Development of the crude oil prices and the stock market

In this paper we analyze the development of the Crude Oil Prices and the Stock Market since the decade of the 70´s. We identify the cycles and the upward and downward phases of these series and analyze a number of their features: the period or length of cycle, the duration of the upward and downward phases, the relative position of the high, the percentage of return during periods of upward and downward phases and the percentage of retracement of movement from low to high. We also analyze the degree of correlation between the Oil Prices and the Stock Market. We will find if the crude oil prices will explain what “drives” the stock market. Time series theory is of interest primarily for this analysis because they help identify market cycles and turning points in those market cycles. In this work we extract the trend and the cycle with the Hodrick Prescott (HP) Filter. The paper is organized as follows. Section 1 is an introduction. Section 2 uses the Hodrick-Prescott Filter to find the lows or turning points of the cycles. Section 3 develops a battery of measures of the behaviour of crude oil prices during the cycles and shows the results of applying these techniques to the cycles of the crude oil prices. Also, offers some comments on the similarities or differences of these phases with those of stock market. Section 4 concludes

Body image in relation to self-esteem in a sample of spanish women with early-stage breast cancer

Aim: Women diagnosed and surgically treated for early-stage breast cancer were studied to determine the influence that sociodemographic variables, type of surgery, amount of social support, and quality of life had on their body image and self-esteem. Method: Subjects n=54; Measures: Self Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965), Body Image Questionnaire (authors´article) and E.O.R.T.C. (Quality of life) (Aaronson et al, 1988) Result and conclusions: Analyses of variance showed that married women reported a more positive body image than non married women, and so did women with a lumpectomy versus those with a mastectomy. These variables did not relate significantly to the patients’ self-esteem, which in turn was found to be higher in women aged 43-55 years old when compared to younger women. Correlational analyses revealed a significant negative correlation between the deterioration of quality of life after surgery and both body image andObjetivo : Analizar la influencia de determinadas variables (sociodemográficas, tipo de cirugía, tratamiento, apoyo social y calidad de vida) en la imagen corporal y la autoestima de mujeres con cáncer de mama. Método: Sujetos: 54 mujeres diagnosticadas con cáncer de mama (estadio 1). Instrumentos: Escala de Autoestima (Rosenberg, 1965), Cuestionario de Imagen Corporal (autores del artículo) y E.O.R.T.C. (Calidad de vida) (Aaronson et al, 1988) Resultados y conclusiones: Los resultados del análisis de varianza ponen de manifiesto que las mujeres casadas, frente a las no casadas, y las que habían recibido un tratamiento conservador, frente a las mastectomiz das, tenían una imagen corporal más positiva. Por otra parte, las mujeres de edades intermedias (43-55 años) tenían mayor autoestima que las mujeres más jóvenes. También apareció una correlación negativa entre deterioro de la calidad de vida después de la cirugía y autoestima e imagen corporal

Role of the different copper species on the activity of Cu/zeolite catalysts for SCR of NOx with NH3

The SCR of NOx with NH3 has been studied by using different Cu zeolite catalysts, prepared both with ZSM5 and BETA zeolite supports by ionic exchange or by impregnation. The catalysts were characterized by ICP-AES, N2 adsorption at −196 °C, XRD, TEM, XPS and H2-TPR. The catalysts characterization confirmed the presence of different Cu(II) species on all catalyst (CuO and Cu(II) exchanged on tetrahedral and octahedral positions of the zeolites framework). Clear evidences of Cu(I) or Cu(0) species were not obtained. CuO was more abundant in high copper-content catalysts and in ZSM5 catalysts, due to its lower ionic exchange capacity, while isolated Cu(II) ions are more abundant in low copper-content catalysts and in BETA catalysts. It was concluded that CuO catalyzes the oxidation of NO to NO2, and this favors the reduction of NOx at lower temperature (the NH3-NO2 reaction is faster than the NH3-NO reaction because NO2 is much more oxidizing than NO), whereas isolated Cu(II) ions maintain high NOx conversion at high temperatures.Financial support provided by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CTQ2012-30703), the Basque Government (IT-657-13) and the UPV/EHU (UFI11/39). One of the authors (UDLT) wants to acknowledge to the Basque Government for the PhD Research Grant (BFI-2010-330)

Effect of metal loading on the CO2 methanation: A comparison between alumina supported Ni and Ru catalysts

The hydrogenation of CO2 into CH4 from H2 produced by renewable energy is considered an interesting alternative in order to promote the development of such green energies. In the present work, the effect of Ni and Ru loadings on the catalytic performance of alumina-supported catalysts is studied for CO2 methanation reaction. All catalysts were prepared by wetness incipient impregnation, characterized by several techniques (N2-physisorption, CO2-TPD, XRD, H2-chemisorption, XPS and H2-TPR) and evaluated for CO2 methanation in a fixed bed reactor at GHSV=10,000 h−1 and W/FCO2 0 = 4.7 (g cat.) h mol−1. Characterization results showed that addition of increasing loadings of Ni and Ru lead to the formation of both CO2 adsorption and H2 dissociation active sites, which are necessary to carry out CO2 hydrogenation into methane. Easily reducible ruthenium was dispersed on γ-Al2O3 in form of large agglomerates, whereas Ni was better dispersed presenting a great interaction with the support. 12% Ni and 4% Ru resulted to be the optimal contents providing metal surfaces of 5.1 and 0.6m2 g−1, T50 values of 340 and 310 °C and activity being quite stable for 24 h-on-stream. In terms of turnover frequency (TOF), 4%Ru/Al2O3 catalyst was quite more efficient than 12%Ni/Al2O3, probably due to a greater ability of ruthenium to dissociate hydrogen. The apparent activation energies for alumina supported Ni and Ru were 129 and 84 kJ mol−1, respectively.The support from the Economy and Competitiveness Spanish Ministry (CTQ2015-67597-C2-1-R and CTQ2015-67597-C2-2-R MINECO-FEDER), the Basque Government (IT657-13 and IT1297-19) and the SGIker (Analytical Services) at the University of the Basque Country are acknowledged. One of the authors (AQ) also acknowledges University of the Basque Country by his PhD grant (PIF-15/351)

Ni/LnOx catalysts (Ln = La, Ce or Pr) for CO2 methanation

The effect of the LnOx support has been studied for Ni‐based CO2 methanation catalysts. 10 wt. % nickel catalysts with LaOx, CeO2 and PrOx supports have been prepared, characterized by N2 adsorption, XRD, XRF, TG‐MS (N2‐TPD and H2‐TPR) and XPS, and have been tested for CO2 methanation. The catalytic activity follows the trend Ni/CeO2 > Ni/PrOx >> Ni/LaOx, all catalysts being very selective towards CH4 formation. The activity depends both on the nature of the catalytic active sites and on the stability of the surface CO2 and H2O species. Ni/CeO2 is the most active catalyst because (i) the Ni2+‐ceria interaction leads to the formation of the highest population of active sites for CO2 dissociation, (ii) the reduced Ni0 sites where H2 dissociation takes place are the most electronegative and active, and (iii) the stability of surface CO2 and H2O species is lowest. Ni/LaOx achieves lower activity because of the strong chemisorption of H2O and CO2, which poison the catalyst surface, and because this support is not able to promote the formation of highly active sites for CO2 and H2 dissociation. The behavior of Ni/PrOx is intermediate, being slightly lower to that of Ni/CeO2 because the formation of active sites is not so efficient and because the stability of chemisorbed CO2 is slightly higher.The authors thank the financial support of Basque Government (Consolidated Group IT657-13), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Projects CTQ2015-67597-C2-1-R and CTQ2015-67597-C2-2-R), and the EU (FEDER funding). ADQ thanks the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (grant FPU14/01178) and AQ the University of the Basque Country (grant PIF15/351)

4-Deoxyphorbol inhibits HIV-1 infection in synergism with antiretroviral drugs and reactivates viral reservoirs through PKC/MEK activation synergizing with vorinostat.

Latent HIV reservoirs are the main obstacle to eradicate HIV infection. One strategy proposes to eliminate these viral reservoirs by pharmacologically reactivating the latently infected T cells. We show here that a 4-deoxyphorbol ester derivative isolated from Euphorbia amygdaloides ssp. semiperfoliata, 4β-dPE A, reactivates HIV-1 from latency and could potentially contribute to decrease the viral reservoir. 4β-dPE A shows two effects in the HIV replication cycle, infection inhibition and HIV transactivation, similarly to other phorboids PKC agonists such PMA and prostratin and to other diterpene esters such SJ23B. Our data suggest 4β-dPE A is non-tumorigenic, unlike the related compound PMA. As the compounds are highly similar, the lack of tumorigenicity by 4β-dPE A could be due to the lack of a long side lipophilic chain that is present in PMA. 4β-dPE activates HIV transcription at nanomolar concentrations, lower than the concentration needed by other latency reversing agents (LRAs) such as prostratin and similar to bryostatin. PKCθ/MEK activation is required for the transcriptional activity, and thus, anti-latency activity of 4β-dPE A. However, CD4, CXCR4 and CCR5 receptors down-regulation effect seems to be independent of PCK/MEK, suggesting the existence of at least two different targets for 4β-dPE A. Furthermore, NF-κb transcription factor is involved in 4β-dPE HIV reactivation, as previously shown for other PKCs agonists. We also studied the effects of 4β-dPE A in combination with other LRAs. When 4β-dPE A was combined with another PKC agonists such as prostratin an antagonic effect was achieved, while, when combined with an HDAC inhibitor such as vorinostat, a strong synergistic effect was obtained. Interestingly, the latency reversing effect of the combination was synergistically diminishing the EC50 value but also increasing the efficacy showed by the drugs alone. In addition, combinations of 4β-dPE A with antiretroviral drugs as CCR5 antagonist, NRTIs, NNRTIs and PIs, showed a consistent synergistic effect, suggesting that the combination would not interefer with antiretroviral therapy (ART). Finally, 4β-dPE A induced latent HIV reactivation in CD4 + T cells of infected patients under ART at similar levels than the tumorigenic phorbol derivative PMA, showing a clear reactivation effect. In summary, we describe here the mechanism of action of a new potent deoxyphorbol derivative as a latency reversing agent candidate to decrease the size of HIV reservoirs.This work was supported by Ministry of Education of the Peruvian government (PRONABEC), the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM-Santander PR87/19), the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII-FIS PI16CIII/00034) and the Spanish AIDS Research Network RD12/0017/0015 that is included in the Spanish I D I Plan and is co-financed by ISCIII-Subdirección General de Evaluación and European Funding for Regional Development (FEDER). This work has also benefited from an “Investissement d’Avenir” grant managed by Agence Nationale de la Recherche (CEBA, ANR- 10-LABX-25-01).S

The environmental and social footprint of the university of the Basque Country UPV/EHU

This work has calculated the organisational environmental and social footprint of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in 2016. First, input and output data flows of the UPV/EHU activity were collected. Next, the environmental and social impacts of the academic activity were modelled, using the Ecoinvent 3.3 database with the PSILCA-based Soca v1 module in openLCA software. In order to evaluate the environmental impacts, CML and ReCiPe LCIA methods were used. The Social Impact Weighting Method was adjusted for the assessment of specific social impacts. The modelling has identified some hotspots in the organisation. The contribution of transport (8,900 km per user, annually) is close to 60% in most of the environmental impacts considered. The life cycle of computers stands out among the impacts derived from the consumption of material products. More than half of environmental impacts are located outside the Basque Country. This work has also made it possible to estimate some of the impacts of the organisational social footprint, such as accidents at work, only some of which occur at the UPV/EHU. Traces of child labour and illiteracy have also been detected in the social footprint that supports the activity of the UPV/EHU. Some of the social and environmental impacts analysed are not directly generated by the UPV/EHU, but they all demand attention and co-responsibility. Based on the modelling performed, this work explores alternative scenarios and recommends some improvement actions which may reduce (in some cases over 30%) the environmental and social impacts of the UPV/EHU's activity. These scenarios and improvement actions will feed a process with stakeholders in the UPV/ EHU based on the Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methodology.To the Sustainability Directorate and the Educational Advisory Service, both belonging to the Vice-Chancellor's Office for Innovation, Social Commitment and Social Action of the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, in the context of the Campus Bizia Lab programme (2017/18, 18/19 and 19/20 calls) for the financing of the EHU-Aztarna project. This research has also been supported by 'Ekopol: Iraunkortasunerako Bideak' research group, recognised by the Basque Government (IT1365-19) and the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU (GIC-18/22)

Conflictos sociales y mediación universitaria en el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior

Este artículo expone los principales datos y conclusiones obtenidas en el Workshop realizado en el año 2016 entre la Universidad de Málaga y Leuven (Bélgica). La líneas de investigación se centra en los conflictos sociales que se producen en el ámbito universitario.El presente trabajo, trata de analizar los conflictos que se producen en el ámbito universitario relacionados con la implementación del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior y la nueva metodología docente derivada del mismo, que provocan disyuntivas sociales específicas. Estos conflictos, se hacen plausibles en la conciliación, el aprendizaje y el desarrollo del proceso educativo. Por un lado, con la asistencia obligatoria y la dedicación de tiempo que requiere al estudiante en la Universidad y de trabajo en casa. Por otro, por la situación devenida de los recortes en becas universitarias y la necesidad que impone esta reforma educativa de acreditación del B1 como lengua extranjera para la obtención del Título de Graduado. Estas circunstancias, construyen realidades relativas a los significados que el ámbito universitario tiene para las personas, e inciden en las oportunidades del alumnado en condiciones de igualdad en función de su situación social y personal. En el estudio, se analizan las causas y se definen los tipos de conflictos, así como su relación con la citada reforma

Prevalence of eating disorders in college students and associated factors: uniHcos Project

Introducción: Los trastornos de la conducta alimentaria (TCA) son especialmente frecuentes en los jóvenes. Objeti - vo : Determinar la prevalencia de TCA en jóvenes universi - tarios y sus factores asociados. Metodología: Estudio de prevalencia en jóvenes univer - sitarios españoles del proyecto uniHcos. Mediante regre - sión logística no condicional se determinó la magnitud de la asociación entre los factores de riesgo asociados al estilo de vida y padecer un TCA medido mediante el cuestionario Sick, Control, One, Fat, Food (SCOFF). Resultados: La prevalencia de TCA fue del 19,5%, sien - do mayor en mujeres (ORa=1,59; p=0,006). En los chicos, tener criterios de padecer TCA se asoció con vivir en cole - gios mayores, con realizar “binge drinking”, y uso proble - mático de internet. En las mujeres el estudiar titulaciones diferentes a las ciencias de la salud (ORa=1,50) y el uso pro - blemático de internet (ORa=2,33). Aquellas mujeres con riesgo de TCA presentaban con mayor frecuencia depre - sión (ORa=2,02), dolores menstruales (ORa=1,81) y mala salud percibida (ORa=1,70). En los hombres, aquellos con riesgo de TCA presentaban con mayor frecuencia una mala salud percibida (ORa=2,42). Conclusiones: El riesgo de obtener resultados positivos en el SCOFF en nuestro estudio es similar a lo publicado para otras poblaciones de estudiantes, así como su asocia - ción con determinadas adicciones y problemas de salud. Se observaron diferencias en función del sexo que precisan atención en el diseño de estrategias de prevención y control.Introduction: eating disorders (ED) are particularly common in young people. Objective: To determine the prevalence of eating disorders in college students and its associated factors. Methods : Study of prevalence in young Spanish university uniHcos project. Using unconditional logistic regression have determined the magnitude of the association between the risk factors associated with lifestyle and ED measured by questionnaire Sick, Control, One, Fat, Food (SCOFF). Results: The prevalence of ED was 19.5%, being higher in women (ORa=1.59; p=0.006). In boys, have criteria of developing an eating disorder was associated with living in halls of residence, “binge drinking” and problematic Internet use. In women studying different courses at Health Sciences (ORa=1.50) and problematic Internet use (ORa=2.33). Those women at risk of ED more frequently had depression (ORa=2.02), menstrual pains (ORa=1.81) and perceived poor health (ORa=1.70). In men, those at risk for eating disorders more frequently had poor perceived health (ORa=2.42). Conclusions: The risk of a positive outcome in the scoff in our study is similar to that reported for other populations of students as well as their association with certain health problems and addictions. By gender differences that need attention in the design of prevention and control strategies were observed.Este proyecto se ha financiado gracias a la Delegación del Gobierno para el Plan Nacional Sobre Drogas (Códigos: 2010|145 y 2013|034)

Dataset on the environmental and social footprint of the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU

[EN] The organisational life cycle assessment (O-LCA) and the social organisational life cycle assessment (SO-LCA) of the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU were conducted. The data presented in this paper support the calculation of the environmental and social footprint of the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU for year 2016 [1] , and may be used as a reference for future calculations of the environmental and social footprint of higher education institutions and other organisations. This dataset provides detailed information on the UPV/EHU and the boundaries considered; on the compilation and quantification of the life cycle inventory (LCI) which included a transport survey conducted in summer 2018-; and on the modelling process followed for the calculation of the environmental and social footprints, based on the ecoinvent 3.3 database [2] and PSILCA-based Soca v1 add-on [3 , 4] , and carried out with the openLCA free software [5] . The dataset also includes the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results provided by the CML (baseline, 2015) [6] and ReCiPe (endpoint (H), 2008) [7] LCIA methods and post-processed social impacts provided by the Social Impacts Weighting Method [3] , disaggregated by subprocesses and impact locations. Data is provided for the reference year (2016), and some aggregated data is also provided for alternative scenarios that were explored in order to check pathways to reduce social and environmental impacts of the academic activity of the UPV/EHU [1]To the Sustainability Directorate and the Educational Advisory Service, both belonging to the Vice-Chancellor's Office for Innovation, Social Commitment and Social Action of the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, in the context of the Campus Bizia Lab programme (2017/18, 18/19 and 19/20 calls) for the financing of the EHU-Aztarna project. This research has also been supported by 'Ekopol: Iraunkortasunerako Bideak' research group, recognised by the Basque Government (IT-1365-19) and the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU (GIC-18/22)