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39 62 1 ; S ; Nowadays, many websites allow social networking between their users in an explicit or implicit way. In this work, we show how argumentation schemes theory can provide a valuable help to formalize and structure on-line discussions and user opinions in decision support and business oriented websites that held social networks between their users. Two real case studies are studied and analysed. Then, guidelines to enhance social decision support and recommendations with argumentation are provided. This work summarises results of the authors joint research, funded by an STMS of the Agreement Technologies COST Action 0801, by the Spanish government grants [CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 CSD2007-00022, and TIN2012-36586-C03-01] and by the GVA project [PROMETEO 2008/051]. Heras Barberá, SM.; Atkinson, KM.; Botti Navarro, VJ.; Grasso, F.; Julian Inglada, VJ.; Mcburney, PJ. (2013). Research opportunities for argumentation in social networks. Artificial Intelligence Review. 39(1):39-62. doi:10.1007/s10462-012-9389-0 Amgoud L (2009) Argumentation for decision making. Argumentation in artificial intelligence. Springer, Berlin Anderson P (2007) What is Web 2.0? Ideas, technologies and implications for education. JISC Iechnology and Standards Watch report Bentahar J, Meyer CJJ, Moulin B (2007) Securing agent-oriented systems: an argumentation and reputation-based approach. In: Proceedings of the 4th international conference on information technology: new generations (ITNG 2007), IEEE Computer Society, pp 507–515 Buckingham Shum S (2008) Cohere: towards Web 2.0 argumentation. In: Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on computational models of argument, COMMA, pp 28–30 Burke R (2002) Hybrid recommender systems: survey and experiments. User Model User-Adapt Interact 12:331–370 Cartwright D, Atkinson K (2008) Political engagement through tools for argumentation. In: Proceedings of the second international conference on computational models of argument (COMMA 2008), pp 116–127 Chesñevar C, McGinnis J, Modgil S, ...

105 112 2391 ; S ; The occurrence of road crashes depends on several factors, with design consistency (i.e., conformance of highway geometry to drivers' expectations) being one of the most important. A new consistency model for evaluating the performance of tangent-to-curve transitions on two-lane rural roads was developed. This model was based on the inertial consistency index (ICI) defined for each transition. The ICI was calculated at the beginning point of the curve as the difference between the average operating speed on the previous 1-km road segment (inertial operating speed) and the actual operating speed at this point. For the calibration of the ICI and its thresholds, 88 road segments, which included 1,686 tangent-to-curve transitions, were studied. The relationship between those results and the crash rate associated with each transition was analyzed. The results showed that the higher the ICI was, the higher the crash rate; thus, the probability of accidents increased. Similar results were obtained from the study of the relationship between the ICI and the weighted average crash rate of the corresponding group of transitions. A graphical and statistical analysis established that road consistency might be considered good when the ICI was lower than 10 km/h, poor when the ICI was higher than 20 km/h, and fair otherwise. A validation process that considered 20 road segments was performed. The ICI values obtained were highly correlated to the number of crashes that had occurred at the analyzed transitions. Thus, the ICI and its consistency thresholds resulted in a new approach for evaluation of consistency. The authors thank the Center for Studies and Experimentation of Public Works of the Spanish Ministry of Public Works, which partially subsidized the data collection, for obtaining the empirical operating speed profiles used in the validation process. The authors also thank the General Directorate of Public Works of the Infrastructure and Transportation Department of the Valencian government, the ...

904 907 11 3 & 4 ; Senia ; [EN] The aim of this research was the determination of the best conditions for applying Bordeaux mixture for the control of gray mold or rot (Botrytis cinerea) in passion fruit (Passiflora ligularis Juss) grown in organic farming in the Andes. This disease is responsible for nearly 30% loss of production in the province of Tungurahua (Ecuador). To do this, three doses and four frequencies of application in two locations were evaluated. The locations were in the sectors El Galpón and Runtun which are cantons of Patate and Baños, respectively, in Ecuador. Therefore, each experimental unit was composed of 12 blocks (3 doses x 4 frequencies) together a control test with three plants each. In total, 78 plants were evaluated. The doses used were 5 g CuSO4/litre of water (D1), 10 g CuSO4/litre of water (D2), and 15 g CuSO4/litre of water (D3). The studied application frequencies were every 7 days (F1), every 14 days (F2), every 21 days (F3) and every 28 days (F4). From the first application of the treatment, the efficacy was evaluated every 15 days up to 90 days, also performing an economic analysis of the treatments. The evaluation of the effectiveness of each treatment was performed using an affection index, defined as the ratio number of affected organs (branches, leaves, flowers or fruits) and the number of total organs. It has been demonstrated that treatment with 0.5 kg of CuSO4 in 100 litres of water applied every 21 days gives good results for the control of gray mold. Complete removal of the Botrytis was achieved at 75 days after starting treatment. Treatments with higher dose level and the same frequency of application did not improve the results. The participation of Dr. Borja Velázquez Martí in this work was made possible by funding from the Ecuadorian Government by means of PROMETEO program leaded by the Secretaría Nacional de Educación Superior, Ciencia y Tecnología (SENESCYT). Vega, J.; Escobar, B.; Velázquez Martí, B. (2013). Application of Bordeaux mixture for Botrytis ...

Background: The 2009 H1N1 pandemic left a legacy of mistrust in the public relative to how outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases are managed. To prepare for future outbreaks, it is crucial to explore the phenomenon of public trust in the institutions responsible for managing disease outbreaks. We investigated the evolution of public trust in institutions during and after the 2009 pandemic in Switzerland. We also explored respondents' perceptions of the prevention campaign and the roles of the government and media. Methodology/Principal Findings: A two-wave longitudinal survey was mailed to 2,400 members of the Swiss public. Wave 1 was in Spring 2009. Wave 2 was in Spring 2010. Six hundred and two participants responded in both waves. Participants indicated moderate to high levels of trust in medical organizations, the WHO, the Swiss government, the pharmaceutical industry, and the EU. On the other hand, trust in the media was low. Moreover, trust in almost all institutions decreased over time. Participants were satisfied with the amount of information received and indicated having followed official recommendations, but widespread concerns about the vaccine were evident. A large majority of participants agreed the vaccine might have unknown or undesirable side effects. Perceptions of the government's and the media's role in handling the outbreak were characterized by a substantial degree of skepticism and mistrust. Conclusions/Significance: Results show clear patterns of skepticism and mistrust on the part of the public relative to various institutions and their actions. Results underscore the importance of systematically investigating trust of the public relative to epidemics. Moreover, studies investigating the evolution of the public's memories of the pandemic over the coming years may be important to understand reactions to future pandemics. A systematic research program on trust can inform public health communication campaigns, enabling tailored communication initiatives.

251 258 99 ; S ; [EN] A total of 48 lactating ewes, belonging to 2 different Mediterranean breeds Guirra (rustic native breed) and Manchega (mixed aptitude breed) were used to evaluate the effect of the inclusion of whole citrus fruits (WCF) in their rations. Four iso-energetic and iso-protein total mixed rations were formulated containing fresh WCF at 0, 10, 20 and 30% replacing dry-rolled barley and pelleted beet pulp on a DM basis. The milk yield and composition were obtained once a week at morning and afternoon milking. Total milk yield values observed for 30% WCF group were 12% higher than for the others. Also, a reduction of the milk fat content with the inclusion of WCF was observed, being 8.2, 7.95, 7.69 and 7.1% for 0, 10, 20 and 30% WCF groups (P<0.05). Milk protein content was maximum for ewes on 10% WFC ration (6.4%) and minimum for 30% WCF group (6.0%; P<0.05), due to the lower milk casein content of 30% WCF group (-0.3% respect to 0 and 10% WCF groups; P<0.05), while soluble protein content was similar for all the groups (mean: 1.17%). Throughout the experimental period, a reduction of 6% fat corrected milk (6%FCM) production was observed with all the rations (-35 ml per week), but it was steeper for 20 and 30% WCF groups than for the other 2 groups. In conclusion, WCF could contribute to diminishing dependence of high-milking ewes on grains without affecting the milk output, however further studies related to WCF effect on body condition and on the capacity of lactating animals to mobilize body reserves should be made. This study was subsidized by the Consejeria de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación of the Regional Government of Valencia, and by the project INIA CAL03-089. 6. Piquer Querol, O.; Rodríguez Garcia, M.; Blas Ferrer, E.; Cerisuelo, A.; Fernández Martínez, CJ.; Pascual Amorós, JJ. (2011). Whole citrus fruits in total mixed rations for Mediterranean milking ewes. Milk production and composition. Options Mediterraneennes. Serie A: Seminaires Mediterraneens. 99:251-258. ...

to be published in 'The urbanity of margins, migrants, refugees and relegated in cities in the Middle East', Dorai Kamel and Puig Nicolas (dirs.). From 1980 to 1997, Jordan set up a school in the area of the rehabilitation of poor neighbourhoods in eastern cities, being the first Arab country to apply the developmental ideology newly promoted by the World Bank in Latin America and Asia, which consisted of involving people in informal areas in all stages of the renovation of their habitat and enabling them to access property through long-term State-guaranteed loans. However, starting from the Israeli-Palestinian peace process (Oslo Accords of September 1993 and Wadi Araba in January 1994), the Jordanian government via the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDC) changed its modes of intervention in the camps and informal areas of the country to focus on the provision of services alone, with a clear security priority. Once again, Jordan is ahead of the other host countries (Lebanon, Syria) by being the first country to integrate all UNRWA camps into its new urban renewal policies. The objective of this article is to analyse the evolution of policies for the management of informal housing in Jordan since 1980, with a focus on the ways in which refugee populations living in informal areas participate in programmes to secure their property. It is based on a series of interviews with HUDC officials (May 2006, autumn 2007 and 2008) and fieldwork carried out in the informal neighbourhood of NSahara at the beginning and end of the rehabilitation operation (May 2006 and March 2007). It shows that informal housing is treated differently in Jordan depending on whether it originated from the rural exodus or was the result of forced Palestinian migration in 1948 and 1967. I am suggesting a relationship between the levels of citizenship of the people of the informal neighbourhoods of Amman and urban regeneration policies. ; This paper deals with the evolution of public policies toward informal areas and informal ...

The article shows the emergence, after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, of a more assertive social dimension of the European Union with the development, in the same period, of a social union in Canada. This comparison shows the similarity of the dynamics of political innovation that can be observed here and the. It raised the question whether this similarity does not mean that the institutional forms resulting from these dynamics have a more general relevance for similar situations of territorial division of the political order into several orders of government. Do these dynamics not outline a similar post-national solution to the problem posed by the search for a supranational political unite combined with respect for the 'national' cultural diversity of individuals who have been or are in the process of being reunited? Do they not simultaneously express a form of challenge to old unitary political orders or claim themselves as such, and the search for a new form of collective management of intergovernmental political co-operations? The answer to these questions is sought in three stages. In the first part, it is clear why it is legitimate to bring the European Union and Canada closer together in terms of territorial political repositions which operate at the same time. The second part shows the extent to which the development of social Europe following the signing of the Maastricht Treaty is reflected in the institutional dynamics created by the social union in Canada. In a recent part, there is a set of possible evolution scenarios in which the development of an asymetric multinational federalism appears to be the most realist path. ; L'article met en regard l'emergence, apres la signature du Traite de Maastricht, d'une dimension sociale plus affirmee de l'Union europeenne avec le developpement, dans la meme periode, d'une union sociale au Canada. Cette mise en regard montre la similarite des dynamiques d'innovation politique qu'on observe ici et la. Elle conduit a se demander si cette similarite ne ...

The system of government in Argentina takes a representative, republican and federal form (National Constitution, Article 1). the Antarctic Continent (including the South Orkney Islands) and the Southern Islands (South Georgies and South Sandwich) are ranked fourth among the American countries (after Canada, the United States of America and the Federative Republic of Brazil) and the seventh in the world. With a population of more than 37.000.000, the Argentine Republic is characterised by being a 'racing crucible' which defines the essence of Argentina. (Paragraph taken from the text as a summary) Institute for International Relations ; El sistema de gobierno en la Argentina adopta la forma representativa, republicana y federal (Constitución Nacional, art. 1º).Por su extensión -que corresponden al Continente Americano; al Continente Antártico (incluyendo las Islas Orcadas del Sur) y las islas australes (Georgias del Sur y Sandwich del Sur)- ocupa el cuarto lugar entre los países americanos (después de Canadá, Estados Unidos de América y la República Federativa del Brasil) y el séptimo a nivel mundial. Con una población de más de 37.000.000 habitantes, la República Argentina se caracteriza por ser un "crisol de razas" que define la esencia de la argentinidad. (Párrafo extraído del texto a modo de resumen) Instituto de Relaciones Internacionales

International audience In this paper, we examine the evolution of the Japanese financial structure, in order to challenge the expected incidences of the financial liberalization. We compute financial intermediation ratios for Japan (1979-2004) on a book value basis. According to our results, the intermediation ratio has remained quite stable, at around 85%. This stability is the result of two opposite trends: a decrease in credits and an increase in financial securities owned by financial (mostly, non-banking) institutions. These two trends are partly the consequence of the heavier weight of the Government in domestic external financing, which is traditionally less financed by credits than companies are. Besides, these two trends would not have appeared if we had used intermediation ratios in market value or other traditional indicators (Deposits/GDP, Loans to private sector/GDP, stock market capitalization/GDP, etc.). Our results provide evidence for a very close relationship between intermediate financings and market financings and tend to reject the hypothesis of the Japanese financial system's convergence toward a capital market-based system.

National hearing The environmental crisis presents itself as a challenge to triumphous artificial. After differentiating between the concepts of nature and the environment, this article seeks to show that the environmental crisis is reflected in a growing desire to protect a particular order in the order of natural entities. In terms of responsibilities, human activity, personal and collective, takes place in an ecological space. This space is also used by other entities, human or otherwise. The question then arises of coexistence, which the Regulation has nothing spontaneous and which should be dealt with as such. This is just as much as nature is what nature must be, in the light of the ethos of nature and the specific characteristics of that order, in particular its ability to regenerate and maintain itself over time beyond generations. ; The environmental crisis embodies a protest against the triumphant artificialism. After having differentiated concepts of both nature and environment, this article would like to stress that the environmental crisis results in the growing willingness to protect a particular order from the order of natural entities. Under a liability perspective, either individual or collective, human activities are running in an ecological definite space. This space belongs also to other entities, either human or not. Then, the question of coexistence becomes an issue, that regulation is nothing but spontaneous, and should then be treated as such. It is as much as a question of what is nature, than what nature should be, under an ethic conception of Nature and its own features, taking into special consideration its both capacities of regeneration and remaining over time and future generations. ; National hearing The environmental crisis presents itself as a challenge to triumphous artificial. After differentiating between the concepts of nature and the environment, this article seeks to show that the environmental crisis is reflected in a growing desire to protect a particular order in the ...

Wednesday 28 April will be marked in Colombia's history as the day the people said enough for the tax reform project or the Sustainable Solidarity Law that President Iván Duque intended to establish through his government. While everything in principle took place normally in the cities of Bogotá, Medellín and Cali, the latter subsequently sparked vandalism of demonstrators and in response the government decided to militarise the city by establishing a curfew of 4 days. But the Colombian reality does not escape the global context that has been evident for several years, even in isolation but forcefully, the Middle East and the Arab Spring, France and the yellow vests, Spain with the 15M and Undignified Movement, the United States and the mobilisations that ended up taking the Capitol, there are demonstrations in Argentina almost daily. Institute for International Relations ; El miércoles 28 de abril quedará marcado en la historia de Colombia como el día que el pueblo dijo basta al proyecto de reforma tributaria o Ley de solidaridad sostenible que pensaba establecer el presidente Iván Duque a través de su gobierno. Si bien en principio todo se desarrolló con normalidad en las ciudades de Bogotá, Medellín y Cali, luego, en esta última se desataron situaciones de vandalismo de los manifestantes y en respuesta el gobierno decidió militarizar la ciudad estableciendo un toque de queda de 4 días. Pero la realidad colombiana no escapa al contexto mundial que se viene manifestando desde hace varios años aun en forma aislada pero enérgica, Medio Oriente y la Primavera Árabe, Francia y los chalecos amarillos, España con el Movimiento 15M e Indignados, Estados Unidos y las movilizaciones que terminaron tomando el Capitolio, en Argentina existen manifestaciones casi a diario. Instituto de Relaciones Internacionales

Our paper sets up a simple model to assess, to the best of our knowledge for the first time, the relative pros and cons of housing downpayment and interest rate subsidies on the access to and the stability of the mortgage market. Our analysis unveils a number of relevant policy lessons for the design of housing subsidy programs, namely: (a) Under fiscal neutrality (same government outlay), both subsidies have the same positive effect on the ability and willingness to repay. But, for such neutrality to hold, the percentage interest rate subsidy must be larger than the downpayment subsidy, which is rare to happen in practice; (b) The interest rate subsidy raises the loan size a bank is willing to grant, but the downpayment subsidy does not, the reason being that the latter actually diminishes the need for bank financing for a given property value; (c) When targeting lower income households, the downpayment subsidy is superior to the interest rate subsidy, as the former increases the loan-to-value and debt-to-income ratios, two key criteria for mortgage borrower eligibility. By the same token, the downpayment subsidy is more likely to have a stronger effect on low and medium value housing units; (d) Such progressivity comes at the cost of a higher probability of default, meaning that some trade-off between equity and financial stability may emerge; (e) Subsidies are likely to put upward pressure on housing prices. The downpayment subsidy has a direct effect (by injecting fiscal resources to cover part of the property price) and an indirect effect (by easing the access to the mortgage market); (f) The interest rate subsidy only has the latter effect; and (g) Compared to the interest rate subsidy, the downpayment support promotes a less aggressive competition in the real estate market. ; Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS)

When forming expectations, households may be influenced by the possibility that the information they receive is biased. In this paper, we study how individuals learn from potentially-biased statistics using data from both a natural and a survey-based experiment obtained during a period of government manipulation of inflation statistics in Argentina (2006 2015). This period is interesting because of the attention to inflation information and the availability of both official and unofficial statistics. Our evidence suggests that rather than ignoring biased statistics or navively taking them at face value, households react in a sophisticated way, as predicted by a Bayesian learning model, effectively de-biasing the official data to extract all its useful content. We also find evidence of an asymmetric reaction to inflation signals, with expectations changing more when the inflation rate rises than when it falls. These results are useful for understanding the formation of inflation expectations in less extreme contexts than Argentina, such as the United States and Europe, where experts may agree that statistics are unbiased but households do not. ; Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales

International audience Decentralisation has given local government additional means to act in respect of forests while assigning a still significant role to the State. The complex system of governance which is taking shape between the various local players and the forestry sector requires proper adaptation of general concepts to local contexts, the development of fora for exchanges and decision-making at various local government levels. The interaction between those levels of thinking and cooperation should build a "learning system" for forests capable of adjudicating the multiple demands placed on forests. ; La décentralisation donne aux collectivités de nouveaux moyens d'intervention en forêt, tout en conservant un rôle significatif à l'État. La gouvernance complexe en train de s'établir entre les nombreux acteurs des territoires et de la filière nécessite, pour une bonne adaptation de concepts généraux aux contextes locaux, le développement de lieux d'échange et de décision aux divers niveaux du territoire. C'est par interaction entre ces divers niveaux de réflexion et de concertation que pourra se construire un « système apprenant » forestier, à même d'arbitrer entre les multiples demandes faites à la forêt.

The role of the Spanish armed forces and state security forces as actors and as a debriefing resource in the Spanish Government's communication during the Covid-19 crisis is analysed. The analysis covers two complementary issues. On the one hand, the presence of military, police and civilian guards in the media and at the daily press conferences of the Coronavirus Technical Management Committee from the Spanish Government. On the other hand, the speech on Twitter by the main political actors in the crisis in Spain: the leaders of the five nationwide parties with a parliamentary group (PSOE, PP, Vox, United Podemos and Citizens) and the presidents of four autonomous communities (Catalonia, Madrid, Valencia and the Basque Country) who also play a particularly important role in managing this crisis. The time frame runs from 15 March (start of state of emergency) to 25 April (last day in which FFAA and FCSE participate in the daily press conference of the Technical Committee). The methodology applied to this material is twofold: a qualitative analysis of the media appearances of FFAA and FCSE and at the press conferences of the Technical Committee, which allows a complex account of events to be outlined; and an analysis of the content of the above mentioned Twitter accounts, showing the presence of these groups and warfare in their messages. The objectives are to take stock of the Government's communication strategy in relation to the presence of the military, the Civil Guard and the National Police: internal (at press conferences) and external (in the media and in particular in the speech of political leaders). The methodology applied to this material is twofold: a qualitative analysis of the media appearances of FFAA and FCSE and at the press conferences of the Technical Committee, which allows a complex account of events to be outlined; and an analysis of the content of the above mentioned Twitter accounts, showing the presence of these groups and warfare in their messages. The objectives are to take stock of the ...