The Graham-Knuth-Patashnik recurrence: symmetries and continued fractions

Acompaña: Supplementary material for The Graham-Knuth-Patashnik recurrence: symmetries and continued fractionsThis research was supported in part by the Spanish MINECO grant FIS2014-57387-C3-3-P; by the FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades-Agencia Estatal de Investigación grant FIS2017-84440-C2-2-P; by the Madrid Government (Comunidad de Madrid-Spain) under the Multiannual Agreement with UC3M in the line of Excellence of University Professors (EPUC3M23) and in the context of the V-PRICIT (Regional Plan for Scientific Research and Technological Innovation); and by U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council grant EP/N025636/1.Publicad

Phase diagram of the triangular-lattice Potts antiferromagnet

We study the phase diagram of the triangular-lattice Q-state Potts model in the real (Q, v)-plane, where v - e(J) - 1 is the temperature variable. Our first goal is to provide an obviously missing feature of this diagram: the position of the antiferromagnetic critical curve. This curve turns out to possess a bifurcation point with two branches emerging from it, entailing important consequences for the global phase diagram. We have obtained accurate numerical estimates for the position of this curve by combining the transfer-matrix approach for strip graphs with toroidal boundary conditions and the recent method of critical polynomials. The second goal of this work is to study the corresponding A(p-1) RSOS model on the torus, for integer p = 4, 5,..., 8. We clarify its relation to the corresponding Potts model, in particular concerning the role of boundary conditions. For certain values of p, we identify several new critical points and regimes for the RSOS model and we initiate the study of the flows between the corresponding field theories.The research of JLJ was supported in part by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (grant ANR-10-BLAN-0414: DIME), the Institut Universitaire de France, and the European Research Council (through the advanced grant NuQFT). The research of JLJ and JS was supported in part by Spanish MINECO grant FIS2014-57387-C3-3-P. The work of CRS was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No DE-AC52-07NA27344

The voice of birth families to improve visits in foster care

In foster care, contact visits with birth families play an important role in relation to the child’s wellbeing, and they may impact on placement outcomes. However, the views of birth parents with respect to such visits have largely been unexplored. This research is part of a project financed by the regional government of Andalusia (SEJ-7106) regarding contact visits in foster care. This study aims to give voice to parents and gather their views about contact visits, including how they might be improved. Participants were 23 birth families who had contact visits with 35 children in non-kinship foster care. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted in order to explore two key aspects: the parents’ opinions regarding the contact visits and the main areas they felt needed improving. The interviews were transcribed and the transcripts were examined using an inductive method of open coding to identify themes among participants’ responses. The main themes to emerge concerned their general view of contact visits and the organization of visits. The paper discusses the study’s implications of the findings for practice.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Artichoke By-Products as Natural Source of Phenolic Food Ingredient

Nowadays, the transformation activity of the food industry results in the generation of a huge amount of daily discarded vegetables wastes. One of those undervalued by-products are produced during the post-harvesting and processing process of artichokes. In the present research, the potential of artichokes’ bracts and stalks have been evaluated as a natural source of phenolic compounds which could be used as bioactive food ingredients, among others. In this study, the bioactive composition of those wastes has been evaluated using recent advances in extraction and analytical technologies, concretely, pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) followed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to electrospray time-of flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF/MS) analysis. To achieve this goal, first, the extraction process was evaluated by a comparative study using GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) solvents (mixtures of ethanol and water) at different temperatures (40–200 ◦C). The second step was to deeply characterize the composition of individual polyphenols by HPLC-ESI-TOF/MS in order to establish a comparison among the different PLE conditions applied to extract the phenolic fraction. The analysis revealed a wide variety of phenolic-composition, mainly phenolic acids and flavonoids. The results also highlighted that high percentages of ethanol and medium-high temperatures pointed out to be useful PLE conditions for recovering this kind of phytochemicals, which could be used in different applications, such as functional food ingredients, cosmetics, or nutraceuticals

The Hintermann-Merlini-Baxter-Wu and the infinite-coupling-limit Ashkin-Teller models

We show how the Hintermann–Merlini–Baxter–Wu model (which is a generalization of the well-known Baxter–Wu model to a general Eulerian triangulation) can be mapped onto a particular infinite-coupling-limit of the Ashkin–Teller model. We work out some mappings among these models, also including the standard and mixed Ashkin–Teller models. Finally, we compute the phase diagram of the infinite-coupling-limit Ashkin–Teller model on the square, triangular, hexagonal, and kagome lattices.The research of Y.H. and Y.D. is supported by National Nature Science Foundation of China under grants Nos. 11275185 and 10975127, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The work of J.L.J. was supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (grant ANR-10-BLAN-0414: DIME), and the Institut Universitaire de France. The research of J.S. was supported in part by Spanish MEC grants FPA2009-08785 and MTM2011-24097 and by U.S. National Science Foundation grant PHY-0424082

Credit growth, problem loans and credit risk provisioning in Spain

El trabajo analiza el comportamiento ciclico del credito bancario, la morosidad y la dotacion de provisiones para insolvencias en España. Al igual que ocurre en otros paises, estas tres variables son fuertemente cicliclas en España, lo que plantea ciertos problemas desde el punto de vista del supervisor/regulador de los bancos. Se explica con detalle la justificacion y los efectos esperados de la nueva provision del riesgo de credito -denominada provision estadistica- aprobada recientemente por el Banco de España con el fin de propiciar un reconocimiento adecuado de las perdidas esperadas. (ad

Internacionalización de las Pymes. Diferentes modelos y estrategias implementados por una muestra de PYMES aragonesas. Fórmulas de éxito

Estudio mediante visitas presenciales a Pymes aragonesas de los procesos sobre internacionalización desarrollados con éxito.<br /

Propuestas de las familias acogedoras para mejorar las visitas entre los acogidos y sus familias biológicas

El objetivo general de este estudio es mejorar el funcionamiento de las visitas que mantienen los niños acogidos con su familia biológica. Para ello se pretende conocer, a través de un Grupo Focal, la opinión de las familias acogedoras. Los participantes en el Grupo Focal fueron 8 familias acogedoras de diferentes asociaciones de acogimiento familiar en Andalucía (España). Este estudio forma parte de un proyecto de investigación (SEJ-7106) sobre las visitas que mantienen los niños acogidos con su familia biológica. Se obtuvo la autorización por escrito del Servicio de Protección de Menores (SPM), las Asociaciones, y las familias acogedoras para participar en el grupo focal y grabar las sesiones. Para analizar los datos se transcribió la grabación del Grupo Focal y la información fue exportada al programa ATLAS.ti v7.0 software. Se utilizó un método inductivo de código abierto para identificar las respuestas de cada participante. Los resultados mostraron los aspectos positivos, las dificultades, y las propuestas para mejorar el funcionamiento de las visitas. Las conclusiones señalan los siguientes aspectos de mejora: ofrecer mayor información, preparación y apoyo a los niños, la familia biológica y la familia acogedora, mayor colaboración entre la familia biológica y la acogedora, mejorar el lugar donde se realizan las visitas, diversificar el tipo de contactos, adaptar la frecuencia y duración de las visitas a cada caso, tener en cuenta el deseo del niño al establecer las visitas, tener más personal y mayor financiación, y adaptar más las visitas a las necesidades específicas de cada niño.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Foster care profiles: A guide to identifying at-risk placements

Research on foster care shows a growing interest in knowing what factors exert influence on success or failure of the placements. Several studies have analysed the variables that influence the outcome of family foster care. The main variables addressed by these studies were behaviour problems and impulsivity/inattention in foster children, warmth/communication, parenting style, and level of burden in the foster parents. This study aimed to determine whether distinct profiles can be identified among foster placements with common characteristics, and also sought to define a predictive function for the success or failure of foster care. Participants included foster children and their respective foster families. The sample comprised 104 non-kinship foster children in long-term foster care (56 boys and 48 girls) whose mean age at the time of data collection was 11 years. These children were being fostered in 86 families, corresponding to 71 foster fathers and 86 foster mothers. Access to foster families and information about the foster placements was authorized and provided by the Child Protection Agency in Andalusia (Spain). A quantitative methodology was used during both the collection and the data analysis. A k-means cluster analysis identified three clusters, corresponding to high-, moderate-, and low-risk placements. The variables that formed part of these clusters were behaviour problems and impulsivity/inattention in foster children, level of burden in the foster parents, an authoritarian parenting style, and criticism/rejection by the foster parents. A discriminant analysis confirmed the differences between the three clusters and enabled us to create a function for classifying cases in each group. These results can be used to identify at-risk placements and may help to avoid situations that could undermine the foster child’s development. The findings could also be useful in terms of assessing the suitability of foster families, as well for identifying their training needs.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Acogimiento familiar de urgencia: resultados e implicaciones

Emergency foster care is a relatively new measure of protection in our country and one that is scarcely studied. The aim of this study is to perform a descriptive analysis of the status of emergency foster care since being put in place in the Province of Malaga. The sample comprised 89 children, 84 biological families and 38 foster families. The instrument used for data collection was the Data Collection Sheet. The findings are the following: a) 59.6 per cent of the children had suffered mistreatment; b) a socio-demographic profile characterized by addiction and psychopathology was found in the biological families; c) the quality and regularity of the parents’ visits to their children was superior to that found in other modalities of foster care; d) foster families had a high number of fostering and had received several children simultaneously; e) 20.3 per cent of the children had been in other previous foster care; f) the average stay in emergency foster care was 5.7 months; and g) 32.4 per cent of children were successfully reintegrated to their biological families after the emergency foster care terms were concluded.El objetivo de este estudio es conocer la situación de los Acogimientos Familiares de Urgencia desde su implantación en la provincia de Málaga, dado que es una medida de protección relativamente reciente en nuestro país y escasamente estudiada. Participaron 89 niños, 84 familias biológicas y 38 familias acogedoras de urgencia. El instrumento utilizado fue la Ficha de recogida de datos. Los resultados mostraron que: a) el 59,6 por ciento de los niños habían sufrido maltrato; b) en la familia biológica se encontró un perfil caracterizado por la toxicomanía y la psicopatología; c) la calidad y regularidad de las visitas de los padres a sus hijos fueron superiores a las encontradas en otros tipos de acogimiento; d) las familias acogedoras habían realizado un número elevado de acogimientos y habían acogido a varios niños simultáneamente; e) el 20,3 por ciento había estado en otra medida de protección previa al acogimiento de urgencia; f) la duración media de los acogimientos fue de 5.7 meses; y g) el 32,4 por ciento de los acogidos retornó con su familia biológica al finalizar el acogimiento de urgencia.