Andres Muñoz - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Andres Muñoz

Revista de la Sociedad Química del Perú, 2015

En la actualidad, existe la necesidad de desarrollar nuevos dispositivos capaces de almacenarener... more En la actualidad, existe la necesidad de desarrollar nuevos dispositivos capaces de almacenarenergía, que sean ligeros, flexibles y amigables con el medio ambiente. En este trabajose presenta la síntesis y caracterización de películas delgadas a base de almidón de yuca(cassava) y películas delgadas de polipirrol; las cuales fueron utilizadas en el desarrollo de unacumulador electroquímico. Las películas de almidón fueron preparadas a partir de almidónnativo de yuca y la adición de plastificantes y perclorato de litio. Por otro lado, las películasde polipirrol (PPy) fueron dopadas con Índigo Carmín (IC) y ácido p-toluensulfónico(pTS) y se sintetizaron electroquímicamente en una celda electroquímica de tres electrodos(trabajo, referencia y auxiliar). La caracterización se llevó a cabo empleando las técnicaselectroquímicas de voltametría cíclica (VC) y espectroscopía de impedancia electroquímica(EIE). Los resultados indican un buen comportamiento electroquímico de las películasdelgadas...

Obesity, 2008

African Americans (AAs) tend to have lower total adiponectin levels compared to European American... more African Americans (AAs) tend to have lower total adiponectin levels compared to European Americans (EA); however, it is not known whether race affects adiponectin multimer distribution and their relationships to metabolic traits. We measured total adiponectin, high molecular weight (HMW), low molecular weight (LMW) (i.e., hexamer), and trimer adiponectin in 132 normoglycemic premenopausal women (75 AAs, 57 EAs), together with measures of total and abdominal fat, plasma lipids, insulin sensitivity (S i), and genetic admixture estimates. We found that lower total adiponectin in AAs was explained by reduced LMW, and trimer forms because levels of HMW did not differ between races. In EAs, HMW was highly correlated with multiple metabolic syndrome traits. In contrast, the LMW and trimer forms were most highly correlated with metabolic traits in AAs, including abdominal adiposity, lipids, and S i. At similar levels of visceral adiposity, AAs exhibited significantly lower LMW adiponectin than EAs. Similarly, at comparable levels of HMW and LMW adiponectin, AAs were more insulin resistant than their EA counterparts. In conclusion, (i) serum adiponectin is lower in AAs predominantly as a result of reduced concentrations of LMW and trimers multimeric forms; (ii) LMW and trimer, not HMW, are most broadly correlated with metabolic traits in AAs. Thus, HMW adiponectin may exert less bioactivity in explaining the metabolic syndrome trait cluster in populations of predominant African genetic background. Recent attention has been given to the fact that Ad circulates as multimers of various molecular weights with the predominant forms in humans being a high molecular weight (HMW) Ad species consistent with a duodecamer of ~360 kDa, and low molecular weight (LMW) Ad

Obesity, 2009

Whether the contribution of inflammation to risk for chronic metabolic disease differs with ethni... more Whether the contribution of inflammation to risk for chronic metabolic disease differs with ethnicity is not known. The objective of this study was to determine: (i) whether ethnic differences exist in markers of inflammation and (ii) whether lower insulin sensitivity among African Americans vs. whites is due to greater inflammatory status. Subjects were African-American (n = 108) and white (n = 105) women, BMI 27-30 kg/m 2. Insulin sensitivity was assessed with intravenous glucose tolerance test and minimal modeling; fat distribution with computed tomography; body composition with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; markers of inflammation (tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor (sTNFR)-1, sTNFR-2, C-reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin (IL)-6) with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Whites had greater intraabdominal adipose tissue (IAAT), insulin sensitivity, and concentrations of TNF-α, sTNFR-1, and sTNFR-2 than African Americans. Greater TNF-α in whites vs. African Americans was attributed to greater IAAT in whites. Among whites, but not African Americans, CRP was independently and inversely associated with insulin sensitivity, after adjusting for IAAT (r = −0.29 P < 0.05, and r = −0.13 P = 0.53, respectively). Insulin sensitivity remained lower in African Americans after adjusting for CRP (P < 0.001). In conclusion, greater IAAT among whites may be associated with greater inflammation. Insulin sensitivity was lower among African Americans, independent of obesity, fat distribution, and inflammation.

Metabolism, 2008

Objective-To study the effects of a short-term very-low calorie diet (VLCD) on intramyocellular l... more Objective-To study the effects of a short-term very-low calorie diet (VLCD) on intramyocellular lipid (IMCL), total body fat, and insulin sensitivity in a group of obese non-diabetic and Type 2 Diabetic (T2DM) patients. Research Methods and Procedures-Seven untreated T2DM and 5 obese non-diabetic individuals were studied before and after a 6-day VLCD using proton-magnetic resonance spectroscopy to quantify IMCL, DXA to assess body fat, and hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps to measure peripheral insulin sensitivity. Results-In both groups, decrements in total body fat mass and BMI were small but statistically significant. In contrast, the diet resulted in a pronounced reduction in IMCL compared to baseline values in non-diabetics (56% decrease) and T2DM (40% decrease), P<0.05, and this was accompanied by an overall 9.3% increase in maximally-stimulated glucose disposal rate (P<0.01). IMCL was significantly correlated with insulin sensitivity, (r=−0.69; P<0.01) and waist circumference (r = 0.72 and 0.83, baseline and post-diet respectively, both P < 0.01), but neither IMCL nor insulin sensitivity was related to measures of general adiposity such as BMI, % body fat, or total body fat (P=NS). Conclusions-Short-term VLCD is accompanied by small decrements in general adiposity, marked decrease in IMCL, and an increase in insulin sensitivity in non-diabetic and T2DM subjects. Therefore, rapid amelioration of insulin resistance by VLCD can be partially explained by loss of IMCL in both non-diabetics and in T2DM in the absence of substantial changes in total body fat.

En este trabajo se pretende hacer un acercamiento al estudio del paisaje desde su perspectiva dua... more En este trabajo se pretende hacer un acercamiento al estudio del paisaje desde su perspectiva dual, espacial y temporal. Se propone un retorno a la geografía y la defensa del espacio como objeto de estudio al tiempo que se mantiene una lectura temporal, eventual, del paisaje. Se trata de investigar las formas en que al enfrentarse al espacio no dominado se trazan estrategias de dominación y medida. Para ello se han estudiado dos casos de estudio: la Batalla de Berlín durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial y el lago Salton en California

Journal of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Introduction: Besides more common sites such as lung or peritoneum, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC... more Introduction: Besides more common sites such as lung or peritoneum, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can metastatize to rare sites. We report herein a new metastatic site of HCC: the nail-bed. We also review other recently reported rare site HCC metastases (RSHM). Case Report: A 66-year-old woman with a 12-year history of resected-stage IA HCC who later presented lung, spleen and brain metastases treated with surgery, systemic therapies (sorafenib, sunitinib, capecitabine) and radiotherapy. The patient was referred to us because of a painful and rapidly evolving mass in the nail-bed of the left thumb. Biopsy confirmed nail-bed HCC metastasis, and the finger was amputated. The patient died few weeks later. Conclusion: This case was an opportunity for us to review RSHM. This type of metastasis seems to be an early event, in the context of advanced stage HCC with elevated protein induced by vitamin K absence-II (PIVKA II). The Lee nomogram is useful in detecting patients at high risk of developing RSHM. We would suggest insisting on systemic treatment in these metastatic patients although overall survival after RSHM diagnosis is poor.

Expert Systems with Applications

ArXiv, 2020

In this paper, we present a network architecture for video generation that models spatio-temporal... more In this paper, we present a network architecture for video generation that models spatio-temporal consistency without resorting to costly 3D architectures. In particular, we elaborate on the components of noise generation, sequence generation, and frame generation. The architecture facilitates the information exchange between neighboring time points, which improves the temporal consistency of the generated frames both at the structural level and the detailed level. The approach achieves state-of-the-art quantitative performance, as measured by the inception score, on the UCF-101 dataset, which is in line with a qualitative inspection of the generated videos. We also introduce a new quantitative measure that uses downstream tasks for evaluation.

International Journal of Intelligent Systems, 2020

Nowadays, cities are the most relevant type of human settlement and their population has been end... more Nowadays, cities are the most relevant type of human settlement and their population has been endlessly growing for decades. At the same time, we are witnessing an explosion of digital data that capture many different aspects and details of city life. This allows detecting human mobility patterns in urban areas with more detail than ever before. In this context, based on the fusion of mobility data from different and heterogeneous sources, such as public transport, transport‐network connectivity and Online Social Networks, this study puts forward a novel approach to uncover the actual land use of a city. Unlike previous solutions, our work avoids a time‐invariant approach and it considers the temporal factor based on the assumption that urban areas are not used by citizens all the time in the same manner. We have tested our solution in two different cities showing high accuracy rates.

Environmental Modelling & Software, 2021

Abstract Constructed wetlands (CWs) are engineering systems recognized as an efficient and sustai... more Abstract Constructed wetlands (CWs) are engineering systems recognized as an efficient and sustainable option to wastewater treatment. Due to the growing interest in CWs for waste management, the number of works analyzing their footprint and impact has risen in the last years. Thus, the study of these systems and their components in construction, operation, and demolition phases is important to characterize the technology and achieve a fully environmental-friendly approach. Until now, no complete tools for measuring both direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in CWs have been reported in the field. Some efforts in this line are Life Cycle Assessment tools, which can be economically expensive and usually require specific training. Therefore, this work aims to present a web application as an open and complete tool for the estimation of GHG emissions in CWs, including both direct and indirect emissions and considering all the stages involved in their management.

Melanoma Management, 2020

Aim: Morbidity of open inguinal lymphadenectomy (OIL) is high. We use laparoscopy for pelvic time... more Aim: Morbidity of open inguinal lymphadenectomy (OIL) is high. We use laparoscopy for pelvic time, preservation of the greater saphenous vein and transverse inguinal incisions (laparoscopically assisted ilio-inguinal lymphadenectomy, LIIL) to improve postoperative outcomes. Patients & methods: Retrospective comparison of 14 patients who underwent LIIL and seven patients who underwent OIL. Results: Fourteen LIIL compared with seven OIL showed a statistically significant reduction in morbidity (15.3 vs 75%) and hospital stay (7 vs 15.7 days). Pelvic lymph node involvement (27%) was not detected preoperatively. With a mean follow-up of 36.2 (range: 3–137) months, local recurrence rate was 58.3% in LIIL and 40% in OIL. Overall survival was significantly higher in OIL than in LIIL. Conclusion: Compared with OIL, LIIL reduced postoperative complications and hospital stay.

Sensors, 2019

Road traffic pollution is one of the key factors affecting urban air quality. There is a consensu... more Road traffic pollution is one of the key factors affecting urban air quality. There is a consensus in the community that the efficient use of public transport is the most effective solution. In that sense, much effort has been made in the data mining discipline to come up with solutions able to anticipate taxi demands in a city. This helps to optimize the trips made by such an important urban means of transport. However, most of the existing solutions in the literature define the taxi demand prediction as a regression problem based on historical taxi records. This causes serious limitations with respect to the required data to operate and the interpretability of the prediction outcome. In this paper, we introduce QUADRIVEN (QUalitative tAxi Demand pRediction based on tIme-Variant onlinE social Network data analysis), a novel approach to deal with the taxi demand prediction problem based on human-generated data widely available on online social networks. The result of the prediction ...

Inorganic Chemistry Communications, 2017

OMe) 3 (4)), with H 2 O 2 , BH 3 •THF or selenium gives the respective cyrhetrenylphosphine oxide... more OMe) 3 (4)), with H 2 O 2 , BH 3 •THF or selenium gives the respective cyrhetrenylphosphine oxides, boranes and selenides. These species were characterized by standard spectroscopic techniques (FT-IR, 1 H and 31 PNMR). Based on the 31 P\ \ 77 Se coupling constant (1 J P-Se) of the phosphineselenides, we established the following order of basicity of the parent cyrhetrenylphosphine 2 N 3 N 4 N 1. We also confirmed the opposite electronic effects of the cyrhetrenyl and ferrocenyl groups attached to a-PR 2 unit. Finally, phosphine selenides 2c and 4c were structurally characterized by X-ray diffraction.

Dyna Ingenieria E Industria, Sep 12, 2008

La transferencia de resultados de los desarrollos tecnologicos conseguidos por cientificos e inge... more La transferencia de resultados de los desarrollos tecnologicos conseguidos por cientificos e ingenieros, para que se proceda a su explotacion y comercializacion, es un empeno de gran importancia en nuestros dias. Muchas Universidades y Centros Tecnologicos tienen departamentos u oficinas con este objetivo. Estos departamentos son, en realidad, interfaces entre los investigadores y la industria. La creacion de Modelos de Gestion que puedan aplicarse a la transferencia de tecnologia presenta especial interes. Estos Modelos pueden basarse en otros mas generales, como puede ser el caso de los denominados Modelos de Excelencia o de los especificamente construidos para emplearse en Gestion del Conocimiento. Unos y otros han proliferado en nuestros dias. Todos ellos parecen presentar un fundamento comun. Este articulo presenta un Modelo de Gestion especifico para entidades dedicadas a la transferencia de tecnologia.

Anexo 3.3: Estimación de máxima verosimilitud de la eficiencia para el número de propiedades y el... more Anexo 3.3: Estimación de máxima verosimilitud de la eficiencia para el número de propiedades y el avalúo promedio de los predios en zonas urbanas y rurales .... 4. Recaudación local en un medio centralizado: cómo potenciar la eficiencia del impuesto sobre bienes inmuebles en Costa Rica .

Atlantis Computational Intelligence Systems, 2010

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) systems rely on the use of environmental information to seamlessly ass... more Ambient Intelligence (AmI) systems rely on the use of environmental information to seamlessly assist users in their daily lives. As the development of AmI architectures is involving a larger amount of users and devices information, the potential occurrence of conflicts derived from the use of this information becomes higher. These conflicts are usually represented as inconsistencies between different pieces of information. As a result, the AmI systems need a mechanism to decide upon these conflicting situations in order to still give an appropriate response. In this chapter we propose the use of Argumentation as a methodology for automatically detecting and solving these conflicting situations. More specifically, we describe a smart TV service which combines different information about viewers' presence and preferences and TV programs data to elaborate a list of recommending programs. Several arguments for and against recommending a same program are presented to the AmI system. Then, by means of argumentative techniques and several meta-decision criteria, the system is able to assist through mediation in the context of conflicting preferences or needs.

Polyhedron, 2009

Diphenylphosphinecyrhetrene ligand (g 5-C 5 H 4 PPh 2)Re(CO) 3 (1) reacts with 1 equiv. of PdCl 2... more Diphenylphosphinecyrhetrene ligand (g 5-C 5 H 4 PPh 2)Re(CO) 3 (1) reacts with 1 equiv. of PdCl 2 (NCPh) 2 to form, after workup, the square-planar trans-[(g 5-C 5 H 4 PPh 2)Re(CO) 3 ]PdCl 2 (NCMe) (2). Similarly, reaction of 1 with (tetrahydrothiophene)AuCl produces, in excellent yield, the bimetallic complex [(g 5-C 5 H 4 PPh 2)Re(CO) 3 ]AuCl (3) with a linear P-Au-Cl moiety. From the reaction of 2 equiv. of 1 with CuBr(SMe 2) the planar-trigonal complex [(g 5-C 5 H 4 PPh 2)Re(CO) 3 ] 2 CuBr (4) was obtained. 31 P NMR and X-ray crystallography demonstrate, for the three cases, that (g 5-C 5 H 4 PPh 2)Re(CO) 3 acts as a monodentate ligand. The structural parameters of the bimetallic complexes are compared with related diphenylphosphinoferrocene metal complexes, described in the literature.

Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2008

The initial stages of Pt electrodeposition from H 2 PtCl 5 solutions on Si(111) surfaces were inv... more The initial stages of Pt electrodeposition from H 2 PtCl 5 solutions on Si(111) surfaces were investigated by standard electrochemical techniques and atomic force microscopy. It was found that under depletion conditions the reduction of Pt species shows a potential dependence that results from the discharging of surface states. The Pt deposition rate increases with the surface state density. Injection of holes from the redox level leads to formation of an ultrathin silicon oxide layer, which takes place simultaneously as a chemical process. Capacitance-voltage measurements show that the potential-dependent Pt deposition increases the concentration of surface states, related to the solvolytic oxidation of Si surface defect sites. The topographical analysis of the surface shows initial Pt deposition on the tips of atomic terraces that extends to deposition along step edges for higher coverage. Also, step bunching is observed with a step height increase to 2-5 nm.

Information Sciences, 2012

One of the most recurrent approaches for testing and debugging multi-agent systems is the use of ... more One of the most recurrent approaches for testing and debugging multi-agent systems is the use of displays which show recorded interactions among agents. These displays are studied in order to discover faults in the software. Three main shortcomings are present in this approach: (1) how to capture the interactions in distributed multi-agent systems is not usually explained; (2) a total order among the events is considered and this is not accurate in a distributed system; (3) an excess of information is displayed to developers without the possibility of obtaining a summary. This paper offers a solid infrastructure to capture, order, display and summarize messages exchanged in multi-agent systems. To deal with (1), a generic registration layer is offered by using aspect oriented programming. Vector clocks are employed to order the distributed events with the aim of solving (2). These clocks are combined with graph theory to obtain simplified representations of the interactions. Finally, abstract graphs are presented as a mechanism to summarize interactions to cover (3). Several case studies demonstrate the utility of the approach presented here and an open source implementation is provided along with the paper.

Electrochimica Acta, 1998

ÐAluminum±indium alloys are activated at a potential close to À1.1 V SCE in chloride solutions, w... more ÐAluminum±indium alloys are activated at a potential close to À1.1 V SCE in chloride solutions, where a pH value of 3 is found inside an active aluminum pit. Under these conditions the eect exerted by In is still a matter of discussion. Therefore, the electrochemical behavior of In in chloride solutions at pH 3 in this potential region, was studied. The hydrogen evolution reaction and the eects of local alkalization, Cl À and the presence of surface oxide, were analyzed. Experiments carried out with both electrode rotation and low Cl À concentrations show the presence of a cathodic current density (cd) plateau, this latter being attributed to a possible catalytic eect exerted by the oxide layer on the hydrogen evolution reaction. An increase of Cl À concentration generates a shift of the cd plateau towards lower cathodic cd values. The appearance of a rise in the anodic cd at a potential close to À1.1 V was followed by voltammetric studies. This process was found to be dependent of the Cl À concentration and to be controlled by mass transfer. These ®ndings were explained in terms of a metal oxidation promoted by speci®c Cl À adsorption at a potential close to the pzc, giving rise to the formation of a surface salt ®lm through which anions migrate.