MS. PUBLISHER: HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN BROCHURES

The Grandma visits Sant Boi de Llobregat

Today, The Grandma has said goodbye to some friends in Sant Boi. She has finished a course with eleven wonderful people and they have been learning computer together.

Sant Boi de Llobregat is a town of 82,142 inhabitants in the Barcelona province in Catalonia, located aside the Llobregat river. The town is divided into six districts: Ciutat Cooperativa-Molí Nou, Marianao-Can Paulet, Barri Centre, Vinyets-Molí Vell, Camps Blancs-Canons-Orioles and Casablanca.

It borders to the north with the towns of Santa Coloma de Cervelló, Sant Joan Despí and the village of Sant Climent de Llobregat, to the east with the town of Cornellà de Llobregat, to the west with Viladecans and to the south with El Prat de Llobregat, having a narrow land extension to the south that enters into the Mediterranean Sea.

Though the main business activity is centered in the trading and service sector, Sant Boi also has a remarkable industrial activity, especially for metallurgy; agriculture is stimulated by the fertile alluvial lands at the mouth of Llobregat river and a mild climate, producing a wide variety of vegetables like the famous Llobregat's delta artichokes.

More information: Ajuntament de Sant Boi

The finding of archeological remains corresponding to Iberian colonies (VI-I bC) and the Romans (I-V aC) -a noteworthy Roman bath is located near the river -suggests that the origins of Sant Boi can be found in pre-Roman times.

Like most of the surrounding lands, from the 8th to the 11th century the town was controlled by the Moors, until their expulsion from Iberia during the Reconquista. The Moors called it Alcala, which means castle, due to the existence of a hillock from where the river and the valley were dominated. Its present name derives from the name of Saint Baudilus, known as Boi or Baldiri in Catalonia.

During the Middle Ages the village was progressively populated, growing from the surroundings of the castle to adjacent zones.

The Grandma visits the Roman Baths in Sant Boi

A baroque-style church was built during the 16th century. The growth kept on during the following centuries, giving rise to numerous Masies, typical Catalan agricultural housing, near the river and the most fertile lands. At the end of the 19th century Sant Boi was a village of nearly 5000 inhabitants, with an economy mainly based in agriculture.

At the beginnings of the 20th century the first industries flourished in Sant Boi, ranging from brick manufacture to metalwork.

With the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939 there is a massive inflow of immigration coming from diverse points of the Spanish geography. 

These flows of population consisted mainly in people from villages and small towns searching a job and career opportunities in the town of Barcelona, stimulated by the increasing demand of workmanship in the regrowth of the Catalan industry during the postwar period. The population rises from 10.000 people in 1940 to 65.000 in 1975. This period is characterized by the construction of complete quarters like Casablanca, Camps Blancs, Cooperativa dedicated to housing for the immigration.

Nowadays Sant Boi is a town with more than 80,000 inhabitants, with well-established industrial and services sectors, and a healthy cultural and recreational offer.

Sant Boi is homeland of Baldiri Aleu, Manel Esteller, Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol.

More information: Museu de Sant Boi de Llobregat

The Grandma admires Manel Esteller a lot and she wants to talk about him a little.

Manel Esteller (born in Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Catalonia, 1968) graduated in Medicine from the University of Barcelona in 1992, where he also obtained his doctorate, specializing in the molecular genetics of endometrial carcinoma, in 1996. He was an invited researcher at the School of Biological and Medical Sciences at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, during which time his research interests focused on the molecular genetics of inherited breast cancer.

Manel Esteller is the director of the Cancer Epigenetics and Biology Program (PEBC) of the Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), leader of the Cancer Epigenetics Group, professor of Genetics in the School of Medicine of the University of Barcelona, and research professor at the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA). He is also the editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal Epigenetics.

Manel Esteller

Esteller works in the field of epigenetics of health and disease. Starting from identical genetic sequences, changes in histone modifications and DNA methylation can produce organisms with different features and distinct susceptibility to sickness. An example is monozygotic twins. To have a complete picture of what is going on with the epigenetic tapestry of our cells, Esteller has advocated the development of a comprehensive Human Epigenome Project (HEP) to map all the epigenetic marks in our genetic material. This could have a huge impact in cancer patients, because malignant cells have a profound dysregulation of DNA methylation and histone modification patterns. The good news is that the first pharmacological compounds to restore the normal epigenetic landscapes are starting to emerge.

Esteller edited the book DNA Methlyation: Approaches, Methods and Applications -in the book, he attempts to explain to readers how DNA methylation plays a role in disease, particularly the role in cancer. He also summarizes a lot of research from clinical trials and other research that has been done on DNA methylation in the human body to provide readers with many different point of views concerning the topic.

Epigenetics in biology and medicine is another book in which Esteller explained the main principles of epigenetics, new discoveries in the field, and how they can be applied functionally. He has examined the relationship between epigenetics and disease, genetic syndromes, immunity, cardiovascular disease, and epigenomics.

More information: @ManelEsteller

During three months, The Grandma has shared wonderful and unforgettable moments with her mates in class. They have learnt a lot about computers and Microsoft programmes. She likes Microsoft Publisher especially, because this program allows the possibility of creating your own publicity and your own brochures.

Microsoft Publisher is a desktop publishing application from Microsoft, differing from Microsoft Word in that the emphasis is placed on page layout and design rather than text composition and proofing.

Publisher is included in higher-end editions of Microsoft Office, reflecting Microsoft's emphasis on the application as an easy-to-use and less expensive alternative to the heavyweights with a focus on the small-business market, where firms do not have dedicated design professionals available to make marketing materials and other documents. 

The Class, Sant Boi de Llobregat

However, it has a relatively small share of the desktop publishing market, which is dominated by Adobe InDesign and formerly by QuarkXPress. 

While most Microsoft Office apps adopted ribbons for their user interface starting with Microsoft Office 2007, Publisher retained its toolbars and did not adopt ribbons until Microsoft Office 2010. LibreOffice has supported Publisher's proprietary file format (.pub) since February 2013.

Corel Draw X4 features read-only support. Adobe PageMaker also saves files with a .pub extension, but the two file formats are incompatible and unrelated.

Publisher supports numerous other file formats, including the Enhanced Metafile (EMF) format, which is supported on Windows platforms. The Microsoft Publisher trial version can be used to view .pub files beyond the trial period.

More information: Microsoft Publisher

The Grandma hopes her mates have had a great experience in class and she wants to thanks them their perseverance, interest and motivation. Thanks to all of them: Alberto, Alicia, Ana, Ángeles, Cristian, Isabel, Lidia, María, Norah (aka Lili), Tere (aka Mayte) and Víctor. Good luck in your closer future and see you soon.

After saying goodbye to her classmates, The Grandma has studied her Ms. Excel course.

Cell Format Exercises (II) (Catalan Version)

Never stop fighting until you arrive at your destined place 

-that is, the unique you. Have an aim in life, 

continuously acquire knowledge, work hard, 

and have perseverance to realise the great life.

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam