The economic reaction to non-pharmaceutical interventions during Covid-19

Policy makers have implemented a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to contain the spread of Covid-19 and reduce the burden on health systems. These restrictive measures have had adverse effects on economic activity; however, these negative impacts differ with respect to each country. Based on daily data, this article studies governmental economic responses to the application of NPIs for 59 countries. Furthermore, we assess if these economic responses differ according to the economic and sectoral context of the countries. By applying a counting model to the economic support intensity, our results quantify the average reaction of governments in counterbalancing the imposition of NPIs. We further re-estimate the base model by dividing the countries according to their GDP per capita, the intensity of their service sectors, and the expenditure by tourists. Our results show how each NPI implied a different level of economic support and how the structural characteristics considered were relevant to the decision-making process

Contrastación de diferentes criterios numéricos para la resolución de flujos potenciales mediante el empleo de coordenadas curvilíneas. Parte I: Función de corriente

En este trabajo se analizan y contrastan diferentes criterios numéricos para la resolución de flujos potenciales subsónicos compresibles mediante el empleo de la función de corriente. Los dominios son discretizados en base a la generación de coordenadas curvilíneas adaptables a los contornos. Las ecuaciones de discretización son obtenidas a partir de la ecuación diferencial de la función de corriente, o bien de efectuar balances sobre volúmenes de control finitos asignados a los nodos de la malla. A modo de ejemplo y para el estudio numérico se analizan dos situaciones concretas de flujos confinados; los resultados presentados ponen de manifiesto la influencia del tipo de malla generada y de los criterios numéricos utilizados en la discretización de las ecuaciones.Peer Reviewe

Consumer Demand for Environmental, Social, and Ethical Information in Fishery and Aquaculture Product Labels

Customers’ attention to sustainability labels in fishery and aquaculture products (FAPs) has been increasing in the last decades, and the industry has adapted to this growing interest by adopting fish ecolabels. However, there is a growing interest to widen the sustainability concept to include the social and ethical information of the fishery and aquaculture industry and to go further from the voluntary approach on the labeling of these aspects in FAPs. For this reason, using data from 2021 Eurobarometer and using machine learning techniques, we disentangle the characteristics of the FAP buyers that consider the importance of environmental impact, ethical, and social information appearing on FAP labeling. The results confirmed that most of the consumers who consider environmental, social, and ethical aspects when buying FAPs also think that this information should be labeled. In line with other works, young, educated, and environmentally aware consumers in high-income countries are more likely to request this information in the FAP label. One interesting finding of the study relates with the asymmetric impact of the variables and the important group of respondents who do not consider these aspects but also advocate to include them in the FAP label. The study outcomes can be beneficial for policymakers to design future public policies regarding FAP labeling, as well as to be taken into consideration in the marketing policies of fishery and aquaculture producers and retailers

Resolución numérica de flujos laminares con estructura tridimensional axialsimétrica. Análisis de diferentes situaciones

En el presente trabajo se implementa un algoritmo numérico basado en técnicas de diferencias finitas del tipo SIMPLE (Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure Linked Equations) para la resolución de las ecuaciones de conservación de la masa, de la cantidad de movimiento y de la energía, formuladas en coordenadas cilíndricas y para situaciones tridimensionales axialsimétricas, pudiéndose considerar regímenes permanentes y transitorios. El estudio se centra en el análisis de flujos laminares de fluidos newtonianos. En la formulación de las ecuaciones de cantidad de movimiento se han considerado, asumiendo la hipótesis de Boussinesq, los términos de fuerzas másicas; ello permite considerar casos de convección forzada, natural y naturallforzada. Para la validación del software se han resuelto situaciones con solución analítica conocida y casos para los que existen resultados experimentales y/o numéricos en la bibliografía. Se presentan diferentes resultados ilustrativos de las prestaciones de la simulación implementada y se hace referencia a posibles aplicaciones técnicas de la misma.Peer Reviewe

Assessment of the potential energy hypersurfaces in thymine within multiconfigurational theory: CASSCF vs. CASPT2

The present study provides new insights into the topography of the potential energy hypersurfaces (PEHs) of the thymine nucleobase in order to rationalize its main ultrafast photochemical decay paths by employing two methodologies based on the complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) and the complete active space second-order perturbation theory (CASPT2) methods: (i) CASSCF optimized structures and energies corrected with the CASPT2 method at the CASSCF geometries and (ii) CASPT2 optimized geometries and energies. A direct comparison between these strategies is drawn, yielding qualitatively similar results within a static framework. A number of analyses are performed to assess the accuracy of these different computational strategies under study based on a variety of numerical thresholds and optimization methods. Several basis sets and active spaces have also been calibrated to understand to what extent they can influence the resulting geometries and subsequent interpretation of the photochemical decay channels. The study shows small discrepancies between CASSCF and CASPT2 PEHs, displaying a shallow planar or twisted 1(ππ*) minimum, respectively, and thus featuring a qualitatively similar scenario for supporting the ultrafast bi-exponential deactivation registered in thymine upon UV-light exposure. A deeper knowledge of the PEHs at different levels of theory provides useful insight into its correct characterization and subsequent interpretation of the experimental observations. The discrepancies displayed by the different methods studied here are then discussed and framed within their potential consequences in on-the-fly non-adiabatic molecular dynamics simulations, where qualitatively diverse outcomes are expected

Beneficial effects of Rhizophagus irregularis and Trichoderma asperellum strain T34 on growth and fusarium wilt in tomato plants

Fusarium tomato wilt is one of the most prevalent and damaging diseases wherever tomatoes are grown intensively. Progress in agriculture in the twenty-first century is set to be based on lowering agrochemical inputs (implementation of Directive 2009/128/EC on sustainable use of pesticides), which can be achieved to some extent through the use of beneficial microorganisms. This study aimed at comparing the effects of the mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis and the biological control agent Trichoderma asperellum strain T34 on the incidence of fusarium wilt and the growth of tomato plants. Both R. irregularis and T34 lowered disease incidence at similar rates, compared to control plants. R. irregularis added below the seedlings reduced disease incidence more than when it was mixed with the substrate. T34 and R. irregularis increased plant height to the same extent, compared to both control and diseased plants. R. irregularis gave the highest levels of chlorophyll, followed by T34 and control plants; however, the measures for infected plants were slightly better for T34 than for R. irregularis. T34 and R. irregularis had similar effects on Ca, Mg, S, Mn, B and Si uptake in tomato plants, but R. irregularis induced a greater P, K, Zn, Cu and Mo accumulation than T34. Interestingly, at the end of the experiment, the depletion of the substrate was lower on Ca, Mg and S for plants inoculated with either R. irregularis or T34 compared to control plants, while the substrate for T34-treated plants had the lowest levels of Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu

Spectroscopic fingerprints of DNA/RNA pyrimidine nucleobases in third-order nonlinear electronic spectra

Accurate ab initio modeling of spectroscopic signals in nonlinear electronic spectra, such as bidimensional (2D) spectra, requires the computation of the electronic transitions induced by the incoming pump/probe pulses, resulting in a challenging calculation of many electronic excited states. A protocol is thus required to evaluate the variations of spectral properties, like transition energies and dipole moments, with the computational level, and to estimate the sensitivity of the spectra to these variations. Such a protocol is presented here within the framework of complete and restricted active space self-consistent field (CASSCF/RASSCF) theory and its second-order perturbation theory extensions (CASPT2/RASPT2). The electronic excited-state manifolds of pyrimidine nucleobases (thymine, uracil, and cytosine) are carefully characterized in vacuo employing high-level RAS(0,0|10,8|2,12)//SS-RASPT2 calculations. The results provide a reference data set that can be used for optimizing computational efforts and costs, as required for studying computationally more demanding multichromophoric systems (e.g., di- and oligonucleotides). The spectroscopic signatures of the 2D electronic spectrum of a perfectly stacked uracil–cytosine dimer model are characterized, and experimental setups are proposed that can resolve non-covalent interchromophoric interactions in canonical pyrimidine nucleobase-stacked dimers

Determinantes de la eco-innovación en la actividad de costrucción en España

Creative Commons Reconocimiento-NoComercial 3.0 España (CC BY-NC 3.0 ES)[ES] Partiendo del modelo validado por los autores que determina como variables que afectan a la eco-innovación la orientación a procesos, a productos y la obtención de información de fuentes de mercado, identificamos distintos grupos atendiendo al comportamiento eco-innovador de las empresas del sector de la construcción. Utilizando el algoritmo REBUS-PLS aplicado a 222 empresas con datos de PITEC, se detectan 2 grupos, destacando uno más orientado hacia el medioambiente al innovar, con cifras más altas de inversión en I+D así como la ausencia de diferencias significativas en las variables descriptivas (tamaño, cifra de negocios, inversiones, empleados), lo que indica que la eco-orientación al innovar no depende de estas características y sí que va ligada al comportamiento de la empresa. 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