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Capillary zone electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) is a mature analytical tool for the efficient profiling of (highly) polar and ionizable compounds. However, the use of CE-MS in comparison to other separation techniques remains underrepresented in metabolomics, as this analytical approach is still perceived as technically challenging and less reproducible, notably for migration time. The latter is key for a reliable comparison of metabolic profiles and for unknown biomarker identification that is complementary to high resolution MS/MS. In this work, we present the results of a Metabo-ring trial involving 16 CE-MS platforms among 13 different laboratories spanning two continents. The goal was to assess the reproducibility and identification capability of CE-MS by employing effective electrophoretic mobility (μeff) as the key parameter in comparison to the relative migration time (RMT) approach. For this purpose, a representative cationic metabolite mixture in water, pretreated human plasma, and urine samples spiked with the same metabolite mixture were used and distributed for analysis by all laboratories. The μeffwas determined for all metabolites spiked into each sample. The background electrolyte (BGE) was prepared and employed by each participating lab following the same protocol. All other parameters (capillary, interface, injection volume, voltage ramp, temperature, capillary conditioning, and rinsing procedure, etc.) were left to the discretion of the contributing laboratories. The results revealed that the reproducibility of the μefffor 20 out of the 21 model compounds was below 3.1% vs 10.9% for RMT, regardless of the huge heterogeneity in experimental conditions and platforms across the 13 laboratories. Overall, this Metabo-ring trial demonstrated that CE-MS is a viable and reproducible approach for metabolomics.

AbstractCultural tourism is a fundamental element for the economic development of some local communities. There are many factors that can influence the success of this type of tourism, but any action or strategy implemented should be closely tied to ensuring tourist satisfaction. This research focuses on a heritage destination of an archaeological nature, and aims to analyse the destination image formation as well as the influence of this image on tourist satisfaction. The results show that the affective component is more relevant than the cognitive in the image of this destination formed by the tourist. The data were collected by means of a closed-ended questionnaire administered to tourists aged 18 and over, and were analysed using P.L.S.-S.E.M. methodology. These analyses provide useful information for the planning of future tourism marketing strategies; to that end, recommendations have been made regarding how to improve the provision of services and the management of these types of heritage sites.

This article aims to study the potential of archeology as a tourism resource in the field of cultural tourism, given that good tourism management of archeological sites can attract a larger number of visitors and contribute to the socio-economic development of the areas involved. Specifically, it will examine the role of information sources in the management of such sites, focusing on the case of Segóbriga Archeological Park, Cuenca, Spain. Based on the analysis of the results obtained from surveys of tourists to this destination, this article makes a series of management recommendations concerning the importance of disseminating and promoting this type of tourism resource through various information sources.

determinar el efecto de una intervención socioeducativa en mujeres víctimas de violencia intrafamiliar.

The bulk AgBi alloy system comprises a wide forbidden range of Ag solubility limited to a negligible molar fraction. In this contribution it is unambiguously demonstrated that Ag and Bi, elements with various in-common potential applications, can be alloyed on nanoscale, which is hugely different from the bulk form. These nanostructured Ag–Bi alloys are prepared by a mechano-chemistry pathway under normal conditions and without large amounts of solvents. The characterization of the nanoparticles by combination of UV–visible absorption and Raman spectroscopies as well as SEM, HAADF-STEM, XRD, and DSC lead to the finding of these sui generis nanoalloys and the unprecedented proposal of a predominantly atomic mixed alloyed structure for the AgxBi1–x(0.1 ≤ x≤ 0.5) clusters. This arrangement allows the coexistence of bulk-like lattices of zerovalent Bi and Ag. These resulting nanoparticles can effectively degrade NO; however, they are rapidly oxidized.

The 3rd Regional Roads Plan in Castilla-La Mancha 2015-2026 being promoted by the regional government from its Directorate General for Roads (DGC) is a strategic framework for the planning of road infrastructure over the next 12 years. A product of years of hard work and reflection, the Plan began with a visual inspection of the whole regional road network by DGC staff to check its physical characteristics and state of repair. On the basis of the data gathered, the traffic density, the roadaccident rate over the last few years and the current capacity of roads in service and forecasts for their future use, the network's real needs for the coming years were identified and measures were planned. The 3rd Plan entails an investment of 1,266m euros over the next 12 years in measures to improve the regional network's links with high-capacity state roads, upgrading and layout improvements, pavement reinforcement and the building of bypasses, and will involve works scheduled over 5,414 km of roads, without forgetting the ordinary maintenance and servicing tasks performed regularly on the whole network. The Plan includes a set of indicators of activity and results linked to the strategic objectives and scheduled actions which will facilitate the Plan's continuous assessment, as it is to be reviewed every four years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El pronóstico de la cardiopatía isquémica puede diferir entre géneros. Investigamos la evolución de pacientes con primer síndrome coronario agudo sin elevación del segmento ST (SCASEST) de alto riesgo (elevación de troponina iy/o alteraciones evolutivas del electrocardiograma) según género y estrategia inicial de tratamiento.

In recent years, cities have become a key factor for economic recovery and growth. The new knowledge-based economy models indicate that knowledge is an important, endogenous factor in economic growth. Researches have summarised all sources of knowledge in an index but there is no measure in monetary terms. In this paper, we have developed a monetary measure based on an intellectual capital approach for 158 European cities. Using this measurement we analyse the effect of different levels of knowledge city development on economic variables in the labour market and service sector, which all governments consider key to economic recovery. The results demonstrate that cities with more sustainable wealth are better positioned in terms of the labour market and that accessibility, tourism and connectivity between cities are key factors for the development of knowledge.

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This paper highlights the inconvenience of sodium ions in the Bi2S3quantum dots (QDs) deposition procedure, on the TiO2surface, for the conversion efficiency of the sensitized solar cells derived from these materials. Porous TiO2electrodes were sensitized with QDs obtained by the successive ion layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) technique, using aqueous solutions of Bi(NO3)3as the cation precursor and Na2S as the sulfide source. Independently, elemental sulfur vapor was used to replace the Na2S solution in the synthesis procedure. The obtained layers were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Raman scattering, and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. We found that the presence of sodium ions in the reaction system strongly affects the formation of Bi2S3on the porous TiO2. This result contrasts with what other authors have claimed. Using elemental sulfur vapor as a precursor, crystalline Bi2S3nanoparticles are formed on the TiO2surface. The sensitized solar cells produced using the two different types of photoelectrodes were compared based on the photocurrent–voltage characteristic and the photocurrent time stability. The sensitized photoelectrodes derived from elemental sulfur vapor are much more stable over time and can achieve an efficiency of 0.84%. This is the highest conversion efficiency value for any Bi2S3photoelectrochemical cell.

Citrus canker, caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas citrisubsp. citri(X. citri), is a plant disease affecting Citruscrops worldwide. However, little is known about defense compounds in Citrus. Here, we conducted a mass spectrometry-based metabolomic approach to obtain an overview of the chemical responses of Citrusleaves to X. citriinfection. To facilitate result interpretation, the multivariate analyses were combined with molecular networking to identify biomarkers. Metabolite variations among untreated and X. citri-inoculated Citrussamples under greenhouse conditions highlighted induced defense biomarkers. Notably, the plant tryptophan metabolism pathway was activated, leading to the accumulation of N-methylated tryptamine derivatives. This finding was subsequently confirmed in symptomatic leaves in the field. Several tryptamine derivatives showed inhibitory effects in vitro against X. citri. This approach has enabled the identification of new chemically related biomarker groups and their dynamics in the response of Citrusleaves to Xanthomonasinfection.

This report outlines the synthesis of zerovalent bismuth nanoparticle (ZV-Bi NP) colloidal dispersions, in dimethyl sulfoxide. For the general preparation pathway of these colloids, a commercial bismuth(III) salt and also a conventional reducing agent were used. All reactions took place immediately and under mild conditions. Stable, for more than three months, under room conditions, ZV-Bi NP colloids are obtained when using sodium citrate and a deficit of the reducing agent respect to the bismuth salt. This reaction mixture yields small, well-faceted, and also quasi-spherical crystalline particles, with an average size of 3.3 nm, SD of 1.0 nm, determined by HR-TEM. These are the smallest ZV-Bi NPs, synthesized by a fast and straightforward colloidal method, found in the literature. Indirect and direct energy gaps were discovered in the near-infrared spectral range (1400–1600 nm) of the ZV-Bi NPs, indicating the displacement of the conduction and valence bands due to the strong quantum confinement; bulk bismuth itself is a semimetal. This is the first time that energy gaps of quantum confined ZV-Bi NPs are found at room conditions. The dry ZV-Bi NP powders that precipitated from the colloids are totally stable in storage, at room conditions, for more than three years.

The quantitation of the natural cytotoxic and anti‐inflammatory alkaloid luotonin A and five recently synthesized derivatives is described, constituting the first report of a HPLC method for the analysis of these compounds in human serum samples. The conditions for the chromatographic separation were optimized and the method was validated for the analysis of these compounds in biological samples according to international guidelines. An RP‐HPLC method with fluorimetric detection and a C18stationary phase was applied. Different ACN/water mobile phases were assayed, including 0–4% of a mobile phase modifier such as tetrahydrofuran, dioxane or tert‐butyl methyl ether. Isocratic and gradient elution conditions are compared. The influence of pH on the efficiency and resolution of the separation was also considered. The developed method was applied to the determination of luotonins in pooled human serum samples by gradient elution RP‐HPLC using a simple cleanup procedure. The proposed chromatographic method exhibits satisfactory analytical figures of merit, with LOD from 1.0×10−10to 2.0×10−10M, intraday and interday precision below 6% except for the concentration level closest to LOD, and good agreement between experimental and theoretical concentrations. Therefore, the developed method is suitable, reliable, rapid, and simple.

AbstractIn pattern recognition, observations are often represented by the so called static features, that is, numeric values that represent some kind of attribute from observations, which are assumed constant with respect to an associated dimension or dimensions (e.g. time, space, and so on). Nevertheless, we can represent the objects to be classified by means of another kind of measurements that do change over some associated dimension: these are called dynamic features. A dynamic feature can be represented by either a vector or a matrix for each observation. The advantage of using such an extended form is the inclusion of new information that gives abetter representation of the object. The main goal in this work is to extend traditional Principal Component Analysis (normally applied on static features) to a classification task using a dynamic representation. The method was applied to detect the presence of pathology in the speech using two different voice disorders databases, obtaining high classification rates that remained after a relevant subset feature selection. The proposed scheme substantially reduced the feature space dimension without decreasing the accuracy in the detection. In pazticular, for the fast database the accuracy were in the range from 93% to 95% lowering the space dimension from 32 to 4 vaziables. For the second database, the performance was around 80%reducing the dimensionality from 32 to 9. Besides, with the proposed method is possible to identify which original dynamic features were relevant for the pathological voice detection task.

We introduce a class of stochastic processes in discrete time with finite state space by means of a simple matrix product. We show that this class coincides with that of the hidden Markov chains and provides a compact framework for it. We study a measure obtained by a projection on the real line of the uniform measure on the Sierpinski gasket, finding that the dimension of this measure fits with the Shannon entropy of an associated hidden Markov chain.

The relationship among scores on two personality dimensions, Emotional Stability and Extraversion, and on two cognitive coping strategies, Positive Thinking and Wishful Thinking, and on the Consequences of Coping scale were examined in 169 Spanish persons (78 men and 91 women; Mage= 36.3 yr., SD= 12.1). Positive Thinking was associated with high scores on the two personality dimensions and positive consequences, whereas Wishful Thinking was associated with low scores on both Emotional Stability and Extraversion and with negative consequences.

In this paper several index are presented for measuring the performance of models identified from the process reaction curve and critical information to reproduce the open-loop behavior of the plant, to estimate the system critical information and to predict the performance of the process under close-loop control. From tests using a high-order plant it is show that the model selection depends of the control studies that need to be made and general recommendations of which identification procedure use are given taking in consideration the model specific application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In tropical and subtropical climates, the shipment of animal brains for rabies diagnosis may be a problem because brain specimens sometimes arrive decomposed at the diagnostic laboratory. In this situation, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) may serve as a potential solution because of its high sensitivity. However, little is known about the stability of rabies viral RNA in decomposed brain tissue. To determine the stability of rabies virus genomic RNA in brain samples, 72 mice were inoculated with the challenge virus strain-11 of rabies virus. After incubation period, mice were euthanized to obtain their brains. These were categorized in 2 different groups. In the first group, 36 brains were kept at room temperature (25–27°C) immediately after euthanasia. In the second group, the other 36 inoculated brains were frozen at −70°C and later maintained at room temperature. In both groups, RT-PCR was performed at days 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10, 12, 16, 18, 23, and 26 by using primers previously described in the literature and a primer set specifically designed for a Mexican variant of vampire-bat rabies. Reverse-transcriptase PCR experiments were performed in 3 different inoculated brains, in which the direct fluorescent antibody (DFA) test was previously conducted to detect rabies viral antigen in the brains kept at room temperature and in the frozen brains. The DFA test resulted positive in both groups up to day 7. In brain samples stored at ambient temperature (25–27°C), the intensity of the RT-PCR band started to diminish by day 12; however, rabies virus genome could be successfully amplified by RT-PCR up to 23 days. These results indicate that brain samples kept at ambient temperature (up to 27°C) may reach a reference laboratory in an adequate state for rabies diagnosis by RT-PCR.

Subacute hyperoxia may cause basement membrane disruption and subsequent fibrosis. To test the role of extracellular matrix degradation in hyperoxic damage, we analyzed the expression of gelatinases A and B and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMP)-1 and TIMP-2 in rats exposed to 85% O2. Oxygen-exposed rats were studied at 1, 3, 5, and 7 days, and compared with air-breathing rats. Lung mRNAs assayed by Northern and in situhybridization showed an up-regulation of lung gelatinases A and B from the 3rd day on. Gelatinase A was localized in alveolar macrophages and in interstitial and alveolar epithelial cells. Gelatinase B mRNA and protein were localized in macrophages and bronchiolar and alveolar epithelial cells. Increased gelatinase A and B activities were demonstrated in bronchoalveolar lavage. TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 were constitutively expressed, and only TIMP-1 displayed a moderate increase with hyperoxia. To elucidate transcriptional mechanisms for increased gelatinase B expression after hyperoxia, nuclear transcription factor-κβ activation was explored. Oxidative stress significantly increased the lung expression of nuclear transcription factor-κβ (p65) protein, and nuclear transcription factor-κβ activation and increased levels of gelatinases A and B were found in isolated type II alveolar cells obtained from hyperoxic rats. Conceivably, subacute hyperoxia induces excessive gelatinase activity, which may contribute to lung damage.

The relationship between scores on Emotional Stability and on two cognitive coping strategies—Positive Thinking and Wishful Thinking—and the Consequences of Coping scale were examined in a group of 99 Spanish undergraduates. Positive Thinking was associated with high Emotional Stability and positive consequences, whereas Wishful Thinking was associated with low Emotional Stability and negative consequences.