"Judio vesino en el Alcaçar del Castillo de la Dicha çibdad de Lorca": Judería, poder económico y entorno social en una ciudad de la frontera de Granada

The presence of the Jewish community in the border town of Lorca has been little known to historians who study this minority group in the Late Middle Ages. Recent archaeological studies have brought to light the community, which had settled in Lorca during the Repopulation by Alfonso X in the 13th century. This paper studies the life of the Jewish community in the historical and geographical context of the Border with the Kingdom of Granada

Global competence of employees in Hispanic Enterprises in the south of United States (Competencias globales de los empleados en las Empresas Hispanas del sur de los Estados Unidos)

Abstract. Developing interculturally competent students who can compete successfully in the global market is one of the challenges for institutions of higher education in the United States. Some researchers think that Colleges and universities must make a deeper commitment to prepare globally competent graduates. A common assumption is that the processes by which people are educated need to be broadly consistent with the way in which organizations operate in a globalizing environment. With this in mind, we turned to managers of Hispanic enterprises to report whether they believed their employees possess the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and experiences deemed necessary for attaining global competency. We developed a questionnaire based on one created by Hunter (2004) to measure global competencies. We sent them to managers of some Hispanic enterprises who are members of the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. In our results we found that employees of the Hispanic enterprises that were targeted do not generally have a high level of global competence according to our indicators. Resumen. Desarrollar competencias inter-culturales en los estudiantes que tienen que competir con éxito en el mercado global es uno de los retos para las instituciones de educación superior en los Estados Unidos. Algunos investigadores señalan que las universidades deben asumir un compromiso más profundo para preparar de una manera competente a los graduados a nivel mundial. Una propuesta común es que los procesos por os cuales las personas son educadas deben ser ampliamente consistentes con la manera en que las organizaciones operan en un entorno globalizado. Basado en estas suposiciones en este proyecto de investigación se pregunto a los gerentes de empresas hispanas si consideraban que sus empleados tenían los conocimientos, habilidades, actitudes y experiencias suficientes para considerarlos globalmente competentes. Para esto se desarrollo un cuestionario creado por Hunter (2004) para medir las competencias globales. Se enviaron a los gerentes de algunas empresas hispanas que son miembros de la Cámara de Comercio Hispana e la Cd. De Tucson, Arizona. En los resultados se encontró que los empleados de la gran parte de estas empresas no presentaban un alto nivel de competencias globales de acuerdo a los indicadores mundiales

Global competence of employees in hispanic enterprises on the U.S./Mexico border = Competencias Globales de los Empleados en las Empresas Hispanas de la Frontera Estados Unidos/México

Abstract: Developing interculturally competent students who can compete successfully in the global market is one of the challenges for institutions of higher education. A common assumption is that the processes by which people are educated need to be broadly consistent with the way in which organizations operate in a globalizing environment, especially enterprises along the border of the United States and Mexico. The geographical proximity of these countries creates a global dynamic between the two cultures requiring international staff. With this in mind, we turned to managers of Hispanic-owned business to report whether they believed, their employees possess the competences (knowledge, skills, attitudes, and experiences) deemed necessary for attaining global competency. We developed a questionnaire created by Hunter (2004) to measure global competencies. In our results we found that employees of the Hispanic enterprises that were targeted do not generally have a high level of global competence according to our indicators. Resumen: El desarrollo de los estudiantes interculturalmente competentes que puedan competir con éxito en el mercado global es uno de los retos para las instituciones de educación superior. Una suposición común es que los procesos por los cuales las personas son educadas tienen que ser ampliamente consistentes con la manera en que las organizaciones operan en un entorno de globalización, especialmente las empresas localizadas a lo largo de la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México. La proximidad geográfica de estos países crea una dinámica global entre las dos culturas que requieren 2 personal con competencias internacionales. Con esto en mente, hemos encuestado a los gerentes de negocios de propiedad hispana para conocer si consideran que sus empleados poseen las competencias (conocimientos, habilidades, actitudes y experiencias) que se consideren necesarias para el logro de una competencia global. Se desarrolló un cuestionario creado por Hunter (2004) para medir las competencias mundiales. En nuestros resultados encontramos que los empleados de las empresas hispanas que fueron encuestadas por lo general no tienen un alto nivel de competencia global de acuerdo con nuestros indicadores

Mapping the Mechanical Properties of Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) Banded Spherulites by Nanoindentation

Nanoindentation provides clear evidence that spherulite banding can be associated with a continuous modulation of mechanical properties from the more compliant peaks to the stiffer valleys. The structural arrangement in polymer-banded spherulites has intrigued scientists for many decades, and the debate has been recently intensified with the advent of new experimental evidence. The present paper approaches this issue by exploring the local mechanical properties of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate)-ringed spherulites via nanoindentation and discussing the confidence of the results. It was found that storage modulus and hardness across the banding morphology can be described as a sequence of regular oscillations with a periodicity that exactly matches the one observed using optical and atomic force microscopy. Results are consistent with the model of regular twisting of the lamellae, with flat-on arrangement in the low regions and edge-on lamellae in the crests.The authors wish to thank the MINECO (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad), Spain, for funding the research reported under grants MAT2013-47898-C2-1-R (covering the costs to publish in open access) and MAT2012-36341. Patricia Enrique-Jimenez acknowledges MINECO for a FPI (Formación Personal Investigador) studentship. We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI)

Spike-based computational models of bio-inspired memories in the hippocampal CA3 region on SpiNNaker

The human brain is the most powerful and efficient machine in existence today, surpassing in many ways the ca pabilities of modern computers. Currently, lines of research in neuromorphic engineering are trying to develop hardware that mimics the functioning of the brain to acquire these superior capabilities. One of the areas still under development is the design of bio-inspired memories, where the hippocampus plays an important role. This region of the brain acts as a short-term memory with the ability to store associations of information from different sensory streams in the brain and recall them later. This is possible thanks to the recurrent collateral network architecture that constitutes CA3, the main sub-region of the hippocampus. In this work, we developed two spike-based computational models of fully functional hippocampal bio-inspired memories for the storage and recall of complex patterns implemented with spiking neural networks on the SpiNNaker hardware platform. These models present different levels of biological abstraction, with the first model having a constant oscillatory activity closer to the biological model, and the second one having an energy efficient regulated activity, which, although it is still bio-inspired, opts for a more functional approach. Different experiments were performed for each of the models, in order to test their learn ing/recalling capabilities. A comprehensive comparison between the functionality and the biological plausibility of the presented models was carried out, showing their strengths and weaknesses. The two models, which are publicly available for researchers, could pave the way for future spike-based implementations and applications.Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2019-105556GB-C33/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (MINDROB

Spatial variability in floodplain sedimentation: the use of generalized linear mixed-effects models

14 Pag., 4 Tabl., 5 Fig. © Author(s) 2010. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.Sediment, Total Organic Carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) accumulation during one overbank flood (1.15 y return interval) were examined at one reach of the Middle Ebro River (NE Spain) for elucidating spatial patterns. To achieve this goal, four areas with different geomorphological features and located within the study reach were examined by using artificial grass mats. Within each area, 1 m2 study plots consisting of three pseudo-replicates were placed in a semi-regular grid oriented perpendicular to the main channel. TOC, TN and Particle-Size composition of deposited sediments were examined and accumulation rates estimated. Generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to analyze sedimentation patterns in order to handle clustered sampling units, specific-site effects and spatial self-correlation between observations. Our results confirm the importance of channel-floodplain morphology and site micro-topography in explaining sediment, TOC and TN deposition patterns, although the importance of other factors as vegetation pattern should be included in further studies to explain small-scale variability. Generalized linear mixed-effect models provide a good framework to deal with the high spatial heterogeneity of this phenomenon at different spatial scales, and should be further investigated in order to explore its validity when examining the importance of factors such as flood magnitude or suspended sediment concentration.Field works were funded by the Department of Environmental Science, Technology and University – Government of Aragon (Research group E-61 on Ecological Restoration)– and MEC (CGL2005-07059). The Spanish Research Council (CSIC) granted Álvaro Cabezas through the I3P program(I3P-EPD2003-2), which was financed by European Social Funds (UE). Research of M. Angulo-Martínez is supported by a JAE-Predoc Research Grant from the Spanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas – CSIC).Peer reviewe