Training policy among vulnerable unemployed groups: its contextualisation and difficult relationship with the capabilities approach

Vocational training, aimed mainly at the most vulnerable groups of unemployed, was introduced in Spain during the 1980s, at a time of rising unemployment. Since then, its main objective has been integrating these people into the labour market; however, the results are unsatisfactory. In this regard, the seven focus group interviews carried out in the province of Cadiz (Spain) with different vulnerable groups show how the courses contribute significantly to the psychosocial well-being of the students. The findings are augmented by others obtained from 12 in-depth interviews with representatives of training centres and a survey of collaborating training centres of the Junta de Andalucía. These results are analysed based on Sen’s capabilities approach and the human capital approach. In particular, the interviews with the centres representatives point to the existence of control relations on the part of the administration. Other factors, such as relationships between organisations and training regulations, also play a role. All this leads to the fact that the training for the unemployed does not favour the creation of opportunities for vulnerable groups and for centres to develop initiatives according to their needs and preferences, in line with the capability approach.21 página

Internet for the debate from the notions of rationality and liberty of Amartya Sen and Michel Foucault

Internet tiene una gran importancia para organizar nuestras vidas sociales y privadas. Desde este contexto se reflexiona sobre qué márgenes dejan Internet para ejercer nuestra racionalidad y libertad, mediante una participación activa y libre, derechos fundamentales de los ciudadanos, entendido como elementos imprescindibles del ideal democrático. Se parte de la base de lo que debería ser un tipo ideal de tecnología al servicio de los valores democráticos, utilizando Internet como un bien común para la ciudadanía. Desde esta perspectiva se reflexiona sobre el uso de la publicidad y del marketing político en la red. El texto contiene algunas interpretaciones de lo que sería un espacio común en Internet como ideal democrático. Para hacer este análisis, se utilizan las nociones de racionalidad y libertad de Amartya Sen y Michel Foucault, a partir de los cuales se trabaja para contrastar dos dimensiones de la democracia. Una más deliberativa, en línea con el ideal del bien común de Ostrom (2000), que correspondería a una democracia por discusión, siguiendo a Amartya Sen.. La otra dimensión correspondería a un modelo democrático con toques oligárquicos, en un contexto económico neoliberal, más en una línea de racionalidad vinculada a las relaciones de poder e intereses del mercado, siguiendo a Foucault. Para ambos es importante la libertad, basada en la participación y debates públicos en Sen, y actitud crítica del individuo, siguiendo a Foucault.Internet has a great importance to organize our social and private lives. From this context, the text reflects on what margins the Internet leaves to exercise our rationality and freedom, considering fundamental rights of citizens, and based on the best principles of the ideal of the democratic model. It is based on what should be an ideal type of technology at the service of democratic values, which would be to use the Internet as a common good for citizens. In this sense, this text contains some interpretations of what would be a common space on the Internet; It would aim to strengthen a democracy circumscribed by the most basic principles of this political model. To make this analysis, the notions of rationality and freedom of Amartya Sen and Michel Foucault are used, from which one works to contrast two functions of democracy, one is more deliberative, is in line with the idea of the common good of Ostrom (2000), a democracy by discussion following Amartya Sen. The other is a democratic model with oligarchic touches, in a neoliberal economic context, more in a line of rationality linked to power relations, following Foucault. Freedom is important for both of them, based on the participation and critical behavior of the individual

Plasmids in the aphid endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola with the smallest genomes. A puzzling evolutionary story.

Buchnera aphidicola, the primary endosymbiont of aphids, has undergone important genomic and biochemical changes as an adaptation to intracellular life. The most important structural changes include a drastic genome reduction and the amplification of genes encoding key enzymes for the biosynthesis of amino acids by their translocation to plasmids. Molecular characterization through different aphid subfamilies has revealed that the genes involved in leucine and tryptophan biosynthesis show a variable fate, since they can be located on plasmids or on the chromosome in different lineages. This versatility contrasts with the genomic stasis found in three distantly related B. aphidicola strains already sequenced. We present the analysis of three B. aphidicola strains (BTg, BCt and BCc) belonging to aphids from different tribes of the subfamily Lachninae, that was estimated to harbour the bacteria with the smallest genomes. The presence of both leucine and tryptophan plasmids in BTg, a chimerical leucine-tryptophan plasmid in BCt, and only a leucine plasmid in BCc, indicates the existence of many recombination events in a recA minus bacterium. In addition, these B. aphidicola plasmids are the simplest described in this species, indicating that plasmids are also involved in the genome shrinkage process

School principals as qualify informants of educational policies: Their opinions under Michelle Bachelet Chilean government (2014-2017)

Los directivos escolares suelen ser reivindicados en tanto ejecutores de políticas educativas, reconociéndoseles un rol clave para su éxito o fracaso en las escuelas que lideran. Este artículo analiza, a partir de encuestas anuales comparables, la opinión que los directores de centros educativos tuvieron respecto de las políticas educativas desarrolladas en Chile bajo el reformista gobierno de la presidenta Michelle Bachelet (2014-2017). Los resultados dan cuenta que la iniciativa que más marcó la opinión de los directivos fue la ley de inclusión educativa, aprobada de manera controversial a inicios del período. En torno a ella se produjo un mayor pesimismo inicial respecto del futuro de la educación nacional, así como se tendió a distanciar la opinión de los directivos que trabajan en el sector público respecto del privado. Igualmente puede apreciarse que la opinión de los directivos es dinámica, modificándose en el transcurso del gobierno, que aquella suele manifestar la urgencia de ciertas políticas educativas (como la mejora de la formación inicial docente) por sobre el resto y que también brinda valiosa información sobre los efectos de las políticas en los centros educativos mismos. Por ello, dada su calidad de informantes cualificados, los tomadores de decisión debiesen considerar sistemáticamente sus opiniones en el diseño e implementación de las políticasSchool managers are often vindicated as executors of educational policies, recognizing a key role for their success or failure in the schools they lead. This article analyzes, from comparable annual surveys, the opinion that the directors of educational centers had regarding the educational policies developed in Chile under the reformist government of President Michelle Bachelet (2014-2017). The results show that the initiative that most marked the opinion of the directors was the law of educational inclusion, approved controversially at the beginning of the period. Around it there was greater initial pessimism regarding the future of national education, as well as a tendency to distance the opinion of managers working in the public sector with respect to the private sector. It can also be seen that the opinion of managers is dynamic, changing in the course of the government, which usually manifests the urgency of certain educational policies (such as improving initial teacher training) above the rest and also provides valuable information on the effects of policies in the educational centers themselves. Therefore, given their quality as qualified informants, decision makers should systematically consider their opinions in the design and implementation of policie

Líneas evolutivas del ecodiseño a través del estudio de patentes

Ponencia presentada en el XV Congreso Internacional de Ingeniería de Proyectos celebrado en Huesca, 6-8 de julio de 2011Innovation and creativity have been in the industrial spotlight during last decades. The questions to answer are always the same: Toward where to innovate? What to innovate? How to innovate? As a result, a huge number of methodologies and tools have been developed with the aim of innovate. The problematic nowadays is that new horizons have turned to more ecological products, so customers and designers have turned into design for environment or ecodesign, whose tendencies clearly different that just innovative ones. The present paper tries to analyze these new tendencies in ecodesign by means of a patent study of diverse products that improve environmental factors, with the aim of improving the eco-innovation process through environmental trends prediction. With this purpose, the study has been supported with environmental tools, in order to identify the parameters that new inventions improve, and traditional innovation tools for identifying standardized innovation parameters.Innovación y creatividad han estado en el punto de mira de la industria en las últimas décadas. Las preguntas a responder ha sido siempre la misma: ¿hacia dónde innovar? ¿Qué innovar? ¿Cómo innovar? Como consecuencia, se han desarrollado un gran número de metodologías y herramientas con la finalidad de innovar. La problemática de hoy en día es que los nuevos horizontes han cambiado su rumbo hacia productos más ecológicos, así que tanto clientes como diseñadores han cambiado hacia el diseño para el medio ambiente o ecodiseño, cuyas tendencias son claramente diferentes de las meramente innovadoras. El presente artículo trata de analizar estas nuevas tendencias en el ecodiseño basándose en un estudio de patentes de productos diversos que mejoran factores medioambientales, con el objetivo de mejorar el proceso de eco-innovación a través de la predicción de las tendencias medioambientales. Para esta finalidad el estudio se ha apoyado tanto en herramientas medioambientales para identificar los parámetros que mejoran los nuevos inventos, como en herramientas para la innovación tradicionales para identificar parámetros de innovación estandarizados

Bullying y cyberbullying: solapamiento y valor predictivo de la co-ocurrencia

Diversos estudios han puesto de manifiesto cierta co-ocurrencia de los fenómenos bullying tradicional y cyberbullying. No obstante, los resultados sobre la relación y homogeneidad en los roles que conforman cada uno de estos fenómenos distan de ser unánimes. El presente estudio pretende avanzar en el conocimiento sobre dicha co-ocurrencia explorando las dimensiones de victimización y agresión tradicional y cybervictimización y cyberagresión, e identificando su posible direccionalidad. Se realizó un diseño longitudinal a corto plazo. La muestra fueron 274 adolescentes, entre 12 y 18 años, pertenecientes a 2 centros educativos de Andalucía (sur de España). Para valorar bullying y cyberbullying se utilizaron el European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (ECIPQ) y el European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (EBIPQ). Los resultados constatan la importante simultaneidad de los dos fenómenos y sugieren que, mientras la implicación en cyberbullying —cybervictimización y cyberagresión— puede ser predicha, en parte, a partir de la implicación en bullying tradicional, no ocurre lo mismo en dirección opuesta. Además, la victimización previa es un factor de riesgo tanto en bullying tradicional como en cyberbullying. Se discuten los resultados en relación a los procesos y dinámicas sociogrupales que subyacen a los fenómenos bullying y cyberbullying y en términos de prevención de ambos fenómenos.Several studies show certain co-occurrence of the traditional bullying and the cyberbullying. However, the results about relation and homogeneity among the roles of each of them are not unanimous. The present study intends to advance in the knowledge about the above-mentioned co-occurrence by exploring the dimensions of victimization and traditional aggression and cyber-victimization and cyber-aggression and by identifying its eventual directionality. A short-term longitudinal design was developed. The sample was formed by 274 adolescents, aging 12 to 18 years-old, belonging to two schools of Andalusia (South of Spain). In order to value the impact of bullying and cyberbullying the European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (ECIPQ) and the European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (EBIPQ) were used. The results show important simultaneity among both phenomena and suggest that although in cyberbullying —cyber-victimization and cyber-aggression— may be predicted because of previous involvement of the subject in traditional bullying, on the contrary it does not happen. In addition, previous victimization is a risk factor for traditional bullying and for cyberbullying. Results are discussed in relation to the process and socio-group dynamics arising from the bullying and cyberbullying phenomena, and in terms of their prevention

School principals as qualified informants of educational policies: The chilean case (2014-2017)

Este proyecto ha contado con el apoyo del Ministerio de Educación de Chile, a través del financiamiento público del Centro de Desarrollo de Liderazgo Educativo (CEDLE), que integran diversas universidades chilenas, bajo la coordinación de la Universidad Diego Portale