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Respiratory viruses, such as COVID-19, are spread over time and space based on human-to-human interactions. Human mobility plays a key role in the propagation of the virus. Different types of sensors in smart cities are able to continuously monitor traffic-related human mobility, showing the impact of COVID-19 on traffic volumes and patterns. In a similar way, traffic volumes measured by smart traffic sensors provide a proxy variable to capture human mobility, which is expected to have an impact on new COVID-19 infections. Adding traffic data from smart city sensors to machine learning models designed to estimate upcoming COVID-19 incidence values should provide optimized results compared to models based on COVID-19 data alone. This paper proposes a novel model to extract spatio-temporal patterns in the spread of the COVID-19 virus for short-term predictions by organizing COVID-19 incidence and traffic data as interrelated temporal sequences of spatial images. The model is trained and validated with real data from the city of Madrid in Spain for 84 weeks, combining information from 4372 traffic measuring points and 143 COVID-19 PCR test centers. The results are compared with a baseline model designed for the extraction of spatio-temporal patterns from COVID-19-only sequences of images, showing that using traffic information enhances the results when forecasting a new wave of infections (MSE values are reduced by a 70% factor). The information that traffic data has on the spread of the COVID-19 virus is also analyzed, showing that traffic data alone is not sufficient for accurate COVID-19 forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to systematize the opinions of seventeenth-century Spanish theologians and moralists on the torments suffered by souls in purgatory In order to do so, the most representative treatises published at the time, which are kept at the National Library of Madrid, have been analysed. Departing from the concepts of probity and piety, which God dictates for the provisional inhabitants of the «Third Place», the article first makes a sketch of how purgatorial penalties were treated from the earliest historical references to the council of Trent and Describes their evolution. The paper then focuses on the study of how the issue was addressed by Spanish authors. More particularly, it analysis the different types of punishments prescribed for souls in purgatory. Several categories have been found, of which some are internal to purgatory, while others are external. Among the latter, a distinction is made between penalties of damage and penalties of meaning. The paper ponders the question of why penalties of damage were considered more griefful than penalties of meaning. In so doing, it also recognizes the weight that was specifically attributed to fire, further nuancing the assessment of penalties. To finish, the article presents a catalogue of the different types of penalties described in the visions of different people and literary characters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we describe an educational experience in the context of the Master's degree that is compulsory in Spain to become a secondary education mathematics teacher. Master's students from two universities in Madrid (Spain) attended lectures that addressed—emphasizing the concourse of a dynamic geometry software package—some historical, didactic and mathematical issues related to linkage mechanisms, such as those arising in the 18th and 19th centuries during the development of the steam engine. Afterwards, participants were asked to provide three different kinds of feedback: (i) working on an assigned group task, (ii) individually answering a questionnaire, and (iii) proposing some classroom activity, imagining it would be addressed to their prospective pupils. All three issues focused on the specific topic of the attended lectures. In the framework of Mason's reflective discourse analysis, the information supplied by the participants has been analyzed. The objective was to explore what they have learned from the experience and what their perception is of the potential interest in linkages as a methodological instrument for their future professional activity as teachers. This analysis is then the basis upon which to reflect on the opportunities (and problems) that this particular bar-joint linkages methodological approach could bring towards providing future mathematics teachers with attractive tools that would contribute to enhancing a STEAM-oriented education. Finally, the students' answers allow us to conclude that the experience was beneficial for these pre-service teachers, both in improving their knowledge on linkages history, mathematics, industrial, technological and artistic applications, and in enhancing the use in the classroom of this very suitable STEAM context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper first presents a fuzzy expert system to identify and classify conventional two‐lane roads based on geometric characteristics. Both fuzzy and neuro‐fuzzy techniques have been used. Fuzzy logic has proved suitable to address this problem, since in this case, there is a variability of input information, and classical rules are not suitable to be used due to the uncertainty introduced by some combinations of the variables. Each road's geometric features were measured by sensors in an equipped vehicle, and are subsequently used to classify the roads according to their real condition. The conventional two‐lane roads used for this research are located in the Madrid Region, in Spain. This intelligent system may be used to update the road database regarding the assigned type to each conventional road, according to their present features and state. Also, a risk identification system has been developed to assess whether a vehicle is driving on a two‐lane road with an inappropriate speed, combining variables such as the former identification model, vehicle type, road longitudinal gradient, the angle covered by each horizontal curve, and the existence or not of an additional traffic lane. A fuzzy risk index is proposed for this approach. This fuzzy model may be useful to detect road sections where safety must be enhanced by revising the speed limit, since less safe situations may arise from travelling at unappropriated speeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performing arts are currently in a critical situation worldwide. Various reports warn that the lack of audience. If we focus on dance, and especially folk dances, the situation is worse. In various countries and continents, folk dances are slowly disappearing. In Spain, we find evidence of the downward trend in terms of the number of attendees to performances of Spanish dance -an art form that is highly valued throughout the world. In a generation marked by technological advancements, the only way for classic performing arts to reach young audiences - or digital natives – is to speak the same language they use with new technologies. This paper presents a study in collaboration with the Spanish National Dance Company, carried out with 877 students (aged from 9 to 12) from 12 different schools in the community of Madrid, Spain. We designed a two-phase experiment. In the first phase, we separated the students into 3 groups: students who played a videogame called “Dancing a Treasure,” those who received a workshop from professional dancers, and a control group. In the second phase that took place two weeks later, the participants attended to a real show of Spanish dance, and we studied how the previous educational approaches affected to the students increase of interest after the show. The experiment demonstrated that the videogame was, at least, as effective in increment interest about dance in younger generations as a workshop taught by expert dance professionals. Thus, in terms of scalability, the videogame is a better option because it can be applied with the same results to larger groups with no additional cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Olavide Museum in Madrid, which was founded in the 19th century, preserves one of the most important collections in the world of three-dimensional dermatological models made of polychrome beeswax. These models have been used for the training of numerous generations of dermatologists in Spain. Unfortunately, many of the figures were preserved in precarious conditions during the time that the museum was closed in the middle of the 20th century, and some could not be found after its reopening. In this paper, we show a method for the recovery of a missing model of which only the original plaster cast remains. For this purpose, we use the combination of a structured light scanner and 3D printing, together with traditional techniques, to reproduce a copy of the original cast, in order to prevent its deterioration during the wax casting. As a result of this study, a highly realistic figure was obtained, which represented, in great detail, the small superficial reliefs of the skin lesions, as well as their colour. The conclusion of this research is that it is possible to recreate, with precision, a didactic model in beeswax from its mould, without the need to use the mould in the process, which avoids any risk of deterioration in the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chagas disease (CD) has become an emerging global health problem in association with the immigration of individuals from endemic areas (in LatinAmerica) to other countries.Spain is the country in Europe with the highest number of CD cases. Concerning pediatric CD, treatment is not only better tolerated by younger children but also has greater cure possibilities. The aim of this study was to describe clinical and epidemiological aspects of CD in a pediatric population diagnosed of 10 hospitals in the Community of Madrid during the 2004–2018 period, as well as the safety and efficacy of CD treatment on this population. Methodology/Principal findings: A multicenter, retrospective, descriptive study was conducted. The studied population included all identified children under the age of 18 with a diagnosis of CD. Diagnosis was performed with a positive parasitological test (with subsequent confirmation) or confirmed persistence of positive serology beyond 9 months, for children younger than one year-old, and with two different positive serological tests, for children older than one. Fifty-one children were included (59% male; 50.9% born in Spain). All mothers were from Latin America. The median age at diagnosis was 0.7 months for those under one year of age, and 11.08 years for those older than one year-old. Only one case presented a symptomatic course (hydrops faetalis, haemodynamic instability at birth, ascites, anaemia). For 94% treatment was completed. Considering patients who received benznidazole (47), AE were recorded in 48,9%. Among the 32 patients older than one year-old treated with benznidazole, 18 (56.25%) had adverse events whereas in the 15 under one year, 5(33,3%) did. Eigtheen (78.2%) of the patients with benznidazole AE were older than one year-old(median age 11.4 years). Of the patients treated with nifurtimox (9), AE were reported in 3 cases (33,3%). Cure was confirmed in 80% of the children under one year-old vs 4.3% in those older (p<0.001). Loss to follow- up occurred in 35.3% of patients. Conclusions/Significances: Screening programs of CD since birth allow early diagnosis and treatment, with a significantly higher cure rate in children treated before one year of age, with lower incidence of adverse events. The high proportion of patients lost to follow-up in this vulnerable population is of concern. Author summary: Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, has traditionally been confined to endemic locations in South America (with vectorial transmission), but is nowadays emerging in Europe, mainly in Spain, due to immigration. A series of characteristics of this disease condition its management. It is usually asymptomatic (especially in early stages), it can be transmitted from mothers to child (vertical transmission) and treatment is more effective at a younger age or during the early stages of infection. For these reasons early diagnosis and treatment of infected children is a priority. To date, there are few publications on pediatric CD series in non-endemic regions. In this paper we describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 51 children diagnosed with pediatric CD in a non-endemic area, as well as the the safety and efficacy of treatment in this patient population. We found that most patients were asymptomatic at diagnosis. The cure percentage was clearly higher when they were treated before one year-old (80% vs 4.3% in children older than one).Adverse events to treatment have occurred especially in older children, being frequent in this age group (median age 11 years). The high proportion of patients lost to follow-up that occurs in this vulnerable population is also noteworthy (35.3% in our case). We highlight, as a conclusion of our study, the need of carrying out systematic screening for this disease (women of childbearing age, children of mothers with positive serology) to reduce the rate of vertical transmission and to achieve higher cure rates and better tolerance to treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the interest and political participation of Madrid pre-university students in the new political Spanish scenario. A wide bibliographic review of international and national studies is developed. The results of a survey involving 250 pre-university students in Madrid is also are analyzed. The study results reveal that support of parties and leaders is very low. However, the interest in politics and the evaluation of the vote are very high. Besides, unconventional mechanisms such as social movements, strikes, demonstrations and the social networks achieve an important support. Young people get informed about politics through digital newspapers, televisions and social networks. The paper concludes that Madrid's pre-university students have interest in politics but they feel disaffection towards parties and their leaders. The distancing and rejection is directed to the functioning of democracy, not to democracy itself. It is urgent to renew and regenerate the conventional political structures to reconnect with this group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of renewed interest in the 1918-1919 flu pandemic as a result of the development of COVID-19, this paper presents a reflection from the point of view of the social history of medicine on the transformation that the erroneously named "Spanish flu" brought to the working environment of health professionals in Spain, combining what happened in Madrid and in the country as a whole. Using as our sources monographs and the principal professional scientific journals of physicians, pharmacists and veterinarians, together with a selection from the general press and documentation from both houses of Parliament, we show how the daily activity of doctors was marked by the escalation of their clinical work as well as a considerable deployment of laboratory research in order to establish the aetiology of the flu and to prepare specific therapeutic and prophylactic measures. We show the difficulties this work encountered, and the interest of pharmacists and veterinarians in reproducing this new aspect of science and competing with doctors to achieve greater involvement in the bacteriological fight against infectious diseases. The paper also points out how, faced by the difficulty of controlling the pandemic, a section of the medical profession turned to the socioeconomic inequalities (poor working and living conditions, overcrowding, shortage and cost of food, medicine and basic necessities) in the working population and shortcomings in health care to explain its extreme seriousness, and proposed scientific medical and general measures to correct the situation in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we discuss emergent cross-cutting themes across a series of educational intervention projects in which practitioners-in-training adopted and adapted in their proposals and work design the logic of ethnographic experimental collaboration (XCOL) and participatory action research (PAR) (Clark, 2010; Estalella & Sánchez-Criado, 2018) perspectives. We were involved in three interventions developed in Madrid (Spain) across formal and informal learning contexts as part of the internship/practicum of future educational psychologists. Our work was designed in response to the identified needs and demands of the internship sites. Yet, as educational interventions, they were explicitly conceptualized and implemented in ways that depart substantially from the common expectations of process-product educational intervention and dominant ways, at least in Spain, of constructing educational accountability (cf. Berliner, 1989; Gage & Needels, 1989). We unpack four themes relevant across the three projects, which emerged from our joint discussions of the three interventions: (a) how "outcomes/results" are reconstructed in XCOL/PAR educational interventions, (b) the transformations in our emergent professional identities, (c) the place of different materialities and expressive media in the work we planned (d) how space-time constraints were construed in our unfolding projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The singing profession in the nineteenth century allowed women to opt for a social reality that differed from the household model. Those who stood out for their vocal styling or those who wanted to develop their artistic sensitivity could have access to official or private singing education. The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of the activity carried out by women in the process of teaching-learning of singing during the nineteenth century in Spain, despite de limitations of the time. For that purpose, the focus will be on two representative vocal training institutions: the Conservatory in the public system in Madrid and the Lyric-dramatic school in the private sphere. This research is based on the review and analysis of documentation, mostly historical, through which several aspects have been recreated: the type of vocal instruction that women had access to, their role within the education system and the professional careers of those studies. Even though there were few differences between both genders during the training period, the low presence of female singing teachers in teachers' staff meetings, the limited opportunities to teach male singers, and relative paucity of places in which to publish their didactic methods demonstrate the long way that still lied ahead in achieving gender equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Capital needs a favourable scenario for its reproduction and the lack of institutional guarantees can become a substantial limitation. Although its mobility is an intrinsic characteristic of the current phase of globalization, this is the reason that the Catalan secessionist attempt, which reached its peak with the referendum of 1 October 2017, promoted the transfer of a big number of companies in this Community to other Spanish regions, mainly to the Community of Madrid. This paper is structured in three sections and aims to analyze the historical and political circumstances in which this process occurred, as well as its consequences (loss of millions of euros in bank deposits, transfer of management centers, cancellation of international events, reduction in the number of tourists, etc.). Likewise, it examines, from opinions of experts, the effects that this process will continue to have in this and other Spanish Autonomous Communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this paper is to analyze the underlying variables of return intention of migrants in Spain's Madrid Region, who are segmented by their legal status. The microdata source is the Regional Immigration Survey 2011-2012. Using a sample of 563 individuals, we formulated two research questions to determine the importance of legal status in return intentions and to find the main explanatory variables of return intention for both legal and illegal immigrants, such as personal factors, job market success and social and contextual factors. To answer these research questions, we developed a binomial logit model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper analyzes the mass size distribution of some inorganic species present in the atmospheric aerosol from a field campaign carried out in Madrid throughout a complete year (February 2007–February 2008). Samplings were performed by means of a micro-orifice uniform deposit impactor (MOUDI). Ambient air was sampled during consecutive nocturnal and diurnal periods, and diurnal/nocturnal behaviors were compared for the twenty night-day sampling pairs that were gathered. Annual and seasonal averages were obtained, and some case studies under specific atmospheric conditions are discussed in the paper. Results have shown that the sulfate and ammonium mass was concentrated in the accumulation mode, between 0.18 and 0.56μm, so that gas-phase and condensation processes for secondary aerosol formation prevailed during the sampling periods in this area. An exception to this behavior was found during a fog event when distributions for these two species were centered in the 0.56–1 and 1–1.8μm size stages, corresponding to the droplet mode. In most of the samples, the ammonium mass measured in these size ranges was enough or almost enough to neutralize inorganic acidity by formation of ammonium sulfate and nitrate. However, a significant sulfate mass not neutralized by ammonium was found in the impactor backup quartz filter (aerodynamic diameter<0.056μm). The concentration of this sulfate and its contribution to the ultrafine fraction mass was higher under good dispersive conditions, prevailing in summer, when particle growth processes are not so favored due to the higher atmospheric dilution factors. The origin of this ultrafine sulfate has been attributed to direct emissions from traffic, associated to the nucleation mode. Regarding the nitrate concentration, it was found higher in the coarse mode than in the accumulation mode on an annual basis. The highest concentrations were measured in winter episodic situations. The marked seasonal variability shown in the accumulation mode by this species is related to the volatility of ammonium nitrate. Among all the studied ions, nitrate also presented the highest differences between the diurnal and nocturnal concentrations in all size ranges. This is probably related to the short time scale required for its formation from gaseous precursors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper will examine the development of the fledgling diplomatic ties between the new Irish state and the recently established Spanish legation based in Dublin. It will analyse the formal establishment of political, cultural and social links developed in contemporary times between the two old historical allies that had previously been limited to polite lip-service; conditioned, in part, as they were by monarchical Madrid's caution in regard to London and previous Spanish reluctance to engage with a rebellious state. 1931 signified a volte face in the relationship developing between Dublin and Madrid since the establishment of a Spanish consulate in Dublin in March 1924, facilitated by their commitment to the League of Nations, to which both were strongly committed in the 1920s. This paper will illustrate how the declaration of the II Republic in Spain was a crossroads in the relationship between these two nations. The roles of 'rebel' and 'traditionalist' state had been instantly switched. The Church and much of the new political elite in Ireland viewed republican reforms in Spain with ever growing and public distaste creating conflict among Irish republicanism, post-independence. The main Spanish republican representative in Ireland in this 1931-33 period, Emilio Sanz y Tovar, became very sensitive to these schisms as he tried to cement political and socioeconomic ties with his Irish hosts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering that soccer is a highly political sport and places itself in the crosshairs of capital questions such as membership and identity, the goal of the present article is to analyze how the discourse of Spanish identity is constructed in the sports press. To that purpose, the author conduct an exhaustive content analysis focused on the four main daily sports papers with the highest print run and circulation in Spain. Specifically, it studies the information published about the Spanish team during its participation in the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The article focuses on the role that the sports media currently plays as active agents of ideological transmission of a banal nationalism, and points out the differences that this media process of constructing a Spanish nationality shows compared to non-democratic periods. The article also highlights the existing discrepancies between the ways in which this identity is formed in the sports papers edited in Madrid (centralist) and the ones edited in Barcelona (autonomist). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To evaluate a specific form of resource management, for example, the maintenance of valuable cultural landscapes, the contributions of many different viewpoints must be considered. In this paper, a model for assessing and integrating the different aspects contributing to landscape evaluation is proposed. Some results of its use in landscape assessment in the Madrid region (central Spain) are discussed.The model takes into account five assessment dimensions which are considered to be independent—the ecological, productive, economic, social and cultural evaluative systems and it recognises and assumes conflicts and trade-offs between these components. The inclusion of the production system as an independent assessment dimension is original and is justified because it is the link that connects the ecological and economic systems. Since this dimension acts most directly on the ecosystem, the production system includes the attribute of ecological or strong (in the sense of [For the Common Good, Beacon Press, Boston, 1994]) sustainability.The evaluation method places special emphasis on defining a conceptual framework, and from this defines scenarios in comparison with which particular development models (landscape planning, resources management) can be evaluated. Seven scenarios, coming from a hypothetical, traditional sustainable scenario of resources management, are defined. One of these, the sound sustainable scenario, is defended as the only one viable in the long term, particularly in developing countries.This method was employed to evaluate the agricultural and natural landscape of the Madrid region municipalities. The multivariate approach adopted was based on the selection of indicator sets for each evaluative dimension. The structure of relationships among indicators was then analysed separately for each dimension and values assigned to the municipalities according to their position on the main axes of the multivariate analyses. Each municipality was assigned to one of the seven development scenarios by means of discriminant analysis. The approach’s greatest assets are its flexibility in the selection of the indicators and the efficacy in its monitoring and comparison of the different analysed cases once a rigorous conceptual framework was established.The paper discusses the conditions for the sustainability of the human activities and provides a method for evaluating and comparing scenarios of resources management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper documents the development and first offering of an undergraduate course in Digital Image Processing at the Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid (Spain). The paper describes how the appropriate introduction of main Algorithm Design Techniques can successfully assist the students to achieve a comprehensive understanding of image operations and related algorithms. Image processing problems offer a natural way to present real world problems where the students can use their algorithmic knowledge. Furthermore, image processing solutions are needed from a methodological development and require efficient well-designed algorithms. This paper presents an effort in the integration of Algorithm Design Techniques in a Digital Image Processing course with a very practical scope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents evaluation of a plan for surveillance of and controlling the effects of heat-related mortality (PSCEHW), implemented in Madrid in 2004 through a time series analysis conducted with ARIMA modeling. From the public health point of view, prevention plans should be implemented as adaptive measures to heat waves. In 2003, the impact attributable to the heat wave was an increase in mortality per °C of 22.39 %. All heat waves since 2003 have been of lower intensity, and yet, in 2005 there was a heat wave of lower intensity that had a greater impact, i.e. an increase in mortality per °C of 45.71 %. With the methodology used here, we cannot say whether implementation of PSCEHW has resulted in a decrease of mortality attributable to high temperatures in the city of Madrid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel approach to assess spatial and temporal irrigation performance in urban parks and can assist park manager/operator decisions in irrigation management. First, irrigation needs are estimated by traditional irrigation scheduling and the irrigation zones with similar water needs that share the same electric valve (hydrozones) are identified. Then, irrigation performance is calculated using the relative water supply (RWS) indicator and mapped (GIS software). This approach can be adapted to various spatial and temporal scales. In this study, it was applied to the Valdebebas urban development VBB (Madrid) between the 2017 and 2019 irrigation seasons. The results for the VBB parks showed high spatio-temporal variation in irrigation performance among plant typologies within an irrigation season, which can be explained by the landscape coefficient KL variation across the parks. Likewise, this variation was also observed among the three evaluated seasons; explained among other factors by differences in irrigation management. For each hydrozone, the estimation of the NDVI index by Sentinel-2A satellite images in 2019 showed a threshold on irrigation performance. Thus, the remote sensing data together with the proposed approach can be a valuable tool for helping park managers/technicians adopt better decisions on irrigation practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the widespread concern in society about young people's shortcomings in terms of writing skills, this article aims to analyze whether that competence is developed and assessed at University. The academic community cannot remain indifferent to this problem, so it is important to include the improvement of this skill in the academic curriculum. The development of writing skills is a general competence and it is considered, therefore, necessary for any study and any profile. Particularly in Business Administration, the acquisition of good written expression is not restricted to any course, but can potentially be developed in several of them over the degree, and the subject *Final Research Project* is one of the courses which can best frame the acquisition of this skill. Therefore, in this paper we develop an analysis of the design, organization, content and assessment of the Final Research Project in all universities of the Community of Madrid, both public and private, in which the degree in Business Administration is offered. The study was compiled with information obtained from the curriculum and the academic catalogue for the course, both of them available on the websites of the different universities [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the links between the gentrification process of the Madrilenian district of Chueca and homosexual presence. As envisioned, Chueca already was in the gay and transvestite epicenter from decades ago. It is further argued that the gay business and residential attraction of the 90's and 2000's alone do not explain the participation of gay and lesbian population in the process of gentrification and neighborhood rehabilitation. It is necessary to look at representations of the male homosexual, to the changes in their lifestyles, to grasp the changes in Chueca image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyse the institutionalisation of nutrition sciences in Spain in the second half of the twentieth century, and evaluate the activities of the journal Anales de Bromatologia. Method: Descriptive bibliometric study of the original articles. Full names of the authors and the complete article title were recorded. Using key words, each article was assigned by consensus of the researchers to a single main subject in accordance with the thirteen subject areas addressed by the Spanish Society of Bromatology in its meetings. An analysis was conducted of the distribution and trends of general productivity indicators and their characteristics. Results: A total of 917 original articles were published, with a mean of 20.8 papers/year. The subjects for which the highest percentage of articles was recorded were foreign substances in foods, foods of plant origin and nutrition. A total of 874 authors contributed, with a collaboration rate of 2.43 and a transience rate of 70.1%. Distribution of the number of authors per article was close to that indicated by Lotka's law of scientific productivity. The top twelve producers, predominantly women, participated in 49.9% of the articles published. Conclusion: The journal showed low productivity and was of an endogamous nature, with a predominance of authors related to the School of Bromatology in the Faculty of Pharmacy, at the Complutense University. The subjects addressed reflected the demands of the nutrition transition in Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to propose an integrated planning model to adequate the offered capacity and system frequencies to attend the increased passenger demand and traffic congestion around urban and suburban areas. The railway capacity is studied in line planning, however, these planned frequencies were obtained without accounting for rolling stock flows through the rapid transit network. In order to provide the problem more freedom to decide rolling stock flows and therefore better adjusting these flows to passenger demand, a new integrated model is proposed, where frequencies are readjusted. Then, the railway timetable and rolling stock assignment are also calculated, where shunting operations are taken into account. These operations may sometimes malfunction, causing localized incidents that could propagate throughout the entire network due to cascading effects. This type of operations will be penalized with the goal of selectively avoiding them and ameliorating their high malfunction probabilities. Swapping operations will also be ensured using homogeneous rolling stock material and ensuring parkings in strategic stations. We illustrate our model using computational experiments drawn from RENFE (the main Spanish operator of suburban passenger trains) in Madrid, Spain. The results show that through this integrated approach a greater robustness degree can be obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces inference based stochastic dominance tools to decompose the difference between economic welfare and poverty among countries or regions into inequality effect and income effect. To this aim, the variances and covariances matrix of the generalized Lorenz curve used in that decomposition are developed. The methodology is applied to Spain and its regions for the period 2003-2007. The conclusion is that in some regions, especially AndalucIa and Madrid, the income distribution is clearly anti-poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we analyze the legitimacy of hidden camera like a research method in journalism. This analysis is proposed from three different perspectives: legal, deontological and journalists' opinion on practical dilemmas. The conclusions obtained in each of these areas are complementary and provide more specific criteria to deal with hard case in which journalist is torn between the right to citizens" information and respect for the law and deontological codes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Please cite this paper as: del Rosal et al. (2011) Pandemic H1N1 influenza-associated hospitalizations in children in Madrid, Spain. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses 5(6), e544-e551. Objective To describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of children hospitalized with 2009 pandemic influenza (pH1N1) in Madrid, Spain. Patients/Methods We included patients less than 14 years of age admitted to one of 18 hospitals in Madrid, Spain, between May 1 and November 30, 2009 and diagnosed with pH1N1 by polymerase chain reaction. A retrospective chart review was conducted and data were compared by age, presence of high-risk medical conditions, and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission. Results A total of 517 pH1N1 cases were included for final analysis. One hundred and forty-two patients (27·5%) had predisposing underlying illnesses, with immunosuppression (36 children, 7%) and moderate persistent asthma (34, 6·6%) being the most common ones. Patients with underlying medical conditions had longer hospital stays [median 5, interquartile range (IQR) 3-8 days, versus median 4, IQR 3-6, P < 0·001] and required intensive care (20·4% versus 5·9%, P < 0·001) and mechanical ventilation more frequently than previously healthy children. Globally, intensive care was required for 51 patients (10%) and invasive mechanical ventilation for 12 (2%). Pediatric intensive care unit admission was significantly associated with abnormal initial chest X-ray [Odds Ratio (OR) 3·5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·5-8·5], underlying neurological condition (OR 3·1, CI 1·2-7·5) and immunosuppression (OR 2·9, 1·2-6·8). Five patients (0·9%) died; two with severe neurological disease, two with leukemia, and one with a malignant solid tumor. Conclusions Children with underlying medical conditions experienced more severe pH1N1 disease. Risk factors for admission to the PICU included underlying neurological conditions, immunosuppression and abnormal initial chest X-ray. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines four acoustic properties (duration F0, F1, and F2) of the monophthongal vowels of Iberian Spanish (IS) from Madrid and Peruvian Spanish (PS) from Lima in various consonantal contexts (/s/, /f/, /t/, /p/, and /k/) and in various phrasal contexts (in isolated words and sentence-internally). Acoustic measurements on 39 speakers, balanced by dialect and gender, can be generalized to the following differences between the two dialects. The vowel /a/ has a lower first formant in PS than in IS by 6.3%. The vowels /e/ and /o/ have more peripheral second-formant (F2) values in PS than in IS by about 4%. The consonant /s/ causes more centralization of the F2 of neighboring vowels in IS than in PS. No dialectal differences are found for the effect of phrasal context. Next to the between-dialect differences in the vowels, the present study finds that /s/ has a higher spectral center of gravity in PS than in IS by about 10%, that PS speakers speak slower than IS speakers by about 9%, and that Spanish-speaking women speak slower than Spanish-speaking men by about 5% (irrespective of dialect). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents the analysis of the performance of a solar cooling facility along one summer season using a commercial single-effect water–lithium bromide absorption chiller aiming at domestic applications. The facility works only with solar energy using flat plate collectors and it is located at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain. The statistical analysis performed with the gathered data shows the influence of five daily operational variables on the system performance. These variables are solar energy received along the day (H) and the average values, along the operating period of the solar cooling facility (from sunrise to the end of the cold-water production), of the ambient temperature (), the wind velocity magnitude (V), the wind direction (θ) and the relative humidity (RH). First order correlation functions are given. The analysis of the data allows concluding that the most influential variables on the daily cooling energy produced and the daily averaged solar COP are H, V and θ. The period length of cold-water production is determined mainly by H and . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper focuses on how students from China are institutionally constructed through everyday practice in a Madrid middle school, where three years’ fieldwork was conducted as part of a wider research project. Particular attention is paid to the Welcome Programme at this school, a new educational measure intended for students from a migrant background to learn Spanish before they enter mainstream classes. Taking critical sociolinguistic ethnography as a theoretical/methodological/analytical framework, interactional, discursive, and ethnographic data are used to show (a) what social identities are (re)produced and challenged through school practices, in connection with the ideological framework of the modern nation-state; (b) how these practices contribute to legitimizing a particular distribution/valuation of cultural and linguistic resources within the contemporary Spanish educational system; (c) what the institutional consequences are for these Chinese newcomer students. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Damage caused to objects of cultural heritage is one of the most serious detrimental effects of air pollutants. Within the 6th Framework Programme of the EU, the CULT-STRAT project is an inter-agency, multi-disciplinary project that has integrated research and monitoring information to provide answers to policy and management questions, which relate the effects of air pollutants on heritage and the management options available to mitigate them. The overall aim of the project has been to assess and predict the effects of different pollutants on materials and objects of cultural heritage in a multipollutant scenario and to identify indicators and thresholds levels of pollutants. These have been used for development of management strategies for sustainable maintenance and preventive conservation of European Cultural Heritage and air quality policy from continental to local scale. The present paper reports one of the studies carried out in the CULT-STRAT project at city level and focused on the town of Madrid (Spain). Different maps are shown for the present and possible future scenarios (2010 and 2020): inventory of stock of cultural heritage for each selected material, concentration of selected pollutants (SO2, NO2, O3 and PM10), corrosion (cast bronze) and recession (Portland limestone), exceedance of tolerable degradation thresholds for each material and corrosion-cultural heritage overlapped maps. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper describes the practical teaching experience conducted by a professor of parasitology over eleven years, valuing the pedagogical interest has raised the incorporation of different teaching resources over the years in relation to both the needs of students as technology requirements have been imposed on our society. Are valued, the benefits of using crossword puzzles with definitions and short videos on DVD and teaching a university discipline in order to improve the teaching-learning process of students in the Bachelor of Pharmacy University of Alcalá. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aims of this study are to determine the influence and analyze the importance of reading habits as a leisure activity, and quantify the time dedicated to it, compared with other media, as television and radio. A questionnaire was used, adapted to characteristics of the population studied, and the data was processed with SPSS. To sum up, the profile of the most usual reader in the Universidad Europea de Madrid, is a woman, attending a degree in Communication and Humanities as a freshmen or sophomore. She reads novels and tales (in paper format and in Spanish) once or twice a week and much more during the holidays. She usually watches TV and uses Internet mainly to read the mail. She does not read the press everyday and goes to the library mainly to study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In recent years, ground vibrations have become an important issue due to the growing awareness of the society about environmental living conditions. In this way, vibrations caused by trains running near houses or workplaces are considered disturbing for residents. Within this framework, this paper presents a procedure to estimate the vibration path caused by the passing of a train. In order to achieve this, the equations which describe the physical phenomenon are set in the frequency and wavenumber domain and solved by using the Fourier Transform. The obtained analytical solution is transformed back into the time and space domain by means of the Fourier series. The obtained theoretical results are compared with experimental measurements carried out in the Madrid–Barcelona High Speed Line in order to analyse the performance of this procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines determinants of aspirations and expectations among children of immigrants based on a statistically representative sample of 3,375 second generation youths interviewed in 101 public and private secondary schools in metropolitan Madrid. We review the past literature on status attainment in general and aspirations and expectations, in particular, and draw from it a set of six hypotheses to guide the analysis. Most theoretical statements in this field have been developed on the basis of U.S. data; studies in other immigrant-receiving countries, especially outside the Anglophone world, have been scarce. The study thus provides an opportunity to test and refine existing hypotheses in a different national context. We present breakdowns of educational and occupational aspirations and expectations by gender, parental education and type of school attended. This is followed by multivariate regressions of all four dependent variables on these three plus other predictors suggested by the research literature. This analysis ends with structural equation models - recursive and non-recursive - that provide an integrated theoretical statement of the causal structure of ambition in the Spanish context. Implications of our findings for theory and policy are examined. Suggestions for future research in this field are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In recent years, research on ozone variability has mainly focused on the analysis of its trend. Additionally some studies have analyzed the annual, seasonal and day-to-day ozone variations. However, intra-diurnal total ozone variations are notably less explored. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to analyze the diurnal variability of total ozone column (TOC) as recorded by a Brewer spectrophotometer in Madrid (Spain). The results show that about 90% of days present non-negligible diurnal variability, indicating that, in general, it should not be assumed that TOC remains constant throughout a particular day in urban areas. In addition, this variability has a notable seasonal behavior which should be considered (the spring and summer months show higher diurnal TOC variations than autumn and winter months). This pattern is likely caused by the diurnal photochemical processes in the lower troposphere related to the formation of tropospheric ozone near the earth’s surface at populated urban locations. Thus, these diurnal fluctuations in tropospheric ozone could explain part of diurnal TOC variations (between 20% and 70% depending on the mixing layer height). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper describes adjustments within the Madrid aeronautics cluster, which are driven by changes in the sourcing strategy of Airbus. Knowledge capabilities gain importance for the relations and importance of single organisations. Based on a detailed analysis of single organisations in the cluster, implications for the network structures and innovation processes are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of official institutions such as the Academies of the Spanish Language and the Instituto Cervantes in the creation of a Hispanic linguistic community, which is meant to represent a guarantee of cultural unity across the Atlantic after two hundred years of independence. This article highlights the project's faults: the neocolonialist aspects of its linguistic policy, and the submission of particular members of the Spanish American academic and social elites in these metropolitan-inspired initiatives. It also examines the economic logic behind such initiatives in the global market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short paper analyses population reproduction in two different regions of Spain, Castile-Leon and Madrid, during the twentieth century. Over this period, although the two regions experienced a similar demographic transition in terms of both mortality and fertility, the population of Madrid grew eight-fold (from 0.7 to 6 million) while that of Castile-Leon increased by less than 10% (from 2.3 to 2.5 million). This difference is due mainly to the effect of migration. In order to analyse this process, we used the birth replacement ratio index. This indicator provides two advantages with respect to other methods: first, it is a retrospective indicator that does not assume hypothetical scenarios about the impact of migration on population dynamics; second, it enables us to distinguish the effect of each component, specifically the impact of migration in the generational replacement process. We found that in contexts of very low fertility and very high survival rates, this migration component is the main determinant of the replacement process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of wildfires in the Mediterranean Basin are caused directly or indirectly by human activity. Many biophysical and socioeconomic factors have been used in quantitative analyses of wildfire risk. However, the importance and effects of socioeconomic factors in spatial modelling have been given inadequate attention. In this paper, we use different approaches to spatially model our data to examine the influence of human activity on wildfire ignition in the south west of the Madrid region, central Spain. We examine the utility of choropleth and dasymetric mapping with both Euclidean and functional distance surfaces for two differently defined wildfire seasons. We use a method from Bayesian statistics, the Weights of Evidence model, and produce ten predictive maps of wildfire risk: (1) five maps for a two-month fire season combining datasets of evidence variables and (2) five maps for the four-month fire season using the same dataset combinations. We find that the models produced from a choropleth mapping approach with spatial variables using Euclidian and functional distance surfaces are the best of the ten models. Results indicate that spatial patterns of wildfire ignition are strongly associated with human access to the natural landscape. We suggest the methods and results presented will be useful to optimize wildfire prevention resources in areas where human activity and the urban–forest interface are important factors for wildfire ignition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a decision support system for automatic keep-clear signs management. The system consists of several modules. First of all, an acquisition module obtains images using a vehicle equipped with two recording cameras. A recognition module, which is based on Support Vector Machines (SVMs), analyzes each image and decides if there is a keep-clear sign in it. The images with keep-clear signs are included into a Geographical Information System (GIS) database. Finally in the management module, the data in the GIS are compared with the council database in order to decide actions such as repairing or reposition of signs, detection of possible frauds etc. We present the first tests of the system in a Spanish city (Meco, Madrid), where the systems is being tested for its application in the near future. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to carry out a comparative study with regard to energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, in respect of two types of engines with three different fuels. The fuels analysed are diesel, biodiesel 30% (B30) and compressed natural gas (CNG). The engines tested were a spark ignition engine (Otto cycle) and two compression ignition engines (Diesel cycle), the first fed with CNG and the last two with B30 and diesel. What is new about this study is its scope of application concerning refuse collection services in the city of Madrid. The tests were carried out on refuse trucks of the FCC Company along actual urban routes in the city of Madrid. Also taken into account were the energy input and the greenhouse gases emitted for each of the paths taken by the fuels analysed, from resource recovery to delivery to the vehicle tank. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Studying fundamental Computer Architecture and Organization topics requires a significant amount of practical work if students are to acquire a good grasp of the theoretical concepts presented in classroom lectures or textbooks. The use of simulators is commonly adapted in order to reach this objective. However, as most of the available educational simulators focus on specific topics, different laboratory assignments usually require the use of different simulators. This paper presents a graphical and interactive reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processor and memory simulator that allows active learning of some theoretical concepts covered in Computer Architecture and Organization courses. The simulator can be configured to present different processor views, from a simple serial one, without caches or pipelines, to a more realistic one with caches and superscalar execution. This approach allows a set of increasingly complex code-based laboratory assignments to be developed using a single simulator, covering topics ranging from assembly language programming to the analysis (If the different kind of cache misses, pipeline hazards or branch prediction hits and misses produced during a program execution. The simulator has been included in a an automatic assessment system that helps the students to complete the assignments and helps teachers to evaluate the correctness of the students solutions in different environments, such as high-enrollment courses or distance education. Since 1996, both the simulator and the automatic assessment system have been successfully used by more than 5000 students in Computer Architecture and Organization courses at the Technical University of Madrid (UPM), Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the experience of a program evaluation in Madrid - the evaluation of a social care program for people with chronic and severe mental illness. It is a global evaluation, including different aspects of the program - although a special attention is paid to the resources network. The evaluation process is described, including goals, methodology, phases, activities, instruments and procedures. Finally, some results are shown concerning evaluation in 2006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of both the current need to formulate a comprehensive treatment for severe chronic mentally ill patients and the increasing tendency to outpatient care, this paper presents a theoretical review of two acknowledged socio-community based approaches -- the assertive community treatment and the therapeutic accompaniment. First, a definition of "severe chronic mental illness" is forwarded along with a brief review of the background of socio-community based intervention. Then, an outline of the community social support team is made -- a new multidisciplinary device in Madrid Region for treating this kind of patients. Finally, practical considerations are made about issues such as the concept of setting, in vivo treatment, illness awareness and the importance of community involvement in the treatment of these patients. Some recommendations are also made for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prevalence of overweight and obesity (OW/OB) among adolescents worldwide has increased since the 60 s. Spain has reached one of the highest OW/OB prevalence rates among adolescents from European countries. The aim of this methodological paper is to describe the design and evaluation in the EVASYON study (Development, implementation and evaluation of the efficacy of a therapeutic programme for adolescents with OW/OB: integral education on nutrition and physical activity). Methods/Design: The EVASYON was planned by a multidisciplinary team to treat OW/OB in Spanish adolescents. The EVASYON is a multi-centre study conducted in 5 hospitals in 5 Spanish cities (Granada, Madrid, Pamplona, Santander and Zaragoza) and two hundred and four OW/OB Spanish adolescents were recruited for this intervention. The treatment was implemented for approximately one-year follow-up. The adolescents were treated in groups of a maximum of 10 subjects; each group had 20 visits during the treatment period in two phases: intensive during the first 2 months (1st to 9th visits), and extensive during the last 11 months (10th to 20th visits). In order to assess the efficacy of the treatment, 8 dimensions were measured: diet; physical activity and fitness; eating behaviour; body composition; haematological profile; metabolic profile; minerals and vitamins; immuno-inflammatory markers. Moreover, genetic polymorphisms were also determined. Discussion: The treatment programme developed in the EVASYON study was designed as a national pilot study to be implemented as an effective treatment for adolescents with OW/OB into the Spanish Health Care Service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the dimensional structure of a set of mathematical achievement tests used to assess the academic achievement in the Community of Madrid during 2005-06 and 2006-07 years and in three cohorts corresponding to the following academic degrees: 5th-6th of primary education, 1st-2nd and 3-4th of compulsory secondary education (ESO). The results coming from classical factor analysis and full information factor analysis are compared. Therefore a longitudinal study is performed in order to test whether such structure remains constant along time. The results confirm that most of the tests are mostly unidimensional structures. Meanwhile, it was proven that as the complexity of the contents increase, the complexity of the dimensional structure tests increase as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes a significant amount of new information about Santiago de Murcia's life, allowing for a fresh appraisal of the significance of his music. It is divided into three sections. The first synthesizes the previous data and conjectures about Murcia and his known sources (a printed book and three manuscripts), taking into consideration the suggestions about an eventual trip to Mexico and his possible links with a family of instrument builders from the court in Madrid. The second outlines, for the first time, a biography based on documentary evidence found in Spanish archives, demonstrating that his parents were Juan de Murcia and Magdalena Hernández, and that he was born in Madrid in 1673 and died there in 1739, which implies, among other things, that he was probably a well-known guitarist when he entered the queen's household in about 1704. Finally, the third part explores the ways in which this new evidence modifies some of our current views and assumptions on Santiago de Murcia's work, pointing out that some of his music had to be written at (or before) the beginning of 18th century and that at least two of the inheritors of his music papers had close contacts with Mexico, which might be related to the preservation of most of his sources there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to identify the professional competencies that teachers working in the autonomous community of Madrid consider necessary in their educational practice. With this aim, a questionnaire was designed to analyze the importance of such competencies to teachers in the practice of their profession, the employment of these competencies, and training the teachers received in how to carry these competencies. Next, our compiled results are compared with those of other research in this field, and finally some proposals for initial training are put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research presented in this paper shows how lab work can be organized into three phases: prelab, lab, and postlab, all supported by a Web-based experimental portal and a set of tools, some of which are connected to real lab devices. Different on-line tools and simulators are used in a flexible and configurable way that can be adapted to student curricula and course needs. This scenario is based upon real cases in distance learning courses in the Industrial Engineering School at the Universidad Nacional de Educación (The Spanish Open University), Madrid, Spain. The details of the combined real and simulated activities are discussed and some conclusions and lessons learned from this work are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]