Search results for "POPULATION"
showing 10 items of 9945 documents
The Horseshoe whip snake (Hemorrhois hippocrepis) on Ibiza: predator release in an invasive population
2020
Abstract The key to fighting a biological invasion may lie in understanding every variable that can explain its success. The Enemy Release Hypothesis (ERH) states that when an invader arrives to a new environment, the absence of its common enemies (predators, parasites and competitors) facilitates the invasion success. The Horseshoe whip snake (Hemorrhois hippocrepis) has been recently introduced from the Iberian Peninsula to the island of Ibiza, and it is currently threatening the only endemic vertebrate, the Ibiza wall lizard (Podarcis pityusensis). We hypothesized that the snake invasion success is caused by the absence of natural predators, and we checked the ERH by relating the tail br…
Biosilica-Based Strategies for Treatment of Osteoporosis and Other Bone Diseases
2011
Osteoporosis is a common disease in later life, which has become a growing public health problem. This degenerative bone disease primarily affects postmenopausal women, but also men may suffer from reduced bone mineral density. The development of prophylactic treatments and medications of osteoporosis has become an urgent issue due to the increasing proportion of the elderly in the population. Apart from medical/hormonal treatments, current strategies for prophylaxis of osteoporosis are primarily based on calcium supplementation as a main constituent of bone hydroxyapatite mineral. Despite previous reports suggesting an essential role in skeletal growth and development, the significance of …
Dialogando sobre emociones con niños en riesgo de exclusión social: un estudio preliminar
2016
ResumenEste trabajo tiene como objetivo principal probar de forma preliminar el funcionamiento de un programa de intervención para mejorar las competencias emocionales en niños de entre 9 y 10 años en situación de riesgo de exclusión social. El programa se centra en la mejora de algunos componentes del conocimiento y la regulación emocional. Para ello, se utilizó un diseño pre-experimental de un solo grupo con pretest y postest (N=14). Los niños asistieron a las sesiones una vez por semana durante cuatro meses. Los resultados mostraron una mejora estadísticamente significativa en manejo de emociones, adaptabilidad e inestabilidad emocional, además de una utilización más efectiva de estrateg…
Young People’s Ambiguous and Complex Responses on HIV/AIDS in Cameroon
2017
In the large cities of Cameroon, early sexual relations are a major problem for young people due to the risk of unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS, in this population that has not yet mastered protection and which is ill prepared to convince often older sexual partners to use condoms. The HIV/AIDS epidemic can be analysed as an exogenous trauma that has not given rise to an immediate national response at institutional level, in spite of the pressure and priorities imposed from outside. The survey was aimed at understanding how young people build the idea of protection and risk faced with HIV, and identifying their practices and their relations with protective pract…
150 years of rowing faster: what are the sources of more and more speed?
2015
Rowing has a 150 yr+ competitive history. Examining results from historic races like Oxford-Cambridge (established 1829) and the world championships (established 1893) reveals a linear increase in boat speed by 2-3% per decade. Boat velocity increases if propulsive power is increased and/or power losses are reduced. Over time, the propulsive power capacity of elite rowers has increased. Part of this increase is a result of recruiting athletes from a population that has become taller (1-3 cm per decade) and heavier. Modern world class rowers are typically 190-200 cm tall and weigh 90-100 kg. However, physical capacity does not scale directly with body dimensions but conforms instead to biolo…
Serial examination of 20,248 newborn fetuses and infants: Correlations between drug exposure and major malformations
1996
Maternal medication during the first trimester of pregnancy has been discussed as a risk factor for development of birth defects. The correlation between maternal drug use and major malformations was investigated in a population-based case-control study in Mainz. Over a period of 5 years (1990–1994), 20,248 livebirths, stillbirths, and abortions underwent physical and sonographic examination, and anamnestic data were collected. A total of 1,472 births with congenital anomalies (cases) and 9,682 births without major and minor malformations (controls) were analyzed. We distinguished between 30 different drug categories, which were divided into medication taken continuously (before and during …
Amateur doping: a survey on Sicilian population
2019
In the last years, amateur doping phenomenon has caused many victims. In order to know the diffusion of this phenomenon, we conducted an online survey thanks to Google forms. We also converted on paper the same questionnaire and we administered it in many gyms in Palermo and Trapani (Sicily, Italy). The examined sample consists of 976 people aged between 14 and 65 (47.3% of them are women and 52.7% are men). We asked them if they had ever taken substances to improve their athletic performances: 25.8% of them answered affirmatively and declared to take protein, amino acids, but also Ephedrine, Caffeine, Aspirin on a regular basis (34.6%). They bought these substances in sporting stores (32.2…
A Discrete-Time Hazard Model for Loans: Some Evidence from Italian Banking System
2012
Problem statement: The probability of default, PD, is a crucial probl em for banks. In the last years international accords (Basel, Basel 2 an d Basel 3) have incentived banks to adopt objective s systems to evaluating and monitoring risk of defaul t in order to predict PD for new loans based on borrower's characteristics. The aim of this study i s to introduce a discrete survival model to study t he risk of default and to propose the empirical eviden ce by the Italian banking system. Approach: Survival analysis is used if we are interested in w hether and when an event occurs. In this context th e event occurrence represents a borrower's transition from one state, loan in bonis that is not…
How the EU regional policy can shape urban change in Southern Europe: learning from different planning processes in Palermo
2019
The article provides an interpretation of the role played by the EU regional policy in the process of urban change experienced in Palermo, the fifth Italian city by population and capital of one of the largest Europe’s less developed regions (Sicily). Through an analysis of various EU-funded planning initiatives implemented over the last two decades – from the Urban Community Initiative in the late nineties to the current Integrated Territorial Investments under the 2014–2020 urban agenda –, the work explores their effects from three main perspectives: urban regen- eration, local governance, and planning innovation.
A Quick Approach to the Microfoundations of Social Entrepreneurship
2021
The very first section of the book deals with the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship from a microeconomics perspective. In this line, the individual represents the unit of analysis, that is, the social entrepreneur. Social entrepreneurs are agents who intend to make a positive change in society in such a way that their solution presents a tool to improve the quality of life of the segment of the population they want to target. In these first pages, our intention has been to explain what is inside the mind of the social entrepreneur in the process of developing the idea and putting it into practice. We assumed that entrepreneurs are individuals forming part of a particular society and con…