This paper presents a methodology that permits to automate binary classification using the minimum possible number of attributes. In this methodology, the success of the binary prediction does not lie in the accuracy of an algorithm but in the evaluation metrics, which give information about the goodness of fit; which is an important factor when the data batch is unbalanced. The proposed methodology assesses the possible biases in identifying one algorithm as the best performer when considering the goodness of fit of an algorithm through evaluation metrics. The dimension of data has been reduced through the cumulative explained variance. Then, the performance of six machine learning classification models has been compared through Matthew correlation coefficient (MCC), area under curve – receiver operating characteristic (ROC-AUC), and area under curve – precision-recall (AUC-PR). The results show graphically and numerically how the evaluation metrics interfere with the most optimal outcome of an algorithm. The algorithms with the best performance in terms of evaluation metrics have been random forest and gradient boosting. In the imbalanced datasets, MCC has provided better prediction results than ROC-AUC or AUC-PR. The proposed methodology is adapted to the case of bankruptcy prediction.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak may have affected the mental health of patients at high risk of suicide. In this study we explored the wish to die and other suicide risk factors using smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in patients with a history of suicidal thoughts and behaviour. Contrary to our expectations we found a decrease in the wish to die during lockdown. This is consistent with previous studies showing that suicide rates decrease during periods of social emergency. Smartphone-based EMA can allow us to remotely assess patients and overcome the physical barriers imposed by lockdown.

Climate change can cause geographic displacement of the ecological niche of a species, so that similar species that previously did not coexist could begin to face new interactions. Such geographic displacement and increased competition can also be exacerbated by anthropic intervention. Until less than 100 years ago, Vultur gryphus and Coragyps atratus did not coexist. Nowadays, possibly as a result of climate change, changes in the distributions of both species created areas where they are now sympatric. Through ecological niche modeling, we evaluated the possible effects that future scenarios of climate change and human influence would have on the distribution and sympatry between the two species. Our models predict that the current distribution of V. gryphus will be reduced between 18% and 24% by 2050 and between 21% and 32% by 2070. Additionally, they predict that the distribution of C. atratus will be reduced by 31–52% by the year 2050 and 15–60% by 2070. The two algorithms predict a reduction in the areas of sympatry. However, for the northern Andes the overlap between the two species will increase, reaching up to 70% in the year 2070. The distribution of C. atratus will move towards higher areas in the altitudinal gradient, and this will generate an increase in the current sympatry between both species. No clear trend was observed on the effect of human influences on the areas of overlap between the scenarios evaluated. The possible effects of climate change and anthropic intervention in future scenarios found in this study highlight the need to include these effects in future analyses and conservation programs of V. gryphus and other threatened vultures.

Response to SSRIs suggests the implication of the serotonergic system in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, biological studies on serotonergic function in OCD have yielded contradictory results. Platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity has been proposed as an index of cerebral serotonin activity.

The aim of this study was to examine platelet MAO activity in 29 OCD patients and 29 healthy controls matched by age, sex and tobacco use. We also explored the relationship between platelet MAO activity and aggressive obsessions in OCD patients.

There were no differences in platelet MAO activity between OCD patients and healthy controls. We found a significant correlation between platelet MAO activity and Y-BOCS scores in the group of patients with Y-BOCS scores >15.

OCD patients with aggressive obsessions had significantly lower levels of platelet MAO activity than patients without aggressive obsessions.

Our results suggest that platelet MAO activity may be a marker of OCD severity, and that low platelet MAO activity may be associated with aggressive obsessions in OCD patients.

The need to achieve a uniform distribution of concentrated solar flux in the photovoltaic, thermal or any other receivers is a common problem; therefore, the optical characterization of the concentration system is necessary to determinate the physical characteristics of the receptors. In this work, a parabolic dish concentrator of 1.65x1.65 m2, developed by research from the University of Arizona, is optically characterized under normal operating conditions, also known as environmental conditions that refer to non-controlled conditions as solar radiation, environmental temperature and wind velocity that could affect slightly, by thermal and mechanical efforts, the distribution profiles of the concentrated solar radiation. The set used for the evaluation consisted of the parabolic mirror and Chilled Lambertian Flat Surface installed in the focal point on the optical axis of the mirror. The evaluation was divided into two parts: a theoretical part that consist on using ray tracing simulation and an experimental part that corresponds to image analysis. The used methodology in this work has been stablish in many researches, so this is a reliable method. The global optical error was 2.3 mrad under normal operating conditions.

We present a new tool for the analysis of the optical emission lines of the gas in the Narrow Line Region (NLR) around Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). This new tool can be used in large samples of objects in a consistent way using different sets of optical emission-lines taking into the account possible variations from the O/H - N/O relation. The code compares certain observed emission-line ratios with the predictions from a large grid of photoionization models calculated under the most usual conditions in the NLR of AGNs to calculate the total oxygen abundance, nitrogen-to-oxygen ratio and ionization parameter. We applied our method to a sample of Seyfert 2 galaxies with optical emission-line fluxes from the literature. Our results confirm the high metallicity of the objects of the sample and provide consistent values with the direct method. The usage of models to calculate precise ICFs is mandatory when only optical emission lines are available to derive chemical abundances using the direct method in NLRs of AGN.

Hii regions in galaxy disks can be used as a powerful tool to trace the radial distribution of several of their properties and shed some light on the different relevant processes on galaxy formation and evolution. Among the properties that can be extracted from the study of the ionized gas are the metallicity, the excitation and the hardness of the ionizing field of radiation. In this contribution we focus on the determination of both the ionization parameter (U) and the effective temperature of the ionizing clusters (T) by means of a bayesian-like comparison between the observed relative fluxes of several emission-lines with the predictions from a set of photoionization models. We also show the implications that the use of our method has for the study of the radial variation of both U and T in some very well-studied disk galaxies of the Local Universe.

The diet and habitat of Leptomeryx sp. from the Late Uintan Yolomécatl Formation of NW Oaxaca, SE Mexico were inferred using dental enamel carbon and oxygen isotopic relationships, and compared with those of congeneric species from temperate North America. Results show that Leptomeryx sp. fed on C3 plants and lived in open forest or forest/savanna ecotone. The palynoflora and co-occurrence of perissodactyls and artiodactyls that live in an environment like that of Leptomeryx support this interpretation. Further, both records disclose that in NW Oaxaca (southern North America) tropical conditions prevailed at that time, unlike that of temperate North America.

Objectives: The methodological quality of an economic evaluation performed alongside a clinical trial can be underestimated if the paper does not report key methodological features. This study discusses methodological assessment issues on the example of a systematic review on cost-effectiveness of physiotherapy for knee osteoarthritis.

Methods: Six economic evaluation studies included in the systematic review and related clinical trials were assessed using the 10-question check-list by Drummond and the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale.

Results: All economic evaluations were performed alongside a clinical trial but the studied interventions were too heterogeneous to be synthesized. Methodological quality of the economic evaluations reported in the papers was not free of drawbacks, and in some cases, it improved when information from the related clinical trial was taken into account.

Conclusions: Economic evaluation papers dedicate little space to methodological features of related clinical trials; therefore, the methodological quality can be underestimated if evaluated separately from the trials. Future economic evaluations should follow more strictly the recommendations about methodology and the authors should pay special attention to the quality of reporting.

We study the radial distribution of oxygen and nitrogen abundances in H ii regions in 350 galaxies observed in the CALIFA survey using the semi-empirical N-sensitive code Hii-Chi-mistry. A separate analysis of N/O when using [N ii] is justified as the dispersion in the O/H-N/O diagram is very large. In fact different O/H and N/O slope distributions and flattening in the outskirts are obtained.On the other hand there is a tight correlation between O/H and N/O when the values of the fittings at the effective radius are considered as representative of each galaxy.

This work shows the development of several models for chain-growth polymerizations that admit the direct calculation of the complete molecular weight distribution of the polymer. The direct and complete calculation implies that no statistical mean values are employed as in the moments method neither numerical approximations like in the minimum-squared based methods. The free radical polymerization of ethylene (LDPE) and the coordination via metallocenes polymerization of ethylene (HDPE) are taken as examples for analysis.

In the free radical polymerization case, the conventional scheme for chain-growth polymerization is adopted, with steps for initiation, propagation, chain transfer to small species and the additional step of chain transfer to dead chains [1]. The kinetic parameter are obtained from the open literature. Two kind of reactors were modelled: batch and continuous stirred tank reactor. For this last case, a simulation strategy was considered in which the run started from an initial known population of dead chains. Results show that typical non-linear polymerization profiles for the molecular weight distribution are obtained. For the coordination polymerization of ethylene via metalocenes, the standard coordination model was employed [2]. A two-site catalyst was considered and kinetic parameters reported in the open literature were used. For this study an experimental program in a lab-scale reactor was undertaken in order to obtain modelling data [3]. Results show that the standard model adequately reproduces the experimental data in the kinetic and molecular attributes of the polymer.

This is the first detailed analysis of a CO2 diffuse degassing time series from Deception volcano, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, performed during an episode of anomalously high long-period (LP) seismicity. Diffuse CO2 emissions measured by an automatic geochemical station between 7 December 2009 and 13 February 2010 showed an excellent temporal agreement with the LP seismicity in December 2009. The absence of such a temporal correlation with the second burst of seismicity that occurred in late January 2010 suggests a different source for this LP activity. This was confirmed by analysis of seismic array data. The LP seismicity observed during December 2009 was caused by fluid-driven cracks that originated from pressure fluctuations in the volcano-hydrothermal systems beneath Deception volcano that were probably caused by a deep injection of undegassed magma before December 2009. The diffuse CO2 degassing data have provided evidence of the activation of at least two different sources of seismicity during the study period at Deception volcano.

An experimental study oriented to gather kinetic modelling data in the ethylene polymerization via metallocenes is reported. Also is illustrated the employment of two methods for determination of kinetic behavior and the instantaneous activity of Ziegler-Natta catalysts in the slurry polymerization of ethylene. The theoretical basis for both methods is described as well as the required instrumentation for its implantation at a laboratory level. An experimental program of polymerization with two different metallocenic systems was executed, showing that the direct (measurement of ethylene flow) as well as the calorimetric method (based on energy balances) give equivalent high quality information on the kinetic performance of the catalyst.

This work presents results on the prediction of the molecular weight distributions (MWD) of chain growth polymerization using conventional software and hardware tools. The investigation focuses on two kinds of polymerization processes: free radical batch and continuous polymerization processes with application to low density polyethylene synthesis (LDPE); and coordination polymerization via metallocenes with application to high density polyethylene synthesis (HDPE). For both processes, kinetic models, consisting of sets of differential equations describing the dynamic behavior of all the chemical species in the reaction media, are presented. From these sets is possible to obtain the molecular weight distribution of the polymer1,2,4

Strategies for the simulation of the polymerization models were developed and results of these simulations are presented. On the free radical polymerization case, the next results are highlighted: i) It was confirmed that the chain transfer to polymer step produces strong asymmetries on the MWD as well as a high polydispersity index; ii) It’s possible to calculate the MWD in the CSTR process through a simulation strategy that permits the decoupling of the live and dead chains populations. On the metallocene polymerization case, it was demonstrated that the coordination standard model represents well the system experimentally studied and it can be employed to directly calculate the molecular weight distribution.

These results confirm the idea that the complete MWD can be directly calculated with conventional hardware and software tools.

A multidisciplinary study from a number of drilled cores in the Guadalquivir estuary has made possible to identify as many as three extreme wave events and their facies in the 4th millennium BP (A: ~ 4000 cal yr BP, B: ~ 3550 cal yr BP, and C: ~ 3150 cal yr BP). These events, which caused strong erosion in the Guadalquivir sandy barrier and in the neighboring aeolian systems of El Abalario, brought about significant paleogeographical changes that may have affected human settlements established in the area during the Neolithic and Copper Age periods and during the Middle Bronze Age. The three events can be spatially correlated and their facies differentiated from more proximal to more distal from the coastline. The most proximal facies is characterized by a massive accumulation of shells, a sandy or sandy–muddy matrix, an erosive base, a highly diverse mixture of species (marine and estuarine), and lithoclasts. The most distal facies presents a muddy–sandy matrix, dominance of estuarine fauna, shell accumulation, presence of terrestrial species, mudpebbles, pebbles in a clayey matrix, and bioturbation. The evidence presented will further advance scientific knowledge about the impact of extreme wave events on coastal areas in SW Iberia and NW Africa.