The diversity and welfare of older migrants in Europe

This paper sets the scene and provides a conceptual framework for the articles in this special issue. They present the findings of research on European residents who have reached or are on the threshold of old age and whose current circumstances have been strongly influenced by a migration across an international border. Such ‘older migrants’ are scattered throughout Europe and they have especially diverse characteristics. They include some of the most deprived and socially excluded, and some of the most affluent and accomplished, but all to a greater or lesser extent are disadvantaged through an interaction between social policies and their ‘otherness’ by living in a foreign country. Some claim attention through the severity of their unmet health and welfare needs and poor capacity to access advice and treatment, while the affluent groups are of great interest to social gerontology because of their enterprising, developmental and positive approaches to old age. They include among the most innovative of the latest generation of older people, who pursue new combinations of family responsibilities, leisure pursuits and income generation. The paper proposes that the concept ‘human capital’ summarises variations in preparedness for old age, that is, the resources by which people cope with demands for income, roles, treatment, care and support. A typology of the ‘welfare position’ of international migrants in contemporary Europe is presented

Off-types indicate natural outcrossing in five tropical forage legumes in Colombia

Flower colour has been used as a simple morphological marker for genetic studies in many species, including legumes. In several tropical forage legumes, grown to evaluate their environmental adaptation or for seed increase, white-flowered plants were observed when the predominant flower colour was either yellow (Chamaecrista rotundifolia) or pink, lilac or purple (Centrosema virginianum, Codariocalyx gyroides, Desmodium heterocarpon and Galactia striata). Open pollination of these 5 species took place each at one of 4 sites in Colombia. Progeny from white-flowered plants were examined for flower colour to assess the proportion of off-types. This ranged on average from 4 percent for D. heterocarpon, through 13 percent for both G. striata and Ch. rotundifolia, and 18 percent for Ce. virginianum, to 23 percent for Co. gyroides. Large differences were recorded among accessions of the same species, particularly in Ce. virginianum, where 4 of the accessions apparently produced autogamous offspring and the other 5 had high proportions of off-types, with a rate as high as 89 percent. Consequences of these results for germplasm collection, management and seed increase are discussed

Scientific modelling can be accessible, interoperable and user friendly: A case study for pasture and livestock modelling in Spain

This article describes the adaptation of a non-spatial model of pastureland dynamics, including vegetation life cycle, livestock management and nitrogen cycle, for use in a spatially explicit and modular modelling platform (k.LAB) dedicated to make data and models more interoperable. The aim is to showcase to the social-ecological modelling community the delivery of an existing, monolithic model, into a more modular, transparent and accessible approach to potential end users, regional managers, farmers and other stakeholders. This also allows better usability and adaptability of the model beyond its originally intended geographical scope (the Cantabrian Region in the North of Spain). The original code base (written in R in 1,491 lines of code divided into 13 files) combines several algorithms drawn from the literature in an opaque fashion due to lack of modularity, non-semantic variable naming and implicit assumptions. The spatiotemporal rewrite is structured around a set of 10 namespaces called PaL (Pasture and Livestock), which includes 198 interoperable and independent models. The end user chooses the spatial and temporal context of the analysis through an intuitive web-based user interface called k.Explorer. Each model can be called individually or in conjunction with the others, by querying any PaL-related concepts in a search bar. A scientific dataflow and a provenance diagram are produced in conjunction with the model results for full transparency. We argue that this work demonstrates key steps needed to create more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) models beyond the selected example. This is particularly essential in environments as complex as agricultural systems, where multidisciplinary knowledge needs to be integrated across diverse spatial and temporal scales in order to understand complex and changing problems. © 2023 Marquez Torres et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.The authors would like to thank Joan Busqué who created and shared the original Puerto model and the team lead by José Barquín at the Hydrological Institute of Cantabria (IHC). Special thanks to Simone Langhans and Ken Bagstad who suggested revisions to the article. Robinson et al. (2014) for logistic support for EarthEnv-DEM90

La alimentación de los inmigrantes marroquíes de la Comunidad de Madrid: factores que influyen en la selección de los alimentos

ObjetivoConocer las características alimentarias de la población marroquí de la Comunidad de Madrid, explorando los factores que pueden estar influyendo en la selección de alimentos.DiseñoEstudio transversal de base poblacional, muestreo por conglomerados bietápico.EmplazamientoÁrea Sanitaria 6 de la Comunidad de Madrid.ParticipantesInmigrantes marroquíes, mayores de 14 años, con un tiempo de estancia en España ≥ 3 meses.IntervencionesEntrevista que incluye un recordatorio de 24 horas de los alimentos consumidos. Análisis descriptivo y regresión logística con SPSS 8.0 para Windows.Mediciones y resultados principalesLos factores que más influyen en la selección de los alimentos son la edad, el hecho de vivir o no con la pareja y el hecho de saber leer y escribir en español. El sexo y el tiempo de estancia en España tienen una muy escasa influencia en la selección de alimentos.ConclusionesLos resultados contrastan con los obtenidos en estudios realizados en otros países, observando en nuestro caso una mejora de los hábitos y una dieta más variada y equilibrada entre aquellas personas con una aculturación más avanzada, de mayor edad o que viven con su pareja. Las personas que llevan menos tiempo en España siguen una dieta menos variada, que podría dar lugar a problemas nutricionales importantes.ObjectivesTo describe the main characteristics of the diet of Marrocan immigrants in the Autonomous Community of Madrid, and to explore the factors that may influence their selection of foods.DesignCross-sectional study. Two-stage cluster sampling of 179 immigrants.SettingHealth Area number 6 of the Autonomous Community of Madrid.ParticipantsMarrocan immigrants, older than 14 years of age who had lived in Spain more than 3 months.InterventionsPersonal interview including a 24-hours recall of food consumption. Descriptive analysis and logistic regression using SPSS 8.0 for Windows.ResultsThe factors that have a larger influence in the food consumed are the age of the person, whether the person lives in a couple or not, and whether the person is able to read and write in Spanish. Gender and number of years living in Spain had very limited or no influence in the food items referred to as consumed by the person.ConclusionsThe results of our study contrast with findings from studies conducted in other countries. The diet of the immigrants in our study would seem to become more varied and balanced, and therefore improve, with the progression of the acculturation process, with age and in people who live with their partners. People who have migrated recently have a less varied diet and may be proned to suffer nutritional defficiences

Applications of CVD to Produce Thin Films for Solid‐State Devices

Thin films of Pt‐YSZ and Pd‐ZrO2 cermets by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) from metallorganic precursors (MOCVD) were evaluated as electrode in solid‐state devices. Morphology and structural characteristics were studied by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM). Electrochemical performance was determined using Tafel and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy methods. Metallorganic precursors were used (metal‐acetylacetonates), and argon and oxygen were used as the carrier and reactive gases, respectively. The particle average size was less than 20 nm, with high and uniform particle dispersion according to TEM measurements

Collective effects of stellar winds and unidentified gamma-ray sources

We study collective wind configurations produced by a number of massive stars, and obtain densities and expansion velocities of the stellar wind gas that is to be target, in this model, of hadronic interactions. We study the expected $\gamma$-ray emission from these regions, considering in an approximate way the effect of cosmic ray modulation. We compute secondary particle production (electrons from knock-on interactions and electrons and positrons from charged pion decay), and solve the loss equation with ionization, synchrotron, bremsstrahlung, inverse Compton, and expansion losses. We provide examples where configurations can produce sources for GLAST satellite, and the MAGIC, HESS, or VERITAS telescopes in non-uniform ways, i.e., with or without the corresponding counterparts. We show that in all cases we studied no EGRET source is expected

The Impact of the Malolactic Fermentation in the Volatile Composition of Trincadeira Wine Variety

Use of commercial starters for malolactic fermentation (MLF) is a common practice, and outcomes of this procedure are very relevant for wine producers because aroma attributes might change according to the strain used. MLF was carried out in the Trincadeira wine variety in three batches: spontaneously and with inoculation of two different commercial starters. Wine extracts before and after MLF were obtained through liquid–liquid extraction. Gas chromatography/ion trap mass spectrometry analysis allowed the detection of 21 compounds, some of them tentatively identified through electron impact spectra comparison with a database, through interpretation of multistage mass spectrometry and chemical ionization mass spectrometry spectra and confirmation by comprehensive multidimensional gas chromatography/ time of flight-mass spectrometry (GC ¥ GC/ToF-MS). After MLF, an increase in ethyl lactate, g-butyrolactone and diethyl succinate and a drop in isoamyl acetate, ethyl octanoate, ethyl decanoate, 2,3-dimethyl-hexan-3-ol, propanol, isobutanol and 2,3-butanediol was observed. The concentrations of the 10 compounds are statistically different in wines before and after MLF, and wines after MLF show significant differences for the nine compounds

High-Energy Cosmology: gamma rays and neutrinos from beyond the galaxy

Our knowledge of the high-energy universe is undergoing a period of rapid change as new astronomical detectors of high-energy radiation start to operate at their design sensitivities. Now is a boomtime for high-energy astrophysics, with new discoveries from Swift and HESS, results from MAGIC and VERITAS starting to be reported, the upcoming launches of the gamma-ray space telescopes GLAST and AGILE, and anticipated data releases from IceCube and Auger. A formalism for calculating statistical properties of cosmological gamma-ray sources is presented. Application is made to model calculations of the statistical distributions of gamma-ray and neutrino emission from (i) beamed sources, specifically, long-duration GRBs, blazars, and extagalactic microquasars, and (ii) unbeamed sources, including normal galaxies, starburst galaxies and clusters. Expressions for the integrated intensities of faint beamed and unbeamed high-energy radiation sources are also derived. A toy model for the background intensity of radiation from dark-matter annihilation taking place in the early universe is constructed. Estimates for the gamma-ray fluxes of local group galaxies, starburst, and infrared luminous galaxies are briefly reviewed. Because the brightest extragalactic gamma-ray sources are flaring sources, and these are the best targets for sources of PeV -- EeV neutrinos and ultra-high energy cosmic rays, rapidly slewing all-sky telescopes like MAGIC and an all-sky gamma-ray observatory beyond Milagro will be crucial for optimal science return in the multi-messenger age.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figs, accepted for publication in the Barcelona Conference on Multimessenger Astronomy; corrected eq. 27, revised Fig. 3, added 2 ref

Actual and intended growth in family firms and non-family-owned firms: are they different?

PurposeDrawing on the motivation theory and family business literature, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of family effect in growth behaviour of small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK.Design/methodology/approachThe authors first compare the actual and expected growth of family and non-family-owned SMEs. The authors then compare the growth behaviour of small family firms managed by owner-directors and small family businesses co-managed by family and non-family directors with the non-family-owned SMEs.FindingsThe authors find a negative effect of family ownership on actual and intended small business growth behaviours. In addition, the findings also suggest that small family firms co-managed by non-family and family directors are no different from non-family-owned firms, in terms of reporting past actual growth in employment size and turnover as well as expecting growth in workforce size and turnover. The authors also observe a significant difference in anticipating sales growth between family-controlled and non-family-controlled firms. However, this difference is not explained by the heterogeneity of a top management team.Practical implicationsThe study has important implications for managerial practice to family firms and on policies that improve the growth of SMEs. Specifically, the competence of managers and decision makers matters considerably in evaluating the efficient operation of the business and maximising the economic growth in SMEs.Originality/valueThe study makes two important theoretical contributions to small business growth literature. First, the findings underline a negative family effect in the actual and expected growth behaviour of SMEs. Second, the mode of family ownership alone may not sufficiently capture family effect and offer a thorough understanding of growth behaviour in SMEs

Turbulent luminance in impassioned van Gogh paintings

We show that the patterns of luminance in some impassioned van Gogh paintings display the mathematical structure of fluid turbulence. Specifically, we show that the probability distribution function (PDF) of luminance fluctuations of points (pixels) separated by a distance R compares notably well with the PDF of the velocity differences in a turbulent flow, as predicted by the statistical theory of A.N. Kolmogorov. We observe that turbulent paintings of van Gogh belong to his last period, during which episodes of prolonged psychotic agitation of this artist were frequent. Our approach suggests new tools that open the possibility of quantitative objective research for art representation