Tax mimicking in Spanish municipalities: expenditure spillovers, yardstick competition, or tax competition?

This paper evaluates whether the agency problem in public administration shapes Spanish municipalities’ tax policy. To this aim, we have considered 2,431 Spanish municipalities for the period from 2002 to 2013. We find significant evidence of tax mimicking of neighboring municipalities, in both property tax and car tax. However, incumbents are not signaling their competence through tax competition. Rather, expenditure spillovers explain this interaction. Municipalities seek to have the same services and infrastructures as their neighbors. The fact that there is not tax benchmarking does not mean that the agency problem is not present in Spanish municipalities. The agency problem is one of the reasons corruption is so widespread among Spanish municipalities. Regarding the further policy implications of our findings, legislation should direct municipal governments’ decisions towards the real needs of their constituencies

Fostering the Sustainable Development Goals from an Ecosystem Conducive to the SE: The Galician’s Case

The special alignment of the principles and effects of the social economy (SE) with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) renders this area especially suitable for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of these goals, favoring a paradigm shift towards a new economic system that reconciles growth and sustainability. In this context, governments and institutions can moderate or accelerate this path, with the implementation of a series of policies to promote and drive the social economy. In Spain, responsibility for the design and implementation of such policies is transferred to sub-central governments, known as autonomous communities. Galicia is the first Spanish autonomous community to have its own Act on SE. This article explains the promotion strategy established in this region, which has resulted in an ecosystem favorable to the development and consolidation of the Galician SE, based on a combination of public policies with synergistic effects. The outcome of this ecosystem could have a significant impact on the achievement of several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially the promotion of equal opportunities (SDG 5), the promotion of decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), and the reduction of inequalities (SDG 10The research reported was partially supported by Grant TR811A-15-009-19 from the Xunta de Galicia to Maria BastidaS

Female Entrepreneurship: Can Cooperatives Contribute to Overcoming the Gender Gap? A Spanish First Step to Equality

To date, entrepreneurship research has rarely focused on cooperatives. Recent research has suggested there is a positive association between cooperatives and women’s entrepreneurial activity based on the assumption that this model is especially suitable for women’s expectations and is favourable to their economic entrepreneurial development. However, few studies have empirically tested these propositions. This research, which analysed data from 264 Spanish cooperatives, confirms these findings. A mixed-methods approach was used. In the first stage, a Delphi study was run with 11 cooperative entrepreneurship experts to ask what factors may be decisive for women preferring a cooperative model. In the second stage, the factors derived from the Delphi study were used in a survey targeting female cooperative associates. The findings confirmed that female cooperative owners perceived this business model to be aligned with their values and best fit their work and lifestyle. This research contributes to the existing social entrepreneurship literature by providing empirical evidence from the Spanish context that highlights the role of women in cooperatives. The findings also emphasize the need for responsive policies and programmes that promote the cooperative model since it promotes female employment and women’s entrepreneurial activity even in periods of economic austerityThis research was funded by Xunta de Galicia, grant number TR811A-15-009-19S

CLUN : Concentración por fusión de tres cooperativas lácteas en el cooperativismo agrario en Galicia

El sector lácteo gallego, pese a ser un sector estratégico, se ha caracterizado tradicionalmente por un minifundismo que puede restar potencial competitivo a las empresas que operan en él -muchas, bajo fórmula cooperativa-. En este trabajo se describe el proceso de concentración de tres cooperativas lácteas -Feiraco, Os Irmandiños y Melisanto- a través de la creación de la cooperativa de segundo grado Unión de Cooperativas Lácteas Unidas (CLUN). Este proceso, junto a la actual fusión pilotada por la cooperativa AIRA, contribuye a redibujar el cooperativismo agrario y el sector lácteo en Galicia.El estudio se inicia con una breve descripción del sector agrario, y más en concreto lácteo, en Galicia, contextualizándolo en la evolución del sector en España. A continuación se describe el proceso de creación de CLUN, como ejemplo de concentración en el cooperativismo agrario gallego. Se describen las diferentes entidades que confluyen en la organización resultante, incluyendo las diferentes perspectivas del proceso. Por último, se identifican los retos que debe afrontar CLUN a medio plazo, para finalizar con un conjunto de conclusiones y recomendaciones que identifican un conjunto de buenas prácticas que pudieran contribuir al éxito en este y otros procesos de concentración similares. A este respecto, debe señalarse que el 1 de enero de 2019 CLUN se conforma como cooperativa de primer grado, consolidándose la fusión de las tres cooperativas. Esto sugiere que el proceso de reordenación del cooperativismo agrario en Galicia sigue muy activo, lo que redunda en el atractivo de su seguimiento como objeto de análisis

On demand translation for querying incompletely aligned datasets

More and more users aim at taking advantage of the existing Linked Open Data environment to formulate a query over a dataset and to then try to process the same query over different datasets, one after another, in order to obtain a broader set of answers. However, the heterogeneity of vocabularies used in the datasets on the one side, and the fact that the number of alignments among those datasets is scarce on the other, makes that querying task difficult for them. Considering this scenario we present in this paper a proposal that allows on demand translations of queries formulated over an original dataset, into queries expressed using the vocabulary of a targeted dataset. Our approach relieves users from knowing the vocabulary used in the targeted datasets and even more it considers situations where alignments do not exist or they are not suitable for the formulated query. Therefore, in order to favour the possibility of getting answers, sometimes there is no guarantee of obtaining a semantically equivalent translation. The core component of our proposal is a query rewriting model that considers a set of transformation rules devised from a pragmatic point of view. The feasibility of our scheme has been validated with queries defined in well known benchmarks and SPARQL endpoint logs, as the obtained results confirm

Optimizing the production of the biosurfactant lichenysin and its application in biofilm control

Aims: Apply response surface methodology (RSM) to develop and optimize an economical medium for lichenysin production, which is a surfactant produced by Bacillus licheniformis and evaluate the application of lichenysin in the prevention and disruption of pathogenic micro-organism biofilm that creates health problems in the food industry and hospitals. Results: An economical medium containing molasses was optimized to enhance lichenysin production by RSM. A production of 3.2 g l 1 of lichenysin was achieved with an optimum medium containing 107.82 g l 1 of molasses, 6.47 g l 1 of NaNO3 and 9.7 g l 1 of K2HPO4/KH2PO4, in which molasses and phosphate salts had a significant effect on biosurfactant production. Lichenysin was effectively applied in a surface pre-treatment to avoid microbial biofilm development of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (68.73%) and Candida albicans (74.35%), with ED50 values of 8.3 and 17.2 lg ml 1 respectively. It was also very efficient in a surface posttreatment to remove biofilms of MRSA (55.74%) and Yersinia enterocolitica (51.51%), with an ED50 of 2.79 and 4.09 lg ml 1 respectively. Conclusions: Lichenysin was found to have notable anti-adhesion activity, being able to prevent and eliminate the biofilm formation by pathogenic strains associated with foodborne illness. This new medium resulted in a fourfold increase in production compared with the nonoptimized medium. Significance and Impact of the Study: Molasses can be regarded as a useful resource for biotechnological applications, such as the production of lichenysin. The use of agro-industrial substrates has an important role in the sustainable and competitive development of several industrial sectors, as well as in industrial residues management. Additionally, lichenysin is particularly effective in preventing biofilm formation by strains problematic for the food industry and in the hospital environment. Lichenysin also efficiently disrupts biofilm

A nanostructured Cu(II) coordination polymer based on alanine as a trifunctional mimic enzyme and efficient composite in the detection of Sphingobacteria

This research raises the potential use of coordination polymers as new useful materials in two essential research fields, allowing the obtaining of a new multiartificial enzyme with the capacity to inhibit the growth of bacteria resistance. The fine selection of the ligands allows the design of a new 2D coordination polymer (CP), with the formula [Cu2(IBA)2(OH2)4]n·6nH2O, by the combination of Cu (II) as the metal center with a pseudoamino acid (H2IBA = isophthaloyl bis β-alanine). Quantitative total X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) analyses show that the obtained CP can gradually release Cu (II) ions. Additionally, this CP can be nanoprocessed and transformed into a metal-organic gel (MOG) by using different Cu (II) salt concentrations and the application of ultrasounds. Considering its nanometric dimensions, the slow Cu (II) release and its simple processability, its performance as an artificial enzyme, and its antibacterial ability were explored. The results obtained show the first nanocoordination polymer acting as an artificial multienzyme (peroxidase, catalase, and superoxodismutase) exhibiting antibacterial activity in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, with selective behavior for three bacterium strains (S. spiritovirum, A. faecales, and B. cereus). Indeed, this CP shows a more robust inhibition capacity for Sphingobacterium. Going beyond that, as there are no comfortable and practically clinical tests capable of detecting the presence of Sphingobacteria, the compound can be easily embedded to form moldable gelatin that will facilitate the handling and low-cost commercial kit

Edades Críticas en el Declive de Distintas Funciones Neurocognitivas en Adultos Jóvenes y Mayores

El envejecimiento normal se caracteriza por un declive de funciones neurocognitivas. Aunque no es deterioro, en ciertas edades los cambios son más pronunciados, pudiendo ser un problema. Objetivos. 1. Determinar edades críticas del declive cognitivo. 2. Explorar test neuropsicológicos de valor predictivo de alta-baja instrucción. Materiales y Métodos. Estudio: exploratorio. Población: Concurrentes (n=914) Servicio Neuropsicología UNC; años 2010-15; edad 64,87 (DT=9,35), y 53,24% femenino. Cognitivamente normales multifunción; que cumplen protocolo evaluación. Analizamos edades por lustros y décadas, desde 45 a 85 años; considerando Baja (3-11) y Alta (12-18) instrucción. Instrumentos: Memoria verbal diferida (Neuropsi), visual diferida (Rey); fluidez verbal semántica (FVS) y fonológica (FVF). Estadísticos: Anova (Bonferroni) y regresión logística (Wald). El análisis resultó más discriminativo por décadas que por lustros (Bonferroni). En sujetos baja instrucción el declive revela significativo descenso en test de memoria verbal en década 65-75 años (p=0,000). En sujetos alta instrucción, el declive muestra descenso significativo, a partir de los 55, 65 y 75 años; para los test de Memoria verbal (p=0,000), No verbal (p=0,000), FVS (p=0,003) y FVF (p=0,004). Los test de mayor riesgo de baja instrucción son las pruebas de fluidez verbal; mientras que las protectoras del estado cognitivo las pruebas de lápiz y papel (figura de Rey). Independiente del nivel de instrucción, a los 65 años hay un declive significativo de la memoria episódica verbal y de fluidéz verbal. Los test predictivos de la baja instrucción, son aquellos que requieren lápiz y papel

Immunohistochemical detection of p53 and pp53 Ser392 in canine hemangiomas and hemangiosarcomas located in the skin

[EN] Background: p53 protein is essential for the regulation of cell proliferation. Aberrant accumulation of it usually occurs in cutaneous malignancies. Mutant p53 is detected by immunohistochemistry because it is more stable than the wild-type p53. However, post-translational modifications of p53 in response to ultraviolet radiation are important mechanisms of wild-type p53 stabilization, leading to positive staining in the absence of mutation. The aims were: 1) to analyze the immunohistochemical expression of p53 and phospho-p53 Serine392 in canine skin endothelial tumours; and 2) to determine if any relationship exists between p53 and phospho-p53 Serine392 overexpression and cell proliferation. Results: p53 and phospho-p53 Serine392 immunolabeling was examined in 40 canine cutaneous endothelial tumours (13 hemangiomas and 27 hemangiosarcomas). Their expression was associated with tumour size, hemangiosarcoma stage (dermal versus hypodermal), histological diagnosis and proliferative activity (mitotic count and Ki-67 index). Statistical analysis revealed a significant increase of p53 immunoreactivity in hemangiosarcomas (median, 74.61%; interquartile range [IQR], 66.97-82.98%) versus hemangiomas (median, 0%; IQR, 0-20.91%) (p <.001) and in well-differentiated hemangiosarcomas (median, 82.40%; IQR, 66.49-83.17%) versus hemangiomas (p =.002). Phospho-p53 Serine392 immunoreactivity was significantly higher in hemangiosarcomas (median, 53.80%; IQR, 0-69.50%) than in hemangiomas (median, 0%; IQR, 0.0%) (p <.001). Positive correlation of the overexpression of p53 and phospho-p53 Serine392 with mitotic count and Ki-67 index was found in the cutaneous vascular tumours (p <.001). The Ki-67 index of the hemangiomas (median, 0.50%; IQR, 0-2.80%) was significantly lower than that of the hemangiosarcomas (median, 34.85%; IQR, 23.88-42.33%) (p <.001), and that specifically of well-differentiated hemangiosarcomas (median, 24.60%; IQR, 15.45-39.35%) (p =.001). Immunolabeling of 18 visceral hemangiosarcomas showed that the p53 (median, 41.59%; IQR, 26.89-64.87%) and phospho-p53 Serine392 (median, 0%; IQR, 0-22.53%) indexes were significantly lower than those of skin (p =.001; p =.006, respectively). Conclusions: The p53 and phospho-p53 Serine392overexpression together with high proliferative activity in hemangiosarcomas versus hemangiomas indicated that p53 might play a role in the acquisition of malignant phenotypes in cutaneous endothelial neoplasms in dogs. The Ki-67 index may be useful in distinguishing canine well-differentiated hemangiosarcomas from hemangiomasS