Trastornos de la comunicación en el autismo

[Resumen] El autismo es un trastorno generalizado del desarrollo caracterizado, entre otros rasgos, por una falta de interés y/o capacidad para la comunicación y para la interacción social. En este artículo hemos querido dar una visión general de los distintos rasgos que caracterizan el espectro autista, así conceptualizado por la gran variabilidad en la gravedad de sus síntomas. Entre estos, hemos descrito las deficiencias en la interacción social, las respuestas atípicas a los estímulos sensoriales, las deficiencias motoras y conductas atípicas, los trastornos afectivos, el repertorio limitado de actividades e intereses y las deficiencias cognitivas. Nos hemos centrado en los trastornos del lenguaje y en los síndromes principales, para finalmente, proporcionar una visión general de las principales intervenciones encaminadas al desarrollo y mejora de la comunicación en el autism

Gravity waves above Andes detected from GPS radio occultation temperature profiles: Mountain forcing?

A significant wave activity in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere at midlatitudes (30-40S) above the Andes Range was recently detected from Global Positioning System Radio Occultation (GPS RO) temperature profiles, retrieved from SAC-C (Satélite de Aplicaciones Cientficas-C and CHAMP (CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload) satellites. Previously, large amplitude, long vertical wavelength structures have been reported in this region, as detected from other limb-sounding devices and have been identified as mountain waves (MWs). The capability of GPS RO observations to detect typical MWs with horizontal wavelengths shorter than 150 km, as well as the proper association of the observed wave activity to mountain forcing is put in doubt. Other three possible sources are discussed. In particular, the generation of inertio-gravity waves by geostrophic adjustment near to a permanent jet situated above the mountains, may constitute another important mechanism in this region. These waves may possess longer horizontal and perhaps shorter vertical wavelengths than those typically expected in MWs and could be more easily detected from limb-sounding profiles. The "jet" mechanism will be discussed in a second paper. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.Fil:de la Torre, A. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil:Alexander, P. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina

Slow dynamics in a turbulent von K\'arm\'an swirling flow

We present an experimental study of a turbulent von K\'arm\'an flow produced in a cylindrical container using two propellers. The mean flow is stationary up to $Re = 10^4$, where a bifurcation takes place. The new regime breaks some symmetries of the problem, and is time-dependent. The axisymmetry is broken by the presence of equatorial vortices with a precession movement, being the velocity of the vortices proportional to the Reynolds number. The reflection symmetry through the equatorial plane is broken, and the shear layer of the mean flow appears displaced from the equator. These two facts appear simultaneously. In the exact counterrotating case, a bistable regime appears between both mirrored solutions and spontaneous reversals of the azimuthal velocity are registered. This evolution can be explained using a three-well potential model with additive noise. A regime of forced periodic response is observed when a very weak input signal is applied.Comment: Improved model, additional results and figures, accepted in PR

Interpretation of gravity wave signatures in GPS radio occultations

The horizontal averaging of global positioning system radio occultation retrievals produces an amplitude attenuation and phase shift in any plane gravity wave, which may lead to significant discrepancies with respect to the original values. In addition, wavelengths cannot be straightforwardly inferred due to the observational characteristics. If the waves produce small departures from spherical symmetry in the background atmosphere and under the assumption that the refractivity kernel may be represented by a delta function, an analytical expression may be derived in order to find how the retrieved amplitudes become weakened (against the original ones). In Particular, we study the range of waves that may be detected and the consequent reduction in variance calculation, which is found to be around 19%. A larger discrepancy was obtained when comparing an occultation variance with the one computed from a numerical simulation of that case. Wave amplitudes can be better resolved when the fronts are nearly horizontal or when the angle between the occultation line of sight and the horizontal component of the wave vector approaches π/2. Short horizontal scale waves have a high probability of becoming attenuated or of not being detected at all. We then find geometrical relations in terms of the relative orientation between waves and sounding, so, as to appropriately interpret wavelengths extracted from the acquired data. Only inertio-gravity waves, which exhibit nearly horizontal fronts, will show small differences between detected and original vertical wavelengths. Last, we analyze the retrieval effect on wave phase and find a shift between original and detected wave that generally is nonzero and approaches π /4 for the largest horizontal wavelengths. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.Fil:Alexander, P. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil:de la Torre, A. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil:Llamedo, P. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina

Sequentializing Parameterized Programs

We exhibit assertion-preserving (reachability preserving) transformations from parameterized concurrent shared-memory programs, under a k-round scheduling of processes, to sequential programs. The salient feature of the sequential program is that it tracks the local variables of only one thread at any point, and uses only O(k) copies of shared variables (it does not use extra counters, not even one counter to keep track of the number of threads). Sequentialization is achieved using the concept of a linear interface that captures the effect an unbounded block of processes have on the shared state in a k-round schedule. Our transformation utilizes linear interfaces to sequentialize the program, and to ensure the sequential program explores only reachable states and preserves local invariants.Comment: In Proceedings FIT 2012, arXiv:1207.348

POTENTIAL FARM-LEVEL IMPACTS OF PROPOSED FQPA IMPLEMENTATION: THE TENNESSEE CASE

This research estimates farm-level impacts of a potential ban on organophosphates and carbamates under the FQPA. Insecticide expenditure and first- and fifth-year yield impacts are estimated for five Tennessee representative farms. Results indicate that within five years, the ban could reduce net farm income on Tennessee farms by 16 to 46 percent.FQPA, organophosphates, carbamates, insecticides, farm-level analysis, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Disinvestment in healthcare: An overview of HTA agencies and organizations activities at European level

Background: In an era of a growing economic pressure for all health systems, the interest for "disinvestment" in healthcare increased. In this context, evidence based approaches such as Health Technology Assessment (HTA) are needed both to invest and to disinvest in health technologies. In order to investigate the extent of application of HTA in this field, methodological projects/frameworks, case studies, dissemination initiatives on disinvestment released by HTA agencies and organizations located in Europe were searched. Methods: In July 2015, the websites of HTA agencies and organizations belonging to the European network for HTA (EUnetHTA) and the International Network of Agencies for HTA (INAHTA) were accessed and searched through the use of the term "disinvestment". Retrieved deliverables were considered eligible if they reported methodological projects/frameworks, case studies and dissemination initiatives focused on disinvestment in healthcare. Results: 62 HTA agencies/organizations were accessed and eight methodological projects/frameworks, one case study and one dissemination initiative were found starting from 2007. With respect to methodological projects/frameworks, two were delivered in Austria, one in Italy, two in Spain and three in U.K. As for the case study and the dissemination initiative, both came from U.K. The majority of deliverables were aimed at making an overview of existing disinvestment approaches and at identifying challenges in their introduction. Conclusions: Today, in a healthcare context characterized by resource scarcity and increasing service demand, "disinvestment" from low-value services and reinvestment in high-value ones is a key strategy that may be supported by HTA. The lack of evaluation of technologies in use, in particular at the end of their lifecycle, may be due to the scant availability of frameworks and guidelines for identification and assessment of obsolete technologies that was shown by our work. Although several projects were carried out in different countries, most remain constrained to the field of research. Disinvestment is a relatively new concept in HTA that could pose challenges also from a methodological point of view. To tackle these challenges, it is necessary to construct experiences at international level with the aim to develop new methodological approaches to produce and grow evidence on disinvestment policies and practices