La tesis estudia cómo el gobierno de Felipe V durante los años de la Guerra de Sucesión superó los obstáculos que impedían la designación de los criollos para una institución clave en el gobierno del Nuevo Mundo, la Real Audiencia de México. Se explica cómo la Corona blandió el discurso financiero, la ‘pública necesidad’, para conseguir una finalidad política: la implicación de los americanos en el gobierno del virreinato. De esta manera, la autoridad real se impuso sobre instituciones americanas y peninsulares interesadas en mantener el ostracismo de los criollos. Se cambió la forma jurídica de la donación regia de los cargos públicos al implantar la gracia sobre la merced. Los americanos ofrecían más garantías que los metropolitanos para aplicar una política colonial más eficiente, acorde con la autonomía garantizada por el derecho indiano. Al finalizar el conflicto, la tesis opuesta al nombramiento de los criollos en la audiencia mexicana se impuso a través de la visita general de Francisco Garzarón. La reacción de los americanos no se hizo esperar y llegó de la mano de Juan Antonio de Ahumada, abogado del tribunal mexicano, mediante una representación dirigida al monarca en la cual se reivindicaban los derechos jurídicos que amparaban a los criollos y los beneficios políticos que aportaban a la Corona. / This thesis studies how during the Succession War Philip V’s government overcame the obstacles that prevented the appointment of the creoles for a crucial institution in the government of the New World, the Royal Audience of Mexico. It is explained how the Crown defended the financial discourse, the “public necessity”, to achieve a political aim: the American involvement in the government of the viceroyalty. Thus, the royal authority imposed on American and peninsular institutions interested in maintaining the creoles’ ostracism. The legal form of the royal donation of the public offices was changed when grace was instituted on mercy. The Americans offered more guarantees than the metropolitans to apply a more efficient colonial policy, in accordance with the autonomy ensured by the Indian right. At the end of the conflict, the opposite view to the appointment of the creoles in the Mexican audience was established through the general visit of Francisco Garzarón. The American reaction soon emerged with Juan Antonio de Ahumada, a Mexican trial court lawyer, through a representation addressed viii to the monarch in which the legal rights that protected the creoles were reclaimed as well as the political benefits that they provided to the Crown.

La recerca pren com a punt de partença la consolidació de les formes institucionals d'una tradició mèdica desenvolupada pel govern de la ciutat de Barcelona al llarg dels segles XVI i XVII, enteses com a representació pública dels seus interessos polítics. La guerra de Successió i les reformes introduïdes en aquesta matèria per les autoritats borbòniques escapçaren aquella tradició i no es fonamentaren en cap projecte de renovació científica. La tesi analitza les estratègies desenvolupades, al marge del model professional imposat, pels professionals de la medicina des de mitjan segle, tot centrant l'atenció en l'estudi del projecte i dels seus representants que cercava una nova professionalització de la medicina en el marc d'un nou encaix de la realitat política catalana dintre de la corona espanyola. La recerca planteja alhora la implantació de la medicina universitària a Catalunya a partir de l'estudi de la contractació de professionals per part dels municipis i de les formes associatives urbanes d'auxili mutu en la malaltia i en la mort. / The institutional forms of a medical tradition developed by the city of Barcelona throughout the 16th and 17th centuries are taken as starting point of this research. The war of Succession and the reforms carried out on this matter by the Bourbon authorities not only broke the former tradition but also did not lay its foundations in any project of scientific renewal. This thesis studies the strategies developed, in the margin of the professional model imposed, by the Catalan medical practitioners from the middle of the century, by looking at the project, and its representatives, that searched for a new kind of medical professionalization in the context of a new insertion of the Catalan society into the Spanish crown. This research also poses the question of how university medicine did spread in Catalonia through the study of the municipal engagement of medical practitioners and the urban friendly societies that provided mutual help in times of sickness and death.

En el presente trabajo se intenta reconstruir la teoría general de Karl Marx tomando como eje la concepción específicamente materialista de “práctica” que dicho autor introduce a través de una original traducción histórico-social de las críticas feuerbachianas de la religión y de la filosofía hegeliana. Este nuevo materialismo, que se centra en la práctica entendida como la actividad humana objetivamente transformadora de la realidad natural y social –y, por tanto, como un elemento material que condiciona profundamente a la actividad cognitiva–, es presentado como una inversión de la tradicional subordinación de la práctica al conocimiento. Se analiza también de qué maneras ese materialismo práctico atraviesa toda la teoría marxiana –desde antes de las equívocas Tesis sobre Feuerbach–, y cómo va enriqueciéndose y complejizándose notablemente a lo largo de los años, sin perder su sentido original de crítica a la “enajenación real” de la práctica social y su poder. / This thesis aims to reconstruct Karl Marx’s general theory starting from the specifically materialist conception of “practice” introduced by this author through an original translation of Feuerbachian criticism of religion and Hegelian philosophy into historical-social terms. This new materialism, which focuses on practice understood as the human activity that objectively transforms natural and social reality –and hence, as a material element that deeply determines cognitive activity– is presented as an inversion of the traditional subordination of practice to knowledge. The present work examines the ways in which this practical materialism forms a thread that runs throughout the whole Marxian theory –since before the ambiguous Theses on Feuerbach–, and how it gets significantly richer and more complex over the years, but without losing its original sense of criticism of "real alienation" of social practice and its power.

La más reciente historiografía sobre la revolución de 1781 en la Nueva Granada (Colombia) afirma que ésta fue una revolución “tradicionalista” que no buscó una ruptura con el pasado colonial ni la independencia de España. Esta conclusión es el resultado de una perspectiva estática y unilateral que enfatiza más en la continuidad que en los cambios, y supone que la historia de las sociedades la hacen, solamente, las élites. Tras una nueva revisión de las fuentes documentales, de la reciente historia económica y social y de la teoría económica se concluye que la revolución de 1781 fue básicamente campesina y plebeya y que registró importantes rasgos de una revolución moderna. La revolución se presentó en un contexto de amplios cambios económicos y sociales en la Nueva Granada y en la política de la Corona española. Los plebeyos tuvieron la capacidad de convocar a todos los sectores de la sociedad neogranadina, incluso a las élites burocráticas del Estado colonial, en un proyecto común. En el proceso, emergieron los más diversos intereses y aspiraciones de los grupos sociales pero las facciones que contaron con un mayor grado de organización política y militar terminaron por imponerse. / Recent historiography on the revolution of 1781 in New Granada (Colombia) aims that was a "traditionalist" revolution that did not seek a break with the colonial past or to achieve independence from Spain. This conclusion is the result of a static and unilateral perspective that emphasizes continuity instead the change, and assumes that only elites define the history of societies. After a new review of the documentary sources, the recent economic and social history and economic theory it is concluded that the revolution of 1781 was essentially peasant and plebeian, and shows important traits of a modern revolution. The revolution arose in a context of broad economic and social changes in New Granada and of the policy of the Spanish Crown. The plebeians had the ability to summon all sectors of Nueva Granada society, even to the bureaucratic elite of the colonial State, in a common project. In the process, very diverse interests and aspirations of the social groups emerged, but factions that had a greater degree of political and military organization were imposed.

Denna studie avser att undersöka jämställdhetens relevans ur ett nationalekonomiskt perspektiv. Genom att konstruera jämställdhetskvoter, av kvinnor och mäns utbildning i både antal avklarade skolår och andel med avklarade gymnasiestudier, undersöks korrelationerna mellan ett jämställt humankapital och BNP per capita. Studien ämnar således avgöra vilken påverkan och signifikans ett jämställt humankapital har för BNP per capita. Avsikten är på så vis att öka förståelsen och medvetenheten kring jämställdhetens påverkan i en nationalekonomisk kontext. Studien har utförts med hjälp av statistisk metod i form av en regressionsanalys där höginkomstländer undersökts. En analys av empirin, teoretisk bakgrund & tidigare studier har sedan utgjort underlag för de slutsatser som dragits. Analysen resulterar i fragmentariska slutsatser. Regressionen visar ingen signifikans för varken jämställdhet eller utbildning. Effekterna av flera variabler är oväntade och sambandet man finner mellan den kvot man konstruerat för att mäta jämställdhet och välstånd är negativt vilket motsäger stor del av den teoretiska bakgrunden. Ekonometriska tillkortakommanden kan vara en förklaring till dessa oväntade resultat men det kan också vara så att jämställdhet faktiskt inte har någon påverkan i höginkomstländer. Endast ett fåtal tidigare studier för detta fokusområde (höginkomstländer) har utförts och resultaten från dessa är tvetydiga vilket innebär att de varken stöttar eller avfärdar vårt resultat. På grund av tvetydigheterna i resultaten kan inte några generaliserande slutsatser dras utifrån utförd regressionsanalys. Studien är följaktligen bättre lämpad som inspiration för vidare forskning inom ämnet.

El último conflicto militar de envergadura en el que se vió envuelta España ha sido poco estudiado hasta la fecha desde el ámbito académico. Esta tesis pretende cubrir algunos de los vacíos existentes en torno a dicha guerra, ofreciendo una visión alejada de las publicadas hasta la fecha, muy condicionadas por creencias políticas y personales. Asimismo, se intenta ampliar la visión de dicho conflicto, hasta la fecha reducido al enfrentamiento entre tropas españolas y guerrilleros de origen marroquí. Además, reflexiona sobre las causas subyacentes de dicho conflicto, relacionándolo con el contexto de la descolonización del Magreb y la situación política interna de Marruecos tras la obtención de su independencia. Dichos factores han sido largamente ignorados en la mayor parte de la bibliografía existente, así como los condicionantes de la actuación política norteamericana, otro punto que se trata en la presente tesis. Por último, se enlazarán las consecuencias del enfrentamiento con la política exterior de Marruecos tras la subida al trono de Hassan II. / The lastimportant military conflict involving Spanish troops hasn’t been studied in-depth until now from the academic field. This thesis aimsto cover some of the gapsin the literature about that war, providinga point of view distantfrom the ones that can be found in the current literature. Moreover, I intend to give a broad vision of the conflict, which untilnowhas been limited to the military clash between Spanish troops and Moroccan guerrillas. It’salso my aim tothink thoroughly abouttheunderlying causes of the conflict, by relating it to the decolonization of the Magreb context and the internal political situation of Morocco after its independence. These issues have been largely ignored in the literature, as well as the determining factors of the United States’ political action, another point being dealt within this thesis. Lastly, I linked the consequences of the struggletothe international policy of Morocco after King Hassan II ascended the throne.

This dissertation presents the results of an experiment that measured the learning outcomes associated with three different pedagogical approaches to introductory physics labs. These three pedagogical approaches presented students with the same apparatus and covered the same physics content, but used different lab manuals to guide students through distinct cognitive processes in conducting their laboratory investigations. We administered post-tests containing multiple-choice conceptual questions and free-response quantitative problems one week after students completed these laboratory investigations. In addition, we collected data from the laboratory practical exam taken by students at the end of the semester. Using these data sets, we compared the learning outcomes for the three curricula in three dimensions of ability: conceptual understanding, quantitative problem-solving skill, and laboratory skills. Our three pedagogical approaches are as follows. Guided labs lead students through their investigations via a combination of Socratic-style questioning and direct instruction, while students record their data and answers to written questions in the manual during the experiment. Traditional labs provide detailed written instructions, which students follow to complete the lab objectives. Open labs provide students with a set of apparatus and a question to be answered, and leave students to devise and execute an experiment to answer the question. In general, we find that students performing Guided labs perform better on some conceptual assessment items, and that students performing Open labs perform significantly better on experimental tasks. Combining a classical test theory analysis of post-test results with in-lab classroom observations allows us to identify individual components of the laboratory manuals and investigations that are likely to have influenced the observed differences in learning outcomes associated with the different pedagogical approaches. Due to the novel nature of this research and the large number of item-level results we produced, we recommend additional research to determine the reproducibility of our results. Analyzing the data with item response theory yields additional information about the performance of our students on both conceptual questions and quantitative problems. We find that performing lab activities on a topic does lead to better-than-expected performance on some conceptual questions regardless of pedagogical approach, but that this acquired conceptual understanding is strongly context-dependent. The results also suggest that a single “Newtonian reasoning ability" is inadequate to explain student response patterns to items from the Force Concept Inventory. We develop a framework for applying polytomous item response theory to the analysis of quantitative free-response problems and for analyzing how features of student solutions are influenced by problem-solving ability. Patterns in how students at different abilities approach our post-test problems are revealed, and we find hints as to how features of a free-response problem influence its item parameters. The item-response theory framework we develop provides a foundation for future development of quantitative free-response research instruments. Chapter 1 of the dissertation presents a brief history of physics education research and motivates the present study. Chapter 2 describes our experimental methodology and discusses the treatments applied to students and the instruments used to measure their learning. Chapter 3 provides an introduction to the statistical and analytical methods used in our data analysis. Chapter 4 presents the full data set, analyzed using both classical test theory and item response theory. Chapter 5 contains a discussion of the implications of our results and a data-driven analysis of our experimental methods. Chapter 6 describes the importance of this work to the field and discusses the relevance of our research to curriculum development and to future work in physics education research.

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Durante il periodo di dottorato, l’attività di ricerca di cui mi sono occupato è stata finalizzata allo sviluppo di metodologie per la diagnostica e l’analisi delle prestazioni di un motore automobilistico. Un primo filone di ricerca è relativo allo sviluppo di strategie per l’identificazione delle mancate combustioni (misfires) in un motore a benzina. La sperimentazione si è svolta nella sala prove della Facoltà di Ingegneria dell’Università di Bologna, nei quali è presente un motore Fiat 1.200 Fire, accoppiato ad un freno a correnti parassite, e comandato da una centralina virtuale, creata mediante un modello Simulink, ed interfacciata al motore tramite una scheda di input/output dSpace. Per quanto riguarda la campagna sperimentale, sono stati realizzati delle prove al banco in diverse condizioni di funzionamento (sia stazionarie, che transitorie), durante le quali sono stati indotti dei misfires, sia singoli che multipli. Durante tali test sono stati registrati i segnali provenienti sia dalla ruota fonica usata per il controllo motore (che, nel caso in esame, era affacciata al volano), sia da quella collegata al freno a correnti parassite. Partendo da tali segnali, ed utilizzando un modello torsionale del sistema motoregiunto-freno, è possibile ottenere una stima sia della coppia motrice erogata dal motore, sia della coppia resistente dissipata dal freno. La prontezza di risposta di tali osservatori è tale da garantirci la possibilità di effettuare una diagnosi misfire. In particolare, si è visto che l’indice meglio correlato ala mancata combustione risultaessere la differenza fra la coppia motrice e la coppia resistente; tale indice risulta inoltre essere quello più semplice da calibrare sperimentalmente, in quanto non dipende dalle caratteristiche del giunto, ma solamente dalle inerzie del sistema. Una seconda attività della quale mi sono occupato è relativa alla stima della coppia indicata in un motore diesel automobilistico. A tale scopo, è stata realizzata una campagna sperimentale presso i laboratori della Magneti Marelli Powertrain (Bologna), nella quale sono state effettuati test in molteplici punti motori, sia in condizioni di funzionamento “nominale”, sia variando artificiosamente alcuni dei fattori di controllo (quali Start of Injection, pressione nel rail e, nei punti ove è stato possibile, tasso di EGR e pressione di sovralimentazione), sia effettuando degli sbilanciamenti di combustibile fra un cilindro e l’altro. Utilizzando il solo segnale proveniente da una ruota fonica posta sul lato motore, e sfruttando un modello torsionale simile a quello utilizzato nella campagna di prove relativa alla diagnosi del misfire, è possibile correlare la componente armonica con frequenza di combustione della velocità all’armonica di pari ordine della coppia indicata; una volta stimata tale componente in frequenza, mediante un’analisi di tipo statistico, è possibile eseguire una stima della coppia indicata erogata dal motore. A completamento dell’algoritmo, sfruttando l’analisi delle altre componenti armoniche presenti nel segnale, è possibile avere una stima dello sbilanciamento di coppia fra i vari cilindri. Per la verifica dei risultati ottenuti, sono stati acquisiti i segnali di pressione provenienti da tutti e quattro i cilindri del motore in esame.

L’oggetto della presente dissertazione è inerente aspetti affidabilistici e diagnostici dei componenti delle reti elettriche. Sono stati condotti studi sul ruolo svolto dai parametri presenti nei modelli affidabilistici utilizzati in presenza di regimi distorti. I risultati ottenuti nel corso della ricerca, indicano chiaramente come anche il fattore efficace Krms e, soprattutto, il fattore di forma, Kf, sotto certe condizioni, possano avere effetti considerevoli sulla degradazione degli isolanti (a volte con contributi perfino maggiori di quello dato dal ben noto fattore di picco, Kp, considerato predominante). Viene inoltre riportata un’indagine sviluppata sui principali Dispositivi Automatizzati per il Controllo degli Isolamenti (AIMS), attualmente disponibili sul mercato. Sono illustrati e discussi innovativi modelli di rischio integrati, sviluppati per integrare informazioni fornite dall’analisi affidabilistica tradizionale con misure di proprietà diagnostiche, acquisite grazie ad un monitoraggio costante dei componenti in servizio. L’impiego di tali modelli permetterebbe di ottenere una manutenzione di tipo affidabilistico-diagnostico, basata sull’effettiva condizione del componente in esame (manutenzione tipo CBM), piuttosto che su scadenze temporali fissate a priori (manutenzione di tipo TBM).