Perceptions and Acceptance of Desalinated Seawater for Irrigation: A Case Study in the Níjar District (Southeast Spain)

In the context of increasing demand for irrigation water—but, at the same time, with the constraints in the supply from traditional resources—desalinated seawater has been recognized as one of the alternative sources of water to increase the supply for agricultural irrigation. However, its use among farmers has not yet started to expand. Policy makers need to understand what is causing the low acceptance levels of farmers, and how their attitudes could be improved. This is the first study that has conducted an analysis of farmers’ perceptions and acceptance of the use of desalinated seawater for irrigation. The study is based on collected data from a survey completed by farmers in southeastern Spain who do not use desalinated seawater. The main results indicate that desalinated seawater as a water supply source has the lowest acceptance level for farmers. Barriers for its use are price, the need for additional fertilization, and the perception that it would negatively affect the yield and crop quality. The farmers’ general level of knowledge about the impact of using desalinated seawater in agriculture is extremely low. Furthermore, farmers consider it a priority that their startup investment should be subsidized and that water prices should be reduced. Based on the study findings, this paper makes recommendations for the decision-making process in order to improve farmers’ acceptance levels

The Definition, Relevance and Challenges of Universalism in Latin America

In recent years, attention to universal social policy has intensified in Latin America and other parts of the periphery. Definitions of universal social policy have traditionally varied between a minimalist approach focused on broad coverage and a maximalist approach focused on generous, citizen-based programs funded exclusively with general taxes. Unfortunately the former is too narrow and the latter relies on over-ambitious policy instruments, hardly attainable in the periphery. Instead, we propose a definition focused on policy goals: universal social policies are those that reach the entire population with similarly generous transfers and high quality services. In the second part of the paper, we review the advantages of universal policies, which can be more redistributive, create less stigma and be easier to manage than means tested programs and can also have positive effects on social cohesion and economic growth. The paper concludes with a discussion of different types of fragmentation as significant threats towards the expansion of universal social policies in Latin America and beyond

progress and bottlenecks in Latin America

Latin American countries have historically failed to secure market incorporation (e.g. people’s participation in the cash nexus, which in turn requires the creation of a sufficient number of formal well-paying jobs) and social incorporation (e.g. decommodification of rights) simultaneously. High structural heterogeneity in production and weak fiscal capacity resulted in dual social systems and extended and informal labor market. Has this changed in recent years? This paper draws on the experience of Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Uruguay to answer this question. We distinguish between short term outcomes – which may depend on benign international conditions –and policy changes which are more important for long term success. Our analysis highlights Brazil and Uruguay’s unique success overall and also shows that all countries have done better in terms of social than market incorporation. We also discuss some of the challenges to secure further improvements in market and social incorporation in the immediate future, including competition from China and low state capacity

Are welfare regimes a useful category? The crosssectoral variation in social policy in Latin America at the end of the commodity boom

Proyecto 1267The literature on welfare and social policy regimes often assumes that countries perform consistently across policy sectors. Is this assumption correct, particularly in the global South? Do countries that do well in a given policy sector do also well in others? This article examines the matter by contrasting pensions with health care in Latin America, clustering countries based on their degree of segmentation in policy outputs. As a region, Latin America is an interesting case to study because of its comparatively high levels of social spending, long history of welfare systems, significant policy transformation in the first decade of the twenty-first century and extensive body of research. Findings show that while some countries do consistently well or poorly across sectors, others report an uneven performance. Questioning overarching generalizations based on the notion of the regime, the paper calls for further comparative analysis on the political economy behind the sectoral change.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Sociales::Centro de Investigación y Estudios Políticos (CIEP

Desarrollo de una app para la generación preventiva de alertas sanitarias

Desde hace unos años, parece que la informática ha ido invadiendo numerosos campos de la ciencia, se ha ido consolidando como parte fundamental en el desarrollo y la tecnología y ya se puede ver como motor de la economía, las comunicaciones, el comercio e incluso, la medicina. Este trabajo se centra en la aplicación de la informática en el área de las enfermedades infecciosas, intentando contribuir con una nueva idea que revolucione el mundo de las mismas dentro de la medicina, en una situación en la que el término “Smart City” cada vez es más importante. Se trata de un sistema formado por una app para Android y una web controlada y gestionada por un médico, la cual permite identificar posibles usuarios contagiados, localizar focos de contagios y gestionar de una manera óptima, el estado y los avisos de cada usuario. En esta memoria se describe el trabajo realizado, la arquitectura del sistema, las tecnologías utilizadas, el diseño de la aplicación móvil y de la página web, su implementación, las pruebas realizadas, las conclusiones a las que se ha llegado y las posibles mejoras que se podrían incluir en el proyecto en un futuro

Tailoring Intrinsic Properties of Polyaniline by Functionalization with Phosphonic Groups

Phosphonated polyanilines were synthesized by copolymerization of aniline (ANI) with both 2- and 4-aminophenylphosphonic acids (APPA). The material composition and the final properties of the copolymers can be easily tailored by controlling the monomers ANI/APPA molar feed ratio. An important influence on the reactivity of monomers has been found with the substituent position in the ring, leading to differences in the properties and size of blocks of each monomer in the polymer. As expected, while 2APPA shows more similarities to ANI, 4APPA is much less reactive. Phosphorus loading of ~5 at% was achieved in the poly(aniline-co-2-aminophenylphosphonic acid) (PANI2APPA) with a 50/50 molar feed ratio. All the resulting copolymers were characterized by different techniques. Experimental results and density functional theory (DFT) computational calculations suggest that the presence of phosphonic groups in the polymeric chain gives rise to inter- and intra-chain interactions, as well as important steric effects, which induce a slight twist in the substituted PANI structure. Therefore, the physicochemical, electrical, and electrochemical properties are modified and can be suitably controlled.This research was funded by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Grant number: PID2019-105923RB-100) and Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (grant number: FPU18/05127). And the APC was funded by Universidad de Alicante

Comunicación política cívica. Reformulación de las relaciones entre gobernantes y gobernados

'Comunicación política cívica. Reformulación de las relaciones entre gobernantes y gobernados' tiene como objeto de estudio las agendas de los ciudadanos y de los políticos y su nexo de unión con la agenda de los medios de comunicación en el contexto de la campaña electoral de las elecciones autonómicas andaluzas del 9 de marzo de 2008. La investigación propone una nueva forma de entender la comunicación política para que las relaciones entre gobernantes y gobernados sean más democráticas. El doctorando plantea la necesidad de dotar a la comunicación política de mayores dosis de civismo, de modo que esta resulte más transparente, cercana y autocrítica. En el primer bloque de la tesis se exponen un planteamiento general, la justificación, la delimitación del trabajo, los objetivos, hipótesis y la metodología empleada en la investigación. El segundo bloque es para el marco teórico, en el que se habla de los efectos de los medios de comunicación, opinión pública, comunicación política y de la noción de civismo asociada a la misma. En el tercer bloque se ofrece el análisis de contenido realizado sobre cinco periódicos que cubrieron la campaña para determinar la agenda de temas que manejaron los partidos políticos, se exponen los datos de las entrevistas realizadas por el doctorando a los coordinadores de campaña y se explican cuáles eran las preocupaciones de los andaluces por aquel entonces en base a las encuestas de instituciones como el CADPEA o el CIS. En este bloque, al mismo tiempo, se documenta la discusión de los resultados. Por último, en el capítulo de conclusiones, el doctorando constata la importancia de dotar a la comunicación política de un nuevo eje vertebrador, que debe encontrar en los intereses generales de los ciudadanos. Para lograrlo, entre otras medidas, el investigador propone que los partidos políticos y gobernantes cuiden más sus agendas y el tono que emplean para acercarse a lo que los ciudadanos esperan de ellos. Se trata de una tesis que busca mejorar la democracia cambiando las relaciones entre gobernantes y gobernados por la vía de la comunicación política

Convergencia entre Andalucía y España: una aproximación a sus causas (1965-1995). ¿Afecta la inversión pública al crecimiento?

This paper explores issues regarding the regional convergence process. We study the per capita income of Andalusia compared with the remaining regions in Spain over period 1965-1995. Using a very simple growth model with public capital as a production factor, we show that infrastructure endowment is not the main cause of Andalusian relative lower income per capita, so we guess there is a small effect of public investment on growth. However, productive public spending could have played an important role in minimizing the inefficiencies yielded by a non-competitive labour market.Economic growth, infrastructures, unemployment.