The human side of leadership: Inspirational leadership effects on follower characteristics and happiness at work (HAW)

Leadership has received significant attention over the past years. Now is the time to refine how leaders impact on followers and their attitudes. This study examines how inspirational leaders influence follower characteristics (FC), and in turn, their happiness at work. In this study, the mediating effect of follower characteristics in the relationship between inspirational leadership and happiness at work was specifically examined. Data was gathered from 389 frontline banking employees working in Italian and Spanish banks. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed a positive partial mediating role of follower characteristics in the relationship between inspirational leadership and happiness at work. Results showed that inspirational leadership exerts a more positive influence on followers' happiness at work when follower characteristics are more positive. Our discussion highlights the importance of understanding the role of the follower characteristics that are involved in the effectiveness of inspirational leadership

Reflexiones sobre la modificación del régimen de retribución de los administradores por la Ley 31/2014, de 3 de diciembre

La reforma de la Ley de Sociedades de Capital para la mejora del gobierno corporativo pretende, entre otras cuestiones, la mejora del régimen retributivo de los administradores para que las remuneraciones reflejen adecuadamente la evolución real de la empresa y estén correctamente alineadas con el interés de la sociedad y sus accionistas. A este respecto, se plantean en el presente documento algunos de los principales problemas detectados en la reforma que pueden cuestionar la eficiencia de las medidas adoptadas, sobre todo en sociedades cerradas

Ensemble decision systems for general video game playing

Ensemble Decision Systems offer a unique form of decision making that allows a collection of algorithms to reason together about a problem. Each individual algorithm has its own inherent strengths and weaknesses, and often it is difficult to overcome the weaknesses while retaining the strengths. Instead of altering the properties of the algorithm, the Ensemble Decision System augments the performance with other algorithms that have complementing strengths. This work outlines different options for building an Ensemble Decision System as well as providing analysis on its performance compared to the individual components of the system with interesting results, showing an increase in the generality of the algorithms without significantly impeding performance.Comment: 8 Pages, Accepted at COG201

Terahertz-based system for dehydration analysis of hydrogel contact lenses

The use of terahertz-based techniques has grown very fast since they are capable of performingevaluations at molecular level, being very suitable for the analysis of biological samples and bioma-terials such as those for contact lenses. These biomaterials are continuously evolving to enhancethe lens wearer’s comfort by improving their hydration state and surface wettability. Therefore, thisstudy examines a novel terahertz system for the assessment of the temporary in vitro dehydrationof hydrogel contact lenses, which provides a new index to assess their state of hydration. Severalconventional and silicone hydrogel contact lenses and lens care solutions were analysed. Traditionalmethods such as the gravimetric determination of water content and the measurement of the staticcontact angle were also carried out for the validation of the developed system. The dehydrationrate measurements of contact lenses obtained with the proposed system correlated with the valuesprovided by traditional methods. As a whole, conventional hydrogel contact lenses exhibited thelowest values for dehydration rate. The tests conducted on various solutions showed a correlationbetween the wetting action of the solution and the dehydration rate of the contact lens material.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Mujeres hispanas en la educación médica doctoral del siglo XIX

[Background] Women's access to education, and more specifically, to medical studies has been a long and painful conquest for equality. In the 19th century, the number of women who actually went to Hispanic universities was small. [Method] This is a descriptive historical and documentary study that reviews six doctoral dissertations retrieved from two databases, the Catálogo Completo and Tesis UCM, from the Complutense University of Madrid. [Results] This study recovers and describes six pioneer doctoral theses defended in nineteenth century by Hispanic women, and it attempts to highlight the early presence of Hispanic women doctors in the field of medical doctoral education as professionals of the highest academic excellence. Specifically, it comments on five medical doctorates and one medical–pharmaceutical doctorate written by three Spanish women, as well as one Colombian, one Argentinean, and one Cuban woman. [Conclusions] A key conclusion is that Hispanic women have produced six pioneering dissertations of singular importance with a multidisciplinary medical scope covering the topics, such as women education, hygiene, ophthalmology, gynecology, and pharmacology.[Antecedentes] El acceso de las mujeres a la educación y más específicamente a los estudios médicos ha supuesto una conquista larga y penosa por la igualdad. En el siglo XIX el número de mujeres que fueron a las universidades hispanas fue pequeño. [Método] Se trata de un estudio descriptivo histórico y documental que revisa seis tesis doctorales pioneras recuperadas de dos bases de datos, el Catálogo Completo y Tesis UCM, de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid. [Resultados] Este estudio recupera y describe seis tesis doctorales defendidas en el siglo XIX por mujeres hispanas, y trata de destacar la temprana presencia de las mujeres en el campo de la educación médica doctoral y como profesionales de la más alta excelencia académica. Concretamente, comenta las tesis de cinco doctoras médicas y una doctora médico-farmacéutica escritas por tres mujeres españolas, una colombiana, una argentina y una cubana. [Conclusiones] Como conclusión clave se muestra como, en el siglo XIX, seis mujeres hispanas produjeron otras tantas tesis pioneras, de singular relevancia, y con un alcance médico multidisciplinario que cubre temas tales como: la educación de las mujeres, la higiene, la oftalmología, la obstetricia y la farmacología.Open Access funded by Fundación Lill

Fashion photography and surreal photography. A never ending relationship.

Este artículo propone un estudio de la fotografía de moda como cruce entre el elemento comercial y el arte, y dónde la influencia de la corriente surrealista se presenta continua. El análisis de algunos fotógrafos de moda que se inspiran en el surrealismo, y una interpretación de éste a nivel fotográfico nos lleva -siguiendo una estructura deductiva-a demostrar la idea del encuentro entre lo mercantil y el arte surrealista. Ejemplos tempranos de fotógrafos de moda que apuestan por el surrealismo los encontramos en el polifacético Man Ray, introductor de la experimentación en la fotografía de moda, en los años 40 en Erwin Blumenfeld, y ya en los años 70 destacó el francés Guy BourdinThis article, following a deductive structure, aims to demonstrate how fashion photography, despite belonging to the fashion industry, is a crossover between the commercial aspect and art, moreover, the influence of the surrealistic aspect has had a continuous trend. The analysis of some fashion photographers inspired by surrealism and the thorough study of surrealism from a photographic stand point will give us the opportunity to demonstrate the idea of the encounter between mercantilism and surrealistic art. Some examples of photographers that introduced surrealism can be quoted, Man Ray as an example of early surrealism introduced experimenting in fashion photography, in the 40 ́s we can distinguish Erwin Blumenfeld, and later on, in the 70 ́s French photographer, Guy Bourdin stands out