Beneficios de los perros de asistencia en la calidad de vida y el desempeño ocupacional en personas con discapacidad usuarias de silla de ruedas

Proyecto de investigación[Resumen] Introducción: Los perros y los seres humanos comparten una estrecha relación desde hace miles de años, no solamente como animal para el trabajo, sino también como compañía. Constituyen un gran apoyo emocional para sus dueños, aportándoles calidad de vida. Así surgen los perros de servicio, como una ayuda para el desempeño ocupacional de personas con discapacidad. Estos contribuyen al funcionamiento mediante el apoyo en la realización de diferentes ocupaciones. Desde Terapia Ocupacional se considera que también suponen una ayuda para la adaptación de la persona en el entorno. Objetivo: Comprobar la eficacia del perro de asistencia en la mejora del desempeño ocupacional de personas con movilidad reducida usuarias de silla de ruedas. Metodología: Se llevará a cabo un estudio longitudinal con metodología mixta y desde un enfoque fenomenológico. Se incluirá a personas con discapacidad usuarias de silla de ruedas manual, entre 18 y 65 años, en proceso de solicitud de un perro de asistencia y sin limitaciones que dificulten la intervención desde la Terapia Ocupacional. La recogida de datos se hará mediante una entrevista semi-estructurada. Las herramientas de evaluación serán: Medida de la Independencia Funcional (actividades básicas e instrumentales), Medida Canadiense del Desempeño Ocupacional (autopercepción del desempeño ocupacional) y World Health Organization Quality of Life (calidad de vida), así como la observación.[Resumo] Introdución: Os cans e os seres humanos comparten unha estreita relación dende fai miles de anos, non só como animal para o traballo, senón tamén como compañía. Constitúen un gran apoio emocional para os seus donos, aportándolles calidade de vida. Así xorden os cans de servicio, coma unha axuda para o desempeño ocupacional de persoas con discapacidade. Estes contribúen ao funcionamento mediante o apoio na realización de diferentes ocupacións. Dende Terapia Ocupacional considérase que tamén supoñen unha axuda para a adaptación da persoa ao entorno. Obxectivo: Comprobar a eficacia do can de asistencia na mellora do desempeño ocupacional de persoas con mobilidade reducida usuarias de cadeira de rodas. Metodoloxía: Levarase a cabo un estudio lonxitudinal con metodoloxía mixta e dende un enfoque fenomenolóxico. Incorporarase a todos aqueles usuarios de cadeira de rodas manual, entre 18 e 65 anos, en proceso de solicitude dun can de asistencia e sen limitacións que dificulten a intervención dende a Terapia Ocupacional. A recollida de datos farase mediante unha entrevista semi-estruturada. As ferramentas de avaliación serán: Medida da Independencia Funcional (actividades básicas e instrumentais), Medida Canadense do Desempeño Ocupacional (autopercepción do desempeño) e World Health Organization Quality of Life (calidade de vida), así coma a observación.[Abstract] Introduction: Dogs and humans share a close relationship for thousands of years, not only as a work animal, but also as company. They constitute a great emotional support for their owners, providing them quality of life. This is how service dogs arise, as an aid to the occupational performance of people with disabilities. These contribute to functioning by supporting the performance of different occupations. From Occupational Therapy it is considered that they are also an aid for the adaptation of the person in the environment. Objective: Check the effectiveness of the assistance dog in improving occupational performance of people with reduced mobility wheelchair users. Methodology: A longitudinal study with mixed methodology and from a phenomenological approach will be carried out. They will be incorporated all those manual wheelchair users between 18 and 65 years old, who are in the process of requesting an assistance dog and who do not have limitations that hinder the intervention from Occupational Therapy. Data collection will be done through a semi-structured interview. The assessment tools used will be: the Functional Independence Measure (basic and instrumental daily life activities), Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (self-perception of performance in basic and instrumental activities) and World Health Organization Quality Of Life-brief (quality of life), and observation.Traballo fin de grao (UDC.FCS). Terapia ocupacional. Curso 2019/202

Teoria da mente e a qualidade do jogo na idade pré-escolar

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Psicologia (área de especialização em Psicologia Clínica)A teoria da mente, marco do desenvolvimento sócio-cognitivo crucial que emerge na idade pré-escolar, refere-se à capacidade de compreender e atribuir estados mentais, como pensamentos, sentimentos, crenças, desejos e intenções a si próprio e aos outros, o que permite, por seu turno interpretar e predizer o comportamento dos outros (Baron-Cohen, Leslie, & Frith 1985; Premack & Woodruff, 1978; Wellman, 1990). Neste sentido, considera-se que o desenvolvimento da teoria da mente das crianças é um instrumento social importante que lhes permite adaptarem-se ao mundo social em que vivem, contribuindo, igualmente, para o sucesso das interacções sociais com os pares. De facto, nesta fase desenvolvimental, as actividades de jogo e brincadeira são um contexto fundamental para compreender a forma pela qual as crianças adquirem conhecimento social e competências de interacção, através do desenvolvimento de habilidades sociais, emocionais, cognitivas e de linguagem, o que lhes permite estabelecer relações positivas e eficazes com os pares. Neste enquadramento, foi realizado o presente estudo, o qual teve três objectivos principais. Em primeiro lugar, pretendeu-se testar a hipótese da concordância entre as avaliações efectuadas pelos pais e pelas educadoras de um instrumento de avaliação da qualidade do jogo em idade pré-escolar, o Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale (PIPPS). O segundo objectivo foi examinar se o desempenho das crianças nas tarefas de teoria da mente se relaciona com a qualidade das interacções no jogo, através dos dados obtidos pelo PIPPS. Por fim, pretendeu-se explorar se existem diferenças de género ao nível da qualidade do jogo e no desempenho das tarefas de teoria da mente. Nesta investigação participaram 29 crianças com idades compreendidas entre os 45 e os 75 meses (M = 63.45; DP = 9.21). Relativamente ao primeiro objectivo deste estudo, os resultados apontaram no sentido de concordância entre as avaliações efectuadas pelos pais e pelas educadoras acerca da interacção das crianças no contexto de jogo ou brincadeira para os três factores do PIPPS: Interacção Positiva, Disrupção e Desconexão. Quanto ao segundo objectivo, relativamente à associação entre o desempenho das crianças nas tarefas de teoria da mente e a qualidade das interacções no jogo, através dos dados obtidos pelo PIPPS, os resultados obtidos revelaram não existir uma relação entre as duas variáveis, excepto para o factor de Disrupção e Desconexão, segundo a percepção dos pais. Por fim, quanto ao último objectivo, os resultados revelaram não existir efeito do género ao nível da qualidade do jogo, através dos 3 factores do PIPPS, excepto ao nível da percepção das educadoras na escala de Disrupção, demonstrando mais comportamentos disruptivos as raparigas. Também não foram encontradas diferenças de género significativas ao nível do desempenho das crianças nas tarefas da teoria da mente.Theory of mind, a crucial socio-cognitive development mark in preschool age, refers to the ability to understand and attribute mental states, such as thoughts, feelings, beliefs, desires and intentions to oneself and to the others, which allows, to interpret and predict other people’s behavior (Baron-Cohen, Leslie, & Frith 1985; Premack & Woodruff, 1978; Wellman, 1990). Therefore, it is considered that children’s theory of mind development is an important social instrument that allows children to adapt themselves to the surrounding social world, also contributing to the success of social interactions with pairs. In fact, at this developmental stage, game and plays activities are a crucial context to understand the way children acquire social knowledge and interaction skills through social, emotional, cognitive and language abilities, that allows them to build positive and effective relations with pairs. Within this framework, we performed the present study, with three main purposes. Firstly, it was intended to test the concordance between parents’ and preschool teachers’ perception of children’s quality of play using the Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale (PIPPS). Secondly, it aimed to examine if children’s performance on theory of mind tasks was related with play quality. Finally, it was intended to explore if gender had any effect in the performance of the Theory of Mind tasks, and play quality. In this research participated 29 children, aged between 45 and 75 months (M = 63.45; SD = 9.21). According to the first purpose of this research, the results have confirmed the existence of agreement between teachers’ and parents’ perceptions about the interaction of children in game context and play in all three PIPPS factors: Positive Interaction, Disruption and Disconnection. The second objective, regarding the association between children’s performance on the theory of mind tasks and the play quality interactions, using data obtained by the PIPPS, results show that there is not a relationship between these variables, except for the factor Disruption and Disconnection, as perceived by the parents. Lastly, results did not show the existence of gender influence in play quality, through the three PIPPS factors, except in the teachers’ perspectives about the Disruption. The ones who show more disruptive behavior are the girls. Also, there were no significant gender differences at the tasks of the Theory of mind performance

Roots and recourse mortgages: handing back the keys

Summary of Banco de España Working Paper no. 220

Roots and recourse mortgages: handing back the keys

En este estudio identificamos diferencias en las condiciones de las hipotecas asociadas al arraigo de los prestatarios tras separar este efecto de otros factores que explican dichas condiciones. Para esto usamos datos de préstamos hipotecarios en España de la Central de Información de Riesgos, complementados con datos de hipotecas titulizadas para un ciclo financiero completo. Identificamos que los prestatarios extranjeros con poco arraigo pagan tipos de interés más altos que aquellos con mayores vínculos en el país. También encontramos que un bajo nivel de arraigo está asociado con tasas más altas de impago y con mayores incentivos a no continuar pagando la deuda hipotecaria ante situaciones de patrimonio neto negativo. En general, identificamos que el arraigo es un factor muy relevante que explica las diferencias en las condiciones de las hipotecas en el momento de su concesión, así como las decisiones de impago. Desde el punto de vista de la política, nuestros resultados tienen importantes implicaciones para el entendimiento de las consecuencias de transitar hacia un régimen de dación en pago, y para la efectividad de la política macroprudencial.In this study we disentangle the effect of roots from other confounding factors to explain differences in immigrants’ outcomes in the mortgage market. Using loan-level data from the Spanish Credit Register complemented with data on securitized mortgages over a complete financial cycle, we identify that foreign-born borrowers with shallow roots to the host country pay higher mortgage rates at origination than similar debtors that are better-settled. We also find that weak roots are associated with higher default rates and with greater incentives to go into default in negative equity situations. Overall, we show that rootedness explains differential loan conditions at origination and default behavior in mortgages. From a policy perspective, our results have important implications for understanding the potential consequences of moving away from recourse mortgage regimes, and for the effectiveness of macroprudential policy

Optimisation of growth parameters to obtain epitaxial Y-doped BaZrO3 proton conducting thin films

We hereby report developments on the fabrication and characterization of epitaxial thin films of proton conducting Y-doped BaZrO (BZY) by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on different single crystal substrates (MgO, GdScO, SrTiO, NdGaO, LaAlO and sapphire) using Ni-free and 1% Ni-containing targets. Pure, high crystal quality epitaxial films of BZY are obtained on MgO and on perovskite-type substrates, despite the large lattice mismatch. The deposition conditions influence the morphology, cell parameters and chemical composition of the film, the oxygen partial pressure during film growth being the most determining. Film characterization was carried out using X-ray diffraction, transmission electron and atomic force microscopies, wavelength dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and angle-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. All films show a slight tetragonal distortion that is not directly related to the substrate-induced strain. The proton conductivity of the films depends on deposition conditions and film thickness, and for the optimised conditions its total conductivity is slightly higher than the bulk conductivity of the target material (3 mS/cm at 600 °C, in wet 5% H/Ar). The conductivities are, however, more than one order of magnitude lower than the highest reported in literature and possible reasoning is elucidated in terms of local and extended defects in the films

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Spanish commercial real estate market

Artículo de revistaThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the recent performance of the Spanish commercial real estate market. In particular, the crisis has led to a sharp decrease in non-residential investment and has triggered a correction in sale prices, transaction numbers and new financing operations. It has also affected Spanish real estate investment trusts specialising in this market, both in terms of the number of vehicles created and of their stock prices and the value of their real estate assets. By contrast, to date there has been no significant deterioration in credit quality linked to the commercial real estate market

Analysis of the usability of capital buffers during the crisis precipitated by COVID-19

Este trabajo analiza la capacidad de uso de los colchones de capital voluntarios y regulatorios por parte de las entidades bancarias, aprovechando la experiencia de la pandemia de COVID-19. En primer lugar, se encuentra que la usabilidad de los colchones macroprudenciales está muy poco limitada en España por otros requerimientos sobre las entidades. Adicionalmente, se encuentra que los colchones existentes sobre los requerimientos de capital al comienzo de la pandemia han tenido efectos significativos en los mercados financieros, lo que ha afectado a la evolución de las cotizaciones bancarias europeas, así como a las tenencias de acciones bancarias por parte de los fondos de inversión. Por último, no se observa un efecto agregado significativo del nivel disponible de colchones de capital sobre los requerimientos de capital en la provisión de financiación a las empresas no financieras en España. Sin embargo, sí se identifican efectos negativos en la oferta de crédito de los bancos con menores colchones voluntarios a las empresas con las que tenían relaciones más recientes. Asimismo, cuando el análisis se realiza exclusivamente sobre las operaciones crediticias sin garantía pública, sí se observa que las entidades con menor margen de capital por encima de los requerimientos redujeron más el crédito.This paper analyses the ability of banks to use voluntary and regulatory capital buffers, taking advantage of the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first place, we find that the usability of macroprudential buffers is not hampered in Spain by other parallel banks’ requirements. Additionally, we find that the existing voluntary buffers over capital requirements at the beginning of the pandemic have had significant effects on the financial markets, affecting the evolution of European bank stock prices, as well as the holdings of bank shares by investment funds. Lastly, we find no significant aggregate effect of voluntary capital buffers on the provision of financing to non-financial companies in Spain. However, we do identify negative effects in the supply of credit from banks with lower voluntary buffers to companies with which they had more recent relationships. Likewise, if the analysis is carried out exclusively on credit operations without public guarantees, we observe that those banks with lower voluntary capital buffers reduced credit more

Abdominal Actinomycosis misdiagnosed as liposarcoma

Actinomycosis is an uncommon, endogenous, and chronic infection with varied and nonspecific clinical features such as abdominal, pelvic or cervical masses, ulcerative lesions, abscesses, draining fistula, fibrosis, and constitutional symptoms. The disease ensues when the bacteria disrupt the mucosal barrier, invade, and spread throughout interfascial planes. Currently, the diagnosis of actinomycosis is challenging because of its very low frequency and depending on the clinical presentation it may masquerade malignancies. Therapy consists initially in intravenous penicillin, followed by an oral regimen that may be extended until a year of treatment. A timely diagnosis is crucial to avoid extensive therapeutic attempt as surgery. However, a biopsy or drainage of abscesses and fistula’s tract may be required not only as a diagnostic procedure as part of the therapy. We report the case of a 72-year-old woman with an abdominal mass initially misdiagnosed as a liposarcoma. A second biopsy of a skin lesion of the abdominal wall made the diagnosis of actinomycosis, avoiding a major surgical procedure. The patient was treated with a long-term course of antibiotics with favorable outcome. Liposarcoma was ruled out after the patient’s full recovery with antibiotics and the misdiagnosis was credit to the overconfidence on the immunohistochemical positivity to MDM2

Bipolar "table with legs" resistive switching in epitaxial perovskite heterostructures

We report the experimental investigation of bipolar resistive switching with "table with legs" shaped hysteresis switching loops in epitaxial perovskite GdBaCo O /LaNiO bilayers deposited by pulsed laser deposition. The possibility of varying the resistivity of GdBaCo O by changing its oxygen content allowed engineering this perovskite heterostructure with controlled interfaces creating two symmetric junctions. It has been proved that the resistance state of the device can be reproducibly varied by both continuous voltage sweeps and by electrical pulses. The symmetric devices show slightly non-symmetric resistance profiles, which can be explained by a valence change resistive switching model, and presented promising multilevel properties required for novel memories and neuromorphic computing

El impacto de la pandemia de COVID-19 en el mercado inmobiliario comercial español

Artículo de revistaLa pandemia de COVID-19 ha tenido un fuerte impacto en la evolución reciente del mercado inmobiliario comercial de España. En particular, la crisis ha provocado una importante caída de la inversión no residencial y ha desencadenado una corrección de los precios de compraventa, de las transacciones y de las nuevas operaciones de financiación. Por otra parte, la crisis también ha afectado a las sociedades anónimas cotizadas de inversión en el mercado inmobiliario (SOCIMI) especializadas en este mercado, en lo que respecta tanto al número de vehículos creados como a la evolución de su cotización y al valor de sus activos inmobiliarios. En cambio, por el momento, no se observa un deterioro significativo de la calidad de crédito vinculado al mercado inmobiliario comercial