Individual Project Summaries, 2011

Farms to Fuel project will demonstrate technology to produce alternative renewable energy by combining cattle manure with organic industrial waste products in an anaerobic digester. The digester produces methane gas which fires an engine set to generate base load electricity. This would create environmental benefits by turning crop, livestock, and industrial waste into renewable energy in a sustainable and profitable way. Other benefits of the project include the production of a fertilizer that is more readily applicable to crops than in its raw form.

Atividades de investigação escolar: análise psicanalítica do engajamento em pequenos grupos

Observamos grupos de alunos de ensino médio que foram desafiados a realizar uma atividade de pesquisa em Física. O objetivo era distinguir o engajamento colaborativo de outras formas de participação em grupo. Apresentamos um estudo pormenorizado de aulas que ocorreram no início do ano letivo em turmas do primeiro ano. Recorremos a gravações em áudio e vídeo para categorizar a participação dos alunos durante a atividade. As categorias são inspiradas no referencial psicanalítico de Grupos de Trabalho e Suposições Básicas. Com a ajuda desses conceitos foi possível caracterizar a participação individual no grupo, atentando para os impulsos emocionais que desviaram os indivíduos da tarefa. Baseados nos dados obtidos e em outros trabalhos nos quais analisamos esses grupos isoladamente, concluímos que a participação dos alunos depende de aspectos intrínsecos da dinâmica dos grupos de aprendizagem. A colaboração e objetividade, necessárias para que o grupo funcione bem, dependem de uma interferência externa ao grupo.

Generational effects on adult height in individual heterogeneity

As adult height is a well-established retrospective measure of health and standard of living, it is important to understand the factors that determine it. Among them, the influence of socio-environmental factors has been subjected to empirical scrutiny. This paper explores the influence of generational (or environmental) effects and individual and gender-specific heterogeneity on adult height. Our data set is from contemporary Spain, a country governed by an authoritarian regime between 1939 and 1977. First, we use normal position and quantile regression analysis to identify the determinants of self-reported adult height and to measure the influence of individual heterogeneity. Second, we use a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition approach to explain the `gender height gap¿ and its distribution, so as to measure the influence on this gap of individual heterogeneity. Our findings suggest a significant increase in adult height in the generations that benefited from the country¿s economic liberalization in the 1950s, and especially those brought up after the transition to democracy in the 1970s. In contrast, distributional effects on height suggest that only in recent generations has ¿height increased more among the tallest¿. Although the mean gender height gap is 11 cm, generational effects and other controls such as individual capabilities explain on average roughly 5% of this difference, a figure that rises to 10% in the lowest 10% quantile.

Monitoração da competitividade científica e tecnológica dos estados brasileiros. Um instrumento de macropolítica de informação

A resposta das nações industrializadas aos impactos da globalização e das mudanças tecnológicas tem sido a de buscar um alto nível de competitividade dentro e fora dos limites nacionais. As técnicas de inteligência (competitiva, econômica, tecnológica, social) estão entre os instrumentos utilizados pelos agentes estatais e privados na busca da competitividade, a partir da monitoração do ambiente em que o país ou a organização considerada esteja inserido. No presente estudo, parte-se da conceituação de inteligência, nas suas diversas manifestações e atividades, mencionam-se as estratégias das nações mais desenvolvidas no trabalho de inteligência econômica em apoio ao setor produtivo e propõe-se um serviço de monitoração com base em um conjunto de indicadores de competitividade dos estados brasileiros em ciência e tecnologia (C&T), a partir de dados produzidos pelo Sistema Estadual de Informação em C&T-Seict. O serviço proposto, base para um sistema integral de inteligência competitiva, tem como clientes prioritários as autoridades governamentais do Sistema Nacional de C&T e secundariamente está aberto a todos indivíduos e organizações públicas e privadas. Com o presente relatório, pretende-se apenas antecipar para os gestores dos sistemas estaduais de ciência e tecnologia o potencial de análise que o Seict oferece para a administração dos níveis de competitividade em C&T, via gestão do conhecimento e da informação, foco prioritário quando as autoridades brasileiras discutem as bases para transformação do país em uma sociedade da informação, centrada no conhecimento e na tecnologia.

Asimetrias inducidas por la operación de energía externa en secuencias de sedimentos y de poblaciones

Mientras que muchos paleontologos reconocen o aceptan direcciones preferentes en los procesos de sucesión y de evolución, los biólogos y ecólogos que estudian organismos actuales, al enfrentarse con un gran número de posibilidades de cambio, suelen ser mhs escépticos. En mi opinion, la diferente actitud tiene que ver conla escala de los fenómenos, pero también con la asimetria de los cambios naturales. Una disponibilidad de energia alta e imprevisible determina discontinuidades y permite a los organismos hacer historia; un régimen de energia previsiblemente degradada a través de una organización, permite a la vida escribir historia La dinámica de las poblaciones planctónicas es un ejemplo ideal de la operación alternada de los regimenes energéticos. La productividad y las formas biológicas dependen de cómo la energiadisponible realiza trabajo en la matriz fisica del ecosistema. La sucesión solo se puede reconocer en régimen de degradación de energia; pero ello es solamente la mitad de la historia. Las secuencias o ciclos sedimentarios se pueden comparar con este modelo de plancton También aqui aparecen discontinuidades que empiezan con la deposición de materiales gniesos en un ambiente de alta energia y pasan gradualmente a materiales más finos, cada vez con mayor influencia de la vida en su composicion y segregación. La evolucion tiene un componente que procede de su adherencia necesaria a la sucesión. Las especies evolucionan colonizando distintos ambientes, uno tras otro, pero en todos y cada uno de ellos, están sometidos a presiones paralelas, dependientes de la sucesióii. Otras poblaciones de caracteristicas más oportunistas y generales saltan continuamente entre ambientes de gran energia, donde su evolución puede ser rápida, pero deja naturalmente pocos indicios. El registro fósil solo nos cuenta la mitad de la historia y la evolución nos parece tener direccion, simplemente como consecuencia de la asimetria fundamental en los cambios de los ecosistemas.

The influence of drinking pattern, at individual and aggregate levels, on alcohol-related negative consequences.

AIM: To determine the extent drinking patterns (at the individual and country level) are associated with alcohol-related consequences over and above the total alcohol the person consumes. METHODS: Hierarchical linear models were estimated based on general population surveys conducted in 18 countries participating in the GENACIS project. RESULTS: In general, the positive association between drinking pattern scores and alcohol-related consequences was found at both the individual and country levels, independent of volume of drinking. In addition, a significant interaction effect indicated that the more detrimental the country's drinking pattern, the less steep the association between the volume of drinking and its consequences. CONCLUSION: Drinking patterns have an independent impact on consequences over and above the relationship between volume and consequences.

Individual prediction of cognitive decline in mild cognitive impairment using support vector machine-based analysis of diffusion tensor imaging data.

Although cross-sectional diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies revealed significant white matter changes in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the utility of this technique in predicting further cognitive decline is debated. Thirty-five healthy controls (HC) and 67 MCI subjects with DTI baseline data were neuropsychologically assessed at one year. Among them, there were 40 stable (sMCI; 9 single domain amnestic, 7 single domain frontal, 24 multiple domain) and 27 were progressive (pMCI; 7 single domain amnestic, 4 single domain frontal, 16 multiple domain). Fractional anisotropy (FA) and longitudinal, radial, and mean diffusivity were measured using Tract-Based Spatial Statistics. Statistics included group comparisons and individual classification of MCI cases using support vector machines (SVM). FA was significantly higher in HC compared to MCI in a distributed network including the ventral part of the corpus callosum, right temporal and frontal pathways. There were no significant group-level differences between sMCI versus pMCI or between MCI subtypes after correction for multiple comparisons. However, SVM analysis allowed for an individual classification with accuracies up to 91.4% (HC versus MCI) and 98.4% (sMCI versus pMCI). When considering the MCI subgroups separately, the minimum SVM classification accuracy for stable versus progressive cognitive decline was 97.5% in the multiple domain MCI group. SVM analysis of DTI data provided highly accurate individual classification of stable versus progressive MCI regardless of MCI subtype, indicating that this method may become an easily applicable tool for early individual detection of MCI subjects evolving to dementia.

Podología laboral. Equipos de protección individual (EPIs). Normativa aplicable

El podólogo debe de conocer aunque sea someramente la normativa legal en prevención, referida a la protección del pie, ya que el Reglamento de los Servicios de Prevención en su art. 37.3.a) nos indica que aparte de los Médicos y ATS de Empresa, la participación de otros profesionales sanitarios con competencia, técnica, formación y capacidad acreditada. Cada día es más frecuente nuestro asesoramiento profesional tanto a los empresarios como a los trabajadores y deberemos buscar más el acercamiento y colaboración con las otras especialidades preventivas, para hacer posible que la Podología laboral esté presente en los Servicios de Prevención.

Safety and functional outcome of thrombolysis in dissection-related ischemic stroke: a meta-analysis of individual patient data.

Background and Purpose-The safety and efficacy of thrombolysis in cervical artery dissection (CAD) are controversial. The aim of this meta-analysis was to pool all individual patient data and provide a valid estimate of safety and outcome of thrombolysis in CAD.Methods-We performed a systematic literature search on intravenous and intra-arterial thrombolysis in CAD. We calculated the rates of pooled symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage and mortality and indirectly compared them with matched controls from the Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke-International Stroke Thrombolysis Register. We applied multivariate regression models to identify predictors of excellent (modified Rankin Scale=0 to 1) and favorable (modified Rankin Scale=0 to 2) outcome.Results-We obtained individual patient data of 180 patients from 14 retrospective series and 22 case reports. Patients were predominantly female (68%), with a mean +/- SD age of 46 +/- 11 years. Most patients presented with severe stroke (median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score=16). Treatment was intravenous thrombolysis in 67% and intra-arterial thrombolysis in 33%. Median follow-up was 3 months. The pooled symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage rate was 3.1% (95% CI, 1.3 to 7.2). Overall mortality was 8.1% (95% CI, 4.9 to 13.2), and 41.0% (95% CI, 31.4 to 51.4) had an excellent outcome. Stroke severity was a strong predictor of outcome. Overlapping confidence intervals of end points indicated no relevant differences with matched controls from the Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke-International Stroke Thrombolysis Register.Conclusions-Safety and outcome of thrombolysis in patients with CAD-related stroke appear similar to those for stroke from all causes. Based on our findings, thrombolysis should not be withheld in patients with CAD. (Stroke. 2011;42:2515-2520.)

Analysis of experiments in square lattice with emphasis on variance components. i. Individual analysis

This paper focused on four alternatives of analysis of experiments in square lattice as far as the estimation of variance components and some genetic parameters are concerned: 1) intra-block analysis with adjusted treatment and blocks within unadjusted repetitions; 2) lattice analysis as complete randomized blocks; 3) intrablock analysis with unadjusted treatment and blocks within adjusted repetitions; 4) lattice analysis as complete randomized blocks, by utilizing the adjusted means of treatments, obtained from the analysis with recovery of interblock information, having as mean square of the error the mean effective variance of this same analysis with recovery of inter-block information. For the four alternatives of analysis, the estimators and estimates were obtained for the variance components and heritability coefficients. The classification of material was also studied. The present study suggests that for each experiment and depending of the objectives of the analysis, one should observe which alternative of analysis is preferable, mainly in cases where a negative estimate is obtained for the variance component due to effects of blocks within adjusted repetitions.

Inferring recent migration rates from individual genotypes.

We present a novel and straightforward method for estimating recent migration rates between discrete populations using multilocus genotype data. The approach builds upon a two-step sampling design, where individual genotypes are sampled before and after dispersal. We develop a model that estimates all pairwise backwards migration rates (m(ij), the probability that an individual sampled in population i is a migrant from population j) between a set of populations. The method is validated with simulated data and compared with the methods of BayesAss and Structure. First, we use data for an island model and then we consider more realistic data simulations for a metapopulation of the greater white-toothed shrew (Crocidura russula). We show that the precision and bias of estimates primarily depend upon the proportion of individuals sampled in each population. Weak sampling designs may particularly affect the quality of the coverage provided by 95% highest posterior density intervals. We further show that it is relatively insensitive to the number of loci sampled and the overall strength of genetic structure. The method can easily be extended and makes fewer assumptions about the underlying demographic and genetic processes than currently available methods. It allows backwards migration rates to be estimated across a wide range of realistic conditions.

Experiencia de tutorización individual en la matemática empresarial utilizando la red

En este artículo presentamos una experiencia de innovación docente de tutorización individualizada. Esta experiencia se realizó en la asignatura de Introducción a la matemática Económica y Empresarial de la Diplomatura en Ciencias Empresariales de la Universidad de Barcelona durante el curso 2006-2007. Se trata de una asignatura semestral, de seis créditos y de libre elección que se imparte durante el primer semestre de cada año académico. Este proyecto se inscribe dentro de los nuevos enfoques docentes propuestos en el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior. Esto supone la adopción de nuevos métodos pedagógicos que se enmarcan dentro de la docencia en el nuevo entorno educativo. Nuestra experiencia docente en las asignaturas de Matemática aplicadas a las ciencias sociales de la Diplomatura en Ciencias Empresariales de la Universidad de Barcelona, nos ha permitido constatar que la participación de los alumnos en las tutorías presenciales es baja y que se produce un descenso en la asistencia a clase a medida que avanza el curso. Esto genera que los estudiantes abandonen la asignatura antes de finalizar el curso, no se presenten a las pruebas de evaluación y que su rendimiento académico sea insuficiente. Este contexto motivó un intento de rediseño del sistema de tutorías. Para ello, se construyó un espacio virtual de tutorización y se probó con una muestra aleatoria de 50 alumnos. Los resultados de la experiencia piloto de tutorías señalan una clara mejora de las tres situaciones anteriores. Actualmente, estamos analizando la viabilidad de este proyecto en grupos masificados.

European guidelines for the development of mechanisms/tools supporting the individual demand for training through use of training Vouchers

El projecte de TAV es basa en la transferència d'un sistema de vals de capacitació, i en com aquest sistema de vals és adaptable a altres països o regions. En el document s'analitzen diferents conceptes teòrics sobre la conveniència o no de la implantació d'aquest sistema. A més a més, aquest document és una guia per a les organitzacions interessades en l'adaptació del sistema de vals formatius al seu territori, mostrant els passos a seguir i oferint eines útils per aconseguir-ho.