Spain's Historical Memory Law: a study of successful historical reconciliation

I explore the Historical Memory Law (Ley 52/2007) as a successful model of historical reconciliation. I argue that the HML can be conceived as a renewed source of legitimacy for the Spanish state and as a progressive model of reconciliation, applicable to democratizing countries. First, I address how the pacted transition has affected reparation and rehabilitation efforts. Second, I respond to the critics by extensively analyzing the legal framework and victim compensations from the onset of the Transition. Autonomous division of power and the legacy of the pacted transition emerge as limiting factors in HML implementation. Thirdly, I identify left-leaning regional parties as the key actor in the political effort and propose a comprehensive four-stage model that maps out the reconciliation effort (negation, amnesia, accommodation, reconciliation). I conclude that historical reconciliation will deal with memory recuperation (exhumations, symbols removal, sentences annulment) and depend on a new generation of post-Transition Spaniards

Assessing EU environmental policies effectiveness on the economic development of Bulgaria

The study explores the effect of the European Structural and Investment Funds, intended to implement EU Environmental Policies on the development of the Bulgarian economy. Efforts are focused on measuring the strength and direction of the stochastic relationships between the absorbed funds provided by: the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund (CF) on the Bulgarian gross domestic product for the period 2014 - 2022. The methodology used to study the observed stochastic processes includes various types of linear and non-linear regressions, correlation analysis, ANOVA, multicollinearity, and normality of residuals

Messages committing you to reciprocate : a field experiment with “contactless” debtors

The article presents the results of a field experiment that uses ‘nudge’ type influences as the content of text messages targeting a specific group of debtors of one of the fast loans company’s operating in Bulgaria. This is a group consisting of so-called ‘contactless’ clients, the ones that stop paying their instalments and cut all the communication with their creditor during the COVID 19 isolation phase. We define the term nudge and also explain the differences between the traditional debt collection process and the behavioural approach to collection. We reveal the impact of nudging sms messages that make debtors feel committed to reciprocate, which is a specific automatic effect on the decision-making process. Those text messages significantly increased the probability of the debtors responding to the invitation for credit restructuring, compared to when the standard message was sent. Therefore, it is important to implement new behavioural approaches in existing debt collection strategies in the context of the new social reality created by the COVID-19 pandemic

Indicators of Preeclampsia in Correlation with Maternal Cytokines in Pregnancy

Aim: the purpose of the actual study was to evaluate, in the third trimester of pregnancy, the relationship between the formation of anti-inflammatory IL-10 cytokine and several indicators of moderate and severe preeclampsia. Materials and methods: in the third trimester of gestation, examination of the biochemical markers of preeclampsia (PE) and maternal IL-10 levels was conducted in 100 women with pregnancies complicated by varying degrees of preeclampsia and in 100 normotensive patients, hospitalized at the University Clinic of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. Patients with preeclampsia were categorized into moderate and severe preeclampsia groups according to the degree of preeclampsia. Logistic regression of the different parameters for the occurrence of severe preeclampsia analysis was used to determine the predictive value. Results: the regression analysis detected systolic blood pressure of 160 mmHg or higher, diastolic blood pressure of 100 mmHg or higher, persistent proteinuria in pregnancy, serum LDH concentration of 450 U/L or higher, and reduced serum concentrations of IL-10 as significant predictors of severe preeclampsia. Conclusion: significantly, lower IL-10 concentrations in maternal serum in patients with severe preeclampsia in comparison with respective concentrations in patients with moderate preeclampsia can be considered as major pathognomonic laboratory sign of severe form of preeclampsia

Iron-chalcogenide FeSe0.5_{0.5}Te0.5_{0.5} coated superconducting tapes for high field applications

The high upper critical field characteristic of the recently discovered iron-based superconducting chalcogenides opens the possibility of developing a new type of non-oxide high-field superconducting wires. In this work, we utilize a buffered metal template on which we grow a textured FeSe$_{0.5}$Te$_{0.5}$ layer, an approach developed originally for high temperature superconducting coated conductors. These tapes carry high critical current densities (>1$\times10^{4}$A/cm$^{2}$) at about 4.2K under magnetic field as high as 25 T, which are nearly isotropic to the field direction. This demonstrates a very promising future for iron chalcogenides for high field applications at liquid helium temperatures. Flux pinning force analysis indicates a point defect pinning mechanism, creating prospects for a straightforward approach to conductor optimization.Comment: Accepted for publication in Appl. Phys. Let

Mapping and assessment of urban ecosystem condition and services using integrated index of spatial structure

Urban ecosystems are the areas where built infrastructure covers a large proportion of the land surface but the main source of ecosystem services provision is the green infrastructure. This provision is very much dependent on the particular combination of green spaces such as parks or vegetation belts and paved areas such as buildings and streets. The spatial arrangement of these elements is an important parameter which could be used for the assessment of the ecosystem condition in the urban areas. An integrated index of spatial structure is proposed which incorporates built types and land cover from the Local Climate Zones (LCZ) concept with urban ecosystems' classes developed on the basis of MAES typology. An algorithm has been developed for index generation using an urban ecosystems' database and remote sensing data. The index is used to define vegetation cover in urban ecosystems and assess their condition as a part of the assessment framework. It is also applied in the assessment of several ecosystem services through quantification of ecosystem services' indicators or as an indicator in a complex assessment. The results show that, although most urban ecosystems in Bulgaria are assessed as moderate and good condition, very few of them have very good condition and about 3.5% have very bad condition. The highest scores are defined for urban green areas while the lowest are for transport networks. The use of an integrated index in urban ecosystem services' assessment is represented by examples for global and local climate regulation. The results are used to develop maps of ecosystem services supply capacity for selected cities. The overall analysis indicates that the urban ecosystems in Bulgaria have a moderate to good capacity for local climate regulation and moderate to low capacity for global climate regulation. The integrated index of spatial structure provides an appropriate basis for characterisation and assessment of the urban ecosystems condition and ecosystem services following the requirements of the EU Biodiversity Strategy and the MAES process. The proposed approach enables the internal heterogeneity of the urban ecosystems at national level to be defined, this being one of the main challenges in studying urban ecological systems

Transport Properties of Stripe-Ordered High Tc Cuprates

Transport measurements provide important characterizations of the nature of stripe order in the cuprates. Initial studies of systems such as La(1.6-x)Nd(0.4)Sr(x)CuO(4) demonstrated the strong anisotropy between in-plane and c-axis resistivities, but also suggested that stripe order results in a tendency towards insulating behavior within the planes at low temperature. More recent work on La(2-x)Ba(x)CuO(4) with x=1/8 has revealed the occurrence of quasi-two-dimensional superconductivity that onsets with spin-stripe order. The suppression of three-dimensional superconductivity indicates a frustration of the interlayer Josephson coupling, motivating a proposal that superconductivity and stripe order are intertwined in a pair-density-wave state. Complementary characterizations of the low-energy states near the Fermi level are provided by measurements of the Hall and Nernst effects, each revealing intriguing signatures of stripe correlations and ordering. We review and discuss this work.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, brief revie

Transcriptional changes in response to ketamine ester-analogs SN 35210 and SN 35563 in the rat brain

Background Ketamine ester analogs, SN 35210 and SN 35563, demonstrate different pharmacological profiles to ketamine in animal models. Both confer hypnosis with predictably rapid offset yet, paradoxically, SN35563 induces a prolonged anti-nociceptive state. To explore underlying mechanisms, broad transcriptome changes were measured and compared across four relevant target regions of the rat brain. Results SN 35563 produced large-scale alteration of gene expression in the Basolateral Amygdala (BLA) and Paraventricular Nucleus of the Thalamus (PVT), in excess of 10x that induced by ketamine and SN 35210. A smaller and quantitatively similar number of gene changes were observed in the Insula (INS) and Nucleus Accumbens (ACB) for all three agents. In the BLA and PVT, SN 35563 caused enrichment for gene pathways related to the function and structure of glutamatergic synapses in respect to: release of neurotransmitter, configuration of postsynaptic AMPA receptors, and the underlying cytoskeletal scaffolding and alignment. Conclusion The analgesic ketamine ester analog SN 35563 induces profound large-scale changes in gene expression in key pain-related brain regions reflecting its unique prolonged pharmacodynamic profile