The reproductive biology of Hypsiboas punctatus (Anura: Hylidae): male territoriality and the possible role of different signals during female choice

Anuran amphibians are known to employ acoustic signals as the principal form to access potential mates, while recent studies have highlighted the importance of multiple cues during courtship. Hypsiboas punctatus is a hylid species in which males emit advertisement calls and have sexually dimorphic skin glands (SDSGs). However, knowledge on the reproductive biology of this species is very limited. We present the first systematic field-observational study on the behaviour of H. punctatus, which was complemented by observations under laboratory-controlled conditions. Males exhibit a territorial behaviour as is evidenced by site fidelity, aggressiveness against male intruders (usually involving fights), and signalling behaviour. We found that female choice would be operating at two different levels, which we defined as Initial Exploration (I.E.) and Proximate Exploration (P.E.). These levels would be guided by acoustic signals in I.E., while tactile and/or chemical signals (considering the presence of SDSGs) would be more important in P.E. We also provide descriptions of vocal interaction between males, amplexus, and egg clutch. We suggest that SDSGs located at the mental gland may be important in delivering sexual pheromones to the female during amplexus. Finally, our results are compared to similar behaviours that have been described for related species, and discussed in terms of the probable existence of multimodal communication.Fil: Brunetti, Andrés Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Taboada, Carlos Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Faivovich, Julián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; Argentin

Modelo de gestión de personal para mejorar la productividad de la empresa contrata minera cáncer EIRL – Pataz – 2016

El Objetivo de la esta investigación es la de proponer un modelo de gestión de personal para incrementar la productividad en Contrata Minera Cáncer EIRL, según el estudio realizado, el mal manejo de los recursos humanos dentro de la empresa altera los rendimientos del personal operativo afectando la productividad, asimismo contar con un buen ambiente laboral, la comunicación fluye de una mejor manera y, por lo tanto, la motivación del empleado es mayor, y su desempeño se ve afectado de una mejor manera que se ve reflejado en una mejora de los indicadores de la productividad. Como material y métodos utilizados se tiene que la investigación es descriptiva, no experimental de corte transversal, se utilizó la encuesta para recopilar información y se contó con la ayuda de los trabajadores quienes me brindaron mayor información con el fin de obtener las causas principales a la baja productividad, se empleó el método inductivo-deductivo y el método analítico – sintético teniendo como resultados que no existe una adecuada gestión de personal y se ve reflejado en resultados negativos de productividad, así se llegó a la conclusión mediante el diagnosticó la gestión de personal de la empresa Contrata Minera Cáncer EIRL, verificándose deficiencias en reclutamiento y selección de personal, falta de motivación al personal, falta de información sobre los objetivos y programas mensuales de producción. Finalmente se concluyó que para lograr la mejora de la productividad es necesario se aplique el modelo de gestión de personal propuesto.TesisGestión empresarial y emprendimient

Aprendizaje colaborativo para la formación de las competencias financieras en los estudiantes de la asignatura Mercado de Capitales de la carrera de Contabilidad en una universidad privada de Lima durante el periodo 2019 - 1

El presente estudio tiene como objetivo examinar la manera como el aprendizaje colaborativo favorece la formación de las competencias financieras en los estudiantes de la asignatura Mercado de Capitales de la carrera de Contabilidad en una Universidad privada ubicada en Lima Metropolitana. Los participantes de la presente investigación son estudiantes de ambos géneros, que han cursado la asignatura Mercado de Capitales de la carrera de Contabilidad del pregrado, en el turno noche durante el período 2019 - 1, quienes trabajan en diversas instituciones del sector público y privado. La metodología utilizada en la presente investigación corresponde al enfoque cualitativo, con alcance explicativo y diseño fenomenológico. La población estuvo conformada por 18 estudiantes; la muestra estuvo representada por un grupo de 8 estudiantes. La técnica de recolección de datos fue el focus group y el instrumento el guión del focus group. Se concluye que el aprendizaje colaborativo, como estrategia de aprendizaje en sus categorías de interdependencia positiva, responsabilidad individual, interacción (cara a cara o virtual), habilidades sociales y procesamiento de grupo, evidenció favorecer la formación de las competencias análisis de información financiera, evaluación del financiamiento y planificación financiera, en los estudiantes de la asignatura Mercado de Capitales de la carrera de Contabilidad de la citada institución de educación superior.This study aims to examine how collaborative learning favors the training of financial competencies in students in the capital market subject of the Accounting career at a private university located in Lima Metropolitana. The participants of this research are students of both genders, who have taken the subject Capital Market of the undergraduate accounting career, in the night shift during the period 2019 - 1, who work in various institutions of the public and private sector. The methodology used in this research corresponds to the qualitative approach, with explanatory scope and phenomenological design. The population consisted of 18 students; the exhibition was represented by a group of 8 students. The data collection technique was the focus group and the instrument the focus group script. It was concluded that collaborative learning, as a learning strategy in its categories of positive interdependence, individual responsibility, interaction (face-to-face or virtual), social skills and group evaluation, demonstrated to promote the training of competencies analysis of financial information, evaluation of financing and financial planning, in students of the subject Capital Market of the Accounting career of the aforementioned institution of higher education.Escuela de Postgrad

Simulation Optimization for Healthcare Emergency Departments

AbstractThis article presents an Agent-Based modeling (ABM) simulation to design a decision support system (DSS) for Healthcare Emergency Department (ED). This DSS aims to aid EDs heads in setting up management guidelines to improve the operation of EDs. This ongoing research is being performed by the Research Group in Individual Oriented Modeling (IoM) at the University Autonoma of Barcelona (UAB) with close collaboration of Hospital ED Staff Team. The objective of the proposed ABM procedure is to optimize the performance of such complex and dynamic Healthcare EDs, because worldwide most of them are overcrowded, and unable to provide ad hoc care, quality and service. Exhaustive search (ES) optimization is used to find out the optimal ED staff configuration, which includes doctors, triage nurses, and admission personnel, i.e., a multidimensional problem. An index is proposed to minimize patient length of stay in the ED. The results obtained by using an alternative pipeline scheme to ES are promising and a better understanding of the problem is achieved. The impact of the pipeline scheme to reduce the computational cost of exhaustive search is outlined

An Agent-Based Decision Support System for Hospitals Emergency Departments

AbstractModeling and simulation have been shown to be useful tools in many areas of the Healthcare operational management, field in which there is probably no area more dynamic and complex than hospital emergency departments (ED). This paper presents the results of an ongoing project that is being carried out by the Research Group in Individual Oriented Modeling (IoM) of the University Autonoma of Barcelona (UAB) with the participation of Hospital of Sabadell ED Staff Team. Its general objective is creating a simulator that, used as decision support system (DSS), aids the heads of the ED to make the best informed decisions possible. The defined ED model is a pure Agent-Based Model, formed entirely of the rules governing the behavior of the individual agents which populate the system. Two distinct types of agents have been identified, active and passive. Active agents represent human actors, meanwhile passive agents represent services and other reactive systems. The actions of agents and the communication between them will be represented using Moore state machines extended to include probabilistic transitions. The model also includes the environment in which agents move and interact. With the aim of verifying the proposed model an initial simulation has been created using NetLogo, an agent-based simulation environment well suited for modeling complex systems

Using an Agent-based Simulation for Predicting the Effects of Patients Derivation Policies in Emergency Departments

AbstractThe increasing demand of urgent care, overcrowding of hospital emergency departments (ED) and limited economic resources are phenomena shared by health systems around the world. It is estimated that up to 50% of patients that are attended in ED have non complex conditions that could be resolved in ambulatory care services. The derivation of less complex cases from the ED to other health care devices seems an essential measure to allocate properly the demand of care service between the different care units. This paper presents the results of an experiment carried out with the objective of analyzing the effects on the ED (patients’ Length of Stay, the number of patients attended and the level of activity of ED Staff) of different derivation policies. The experiment has been done with data of the Hospital of Sabadell (a big hospital, one of the most important in Catalonia, Spain), making use of an Agent-Based model and simulation formed entirely of the rules governing the behaviour of the individual agents which populate the ED, and due to the great amount of data that should be computed, using High Performance Computing

Uso de la fibra de coco para la adsorción de diferentes muestras de hidrocarburos - agua y su relación con la salinidad y temperatura.

Dada la necesidad de encontrar alternativas para reemplazar adsorbentes sintéticos por otros que sean de origen natural, biodegradables y fáciles de conseguir en alguna emergencia, en la presente investigación se determinó la influencia de la salinidad y temperatura de las mezclas hidrocarburo-agua durante el proceso de adsorción utilizando fibra de coco. Para cumplir el objetivo principal primero se acondicionó la fibra de coco. Esta se sometió a un lavado, secado y molienda suave lográndose fibras de 2 a 3 cm de largo. Las emulsiones de hidrocarburos en agua se prepararon en una concentración de 10% en volumen. Los hidrocarburos ensayados fueron: kerosene, diésel B5 y gasolina de 84 octanos. Primero se midió la capacidad de adsorción de agua en la fibra de coco y luego se midió la capacidad de adsorción en la fibra de coco para los diferentes hidrocarburos adaptando la norma ASTM F-726 y el protocolo canadiense “Oil Spill Sorbents: Testing Protocol and Certificaction Listing Program”. Las variables independientes ensayadas fueron temperatura (30, 50 y 70°C) y salinidad (300, 900 y 1500 mg NaCl/litro de emulsión). Para la elaboración de las isotermas se realizó el mismo procedimiento, pero en intervalos de 5 minutos hasta 30 minutos. De acuerdo al análisis factorial de varianza si existe un efecto individual de cada variable ensayada, pero en forma combinada no tiene efecto. La variable que tiene mayor influencia es la temperatura. Para los tres hidrocarburos la máxima capacidad y eficiencia de adsorción se encontró a 50°C y una salinidad de 900 mg NaCl/litro. En estas condiciones las eficiencias de adsorción fueron 93.936%, 98.762% y 85.888% para el kerosene, diésel y gasolina respectivamente. El modelo de isoterma que más se ajustó a los datos experimentales fue la de Langmuir. Los valores de las constantes encontradas demostrarían que la fibra de coco tiene una gran afinidad por los hidrocarburos ensayados

A new approach for the analysis of bacterial microarray-based Comparative Genomic Hybridization: insights from an empirical study

BACKGROUND: Microarray-based Comparative Genomic Hybridization (M-CGH) has been used to characterize the extensive intraspecies genetic diversity found in bacteria at the whole-genome level. Although conventional microarray analytical procedures have proved adequate in handling M-CGH data, data interpretation using these methods is based on a continuous character model in which gene divergence and gene absence form a spectrum of decreasing gene conservation levels. However, whereas gene divergence may yet be accompanied by retention in gene function, gene absence invariably leads to loss of function. This distinction, if ignored, leads to a loss in the information to be gained from M-CGH data. We present here results from experiments in which two genome-sequenced strains of C. jejuni were compared against each other using M-CGH. Because the gene content of both strains was known a priori, we were able to closely examine the effects of sequence divergence and gene absence on M-CGH data in order to define analytical parameters for M-CGH data interpretation. This would facilitate the examination of the relative effects of sequence divergence or gene absence in comparative genomics analyses of multiple strains of any species for which genome sequence data and a DNA microarray are available. RESULTS: As a first step towards improving the analysis of M-CGH data, we estimated the degree of experimental error in a series of experiments in which identical samples were compared against each other by M-CGH. This variance estimate was used to validate a Log Ratio-based methodology for identification of outliers in M-CGH data. We compared two genome strains by M-CGH to examine the effect of probe/target identity on the Log Ratios of signal intensities using prior knowledge of gene divergence and gene absence to establish Log Ratio thresholds for the identification of absent and conserved genes. CONCLUSION: The results from this empirical study validate the Log Ratio thresholds that have been used in other studies to establish gene divergence/absence. Moreover, the analytical framework presented here enhances the information content derived from M-CGH data by shifting the focus from divergent/absent gene detection to accurate detection of conserved and absent genes. This approach closely aligns the technical limitations of M-CGH analysis with practical limitations on the biological interpretation of comparative genomics data

Extensive characterization of Campylobacter jejuni chicken isolates to uncover genes involved in the ability to compete for gut colonization

[À l'origine dans / Was originally part of : Fac. Méd. vétérinaire - Chaire de recherche en salubrité des viandes]Background: Campylobacter jejuni is responsible for human foodborne enteritis. This bacterium is a remarkable colonizer of the chicken gut, with some strains outcompeting others for colonization. To better understand this phenomenon, the objective of this study was to extensively characterize the phenotypic performance of C. jejuni chicken strains and associate their gut colonizing ability with specific genes. Results: C. jejuni isolates (n = 45) previously analyzed for the presence of chicken colonization associated genes were further characterized for phenotypic properties influencing colonization: autoagglutination and chemotaxis as well as adhesion to and invasion of primary chicken caecal cells. This allowed strains to be ranked according to their in vitro performance. After their in vitro capacity to outcompete was demonstrated in vivo, strains were then typed by comparative genomic fingerprinting (CGF). In vitro phenotypical properties displayed a linear variability among the tested strains. Strains possessing higher scores for phenotypical properties were able to outcompete others during chicken colonization trials. When the gene content of strains was compared, some were associated with different phenotypical scores and thus with different outcompeting capacities. Use of CGF profiles showed an extensive genetic variability among the studied strains and suggested that the outcompeting capacity is not predictable by CGF profile. Conclusion: This study revealed a wide array of phenotypes present in C. jejuni strains, even though they were all recovered from chicken caecum. Each strain was classified according to its in vitro competitive potential and its capacity to compete for chicken gut colonization was associated with specific genes. This study also exposed the disparity existing between genetic typing and phenotypical behavior of C. jejuni strains

Resilience: looking for a concept

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo investigar na literatura especializada as principais definições de resiliência e seus conceitos operacionais. Entende-se, de maneira geral, resiliência como sendo o processo onde o indivíduo consegue superar as adversidades, adaptando-se de forma saudável ao seu contexto. Diante da diversidade de definições encontradas, estas foram agrupadas em três eixos principais, entendendo a resiliência como um processo: adaptação/superação; inato/adquirido; circunstancial/permanente. Tendo em vista a necessidade de compreensão de outros temas diretamente relacionados com a resiliência, o trabalho apresenta sessões que versam sobre: estresse, coping e suas relações com resiliência; fatores de risco, fatores de proteção e vulnerabilidade. Constata-se a falta de definições operacionais claras acerca do fenômeno, bem como se sugere que a resiliência pode ser entendida como uma estratégia de coping com resultados positivos e até transformadores.The present work aimed to investigate in the specialized literature the main definitions of resilience and its operational concepts. Generally speaking, resilience is understood as the process in which the individual is able to overcome adversities, adjusting himself in a healthy way to his context. In view of the diversity of definitions that were found, these were grouped into three main axes, considering resilience as an adaptation/overcoming process; an innate/acquired process; a circumstantial/permanent process. Due to the need of understanding other subjects directly related to resilience, the work presents sections that approach: stress, coping and their relations with resilience; risk factors, protection factors and vulnerability. It is clear that there is a lack of clear operational definitions concerning the phenomenon, and it is suggested that resilience can be understood as a strategy of coping with positive and even transforming results