As Social Economy financial institutions, credit unions have traditionally been considered less efficient than traditional banking entities. However, like banks and savings banks, they have to be as efficient and competitive as possible to survive in today’s business environment, especially at times of crisis. To date, there have been very few studies on their efficiency and practically none for the crisis period. Moreover, almost all the existing studies assess only financial efficiency, without considering their social function. This study examines the (...) levels of both financial and social efficiency in Spanish credit unions as well as their main determinants during the recent crisis. We apply the two-stage double bootstrap data envelopment analysis methodology based on panel data corresponding to all the credit unions active in Spain between 2008 and 2013. The empirical results indicate that financial and social efficiency achieved an acceptable level, although on average the former was slightly greater than the latter. We also find that both age and merger and acquisition activity were positively influential on the financial efficiency of credit unions but had a significant negative effect on their social efficiency. Moreover, the regional location of such entities and the financial crisis were also crucial determinants of both types of efficiency. Our findings are therefore useful for all the stakeholders of credit unions to know if these entities have been efficient according to a double bottom line accounting in the crisis period and hence to maintain successful social management that is compatible with satisfactory financial efficiency. (shrink)

As Social Economy financial institutions, credit unions have traditionally been considered less efficient than traditional banking entities. However, like banks and savings banks, they have to be as efficient and competitive as possible to survive in today’s business environment, especially at times of crisis. To date, there have been very few studies on their efficiency and practically none for the crisis period. Moreover, almost all the existing studies assess only financial efficiency, without considering their social function. This study examines the (...) levels of both financial and social efficiency in Spanish credit unions as well as their main determinants during the recent crisis. We apply the two-stage double bootstrap data envelopment analysis methodology based on panel data corresponding to all the credit unions active in Spain between 2008 and 2013. The empirical results indicate that financial and social efficiency achieved an acceptable level, although on average the former was slightly greater than the latter. We also find that both age and merger and acquisition activity were positively influential on the financial efficiency of credit unions but had a significant negative effect on their social efficiency. Moreover, the regional location of such entities and the financial crisis were also crucial determinants of both types of efficiency. Our findings are therefore useful for all the stakeholders of credit unions to know if these entities have been efficient according to a double bottom line accounting in the crisis period and hence to maintain successful social management that is compatible with satisfactory financial efficiency. (shrink)

Aim: The presence of noise in urban environments is rarely considered a factor that causes damage to the environment. The primary generating source is transportation means, with vehicles being the ones that affect cities the most. Traffic noise has a particular influence on the quality of life of those who are exposed to it and can cause health alterations ranging from annoyance to cardiovascular diseases. This study aims to describe the relationship between the traffic noise level and the perceived annoyance (...) in the inhabitants of a city on the Northern Border of Mexico. The work carried out in a city represents the vulnerability characteristics: economic, social, and migratory of its sizable portion of the inhabitants. Due to that, it is impossible to identify precisely the number of residents as the number of vehicles in circulation.Methods: The streets and avenues with an annual average daily traffic of more than 1,000 vehicles were considered for the measurement of traffic noise. The equipment used was a vehicle gauge with non-invasive speed radar; type I integrating sound level meters, with their respective gauges and tripods. A questionnaire was applied to people living within 250 m of the streets and avenues in which the noise was measured.Results: The noise measurement found a parameter of LAeq estimated for 12 h during the day, exceeding 70 dBA. The data received from the questionnaire were statistically tested by using Pearson's correlation tests. A total number of 2,350 people were participated, of whom 1,378 were women and 972 were men. The age of participants is ranged from 18 to 75 years. The overall perception of traffic noise annoyance identified that 1,131 participants responded “Yes” as they considered the noise annoying. Participants who responded “No” as well as those who responded “Do not know” resulted in a total of 1,219 people.Conclusion: The results show that the population is desensitized to traffic noise and does not perceive it as an annoyance. The flow of vehicles and the type of vehicles are the significant factors for the propagation and increase in the traffic noise levels. Women present a considerable appreciation of traffic noise perception instead of younger people who demonstrate a higher tolerance to high-level exposure. This reflects the lack of information of the population around the noise problem and its effects. (shrink)

Como objetivo se determinó la relación entre los factores motivacionales y el rendimiento académico. La investigación fue cuantitativa de diseño correlacional con corte transversal. La muestra fueron 315 estudiantes de en dos Facultades de la Universidad Central del Ecuador. Se aplicó un cuestionario de 27 preguntas con escala de Likert. Para los análisis estadísticos se utilizó el software SPSS V25. El resultado principal dio una correlación de Pearson de 0,827, siendo fuerte positiva entre las dos variables. Además, se analizó la (...) relación con las diferentes dimensiones de cada variable. En conclusión, la motivación mejora el rendimiento académico de los estudiantes. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to describe the social networks of the Maghrebis in Alicante, some of the problems they face in their daily life, and the role played by the “mosque” as a place not only of prayer but also of mutual help and support. At the same time, the analysis shows that Islamophobia has increased in the city, as it has done in other places in Spain and Europe following the Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks, with the resulting rejection (...) of the Maghrebis clearly seen in their relationship with local inhabitants and in some of the local authorities’ political decisions. (shrink)

Presentaré formalmente la reología como una filosofía precisa. Hoy hemos de habérnoslas con nuestras herramientas que no pueden ser, por razones que veremos, ni la epistemología ni la ontología clásicas; requerimos de «noología» y «reología», filosofías incoadas en el pensamiento de Xavier Zubiri. Teniendo a la noología por realismo de partida en el que «realidad es» modo de quedar las cosas en la aprehensión, y a la reología por realismo de llegada en el que la constitución estructural de las cosas (...) «es realidad», la metafísica queda purgada de lastres vetustos. Todo se presenta en dos partes: I) Escasez de reólogos, expondremos qué se entiende por «noología» y por «reología». II) Realidad, expondremos el problema de los «dos» realismos («de partida» y «de llegada»), lo concretizaremos en la filosofía de Zubiri y veremos que «ambos» son más bien uno solo. Concluiremos que, si queremos tener una filosofía pertinente para el conocimiento contemporáneo del mundo sin limitarnos a un estudio escolar de un autor, hemos de hacer reología. (shrink)

El blanco y el negro son más que colores, son claves de un contraste simbólico en islas que montaron su estructura social –desde los tiempos coloniales– sobre la esclavitud que racializó las relaciones sociales y generó con ellas modos diversos de discriminación que llegan hasta nuestros días. Uno de los importantes aportes del negro a las artes plásticas del Caribe, es su color, un signo visual en el universo de las tensiones raciales, nacidas en el seno mismo de la sociedad (...) moderno–colonial. Este trabajo se propone distinguir esa trayectoria de significaciones visuales, a través de una selección de obras que emplean el blanco y el negro a partir del soporte físico del cuerpo con todas sus capacidades expresivas. Uno de los textos más significativos del siglo XX sobre la cuestión, Piel negra, máscaras blancas (1952) de Frantz Fanon, será asumido como un recurso de interpretación crítica para el estudio de la selección de obras y autores del Caribe insular que se inscriben en los conflictos de la racialización e inferiorización de las corporalidades, para explorar formas de un humanismo decolonizador, devolver el hombre a su lugar, resituar su “yo” y revalorizar su sitio en la historia. (shrink)

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo presentar una recopilación de datos aparentemente aislados en sus campos, que muestran cómo la variable ritmo constituye un factor de organización central en la cognición de un amplio rango de especies y en diferentes funciones vitales. La exposición de evidencias servirá para considerar este componente de la música como clave para la organización de la experiencia. La definición de ritmo, articulada más allá de su concepción estética, partirá de la perspectiva de la cognición corporeizada, que (...) apoya la translación de la representación del ritmo auditivo hacia su comprensión como forma de pensamiento corporeizado, ofreciendo otro punto de superación dualista del estudio de las capacidades de cognición. Los argumentos se organizarán en cuatro ámbitos: el del marco teórico de la cognición corporeizada, el estudio evolutivo del desarrollo humano infantil, el rastro de las habilidades rítmicas en otras especies y la consolidación de intervenciones rítmicas aplicadas a diferentes patologías. (shrink)

Many of the classic theorems of first order classical logic can be interpreted in two ways, opposed generally. They could be seen like wealth of structures or poverty in the languaje expressive power. The objective of this article is to study three classic theorems of the first order logic: the ..

This paper aims to analyze a type of epistemic injustice in the field of criminal procedural law. The central research question is: can reverse onus in criminal trial lead to epistemic injustice? To address this question, the text will be divided into three parts. First, we examine the concept of epistemic injustice and its various modalities. Second, we present the conditions under criminal trials in an epistemic setting. We characterize the criminal trial in an epistemological key. Finally, in third place, (...) we present why a change in the institutional design (the burden of proof) leads to epistemic injustice. (shrink)

Three‐dimensional structured illumination microscopy (3D‐SIM) has opened up new possibilities to study nuclear architecture at the ultrastructural level down to the ∼100 nm range. We present first results and assess the potential using 3D‐SIM in combination with 3D fluorescence in situ hybridization (3D‐FISH) for the topographical analysis of defined nuclear targets. Our study also deals with the concern that artifacts produced by FISH may counteract the gain in resolution. We address the topography of DAPI‐stained DNA in nuclei before and after (...) 3D‐FISH, nuclear pores and the lamina, chromosome territories, chromatin domains, and individual gene loci. We also look at the replication patterns of chromocenters and the topographical relationship ofXist‐RNA within the inactive X‐territory. These examples demonstrate that an appropriately adapted 3D‐FISH/3D‐SIM approach preserves key characteristics of the nuclear ultrastructure and that the gain in information obtained by 3D‐SIM yields new insights into the functional nuclear organization. (shrink)

I reinterpret the experiences and perceptions of child migrants through the lens of racialization and White Supremacy by advancing work by Cheryl Harris (1993) and Lisa Guenther (2019) on the critical phenomenology of “Whiteness as Property” (WaP) and the protection of “White Space.” WaP is “the collective investment in state violence” to protect the economic, territorial, and legal privileges of Whiteness, while White Space describes its two dimensions: “enclosure and territorial expansion” (Guenther 2019, 202). I build on this foundation by (...) examining the way WaP regulates sociogenic3 and emotive states in order to protect its accrued resources, resulting in an “economy” of racial identity where ownership produces and is produced by particular societal structures and relationships. I use these concepts to understand the framework that willfully misinterprets racialized children. I establish “the Child” as a sociogenic concept and symbol of national futurity and universalism, and therefore of the futurity and universalism of Whiteness; reiterating and interrogating the inconsistency that many immigration and child activists point to, that there is no such thing as an “illegal” or racialized child. Thus, the ICM either loses the privileges and protections afforded to children or must don the White Mask through a performance of victimhood. Through this framework, I undertake an examination of the ICMs as portrayed in the legal process using tools from legal sensorial studies and critical phenomenology, demonstrating the sociogenic shifts that occur for the ICM and how these shifts work to protect WaP. (shrink)

Nuestra sociedad está siendo testigo de la creciente expansión de la industria del sexo convirtiéndose en un negocio transnacional de dimensión exagerada. La prostitución, la pornografía y la trata de mujeres con fines de explotación sexual (o más exactamente el sistema prostitucional), no paran de desarrollarse a través de formas diferentes, cada vez más toleradas y extendidas: turismo sexual, servicios de compañía, compra de esposas por catálogo procedentes de los países asiáticos, pornografía en Internet, pederastia, etc.

In this paper, we will analyse the language used by a group of Tourism ESP students on WhatsApp. The data will be analysed from different perspectives: a) the grammatical mistakes made, and b) the students´ degree of adaptation to the most common linguistic features in text messages. The results indicate that these students continue to make some basic grammatical mistakes they should have already overcome. Moreover, many linguistic features of text messages were encountered in their interventions such as punctuation overuse (...) and deletion and overuse of sounds. Finally, they insert many emojis in their messages to express different meanings. (shrink)

This paper is a response to the opening of new lines of research on CSR and SMEs (Thompson & Smith, 1991; Spence, 1999; Moore & Smith, 2006; Spence, 2007). It seeks to explore the business case for CSR in this corporate segment. The paper, which is based on four case studies of medium-sized firms in the automotive sector, took the distinctive approach of trying to understand the nature of CSR-like activities developed not by best-in-class CSR-driven companies but by purely competitiveness-driven (...) firms. The case studies provide explicit evidence that the CSR activities of SMEs and the notion of social capital are interrelated, turning social capital into a powerful instrument to better explain what academic literature has called silent CSR practices . The analysis that follows questions some of the basic tenets that underpin the branch of business ethics that deals with the nature of SMEs' approach to CSR. Four basic concerns, which take the form of propositions for further research, serve as the basis for this analysis: a) A definition of CSR that includes most of the actions taken by all companies in the territory contributes no academic value to the discipline b) Any study of the motivation behind these CSR actions must reflect their essentially pragmatic nature. Actions are linked to social values but also, more importantly, to the nature of the competitive environment c) Business ethics must seek common ground with other more sociological disciplines if it is to explain the reasons behind this type of action d) Any study of this kind of practice requires a dual approach: a) normative when using tools developed by CSR; and b) descriptive and instrumental using the notion of social capital. (shrink)

Este ensayo da cuenta de la presencia del fenómeno camp como manifestación estética en el poema Strip Tease del escritor argentino Néstor Perlongher. Dicha manifestación estética aparece como un contradiscurso frente a los discursos de lo normativo y de lo permitido para dar cuenta de una manera de ser y de sentir mediante la escritura. Para el análisis del poema se partió de la relación que se puede establecer entre signos semióticos y a partir de los cuales una sintagmática actualiza (...) relaciones paradigmáticas. La razón de este análisis consiste en poder demostrar cómo se manifiestan las ideologías y en este caso, específicamente, la visión del mundo del amplio abanico de posibilidades genéricas que se han exteriorizado con la escritura, frente al denominado discurso gender. (shrink)

Este artículo tiene por objeto reflexionar sobre la articulación de la producción y la reproducción desde un plano normativo, a partir del movimiento de las que limpian. Para ello se analizará la lucha de las Kellys siguiendo la conceptualización de «luchas de frontera» de Nancy Fraser. Se examinarán las estrategias de invisibilización del trabajo de infraestructura del cuidado y su articulación entre lo público y lo privado, dando cuenta de sus contradicciones. Para concluir, poniendo el foco en el proceso de (...) visibilización de este colectivo, señalando las consecuencias sociopolíticas de su emergencia como sujeto político. (shrink)

En el presente artículo se hace un análisis del cuento “¡Tierra!”, de Pedro Gómez Valderrama, desde dos perspectivas: la de cuento histórico y la del erotismo. El análisis, que evalúa los aspectos históricos recreados por el autor en el relato, confronta las fuentes históricas que éste utiliza para la construcción de su cuento e intenta indagar en la posición desde la que se interpretan literariamente los hechos, en la cual el erotismo es fundamental. Para, finalmente, señalar que el cuento presenta (...) el descubrimiento de América como el hallazgo de una utopía. (shrink)

Corruption is a serious problem in Mexico and the available information regarding the levels of academic dishonesty in Mexico is not very encouraging. Academic integrity is essential in any teaching-learning process focussed on achieving the highest standards of excellence and learning. Promoting and experiencing academic integrity within the university context has a twofold purpose: to achieve the necessary learnings and skills to appropriately perform a specific profession and to develop an ethical perspective which leads to correct decision making. The objective (...) of this study is to explore the relationship between academic integrity and ethical behaviour, particularly workplace behaviour. The study adopts a quantitative, hypothetical and deductive approach. A questionnaire was applied to 1203 college students to gather information regarding the frequency in which they undertake acts of dishonesty in different environments and in regards to the severity they assign to each type of infraction. The results reflect that students who report committing acts against academic integrity also report being involved in dishonest activities in other contexts, and that students who consider academic breaches less serious, report being engaged in academic misconduct more frequently in different contexts. In view of these results, it is unavoidable to reflect on the role that educational institutions and businesses can adopt in the development of programmes to promote a culture of academic integrity which: design educational experiences to foster learning, better prepare students to fully meet their academic obligations, highlight the benefits of doing so, prevent the severity and consequences of dishonest actions, discourage cheating and establish clear and efficient processes to sanction those students who are found responsible for academic breaches. (shrink)

The tumor suppressor protein p53 is intimately involved in the cellular response to DNA damage, controlling cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and the transcriptional induction of DNA damage inducible genes. A transcriptional target of p53, Gadd45, was recently found to bind to PCNA, a component of DNA replication/repair complexes, thereby implicating Gadd45 in DNA metabolism(1). Using biochemical assays, a role for Gadd45 in excision repair in vitro has been demonstrated(1). Antisense experiments have also indicated an in vivo role for the GADD45 (...) gene in UV‐irradiation survival. These discoveries establish a link between p53 and DNA repair through Gadd45. (shrink)

This essay introduces an approach to teach electronic literature in English Studies students; first introduces to the students what electronic literature is, that is, its main features, goals and genres. Secondly, it provides examples of women writers and their importance in the development of this kind of literature. Thirdly, it shows two electronic literary works written by women that may be part of the course’s core readings. This article dives into and breaks apart these literary texts through an introduction and (...) a close reading of them. (shrink)

Pretendemos mostrar la conexión significativa entre ciertas ideas religiosas y la consolidación de una subjetividad que objetiva toda la realidad como el ámbito legítimo de completo dominio práctico-instrumental. Dar cuenta de la, a un tiempo, afín y paradójica relación entre una concepción dualista y devaluadora del mundo, como la judeocristiana, y la elaboración de una imagen moderna del mismo en la que el sujeto se constituye propiamente como tal a través de la sujeción racional teleológica de todos los procesos naturales, (...) sociales y subjetivos. Interesa sobre todo resaltar el carácter paradójico de esta relación: el hecho de que el desarrollo de la modernidad siga una lógica independiente opuesta al que fuera su sentido originario. Un cierto mecanismo de autodestrucción de la racionalidad valorativa parece , pues, inscrito en el proceso de modernización , mecanismo responsable, al fin, de que la expansión de la racionalidad de medios y fines se eternice como signo de modernidad. (shrink)

Este trabajo presenta el proyecto “Educación sin Fronteras”, realizado por la administración de la Institu-ción universitaria Tecnológico de Antioquia —TdeA— entre 2008 y 2010 para la ampliación de la cobertura en educa-ción superior en las subregiones del departamento de Antioquia. El trabajo esboza la plataforma de los planes de desa-rrollo del departamento de Antioquia y del TdeA; plantea el modelo de regionalización de la educación superior y presenta estadísticas del programa. Se examinan los municipios atendidos, la cobertura de estudiantes, el (...) número de grupos, los egresados efectivos, los programas académicos, la correspondencia entre el programa y la vocación econó-mica de la municipalidad, etc. Termina con un análisis financiero del modelo de regionalización y concluye con los principales retos del modelo. (shrink)