The effect of wage proposals on efficiency and income distribution

Pre-play non-binding communication in organizations is prevalent. We study the implications of pre-play wage proposals and information revelation in a labour relationship in a laboratory experiment. In the baseline, that depicts a typical labour market interaction, the employer makes a wage offer to the worker who may then accept or reject it. In a subsequent treatment, workers, moving first, make private, non-binding, wage proposals to the employer. Our findings suggest that wage proposals promote higher wages, efficiency, and income equality. We run an additional experiment as a robustness check where we make the wage proposals public. We find that most of the results hold. Similar wage proposals are observed in the Public and Private information treatments, while accepted wages in the public treatment are higher than the baseline and significantly lower than under private information. It seems that workers conform to the available information on the wage of their co-worker from the last period when proposals are public. Interestingly, while both benefit over the baseline, public information on wage proposals benefits firms more than workers. We also develop a theoretical model to rationalize our results. The experimental results provide broad support for our hypotheses

An Analysis of the Evolution Equations for a Generalized Bioconvective Flow

We prove results on existence and uniqueness of solutions of a system of equations modeling the evolution of a generalized bioconvective flow. The mathematical model considered in the present work describes the convective motion generated by the upward swimming of a culture of microorganisms under the influence of vertical gravitational forces, in an incompressible viscous fluid whose viscosity may depend on the concentration of microorganisms

Spinodal-assisted crystallization in polymer melts

Recent experiments in some polymer melts quenched below the melting temperature have reported spinodal kinetics in small-angle x-ray scattering before the emergence of a crystalline structure. To explain these observations we propose that the coupling between density and chain conformation induces a liquid-liquid binodal within the equilibrium liquid-crystalline solid coexistence region. A simple phenomenological theory is developed to illustrate this idea, and several experimentally testable consequences are discussed. Shear is shown to enhance the kinetic role of the hidden binodal

Gender equality, austerity, vulnerabilities and resistance in the Spanish neo-liberal life cycle

We examine how austerity measures have affected gender equality in the context of women workers in Spain. We adopt a feminist perspective to explore the multiple nature of the impact of the recession, emerging policy scenarios and forms of gender action that have developed. One of the unforeseen outcomes of the economic crisis in Spain is the opening up of new forms of collective action that have emerged in two political movements: ‘Podemos’ and ‘Barcelona en Comú’ and two examples of feminist activism: ‘La Vaga de Totes’ and ‘Igualdad de género frente a la crisis económica’—initiatives which point to alternative ways of engaging with work and working lives, in the hope of redressing the inequalities that have increased over recent years. New forms of organization have been successful in mobilizing people by developing the struggle against austerity from a progressive perspective and radical democratic forms of action have come to the fore

Paleofitogeografía de los pinares en las montañas periféricas de la cuenca del Duero

En las dos últimas décadas se han obtenido numerosos resultados procedentes de diferentes trabajos paleobotánicos (Cuaternario final) realizados en los territorios montanos periféricos de la depresión del Duero. Las metodologías empleadas han sido diversas y tienen que ver con los diferentes tipos de yacimientos y de muestras biológicas seleccionadas para su estudio; entre ellas destacan las técnicas de microscopía óptica para la identificación de maderas subfósiles, la morfología comparada de macrorrestos y los estudios dendrocronológicos en árboles longevos y maderas subfósiles. En esta comunicación se reúnen y resumen los trabajos más importantes, haciéndose una síntesis de las conclusiones obtenidas en los trabajos paleofitogeográficos realizados hasta el momento; se hace hincapié en la información proporcionada por los macrorrestos (maderas, estróbilos) así como por la recogida en los registros dendrocronológicos (con extensión a la dendroecología). Otro de los objetivos de la comunicación es la síntesis de las conclusiones obtenidas en los trabajos paleofitogeográficos realizados hasta el momento. Uno de esos resultados es que el comportamiento de los pinares a lo largo del Holoceno presenta diferentes modalidades en cada una de las cordilleras que bordean la cuenca del Duero; desde casos con marcada estabilidad a otros en que se muestran variaciones temporales apreciables (con patrones de heterogeneidad en función de un eje N-S y/o O-E

Transcriptomic differences in MSA clinical variants

Background: Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a rare oligodendroglial synucleinopathy of unknown etiopathogenesis including two major clinical variants with predominant parkinsonism (MSA-P) or cerebellar dysfunction (MSA-C). Objective: To identify novel disease mechanisms we performed a blood transcriptomic study investigating differential gene expression changes and biological process alterations in MSA and its clinical subtypes. Methods: We compared the transcriptome from rigorously gender and age-balanced groups of 10 probable MSA-P, 10 probable MSA-C cases, 10 controls from the Catalan MSA Registry (CMSAR), and 10 Parkinson Disease (PD) patients. Results: Gene set enrichment analyses showed prominent positive enrichment in processes related to immunity and inflammation in all groups, and a negative enrichment in cell differentiation and development of the nervous system in both MSA-P and PD, in contrast to protein translation and processing in MSA-C. Gene set enrichment analysis using expression patterns in different brain regions as a reference also showed distinct results between the different synucleinopathies. Conclusions: In line with the two major phenotypes described in the clinic, our data suggest that gene expression and biological processes might be differentially affected in MSA-P and MSA-C. Future studies using larger sample sizes are warranted to confirm these results