Political Regimes, Bureaucracy, and Scientific Productivity

Can a scientist trust that the government is going to pay him or her fairly? In the science–government relationship, an incumbent may be better off if he or she does not provide—or does not provide a fair pay to public scientists. We propose a simple game-theoretic model for understanding the trust problem in the relationship between governments and scientists. The model shows how with reliable governments (democracies), bureaucratic contracts (e.g., secure tenure) are not optimal since they have low-powered incentives (in contrast to the highpowered private-sector type of contracts) and run against scientists’ responsiveness to government demands. However, with nonreliable governments (dictatorships), bureaucratic contracts are second-best solutions because they protect scientists against the possibility of governments’ misbehavior (i.e., ex post opportunistic defections, such as canceling research programs overnight). An empirical analysis confirms the predictions: bureaucratic contracts enhance scientific productivity with nonreliable governments (dictatorships) but hamper scientific productivity with reliable governments (democracies).Publicad

Improvement of encoding and retrieval in normal and pathological aging with word–picture paradigm

[EN] Objectives: During the aging process, there is a progressive deficit in the encoding of new information and its retrieval. Different strategies are used in order to maintain, optimize or diminish these deficits in people with and without dementia. One of the classic techniques is paired-associate learning (PAL), which is based on improving the encoding of memories, but it has yet to be used to its full potential in people with dementia. In this study, our aim is to corroborate the importance of PAL tasks as instrumental tools for creating contextual cues, during both the encoding and retrieval phases of memory. Additionally, we aim to identify the most effective form of presenting the related items. Method: Pairs of stimuli were shown to healthy elderly people and to patients with moderate and mild Alzheimer’s disease. The encoding conditions were as follows: word/word, picture/picture, picture/word, and word/picture. Results: Associative cued recall of the second item in the pair shows that retrieval is higher for the Word/picture condition in the two groups of patients with dementia when compared to the other conditions, while word/word is the least effective in all cases. Conclusion: These results confirm that PAL is an effective tool for creating contextual cues during both the encoding and retrieval phases in people with dementia when the items are presented using the word/picture condItion. In this way, the encoding and retrieval deficit can be reduced in these people

¿Por qué crece el gasto público? La Ley de Wagner en el caso argentino

Why does public expenditure grow? Wagner´s law assumes that the increase in size of the public expenditure is a logical consequence of economic growth. Does Wagner´s law apply in the case of Argentina? In order to answer this question, the evolution of public expenditure between 1983 and 2018 is analyzed and a vector error correction model (VEC) is proposed. Based on this methodology, it is concluded that the increase in GDP has had an expansive effect on the size of public expenditure. Therefore, the suitability of the application of the Wagner´s law for the analyzed period is corroborated.¿Por qué crece el gasto público? La Ley de Wagner asume que el incremento del tamaño del gasto público es una consecuencia lógica del crecimiento económico. ¿Se cumple la Ley de Wagner para el caso argentino? Con el objetivo de responder esta pregunta, se analiza la evolución del gasto público entre 1983 y 2018 y se plantea un modelo de corrección de errores (VEC). A partir de dicha metodología se concluye que el incremento del PBI tuvo un efecto expansivo sobre el tamaño del gasto público, convalidándose entonces la pertinencia de la Ley de Wagner para el período bajo análisis. Códigos JEL: C50, E62, H50

Analysis and dynamics of the chromosomal complements of wild sparkling-wine yeast strains

8 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables.-- PMID: 10103269 [PubMed].-- PMCID: PMC91239We isolated Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strains that are able to carry out the second fermentation of sparkling wine from spontaneously fermenting musts in El Penedès (Spain) by specifically designed selection protocols. All of them (26 strains) showed one of two very similar mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) restriction patterns, whereas their karyotypes differed. These strains showed high rates of karyotype instability, which were dependent on both the medium and the strain, during vegetative growth. In all cases, the mtDNA restriction pattern was conserved in strains kept under the same conditions. Analysis of different repetitive sequences in their genomes suggested that ribosomal DNA repeats play an important role in the changes in size observed in chromosome XII, whereas SUC genes or Ty elements did not show amplification or transposition processes that could be related to rearrangements of the chromosomes showing these sequences. Karyotype changes also occurred in monosporidic diploid derivatives. We propose that these changes originated mainly from ectopic recombination between repeated sequences interspersed in the genome. None of the rearranged karyotypes provided a selective advantage strong enough to allow the strains to displace the parental strains. The nature and frequency of these changes suggest that they may play an important role in the establishment and maintenance of the genetic diversity observed in S. cerevisiae wild populations.This work has been supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (PB92-0051, PB95-0433, and 95-0012-OP), by additional support from the Generalitat de Catalunya (GRQ93- 8024), and by the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung (Germany) to B.P. D.N. has been partially supported by fellowships (RE93-05 and RI94-20) from the Generalitat de Catalunya. The firm Ramón Nadal Giró also acknowledges a grant from the Generalitat de Catalunya (IT94/214).Peer reviewe

A survey of genes encoding H2O2-producing GMC oxidoreductases in 10 Polyporales genomes

15 p.-4 fig.-1 tab.The genomes of three representative Polyporales (Bjerkandera adusta, Phlebia brevispora and a member of the Ganoderma lucidum complex) recently were sequenced to expand our knowledge on the diversity and distribution of genes involved in degradation of plant polymers in this Basidiomycota order, which includes most wood-rotting fungi. Oxidases, including members of the glucose-methanol-choline (GMC) oxidoreductase superfamily, play a central role in the above degradative process because they generate extracellular H2O2 acting as the ultimate oxidizer in both white-rot and brown-rot decay. The survey was completed by analyzing the GMC genes in the available genomes of seven more species to cover the four Polyporales clades. First, an in silico search for sequences encoding members of the aryl-alcohol oxidase, glucose oxidase, methanol oxidase, pyranose oxidase, cellobiose dehydrogenase and pyranose dehydrogenase families was performed. The curated sequences were subjected to an analysis of their evolutionary relationships,followed by estimation of gene duplication/ reduction history during fungal evolution. Second,the molecular structures of the near one hundred GMC oxidoreductases identified were modeled to gain insight into their structural variation and expected catalytic properties. In contrast to ligninolytic peroxidases,whose genes are present in all white-rot Polyporales genomes and absent from those of brown-rot species, the H2O generating oxidases are widely distributed in both fungal types. This indicates that the GMC oxidases provide H2O2 for both ligninolytic peroxidase activity (in white-rot decay) and Fenton attack on cellulose (in brown-rot decay), after the transition between both decay patterns in Polyporales occurred.This work was supported by the INDOX (www.indoxproject.eu; KBBE-2013-7-613549) European project and by the Spanish HIPOP (BIO2011-26694) project. The work conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute was supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC02-05CH11231, in the frame of the JGI Saprotrophic Agaricomycotina project coordinated by D.S. Hibbett (Clark University, USA).Peer reviewe

Estilos de liderazgo y compromiso de sus seguidores en las organizaciones. Un análisis del liderazgo transformacional vs transaccional = Leadership styles and commitment of their followers in organizations. Analysis of transformational vs transactional leadership

En el presente trabajo se analizará el impacto que tienen los diferentes tipos deliderazgo en el compromiso organizacional. En la primera parte del trabajo se expone la evolución que sufre el complejo concepto de liderazgo y la figura del líder, así como sus principales características. Posteriormente se analiza una de las principales cuestiones sobre el liderazgo ¿el líder nace o se hace?, se responderá a esto analizando las diferentes teorías clásicas sobre el liderazgo, y por último, se analizaran las teorías contemporáneas y la variable con la que se relacionará, el compromiso. Para comprobar si la teoría coincide con la práctica se realizó un caso práctico donde se analiza en una pequeña muestra el tipo de liderazgo que las personas perciben de sus líderes, para más tarde relacionarlo con el compromiso organizacional. Para ello, se realizó un cuestionario donde se distinguía entre el estilo de liderazgo transformacional, transaccional y laissez faire. A esto se le sumaba otro sobre el compromiso en sus tres facetas, compromiso afectivo, de conducta y normativo. Los resultados revelan que el liderazgo transformacional es el más percibido por los empleados y este tiene una relación positiva con el compromiso, en especial con el normativ

Historical query data as business intelligence tool on an internationalization contex

[EN] This article reports theory concerning the key strategies of information search behaviour on an international market-orientation context, proposing a common framework to identify search goals using data generated from the keyword planner from google covering the period 2014/17 applied to the clothing retail sector. A conceptual framework of user goal identification from search data within clothing retail sector is presented and discussed in light of existing empirical studies. For that, a case study of an important fashion retailer has been analyzed: Zara. This firm is situated in the second position within the ranking of most valuable brands of clothes 2015 around the world (Kantar, 2016). A comparative analysis of search patters of this company, between United Kingdom and Spain, has been developed in order to offer the possible internationalization strategies in the online retail sector. User goals are identifyed and are stable over the period of study, a framework that covers main clothing consumer search goals have been identifyed.This study has been developed within the Research Project funded by Fundación Ramón Areces, entitled “La colaboración abierta en Internet como estrategia de innovación e internacionalización del sector de moda y complementos [open collaboration in the Internet as innovation and internationalization strategies by fashion sector] (2015-2018).Carro-Rodríguez, J.; Lorenzo-Romero, C.; Gómez-Borja, M. (2018). Historical query data as business intelligence tool on an internationalization contex. En 2nd International Conference on Advanced Reserach Methods and Analytics (CARMA 2018). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 221-228. https://doi.org/10.4995/CARMA2018.2018.8361OCS22122

New Gmc oxidoreductases from ligninolytic basydiomycetes: genomic screening, catalytic mechanisms and biotechnological potential

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular I, leída el 10-05-2017La superfamilia de enzymas glucosa-metanol-colina (GMC) oxidasas/deshidrogenasas se compone de proteínas que contienen FAD filogenéticamente relacionadas entre sí que comparten un plegamiento común que se subdivide en dos dominios diferentes: el de unión a FAD y el de unión a sustrato. Algunas oxidorreductasas fúngicas que pertenecen a esta superfamilia desempeñan la función de enzimas auxiliares en el proceso de degradación de la lignocelulosa. La mayor parte de ellas son oxidorreductasas extracelulares que producen el H2O2 requerido: (i) por las peroxidasas de alto potencial redox para actuar sobre la lignina; o (ii) para desencadenar las reaciones de Fenton, que dan lugar a especies radicales de oxígeno que atacan a la lignocelulosa.El estudio de los genomas de 10 hongos seleccionados del orden Poliporales, los únicos organismos capaces de mineralizar totalmente la lignina, arrojó luz sobre la participación de 5 familias de oxidorreductasas GMC en la descomposición de la lignocelulosa. Estas fueron las glucosa oxidasas (GOX), celobiosa deshidrogenasas (CDH), piranosa 2-oxidasas (P2O), metanol oxidasas (MOX) y aril-alcohol oxidasas (AAO). Los estudios filogenéticos sugieren que estas enzimas comparten un ancestro común cuya diversificación tuvo lugar en una etapa más temprana de la evolución fúngica, que se caracterizó por el escaso número de estos genes GMC. Las AAO y las MOX resultaron ser las oxidorreductasas GMC más abundantes en los genomas seleccionados. El número de genes que codifican para estas proteínas varía ampliamente de un genoma a otro de acuerdo con las características ecofisiológicas de cada hongo...The glucose-methanol-choline oxidase/dehydrogenase (GMC) superfamily of enzymes is composed of FAD-containing, phylogenetically-related proteins that share a common fold subdivided into two different domains: the FAD-binding and substrate-binding ones. Some fungal oxidoreductases belonging to the superfamily play a role as auxiliary enzymes in the lignocellulose-degrading process. Most of them are extracellular oxidoreductases that produce the H2O2 required: (i) by high redox potential peroxidases to act on lignin; or (ii) to trigger Fenton reactions, which give rise to radical oxygen species that attack lignocellulose.Investigation of the genomes of 10 selected Polyporales fungi, the only microorganisms able to completely mineralize lignin, shed light on the involvement of 5 families of GMC oxidoreductases in the lignocellulose decay. These were glucose oxidases (GOX), cellobiose dehydrogenases (CDH), pyranose 2-oxidases (P2O), methanol oxidases (MOX) and aryl-alcohol oxidases (AAO). Phylogenetic studies carried out suggest that they share a common ancestor whose diversification took place at a more ancestral stage of fungal evolution, which is characterized by a low number of these GMC genes. AAO and MOX proved to be the most abundant GMC oxidoreductases present in the selected genomes. The number of genes encoding for these enzymes varies from one genome to another according to the ecophysiology of the fungi. In fact, brown-rot fungi, which do not mineralize lignin but alter its structure to gain access to carbohydrates, lost most of their lignin-degrading enzymes and GMC repertoire, except MOX. These fungi cause the demethoxylation of lignin that releases methanol and relies on the reactivity of radical oxygen species stemming from H2O2. These findings point out the co-evolution of these fungal GMC enzymes with the lignin-degrading peroxidases...Sección Deptal. de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular (Biológicas)Fac. de Ciencias BiológicasTRUEunpu

Expanding the Physiological Role of Aryl-Alcohol Flavooxidases as Quinone Reductases

Aryl-alcohol oxidases (AAOs) are members of the glucose-methanol-choline oxidase/dehydrogenase (GMC) superfamily. These extracellular flavoproteins have been described as auxiliary enzymes in the degradation of lignin by several white-rot basidiomycetes. In this context, they oxidize fungal secondary metabolites and lignin-derived compounds using O2 as an electron acceptor, and supply H2O2 to ligninolytic peroxidases. Their substrate specificity, including mechanistic aspects of the oxidation reaction, has been characterized in Pleurotus eryngii AAO, taken as a model enzyme of this GMC superfamily. AAOs show broad reducing-substrate specificity in agreement with their role in lignin degradation, being able to oxidize both nonphenolic and phenolic aryl alcohols (and hydrated aldehydes). In the present work, the AAOs from Pleurotus ostreatus and Bjerkandera adusta were heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli, and their physicochemical properties and oxidizing abilities were compared with those of the well-known recombinant AAO from P. eryngii. In addition, electron acceptors different from O2, such as p-benzoquinone and the artificial redox dye 2,6-Dichlorophenolindophenol, were also studied. Differences in reducing-substrate specificity were found between the AAO enzymes from B. adusta and the two Pleurotus species. Moreover, the three AAOs oxidized aryl alcohols concomitantly with the reduction of p-benzoquinone, with similar or even higher efficiencies than when using their preferred oxidizing-substrate, O2. IMPORTANCE In this work, quinone reductase activity is analyzed in three AAO flavooxidases, whose preferred oxidizing-substrate is O2. The results presented, including reactions in the presence of both oxidizing substrates—benzoquinone and molecular oxygen—suggest that such aryl-alcohol dehydrogenase activity, although less important than its oxidase activity in terms of maximal turnover, may have a physiological role during fungal decay of lignocellulose by the reduction of quinones (and phenoxy radicals) from lignin degradation, preventing repolymerization. Moreover, the resulting hydroquinones would participate in redox-cycling reactions for the production of hydroxyl free radical involved in the oxidative attack of the plant cell-wall. Hydroquinones can also act as mediators for laccases and peroxidases in lignin degradation in the form of semiquinone radicals, as well as activators of lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases in the attack of crystalline cellulose. Moreover, reduction of these, and other phenoxy radicals produced by laccases and peroxidases, promotes lignin degradation by limiting repolymerization reactions. These findings expand the role of AAO in lignin biodegradation