The Informational Foundation of the Human Act

This book is the result of a collective research effort performed during many years in both Sweden and Spain. It is the result of attempting to develop a new field of research that could we denominate «human act informatics.» The goal has been to use the technologies of information to the study of the human act in general, including embodied acts and disembodied acts. The book presents a theory of the quantification of the informational value of human acts as order, opposing the living order against entropy. We present acting as a set of decisions and choices aimed to create order and to impose Modernity. Karl Popper’s frequency theory of probability is applied to characterize human acts regarding their degree of freedom and to set up a scale of order in human decisions. The traditional theory of economics and social science characterize the human act as rational, utilitarian and ethical. Our results emphasize that the unique significance of an act lies in its capacity to generate order. An adequate methodology is then presented to defend such hypothesis according to which, the rationality respective irrationality of acting, is in fact only a function of the act’s organizational capacity. From this perspective, it has been necessary to define «order» respective «disorder» as operative concepts that allowed the comparison of the organizational differences generated by each kind of act. According to the presented conclusions, the spontaneity of living, as unconscious thinking, dreaming, loving, etc. and the mainstream of the human acts, are utilitarian, but in an irrational way; they are rooted in unconscious drifts and therefore must be considered irrational-utility acts

Producción cepalina sobre educación

El siguiente trabajo presenta una visión global del conjunto de la producción de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) sobre educación, mediante la clasificación y análisis de las publicaciones cepalinas relacionadas con el tema educativo desde 1949 hasta 2002. Para dar esa visión dividí los documentos bajo tres criterios temporales y bajo cuatro clasificaciones. Los criterios temporales fueron: anualmente, en dos periodos (1949-1976 y 1977-2002) y en seis etapas (1949-1960, 1961-1963, 1964-1976, 1977-1986, 1987-1989 y 1990-2002). Las cuatro clasificaciones fueron de acuerdo con su extensión en número de páginas, por tipo de publicación, por su ámbito geográfico y por su vinculación temática.El siguiente trabajo presenta una visión global del conjunto de la producción de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) sobre educación, mediante la clasificación y análisis de las publicaciones cepalinas relacionadas con el tema educativo desde 1949 hasta 2002. Para dar esa visión dividí los documentos bajo tres criterios temporales y bajo cuatro clasificaciones. Los criterios temporales fueron: anualmente, en dos periodos (1949-1976 y 1977-2002) y en seis etapas (1949-1960, 1961-1963, 1964-1976, 1977-1986, 1987-1989 y 1990-2002). Las cuatro clasificaciones fueron de acuerdo con su extensión en número de páginas, por tipo de publicación, por su ámbito geográfico y por su vinculación temática

H2_2 dissociation over Au-nanowires and the fractional conductance quantum

The dissociation of H$_2$ molecules on stretched Au nanowires and its effect on the nanowire conductance are analyzed using a combination of Density Functional (DFT) total energy calculations and non-equilibrium Keldish-Green function methods. Our DFT simulations reproduce the characteristic formation of Au monoatomic chains with a conductance close to % the conductance quantum $G_0 = 2e^2/h$. These stretched Au nanowires are shown to be better catalysts for H$_2$ dissociation than Au surfaces. This is confirmed by the nanowire conductance evidence: while not affected practically by molecular hydrogen, atomic hydrogen induces the appearance of fractional conductances ($G \sim 0.5 G_0$) as observed experimentally.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Energy Level Alignment in Organic-Organic Heterojunctions: The TTF-TCNQ Interface

The energy level alignment of the two organic materials forming the TTF-TCNQ interface is analyzed by means of a local orbital DFT calculation, including an appropriate correction for the transport energy gaps associated with both materials. These energy gaps are determined by a combination of some experimental data and the results of our calculations for the difference between the TTF_{HOMO} and the TCNQ_{LUMO} levels. We find that the interface is metallic, as predicted by recent experiments, due to the overlap (and charge transfer) between the Density of States corresponding to these two levels, indicating that the main mechanism controlling the TTF-TCNQ energy level alignment is the charge transfer between the two materials. We find an induced interface dipole of 0.7 eV in good agreement with the experimental evidence. We have also analyzed the electronic properties of the TTF-TCNQ interface as a function of an external bias voltage \Delta, between the TCNQ and TTF crystals, finding a transition between metallic and insulator behavior for \Delta~0.5 eV

Undeclared work and legal instruments for combating it in Spain

This article analyses the measures adopted in Spain to combat undeclared work, although only with respect to activities included in the scope of the Spanish Workers’ Statute (workers under employment agreements). For the purposes of this analysis, the measures have been broken down into three main groups: control measures; measures to combat illegal employment and, finally, measures to promote legal employment. The paper concludes with some reflections on the effectiveness of these measures

Labour market segmentation in Spain: is legislation leading to a reduction in duality?

In the last decades, the Spanish legislature has expressed its concern regarding thenegative impact of the existing duality in its national labour market. Many of the employment Actsadopted in the last few years specifically mention this problem in their preambles.In order to analyse the effectiveness of the measures adopted about this question it is necessary tohighlight the two different ways to approach the problem of duality. On the one hand, the existing dualitycould be reduced by making the access to temporary contacts of employment harder (reducing thenumber and the possibilities of temporary contracts and increasing the labour cost of these contracts) Onthe other hand, protection to open-ended contracts could be loosened so that differences of protection inboth kind of contracts would be shortened. For some years the focus was on reducing hiring flexibility.Since the economic crisis of 2008, and in accordance with the recommendations of the European Council,initiatives to combat the duality of the Spanish labour market have affected firing flexibility. Thispaper studies the effectiveness and consequences of those policies

Non-discrimination of older workers in the Spanish and the European Union context

La edad constituye un factor de discriminación respecto del que, en ocasiones, el afectado no es ni tan siquiera consciente, probablemente como consecuencia de “valores” asumidos socialmente, que hay que combatir. El hecho de que, en el caso español, la Constitución no mencione expresamente a la edad como causa de discriminación, y de que, en el ámbito de la Unión Europea, no fuese hasta el año 2000 cuando apareció la Directiva 2000/78/CE sobre igualdad de trato en el empleo y la ocupación, prohibiendo la discriminación por motivos entre otros, de edad, pueden haber contribuido a generar esa percepción social.La discriminación por razón de edad en el ámbito laboral se ha venido manifestando fundamentalmente en los momentos de inicio y fin del contrato de trabajo. En el primer caso, exigiendo una edad máxima para el acceso al empleo. En el segundo, estableciendo criterios o preferencias fundados en la edad para determinar la extinción del contrato de trabajo o, incluso, la salida del mercado laboral. Ambos aspectos constituyen el objeto de este estudio que incidirá no solamente en la presentación y estudio de las conductas discriminatorias, sino también en los mecanismos su reparación.Age is a factor of discrimination for which, on many occasions, the affected is not even aware, probably because of the existing values in the society. Spanish Constitution does not mention expressly the age as a cause of discrimination. In the context of the European Union only in the year 2000 appeared the first Directive (Directive 2000/78/EC) aiming at the achievement of equal treatment in employment and occupation, prohibiting discrimination on grounds, among others, of age. These circumstances may have contributed to create this social perception.Discrimination on grounds of age occurs mainly –but not only- at the beginning and ending of the employment relationship. In the first case, requiring a maximum age for access to employment. In the second, establishing criteria or preferences based on age to determine the extinction of the employment contract or, even, the exit from the labour market. Both aspects will constitute the object of this study, analyzing the issue from the perspective of the Spanish and European Union regulations, focusing not only on the study of discriminatory conducts, but also on its remedie