Neoliberal Insecurity: Distancing Inside the Fighter Class

Während mit quantitativen Methoden zwar einsichtsreicher Forschungsarbeiten zur Ungleichheit durchgeführt werden, vermitteln diese Ansätze ein unvollständiges Bild der zunehmenden sozioökonomische Trennung innerhalb der Gesellschaften im globalen Norden sowie auch im globalen Süden. Diese Dissertation untersucht, welchen Beitrag die Theorie der sozialen Reproduktion zum Verständnis der gesellschaftlichen Spaltung im Zusammenhand mit wirtschaftlicher Veränderung leisten kann. Ausgehend von den theoretischen und experimentellen Arbeiten von Jodhka, Souza und Rehbein geht diese Arbeit der Hypothese einer zunehmenden Trennung zwischen den aufstrebenden und den defensiven Untergruppen der Kämpferklasse als Folge der neoliberalen Reformen des späten XX Jahrhunderts nach. Deutschland und Kolumbien dienen dabei als Studienfälle. Diese Dissertation präsentiert die Gemeinsamkeiten der Folgen entsprechender Reformen in beiden Ländern wie auch ihre Verbindung mit der weltweiten Verbreitung des Neoliberalismus auf. Diese Recherche zeigt, dass die Reformen in den Gesellschaften beider Länder zu Veränderungen geführt haben und dass sie für jede Untergruppe der Kämpferklasse eine entgegengesetzte Wirkung hatten. Sie förderten die Eigenschaften und Kapitalien, die eher mit den Mitgliedern der aufstrebenden Kämpfer in Verbindung gebracht werden, während sie sich gleichzeitig negativ auf die Eigenschaften und Kapitalien auswirkten, die mit den defensiven Kämpfern in Verbindung gebracht werden. Diese Recherche zeigt auch den Zusammenhang zwischen der Internationalisierung der Produktionskette, der Prekarisierung der Arbeit, der zunehmenden Kommodifizierung des sozialen Lebens und der wachsenden Spaltung der Gesellschaften. Letztlich beweist die Dissertation, dass die Theorie der sozialen Reproduktion ein gültiges Instrument ist, um die Auswirkungen von Wirtschaftsreformen zu verstehen und die beobachtete zunehmende Ungleichheit und Segregation innerhalb der Gesellschaften zu erklären.Although very valuable research on inequality is done with quantitative methods, these approaches provide an incomplete picture of the growing socioeconomic separation inside societies in the global north as well as in the global south. This dissertation evaluates the contributions that the theory of social reproduction can give to understanding of the divide inside societies in relationship with economic transformations. Departing from the theoretical and experimental work of Jodhka, Souza and Rehbein, this research tests the hypothesis of a growing separation between the subgroups of the fighter class, aspiring and defensive, as a result of the neoliberal reforms of the late XX Century. Germany and Colombia being used as cases of study. This dissertation presents the similarities between the impact of reforms in both countries and their relation to the spread of neoliberalism across the globe. This research shows that there have been transformations as a result of the reforms inside each society and that they had an opposite effect for each subgroup of the fighter class. On one side favoring the traits and capitals that more closely associate with the members of the aspiring fighters while simultaneously negatively affecting the traits and capitals that are associated with the defensive fighters. This research also shows the interconnection of the internationalization of the production chain, precarization of work, the rising commodification of social life and the growing divide inside societies. Ultimately, the dissertation proves that social reproduction theory is a valid tool for understanding the impact of economic reforms and explaining the observed increasing inequality and segregation inside societies

Measuring the efficiency in spanish municipal refuse collection services

The objective of this study is to analyse the technical or productive efficiency of the refuse collection services in 75 municipalities located in the Spanish region of Catalonia. The analysis has been carried out using various techniques. Firstly we have calculated a deterministic parametric frontier, then a stochastic parametric frontier, and finally, various non-parametric approaches (DEA and FDH). Concerning the results, these naturally differ according to the technique used to approach the frontier. Nevertheless, they have an appearance of solidity, at least with regard to the ordinal concordance among the indices of efficiency obtained by the different approaches, as is demonstrated by the statistical tests used. Finally, we have attempted to search for any relation existing between efficiency and the method (public or private) of managing the services. No significant relation was found between the type of management and efficiency indices.efficiency, management, local public services

Environmental and Human Controls of Ecosystem Functional Diversity in Temperate South America

The regional controls of biodiversity patterns have been traditionally evaluated using structural and compositional components at the species level, but evaluation of the functional component at the ecosystem level is still scarce. During the last decades, the role of ecosystem functioning in management and conservation has increased. Our aim was to use satellite-derived Ecosystem Functional Types (EFTs, patches of the land-surface with similar carbon gain dynamics) to characterize the regional patterns of ecosystem functional diversity and to evaluate the environmental and human controls that determine EFT richness across natural and human-modified systems in temperate South America. The EFT identification was based on three descriptors of carbon gain dynamics derived from seasonal curves of the MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI): annual mean (surrogate of primary production), seasonal coefficient of variation (indicator of seasonality) and date of maximum EVI (descriptor of phenology). As observed for species richness in the southern hemisphere, water availability, not energy, emerged as the main climatic driver of EFT richness in natural areas of temperate South America. In anthropogenic areas, the role of both water and energy decreased and increasing human intervention increased richness at low levels of human influence, but decreased richness at high levels of human influence

Antioxidant activity, total phenolic content and total flavonoid content in sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) cultivars grown in Northwest Spain under different environmental conditions

The sweet chestnut fruit has always had great importance in the southern European countries. Chestnut production is an important source of income and a crop of high environmental value thanks to its role in soil protection. It is also a good food with enormous potential for various aspects of health because of its nutritional qualities. The quality of sweet chestnuts is affected by various factors, such as climatic conditions and cultivation inputs. It is very important to recognize the impacts of climate on chestnut fruits, to improve our current understanding of climate–chestnut interconnections. The current study investigated and compared the antioxidant activity and the total phenolic and flavonoid contents of different cultivars of chestnuts grown in different geographic areas of northwest Spain. The results obtained with three antioxidant capability assays (DPPH, ABTS and FRAP assays) were highly correlated. All the samples had high antioxidant capacity and high total phenolic and total flavonoid contents, which depended both on cultivar and growth region. Ventura variety, harvested in the coldest environments, presented the highest values of antioxidant activity (IC50DPPH = 34.5 g/L), total phenolic content (131.84 mg equivalent of gallic acid/100 g FW) and total flavonoids (7.77 mg eq. catechin/100 g). The variations in the antioxidant capacity, total phenolic and total flavonoid contents of different cultivars, and their associations with climatic environmental factors, revealed the significant impacts of these factors on the synthesis of specialized metabolites and on the nutraceutical potential of chestnuts. The results can provide valuable information for selection of the cultivar and the cultivation conditions of the chestnut, in order to obtain chestnuts with high-quality bioactive characteristics

Private Sector Involvement in Water Services: Theoretical Foundations and Empirical Evidence

Water services management has become a key issue as urban water supply is considered a service of general interest in the European Union (EU, 2001). In this context, public-private partnerships (PPP) have emerged as a usual way of local water services provision. This paper contributes to analyze the effects and consequences of PPP in the management of water resources. First of all, we develop a theoretical framework to show the effects of water services contracting-out on water prices. Second, we estimate the model using a sample of Spanish municipal water services recently privatized. Our findings support that, in a context of limited resources, local governments are using public-private partnerships in order to get additional fundings to reduce their indebt- ness levels. Moreover, the fact of setting a high reservation price as a way to guarantee a minimum amount of resources has had consequences in terms of water price increases after water services privatization

Proximate composition and amino acid profile of European eel skin: influence of body weight

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade de Vigo/CISUGAs industrias de procesamento de peixe de todo o mundo están a descartar millóns de quilogramos de residuos de peixe ao ano. A eliminación destes residuos supón un importante inconveniente na industria de transformación de peixe. A pel grosa da anguía considérase un residuo na industria de transformación de peixe e na casa e adoita converterse en produtos de baixo valor no mercado. Os obxectivos deste estudo foron avaliar as variacións da composición química xeral e do contido de aminoácidos da pel de anguía en relación co peso corporal. O contido de humidade diminuíu e o contido de lípidos aumentou co peso das anguías. A pel da anguía tiña un alto contido proteico, que non variou significativamente co peso da anguía. A glicina foi o aminoácido máis abundante. O aminoácido esencial predominante era a leucina. As anguías máis pequenas contiñan niveis máis altos de treonina, valina, isoleucina, leucina, lisina, ácido glutámico e tirosina que os outros grupos. As anguías máis grandes contiñan niveis máis altos de metionina, hidroxiprolina, glicina, arginina, alanina e prolina que os outros grupos. Os índices de proteínas mostraron que a pel das anguías máis pequenas era de maior calidade nutricional.Fish processing industries worldwide are discarding million kilograms of fish waste per year. The disposal of these wastes is an important handicap in fish processing industry. The thick eel skin is considered a waste product in the fish processing industry and in the home and is usually converted into low market-value products. The aims of this study were to evaluate the variations in the general chemical composition and amino acid content of eel skin in relation to body weight. The moisture content decreased and the lipid content increased with the weight of the eels. Eel skin had a high protein content, which did not vary significantly with eel weight. Glycine was the most abundant amino acid. The predominant essential amino acid was leucine. The smaller eels contained higher levels of threonine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, glutamic acid and tyrosine than the other groups. The larger eels contained higher levels of methionine, hydroxyproline, glycine, arginine, alanine and proline than the other groups. The protein indices showed that the skin from smaller eels was of higher nutritional quality.Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED431E 2018/0

Asymptotic Approach to the Generalized Brinkman’s Equation with Pressure-Dependent Viscosity and Drag Coefficient

In this paper we investigate the fluid flow through a thin (or long) channel filled with a fluid saturated porous medium. We are motivated by some important applications of the porous medium flow in which the viscosity of fluids can change significantly with pressure. In view of that, we consider the generalized Brinkman’s equation which takes into account the exponential dependence of the viscosity and the drag coefficient on the pressure. We propose an approach using the concept of the transformed pressure combined with the asymptotic analysis with respect to the thickness of the channel. As a result, we derive the asymptotic solution in the explicit form and compare it with the solution of the standard Brinkman’s model with constant viscosity. To our knowledge, such analysis cannot be found in the existing literature and, thus, we believe that the provided result could improve the known engineering practice

Participación de la empresa privada (medianas y grandes empresas) en la materialización del derecho a la vinculación laboral e inclusión social de las víctimas del conflicto armado en el municipio de San José de Cúcuta (2012-2015)

Este proyecto de grado consiste en una investigación socio-jurídica, en él se realizó un trabajo de campo consistente en la aplicación de entrevistas y encuestas cuya población fueron empresas privadas (medianas y grandes) en el municipio de San José de Cúcuta y víctimas del conflicto armado respectivamente, a su vez se realizó un análisis de la normatividad nacional encaminada a la atención de víctimas del conflicto armado como lo son la ley 1448 de 2011 pilar teórico por el cual se planteó el problema jurídico de esta investigación, un análisis a los planes de gobierno municipal del municipio como lo son 2008-2011 y 2012-2015 para determinar el compromiso social del gobierno local para con las víctimas en materia a el derecho a una vinculación laboral, una vez se realizó lo mencionado se determinó de manera específica como ha sido la participación de la empresa privada en este derecho para con las víctimas, se diseñaron una seria de medidas que el gobierno nacional, local y el sector privado podrían ejecutar con el fin de acelerar y materializar este derecho, la investigación una vez finalizada dejo un balance desalentador puesto que una de sus conclusiones más significativas es el hecho de no estarse realizando una materialización al derecho aquí estudiado por parte de autoridades competentes y sector privado

La inmigración peruana en España: causas, características e integración de los inmigrantes.

Los inmigrantes peruanos residentes en España, son un grupo migratorio latinoamericano con escasa representación en la sociedad española, pero que se diferencia del resto de colectivos migratorios llegados de otros países andinos, como pueden ser los ecuatorianos, colombianos y bolivianos, ya que presenta un perfil diferente al resto. Bajo este contexto, el objetivo del presente proyecto es analizar los motivos por los que estos inmigrantes eligen España como destino migratorio, así como analizar su evolución en la sociedad española. Por otro lado, en este estudio se pretende comparar a este colectivo con los otros colectivos que tienen una fuerte representación en España, con el objetivo de mostrar las diferencias y sus semejanzas a través de sus principales características sociodemográficas y su nivel de integración. Fruto de esta investigación, los resultados arrojados por las principales estadísticas nacionales, nos indican que estamos ante un colectivo maduro, con la larga presencia en España y que mantiene un alto nivel de estudios. Además en cuanto a su nivel de integración, los resultados muestran que este colectivo se encuentra integrado en la sociedad, gracias a la alta tasa de matrimonios mixtos y de concesión de nacionalidades. Finalmente, el estudio concluye con la comparativa de la evolución de este colectivo en los últimos años debido a la crisis económica, así como la extracción de los principales resultados de la investigación

Obesity and the endocannabinoid system: Is there still a future for CB1 antagonists in obesity?

The current epidemic of obesity in western countries is being worsened by the lack of effective pharmacotherapies. The apparent success of a central nervous systemacting cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonist-based treatment for obesity was hampered by the appearance of psychiatric side effects in certain patients. These adverse effects forced its withdrawal from the market. However, the discovery that the main beneficial metabolic effects of cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonists were derived of its activity in peripheral tissues, including the adipose tissue, opened the possibility of rescuing this type of therapy. This goal might be achieved by differential medicinal chemistry approaches. The present review examines these options that include peripheral-restricted cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonists, dual ligands and combinatorial therapies using sub-effective doses of CB1 receptor antagonists that might be devoid of side effects.Peer Reviewe