Manufacturing performance in international perspective: new evidence for the southern cone

This dissertation aims to shed light on the performance of the manufacturing sector in three Latin American middle-income countries (Brazil, Chile and Uruguay) during the state-led industrialization period between 1930 and 1980. The inclusion of two rich countries with different trajectories (United States and Sweden), allows us to assess the manufacturing performance in a comparative perspective. This thesis: i) characterizes the productive structures of each country, ii) measures structural change and analyses its relation to manufacturing productivity growth and iii) identifies patterns of industrial growth related to different sub-periods. In addition, it estimates the productivity gap between Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay relative to the US and Sweden, in order to reveal whether convergence took place at the industry level. The results identify changes within the industrial sector in the three Latin American countries. However, the degree of transformation was weaker and limited in time for the case of Uruguay, followed by the Chilean experience with moderate advances, and finally the Brazilian case which showed profound and sustained changes over time. The Brazilian success was reflected in a reduction in structural heterogeneity and in its achievements in terms of structural change. Moreover, manufacturing convergence accelerated in Brazil in the 1960s, when the development model based on industrialization was deepened and different characteristics were adopted from those recorded in the first stage of industrialization. Structural change was weaker in Uruguay and mild in Chile, and the ability to reduce technological gaps with leaders was restricted to some industrial sectors associated with natural resources and with medium and high levels of industrial protection. The latter must also be linked to the different pace of industrialization in these two countries, especially in Uruguay, where the industrializing impulse was exhausted very early on.El objetivo de la tesis es arrojar luz sobre el desempeño del sector manufacturero en tres países latinoamericanos de ingresos medios (Brasil, Chile y Uruguay) durante el período de industrialización dirigida por el Estado entre 1930 y 1980. La inclusión de dos países ricos con trayectorias diferentes (Estados Unidos y Suecia), nos permite evaluar el desempeño de la industria en una perspectiva comparativa. Esta tesis: i) caracteriza las estructuras productivas de cada país, ii) mide el cambio estructural y analiza su relación con el crecimiento de la productividad manufacturera e iii) identifica patrones de crecimiento industrial relacionados con diferentes subperíodos. Además, se estima la brecha de productividad entre Brasil, Chile y Uruguay en relación con Estados Unidos y Suecia, para revelar si hubo procesos de convergencia a nivel de la industria. Los resultados identifican cambios dentro del sector industrial en los tres países latinoamericanos. Sin embargo, el grado de transformación fue más débil y limitado en el tiempo en el caso de Uruguay, seguido por la experiencia chilena con avances moderados y, finalmente, el caso brasileño que mostró cambios profundos y sostenidos en el tiempo. El éxito de Brasil se reflejó en una reducción de la heterogeneidad estructural y en sus logros en términos de cambio estructural. Además, la convergencia manufacturera se aceleró en Brasil en los años sesenta, cuando se profundizó el modelo de desarrollo basado en la industrialización y se adoptaron características diferentes de las registradas en la primera etapa de la industrialización. El cambio estructural fue más débil en Uruguay y moderado en Chile, y la capacidad de reducir las brechas tecnológicas con los líderes se limitó a algunos sectores industriales asociados con los recursos naturales y con niveles medios y altos de protección industrial. Esto último también debe vincularse al diferente ritmo de la industrialización en estos dos países, especialmente en Uruguay, donde el impulso industrializador se agotó muy tempranamente

Expressive alignment with timbre: changes of sound-kinetic patterns during the break routine of an electronic dance music set

Background: Expressive alignment (Leman, 2016) refers to the synchronization of human movement patterns with musical patterns. On the one hand, Solberg and Jensenius (2017) found that dancers share a movement pattern during the break routine (BR) of electronic dance music (EDM) tracks (sound pattern formed by breakdown-build up-drop sequence which constitutes a formal articulation of EDM set). On the other hand, although a number of timbral dimensions have been established which organize auditory perception (Alluri, 2012), expressive alignment with timbral patterns have not been studied yet. In this work we studied the timbral relevance of the acoustic changes during BRs of EDM’s sets, and assume that these changes form musical patterns that, in turn, afford changes in human movement patterns. Aims: To describe the changes of sound-kinetic patterns during the BRs on an EDM party video, resulting from the expressive alignment between human movement patterns and sonic patterns of music. Methods: Stimulus: an EDM party audiovisual record. Sound analysis: (1) Aural identification, description and temporal location annotation on Elan 5.0 timeline of all the BRs of the EDM set. (2) Processing of its acoustic signal, and extraction of features related to timbre, rhythm and pitch with MIRToolbox. Movement analysis: (1) Detection of movement patterns formed by arms, head and shoulders of all people completely visible on the video during 15 BRs. (2) Laban Movement Analysis (Laban, 1950) video annotation on Elan 5.0 of effort-shape elements of each movement pattern. (3) Comparative analysis of the movement patterns of each person. Results: Sound analysis results show that the BR is defined by an acoustical pattern, in which some timbral features play a relevant role. With regard to movement analysis; (1) we identified changes on movement patterns during BRs, especially at the drop moment ; (2) we noted that people develop personal movement patterns, differentiated from those of others by the organization of effort-shape elements; and (3) changes in the dancers´ personal style of movement patterns occur at the same time. Conclusions: In this work we observed that EDM dancers develop expressive alignments during the BR. From a musical point of view, the changes in acoustical features related to timbre during the BR modify the sonic environmental conditions, and the consequent expressive alignment of the dancers. Although people keep their personal styles of movement, they all change their movement patterns in phase with the changes of music, producing a shared sound-kinetic pattern. References: Alluri, V. (2012). Acoustic, Neural, and Perceptual Correlates of Polyphonic Timbre (Doctoral Thesis). University of Jyväskylä: Jyväskylä. Laban, R. (1950). The Mastery of Movement. Binsted: Dance Books. Leman, M. (2016). The Expressive Moment. How Interaction (with Music) Shapes Human Empowerment. Massachusetts: MIT Press. Solberg, R.T. y Jensenius, A.R. (2017). Arm and head movements to musical passages of electronic dance music. Book of Abstracts, 25th ESCOM. Gent: ESCOM.Trabajo publicado en Parncutt, R. & Sattmann, S. (eds.) (2018). Proceedings of ICMPC15/ESCOM10. Graz, Austria: Centre for Systematic Musicology, University of Graz.Facultad de Bellas Arte

Motion Patterns of Feet’s Movements and Metrical Structure in Electronic Music’s Dance Style

Motivation. In some dance styles, musical meter is encoded in the dancer’s space: some parts of the body go through the same spatial points on the same beats (Naveda and Leman, 2010), producing a metrically aligned motion-pattern (MP). As to electronic dance music (EDM), arms, chest and head movements seem to be highly spontaneous but still aligned with musical metre (Marchiano and Martínez, 2018). In this study we aim at extending the analysis to EDM feet movements to see whether and how MPs are metrically aligned. Methodology. Stimulus: Audiovisual recording of an EDM party in La Plata City, Argentina. Analysis: Microgenetic observational analysis of 27 minutes of 31 people’s feet’s movements, aiming at describing motion regularities and ways of synchronization with music metrical levels. Results. All subjects’ motions showed exclusively 2 looped MPs, both defined by the entrainment to the beat at the footstep level: (i) 2 (1-1) beat cycle (strong-weak/right-left foot alternation) stationary; and (ii) 4 (2-2) beat cycle (strong/weak right - strong/weak left foot alternation), with feet displacement on the horizontal axis. Implications. EDM’s dancers embody the metrical structure of the music through their feet’s spatiotemporal location. The presence of MPs in a dance style non-taught but still developed in parties, attest the social, non-verbal instantiation of musical features through embodied alignment with music.Laboratorio para el Estudio de la Experiencia Musica

Small-Group Interactions with Music and Others in Social Dance

Motivation. In musical environments, large groups of people synchronize on intra-personal, inter-personal, and inter-group levels (Clayton, 2013). Motion behaviour with music has been studied in personal, dyadic (Carlson et al., 2018), and large group’s levels in dance conditions. We aim at studying personal and interpersonal small-group level interactions with music in an electronic dance music (EDM) social context. Methodology. Stimulus: Audiovisual recording of an EDM party in La Plata City, Argentina. Musical analysis: musicological analysis of form. Movement analysis: Observation of a 4:26 minutes of Tech House track, interactive behaviour and microanalysis of legs’ motion patterns of 15 dancers. Results. Small-group interaction: people group together in circles (2-5 people each). Each group shows two kinetic behaviours: (i) a shared 2 beat/4 beat leg’s motion pattern in entrainment with musical metre; and (ii) a dyadic dance-together behaviour inside the small group with momentary inter-personal movement synchronisation, prompted by intentional body contact or mutual gazes. Personal behaviour: most people change their leg’s movement at the main themes’ beginnings (signalled mainly by the salience of the bassline and the high pitched percussions, among others timbral-textural features). Implications. Even though movements’ dancers show a common kinetic behaviour, and a personal, intentional kinetic alignment with musical features such as metric and timbral-textural changes of EDM musical style, interactions within small groups tend to be reduced to dyads, suggesting a transcendence of early traces of communicative musicality in adult social life.Laboratorio para el Estudio de la Experiencia Musica

Textural layers and polyphonic timbre links in electronic dance music

Polyphonic timbre refers to the overall timbral mixture in a music signal. Some of their most salient acoustic dimensions are the Sub-Band Fluxes. Our hypothesis is that there is a temporal alignment between Sub-Band Flux changes and perceived textural layers’ onsets and offsets in electronic dance music (EDM). (i) We asked to 15 professional musicians to record in Reaper every perceived textural layer’s onset or offset of 11 EDM’s tracks, (ii) and calculated the transitional temporal data between homogeneous and successive states of Sub-Band Flux from signals with MIRToolbox functions. Data (i) and (ii) are being correlated. We expect that acoustical timbral changes will show temporal coincidence with perceived textural layers’ onsets and offsets. Results are still in process, and will be discussed in reference to the EDM’s acoustic environment to mutually afford the perception of textural layers and polyphonic timbres.Trabajo publicado en SysMus18. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology. State University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, 2018.Facultad de Bellas Arte

Textural layers and polyphonic timbre links in electronic dance music

Polyphonic timbre refers to the overall timbral mixture in a music signal. Some of their most salient acoustic dimensions are the Sub-Band Fluxes. Our hypothesis is that there is a temporal alignment between Sub-Band Flux changes and perceived textural layers’ onsets and offsets in electronic dance music (EDM). (i) We asked to 15 professional musicians to record in Reaper every perceived textural layer’s onset or offset of 11 EDM’s tracks, (ii) and calculated the transitional temporal data between homogeneous and successive states of Sub-Band Flux from signals with MIRToolbox functions. Data (i) and (ii) are being correlated. We expect that acoustical timbral changes will show temporal coincidence with perceived textural layers’ onsets and offsets. Results are still in process, and will be discussed in reference to the EDM’s acoustic environment to mutually afford the perception of textural layers and polyphonic timbres.Trabajo publicado en SysMus18. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology. State University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, 2018.Facultad de Bellas Arte

Textural layers and polyphonic timbre links in electronic dance music

Polyphonic timbre refers to the overall timbral mixture in a music signal. Some of their most salient acoustic dimensions are the Sub-Band Fluxes. Our hypothesis is that there is a temporal alignment between Sub-Band Flux changes and perceived textural layers’ onsets and offsets in electronic dance music (EDM). (i) We asked to 15 professional musicians to record in Reaper every perceived textural layer’s onset or offset of 11 EDM’s tracks, (ii) and calculated the transitional temporal data between homogeneous and successive states of Sub-Band Flux from signals with MIRToolbox functions. Data (i) and (ii) are being correlated. We expect that acoustical timbral changes will show temporal coincidence with perceived textural layers’ onsets and offsets. Results are still in process, and will be discussed in reference to the EDM’s acoustic environment to mutually afford the perception of textural layers and polyphonic timbres.Trabajo publicado en SysMus18. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of Students of Systematic Musicology. State University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, 2018.Facultad de Bellas Arte

Formación docente en computación: el caso del programa Exploring Computer Sciences de la Universidad de Oregon

Este artículo analiza un programa de formación docente continua que tiene más de una década de duración en los Estados Unidos. El propósito de este estudio de caso es ofrecer aportes que permitan pensar criterios y estrategias para la formación de los docentes a partir de los resultados de este programa. Se realizó un estudio etnográfico a través de una estancia en el curso de capacitación docente que ofrece el programa por 40hs. A partir de las entrevistas, observaciones y análisis documental se reconstruyó la propuesta del curso.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Competencias para la empleabilidad de los desempleados de larga duración = Skills for the employability of long-term unemployed persons

El desempleo de larga duración es consecuencia del desajuste entre las competencias que poseen algunos individuos y las que el mercado de trabajo demanda. Impactos negativos son la dificultad de encontrar oportunidades por la depreciación de su formación profesional, la exclusión social y la desorientación ante la búsqueda de empleo. De esta forma, el objetivo del trabajo fue determinar las competencias necesarias para la empleabilidad de los desempleados de larga duración atendidos por CCOO Aragón en Zaragoza para el logro de su acceso al mercado laboral. Para ello se revisaron los aportes teóricos de Alles (2009), Benavides (2005), Morán y Fínez (2014) y Spencer y Spencer (1993), entre otros, quienes definen las competencias, cardinales y específicas, relacionándolas con la empleabilidad. La investigación fue descriptiva, de campo, no experimental y transversal. La muestra fue de 206 desempleados de larga duración (CCOO Zaragoza). El instrumento fue un cuestionario de 26 preguntas cerradas con dirección positiva y con 5 alternativas de respuesta. Se concluyó que los desempleados encuestados han desarrollado las competencias cardinales y la empleabilidad pero apenas han iniciado a desarrollar sus competencias específicas gerenciale