On the fuzzy maximal covering location problem

This paper studies the maximal covering location problem, assuming imprecise knowledge of all data involved. The considered problem is modeled from a fuzzy perspective producing suitable fuzzy Pareto solutions. Some properties of the fuzzy model are studied, which validate the equivalent mixed-binary linear multiobjective formulation proposed. A solution algorithm is developed, based on the augmented weighted Tchebycheff method, which produces solutions of guaranteed Pareto optimality. The effectiveness of the algorithm has been tested with a series of computational experiments, whose numerical results are presented and analyzed.MINECO/FEDER grants MTM2017-89577-P, MTM2015-63779-R, MTM2016-74983-C2-1-R

Use of explicit FEM models for the structural and parametrical analysis of rockfall protection barriers

This paper illustrates the experimental test procedure and results of two flexible barriers of low and medium energy, the so-called IBT-150 and IBT-500. For this purpose, ETAG 027 European Guideline is used. All the requirements for the tests performance are followed and the two energy-level tests performance requirements have been fulfilled in both rockfall barriers. Numerical modelling helps to understand and predict the behavior of these barriers with different configurations drastically reducing the costs of performing real tests. The results of the real test on IBT-150 and IBT-500 have been taken as references to validate two numerical models using Abaqus Explicit software. Afterwards, a presentation of some alternatives of the barrier IBT-150 are stated, which allow a more economical design removing some components that do not affect the energy level of 150?kJ set by the manufacturer. Also, a parametrical analysis of the IBT-500 numerical model has been performed varying the geometrical characteristics, such as the net grid dimension, the diameter of the perimeter cable, the length of the functional modules and its height. The aim of this analysis is the enhancement of maximum energy capacity of the barrier related with the amount of material used to build it. Following the ETAG recommendation, the maximum energy level (MEL) test is achieved if the barrier is able to retain the block. Thus, the MEL level for each numerical model was determined by increasing the initial speed of the block until it trespasses the barrier

Las estrategias publicitarias de las marcas en el contexto de crisis

The economic crisis has shown a situation that had been happening on strategic communication for years: the undermining of the established advertising model. Organizations face a progressive loss of communicative effectiveness of advertising, to the difficulty of connecting emotionally with consumers, the decline of conventional media, to the explosion of the era of personal relations and the hegemony of a citizen, proactive, critical, that it questions the very concept of communication. All this context means that businesses and organizations to redefine their advertising strategies, changing objectives, public values, languages, ways and means to connect with their audiences. The aim of this paper is the study of the major strategic choices that are developing advertising for their brands organizations in the current crisis. To do so, it addresses the analysis of the advertising strategy of a significant sample of the main advertisers on the national scene, representing various sectors of consumption. Through content analysis, discourse analysis combined with the advertising strategies of major brands proceed to the establishment of analytical variables and the categorization of the objectives, strategies, actions and discursive constructions that brands develop their communication policies. The main results of the research are that makes betting on four main types of advertising strategies: the strategy of the U-brands, the defense of traditional brand equity, the strategy focused on price as their main argument and strategy offensive dealer marks around quality.La crisis económica ha evidenciado una situación que venía aconteciendo en la comunicación estratégica desde hace años: el debilitamiento del modelo publicitario establecido. Las organizaciones se enfrentan a una pérdida progresiva de la eficacia comunicativa de la publicidad; a la dificultad de conectar emocionalmente con sus consumidores; al retroceso de los medios convencionales; a la explosión de la era de las relaciones personales y a la hegemonía de un ciudadano, proactivo y crítico, que replantea el propio concepto de comunicación. Todo este contexto hace que las empresas y organizaciones redefinan sus estrategias publicitarias, modificando objetivos, públicos, valores, lenguajes, medios y modos de contactar con sus públicos. El objetivo de este artículo es el estudio de las principales opciones estratégicas publicitarias que están desarrollando las organizaciones para sus marcas en el actual contexto de crisis. Para ello, se aborda el análisis de la estrategia publicitaria de una muestra significativa de los principales anunciantes del panorama nacional, representando a diferentes sectores de consumo. Mediante el análisis de contenido, combinado con análisis del discurso de las estrategias publicitarias de las principales marcas, procedemos al establecimiento de variables de análisis y a la categorización de los objetivos, estrategias, acciones y construcciones discursivas que las marcas desarrollan en sus políticas de comunicación. Los resultados de la investigación permiten concluir que las marcas están apostando por cuatro principales tipos de estrategias publicitarias: la estrategia de construcción de las U-brands, la defensa del valor de la marca tradicional, la estrategia centrada en el precio como principal argumento y la estrategia ofensiva de las marcas de distribuidor en torno a la calidad

Nuevos escenarios de Gestión de marcas en el mercado español

Los cambios profundos que han impactado sobre el mercado de la comunicación y la gestión de marca en los albores del siglo xxi han llevado a hablar de la aparición de un nuevo paradigma. Ese cambio sustancial, que transforma las relaciones tradicionales entre emisores y receptores, reclama una redefinición de los escenarios profesionales, de los agentes de la comunicación, así como de los receptores, a la hora de relacionarse con la información y con las marcas. El presente estudio se realizó en el mercado español, prestando especial atención a los procesos de creación y gestión de contenidos, a través de una investigación cualitativa que combina tres técnicas –Delphi a expertos del mundo de los medios, marketing y publicidad; grupos de discusión con expertos en comunicación, marcas y medios, y entrevistas en profundidad a usuarios avanzados en nuevas tecnologías. El objetivo principal de este artículo es mostrar una visión panorámica sobre el discurso de las marcas tanto de producto como corporativas, así como clarificar qué esperan y cómo reciben los públicos de interés estas comunicaciones. Los principales hallazgos señalan una gran conciencia de cambio de los principales agentes, así como una percepción de protagonismo por parte de los públicos, que han acabado por asumir que la construcción de marca los afecta personalmente.Far-reaching changes that affected the communication and brand management market at the dawn of the 21st century led to talks about the birth of a new paradigm. This significant change, which transformed relationships between senders and receivers, demands a redefinition of scenarios for professionals and communication agents, as well as for receivers taking an interest in the information and brands. This study was carried out on the Spanish market, focusing largely on the creation and management of content through qualitative research combining three methods - Delphi for media, marketing and advertising experts, discussion groups with communication, branding and media experts, and in-depth interviews for advanced users of new technologies. The main objective of this article is to provide a panoramic view of brand discourse for both products and companies, in addition to clarifying what public interest groups expect and how they receive such communications. The main findings show that the principal agents are very aware of this change, and that the interest groups see themselves as protagonists and have accepted the fact that brand building affects them personally

Disinformation and hate speech toward female sports journalists

As well as democratizing access to information and strengthening active audiences, the internet also fosters the manipulation of news and the propagation of false and violent content. Although disinformation and hate speech are not new phenomena, they are now expanding out of control, with women, including journalists, among their targets. The aim of this study is to establish the characteristics and magnitude of this problem and determine how it affects Spanish female sports journalists while carrying out their professional activities in the world of sports, a field where male supremacy is evident. This study seeks to identify the most frequent situations where this problem occurs, the types of harassment observed, the profile of the perpetrators, and above all, the consequences for the professional and personal life of these female professionals. A mixed-methods approach is used to measure the extent of this problem and determine the experience and opinion of female sports journalists using an anonymous questionnaire. This qualitative approach is reinforced by in-depth interviews with female sports journalists who have been victims of hate speech. This dual approach enables the identification of paradigmatic models of a cognitive-behavioral nature, with findings that reveal disturbing figures. Indeed, 89.6% of the professionals participating in this study stated that they had been victims of hate speech and other forms of harassment, both through social networks as well as in their work environment, principally questioning their work capacity or mentioning their physical appearance. The profile of the perpetrators was revealed, as well as the perception that this type of aggression is a common practice that can lead to self-censorship. This situation requires that urgent measures be implemented to address this problem, such as the addition of media literacy and gender training to the educational curriculum

An estimation of the default probabilities of Spanish non-financial corporations and their application to evaluate public policies

Este documento modeliza la probabilidad de impago a un año de las sociedades no financieras españolas utilizando información del período 1996-2019. Mientras que, en general, la literatura previa considera que una empresa está en situación de impago si solicita concurso de acreedores, aquí se define dicha situación como tener préstamos dudosos durante al menos tres meses en un mismo año. Esta definición más amplia permite predecir problemas financieros en una fase más temprana, antes de que estos sean demasiado graves y las empresas tengan que recurrir a procedimientos formales de insolvencia o a reestructuraciones privadas de deuda, lo que generalmente no puede ser observado por el investigador. En concreto, se estiman mediante regresiones logísticas tanto un modelo general que hace uso de todas las empresas de la muestra como seis modelos para diferentes combinaciones de tamaño y sector productivo. Las variables explicativas seleccionadas son cinco ratios financieras, que resumen la calidad crediticia de las empresas, y el crecimiento agregado del crédito a las sociedades no financieras para capturar el papel de la disponibilidad de crédito en mitigar el riesgo de impago. Finalmente, se llevan a cabo dos aplicaciones prácticas de estos modelos de predicción: se construyen matrices de transición de calificaciones crediticias y se evalúa el programa de ayudas directas del Gobierno español durante la crisis del COVID-19.We model the one-year ahead probability for default of Spanish non-financial corporations using data for the period 1996-2019. While most previous literature considers that a firm is in default if it files for bankruptcy, we define default as having non-performing loans during at least three months of a given year. This broader definition allows us to predict firms’ financial distress at an earlier stage that cannot generally be observed by researchers, before their financial conditions become too severe and they have to file for bankruptcy or engage in private workouts with their creditors. We estimate, by means of logistic regressions, both a general model that uses all the firms in the sample and six models for different size-sector combinations. The selected explanatory variables are five accounting ratios, which summarise firms’ creditworthiness, and the growth rate of aggregate credit to non-financial corporations, to take into account the role of credit availability in mitigating the risk of default. Finally, we carry out two applications of our prediction models: we construct credit rating transition matrices and evaluate a programme implemented by the Spanish government to provide direct aid to firms severely affected by the COVID-19 crisis

Selection of membranes and linking method in slope stabilization systems for the reduction on the installation time using multi-criteria decision analysis

Flexible systems anchored to the ground are low visual impact alternatives to be used in slope protection. With the aim of reducing their installation time and costs the mechanical union between layers of membranes is proposed to be done in warehouses instead of independent installations on site. The most appropriate component selection and linking method is selected using multi-criteria decision analysis, specifically using AHP, WASPAS and TOPSIS techniques. The criteria considered in order to take the decision are cost of materials, ease of sewing, transport and installation of the system, biodegradability of the secondary mat and its hydroseeding retention capacity that stimulates the revegetation. Due to the uncertainty on the data of biodegradability, four scenarios were analysed. The results indicate that the most suitable secondary membrane in all cases is the coconut fibre mesh and should be connected to the main membrane using a cable tie machine

Blazing the trail: Social innovation supporting wildfire-resilient territories in Catalonia (Spain)

Mediterranean territories have co-evolved and been shaped by fire throughout history. However, global environmental change conditions are increasing the size, intensity and severity of wildfires, which have gone from a regular natural disturbance to a serious threat for civil protection, surpassing firefighting capacities. Therefore, building resilience in fire-prone territories is an increasingly relevant policy and management objective. However, the notion of resilience has been criticized for paying insufficient attention to key social issues such as socio-political dynamics, power imbalances and societal change. At the same time, social science contributions to wildfire research are still rather limited. In this paper, we bridge social innovation theory to resilience theory in order to create a territorially embedded and socially sensitive framework for assessing socio-ecological resilience. From this perspective, we then examine how Forest Defence Groups (ADFs, by their Catalan acronym) have evolved from grassroots, bottom-up initiatives to well-established bottom-linked institutions and we evaluate their contributions to socio-ecological resilience in the territories where they operate. Our results show that ADFs contribute in several aspects to socio-ecological resilience and that the pave the way for opening up spaces of dialogue and collaboration through which local communities can engage with the issues that directly affect them, such as wildfires.This research received funding from the SIMRA project, funded by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 677622. During the writing phase it also received funding from the Pyrolife project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme MSCA-ITN2019 – Innovative Training Networks, under grant agreement No 860787