Competitividad y eficiencia

En este artículo se realiza una revisión genérica de los fundamentos básicos de alguno de los métodos más extendidos para analizar la eficiencia, puesto que ésta aparece como elemento determinante, por ser el más controlable, de la competitividad. Por ello, el trabajo arranca diferenciando entre ambos conceptos, competitividad y eficiencia, al tiempo que se establecen sus vínculos.The paper develops a general vision of fundamentals of the more extended methods to analyse efficiency as the most controllable way to reach competitiveness. Firstly, section 2 clarifies the conceptual difference between competitiveness and efficiency establishing their [email protected] [email protected]

Measuring Online Political Dialogue: Does Polarization Trigger More Deliberation?

In recent years, we have witnessed an increasing consolidation of different realms where citizens can deliberate and discuss a variety of topics of general interest, including politics. The comments on news posts in online media are a good example. The first theoretical contributions called attention to the potential of those spaces to build a healthy (civic and participatory) public sphere, going much deeper in the process of political dialogue and deliberation (Fung, Gilman, & Shkabatur, 2013; Lilleker & Jackson, 2008; O’Reilly, 2005; Stromer-Galley & Wichowski, 2011). Polarization has been configured as a constant feature of the quality of the mentioned dialogues, particularly in Mediterranean countries (polarized pluralists’ cases). One of the research challenges at the moment has to do with the scrutiny of polarization within the political deliberation provoked by news stories. The goal of this article is the analysis of political dialogue from the perspective of the polarization in the increasingly popular network YouTube, which is presenting very particular characteristics. Using a sample of almost 400,000 posted comments about diverse topics (climate change, the Catalonian crisis, and Political parties’ electoral ads) we propose an automated method in order to measure polarization. Our hypothesis is that the number of comments (quantitative variable) is positively related to their polarization (qualitative variable). We will also include in the examination information about the ideological editorial line of newspapers, the type of topic under discussion, the amount of traceable dialogue, etc. We propose an index to (1) measure the polarization of each comment and use it to show how this value has behaved over time; and (2) verify the hypothesis using the average polarization of comments for each video

Komposita in the specialised lexicon. Teaching methods and comprehension of compound words in the course of Technical Translation (German-Spanish)

Esta tesis doctoral es un trabajo empírico-experimental descriptivo que se inscribe en los estudios de teoría de la traducción y tiene como objetivo la definición y delimitación de los métodos de enseñanza-aprendizaje de léxico especializado, concretamente de Komposita o compuestos plurilexemáticos alemanes de tipo sustantivo+sustantivo, en el aula de traducción técnica de la Universidad de Córdoba en la combinación alemán-español. La motivación de esta investigación reside en la necesidad de elaborar métodos de enseñanza-aprendizaje adecuados al proceso neuroarquitectónico de traducción y a los modelos psicolingüísticos de reconocimiento y procesamiento de unidades léxicas. El punto de partida de este estudio es la dificultad de detectar por parte de hablantes no nativos de alemán las relaciones semánticas que se establecen entre los formantes de un Kompositum. La hipótesis de esta investigación se centra en la necesidad de diferenciar entre el proceso de aprendizaje de léxico especializado en segundas lenguas y el proceso de aprendizaje de léxico especializado en la segunda lengua para traducción. En este trabajo consideramos que en el proceso de aprendizaje de segundas lenguas, la traducción se emplea como un medio para comprender la estructura y vocabulario de la nueva lengua que se estudia, sin embargo, en el aprendizaje de segundas lenguas para traducción, la traducción no se debe entender como un medio sino como una finalidad, y por tanto, las destrezas y competencias que se tendrán que desarrollar para una finalidad traductológica distarán de aquellas con una finalidad comunicativa, como es el caso del aprendizaje de segundas lenguas. Para comprobar esta hipótesis se ha delimitado desde el plano lingüístico el contexto en el que se analizan los Komposita, se han estudiado las relaciones semánticas que pueden establecerse entre los formantes de un Kompositum, así como los procedimientos de formación de nuevas unidades léxicas en las lenguas de especialidad. Además, se han examinado desde un punto de vista psicolingüísticos, los modelos para la incorporación de unidades léxicas al sistema lingüístico, se han analizado desde una perspectiva neurocognitiva, los modelos de adquisición de léxico tanto en L1 como en L2 para traductores, constituyéndose así la fundamentación teórica sobre la que se asentará el estudio empírico. Para la constatación de hipótesis se han realizado tres ejercicios. El primer ejercicio está enfocado al aprendizaje de léxico especializado en segundas lenguas, los 19 alumnos que participaron en este primer ejercicio se apoyan en la traducción proporcionada por distintos recursos para comprender el concepto. Este ejercicio simula el proceso de aprendizaje de segundas lenguas, en el que el alumnado se apoya de la traducción para entender el concepto. Con este ejercicio analizamos cada una de las respuestas de los alumnos y realizamos un análisis cualitativo de ellas, observando la adecuación de sus respuestas cuando la traducción la consideramos como un fin y no como un medio. El segundo ejercicio se ha diseñado con fundamento en dos modelos psicolingüísticos de procesamiento léxico: el modelo de listado exhaustivo y la doble ruta. Para ello se dividió la clase en dos grupos compuestos por seis alumnos cada uno, el objetivo de este ejercicio es comprobar, dependiendo de si han empleado el modelo de listado o el de doble ruta, qué grupo obtiene un mejor resultado en la fase de comprensión para traducción. El tercer ejercicio se subdivide en tres actividades: una primera actividad de pre-traducción, en la que el alumnado debe detectar los afijos técnicos alemanes e indicar la carga semántica que aportan cada uno de ellos, la segunda actividad de pre-traducción consiste en reconocer las relaciones semánticas de los conceptos señalados y, por último, la tercera actividad de traducción en la que se analiza cada una de sus traducciones y la repercusión que ha podido ocasionar cada uno de los métodos en la misma. La finalidad de este trabajo es la mejora de la comprensión de los Komposita técnicos en el aula de traducción técnica en la combinación alemán-español, los resultados que se arrojan de esta investigación apuntan a que el grupo que ha seguido el modelo de doble ruta para el procesamiento y comprensión de los compuestos plurilexemáticos alemanes ha obtenido un mejor resultado aplicado a la traducción que el grupo que ha empleado el modelo de listado exhaustivo, como se verá en el desarrollo de esta investigación.This research work is a descriptive empirical-experimental research in theory translation studies, whose main goal is to define and determine teaching-learning methods of specialised vocabulary, precisely the teaching-learning of Komposita or German compunds noun+noun in the course of Technical Translation at the University of Córdoba (Spain) in the language combination German-Spanish. The motivation of this research resides in the need of designing teachinglearning methods of specialised vocabulary adapted to the neuro-architecture of translation and psycholinguist models of recognition and word processing. The starting point of this study is the difficulty to detect from non-native German speakers the semantic relationships that are built between the components of a Kompositum. The hypothesis of this research focuses on the need to differentiate between the learning process of specialised vocabulary in second languages and the learning process of specialised vocabulary in second language for translation. In this work we consider that in the learning process of second languages, the translation is used as a means to understand the structure and vocabulary of the new language that is beeing studied. However, in second language learning for translation, translation should not be understood as a means but end, and therefore the skills and competences that should be developed for a translation end will be different from the skills and competences with a communicative end, which is the case of second language learning. To prove this hypothesis from a linguistic level, the context of Komposita, the semantic relationships that can be built between the components of a Kompositum will be examined, as well as the new word formation processes in specialised languages. From a psycholinguist perspective the models for the incorporation of lexical units to the linguistic system have been examined and from a neurocognitive point of view the models of lexical acquisition in L1 and L2 for translation have been analysed. All these points of view constitute the theoretical foundation on which the empirical study will be based. To verify the hypothesis three exercises have been carried out. The first exercise focuses on specialised language learning in second languages, 19 students took part. The students uses the lexical equivalent for translation, found in different resources to understand the concept. With this exercise we analyse each of the answers provided by the students and we carry out a qualitative-quantitative analysis, looking into the adequacy of each of the answers when the translation is considered as end and not as means. The design of the second exercise is based on two psycholinguist models of lexical process: full listing and the double route. For this reason, the class has been divided into two groups of six students each one. The goal of this exercise is to check which group obtains a better result in the comprehension phase for translation. The third exercise is subdivide in three activities: a first pretranslation activity in which the students should detect the German technical affixes and indicate the semantic load that each one presents; the second pre-translation activity consists in recognising the semantic relationships of the concepts underlined; and the translation activity in which each of the translated fragments have been analysed and examined the repercussion that each one of the methods could have had on each translation. The main aim of this work is to improve the understanding of technical Komposita in the course of Technical Translation in the combination German- Spanish. The results that can be drawn from this research is that the group that has followed the double route hypothesis has obtained a better result in the process and comprehension of German compounds for translation than the group that applies the full listing, as we will develop in this research

El docente como propulsor del pensamiento crítico.

Los últimos avances en Inteligencia Artificial (IA) están suponiendo un gran cambio a nivel global, lo que nos está llevando a una reflexión profunda acerca de los métodos de enseñanza-aprendizaje utilizados hasta el momento en la enseñanza universitaria. Este trabajo realiza una propuesta metodológica que se enmarca dentro de la asignatura de Traducción General B (alemán-español) de la Universidad de Málaga, además de reflexionar sobre el papel que desempeña la IA y el desarrollo del pensamiento crítico en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje del estudiantado.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

SUMOylation regulates LKB1 localization and its oncogenic activity in liver cancer

BACKGROUND: Even though liver kinase B1 (LKB1) is usually described as a tumor suppressor in a wide variety of tissues, it has been shown that LKB1 aberrant expression is associated with bad prognosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: Herein we have overexpressed LKB1 in human hepatoma cells and by using histidine pull-down assay we have investigated the role of the hypoxia-related post-translational modification of Small Ubiquitin-related Modifier (SUMO)ylation in the regulation of LKB1 oncogenic role. Molecular modelling between LKB1 and its interactors, involved in regulation of LKB1 nucleocytoplasmic shuttling and LKB1 activity, was performed. Finally, high affinity SUMO binding entities-based technology were used to validate our findings in a pre-clinical mouse model and in clinical HCC. FINDINGS: We found that in human hepatoma cells under hypoxic stress, LKB1 overexpression increases cell viability and aggressiveness in association with changes in LKB1 cellular localization. Moreover, by using site-directed mutagenesis, we have shown that LKB1 is SUMOylated by SUMO-2 at Lys178 hampering LKB1 nucleocytoplasmic shuttling and fueling hepatoma cell growth. Molecular modelling of SUMO modified LKB1 further confirmed steric impedance between SUMOylated LKB1 and the STe20-Related ADaptor cofactor (STRADα), involved in LKB1 export from the nucleus. Finally, we provide evidence that endogenous LKB1 is modified by SUMO in pre-clinical mouse models of HCC and clinical HCC, where LKB1 SUMOylation is higher in fast growing tumors. INTERPRETATION: Overall, SUMO-2 modification of LKB1 at Lys178 mediates LKB1 cellular localization and its oncogenic role in liver cancer. FUND: This work was supported by grants from NIH (US Department of Health and Human services)-R01AR001576-11A1 (J.M.M and M.L.M-C.), Gobierno Vasco-Departamento de Salud 2013111114 (to M.L.M.-C), ELKARTEK 2016, Departamento de Industria del Gobierno Vasco (to M.L.M.-C), MINECO: SAF2017-87301-R and SAF2014-52097-R integrado en el Plan Estatal de Investigación Cientifica y Técnica y Innovación 2013-2016 cofinanciado con Fondos FEDER (to M.L.M.-C and J.M.M., respectively), BFU2015-71017/BMC MINECO/FEDER, EU (to A.D.Q. and I.D.M.), BIOEF (Basque Foundation for Innovation and Health Research): EITB Maratoia BIO15/CA/014; Instituto de Salud Carlos III:PIE14/00031, integrado en el Plan Estatal de Investigación Cientifica y Técnica y Innovacion 2013-2016 cofinanciado con Fondos FEDER (to M.L.M.-C and J.M.M), Asociación Española contra el Cáncer (T.C.D, P·F-T and M.L.M-C), Daniel Alagille award from EASL (to T.C.D), Fundación Científica de la Asociación Española Contra el Cancer (AECC Scientific Foundation) Rare Tumor Calls 2017 (to M.L.M and M.A), La Caixa Foundation Program (to M.L.M), Programma di Ricerca Regione-Università 2007-2009 and 2011-2012, Regione Emilia-Romagna (to E.V.), Ramón Areces Foundation and the Andalusian Government (BIO-198) (A.D.Q. and I.D.M.), ayudas para apoyar grupos de investigación del sistema Universitario Vasco IT971-16 (P.A.), MINECO:SAF2015-64352-R (P.A.), Institut National du Cancer, FRANCE, INCa grant PLBIO16-251 (M.S.R.), MINECO - BFU2016-76872-R to (E.B.). Work produced with the support of a 2017 Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators, BBVA Foundation (M.V-R). Finally, Ciberehd_ISCIII_MINECO is funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. We thank MINECO for the Severo Ochoa Excellence Accreditation to CIC bioGUNE (SEV-2016-0644). Funding sources had no involvement in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication

Start-up of a microalgae-based treatment system within the biorefinery concept: from wastewater to bioproducts

©IWA Publishing [2018]. The definitive peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Water Science & Technology, volume 78, issue 1, p. 114-124, 2018, doi: 10.2166/wst.2018.195 and is available at www.iwapublishing.com.Within the European project INCOVER, an experimental microalgae-based treatment system has been built for wastewater reuse and added-value products generation. This article describes this new experimental plant and the start-up stage, starting from the new design of three semi-closed horizontal photobioreactor (PBR) with low energy requirements for microalgae cultivation (30 m3 total), using agricultural runoff and urban wastewater as feedstock. The inflow nutrients concentration is adjusted to select cyanobacteria, microalgae able to accumulate polyhydroxybutyrates (PHBs), which can be used for bioplastics production. Part of the harvested biomass is used as substrate for anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) with secondary sludge to obtain biogas. This biogas is then cleaned in an absorption column to reach methane concentration up to 99%. The digestate from the AcoD is further processed in sludge wetlands for stabilization and biofertilizer production. On the other hand, treated water undergoes ultrafiltration and disinfection through a solar-driven process, then it is pumped through absorption materials to recover nutrients, and eventually applied in an agricultural field to grow energy crops by means of a smart irrigation system. This plant presents a sustainable approach for wastewater management, which can be seen as resource recovery process more than a waste treatment.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Frequencies identification of NREL 5MW ITI Barge Wind Turbine: first approach

In this work we present a process to identify the main frequencies that affects a floating offshores wind turbine (FOWT), specifically, the NREL 5MW ITI Barge Wind Turbine. This floating platform is highly affected by surge and sway translational movements due to the strong winds and mainly the waver it is subjected to. However, one of the most important modes is the 1st tower fore-aft bending mode, whose frequency has the same value than the forced 3P component, provoking these frequencies to be highly excited. In this work this effect is observed in the power spectrum of the tower top acceleration signal along the nacelle “x” axis.Peer Reviewe

An Integrative Decision-Making Mechanism for Consumers’ Brand Selection using 2-Tuple Fuzzy Linguistic Perceptions and Decision Heuristics

Consumers perform decision-making (DM) processes to select their preferred brands during their entire consumer journeys. These DM processes are based on the multiple perceptions they have about the products available in the market they are aware of. These consumers usually perform different DM strategies and employ diverse heuristics depending on the nature of the purchase, ranging from more pure optimal choices to faster decisions. Therefore, the design of realistic DM approaches for modeling these consumer behaviors requires a good representation of consumer perceptions and a reliable process for integrating their corresponding heuristics. In this work, we use fuzzy linguistic information to represent consumer perceptions and propose four consumer DM heuristics to model the qualitative linguistic information for the consumer buying decision. In particular, we use 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic variables, which is a substantially more natural and realistic representation without falling in a loss of information. The set of selected heuristics differ in the degree of involvement the consumers give to their decisions. Additionally, we propose a heuristic selection mechanism to integrate the four heuristics in a single DM procedure by using a regulation parameter. Our experimental analysis shows that the combination of these heuristics in a portfolio manner improves the performance of our model with a realistic representation of consumer perceptions. The model’s outcome matches the expected behavior of the consumers in several real market scenarios

Cultivation and selection of cyanobacteria in a closed photobioreactor used for secondary effluent and digestate treatment

“The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.02.097"The main objective of this study was to select and grow wastewater-borne cyanobacteria in a closed photobioreactor (PBR) inoculated with a mixed consortium of microalgae. The 30 L PBR was fed with a mixture of urban secondary effluent and digestate, and operated in semi-continuous mode. Based on the nutrients variation of the influent, three different periods were distinguished during one year of operation. Results showed that total inorganic nitrogen (TIN), inorganic phosphorus concentration (PO43 -), phosphorus volumetric load (LV-P) and carbon limited/non-limited conditions leaded to different species composition, nutrients removal and biomass production in the culture. High TIN/PO43 - concentrations in the influent (36 mg N L- 1/3 mg P L- 1), carbon limitation and an average LV-P of 0.35 mg P L- 1d- 1 were negatively related to cyanobacteria dominance and nutrients removal. On the contrary, cyanobacteria predominance over green algae and the highest microbial biomass production (averaging 0.084 g Volatile Suspended Solids (VSS) L- 1d- 1) were reached under TIN/PO43 - concentrations of 21 mg N L- 1/2 mg P L- 1, no carbon limitation and an average LV-P of 0.23 mg P-PO43 - L- 1d- 1. However, although cyanobacteria predominance was also favored with a LV-P 0.15 mg L- 1d- 1, biomass production was negatively affected due to a P limitation in the culture, resulting in a biomass production of 0.0.39 g VSS L- 1d- 1. This study shows that the dominance of cyanobacteria in a microalgal cyanobacterial community in an agitated PBR using wastewater as nutrient source can be obtained and maintained for 234 days. These data can also be applied in future biotechnology applications to optimize and enhance the production of added value products by cyanobacteria in wastewater treatment systems.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft