15 research outputs found
Distinguishing The Cognitive Processes Of Mindfulness: Developing A Standardised Mindfulness Technique For Use In Longitudinal Randomised Control Trials
No full textA capacity model of mindfulness is adopted to differentiate the cognitive faculty of mindfulness from the metacognitive processes required to cultivate this faculty in mindfulness training. The model provides an explanatory framework incorporating both the developmental progression from focussed attention to open monitoring styles of mindfulness practice, along with the development of equanimity and insight. A standardised technique for activating these processes without the addition of secondary components is then introduced. Mindfulness-based interventions currently available for use in randomised control trials introduce components ancillary to the cognitive processes of mindfulness, limiting their ability to draw clear causative inferences. The standardised technique presented here does not introduce such ancillary factors, rendering it a valuable tool with which to investigate the processes activated in this practice
Distinguishing the cognitive processes of mindfulness: Developing a standardised mindfulness technique for use in longitudinal randomised control trials
No full textA capacity model of mindfulness is adopted to differentiate the cognitive faculty of mindfulness from the metacognitive processes required to cultivate this faculty in mindfulness training. The model provides an explanatory framework incorporating both the developmental progression from focussed attention to open monitoring styles of mindfulness practice, along with the development of equanimity and insight. A standardised technique for activating these processes without the addition of secondary components is then introduced. Mindfulness-based interventions currently available for use in randomised control trials introduce components ancillary to the cognitive processes of mindfulness, limiting their ability to draw clear causative inferences. The standardised technique presented here does not introduce such ancillary factors, rendering it a valuable tool with which to investigate the processes activated in mindfulness practice
Characteristics of organic and elemental carbon in particulate matter on the US East Coast: a case study at metropolitan Newark in New Jersey
No full textTo investigate the day- and night-time variability of carbonaceous aerosols in the ambient air in metropolitan Newark in New Jersey on the US east coast, particulate air samples of PM2.5 (particles with diameter ≤2.5 µm) and PM2.5-10 (particles with diameter 2.5-10 µm) were collected from downtown Newark. Air samples were analyzed by thermal-optical analysis methods for elemental carbon (EC) and organic carbon (OC). The results show that the total carbonaceous particulate matter (PM) in the air was dominated by coarse-mode particles. The OC/EC ratios varied from 5.3 to 50.9, with an average of 19.2 ± 11.7 for PM2.5, and from 5.1 to 13.7, averaging 7.5 ± 2.1 for PM2.5-10. Higher concentrations of OC in PM2.5 particles occurred at night with a moderate correlation with Relative Humidity (RH) (R²=0.52), suggesting the possible formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOC) via aqueous-phase oxidation of low volatility organic compounds. Fine-mode OC had moderate correlations with PM2.5 sodium (R2=0.59) and PM2.5-10 sodium (R2=0.37), suggesting a mixed influence of anthropogenic and marine sources. Fine mode EC had a strong relationship with PM2.5 nitrate (R² = 0.75), suggesting an anthropogenic source for PM2.5 EC, as nitrate is a secondary aerosol formed from nitrogen oxides (NOx) emitted mainly by traffic sources. The concentrations of coarse mode EC (PM2.5-10) were higher during the daytime than at night, suggesting a major contribution from mobile sources. The PM10/PM2.5 ratios observed during this study were 4.6 for OC and 7.8 for EC, higher than those from selected previous studies. The highest concentrations of carbonaceous aerosols were associated with east-southeast winds; busy highways were also in that direction, while the concentrations of them were the lowest under west winds. This suggests that winds played an important role in the variations of carbonaceous aerosols in the air in this region.M.S.Includes bibliographical reference
Ser Memoria : Huellas de un artista y docente
No full textilustraciones, fotografíasEste trabajo contiene una exploración sobre la memoria del autor, compuesta por sus recuerdos de infancia y las influencias pedagógicas que recibió como estudiante de Artes Plásticas en la Universidad Nacional de Colombia y que conformaron la forma en que enseñó grabado. El reconocer estas memorias llevan al autor a un cambio en su forma de creación como artista y la manera de enseñar el grabado, lo cual deja abierta la pregunta sobre la enseñanza y la subjetividad del docente y de a quienes enseñan. (Texto tomado de la fuente).This work contains an exploration of the author's memory, composed of his childhood memories and the pedagogical influences he received as a student of Plastic Arts at the National University of Colombia and that shaped the way he taught engraving. The recognition of these memories lead the author to a change in his form of creation as an artist and the way of teaching printmaking, which leaves open the question about the teaching and the subjectivity of the teacher and of those who teach.MaestríaMagíster en Educación ArtísticaArte
Las secuelas de la escuela…..la escuela de las secuelas
No full textilustraciones, fotografíasResumen Las Secuelas de la Escuela……La Escuela de las secuelas” presenta en dos frases enlazadas por puntos suspensivos dos lugares: por una parte el lugar del cual se viene, aquel que ha sido el autor de sucesos importantes y que ha participado en la formación del adulto de hoy; mientras que la segunda corresponde al nuevo lugar que se quiere construir, ese que sin querer puede resultar habitado por los sucesos del ayer que se convirtieron en acontecimiento, en secuelas; las mismas que seguirán viviendo en las memorias de los adultos de mañana. (Texto tomado de la fuente).The Sequelae of the School ...... The School of Sequels "presents in two sentences linked by points suspensive two places: on the one hand the place from which comes, who has been the author of important events and who has participated in the formation Of today's adult; While the second corresponds to the new place to be built, that which may inadvertently be inhabited by the events of yesterday that became an event, in sequels; The same ones that will continue to live in the memories of the adults of tomorrow.MaestríaMagíster en Educación ArtísticaArtesArtesArte
The effects of the introduction of the European Digital Single Market of mobile roaming in the Netherlands: the impact over the social values
No full textThe European Union (EU) has been regulating roaming since 1997, and has developed different policies aiming to promote transparency in prices and improve competitiveness across the members. With both positive and negative outcomes, the European Commission (EC) had a long learning process where different regulatory measures were introduced and modified according to the results obtained. Despite the fact regional mobile usage has been increasing since the first attempt on regulation, roaming has been limited by other factors such as wholesale and retail prices.While Europe faces challenges related to political extremism, large refugee influxes, economic stagnation, and scepticism related to European integration, the EC aimed for a tangible policy that could show the benefits of the supra-national body to the citizens. After different economic analyses commissioned by the EU showed a feasible possibility of eliminating roaming surcharges, a new step was proposed. Since mid-June 2017, mobile phone users across the European Economic Area (EEA) started experiencing a new European Union (EU) policy related to the roaming usage. The Roaming Like At Home (RLAH) policy became a milestone in the European political process towards a Digital Single Market. Mobile users were benefitted by avoiding roaming surcharges when travelling across countries of the EEA, while telecom operators were limited in the maximum prices they could charge to other foreign operators for the wholesale market. Operators were protected by fixed price caps and a Fair Use Policy (FUP) aimed to avoid abuses from users, as the differences between domestic markets across Europe are still large.The EC based the decision in a market failure of the roaming market, which needed regulation to be solved. By analysing the behaviour of the market, the prices across the Union, among other factors, the EC believed that the RLAH policy would be a correct regulatory approach to solve the market failure, while promoting a Digital Single Market across countries. However, the justification was based merely in economic values, usually obtained from a Neo-classical (NCE) or New Institutional (NIE) economic perspective. The social values behind the policy were not explicitly considered in the analysis and were not used as justification for the decision process.As different journalists, organizations and influential persons argue that the EU has become a technocratic body where the voice of Europeans is not heard, it becomes paramount to understand what is behind the European policies and if the social values are being implicitly considered by the stakeholders involved in the decision-making process. Thus, this thesis aims to answer the following research question: “How can we assess the societal values related to the implementation of the Roaming Like At Home (RLAH) policy of the European Union for the case of the Netherlands?”The report initially develops a deep analysis on the different steps and motivations of the EC related to the policy, especially in the regulations from 2007 and onwards. It aims to understand the reasons behind the regulations, and concludes that both NCE and NIE are not enough to justify the intervention, using Original Institutional Economics (OIE) for it. A discussion on the public and social values is followed, where specific definitions are used to determine what are the most important social values to be considered within the policy. With the help of experts, a short list of ten values is obtained. A stakeholder analysis is used to determine which are the actors involved in the policy, including those supra-national bodies, domestic and international lobby groups, telecom operators and regulatory bodies. By using the Best-Worst Method (BWM), a Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) method which allows to determine hierarchies between non-measurable criteria, the short list of values is used as criteria for surveys performed to those stakeholders willing to answer. In order to determine the position of the Dutch population, as this report scope is limited to the Netherlands, a combination of three stakeholders is used to determine the hierarchy of the social values: the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Consumentenbond and the Bedrijfstelecommunicatie Grootgebruikers (BTG).The results of the report show alignment between the hierarchy of values of the EC and the Dutch people’s representatives, but strong differences between the latter and the regulators and telecom representatives. Although the stakeholder analysis does show alignment regarding publicly-available interests of some of the stakeholders, such as economic values, the intangible interests seen in the results of the hierarchy demonstrate a different guiding compass for each organization. The thesis also shows how the actual approach for the determination of the value of a policy is not considering the intangible values that are behind any human person or organization. It is proposed to promote thinking in “humane” markets, rather than perfect markets, and to consider non-measurable criteria to assess the final value of a policy. It also questions whether the policy values can be separated from the individual values, as there is a close relation between them; thus, avoiding considering the individual value perspective of citizens could lead to future problems in the values a policy defends.As the research faces different limitations, several future steps are proposed. Firstly, it is proposed to analyse whether the results obtained can be discussed with those representatives of the Dutch population in the parliament by comparing their expectations with the answers obtained in the BWM, aiming to analyse the representativeness of political decision-makers towards this policy. Secondly, the research also proposes using the results of the value hierarchy, and attempting to create a Willingness To Pay for values, as some of the considered ones could be measurable in an utilitarian perspective. A third proposal refers to analyse how the hierarchy of values of the policy differs across the domestic markets in Europe by using theories in transplantation of policy, aiming to overcome the geographical limitation of this thesis. Finally, a different theoretical approach could be used with the capability theory, focusing the criteria to be used in the future capabilities of the population, rather than the functionings.The thesis report mentioned that Mr. Sergio De Cola has been Consultant for the ITU. This is not correct, Mr. De Cola served as a consultant in Telecommunications for local and regional businesses, but not including ITU, and now has a Consultant position at the Uruguayan telecommunications company ISBEL S.A..Engineering and Policy Analysi
Genetics and nonmelanoma skin cancer in kidney transplant recipients
No full textSummary Pharmacogenomics Vol. 16, No. 2, Pages 161-172 , DOI 10.2217/pgs.14.156 (doi:10.2217/pgs.14.156) Review Genetics and nonmelanoma skin cancer in kidney transplant recipients Michael T Burke*,1, Nicole Isbel1, Katherine A Barraclough2, Ji-Won Jung3, James W Wells3 & Christine E Staatz4 *Author for correspondence: [email protected] Kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) have a 65- to 250-fold greater risk than the general population of developing nonmelanoma skin cancer. Immunosuppressive drugs combined with traditional risk factors such as UV radiation exposure are the main modifiable risk factors for skin cancer development in transplant recipients. Genetic variation affecting immunosuppressive drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics has been associated with other transplant complications and may contribute to differences in skin cancer rates between KTRs. Genetic polymorphisms in genes encoding the prednisolone receptor, GST enzyme, MC1R, MTHFR enzyme and COX-2 enzyme have been shown to increase the risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer in KTRs. Genetic association studies may improve our understanding of how genetic variation affects skin cancer risk and potentially guide immunosuppressive treatment and skin cancer screening in at risk individuals
CSF-1 as a regulator of macrophage activation and immune responses
No full textMacrophage activation is a key determinant of susceptibility and pathology in a variety of inflammatory diseases. The extent of macrophage activation is tightly regulated by a number of pro-inflammatory cytokines (e.g. IFN-gamma, IL-2, GM-CSF, IL-3) and anti-inflammatory cytokines (e.g. IL-4, IL-10, TGF-beta). Macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF-1/M-CSF) is a key differentiation, growth and survival factor for monocytes/macrophages and osteoclasts. The role of this factor in regulating macrophage activation is often overlooked. This review will summarize our current understanding of the effects of CSF-1 on the activation state of mature macrophages and its role in regulating immune responses
