Good or excellent? Factors determining online hotel ratings. A spatial approach.

In a competitive environment, where hotel demand is lower than market supply, it is of interest to determine what factors explain how excellence differentiates certain hotels from others. Using spatial quantile regression, this research investigates the effect of locational factors as well as those related to the management of human capital investment in Spanish hotels rated on Booking.com. The study shows that human capital investment in hotels can significantly increase guest delight. As regards location, hotels in protected natural areas that are far from large cities obtain higher guest review scores. Additionally, a spatial spillover effect due to reputation transfer among nearby hotels with median scores is found. However, this effect is not observed for hotels with very high scores. These results can serve to rationalize the available resources and inform hotel owners and managers about the factors required to achieve high scores.Grant PID2019-110941RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and Junta de Andalucía and FEDER funds with the project B-SEJ-381-UGR1

How are indicators in Green Building Rating Systems addressing sustainability dimensions and life cycle frameworks in residential buildings?

The use of tools capable of evaluating the sustainability of buildings throughout their life cycle represents a key point enabling the transition towards a sustainable built environment. To this end, different Green Building Rating Systems (GBRS) have been developed over the last few decades. All of them are voluntary schemes and propose a set of indicators to evaluate the associated impacts of buildings throughout their life cycle. However, it is unclear how GBRS are addressing sustainability dimensions and the life cycle frameworks, and particularly in residential buildings, which are responsible for a great part of these impacts. The aim of this study is to explore, in detail, how indicators in GBRS are covering the three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, social and economic) and the information modules proposed by EN 15978, along the life cycle stages of the building construction process. To do so, eight GBRS were selected and the 387 sustainability indicators included in them were analysed and clustered according to three different classification criteria, namely, sustainability dimension, information modules and stage of the construction process life cycle. The analysis and clustering process of indicators was carried out by a panel of experts in the field of study, with multidisciplinary academic and professional background, throughout an iterative process of four rounds and meetings, which led to achieve a consensus in the findings. The results of the analysis revealed that the environmental dimension is the one that is considered most among the tools, and both the social and economic dimensions require more attention to achieve a good balance. GBRS are more focused on the evaluation of the embedded impacts of the building, since most of the indicators are related to the product and construction stages (A1-A5) and therefore need to acquire a more holistic approach throughout the whole life cycle; the indicators should be considered in the very early design stage (not when the building is in operation), when decisions are made and have more potential to improve the sustainability performance of the buildings throughout its lifespan. It was not possible to cluster one set of indicators as they referred to aspects beyond the EN 15978 system boundary (such as site, transport or domestic waste management), thus highlighting the need for more coherence between a building's life cycle and GBRS frameworks, on the one hand, and the inclusion of new information modules covering the above-mentioned additional aspects, on the other.Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Jaume

Exploring how waste management is being approached in green building rating systems: A case study

Green building rating systems (GBRS) propose sets of indicators to measure the level of sustainability of buildings, and include waste as one of the categories to be assessed. Yet, both the number of indicators and their aim, as well as the waste fraction they refer to, vary greatly from one system to another. This study identifies the waste-related indicators included in 10 global GBRS. They are classified on the basis of different criteria (waste fraction assessed, stages of the life cycle of the building, waste hierarchy and stages that make up the waste management system) so as to make it possible to subsequently analyse the importance given to each indicator through the specific weightings of each GBRS. Finally, the indicators are implemented in the case study of a building located in Colombia, in order to quantify the current level of sustainability achieved in the waste category of each system and to propose improvement actions that allow this score to be improved. In this way, it is shown that proper waste management can increase the level of sustainability of a building

Variables influencing the energy consumption of the residential buiding park:analysis based on real consumption data

Comunicació presentada al 23rd International Congress on Project Management and Engineering (Málaga, 10-12 July 2019).El constante aumento del consumo de energía en el sector de la edificación residencial tiene importantes consecuencias en términos de impacto ambiental y dependencia energética. Numerosos estudios analizan los factores que explican esta tendencia basándose fundamentalmente en datos de consumos estimados a partir de simulaciones dinámicas mediante herramientas informáticas. Éstas habitualmente consideran las características constructivas de la vivienda, pero dejan fuera del alcance los hábitos de uso de la vivienda por parte de sus ocupantes. Este trabajo analiza el comportamiento energético del parque residencial existente a partir de datos de consumo real. Para ello, se ha propuesto una metodología dividida en tres etapas. La Etapa I aborda la recogida de datos de consumos energéticos reales de una muestra de viviendas y de sus características, tanto edificatorias como de hábitos de uso, a través de una encuesta diseñada para tal efecto. En la Etapa II la información recogida se disgrega en un conjunto de covariables (características de la vivienda y hábitos de uso) y variables respuesta (consumo energético). La Etapa III desarrolla un modelo estadístico que permite analizar cómo las covariables afectan a las variables respuesta y, por tanto, identificar aquellos aspectos que tienen mayor influencia en el consumo energético real.The upward trend in the residential sector of energy use has significant consequences in terms of environmental impacts and energy dependence. Numerous studies analysed the factors that explain this trend, nonetheless they were mainly based on estimated consumption data obtained from dynamic simulations tools. These also usually considered the construction characteristics of the building, but they missed behavioural patterns related to users’ dwellings. This paper analyses the energy performance of existing residential stocks based on real consumption data. To do this, a methodology divided into three stages has been proposed. Stage I addresses the collection of real energy consumption data from a sample of dwellings and its characteristics, both construction features and occupants’ behavioural habits, through a survey designed for this purpose. In Stage II, the information collected is disaggregated into a set of covariates (characteristics of the dwelling and occupants’ habits) and response variables (energy consumption data). Stage III develops a statistical model that allows analysing how covariates affect the response variables and, therefore, identifying those most influential factors on dwelling’s real energy consumption

La divulgación científica y sus modelos comunicativos: algunas reflexiones teóricas para la enseñanza de las ciencias

This article wants to contribute to the theoretical reflection in regards of the communicative models of scientific divulgation for sciences teaching. Is shown in which lean on a dichotomy between deficit and democracy to deal with those models is inadequate, because both models are not excluding, as it is usually stated. In that extent such dichotomy does not work as an appropriate analysis category for these models. From the exhibition of the transit knowledge thesis that includes the study of the mode and place scientific divulgation circumstances, we propose the oppositions between the unidirectional character and the multidimensionalcharacter of the communicative process as a more fruitful analysis category. Finally, we formulated some general approaches about belonging of this type of theoretical reflections for the use of scientific divulgation for sciences teaching.Este artículo busca contribuir a la reflexión teórica sobre los modelos comunicativos de divulgación científica para la enseñanza de las ciencias. Se muestra en él que apoyarse en una dicotomía entre déficit y democracia para tratar dichos modelos es inadecuado, pues ambos modelos no son excluyentes, como se afirma habitualmente. En esa medida, tal dicotomía no funciona como una categoría apropiada de análisis para estos modelos. A partir de la exposición de la tesis de conocimiento en tránsito, que incluye el estudio de las circunstancias de modo y lugar de la divulgación científica, proponemos la contraposición entre el carácter unidireccional y el carácter multidireccional del proceso comunicativo como una categoría de análisis mucho más fructífera. Finalmente, formulamos algunos planteamientos generales sobre la pertinencia de este tipo de reflexiones teóricas para el uso de la divulgación científica en la enseñanza de las ciencias. 

Residential building sotck characterization of Mosquera (Colombia) from urban level to construction assemblies

Proceedings from the 26 th International Congress on Project Management and Engineering (Terrassa, July 2022) Comunicaciones presentadas al XXVI Congreso Internacional de Dirección e Ingeniería de Proyectos, celebrado del 5 al 8 de julio de 2022, coorganizado por la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).En Colombia el crecimiento demográfico y los desplazamientos de la población de las zonas rurales a las áreas metropolitanas en los últimos años han generado que las zonas urbanas tengan que estar en constante adaptación con el fin de satisfacer las necesidades de sus habitantes. Esta adaptación ha supuesto una estratificación social de la población, que se ha traducido en una diferenciación de las características del parque edificatorio residencial en cada uno de estos estratos. El objetivo de este estudio es caracterizar el parque residencial existente del municipio de Mosquera (Colombia) a nivel urbano, edificatorio y a nivel detallado de las soluciones constructivas de las viviendas y de los edificios. Para ello, se propone identificar los edificios según la legislación que ha regulado su diseño; caracterizar la tipología de edificios según su morfología (plurifamiliar o unifamiliar), año de construcción, número de plantas y otros factores; e identificar los sistemas constructivos más frecuentes en la fachada, cubierta, estructura, suelos, particiones interiores y ventanas de los edificios. Los resultados del trabajo servirán como punto de partida para realizar la evaluación ambiental y energética del parque residencial y definir estrategias de mejora en aras de la sostenibilidad.In Colombia, demographic growth and the population's migration from rural to metropolitan areas in recent years have meant that urban areas have to be constantly adapting in order to meet their inhabitants’ needs. This adaptation has led to a social stratification of the population, which has resulted in a differentiation of the characteristics of the residential building stock in each of these strata. The objective of this study is to characterise the existing residential stock of the municipality of Mosquera (Colombia) at the urban and building levels and at the detailed level of the buildings and dwellings' construction assemblies. For this, the following steps were proposed: to identify the buildings according to the regulations; to characterize the buildings' typology according to their morphology (multi-family or single-family), year of construction, number of floors, and other factors; and to identify the most common construction assemblies of façades, roofs, structure, soil, internal partitions and windows of buildings. The results of this work will serve as a starting point to carry out environmental and energy assessment of the residential building stock and to define improvement strategies for the sake of sustainability

Environmental impact assessment of the residential building sector: state of the art

Proceedings from the 26 th International Congress on Project Management and Engineering (Terrassa, July 2022) Comunicaciones presentadas al XXVI Congreso Internacional de Dirección e Ingeniería de Proyectos, celebrado del 5 al 8 de julio de 2022, coorganizado por la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC).El elevado impacto ambiental de los edificios residenciales durante su ciclo de vida ha despertado un creciente y notable interés entre la comunidad científica por evaluar dicho impacto en las últimas décadas, aplicando la metodología de Análisis de Ciclo de Vida (ACV). El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo realizar el estado del arte a través de la revisión de la literatura científica publicada hasta la fecha sobre evaluación de ACV de la edificación residencial. Para ello, se ha buscado, seleccionado y revisado un conjunto de 30 artículos relevantes que abordan esta temática. La revisión se realiza de acuerdo a la estructura que sigue la norma UNE-EN 15978, esta es: definición del tipo de edificio a estudiar, región geográfica de estudio, definición del objetivo y alcance, modelo de inventario, descripción del método de evaluación del impacto y, finalmente, el software empleado, en su caso. Se concluye que los edificios más comúnmente estudiados son los de nueva construcción, en las etapas de producto y construcción, y que resulta necesario el desarrollo y empleo de software específico para ACV de edificios que permita integrar bases de datos de inventario propias y adaptadas a la casuística del edificio objeto de análisis.The high environmental impact of residential buildings during their life cycle has aroused a growing and notable concern among the scientific community in recent decades, when evaluating its impact by applying the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The objective of this work is to carry out the state of the art through the review of the scientific literature published to date on LCA of residential buildings. For this, a set of 30 relevant articles that address this topic have been searched, selected, and reviewed. The review is carried out according to the structure that follows the UNE-EN 15978 standard, this is: definition of the type of building to be studied, geographical region of study, definition of the objective and scope, inventory model, description of the evaluation method of the impact and, finally, the software used, if any. It is concluded that the most studied buildings are those of new construction, in the product and construction stages, and that it is necessary to develop and use specific software for LCA of buildings that allows the integration of specific inventory databases adapted to the casuistry of the building under analysis

Initiation of ovarian stimulation independent of the menstrual cycle (random-start) in an oocyte donation programme a large, single-center experience

Research Question Do live birth rates differ between recipients matched with donors using conventional ovarian stimulation versus those using random-start protocols? Design Retrospective analysis of 891 ovarian stimulations in egg donors (January-December 2018) and clinical outcomes in matched recipients (n=935). Donors commenced ovarian stimulation on day 1/3 of the menstrual cycle (n=223) or in the mid/late-follicular (n=388) or luteal phase (n=280) under a conventional antagonist protocol. Live birth rate of matched recipients was the main outcome. Results Duration of stimulation and total gonadotropins dose were comparable between conventional versus random-start groups. The number of collected eggs were also similar: 17.6±8.8 vs 17.2±8.5, p=0.6, respectively. Sub-group analysis showed an increased stimulation length (10.2±1.8 vs 9.8±1.7 vs 10.4±1.7, p<0.001) and gonadotropin consumption (2041.5±645.3 vs 2003.2±647.3 vs 2158.2±685.7 IU, p=0.01) in the luteal phase group vs the mid/late follicular and conventional groups; respectively. In matched recipients receiving fresh oocytes and undergoing fresh embryo transfer, the biochemical pregnancy (63.8% and 63.3%; p=0.9), clinical pregnancy (54.6% and 56.1%; p=0.8) and live birth rates (47.7% and 46.6%; p=0.7) per embryo-transfer were similar between conventional versus random groups. Similar results were obtained in recipients receiving vitrified eggs. Euploidy rate was also comparable. Conclusions There were no notable variations in clinical outcomes using oocytes obtained from random-start protocols and those proceeding from conventional ovarian stimulation in oocyte donation treatments. However, luteal-phase stimulation seems to require longer stimulation and higher FSH consumption. Our results indicate that random-start stimulation strategy does not impair the potential of the oocyte yield or clinical outcomes in oocyte donation cycles

GAS6 signaling tempers Th17 development in patients with multiple sclerosis and helminth infection

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a highly disabling neurodegenerative autoimmune condition in which an unbalanced immune response plays a critical role. Although the mechanisms remain poorly defined, helminth infections are known to modulate the severity and progression of chronic inflammatory diseases. The tyrosine kinase receptors TYRO3, AXL, and MERTK (TAM) have been described as inhibitors of the immune response in various inflammatory settings. We show here that patients with concurrent natural helminth infections and MS condition (HIMS) had an increased expression of the negative regulatory TAM receptors in antigen-presenting cells and their agonist GAS6 in circulating CD11bhigh and CD4+ T cells compared to patients with only MS. The Th17 subset was reduced in patients with HIMS with a subsequent downregulation of its pathogenic genetic program. Moreover, these CD4+ T cells promoted lower levels of the co-stimulatory molecules CD80, CD86, and CD40 on dendritic cells compared with CD4+ T cells from patients with MS, an effect that was GAS6-dependent. IL-10+ cells from patients with HIMS showed higher GAS6 expression levels than Th17 cells, and inhibition of phosphatidylserine/GAS6 binding led to an expansion of Th17 effector genes. The addition of GAS6 on activated CD4+ T cells from patients with MS restrains the Th17 gene expression signature. This cohort of patients with HIMS unravels a promising regulatory mechanism to dampen the Th17 inflammatory response in autoimmunity.Fil: Ortiz Wilczyñski, Juan Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Olexen, Cinthia Mariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Errasti, Andrea Emilse. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Departamento de Farmacología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Schattner, Mirta Ana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Rothlin, Carla. University of Yale; Estados UnidosFil: Correale, Jorge. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; ArgentinaFil: Carrera Silva, Eugenio Antonio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Medicina Experimental; Argentin

La Imagen y la Narrativa como Herramientas para el Abordaje Psicosocial en Escenarios de Violencia. Departamentos de Boyacá, Caquetá y Bogotá

Colombia es un territorio que por cerca de cinco décadas ha sido sometida a un conflicto armado, que ha traído consigo violencia, dolor, silencio, olvido colectivo, discriminación y estigmatización, todo esto sumado a una continua violación de derechos, trayendo como consecuencias el desplazamiento forzado, la pobreza, ruptura de familias, y atropellos a la dignidad humana. Las personas que han atravesado por estas situaciones han sido denominadas víctimas, las cuales comparten lenguajes subjetivos que se encierran en sus experiencias de violencia. El enfoque narrativo permite no solo conocer esas historias, si no que al ponerlo en práctica se logran construir nuevos significados que tienen en cuenta los emergentes psicosociales, los sueños y las bases desde la resiliencia para construir un nuevo proyecto de vida fundamentado en la memoria y la esperanza. Para lograr este objetivo es necesario poner en marcha estrategias psicosociales donde los psicólogos tienen un arduo trabajo, al identificar antecedentes y perspectivas críticas desde los efectos traumáticos de esta violencia, y el no olvidar que el conocimiento de estas realidades es parte esencial para contribuir en el mejoramiento de la calidad de vida de todas las víctimas de la violencia. A través de la exploración de una serie de relatos hechos por víctimas del conflicto armado en Colombia, se logra entender los diferentes contextos de violencia, sus consecuencias para la víctima y las comunidades, pero sobre todo la trasformación de estos episodios en oportunidades de renacer como sobrevivientes, que a través de acciones que involucran el arte, la cultura, la escritura, el deporte logran el empoderamiento social, sin olvidar sus raíces las cuales se convierten en herramientas para traer a la memoria sus experiencias.Colombia is a territory that for nearly five decades has been subjected to an armed conflict, which has brought with its violence, pain, silence, collective forgetfulness, discrimination and stigmatization, all this added to a continuous violation of rights, resulting in displacement. forced, poverty, family breakdown, and violations of human dignity. The people who have gone through these situations have been called victims, who share subjective languages that are locked in their experiences of violence. The narrative approach allows not only to know those stories, but when putting it into practice, new meanings are managed that take into account the emerging psychosocial, dreams and the bases from the resilience to build a new life project based on memory and the hope. To achieve this objective, it is necessary to implement psychosocial strategies where psychologists have a hard work, identifying antecedents and critical perspectives from the traumatic effects of this violence, and not forgetting that knowledge of these realities is an essential part to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of all victims of violence. Through the exploration of a series of stories made by victims of the armed conflict in Colombia, it is possible to understand the different contexts of violence, its consequences for the victim and the communities, but above all the transformation of these episodes into opportunities to be reborn as survivors, who through actions involving art, culture, writing, and sport achieve social empowerment, without forgetting their roots, which become tools to bring to memory their experiences