Obesity and the labour market: a comparative study of the European Health Interview Survey

Obesity has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an “abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health”. The increasingly growing rates of obese people in the last few decades (remarkably in developed countries), has raised concerns among researchers and national health systems, and the analysis of its causes and consequences for human health has become a priority. Similarly, in socioeconomic investigation we find that obesity has been considered as a key factor for living conditions from a social and economic perspective. In previous research, we analysed if being obese had an impact on the probability of participating in the Spanish labour market, using data taken from the first edition of the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS 2009). Our results indicated that high rates of BMI (obesity) implied lower probabilities of occupational participation, especially for working-age females living in Spain. The aim of this study is to continue our work, using data taken from the second edition of the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS 2014). Same, body mass index (BMI) is being used as an indicator for nutritional status, and we carry out both a descriptive and an econometric analysis using probit and tobit models for limited dependent variables (LDV). We intend to compare the results from both surveys lengthwise.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Mitos e imaginarios migratorios en la recepción de la televisión en Marruecos

The analysis of the discourses of Moroccan candidates to migrate regarding the images offered by Western television shows a mythical imaginary of life opportunities in the North. Fieldwork1 done in Morocco during two years tried to gather varied information from 204 informers from cities as well as rural areas. The results were analyzed with the help of Atlas.ti, a qualitative software which allows for the creation of mental maps of the opinions and discourses of interviewees. In the process preceding the decision to migrate, candidates try to confirm the images seen on TV through social conversations and the experience of others, in a climate of collective euphoria. Moroccan migrants then move towards an imaginary and idealized place. The idea of mobility is systematically linked to the Western world and to quality of life, social capital and consumption all of which become mythical elements in a reaction to what are seen as poor expectations offered by life in Morocco.El análisis de los discursos de los candidatos a la migración de Marruecos en relación a las imágenes ofrecidas por las televisiones occidentales muestra un imaginario mítico de las posibilidades de vida en los países del Norte. El trabajo de campo, realizado en Marruecos durante dos años, trató de recoger la información más variada, reuniendo un total de 204 informantes tanto en ciudades como en zonas rurales del país. Los resultados se analizaron con el apoyo del software cualitativo Atlas.ti, que permite trazar mapas mentales de las opiniones y discursos de los entrevistados. En el proceso previo a la decisión de migrar, los candidatos tratan de confirmar las imágenes vistas en las televisiones a través de las conversaciones sociales y de la experiencia de otros, en un clima de euforia colectiva. Los migrantes marroquíes se dirigen a un lugar imaginario e idealizado. La idea de movilidad se relaciona sistemáticamente con Occidente, y está asociada a la calidad de vida, el capital social y al consumo, cuestiones que se mitifican ante las reducidas expectativas que entienden que les ofrece la vida en Marruecos.175-19

Evaluating the reliability of NAND multiplexing with PRISM

Probabilistic-model checking is a formal verification technique for analyzing the reliability and performance of systems exhibiting stochastic behavior. In this paper, we demonstrate the applicability of this approach and, in particular, the probabilistic-model-checking tool PRISM to the evaluation of reliability and redundancy of defect-tolerant systems in the field of computer-aided design. We illustrate the technique with an example due to von Neumann, namely NAND multiplexing. We show how, having constructed a model of a defect-tolerant system incorporating probabilistic assumptions about its defects, it is straightforward to compute a range of reliability measures and investigate how they are affected by slight variations in the behavior of the system. This allows a designer to evaluate, for example, the tradeoff between redundancy and reliability in the design. We also highlight errors in analytically computed reliability bounds, recently published for the same case study

Invariant manifolds of the Bonhoeffer-van der Pol oscillator

The stable and unstable manifolds of a saddle fixed point (SFP) of the Bonhoeffer-van der Pol oscillator are numerically studied. A correspondence between the existence of homoclinic tangencies (whic are related to the creation or destruction of Smale horseshoes) and the chaos observed in the bifurcation diagram is described. It is observed that in the non-chaotic zones of the bifurcation diagram, there may or may not be Smale horseshoes, but there are no homoclinic tangencies.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figure

Toward the language oscillogenome

Language has been argued to arise, both ontogenetically and phylogenetically, from specific patterns of brain wiring. We argue that it can further be shown that core features of language processing emerge from particular phasal and cross-frequency coupling properties of neural oscillations; what has been referred to as the language 'oscillome.' It is expected that basic aspects of the language oscillome result from genetic guidance, what we will here call the language 'oscillogenome,' for which we will put forward a list of candidate genes. We have considered genes for altered brain rhythmicity in conditions involving language deficits: autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, specific language impairment and dyslexia. These selected genes map on to aspects of brain function, particularly on to neurotransmitter function. We stress that caution should be adopted in the construction of any oscillogenome, given the range of potential roles particular localized frequency bands have in cognition. Our aim is to propose a set of genome-to-language linking hypotheses that, given testing, would grant explanatory power to brain rhythms with respect to language processing and evolution.Economic and Social Research Council scholarship 1474910Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España) FFI2016-78034-C2-2-