 1st half of 21C at the study locations

Identification of RFLP in growth-related genes in the gilthead seabream Sparus aurata L., 1758

The main objective of the present study was to analyse polymorphism of the growth hormone (GH) gene and of the prolactin (PRL) gene in the gilthead seabream Sparus aurata L., 1758, and to examine its possible association with quantitative characters, such as weight and size. In order to carry out this study, we used a total of 279 individuals (131 breeders and 148 offspring). Once the Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms of PCR products (PCR-RFLP) at the introns of both genes were analysed, we found a possible association between intron I of the GH and the quantitative characters studied.El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar el polimorfismo de los genes de la hormona de crecimiento (GH) y de la prolactina (PRL) en dorada Sparus aurata L., 1758 y buscar su posible asociación con los caracteres cuantitativos peso y talla. Para llevar a cabo este estudio se utilizaron en total 279 individuos (131 reproductores y 148 descendientes). Una vez analizados los polimorfismos en la longitud de fragmentos de restricción de productos de PCR (PCR-RFLP) de los intrones en ambos genes, se ha encontrado una posible asociación entre el intrón I de la GH y los citados caracteres cuantitativos estudiados.Instituto Español de Oceanografí

Factores de riesgo según la ocurrencia de accidentes laborales en el personal de enfermería del Centro Médico S.A de la ciudad de Corrientes durante el periodo del 1 enero al 31 diciembre del 2015

 El personal que trabaja en establecimientos de salud, como cualquier trabajador, está expuesto a sufrir algún tipo de accidente, dentro de los factores que afectan al personal de salud (enfermería) están las que guardan relación con las condiciones en que el trabajo es ejecutado.Se realizó un estudio sobre los “factores de riesgo en el personal de enfermería según la ocurrencia de accidentes laborales del Centro Médico S.A de la ciudad de Corrientes durante el periodo del 1 de enero al 31 de diciembre del 2015”. El diseño metodológico utilizado fue cuantitativo, descriptivo con grupo en estudio y grupo control, retrospectivo, transversal, observacional, con un muestreo no probabilístico por conveniencia.Se llevó a cabo durante el mes de agosto del 2016, sobre una muestra de 30 personas (personal de enfermería), se tomaron 10 entrevistados como grupo en estudio (con accidentes laborales) y 20 como grupo control (sin accidentes laborales). Se utilizó un muestreo no probabilístico por conveniencia. Las variables estudiadas para ambos grupos fueron: sexo, edad, lugar de trabajo, factores de riesgo psicosociales donde se estudiaron: grado de formación, antigüedad laboral, duración de la jornada laboral, guardias pasivas y los horarios rotativos.Para medir los factores de riesgo biológicos se estudiaron el contacto con fluidos corporales, los elementos corto punzantes y el manejo de sustancias. En los factores ambientales se estudió al ruido ambiental y la iluminación.En los accidentes laborales se observó que en el personal de enfermería los eventos se presentaron en un promedio de edad de 34 años, se apreció mayor predisposición en el sector de clínica médica; el grado de formación arrojo un porcentaje mayoritario de auxiliares en ambos grupos, promedio de antigüedad laboral de 9 años en los accidentados y de 15 años para el grupo control. En los factores de riesgo psicosociales la jornada laboral de 16 horas diarias predominó en quienes presentaron accidentes; los factores biológicos arrojaron un porcentaje mayoritario en el manejo de sustancias

Origin and Control Strategies of Biofilms in the Cultural Heritage

Biodeterioration is defined as the undesirable change in the properties of materials caused by the activity of biological agents. This process is complex and involves alterations in the physicochemical and mechanical properties by the action of organisms and depends on the microorganisms involved, type of substrate, and environmental conditions. The biodeterioration of cultural heritage is the physical or chemical damage caused by microorganisms on objects, monuments, or buildings that belong to the cultural heritage. Among the main materials that can be affected are: stone, metal, ceramic, polymers, and other materials. Among the main undesirable effects to these materials are: discoloration, dissolution, rupture, and efflorescence among others. Biofilms represent the usual form of growth of bacteria and consist of communities of microorganisms that grow attached to an inert surface or a living tissue, surrounded by an extracellular matrix that they themselves synthesize. The importance of biodeterioration by biofilms is mainly related to changes in pH values, ionic concentrations, oxide-reduction reactions in the biofilm thickness, and in the interface with the substrate and enzymatic degradation. This chapter presents evidence of the participation of biofilms and associated mechanisms in biodeterioration as well as the main prevention and control strategies

Larger λR\lambda_R in the disc of isolated active spiral galaxies than in their non-active twins

We present a comparison of the spin parameter $\lambda_R$, measured in a region dominated by the galaxy disc, between 20 pairs of nearby (0.005$<$z$<$0.03) seemingly isolated twin galaxies differing in nuclear activity. We find that 80--82% of the active galaxies show higher values of $\lambda_R$ than their corresponding non-active twin(s), indicating larger rotational support in the AGN discs. This result is driven by the 11 pairs of unbarred galaxies, for which 100% of the AGN show larger $\lambda_R$ than their twins. These results can be explained by a more efficient angular momentum transfer from the inflowing gas to the disc baryonic matter in the case of the active galaxies. This gas inflow could have been induced by disc or bar instabilities, although we cannot rule out minor mergers if these are prevalent in our active galaxies. This result represents the first evidence of galaxy-scale differences between the dynamics of active and non-active isolated spiral galaxies of intermediate stellar masses (10$^{10}<M_*<10^{11}$ M$_{\odot}$) in the Local Universe.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A Letter