92516 research outputs found
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Semi-distributed and fully-distributed physical modelling of snow-covered mediterranean catchments under climate change scenarios
No full textSUPPORTED BY GRANT TED2021-130744B-C22 FUNDED BY MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 AND BY THE EUROPEAN UNION NEXT GENERATION EU/ PRT
The Language of Instagram and the Use of This Platform as a Learning Tool: A Systematic Review
No full textJosé Francisco Alfonso-Jaramillo – Universidad de Huelva - 0009-0005-7930-9346Beatriz Peña-Acuña – Universidad de Huelva - 0000-0002-0951-795XRosana Corga Fernandes-Durão – Universidad del Algarve - 0000-0002-9813-0350Recepción: 23.06. 2025 | Aceptado: 14.10.2025Correspondencia a través de ORCID: José Francisco Alfonso-Jaramillo - 0009-0005-7930-9346Estudio de investigación de Tesis Doctoral: El presente artículo se ha realizado gracias a la estancia predoctoral de investigación realizada por José Francisco Alfonso-Jaramillo en la Universidad del Algarve (Faro, Portugal). Durante esta estancia, la indagación fue supervisada por la Dra. Rosana Corga Fernandes-Durao junto con la Dra. Beatriz Peña-Acuña, directora de la tesis doctoral inscrita en el Programa de Doctorado de Ciencias Sociales y de la Educación (Universidad de Huelva).Área o categoría del conocimiento: EducaciónEste estudio se centra en la incorporación de la red social Instagram al ámbito educativo, con el objetivo de identificar los usos docentes que se están empleando. Se ha realizado una revisión sistemática de literatura reciente de este fenómeno mediante método PRISMA 2020. Se han encontrado 42 artículos científicos de predominio cualitativo, tratándose de un campo en expansión. Se han identificado dos dimensiones principales: Instagram y lenguaje e Instagram y aprendizaje. Los estudios de Instagram y lenguaje se enfocan especialmente en la influencia de la imagen y la multimodalidad en la comunicación. Respecto a Instagram y aprendizaje se destaca la importancia de la escritura en Instagram, promoviendo habilidades, creatividad y participación en aprendizaje de idiomas y competencias digitales. La revisión muestra que Instagram influye en el lenguaje y es eficaz como herramienta educativa, especialmente para aprender idiomas, motivar, mejorar la redacción y adaptar la comunicación en contextos digitales. Se recomienda, como aplicación práctica educativa, el uso de Instagram puesto que fomenta la escritura creativa, argumentativa y ortográfica, la participación activa, las habilidades digitales, la colaboración y el aprendizaje de idiomas con recursos multimodales e interactivos.Abstract: This study focuses on the incorporation of the social network Instagram into the educational sphere, with the aim of identifying the teaching practices currently being employed. A systematic review of recent literature on this phenomenon was conducted using the PRISMA 2020 method. Forty-two scientific articles were identified, predominantly qualitative, reflecting an expanding field. Two main dimensions were distinguished: Instagram and language, and Instagram and learning. Studies on Instagram and language focus particularly on the influence of imagery and multimodality on communication. Regarding Instagram and learning, the importance of writing on Instagram is emphasised, as it fosters skills, creativity, and engagement in language learning and digital competencies. The review demonstrates that Instagram influences language and is effective as an educational tool, particularly for language learning, enhancing motivation, improving writing skills, and adapting communication in digital contexts. The use of Instagram is recommended as a practical educational application, as it promotes creative, argumentative, and orthographic writing, active participation, digital skills, collaboration, and language learning through multimodal and interactive resources.Universidad de Huelv
Psychometric properties and qualitative evaluation of a Swedish translation of the New Sexual Satisfaction Scale–Short (NSSS-S)
No full textA Systematic Review of the Bibliometrics and Methodological Research Used on Studies Focused on School Neighborhood Built Environment and the Physical Health of Children and Adolescents
No full textObjectives: The aim of this systematic review is to analyze the research journals, sample
characteristics and research methodology used in the studies about school neighborhood
built environment (SNBE) and the physical health of children and adolescents. Methods:
Using 124 key terms across four databases (Web of Science, PubMed, Sportdiscus and
Transportation Research Board), 8837 studies were identified, and 55 were selected. The
research question and evidence search were guided by the “Population, Intervention,
Comparison, Outcomes” (PICO) framework. Results: Most studies were published in
health-related research journals (67.3%) and conducted in 16 countries, primarily urban
contexts (44.4%). Cross-sectional designs dominated (89.1%), with participation ranging from a minimum of 7 schools and 94 students to a maximum of 6362 schools and
979,119 students. Street network distances are often defined by 1000 or 800 m. The SNBE
variables (135 total) were often measured via GIS (67.2%). In contrast, 70.6% of the 45 physical health measures relied on self-reports. Conclusions: This systematic review highlights
the diverse approaches, gaps, and common patterns in studying the association between
the SNBE and the physical health of children and adolescents. Therefore, this manuscript
may serve as a valuable resource to examine the current landscape of knowledge and to
guide future research on this topic.EU FEDER/Regional Council for Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge and
Universities of Andalucía, Spain: B-CTS-160-UGR20European Union. State Research Agency: PTA2023-023892-
Bright LaF3: Eu@ Ir Phosphors Combining Two‐Photon Excitation, d→ f Energy Transfer and Tunable Time‐Gated Chromaticity for Multicolor Cell Imaging
No full textIn order to advance the practical applications of photoluminescence lanthanide-based nanoparticles (LnNPs), it is essential to minimize quenching by surface defects and to enhance the efficiency of lanthanide excitation. Surface functionalization with organic antennas has proven effective in preparing dye-sensitized LnNPs with enhanced photoluminescence performance. Nevertheless, the limited chemical and photochemical stability of the organic dyes hinders the practical applications of these composites. This report presents Eu-doped LaF3 submicron particles (EuLaSMDs) and analogue small nanoparticles (EuLaNPs) functionalized with a robust IrIII complex (Ir1) as antenna. The EuLaSMDs@Ir1 and EuLaNPs@Ir1 hybrids exhibit a combination of short-lived Ir-based (yellow) and long-lived Eu-based (red) emissions, which can be selectively detected by time-gated detection. Following Ir1-sensitization, the Eu-based emission is amplified, reaching up to 307-fold (for EuLaSMDs@Ir1) and 188-fold (for EuLaNPs@Ir1), compared to that exhibited by pristine phosphors. Efficient Ir1-sensitized EuIII-based emission can also be achieved using NIR excitation, as Ir1 exhibits a moderate cross-section of σ2 = 4.6 ± 0.6 GM at λ = 800 nm. Both hybrids demonstrate effective internalization in HEK-293 cells with no observed toxicity at concentrations relevant to biomedical applications. Cells are imaged by TG-imaging and PLIM microscopy. Following UV–vis (λexc = 375 nm) or NIR (λexc = 800 nm) excitation, overlapped Ir1- and Eu-based emissions are detected
Cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescence and risk of type 2 diabetes in late adulthood in one million Swedish men: nationwide sibling controlled cohort study
No full textObjective: To examine the association between adolescent cardiorespiratory fitness and risk of type 2 diabetes in late adulthood, including the potential influence of unobserved familial confounding on the association.
Design: Nationwide sibling controlled cohort study.
Setting: Swedish Military Service Conscription Register, Sweden, 1972-95, with Multi-Generation Register for identifying full siblings. National Patient Register and Prescribed Drug Register for data on diagnoses of type 2 diabetes, deaths from National Cause of Death Register, and Statistics Sweden for emigration and socioeconomic data.
Participants: 1 124 049 Swedish men who participated in mandatory military conscription examinations with completed standardised cardiorespiratory fitness testing. Participants were followed up until 31 December 2023.
Main outcome measures: Type 2 diabetes, defined as a composite endpoint of diagnosis in inpatient or specialist outpatient care and dispensation of antidiabetic drug treatment, until 31 December 2023.
Results: 1 124 049 men, including 477 453 full siblings, with a mean age of 18.3 (standard deviation 0.7) years at baseline were included. During follow-up, 115 958 men (10.3%) and 48 089 full siblings (10.1%) had a first type 2 diabetes event at a median age of 53.4 (interquartile range 47.6-59.3) years. Cardiorespiratory fitness was categorised into deciles (referred to as groups, with group 1 being the lowest fitness level and group 10 the highest). In a cohort analysis, the adjusted hazard ratio in fitness group 2 versus fitness group 1 was 0.83 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.81 to 0.85), with a difference in the standardised cumulative incidence at age 65 years of 4.3 (95% CI 3.8 to 4.8) percentage points, decreasing to a hazard ratio of 0.38 (0.36 to 0.39; incidence difference 17.8 (17.3 to 18.3) percentage points) in fitness group 10. When comparing full siblings, and thus controlling for all unobserved shared behavioural, environmental, and genetic confounders, the association was replicated, but with a reduction in magnitude. The hazard ratio in fitness group 2 was 0.89 (95% CI 0.85 to 0.94; incidence difference 2.3 (1.3 to 3.3) percentage points) and 0.53 (0.50 to 0.57; incidence difference 10.9 (9.7 to 12.1) percentage points) in fitness group 10. Hypothetically moving all participants in fitness group 1 to fitness group 2 was estimated to prevent 7.2% (95% CI 6.4% to 8.0%) of events at age 65 years in the cohort analysis versus 4.6% (2.6% to 6.5%) in the full sibling analysis, whereas hypothetically moving all participants to fitness group 10 was estimated to prevent 35.6% (34.1% to 37.0%) versus 24.3% (20.5 to 28.0) of events. Indications of effect modification by overweight status were found, where the association was smaller in those with overweight than in those without overweight, particularly in the full sibling analysis.
Conclusions: The findings indicate that adolescent cardiorespiratory fitness could be important in the development of type 2 diabetes in late adulthood, but conventional observational analysis might give biased estimates of the magnitude of the effect.Swedish Research Council (2019-
00738)National Institute for Aging - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
(1R01NS131433-01
Exploring the role of normalization and feature selection in microbiome disease classification pipelines
No full textBackground: Disease classification using 16S rRNA microbiome data faces challenges of high dimensionality, compositionality, and
sparsity, compounded by the inherent small sample sizes in many studies. Machine learning and feature selection techniques offer
potential to identify robust biomarkers and improve classification performance; however, their comparative effectiveness across diverse methods and datasets has been insufficiently explored. This study evaluates multiple feature selection techniques alongside normalization strategies, focusing on their interplay with classifier performance.
Results: Our analyses revealed that centered log-ratio normalization improves the performance of logistic regression and support vector machine models and facilitates feature selection, whereas random forest models yield strong results using relative abundances. Interestingly, presence–absence normalization was able to achieve similar performance compared to abundance-based transformations across classifiers. Among feature selection methods, minimum redundancy maximum relevancy (mRMR) surpassed most methods in identifying compact feature sets and demonstrated performance comparable to least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), which obtained top results requiring lower computation times. Autoencoders needed larger latent spaces to perform well and lacked interpretability, Mutual Information suffered from redundancy, and ReliefF struggled with data sparsity.
Conclusions: Overall, feature selection pipelines improved model focus and robustness via a massive reduction of the feature space. mRMR and LASSO emerged as the most effective methods across datasetsDepartamento de Ingeniería de Computadores, Automática y Robótic
Executive function in adolescents with problematic smartphone use
No full textAdolescence is a crucial stage for prefrontal cortex development, a brain area responsible for control goal-oriented behaviours, known as executive functioning (EF).
Consequently, adolescents have a greater risk of problematic smartphone use (PSU).
The current study aimed to examine the EF in adolescents with and without PSU. The
participants included 110 students (44.5% males) ranging in age from 13 to 18 years
(M = 15.77; SD = 1.84). They completed a PSU scale and a set of tasks that assess the
components of the EF system. Parents were also asked to evaluate their children’s EF
using a behaviour rating inventory. We found significant differences between problematic and non-problematic smartphone users on parent-report measures but not on
performance-based measures. These results indicate that adolescents with PSU may
show greater difficulties in regulating their own behaviour and emotional responses,
but they can manage their cognitive processes effectively.MCIN - AEI - FEDER, EU (project RTI2018-101335-B-I00
Topological protection breakdown: A route to frustrated ferroelectricity
No full textPhases manifesting topological patterns in functional systems, like ferroelectric and ferromagnetic vortex superlattices, can manifest intricate and apparently ungovernable behavior, typical of frustrated nonergodic states with high-dimensional energy landscapes. This is also the case for potassium-tantalate-niobate (KTN) crystals. These transparent ferroelectrics manifest remarkable but little understood metastable domain patterns at optical (micrometer and above) scales near the cubic-to-tetragonal structural phase transition. Here, we formulate the topological breakdown model based on the competition between intrinsic scales of domain-domain collinear and noncollinear interactions associated with polarization-charge screening. The model is able to explain observed KTN mesoscopic domain patterns and phase diagram as a function of temperature and external electric field. Findings include a precise set of sharp and broad percolative transitions that are experimentally verified, validating our model. Our study identifies the central role played by competing topologically protected states, identifying a fundamental link between topological protection and frustration that supports a hitherto unexplored functional nonergodic arena.PNRR MUR (PE0000023-NQSTI)PRIN 2022 MUR (20223T577Z)MICIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 y European Regional Development Funds (PID2023-149174NB-I00, PID2020-113681GB-I00)Ministry of Science, Technology and Space (IL) (Grant 4698
Masturbation and partnered sex in different-gender relationships: Examining sexual functioning
No full textThis study has been funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades through the Research Project RTI2018-093317-B-I00 and the Bursary FPU18/03102 for University Professor Training as part of the first author’s thesis (Psychological Doctoral Programme B13 56 1; RD 99/2011).Introduction In the context of couples, the focus has traditionally been on partnered sex, relegating solitary masturbation to
second place, although it is also part of the sexual repertoire of this context and its importance for sexual health. We aimed
to investigate the patterns of frequency of solitary masturbation and partnered sex, sexual functioning, and sexual and relationship
satisfaction in men and women in a different-gender relationship.
Methods A total of 1028 Spanish adults with a history of relationships exclusively with different-gender partners aged
18–75 years (M = 37.08; SD = 11.95) were evaluated. Cluster analysis divided the sample into three groups with different
patterns: a group with high frequency of partnered sex and solitary masturbation, a group with high frequency of partnered
sex but low in masturbation, and a group with high frequency of solitary masturbation but low in partnered sex.
Results Overall, the results show that, especially in women, the combined practice of partnered sex and solitary masturbation
is associated with positive indicators of sexual health. In addition, men and women who masturbate more frequently
but have less partnered sex present indicators of poorer sexual health.
Conclusions The results show that solitary masturbation is important for assessing sexual health in the context of the couple.
Policy Implications Given that the combination of partnered sexual activity and solitary masturbation is linked to better
sexual health indicators, particularly in women, sexual health education programs should include discussions on the benefits
of diverse sexual practices.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades RTI2018-093317-B-I00Bursary FPU18/03102, University Professor Trainin