La cascarilla cerámica y su uso innovador

The ceramic shell is a material mainly used for making foundry molds. This research demonstrates that ceramic shell can be used for making sculptures with exceptional definition in its finish. The research has identified a number of advantages of the material to meet the challenges of an artist during the making of a sculpture. The research has been developed in six stages: In the first stage data were collected from the chaff as the process material. This was the starting point for research. In the second stage, we have set the appropriate composition of the slurry, both in percentage and type of binder, and firing curve. To this end, we evaluated the application characteristics, thickness, drying, mechanical strength, the reduction coefficient and porosity. In the third stage it was observed that the husk is suitable for all types of materials acting as support. It was also found that the slurry can be used with various sculptural processes: modeling, molding using silicone or plaster mold, shuttering, with internal metal frame, and so on. In addition, we have established methods to repair and modify the husk by hand and power tools. In the fourth stage we have found ways to modify the surface of the husk with other minerals that affect the structure: introduction of filing of copper, bronze and iron in the slurry ceramics, different staining procedure in hot or cold, by enamel slip, and so on. In the fifth stage sculptures were made using the methods established in the previous stages, to verify this hypothesis. The sixth stage, which is annexed, contains a new method to process the ceramic shell as a mold in casting that emerged from the proven methods in the investigation.

Ocean surface winds drive dynamics of transoceanic aerial movements

Global wind patterns influence dispersal and migration processes of aerial organisms, propagules and particles, which ultimately could determine the dynamics of colonizations, invasions or spread of pathogens. However, studying how wind-mediated movements actually happen has been hampered so far by the lack of high resolution global wind data as well as the impossibility to track aerial movements. Using concurrent data on winds and actual pathways of a tracked seabird, here we show that oceanic winds define spatiotemporal pathways and barriers for large-scale aerial movements. We obtained wind data from NASA SeaWinds scatterometer to calculate wind cost (impedance) models reflecting the resistance to the aerial movement near the ocean surface. We also tracked the movements of a model organism, the Cory's shearwater (Calonectris diomedea), a pelagic bird known to perform long distance migrations. Cost models revealed that distant areas can be connected through"wind highways" that do not match the shortest great circle routes. Bird routes closely followed the low-cost"wind-highways" linking breeding and wintering areas. In addition, we found that a potential barrier, the near surface westerlies in the Atlantic sector of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), temporally hindered meridional trans-equatorial movements. Once the westerlies vanished, birds crossed the ITCZ to their winter quarters. This study provides a novel approach to investigate wind-mediated movements in oceanic environments and shows that large-scale migration and dispersal processes over the oceans can be largely driven by spatiotemporal wind patterns.

Inmigrantes en formación: desplazamientos y fijaciones de la cohesión social promovida por el Estado del Bienestar en la formación para la inserción laboral de las personas migrantes en Barcelona

En la investigación llevada a cabo nos hemos aproximado, desde un punto de vista cualitativo, a los recursos de formación para la inserción sociolaboral dirigidos a personas inmigrantes en la ciudad de Barcelona. Dicha formación forma parte de los recursos del sistema de bienestar español, caracterizado como mediterráneo (Esping-Andersen, 1990; Ferrara 1996; Moreno, 2002); y responde a los lineamientos de las políticas de integración dirigidas al mencionado colectivo. Para llevar a cabo el trabajo hemos adoptado la perspectiva metodológica de Antropología de las Políticas (Shore y Wright, 1997). La construcción del marco teórico bebió de los aportes que enfatizan el papel político de los Estados-nación en relación con los procesos migratorios (Sayad, 2010), señalando que la inmigración, lejos de ser un proceso que les “sucede” a las sociedades de recepción, es un fenómeno conformado por éstas (Geddes, 2006). La profunda transformación en los modos de la cohesión social (Castel, 1997) en las sociedades de recepción de personas inmigradas constituyen el contexto en el cual actúan las políticas de integración. A través de las condiciones de acceso a los recursos de formación para la inserción sociolaboral, mediante los contenidos impartidos y las maneras en que lo hacen, se configuran los inmigrantes “deseados” e “indeseados” funcionando como “fronteras organizativas”. Los resultados del análisis, indican que se espera que las personas inmigradas sean sujetos disponibles y activos, donde la formación emerge más que como un derecho que favorece y consolida la cohesión social o la “integración”, como un recurso que hay que “merecer”. Paralelamente a dicha emergencia, la formación se perfila como un dispositivo que antes que servir para la promoción social es un débil sustituto del empleo, fatigosamente anhelado por las personas que llevan a cabo los procesos formativos.

Analysis and Monte Carlo simulations of a model for the spread of infectious diseases in heterogeneous metapopulations

We present a study of the continuous-time equations governing the dynamics of a susceptible infected-susceptible model on heterogeneous metapopulations. These equations have been recently proposed as an alternative formulation for the spread of infectious diseases in metapopulations in a continuous-time framework. Individual-based Monte Carlo simulations of epidemic spread in uncorrelated networks are also performed revealing a good agreement with analytical predictions under the assumption of simultaneous transmission or recovery and migration processes

Sectoral and occupational employment growth in Spain 1995-2005

Between 1995 and 2005, the Spanish economy grew at an annual average rate higher than 3,5%. Total employment increased by more than 4.9 millions. Most of this growth was in occupations related with university degrees (more than 890,000, 18% of the total employment increase) and vocational qualifications (more than 855,000, 17.5% of the total employment increase). From a sectoral perspective, the main part of this increase took place in “Real estate, renting and business activities” (K sector in NACE rev.1), “Construction” (F sector) and “Health and social sector” (N sector). This paper analyses this employment growth in an Input-output framework, by means of a structural decomposition analysis (SDA). Two kinds of results have been obtained. From a sectoral perspective we decompose employment growth into Labour requirements change, technical change and demand change. From an occupational perspective, we decompose the employment growth in substitutions effect, labour productivity effect and demand effect. The results show that, in aggregated terms, the main part of this growth is attributable to demand growth, with a small technical improvement. But the results also show that this aggregated behaviour hides important sectoral and occupational variation. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the ongoing debate over productivity growth and what has been called the “growth model” for the Spanish economy.

Migració a programari lliure de la infraestructura de servidors de CETRAMSA

Aquest projecte s'emmarca dins el màster en Programari lliure de la UOC, en l'especialitat de xarxes i sistemes operatius. En ell he col·laborat amb CETRAMSA, empresa dedicada a la informació i difusió al ciutadà de l'oferta de transport públic en l'àmbit metropolità de Barcelona, per dur a terme la migració de la seva infraestructura de servidors a programari lliure.

Anonymizing Graphs: Measuring Quality for Clustering

Peer-reviewed

Inmigración, crisis económica y discursos radiofónicos: hacia un lenguaje excluyente

Los medios de comunicación juegan un rol fundamental en la percepción social del proceso migratorio y de las minorías étnicas. A través del análisis de un conjunto de emisiones de Catalunya Radio, RAC1 y la COPE, el estudio que presentamos pretende determinar si el discurso radiofónico se fundamenta en un lenguaje inclusivo que contribuye a la cohesión social, o bien promueve un sobredimensionamiento de los conflictos contribuyendo a extender la xenofobia. Coincidiendo con la crisis, el lenguaje excluyente se consolida y se extiende en los medios. El análisis desarrollado evidencia el uso de conceptos y estrategias discursivas que remiten, por una parte, al racismo moderno y, por otra, al lenguaje del odio, siendo frecuentes las imprecisiones, la invisibilidad u homogeneización de determinados colectivos, la contraposición nosotrosellos o enfoques basados en el conflicto que enfatizan las diferencias étnicas.

Modeling usage of medical care services: the medical expenditure panel survey data, 1996-2000

We explore the determinants of usage of six different types of health care services, using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data, years 1996-2000. We apply a number of models for univariate count data, including semiparametric, semi-nonparametric and finite mixture models. We find that the complexity of the model that is required to fit the data well depends upon the way in which the data is pooled across sexes and over time, and upon the characteristics of the usage measure. Pooling across time and sexes is almost always favored, but when more heterogeneous data is pooled it is often the case that a more complex statistical model is required.

Exploration of geological variability and possible processes through the use of compositional data analysis: an example using scottish metamorphosed

Developments in the statistical analysis of compositional data over the last twodecades have made possible a much deeper exploration of the nature of variability,and the possible processes associated with compositional data sets from manydisciplines. In this paper we concentrate on geochemical data sets. First we explainhow hypotheses of compositional variability may be formulated within the naturalsample space, the unit simplex, including useful hypotheses of subcompositionaldiscrimination and specific perturbational change. Then we develop through standardmethodology, such as generalised likelihood ratio tests, statistical tools to allow thesystematic investigation of a complete lattice of such hypotheses. Some of these tests are simple adaptations of existing multivariate tests but others require specialconstruction. We comment on the use of graphical methods in compositional dataanalysis and on the ordination of specimens. The recent development of the conceptof compositional processes is then explained together with the necessary tools for astaying- in-the-simplex approach, namely compositional singular value decompositions. All these statistical techniques are illustrated for a substantial compositional data set, consisting of 209 major-oxide and rare-element compositions of metamorphosed limestones from the Northeast and Central Highlands of Scotland.Finally we point out a number of unresolved problems in the statistical analysis ofcompositional processes

Electrical signature of modern and ancient tectonic processes in the crust of the Atlas mountains of Morocco.

The Atlas Mountains in Morocco are considered as type examples of intracontinental chains, with high topography that contrasts with moderate crustal shortening and thickening. Whereas recent geological studies and geodynamic modeling have suggested the existence of dynamic topography to explain this apparent contradiction, there is a lack of modern geophysical data at the crustal scale to corroborate this hypothesis. Newly-acquired magnetotelluric data image the electrical resistivity distribution of the crust from the Middle Atlas to the Anti-Atlas, crossing the tabular Moulouya Plain and the High Atlas. All the units show different and unique electrical signatures throughout the crust reflecting the tectonic history of development of each one. In the upper crust electrical resistivity values may be associated to sediment sequences in the Moulouya and Anti-Atlas and to crustal scale fault systems in the High Atlas developed during the Cenozoic times. In the lower crust the low resistivity anomaly found below the Mouluya plain, together with other geophysical (low velocity anomaly, lack of earthquakes and minimum Bouguer anomaly) and geochemical (Neogene-Quaternary intraplate alkaline volcanic fields) evidence, infer the existence of a small degree of partial melt at the base of the lower crust. The low resistivity anomaly found below the Anti-Atlas may be associated with a relict subduction of Precambrian oceanic sediments, or to precipitated minerals during the release of fluids from the mantle during the accretion of the Anti-Atlas to the West African Supercontinent during the Panafrican orogeny ca. 685 Ma).

Univariate versus multivariate modeling of panel data

Panel data can be arranged into a matrix in two ways, called 'long' and 'wide' formats (LFand WF). The two formats suggest two alternative model approaches for analyzing paneldata: (i) univariate regression with varying intercept; and (ii) multivariate regression withlatent variables (a particular case of structural equation model, SEM). The present papercompares the two approaches showing in which circumstances they yield equivalent?insome cases, even numerically equal?results. We show that the univariate approach givesresults equivalent to the multivariate approach when restrictions of time invariance (inthe paper, the TI assumption) are imposed on the parameters of the multivariate model.It is shown that the restrictions implicit in the univariate approach can be assessed bychi-square difference testing of two nested multivariate models. In addition, commontests encountered in the econometric analysis of panel data, such as the Hausman test, areshown to have an equivalent representation as chi-square difference tests. Commonalitiesand differences between the univariate and multivariate approaches are illustrated usingan empirical panel data set of firms' profitability as well as a simulated panel data.

Electrical signature of modern and ancient tectonic processes in the crust of the Atlas mountains of Morocco.

The Atlas Mountains in Morocco are considered as type examples of intracontinental chains, with high topography that contrasts with moderate crustal shortening and thickening. Whereas recent geological studies and geodynamic modeling have suggested the existence of dynamic topography to explain this apparent contradiction, there is a lack of modern geophysical data at the crustal scale to corroborate this hypothesis. Newly-acquired magnetotelluric data image the electrical resistivity distribution of the crust from the Middle Atlas to the Anti-Atlas, crossing the tabular Moulouya Plain and the High Atlas. All the units show different and unique electrical signatures throughout the crust reflecting the tectonic history of development of each one. In the upper crust electrical resistivity values may be associated to sediment sequences in the Moulouya and Anti-Atlas and to crustal scale fault systems in the High Atlas developed during the Cenozoic times. In the lower crust the low resistivity anomaly found below the Mouluya plain, together with other geophysical (low velocity anomaly, lack of earthquakes and minimum Bouguer anomaly) and geochemical (Neogene-Quaternary intraplate alkaline volcanic fields) evidence, infer the existence of a small degree of partial melt at the base of the lower crust. The low resistivity anomaly found below the Anti-Atlas may be associated with a relict subduction of Precambrian oceanic sediments, or to precipitated minerals during the release of fluids from the mantle during the accretion of the Anti-Atlas to the West African Supercontinent during the Panafrican orogeny ca. 685 Ma).

Reconstructing native American migrations from whole-genome and whole-exome data.

There is great scientific and popular interest in understanding the genetic history of populations in the Americas. We wish to understand when different regions of the continent were inhabited, where settlers came from, and how current inhabitants relate genetically to earlier populations. Recent studies unraveled parts of the genetic history of the continent using genotyping arrays and uniparental markers. The 1000 Genomes Project provides a unique opportunity for improving our understanding of population genetic history by providing over a hundred sequenced low coverage genomes and exomes from Colombian (CLM), Mexican-American (MXL), and Puerto Rican (PUR) populations. Here, we explore the genomic contributions of African, European, and especially Native American ancestry to these populations. Estimated Native American ancestry is 48% in MXL, 25% in CLM, and 13% in PUR. Native American ancestry in PUR is most closely related to populations surrounding the Orinoco River basin, confirming the Southern American ancestry of the Taíno people of the Caribbean. We present new methods to estimate the allele frequencies in the Native American fraction of the populations, and model their distribution using a demographic model for three ancestral Native American populations. These ancestral populations likely split in close succession: the most likely scenario, based on a peopling of the Americas 16 thousand years ago (kya), supports that the MXL Ancestors split 12.2kya, with a subsequent split of the ancestors to CLM and PUR 11.7kya. The model also features effective populations of 62,000 in Mexico, 8,700 in Colombia, and 1,900 in Puerto Rico. Modeling Identity-by-descent (IBD) and ancestry tract length, we show that post-contact populations also differ markedly in their effective sizes and migration patterns, with Puerto Rico showing the smallest effective size and the earlier migration from Europe. Finally, we compare IBD and ancestry assignments to find evidence for relatedness among European founders to the three populations.

Engineering Geology for Society and Territory: volume 2: landslide processes

This book is one out of 8 IAEG XII Congress volumes, and deals with Landslide processes, including: field data and monitoring techniques, prediction and forecasting of landslide occurrence, regional landslide inventories and dating studies, modeling of slope instabilities and secondary hazards (e.g. impulse waves and landslide-induced tsunamis, landslide dam failures and breaching), hazard and risk assessment, earthquake and rainfall induced landslides, instabilities of volcanic edifices, remedial works and mitigation measures, development of innovative stabilization techniques and applicability to specific engineering geological conditions, use of geophysical techniques for landslide characterization and investigation of triggering mechanisms. Focuses is given to innovative techniques, well documented case studies in different environments, critical components of engineering geological and geotechnical investigations, hydrological and hydrogeological investigations, remote sensing and geophysical techniques, modeling of triggering, collapse, runout and landslide reactivation, geotechnical design and construction procedures in landslide zones, interaction of landslides with structures and infrastructures and possibility of domino effects. The Engineering Geology for Society and Territory volumes of the IAEG XII Congress held in Torino from September 15-19, 2014, analyze the dynamic role of engineering geology in our changing world and build on the four main themes of the congress: environment, processes, issues, and approaches.