Nested Methodological Approaches for Cluster Policy Evaluation: An Application to the Basque Country

This paper explores the evaluation of cluster policies designed to support cooperation and networking. It examines the case of the long-running Basque policy, where support is provided for ‘cluster associations’. It first examines empirically the effects of the cluster associations on firm productivity performance, alongside other variables including agglomeration and firm behavioural characteristics. The results provide some weak evidence for the existence of additionality associated with the policy. This empirical work is complemented with context-specific knowledge of the policy in question to show that the nesting of both empirical and contextual approaches is crucial for effectively evaluating such policies

Thermal radiation in non-static curved spacetimes: quantum mechanical path integrals and configuration space topology

A quantum mechanical path integral derivation is given of a thermal propagator in non-static Gui spacetime. The thermal nature of the propagator is understood in terms of homotopically non-trivial paths in the configuration space appropriate to tortoise coordinates. The connection to thermal emission from collapsing black holes is discussed.Comment: 20 pages, major revised version, 9 figures, new titl

Indicator Bacteria Concentrations of Two Northwest Arkansas Streams in Relation to Flow and Season

Concentrations of indicator bacteria such as fecal coliform (FC) and fecal streptococcus (FS) are often used to assess the suitability of waters for their intended use(s) and to allocate resources for water quality improvement measures. There is evidence, however, that concentrations of FC and FS can be influenced by variables such as season and flow rate during sampling, which could lead to biased results. The objective of this study was to assess the impacts of season and flow rate on concentrations of FC and FS. Fecal indicator bacteria concentrations were measured for approximately three years at five sites on two Northwest Arkansas streams. Flow data were collected at two of the five sites. Land use in the basins draining the streams was primarily pasture (57-90%) and forest (6-40%). Significant seasonal influences on FC and FS concentrations were detected for all sampling sites, with the highest concentrations occurring in summer. On the two sites with flow data, flow rate generally had a significant effect on FC and FS concentrations during all seasons, with FC and FS concentrations increasing with flow rate. Ratios of FC and FS, which have been used in the past to differentiate between animal and human sources of fecal pollution, did not appear to reliably indicate the major sources of fecal indicator bacteria. The findings of this study suggest a potential for fixed sampling intervals to contribute to biased results. The issue of biased results might be avoided by sampling during times of year and flow conditions that support the intended use(s) of the waters

Utilitat de la metodologia de simulació per adquirir competències en habilitats de comunicació

Podeu consultar la Vuitena trobada de professorat de Ciències de la Salut completa a: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/66524Metodología: Se describen los talleres y seminarios de simulación empleados desde el año académico 2010-11 en la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad de Barcelona, que se ofrecen a los alumnos a partir de 2 año de grado, con el fin de ofrecer a los alumnos de forma transversal la adquisición y refuerzo continuo de competencias en habilidades de comunicación. Siguiendo las definiciones del Libro Blanco de las Facultades de Medicina y de la Guía de la Facultad de Medicina de la UB, se ofrece formación en los siguientes aspectos de la competencia de comunicación: • Escuchar con atención, obtener y sintetizar información pertinente acerca de los problemas que aquejan al enfermo, y comprender el contenido de esta información. • Comunicación de malas noticias • Obtener un consentimiento Informado • Comunicación entre profesionales Se describen el nivel de aprendizaje, el personal docente requerido, la duración de los seminarios o talleres, los objetivos docentes, el material necesario en cada actividad y el año de la formación de grado en que se aplica. Se describe la utilización de la estrategia de feed-back para la autoevaluación de la actividad práctica, empleando grabaciones de los talleres y simulaciones de los grupos de alumnos. Se describe así mismo, las encuestas empleadas para la evaluación por el docente y los compañeros de clase de las actividades de simulación y la metodología empleada de evaluación de los seminarios y su calificación dentro de la nota final de cada asignatura. Finalmente se describen las asignaturas optativas existentes en la Facultad de Medicina de la UB para reforzar las habilidades de comunicación y los planes futuros de desarrollo de actividades formativas complementarias y de refuerzo y las propuestas evaluativas de la competencia

Correction to: Atypical pathogens in hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia: a worldwide perspective.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article