Older adults and sport and physical activity professionals in Spain

Presence of monitors in physical activities and sports practiced by adults older than 64 years of age in Spain is analyzed in this research. The objective of this study is to determine the existence of monitors in relation to the sociodemographic features of older adults, the size of municipalities, the activities practiced, and the organizations where they are performed. The methodology used included a cross-sectional survey applied to a sample of older adults in Spain. The most relevant conclusions are that the presence of monitors in physical activities and sports practiced by older adults is dominant (63.8%), hence, their importance, and that the presence of monitors is higher for women (81.3%) than for men (37.5%). In addition, it is concluded that the bigger the municipality the higher the tendency to have more instructors. Regarding the type of activity, wide diversification is obtained; finally, there is a larger presence of monitors in sports entities (87.5%) and nursing homes (79.5%)

Influence of Current Pulse Shape on Directly Modulated Systems Performance in Metro Area Optical Networks

Due to the fact that a metro network market is very cost sensitive, direct modulated schemes appear attractive. In this paper a CWDM (Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexing) system is studied in detail by means of an Optical Communication System Design Software; a detailed study of the modulated current shape (exponential, sine and gaussian) for 2.5 Gb/s CWDM Metropolitan Area Networks is performed to evaluate its tolerance to linear impairments such as signal-to-noise-ratio degradation and dispersion. Point-to-point links are investigated and optimum design parameters are obtained. Through extensive sets of simulation results, it is shown that some of these shape pulses are more tolerant to dispersion when compared with conventional gaussian shape pulses. In order to achieve a low Bit Error Rate (BER), different types of optical transmitters are considered including strongly adiabatic and transient chirp dominated Directly Modulated Lasers (DMLs). We have used fibers with different dispersion characteristics, showing that the system performance depends, strongly, on the chosen DML?fiber couple

Machine-assisted Cyber Threat Analysis using Conceptual Knowledge Discovery

Over the last years, computer networks have evolved into highly dynamic and interconnected environments, involving multiple heterogeneous devices and providing a myriad of services on top of them. This complex landscape has made it extremely difficult for security administrators to keep accurate and be effective in protecting their systems against cyber threats. In this paper, we describe our vision and scientific posture on how artificial intelligence techniques and a smart use of security knowledge may assist system administrators in better defending their networks. To that end, we put forward a research roadmap involving three complimentary axes, namely, (I) the use of FCA-based mechanisms for managing configuration vulnerabilities, (II) the exploitation of knowledge representation techniques for automated security reasoning, and (III) the design of a cyber threat intelligence mechanism as a CKDD process. Then, we describe a machine-assisted process for cyber threat analysis which provides a holistic perspective of how these three research axes are integrated together

Actividades físicas y beneficios para la salud de las mujeres mayores en España

Esta investigación persigue profundizar en lel conocimiento de los benefícios perseguidos por las mujeres mayores en España y las posibles diferencias con los varones. El método desarrollado ha consistido en aplicar un cuestionario a una muestra aleatoria y representativa de la población de mujeres y varones mayores. El motivo o beneficio principal que buscan prácticamente todas estas mujeres es el de mantener o mejorar la salud, seguido en orden de importancia por los beneficios de mantener la salud y a los benefícios lúdicos y sociale

Actividades Físicas Practicadas por las Mujeres Mayores en España

Esta investigación persigue profundizar en el conocimiento sobre las actividades físicas practicadas por las mujeres mayores en España y las posibles diferencias con los varones. El método desarrollado ha consistido en aplicar un cuestionario a una muestra aleatoria y representativa de la población de mujeres y varones mayores. Gran parte de estas mujeres mayores parecen tender a concentrar su práctica en programas de ejercicio físico o de actividades en el medio acuático. Sin embargo en los varones hay una mayor diversificación de las actividades realizadas. This research chases to penetrate into the knowledge on the physical practised activities by the older women in Spain and the possible differences with the males. The developed method has consisted of applying a questionnaire to a random and representative sample of the population of women and older males. Great part of these older women they seem to tend to concentrate his practice in programs of physical exercise or activities in the aquatic way. Nevertheless in the males there is a major diversification of the realized activities

Evaluation of the training of early Chilhood Education teachers in Psychomotricity

Con nuestra investigación queremos conocer aspectos relacionados con la formación de los docentes de Educación Infantil sobre Psicomotricidad. La muestra con la que hemos trabajado ha sido de n= 76 sujetos, a los que se les ha pasado un cuestionario del que destacamos los siguientes resultados: más de la mitad de la muestra ha recibido tanto formación inicial como formación continua en Psicomotricidad. El 92 % la realiza en sus clases, al sentirse capacitado para ello. Podemos concluir afirmando que el profesorado que imparte docencia en la etapa de infantil considera importante el trabajo de psicomotricidad en sus clases y como consecuencia lo realizan

Spatial effects on species persistence and implications for biodiversity

Natural ecosystems are characterized by striking diversity of form and functions and yet exhibit deep symmetries emerging across scales of space, time and organizational complexity. Species-area relationships and species-abundance distributions are examples of emerging patterns irrespective of the details of the underlying ecosystem functions. Here we present empirical and theoretical evidence for a new macroecological pattern related to the distributions of local species persistence times, defined as the timespans between local colonizations and extinctions in a given geographic region. Empirical distributions pertaining to two different taxa, breeding birds and herbaceous plants, analyzed in a new framework that accounts for the finiteness of the observational period, exhibit power-law scaling limited by a cut-off determined by the rate of emergence of new species. In spite of the differences between taxa and spatial scales of analysis, the scaling exponents are statistically indistinguishable from each other and significantly different from those predicted by existing models. We theoretically investigate how the scaling features depend on the structure of the spatial interaction network and show that the empirical scaling exponents are reproduced once a two-dimensional isotropic texture is used, regardless of the details of the ecological interactions. The framework developed here also allows to link the cut-off timescale with the spatial scale of analysis, and the persistence-time distribution to the species-area relationship. We conclude that the inherent coherence obtained between spatial and temporal macroecological patterns points at a seemingly general feature of the dynamical evolution of ecosystems.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Supplementary materials avaliable on http://www.pnas.org/content/108/11/434

An evaluation of enhanced geotextile layer in permeable pavement to improve stormwater infiltration and attenuation

This paper reports on an evaluation of the properties of a novel structure known as OASIS® which was designed at Coventry University as an enhancement of the commercially available geotextiles when incorporated in the permeable pavement system (PPS). The impact on the hydraulic behaviour of a PPS was analysed through the study of infiltration rate, throughout the PPS and time required to reach the steady-state stage behaviour of the water within the PPS, under extreme rainfall intensities of 100 mm/hr, 200 mm/hr and 400 mm/hr, corresponding to a 100-year return period rainfall over a duration of 15 min in different parts of the world. The result indicated that the novel structure provides an extra benefit when incorporated in PPSs, delaying peak flow of a rainfall event by retaining and storing great volumes of water within its structure. These additional benefits are especially important under extreme rainfall events

Neglected zoonotic agents in cattle abortion: tackling the difficult to grow bacteria.

Coxiella burnetii, Chlamydia abortus and Leptospira spp. are difficult to grow bacteria that play a role in bovine abortion, but their diagnosis is hampered by their obligate intracellular lifestyle (C. burnetii, C. abortus) or their lability (Leptospira spp.). Their importance is based on the contagious spread in food-producing animals, but also as zoonotic agents. In Switzerland, first-line routine bacteriological diagnostics in cattle abortions is regulated by national law and includes only basic screening by staining for C. burnetii due to the high costs associated with extended spectrum analysis. The aim of this study was to assess the true occurrence of these zoonotic pathogens in 249 cases of bovine abortion in Switzerland by serology (ELISA for anti-C. burnetii and C. abortus antibodies and microscopic agglutination test for anti-Leptospira spp. antibodies), molecular methods (real-time PCR and sequencing of PCR products of Chlamydiales-positive cases), Stamp's modification of the Ziehl-Neelsen (mod-ZN) stain and, upon availability of material, by histology and immunohistochemistry (IHC). After seroanalysis the prevalence was 15.9% for C. burnetii, 38.5% for C. abortus and 21.4% for Leptospira spp. By real-time PCR 12.1% and 16.9% of the cases were positive for C. burnetii and Chlamydiales, respectively, but only 2.4% were positive for C. burnetii or Chlamydiales by mod-ZN stain. Sequencing of PCR products of Chlamydiales-positive cases revealed C. abortus in 10% of cases and the presence of a mix of Chlamydiales-related bacteria in 5.2% of cases. Pathogenic Leptospira spp. were detected in 5.6% of cases. Inflammatory lesions were present histologically in all available samples which were real-time PCR-positive for Chlamydiales and Leptospira spp. One of 12 real-time PCR-positive cases for C. burnetii was devoid of histological lesions. None of the pathogens could be detected by IHC. Molecular detection by real-time PCR complemented by histopathological analysis is recommended to improve definitive diagnosis of bovine abortion cases and determine a more accurate prevalence of these zoonotic pathogens

Los hábitos de actividad física de las personas mayores en España y condición social

La investigación persigue comprobar las posibles desigualdades y diferencias según la posición social percibida en la práctica de actividad física semanal regular (una o dos veces por semana) de las personas mayores en España. La metodología cuantitativa empleada ha consistido en la aplicación de un cuestionario estructurado a una muestra aleatoria de las personas mayores de 65 años en España. Las conclusiones obtenidas revelan que en este grupo socio demográfico de las personas mayores: la posición social percibida es al igual que en otros grupos socio demográficos un factor que diferencia y produce desigualdad. Estas desigualdades vienen acompañadas por una serie de diferencias en la relación con la práctica de actividad física según la posición social, que quizás configuren unas culturas deportivas específicas en las personas de cada uno de los grupos