Ecuadorian migration and family strategies of social mobility: dialectic relation between emotional and financial capital

This text deals with transnational strategies of social mobility in Ecuadorian migrant households in Spain. We apply the capital accumulation model (Moser, 2009) for this purpose. The main target of this article is, beyond thinking in terms of capital stock and accumulation, the analysis in depth of the dynamics of the different types of capital, that is to say, how they interact with each other in the framework of the social mobility strategies of the migrants and their families. We are bringing into light the way some households adopt investing decisions in capitals that don't translate into any addition or earnings in all cases, on the contrary, concentrating all their efforts on the accumulation of a certain asset they may, in some cases, lead to a loss of another. We will concentrate our analysis primarily on the dynamics between the physical and financial capital and the social and emotional capital, showing the tensions produced between these two types of assets. At the same time, we will highlight how migrants negotiate their family strategies of social mobility in the transnational area. Our study is based in empirical material obtained from qualitative fieldwork (in-depth interviews) with families of migrants in the urban district of Turubamba Bajo -(south of Quito) and in Madrid. A series of households were selected where interviews were carried out in the country of origin as well as in the context of immigration, with different family members, analysing the transnational social and economic strategies of families of migrant members. Family members of migrants established in Spain were interviewed in Quito, as well as key informants in the district (school teachers, nursery members of the staff, etc.). The research was framed within the projects "Impact of migration on the development: gender and transnationalism", Ministry of Science and Innovation (SEJ2007/63179) (Laura Oso, dir. 2007-2010),"Gender, transnationalism and intergenerational strategies of social mobility", Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FEM2011/26210) (Laura Oso, dir. 201-1-2015) and “Gender, Crossed Mobilities and Transnational Dynamics”, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FEM2015-67164).

Strontium isotopes and sedimentology of a marine Triassic succession (upper Ladinian) of the westernmost Tethys, Spain

Chemical Stratigraphy, or the study of the variation of chemical elements within sedimentary sequences, has gradually become an experienced tool in the research and correlation of global geologic events. In this paper 87Sr/ 86Sr ratios of the Triassic marine carbonates (Muschelkalk facies) of southeast Iberian Ranges, Iberian Peninsula, are presented and the representative Sr-isotopic curve constructed for the upper Ladinian interval. The studied stratigraphic succession is 102 meters thick, continuous, and well preserved. Previous paleontological data from macro and micro, ammonites, bivalves, foraminifera, conodonts and palynological assemblages, suggest a Fassanian-Longobardian age (Late Ladinian). Although diagenetic minerals are present in small amounts, the elemental data content of bulk carbonate samples, especially Sr contents, show a major variation that probably reflects palaeoenvironmental changes. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios curve shows a rise from 0.707649 near the base of the section to 0.707741 and then declines rapidly to 0.707624, with a final values rise up to 0.70787 in the upper part. The data up to meter 80 in the studied succession is broadly concurrent with 87Sr/86Sr ratios of sequences of similar age and complements these data. Moreover, the sequence stratigraphic framework and its key surfaces, which are difficult to be recognised just based in the facies analysis, are characterised by combining variations of the Ca, Mg, Mn, Sr and CaCO3 contents

Crisis communication in politics: forgiveness as image restoration tool

Crisis communication is a widely treated field. There are lot of works and guides which provide helpful information in order to face crisis situations successfully (Alcat, 2005, Benoit, 1997) and articles about case studies (Nespereira, 2014, Blaney y Benoit 2001). Nonetheless, most of times, these guides are focused on business or corporations (Abeler, 2010) and there are not such information about crisis communications in politics (Gaspar e Ibeas, 2015). The field is smaller if we speak about forgiveness as restoration image tool in politics (Harris 2006). Despite all, we live in “forgiveness era” as Krauze said (1998) where people demand to politicians to apologize when they have mistakes (Harris et al. 2006:716). So, we will try to make an approach to forgiveness in politics as a image restoration tool and analyze its capabilities in order to face crisis management.

El dinero fuente de pecados en el Inferno de Dante y en la traducción de Pedro Fernández de Villegas (Burgos, 1515)

El trabajo se centra en el análisis de los pecados relacionados con el dinero en el Inferno de Dante y en la primera traducción castellana de la primera cantiga de la Commedia, obra del arcediano de Burgos Pedro Fernández de Villegas. La traducción, compuesta en coplas de arte mayor y acompañada de un enciclopédico comentario, se publicó en 1515. Particular atención se dedica a la reflexión sobre el problema del mal uso del dinero que Villegas desarrolla en la glosa de los cantos en que con más vigor se levanta la voz de Dante para denunciar la gravedad del pecado de la sed de riquezas. Se analiza la postura del traductor español ante el tema comparándola no sólo con la de Dante sino también con la de Cristoforo Landino, autor del Comento sopra la Comedia, obra exégetica que se publicó por primera vez en Florencia en 1481 y que representó el punto de referencia privilegiado de Villegas.

El declive de la memoria en "Tu rostro" mañana de Javier Marías: la escritura revivida

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo estudiar los diferentes estados mentales de los personajes de las novelas de Tu rostro mañana, de Javier Marías. Estudiando las reflexiones del narrador sobre J. Deza, Peter Wheeler o Francisco Rico observamos que su decadencia mental se muestra a través de una suerte de ―presciencia‖ o lucidez momentánea que puede servir para mostrar el silencio como única tendencia de todo discurso. Desde el momento en que toda historia de ficción se cimenta sobre un discurso –no importa su cauce de presentación, ni su fuente– este es falsificado por el tiempo, la gente y cualquier otra herramienta que pueda ser utilizada para contar nada. Las conclusiones de este trabajo muestran la quimera que implica tratar de mantener una contención absoluta sobre lo acaecido, pues dicho vacío de narrativas será ocupado por una suplantación que suele ser el reverso más infame de sus actores. Es por ello que el narrador J. Deza sigue conminado a explicar sus historias, incluso allí donde uno diría que ya no puede haber ni palabras suficientes para traducir un hecho en ficción.

Item and task difficulty in a B2 reading examination: perceptions of test-takers and CEFR alignment experts compared with psychometric measurements

The article presents a study of a CEFR B2-level reading subtest that is part of the Slovenian national secondary school leaving examination in English as a foreign language, and compares the test-taker actual performance (objective difficulty) with the test-taker and expert perceptions of item difficulty (subjective difficulty). The study also analyses the test-takers’ comments on item difficulty obtained from a while-reading questionnaire. The results are discussed in the framework of the existing research in the fields of (the assessment of) reading comprehension, and are addressed with regard to their implications for item-writing, FL teaching and curriculum development.

Digging up the frequency of phrasal verbs in English for the Police: the case of "up"

The present study focuses on the frequency of phrasal verbs with the particle up in the context of crime and police investigative work. This research emerges from the need to enlarge McCarthy and O’Dell’s (2004) scope from purely criminal behavior to police investigative actions. To do so, we relied on a corpus of 504,124 running words made up of spoken dialogues extracted from the script of the American TV series Castle shown on ABC since 2009. Based on Rudzka-Ostyn’s (2003) cognitive motivations for the particle up, we have identified five different meaning extensions for our phrasal verbs. Drawing from these findings, we have designed pedagogical activities for those L2 learners that study English at the Police Academy.