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The demands of today’s society for interventions that optimize cognitive abilities and prevent their decline have motivated the translation of scientific findings into applied programs. Ordinary activities such as physical exercise, chess, meditation, playing video games or a musical instrument, as well as specific cognitive programs, have witnessed the growth of evidence emphasizing their cognitive benefits. Here, we outline several issues that need consideration before speculating on the implications of this literature: (a) the magnitude and costs of the effect, (b) the robustness of the effect, (c) testing causality, (d) the identification of moderator variables, and (e) the underlying mechanisms. We consider that this would contribute to a critical appraisal of the extant findings by the interested researchers, to reduced overstatements in the media reports about the applicability and public relevance of the effects reported in scientific articles, and to potentially help designing new interventions.

Following our preregistered design and hypotheses, we found interesting results in the second experiment. Thus, we have decided to conduct a third experiment following the simpler design used by Marotta et al. (2018), with the addition of a peripheral visual cue 100 ms before the target onset and, in an alternative block, an alert sound 450 ms before the target onset.

The causal relationship between regular physical exercise and cognition during childhood seems unquestionable, based on the systematic reviews and meta-analyses published to date. However, there are also studies that question these claims, showing that the evidence is not as strong as it would seem. A recent study carried out by our research group has shown that, once corrected for relevant moderators and publication bias, the effect of exercise on cognition (in healthy people of all ages) provided by randomized controlled intervention studies is practically 0. A Bayesian analysis reveals that the data available to date from intervention studies do not provide evidence either for or against the existence of the effect. The present project is based on the rationale that intervention studies may not be adequate to capture such a causal relationship, if it exists, and proposes instead to test a causal model to be evaluated by means of a longitudinal study. This causal model takes into account both variables that could mediate the relationship between physical exercise and cognition during childhood, moderating variables, as well as confounding variables and colliders. We hope therefore to contribute to the knowledge about whether regular physical exercise during childhood really provides benefits beyond physical health.

Rhythmic contexts are ubiquitous in our lives, influencing our behavior significantly. Music, dance, speech, and even natural events such as sea waves have an inherent temporal structure, understood as rhythms. The Dynamic Attending Theory (DAT) states that attention can be entrained to external rhythms, enhancing our behavior in terms of preparation (e.g.., faster responses) and/or perception (e.g., better discrimination). Notwithstanding the great influence of the DAT, several studies actually failed to observe entrainment effects in tasks measuring either accuracy or response speed. The present study aims to further explore this issue by trying to replicate a seminal work by McAuley and Fromboluti (2014), which confirmed the predictions of the DAT using an oddball auditory paradigm. Extending this original study, we will also incorporate eye-tracking measures of attention as well as measures of musical skills and spontaneous motor tempo to assess the role of individual differences in the supposed entrainment effects. Overall, we expect to replicate the original study by McAuley and Fromboluti (2014) and to provide complementary evidence about rhythmic entrainment that takes into account interindividual differences. Keywords Dynamic Attending Theory, rhythm, oscillation cycles, foreperiod effect, timing, eye-tracker, pupillometry

There is currently a growing interest in ways to enhance and preserve our cognitive skills through changes in lifestyle. Extensive scientific evidence links several behavioral and environmental factors, such as smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, a sedentary lifestyle, and inadequate nutrition, to an increased risk of cognitive impairment, dementia, and accelerated aging. On the other side, education, physical exercise, and cognitively stimulating occupations and leisure activities have all been associated with neurocognitive benefits and the prevention of the pervasive consequences of neural aging. Among them, a wealth of studies has associated musical training, and particularly learning to play an instrument, with differences in auditory and sensorimotor skills, as well as in multiple non-musical cognitive capacities: intelligence, visuospatial abilities, processing speed, executive control, attention and vigilance, episodic and working memory, and language. In addition, anatomical and functional changes have been documented in several brain networks, some of them related to higher-order cognitive processing or non-musical skills. A priori, the characteristics of playing a musical instrument make it a promising candidate for producing a transfer effect. It involves multiple sensory and motor systems, and requires a wide variety of higher-level cognitive processes. Moreover, a regular and motivated practice of progressive difficulty is necessary to master the technique of an instrument. The wide range of observed differences between musicians and nonmusicians suggests that musical practice might produce near and far transfer. However, some voices have argued against the causal role of musical training and hypothesized that the advantages are the consequence of the lack of control of cross-sectional studies. Skeptic authors rather propose that high-functioning children, with higher musical aptitude, higher socioeconomic status, and high openness to experience are more likely to be interested in music. Therefore, the idea that learning to play a musical instrument is the cause of a broad cognitive enhancement is still controversial. The research program in the present thesis dissertation aimed to contribute with answers to the debate. First, in a comprehensive meta-analysis of intervention studies (i.e., with a pre-posttest assessment), we showed that the available evidence of randomized controlled trials with children and adolescents supports a small benefit of musical training (d = 0.26). Interestingly, a small advantage at baseline was observed in studies with self-selection (d = 0.28), indicating that participants who had the opportunity to select the activity consistently showed a slightly superior performance prior to the beginning of the intervention. However, baseline performance did not fully explain the differences between children/adolescents with and without musical training, which rules out the effect being a methodological artifact (e.g., regression toward the mean). In addition, some moderators of the effect were observed: (a) the larger the baseline difference, the smaller the observed effect of musical training; (b) participants with lower socioeconomic status showed greater improvements compared to those with middle-high socioeconomic status; (c) the earlier the age of commencement, the larger the effect. Second, we conducted a meta-analysis regardless of the age of the participants to examine the impact of learning to play an instrument on music-related skills. The available intervention studies also suggested near transfer, but they are still scarce to reach firm conclusions. One explanation for the potential broad benefits of musical training might be its impact on attention and executive functions, as they are necessary functions for many cognitive tasks and daily activities. Indeed, in a well-controlled crosssectional study with a preregistered design, we found superior vigilance and psychomotor speed for musicians than non-musicians. Importantly, our extensive control of confounders led to smaller effects in contrast to the previous literature. These results are consistent with a nature and nurture hypothesis, in which expert musicians might have preexisting advantages (cognitive, personality, and/or musical aptitudes) that would promote the acquisition of musical skills and motivation to practice, while at the same time, this long-term engagement would also result in multiple neural and cognitive changes. Finally, we meta-analyzed the literature on musical training in healthy aging. We included both cross-sectional and experimental studies as they are complementary: experimental methodology involves randomization and thus allows the establishment of causal relationships, while correlational designs analyze samples with longer musical training. We observed benefits in both types of designs, although the experimental evidence is less abundant. Taken all together, it seems that musical training might have a protective effect in some functions and, mostly, an enhancing effect throughout life. Thus, musicians would present a superior cognitive performance at all stages of life. I proposed here several non-exclusive mechanisms to explain cognitive benefits of musical training. Given the high demands that musical practice places on multiple cognitive functions (e.g., memory), learning to play an instrument could specifically enhance cognitive abilities through neuroplasticity as a consequence of the increased use of those abilities. However, it might promote the use of more efficient strategies (e.g., improved rehearsal mechanism and semantic organization). As it is a multisensory activity, it might lead to multimodal representations of reallife events (e.g., spatial or visual representation of auditory words), enriching them with complementary inputs. Also, the characteristics of musical training might build a greater propensity for effort (i.e., learned industriousness), making effortful tasks less aversive and more engaging. Finally, the enhancements on domain-general cognitive functions, especially attention and executive control, might spread their benefits on other cognitive tasks, such as preventing the interference of irrelevant events in working memory. Overall, the contribution of musical training to cognitive skills seems to be rather small and probably makes very little difference in daily life, so it might be not one of the first-choice interventions if the only purpose is cognitive enhancement. However, learning to play an instrument is an enriching activity in itself and can become an important source of pleasure in the player's life. In addition to the social and emotional benefits of playing, practicing this activity for long periods (several decades) could also have significant implications for the development of basic cognitive skills, especially in samples with lower cognitive performance, low socioeconomic status or suffering from neurological conditions., El interés por las formas de mejorar y preservar nuestras capacidades cognitivas a través de los estilos de vida ha crecido en los últimos años. Una abundante evidencia científica vincula ciertos factores ambientales y ciertos hábitos, como el tabaquismo, el abuso de alcohol y drogas, el sedentarismo y una nutrición inadecuada, con un mayor riesgo de deterioro cognitivo, una mayor prevalencia de demencias y un envejecimiento acelerado. En el lado contrario, la educación, el ejercicio físico, y las profesiones y actividades de ocio mentalmente estimulantes se han asociado a beneficios neurocognitivos y a la prevención de las consecuencias del envejecimiento cerebral. Una de esas actividades ha sido la práctica musical, y en particular aprender a tocar un instrumento, la cual se ha relacionado con diferencias en las habilidades auditivas y sensoriomotoras, así como en múltiples habilidades cognitivas que no son específicas de la música: la inteligencia, las habilidades visuoespaciales, la velocidad de procesamiento, el control ejecutivo, la atención, la capacidad de vigilancia, la memoria episódica, la memoria de trabajo y el lenguaje. También se han documentado cambios anatómicos y funcionales en varias redes cerebrales, algunas de ellas involucradas en procesos cognitivos de orden superior o capacidades no musicales. Tocar un instrumento musical es una actividad con unas características que, a priori, la convierten en una candidata prometedora para producir efectos de transferencia. Tocar un instrumento implica múltiples sistemas sensoriales y motores, y requiere una gran variedad de procesos cognitivos de nivel superior. Además, dominar la técnica de un instrumento conlleva una práctica regular y motivada con una dificultad progresiva. La amplia gama de aspectos cognitivos que se ven mejorados en las personas con formación musical sugiere que la práctica musical podría producir una transferencia cercana y lejana. Sin embargo, algunas voces han argumentado en contra del papel causal de la formación musical y plantean que todas las ventajas son consecuencia de la falta de control de los estudios transversales. Esas voces escépticas han propuesto que ciertas variables predisponen a que las personas se interesan y se impliquen en la práctica musical: un mayor rendimiento cognitivo previo al comienzo de la formación musical, mayores capacidades musicales, un mayor estatus socioeconómico y una mayor apertura a la experiencia como rasgo de personalidad. Por lo tanto, aún existe controversia en torno a la idea de que aprender a tocar un instrumento musical cause beneficios cognitivos. El conjunto de estudios que conforman esta tesis pretende aportar respuestas a este debate. En primer lugar, en un metaanálisis exhaustivo de los estudios de intervención (es decir, aquellos con un diseño pre-postest), encontramos que la evidencia disponible de los ensayos controlados aleatorizados con niños y adolescentes respaldan la existencia de un beneficio cognitivo pequeño de la práctica musical (d = 0,26). También observamos una pequeña ventaja al inicio del estudio en los estudios sin aleatorización (d = 0,28), lo que confirma que las personas que seleccionaron la práctica musical en base a sus propias motivaciones tenían un rendimiento superior antes del comienzo de la intervención. Sin embargo, el rendimiento inicial de los participantes no explicaba totalmente las diferencias entre los niños/adolescentes con y sin formación musical, lo que descarta que el efecto sea un artefacto metodológico (por ejemplo, la regresión a la media). Además, el efecto de la práctica musical estaba moderado por algunas variables: (a) el beneficio de la práctica musical disminuía cuanto mayor era la diferencia entre los dos grupos al principio del estudio (antes de la intervención); (b) los participantes con un estatus socioeconómico más bajo mostraban mayores mejoras en comparación con aquellos con un estatus socioeconómico medio-alto; y (c) cuanto más temprana era la edad de inicio, mayor era el efecto. En segundo lugar, realizamos un metaanálisis en todas las edades sobre el impacto de aprender a tocar un instrumento en las capacidades auditivas relacionadas con la música. Los estudios de intervención disponibles sugirieron una transferencia cercana, pero su número era escaso para conducir a conclusiones firmes. Una explicación de los amplios beneficios de la práctica musical podría ser a través de los beneficios que produciría en la atención y las funciones ejecutivas, ya que son funciones esenciales en muchas tareas cognitivas y actividades cotidianas. De esta forma, en un estudio transversal con un diseño prerregistrado y en el que controlamos una lista extensa de variables de confusión, un grupo de músicos adultos mostraron ventajas en la capacidad de vigilancia y la velocidad psicomotora en comparación a un grupo de personas sin formación musical. Destaca que los efectos observados tras el exhaustivo control de variables de confusión fueron menores que los encontrados en múltiples estudios transversales anteriores. Estos resultados son coherentes con una explicación de las diferencias cognitivas basada tanto en factores innatos como en la experiencia, es decir, las ventajas encontradas en los músicos expertos pueden ser consecuencia de factores anteriores a la práctica musical (ventajas cognitivas previas, rasgos de personalidad y/o aptitudes musicales anteriores a la formación musical) que promoverían la adquisición de las habilidades musicales y la motivación para practicar, mientras que la práctica musical a lo largo del tiempo también daría lugar, por su parte, a múltiples cambios neuronales y cognitivos. Por último, se realizó un metaanálisis de los estudios en el envejecimiento saludable. Incluimos tanto estudios transversales como experimentales, ya que son dos metodologías complementarias: los diseños experimentales implican la aleatorización de los participantes y, por tanto, permiten establecer relaciones causales, mientras que los diseños correlacionales analizan muestras con un entrenamiento musical más prolongado. Nuestro metaanálisis mostró beneficios en ambos tipos de diseño, aunque la evidencia experimental fue menos abundante. En conjunto, parece que la práctica musical podría tener un efecto protector en algunas funciones cognitivas, pero sobre todo tendría un efecto potenciador a lo largo de la vida. Por tanto, las ventajas en el rendimiento cognitivo de los músicos estarían presentes en todas las etapas de la vida. Propongo la existencia de varios mecanismos no excluyentes para explicar los beneficios cognitivos del entrenamiento musical. Dadas las demandas elevadas de la práctica musical sobre múltiples funciones cognitivas (por ejemplo, la memoria), aprender a tocar un instrumento podría mejorar específicamente las capacidades mentales a través de la neuroplasticidad desencadena por un mayor uso de esas capacidades. Sin embargo, podría promover el uso de estrategias más eficientes (por ejemplo, mejoras en el mecanismo de ensayo y la organización semántica). También, al tratarse de una actividad multisensorial, podría dar lugar a representaciones multimodales de los acontecimientos de la vida real (por ejemplo, representando espacial o visualmente las palabras auditivas), enriqueciéndolas con una información complementaria. Además, las características del entrenamiento musical podrían convertir a quienes la practican en personas con una mayor propensión al esfuerzo (es decir, con una mayor laboriosidad aprendida), por lo que las tareas que requieren esfuerzo podrían ser menos aversivas y más atractivas. Por último, las mejoras en funciones cognitivas generales, especialmente la atención y el control ejecutivo, podrían extender sus beneficios a otras tareas cognitivas, como la prevención de la interferencia de eventos irrelevantes en la memoria de trabajo. En general, la contribución del entrenamiento musical a las habilidades cognitivas parece ser bastante pequeña y probablemente marque una diferencia reducida en la vida diaria, por lo que podría no ser una de las intervenciones de primera elección si el único propósito es la mejora cognitiva. Sin embargo, aprender a tocar un instrumento es una actividad enriquecedora en sí misma y puede convertirse una fuente importante de placer en la vida de quien lo toca. Lo interesante es que, además de los beneficios sociales y emocionales de tocar, podría tener además implicaciones significativas en el desarrollo de habilidades cognitivas básicas tras largos periodos de práctica (de varias décadas) y en muestras con un menor rendimiento cognitivo, un bajo nivel socioeconómico o que sufren alguna afección neurológica., Tesis Univ. Granada., Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport to RRC (FPU17/02864), Grant from the Autonomous Community of Madrid to MAV (2016-T1/SOC-1395), The Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness to JL (PSI2017-84926-P), MAV (PSI2017-85159-P), Universidad de Granada / CBUA

Following our preregistered design and hypotheses, we found interesting results in the third experiment. Thus, we have decided to conduct a fourth experiment following the same design, with the addition of two rectangular placeholders, one on each side of the fixation point during the whole task.

The aim of the present study is to investigate whether a pre-cueing manipulation is also effective to reduce the standard congruency effect wit arrows (in valid trials) and at the same time make more negative the reversed congruency effect with eye gaze. We therefore expect similar results to the ones observed in the two experiments in Román-Caballero et al. (2021b) with the manipulation of the target–background synchrony.

Data (see Files section) reported in the manuscript "A High-Definition tDCS and EEG study on attention and vigilance: Brain stimulation mitigates the executive but not the arousal vigilance decrement" by Fernando G. Luna (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina, and Universidad de Granada, España), Rafael Román-Caballero (Universidad de Granada, España), Pablo Barttfeld (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina), Juan Lupiáñez (Universidad de Granada, España), and Elisa Martín-Arévalo (Universidad de Granada, España).

Influence of a rhythmic context on the foreperiod effect: A behavioral and eye-tracker approach Rafael Román-Caballero, Elisa Martín-Arévalo, and Juan Lupiáñez Mind, Brain, and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Granada, Spain; and Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Granada, Granada, Spain Introduction Attention fluctuates over time. In the long-term, it seems to wax and wane throughout the day concerning the sleep-wake cycle (Oken et al., 2006) and, when exercised in a sustained way, it is usual to observe a decrease in performance (i.e., vigilance decrement; Luna et al., 2018; Thomson et al., 2015). Several theories (Jones, 1976; Large & Jones, 1999; Fiebelkorn & Kastner, 2019) extend this idea and propose that attention acts as an oscillatory system that alternate, following an intrinsic period (1–4 Hz), between moments of enhanced perceptual sensitivity with instants of attentional disengagement. Moreover, fluctuations of attention can be synchronized with rhythmic environmental stimuli through entrainment (Dynamic Attending Theory, DAT; Jones, 1976). In particular, the regularity of the external rhythm is a key factor in the degree of attentional coupling. Periodic sequences of stimuli promote a tight phase coupling and allow the perceiver to anticipate the nature (e.g., modality, quality) and precise timing of a future event (Henry & Herrman, 2014). Therefore, the presence of a rhythmic context can benefit the perceptual discrimination and response preparation for stimuli occurring in phase with the rhythm (Henry & Herrman, 2014). On the other hand, the DAT proposes that the attentional oscillation is self-sustained, that is, the oscillator decays back to its intrinsic period when the external rhythm disappears. However, evidence about the lasting effect of entrainment is still scarce. A recent study (Trapp et al., 2020) suggests that the benefits of a rhythmic background can remain some minutes after it discontinues. One example of the impact of rhythmic contexts on perceptual performance can be found in Chang et al. (2019). They presented deviants tones (higher or lower in pitch) embedded in rhythmic (isochronous) or arrhythmic (non-isochronous) sequences of standard tones (500 Hz). Pitch deviations (500 ± Δ Hz) were near to the higher and lower discrimination thresholds. During the task, participants benefitted from rhythmic contexts and showed faster responses and superior pitch discrimination for target tones than in arrhythmic sequences. Moreover, electroencephalographic (EEG) signals from bilateral auditory cortices (filtered with a dipole source model) were entrained to rhythms. Delta (1–3 Hz) frequency bands showed power peaks at 2 Hz and harmonic frequencies (4 and 6 Hz) exclusively in rhythmic sequences, according to the isochronous presentation of stimuli each 500 ms. Rhythmic regularity also modulated delta phase, beta (15–25 Hz) power, and delta-beta coupling. More importantly, those EEG changes were correlated with changes in behavioral outcomes (i.e., pitch sensitivity and response speed). Rhythm is not the only type of temporal structure that can support attention (Nobre & van Ede, 2018). One of them is the passage of time itself when there is the certainty that the target will appear after an interval (i.e., when the target is presented in all trials). The probability that an event will occur given that it has not yet occurred increases over time and, therefore, the temporal expectation. As a consequence, reaction time (RT) decreases as the foreperiod (i.e., the interval between the cue and the target) becomes longer, which is usually known as the foreperiod effect (Niemi & Näätänen, 1981; Triviño et al., 2010). Previous studies have explored the interaction between rhythmic structures and the foreperiod effect. Martin et al. (2005) found clear effects of foreperiod and rhythm in a task in which the participants had to discriminate the color of circles. In half of the trials, a single white circle preceded the target (serving as a warning cue), leaving a silent interval of 1000, 1500, or 2000 ms. In the other half, that interval was filled with extra white circles forming an isochronous sequence (with an interonset interval, IOI, of 500 ms between each cue, and between the last of them and the target). Although in both conditions RTs decreased as the cue-target intervals became longer, in the rhythmic condition the reduction was more pronounced. The advantage of the isochronous context disappeared when its pace was drastically slowed down, with an IOI of 4000 ms (Martin et al., 2005; Experiment 2). However, one possibility is that the improved performance in the rhythmic condition could be driven by a higher alerting state due to the greater number of cues. In their third experiment, Martin et al. found that both isochronous sequences and complex rhythmic context lead to allocate attention to moments in time in contrast to random sequences. Similarly, Ellis and Jones (2010) observed a foreperiod effect with RTs in an auditory pitch discrimination task when a scrambled context preceded the target. That is, participants were faster responding to targets that appeared 1000 ms after than those that occurred 500 ms after (and even faster than those appearing after only 250 ms). Interestingly, the use of a complex but metrical rhythm (with a beat each 1000 ms) before the target reversed the foreperiod effect. It was interpreted as a consequence of the rhythm reducing the uncertainty in all the temporal moments, as it elicited increases in temporal expectation to 1000 ms and their subdivisions, 500 and 250 ms. Thus, the better precision to estimate short intervals than longer (250 vs. 1000 ms) would explain the increase of RTs over time. Therefore, simple and complex rhythmic contexts seem to influence the foreperiod effect, at least with response speed outcomes. Nevertheless, in the previous studies, the target always appeared in phase with the period of the entrained rhythm and just one period after the cueing sequence (e.g., 500 ms following the offset of the 500-ms isochronous sequence; Martin et al., 2005, Experiment 1). To probe the oscillatory nature of the rhythm entrainment and the extension of its effect over time, one possibility is to include targets out of phase (e.g., 250 or 750 ms in the last example) along with cue-target intervals of several periods (e.g., since 250 to 2250 ms). Another issue with the aforementioned studies is the presence of remarkably low perceptual demands (Ellis & Jones, 2010, Experiment 2; Martin et al., 2005, Experiment 1) or high (75% of accuracy; Ellis & Jones, 2010, Experiment 1). With those designs, a great percentage of participants might respectively have reached a ceiling effect or performed under the discrimination threshold. Thus, it seems relevant to adjust the demands to the perceptual skills of each participant to assess with enough sensitivity the influence of rhythm. Finally, along with behavioral measures, recent research has shown that temporal expectation can be observed through eye-tracker measures. In two visual tasks of sustained attention, Shalev and Nobre (2020) found that the discrimination and processing speed of the participants improved in the rhythmic blocks (isochronous sequence with an IOI of 3500 ms), compared to blocks where stimuli appeared after a variable interval (2500–4500 ms). In addition, rhythmic regularity reduced pupil size across the tasks, suggesting an arousal adjustment to the conditions of high temporal certainty and the achieving of a more efficient energetic state. Interestingly, pupil size also exhibited a foreperiod-like pattern in variable blocks, with transient increases of the pupil as a function of time (i.e., larger pupil size in intervals close to 4500 than 2500 ms). However, the existence of a single cue-target interval did not allow assessing that pupil-dilation index of the foreperiod effect under a rhythmic context. It has been proposed that pupil size changes can be a sensitive measure of temporal expectation as they vary according to the locus coeruleus-noradrenergic response (via parasympathetic and sympathetic pathways: pupil constriction and dilation, respectively; Wang & Munoz, 2015). A reduced uncertainty such as that in rhythmic contexts would promote reduced tonic arousal along with marked short-scale phasic increases contingent on relevant stimuli (Aston-Jones & Cohen, 2005; Shalev & Nobre, 2020). On the other hand, high uncertainty (i.e., arrhythmic contexts) favors a continuous state of high tonic arousal and slight transient increases. In another visual vigilance task, Dankner et al. (2017) found that saccades were inhibited prior to the target onset at predictable compared with less predictable moments, given by the use of fixed (2000 ms) and variable (1000, 1500, 2000, or 2500 ms) IOI, respectively. The prestimulus saccadic inhibition (PSSI) was absent in most participants with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and it was reduced in those (both neurotypical and with ADHD) with poorer sustaining attention scores. Thus, the PSSI-predictability effect is a sensitive measure of temporal expectation that can be related to suppression mechanisms to prevent image motion on the retina. By reducing eye motion for a short interval of time prior to the target, it may prevent transient visual distortions and enhance acuity. Even more, it has been observed an increase in saccade rates 200 ms after the saccadic suppression, which correlated with PSSI: the higher the PSSI, the higher the post-stimulus saccade rate (Dankner et al., 2017). This post-stimulus rate increase was interpreted as a rebound-like effect that could have pervasive consequences if the target appeared in an unpredictable moment, a few hundred milliseconds later. The PSSI effect has not yet been investigated with non-visual paradigms, such as auditory foreperiod tasks, as in the present research project. The present study aims to investigate the modulating effect of rhythms over the foreperiod effect, as well as its extension over time, in behavioral outcomes (RTs and accuracy) and eye-tracker measures (pupil size and PPSI-predictability effect). We will use a pitch discrimination task with a sequence of standard tones before the target onset. In one block, the IOI will be fixed at 500 ms forming a rhythmic context, while in another block the IOI will be randomly varied between 250 and 750 ms (arrhythmic context). To adjust the perceptual demands in each participant, at the same time that we leave a large proportion of correct responses, a 1-up/4-down procedure will be used to estimate the 84.1% correct pitch discrimination threshold (Levitt, 1971). Moreover, we will use variable cue-target intervals up to 2250 ms and targets in phase with the rhythmic sequence (i.e., n 500 ms after the last tone of a 500-ms isochronous sequence) and targets out of phase (i.e., n 500 +/− 250). This manipulation will allow observing whether attention is devoted more to the moments predicted by the entrained rhythm than those out of phase. Hypotheses We expect a classic foreperiod effect will appear in response speed and accuracy. That is, the later the target onset, the faster the response and the better discrimination (higher accuracy) of the participants. Moreover, and crucially for this study, the presence of a rhythmic context before the target will enhance the perceptual sensitivity and the preparation to the critical moment, and will modulate the foreperiod effect. The presentation of several isochronous standard tones will lead to better performance at moments in phase with the entrained rhythm (500, 1000, 1500, and 2000 ms after the last standard tone). Moreover, we predict that although those effects will extend to the later in-phase moments (1000, 1500, and 2000 ms), it is probable that the alignment with the rhythm will decay over time. Regarding eye-tracker measures, we also expect a modulation of the rhythmic context over the foreperiod effect. Specifically, we hypothesize a decrease of the pupil size at the beginning of the sequence of standard tones along with an increase before the target onset, that will be more marked in the rhythmic block. Furthermore, whether the PSSI is a cross-modal effect, it would be possible to find a similar block modulation over the PSSI: a higher saccade rate just before (−100 ms) the appearance of in-phase targets during the variable-IOI block than in the fixed-IOI block. Finally, the impact of the rhythmic context might decay with the pass of time, being greater in the first periods than in the last ones. Method Participants We have selected the three-way interaction [block (2) × period (4) × phase (2); for details, see below] to estimate the sample size in the present experiment. In a previous pilot study with 11 participants, we found an effect size of f2 = 0.12. Using the Superpower R package (Caldwell et al., 2020), we have found that at least 43 participants will be necessary for a small-to-medium effect size of f2 = 0.09 (similar to that observed in the pilot) with an alpha of .05 and a power of .80. Accordingly, we have chosen a sample size of 45 participants due to the possibility of some missing participants as a consequence of technical issues or misunderstandings of the instructions. All the participants will be students from the University of Granada that will receive 15€ for participating. All will have a self-reported normal or corrected-to-normal vision and will be naïve as to the purpose of the experiment. The study will be conducted following the ethical guidelines laid down by the University of Granada (536/CEIH/2018), in accordance with the ethical standards of the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki (last update: Seoul, 2008). Outlier detection will be based on performance (i.e., mean reaction times and accuracy) identified as poor in terms of meeting all the following indices: standard deviation from the mean of the sample (> 2.5), studentized deleted residuals (> 3), and Cook’s Di (> 4/n). Apparatus and Stimuli The stimulus presentation, timing, and data collection will be controlled by a program written using E-Prime 2.0 (Schneider et al., 2002), run on a standard Pentium 4 PC. During the task, a light gray fixation cross will be presented on the center of a 17-inch widescreen monitor with a 1,280 × 1024-pixel resolution and 60 Hz of refresh rate. Auditory stimuli will be sine wave tones created with Audacity. Tones will last 60 ms with 10 ms rise and 10 ms fall times. Standard tones will have 500 Hz of frequency and will be presented at 70 dB. Whereas, comparison higher and lower tones will have 500 ± Δ Hz and 78 dB, where Δ represents the 84.1% correct pitch discrimination threshold estimated with a 1-up/4-down procedure (Levitt, 1971). We will use a video-based eye-tracker (EyeLink 1000 Plus, SR Research, Ontario, Canada) to measure pupil diameter monocularly as well as microsaccades and blinks at 1000 Hz. Procedure The study will be carried out after preregistration, during June of 2021. The experiment will take place in a dimly-light room and using glasses or contact lenses if needed. The session will last approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. Prior to the experimental task, participants will complete a questionnaire (Appendix A) with items about demographic information, the fatigue and vigor scales of the Spanish abbreviated version of the Profile of Mood States questionnaire (Andrade et al., 2013; original version, Grove & Prapavessis, 1992), musical training background, and exclusion criteria: vision or hearing problems, neurological or psychiatric illness, diabetes, drug abuse, or chronic use of psychoactive medication. After that, participants will sit 64 cm from the monitor, and a chin rest will be used to keep their head still. First, the individual pitch discrimination threshold will be estimated using a 1-up/4-down procedure (84.1% correct pitch discrimination, following Levitt, 1971). In each trial, a standard tone will be presented followed by a comparison tone 500 ms after. The participants will be required to judge whether they perceive the second stimulus higher or lower in pitch than the standard (pressing “8” or “2” keys, respectively). The estimation of the discrimination threshold will comprise two blocks, one for the upper threshold and beginning with a 515-Hz tone and a lower threshold block beginning with a tone of 485 Hz of frequency (the order of the blocks will be counterbalanced). We will estimate the discrimination threshold by averaging the frequency of all the peaks and valleys in each type of block. Peaks and valleys are the frequency values at which a change in the perceptual trend occurs (for instance, when the individual perceives that the second tone has a lower pitch after a series of trials in which it was judged as higher). To reach a reliable discrimination threshold in each participant, the 1-up/4-down procedure will finish after the occurrence of ten peaks or valleys in each block. After the estimation of the discrimination threshold, participants will carry out the pitch discrimination task. The instructions will appear on the screen and will be explained to the participant by the experimenter, who will also answer any questions about the procedure. In each trial, the participants will hear five, six, or seven standard tones with an IOI of 500 ms or a random value between 250 and 750 ms, depending on the block (fixed vs. variable block; see Figure A in the OSF project https://osf.io/cw93r/). After the sequence of standard tones, a comparison tone will appear with an IOI randomly selected from 250, 500, 750, 1000, 1250, 1500, 1750, 2000, and 2250 ms. The participants will be required to discriminate as fast and accurately as possible whether the comparison tone has a higher or lower pitch than the standard tones, pressing “z” or “m” (the meaning of what indicates each key will be counterbalanced across participants). The discrimination task will begin with two practice blocks of eight trials each. Feedback for incorrect responses will be provided only during practice blocks. Then, participants will complete one block of 252 trials with fixed IOIs of 500 ms for the sequence of standard tones or with variable IOIs between 250 and 750 ms (the order will be counterbalanced across participants). As there are nine possible IOIs between the last standard tone and the target, and two pitches, there will be 14 trials for each type (with the same IOI and the same pitch). Subsequently, participants will be asked about the difficulty of the last task block (Appendix B). After 1 or 2 minutes of rest, they will carry out a second task block, with variable IOIs if the first block was with fixed IOIs or with fixed if the previous were variable. Finally, the participants will complete the question about the difficulty. The experimental task will compromise 28 trials for each experimental condition. Design and Statistical Analyses The experiment has a (2 × 4 × 2) three-factor repeated-measures design: block (fixed vs. variable), period (500–750/1000–1250/1500–1750/2000–2250 ms), and phase (in-phase: 500, 1000, 1500, and 2000 ms; vs. out-of-phase target: 750, 1250, 1750, and 2250 ms). For behavioral measures, we will conduct repeated-measures ANOVAs with mean RTs and accuracy as dependent variables. Moreover, paired t-tests will be used for comparison between conditions. We expect a higher number of misses in the cue-target interval of 250 ms, and, subsequently, a reduced proportion of trials to be analyzed. Regarding eye-tracker measures, blink intervals will be identified following Hershman et al.’s procedure (2018) and will be removed from the analyses. For analyses with trial time series, raw pupil size will be converted to z scores, by calculating the mean and standard deviation of each separate block for each participant. Then, the time series before the target onset of both blocks will be compared with permutation t-tests based on 10,000 samples. In addition, the slopes of the increase in the pupil size during foreperiod will be analyzed with a regression model, including block (fixed vs. variable) as a categorical factor. For saccade analyses, gaze-position data will be segmented into epochs from –500 to 500 ms relative to the target onset. For saccades detection, we will use a similar procedure to Dankner et al. (2017): saccades are identified by eye moments that exceed a threshold of 4 standard deviations from the median velocity during 7 ms (seven consecutive eye-position samples). The dependent variable will be the saccade rate at –100 to 0 ms relative to the onset of targets for PSSI and the saccade rate at 0 to 500 ms for the post-stimulus effect. We will exclude every trial in which a blink interval overlaps with that interval or in which a saccade larger than 3° occurs at that interval. Permutation t-tests for each time point based on 10,000 samples will be used. In addition, we will use two repeated-measures ANOVAs with block (fixed vs. variable) and phase (in phase vs. out of phase) as factors: one with the mean saccade rates at the pre-stimulus interval (–100 to 0 ms) as dependent variable, and another with the mean saccade rates at the post-stimulus interval 200 to 500 ms). References Andrade, E., Arce, C., De Francisco, C., Torrado, J., & Garrido, J. (2013). Abbreviated version in Spanish of the POMS questionnaire for adult athletes and general population. Revista de Psicología del Deporte, 22(1), 95–102. Aston-Jones, G., & Cohen, J. D. (2005). An integrative theory of locus coeruleus- norepinephrine function: Adaptive gain and optimal performance. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 28(1), 403–450. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.28.061604.135709 Caldwell, A., Lakens, D., DeBruine, L., & Love, J. (2020). Superpower: Simulation-based power analysis for factorial designs. R package version 0.0.3. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/Superpower/ Chang, A., Bosnyak, D. J., & Trainor, L. J. (2019). Rhythmicity facilitates pitch discrimination: Differential roles of low and high frequency neural oscillations. NeuroImage, 198, 31–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.05.007 Dankner, Y., Shalev, L., Carrasco, M., & Yuval-Greenberg, S. (2017). Prestimulus inhibition of saccades in adults with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder as an index of temporal expectations. Psychological Science, 28(7), 835–850. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617694863 Ellis, R. J., & Jones, M. R. (2010). Rhythmic context modulates foreperiod effects. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 72(8), 2274–2288. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196701 Fiebelkorn, I. C., & Kastner, S. (2019). A rhythmic theory of attention. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 23(2), 87–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.11.009 Grove, J. R., & Prapavessis, H. (1992). Preliminary evidence for the reliability and validity of an abbreviated profile of mood states. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 23(2), 93–109. Henry, M. J., & Herrmann, B. (2014). Low-frequency neural oscillations support dynamic attending in temporal context. Timing & Time Perception, 2(1), 62–86. https://doi.org/10.1163/22134468-00002011 Hershman, R., Henik, A., & Cohen, N. (2018). A novel blink detection method based on pupillometry noise. Behavior Research Methods, 50(1), 107–114. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-017-1008-1 Jones, M. R. (1976). Time, our lost dimension: Toward a new theory of perception, attention, and memory. Psychological Review, 83, 323–355. Large, E. W., & Jones, M. R. (1999). The dynamics of attending: How people track time-varying events. Psychological Review, 106(1), 119–159. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.106.1.119 Levitt, H. (1971). Transformed up‐down methods in psychoacoustics. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 49, 467–477. Luna, F. G., Marino, J., Roca, J., & Lupiáñez, J. (2018). Executive and arousal vigilance decrement in the context of the attentional networks: The ANTI-Vea task. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 306, 77–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2018.05.011 Martin, T., Egly, R., Houck, J. M., Bish, J. P., Barrera, B. D., Lee, D. C., & Tesche, C. D. (2005). Chronometric evidence for entrained attention. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 67(1), 168–184. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196701 Niemi, P., & Näätänen, R. (1981). Foreperiod and simple reaction time. Psychological Bulletin, 89, 133–162. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.89.1.133 Nobre, A. C., & Van Ede, F. (2018). Anticipated moments: temporal structure in attention. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 19(1), 34–48. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2017.141 Oken, B. S., Salinsky, M. C., Elsas, S. M. (2006). Vigilances, alertness, or sustained attention: physiological basis and measurement. Clinical Neurophysiology, 117(9), 1885–1901. http:// dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2006.01.017. Schneider, W., Eschman, A., & Zuccolotto, A. (2002). E-Prime (Version 2.0). [Computer software and manual]. Pittsburgh, PA: Psychology Software Tools Inc. Shalev, N., & Nobre, A. C. (2020). Eyes wide open: regulation of arousal by temporal expectations. bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.07.24.219428 Thomson, D. R., Besner, D., & Smilek, D. (2015). A resource-control account of sustained attention: Evidence from mind-wandering and vigilance paradigms. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(1), 82–96. https://doi.org/10.1177/174569161455 Trapp, S., Havlicek, O., Schirmer, A., & Keller, P. E. (2020). When the rhythm disappears and the mind keeps dancing: sustained effects of attentional entrainment. Psychological Research, 84(1), 81–87. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-018-0983-x Triviño, M., Correa, Á., Arnedo, M., & Lupiáñez, J. (2010). Temporal orienting deficit after prefrontal damage. Brain, 133(4), 1173–1185. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awp346 Wang, C. A., & Munoz, D. P. (2015). A circuit for pupil orienting responses: implications for cognitive modulation of pupil size. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 33, 134–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conb.2015.03.018

Cardiac electrical activity is governed by different ion channels that generate action potentials. Acquired or inherited abnormalities in the expression and/or function of ion channels usually result in electrophysiological changes that can cause cardiac arrhythmias. Transcription factors (TFs) control gene transcription by binding to specific DNA sequences adjacent to target genes. Linkage analysis, candidate-gene screening within families, and genome-wide association studies have linked rare and common genetic variants in the genes encoding TFs with genetically-determined cardiac arrhythmias. Besides its critical role in cardiac development, recent data demonstrated that they control cardiac electrical activity through the direct regulation of the expression and function of cardiac ion channels in adult hearts. This narrative review summarizes some studies showing functional data on regulation of the main human atrial and ventricular Na+, Ca2+, and K+ channels by cardiac TFs such as Pitx2c, Tbx20, Tbx5, Zfhx3, among others. The results have improved our understanding of the mechanisms regulating cardiac electrical activity and may open new avenues for therapeutic interventions in cardiac acquired or inherited arrhythmias through the identification of TFs as potential drug targets. Even though TFs have for a long time been considered as ‘undruggable’ targets, advances in structural biology have led to the identification of unique pockets in TFs amenable to be targeted with small-molecule drugs or peptides that are emerging as novel therapeutic drugs.

McCarley and Yamani (2021) proposed a new psychometric-curve analysis offers three (or four) potential indices of the executive vigilance decrement, which greatly improves the two-parameters approach of Signal Detection Theory: scale, associated with sensitivity; shift, related to response criterion; and lapse rate, proposed as an index of task disengagement or mind wandering (a forth parameters, i.e., guess, can also be computed). The ANTI-Vea task (Attentional Networks Test for Interactions and Vigilance – executive and arousal components; Luna et al., 2018) parametrically manipulate the similarity between the infrequent signal (a vertical displacement equal or larger than 6) and the frequent noise (a vertical displacement equal of smaller than 4), which allows the psychometric-curve analysis of the data. In this project, psychometric-curve analysis of different data set of the ANTI-Vea task are made available.

The aims of the present project are: 1) to examine the evidential value of primary studies included in previous meta-analyses and recent articles that have been published afterwards; 2) to estimate the statistical power achieved by individuals studies published up to date using the new meta-analytic effect size estimate obtained from the new meta-analysis

Communication research in Colombia is already considered a consolidated field in the national context, but it is not in its international projection. International databases, in particular the Web of Science have become a widespread form of legitimation of knowledge in science at the Global Academy, but Colombian research on communication in these databases has hardly been studied. This article investigated how is the production and circulation of knowledge in one of the most widely used database, Web of Science. The results show that the research of authors linked to the Colombian academy went from a very low figure in the nineties, to a significant growth in 2008 and exponentially in 2015. The creation of the Emerging Source Citation Index database contributed greatly to this change. Implications for the production and appropriation of communication knowledge in Colombia are derived from this analysis. La investigación en comunicación en Colombia es considerada ya un campo consolidado en el contexto nacional, pero no lo es en su proyección internacional. Las bases de datos internacionales y en particular Web of Science se han constituido en una forma extendida de legitimación del conocimiento en la ciencia dentro de Academia Global, pero apenas se ha estudiado la investigación colombiana en comunicación en estos productos. El presente artículo indagó cómo ha sido la producción y circulación de conocimiento en lo que se considera la base de datos más usada a nivel internacional, la Web of Science. Los resultados dan cuenta que la investigación de autores vinculados a la academia colombiana pasó de una figuración muy baja en los años noventa, a un crecimiento importante en 2008 y de manera exponencial en el 2015. La creación de la base de datos Emerging Source Citation Index contribuyó enormemente a este cambio. Del presente análisis se derivan varias implicaciones sobre la producción y apropiación del conocimiento en comunicación en Colombia.

A lo largo de la historia, la calidad de los trabajos científicos ha estado asociada al número de citas que reciben por parte de otros estudios. En este sentido, la cita es un elemento hipertextual fruto del reconocimiento que un autor realiza a otras investigaciones publicadas. El hecho de referenciar un trabajo previo lleva asociado un reconocimiento a dicho estudio y se admite, independientemente de si la cita ha sido positiva o crítica, que ha contribuido a la creación del nuevo trabajo. La relevancia de la cita en el ámbito de la comunicación y la evaluación científica queda patente al ser ésta un elemento sustancial en la mayoría de los indicadores bibliométricos.

El sexenio de transferencia es un reconocimiento análogo al sexenio de investigación creado para reconocer las actividades de transferencia de los investigadores españoles. Este trabajo reflexiona sobre los primeros resultados de la convocatoria piloto. Además, analiza los resultados del área de Ciencias de la Información a través de las denegaciones al objeto de tratar de dilucidar qué tipos de méritos se han presentado y qué valor se les han atribuido. Igualmente, se analizan dos méritos concretos como son la edición de revistas y la pertenencia a comisiones de agencias evaluadoras. En último lugar, se hace una serie de propuestas que pretenden eliminar o reducir los principales defectos de la convocatoria, como las incongruencias en la puntuación o dos sesgos significativos en la convocatoria: el sexo y la pertenencia a universidades privadas. Se recomienda la creación de un sistema que evalúe los méritos por especialistas en la tipología de transferencias y no por áreas, y que las exigencias sean las que se ajusten a las áreas., The Six-Year Transfer Assessment is an analogous exercise to the Six-Year Research Assessment, created to recognize the transfer activities of Spanish researchers. This paper focuses on the preliminary results of its pilot project. In addition, it analyzes the rejections in the Information Science area to clarify the types of value attributed to them. Likewise, two specific values are analyzed, namely the editing of journals and membership of evaluation agency commissions. Finally, a series of proposals are made with the aim of eliminating or reducing the main weaknesses of the pilot project, such as scoring inconsistencies and two significant biases: gender and private university affiliation. The development of a system in which the evaluators are specialists in the typology of transfers instead of research areas is recommended, and that the requirements fit with the areas.

La reprobación es un tema de interés en las instituciones de educación, en el nivel superior impacta en indicadores tales como la eficiencia terminal. En el Instituto Tecnológico de Oaxaca perteneciente al Tecnológico Nacional de México la reprobación en el área de programación es considerable, este trabajo pretende establecer la relación entre habilidades de estudio y la reprobación, sin embargo no se encontró relación, lo que implica que hay otros factores que inciden más en la reprobación de estas asignaturas. Para realizar este trabajo se consideró a los estudiantes de la Ingeniería en Sistemas Computacionales que ingresaron en el ciclo escolar 2018-2019. También los resultados del semestre febrero-junio 2019 de los estudiantes que cursaron Programación Orientada a Objetos y Fundamentos de Programación (quienes repitieron la asignatura) y los resultados de la encuesta sobre habilidades de estudio aplicada de 61 estudiantes, de un total de 160 estudiantes.

El principal objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar la aportación que las revistas académicas hacen a la marca de la universidad. Para ello se identifica la presencia de revistas y universidades editoras en las bases de datos bibliográficas de referencia (Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index y Arts & Humanities Citation Index, de la Web of Science) y se realiza un análisis bibliométrico para describir la población de revistas estudiadas, analizando elementos como la distribución por países, universidades editoras, coedición, tasas de éxito de indexación, presencia por áreas e impacto científico. Se identifican finalmente 1.492 revistas editadas por 387 universidades de 56 países. Las universidades anglosajonas destacan por su elevado número de revistas indexadas en WoS, especialmente Oxford y Cambridge, que juntas agrupan el 38,7% de las cabeceras., This work aims to analyse the contribution that academic journals make to their university brand. To this end, the presence of journals and university in the reference databases (Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index and Arts & Humanities Citation Index, part of Web of Science) are identified. Later, a bibliometric analysis is carried out to describe the population of journals studied, analysing elements such as distribution by country, publishing universities, co-publishing, indexing success rates, presence by area and scientific impact. Finally 1,492 journals published by 387 universities in 56 countries are identified. Anglo-Saxon universities stand out for their high number of journals indexed in WoS, especially Oxford and Cambridge, which together account for 38.7% of the titles.

Se analiza la pertinencia de la gestión editorial en el contexto de los sexenios de transferencia, concretamente la participación de los académicos en la edición de revistas científicas como mérito de transferencia, y lo hace desde dos perspectivas; justicia y necesidad. En la primera parte se aborda si la edición científica debe ser considerada como mérito de transferencia, mientras que en la segunda parte se reflexiona en torno a la necesidad de reconocimiento por parte del sector. Se llega a la conclusión de que la gestión de revistas científicas es un mérito de transferencia que cumple todos los requisitos para ser considerado como tal en la actual convocatoria., The relevance of considering editorial management of scientific journals by academic staff as a “knowledgement transfer” is analyzed in the context of the Spanish six-years accreditation process. This is done from two perspectives: justice and necessity. In the first part it is discussed whether scientific publishing should be considered a knowledge transfer merit, while the second part reflects on the need for recognition from the sector. It is concluded that the management of scientific journals is a transfer merit that satisfies all the requirements to be considered as such in the current call.

La presente tesis por compendio pretende estudiar varios elementos clave en la marca universidad. En primer lugar realiza una reflexión sobre los elementos identificativos de la universidad y estudia casos concretos del "naming", es decir, el nombre de las universidades. Posteriormente analiza cómo la marca universidad, concretamente las universidades españolas, se encuentran presentes en prensa, tanto en prensa nacional como internacional. De estos estudios se derivan análisis de similitud entre universidades porque comparten medios y por tanto audiencias. Igualmente se estudia a través de una regresión lineal múltiple la relación existente entre las noticias en prensa extranjera y variables propias como tamaño, número de alumnos, número de profesores, número de grados y postgrados, producción científica y antigüedad. Donde queda claro que existe una relación entre la difusión en medios y el tamaño de la universidad concretamente entre la producción científica, dato que hay que matizar en relación a la antigüedad de las universidades. Por último se estudia un elemento de la universidad poco analizado como es la edición de revistas científicas y se analizan aquellos aspectos en los que las revistas ayudan a configurar positivamente la marca universidad, así como un repaso de la producción internacional de revistas editadas por universidades., This compendium dissertation aims to study several key elements in the university brand. In the first place, it reflects on the identifying elements of the university and studies specific cases of "naming", in other words, the name of the universities. It then analyses how the university brand, specifically Spanish universities, are present in the press, both in the national and international press. From these studies we derive analyses of similarity between universities because they share media and therefore audiences. Likewise, a multiple linear regression is used to study the relationship between news in foreign press and variables such as size, number of students, number of professors, number of degrees and postgraduates, scientific production and antiquity. Where it is clear that there is a relationship between media diffusion and the size of the university specifically between scientific production, data that must be qualified in relation to the seniority of the universities. Finally, a little- analyzed element of the university, such as the publication of scientific journals, is studied, as well as those aspects in which journals help to positively shape the university brand, and a review of the international production of journals published by universities.

En este trabajo proponemos evaluar la evolución de la sostenibilidad a través de un nuevo indicador sintético dinámico basado en la programación por metas. Dicho indicador permite cuantificar, para cada observación, si los cambios son debidos a factores externos o internos. Para ilustrar su funcionamiento, lo aplicamos a la evaluación de la sostenibilidad, entre 2012 y 2015, de 129 empresas de aguas portuguesas. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech.

En este trabajo se pretende realizar una evaluación mediante indicadores sintéticos, de la sostenibilidad de empresas de aguas portuguesas a lo largo de dos periodos de tiempo. Para ello se utilizarán los datos públicos de dichas empresas en 2012 y 2015 y se analizará el cambio producido en el indicador por el comportamiento de las mismas, intentando mostrar aquellas que tienen un buen comportamiento temporal y a que es debido el mismo. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech.

Este artículo es un análisis estadístico retrospectivo de la nacionalidad de dos elementos: las agencias de publicidad con sede en Colombia con mayor número de anuncios premiados en festivales nacionales e internacionales, y las marcas que presentan estos anuncios, según los datos referentes a Colombia generados por el ranking UNIR de Publicidad Iberoamericano (2012-2013). Los resultados demuestran que estas agencias son agentes del marketing nacional e internacional, destacando que son los anuncios con temática y recursos nacionales los más premiados. This article presents a retrospective statistical analysis of the nationality of two elements: the advertising agencies based in Colombia with the largest number of awarded commercials within national and international festivals and the brands that these commercials represent according to the data collected by UNIR Ranking of Latin-American Advertising (2012-2013). The results show that, on the one hand, these companies are domestic and international marketing agents, and, on the other hand, the largest number of awarded commercials are those related to national resources and topics.

We present a technique for checking the validity of Java assertions using an arbitrary automated test-case generator. Our framework transforms the program by introducing code that detects whether the assertion conditions are met by every direct and indirect method call within a certain depth level. Then, any automated test-case generator can be used to look for input examples that falsify the conditions. The program transformation ensures that the value obtained for these inputs represents a path of method calls that ends with a violation of some assertion. We show experiments with two different automatic test-case generators that demonstrate not just the applicability of our proposal but also that we can get a better coverage than the same test-case generators without our transformation.

This work deals with the resolution of the goal programming problem with linear fraccional criteria. The main difficulty of these problems is the non-linear constraints of the mathematical programming models that have to be solved. When there exist solutions satisfying all target values, the problem is easy to solve by solving a linear problem. So, in this paper we deal with those instances where there is no guarantee such solutions exist, and therefore we look for those points in the opportunity set closest to the target values. This study has been done taking into account all the different approaches available for solving a goal programming problem, creating solution-search algorithms based on these approaches, and performing a sensitivity analysis of the target values.

Los equipos de fútbol aprovechan el intervalo temporal entre el final de una temporada y el inicio de la siguiente para proceder a reestructurar sus plantillas de jugadores y algunas veces a contratar nuevos entrenadores. Esto último suele suceder cuando el equipo no ha alcanzado en la temporada que finaliza los objetivos perseguidos por el club, o el entrenador se va por haberlos alcanzado y buscar nuevos desafíos en su carrera.Muchos equipos en los que el desarrollo de la temporada no es acorde con las expectativas iniciales, proceden a realizar algún cambio en la vertiente deportiva, a fin de poder imprimir un impulso nuevo a la trayectoria actual. La mayoría de los equipos recurren a cambiar el entrenador (despidiendo al actual) a mitad de temporada, buscando el revulsivo necesario para poder cambiar la tendencia. Cuando no se consigue a corto plazo el objetivo deseado, se cambia de nuevo al entrenador, y así pueden algunos equipos acabar la temporada con tres e incluso cuatro entrenadores. En el presente trabajo, vamos a profundizar en este hecho para el caso de la Liga española de Primera División, en dos temporadas sucesivas, utilizando el Índice de Malmquist. En el estudio solamente intervienen los 17 equipos que son comunes a las dos temporadas analizadas (2007/08 y 2008/09), ya que entre ambas hay tres equipos que han descendido a la categoría inferior (Segunda División) y otros 3 equipos han ascendido, ocupando su lugar en la Primera División. El índice de Malmquist nos permite descomponer los cambios de productividad en cambio de eficiencia y en cambio tecnológico. ABSTRACT The football teams take advantage of the temporary interval between the end one season and the beginning of the following one to come to reconstruct their groups of players and some times to contract new trainers or coachs. This last one usually happens when the teams has not reached in the season that finalizes the goal pursued by the club, or the trainer goes away by them to have reached and to look for new challenges in his race. Many teams in which the development of the season is not agreed with the initial expectations, comes to make some change in the sport slope, in order to be able to print a new impulse to the present trajectory. Most of the teams resort to change to the trainer (dismissing the present one) to half of season, looking for the necessary chance to be able to change the tendency. When the wished objective is not obtained short term, it changes to the trainer again, and thus some teams can even finish the season with three and four trainers. In the present work, we are going to deepen in this fact for the case of Spanish League of First Division, in two seasons successive, using the Index of Malmquist. In the study the 17 teams only takes part that is common to the two analyzed seasons (2007/08 and 2008/09), since between both there are three teams that has descended to lower Division (Second Division) and other 3 teams has ascended, occupying its place in the First Division. The Malmquist index allows to disturb the changes of technological productivity change or change in efficiency.

The Spanish multinational Repsol-YPF is accused of violations of human rights, social and cultural impacts on indigenous peoples, environmental pollution and water sources, tax fraud, loss of biodiversity and deforestation in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador Perú and Colombia.

The aim of this report is to present a ranking of Communication journals covered in Google Scholar Metrics (GSM) for the period 2008-2013. It corresponds to the H Index update made last year for the period 2008-2012 (Repiso & Delgado López-Cózar 2013). Google Scholar Metrics does not currently allow to group and sort all journals belonging to a scientific discipline. Therefore, in an attempt to overcome this limitation, we have used the diversity of search procedures allowed by GSM to identify the greatest number of scientific journals of Communication with H Index calculated by this bibliometric tool. The result is a ranking of 434 communication journals sorted by the same H Index. Journals are also grouped by quartiles., EC3: Evaluación de la Ciencia y de la Comunicación Científica

[ES] La mayoría de los motores de combustión interna alternativos están sobrealimentados. La sobrealimentación de los motores viene dada por la necesidad de aumentar la potencia sin tener que aumentar la cilindrada. En los motores diésel (MEC) la sobrealimentación es beneficiosa para un mayor rendimiento en el motor, a diferencia de los motores de gasolina (MEP) que al sobrepasar una cierta presión de compresión se pueden ocasionar problemas de picado, bien por autoencendido o por detonación. El objeto del presente Proyecto Final de Carrera es la presentación de una técnica de ensayo útil para determinar la mínima presión a la cual el turbogrupo puede funcionar con normalidad. Para ello con ayuda de unas válvulas se forzará una baja lubricación observándose cómo evolucionan los límites de movimiento del eje (máxima excentricidad) controlando al mismo tiempo las variables termodinámicas del aceite de lubricación. Los turbogrupos a los que se les va a realizar dicho ensayo son turbogrupos de geometría variable (TGV). Con el fin de cuantificar el movimiento del eje se han implementado en la sala de ensayos dos sensores de posición los cuales nos indicaran si el eje del turbo está funcionando o no dentro de los parámetros de máxima excentricidad. Para esta comparación de movimiento se han realizado ensayos para identificar la zona normal de funcionamiento del eje y las zonas en las cuales el turbogrupo está con un funcionamiento anormal.

El presente estudio tiene como objetivo crear un indicador sintético para medir la sostenibilidad de los destinos turísticos a partir de indicadores cuantitativos, representativos del concepto de desarrollo sostenible del turismo. La propuesta se confecciona mediante la combinación de la Programación por Metas (GP) y el Análisis Envolvente de Datos (DEA), de modo que la medida obtenida considere las necesidades de los implicados en el desarrollo turístico e identifique las fortalezas y debilidades, en términos de sostenibilidad. La propuesta se aplica en los destinos de turismo de naturaleza de Cuba y los resultados sirven de guía para la planificación de estos en el futuro. The main objective of this paper consists in building a composite indicator that allows measuring the sustainability of tourist destinations starting from quantitative indicators, representative of sustainable tourism concept. The proposal is made by the combination of Goal Programming (GP) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), in such a way as to allow the consideration of stakeholder’s necessities and to identify strengths and weaknesses in terms of sustainability. The study is applied in Cuban nature-based tourism destinations and the result serves as a guideline for future tourist planning.

The present study makes a comparative analysis between two Spanish academic communities, Communication and Library and Information Sciences. The set-up of these academic programmes in Spain, along with their size and the international scientific production of each community, is briefly described and compared. These communities are relatively new, being Library and Information Sciences the more recently implemented.The numbers differ greatly, both in the universities that offer these studies and in the size of their communities; there are five times as many professors in Communication as in Library and Information Sciences. In contrast,Library and Information Sciences has an international scientific productivity three times that of Communication, with articles published in journals with a higher impact factor.

The aim of this report is to present a ranking of Nursing journals covered in Google Scholar Metrics (GSM), for the 2008-2012. This is an update of previous ranking, based on the h index for journals included by GSM (Reina Leal, Repiso & Delgado López-Cózar, 2013). GSM doesn’t yet allow group and sort journals of a scientific discipline. Therefore, to the nursing discipline, can only be located 41 journals from the ten listings offered by GSM. However, in an attempt to overcome this limitation, we have used the diversity of search procedures allowed by GSM to identify the greatest number of scientific journals of Nursing with h index calculated by this bibliometric tool. Bibliographic searches were conducted between 3rd and 7th February 2014. The result is a ranking of 366 nursing journals sorted by the same h index, and mean as discriminating value. Journals are also grouped by quartiles., EC3: Evaluación de la Ciencia y de la Comunicación Científica

This paper presents a test-case generator for SQL queries. Starting with a set of related SQL views that can include existential subqueries in the conditions, the technique finds a database instance that can be used as a test-case for the target view. The proposal reduces the problem of generating the test-cases to a Constraint Satisfaction Problem using finite domain constraints. In particular, we present a new approach for existential conditions that makes possible to find test-cases for a wider set of queries. The soundness and correctness of the technique with respect to a simple operational semantics for SQL queries without aggregates is proven. The theoretical ideas have been implemented in an available prototype., Electronic Communications of the EASST, Volume 55: Programming and Computer Languages 2012

El objetivo de este breve informe es poner en contexto las principales revistas españolas de Comunicación en relación con sus indicadores generados en los productos de evaluación de revistas más utilizados y a la vez comparar los diferentes productos a raíz de sus resultados. Para ello se han utilizado los siguientes productos de evaluación de revistas y sus indicadores: Web of Science, Google Scholar Metrics, Scopus, IN-RECS, RESH, Latindex, MIAR, CIRC, ERIH y la obtención del sello FECYT. También, en aquellos productos que generan ranking de revistas se ha indicado la posición de las revistas. La muestra elegida son aquellas revistas españolas que aparecen en el Ranking de Revistas de Comunicación de Google Scholar Metrics para el año 2013 (Repiso y Delgado, 2013).

Con este trabajo se pretende comparar la reputación científica tradicional con la reputación on-line e introducir básicamente a los conceptos de la reputación on-line: identidad digital, qué se dice y posicionamiento. Finalmente, las propuestas y preguntas que debemos hacernos para realizar una gestión adecuada de nuestra presencia en la web., Referencia bibliografica: Torres-Salinas, D.; Repiso, R. Egociencia: reputación on-line para científicos. Granada: EC3metrics, 2013. Nota: Esta trabajo fue presentado en el II Congreso Internacional de Tecnologías Emergentes y Sociedad 2.0 (CITES). Universidad Internacional de la Rioja, 28 de noviembre de 2011.

In the present study, the isotopic signature of atmospheric vapor/precipitation is used to identify the source of air moisture at Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India. The interpretation of the isotope data of atmospheric vapor for the years 2008-09 indicates that the seasonality effect divides the entire data spectrum into three sub-units as: monsoon water vapor (δ18O -5, δD>-6) of local origin and the vapors originating due to Western Disturbances (WD) have values (δ18O ~-15, δD~-53) between these two sources. The monsoon showers are isotopically the most depleted with the highest slope (7.78) of its characteristic line followed by winter rains which are marginally enriched. The pre-monsoon showers are the most enriched rains in the year. With these systematic it can be easily differentiated between premonsoon and monsoon rains and in identifying the true monsoon rains or onset of monsoon.

This is a longitudinal, retrospective and descriptive study about doctoral theses on radio which have been defended in Spain over the period 1976-2008. The TESEO database has been used to search theses and the composition of examination boards for theses on radio, even when the data had been contrasted with previous works. A number of variables have been studied to show and represent the evolution, the partnership of universities, the participants’ profiles, the academic genealogies, invisibles working parties and research teams. These are the variables studied: frequency of the terms in the titles, development of the number of thesis by year, university of thesis defense, thesis advisor, participation in examination committees and advisor-candidate genealogies. The network analysis shows the interactions among professors, level of independence, cooperation among the members in the examination boards and intermediation. The membership within the theses examination boards in Spain can be observed on the graph. It shows a mode-2 social network of advisors and universities. Estudio descriptivo longitudinal retrospectivo de las tesis doctorales sobre radio, defendidas en España entre 1976 y 2008. Los datos han sido extraídos principalmente de Teseo. A fin de fijar y representar la evolución, participación de universidades, perfil de los actores, genealogías académicas, focos y grupos invisibles de trabajo e investigación se han estudiado las siguientes variables: Frecuencia de términos de los títulos, evolución del número de tesis leídas por periodos, universidad de lectura, dirección de tesis así como la presidencia del mismo y genealogías director-doctorando. El análisis de redes vislumbra y visualiza las interacciones entre académicos, el nivel de independencia de los diferentes actores de la red, la coparticipación entre actores en tribunales, el grado de intermediación de los diferentes académicos.

Large Scale Grazing Systems (LSGS) are much more than large expanses of seminatural vegetation. LSGS are complex structures emerging from the interaction of human behaviour and natural resources. Man-made and nature laws are intertwined in systems of grassland management to produce large-scale effects. LSGS actually harbour a significant part of European natural valúes, but are also places where a small part of the rural population strives to make a living under harsh environmental and social conditions. This research is aimed at responding to what is left behind under current trend (abandonment). We have dealt with identification, analysis and diagnosis, but not with prescription. Our main argument is that extensive grazing is congenial with natural valúes, but is the former that gives way to the latter. This assumption was tested for the main LSGS of three Mediterranean countries of the European Union (EU): Spain, Italy, and Greece. Survey tools (fact-sheets, survey guidelines and sustainability questionnaires) were devised within the EU-funded LACOPE project and further, groups of external experts, within the three countries, were requested for collaboration. This research encompasses two parts. In the Presentation section, the most representative LSGS in Spain, Italy and Greece were identified and a comparative typology elaborated based on individual profiles for external experts. The Successional Trajectories and Target Vegetation types sections are devoted to the relationships between grazing and biodiversity, as assessed by plant species richness and vegetation types. In this case, external experts' contribution, literature review and further cooperative and interdisciplinary job were used. We detected general patterns of shrubby overgrowth on grazing cessation, increasing species richness with extensive grazing and plant species adapted to grazing or post-grazing succession. The relationship between grazing and biodiversity was not univocal, and spatial and temporal management of grazing play a major role. It must be stressed the importance of adequate knowledge of the species and habitat specific impacts of grazing regimes (temporality and grazing intensity). LSGS in the three countries face some common threats from intensification in the lowlands to abandonment in the far-reaching and less favoured grazing grounds. Harsh workings conditions, social fragility, lacks of assurance of family business turn over, and poor economic performance, are common drivers of change, under a global setting of economic development. However, differential diagnosis of these constraints and alternative management practices (prescription) at the regional level are further required in devising and implementing sensible grazing management plans and policy frameworks.

Durante los años 1971 y 1972 se ha realizado un estudio sobre la composición y digestibilidad de seis cultivares de alfalfa (Aragón, Tierra de Campos, du Puits, Europa, F.D. 100 y Ranger). Las determinaciones químicas efectuadas fueron: proteína bruta, extracto etéreo, fibra neutro-detergente, fibra ácido-detergente, celulosa, lignina, hemicelulosas y cenizas. La digestibilidad fue estimada por método químico.Los resultados obtenidos mostraron la existencia de algunas diferencias entre los cultivares comparados, pero, en general, fueron de escasa significación estadística.El efecto varietal no se manifestó como un factor que modifique acusadamente la composición química y la digestibilidad de la alfalfa.

En ensayos repetidos durante dos años, se estudiaron los rendimientos, composición química y digestibilidad, de la planta de guisante a distintos estados de madurezLos rendimientos más elevados se obtuvieron cuando la planta se cosechó al estado de legumbres formadas, presentando aquéllos variaciones muy acusadas por efecto de las condiciones climatológicas del año de cultivo (4.845 Kg./Ha. de m.s. en 1979-80 y 2.615 Kg./Ha. en 1981-82).La composición química y digestibilidad del forraje, variable según estados de madurez, y años, se caracterizó por una proporción relativamente alta de proteína, baja la de fibra y lignina y un elevado coeficiente de digestibilidad de la materia seca.

Qualification has been recently introduced as a generalization of uncertainty in the field of Logic Programming. In this report we investigate a more expressive language for First-Order Functional Logic Programming with Constraints and Qualification. We present a Rewriting Logic which characterizes the intended semantics of programs, and a prototype implementation based on a semantically correct program transformation. Potential applications of the resulting language include flexible information retrieval. As a concrete illustration, we show how to write program rules to compute qualified answers for user queries concerning the books available in a given library., Comment: 36 pages, 5 figures, extended version with full proofs of Qualified Computations in Functional Logic Programming, in P.M. Hill and D.S. Warren (Eds.), ICLP 2009, LNCS 5649, pp. 449-463, 2009

El presente trabajo es un análisis de la estructura productiva de la investigación española sobre televisión a través de los datos extraídos de las tesis doctorales sobre televisión en España en el período 1976/2007. Para ello se utilizan dos metodologías diferentes; el análisis bibliométrico y el análisis de redes sociales. Para localizar las tesis doctorales se ha utilizado la base de datos bibliográfica Teseo. Los resultados describen la producción según quinquenios, universidades, directores y evaluadores. Se generan redes sociales para identificar grupos académicos que caracterizaron el período estudiado y tendencias de selección en tribunales según director y universidad. El número total de tesis producidas en el período estudiado es de 404 títulos. La tendencia general indica un incremento constante en todos los períodos con un crecimiento exponencial en los últimos 15 años. Son las universidades históricas de Comunicación las que destacan en la producción, siendo la Universidad Complutense la que capitaliza el mayor número de tesis leídas. El análisis estructural demuestra que solamente la Universidad Complutense, la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, la Universidad de Navarra y la Universidad de la Laguna generan grupos propios. A través del análisis de redes sociales se localiza a los profesores que estructuran el sistema de investigación español en televisión. Las posiciones predominantes dentro de la estructura de la red son ocupadas principalmente por catedráticos de Comunicación de la Universidad Complutense y Autónoma de Barcelona. This paper analyses the productive structure in Spanish television research. Data from theses about Spanish television which had been defended in this country over the period 1976/2007 was extracted. Two methodologies are used within this analysis: a bibliometric analysis and Social Network Analysis (SNA). Results show the production of theses by time period, university, these advisors and examination board members. The use of social networks leads us in the identification of notable academic groups operating in the present period as well as tendencies in the composition of the board in terms of university of origin and thesis advisor. There are 404 theses on television written in this period. The results indicate a general and constant increase in the number of theses, especially noticeable over the last 15 years. Regarding scientific production, the Complutense University of Madrid stands out as the most productive. The structural analysis shows that only the Complutense University of Madrid, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, University of Navarre and the University of La Laguna generate their own research groups. Professors shaping the Spanish research system for television are found through the analysis of social networks. Leading positions within the network structure are held by professors of communication from the Complutense University of Madrid and the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Se ha realizado un estudio comparativo de los rendimientos, composición química y digestibilidad de la veza común (V. sativa L.) y de la veza velluda (V. villosa Roth).Los rendimientos de materia seca por Ha. fueron más elevados, en todos los estados, en el caso de la V. sativa, obteniéndose en ambas especies los máximos valores en el estado de plena floración.La composición química y la digestibilidad difirieron significativamente (P < 0,01) entre ambas especies de veza. Las diferencias fueron más acusadas en los estados de iniciación y de plena floración, si bien, este hecho fue debido fundamentalmente a la presencia de legumbres en la V. sativa en dichos estados.El estado de crecimiento y desarrollo influyó significativamente (P < 0,01) sobre la producción, composición y digestibilidad.

This volume contains the papers presented at the 19th Workshop on Logic- based methods in Programming Environments (WLPE'09), which was held in Pasadena, USA, on July 14th, 2009. WLPE aims at providing an informal meeting for researchers working on logic-based methods and tools which support program development and analy- sis. This year, we have continued and consolidated the shift in focus from en- vironmental tools for logic programming to logic-based environmental tools for programming in general, so that this workshop can be possibly interesting for a wider scientific community. All the papers submitted to WLPE'09 have gone through a careful process of peer reviewing, with at least three reviews for each paper and a subsequent in-depth discussion in the Program Committee., Comment: Html page including the links to the papers presented at the Workshop. The papers are already in CoRR

Declarative debugging is a semi-automatic technique that starts from an incorrect computation and locates a program fragment responsible for the error by building a tree representing this computation and guiding the user through it to find the error. Membership equational logic (MEL) is an equational logic that in addition to equations allows to state membership axioms characterizing the elements of a sort. Rewriting logic is a logic of change that extends MEL by adding rewrite rules, that correspond to transitions between states and can be nondeterministic. We propose here a calculus to infer reductions, sort inferences, normal forms and least sorts with the equational part, and rewrites and sets of reachable terms through rules. We use an abbreviation of the proof trees computed with this calculus to build appropriate debugging trees for both wrong (an incorrect result obtained from an initial result) and missing answers (results that are erroneous because they are incomplete), whose adequacy for debugging is proved. Using these trees we have implemented a declarative debugger for Maude, a high-performance system based on rewriting logic, whose use is illustrated with an example.

We use data mining techniques for finding 82 previously unreported common proper motion pairs from the PPM-Extended catalogue. Special-purpose software automating the different phases of the process has been developed. The software simplifies the detection of the new pairs by integrating a set of basic operations over catalogues. The operations can be combined by the user in scripts representing different filtering criteria. This procedure facilitates testing the software and employing the same scripts for different projects.

We show in this guide how to use our declarative debugger for Maude specifications. Declarative debugging is a semi-automatic technique that starts from a computation considered incorrect by the user (error symptom) and locates a program fragment responsible for the error by asking questions to an external oracle, which is usually the user. In our case the debugging tree is obtained from a proof tree in a suitable semantic calculus; more concretely, we abbreviate the proof trees obtained from this calculus in order to ease and shorten the debugging process while preserving the correctness and completeness of the technique. We present the main features of our tool, what is assumed about the modules introduced by the user, the list of available commands, and the kinds of questions used during the debugging process. Then, we use several examples to illustrate how to use the debugger. We refer the interested reader to the webpage http://maude.sip.ucm.es/debugging, where these and other examples can be found together with more information about the theory underlying the debugger, its implementation and the Maude source files.

We introduce a declarative debugger for Maude modules: functional modules correspond to executable specifications in membership equational logic, while system modules correspond to rewrite theories. First we describe the construction of appropriate debugging trees for oriented equational and membership inferences and rewrite rules. These trees are obtained as the result of collapsing in proof trees all those nodes whose correction does not need any justification. We include several extended examples to illustrate the use of the declarative debugger and its main features, such as two possible constructions of the debugging tree, two different strategies to traverse it, use of a correct module to reduce the number of questions asked to the user, selection of trusted vs. suspicious statements by means of labels, and trusting of statements “on the fly.” Since Maude supports the reflective features in its underlying logic, it includes a predefined META-LEVEL module providing access to metalevel concepts such as specifications or computations as usual data. This allows us to generate and navigate the debugging tree of a Maude computation using operations in Maude itself. Even the user interface of the declarative debugger for Maude can be specified in Maude itself. We describe in detail this metalevel implementation of our tool.