Have Spanish companies built greater entrepreneurship after privatization?

This study analyses some of the strategic and organizational changes experienced in public firms following privatization in its double facet: sale of companies and deregulation. Specifically, we analyse the process of innovation in terms of products, processes and organization. We also look into the development of new businesses and strategic renewal, which in the end shape the entrepreneurial capacity of a company. A sample of Spanish firms which were privatized between 1985 and 2000 shows that after privatization, these companies have experienced a significant increase in entrepreneurship. These changes are even more appreciable when a high sector competition is added to the ownership shift. Once they join the private sector, their level of product, process and organizational innovation is higher. They also develop new businesses at national level, reinforce their international activity and embark on strategic renewal processes by shedding the lesser profitable businesses and modifying their competitive strategy so as to gain efficiency

A comprehensive model of adjustment to pain in the co-occurrence of PTSD and chronic musculoskeletal pain: vulnerability and protective pathways

There are a significant comorbidity between PTSD and chronic pain. Thus, studies clarifying the vulnerability and protective variables and mechanisms associated with PTSD and chronic pain are needed. The aim of this study was to examine the association between trauma, resilience, PTSD symptoms, and the variables included in the fear-avoidance models (anxiety sensitivity, catastrophizing, fear-avoidance beliefs, fear of pain, pain hypervigilance) as well as pain acceptance and experiential avoidance in explaining adjustment to chronic pain (pain intensity, pain-related disability and emotional distress). Method: the sample consisted of 229 patients with chronic musculoskeletal back pain. Results: Structural Equation Modelling was used. Statistical tests indicated that the hypothesized model adequately fitted the data (RMSEA = .07; CFI = .99; NNFI = .98; TLI = .96). The χ2 test was significant (χ2 (8) = 19.25, χ2 /dl = 2.40, p = .014). The results provided support for the hypothesized model. All the standardized path coefficients were significant (p < .05). Conclusions: This study provides empirical support for the potential role of PTSD symptoms in fear-avoidance models of chronic pain, and may provide support for the diathesis-stress model of pain. It is the first comprehensive model of adjustment to pain to consider vulnerability and protective adaptation mechanisms in patients who have undergone a traumatic event. The study highlights the importance of a comprehensive framework of reference to understand the comorbidity of PTSD and chronic musculoskeletal pain, and the need to provide well-designed treatment programs for the simultaneous treatment of these conditions.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Development of an Activity Patterns Scale (APS)

Six activity patterns were identified across various self-report measures in participants with chronic pain: Pain Avoidance, Activity Avoidance; Task Contingent Persistence; Excessive Persistence, Pain Contingent Persistence and Pacing (Kindermans et al., 2011). It was proposed that instruments assessing “pacing” should include items addressing one specific pacing behavior (breaking tasks into smaller pieces; taking frequent short rests and speeding up or slowing down) with a single goal (increasing activity level, conserve energy for valued activities and pain reduction) (Nielson et al., 2013). The aim of the present study was to develop an instrument to assess the activity patterns identified by Kindermans et al. (2011). The instrument also included three pacing scales one for each of the aforementioned goals. Methods A sample of 229 patients with fibromyalgia and 62 suffering other rheumatic diseases answered online the APS and the “Patterns of Activity Measure-Pain” (POAM-P) (Cane et al., 2007). Three alternative factor structures were tested by confirmatory factor analyses performed via structural equation modelling. . Results The structure with the best fit had 8 factors corresponding to the hypothesized scales: Pain Avoidance (α=.60), Activity Avoidance (α=.60); Task Contingent Persistence (α=.81); Excessive Persistence (α=.84), Pain Contingent Persistence (α=.70), Pacing for increasing activity (α=.76), Pacing for energy conservation (α=.72) and Pacing for pain reduction (α=.65). The correlations with the POAM-P scales were high and in the postulated direction. Conclusions The APS showed adequate reliability and structural validity. According to these results, Avoidance, Persistence and Pacing seem to be multidimensional constructs.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

A database and digital signal processing framework for the perceptual analysis of voice quality

Bermúdez de Alvear RM, Corral J, Tardón LJ, Barbancho AM, Fernández Contreras E, Rando Márquez S, Martínez-Arquero AG, Barbancho I. A database and digital signal processing framework for the perceptual analysis of voice quality. Pan European Voice Conferenc: PEVOC 11 Abstract Book. Aug. 31-Sept.2, 2015.Introduction. Clinical assessment of dysphonia relies on perceptual as much as instrumental methods of analysis [1]. The perceptual auditory analysis is potentially subject to several internal and external sources of bias [2]. Furthermore acoustic analyses which have been used to objectively characterize pathological voices are likely to be affected by confusion variables such as the signal processing or the hardware and software specifications [3]. For these reasons the poor correlation between perceptual ratings and acoustic measures remains to be a controversial matter [4]. The availability of annotated databases of voice samples is therefore of main importance for clinical and research purposes. Databases to perform digital processing of the vocal signal are usually built from English speaking subjects’ sustained vowels [5]. However phonemes vary from one language to another and to the best of our knowledge there are no annotated databases with Spanish sustained vowels from healthy or dysphonic voices. This work shows our first steps to fill in this gap. For the aim of aiding clinicians and researchers in the perceptual assessment of voice quality a two-fold objective was attained. On the one hand a database of healthy and disordered Spanish voices was developed; on the other an automatic analysis scheme was accomplished on the basis of signal processing algorithms and supervised learning machine techniques. Material and methods. A preliminary annotated database was created with 119 recordings of the sustained Spanish /a/; they were perceptually labeled by three experienced experts in vocal quality analysis. It is freely available under Links in the ATIC website (www.atic.uma.es). Voice signals were recorded using a headset condenser cardioid microphone (AKG C-544 L) positioned at 5 cm from the speaker’s mouth commissure. Speakers were instructed to sustain the Spanish vowel /a/ for 4 seconds. The microphone was connected to a digital recorder Edirol R-09HR. Voice signals were digitized at 16 bits with 44100 Hz sampling rate. Afterwards the initial and last 0.5 second segments were cut and the 3 sec. mid portion was selected for acoustic analysis. Sennheiser HD219 headphones were used by judges to perceptually evaluate voice samples. To label these recordings raters used the Grade-Roughness-Breathiness (GRB) perceptual scale which is a modified version of the original Hirano’s GRBAS scale, posteriorly modified by Dejonckere et al., [6]. In order to improve intra- and inter-raters’ agreement two types of modifications were introduced in the rating procedure, i.e. the 0-3 points scale resolution was increased by adding subintervals to the standard 0-3 intervals, and judges were provided with a written protocol with explicit definitions about the subintervals boundaries. By this way judges could compensate for the potential instability that might occur in their internal representations due to the perceptual context influence [7]. Raters’ perceptual evaluations were simultaneously performed by means of connecting the Sennheiser HD219 headphones to a multi-channel headphone preamp Behringer HA4700 Powerplay Pro-XL. The Yin algorithm [8] was selected as initial front-end to identify voiced frames and extract their fundamental frequency. For the digital processing of voice signals some conventional acoustic parameters [6] were selected. To complete the analysis the Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) were further calculated because they are based on the auditory model and they are thus closer to the auditory system response than conventional features. Results. In the perceptual evaluation excellent intra-raters agreement and very good inter-raters agreement were achieved. During the supervised machine learning stage some conventional features were found to attain unexpected low performance in the classification scheme selected. Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients were promising for assorting samples with normal or quasi-normal voice quality. Discussion and conclusions. Despite it is still small and unbalanced the present annotated data base of voice samples can provide a basis for the development of other databases and automatic classification tools. Other authors [9, 10, 11] also found that modeling the auditory non-linear response during signal processing can help develop objective measures that better correspond with perceptual data. However highly disordered voices classification remains to be a challenge for this set of features since they cannot be correctly assorted by either conventional variables or the auditory model based measures. Current results warrant further research in order to find out the usability of other types of voice samples and features for the automatic classification schemes. Different digital processing steps could be used to improve the classifiers performance. Additionally other types of classifiers could be taken into account in future studies. Acknowledgment. This work was funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Project No. TIN2013-47276-C6-2-R has been done in the Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech, Universidad de Málaga. References [1] Carding PN, Wilson JA, MacKenzie K, Deary IJ. Measuring voice outcomes: state of the science review. The Journal of Laryngology and Otology 2009;123,8:823-829. [2] Oates J. Auditory-perceptual evaluation of disordered voice quality: pros, cons and future directions. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica 2009;61,1:49-56. [3] Maryn et al. Meta-analysis on acoustic voice quality measures. J Acoust Soc Am 2009; 126, 5: 2619-2634. [4] Vaz Freitas et al. Correlation Between Acoustic and Audio-Perceptual Measures. J Voice 2015;29,3:390.e1 [5] “Multi-Dimensional Voice Program (MDVP) Model 5105. Software Instruction Manual”, Kay PENTAX, A Division of PENTAX Medical Company, 2 Bridgewater Lane, Lincoln Park, NJ 07035-1488 USA, November 2007. [6] Dejonckere PH, Bradley P, Clemente P, Cornut G, Crevier-Buchman L, Friedrich G, Van De Heyning P, Remacle M, Woisard V. A basic protocol for functional assessment of voice pathology, especially for investigating the efficacy of (phonosurgical) treatments and evaluating new assessment techniques. Guideline elaborated by the Comm. on Phoniatrics of the European Laryngological Society (ELS). Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2001;258:77–82. [7] Kreiman et al. Voice Quality Perception. J Speech Hear Res 1993;36:21-4 [8] De Cheveigné A, Kawahara H. YIN, a fundamental frequency estimator for speech and music. J. Acoust. Soc. Amer. 202; 111,4:1917. [9] Shrivastav et al. Measuring breathiness. J Acoust Soc Am 2003;114,4:2217-2224. [10] Saenz-Lechon et al. Automatic Assessment of voice quality according to the GRBAS scale. Eng Med Biol Soc Ann 2006;1:2478-2481. [11] Fredouille et al. Back-and-forth methodology for objective voice quality assessment: from/to expert knowledge to/from automatic classification of dysphonia. EURASIP J Appl Si Pr 2009.Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech, Universidad de Málaga. Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Projecto No. TIN2013-47276-C6-2-R

Vocational profile in Health Sciences Students, enrolled in first-year at University of Malaga (Spain): differences by degree.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine certain characteristics about the vocational profile of college students, especially if we consider the situation of transition that is taking place currently in college with the implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Participants: Students enrolled in first grade of Health Sciences at University of Malaga (Spain) in Nursing, Physiotherapy, Podiatry and Occupational Therapy. The population comprised 272 participants (90%), of a 300 total sample of Health Sciences students with a mean age of 19 years (SD=1.8). Methodology: It was a descriptive and a cross sectional study. Students were asked to fill out an on-line questionnaire in May 2011. It was a vocational interests scale adapted into Spanish by a cross-cultural study. The dimensions were: Leadership, Organization, Altruism, Creativity, Analysis, Production, Adventure, and Erudition. The differences between the four groups of students have been checked by Anova. Results: The vocational profile among Health Sciences students showed significant differences. By degree, the most altruistic were Physiotherapy students (F=3.022, p= 0.030), being also the most adventurous (F=3.658, p=0.013). The most creative were Nursing students (F=3.578, p=0.014) and also the most erudite (F=5.527, p=0.001). Conclusions: These results could be useful in order to study the development of competences that are necessary for finding a job, work with patients and work as a member of multidisciplinary group. Also, we are collecting data every day in order to know the variance with respect the academic year (longitudinal study).Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

A structural model of the relationships between optimism and perceived emotional intelligence on bullying victimization and health.

Bullying is a relationship in which an individual, or a group of individuals, intentionally and repeatedly perpetrates aggressive behaviors towards someone unable to defend himself/herself. Traditional forms of bullying consist of physical, verbal and covert forms of aggressive behaviors. Recently, the new phenomenon of cyberbullying has emerged. This relatively new form of bullying is defined as a behavior displayed through electronic or digital media. Multiple variables have been related to bullying victimization including perceived emotional intelligence (PEI) and optimism. Both variables have implications on the manner in which people cope with stressful experiences as could be bullying, which in turn could affect the level of perceived health. However, there are no studies that have considered all these variables simultaneously. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to examine, via structural equation modelling, the independent contribution of EI and optimism on bullying victimization and perceived physical health in adolescents. A total of 650 secondary school students (317 boys and 333 girls, with ages ranged from 11 to 18) participated in the study. The participants completed measures of PIE (TMMS-24; Fernández-Berrocal et al., 2004), optimism (General Mood Subscale of the Emotional Quotient Inventory-Youth Version; Bar-On and Parker, 2000), bullying (School Victimization Scale; Cava et al., 2010), cyberbullying (Cyber-Victimization Scale; Buelga et al., 2012), and physical health (KIDSCREEN-10 Index; Raven-Sieberer et al., 2004). Results gave partial empirical support to the hypothesized model, and shows significant relationships between the variables: optimism on clarity and repair dimensions of IE (but not on the attention subscale), optimism and attention (but not clarity and repair dimensions) on bullying, and bullying on health. Together these findings shed light on those factors that should be considered when developing prophylactic strategies within adolescents to become more resilient to the adverse effects of bullying behavior.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Evaluation of the anti-angiogenic potential of hydroxytyrosol derivatives

Angiogenesis, a process which allows the formation of new vessels from pre-existing ones, is an essential phenomenon for tumor survival since it allows cancer cells to obtain nutrients and oxygen. This explains the increasing interest showed by many groups of research and pharmaceutical companies to find compounds with potential to disrupt at least one of the steps within the angiogenic process. Hydroxytyrosol (3,4-dihydroxyphenyl ethanol) has been identified as the most important health-related phenolic compound of virgin olive oil because of its pleiotropic effects on multiple targets. In 2012, our group identified hydroxytyrosol as an anti-angiogenic compound able to inhibit several key steps in the angiogenic process. In the present study, the potential effects of six hydroxytyrosol derivatives are tested and compared with those exhibited by hydroxytyrosol by making use of several in vitro and in vivo assays. Results indicate that these are candidate new anti-angiogenic compounds with potential utility in anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic therapies.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech [Our experimental work is supported by grants BIO2014-56092-R (MINECO and FEDER) and P12-CTS-1507 (Andalusian Government and FEDER) and funds from group BIO-267 (Andalusian Government). The "CIBER de Enfermedades Raras" is an initiative from the ISCIII (Spain)]. This communication has the support of a travel grant

Os jogos experimentais de sala de aula, uma ferramenta didática em cuidados paliativos

Objetivo Avaliar o efeito de um programa, baseado em jogos, sobre estudantes de enfermagem da disciplina cuidados paliativos, medindo o medo da morte por meio da Escala Collett-Lester. O desafio é inovar e integrar, na sala de aula, teoria e experiências próximas ao contexto do luto. Método Estudo quase-experimental. Realizaram os questionários 101 e 11 estudantes, antes e depois da intervenção dos jogos, respectivamente. Disciplina ministrada no primeiro semestre do terceiro ano. Resultados Os estudantes obtiveram valores médios moderados na variável “medo da morte” (entre 14 e 19) para os dois momentos (pré e pós). Homens e mulheres aumentam esses valores de medo no pós-teste, ao mesmo tempo que diminuem sua “percepção sobre preparo emocional”, evidenciando-se o valor dos jogos ao expor o estudante a situações próximas às reais. Conclusões Consideramos que a ferramenta didática dos jogos, aplicada no contexto da sala de aula, fornece ao estudante a oportunidade de reconhecer o medo que a proximidade da morte gera, tanto no doente e na família, quanto nele próprio.Objective To evaluate the effect of a games-based intervention on palliative care nursing students’ scores on the Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale. The challenge was to innovate and integrate grief-related theory and experiences into the classroom. Method Quasi-experimental study. Before and after the games-based intervention, 101 and 111 students completed the questionnaires, respectively. The intervention was performed in the context of a palliative care class taught during the first semester of the third year of the nursing programme. Results The students obtained moderate mean scores on the variable fear of death (between 14 and 19) at both time points (pre- and post-intervention). Both men and women indicated a heightened sense of fear post-intervention and a decrease in self-perceived emotional preparedness, which support the value of the games for exposing the student to situations that closely approximated reality. Conclusion The use of games as a didactic tool in the classroom context helped the students recognize the fear generated by proximity to death in the patient and family and in the student him- or herself.Objetivo Evaluar el efecto de un programa, basado en juegos, sobre estudiantes de enfermería de la asignatura cuidados paliativos, midiendo el miedo a la muerte mediante la Escala Collett-Lester. El desafío es innovar, e integrar en el aula, teoría y experiencias cercanas al contexto de duelo. Método Estudio cuasi-experimental. Realizaron los cuestionarios 101 y 111 estudiantes, antes y después de la intervención de los juegos, respectivamente. Asignatura impartida en el primer semestre de tercer curso. Resultados Los estudiantes obtuvieron valores medios moderados en la variable “miedo a la muerte” (entre 14 y 19) para ambos momentos (pre y post). Hombres y mujeres aumentan estos valores de miedo en el post-test, a la vez que disminuyen su “percepción sobre preparación emocional”, evidenciando el valor de los juegos, al exponer al estudiante a situaciones cercanas a las reales. Conclusión Consideramos que la herramienta didáctica de los juegos, aplicada en el contexto del aula, facilita que el estudiante pueda reconocer el miedo que genera la cercanía de la muerte, tanto en el enfermo y familia, como el propio