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The high diversity and biomass of organisms associated with coral communities depend directly on the maintenance or changes in the benthic composition. Over a decade, we evaluated the spatiotemporal variation in the benthic structure and composition of an insular coral community in the Northeastern Tropical Pacific. Our results show that local conditions drive spatiotemporal differences, and benthic organisms such as sponges, crustose coralline algae, octocorals, and hydrocorals all increased in abundance (cover) in response to negative thermal anomalies caused by the 2010–2011 La Niña event. In contrast, abnormally high temperatures, such as those recorded during the 2015–2016 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event, explain the loss of scleractinian corals and crustose coralline algae coverage, which reduced the benthic groups’ richness (BGR), diversity (H’BG), and evenness (J’BG), with evidence of a consequent decrease in ecosystem function recorded the following year. Our analysis also showed that sites with high habitat heterogeneity harbored higher average BRG and H’BG values and were less affected by environmental fluctuations than sites with high live scleractinian coral cover and lower BRG and H’BG values. Therefore, the benthic structure was impacted differently by the same perturbation, and changes in the benthic community composition affected the groups associated with the community and ecological functions. More importantly, regional stressors such as the ENSO event caused only temporary changes in the benthic community structure, demonstrating the high resilience of the community to annual and interannual stressors.

Institutions of Higher Education seek to instil in their students the scientific competencies throughout the guidance of different included courses in their curriculums. However, the assimilation of diverse methodologies evidence the lack of development of those scientific competencies necessary for professionals to be graduated and therefore required by the labour market. This research examines the research competencies of students of higher education sample (N=189) to determine their appreciation towards scientific competencies they consider to have developed in both their educational processes. The results prove the perception of subjects in respect to the development of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, decision-making, problem-solving and acquisition of scientific competences, the basic ones; use of technology, appropriation of new knowledge, self-learning and search of information, specialized competences, drafting of reports, design of articles, presentations, development of degree works and definition of new projects. The application of ANOVA detects that there are significant differences according to the gender of subjects on competencies referred to the search of physical information where women stand out, and reading comprehension of documents in English where men stand out. Besides, it's demonstrated that these competences contribute to students' critical thinking. IES required to include research as mechanism to strengthen the education.

The high diversity and biomass of organisms associated with coral communities depend directly on the maintenance or changes in the benthic composition. Over a decade, we evaluated the spatiotemporal variation in the benthic structure and composition of an insular coral community in the Northeastern Tropical Pacific. Our results show that local conditions drive spatiotemporal differences, and benthic organisms such as sponges, crustose coralline algae, octocorals, and hydrocorals all increased in abundance (cover) in response to negative thermal anomalies caused by the 2010–2011 La Niña event. In contrast, abnormally high temperatures, such as those recorded during the 2015–2016 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event, explain the loss of scleractinian corals and crustose coralline algae coverage, which reduced the benthic groups' richness (BGR), diversity (H'BG), and evenness (J'BG), with evidence of a consequent decrease in ecosystem function recorded the following year. Our analysis also showed that sites with high habitat heterogeneity harbored higher average BRG and H'BG values and were less affected by environmental fluctuations than sites with high live scleractinian coral cover and lower BRG and H'BG values. Therefore, the benthic structure was impacted differently by the same perturbation, and changes in the benthic community composition affected the groups associated with the community and ecological functions. More importantly, regional stressors such as the ENSO event caused only temporary changes in the benthic community structure, demonstrating the high resilience of the community to annual and interannual stressors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Defining the brain mechanisms underlying initial emotional evaluation is a key but unexplored clue to understanding affective processing. Event-related potentials (ERPs), especially suited for investigating this issue, were recorded in two experiments (n = 36 and n = 35). We presented emotionally negative (spiders) and neutral (wheels) silhouettes homogenized regarding their visual parameters. In Experiment 1, stimuli appeared at fixation or in the periphery (200 trials per condition and location), the former eliciting a N40 (39 milliseconds) and a P80 (or C1: 80 milliseconds) component, and the latter only a P80. In Experiment 2, stimuli were presented only at fixation (500 trials per condition). Again, an N40 (45 milliseconds) was observed, followed by a P100 (or P1: 105 milliseconds). Analyses revealed significantly greater N40-C1P1 peak-to-peak amplitudes for spiders in both experiments, and ANCOVAs showed that these effects were not explained by C1P1 alone, but that processes underlying N40 significantly contributed. Source analyses pointed to V1 as an N40 focus (more clearly in Experiment 2). Sources for C1P1 included V1 (P80) and V2/LOC (P80 and P100). These results and their timing point to low-order structures (such as visual thalamic nuclei or superior colliculi) or the visual cortex itself, as candidates for initial evaluation structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La responsabilidad social empresarial (RSE) orienta a las organizaciones a interactuar con sus stakeholders, creando valor en el mercado a traves de la satisfacción de sus clientes externos –el gobierno, la sociedad, los proveedores– pero desconociendo el valor que el cliente interno aporta a la organización. Ambos grupos generan impactos para las empresas en la toma de decisiones, aunque los stakeholders internos –accionistas, socios aliados y trabajadores– son subvalorados, pese a que son un componente importante para la sostenibilidad organizacional puesto que favorecen su imagen corporativa. En este artículo se presentan los resultados de una investigación realizada en sesenta empresas del sector de la construcción en Bucaramanga en el año 2013, donde se evidencia que los objetivos de las empresas se orientan a satisfacer al cliente externo para mantener su posición competitiva en el mercado, ignorando el impacto que producen sus clientes internos para la mejora de sus procesos. De hecho, en las empresas se generan valores positivos para el cumplimiento de las necesidades de sus accionistas, sin intervenir en los trabajadores como elemento fundamental del proceso para generar valor al cliente externo. Tras ese análisis se realizan sugerencias a los empresarios para incluir dentro de sus organizaciones buenas practicas que fomenten la valoración de los stakeholders -internos, como encargados de diseminar y fortalecer la imagen de la compañía.

Objective The aim of this study was to characterize the dynamic brain networks underlying the affective modulation of pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral image perception due to painful stimulations in healthy subjects. Methods Forty volunteers, 20 men and 20 women, participated in this study. Brain activity was recorded by 64-channel electroencephalography. After data cleaning, brain functional networks were built through the use of the motif synchronization method. Results We found that increased cerebral connectivity in the left hemisphere under the pain condition broke the connection symmetry. Both women and men showed homophilic connections (intrahemispheric), but women were more homophilic than men. The pain condition increased homophily in the left hemisphere, and emotions could modulate pain. The frontal, central, and left temporal regions showed homophilic variation, depending on the emotional stimulus. Conclusions Pain and emotions altered brain activity. There was increased connectivity and homophily in the left brain hemisphere for the painful experience. The emotions modulated brain activity in the pain condition. Overall, the brain presented homophilic characteristics; homophily changed, depending on emotion or pain. The left brain hemisphere seems to be related to pain processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The techniques and the most important results on the use of electroencephalography (EEG) to extract different measures are reviewed in this work, which can be clinically useful to study subjects with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). First, we discuss briefly and in simple terms the EEG analysis and processing techniques most used in the context of ADHD. We review techniques that both analyze individual EEG channels (univariate measures) and study the statistical interdependence between different EEG channels (multivariate measures), the so-called functional brain connectivity. Among the former ones, we review the classical indices of absolute and relative spectral power and estimations of the complexity of the channels, such as the approximate entropy and the Lempel-Ziv complexity. Among the latter ones, we focus on the magnitude square coherence and on different measures based on the concept of generalized synchronization and its estimation in the state space. Second, from a historical point of view, we present the most important results achieved with these techniques and their clinical utility (sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy) to diagnose ADHD. Finally, we propose future research lines based on these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embodiment is a complex concept related to the subjective perception of an object as it belongs to its own body. In general, this construct has been evaluated by means of questionnaires, but validation studies in other cultures and limitations related with barriers of language received little attention. The purpose of the present investigation was twofold: to validate the factorial structure of embodiment questionnaire (EQ) and to construct a pictographic scale (PAE) to measure embodiment without relapse verbal representations. In the first experiment, 136 participants underwent a Rubber Hand Illusion (RHI) procedure following both congruent and incongruent (control) visuo-tactile stimulations. Then, they evaluated embodiment illusion in EQ using a Likert-type scale to rate their agreement or disagreement with 27 statements and with a pictographic scale designed to assess their subjective experience of the illusion. Principal components analysis in EQ scores identified four components that emerged in both conditions: Embodiment, Disembodiment, Affect and Deafference. PAE scale was highly correlated with embodiment factor and can differentiate between conditions. In a second experiment, 30 participants underwent the RHI procedure, and they were assessed using PAE and proprioceptive drift. Results indicate a high positive correlation between PAE and post-illusion drift score. These results provide evidence about the consistency of the factorial structure of EQ across cultures, and we also provide a new pictographic tool that allows quick measurement of embodiment overcoming language barriers., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.