The school is a crucial socialisation institution that forms young people’s perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs (Gidengil et al., 2016). Moreover, it is the main socialisation space that provides the youth with broader social relationships compared to the intimate social context of the family (Vincent et al., 2018). This Fondecyt project will ethnographically analyse the school’s role in socialising attitudes towards socioeconomic inequality among secondary students in classrooms with a diversified socioeconomic composition. Studying these attitudes is crucial since they might symbolically legitimise or challenge the existing social order (Sandel, 2021) and contribute to the reproduction or transformation of socioeconomic inequalities (Alesina et al., 2012). Since evidence on this issue is key for democratic governments in socioeconomically unequal societies to inform policies for reducing inequality and increasing social cohesion, the project focuses on Chile, a country with extreme levels of socioeconomic inequality (WID, 2022). By identifying opportunities and challenges for schools to promote egalitarian attitudes towards socioeconomic inequality among their socioeconomically diverse students, the project will provide decisive evidence for education policy to improve their support to school communities. The general objective of this project is to analyse how the schools contribute to shaping attitudes towards socioeconomic inequality among secondary students in classrooms that have diversified their socioeconomic composition. The specific objectives are as follows: 1. To characterise the socioeconomic heterogeneity within schools with secondary education in Chile and identify those that have diversified the socioeconomic composition of their students in the last decade. 2. To determine the schools’ pedagogical, organisational and community responses to the increase in their socioeconomic diversity and examine how these responses promote particular attitudes towards socioeconomic inequality. 3. To describe the students' inter-class relationships and identify how these relate to particular attitudes towards socioeconomic inequality, including awareness of inequality, perceptions of the fairness of social inequalities, meritocratic beliefs, and egalitarian preferences. The study will use a sequential mixed methods design, with a first quantitative phase aimed at answering Specific Objective 1 and informing the selection of the sample of schools for the second - ethnographic - phase, which is the predominant one and seeks to answer Specific Objectives 2 and 3: a) Quantitative phase: A Socioeconomic Diversity Index (SDI) will be created using data from the Quality of Education Agency through its SIMCE questionnaire to parents of secondary students for 2014-2024, which asks about the families’ socioeconomic information. Descriptive statistics will be used to describe SDI and its temporal variation by school. b) Ethnographic phase: Ethnographic fieldwork will be deployed in three schools with increased socioeconomic diversity, as measured in the SDI. Fieldwork in each school will last approximately two months, and the following methods will be used: - Interviews with staff members: 10 in each school (30 total), including the Principal, two Deputy Principals, three professionals from a psychosocial support team and four teachers. - Friendship maps and interviews with students: Maps of the students’ social relationships will be built with secondary students, seeking to include the whole class in each school (approximately 100 students in total). Maps will be followed by interviews. - Observations: They will be conducted in classrooms, playgrounds, and school events for approximately 100 hours in each school (approximately 300 hours of observation in total). The expected results include a) a map of all Chilean schools according to their current socioeconomic diversity and its temporal variation; b) in-depth evidence of inter-class relationships between secondary students and how these affect their attitudes towards socioeconomic inequality; and c) a systematisation of the schools’ responses to the students’ socioeconomic heterogeneity, their links to the development of attitudes towards socioeconomic inequality, and their facilitating and hindering elements. These findings will be useful for other schools that are diversifying their student body, wish to do so, or are interested in promoting egalitarian attitudes among their students. Ultimately, the project will provide critical evidence for public policy to promote schools that foster the development of egalitarian attitudes and potentially contribute to reducing social inequalities.

The nation-state is an organization defined by two principles: its interests (e.g., political, economic, cultural) and its security. Therefore, states constantly seek survival, in which security plays a prominent role, surpassing all other issues (Waltz, 1979). The extent to which the movement of people across international borders has become a security issue is evident in how the migration-security nexus is prevalent in the current public and media debate around the globe, including Chile. This proposal stands on the premise that in a democratic society, mainstream media press is a highly significant actor in influencing levels of public concern and shaping people's attitudes towards social developments and phenomena, including migration and its securitization (Scherman et al., 2022; Ekman & Krzyzanowski, 2021). The representation of immigrants in mainstream media press creates opportunities for immigrants to either become part of society or be excluded from the public sphere. The main objective of this proposal is to analyze the media framing of the securitization of the "migration crisis" in the Chilean mainstream media press during 2014-2026. Further on, this main objective is broken down into three specific objectives (SO), namely: SO1: To identify the media news frames of the securitization of the "migration crisis" in Chilean mainstream press during 2014-2026. SO2: To analyze the consolidation of media news frames of the securitization of the "migration crisis" in Chilean mainstream press during 2014-2026. SO3: To compare the media news frames of the securitization of the "migration crisis" between the Northern, the Southern, and the Metropolitan Regions' mainstream press during 2014-2026. The empirical part includes the analysis of all informative pieces concerning the issues of security and immigration collected from the national editions of seven leading Chilean newspapers published in the Northern, Metropolitan, and Southern regions throughout a decade timespan (2014-2026). Such an elaborate dataset will reveal systematic longitudinal analysis across time, regions, and media outlets, providing a profound understanding of Chile's securitization of the "migration crisis." The proposed methodological paths for each SO are: SO1 will employ news framing analysis (de Vreese, 2005; Muñiz, 2011) to identify the media coverage frames of the securitization of the "migration crisis," applying a manual qualitative content analysis using Atlas. Ti 23 software for better coding manageability (Kovar, 2023; Vázquez-Herrero et al., 2022; Sarah-Liu, 2021). We will follow an inductive approach in which frames emerge from the collected corpus in situ (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000) since it broadens the possibility of discovering a more amplified list of frames, thus contributing to a deeper analysis of the issue. SO2 will use a frequency analysis in Atlas.ti 23 and in Microsoft Excel (v2023) to identify and examine the most prominent media frames over the selected period. SO3 will follow a comparative analysis (Collier, 1993) to define similarities and/or differences between a) different media conglomerates (El Mercurio S.A.P and COPESA S.A) and independent outlets (Publimetro) and b) the Northern, the Metropolitan, and the Southern regions over the selected period. In addition, our longitudinal data (2014-2026) allows us to study possible changes in media framing covering the migration-security nexus over a decade, providing a comprehensive study on the issue currently under development across the national mainstream press. The main expected result is the generation of empirical evidence that advances understanding of the dominant frames of the securitization of the "migration crisis" in Chile. Given that most of the previous and current research on media securitization of migration has been EU or US-centered, our project calls for de-Westernizing this issue by contributing to a Latin American perspective to expand the geographical reach of research beyond European and US borders. As such, it offers new insights into the complexities of the securitization of the "migration crisis" in Chilean media and will contribute to the area of ​​Communication and Social Studies and anyone interested in migration and security issues. Likewise, since the securitization of migration reinforces a politics of fear and racism (Wodak, 2015), our findings may also concern the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security, which is responsible for public policies and laws regarding immigration. The association of migration with security can be reflected in laws and policies that the country may adopt toward migrants through limiting access to certain nationalities, changes in visa procedures, higher security controls, and, most importantly, deterioration of the rights of migrants (Planas Gifra, 2024). Finally, as this project will empirically identify migration-security patterns in the mainstream press and track their evolution, identifying potential shifts over a decade's time span, it will help us raise public and service awareness in Chile by generating policy papers, infographics, and seminars for the lay public and opinion columns in local and national media, among others.

The nation-state is an organization defined by two principles: its interests (e.g., political, economic, cultural) and its security. Therefore, states constantly seek survival, in which security plays a prominent role, surpassing all other issues (Waltz, 1979). The extent to which the movement of people across international borders has become a security issue is evident in how the migration-security nexus is prevalent in the current public and media debate around the globe, including Chile. This proposal stands on the premise that in a democratic society, mainstream media press is a highly significant actor in influencing levels of public concern and shaping people's attitudes towards social developments and phenomena, including migration and its securitization (Scherman et al., 2022; Ekman & Krzyzanowski, 2021). The representation of immigrants in mainstream media press creates opportunities for immigrants to either become part of society or be excluded from the public sphere. The main objective of this proposal is to analyze the media framing of the securitization of the "migration crisis" in the Chilean mainstream media press during 2014-2026. Further on, this main objective is broken down into three specific objectives (SO), namely: SO1: To identify the media news frames of the securitization of the "migration crisis" in Chilean mainstream press during 2014-2026. SO2: To analyze the consolidation of media news frames of the securitization of the "migration crisis" in Chilean mainstream press during 2014-2026. SO3: To compare the media news frames of the securitization of the "migration crisis" between the Northern, the Southern, and the Metropolitan Regions' mainstream press during 2014-2026. The empirical part includes the analysis of all informative pieces concerning the issues of security and immigration collected from the national editions of seven leading Chilean newspapers published in the Northern, Metropolitan, and Southern regions throughout a decade timespan (2014-2026). Such an elaborate dataset will reveal systematic longitudinal analysis across time, regions, and media outlets, providing a profound understanding of Chile's securitization of the "migration crisis." The proposed methodological paths for each SO are: SO1 will employ news framing analysis (de Vreese, 2005; Muñiz, 2011) to identify the media coverage frames of the securitization of the "migration crisis," applying a manual qualitative content analysis using Atlas. Ti 23 software for better coding manageability (Kovar, 2023; Vázquez-Herrero et al., 2022; Sarah-Liu, 2021). We will follow an inductive approach in which frames emerge from the collected corpus in situ (Semetko & Valkenburg, 2000) since it broadens the possibility of discovering a more amplified list of frames, thus contributing to a deeper analysis of the issue. SO2 will use a frequency analysis in Atlas.ti 23 and in Microsoft Excel (v2023) to identify and examine the most prominent media frames over the selected period. SO3 will follow a comparative analysis (Collier, 1993) to define similarities and/or differences between a) different media conglomerates (El Mercurio S.A.P and COPESA S.A) and independent outlets (Publimetro) and b) the Northern, the Metropolitan, and the Southern regions over the selected period. In addition, our longitudinal data (2014-2026) allows us to study possible changes in media framing covering the migration-security nexus over a decade, providing a comprehensive study on the issue currently under development across the national mainstream press. The main expected result is the generation of empirical evidence that advances understanding of the dominant frames of the securitization of the "migration crisis" in Chile. Given that most of the previous and current research on media securitization of migration has been EU or US-centered, our project calls for de-Westernizing this issue by contributing to a Latin American perspective to expand the geographical reach of research beyond European and US borders. As such, it offers new insights into the complexities of the securitization of the "migration crisis" in Chilean media and will contribute to the area of ​​Communication and Social Studies and anyone interested in migration and security issues. Likewise, since the securitization of migration reinforces a politics of fear and racism (Wodak, 2015), our findings may also concern the Ministry of the Interior and Public Security, which is responsible for public policies and laws regarding immigration. The association of migration with security can be reflected in laws and policies that the country may adopt toward migrants through limiting access to certain nationalities, changes in visa procedures, higher security controls, and, most importantly, deterioration of the rights of migrants (Planas Gifra, 2024). Finally, as this project will empirically identify migration-security patterns in the mainstream press and track their evolution, identifying potential shifts over a decade's time span, it will help us raise public and service awareness in Chile by generating policy papers, infographics, and seminars for the lay public and opinion columns in local and national media, among others.

Combinatorial objects frequently appear in various areas of computer science and discrete mathematics. These objects are central to questions in algorithmic design, where we aim to program a computer to efficiently perform tasks involving them. These tasks may include counting objects based on certain parameters, sampling an object uniformly at random, optimizing with respect to an objective function, searching for objects that satisfy specific properties, or generating all objects exactly once. This project focuses on two of these problems: combinatorial generation and the search for highly distinct combinatorial objects. While many of the aforementioned tasks have general-purpose techniques that allow them to tackle multiple problems simultaneously, the situation becomes less clear when dealing with combinatorial generation or the search for distant objects. Much of the effort in these areas has been devoted to developing ad hoc methods. Despite this, these last two problems can be naturally phrased in the language of flip graphs, which encode the similarity between combinatorial objects. In this context, the problem transforms into the traditional graph problems of Hamiltonicity (finding a path that traverses all the vertices exactly once) and diameter (finding two vertices that are farthest apart). Recent research has highlighted the significant value of exploiting polytopal properties and symmetry of flip graphs, leading to unified frameworks that can address many problems simultaneously. The main objective of this project is to contribute to this perspective. Specifically, it aims to enhance our understanding of the polytopal and symmetric properties of flip graphs and use this knowledge to develop efficient algorithms for tackling Hamiltonicity and diameter problems

The primary objective of this research is to evaluate the feasibility of using ultrasonic acoustic imaging as a non-intrusive, in situ technique to assess the plastic behavior of commercial metals and alloys. Specifically, it aims to explore the potential of ultrasonic acoustic imaging to identify and monitor various plastic deformation mechanisms in stainless steel and aluminum. The selection of materials is based on their distinct plastic deformation behaviors: aluminum releases internal energy through dislocation mechanisms, while stainless steel releases energy through deformation, first by dislocation and then by twinning. To achieve this goal, the study will continuously measure changes in sound velocity and the nonlinear acoustic parameter β while subjecting the materials to uniaxial tensile tests at different levels of applied stress. Previous studies conducted by our research group have demonstrated that changes in sound velocity, in relation to strain, offer a reliable means of quantifying dislocation density in local measurements on aluminum, copper, and stainless steel specimens. Furthermore, these studies have observed that alterations in the nonlinear acoustic parameter, specifically second harmonic generation, exhibit more pronounced changes compared to variations in linear acoustics (speed of sound). Building upon these findings, the proposed research involves the generation of both linear and nonlinear acoustic images over wider spatial regions to advance our understanding of the plastic behavior of materials undergoing different microstructural changes. The challenge of applying the results of this research to in situ measurements in the industry is not trivial, as the highly controlled laboratory conditions are not maintained in service components. In this regard, the incorporation of machine learning tools in the proposal aims to identify the parameters most sensitive to the various deformation mechanisms through clustering techniques. It is expected that the correlation of different acoustic parameters with the various plastic deformation mechanisms of both materials under study will generate an optimal database that reflects the variety of scenarios present in service components, thus paving the way for the industrial use of the proposed characterization system. The adoption of diagnostic techniques and the utilization of metallic material state analysis in service significantly enhance our ability to comprehend and control plastic deformation mechanisms, contributing to improved material reliability and robustness, and facilitating informed decision-making and maintenance strategies. Additionally, ex-situ standard microstructural tests, including XRD (X-ray diffraction), EBSD (electron backscatter diffraction), and TEM (transmission electron microscopy), will be performed to characterize the material’s state after deformation. These complementary tests will provide valuable microstructural information, enabling the correlation of deformation states with the acquired acoustic images. All the acoustic and microstructural information described above, in conjunction with previous research group data, will be stored in a robust and comprehensive database. This database will serve as the input for a Machine Learning algorithm, which will facilitate the identification of patterns of correspondence between acoustic and microstructural parameters. This approach aims to enable the future prediction, with a high level of probability, of the specific type of plastic deformation mechanism that a material is undergoing based on the acoustic parameter measurements. The successful development of this research proposal would yield several significant outcomes. Firstly, it would enable the early detection of microstructural changes in materials long before fractures occur. Moreover, it would establish a non-intrusive tool for characterizing materials by identifying the underlying mechanisms driving plastic deformation and monitoring the evolution of materials in service over time. Ultimately, this research has the potential to advance our understanding of the plastic behavior of stainless steel and aluminum, opening avenues for improved analysis, design, and performance evaluation of materials in various industrial applications.

Medium manganese steels (MMnS) are currently a subject of active scientific research due to a number of reasons. First, their unique combination of strength and ductility makes them promising candidates for lightweight structural applications in automotive and aerospace industries, where reducing weight without sacrificing mechanical properties is critical. Second, their ability to retain austenite at room temperatures offers advantages in terms of formability and resistance to hydrogen embrittlement, which are significant challenges in steel manufacturing. Third, medium Mn steels have shown potential in enhancing wear and impact resistance, making them suitable for applications in mining, construction, and machinery sectors. Additionally, their corrosion resistance and potential for cost-effective alloying with other elements further expand their utility across various engineering fields. Scientific research on medium Mn steels aims to optimize their microstructure, processing parameters, and alloy compositions to unlock their full potential, thereby contributing to the development of advanced materials that meet the performance requirements of modern industries while promoting sustainability and efficiency in manufacturing processes. The proposed research aims to investigate the stability of austenite in medium manganese steels within ternary Fe-C-Mn and Fe-C-Mn-X systems (X: Al, Si, Cr), focusing on its correlation with processing parameters. The primary objective is to assess the stability of austenite via (i) experimentally determining the martensite start temperature (thermal stability) using dilatometry and thermal analysis techniques, and (ii) to evaluate the fraction of austenite as a function of strain (mechanical stability) under tensile test. These measurements will provide crucial data to understand how variations in processing conditions influence austenite stability. Else, the study will correlate austenite stability with mechanical properties through mechanical tests and in-depth microstructural characterization, aiming to establish predictive models. Additionally, thermodynamic and kinetic calculations will aid in assessing the phase transformation behavior under different thermal histories. The research will extend its scope to evaluate impact and wear properties in relation to austenite stability, crucial for applications in industries requiring high strength and toughness, such as mining and construction. By systematically exploring these relationships, the project seeks to advance the fundamental understanding of medium Mn steels, potentially leading to the development of lightweight, durable materials with enhanced performance characteristics. Ultimately, the findings aim to contribute to the optimization of steel manufacturing processes and the realization of more efficient and reliable engineering solutions in demanding operational environments