DIF in the Spanish Version of the Verbal Selective Reminding Test Using Samples From Hispanics in the United States, Mexicans, and Spaniards

Aim: Before a test can be used in the target population, it is necessary to demonstrate that there is measurement equivalence. One way to do this is by studying differential item functioning (DIF). Objective: In this study, we used the Mantel–Haenszel procedure and logistic regression to analyze DIF in the Spanish version of the Verbal Selective Reminding Test between Spaniards, Mexicans, and Hispanics in the United States. Method: Three balanced samples, matched by age, education, and sex, were studied: Spaniards, Mexicans, and Hispanics [616 healthy participants from Spain (n = 211), Mexico (n = 201), and the United States (n = 205)]. A six-trial version of the Spanish version of the Verbal Selective Reminding Test was administered and scored according to standard procedures. Results: Statistical analysis showed some DIF between the samples of Spaniards, Mexicans, and Hispanics. A bootstrap validation of results confirmed that the item pollo showed DIF: the Mexicans and Hispanics outperformed the Spaniards, holding a total score constant. The item oído also showed DIF and was remembered in greater measure by the Spaniards. Conclusion: The Spanish version of the Verbal Selective Reminding Test can be used with Hispanic populations

Las censuras en tiempos de Francisco de Borja

Català: Generalització de la censura com a mesura de control ideològic de la impremta hispànica del segle XVI, a través de la publicació dels Índexs de llibres prohibits i la difusió de pràctiques com la delació, l’esporga de llibres i, en última instància, l’autocensura. Paraules clau: Censura; Impremta; Índexs de llibres prohibits; Inquisició. Castellano: Generalización de la censura como medio de control ideológico de la imprenta hispánica durante el siglo XVI, a través de la publicación de Índices de libros prohibidos y la difusión de prácticas como la delación, el expurgo de libros y, en última instancia, la autocensura. Palabras clave: Censura; Imprenta; Índices de libros prohibidos; Inquisición

Recalibration of Pagel's method for HII regions considering the thermal structure, the ionization structure, and the depletion of O into dust grains

Using a sample of 28 HII regions from the literature with measured temperature inhomogeneity parameter, t^2, we present a statistical correction to the chemical abundances determined with the Te(4363/5007) method. We used the t^2 values to correct the oxygen gaseous abundances and consider the oxygen depletion into dust to calculate the total abundances for these objects. This correction is used to obtain a new calibration of Pagel's strong-line method, R_{23}, to determine oxygen abundances in HII regions. Our new calibration simultaneously considers the temperature structure, the ionization structure, and the fraction of oxygen depleted into dust grains. Previous calibrations in the literature have included one or two of these factors; this is the first time all three are taken into account. This recalibration conciliates the systematic differences among the temperatures found from different methods. We find that the total correction due to thermal inhomogeneities and dust depletion amounts to an increase in the O/H ratio of HII regions by factors of 1.7 to 2.2 (or 0.22 to 0.35 dex). This result has important implications in various areas of astrophysics such as the study of the higher end of the initial mass function, the star formation rate, and the mass-metallicity relation of galaxies, among others.Comment: 16 pages (preprint), 4 figures, 1 Table, accepted in ApJ

Pricing tranched credit products with generalized multifactor models

The market for tranched credit products (CDOs, Itraxx tranches) is one of the fastest growing segments in the credit derivatives industry. However, some assumptions underlying the standard Gaussian onefactor pricing model (homogeneity, single factor, Normality), which is the pricing standard widely used in the industry, are probably too restrictive. In this paper we generalize the standard model by means of a two by two model (two factors and two asset classes). We assume two driving factors (business cycle and industry) with independent tStudent distributions, respectively, and we allow the model to distinguish among portfolio assets classes. In order to illustrate the estimation of the parameters of the model, an empirical application with Moody's data is also included.

Libros permitidos, lecturas prohibidas (siglos XVI-XVII)

Sin resume

Librería y edición en la Barcelona del XVI : el librero-editor Joan Guardiola

El autor estudia el ejemplo del librero barcelonés del siglo XVI Joan Guardiola, analizando la temática de las obras editadas y vendidas por éste, introduciendo sugerentes hipótesis sobre la condición socio-profesional de los compradores así como sobre la problemática estructural de la producción editorial catalana del Quinientos.The author studies the example of Joan Guardiola, bookseller in Barcelona in the Sixteenth Century, analysing the subjects of the books he published and sold, and introducing suggestive hypothesis about the social and professional condition of the buyer as well as the structural problematic of the catalan editorial production in the Sixteen centur

Élites y cultura escrita en la Barcelona del Quinientos

La valoración de las actitudes culturales de las élites barcelonesas durante el Quinientos ante el libro y la cultura escrita permite al autor trazar algunas de las estrategias que utilizaron estos grupos socio-profesionales para ocupar un papel decisivo y notorio en la sociedad urbana barcelonesa. Actitudes que serán compartidas y que, a un tiempo, serán divergentes. En el ámbito de las lecturas no existieron modelos de lectores claramente definidos: distinción y divulgación se interaccionan en una dinámica que sobrepasa las clásicas dicotomías entre cultura de élites y cultura popular.The valuation of the cultural attitudes regarding booh and written culture of the Barcelona's elites during the XV century allow the author to trace some of the stategies used by those socio-professional groups in order to play un outstanding role in the urban society of that city. These attitudes had a double nature because they were, at the same time, shared but divergent. Concerning reading matters, Peña affirms that a clearly defined model of reader didn't exist: distinction and divergence interacted among themselves in a dynamic that surpassed the traditional dichotomy between the culture of élites and the popular culture