Working Environment in Nursing: Needs Improvement?

Background: Knowing the quality of life of professionals is important because it is related to job performance, better results, and greater productivity, which results in better patient care. Objective: To know the Professional Quality of Life perceived by the nurses at the Geriatric Hospital of Toledo (Spain). Method: A descriptive cross-section study was employed to measure the Professional Quality of Life of all healthcare nurses (69 in total) at the Geriatric Hospital of Toledo. The questionnaire used as a measuring instrument was the Professional Quality of Life - 35. The data obtained was analyzed by means of: descriptive statistics, single-factor ANOVA variance analysis, T Student tests, and simple and multiple regression analysis. The study was approved by both the research commission and the ethics commission at the Hospital Complex of Toledo. Participation in the study on behalf of the nursing staff was voluntary. Results: In total, 45 responses were obtained (65.2%). The overall mean score measured the perceived Professional Quality of Life to be low. In relation to the three dimensions evaluated in the study, the highest average found was in “intrinsic motivation,” followed by “workload”, and then “management support.” In the multivariate analysis, “management support” was shown as the most influential factor in the Professional Quality of Life with a 23% influence (P<0.001), followed by workload with 9% (P = 0.01). Conclusions: The professionals at the participating center perceive their workplace as having an elevated degree of responsibility, a large quantity of work, a high occurrence of rushes and fatigue, and all this with little support on behalf of management. Promotions are scarce or the policies for receiving a promotion are inadequate. The perception of Professional Quality of Life in nursing is low. The obtained results indicate a need for an organizing cultural change based on participation, motivation, and increased management support

Creative Mural Landscapes, Building Communities and Resilience in Uruguayan Tourism

[EN] The purpose of this research was to analyze open-air mural painting museums in Uruguay as a model of tourism resilience, sustainability, and social development, being one of the first Latin American examples to demonstrate the ability to adapt to change and overcome external shocks through the creation of creative community landscapes. To do so, documentary research, photographic documentation, and field research were carried out in order to explore the opportunities of mural tourism in small locations in Uruguay. In the nineties, a new type of artistic production was created in Uruguay, initially characterized by its decentralization. This was somewhat of a revolution in the muralist field as, until this time, Montevideo had been the center of cultural tradition, considered the intellectual focus of the country, and had concentrated the largest number of murals. For this reason, the birth of new muralist nuclei in small rural enclaves, which traditionally had not had much access to culture and no link to muralism, is remarkable. Secondly, this new movement sought to diversify economic activity given the consequences of the severe economic crises and environmental catastrophes that were and are still prevalent in these areas. Therefore, these new creative landscapes were conceived as important examples of the resilience of cultural tourist destinations. The results emphasize that, until now, the idea of giving muralism a new use as a tool for local economic development had not been envisaged with reference to mural art in Uruguay. This new rethinking has given rise to the so-called Regionalization Processes of Uruguayan wall production. The most relevant cases are those developed in the municipalities of San Gregorio de Polanco (1993), Rosario (1994), and Pan de Azúcar (1998).This research includes some of the results of the social innovation project "Social function of Uruguayan muralism in the 20th century as a vehicle and model of sustainable heritage activation: Decentralization, identity and memory", funded by the Ministry of Economy and Business and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain, as well as the Polytechnic University of Valencia, between 2010 and 2016. It was developed by the Microcluster of Cultural and Creative Industries Research, Tourism and Technology (www.ccis.upv.es (accessed on 26 March 2021)) under the direction of Professor Virginia Santamarina-Campos with the help of the National Directorate of Culture of Uruguay (National System of Museums project); the Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Nation (RestorationWorkshop); the National Institute of Fine Arts (IENBA) of the University of the Republic; and the Municipalities of Maldonado, Tacuarembo, and Colonia. This project was characterized by the participation of society in the innovation process with the objective of aligning its results with the real values of society and the objectives of sustainable development (SDG). This implied the participation of all the actors (universities, government, central government, local associations, educational centers, etc.) through inclusive and participatory methodologies at all stages of the innovation processes, contemplating aspects such as open access, gender equality, scientific education, ethics, and governance, with the aim of supporting the democratization of their culture and economic development through their heritage.Martínez-Carazo, EM.; Santamarina-Campos, V.; De-Miguel-Molina, M. (2021). Creative Mural Landscapes, Building Communities and Resilience in Uruguayan Tourism. Sustainability. 13(11):1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13115953S117131

Valuación de opciones asiáticas versus opciones europeas con tasa de interés estocástica

ResumenEste trabajo propone una metodología para obtener el precio de una opción asiática con subyacente promedio mediante simulación Monte Carlo. Se supone que la tasa de interés es conducida por un proceso de reversión a la media de tipo Vasicek y CIR con parámetros calibrados por máxima verosimilitud. La simulación incluye el remuestreo cuadrático, el cual reduce el uso de recursos computacionales; en particular, el método mejora la generación de la matriz de varianza-covarianza. La metodología propuesta se aplica en la valuación de opciones sobre el precio de AMXL. Los resultados muestran que al comparar los precios de opciones europeas —tanto simulados como con los publicados por MexDer— con sus contrapartes asiáticas, los precios de opciones asiáticas son menores en el caso de opciones de compra y de venta dentro del dinero. Para opciones de venta, los precios simulados fueron menores en todos los casos. Asimismo se encontró que la diferencia se incrementa conforme el plazo al vencimiento de la opción aumenta.AbstractThis paper proposes a methodology to obtain the price of an Asian option with underlying average through Monte Carlo simulation. It is assumed that the interest rate is driven by a mean reversion process of Vasicek and CIR type with parameters calibrated by maximum likelihood. The simulation includes the quadratic resampling which reduces the use of computational resources, in particular the method improves the generation of variance covariance matrix. The proposed methodology is applied in the valuation of options on the price of AMXL. The results show that by comparing prices of European options, with both simulated and published by MexDer with their Asian counterparts, Asian options prices are lower in the case of call and put options in the money. For put options simulated prices were lower in all cases. Moreover, it was also found that the difference increases as the time to maturity of the option increases

Search for isotropic γ-radiation in the cosmological window between 65-tev and 200-tev

Electromagnetic energy injected into the universe above a few hundred TeV is expected to pile up as γ radiation in a relatively narrow energy interval below 100 TeV due to its interaction with the 2.7°K background radiation. We present an upper limit (90% C.L.) on the ratio of primary γ to charged cosmic rays in the energy interval 65-160 TeV (80- 200 TeV) of 10.3 . 10¯³(7.8 . 10¯³). Data from the HEGRA cosmic-ray detector complex consisting of a wide angle Cerenkov array (AIROBICC) measuring the lateral distribution of air Čerenkov light and a scintillator array, were used with a novel method to discriminate γ-ray and hadron induced air showers. If the presently unmeasured universal far infrared background radiation is not too intense, the result rules out a topological-defect origin of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays for masses of the X particle released by the defects equal to or larger than about 10_(16) GeV

Diseño de una propuesta metodológica para interpretar el huerto habitacional en un área del Valle del Cauca

En el municipio de Alcalá, cuenca río La Vieja, norte del Valle, se diseñó una propuesta para abordar la problemática del sistema finca con el fin de propiciar metodologías de investigación que integren a las comunidades rurales, organizaciones de la sociedad civil, ONG’S y entidades gubernamentales La información de seisfincas se organizó en cuatro décadas desde 1960 para estudiar las relaciones decompetencia, colaboración, interacciones y la asignación de la superficie total adiversas funciones. La propuesta permitió identificar las fluctuaciones de las poblaciones de animales domésticos y se estableció relaciones con los procesos de transformación agrícola de las fincas.In the municipality of Alcalá, basin of river La Vieja, north of Valle (Department), a proposal was designed to approach the problem of farm systems. The purpose of this proposal was to facilitate investigation methodologies that integrate rural communities, social organizations, NGO´s and government entities. In order to study the relationships of competition, collaboration, interactions and the assignment of the total surface to diverse functions, information of six farms was organized in four decades (from 1960 – 2002). This proposal allowed the identification of population fluctuations of domestic animals and sets relationships with the processes of agricultural transformation within the farm

Statistical modelling and forecasting of outstanding liabilities in non-life insurance

Non-life insurance companies need to build reserves to meet their claims liability cash flows. They often work with aggregated data. Recently it has been suggested that better statistical properties can be obtained when more aggregated data are available for statistical analysis than just the classical aggregated payments. When also the aggregated number of claims is available one can define a full statistical model of the nature of the number of claims, their delay until payment and the nature of these payments. In this paper we provide a new development in this direction by entering yet another set of aggregated data, namely the number of payments and when they occurred. A new element of our statistical analysis is that we are able to incorporate inflationary trends of payments in a direct and explicit way. Our new method is illustrated on a real life data set

La evaluación en la gestión pedagógica con la incorporación de las TIC-TAC- TEP

The present study is about Evaluation in Pedagogical Management as one of the major challenges that the educational environment has suffered. Due to the acceleration of the development of information and communication technologies, the incorporation of the concept of technologies of learning and knowledge; And empowerment for participation known as ICTs, TACs and TEPs. These guarantee in learning significant skills in students for the production of knowledge. Therefore, the evaluation, incorporating technology, aims to observe the ability of the student to organize, interpret knowledge, experiences and personal needs at a level that helps to use the new information to revise the new understanding of the world. It is approaching the pedagogical management for the planning and administration of the learning; Articulating strategically actions of the school environment in the educational processes and where the actors are immersed for interaction and exchange with society. The purpose is to contribute to the reflection that must be carried out continuously by the teacher from a set of theoretical references and highlight the shortcomings and aspects not resolved in the evaluation. The subject is developed from a documentary research in order to expand and deepen the knowledge that reflects the author's understanding and thinking in this working paper (UPEL, 2016). In addition, results of some researches explain the approach of the digital competences of the students of the 21st century for the change of evaluative culture in the contexts where this activity occurs. It is to reorient evaluation to new challengesEl presente producto en estudio trata sobre la Evaluación en la Gestión Pedagógica como uno de los mayores desafíos que ha sufrido el entorno educativo. Debido a la aceleración del desarrollo de las tecnologías de la información y comunicación, la incorporación del concepto tecnologías del aprendizaje y del conocimiento; y el empoderamiento para la participación conocida como las TIC, las TAC y las TEP. Estas garantizan en el aprendizaje habilidades significativas en los estudiantes&nbsp; para la producción del conocimiento. Por lo que la evaluación, al incorporar la tecnología,&nbsp; pretende observar la capacidad que tiene el estudiante para organizar, interpretar el conocimiento, las experiencias y las necesidades personales a un nivel que contribuya a utilizar la nueva información para revisar la nueva&nbsp; comprensión del mundo. Es&nbsp; aproximarse a la gestión pedagógica para la planeación y administración de los aprendizajes; articulando estratégicamente acciones propias del entorno escolar&nbsp; en los procesos educativos&nbsp; y donde están inmersos los actores para la interacción e intercambio con la sociedad. El propósito es contribuir a&nbsp; la reflexión que debe realizar continuamente el docente a partir de un conjunto de referentes teóricos y poner en relieve las carencias y los aspectos no resueltos en la evaluación. El tema está desarrollado desde una investigación documental con el fin de ampliar y profundizar el conocimiento que refleja la comprensión y el pensamiento del autor en este papel de trabajo (UPEL, 2016). Además, &nbsp;resultados de algunas investigaciones, explican el acercamiento de las competencias digitales de los estudiantes del siglo XXI para el cambio de la cultura evaluativa en los contextos donde esta actividad ocurre. Consiste en reorientar la evaluación a nuevos retos.&nbsp;&nbsp

The benefits of active portfolio management. A reform proposal to Michoacan State’s Public Pension Fund Office

El presente artículo estudia el contexto legal y administrativo de uno de los fondos de pensiones de beneficio definido políticamente más relevantes en México, la Dirección de Pensiones Civiles del Estado de Michoacán. Como consecuencia de esto, se hace la propuesta de una política, estructura y proceso de gestión activa de carteras para su reserva técnica. Para probar la pertinencia de la propuesta, se realizó una simulación de eventos discretos con tres tipos de matrices de covarianzas, empleando el modelo Markowitz- Tobin-Sharpe-Lintner. Los resultados demuestran que se superan los objetivos actuariales planteados y se logra incrementar, como consecuencia, el periodo de suficiencia financiera del plan de pensiones

Improvement of the Anticancer Activities of Telmisartan by Zn(II) Complexation and Mechanisms of Action

To improve the anticancer activity of telmisartan, its structure has been modified by Zn(II) complexation giving [Zn(Telm)2(H2O)2]·2H2O (ZnTelm). The cytotoxic effect was measured on the human lung cancer cells (A549) and on the lung fibroblast cells (MRC-5). The complex markedly improved anticancer activity (IC50 75 μM) of telmisartan (IC50 125 μM) or ZnSO4 (IC50 225 μM) and did not show toxicity on non-cancer cells, inducing oxidative stress with cellular ROS generation and GSH/GSSG decrease. Apoptosis was the dominant form of cell death for the complex. The Bax/Bcl-XL ratio was significantly increased aswell as caspase-3 activation. Both the complex and the ligand bind to bovine serumalbumin (BSA) and can be stored and transported by the protein but the interaction with the complex is greater. Telmisartan binds BSA by hydrophobic interactions while the interaction of ZnTelm occurs through van derWaals forces and hydrogen bonding. Therefore, it can be shown that the coordination complex ZnTelm improved the anticancer activity of the antihypertensive drug telmisartan (IC50 75 μM and 125 μM, respectively) and the interaction with BSA.Fil: Martínez, Valeria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Química Inorgánica "Dr. Pedro J. Aymonino". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Química Inorgánica "Dr. Pedro J. Aymonino"; ArgentinaFil: María V. Aguirre. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste; ArgentinaFil: Todaro, Juan Santiago. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste; ArgentinaFil: Ferrer, Evelina Gloria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Química Inorgánica "Dr. Pedro J. Aymonino". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Química Inorgánica "Dr. Pedro J. Aymonino"; ArgentinaFil: Williams, Patricia Ana María. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Química Inorgánica "Dr. Pedro J. Aymonino". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Química Inorgánica "Dr. Pedro J. Aymonino"; Argentin