The Impact of Population on CO2 Emissions: Evidence From European Countries

This paper analyses the impact of population growth on CO2 emissions in European Union countries. Traditionally, researchers have assumed a unitary elasticity of emissions with respect to population growth. In this study population is treated as a predictor in the model, instead of being included as part of the dependent variable (per capita emissions), thus relaxing the above-mentioned assumption of unitary elasticity. We also contribute to the existing literature by taking into account the presence of heterogeneity in the sample and considering a dynamic specification. The sample covers the period 1975- 1999 for the current European Union members. Our results show that the impact of population growth on emissions is more than proportional for recent accession countries whereas for old EU members, the elasticity is lower than unity and non significant when the properties of the time series and the dynamics are correctly specified. The different impact of population change on CO2 emissions for the current EU members should therefore be taken into account in future discussions of climate change policies within the EU.CO2 Emissions, European Union, Panel Data, Population Growth

Towards effective pedagogical coordination. The emergency of intermediate leader

Investigaciones internacionales apuntan a otros miembros de la organización como líderes potenciales en los centros educativos, especialmente a los jefes de departamento por su posición estratégica. El trabajo que se expone tiene por finalidad el análisis y la descripción de la coordinación pedagógica en Secundaria en Andalucía oriental, a partir de 245 respuestas de profesores a cuestionario ad hoc de tipo Likert. A la luz de los resultados obtenidos, se ha evidenciado cómo existe una tendencia entre el profesorado a sentirse líderes escolares, aspecto determinante en la encrucijada que atañe a la coordinación pedagógica en los institutos, en consonancia con investigaciones similares. Además, se ha encontrado que el profesorado considera que existe un clima de colaboración en el centro, que es facilitado por la dirección y que existe una cultura de trabajo en torno a un proyecto común, así como un diálogo e intercambio de prácticas sobre aspectos propios de la innovación educativaInternational research points to other members of the organization as potential leaders in educational schools, especially department heads due to their strategic position. The purpose of this work is to analyze and describing the pedagogical coordination in Secondary in Eastern Andalusia, based on 245 responses from teachers to the Likert type ad hoc questionnaire. In light of the results obtained, it has become evident how there is a tendency among teachers to feel like school leaders, a decisive aspect at the crossroads that concerns the pedagogical coordination in the institutes, in line with similar research. In addition, it has been found that teachers consider that there is a climate of collaboration, which is facilitated by headmaster. Likewise, teachers consider that there is a work culture around a common project, as well as a dialogue and exchange of practices on them on aspects of educational innovatio

Does environmental policy stringency foster innovation and productivity in OECD countries?

In this paper we use panel data models and quantile regressions to test the "weak" and "strong" versions of the Porter hypothesis, using data from 14 OECD countries over the period 1990-2011. A newly-released environmental policy stringency index (EPS) provided by the OECD is used as an indicator of the stringency of environmental regulations in order to tackle endogeneity issues of proxies used in earlier research. The findings indicate that more stringent environmental regulations positively influence R&D expenditure, the number of patent applications and total factor productivity (TFP). The results show that environmental stringency has a positive effect on R&D, mainly for the lower quantiles (0.10, 0.25) of the distribution of R&D, whereas for the number of patent applications and total factor productivity, the effect increases for the highest quantiles (0.75, 0.90) of the distribution of the targeted indicators

The Impact of Population on CO2 Emissions: Evidence From European Countries

This paper analyses the impact of population growth on CO2 emissions in European Union countries. Traditionally, researchers have assumed a unitary elasticity of emissions with respect to population growth. In this study population is treated as a predictor in the model, instead of being included as part of the dependent variable (per capita emissions), thus relaxing the above-mentioned assumption of unitary elasticity. We also contribute to the existing literature by taking into account the presence of heterogeneity in the sample and considering a dynamic specification. The sample covers the period 1975- 1999 for the current European Union members. Our results show that the impact of population growth on emissions is more than proportional for recent accession countries whereas for old EU members, the elasticity is lower than unity and non significant when the properties of the time series and the dynamics are correctly specified. The different impact of population change on CO2 emissions for the current EU members should therefore be taken into account in future discussions of climate change policies within the EU

Influence of tragacanth gum in egg white based bioplastics: Thermomechanical and water uptake properties

This study aims to extend the range of applications of tragacanth gum by studying its incorporation into bioplastics formulation, exploring the influence that different gum contents (0–20 wt.%) exert over the thermomechanical and water uptake properties of bioplastics based on egg white albumen protein (EW). The effect of plasticizer nature was also evaluated through the modification of the water/glycerol ratio within the plasticizer fraction (fixed at 40 wt.%). The addition of tragacanth gum generally yielded an enhancement of the water uptake capacity, being doubled at the highest content. Conversely, presence of tragacanth gum resulted in a considerable decrease in the bioplastic mechanical properties: both tensile strength and maximum elongation were reduced up to 75% approximately when compared to the gumfree system. Ageing of selected samples was also studied, revealing an important effect of storage time when tragacanth gum is present, possibly due to its hydrophilic character.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MAT2011-29275-C02-01

Stress, Coping, and Resilience Before and After COVID-19: A Predictive Model Based on Artificial Intelligence in the University Environment

The COVID-19 global health emergency has greatly impacted the educational field. Faced with unprecedented stress situations, professors, students, and families have employed various coping and resilience strategies throughout the confinement period. High and persistent stress levels are associated with other pathologies; hence, their detection and prevention are needed. Consequently, this study aimed to design a predictive model of stress in the educational field based on artificial intelligence that included certain sociodemographic variables, coping strategies, and resilience capacity, and to study the relationship between them. The non-probabilistic snowball sampling method was used, involving 337 people (73% women) from the university education community in south-eastern Spain. The Perceived Stress Scale, Stress Management Questionnaire, and Brief Resilience Scale were administered. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 24) was used to design the architecture of artificial neural networks. The results found that stress levels could be predicted by the synaptic weights of coping strategies and timing of the epidemic (before and after the implementation of isolation measures), with a predictive capacity of over 80% found in the neural network model. Additionally, direct and significant associations were identified between the use of certain coping strategies, stress levels, and resilience. The conclusions of this research are essential for effective stress detection, and therefore, early intervention in the field of educational psychology, by discussing the influence of resilience or lack thereof on the prediction of stress levels. Identifying the variables that maintain a greater predictive power in stress levels is an effective strategy to design more adjusted prevention programs and to anticipate the needs of the community

Experimental Type 2 Diabetes Induces Enzymatic Changes in Isolated Rat Enterocytes

Diabetes in humans and in experimental animals produces changes in the function and structure of the small intestine. The authors determined the activity of intestinal disaccharidases (maltase and sucrase) and of 6-phosphofructo-1-kinase (PFK-1) in enterocytes isolated from the small intestine of male Wistar rats (2.5 to 3 months old) with experimental nonobese type 2 diabetes, induced by streptozotocin (STZ) injection on the day of birth (n0-STZ) or on the 5th day of life (n5-STZ), with different degrees of hyperglycemia and insulinemia (n0-STZ and n5-STZ models). The glycemia (mmol/L) of the diabetic rats (n0-STZ: 8.77 ± 0.47; n5-STZ: 20.83 ± 0.63) was higher (P < .01) than that of the nondiabetic (ND) rats (5.99 ± 0.63); on the contrary, the insulinemia (ng/mL) was significantly lower in both n0-STZ (1.74 ± 0.53; P < .05) and n5-STZ (1.12 ± 0.44; P < .01) diabetic rats than in normal rats (3.77 ± 0.22). The sucrase and maltase activities (U/g protein) in diabetic rats (n0-STZ: 89 ± 9 and 266 ± 12; n5-STZ: 142 ± 23 and 451 ± 57) were significantly higher than those in the ND group (66 ± 5 and 228 ± 22). The PFK-1 activities (mU/mg protein) in the diabetic models (n0-STZ: 14.89 ± 1.51; n5-STZ: 13.35 ± 3.12) were significantly lower (P < .05) than in ND rats (20.54 ± 2.83). The data demonstrated enzymatic alterations in enterocytes isolated fromthe small intestine of n0-STZ rats that are greater (P < .05) than in the more hyperglycemic and hypoinsulinemic n5-STZ animals. The results also show that nonobese type 2–like diabetes in the rat produces modifications that favor an increase in glucose absorption rates

Predicción de la resiliencia docente mediante redes neuronales arti-ficiales: influencia del burnout y del estrés por COVID-19

Antecedentes: La resiliencia en el profesorado permite afrontar situaciones difíciles y reponerse a la adversidad existiendo diferencias de género al respecto. Asimismo, la inteligencia artificial y las técnicas asociadas a ella han resultado ser de gran utilidad para predecir variables educativas y estudiar la interconexión entre ellas tras la COVID-19. Dicho esto, el objetivo general de esta investigación fue predecir los niveles de resiliencia en las profesoras y profesores de Secundaria a través del diseño de una red neuronal artificial (RNA). Método: Se administró la Escala Breve de Afrontamiento Resiliente, el Inventario de Burnout de Maslach y el Cuestionario de Estrés frente a la COVID-19 a 401 docentes de secundaria (70.6% mujeres) de centros educativos del sureste español, con una edad media de 44.36 años (DT= 9.38). Resultados: Se hallaron diferencias en la configuración de los modelos predictivos de la resiliencia entre profesoras y profesores contribuyendo las variables independientes en diferente grado en función del género. Conclusiones: Se pone de manifiesto la utilidad de las RNA en el ámbito educativo y la necesidad de diseñar programas más ajustados.Background: Resilience in teachers allows them to face difficult situations to recover from adversity and there are gender differences. Likewise, artificial intelligence and the techniques associated with it have proven to be very useful in predicting educational variables and studying the interconnection between them after COVID-19. That said, the general objective of this research was to predict the levels of resilience in secondary school teachers through the design of an artificial neural network (ANN). Method: The Brief Resilient Coping Scale, the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the COVID-19 Stress Questionnaire were administered to 401 secondary school teachers (70.6% female) from schools in southeastern Spain, with a mean age of 44.36 years (SD = 9.38). Results: Differences were found in the configuration of the predictive models of resilience between male and female teachers, with the independent variables contributing to different degrees depending on gender. Conclusions: It is highlighted the usefulness of ANNs in the educational setting and the need to design more adjusted programs

Voltage dependence of retardance, flicker, and director angle orientation in reflective liquid crystal devices by average Stokes polarimetry

Parallel-aligned liquid crystal on silicon devices (PA-LCoS) can be found nowadays in most of the advanced areas in optics and photonics. Many works have been dedicated to their characterization for optimum utilization in applications. However, usual techniques are based on diffractive or interferometric measurements. Recently, we proposed the use of Stokes polarimetry for a versatile yet easy to implement characterization. We show that the LCoS can modelled as a nonabsorbent reciprocal device which, combined with time-average Stokes polarimetry, enables to demonstrate robust measurements across the whole applied voltage range for the retardance and its flicker. One of the main novelties is that we also obtain the director orientation, which we show that changes across the voltage range, especially at larger applied voltages. This might affect in very sensitive applications. It might also provide a deeper insight into the internal dynamics in the LC layer.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain (FIS2017-82919-R (MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE); PID2019-106601RB-I00); Generalitat Valenciana, Spain (GV/2019/021; CDEIGENT/2018/024); Universidad de Alicante, Spain (UATALENTO18-10)