Régimen jurídico de las lenguas y reconocimiento de la diversidad lingüística en el Tratado por el que se establece una Constitución para Europa

The territory of the European Union is made up of a rich and wide-ranging universe of languages, which is not circumscribed to the «State languages». The existence of multilingualism is one of Europe’s defining characteristics and it should remain so in the constantly evolving model of Europe’s political structure. Nonetheless, until now, the official use of languages has been limited to the «State languages» and has been based on a concept of state monolingualism that has led to a first level of hierarchization among the languages of Europe. This has affected the very concept of European language diversity. The draft of the treaty establishing a European Constitution contains various language-related references that can be grouped in two major categories: on the one hand, those references having to do the constitutional status of languages, and on the other, those regarding the recognition of European language diversity. Both issues are dealt with in this article. In analyzing the legal regime governing languages set forth in the draft of the constitutional treaty, we note that the draft is not based on the concept of the official status of languages. The language regulation contained in the draft of the constitutional treaty is limited in character. The constitutional language regime is based on the concept of Constitutional languages but the official status of languages is not governed by this rule. The European Constitution merely enunciates rights governing language use for European citizens vis-à-vis the languages of the Constitution and refers the regulation of the official status of languages to the Council, which is empowered to set and modify that status by unanimous decision. Because of its broad scope, this constitutes a regulatory reservation. In the final phase of the negotiation process a second level of constitutional recognition of languages would be introduced, linked to those that are official languages in the member states (Catalan, Basque, Galician, etc.). These languages, however, would be excluded from the right to petition; they would constitute a tertium genus, an intermediate category between the lan guages benefiting from the language rights recognized under the Constitution and those other languages for which no status is recognized in the European institutional context. The legal functionality of this second, intermediate category will depend on the development of standards, i.e., it will depend on the entrée provided such languages in future reforms of the institutional language regime. In a later section, the article reflects on European Union language policy with regard to regional or minority languages, concluding that the Union has not acted in accordance with defined language policy guidelines when it has been confronted, in the exercise of its powers, with regional or minority languages (or domestic legislation having to do with language demands). The Court of Justice has endeavoured to resolve on a case by case basis the conflicts raised between community freedoms and the normative measures that protect languages. Thus, using case law, the Court has set certain language boundaries for community freedoms. The article concludes by reflecting on the legal scope of the recognition of European language diversity referred to in Article II-82 of the European Constitution and the possible measures to implement the precept that might constitute the definition of a true European language policy on regional or minority languages. Such a policy has yet to be defined.

La actividad del World Café, una herramienta para la evaluación y desarrollo de los valores en el deporte escolar

[ES] El presente trabajo presenta una experiencia aplicada que pretende conocer las opiniones, de los agentes sociales que rodean a los jóvenes deportistas, para la promoción de valores. A través de la actividad del World Café, los agentes sociales implicados en el deporte escolar aportaron orientaciones enfocadas a mejorar la calidad educativa del deporte. Un grupo de 56 participantes [padres/madres (8), árbitros (8), profesores de educación física (8), entrenadores (8), deportistas de élite (8), deportistas escolares (8) y representantes institucionales (8)] debatieron, desde su perspectiva, cómo consideraban que podían ayudar en la promoción de valores en los contextos deportivos escolares en los que participan. Entre los resultados más relevantes destacan, la necesidad de concretar desde el propio centro escolar los valores que se pretenden promocionar a través del deporte; en segundo lugar, la importancia de llevar a cabo una coordinación entre los agentes directos que rodean a los jóvenes deportistas; y finalmente, llevar a cabo una formación dirigida a monitores y padres/madres, que les permita adquirir herramientas adecuadas para la promoción de valores.

Institutional designs to face the dark side of total allowable catches

Setting total allowable catches (TACs) is an endogenous process in which different agents and institutions, often with conflicting interests and opportunistic behaviour, try to influence policy-makers. Such policy-makers, far from being the benevolent social planners many would wish them to be, may also pursue self-interest when making final decisions. Although restricted knowledge of stock abundance and population dynamics, and weakness in enforcement, have effects, these other factors may explain the reason why TAC management has failed to guarantee sustainable exploitation of fish resources. Rejecting the exogeneity of the TAC and taking advantage of fruitful debate on economic policy (i.e. the rules vs. discretion debate, and that surrounding the independence of central banks), two institutional developments are analysed as potential mechanisms to face up to misconceptions about TACs: long-term harvest control rules, and a central bank of fish.

Enriching the content provided by cultural catalogues with data from institutional repositories

[EN] This paper is an outcome of the ERASMUS IP program called TOPCART, there are more information about this project that can be accessed from the following item:

Modeling the Links between Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services and Human Wellbeing in the Context of Climate Change: Results from an Econometric Analysis on the European Forest Ecosystems

25 p.

Análisis y comparación de movimientos parásitos en manipulador paralelo 1-PRS 2-PRU

[ES]En primer lugar, se analiza el contexto investigador tratando de aportar una visión global de la situación de la I+D en el entorno geográfico, institucional y departamental. En segundo lugar, describo de forma somera la temática general en la que enmarcar las dos propuestas de investigación mencionadas así como los objetivos generales que me planteo. En tercer lugar, se realiza aquí una recopilación de los resultados previos de investigación que sirven de punto de partida para las líneas de investigación que aquí se plantean. En último lugar, planteo las dos líneas de investigación con detalle, incluyendo los fundamentos necesarios y resultados preliminares

Could innovative teams provide the necessary flexibility to compete in the current context?

[EN] In the modern era firms should look for a sustainable and profitable business model. They operate in highly volatile and competitive markets. Innovation is a key element that allows firms to survive in these complex environments. Accordingly, some companies are developing human resource models that align to the actual competitive context. For instance, they establish democratic systems, flexible work practices, they focus on responsibility and initiative and increase the self-control of team members. In this framework, firms tend to use resources such as creativity, capacity for innovation or development of human talent. Therefore, innovative teams are able to adapt and react to turbulent, complex and dynamic environments, which allow them to handle in a more efficient way several subtasks. This fact gives rise to a higher effectiveness in the activities of firms. This paper analyze the characteristics and performance of multifunctional teams, virtual teams, open-innovation teams and self-managing teams. It also study the case of Semco, a company that is characterized by its innovative practices in human resources management and focus on responsibility and initiative and increase the self-control of team members.

Combination of web usage, content and structure information for diverse web mining applications in the tourism context and the context of users with disabilities

188 p.

Incidental Memory of Younger and Older Adults for Objects Encountered in a Real World Context

Effects of context on the perception of, and incidental memory for, real-world objects have predominantly been investigated in younger individuals, under conditions involving a single static viewpoint. We examined the effects of prior object context and object familiarity on both older and younger adults' incidental memory for real objects encountered while they traversed a conference room. Recognition memory for context-typical and context-atypical objects was compared with a third group of unfamiliar objects that were not readily named and that had no strongly associated context. Both older and younger adults demonstrated a typicality effect, showing significantly lower 2-alternative-forced-choice recognition of context-typical than context-atypical objects; for these objects, the recognition of older adults either significantly exceeded, or numerically surpassed, that of younger adults. Testing-awareness elevated recognition but did not interact with age or with object type. Older adults showed significantly higher recognition for context-atypical objects than for unfamiliar objects that had no prior strongly associated context. The observation of a typicality effect in both age groups is consistent with preserved semantic schemata processing in aging. The incidental recognition advantage of older over younger adults for the context-typical and context-atypical objects may reflect aging-related differences in goal-related processing, with older adults under comparatively more novel circumstances being more likely to direct their attention to the external environment, or age-related differences in top-down effortful distraction regulation, with older individuals' attention more readily captured by salient objects in the environment. Older adults' reduced recognition of unfamiliar objects compared to context-atypical objects may reflect possible age differences in contextually driven expectancy violations. The latter finding underscores the theoretical and methodological value of including a third type of objects-that are comparatively neutral with respect to their contextual associations-to help differentiate between contextual integration effects (for schema-consistent objects) and expectancy violations (for schema-inconsistent objects).

Intercultural Management and Leadership in the Context of Language Academies

Throughout this undergraduate thesis, a study of intercultural management and leadership will be carried out with a special focus on language academies. We begin by analyzing the importance of cultural values and their effects on the perception of a leader. We then study the role of Strategic Human Resources Management in an intercultural environment. Finally, as an original contribution to this thesis, an investigation is performed that examines three local language academies and their management practices. After reviewing the findings, we hope to propose a sort of ‘best practices’ for language academies that could lead to a more harmonious relationship between teachers and their managers.