Campaniforme o no Campaniforme: una perspectiva sobre las cerámicas ‘pellizcadas’ en vasos con perfil en ‘s’ del Calcolítico en la Península Ibérica

The Bell Beaker phenomenon is the sum of several regional answers. Those are diluted into a reality with several shared characteristics. Nevertheless, and although being one of the most studied expressions of the European Recent Prehistory, more specific adaptations are still to be understood. This is the case of the paired fingernail imprints, or pinched motifs, that due to their scarceness are mostly unnoticed in Iberia. However, one was able to highpoint a scarceness of these standardised motifs in funerary contexts and a concentration in contexts dated from the last quarter of the IIIrd millennium BC, in the precise period of transition in the way of life of the peninsular human groups. Also, the regression in the communicative ability of the vessels, but at the same time dear links with other European Bell Beaker contexts seems to strengthen the hypothesis that this large-scale style must be understood as another agent in the ongoing identarian and social processes acting, as such, in the transition to the beginning of the Peninsular Bronze Age.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Is there a relationship between prenatal cannabis exposure and the development of aggressive behaviour?

Treball Final de Grau en Psicologia. Codi: PS1048. Curs: 2018/2019.Numerous studies focusing on the effects of cannabis use at the psychobiological level have shown cognitive impairment as well as memory and attention deficits. However, very few studies have investigated the effects that cannabis use, during pregnancy, may have on future offspring, particularly with regards to aggressive or violent behaviour. Here, we reviewed the literature with the aim of drawing conclusions on this topic. To do so, four databases were searched (Pubmed, PubPsych, Psynet and Science Direct) with the key words: cannabis, pregnancy and aggressive behaviour. Clear inclusion criteria (only research articles published between 2008 and 2019 that focused on marijuana and human sample) was used. The studies found showed certain common denominators with respect to the sample: low educational and socio-economic levels, as well as comorbidity with alcohol and tobacco use. With respect to the offspring; in children of cannabis users, a lower than average fetal somatometry was observed.Between 1 and 3 years old, low levels of attention and high impulsivity were found, as well as a high presence of externalizing behaviours (hyperactivity, irritability and aggressiveness), which are more frequent in girls. At the neurobiological level, possible mechanisms are proposed, highlighting the role of the stress axis (hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal; HPA) and of brain areas with structural alterations and connectivity deficits due to prenatal exposure (prefrontal cortex, amygdala and hippocampus). Despite the low number of investigations, the data show a relationship between cannabis use during gestation and the presence of behavioural alterations in childhood. These disturbances may be related to the development of aggressive and violent behaviour in later stages of development.Numerosas investigaciones centradas en el estudio de los efectos que produce el consumo de cannabis a nivel psicobiológico han demostrado deterioro cognitivo, afectación de la memoria y de la atención. Sin embargo, muy pocos estudios han investigado los efectos que el consumo de cannabis durante el embarazo pudiera producir en la futura descendencia, en particular respecto a la conducta agresiva o violenta. En el presente trabajo se realizó una revisión bibliográfica que tuvo como objetivo intentar obtener conclusiones a este respecto. Para ello ser realizó una búsqueda en cuatro bases de datos (Pubmed, PubPsych, Psynet y Science Direct), con las palabras clave: cannabis, pregnancy y aggressive behavior, y siguiendo unos criterios de inclusión claros (solo artículos de investigación, publicados entre 2008 y 2019, centrados en la marihuana y con muestra humana). Los estudios encontrados muestran ciertos denominadores comunes respecto a la muestra: bajos niveles educativos y socio-económicos, así como comorbilidad con el consumo de alcohol y tabaco. Respecto a la descendencia; en hijo/as de consumidoras de cannabis, se observa una somatometría fetal inferior a la media. Entre los 1 y 3 años se observan niveles bajos de atención y altos en impulsividad así como una elevada presencia de conductas externalizantes (hiperactividad, irritabilidad y agresividad), las cuales son más frecuentes en niñas. A nivel neurobiológico, se proponen posibles mecanismos implicados, destacando el papel del eje del estrés (hipotalámico-pituitario-adrenal; HPA) y de áreas cerebrales con deterioro tanto a nivel estructural como de conectividad a causa de la exposición prenatal (córtex prefrontal, amígdala e hipocampo). A pesar del bajo número de investigaciones realizadas de esta índole, los datos muestran una relación entre el consumo de cannabis durante la gestación y la presencia de alteraciones de conducta en la niñez. Estas alteraciones pudieran relacionarse con el desarrollo de conducta agresiva y violenta en etapas posteriores del desarrollo

Modeling Adoption and Usage of Competing Products

The emergence and wide-spread use of online social networks has led to a dramatic increase on the availability of social activity data. Importantly, this data can be exploited to investigate, at a microscopic level, some of the problems that have captured the attention of economists, marketers and sociologists for decades, such as, e.g., product adoption, usage and competition. In this paper, we propose a continuous-time probabilistic model, based on temporal point processes, for the adoption and frequency of use of competing products, where the frequency of use of one product can be modulated by those of others. This model allows us to efficiently simulate the adoption and recurrent usages of competing products, and generate traces in which we can easily recognize the effect of social influence, recency and competition. We then develop an inference method to efficiently fit the model parameters by solving a convex program. The problem decouples into a collection of smaller subproblems, thus scaling easily to networks with hundred of thousands of nodes. We validate our model over synthetic and real diffusion data gathered from Twitter, and show that the proposed model does not only provides a good fit to the data and more accurate predictions than alternatives but also provides interpretable model parameters, which allow us to gain insights into some of the factors driving product adoption and frequency of use

Strategies for synthesis of yardsticks and abaci for nanometre distance measurements by pulsed EPR

Silvia Valera is grateful for support by EPSRC and Bela E. Bode acknowledges support by EastCHEM.Pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) techniques have been found to be an efficient tool for elucidation of structure in complex biological systems as they give access to distances in the nanometre range. These measurements can provide additional structural information such as relative orientations, structural flexibility or aggregation states. A wide variety of model systems for calibration and optimisation of pulsed experiments has been synthesised. Their design is based on mimicking biological systems or materials in specific properties such as the distances themselves and the distance distributions. Here, we review selected approaches to the synthesis of chemical systems bearing two or more spin centres, such as nitroxide or trityl radicals, metal ions or combinations thereof and sketch their application in pulsed EPR distance measurements.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM AND THE SUPPORT FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION

The provision of pensions for the old and public education for the young represent a large share of public budgets. In most Western countries, current Social Security systems are under a big financial stress. Several reforms have been proposed to solve this problem. This paper deals with the impact that some of these reforms have, through a political process, on publicly financed education. We develop a model linking both public transfer schemes, in which heterogeneous individuals vote the educational tax. Our findings show that most of the proposals that entail a partial privatization of the pension system have a negative impact on public education and, thus, on economic growth.Social Security Reform, Human Capital, Public Education, Voting.