The fiscal and macroeconomic effects of government wages and employment reform

Este artículo examina el impacto macroeconómico de la implementación de reformas en el ámbito de los salarios y el empleo público, en particular en momentos de consolidación fiscal. La reforma de la masa salarial de las Administraciones Públicas (AAPP) ha formado parte de las estrategias de respuesta a las consecuencias de la crisis de deuda soberana en numerosos países de la Unión Europea. Dichas reformas implicaron, en algunos casos, la introducción de medidas de ahorro, como parte de paquetes de ajuste fiscal que habitualmente han pesado más sobre el uso de otros instrumentos presupuestarios, en particular, la inversión pública. En general, las medidas de ajuste fiscal, de acuerdo con los modelos y estimaciones de multiplicadores fiscales disponibles, habrían tenido efectos adversos sobre el crecimiento económico en el corto plazo. No obstante, en el caso concreto de las orientadas a contener la masa salarial de las AAPP, dado que su impacto incide de manera directa en la dinámica del mercado de trabajo, parte de estos efectos de corto plazo se podrían compensar, de acuerdo con la evidencia disponible, a través de las potenciales ganancias de competitividad y eficiencia que pudieran producirse. En este artículo se proporciona evidencia de estos efectos de medio y largo plazo, sobre la base de información macro y microeconómica para el área del euro y la Unión Europea en su conjunto. Se concluye que, para que estos efectos mitigadores aparezcan, las políticas de reforma de la masa salarial de las AAPP deben diseñarse con una orientación de medio plazo (reformas estructurales). Asimismo, se discute el modo en que dichos efectos dependen de circunstancias idiosincrásicas de los países (tales como el marco institucional)This paper examines the overall macroeconomic impact arising from reform in government wages and employment, at times of fiscal consolidation. Reform of these two components of the government wage bill appeared necessary for containing the deterioration of the public finances in several EU countries, as a consequence of the financial crisis. Such reforms entailed in some instances, but not always, the implementation of cost cutting measures affecting the government wage bill, as part of broader consolidation packages that typically hinged more heavily on other fiscal instruments, like public investment. While such measures have adverse short-term macroeconomic effects, public wage bill restraining policy changes present the idiosyncrasy that they can yield medium- to longer-term benefits due to possible competitiveness and efficiency gains through their impact on labour market dynamics. This paper provides some evidence of such medium- to long-run effects, based on a wealth of micro and macro data in the euro area and the EU. It concludes that appropriately designed government wage bill moderation could indeed produce positive dividends to the economy, which depend on certain country-specific conditions. These gains can be reinforced by relevant fiscal-structural reform

Identification of a homolog of Arabidopsis DSP4 (SEX4) in chestnut: its induction and accumulation in stem amyloplasts during winter or in response to the cold_

Oligosaccharide synthesis is an important cryoprotection strategy used by woody plants during winter dormancy. At the onset of autumn, starch stored in the stem and buds is broken down in response to the shorter days and lower temperatures resulting in the buildup of oligosaccharides. Given that the enzyme DSP4 is necessary for diurnal starch degradation in Arabidopsis leaves, this study was designed to address the role of DSP4 in this seasonal process in Castanea sativa Mill. The expression pattern of the CsDSP4 gene in cells of the chestnut stem was found to parallel starch catabolism. In this organ, DSP4 protein levels started to rise at the start of autumn and elevated levels persisted until the onset of spring. In addition, exposure of chestnut plantlets to 4 °C induced the expression of the CsDSP4 gene. In dormant trees or cold-stressed plantlets, the CsDSP4 protein was immunolocalized both in the amyloplast stroma and nucleus of stem cells, whereas in the conditions of vegetative growth, immunofluorescence was only detected in the nucleus. The studies indicate a potential role for DSP4 in starch degradation and cold acclimation following low temperature exposure during activity–dormancy transition

Multi-isotopic assessments of spatio-temporal diet variability: the case of two sympatric gulls in the western Mediterranean

In predator populations, changes in foraging behaviour in response to spatio-temporal variability of prey are expected. Prey depletion might cause trophic niche widening in generalist species, but not in specialists, which are expected to increase their foraging effort without diet shifts. In sympatric species feeding on similar resources, reduced food availability can increase interspecific competition and cause trophic niche segregation. To understand these processes, we studied the spatio-temporal variability in diet and niche width in 2 sympatric gull species, the yellow-legged gull Larus michahellis and Audouin’s gull Ichthyaetus audouinii, which have experienced exponential growth in recent decades due to an increase in anthropogenic food subsidies. We sampled feathers from chicks of both species in several colonies along the western Mediterranean from 2009 to 2011 and performed stable isotope analysis of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur on these feathers. Bayesian modelling shows that both species displayed opportunistic behaviour if different types of resources were available, but could also narrow their trophic niche if 1 resource was abundant. We also provide evidence of trophic segregation between the 2 gull species, suggesting the occurrence of interspecific competition for food. Our meta-population approach provides a comprehensive view of the trophic ecology and the competitive interactions of these gull species. We emphasize the usefulness of 3-dimensional isotope analyses to correctly assess spatio-temporal variability in trophic behaviour of predator species, revealing differences that would remain hidden in single population studies or when using only the isotopic ratios of 2 elements.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Selection of Radiomics Features based on their Reproducibility

Dimensionality reduction is key to alleviate machine learning artifacts in clinical applications with Small Sample Size (SSS) unbalanced datasets. Existing methods rely on either the probabilistic distribution of training data or the discriminant power of the reduced space, disregarding the impact of repeatability and uncertainty in features.In the present study is proposed the use of reproducibility of radiomics features to select features with high inter-class correlation coefficient (ICC). The reproducibility includes the variability introduced in the image acquisition, like medical scans acquisition parameters and convolution kernels, that affects intensity-based features and tumor annotations made by physicians, that influences morphological descriptors of the lesion.For the reproducibility of radiomics features three studies were conducted on cases collected at Vall Hebron Oncology Institute (VHIO) on responders to oncology treatment. The studies focused on the variability due to the convolution kernel, image acquisition parameters, and the inter-observer lesion identification. The features selected were those features with a ICC higher than 0.7 in the three studies.The selected features based on reproducibility were evaluated for lesion malignancy classification using a different database. Results show better performance compared to several state-of-the-art methods including Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Kernel Discriminant Analysis via QR decomposition (KDAQR), LASSO, and an own built Convolutional Neural Network

Laboratory and telescope demonstration of the TP3-WFS for the adaptive optics segment of AOLI

AOLI (Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager) is a state-of-art instrument that combines adaptive optics (AO) and lucky imaging (LI) with the objective of obtaining diffraction limited images in visible wavelength at mid- and big-size ground-based telescopes. The key innovation of AOLI is the development and use of the new TP3-WFS (Two Pupil Plane PositionsWavefront Sensor). The TP3-WFS, working in visible band, represents an advance over classical wavefront sensors such as the Shack-Hartmann WFS (SH-WFS) because it can theoretically use fainter natural reference stars, which would ultimately provide better sky coverages to AO instruments using this newer sensor. This paper describes the software, algorithms and procedures that enabled AOLI to become the first astronomical instrument performing real-time adaptive optics corrections in a telescope with this new type of WFS, including the first control-related results at the William Herschel Telescope (WHT)This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy under the projects AYA2011-29024, ESP2014-56869-C2-2-P, ESP2015-69020-C2-2-R and DPI2015-66458-C2-2-R, by project 15345/PI/10 from the Fundación Séneca, by the Spanish Ministry of Education under the grant FPU12/05573, by project ST/K002368/1 from the Science and Technology Facilities Council and by ERDF funds from the European Commission. The results presented in this paper are based on observations made with the William Herschel Telescope operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. Special thanks go to Lara Monteagudo and Marcos Pellejero for their timely contributions

An instrumental puzzle: the modular integration of AOLI

The Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager, AOLI, is an instrument developed to deliver the highest spatial resolution ever obtained in the visible, 20 mas, from ground-based telescopes. In AOLI a new philosophy of instrumental prototyping has been applied, based on the modularization of the subsystems. This modular concept offers maximum flexibility regarding the instrument, telescope or the addition of future developments.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, Proc. SPIE 9908, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI, 99082Z (August 9, 2016

The natural-based antitumor compound T21 decreases survivin levels through potent STAT3 inhibition in lung cancer models

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide; hence novel treatments for this malignancy are eagerly needed. Since natural-based compounds represent a rich source of novel chemical entities in drug discovery, we have focused our attention on tambjamines, natural compounds isolated from marine invertebrates that have shown diverse pharmacological activities. Based on these structures, we have recently identified the novel indole-based tambjamine analog 21 (T21) as a promising antitumor agent, which modulates the expression of apoptotic proteins such as survivin. This antiapoptotic protein plays an important role in carcinogenesis and chemoresistance. In this work, we have elucidated the molecular mechanism by which the anticancer compound T21 exerts survivin inhibition and have validated this protein as a therapeutic target in di erent lung cancer models. T21 was able to reduce survivin protein levels in vitro by repressing its gene expression through the blockade of Janus kinase/Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription-3 (JAK/STAT3)/survivin signaling pathway. Interestingly, this occurred even when the pathway was overstimulated with its ligand interleukin 6 (IL-6), which is frequently overexpressed in lung cancer patients who show poor clinical outcomes. Altogether, these results show T21 as a potent anticancer compound that e ectively decreases survivin levels through STAT3 inhibition in lung cancer, appearing as a promising therapeutic drug for cancer treatment

Mindfulness and grief: The MADED program mindfulness for the acceptance of pain and emotions in grief

Objetivo: diseñar un protocolo de intervención psicológica para el acompañamiento del dolor y las emociones en el proceso de duelo basado en la atención y la compasión. Método: se incluirán dolientes mayores de 18 años, que hayan perdido al familiar al menos hace 6 meses, que se encuentren en la fase 2 o 3 de elaboración del duelo y sin presencia de problemas de salud mental previa. Se les evaluará después de firmar el consentimiento informado, mediante: el Cuestionario de Mindfulness, el Cuestionario de Satisfacción con la Vida, el Cuestionario de Vitalidad, la Escala Hospitalaria de Ansiedad y Depresión, la Escala de Afecto Positivo y Negativo e Inventario de Duelo Complicado. Se llevarán a cabo: estadísticos descriptivos, pruebas t para muestras independientes y d de Cohen o prueba U de Mann-Whitney r de Rosenthal si no se cumplen los supuestos. Además, se llevará a cabo un ANCOVA junto a eta cuadrado parcial. Resultado: el programa MADED (Mindfulness para la aceptación del dolor y las emociones en el duelo), consta de nueve sesiones semanales. Conclusión: Las sesiones que componen el programa facilitan la elaboración saludable del proceso de duelo basándose en la integración de los principios del mindfulness