How do Barcelona and Madrid cope with the impacts of globalisation?

The central aim of this paper is to describe the state of art of the impact of globalisation on Barcelona and Madrid (Spain). It especially focuses on the transformations of their historic centres, the most accessible and highly contested spaces, and the reactions of their citizen movements and city councils. It begins by analysing the gentrification process. It then shows how these cities were even more intensively transformed by commercial gentrification, touristification and studentification, all within a general framework of financialisation. Consequently, both cities act like businesses, seeking high profits, and ignoring many of their citizens. Within this context, public policies have undergone a slight change of orientation. In this tense context, this paper presents a series of reflections and suggestions for future action

Determinación de propiedades físicas a 25C para los sistemas propanoato de propilo + hexano + etilbenceno, + o-xileno, + m-xileno, + p-xileno

[Resumen] Haciendo uso de técnicas de alta precisión se han realizado medidas experimentales de las magnitudes físicas: indice de refracción, densidad, viscosidad, tension superficial y calores de mezcla, a 25º c y presión atmosférica, de una serie de mezclas binarias y terciarias, constituidas por los compuestos orgánicos no reaccionantes: propanoato de propilo, hexano, etilbenceno, o-xileno, m-xileno y p-xileno. Los datos experimentales obtenidos permitieron determinar las variaciones de indices de refracción, de la tensión superficial y de la viscosidad, así como los volúmenes molares de exceso y las entalpias molares de exceso de las citadas mezclas binarias y terciarias, de cuyos resultado pueden extraerse consecuencias de gran interés, tanto para el campo de la físíca del estado líquido, como para el mundo de las ingenierías química/industrial. Se hace una detallada descripción de los equipos y técnicas de medidas utilizadas; un tratamiento matemático meticuloso de los datos obtenidos y se extraen conclusiones perfectamente justificadas atendiendo a la naturaleza de los compuestos utilizados y acordes con la amplia bibliografía consultada

Urban food markets and their sustainability: the compatibility of traditional and tourist uses

The aim of this article is to highlight the importance of urban food markets as tourist icons in the current competitive race to create attractive cities. Food markets attract a large number of consumers, both local and tourists. However, their impact on the city and its dynamics should be treated to establish measures to ensure sustainable (compatible) uses for both kinds of users. This calls for the establishment of a system of indicators to determine what level of sustainability food markets are at and facilitate decision-making for the agents involved in their management

¿Es posible la sostenibilidad de las ciudades turistificadas? Los casos de los centros históricos de Madrid y Barcelona

El objetivo del artículo es evidenciar cómo la actual competitividad desarrollada entre las ciudades como resultado de la intensificación de la tendencia neoliberal, conlleva un fuerte impacto sobre la ciudad y concretamente sobre sus centros. En esta, se analiza el incremento de la actividad turística en los centros urbanos y su impacto sociocultural. Se parte de la creación de una determinada imagen diseñada tanto por las administraciones como por los agentes privados y del uso de la cultura como herramienta de atracción e identidad. Los casos de Madrid y Barcelona sirven de ejemplo ilustrativo a este efecto. Ambas urbes son las ciudades españolas de mayor número de turistas recibidos en los últimos años. Se observa internamente cómo los poderes públicos y privados incentivan una imagen de ciudad atractiva para unos usuarios específicos (turistas y nuevos consumidores urbanos) y excluyen o silencian a las clases populares, inmigrantes, mayores, etc. Se finaliza con unas reflexiones sobre la sostenibilidad de las ciudades turísticas, en aras a su gobernanza. La literatura desde la que se aborda el problema recurre al marco del neoliberalismo en las ciudades (Brenner y Theodore, 2003) y la promoción urbana a través de la imagen (Gómez Schiattini et al, 2008; Zukin, 1995; Florida, 2009) y a uno de sus cambios más relevantes, el de la gentrificación (Lees et al., 2008; Smith, 1996; Butler, 1997; Hamnet, 2003) que provoca la expulsión física y simbólica de los antiguos pobladores del centro de las ciudades como espacios revitalizados por excelencia, como señala Sassen (2014). Datos secundarios y entrevistas permiten el análisis cualitativo

Experimental and Theoretical Study on Physical Properties of the Systems Dimethyl Carbonate and Diethyl Carbonate + Pentanol Isomers

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG[Abstract] In many industrial applications that involve solvents, the knowledge of both thermodynamics properties and transport properties play an important role in the design, sustainability, and optimization of processes in different fields of study. However, it is a fact that there is a lack of data and predictive models for the develop of future applications. Taking this into account, in this work we studied the physical properties of carbonates and pentanol isomers as well as their mixtures due to the versality of these solvents in many processes. We present measurements of densities (ρ) and excess molar volumes and enthalpies (VmE, HmE) at 298.15 K for the systems dimethyl or diethyl carbonate + pentanol isomers; and specifically for the systems with diethyl carbonate the surface tensions (σ ) and the surface tension deviations (δσ) at 298.15 K and the viscosities (η), dynamic viscosity deviations (Δη), refractive indexes (nD) and the changes in the refractive index (ΔnD) at 298.15 and 308.15 K. Different theoretical models were applied to obtained data for surface tensions and refractive indexes.Funding for open access charge: Universidade da Coruña/CISU

Preliminary Study of New Electrolytes Based on [MPPyr][TFSI] for Lithium Ion Batteries

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG[Abstract] The application of ionic liquids in lithium ion batteries has increased in recent years in order to find new electrolytes that improve both performance and safety. The gathering of experimental data in order to understand the behaviour of these systems will help us design electrolytes that can be optimized for a specific objective. Data on electrolytes made up of a ternary mixture with an ionic liquid are missing in the literature. In this work, we provide new data on physical properties and refractive indexes for the ternary mixtures 1-methyl-1-propylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([MPPyr][TFSI]) + acetonitrile (AN) or γ butyrolactone (GBL) or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) + lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) with different concentrations of salt, specifically, 10%, 15%, 20%, 30%, 35%. The measured properties were density (ρ), viscosity (η) and ionic conductivity (κ) in the temperature range of 278.15 to 358.15 K except for the mixtures with acetonitrile whose temperature range was 278.15 K to 328.15 K and the refractive indexes (nD) that were measured at a single temperature of 298.15 K. In general, the addition of salt in the binary mixtures provokes an increase of density and viscosity and therefore a decrease of ionic conductivity. It is worth mentioning that some of the studied systems showed values of ionic conductivity even better than those obtained for electrolyte systems based on carbonate.This work was supported by Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) and FEDER Program through the projects MAT2017–89239-C2–1-P, MAT2017–89239-C2–2-P and D2018–102679-T; Xunta de Galicia. Funding for open access charge: Universidade da Coruña/CISU

Validation of the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory-II in Spanish University Students

Background: This study aimed to analyse the psychometric properties of the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory-II (CEI-II) to provide evidence of validity for its use in research on health promotion and the quality of life of young Spanish university students. Method: A sample of 807 participants (75.09% female) aged 18–26 years (M = 20.68; SD = 2.13) completed the CEI-II and health and quality of life measures questionnaire. Results: A unidimensional structure was confirmed, but the original two-dimensional structure also showed an adequate fit. The measures obtained from the CEI-II were gender- and age-invariant, which exhibited adequate internal consistency for both the full scale and subscales, and showed a statistically significant relationship with life satisfaction, sense of coherence, and psychological distress. Conclusions: The CEI-II can be used as unidimensional, which is recommended, but also as a two-dimensional measure. Both structures provide reliable, valid, and invariant measures across gender and age of exploratory behaviours in Spanish university students. Furthermore, the results confirm the association between exploratory behaviours and greater health management.This research was supported by the EPIT 2020 project (University of Huelva, Spain) under Grant UHU-6272020

Effect of Gold Nanoparticles on Transport Properties of the Protic Ionic Liquid Propylammonium Nitrate

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade da Coruña/CISUGThe Supporting Information is available free of charge at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jced.1c00135[Abstract] Here, we analyze the effect of gold-nanoparticle (AuNPs)-doping of the protic ionic liquid (IL) propyl ammonium nitrate (PAN) on some physical properties, such as density, viscosity, and ionic conductivity, in a broad temperature range. This IL was lightly doped with four different AuNPs (concentration of gold lower than 0.2 mM): Au nanospheres of about 15, 60, and 80 nm diameter and Au nanorods of about 40 nm length and 12 nm width. AuNPs were synthesized following a seed growth approach and further functionalized with O-[2-(3-mercapto propionylamino)ethyl] O′-methyl-poly(ethylene glycol) (m-PEG-SH) in order to provide stability to the IL medium. The stability of the AuNPs in PAN was characterized by UV–vis spectroscopy. The results obtained here indicate that their presence produces a strong influence on the measured transport properties of PAN, decreasing viscosity up to 25% and increasing ionic conductivity up to 10% for the smallest AuNPs. Moreover, as temperature increases, the influence of AuNPs produces a decrease in the percentage deviations for viscosity and ionic conductivity. In the case of density, the AuNP-doping produces a mainly unexpected increase only for the sample with the smallest AuNPs, that is practically constant with temperature. When we equalize the AuNP concentration for all sizes and shapes, it is observed that the smallest AuNPs give higher variations in the studied properties than the bigger ones; also, the shape of the rod has an influence on the measured results. In addition, we have applied Walden’s rule to relate the three measured magnitudes, observing that AuNP addition decreases ionicity with respect to the reference sample, which is even more when we added smaller AuNPs. Finally, we explain all data assuming cation solvation of the AuNPs, which creates a local breaking of the pseudolattice structure of the PAN. Comparison with other published data is difficult because the behavior of a nanoparticle solution strongly depends on its particular composition and no data are available, in our knowledge, of any similar mixture to those studied here.The financial support of Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) (MAT2016-77809-R and MAT2017-89239-C2-(1,2)-P); Xunta de Galicia (GRC ED431C 2016/001 and ED431D 2017/06) is also acknowledged. All these research projects were partially supported by FEDERXunta de Galicia; ED431C 2016/001Xunta de Galicia; ED431D 2017/06https://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/acs.jced.1c00135/suppl_file/je1c00135_si_001.pd

Imidazolium Decyl Sulfate: A Very Promising Selfmade Ionic Hydrogel

This is the Accepted Manuscript version of the article. It has been through the peer review process at the Royal Society of Chemistry and has been accepted for publication in the journal "Materials Chemistry Frontiers".[Abstract] In this paper, we show, for the first time, the synthesis, structural characterization, phase diagram and physical properties of the ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium decyl sulfate [EMIm][DSO4]. At 25 °C it is either a crystalline solid or a liquid depending on the thermal history as its melting point is about 33 °C and its point of solidification is about 22 °C. The interest of this new IL lies in its ability to become a rigid hydrogel when mixed with water. As observed in many ILs, the as-prepared IL is hygroscopic and it adsorbs about 14 wt% of water at usual laboratory conditions and up to 27 wt% in a 100% saturated atmosphere. Due to the H-bonds between water and the amphiphilic [DSO4] anions, a lyotropic HIliquid crystalline phase is formed in the hydrated state, which can be observed in micrographs recorded using white polarized light. The moisture adsorption is a completely reversible process; thus, the rigid-gel sample loses all adsorbed water when it is left in a dry atmosphere for a few hours, transitioning to the liquid state. Phase diagrams of the temperature-water concentration is presented and compared with that of the parent compound [EMIm] octyl sulfate, [OSO4]. X-ray diffraction revels that below 15 °C the hydrated compound crystallizes into aP2/mmonoclinic structure. The structure of the new compound was confirmed by NMR, FTIR and mass spectroscopy (MS). In addition, the temperature behavior of ionic conductivity was experimentally measured and analyzed for the pure compound and for two samples hydrated with 10 wt% and 39 wt% of water. Viscosity and density were also measuredvs.temperature for the pure sample. The as-prepared IL shows great potential for numerous practical applications.This work was financed by MINECO from the Spanish Government (Grants No. MAT2014-57943-C3-1-P, MAT2014-57943-C3-2-P, MAT2014-57943-C3-3-P and DPI2012-38841-C02-02), by the European Union (COST Action CM 1206) and by the Galician Network on Ionic Liquids, REGALIs (CN 2014/015). Research projects have been co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER