La Imagen Imperial Bizantina. Alejo I Comneno (1081-1118).

Usando una serie de crónicas de entre los ss.XI – XII y bibliografía auxiliar este trabajo analiza la imagen que el emperador Alejo I Comneno y, por ende, el imperio que regía despertaban a sus contemporáneos, locales y extranjeros. La imagen que podían evocar ciertas palabras en la gente influía de una forma determinante en la sociedad, conllevando la sucesión de grandes acontecimientos y procesos, siendo la imagen con la que se veía al Imperio Bizantino algo clave en el desarrollo de occidente. Dentro de las crónicas greco-parlantes puede verse gran disparidad de opiniones respecto a la dinastía gobernante, coincidiendo en la realización de sus escritos para beneficio propio. En ellas se observa el caos interno del inicio, la división interna, pero, a su vez, las proezas de su reinado. En occidente la poesía veía de forma más neutra, incluso positiva, a oriente, pero sus autores cargaron siempre contra el Imperio de los Romanos. Ese odio puede enlazarse con la literatura clásica, pero con especial importancia en la propaganda contemporánea de los normandos, enemigos acérrimos del Imperio, contra el que batallaron. El resto de autores occidentales siguieron la estela normanda, rebajando a los romanos a “griegos” en beneficio propio. Los árabes, por su parte, tuvieron una coexistencia turbulenta con los imperiales, pero donde primó una relación de respeto que puede fácilmente comprobarse en sus escritos. Finalmente, en las crónicas armenias hay gran complejidad al entremezclar cuestiones materiales y religiosas. Destaca la buena opinión del emperador que combinaban sin problema al tildarlo de herético y pecador. <br /

Incidencia del Factoring en la Rentabilidad de Empresas Comercializadoras de Repuestos para Tractocamiones, Guayaquil -2022

The overarching goal of this research is to analyze the relationship between factoring and profitability with the aim of devising strategies that enable automotive sector companies in the city of Guayaquil to access this type of financing. The ultimate objective is to promote the development of their investments in this field through the assignment of their accounts receivable. To carry out this study, a mixed research approach was adopted, combining both quantitative and qualitative elements. Additionally, an inductive method was applied to systematically analyze the collected data. The instruments utilized in this research included surveys conducted with owners of spare parts trading companies. These surveys were designed with closed-ended questions to obtain precise information about factoring management and its impact on the profitability of these businesses. This research is framed within a cross-sectional and non-experimental design, focusing on the analysis of factors that may affect profitability through the utilization of factoring.El objetivo general de esta investigación es analizar la relación entre el factoring y la rentabilidad con el propósito de diseñar estrategias que permitan a las empresas del sector automotriz en la ciudad de Guayaquil acceder a este tipo de financiamiento. El objetivo final es fomentar el desarrollo de sus inversiones en este ámbito a través de la cesión de sus cuentas por cobrar. Para llevar a cabo este estudio, se adoptó un enfoque de investigación mixto que combina elementos cuantitativos y cualitativos. Además, se aplicó un método inductivo para analizar los datos recopilados de manera sistemática. Los instrumentos utilizados en esta investigación incluyeron encuestas realizadas a los propietarios de empresas comercializadoras de repuestos. Estas encuestas se diseñaron con preguntas cerradas para obtener información precisa sobre la gestión del factoring y su impacto en la rentabilidad de estas empresas. Esta investigación se enmarca dentro de un diseño transversal y no experimental, centrándose en el análisis de factores que podrían afectar a la rentabilidad a través del uso del factoring

X-ray absorption study of the local structure at the NiO/oxide interfaces

This work reports an X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy study at the Ni K-edge in the early stages of growth of NiO on non-ordered SiO2, Al2O3 and MgO thin films substrates. Two different coverages of NiO on the substrates have been studied. The analysis of the XANES region shows that for high coverages (80 Eq-ML) the spectra are similar to that of bulk NiO, being identical for all substrates. In contrast, for low coverages (1 Eq-ML) the spectra differ from that of large coverages indicating that the local order around Ni is limited to the first two coordination shells. In addition, the results also suggest the formation of cross-linking bonds Ni - O - M (M = Si, Al, Mg) at the interfaceThis work was partially supported by the Spanish CONSOLIDER Project FUNCOAT CSD2008-00023, the ENE2010-21198-C04-04 and MAT2011-27573-C04-04 projects and by the Aragón DGA NETOSHIMA grant. We acknowledge the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and CSIC for financial support and for provision of synchrotron radiation and we would like to thank the staff of SpLine at ESRF and KMC2 at BESSY II for technical support. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement No. 2267

Programmable resolution imager for imaging applications

In this paper a programmable imager with averaging capabilities will be described which is intended for averaging of different groups or sets of pixels formed by n×n kernels, n×m kernels or any group of randomly-selected pixels across the array. This imager is a 64×64 array which uses passive pixels with electronic shutter and anti-blooming structure that can be randomly accessed. The read-out stage includes a sole charge amplifier with programmable gain, a sample-and-hold structure and an analog buffer. This read-out structure is different from other existing imagers with variable resolution since it uses a sole charge amplifier, whereas the conventional structure employs an opamp per column plus another global opamp. This architecture allows a reduction of the fixed-pattern noise observed in standard imagers. The prototype also includes an analog to digital converter which provides the digital output of the images.Office of Naval Research (USA) N68171-98-C-9004Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología T1C99-08

A novel band-pass filter based on a periodically drilled SIW structure

The design and fabrication of a band-pass step impedance filter based on high and low dielectric constant sections has been realized on substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology. The overall process includes the design of the ideal band-pass prototype filter, where the implementation of the impedance inverters has been carried out by means of waveguide sections of lower permittivity. This can be practically achieved by implementing arrays of air holes along the waveguide. Several SIW structures with and without arrays of air holes have been simulated and fabricated in order to experimentally evaluate their relative permittivity. Additionally, the equivalent filter in SIW technology has been designed and optimized. Finally, a prototype of the designed filter has been fabricated and measured, showing a good agreement between measurements and simulations, which demonstrates the validity of the proposed design approach.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spanish Government, under the Research Project TEC2013-47037-C5-4-R

Sepsis in cirrhosis: report on the 7th meeting of the International Ascites Club.

Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response to the presence of infection, mediated via the production of many cytokines, including tumour necrosis factor ¿ (TNF-¿), interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-1, which cause changes in the circulation and in the coagulation cascade. There is stagnation of blood flow and poor oxygenation, subclinical coagulopathy with elevated D-dimers, and increased production of superoxide from nitric oxide synthase. All of these changes favour endothelial apoptosis and necrosis as well as increased oxidant stress. Reduced levels of activated protein C, which is normally anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic, can lead to further tissue injury. Cirrhotic patients are particularly susceptible to bacterial infections because of increased bacterial translocation, possibly related to liver dysfunction and reduced reticuloendothelial function. Sepsis ensues when there is overactivation of pathways involved in the development of the sepsis syndrome, associated with complications such as renal failure, encephalopathy, gastrointestinal bleed, and shock with decreased survival. Thus the treating physician needs to be vigilant in diagnosing and treating bacterial infections in cirrhosis early, in order to prevent the development and downward spiral of the sepsis syndrome. Recent advances in management strategies of infections in cirrhosis have helped to improve the prognosis of these patients. These include the use of prophylactic antibiotics in patients with gastrointestinal bleed to prevent infection and the use of albumin in patients with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis to reduce the incidence of renal impairment. The use of antibiotics has to be judicious, as their indiscriminate use can lead to antibiotic resistance with potentially disastrous consequences

Análisis de las bacterias responsables y resistencias a antibióticos en la peritonitis bacteriana espontánea

L'objectiu de l'estudi és analitzar el tipus de bactèries aïllades en pacients amb peritonitis bacteriana espontània (PBE) i la seva sensibilitat antibiòtica en dos períodes de temps (gener 2001- juny 2004 i juliol 2004- desembre 2007). No hem observat un augment de cocs Gram-positius com a responsables de la PBE ni de resistències bacterianes en els últims anys. Les bactèries causants de PBE intrahospitalàries o en pacients en profilaxi amb norfloxací presenten un elevat percentatge de resistències a les cefalosporines de tercera generació, per tant en aquests pacients es podria valorar com a primera opció terapèutica empírica un carbapenem.El objetivo del estudio es analizar el tipo de bacterias aisladas en pacientes con peritonitis bacteriana espontánea (PBE) y su sensibilidad antibiótica en dos periodos de tiempo (enero 2001-junio 2004 y julio 2004-diciembre 2007). No hemos observado un aumento de cocos Gram-positivos como responsables de PBE ni de resistencias bacterianas en los últimos años. Las bacterias causantes de PBE intrahospitalarias o en pacientes con profilaxis con norfloxacino, presentan un elevado porcentaje de resistencias a las cefalosporinas de tercera generación, por lo que podría valorarse como primera opción terapéutica empírica un carbapenem en estos pacientes

Assessing coupling dynamics from an ensemble of time series

Finding interdependency relations between (possibly multivariate) time series provides valuable knowledge about the processes that generate the signals. Information theory sets a natural framework for non-parametric measures of several classes of statistical dependencies. However, a reliable estimation from information-theoretic functionals is hampered when the dependency to be assessed is brief or evolves in time. Here, we show that these limitations can be overcome when we have access to an ensemble of independent repetitions of the time series. In particular, we gear a data-efficient estimator of probability densities to make use of the full structure of trial-based measures. By doing so, we can obtain time-resolved estimates for a family of entropy combinations (including mutual information, transfer entropy, and their conditional counterparts) which are more accurate than the simple average of individual estimates over trials. We show with simulated and real data that the proposed approach allows to recover the time-resolved dynamics of the coupling between different subsystems

Development and Validation of a Clinical-Genetic Risk Score to Predict Hepatic Encephalopathy in Patients With Liver Cirrhosis

[Introduction] We aimed to define the impact of the genetic background on overt hepatic encephalopathy (HE) in patients with liver cirrhosis by developing a combined clinical-genetic risk score.[Methods] Patients suffering from liver cirrhosis from the outpatient clinics of 4 hospitals (n = 600) were included and followed up for at least 5 years until HE bouts, liver transplant, or death. Patients were genotyped for 60 candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms together with the microsatellite in the promoter region of the gene GLS.[Results] Single nucleotide polymorphisms rs601338 (FUT2), rs5743836 (TRL9), rs2562582 (SLC1A3), rs313853 (SLC1A5), and GLS microsatellite did predict independently the incidence and severity of overt HE and were included as genetic score. Competing risk analysis revealed that bilirubin (subhazard ratio [sHR] 1.30 [1.15–1.48], P < 0.001), albumin (sHR 0.90 [0.86–0.93], P < 0.001), genetic score (sHR 1.90 [1.57–2.30], P < 0.001), and previous episodes of overt HE (sHR 2.60 [1.57–4.29], P < 0.001) were independently associated to HE bouts during the follow-up with an internal (C-index 0.83) and external validation (C-index 0.74). Patients in the low-risk group had 5% and 12% risk of HE at 1 (log-rank 92.1; P < 0.001) and 5 (log-rank 124.1; P < 0.001) years, respectively, whereas 36% and 48% in the high-risk group.[Discussion] The genetic background influenced overt HE risk and severity. The clinical-genetic HE Risk score, which combined genetic background together with albumin, bilirubin, and previous episodes of overt HE, could be a useful tool to predict overt HE in patients with cirrhosis.Peer reviewe