Toponimia cacereña: ¿Cáceres > "Castra Caecilia"?

Este trabajo de investigación estudia el origen del nombre de la ciudad de Cáceres. Las referencias históricas al tema han sido estrechamente examinadas y se ha llegado a la siguiente conclusión: el topónimo, Cáceres, deriva del término latino "Castris" (Cecilia), que fue arabizado durante la época musulmana de la ciudad en las formas Quasras o simplemente Qasr As, dando lugar en la época medieval al nombre por el que la ciudad es conocida actualmente.This research paper studies the origin of the name of the town Cáceres. Historical references to the subject have been closely re-examined and the following conclusion has been reached: The toponym, Cáceres, derives from the Latin term “Castris” (Caecilia), which was arabized during the Moslem period of the town into the forms Quasras or simply Qasr As, giving rise in the medieval period to the name by which the town is currently known.notPeerReviewe

Consideraciones acerca de la fundación y evolución de la colonia Norba Caesarina

El artículo trata de las investigaciones llevadas a cabo sobre la colonia Norba Caesarina, su asentamiento y evoluciónThis article deals about Norba Caesarina settlement and evolutio

Interest rate dispersion in deposit and loan markets

This paper investigates the existence and determinants of interest rates dispersion in loans and deposits of Spanish banks. A unique feature of the research is that it covers a whole industry (thirty products and two hundred banks) from 1989 to 2003. We find that: i) interest rates dispersion is a persistent phenomena in loans and deposits marketsii) the differences across products in the observed dispersion can be explained as a function of variables that affect the private net benefits of consumers’ investment in information including search costs (frequency and volume of transactions)iii) interest rate dispersion is more sensible to product specific inflation than to changes in the interest rate of the economyiv) regulation of standards of transparency by the Spanish Central Bank has been effective in reducing interest rate dispersion. [resumen de autor

A test of the law of one price in retail banking

This paper investigates the level and determinants of retail banking interest rate differences among Spanish banks in the period 1989 2003. We find that interest rates of twenty five different bank loan and deposit products adjust rather rapidly to their long term values in response to external shocks, as the relative version of the Law of One Price predicts, but the evidence runs contrary to the absolute version of the Law. Different credit risk across banks and loan products is an important source of interest rate dispersion in the short and long run that puts limits to banking integration

Measurement of capital stock and input services of Spanish banks

This paper contains estimates of physical and intangible (information technology, advertising and training) capital stock, together with capital, labor and externally provided input services, of Spanish commercial and saving banks in the period 1983 to 2003. Capital stocks are valued at replacement costs and assets’ services flows are computed using estimates of the risk-adjusted user cost of capital. Replacement costs of assets are substantially higher than book values and economic estimates of costs of input services allow for more accurate measures of efficiency and productivity of bank

Analysis of professionals and family foster care on advantages and difficulties of visits between foster children and their biological families

Contact between a foster child and birth parents play an important role in relation to the foster child’s wellbeing. The main aim of this study is to give voice to social workers and foster families about contact visits. This research is part of a project financed by the regional government of Andalusia (Spain) (SEJ-7106) regarding contact visits in foster care. Two focus groups were organized, one with 8 social workers from four foster care agencies and another with 8 foster carers (4 were recruited through the Association of Foster Families in Andalusia and 4 through fostering agencies). Access to foster care agencies and foster families was obtained through the official Andalusian Child Protective Services (SPM). The focal groups were audio-recorded. Transcripts (of the two focus groups gave rise to primary documents for the hermeneutic unit under study. All this information was exported from an Excel database to the ATLAS.ti v7.0 software. The transcripts were examined using an inductive method of open coding in order to identify themes among participants’ responses. Results show that both groups agreed on the utility of visits to maintain the children’s attachment to their birth family, to bring a greater sense of continuity to the children’s life story, to enhance the psychological wellbeing of the foster children and to know the real situation of their birth family. In relation to the difficulties remarked in the course of the visits, one of the issues mentioned by both groups refers to a lack in the coordination among the social workers, the SPM and the foster families involved. The other issue brings together several complaints to the SPM, such as the fact of not providing information about taking decisions regarding the future of the child; the lack of support and preparation of the foster carers, the children and the birth families about visits; as well as the shortage of social workers and economic aids provided by the SPM. The conclusions of this study highlight the need to improve contact visits by developing intervention strategies targeted at all those involved (foster children, family foster care, birth family and social workers). These findings have important implications for practice.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Forget Madonna: the many metamorphoses of Kylie Minogue, showgirl and survivor

Actas del 33 Congreso Anual de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos (AEDEAN), Cádiz 12-14 noviembre 2009.American pop star Madonna is the female performer that has received more academic attention within Cultural Studies in the last twenty years. The main issue discussed in relation to her is whether her very successful, provocative, phallic persona —the embodiment of her rigid control over her own career— presents a valid alternative to stereotyped femininity. In contrast, Australian pop princess Kylie Minogue —whose music career already spans 20 years— has been practically ignored by academia due to the generalised perception that she represents precisely the kind of bland femininity that Madonna challenges. This paper argues from a Cultural Studies perspective that, far from being easy to dismiss, Kylie Minogue is a relevant female performer whose public persona is also connected to pertinent gender issues. It is our belief that the insistence on finding subversive alternatives to traditional femininity —as represented by Madonna— has negatively affected the understanding of femininity itself. Minogue proves with her sustained career and professionalism that femininity does not necessarily have to be phallic in order to be successful and that it is too often unfairly identified with weakness. We argue this thesis by analysing Showgirl, the tour that Minogue had to interrupt due to the breast cancer she was diagnosed with in 2005, and the revised version of this tour after her cancer recovery in 2007, Showgirl Homecoming, together with White Diamond (2007), the documentary on the impact of her illness on the show. In them Minogue comes across as a committed, metamorphic artist and as a tough survivor with much to offer as a role model to women who wish to be both professionally successful and feminine

I.T. investment and intangibles : evidence from banks

This paper models the investment behaviour of a multi-asset firm with market power that accumulates valuable intangible assets to complement the IT capital. The investment model is estimated using data from Spanish banks on assets of different nature: material (branches, financial), immaterial (advertising and IT) and intangible (training of workers). The paper estimates that the representative bank spends five additional Euros per Euro invested in IT-related assets in complementary intangible assets or, equivalently, intangibles amount to approximately 10% of the economic value of the representative bank. The remaining economic value is distributed between 28% from rents attributed to market power, and 62% to the cost of market-purchased asset

The output and profit contribution of information technology and advertising investments in banks

This paper examines the contribution of investments in Information Technology (IT) and in advertising to the output and profits of Spanish banks, in the period 1983-2003. We find that the growth in the stock of IT capital explains one third of output growth of banks, and that an additional investment in IT of one million euros may be substituted for twenty-five workers. The paper also finds that advertising investments increase the demand for bank services with an elasticity of 0.22 for deposits and 0.11 for loans. For all the assets considered, the null hypothesis that banks use the profit-maximizing amount of services per period cannot be rejected with the dat