CSPP : the impact on firms' capital structure

In 2016, the ECB launched the Corporate Sector Purchase Program with the aim of providing liquidity to firms. This new unconventional monetary policy was implemented from 2016 to 2018. In this thesis we study the effects of this program on firms´ capital structure. By taking a methodological approach similar to Grosse Rueschkamp (2019), we observe that public companies increased their level of Long Term Debt-to-Total Assets. Additionally, public companies decreased their level of Short-Term Debt-to-Total Assets. In consideration with private companies, they increased their level of Short-Term Debt-to-Total Assets.Em 2016, o BCE lançou o Corporate Sector Purchase Program com o objetivo de fornecer liquidez às empresas. Esta nova política monetária não convencional foi implementada de 2016 a 2018. Nesta tese estudamos os efeitos deste programa na estrutura de capital das empresas. Ao adotar uma abordagem metodológica semelhante a Grosse-Rueschkamp (2019), observamos que as empresas públicas aumentaram seu nível de Dívida de Longo Prazo sobre o Ativo Total. Adicionalmente, as companhias abertas diminuíram seu nível de Dívida de Curto Prazo sobre Ativos Totais. Em contrapartida com empresas privadas, elas aumentaram seu nível de Dívida de Curto Prazo sobre Ativos Totais

Near-IR internetwork spectro-polarimetry at different heliocentric angles

The analysis of near infrared spectropolarimetric data at the internetwork at different regions on the solar surface could offer constraints to reject current modeling of these quiet areas. We present spectro-polarimetric observations of very quiet regions for different values of the heliocentric angle for the Fe I lines at 1.56 micron, from disc centre to positions close to the limb. The spatial resolution of the data is 0.7-1". We analyze direct observable properties of the Stokes profiles as the amplitude of circular and linear polarization as well as the total degree of polarization. Also the area and amplitude asymmetries are studied. We do not find any significant variation of the properties of the polarimetric signals with the heliocentric angle. This means that the magnetism of the solar internetwork remains the same regardless of the position on the solar disc. This observational fact discards the possibility of modeling the internetwork as a Network-like scenario. The magnetic elements of internetwork areas seem to be isotropically distributed when observed at our spatial resolution.Comment: Sorry, this is the version with the correct bibliography. Some figures had to be compressed. Accepted for publication in A&

Politics of civil-military relations in Mexico: A historical and institutional approach.

Since the late 19th Century, the military in Mexico has been an important instrument of the executive branch of government to maintain political stability. In the 1880s, President Porfirio Diaz created the basis of a system of civil-military relations based on Presidential control (as opposed to civilian control). Since then, the Mexican armed forces have developed a unique bond with the President, remaining accountable and exclusively subordinated to this branch of power and no one else. Despite the Mexican Revolution in the first quarter of the 20th Century and the subsequent process of democratization after 1988, Diaz's basic principle has not been broken. In fact, the military's separation from the political arena after the Mexican Revolution inexorably strengthened its moral capital, gaining the population's approval to participate in areas that surpass its conventional duties. This has made the executive branch become increasingly reliant on the armed forces to make certain policy commitments seem trustworthy, especially in areas where civilian agencies have consistently underperformed, such as the combat of organised crime and ordinary policing. This is definitely a unique characteristic within Latin America, where democratization has rarely been accompanied by an increasing role of the armed forces on internal affairs. By using deductive reasoning and historical narrative, the argument will propose that the rules governing the system of civil-military relations in Mexico are counterintuitive with the idea of democratic consolidation. It will also suggest that the current system of civilian control has become even more vulnerable due to the capacity of the military to resist and even reverse civilian initiatives to improve supervision over their expanding roles. To test these hypotheses, the argument follows closely the military's counterinsurgency policy and its increasing participation in law enforcement institutions

Mixing in convective thermal fluxes in unsteady nonhomogeneous flows generating complex three dimensional vorticity patterns

Diffusion and scaling of the velocity and vorticity in a thermoelectric driven heating and cooling experimental device is presented in order to map the different patterns and transitions between two and three dimensional convection in an enclosure with complex driven flows. The size of the water tank is of 0.2 x 0.2 x 0.1 m and the heat sources or sinks can be regulated both in power and sign [1-3]. The thermal convective driven flows are generated by means of Peltier effects in 4 wall extended positions of 0.05 x 0.05 cm each. The parameter range of convective cell array varies strongly with the Topology of the boundary conditions. Side heat and momentum fluxes are a function of Rayleigh, Peclet and Nusselt numbers, [4-6] Visualizations are performed by PIV, Particle tracking and shadowgraph. The structure of the flow is shown by setting up a convective flow generated by buoyant heat fluxes. The experiments described here investigate high Prandtl number mixing using brine and fresh water in order to form a density interface and low Prandtl number mixing with temperature gradients. The evolution of the mixing fronts are compared and the topological characteristics of the merging of the convective structures are examined for different configurations. Based on two dimensional Vorticity spectral analysis, new techniques can be very useful to determine the evolution of scales considering the multi-fractal structure of the convective flows.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Relación de las prácticas: preparación de suelo y lámina de agua en la presencia de arroz voluntario (Oriza sp) en la época de invierno en la Cooperativa Augusto César Sandino, Las Mangas - San Isidro ׀׀ Semestre 2016

El arroz voluntario (Oriza sp), es una especie de arroz considerada una amenaza agronómica en la producción de semillas y siembras comerciales, debido a que se comporta como una maleza que afecta la productividad del cultivo del arroz. La investigación se realizó durante el ׀׀ Semestre 2016 en la Cooperativa Augusto César Sandino San Isidro Matagalpa. Los objetivos fueron determinar las distintas prácticas de preparación de suelos y láminas de agua utilizadas en la Cooperativa y su relación con la presencia de arroz voluntario y el porcentaje encontrado. La investigación fue de naturaleza no experimental. Las variables evaluadas fueron: preparación de suelo, lámina de agua, para evaluar estas variables se empleó el instrumento de la encuesta y para la variables arroz voluntario se procedió a realizar un muestreo el cual correspondía en seleccionar un punto al azar en al lote seleccionado con una área de 1m², posteriormente se realizaba un transepto en forma de W en la cual los puntos a muestrear estaban ubicados a 25m de distancia entre ellos, por lote se establecieron 5 W realizando un total de 25 muestreos. Se determinaron 4 prácticas de preparación de suelo en la Cooperativa y 2 distintos tipos de lámina de agua, teniendo como resultado que la práctica con menor porcentaje de incidencia de arroz voluntario fue la práctica 2 con el 1% de incidencia, mientras tanto el porcentaje total de los lotes muestreados en la Cooperativa fue de un 3% de incidenci

Significado psicológico de respeto entre adolescentes

El objetivo de este trabajo fue conocer el significado psicológico de "respeto" entre adolescentes, y a quién se le debe tener respeto y por qué. Se trabajó con 100 estudiantes de Preparatoria, distribuidos equitativamente por género, mediante la utilización de la técnica de redes semánticas naturales. Los resultados muestran que ambos géneros definieron respeto como un valor, honestidad, igualdad, confianza, educación, lealtad, tolerancia y humildad. Las diferencias muestran que para el género masculino, el respeto es amabilidad, moral, solidaridad, personalidad, trabajo, personas y libertad, en comparación con el género femenino, que lo define como amor, valorar, sinceridad, amistad, facultad, apreciar y virtud. Respecto de a quién se le debe tener respeto, ambos géneros coincidieron al decir que se debe respetar a los padres, a uno mismo, a la religión, a los viejos, los amigos, la familia, los semejantes, los maestros, la pareja, la naturaleza y la sociedad. En el caso del género masculino, éste tiende a respetar también a los niños, los animales y las opiniones, en contraste con el femenino, que respeta la vida, los hijos y las cosas. Tales resultados dejan ver que, en México, entre los hombres prevalece la instrumentalidad, al considerar, entre otras cosas, que el respeto está ligado a la libertad y al trabajo, en comparación con las mujeres, que tienden a ser más expresivas, ya que relacionan el respeto con el amor y la amistad

Protection of Pepper Plants from Drought by Microbacterium sp 3J1 by Modulation of the Plant's Glutamine and alpha-ketoglutarate Content: A Comparative Metabolomics Approach

Vilchez JI, Niehaus K, Dowling DN, Gonzalez-Lopez J, Manzanera M. Protection of Pepper Plants from Drought by Microbacterium sp 3J1 by Modulation of the Plant's Glutamine and alpha-ketoglutarate Content: A Comparative Metabolomics Approach. FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY. 2018;9: 17.Drought tolerance of plants such as tomato or pepper can be improved by their inoculation with rhizobacteria such as Microbacterium sp. 3J1. This interaction depends on the production of trehalose by the microorganisms that in turn modulate the phyto-hormone profile of the plant. In this work we describe the characterization of metabolic changes during the interaction of pepper plants with Microbacterium sp. 3J1 and of the microorganism alone over a period of drought. Our main findings include the observation that the plant responds to the presence of the microorganism by changing the C and N metabolism based on its glutamine and alpha-ketoglutarate content, these changes contribute to major changes in the concentration of molecules involved in the balance of the osmotic pressure. These include sugars and amino-acids; the concentration of antioxidant molecules, of metabolites involved in the production of phytohormones like ethylene, and of substrates used for lignin production such as ferulic and sinapic acids. Most of the altered metabolites of the plant when inoculated with Microbacterium sp. 3J1 in response to drought coincided with the profile of altered metabolites in the microorganism alone when subjected to drought, pointing to a response by which the plant relies on the microbe for the production of such metabolites. To our knowledge this is the first comparative study of the microbe colonized-plant and microbe alone metabolomes under drought stress

Microbial Production of Ethanol From Sludge Derived From an Urban Wastewater Treatment Plant

A collection of lipase-producing microorganisms was isolated from sludge derived from an urban wastewater treatment plant. The microorganisms with the highest levels of lipase activity were selected in order to use triglycerides present in the sludge effectively and were then transformed with pdc:adhB genes for the production of ethanol. The transgenic strains showed high growth rates in diluted sludge and produced lipase protein in order to utilize fat present in the sludge, which provides an abundant source of carbon. Using sludge derived from treated wastewater as nutrient source, ethanol was produced by certain transgenic species belonging to the genera Proteus. Different forms of sludge were tested for maximal ethanol production, with dehydrated sludge being found to produce the best performance.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (projects CTM2009-09270 and CTM2017-84332-R), the Andalusian regional government (project P08-RNM-04180) and ESAMUR and CADAGUA, S.A., involved in sanitation and wastewater treatment in the Murcia region (contract 4304-00)

Disfunción familiar y depresión en niños de 8-12 años de edad

La población estudiada incluyó 326 niños, de 8 a 12 años de edad. De ellos el 54.3% correspondió al género femenino y el 45.7% al masculino, predominando en frecuencia los niños en edades de 9 a 11 años.Introducción: La frecuencia de depresión infantil se ha incrementado en años recientes y constantemente se asocia a un ambiente familiar disfuncional. El objetivo fue determinar la correlación entre disfuncionalidad familiar y depresión infantil en niños de 8 a 12 años de edad. Materiales y métodos: En una muestra probabilística, aleatoria de 326 niños de 8 a 12 años de edad, de una escuela primaria semiurbana, de bajo nivel socioeconómico en el Estado de México, se determinó la frecuencia de depresión infantil, aplicándose la escala modificada Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) de Kovacs, 2004 y Kovacs y Beck, 1977. Para evaluación de la funcionalidad familiar, se aplicó a padres de familia la escala reajuste social de Holmes. Resultados: Se identificó correlación estadísticamente significativa al nivel de 0.01 entre disfunción familiar y depresión infantil. El 34.1% de los familiares de los niños en estudio fueron disfuncionales, sólo el 11.7% de los sujetos manifestó síntomas de depresión infantil y de ellos únicamente el 8.7% se relacionó con disfuncionalidad familiar. Conclusiones: Se encontró correlación estadísticamente significativa entre disfunción familiar y depresión infantil, afectando en mayor porcentaje al género femenino y con mayor prevalencia en los niños de 8, 10 y 11años de eda