Does moral branding on the organic cosmetics’ market influences self-licensing effects on consumer´s choice and anticipated guilt?

The present study examines the effect of brand morality and self-affirmation on the purchasing decision of an organic cosmetic product in order to prove if a marketing approach based in this two concepts could be effective in this industry. We have seen in literature that individuals on a self-affirmation position usually license themselves to commit a less moral action of purchase that they would normally do in no self-affirmation conditions. We study this effect further adding a possible effect regarding brand morality in the organic cosmetic sector. Results from one study manipulating self-affirmation and brand morality failed to show licensing effects on individuals when choosing either moral (organic) or immoral cosmetic products in participants’ choice between utilitarian or hedonic products, anticipated guilt and regret and expected hedonic experience. Only brand morality influenced participants choice between the purchase of a utilitarian or hedonic product and lead to higher levels of anticipated guilt and regret. Despite of our study registered no influence from the self-affirmation task on participants, it is a fact that this effect was working on the results from the manipulation check. As a conclusion, we could affirm that on the organic cosmetic sector having a brand with a higher morality would influence consumer behavior.O presente estudo examina o efeito da moral de uma marca e autoafirmação na tomada de decisão de compra de um cosmético orgânico de forma a verificar se uma campanha de marketing baseada nestes dois conceitos pode ser eficiente na industria. A literatura demonstra que os indivíduos que tomam uma posição de autoafirmação tendem a praticar uma ação menos moral no momento da compra do que aquela que normalmente fariam. Este efeito é estudado ao adicionarmos outro possível efeito relacionado com a moralidade da marca no sector dos cosméticos orgânicos. Os resultados de um estudo baseado na manipulação da autoafirmação e da moral de uma marca falharam ao demonstrar efeitos de licença nos participantes quando confrontados com a escolha entre produtos cosméticos morais e não morais, sendo a escolha entre os dois produtos com diferente percentagem hedónico/utilitário, na culpa antecipada e no arrependimento da escolha. Apenas a moralidade da marca influenciou a escolha dos participantes entre um produto utilitário ou hedónico, o que levou a um maior nível de culpa e remorsos antecipados. Apesar do nosso estudo não registar qualquer influencia de autoafirmação nos participantes, é um facto que o efeito resultou quando manipulado. Em conclusão, podemos afirmar que no sector de cosmética orgânica, uma marca com maior moralidade influencia o comportamento do consumidor

Posmodernidad y crisis de identidad

En este artículo se problematiza el concepto de identidad. La identidad es un un acto creativo, pero se pone de manifiesto algunas cortapisas sociales existentes. Así, se recuerda el peligro, siempre latente, de la exclusión. Finalmente, a partir de la moThis article examines the concept of identity. Identity is a creative act, but the article shows up the existence of some social limitations. Implicit in this fact lies a latent danger of exclusion. Finally, the origin, traits and the role of national id

La memoria necesaria: la 'Vida Literaria' de Joaquín Lorenzo Villanueva

La Vida literaria de Joaquín Lorenzo Villanueva (1825) se incluye en las llamadas literaturas del yo y el género autobiográfico, aunque con las limitaciones propias de la época en cuanto al tratamiento de la intimidad. Texto de carácter político y religioso que, según el autor, nace para reconstruir una época decisiva en el devenir de la revolución liberal española; y que aprovecha para justificar su cambio de postura, desde el conservadurismo a la defensa de un gobierno representativo, adscribiéndose con ello a las memorias políticas justificativas. Pero también, un documento necesario en el que a pesar de las parcialidades e intereses, persiste el empeño de revisar para entender y buscar explicaciones, tal vez disidentes, que aporten claridad a la memoria colectiva en la interpretación de la historia escrita por los poderes oficiales y que, de no ser por Villanueva, quizá no hubieran trascendido

Predicting the Affinity of Peptides to Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II by Scoring Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

Predicting the binding affinity of peptides able to interact with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules is a priority for researchers working in the identification of novel vaccines candidates. Most available approaches are based on the analysis of the sequence of peptides of known experimental affinity. However, for MHC class II receptors, these approaches are not very accurate, due to the intrinsic flexibility of the complex. To overcome these limitations, we propose to estimate the binding affinity of peptides bound to an MHC class II by averaging the score of the configurations from finite-temperature molecular dynamics simulations. The score is estimated for 18 different scoring functions, and we explored the optimal manner for combining them. To test the predictions, we considered eight peptides of known binding affinity. We found that six scoring functions correlate with the experimental ranking of the peptides significantly better than the others. We then assessed a set of techniques for combining the scoring functions by linear regression and logistic regression. We obtained a maximum accuracy of 82% for the predicted sign of the binding affinity using a logistic regression with optimized weights. These results are potentially useful to improve the reliability of in silico protocols to design high-affinity binding peptides for MHC class II receptors

A Change of Mentality Over a Century: Rape and the Controversy Generated in Downton Abbey

Women have historically been undervalued compared to men and, on numerous occasions, little credit has been given to what they said or what they thought or did. This prejudice of female inferiority may partly explain why if, at some point, a woman was raped, the blame fell on her: she had not put enough resistance, she was lying or, deep down, she wanted to be raped. These were common arguments levelled against raped women at the beginning of the last century. For this reason, silence was a common response for raped women: they had much to lose if people around found out. Since then, this way of thinking has progressively evolved and women have been acquiring more rights. It is my contention to analyse the way rape is depicted in the already finished and successful television series Downton Abbey, and its controversial reception when the specific episodes were released in 2013. In spite of being acclaimed on several occasions for its historical rigor and applauded by both critics and the public, the rape of one of the most beloved character in 1922 did not accurately reflect what would have been a "normal" reaction at the time to an event like this nor the way people would act nowadays. This controversial depiction and apparent lack of historical accuracy can only be accounted for after studying the treatment of raped women in the early 20th century, the evolution of society’s way of thinking and, focusing on the series, the behaviour of some characters after knowing about the rape

Occipital nerve stimulation for refractory chronic migraine: Results of a long-term prospective study

Background: Refractory chronic migraine affects approximately 4% of the population worldwide and results in severe pain, lifestyle limitations, and decreased quality of life. Occipital nerve stimulation (ONS) refers to the electric stimulation of the distal branches of greater and lesser occipital nerves; the surgical technique has previously been described and has demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of a wide variety of headache disorders. Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate the long-term efficacy and tolerability of ONS for medically intractable chronic migraine. Study Design: Prospective, long-term, open-label, uncontrolled observational study. Setting: Single public university hospital. Methods: Patients who met the International Headache Society criteria for chronic migraine, all of them having been previously treated with other therapeutic alternatives, and who met all inclusion and exclusion criteria for neurostimulation, received the implantation of an ONS system after a positive psychological evaluation and a positive response to a preliminary occipital nerve blockage. The implantation was performed in 2 phases: a 10 day trial with implanted occipital leads connected to an external stimulator and, if more than 50% pain relief was obtained, permanent pulse generator implantation and connection to the previously implanted leads. After the surgery, the patients were thoroughly evaluated annually using different scales: pain Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), number of migraine attacks per month, sleep quality, functionality in social and labor activities, reduction in pain medication, patient satisfaction, tolerability, and reasons for termination. The average follow-up time was 9.4 ± 6.1 years, and 31 patients completed a 7-year follow-up period. Results: Thirty-seven patients were enrolled and classified according to the location and quality of their pain, accompanying symptoms, work status, and psychological effects. Substantial pain reduction was obtained in most patients, and the VAS decreased by 4.9 ± 2.0 points. These results remained stable over the followup period. Five of the 35 permanently implanted patients with migraine attacks at baseline were free from these attacks at their last visits, whereas the pain severity decreased 3.8 ± 2.5 (according to the VAS) in the remaining patients. Seven of the 35 permanent implanted devices were definitively removed: 2 devices because of treatment inefficacy, and 5 devices because the patients were asymptomatic and considered to be cured from their pain, even with the stimulation off. Systemic side effects were not observed. Limitations: Limitations of the current study include its uncontrolled and open-label design. Additionally, not all patients completed the 7-year follow-up period. Conclusions: We consider that the trigemino-cervical autonomous and cervical connection may explain why ONS might relieve chronic migraine pain, but this is just a theoretical explanation which should be demonstrated in future studies. The results achieved in this study suggest that ONS may provide longterm benefits for patients with medically intractable chronic migraine. These outcomes are slightly better than previous reports and were maintained over the 7-year follow-up. We believe that an accurate selection of patients, realization of diagnostic occipital nerve blocks, psychological evaluations, rigorous surgical technique, and appropriate parameter programming helped us achieve these outcomes

Data graduation based on statistical time series methods

Whittaker's method is one of the most frequently employed techniques to graduate mortality tables. In order for the method to work and produce reasonable results, some subjective input is required from the graduator. In this paper we show that Whittaker' s solution to the graduation problem can be approached from a statistical time series model-based perspective that reduces the subjectivity in its application. It also serves to interpret the graduation problem as a classical estimation problem. In fact, on the basis of some suitable assumptions, we are able to show thatthe Best Linear Unbiased Estimator of the true mortality rates has the form of Whittaker's solution. We also provide some complementary analytical tools aimed at helping the graduator to employ the method in practice and interpret its results from a statistical standpoint. A numerical illustration is shown in detail to exemplify the application of our proposal

Efecto antiinflamatorio de la Tomasa en ratones

53 p.Las enfermedades cardiovasculares constituyen un problema creciente de salud a nivel mundial. Es por esto que se busca instaurar estrategias de vida saludable, de manera de fomentar una dieta sana basada en el consumo de frutas y verduras, considerando para este estudio las propiedades del tomate y el residuo de su procesamiento, denominado Tomasa. Se plantea como objetivo del estudio, evaluar el efecto antiinflamatorio del consumo de Tomasa, en ratones alimentados con una dieta rica en grasa y suplementada con Tomasa. Determinando los niveles de IL-6, MCP-1 y TNF α a nivel plasmático y evaluando parámetros inflamatorios en cortes histológicos de intestino delgado. Las muestras utilizadas corresponden a plasma y tejidos de intestino delgado. Dichas muestras fueron extraídas de ratones C57BL/6 alimentados con una dieta normal, ratones alimentados con una dieta hipergrasa y ratones con una dieta hipergrasa suplementada con Tomasa. Se emplea técnica de ELISA como método de estudio de la cuantificación de IL-6, MCP-1 y TNF α en plasma y Tinción de Hematoxilina-eosina para cortes histológicos de tejido intestinal de ratones. Se observó que la Tomasa posee algún grado de actividad antiinflamatoria, obteniéndose disminución en las citoquinas proinflamatorias medidas a nivel plasmático, en el grupo de animales alimentados con una dieta suplementada con Tomasa en relación al grupo de ratones alimentados con dieta rica en grasa