Emerging Practices in Facebook at National Parks

The main purpose of this paper is to contribute to analyze recent data about the behavior of national park administrations on Facebook. As public organizations, they endeavor to proactively communicate information to citizens, promoting transparency and accountability. It is important to study the case of national parks because of their relevant role in preserving natural and cultural heritage and promoting a very rich scenario of policy-making and responsible local and global citizenship. Some insights have arisen for political management of these institutions. According to the analysis of the results, it is shown that there exists a significant presence of these entities in Facebook, even if this type of communication is perhaps in its infancy. The results suggest that a potential factor (country in which each park is located and the corresponding administration style) exists, in order to explain significant differences between parks.JEL Codes - D8; R5; Z1; Z

Fractional differencing in stock market price and online presence of global tourist corporations

Purpose – This work aims to explore the behavior of stock market prices according to the autoregressive fractional differencing integrated moving average model. This behavior will be compared with a measure of online presence, search engine results as measured by Google Trends. Design/methodology/approach – The study sample is comprised by the companies listed at the STOXX® Global 3000 Travel and Leisure.Google Finance and Yahoo Finance, along with Google Trends, were used, respectively, to obtain the data of stock prices and search results, for a period offive years (October 2012 to October 2017). To guarantee certain comparability between the two data sets, weekly observations were collected,with a total figure of 118 firms, two time series each (price and search results), around 61,000 observations. Findings – Relationships between the two data sets are explored, with theoretical implications for the field sof economics, finance and management. Tourist corporations were analyzed owing to their growing economic impact. The estimations are initially consistent with long memory; so, they suggest that both stock marketprices and online search trends deserve further exploration for modeling and forecasting. Significant differences owing to country and sector effects are also shown. Originality/value – This research contributes in two different ways: it demonstrate the potential of a new tool for the analysis of relevant time series to monitor the behavior of firms and markets, and it suggests several theoretical pathways for further research in the specific topics of asymmetry of information and corporate transparency, proposing pertinent bridges between the two fields.Objetivo - Este trabajo tiene como objetivo explorar el comportamiento de los precios del mercado de valores de acuerdo con el modelo de media móvil integrado de diferenciación fraccional autorregresiva. Este comportamiento se comparará con una medida de presencia en línea, los resultados del motor de búsqueda medidos por Google Trends. Diseño / metodología / enfoque - La muestra del estudio está compuesta por las empresas que figuran en STOXX® Global 3000 Travel and Leisure. Se utilizaron Google Finance y Yahoo Finance, junto con Google Trends, respectivamente, para obtener los datos de precios de las acciones y resultados de búsqueda, por un período de cinco años (octubre de 2012 a octubre de 2017). Para garantizar cierta comparabilidad entre los dos conjuntos de datos, se recopilaron observaciones semanales, con una cifra total de 118 empresas, dos series de tiempo cada una (precio y resultados de búsqueda), alrededor de 61.000 observaciones. Recomendaciones - Se exploran las relaciones entre los dos conjuntos de datos, con implicaciones teóricas para los campos de la economía, las finanzas y la gestión. Se analizaron las corporaciones turísticas por su creciente impacto económico. Las estimaciones son inicialmente consistentes con una memoria larga; por lo tanto, sugieren que tanto los precios del mercado de valores como las tendencias de búsqueda en línea merecen una mayor exploración para modelar y pronosticar. También se muestran diferencias significativas debido a los efectos por países y sectores. Originalidad / valor - Esta investigación contribuye de dos maneras diferentes: demuestra el potencial de una nueva herramienta para el análisis de series de tiempo relevantes para monitorear el comportamiento de empresas y mercados, y sugiere varias vías teóricas para futuras investigaciones en los temas específicos de asimetría de información y transparencia empresarial, proponiendo puentes pertinentes entre los dos campos

Effect of mycoviruses on growth, spore germination and pathogenicity of the fungus Fusarium circinatum

Producción CientíficaAim of the study: To assess the impact on two mycoviruses recently described in F. circinatum mitovirus 1, and 2-2 (FcMV1 and FcMV2-2) on i) mycelial growth, ii) spore germination and iii) relative necrosis. Material and methods: Fourteen monosporic strains of F. circinatum (one of each pair infected with mycoviruses and the other without them) of the pathogen with and without viruses were selected for the assay. The statistical analysis, were a linear mixed model of analysis of variance considering one between-subjects factor (isolate) and one within-subjects factor with four levels (1=without viruses, 2=only virus FcMV1, 3=only virus FcMV2-2 and 4=both viruses). Main results: Colony growth rates of F. circinatum isolates were significantly reduced in presence of mycoviruses (p=0.002). The spore germination was also reduced in the F. circinatum isolates containing mycovirus as compared to mycovirus-free isolates (p<0.001). No significant differences in lesion lengths caused by F. circinatum were found in relation to the presence/absence of mycovirus (p<0.61). Research highlights: Reduction of the percentage of spore germination in the isolates of F. circinatum with mycovirus infections, as compared to free isolates, provides indications of reduction of metabolic activity and plant physiology are discussed. The lack of significant differences found in the length of the lesions caused by F. circinatum with respect to the presence/absence of mycovirus, indicates that further studies with a larger number of variables are required.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (projects AGL2012-39912 and AGL2015- 69370-R)European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST Action FP1406 PINESTRENGTH)Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (grant SFRH/BPD/122928/2016

Instagram: Balancing Information Asymmetry of the Tourism Industry

This study focuses on the use of Instagram by tourism companies. Specifically, it aims to analyze how Instagram empowers individuals over corporations in the digital dialogue, thus balancing the information asymmetry between corporations and stakeholders. Four categories of metrics have been collected to analyze the use of Instagram by companies: presence, impact, conversation, and influence. Additionally, OLS regressions have been performed to identify potential explanatory factors to explain the different behavior of each firm and its corresponding communities. While the use of Instagram by the selected firms is still scarce, significant results are as follows: corporations are using Instagram as an additional channel in their current communication; some explanatory factors account for significant differences in countries, size, and industries; and users are somehow reactive to the stream of pictures and texts disclosed by firms. The presence and impact of companies on Instagram are a highly important source for driving stakeholders’ conversation within the digital arena

Effect of mycoviruses on the virulence of Fusarium circinatum and laccase activity

Producción CientíficaLaccase enzymes (benzenediol: oxygen oxidoreductase, EC 1.10.3.2) play a major role in the degradation of phenolic compounds such as lignin. They are common in fungi and have been suggested to participate in host colonization by pathogenic fungi. Putative mycoviruses have recently been isolated from the causal agent of pine pitch canker disease, Fusarium circinatum Nirenberg & O'Donell. In this study, the effects of single and double mycoviral infections on laccase activity, growth rate and pathogenicity were investigated in fourteen F. circinatum strains. Extracellular laccase activity was analyzed by the Bavendamm test, image processing and a spectrophotometric method. Mycelial growth, in vivo pathogenicity and seedling survival probability were also determined in Monterrey pine (Pinus radiata D. Don) seedlings. The findings showed that (i) mycelial growth of isolates from the same fungal population was homogeneous, (ii) the presence of mycovirus appears to increase the virulence of fungal isolates, (iii) co-infection (with two mycoviruses) caused cryptic effects in fungal isolates, and (iv) laccases embody a possible auxiliary tool in fungal infection. The prospects for biocontrol, the adaptive role of F. circinatum mycoviruses and the importance of laccase enzymes in host colonization are discussed.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Project AGL2012-39912

Usefulness of a brief informant interview to detect dementia, translated into Spanish (AD8-Ch)

Cartas al Edito

Exploiting hybrid parallelism in the kinematic analysis of multibody systems based on group equations

Computational kinematics is a fundamental tool for the design, simulation, control, optimization and dynamic analysis of multibody systems. The analysis of complex multibody systems and the need for real time solutions requires the development of kinematic and dynamic formulations that reduces computational cost, the selection and efficient use of the most appropriated solvers and the exploiting of all the computer resources using parallel computing techniques. The topological approach based on group equations and natural coordinates reduces the computation time in comparison with well-known global formulations and enables the use of parallelism techniques which can be applied at different levels: simultaneous solution of equations, use of multithreading routines, or a combination of both. This paper studies and compares these topological formulation and parallel techniques to ascertain which combination performs better in two applications. The first application uses dedicated systems for the real time control of small multibody systems, defined by a few number of equations and small linear systems, so shared-memory parallelism in combination with linear algebra routines is analyzed in a small multicore and in Raspberry Pi. The control of a Stewart platform is used as a case study. The second application studies large multibody systems in which the kinematic analysis must be performed several times during the design of multibody systems. A simulator which allows us to control the formulation, the solver, the parallel techniques and size of the problem has been developed and tested in more powerful computational systems with larger multicores and GPU.This work was supported by the Spanish MINECO, as well as European Commission FEDER funds, under grant TIN2015-66972-C5-3-

Análisis Estadístico de los Resultados del Archivo Maestro de Instituciones Educativas 2001 - 2010 de la Dirección Provincial de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe de Chimborazo.

El análisis estadístico de los resultados del Archivo Maestro de Instituciones Educativas(AMIE) 2001 -2010 de la Dirección Provincial de Educación Intercultural Bilingüe de Chimborazo(DIPEIBCH), se divide en tres grupos de variables: Establecimientos Educativos, Personal que Labora y Estudiantes;utilizando para el estudio el Método Analítico. El análisis se lo realizó en la hoja electrónica Microsoft Excel, con la aplicación de técnicas estadísticas de una y dos variables, tales como: cálculo de estadísticas descriptivas, números índice, regresión lineal, correlación y tablas de contingencia; consiguiendo resultados que permiten medir la situación actual del sistema educativo. Se obtuvo un modelo de análisis estadístico que ayuda a mejorar la forma de análisis e interpretación de datos recolectados en la DIPEIBCH, además la plantilla en Excel sirve como referente para estudios que se realicen dentro de cualquier otra jurisdicción. En el estudio se ha logrado visualizar que los docentes sin nombramiento en los periodos de estudio han crecido en un 65%; del total de docentes el 82% corresponde a aquellos que tienen titulo educativo. El cantón Colta con el 32% es aquel que más establecimientos educativos tiene a pesar que Guamotecuenta con mayor número de estudiantes (31% a nivel provincial), es decir el número de establecimientos no es proporcional al número de estudiantes. Por lo que se concluye que la toma de decisionesen este Sistema de Educación no es la adecuada y se recomienda tomar este análisis como guía para hacer correcciones al sistema educativo y tomar decisiones en función de los datos analizados

Factores asociados a la desnutrición crónica infantil en Ecuador. Estudio basado en modelos de regresión y árboles de clasificación.

La presente investigación busca determinar los factores que inf luyen significativamente en la desnutrición crónica en niños de 0 a 5 años de edad en el Ecuador. Las variables que formaron parte del estudio han sido consideradas de acuerdo al marco conceptual propuesto por la UNICEF y extraídas de las bases de datos de la última encuesta de Salud y Nutrición 2018 desarrollada por el Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos y el Ministerio de Salud Pública. Con el objetivo de comparar resultados se aplicaron modelos basados en árboles de clasificación y de regresión logística. Se encontró que los factores básicos relacionados con: el grupo étnico del niño, la escolaridad de la madre, el acceso a comunicación móvil, el estado civil de los padres, la edad de la madre, el número de hijos en el hogar y el tipo de combustible que se usa para cocinar inf luyen de manera significativa sobre el estado nutricional del infante. Estos factores están relacionados directamente con factores básicos y subyacentes como control de la madre antes y después del parto, la vacunación del infante, la adecuada alimentación y el tamaño del niño al nacer, los cuales también inf luyen en la desnutrición.This research seeks to determine significantly inf luencing factors on chronic malnutrition of children from zero to five years old in Ecuador. The variables that were part of the study have been considered according to the conceptual framework proposed by UNICEF and extracted from the databases of the latest 2018 Health and Nutrition survey developed by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses and the Ministry of Public Health. In order to compare results, models based on classification trees and logistic regression were applied. It was found that the basic factors related to: child 's ethnic group, mother's schooling, access to mobile communication, parents' marital status, mother's age, the number of children in the family, and the type of fuel used for cooking have a significant inf luence on the infant's nutritional status. These factors are directly related with basic and underlying factors such as control of the mother before and after delivery, infant vaccination, adequate nutrition and the size of the child at birth, which also inf luence in malnutrition

Sydowia polyspora dominates fungal communities carried by two Tomicus species in pine plantations threatened by Fusarium circinatum

Producción CientíficaBark beetles (Coleoptera, Scolytinae) carry a diverse filamentous fungal community sometimes acting as vectors or carriers of phytopathogens. In this study, mycobiota carried by two Tomicus species (Tomicus piniperda and Tomicus destruens) were investigated through (i) morphological and molecular identification of taxa; (ii) taxonomic richness, diversity, evenness, dominance and phoresy indices; (iii) ecological network analysis and (iv) statistical co-occurrence analysis. The studied mycobiota were formed by eleven taxa and showed a moderate fungal diversity with low evenness. The fungus Sydowia polyspora was significantly abundant and dominated the community. All the fungal taxa were randomly associated. Both insect species (T. piniperda and T. destruens) were collected from plantations of Pinus radiata infected by Fusarium circinatum. The ecological factors that could drive community ecology and phoretic links between fungi and bark beetles are discussed.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (project AGL2015-69370-R)Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (project AGL2012-39912)Junta de Castilla y León - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (grant ORDEN EDU/1083/2013