Changing Platforms: Parallel case studies of repository platform migration projects

This presentation is based on the authors’ personal experience of migrating long-established, fully operational repositories between two of the leading open source, open access repository platforms (DSpace and EPrints). In 2010, the E-LIS repository migrated from EPrints to DSpace, while the University of London SAS repository migrated from DSpace to EPrints. In both cases the migrations achieved successful outcomes. The presentation documents key decisions and actions of these migration projects, in order to help and support decision-making by repository managers and technical advisers in the process of software migration, or perhaps just considering it

Disseny i validació d'un questionari de cultura preventiva en centres sanitàris assistencials

El propósit d'aquest projecte es dissenyar i validar un instrument de mesura per abalúar la cultura preventiva de les institucions sanitàries assistencials. Al realitzar una amplia cerca bibliogràfica es conclou que no disposem de cap instrument validat que ens sigui útil per a aquest fí. Per aquest motiu es decideix inicar el disseny i la validació d'un qüestionari, redactat encatalà que ens permeti mesurar els diferents aspectes relacionats amb la cultura preventiva que els centres apliquen en relació amb els treballadord. S'inicia la fase de disseny per un grup de professionals experts en la matèria fins a obtenir un instrument que compleixi les característiques de fiabilitat i validesa que garanteixin les seves propietats psicomètriques, garantint un exhaustiu procés de validació.El propósito de este proyecto es obtener un instrumento de medida para evaluar la cultura preventiva en las instituciones hospitalarias en Cataluña. Al realizar una amplia búsqueda bibliográfica se concluye que no disponemos de ningún instrumento validado que sea útil a este propósito por lo que se decide iniciar el diseño y la validación de un cuestionario, redactado en catalán que permita medir los diferentes aspectos relacionados con la cultura preventiva que los centros aplican en su relación con los trabajadores. Se inicia la fase de diseño a cargo de un grupo de profesionales expertos en la materia hasta obtener un instrumento que cumpla las características de Fiabilidad y Validez que garanticen sus propiedades psicométricas, garantizando un exhaustivo proceso de validación.The aim of this study was to obtain a tool to evaluate health promotion and safety culture in Catalan hospitals. A wide bibliographic research provided no validated tool for our proposed objective. After literature review, our next option was to initiate the format of a new questionnaire, written in Catalan. The objective being the evaluation of different subjects related to health promotion and safety culture applied by Catalan hospitals in their relationships with their workers. The beginning of the questionnaire was designed by an expert professional group, and then we initiated the validation process to obtain a tool that was easy to understand, with a face and content validity appropriated to assure psychometric properties

Influence of COVID-19 confinement on students' performance in higher education

This study analyzes the effects of COVID-19 confinement on the autonomous learning performance of students in higher education. Using a field experiment with 458 students from three different subjects at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), we study the differences in assessments by dividing students into two groups. The first group (control) corresponds to academic years 2017/2018 and 2018/2019. The second group (experimental) corresponds to students from 2019/2020, which is the group of students that had their face-to-face activities interrupted because of the confinement. The results show that there is a significant positive effect of the COVID-19 confinement on students' performance. This effect is also significant in activities that did not change their format when performed after the confinement. We find that this effect is significant both in subjects that increased the number of assessment activities and subjects that did not change the student workload. Additionally, an analysis of students' learning strategies before confinement shows that students did not study on a continuous basis. Based on these results, we conclude that COVID-19 confinement changed students' learning strategies to a more continuous habit, improving their efficiency. For these reasons, better scores in students' assessment are expected due to COVID-19 confinement that can be explained by an improvement in their learning performanceThis research was funded by ADeAPTIVE (Advanced Design of e-Learning Applications Personalizing Teaching to Improve Virtual Education) project with the support of the Erasmus + programme of the European Union (grant number 2017-1-ES01-KA203-038266). This study was also funded by ACCIO´, Spain (Pla d’Actuacio´ de Centres Tecnològics 2019) under the project Augmented Workplace. This study was also funded by the Fondo Supera COVID-19 (Project: Development of tools for the assessment in higher education in the COVID-19 confinemen

Influence of COVID-19 confinement in students’ performance in higher education

Documento procedente de EdArXiv Preprints , se deposita en Biblos-e Archivo versión 2 de 7 Mayo de 2020This study explores the effects of COVID-19 confinement in the students’ performance in higher education. Using a field experiment of 458 students from three different subjects in Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), we study the differences in assessments by dividing students into two groups. The first group (control) corresponds to academic years 2017/2018 and 2018/2019. The second group (experimental) corresponds to students from 2019/2020, which is the group of students that interrupted their face-to-face activities because of the confinement. The results show that there is a significant positive effect of the COVID-19 confinement on students’ performance. This effect is also significative in activities that did not change their format when performed after the confinement. We find that this effect is significative both in subjects that increased the number of assessment activities and subjects that did not change the workload of students. Additionally, an analysis of students’ learning strategies before confinement shows that students did not study on a continuous basis. Based on these results, we conclude that COVID-19 confinement changed students’ learning strategies to a more continuous habit, improving their efficiency. For these reasons, better scores in students’ assessment are expected due to COVID-19 confinement that can be explained by an improvement in their learning performanceThis work has been financed by the project Erasmus+ 2017-1-ES01-KA203-038266 Project of the European Union: “Advanced Design of e-Learning Applications Personalizing Teaching to Improve Virtual Education

Surveillance of imported malaria in Spain: The useful tool of the Semi-Nested Multiplex PCR

The use of a new PCR-based method for the diagnosis of malaria in the Spanish Malaria Reference Laboratory has promoted an increase in confirmed cases of malaria. From August 1997 to July 1998, a total of 192 whole-blood samples and 71 serum samples from 168 patients were received from the hospitals of the Spanish National Health System. Most of the patients came from west-central African countries (85%). This molecular method showed more sensitivity and specificity than microscopy, detecting 12.4% more positive samples than microscopy and 13% of mixed infections undetectable by Giemsa stain. Plasmodium falciparum was the main species detected, with 68% of the total positive malaria cases, followed by Plasmodium malariae (29%), Plasmodium vivax (14%), and Plasmodium ovale (7%), including mixed infections in all cases. This report consists of the first wide, centralized survey of malaria surveillance in Spain. The reference laboratory conducted the analysis of all imported cases in order to detect trends in acquisition. The use of a seminested multiplex PCR permitted confirmation of the origins of the infections and the Plasmodium species involved and confirmation of the effectiveness of drug treatments. This PCR also allowed the detection of the presence in Spain of primaquine-tolerant P. vivax strains from west-central Africa, as well as the detection of a P. falciparum infection induced by transfusion.This work was supported by the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (FIS) (contract number 96/0216) and the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation (AECI). J. M. Rubio was granted a postdoctoral fellowship from the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain. J. Alvar was supported by a B.A.E. from the FIS (contract number 99/5038) and by the Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdo

Una propuesta de consenso sobre el concepto de exclusión: implicaciones metodológicas

En este texto se analiza la exclusión social desde los niveles institucional y político e individual-grupal y se profundiza en su origen estructural, su carácter multidimensional y su naturaleza procesual. En particular, se analiza la exclusión como fenómeno estructural en lo relativo a las transformaciones ocurridas en los últimos años en estructuras de integración social como el empleo, el Estado de Bienestar y las redes sociales, comunitarias y de parentesco. También se analizan diversas investigaciones nacionales e internacionales sobre la exclusión social que destacan por sus aportaciones metodológicas y se reflexiona en torno a las metodologías de análisis de la exclusión social. A este respecto, se plantean diversas sugerencias sobre los sistemas de información de los dispositivos de atención a población excluida, tanto públicos como de iniciativa social y se realiza una propuesta de indicadores multidimensional que abarca aspectos económicos, políticos y sociales

On the origin and evolution of RNA editing in metazoans

Extensive adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) editing of nuclear-transcribed mRNAs is the hallmark of metazoan transcriptional regulation. Here, by profiling the RNA editomes of 22 species that cover major groups of Holozoa, we provide substantial evidence supporting A-to-I mRNA editing as a regulatory innovation originating in the last common ancestor of extant metazoans. This ancient biochemistry process is preserved in most extant metazoan phyla and primarily targets endogenous double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) formed by evolutionarily young repeats. We also find intermolecular pairing of sense-antisense transcripts as an important mechanism for forming dsRNA substrates for A-to-I editing in some but not all lineages. Likewise, recoding editing is rarely shared across lineages but preferentially targets genes involved in neural and cytoskeleton systems in bilaterians. We conclude that metazoan A-to-I editing might first emerge as a safeguard mechanism against repeat-derived dsRNA and was later co-opted into diverse biological processes due to its mutagenic nature

Mortality and Cardiovascular Complications in Older Complex Chronic Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Aims/Introduction. Determining the prevalence of diabetes and its cardiovascular complications and all-cause mortality in older chronic complex patients. Materials and Methods. We carried out a multicenter retrospective study and included a randomized sample of 932 CCP people. We assessed the prevalence of diabetes according to World Health Organization criteria. Data included demographics and functional, comorbidity, cognitive, and social assessment. Results. The prevalence of diabetes was 53% and average age 81.16±8.93 years. There were no significant differences in the survival of CCP patients with or without DM, with or without ischaemic cardiopathy, and with or without peripheral vascular disease. The prognostic factors of all-cause mortality in patients with DM were age ≥ 80 years [HR 1.47, 95% CI 1.02–2.13, p  0.038], presence of heart failure [HR 1.73, 95% CI 1.25–2.38, p  0.001], Charlson score [HR 1.20, 95% CI 1.06–1.36, p  0.003], presence of cognitive impairment [HR 1.73, 95% CI 1.24–2.40, p  0.001], and no treatment with statins [HR 1.49, 95% CI 1.08–2.04, p  0.038]. Conclusions. We found high prevalence of DM among CCP patients and the relative importance of traditional risk factors seemed to wane with advancing age. Recommendations may include relaxing treatment goals, providing family/patient education, and enhanced communication strategies