Work-Related Violence Research Project: Overview and Survey Module and Focus Group Findings

[Excerpt] The main goal of the contract was to provide ILAB with a newly developed set of high quality research tools (i.e., new survey questions module and related focus group protocols) and corresponding methodological recommendations to meet ILAB’s needs for collecting nationally representative, gender-disaggregated data on the prevalence, nature, and possible consequences of adult (18 years of age and older) WRV, including gender-based violence (or GBV) to the extent practicable. ILAB is particularly interested in the formal and informal sectors of one or more of the following Spanish-speaking Central American countries: Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica

Impacto del ozono troposférico sobre la anatomía foliar de Abies pinsapo Boiss. I: estudio de la distribución de daños

Impacto del ozono troposférico sobre la anatomía foliar de Abies pinsapo Boiss. I: Estudio de la distribución de daños. Con el fin de elaborar unos criterios unificados para la evaluación del impacto del ozono troposférico y compararlos con la respuesta de las poblaciones naturales de Sierra Bermeja y Sierra de las Nieves, se han reproducido en cámaras Open Top, ambientes filtrados y enriquecidos con ozono para realizar una caracterización microscópica del daño que produce el ozono troposférico sobre Abies pinsapo Boiss. Los resultados demuestran que pese a que la morfología foliar permanece inalterada tras someter durante un mes en condiciones de 30 ppb durante 8 horas al día, a nivel tisular se han producido daños de consideración que afectan de este endemismoTropospheric ozone injury on the foliar anatomy of Abies pinsapo Boiss. I: Study of damage distribution. With the aim of develop unified criteria to evaluate the tropospheric ozone injury and compare with responses in Abies pinsapo Boiss. in natural populations in Sierra Bermeja and Sierra de las Nieves, it has been reproduced in Open Top Chambers conditions of filtered air and addition of controlled amounts of ozone. Results show that despite leaf morphology remains unaltered after a treatment with 30 ppb 8 hours per day, at tissue level there have been injuries that affect this endemis

Detección de inercia sectorial en salidas a bolsa mediante modelos arima y redes neuronales

En este trabajo se explora la posibilidad de existencia de mercados segmentados en las salidas a bolsa que pudiesen reflejarse en inercia a corto plazo. Se propone que el rendimiento inicial de las acciones pertenecientes a los sectores tecnológico, de telecomunicaciones y medios de comunicación por un lado y el del resto, por otro, podría estar relacionado con la rentabilidad inicial de otras acciones pertenecientes al mismo sector. Para contrastar ésto, se analizan una serie de índices diarios que son objeto de predicción mediante modelos ARIMA y redes neuronales artificiales. Los resultados aportan indicios de presencia de inercia y de que esta afecta de forma distinta en función del área de actividad.In this work, we explore the possible existence of segmented short-term serial dependence in IPOs. We propose that average first-day underpricing of TMT companies might be affected by the average initial return of the companies taken public in the same sector over the previous days. In order to analyse this, we create a set of indexes to be predicted using artificial neural networks and ARIMA models. Their forecasting ability suggests that both the existence of inertia and a segmented market cannot be ruled out.Publicad

The influence of market deregulation on fast food consumption and body mass index : a cross-national time series analysis

Peer reviewe

Svq: a proposal for still image coding in mpeg 4 - snhc

A technique for efficient coding of homogeneous textures is presented here. The technique is based on the use of Stochastic Vector Quantization and provides very high compression with graceful degradation. To encode the image, a linear prediction filter is computed. Then, the prediction error is encoded using a Stochastic Vector Quantization approach. To decode the image, the prediction error is decoded first and then filtered as a whole using the prediction filter, thus avoiding the block effect found in conventional VQ. The approach has been proposed as a still image coding technique in MPEG 4 SNHC. Comparisons with the Video VM of MPEG 4 are also presentedPeer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Networks Underpinning Symbiosis Revealed Through Cross-Species eQTL Mapping.

Organisms engage in extensive cross-species molecular dialog, yet the underlying molecular actors are known for only a few interactions. Many techniques have been designed to uncover genes involved in signaling between organisms. Typically, these focus on only one of the partners. We developed an expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) mapping-based approach to identify cause-and-effect relationships between genes from two partners engaged in an interspecific interaction. We demonstrated the approach by assaying expression of 98 isogenic plants (Medicago truncatula), each inoculated with a genetically distinct line of the diploid parasitic nematode Meloidogyne hapla With this design, systematic differences in gene expression across host plants could be mapped to genetic polymorphisms of their infecting parasites. The effects of parasite genotypes on plant gene expression were often substantial, with up to 90-fold (P = 3.2 × 10-52) changes in expression levels caused by individual parasite loci. Mapped loci included a number of pleiotropic sites, including one 87-kb parasite locus that modulated expression of >60 host genes. The 213 host genes identified were substantially enriched for transcription factors. We distilled higher-order connections between polymorphisms and genes from both species via network inference. To replicate our results and test whether effects were conserved across a broader host range, we performed a confirmatory experiment using M. hapla-infected tomato. This revealed that homologous genes were similarly affected. Finally, to validate the broader utility of cross-species eQTL mapping, we applied the strategy to data from a Salmonella infection study, successfully identifying polymorphisms in the human genome affecting bacterial expression

Electrocardiographic Screening of Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy in Genotype-Positive and Phenotype-Negative Relatives

Background: Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy is a hereditary cause of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden death. Identifying the healthy genetic carriers who will develop the disease remains a challenge. A novel approach to the analysis of the digital electrocardiograms of mutation carriers through signal processing may identify early electrocardiographic abnormalities. Methods: A retrospective case–control study included a population of healthy genetics carriers and their wild-type relatives. Genotype-positive/phenotype-negative individuals bore mutations associated with the development of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. The relatives included had a non-pathological 12-lead electrocardiogram, echocardiogram, and a cardiac magnetic resonance. Automatic digital electrocardiographic analyses comprised QRS and terminal activation delay duration, the number of QRS fragmentations, ST slope, and T-wave voltage. Results: Digital 12-lead electrocardiograms from 41 genotype-positive/ phenotype-negative (29 simple carriers and 12 double mutation carriers) and 73 wild-type relatives were analyzed. No differences in the QRS length, the number of QRS fragmentations, and the voltage of the T-wave were observed. After adjusting for potential confounders, double carriers showed an average ST-slope flatter than those of the simple carriers and wild type [5.18° (0.73–8.01), 7.15° (5.14–11.05), and 11.46° (3.94–17.49), respectively, p = 0.005]. There was a significant negative correlation between the ST slope and the age in genotype-positive/phenotype-negative relatives (r = 0.376, p = 0.021) not observed in their wild-type counterparts (r = 0.074, p = 0.570). Conclusions: A flattened ST segment may be an early sign of electrical remodeling that precedes T-wave inversion in healthy genetic carriers. A thorough analysis of the digital electrocardiographic signal may help identify and measure early electrical abnormalities

Un estudi pilot de les característiques motivacionals dels tennistes i dels tennistes en cadira de rodes en competició

Aquest estudi analitza les característiques motivacionals del tennis de competició en esportistes d'alta competició practicants de tennis i tennis en cadira de rodes. Per a això es pren com a marc teòric la perspectiva de les fites d'assoliment (Nicholls, 1989; Roberts, 1992). S'analitzen les relacions entre l'orientació motivacional i una sèrie de variables psicològiques com són les creences sobre les causes d'èxit en esport, la satisfacció amb els resultats esportius, la diversió amb la pràctica esportiva i la preferència per tasques amb diferent grau de dificultat. Els resultats mostren, enfront d'estudis anteriors, que tant l'orientació a l'ego com l'orientació a la tasca s'associen a patrons motivacionals adaptatius. Per últim, s'han trobat diferències significatives en algunes de les variables estudiades entre els tennistes i els tennistes en cadira de rodes. Les possibles implicacions que per a l'entrenament poden tenir aquests resultats són discutides en el treball