88 research outputs found
Evolution and study of a copycat effect in intimate partner homicides: A lesson from Spanish femicides
Objectives This paper focuses on the issue of intimate partner violence and, specifically, on the distribution of femicides over time and the existence of copycat effects. This is the subject of an ongoing debate often triggered by the social alarm following multiple intimate partner homicides (IPHs) occurring in a short span of time. The aim of this research is to study the evolution of IPHs and provide a far-reaching answer by rigorously analyzing and searching for patterns in data on femicides. Methods The study analyzes an official dataset, provided by the system VioGén of the Secretaría de Estado de Seguridad (Spanish State Secretariat for Security), including all the femicides occurred in Spain in 2007-2017. A statistical methodology to identify temporal interdepen-dencies in count time series is proposed and applied to the dataset. The same methodology can be applied to other contexts. Results There has been a decreasing trend in the number of femicides per year. No interdependen-cies among the temporal distribution of femicides are observed. Therefore, according to data, the existence of copycat effect in femicides cannot be claimed. Conclusions Around 2011 there was a clear change in the average number of femicides which has not picked up. Results allow for an informed answer to the debate on copycat effect in Spanish femicides. The planning of femicides prevention activities should not be a reaction to a perceived increase in their occurrence. As a copycat effect is not detected in the studied time period, there is no evidence supporting the need to censor media reports on femicides.The work by Torrecilla has been partially supported by Spanish Grant MTM2016-78751-P.
The research of Liberatore has been supported by the Government of Spain, grant MTM2015-65803-R, and by the Government of Madrid, grant S2013/ICE-284
Patología del lenguaje (II)
[Resumen] La presente comunicación trata de relacionar las dificultades del lenguaje con los Trastornos Generalizados de la Personalidad (TGP), especialmente con el autismo. Consta de un marco legal que refleja la evolución histórica de los trastornos del lenguaje a partir de la década de los 70; de la patología del lenguaje del niño autista en sus subapartados: habilidades prelingüísticas, ecolalia, inversión pronominal, semántica, lenguaje y memoria, pragmática, fonética, sintaxis, prosodia, comunicación no verbal y trastonos varios. Partimos de una muestra de 70 sujetos autistas de 4 centros de atención específica, ASPANAES, de la provincia de La Coruña, en edades comprendidas entre 2 y 26 años. Nuestro objetivo es determinar la frecuencia y como se distribuyen los trastornos del lenguaje en esta patología
Infrastructure and equipment for radiation oncology in the spanish national health system: analysis of external beam radiotherapy 2015-2020.
PURPOSE
Planning for radiation oncology requires reliable estimates of both demand for radiotherapy and availability of technological resources. This study compares radiotherapy resources in the 17 regions of the decentralised Spanish National Health System (SNHS).
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The Sociedad Española de Oncología Radioterápica (SEOR) performed a cross-sectional survey of all Spanish radiation oncology services (ROS) in 2015. We collected data on SNHS radiotherapy units, recording the year of installation, specific features of linear accelerators (LINACs) and other treatment units, and radiotherapeutic techniques implemented by region. Any machine over 10 years old or lacking a multileaf collimator or portal imaging system was considered obsolete.
We performed a k-means clustering analysis using the Hartigan-Wong method to test associations between the gross domestic regional product (GDRP), the number of LINACs per million population and the percentage of LINACs over 10 years old.
RESULTS
The SNHS controls 72 (61%) of the 118 Spanish ROS and has 180 LINACs, or 72.5% of the total public and private resources. The mean rate of LINACs per million population is 3.9 for public ROS, and 42% (n=75) of the public accelerators were obsolete in 2015: 61 due to age and 14 due to technological capability. There was considerable regional variation in terms of the number and technological capacity of radiotherapy units; correlation between GRDP and resource availability was moderate.
CONCLUSION
Despite improvements, new investments are still needed to replace obsolete units and increase access to modern radiotherapy. Regular analysis of ROS in each Spanish region is the only strategy for monitoring progress in radiotherapy capacity.pre-print1471 K
Spiral-like star-forming patterns in CALIFA early-type galaxies
Based on a combined analysis of SDSS imaging and CALIFA integral field
spectroscopy data, we report on the detection of faint (24 < {\mu}
mag/arcsec < 26) star-forming spiral-arm-like features in the periphery of
three nearby early-type galaxies (ETGs). These features are of considerable
interest because they document the still ongoing inside-out growth of some
local ETGs and may add valuable observational insight into the origin and
evolution of spiral structure in triaxial stellar systems. A characteristic
property of the nebular component in the studied ETGs, classified i+, is a
two-radial-zone structure, with the inner zone that displays faint
(EW(H\alpha)1{\AA}) low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER)
properties, and the outer one (3{\AA}<EW(H\alpha)<~20{\AA}) HII-region
characteristics. This spatial segregation of nebular emission in two physically
distinct concentric zones calls for an examination of aperture effects in
studies of type i+ ETGs with single-fiber spectroscopic data.Comment: Accepted to A&A, 5 pages, 1 figur
Spectroscopic aperture biases in inside-out evolving early-type galaxies from CALIFA
Integral field spectroscopy studies based on CALIFA data have recently
revealed the presence of ongoing low-level star formation (SF) in the periphery
of ~10% of local early-type galaxies (ETGs), witnessing a still ongoing
inside-out galaxy growth process. A distinctive property of the nebular
component in these ETGs, classified i+, is a two-radial-zone structure, with
the inner zone displaying LINER emission with a H\alpha equivalent width
EW~1{\AA}, and the outer one (3{\AA}<EW<~20{\AA}) showing HII-region
characteristics. Using CALIFA IFS data, we empirically demonstrate that the
confinement of nebular emission to the galaxy periphery leads to a strong
aperture (or, redshift) bias in spectroscopic single-fiber studies of type i+
ETGs: At low redshift (<~0.45), SDSS spectroscopy is restricted to the inner
(SF-devoid LINER) zone, thereby leading to their erroneous classification as
"retired" galaxies (systems lacking SF and whose faint emission is powered by
pAGB stars). Only at higher z's the SDSS aperture can encompass the outer SF
zone, permitting their unbiased classification as "composite SF/LINER". We also
demonstrate that the principal effect of a decreasing aperture on the
classification of i+ ETGs via standard BPT emission-line ratios consists in a
monotonic up-right shift precisely along the upper-right wing of the "seagull"
distribution. Motivated by these insights, we also investigate theoretically
these biases in aperture-limited studies of inside-out growing galaxies as a
function of z. To this end, we devise a simple model, which involves an
outwardly propagating SF process, that reproduces the radial extent and
two-zone EW distribution of i+ ETGs. By simulating on this model the
spectroscopic SDSS aperture, we find that SDSS studies at z<~1 are
progressively restricted to the inner LINER-zone, and miss an increasingly
large portion of the H\alpha-emitting periphery.Comment: Accepted to A&A, 6 pages, 4 figure
Big Data: Un nuevo problema computacional
El aumento de la capacidad de procesamiento en
los computadores permite llevar a cabo tareas que
hasta ahora no eran viables: simulación de procesos
naturales, almacenamiento de datos geográficos,
económicos, multimedia, inteligencia social, etc.
Como contrapartida, el volumen de datos que se
genera en este tipo de aplicaciones puede llegar a
provocar que el coste computacional para su trata miento y análisis, con las herramientas actuales,
sea tan alto que vuelva a convertirse en un prob lema inabordable. Este problema es conocido por
el término ‘Big Data’.
Según afirma IBM en un estudio reciente: “Se pro ducen más de 2,5 quintillones de bytes al día, hasta
el punto de que el 90% de los datos del mundo han
sido creados durante los 2 últimos años”. De seguir
con este ritmo de crecimiento en breve se generará
más volumen de datos del que se puede analizar,
disminuyendo su utilidad al tiempo que el coste y
el riesgo de pérdida de información aumenta.
El problema se acrecienta todavía más en aplica ciones con tratamiento de información en tiempo
real, donde el valor de los datos reside en la actual idad de los mismos. En este tipo de aplicaciones
una gestión y tratamiento eficientes de los datos es
de vital importancia.
Las dificultades más habituales en el tratamiento
radican en la captura, análisis, almacenamiento,
búsqueda, compartición, y visualización. Las téc nicas existentes en la actualidad para abordar este
problema no son efectivas, por lo que el problema
‘Big Data’ sigue abierto.
Este problema tiene una gran repercusión en diver sos ámbitos: redes sociales, aplicaciones de video,
dispositivos móviles, webs, laboratorios astrofísi cos, simulación científica, captura de datos de
clientes (compañías eléctricas, telefónicas, etc). or tanto, los beneficios potenciales de un trata miento y gestión eficientes de grandes volúmenes
de datos, y su gran aplicabilidad sobre múltiples
campos, hace que sea un tema muy atractivo, en el
que actualmente trabajan numerosas empresas y
grupos de investigación.
Desde el punto de vista de la investigación es un
problema relativamente reciente, por lo que el de sarrollo de soluciones y la bibliografía son todavía
escasos en comparación con otros campos. En este
artículo se abordarán las técnicas utilizadas ac tualmente y las principales líneas que se siguen pa ra desarrollar soluciones futuras
Physics of ULIRGs with MUSE and ALMA: The PUMA project: I. Properties of the survey and first MUSE data results
Ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) are characterised by extreme
starburst (SB) and AGN activity, and are therefore ideal laboratories for
studying the outflow phenomena. We have recently started a project called
Physics of ULIRGs with MUSE and ALMA (PUMA), which is a survey of 25 nearby (z
< 0.165) ULIRGs observed with the integral field spectrograph MUSE and the
interferometer ALMA. This sample includes systems with both AGN and SB nuclear
activity in the pre- and post-coalescence phases of major mergers. The main
goals of the project are to study the prevalence of multi-phase outflows as a
function of the galaxy properties, to constrain the driving mechanisms of the
outflows (e.g. distinguish between SB and AGN winds), and to identify feedback
effects on the host galaxy. In this first paper, we present details on the
sample selection, MUSE observations, and derive first data products. MUSE data
were analysed to study the dynamical status of each of the 21 ULIRGs observed
so far, taking the stellar kinematics and the morphological properties inferred
from MUSE narrow-band images into account. We also located the ULIRG nuclei,
using near-IR (HST) and mm (ALMA) data, and studied their optical spectra to
infer the ionisation state through BPT diagnostics, and outflows in both
ionised and neutral gas. We show that the morphological and stellar kinematic
classifications are consistent: post-coalescence systems are more likely
associated with ordered motions, while interacting (binary) systems are
dominated by non-ordered and streaming motions. We also find broad and
asymmetric [OIII] and NaID profiles in almost all nuclear spectra, with line
widths in the range 300-2000 km/s, possibly associated with AGN- and SB-driven
winds. This result reinforces previous findings that indicated that outflows
are ubiquitous during the pre- and post-coalescence phases of major mergers.ERC
STF
Aperture effects on the oxygen abundance determinations from CALIFA data
This paper aims at providing aperture corrections for emission lines in a
sample of spiral galaxies from the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area Survey
(CALIFA) database. In particular, we explore the behavior of the
log([OIII]5007/Hbeta)/([NII]6583/Halpha) (O3N2) and log[NII]6583/Halpha (N2)
flux ratios since they are closely connected to different empirical
calibrations of the oxygen abundances in star forming galaxies.
We compute median growth curves of Halpha, Halpha/Hbeta, O3N2 and N2 up to
2.5R_50 and 1.5 disk R_eff. The growth curves simulate the effect of observing
galaxies through apertures of varying radii. The median growth curve of the
Halpha/Hbeta ratio monotonically decreases from the center towards larger
radii, showing for small apertures a maximum value of ~10% larger than the
integrated one. The median growth curve of N2 shows a similar behavior,
decreasing from the center towards larger radii. No strong dependence is seen
with the inclination, morphological type and stellar mass for these growth
curves. Finally, the median growth curve of O3N2 increases monotonically with
radius. However, at small radii it shows systematically higher values for
galaxies of earlier morphological types and for high stellar mass galaxies.
Applying our aperture corrections to a sample of galaxies from the SDSS
survey at 0.02<=z<=0.3 shows that the average difference between fiber-based
and aperture corrected oxygen abundances, for different galaxy stellar mass and
redshift ranges, reaches typically to ~11%, depending on the abundance
calibration used. This average difference is found to be systematically biased,
though still within the typical uncertainties of oxygen abundances derived from
empirical calibrations. Caution must be exercised when using observations of
galaxies for small radii (e.g. below 0.5R_eff) given the high dispersion shown
around the median growth curves.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
MUSE view of Arp220: Kpc-scale multi-phase outflow and evidence for positive feedback
Arp220 is the nearest and prototypical ULIRG, and shows evidence of pc-scale
molecular outflows in its nuclear regions and strongly perturbed ionised gas
kinematics on kpc scales. It is therefore the ideal system for investigating
outflows and feedback phenomena in details. We investigate the feedback effects
on the Arp220 ISM, deriving a detailed picture of the atomic gas in terms of
physical and kinematic properties, with a spatial resolution never obtained
before (0.56", i.e. ~ 210 pc). We use optical IFS observations from VLT/MUSE-AO
to obtain spatially resolved stellar and gas kinematics, for both ionised ([N
II]6583) and neutral (Na ID5891,96) components; we also derive dust
attenuation, electron density, ionisation conditions and hydrogen column
density maps to characterise the ISM properties. Arp220 kinematics reveal the
presence of a disturbed, kpc-scale disk in the innermost nuclear regions, and
highly perturbed, multi-phase (neutral and ionised) gas along the minor-axis of
the disk, which we interpret as a galactic-scale outflow emerging from the
Arp220 eastern nucleus. This outflow involves velocities up to ~ 1000 km/s at
galactocentric distances of ~ 5 kpc, and has a mass rate of ~ 50 Msun/yr, and
kinetic and momentum power of ~ 1e43 erg/s and ~ 1e35 dyne, respectively. The
inferred energetics do not allow us to distinguish the origin of the outflows,
i.e. whether they are AGN-driven or starburst-driven. We also present evidence
for enhanced star formation at the edges of - and within - the outflow, with a
star formation rate SFR ~ 5 Msun/yr (i.e. ~ 2% of the total SFR). Our findings
suggest the presence of powerful winds in Arp220: they might be capable of
removing or heating large amounts of gas from the host ("negative feedback"),
but could be also responsible for triggering star formation ("positive
feedback").STFC
ER
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