Suchergebnisse

This research was funded by the ERDF project "Smart Metal Oxide Nanocoatings and HIPIMS Technology", project number: 1.1.1.1/18/A/073. Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART². ; Layered 2D van der Waals (vdW) materials such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides have recently gained a great deal of scientific attention due to their unique properties and prospective applications in various fields such as electronics and optoelectronics, sensors and energy. As a direct bandgap semiconductor in both bulk and monolayer forms, ReS2 stands out for its unique distorted octahedral structure that results in distinctive anisotropic physical properties; however, only a few scalable synthesis methods for few-layer ReS2 have been proposed thus far. Here, the growth of high-quality few-layer ReS2 is demonstrated via sulfurization of a pre-deposited rhenium oxide coating on different semiconductor material nanowires (GaN, ZnS, ZnO). As-produced core-shell heterostructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Experimental characterizations were supported by total energy calculations of the electronic structure of ReS2 nanosheets and GaN, ZnS, and ZnO substrates. Our results demonstrate the potential of using nanowires as a template for the growth of layered vdW materials to create novel core-shell heterostructures for energy applications involving photocatalytic and electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. ; ERDF project number: 1.1.1.1/18/A/073. Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART².

This article considers an implementation of a constructive scheme of collective decision-making, which is based on the Bayesian strategy, for the selection of investment projects to solve the socio-economic problem of Kyiv city. The relevance of this study is that in the absence of an objective and transparent system for selecting investment projects and with a limited regional budget, the government should accept only those investment projects that bring the greatest socio-economic benefits. The main ways of state investment in projects aimed at improving socio-economic problems are considered. Among them are the State Fund for Regional Development and the public-private partnership program. It is determined that a significant advantage of public-private partnership over the State Fund for Regional Development is the ability to attract both public funds and private investment. Three projects aimed at solving the problem were selected from the website of the Kyiv Investment Agency, which operates within the framework of a public-private partnership. The financial indicators of their profitability were calculated – NPV (net present value), IRR (internal rate of return) and PI (profitability index). They are based on the concept of incoming and outgoing payments during the period of project execution. It is determined that these indicators do not always give a consistent result, as well as their main drawback – the inability to assess the social component. According to the methodology of collective decision-making by a group of independent experts in terms of the minimum average probability of error, calculations were made to determine the most attractive project. It is noted that all experts make decisions separately and independently of each other. Recommendations were provided for the selection of a specific project. The study identifies the advantages of this method of project acceptance for investment: objectivity, consistency and transparency. In the future, it is planned to incorporate risks into the decision-making model.The main areas that need improvement were considered, and key ones were selected. The most problematic and urgent is the issue of waste recycling in Kyiv. ; This article considers an implementation of a constructive scheme of collective decision-making, which is based on the Bayesian strategy, for the selection of investment projects to solve the socio-economic problem of Kyiv city. The relevance of this study is that in the absence of an objective and transparent system for selecting investment projects and with a limited regional budget, the government should accept only those investment projects that bring the greatest socio-economic benefits. The main ways of state investment in projects aimed at improving socio-economic problems are considered. Among them are the State Fund for Regional Development and the public-private partnership program. It is determined that a significant advantage of public-private partnership over the State Fund for Regional Development is the ability to attract both public funds and private investment. Three projects aimed at solving the problem were selected from the website of the Kyiv Investment Agency, which operates within the framework of a public-private partnership. The financial indicators of their profitability were calculated – NPV (net present value), IRR (internal rate of return) and PI (profitability index). They are based on the concept of incoming and outgoing payments during the period of project execution. It is determined that these indicators do not always give a consistent result, as well as their main drawback – the inability to assess the social component. According to the methodology of collective decision-making by a group of independent experts in terms of the minimum average probability of error, calculations were made to determine the most attractive project. It is noted that all experts make decisions separately and independently of each other. Recommendations were provided for the selection of a specific project. The study identifies the advantages of this method of project acceptance for investment: objectivity, consistency and transparency. In the future, it is planned to incorporate risks into the decision-making model.The main areas that need improvement were considered, and key ones were selected. The most problematic and urgent is the issue of waste recycling in Kyiv.

This article considers an implementation of a constructive scheme of collective decision-making, which is based on the Bayesian strategy, for the selection of investment projects to solve the socio-economic problem of Kyiv city. The relevance of this study is that in the absence of an objective and transparent system for selecting investment projects and with a limited regional budget, the government should accept only those investment projects that bring the greatest socio-economic benefits. The main ways of state investment in projects aimed at improving socio-economic problems are considered. Among them are the State Fund for Regional Development and the public-private partnership program. It is determined that a significant advantage of public-private partnership over the State Fund for Regional Development is the ability to attract both public funds and private investment. Three projects aimed at solving the problem were selected from the website of the Kyiv Investment Agency, which operates within the framework of a public-private partnership. The financial indicators of their profitability were calculated – NPV (net present value), IRR (internal rate of return) and PI (profitability index). They are based on the concept of incoming and outgoing payments during the period of project execution. It is determined that these indicators do not always give a consistent result, as well as their main drawback – the inability to assess the social component. According to the methodology of collective decision-making by a group of independent experts in terms of the minimum average probability of error, calculations were made to determine the most attractive project. It is noted that all experts make decisions separately and independently of each other. Recommendations were provided for the selection of a specific project. The study identifies the advantages of this method of project acceptance for investment: objectivity, consistency and transparency. In the future, it is planned to incorporate risks into the decision-making model.The main areas that need improvement were considered, and key ones were selected. The most problematic and urgent is the issue of waste recycling in Kyiv. ; This article considers an implementation of a constructive scheme of collective decision-making, which is based on the Bayesian strategy, for the selection of investment projects to solve the socio-economic problem of Kyiv city. The relevance of this study is that in the absence of an objective and transparent system for selecting investment projects and with a limited regional budget, the government should accept only those investment projects that bring the greatest socio-economic benefits. The main ways of state investment in projects aimed at improving socio-economic problems are considered. Among them are the State Fund for Regional Development and the public-private partnership program. It is determined that a significant advantage of public-private partnership over the State Fund for Regional Development is the ability to attract both public funds and private investment. Three projects aimed at solving the problem were selected from the website of the Kyiv Investment Agency, which operates within the framework of a public-private partnership. The financial indicators of their profitability were calculated – NPV (net present value), IRR (internal rate of return) and PI (profitability index). They are based on the concept of incoming and outgoing payments during the period of project execution. It is determined that these indicators do not always give a consistent result, as well as their main drawback – the inability to assess the social component. According to the methodology of collective decision-making by a group of independent experts in terms of the minimum average probability of error, calculations were made to determine the most attractive project. It is noted that all experts make decisions separately and independently of each other. Recommendations were provided for the selection of a specific project. The study identifies the advantages of this method of project acceptance for investment: objectivity, consistency and transparency. In the future, it is planned to incorporate risks into the decision-making model.The main areas that need improvement were considered, and key ones were selected. The most problematic and urgent is the issue of waste recycling in Kyiv.

This work was supported by the Latvian Council of Science , project NN-CARMA, project No. lzp-2018/1-0194. ; Background: This work studied how the exposure to an unusual substrate forced a change in microbial populations during anaerobic fermentation of crude glycerol, a by-product of biodiesel production, with freshwater sediment used as an inoculum. Results: The microbial associations almost completely (99.9%) utilized the glycerol contained in crude glycerol 6 g L−1 within four days, releasing gases, organic acids (acetic, butyric) and alcohols (ethanol, n-butanol) under anaerobic conditions. In comparison with control medium without glycerol, adding crude glycerol to the medium increased the amount of ethanol and n-butanol production and it was not significantly affected by incubation temperature (28 °C or 37 °C), nor incubation time (4 or 8 d), but it resulted in reduced amount of butyric acid. Higher volume of gas was produced at 37 °C despite the fact that the overall bacterial count was smaller than the one measured at 20 °C. Main microbial phyla of the inoculum were Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria and Firmicutes. During fermentation, significant changes were observed and Firmicutes, especially Clostridium spp., began to dominate, and the number of Actinobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria decreased accordingly. Concentration of Archaea decreased, especially in medium with crude glycerol. These changes were confirmed both by culturing and culture-independent (concentration of 16S rDNA) methods. Conclusions: Crude glycerol led to the adaptation of freshwater sediment microbial populations to this substrate. Changes of microbial community were a result of a community adaptation to a new source of carbon. How to cite: Paiders M, Nikolajeva V, Makarenkova G, et al. Changes in freshwater sediment microbial populations during fermentation of crude glycerol. ; Latvian Council of Science lzp-2018/1-0194; Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART²

International audience ; The aim of this article is to propose an articulation between the so-called French discourse analysis and the notions of intersectionality and decoloniality that are currently at work in the human and social sciences in France. It describes the conditions of an alternative epistemology capable of decentring knowledge and intellectual technologies of the discipline, and suggests ways of reworking its theoretical apparatus in order to take into account in linguistic analysis the conditions of existence of subjects and their journeys from one world to another within a pluriverse framework. We first define the chosen version of intersectionality and the decolonial perspective, showing what they can bring to discourse analysis as an enriching and emancipating perspective. We then specify the contours of an alternative epistemology, on the level of knowledge and methods, by insisting on the questions of the points of view and experiences of the subjects, and on the scientific as well as political choice of references and quotations. Finally, we propose the notion of coloniality of discourse, which allows us to rework in an intersectional decolonial dimension the questions of denomination and subjectivity. ; L'objectif de cet article est de proposer une articulation entre l'analyse du discours dite française et les notions d'intersectionnalité et de décolonialité qui travaillent actuellement les sciences humaines et sociales en France. Il décrit les conditions d'une épistémologie alternative apte à décentrer les savoirs et les technologies intellectuelles de la discipline, et suggère des manières de retravailler son appareillage théorique pour prendre en compte dans l'analyse linguistique les conditions d'existence des sujets et leurs voyages d'un monde à l'autre dans le cadre d'un plurivers. On définit d'abord la version de l'intersectionnalité choisie et la perspective décoloniale, en montrant ce qu'elles peuvent apporter à l'analyse du discours comme perspective enrichissante et émancipatrice. On précise ensuite les contours d'une épistémologie alternative, sur le plan des savoirs et des méthodes, en insistant sur les questions des points de vue et des expériences des sujets, et sur le choix tant scientifique que politique des références et des citations. On propose enfin la notion de colonialité du discours, qui permet de retravailler dans une dimension intersectionnelle décoloniale les questions de la dénomination et de la subjectivité.

The transition to a circular economy (CE) remains an anticipated future with alternative pathways for its fulfillment. Most research on CE is normative about technological approaches and interpretations for production and sustainable development. However, critical reviews of CE help understand that CE's emergence is constrained to current dominant goals. As a set of imagined futures, the visions of CE are produced and shared in discursive practices. We hypothesize that the existence of alternative discourses about CE originates from alignment with or divergence from current dominant goals. Green growth holds the dominant position as a goal in the European discourse about CE. In this study, we present an empirical case of an emerging CE in the region of Trøndelag in Norway. This case uses qualitative data collected through interviews with informants in the public and private sectors (profit and non-profit organizations). The analysis of these interviews involved the use of a discourse coalition framework as a method. We identified three discourse coalitions: 1) Waste as resources: a vision of better product design and waste sorting technologies making recycling more efficient. 2) Sharing economy: a vision of industrial symbiosis, and new business models for local commercial offerings in sharing, reuse, repair of products. 3) Reduction of individual consumption: a vision of individual changes in lifestyle, coupled with local services and skill acquisition/transfer for reuse and repair. The first two operate in alignment with the political goal of green growth. The third one diverges by questioning it and setting focus on individual consumption reduction. We found discursive competition in CE when the focus is on the goal underlying its enactment. From this finding, we raise the question of which kinds of technological implementation and political challenges would come from shifting CE's policy goal to reducing individual consumption. To illustrate an alternative CE that emerges from consumption reduction, we discuss its implications based on the insights from our empirical case. The main contribution of the article is to provide evidence and an example of an emerging aspect that can be integrated more prominently in CE and that requires a stance that is not based on economic growth. ; publishedVersion ; © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Institution of Chemical Engineers. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

How do changes in climatic conditions and disaster patterns affect the persistence of civil unrest across countries over time? Existing studies postulate that changing climate conditions will exacerbate various social conflicts through their impacts on degraded environmental and economic conditions, which is further conditional on political institutions. Nevertheless, there are two major pitfalls in the existing studies. First, vulnerability as a major underlying mechanism has been used as an umbrella term or been presumed. Using vulnerability as an umbrella term has a detrimental effect on climate-conflict theory-building because it prevents scholars from deriving testable empirical implications for relevant concepts. Second, previous research has pinpointed the importance of political institutions in moderating impacts of climate on conflict, but the literature says little about what aspects of political institutions might aggravate or alleviate vulnerability to climate in ways that are simmering or amplifying civil strife. Using the structural causal approach and machine learning methods, this dissertation improves the identification of the mediation effect of vulnerability and the moderation effect of political institutions on the climate-conflict relationship. The important mechanisms and implications revealed by this study are twofold. First, this dissertation finds that the impacts of extreme climatic events are more important in shaping local vulnerability than that of annual weather variations, and that adaptive capacity is more important than economic sensitivity in mitigating local vulnerability. Annual weather variations (i.e., the slow-moving mechanics) have a significant impact on cumulative conflict hazards, whereas extreme climatic events (i.e., the fast-moving drivers) fuel onset of a new conflict. In the presence of socio-psychological vulnerabilities, an increase in annual weather variations can boil new conflicts. Second, the state capacity is more important than democracy in exacerbating a country's vulnerability to climate, and the degree of executive bribery especially plays a crucial role in moderating the impacts of vulnerability to climate on civil conflict. However, of different aspects of democracy, freedom of academic and cultural expression has the most important moderating effect on conflict. What is striking is the role of socio-psychological vulnerability in transmitting the impacts of extreme climate and weather variations on civil conflict. Mainstream conflict theory has shown that institutional and economic conditions are the most important factors determining conflicts even though socio-psychological factors are meaningful contexts. However, this present study shows that socio-psychological vulnerability is more important than institutional and economic conditions in shaping civil conflict.

Background Humans are regularly exposed to metals and metalloids present in air, water, food, soil and domestic materials. Most of them can cross the placental barrier and cause adverse impacts on the developing foetus. Objectives To describe the prenatal concentrations of metals and metalloids and to study the associated sociodemographic, environmental and dietary factors in pregnant Spanish women. Methods Subjects were 1346 pregnant women of the INMA Project, for whom the following metals arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), antimony (Sb), selenium (Se), thallium (Tl) and zinc (Zn) were determined in urine, at both the first and the third trimesters of gestation. Sociodemographic, dietary and environmental information was collected through questionnaires during pregnancy. Multiple linear mixed models were built in order to study the association between each metal and metalloid concentrations and the sociodemographic, environmental and dietary factors. Results The most detected compounds were As, Co, Mo, Sb, Se and Zn at both trimesters. Zn was the element found in the highest concentrations at both trimesters and Tl was detected in the lowest concentrations. We observed significant associations between As, Cd, Cu, Sb, Tl and Zn concentrations and working situation, social class and age. Seafood, meat, fruits, nuts, vegetables and alcohol intake affected the levels of all the metals but Cd and Cu. Proximity to industrial areas, fields and air pollution were related to all metals except Cd, Sb and Se. Conclusions This is the first large prospective longitudinal study on the exposure to metals and metalloids during pregnancy and associated factors to include several cohorts in Spain. The present study shows that some modifiable lifestyles, food intakes and environmental factors could be associated with prenatal exposure to metal(loid)s, which may be considered in further studies to assess their relationship with neonatal health outcomes. ; This study was funded by Grants from EU (FP7-ENV-2011 cod 282957 and HEALTH.2010.2.4.5–1); Spain: ISCIII (Red INMA G03/176, CB06/02/0041; FIS-FEDER: PI03/1615, PI04/1509, PI04/1112, PI04/1931, PI05/1079, PI05/1052, PI06/0867, PI06/1213, PI07/0314, PI09/00090, PI09/02647, PI11/01007, PI11/02591, PI11/02038, PI13/1944, PI13/2032, PI13/02187, PI14/00891, PI14/01687, PI16/1288, PI17/00663, PI18/01142 and PI19/1338; Miguel Servet FEDER MS15/00025, MS20/0006, CPII16/00051, and FIS-FSE: 17/ 00260); CIBERESP; Generalitat Valenciana: FISABIO (UGP 15–230, UGP-15-244, and UGP-15-249), AICO/2020/285, and Alicia Koplowitz Foundation 2017; Generalitat de Catalunya-CIRIT 1999SGR 00241; Department of Health of the Basque Government (2005111093, 2009111069, 2013111089 and 2015111065); Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa (DFG06/002, DFG08/001 and DFG15/221). We acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the "Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa 2019–2023" Programme (CEX2018000806-S), and from the Generalitat de Catalunya through the CERCA Programme, as well as the municipalities in the study area. ; Peer reviewed

This PhD thesis seeks to contribute towards closing a research gap in the knowledge about the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) as an African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) authorised peace enforcement operation. In so doing, the study covers the period 2007-2017 and attempts to fulfil three broad objectives. Firstly, it examines the implementation of AMISOM mandate amidst foreign interventions and their underlying implications for the strategic AU-UN partnership. Secondly, the thesis attempts to examine any significant changes towards the implementation of the mandate by assessing the evolution of AMISOM's decade-long presence in Somalia. The analysis focuses on whether AMISOM has morphed into an exercise in self-interest or still pursuing the shared strategic objectives for which it was established. Thirdly, the study confronts the theoretical idea imposed by Western ideologies to export liberal democracy through peacekeeping operations, especially as it relates to regional peace operations. In a sense, it contrasts between liberalism and realism vis-à-vis peacekeeping operations in order to account for the case of AMISOM given the involvement of frontline states whose realist strategy in Somalia has presented a major dilemma. Given the latitude, the study adopts an interdisciplinary and mixed methodology approach in its analysis of foreign interventions and the pursuit of illicit commercial interests in a conflict economy milieu marked by attempts to counter al-Shabaab in Somalia. As a qualitative research, the study relies on primary and secondary data sources including relevant articles and journals, although aspects of quantitative method have also been used where appropriate. ; Esta tese de doutoramento visa contribuir para o preenchimento de uma lacuna de pesquisa no conhecimento sobre a Missão da União Africana na Somália (AMISOM), como uma operação de imposição da paz autorizada pela União Africana (UA) e endossada pelas Nações Unidas (ONU). O âmbito do estudo abrange o período 2007- 2017 e ambiciona cumprir três objetivos principais. Em primeiro lugar, examina a implementação do mandato da AMISOM no meio de intervenções estrangeiras e as suas implicações subjacentes para a parceria estratégica UA-ONU. Em segundo lugar, a tese tenta examinar quaisquer mudanças significativas em relação à implementação do mandato, avaliando a evolução da AMISOM após uma década de presença na Somália. A análise concentra-se em determinar se a AMISOM se transformou num exercício em interesse próprio ou se ainda persegue os objetivos estratégicos comuns para os quais foi estabelecida. Em terceiro lugar, o estudo confronta a ideia teórica imposta pelas ideologias ocidentais para exportar a democracia liberal por meio de operações de manutenção da paz, especialmente no que se refere as operações de paz regionais. Em certo sentido, contrasta entre liberalismo e realismo face às operações de manutenção da paz com vista a contextualizar o caso da AMISOM, dado o envolvimento dos Estados da linha da frente, cuja estratégia realista na Somália apresentou um grande dilema. Dada a latitude, o estudo adopta uma abordagem metodológica interdisciplinar e mista, na análise de intervenções estrangeiras e a prossecução de interesses comerciais ilícitos, num ambiente de economia de guerra marcado por tentativas de conter o "al-Shabaab" na Somália. Tratando-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, o estudo baseia-se principalmente em fontes primárias e secundárias, incluindo artigos e periódicos relevantes, embora alguns aspectos do método quantitativo tenham sido também aplicados.

Classical works on authoritarian politics mostly considered political institutions under nondemocratic regimes as mere window dressing. Yet, contemporary works dispute that idea and argue that political institutions are used to facilitate survival in power. This dissertation explored how political institutions are manipulated by the political class and the potential factors why this has contributed to political instability and lack of survival in power in Guinea-Bissau from 1994-2019, differently from what we observe in other non-democratic societies. To achieve this goal, qualitative methods and thematic analysis were carried out with three major themes emerging. First, the manipulation of institutions for survival; second, the use of institutions for co-optation and the challenges of power-sharing; third, credible threat in relation to minimization of loss. Findings of this work show the following; first, institutions in Guinea-Bissau; the legislature and political parties are the root causes of instability rather than survival. Second, leaders do co-opt potential opponents but they do not redistribute rent and power sufficiently to ensure that co-optation eliminates the risk of coups. Third, political parties are important but with weak structures, very vertical and unable to distribute rent and to anticipate threats. Fourth, political parties pose credible threats to each other due to their use of military force but access to government and parliamentary or party positions are not a guarantee that opponents will not try to oppressively remove leaders from power. Therefore, the risk of manipulating institutions for survival comes with threats, and these threats have been the driven force for instability since 1994. ; A maioria dos clássicos sobre política autoritária considerava as instituições políticas em regimes não-democráticos como mera fachada. No entanto, as obras contemporâneas tendem a disputar essa ideia e argumentam que as instituições políticas são usadas para facilitar a sobrevivência no poder. Esta dissertação explora a forma como as instituições políticas são manipuladas pela classe política e os possíveis fatores que fazem com que as instituições contribuam para a instabilidade política e a falta de sobrevivência no poder na Guiné-Bissau entre 1994-2019 contrariamente ao que se sucede na maioria dos regimes não democráticos. A fim de alcançar este objetivo, foram utilizados métodos qualitativos e uma análise de três grandes temas. Primeiro, a manipulação de instituições para a sobrevivência; segundo, a utilização de instituições para a cooptação e os desafios da partilha de poder; terceiro, a ameaça credível em relação à minimização da perda. Os resultados deste trabalho mostram o seguinte: primeiro, as instituições na Guiné-Bissau, o parlamento e os partidos políticos são as causas profundas da instabilidade e não da sobrevivência; segundo, os líderes cooptam potenciais opositores mas não redistribuem suficientemente a renda e o poder para assegurar que a cooptação elimina o risco de golpes de Estado; terceiro, os partidos políticos são importantes mas têm estruturas fracas, muito verticais e incapazes de distribuir a renda e de antecipar ameaças; quarto, os partidos políticos representam ameaças credíveis entre si devido ao uso da força militar mas o acesso ao governo e as posições parlamentares ou partidárias não são garantia de que os opositores não tentem remover opressivamente os líderes do poder. Por conseguinte, o risco de manipulação das instituições para sobreviver no poder vem com ameaças, e estas ameaças têm sido a força motriz da instabilidade desde 1994.

6 figures, 6 tables.-- Supplementary material available. ; Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, is a complex disease, with a variety of clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic infection or mild cold-like symptoms to more severe cases requiring hospitalization and critical care. The most severe presentations seem to be related with a delayed, deregulated immune response leading to exacerbated inflammation and organ damage with close similarities to sepsis. ; [Methods]: In order to improve the understanding on the relation between host immune response and disease course, we have studied the differences in the cellular (monocytes, CD8+ T and NK cells) and soluble (cytokines, chemokines and immunoregulatory ligands) immune response in blood between Healthy Donors (HD), COVID19 and a group of patients with non-COVID19 respiratory tract infections (NON-COV-RTI). In addition, the immune response profile has been analyzed in COVID19 patients according to disease severity. ; [Results]: In comparison to HDs and patients with NON-COV-RTI, COVID19 patients show a heterogeneous immune response with the presence of both activated and exhausted CD8+ T and NK cells characterised by the expression of the immune checkpoint LAG3 and the presence of the adaptive NK cell subset. An increased frequency of adaptive NK cells and a reduction of NK cells expressing the activating receptors NKp30 and NKp46 correlated with disease severity. Although both activated and exhausted NK cells expressing LAG3 were increased in moderate/severe cases, unsupervised cell clustering analyses revealed a more complex scenario with single NK cells expressing more than one immune checkpoint (PD1, TIM3 and/or LAG3). A general increased level of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines was found in COVID19 patients, some of which like IL18, IL1RA, IL36B and IL31, IL2, IFNα and TNFα, CXCL10, CCL2 and CCL8 were able to differentiate between COVID19 and NON-COV-RTI and correlated with bad prognosis (IL2, TNFα, IL1RA, CCL2, CXCL10 and CXCL9). Notably, we found that soluble NKG2D ligands from the MIC and ULBPs families were increased in COVID19 compared to NON-COV-RTI and correlated with disease severity. ; [Conclusions:] Our results provide a detailed comprehensive analysis of the presence of activated and exhausted CD8+T, NK and monocyte cell subsets as well as extracellular inflammatory factors beyond cytokines/chemokines, specifically associated to COVID19. Importantly, multivariate analysis including clinical, demographical and immunological experimental variables have allowed us to reveal specific immune signatures to i) differentiate COVID19 from other infections and ii) predict disease severity and the risk of death. ; The authors would like to thank the Biobank of the Aragon Health System integrated in the Spanish National Biobanks Network and the Servicios Científico Técnicos de Citometria de Flujo del CIBA for their collaboration. Work in the JP laboratory is funded by the FEDER (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional, Gobierno de Aragón, Group B29_17R), Health National Institute Carlos III (COV20-00308), Aragón Government (Fondo COVID-19), Fundación Santander-Universidad de Zaragoza (Programa COVID-19), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (SAF2017-83120-C2-1-R; PID2020-113963RBI00), Fundación Inocente, ASPANOA and Carrera de la Mujer de Monzón. EMG is funded by Agencia Estatal de Investigación (SAF2017-83120-C2-1-R and PID2020-113963RB-I00). IUM and SH are supported by a PhD fellowship from Aragon Government, CP by a PhD fellowship from AECC, LS by a PhD fellowship (FPI) from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. DDM is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship 'Sara Borrell', and MA is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship 'Juan de la Cierva-incorporacion' from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. EM and BGT are supported by Rio Hortega contract. JP is supported by the ARAID Foundation. ; Peer reviewed

Doutoramento em Economia ; By focusing on the relationship between financial stability and monetary policy for the cases of Chile, Colombia, Japan, Portugal and the UK, this thesis aims to add to the existing literature on the fundamental issue of the relationship between financial stability and monetary policy, a traditional topic that gained importance in the aftermath of the GFC as Central Banks lowered policy rates in an effort to rescue their economies. As the zero-lower bound loomed and the reach of traditional monetary policy narrowed, policy makers realised that alternative frameworks were needed and hence, macroprudential policy measures aimed at targeting the financial system as a whole were introduced. The second chapter looks at the relationship between monetary policy and financial stability, which has gained importance in recent years as Central Bank policy rates neared the zero-lower bound. We use an SVAR model to study the impact of monetary policy shocks on three proxies for financial stability as well as a proxy for economic growth. Monetary policy is represented by policy rates for the EMEs and shadow rates for the AEs in our chapter. Our main results show that monetary policy may be used to correct asset mispricing, to control fluctuations in the real business cycle and also to tame credit cycles in the majority of cases. Our results also show that for the majority of cases, in line with theory, local currencies appreciate following a positive monetary policy shock. Monetary policy intervention may indeed be successful in contributing to or achieving financial stability. However, the results show that monetary policy may not have the ability to maintain or re-establish financial stability in all cases. Alternative policy choices such as macroprudential policy tool frameworks which are aimed at targeting the financial system as a whole may be implemented as a means of fortifying the economy. The third chapter looks at the institutional setting of the countries in question, the independence of the Central Bank, the political environment and the impact of these factors on financial Abstract stability. I substantiate the literature review discussion with a brief empirical analysis of the effect of Central Bank Independence on credit growth using an existing database created by Romelli (2018). The empirical results show that there is a positive relationship between credit growth and the level of Central Bank Independence (CBI) due to the positive and statistically significant coefficient on the interaction term between growth in domestic credit to the private sector and the level of CBI. When considering domestic credit by deposit money banks and other financial institutions, the interaction term is positive and statistically significant for the case of the UK for the third regression equation. A number of robustness checks show that the coefficient is positive and statistically significant for a number of cases when implementing a variety of estimation methods. Fluctuations in credit growth are larger for higher levels of CBI and hence, in periods of financial instability or ultimately financial crises, CBI would be reined back in an effort to re-establish financial stability. Based on the empirical results, and in an effort to slow down surging credit supply and to maintain financial stability, policy makers and governmental authorities should attempt to decrease the level of CBI when the economy shows signs of overheating and credit supply continues to increase. The fourth chapter looks at the interaction between macroprudential policy and financial stability. The unexpected interconnectedness of the global economy and the economic blight that occurred as a result of this, recapitulated the need to implement an alternative policy framework aimed at targeting the financial system as a whole and hence, targeting the maintenance of financial stability. In this chapter, an index of domestic macroprudential policy tools is constructed and the effectiveness of these tools in controlling credit growth, managing GDP growth and stabilising inflation growth is studied using a dynamic panel data model for the period between 2000 and 2017. The empirical analysis includes two panels namely an EU panel of 27 countries and a Latin American panel of 7 countries, the chapter also looks at a case study of Japan, Portugal and the UK. Our main results find that a tighter macroprudential policy tool stance leads to a decrease in both credit growth and GDP growth while, a tighter macroprudential policy tool stance results in higher inflation in the majority of cases. Further, we find that capital openness plays a more important role in the case of Latin America, this may be due to the region's dependence on foreign capital flows and exchange rate movements. Lastly, we find that, in times of higher perceived market volatility, GDP growth tends to be higher and inflation growth tends to be lower in the EU. In the other cases, higher levels of perceived market volatility result in higher inflation, higher credit growth and lower GDP Abstract growth. This is in line with expectations as an increase in perceived market volatility is met with an increased flow of assets into safer markets such as the EU. This thesis establishes a relationship between financial stability and monetary policy by studying the response of Chile, Colombia, Japan, Portugal and the UK in the aftermath of the GFC as Central Banks lowered policy rates in an effort to rescue their economies. In short, the results of the work conducted in this thesis may be summarised as follows. Our results show that monetary policy contributes to the achievement of financial stability. Still, monetary policy alone is not sufficient and should be reinforced by less traditional policy choices such as macroprudential policy tools. Secondly, we find that the level of CBI should be reined in in times of surging credit supply in an effort to maintain financial stability. Finally, we conclude that macroprudential policy tools play an important role in the achievement of financial stability. These tools should complement traditional monetary policy frameworks and should be adapted for each region. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion