Are Drinkers Prone To Engage In Risky Sexual Behaviors?

Sexually transmitted diseases pose an important public health problem around the world. Although many studies have explored the link between alcohol use and risky sexual practices, the unobserved differences among individuals make it difficult to assess whether the associations are casual in nature. In order to overcome these difficulties, we have obtained data from the Spanish Health and Sexual Behavior Survey (2003) in order to analyze risky sexual behaviors using four alternative methodologies: controlling results with a rich set of variables; identifying the impact of alcohol use while assuming there is an identical selection outcome for observed and unobserved variables; estimating alcohol consumption and risky sexual behaviors simultaneously based on instrumental variables; and using reduced-form equations to analyze the impact of alcohol prices and other alcohol policies on the likelihood of risky intercourse. We provide empirical evidence that alcohol abuse might increase the probability of risky sex and, more importantly, different alcohol policies are not only effective tools for reducing alcohol demand but also for controlling risky sexual behaviors.alcohol; sexually transmitted diseases; unobserved individual heterogeneity.

Distributed databases

Mòdul 3 del llibre Database Architecture. UOC, 20122022/202

Rethinking World Literature Studies in Latin American and Spanish Contexts

This issue presents a collection of essays which address, from the perspectives of distinct critical traditions, the epistemological framework and central problems of World Literature Studies both its most original contributions (de-Eurocentering Weltliteratur, addressing various levels of culture, centering the circulation of texts and their translation, the role of the market), as well as its dialogue with classic comparative approaches. The term "rethinking" used in the title of the issue is not meant in the sense of adding fuel to the debate lively enough as it is around the very notion of World Literature (Damrosch, Moretti, Casanova, and David, among others), but denotes an operation that is essential to any critical endeavor: the interrogation of theories and methods that underlie the reading of a text (as Raymond Williams and Edward Said have argued). We assume World Literature as a mode of comparativism that integrates the classical concerns of Comparative Literature about supranational relationships between texts, with the "secular" criticism of Cultural Studies and its attention to context

Construcción de la identidad académica a través del inglés como lengua extranjera en alumnos de primero

[EN] This paper studies the construction of an academic identity through writing in English as a foreign language, using a theoretical approach based on socio-constructivism, genre theory, systemic-functional linguistics and cultural-historical activity theory. Specifically, we study the relationship between academic genres and identity in first-year Humanities students, and to what extent a reflective social approach to writing instruction can foster students' initiation by providing spaces to analyse and discuss the nature of the academic activity system. The theoretical underpinnings present students' identity in construction as an essential element in the process of acquisition of academic genres, hence key to students' success at university, and students' identities as key elements of the academic activity system, at the same level as the other three – its communication tools, users, and goals. The theoretical framework guided the design of a course on academic English as a foreign language for first-year Humanities students at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. The course materials were used simultaneously as research tools to gather the data for the study, using an emic perspective as a teacher/researcher. The results show a close relationship between students' problems with the acquisition of genres in English and conflicts between their identities and other elements of the academic activity system, particularly their relation to other members and to ideational content, and hence students' inability to make relevant contributions due to problems using academic genres in English.[ES] El presente artículo estudia la construcción de la identidad académica a través de la escritura en inglés como lengua extranjera, desde la base teórica del socioconstructivismo, la teoría de género, la lingüística sistémico-funcional y la teoría de actividad histórico-cultural. Concretamente, se analiza la relación entre los géneros académicos y la identidad académica en alumnos de primero de Humanidades, y hasta qué punto un planteamiento social reflexivo de la enseñanza de la escritura contribuye a mejorar la integración de los alumnos, proveyéndoles de espacios y herramientas para el análisis del sistema de actividad académico. Conceptualizamos la identidad en construcción de los aprendices como un elemento esencial del proceso de adquisición de los géneros académicos, y por tanto clave para su permanencia en la universidad. Las identidades de los estudiantes son vistas como elementos clave del sistema de actividad académico, al mismo nivel que sus otros componentes – herramientas de comunicación, usuarios y metas. A partir de este marco, se diseñó un curso de inglés para usos académicos para alumnos de primero de Humanidades en la Universidad Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona). Los materiales del curso se usaron como herramientas para recoger datos para un estudio émico, evidenciando la relación entre los problemas de los estudiantes con la adquisición de géneros académicos en inglés y los conflictos que experimentan cuando sus propias identidades entran en contradicción con elementos del sistema, particularmente en relación con otros miembros del sistema y con el contenido del campo, lo que dificulta que los alumnos puedan construir conocimiento a través de los géneros en inglés.Oliva Girbau, A.; Milian Gubern, M. (2013). First year students’construction of an academic identity in English as a foreign language. REDU. Revista de Docencia Universitaria. 11(1):59-77. https://doi.org/10.4995/redu.2013.5592OJS5977111Bakhtin, M. M.; Holquist, M. and Emerson, C. (1986). Speech genres and other late essays. Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press.Bazerman, C. (1994). Constructing experience. Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.Bazerman, C. (1995). Systems of genre and the enactment of social intentions. In A. Freedman and P. Medway (Eds.). Genre and the new rhetoric (pp. 79-101). London: Taylor & Francis.Bruner, J. (1985) Vygotsky A Historical And Conceptual Perspective in Wertsch, V. (ed) Culture, communication and cognition: Vygotskyan perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Carlino, P. (2004). La Distancia que Separa la Evaluación Escrita Frecuente de la Deseable. Revista de Educación de la Universidad de los Andes, vol. 13(1), 8-17.Devitt, A. (1993). Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept. College Composition and Communication, 44, 573-86.Devitt, A. (1994). Genre and the New Rhetoric. London: Taylor & Francis.Devitt, A. (1996). Genre, Genres and the teaching of genre. College Composition and Communication, 47, 605-615.Devitt, A. (2004). Writing genres. Carbondale, US: Southern Illinois University Press.Engeström, Y. (1995). Expansive Learning at Work: Toward an Activity Theoretical Reconceptualization. Journal of Education and Work, 14 (1), 133 -156.Freeman, D. (1981). Essays in modern stylistics. London: Methuen.Halliday, M.A.K. (1970). Functional Diversity in Language as Seen from a Consideration of Modality and Mood in English. Foundations of Language, 6, 322-361.Halliday, M.A.K. (1978). Language as social semiotic. London: Edward Arnold.Halliday, M.A.K. (1993). Towards a Language-Based Theory of Learning. Linguistics and Education, 5, 93-116.Halliday, M.A.K. (1994). An Introduction To Functional Grammar. London: Longman.Ivanic, R. (1998). Writing and Identity: The Discoursal Construction of Identity in Academic Writing. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Ivanič, R. (2006). Language, learning and identification. Language, culture and identity in applied linguistics, 7-29.Lea, M.R. & Street, B. (2006) The "Academic Literacies" Model: Theory and Applications. Theory Into Prcatice, 45(4), 368-377.Leontiev, A.N. (1978). Activity, consciousness and personality. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice- Hall.Lillis, T. and Scott, M. (2007). Defining Academic Literacies Research: Issues of Epistemology, Ideology and Strategy. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 4 (1), 5-32.Nash, W. (1990). The writing scholar: Studies in academic discourse. London: Sage.Rienecker, L. & Stray Jorgensen, P. (2003). The (im)possibilities in teaching university writing in the Anglo-American tradition when dealing with continental student writers, in L.A. Björk, G. Braüer, L. Rienecker and P. Stray (eds.). Teaching academic writing in european higher education. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, p. 101-112.Roth & Lee (2007). Vygotsky's Neglected Legacy: Cultural-Historical Activity Theory. Review of Educational Research, 77, 186-232.Russell, D. (1987). Writing Across the Curriculum and the Communications Movement: Some Lessons from the Past. College Composition and Communication, 38 (2), 184-219.Russell, D. (1991). Writing in the academic disciplines, 1870-1990: A curricular history. Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.Russell, D. and Yáñez, A. (2003). Teoría de la Actividad Histórico-Cultural Vygotskiana y la Teoría del Sistema de Géneros: Una Síntesis sobre la Escritura en la Educación Formal y la Escritura en otras Prácticas Sociales. Entre Lenguas, 8, 67-82.Russell, D.; Lea, M.; Parker, J.; Street, B. and Donahue, T. (2009). Exploring notions of genre in 'academic literacies' and 'writing across the curriculum': approaches across countries and contexts. In C. Bazerman, A. Bonini and D. Figueiredo (eds.). Genre in a Changing World. Perspectives on Writing. Colorado: WAC Clearinghouse/Parlor Press, pp. 459-491.Street, B. (1999). Academic literacies. In C. Jones, J. Turner and B. Street (eds) Students Writing in the University: cultural and epistemological issues. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Street, B. (2009). Academic Literacies approaches to Genre?. Fifth International Symposium on Textual Genre Suties (VSIGET). Published in RBLA Belo Horizonte, 10 (2), 347-361.Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press

Producing ultrashort, ultraintense plasma-based soft-x-ray laser pulses by high-harmonic seeding.

Simulations show that intense plasma-amplified pulses of 100 fs duration and below are feasible by seeding specifically tailored plasma with an ultrashort pulse of high harmonic radiation. Seeding overcomes gain narrowing by driving amplifying media into saturation earlier, and compensates for reduced gain resulting from boosting the lasing transition linewidth. We conclude that ultrahigh intensities (above 1016 W cm-2) could be reached

Characterization of CRISPR-Cas Systems in Serratia marcescens Isolated from Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

The CRISPR-Cas adaptive immune system has been attracting increasing scientific interest for biological functions and biotechnological applications. Data on the Serratia marcescens system are scarce. Here, we report a comprehensive characterisation of CRISPR-Cas systems identified in S. marcescens strains isolated as secondary symbionts of Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, also known as Red Palm Weevil (RPW), one of the most invasive pests of major cultivated palms. Whole genome sequencing was performed on four strains (S1, S5, S8, and S13), which were isolated from the reproductive apparatus of RPWs. Subtypes I-F and I-E were harboured by S5 and S8, respectively. No CRISPR-Cas system was detected in Si or S13. Two CRISPR arrays (4 and 51 spacers) were detected in S5 and three arrays (11, 31, and 30 spacers) were detected in S8. The CRISPR-Cas systems were located in the genomic region spanning from ybhR to phnP, as if this were the only region where CRISPR-Cas loci were acquired. This was confirmed by analyzing the S. marcescens complete genomes available in the NCBI database. This region defines a genomic hotspot for horizontally acquired genes and/or CRISPR-Cas systems. This study also supplies the first identification of subtype I-E in S. marcescens

Herramientas digitales para comunicadores

Index de les obres ressenyades: Santiago TEJEDOR CALVO (dir.), Herramientas digitales para comunicadores. Bellaterra Barcelona, 2019, 351 pp. ISBN: 978-84-948252-6-

Introduction: towards a cross-disciplinary history of the global in the humanities and the social sciences

The interdisciplinary analysis of historical and contemporary global issues with increasingly productive flows of theories, concepts, methods, and practices is a principal goal in global studies. However, within the humanities and the social sciences, the idea of the 'global' is often restrained by disciplinary boundaries, with scant dialogue and transference between them. The present special issue addresses this fundamental gap by historicizing the notion of the 'global' in an interdisciplinary dialogue, with approaches from history, sociology, anthropology, literary studies, art history, and media and communication studies. Our objective is to gain greater insights on the global approach from several disciplines and to let their borrowings and contributions emerge