Travel Agencies: From online channel conflict to multi-channel harmony

The adoption of Internet as a distribution channel and a privileged e-commerce tool has pressed Travel Agencies (TAs) to a latent channel conflict. Our main interest is to understand how the traditional independent travel agencies in Portugal deal with the online channel. We suggest that TAs have to develop an innovative business model based on the online and offline complementary channels, in order to achieve a multi-channel harmony

Angiotensin-(1-7) increases osmotic water permeability in isolated toad skin

Angiotensin-(1-7) (Ang-(1-7)) increased osmotic water permeability in the isolated toad skin, a tissue with functional properties similar to those of the distal mammalian nephron. Concentrations of 0.1 to 10 μM were effective, with a peak at 20 min. This effect was similar in magnitude to that of frog skin angiotensin II (Ang II) and oxytocin but lower than that of human Ang II and arginine-vasotocin. The AT2 angiotensin receptor antagonist PD 123319 (1.0 μM) fully inhibited the response to 0.1 μM Ang-(1-7) but had no effect on the response to Ang II at the same concentration. The specific receptor antagonist of Ang-(1-7), A-779, was ineffective in blocking the response to Ang-(1-7) and to frog skin Ang II. The AT1 receptor subtype antagonist losartan, which blocked the response to frog skin Ang II, was ineffective in blocking the response to Ang-(1-7). The present results support the view of an antidiuretic action of Ang-(1-7) in the mammalian nephron.Fil: Santos, Juan Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo; ArgentinaFil: Jerez, Susana Josefina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo; ArgentinaFil: Peral, Maria de Los Angeles. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Medicina; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: Coviello, Alfredo. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Medicina; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; Argentin

Cocriação de valor: uma perspetiva das agências de

O atual ambiente competitivo alterou a lógica da criação de valor, deixando de se centrar unicamente na ‘cadeia de valor’, interna à organização, para também absorver inputs da ‘constelação de valor’ externa à organização. Por isso, o novo paradigma de negócio das agências de viagens independentes (AVI) deve ser redefinido, procurando o reforço das relações win-win com os seus parceiros operadores turísticos (OT). O propósito deste artigo é identificar os atributos da constelação de valor destes parceiros de negócio e medir a importância do relacionamento quanto à criação de valor. Existe uma perceção das AVI, de que os OT investem mais em estratégias ligadas à eficiência dos seus processos internos e menos em relacionamentos com parceiros e em cocriação de valor. Assim, o objetivo desta investigação será construir um mosaico de ideias que possam explicar a realidade de criação de valor entre os parceiros das AVI, os OT e mobilizá-los no incremento de novas maneiras de cocriar valor, já que esta tendência norteará a próxima vaga de crescimento e de produtividade, na economia globa

A test of native plant adaptation more than one century after introduction of the invasive Carpobrotus edulis to the NW Iberian Peninsula

Background: Although the immediate consequences of biological invasions on ecosystems and conservation have been widely studied, the long-term effects remain unclear. Invaders can either cause the extinction of native species or become integrated in the new ecosystems, thus increasing the diversity of these ecosystems and the services that they provide. The final balance of invasions will depend on how the invaders and native plants co-evolve. For a better understanding of such co-evolution, case studies that consider the changes that occur in both invasive and native species long after the introduction of the invader are especially valuable. In this work, we studied the ecological consequences of the more than one century old invasion of NW Iberia by the African plant Carpobrotus edulis. We conducted a common garden experiment to compare the reciprocal effects of competition between Carpobrotus plants from the invaded area or from the native African range and two native Iberian plant species (Artemisia crithmifolia and Helichrysum picardii) from populations exposed or unexposed to the invader. Results: Exposure of H. picardii populations to C. edulis increased their capacity to repress the growth of Carpobrotus. The repression specifically affected the Carpobrotus from the invader populations, not those from the African native area. No effects of exposition were detected in the case of A. crithmifolia. C. edulis plants from the invader populations had higher growth than plants from the species' African area of origin. Conclusions: We found that adaptive responses of natives to invaders can occur in the long term, but we only found evidence for adaptive responses in one of the two species studied. This might be explained by known differences between the two species in the structure of genetic variance and gene flow between subpopulations. The overall changes observed in the invader Carpobrotus are consistent with adaptation after invasionThis research and publication costs were funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (grant Ref. CGL2013-48885-C2-2-R)S

Randomized controlled study of fractional doses of inactivated poliovirus vaccine administered intradermally with a needle in the Philippines

SummaryObjectiveComparison of a fractional inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) dose administered intradermally (ID) to a full dose administered intramuscularly (IM).MethodsHealthy Filipino infants were randomized to receive IPV as either a fractional (1/5th) dose ID by needle injection or a full dose IM at 6, 10, and 14 weeks and a booster at 15–18 months of age. Pre- and post-vaccination anti-polio 1, 2, and 3 titers were estimated. Adverse events were monitored throughout the study.ResultsFollowing primary series vaccination, anti-polio 1, 2, and 3 titers were ≥8 (1/dil) in 99–100% of participants, and the ID route was non-inferior to the IM route. Depending on the study group, antibody persistence was detected in 83–100% of participants, and the booster dose resulted in a strong anamnestic response in all groups. The incidence of adverse events in each group was similar, except for injection-site erythema (higher in the ID group).ConclusionsPrimary series and booster vaccination of a fractional IPV dose administered by the ID route was highly immunogenic and well tolerated. These data confirm the medical validity of using fractional ID doses of IPV. The programmatic feasibility of implementing affordable mass vaccination programs based on this delivery mode has yet to be established

El empresario individual: situación actual y propuestas de actuación futuras

Advances in IT, changes in the organizational structures of companies, the growth of the services sector, and new forms of organising work are factors that have contributed to the growth of self-employment. In Spain individual entrepreneurs with no salaried workers account for most of the country’s economic activity. As a result, they can be seen as stakeholder enterprises, in that the entrepreneur has a stake in all the activity flows they undertake. Due to their small size, it is advisable that intercooperación agreements are set up along with networks to help them become competitive. They must also be offered a regulated operational framework with a sufficient number of legal protection mechanisms framed within a future Self-Employment Statute.Individual entrepreneur, cooperatives, networks, the Self-Employment Statute.

Which competitive advantages can firms really obtain from ISO14001 certification?

Ten years after the introduction of ISO14001, in this paper we present empirical evidence about the competitive advantages that managers associate to this environmental practice, from a sample of industrial firms located in Spain. The results indicate that the potential competitive advantages are: improvement of the internal efficiency, differentiation advantages, attention to the stakeholders’ requirements, enhancement of the competitive position in the sector and financial savings. Nevertheless managers’ expectations of improving internal efficiency might be the real reason that encourages firms to make the voluntary decision of investing in ISO14001 certificationPeer Reviewe

Crystal structure dependence of the energy transfer from tb(III) to yb(III) in metal–organic frameworks based in bispyrazolylpyridines

Luminescent mixed lanthanide metal−organic framwork (MOF) materials have been prepared from two polyheterocyclic diacid ligands, 2,6-bis(3-carboxy-1-pyrazolyl)pyridine and 2,6- bis(4-carboxy-1-pyrazolyl)pyridine. The crystal structures of the two organic molecules are presented together with the structures for the MOFs obtained by hydrothermal synthesis either with Yb(III) or mixed Tb(III)/Yb(III) ions. Different coordination architectures result from each ligand, revealing also important differences between the lanthanides. The mixed lanthanide metal−organic frameworks also present diverse luminescent behavior; in the case of 2,6-bis(4-carboxy-1- pyrazolyl)pyridine, where no coordinated water is present in the metal environment, Tb(III) and Yb(III) characteristic emission is observed by excitation of the bispyrazolylpyridine chromophoreThe research leading to these results has received funding from ERCROS S.A. (Aranjuez, Spain