Cracking meritocracy from the starting gate : social inequality in skill formation and school choice

Defence date: 29 October 2020Examining Board: Professor Fabrizio Bernardi (European University Institute); Professor Juho Härkönen (European University Institute); Professor Jonas Radl (Carlos III University / WZB Berlin Social Science Center); Professor Leire Salazar (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia)In post-industrial societies, a college education is the main channel for upper classes to prevent their children falling down the social ladder, while, for working classes, it is the best bet for upward mobility. Despite attaining post-compulsory education was equalised and a driver of social mobility in the last decades, inequalities by socioeconomic status (SES) in college graduation, the main social lift, remained relatively unchanged. We are only starting to understand the complex interplay between biological and environmental factors explaining why educational inequalities gestate before birth and persist over generations. Besides, further research is needed to unravel why advantaged students are more likely to get ahead in education than equally-skilled, but disadvantaged peers. This thesis bridges interdisciplinary literature to study how parental SES affects educational attainment during childhood in Germany, evaluating the implications for social justice. It contributes to the literature by (1) analysing the consequences of prenatal health shocks on skill formation; (2) examining the effect of cognitive and non-cognitive skills on the transition to secondary education; and (3) assessing SES-heterogeneity in these associations. Drawing from compensatory theories, I demonstrate how negative traits for educational attainment—low birth weight and cognitive ability—are less detrimental for high-SES children from the early stages of the status-attainment process due to mechanisms like parental investments and aspirations, and teachers’ bias in assessments. The German educational system enforces early tracking into academic or vocational pathways from age 10, supposedly according to ability. Thus, the case of Germany represents an institutional starting gate to evaluate equal opportunity, where compensating for negative traits might be difficult. To test compensatory theories, I utilise the Twin Life Study and the National Educational Panel Study applying quasi-causal empirical designs. The findings challenge the liberal conception of merit as the sum of ability plus effort in evaluating equal opportunity

Impacto ambiental de las actividades extractivas en Colombia

Artículo de investigaciónEste artículo de investigación realiza un análisis de la importancia de las actividades extractivas en Colombia y el impacto ambiental que causan las mismas para de este modo realizar una ponderación que permita reflexionar acerca de la importancia del Extractivismo en Colombia manejado con unas prácticas ambientales sostenibles que permitan mitigar el impacto que estas actividades generan en los recursos naturales.32 p.INTRODUCCIÓN 1. ACTIVIDADES EXTRACTIVAS 2. IMPACTO AMBIENTAL DE LAS ACTIVIDADES EXTRACTIVAS 3. .CONTRATO DE CONCESIÓN EN COLOMBIA 4. LICENCIAS AMBIENTALES EN COLOMBIA 5. CONTAMINACIÓN POR MINERÍA EN COLOMBIA. CONCLUSIONES REFERENCIASPregradoAbogad

Wealth inequality and stratification by social classes in 21st-century Europe

Wealth is a central determinant of life chances and intergenerational status persistence in modern societies. Yet, sociologists traditionally overlooked its role in class measurement and inequality, while most economists focused on the elites. This article reconciles sociological and economic perspectives on class analysis by examining the relationship between classes and wealth inequality versus income. Drawing from the Luxembourg Wealth Study (2002-2018) in five European countries, we test whether occupational classes, based on the entire division of labour, keep up with rising economic inequality trends. In contrast to bold claims on class death or decomposition, inequality of outcomes in wealth accumulation is firmly rooted across occupational classes in contemporary capitalism, potentially harming future equal opportunity and social mobility. Still, occupational classes better capture between-group income inequality and stratification than wealth, emphasising the importance of economic resources beyond labour market attachment that spark advances in social class theory and measurement

Social mobility and education in Spain between 1956-2011 : drawing new evidences on fluidity trends from the o-e-d triangle decomposition

Background of INCASI Project H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 GA 691004. WP1: Compilatio

Multiple recycled aggregate properties analysed by X-ray microtomography

This paper presents a novel technique used to analyse the volume of adhered mortar to the recycled aggregate. A computerized microtomograph (?CT) device was used to evaluate the volume of the aggregate, the volume of natural aggregate and the volume of adhered mortar. To this end, a natural aggregate has been characterized, using the ?CT, with which a source concrete has been produced. Subsequently, the source concrete has been crushed to obtain a first cycle recycled aggregate. After the characterization of the first-generation of recycled aggregate, a new source concrete has been made with it to be subsequently crushed again obtaining a second-generation recycled aggregates. In the same way a third-generation recycled aggregate has been obtained and has been equally characterized. The results show that the compaction capacity of the aggregate is reduced after successive recycling. It has been possible to quantify how much the closed porosity of the recycled aggregate decreases with the number of times it is recycled. The loss of natural aggregate and increase of the volume of adhered mortar have also been evaluated using this technique.The Erasmus+Program, founded by the Staff Mobility for Teaching Program of the European Council 2016/217, between Instituto Superior Técnico - University of Lisbon and the LADICIM - University of Cantabria. CERIS and the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for funding this research

La hipótesis de la modernización reconsiderada. La movilidad social en España : de la transición a nuestros días

Background of INCASI Project H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 GA 691004. WP1: Compilatio

Predicting subjective refraction with dynamic retinal image quality analysis

The aim of this work is to evaluate the performance of a novel algorithm that combines dynamic wavefront aberrometry data and descriptors of the retinal image quality from objective autorefractor measurements to predict subjective refraction. We conducted a retrospective study of the prediction accuracy and precision of the novel algorithm compared to standard search-based retinal image quality optimization algorithms. Dynamic measurements from 34 adult patients were taken with a handheld wavefront autorefractor and static data was obtained with a high-end desktop wavefront aberrometer. The search-based algorithms did not signifcantly improve the results of the desktop system, while the dynamic approach was able to simultaneously reduce the standard deviation (up to a 15% for reduction of spherical equivalent power) and the mean bias error of the predictions (up to 80% reduction of spherical equivalent power) for the handheld aberrometer. These results suggest that dynamic retinal image analysis can substantially improve the accuracy and precision of the portable wavefront autorefractor relative to subjective refraction.The authors thanks to Dr. David Friedman (Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine) and his team for their help with study defnition and data acquisition. Eduardo Lage is funded by the Ramon y Cajal program from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitivity (RYC-2016-21125). Carlos S. Hernandez, and Andrea Gil are funded by the Madrid Regional Government through IND2019/TIC-17116 and IND2020/TIC-17340 grants. Research relating to the autorefractor reported in this publication was partially support by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging & Bioengineering and National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers R43EB024299 and R44EY025452, respectivel

RPAP3 provides a flexible scaffold for coupling HSP90 to the human R2TP co-chaperone complex

The R2TP/Prefoldin-like co-chaperone, in concert with HSP90, facilitates assembly and cellular stability of RNA polymerase II, and complexes of PI3-kinase-like kinases such as mTOR. However, the mechanism by which this occurs is poorly understood. Here we use cryo-EM and biochemical studies on the human R2TP core (RUVBL1–RUVBL2–RPAP3–PIH1D1) which reveal the distinctive role of RPAP3, distinguishing metazoan R2TP from the smaller yeast equivalent. RPAP3 spans both faces of a single RUVBL ring, providing an extended scaffold that recruits clients and provides a flexible tether for HSP90. A 3.6 Å cryo-EM structure reveals direct interaction of a C-terminal domain of RPAP3 and the ATPase domain of RUVBL2, necessary for human R2TP assembly but absent from yeast. The mobile TPR domains of RPAP3 map to the opposite face of the ring, associating with PIH1D1, which mediates client protein recruitment. Thus, RPAP3 provides a flexible platform for bringing HSP90 into proximity with diverse client proteins

The MACC-II 2007–2008 reanalysis: atmospheric dust evaluation and characterization over northern Africa and the Middle East

In the present work, atmospheric mineral dust from a MACC-II short reanalysis run for 2 years (2007–2008) has been evaluated over northern Africa and the Middle East using satellite aerosol products (from MISR, MODIS and OMI satellite sensors), ground-based AERONET data, in situ PM10 concentrations from AMMA, and extinction vertical profiles from two ground-based lidars and CALIOP satellite-based lidar. The MACC-II aerosol optical depth (AOD) spatial and temporal (seasonal and interannual) variability shows good agreement with those provided by satellite sensors. The capability of the model to reproduce the AOD, Ångström exponent (AE) and dust optical depth (DOD) from daily to seasonal time-scale is quantified over 26 AERONET stations located in eight geographically distinct regions by using statistical parameters. Overall DOD seasonal variation is fairly well simulated by MACC-II in all regions, although the correlation is significantly higher in dust transport regions than in dust source regions. The ability of MACC-II in reproducing dust vertical profiles has been assessed by comparing seasonal averaged extinction vertical profiles simulated by MACC-II under dust conditions with corresponding extinction profiles obtained with lidar instruments at M'Bour and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and with CALIOP.This work has been supported by EU-project Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate (MACC-II) under the European Union Seventh Framework Programme, grant agreement number 283576. J. M. Baldasano and S. Basart acknowledge the Severo Ochoa (SEV-2011-00067) program of the Spanish Government and the mobility program from the Catalan Government (BE-DGR 2012)

Aplicación móvil para monitoreo del arrecife mesoamericano

ITESO, A.C