The female entrepreneurship as a sustainable indicator. Analysis in period of economic crisis: The case of Málaga

The female contribution to the entrepreneurial activity, which promotes effective equality and makes the citizens co-responsible for its development (from a perspective focused on the promotion of a sustainable development), has been showing an increase in times of economic prosperity. However, there exist some gaps on the impact of the past economic crisis. The main objective of this research is to inquire about this fact and contributes to its visibility as an indicator of sustainability. Therefore, this work offers a study of the situation of entrepreneur women in the province of Malaga in the period 2008-2015. The results are striking, since it is exposed an increase in female entrepreneurship in this period, although at a great distance from men entrepreneurship levels.La contribución femenina a la actividad emprendedora, que impulsa la igualdad efectiva y hace a la ciudadanía co-responsable de su desarrollo (desde una perspectiva centrada en la promoción de un desarrollo que sea sostenible), viene mostrando un incremento en época de bonanza económica. Sin embargo, existen lagunas sobre la incidencia de la pasada crisis económica. El objetivo principal de este estudio es indagar sobre este hecho y contribuir a su visibilidad como un indicador de sostenibilidad. A tal fin, se ha realizado un estudio de la situación de las mujeres emprendedoras de la provincia de Málaga en el periodo 2008-2015. Los resultados llaman la atención, pues se observa un aumento del emprendimiento femenino en dicho periodo, aunque a gran distancia de los niveles de emprendimiento realizado por los hombres.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

The cargo protein MAP17 (PDZK1IP1) regulates the cancer stem cell pool activating the Notch pathway by abducting NUMB

Purpose: Cancer stem cells (CSC) are self-renewing tumor cells, with the ability to generate diverse differentiated tumor cell subpopulations. They differ from normal stem cells in the deregulation of the mechanisms that normally control stem cell physiology. CSCs are the origin of metastasis and highly resistant to therapy. Therefore, the understanding of the CSC origin and deregulated pathways is important for tumor control. Experimental Design: We have included experiments in vitro, in cell lines and tumors of different origins. We have used patient-derived xenografts (PDX) and public transcriptomic databases of human tumors. Results: MAP17 (PDZKIP1), a small cargo protein overexpressed in tumors, interacts with NUMB through the PDZ-binding domain activating the Notch pathway, leading to an increase in stem cell factors and cancer-initiating–like cells. Identical behavior was mimicked by inhibiting NUMB. Conversely, MAP17 downregulation in a tumor cell line constitutively expressing this gene led to Notch pathway inactivation and a marked reduction of stemness. In PDX models, MAP17 levels directly correlated with tumorsphere formation capability. Finally, in human colon, breast, or lung there is a strong correlation of MAP17 expression with a signature of Notch and stem cell genes. Conclusions: MAP17 overexpression activates Notch pathway by sequestering NUMB. High levels of MAP17 correlated with tumorsphere formation and Notch and Stem gene transcription. Its direct modification causes direct alteration of tumorsphere number and Notch and Stem pathway transcription. This defines a new mechanism of Notch pathway activation and Stem cell pool increase that may be active in a large percentage of tumors.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad PI15/00045, CTS-1848Junta de Andalucía PI-00-96-2014, PI-0306-201

Genes for asparagine metabolism in Lotus japonicus : differential expression and interconnection with photorespiration

Background: Asparagine is a very important nitrogen transport and storage compound in plants due to its high nitrogen/carbon ratio and stability. Asparagine intracellu lar concentration depends on a balance between asparagine biosynthesis and degradation. The main enzymes involved in asparagine metabolism are as paragine synthetase (ASN), asparaginase (NSE) and serine-glyoxylate aminotransfera se (SGAT). The study of the genes encoding for these enzymes in the model legume Lotus japonicus is of particular interest since it has been proposed that asparagine is the principal molecule used to transport reduced nitrogen within the plant in most temperate legumes. Results: A differential expression of genes encoding for seve ral enzymes involved in asparagine metabolism was detected in L. japonicus . ASN is encoded by three genes, LjASN1 was the most highly expressed in mature leaves while LjASN2 expression was negligible and LjASN3 showed a low expression in this organ, suggesting that LjASN1 is the main gene responsible for asparagine synthesis in mature leaves. In young leaves, LjASN3 was the only ASN gene expressed although at low levels, while all the three genes encoding for NSE were highly expressed, especially LjNSE1 .Innodules, LjASN2 and LjNSE2 were the most highly expressed genes, suggesting an important role for these genes in this organ. Several lines of evidence support the connection between asparagine metabolic genes and photorespiration in L. japonicus : a) a mutant plant deficient in LjNSE1 showed a dramatic decrease in the expression of the two genes encoding for SGAT; b) expression of the genes involved in asparagine metabolism is altered in a photorespiratory mutant lacking plastidic glutamine synthetase; c) a clustering analysis indicated a similar pattern of expression among several genes involved in photorespiratory and asparagine metabolism, indicating a clear link between LjASN1 and LjSGAT genes and photorespiration. Conclusions: The results obtained in this paper indicate the exis tence of a differential expression of asparagine metabolic genes in L. japonicus and point out the crucial relevance of particular genes in different organs. Moreover, the data presented establish clear links betw een asparagine and photorespiratory metabolic genes in this plant.Junta de Andalucía (P10-CVI- 6368)FEDER-Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (AGL 2014 – 54413-R

LAS EMPRESAS DE BASE TECNOLÓGICA (START-UPS), SINÓNIMO DE INNOVACIÓN, COMPETITIVIDAD E INTANGIBLES. SU IMPORTANCIA EN EL CRECIMIENTO Y DESARROLLO ECONÓMICO. EL CASO DE TABASCO, MÉXICO

Actualmente la innovación tecnológica desempeña un papel fundamental en el mundo empresarial. Esta es la principal característica de las empresas de base tecnológica, más conocidas como Start-ups, mismas que a través de ideas innovadoras y amparadas en las nuevas tecnologías de la comunicación ofrecen soluciones más eficientes a problemas cotidianos, generando empleos y riqueza. Por estas razones, las Start-ups tienen cada vez mayor presencia en el mundo. Por ello se analiza su potencialidad para el desarrollo y crecimiento económico de Tabasco, México. El propósito de la investigación es describir las características de las Start-ups, su potencial para el desarrollo y crecimiento económico y el grado de conocimiento de las mismas, tomando como referencia el personal docente de una institución de educación superior pública. Particularmente, se llevó a cabo una investigación con enfoque cuantitativo y de tipo descriptivo; en su diseño se partió de un universo poblacional constituido por los docentes de la División Académica de Ciencias Económico-Administrativas (DACEA) de la Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco (UJAT), determinándose un tamaño de muestra de 56 profesores, a quienes se aplicó un cuestionario estructurado a partir del objetivo de la investigación. Los resultados demuestran la potencialidad de las Star-ups para impulsar el desarrollo y crecimiento económico de los países y sus regiones

New Findings on GLRT Radar Detection of Nonfluctuating Targets via Phased Arrays

This paper addresses the standard generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) detection problem of weak signals in background noise. In so doing, we consider a nonfluctuating target embedded in complex white Gaussian noise (CWGN), in which the amplitude of the target echo and the noise power are assumed to be unknown. Important works have analyzed the performance for the referred scenario and proposed GLRT-based detectors. Such detectors are projected at an early stage (i.e., prior to the formation of a post-beamforming scalar waveform), thereby imposing high demands on hardware, processing, and data storage. From a hardware perspective, most radar systems fail to meet these strong requirements. In fact, due to hardware and computational constraints, most radars use a combination of analog and digital beamformers (sums) before any estimation or further pre-processing. The rationale behind this study is to derive a GLRT detector that meets the hardware and system requirements. In this work, we design and analyze a more practical and easy-to-implement GLRT detector, which is projected after the analog beamforming. The performance of the proposed detector is analyzed and the probabilities of detection (PD) and false alarm (PFA) are derived in closed form. Moreover, we show that in the low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime, the post-beamforming GLRT detector performs better than both the classic pre-beamforming GLRT detector and the square-law detector. This finding suggests that if the signals are weak, instead of processing the signals separately, we first must to reinforce the overall signal and then assembling the system's detection statistic. At last, the SNR losses are quantified, in which the superiority of the post-beamforming GLRT detector was evidenced as the number of antennas and samples increase.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, 1 tabl

A unified approach for hierarchical time series forecasting

In this paper an approach for hierarchical time series forecasting based on State Space modelling is proposed. Previous developments provide solutions to the hierarchical forecasting problem by algebra manipulations based on forecasts produced by independent models for each time series involved in the hierarchy. The solutions produce optimal reconciled forecasts for each individual forecast horizon, but the link along time that is implied by the dynamics of the models is completely ignored. Therefore, the novel approach in this paper improves upon past research at least in two key points. Firstly, the algebra is already encoded in the State Space system and the Kalman Filter algorithm, giving an elegant and clean solution to the problem. Secondly, the State Space approach is optimal both across the hierarchy, as expected, but also along time, something missing in past developments. In addition, the present approach provides an unified treatment of top-down, bottom-up, middle-out and reconciled approaches reported in the literature; it generalizes the optimization of hierarchies by proposing combined hierarchies which integrate the previous categories at different segments of the hierarchy; and it allows for multiple hierarchies to be simultaneously adjusted. The approach is assessed by comparing its forecasting performance to the existing methods, through simulations and using real data of a Spanish grocery retailer

Automatic selection of Unobserved Components models for supply chain forecasting

For many companies, automatic forecasting has come to be an essential part of Business Analytics applications. The large amounts of data available, the short life-cycle of the analysis and the acceleration of business operations make traditional handmade data analysis unfeasible in such environments. In this paper, an Automatic Forecasting Support System comprising several methods and models is developed in a general State Space framework built in the so called SSpace toolbox written for Matlab. Some of the models included such as Exponential Smoothing and ARIMA are well-known, but we propose a new model family that has very rarely been used before in this context, namely Unobserved Components models. Additional novelties are that Unobserved Components models are used in an automatic identification environment and that their forecasting performance is compared with Exponential Smoothing and ARIMA models estimated with different software packages. The daily sold units dataset of a franchise chain in Spain spanning 166 products and 517 days of sales is used to assess empirically the new system. The system works well in practice and the proposed automatic Unobserved Components models compare very favorably with other methods and other well-known software packages in forecasting terms

Manual de Procedimientos de Reclutamiento, Selección, Contratación e Inducción de Personal para mejorar la Idoneidad del Recurso Humano de la Empresa Pettenati Centro América, S.A. de C.V., del municipio de Coatepeque, departamento de Santa Ana.

El origen de la investigación parte con la asignación de temas para realizar el trabajo de especialización, aprovechando un proceso de contratación de un miembro del equipo, quien observo ciertas inconsistencias en el proceso de reclutamiento, se tomó a bien tomar la experiencia para llevar a cabo el trabajo de investigación. La investigación tiene por objetivo diseñar un manual de procedimientos de reclutamiento, selección, contratación e inducción de personal que ayude a mejorar la idoneidad del recurso humano para la empresa Pettenati Centro América, S.A. de C.V dedicada a la elaboración de telas de alta tecnología. Se efectuaron los contactos con Pettenati Centro América S.A. de C.V. y se dio el acercamiento con el gerente de recursos humanos. En las visitas realizadas a Pettenati Centro América S.A. de C.V., el gerente de recursos humanos expresó las distintas necesidades del área de recursos humanos, mencionando como la principal: un manual de procedimientos de reclutamiento, selección, contratación e inducción de personal. Si bien, hizo notar que existía un procedimiento implícito, era necesario plasmarlo en un documento oficial, dado la exigencia y no conformidades que han señalado auditorias internacionales. Los procesos arriba señalados ayudan a las empresas desde el inicio a tener el personal idóneo y más aún, garantizar la permanencia y arraigo, por ende, generar compromiso de los trabajadores hacia la compañía. Es por ello, la necesidad de un manual de reclutamiento, selección, contratación e inducción de personal. En la metodología de la investigación fue necesario apoyarse en el método científico y sus métodos auxiliares: análisis y síntesis, utilizando el tipo de investigación descriptiva, en cuanto al diseño se utilizó el método no experimental ya que no se manipuló ninguna variable, además se hizo uso de las fuentes de información primarias como: guía de entrevista al Gerente de Recursos Humanos de Pettenati Centro América S.A. de C.V. y cuestionarios dirigidos a los colaboradores de dicha empresa, y las fuentes secundarias para realizar ésta investigación fueron mediante consultas bibliográficas en libros de texto, folletos, sitios web, leyes, revistas relacionadas al tema de estudio y documentación proporcionada por el personal de Pettenati Centro América S.A. de C.V. ii Entre las principales conclusiones están: • Pettenati Centro América S.A. de C.V. posee un departamento de recursos humanos semi estructurado que aplica un proceso de reclutamiento, selección, contratación e inducción empírico, lo realizan sin el apoyo de un manual escrito que describa el procedimiento. • El desarrollo del proceso lo lleva a cabo el encargado de reclutamiento y selección, lo que lo vuelve lento y tedioso; sobre todo en temporada de ingresos masivos de personal, para cubrir la demanda de elaboración del producto. • En la empresa no se realizan pruebas psicométricas durante la entrevista, lo que es al menos llamativo, ya que se entiende que aplicar al menos una prueba le da una idea al encargado del proceso, las habilidades que el aspirante posee. Lo que conlleva a desconocer por parte de la empresa si está contratando al personal idóneo para el puesto de trabajo o no. Tampoco sabe si se colocó en el puesto correcto donde pueda desempeñarse y explotar sus habilidades. Se realizaron algunas recomendaciones tales como: • Elaborar un manual que tenga por escrito los procedimientos que la empresa requiere para llevar a cabo el reclutamiento, la selección, la contratación y la inducción de nuevos colaboradores. • Para que el proceso se agilice y sea más eficiente es necesario que el departamento de recursos humanos destine a una persona adicional que cumpla las funciones de asistente técnico para el encargado de los procedimientos, dividiendo la carga laboral, volviéndolo más eficiente y ágil. • Para realizar una contratación de talento humano más eficiente lo mejor es conocer sus habilidades y destrezas, Por tanto, es necesario aplicar pruebas psicométricas, físicas y técnicas que le den una idea al encargado del proceso de cuál sería el mejor puesto para el aspirante o si vale la pena contratarlo

Impact of COVID-19 on the self-reported physical activity of people with complete thoracic spinal cord injury full-time manual wheelchair users

Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Activitat física; Lesió medul·larCoronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Actividad física; Lesión de la médula espinalCoronavirus SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; 2019-nCoV; Physical activity; Spinal cord injuryContext The emergence of COVID-19 caused a new public health crisis, leading to major changes in daily life routines, often including physical activity (PA) levels. The main goal of this study was to analyze the differences in self-reported physical activity of people with complete spinal cord injuries between the time prior to the COVID-19 lockdown and the lockdown period itself. Methods A sample of 20 participants with complete thoracic spinal cord injuries completed the Physical Activity Scale for Individuals with Physical Disabilities before and during the COVID-19 lockdown. Results The results showed differences between the pre-lockdown and lockdown measurements in total self-reported PA (z=−3.92; P<0.001; d=1.28), recreational PA (z=−3.92; P<0.001; d=1.18) and occupational PA (z=−2.03; P=0.042; d=0.55). Nevertheless, no differences were found in housework PA between the two time periods. Furthermore, the results showed differences in total minutes (z=−3.92; P<0.001; d=1.75), minutes spent on recreational activities (z=−3.82; P<0.001; d=1.56) and minutes spent on occupational activities (z=−2.032; P=0.042; d=0.55) of moderate/vigorous intensity. Conclusions Individuals with thoracic spinal cord injuries who were full-time manual wheelchair users displayed lower levels of PA during the pandemic than in the pre-pandemic period. The results suggest that the prohibition and restrictions on carrying out recreational and/or occupational activities are the main reasons for this inactivity. Physical activity promotion strategies should be implemented within this population to lessen the effects of this physical inactivity stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.This work was supported by the Fundació la Marató de la TV3 under [grant number 201720-10]

Reassimilation of photorespiratory ammonium in Lotus japonicus plants deficient in plastidic glutamine synthetase

It is well established that the plastidic isoform of glutamine synthetase (GS2) is the enzyme in charge of photorespiratory ammonium reassimilation in plants. The metabolic events associated to photorespiratory NH4+ accumulation were analyzed in a Lotus japonicus photorespiratory mutant lacking GS2. The mutant plants accumulated high levels of NH4+when photorespiration was active, followed by a sudden drop in the levels of this compound. In this paper it was examined the possible existence of enzymatic pathways alternative to GS2 that could account for this decline in the photorespiratory ammonium. Induction of genes encoding for cytosolic glutamine synthetase (GS1), glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and asparagine synthetase (ASN) was observed in the mutant in correspondence with the diminishment of NH4+. Measurements of gene expression, polypeptide levels, enzyme activity and metabolite levels were carried out in leaf samples from WT and mutant plants after different periods of time under active photorespiratory conditions. In the case of asparagine synthetase it was not possible to determine enzyme activity and polypeptide content; however, an increased asparagine content in parallel with the induction of ASN gene expression was detected in the mutant plants. This increase in asparagine levels took place concomitantly with an increase in glutamine due to the induction of cytosolic GS1 in the mutant, thus revealing a major role of cytosolic GS1 in the reassimilation and detoxification of photorespiratory NH4+ when the plastidic GS2 isoform is lacking. Moreover, a diminishment in glutamate levels was observed, that may be explained by the induction of NAD (H)-dependent GDH activityJunta de Andalucía P1OCVI- 6368 y BIO-163Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad AGL2014-54413-