La Internalización de los Costes Medioambientales en el transporte de mercancías por carretera

[ES] La literatura existente señala el potencial de una gestión medioambiental proactiva en la generación de capacidades organizativas relativas a la minimización de costes. Además, durante los últimos años, la internalización de los costes medioambientales de la industria transportista ha sido un importante objetivo en el desarrollo de políticas públicas.

La calidad de vida como estrategia de diferenciación de las ciudades europeas. Un enfoque de marketing de ciudades

Uno de los objetivos de este artículo es la necesidad de analizar y medir la calidad de vida de las ciudades, por medio de un conjunto de indicadores representativos que han sido propuestos por la Comisión Europea(2005), ya que si bien la Comisión Europea publicó la información correspondiente de las ciudades participantes en esta segunda auditoria urbana, dicha institución no ha publicado ningun tratamiento de dicha información, que permita extraer algunas conlcusiones sobre las similitudes o diferencias que se hayan obtenido entre las ciudades participantes. Esta es la razón por la cual este artículo se plantea el tratamiento de la información proporcionada por los citados indicadores, por medio de técnicas estadísticas de análisis multivariable, como el análisis de cluster, para el estudio de la calidad de vida de las cuidades europeas.

Banku-etikoa: finantza bazterketaren irtenbide posiblea

Finantza bazterketa gaur egun orduan eta garrantzia handiagoa duan errealitatea da. Hau dela eta, finantza bazterketaren kontzeptua, zergati posibleak eta egungo egoera aztertuko dituzte. Ondoren banku etikoetan zentratuko dira, finantza bazterketari aurre egiteko bide bat baita. Aurrekarien gainbegiraketa labur bat egin ostean, oro har banku etikoak Europan duen egoera eta Espainian, zehazki, duen garrantzia aztertuko dute, gogoeta batzuekin amaituz.

The IRYSS-COPD appropriateness study: objectives, methodology, and description of the prospective cohort

Background: Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often experience exacerbations of the disease that require hospitalization. Current guidelines offer little guidance for identifying patients whose clinical situation is appropriate for admission to the hospital, and properly developed and validated severity scores for COPD exacerbations are lacking. To address these important gaps in clinical care, we created the IRYSS-COPD Appropriateness Study. Methods/Design: The RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Methodology was used to identify appropriate and inappropriate scenarios for hospital admission for patients experiencing COPD exacerbations. These scenarios were then applied to a prospective cohort of patients attending the emergency departments (ED) of 16 participating hospitals. Information was recorded during the time the patient was evaluated in the ED, at the time a decision was made to admit the patient to the hospital or discharge home, and during follow-up after admission or discharge home. While complete data were generally available at the time of ED admission, data were often missing at the time of decision making. Predefined assumptions were used to impute much of the missing data. Discussion: The IRYSS-COPD Appropriateness Study will validate the appropriateness criteria developed by the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Methodology and thus better delineate the requirements for admission or discharge of patients experiencing exacerbations of COPD. The study will also provide a better understanding of the determinants of outcomes of COPD exacerbations, and evaluate the equity and variability in access and outcomes in these patients.

Resveratrol prevents inflammation-dependent hepatic melanoma metastasis by inhibiting the secretion and effects of interleukin-18

Background: Implantation and growth of metastatic cancer cells at distant organs is promoted by inflammation-dependent mechanisms. A hepatic melanoma metastasis model where a majority of metastases are generated via interleukin-18-dependent mechanisms was used to test whether anti-inflammatory properties of resveratrol can interfere with mechanisms of metastasis. Methods: Two experimental treatment schedules were used: 1) Mice received one daily oral dose of 1 mg/kg resveratrol after cancer cell injection and the metastasis number and volume were determined on day 12. 2) Mice received one daily oral dose of 1 mg/kg resveratrol along the 5 days prior to the injection of cancer cells and both interleukin-18 (IL-18) concentration in the hepatic blood and microvascular retention of luciferase-transfected B16M cells were determined on the 18(th) hour. In vitro, primary cultured hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells were treated with B16M-conditioned medium to mimic their in vivo activation by tumor-derived factors and the effect of resveratrol on IL-18 secretion, on vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) expression and on tumor cell adhesion were studied. The effect of resveratrol on melanoma cell activation by IL-18 was also studied. Results: Resveratrol remarkably inhibited hepatic retention and metastatic growth of melanoma cells by 50% and 75%, respectively. The mechanism involved IL-18 blockade at three levels: First, resveratrol prevented IL-18 augmentation in the blood of melanoma cell-infiltrated livers. Second, resveratrol inhibited IL-18-dependent expression of VCAM-1 by tumor-activated hepatic sinusoidal endothelium, preventing melanoma cell adhesion to the microvasculature. Third, resveratrol inhibited adhesion-and proliferation-stimulating effects of IL-18 on metastatic melanoma cells through hydrogen peroxide-dependent nuclear factor-kappaB translocation blockade on these cells. Conclusions: These results demonstrate multiple sites for therapeutic intervention using resveratrol within the prometastatic microenvironment generated by tumor-induced hepatic IL-18, and suggest a remarkable effect of resveratrol in the prevention of inflammation-dependent melanoma metastasis in the liver.

Vascular endothelial growth factor regulates melanoma cell adhesion and growth in the bone marrow microenvironment via tumor cyclooxygenase-2

Background: Human melanoma frequently colonizes bone marrow (BM) since its earliest stage of systemic dissemination, prior to clinical metastasis occurrence. However, how melanoma cell adhesion and proliferation mechanisms are regulated within bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC) microenvironment remain unclear. Consistent with the prometastatic role of inflammatory and angiogenic factors, several studies have reported elevated levels of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in melanoma although its pathogenic role in bone marrow melanoma metastasis is unknown. Methods: Herein we analyzed the effect of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor celecoxib in a model of generalized BM dissemination of left cardiac ventricle-injected B16 melanoma (B16M) cells into healthy and bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-pretreated mice to induce inflammation. In addition, B16M and human A375 melanoma (A375M) cells were exposed to conditioned media from basal and LPS-treated primary cultured murine and human BMSCs, and the contribution of COX-2 to the adhesion and proliferation of melanoma cells was also studied. Results: Mice given one single intravenous injection of LPS 6 hour prior to cancer cells significantly increased B16M metastasis in BM compared to untreated mice; however, administration of oral celecoxib reduced BM metastasis incidence and volume in healthy mice, and almost completely abrogated LPS-dependent melanoma metastases. In vitro, untreated and LPS-treated murine and human BMSC-conditioned medium (CM) increased VCAM-1-dependent BMSC adherence and proliferation of B16M and A375M cells, respectively, as compared to basal medium-treated melanoma cells. Addition of celecoxib to both B16M and A375M cells abolished adhesion and proliferation increments induced by BMSC-CM. TNF alpha and VEGF secretion increased in the supernatant of LPS-treated BMSCs; however, anti-VEGF neutralizing antibodies added to B16M and A375M cells prior to LPS-treated BMSC-CM resulted in a complete abrogation of both adhesion-and proliferation-stimulating effect of BMSC on melanoma cells. Conversely, recombinant VEGF increased adherence to BMSC and proliferation of both B16M and A375M cells, compared to basal medium-treated cells, while addition of celecoxib neutralized VEGF effects on melanoma. Recombinant TNFa induced B16M production of VEGF via COX-2-dependent mechanism. Moreover, exogenous PGE2 also increased B16M cell adhesion to immobilized recombinant VCAM-1. Conclusions: We demonstrate the contribution of VEGF-induced tumor COX-2 to the regulation of adhesion-and proliferation-stimulating effects of TNFa, from endotoxin-activated bone marrow stromal cells, on VLA-4-expressing

Three-dimensional growth as multicellular spheroid activates the proangiogenic phenotype of colorectal carcinoma cells via LFA-1-dependent VEGF: implications on hepatic micrometastasis

Background: The recruitment of vascular stromal and endothelial cells is an early event occurring during cancer cell growth at premetastatic niches, but how the microenvironment created by the initial three-dimensional (3D) growth of cancer cells affects their angiogenesis-stimulating potential is unclear. Methods: The proangiogenic profile of CT26 murine colorectal carcinoma cells was studied in seven-day cultured 3D-spheroids of <300 mu m in diameter, produced by the hanging-drop method to mimic the microenvironment of avascular micrometastases prior to hypoxia occurrence. Results: Spheroid-derived CT26 cells increased vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) secretion by 70%, which in turn increased the in vitro migration of primary cultured hepatic sinusoidal endothelium (HSE) cells by 2-fold. More importantly, spheroid-derived CT26 cells increased lymphocyte function associated antigen (LFA)-1-expressing cell fraction by 3-fold; and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1, given to spheroid-cultured CT26 cells, further increased VEGF secretion by 90%, via cyclooxygenase (COX)-2-dependent mechanism. Consistent with these findings, CT26 cancer cells significantly increased LFA-1 expression in non-hypoxic avascular micrometastases at their earliest inception within hepatic lobules in vivo; and angiogenesis also markedly increased in both subcutaneous tumors and hepatic metastases produced by spheroid-derived CT26 cells. Conclusion: 3D-growth per se enriched the proangiogenic phenotype of cancer cells growing as multicellular spheroids or as subclinical hepatic micrometastases. The contribution of integrin LFA-1 to VEGF secretion via COX-2 was a micro environmental-related mechanism leading to the pro-angiogenic activation of soluble ICAM-1-activated colorectal carcinoma cells. This mechanism may represent a new target for specific therapeutic strategies designed to block colorectal cancer cell growth at a subclinical micrometastatic stage within the liver.

Influencia de la internacionalización en el desempeño social de las empresas

[ES] Recientemente estudios previos han comenzado a plantear la posible relación entre el fenómeno de la internacionalización y responsabilidad social corporativa de las organizaciones. En este trabajo analizamos en qué medida la internacionalización contribuye a una mejora sustancial del desempeño social de las empresas. Usando una muestra de 102 empresas estadounidenses de los sectores químico, energético y de maquinaria industrial, nuestros resultados muestran que no todas las dimensiones de la internacionalización permiten a las empresas adquirir conocimiento valioso que conduzca a una mejora de su desempeño social. Concretamente, comprobamos que, mientras el porcentaje de ventas en mercados extranjeros y la diversificación internacional cultural favorecen la puesta en marcha de prácticas de responsabilidad social corporativa avanzadas que redundan en un mejor desempeño social (cumpliendo con las demandas sociales de los grupos de interés de los distintos mercados donde operan), la diversificación internacional geográfica no tiene efecto directo en el desempeño social de las empresas. Por tanto, no es tan importante el número de mercados donde la empresa actúa, sino el grado de diferenciación cultural existente entre los mismos lo que hace que la propia empresa mejore su desempeño social. El presente trabajo incluye implicaciones relevantes para el mundo académico, directivos y reguladores públicos.

La historia a través del cine. Estados Unidos: una mirada a su imaginario colectivo

Índice: - Glory (1989): una visión dramatizada sobre el origen de los Buffalo Soldiers (Óscar Álvarez Gila). - Los violentos años veinte: gánsters, prohibición y cambios socio-políticos en el primer tercio del siglo xx en Estados Unidos (Aurora Bosch). - La crisis de la democracia en América: Caballero sin espada (Frank Capra, 1939) (José-Vidal Pelaz López). - El manantial, una apología del individualismo norteamericano (José Luis Sánchez Noriega). - Cine y elecciones: El candidato como paradigma del género (Carlos Flores Juberías). - La diplomacia atómica en la Guerra Fría y Estados Unidos: ¿Teléfono rojo? Volamos hacia Moscú (Coro Rubio Pobes). - My Family (Mi familia) (Mario P. Díaz Barrado). - Lars von Trier y Bailar en la oscuridad: ¿lo hemos visto todo ya en el cine? (Iratxe Fresneda). - Estados Unidos: un recorrido por su historia a través del cine de ficción (Coro Rubio Pobes).

Effect of the A cation size disorder and synthesis conditions on the properties of an iron perovskite series

Póster presentado en The Energy and Materials Research Conference - EMR2015 celebrado en Madrid (España) entre el 25-27 de febrero de 2015

Materiales para su aplicación en celdas SOFCs

Poster presentado en la conferencia: XXXV Bienal de la Real Sociedad Española de Química (A Coruña, 19-23 de Julio de 2015)

Physiological modules for generating discrete and rhythmic movements: action identification by a dynamic recurrent neural network

In this study we employed a dynamic recurrent neural network (DRNN) in a novel fashion to reveal characteristics of control modules underlying the generation of muscle activations when drawing figures with the outstretched arm. We asked healthy human subjects to perform four different figure-eight movements in each of two workspaces (frontal plane and sagittal plane). We then trained a DRNN to predict the movement of the wrist from information in the EMG signals from seven different muscles. We trained different instances of the same network on a single movement direction, on all four movement directions in a single movement plane, or on all eight possible movement patterns and looked at the ability of the DRNN to generalize and predict movements for trials that were not included in the training set. Within a single movement plane, a DRNN trained on one movement direction was not able to predict movements of the hand for trials in the other three directions, but a DRNN trained simultaneously on all four movement directions could generalize across movement directions within the same plane. Similarly, the DRNN was able to reproduce the kinematics of the hand for both movement planes, but only if it was trained on examples performed in each one. As we will discuss, these results indicate that there are important dynamical constraints on the mapping of EMG to hand movement that depend on both the time sequence of the movement and on the anatomical constraints of the musculoskeletal system. In a second step, we injected EMG signals constructed from different synergies derived by the PCA in order to identify the mechanical significance of each of these components. From these results, one can surmise that discrete-rhythmic movements may be constructed from three different fundamental modules, one regulating the co-activation of all muscles over the time span of the movement and two others elliciting patterns of reciprocal activation operating in orthogonal directions.

Influence of synthetic method on the properties of La0.5Ba0.5FeO3 SOFC cathode

Power Point presentado en The Energy and Materials Research Conference - EMR2015 celebrado en Madrid (España) entre el 25-27 de febrero de 2015

Physiological modules for generating discrete and rhythmic movements: Component analysis of EMG signals

A central question in Neuroscience is that of how the nervous system generates the spatiotemporal commands needed to realize complex gestures, such as handwriting. A key postulate is that the central nervous system (CNS) builds up complex movements from a set of simpler motor primitives or control modules. In this study we examined the control modules underlying the generation of muscle activations when performing different types of movement: discrete, point-to-point movements in eight different directions and continuous figure-eight movements in both the normal, upright orientation and rotated 90 degrees. To test for the effects of biomechanical constraints, movements were performed in the frontal-parallel or sagittal planes, corresponding to two different nominal flexion/abduction postures of the shoulder. In all cases we measured limb kinematics and surface electromyographic activity (EMB) signals for seven different muscles acting around the shoulder. We first performed principal component analysis (PCA) of the EMG signals on a movement-by-movement basis. We found a surprisingly consistent pattern of muscle groupings across movement types and movement planes, although we could detect systematic differences between the PCs derived from movements performed in each sholder posture and between the principal components associated with the different orientations of the figure. Unexpectedly we found no systematic differences between the figute eights and the point-to-point movements. The first three principal components could be associated with a general co-contraction of all seven muscles plus two patterns of reciprocal activatoin. From these results, we surmise that both "discrete-rhythmic movements" such as the figure eight, and discrete point-to-point movement may be constructed from three different fundamental modules, one regulating the impedance of the limb over the time span of the movement and two others operating to generate movement, one aligned with the vertical and the other aligned with the horizontal.

Competitividad en la empresa de distribución comercial. Caso Eroski

[ES]El presente Trabajo de Fin de Grado tiene como objetivo analizar la competitividad dentro del sector de la distribución comercial con el fin de que los lectores de este trabajo reciban una serie de pautas a la hora de aumentar la competitividad en este sector. Para su realización, en primer lugar, se hará una breve introducción sobre las principales teorías acerca de la competitividad, los factores que afectan a esta y el contexto económico-social que impera en el entorno. En segundo lugar, se procederá a un análisis del estado del arte del sector de la distribución comercial acompañado de un análisis mediante El modelo de las cinco fuerzas de Porter. En tercer lugar, se realizara un análisis de un caso real como es el caso de la planta de Eroski en Elorrio con el fin de ilustrar de una forma más clara todo lo mencionado anteriormente. Se visualizara como a través de la inversión en ser más competitivos Eroski ha mejorado su proceso de logística interna. Por último, se presenta un desglose de los gastos que conlleva realizar la elaboración de un estudio de estas características, así como un desglose de las diferentes tareas a llevar a cabo y la duración de cada una de ellas.