Russian hegemony in the CIS region: an examination of Russian influence and of variation in consent and dissent by CIS states to regional hierarchy

This thesis studies variation in Russian hegemony in the post-Soviet region. The concept of changing hegemony is used as a starting point to examine how regional hierarchy has changed in the post-Soviet period. Russian hegemony tightens and loosens depending on the time, territory and type of power logic being exercised. This systemic condition characterised by change arises not only because the way that Russia exercises its power changes, but also because the responses of the other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to that power fluctuate. Depending on the consent and dissent shown by the other CIS countries to the attenuation of their sovereignty, Russia’s regional hegemony either grows or lessens in intensity. This study uncovers dissent from those who do not fit within or are unprepared to adapt to the status quo of hegemony, and consent from those who accept diminishing sovereignty. Thus, hegemonies in the context of this study are characterised by regular and open-ended dialogue between states that remain independent enough to constantly negotiate the system through their consent and dissent to hierarchy. In making these claims, this study examines concepts such as sovereignty, hierarchy and legitimacy in the context of the CIS region as well as key developments in the CIS region. Specifically, it makes conclusions on how regional hierarchy around Russia is perpetuated, the factors that determine the extent of that hegemony, how bilateral and group relationships have developed between other CIS countries and Russia, and how the CIS system of states is best classified at different periods in time

Sustaining affective commitment and extra-role service among hospitality employees: interactive effect of empowerment and service training

The success of hospitality sector firms depends largely on the degree to which frontline employees o er a high-quality service to customers. In this context it is of vital importance to determine how to promote positive employees’ attitudes and behaviors through the human resource practices. This study analyzes the indirect e ect of empowerment via a ective commitment on the extra-role service. In addition, the moderating e ect of service training on the empowerment–a ective commitment–extra-role service relationship is explored. The data was collected from a sample of frontline employees working in three-to-five-star urban hotels in Santiago de Compostela (Spain). The results of the study suggest that for empowerment to lead to greater emotional attachment to the organization and extra-role customer service, it is necessary for frontline employees to perceive that they have received a moderated-high level of training in customer service. This finding is particularly interesting for frontline employees’ management in hotels sectorS

A New Edit Distance for Fuzzy Hashing Applications

7 páginas, 5 tablas, 2 algoritmos. Comunicación presentada en: The 2015 World Congress in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Applied Computing (WORLDCOMP'15). The 2015 International Conference on Security and Management (SAM'15), Las Vegas, USA, July 27 - 30Similarity preserving hashing applications, also known as fuzzy hashing functions, help to analyse the content of digital devices by performing a resemblance comparison between different files. In practice, the similarity matching procedure is a two-step process, where first a signature associated to the files under comparison is generated, and then a comparison of the signatures themselves is performed. Even though ssdeep is the best-known application in this field, the edit distance algorithm that ssdeep uses for performing the signature comparison is not well-suited for certain scenarios. In this contribution we present a new edit distance algorithm that better reflects the similarity of two strings, and that can be used by fuzzy hashing applications in order to improve their results.This work has been partially supported by Comunidad de Madrid (Spain) under the project S2013/ICE-3095-CM (CIBERDINE) and by Ministerio de Economía y Com- petitividad (Spain) under the grant TIN2014-55325-C2-1-R (ProCriCiS).Peer reviewe

A Comparison of the Standardized Versions of ECIES

Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) can be used as a tool for encrypting data, creating digital signatures or performing key exchanges. In relation to encryption, the Elliptic Curve Integrated Encryption Scheme (ECIES) is the best known scheme based on ECC, and as such it has been included in several cryptographic standards. In the present work, we provide an extensive review and comparison of the versions of ECIES included in documents from ANSI, IEEE, ISO/IEC, and SECG, highlighting the main differences between them that can prevent implementations of ECIES from being fully interoperable.This work has been partially supported by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain), under the grant TEC2009-13964-C04-02, and Ministerio de Industria, Turismo y Comercio (Spain), in collaboration with CDTI and Telefónica I+D, under the project Segur@ CENIT-2007 2004.Peer reviewe

The Ve-mediated resistance response of the tomato to Verticillium dahliae involves H2O2, peroxidase and lignins and drives PAL gene expression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Verticillium dahliae </it>is a fungal pathogen that infects a wide range of hosts. The only known genes for resistance to <it>Verticillium </it>in the Solanaceae are found in the tomato (<it>Solanum lycopersicum</it>) <it>Ve </it>locus, formed by two linked genes, <it>Ve1 </it>and <it>Ve2</it>. To characterize the resistance response mediated by the tomato <it>Ve </it>gene, we inoculated two nearly isogenic tomato lines, LA3030 (<it>ve</it>/<it>ve</it>) and LA3038 (<it>Ve</it>/<it>Ve</it>), with <it>V. dahliae</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found induction of H₂O₂production in roots of inoculated plants, followed by an increase in peroxidase activity only in roots of inoculated resistant plants. Phenylalanine-ammonia lyase (PAL) activity was also increased in resistant roots 2 hours after inoculation, while induction of PAL activity in susceptible roots was not seen until 48 hours after inoculation. Phenylpropanoid metabolism was also affected, with increases in ferulic acid, <it>p</it>-coumaric acid, vanillin and <it>p</it>-hydroxybenzaldehyde contents in resistant roots after inoculation. Six tomato <it>PAL </it>cDNA sequences (<it>PAL1 </it>- <it>PAL6</it>) were found in the SolGenes tomato EST database. RT-PCR analysis showed that these genes were expressed in all organs of the plant, albeit at different levels. Real-time RT-PCR indicated distinct patterns of expression of the different <it>PAL </it>genes in <it>V. dahliae</it>-inoculated roots. Phylogenetic analysis of 48 partial <it>PAL </it>cDNAs corresponding to 19 plant species grouped angiosperm <it>PAL </it>sequences into four clusters, suggesting functional differences among the six tomato genes, with <it>PAL2 </it>and <it>PAL6 </it>presumably involved in lignification, and the remaining <it>PAL </it>genes implicated in other biological processes.</p> <p>An increase in the synthesis of lignins was found 16 and 28 days after inoculation in both lines; this increase was greater and faster to develop in the resistant line. In both resistant and susceptible inoculated plants, an increase in the ratio of guaiacyl/syringyl units was detected 16 days after inoculation, resulting from the lowered amount of syringyl units in the lignins of inoculated plants.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The interaction between the tomato and <it>V. dahliae </it>triggered a number of short- and long-term defensive mechanisms. Differences were found between compatible and incompatible interactions, including onset of H₂O₂production and activities of peroxidase and PAL, and phenylpropanoid metabolism and synthesis of lignins.</p

Antioxidant white grape seed phenolics: pressurized liquid extracts from different varieties

Grape seeds represent a high percentage (20% to 26%) of the grape marc obtained as a byproduct from white winemaking and keep a vast proportion of grape polyphenols. In this study, seeds obtained from 11 monovarietal white grape marcs cultivated in Northwestern Spain have been analyzed in order to characterize their polyphenolic content and antioxidant activity. Seeds of native (Albariño, Caiño, Godello, Loureiro, Torrontés, and Treixadura) and non-native (Chardonnay, Gewurtzträminer, Pinot blanc, Pinot gris, and Riesling) grape varieties have been considered. Low weight phenolics have been extracted by means of pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) and further analyzed by LC-MS/MS. The results showed that PLE extracts, whatever the grape variety of origin, contained large amounts of polyphenols and high antioxidant activity. Differences in the varietal polyphenolic profiles were found, so a selective exploitation of seeds might be possibleThis research was supported by European Regional Development Fund 2007-2013 (FEDER), and project GPC2014/035 (Consolidated Research Groups Program of Galician Government Xunta de Galicia)S

Gender inequality in occupational risk prevention

Originales[ES] Introducción: Los objetivos de este estudio, para comprobar la existencia de una posible desigualdad de géneros en relación a las actividades preventivas, consisten en conocer la frecuencia con la que la mujer tiene acceso a la vigilancia de salud, en qué medida recibe formación e información, la frecuencia con que se realiza la evaluación de los riesgos para su salud en el puesto de trabajo, que aspectos del puesto de trabajos se estudian además de la evaluación de riesgos tanto en los aspectos organizativos, como de los aspectos psicosociales. Material y métodos: Estudio epidemiológico observacional transversal, de fuente secundaria, a partir de los datos de la «VII Encuesta Nacional de Condiciones de Trabajo, realizada por INSHT en el 2011. Para la determinación de la desigualdad entre géneros se utilizó el test de Chi cuadrado para las variables cualitativas y el T-test para muestras independientes para variables cuantitativas. Para el control de posibles interacciones o modificaciones del efecto se realizó un análisis de regresión logística binaria, la significación de los modelos se contrastó mediante la pruebas de Hosmer y Lemeshow. Resultados: El 56.30% de mujeres frente a 43.70% de hombres, afirman que no se les ofreció la posibilidad de realizarse el reconocimiento médico al 52,80% de mujeres que afirman que si se les ofreció el reconocimiento médico no se lo llegaron a hacer. A un 51.70 % de mujeres frente a un 48.30% de hombres no se les realizó la evaluación de riesgos en el puesto de trabajo. El 56.10% de mujeres frente a un 43.90% de hombres afirman considerarse mal informados sobre los riesgos de su puesto de trabajo. En el análisis de regresión los factores más relacionados con una menor accesibilidad a actividades de prevención de riesgos laborales fueron: el ser mujer, la ausencia del delegado de prevención, el contrato temporal, y ser trabajador extranjero. Concluimos que el ser mujer trabajadora supone un menor acceso a la gestión preventiva.[EN] Objectives: In order to test the possible gender inequality in labour prevention, we need to know how often women have access to health surveillance, which is the scope of the training and information received by women, the frequency with which the assessment of health risks in the workplace. Methods: Cross-sectional epidemiological study of secondary source data from the «Seventh National Working Conditions Survey, conducted by INSHT in 2011. Results: 56.30% women compared to 43.70% of men say they were not offered the medical examination in the last 12 months, while the 52.80% of women, who were offered medical examination, did not attend. Risk assessment in workplace during the last 12 months was not performed to 51.70% of women versus 48.30% men. 56.10% of women versus 43.90% of men claim to be misinformed about the risks of their job. We got constant risk factors: being female, the absence of prevention delegate, temporary contract, and being foreign worker.N

Business consulting - Tiendas Peruanas SA

Tiendas Peruanas SA, conocida comercialmente como Oechsle, es una organización con fines de lucro perteneciente al sector retail, que inició operaciones en el Perú en el año 2008, con la misión de ayudar a sus clientes a verse y sentirse bien a través de la propuesta de tiendas por departamento con enfoque en la mujer. Dado el contexto del presente año, la organización se ha visto impactada por los cambios, restricciones e incertidumbre que generó el COVID-19; causando una pérdida de los ingresos y, a la par, un crecimiento sin precedentes de la venta e-commerce. Ante esto, el presente trabajo de consultoría se enfocó en identificar el problema clave principal que afectaba a la compañía, analizando las principales causas y proponiendo alternativas que les permitan solucionarlas y, con ello, generar beneficios tangibles en el corto plazo. Se halló que el problema principal actual para la organización se encuentra asociado a las pérdidas económicas producto del COVID-19. Luego de varias reuniones de trabajo con Oechsle, se identificaron las causas-raíz, que fueron priorizadas de manera conjunta con las áreas de la empresa. Posteriormente, se realizó una investigación de marco teórico relevante y, con ello, una lluvia de ideas que permitió el planteamiento de alternativas de solución y el desarrollo de un prototipo. De estas opciones, las que tuvieron mayor impacto y menor complejidad de implementación fueron ratificadas por la compañía. Sobre las mismas, se planteó un plan de implementación disgregado en tres fases, para segmentar la entrega de soluciones que permitan beneficios tangibles en el corto plazo, medibles a través de indicadores relevantes para la compañía.Tiendas Peruanas SA, commercially known as Oechsle, is a for-profit organization that belongs to the retail sector, which began operations in Peru in 2008, with the mission of helping its customers look and feel good through the proposal of department stores with a focus on women. Given this year’s context, the organization has been impacted by the changes, restrictions and uncertainty generated by COVID-19; causing a loss of income and, at the same time, an unprecedented growth in e-commerce sales. Due to this, the present consulting work focused on identifying the main key problem affecting the company, analyzing the main causes and proposing alternatives meant to solve them and, with this, generate tangible benefits in the short time. It was found that the main current problem for the organization is associated with the economic losses caused by COVID-19. After several work meetings with Oechsle, the root causes were identified and, then, prioritized jointly with the areas of the company. Subsequently, an investigation of the relevant theoretical framework was carried out and, with it, a brainstorm that allowed the proposal of alternative solutions and also the development of a prototype. Of these options, those that had the greatest impact and least complexity of implementation were ratified by the company. Regarding them, an implementation plan divided into three phases was proposed to segment the delivery of solutions, allowing tangible benefits in the short term, which were measurable through relevant indicators for the company