Testing Models of Distributive Politics in Multiparty Systems: The Case of Spain

This paper extends empirical literature on political economy of intergovernmental transfers to multiparty systems that are typical for most European countries. It proposes and uses new methods of estimating the number of swing voters from survey data. The first method estimates densities at the cutpoints, where a voter is equidistant to competing parties. To take into account bi-dimensionality of Spanish politics for three party regions, we estimate bivariate densities at the cutpoints on the left-right and nationalist dimensions. The second method counts voters with similar predicted likelihoods of voting for parties in the regions. The likelihoods of voting are estimated with the multinomial probit technique and include additional controls for the nationalist sentiment. We find that political variables enter significantly into allocation of state subventions in Spain, and the magnitude of the effect is comparable to that of economic variables. In particular, we find strong evidence for the loyal hypothesis and no evidence for the swing hypothesis. In line with the explanation suggested by Cox and McCubbins (1986), the risk-averse incumbent prefers investing in loyal regions, where he knows better preferences and numbers of their supporters.Distributive politics, intergovernmental grants, swing voters, Spain

An effective strategy of real-time vision-based control for a Stewart platform

© 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other worksA Stewart platform is a kind of parallel robot which can be used for a wide variety of technological and industrial applications. In this paper, a Stewart platform designed and assembled at the Universitat Polit`ecnica de Catalunya (UPC) by our research group is presented. The main objective is to overcome the enormous difficulties that arise when a real-time vision-based control of a fast moving object placed on these mechanisms is required. In addition, a description of its geometric characteristics, the calibration process, together with an illustrative experiment to demonstrate the good behavior of the platform is given.Postprint (author's final draft

An adaptive Michigan approach PSO for nearest prototype classification

Proceedings of: Second International Work-Conference on the Interplay Between Natural and Artificial Computation, IWINAC 2007, La Manga del Mar Menor, Spain, June 18-21, 2007.Nearest Prototype methods can be quite successful on many pattern classification problems. In these methods, a collection of prototypes has to be found that accurately represents the input patterns. The classifier then assigns classes based on the nearest prototype in this collection. In this paper we develop a new algorithm (called AMPSO), based on the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, that can be used to find those prototypes. Each particle in a swarm represents a single prototype in the solution; the swarm evolves using modified PSO equations with both particle competition and cooperation. Experimentation includes an artificial problem and six common application problems from the UCI data sets. The results show that the AMPSO algorithm is able to find solutions with a reduced number of prototypes that classify data with comparable or better accuracy than the 1-NN classifier. The algorithm can also be compared or improves the results of many classical algorithms in each of those problems; and the results show that AMPSO also performs significantly better than any tested algorithm in one of the problems.This article has been financed by the Spanish founded research MEC project OPLINK::UC3M, Ref: TIN2005-08818-C04-02 and CAM project UC3M-TEC-05-029

Technical Challenges in the Construction of Gothic Vaults: The Gothic Theory of Structural Design

The construction of a Gothic vault implied the solution of several technical challenges. The literature on Gothic vault construction is quite large and its growth continues steadily. The main challenge of any structure is that, during and after construction, it must be "safe", that is, it must not collapse. Indeed, it must be amply safe, able to support different loads for long periods of time. Masonry architecture has shown its structural safety for centuries or millennia. The Pantheon of Rome stands today after almost 2,000 years without having needed any structural reinforcement (of course, the survival of any building implies continuous maintenance) . Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, finished in the 6th century AD, has withstood not only the dead loads but also many severe earthquakes . Finally, the Gothic cathedrals, with their appearance of weakness, are• more than a half millennium old. The question arises of what the source of this amazing strength is and how the illiterate master masons were able to design such daring and safe structures . This question is usually evaded in manuals of Gothic architecture. This is quite surprising, the structure being a fundamental part of Gothic buildings. The present article aims to give such an explanation, which has been studied in detail elsewhere. In the first part, the Gothic design methods "V ill be discussed. In the second part, the validity of these methods wi11 be verified within the frame of the modern theory of masonry structures . References have been reduced to a minimum to make the text simpler and more direct

Water Management in PEM Fuel Cells: Controllability Analysis and Steady-state Optimization for Temperature Control

This paper presents a controllability study of the water management inside anode channel by regulating the stack temperature for PEM fuel cell systems with dead-ended anode. Moreover, this work includes the design of a steady-state target optimizer which calculates the temperature set-point profiles that minimize the stack degradation and the hydrogen leaks. The control architecture is successfully simulated and the results show promising performanc

Design and Experimental Validation of an Explicit MPC Controller for Regulating Temperature in PEM Fuel Cell Systems

This paper proposes a temperature controller for PEM fuel cell systems with an air blower as thermal circuit. The objective of this controller is to maintain the stack temperature over a given set-point which is obtained from the results of a real-time optimization algorithm with the goal of minimizing the stack degradation and maximizing the global efficiency. An Explicit MPC is proposed to deal with this control problem which presents delays, the critical sampling time, constraints and disturbances. The simulation results show good performance of the controller which accurately tracks the temperature reference over the overall range of operating conditions. Furthermore, the controller is implemented in real-time on a PEM fuel cell test-bench which is installed in the Fuel Cell Laboratory at the University of Seville

The Faculty Notebook, October 2009

The Faculty Notebook is published periodically by the Office of the Provost at Gettysburg College to bring to the attention of the campus community accomplishments and activities of academic interest. Faculty are encouraged to submit materials for consideration for publication to the Associate Provost for Faculty Development. Copies of this publication are available at the Office of the Provost