Estudio zoométrico realizado con ovinos de raza ripollesa

Peer Reviewe

Post-handover housing defects: sources and origins

In Spain, the high levels of inexperienced workers and the long chains of subcontracting contribute to the poor quality of dwellings. Althoughthe Ley reguladora de la subcontratación en el Sector de la Construcción (subcontracting law) has established quality measures, the number of customer complaints is still increasing. In this paper, a total of 2,351 posthandover defects derived from four Spanish builders and seven residential developments are classi fi ed according to their source and origin. The research reveals that the most common defects identi fi ed by customers at posthandover were derived from bad workmanship and were related to construction errors and omissions. Typical defects were foundtoincludeincorrectinstallation,appearancedefects,andmissinganitemortaskmainlyrelatedto fi nishingandconsideredtobeminor.No defects were caused by poor design because they are mainly detected and resolved during construction or become apparent after some years of use. This study demonstrates the negative impact of redoing defective work during the fi nal stages of construction and provides knowledge to de fi ne measures to improve the quality of the fi nished buildings, such as understanding customer expectations and preferences, training programs for workers, specialization of subcontractors, and tightening external controls prior to handover.Postprint (author's final draft

Adoption of web databases for document management in SMEs of the construction sector in Spain

This paper presents a web-based tool designed to improve internal and external document management for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector. For each specific project, the system creates an organisational document structure to be downloaded to the stakeholders’ PCs or servers and also to the web-based project management system (WPMS) that is being used to manage the entire project. A survey was conducted in Spain to define new user requirements in which the need for set rules on how to organise all the information related to a project was identified. The survey revealed that SMEs need to improve document management for large-scale projects. Based on the requirement studies, a concept model of information flow was developed and implemented in a web-based tool designed according to current standards and theories of classification and organisation of information related to construction. This system was evaluated by an independent panel of experts: academics, construction company representatives and software vendors.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Quantitative internal infrared thermography for determining in-situ thermal behaviour of façades

The thermal behaviour of a building is often underestimated or neglected during its construction and operation stages. In recent years, the heat flux meter (HFM) method has been commonly used to determine the U-value, a key parameter for assessing the thermal quality of the building envelope in steady-state conditions. However, this non-invasive test takes at least 72 h to execute, the accuracy is 14–28%, and it is not reliable for non-homogeneous building elements. An alternative technique is based on infrared thermography (IRT). Although it is generally used for qualitative analysis, quantitative internal IRT methods may also be adopted for in-situ measurement of the U-value. This research presents a method for determining in-situ U-values using quantitative internal IRT with a deviation of 1–2% for single-leaf walls and 3–4% for multi-leaf walls. It takes 2–3 h and can be used to provide information about the building envelope for the future refurbishment of existing buildings or to check the thermal behaviour of new building façades according to their design parameters.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Efficient bioactive oligonucleotide-protein conjugation for cell-targeted cancer therapy

Oligonucleotide-protein conjugates have important applications in biomedicine. Simple and efficient methods are described for the preparation of these conjugates. Specifically, we describe a new method in which a bifunctional linker is attached to thiol-oligonucleotide to generate a reactive intermediate that is used to link to the protein. Having similar conjugation efficacy compared with the classical method in which the bifunctional linker is attached first to the protein, this new approach produces significantly more active conjugates with higher batch to batch reproducibility. In a second approach, direct conjugation is proposed using oligonucleotides carrying carboxyl groups. These methodologies have been applied to prepare nanoconjugates of an engineered nanoparticle protein carrying a T22 peptide with affinity for the CXCR4 chemokine receptor and oligomers of the antiproliferative nucleotide 2'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine in a very efficient way. The protocols have potential uses for the functionalization of proteins, amino-containing polymers or amino-lipids in order to produce complex therapeutic nucleic acid delivery system

High Dimensional Classification of Structural MRI Alzheimer’s Disease Data Based on Large Scale Regularization

In this work we use a large scale regularization approach based on penalized logistic regression to automatically classify structural MRI images (sMRI) according to cognitive status. Its performance is illustrated using sMRI data from the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) clinical database. We downloaded sMRI data from 98 subjects (49 cognitive normal and 49 patients) matched by age and sex from the ADNI website. Images were segmented and normalized using SPM8 and ANTS software packages. Classification was performed using GLMNET library implementation of penalized logistic regression based on coordinate-wise descent optimization techniques. To avoid optimistic estimates classification accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were determined based on a combination of three-way split of the data with nested 10-fold cross-validations. One of the main features of this approach is that classification is performed based on large scale regularization. The methodology presented here was highly accurate, sensitive, and specific when automatically classifying sMRI images of cognitive normal subjects and Alzheimer disease (AD) patients. Higher levels of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were achieved for gray matter (GM) volume maps (85.7, 82.9, and 90%, respectively) compared to white matter volume maps (81.1, 80.6, and 82.5%, respectively). We found that GM and white matter tissues carry useful information for discriminating patients from cognitive normal subjects using sMRI brain data. Although we have demonstrated the efficacy of this voxel-wise classification method in discriminating cognitive normal subjects from AD patients, in principle it could be applied to any clinical population

uPA/uPAR and SERPINE1 in head and neck cancer: role in tumor resistance, metastasis, prognosis and therapy

There is strong evidence supporting the role of the plasminogen activator system in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), particularly of its uPA (urokinase plasminogen activator) / uPAR (urokinase plasminogen activator receptor) and SERPINE1 components. Overexpression of uPA/uPAR and SERPINE1 enhances tumor cell migration and invasion and plays a key role in metastasis development, conferring poor prognosis. The apparent paradox of uPA/uPAR and its inhibitor SERPINE1 producing similar effects is solved by the identification of SERPINE1 activated signaling pathways independent of uPA inhibition. Both uPA/uPAR and SERPINE1 are directly linked to the induction of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, the acquisition of stem cell properties and resistance to antitumor agents. The aim of this review is to provide insight on the deregulation of these proteins in all these processes. We also summarize their potential value as prognostic biomarkers or potential drug targets in HNSCC patients. Concomitant overexpression of uPA/uPAR and SERPINE1 is associated with a higher risk of metastasis and could be used to identify patients that would benefit from an adjuvant treatment. In the future, the specific inhibitors of uPA/uPAR and SERPINE1, which are still under development, could be used to design new therapeutic strategies in HNSCCs

Aplicació Android de gestió d'un club de bàsquet

Aquest document conté originàriament altre material i/o programari només consultable a la Biblioteca de Ciència i Tecnologia.El següent document correspon a la memòria del projecte fi de carrera d'Enginyeria Informàtica en què hi podem trobar l'explicació del disseny i la implementació de l'aplicació següent: gestió d'un club de bàsquet sobre la plataforma Android. Aquesta memòria correspon a un projecte desenvolupat per una persona en solitari. S'hi exposen tres parts clarament diferenciades: la justificació de l'elecció d'Android, el disseny i la implementació de l'aplicació. La implementació conté funcions com ara la pissarra per a l'entrenador, jugades interactives i la creació d'actes digitals.El siguiente documento corresponde a la memoria del proyecto de fin de carrera de Ingeniería Informática, donde se explica el diseño e implementación de la aplicación siguiente: gestión de un club de básquet sobre la plataforma Android. Esta memoria corresponde a un proyecto desarrollado por una persona en solitario. Se exponen tres partes diferenciadas: la justificación de la elección de Android, el diseño y la implementación de la aplicación. La implementación contiene funciones como la pizarra para el entrenador, jugadas interactivas o la creación de actas digitales.The following document deals with the report of the final Information Technologies degree, which contains the design and implementation of the following application: management of a basketball club on an Android platform. This belongs to a project developed by one person. In this report you will find three basic parts: the justification of chose of the Android platform, the design and the app implementation. The implementation contains functions such as the trainer's blackboard, interactive plays or creation of digital match reports