Les sols de savanes des llanos vénézuéliens et le sol ferrugineux tropical de Barinas = Los suelos de sabanas de los llanos venezolanos y el alfisol de Barinas

Les savanes constituent une des dernières ressources en terres dont la mise en culture est relativement facile malgré de faibles réserves organiques et minérales qui ne leur assurent qu'un équilibre assez fragile. La station expérimentale du Jardin botanique de l'université expérimentale des Llanos à Barinas sert de cadre depuis 1977 à des expériences effectuées sur un sol ferrugineux tropical lessivé. Le présent travail est consacré à la description : du contexte régional de la station; du profil du sol utilisé en comparaison avec d'autres sols de savanes; de quelques résultats obtenus dans la station et dans la région sur des types de sol voisins. Avant de conclure est discutée la représentativité de la station de Barinas au niveau des savanes en général en vue d'établir la portée des expériences qui y sont ou y seront effectuées. (Résumé d'auteur

The District Energy-Efficient Retrofitting of Torrelago (Laguna de Duero – Spain)

The urban growth is estimated to reach up the 66 % by 2050 and consequently the need of resources within the cities will increase significantly. This, combined with the 40 % of energy consumption and 36 % of CO2 emissions of the building sector, makes necessary to accelerate the transition towards more sustainable cities. The CITyFiED project contributes to this transition, aiming to develop an innovative and holistic methodological approach for energy-efficient district renovation and deliver three large scale demonstration cases in the cities of Lund (Sweden), Laguna de Duero (Spain) and Soma (Turkey). CITyFiED methodology consists of several phases that ease the decision-making tasks towards the district renovation, considering the energy efficiency as the main pillar and local authorities as clients. For the case of Torrelago district (Spain) the intervention consists of a set of energy conservative measures including the facąde retrofitting of 143.025 m2 of living space in 31 twelve-storey buildings; the renovation of the district heating network with a new biomass thermal plant; the integration of renewable energy sources, including a micro-cogeneration system, and the installation of individual smart meters. After the renovation action, one-year monitoring campaign is ongoing. The CITyFiED monitoring platform will collect information from the energy systems and deliver environmental, technical, economic and social key performance indicators by March 2019. At the end of the project the achievement of the predefined goals will be verified: Up to 36 % of energy saving and 3,429 tons-CO2/yr emissions saving covering the 59,4 % of the energy consumption with renewable sources.The research and results presented in this paper evolve from activities related to the CITyFiED project, which has received funding from the European Commission under the Grant Agreement no. 609129. This article is the result of cooperative research work of many experts from various countries and we would like to gratefully acknowledge the rest of the CITyFiED partners

Symplectic connections and Fedosov's quantization on supermanifolds

A (biased and incomplete) review of the status of the theory of symplectic connections on supermanifolds is presented. Also, some comments regarding Fedosov's technique of quantization are made.Comment: Submitted to J. of Phys. Conf. Se

Statistics of finite-time Lyapunov exponents in the Ulam map

The statistical properties of finite-time Lyapunov exponents at the Ulam point of the logistic map are investigated. The exact analytical expression for the autocorrelation function of one-step Lyapunov exponents is obtained, allowing the calculation of the variance of exponents computed over time intervals of length $n$. The variance anomalously decays as $1/n^2$. The probability density of finite-time exponents noticeably deviates from the Gaussian shape, decaying with exponential tails and presenting $2^{n-1}$ spikes that narrow and accumulate close to the mean value with increasing $n$. The asymptotic expression for this probability distribution function is derived. It provides an adequate smooth approximation to describe numerical histograms built for not too small $n$, where the finiteness of bin size trimmes the sharp peaks.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Malignant pheochromocytoma treated with minimally invasive surgery

Indexación: Web of Science; Scielo.Introducción: El Feocromocitoma es un tumor de células cromafines productor de catecolaminas. Su variedad maligna es muy poco frecuente. Objetivo: Describir 2 casos de Feocromocitoma maligno tratados con cirugía mínimamente invasiva. Casos clínicos: Presentamos 2 pacientes de sexo femenino, de 31 y 51 años respectivamente. La primera con historia de hipertensión arterial de larga data y uso de múltiples fármacos. La segunda paciente debuta con dolor abdominal. En ambos casos los estudios radiológicos y metabólicos confirmaron el diagnóstico de Feocromocitoma. A la primera paciente se le realizó un procedimiento laparoscópico puro, mientras que a la segunda paciente se le realizó un procedimiento laparoscópico asistido por robot. En ambos casos fue necesario realizar adrenalectomía en bloque con el riñón, por compromiso del hilio renal. No hubo complicaciones severas intra ni post-operatorias, como tampoco conversión a cirugía abierta. La histopatología confirmó el diagnóstico de Feocromocitoma maligno con metástasis ganglionares regionales y márgenes quirúrgicos negativos. Ambas se mantienen en control, sin evidencia de recurrencia. Conclusión: El Feocromocitoma maligno puede ser manejado de forma mínimamente invasiva, con morbilidad y resultados oncológicos comparables a cirugía abierta.Introduction: Pheochromocytoma is a tumor derived from chromaffin cells that produces cathecolamines. Malignant pheochromocytomas are extremely rare. Aim: To describe 2 cases of malignant Pheochromocytoma treated with pure laparoscopic and robot assisted surgery. Clinical cases: Two female patients, 31 and 51 years of age, presented with a history of high blood pressure and abdominal pain. Radiologic and metabolic studies confirmed the diagnosis of Pheochromocytoma in both patients. A pure laparoscopic approach was performed in the first patient while a robotic assisted laparoscopy was done in the second patient. In both cases, adrenalectomy with in bloc nephrectomy was performed due to compromise of the renal sinus. There were no complications or conversion to open surgery. Histopathology confirmed the diagnosis of malignant Pheochromocytoma with metastasis to regional nodes and negative surgical margins. At follow-up, there is no evidence of recurrence. Conclusion: Malignant Pheochromocytoma can be treated with minimally invasive surgery, with morbidity and oncological outcomes similar to open approach.http://ref.scielo.org/ksq86

La rotación del personal en los Gobiernos Autónomos Descentralizados Municipales y su impacto en el clima organizacional/The rotation of personnel in the Municipal Decentralized Autonomous Governments and their impact on the organizational climate

Los cambios constantes en el nivel de las organizaciones públicas hacen que estas expandan su visión y la competitividad permanente lleva a los Gobiernos Autónomos Descentralizados (GAD) Municipales a desarrollar estrategias para alcanzar sus objetivos, es así como, la contratación y la continuidad de los despidos del personal representa un problema de gran magnitud para las instituciones, pues sin duda, limita el desarrollo eficiente que se desearía tener, ya que la productividad de la institución se ve significativamente afectada, evidenciándose un mal clima organizacional, restando la eficiencia eficacia y efectividad en los procesos, influyendo directamente en los resultados Esta investigación determina un análisis de las causas del clima organizacional en una institución pública. Debido a la alta tasa de rotación evidenciada dentro de los municipios según se constata en las encuestas realizadas, principalmente en el personal operativo, que son aquellos que trabajan directamente con los usuarios y pueden tener los efectos causados por el servicio ofrecido. En consecuencia, esta investigación conlleva aumentar el servicio al usuario proporcionado por los colaboradores públicos. Y una relación muy estrecha entre el clima organizacional medido y la rotación de personar también se define al analizar la premisa de que si el clima organizacional mejora la rotación de personal se reducirá el malestar entre compañeros de trabajo, ya que puede haber razones que no se conocen o están fuera del control y, por lo tanto, no se pueden mejorar el lineamiento de prestigio institucional. Constant changes at the level of public organizations mean that they expand their vision and permanent competitiveness leads the Municipal Autonomous Decentralized Governments (GAD) to develop strategies to achieve their objectives, such as hiring and continuity of layoffs The staff represents a problem of great magnitude for the institutions, because without a doubt, it limits the efficient development that one would like to have, since the productivity of the institution is significantly affected, evidencing a bad organizational climate, subtracting the efficiency effectiveness and effectiveness in the processes, directly influencing the results This research determines an analysis of the causes of the organizational climate in a public institution. Due to the high rate of turnover evidenced within the municipalities as found in the surveys carried out, mainly in the operating personnel, which are those that work directly with users and can have the effects caused by the service offered. Consequently, this research entails increasing the user service provided by public collaborators. And a very close relationship between the measured organizational climate and the turnover of people is also defined when analyzing the premise that if the organizational climate improves staff turnover, discomfort among coworkers will be reduced, since there may be reasons that are not they know or are out of control and, therefore, the institutional prestige guidelines can not be improved. Palabras Clave: desempeño, talento humano, rotación, clima laboral, decisiones. Keywords: performance, human talent, rotation, labor climate, decisions

Expression of apoptosis-related markers and clinical outcome in patients with advanced colorectal cancer

The clinical relevance of bax and bcl-2 protein expression has been investigated in 84 patients with recurrent or metastatic colorectal cancer submitted to a chemotherapy regimen including methotrexate and fluorouracil/leucovorin. Cytoplasmic immunostaining of bax and bcl-2 was present in 65.5% and 38%, respectively, of the tumours. No association was found between bax and bcl-2 or between p53 and bax or bcl-2 protein expression. Moreover, the biomarkers were unrelated to patient and tumour characteristics known to affect the clinical outcome of colorectal cancer patients. In general, the apoptosis-related markers did not appear indicative of short- and long-term clinical response nor of prognosis. Bcl-2-negative lesions were more frequent among patients who reached an objective clinical response, which is in agreement with previously reported data regarding other tumour types. When the interrelationship between p53 and bax expression was examined, a better response rate (40%) was found for patients whose tumours did not express p53 and bax, and a better prognosis (2-year probability of overall survival 75%) for patients with p53-positive and bax-negative tumours. In the present series of patients with advanced colorectal cancer submitted to systemic chemotherapy we did not find a clear association between expression of apoptosis-related markers and clinical outcome, even in the subset of patients in which the apoptotic index as determined by the TUNEL approach was investigated. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.co

Actividades de crianças do pré-escolar e educadores de infância com o computador em portugal

Muito se tem escrito hoje sobre a integração das tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TIC) na escola e diversas pesquisas têm vindo a demonstrar a importância da familiarização da criança desta idade com a tecnologia, quer porque esta faz parte inquestionável do mundo que a rodeia, quer pela relevância educativa das experiências que lhe pode proporcionar. No entanto existem muito poucos estudos que nos descrevam e analisem processos efectivos de integração da tecnologia na Escola em geral, e ao nível da educação Pré-Escolar em particular. Este foi o ponto de partida da nossa investigação, verificar as práticas de crianças e Educadores de Infância com as TIC, mais especificamente o computador, em Portugal. Elaborámos um questionário que foi enviado, via correio electrónico, para Educadores de Infância de todo o país e como forma de triangulação de dados foram realizadas observações em dois jardins-de-infância, mais concretamente nas aulas de informática das crianças do pré-escolar. Terminamos com conclusões baseadas nos dados recolhidos e algumas considerações finais sobre o tema

A Guide to Noxious Plants as an Educational Resource of Veterinary Medicine Students

The School of Veterinary UNRN is located in the town of Choele Choel (39° 17\u27S, 65° 39\u27W), in Northern Patagonia, Argentina. The climate is semi-arid with a historical average annual continental rainfall of 303 mm, with marked daily and seasonal temperature ranges. However, the type of vegetation that can be found in the area ranges fromxerophytic shrubs to hydrophytic vegetation because the arid plateau is crossed by the broad valley of Río Negro. Due to the topographic distribution of agricultural and livestock farms, the toxic plants for livestock may be found in the irrigated valleys or arid shrubby camps

Thymidilate synthase and p53 primary tumour expression as predictive factors for advanced colorectal cancer patients

The purpose of this work was to analyse the ability of p53 and thymidilate synthase (TS) primary tumour expression to retrospectively predict clinical response to chemotherapy and long-term prognosis in patients with advanced colorectal cancers homogeneously treated by methotrexate (MTX)-modulated–5-fluorouracil (5-FU-FA). A total of 108 advanced colorectal cancer patients entered the present retrospective study. Immunohistochemical p53 (pAb 1801 mAb) and TS (TS106 mAb) expression on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded primary tumour specimens was related to probability of clinical response to chemotherapy, time to progression and overall survival. p53 was expressed in 53/108 (49%) tumours, while 54/108 (50%) showed TS immunostaining. No relationship was demonstrated between p53 positivity and clinical response to chemotherapy (objective response (OR): 20% vs 23%, in p53+ and p53– cases respectively) or overall survival. Percent of OR was significantly higher in TS-negative with respect to TS-positive tumours (30% vs 15% respectively;P< 0.04); simultaneous analysis of TS and p53 indicated 7% OR for p53-positive/TS-positive tumours vs 46% for p53-positive/TS-negative tumours (P< 0.03). Logistic regression analysis confirmed a significant association between TS tumour status and clinical response to chemotherapy (hazard ratio (HR): 2.91; 95% confidence interval (CI) 8.34–1.01; two-sided P< 0.05). A multivariate analysis of overall survival showed that only a small number of metastatic sites was statistically relevant (HR 1.89; 95% CI 2.85–1.26; two-sided P< 0.03). Our study suggests that immunohistochemical expression of p53 and TS could assist the clinician in predicting response of colorectal cancer patients to modulated MTX-5-FU therapy. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig