Reacciones de los consumidores en el polígrafo ante una propaganda sobre medio ambiente – María Orquídea Escobar

En mercadeo, resulta difícil conocer las reacciones de los consumidores ante los estímulos publicitarios. Estas reacciones con frecuencia no se pueden observar de manera directa, por lo cual existe una tendencia a emplear tecnología especializada para medir el comportamiento de los individuos ante diferentes estímulos. En esta investigación se busca conocer las respuestas psicofisiológicas ante una propaganda sobre medio ambiente, medidas por medio del polígrafo, en 20 personas, hombres y mujeres estudiantes universitarios y profesionales, con edades entre 18 y 48 años, en Bogotá. Los resultados muestran una diferencia en cuanto a la respiración torácica y abdominal y evidencian contradicciones entre el reporte verbal sobre el impacto de la propaganda y las reacciones frente al polígrafo.

Successes, challenges and needs regarding rural health medical education in continental Central America: a literature review and narrative synthesis

Central American countries, like many others, face a shortage of rural health physicians. Most medical schools in this region are located in urban areas and focus on tertiary care training rather than on community health or primary care, which are better suited for rural practice. However, many countries require young physicians to do community service in rural communities to address healthcare provider shortages. This study aimed to: (a) synthesize what is known about the current state of medical education preparing physicians for rural practice in this region, and (b) identify common needs, challenges and opportunities for improving medical education in this area.METHODSA comprehensive literature review was conducted between December 2013 and May 2014. The stepwise, reproducible search process included English and Spanish language resources from both data-based web search engines (PubMed, Web of Science/Web of Knowledge, ERIC and Google Scholar) and the grey literature. Search criteria included MeSH terms: 'medical education', 'rural health', 'primary care', 'community medicine', 'social service', in conjunction with 'Central America', 'Latin America', 'Mexico', 'Guatemala', 'Belize', 'El Salvador', 'Nicaragua', 'Honduras', 'Costa Rica' and 'Panama'. Articles were included in the review if they (1) were published after 1984; (2) focused on medical education for rural health, primary care, community health; and (3) involved the countries of interest. A narrative synthesis of the content of resources meeting inclusion criteria was done using qualitative research methods to identify common themes pertaining to the study goals.RESULTSThe search revealed 20 resources that met inclusion criteria. Only four of the 20 were research articles; therefore, information about this subject was primarily derived from expert opinion. Thematic analysis revealed the historical existence of several innovative programs that directly address rural medicine training needs, suggesting that expertise is present in this region. However, numerous challenges limit sustainability or expansion of successful programs. Common challenges include: (a) physicians' exposure to rural medicine primarily takes place during social service commitment time, rather than during formal medical training; (b) innovative educational programs are often not sustainable due to financial and leadership challenges; (c) the majority of physician manpower is in urban areas, resulting in few rural physician role models and teachers; and (d) there is insufficient collaboration to establish clinical and educational systems to meet rural health needs. Recurring suggestions for curricular changes include: (a) making primary care training a core component of medical school education; and (b) expanding medical school curricula in cross-cultural communication and social determinants of disease. Suggestions for health system changes include: (a) improving living and working conditions for rural physicians; and (b) establishing partnerships between educational, governmental and non-governmental organizations and rural community leadership, to promote rural health training and systems.CONCLUSIONSExpertise in rural medicine and training exists in continental Central America. However, there are numerous challenges to improving medical education to meet the needs of rural communities. Overcoming these challenges will require creative solutions, new partnerships, and evaluation and dissemination of successful educational programs. There is a great need for further research on this topic.

Wpływ koncentracji kapitału własnego na jego efektywność w wybranych spółdzielniach mleczarskich w Polsce w latach 2003–2012

The aim of the work was to analyse and evaluate the impact of the concentration of equity capital on its efficiency on the example of two biggest milk cooperatives in Poland (SM Mlekovita and SM Mlekpol). Except of standard appraisal factors of the efficiency of the considered capital, indicators of the productivity of equity capital altogether and its fundamental components were applied. In years 2003–2012 examined milk cooperatives were characterized by large concentration of equity capital, realizing somewhat different strategies of its concentration. Large concentration of equity capital significantly improved the value of the property of these cooperatives, as well as their sales revenue. In both co-operatives the worsening of the financial profitability was caused by a fall of the sales profitability as well as the multiplier of the equity capital. However, the growth of the capital productivity positively influenced the value of the indicator ROE. The productivity of the equity capital and its components fell. The principal amounts of the equity capital and the shareholding fund and capital fund are very strongly related to the sales value.

Konsumencka percepcja nowych technologii stosowanych w produkcji żywności

The aim of the study was to investigate consumers’ attitudes to novel technologies used in food production. They were measured using a scale of Food Technology Neophobia Scale. The survey was conducted in 2013 in a nationwide group of 1000 consumers. For data analysis the frequency analysis, cross tables and factor analysis were used. To determine statistically significant differences between the variables, Chi-square test was used at p < 0.05. It revealed neutral or even negative consumers’ attitude to novel technologies used in food production. More positive attitudes were represented by women and those aged 26–35, while more negative ones by men, the elderly and people with lower levels of education. It can be concluded that exposing information about the method of food production can be a barrier to purchasing food products within people with negative or even neutral attitudes towards novel technologies. A monitored use of this information in marketing communications and/or conducting consumer education in this area is needed.

Struktura mleczarń ze względu na skalę produkcji wybranych produktów mleczarskich w Polsce i Niemczech (w latach 2003-2012)

Ekonomika informacji na tle rozwoju społeczeństwa globalnego

Security Compliance Tracking of Processes in Networked Cooperating Systems

Systems of systems that collaborate for a common purpose are called cooperating systems. Typical examples of novel cooperating systems are electronic health systems and electronic money transfer systems but also critical infrastructures, such as future vehicular ad hoc networks and distributed air traffic management systems. Business processes and technical workflows control the cooperation of the networked systems. Important safety and security goals of the applications, business goals, and external compliance requirements create security obligations for such processes. These processes must not only be secure, they must be demonstrably so. To support this, we present an approach for security compliance tracking of processes in networked cooperating systems using an advanced method of predictive security analysis at runtime. At that, operational models are utilized for: (a) tracking conformance of process behavior with respect to the specification, (b) detection of behavior anomalies which indicate possible attacks, (c) tracking compliance of process behavior with respect to safety and security requirements, and (d) prediction of possible violations of safety and security policies in the near future. We provide an extensive background analysis, introduce the model-based conformance tracking and uncertainty management algorithm, and describe security compliance tracking and model-based behavior prediction. We demonstrate the implementation of the proposed approach on a critical infrastructure scenario from a European research project.

Phosphate-solubilizing bacteria associated with runner bean rhizosphere

Soil microorganisms, especially rhizobacteria, play a key role in soil phosphorus (P) dynamics and the subsequent availability of phosphate to plants. Utilization of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria as biofertilizers instead of synthetic chemicals is known to improve plant growth through the supply of plant nutrients, and may help to sustain environmental health and soil productivity. The main purpose of this study was to identify new phosphate-solubilizing bacteria isolated from runner bean rhizosphere. Ten out of 25 isolated bacterial strains solubilized Ca3(PO4)2 in qualitative and quantitative P-solubilization. The strain that exhibited the highest potential to solubilize Ca3(PO4)2, was selected for further determination of the mechanisms involved in the process. The medium pH was measured, organic acids released in the culture medium were identified by HPLC analysis, and the acid and alkaline phosphatase activities were determined. Our results showed that strain R7 solubilized phosphorous through the production of various organic acids such as lactic, isocitric, tartaric and pyruvic acids, and that it can be used as a potential biofertilizer

Histological alterations under metal exposure in gills of European perch (Perca fluviatilis L.) from Topolnitsa Reservoir (Bulgaria)

Topolnitsa Reservoir is located in a region of Bulgaria rich in copper mines where intensive mining has been ongoing for several decades. General data on the ecological status of the reservoir and the effects of metal on fish is relatively scarce. The first aim of the study was to measure the concentrations of six metals (As, Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) in water samples and in the gills of European perch (Perca fluviatilis L.). The second objective was to examine gill structure and determine the severity of histological alteration as a result of metal exposure. Surface water and fish gill samples were collected in spring, summer and autumn in 2012 and metal and histological analyses were performed. Metal concentrations in the water samples varied, but only Cu concentrations were determined in all three seasons and they were higher than the maximum permissible levels. The gill metal concentrations were significantly higher (P<0.05) than in the water. Examination of gill structure revealed the presence of proliferative and degenerative changes, as well as changes in the blood vessels. Histological lesions were similar in their severity in all three seasons. This study provides the first information about metal effects on the morphology of European perch gills from Topolnitsa Reservoir. It can be concluded that the metal contamination of the Topolnitsa Reservoir and fish is chronic and that it can negatively affect the structure and function of fish gills. As metals display a tendency to accumulate in fish gills, their effects are expected to become more severe with time, as they affect gill functions

Adaptive mobile visualization - the chameleon framework

The evolution of mobile devices and the development of high speed wireless networks have supported a widespread use of these devices with increasingly more complex applications. This reality has fostered the research in the field of information visualization in mobile devices. However, the limited screen space, resource constraints and interaction restrictions impose difficulties to developers and users of these applications. An approach to address these problems is to adapt the visualization to the user context. However, these proposals are normally designed in an ad-hoc fashion and are difficult to generalize. In addition, existing solutions are focused only in some subset of possible characteristics of the user context or only address a very specific domain and related adaptations. The objective of this paper is to present the design of a framework for adaptive mobile visualization (AMV) applications, denominated Chameleon, and the development and evaluation of prototypes that use this conceptual-based framework.