Functional anatomy of non-REM sleep

The state of non-REM sleep (NREM), or slow wave sleep, is associated with a synchronized EEG pattern in which sleep spindles and/or K complexes and high-voltage slow wave activity (SWA) can be recorded over the entire cortical surface. In humans, NREM is subdivided into stages 2 and 3–4 (presently named N3) depending on the proportions of each of these polygraphic events. NREM is necessary for normal physical and intellectual performance and behavior. An overview of the brain structures involved in NREM generation shows that the thalamus and the cerebral cortex are absolutely necessary for the most significant bioelectric and behavioral events of NREM to be expressed; other structures like the basal forebrain, anterior hypothalamus, cerebellum, caudal brain stem, spinal cord and peripheral nerves contribute to NREM regulation and modulation. In NREM stage 2, sustained hyperpolarized membrane potential levels resulting from interaction between thalamic reticular and projection neurons gives rise to spindle oscillations in the membrane potential; the initiation and termination of individual spindle sequences depends on corticothalamic activities. Cortical and thalamic mechanisms are also involved in the generation of EEG delta SWA that appears in deep stage 3–4 (N3) NREM; the cortex has classically been considered to be the structure that generates this activity, but delta oscillations can also be generated in thalamocortical neurons. NREM is probably necessary to normalize synapses to a sustainable basal condition that can ensure cellular homeostasis. Sleep homeostasis depends not only on the duration of prior wakefulness but also on its intensity, and sleep need increases when wakefulness is associated with learning. NREM seems to ensure cell homeostasis by reducing the number of synaptic connections to a basic level; based on simple energy demands, cerebral energy economizing during NREM sleep is one of the prevalent hypotheses to explain NREM homeostasis.Grant BFU2009-06991/BFI from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation supported this wor

Mediación familiar, garantía para custodias compartidas satisfactorias

La custodia compartida de los hijos e hijas, que nace del entendimiento y acuerdo de las partes tras la separación o divorcio, supone una corresponsabilidad en los cuidados de los menores y un reparto equitativo de los tiempos de convivencia que redunda en beneficio de los mismos al permitirles mantener un contacto continuo con ambos progenitores. Por ello se hace imprescindible una Ley Estatal de Custodia Compartida que potencie la mediación familiar como el mejor de los escenarios para pactar custodias compartidas satisfactorias.Joint custody of children, which stems from an understanding and agreement between both parties in a separation or divorce, involves shared childcare responsibilities and an equal distribution of living time which is in the children’s benefit since it allows them to maintain continuous contact with both parents. To this end a State Law on Joint Custody is indispensable since it potentiates family mediation as the best stage for arranging satisfactory joint custody

Guidelines to prevent soil contamination in the ELV sector (End-of-Life Vehicles)

Màster d'Enginyeria Ambiental, Facultat de Química, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2016-2017, Tutors: Mª Pilar Marco Buj, Josep Antoni Domènech i PaituvíWhen a vehicle reaches the end of its useful life it is considered hazardous waste and therefore must be managed in an Authorized Treatment Facility (ATF). These vehicles include large quantities of hazardous substances which could affect the quality of the subsoil when they are not treated appropriately. Furthermore, soil is considered as one of the most sensitive and vulnerable receptor of contamination. For this reason this project is based on the prevention of soil contamination in the particular case of End-of Life Vehicles (ELV) management. The main objective of this paper is to detect the most critical operations during ELV treatment and propose preventive measures to avoid subsoil contamination. In order to achieve this, a checklist has been developed to evaluate this type of facilities and fieldwork has been done in collaboration with the department of Soil Contamination Management in the Waste Agency of Catalonia (ARC). Moreover, this research has created and developed a risk assessment, which combines together damage and vulnerability. The results obtained show critical operations for subsoil quality: decontamination, waste storage and compaction zones. Comparing the results obtained with the experimental work done, the results give a reliable methodology to evaluate the environmental risk of a facility in terms of subsoil hazard. The objective of this part in the near future is to implement this tool in the administration assess of Potentially Soil Polluting Activities (APC). Finally, a series of improvements in the different phases of design, operation and dismantling in ATF are proposed. This will enable to make this activity more sustainable and respectful with the environmen

Relationship between free trade and income inequality in South America

AbstractLatin American societies have experienced excessive income inequality. Several reasons explain this disparity from cultural and economic factors. This research attempts to analyse whether free trade has contributed to increase economic inequality on the region, and whether this relationship is linked with how much countries have liberalised their international trade. For that, quantitative data was analysed using correlation and linear regression for the period 1990-2010 in South America. It was found that pro-market policies have different effects of inequality, according to the country.  Received: 21/05/2015  Accepted: 04/11/2015 ResumenLas sociedades latinoamericanas han experimentado altos índices de inequidad económica, explicados por factores culturales y económicos. Esta investigación intenta analizar si el libre comercio ha contribuido a incrementar la inequidad económica en Suramérica para el periodo 1990-2010. Para ello, se analizaron datos cuantitativos usando correlaciones y regresión linear. Se encontró que las políticas de liberalización comercial presentan efectos diferentes sobre la inequidad dependiendo de cada país.Recibido: 21/05/2015   Aceptado: 04/11/201

Levantar el burka: las mujeres afganas y su realidad a través de la pantalla

Análisis histórico, social, religioso y cultural de la realidad de las mujeres afganas más allá del reconocido símbolo identitario del burka, levantándolo y observando la verdadera cara de las mujeres que hay bajo él a través de diferentes fuentes y utilizando el cine como herramienta de conocimiento en discursos y situaciones. Tres películas sirven a este objetivo: A las cinco de la tarde, el filme de Samira Makhmalbaf en el que una mujer afgana intenta por todos los medios lograr su espacio en la política del país; Kandahar, de Mosen Makhmalbaf, donde podemos ver en qué condiciones acceden las mujeres a la salud o conocer la diáspora femenina afgana; y Buda explotó por vergüenza, de la pequeña de la familia, Hana, en la que, a través de una fábula, una niña hace lo imposible por asistir a la escuela.This project carries out a historical, social, religious and cultural analysis of the Afghan women’s reality beyond the universally recognized symbol of the burka, aiming to lift it and see the true faces of the women hidden behind, using different sources and especially the cinema as a key tool to understand discourses and situations. With that objective in mind, three films are the focus of attention: At Five in the Afternoon (Panj e asr) by Samira Makhmalbaf, a film in which an Afghan woman tries her best to get her own space into the political field of her country; Kandahar by Mosen Makhmalbaf Where we see the conditions under which women’s health is treated or discover the female diaspora; and Buddha collapsed out of shame (Buda as sharm forurikht) by Hana Makhmalbaf ―the youngest member of the family― a fable in which a girl tries by all means to attend school

La educación CTS en Argentina y su inclusión en el currículo de la educación secundaria obligatoria

La Naturaleza de la Ciencia (NdC) incluye la reflexión respecto de losmétodos para validar el conocimiento científico, los valores implicadosen las actividades de la Ciencia, las relaciones con la tecnología, lanaturaleza de la comunidad científica, las relaciones de la sociedad conel sistema tecno-científico así como los aportes de éste a la cultura y alprogreso de la sociedad. Especialistas en nuestro país, como Agustín Adúriz-Bravo, introducen herramientas conceptuales de la NdC para ser utilizadas por el docente frente a sus alumnos, tales como la descripción, explicación, inferencia y deducción entre otras. El docente es el guía y orientador de dichas herramientas conceptuales, lo que permite que el estudiante vea a la ciencia de manera diferente.Fil: Suárez, Ana Isabel. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes; ArgentinaFil: Maldonado, Alejandro Fabián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Modelado e Innovación Tecnológica. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Naturales y Agrimensura. Instituto de Modelado e Innovación Tecnológica; Argentin

Academic book reviews of literature in English and Spanish: writers’ visibility and invisibility strategies for expressing critical comments

345 p.One important academic writing skill is the ability of writers to construe an appropriate representation of themselves and their work through their textual voice. One way in which writers achieve this is by intruding into their text in order to explicitly signal or conceal their personal responsibility for the ideas referenced in it. However, writers’ decisions in this respect have shown to be highly problematic in English for Academic Purposes (EAP), especially for non-native English speakers. Our paper hypothesizes that a part of this problem might be related to differing crosscultural notions of good face, partly reflected in the ways and the extent to which writers typically intrude into their texts by means of writers’ visibility and invisibility strategies. We explore this hypothesis by comparing the actual practices followed by writers from two different writing cultures to express one specific type of claim (a critical comment on a book under review) in one specific genre (an academic book review) and one disciplinary field (literature). Our comparison is based on two corpora consisting of 20 texts in British & American English and 20 in Castilian Spanish. The results show that reviewers from these two writing cultures differ greatly in their preferences for reaffirming or suppressing their personal identity when expressing critical comments on a book under review. This indicates that the notion of good face is culturally determined in this respect. We discuss our results in the light of information obtained through a pilot e-mail interview with relevant informants