De usu philosophiae in republica gubernanda

Invokaatio: Deo adjuvante.

De urbe Uloa 1

Variantti B.

Status servorum levi penicillo adumbrans

Invokaatio: Deo duce.

Historica delineatio officinarum ferrarium in Finlandia

Variantti B.

De auro e septentrione Job. XXXVII: v. 22

Invokaatio: I.N.J.

Ciencia y conciencia

1er Premio en la categor??a de Ciencia Ingenier??a y Valores de la novena edici??n de 'Ciencia en Acci??n' organizada por El Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cient??ficas, la Fundaci??n Espa??ola para la Ciencia y la Tecnolog??a, la Real Sociedad Espa??ola de F??sica, la Real Sociedad Matem??tica Espa??ola y la Universidad Nacional de Educaci??n a Distancia, en 2008. Premio 'Operi Bene Peracto' de la Real Academia Espa??ola de Qu??mica, en su edici??n de 2008

Does uncertainty cause inertia in decision making? An experimental study of the role of regret aversion and indecisiveness

Previous research has shown that often there is clear inertia in individual decision making---that is, a tendency for decision makers to choose a status quo option. I conduct a laboratory experiment to investigate two potential determinants of inertia in uncertain environments: (i) regret aversion and (ii) ambiguity-driven indecisiveness. I use a between-subjects design with varying conditions to identify the effects of these two mechanisms on choice behavior. In each condition, participants choose between two simple real gambles, one of which is the status quo option. I find that inertia is quite large and that both mechanisms are equally important.

L'aigua, font de vida. 'El agua, fuente de vida'.

Proyecto educativo para Secundaria desarrollado por cuatro centros europeos: IES Cotes Baixes (Alicante, España); Niels Brock Business College Amager Habdeksó Gymnasium (Copenhage, Dinamarca); Lycée Cesson-Sévigné (Cesson Sévigné Cedex, Francia); y Chesmann Park Community College (Bucks, Gran Bretaña). El proyecto desarrolla once actividades sobre el agua para diferentes áreas, entre las que destacan el conocimiento del medio natural, educción artística y musical, matemáticas, física y química, literatura y fislosofía, historia y cultura. En estas actividades se tratan, desde el análisis biológico y químico del agua hasta la gota fría, los suministros en la ciudad, el reflejo en la prensa de la falta de agua, formas de ahorrar agua, o la presencia del agua en la literatura o en los testamentos.

El agua, fuente de vida.

Proyecto educativo para Secundaria desarrollado por cuatro centros europeos: IES Cotes Baixes (Alicante, España); Niels Brock Business College Amager Handels Gymnasium (Copenhage, Dinamarca); Lycée Cesson-Sévigné (Cesson Sévigné Cedex, Francia); y Chesman Park Community College (Bucks, Gran Bretaña). El proyecto desarrolla once actividades sobre el agua para diferentes áreas, entre las que destacan el conocimiento del medio natural, educación artística y musical, matemáticas, física y química, literatura y filosofía, historia y cultura. En estas actividades se trata, desde el análisis biológico y químico del agua hasta la gota fría, los suministros en la ciudad, el reflejo en la prensa de la falta de agua, formas de ahorrar agua, la presencia del agua en la literatura o en los testamentos.

The acceptability of isoflavones as a treatment of menopausal symptoms: a European survey among postmenopausal women

Objective: To investigate determinants of the acceptability of isoflavone products among postmenopausal women with regard to social and lifestyle factors, dietary habits, health concerns, food beliefs, menopausal symptoms and therapies, and to elucidate preferences for specific products. Methods: A consumer survey was conducted among postmenopausal women in four European countries (Germany, Denmark, Italy and the UK), including a total of 465 respondents. Results: The declared acceptability of isoflavones was highest in Germany (80%), followed by Italy (75%), the UK (59%) and Denmark (55%; p < 0.001). Among other factors, prior information about isoflavones (odds ratio (OR) 2.64, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.54-4.51, p < 0.001) and belief that foods can be used to treat medical conditions (OR 2.18, 95% CI 1.17-4.05, p=0.014) were the strongest predictors of potential acceptability. The preferred forms in which isoflavones might be taken differed markedly between countries. Conclusions: Information about the health effects of isoflavones and health-diet links should be considered the most important factors in attempts to influence the potential acceptability of isoflavone products. Foods enriched with isoflavones need to be developed with regard to specific cultural demands in order to assure consumer acceptance on the marketplace.

A normative approach to multi-agent systems for intelligent buildings

Building Management Systems (BMS) are widely adopted in modern buildings around the world in order to provide high-quality building services, and reduce the running cost of the building. However, most BMS are functionality-oriented and do not consider user personalization. The aim of this research is to capture and represent building management rules using organizational semiotics methods. We implement Semantic Analysis, which determines semantic units in building management and their relationship patterns of behaviour, and Norm Analysis, which extracts and specifies the norms that establish how and when these management actions occur. Finally, we propose a multi-agent framework for norm based building management. This framework contributes to the design domain of intelligent building management system by defining a set of behaviour patterns, and the norms that govern the real-time behaviour in a building.

Lineage-Negative Bone Marrow Cells Protect Against Chronic Renal Failure

Progressive renal failure continues to be a challenge. The use of bone marrow cells represents a means of meeting that challenge. We used lineage-negative (Lin(-)) cells to test the hypothesis that Lin(-) cell treatment decreases renal injury. Syngeneic Fischer 344 rats were divided into four groups: sham ( laparotomy only, untreated); Nx (five-sixth nephrectomy and untreated); NxLC1 (five-sixth nephrectomy and receiving 2 x 10(6) Lin(-) cells on postnephrectomy day 15); and NxLC3 (five-sixth nephrectomy and receiving 2 x 10(6) Lin(-) cells on postnephrectomy days 15, 30, and 45). On postoperative day 16, renal mRNA expression of interleukin (IL)-1 beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and IL-6 was lower in NxLC rats than in Nx rats. On postnephrectomy day 60, NxLC rats presented less proteinuria, glomerulosclerosis, anemia, renal infiltration of immune cells, and protein expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, as well as decreased interstitial area. Immunostaining for proliferating cell nuclear antigen showed that, in comparison with sham rats, Nx rats presented greater cell proliferation, whereas NxLC1 rats and NxLC3 rats presented less cell proliferation than did Nx rats. Protein expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 and of vascular endothelial growth factor increased after nephrectomy and decreased after Lin(-) cell treatment. On postnephrectomy day 120, renal function (inulin clearance) was significantly better in Lin(-) cell-treated rats than in untreated rats. Lin(-) cell treatment significantly improved survival. These data suggest that Lin(-) cell treatment protects against chronic renal failure. STEM CELLS 2009; 27: 682-692