The importance of corporate brand identity in business management: An application to the UK banking sector

Corporate brand identity management is a key issue for any organisation. Accordingly, its study is a research field of great interest. This paper seeks to broaden the understanding of this strategic activity and its effects. Specifically, it investigates the concept of corporate brand identity from the employees' perspective in the UK financial banking sector and analyses the link between brand identity management and employees' attitudes and behaviours. Results indicate that organisations should pay special attention to the corporate brand identity management, given its influence on employees' commitment with their organisations, as well as their brand performance and satisfaction

Las prácticas de campo en la enseñanza de la biología y la formación docente: estado actual de conocimiento.

La presente comunicación muestra el estado actual de conocimiento sobre las prácticas de campo en la enseñanza de la Biología y en la formación de docentes de esta disciplina, a través de una revisión documental realizada sobre las publicaciones en revistas y congresos internacionales especializados en educación en ciencias naturales y enseñanza de la Biología durante los últimos 10 años. Observamos cuatro tendencias en las publicaciones: Revisiones/reflexiones, Investigaciones sobre enseñanza-aprendizaje, Investigaciones de las Concepciones sobre prácticas de campo y Relación con el Conocimiento Profesional del Profesor. En cada una de ellas mostramos sus principales características, enfoques, problemas y poblaciones de estudio. Por último señalamos la importancia de estudiar las prácticas de campo en la formación inicial del profesorado de Biología

One- and two- dimensional models are equally effective inmonitoring the crust’s thermal response to advection bylarge-scale thrusting during orogenesis

Depto. de Mineralogía y PetrologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEpu

Endozoochory by native and exotic herbivores in dry areas: consequences for germination and survival of Prosopis seeds

Mammalian herbivores can play a role in the endozoochorous dispersal of Prosopis seeds in the arid zones of Argentina, and the introduction of exotic mammals can change relevant parameters of the plant's reproductive ecology. Our specific goals were to quantify the seeds of Prosopis flexuosa, P. chilensis and P. torquata contained in the faeces of native [mara (Dolichotis patagonum), guanaco (Lama guanicoe)] and exotic [donkey (Equus asinus) and hare (Lepus europaeus)] mammals, and to determine the mortality, germination percentage and germination speed of seeds borne in faeces, compared with those collected from trees. In 2006, seeds were collected directly from trees or removed from mammal faeces. Seeds were counted and classified as apparently healthy or damaged. P. torquata and P. flexuosa seeds were found in the dung of guanaco, hare and mara, whereas only P. flexuosa seeds appeared in donkey faeces. P. chilensis seeds were only found in guanaco faeces. There was a notable relative abundance of seeds contained in small herbivore faeces in comparison to the large herbivores. The passage through the digestive tract of animals modified seed germination capacity and speed, with great variability between animal species. Guanacos had greater effects than donkeys on mortality, germination percentage and germination speed. Differences between the effects of both smaller-sized herbivores on seeds were much smaller.Fil: Campos, Claudia Monica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de las Zonas Áridas; ArgentinaFil: Peco, Begoña. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: Campos Valeria. Universidad Nacional de San Juan; ArgentinaFil: Malo Arrázola, Juan Esteban. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; EspañaFil: Giannoni, Stella Maris. Universidad Nacional de San Juan; ArgentinaFil: Suarez Francisco. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; Españ

Mouse cytotoxic T cell-derived granzyme B activates the mitochondrial cell death pathway in a bim-dependent fashion

Cytotoxic T cells (Tc) use perforin and granzyme B (gzmB) to kill virus-infected cells and cancer cells. Recent evidence suggests that human gzmB primarily induces apoptosis via the intrinsic mitochondrial pathway by either cleaving Bid or activating Bim leading to the activation of Bak/Bax and subsequent generation of active caspase-3. In contrast, mouse gzmB is thought to predominantly induce apoptosis by directly processing pro-caspase-3. However, in certain mouse cell types gzmB-mediated apoptosis mainly occurs via the mitochondrial pathway. To investigate whether Bim is involved under the latter conditions, we have now employed ex vivo virus-immune mouse Tc that selectively kill by using perforin and gzmB (gzmB+Tc) as effector cells and wild type as well as Bim- or Bak/Bax-deficient spontaneously (3T9) or virus-(SV40) transformed mouse embryonic fibroblast cells as targets. We show that gzmB+Tc-mediated apoptosis (phosphatidylserine translocation, mitochondrial depolarization, cytochrome c release, and caspase-3 activation) was severely reduced in 3T9 cells lacking either Bim or both Bak and Bax. This outcome was related to the ability of Tc cells to induce the degradation of Mcl-1 and Bcl-XL, the anti-apoptotic counterparts of Bim. In contrast, gzmB+Tc-mediated apoptosis was not affected in SV40-transformed mouse embryonic fibroblast cells lacking Bak/Bax. The data provide evidence that Bim participates in mouse gzmB+Tc-mediated apoptosis of certain targets by activating the mitochondrial pathway and suggest that the mode of cell death depends on the target cell. Our results suggest that the various molecular events leading to transformation and/or immortalization of cells have an impact on their relative resistance to the multiple gzmB+Tc-induced death pathways

El complejo de Órdenes: subdivisión, descripción y discusión sobre su origen.

[Resumen] El Complejo de Ordenes, el mayor de los macizos alóctonos con rocas máficas y ultramAficas de Galicia y el N de Portugal, se ha subdividido en cinco unidades en base, fundamentalmente, a las asociaciones litológicas: U. de Santiago, U. de Villa de Cruces, U. De la Sierra del Careón-Bazar, U. de SobradoMellid y U. de Betanzos-Arzúa. Todas ellas están separadas entre si por cabalgamientos y superpuestas tectónicamente. Para cada unidad, se realiza una descripción petrológica y se analizan las relaciones de las diferentes rocas entre si. ,Se efectúa, además, una revisión de los datos geoquimicos disponibles y, finalmente, se discute el origen probable de las distintas unidades[Abstract] The Ordenes Complex, the biggest OI the allochthonous massifs with mafic and ultramafic rocks in Galicia and northern Portugal, has been divided into five units according to the lithological associations: Santiago Unit, Villa de Cruces Unít, Sierra del Care6n-Bazar Unit, Sobrado-Mellid Unít and BetanzoS-Arzúa Unít. They are separated from each other by thrust faults and tectonically stacked. For each OI the units, a petrological description is given, explaining the relationships between the different rock types. Moreover, the geochemical data available are reviewed and the probable origin of the units is discusse

Checklist de Festuca L. (Poaceae) en la Península Ibérica

Se ha elaborado una checklist actualizada del género Festuca en la Pe¬nínsula Ibérica. El catálogo incluye 73 especies, que suman 98 taxones si se consideran las subespecies y variedades, de los que casi el 40% son endémicos del territorio. Para cada taxón se recoge el nombre válido y las sinonimias más importantes, la indicación locotípica, el número cromosómico, las características ecológicas, la distribución general y en el territorio, y la información bibliográfica de interés. Además, se recogen en varios apéndices los nombres sin asignación, los híbridos interespecíficos detectados en el territorio, los híbridos intergenéricos conocidos, los taxones excluidos provisionamente y aquellos cuya presencia es probable en el territorio.Checklist of Festuca L. (Poaceae) in the Iberian Peninsula. We present an updated checklist of the genus Festuca in the Iberian Peninsula. The catalogue includes 73 species, suming up 98 taxa considering infraspecific taxa (subspecies and varieties). Of them, approximately 40% are endemic to the region. Information about the valid name and the most important synonyms, the locus classicus reference, the chromosome number, the ecology, the global and regional geographical distributions, and the most relevant bibliographic references is provided for each taxon. Additional information on the taxa without clear taxonomic assignation, the interspecific hybrids detected in the territory, the described intergeneric hybrids, and the taxa provisionally excluded from the Iberian checklist and those that could be present in the Iberian Peninsula is indicated in the appendices

Patterns of pan-genome occupancy and gene coexpression under water-deficit in Brachypodium distachyon

Natural populations are characterized by abundant genetic diversity driven by a range of different types of mutation. The tractability of sequencing complete genomes has allowed new insights into the variable composition of genomes, summarized as a species pan-genome. These analyses demonstrate that many genes are absent from the first reference genomes, whose analysis dominated the initial years of the genomic era. Our field now turns towards understanding the functional consequence of these highly variable genomes. Here, we analysed weighted gene coexpression networks from leaf transcriptome data for drought response in the purple false brome Brachypodium distachyon and the differential expression of genes putatively involved in adaptation to this stressor. We specifically asked whether genes with variable “occupancy” in the pan-genome – genes which are either present in all studied genotypes or missing in some genotypes – show different distributions among coexpression modules. Coexpression analysis united genes expressed in drought-stressed plants into nine modules covering 72 hub genes (87 hub isoforms), and genes expressed under controlled water conditions into 13 modules, covering 190 hub genes (251 hub isoforms). We find that low occupancy pan-genes are under-represented among several modules, while other modules are over-enriched for low-occupancy pan-genes. We also provide new insight into the regulation of drought response in B. distachyon, specifically identifying one module with an apparent role in primary metabolism that is strongly responsive to drought. Our work shows the power of integrating pan-genomic analysis with transcriptomic data using factorial experiments to understand the functional genomics of environmental respons