Using SPICES for a better service consumption

In this poster we present SPICES (Semantic Platform for the Interaction and Consumption of Enriched Services), a Web based tool that automates the process of consuming a Web service by making use of the semantic annotations that describe them. SPICES supports both traditional WSDL services and RESTful ones and offers end-users the possibility of interacting with them in an easy yet personalised manner, without the need of advanced technical skills -which were traditionally required-, being the complexity that lies underneath hidden to them. SPICES is being developed within the European project SOA4All

Rational design of polymerization systems: Perspectives from computational chemistry and reaction engineering

The stochastic nature of polymerization processes often leads to a mixture of chain populations with drastically different molecular architecture. Things can be further complicated by reactor type and geometry, species involved, operating conditions, etc. Thus, scientists and engineers frequently rely on models to aid new and existing product development, scale-up, implementation and troubleshooting. Ultimately, detailed and accurate models enable the formulation of optimal reaction conditions to achieve desired polymer architecture and properties. This presentation will focus on examples from free radical and metallocene-type polymerization systems and provide insights into the rational design of materials. Figure 1– Multiple transition states for polyethylene propagation The realization that any polymerization model is only as reliable as the kinetic, mass and energy balance parameters that it employs leads to the continuous improvement of the analytical techniques and instrumentation necessary to determine them. Even the simplest ideal kinetic models require accurate rate parameters to guide system development. Alas, obtaining those from experiments is not always practical and, in some cases, impossible. Computational chemistry provides an appealing alternative. Moreover, with the advances in high-performance computing, the investigation of larger species has become more tractable. These advances are of particular importance to industry where quick results are often needed to enable decision making. In the first part of this presentation, we will demonstrate a computational protocol for accurate rate parameter estimation in both gas and condensed phase. Special emphasis will be placed on the concept of multiple reaction pathways associated with the chemical transformations along the reaction coordinate (Figure 1). Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstrac

TRANSFORMACIÓN DE CONSISTENCIA LÍQUIDA A PARTIR DE LA IMPLEMENTACIÓN DE ESPESANTES NATURALES.

INTRODUCCIÓN: el objetivo de este trabajo fue definir las medidas utilizadas en la transformación de consistencia líquida a partir de la implementación de espesantes naturales. MÉTODO: Transformación de consistencias liquidas a partir del uso de espesantes de origen natural por medio de ensayos de laboratorio, implementando una propuesta investigativa cuasi experimental con objetivo exploratorio de paradigma cualitativo, dirigido a evaluar el uso de tecnologias blandas para el tratamiento fonoaudiologico de los desordenes de deglución como la disfagia.RESULTADOS: Los resultados arrojan modificación de consistencia positiva a traves del uso de espesantes como arroz, harina de trigo y gelatina sin sabor. Variaciones de cantidad sobre diferentes clases de líquidos claros mostraron cambios a consistencias como néctar y miel. ANÁLISIS Y DISCUSIÓN: Se demostró que a través del uso de espesantes naturales es posible cambiar la consistencia de un líquido claro, sin embargo, en lo referente a las propiedades organolépticas de los alimentos se documento un cambio leve en la sensación de sabor cuando se usan cocentraciones de harina de trigo iguales o superiores a 40 gr.. CONCLUSIONES: Es posible cambiar la consistencia a un líquido claro con un espesante de origen natural. Durante la investigación el espesante que demostro menos transformaciones sobre las propiedades organolepticas de sabor fueron el arroz cocido y la gelatina sin sabo

Calidad de servicio y fidelización del cliente de la empresa Lubricentro Rhandym, Trujillo 2021

El objetivo general de la investigación fue determinar la relación entre la calidad de servicio y la fidelización de cliente de la empresa Lubricentro Rhandym, Trujillo, 2021. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 103 clientes de la empresa. La metodología de la investigación fue de tipo cuantitativo, con diseño no experimental, transeccional correlacional. La técnica utilizada fue la encuesta y como instrumento se elaboraron dos cuestionarios con escala tipo Likert; con 22 ítems para la primera variable (modelo Servqual) y 15 ítems para la segunda variable, con un valor de Alfa de Cronbach de 0.875 y 0.877 respectivamente. Para comprobar la hipótesis se aplicó una prueba de correlación Rho de Spearman, obteniendo un valor de 0.684 y un valor de significancia (bilateral) de 0.000, dicho valor es menor al nivel de significancia de α=0.05 (0.000<0.05): al ser “p” inferior a “α”, la hipótesis nula es rechazada, siendo tal resultado estadísticamente significativo, por lo que se acepta la hipótesis del investigador. Por lo tanto, se considera una correlación positiva considerable, es decir, existe una relación significativa entre la calidad de servicio y la fidelización de cliente en la empresa Lubricentro Rhandym, Trujillo 2021

Molecular Inferences Suggest Multiple Host Shifts of Rabies Viruses from Bats to Mesocarnivores in Arizona during 2001–2009

In nature, rabies virus (RABV; genus Lyssavirus, family Rhabdoviridae) represents an assemblage of phylogenetic lineages, associated with specific mammalian host species. Although it is generally accepted that RABV evolved originally in bats and further shifted to carnivores, mechanisms of such host shifts are poorly understood, and examples are rarely present in surveillance data. Outbreaks in carnivores caused by a RABV variant, associated with big brown bats, occurred repeatedly during 2001–2009 in the Flagstaff area of Arizona. After each outbreak, extensive control campaigns were undertaken, with no reports of further rabies cases in carnivores for the next several years. However, questions remained whether all outbreaks were caused by a single introduction and further perpetuation of bat RABV in carnivore populations, or each outbreak was caused by an independent introduction of a bat virus. Another question of concern was related to adaptive changes in the RABV genome associated with host shifts. To address these questions, we sequenced and analyzed 66 complete and 20 nearly complete RABV genomes, including those from the Flagstaff area and other similar outbreaks in carnivores, caused by bat RABVs, and representatives of the major RABV lineages circulating in North America and worldwide. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that each Flagstaff outbreak was caused by an independent introduction of bat RABV into populations of carnivores. Positive selection analysis confirmed the absence of post-shift changes in RABV genes. In contrast, convergent evolution analysis demonstrated several amino acids in the N, P, G and L proteins, which might be significant for pre-adaptation of bat viruses to cause effective infection in carnivores. The substitution S/T242 in the viral glycoprotein is of particular merit, as a similar substitution was suggested for pathogenicity of Nishigahara RABV strain. Roles of the amino acid changes, detected in our study, require additional investigations, using reverse genetics and other approaches

Take the money and run: psychopathic behavior in the trust game

We study the association among different sources of individual differences such as personality, cognitive ability and risk attitudes with trust and reciprocate behavior in an incentivized experimental binary trust game in a sample of 220 (138 females) undergraduate students. The game involves two players, player 1 (P1) and player 2 (P2). In the first stage, P1 decides whether to trust and let P2 decide, or to secure an egalitarian payoff for both players. If P1 trusts P2, the latter can choose between a symmetric payoff that is double than the secure alternative discarded by P1, and an asymmetric payoff in which P2 earns more than in any other case but makes P1 worse off. Before the main experiment, we obtained participants’ scores for Abstract Reasoning (AR), risk attitudes, basic personality characteristics, and specific traits such as psychopathy and impulsivity. During the main experiment, we measured Heart Rate (HR) and ElectroDermal Activity (EDA) variation to account for emotional arousal caused by the decision and feedback processes. Our main findings indicate that, on one hand, P1 trust behavior associates to positive emotionality and, specifically, to the extraversion’s warmth facet. In addition, the impulsivity facet of positive urgency also favors trust behavior. No relation to trusting behavior was found for either other major personality aspects or risk attitudes. The physiological results show that participants scoring high in psychopathy exhibit increased EDA and reduced evoked HR deceleration at the moment in which they are asked to decide whether or not to trust. Regarding P2, we find that AR ability and mainly low disagreeable disinhibition favor reciprocal behavior. Specifically, lack of reciprocity significantly relates with a psychopathic, highly disinhibited and impulsive personality. Thus, the present study suggests that personality characteristics would play a significant role in different behaviors underlying cooperation, with extraversion/positive emotionality being more relevant for initiating cooperation, and low disagreeable disinhibition for maintaining it

Perianal fistulizing Crohn's disease is associated with a higher prevalence of HPV in the anorectal fistula tract. A comparative study

Background &amp; Aims: Perianal fistulizing Crohn's disease is the main risk factor for anal cancer in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Whether this occurs due to a higher frequency of human papillomavirus remains unclear. The authors aimed to evaluate the prevalence of HPV and high-risk HPV in patients with perianal Crohn's disease, compared with a control group. Methods: The authors conducted a two-center cross-sectional study in which perianal fistulizing Crohn's disease patients were matched for age and sex with patients with anorectal fistula without Crohn's disease. Biopsy specimens were obtained from fistulous tracts during examination under anesthesia for both groups. The samples were sent for HPV detection and genotyping using the INNO-LiPA test. Results: A total of 108 subjects (54 in each group) were recruited. The perianal fistulizing Crohn's disease group showed a statistically higher frequency of HPV in the fistulous tract than the control group (33.3% vs. 16.7%; p&nbsp;=&nbsp;0.046). Separate analyses on high-risk types demonstrated that there was a numerically higher frequency of HPV in the perianal fistulizing Crohn's disease group. In multiple logistic regression, patients with perianal fistulizing Crohn's disease were found to have a chance of HPV 3.29 times higher than patients without Crohn's disease (OR&nbsp;=&nbsp;3.29; 95% CI 1.20‒9.01), regardless of other variables. The types most frequently identified in the perianal fistulizing Crohn's disease group were HPV 11 (12.96%) and HPV 16 (9.26%). Conclusion: Perianal fistulizing Crohn's disease is associated with a higher prevalence of HPV than in patients with anorectal fistula without Crohn's disease

Transcriptional regulation of the sodium channel gene (SCN5A) by GATA4 in human heart

Aberrant expression of the sodium channel gene (SCN5A) has been proposed to disrupt cardiac action potential and cause human cardiac arrhythmias, but the mechanisms of SCN5A gene regulation and dysregulation still remain largely unexplored. To gain insight into the transcriptional regulatory networks of SCN5A, we surveyed the promoter and first intronic regions of the SCN5A gene, predicting the presence of several binding sites for GATA transcription factors (TFs). Consistent with this prediction, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and sequential ChIP (Re-ChIP) assays show co-occupancy of cardiac GATA TFs GATA4 and GATA5 on promoter and intron 1 SCN5A regions in freshfrozen human left ventricle samples. Gene reporter experiments show GATA4 and GATA5 synergism in the activation of the SCN5A promoter, and its dependence on predicted GATA binding sites. GATA4 and GATA6 mRNAs are robustly expressed in fresh-frozen human left ventricle samples as measured by highly sensitive droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). GATA5 mRNA is marginally but still clearly detected in the same samples. Importantly, GATA4 mRNA levels are strongly and positively correlated with SCN5A transcript levels in the human heart. Together, our findings uncover a novel mechanism of GATA TFs in the regulation of the SCN5A gene in human heart tissue. Our studies suggest that GATA5 but especially GATA4 are main contributors to SCN5A gene expression, thus providing a new paradigm of SCN5A expression regulation that may shed new light into the understanding of cardiac disease