The Geographical Allocation Pattern of Spanish Official Development Assistance

The geographical allocation of Spanish aid has been little studied, despite the fact that it is unusually concentrated on middle-income countries. This paper sets out a model of Spanish ODA policy based on an integrated approach reflecting recipient needs and donor interests with an aim of analysing the 'censored' nature of aid-partner selection and quota allocation. The results show that Spain has followed a hybrid pattern involving recipient needs, but where self-interest predominates and performance criteria, such as recipient governance and adsorptive capacity, are absent. Spain has differentiated two distributional patterns in terms of its geographical preferences and has carried out a balanced strategy between altruist motivations and foreign policy interests with its former colonies. This insufficient progressiveness of allocation is due mainly to the influence of the post-colonial links ?although these links have characterized the allocation patterns of all donor countries that were once colonial metropolises

Influencia de la experiencia del consejo en la internacionalización de la empresa

El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar cómo la experiencia de los consejeros en puestos similares influye en el grado de internacionalización de las empresas de cuyos consejos formen parte en la actualidad. Para ello, se procederá a revisar los aspectos generales que definen el consejo de administración y se establecerán una serie de proposiciones que permitan relacionar la experiencia con el proceso de internacionalización. Tras esta parte, se llevará a cabo un análisis empírico que permita relacionar ambos conceptos a través de distintas variables. Para realizar este análisis, se tomará como referencia una muestra de 81 empresas españolas, las cuales se estudiarán para un periodo comprendido entre los años 2010 y 2013.Departamento de Economía Financiera y ContabilidadGrado en Administración y Dirección de Empresa

Endosymbiotic and host proteases in the digestive tract of the invasive snail Pomacea canaliculata: diversity, origin and characterization

Digestive proteases of the digestive tract of the apple snail Pomacea canaliculata were studied. Luminal protease activity was found in the crop, the style sac and the coiled gut and was significantly higher in the coiled gut. Several protease bands and their apparent molecular weights were identified in both tissue extracts and luminal contents by gel zymography: (1) a 125 kDa protease in salivary gland extracts and in the crop content; (2) a 30 kDa protease throughout all studied luminal contents and in extracts of the midgut gland and of the endosymbionts isolated from this gland; (3) two proteases of 145 and 198 kDa in the coiled gut content. All these proteases were inhibited by aprotinin, a serine-protease inhibitor, and showed maximum activity between 30C and 35C and pH between 8.5 and 9.5. Tissue L-alanine-N-aminopeptidase activity was determined in the wall of the crop, the style sac and the coiled gut and was significantly higher in the coiled gut. Our findings show that protein digestion in P. canaliculata is carried out through a battery of diverse proteases originated from the salivary glands and the endosymbionts lodged in the midgut gland and by proteases of uncertain origin that occur in the coiled gut lumen.Fil: Godoy, Martín Sergio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro Nacional de Inv. Agropecuarias. Centro de Inv. Agropecuarias. Instituto de Fisiologia y Recursos Geneticos Vegetales; Consejo Nacional de Invest.cientif.y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnol.conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Histologia y Embriologia D/mend Dr.m.burgos;Fil: Castro-Vasquez, Alfredo. Consejo Nacional de Invest.cientif.y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnol.conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Histologia y Embriologia D/mend Dr.m.burgos; Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro Nacional de Inv. Agropecuarias. Centro de Inv. Agropecuarias. Instituto de Fisiologia y Recursos Geneticos Vegetales;Fil: Vega, Israel Aníbal. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Consejo Nacional de Invest.cientif.y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnol.conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Histologia y Embriologia D/mend Dr.m.burgos; Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria. Centro Nacional de Inv. Agropecuarias. Centro de Inv. Agropecuarias. Instituto de Fisiologia y Recursos Geneticos Vegetales

The Error Probability of Generalized Perfect Codes

This paper has been presented at : IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory 2018We introduce a definition of perfect and quasi-perfect codes for symmetric channels parametrized by an auxiliary output distribution. This new definition generalizes previous definitions and encompasses maximum distance separable codes. The error probability of these codes, whenever they exist, is shown to attain the meta-converse lower bound.This work has been funded in part by the European Research Council (ERC) under grants 714161 and 725411, by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under Grants TEC2016-78434-C3 and IJCI-2015-27020, by the National Science Foundation under Grant CCF-1513915 and by the Center for Science of Information, an NSF Science and Technology Center under Grant CCF-0939370

Revisiting the Effect of the Corrosion Potential, the Matrix Resistivity and the Oxygen Availability on the Corrosion Rate of Steel Bars Embedded in Mortar

The parameters that control the corrosion process of steel bars embedded in concrete are the corrosion potential, the electrical resistivity and the oxygen availability. The objective of this work was to establish correlations between the corrosion rate and the mentioned parameters, to determine if the measurement of one of them, allows the estimation of the corrosion rate of the reinforcements. The parameters were measured in mortar specimens containing carbon steel and stainless steel bars. They were prepared with non-chloride addition and with chloride additions, in order to promote active corrosion; and were exposed for 18 months to different environmental conditions. The electrochemical parameters related to the state of the system were measured in a periodic basis. The results show the existence of very complex relationships between the measured parameters. It is concluded that it is not possible to predict the corrosion rate based on the measurement of the mentioned parameters.Fil: Duffó, Gustavo Sergio. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área de Energía Nuclear. Gerencia Materiales; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Gomez, Enzo David. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área de Energía Nuclear. Gerencia Materiales; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín; ArgentinaFil: Vazquez, Damián René. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área de Energía Nuclear. Gerencia Materiales; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín; Argentin

The Error Probability of Generalized Perfect Codes via the Meta-Converse

We introduce a definition of perfect and quasiperfect codes for discrete symmetric channels based on the packing and covering properties of generalized spheres whose shape is tilted using an auxiliary probability measure. This notion generalizes previous definitions of perfect and quasiperfect codes and encompasses maximum distance separable codes. The error probability of these codes, whenever they exist, is shown to coincide with the estimate provided by the metaconverse lower bound. We illustrate how the proposed definition naturally extends to cover almost-lossless source-channel coding and lossy compression.ER

Exploring the transferability of large supramolecular assemblies to the vacuum-solid interface

We present an interplay of high-resolution scanning tunneling microscopy imaging and the corresponding theoretical calculations based on elastic scattering quantum chemistry techniques of the adsorption of a gold-functionalized rosette assembly and its building blocks on a Au(111) surface with the goal of exploring how to fabricate functional 3-D molecular nanostructures on surfaces. The supramolecular rosette assembly stabilized by multiple hydrogen bonds has been sublimed onto the Au(111) surface under ultra-high vacuum conditions; the resulting surface nanostructures are distinctly different from those formed by the individual molecular building blocks of the rosette assembly, suggesting that the assembly itself can be transferred intact to the surface by in situ thermal sublimation. This unanticipated result will open up new perspectives for growth of complex 3-D supramolecular nanostructures at the vacuum-solid interface

Advanced control methods for power converters in distributed generation systems and microgrids

The twenty-two papers in this special section focus on flexible control of power converters which serve as interfaces between the distributed generation (DG) units and the legacy alternating current (ac) grid or the ac or direct current (dc) microgrid (MG), is the key to realization of high penetration of renewable energy in a safe and stable fashion. When connected to the ac legacy grid, these power converters need to provide ancillary services such as frequency and voltage support, harmonic compensation, as well as synthetic inertia emulation. Another emerging solution is to interface the DG units with the ac legacy grid through an intermediate entity called anMG. MG can be based either on ac and dc architecture and can work in both stand-alone and grid-connected modes. Since it is responsible for multiple power converters, an MG has higher operational flexibility than individual units.However, due to a lack of stiff voltage reference source and natural inertia, control of MGs is generally more challenging than control of individual grid-connected power converters