\ue9tica de las capacidades e interpretaci\uf2n de los principios de justicia

Abstract: Capability approach can be considered a liberal and concrete outlook to questions of distributive justice. In this paper, I try to offer a short critical assessment of Sen\u2019s approach, starting with his criticisms against utilitarianism and Rawlsian justice as fairness. Sen succeeds in offering us a concrete outlook to discrimination; yet, he does not clarify how to spot adaptive preferences and how liberal governments should cope with cases of persistent inequalities. In this respect Sen\u2019s theory is still incomplete. This incompleteness proves that the content of a political doctrine depends on the interpretation of its principles of distributive justice when difficult cases come to the fore

El sueño roto de la ciudadanía europea y el lado oscuro de la gobernanza

Este trabajo trata de analizar tres modelos de ciudadanía europea a partir de la crisis de legitimidad del modelo de gobernanza europeo a la que asistimos hoy. Presentaré los rasgos de esta crisis del modelo de gobernanza, aclarando cómo esta crisis pone de manifiesto 1) el poder de veto de algunos de los estados miembros 2) la falta de responsabilidad de las decisiones comunitarias hacia las opiniones públicas 3) la reducción de confianza mutua de los actores políticos y económicos. Mostraré como los tres modelos, respectivamente el modelo nacional- liberal, el modelo de la ciudadanía de mercado y el modelo federal, ofrecen diversas respuestas a la pregunta acerca del significado del ideal de una ciudadanía europea en el contexto de la crisis de legitimidad actual. Finalizaré el artículo con una propuesta de política educativa (la inserción en el marco de los curriculums de educación secundaria de nociones básicas de finanzas públicas) al fin de ofrecer a los, se espera, futuros ciudadanos europeos instrumentos para evaluar las decisiones cuyos costes van a soportar

2 years-long monitoring of <i>Codium elisabethae</i> population dynamics in the Azorian reef ecosystem (Faial Island) with seabed imagery

In the Site of Community Interest (Natura, 2000) of Monte-da-Guia (Faial, Azores), two sites were delimited in order to investigate particularly the links between habitat characteristics, population structure, distribution and dynamics of the green alga Codium elisabethae. The first site is a large protected rocky seafloor of an ancient volcano crater (20m deep) and classified as no-go reserve. It shows very high density stands of Codium elisabethae (up to 105 ind.m-2), representing the main vegetal biomass. At similar depth but distant of about two kilometers, the second site is in a more exposed area, where a sparse population (about 13 ind.m-2) occupies rocky tables and boulders emerging from shallow sandy deposits. These contrasting densities reflect different population dynamic equilibrium resulting from the particular environmental pressures of each site. A two year population survey started in August 2003, aiming principally at building submarine image mosaics of each site on a seasonal basis. Further, a computer assisted detection is run on the images to derive valuable information about the studied macroalgae. This technique allows to study a comparatively large zone regarding to the diving time invested so as to integrate spatial patchiness and to focus on the temporal evolution of well identified individuals. The imagery methodology was validated with in situ measurements, confirming the adequacy of the 1cm precision size histograms produced, when considering individuals larger than 5cm diameter. Seasonal fluctuations of growth rate (from 0.5 to 3cm.month-1) and primary production (from 1 to 15kg.m-².month-1) could be described. For both sites studied, density, biomass and cover rate seemed affected by a seasonal variation with reduction starting in end summer early autumn. In both sites, the reduction was sharp in the fall 2003 and population density didn’t recover completely in spring and summer 2004. During the following year, population of the protected site could maintain density and biomass, while population of the exposed site dropped continuously all year. Last processing step will search to relate statistically these different population evolutions to the benthic environmental constraints measured in both sites during the year 2004-2005 (temperature, currents, turbidity, photosynthetic active radiation, nutrients). Differences in hydrodynamic exposure of both sites could be part of the answer, but observed differences in the reproduction intensity of these two populations is an important factor, and remains unexplained

Brain-age is associated with progression to dementia in memory clinic patients

Background: Biomarkers for the early detection of dementia risk hold promise for better disease monitoring and targeted interventions. However, most biomarker studies, particularly in neuroimaging, have analysed artificially ‘clean’ research groups, free from comorbidities, erroneous referrals, contraindications and from a narrow sociodemographic pool. Such biases mean that neuroimaging samples are often unrepresentative of the target population for dementia risk (e.g., people referred to a memory clinic), limiting the generalisation of these studies to real-world clinical settings. To facilitate better translation from research to the clinic, datasets that are more representative of dementia patient groups are warranted. Methods: We analysed T1-weighted MRI scans from a real-world setting of patients referred to UK memory clinic services (n = 1140; 60.2 % female and mean [SD] age of 70.0[10.8] years) to derive ‘brain-age’. Brain-age is an index of age-related brain health based on quantitative analysis of structural neuroimaging, largely reflecting brain atrophy. Brain-predicted age difference (brain-PAD) was calculated as brain-age minus chronological age. We determined which patients went on to develop dementia between three months and 7.8 years after neuroimaging assessment (n = 476) using linkage to electronic health records. Results: Survival analysis, using Cox regression, indicated a 3 % increased risk of dementia per brain-PAD year (hazard ratio [95 % CI] = 1.03 [1.02,1.04], p < 0.0001), adjusted for baseline age, age2, sex, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score and normalised brain volume. In sensitivity analyses, brain-PAD remained significant when time-to-dementia was at least 3 years (hazard ratio [95 % CI] = 1.06 [1.02, 1.09], p = 0.0006), or when baseline MMSE score ≥ 27 (hazard ratio [95 % CI] = 1.03 [1.01, 1.05], p = 0.0006). Conclusions: Memory clinic patients with older‐appearing brains are more likely to receive a subsequent dementia diagnosis. Potentially, brain-age could aid decision-making during initial memory clinic assessment to improve early detection of dementia. Even when neuroimaging assessment was more than 3 years prior to diagnosis and when cognitive functioning was not clearly impaired, brain-age still proved informative. These real-world results support the use of quantitative neuroimaging biomarkers like brain-age in memory clinics

Kinetics and Products of Air Plasma Induced Oxidation in Water of Imidacloprid and Thiamethoxam Treated Individually and in Mixture

Imidacloprid (I) and thiamethoxam (T) are widely used neonicotinoid insecticides with high persistence in the environment and thus included in the watch list of substances for European Union-wide monitoring reported in the Decision 2015/495/EU. In this work aqueous solutions of I, T and I + T were subjected to advanced oxidation by air plasma produced by negative DC corona discharges above the liquid surface. The oxidative degradation of each pollutant was investigated by monitoring the rate and the products of its decay when treated alone and in the presence of variable amounts of the other compound. The results show that both I and T are readily degraded and that mineralization can be achieved in this process, as proven by the measurement of the residual organic carbon and by the quantitative conversion of chlorine and sulfur into inorganic chloride and sulfate, respectively. The major organic intermediates formed during the complex stepwise oxidation of I and T were identified and monitored by HPLC\u2013MS/MS analysis. The results of kinetic studies show that both for I and T the reaction rate depends inversely on the insecticide initial concentration, that I and T have similar reactivities and that they do not interfere reciprocally in any specific way when treated in mixture at a total concentration of ca 1 7 10 124 M. Based on literature data and on previous results with the same reactor, it is reasonable to propose that the oxidation of I and T is initiated by the reaction with OH radicals