Themed issue on selected papers SEG2015: part II

This themed issue of Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment ‘SEG-2015-Part II’, presents papers selected from extended abstracts submitted to the Symposium on Energy Geotechnics (SEG-2015) held in the Civil Engineering School of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, between June 2nd and 4th, 2015. This symposium SEG-2015 was the first event organized by the Technical Committee TC308 of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, which will have continuity in the next symposium SEG-2018 to be held in the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Lausanne, Switzerland). The first issue ‘SEG-2015-Part I’ appeared just before the 1st International Conference on Energy Geotechnics (ICEG-2016), which was held in Kiel (Germany) at the end of August 2016. The second volume ‘SEG-2015-Part II’ on December 2016 will thus close a first cycle of successful conferences and publications along this initial stage of TC308.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Labour Market Frictions, Social Policies, and Barriers to Technology Adoption

Barriers to technological changes have recently been shown to be a key element in explaining differences in output per worker across countries. This study examines the role that labour market features and institutions have in explaining barriers to technology adoption. I build a model that includes labour market frictions, capital market imperfections and heterogeneity in workers' skills. I found that the unemployment rate together with the welfare losses that workers experiment after displacement are key factors in explaining the existence of barriers to technology adoption. Moreover, I found that none of these factors alone is sufficient to build these barriers. The theory also suggests that welfare policies like the unemployment insurance system may enhance these kinds of barriers while policies like a severance payment system financed by an income tax seem to be more effective in eliminating them.Barriers to technology adoption; Unemployment; Unemployment insurance; Workers displacement; Welfare cost.

Yielding of rockfill in relative humidity-controlled triaxial experiments

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11440-016-0437-9The paper reports the results of suction controlled triaxial tests performed on compacted samples of two well graded granular materials in the range of coarse sand-medium gravel particle sizes: a quartzitic slate and a hard limestone. The evolution of grain size distributions is discussed. Dilatancy rules were investigated. Dilatancy could be described in terms of stress ratio, plastic work input and average confining stress. The shape of the yield locus in a triaxial plane was established by different experimental techniques. Yielding loci in both types of lithology is well represented by approximate elliptic shapes whose major axis follows approximately the Ko line. Relative humidity was found to affect in a significant way the evolution of grain size distribution, the deviatoric stress-strain response and the dilatancy rules.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Claridades imprecisas presentación del libro de Rodrigo Zúñiga: el púrpura en los ojos

Rodrigo Zúñiga es un viejo amigo y compañero del Instituto y es un placer para nosotros presentar éste, su primer libro de poemas. «El púrpura en los ojos» es también el primer libro de la colección de poesía del Departamento de Teoría de las Artes de la Universidad de Chile. Voy a comenzar esta presentación tomando algunos datos sobre el autor de la contratapa de esta publicación: filósofo, poeta y crítico de arte (se omite que también ha hecho composiciones de música). El hecho de referirme a estos campos de trabajo de Rodrigo no es arbitrario. El libro, en cierta forma, funciona en esas mismas coordenadas. Los poemas convocan el lenguaje de la pintura (con todo su arsenal de colores, brillos, líneas de fuga) y al de la música (con sus fraseos, improvisaciones, ritmos y tonos) desde la palabra poética

Contribución de las prácticas curriculares a los estudiantes de Grado y Doble Grado de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales

Hemos analizado los beneficios profesionales, personales y las posibilidades de empleo y autoempleo que los estudiantes de Grado y Doble Grado de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales perciben que les aportan las prácticas curriculares. Para ello, y tras realizar una revisión de la literatura, hemos comenzado identificando dichos beneficios. Esto nos ha servido de base para el desarrollo de una encuesta que hemos administrado a los alumnos de prácticas curriculares de los cursos 2014-2015 hasta el presente curso 2017-2018. El análisis de los resultados de las mismas ha hecho posible observar qué aspectos son en los que más parece contribuir la realización de prácticas curriculares y aquéllos en los que la contribución es más limitada. En términos generales, se percibe una mayor contribución en el terreno personal, seguido del ámbito profesional y, en último lugar, de las posibilidades que brindan dichas prácticas en el ámbito del empleo y autoempleo.Universidad de Sevilla. Grado en Finanzas y Contabilida

Ice formation in unsaturated frozen soils

This paper presents a procedure for determining unfrozen water saturation in a partially saturated frozen soil (clayey silt) using bulk electrical conductivity (EC) measurements. A modification of Archie’s law is proposed to describe the relationship between soil bulk EC, temperature, porosity and degree of unfrozen water saturation. Compacted samples have been prepared at a dry density around 1.90 Mg/m3 and at dif-ferent degrees of saturation. Samples have been then subjected to freezing paths up to -15 °C. Measurements of bulk EC along the temperature decrease and freezing paths have been used to calibrate parameters associ-ated with the proposed model. These calibrated models allow determining the amount of ice content for a given state of the partially saturated soil (porosity, initial degree of water saturation and temperature). The soil freezing retention curve has been also estimated by combining the Clausius-Clapeyron equation with water retention data on drying. A good agreement has been observed between the estimation based on EC measurements and results from water retention data, which validates the proposed procedure.Postprint (published version

SÍNTESIS Y CARACTERIZACIÓN DE MICROPARTÍCULAS Y NANOPARTÍCULAS POLIMÉRICAS BIODEGRADABLES PARA LA LIBERACIÓN CONTROLADA DE ANTIOXIDANTES Y BIOMOLÉCULAS POR VÍA ORAL

: En el proyecto aceptado se planeó la obtención del sistema de nanopartículas poliméricas de poli(láctico-co-glicólico) como un aditivo alimentario, para ser adicionado y enriquecer alimentos preparados en la planta piloto. Los resultados aquí mostrados (ver articulo), resumen una aplicación en alimentos, sin embargo el producto de este proyecto está siendo empleado para preparar aditivos que son evaluados en proyectos de maestrí

[Review of] Joan Nagel. Race, Ethnicity, and Sexuality: Intimate Intersections, Forbidden Frontiers

One of the most significant points about Joane Nagel\u27s text is its broad approach to the idea that ethnicity is sexualized and that the boundaries that on the surface seem to separate the two concepts are actually extremely thin and transparent. Thus, according to Nagel, Ethnicity and sexuality are strained, but not strange bedfellows (14). She supports this statement throughout her text, providing specific examples to argue her case. Her approach to the subject at hand also coincides with her goals for the book, to illustrate the power and ubiquity of sexuality as a feature of racial, ethnic, and national identities, boundaries, and tensions (4). Another one of her goals is connected to the broad approach to the subject matter; that readers will be inspired to undertake more specific research based on cases that she presents