I just ran four million regressions

In this paper I try to move away from the Extreme Bounds method ofidentifying ``robust'' empirical relations in the economic growth literature.Instead of analyzing the extreme bounds of the estimates of the coefficientof a particular variable, I analyze the entire distribution. My claimin this paper is that, if we do this, the picture emerging from theempirical growth literature is not the pessimistic ``Nothing is Robust''that we get with the extreme bound analysis. Instead, we find that asubstantial number of variables can be found to be strongly relatedto growth.

A T42A Ran Mutation: Differential Interactions with Effectors and Regulators, and Defect in Nuclear Protein Import

Ran, the small, predominantly nuclear GTPase, has been implicated in the regulation of a variety of cellular processes including cell cycle progression, nuclear-cytoplasmic trafficking of RNA and protein, nuclear structure, and DNA synthesis. It is not known whether Ran functions directly in each process or whether many of its roles may be secondary to a direct role in only one, for example, nuclear protein import. To identify biochemical links between Ran and its functional target(s), we have generated and examined the properties of a putative Ran effector mutation, T42A-Ran. T42A-Ran binds guanine nucleotides as well as wild-type Ran and responds as well as wild-type Ran to GTP or GDP exchange stimulated by the Ran-specific guanine nucleotide exchange factor, RCC1. T42A-Ran·GDP also retains the ability to bind p10/NTF2, a component of the nuclear import pathway. In contrast to wild-type Ran, T42A-Ran·GTP binds very weakly or not detectably to three proposed Ran effectors, Ran-binding protein 1 (RanBP1), Ran-binding protein 2 (RanBP2, a nucleoporin), and karyopherin ß (a component of the nuclear protein import pathway), and is not stimulated to hydrolyze bound GTP by Ran GTPase-activating protein, RanGAP1. Also in contrast to wild-type Ran, T42A-Ran does not stimulate nuclear protein import in a digitonin permeabilized cell assay and also inhibits wild-type Ran function in this system. However, the T42A mutation does not block the docking of karyophilic substrates at the nuclear pore. These properties of T42A-Ran are consistent with its classification as an effector mutant and define the exposed region of Ran containing the mutation as a probable effector loop.

Un modelo de educación trilingüe. El sistema educativo del Valle de Áran. Descripción, actitudes y perspectivas

La comarca del Valle de Arán se encuentra situada en el extremo noroccidental de la provincia de Lleida, en plenos Pirineos. En las últimas décadas, este territorio se encuentra inmerso en un proceso de transformación cultural. La situación viene marcada por varios aspectos: a) un fuerte incremento de población, proveniente principalmente de la inmigración; b) la coexistecia en el territorio de tres lenguas oficiales: el occitano-aranés, como lengua propia de la comarca, el catalán y el castellano, y c) una situación de contacto entre lenguas y culturas bastante diferenciadas. El artículo presenta el proceso de transformación que ha sufrido el sistema educativo en el Valle de Arán en los últimos 20 años, caracterizado principalmente por el paso de un modelo de educación monolingüe a un modelo de educación trilingüe.

Bases pel desenvolupament i l’aplicació d'un tractament interdisciplinar del dolor crònic pediàtric

Projecte de recerca elaborat a partir d’una estada al Pain Management Unit de la University of Bath-Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Disease, a Gran Bretanya, entre juliol i setembre del 2006. El dolor crònic en pediatria es defineix com aquell que és persistent o recurrent durant tres o més mesos. Recentment la prevalença a la nostra població entre els escolars de 8 a 16 anys ha estat quantificada en el 37.3%. Davant d’aquestes dades i coneixent la magnitud de l’impacte que el dolor crònic té en aquestes edats, sorgeix la necessitat de desenvolupar programes d’intervenció per donar una resposta a aquesta problemàtica en la nostra població. Les investigacions realitzades assenyalen que els programes multidisciplinars són els que obtenen una major eficàcia. Aquests programes estan adreçats a minimitzar l’impacte dels diferents factors que conformen l’experiència de dolor: físics, emocionals, cognitius, conductuals i socials. A Europa només l’hospital on s’ha realitzat l’estada ofereix un programa d’aquestes característiques. El servei que ofereixen en aquesta Unitat de dolor pediàtric està sent el model de referència pel disseny d’un programa de tractament a la nostra població. Per aquest motiu, s’ha realitzat una estada d’un mes de durada a la PMU, amb l’objectiu d’aprendre els procediments terapèutics per adaptar-los i aplicar-los en el nostre context. Sis adolescents amb problemes de dolor crònic i discapacitat associada, acompanyats de les seves mares han participat en aquest programa de tractament grupal interdisciplinari d’orientació cognitiu-conductual de tres setmanes. Es realitzen aproximadament 110 hores de tractament, distribuïdes en sessions de 50 minuts, d’activitat física i ocupacional, teràpia cognitiu-conductual i educació. Aquesta estada ha permès d’una banda, la formació d’un psicòleg dintre d’un equip de dolor pediàtric interdisciplinar i de l’altra evidenciar l’efectivitat que aquest programa interdisciplinar de rehabilitació cognitiu-conductual té pel maneig del dolor crònic i la discapacitat associada.

Procedural Meaning Explicatures in the Development of New Subordination Strategies in Romance

The sociocultural changes that led to the genesis of Romance languages widened the gap between oral and written patterns, which display different discoursive and linguistic devices. In early documents, discoursive implicatures connecting propositions were not generally codified, so that the reader should furnish the correctinterpretation according to his own perception of real facts; which can still be attested in current oral utterances. Once Romance languages had undergone several levelling processes which concluded in the first standardizations, implicatures became explicatures and were syntactically codified by means of univocal new complexconjunctions. As a consequence of the emergence of these new subordination strategies, a freer distribution of the information conveyed by the utterances is allowed. The success of complex structural patterns ran alongside of the genesis of new narrative genres and the generalization of a learned rhetoric. Both facts are a spontaneous effect of new approaches to the act of reading. Ancient texts were written to be read to a wide audience, whereas those printed by the end of the XV th century were conceived to be read quietly, in a low voice, by a private reader. The goal of this paper is twofold, since we will show that: a) The development of new complex conjunctions through the history of Romance languages accommodates to four structural patterns that range from parataxis tohypotaxis. b) This development is a reflex of the well known grammaticalization path from discourse to syntax that implies the codification of discoursive strategies (Givón 2 1979, Sperber and Wilson 1986, Carston 1988, Grice 1989, Bach 1994, Blackemore 2002, among others]

La mediación y el arbitraje de consumo: explorando sistemas de ODR

La utilización de ADR en el ámbito de las reclamaciones de consumo tiene un marco legal específico en España -y también en la UE- desde 1993, que deriva de sus características especiales. Algunas son de cuño exclusivamente jurídico: se trata de reclamaciones en las que el marco legal aplicable es el denominado derecho de consumo; otras poseen un soporte básicamente fáctico: suelen tener poca entidad económica, es decir, entran en la categoría de lo que denominamos small claims, y el hecho de que las reclamaciones -en algunos supuestos que van en aumento- sean transfronterizas condiciona la opción entre jurisdicción tradicional y ADR, como también tendremos ocasión de analizar. Hay que añadir a estos elementos jurídicos y fácticos un elemento importante de política legislativa en un ámbito de la UE; los ADR se entienden como un instrumento básico para garantizar el acceso de los consumidores a la justicia, pero al mismo tiempo, en el ámbito del comercio electrónico, son un ele- mento de gran trascendencia en la creación de la denominada e-confidence. Por este motivo, se explo- ran continuamente formas de ODR (On-line Dispute Resolution). Los ODR pretenden la mayor eficacia ofreciendo un soporte técnico capaz de solucionar una controversia con o sin la intervención de un tercero, y dentro o fuera de la organización del empresario. De este modo, se usa un mismo expediente técnico para poner en marcha sucesivamente más de un ADR, o se potencian los mecanismos automáticos que prescinden de los conceptos jurídicos y, en medio de la exploración constante, España apuesta por el arbitraje electrónico de consumo en el RD 236/2008. A estos temas vamos a referirnos a continuación.

Calibration and application of the MN2D dynamics model to the avalanches of Las Leñas (Argentina)

During the winters of 1999 and 2000 large avalanches occurred in the ski resort of Las Leñas (Los Andes, Mendoza, Argentina). On 8 September 1999 an avalanche of new, dry snow ran over a path with a 1000 m vertical drop. On 30 June and on 1 July 2000 five avalanches of similar vertical drop, which start with new snow, entrained very wet snow during their descent, and evolved into dense snow avalanches. To use the MN2D dynamics model correctly, calibration of model parameters is necessary. Also, no previous works with the use of dynamics models exist in South America. The events used to calibrate the model occurred during the winters of 1999 and 2000 and are a good sample of the kind of avalanches which can occur in this area of the Andes range. By considering the slope morphology and topography, the snow and meteorological conditions and the results of the model simulations, it was estimated that these avalanches were not extreme events with a return period greater than one hundred years. This implies that, in natural conditions, bigger, extreme avalanches could happen. In this work, the MN2D dynamics model is calibrated with two different avalanches of the same magnitude: dry and wet. The importance of the topographic data in the simulation is evaluated. It is concluded that MN2D dynamics model can be used to simulate dry extreme avalanches in Argentinean Andes but not to simulate extreme wet avalanches, which are much more sensitive to the topography.

Rockfall induced seismic signals: case study in Montserrat, Catalonia

After a rockfall event, a usual post event survey includes qualitative volume estimation, trajectory mapping and determination of departing zones. However, quantitative measurements are not usually made. Additional relevant quantitative information could be useful in determining the spatial occurrence of rockfall events and help us in quantifying their size. Seismic measurements could be suitable for detection purposes since they are non invasive methods and are relatively inexpensive. Moreover, seismic techniques could provide important information on rockfall size and location of impacts. On 14 February 2007 the Avalanche Group of the University of Barcelona obtained the seismic data generated by an artificially triggered rockfall event at the Montserrat massif (near Barcelona, Spain) carried out in order to purge a slope. Two 3 component seismic stations were deployed in the area about 200 m from the explosion point that triggered the rockfall. Seismic signals and video images were simultaneously obtained. The initial volume of the rockfall was estimated to be 75 m3 by laser scanner data analysis. After the explosion, dozens of boulders ranging from 10¿4 to 5 m3 in volume impacted on the ground at different locations. The blocks fell down onto a terrace, 120 m below the release zone. The impact generated a small continuous mass movement composed of a mixture of rocks, sand and dust that ran down the slope and impacted on the road 60 m below. Time, time-frequency evolution and particle motion analysis of the seismic records and seismic energy estimation were performed. The results are as follows: 1 ¿ A rockfall event generates seismic signals with specific characteristics in the time domain; 2 ¿ the seismic signals generated by the mass movement show a time-frequency evolution different from that of other seismogenic sources (e.g. earthquakes, explosions or a single rock impact). This feature could be used for detection purposes; 3 ¿ particle motion plot analysis shows that the procedure to locate the rock impact using two stations is feasible; 4 ¿ The feasibility and validity of seismic methods for the detection of rockfall events, their localization and size determination are comfirmed.

Insulin-Like growth-factor 1 myocardial expression decreases in chronic alcohol consumption

Background Chronic alcohol ingestion may cause severe biochemical and pathophysiological derangements to skeletal muscle. Unfortunately, these alcohol-induced events may also prime skeletal muscle for worsened, delayed, or possibly incomplete repair following acute injury. As alcoholics may be at increased risk for skeletal muscle injury, our goals were to identify the effects of chronic alcohol ingestion on components of skeletal muscle regeneration. To accomplish this, age- and gender-matched C57Bl/6 mice were provided normal drinking water or water that contained 20% alcohol (v/v) for 1820 wk. Subgroups of mice were injected with a 1.2% barium chloride (BaCl2) solution into the tibialis anterior (TA) muscle to initiate degeneration and regeneration processes. Body weights and voluntary wheel running distances were recorded during the course of recovery. Muscles were harvested at 2, 7 or 14 days post-injection and assessed for markers of inflammation and oxidant stress, fiber cross-sectional areas, levels of growth and fibrotic factors, and fibrosis. Results Body weights of injured, alcohol-fed mice were reduced during the first week of recovery. These mice also ran significantly shorter distances over the two weeks following injury compared to uninjured, alcoholics. Injured TA muscles from alcohol-fed mice had increased TNFα and IL6 gene levels compared to controls 2 days after injury. Total protein oxidant stress and alterations to glutathione homeostasis were also evident at 7 and 14 days after injury. Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) induction was delayed in injured muscles from alcohol-fed mice which may explain, in part, why fiber cross-sectional area failed to normalize 14 days following injury. Gene levels of TGFβ1 were induced early following injury before normalizing in muscle from alcohol-fed mice compared to controls. However, TGFβ1 protein content was consistently elevated in injured muscle regardless of diet. Fibrosis was increased in injured, muscle from alcohol-fed mice at 7 and 14 days of recovery compared to injured controls. Conclusions Chronic alcohol ingestion appears to delay the normal regenerative response following significant skeletal muscle injury. This is evidenced by reduced cross-sectional areas of regenerated fibers, increased fibrosis, and altered temporal expression of well-described growth and fibrotic factors.

La resistència liberal de Lleida davant la invasió dels Cent Mil Fills de Sant Lluís

Davant del fracàs de la contrarevolució interior efectuada pels reialistes, a partir pràcticament de l’inici del sistema constitucional inaugurat per la revolució de Riego, els elements més absolutistes van organitzar mitjançant la celebració del Congrés de Verona la invasió del territori espanyol per les tropes franceses (els Cent Mil Fills de Sant Lluís). La reacció de les institucions locals lleidatanes, sobretot la Paeria (l’Ajuntament) no es va fer esperar. Ràpidament van rebutjar ferventment la imposició estrangera i van organitzar la resistència a l’interior de la ciutat. Aquesta resistència va topar amb la penúria econòmica de la hisenda municipal, motiu pel qual van haver de realitzar una guerra defensiva, que va tenir èxit, ja que van resistir la invasió fins a l’últim dia d’octubre de l’any 1823 i es van convertir, juntament amb ciutats com ara Barcelona o Tarragona, en els baluards del liberalisme.

The persistence of return on assets: differences between industries and differences between firms

This study offers a statistical analysis of the persistence of annual profits across a sample of firms from different European Union (EU) countries. To this end, a Bayesian dynamic model has been used which enables the annual behaviour of those profits to be broken down into a permanent structural component on the one hand and a transitory component on the other, while also distinguishing between general effects affecting the industry as a whole to which each firm belongs and specific effects affecting each firm in particular. This break down enables the relative importance of those fundamental components to be evaluated. The data analysed come from a sample of 23,293 firms in EU countries selected from the AMADEUS data-base. The period analysed ran from 1999 to 2007 and 21 sectors were analysed, chosen in such a way that there was a sufficiently large number of firms in each country*sector combination for the industry effects to be estimated accurately enough for meaningful comparisons to be made by sector and country. The analysis has been conducted by sector and by country from a Bayesian perspective, thus making the study more flexible and realistic since the estimates obtained do not depend on asymptotic results. In general terms, the study finds that, although the industry effects are significant, more important are the specific effects. That importance varies depending on the sector or the country in which the firm carries out its activity. The influence of firm effects accounts for more than 90% of total variation and display a significantly lower degree of persistence, with adjustment speeds oscillating around 51.1%. However, this pattern is not homogeneous but depends on the sector and country analysed. Industry effects have a more marginal importance, being significantly more persistent, with adjustment speeds oscillating around 10% with this degree of persistence being more homogeneous at both country and sector levels.

Flocking behaviour: Agent-based simulation and hierarchical leadership.

We have studied how leaders emerge in a group as a consequence of interactions among its members. We propose that leaders can emerge as a consequence of a self-organized process based on local rules of dyadic interactions among individuals. Flocks are an example of self-organized behaviour in a group and properties similar to those observed in flocks might also explain some of the dynamics and organization of human groups. We developed an agent-based model that generated flocks in a virtual world and implemented it in a multi-agent simulation computer program that computed indices at each time step of the simulation to quantify the degree to which a group moved in a coordinated way (index of flocking behaviour) and the degree to which specific individuals led the group (index of hierarchical leadership). We ran several series of simulations in order to test our model and determine how these indices behaved under specific agent and world conditions. We identified the agent, world property, and model parameters that made stable, compact flocks emerge, and explored possible environmental properties that predicted the probability of becoming a leader.

Antonio Agustín, Bologna e l’antiquaria del Cinquecento

One of the founders of numismatics in Modern Age was the archbishop of Tarragona and renowned jurist Antonio Agustín. He was educated during the mid-sixteenth century mainly in Italy, particularly in Bologna and Padua. His role in the development of antiquarian studies – and interest in collecting – ran parallel to the development of numismatics in the Cinquecento. His interest in realia , i.e., the materials and documents perceived as primary evidence of history understood in a global sense, make him a pioneer in setting the trends and methodologies which would be later employed by Bernard de Montfaucon. The period Antonio Agustín spent in Bologna, at the Reale Collegio di Spagna, between 1539 and 1544, afforded him the opportunity to enter a very cultivated circle where the admiration and study of the Antique was well established since the mid-fifteenth century. The cultural effervescence taking place in Bologna was encouraged by the court of Giovanni II Bentivoglio and the University alike. Artists also contributed to the development of antiquarian knowledge, and the painter Amico Aspertini (ca. 1475-1552) exemplifies this. It is clear that Antonio Agustín certainly benefited from the scholarly environment in Bologna during the first half of the Cinquecento, which had been firmly anchored since the fertile Quattrocento. Although the documentary evidence is scarce, and it is difficult to pinpoint the details, it is undeniable that Antonio Agustín was heavily influenced by his Bolognese experience.

Insulin-Like growth-factor 1 myocardial expression decreases in chronic alcohol consumption

Background Chronic alcohol ingestion may cause severe biochemical and pathophysiological derangements to skeletal muscle. Unfortunately, these alcohol-induced events may also prime skeletal muscle for worsened, delayed, or possibly incomplete repair following acute injury. As alcoholics may be at increased risk for skeletal muscle injury, our goals were to identify the effects of chronic alcohol ingestion on components of skeletal muscle regeneration. To accomplish this, age- and gender-matched C57Bl/6 mice were provided normal drinking water or water that contained 20% alcohol (v/v) for 18-20 wk. Subgroups of mice were injected with a 1.2% barium chloride (BaCl2) solution into the tibialis anterior (TA) muscle to initiate degeneration and regeneration processes. Body weights and voluntary wheel running distances were recorded during the course of recovery. Muscles were harvested at 2, 7 or 14 days post-injection and assessed for markers of inflammation and oxidant stress, fiber cross-sectional areas, levels of growth and fibrotic factors, and fibrosis. Results Body weights of injured, alcohol-fed mice were reduced during the first week of recovery. These mice also ran significantly shorter distances over the two weeks following injury compared to uninjured, alcoholics. Injured TA muscles from alcohol-fed mice had increased TNFα and IL6 gene levels compared to controls 2 days after injury. Total protein oxidant stress and alterations to glutathione homeostasis were also evident at 7 and 14 days after injury. Ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) induction was delayed in injured muscles from alcohol-fed mice which may explain, in part, why fiber cross-sectional area failed to normalize 14 days following injury. Gene levels of TGFβ1 were induced early following injury before normalizing in muscle from alcohol-fed mice compared to controls. However, TGFβ1 protein content was consistently elevated in injured muscle regardless of diet. Fibrosis was increased in injured, muscle from alcohol-fed mice at 7 and 14 days of recovery compared to injured controls. Conclusions Chronic alcohol ingestion appears to delay the normal regenerative response following significant skeletal muscle injury. This is evidenced by reduced cross-sectional areas of regenerated fibers, increased fibrosis, and altered temporal expression of well-described growth and fibrotic factors.