A characterisation and evaluation of urban areas from an energy efficiency approach, using Geographic Information Systems in combination with Life Cycle Assessment methodology

The retrofitting of less energy efficient building stock represents one of the most significant challenges in the transition to a low-carbon economy. Nowadays, the housing sector represents about 40% of the energy consumption in the European Union. In this regard, the level of insulation installed in buildings is directly related to the energy efficiency of the building, and consequently to the urban area. In addition, several studies have shown that a comprehensive perspective of energy efficiency is needed, together with calculating the importance of introducing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The purpose of this study is to develop a methodology to: first, measure the energy efficiency level of specific urban areas and their buildings using a geospatial model in an integral perspective; and second, the environmental impact caused by the refurbishment of these building façades using a LCA method. On the one hand, according to a bottom-up framework the quantitative and qualitative characterisation of the building stock façade at the urban scale is possible generating a georeferenced spatial data model of buildings using Geographic Information Systems. On the other hand, the environmental impact of the most usual constructive solutions to refurbishment building façades is calculated using the LCA methodology. The results obtained are merged and interpolated to the urban scale. The methodology is tested for the case study of blocks of flats in Barcelona using the open data of building stock from the Spanish Government. Firstly, this methodology provides more information in regard to urban areas as well as calculating their energy efficiency. Secondly, the study measures the renovation impact of the less efficient buildings. Finally, the results provide the basis for supporting decisions on building stock retrofitting for urban scale from a new approach, especially making the selection between various renovation scenarios much clearer

Psychology in Latin America: Legacies and Contributions. Part 3

The purpose of this series is to advance the dissemination of psychological knowledge generated in Latin America and the Caribbean in an effort to balance the predominant influence and presence of European psychology and, more recently, Asian psychology, in the U.S.A. This is the third and final part of a series discussing the Interamerican Society of Psychology (www.sipsych.org), known as SIP (for the acronym of its name in Spanish, Sociedad Interamericana de Psicología) and featuring the Spanish or Portuguese speaking psychologists distinguished with the Interamerican Psychology Award. Every two years, SIP’s board of directors, in consultation with nominations from SIP’s membership, grants an award to an English or French speaking psychologist and another to a Spanish or Portuguese speaking psychologist1 whose work has advanced psychology as a science and profession in the Americas.Fil: Consoli, Andres J.. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Morgan Consoli, Melisa L.. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Klappenbach, Hugo Alberto Arturo. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Psicología. Instituto de Ciencias Computacionales, Cognitivas, Psicológicas y Sociales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis; ArgentinaFil: Scheltzer, Joshua. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Romero Morales, Ana. University of California; Estados Unido

Diseño experiencial enactivo. Una perspectiva neurocientífica del diseño de vehículos

Las investigaciones orientadas a la determinación de las bases científicas del diseño, ha llevado a distintas propuestas desde la psicología cognitiva, determinando un enfoque de diseño cognitivos de productos, que junto a la base teórica de la neurociencia, ha alumbrado el ámbito de investigación del neurodiseño cognitivo. Además, se han planteado alternativas desde la cognición encarnada o perspectiva enactiva. Esta propone un enfoque para estudiar la experiencia objetual desde una doble perspectiva. Por una parte, el diseño enactivo es considerado para abordar la profunda conexión del organismo y el mundo objetual de la cultura material en una relación activa y dinámica. Lo cual enfatiza en los problemas de encarnación de la cognición y en los factores de motivación como componentes subyacentes de las interacciones Cuerpo-Objeto. Este enfoque del diseño permite la comprensión activa del acoplamiento relacional entre el esquema corporal y las posibilidades de la usabilidad de productos. Un segundo aspecto del enactivismo tiene un fuerte punto de apoyo en el pensamiento fenomenológico correspondiente con la teoría objetual y los enfoques de diseño cualitativo. De esta manera, el enfoque enactivo reconoce el terreno común disponible entre la neurociencia y el diseño del entorno-producto y, por lo tanto, permite una definición más precisa de los objetivos de investigación en diseño seudocientífico. Con estas bases científicas y fenomenológicas se formula una propuesta del diseño industrial de vehículos en conjunción con Ingeniería Kansei-Chisei

Effect of Oxysterol-Induced Apoptosis of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells on Experimental Hypercholesterolemia

Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) undergo changes related to proliferation and apoptosis in the physiological remodeling of vessels and in diseases such as atherosclerosis and restenosis. Recent studies also have demonstrated the vascular cell proliferation and programmed cell death contribute to changes in vascular architecture in normal development and in disease. The present study was designed to investigate the apoptotic pathways induced by 25-hydroxycholesterol in SMCs cultures, using an in vivo/in vitro cell model in which SMCs were isolated and culture from chicken exposed to an atherogenic cholesterol-rich diet (SMC-Ch) and/or an antiatherogenic fish oil-rich diet (SMC-Ch-FO). Cells were exposed in vitro to 25-hydroxycholesterol to study levels of apoptosis and apoptotic proteins Bcl-2, Bcl- and Bax and the expression of bcl-2 and bcl- , genes. The quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and the Immunoblotting western blot analysis showed that 25-hydroxycholesterol produces apoptosis in SMCs, mediated by a high increase in Bax protein and Bax gene expression. These changes were more marked in SMC-Ch than in SMC-Ch-FO, indicating that dietary cholesterol produces changes in SMCs that make them more susceptible to 25-hydroxycholesterol-mediated apoptosis. Our results suggest that the replacement of a cholesterol-rich diet with a fish oil-rich diet produces some reversal of cholesterol-induced changes in the apoptotic pathways induced by 25-hydroxycholesterol in SMCs cultures, making SMCs more resistant to apoptosis.This work was supported partly by Junta de Andalucía (Group code CTS 168) and also by the research grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III, ISCIII (Grant no. PI030829)

Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Completed Suicides in Mexico City 2014–2015

Objective: To analyze sex differences in demographic and clinical characteristics of individuals who died by suicide in Mexico City.Method: Statistical analysis of residents of Mexico City whose cause of death was suicide, during two years period from January 2014 to December 2015, with a coroner's report. Suicide mortality rates were calculated by age, sex, and location within the city. The Chi-squared test was used to assess statistical differences.Results: From January 2014 to December 2015, 990 residents of Mexico City died by suicide (men: 78.28%, women: 21.72%). Among males, the highest mortality rates were among the groups of 20–24 and 75–79 years old, whereas in women, the group with the highest mortality rate was 15 to 19 years old. 74% of the sample used hanging as suicide method. However, men had higher rates of a positive result in the toxicology test (40%) (p < 0.05). There was no concordance between male and female suicide by city jurisdictions.Conclusion: Our results provide evidence that the characteristics of Mexico City's residents who committed suicide had significant sex-related differences, including where they used to live. Understanding the contributory factors associated with completed suicide is essential for the development of effective preventive strategies

Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Response to High Light in the Charophyte Alga Klebsormidium nitens

The characterization of the molecular mechanisms, such as high light irradiance resistance, that allowed plant terrestralization is a cornerstone in evolutionary studies since the conquest of land by plants played a pivotal role in life evolution on Earth. Viridiplantae or the green lineage is divided into two clades, Chlorophyta and Streptophyta, that in turn splits into Embryophyta or land plants and Charophyta. Charophyta are used in evolutionary studies on plant terrestralization since they are generally accepted as the extant algal species most closely related to current land plants. In this study, we have chosen the facultative terrestrial early charophyte alga Klebsormidium nitens to perform an integrative transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis under high light in order to unveil key mechanisms involved in the early steps of plants terrestralization. We found a fast chloroplast retrograde signaling possibly mediated by reactive oxygen species and the inositol polyphosphate 1-phosphatase (SAL1) and 3′-phosphoadenosine-5′-phosphate (PAP) pathways inducing gene expression and accumulation of specific metabolites. Systems used by both Chlorophyta and Embryophyta were activated such as the xanthophyll cycle with an accumulation of zeaxanthin and protein folding and repair mechanisms constituted by NADPH-dependent thioredoxin reductases, thioredoxin-disulfide reductases, and peroxiredoxins. Similarly, cyclic electron flow, specifically the pathway dependent on proton gradient regulation 5, was strongly activated under high light. We detected a simultaneous co-activation of the non-photochemical quenching mechanisms based on LHC-like stress related (LHCSR) protein and the photosystem II subunit S that are specific to Chlorophyta and Embryophyta, respectively. Exclusive Embryophyta systems for the synthesis, sensing, and response to the phytohormone auxin were also activated under high light in K. nitens leading to an increase in auxin content with the concomitant accumulation of amino acids such as tryptophan, histidine, and phenylalanine.España Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación MINOTAUR (BIO2017-84066-R