The impact of political and economic crisis on the polarization of the Spanish media

In this paper the characteristics of the cyclical political polarization of the Spanish media system are defined. From this study, a prospective analysis raises doubts about this scenario remains unchanged because of the political and economic crisis. It seeks to define the role played by political and media actors in polarization focusing on the two legislatures where the tension reached higher levels (1993-1996 and 2004-2008) and compares it with the developments faced by them in the current economical and political context of crisis. To achieve these aims, it has been performed an analysis of media content (since 1993) and looked through primary sociological sources and the scientific literature about polarization. This is an exploratory, critical and descriptive case analysis.

Gendered Responses to Global Crisis: Circular Migration and Return among Ecuadorian Families in Spain and Ecuador

This paper analyzes the impact of Spain’s economic crisis on social reproduction strategies of Ecuadorian migrant families in Madrid and Quito. The paper analyzes circular migration experiences and more permanent returns to Ecuador. I argue that these strategies and migrants' greater or lesser capabilities to move between different migration destinations show significant gender differences. On the one hand, men and women make a differential use of their migratory status to deploy transnational strategies and expand their mobility. On the other hand, migrants’ degree of mobility and flexibility with regard to the labor market and transnational social reproduction are derivative of a specific gendered order and sexual division of labor.

¿Fue la crisis política del Occidente musulmán del siglo XIII debida a un cambio climático? Una aproximación histórica al fin del Periodo Cálido Medieval

Durante el siglo XIII se produjo una sucesión de revueltas que supuso la desaparición del Imperio almohade y su sustitución por poderes regionales en al-Andalus, el Magreb y el Magreb al-Aqsà. La historiografía ha presentado el surgimiento y pugna entre estos poderes como un fenómeno social, político e, incluso, cultural y religioso, con el que se ha podido explicar su aniquilación o marginalización. Este trabajo pretende contextualizar los hechos desde una perspectiva medioambiental, de forma que la desintegración del califato almohade, el surgimiento de aquellos poderes y la progresión de los reinos cristianos en la península ibérica puedan entenderse desde una visión global de cambio climático y una posible crisis agrícola.

Las edades de Hitler. De Satán a un ser de carne y hueso, y su representación en clave paródica

Adolf Hitler suscitó desde su entrada en la escena política alemana una fascinación perversa, un sentimiento que, con el tiempo, ha dado lugar a numerosas representaciones culturales sobre el Führer. La muestra, rica y variada tanto en el fondo como en la forma, nos permitirá trazar tres estadios en lo referente al proceso de construcción historiográfica del hitlerismo, iniciado con la caída del Tercer Reich. Estos responden en buena medida al devenir sociopolítico y cultural de la sociedad a escala global desde el final de la guerra y hasta nuestros días y pueden resumirse en tres: primero, la satanización; segundo, la humanización; tercero, el retrato caricaturesco. Proponemos un recorrido histórico por diversos productos culturales del dictador alemán cuyo propósito es desentrañar el retrato psicológico poliédrico que se ha construido en torno a la figura de Hitler.

Gobierno abierto y competencias digitales: Transformando la administración pública para afrontar los retos del nuevo paradigma

El artículo plantea una contribución al debate académico sobre el surgimiento del Gobierno Abierto y los requerimientos de transformación de las Administraciones Públicas para afrontar a los retos que plantea. El texto, en base a la aportación de reflexiones y evidencias, se centra en el ámbito de los profesionales del sector público y la generación de competencias digitales. El marco analítico se combina con la presentación de evidencias basadas en dos estudios de caso de innovación en gestión de recursos humanos. Los resultados obtenidos permiten ilustrar las sinergias que se dan entre el Gobierno Abierto y el desarrollo de las competencias digitales, y cómo con ello se puede orientar la mejora las capacidades institucionales de las Administraciones públicas.

Process Gas Infiltration in Inconel 718 Samples during SLM Processing

Argon infiltration is a well-known problem of hot isostatic pressed components. Thus, the argon content is one quality attribute which is measured after a hot isostatic pressing (HIP) process. Since the Selective Laser Melting (SLM) process takes place under an inert argon atmosphere; it is imaginable that argon is entrapped in the component after SLM processing. Despite using optimized process parameters, defects like pores and shrink holes cannot be completely avoided. Especially, pores could be filled with process gas during the building process. Argon filled pores would clearly affect the mechanical properties. The present paper takes a closer look at the porosity in Inconel 718 samples, which were generated by means of SLM. Furthermore, the argon content of the powder feedstock, of samples made by means of SLM, of samples which were hot isostatic pressed after the SLM process, and of conventionally manufactured samples were measured and compared. The results showed an increased argon content in the Inconel 718 samples after SLM processing compared to conventional manufactured samples.

Progettazione e realizzazione di un banco prova di misura delle caratteristiche elettromeccaniche di sistemi propulsivi per droni elettrici

La tesi in esame ha come obiettivo la progettazione e la realizzazione di un banco prova per la misura delle caratteristiche elettromeccaniche di sistemi propulsivi per droni elettrici.

Ottimizzazione e/o vie alternative per il recupero e la gestione di nichel in reflui da impianto d' idrogenazione.

Questo lavoro di tesi è stato svolto sull’ impianto di produzione di polioli presso lo stabilimento Cargill di Castelmassa (RO) con lo scopo di ottimizzare la gestione dello ione Ni2+, derivante dal nichel metallico utilizzato come catalizzatore (nichel Raney) nella reazione di idrogenazione del glucosio condotta a 42 bar. Il nichel, infatti, a seguito di fluttuazioni di pH che avvengono durante il corso della reazione aumenta la sua solubilità passando in fase liquida sotto forma di ione bivalente. Nel successivo step di raffinazione e demineralizzazione del prodotto mediante una serie di resine a scambio ionico, il Ni2+ è trattenuto assieme ad altri ioni e separato dal prodotto stesso. Infine quando si va a rigenerare la resina, a seguito della sua saturazione, si producono dei reflui contenenti nichel, che, seppur presente in quantità modeste, non potranno essere inviati al depuratore comunale in quanto il metallo avvelenerebbe i microorganismi deputati al trattamento delle acque reflue, quindi dovranno essere smaltiti come rifiuti speciali. L’azienda è già dotata di un impianto di nichel recovery che utilizza una batteria di resine chelanti, in grado di catturare selettivamente metalli pesanti, in modo tale da avere un refluo con la concentrazione di Ni2+ più alta possibile per ridurre al minimo i costi, non esigui, di smaltimento. L’obbiettivo del mio lavoro di tesi è quello di trovare soluzioni alternative per la concentrazione del nichel e verificare mediante semplici bilanci economici se queste soluzioni proposte siano sostenibili dal punto di vista industriale, ed eventualmente possano essere concorrenti alla soluzione impiantistica già adottata.

Modèles de Markov cachés à haute précision dynamique

La reconnaissance vocale est une technologie sujette à amélioration. Malgré 40 ans de travaux, de nombreuses applications restent néanmoins hors de portée en raison d'une trop faible efficacité. De façon à pallier à ce problème, l'auteur propose une amélioration au cadre conceptuel classique. Plus précisément, une nouvelle méthode d'entraînement des modèles markoviens cachés est exposée de manière à augmenter la précision dynamique des classificateurs. Le présent document décrit en détail le résultat de trois ans de recherche et les contributions scientifiques qui en sont le produit. L'aboutissement final de cet effort est la production d'un article de journal proposant une nouvelle tentative d'approche à la communauté scientifique internationale. Dans cet article, les auteurs proposent que des topologies finement adaptées de modèles markoviens cachés (HMMs) soient essentielles à une modélisation temporelle de haute précision. Un cadre conceptuel pour l'apprentissage efficace de topologies par élagage de modèles génériques complexes est donc soumis. Des modèles HMM à topologie gauche-à-droite sont d'abord entraînés de façon classique. Des modèles complexes à topologie générique sont ensuite obtenus par écrasement des modèles gauche-à-droite. Finalement, un enchaînement successif d'élagages et d'entraînements Baum-Welch est fait de manière à augmenter la précision temporelle des modèles.

Introducing BASE: the Biomes of Australian Soil Environments soil microbial diversity database

Microbial inhabitants of soils are important to ecosystem and planetary functions, yet there are large gaps in our knowledge of their diversity and ecology. The ‘Biomes of Australian Soil Environments’ (BASE) project has generated a database of microbial diversity with associated metadata across extensive environmental gradients at continental scale. As the characterisation of microbes rapidly expands, the BASE database provides an evolving platform for interrogating and integrating microbial diversity and function.

The role of musical aptitude in the pronunciation of English vowels among Polish learners of English

It has long been held that people who have musical training or talent acquire L2 pronunciation more successfully than those that do not. Indeed, there have been empirical studies to support this hypothesis (Pastuszek-Lipińska 2003, Fonseca-Mora et al. 2011, Zatorre and Baum 2012). However, in many of such studies, musical abilities in subjects were mostly verified through questionnaires rather than tested in a reliable, empirical manner. Therefore, we run three different musical hearing tests, i.e. pitch perception test, musical memory test, and rhythm perception test (Mandell 2009) to measure the actual musical aptitude in our subjects. The main research question is whether a better musical ear correlates with a higher rate of acquisition of English vowels in Polish EFL learners. Our group consists of 40 Polish university students studying English as their major who learn the British pronunciation model during an intense pronunciation course. 10 male and 30 female subjects with mean age of 20.1 were recorded in a recording studio. The procedure comprised spontaneous conversations, reading passages and reading words in isolation. Vowel measurements were conducted in Praat in all three speech styles and several consonantal contexts. The assumption was that participants who performed better in musical tests would produce vowels that are closer to the Southern British English model. We plotted them onto vowel charts and calculated the Euclidean distances. Preliminary results show that there is potential correlation between specific aspects of musical hearing and different elements of pronunciation. The study is a longitudinal project and will encompass two more years, during which we will repeat the recording procedure twice to measure the participants’ progress in mastering the English pronunciation and comparing it with their musical aptitude.

Inappropriate Drug Prescribing in Older Adults: How to Reduce It?

Because older patients are more vulnerable to adverse drug-related events, there is a need to ensure appropriate pharmacotherapy in these patients. Screening to identify older patients at risk of drug-related problems (DRP) and adverse drug reactions (ADR) is the first critical step within a multistep approach to geriatric pharmacotherapy.

Effekte unterschiedlicher einmaliger Sportinterventionen auf das Arbeitsgedächtnis von Primarschulkindern und der moderierende Effekt von Schulleistung

Körperliche Aktivität scheint einen positiven Effekt auf die exekutiven Funktionen von Kindern zu haben. Unklar ist jedoch, ob verschiedene Arten von körperlicher Aktivität die exekutiven Funktionen gleichermaßen beeinflussen und ob alle Kinder gleichermaßen profitieren. In der vorliegenden Studie wurden verschiedene 20-minütige Interventionen mit variierendem Anteil körperlicher und kognitiver Aktivierung durchgeführt. 217 Kinder wurden randomisiert einer von vier Gruppen zugeteilt. Vor und nach den Interventionen wurde die Arbeitsgedächtnisleistung gemessen. Über die gesamte Stichprobe hinweg konnten keine Interventionseffekte festgestellt werden. Die Schulleistung der Kinder hatte jedoch einen moderierenden Effekt: Während bei Kindern mit tieferer Schulleistung keine Effekte gefunden wurden, verbesserten sich die Kinder mit höherer Schulleistung durch alle Interventionsbedingungen signifikant stärker als durch die Kontrollbedingung. Die fehlenden Effekte in der Gesamtstichprobe werfen die Frage auf, ob es möglicherweise in einem natürlichen Setting und im Gruppenkontext schwieriger ist Effekte zu erzielen als in streng kontrollierten Laborsettings. Zudem weist der selektive Effekt auf das Arbeitsgedächtnis bei Kindern mit höherer Schulleistung darauf hin, dass nicht alle Kinder gleichermaßen von einer Intervention zu profitieren scheinen und möglicherweise individuelle Anpassungen nötig sind, um einen allgemeineren positiven Effekt zu erzielen.