89 research outputs found
La influencia de la productividad en la consolidación de los grupos nacionales de la banca privada española (1900-1914)
Este trabajo analiza el fenĂłmeno de la crisis y auge de los grupos regionales de la banca española con una nueva metodologĂa que permite estudiar el nivel de eficiencia y la productividad de las entidades financieras. Se han obtenido dos resultados relevantes. En primer lugar, se ha confirmado la influencia de los niveles de productividad en la trayectoria mĂĄs o menos exitosa de los diversos grupos regionales bancarios. En segundo lugar, se ha demostrado que el progreso general de la banca privada durante el perĂodo inmediatamente anterior a la Primera Guerra Mundial fue debido mĂĄs a un incremento generalizado de la competiciĂłn, que redundĂł en un acercamiento de cada vez mĂĄs entidades a los mĂĄximos niveles de eficiencia, que al desarrollo o/y adopciĂłn de innovaciones financieras.DEA, Indice de Malmquist, Historia financiera de España
A biomarker approach to microplastic ingestion responses of bioindicator commercial fish species: assessing tissue and biochemical relationships
Perception of the population of the city of Passos on the factors that determine the appearance of cancer: myths and truths
Introdução: As neoplasias malignas sĂŁo responsĂĄveis por inĂșmeras mortes em todo o mundo, por isso sĂŁo encaradas pela população com muito temor e curiosidade. Sendo assim muitas pessoas recorrem aos meios de comunicação mais convenientes, que nem sempre abordam corretamente as doenças, para se informar sobre prevenção do cĂąncer, ou entĂŁo se baseiam na cultura popular passada por geraçÔes sem nenhum embasamento cientĂfico. Objetivo: Analisar a percepção da população sobre os fatores de risco para o cĂąncer e classificĂĄ-las de acordo com o nĂvel de evidĂȘncia encontrado nas pesquisas cientĂficas. Metodologia: Foram selecionados 146 participantes, de maneira aleatĂłria, que responderam a um questionĂĄrio enviado por e-mail o qual indagava o que o pesquisado considera que seja um fator de risco para se desenvolver cĂąnceres. Esses dados foram tabelados e uma pesquisa bibliogrĂĄfica foi realizada para reconhecer os fatores de risco mencionados pela população como evidentes ou nĂŁo evidentes cientificamente. Resultados: O estresse e causas psicolĂłgicas foram mencionados por 43,84% das pessoas pesquisadas e pelo estudo bibliogrĂĄfico foi classificado como evidĂȘncia parcialmente positiva. O cigarro foi mencionado por 39,04% dos participantes e foi classificado como evidĂȘncia positiva, a herança genĂ©tica foi indicada por 38,36% e classificada como evidĂȘncia positiva, sexo sem proteção foi mencionado por apenas uma pessoa e foi classificado como evidĂȘncia positiva. ConclusĂŁo: Com os dados obtidos observamos que, a maioria das respostas possuem relação com evidĂȘncias cientĂficas publicadas e comprovadas, no entanto, mais estudos e divulgaçÔes acerca de formas preventivas devem ser realizados.Introduction: Malignant neoplasms are responsible for a great and increasing number of deaths worldwide, what justify the fear and curiosity which population face these diseases. To learn about cancer prevention, many people search for information in the most convenient means of communication, which do not always show the clinical evidences of the diseases correctly. Moreover, much of the knowledge, are based on popular beliefs inherited from generations without any scientific basis. Objective: Analyze the populationâs perception of the risk factors associated with cancer and classify them according to the level of evidence found in scientific literature. Methodology: 146 participants were randomly selected and answered a questionnaire sent by email asking what the respondent considers to be a risk factor for developing cancers. These data were tabulated and a bibliographic search was carried out to recognize the risk factors mentioned by the population as scientifically evident or not evident. Results: Stress and psychological causes were mentioned by 43.84% of the people surveyed and classified as partially positive evidence by the bibliographic study. The cigarette smoking was mentioned by 39.04% of the participants and it was classified as positive evidence, the genetic inheritance was indicated by 38.36% and classified as positive evidence, unprotected sex was mentioned by only one person and was classified as positive evidence. Conclusion: The data obtained showed that the majority of the responses were related to published and proven scientific evidence, however, further studies and more impacting prevention plans hould be carried out
Feasibility and usability of remote monitoring in Alzheimerâs disease
Introduction: Remote monitoring technologies (RMTs) can measure cognitive and functional decline objectively at-home, and offer opportunities to measure passively and continuously, possibly improving sensitivity and reducing participant burden in clinical trials. However, there is skepticism that age and cognitive or functional impairment may render participants unable or unwilling to comply with complex RMT protocols. We therefore assessed the feasibility and usability of a complex RMT protocol in all syndromic stages of Alzheimerâs disease and in healthy control participants.Methods: For 8 weeks, participants (N=229) used two activity trackers, two interactive apps with either daily or weekly cognitive tasks, and optionally a wearable camera. A subset of participants participated in a 4-week sub-study (N=45) using fixed at-home sensors, a wearable EEG sleep headband and a driving performance device. Feasibility was assessed by evaluating compliance and drop-out rates. Usability was assessed by problem rates (e.g., understanding instructions, discomfort, forgetting to use the RMT or technical problems) as discussed during bi-weekly semi-structured interviews.Results: Most problems were found for the active apps and EEG sleep headband. Problem rates increased and compliance rates decreased with disease severity, but the study remained feasible.Conclusions: This study shows that a highly complex RMT protocol is feasible, even in a mild-to-moderate AD population, encouraging other researchers to use RMTs in their study designs. We recommend evaluating the design of individual devices carefully before finalizing study protocols, considering RMTs which allow for real-time compliance monitoring, and engaging the partners of study participants in the research.<br/
SĂndrome LĂĄtex-Fruta: Uma RevisĂŁo de Literatura / Latex-Fruit Syndrome: Literature Review
Introdução: A SĂndrome do LĂĄtex do Fruto (SLF) Ă© uma sĂndrome alĂ©rgica que caracteriza pela alta reatividade dos pacientes em contato com lĂĄtex de borracha e alguns alimentos de origem vegetal como frutas e nozes. O presente artigo objetiva compreender o desenvolvimento da SLF, seus fatores de risco e sua prevalĂȘncia, alĂ©m de discutir sobre esse tema pouco abordado na literatura. MĂ©todos: Para essa revisĂŁo de literatura, foi realizado levantamento bibliogrĂĄfico a partir de busca nas bases de dados Pubmed, Cochrane, Medline e LILACS, usando os descritores âHipersensibilidadeâ, âLĂĄtexâ e âFrutaâ. Foram definidos como critĂ©rios de inclusĂŁo artigos publicados nos Ășltimos 5 anos, nos idiomas portuguĂȘs, inglĂȘs e espanhol. A partir dos critĂ©rios definidos, a pesquisa retornou 7 artigos no Pubmed, 0 artigos no Cochrane, 3 artigos no Medline e 3 artigos no LILACS. Resultados e discussĂŁo: Foram totalizados 13 artigos, sendo 4 repetidos e 9 diferentes. Verifica-se diferentes fatores de risco relacionados ao desenvolvimento da SĂndrome lĂĄtex-fruta (SLF) como exposição frequente ao lĂĄtex, histĂłrico de mĂșltiplas cirurgias e presença de outras doenças alĂ©rgicas. Nos exames laboratoriais tradicionais, conhecidos como lĂĄtex-sIgE, observamos uma quantificação dos anticorpos sĂ©ricos sIgE. Entretanto, devido a grande variedade de alĂ©rgenos naturais, bem como padrĂ”es de sensibilização individuais, Ă© comum ocorrer implicaçÔes e erros de interpretação dos resultados. ConsideraçÔes finais: Os exames para concluir o diagnĂłstico nos pacientes portadores da sĂndrome da alergia ao lĂĄtex sĂŁo pouco especĂficos e hĂĄ uma necessidade da elaboração de testes mais fidedignos a fim de diminuir os erros diagnĂłsticos.
Ludwig Koch and the Music of Nature
Ludwig Koch was a pioneer of outside broadcast, natural history recording in the first half of the 20th century. This programme explores his methods, techniques and personality through archive recordings and interviews, and includes attempts t recreating his experiments using modern equipment
Meta-population feeding grounds of Cory's shearwater in the subtropical Atlantic Ocean: implications for the definition of Marine Protected Areas based on tracking studies
A comprehensive analysis of autocorrelation and bias in home range estimation
Home range estimation is routine practice in ecological research. While advances in animal tracking technology have increased our capacity to collect data to support home range analysis, these same advances have also resulted in increasingly autocorrelated data. Consequently, the question of which home range estimator to use on modern, highly autocorrelated tracking data remains open. This question is particularly relevant given that most estimators assume independently sampled data. Here, we provide a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of autocorrelation on home range estimation. We base our study on an extensive data set of GPS locations from 369 individuals representing 27 species distributed across five continents. We first assemble a broad array of home range estimators, including Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) with four bandwidth optimizers (Gaussian reference function, autocorrelated-Gaussian reference function [AKDE], SilvermanÂŽs rule of thumb, and least squares cross-validation), Minimum Convex Polygon, and Local Convex Hull methods. Notably, all of these estimators except AKDE assume independent and identically distributed (IID) data. We then employ half-sample cross-validation to objectively quantify estimator performance, and the recently introduced effective sample size for home range area estimation ((Formula presented.)) to quantify the information content of each data set. We found that AKDE 95% area estimates were larger than conventional IID-based estimates by a mean factor of 2. The median number of cross-validated locations included in the hold-out sets by AKDE 95% (or 50%) estimates was 95.3% (or 50.1%), confirming the larger AKDE ranges were appropriately selective at the specified quantile. Conversely, conventional estimates exhibited negative bias that increased with decreasing (Formula presented.). To contextualize our empirical results, we performed a detailed simulation study to tease apart how sampling frequency, sampling duration, and the focal animalÂŽs movement conspire to affect range estimates. Paralleling our empirical results, the simulation study demonstrated that AKDE was generally more accurate than conventional methods, particularly for small (Formula presented.). While 72% of the 369 empirical data sets had >1,000 total observations, only 4% had an (Formula presented.) >1,000, where 30% had an (Formula presented.) <30. In this frequently encountered scenario of small (Formula presented.), AKDE was the only estimator capable of producing an accurate home range estimate on autocorrelated data.Fil: Noonan, Michael J.. National Zoological Park; Estados Unidos. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Tucker, Marlee A.. Senckenberg Gesellschaft FĂŒr Naturforschung; . Goethe Universitat Frankfurt; AlemaniaFil: Fleming, Christen H.. University of Maryland; Estados Unidos. National Zoological Park; Estados UnidosFil: Akre, Thomas S.. National Zoological Park; Estados UnidosFil: Alberts, Susan C.. University of Duke; Estados UnidosFil: Ali, Abdullahi H.. Hirola Conservation Programme. Garissa; KeniaFil: Altmann, Jeanne. University of Princeton; Estados UnidosFil: Antunes, Pamela Castro. Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul; BrasilFil: Belant, Jerrold L.. State University of New York; Estados UnidosFil: Beyer, Dean. Universitat Phillips; AlemaniaFil: Blaum, Niels. Universitat Potsdam; AlemaniaFil: Böhning Gaese, Katrin. Senckenberg Gesellschaft FĂŒr Naturforschung; Alemania. Goethe Universitat Frankfurt; AlemaniaFil: Cullen Jr., Laury. Instituto de Pesquisas EcolĂłgicas; BrasilFil: de Paula, Rogerio Cunha. National Research Center For Carnivores Conservation; BrasilFil: Dekker, Jasja. Jasja Dekker Dierecologie; PaĂses BajosFil: Drescher Lehman, Jonathan. George Mason University; Estados Unidos. National Zoological Park; Estados UnidosFil: Farwig, Nina. Michigan State University; Estados UnidosFil: Fichtel, Claudia. German Primate Center; AlemaniaFil: Fischer, Christina. Universitat Technical Zu Munich; AlemaniaFil: Ford, Adam T.. University of British Columbia; CanadĂĄFil: Goheen, Jacob R.. University of Wyoming; Estados UnidosFil: Janssen, RenĂ©. Bionet Natuuronderzoek; PaĂses BajosFil: Jeltsch, Florian. Universitat Potsdam; AlemaniaFil: Kauffman, Matthew. University Of Wyoming; Estados UnidosFil: Kappeler, Peter M.. German Primate Center; AlemaniaFil: Koch, FlĂĄvia. German Primate Center; AlemaniaFil: LaPoint, Scott. Max Planck Institute fĂŒr Ornithologie; Alemania. Columbia University; Estados UnidosFil: Markham, A. Catherine. Stony Brook University; Estados UnidosFil: Medici, Emilia Patricia. Instituto de Pesquisas EcolĂłgicas (IPE) ; BrasilFil: Morato, Ronaldo G.. Institute For Conservation of The Neotropical Carnivores; Brasil. National Research Center For Carnivores Conservation; BrasilFil: Nathan, Ran. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; IsraelFil: Oliveira Santos, Luiz Gustavo R.. Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul; BrasilFil: Olson, Kirk A.. Wildlife Conservation Society; Estados Unidos. National Zoological Park; Estados UnidosFil: Patterson, Bruce. Field Museum of National History; Estados UnidosFil: Paviolo, Agustin Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de BiologĂa Subtropical. Instituto de BiologĂa Subtropical - Nodo Puerto IguazĂș | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de BiologĂa Subtropical. Instituto de BiologĂa Subtropical - Nodo Puerto IguazĂș; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Nordeste; ArgentinaFil: Ramalho, Emiliano Esterci. Institute For Conservation of The Neotropical Carnivores; Brasil. Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentavel MamirauĂĄ; BrasilFil: Rösner, Sascha. Michigan State University; Estados UnidosFil: Schabo, Dana G.. Michigan State University; Estados UnidosFil: Selva, Nuria. Institute of Nature Conservation of The Polish Academy of Sciences; PoloniaFil: Sergiel, Agnieszka. Institute of Nature Conservation of The Polish Academy of Sciences; PoloniaFil: Xavier da Silva, Marina. Parque Nacional do Iguaçu; BrasilFil: Spiegel, Orr. Universitat Tel Aviv; IsraelFil: Thompson, Peter. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Ullmann, Wiebke. Universitat Potsdam; AlemaniaFil: Ziážba, Filip. Tatra National Park; PoloniaFil: Zwijacz Kozica, Tomasz. Tatra National Park; PoloniaFil: Fagan, William F.. University of Maryland; Estados UnidosFil: Mueller, Thomas. Senckenberg Gesellschaft FĂŒr Naturforschung; . Goethe Universitat Frankfurt; AlemaniaFil: Calabrese, Justin M.. National Zoological Park; Estados Unidos. University of Maryland; Estados Unido
A framework for the development of a global standardised marine taxon reference image database (SMarTaR-ID) to support image-based analyses
Video and image data are regularly used in the field of benthic ecology to document biodiversity. However, their use is subject to a number of challenges, principally the identification of taxa within the images without associated physical specimens. The challenge of applying traditional taxonomic keys to the identification of fauna from images has led to the development of personal, group, or institution level reference image catalogues of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) or morphospecies. Lack of standardisation among these reference catalogues has led to problems with observer bias and the inability to combine datasets across studies. In addition, lack of a common reference standard is stifling efforts in the application of artificial intelligence to taxon identification. Using the North Atlantic deep sea as a case study, we propose a database structure to facilitate standardisation of morphospecies image catalogues between research groups and support future use in multiple front-end applications. We also propose a framework for coordination of international efforts to develop reference guides for the identification of marine species from images. The proposed structure maps to the Darwin Core standard to allow integration with existing databases. We suggest a management framework where high-level taxonomic groups are curated by a regional team, consisting of both end users and taxonomic experts. We identify a mechanism by which overall quality of data within a common reference guide could be raised over the next decade. Finally, we discuss the role of a common reference standard in advancing marine ecology and supporting sustainable use of this ecosystem
Correlation between work impairment, scores of rhinitis severity and asthma using the MASK-air (R) App
Background In allergic rhinitis, a relevant outcome providing information on the effectiveness of interventions is needed. In MASK-air (Mobile Airways Sentinel Network), a visual analogue scale (VAS) for work is used as a relevant outcome. This study aimed to assess the performance of the work VAS work by comparing VAS work with other VAS measurements and symptom-medication scores obtained concurrently. Methods All consecutive MASK-air users in 23 countries from 1 June 2016 to 31 October 2018 were included (14 189 users; 205 904 days). Geolocalized users self-assessed daily symptom control using the touchscreen functionality on their smart phone to click on VAS scores (ranging from 0 to 100) for overall symptoms (global), nose, eyes, asthma and work. Two symptom-medication scores were used: the modified EAACI CSMS score and the MASK control score for rhinitis. To assess data quality, the intra-individual response variability (IRV) index was calculated. Results A strong correlation was observed between VAS work and other VAS. The highest levels for correlation with VAS work and variance explained in VAS work were found with VAS global, followed by VAS nose, eye and asthma. In comparison with VAS global, the mCSMS and MASK control score showed a lower correlation with VAS work. Results are unlikely to be explained by a low quality of data arising from repeated VAS measures. Conclusions VAS work correlates with other outcomes (VAS global, nose, eye and asthma) but less well with a symptom-medication score. VAS work should be considered as a potentially useful AR outcome in intervention studies.Peer reviewe
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