Use of social networks and the Internet 2.0 in marketing management by SMEs

Nowadays, enterprises, and especially SMEs, are immersed in a very difficult economic situation. Therefore, they need new and innovative tools to compete in that environment. Integration of the internet 2.0 and social networks in marketing strategies of companies could be the key to success. If social networks are well managed, they can bring a lot to enterprise plans. Moreover, social networks are very attractive from an economic point of view as companies can find most of their customers on it.

Mechanisms involved in Escherichia coli and Serratia marcescens removal during activated sludge wastewater treatment

Wastewater treatment reduces environmental contamination by removing gross solids and mitigating the effects of pollution. Treatment also reduces the number of indicator organisms and pathogens. In this work, the fates of two coliform bacteria, Escherichia coli and Serratia marcescens, were analyzed in an activated sludge process to determine the main mechanisms involved in the reduction of pathogenic microorganisms during wastewater treatment. These bacteria, modified to express green fluorescent protein, were inoculated in an activated sludge unit and in batch systems containing wastewater. The results suggested that, among the different biological factors implied in bacterial removal, bacterivorous protozoa play a key role. Moreover, a representative number of bacteria persisted in the system as free-living or embedded cells, but their distribution into liquid or solid fractions varied depending on the bacterium tested, questioning the real value of bacterial indicators for the control of wastewater treatment process. Additionally, viable but nonculturable cells constituted an important part of the bacterial population adhered to solid fractions, what can be derived from the competition relationships with native bacteria, present in high densities in this environment. These facts, taken together, emphasize the need for reliable quantitative and qualitative analysis tools for the evaluation of pathogenic microbial composition in sludge, which could represent an undefined risk to public health and ecosystem functions when considering its recycling.

Mugilid Fish Are Sentinels of Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Compounds in Coastal and Estuarine Environments

Effects on fish reproduction can result from a variety of toxicity mechanisms first operating at the molecular level. Notably, the presence in the environment of some compounds termed endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can cause adverse effects on reproduction by interfering with the endocrine system. In some cases, exposure to EDCs leads to the animal feminization and male fish may develop oocytes in testis (intersex condition). Mugilid fish are well suited sentinel organisms to study the effects of reproductive EDCs in the monitoring of estuarine/marine environments. Up-regulation of aromatases and vitellogenins in males and juveniles and the presence of intersex individuals have been described in a wide array of mullet species worldwide. There is a need to develop new molecular markers to identify early feminization responses and intersex condition in fish populations, studying mechanisms that regulate gonad differentiation under exposure to xenoestrogens. Interestingly, an electrophoresis of gonad RNA, shows a strong expression of 5S rRNA in oocytes, indicating the potential of 5S rRNA and its regulating proteins to become useful molecular makers of oocyte presence in testis. Therefore, the use of these oocyte markers to sex and identify intersex mullets could constitute powerful molecular biomarkers to assess xenoestrogenicity in field conditions.

Inplante kirurgiko erradiopakoen bideragarritasuna: plla/bario sulfato sistemaren ``in vitro´´ degradazioa.

[EU]Polimero biobateragarri eta biodegradagarrien erabilera medikuntza arloan aurrerapauso handia suposatu du. Inplanteen arloan (torlojuak, iltzeak, plakak, eta abar…) eta ehun ingeniaritzan garrantzia handia dute. Hala ere, polimero hauen inplanteek desabantaila nabaria aurkezten dute ohiko material metalikoekin alderatuz: erradiopazitate eza. Ikerketa lan honetan karga erradiopako baten adizioak polimero biobateragarri eta biodegradagarri baten giza gorputzaren baldintzetan (pH=7,2 eta 37ºC) burututako in vitro degradazioan duen eragina aztertu da, %70 poli(L-laktida) (PLLA) eta %30 bario sulfato (BaSO4) sistemaren degradazioa, hain zuzen ere. Aztertutako karga erradiopakoak PLLAren degradazioan eragin handirik ez duela ondorioztatu da, beraz, sistema bideragarria dela.

Novel Evidence hat Attributing Affectively Salient Signal to Random Noise Is Associated with Psychosis

We wished to replicate evidence that an experimental paradigm of speech illusions is associated with psychotic experiences. Fifty-four patients with a first episode of psychosis (FEP) and 150 healthy subjects were examined in an experimental paradigm assessing the presence of speech illusion in neutral white noise. Socio-demographic, cognitive function and family history data were collected. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was administered in the patient group and the Structured Interview for Schizotypy-Revised (SIS-R), and the Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences (CAPE) in the control group. Patients had a much higher rate of speech illusions (33.3% versus 8.7%, ORadjusted: 5.1, 95% CI: 2.3-11.5), which was only partly explained by differences in IQ (ORadjusted: 3.4, 95% CI: 1.4-8.3). Differences were particularly marked for signals in random noise that were perceived as affectively salient (ORadjusted: 9.7, 95% CI: 1.8-53.9). Speech illusion tended to be associated with positive symptoms in patients (ORadjusted: 3.3, 95% CI: 0.9-11.6), particularly affectively salient illusions (ORadjusted: 8.3, 95% CI: 0.7-100.3). In controls, speech illusions were not associated with positive schizotypy (ORadjusted: 1.1, 95% CI: 0.3-3.4) or self-reported psychotic experiences (ORadjusted: 1.4, 95% CI: 0.4-4.6). Experimental paradigms indexing the tendency to detect affectively salient signals in noise may be used to identify liability to psychosis.

Incidental Memory of Younger and Older Adults for Objects Encountered in a Real World Context

Effects of context on the perception of, and incidental memory for, real-world objects have predominantly been investigated in younger individuals, under conditions involving a single static viewpoint. We examined the effects of prior object context and object familiarity on both older and younger adults' incidental memory for real objects encountered while they traversed a conference room. Recognition memory for context-typical and context-atypical objects was compared with a third group of unfamiliar objects that were not readily named and that had no strongly associated context. Both older and younger adults demonstrated a typicality effect, showing significantly lower 2-alternative-forced-choice recognition of context-typical than context-atypical objects; for these objects, the recognition of older adults either significantly exceeded, or numerically surpassed, that of younger adults. Testing-awareness elevated recognition but did not interact with age or with object type. Older adults showed significantly higher recognition for context-atypical objects than for unfamiliar objects that had no prior strongly associated context. The observation of a typicality effect in both age groups is consistent with preserved semantic schemata processing in aging. The incidental recognition advantage of older over younger adults for the context-typical and context-atypical objects may reflect aging-related differences in goal-related processing, with older adults under comparatively more novel circumstances being more likely to direct their attention to the external environment, or age-related differences in top-down effortful distraction regulation, with older individuals' attention more readily captured by salient objects in the environment. Older adults' reduced recognition of unfamiliar objects compared to context-atypical objects may reflect possible age differences in contextually driven expectancy violations. The latter finding underscores the theoretical and methodological value of including a third type of objects-that are comparatively neutral with respect to their contextual associations-to help differentiate between contextual integration effects (for schema-consistent objects) and expectancy violations (for schema-inconsistent objects).

Photosynthetic responses of trees in high-elevation forests: comparing evergreen species along an elevation gradient in the Central Andes

Plant growth at extremely high elevations is constrained by high daily thermal amplitude, strong solar radiation and water scarcity. These conditions are particularly harsh in the tropics, where the highest elevation treelines occur. In this environment, the maintenance of a positive carbon balance involves protecting the photosynthetic apparatus and taking advantage of any climatically favourable periods. To characterize photoprotective mechanisms at such high elevations, and particularly to address the question of whether these mechanisms are the same as those previously described in woody plants along extratropical treelines, we have studied photosynthetic responses in Polylepis tarapacana Philippi in the central Andes (18 degrees S) along an elevational gradient from 4300 to 4900 m. For comparative purposes, this gradient has been complemented with a lower elevation site (3700 m) where another Polylepis species (P. rugulosa Bitter) occurs. During the daily cycle, two periods of photosynthetic activity were observed: one during the morning when, despite low temperatures, assimilation was high; and the second starting at noon when the stomata closed because of a rise in the vapour pressure deficit and thermal dissipation is prevalent over photosynthesis. From dawn to noon there was a decrease in the content of antenna pigments (chlorophyll b and neoxanthin), together with an increase in the content of xanthophyll cycle carotenoids. These results could be caused by a reduction in the antenna size along with an increase in photoprotection. Additionally, photoprotection was enhanced by a partial overnight retention of de-epoxized xanthophylls. The unique combination of all of these mechanisms made possible the efficient use of the favourable conditions during the morning while still providing enough protection for the rest of the day. This strategy differs completely from that of extratropical mountain trees, which uncouple light-harvesting and energy-use during long periods of unfavourable, winter conditions.