Controladores digitales estocásticos

En este artículo se presenta la realización de controladores clásicos basados en el procesamiento lógico estocástico. Se aporta una descripción de las operaciones aritméticas básicas -suma, resta, multiplicación e integración. EI objetivo de esta arquitectura es proporcionar un conjunto de circuitos simples que permitan realizar estas operaciones con circuitos digitales simples. Como resultado de ello se pueden sintetizar controladores empleando dispositivos lógicos programables (FPGA). EI circuito desarrollado es aplicado a un sistema real con el uso de un convertidor analógico estocástico (ASC)

The Euro System as a Laboratory for Neoliberalism: The Case of Spain

Since the 1970s, neoliberalism has evolved from ideology to political agenda, from political program to public policy, and from public policy to a system that replaces democratic control over economic policy with a system of elite economic management. This process of change has been possible due to the endorsement of a meta-political theory that destroys democracy and legitimizes technocratic despotism, financial deregulation, the debasement of labor into a new proletariat, and the purging of constitutional politics. In this article, we analyze this profound transformation of social and legal relations in the “euro system” and, specifically, in the regressive policies that have emerged from the “crisis” in Spain, a peripheral country of the European Union. The problems in contemporary Europe are a direct consequence of the neoliberal version of European economic unity. Their solution will depend on the capacity of the member states to create a social Europe that strengthens institutional democracy and develops universal systems of social protection. This, in turn, will depend on the ability of citizens to remodel state institutions in accordance with new social goals that place life at the center

Perspectives on human and social capital theories and the role of education: an approach from Mediterranean thought.

Current discussions about education suggest that a transformative pedagogy that goes beyond the acquisition of knowledge and skills is needed. However, there is no agreement as to the inputs needed for a correct development of the educational model. In this sense, we can identify the presence of two different approaches to human and social capital which embody distinct educational worldviews. On the one hand, the ‘Marketable Human Capital’ or ‘Personal Culture’ approach, and on the other hand, the ‘Non-Marketable Human Capital’ or ‘Civic Culture’ approach. The first, which is linked to mainstream economic theory, sees education as any stock of knowledge that contributes to an improvement in the productivity of the worker and individual well-being. The second, which is rooted in the Mediterranean tradition of political thought, highlights the role of civic virtues, reciprocity, and public action within the educational process and its influence on public happiness. In this article, we analyse these connections in order to introduce the eighteenth-century Mediterranean tradition of economic thought into discussions about human and social capital theories and the role of education in them. Focusing on education through these prisms, national and international agendas must be reoriented towards the integral development of people to include broader global debates.Financial support from the Research Program of the Faculty of Economic and Business Administration at the University of Granada (UGR/2018

Economic poverty and happiness in rural Ecuador: The importance of Buen Vivir (Living Well)

This research paper addresses the endemic dimensions of having or not having a good life using a concept of poverty based on self-reported subjective well- being. We build a subjective well-being poverty (SWBP) line and compare it with two income poverty (IP) lines. The endemic dimension comes from rural Ecuador and the indigenous happiness idea of Buen Vivir (Living Well), which has been the focus of growing attention in the scientific and the political arena. Discrepancies between SWBP and IP are deeply explored building models that explain SWBP with IP, as well as control variables and Buen Vivir related variables. We show that income poor households are more likely to be poor in terms of their reported subjective well-being. However, households that grow their own food and are in an indigenous community are less likely to report to be subjective well-being poor. The results suggest that low SWBP values in contrast with high IP may be explained by idiosyncratic components of the Buen Vivir philosophy. The components of the Buen Vivir ethos related to SWBP give rise to the idea of building multidi- mensional concepts of poverty based on what ethnic people consider to be good or bad for their specific way of life. In a general context, our study raises the importance of considering poverty and its dimensions taking into account the endemic factors of specific groups of people and cultures. That is, to take into account what is important for their lives.Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness (Project ECO2012-32189) and the Government of Andalucía (Project P11-SEJ-7039 and Project P12-SEJ- 1436)

Stochastic pulse coded arithmetic

Among the different pulse codification techniques, stochastic pulse codification has its own arithmetic based on the similarity between Boolean algebra and statistical algebra. Summation and multiplication are the two basic arithmetic operations treated in depth in the literature. In this paper we present two digital stochastic circuits that extend traditional stochastic algebra: a division circuit and a square-root circuit, and the interfaces between the analog and stochastic domain. As a result, we are able to process analog input signals with a simple and complete processing system. These circuits can be implemented in low-cost and low-power digital programmable devices

Perception of employers and employees regarding the attitude of businesses toward the environment: a qualitative analysis

Commitment and involvement from the different members of an organization are two key elements for an organization to achieve its environmental excellence. Firstly, businesses are aware of the close relationship between their activities and the environment, for they are not only polluting agents but also agents with the capacity to reduce adverse environmental impacts. Secondly, the fact that employees can play a relevant role in terms of the socially responsible measures to be taken by organizations has started to become an irrefutably important issue. This piece of research is intended to help gain knowledge concerning the attitude of the two main actors in productive activity toward the environmental, that is, employers and employees; as well, this research intends to identify factors determining behaviour towards the environmental. For this, we have gathered the ideas and assessments contained in the discourse of a group of small and medium-sized businesses, large company owners and officers, employees, and work related risk prevention representatives. Qualitative work consisted of in-depth interviews and the creation of discussion groups

A Neural Controller for quasi-resonant converters

A neural controller implementing an energy feedback control law is proposed to improve the stability and dynamic characteristics of the series resonant converter (SRC). The cnert)' feedback control is introduced and analysed in discrete time domain. A novel formulation of the control law is suggested. The adaptive control law is learnt by an analog neural network (ANN). An easy imple· mentation of this controller is proposed and applied to a SRC circuit. Simulation results show a good improvement in the SRC response and confirm the validity of the controller

Economía del desarrollo

Web Economistas sin Fronteras: http://ecosfron.org/Por lo general, cuando se pregunta a estudiantes de los últimos cursos de Economía sobre qué entienden por Desarrollo y estudios del Desarrollo, aluden rápidamente a conceptos tales como crecimiento económico, renta nacional, producto interior bruto, excedente o productividad. Rara es la ocasión en que conocen de la existencia de la Economía del Desarrollo, una sub-disciplina de la Ciencia Social que están estudiando destinada específicamente a analizar cuáles son los factores políticos, económicos, sociales, tecnológicos, culturales e institucionales que determinan la riqueza y la pobreza de las naciones. El poco conocimiento de la subdisciplina a lo largo de los estudios de Economía no es de extrañar y responde principalmente a dos causas. La primera hace referencia a la enseñanza de la ciencia económica. Si bien desde el comienzo de sus estudios el alumnado se familiariza rápidamente con modelos más o menos sofisticados para calcular producciones de equilibrio y/u optimizar funciones de producción, mínimas son las referencias a las instituciones sociales, políticos o culturales sobre las que se cimientan dichos análisis. La ciencia económica actual busca, básicamente, comprender la relación entre cantidades y precios, sin problematizar en los elementos que configuran la base del intercambio económico (instituciones, clases, intereses, cuidados, naturaleza, relaciones de poder, etc.). Hoy la disciplina es eminentemente pecuniaria o, siguiendo a Aristóteles, crematística, puesto que está enfocada principalmente en cómo multiplicar el dinero. De esta forma, la arena de la producción, la tecnología, sus despliegues y los factores que la empujan o limitan, quedan ocultos bajo la búsqueda de equilibrios estáticos. La segunda está más relacionada con el origen y la evolución de la Economía del Desarrollo. Aunque pareciese que en las últimas décadas existe un consenso para definir el Desarrollo como un proceso de transformaciones estructurales de carácter multidimensional, en el lenguaje político y académico actual continúa identificándose reiteradamente con crecimiento económico e ingreso per cápita. Sin embargo, la Economía del Desarrollo es un área de estudio inherentemente multidisciplinaria cuyas discusiones abordan temáticas que van desde la cooperación internacional, el papel de los organismos multilaterales y la sociedad civil, hasta el medio ambiente, el heteropatriarcado, el colonialismo, la epistemología del conocimiento o las necesidades, libertades y capacidades humanas. Por desgracia estos y otros debates relacionados con la sub-disciplina aún no han sido incorporados a los planes de estudios de Economía. En este capítulo pretendemos ayudar humildemente a suplir este déficit ofreciendo un texto asequible e introductorio que facilite su inserción paulatina en las mallas curriculares

What is Sumak Kawsay? A Qualitative Study in the Ecuadorian Amazon

A qualitative study of the main characteristics of sumak kawsay (buen vivir, living well/good life) in the Ecuadorian Amazon shows that it has four constitutive elements of which a multitude of interpretations coexist: an indigenous and nature-focused worldview, community, an economy based on solidarity, and ancestral knowledge. Understandings of sumak kawsay are rooted in the practices and beliefs of the communities interviewed rather than in theoretical constructions of idyllic community forms, and in this connection differences can be observed between the academic “indigenist” view of it and local discourses. Una aproximación cualitativa a las características principales del sumak kawsay (buen vivir, living well/good life) en la Amazonía ecuatoriana muestran la existencia de cuatro elementos constitutivos del sumak kawsay en los que colindan multitud de interpretaciones: cosmovisión indígena y naturaleza, comunidad, economía solidaria, y conocimiento ancestral. Las comprensiones del sumak kawsay enraízan con prácticas y creencias de las personas y no con construcciones teóricas de formas comunitarias idílicas, y al respecto, apreciamos diferencias entre la visión académica “indigenista” del sumak kawsay y los discursos locales.This study was partially funded by the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación and the European Regional Development Fund (project ECO2017-86822-R); the Regional Government of Andalusia and the European Regional Development Fund (projects P18-RT-576 and B-SEJ-018-UGR18), the University of Granada (Plan Propio. Unidad Científica de Excelencia: Desigualdad, Derechos Humanos y Sostenibilidad -DEHUSO-), and Universidad Internacional SEK Research Project, Ecuador (No. P021718