A bifactor model of subjective well-being at personal, community, and country levels: a case with three Latin-American countries

Improving citizens'' subjective well-being (SWB) has become an increasingly visible policy goal across industrialized countries. Although an increasing number of studies have investigated SWB at the individual level, little is known about subjective evaluation at social levels, such as the community and national levels. While the relationships between these levels have been analyzed in previous research, these assessments, which are part of the same unique construct of SWB, are under-investigated. The purpose of this study was to examine the dimensionality and reliability of a single measure of SWB, which contained individual, community, and national levels across three Latin-American countries (Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela), using a bifactor model analysis. Findings showed that the bifactor model exhibited a good fit to the data for the three countries. However, invariance testing between countries was not fully supported because of each item''s specific contribution to both specific and general constructs. The analyses of each country showed that the SWB construct was in a gray area between unidimensionality and multidimensionality; some factors contributed more to the general factor and others to the specific level, depending on the country. These findings call for integrating more distant levels (community and country levels) into the understanding of SWB at the individual level, as they contribute not only to an overall construct, but they make unique contributions to SWB, which must be considered in public policy making. © Copyright © 2021 Torres-Vallejos, Juarros-Basterretxea, Oyanedel and Sato

Development of Ceramic Water Filter Clay Selection Criteria

Ceramic water filters (CWFs) are point-of-use drinking water treatment systems that are manufactured and used in under-served communities around the world. The clayey material (CM) used to manufacture CWFs is a locally sourced mixture of clay, sand, slit and amorphous material (usually dug near the CWF factory). CM varies in composition and purity depending on the geographical location and geological setting. In this study, a set of 13 CM samples collected from around the world were analyzed using grain size analysis, as well as liquid and plastic limit tests. Mineralogical composition was determined using X-ray diffraction. A selection of three CM samples (Guatemala, Canada, and Guinea Bissau) with a range of compositions were used to study biofilm growth on CM before and after firing. Biofilm coverage was studied on CM (before firing) and CWF material (after firing) using Pseudomonas fluorescens Migula. The average biofilm coverages for Guatemala, Canada, and Guinea Bissau CM were 20.03 ± 2.80%, 19.28 ± 0.91%, and 9.88 ± 4.02%, respectively. The average biofilm formation coverages for Guatemala, Canada, and Guinea Bissau CWF were 13.08 ± 1.74%, 10.36 ± 3.41%, and 8.66 ± 0.13%, respectively. The results presented here suggest that CM can be manipulated to manufacture better performing CWFs by engineering the soil characteristics, such as grain size, liquid and plastic limits, and mineralogy. This could improve the durability and biofilm resistance of CWFs

Quality of sleep and academic performance in high school students

Indexación: Scopus.Background: Sleeping and studying are the day-to-day activities of a teenager attending school. Aim: To determine the quality of sleep and its relationship to the academic performance among students attending morning and afternoon shifts in a public high school. Material and Methods: Students of the first and second year of high school answered an interview about socio-demographic background, academic performance, student activities and subjective sleep quality; they were evaluated using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Results: The interview was answered by 322 first year students aged 15 ± 5 years attending the morning shift and 364 second year students, aged 16 ± 0.5 years, attending the afternoon shift. The components: sleep latency, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbance, drug use and daytime dysfunction were similar and classified as good in both school shifts. The components subjective sleep quality and duration of sleep had higher scores among students of the morning shift. The mean grades during the first semester of the students attending morning and afternoon shifts were 5.9 and 5.8, respectively (of a scale from 1 to 7). Among students of both shifts, the PSQI scale was associated inversely and significantly with academic performance. Conclusions: A bad sleep quality influences academic performance in these students.https://scielo.conicyt.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-98872017000901106&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=e

Structural models of the different trimers present in the core of phycobilisomes from <i>Gracilaria chilensis</i> based on crystal structures and sequences

Phycobilisomes (PBS) are accessory light harvesting protein complexes that directionally transfer energy towards photosystems. Phycobilisomes are organized in a central core and rods radiating from it. Components of phycobilisomes in Gracilaria chilensis (Gch) are Phycobiliproteins (PBPs), Phycoerythrin (PE), and Phycocyanin (PC) in the rods, while Allophycocyanin (APC) is found in the core, and linker proteins (L). The function of such complexes depends on the structure of each component and their interaction. The core of PBS from cyanobacteria is mainly composed by cylinders of trimers of α and β subunits forming heterodimers of Allophycocyanin, and other components of the core including subunits αII and β18. As for the linkers, Linker core (LC) and Linker core membrane (LCM) are essential for the final emission towards photoreaction centers. Since we have previously focused our studies on the rods of the PBS, in the present article we investigated the components of the core in the phycobilisome from the eukaryotic algae, Gracilaria chilensis and their organization into trimers. Transmission electron microscopy provided the information for a three cylinders core, while the three dimensional structure of Allophycocyanin purified from Gch was determined by X-ray diffraction method and the biological unit was determined as a trimer by size exclusion chromatography. The protein sequences of all the components of the core were obtained by sequencing the corresponding genes and their expression confirmed by transcriptomic analysis. These subunits have seldom been reported in red algae, but not in Gracilaria chilensis. The subunits not present in the crystallographic structure were modeled to build the different composition of trimers. This article proposes structural models for the different types of trimers present in the core of phycobilisomes of Gch as a first step towards the final model for energy transfer in this system

Burnout Syndrome in Chilean Midwifery Students

Indexación: Scopus.The student Burnout Syndrome is a response to chronic and severe stress linked to the role of the students and their academic context. This study aims at determining the prevalence and severity of the student Burnout Syndrome on a sample of midwifery students and its associated factors. The study is observational, cross-sectional, and analytical, with a sample of 140 students of a Chilean university. The study variables were as follows: sociodemographic background, academic profile, student Burnout Syndrome scale, and behaviors in everyday psychosocial activities. The instrument for measuring the Burnout Syndrome was the Unidimensional Scale of Student Burnout. For the analysis, descriptive statistics were used, and the association of the independent over the dependent variables was assessed through linear regression. Of the third-year students, 77.2% had a moderate or deep burnout level, which increases to 91.8% in the fourth-year students. A significant and direct association was found between the syndrome and the career year. A significant association was also found between the Burnout Scale and the scale of psychosocial risk behavior. All the students present some degree of Burnout Syndrome, which is related to both their studies and psychosocial risks.https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/215824402090209

Gratitude at work prospectively predicts lower workplace materialism: A three-wave longitudinal study in Chile

Indexación ScopusMaterialism at work refers to a higher importance attached to extrinsic (e.g., money, fame, image) versus intrinsic (self-development, affiliation, community participation) employees’ ‘aspirations’. Research from self-determination theory has consistently found that materialism at work is strongly detrimental for both employees and organizations. For example, materialism is negatively associated with lower job satisfaction and engagement and positively associated with higher turnover intentions and job insecurity. Unfortunately, there are no viable strategies for reducing materialism in the workplace yet. In this sense, based on emergent research in psychology, we theorized that dispositional gratitude—a key construct within the Positive Organizational Psychology field—could be a protecting factor against materialism. Further, we conducted a three-wave longitudinal design among a large sample of Chilean workers (n = 1841) to test, for the first time, the longitudinal link between gratitude and materialism. We used two novel methodologies: A cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) to test between-person changes and a trait-state-occasion model (TSO) to test within-person changes. We found that both the CLPM as well as the TSO models showed that gratitude at work prospectively predicted further lower workplace materialism. Specifically, the CLPM shows that individuals with higher than average gratitude at Ti, are more likely to show lower than average materialism at Ti+1. The TSO shows that individuals with a higher than their usual level of gratitude at Ti are more likely to show a lower than their usual level of materialism at Ti+1. Important implications for materialism research as well as for the Positive Organizational Psychology field are discussed. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/7/378

Ceramic Water Filter for Point-Of-Use Water Treatment in Developing Countries: Principles, Challenges and Opportunities

Drinking water source contamination poses a great threat to human health in developing countries. Point-of-use (POU) water treatment techniques, which improve drinking water quality at the household level, offer an affordable and convenient way to obtain safe drinking water and thus can reduce the outbreaks of waterborne diseases. Ceramic water filters (CWFs), fabricated from locally sourced materials and manufactured by local labor, are one of the most socially acceptable POU water treatment technologies because of their effectiveness, low-cost and ease of use. This review concisely summarizes the critical factors that influence the performance of CWFs, including (1) CWF manufacturing process (raw material selection, firing process, silver impregnation), and (2) source water quality. Then, an in-depth discussion is presented with emphasis on key research efforts to address two major challenges of conventional CWFs, including (1) simultaneous increase of filter flow rate and bacterial removal efficiency, and (2) removal of various concerning pollutants, such as viruses and metal(loid)s. To promote the application of CWFs, future research directions can focus on: (1) investigation of pore size distribution and pore structure to achieve higher flow rates and effective pathogen removal by elucidating pathogen transport in porous ceramic and adjusting manufacture parameters; and (2) exploration of new surface modification approaches with enhanced interaction between a variety of contaminants and ceramic surfaces

Diapause as escape strategy to exposure to toxicants: response of Brachionus calyciforus to arsenic

Invertebrate organisms commonly respond to environmental fluctuation by entering diapause. Production of diapause in monogonont rotifers involves a previous switch from asexual to partial sexual reproduction. Although zooplankton have been used in ecotoxicological assays, often their true vulnerability to toxicants is underestimated by not incorporating the sexual phase. We experimentally analyzed traits involved in sexual reproduction and diapause in the cyclically parthenogenetic freshwater rotifer, Brachionus calyciflorus, exposed to arsenic, a metalloid naturally found in high concentrations in desert zones, focusing on the effectiveness of diapause as an escape response in the face of an adverse condition. Addition of sublethal concentrations of arsenic modified the pattern of diapause observed in the rotifer: investment in diapause with arsenic addition peaked earlier and higher than in non-toxicant conditions, which suggests that sexual investment could be enhanced in highly stressed environmental conditions by increased responsiveness to stimulation. Nevertheless, eggs produced in large amount with arsenic, were mostly low quality, and healthy-looking eggs had lower hatching success, therefore it is unclear whether this pattern is optimum in an environment with arsenic, or if rather arsenic presence in water bodies disturbs the optimal allocation of offspring entering diapause. We observed high accumulation of arsenic in organisms exposed to constant concentration after several generations, which suggests that arsenic may be accumulated transgenerationally. The sexual phase in rotifers may be more sensitive to environmental conditions than the asexual one, therefore diapause attributes should be considered in ecotoxicological assessment because of its ecological and evolutionary implications on lakes biodiversity