The design of agri-environmental schemes: Farmers preferences in southern Spain

Agri-environmental schemes (AES) play a key role in promoting the production of environmental public goods by European Union agriculture. Although extensive literature has analyzed AES, some important issues remain understudied. This paper performs an ex-ante assessment of AES in permanent cropping, analyzing several issues that have received little attention from researchers, such as ecological focus areas (EFA) and collective participation. For this purpose, a choice experiment was used to assess farmers&rsquo; preferences towards AES in a case study of olive groves in southern Spain. Results show high heterogeneity among farmers, with different classes being identified, from potential participants to non-participants. As regards EFA, almost half of the farmers would be willing to accept it for low monetary incentives (&euro;8-9/ha per additional 1% of the farmland devoted to EFA) while the rest would do it for moderate-to-high monetary incentives (&euro;41-151/ha per additional 1% of EFA). However, for a high share of EFA (e.g., 5-7%) higher incentives would presumably be required due to the intrinsic spatial restrictions of olive groves. With regard to collective participation, we find that it is unlikely that farmers would participate collectively with the incentive of the up-to-30% EU-wide bonus. These results are relevant for policy-making now when new AES are being designed for the next programming period 2014-2020.Los programas medioambientales son un instrumento clave para la provisi&oacute;n de bienes p&uacute;blicos de car&aacute;cter ambiental. En este trabajo utilizando los experimentos de elecci&oacute;n se determina el grado de adopci&oacute;n seg&uacute;n el tipo de sistema de olivar. Los resultados indican que casi la mitad de los olivareros estar&iacute;an dispuestos a dedicar el 2% a Superficie de Inter&eacute;s Ecol&oacute;gico (SIE) por reducidos incentivos monetarios. Para una adopci&oacute;n entre 5-7% se requerir&iacute;an elevados incentivos.</p

Necessary and sufficient detection efficiency for the Mermin inequalities

We prove that the threshold detection efficiency for a loophole-free Bell experiment using an $n$-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state and the correlations appearing in the $n$-partite Mermin inequality is $n/(2n-2)$. If the detection efficiency is equal to or lower than this value, there are local hidden variable models that can simulate all the quantum predictions. If the detection efficiency is above this value, there is no local hidden variable model that can simulate all the quantum predictions.Comment: REVTeX4, 5 pages, 1 figur

Cooperative Learning in the Implementation of Teaching Chemistry (Didactic Instrumentation) in Engineering in México

AbstractIn engineering you think of chemistry as a difficult and boring subject. Some professors who are teaching it, have seen apathy and lack of interest in the students. This paper presents some findings of an investigation done which allowed to listen to the voice of 250 Mexican students regarding the usefulness of cooperative learning in chemistry. An exploratory-descriptive methodology was applied, together with a pretest and a post-test. By implementing the Cooperative Learning, the importance of the positive interdependence for critical thinking was appraised and a move away was detected from the theoretical content and meaning of the everyday context of the students

Violence against women. The aggressor's profile: approaches to evaluation of the risk

La Administración de Justicia es cada vez más consciente de la importancia de que la pericia médica en los casos de violencia familiar se haga de forma completa, rigurosa y científica. Por ello, desde hace seis años pusimos nuestra experiencia y conocimientos a su servicio creando la "Unidad de Valoración Médico-forense de Violencia Familiar" en la Universidad de Granada, al objeto de realizar una pericia médico-legal integral en cada caso de violencia, dirigida a establecer una valoración global y completa de la víctima, del agresor y de los hijos, cuando los hay. En el presente trabajo se describe la sistemática utilizada en la evaluación psicológico-psiquiátrica de las partes involucradas en el problema y los resultados que nos permiten establecer los diversos perfiles de maltratadores. La comparación entre los resultados obtenidos en el perfil de personalidad de la víctima y del agresor permite comprender cómo surge la dinámica de la violencia y cuáles son los detonantes del comportamiento maltratador, así como el nivel de riesgo que este representa para aquélla. Esta valoración integral puede proporcionar al juez, al fiscal y a los letrados una información rigurosa y objetiva sobre la que apoyar la mejor decisión para todos los implicados y las medidas a adoptar en cada caso.Judges and Justice more and more realise the importance of medical expert reports in cases of domestic violence being made in a complete, rigorous and scientific way. For this reason, for the last six years we have placed our experience and knowledge at their service by creating the "Forensic Evaluation of Domestic Violence Unit" in the University of Granada. Our purpose was to carry out integral medical expertise in each case of violence, trying to establish a global and complete evaluation, of both victim and aggressor (and their children, when there are any). This paper describes the systematic protocol we have used for the psychological-psychiatric evaluation of the parts involved in the problem, as well as the obtained results which allow as to establish the diverse aggressor profiles. The comparison between the results for the profile of victim and aggressor personalities allows a comprehension of how the dynamics of the violence arises and what is the trigger for the aggressive behavior, as well as the level of risk that the aggressor represents for the victim. This global evaluation can provide to judge, prosecutor, and lawyers rigorous and objective information as a basis for the best decision for both victim and aggressor as well as for the measures to adopt in each cas

Modeling COVID-19 with Uncertainty in Granada, Spain. Intra-Hospitalary Circuit and Expectations over the Next Months

Mathematical models have been remarkable tools for knowing in advance the appropriate time to enforce population restrictions and distribute hospital resources. Here, we present a mathematical Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered (SEIR) model to study the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 in Granada, Spain, taking into account the uncertainty of the phenomenon. In the model, the patients moving throughout the hospital’s departments (intra-hospitalary circuit) are considered in order to help to optimize the use of a hospital’s resources in the future. Two main seasons, September–April (autumn-winter) and May–August (summer), where the hospital pressure is significantly different, have been included. The model is calibrated and validated with data obtained from the hospitals in Granada. Possible future scenarios have been simulated. The model is able to capture the history of the pandemic in Granada. It provides predictions about the intra-hospitalary COVID-19 circuit over time and shows that the number of infected is expected to decline continuously from May without an increase next autumn–winter if population measures continue to be satisfied. The model strongly suggests that the number of infected cases will reduce rapidly with aggressive vaccination policies. The proposed study is being used in Granada to design public health policies and perform wise re-distribution of hospital resources in advance.Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (MINECO)Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI)Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER UE) grant MTM2017-89664-PEuropean Union through the Operational Program of the [European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)/European Social Fund (ESF)] of the Valencian Community 2014–2020Ramón Areces Foundation, Madrid, Spain (CIVP18A3920)

Generalized analytical results on n-ejection–collision orbits in the RTBP: analysis of bifurcations

In the planar circular restricted three-body problem and for any value of the mass parameter µ¿(0,1) and n=1 , we prove the existence of four families of n-ejection–collision (n-EC) orbits, that is, orbits where the particle ejects from a primary, reaches n maxima in the (Euclidean) distance with respect to it and finally collides with the primary. Such EC orbits have a value of the Jacobi constant of the form C=3µ+Ln2/3(1-µ)2/3 , where L>0 is big enough but independent of µ and n. In order to prove this optimal result, we consider Levi-Civita’s transformation to regularize the collision with one primary and a perturbative approach using an ad hoc small parameter once a suitable scale in the configuration plane and time has previously been applied. This result improves a previous work where the existence of the n-EC orbits was stated when the mass parameter µ>0 was small enough. Moreover, for decreasing values of C, there appear some bifurcations which are first numerically investigated and afterward explicit expressions for the approximation of the bifurcation values of C are discussed. Finally, a detailed analysis of the existence of n-EC orbits when µ¿1 is also described. In a natural way, Hill’s problem shows up. For this problem, we prove an analytical result on the existence of four families of n-EC orbits, and numerically, we describe them as well as the appearing bifurcations.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Las mujeres en la industria del cine de México

En esta investigación se habla del recorrido de la mujer por la industria cinematográfica en México hasta llegar a nuestros días, y se enfoca en los temas sobre los cuales las mujeres directoras hablan en sus películas. Por medio de entrevistas a cuatro directoras se analizan las temáticas y narrativas que han llevado recientemente a la pantalla. También se aborda el progreso, la importancia y la significación que tienen las mujeres en el ámbito del cine.ITESO, A.C

Swarm hybrid optimization for a piecewise model fitting applied to a glucose model

[EN] Purpose ¿ The purpose of this paper is to study insulin pump therapy and accurate monitoring of glucose levels in diabetic patients, which are current research trends in diabetology. Both problems have a wide margin for improvement and promising applications in the control of parameters and levels involved. Design/methodology/approach ¿ The authors have registered data for the levels of glucose in diabetic patients throughout a day with a temporal resolution of 5 minutes, the amount and time of insulin administered and time of ingestion. The estimated quantity of carbohydrates is also monitored. A mathematical model for Type 1 patients was fitted piecewise to these data and the evolution of the parameters was analyzed. Findings ¿ They have found that the parameters for the model change abruptly throughout a day for the same patient, but this set of parameters account with precision for the evolution of the glucose levels in the test patients. This fitting technique could be used to personalize treatments for specific patients and predict the glucose-level variations in terms of hours or even shorter periods of time. This way more effective insulin pump therapies could be developed. Originality/value ¿ The proposed model could allow for the development of improved schedules on insulin pump therapiesAcedo Rodríguez, L.; Botella, M.; Cortés, J.; Hidalgo, J.; Maqueda, E.; Villanueva Micó, RJ. (2018). Swarm hybrid optimization for a piecewise model fitting applied to a glucose model. Journal of Systems and Information Technology. 20(4):9618-9627. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSIT-10-2017-0103S9618962720

Genetic and epigenetic methylation defects and implication of the ERMN gene in autism spectrum disorders

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are highly heritable and genetically complex conditions. Although highly penetrant mutations in multiple genes have been identified, they account for the etiology of <1/3 of cases. There is also strong evidence for environmental contribution to ASD, which can be mediated by still poorly explored epigenetic modifications. We searched for methylation changes on blood DNA of 53 male ASD patients and 757 healthy controls using a methylomic array (450K Illumina), correlated the variants with transcriptional alterations in blood RNAseq data, and performed a case-control association study of the relevant findings in a larger cohort (394 cases and 500 controls). We found 700 differentially methylated CpGs, most of them hypomethylated in the ASD group (83.9%), with cis-acting expression changes at 7.6% of locations. Relevant findings included: (1) hypomethylation caused by rare genetic variants (meSNVs) at six loci (ERMN, USP24, METTL21C, PDE10A, STX16 and DBT) significantly associated with ASD (q-value <0.05); and (2) clustered epimutations associated to transcriptional changes in single-ASD patients (n = 4). All meSNVs and clustered epimutations were inherited from unaffected parents. Resequencing of the top candidate genes also revealed a significant load of deleterious mutations affecting ERMN in ASD compared with controls. Our data indicate that inherited methylation alterations detectable in blood DNA, due to either genetic or epigenetic defects, can affect gene expression and contribute to ASD susceptibility most likely in an additive manner, and implicate ERMN as a novel ASD gene