How to Tackle the Gulf of Aden Buccaneers

The surge of maritime piracy in the Gulf of Aden is often related to lawlessness and poverty in Somalia. We set up a simple model to describe the choice of becoming a pirate in a setting with an industrialized and a developing country which both engage in fishing in the same waters. As a result of fishing competition, maritime piracy as an alternative to fishing becomes more attractive in the developing country. We further investigate possible measures for the industrialized country to deal with piracy. --Maritime Piracy,Expropriation,Migration

Demographics and Factor Flows – A Political Economy Approach

We investigate the effect of population aging on international factor flows in a political-economy framework. Political barriers to immigration in developed countries and insecure property rights in developing countries impede factor flows. Taking into account different generations’ conflicting attitudes towards immigration and expropriation, we explore how these policy barriers interact. We find that incentives to expropriate increase as more emigration from the developing country takes place. Meanwhile, the industrialized country admits less immigrants as less capital is allocated to the developing country. Furthermore, the effects of population aging on international factor flows are considerably underestimated if one does not take into consideration the interactions between immigration and expropriation policies.Demographic change; political economy; migration; foreign direct investment

Why Don't Labor and Capital Flow Between Young and Old Countries?

To counter the effects of population aging in rich industrialized countries, raising immigration from and raising capital exports to younger developing countries are often seen as alternative solutions. In this paper, we explicitly account for mobility constraints in the form of immigration restrictions in industrialized countries and expropriation risk in developing countries to investigate whether efficiency gains from factor movements are likely to be realized. We set up a one-period general equilibrium model of two economies with young and old individuals. Emigration from the developing country weakens its young generation's expropriation preferences, permitting more FDI. However, if the bulk of capital is invested abroad, the old investor's utility gain from immigration is low. Our model suggests that large differences in age structures do not unambiguously encourage large factor flows, when the level of factor flows is determined by policy. --Demographic Change,Political Economy,Immigration Policy,International Investment

Latent classes of nonresponders, rapid responders, and gradual responders in depressed outpatients receiving antidepressant medication and psychotherapy

BackgroundWe used growth mixture modeling (GMM) to identify subsets of patients with qualitatively distinct symptom trajectories resulting from treatment. Existing studies have focused on 12-week antidepressant trials. We used data from a concurrent antidepressant and psychotherapy trial over a 6-month period. MethodEight hundred twenty-one patients were randomized to receive either fluoxetine or tianepine and received cognitive-behavioral therapy, supportive therapy, or psychodynamic therapy. Patients completed the Montgomery-angstrom sberg depression rating scale (MADRS) at the 0, 1, 3, and 6-month periods. Patients also completed measures of dysfunctional attitudes, functioning, and personality. GMM was conducted using MADRS scores and the number of growth classes to be retained was based on the Bayesian information criterion. ResultsCriteria supported the presence of four distinct latent growth classes representing gradual responders of high severity (42% of sample), gradual responders of moderate severity (31%), nonresponders (15%), and rapid responders (11%). Initial severity, greater use of emotional coping strategies, less use of avoidance coping strategies, introversion, and less emotional stability predicted nonresponder status. Growth classes were not associated with different treatments or with proportion of dropouts. ConclusionsThe longer time period used in this study highlights potential overestimates of nonresponders in previous research and the need for continued assessments. Our findings demonstrate distinct growth trajectories that are independent of treatment modality and generalizable to most psychotherapy patients. The correlates of class membership provide directions for future studies, which can refine methods to predict likely nonresponders as a means to facilitate personalized treatments

La sociología dialógica de las comunidades de aprendizaje

Los procesos de exclusión social están estrechamente ligados con las trayectorias educativas que siguen las personas. Se trata además de un hecho que se intensifica con la actual sociedad del conocimiento, dónde el éxito escolar favorece la inclusión en el mercado laboral y la participación en las distintas áreas de la sociedad (salud, vivienda, política, etc.). Debido a este papel clave de la educación es importante adquirir un compromiso científico sobre las medidas educativas que se lleven a cabo así como entrelazarlo con utopías para transformar las desigualdades. En este sentido, la sociología de la educación tiene un rol relevante. Es necesario que el profesorado reciba formación sobre aquellas prácticas educativas reconocidas por la comunidad científica internacional y también una actitud crítica frente a las desigualdades educativas. El espacio escolar puede reflejar algo más que las relaciones sociales desiguales del entorno y puede contribuir a la superación de éstas siempre y cuando se apliquen medidas educativas de éxito ya reconocidas por la ciencia y no por ocurrencias. Ejemplo de todo ello es la experiencia de escuela inclusiva de las Comunidades de Aprendizaje

La dimensión instrumental en las comunidades de aprendizaje

El elevado fracaso escolar existente en España exige preguntarnos sobre sus causas pero también por las alternativas. En ocasiones se señala al propio alumnado como responsable de este, especialmente aquellos grupos vulnerables como el migrante, la comunidad gitana o clases sociales desfavorecidas, entre otros. En lugar de hablar de fracaso escolar deberíamos referirnos a escuelas que fracasan, es decir, aquellas que no garantizan para todo el alumnado los aprendizajes necesarios para participar en la actual sociedad. El artículo centrará por tanto la atención sobre ésta relación entre éxito escolar e inclusión social

Feeding Strategies Based on Probing Control for E. coli and V. cholerae Cultivations

The recombinant DNA techniques have made it possible to produce many different proteins for a wide range of applications. The vector encoding for the recombinant protein is often inserted in the bacterium E. coli as it is a well studied and a well-known organism. To achieve a high productivity, it is important to reach a high cell density. This is obtained through fed-batch operation where the nutrient, usually glucose, is added continuously. The feeding strategy should be designed to avoid starvation and overfeeding. This is not an easy task as on-line measurements of key variables are normally not available. A probing feeding strategy using the measurements of the standard dissolved oxygen sensor is developed by M. Åkesson. The key idea is to superimpose pulses on the feed-rate and make use of the responses in the dissolved oxygen in a feedback algorithm. Also, when the maximum transfer capacity of the reactor is reached the feed-rate is decreased in order to keep the reactor working under aerobic conditions. The strategy has been successfully implemented in cultivations with different E. coli strains and on different scales. The probing feeding strategy is further developed in many aspects in this thesis. Firstly, it is implemented with good results also in V. cholerae cultivations, which shows how general the strategy is. Also, a model of a bio-reactor operating in fed-batch mode is presented and verified. The effect on the tuning rules of the probing controller is investigated. The probing feeding strategy is further improved for a more efficient product synthesis. This new fermentation technique manipulates the temperature when the maximum oxygen transfer capacity of the reactor is reached. The strategy consists of a mid-ranging controller structure and a modified probing controller. It is analysed and evaluated in experiments and simulations. Furthermore, some E. coli production strains need additions of amino acids or complex media besides the carbon nutrient to grow and produce the recombinant protein. The probing control concept is therefore extended in order to handle these situations. Feeding strategies for dual feeding of amino acids or complex media and glucose are developed

In memoriam. Anouar Abdel Malek (1924-2012)

Necrològica en motiu de la mort del sociòleg egipci Anouar Abdel Malek

Setting a research agenda on sexuality and migration in demographic studies : what emerges from the literature review

Centre d'Estudis DemogràficsThis article systematically reviews articles published from January 2000 to June 2021, that focus on internal migration and sexuality using quantitative methods and data related to demographic research. Therefore, this article aims to map what has been studied and learned so far in demographic research regarding internal migration of sexual minorities. A second objective is to use the development of studies on sexuality and migration in Brazil as a case study for migration and sexuality in the Global South; from this retrospection I intend to identify where these studies have become stifled in the last decades as well as the gaps to fill in order to establish a research agenda.Este artículo presenta una revisión sistemática de textos publicados desde enero de 2000 hasta junio de 2021, centrados en la migración interna y la sexualidad utilizando métodos cuantitativos y datos relacionados con estudios demográficos. Por tanto, tiene como objetivo mapear lo conocido hasta el momento en los estudios demográficos vinculados a la migración interna de minorías sexuales. Un segundo objetivo es usar el desarrollo de estudios sobre migración y sexualidad en el Sur Global, perspectiva a partir de la cual se identifican los obstáculos encontrados en las últimas décadas y qué vacíos es necesario llenar. Con esto, se establece una agenda de investigación para estudios de migración interna de minorías sexuales en estudios demográficos con énfasis en Brasil que abarcan temas relacionados con la salud, la familia y la raza-etnia