The troubling legal and political uncertainty facing Catalonia

There is still no end in sight to the political uncertainty in Catalonia. As Javier García Oliva writes, the issue has raised questions over processes of constitutional reform in Spain. He highlights that constitutional systems tend to make amendments difficult precisely to avoid short-term political winds driving the state in directions which may be damaging to minority interests. But while constitutions should not be carried away by every political tide and current, where there is a tidal wave of opinion, they need to move and accommodate or they risk being swept away

Brainiac Caspases: Beyond the Wall of Apoptosis

For the last two decades, caspases, a family of cysteine-aspartic proteases, have evolved from being considered solely as regulators of apoptosis or inflammation to having a wider range of functions. In this mini review, we focus on the most recent "non-apoptotic" roles of caspases in the CNS, particularly in neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. Non-apoptotic caspase functions in microglia have already been reviewed extensively elsewhere. Here we discuss the involvement of caspases in the activation of the inflammasome, autophagy, and non-apoptotic forms of cell death such as necroptosis and pyroptosis. Also, we review the involvement of caspases in synapses and the processing of aggregates key to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases. Likewise, we mention the recently described involvement of caspases in mitochondrial biogenesis, which is a function independent of the enzymatic activity. We conclude discussing the relevance that "new" functions of caspases have in the CNS and the future of this field of researchEspaña Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad SAF2015-64171- R (MINECO/FEDER, EU)España Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Programa Ramón y Cajal: RYC-2017-21804

Prestaciones y tributos a través del Fuero de Cáceres. Bases de una diferenciación socioeconómica

El estudio de tributos y prestaciones en el marco de una comunidad concejil revela datos importantes que permiten conocer las relaciones socioeconómicas establecidas dentro del mismo concejo. Para ello se estudia el caso de la villa de Cáceres en el siglo XIII, época en la que la caballería villana ya se ha estructurado como clase dominante dentro de los concejos, configuración política e, incluso, económica que se refleja en el Fuero de Cáceres. Se plantean interrogantes claves como quiénes pechan, qué prestaciones se consideran propias de un determinado grupo social y si conllevan algún tipo de privilegio, o quiénes son los beneficiarlos de los tributos canalizados a través del concejo.The study of taxes and benefits in the context of a council community reveals important data used to determine the socioeconomic relations established within the council. We study the case of the town of Caceres in the thirteenth century, a period in which the villain cavalry was structured as a ruling class within the councils. This political and economic setting is reflected in the Fuero. Key questions such as what benefits are specific to a particular social group and if they have some kind of privilege or benefit

Applying model-driven paradigm: CALIPSOneo experience

Model-Driven Engineering paradigm is being used by the research community in the last years, obtaining suitable results. However, there are few practical experiences in the enterprise field. This paper presents the use of this paradigm in an aeronautical PLM project named CALIPSOneo currently under development in Airbus. In this context, NDT methodology was adapted as methodology in order to be used by the development team. The paper presents this process and the results that we are getting from the project. Besides, some relevant learned lessons from the trenches are concluded.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TIN2010-20057-C03-02Junta de Andalucía TIC-578

Numerical and experimental investigation of a vertical LiBr falling film absorber considering wave regimes and in presence of mist flow

The absorber represents the most critical component in absorption systems and one of the key issues. In this component complex heat and mass transfer phenomena during the absorption process takes place simultaneously. For this reason the development of mathematical models validated against experimental data always constitutes useful tools for the design and improvement of falling film absorbers. A testing device has been designed and built to reproduce absorption phenomena in vertical LiBr-H2O falling film absorbers with the primary objective to obtain experimental data. On the other hand, a mathematical model of falling film absorption of H2O vapour in LiBr aqueous solutions has been implemented. Wave regime is considered by including and solving the Free Surface Deflection Equation. The numerical results are validated using the experimental data. During the development of this work, the authors have paid careful attention to the verification of experimental data. Such verification consists of performing energy and mass balances in the fluid film side. Important discrepancies were found in our experimental data. Therefore, an extensive study was carried out in order to find the source of such errors. The conclusion is that there is a drag of LiBr solution in the water vapour which increases with the Re number. This mist flow cannot be measured experimentally, but can be evaluated in an indirect way. The mathematical models have been adapted in order to consider the influence of mist flow. On the other hand, in the literature there are not many experimental works related to falling film absorbers which expose enough information to verify the reliability of their experimental data.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Heat and moisture insulation by means of air curtains: application to refrigerated chambers

The present study is devoted to the determination of the efficiency of air curtain units (ACUs) applied to heat and moisture insulation of refrigerated chambers. A detailed study of the fluid dynamics and heat and mass transfer of the ACU in the refrigerated space and the external ambient is carried out by means of large eddy simulations (LES). The heat and moisture entrainment through the doorway and their transport inside the inner space are fully described. Three different configurations are studied: non-recirculating, recirculating and twin-jet air curtains. The condensation produced in the cool walls of the refrigerated space is evaluated considering the warm humid air from the ambient which penetrates inside the chamber through the doorway. The influence of both the discharge velocities and the discharge angles on the sealing capabilities of the three different tested ACU configurations is determined.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A Visualization of Null Geodesics for the Bonnor Massive Dipole

In this work we simulate null geodesics for the Bonnor massive dipole metric by implementing a symbolic-numerical algorithm in Sage and Python. This program is also capable of visualizing in 3D, in principle, the geodesics for any given metric. Geodesics are launched from a common point, collectively forming a cone of light beams, simulating a solid-angle section of a point source in front of a massive object with a magnetic field. Parallel light beams also were considered, and their bending due to the curvature of the space-time was simulated.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, Presented at XIX Simposio Internacional de M\'etodos Matem\'aticos Aplicados a las Ciencias (19th International Symposium of Mathematical Methods Applied to Sciences, XIX-SIMMAC

Calidad de vida relacionada con la salud en población inmigrante en edad productiva

ResumenIntroducciónLa intensa entrada de inmigrantes acaecida en España desde mediados de los años 1990 supone un importante reto para la organización del sistema sanitario español. Una cuestión de gran relevancia es el conocimiento del estado de salud de esta nueva población. El objetivo del presente trabajo es estudiar la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud, centrándonos en población inmigrante en edad productiva (16–50 años).MétodosUtilizando los datos de la Encuesta de Salud de Cataluña del año 2006, empleamos modelos probits para estudiar las cinco dimensiones del instrumento genérico de Calidad de Vida Relacionado con la Salud EQ-5D (variables dependientes). Utilizamos como variables explicativas factores sociodemográficos, salud (enfermedades diagnosticadas, accidentes padecidos) y estilos de vida. El hecho de ser inmigrante se incorpora como variable explicativa en cada modelo probit para cada dimensión de la calidad de vida.ResultadosLas personas inmigrantes presentaron peores resultados en salud en las dimensiones relacionadas con dolor/malestar y ansiedad/depresión. Nuestros resultados indican diferencias entre mujeres y hombres inmigrantes respecto a las personas nativas, así como diferencias asociadas al país de nacimiento y al tiempo de permanencia en España.DiscusiónLos resultados indican una peor calidad de vida relacionada con la salud en la población inmigrante en edad productiva. Ello introduce matices relevantes en la hipótesis del «efecto inmigrante sano». Sin embargo, por la heterogeneidad del colectivo estudiado conviene matizar los resultados, dadas las diferencias encontradas según el país de nacimiento y el tiempo de permanencia en nuestro país.AbstractIntroductionThe intense wave of immigration to Spain since the mid-1990s has posed a major challenge to the organization of the Spanish health system. Consequently, knowledge of the health status of the new immigrant population is highly important. The aim of this study is to analyze health-related quality of life in the working-age (16–50 years) immigrant population.MethodsWe use data from the 2006 Catalan Health Survey and probit models to analyze each of the five dimensions of the EQ-5D, a generic health-related quality of life measure (dependent variables). As explanatory variables we use: (i) socio-demographic characteristics, (ii) health (diagnosed illnesses, accidents), and (iii) lifestyles. Immigrant status is included as an explanatory variable, and alternative probit models were used to analyze each of the dimensions of the quality of life instrument.ResultsImmigrant status is significantly associated with lower health status in the dimensions of pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression. Our results show that the differences between the immigrant and native-born population vary between men and women, and also depend on country of birth and length of residence in Spain.DiscussionThe results show that the working-age immigrant population has lower health-related quality of life. These results add a rider in the healthy immigrant effect hypothesis. However, there is substantial heterogeneity within the immigrant collective and thus other variables, such as country of birth and time since arrival in Spain, should be taken into account before reaching any final conclusions