Floating against the tide : Spanish monetary policy, 1870-1931

The gold standard began to emerge as a universal monetary system in the late 1870s, and it had spread throughout the world economy by 1900. It was unusual for nations to be off the gold standard, and it meant that they were detached from the international financial community. Spain never joined the gold standard club in any of its varieties, either before or after 1914. Unlike the vast majority of the European currencies, the peseta’s exchange rate fluctuated, sometimes widely, against gold and gold currencies. Gold convertibility was suspended in 1883 and never resumed. Nevertheless, the monetary authorities were aware that the Spanish economy, off the gold standard, was an outlier in the international economy and made plans to put the peseta on gold both before and after 1914.Why Spain never adopted the gold standard is a complex issue, and our paper offers a possible answer by examining the behaviour of an issuing bank that refused to accept, or resisted, its role as a central bank. Our study also provides a basis for a comparison between the Bank of Spain, some of its features and policies, with other peripheral issuing institutions. Moreover, our paper encompasses both the pre-war and the post-war periods, which allows us to present both the similarities and the differences in the exchange and monetary policies of the Spanish authorities during the era of the classical gold standard and the years of the gold exchange standardGold standard, Monetary policy, Bank of Spain

Demodex sp. (Trombidiformes: Demodicidae) in Lama guanicoe coprolites from CCP7 archaeological site (Santa Cruz Province, Argentina)

El presente trabajo comunica el hallazgo de un ectoparásito en una muestra de coprolitos de guanaco (Lama guanicoe) hallados en el sitio arqueológico Cerro Casa de Piedra 7 (CCP7) ubicado en la provincia de Santa Cruz, Argentina. Se examinaron seis coprolitos del nivel III del sitio arqueológico CCP7 (3990±80 años antes del presente). Los mismos fueron rehidratados, se procesaron por sedimentación espontánea y el sedimento fue observado bajo microscopio óptico. Se registró un ácaro vermiforme identificado como Demodex sp. La detección de Demodex sp. en coprolitos sugiere manifestaciones patológicas del ácaro sobre su hospedador. Este es el primer registro de Demodex para guanacos y también en coprolitos a nivel global.In the present work, the finding of an ectoparasite in Lama guanicoe coprolites found in Cerro Casa de Piedra, cave 7 archaeological site CCP7 (Santa Cruz Province, Argentina) was reported. Six coprolites collected of level III from CCP7 site (3,990±80 years before present) were rehydrated and submitted to spontaneous sedimentation for microscope analysis. A vermiform mite was identified as Demodex sp., and their presence in coprolites suggests pathological manifestations of the mite on its host. This is the first Demodex record in guanacos and also in coprolites at global level.Fil: Fugassa, Martín Horacio. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Petrigh, Romina Sandra. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Martínez, Pablo. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología. Laboratorio de Zoonosis Parasitarias; Argentin

Molecular simulation of CO2 and H2 encapsulation in a nanoscale porous liquid

In this study we analyse from a theoretical perspective the encapsulation of both gaseous H2 and CO2 at different conditions of pressure and temperature in a Type II porous liquid, composed by nanometric scale cryptophane-111 molecules dispersed in dichloromethane, using atomistic molecular dynamics. Gaseous H2 tends to occupy cryptophane–111’s cavities in the early stages of the simulation; however, a remarkably greater selectivity of CO2 adsorption can be seen in the course of the simulation. Calculations were performed at ambient conditions first, and then varying temperature and pressure, obtaining some insight about the different adsorption found in each case. An evaluation of the host molecule cavities accessible volume was also performed, based on the guest that occupies the pore. Finally, a discussion between the different intermolecular host–guest interactions is presented, justifying the different selectivity obtained in the molecular simulation calculations. From the results obtained, the feasibility of a renewable separation and storage method for CO2 using these nanometric scale porous liquids is pointed out.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación | Ref. PID2021-125081NB-I0

Identification of efficient subgame-perfect Nash equilibria in a class of differential games

The original publication is available at www.springerlink.comWe present a method for the characterization of subgameperfect Nash equilibria being Pareto efficient in a class of differential games. For that purpose, we propose a new approach based on new necessary and sufficient conditions for computing subgame-perfect Nash equilibria.Publicad

El papel de la comunicación interna en la gestión del teletrabajo durante la crisis de la COVID-19

Among the changes brought about by the COVID-19 crisis, many of them affect the management of organizations. This is the case of the sudden implementation of teleworking policies, which, together with social distancing measures and periods of confinement, became widespread in the worst period of the pandemic. This research studies the role of internal communication in the management of telework during the Covid-19 crisis through document review and expert interviews. The results indicate that internal communication is a very important element for these policies and that during the pandemic its relevance in keeping employees aligned with the interests of the brands has been highlighted. To execute these policies, organizations have developed new channels, enhanced team cohesion, and fostered empathy from leaders and the separation of work and personal life. Communication with employees is the cornerstone of these telework policies, which require the implementation of strategies and tools to facilitate the well-being and happiness of remote workforces. This paper also incorporates recommendations for internal communication management concerning the new organizational needs arising during this period.Among the changes brought about by the COVID-19 crisis, many affect the management of organisations. This is the case of the sudden implementation of teleworking policies, which, together with social distancing measures and periods of confinement, became widespread in the worst period of the pandemic. This research studies the role of internal communication in the management of telework during the Covid-19 crisis through document review and expert interviews. The results indicate that internal communication is a very important element for these policies and that during the pandemic its relevance in keeping employees aligned with the interests of the brands has been highlighted. To execute these policies, organisations have developed new channels, enhanced team cohesion and fostered empathy from leaders and the separation of work and personal life. Communication with employees is the cornerstone of these telework policies, which require the implementation of strategies and tools to facilitate the well-being and happiness of remote workforces. This paper also incorporates recommendations for internal communication management in relation to the new organisational needs arising during this period.Entre los cambios que ha traído consigo la crisis de la COVID-19 muchos afectan a la gestión de las organizaciones. Es el caso de la repentina implantación de las políticas de teletrabajo, que con las medidas de distanciamiento social y los periodos de confinamiento se generalizaron en el periodo más crudo de la pandemia. Esta investigación estudia el papel de la comunicación interna en la gestión del teletrabajo durante la crisis de la Covid-19 a través de la revisión documental y de entrevistas a expertos. Los resultados indican que la comunicación interna es un elemento de gran importancia para estas políticas y que durante la pandemia se ha puesto de manifiesto su relevancia para mantener alineados a los trabajadores con los intereses de las marcas. Para ejecutarlas, las organizaciones han desarrollado nuevos canales, potenciado la cohesión de los equipos y fomentado la empatía de los líderes y la separación del tiempo laboral y la vida personal. La comunicación con los empleados resulta la piedra angular de estas políticas de teletrabajo, que requieren de la implementación de estrategias y herramientas para facilitar el bienestar y la felicidad de las plantillas que trabajan en remoto. Este trabajo también incorpora recomendaciones para la gestión de la comunicación interna en relación a las nuevas necesidades organizativas surgidas durante este periodo

Portable X-ray Fluorescence analysis of Levantine and Schematic art pigments from the River Vero Shelters (Huesca, NE Spain)

The River Vero canyon (Huesca, Spain) contains an exceptional archaeological legacy with more than sixty rock shelters with cave paintings and forms part of the World Heritage ‘Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula’. This study presents the results of the in situ and non-destructive multi-elemental composition analysis of the pigments used in eight of the main shelters through portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (pXRF). Specifically, the cave paintings of the rock shelters of Chimiachas, Muriecho, and Arpán (Levantine Art); and Mallata, Barfaluy, Quizans, Lecina Superior, and Forau del Cocho (Schematic Art) were investigated. The red pigments, based on iron minerals, were the most abundant in all the River Vero rock shelters, with Fe contents in the 0.51–3.06% range. The iron contents of the paintings of Mallata B1 and I, Muriecho, and Forau del Cocho were higher than those of Arpán, Barfaluy, Lecina, and Chimiachas rock-shelters; and, in turn, these were higher than those of Quizans, pointing to noticeable differences in the degree of conservation. Black pigments, in the absence of manganese, were associated with bone char or carbon black. Through the phosphorus content, evidence is provided of the use of bone phosphates as a component of the paints, either as a filler or as a binder. Geological studies indicate that the detected gypsum is of external origin, probably associated with gypsum-rich atmospheric dust. The reported pXRF analysis of this large set of paintings may serve as a basis for future characterization studies involving other portable chemical analysis techniques

Assessment of ventricular repolarization instability and cardiac risk stratification in different pathological and abnormal conditions

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) represents the leading cause of mortality worldwide [1,2]. These pathological conditions are mainly characterized by a structurally abnormal heart, that is, a vulnerable substrate, prone to the abnormal generation and/or propagation of the electrical impulse, determining the onset of ventricular arrhythmias, which can result in sudden cardiac death (SCD) [3]. In this context, the assessment of ventricular repolarization from the electrocardiogram (ECG) signal has been shown to provide with valuable information for risk stratification and several electrocardiographic indices have been proposed in the literature [4]. The main objective of this thesis is to propose methodological advances for the assessment of ventricular repolarization instability in pathological and abnormal conditions. These contributions are aimed at improving the prediction of ventricular arrhythmias and, consequently, better identifying SCD risk. In particular, we have addressed this objective by developing robust methodologies for the assessment of T-wave alternans (TWA) and ventricular repolarization instability, in invasive and non-invasive cardiac signals, that have been evaluated in both experimental and clinical conditions. In the first part of the thesis, TWA was simultaneously characterized (prevalence, magnitude, time-course, and alternans waveform) in body-surface ECG and intracardiac electrograms (EGMs) signals during coronary artery occlusion. Signals from both body surface ECG and intracardiac EGMs recorded from 4 different anatomical heart locations (coronary sinus, epicardial space and left and right ventricles) were analyzed following a multilead strategy. Leads were linearly combined using the periodic component analysis (πCA) [5], which maximizes the 2-beat periodicity (TWA periodicity) content present on the available leads. Then the Laplacian Likelihood Ratio method (LLRM) [6] was applied for TWA detection and estimation. A sensitivity study for TWA detection from the 5 different locations of leads was performed, revealing that it is the combination of the ECG leads that better performs. In addition, this multilead approach allowed us to find the optimal combination of intracardiac leads usable for in-vivo monitorization of TWA directly from an implantable device, with a sensitivity comparable to the ECG analysis. These results encourage further research to determine the feasibility of predicting imminent VT/VF episodes by TWA analysis implemented in implantable cardioverter defibrillator’s (ICD) technology.Then, we have studied the potential changes induced by a prolonged exposure to simulated microgravity on ventricular repolarization in structurally normal hearts. It is well known that this environmental condition affects the control of autonomic and cardiovascular systems [7], with a potential increase on cardiac electrical instability. The effects of short- (5 days), mid- (21 days) and long- (60 days) exposure to simulated microgravity on TWA using the head-down bed-rest (HDBR) model [8] were assessed. TWA was evaluated before (PRE), during and after (POST) the immobilization period, by the long-term averaging technique in ambulatory ECG Holter recordings [9]. Additionally, we proposed an adapted short-term averaging approach for shorter, non-stationary ECG signals obtained during two stress manoeuvres (head-up tilt-table and bicycle exercise tests). Both approaches are based on the multilead analysis used in the previous study. The absence of significant changes between PRE and POST-HDBR on TWA indices suggests that a long-term exposure to simulated microgravity is not enough to induce alterations in healthy myocardial substrate up to the point of reflecting electrical instability in terms of TWA on the ECG. Finally, methodological advances were proposed for the assessment of ventricular repolarization instability from the ECG signal in the presence of sporadic (ventricular premature contractions, VPCs) and sustained (atrial fibrillation) rhythm disturbances.On the one hand, a methodological improvement for the estimation of TWA amplitude in ambulatory ECG recordings was proposed, which deals with the possible phase reversal on the alternans sequence induced by the presence of VPCs [10]. The performance of the algorithm was first evaluated using synthetic signals. Then, the effect of the proposed method in the prognostic value of TWA amplitude was assessed in real ambulatory ECG recordings from patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Finally, circadian TWA changes were evaluated as well as the prognostic value of TWA at different times of the day. A clinical study demonstrated the enhancement in the predictive value of the index of average alternans (IAA) [9] for SCD stratification. In addition, results suggested that alternans activity is modulated by the circadian pattern, preserving its prognostic information when computed just during the morning, which is also the day interval with the highest reported SCD incidence. Thus, suggesting that time of the day should be considered for SCD risk prediction. On the other hand, the high irregularity of the ventricular response in atrial fibrillation (AF) limits the use of the most common ECG-derived markers of repolarization heterogeneity, including TWA, under this clinical condition [11]. A new method for assessing ventricular repolarization changes based on a selective averaging technique was developed and new non-invasive indices of repolarization variation were proposed. The positive impact in the prognostic value of the computed indices was demonstrated in a clinical study, by analyzing ECG Holter recordings from CHF patients with AF. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that attempts a non-invasive SCD stratification of patients under AF rhythm by assessing ventricular repolarization instability from the ECG signal. To conclude, the research presented in this thesis sheds some light in the identification of pro-arrhythmic factors, which plays an important role in adopting efficient therapeutic strategies. In particular, the optimal configuration for real-time monitoring of repolarization alternans from intracardiac EGMs, together with the prognostic value of the proposed non-invasive indices of alternans activity and ventricular instability variations in case of AF rhythms demonstrated in two clinical studies, would increase the effectiveness of (ICD) therapy. Finally, the analysis of ECG signals recorded during HDBR experiments in structurally healthy hearts, also provides interesting information on cardiovascular alterations produced in immobilized or bedridden patients.<br /

LOS DESAFÍOS DE LA ÉTICA AMBIENTAL

En 1968 Raquel Carson comenzaba una revolución en el pensamiento, quizá una de las de mayor peso en la actualidad. En su libro "La primavera silenciosa" acusaba del deterioro ambiental al poder ilimitado del ser humano. La creencia surgida en la modernidad de que todo lo que el hombre decidía era en sí mismo lo mejor por haber sido fruto de una voluntad libérrima, daba primacía y legitimidad absoluta a su acción sobre la naturaleza. Surgieron con gran fuerza numerosos grupos ecologistas que adoptaron un pensamiento que responde al nombre de "ecología profunda" o "Deep Ecology" descrito por primera vez por Arme Naess en un artículo publicado por la revista Inquiry y titulado "The Shallow and the Deep, Long Range Ecology Movement". Los principios que proponía este movimiento (Naess 1984) pueden ser resumidos en ocho grandes puntos: 1) la vida de los seres no humanos es un valor en sí: 2) la riqueza y la diversidad de estas formas de vida son también valores en sí; 3) los seres humanos no pueden intervenir de manera destructiva en la vida; 4) a este respecto, la intervención humana actual es eminentemente excesiva; 5) por consiguiente, las reglas de juego deben ser radicalmente modificadas; 6) esta modificación radical debe hacerse tanto a nivel de las estructuras económicas como de las estructuras ideológicas y culturales; 7) a nivel ideológico, el cambio principal consiste en apreciar más la calidad de la vida que el goce de los bienes materiales; 8) las personas que acepten estos principios tienen la obligación de contribuir, directa o indirectamente a la realización de los cambios fundamentales que aquellos implican

First record of Leptus spp. (Acari: Erythraeidae) parasitizing stingless bees (Apidae: Meliponini)

The first occurrence of Leptus mites parasitizing different species of stingless bees is reported. The samples were collected in the Argentinian province of Misiones on flowers and managed stingless bee colonies. Although the frequency registered was very low, the current report is relevant as it will drive research efforts on the understanding of parasite-host dynamics, consequences at the community level, and disease management in wild and productive contexts.Fil: Martínez, Pablo Antonio. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología; ArgentinaFil: Alvarez, Leopoldo Jesús. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Entomología; ArgentinaFil: Garrido, Paula Melisa. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones en Sanidad Producción y Ambiente. - Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Investigaciones en Sanidad Producción y Ambiente; ArgentinaFil: Porrini, Darío Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Municipalidad de General Pueyrredon. Secretaría de Cultura. Museo Municipal de Ciencias Naturales Lorenzo Scaglia; ArgentinaFil: Muller, Pablo Fernando. Instituto Superior de Formacion Docente Profesorado En Ciencias Agrarias y Proteccion Ambiental.; ArgentinaFil: Alberoni, Daniele. Universidad de Bologna; ItaliaFil: Porrini, Martín Pablo. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones en Sanidad Producción y Ambiente. - Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Investigaciones en Sanidad Producción y Ambiente; Argentin