Ajuden les tasques de Teoria de la ment i Pragmàtica en la diferenciació de xiquets amb trastorn pragmàtic del llenguatge i síndrome d’Asperger?

XVIII Jornades de Foment de la Investigació de la Facultat de Ciències Humanes i Socials (Any 2013)A partir del debat existent sobre la confusió entre els trastorns que presenten dèficits comunicatius, com són aquells del continu del Trastorn de l’Espectre Autista (TEA) i Trastorn Específic del Llenguatge (TEL), les investigacions més actuals es basen en les tasques de teoria de la ment i pragmàtica per intentar explorar la comprensió dels estats mentals per part d’aquests xiquets i xiquetes i, així, poder discriminar el TEA de la resta de trastorns. Amb aquest treball es pretén comprovar si les tasques de teoria de la ment i pragmàtica ajuden a diferenciar els diagnòstics de Trastorn Pragmàtic del Llenguatge (TPL) i Síndrome d’Asperger (SA), ja que són propers en el continu esmentat pel que fa a la simptomatologia que manifesten en edat infantil. Es presenta un estudi sobre dos casos, una xiqueta de 7 anys amb possible TPL (cas A) i un xiquet de 8 anys amb possible SA (cas B), als quals se’ls administren diferents tasques de teoria de la ment i pragmàtica i es revisen els seus informes anteriors. Els resultats demostren un perfil més agreujat de B en les tasques de Teoria de la Ment (ToM). En la línia d’estudis anteriors, es conclou que les tasques d’avaluació de ToM i pragmàtica sí que contribueixen a millorar el diagnòstic dels dos casos

Effects of low speed limits on freeway traffic flow

Recent years have seen a renewed interest in Variable Speed Limit (VSL) strategies. New opportunities for VSL as a freeway metering mechanism or a homogenization scheme to reduce speed differences and lane changing maneuvers are being explored. This paper examines both the macroscopic and microscopic effects of different speed limits on a traffic stream, especially when adopting low speed limits. To that end, data from a VSL experiment carried out on a freeway in Spain are used. Data include vehicle counts, speeds and occupancy per lane, as well as lane changing rates for three days, each with a different fixed speed limit (80 km/h, 60 km/h, and 40km/h). Results reveal some of the mechanisms through which VSL affects traffic performance, specifically the flow and speed distribution across lanes, as well as the ensuing lane changing maneuvers. It is confirmed that the lower the speed limit, the higher the occupancy to achieve a given flow. This result has been observed even for relatively high flows and low speed limits. For instance, a stable flow of 1942 veh/h/lane has been measured with the 40 km/h speed limit in force. The corresponding occupancy was 33%, doubling the typical occupancy for this flow in the absence of speed limits. This means that VSL strategies aiming to restrict the mainline flow on a freeway by using low speed limits will need to be applied carefully, avoiding conditions as the ones presented here, where speed limits have a reduced ability to limit flows. On the other hand, VSL strategies trying to get the most from the increased vehicle storage capacity of freeways under low speed limits might be rather promising. Additionally, results show that lower speed limits increase the speed differences across lanes for moderate demands. This, in turn, also increases the lane changing rate. This means that VSL strategies aiming to homogenize traffic and reduce lane changing activity might not be successful when adopting such low speed limits. In contrast, lower speed limits widen the range of flows under uniform lane flow distributions, so that, even for moderate to low demands, the under-utilization of any lane is avoided. These findings are useful for the development of better traffic models that are able to emulate these effects. Moreover, they are crucial for the implementation and assessment of VSL strategies and other traffic control algorithms.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Anàlisi química de diversos components de la Coca-Cola

En aquest treball de recerca s'han utilitzat tècniques analítiques senzilles que ens han permès trobar la quantitat de diversos components de la Coca-Cola. Mitjançant mesures de densitat s'ha determinat el contingut de sucre, a través d'una valoració àcid-base s'ha trobat la concentració d'àcid fosfòric, i la concentració de cafeïna s'ha determinat pel mètode d'extracció líquid-líquid

Muscle Dysmorphia Symptoms and Self-concept in Men Cyclists

[Resumen] La Dismorfia Muscular (DM) es un desorden mental caracterizado por la subestimación del tamaño y forma corporal. No ha sido estudiada en ciclistas, dado que son deportistas que no cumplen a priori las características de este desorden, como son el levantamiento excesivo de pesas y el desarrollo muscular. El objetivo de este trabajo es detectar síntomas de Distrofia Muscular. Se realizó una investigación que contó con 20 ciclistas varones a los que se les administró la Escala de Satisfacción Muscular, el Cuestionario de Autoconcepto Físico, y el Somatomorphic Matrix, además de registrarse las medidas antropométricas de los participantes. Los resultados muestran que existe insatisfacción corporal entre los deportistas, y que su percepción muscular no corresponde con la realidad. Su autoconcepto físico se relaciona con su autoconcepto general así como estas dos variables con las de atractivo físico y condición física. Se comprueba en este estudio que no existe DM, como tal, entre los deportistas participantes pero si una percepción errónea de su apariencia física y cierta insatisfacción en relación a la misma.[Abstract] Muscle Dysmorphia (MD) is a mental disorder characterized by the underestimation of corporal shape and size. It hasn´t been studied in cyclists, because this disorder is represented by a muscular body as bodybuilders which principal aim is weightlifting. The objetive this work was detect MD symptoms. The method in this investigation were administered the Scale of Muscular Satisfaction to 20 cyclist men, the Questionnaire of Physical Self-concept, and the Somatomorphic Matrix, beside the anthropometric measures of the participants.The results showed that corporal dissatisfaction exists in relationship with his muscular perception doesn´t correspond with the reality. His physical self-concept related is poor on his general self-concept as well as these two variables to those of physical attraction and physical condition. To conclude, in this study is verified that don´t exist MD symptoms but there are an erroneous perception of his physical appearance and certain dissatisfaction in relation to the some on

A comparative study on VGI and professional noise data

Ponencias, comunicaciones y pósters presentados en el 17th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information Science "Connecting a Digital Europe through Location and Place", celebrado en la Universitat Jaume I del 3 al 6 de junio de 2014.The ubiquitous nature of mobile devices and its growing presence in urban areas, turn them up into low cost environmental monitoring platforms. In this field, several authors made different efforts to provide alternatives to Sensor Networks, to assess noise pollution in cities using crowdsourcing techniques. In this sense, citizens might potentially produce large spatio-temporal datasets using their mobile devices to measure noise levels. There are few attempts of assessing the quality of the mobile noise samples on a real scenario and compare them to commercial data to evaluate if they are reliable enough. This contribution reviews the existing applications to collect or assess the quality of noise samples when they are used as sound level meters. Moreover, it presents the results of our experiment: the volunteer noise dataset generated in a ‘mapping party’ on our campus is compared to professional data. Results show that VGI data might be sufficient for multiple daily situations

La Competència social i la conducta prosocial, en estudiants de secundària

At this work two fundamental elements in relationships with peers, social competence and prosocial behavior, are analyzed in 193 teenagers from secondary studies.. Results shows how scales of Prosocial Behaviour influences in a significative way on Social Competence sub-scales. High levels of Prosocial Behavior are significantly related in a positive way with Appropriate Social Skills dimension of social competence, while high levels of Antisocial Behavior are positively related to Inappropriate Assertiveness, Pride and Solitude scales. There is also a positive significance between Antisocial Behavior subscale and Inappropriate Assertiveness scale of Social Competence

Function of Armcx3 and Armc10/SVH genes in the regulation of progenitor proliferation and neural differentiation in the chicken spinal cord

The eutherian X-chromosome specific family of Armcx genes has been described as originating by retrotransposition from Armc10/SVH, a single Arm-containing somatic gene. Armcx3 and Armc10/SVH are characterized by high expression in the central nervous system and they play an important role in the regulation of mitochondrial distribution and transport in neurons. In addition, Armcx/Arm10 genes have several Armadillo repeats in their sequence. In this study we address the potential role of this gene family in neural development by using the chick neural tube as a model. We show that Armc10/SVH is expressed in the chicken spinal cord, and knocking-down Armc10/SVH by sh-RNAi electroporation in spinal cord reduces proliferation of neural precursor cells (NPCs). Moreover, we analyzed the effects of murine Armcx3 and Armc10 overexpression, showing that both proteins regulate progenitor proliferation, while Armcx3 overexpression also specifically controls neural maturation. We show that the phenotypes found following Armcx3 overexpression require its mitochondrial localization, suggesting a novel link between mitochondrial dynamics and regulation of neural development. Furthermore, we found that both Armcx3 and Armc10 may act as inhibitors of Wnt-β-catenin signaling. Our results highlight both common and differential functions of Armcx/Armc10 genes in neural development in the spinal cord.This work was supported by grants from Spanish MINECO (SAF2013-42445R), CIBERNED (ISCIII) and La Marató de TV3 Foundation to ES; Spanish MINECO (BFU2010-21507) to FU; BFU2013-46477-P to EMPeer Reviewe

Contribución para el criterio diagnóstico de la Dismorfia Muscular (Vigorexia)

Muscle Dysmorphia or Bigorexia is a mental disorder whose focus of concern is the underestimation of body size and shape as a result of the distortion in body image experienced by those affected. This is a new mental disorder and, therefore, is not yet classified in the manuals for mental disorders. While some authors propose its classification under an Eating Disorder (ED), others argue that it is a Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), or have even been able to justify its classification as an Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Due to the disparity of opinions, this study aims to contribute to classifying Muscle Dysmorphia, as a mental disorder, by the decision tree classification technique of data mining. The items that take on increasing importance within this classification method are the ones related to body size and shape that participants have, perceive and desire. The results inform us that the most important variables are related to a BDD. This is the reason why we contribute to classifying Muscle Dysmorphia through the diagnostic criteria of BDD