Organic cheese market (Río Cuarto, Argentina). Consumer attitudes

The consumer attitudes and buying behaviour to ecological cheese, in Río Cuarto city were studied. This research was carried out as a semi -structured survey, based on personal interviews and taste panels. Forty-four percent of the consumers showed willingness to pay up to a 25 to 35 percent premium price for organic foods. Flavour and ecological nature of the product were the chief motivations for buying behaviour.Se estudió mediante encuestas semiestructuradas, la actitud de los consumidores respecto a un queso ecológico y su valoración, en la ciudad de Río Cuarto. El 44 p.100 de los consumidores manifestó intención de pagar desde un 25 a 35 p.100 de sobreprecio por el producto ecológico. Entre las principales motivaciones para la compra están el sabor (91 p.100) y la naturaleza ecológica del producto (81 p.100)

Organic cheese market (Río Cuarto, Argentina). Valuation associated variables

Although most argentinian ecological products are targeted for export markets, domestic markets show signs of slow, but sustained growth. In order to assess the perception and willingness to purchase a new product (an organic cheese), attitudes and consumer behaviors were studied among consumers in Rio Cuarto. Data collection methods used in the survey were personal interviews with semi-structured questionaries and tasting of the new product. Bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis were performed. It was found that the willingness to pay a premium of 25 to 35 percent for this new product was associated with: social-economical variables as well as others related to food quality, like additive free and those concerned with specific attributes of the cheese such as brand and packaging. However, price and its organic label had more influence on the products valuation and potential buying decision.Si bien la producción ecológica argentina se ha destinado principalmente al mercado externo, el mercado interno manifiesta signos de crecimiento, lento, pero sostenido. Con el objetivo de conocer la valoración de los consumidores hacia un queso ecológico se estudiaron las actitudes y el comportamiento de los consumidores de la ciudad de Río Cuarto. La investigación se implementó a través de encuestas semiestructuradas, basadas en entrevistas personales a las familias y degustación del nuevo producto. Se realizaron análisis estadísticos bivariados y multivariados. La voluntad de pagar un sobreprecio de 25 a 35 p.100 por el nuevo producto se asoció a variables socioeconómicas, como así también a variables relacionadas con la calidad alimentaria (ausencia de conservantes y aditivos) y con atributos específicos del queso, como marca y presentación. Sin embargo, el precio del producto y su imagen de calidad ecológica fueron los factores que fundamentalmente incidieron en la valoración del producto y la decisión potencial de compra

Conservación de la conectividad del paisaje forestal bajo diferentes escenarios de cambio en las cubiertas del suelo

Managing forest landscapes to sustain functional connectivity is considered one of the key strategies to counteract the negative effects of climate and human-induced changes in forest species pools. With this objective, we evaluated whether a robust network of forest connecting elements can be identified so that it remains efficient when facing different types of potential land cover changes that may affect forest habitat networks and ecological fluxes. For this purpose we considered changes both in the forested areas and in the non-forest intervening landscape matrix. We combined some of the most recent developments in graph theory with models of land cover permeability and least-cost analysis through the forest landscape. We focused on a case of study covering the habitat of a forestdwelling bird (nuthatch, Sitta europaea) in the region of Galicia (NW Spain). Seven land-use change scenarios were analysed for their effects on connecting forest elements (patches and links): one was the simplest case in which the landscape is represented as a binary forest/non-forest pattern (and where matrix heterogeneity is disregarded), four scenarios in which forest lands were converted to other cover types (to scrubland due to wildfires, to extensive and intensive agriculture, and to urban areas), and two scenarios that only involved changes in the non-forested matrix (renaturalization and intensification). Our results show that while the network of connecting elements for the species was very robust to the conversion of the forest habitat patches to different cover types, the different change scenarios in the landscape matrix could more significantly weaken its long-term validity and effectiveness. This is particularly the case when most of the key connectivity providers for the nuthatch are located outside the protected areas or public forests in Galicia, where biodiversity-friendly measures might be more easily implemented. We discuss how the methodology can be applied to a wide range of forest landscape management situations, where both the conservation of the forest critical areas and an adequate management of the landscape matrix between them are of concern to achieve the sustainability of the ecological flows and ecosystem services at the wider forest landscape scale.La gestión de los bosques para mantener la conectividad ecológica se considera una de las estrategias clave para contrarrestar los efectos negativos provocados por el cambio climático y de los usos del suelo sobre las especies forestales. Con este objetivo, en este estudio evaluamos la posibilidad de identificar una red de elementos conectores forestales que sea robusta y eficiente ante cambios potenciales en las cubiertas del suelo que puedan afectar a las redes landde hábitats forestales y a los flujos ecológicos entre ellos. Para ello, consideramos cambios tanto en las áreas de bosque como en la matriz no arbolada del paisaje. Combinamos algunos desarrollos recientes en teoría de grafos con modelos de permeabilidad del paisaje forestal y análisis de mínimo coste. Centramos nuestro caso de estudio en el hábitat de un ave forestal (trepador azul, Sitta europaea) en Galicia (NO España). Analizamos siete escenarios de cambios de uso del suelo según sus efectos en los elementos conectores (teselas y enlaces): uno (el caso más simple) en el que el paisaje se representó como un patrón binario de bosque/no bosque (sin considerar la heterogeneidad de la matriz), cuatro escenarios en los que las teselas de bosque se transformaron en otros tipos de cubierta del suelo (matorral debido a incendios, agricultura extensiva e intensiva y zonas urbanas), y dos escenarios en los que los cambios se produjeron tan solo en la matriz no arbolada (renaturalización e intensificación). Nuestros resultados muestran que a pesar de que la red de elementos conectores para esta especie fue eficiente frente a la conversión de las teselas de hábitat forestal en diferentes tipos de cubierta, los cambios en la matriz del paisaje podrían debilitar considerablemente su validez y eficacia a largo plazo. Este es especialmente el caso dado que la mayor parte de los elementos conectores clave para el trepador azul están localizados fuera de las zonas protegidas o de los montes de utilidad pública en Galicia, donde las medidas para la conservación de la biodiversidad forestal podrían implementarse con mayor facilidad. Discutimos cómo esta metodología puede aplicarse en un amplio rango de escenarios de gestión del paisaje forestal, en los que tanto la conservación de las teselas de hábitat forestal críticas como un manejo adecuado de la matriz situada entre las mismas son de interés para conseguir la sostenibilidad de los flujos ecológicos y de los servicios de los ecosistemas en las escalas amplias en las que operan dichos procesos

Self-Regulation and Students Well-Being: A Systematic Review 2010–2020

This article belongs to the Section Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development[Abstract] In recent years, there has been particular interest in studying the relationship between student self-regulation and variables such as students’ well-being, satisfaction, and school engagement. Although in other fields such as healthcare, self-regulation in different areas seems to influence individuals’ well-being, this is not so well established in the educational arena. We performed a systematic search of research articles published between 2010 and 2020 which explored the relationships between self-regulation and student well-being. The present article presents a report of a systematic review of 14 research articles. The analysis showed that some executive functions and self-regulation strategies employed in the learning process, and some self-regulatory deficits are significantly associated with different dimensions of student well-being.This research was funded by Deputación Provincial de A Coruña through The Research Grants Program 2021 in social and legal sciences. Grant number: 2021000025393, FPI Program of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (PRE2018-084938) and Xunta de Galicia (Consellería de Cultura, Educación y Universidad) under a predoctoral fellowship [ED481A 2021/351]Deputación Provincial de A Coruña; 2021000025393Xunta de Galicia; ED481A 2021/35

COVID-19 Lockdown: Key Factors in Citizens’ Stress

[Abstract] Background: Confinement due to COVID-19 can have a short‐ and long-term impact on mental health (increased levels of stress and anxiety and emotional upheaval) and on people’s quality of life. Knowing what factors are behind the stress can benefit the development of strategies and resources for future situations of a similar nature. The purpose of this study is to examine the incidence of a series of sociodemographic factors, confinement conditions, and work situation on the stress reported by confined citizens. Method: The sample is made up of 2008 citizens (19.9% men), the Perceived Stress Scale of 14 items (PSS-14) was used to assess the stress level of the population, as well as a sociodemographic questionnaire and different questions aimed at obtain information about the characteristics of the confinement and the employment situation. Data were collected using exponential snowball-type non-probability sampling. Results: The results suggest that sociodemographic factors such as age, gender, and income level could be good predictors of confinement stress. Post-confinement work expectancy along with pre-confinement working conditions can be key to protecting the well-being of confined populations. Limitations: This is a transversal study that forces us to be cautious with causal interpretations. The questionnaire was administered online, which means it excluded a good proportion of the population. Conclusion: The perception of stress being higher in women than men, with the lowest stress in older people and those with higher reported incomes. Stress levels increase as populations spend more weeks in confinement and the pre-confinement work situation seems key to protecting the well-being of the population. A lower stress is observed among stable couples without children confined in residential or suburban areas. Low income or economic instability is associated with a higher rate of stress and anxiety. The results can contribute to prioritizing actions and aid by contributing to the formation of teams and the design of tools for work in the current pandemic situation.This study was funded by the research project EDU2013-44062-P (MINECO) and EDU2017-82984-P (MEIC) and the FPU program (FPU18/02191) and the FPI program (PRE2018-084938) from the Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities to two of the author

Levando a tradición oral á escola

Banco de experiencias de Aprendizaxe Servizo. Convocatoria 2015/201

Authoring and dynamic generation of adaptive e-courses

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-27834-4_93Proceedings of the 4th International Conference, ICWE 2004, Munich, Germany, July 26-30, 2004.Adaptive hypermedia constitutes a pretty rich resource for developing web-based courses. With the aim of dynamically generating adaptive e-courses, we have developed the TANGOW system which, starting from the course components and their adaptation capabilities (specified independently and out of the adaptation engine), generates different courses for students with different profiles, supporting several adaptation strategies. An integral part of any adaptive hypermedia system is the set of authoring tools to specify the course components and their adaptation capabilities. Without adequate tool support, authors may feel that it is “not worth the effort” to add adaptation to their courses. However, the development of this type of tools is not an easy task. The main goal of our authoring and visualization tools is to provide a simple interface to create such courses. This demo would demonstrate i) the dynamic generation of tailored e-courses that include individual and collaborative activities and ii) the use of authoring tools for the creation of such courses

The impact of global platforms on media competition and on the results of European communication companies

The market value and capitalization of traditional media companies have dropped dramatically in the last five years. This is due to the evolution of digital platforms and the emergence of global communications mega-corporations that have since absorbed the distribution of new information and entertainment content. It is also a consequence of the aggregation of value-added services generated through incessant innovation. Communications mega-corporations, the GAFANs (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Netflix), and audiovisual and telecommunications platforms reached market capitalizations ranging from 56% to 170% in the last five years (2012-17) respectively, whilst those of traditional media did not exceed 75 percent. Asymmetries on competition regulations against traditional media and the political alarm ignited by the so-called fake news or scandals due to the mishandling of users data awakened the European states and the EU about the urgency of filling the legal gap existing around the development of such platforms, particularly in order to demand rules and responsibilities comparable to those that apply to editorial groups.La cotización y capitalización de las empresas de medios tradicionales se ha hundido en los últimos cinco años ante la evolución de las plataformas digitales y la conformación de mega grupos globales de comunicación que absorben la distribución de los nuevos contenidos informativos y de entretenimiento, así como la agregación de los servicios de valor añadido generados a través de su incesante innovación. Los mega grupos de comunicación, los GAFAN (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple y Netflix), y las plataformas de audiovisual y telecomunicaciones lograron en los últimos cinco años (2012-17) capitalizaciones de entre el 560 y el 170% respectivamente, frente a las de los medios tradicionales, que no pasaron del 75 por ciento. La asimetría de la regulación de la competencia frente a los medios tradicionales y la alarma política provocada por las fake news o los escándalos del uso impropio de datos de los usuarios despertó a los estados europeos y a la propia UE sobre la urgencia de llenar el vacío legal sobre el desarrollo de las plataformas para exigirles reglas de juego y responsabilidades como a los grupos editoriales

Effects of amphetamine on development of oral candidiasis in rats

[Abstract] Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of amphetamine (0.4 mg/kg of body weight/day) on the development of oral candidiasis in Sprague-Dawley rats. Animals were submitted to surgical hyposalivation in order to facilitate the establishment and persistence of Candida albicans infection. Treatment with drugs (placebo or amphetamine) was initiated 7 days before C. albicans inoculation and lasted until the end of the experiments, day 15 postinoculation. Establishment of C. albicans infection was evaluated by swabbing the inoculated oral cavity with a sterile cotton applicator on days 2 and 15 after inoculation, followed by plating on YEPD (yeast extract-peptone-dextrose) agar. Tissue injury was determined by the quantification of the number and type (normal or abnormal) of papillae on the dorsal tongue per microscopic field. A semiquan- titative scale was devised to assess the degree of colonization of the epithelium by fungal hyphae. Our results show that amphetamine exacerbates C. albicans infection of the tongues of rats. Significant increases in Candida counts, the percentage of the tongue’s surface covered with clinical lesions, the percentage of abnormal papillae, and the colonization of the epithelium by fungal hyphae were found in amphetamine-treated rats compared to those found in the rats injected with a placebo. The last two parameters increased in rats treated with the placebo compared to the parameters of the untreated control rats

The tumor-associated Tn antigen fosters lung metastasis and recruitment of regulatory T cells in triple negative breast cancer

Laboratorio de Inmunomodulación y Desarrollo de Vacunas, Departamento de Inmunobiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay -- Contacto: [email protected] is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths. Among breast cancers (BC) subtypes, triple-negative (TN) BC is characterized by metastatic progression and poor patient prognosis. Although TNBC is initially sensitive to chemotherapy, many TNBC patients rapidly develop resistance, at which point metastatic disease is highly lethal. Cancer cells present phenotypic changes or molecular signatures that distinguish them from healthy cells. The Tn antigen (GalNAc-O-Thr/Ser), which constitutes a powerful tool as tumor marker, was recently reported to contribute to tumor growth. However, its role in BC-derived metastasis has not yet been addressed. In this work, we generated a pre-clinical orthotopic Tn+ model of metastatic TNBC, which mimics the patient surgical treatment and is useful to study the role of Tn in metastasis and immunoregulation. We obtained two different cell clones, which differed in their Tn antigen expression: a high Tn-expressing and a non-expressing clone. Interestingly, the Tn-positive cell line generated significantly larger tumors and higher degree of lung metastases associated with a lower survival rate than the Tn-negative and parental cell line. Furthermore, we also found that both tumors and draining-lymph nodes from Tn+-tumor-bearing mice presented a higher frequency of CD4+ FoxP3+ T cells, while their splenocytes expressed higher levels of IL-10. In conclusion, this work suggests that the Tn antigen participates in breast tumor growth and spreading, favoring metastases to the lungs that are associated with an immunoregulatory state, suggesting that Tn-based immunotherapy could be a strategy of choice to treat these tumors