Estudio comparativo entre Cataluña y Asturias de representaciones lingüísticas en Educación Primaria: autorretratos y plurilingüismo: A comparative study of linguistic representations between Catalonia and Asturias in Primary Education: self-portraits and plurilingualism

This study responds to a joint research done by the Faculty of Education (University of xxxxxx) and the Faculty xxxxxx (University of xxxxxx). With a general purpose of contributing to new multilingual and intercultural approaches, the specific objectives are a) analyze the representations of primary school students -through their linguistic self-portraits- about the languages that make up their repertoires; b) to identify and classify the associations established with the languages in their self-portraits; c) to compare these associations in two bilingual communities. The results show the symbolic value participants give to the languages of their repertories in those communities. A crucial component in the construction of linguistic identity and in learning. This study is of great importance not only because of the results, given the characteristics of the territories with their contexts, models and policies, but also for the transferability of the methodological design used, applicable to the study of other international bilingual -and multilingual- contexts of interest.Este estudio responde a una investigación conjunta de la Facultad de Educación (Universidad de Barcelona) y la Facultad Padre Ossó (Universidad de Oviedo). Con un propósito general de contribuir a nuevos enfoques plurilingües e interculturales, los objetivos específicos han permitido a) analizar las representaciones de los estudiantes sobre sus repertorios lingüísticos; b) identificar y clasificar las asociaciones establecidas con las lenguas en sus autorretratos; c) comparar estas asociaciones en dos comunidades bilingües. Los resultados muestran el valor simbólico que los participantes otorgan a las lenguas de sus repertorios en estas comunidades, un componente crucial este en la construcción de la identidad lingüística y en el aprendizaje. El estudio es relevante no solo por los resultados, dadas las características de los territorios con contextos, modelos y políticas lingüísticas diferenciados, sino, además, por la transferibilidad del diseño metodológico empleado, aplicable al estudio de otros contextos bilingües –y multilingües– internacionales de interés. Palabras clave: competencia plurilingüe; autorretrato lingüístico; repertorio lingüístico; Educación Primaria. Abstract: This study responds to a joint research carried out by the Faculty of Education (University of Barcelona) and the Faculty Padre Ossó (University of Oviedo). With a general purpose of contributing to new multilingual and intercultural approaches, the specific objectives are a) analyze the representations of primary school students -through their linguistic self-portraits- about the languages that make up their repertoires; b) to identify and classify the associations established with the languages in their self-portraits; and c) to compare these associations in two bilingual communities. The results show the symbolic value the participants give to the languages of their repertories in those communities, which stands as a crucial component in the construction of linguistic identity and in learning. This study is of great importance not only because of the results, given the characteristics of the territories with their contexts, models and policies, but also for the transferability of the methodological design used, applicable to the study of other international bilingual -and multilingual- contexts of interest. Keywords: plurilingual competence; linguistic self-portrait; linguistic repertoire; Primary Education.       

Similarity in the difference: changes in community functional features along natural and anthropogenic stress gradients.

The effect of stressors on biodiversity can vary in relation to the degree to which biological communities have adapted over evolutionary time. We compared the responses of functional features of stream insect communities along chronic stress gradients with contrasting time persistence. Water salinity and land use intensification were used as examples of natural (long-term persistent) and anthropogenic (short-term persistent) stressors, respectively. A new trait-based approach was applied to quantify functional diversity components and functional redundancy within the same multidimensional space, using metrics at the taxon and community levels. We found similar functional responses along natural and anthropogenic stress gradients. In both cases, the mean taxon functional richness and functional similarity between taxa increased with stress, whereas community functional richness and functional redundancy decreased. Despite the differences in evolutionary persistence, both chronic stressors act as strong nonrandom environmental filters, producing convergent functional responses. These results can improve our ability to predict functional effects of novel stressors at ecological and evolutionary scales

Influential factors in water planning for sustainable tourism destinations

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Journal of Sustainable Tourism on 28 Feb 2018, available online at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669582.2018.1433183."Many destinations are implementing various water management alternatives to diminish the environmental impacts of tourism and increase sustainability. These efforts toward sustainability can be understood as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies implemented by tourism destinations. This paper is focused on the tourism destination of the Costa Brava (Catalonia, Spain) and proposes a method for selecting a list of influential factors in water management for sustainable tourism destinations by considering stakeholder preferences for technical, economic, social, political, and environmental factors. A new qualitative Delphi technique is used to identify a set of qualitative and quantitative factors by surveying eight stakeholders (six water management experts and two hotel managers). In addition, the study presents the weight for each of the influential factors that decision-makers – water planners, policy-makers, tourism destination managers and hotel managers – can use in assessing water management alternatives. Although research to date has addressed many aspects of responsible tourism, there is little literature on the importance of water management in responsible strategies for tourism destinations. This paper contributes to a more efficient selection of CSR strategies in tourism destinations by proposing a new methodology for identifying key factors for assessing sustainable solutions for water problems.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

AMPAR/TARP stoichiometry differentially modulates channel properties

AMPARs control fast synaptic communication between neurons and their function relies on auxiliary subunits, which importantly modulate channel properties. Although it has been suggested that AMPARs can bind to TARPs with variable stoichiometry, little is known about the effect that this stoichiometry exerts on certain AMPAR properties. Here we have found that AMPARs show a clear stoichiometry-dependent modulation by the prototypical TARP γ2 although the receptor still needs to be fully saturated with γ2 to show some typical TARP-induced characteristics (i.e. an increase in channel conductance). We also uncovered important differences in the stoichiometric modulation between calcium-permeable and calcium-impermeable AMPARs. Moreover, in heteromeric AMPARs, γ2 positioning in the complex is important to exert certain TARP-dependent features. Finally, by comparing data from recombinant receptors with endogenous AMPAR currents from mouse cerebellar granule cells, we have determined a likely presence of two γ2 molecules at somatic receptors in this cell type

Physicochemical Properties of Lipoproteins Assessed by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance as a Predictor of Premature Cardiovascular Disease. PRESARV-SEA Study

Cardiovascular diseases; Lipoproteins; Magnetic resonance spectroscopyEnfermedades cardiovasculares; Lipoproteínas; Espectroscopia de resonancia magnéticaMalalties cardiovasculars; Lipoproteïnes; Espectroscòpia de ressonància magnèticaSome lipoprotein disorders related to the residual risk of premature cardiovascular disease (PCVD) are not detected by the conventional lipid profile. In this case-control study, the predictive power of PCVD of serum sdLDL-C, measured using a lipoprotein precipitation method, and of the physicochemical properties of serum lipoproteins, analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques, were evaluated. We studied a group of patients with a first PCVD event (n = 125) and a group of control subjects (n = 190). Conventional lipid profile, the size and number of Very Low Density Lipoproteins (VLDL), Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL), High Density Lipoproteins (HDL) particles, and the number of particles of their subclasses (large, medium, and small) were measured. Compared to controls, PCVD patients had lower concentrations of all LDL particles, and smaller and larger diameter of LDL and HDL particles, respectively. PCVD patients also showed higher concentrations of small dense LDL-cholesterol (sdLDL), and triglycerides (Tg) in LDL and HDL particles (HDL-Tg), and higher concentrations of large VLDL particles. Multivariate logistic regression showed that sdLDL-C, HDL-Tg, and large concentrations of LDL particles were the most powerful predictors of PCVD. A strong relationship was observed between increased HDL-Tg concentrations and PCVD. This study demonstrates that beyond the conventional lipid profile, PCVD patients have other atherogenic lipoprotein alterations that are detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analysis.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministry of Health (Carlos III Health Institute) through the Fondo de Investigación para la Salud (FIS), which is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, funded by the following grant codes: PI16/01094 and PI19/01032

Comparison of HE4, CA125, ROMA and CPH-I for Preoperative Assessment of Adnexal Tumors

(1) OBJECTIVE: To assess the performance of CA125, HE4, ROMA index and CPH-I index to preoperatively identify epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) or metastatic cancer in the ovary (MCO). (2) METHODS: single center retrospective study, including women with a diagnosis of adnexal mass. We obtained the AUC, sensitivity, specificity and predictive values were of HE4, CA125, ROMA and CPH-I for the diagnosis of EOC and MCO. Subgroup analysis for women harboring adnexal masses with inconclusive diagnosis of malignancy by ultrasound features and Stage I EOC was performed. (3) RESULTS: 1071 patients were included, 852 (79.6%) presented benign/borderline tumors and 219 (20.4%) presented EOC/MCO. AUC for HE4 was higher than for CA125 (0.91 vs. 0.87). No differences were seen between AUC of ROMA and CPH-I, but they were both higher than HE4 AUC. None of the tumor markers alone achieved a sensitivity of 90%; HE4 was highly specific (93.5%). ROMA showed a sensitivity and specificity of 91.1% and 84.6% respectively, while CPH-I showed a sensitivity of 91.1% with 79.2% specificity. For patients with inconclusive diagnosis of malignancy by ultrasound features and with Stage I EOC, ROMA showed the best diagnostic performance (4) CONCLUSIONS: ROMA and CPH-I perform better than tumor markers alone to identify patients harboring EOC or MCO. They can be helpful to assess the risk of malignancy of adnexal masses, especially in cases where ultrasonographic diagnosis is challenging (stage I EOC, inconclusive diagnosis of malignancy by ultrasound features)

Modelling PM2.5 chemical composition with CAMx in southwest Spain

Comunicación presentada en: 2012 European Aerosol Conference (EAC-2012), B-WG01S2P30, celebrada del 2 al 7 de septiembre de 2012 en Granada

Measurements and simulation of speciated PM2.5 in south-west Europe

Chemically speciated concentrations of PM2.5 (sulphate, ammonium, nitrate, elemental and organic carbon) were simulated in south-west Europe using the three-dimensional air quality model CAMx driven by the MM5 meteorological model. The inner domain covered the south-west region of Spain with a high spatial (2 km × 2 km) and temporal resolution (1 h). The simulation results were evaluated against experimental data obtained in four intensive field campaigns performed in 2008 and 2009 at urban and rural sites. PM2.5 measurements of secondary inorganic compounds and carbonaceous aerosol plus a suite of major and trace elements were determined. High time resolution (10 min) measurements of Black Carbon (BC) were also conducted. The model captured the variability in the ammonium concentrations in both summer and winter periods, although it tended to underestimate the magnitude of concentrations, while for sulphate the performance was better during the summer periods. Particulate ammonium nitrate was only simulated in significant concentrations in the wintertime campaign. This was found to be consistent with the measured composition of PM2.5 where most of nitrate (79–94%) and a significant fraction of sulphate (24–37%) were estimated to be present as non-ammonium salts. These non-ammonium nitrate salts were attributed to the formation of NaNO3. The model PM2.5 primary elemental carbon simulations, evaluated with hourly resolution, captured the diurnal and seasonal variability of PM2.5 BC concentrations at the urban site while poorer performance was observed at the rural site. A large underestimation was observed for simulated PM2.5 organic carbon concentrations during all campaigns. Scenarios of pollution events linked to emissions from south-west Spain, shipping and contributions from more distant emission sources such as Portugal were identified. These results highlight how the distinct features of PM2.5 composition in southern Europe regions, such as the large contribution of non-ammonium salts, need to be taken into account both in model evaluation and in future implementation of aerosol modelling systems.The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the Department of Innovation, Science and Enterprise of the Government of Andalusia through the research projects AER-REG (P07-RNM- 03125) and SIMAND (P07-RNM-02729) and from the Department of Environment, Andalusian Regional Government (project: 199/ 2011/C/00). In addition, we thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for funding through the project POLLINDUST (CGL2011-26259)

Impact of impulsivity and therapy response in eating disorders from a neurophysiological, personality and cognitive perspective

Impulsivity, as a multidimensional construct, has been linked to eating disorders (EDs) and may negatively impact treatment response. The study aimed to identify the dimensions of impulsivity predicting poor remission of ED symptoms. A total of 37 ED patients underwent a baseline assessment of impulsive personality traits and inhibitory control, including the Stroop task and the emotional go/no-go task with event-related potentials (ERPs) analysis. The remission of EDs symptomatology was evaluated after 3 months of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and at a 2-year follow-up. Poor remission after CBT was predicted by poor inhibitory control, as measured by the Stroop task. At 2 years, the risk of poor remission was higher in patients with higher novelty seeking, lower inhibitory control in the Stroop and in ERPs indices (N2 amplitudes) during the emotional go/no-go task. The present results highlight inhibitory control negatively impacting both short- and long-term symptomatology remission in ED patients. On the other hand, high novelty seeking and ERPs indices of poor inhibition seem to be more specifically related to long-term remission. Therefore, a comprehensive assessment of the impulsivity dimension in patients with ED is recommended to tailor treatments and improve their efficacy

Do all roads lead to Rome? Exploring community trajectories in response to anthropogenic salinization and dilution of rivers

Abiotic stress shapes how communities assemble and support ecological functions. However, it remains unclear whether artificially increasing or decreasing stress levels would lead to communities assembling predictably along a single axis of variation or along multiple context-dependent trajectories of change. In response to stress intensity alterations, we hypothesize that a single trajectory of change occurs when trait-based assembly prevails, while multiple trajectories of change arise when dispersal-related processes modify colonization and trait-filtering dynamics. Here, we tested these hypotheses using aquatic macroinvertebrates from rivers exposed to gradients of natural salinity and artificially diluted or salinized ion contents. Our results showed that trait-filtering was important in driving community assembly in natural and diluted rivers, while dispersal-related processes seemed to play a relevant role in response to salinization. Salinized rivers showed novel communities with different trait composition, while natural and diluted communities exhibited similar taxonomic and trait compositional patterns along the conductivity gradient. Our findings suggest that the artificial modification of chemical stressors can result in different biological communities, depending on the direction of the change (salinization or dilution), with trait-filtering, and organism dispersal and colonization dynamics having differential roles in community assembly. The approach presented here provides both empirical and conceptual insights that can help in anticipating the ecological effects of global change, especially for those stressors with both natural and anthropogenic origins