Non-suicidal self-injury in Latin America

Background Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) is defined as the intentional direct injury of the own bodily tissue without suicidal intent. In areas with a Caucasian majority population, such as the USA, Canada and Europe, it is a rapidly increasing phenomenon, especially among young people. However, from a European point of view, little scientific information is found on NSSI in Latin America. Method A study of English, Spanish and Portuguese literature on NSSI in Latin America was conducted using electronic search engines. During a ten-month period of field work in Belo Horizonte, Brasil, a systematic search was conducted of the international press, the popular local press, television broadcasts, Internet sites and blogs. Semi-structured elite interviews were conducted of academic professionals and practitioners. Spontaneous conversations on NSSI took place with local inhabitants. Results Three reasons for the authors' prior lack of success in finding publications on NSSI in Latin America could be distinguished: the gap between academic professionals, practitioners and inhabitant population, the language of the publications, and the existing confusion in terminology and research traditions regarding NSSI. Conclusion NSSI has a high prevalence in Latin America, which can be Compared to that of the northern hemisphere. Although there are some differences in the ways of engaging in NSSI and in its functions, there are also important similarities. Scientific information on,NSSI in Latin America remains difficult to find for researchers in other parts of the world. Therefore we advocate a consensus in terminology and suggest that all publications would provide English key words and would be included in international scientific databases to ensure a world-wide dissemination. An alternative is-the construction of one centralized global Latin American database for Spanish and Portuguese publications

Chemical evolution in a model for the joint formation of quasars and spheroids

Direct and indirect pieces of observational evidence point to a strong connection between high-redshift quasars and their host galaxies. In the framework of a model where the shining of the quasar is the episode that stops the formation of the galactic spheroid inside a virialized halo, it has been proven possible to explain the submillimetre source counts together with their related statistics and the local luminosity function of spheroidal galaxies. The time delay between the virialization and the quasar manifestation required to fit the counts is short and incresing with decresing the host galaxy mass. In this paper we compute the detailed chemical evolution of gas and stars inside virialized haloes in the framework of the same model, taking into account the combined effects of cooling and stellar feedback. Under the assumption of negligible angular momentum, we are able to reproduce the main observed chemical properties of local ellipticals. In particular, by using the same duration of the bursts which are required in order to fit the submillimetre source counts, we recover the observed increase of the Mg/Fe ratio with galactic mass. Since for the most massive objects the assumed duration of the burst is Tburst < 0.6 Gyr, we end up with a picture for elliptical galaxy formation in which massive spheroids complete their assembly at early times, thus resembling a monolithic collapse, whereas smaller galaxies are allowed for a more prolonged star formation, thus allowing for a more complicated evolutionary history.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Agency and communication in IMF conditional lending: theory and empirical evidence

We focus on the role that the transmission of information between a multilateral (the IMF) and a country has for the optimal design of conditional reforms. Our model predicts that when agency problems are especially severe, and/or IMF information is valuable, a centralized control is indeed optimal. To the contrary, when local knowledge is more important than the agency bias we expect delegation to dominate. Controlling for economic and political factors, our empirical tests show that the number of IMF conditions is lower in countries with a greater social complexity, while it increases with the bias of the countries’ authorities, openness, and transparency, consistently with the theory.IMF conditionality, delegation, communication, panel data

Reproducing the assembly of massive galaxies within the hierarchical cosmogony

In order to gain insight into the physical mechanisms leading to the formation of stars and their assembly in galaxies, we compare the predictions of the MOdel for the Rise of GAlaxies aNd Active nuclei (MORGANA) to the properties of K- and 850 micron-selected galaxies (such as number counts, redshift distributions and luminosity functions) by combining MORGANA with the spectrophotometric model GRASIL. We find that it is possible to reproduce the K- and 850 micron-band datasets at the same time and with a standard Salpeter IMF, and ascribe this success to our improved modeling of cooling in DM halos. We then predict that massively star-forming discs are common at z~2 and dominate the star-formation rate, but most of them merge with other galaxies within ~100 Myr. Our preferred model produces an overabundance of bright galaxies at z<1; this overabundance might be connected to the build-up of the diffuse stellar component in galaxy clusters, as suggested by Monaco et al. (2006), but a naive implementation of the mechanism suggested in that paper does not produce a sufficient slow-down of the evolution of these objects. Moreover, our model over-predicts the number of 10^{10}-10^{11} M_sun galaxies at z~1; this is a common behavior of theoretical models as shown by Fontana et al. (2006). These findings show that, while the overall build-up of the stellar mass is correctly reproduced by galaxy formation models, the ``downsizing'' trend of galaxies is not fully reproduced yet. This hints to some missing feedback mechanism in order to reproduce at the same time the formation of both the massive and the small galaxies.Comment: 14 pages; 11 figures; accepted for publication by MNRA

Performance-Based Specifications: Exploring When They Work and Why

There is extensive research and attention on innovation and sustainable public procurement (SPP) in the European Union at present, with the 2014 revision of the Procurement Directives, the Innovation Union strategy and other European Union policy initiatives. This report seeks to contribute to this discussion through the investigation of the use of performance based specifications (PBSs) in public procurement in the European Union and the United States. The report outlines the benefits and limitations of the use of PBSs, even in the most "progressive" public procurement environments, such as the Netherlands, particularly around their ability to support sustainable development goals and deliver environmental benefits for a procuring authority, such as energy and resource efficiency. Additionally, this report aims to identify the sectors in which the enabling conditions for the successful use of PBSs in public procurement are in place and to understand what policies and regulations are needed to promote the use of PBSs in public tenders and public procurement framework agreements

Weakly holomorphic modular forms in prime power levels of genus zero

Let $M_k^\sharp(N)$ be the space of weight $k$, level $N$ weakly holomorphic modular forms with poles only at the cusp at $\infty$. We explicitly construct a canonical basis for $M_k^\sharp(N)$ for $N\in\{8,9,16,25\}$, and show that many of the Fourier coefficients of the basis elements in $M_0^\sharp(N)$ are divisible by high powers of the prime dividing the level $N$. Additionally, we show that these basis elements satisfy a Zagier duality property, and extend Griffin's results on congruences in level 1 to levels 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 16, and 25

Seasonal photosynthesis, respiration, and calcification of a temperate Maërl bed in southern Portugal

Rhodolith (maerl) beds are biodiversity hotspots with a worldwide distribution. Maerl is the general term for free-living non-geniculate rhodoliths or coralline red algae. In southern Portugal, maerl beds are mainly composed of Phymatolithon lusitanicum, recently identified as a new species and commonly misidentified as Phymatolithon calcareum. Photosynthesis, respiration, and growth rates of the algae were measured seasonally, as well as the photosynthetic pigment composition. To characterize the seasonal and interannual patterns of key abiotic conditions in the largest described maerl bed of the Portuguese coast, temperature, irradiance, and dissolved oxygen were continuously monitored over a 2-year period. At the bed depth (22 m), temperature ranged between 14 degrees C in winter and 24 degrees C in summer, irradiance varied from 5 to 75 mu.mol m(-2) s(-1) , and dissolved oxygen from 5.8 to 7.25 mg O-2 L-1. We found a strong linear relationship (r(2) = 0.95) between gross primary production (GPP) and relative electron transport rates (rETRs). Both methods led to similar results and an average molar ratio of 0.24. Photosynthesis and respiration increased in summer and decreased in autumn and winter. In the summer of 2013, the growth rates were twofold higher (1.34 mu.mol CaCO3 g(-1) day(-1)) than in the other seasons. In winter and spring, to compensate for light deprivation and low temperature, algae increased their chlorophyll a and carotenoid concentrations while also decreasing their phycobilin concentration, in this case probably due to nutrient limitation. To isolate the role of temperature on the algae's metabolism, the photosynthetic and respiration rates of individual thalli were measured at eight different temperatures in the laboratory (from 12 degrees C to 26 degrees C). Phymatolithon lusitanicum photosynthesis increased twofold after a threshold of 18 degrees C (from 2.2 at 18 degrees C to 3.87 mu mol O-2 m(-2) s(-1) at 20 degrees C), whereas respiration increased fourfold with temperature after a threshold of 22 degrees C (from -0.38 at 18 degrees C to -1.81 (mu mol O-2 m(-2) s(-1) at 24 degrees C). The significant increases on respiration, photosynthetic rates, and maximum growth with temperature reveal that the metabolic rates of P. lusitanicum are highly sensitive to ocean warming.UIDB/04326/2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Utopian Approach to Social Transformation: The Role of Urban Social Movements' Fragmentation in Barcelona

Urban social movements (USMs), here broadly defined as to include established protest organisations, neighbourhoods movements and new solidarity initiatives, have become increasingly hybrid and fragmented over time. However, the consequences of fragmentation have been debated, with some arguing that it has weakened the anti-capitalistic meaning of USMs, and others claiming that it has positively changed the meaning of urban struggles. In this work, I systematically analyse the literature about USMs in Barcelona and engage with new theoretical lenses to assess their historical evolution since the 1960s. USMs fragmentation emerges as crucial, as it allows the development of new logics of action, a decrease in the risk of institutional co-optation, and favours the rise of new spaces of alternativeness. Implications about the potential for social transformation in an anti-capitalistic perspectives are discussed