Pla d’empresa: Poblenou Pàdel Indoor

Treballs Finals del Grau de d'Administració i Direcció d'Empreses, Facultat d'Economia i Empresa, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2016-2017 , Tutoria: Aïda Bravo AlmirallAquest treball aborda la posada en marxa d'un club de pàdel indoor dintre de la ciutat de Barcelona i està emmarcat en el tema "desenvolupament d'idees de negoci i plans d'empresa". L'idea parteix del gran número de practicants de pàdel, de l'existència de només dos centres de pàdel indoor a la ciutat, de les preferències dels jugadors per jugar a cobert i de les dificultats existents per reservar pistes, sobretot a les hores punta. Tal i com es demostrarà al llarg d'aquest treball, aquest pla d'empresa és rentable fins i tot en les hipòtesis més pessimistes, tot i que serà necessària una inversió molt elevada que portarà lligat un finançament important

Self-assembled strain-induced oxide nanostructures grown by chemical solutions

Consultable des del TDXTítol obtingut de la portada digitalitzadaEn aquest treball hem investigat una metodologia d'aproximació baix-cap dalt i baix cost per la generació de nanoestructures oxides interficials autoassemblades preparades mitjançant la deposició de soluciones químiques. La innovació del treball rau en l'aplicació dels processos d'autoassemblatge i autoorganització en materials òxids, i en l'ús de solucions químiques pel creixement d'illes interficials. Estudis sistemàtics basats en la modificació de les condicions de creixement mostren la capacitat i versatilitat de la metodologia usada per ajustar la morfologia, mida, densitat i distribució de les nanoilles interficials. Concretament, hem estudiat el creixement de nanoestructures de les fases òxides BaZrO3, CeO2, Ce0.9Gd0.1O2-y (CGO) y La2O3, resultant el l'obtenció de plantilles amb nanoilles amb estretes distribucions de mida i notable tendència a ordenar-se espontàniament sobre substrats monocristal·lins de SrTiO3 i LaAlO3 (LAO). Hem determinat un rang de paràmetres (concentració de la solució precursora, temperatura, etc.) que estableixen un conjunt de condicions inicials per la generació de nanoilles interficials d'altres fases òxides. S'ha analitzat detalladament el sistema d'estructures dissemblants CGO/LAO (fluorita/perovskita) com a model per estudiar la formació i creixement de nanoilles induïdes per tensions elàstiques. La capacitat de seleccionar l'orientació cristal·logràfica de la nanoilles de CGO a partir del control de les condicions de creixement ens ha permès seleccionar l'anisotropia de tensions i d'energies de superfície de les nanoilles, resultant en la formació d'illes de CGO amb trets morfològics i cinètics molt distints. Tensions isotròpiques comporten la formació d'illes isomòrfiques de base quadrada, uniformes i estables. Aquests nanopunts creixen epitaxialment (001)CGO[110] $( 001)LAO[100], tenen un diàmetre mig de ~45 nm, alçada ~7 nm i densitat 60 punts/μm2 i s'autoorganitzen en files al llarg dels esglaons del substrat. En canvi, tensions anisotròpiques indueixen la formació de nanoestructures rectangulars (nanofils) d'acord amb la relació epitaxial (011)CGO[100]$( 001)LAO[100]. L'eix llarg dels nanofils pot arribar a mesurar 2 μm de longitud en menys de 30 minuts de tractament tèrmic a 1000oC en Ar-H2 mentre que l'eix curt roman <50 nm, fet que resulta en illes amb elevat índexs d'aspecte lateral (eix llarg/eix curt ~ 40). Els nanofils s'alineen al llarg dels eixos fàcils del substrat, i contínuament s'uneixen formant laberints de fils ortogonals que ràpidament es reconstrueixen en fils més llargs. L'existència d'atracció atractiva sembla ser la responsable la cinètica ultraràpida d'aquestes nanoilles tensades anisotròpicament. La dinàmica ultraràpida d'aquest sistema és una eina molt valuosa per estudiar l'evolució de nanoilles interficials; concretament, s'han identificat diferents mecanismes de coarsening actuant simultàniament (maduració Ostwald, coalescència dinàmica, coalescència estàtica, etc.). Simulacions basades en models termodinàmics ens han permès confirmar la morfologia i dimensió d'equilibri de cada tipus d'illa de CGO d'acord amb el seu estat de tensió elàstic i energies de superfícies. La combinació dels anàlisis experimentals amb els estudis termodinàmics ha permès establir una llista de les condicions necessàries per la formació de nanofils interficials extremadament llargs. Aquestes estratègies no es limiten a materials òxids i de fet poden ser usades per generació de nanoilles anisotròpiques en una gran varietat de sistemes, provant així la generalitat del treball fet. Finalment, es mostra una aplicació pràctica de les plantilles nanoestructurades òxides per induir centres artificials d'ancoratge de vòrtexs en capes primes de YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) també preparades mitjançant solucions químiques. Anàlisis metodològics basats en mesures angulars elèctriques de transport han evidenciat una important millora de la contribució anisotròpica-forta de la densitat de corrent crític per H $c en les capes primes de YBCO nanoestructurades respecte les mostres estàndard, indicant que la nanoestructuració interficial és una estratègia possible i prometedora per millorar la actuació de les capes primes de YBCO. També s'han realitzat anàlisis de les propietats superconductores en funció del gruix de YBCO.In this work we have investigated a bottom-up high throughput methodology to generate interfacial self-assembled oxide nanostructures through the deposition of chemical solutions. The innovation of this work is two-fold, since we have studied the application of self-assembling and self-organizing processes to oxide materials and because the study of the formation of interfacial islands from solutions. Systematic studies based on the modification of growth conditions show the capabilities and versatility of the methodology used to tune the shape, size, density and distribution of the resulting oxide interfacial nanoislands. Specifically, we have studied the growth of nanostructures of the oxides phases BaZrO3, CeO2, Ce0.9Gd0.1O2-y (CGO) y La2O3, leading to the generation of templates with interfacial nanoislands with narrow distribution of sizes and notable tendency to form ordered arrays on top of the single-crystal substrates SrTiO3 y LaAlO3 (LAO). We have determined a range of parameters (precursor solution concentration, temperature, etc.) which establish a set of initial conditions for the generation of interfacial nanoislands of other oxide phases. The system of dissimilar structures CGO/LAO (fluorite/perovskite) is analyzed in great detail as a model to study the formation and growth of strain-induced nanoislands. The capacity to select the crystallographic orientation of CGO nanoislands through tuning of growth conditions enables us to control the anisotropy of strains and surface energies of the nanoislands, leading to the formation of CGO nanostructures with highly different morphological and kinetic characteristics. Square-based isomorphic nanoislands, uniform and stable, form under isotropic strains. These nanodots grow epitaxially accordingly to (001)CGO[110]$( 001)LAO[100], and have mean lateral size ~45 nm and ~7 nm height, and density of ~60 dots/μm2. They order into rows along lattice steps of the substrate, resulting into highly self-organized templates. Instead, highly elongated rectangular nanostructures (nanowires) grow induced by anisotropic strains and anisotropic surface energies in the epitaxial relation (011)CGO[100] $( 001)LAO[100]. The long axis of these wires can reach lengths of 2 μm in less than 30 minutes of heat treatment at 1000oC in Ar-H2 whereas short axes remain <50 nm, resulting in high lateral aspect ratios (long axis/short axis ~ 40). Wires are aligned along substrate soft axes and continuously join into intricate clusters of orthogonal wires which rapidly reconstruct into larger wires. The attractive interaction between wires seems to be the driving force of the ultrafast kinetics of these islands biaxially anisotropic strained. This ultrarapid dynamics is a powerful tool to study the evolution of interfacial nanoislands; particularly, several coarsening mechanisms simultaneously acting have been identified (Ostwald ripening, dynamic coalescence, static coalescence, etc.). Simulations based on thermodynamic models have enabled to confirm the equilibrium shape and size of each sort of CGO island in relation to its misfit strain and surface energies. The combined analyses of the experimental results and thermodynamic studies have allowed us to establish a list of the requirements for the formation of extremely long interfacial nanowires. These strategies are not limited to oxides and can be extended to the generation of anisotropic nanoislands in a large variety of systems, proving the generality of the work done. Finally, we have showed a practical application of oxide nanostructured templates to induce artificial vortex pinning centres in YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) thin films also prepared from chemical solutions. Methodological analyses based on electrical transport angular measurements have evidenced a strong improvement of the anisotropic-strong contribution to the critical current density for H$c in interfacial nanostructured YBCO thin films as compared to standard ones, proving that interfacial nanostructuration is a possible and promising strategy to improve the performance of YBCO thin films. Analyses of the superconducting properties as function of YBCO thickness have also been carried out

Temperature Dependent Control of the R27 Conjugative Plasmid Genes

Conjugation of R27 plasmid is thermoregulated, being promoted at 25°C and repressed at 37°C. Previous studies identified plasmid-encoded regulators, HtdA, TrhR and TrhY, that control expression of conjugation-related genes (tra). Moreover, the nucleoid-associated protein H-NS represses conjugation at non-permissive temperature. A transcriptomic approach has been used to characterize the effect of temperature on the expression of the 205 R27 genes. Many of the 35 tra genes, directly involved in plasmid-conjugation, were upregulated at 25°C. However, the majority of the non-tra R27 genes many of them with unknown function were more actively expressed at 37°C. The role of HtdA, a regulator that causes repression of the R27 conjugation by counteracting TrhR/TrhY mediated activation of tra genes, has been investigated. Most of the R27 genes are severely derepressed at 25°C in an htdA mutant, suggesting that HtdA is involved also in the repression of R27 genes other than the tra genes. Interestingly, the effect of htdA mutation was abolished at non-permissive temperature, indicating that the HtdA-TrhR/TrhY regulatory circuit mediates the environmental regulation of R27 gene expression. The role of H-NS in the proposed model is discussed

Cuesta Arriba : Antecedentes epistemológicos y metodológicos para una Evaluación Ambiental Estratégica -EAE- en la ejecución de Políticas Planes y Programas ambientales en el Area del Gran Catamarca -AGC-

En esta comunicación se informa sobre estudios socio ambientales realizados desde las perspectivas epistemológica y metodológica, en el Area del Gran Catamarca. El propósito es contribuir a una Evaluación Estratégica Ambiental. Se examinan antecedentes y se identifica la percepción de la problemática ambiental en diferentes sectores de población.. Para la construcción del Marco teórico se analizaron información escrita (libros, revistas periódicos) y webgrafia e infografia, de origen local, nacional e internacional. El abordaje transversal de la investigación revela la complejidad epistemológica del objeto de estudio cuando se busca alcanzar una visión contemporánea, global y contextualizadora del problema. Complejidad que se evidencia en los resultados de los análisis, de contenidos, multicriterial y hermeneutico. Las indagaciones sobre percepción de la problemática ambiental recogieron testimonios orales, cuestionarios y encuestas cuyas características se describen en el trabajo. Integrantes y alumnos de la cátedra Introducción a la Investigación (Filosofía y Ciencias de la Educación), realizaron actividades de educación ambiental y prácticas solidarias desde 1999 a 2002, como forma de extensión, transferencia e inserción social de la Universidad. La metodología de investigación-acción participativa optimizó resultados. Otra fuente de datos fueron entrevistas radiales (2001-2003), durante la emisión del Programa del LIPA- Hombre y Ambiente, emitido por Radio Universidad. En la Conclusión estimamos que los antecedentes de EAE revelan que conviene aplicarla en nuestro medio y que la percepción de los problemas de mayor impacto o riesgo ambiental en pobladores del AGC evidencia conocimiento, pero falta mayor compromiso para asumir la propia responsabilidad. Enunciamos fortalezas, debilidades y recomendaciones es por tales antecedentes que las tareas de transferencia y aplicaciones hace "Cuesta Arriba" por lo dificultosa, ya que deben remontarse una serie de inconvenientes algunos de los cuales se han enunciado en la presente comunicación.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Introduced Drosophila subobscura populations perform better than native populations during an oviposition choice task due to increased fecundity but similar learning ability

The success of invasive species is tightly linked to their fitness in a putatively novel environment. While quantitative components of fitness have been studied extensively in the context of invasive species, fewer studies have looked at quali- tative components of fitness, such as behavioral plasticity, and their interaction with quantitative components, despite intuitive benefits over the course of an invasion. In particular, learning is a form of behavioral plasticity that makes it possible to finely tune behavior according to environmental conditions. Learn- ing can be crucial for survival and reproduction of introduced organisms in novel areas, for example, for detecting new predators, or finding mates or oviposition sites. Here we explored how oviposition performance evolved in relation to both fecundity and learning during an invasion, using native and introduced Drosophila subobscura populations performing an ecologically rele- vant task. Our results indicated that, under comparable conditions, invasive populations performed better during our oviposition task than did native pop- ulations. This was because invasive populations had higher fecundity, together with similar cognitive performance when compared to native populations, and that there was no interaction between learning and fecundity. Unexpectedly, our study did not reveal an allocation trade-off (i.e., a negative relationship) between learning and fecundity. On the contrary, the pattern we observed was more consistent with an acquisition trade-off, meaning that fecundity could be limited by availability of resources, unlike cognitive ability. This pattern might be the consequence of escaping natural enemies and/or competitors during the introduction. The apparent lack of evolution of learning may indicate that the introduced population did not face novel cognitive challenges in the new environment (i.e., cognitive "pre-adaptation"). Alternatively, the evolution of learning may have been transient and therefore not detected

Crosstalk between bacterial conjugationa and motility is mediated by plasmid-borne regulators

Plasmid conjugation is a major horizontal gene transfer mechanism. The acquisition of a plasmid may cause a perturbation of the cell functions in addition to provide advantageous properties for the recipient cell, such as the gaining of antibiotic resistances. The interplay between plasmid and chromosomal functions has been studied using the IncHI1 plasmid R27. Plasmids of the incompatibility group HI1, isolated from several Gram-negative pathogens, are associated with the spread of multidrug resistance. Their conjugation is tightly regulated by temperature, being repressed at temperatures within the host (37 ºC). In this report, we described that at permissive temperature, when conjugation of plasmid R27 is prompted, a reduction in the motility of the cells is observed. This reduction is mediated by the plasmid-encoded regulators TrhR/TrhY, which together with HtdA form a plasmid -borne regulatory circuit controlling R27 conjugation. TrhR/TrhY, required to induce R27 conjugation, are responsible of the downregulation of the flagella synthesis and the consequent decrease in motility. TrhR/TrhYrepress, direct or indirectly, the expression of the specific flagellar sigma subunit FliA and, consequently, the expression of all genes located bellow in the flagellar expression cascade

A laser-ARPES study of LaNiO3 thin films grown by sputter deposition

Thin films of the correlated transition-metal oxide LaNiO$_3$ undergo a metal-insulator transition when their thickness is reduced to a few unit cells. Here, we use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to study the evolution of the electronic structure across this transition in a series of epitaxial LaNiO$_3$ films of thicknesses ranging from 19 to 2 u.c. grown in situ by RF magnetron sputtering. Our data show a strong reduction of the electronic mean free path as the thickness is reduced below 5 u.c. This prevents the system from becoming electronically two-dimensional, as confirmed by the largely unchanged Fermi surface seen in our experiments. In the insulating state we observe a strong suppression of the coherent quasiparticle peak but no clear gap. These features resemble previous observations of the insulating state of NdNiO$_3$.Comment: Submitted to APL Material

Growth phase-dependent control of R27 conjugation is mediated by the interplay between the plasmidencoded regulatory circuit TrhR/TrhY-HtdA and the cAMP regulon

Plasmids of the incompatibility group HI1 (IncHI1) have been isolated from several Gram-negative pathogens and are associated with the spread of multidrug resistance. Their conjugation is tightly regulated and it is inhibited at temperatures higher than 30ºC, indicating that conjugation occurs outside warm-blooded hosts. Using R27, the prototype of IncHI1 plasmids, we report that plasmid transfer efficiency in E. coli strongly depends on the physiological state of the donor cells. Conjugation frequency is high when cells are actively growing, dropping sharply when cells enter the stationary phase of growth. Accordingly, our transcriptomic assays show significant downregulation of numerous R27 genes during the stationary phase, including several tra (transfer) genes. Growth phase-dependent regulation of tra genes transcription is independent of H-NS, a silencer of horizontal gene transfer, and ppGpp and RpoS, regulators of the stationary phase, but highly dependent on the plasmid-encoded regulatory circuit TrhR/TrhY-HtdA. The metabolic sensor cAMP, whose synthesis is chromosomally encoded, is also involved in the growth phase regulation of R27 conjugation by modulating htdA expression. Our data suggest that the involvement of regulators encoded by both chromosome and plasmid are required for efficient physiological control of IncHI1 plasmid conjugation

The digital revolution in the urban water cycle and its ethical–political implications: a critical perspective

The development and application of new forms of automation and monitoring, data mining, and the use of AI data sources and knowledge management tools in the water sector has been compared to a ‘digital revolution’. The state-of-the-art literature has analysed this transformation from predominantly technical and positive perspectives, emphasising the benefits of digitalisation in the water sector. Meanwhile, there is a conspicuous lack of critical literature on this topic. To bridge this gap, the paper advances a critical overview of the state-of-the art scholarship on water digitalisation, looking at the sociopolitical and ethical concerns these technologies generate. We did this by analysing relevant AI applications at each of the three levels of the UWC: technical, operational, and sociopolitical. By drawing on the precepts of urban political ecology, we propose a hydrosocial approach to the so-called ‘digital water ‘, which aims to overcome the one-sidedness of the technocratic and/or positive approaches to this issue. Thus, the contribution of this article is a new theoretical framework which can be operationalised in order to analyse the ethical–political implications of the deployment of AI in urban water management. From the overview of opportunities and concerns presented in this paper, it emerges that a hydrosocial approach to digital water management is timely and necessary. The proposed framework envisions AI as a force in the service of the human right to water, the implementation of which needs to be (1) critical, in that it takes into consideration gender, race, class, and other sources of discrimination and orients algorithms according to key principles and values; (2) democratic and participatory, i.e., it combines a concern for efficiency with sensitivity to issues of fairness or justice; and (3) interdisciplinary, meaning that it integrates social sciences and natural sciences from the outset in all applications.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version