Looking backward to look forward: water use and economic growth from a long-term perspective

Recent research has examined the relationship between natural resources and economic growth. Considered vitally important, not only for humanity’s well-being but also for ecosystem integrity, the relationship between water use and economic growth has traditionally garnered little attention by analysts. This paper studies water use trends from 1900 to 2000 throughout the world, and their main determinants. To do this, we first analyse historical water use trajectories. Second, to proceed with the determinants of water use, we reformulate the IPAT equation (Ehrlich and Holdren, 1971; Commoner et al. 1971), decomposing water use trends into changes in economic demands and in water use intensity. Finally, a simple scenario analysis is conducted, to project future water use trends under different economic, demographic and technological assumptions. The empirical evidence shows that economic and population growth have been crucial for explaining the increase in water use over the past 100 years, with significant regional differences. Nevertheless, the decline in water use intensity has been responsible for a significant reduction in the growth of total water use.Water use, environmental impacts, economic growth, IPAT model, scenario analysis

Influences of cosmic radiation, artificial radioactivity and aerosol concentration upon the fair-weather atmospheric electric field in Lisbon (1955–1991)

The atmospheric electric field is influenced by cosmic radiation, radioactivity and aerosols. In this work we investigate the existence of: (i) correlations between relative anomalies of annual values of atmospheric electric field and cosmic radiation intensity, artificial radioactivity and aerosol concentration; (ii) seasonal correlations between relative anomalies of the atmospheric electric field and cosmic radiation intensity. We used data of the electric field strength recorded at the Portela meteorological station (Lisbon) in the period 1955–1991. We found statistically significant inverse correlations between atmospheric electric field and cosmic radiation in the period 1967–1991. We also found that the influence of cosmic radiation on the atmospheric electric field is strong in wintertime and very weak in summertime. The GCR–CN–CCN–Cloud Hypothesis and the wintertime reduced boundary layer convection are analyzed as possible explanations for this difference

Fundamentos ideológico y personales en el pronunciamiento del emperador Juliano

El presente trabajo trata de demostrar que el pronunciamiento en la Galia del césar Juliano contra el emperador legítimo, su primo Constancio II, hijo de Constantino, fue la culminación de un proyecto soñado desde que de niño vivió en directo el asesinato de la mayoría de los miembros de su familia paterna, incluido su padre, en una revuelta de soldados que estaba inspirada por el propio emperador. La amargura de su niñez y juventud, apartado de la corte y en el exilio, sin familiares ni amigos, fue un campo abonado para quienes defendían en distintas ciudades del Imperio y desde puestos de poder los intereses de su familia desaparecida. Entre ellos se encontraba una buena parte de los fi lósofos neoplatónicos y rétores paganos que veían con acritud la persecución de las religiones tradicionales por un emperador cristiano e intolerante. La conjunción de una serie de circunstancias, ajenas en gran parte al propio Juliano, permitió que éste contase con el apoyo militar y político para poder llevar a cabo, una vez enviado a la Galia como césar para defender sus fronteras, el motín que le convirtió primero en Augusto de Occidente y poco después de todo el Imperio.Th is work attempts to show that the rebellion in Gaul of the Caesar Julian against the legitimate emperor, his cousin Constantius II, son of Constantine, was the culmination of a project he had dreamed of ever since, as a child, he had witnessed the murders of most members of his father’s family, including his father himself, in a revolt by soldiers inspired by the Emperor himself. Th e bitterness of his childhood and youth, kept away from the court and in exile, without family or friends,was fertile ground for those who, in diff erent cities of the Empire and in positions of power, upheld the interests of his dead family. Among these were a good proportion of Neo-Platonic philosophers and pagan rhetoricians who watched bitterly as the traditional religions were persecuted by an intolerant Christian Emperor. Th e conjunction of a series of circumstances, largely beyond the control of Julian himself, meant he received the military and political support so that, once he had been sent to Gaul as Caesar to defend its frontiers, he could carry out the rebellion that made him Emperor, fi rst of the West, and then of the whole Empire

Das Ende des Heidentums in Hispania.

Die Quellen zur spätantiken Religionsgeschichte der Iberischen Halbinsel werden durch eine christliche determinierte Voreingenommenheit dominiert. Die Tendenz der Quellen geht dahin, die Existenz des Heidentum im 5., 6. und 7. Jahrhundert zu bestreiten: Stattdessen wird behauptet, alle Einwohner seien Christen und religiöse Konfl ikte ergäben sich lediglich aufgrund von Aberglauben, magischen Praktiken oder christlichen Häresien. Dieser Aufsatz stellt die Th ese auf, dass das Heidentum sehr viel länger mit dem Christentum koexistiert hat, als allgemein angenommen wird.Sources about the religious history of the Iberian Peninsula in Late Antiquity are dominated by a Christian bias. The general tendency of those sources is to negate the very existence of Paganism in the 5th, 6th and 7th century: Instead, it is claimed that all inhabitants are Christians and religious confl icts are explained as arising from superstition, magical practices or Christian heresies. Th is article argues that Paganism coexisted with Christianity much longer than is commonly assumed

Adivinación y sociedad en la Hispania tardorromana y visigoda

Sin resume

Aristocracias paganas en Hispania Tardía (S. V-VII)

Sin resume

Toward a technological and methodological shift in music learning in Spain: students’ perception of their initial teacher training

Current education requires the integration of digital technology. It is necessary to analyze the impact of the use of this technology on the educational process, and how they can be adequately integrated. This study, carried out over seven academic years in a Spanish University, gathers the perceptions of 91 education students who were training to become schoolteachers: based on their own previous experience as students, and after having participated in a technological-methodological project. By applying qualitative methodology, we conclude that the effective integration of technology in the teaching process requires continual feedback between technology, curricular content, and pedagogy. To achieve this, university-trained schoolteachers need to offer their students a sequenced technological-methodological empowerment process. It is necessary to implement a technological and methodological modification of the teaching-learning process in the first years of university training, with the aim of achieving long-term repercussions on all educational levels

Influence of seismic activity on the atmospheric electric field in Lisbon (Portugal) from 1955 to 1991

In the present study, we considered the influence of seismic activity on the atmospheric electric field recorded at Portela meteorological station (Lisbon, Portugal) for the period from 1955 to 1991. To this end, an exploratory method was developed, which involved the selection of events for which the distance from the atmospheric electrical field sensor to the earthquake epicenter is smaller than the preparation radius of the event. This enabled the correlation of the atmospheric electric field variations with a quantity S, defined basically as the ratio of the earthquake preparation radius to the distance between the sensor and the event epicenter. The first results show promising perspectives, but clearly a more profound study is required, in which a careful analysis of the weather conditions and other variables, like atmospheric radon levels, must be considered

The Effect of globalization on water consumption: a case study of spanish virtual water trade, 1849-1935

This paper aims to analyse the impact on water consumption of the trade expansion of the first globalization era. To that end, we choose the case of Spain, a semi-arid country with significant cyclical water shortages that excelled as an exporter of agricultural and food products in the period of study. More specifically, we are interested in answering the following questions: What was the volume of water embodied in agricultural and food products exports, how did this variable evolve over time, what factors drove this evolution and what was the volume of water incorporated in imports of these products?. In short, we want to know the impact on water resources of Spain’s entry into agriculture and food markets. To explore these issues, we will use the concepts of virtual water and virtual water trade. First, we examine virtual water trade flows in the long run. Further, we attempt to disentangle certain major drivers underlying these trajectories. In order to establish the role played by trade in the final net balance of water, a Structural Decomposition Analysis (SDA) is applied. Finally, an analysis of the implications of the increase in virtual water trade on water resources is carried out.El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar el impacto sobre el consume de agua de la expansión comercial de la primera globalización. Para ello hemos elegido como caso de estudio España, un país semi-árido con una significativa escasez cíclica de agua, que destacó como un gran exportador de productos agrarios y alimentos en el periodo que estudiamos. Más específicamente estamos interesados en contestar las siguientes preguntas: ¿Cuál fue el volumen de agua incorporada en las exportaciones de productos agrarios y alimentos?¿Cómo evolucionaron a lo largo del tiempo? ¿Qué factores impulsaron esta evolución? ¿Cuál fue el volumen de agua incorporada en las importaciones de este tipo de productos? En suma, queremos averiguar el impacto sobre los recursos hídricos de la creciente participación de España en los mercados internacionales agrarios. Para resolver estas cuestiones, usaremos los conceptos de agua virtual y comercio de agua virtual. Primero estudiaremos los flujos de comercio virtual de agua en el largo plazo. Más adelante, trataremos de saber cuáles han sido los principales factores impulsores de esta evolución. Para averiguar el papel jugado por el comercio en el balance neto de agua, aplicaremos un Análisis de Descomposición Estructural. Finalmente, analizaremos las implicaciones del incremento en el comercio virtual de agua sobre los recursos hídricos