Motivational interview and imaging of subclinical atherosclerosis for cardiovascular disease prevention: a winning combination?

S

The Intima-Media Thickness Age Is Over: The Time of Multiterritorial Subclinical Plaque Quantification Has Come.

S

Floating millenial chronologies of Pinus in the Sierra de Gredos (Spain)

This research has been carried out by some members of the “History and Dynamics of the Vegetal Landscape” Research Group of the Technical University of Madrid (Spain). The team has been working on the flora, vegetation and dendrochronology of the Sierra de Gredos (Ávila, Spain) for the last 20 years. Recently, we have implemented a new research field focused on the study of megafossils. All this data set has allowed us to develop an interpretation of the dynamics of mountain pine forests in this region

Memorija, usmenost i ironija u pripovjednoj prozi Jesúsa Moncade

L’obra de l’escriptor català Jesús Moncada, fins ara, s’havia circumscrit a uns pocs anàlisis lingüístics i a uns escadussers treballs d’interpretació literària que, o bé només analitzaven qüestions molt concretes (fraseologia) o bé només atenien aspectes tangencials de la seva obra (metaficció). La voluntat d’aquesta tesi doctoral, “Memòria, oralitat i ironia a la narrativa de Jesús Moncada”, era la de trobar un fil conductor que pogués unir tota la producció literària de l’autor de Mequinensa per tal d’aconseguir una anàlisi que l’abracés d’una forma més global i completa. Tenir, en resum, un primer estudi seriós i competent que permetés d’explicar com funciona tota la seva narrativa, tant els contes com les novel·les. Per fer-ho, es van buscar els conceptes més adients i precisos que travessen tota l’obra de Moncada i es van posar en relació amb una anàlisi de caire narratològic, per tal de comprovar com es repetien certs patrons de conducta en tots els seus llibres i com això afectava al sentit global de l’obra. Els conceptes escollits van ser Memòria, Oralitat i Ironia. La idea de la tesi és que, en contra del que van postular els primers crítics literaris en el moment de l’aparició d’aquests llibres no es pot catalogar la seva narrativa únicament d’elegíaca o de mítica sinó que, per exemple, la concepció de la memòria és indestriable del substrat oral del qual se’n deriva. I que aquest record oral reviu sempre, però, passat pel sedàs de la ironia. I això resulta, segons la hipòtesi de treball, fonamental. La interpretació, doncs, que cal fer d'un autor com Jesús Moncada ha de partir d’aquestes premisses. La seva narrativa recrea literàriament un món, el de Mequinensa i la seva gent, pràcticament sempre des d'unes mateixes coordenades d'espai-temps. Aquesta recreació és feta amb un estil inconfusible, basat, com dèiem, en l'oralitat i la ironia, i també en un llenguatge molt ric de recursos lèxics, sintàctics i fraseològics. La combinació d’aquests dos conceptes --l'esforç de la memòria, que posa en evidència la seva fragilitat, i el reclam cap a la perspectiva narrativa i cap a la llengua, és a dir, cap a l'operació literària— és la pedra de toc fonamental de la seva obra. Memòria, oralitat i ironia es combinen amb precisió i esdevenen, així, el motor de la fabulació narrativa de Jesús Moncada. Després de redactar tot l’estudi, es pot concloure que, efectivament, la narrativa moncadiana es basa en la combinació dels tres conceptes esmentats. Jesús Moncada crea tot un món que narra els processos mitjançant els quals es recuperen o es discuteixen i, finalment, es donen per vàlids o no certs relats de la consciència col·lectiva, recordant-nos constantment, però, que la història de les persones d’aquest poble és generalment falsa en qualsevol altra cosa que no sigui l’ample traç històric. No obstant això, aquest procés és important (és, de fet, el fil de les trames) perquè crea aquest sentit de comunitat que permet que Mequinensa destaqui, literàriament, com un col·lectiu singular digne de ser explicat per sobre de la resta. Per tal d’aconseguir aquesta recuperació de la memòria col·lectiva és fonamental la idea d’oralitat, sense la qual moltes d’aquestes històries no haurien pogut subsistir. L’oralitat, per tant, és un dels pilars sobre els quals s’aixeca la seva narrativa, perquè és d’aquest conjunt de relats que Moncada n’extreu el material bàsic que li serveix per convertir-los en literatura. La volatilitat d’aquesta transmissió és el que serveix d’excusa per, ben sovint, ser manipulada i transformada en benefici del joc ficcional. Una oralitat, amb tot, que no només és present com a material de base sinó que també és l’argamassa imprescindible que dona forma a moltes de les peces de narrativa breu, que parteixen del llenguatge parlat per ser, sense cap dubte, també enormement efectives. Moncada, per tant, és destre en la capacitat de combinar els recursos de l’oralitat en les seves dues vessants. Primer, com a font primigènia de les seves creacions; i, segon, com a canemàs que trasllada directament a la lletra escrita. I, finalment, la ironia. La multitud de relats fantàstics i sorprenents, els contes, i les seves tres novel·les, s’amaren sempre, de manera inconfusible, d’ironia. És així com Moncada aconsegueix mitigar el previsible plany elegíac que una obra com la seva, ubicada en un poble desaparegut, d’antuvi podria suggerir. Ja sigui a través de la veu narradora externa o a través d’alguns personatges que també l’empren, la ironia pondera sempre qualsevol símptoma de transcendència que una història com la de Mequinensa podria haver tingut. El valor estètic de la ironia dona el plus definitiu a l’obra de Moncada, perquè ressalta la voluntat literària que enclou, desactiva la gravetat de la memòria i n’assaona el dolor de la pèrdua. Que el mateix autor fes les darreres aproximacions a la seva obra des d’una òptica metaficcional demostra, no només una diàfana consciència auto-textual, sinó també la voluntat de tractar la recuperació del record des d’una perspectiva clarament literària. Vet-ho aquí la Mequinensa de Jesús Moncada, la recuperació d’una memòria oral observada des d’una lent afilada d’ironia.The work of the Catalan writer Jesús Moncada, to this day, had been limited to a few linguistic analyses and scarce studies of literary interpretation that either engaged only with very specific matters (phraseology) or only occupied themselves with tangential aspects of his work (metafiction). The aim of this doctoral thesis, Memory, orality and irony in the narrative of Jesús Moncada, is to provide a comprehensive analysis of Jesús Moncada’s literary production, capable of accounting for it as a whole. In sum, this doctoral thesis brings forth the first serious and competent study of the narrative (short stories and novels) of Jesús Moncada. To pursue this objective, suitable and precise concepts recurrent in Moncada’s work were identified and analysed narratologically in order to describe how certain patterns repeat themselves in all of Moncada’s books and how this has an impact on his work as a whole. The three chosen concepts were Memory, Orality and Irony. Against what the first literary critics proposed when Moncada’s works were published, this thesis’ hypothesis is that his narrative cannot solely be classed as elegiac or mythical, since, for instance, the conception of memory cannot be teased apart from the oral substratum that derives from it. This oral substratum is always active, but, crucially, active through the lens of irony, as this thesis proposes. Therefore, the interpretation of the works of an author like Jesús Montcada must depart from these premises. His narrative always recreates a world, the world of Mequinensa and its people, from the same time and space coordinates. This recreation is done with an unmistakable style, based, as mentioned above, in orality and irony, as well as in a very rich language, full of lexical, syntactical and phraseological resources. The combination of these two concepts – the effort of memory, that highlights its fragility, and the call for a narrative and linguistic perspective, that is to say, a call for a literary operation – is the cornerstone of his work. Memory, orality and irony combine themselves with precision thus becoming the engine of Jesús Moncada’s narrative. Upon the completion of this thesis, it can be concluded that Moncada’s literature is based on the combination of the aforementioned concepts. Jesús Moncada creates a whole world that narrates the processes by which they are recovered or discussed, and, finally, the processes by which certain tales of collective consciousness are validated or not, constantly reminding us that the stories about the people in this village are false in all respects but for their historical background. In spite of this, this process is crucial (it is, in fact, the threat that connects plots), since it creates a sense of community that allows for Mequinensa to stand out, in a literary sense, as a singular collective worth of being explained above others. In order to achieve this recovery of collective memory, the idea of orality is essential, given that without it, many of the stories could not have survived. Orality is thus one of the pillars of Moncada’s narrative, since it is the main source of material for him to turn into literature. The volatility of the transmission of these stories is often used as an excuse for them to be transformed and manipulated in the fictional game. Orality is, in any case, not only present as a raw material, but also as the indispensable cement required to shape many of the short stories that depart from spoken language so as to render them undoubtedly effective. Moncada is thus skilled in his capability to combine oral resources in a twofold manner: firstly, as the original source of his creations, and secondly, as a grid to be transferred directly into written language. And finally, irony. The multitude of fantastic and surprising tales, the short stories and his three novels are always undoubtedly oozing irony. Thus, Moncada manages to mitigate the elegiac cry that his work, located in a now lost village, suggests. Be it through his external narrative voice or through some character that implements it, irony always dilutes any symptom of transcendence that a story such as that of Mequinensa could have had. The aesthetic value of irony provides the final touch in Moncada’s work, since it highlights the literary intention encased in his work, it deactivates the seriousness of memory and it seasons the pain of loss. The fact that the author himself approaches his work from a metafictional perspective demonstrates not only clear auto-textual consciousness, but also the will to treat the recovery of memory from a clearly literary perspective. Here is Jesús Moncada’s Mequinensa, the recovery of oral memory observed through the lens of sharp irony.Jesús Moncada (Mequinensa, 1941. – Barcelona, 2005.) jedan je od najvećih autora katalonske književnosti XX. stoljeća. Autor je zbirki pripovijedaka Històries de la mà esquerra (1981), El Cafè de la Granota (1985) i Calaveres atònites (1999) i romanâ Camí de sirga (1988), La galeria de les estàtues (1992) i Estremida memòria (1997). Dobitnik je brojnih prestižnih književnih nagrada: nagrada Joan Crexells, El premio Nacional de la Crítica, nagrada Grada Barcelone i nagrada Crítica Serra d'Or. Društvo katalonskih književnika dodijelilo mu je 2001. godine nagradu za životno djelo. Njegovo najpoznatije djelo, roman Camí de sirga, prevedeno je na sedamnaest jezika. Ideja doktorske disertacije „Memorija, usmenost i ironija u Jesúsa Moncade” temelji se na sveukupnoj (uključujući kratke priče i romane), ali i detaljnoj analizi njegova djela. U tu svrhu odabrana su tri ključna koncepta koja mogu objasniti njegov književni opus: memorija, usmenost i ironija, koji su pak dovedeni u vezu s analizom naratoloških aspekata (kompozicija, prostor, vrijeme i likovi) u njegovim pripovijetkama i romanima. Disertacija je podijeljena u tri veće cjeline. U prvoj se iznosi teorijski okvir temeljnih koncepata za analizu Moncadina djela. Tri su poglavlja posvećena analizi memorije, usmenosti i ironije, i svako je od njih oprimjereno konkretnim primjerima iz autorova djela. Prva poglavlja, esejističkoga tipa, čine okosnicu disertacije na koju se naslanja kasnija analiza romanâ, koja čini drugu cjelinu, a potom i analiza pripovijetki, koja se nalazi u trećem dijelu disertacije. Kada govorimo o memoriji, u prvom se redu oslanjamo na djelo Kolektivna memorija (Mémoire collective) Mauricea Halbawachsa. Sociološka analiza ovog francuskog autora primjenjuje se na zajednicu koju predstavlja Moncadina književna Mequinensa, odnosno način na koji ona utječe na samopercepciju te zajednice koju imaju protagonisti pripovijetki i romana. Također, analiza je primijenjiva i na amalgame sjećanja koji se protežu kroz Moncadino djelo, i koje je kritika nazvala „mit o Mequinensi“. U disertaciji smo utvrdili od čega se sastoji taj mit, je li riječ o jednom jedinom mitu, ili se, kako smo pokazali, radi o više mitova unutar književne Mequinense. Također smo istražili što je istinito a što ne u kolektivnoj memoriji žiteljâ te književne Mequinense, i kako ta činjenica utječe na neke od njezinih najistaknutijih protagonista. Usmenost u Moncadinu proznom djelu obradili smo na temelju teorija Erica Havelocka, Paula Zumthora i osobito Waltera J. Onga, autorâ koji ističu važnost usmenog događaja kao izvornika za svaku kasniju književnost. Analiza obuhvaća važnost usmenog prijenosa s koljena na koljeno, ali i objašnjava na koji to način uvjetuje Moncadinu književnost, koja se, u velikoj mjeri, temelji na anegdotama, glasinama, obiteljskim govorkanjima i tračevima stanovnikâ Mequinense. Prva cjelina, kao što smo naveli, završava ironijom, skliskim i transverzalnim pojmom koji smo preciznije odredili. U tu svrhu poslužila su nam minuciozna istraživanja Perea Ballarta i Waynea C. Bootha. Oba autora precizno utvrđuju granice onoga što možemo i ne možemo razumjeti kao ironiju, odnosno, koji su učinci ironije na književni tekst. Polazeći od njihovih premisa, utvrdili smo na koji ih način možemo primijeniti na Moncadino djelo, kako se, u kojim situacijama i s kojim se ciljem koristi ironija, te kako se ona može pretvarati, i u kojim slučajevima, u sarkazam ili satiru, imajući na umu osobu ili instituciju kojoj je upućena. Druga je cjelina posvećena praktičnoj analizi korpusa romanâ Jesúsa Moncade, na temelju koncepata koje smo definirali u prvom dijelu. Kao što je gore navedeno, romani su analiziraju na temelju sljedećih parametara: kompozicija, prostori, vrijeme i likovi. Uspoređujući zajedničke aspekte koje imaju sva tri romana, došli smo do zaključka da su sličniji nego što se to na prvi pogled čini. Posljednja je cjelina disertacije usmjerena na analizu Moncadine kratke proze, koja se u velikoj mjeri razvija na istoj podlozi kao i romani. U prvom smo se redu usredotočili na analizu tematike pripovjetki te imaju li one kakvih osobitosti u odnosu na romane. Najprije smo izdvojili Moncadine fantastične pripovijetke, folklornog sadržaja, u kojima je vrlo često prisutna smrt, a potom smo utvrdili evoluciju prema pričama koje su više kostumbrističkoga tipa, u kojima se Moncada katkada igra s izvrtanjem logičnog poretka svijeta (riječ je o navodnoj posebnosti Mequinense) ili sa susjedskim sukobima komičnog karaktera. Na kraju doktorskog istraživanja možemo zaključiti da se Moncadina proza uistinu temelji na kombinaciji triju navedenih koncepata. Jesús Moncada stvara cijeli jedan svijet u kojemu pripovijeda događaje pomoću kojih se obnavljaju, raspravljaju ili pak potvrđuju ili ne, izvjesne priče iz kolektivne svijesti podsjećajući nas konstantno da je povijest mjesta uglavnom izmišljena u svemu onome što nisu precizni povijesni događaji. Ipak, ti su događaji važni (oni zapravo čine srž fabule) kako bi se stvorio smisao zajednice koji dopušta da se Mequinensa istakne, u književnom smislu, kao osobiti kolektiv koji zaslužuje biti objašnjen iznad svih drugih. Kako bi se postigla ta obnova kolektivne memorije ključna je usmenost bez koje mnoge od tih priča ne bi mogle opstati. Usmenost je stoga jedan od stupova na kojima počiva Moncadina proza, budući da na temelju mnoštva usmenih priča Moncada stvara temeljni materijal koji će mu poslužiti da ih pretvori u fikciju. Riječ je o usmenosti koja ne samo da je prisutna kao temeljni materijal za priču nego je također i nužna tvar koja oblikuje mnoge dijelove njegove kratke proze, koji polaze od govornog jezika i time su iznimno učinkovite. Moncada je u tom smislu vrlo vješt u kombiniranju elemenata usmenosti, najprije kao primarnog izvora književnog stvaralaštva, a potom i kao pripovjedač koji tu usmenost izravno prenosi u pisanu riječ. I, naposljetku, valja spomenuti i ironiju. Mnoštvo fantastičnih i iznenađujućih pripovijetki, kao i sva tri romana, prožeti su ironijom. Na taj način Moncada uspijeva ublažiti predvidljivu elegijsku žalopojku kakva bi mogla biti djelo poput njegova, smješteno u mjesto koje više ne postoji. Putem eksternog pripovjednog glasa, a katkada i pomoću likova koji je također koriste, ironija propitkuje svaki trag transcendencije kakvu bi priča kao što je ona o Mequinensi mogla imati. Estetska vrijednost ironije definitivno je dodatna vrijednost Moncadine proze, budući da ističe književnu namjeru, deaktivira težinu memorije i ublažava bol zbog gubitka. To što se sam autor osvrnuo na svoje djelo s metafikcionalnog gledišta pokazuje ne samo transparentnu autotekstualnu svijest, nego i volju da obnovi sjećanje iz čisto književne perspektive. Takva je Mequinensa Jesúsa Moncade, obnova usmenog sjećanja promatrana kroz oštru leću ironije

A Novel Prediction Method for Early Recognition of Global Human Behaviour in Image Sequences

Human behaviour recognition has been, and still remains, a challenging problem that involves different areas of computational intelligence. The automated understanding of people activities from video sequences is an open research topic in which the computer vision and pattern recognition areas have made big efforts. In this paper, the problem is studied from a prediction point of view. We propose a novel method able to early detect behaviour using a small portion of the input, in addition to the capabilities of it to predict behaviour from new inputs. Specifically, we propose a predictive method based on a simple representation of trajectories of a person in the scene which allows a high level understanding of the global human behaviour. The representation of the trajectory is used as a descriptor of the activity of the individual. The descriptors are used as a cue of a classification stage for pattern recognition purposes. Classifiers are trained using the trajectory representation of the complete sequence. However, partial sequences are processed to evaluate the early prediction capabilities having a specific observation time of the scene. The experiments have been carried out using the three different dataset of the CAVIAR database taken into account the behaviour of an individual. Additionally, different classic classifiers have been used for experimentation in order to evaluate the robustness of the proposal. Results confirm the high accuracy of the proposal on the early recognition of people behaviours.This work was supported in part by the University of Alicante, Valencian Government and Spanish government under grants GRE11-01, GV/2013/005 and DPI2013-40534-R

Obtenció dels modes de resonancia a una geometria complexa: proposta didàctica de modelització amb elements finits

[EN] Finite Elements Method is a well established mathematical technique for solving Partial Derivative Differential Equations. In this article we present an example of application of Finite Elements Method: the harmonic resonance modes of a guitar obtained from the resolution of the eigenvalues equation via the Finite Elements Method. Graphical output and direct comparison with experiments facilitates the understanding of the method and an extra motivation, establishing a link between Mathematics and the resolution of real engineering problems than is specially necessary in the teaching of Mathematics in the engineering schools.[CA] Els elements finits actualment constitueixen una eina fonamental per a resolució d’equacions diferencials en contextos reals. En aquest article presentem un bon exemple per al mètode: l’obtenció dels modes de ressonància sobre la tapa harmònica d’una guitarra, a partir de la resolució d’una equació d’autovalors amb el mètode dels elements finits. Per la facilitat de interpretació i contrastació experimental dels resultats obtinguts, pot oferir a mès una gratificació i motivació addicional, molt necessària en tot procès d’aprenentatge.Fuster-Garcia, E.; Garcia Raffi, L.; Romero-Garcia, V. (2009). Obtenció dels modes de resonancia a una geometria complexa: proposta didàctica de modelització amb elements finits. Modelling in Science Education and Learning. 2:57-65. doi:10.4995/msel.2009.3123SWORD57652Zienkiewicz, Olgierd Cecil. The fi element method. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000, 5th ed

Three-dimensional planar model estimation using multi-constraint knowledge based on k-means and RANSAC

Plane model extraction from three-dimensional point clouds is a necessary step in many different applications such as planar object reconstruction, indoor mapping and indoor localization. Different RANdom SAmple Consensus (RANSAC)-based methods have been proposed for this purpose in recent years. In this study, we propose a novel method-based on RANSAC called Multiplane Model Estimation, which can estimate multiple plane models simultaneously from a noisy point cloud using the knowledge extracted from a scene (or an object) in order to reconstruct it accurately. This method comprises two steps: first, it clusters the data into planar faces that preserve some constraints defined by knowledge related to the object (e.g., the angles between faces); and second, the models of the planes are estimated based on these data using a novel multi-constraint RANSAC. We performed experiments in the clustering and RANSAC stages, which showed that the proposed method performed better than state-of-the-art methods

Significació dels marcadors d'activació de monòcits i inflamacions en pacients amb Trastorn per Ús d'Alcohol

El Trastorn per Ús d'Alcohol (TUA), que és la forma més greu del consum perjudicial d'alcohol, pot produir problemes hepàtics entre altres alteracions i desequilibris. Un estudi de la Unitat d'Addiccions del Servei de Medicina Interna de l'Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, dut a terme amb pacients ingressats a aquest i a Bellvitge, proposa arribar a una correlació d'indicis per actuar abans que la malaltia empitjori. S'ha considerat important analitzar les proteïnes CD163 i sCD14 com a marcadors per al comportament i activació dels monòcits i la IL-6, pel que fa a la inflamació del cos, a causa de la ingerència d'alcohol, ja que es vinculen amb les pertorbacions observades.El Trastorno por Uso de Alcohol (TUA), que es la forma más grave del consumo perjudicial de alcohol, puede producir problemas hepáticos, entre otras alteraciones y desequilibrios. Un estudio de la Unidad de Adicciones del Servicio de Medicina Interna del Hospital Universitario Germans Trias i Pujol, llevado a cabo con pacientes ingresados en este y en Bellvitge, propone llegar a una correlación de indicios para actuar antes de que la enfermedad empeore. Se ha considerado importante analizar las proteínas CD163 y sCD14 como marcadores para el comportamiento y activación de los monocitos y el IL-6, con respecto a la inflamación del cuerpo, debido a la injerencia de alcohol, ya que se vinculan con las perturbaciones observadas.Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is the most extreme form of unhealthy alcohol use. It is associated with liver-related problems, among other alterations. A study carried out by the Addiction Unit of the Internal Medicine service of the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital with patients from this and Bellvitge, proposes to reach a correlation of indications in order to act before the disease worsens. It has been considered important to analize the CD163 and sCD14 proteins, markers for activation and monocyte behavior and the IL-6, responsible of the inflammation of the body, due to alcohol intake, because both of them are linked to the observed perturbations