STIM1 and ORAI1 proteins are regulators of intracellular Ca 2+ mobilization. This Ca 2+ mobilization is essential to shape Ca 2+ signaling in eukaryotic cells. STIM1 is a transmembrane protein located at the endoplasmic reticulum, where it acts as an intraluminal Ca 2+ sensor. The transient drop of intraluminal Ca 2+ concentration triggers STIM1 activation, which relocates to plasma membrane-endoplasmic reticulum junctions to bind and activate ORAI1, a plasma membrane Ca 2+ channel. Thus, the Ca 2+ influx pathway mediated by STIM1/ORAI1 is termed store-operated Ca 2+ entry (SOCE). STIM and ORAI proteins are also involved in non-SOCE Ca 2+ influx pathways, as we discuss here. In this chapter, we review the current knowledge regarding the role of SOCE, STIM1, and ORAI1 in cell signaling, with special focus on the modulation of the activity of kinases, phosphatases, and transcription factors that are strongly influenced by the extracellular Ca 2+ influx mediated by these regulators.

Organization’s competitiveness and profitability are part of its main objectives, developing different strategies to position themselves as one of the best, being one of these strategies Six Sigma (SS), initially developed in processes of manufacturing to eliminate production and services defects. However, literature has reported various applications and areas of implementation of SS, such as the administrative area. The objective of this article is to present results obtained in literature review related to the SS strategy. The article begins with basic strategy definitions, followed by the main applications and implementation areas, additionally, an analysis of the critical success factors (CSF) is shown as a suggestion for those who wish to develop the strategy and improve the administrative processes. The CSF is: Management Support and Commitment, Relationship with Clients, Organizational Culture, Education and Training, Organizational Infrastructure and Communication.

El estudio de las actividades realizadas por docentes y la presencia del síndrome de burnout inicia a finales de los años 70 para los de etapa básica y a finales de los 90s para docentes universitarios. Actualmente, el docente universitario realiza actividades enfocadas en tres roles, el docente, investigativo y administrativo; sin embargo, no se cuenta con un instrumento que considere directamente esta multiplicidad. Se presenta en esta investigación un instrumento para la valoración del síndrome de burnout y su relación con la multiplicidad de roles. El instrumento se validó con 4 expertos y una muestra de 30 profesores universitarios, obteniéndose 0.425 para el coeficiente de Kendall y 0.953 para el coeficiente de Alpha Cronbach. Posterior a su validación el instrumento se aplicó a una muestra representativa de 147 docentes universitarios de tiempo completo del Noroeste de México. Como resultado de la investigación se identificó que a mayor experiencia como docente disminuye la presencia del síndrome. Asimismo, el 35% de los profesores participantes reportaron la presencia del síndrome para el rol docente, 42% para el rol investigativo y el 47% para el rol administrativo, por lo que las actividades administrativas inducen más la presencia del burnout en los docentes. Assess teachers’ activities and burnout syndrome began at the end of the 70s, by the end of the 90s studies began for professors. Currently, professors must perform a multiplicity of roles -educational, researcher and administrative; however, there is no instrument that assess this multiplicity directly. An instrument to assess the multiplicity of roles that a professor must perform is presented. The instrument was validated using the participation of 4 experts and a sample of 30 professors, obtaining 0.425 for the Kendall coefficient and 0.953 for the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient. After validations, the instrument was applied to a representative sample of 147 full time professors from Northwest of Mexico. Application of the instrument found that professors with more experience reported lower presence of burnout syndrome. Likewise, 35% of professors showed burnout syndrome related to educational role, 42% related to research role, and 47% related to administrative role activities. Our finding underscores that administrative role induce more burnout syndrome for professors.

Recently, the interest in being part of more competitive companies has increased. For this, organizations apply various strategies of continuous improvement that allow them to maintain high standards of competitiveness. In this sense, organizations make use of various techniques, tools, and methodologies that support the achievement of objectives. This research presents an approach towards the Six Sigma (SS) strategy, one of the main continuous improvement strategies used to achieve competitiveness. On the other hand, organizations currently seek that during manufacture of their products, caring for the environment is naturally part of their objectives, seeking to achieve benefits with a sustainable impact. Therefore, this research seeks to define the CSF for implementation of SS through a factor analysis that allows identifying the relationship between SS and obtaining sustainable benefits (SB) through its implementation.

Currently, organizations seek to position themselves in the market as the most competitive and profitable in their branch, through the continuous improvement of their processes, products, and/or services, applying various techniques, tools, and methodologies. Particularly in this chapter, focus on Six Sigma (SS) will be shown, a strategy used in companies to achieve competitive objectives, continuously improving processes. In this sense, it is considered important to identify and know the main factors that are involved in its implementation. Likewise, the organizations are presenting a culture towards the sustainability and the environmental care, derived from this, the methodology used to develop a measurement instrument that allows to identify the CSF in the implementation of SS, the sustainable benefits that can be achieve with correct implementation, the procedure used for the validation of the content of the instrument, the validity of internal consistency and the obtained results.