Contexto de aparición y pertinencia del Código Iberoamericano de Ética Judicial

It considers the context around the appearance of the Ibero-American Judicial Code of Ethics (CIEJ) through concentric circles. The first and widest circle refers to the rise of individualistic ethics and the pluralistic democracy during the immediate period after the Cold War. The second circle, concentrated within the limits of philosophy, considers the applied turn that occurs in contemporary ethics. It has a peculiar impact in the origin of ethical codes of different professions. The third and last circle deliberates about the promotion of judicial ethics in those countries where the legitimacy of judges’ actions is considered to have diminished. Looking forward to evaluate the appropriateness of the Ibero-American Judicial Code of Ethics in this triple context, we give general considerations about the nature of judicial ethics in order to analyze from here the prescriptive contents of this code. This will lead us to the conclusion that the CIEJ, as it is proposed, can contribute to improve the people’s trust which is registered by the judicial branch in Ibero-America.Se aborda el contexto de aparición del Código Iberoamericano de Ética Judicial (CIEJ) en círculos concéntricos: el primero y más amplio alude al auge de la ética individualista y de la democracia pluralista durante la etapa posterior al fin de la Guerra Fría; el segundo, más acotado al campo de la filosofía, corresponde al giro aplicado en la ética contemporánea, con impacto especial en la formulación de códigos de ética en distintas profesiones; el tercero y último tiene que ver con la promoción de la ética judicial en aquellos países donde se considera que ha disminuido la legitimidad en la actuación de los jueces. A fin de evaluar que tan pertinente resulta el Código Iberoamericano de Ética Judicial en este triple contexto, se exponen algunas consideraciones generales sobre la naturaleza de la ética judicial y desde ahí se analiza el contenido prescriptivo de tal código, concluyendo que, así como está planteado, el CIEJ puede contribuir a mejorar los niveles de confianza ciudadana que registran las instancias del poder judicial en Iberoamérica.It considers the context around the appearance of the Ibero-American Judicial Code of Ethics (CIEJ) through concentric circles. The first and widest circle refers to the rise of individualistic ethics and the pluralistic democracy during the immediate period after the Cold War. The second circle, concentrated within the limits of philosophy, considers the applied turn that occurs in contemporary ethics. It has a peculiar impact in the origin of ethical codes of different professions. The third and last circle deliberates about the promotion of judicial ethics in those countries where the legitimacy of judges’ actions is considered to have diminished. Looking forward to evaluate the appropriateness of the Ibero-American Judicial Code of Ethics in this triple context, we give general considerations about the nature of judicial ethics in order to analyze from here the prescriptive contents of this code. This will lead us to the conclusion that the CIEJ, as it is proposed, can contribute to improve the people’s trust which is registered by the judicial branch in Ibero-America

Gamma-rays from millisecond pulsars in Globular Clusters

Globular clusters (GCs) with their ages of the order of several billion years contain many final products of evolution of stars such as: neutron stars, white dwarfs and probably also black holes. These compact objects can be at present responsible for the acceleration of particles to relativistic energies. Therefore, gamma-ray emission is expected from GCs as a result of radiation processes occurring either in the inner magnetosperes of millisecond pulsars or in the vicinity of accreting neutron stars and white dwarfs or as a result of interaction of particles leaving the compact objects with the strong radiation field within the GC. Recently, GeV gamma-ray emission has been detected from several GCs by the new satellite observatory Fermi. Also Cherenkov telescopes reported interesting upper limits at the TeV energies which start to constrain the content of GCs. We review the results of these gamma-ray observations in the context of recent scenarios for their origin.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, will be published in Astrophysics and Space Science Series (Springer), eds. N. Rea and D.F. Torre

Azo Dyes, Their Environmental Effects, and Defining a Strategy for Their Biodegradation and Detoxification

Intenzivan industrijski razvoj popraćen je sve većom kompleksnošću sastava otpadnih voda, što u smislu učinkovite zaštite okoliša i održivog razvoja nalaže potrebu pospješivanja kvalitete postojećih te uvođenjem novih postupaka obrade otpadnih voda, kao iznimno važnog čimbenika u interakciji čovjeka i okoliša. Posebnu znanstveno-tehnološku pozornost zahtijevaju novosintetizirani ksenobiotici, poput azo-boja, koji su u prirodi veoma teško razgradivi. Azo-boje podložne su bioakumulaciji, a zbog alergijskih, kancerogenih, mutagenih i teratogenih svojstava nerijetko su prijetnja zdravlju ljudi i očuvanju okoliša. Primjenu fi zikalnokemijskih metoda za uklanjanje azo-boja iz otpadnih voda često ograničavaju visoke cijene, potrebe za odlaganjem nastalog štetnog mulja ili nastanak toksičnih sastojaka razgradnje. Biotehnološki postupci su, zbog mogućnosti ekonomične provedbe i postizanja potpune biorazgradnje, a time i detoksifi kacije, sve zastupljeniji u obradi svih vrsta otpadnih voda, pa tako i onih koje sadržavaju azo-boje.Intense industrial development has been accompanied by the production of wastewaters of very complex content, which pose a serious hazard to the environment, put at risk sustainable development, and call for new treatment technologies that would more effectively address the issue. One particular challenge in terms of science and technology is how to biodegrade xenobiotics such as azo dyes, which practically do not degrade under natural environmental conditions. These compounds tend to bioaccumulate in the environment, and have allergenic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic properties for humans. Removal of azo dyes from effl uents is mostly based on physical-chemical methods. These methods are often very costly and limited, as they accumulate concentrated sludge, which also poses a significant secondary disposal problem, or produce toxic end-products. Biotechnological approach may offer alternative, lowcost biological treatment systems that can completely biodegrade and detoxify even the hard-to-biodegrade azo dyes