Los empresarios agrícolas y la contratación de temporeros: el caso de la Plana de Lleida

Este artículo analiza la organización que siguen los empresarios agrícolas ilerdenses para llevar a cabo la contratación de empleados. A través de la realización de una encuesta durante el año 2015 y entrevistas a representantes de organizaciones agrarias antes y después de dicha campaña, se ha recopilado información sobre sus actuaciones. Los resultados reflejan la planificación que siguen estos empresarios para realizar las contrataciones, los criterios que utilizan para decidir que trabajadores finalmente contratan y los perfiles de empleados que prefieren para cada tipo de actividad.This paper analyses how managers perform this enrollment. We did it through a survey during 2015’s crop season and we made interviews to representatives of agrarian organizations before and after that campaign. The results reflects the planning that these entrepreneurs follow to make the hiring, the criteria they use to decide which workers they finally employ and the profiles of employees they prefer for each type of activity

The New Plan for the Prevention of School Failure in Catalonia

This paper outlines the development of the Ministry of Education’s Compensatory Education Program focusing on the changes in Catalonia due to the Plan for Language and Social Cohesion. This program was the emblematic result of the reformist policy adopted in 1983 in the field of education. It was, therefore, a hopeful and optimistic discourse aimed at correcting social inequalities and producing higher levels of social justice. Despite the inherent weaknesses of this approach, the Compensatory Education Program has enabled carrying out interventions in particularly complex areas and, in addition, the range of activities has been very broad and ambitious. Currently, its disappearance and transformation poses a challenge to the government to address the education of ethnic minorities at risk of social exclusion as well as actions to promote school success, to reduce school failure (scheduled for 2018). The development of Education’s Compensatory Education Program will be useful to students of foreign origin in order to improve their academic opportunities and of continuing in the education system

Growth of silver on ZnO and SnO2 thin films intended for low emissivity applications

In the present work we have investigated the relationships existing between the optical properties and the growth mechanism, microstructure and surface roughness of SnO2 and ZnO oxide films prepared by magnetron sputtering under conditions resembling those utilized in industry. Thin films of these oxides with different thicknesses were characterized by atomic force microscopy, glancing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD), X-ray reflectometry and spectroscopic ellipsometry. The roughness evolution of the film properties (density, surface roughness and refraction index) as a function of their thickness has been evaluated within the concepts of the Dynamic Scaling Theory of thin film growth. Zinc oxide films were rougher than tin oxide films of similar thickness, indicating a different growing mechanism for the two materials. Silver was evaporated onto the surface of the two oxide thin films and its earlier stages of nucleation studied by background analysis of the X-ray photoemission spectra. A different nucleation mechanism was found depending on the nature of the oxide acting as substrate. The superior performance of the zinc oxide based low emissive coatings is related with a better wetting of silver on the surface of this oxide despite the comparatively lower roughness of the tin oxide layers.Junta de Andalucía P09-CTS- 5189 TEP5283 FQM-6900España Ministerio de Competitividad CONSOLIDER CSD2008-00023 MAT2010-21228 MAT2010-1844

Synthesis, characterization and performance of robust poison-resistant ultrathin film yttria stabilized zirconia – nickel anodes for application in solid electrolyte fuel cells

We report on the synthesis of undoped ∼5 μm YSZ-Ni porous thin films prepared by reactive pulsed DC magnetron sputtering at an oblique angle of incidence. Pre-calcination of the amorphous unmodified precursor layers followed by reduction produces a film consisting of uniformly distributed tilted columnar aggregates having extensive three-phase boundaries and favorable gas diffusion characteristics. Similarly prepared films doped with 1.2 at.% Au are also porous and contain highly dispersed gold present as Ni-Au alloy particles whose surfaces are strongly enriched with Au. With hydrogen as fuel, the performance of the undoped thin film anodes is comparable to that of 10–20 times thicker typical commercial anodes. With a 1:1 steam/carbon feed, the un-doped anode cell current rapidly falls to zero after 60 h. In striking contrast, the initial performance of the Au-doped anode is much higher and remains unaffected after 170 h. Under deliberately harsh conditions the performance of the Au-doped anodes decreases progressively, almost certainly due to carbon deposition. Even so, the cell maintains some activity after 3 days operation in dramatic contrast with the un-doped anode, which stops working after only three hours of use. The implications and possible practical application of these findings are discussed.European Union 298300Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MAT2013‐40852R, 201560E05

Influence of irrigation conditions in the germination of plasma treated Nasturtium seeds

Plasma treatments had emerged as a useful technique to improve seed germination. In this work we investigate the influence of different irrigation conditions and plasma treatments on the germination of nasturtium seeds. During plasma treatment, seeds experience a progressive weight loss as a function of treatment time that has been associated to water release, a process that is more pronounced after longer plasma treatment times. Seeds treated for short times (<30 s) are able to germinate more efficiently than untreated specimen under hydric stress (drought conditions), while plasma treatments for longer times (up to 300 s) impaired germination independently on irrigation conditions. Characterization analysis of plasma treated seeds by FTIR-ATR, SEM/EDX and XPS showed that plasma treatment affected the chemical state of pericarp while, simultaneously, induced a considerable increase in the seeds water uptake capacity. The decrease in germination efficiency found after plasma treatment for long times, or for short times under optimum irrigation conditions, has been attributed to that the excess of water accumulated in the pericarp hampers the diffusion up to the embryo of other agents like oxygen which are deemed essential for germination.España FEDER y MINECO MINECO (projects MAT2013-40852-R, MAT2016-79866-R, MINECOCSIC 201560E055)España, RECUPERA 2020 y Junta de Andalucía project P12-2265 M

Plastic Dialogues between Tàpies and Black African Art

Considering the ethnocentric pespectives mediating most approaches to Black-African art by Western artists, Tàpies eganges in a more profound search for a meaningfulness that gives sense to the particular shapes of Black-African carvings and masks. The aim of this paper is to analyse the ways in which Tàpies' oeuvre absoerved and reflected the influence of black African art, establishing a conceptual rather than formal dialogue. In contrast with other painters like Picasso, whose relationship with African art did not go beyond the formal appropriation within the primitivistic paradigms of colonialism, Tàpies establishes a dialogue with African art in conceptual terms, approaching the artistic problems of an intercultural synthesis while respecting the context that black African art generates and defines beyond particular manifestations.

Diálogo entre Tàpies y el Arte Africano a partir del Lenguaje Plástico

Dentro de los planteamientos etnocéntricos que rigen el acercamiento de los artistas occidentales al arte negroafricano, Tàpies se desmarca de los mismos para realizar una búsqueda más profunda de las significatividades que den sentido a la forma de las tallas y máscaras negroafricanas. En este artículo planteamos como Tàpies ha vinculado su obra al arte negroafricano, estableciendo un diálogo conceptual más que formal. Frente a otros autores, como Picasso, en el que la influencia del arte negroafricano no va más allá de una apropiación formal, dentro de los paradigmas coloniales del primitivismo, Tàpies establece un diálogo con el arte negroafricano, en términos conceptuales pretendiendo una aproximación a los problemas artísticos desde una síntesis intercultural que respeta el contexto que genera y define la obra negroafricana, por encima de las manifestaciones aparentes. Considering the ethnocentric pespectives mediating most approaches to BlackAfrican art by Western artists, Tapies eganges in a more profound search for a meaningfulness that gives sense to the particular shapes of Black-African carvings and masks. The aim of this paper is to analyse the ways in which Tapies' oeuvre absoerved and reflected the influence of black African art, establishing a conceptual rather than formal dialogue. In contrast with other painters like Picasso, whose relationship with African art did not go beyond the formal appropriation within the primitivistic paradigms of colonialism, Tapies establishes a dialogue with African art in conceptual terms, approaching the artistic problems of an intercultural synthesis while respecting the context that black African art generates and defines beyond particular manifestations

Agents in Home Care: A Case Study

Home Care is the term used to refer to any kind of care to a person at his own home. This article presents a case study of the HoCa hybrid multiagent architecture aimed at improving of dependent people in their homes. Hoca architecture uses a set of distributed components to provide a solution to the needs of the assisted people and its main components are software agents that interact with the environment through a distributed communications system. This paper describes the hybrid multiagent system in a home care environment and presents the results obtained

Agricultural employers facing immigration: looking back in the territory of Lleida for the period 2005-2015

Introducción: Con el objetivo de ampliar la perspectiva con la que se analiza habitualmente el fenómeno de los trabajadores extranjeros en el sector agrícola y dotarlo de mayor riqueza interpretativa, en este artículo incorporamos una mirada específica sobre el empleador/a. Para ello, profundizamos en primer lugar en la visión y las percepciones de este agente sobre los trabajadores/as inmigrantes y, posteriormente, situamos la evolución de las estrategias de contratación que han llevado a cabo. La investigación se focaliza en la provincia de Lleida entre los años 2005 y 2015. Dicha década resulta especialmente rica desde un punto de vista analítico, dado que integra tres períodos diferentes del ciclo económico en España, como son: el crecimiento, la crisis y el inicio de la recuperación. Método: Se parte de dos tesis doctorales realizadas por dos autores firmantes de este artículo, que integraron en su objeto de estudio el tema nuclear que aquí se presenta. Ambas tesis combinaron técnicas de investigación cualitativa y cuantitativa. Su agregación permite cubrir el periodo indicado. Para el análisis, se ha establecido una perspectiva de interpretación longitudinal a partir de los principales hallazgos obtenidos en cada una. Dicha perspectiva se ha puesto en relación con la literatura existente. Resultados: Se han encontrado variaciones significativas acerca de la visión del empresariado sobre las personas migrantes en función de los ciclos señalados. Sin embargo, las estrategias de contratación mantienen una cierta continuidad a lo largo del periodo estudiado. Conclusión: Señalamos una cierta tendencia hacia la estabilidad en las relaciones que los empleadores/as agrícolas mantienen con los/as trabajadores/as inmigrantes dentro del contexto estudiado. Esta la explicamos fruto de un proceso de reducción de la desconfianza y de adquisición de una experiencia positiva, en términos funcionales y económicos, que permite al empresariado mantener cubiertas la necesidad de mano de obra en este sector

Room temperature synthesis of porous SiO2 thin films by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition

Synthesis of porous SiO2 thin films in room temperature was carried out using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD) in an electron cyclotron resonance microwave reactor with a downstream configuration.The gas adsorption properties and the type of porosity of the SiO2 thin films were assessed by adsorption isotherms of toluene at room temperature.The method could also permit the tailoring synthesis of thin films when both composition and porosity can be simultaneously and independently controlled. The result shows that it is possible to control the microstructure of oxide thin films deposited by room temperature plasma enhanced chemical vapor depositon (PECVD) by scarificial polymeric organic layers.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología MAT2001-2820European Union ENV4-CT97-063