Essays on bank risk-taking, diversification and ethics during the financial crisis

Programa de Doctorado en Administración y Dirección de EmpresasThis thesis analyzes bank risk-taking, revenue diversification and the ethical behavior of financial institutions in the context of the last financial crisis by three essays. The first essay examines bank-specific and macroeconomic determinants of bank risk for a large sample of commercial banks operating in the euro area. The main findings are that capitalization, profitability, efficiency and liquidity are inversely and significantly related to bank risk, whereas wholesale funding increases bank risk. We also find that less concentrated markets, lower interest rates, higher inflation rates, and economic crises (with e.g., falling GDPs) increase bank risk. The second essay focuses on the effect of revenue diversification on non-performing loans of Eurozone banks. The main conclusion is that European banks can significantly reduce their non-performing loan ratios by increasing revenue diversification. This relationship is enhanced during the crisis period, suggesting that revenue-diversified banks are better prepared for adverse macroeconomic conditions. Finally, the third essay studies the corporate governance factors that explain ethical reputation (proxied by the Covalence EthicalQuote index) using an international sample of large financial institutions. This essay concludes that financial institutions with board characteristics that reflect more stringent monitoring have better ethical reputations. Specifically, the results show a statistically positive relationship between ethical reputation and board size, experience, and gender diversity but a negative relationship between ethical reputation and the busyness of the board members.Universidad Pablo de Olavide. Departamento de Economía Financiera y Contabilida

Deformation Monitoring of the Submillimetric UPV Calibration Baseline

[EN] A 330 m calibration baseline was established at the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV) in 2007. Absolute scale was subsequently transferred in 2012 from the Nummela Standard Baseline in Finland and distances between pillars were determined with uncertainties ranging from 0.1 mm to 0.3 mm. In order to assess the longterm stability of the baseline three field campaigns were carried out from 2013 to 2015 in a co-operative effort with the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), which-provided the only Mekometer ME5000 distance meter available in Spain. Since the application of the ISO17123-4 full procedure did not suffice to come to a definite conclusion about possible displacements of the pillars, we opted for the traditional geodetic network approach. This approach had to be adapted to the case at hand in order to deal with problems such as the geometric weakness inherent to calibration baselines and scale uncertainty derived from both the use of different instruments and the high correlation between the meteorological correction and scale determination. Additionally, the so- called the maximum number of stable points method was also tested. In this contribution it is described the process followed to assess the stability of the UPV submillimetric calibration baseline during the period of time from 2012 to 2015.Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, (Grant/Award Number: 'AYA2011-23232').García-Asenjo Villamayor, L.; Baselga Moreno, S.; Garrigues Talens, P. (2017). Deformation Monitoring of the Submillimetric UPV Calibration Baseline. Journal of Applied Geodesy. 11(2):107-114. https://doi.org/10.1515/jag-2016-0018S10711411

GBDM+: an improved methodology for a GNSS-based distance meter

[EN] The determination of distances consistent with the definition of the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), the SI meter, with uncertainties of less than 1 ppm up to 5 km in the open air is a current challenge that is being increasingly required for different applications, including the determination of local ties, calibration baselines, and high precision geodetic metrology in singular scientific and engineering projects. The required knowledge of the index of refraction of the propagating medium at the same level of 1 ppm is a hard limit to the use of precise electronic distance meters (EDMs), which has motivated the recent development of new two-color, refractivity compensated, EDM prototypes. As an alternative, the use of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) could benefit from their high scale stability although the lack of appropriate estimation of the uncertainties in their sources of error and their unknown propagation into the final result during the data processing has prevented a rigorous uncertainty analysis and, therefore, the use of GNSS for absolute distance determination. Stemming from our initial methodology for a GNSS-based distance meter (GBDM) that was restricted to relatively horizontal baselines and distances up to 1 km only, we have improved the method so that its application range is extended to baselines of up to 5 km with a possibly significant height difference so that it provides the final baseline distance with the corresponding uncertainty derived from the uncertainties in the different error sources rigorously propagated through the equations by which the distance is finally determined. This improved methodology, named as GBDM+, constitutes a significant step forward in the application of GNSS to open air length metrology.The work leading to this paper was performed within the 18SIB01 GeoMetre project of the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR). This project has received funding from the EMPIR programme co-financed by the Participating States and from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, funder ID: 10.13039/100014132. Raquel Lujan acknowledges the funding from the Programa de Ayudas de Investigacion y Desarrollo (PAID-01-20) de la Universitat Politecnica de Valencia.Baselga Moreno, S.; García-Asenjo Villamayor, L.; Garrigues Talens, P.; Luján, R. (2022). GBDM+: an improved methodology for a GNSS-based distance meter. Measurement Science and Technology. 33(8):1-16. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6501/ac6f4511633

Development of a Submillimetric GNSS-Based Distance Meter for Length Metrology

[EN] Absolute distance determination in the open air with an uncertainty of a few tenths of a millimetre is increasingly required in many applications that involve high precision geodetic metrology. No matter the technique used to measure, the resulting distances must be proven consistent with the unit of length (SI-metre) as realized in the outdoor facilities traditionally used in length metrology, which are also known as calibration baselines of reference. The current calibration baselines of reference have distances in the range of 10 to 1000 m, but at present there is no solution on the market to provide distances with submillimetric precision in that range. Consequently, new techniques such as multi-wave interferometry, two-wave laser telemeters or laser trackers are being developed. A possible alternative to those sophisticated and expensive techniques is the use of widely used Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) in order to provide a GNSS-Based Distance Meter (GBDM). The use of a GBDM as a potential technique for length metrology has been thoroughly analysed in several European research projects by using the state-of-the-art geodetic software, such as Bernese 5.2, but no definite conclusions have been drawn and some metrological questions are considered still open. In this paper, we describe a dedicated approach to build up a submillimetric GBDM able to be applied in the current calibration baselines of reference, as well as possible methods to cope with the multipath error of the GNSS signals which is the major limitation for the practical uptaking of the technique in metrology. The accuracy of the proposed approach has been tested following the length metrology standards in four experiments carried out in the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV). The results demonstrate that the proposed GBDM can provide an accuracy of a few tenths of a millimetre in the current calibration baselines of referenceThis work was partly performed within the 18SIB01 GeoMetre project of the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR). This project has received funding from the EMPIR programme co-financed by the Participating States and from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. This research was also partly funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (PRX17/00371).García-Asenjo Villamayor, L.; Baselga Moreno, S.; Atkins, C.; Garrigues Talens, P. (2021). Development of a Submillimetric GNSS-Based Distance Meter for Length Metrology. Sensors. 21(4):1-21. https://doi.org/10.3390/s2104114512121

Estudio técnico y normativo sobre la modificación del sistema de suspensión y carrocería por instalación de arco de seguridad interior en un automóvil marca BMW, modelo 325I de categoría M1.

El objetivo de este proyecto es justificar las reformas realizadas en el vehículo BMW 325i E36 en base a la legislación vigente en el Real Decreto 866/2010, de 2 de Julio, por el que se regula la tramitación de las reformas de vehículos. Dicho proyecto es realizado por motivo de trabajo de fin de grado, y en el que se va a realizar y posteriormente tramitar las reformas efectuadas en el vehículo después de su matriculación definitiva en España.<br /

Genetic selection of maternal lines and digestive efficiency in rabbits: long term selection for litter size at weaning versus hyper selection for reproductive longevity

The objective of the present paper is to evaluate how long-term selection for litter size at weaning or short-term hyper selection for reproductive longevity, affect the digestive utilisation of growing and lactating rabbits. A digestibility trial was carried out during the 3rd week of lactation with a total of 27 multiparous does: 14 females came from a line selected for litter size at weaning over 32 generations (V), and 13 from a recently constituted, long lived-productive line (LP). Another digestibility trial was performed during the growing period with a total of 48 growing rabbits (24 from each line). After a 7 d adaptation period, faeces were collected individually for 4 d (from 13 to 16 d of lactation or from 49 to 53 d of age, respectively). Daily feed intake and weight gain recorded during the experimental growing period were similar for both lines (137 g of dry matter (DM)/d and 48 g/d, respectively). Growing rabbits from the V-line showed greater values for the digestibility of the DM and OM (+1 percentage point; P<0.10) and signifi cantly higher values for the acid detergent fi bre (+3 percentage points; P=0.03) than animals from the LP line. No signifi cant differences for the apparent digestibility coeffi cients of crude protein, neutral detergent fi bre, crude fi bre and gross energy were observed between lines, these being on average 65.7, 23.0, 10.7 and 52.6%, respectively. Females from the LP line were initially heavier (+258 g of live weight; P=0.06), and presented a signifi cantly greater daily feed intake (+22 g DM/d; P=0.04) and milk yield (+37 g/d; P=0.01) during the pre-experimental and faeces collection phases (from 6 to 16 d of lactation). V-line lactating does displayed greater values for digestibility for all those nutrients evaluated (from +0.9 and +3.7 percentage points for the crude protein and acid detergent fi bre) compared to the LP line females, although these were only signifi cant for the DM, organic matter and gross energy (+2.3, +2.5, +2.1 percentage points; P<0.05). In conclusion, rabbits selected for litter size at weaning seem to have greater effi ciency for digestive utilisation than those hyper selected for reproductive longevity.This study has been supported by the Spanish CICYT project AGL 2004-02710/GAN.Pascual Amorós, JJ.; Ródenas, L.; Martínez, E.; Cervera, C.; Blas, E.; Baselga, M. (2008). Genetic selection of maternal lines and digestive efficiency in rabbits: long term selection for litter size at weaning versus hyper selection for reproductive longevity. World Rabbit Science. 16(3). doi:10.4995/wrs.2008.62516

Late reproductive senescence in a rabbit line hyper selected for reproductive longevity, and its association with body reserves

The aim of the present study was to investigate differences in reproductive and body traits during successive parities between two genetic lines. The LP line was constituted by means of selection of animals having an extremely high number of parities (at least 25) and an average reproductive performance compared to the V line selected for litter size at weaning during 31 generations. The two lines were found to have an equal reproductive performance in the first three parities, but the LP line had higher reproductive performance from the fourth parturition onwards. The low reproductive performance after the third parity in the V line was suggested to be caused by constrained environmental conditions in the test station. A line by parity interaction was also observed for body weight, since body weight declined going from the third to the fourth parity in the LP line but not the V line. Thus, it was concluded that hyper selection for reproductive longevity and average prolificacy successfully delayed reproductive senescence, and that this newly founded line showed less environmental sensitivity, which might have been mediated by a higher body reserve

Practical formulas for the refraction coefficient

Knowledge of the actual refraction coefficient is essential in leveling surveys and precise electromagnetic distance measurement reduction. The most common method followed by the surveyor for its determination is based on the use of simultaneous reciprocal zenith observations. The commonly used formula is only an approximation valid for approximately horizontal sightings, whereas the exact geometric solution turns out to be very complicated so that an iterative computation procedure is suggested instead. In the present paper, the goal is to derive a compact formula from the complete solution that is easy to implement and retains the necessary accuracy for horizontal and slanted sightings. In addition, the paper will also focus on the common situation for the surveyor where isolated observations have to be done and no partially compensating procedures—e.g., leap-frog or middle point—are possible. If temperature vertical profiles are unknown then the refraction coefficient cannot be reliably determined. Some surveyors may customarily use then an average value, e.g., k 5 0:13, perhaps being unaware of the risks involved in such simplistic assumption. In the present paper, it is also a goal to present a useful and simple formula for approximately estimating the refraction coefficient in terms of easily accessible parameters to correct the bulk of the refraction effect in single observations, always bearing in mind that determination of the refraction coefficient by means of a model may turn out to be somewhat inaccurate, but still better than the blind use of a universal k.The authors are grateful to the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions, corrections, and comments that helped improve the original manuscript. This research is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Grant No. AYA2011-23232).Baselga Moreno, S.; García-Asenjo Villamayor, L.; Garrigues Talens, P. (2014). Practical formulas for the refraction coefficient. Journal of Surveying Engineering. 140(2):1-5. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)SU.1943-5428.0000124S15140

Sturge-Weber Syndrome

Sturge-Weber syndrome (SWS) is a neurocutaneous syndrome, characterized by the association of facial port-wine hemangiomas in the trigeminal nerve distribution area, with vascular malformation(s) of the brain (leptomeningeal angioma) with or without glaucoma. Herein, we reported Sturge-Weber syndrome in a 50-year-old man, who presented port-wine hemangiomas and epilepsy. In this case, the patient's epilepsy episodes from his first year of life had been ignored and separated from the entity of SWS by his physicians, which led to delayed treatment. This case illustrates the importance of careful examination of patients of any age with hemangiomas in the trigeminal nerve with concomitant episodes of epilepsy. In such cases, there should be yearly neuroimaging screenings to guaranteed early interdisciplinary interventions from the time of definite diagnosis

EDM-GNSS distance comparison at the EURO5000 calibration baseline: preliminary results

[EN] At the Pieniny Klippen Belt in Poland, the novel primary reference baseline EURO5000 is required as part of the European Research project GeoMetre to both validate refractivity-compensated EDM prototypes and investigate the metrological traceability of GNSS-based distances. Since the aimed uncertainty is 1 mm at 5 km (k = 2), the design, construction, and validation must be carefully prepared to fulfil the high standards of the GeoMetre field campaigns which are planned to be carried out in May 2022. This contribution describes the main features of the EURO5000 and presents the results of the preliminary validation which includes a first comparison between the results obtained by using precise currently available EDMs as well as GNSS techniques following the standard GNSS geodetic processing algorithms, on the one hand, and the improved GNSS-Based Distance Meter (GBDM+) approach developed at UPV, on the other hand. The preliminary validation presented in this contribution also permits (1) to detect potential problems in the use of the baseline such as potential geodynamic problems, atmospheric refraction or multipath limitations, (2) to produce a set of reliable results, and (3) to pave the way for the final field comparisons between the novel EDMs and the GBDM+ approach. The result of this metrological experiment may significantly contribute to overcome the limitations of current high-precision deformation monitoring applications that require their scale to be consistent with the SI-metre within 0.1 ppm in several km.The project 18SIB01 GeoMetre hasreceived funding from the EMPIR programme co-financedby the Participating States and from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, funderID: 10.13039/100014132. Raquel Lujan acknowledges the funding from the Programa de Ayudas de Investigaciony Desarrollo (PAID-01-20) de la Universitat Politecnica deValencia.Wezka, K.; García-Asenjo Villamayor, L.; Próchniewicz, D.; Baselga Moreno, S.; Szpunar, R.; Garrigues Talens, P.; Walo, J.... (2023). EDM-GNSS distance comparison at the EURO5000 calibration baseline: preliminary results. Journal of Applied Geodesy. 17(2):101-108. https://doi.org/10.1515/jag-2022-004910110817