"Suddenly I get into the zone": Examining discontinuities and nonlinear changes in flow experiences at work

Work-related flow is defined as a sudden and enjoyable merging of action and awareness that represents a peak experience in the daily lives of workers. Employees" perceptions of challenge and skill and their subjective experiences in terms of enjoyment, interest and absorption were measured using the experience sampling method, yielding a total of 6981 observations from a sample of 60 employees. Linear and nonlinear approaches were applied in order to model both continuous and sudden changes. According to the R2, AICc and BIC indexes, the nonlinear dynamical systems model (i.e. cusp catastrophe model) fit the data better than the linear and logistic regression models. Likewise, the cusp catastrophe model appears to be especially powerful for modelling those cases of high levels of flow. Overall, flow represents a nonequilibrium condition that combines continuous and abrupt changes across time. Research and intervention efforts concerned with this process should focus on the variable of challenge, which, according to our study, appears to play a key role in the abrupt changes observed in work-related flow.

Aplicació en línia d'un sistema variable de control multivariable en un Reactor ..

L’objecte del present treball és la realització d’una aplicació que permeti portar a terme el control estadístic multivariable en línia d’una planta SBR.Aquesta eina ha de permetre realitzar un anàlisi estadístic multivariable complet del lot en procés, de l’últim lot finalitzat i de la resta de lots processats a la planta.L’aplicació s’ha de realitzar en l’entorn LabVIEW. L’elecció d’aquest programa vecondicionada per l’actualització del mòdul de monitorització de la planta que s’estàdesenvolupant en aquest mateix entorn

The underestimation of compliance to direct help requests explained by adaptive sampling

Helping behavior is any intentional behavior that benefits another living being or group (Hogg & Vaughan, 2010). People tend to underestimate the probability that others will comply with their direct requests for help (Flynn & Lake, 2008). This implies that when they need help, they will assess the probability of getting it (De Paulo, 1982, cited in Flynn & Lake, 2008) and then they will tend to estimate one that is actually lower than the real chance, so they may not even consider worth asking for it. Existing explanations for this phenomenon attribute it to a mistaken cost computation by the help seeker, who will emphasize the instrumental cost of “saying yes”, ignoring that the potential helper also needs to take into account the social cost of saying “no”. And the truth is that, especially in face-to-face interactions, the discomfort caused by refusing to help can be very high. In short, help seekers tend to fail to realize that it might be more costly to refuse to comply with a help request rather than accepting. A similar effect has been observed when estimating trustworthiness of people. Fetchenhauer and Dunning (2010) showed that people also tend to underestimate it. This bias is reduced when, instead of asymmetric feedback (getting feedback only when deciding to trust the other person), symmetric feedback (always given) was provided. This cause could as well be applicable to help seeking as people only receive feedback when they actually make their request but not otherwise. Fazio, Shook, and Eiser (2004) studied something that could be reinforcing these outcomes: Learning asymmetries. By means of a computer game called BeanFest, they showed that people learn better about negatively valenced objects (beans in this case) than about positively valenced ones. This learning asymmetry esteemed from “information gain being contingent on approach behavior” (p. 293), which could be identified with what Fetchenhauer and Dunning mention as ‘asymmetric feedback’, and hence also with help requests. Fazio et al. also found a generalization asymmetry in favor of negative attitudes versus positive ones. They attributed it to a negativity bias that “weights resemblance to a known negative more heavily than resemblance to a positive” (p. 300). Applied to help seeking scenarios, this would mean that when facing an unknown situation, people would tend to generalize and infer that is more likely that they get a negative rather than a positive outcome from it, so, along with what it was said before, people will be more inclined to think that they will get a “no” when requesting help. Denrell and Le Mens (2011) present a different perspective when trying to explain judgment biases in general. They deviate from the classical inappropriate information processing (depicted among other by Fiske & Taylor, 2007, and Tversky & Kahneman, 1974) and explain this in terms of ‘adaptive sampling’. Adaptive sampling is a sampling mechanism in which the selection of sample items is conditioned by the values of the variable of interest previously observed (Thompson, 2011). Sampling adaptively allows individuals to safeguard themselves from experiences they went through once and turned out to lay negative outcomes. However, it also prevents them from giving a second chance to those experiences to get an updated outcome that could maybe turn into a positive one, a more positive one, or just one that regresses to the mean, whatever direction that implies. That, as Denrell and Le Mens (2011) explained, makes sense: If you go to a restaurant, and you did not like the food, you do not choose that restaurant again. This is what we think could be happening when asking for help: When we get a “no”, we stop asking. And here, we want to provide a complementary explanation for the underestimation of the probability that others comply with our direct help requests based on adaptive sampling. First, we will develop and explain a model that represents the theory. Later on, we will test it empirically by means of experiments, and will elaborate on the analysis of its results.

Emotional intelligence and social interest : are they related constructs?

In the last 15 years, a new psychological construct has emerged in the field of psychology: Emotional Intelligence. Some models of Emotional Intelligence bear ressemblence with aspects of one of the core constructs of Adlerian Psychology: Social Interest. The authors investigated, if both constructs are also empirically related and which is their capacity to predict psychiatric symptoms and antisocial behavior. Results indicate that Social Interest and Emotional Intelligence are empirically different constructs; Social Interest was negatively correlated to aspects of antisocial attitudes (but not to antisocial behavior). Social Interest also failed to predict symptoms of psychological distress. Emotional Intelligence, in change, was a better predictor for mental problems than Social Interest. The results are discussed in view of the validity of Social Interest measurement.

Humour and translation, an interdiscipline

This paper calls for greater attention from researchers into the nature of humor translation as an interdisciplinary area that should be of interest to translation and humor studies. It includes a brief review of the complexity of translation and the problems posed by traditional approaches. The paper introduces a number of parameters that may be of assistance in developing joke typologies for translators or translation scholars. A model is presented for structuring joke-types according to binary branching. An attempt is then made to combine the model with ideas and concepts put forward in Attardo (2002). The result is a binary branch tree for the 6 Knowledge Resources and the hierarchical structure that Attardo claims they have. One important conclusion is that sameness, or similarity, may have little to do with funniness, and, if this is so, it is going to create a dilemma for translators wishing to achieve equivalent effect.

Valoración experiencial del aprendizaje tras formación virtual.

[eng] An observable study on the behaviour in the laboratory of Pharmaceutical Technology II (pharmaceutical pilot plant), with two groups of students of 3rd course (proactive aptitude and valuation of the"knowledge to do acquired") is carried out. The variable between groups is that one has realised a training (by means of self-study of an interactive application multimedia, especially designed), without tutorship on behalf the teacher in front of the other group that carried out the same training with the same material but with the guide of the teacher in the computer lab. On the one hand it is valued if there is some effect differentiator between both types of training, by means of the accounting of the correct results obtained in a previous test to the entrance in the pilot plant and by another one the valuation that the professors made responsible for the groups of practices in situ. The results demonstrate the previous hypothesis that there must not be significant differences between the groups, beyond the inherent ones to personality of the students itself (interest and personal implication by the subject). On the other hand the test for the observation in the laboratory did not facilitate the distinction of objective differences. [spa] Se lleva a cabo un estudio observacional sobre el comportamiento de los estudiantes (aptitud pro-activa y valoración del “saber hacer adquirido”) en el laboratorio de Tecnología Farmacéutica II (planta piloto farmacéutica) de dos grupos de estudiantes de 3er curso. La variable entre los dos grupos es que uno ha realizado una formación no presencial (mediante el autoestudio de una aplicación interactiva multimedia, especialmente diseñada), sin tutoría por parte del profesor, frente al otro grupo que llevó a cabo la misma formación con el mismo material pero con la guía del profesor en el aula de informática. Por una parte se valora si hay algún efecto diferenciador entre ambos tipos de formación, mediante la contabilización de los resultados correctos obtenidos en un test previo a la entrada en la planta piloto y por otro la valoración que hicieron los profesores responsables de los grupos de prácticas in situ. Los resultados demuestran la hipótesis previa de que no debían existir diferencias significativas entre los grupos, más allá de las inherentes a la propia personalidad de los estudiantes (interés e implicación personal por el tema). Por otra parte el test para la observación en el laboratorio no facilitó la distinción de diferencias objetivas.

Genetic variation for carbon isotope composition in Juglans regia L.: relationships with growth, phenology and climate of origin

Among the traits of breeding interest for the common walnut tree Juglans regia L., characteristics such as timing of budbreak and leaf fall, water-use efficiency and growth performance are regarded as being of utmost relevance in Mediterranean conditions. The authors evaluated intraspecific variation in $\delta$13C (carbon isotope composition, surrogate of intrinsic water-use efficiency, WUE$_{\rm i}$) for 22 J. regia families grown in a progeny test under supplementary irrigation, and investigated whether such variation correlated with climatic indicators of native habitats. The genetic relationships between $\delta$13C, growth and phenology were also assessed during two consecutive years. Overall, the most water-use-efficient families (i.e. with higher $\delta$13C), which originated mainly from drought-prone provenance regions which have a high vapour pressure deficit and low rainfall, exhibited less height growth and smaller DBH. Using a stepwise regression procedure, $\delta$13C was included as the main explanatory variable of genotypic variation in growth traits, together with growing season duration (for DBH in both years) and flushing (for height in 2007). It was concluded that WUE$_{\rm i}$ is largely unconnected to phenology effects in the explanation of growth performance for J. regia, therefore suggesting the opportunity of simultaneously selecting for low WUE$_{\rm i}$ and extended growing period to maximise productivity in non-water-limited environments.

The Total Deviation Index estimated by Tolerance Intervals to evaluate the concordance of measurement devices

Background In an agreement assay, it is of interest to evaluate the degree of agreement between the different methods (devices, instruments or observers) used to measure the same characteristic. We propose in this study a technical simplification for inference about the total deviation index (TDI) estimate to assess agreement between two devices of normally-distributed measurements and describe its utility to evaluate inter- and intra-rater agreement if more than one reading per subject is available for each device. Methods We propose to estimate the TDI by constructing a probability interval of the difference in paired measurements between devices, and thereafter, we derive a tolerance interval (TI) procedure as a natural way to make inferences about probability limit estimates. We also describe how the proposed method can be used to compute bounds of the coverage probability. Results The approach is illustrated in a real case example where the agreement between two instruments, a handle mercury sphygmomanometer device and an OMRON 711 automatic device, is assessed in a sample of 384 subjects where measures of systolic blood pressure were taken twice by each device. A simulation study procedure is implemented to evaluate and compare the accuracy of the approach to two already established methods, showing that the TI approximation produces accurate empirical confidence levels which are reasonably close to the nominal confidence level. Conclusions The method proposed is straightforward since the TDI estimate is derived directly from a probability interval of a normally-distributed variable in its original scale, without further transformations. Thereafter, a natural way of making inferences about this estimate is to derive the appropriate TI. Constructions of TI based on normal populations are implemented in most standard statistical packages, thus making it simpler for any practitioner to implement our proposal to assess agreement.

Environmental Structural Decomposition Analysis of Italian Emissions, 1995-2005

[spa] El estudio analiza la evolución de los gases de efecto invernadero (GEI) y las emisiones de acidificación para Italia durante el periodo 1995-2005. Los datos muestran que mientras las emisiones que contribuyen a la acidificación han disminuido constantemente, las emisiones de GEI han aumentado debido al aumento de dióxido de carbono. El objetivo de este estudio es poner de relieve cómo diferentes factores económicos, en particular el crecimiento económico, el desarrollo de una tecnología menos contaminante y la estructura del consumo, han impulsado la evolución de las emisiones. La metodología propuesta es un análisis de descomposición estructural (ADE), método que permite descomponer los cambios de la variable de interés entre las diferentes fuerzas y revelar la importancia de cada factor. Por otra parte, este estudio considera la importancia del comercio internacional e intenta incluir el “problema de la responsabilidad”. Es decir, a través de las relaciones comerciales internacionales, un país podría estar exportando procesos de producción contaminantes sin una reducción real de la contaminación implícita en su patrón de consumo. Con este fin, siguiendo primero un enfoque basado en la “responsabilidad del productor”, el ADE se aplica a las emisiones causadas por la producción nacional. Sucesivamente, el análisis se mueve hacia un enfoque basado en la “responsabilidad del consumidor" y la descomposición se aplica a las emisiones relacionadas con la producción nacional o la producción extranjera que satisface la demanda interna. De esta manera, el ejercicio permite una primera comprobación de la importancia del comercio internacional y pone de relieve algunos resultados a nivel global y a nivel sectorial.

Environmental Structural Decomposition Analysis of Italian Emissions, 1995-2005

[spa] El estudio analiza la evolución de los gases de efecto invernadero (GEI) y las emisiones de acidificación para Italia durante el periodo 1995-2005. Los datos muestran que mientras las emisiones que contribuyen a la acidificación han disminuido constantemente, las emisiones de GEI han aumentado debido al aumento de dióxido de carbono. El objetivo de este estudio es poner de relieve cómo diferentes factores económicos, en particular el crecimiento económico, el desarrollo de una tecnología menos contaminante y la estructura del consumo, han impulsado la evolución de las emisiones. La metodología propuesta es un análisis de descomposición estructural (ADE), método que permite descomponer los cambios de la variable de interés entre las diferentes fuerzas y revelar la importancia de cada factor. Por otra parte, este estudio considera la importancia del comercio internacional e intenta incluir el “problema de la responsabilidad”. Es decir, a través de las relaciones comerciales internacionales, un país podría estar exportando procesos de producción contaminantes sin una reducción real de la contaminación implícita en su patrón de consumo. Con este fin, siguiendo primero un enfoque basado en la “responsabilidad del productor”, el ADE se aplica a las emisiones causadas por la producción nacional. Sucesivamente, el análisis se mueve hacia un enfoque basado en la “responsabilidad del consumidor" y la descomposición se aplica a las emisiones relacionadas con la producción nacional o la producción extranjera que satisface la demanda interna. De esta manera, el ejercicio permite una primera comprobación de la importancia del comercio internacional y pone de relieve algunos resultados a nivel global y a nivel sectorial.

La perspectiva narrativa en Nubosidad variable de Carmen Martín Gaite

La publicación en 1992 de Nubosidad variable supuso la reanudación de la actividad novelesca de Carmen Martín Gaite, después de catorce arios dedicados al ensayo y a la historia. En esta obra, el «credo» literario de la novelista no ha variado sustancialmente en relación a otras como Ritmo lento, Retahilas o El cuarto de atrás, pero se ha visto enriquecido con una técnica que acota y fija de forma maestra todo el mundo de significaciones que se proyecta, y que podemos conceptualizar como el flirteo de la autora con la introspección, el recuerdo, y los antojos frente al tiempo pasado de una memoria vulnerable y resbaladiza. La perspectiva narrativa se revela, en este sentido, como el apoyo básico del andamiaje material de la obra.

Effects of the 80 km/h and variable speed limits on air pollution in the metropolitan area of Barcelona

In 2008 the regional government of Catalonia (Spain) reduced the maximum speed limit on several stretches of congested urban motorway in the Barcelona metropolitan area to 80 km/h, while in 2009 it introduced a variable speed system on other stretches of its metropolitan motorways. We use the differences-in-differences method, which enables a policy impact to be measured under specific conditions, to assess the impact of these policies on emissions of NOx and PM10. Empirical estimation indicate that reducing the speed limit to 80 km h-1 causes a 1.7 to 3.2% increase in NOx and 5.3 to 5.9% in PM10. By contrast, the variable speed policy reduced NOx and PM10 pollution by 7.7 to 17.1% and 14.5 to 17.3%. As such, a variable speed policy appears to be a more effective environmental policy than reducing the speed limit to a maximum of 80 km/h.

Valoración experiencial del aprendizaje tras formación virtual.

[eng] An observable study on the behaviour in the laboratory of Pharmaceutical Technology II (pharmaceutical pilot plant), with two groups of students of 3rd course (proactive aptitude and valuation of the"knowledge to do acquired") is carried out. The variable between groups is that one has realised a training (by means of self-study of an interactive application multimedia, especially designed), without tutorship on behalf the teacher in front of the other group that carried out the same training with the same material but with the guide of the teacher in the computer lab. On the one hand it is valued if there is some effect differentiator between both types of training, by means of the accounting of the correct results obtained in a previous test to the entrance in the pilot plant and by another one the valuation that the professors made responsible for the groups of practices in situ. The results demonstrate the previous hypothesis that there must not be significant differences between the groups, beyond the inherent ones to personality of the students itself (interest and personal implication by the subject). On the other hand the test for the observation in the laboratory did not facilitate the distinction of objective differences. [spa] Se lleva a cabo un estudio observacional sobre el comportamiento de los estudiantes (aptitud pro-activa y valoración del “saber hacer adquirido”) en el laboratorio de Tecnología Farmacéutica II (planta piloto farmacéutica) de dos grupos de estudiantes de 3er curso. La variable entre los dos grupos es que uno ha realizado una formación no presencial (mediante el autoestudio de una aplicación interactiva multimedia, especialmente diseñada), sin tutoría por parte del profesor, frente al otro grupo que llevó a cabo la misma formación con el mismo material pero con la guía del profesor en el aula de informática. Por una parte se valora si hay algún efecto diferenciador entre ambos tipos de formación, mediante la contabilización de los resultados correctos obtenidos en un test previo a la entrada en la planta piloto y por otro la valoración que hicieron los profesores responsables de los grupos de prácticas in situ. Los resultados demuestran la hipótesis previa de que no debían existir diferencias significativas entre los grupos, más allá de las inherentes a la propia personalidad de los estudiantes (interés e implicación personal por el tema). Por otra parte el test para la observación en el laboratorio no facilitó la distinción de diferencias objetivas.

Determinants of Broadband Access: Is Platform Competition always the Key Variable to Success?

Previous studies have identified the rivalry among technological platforms as one of the main driving forces of broadband services penetration. This paper draws on data from the Spanish market between 2005 and 2011 to estimate the main determinants of broadband prices. Controlling for broadband tariffs features and network variables, we examine the impact of the different modes of competition on prices. We find that inter-platform competition has no significant effects over prices, while intra-platform competition is a key driver of the prices charged in the broadband market. Our analysis suggests that the impact of different types of competition on prices is critically affected by the levels of development of the broadband market achieved by the considered country

Identifying variable gamma-ray sources through radio observations

We present preliminary results of a campaign undertaken with different radio interferometers to observe a sample of the most variable unidentified EGRET sources. We expect to detect which of the possible counterparts of the gamma-ray sources (any of the radio emitters in the field) varies in time with similar timescales as the gamma-ray variation. If the gamma-rays are produced in a jet-like source, as we have modelled theoretically, synchrotron emission is also expected at radio wavelengths. Such radio emission should appear variable in time and correlated with the gamma-ray variability.