The conceptions of welfare and the consumption. A literature review based on the civil economy and social sciences

El modelo de bienestar, planteado desde la Modernidad, se basa en una racionalidad positivista de acumulación material y de adaptación del mundo según criterios de eficiencia y hedonismo antropocéntricos. Es por esto que para plantear otras formas de consumo más sustentables es necesario establecer nuevos parámetros de bienestar desde lo que se ha denominado como estilos de vida, situación que desde la lógica capitalista del bien total no parece posible, por tanto, requiere una posición reflexiva mucho más activa de los consumidores- ciudadanos. En este sentido, el presente artículo pretende discutir, a partir de una revisión bibliográfica interdisciplinar fundamentada en el paradigma de la economía civil, el impacto que tienen las concepciones de bienestar como factor determinante en el proceso de consumo, a partir del principio económico de la reciprocidad.Palabras clave: bienestar, consumo, felicidad, civilización, libertad, reciprocidad.The welfare model proposed from modernity is based on a positivist rationality of material accumulation and adaptation of the world according to standards of efficiency and anthropocentric hedonism. For that reason, in order to propose other forms of more sustainable consumption it is necessary to establish new parameters of wellness on the basis of what has been called lifestyles, a situation that from the capitalist logic of total good does not seem possible and, therefore, requires a thoughtful, much more active position of the consumer-citizens. In this sense, this paper discusses, from an interdisciplinary literature review based on the paradigm of civil economy, the impact of the conceptions of welfare as a determining factor in the consumption process, on the basis of the economic principle of reciprocity.Keywords: welfare, consumption, happiness, civilization, freedom, reciprocity

Identification and GroEL gene characterization of green petal phytoplasma infecting strawberry in Italy

none5The presence of phytoplasmas in strawberry showing malformation of the fruits together with the typical green petals symptoms was detected in some North Western Italy cultivations. Nucleic acids extracted from these plants were used in nested-PCR assays with primers amplifying 16S rDNA and GroEL sequences specific for phytoplasmas. Bands of 1.2 kb were obtained in both cases after nested-PCR assays and RFLP analyses allowed to classify the detected phytoplasmas in the aster yellows subgroup 16SrI-C, the GroELI grouping confirm all the strains from strawberry to be identical to each other and to GroELI-VI group. This is the first multigene molecular identification of strawberry green petals phytoplasmas in Italy.openContaldo N.; J.F. Mejia; S. Paltrinieri; A. Calari; A. BertacciniContaldo N.; J.F. Mejia; S. Paltrinieri; A. Calari; A. Bertaccin

El consumo responsable como un desafío social

El objetivo del artículo es analizar el consumo responsable como un desafío social al cual se ven enfrentados individuos de la ciudad de Medellín, Colombia, con el fin de comprender, desde sus vivencias y a su escala, el trabajo de las estructuras en el diseño de esta prueba colectiva. Para esto, se realizaron 26 entrevistas (tomando como referencia la sociología de los desafíos sociales) a consumidores con alto grado de identificación con las marcas de vestuario Nike, Adidas y H&M, las cuales han sido objeto de cuestionamientos por sus prácticas productivas. Entre los hallazgos, se observa que los actores aprecian la contradicción planteada en un contexto social que los incita a comprar constantemente y que, al mismo tiempo, los sitúa como los grandes responsables por los impactos negativos, reconociendo que las estructuras sociales parecen conspirar en favor de un consumo que no se articula a uno con rasgos de responsabilidad

Bacterial-foraging optimization algorithm for non-hazardous plant layouts

PresentationThe following article approaches a safe plant layout design problem based on a bacterial-foraging optimization algorithm. Our approach finds the position in the two dimensional plane for each main process unit and evaluates the possibility of secondary contention for pertinent units, in order to minimize capital costs associated to equipment loss, piping, secondary contention, and usage of area. Fire and Explosion hazard is considered as the relevant safety aspect for distribution, and it is assessed through Dow’s Fire and Explosion Index. The proposed solution approach provides an alternative to hard-optimization methods, by allowing greater flexibility in accounting for both safety and economic aspects, while providing high quality solutions in a limited computation time. The aim of our proposed solution approach is to provide support to expert decision-making during the early plant layout design steps. A case study based on an acrylic-acid production plant, which has been used by several other papers that appeared in the literature, serves the purposes of showing the appropriateness and effectiveness of the method

Low values of central venous oxygen saturation (ScvO2) during surgery and anastomotic leak of abdominal trauma patients

Background: There is a well known relationship between hypoperfusion and postoperative complications like anastomotic leak. No studies have been done addressing this relationship in the context of abdominal trauma surgery. Central venous oxygen saturation is an important hypoperfusion marker of potential use in abdominal trauma surgery for identifying the risk of anastomotic leak development. The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between low values of central venous oxygen saturation and anastomotic leak of gastrointestinal sutures in the postoperative period in abdominal trauma surgery. Methods: A cross-sectional prospective study was performed. Patients over 14 years old who required surgical gastrointestinal repair secondary to abdominal trauma were included. Anastomotic leak diagnosis was confirmed through clinical manifestations and diagnostic images or secondary surgery when needed. Central venous oxygen blood saturation was measured at the beginning of surgery through a central catheter. Demographic data, trauma mechanism, anatomic site of trauma, hemoglobin levels, abdominal trauma index, and comorbidities were assessed as secondary variables. Results: Patients who developed anastomotic leak showed lower mean central venous oxygen saturation levels (60.0% ± 2.94%) than those who did not (69.89% ± 7.21%) (p = 0.010). Conclusions: Central venous oxygen saturation <65% was associated with the development of gastrointestinal leak during postoperative time of patients who underwent surgery secondary to abdominal trauma. © 2017 The Author(s)

Effectiveness of a cardiovascular risk management program in the incidence of cardiovascular events in a low-income population from the caribbean region of Colombia

Methods This was a retrospective cohort study. Patients with 20 to 76 years affiliated to insurer company and enrolled to the DTC program were considered as the study population. The data source was an administrative database of all 128,263 patients between Jan 2015 and Dec 2018. The main outcome was the reduction in the risk of a CVE (stroke, AMI or CHF) based in the time-person exposed to the intervention. Four different time thresholds were considered for stablishing exposure status: six months, one year, two years and four years. Propensity score-weighted Cox regression models were used to evaluate the association between exposure to the program and the incidence of CVE

Machine Fault Detection Based on Filter Bank Similarity Features Using Acoustic and Vibration Analysis

Vibration and acoustic analysis actively support the nondestructive and noninvasive fault diagnostics of rotating machines at early stages. Nonetheless, the acoustic signal is less used because of its vulnerability to external interferences, hindering an efficient and robust analysis for condition monitoring (CM). This paper presents a novel methodology to characterize different failure signatures from rotating machines using either acoustic or vibration signals. Firstly, the signal is decomposed into several narrow-band spectral components applying different filter bank methods such as empirical mode decomposition, wavelet packet transform, and Fourier-based filtering. Secondly, a feature set is built using a proposed similarity measure termed cumulative spectral density index and used to estimate the mutual statistical dependence between each bandwidth-limited component and the raw signal. Finally, a classification scheme is carried out to distinguish the different types of faults. The methodology is tested in two laboratory experiments, including turbine blade degradation and rolling element bearing faults. The robustness of our approach is validated contaminating the signal with several levels of additive white Gaussian noise, obtaining high-performance outcomes that make the usage of vibration, acoustic, and vibroacoustic measurements in different applications comparable. As a result, the proposed fault detection based on filter bank similarity features is a promising methodology to implement in CM of rotating machinery, even using measurements with low signal-to-noise ratio

First wave of COVID-19 in Venezuela:Epidemiological, clinical, and paraclinical characteristics of first cases

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has particularly affected countries with weakened health services in Latin America, where proper patient management could be a critical step to address the epidemic. In this study, we aimed to characterize and identify which epidemiological, clinical, and paraclinical risk factors defined COVID-19 infection from the first confirmed cases through the first epidemic wave in Venezuela. A retrospective analysis of consecutive suspected cases of COVID-19 admitted to a sentinel hospital was carried out, including 576 patient cases subsequently confirmed for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. Of these, 162 (28.1%) patients met the definition criteria for severe/critical disease, and 414 (71.2%) were classified as mild/moderate disease. The mean age was 47 (SD 16) years, the majority of which were men (59.5%), and the most frequent comorbidity was arterial hypertension (23.3%). The most common symptoms included fever (88.7%), headache (65.6%), and dry cough (63.9%). Severe/critical disease affected mostly older males with low schooling (p < 0.001). Similarly, higher levels of glycemia, urea, aminotransferases, total bilirubin, lactate dehydrogenase, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate were observed in severe/critical disease patients compared to those with mild/moderate disease. Overall mortality was 7.6% (44/576), with 41.7% (28/68) dying in hospital. We identified risk factors related to COVID-19 infection, which could help healthcare providers take appropriate measures and prevent severe clinical outcomes. Our results suggest that the mortality registered by this disease in Venezuela during the first epidemic wave was underestimated. An increase in fatalities is expected to occur in the coming months unless measures that are more effective are implemented to mitigate the epidemic while the vaccination process is ongoing

Data synthesis of multiple on-farm trials to generate regional variety recommendations: the case of common bean in Central America

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a main food crop in Central America. Several improved varieties have been developed and released by different crop improvement programs in the region but many of these varieties are not used widely by farmers. One limitation is the lack of information about which are the best adapted varieties for each area within the region, even though on-farm testing of varieties is widely done by different organizations. Data synthesis of existing on-farm trial data can help to predict the suitability of varieties to areas within the region where trials were not conducted. Data synthesis is facilitated by a new participatory on-farm testing approach, triadic comparison of technologies (tricot). This approach involves the participation of farmers as citizen scientists at scale and ensures data are collected digitally, facilitating data synthesis. From 2015 to 2018, more than 2,000 tricot trial plots were established in Central America by different organizations, including agricultural research centers, universities, NGOs, and farmer’s associations. The trials tested landraces, experimental lines, and improved varieties created with both conventional and participatory breeding approaches. We applied an innovative data synthesis method to analyze the tricot trial data jointly, including seasonal climate and soil covariates to assess environmental adaptation. The results showed that the method was able to predict farmers’ overall appreciation of varieties in unsampled areas.Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is a main food crop in Central America. Several improved varieties have been developed and released by different crop improvement programs in the region but many of these varieties are not used widely by farmers. One limitation is the lack of information about which are the best adapted varieties for each area within the region, even though on-farm testing of varieties is widely done by different organizations. Data synthesis of existing on-farm trial data can help to predict the suitability of varieties to areas within the region where trials were not conducted. Data synthesis is facilitated by a new participatory on-farm testing approach, triadic comparison of technologies (tricot). This approach involves the participation of farmers as citizen scientists at scale and ensures data are collected digitally, facilitating data synthesis. From 2015 to 2018, more than 2,000 tricot trial plots were established in Central America by different organizations, including agricultural research centers, universities, NGOs, and farmer’s associations. The trials tested landraces, experimental lines, and improved varieties created with both conventional and participatory breeding approaches. We applied an innovative data synthesis method to analyze the tricot trial data jointly, including seasonal climate and soil covariates to assess environmental adaptation. The results showed that the method was able to predict farmers’ overall appreciation of varieties in unsampled areas