Measuring the efficiency in spanish municipal refuse collection services

The objective of this study is to analyse the technical or productive efficiency of the refuse collection services in 75 municipalities located in the Spanish region of Catalonia. The analysis has been carried out using various techniques. Firstly we have calculated a deterministic parametric frontier, then a stochastic parametric frontier, and finally, various non-parametric approaches (DEA and FDH). Concerning the results, these naturally differ according to the technique used to approach the frontier. Nevertheless, they have an appearance of solidity, at least with regard to the ordinal concordance among the indices of efficiency obtained by the different approaches, as is demonstrated by the statistical tests used. Finally, we have attempted to search for any relation existing between efficiency and the method (public or private) of managing the services. No significant relation was found between the type of management and efficiency indices.efficiency, management, local public services

Salivary immunity and lower respiratory tract infections in non-elite marathon runners

Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Análisis de las sentencias casatorias que emite la sala de derecho constitucional y social de la Corte Suprema del poder judicial respecto a la posible vulneración de los derechos fundamentales de los trabajadores con relación a los contratos típicos y atípicos, año 2017-2018

El presente trabajo de investigación tiene por finalidad, dar a conocer si la Sala de Derecho Constitucional y Social de la Corte Suprema de la República, viene aplicando correctamente las técnicas jurídicas establecidas para la calificación e interpretación de los contratos laborales, sean estos de naturaleza indeterminada o a plazo determinado conocidos en la doctrina como contratos laborales típicos y atípicos, y, si en la solución de las controversias en instancia casatoria se viene vulnerando o no los derechos fundamentales de los trabajadores, máxime si en el Perú gracias a la flexibilización laboral se anuló la estabilidad laboral absoluta, generando altos índices de desempleo producto de las diferentes modalidades de despido los mismos que en última instancia son resueltos por el Poder Judicial, siendo ésta institución tutelar la que debe sentar las bases doctrinarias para determinar el verdadero valor jurídico de los contratos de trabajo sujetos a modalidad. El enfoque cualitativo utilizado nos ha permitido manejar el método hermenéutico así como el estudio de caso para poder a través de las guía de observación analizar las ejecutorias emitidas por la Sala Suprema, donde se determinó que es relevante hacer una reforma a la ley procesal laboral a efectos de que la Sala Suprema, no sólo se limite a analizar el recurso de casación en cuanto se refiere a la aplicación de la norma, sino que también debe considerar un control previo, un control de tutela de derechos fundamentales en todas las instancias, sólo así se garantizará una protección adecuada a los derechos fundamentales de los trabajadores; y sobre todo generar una jurisprudencia clara que permita diferenciar la naturaleza jurídica existente entre los contratos sujetos a modalidad y cumplir de esta manera con el principio tuitivo propio del Derecho Laboral, reconocido por los tratados internacionales.The purpose of this research work is to make known if the Constitutional and Social Law Chamber of the Supreme Court of the Republic, has been correctly applying the legal techniques established for the qualification and interpretation of labor contracts, be they of an undetermined nature or for a specific term known in the doctrine as typical and atypical labor contracts, and, if the fundamental rights of workers are being violated or not in the settlement of disputes in marriage, especially if in Peru, thanks to labor flexibility, the absolute job stability, generating high unemployment rates as a result of the different forms of dismissal, which are ultimately resolved by the Judicial Power, this being the guardian institution that must lay the doctrinal bases to determine the true legal value of the contracts of work subject to modality. The qualitative approach used has allowed us to handle the hermeneutic method as well as the case study to be able, through the observation guides, to analyze the enforcement actions issued by the Supreme Court, where it was determined that it is relevant to make a reform of the labor procedural law to The effects of the Supreme Chamber not only limiting itself to analyzing the cassation appeal as regards the application of the norm, but must also consider a prior control, a control of protection of fundamental rights in all instances, only This will guarantee adequate protection of the fundamental rights of workers; and above all to generate a clear jurisprudence that allows differentiating the existing legal nature between the contracts subject to modality and thus comply with the protective principle of Labor Law, recognized by international treaties

Highlights from the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is the world's largest cosmic ray observatory. Our current exposure reaches nearly 40,000 km$^2$ str and provides us with an unprecedented quality data set. The performance and stability of the detectors and their enhancements are described. Data analyses have led to a number of major breakthroughs. Among these we discuss the energy spectrum and the searches for large-scale anisotropies. We present analyses of our X$_{max}$ data and show how it can be interpreted in terms of mass composition. We also describe some new analyses that extract mass sensitive parameters from the 100% duty cycle SD data. A coherent interpretation of all these recent results opens new directions. The consequences regarding the cosmic ray composition and the properties of UHECR sources are briefly discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, talk given at the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference, Rio de Janeiro 201

A search for point sources of EeV photons

Measurements of air showers made using the hybrid technique developed with the fluorescence and surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory allow a sensitive search for point sources of EeV photons anywhere in the exposed sky. A multivariate analysis reduces the background of hadronic cosmic rays. The search is sensitive to a declination band from -85{\deg} to +20{\deg}, in an energy range from 10^17.3 eV to 10^18.5 eV. No photon point source has been detected. An upper limit on the photon flux has been derived for every direction. The mean value of the energy flux limit that results from this, assuming a photon spectral index of -2, is 0.06 eV cm^-2 s^-1, and no celestial direction exceeds 0.25 eV cm^-2 s^-1. These upper limits constrain scenarios in which EeV cosmic ray protons are emitted by non-transient sources in the Galaxy.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

La enseñanza del metabolismo: retos y oportunidades

En el marco del Proyecto de Innovación Educativa de la Universidad de Málaga PIE15-163, cuya descripción y resultados incluimos, decidimos que esta era una excelente oportunidad para reflexionar acerca de la enseñanza del metabolismo y de poner por escrito dichas reflexiones en un libro. Quisimos y pudimos contar con la colaboración de buena parte de los compañeros del Departamento de Biología Molecular y Bioquímica que apoyaron con su firma el proyecto PIE15-163 y extendimos nuestra invitaciones a otros compañeros de dentro y fuera de la Universidad de Málaga. Del Departamento de Biología Molecular y Bioquímica de la Universidad de Málaga hemos recibido aportaciones de los catedráticos Victoriano Valpuesta Fernández, Ana Rodríguez Quesada y Antonio Heredia Bayona, los profesores titulares María Josefa Pérez Rodríguez, José Luis Urdiales Ruiz e Ignacio Fajardo Paredes y la investigadora postdoctoral y profesora sustituta interina Beatriz Martínez Poveda. De otros departamentos de la Universidad de Málaga hemos contado con las aportaciones de la catedrática del Departamento de Especialidades Quirúrgicas, Bioquímica e Inmunología Pilar Morata Losa, del catedrático del Departamento de Lenguajes y Ciencias de la Computación José Francisco Aldana Montes y los componentes de su grupo de investigación Khaos Ismael Navas Delgado, María Jesús García Godoy, Esteban López Camacho y Maciej Rybinski, del catedrático Ángel Blanco López, del Área de Conocimiento de Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales y del Doctor en Ciencias Químicas y actual doctorando del Programa de Doctorado "Educación y Comunicación Social" Ángel Luis García Ponce. De fuera de la Universidad de Málaga, hemos contado con las aportaciones del catedrático de la Universidad de La Laguna Néstor V. Torres Darias, de la catedrática de la Universitat de les Illes Balears Pilar Roca Salom y de sus compañeros los profesores Jorge Sastre Serra y Jordi Oliver, de los catedráticos de la Universidad de Granada Rafael Salto González y María Dolores Girón González y su colaborador el Dr. José Dámaso Vílchez Rienda, del profesor titular de la Universidad de Alcalá Ángel Herráez, del investigador postdoctoral de la Universidad de Erlangen (Alemania) Guido Santos y del investigador postdoctoral de la empresa Brain Dynamics Carlos Rodríguez Caso.Hemos estructurado los contenidos del libro en diversas secciones. La primera presenta el Proyecto en cuyo marco se ha gestado la iniciativa que ha conducido a la edición del presente libro. La segunda sección la hemos titulado "¿Qué metabolismo?" e incluye diversas aportaciones personales que reflexionan acerca de qué metabolismo debe conocer un graduado en Bioquímica, en Biología, en Química, en Farmacia o en Medicina, así como una aportación acerca de qué bioquímica estructural y enzimología son útiles y necesarias para un estudiante que vaya a afrontar el estudio del metabolismo. La tercera sección, "Bases conceptuales", analiza las aportaciones del aprendizaje colaborativo, el contrato de aprendizaje y el aprendizaje basado en la resolución de casos prácticos a la mejora del proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje dentro del campo de la Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, más concretamente en el estudio del metabolismo. La cuarta sección se titula "Herramientas", es la más extensa e incluye las diversas aportaciones centradas en propuestas concretas de aplicación relevantes y útiles para la mejora de la docencia-aprendizaje del metabolismo. Sigue una sección dedicada a presentar de forma resumida los "Resultados" del proyecto PIE15-163. El libro concluye con una "coda final" en la que se reflexiona acerca del aprendizaje de la Química a la luz de la investigación didáctica.Patrocinado por el Proyecto de Innovación Educativa de la Universidad de Málaga PIE15-16

Impact of two therapeutic interventions in patients with non-specific low back pain.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of two therapeutic interventions in patients with non-specific low back pain.Materials and methods: Prospective study, in which in 20 subjects from both genders assigned through consecutive sampling of the two interventions: Group 1: 10 sessions of conventional physiotherapy treatment (CPT) (Ultrasound, TENS: Transcutaneous Electrical Nervous Stimulation y HWC: Hot Wet Compresses) and Group 2: 10 sessions of Motor Control Exercises (MCE). A numerical Pain Scale (NPS) was applied before and after each intervention.Results: In the first group, it was found a 20% decrease the pain scores after 10 sessions compared with the baseline measurements (before the intervention) (p=0.03). Similarly, in the second group, pain score dimished 42% respect to baseline values at the end of the 10 therapeutic sessions (p = 0.03). When comparing the two interventions, the MCE were more effective than the CPT, even from the first treatment session (p <0.05).Discussion: a significant reduction of pain was found in both groups, although this reduction was significantly in the group treated with MCE

Reconstruction of inclined air showers detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

We describe the method devised to reconstruct inclined cosmic-ray air showers with zenith angles greater than $60^\circ$ detected with the surface array of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The measured signals at the ground level are fitted to muon density distributions predicted with atmospheric cascade models to obtain the relative shower size as an overall normalization parameter. The method is evaluated using simulated showers to test its performance. The energy of the cosmic rays is calibrated using a sub-sample of events reconstructed with both the fluorescence and surface array techniques. The reconstruction method described here provides the basis of complementary analyses including an independent measurement of the energy spectrum of ultra-high energy cosmic rays using very inclined events collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: 27 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP

Decision-making practices during coaching sessions in grassroots youth soccer: A mixed-methods investigation

Introduction Decision making ability in players during match-play is mostly acquired through practice activities with the same underlying structure as competition (e.g., [1]). However, researchers have not fully investigated how coaches design practice sessions at the participation level of the sport (i.e., “grassroots”) or of why they used a particular activity at a specific time point. The aim of this study was to investigate the practice activities used by youth soccer coaches working at participation level in the UK and gain insight into their intentions. Methods Altogether, 12 male soccer coaches participated working with players aged 9-11 years within 10 clubs at the participation level of soccer in London, UK. A total of 35 practice sessions were observed in situ. Sessions were analysed for the proportion of time spent in activities containing ‘non-active decision-making’ (e.g., unopposed technical skills practices, fitness training) and ‘active decision-making’ (e.g., small-sided games, skills practice with opposition). An interview with the coaches about the session purpose took place after each systematic observation. Results Coaches had players spend similar amounts of time in activities with active decision-making (M = 41%) and non-active decision-making (M = 42%) with the remainder spent transitioning between activities (M = 17%). There was more non-active decision-making activity during the first half of the session (M = 64%) when compared to active decision-making activity (M = 16%). However, there was more active decision-making activity in the second half (M = 66%) when compared to non-active (M = 20%). Therefore, the session progressed in a traditional manner from predominately non-active decision-making activity early on to mostly active decision-making activity later. Interviews revealed that the coaches believe players require frequent isolated (unopposed) ‘non-active decision-making’ practices to acquire technique initially in the session and during the season. Conclusion Our findings show that coaches had players spend nearly half of session time in non-active decision-making activities that are deemed less relevant to improving soccer match performance. Findings highlight a potential gap between science and practice in the coaching of young participation level soccer players. References [1] Roca A, Ford PR (2020). Sci Med Footb. 4, 263-268