Homeownership as a Sign of Immigrants\u27 Consumer Acculturation: The Role of Region of Origin

One of the limitations highlighted by the consumer acculturation literature is the lack of empirical research to identify better constructs or indicators of consumer acculturation. In this article, the use of homeownership by immigrants in the host society is proposed as an indicator of advanced consumer acculturation. The decision to own a home by a minority group, such as immigrants, represents a key landmark in the process of adaptation to the new culture and a commitment with the host country\u27s values and culture. The empirical case used is the immigrant population of Spain. The sharp rise in its foreign-born population during the last decade and the significantly higher homeownership rates of natives in comparison with other countries makes the Spanish scenario a relevant case study. The results obtained show homeownership is linked to features associated with highly acculturated consumers. Moreover, the analysis conducted reveals important differences in the way immigrants from different origins advance in their consumer acculturation processes and suggest distinct approaches when marketing to these groups

La contratación pública de obras: situación actual y puntos de mejora

La construcción pública ha sido, es y será uno de los pilares fundamentales del sector construcción español, si bien la actual situación de crisis económica y la reducción de la inversión pública en nuevas infraestructuras ha generado un descenso de actividad hasta niveles similares a los años noventa. El retorno a índices de actividad más elevados no solo se conseguirá con la recuperación de la economía del país, sino que será necesario realizar ciertas mejoras en los procesos de licitación con objeto de conseguir una mayor funcionalidad y flexibilidad en la contratación pública de obras

Improving top-down proteomics: first steps

Comunicaciones a congreso

Assessing math anxiety in elementary schoolchildren through a Spanish version of the Scale for Early Mathematics Anxiety (SEMA)

Math anxiety (MA) affects students of all age groups. Because of its effects on children’s academic development, the need to recognize its early manifestations has been highlighted. We designed a European-Spanish version of the Scale for Early Mathematics Anxiety (SEMA; Wu et al. (2012)), and assessed its psychometric properties in a sample of children aged 7 to 12 years. The participants (967 typically developing children) were elementary school students recruited from ten schools. Children reported their general and math anxiety levels in an individual session and performed nonverbal IQ and math abilities subtests in a group session. Teachers reported the final math grades. The psychometric indices obtained, and the resulting factor structure revealed that the European-Spanish version of the SEMA developed in this study is a reliable and valid measure to evaluate MA in children from 3rd to 6th grade. Moreover, we explored gender differences, that resulted in small effect sizes, which disappeared when controlling for trait anxiety. Differences across grades were found for both global MA and the numerical processing anxiety factor but not for the situational and performance anxiety factor. Finally, MA was negatively associated with students’ math achievement, although the strength of the associations varied with the MA measure selected, the kind of math achievement analyzed, and the school stage considered. Our findings highlight the relevance of MA in elementary school and highlight the need for an early identification of students at risk of suffering MA to palliate the negative consequences of MA in children’s cognitive and academic development

Effortful control is associated with children's school functioning via learning-related behaviors

The goal of the current study was to identify factors that contribute to individual differences in school functioning. We proposed a model including direct effects of Effortful Control (EC) on Spanish 6- to 12-year olds' (N = 142) academic achievement and social adaptation at school, with these relations partially mediated by learning-related behaviors (LRBs). Parents rated children's EC; teachers reported children's LRBs and children' social adaptation in school; children' social preference was assessed through classmates' nominations. Children's academic achievement was measured through standard tests and grades. Analyses were run using structural equation models, controlling by gender, intelligence, age, socioeconomic status, and school. EC was positively and directly related to social adaptation in school. EC was also indirectly related to academic achievement and social adaptation through LRBs. The findings highlight the potential relevance of children's EC and LRBs for adjustment in elementary school

Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) Structural Susceptibility in the SARS-CoV-2 Virus Spike Protein Exposed to a Pulsed Electric Field

SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for causing the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has so far infected more than thirty million people and caused almost a million deaths. For this reason, it has been a priority to stop the transmission of the outbreak through preventive measures, such as surface disinfection, and to establish bases for the design of an effective disinfection technique without chemical components. In this study, we performed in silico analysis to identify the conformational alterations of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) caused by the effect of a pulsed electric field at two different intensities. We found that both stimuli, especially the one with the highest angular frequency and amplitude, modified the electrical charge distribution in the RBD surface and the number of hydrogen bonds. Moreover, the secondary structure was significantly affected, with a decrease of the structured regions, particularly the regions with residues involved in recognizing and interacting with the receptor ACE2. Since many regions suffered conformational changes, we calculated RMSF and ΔRMSF to identify the regions and residues with larger fluctuations and higher flexibility. We found that regions conformed by 353-372, 453-464, and 470-490 amino acid residues fluctuate the most, where the first is considered a therapeutic target, and the last has alreadybeen characterized for its flexibility. Our results indicate that a pulsed electric field can cause loss of stability in the Spike-RBD, and we were able to identify the vulnerable sites to be used as a starting point for the development of viral inhibition or inactivation mechanisms

La reconversión azucarera en la provincia de Guantánamo, Cuba. Una mirada desde lo local

Un análisis antes y después del proceso reconversión azucarera en la provincia de Guantánamo, Cuba, posibilitó identificar las principales experiencias de su aplicación; además, se destacan los beneficios que una perspectiva local hubiera podido aportar. Se abordó el impacto socioeconómico de dicho proceso en la agroindustria azucarera de la provincia. Se concluyó que el proceso de reconversión azucarera y el desarrollo económico local están sujetos al perfeccionamiento de los modelos de desarrollo tradicionales y a su adaptación a particularidades locales. Así, la evaluación del impacto de la reconversión en las comunidades debe considerar los principios de sostenibilidad (dimensiones económica, ambiental y social)

Brain activity changes with emotional words in different stages of psychosis

BackgroundTo date, a large number of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have been conducted on psychosis. However, little is known about changes in brain functioning in psychotic patients using an emotional auditory paradigm at different stages of the disease. Such knowledge is important for advancing our understanding of the disorder and thus creating more targeted interventions. This study aimed to investigate whether individuals with first-episode psychosis (FEP) and chronic schizophrenia show abnormal brain responses to emotional auditory processing and to compare the responses between FEP and chronic schizophrenia. MethodsPatients with FEP (n = 31) or chronic schizophrenia (n = 23) and healthy controls (HCs, n = 31) underwent an fMRI scan while presented with both emotional and nonemotional words. ResultsUsing HC as a reference, patients with FEP showed decreased right temporal activation, while patients with chronic schizophrenia showed increased bilateral temporal activation. When comparing the patient groups, individuals with FEP showed lower frontal lobe activation. ConclusionTo the best of our knowledge, this is the first study with an emotional auditory paradigm used in psychotic patients at different stages of the disease. Our results suggested that the temporal lobe might be a key issue in the physiopathology of psychosis, although abnormal activation could also be derived from a connectivity problem. There is lower activation in the early stage and evolution to greater activation when patients become chronic. This study highlights the relevance of using emotional paradigms to better understand brain activation at different stages of psychosis

XXIII International Conference on Spectral Line Shapes

Producción CientíficaDoppler free two-photon optogalvanic spectroscopy has been applied to measure the electric field strength in the cathode fall region of a hollow cathode discharge, via the Stark splitting of the 2S level of atomic hydrogen. Important improvements in the experimental arrangement and in our understanding of the discharge, have allowed us to measure accurately the dependence of the electric field with different parameters like the cathode material (stainless steel and tungsten), geometry (10 and 15 mm inner diameter) and the buffer gas. The study is done for different pressures and currents. The first results seem to reveal different behaviour in the electric field, depending on the material and geometry of the cathode and the discharge conditions.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (grants ENE2012- 35902 and BES-2013-063248