 The percentage of more experienced scientists, aged between 45 and 64 has increased by an average of 3.3% annually since 2001, according to a report released this week by the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) . This institution warns of aging population in the field of science in Europe, which can lead to a loss of knowledge.
Eurostat, the European Bureau of Statistics indicate that as the population ages, Europe needs to ensure the retention of knowledge gained with such effort by scientists. In his report states: “You must follow carefully the effect of aging workers, especially in relation to the sector is highly qualified workforce, to ensure knowledge transfer. The reserve or stock of human resources science and technology is a way to measure this. ”
According to latest figures, a total of 85 million human resources in science and technology (HRST) in Europe in 2006, the proportion of workers between 45 and 64 years in the field of science was almost 40 %. However, the age structure is not uniform. The age of HRST, which by definition have completed tertiary studies or employed in any occupation of S & T, varies widely. By country, statistics show that Bulgaria has the older workers in the field of science, with 46% of those over 45 years of age. Bulgaria is closely followed by Germany, Finland and Sweden. “These are also countries with a relatively higher HRST population, and we know that aging in these countries is mainly due to aging of the large cohort of baby boom post-war”, explained from Eurostat. By contrast, Ireland and Spain, people working in science and technology are much younger: only 30% are over 45 years. “One reason is the overall distribution of ages at the national level, since both Ireland and Spain have more people aged 25 to 34 years the EU average (17% compared with 14% in 2006), indicated in report, but adds that it “is only a partial explanation. At the same time, older employees in the field of science and technology have shown much less mobility than their younger colleagues between 2005 and 2006: the average of all employed HRST in the EU was 6.2%, which that already is a very high figure, is indicated in the report. However, the figure for those aged 45 years was even lower, reaching only 2.9%. “As expected, labor mobility between HRST tends to decrease with age,” the report said. “When you are nearing the end of his career, he often feels satisfied with what you have and are not willing to risk changing their working environment. However, Denmark and Britain are both considerably greater mobility among younger as among older men, amounting to 7.9% (45 to 64 years) in Denmark and 5.9% (45 to 64) in the United Kingdom, a fact that the report is attributed to labor market policies as the Danish model “flexicurity”. Finally, “mobility of HRST within the same country can be considered a way to stimulate the economy, and that results in a valuable transfer of knowledge”, is indicated in the Eurostat report, echoing the statement of Lisbon.
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 A few months ago, a group of Spanish university conducted a “listening experience” of the International Affective Sounds (IADS), a standardized set of 110 sounds used to study emotions. This has been the basis of a study now reveals that no significant differences between the response given by women and men or between that provided by the Spanish on the Americans.
The IADS is a database of everyday sounds and easily identified, with a minimum cultural burden that the scientific community can use with any population. The creator of this model is sound study Professor Peter J. Lang, of the Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida (USA). They were digitized in 1999 of 110 non-verbal sounds that explores the emotions, such as birdsong, the sound of a drill, a yawn or a scream of terror. To assess the emotions those sounds convey the American team also developed a three-dimensional system called “Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM), which uses graphic scales through drawings and cartoons.
The Spanish adaptation of this model has now been done by psychologist Enrique García Fernández-Abascal, National University of Distance Education. In her 1716 students have participated, of whom 1136 were women. Fernandez-Abascal told SINC that the sounds were assessed according to the three emotion scales proposed by Lang “dimension affective valence, Which estimates the level that produces like or dislike what you hear, the dimensions of activation, Which assesses the intensity of emotional response produced, and the size of dominance, Which measures the degree of control which is believed to have emotional situation.
Participants in the experiment to quantify these dimensions using the graphic scales of SAM. Thus, the size of affective valence displayed at one end by a happy, smiling figure, and in the other, the other unhappy with a frown. Similarly, another scale is used for dimension activation, Ranging from an active figure with eyes wide open to another relaxed with eyes closed, and in the case of the dominance is represented from a very small figure (dominated) on one end to another very large (dominant) in the other.
The results and graphics, boomerang-shaped, obtained with the Spanish responses were similar to those produced in the United States, so authors of the study show the suitability of the IADS stimuli to elicit emotional responses similar people from different countries and cultures.
Fernandez-Abascal model emphasizes that this instrument is a “high interest” as it allows you to select sounds that produce a specific type of emotional response, and explore in a person’s emotional map, “delineating their biases, or according to their degree of evolutionary emotional maturation.
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Bibliographic Reference:
Enrique G. Fernández-Abascal, Pedro Guerra, Francisco Martínez, Francisco J. Dominguez, Miguel Á. Munoz, Damian A. Egea, María D. Martín, José Luis Mata, Sonia Rodriguez and Jaime Vila. “The international affective digitized sounds (IADS): Spanish norms”. Psicothema 20(1): 104-113 2008.
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 After three years of work, a study on the organization and training of social groups has revealed that humor is one of the key pieces in the process of creating and maintaining groups ‘anti’. The analysis, unique in Spain, has been developed by the researcher with the Department of Political Science and Sociology at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Cristina Flesher Fominaya.
The methodology used to prepare the study was based on the participation-observation system by which, the research conducted over thirty interviews at various levels to obtain reliable conclusions about it. Specifically, Flesher study focused on three anti-globalization groups in Madrid: European Social Consulta, Horizontal Space Against the War and the Laboratory of Disobedience, which showed a link between mood and cohesion of the group itself. The work is the result of the development of the doctoral thesis of Cristina Flesher between 2002 and 2005.
The so-called social control groups tend to reject direct links with political institutions, even leftist, basing their organization in a system of principles of horizontality, diversity, self-organizing, democratic participation and direct action. According to researcher UC3MCristina Flesher, “social groups with few resources, both financial and institutional, can use humor as a tool of political struggle.”
Humor as a form of cohesion
The work explains the role of humor while facing social group cohesion, such as how they use this tool anticapitalist groups themselves facing the institutions. The explicit use of humor as a political tool is something that still is not accepted by certain sectors of social movements in Madrid, and they think they can ignore the seriousness of their demands and criticisms. However, “the subversive humor has enough power” and “anti-humor little can be done,” says the researcher. On the very cohesion of social control groups, the study highlights that in such heterogeneous environments, humor also plays a role in the formation of collective identity. This is manifested in different areas as the creation of myths, jokes in common, charismatic leadership, membership and integration in the political arena.
Internet has changed the type and organization of anti-establishment groups, although not yet known whether positively or negatively. For Flesher, “The Web has increased the power of convocation and the ability to disseminate information, but also had some negative effects on group cohesion. Work is the only one that relates the humor and anti groups produced in Spain, and is located in a very concrete, the city of Madrid.
The article, entitled “The role of humor in the process of collective identity formation in autonomous social movement groups in contemporary Madrid” (The role of humor in the process of collective identity formation of groups of autonomous social movements in contemporary Madrid ) has been published in a special issue of the journal International review of social history engaged in social struggle and humor.
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 A team of researchers from different universities, with participation of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), made a scientific study that analyzes the functional disability of persons aged 65 years and their relationship with age, gender and education , among other parameters. The results indicate that in Spain, women and people with low education tend to have greater disability and functional limitations.
According to the authors of the study, education and education level are factors closely related to the dependency of the elderly. “Older people who had low levels of education have had more hardships throughout his life, being more exposed to social and economic adversity and have less access to resources such as good nutrition and good housing,” explains one of the study’s authors, Victoria Zunzunegui, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Montreal (Canada). “These exhibitions – adds increased risk of chronic disorders and disability in old age.” Moreover, there are factors that increase the risk of certain chronic conditions in the female gender. “Due to stratification by gender, women have less education, worse jobs, lower income and fewer social and economic resources throughout their lives, so they tend to have greater functional disability in old age,” says Zunzunegui.
To do this research took advantage of data from a study that began in 1993 and was entitled “Aging in Leganes” which evaluates the support and the role of social networks in maintaining health and functionality of the Spanish elderly population. This will be tracked 1,540 older people in this town on the Community of Madrid between 1993 and 1999. “The sample size is large enough to provide interesting results, but what matters is not just size,” explains Maria Durban, a researcher on the project, the Department of Statistics UC3M. “According to national health survey of the year when the study began – more – The distribution by sex, marital status and education Leganés elderly population was similar to that of Spain as a whole, thus we can assume that this sample is representative of the Spanish elderly population, “he concludes.
Another conclusion that can be extracted from the article, published in the journal Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, is that the age at which disability has been shown delayed in Spain, where an aging population is important. “In 1999 the probability of disability in everyday activities at age 80 was about 20 percent, while in 1993 was 28 percent,” says Maria Durban. Thus, by delaying the age at which disability occurs and lengthen life expectancy, will see a new group of elderly people, mostly women, who concentrate high levels of disability and need assistance to remain at home. “The goal is to die more and without disabilities – precisely Zunzunegui -. The question is whether we have a class of centenarians with a poor quality of life that will consume many resources with high concentrations of disability. “
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 Dr. Miguel Angel Martinez Lopez, professor of Sociology at the Complutense University, has conducted over the past few years a study on the motion ‘squat’ in which it is concluded that this social phenomenon is much more open than you think and has exerted a substantial influence on the formation of anti-globalization movements.
The movement ‘squatter’ exists in Spain for over 20 years. “Beyond the protests of activists and the arrests and demonstrations that we see through the media, the truth is that he has accumulated extensive experience in the study of local political struggle,” says Miguel Angel Martinez Lopez, a sociology professor at UCM and the author of this latest study.
The counter element associated with squatting is not an exclusive feature of Spanish culture, but a common feature in Europe. In America the movement of squatters was promoted from various organizations assisting the homeless. Anyway, what is observed is that the resistance of every social group to oppressive living conditions generates a particular culture that includes specific forms of speech, dress, rules on value and loyalty to the group, identities and values, as well as friends and romantic partners.
The movement ‘squat’ in Spain has flexible boundaries and consists of different types of components such as fans, activists, residents and ‘users’ of social activities and cultural centers are organized into self-managed, which play a role social far more important than mere buildings used for residential purposes only.
Moreover, the movement ‘squatter’ Spanish, like what happens in other countries of the European environment tends to inbreeding and to protect the signs of their own identity. His claims do not focus on a single demand, scarcity and access to housing in Spain, but the movement includes critical to macroeconomic policy and administration of housing policy and cultural spaces by powers public.
The utopias of this movement have been historically limited to a particular social space. However, we can say that the movement has gradually opened up to participation in other types of social movements like the anti-globalization. Some people wonder if the squatting runs the risk of being subsumed within this “movement of movements” which for some it remains ephemeral. But the movement ‘squatter’ has its own identity issues, inspired by the slogans of the new social movements after 1968. The politicization of social spaces and experience in public affairs knowledge gained over the years, this movement has greatly inspired the anti-globalization movements.
Moreover, the ambiguous attitude of the judges on the legal challenges posed by the movement ‘squatters’ and the various social movements in our country in relation to access to housing confirm the importance of the social impact of the movement. Therefore, we can say that the practices and anti-utopian utopian movement have achieved a substantial part of social legitimacy, both locally and globally.
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