Factors Associated to Purchase of Quality-Labelled Beef

The aim of the present study is to identify the factors associated to purchase of quality-labelled beef. For this purpose a total of 364 surveys were carried out on buyers of beef in three Spanish cities. The sample was divided into three groups of buyers according to the beef purchasing habits with a quality label. A logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the differences between groups. The results show the importance of the production region as a quality aspect. Income level, association of quality-labelled beef with “guarantee and tradition” aspects, purchasing frequency, place of purchase, production systems and lifestyles are all variables that enabled us to establish differences between groups.beef quality, quality label, consumer perception, Demand and Price Analysis,

Human resource practices and performance in small Spanish wineries, and their evolution with age and size

This research aims to cover the existing gap in knowledge regarding human resource management practices in winery businesses. Three of the most important practices in this field - recruitment and selection, training and development, and remuneration - and their relationship with performance in small family and non-family wineries as well as the differences in those businesses' behaviours according to their age and size were analysed. The analysis was based on a 2016 database containing 339 Spanish wine sector SMEs, and a multivariate Bayesian regression methodology was applied. The results demonstrate a lower level of human resource management practices in small family businesses and a stronger relationship with performance than in non-family businesses. The results also show that human resource management varies according to the age and size of the company, indicating an inverted U-shaped relationship with size. On the one hand, these results highlight the importance of human resource practices in the environment of a small winery. These practices have not usually been considered as drivers of performance in small family firms. On the other hand, the results can be useful for the managers of such firms, both in the wine industry and in general, as they highlight the human resource practices that could improve the performance of those entities. The paper contributes to filling the existing gap in the literature related to small family businesses. Esta pesquisa visa cobrir a lacuna existente no conhecimento sobre práticas de gestão de recursos humanos em empresas vinícolas. Foram analisadas três das práticas mais importantes neste campo - recrutamento e seleção, treino e desenvolvimento, e remuneração - e sua relação com o desempenho em pequenas adegas, familiares e não familiares, bem como as diferenças no comportamento dessas empresas de acordo com a sua idade e a sua dimensão. A análise foi baseada num banco de dados de 2016 contendo 339 PME do setor vinícola espanhol, tendo sido aplicada a metodologia de regressão bayesiana multivariada. Os resultados demonstram um nível mais baixo de práticas de gestão de recursos humanos em pequenas empresas familiares e uma relação mais forte com o desempenho do que em empresas não familiares. Relatam também que a gestão de recursos humanos varia de acordo com a idade e a dimensão da empresa, encontrando uma relação em U invertido com a dimensão. Por um lado, estes resultados destacam a importância das práticas de recursos humanos no ambiente de uma pequena adega. Estas práticas não têm sido geralmente consideradas como motores de desempenho em pequenas empresas familiares. Por outro lado, os resultados podem ser úteis para os gerentes de tais empresas, tanto na indústria do vinho como na indústria em geral, pois destacam as práticas de recursos humanos que podem melhorar o desempenho dessas entidades. O artigo contribui para preencher a lacuna existente na literatura relativamente às pequenas empresas familiares

The competitive advantage in business, capabilities and strategy. What general performance factors are found in the Spanish wine industry?

The wine sector in Europe has undergone a major change of trend in recent years, especially in Spain. On the one hand, the surface area has been reduced, but the production has been maintained by restructurings and improvements made in exploitation techniques. On the other hand, consumption has diminished causing a significant increase in competition. The Spanish wine sector is formed mainly by small and medium-sized firm, which is representative of the size of existing companies in Europe. This article aims to analyze the relationships between the competitive strategy, resources and capabilities of the firms, analyzing their technological and managerial capabilities, with business performance. 339 companies of the wine sector in Spain have been studied, differentiating between individual firms, cooperatives and mercantile companies. The results reveal that resources and capabilities along with strategies define competitive advantage, but their relationship and importance is different for each type of company

Parásitos intestinales en fangos de depuradora y posible riesgo asociado a su reutilización

La reutilización de fangos de salida de depuradora se ha convertido en un valioso recurso dado su contenido en nutrientes. Sin embargo, puede suponer un riesgo para la salud pu´blica si su higienización no es adecuada, por la variedad de potenciales pato´genos que pueden contener. La normativa vigente sobre reutilización de fangos (RD 1310/90 y AAA/1072/2013) únicamente hace referencia a la presencia de E. coli y Salmonella spp. Sin embargo, varios estudios sugieren que el uso tradicional de bacterias indicadoras de contaminacio´n fecal no predice la presencia de otros pato´genos como para´sitos y protozoos1. Giardia duodenalis, Cryptosporidium spp. o Entamoeba spp. son protozoos distribuidos mundialmente, causantes de trastornos gastrointestinales en gran número de hospedadores y transmitidos principalmente por el consumo de agua y alimentos de consumo crudo contaminados

Tipificación estructural y rentabilidad de explotaciones ovinas de carne.

El sector ovino de carne está experimentando un fuerte retroceso en España y en la Unión Europea. Se trata de un tipo de ganadería que desempeña un importante papel en zonas desfavorecidas por su contribución a la sostenibilidad económica, social y medioambiental, siendo importante garantizar su viabilidad económica. El objetivo genérico del presente trabajo ha sido analizar las posibles relaciones entre los resultados económicos de una muestra de explotaciones de ovino de carne ubicadas en Aragón (España) y determinados indicadores estructurales. Previamente se realizó una tipificación para estudiar su variabilidad. La muestra la componen 126 ganaderías aragonesas de ovino de carne. Se utilizan las medias de las variables durante un período que oscila entre 5 y 24 años dentro del periodo 1993-2016. Se realizó un análisis factorial sobre diez variables estructurales y se identificaron cuatro factores a partir de los cuáles se obtuvieron dos grupos significativamente diferentes en cuanto a sus características estructurales. Se eligió la renta disponible por unidad de trabajo como indicador del resultado económico de las explotaciones, y se calculó teniendo en cuenta o no la retribución de la mano de obra familiar. Mediante una regresión lineal múltiple se estableció su dependencia con las variables estructurales previamente analizadas. Se puede concluir que la optimización del número de ovejas por unidad de mano de obra y por hectárea de la superficie agrícola útil, son aspectos a tener en cuenta a la hora de mejorar la rentabilidad y la viabilidad de las explotaciones ovinas de carne. The sheep meat sector is experiencing a strong recoil in Spain and in the European Union. It is a type of livestock that plays an important role in disadvantaged areas for its contribution to economic, social and environmental sustainability, being important to ensure its economic viability. The generic objective of this work has been to analyze the possible relationship between the economic results of a sample of sheep meat farms located in Aragon (Spain) and certain structural indicators. Previously a typification was done to study their variability. The sample is made up of 126 Aragonese meat sheep farms. The variables’ means are used during a period that varies between 5 and 24 years within the 1993-2016 period. A factor analysis was performed on ten structural variables and four factors were identified from which two significantly different groups of farms were obtained in terms of their structural characteristics. The gross margin per total labor unit was chosen as an indicator of the economic result of farms, and was calculated considering or not the remuneration of family labor. By means of a multiple linear regression the dependence of this economic result on structural variables previously analyzed was established. It can be concluded that the optimization of the number of ewes per total labor unit and per hectare of the used agricultural area, are aspects to be considered when improving the profitability and viability of sheep meat farms

Small-scale distributions in an indoor environment at 94GHz

[EN] In this paper, an extensive multiple-input multiple-output measurement campaign in a lab environment has been conducted at the 94GHz band. Using a vector network analyzer, updown converters, and omnidirectional antennas displaced in virtual arrays, we have obtained an estimation of the distribution parameters for the most usual distributions employed in the small-scale fading modeling, i.e., Rayleigh, Rice, Nakagami-m and -, by using statistical inference techniques. Moreover, in this scenario the best fit distribution to the experimental data is the Weibull distribution, using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. However, the - distribution provides the best fitting to the experimental results in terms of the lower tails of the distributions.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad MINECO, Spain (TEC2016-78028-C3-2-P) and by the European FEDER funds. Further information regarding the data obtained and included in this paper can be attained by contacting the author, Jose M. Molina ([email protected]).Reig, J.; Martinez-Ingles, M.; Molina-Garcia-Pardo, J.; Rubio Arjona, L.; Rodrigo Peñarrocha, VM. (2017). Small-scale distributions in an indoor environment at 94GHz. Radio Science. 52(7):852-861. https://doi.org/10.1002/2017RS006335S852861527Cudak, M., Ghosh, A., Kovarik, T., Ratasuk, R., Thomas, T. A., Vook, F. W., & Moorut, P. (2013). Moving Towards Mmwave-Based Beyond-4G (B-4G) Technology. 2013 IEEE 77th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC Spring). doi:10.1109/vtcspring.2013.6692638Everitt, B. S., & Skrondal, A. (2010). The Cambridge Dictionary of Statistics. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511779633Helminger, J., Detlefsen, J., & Groll, H. (s. f.). Propagation properties of an indoor-channel at 94 GHz. ICMMT’98. 1998 International Conference on Microwave and Millimeter Wave Technology. Proceedings (Cat. No.98EX106). doi:10.1109/icmmt.1998.768215Moon-Soon Choi, Grosskopf, G., & Rohde, D. (s. f.). Statistical Characteristics of 60 GHz Wideband Indoor Propagation Channel. 2005 IEEE 16th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications. doi:10.1109/pimrc.2005.1651506Kajiwara, A. (s. f.). Indoor propagation measurements at 94 GHz. Proceedings of 6th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications. doi:10.1109/pimrc.1995.477099Maccartney, G. R., Rappaport, T. S., Sun, S., & Deng, S. (2015). Indoor Office Wideband Millimeter-Wave Propagation Measurements and Channel Models at 28 and 73 GHz for Ultra-Dense 5G Wireless Networks. IEEE Access, 3, 2388-2424. doi:10.1109/access.2015.2486778Marcum J. I. 1950 Table of Q functionsMartinez-Ingles, M.-T., Gaillot, D. P., Pascual-Garcia, J., Molina-Garcia-Pardo, J.-M., Rodríguez, J.-V., Rubio, L., & Juan-Llácer, L. (2016). Channel sounding and indoor radio channel characteristics in the W-band. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, 2016(1). doi:10.1186/s13638-016-0530-7Rangan, S., Rappaport, T. S., & Erkip, E. (2014). Millimeter-Wave Cellular Wireless Networks: Potentials and Challenges. Proceedings of the IEEE, 102(3), 366-385. doi:10.1109/jproc.2014.2299397Reig, J., Martínez-Inglés, M.-T., Rubio, L., Rodrigo-Peñarrocha, V.-M., & Molina-García-Pardo, J.-M. (2014). Fading Evaluation in the 60 GHz Band in Line-of-Sight Conditions. International Journal of Antennas and Propagation, 2014, 1-12. doi:10.1155/2014/984102Thomas, H. J., Cole, R. S., & Siqueira, G. L. (1994). An experimental study of the propagation of 55 GHz millimeter waves in an urban mobile radio environment. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 43(1), 140-146. doi:10.1109/25.282274Thomas, T. A., Vook, F. W., & Sun, S. (2015). Investigation into the effects of polarization in the indoor mmWave environment. 2015 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC). doi:10.1109/icc.2015.724851

A rabbit model of Acanthamoeba keratitis: Use of infected soft contact lenses after corneal epithelium debridement with a diamond burr

PURPOSE. To develop a rabbit model of Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) as the best method to reproduce the natural course of this disease. METHODS. To induce AK, infected contact lenses (1000 amoebae/mm2, 90% trophozoites) were placed over the previously debrided corneal surface, in combination with a temporary tarsorrhaphy. Environmental and clinical strains of Acanthamoeba spp. (genotype T4) were used. Three groups (1L, n = 32; 2L–21d, n = 5; 2L–3d, n = 23) were established according to the number of contact lenses used (1L, 1 lens; 2L–21d and 2L–3d, 2 lenses) and the placement day of these (1L, day 1; 2L–21d, days 1 and 21; 2L–3d, days 1 and 3). The infection was quantified by a clinical score system and confirmed using corneal cytology and culture, polymerase chain reaction and histopathologic analysis. RESULTS. The infection rate obtained was high (1L, 87.5%; 2L–21d, 100%; 2L–3d, 82.6%), although no clinical signs were observed in the 50% of the infected animals in group 1L. Among groups, group 2L–3d showed more cases of moderate and severe infection. Among strains, no statistically significant differences were found in the infection rate. In the control eyes, cross infection was confirmed when a sterile contact lens was placed in the previously debrided corneas but not if the eye remained intact. CONCLUSIONS. The combination of two infected contact lenses after corneal debridement seems to be an alternative model, clinically and histopathologically similar to its human counterpart, to induce the different AK stages and reproduce the course of the disease in rabbits

Association between preoperative levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and hospital-acquired infections after hepatobiliary surgery: A prospective study in a third-level hospital

Introduction Evidence implicates vitamin D deficiency in poorer outcomes and increased susceptibility to hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). This study examined the association between serum vitamin D levels and HAIs in a population of hepatobiliary surgery patients. Methods Participants in this prospective analytical observational study were patients who underwent hepatobiliary surgery in a tertiary hospital in Aragon, Spain, between February 2018 and March 2019. Vitamin D concentrations were measured at admission and all nosocomial infections during hospitalization and after discharge were recorded. Results The mean 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration of the study population (n = 301) was 38.56 nmol/L, which corresponds to vitamin D deficiency. Higher vitamin D concentrations were associated with a decreased likelihood of developing a HAI in general (p = 0.014), and in particularly surgical site infection (p = 0.026). The risk of HAI decreased by 34% with each 26.2-nmol/L increase in serum vitamin D levels. Conclusions Vitamin D levels may constitute a modifiable risk factor for postoperative nosocomial infections in hepatobiliary surgery patients

Pseudogap and Conduction Dimensionalities in High-T_c Superconductors

The nature of normal state charge-carriers' dynamics and the transition in conduction and gap dimensionalities between 2D and 3D for YBa_2 Cu_3 O_{7-delta} and Bi_2 Sr_2 Ca_{1-x} Y_x Cu_2 O_8 high-T_c superconductors were described by computing and fitting the resistivity curves, rho(T,delta,x). These were carried out by utilizing the 2D and 3D Fermi liquid (FL) and ionization energy (E_I) based resistivity models coupled with charge-spin (CS) separation based t-J model [Phys. Rev. B 64, 104516 (2001)]. rho(T,delta,x) curves of Y123 and Bi2212 samples indicate the beginning of the transition of conduction and gap from 2D to 3D with reduction in oxygen content (7-delta) and Ca^{2+} (1-x) as such, c-axis pseudogap could be a different phenomenon from superconductor and spin gaps. These models also indicate that the recent MgB_2 superconductor is at least not Y123 or Bi2212 type.Comment: To be published in Physica

Fading Evaluation in the 60GHz Band in Line-of-Sight Conditions

An exhaustive analysis of the small-scale fading amplitude in the 60GHz band is addressed for line-of-sight conditions (LOS). From a measurement campaign carried out in a laboratory, we have estimated the distribution of the small-scale fading amplitude over a bandwidth of 9GHz. From the measured data, we have estimated the parameters of the Rayleigh, Rice, Nakagami-m, Weibull, and \alpha-\mu distributions for the small-scale amplitudes. The test of Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) for each frequency bin is used to evaluate the performance of such statistical distributions. Moreover, the distributions of the main estimated parameters for such distributions are calculated and approximated for lognormal statistics in some cases. The matching of the above distributions to the experimental distribution has also been analyzed for the lower tail of the cumulative distribution function (CDF).These parameters offer information about the narrowband channel behavior that is useful for a better knowledge of the propagation characteristics at 60GHz.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion TEC-2010-20841-C04-1 and by the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, PAID 05-11 ref. 2702. The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable remarks and suggestions which have considerably enriched the final paper.Reig, J.; Martínez Inglés, M.; Rubio Arjona, L.; Rodrigo Peñarrocha, VM.; Molina-García-Pardo, J. (2014). Fading Evaluation in the 60GHz Band in Line-of-Sight Conditions. International Journal of Antennas and Propagation. 2014:1-12. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/984102S1122014Smulders, P. (2002). Exploiting the 60 GHz band for local wireless multimedia access: prospects and future directions. IEEE Communications Magazine, 40(1), 140-147. doi:10.1109/35.978061Park, C., & Rappaport, T. (2007). Short-Range Wireless Communications for Next-Generation Networks: UWB, 60 GHz Millimeter-Wave WPAN, And ZigBee. IEEE Wireless Communications, 14(4), 70-78. doi:10.1109/mwc.2007.4300986Daniels, R. C., & Heath, R. W. (2007). 60 GHz wireless communications: Emerging requirements and design recommendations. IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, 2(3), 41-50. doi:10.1109/mvt.2008.915320Zwick, T., Beukema, T. J., & Haewoon Nam. (2005). Wideband channel sounder with measurements and model for the 60 GHz indoor radio channel. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 54(4), 1266-1277. doi:10.1109/tvt.2005.851354Shoji, Y., Sawada, H., Chang-Soon Choi, & Ogawa, H. (2009). A Modified SV-Model Suitable for Line-of-Sight Desktop Usage of Millimeter-Wave WPAN Systems. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 57(10), 2940-2948. doi:10.1109/tap.2009.2029286Hao Xu, Kukshya, V., & Rappaport, T. S. (2002). Spatial and temporal characteristics of 60-GHz indoor channels. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 20(3), 620-630. doi:10.1109/49.995521Anderson, C. R., & Rappaport, T. S. (2004). In-Building Wideband Partition Loss Measurements at 2.5 and 60 GHz. IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, 3(3), 922-928. doi:10.1109/twc.2004.826328Smulders, P. (2009). Statistical Characterization of 60-GHz Indoor Radio Channels. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 57(10), 2820-2829. doi:10.1109/tap.2009.2030524Thomas, H. J., Cole, R. S., & Siqueira, G. L. (1994). An experimental study of the propagation of 55 GHz millimeter waves in an urban mobile radio environment. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 43(1), 140-146. doi:10.1109/25.282274Kyro, M., Haneda, K., Simola, J., Takizawa, K., Hagiwara, H., & Vainikainen, P. (2012). Statistical Channel Models for 60 GHz Radio Propagation in Hospital Environments. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 60(3), 1569-1577. doi:10.1109/tap.2011.2180349Durgin, G. D., Rappaport, T. S., & de Wolf, D. A. (2002). New analytical models and probability density functions for fading in wireless communications. IEEE Transactions on Communications, 50(6), 1005-1015. doi:10.1109/tcomm.2002.1010620Yacoub, M. D. (2007). The κ-μ distribution and the η-μ distribution. IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, 49(1), 68-81. doi:10.1109/map.2007.370983Martinez-Ingles, M.-T., Sanchis-Borras, C., Molina-Garcia-Pardo, J.-M., Rodriguez, J.-V., & Juan-Llacer, L. (2013). Experimental Evaluation of an Indoor MIMO-OFDM System at 60 GHz Based on the IEEE802.15.3c Standard. IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, 12, 1562-1565. doi:10.1109/lawp.2013.2293275Koay, C. G., & Basser, P. J. (2006). 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