Beyond the hype - the actual use of blockchain in government

The adoption of a new technology such as Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) in government is a complex process with numerous potential benefits, but also costs and risks. Early pilots introducing DLT into the public sector show that its potential impact will likely vary depending on the context, including, the type of public service. Even within the same public service, the impact of DLT might be distinct for each of the stakeholders involved (the government, civil servants and citizens, among others). As the public sector is diverse, it is critical to get a proper analysis and understanding of the process of introduction of this technology, which encompasses the different dimensions that play a role in the process. This paper presents an original and multi-dimensional evaluation framework to analyse and compare the benefits, costs and risks of the introduction of DLT in the public sector. It considers a comprehensive set of factors, identified and extracted after conducting a systematic review of the literature, representing potential benefits, costs and risks of DLT in the public sector. These are categorised into four separate dimensions: technological, socio-economic, organisational-cultural, and institutional (legal and political). This evaluation framework has been designed to be used by policy-makers interested in analysing and comparing the benefits and risks of the introduction of DLT in real-world applications of this technology in the public sector

El “milagro” español y la IED norteamericana: una nueva interpretación

In the paper, we reconstructed the path followed in Spain by foreign economic players through the period 1936-1959. The former one was of Muñoz, Roldán and Serrano in 1978. Today are several other studies, because the topic is crucial for any country. We analyze the new legal “arrangement” and the final leadership of U.S. data shows good evidence and therefore a very good proof of the great impact of FDI in the Spanish economy during this period. We challenge the conventional wisdom on the scarcity of foreign investment in Spain between 1936 to 1959. That was so because two main reasons, the necessity and on the other, the network of investments before 1936 that made it possible.En el trabajo reconstruimos la trayectoria seguida en España por los agentes económicos extranjeros a lo largo del período 1936-1959. El primer estudio fue de Muñoz, Roldán y Serrano en 1978. En nuestros días hay más aportaciones, pues el tema es crucial para cualquier país. Analizamos los problemas con los nuevos "arreglos" legales y el liderazgo final de los Estados Unidos. Los datos de Estados Unidos muestran una buena evidencia y por tanto una muy buena prueba del gran impacto de la inversión directa extranjera en España durante este periodo. Por otro lado, cuestionamos la percepción convencional sobre la escasez de inversión extranjera en el país entre 1936 y 1959. Eso fue debido a dos aspectos claves, uno la necesidad y por el otro lado, la red de inversiones antes de 1936 que lo hicieron posible

A probabilistic model for the prediction of intra-abdominal infection after colorectal surgery

Aim: Predicting intra-abdominal infections (IAI) after colorectal surgery by means of clinical signs is challenging. A naïve logistic regression modeling approach has some limitations, for which reason we study two potential alternatives: the use of Bayesian networks, and that of logistic regression model. Methods: Data from patients that had undergone colorectal procedures between 2010 and 2017 were used. The dataset was split into two subsets: (i) that for training the models and (ii) that for testing them. The predictive ability of the models proposed was tested (i) by comparing the ROC curves from days 1 and 3 with all the subjects in the test set and (ii) by studying the evolution of the abovementioned predictive ability from day 1 to day 5. Results: In day 3, the predictive ability of the logistic regression model achieved an AUC of 0.812, 95% CI=(0.746, 0.877), whereas that of the Bayesian network was 0.768, 95% CI=(0.695, 0.840), with a p-value for their comparison of 0.097. The ability of the Bayesian network model to predict IAI does present significant difference in predictive ability from days 3 to 5: AUC(Day 3)=0.761, 95% CI=(0.680, 0.841) and AUC(Day 5)=0.837, 95% CI=(0.769, 0.904), with a p-value for their comparison of 0.006. Conclusions: Whereas at postoperative day 3, a logistic regression model with imputed data should be used to predict IAI; at day 5, when the predictive ability is almost identical, the Bayesian network model should be used

Blockchain for Public Services: A Systematic Literature Review,

Blockchain is heralded as being "the next big thing" that promises to radically transform society and the economy in near-future applications. While scholarly literature on blockchain has largely focused on bitcoin and cryptofinance, in recent years, a body of scholarship has started to emerge on blockchain in the public sector. The characteristics of blockchain have made it a promising technology to transform many activities related to public policy and public service provision, such as administrative processes, welfare provision and regulation practices. This article provides, to the best of our knowledge, the first systematic literature review of the use of blockchain across all the main public services. This systematic review identifies the public services most likely to be impacted by the introduction of blockchain. It also highlights the main potential benefits, costs and risks of blockchain for government, civil servants and citizens. Governments are found to benefit mainly from improvements in efficiency and traceability, while regulatory uncertainty and questions around scalability represent major costs and risks for them. Civil servants, the least studied actor in the literature, could benefit from blockchain through the reduction of red tape and improvements in coordination between agencies. Their lack of blockchain knowledge and skills represent a major cost as regards adoption. Regarding citizens, security and transparency are identified as being the most important benefits, while risks are mainly associated with data security concerns. The article concludes by noting several limitations in the literature and providing suggestions towards fruitful lines of research.This work was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program through the project TOKEN under Grant 870603

Lucky imaging speckle statistics applied to halo suppression

In ground based astronomy, the Lucky Imaging (LI) technique consists of selecting the best quality pictures among those that have been taken with a short exposure time to freeze the atmosphere distortions. Although it has different advantages, the peak intensity of a star is always surrounded by speckled light which, once averaged, provides the halo. The halo can make it difficult to detect faint companions immersed in it. In this paper, we take advantage of the speckle statistics to remove the halo and so to make more effective current detection techniques. Theoretical predictions are confirmed using experimental LI data. Finally, a photometry algorithm is also proposed.Funding by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, project AYA2016-78773-C2-1-P

Digital coronagraphy: application to space telescope images

Optical coronagraphy is a high contrast image technique used in astronomy to reduce light around a host star and make viable the detection of faint companions and the exploration of circumstellar disks. Digital coronagraphy consists of the digital processing of non-coronagraphic images acquired by space telescopes in order to reproduce the operation of a standard optical coronagraph. Digital coronagraphy presents significant advantages as no real coronagraph or extra device has to be manufactured and sent to space. In this paper, comparison of digital and optical coronagraph performances is accomplished both by numerical simulations that include detection noise and the use of archived images from the Hubble Space Telescope. Our analysis indicates that the attainable contrast with both techniques is comparable, though the required Lyot stop in digital coronagraphy differs from the standard one. Furthermore, the evolution of contrast as a function of the distance to the main star that we have encountered with the optical coronagraph is similar to that shown by different authors for the optical NIC2/COR coronagraph. Finally, although digital coronagraphy cannot substitute optical coronagraphs, it can be considered as an interesting tool for the analysis of actual system performance.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Gobierno de España (AYA2016-78773-C2-1-P).This research has made use of data reprocessed as part of the ALICE program, which was supported by NASA through grants HST-AR-12652 (PI: R. Soummer), HST-GO-11136 (PI: D. Golimowski), HST-GO-13855 (PI: E. Choquet), HST-GO-13331 (PI: L. Pueyo), and STScI Director’s Discretionary Research funds, and was conducted at STScI which is operated by AURA under NASA contrast NAS5-26555

Planetary system detection by estimating the covariance of coronagraphic lucky images

In this paper, we review two different methods to increase image contrast and propose the combination of both to detect faint companions surrounding a host star. Coronagraphy allows us to block light coming from the host star so that the residual star light can be reduced by several orders of magnitude. On the other hand, estimating the Covariance of Lucky Images (COELI) is a proven method to detect faint companions from ground-based telescope images. The dynamic range of the detection camera limits this technique. Hence, the application of COELI to coronagraphic images may increase the magnitude range of the detectable companions. COELI only requires the existence of a reference, which can be obtained using an existing stellar companion or using a coronagraphic mask designed to create a faint image of the host star.We provide an analysis of the combination of the techniques by processing coronagraphic images obtained by the William Herschel Telescope.We acknowledge funding from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, project AYA2016-78773-C2-1-P

Quaternary adaptive optics

We present a new Point Diffraction Interferometer (PDI). Binary adaptive optics (BAO) and Quaternary Adaptive Optics (QAO) can be performed with the help of this PDI as a wavefront sensor. The PDI interferogram, once binarized, is used in two consecutive steps to produce a quaternary mask with phase values 0, π/2, π and 3π/2. The addition of the quaternary mask compensates for the aberrated wavefront and allows us to reach a Strehl ratio of about 0.81. We have verified through computer simulations that the use of QAO depends on the number of actuators of the compensating device to achieve effective compensation. The technique was successfully validated through an experiment.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) (AYA2016-78773-C2-1-P)

Versatilidad y eficiencia de los autómatas celulares para la simulación y análisis de sistemas complejos en Ingeniería

Los autómatas celulares se componen de un conjunto de celdas (generalmente simples) interactuantes que evolucionan en pasos discretos, formando un sistema dinámico. Sus aplicaciones son múltiples y en muy diversos campos, no sólo dentro de la ingeniería sino dentro de las ciencias sociales, la economía, la biología, o las ciencias en general. Actualmente son una de las mejores maneras de simular un problema espacio-temporal, donde la vecindad y colaboración entre agentes (celdas) sea clave y resulte finalmente en uno o varios fenómenos emergentes. Además, su ventaja es que son intrínsicamente paralelos, permitiendo predecir el comportamiento de sistemas complejos con entradas diversas en muy poco tiempo, al poder repartirlos fácilmente en múltiples procesadores o en GPUs (Graphic Processing Units).Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y los fondos AEI/FEDER (EU) TIN2017-89842-P (MABICAP)Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y los fondos AEI/FEDER (EU) PID2019-110455GB-I00 (Par-HoT)Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación y los fondos AEI/FEDER (EU) US-1381077 (CIUCAP-HSF