Situación del jamón curado en las tendencias nutricionales actuales (transición nutricional)

The definition of nutritional transition could be related to all the aspects involved in human behaviour, genetics and technological changes that show an influence on nutrition. Obesity is considered one of the most important risk factors for human health. Human genetics plays an important role that needs to be defined in more detail to improve the knowledge on pathology of obesity. Dry cured ham has a moderate value of energy density (ED), but this parameter is variable for the different types of dry cured hams and the different commercial preparations. The most important challenge of dry cured ham is the content of salt that should be optimised to arise the minimal concentration without compromise the sensorial quality and the technological possibilities available. On the other hand, the high content of protein and a good ratio polyunsaturated/saturated could be of interest to include dry cured ham in a diet, mainly in the case where the content of fat is moderated or low. Food industry needs to develop new products, improve the information to consumers and to consider the different distribution of population in developed and developing countries.

Psychological aspects of the experiences of athletes at the Olympic Villages: issues and challenges

Article providing the athlete perspective on Olympic Villages. This article was published in the book entitled "Olympic Villages: a hundred years of urban planning and shared experiences" compiling the papers given at the 1997 International Symposium on International Chair in Olympism (IOC-UAB).

Mediterranean diet changes during the nutritional transition in Spain

En este trabajo analizaremos en primer lugar la presencia i la importancia de los alimentos que caracterizan la dieta mediterránea en los sistemas alimentarios españoles del siglo XIX. Veremos como evoluciona esta presencia y el su peso a la dieta dentro del proceso de transición nutricional moderna española, contemplando dos períodos: desde finales del XIX hasta la década de 1930, y la segunda mitad del XX, períodos caracterizados por un aumento de la ingesta de alimentos, cereales y patatas primer, y de productos de origen animal después, y por la progresiva convergencia con las dietes de les sociedades desarrolladas, que diluirían o minimizarían progresivamente las características diferenciales mediterráneos. Situaremos los cambios que se producen a España en el contexto europeo, i finalmente, analizaremos en que medida, en la etapa inicial, la dieta seguida se ajustaba a les necesidades de la población y a la dieta actualmente recomendada, y si se produjeron cambios significativos en el curso de la transición alimentaria.

Aspects of Iwasawa theory over function fields

"Vegeu el resum a l'inici del document del fitxer adjunt."

Theoretical aspects of graph models for MANETs

We survey the main theoretical aspects of models for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs). We present theoretical characterizations of mobile network structural properties, different dynamic graph models of MANETs, and finally we give detailed summaries of a few selected articles. In particular, we focus on articles dealing with connectivity of mobile networks, and on articles which show that mobility can be used to propagate information between nodes of the network while at the same time maintaining small transmission distances, and thus saving energy.

The Security Council and the Legitimacy of the Use of Force: Legal, Normative, and Social Aspects.

Tal i com estableix la Carta de les Nacions Unides, el Consell de Seguretat determina l’existència d’una amenaça a la pau, un trencament de la pau o un acte d’agressió i decideix les mesures que han de fer-se servir per restaurar la pau i seguretat internacionals, també l’ús de la força. L’objectiu d’aquest article és explorar la legitimitat d’aquest ús de la força. Amb aquest objectiu, el text parteix d’una definició centrada en les seves dimensions legal, normativa i social. En segon lloc, s’analitzarà com aquestes dimensions estan representades als debats del Consell de Seguretat de la guerra d’Irak de 2003, un dels usos de la força més controvertits i que més debat ha generat als darrers anys. Finalment, l’anàlisi proposat permet treure algunes conclusions sobre les bases canviants de la legitimitat de l’ús de la força.

Consumer populations and nutritional transition in Spain in the 20th century: a methodology for their reconstruction

One feature of the modern nutrition transition is the growing consumption of animal proteins. The most common approach in the quantitative analysis of this change used to be the study of averages of food consumption. But this kind of analysis seems to be incomplete without the knowledge of the number of consumers. Data about consumers are not usually published in historical statistics. This article introduces a methodological approach for reconstructing consumer populations. This methodology is based on some assumptions about the diffusion process of foodstuffs and the modeling of consumption patterns with a log-normal distribution. This estimating process is illustrated with the specific case of milk consumption in Spain between 1925 and 1981. These results fit quite well with other data and indirect sources available showing that this dietary change was a slow and late process. The reconstruction of consumer population could shed a new light in the study of nutritional transitions.

Behavioral aspects of investment fund's markets: are good managers lucky or skilled?

It is generally accepted that financial markets are efficient in the long run a lthough there may be some deviations in the short run. It is also accepted that a good portfolio manager is the one who beats the market persistently along time, this type of manager could not exist if markets were perfectly efficient According to this in a pure efficient market we should find that managers know that they can not beat the market so they would undertake only pure passive management strategies. Assuming a certain degree of inefficiency in the short run, a market may show some managers who tr y to beat the market by undertaking active strategies. From Fama’s efficient markets theory we can state that these active managers may beat the market occasionally although they will not be able to enhance significantly their performance in the long run. On the other hand, in an inefficient market it would be expected to find a higher level of activity related with the higher probability of beating the market. In this paper we follow two objectives: first, we set a basis to analyse the level of efficiency in an asset invest- ment funds market by measuring performance, strategies activity and it’s persistence for a certain group of funds during the period of study. Second, we analyse individual performance persistence in order to determine the existence of skilled managers. The CAPM model is taken as theoretical background and the use of the Sharpe’s ratio as a suitable performance measure in a limited information environment leads to a group performance measurement proposal. The empiri- cal study takes quarterly data from 1999-2007 period, for the whole population of the Spanish asset investment funds market, provided by the CNMV (Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores). This period of study has been chosen to ensure a wide enough range of efficient market observation so it would allow us to set a proper basis to compare with the following period. As a result we develop a model that allows us to measure efficiency in a given asset mutual funds market, based on the level of strategy’s activity undertaken by managers. We also observe persistence in individual performance for a certain group of funds

Algorithmic aspects of bio-inspired string operations

We present building blocks for algorithms for the efficient reduction of square factor, i.e. direct repetitions in strings. So the basic problem is this: given a string, compute all strings that can be obtained by reducing factors of the form zz to z. Two types of algorithms are treated: an offline algorithm is one that can compute a data structure on the given string in advance before the actual search for the square begins; in contrast, online algorithms receive all input only at the time when a request is made. For offline algorithms we treat the following problem: Let u and w be two strings such that w is obtained from u by reducing a square factor zz to only z. If we further are given the suffix table of u, how can we derive the suffix table for w without computing it from scratch? As the suffix table plays a key role in online algorithms for the detection of squares in a string, this derivation can make the iterated reduction of squares more efficient. On the other hand, we also show how a suffix array, used for the offline detection of squares, can be adapted to the new string resulting from the deletion of a square. Because the deletion is a very local change, this adaption is more eficient than the computation of the new suffix array from scratch.

Geometric and long run aspects of Granger causality

This paper extends multivariate Granger causality to take into account the subspacesalong which Granger causality occurs as well as long run Granger causality. The propertiesof these new notions of Granger causality, along with the requisite restrictions, are derivedand extensively studied for a wide variety of time series processes including linear invertibleprocess and VARMA. Using the proposed extensions, the paper demonstrates that: (i) meanreversion in L2 is an instance of long run Granger non-causality, (ii) cointegration is a specialcase of long run Granger non-causality along a subspace, (iii) controllability is a special caseof Granger causality, and finally (iv) linear rational expectations entail (possibly testable)Granger causality restriction along subspaces.

The European Social Survey. Methodological aspects

From a scientific point of view, surveys are undoubtedly a valuable tool for the knowledge of the social and political reality. They are widely used in the social sciences research. However, the researcher's task is often disturbed by a series of deficiencies related to some technical aspects that make difficult both the inference and the comparison. The main aim of the present paper is to report and justify the European Social Survey's technical specifications addressed to avoid and/or minimize such deficiencies. The article also gives a characterization of the non-respondents in Spain obtained from the analysis of the 2002 fieldwork data file.

A reflection about the social and technological aspects in flood risk management - the case of the Italian Civil Protection

The right of a person to be protected from natural hazards is a characteristic of the social and economical development of the society. This paper is a contribution to the reflection about the role of Civil Protection organizations in a modern society. The paper is based in the inaugural conference made by the authors on the 9th Plinius Conference on Mediterranean Storms. Two major issues are considered. The first one is sociological; the Civil Protection organizations and the responsible administration of the land use planning should be perceived as reliable as possible, in order to get consensus on the restrictions they pose, temporary or definitely, on the individual free use of the territory as well as in the entire warning system. The second one is technological: in order to be reliable they have to issue timely alert and warning to the population at large, but such alarms should be as "true" as possible. With this aim, the paper summarizes the historical evolution of the risk assessment, starting from the original concept of "hazard", introducing the concepts of "scenario of event" and "scenario of risk" and ending with a discussion about the uncertainties and limits of the most advanced and efficient tools to predict, to forecast and to observe the ground effects affecting people and their properties. The discussion is centred in the case of heavy rains and flood events in the North-West of Mediterranean Region.

Precursor uptake assays and metabolic analyses in isolated tomato fruit chromoplasts

Background Carotenoids are the most widespread group of pigments found in nature. In addition to their role in the physiology of the plant, carotenoids also have nutritional relevance as their incorporation in the human diet provides health benefits. In non-photosynthetic tissues, carotenoids are synthesized and stored in specialized plastids called chromoplasts. At present very little is known about the origin of the metabolic precursors and cofactors required to sustain the high rate of carotenoid biosynthesis in these plastids. Recent proteomic data have revealed a number of biochemical and metabolic processes potentially operating in fruit chromoplasts. However, considering that chloroplast to chromoplast differentiation is a very rapid process during fruit ripening, there is the possibility that some of the proteins identified in the proteomic analysis could represent remnants no longer having a functional role in chromoplasts. Therefore, experimental validation is necessary to prove whether these predicted processes are actually operative in chromoplasts. Results A method has been established for high-yield purification of tomato fruit chromoplasts suitable for metabolic studies. Radiolabeled precursors were efficiently incorporated and further metabolized in isolated chromoplast. Analysis of labeled lipophilic compounds has revealed that lipid biosynthesis is a very efficient process in chromoplasts, while the relatively low incorporation levels found in carotenoids suggest that lipid production may represent a competing pathway for carotenoid biosynthesis. Malate and pyruvate are efficiently converted into acetyl-CoA, in agreement with the active operation of the malic enzyme and the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex in the chromoplast. Our results have also shown that isolated chromoplasts can actively sustain anabolic processes without the exogenous supply of ATP, thus suggesting that these organelles may generate this energetic cofactor in an autonomous way. Conclusions We have set up a method for high yield purification of intact tomato fruit chromoplasts suitable for precursor uptake assays and metabolic analyses. Using targeted radiolabeled precursors we have been able to unravel novel biochemical and metabolic aspects related with carotenoid and lipid biosynthesis in tomato fruit chromoplasts. The reported chromoplast system could represent a valuable platform to address the validation and characterization of functional processes predicted from recent transcriptomic and proteomic data.