Desarrollo de un modelo epidemiológico para la evaluación de la difusión de la peste porcina clásica en Segovia

El objetivo de este estudio fue realizar un modelo epidemiológico para analizar los patrones de difusión del virus de la peste porcina clásica en Segovia y evaluar las zonas y tipos de granjas con mayor riesgo epidemiológico. El modelo utilizado fue un modelo de transición de estados estocástico y con componente espacial. Como resultado se obtuvieron una media (95% IP) de 28 (1-98) granjas infectadas, 15 (0-70) sacrificadas y 71 (2-279) inmovilizadas en la zona de protección. El tiempo medio de la duración de la epidemia fueron de 63 (1-168) días y el tiempo medio hasta la detección fue de 14 (6-39) días. Las áreas de mayor riesgo de difusión de Peste Porcina Clásica en Segovia se identificaron en la zona centro-oeste de la región. Este estudio puede ser de utilidad como apoyo en la toma de decisiones respecto a la prevención y el control de futuras epidemias de PPC.The aim of this study was to develop an epidemiological model to analyze the spread patterns of the classical swine fever virus in Segovia and to assess the areas and farm types with more epidemiological risk. The model used was a state-transition stochastic and spatial model. As a result it was obtained a mean (95% IP) of 28 (1-98) infected farms, 15 (0-70) depopulated and 71 (2-279) quarantined farms in the protection zone. The average duration of the epidemic was 63 (1-168) days and the average time to detection was 14 (6-39) days. The areas at higher risk of spread of CSF in Segovia were identified in the central-western region. This study could be useful for decision making regarding the prevention and control of potential epidemics of Classical Swine Fever

Validation of a measurement scale for the relationship between the orientation to corporate social responsibility and other business strategic variables

The importance of Social Responsibility (SR) is higher if this business variable is related with other ones of strategic nature in business activity (competitive success that the company achieved, performance that the firms develop and innovations that they carries out). The hypothesis is that organizations that focus on SR are those who get higher outputs and innovate more, achieving greater competitive success. A scale for measuring the orientation to SR has defined in order to determine the degree of relationship between above elements. This instrument is original because previous scales do not exist in the literature which could measure, on the one hand, the three classics sub-constructs theoretically accepted that SR is made up and, on the other hand, the relationship between SR and the other variables. As a result of causal relationships analysis we conclude with a scale of 21 indicators, validated scale with a sample of firms belonging to the Autonomous Community of Extremadura and it is the first empirical validation of these dimensions we know so far, in this context

Cross-disciplinary skills in the European Higher Education Area: the importance and dominance of a foreign language

La adaptación al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES) conlleva el fomento de la movilidad de docentes y estudiantes. A los profesores les corresponde el importante papel de incentivar a los futuros graduados hacia el dominio de otras lenguas europeas con el fin de que puedan aumentar su competitividad en el mundo laboral. La literatura y la evidencia práctica indican que el nivel de nuestros estudiantes en competencias idiomáticas no alcanza los estándares adecuados para competir. Así, nuestro objetivo ha sido conocer su opinión sobre el dominio que actualmente tienen de una o más lenguas extranjeras así como la importancia que le atribuyen al hecho de conocerla y dominarla. La metodología seguida ha supuesto la realización de varias experiencias y la triangulación de los resultados obtenidos de las mismas, las cuales han consistido en: 1º. Sensibilización a través de una conferencia sobre la importancia del dominio de otras lenguas y su relevancia para la empleabilidad del egresado; 2º. Acercamiento a las impresiones del estudiante que recibe una clase en inglés con un focus group; y, 3º. Análisis de un cuestionario de percepciones sobre dominio e importancia de los idiomas que analiza la opinión del estudiante sobre estos aspectos. Precisamente la evidencia empírica de este estudio proviene de la opinión de los estudiantes de las titulaciones que se impartían en la Facultad de CC.EE.EE. de nuestra Universidad contando con una muestra final de 540 cuestionarios. Los resultados muestran una brecha entre dominio e importancia atribuida que se refuerza cuando se analizan los datos según la movilidad del estudiante. El estudio lleva, finalmente, a realizar un análisis DAFO de debilidades y fortalezas internas, y amenazas y oportunidades externas que determine qué medidas se podrían adoptar para acercar el grado de importancia al grado de dominio.Adaptation to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) implies the promotion of mobility of teachers and students. The teachers have an important role to encourage future graduates to the mastery of other European languages so that they can increase their competitiveness in the workplace. Literature and practical evidence show that the level of our students in language skills does not achieve the appropriate standards to compete. Thus, our goal has been to know their opinion on the domain that they have about of one or more foreign languages and the importance attributed to the fact of knowing and mastering them. The methodology used has supposed to carry out several experiences and the triangulation of the obtained results of such ones that have consisted of: 1º. Awareness through a conference on the importance of mastering other languages and their relevance for employability of graduates; 2º. Approach of the student's impressions receiving a class in English with a focus group; and, 3º. A questionnaire analysis of students’ opinions about the dominance and importance of languages. In fact, the empiric evidence of this study comes from the opinion of the students from all degree programs that were given in the Faculty of Economic and Business of our University. We have worked with a final sample of 540 questionnaires. The results show a gap between domain and attributed importance that it is reinforced when the data are analyzed according to the student's mobility. The study takes, finally, to carry out a SWOT analysis of internal strengths and weaknesses and external threats and opportunities, to determine what measures could be taken to bring the level of importance to the degree of dominance. The teaching experience has shown that this active methodology involves a continuous workflow, and the development of teaching strategies of constant interaction between teacher and students. Therefore, despite the acceptance that had this teaching innovation, the load in terms of working time was the main problem highlighted

Conversion of a digital camera into a non-contact colorimeter for use in stone cultural heritage: The application case to Spanish granites

In this study, a digital CMOS camera was calibrated for use as a non-contact colorimeter for measuring the color of granite artworks. The low chroma values of the granite, which yield similar stimulation of the three color channels of the camera, proved to be the most challenging aspect of the task. The appropriate parameters for converting the device-dependent RGB color space into a device-independent color space were established. For this purpose, the color of a large number of Munsell samples (corresponding to the previously defined color gamut of granite) was measured with a digital camera and with a spectrophotometer (reference instrument). The color data were then compared using the CIELAB color formulae. The best correlations between measurements were obtained when the camera works to 10-bits and the spectrophotometric measures in SCI mode. Finally, the calibrated instrument was used successfully to measure the color of six commercial varieties of Spanish granite.The present study was financially supported by the Xunta de Galicia (09TMT014203PR) and the European Union and Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under grants DPI2008-06455-C02-02 and DPI2011-30090-C02-02. Dr. Patricia Sanmartín acknowledges a scholarship for postgraduate studies abroad (2012 Call) from Barrié de la Maza Foundation. She is currently supported by a postdoctoral contract within the framework of the 2011–2015 Galician Plan for Research, Innovation and Growth (Plan I2C) for the year 2012

Tuning and validation of an analytical method for the determination of gluten in food samples: The immunochromatographic strips

Motivation: Gluten is a food allergen present in many cereals it is composed for complex mixture of proteins, mainly prolamines and glutenines. (Biesiekierski, J.R, 2017) Prolamins contain immunogenic peptides that are resistant to gastrointestinal digestion, such as peptide 33-mer, and trigger adverse reactions in people with hypersensitivity, causing from the mild allergic reactions to the well-known, celiac disease. Currently, gluten hypersensitivity is one of the most spread digestive disorders in the world. (Ozuna, C., et al, 2016) That's why there is a need to detected foods that contain gluten to provide this information to consumers to their own safety.There are many different techniques to detection gluten very effectively like Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA). However, the present work aims to carry out the validation and tuning of a new method faster and simpler: immunochromatographic strips. This is ultimately intended to accredit the method so that the analytical laboratory can offer its customers reliable and reproducible results. Accreditation is "the internationally established tool to build confidence in the proper execution of a certain type of activity." The National Accreditation Entity is responsible for accrediting an analytical method under Regulation (EC) Nº765/2008.Methods: These strips are based on the detection of inmmunogenic peptides. On the support of the strip is a nitrocellulose membrane that containing prefixed antigydine antibodies, which will be colored if the sample analyzed has gliadin. This technique is usually a qualitative metod, unlike the previous ones that is quantitative, however, it's intended to include a strip reader to obtain quantitative values.In this study, different test has had to be carried out to analyse a number of parameters that need to be studied in validation. The parameters studied have been: detection limit, quantification limit, accuracy, precision and robustness.Results:It can be said that this method is able to unequivocally detect the presence of gluten in the sample, as well as provide values of it, however this quantification is not as accurate as other current detection techniques would be.Conslusions:It’s a reliable method that could be competent in the market for a given sector in which it's only interested to know the presence or not of gluten, however there is still a lack of development in terms of the accuracy of the quantification

Edge computing and communication for energy-efficient earth surveillance with LEO satellites

Modern satellites deployed in low Earth orbit (LEO) accommodate processing payloads that can be exploited for edge computing. Furthermore, by implementing inter-satellite links, the LEO satellites in a constellation can route the data end-toend (E2E). These capabilities can be exploited to greatly improve the current store-and-forward approaches in Earth surveillance systems. However, they give rise to an NP-hard problem of joint communication and edge computing resource management (RM). In this paper, we propose an algorithm that allows the satellites to select between computing the tasks at the edge or at a cloud server and to allocate an adequate power for communication. The overall objective is to minimize the energy consumption at the satellites while fulfilling specific service E2E latency constraints for the computing tasks. Experimental results show that our algorithm achieves energy savings of up to 18% when compared to the selected benchmarks with either 1) fixed edge computing decisions or 2) maximum power allocation.Part of the research has been supported by the project SatNEx-V, co-funded by the European Space Agency (ESA). This work has also received funding by the Spanish ministry of science and innovation under project IRENE (PID2020-115323RB-C31 / AEI / 10.13039/501100011033) and grant from the Spanish ministry of economic affairs and digital transformation and of the European union – NextGenerationEU [UNICO-5G I+D/AROMA3D-Space (TSI-063000-2021-70).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

On-Chip Solar Energy Harvester and PMU With Cold Start-Up and Regulated Output Voltage for Biomedical Applications

This paper presents experimental results from a system that comprises a fully autonomous energy harvester with a solar cell of 1 mm 2 as energy transducer and a Power Management Unit (PMU) on the same silicon substrate, and an output voltage regulator. Both chips are implemented in standard 0.18 μm CMOS technology with total layout areas of 1.575 mm 2 and 0.0126 mm 2 , respectively. The system also contains an off-the-shelf 3.2 mm × 2.5 mm × 0.9 mm supercapacitor working as an off-chip battery or energy reservoir between the PMU and the voltage regulator. Experimental results show that the fast energy recovery of the on-chip solar cell and PMU permits the system to replenish the supercapacitor with enough charge as to sustain Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communications even with input light powers of 510 nW. The whole system is able to self-start-up without external mechanisms at 340 nW. This work is the first step towards a self-supplied sensor node with processing and communication capabilities. The small form factor and ultra-low power consumption of the system components is in compliance with biomedical applications requirementsThis work was supported in part by the Spanish Government (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades) under Project RTI2018-097088-B-C32 and Project RTI2018-095994-B-I00 (MICINN/FEDER), in part by the Xunta de Galicia, in part by the Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria (accreditation 2016-2019, ED431G/08 and reference competitive group 2017-2020, ED431C 2017/69) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and in part by the Junta de Extremadura and the ERDF, under Grant IB 18079S

The Role of DNA Damage Response in Dysbiosis-Induced Colorectal Cancer

The high incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in developed countries indicates a predominant role of the environment as a causative factor. Natural gut microbiota provides multiple benefits to humans. Dysbiosis is characterized by an unbalanced microbiota and causes intestinal damage and inflammation. The latter is a common denominator in many cancers including CRC. Indeed, in an inflammation scenario, cellular growth is promoted and immune cells release Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and Reactive Nitrogen Species (RNS), which cause DNA damage. Apart from that, many metabolites from the diet are converted into DNA damaging agents by microbiota and some bacteria deliver DNA damaging toxins in dysbiosis conditions as well. The interactions between diet, microbiota, inflammation, and CRC are not the result of a straightforward relationship, but rather a network of multifactorial interactions that deserve deep consideration, as their consequences are not yet fully elucidated. In this paper, we will review the influence of dysbiosis in the induction of DNA damage and CRC.Junta de Andalucía P18-RT-332

Factores de riesgo relevantes asociados a las malformaciones congénitas en la provincia de Cienfuegos, 2008-2013

Fundamento: las malformaciones congénitas contribuyen de forma importante a la mortalidad infantil. Producen secuelas y resulta difícil su prevención. Objetivo: determinar factores de riesgo relevantes asociados a la aparición de malformaciones congénitas. Métodos: estudio observacional de casos y controles no pareados realizado en Cienfuegos en el período de enero de 2008 a diciembre de 2013, sobre un universo de 27 002 gestantes; las mujeres registradas con fetos o recién nacidos con malformaciones congénitas, constituyeron el grupo de casos (483), el grupo control estuvo conformado por el doble de mujeres con niños sanos (966), seleccionadas por un muestreo aleatorio simple. La información se recolectó de los registros de malformaciones congénitas y del Departamento de Archivo del Hospital Provincial. Se utilizó el estadígrafo Chi cuadrado con una exigencia del 95 % y la razón de productos cruzados (OR) con un índice de confiabilidad de 95 %. Se aplicó la regresión logística utilizando el método “adelante Wald” para determinar los factores de riesgo relevantes asociados a la aparición de malformaciones congénitas. Resultados: la tasa de malformaciones congénitas fue de 17,8 por cada mil nacimientos, con tendencia ascendente; predominaron las malformaciones cardiovasculares. El consumo de alcohol, la consanguinidad y los antecedentes familiares de malformados, constituyeron factores relevantes en la aparición de malformaciones congénitas. Conclusiones: a pesar de los avances logrados, aún existe falta de percepción de los riesgos y es necesario su identificación para trazar estrategias de intervención que permitan una maternidad saludable

Factores de riesgo relevantes asociados a las malformaciones congénitas en la provincia de Cienfuegos, 2008-2013

Fundamento: las malformaciones congénitas contribuyen de forma importante a la mortalidad infantil. Producen secuelas y resulta difícil su prevención. Objetivo: determinar factores de riesgo relevantes asociados a la aparición de malformaciones congénitas. Métodos: estudio observacional de casos y controles no pareados realizado en Cienfuegos en el período de enero de 2008 a diciembre de 2013, sobre un universo de 27 002 gestantes; las mujeres registradas con fetos o recién nacidos con malformaciones congénitas, constituyeron el grupo de casos (483), el grupo control estuvo conformado por el doble de mujeres con niños sanos (966), seleccionadas por un muestreo aleatorio simple. La información se recolectó de los registros de malformaciones congénitas y del Departamento de Archivo del Hospital Provincial. Se utilizó el estadígrafo Chi cuadrado con una exigencia del 95 % y la razón de productos cruzados (OR) con un índice de confiabilidad de 95 %. Se aplicó la regresión logística utilizando el método “adelante Wald” para determinar los factores de riesgo relevantes asociados a la aparición de malformaciones congénitas. Resultados: la tasa de malformaciones congénitas fue de 17,8 por cada mil nacimientos, con tendencia ascendente; predominaron las malformaciones cardiovasculares. El consumo de alcohol, la consanguinidad y los antecedentes familiares de malformados, constituyeron factores relevantes en la aparición de malformaciones congénitas. Conclusiones: a pesar de los avances logrados, aún existe falta de percepción de los riesgos y es necesario su identificación para trazar estrategias de intervención que permitan una maternidad saludable