Simposio Retos de los Encadenamientos Globales y del Desarrollo en América Latina

El concepto de cadenas globales de valor ha sido incorporado como una meta generalizada al ámbito de las políticas públicas. Hoy en día los gobiernos y los organismos internacionales y nacionales desarrollan y promueven estudios sobre ellas, a efecto de derivar orientaciones para la formulación de políticas económicas por parte de los países en vías de desarrollo. La realidad de la trayectoria de la globalización pone de mani esto que el ensanchamiento de los ujos de inver- sión, comercio y nanciamiento está asociado a la estructura y el funcionamiento de las cadenas globales de valor, que responden a los intereses de quienes las coordinan. La relevancia del tema en el ámbito o cial de las políticas públicas proporciona un escenario propicio para la discusión interdisciplinaria que permita contrastar la teoría con la práctica en la ineludible integración de las regiones a cadenas globales de valor, para tener una noción clara y precisa de su contribución al desarrollo de diferentes economías.

Effect of mechanical pruning on the yield and quality of Fortune mandarins"

This work compares mechanical pruning followed up by hand pruning versus manual pruning in the case of Fortune mandarins. Yield and fruit quality were measured over a three-year period. Two mechanical pruning intensities were tested, these intensities being measured as the width of the row middles left free after mechanical pruning. Although there were differences in biomass and diameter of the branches that were cut, no differences were observed between the two mechanical pruning intensities in terms of yield or fruit quality. In all pruning treatments, fruit size reached the highest category. The pruning treatments consisted in: (i) hand pruning every year, (ii) mechanical pruning followed up by hand pruning every year, and (iii) alternating the two previous methods over the years studied. On analysing the accumulated fruit production of the three years, it can be observed that there were no significant differences in yield when mechanical pruning was alternated with hand pruning over the years. When only mechanical pruning was used for the three years, however, a 22% reduction in yield was observed with respect to the treatment involving hand pruning alone. From the economic point of view, mechanical pruning shortened the time needed to complete the followup hand pruning by 13% with respect to just hand pruning, but this reduction in labour does not offset the cost of the mechanical equipment.To the Consejeria de Agricultura y Agua de la Region de Murcia' for financial support and to the producer 'Agricola Cerezuela' and specially its technician D. Fernando Ortuno for their collaboration.Martin Gorriz, B.; Porras Castillo, I.; Torregrosa, A. (2014). Effect of mechanical pruning on the yield and quality of Fortune mandarins". Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research. 12(4):952-959. doi:10.5424/sjar/2014124-5795S952959124ASAE, 2006. Standard EP496.3. Agricultural machinery management. Revised January 2011. Am Soc Agr Biol Eng, St. Joseph, MI (USA). 6 pp.ASAE, 2011. Standard D497.7. Agricultural machinery management data. Revised March 2011. Am Soc Agr Biol Eng, St. Joseph, MI (USA). 8 pp.Bono R, Soler J, Fernández de Córdova L, 1985. Variedades de agrios cultivadas en Espa-a. Instituto Valenciana de Investigaciones Agrarias, Valencia. 70 pp.Bordas M, Torrents J, Arenas FJ, Hervlejo A, 2012. High density plantation system of the Spanish citrus industry. Acta Hortic 965: 123-130.Boswell SB, Ede LL, McCarty CD, 1977. Effect of training young lemon trees for limb-shaker mechanical harvest on yield and tree trunk growth. HortScience 12 (4): 352-353.El-Otmani, M., Agustí, M., Aznar, M., & Almela, V. (1993). Improving the size of ‘Fortune’ mandarin fruits by the auxin 2,4-DP. Scientia Horticulturae, 55(3-4), 283-290. doi:10.1016/0304-4238(93)90039-sEl-Zeftawi, B. M. (1976). Response of ‘Navel’ orange trees to skirting. Scientia Horticulturae, 5(1), 59-63. doi:10.1016/0304-4238(76)90023-6Fallahi E, Kilby M, 1997. Rootstock and pruning influence on yield and fruit quality of 'Lisbon' lemon. Fruit Var J 51(4): 242-246.García Lidón A, Pérez Hernández F, Porras Castillo I, 1998. Citricultura murciana: Situación actual, innovaciones varietales y tendencias. Levante Agrícola 37(2): 118-128.Giametta G, Zimbalatti G, 1992. Three-years experiments of citrus fruit mechanical pruning. Proc Intl Soc Citricult 2: 693-696.Intrigliolo F, Roccuzzo G, 2011. Modern trends of Citrus pruning in Italy. Adv Hort Sci 25(3): 187-192.Joubert FJ, Plessis MH, Stassen PJC, 2000. Pruning strategies to alleviate overcrowding in higher density citrus orchards. J Appl Hort 2 (1): 1-5.Juste F, Martín B, Fabado F, Moltó E, 2000. Estudio sobre la reducción de los costes de producción de cítricos mediante la mecanización de las prácticas de cultivo. Comunidad Valenciana Agraria 12: 23-29.Kallsen CE, 2005. Topping and manual pruning effects on the production of commercially valuable fruit in a midseason Navel Orange variety. HortTecnology 15 (2): 335-341.Krajewski AJ, Krajewski SA, 2011. Canopy management of sweet orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime and mandarin trees in the tropics: Principles, practices and commercial experiences. Acta Hortic 894: 65-76.Mendonça, V., Ramos, J. D., Araújo Neto, S. E. de, & Rufini, J. C. M. (2008). Produção da tangerineira «ponkan» após poda de recuperação. Ciência e Agrotecnologia, 32(1), 103-109. doi:10.1590/s1413-70542008000100015Moore PW, 1958. Mechanical pruning for citrus. California Agriculture, Nov 7-13.Morales P, Davies FS, Littell RC, 2000. Pruning and skirting affect canopy microclimate, yields and fruit quality of 'Orlando' tangelo. HortScience 35(1): 30-35.Nesbitt ML, Ebel RC, Dozier JWA, 2008. Production practices for Satsuma mandarins in the Southeastern United States. HortScience 43(2): 290-292.Ortiz-Ca-avate J, 1979. Mechanical pruning of citrus. Anales INIA: Tecn Agr 5: 155-167 [In Spanish].Raciti G, Spina P, Scuderi A, Intrigliolo F, 1982. Tre anni di potatura meccanica degli agrumi in Italia. Frutticultura 44: 35-46.Santarosa, E., Koller, O. C., Petry, H. B., & Casamali, B. (2010). Frequência e intensidade de poda em pomar jovem de laranjeiras «Valência» sob manejo orgânico. Ciência Rural, 40(10), 2081-2085. doi:10.1590/s0103-84782010005000167Spina P, Giuffrida A, Melita E, 1984. Comparative trials of citrus mechanical and aided pruning. Proc Intl Soc Citricult 1: 106-109.B. Velázquez Martí, & E. Fernández González. (2010). The Influence of Mechanical Pruning in Cost Reduction, Production of Fruit, and Biomass Waste in Citrus Orchards. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 26(4), 531-540. doi:10.13031/2013.32056Yildirim B, Yesiloglu T, Incesu M, Kamiloglu M, Ozguven F, Tuzcu O, Aka Y, 2010. The effects of mechanical pruning on fruit yield and quality in 'Star Ruby' grapefruit. J Food Agric Environ 8 (2): 834-838.Zaragoza S, Alonso E, 1980. La poda mecanizada de los agrios en Espa-a. Invest Agrar: Prod Veg 12: 157-180.Zaragoza S, Alonso E, 1981. Citrus pruning in Spain. Proc Intl Soc Citricult 1: 172-175

DEVELOPING TECHNICAL ENGLISH SKILLS FOR CIVIL ENGINEERING STUDENTS

Traditionally, Spanish schools of civil engineering provide their students a class on “Technical English” in order to develop their language skills. However, this class does not cover all the skills that the student would need in the labor market and mainly focuses in the reading and writing skills, and in a lower degree in the speaking and listening ones. This paper proposes a series of innovative and informal training activities, such as cine-forum on technical civil engineering topics and role playing on real professional situations, that allow Spanish civil engineering students to develop English skills, that can rarely be worked in the classroom (i.e. speaking, negotiating and conversing), which encourage debate, participation, and foster their self-confidence to speak about technical-English topics in public. Although the students’ level of English is much lower than expected, they all agree on the importance of technical English for their future career. The results also show the students’ lack in skills that are difficult to train in regular classes (speaking and talking). Consequently, this situation would require to provide complementary activities like the ones suggested in this project in order to develop these skills and increase the students’ demand for engineering classes taught in English

RBX: The new X-band SAR system from INTA

Revista oficial de la Asociación Española de Teledetección[EN] This paper describes the characteristics and the first results of the RBX system, the new airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar developed at Spanish National Institute of Aerospace Technology. The new system supports submetric resolution with interferometric and polarimetric capabilities. The system architecture has been designed taking into account an easy upgrade ability and the quality of the acquired data, including multiple internal calibration loops.[ES] Este artículo describe las características y los primeros resultados del sistema RBX, nuevo radar de apertura sintética aerotransportado que ha sido desarrollado en el Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial. El nuevo sistema soporta resoluciones submétricas con capacidades interferométricas y polarimétricas. La arquitectura del sistema se ha diseñado teniendo en cuenta la facilidad de incorporar mejoras y la calidad de los datos adquiridos, incluyendo múltiples lazos de calibración interna.Larrañaga, J. R., De Porras Bernácer, R., Del Castillo, J., Gimeno, N., Aguilar, P., Baquero, A. M., . . . Sánchez, S. (2014). RBX: The new X-band SAR system from INTA. [RBX: El nuevo radar SAR en banda X del INTA] Revista De Teledeteccion, (41), 89-96. doi:10.4995/raet.2014.2285SWORD899641G. Bonin, P. Dreuillet. 2008. The new ONERA airborne SAR system SETHI. EUSAR, Dresden, Germany.Rodriguez, M. G. (2008). Design of a Coherent Generation and Acquisition System at 1,2GHz. 2008 4th Southern Conference on Programmable Logic. doi:10.1109/spl.2008.4547745Gonzalez Bonilla, M. J., Gomez Miguel, B., Cuerda Muñoz, J. M., Larrañaga Sudupe, J. R., Garcia Rodriguez, M., 2009. INTASAR program. Proceedings IGARSSHORN, RALF; NOTTENSTEINER, ANTON; SCHEIBER, ROLF. 2008. F-SAR – DLR's advanced airborne SAR system onboard DO228. Proceedings EUSARMoreira, A., & Yonghong Huang. (1994). Airborne SAR processing of highly squinted data using a chirp scaling approach with integrated motion compensation. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 32(5), 1029-1040. doi:10.1109/36.31289

New adipokines vaspin and omentin. Circulating levels and gene expression in adipose tissue from morbidly obese women

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Vaspin and omentin are recently described molecules that belong to the adipokine family and seem to be related to metabolic risk factors. The objectives of this study were twofold: to evaluate vaspin and omentin circulating levels and mRNA expression in subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissues in non-diabetic morbidly obese women; and to assess the relationship of vaspin and omentin with anthropometric and metabolic parameters, and other adipo/cytokines.</p> <p>Design</p> <p>We analysed vaspin and omentin circulating levels in 71 women of European descent (40 morbidly obese [BMI ≥ 40 kg/m²] and 31 lean [BMI ≤ 25]). We assessed vaspin and omentin gene expression in paired samples of visceral and subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue from 46 women: 40 morbidly obese and 6 lean. We determined serum vaspin and plasma omentin levels with an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay and adipose tissue mRNA expression by real time RT-PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Serum vaspin levels in the morbidly obese were not significantly different from those in controls. They correlated inversely with levels of lipocalin 2 and interleukin 6. Vaspin mRNA expression was significantly higher in the morbidly obese, in both subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue.</p> <p>Plasma omentin levels were significantly lower in the morbidly obese and they correlated inversely with glucidic metabolism parameters. Omentin circulating levels, then, correlated inversely with the metabolic syndrome (MS). Omentin expression in visceral adipose tissue was significantly lower in morbidly obese women than in controls.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present study indicates that vaspin may have a compensatory role in the underlying inflammation of obesity. Decreased omentin circulating levels have a close association with MS in morbidly obese women.</p

Развитие навыков технического английского языка для сту дентов-строителей

Traditionally, Spanish schools of civil engineering provide their students a class on “Technical English” in order to develop their language skills. However, this class does not cover all the skills that the student would need in the labor market and mainly focuses in the reading and writing skills, and in a lower degree in the speaking and listening ones. This paper proposes a series of innovative and informal training activities, such as cine-forum on technical civil engineering topics and role playing on real professional situations, that allow Spanish civil engineering students to develop English skills, that can rarely be worked in the classroom (i. e. speaking, negotiating and conversing), which encourage debate, participation, and foster their self-confidence to speak about technical-English topics in public. Although the students’ level of English is much lower than expected, they all agree on the importance of technical English for their future career. The results also show the students’ lack in skills that are difficult to train in regular classes (speaking and talking). Consequently, this situation would require to provide complementary activities like the ones suggested in this project in order to develop these skills and increase the students’ demand for engineering classes taught in English.Традиционно для студентов испанских строительных университетов проводятся курсы технического английского языка для повышения их уровня владения языком. Однако эти курсы ориентированы на чтение и письмо, в меньшей степени — на навыки разговорного языка и не охватывают всех компетенций, требующихся на рынке труда. В этой статье предлагается ряд новых и неформальных учебных методов (использование кинокамер при изучении вопросов гражданского строительства и ролевой игры в реальных профессиональных ситуациях), которые позволяют испанским студентам-строителям развивать навыки английского языка, которые трудно получить в обычном классе, что развивает уверенность, позволяет студентам овладевать навыками ведения переговоров, бесед, участвовать в дискуссиях. Хотя уровень владения английским языком испанских студентов намного ниже, чем ожидалось, все они согласны с важностью овладения техническим английским для дальнейшей карьеры. Результаты опросов также показывают отсутствие у студентов навыков, которые трудно тренировать в обычных классах (речь и разговоры). Таким образом, для развития навыков владения английским языком для студентов‑строителей требуются дополнительные методики, которые предлагаются в этом проекте

Role of Reuniens Nucleus Projections to the Medial Prefrontal Cortex and to the Hippocampal Pyramidal CA1 Area in Associative Learning

We studied the interactions between short- and long-term plastic changes taking place during the acquisition of a classical eyeblink conditioning and following high-frequency stimulation (HFS) of the reuniens nucleus in behaving mice. Synaptic changes in strength were studied at the reuniens-medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the reuniens-CA1 synapses. Input/output curves and a paired-pulse study enabled determining the functional capabilities of the two synapses and the optimal intensities to be applied at the reuniens nucleus during classical eyeblink conditioning and for HFS applied to the reuniens nucleus. Animals were conditioned using a trace paradigm, with a tone as conditioned stimulus (CS) and an electric shock to the trigeminal nerve as unconditioned stimulus (US). A single pulse was presented to the reuniens nucleus to evoke field EPSPs (fEPSPs) in mPFC and CA1 areas during the CS-US interval. No significant changes in synaptic strength were observed at the reuniens-mPFC and reuniens-CA1 synapses during the acquisition of eyelid conditioned responses (CRs). Two successive HFS sessions carried out during the first two conditioning days decreased the percentage of CRs, without evoking any long-term potentiation (LTP) at the recording sites. HFS of the reuniens nucleus also prevented the proper acquisition of an object discrimination task. A subsequent study revealed that HFS of the reuniens nucleus evoked a significant decrease of paired-pulse facilitation. In conclusion, reuniens nucleus projections to prefrontal and hippocampal circuits seem to participate in the acquisition of associative learning through a mechanism that does not required the development of LTP

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Background: Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. // Methods: We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung's disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. // Findings: We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung's disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middle-income countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in low-income countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. // Interpretation: Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality