The strategic relevance of business relationships: a preliminary assessment

The ubiquitous contention within the Industrial Networks literature - that business relationships are one of the firm´s most important resources - has not been, in our viewpoint, thoroughly explored. Hence we argue that the ‘Resource-based View of the Firm’ (‘RBV’) may complement the network-based reasoning on the strategic relevance of business relationships. A theoretical framework is proposed – a competence-based view of the firm – which solves RBV´s terminological and inconsistency problems and, more importantly, assures compatibility with the network perspective´s assumptions. The possibility of cross-fertilizing the Industrial Networks and RBV theories seems not only real, but also conceptually profitable for both theoretical fields.Business Relationships, Industrial Networks, Resource-Based View of the Firm, Competence-Based View of the Firm

How is the relationship significance brought about? A critical realist approach

The markets-as-networks theorists contend, at least tacitly, the significance of business relationships for the focal firm – that is, business relationships contribute somewhat to the focal firm’s survival and growth. We do not deny the existence of significant business relationships but sustain, in contrast to the consensus within the Markets-as-Networks Theory, that relationship significance should not be a self-evident assumption. Significance cannot be a taken-for-granted property of each and every one of the focal firm’s business relationships. We adopt explicitly a critical realist position in this conceptual paper and claim that the relationship significance is an event of the business world, whose causes remain yet largely unidentified. Where the powers and liabilities of business relationships (i.e., their functions and dysfunctions) are put to work, inevitably under certain contingencies (namely the surrounding networks and markets), effects result for the focal firm (often benefits in excess of sacrifices, i.e., relationship value) and as a result the relationship significance is likely to be brought about. In addition, the relationship significance can result from the dual influence that business relationships have on a great part of the structure and powers and liabilities of the focal firm, i.e., its nature and scope respectivelyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

2b-RAD genotyping for population genomic studies of Chagas disease vectors: Rhodnius ecuadoriensis in Ecuador

Background: Rhodnius ecuadoriensis is the main triatomine vector of Chagas disease, American trypanosomiasis, in Southern Ecuador and Northern Peru. Genomic approaches and next generation sequencing technologies have become powerful tools for investigating population diversity and structure which is a key consideration for vector control. Here we assess the effectiveness of three different 2b restriction site-associated DNA (2b-RAD) genotyping strategies in R. ecuadoriensis to provide sufficient genomic resolution to tease apart microevolutionary processes and undertake some pilot population genomic analyses. Methodology/Principal findings: The 2b-RAD protocol was carried out in-house at a non-specialized laboratory using 20 R. ecuadoriensis adults collected from the central coast and southern Andean region of Ecuador, from June 2006 to July 2013. 2b-RAD sequencing data was performed on an Illumina MiSeq instrument and analyzed with the STACKS de novo pipeline for loci assembly and Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) discovery. Preliminary population genomic analyses (global AMOVA and Bayesian clustering) were implemented. Our results showed that the 2b-RAD genotyping protocol is effective for R. ecuadoriensis and likely for other triatomine species. However, only BcgI and CspCI restriction enzymes provided a number of markers suitable for population genomic analysis at the read depth we generated. Our preliminary genomic analyses detected a signal of genetic structuring across the study area. Conclusions/Significance: Our findings suggest that 2b-RAD genotyping is both a cost effective and methodologically simple approach for generating high resolution genomic data for Chagas disease vectors with the power to distinguish between different vector populations at epidemiologically relevant scales. As such, 2b-RAD represents a powerful tool in the hands of medical entomologists with limited access to specialized molecular biological equipment. Author summary: Understanding Chagas disease vector (triatomine) population dispersal is key for the design of control measures tailored for the epidemiological situation of a particular region. In Ecuador, Rhodnius ecuadoriensis is a cause of concern for Chagas disease transmission, since it is widely distributed from the central coast to southern Ecuador. Here, a genome-wide sequencing (2b-RAD) approach was performed in 20 specimens from four communities from Manabí (central coast) and Loja (southern) provinces of Ecuador, and the effectiveness of three type IIB restriction enzymes was assessed. The findings of this study show that this genotyping methodology is cost effective in R. ecuadoriensis and likely in other triatomine species. In addition, preliminary population genomic analysis results detected a signal of population structure among geographically distinct communities and genetic variability within communities. As such, 2b-RAD shows significant promise as a relatively low-tech solution for determination of vector population genomics, dynamics, and spread

El papel de las representaciones en el éxito de la resolución de problemas

El presente trabajo forma parte de un estudio más amplio (Villegas, 2002), el cual estaba dirigido a describir el papel que desempeñan las representaciones empleadas por estudiantes expertos cuando resuelven problemas de optimización. Para cumplir el objetivo propuesto se utilizó el análisis de protocolos de pensamiento en voz alta. Las producciones generadas fueron transcritas e interpretadas aplicando un marco para el análisis de protocolos, el cual fue adaptado de Schoenfeld (1985). Se consideraron tres tipos de representación (verbal, pictórica y simbólica) y las conversiones entre ellas. A través de un análisis de caso, esta comunicación pone de manifiesto que la metodología aplicada posibilita la identificación de características relevantes de los resolutotes exitosos, con relación al empleo de las representaciones en la resolución de problemas

Retos de la formación médica de grado

Las Facultades de Medicina españolas han iniciado un nuevo proceso de reforma curricular en el marco de la implantación del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES). Este proceso constituye, sin duda, una nueva oportunidad, quizás la última en mucho tiempo, para llevar a cabo de una vez por todas la reforma en profundidad que nuestra formación de grado requiere. Los retos que se nos plantean son muchos y nada fáciles de afrontar. En este artículo vamos a discutir cuáles son estos retos y cómo deberíamos alcanzarlos. Para saber hacia dónde hemos de ir es imprescindible saber de dónde partimos y sobre todo dónde estamos. Por ello dividiremos nuestra exposición en tres períodos: el primero, que engloba el siglo XX desde 1930 a 1990, es un período en el que a pesar de su dilatada extensión apenas se producen cambios substanciales en nuestra formación de grado; el segundo, que se extiende desde finales del siglo XX a los principios del siglo actual (concretamente desde 1990 al 2003), abarca nuestro presente actual; y el tercero a partir del 2004, en el que comienzan a surgir los retos que el futuro nos depara

Self-Organized Ordering of Nanostructures Produced by Ion-Beam Sputtering

We study the self-organized ordering of nanostructures produced by ion-beam sputtering (IBS) of targets amorphizing under irradiation. By introducing a model akin to models of pattern formation in aeolian sand dunes, we extend consistently the current continuum theory of erosion by IBS. We obtain new non-linear effects responsible for the in-plane ordering of the structures, whose strength correlates with the degree of ordering found in experiments. Our results highlight the importance of redeposition and surface viscous flow to this nanopattern formation process.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

¿Qué opinan los expertos en educación médica sobre la sentencia de la troncalidad? What do the experts in medical education think about the ruling on the core curriculum?

Desde la Sociedad Española de Educación Médi­ca (SEDEM) y desde la Fundación Educación Mé­dica (FEM) ya hemos manifestado en diversos ám­bitos, que la tronca­ lidad transformaría el SNS

Relativistic confinement of neutral fermions with a trigonometric tangent potential

The problem of neutral fermions subject to a pseudoscalar potential is investigated. Apart from the solutions for $E=\pm mc^{2}$, the problem is mapped into the Sturm-Liouville equation. The case of a singular trigonometric tangent potential ($\sim \mathrm{tan} \gamma x$) is exactly solved and the complete set of solutions is discussed in some detail. It is revealed that this intrinsically relativistic and true confining potential is able to localize fermions into a region of space arbitrarily small without the menace of particle-antiparticle production.Comment: 12 page