Psichological and behavioral problems among left-behind adolescents. The case of Ecuador

Objetivo: evaluar el impacto de la migración de los padres en el bienestar psicológico de los ado - lescentes en abandono (LBA) en el Ecuador. Ado - lescentes abandonados son quienes permanecen en su país de origen, mientras su (s) padre (s) mi - graron. Métodos: en un estudio Transversal, 659 adoles - centes de edad escolar (43% mujeres, con una edad media de 13.9 +- 1.2) llenaron los cuestio - narios de fortalezas y dificultades (SDQ), y deter - minantes socio-demográficos. Las estadísticas fue - ron utilizadas para comparar el impacto de los determinantes socio-demográficos en el grupo de adolescentes en abandono (LBA) y adolescentes en no abandono (NLBA). Resultados: El 46% de los (LBA) puntuaron sig - nificativamente más alto en el cuestionario (SDQ) que los (NLBA), especialmente las niñas. Los de - terminantes socio-demográficos fueron significa - tivamente asociados con menos problemas psico - lógicos, por ejemplo, hablando acerca de problemas personales y migración después de la edad de 5 años en LBA. Conclusiones: la migración de los padres tiene un impacto en el bienestar psicológico de los adolescentes en abandono en el Ecuador. Las ca - racterísticas socio-demográficas influencian dicho impacto. Este artículo enfatiza un importante y hasta ahora ignorado problema de salud publica en el Ecuador. Esto subraya la necesidad del des - arrollo de políticas de salud y una profunda in - vestigación

Homogenization of the p-Laplacian with nonlinear boundary condition on critical size particles: Identifying the strange term for the some non smooth and multivalued operators

We extend previous papers in the literature concerning the homogenization of Robin type boundary conditions for quasilinear equations, in the case of microscopic obstacles of critical size: here we consider nonlinear boundary conditions involving some maximal monotone graphs which may correspond to discontinuous or non-Lipschitz functions arising in some catalysis problems.

How to optimize operational shipping processes of non-production materials? The Volkswagen Autoeuropa case study

Field lab: Entrepreneurial and innovative ventures

Non-institutionalized nonagenarians health-related quality of life and nutritional status: is there a link between them?

Introduction: Nonagenarian population, clearly increasing, shows different characteristics from the rest of elderly people. Health-related quality of life is a way to study population health in physical, psychological and social dimensions. Objectives: To examine the relationship between nutritional status and health-related quality of life in a group of free-living nonagenarians. Differences with octogenarians were also studied. Methods: Within Villanueva Older Health Study, 20 non-institutionalised people (92.5±3.5 years; 80% women) make the nonagenarian subsample. Nutritional risk was assessed by Mininutritional Assessment questionnaire, dietary intake by a 24-hour dietary recall and health-related quality of life by EuroQoL-5D questionnaire. SPSS was used for statistical analysis. Results: 40% nonagenarians were at risk of malnutrition. Dietary assessment showed magnesium, zinc, potassium, folic acid, vitamin D and vitamin E deficiencies. Problems in mobility were more frequently reported (80%). EQ-5Dindex was associated with MNA (p<0.05). Self-care dimension was associated with calcium and niacin (p<0.05), retinol and cholesterol (p<0.01) intake. Usual activities dimension was associated with niacin (p<0.01) and cholesterol(p<0.05) intake. Pain/discomfort dimension was associated with protein (p<0.01), energy, selenium and niacin (p<0.05) intake. Anxiety/depression was associated with protein(p<0.01) and selenium (p<0.05) intake. Conclusions: Risk of malnutrition is a factor associated to health-related quality of life. Results suggest that energy and some nutrient intakes could be possibly associated to health-related quality of life but further research on this influence is required.

Prevalence of vocal problems in portuguese primary and secondary shool level teachers

This study compared the prevalence of vocal problems in two Portuguese groups: 73 teachers that use their voice as professional tool (teachers’ group) and 73 non-voice professionals (control group). It also identified the risk factors that contributed to teachers’ group voice problems. A questionnaire was applied to both goups in order to obtain information about vocal health, hygiene and behavior, professional activity and general physical health. Statistical results revealed that the teachers’ group presented a higher prevalence of vocal problems than the control group: 52% reported hoarseness, 46.6% vocal fatigue and 45.2% vocal discomfort compared with 31.5%, 20.5 % e 28.7%, respectively. Environmental factors (eg., smoke and cold temperatures), vocal abuse and upper respiratory pathologies (e.g., colds, laryngitis and pharyngitis) seemed to increase teachers’ voice disorders (p-value < .05). In conclusion, the absence of vocal pedagogy in the curricular plan of teachers’ higher education associated to poor working environmental conditions and professional voice demands explained the higher prevalence of vocal problems in teachers’ group.

Some misspecfication problems in long-memory time series models

Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics

Multifactorial approach to non-viral gene therapy: development of an efficient system for the retina

Tese de Doutoramento, Ciências Biomédicas, Departamento de Ciências Biomédicas e Medicina, Universidade do Algarve, 2016

The Effects of Non-Nutritive Sucking and Pre-Feeding Oral Stimulation on Time to Achieve Independent Oral Feeding for Preterm Infants

Background: The survival rates of preterm infants has increased over the last years, but oral feeding difficulties are the most common problems encountered by them Objectives: This study aimed at comparing the effects of non-nutritive sucking (NNS) and pre-feeding oral stimulation on feeding skills, length of hospital stay and weight gain of 26-32 weeks gestational age preterm infants in NICU, to determine the more effective intervention. Patients and Methods: Thirty-two preterm infants were assigned randomly into three groups. One intervention group received pre-feeding oral stimulation program and the other received non-nutritive sucking stimulation, while the control group received a sham intervention. Gestational age of infants was calculated during 1, 4 and 8 oral feeding and discharge time from NICU. The infants’ weights were measured weekly from birth and at discharge time. Results: Mean gestational age on 8 time oral feeding per day, in 3 groups was not significant (P = 0.282). Although NNS and pre-feeding oral stimulation groups has fulfilled this criterion 7.55 and 6.07 days sooner than the control group, respectively (a result which is of great clinical and economic importance), but the difference did not reach statistical significance. Weight gaining at discharge time in NNS group was significantly higher than control and pre-feeding oral stimulation groups (P < 0.05). Conclusions: This study revealed that pre-feeding oral stimulation and NNS programs both were effective on oral feeding skills and weight gaining of the immature newborns. Yet, it seems that NNS program was more effective than pre-feeding oral stimulation on weight gaining.

Cost sharing solutions defined by non-negative eigenvectors

The problem of sharing a cost M among n individuals, identified by some characteristic ci∈R+,ci∈R+, appears in many real situations. Two important proposals on how to share the cost are the egalitarian and the proportional solutions. In different situations a combination of both distributions provides an interesting approach to the cost sharing problem. In this paper we obtain a family of (compromise) solutions associated to the Perron’s eigenvectors of Levinger’s transformations of a characteristics matrix A. This family includes both the egalitarian and proportional solutions, as well as a set of suitable intermediate proposals, which we analyze in some specific contexts, as claims problems and inventory cost games.

The study of agricultural non-point source pollution control policy system

As the agricultural non-point source pollution(ANPSP) has become the most significant threat for water environmental deterioration and lake eutrophication in China, more and more scientists and technologists are focusing on the control countermeasure and pollution mechanism of agricultural non-point source pollution. The unreasonable rural production structure and limited scientific management measures are the main reasons for acute ANSPS problems in China. At present, the problem for pollution control is a lack of specific regulations, which affects the government's management efficiency. According to these characteristics and problems, this paper puts forward some corresponding policies. The status of the agricultural non-point source pollution of China is analyzed, and ANSPS prevention and control model is provided based on governance policy, environmental legislation, technical system and subsidy policy. At last, the case analysis of Qiandao Lake is given, and an economic policy is adopted based on its situation.

The Development of Calibrants through Characterization of Volatile Organic Compounds from Peroxide Based Explosives and a Non-target Chemical Calibration Compound

Detection canines represent the fastest and most versatile means of illicit material detection. This research endeavor in its most simplistic form is the improvement of detection canines through training, training aids, and calibration. This study focuses on developing a universal calibration compound for which all detection canines, regardless of detection substance, can be tested daily to ensure that they are working with acceptable parameters. Surrogate continuation aids (SCAs) were developed for peroxide based explosives along with the validation of the SCAs already developed within the International Forensic Research Institute (IFRI) prototype surrogate explosives kit. Storage parameters of the SCAs were evaluated to give recommendations to the detection canine community on the best possible training aid storage solution that minimizes the likelihood of contamination. Two commonly used and accepted detection canine imprinting methods were also evaluated for the speed in which the canine is trained and their reliability. As a result of the completion of this study, SCAs have been developed for explosive detection canine use covering: peroxide based explosives, TNT based explosives, nitroglycerin based explosives, tagged explosives, plasticized explosives, and smokeless powders. Through the use of these surrogate continuation aids a more uniform and reliable system of training can be implemented in the field than is currently used today. By examining the storage parameters of the SCAs, an ideal storage system has been developed using three levels of containment for the reduction of possible contamination. The developed calibration compound will ease the growing concerns over the legality and reliability of detection canine use by detailing the daily working parameters of the canine, allowing for Daubert rules of evidence admissibility to be applied. Through canine field testing, it has been shown that the IFRI SCAs outperform other commercially available training aids on the market. Additionally, of the imprinting methods tested, no difference was found in the speed in which the canines are trained or their reliability to detect illicit materials. Therefore, if the recommendations discovered in this study are followed, the detection canine community will greatly benefit through the use of scientifically validated training techniques and training aids.

Learning data-driven models of non-verbal behaviors for building rapport using an intelligent virtual agent

There is a growing societal need to address the increasing prevalence of behavioral health issues, such as obesity, alcohol or drug use, and general lack of treatment adherence for a variety of health problems. The statistics, worldwide and in the USA, are daunting. Excessive alcohol use is the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States (with 79,000 deaths annually), and is responsible for a wide range of health and social problems. On the positive side though, these behavioral health issues (and associated possible diseases) can often be prevented with relatively simple lifestyle changes, such as losing weight with a diet and/or physical exercise, or learning how to reduce alcohol consumption. Medicine has therefore started to move toward finding ways of preventively promoting wellness, rather than solely treating already established illness.^ Evidence-based patient-centered Brief Motivational Interviewing (BMI) interventions have been found particularly effective in helping people find intrinsic motivation to change problem behaviors after short counseling sessions, and to maintain healthy lifestyles over the long-term. Lack of locally available personnel well-trained in BMI, however, often limits access to successful interventions for people in need. To fill this accessibility gap, Computer-Based Interventions (CBIs) have started to emerge. Success of the CBIs, however, critically relies on insuring engagement and retention of CBI users so that they remain motivated to use these systems and come back to use them over the long term as necessary.^ Because of their text-only interfaces, current CBIs can therefore only express limited empathy and rapport, which are the most important factors of health interventions. Fortunately, in the last decade, computer science research has progressed in the design of simulated human characters with anthropomorphic communicative abilities. Virtual characters interact using humans’ innate communication modalities, such as facial expressions, body language, speech, and natural language understanding. By advancing research in Artificial Intelligence (AI), we can improve the ability of artificial agents to help us solve CBI problems.^ To facilitate successful communication and social interaction between artificial agents and human partners, it is essential that aspects of human social behavior, especially empathy and rapport, be considered when designing human-computer interfaces. Hence, the goal of the present dissertation is to provide a computational model of rapport to enhance an artificial agent’s social behavior, and to provide an experimental tool for the psychological theories shaping the model. Parts of this thesis were already published in [LYL+12, AYL12, AL13, ALYR13, LAYR13, YALR13, ALY14].^

Analysis of Non-Stationary Flows Using Eulerian and Lagrangian Frameworks

Recent developments have made researchers to reconsider Lagrangian measurement techniques as an alternative to their Eulerian counterpart when investigating non-stationary flows. This thesis advances the state-of-the-art of Lagrangian measurement techniques by pursuing three different objectives: (i) developing new Lagrangian measurement techniques for difficult-to-measure, in situ flow environments; (ii) developing new post-processing strategies designed for unstructured Lagrangian data, as well as providing guidelines towards their use; and (iii) presenting the advantages that the Lagrangian framework has over their Eulerian counterpart in various non-stationary flow problems. Towards the first objective, a large-scale particle tracking velocimetry apparatus is designed for atmospheric surface layer measurements. Towards the second objective, two techniques, one for identifying Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCS) and the other for characterizing entrainment directly from unstructured Lagrangian data, are developed. Finally, towards the third objective, the advantages of Lagrangian-based measurements are showcased in two unsteady flow problems: the atmospheric surface layer, and entrainment in a non-stationary turbulent flow. Through developing new experimental and post-processing strategies for Lagrangian data, and through showcasing the advantages of Lagrangian data in various non-stationary flows, the thesis works to help investigators to more easily adopt Lagrangian-based measurement techniques.

Optimal control of non-linear systems through hybrid cell-mapping/artificial-neural-networks techniques

In this paper, a real-time optimal control technique for non-linear plants is proposed. The control system makes use of the cell-mapping (CM) techniques, widely used for the global analysis of highly non-linear systems. The CM framework is employed for designing approximate optimal controllers via a control variable discretization. Furthermore, CM-based designs can be improved by the use of supervised feedforward artificial neural networks (ANNs), which have proved to be universal and efficient tools for function approximation, providing also very fast responses. The quantitative nature of the approximate CM solutions fits very well with ANNs characteristics. Here, we propose several control architectures which combine, in a different manner, supervised neural networks and CM control algorithms. On the one hand, different CM control laws computed for various target objectives can be employed for training a neural network, explicitly including the target information in the input vectors. This way, tracking problems, in addition to regulation ones, can be addressed in a fast and unified manner, obtaining smooth, averaged and global feedback control laws. On the other hand, adjoining CM and ANNs are also combined into a hybrid architecture to address problems where accuracy and real-time response are critical. Finally, some optimal control problems are solved with the proposed CM, neural and hybrid techniques, illustrating their good performance.

Commande prédictive non linéaire d’un séchoir à lit fluidisé pour granules pharmaceutiques

Avec la disponibilité de capteurs fiables de teneur en eau exploitant la spectroscopie proche infrarouge (NIR pour near-infrared) et les outils chimiométriques, il est maintenant possible d’appliquer des stratégies de commande en ligne sur plusieurs procédés de séchage dans l’industrie pharmaceutique. Dans cet ouvrage, le séchage de granules pharmaceutiques avec un séchoir à lit fluidisé discontinu (FBD pour fluidized bed dryer) de taille pilote est étudié à l’aide d’un capteur d’humidité spectroscopique. Des modifications électriques sont d’abord effectuées sur le séchoir instrumenté afin d’acheminer les signaux mesurés et manipulés à un périphérique d’acquisition. La conception d’une interface homme-machine permet ensuite de contrôler directement le séchoir à l’aide d’un ordinateur portable. Par la suite, un algorithme de commande prédictive (NMPC pour nonlinear model predictive control), basée sur un modèle phénoménologique consolidé du FBD, est exécuté en boucle sur ce même ordinateur. L’objectif est d’atteindre une consigne précise de teneur en eau en fin de séchage tout en contraignant la température des particules ainsi qu’en diminuant le temps de lot. De plus, la consommation énergétique du FBD est explicitement incluse dans la fonction objectif du NMPC. En comparant à une technique d’opération typique en industrie (principalement en boucle ouverte), il est démontré que le temps de séchage et la consommation énergétique peuvent être efficacement gérés sur le procédé pilote tout en limitant plusieurs problèmes d’opération comme le sous-séchage, le surséchage ou le surchauffage des granules.