La evolución de los costes de la ejecución de obra de las empresas constructoras ante la burbuja inmobiliaria, periodo 1997-2001

El trabajo detalla los componentes de los costes de ejecución de obra. Los diferentes tipos de costes: de anteproyecto, de materiales y suministros, de mano de obra, de amortización, transporte y alquiler de equipos, costes de instalaciones generales, de trabajos realizados por subcontratistas y asistentes técnicos, costes de garantías, de prevención y seguros, costes financieros y costes de tributos, así como el coste del suelo, en su caso, se identifican y se imputan a cada obra. Seguidamente, se revisan sus implicaciones en la valoración de las existencias por obra en curso, así como en el cálculo del resultado. El trabajo concluye con un análisis empírico de la evolución de ingresos y de los principales capítulos de costes de las pequeñas y medianas empresas constructoras españolas para el período considerado, que refleja cómo el control ha permitido una contención de costes, especialmente de los más significativos, mano de obra y consumos.This paper details a set of costs of construction, which are a main part of total costs of building enterprises. So, preliminary plan costs, materials and supplies costs, labour costs, depreciation, transportation and rent of equipment, general activity costs, costs of works by subcontractors and technical assistants, costs of warranty, safety plans and insurance, financial costs, taxes, and ground costs are studied, recognized and allocated to specific projects. Then, the paper reviews implications of costs calculation into valuation of inventories of work in progress, and calculation methods for assessing earnings. This paper concludes with an empiric analysis of evolution of revenues and main costs of small and medium Spanish construction companies at the referred period. These empirical data reflect how tasks of control construction costs have promoted a restraint of costs, specially labour and material costs, which are the most significant in relative terms

Practical Characterization of Cell-Electrode Electrical Models in Bio-Impedance Assays

This paper presents the fitting process followed to adjust the parameters of the electrical model associated to a cell-electrode system in Electrical Cell-substrate Impedance Spectroscopy (ECIS) technique, to the experimental results from cell-culture assays. A new parameter matching procedure is proposed, under the basis of both, mismatching between electrodes and time-evolution observed in the system response, as consequence of electrode fabrication processes and electrochemical performance of electrode-solution interface, respectively. The obtained results agree with experimental performance, and enable the evaluation of the cell number in a culture, by using the electrical measurements observed at the oscillation parameters in the test circuits employed.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2013-46242-C3-1-

Management accounting change: influence of new technologies

[ES]En el trabajo que presentamos se revisan los nuevos enfoques de dirección de empresas basados en gestión de procesos y gestión de riesgos, y su influencia en el futuro de la información económica-financiera, lo que dará lugar a cambios acelerados por las más avanzadas aplicaciones informáticas de la contabilidad y las prácticas de auditoría, puesto que en la práctica diaria de las empresas, tanto la auditoría como la información contable y los sistemas de información, contemplan ya dicho enfoque de la contabilidad por procesos. En consecuencia, la evolución de los sistemas de información favorece, cuando no obliga, a que el profesional de la contabilidad empresarial adopte una visión de la misma según los nuevos puntos de vista basados en procesos, provocando nuevas aplicaciones informáticas a la contabilidad.[EN]This paper re-examines the new management approaches based on process management and risk management, and their influence into future of financial accounting. Changes are being accelerated by the most advanced computer applications to accounting and auditing. In day-by-day practise, auditing, accounting and information systems already take account of process accounting. In consequence,evolution of information systems favour, actually compel, to accounting practitioners adopt a vision according to new approaches based on process

Screening for hypertension in a primary care dental clinic

Objective: The aim of this study was to record blood pressure in patients during their visit to a dental clinic, with the aim of identifying those who have high blood pressure and are unaware of it, as well as those who are aware of their condition but do have their blood pressure under adequate control. Study design: We designed a cross-sectional study which included 154 patients who were seen for a dental checkup at the Primary Dental Care of the Gallician Health Service (SERGAS). All participants completed a standardized medical questionnaire after measuring their systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), which was conducted using the protocol established by the Spanish Society of Hypertension-Spanish League for the Fight Against Hypertension (HTA). Results: In 45 patients (29%), the figures for blood pressure were recorded as SBP?140 mmHg and/or DBP ?90 mmHg, indicating that they may have hypertension. Only 12 of them had been previously diagnosed with hypertension, but did not have their blood pressure under adequate control. The remaining 33 had no history of hypertension and were referred to a family physician, but only 19 saw their doctor; 11 of these patients were given non-pharmacological treatment, 6 were prescribed drug treatment and no type of treatment was indicated for the other two patients. Conclusions: By screening for hypertension, especially among patients who are more than 40 years old, the dentist can play an important role in the early diagnosis

Sensing Cell-Culture Assays with Low-Cost Circuitry

An alternative approach for cell-culture end-point protocols is proposed herein. This new technique is suitable for real-time remote sensing. It is based on Electrical Cell-substrate Impedance Spectroscopy (ECIS) and employs the Oscillation-Based Test (OBT) method. Simple and straightforward circuit blocks form the basis of the proposed measurement system. Oscillation parameters – frequency and amplitude – constitute the outcome, directly correlated with the culture status. A user can remotely track the evolution of cell cultures in real time over the complete experiment through a web tool continuously displaying the acquired data. Experiments carried out with commercial electrodes and a well-established cell line (AA8) are described, obtaining the cell number in real time from growth assays. The electrodes have been electrically characterized along the design flow in order to predict the system performance and the sensitivity curves. Curves for 1-week cell growth are reported. The obtained experimental results validate the proposed OBT for cell-culture characterization. Furthermore, the proposed electrode model provides a good approximation for the cell number and the time evolution of the studied cultures.España, Feder TEC2013-46242-C3-1-

Efecto del programa de formación docente, “enseñando a pensar” en ambiente virtual de aprendizaje -A V A-, sobre el conocimiento matemático temprano

El presente estudio determina el efecto del programa de formación docente “Enseñando a Pensar” en ambiente virtual de aprendizaje, sobre el conocimiento matemático temprano en niños que cursan los grados de transición y primero de primaria de colegios públicos de estrato 1 y 2 del distrito de Barranquilla. Se empleó un diseño de tipo cuasi-experimental y como instrumento el test TEMA-3, la muestra estuvo representada por 191 estudiantes. Los resultados fueron analizados mediante ANOVA y la prueba t de Students para muestras relacionadas, encontrando que existe una diferencia significativa en los conocimientos matemático temprano en las diferentes categorías, entre los niños pertenecientes al grupo experimental y los del grupo control con respecto a los conocimientos que obtuvieron después de la implementación del programa, atribuido a que este es una propuesta integral que busca mejorar la calidad educativa, aprovechando las potencialidades de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación

Diseño pedagógico y técnico de un soporte hipermedia para el uso didáctico de recursos audiovisuales

Se enuncian una serie de fases a seguir en el diseño de un entorno hipermedia orientado al aprendizaje: análisis, diseño instructivo e interactivo, desarrollo, producción, implementación y evaluación, y por último revisión. Entre los elementos claves que inciden en el diseño de hipermedia caben destacarse: los recursos implicados en el proceso de interacción que hacen posible el intercambio de información entre los usuarios y el sistema; el interfaz de usuario, donde se describirán las metáforas y el sistema de navegación adoptado en el entorno diseñado en tanto herramienta para el uso didáctico de los recursos audiovisuales en el contexto educativo.There are several phases to follow when designing an hypermedia context oriented to learning processes, such as the following ones: Analysis Interactive and educational design Development, production, implementation and evolution and finally, revision Among the key elements which are involved in hypermedia design are the following: The resources implied in the interactive process which enables the information exchange between the users and the system itself. The user interface where metaphors and browser system are designed as a tool for didactic use of audiovisual resources within an educative context

An Empirical-Mathematical Approach for Calibration and Fitting Cell-Electrode Electrical Models in Bioimpedance Tests

This paper proposes a new yet efficient method allowing a significant improvement in the on-line analysis of biological cell growing and evolution. The procedure is based on an empirical-mathematical approach for calibration and fitting of any cell-electrode electrical model. It is valid and can be extrapolated for any type of cellular line used in electrical cell-substrate impedance spectroscopy (ECIS) tests. Parameters of the bioimpedance model, acquired from ECIS experiments, vary for each cell line, which makes obtaining results difficult and—to some extent-renders them inaccurate. We propose a fitting method based on the cell line initial characterization,and carry out subsequent experiments with the same line to approach the percentage of well filling and the cell density (or cell number in the well). To perform our calibration technique, the so-called oscillation-based test (OBT) approach is employed for each cell density. Calibration results are validated by performing other experiments with different concentrations on the same cell line with the same measurement technique. Accordingly, a bioimpedance electrical model of each cell line is determined, which is valid for any further experiment and leading to a more precise electrical model of the electrode-cell system. Furthermore, the model parameters calculated can be also used by any other measurement techniques. Promising experimental outcomes for three different cell-lines have been achieved, supporting the usefulness of this technique

Remote Cell Growth Sensing Using Self-Sustained Bio-Oscillations

A smart sensor system for cell culture real-time supervision is proposed, allowing for a significant reduction in human effort applied to this type of assay. The approach converts the cell culture under test into a suitable “biological” oscillator. The system enables the remote acquisition and management of the “biological” oscillation signals through a secure web interface. The indirectly observed biological properties are cell growth and cell number, which are straightforwardly related to the measured bio-oscillation signal parameters, i.e., frequency and amplitude. The sensor extracts the information without complex circuitry for acquisition and measurement, taking advantage of the microcontroller features. A discrete prototype for sensing and remote monitoring is presented along with the experimental results obtained from the performed measurements, achieving the expected performance and outcomes

Phenolic Compounds Content and Genetic Diversityat Population Level across the Natural Distribution Range of Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Ericaceae) in the Iberian Peninsula

Bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) is a medicinal plant traditionally employed for the treatment of urinary tract infections due to high contents of arbutin (hydroquinone β-D-glucoside), which is now mainly used as a natural skin-whitening agent in cosmetics. Bearberry has also been proposed as a natural antioxidant additive due to the high contents of phenolic compounds in leaves. We studied the variation on phenolic compounds in 42 wild populations of bearberry, aiming to elucidate if intrinsic biological, climatic, and/or geographic factors affect phenolic contents across its natural distribution in the Iberian Peninsula. Bearberry leaves were collected during autumn over a three-year period (2014-2016) in populations across a latitude and altitude gradient. Methanolic extracts showed a wide range of variation in total phenols content, and different phenolic profiles regarding arbutin (levels of this major constituent varied from 87 to 232 mg/g dr wt), but also catechin and myricetin contents, which were affected by geographic and climatic factors. Moderate levels of variation on genome size-assessed by flow cytometry-and on two plastid DNA regions were also detected among populations. Genetic and cytogenetic differentiation of populations was weakly but significantly associated to phytochemical diversity. Elite bearberry genotypes with higher antioxidant capacity were subsequently identified