Dedication to Ole Due

It is a great pleasure for me to write a few words in tribute to my former colleague and friend Ole Due. Over the past three decades, as a civil servant, a teacher, a judge, and President of the EC Court of Justice, Ole Due has strived and succeeded in making a substantial and valuable contribution to the development and understanding of European Community law

Europium(III) Macrocyclic Chelates Appended with Tyrosine-based Chromophores and Di-(2-picolyl)amine-based Receptors: Turn-On Luminescent Chemosensors Selective to Zinc(II) Ions

[Abstract] Zinc ions play an important role in many biological processes in the human body. To selectively detect Zn²⁺, two EuDO3A‐based complexes (DO3A=1,4,7,10‐tetraazacyclododecane‐1,4,7‐tricarboxylic acid) appended with tyrosine as a chromophore and di‐(2‐picolyl)amine (DPA) as the Zn²⁺ recognition moiety were developed as suitable luminescent sensors. Their luminescence intensity is affected by the photoinduced electron transfer mechanism. Upon addition of Zn²⁺, both probes display an up to sevenfold enhancement in Eu³⁺ emission. Competition experiments demonstrated their specificity toward Zn²⁺ over other metal ions, while also revealing the nonspecificity of the derivatives lacking the DPA‐moiety, thus confirming the essential role of the DPA for the recognition of Zn²⁺. The induced emission changes of Eu³⁺ allow for precise quantitative analysis of Zn²⁺, establishing these lanthanide‐based complexes as viable chemosensors for biological applications.German Research Foundation; AN 716/7-

Ciencias Reconstructivas e Historiografia: hacia una productiva división del trabajo

La teoría social nombra hoy un amplio espectro de disciplinas que tienen por objeto problemas comunes referidos a la agencia humana, las instituciones de la sociedad, la producción cultural, etc. Los teóricos sociales discuten sobre el estatus de las ciencias sociales (en relación especialmente con la lógica de las ciencias naturales), sobre la imposibilidad o no de leyes y generalizaciones, sobre el lugar que ocupa la interpretación

How did the Sovereign debt crisis affect the Euro financial integration? A fractional cointegration approach.

This paper examines financial integration among stock markets in the Eurozone using the prices from each stock index. Monthly time series are constructed for four major stock indices for the period between 1998 and 2016. A fractional cointegrated vector autoregressive model is estimated at an international level. Our results show that there is a perfect and complete Euro financial integration. Considering the possible existence of structural breaks, this paper also examines the fractional cointegration within each regime, showing that Euro financial integration is very robust. However, in the financial and sovereign debt crisis regime, IBEX 35 appears to be the weak link in Euro financial integration, unless Euro financial integration recovers when this period ends

Retos del desarrollo de videojuegos en España.

Artículo para la sección Tribuna de adComunica

Efficiency of S2 recurrent selection for improvement of exotic and semi-exotic populations in maize (Zea mays L.)

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the progress from use of S2 recurrent selection in BS16, BS2, and BSTL maize populations representing 100, 50, and 25% exotic germplasm. The objectives were to evaluate the response to selection, its genetic basis, the heterotic pattern among populations, and the changes in combining ability with cycles of selection. The study was conducted at eight environments and included the following entries: the original populations, an intermediate, and on advanced cycle of selection evaluated per se and selfed; a complete diallel among populations; testcrosses of the populations with four elite inbred testers (B73, B84, Mo17, and Oh43); and checks that included crosses between BS10 and BS11 (cycles 0, 4, and 8) and their testcrosses with elite inbreds, and the single crosses among the four elite testers;The response to selection in grain yield was significant in the intermediate cycle of selection, with no further changes in BS2 and BSTL, and a significant reduction for BS16 in the advanced cycle. Changes in frequency of alleles with additive effects were responsible for the observed changes in yield. Genetic drift was important for the advanced cycles of selection in BS16. Significant changes were obtained for most of the other evaluated traits;Changes in general combining ability (GCA) were associated with the observed direct response to selection for all the traits. Specific combining ability (SCA) and population heterosis did not determine differences among population crosses. The three populations can be classified in the same heterotic group with respect to grain yield. The superior testcross performance with B73 and B84 indicates that the populations can be grouped with Lancaster Sure Crop Composite, and lines as good as Oh43 can be derived from advanced cycles of BS2 and BSTL. Low performing testers were the most effective in discriminating changes in combining ability with cycles of selection. The testcrossed populations compared well with check hybrids for the other agronomic traits except for stalk lodging;S2 recurrent selection resulted in a significant direct response for a limited number of cycles. Changes in GCA and testcross performance were associated to the direct response to selection. The method can provide the means to improve the performance of lines and hybrids developed from populations with restricted number of cycles of S2 recurrent selection

Analysis and design of multiagent systems using MAS-CommonKADS

This article proposes an agent-oriented methodology called MAS-CommonKADS and develops a case study. This methodology extends the knowledge engineering methodology CommonKADSwith techniquesfrom objectoriented and protocol engineering methodologies. The methodology consists of the development of seven models: Agent Model, that describes the characteristics of each agent; Task Model, that describes the tasks that the agents carry out; Expertise Model, that describes the knowledge needed by the agents to achieve their goals; Organisation Model, that describes the structural relationships between agents (software agents and/or human agents); Coordination Model, that describes the dynamic relationships between software agents; Communication Model, that describes the dynamic relationships between human agents and their respective personal assistant software agents; and Design Model, that refines the previous models and determines the most suitable agent architecture for each agent, and the requirements of the agent network