58 research outputs found

    A SCALE TO MEASURE THE COMPLEXITY AND PERCEPTUAL-COGNITIVE SKILLS IN SOCCER

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    The complexity of dynamical systems (spanning brain, body and environment) can yield complex adaptive behaviors from non-linear interactions of individuals in space and time. A lack of reliable instruments to assess these varying behaviors results in inferences of how changes in behavior occurred over an extended period of time rather than being based on direct scientific measures. The aim of this study was to develop a scale of complexity and perceptual-cognitive skills\u27 assessment in the sport soccer and to evaluate structural and criterion reliability. Based on the embodied cognition literature, the construct of this scale was identified with three dimensions to assess perceptual-cognitive performance of players when acting within different levels of complex team synergies. A sample of 10 soccer coaches - group A (n = 5 coaches; M = 24 yrs professional coaching experience) and group B (n = 5 coaches; M = 1 year of amateur coaching experience) were recruited to participate in the study. A total of 100 clips of 10 previously recorded soccer matches were analyzed in two assessment periods with one month between the end of the first assessment and the beginning of the second. This resulted in a combined total of 1000 measures used for the study. The results demonstrated that high skilled coaches were more reliable in the complexity dimension (r = 0.87) and also in the decision making dimension (r = 0.79) than low qualified coaches (r = 0.79) and (r = 0.71) respectively; and the complexity dimension was more stable across trials between professional and amateur coaches in the first data collection i (r = 0.79) and second data collection (r = 0 .73) than the decision making dimension (r = 0.50) and (r = 0.43) respectively. These findings indicate that this scale is reliable across applications and at different times with high and low qualified coaches. The use of the scale may be useful for identifying elements of emerging complexity at the team-fractal-player level; determine a perceptual-cognitive profile in athletes; and to better understand complex tactical dynamics in soccer

    Marxismo y ateísmo. Recuperando el debate

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    Marxism is often identified with the outright rejection of religion. Two recent publications look at this simplification: El dispositivo Karl Marx, by Juan Manuel Aragüés, and the compilation of Marx's texts Sobre la religión, with a preliminary study by Reyes Mate and José A. Zamora. In this article we are going to read these two works in tandem. We intend to shed new light on the problem of atheism, not just looking at the most recent contributions, but also by returning to Marx’s texts. The theoretical atheism of Marx should not be oversimplified and indeed one must see it as a consequence of his materialist conception of history, which is compatible with the practical humanism of those who share his goal of a politics of emancipation.El marxismo se suele identificar con un rechazo sin matices de la religión. Dos publicaciones recientes afrontan esta simplificación: El dispositivo Karl Marx, de Juan Manuel Aragüés, y la recopilación de textos de Marx Sobre la religión, con estudio preliminar de Reyes Mate y José A. Zamora. En esta nota vamos a hacer una lectura cruzada de dichos trabajos. Pretendemos revitalizar el problema del ateísmo no sólo desde las contribuciones más recientes, sino también retornando a los textos de Marx. Contra las simplificaciones, el ateísmo teórico de Marx debe entenderse a partir de su concepción materialista de la historia, compatible con el humanismo práctico de quienes compartan el propósito de una política emancipatoria

    Multimodal Light-Harvesting Soft Hybrid Materials: Assisted Energy Transfer upon Thermally Reversible Gelation

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    Multimodal light-harvesting soft systems able to absorb UV-to-NIR radiations and convert into visible emissions have drawn much attention in the last years in order to explore new areas of application in energy, photonics, photocatalysis, sensors, and so forth. Here, we present a new hybrid system combining a supramolecular photonic gel of naphthalimidederived molecules self-assembled into fibers and upconverting NaYF4:Yb/Tm nanoparticles (UCNPs). The hybrid system presented here manipulates light reversibly as a result of an optical communication between the UCNPs and the photoactive gel network. Upon UV irradiation, the system shows the characteristic emission at 410 nm from the photoactive organomolecule. This emission is also activated upon 980 nm excitation thanks to an efficient energy transfer from the UCNPs to the fibrillary network. Interestingly, the intensity of this emission is thermally regulated during the reversible assembly or disassembly of the organogelator molecules, in such a way that gelator emission is only observed in the aggregated state. Additionally, the adsorption of the UCNPs with the supramolecular gel fibers enhances their emissive properties, a behavior ascribed to the isolation from solvent quenchers and surface defects, as well as an increased IR light scattering promoted by the fibrillary network. The reported system constitutes a unique case of a thermally regulated, reversible, dual UV and IR light-harvesting hybrid soft material

    Monitoring and Prognosis System Based on the ICF for People with Traumatic Brain Injury

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    The objective of this research is to provide a standardized platform to monitor and predict indicators of people with traumatic brain injury using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, and analyze its potential benefits for people with disabilities, health centers and administrations. We developed a platform that allows automatic standardization and automatic graphical representations of indicators of the status of individuals and populations. We used data from 730 people with acquired brain injury performing periodic comprehensive evaluations in the years 2006-2013. Health professionals noted that the use of color-coded graphical representation is useful for quickly diagnose failures, limitations or restrictions in rehabilitation. The prognosis System achieves 41% of accuracy and sensitivity in the prediction of emotional functions, and 48% of accuracy and sensitivity in the prediction of executive functions. This monitoring and prognosis system has the potential to: (1) save costs and time, (2) provide more information to make decisions, (3) promote interoperability, (4) facilitate joint decision-making, and (5) improve policies of socioeconomic evaluation of the burden of disease. Professionals found the monitoring system useful because it generates a more comprehensive understanding of health oriented to the profile of the patients, instead of their diseases and injuries

    Nonstoichiometry driven ferromagnetism in double perovskite La2Ni1-xMn1+ xO6 insulating thin films

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    This is an open access article published under an ACS AuthorChoice License. See Standard ACS AuthorChoice/Editors' Choice Usage AgreementIn this work we report on the epitaxial growth of LaNiMnO double perovskite thin films on top of (001) oriented SrTiO substrates by RF magnetron sputtering. The influence of oxygen pressure (P O) and growth temperature on the microstructure, stoichiometry of the films, and magnetic and transport properties is thoroughly investigated. It is found that high oxygen pressure promotes the growth of stoichiometric films, with a Ni/Mn ratio almost equal to 1. However, these films exhibit poor ferromagnetic properties with respect to the expected optimum values corresponding to ferromagnetic ordering mediated by superexchange interaction between Mn and Ni according to the Goodenough-Kanamori rules. Most interestingly, films grown at low P O exhibit Ni/Mn ratios below 1, but ferromagnetic properties close to the optimal ones. The valence balance between Ni and Mn ions in nonstoichiometric sample has been elucidated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The results indicate that Ni deficiency plays a crucial role in the puzzling insulating ferromagnetic behavior observed in nonstoichiometric samples

    Liver resection for hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with clinically significant portal hypertension

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    Background & Aims: Liver resection (LR) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and clinically significant portal hypertension (CSPH) defined as a hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) >−10 mmHg is not encouraged. Here, we reap praised the outcomes of patients with cirrhosis and CSPH who underwent LR for HCC in highly specialised liver centres. Methods: This was a retrospective multicentre study from 1999 to 2019. Predictors for postoperative liver decompensation and textbook outcomes were identified. Results: In total, 79 patients with a median age of 65 years were included. The Child-Pugh grade was A in 99% of patients, and the median model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score was 8. The median HVPG was 12 mmHg. Major hepatectomies and laparoscopies were performed in 28% and 34% of patients, respectively. Ninety-day mortality and severe morbidity rates were 6% and 27%, respectively. Postoperative and persistent liver decompensation occurred in 35% and 10% of patients at 3 months. Predictors of liver decompensation included increased preoperative HVPG (p = 0.004), increased serum total bilirubin (p = 0.02), and open approach (p = 0.03). Of the patients, 34% achieved a textbook outcome, of which the laparoscopic approach was the sole predictor (p = 0.004). The 5-year overall survival and recurrence-free survival rates were 55% and 43%, respectively. Conclusions: Patients with cirrhosis, HCC and HVPG >−10 mmHg can undergo LR with acceptable mortality, morbidity, and liver decompensation rates. The laparoscopic approach was the sole predictor of a textbook outcome

    Overview of Checkpoint Inhibitors Mechanism of Action: Role of Immune-Related Adverse Events and Their Treatment on Progression of Underlying Cancer

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    Corticosteroids; Efficacy; Immune checkpoint inhibitorsCorticosteroides; Eficacia; Inhibidores del punto de control inmunitarioCorticoides; Eficàcia; Inhibidors del punt de control immunitariIn recent years, immunotherapy-based regimens have been included into the treatment's algorithm of several cancer types. Programmed death-1 (PD-1) and cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) interact with their ligands found on the surface of antigen presenting cells (APC) or tumor cells (PD-L1/2 and CD80/86). Through these interactions, stimulatory or inhibitory signals are established. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), block these interactions, and when administered not only as monotherapy but also as part of combination regimens, have shown to improve survival results in multiple advanced cancers leading to an increasing number of patients treated with ICI and, as a consequence, a rise in the number of patients developing immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Presence of irAEs has been associated with greater benefit from treatment, especially when blocking PD-L1. Recent data suggests that treatment benefit persists after discontinuation of ICIs due to a treatment related adverse event, regardless of the grade. Patients experiencing grade 3-4 irAEs are at risk of toxicity recurrence after reintroducing immunotherapy and therefore, the decision to resume the treatment is challenging. In these cases, a multidisciplinary approach is always needed and several factors should be considered. Management of severe toxicities may require systemic corticosteroids which can impact on T-cell function. Due to their immunosuppressive properties, it is necessary to deeper determine how corticosteroids influence responses. In terms of overall survival (OS), the use of steroids as therapy for irAEs seems not to reduce OS and several studies have reported durable responses in patients experiencing autoimmune toxicities treated with corticosteroids

    ASLP-MULAN: Procesado de audio, habla y lenguaje para análisis de información multimedia

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    [EN] Our intention is generating the right mixture of audio, speech and language technologies with big data ones. Some audio, speech and language automatic technologies are available or gaining enough degree of maturity as to be able to help to this objective: automatic speech transcription, query by spoken example, spoken information retrieval, natural language processing, unstructured multimedia contents transcription and description, multimedia files summarization, spoken emotion detection and sentiment analysis, speech and text understanding, etc. They seem to be worthwhile to be joined and put at work on automatically captured data streams coming from several sources of information like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, online newspapers, web search engines, etc. to automatically generate reports that include both scientific based scores and subjective but relevant summarized statements on the tendency analysis and the perceived satisfaction of a product, a company or another entity by the general population.[ES] Nuestra intención es generar la mezcla ideal de tecnologías del audio, el habla y el lenguaje con las de big data. Algunas tecnologías automáticas del procesado de audio, habla y lenguaje están adquiriendo suficiente grado de madurez para ser capaces de ayudar a este objetivo: transcripción automática del habla, métodos de búsqueda por habla, recuperación de documentos hablados, procesado del lenguaje natural, transcripción y descripción de contenidos multimedia no estructurados, resumen de ficheros multimedia, detección de emoción en el habla y análisis de sentimientos, comprensión de texto y habla, etc. Parece que merece la pena unirlos y ponerlos a trabajar sobre secuencias de datos obtenidos automáticamente procedentes de diversas fuentes de información como YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, periódicos digitales, buscadores de internet, etc. para generar informes que incluyan tanto puntuaciones basadas en análisis cuantitativo como expresiones resumidas subjetivas pero significativas sobre el análisis de tendencias y la satisfacción percibida sobre un producto, una empresa u otra entidad.This Project is founded by the “Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad” TIN2014-54288-C4 and there are four reseach groups involved: ELiRF (Universitat Politècnica de València), ViVoLab (Universidad de Zaragoza), SPIN (Universidad del Pais Vasco), GTH (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid).Ferreiros Lopez, J.; Pardo Muñoz, JM.; Hurtado Oliver, LF.; Segarra Soriano, E.; Ortega Giménez, A.; Lleida, E.; Torres, MI.... (2016). ASLP-MULAN: Audio speech and language processing for multimedia analytics. Procesamiento del Lenguaje Natural. (57):147-150. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/84803S1471505

    What determines growth potential and juvenile quality of farmed fish species?

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    Enhanced production of high quality and healthy fry is a key target for a successful and competitive expansion of the aquaculture industry. Although large quantities of fish larvae are produced, survival rates are often low or highly variable and growth potential is in most cases not fully exploited, indicating significant gaps in our knowledge concerning optimal nutritional and culture conditions. Understanding the mechanisms that control early development and muscle growth are critical for the identification of time windows in development that introduce growth variation, and improve the viability and quality of juveniles. This literature review of the current state of knowledge aims to provide a framework for a better understanding of fish skeletal muscle ontogeny, and its impact on larval and juvenile quality as broadly defined. It focuses on fundamental biological knowledge relevant to larval phenotype and quality and, in particular, on the factors affecting the development of skeletal muscle. It also discusses the available methodologies to assess growth and larvae/juvenile quality, identifies gaps in knowledge and suggests future research directions. The focus is primarily on the major farmed non-salmonid fish species in Europe that include gilthead sea bream, European sea bass, turbot, Atlantic cod, Senegalese sole and Atlantic halibut

    Innovative LIDAR 3D Dynamic Measurement System to Estimate Fruit-Tree Leaf Area

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    In this work, a LIDAR-based 3D Dynamic Measurement System is presented and evaluated for the geometric characterization of tree crops. Using this measurement system, trees were scanned from two opposing sides to obtain two three-dimensional point clouds. After registration of the point clouds, a simple and easily obtainable parameter is the number of impacts received by the scanned vegetation. The work in this study is based on the hypothesis of the existence of a linear relationship between the number of impacts of the LIDAR sensor laser beam on the vegetation and the tree leaf area. Tests performed under laboratory conditions using an ornamental tree and, subsequently, in a pear tree orchard demonstrate the correct operation of the measurement system presented in this paper. The results from both the laboratory and field tests confirm the initial hypothesis and the 3D Dynamic Measurement System is validated in field operation. This opens the door to new lines of research centred on the geometric characterization of tree crops in the field of agriculture and, more specifically, in precision fruit growing
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