Estimation of mean form and mean form difference under elliptical laws

The matrix variate elliptical generalization of [30] is presented in this work. The published Gaussian case is revised and modified. Then, new aspects of identifiability and consistent estimation of mean form and mean form difference are considered under elliptical laws. For example, instead of using the Euclidean distance matrix for the consistent estimates, exact formulae are derived for the moments of the matrix B = Xc(Xc)T; where Xcis the centered landmark matrix. Finally, a complete application in Biology is provided; it includes estimation, model selection and hypothesis testing. © 2017, Institute of Mathematical Statistics. All rights reserved

Digital habits and competences of health professionals the Health Area East of Málaga−Axarquía (Málaga)

Las competencias en lectura y escritura digital -que se engloban en la Alfabetización Informacional- son imprescindibles para participar plenamente en la sociedad del conocimiento y afrontar nuevos esquemas y enfoques en los procesos educativos, para poder afrontar los retos de una sociedad global cada vez más exigente tecnológicamente. Las plataformas de formación e investigación, así como la aparición de medios y dispositivos digitales que dan acceso a Internet y permiten la gestión, generación y difusión de la información, están produciendo cambios en los hábitos de lectura y escritura hasta el punto de encontrarnos en un nuevo paradigma de intervención donde la traslación a lo digital es ineludible e irrevocable. Nos interesa conocer los cambios que se están produciendo y cómo se está produciendo la transición hacia el consumo y uso de la información digital entre los usuarios de las bibliotecas de ciencias de la salud, ya que éstas son proveedoras pioneras de acceso a los medios digitales para los usuarios de la información. Conocer las prácticas de lectura, escritura y gestión de la información de los profesionales sanitarios del Área de Salud Este de Málaga. Se utilizó un enfoque metodológico de investigación mixto mediante el uso de técnicas de investigación cualitativas y cuantitativas en diferentes etapas. Se incluyó un estudio exhaustivo del estado del conocimiento científico sobre lectura y escritura digital, Alfabetización Informática/Digital, plataformas virtuales para la Gestión de la Formación, Ecosistema de Libros Electrónicos, Entornos Personales de Aprendizaje y Gestión del Conocimiento. Recogeremos información sobre los profesionales en cuanto a su desempeño en sus funciones profesionales y personales mediante un cuestionario específicamente diseñado. La muestra de la población está formada por 1.300 miembros del personal que trabajan en todas las categorías de trabajo implicadas. Como resultado, esperamos poder establecer un diagnóstico de la situación actual, que permita diseñar un plan de acción dirigido a potenciar la alfabetización digital específicamente en los profesionales sanitarios

Peatlands in the Toledo Mountains (central Spain): characterisation and conservation status.

We have limited knowledge about the biodiversity and vulnerability of peatlands in the lower-altitude mountains of the Iberian Peninsula, largely because peatlands have not been routinely differentiated from other habitat types in Spain. Understanding is now developing about the ecology of peatlands in central Spain, but they are already under severe threat of conversion and degradation. In this article we describe the results of a field survey and literature review study to characterise and describe the current condition of peatlands in the Toledo Mountains in terms of their typology, the representation of habitat types protected by European (EU) designations, threats, endangered plant species, and conservation status. Our results suggest that the principal threats are overgrazing by domestic animals and ungulates (red deer and wild boar), fire, expansion of cereal crops, drying-out and erosion. Disturbance is most severe in areas that are not protected by nature conservation designations, where peatlands are especially vulnerable to damage arising from human activities

Learning a Battery of COVID-19 Mortality Prediction Models by Multi-objective Optimization

The COVID-19 pandemic is continuously evolving with drastically changing epidemiological situations which are approached with different decisions: from the reduction of fatalities to even the selection of patients with the highest probability of survival in critical clinical situations. Motivated by this, a battery of mortality prediction models with different performances has been developed to assist physicians and hospital managers. Logistic regression, one of the most popular classifiers within the clinical field, has been chosen as the basis for the generation of our models. Whilst a standard logistic regression only learns a single model focusing on improving accuracy, we propose to extend the possibilities of logistic regression by focusing on sensitivity and specificity. Hence, the log-likelihood function, used to calculate the coefficients in the logistic model, is split into two objective functions: one representing the survivors and the other for the deceased class. A multi-objective optimization process is undertaken on both functions in order to find the Pareto set, composed of models not improved by another model in both objective functions simultaneously. The individual optimization of either sensitivity (deceased patients) or specificity (survivors) criteria may be conflicting objectives because the improvement of one can imply the worsening of the other. Nonetheless, this conflict guarantees the output of a battery of diverse prediction models. Furthermore, a specific methodology for the evaluation of the Pareto models is proposed. As a result, a battery of COVID-19 mortality prediction models is obtained to assist physicians in decision-making for specific epidemiological situations.This research is supported by the Basque Government (IT1504- 22, Elkartek) through the BERC 2022–2025 program and BMTF project, and by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities: BCAM Severo Ochoa accreditation SEV-2017-0718 and PID2019-104966GB-I00. Furthermore, the work is also supported by the AXA Research Fund project “Early prognosis of COVID-19 infections via machine learning”

Interpolation of the magnetic field at the test masses in eLISA

A feasible design for a magnetic diagnostics subsystem for eLISA will be based on that of its precursor mission, LISA Pathfinder. Previous experience indicates that magnetic field estimation at the positions of the test masses has certain complications. This is due to two reasons. The first is that magnetometers usually back-act due to their measurement principles (i.e., they also create their own magnetic fields), while the second is that the sensors selected for LISA Pathfinder have a large size, which conflicts with space resolution and with the possibility of having a sufficient number of them to properly map the magnetic field around the test masses. However, high-sensitivity and small-sized sensors that significantly mitigate the two aforementioned limitations exist, and have been proposed to overcome these problems. Thus, these sensors will be likely selected for the magnetic diagnostics subsystem of eLISA. Here we perform a quantitative analysis of the new magnetic subsystem, as it is currently conceived, and assess the feasibility of selecting these sensors in the final configuration of the magnetic diagnostic subsystem.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Design of the magnetic diagnostics unit onboard LISA Pathfinder

LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) is a joint mission of ESA and NASA which aims to be the first space-borne gravitational wave observatory. Due to the high complexity and technological challenges that LISA will face, ESA decided to launch a technological demonstrator, LISA Pathfinder. The payload of LISA Pathfinder is the so-called LISA Technology Package, and will be the highest sensitivity geodesic explorer flown to date. The LISA Technology Package is designed to measure relative accelerations between two test masses in nominal free fall (geodesic motion). The magnetic, thermal and radiation disturbances affecting the payload are monitored and dealt by the diagnostics subsystem. The diagnostics subsystem consists of several modules, and one of these is the magnetic diagnostics unit. Its main function is the assessment of differential acceleration noise between test masses due to the magnetic effects. To do so, it has to determine the magnetic characteristics of the test masses, namely their magnetic remanences and susceptibilities. In this paper we show how this can be achieved to the desired accuracy.Preprin

Proposals for environmental impact decreasing in a suburban zone of limestone quarries: Southem Madrid Community, Spain

Over 30 Mm3 of limestones are extracted at least 100 quarries in southem part ofMadrid, its environmental impact is described in this paper. Three main reclamation areas are distinguished: surrounding of quarries, faces or highwalls of quarries and the floor. For soil reclamation in the environs of quarries we suggest to sow it with forage of fast growth plants (Lupinus, Tripho/ium ... ), in the floor of quarries is possible a spontaneous revegetation or even may be reclaimed for agricultural uses. For quarried rocks faces previous blasting and/or wider benchs are proposed. In opinion of the authors it is necessary to concentrate the limestone extraction in two or three Iarge quarries that allows a best policy and reclamation

High order extensions of Roe schemes for two dimensional nonconservative hyperbolic systems

This paper is concerned with the development of well-balanced high order Roe methods for two-dimensional nonconservative hyperbolic systems. In particular, we are interested in extending the methods introduced in [3] to the two-dimensional case. We also investigate the well-balance properties and the consistency of the resulting schemes. We focus in applications to one and two layer shallow water system

Photoelectric Properties of MOS-like Structures with Twofold SRO Films

AbstractThe optical properties of silicon rich oxide (SRO) have been deeply studied because, between other reasons, they emit an intense photoluminescence (PL) from visible to the near infrared range when excited with UV light. MOS-like structures with SRO film as the active layer have shown an enhanced conductivity under different illumination conditions. In this paper, MOS-like structures with double SRO layer were fabricated in order to have a barrier to isolate the silicon substrate from the active SRO layer. Results show that all structures have a higher current when light shines on them than that obtained under dark conditions. A possible application of this photo-effect can be used to increase the response of photodetectors and silicon solar cells