ALTRUISM, EGOISM AND GROUP COHESION IN A LOCAL INTERACTION MODEL

In this paper we have introduced and parameterized the concept of ?group cohesion? in a model of local interaction with a population divided into groups. This allows us to control the level of ?isolation? of these groups: We thus analyze if the degree of group cohesion is relevant to achieve an efficient behaviour and which level would be the best one for this purpose. We are interested in situations where there is a trade off between efficiency and individual incentives. This trade off is stronger when the efficient strategy or norm is strictly dominated, as in the Prisoner?s Dilemma or in some cases of Altruism. In our model we have considered that agents could choose to be Altruist of Egoist, in fact, they behave as in Eshel, Samuelson and Shaked (1998) model.Group Cohesion, Cooperation, Local Interaction, Altruism, Group selection.

Multicriteria Modelling of Irrigation Water Market at Basin Level

This paper develops a multi-criteria methodology to simulate irrigation water markets at basin level. For this purpose it is assumed that irrigators try to optimise personal multi-attribute utility functions via their productive decision making process (crop mix), subject to a set of constraints based upon the structural features of their farms. In this sense, farmers with homogeneous behaviour regarding water use have been grouped, such groups being established as .types. to be considered in the whole water market simulation model. This model calculates the equilibrium through a solution that maximises aggregate welfare, which is quantified as the sum of the multi-attribute utilities reached by each of the participating agents. This methodology has been empirically applied for the Duero Basin (Northern Spain), finding that the implementation of this institution would increase economic efficiency and agricultural labour demand, particularly during droughts.Water markets, Multi-Attribute Utility Theory, Irrigation water, Duero Valley (Spain).

TBL1 is required for the mesenchymal phenotype of transformed breast cancer cells

The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and its reversion (MET) are related to tumor cell dissemination and migration, tumor circulating cell generation, cancer stem cells, chemoresistance, and metastasis formation. To identify chromatin and epigenetic factors possibly involved in the process of EMT, we compare the levels of expression of epigenetic genes in a transformed human breast epithelial cell line (HMEC-RAS) versus a stable clone of the same cell line expressing the EMT master regulator ZEB1 (HMEC-RAS-ZEB1). One of the factors strongly induced in the HMEC-RAS-ZEB1 cells was Transducin beta-like 1 (TBL1), a component of the NCoR complex, which has both corepressor and coactivator activities. We show that TBL1 interacts with ZEB1 and that both factors cooperate to repress the promoter of the epithelial gene E-cadherin (CDH1) and to autoactivate the ZEB1 promoter. Consistent with its central role, TBL1 is required for mesenchymal phenotypes of transformed breast epithelial and breast cancer cell lines of the claudin-low subtype. Importantly, a high expression of the TBL1 gene correlates with poor prognosis and increased proportion of metastasis in breast cancer patients, indicating that the level of TBL1 expression can be used as a prognostic marker.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BFU2014-53543-P, BFU2017-85420-RJunta de Andalucía BIO-32

L'Assecat de les fruites: idees generals i la seva possibilitat d'utilització com a recurs didàctic

La conservació dels aliments és una de les preocupacions de la societat. Una de les tècniques més antigues és l'assecat, que començà sent una activitat artesanal i avui és un procés industrial rigorós, amb processos interessants que convé conèixer. En aquest treball es mostren els fonaments d'aquesta tècnica de conservació i alguns experiments que es poden proposar als estudiants.Food’s preservation is one of the concerns of human society. One of the techniques that has been used for centuries is drying, but what started as an artisanal activity is today a very rigorous industrial process that hides several interesting procedures. This work shows the scientific basis of this technique and some experiments that can be proposed to students

Diagnóstico ecocardiográfico de endocarditis mitral y aórtica en un perro

Perro mestizo cruce de Spaniel bretón de 2 años de edad y 18 Kg de peso es referido al servicio de cardiología del Complejo Veterinario Aznalcóllar para la evaluación de un soplo cardíaco. El paciente presentaba una ligera apatía desde hacía varios días. El examen físico realizado reveló una temperatura de 40.1ºC, color de mucosas normales y frecuencia cardíaca de 168 1. P.m. Bajo auscultación, se puso de manifiesto un soplo sistólico grado IV/VI ambos audibles sobre la base cardíaca izquierda. El pulso arterial femoral era hipercinético. Debido a la sospecha de un proceso cardíaco se procedió a realizar un examen ecocardiográfico

A normal metal tunnel-junction heat diode

We propose a low-temperature thermal rectifier consisting of a chain of three tunnel-coupled normal metal electrodes. We show that a large heat rectification is achievable if the thermal symmetry of the structure is broken and the central island can release energy to the phonon bath. The performance of the device is theoretically analyzed and, under the appropriate conditions, temperature differences up to $\sim$ 200 mK between the forward and reverse thermal bias configurations are obtained below 1 K, corresponding to a rectification ratio $\mathcal{R} \sim$ 2000. The simplicity intrinsic to its design joined with the insensitivity to magnetic fields make our device potentially attractive as a fundamental building block in solid-state thermal nanocircuits and in general-purpose cryogenic electronic applications requiring energy management.Comment: 4.5 pages, 4 color figure