Asthma: snapshot or motion picture?

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

INSTRUMENTOS DE PROMOCIÓN DE LOS VINOS EN LOS RESTAURANTES DE ALTO NIVEL

En los últimos años, la comercialización de vinos está adquiriendo un peso creciente en los establecimientos de restauración. El aumento en la complejidad de la oferta de vinos determina que la elección del consumidor esté condicionada por la oferta presente en la carta y por la influencia del personal de sala. El objetivo del presente trabajo es identificar y caracterizar los instrumentos relevantes de promoción de los vinos que utilizan los restaurantes, en función de la presencia de personal formado en vinos. Como resultado de un estudio realizado para una muestra de restaurantes de alto nivel, observamos que el contenido y el diseño de la carta de vinos se encuentran en granmedida condicionados por la presencia de sumiller, constituyéndose ambos en instrumentos básicos de promoción de los vinos en el restaurante

A methodology for attenuation correction based on the minimization of a cost function

Postprint (published version

Encuentro de servicio, valor percibido y satisfacción del cliente en la relación entre empresas

[email protected] [email protected] literatura en marketing de servicios ha argumentado que el proceso de servicio puede ser el antecedente más importante de la evaluacióm del cliente sobre el resultado del servicio y que en ese juicio evaluativo último, el valor del servicio adquiere un papel esencial. Sin embargo, la naturaleza de este proceso de formación no ha sido extensamente estudiada, especialmente, en un contexto de relación interorganizativa. El presente estudio intenta contribuir al conocimiento de cómo el encuentro de servicio y el valor del servicio, contribuyen a aumentar la satisfacción del cliente. El trabajo explora la relación entre ambos, analizando el caso de una organización que provee servicios de intermediación financiera al sector bancario. Sobre la base de una revisión de la literatura, el análisis SEM es utilizado para contrastar las hipótesis de los vínculos entre los constructos analizados. El análisis de fiabilidad y validez de las escalas empleadas da resultados satisfactorios, y nuestras conclusiones establecen que el encuentro de servicio afecta directa y significativamente al valor del servicio, siendo éste el antecedente último de la satisfacción.In services marketing literature it has been said that service process can be the most important antecedent of customer’s service results assessment, and that service value has a key role in this last evaluative judgement. However, the nature of this service formation process has not extensively studied, specially, when talking about business to business relation. The present paper wishes to make a contribution in the sense of understanding how both service encounter and service value can increase customer satisfaction. In the work we explore the relationship between both elements in the particular case of an organization that provides financial mediation services to the banking sector. On the basis of previous literature review, a SEM analysis is proposed to validate several hypothesis on relationships between constructs. Scales reliability and validity were tested satisfactory. We conclude that service encounter has significant and direct effects on service value, the latter being the very last antecedent of satisfaction

Revalorization of Posidonia oceanica Waste for the Thermochemical Production of Biochar

Every year, many tonnes of Posidonia oceanica are removed from Mediterranean beaches to maintain the quality and pleasure of use of the beaches. Most of this waste ends up in landfills, entailing removal costs. In this work, the Posidonia oceanica material was characterised, and a washing system was developed to obtain biochar. An adequate washing of the starting biomass was shown to play a key role as it led to an over 90% salt content reduction and, therefore, a decrease in conductivity values. The use of biochar as a soil remediator improves soil properties, carbon sequestration, and plant growth. However, not all types of biochars are suitable for this type of application. Therefore, the properties of biochar made from Posidonia oceanica at different temperatures (300, 400, and 500 °C) were studied. All the biochars obtained showed to exceed 10% organic carbon, which is the lower limit to be applied to soils, the maximum percentage having been obtained at 300 °C. In addition, all presented pH values (8.02, 10.32, and 10.38 for the temperatures of 300, 400, and 500 °C, respectively) that were similar to those of other effective biochars for the remediation of acid soils.The present study was funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (Spain) [grant number PID2019-108632RB-I00] and by Prometheus Programme (Spain) [grant number CIPROM/2021/027]

Anodic abatement of glyphosate on Pt-doped SnO2–Sb electrodes promoted by pollutant-dopant electrocatalytic interactions

The development of non-expensive and efficient technologies for the elimination of Glyphosate (GLP) in water is of great interest for society today. Here we explore novel electrocatalytic effects to boost the anodic oxidation of GLP on Pt-doped (3-13met%) SnO2–Sb electrodes. The study reveals the formation of well disperse Pt nanophases in SnO2–Sb that electrocatalyze GLP elimination. Cyclic voltammetry and in-situ spectroelectrochemical FTIR analysis evidence carboxylate-mediated Pt-GLP electrocatalytic interactions to promote oxidation and mineralization of this herbicide. Interestingly, under electrolytic conditions Pt effects are proposed to synergistically cooperate with hydroxyl radicals in GLP oxidation. Furthermore, the formation of by-products has been followed by different techniques, and the studied electrodes are compared to commercial Si/BDD and Ti/Pt anodes and tested for a real GLP commercial product. Results show that, although BDD is the most effective anode, the SnO2–Sb electrode with a 13 met% Pt can mineralize GLP with lower energy consumption.The authors gratefully acknowledge the EDGJID/2021/330 contract (Generalitat Valenciana, Spain), as well as the RYC-2017-23618 contract and TED2021-131028B–I00 project funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and “ESF Investing in your future” and “European Union NextGeneration EU/PRTR”

3D mechanical characterization of artificial muscles with stereoscopic computer vision and active contours

Artificial muscles are formed by attaching a conducting polymeric film to a non-conducting one. Applying an electrical current on the muscle. a macroscopic bending movement appears on it. Study of curvature variations and related parameters, such as speed of motion or energy of curvature, is necessary for improving the efficiency of these devices. In a previous work. a one-cam computer vision system was developed to estimate motion parameters in 2D with precise results. In this paper, a two-cam stereo vision system is proposed to process the image sequence and track the muscle in 3D. Active contours models are employed in motion detection and mechanical parameters estimation. Results prove the validity of this approach, allowing automatic testing on the research into artificial muscles.This work was supported by MCYI' BQLJ2001-047

An ArsR/SmtB family member regulates arsenic resistance genes unusually arranged in Thermus thermophilus HB27.

Arsenic resistance is commonly clustered in ars operons in bacteria; main ars operon components encode an arsenate reductase, a membrane extrusion protein, and an As-sensitive transcription factor. In the As-resistant thermophile Thermus thermophilus HB27, genes encoding homologues of these proteins are interspersed in the chromosome. In this article, we show that two adjacent genes, TtsmtB, encoding an ArsR/SmtB transcriptional repressor and, TTC0354, encoding a Zn2+/Cd2+-dependent membrane ATPase are involved in As resistance; differently from characterized ars operons, the two genes are transcribed from dedicated promoters upstream of their respective genes, whose expression is differentially regulated at transcriptional level. Mutants defective in TtsmtB or TTC0354 are more sensitive to As than the wild type, proving their role in arsenic resistance. Recombinant dimeric TtSmtB binds in vitro to both promoters, but its binding capability decreases upon interaction with arsenate and, less efficiently, with arsenite. In vivo and in vitro experiments also demonstrate that the arsenate reductase (TtArsC) is subjected to regulation by TtSmtB. We propose a model for the regulation of As resistance in T. thermophilus in which TtSmtB is the arsenate sensor responsible for the induction of TtArsC which generates arsenite exported by TTC0354 efflux protein to detoxify cells