Quantity v/s quality of scientific publications: an analysis for main cities of Spain (2001-2007)

Since the last quarter of the 20th century, most of the world population has experimented an important process of globalization, mainly due to; the accelerated knowledge production, the increase of intangible capital on a macroeconomic scale, the increase in levels of innovation, and the ICT revolution that have democratized access to information and knowledge dissemination. This new economic base, located in cities, is supported on knowledge and information as sources of production and competitiveness. The number of scientific publications on indexed journals is a scale, often used to measure the degree of strength of the scientific sector of a particular place. But this scale ignores the quality of the counted works, i.e. the impact they have generated in the scientific world. This work seeks to highlight the dynamics of scientific production in Spain. Specifically, it aims to analyze the quantity and quality of scientific publications in the period between 2001 and 2007. For this analysis, the quantity is measured by the number of scientific papers published by researchers from a city and the quality by the number of times that works signed by scientists from a city, have been cited by researchers around the world. In this study we establish a bibliometric analysis based on: 1) the number of scientific contributions to municipalities of more than 30,000 people whose information is derived from the SCI-E and 2) the number of citations for the top 10 cities with information derived from Scopus. Finally, we contrast the results of the more representatives cities, with the aim of clarify the relationship between the quantity and quality between quantity and quality of the scientific publication. The results suggest a concentration of quantity and quality of the scientific production in the Spanish metropolitan areas. However, we can provide that ranking who have the main cities in the context of national scientific publication is not similar for both parameters.

The Management model of Territories. The hidden harvest or the environmental perception of the spaces

El libro es, sobre todo, una propuesta científica interdisciplinar para pasar de la actual forma depredadora de concebir y gestionar los espacios ambientales en los que habitamos, a la construcción colectiva de planes de acción local para la convivencia armónica con la red de todo lo vivo de la que dependemos y formamos parte. Se estructura en torno a 4 partes bien diferenciadas. En la primera parte (del capítulo 1 al 4), la autora sienta las bases para redefinir la relación seres humanos-naturaleza; releer el territorio desde el contacto y la interdependencia; y, operativizar el enfoque de la sustentabilidad fuerte defendido a lo largo de esas páginas. En la segunda parte (capítulos 5 y 6) desarrolla teóricamente su propuesta de investigación y su metodología de gestión sustentable de los recursos naturales a través de la generación de experiencias significativas con el medio y la reapropiación de los espacios municipales. En la tercera sección (capítulo 7) describe de forma pormenorizada cómo se incorpora esta metodología cualitativa al proyecto piloto de Agenda 21 que se abre en el municipio de Isla del Cerrito, en la provincia de Chaco, al nordeste de Argentina. El libro se cierra con un apartado de análisis y conclusiones (capítulo 8) sobre los cambios producidos en la mirada de los y las habitantes y sobre las contribuciones del método a la instalación de capacidades humanas hacia la sustentabilidad.The book is essentially a multidisciplinary scientific view to move from the current aggressive way we conceive and manage the environmental spaces we live in, to the collective construction of different action plans focused on the harmonic coexistence with everything alive which we depend on. It is clearly structured in four different parts. In the first part (chapters 1 to 4), the author establishes the foundations to re-define the relation human beings - nature; re-reads the territory from a contact and interdependence point of view and, she also makes operative the approach of the strong sustainability previously defended over these pages. In the second part (chapters 5 and 6) she theoretically develops her methodology of sustainable management of natural resources through significant experiences within the environment and getting back into the common (municipal) spaces. In the third section (chapter 7) she describes down to the last detail, how this quality methodology is included in the pilot project of Agenda 21 just performed for the first time in Isla del Cerrito’s municipality, in the province of Chaco, north-east of Argentina. The book is closed with an analysis and conclusions section (chapter 8) on the changes produced in the point of view of the inhabitants and on the contributions of the method to the use of human capacities towards sustainability

Actualización del currículum en educación química: la importancia de la luz solar en nuestra vida

Els processos induïts per la llum solar són vitals per als éssers vius. La naturalesa ens demostra que els processos tèrmics i fotoquímics es complementen per donar lloc a molècules valuoses per als éssers vius. A més, hi ha una gran varietat d'aplicacions tecnològiques basades en la capacitat d'alguns materials per absorbir la llum. La llum solar és, sense cap mena de dubte, el reactiu químic més «verd». Però també cal tenir en compte que la sobreexposició solar pot provocar efectes adversos en organismes i materials.Sunlight induced processes are essential for living organisms. Nature shows that thermal and photochemical processes are combined to provide vital molecules in living beings. Furthermore, there are a variety of technological applications based on the capacity of some materials to absorb light. Sunlight is, without doubt, the «greenest» chemical reagent. But we must also bear in mind that sun exposure can cause adverse effects in organisms and materials.Los procesos inducidos por la luz solar son vitales para los seres vivos. La naturaleza nos demuestra que los procesos térmicos y fotoquímicos se complementan para dar lugar a moléculas valiosas para los seres vivos. Además, existe una gran variedad de aplicaciones tecnológicas basadas en la capacidad de algunos materiales para absorber la luz. La luz solar es, sin lugar a dudas, el reactivo químico más «verde». Sin embargo, hay que tener en cuenta que la sobreexposición solar puede provocar efectos adversos en organismos y materiales

Measuring inequality and dependences between income sources with administrative data and survey data

Producción CientíficaThis paper aims at analyzing the effects of changing from survey to administrative data on inequality and its structure. Taking advantage of the Spanish Survey on Income and Living Conditions (ECV) that continued asking households for their income despite assigning them the income data provided by the Tax Agency and the Social Security administration, different analyses are carried out. By using copula functions we pay special attention to the effect on the dependences between income sources. We find a significant growth in the disposable income of households when using administrative data. The incomes of both tails of the distribution increase considerably more than middle incomes, and administrative data produce significantly lower levels of inequality. Using administrative instead of survey data also gives rise to changes in the structure of inequality by income sources, rising the contribution of capital income. Both methods of data collection also produce significant differences in the observed dependences between income sources.Economía Aplicad

Artifact-Aware Analogue/Mixed-Signal Front-Ends for Neural Recording Applications

This paper presents a brief review of techniques to overcome the problems associated with artifacts in analog frontends for neural recording applications. These techniques are employed for handling Common-Mode (CM) Differential-Mode (DM) artifacts and include techniques such as Average Template Subtraction, Channel Blanking or Blind Adaptive Stimulation Artifact Rejection (ASAR), among others. Additionally, a new technique for DM artifacts compression is proposed. It allows to compress these artifacts to the requirements of the analog frontend and, afterwards, it allows to reconstruct the whole artifact or largely suppress it.Ministerio de Economía y Empresa TEC2016-80923-

Physiological and molecular basis determining inter-individual growth rate differences in spat of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis reared under different nutritional and temperature environments.

180 p.En el presente trabajo se exponen los resultados obtenidos en una serie de experimentos diseñados para confirmar o rechazar la hipótesis de que las características fisiológicas que generan diferencias entre individuos de crecimiento rápido (F) y lento (S) del mejillón Mytilus galloprovincialis pueden variar en función de las condiciones ambientales bajo las cuales se desarrolla el crecimiento de los mejillones. Para ello, se mantuvieron distintos grupos de semillas de mejillón durante largos períodos de tiempo en diferentes condiciones ambientales estables (distintos ambientes nutricionales y distintas temperaturas) hasta la obtención de individuos de crecimiento rápido y lento en cada grupo. Los experimentos de fisiología energética realizados posteriormente con los grupos obtenidos han permitido confirmar la hipótesis planteada, y por lo tanto, se concluye que las condiciones ambientales en las que los mejillones se desarrollan pueden ser un factor determinante de las características fisiológicas diferenciales entre individuos F y S. Además, se han obtenido evidencias de que el tamaño de la branquia es un factor determinante en la tasa de crecimiento de los bivalvos, independientemente de las condiciones de segregación. Finalmente, se ha obtenido una lista de genes candidato responsables de las diferencias en tamaño entre individuos F y S, obtenida a partir del análisis de expresión génica diferencial de la branquia mediante microarrays

High Prevalence of Mycoplasma penetrans in Chlamydia trachomatis Positive Rectal Samples From Men: A Brief Report

Mycoplasma penetrans has gained increased attention in relation to sexually transmitted infections, however, its pathogenic potential and prevalence in different populations remains to be elucidated. Among 293 Chlamydia trachomatis positive rectal samples submitted for lymphogranuloma venereum typing, M. penetrans was detected by PCR in 13.4% of 231 male samples.Spanish Government FPU19/05561European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryolog

Physiological and molecular basis determining inter-individual growth rate differences in spat of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis reared under different nutritional and temperature environments.

180 p.En el presente trabajo se exponen los resultados obtenidos en una serie de experimentos diseñados para confirmar o rechazar la hipótesis de que las características fisiológicas que generan diferencias entre individuos de crecimiento rápido (F) y lento (S) del mejillón Mytilus galloprovincialis pueden variar en función de las condiciones ambientales bajo las cuales se desarrolla el crecimiento de los mejillones. Para ello, se mantuvieron distintos grupos de semillas de mejillón durante largos períodos de tiempo en diferentes condiciones ambientales estables (distintos ambientes nutricionales y distintas temperaturas) hasta la obtención de individuos de crecimiento rápido y lento en cada grupo. Los experimentos de fisiología energética realizados posteriormente con los grupos obtenidos han permitido confirmar la hipótesis planteada, y por lo tanto, se concluye que las condiciones ambientales en las que los mejillones se desarrollan pueden ser un factor determinante de las características fisiológicas diferenciales entre individuos F y S. Además, se han obtenido evidencias de que el tamaño de la branquia es un factor determinante en la tasa de crecimiento de los bivalvos, independientemente de las condiciones de segregación. Finalmente, se ha obtenido una lista de genes candidato responsables de las diferencias en tamaño entre individuos F y S, obtenida a partir del análisis de expresión génica diferencial de la branquia mediante microarrays

A chaotic switched-capacitor circuit for characteristic CMOS noise distributions generation

A switched-capacitor circuit is proposed for the generation of noise resembling the typical noise spectral density of MOS devices. The circuit is based on the combination of two chaotic maps, one generating 1/f noise (hopping map) and the other generating white noise (Bernoulli map). Through a programmable weighted adder stage, the contribution of each map can be controlled and, thereby, the position of the corner frequency. Behavioral models simulations were carried out to prove the correct functionality of the proposed approach.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2016-80923-

The wage gap between immigrant and native workers in Spain: an analysis using matched employer-employee data

The fact that Spain has witnessed a sharp increase in the number of immigrants over the past decade has generated considerable interest, particularly as regards wages earned by immigrants in host industries. We analyze whether controlling for both observable and unobservable characteristics of employers —in addition to individual variables and the economic context— makes any difference as regards the debate regarding the existence of wage differences between immigrant and native workers in Spain. As we show, doing this considerably reduces (or even eliminates) the inequalities found in previous research, thereby questioning the results attained by previous studies on this issue.Immigration, salaries, assimilation.