Prices and the Real Exchange Rate in Hong Kong: 1985-2006

This paper has been presented at the XIII Encuentros de Economía Aplicada, Sevilla, Spain, 2010.

Immigrants Responsiveness to Labor Market Conditions

Using data from the Spanish Labor Force Survey (Encuesta de Población Activa) from 1999 through 2004, we explore the role of regional employment opportunities in explaining the increasing immigrant flows of recent years despite the limited internal mobility on the part of natives. Subsequently, we investigate the policy question of whether immigration has helped reduced unemployment rate disparities across Spanish regions by attracting immigrant flows to regions offering better employment opportunities. Our results indicate that immigrants choose to reside in regions with larger employment rates and where their probability of finding a job is higher. In particular, and despite some differences depending on their origin, immigrants appear generally more responsive than their native counterparts to a higher likelihood of informal, self, or indefinite employment. More importantly, insofar the vast majority of immigrants locate in regions characterized by higher employment rates, immigration contributes to greasing the wheels of the Spanish labor market by narrowing regional unemployment rate disparities.

Going Multinational under Exchange Rate Uncertainty

Published as an article in: Journal of International Money and Finance, 2010, vol. 29, issue 6, pages 1171-1191.

Regulación alfa1-adrenérgica de la corriente IKr cardiaca

149 p. : il., graf.

Síndrome Postparada Cardiaca: una resivisión bibliográfica sistemática

Desde el desarrollo de la resucitación cardiopulmonar (RCP) y la optimización de los cuatro eslabones de la cadena de supervivencia, el número de pacientes que se recupera de la parada cardiaca (PC), recuperando la circulación espontánea ha aumentado considerablemente. Sin embargo, este mismo aumento de la supervivencia ha generado a su vez, una nueva condición clínica, conocida como Síndrome Post parada cardiaca (SPP), que es responsable de que un importante número de estos pacientes fallezca al de pocos días, generalmente por daño cerebral. Algunos autores han propuesto los cuidados postparada cardiaca como el quinto eslabón de la cadena de superviencia; pero, por ahora es el eslabón más débil y del que menos información disponemos. Objetivos: realizar una lectura crítica de las publicaciones sobre el SPP, sintetizando el material publicado hasta ahora e identificando los aspectos relevantes del mismo. Metodología: revisión bibliográfica sistemática a través de las bases de datos electrónicas: MedLine, PubMed, Crochane, Dialnet, Scopus, Cuiden. Resultados: en general, la calidad de los artículos revisados es baja debido, principalmente, a que la metodología utilizada para la selección y evaluación de los estudios individuales no está descrita en ninguno de ellos. Conclusiones: Aún existe escasa investigación sobre el SPP, y la mayoría de estudios publicados parten de los datos obtenidos en el artículo de consenso ILCOR 2008.

Efectos del entrenamiento interválico en personas con insuficiencia cardiaca

El objetivo de esta revisión es conocer en profundidad la patología de la insuficiencia cardiaca (IC), así como el tratamiento de la misma a través del entrenamiento aeróbico interválico de alta intensidad (HIIT). La IC se define como el estado fisiopatológico y clínico en el cual el corazón es incapaz de aportar sangre de acuerdo a los requerimientos metabólicos periféricos o que lo hace con presiones de llenado elevadas (Jalil, 2012). Resulta de especial relevancia el tratamiento de dicha enfermedad de manera no farmacológica, destacando el tratamiento mediante entrenamiento aeróbico como uno de los más eficaces y con menores efectos secundarios que existen. Tras analizar los principales métodos de entrenamiento aeróbico (continuo e interválico), y su influencia en la mejora de los pacientes, se ha presentado el HIIT como aquel que provoca mayores beneficios. Cabe destacar también la eficiencia de este método, ya que implica un menor volumen total de ejercicio físico, resultando en una percepción del esfuerzo reducida por aquellos que lo realizan, aumentando así la adherencia al ejercicio.

Crank-Nicholson method for rate equations in powder random lasers

3rd International Conference on Mathematical Modeling in Physical Sciences (IC-MSQUARE 2014)

Number of Players and Relative Pitch Area per Player: Comparing Their Influence on Heart Rate and Physical Demands in Under-12 and Under-13 Football Players

The aim of the present study is to analyse the influence of different large-sided games (LSGs) on the physical and physiological variables in under-12s (U12) and -13s (U13) soccer players. The effects of the combination of different number of players per team, 7, 9, and 11 (P7, P9, and P11, respectively) with three relative pitch areas, 100, 200, and 300 m(2) (A100, A200, and A300, respectively), were analysed in this study. The variables analysed were: 1) global indicator such as total distance (TD); work:rest ratio (W:R); player-load (PL) and maximal speed (V-max); 2) heart rate (HR) mean and time spent in different intensity zones of HR (<75%, 75-84%, 84-90% and >90%), and; 3) five absolute (<8, 8-13, 13-16 and >16 Km h(-1)) and three relative speed categories (<40%, 40-60% and >60% V-max). The results support the theory that a change in format (player number and pitch dimensions) affects no similarly in the two players categories. Although it can seem that U13 players are more demanded in this kind of LSG, when the work load is assessed from a relative point of view, great pitch dimensions and/or high number of player per team are involved in the training task to the U12 players. The results of this study could alert to the coaches to avoid some types of LSGs for the U12 players such as:P11 played in A100, A200 or A300, P9 played in A200 or A300 and P7 played in A300 due to that U13>U12 in several physical and physiological variables (W:R, time spent in 84-90% HRmax, distance in 8-13 and 13-16 Km h(-1) and time spent in 40-60% V-max). These results may help youth soccer coaches to plan the progressive introduction of LSGs so that task demands are adapted to the physiological and physical development of participants.

Feedback on the Rate and Depth of Chest Compressions during Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Using Only Accelerometers

Background Quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is key to increase survival from cardiac arrest. Providing chest compressions with adequate rate and depth is difficult even for well-trained rescuers. The use of real-time feedback devices is intended to contribute to enhance chest compression quality. These devices are typically based on the double integration of the acceleration to obtain the chest displacement during compressions. The integration process is inherently unstable and leads to important errors unless boundary conditions are applied for each compression cycle. Commercial solutions use additional reference signals to establish these conditions, requiring additional sensors. Our aim was to study the accuracy of three methods based solely on the acceleration signal to provide feedback on the compression rate and depth. Materials and Methods We simulated a CPR scenario with several volunteers grouped in couples providing chest compressions on a resuscitation manikin. Different target rates (80, 100, 120, and 140 compressions per minute) and a target depth of at least 50 mm were indicated. The manikin was equipped with a displacement sensor. The accelerometer was placed between the rescuer's hands and the manikin's chest. We designed three alternatives to direct integration based on different principles (linear filtering, analysis of velocity, and spectral analysis of acceleration). We evaluated their accuracy by comparing the estimated depth and rate with the values obtained from the reference displacement sensor. Results The median (IQR) percent error was 5.9% (2.8-10.3), 6.3% (2.9-11.3), and 2.5% (1.2-4.4) for depth and 1.7% (0.0-2.3), 0.0% (0.0-2.0), and 0.9% (0.4-1.6) for rate, respectively. Depth accuracy depended on the target rate (p < 0.001) and on the rescuer couple (p < 0.001) within each method. Conclusions Accurate feedback on chest compression depth and rate during CPR is possible using exclusively the chest acceleration signal. The algorithm based on spectral analysis showed the best performance. Despite these encouraging results, further research should be conducted to asses the performance of these algorithms with clinical data.