The debate about the impact of ISO 9000/1994 on performance has been waging since its inception. While there is a general agreement regarding the positive impact of TQM on performance, there has been less agreement among the academics about the impact of ISO 9000/1994. Perhaps in response to such debate, the new ISO 9001/2000 has appeared purporting to be more in line with the TQM philosophy. As of now, how this 2000 version actually affects performance is yet to be explored. In this study, we compare the implementation of ISO 9000/1994 and ISO 9001/2000 as representing two different efforts to implement quality management practices. We evaluate its impact on company performance with a sample of 713 Spanish industrial companies. We also examine if the 2000 version of ISO is taking us closer to the implementation of TQM. Further, we depart from the past studies methodologically by considering performance as a formative construct rather than a reflective construct. Based on the mean and covariance structural (MACS) analyses, we conclude that ISO 9001/2000 certified companies do not perform noticeably better than ISO 9000/1994 or non‐certified companies. However, we find that ISO 9001/2000 certified companies apply TQM at a higher level than ISO 9000/1994 certified companies, but whether they actually perform better is less clear.

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The emergence of off-screen interaction devices is bringing the field of virtual reality to a broad range of applications where virtual objects can be manipulated without the use of traditional peripherals. However, to facilitate object interaction, other stimuli such as haptic feedback are necessary to improve the user experience. To enable the identification of virtual 3D objects without visual feedback, a haptic display based on a vibrotactile glove and multiple points of contact gives users an enhanced sensation of touching a virtual object with their hands. Experimental results demonstrate the capacity of this technology in practical applications.

Ter-preserved cadaveric VH could be safely used in OLT despite early destruction of endothelium.

The emissions of CO 2 gas caused by transport in urban areas are increasingly serious, and the public transport sector plays a vital role in society, especially when considering the increased demands for mobility. New energy technologies in urban mobility are being introduced, as evidenced by the electric vehicle. We evaluated the positive environmental effects in terms of CO 2 emissions that would be produced by the replacement of conventional urban transport bus fleets by electric buses. The simulation of an electric urban bus conceptual model is presented as a case study. The model is validated using the speed and height profiles of the most representative route within the city of Madrid-the C1 line. We assumed that the vehicle fleet is charged using the electric grid at night, when energy demand is low, the cost of energy is low, and energy is produced with a large provision of renewable energy, principally wind power. For the results, we considered the percentage of fleet replacement and the Spanish electricity mix. The analysis shows that by gradually replacing the current fleet of buses by electric buses over 10 years (2020 to 2030), CO 2 emissions would be reduced by up to 92.6% compared to 2018 levels.Energies 2019, 12, 525 2 of 31 EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL, on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently" [4], which makes reference to public transport, in particular, providing incentives for its use, the application of energy efficient technologies, and the use of renewable sources in the sector, in order to reduce the dependency on petroleum.Analysing the subject at a local level (Spain), in 2013, 239.7 MtCO 2 were emitted by all sectors, and the largest CO 2 -emitting sectors in Spain were transport (34.1%) and power generation (20.4%). Industry accounted for 16.6%, followed by other energy industries (including refining) producing 7.9%, households producing 6.6%, and the commercial sector producing 6.5% of the total [5]. The transport sector shows a similar trend at the world level, with road transport being the most representative in the contribution of CO 2 , emitting 81.08 MtCO 2 of the 86.13 MtCO 2 total. In other words, this type of transport represents 94% of all the emissions of the sector.The main cause of these high CO 2 emissions in the transport sector is the excessive use of energy vectors from non-renewable sources, especially gasoline and diesel. The problem of energy dependency is crucial in countries such as Spain that lack these resources, and are forced to import them. Therefore, it is essential to look for alternative sources and methods in order to reduce the demand for this type of resource.Public transport via urban buses plays a fundamental role in society, as it is an efficient means to move a considerable number of people throughout a city. With the current occupation rate in relation to cars, a standard full urban bus could remove more than 40 cars from the city [7], which would considerably improve traffic problems, re...

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To date, several groups have generated homologous models of endometriosis through the implantation of endometrial tissue fluorescently labeled by green fluorescent protein (GFP) or tissue from luciferase-expressing transgenic mice into recipient animals, enabling noninvasive monitoring of lesion signal. These models present an advantage over endpoint models, but some limitations persist; use of transgenic mice is laborious and expensive, and GFP presents poor tissue penetration due to the relatively short emission wavelength. For this reason, a homologous mouse model of endometriosis that allows in vivo monitoring of generated lesions over time and mimics human lesions in recipient mice would be most desirable. In this regard, using C57BL/6 and B6N-Tyrc-Brd/BrdCrCrl mice, we optimized a decidualization protocol to obtain large volumes of decidual endometrium and mimic human lesions. Subsequently, to obtain a more robust and reliable noninvasive monitoring of lesions, we used the fluorescent reporter mCherry, which presents deeper tissue penetration and higher photostability, showing that endometrial tissue was properly labeled with 1 × 108 PFU/mL mCherry adenoviral vectors. mCherry-labeled endometriotic tissue was implanted in recipient mice, generating lesions that displayed characteristics typical of human endometriotic lesions, such as epithelial cells forming glands, local inflammation, collagen deposits, and new vessel formation. In vivo monitoring demonstrated that subcutaneous implantation on ventral abdomen of recipient mice provided the most intense and reliable signal for noninvasive lesion monitoring over a period of at least 20 days. This homologous model improves upon previously reported models of endometriosis and provides opportunities to study mechanism underlying endometriotic lesion growth and progression. We created a cost-effective but accurate homologous mouse model of endometriosis that allows the study of growth and progression of endometriotic lesions over early time points in lesion development through noninvasive monitoring.

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