Exploring Determinants of Urban Motorcycle Accident Severity: The Case of Barcelona

Public authorities and road users alike are increasingly concerned by recent trends in road safety outcomes in Barcelona, which is the European city with the highest number of registered Powered Two-Wheel (PTW) vehicles per inhabitant,. In this study we explore the determinants of motorcycle and moped accident severity in a large urban area, drawing on Barcelona’s local police database (2002-2008). We apply non-parametric regression techniques to characterize PTW accidents and parametric methods to investigate the factors influencing their severity. Our results show that PTW accident victims are more vulnerable, showing greater degrees of accident severity, than other traffic victims. Speed violations and alcohol consumption provide the worst health outcomes. Demographic and environment-related risk factors, in addition to helmet use, play an important role in determining accident severity. Thus, this study furthers our understanding of the most vulnerable vehicle types, while our results have direct implications for local policy makers in their fight to reduce the severity of PTW accidents in large urban areas.Road Safety, Motorcycles, Mopeds, Accidents, Severity, Transportation

Assessing excess profits from different entry regulations

Entry regulations affecting professional services such as pharmacies are common practice in many European countries. We assess the impact of entry regulations on profits estimating a structural model of entry using the information provided by a policy experiment. We use the case of different regional policies governing the opening of new pharmacies in Spain to show that structural models of entry ought to be estimated with data from policy experiments to pin down how entry regulations change payoffs functions of the incumbents. Contrary to the public interest rationales, regulations are not boosting only small town pharmacies payoffs nor increasing all pharmacies payoffs alike. The gains from regulations are very unevenly distributed,suggesting that private interests are shaping the current mix of entry and markup regulations.Entry, regulation, professional services

Autophagy and Mechanisms of Effective Immunity

Macroautophagy (autophagy) is a cellular pathway facilitating several critical functions. First, autophagy is a major pathway of degradation. It enables elimination of microbes that have invaded intracellular compartments. In addition, it promotes degradation of damaged cellular content, thereby acting to limit inflammatory signals. Second, autophagy is a major trafficking pathway, shuttling content between the cytosol and the lysosomal compartment. Given these two key roles, autophagy can have significant and sometimes unexpected consequences on mechanisms that initiate robust immunity. Here, we will discuss the impact of autophagy on pathways of innate and adaptive immune responses including microbe elimination, inflammatory cytokine production, antigen processing and T and B lymphocyte immunity

Assessing excess profits from different entry regulations

Entry regulations affecting professional services such as pharmacies are common practice in many European countries. We assess the impact of entry regulations on profits estimating a structural model of entry using the information provided by a policy experiment. We use the case of different regional policies governing the opening of new pharmacies in Spain to show that structural models of entry ought to be estimated with data from policy experiments to pin down how entry regulations change payoffs functions of the incumbents. Contrary to the public interest rationales, regulations are not boosting only small town pharmacies payoffs nor increasing all pharmacies payoffs alike. The gains from regulations are very unevenly distributed,suggesting that private interests are shaping the current mix of entry and markup regulations

Irlanda: Reforma constitucional versus convención constitutional. Análisis del déja vu de Irlanda desde la perspectiva de la reforma constitucional española

P. 411-430Estudio de la gestación de la crisis económica en Irlanda y en el análisis de las respuestas constitucionales a la misma, en particular la convención constitucionalS

Aplicación móvil para recordar normas de circulación y seguridad vial a conductores experimentados

La seguridad vial consiste en la prevención para evitar accidentes de tráfico o minimizar los posibles efectos de los mismos, especialmente para la salud de las personas. A su vez también se refiere a cualquier tecnología o dispositivo empleado para dicho objetivo. Las normas reguladoras y la responsabilidad de las personas componen el principal punto de la seguridad vial. Uno de los principales problemas existentes en relación con la seguridad vial es que, con el tiempo, los conductores pueden olvidar algunas normas de circulación, adquirir malos hábitos al volante o incluso ignorar ciertas indicaciones debido a su experiencia adquirida con los años. Esto puede llevar a situaciones en las que se pone en riesgo la seguridad de las personas, por lo que es necesario proporcionar medios para reforzar los conocimientos de seguridad vial de conductores experimentados. Este proyecto intenta unir la importancia de la seguridad vial y el creciente uso de las nuevas tecnologías en la vida diaria de las personas, concretamente el uso de los Smartphones.Actualmente en el mercado se encuentran escasas aplicaciones orientadas a la seguridad vial para conductores experimentados. Por lo tanto, el objetivo principal de este proyecto será la realización de una aplicación de ayuda a conductores experimentados para poder reforzar sus conocimientos sobre seguridad vial mediante el uso de su teléfono móvil. La metodología para el desarrollo de la aplicación ha sido una metodología de desarrollo ágil como es Scrum. Esta decisión se ha tomado en base a las características del proyecto así como a la planificación del mismo. La plataforma escogida para el desarrollo de la aplicación ha sido Android, ya que es el sistema operativo para móviles que presenta un mayor crecimiento en los últimos años. El lenguaje de programación utilizado ha sido Java ya que es el lenguaje propio de Android. Para el desarrollo se ha utilizado la herramienta Eclipse con los plugin necesarios para adaptarlo al desarrollo de aplicaciones Android. Como resultado de éste proyecto se ha obtenido un prototipo de una aplicación de seguridad vial para dispositivos móviles dirigida a conductores experimentados, para que éstos, mediante la utilización de material multimedia, puedan reforzar los conocimientos sobre seguridad vial.Road safety consists in preventing crashes or minimizing their effects specially to preserve human security. Any device or technology used for that purpose is also considered road safety. Road safety is mainly based on laws and human’s responsibility. One of the main problems regarding road safety is that drivers may forget some traffic regulations, acquire bad driving habits or ignore certain signals due to their driving experience throughout the years. This can lead to situations in which somebody’s life may be at risk, so it is necessary to provide means to strengthen experienced drivers’ knowledge about road safety. This project tries to join road safety and the increased use of technology in people’s life, mainly those ones who use Smartphones. Therefore, the main objective of this project is the development of a mobile application to help experienced drivers to refresh their knowledge about road safety. This project has been carried out following an agile methodology named Scrum. This decision was taken considering not only the special features of the project but also its planning. The mobile operating system chosen for this application was Android because it is the mobile system that has a biggest use in the current mobile phone markets. The programming language selected was Java because it is the one used by Android devices. The tool used for programming was Eclipse IDE with specific plugins installed for Android development. Besides, testswere executed during this project to check the correct operation of the application. The final product of this project is a road safety app prototype for Android phones oriented to experienced drivers. Through the use of multimedia contents, drivers could refresh their road safety knowledge or acquire new one.Ingeniería en Informátic

Randstad y Finger Plan: modelos territoriales y barrios residenciales de la segunda mitad del Siglo XX

64 p.El objetivo de este trabajo es caracterizar dos modelos territoriales: el Randstad holandés y el Finger Plan de la ciudad de Copenhague y mostrar que papel tienen en ellos; el marco temporal en el que se desarrollan, el soporte físico, o las infraestructuras que los organizan. El desarrollo del trabajo se realiza mediante el estudio bibliográfico y análisis de artículos y blogs online, complementado con la revisión y elaboración propia de fichas y cartografías a distintas escalas, abarcando las ya mencionadas infraestructuras y soportes físicos, así como las zonas verdes o mosaicos urbanos de sendos planeamientos. El estudio muestra como ambos modelos territoriales cobran importancia tras la Segunda Guerra Mundial, en un período marcado por la destrucción de la mayor parte de ciudades europeas y una sucesión de crisis económicas y migratorias. Tanto en el Randstad como en el Finger Plan, la relevancia del soporte físico determina su desarrollo, pudiéndose observar este mismo desde sus orígenes siglos atrás. Dentro de estos dos modelos, estudiamos de manera más detallada los distritos de Slotermeer (Ámsterdam) y Avedøre (Copenhague), los cuales comparten características comunes tales como la zonificación, o la distribución de equipamientos y edificios comerciales en torno a sus ejes principales. Tras elaborar una serie de conclusiones y propuestas finales, el trabajo termina reforzando la importancia del rol de arquitectos y urbanistas para preservar un equilibrio similar al reflejado en estos modelos, con el objetivo de alcanzar un futuro más sostenible.The aim of this project is to describe two regional plannings: the Dutch Randstad and the Finger Plan in Copenhague, and to show the role, the period of time, physical background, or infraestructure net play in them. This project is carried out by mean of bibliography studies and articles analysis and it has been supplemented by my own design of worksheets and different scaled maps. Including the infraestructural net and physical background mentioned above, and also the green areas or urban mossaic of both approaches. This study shows how both regional plannings became remarkable after the Second World War, a time dominated by the destruction of most European cities and succesive migration and economic crisis. In both cases, the Randstad and the Finger Plan, the physical background relevance establishes their development, and this can be observed since their origins, centuries ago. This survey studies in detail two districts: Slotermeer (Amsterdam) and Avedøre (Copenhague), which share characteristics such as zonification, or the disribution of equipment and comemercial buildings along their main axis. After the ending conclusions and proposals, this study finishes by reinforcing the importance of the architects’ and urbanists’ role to persevere the balance seen in these two models, whose main objective is to reach a more sustainable future.Grado en Fundamentos de Arquitectura y Urbanism

Found in translation: the human equivalent of mouse CD8+ dendritic cells

The murine dendritic cell network comprises multiple subsets with distinct functions, but few of their human counterparts have been described. New data now reveals the likely human equivalent of the mouse DC subset specialized in cross-presentation