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Will the real populists please stand up? A machine learning index of party populism
No full textThe existing literature on populism has seen numerous attempts to empirically quantify this somewhat ambiguous concept. Despite notable advances, continuous measures of populism with a clear theoretical background and a considerable coverage are still hard to come by. This paper proposes a novel approach to measuring party populism by combining several different expert-surveys via supervised machine learning techniques. Employing the random forest regression algorithm, we greatly expand the geographical and temporal coverage of two well-known populism indicators, which are based on the discursive and the ideational approach, respectively. The resulting multidimensional measures capture party-level populism on a continuous 0–10 scale, covering 1920 parties in 169 countries from 1970 to 2019. Our measures accurately replicate both definitions of populism, although the indicators may be more suitable for predicting populist outcomes in Western countries, as compared to non-Western ones
Origins of biological teleology: how constraints represent ends
Get PDFTo naturalize the concept of teleological causality in biology it is not enough to avoid assuming backward causation or positing the existence of an inscrutable teleological essence like the élan vital. We must also specify how the causality of organisms is distinct from the causality of designed artifacts like thermostats or asymmetrically oriented processes like the ubiquitous increase of entropy. Historically, the concept of teleological causality in biology has been based on an analogy to the familiar experience of purposeful action. This is experienced by us as a disposition to achieve a general type of end that is represented in advance, and which regulates the selection of efficient means to achieve it. Inspired by this analogy, to bridge the gap between biology and human agency we describe a simple molecular process called autogenesis that shows how two linked complementary self-organizing processes can give rise to higher-order relations that resemble purposeful dispositions, though expressed in terms of constraints on molecular processes. Because the autogenic model is described in sufficient detail to be empirically realizable, it provides a proof of principle demonstrating a simple form of teleological causality
Efectividad de las decisiones compartidas en pacientes con diabetes mellitus tipo 2 en atención primaria
No full textIntroducción: La diabetes mellitus tipo 2 es una enfermedad muy prevalente y
prevenible en la que las enfermeras de atención primaria juegan un papel fundamental
en el autocontrol y conocimiento de la enfermedad.
Metodología: Se realizó una búsqueda bibliográfica en las bases de datos PUBMED,
CINHAL, SCOPUS durante los meses de Octubre y Noviembre de 2023.
Objetivo: Evaluar la efectividad de las intervenciones de enfermería en las decisiones
compartidas en atención primaria para pacientes con diabetes mellitus tipo 2.
Resultados: Se analizaron 8 artículos de los que se agruparon en dos temas principales,
las características de los programas educacionales y la evaluación de la efectividad de
las decisiones compartidas. Estos estudios mostraron la efectividad de las decisiones
compartidas en el conocimiento de la enfermedad, la autoeficacia decisional y el
conflicto decisional.
Conclusión: Los hallazgos de esta revisión han demostrado que las decisiones
compartidas en atención primaria son efectivas para mejorar la autoeficacia decisional y
el conocimiento de la diabetes tipo 2 en los pacientes.Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a highly prevalent and preventable disease in
which primary care nurses play a key role in self-management and knowledge of the
disease.
Methodology: A bibliographic search was carried out in PUBMED, CINHAL,
SCOPUS databases during October and November 2023. Objective: Evaluating the effectiveness of nursing interventions in shared decision
making in primary care for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Results: Eight articles were analyzed and grouped into two main themes, such as the
characteristics of educational programs and the evaluation of the effectiveness of shared
decisions. These studies showed the effectiveness of shared decisions on disease
knowledge, decisional self-efficacy and decisional conflict.
Conclusions: The findings of this review have demonstrated that shared decisions in
primary care are effective in improving decisional self-efficacy and knowledge of type 2
diabetes in patients
Femtosecond laser-enabled precison additive manufacturing: process parameter optimization and surface roughness reduction
No full textAM is one of the most advanced technologies in recent years, transforming the paradigms
of many industrial processes. Among the various techniques available, the use of lasers has
stood out for its versatility and efficiency; however, there are still certain design limits in
terms of the materials that can be used, as well as a constant need to improve the quality
and precision of manufacturing methods. Femtosecond lasers, belonging to the family
of USP lasers, have the ability to affect substrates of many kinds with the singularity
of a very low or negligible thermal effect; this minimal effect, which can a priori be a
disadvantage if a significant heat build-up is desired, has been exploited to perform additive
manufacturing studies and achieve higher degrees of precision in the LPBF technique. The
studies carried out in this thesis demonstrate that it is possible to fuse stainless steel powder
of different sizes with an appropriate choice of processing parameters, using low values of
pulse spacing and accumulating the pulses along the powder bed. Although it is necessary
to use a small powder size, this thesis has succeeded in obtaining high surface quality
cast stainless steel structures below 1 W laser power and with a pulse repetition of 500
kHz, the lowest ever achieved to date, and in a material never studied before. This thesis
also analyses the ability of the optimised parameters to fabricate structures with reduced
thickness profiles, matching the records of other similar techniques for structures with a
thickness of less than 100 µm. Finally, the femtosecond laser has also been used, in burst
mode, to reduce the surface roughness of different substrates with different morphologies.
Using the maximum pulse repetition and the highest number of pulses per burst, these
studies have succeeded in reducing the roughness of metallic substrates by more than 60
%, obtaining different degrees of final finish depending on the processing conditions. It
has also been demonstrated that the polishing process does not affect the morphology of
the processed profiles, reducing the surface roughness and improving the appearance, but
without damaging or affecting the original design of the polished substrate. The results of
this thesis demonstrate that the femtosecond laser is a very powerful tool for applications
beyond surface ablation and/or texturing, achieving very promising results both in the field
of additive manufacturing and in the reduction of surface roughness and improvement
of the final finish of parts, also linked to and necessary in many additive manufacturing processes
Consumer sentiments across G7 and BRICS economies: Are they related?
No full textThis paper utilizes fractional integration and cointegration techniques to investigate the stochastic properties of the bilateral linkages between the Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI) of eight developed economies, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US and five emerging economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, for the time period from 15th January 2010 to 15th July 2019. The univariate results support fractional integration with mean reverting behaviour, with many of the series displaying orders of integration in the interval (0, 1), which connotes that shocks to consumer sentiment have significant long-lasting though reverting effects. From the covariate results and testing for cointegration, we found evidence of cointegration for Australia versus Italy, and France versus Italy. For the BRICS, the only evidence of fractional cointegration is found between Russia and India. Some policy implications of the results obtained are also mentioned at the end of the article
Agrypnia Excitata and Supranuclear Vertical Gaze Palsy Linked to Anti-Ma Encephalitis
No full textParaneoplastic neurological syndromes result from cancer’s immune impact on the nervous system.1 Anti-Ma-associated encephalitis causes diencephalic, brainstem, and limbic symptoms such as memory loss, narcolepsy and rapid eye movement (REM) behavior disorder (RBD), eye movement abnormalities, and parkinsonism. It can precede cancer diagnosis, often linked to testicular tumors. Agrypnia excitata (AE) is a unique electroclinical syndrome that can disrupt sleep structure with changes in physiological cyclic organization, autonomic overactivity, and oneiric stupor
episodes. We report on a patient with anti-Ma encephalitis who exhibits a diencephalic syndrome and AE, not previously reported to our knowledge
Green way of improving the thermal efficiency of mortars by the addition of biobased phase change materials
No full textThe thermal efficiency of air lime-based mortars was improved by directly integrating varying amounts (5 wt. %, 10 wt. %, and 20 wt. %) of a biobased Phase Change Material (PCM) into the fresh mortars. The composition of this PCM is vegetable oils and other organic wastes from the agri-food sector. To optimise the mortar formulation, different chemical additives and mineral admixtures were added. The mortar formulation was meticulously designed to produce rendering mortars that are easily workable, crack-free, and fully adherent for use in building envelopes. Positive outcomes in thermal efficiency tests have demonstrated the ability of these materials to store thermal latent energy, offering an environmentally friendly alternative to enhance the thermal comfort of building inhabitants
Entre Zoopedia y Antrozoología: el «Fisiólogo» atribuido a san Epifanio y el «Tesoro» de Covarrubias
No full textEntre los animales que habitan el mundo está el propio ser humano, naturalmente. Como el deseo de conocimiento y la búsqueda de sentido es algo natural en nosotros, el Fisiólogo arrancó hace siglos como una tarea que solo podría ser completada con el empeño de todos. Del mismo modo podríamos pensar que la misión de dar a conocer y esclarecer el sentido del mundo a través del significado de las palabras va mucho más allá de un mero intento personal cuya tarea es ya, de suyo, tan inabarcable y compleja que excede cualquier proyecto individual. Y es así. Enseñarlo todo a través de palabras es un reto mayor que la búsqueda de un tesoro sin mapa. Por eso Covarrubias, en vez de buscar ese tesoro, lo construyó
Impact of COVID-19 in Spain: Associations on adjustment and parent-child relations from two cohorts of emerging adults
No full textThe global COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented psychological effect on young people. The current study aimed to examine the associations between parent-child relationships (parental involvement and parental warmth) and, depression, anxiety, stress and flourishing during emerging adulthood in Spain before (2015) and during (2020) the COVID-19 pandemic. The research compares 2828 emerging adults aged between 18 and 29 years from two different cohorts. Every cohort was comprised for two samples. Sample 1-Cohort 1 and Sample 1-Cohort 2 were collected at U. Osuna and Sample2-Cohort 1 and Sample 2-Cohort 2 were collected at U. Sevilla. Regarding the Sample 1-Cohort 2 was recruited in spring 2020, before the lockdown and Sample 2-Cohort 2 on autumn 2020 during Covid crisis. In the Cohort 1 participants were 1301 emerging adults (59.1% women, 40.9% men; M = 20.06, SD = 2.03) and Cohort 2 participants were 1527 emerging adults (64% women, 35.4% men and 0.6% others; M = 20.48, SD = 2.48). Result showed stability in family relationships variables between 2015 and 2020 pre-pandemic sample (both samples 1) but a decrease in parental involvement and parental warmth between 2015 and 2020 covid-19 sample (samples 2). Parental involvement and parental warmth showed negative and significantly associations with depression, anxiety and stress and positive one with flourishing for both cohorts. Furthermore, the associations between parent-child variables and depression, anxiety, stress and flourishing were generally stronger in Cohort2 (2020) than in Cohort1 (2015), both for Samples 1 and Samples 2. These findings revealed that high-quality parent-child relations continued to be a protective factor against mental illness among emerging adults even under adverse conditions as those experienced during COVID-19 pandemic when family relationships is deteriorated. It is necessary to develop psychological interventions aimed at fostering the protecting role of family to promote the emerging adults’ psychosocial wellbeing
Structure and activity of amphiphilic PEO-PPO-based polymeric micelles and gels incorporating host–guest complexes of miltefosine as novel formulations for the treatment of leishmaniasis
No full textHypothesis: Poloxamines are amphiphilic block copolymers that self-assemble forming polymeric micelles (PMs) and hydrogels. They have emerged as promising colloidal carriers for their potential in improving drug delivery and controlled release through their multi-responsive properties. Tetronic® 1307 (T1307) PMs and gels have been used herein as vehicles of host–guest complexes of cyclodextrins (CDs) and miltefosine (MF), an amphiphilic, anti-parasitic drug effective against leishmaniasis.
Experiments: The association of MF to αCD, βCD, and HPβCD and the topology of the complexes have been fully characterized by NMR spectroscopy. Then, the structure of the complex-loaded PMs and hydrogels investigated using diffusion nuclear magnetic resonance (DOSY), small angle neutron scattering (SANS), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The antileishmanial activity of the constructs was evaluated against Leishmania major promastigotes and amastigotes, as well as their cytotoxicity in macrophages.
Findings: All the CDs investigated form highly stable inclusion complexes with MF in a 2CD:1MF stoichiometry that lead to considerable proportions of complexed drug at high dilution, the HPβCD providing the highest stability and compatibility with the poloxamine. The complex incorporates preferentially into the hydrophilic shell of the PMs, inducing the elongation of the aggregates and the dehydration of the micellar core, formed mainly by the PPO blocks. At high concentration of polymer and physiological temperature, the complex-loaded PMs pack in a BCC-type paracrystal network. The micellar formulations of the CD-complexed MF reduced the cytotoxicity of the drug, while enhancing its antileishmanial activity. This approach could improve the currently available treatments, facilitating the administration of MF at lower concentrations and achieving relevant therapeutic effects, not only through the intravenous route, but also as topical formulations through injectable thermogels for the treatment of the cutaneous and mucocutaneous forms of the disease