The Effects of Fiscal Incentives for R & D in Spain

This paper explores the effect of fiscal incentives for R&D on innovation. Spain is considered one of the most generous countries in the OECD in fiscal treatment of R&D, yet our data reveal that tax incentives are little known and, especially, seldom used by firms. Restricting our empirical analysis to those firms that do report knowing about such incentives, we investigate the average effect of tax incentives on innovation, using both nonparametric methods (matching estimators) and parametric methods (Heckman’s two-step selection model with instrumental variables). First, we find that large firms, especially those that implement innovations, are more likely to use the tax incentives, while small and medium enterprises (SMEs) encounter some obstacles to using them. Secondly, the average effect of the policy is positive, but significant only in large firms. Our main conclusion is that tax incentives increase innovative activities by large and high-tech sector firms, but may be used only randomly by SME

Application of Species Distribution Modeling for Avian Influenza surveillance in the United States considering the North America Migratory Flyways.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has recently (2014-2015) re-emerged in the United States (US) causing the largest outbreak in US history with 232 outbreaks and an estimated economic impact of $950 million. This study proposes to use suitability maps for Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza (LPAI) to identify areas at high risk for HPAI outbreaks. LPAI suitability maps were based on wild bird demographics, LPAI surveillance, and poultry density in combination with environmental, climatic, and socio-economic risk factors. Species distribution modeling was used to produce high-resolution (cell size: 500m x 500m) maps for Avian Influenza (AI) suitability in each of the four North American migratory flyways (NAMF). Results reveal that AI suitability is heterogeneously distributed throughout the US with higher suitability in specific zones of the Midwest and coastal areas. The resultant suitability maps adequately predicted most of the HPAI outbreak areas during the 2014-2015 epidemic in the US (i.e. 89% of HPAI outbreaks were located in areas identified as highly suitable for LPAI). Results are potentially useful for poultry producers and stakeholders in designing risk-based surveillance, outreach and intervention strategies to better prevent and control future HPAI outbreaks in the US

La hibridación de fórmulas regulatorias al servicio del bien de la comunicación: el caso de los códigos sobre el tratamiento informativo de la violencia contra la mujer

El objeto de esta comunicación es analizar las aportaciones de profesionales, administraciones e instituciones regulatorias a la deontología periodística en el caso del tratamiento informativo de la violencia contra las mujeres. Conocer la doctrina deontológica desarrollada al respecto, el origen, las características y peculiaridades, lo que une y distingue a los documentos generados con este objeto es el fin de este trabajo, que incide también en la evolución que han sufrido sus propuestas desde los primeros ejemplos (cifrado en España a finales del siglo XX) hasta hoy, más de un lustro después de la Ley Orgánica 1/2004, de 28 de diciembre, de medidas de protección integral contra la violencia de género.The objective of this project is to analyse the contributions of professionals, government and regulatory institutions to journalistic ethics in the case of news coverage of violence against women. The aim of this study is to know the deontological doctrine developed on this issue: the origin, characteristics and peculiarities of each one, what unites and distinguishes the documents generated for this purpose, that also affects the evolution of these proposals from the first examples in Spain (dated in the late twentieth century) until today, more than five years after the Statutory law 1/2004, regarding global measures for protection against gender violence

Tax incentives and direct support for R&D : what do firms use and why?

The measurement of the effects that public support to private R&D has on R&D investment and output has attracted substantial empirical research in the last decade. The focus of this research has mostly focused on testing for possible crowding out effects. There is virtually no study aiming at understanding how and why these effects may or may not be occurring. In addition, the effects of the two most common tools of public support, direct funding through grants and loans, and tax incentives, have been studied separately. We contribute to existing work by focusing on the determinants of the use by firms of these two mechanisms and their potential link to sources of market failures. We think this is an important step to assess impact estimates. Using firm-level data from the Spanish Community Innovation Survey (CIS), we find that firms that face financial constraints, as well as newly created firms, are less likely to use R&D tax credits and more likely to apply for and obtain direct public funding. We also find that large firms that care about knowledge protection are more likely to apply for and obtain direct funding, while SMEs are more likely to use tax incentives. Our results show that direct funding and tax credits, as currently designed, are not perfect substitutes because firms are heterogeneous, and suggest that from a social perspective, and provided that crowding out effects can be ruled out for both instruments, some combination of both may be preferable to relying on only oneR&D subsidies, R&D tax credits, R&D, CIS, Policy evaluation

Modeling the live-pig trade network in Georgia: Implications for disease prevention and control.

Live pig trade patterns, drivers and characteristics, particularly in backyard predominant systems, remain largely unexplored despite their important contribution to the spread of infectious diseases in the swine industry. A better understanding of the pig trade dynamics can inform the implementation of risk-based and more cost-effective prevention and control programs for swine diseases. In this study, a semi-structured questionnaire elaborated by FAO and implemented to 487 farmers was used to collect data regarding basic characteristics about pig demographics and live-pig trade among villages in the country of Georgia, where very scarce information is available. Social network analysis and exponential random graph models were used to better understand the structure, contact patterns and main drivers for pig trade in the country. Results indicate relatively infrequent (a total of 599 shipments in one year) and geographically localized (median Euclidean distance between shipments = 6.08 km; IQR = 0-13.88 km) pig movements in the studied regions. The main factors contributing to live-pig trade movements among villages were being from the same region (i.e., local trade), usage of a middleman or a live animal market to trade live pigs by at least one farmer in the village, and having a large number of pig farmers in the village. The identified villages' characteristics and structural network properties could be used to inform the design of more cost-effective surveillance systems in a country which pig industry was recently devastated by African swine fever epidemics and where backyard production systems are predominant

Classroom activities to foster reading and respect towards cultural diversity

Resumen basado en el de la publicaciónA través de una propuesta didáctica diseñada para primero de ESO, se aspira a suscitar el interés por la lectura como fuente de placer y vía de acceso al conocimiento y a la información, así como a potenciar el acercamiento a otras culturas ajenas a la propia. Del mismo modo, se contribuye a la adquisición de las ocho competencias básicas mediante distintos tipos de cuestiones. Se aboga por una metodología activa y participativa en la que el alumnado sea el verdadero protagonista del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje con un enfoque interdisciplinar. El libro de literatura juvenil titulado Laila, escrito por Laila Karrouch, es el punto de partida para alcanzar los objetivos previamente mencionados. Antes, durante y después de la lectura, los alumnos y alumnas tendrán que resolver una amplia gama de actividades que se articulan en torno a tres grandes bloques, subdivididos a su vez en diferentes apartados. Finalizadas las actividades propuestas, el alumnado descubrirá las maravillosas historias que el apasionante mundo de la literatura pone a su alcance y valorará la riqueza que aporta la diversidad lingüística y cultural.AndalucíaES

Angiosperm pollen grains from the Cuayuca Formation (Late Eocene to Early Oligocene), Puebla, Mexico

Systematic descriptions and illustrations of the best preserved angiosperm pollen grains (Monocotyledonae or Liliopsida: n= 7 and Dicotyledonae or Magnoliopsida: n= 41) recovered from Cuayuca Formation (late Eocene-early Oligocene), Puebla State, Mexico are provided, some of them of chronostratigraphic importance (Aglaoreidia pristina, Armeria, Bombacacidites, Corsinipollenites, Eucommia, Favitricolporites, Intratriporopollenites, Lymingtonia, Magnaperiporites, Malvacipollis spinulosa, Margocolporites aff. vanwijhei, Momipites coryloides, Momipites tenuipolus, Mutisiapollis, Ranunculacidites operculatus, and Thomsonipollis sabinetownensis). Taxa identified from the Cuayuca Formation suggest local semiarid vegetation such as tropical deciduous forest, chaparral, grassland, and arid tropical scrub, in which angiosperms are one of the main representatives. Nevertheless, temperate taxa from Pinus forest and cloud forest were also registered from regional vegetation. It is noticeable that at the present time, such taxa are well represented in the vegetation of the Balsas River Basin, which would suggest the existence of this type of flora in the Cuayuca region since the Oligocene.Fil: Ramirez Arriaga, Elia. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Instituto de Geología. Departamento de Paleontología; MéxicoFil: Pramparo, Mercedes Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Martínez Hernández, Enrique. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Instituto de Geología. Departamento de Paleontología; Méxic

Mme d’Arconville and Science in Translation in the French Enlightenment: Leçons de chimie and Traité d’ostéologie

El presente trabajo trata de arrojar luz sobre una de las figuras femeninas más destacadas en la difusión del conocimiento científico en el Siglo de las Luces francés: Mme Thiroux d´Arconville. El análisis de dos de sus versiones al francés, Leçons de chymie (traducción de la obra inglesa de Peter Shaw, Chemical lectures, Publickly Read at London, in the years 1731, and 1732; and since at Scarborough, in 1733; for the improvement of arts, trades, and natural philosophy), y Traité d´ostéologie (traducción de la obra inglesa de Alexander Monro, Anatomy of the Human Bones) pondrá de manifiesto la aportación de la autora al progreso de dos ramas diferenciadas de las Ciencias Puras: la Química y la Anatomía.In the present paper we attempt to shed light on one of the most renowned feminine figures who has contributed to the spread of scientific knowledge in France during the Age of Enlightenment, Mme Thiroux d´Arconville. We offer here the analysis of two of her French versions, Leçons de chymie (a translation of the English work by Peter Shaw, Chemical lectures, Publickly Read at London, in the years 1731, and 1732; and since at Scarborough, in 1733; for the improvement of arts, trades, and natural philosophy), y Traité d´ostéologie (a translation of the English work by Alexander Monro, Anatomy of the Human Bones). The above versions show the author’s contribution to the progress of two main branches of Scientific knowledge, namely Chemistry and Anatomy

Cambios estructurales y funcionales del hipocampo en la esclerosis múltiple

Treball Final de Grau en Psicologia. Codi: PS1048.Curs: 2014/2015Una de las alteraciones más destacadas en los pacientes de esclerosis múltiple (EM) son los problemas de memoria a largo plazo, tanto verbal como visual, procesos que están relacionados con el hipocampo. En el presente estudio han participado 78 pacientes diagnosticados de EM (59 de EM Recurrente-Remitente (RR) y 19 de EM secundaria progresiva (SP)) comparados con un grupo de 19 controles sanos, todos ellos valorados con la batería neuropsicológica breve Brief Reapetable Battery of Neuropsychological Test (BBNR). Los objetivos de este trabajo son estudiar una posible reducción del volumen de SG del hipocampo y su relación con el rendimiento en pruebas de aprendizaje y memoria a largo plazo; y estudiar una posible alteración de la CF entre el hipocampo y otras estructuras corticales y su relación con el rendimiento en tareas de aprendizaje/retención de la información en pacientes de EM. Con la técnica de Resonancia Magnética Funcional en estado de reposo se obtuvieron las diferentes imágenes estructurales y funcionales. Para el preprocesado se utilizó la técnica DARTEL y para el análisis estadístico la prueba t y la regresión lineal. Como resultados, observamos en los pacientes de EM mayor atrofia en el hipocampo izquierdo y menor conectividad funcional con respecto al grupo control. Estos resultados correlacionan con las menores puntuaciones en las pruebas de memoria obtenidas por los pacientes, por lo que podemos concluir que sí existe relación entre las alteraciones estructurales y funcionales del hipocampo en pacientes de EM y el bajo rendimiento en tareas de memoria episódica y declarativa.One of the most notable changes in sclerosis multiple patients are the problems of long-term memory, verbal and visual, processes that are related with hippocampus. In this study were compared 78 sclerosis multiple patients (59 EM RR and 19 EM SP) with 19 healthy controls, all of them evaluated with Brief Repeatable Battery of neuropsychological tests (BBNR). The aims of this work are to study a possible reduction of hippocampal volume SG and their relation with tests of learning and long-term memory; and study a possible alteration of the Functional Connectivity between the hippocampus and other cortical structures and their relation to the long-term performance in MS patients in learning and memory tasks. For the acquisition of neuroimaging was used resting-state Functional Magnetic Resonance, and for the preprocessing of the images was used morphometry advanced technique DARTEL. Regarding statistical analysis, t test and linear regression was used. We observed in MS patients greater atrophy in the left hippocampus and less functional connectivity with the control group. These results correlated with the lower scores on memory test, in consequence we can conclude that there are relation between structural and functional hippocampal changes in EM patients and the low performance in task episodic and declarative memory