Voting in small networks with cross-pressure

We present a model of participation in elections in small networks, in which citizens su¤er from cross-pressures if voting against the alternative preferred by some of their social contacts. We analyze how the existence of cross-pressures may shape voting decisions, and so, political outcomes; and how candidates may exploit this e¤ect to their interest.Network; Voting; Cross-Cutting.

Analysis of the role of gender and conversational strategies in the University classroom

Los estudios sobre interacción en el aula han demostrado cómo la clase de idiomas suele estar dominada por el discurso del profesor, que monitoriza y distribuye los turnos de palabra. No obstante, debe tenerse en cuenta que también existen estudios que demuestran las desigualdades existentes entre el discurso de los alumnos y el de las alumnas. El presente artículo está basado en un estudio de debates llevados a cabo en aulas universitarias y pretende explicar las diferencias en la participación de alumnas y alumnos en clase, así como los distintos estilos y estrategias conversacionales empleados por cada uno. Esto llevará a una mejor comprensión del papel que el factor género juega en el aula universitaria de idiomas.Studies on classroom interaction have proved that every language classroom is dominated by the teacher‟s discourse, as s/he is the one who monitors and assigns turns. Nonetheless, other studies have also shown disparities between male and female students regarding discourse. The present article is drawn from a study on debates at university level and is intended to explain differences in male and female participation in class, as well as the different conversational styles and strategies used by them. This will lead to a better understanding of the role of gender in language learning at university

Bounded Confidence under Preferential Flip: A Coupled Dynamics of Structural Balance and Opinions

In this work we study the coupled dynamics of social balance and opinion formation. We propose a model where agents form opinions under bounded confidence, but only considering the opinions of their friends. The signs of social ties -friendships and enmities- evolve seeking for social balance, taking into account how similar agents' opinions are. We consider both the case where opinions have one and two dimensions. We find that our dynamics produces the segregation of agents into two cliques, with the opinions of agents in one clique differing from those in the other. Depending on the level of bounded confidence, the dynamics can produce either consensus of opinions within each clique or the coexistence of several opinion clusters in a clique. For the uni-dimensional case, the opinions in one clique are all below the opinions in the other clique, hence defining a "left clique" and a "right clique". In the two-dimensional case, our numerical results suggest that the two cliques are separated by a hyperplane in the opinion space. We also show that the phenomenon of unidimensional opinions identified by DeMarzo, Vayanos and Zwiebel (Q J Econ 2003) extends partially to our dynamics. Finally, in the context of politics, we comment about the possible relation of our results to the fragmentation of an ideology and the emergence of new political parties.Comment: 8 figures, PLoS ONE 11(10): e0164323, 201

Geometric formulation to analyze singular physical systems

This paper is based on the article: Barbero G, J.F., Díaz, B., Margalef-Bentabol, J. and Villaseñor, E. (2019). Dirac's algorithm in the presence of boundaries: a practical guide to a geometric approach. Classical and Quantum Gravity , 36, 205014In this talk, we show the role of symplectic geometric in the recent geometric formulation of the Dirac algorithm to analyze singular filed theories in the presence of boundaries. Also, we present some of the recent applications of this formalism.This project has received funding from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant Agreement No 801538

Encoding Specific 3D Polyhedral Complexes Using 3D Binary Images

We build upon the work developed in [4] in which we presented a method to “locally repair” the cubical complex Q(I) associated to a 3D binary image I, to obtain a “well-composed” polyhedral complex P(I), homotopy equivalent to Q(I). There, we developed a new codification system for P(I), called ExtendedCubeMap (ECM) representation, that encodes: (1) the (geometric) information of the cells of P(I) (i.e., which cells are presented and where), under the form of a 3D grayscale image gP ; (2) the boundary face relations between the cells of P(I), under the form of a set BP of structuring elements. In this paper, we simplify ECM representations, proving that geometric and topological information of cells can be encoded using just a 3D binary image, without the need of using colors or sets of structuring elements. We also outline a possible application in which well-composed polyhedral complexes can be useful.Junta de Andalucía FQM-369Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MTM2012-32706Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MTM2015-67072-

Zoonotic potential of Escherichia coli and other Enterobacteriaceae isolated from poultry meat: study of antibiotic resistances and definition of clonal groups pathogenic for humans

The emergence of UTIs caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria in the last decades poses a challenge for human medicine. In contrast to enteric E. coli pathotypes, which have been associated with diarrhoeal illnesses and linked to a wide variety of contaminated foods, extraintestinal E. coli (ExPEC) does not cause disease in the gut of colonized individuals, but rather persists in the intestine until there happens an opportunity to cause infection. The hypothesis that food, in particular poultry products, may act as a reservoir for human ExPEC is derived from multiple lines of evidence. Studies of ESBL-positive ExPEC lineages tend to be over-represented while lacking data on foodborne transmission of high-risk strains for humans due to bias on its sampling methodolody. If the increase in antimicrobial-resistant extraintestinal infections caused by E. coli is attributable to the introduction of new MDR ExPEC lineages through contaminated food products, then the relevance to public health, food animal production and food safety would be significant. The main objective of the present project is to know the role of food (particularly poultry products) in the transmission to humans of high-risk E. coli strains. In this context, high-risk strains would be those with the capability of developing an extraintestinal multiresistant infection. To get this objective, an efficient protocol will be designed to recover ExPEC and/or ESBL E. coli strains from meat of different avian origins. The clonal groups recovered with this protocol and identified as high-risk groups for humans will be compared through complete genomic analysis.Therefore, the present project focuses on a topic of scientific concern worldwide, and addresses one of the challenges identified in the Spanish Strategy for Science and Technology and Innovation, namely the challenge of Security, food quality

Slope failure in Caracas, Venezuela: The influence of squatter settlement

In Caracas, Venezuela, landslides have become an increasing problem frequently associated with the rainy season and the creation of more vulnerable areas by the urbanization process. Their effects have been particularly evident in the squatter settlements or barrios in the hillsides surrounding Caracas. The purpose of this research is to examine the incidence of slope failure in the barrios. An account of the urban growth of Caracas is given in order to illustrate how population has been progressively occupying the valley and its hillsides. A data set of 205 slope failures which occurred over a six year period is set up. The slope failures in the Metropolitan Area are analyzed both spatially and over time in order to elucidate some of the factors responsible for their incidence. Besides location and date of occurrence, the data set incorporates rainfall seasonality and cumulative totals, lithology, slope angle, type of mass movement, and location within the urban context. The role of the rainfall as a triggering factor for the slope failures is examined. Cumulative rainfall values are considered for 10, 30 days and seasonally. With the help of a sequence of aerial photographs, the evolution of slope failure in barrio El Cipres is used to examine the links between the settlement process and the evolution of the local geomorphology. A Landslide Susceptibility Map is then produced. The research shows that rainfall plays an important role in the incidence of slope failures, but its influence in barrios is also compounded by other factors such as enhanced infiltration and the changes in slope produced by the settlements process. In this connection improvements in services and the consolidation of the barrio may add to the problem if they are not carefully planned