Search results

The paper aims to contribute to the European education policy literature through an analysis of what I refer to as 'discretional policies', which are now instrumentally used by the EU but that have so far been largely overlooked by this literature, and to the literature on transparency of qualifications. The paper argues, first, that the education policy literature—as other policy literatures—has overlooked individual 'discretional policies', to which greater attention should now be paid as they are employed by EU institutions to bypass Member States in particularly difficult policy areas and to try to address their often alleged detachment from citizens. Second, the paper looks at the crucial aspect of the effectiveness of discretionary policies and their consequences for individuals and Member States, with reference to a case study of the Europass framework in education and training.

This paper analyses the relationship between education, meritocracy and redistribution. It first questions the meritocratic ideal highlighting how it relates to normative expectations that do not hold fully neither in their logic nor in practice. It then complements the literature on persistent inequalities by focusing on the opportunities for change created by current trends in the economy and in social aspirations. As the meritocratic argument that education is strongly linked to certain rewards in the labour market comes under pressure, increasing social dissatisfaction with education and skills wastage could be expected, as already noted in part of the political economy literature. This literature, however, has tended to conclude from such observations that educational expansion cannot deliver equality. The paper contributes to the debate by focusing on the opportunities created by current trends for the reorganisation of the relationship between education, the economy and society.

Strategic research in agriculture and natural resources carried out by international research centers is deemed a public good and should, sooner or later, be put into the hands of development, governmental and non-governmental organizations. However, this research is usually done at specific pilot sites; there is a greater need to know how representative those sites are in relation to the diversity of contexts in other locations. Such is the case with the Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF), a global initiative in water research promoted by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), which is developing and implementing strategic research in nine basins located in the tropics of Africa, Asia and South America. Given that resources are not available to collect data from the whole of the region, pilot sites are needed. It is hoped that research outputs obtained in the selected pilot sites can be the basis for scaling out solutions to similar situations in neighbouring or adjacent areas in same or different basins. In order to contribute to the scaling-out process, different classification methodologies were applied to determine how specific watershed basins are representative of larger areas. The Andean eco-region served as a case study but the methods can easily be applied in other regions. The spatial diversity of biophysical and social conditions across the Andes requires careful site selection. Two methods, a combination of Weight of Evidence (WofE) and Logistic Regression (LR) methods and Fast Cluster analysis, were used to determine the similarity of selected sites with those excluded. A 1-km study resolution covering most of the Andes eco-region included annual rainfall, elevation, length of growing period, land cover, roads and population density as the key variables. Results showed complementarities between the two methods in presenting a probability surface of similarity across the Andes and a clustering of similar sites inside and outside the pilot basins. The output information forms a strong basis for devising plans to scale out research findings from the pilot basins to the whole region. ; Peer-reviewed

The hake fishery (Merluccius hubbsi and Merluccius australis) is one of the most important ones for Spanish vessels operating in the Southwest Atlantic. Both species are widely distributed along the Patagonian shelf, although M. australis occupies mainly more southern waters. This paper presents a historical review of fishery data on the Spanish fishing fleet operating in the SW Atlantic collected and collated during the EC Study Project 99/016 "Data collection for stock assessment of two hakes (Merluccius hubbsi and M. australis) in International and Falkland waters of the SW Atlantic", in order to analyse the evolution of catch and effort in the hake fishery since 1983 to 2000. Data on landings and effort by Spanish vessels from 1983 onwards were utilised to study trends and shifts within the fishery. These data were provided by Asociación Nacional de Armadores de Buques Congeladores de Pesca de Merluza (ANAMER), the most important Spanish ship-owners fishing association operating in distant fishing grounds. Catch and effort data collected by observer's programmes carried out by Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO) and the Falkland Islands Government Fisheries Department (FIGFD), as well as by observers provided by the project were used to estimate CPUE by area and season.The data included landings in kgs by commercial size category of hake (both species together) and effort made by vessels appertaining to ANAMER in number of fishing days and number of vessels by vessel size category. Conversion factors obtained by scientific observers onboard of these vessels were used to obtain the whole catch from landings. Total effort of the Spanish fleet was estimated from ANAMER logbooks, assuming a similar pattern for the whole fleet and taking into account the different ratio of ANAMER fleet compared to the total Spanish fleet. An increase of the catches and effort was observed from 1983 to a maximum in 1990 coinciding with the closure of Namibian fisheries. After that, catches and effort decreased corresponding to ...

Off-centered spots of the enhanced gas velocity dispersion, σ, are revealed in some galaxies from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory survey (MaNGA). Aiming to clarify the origin of the spots of enhanced σ, we examine the distributions of the surface brightness, the line-of-sight velocity, the oxygen abundance, the gas velocity dispersion, and the Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich spaxel classification in seven galaxies. We find that the enhanced σ spots in six galaxies can be attributed to a (minor) interaction with a satellite. Three galaxies in our sample have a very close satellite (the separation in the sky plane is comparable to the optical radius of the galaxy). The spots of enhanced σ in those galaxies are located at the edge of the galaxy close to the satellite. The spots of enhanced σ in three other galaxies are related to bright spots in the photometric B band within the galaxy, which can be due to the projection of a satellite in the line of sight of the galaxy. The oxygen abundances in the spots in these three galaxies are reduced. This suggests that the low-metallicity gas from the satellite is mixed with the interstellar medium of the disk, that is, the gas exchange between the galaxy and its satellite takes place. The spectra of the spaxels within a spot are usually H※ II-region-like, suggesting that the interaction (gas infall) in those galaxies does not result in appreciable shocks. In contrast, the spot of the enhanced σ in the galaxy M-8716-12703 is associated with an off-centered active galactic nucleus-like radiation distribution. One can suggest that the spot of the enhanced σ in the M-8716-12703 galaxy is different in origin, or that the characteristics of gas infall in this case differs from that in other galaxies. © ESO 2021. ; L.S.P acknowledges support within the framework of the program of the NAS of Ukraine Support for the development of priority fields of scientific research (CPCEL 6541230)". BC, JN and MG are supported by AYA2014-58861-C3-1-P. I.A.Z acknowledges support by the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine under the Research Laboratory Grant for young scientists No. 0120U100148. AMP is supported by AYA2017-88007-C3-2, MDM2017-0737 (Unidad de Excelencia Maria de Maeztu, CAB). JMV and SDP acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad under grants AYA2016-79724-C4-4-P and PID2019-107408GBC44, from Junta de Andalucia Excellence Project P18-FR-2664, and also acknowledge support from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the `Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa' award for the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia (SEV-2017-0709). SDP is grateful to the Fonds de Recherche du Quebec - Nature et Technologies. The work is performed according to the Russian Government Program of Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University and Russian Science Foundation, grant no. 20-12-00105. This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database, which is funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and operated by the California Institute of Technology. We acknowledge the usage of the HyperLeda database (http://leda.univ-lyon1.fr).Funding for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy O ffice of Science, and the Participating Institutions. SDSS-IV acknowledges support and resources from the Center for High-Performance Computing at the University of Utah. ; Peer reviewed

Context. Computational techniques are essential for mining large databases produced in modern surveys with value-Added products. Aims. This paper presents a machine learning procedure to carry out a galaxy morphological classification and photometric redshift estimates simultaneously. Currently, only a spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting has been used to obtain these results all at once. Methods. We used the ancillary data gathered in the OTELO catalog and designed a nonsequential neural network that accepts optical and near-infrared photometry as input. The network transfers the results of the morphological classification task to the redshift fitting process to ensure consistency between both procedures. Results. The results successfully recover the morphological classification and the redshifts of the test sample, reducing catastrophic redshift outliers produced by an SED fitting and avoiding possible discrepancies between independent classification and redshift estimates. Our technique may be adapted to include galaxy images to improve the classification. © ESO 2021. ; This work was supported by the project Evolution of Galaxies, of reference AYA2014-58861-C3-1-P and AYA2017-88007-C3-1-P, within the "Programa estatal de fomento de la investigación científica y técnica de excelencia del Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación (2013-2016" of the "Agencia Estatal de Investigación del Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades", and co-financed by the FEDER "Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional". JAD is grateful for the support from the UNAM-DGAPA-PASPA 2019 program, the UNAM-CIC, the Canary Islands CIE: Tricontinental Atlantic Campus 2017, and the kind hospitality of the IAC. MP acknowledges financial supports from the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute (ESSTI) under the Ethiopian Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MoIT), and from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) through projects AYA2013-42227-P and AYA2016-76682C3-1-P, and from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación – Agencia Estatal de Investigación through projects PID2019-106027GB-C41 and AYA2016-76682C3-1-P. APG, MSP and RPM were supported by the PNAYA project: AYA2017–88007–C3–2–P. JG was supported by the PNAYA project AYA2018–RTI-096188-B-i00. MC & APG are also funded by Spanish State Research Agency grant MDM-2017-0737 (Unidad de Excelencia María de Maeztu CAB). JIGS receives support through the Proyecto Puente 52.JU25.64661 (2018) funded by Sodercan S.A. and the Universidad de Cantabria, and PGC2018–099705–B–100 funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. EJA acknowledges funding from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the "Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa" award to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709) and from grant PGC2018-095049-B-C21. Based on observations made with the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), installed in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, in the island of La Palma. This work is (partly) based on data obtained with the instrument OSIRIS, built by a Consortium led by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias in collaboration with the Instituto de Astronomía of the Universidad Autónoma de México. OSIRIS was funded by GRANTECAN and the National Plan of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Spanish Government. ; Peer reviewed

Academic, government, and private organizations from around the globe have established High Frequency radar (hereinafter, HFR) networks at regional or national levels. Partnerships have been established to coordinate and collaborate on a single global HFR network (http://global-hfradar.org/). These partnerships were established in 2012 as part of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) to promote HFR technology and increase data sharing among operators and users. The main product of HFR networks are continuous maps of ocean surface currents within 200 km of the coast at high spatial (1–6 km) and temporal resolution (hourly or higher). Cutting-edge remote sensing technologies are becoming a standard component for ocean observing systems, contributing to the paradigm shift toward ocean monitoring. In 2017 the Global HFR Network was recognized by the Joint Technical WMO-IOC Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) as an observing network of the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS). In this paper we will discuss the development of the network as well as establishing goals for the future. The U.S. High Frequency Radar Network (HFRNet) has been in operation for over 13 years, with radar data being ingested from 31 organizations including measurements from Canada and Mexico. HFRNet currently holds a collection from over 150 radar installations totaling millions of records of surface ocean velocity measurements. During the past 10 years in Europe, HFR networks have been showing steady growth with over 60 stations currently deployed and many in the planning stage. In Asia and Oceania countries, more than 110 radar stations are in operation. HFR technology can be found in a wide range of applications: for marine safety, oil spill response, tsunami warning, pollution assessment, coastal zone management, tracking environmental change, numerical model simulation of 3-dimensional circulation, and research to generate new understanding of coastal ocean dynamics, depending mainly on each country's coastal sea characteristics. These radar networks are examples of national inter-agency and inter-institutional partnerships for improving oceanographic research and operations. As global partnerships grow, these collaborations and improved data sharing enhance our ability to respond to regional, national, and global environmental and management issues.

Knowledge of the distribution and extent of seagrass habitats is currently the basis of management and conservation policies of the coastal zones in most European countries. This basic information is being requested through European directives for the establishment of monitoring programmes and the implementation of specific actions to preserve the marine environment. In addition, this information is crucial for the quantification of the ecological importance usually attributed to seagrass habitats due to, for instance, their involvement in biogeochemical cycles, marine biodiversity and quality of coastal waters or global carbon budgets. The seagrass atlas of Spain represents a huge collective effort performed by 84 authors across 30 Spanish institutions largely involved in the scientific research, management and conservation of seagrass habitats during the last three decades. They have contributed to the availability of the most precise and realistic seagrass maps for each region of the Spanish coast which have been integrated in a GIS to obtain the distribution and area of each seagrass species. Most of this information has independently originated at a regional level by regional governments, universities and public research organisations, which explain the elevated heterogeneity in criteria, scales, methods and objectives of the available information. On this basis, seagrass habitats in Spain occupy a total surface of 1,541,63 km2, 89% of which is concentrated in the Mediterranean regions; the rest is present in sheltered estuarine areas of the Atlantic peninsular regions and in the open coastal waters of the Canary Islands, which represents 50% of the Atlantic meadows. Of this surface, 71.5% corresponds to Posidonia oceanica, 19.5% to Cymodocea nodosa, 3.1% to Zostera noltii (=Nanozostera noltii), 0.3% to Zostera marina and 1.2% to Halophila decipiens. Species distribution maps are presented (including Ruppia spp.), together with maps of the main impacts and pressures that has affected or threatened their ...