Legal form and risk exposure in Spanish firms

It is well-known that the legal form adopted by a firm determines the type of legal responsibility borne by its owners in case of bankruptcy. In this paper we argue that a firm under a limited liability status should be characterized by a higher than average bankruptcy probability, which ultimately captures their risk exposure when output is affected by exogenous shocks. To test this prediction we extend Lee’s (1976) switching regressions model to a panel dataset of 1313 Spanish firms from 1990–1994, separating them into corporate and entrepreneurial forms (with/without limited liability, respectively). We consider both random effects and fixed effects panel data models, taking into account the potential endogeneity between risk exposure and the legal form choice. Our results confirm the hypothesis that firms under limited liability have significant higher risk exposure than firms under unlimited liability.Data and financial support provided by the Fundación Empresa Pública (Madrid)Publicad

The Study of the Entrepreneur’s Values and Knowledge: Influence in Growth Expectations

This study examines how entrepreneur’s values and knowledge can influence growth expectations in new technology-ventures. The study analyses six Spanish cases with different level of growth expectations in their first years and with different characteristics in the entrepreneurial team. Our research reveals that entrepreneur’s knowledge is not a factor that helps to differentiate the level of growth in this specific sector. However, we found certain values present in those new ventures with a higher growth expectations, mainly independence and wealth. The values that were not related are the need of exploitation and security. Finally, we draw a model to understand the relationship between entrepreneur’s values and knowledge and their impact on new technology venture growth expectations

Biodiversidad

La diversidad biológica es un patrimonio de la humanidad y su buen uso está conectado con la supervivencia del ser human

Diseño de una herramienta para la toma de decisiones en la construcción de sistemas de tratamiento de aguas residuales en urbanizaciones y condominios

Proyecto de Graduación (Licenciatura en Ingeniería Ambiental) Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica, Escuela de Química, 2011.El objetivo del presente trabajo fue generar una herramienta dirigida a ingenieros responsables de proyectos urbanísticos que les sirva de guía para la elección y el diseño del mejor arreglo sanitario que debe ser construido para tratar las aguas residuales domésticas, que además organice de forma lógica la tramitología que se debe seguir ante el Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA) y les brinde información hidrogeológica georeferenciada que debe considerarse durante la etapa de concepción de la obra. Para esto, se procedió con la revisión de códigos y documentos técnicos referentes a obras de tratamiento y disposición de aguas residuales, acuerdos de junta directiva de AyA relativos a los trámites para cada tipo de proyecto y expedientes resueltos de solicitudes presentadas en el período 1997-2009 para construir una base de antecedentes. El diseño se materializó en un instrumento digital elaborado a partir de diagramas de Microsoft Office Visio que indican que se debe construir un sistema de tanque séptico más drenaje cuando el terreno presente condiciones de infiltración entre 2 y 24 min /cm, exista un espesor de la zona no saturada en el área del proyecto mayor a 5 m, no se cuente con cobertura o planes de construcción de alcantarillado sanitario y se determine un tiempo de tránsito de contaminantes desde los drenajes proyectados hasta las fuentes de abastecimiento de agua de por lo menos 70 días. En caso de incumplimiento de estos requisitos se debe construir una planta de tratamiento de aguas residuales con su respectiva red de alcantarillado sanitario. A partir de la base de antecedentes se elaboraron 19 mapas de distintas partes del país, cuyo análisis indica que los sitios más favorables para la construcción de tanques sépticos y drenajes son: Alajuela, Liberia, Colón, Grecia y Oreamuno; mientras que los menos convenientes son: Pococí, Siquirres y Guácimo.Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillado

Personal values as predictors of entrepreneurial intentions of university students

Considering entrepreneurship as a set of actions performed by a subject, and behavior one of the main predictors of actions, this work presents a study based on the Theory of Human Values, that aims to analyze the influence of personal values on entrepreneurial intention of university students; understanding as well the personal values as cognitive characteristics that explain the attitudes of a subject towards entrepreneurship, the hypotheses of this work establish a positive relation between values associated to individualism and the entrepreneurial intention as well as a negative relation between values associated to collectivism and the entrepreneurial intention of university students. For this, a sample of 488 undergraduate students from the University of Guadalajara in Mexico is used and statistical analysis is performed through the SPSS software. Using a quantitative methodology, an exploratory factorial analysis and a linear regression model are performed to calculate the predictive capacity of the different types of personal values on the entrepreneurial intention of students at the University previously mentioned. Personal values associated to individualism prove to be highly related to entrepreneurial intentions while those related to collectivism show low or null effect. Some exceptions are discussed and lead to future lines of research regarding different types of entrepreneurship

Experimental validation of Power Plant Control architectures

This project deals with the experimental validation of different power plant control architectures for Large-Scale Photovoltaic power plants (LS-PVPP). Central and hierarchical are the two main control architectures studied in the thesis. The central architecture controls the inverters of the power plant from a centralized unit and the hierarchical also takes into consideration the local controllers of the converters. Various of the standard control services for this type of power plants are introduced and tested. An experimental platform consisting of three voltage source converters (VSC) is used for the tests. The controls and services are implemented in an external software called LabVIEW and connected to the platform via National Instruments hardware. The experimental data is contrasted and validated with the simulation data from simulations performed in Simulink and PLECS. The first part of this thesis introduces the LS-PVPPs and the architectures and services considered in the project. The main elements forming a LS-PVPP, different topologies and the general plant and inverters controls are shown in this part. Also, the architectures and services are explained in depth. The second part describes the modelling of the system and the design of the power plant controller. There, the case of study is presented and the different models used in the simulations are defined. Then, the design and tuning of the control is described. The next part shows the experimental setup used in the project. A definition of the real platform set in the lab and the inverters is presented here. An important part of the experimental setup is the communication protocols and the LabVIEW implementation, also shown in this part. Finally, some experimental and simulation tests are performed for each architecture and service previously presented. A comparison is made in order to validate experimental with simulated dataObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::7 - Energia Assequible i No ContaminantObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::9 - Indústria, Innovació i Infraestructura::9.1 - Desenvolupar infraestructures fiables, sostenibles, resilients i de qualitat, incloent infraestructures regionals i transfrontereres, per tal de donar suport al desenvolupament econòmic i al benestar humà, amb especial atenció a l’accés assequible i equitatiu per a totes les persone

Bal images analysis for their automatic quantification

Las imágenes de lavado bronchoalveolar (BAL) son una prueba médica de la que se pueden extraer diferentes patologías en función de su distribución celular. En el hospital Vall d'Hebron los técnicos hacen un recuento manual para determinar esta distribución. No teníamos ninguna imagen BAL etiquetada, porque este es el primer contacto con el problema. En este proyecto, se utiliza la solución basada en maxtree para hacer la primera segmentación y, a continuación, se realiza un proceso de corrección para etiquetar correctamente 56 imágenes BAL. Con este pequeño conjunto de datos, y teniendo en cuenta los resultados del algoritmo basado en maxtree en algunos aspectos, no eran tan buenos como esperábamos, decidimos probar una CNN basada en U-Net. Aplicamos técnicas específicas para pequeños conjuntos de datos y probamos diferentes parametrizaciones de la red. Finalmente, obtenemos un 70% de puntuación global IOU aprox. en la validación de la CNN.Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) images are a medical test from which different pathologies can be extracted based on their cellular distribution. In the hospital La Vall d'Hebron technicians make manual count to determine this cell distribution. We did not have any labelled BAL image, because this was the first contact with the problem. In this project, maxtree-based solution is used to do the first segmentation, and then, a correcting process is carried out in order to correctly label 56 BAL images. With this small dataset, and taking into account the maxtree results in some aspects were not as good as we expected, we decided to test and train a CNN based in the U-Net. We applied specific techniques for small datasets and we tested different parametrizations of the network. Finally, we obtain 70% IoU global score approx. in the validation of the CNN.Les imatges de rentat bronchoalveolar (BAL) són una prova mèdica de la qual es poden extreure diferents patologies en funció de la seva distribució cel·lular. A l'hospital La Vall d'Hebron els tècnics fan un recompte manual per determinar aquesta distribució. No teníem cap imatge BAL etiquetada, perquè aquest es el primer contacte amb el problema. En aquest projecte, s'utilitza la solució basada en maxtree per fer la primera segmentació i, a continuació, es realitza un procés de correcció per etiquetar correctament 56 imatges BAL. Amb aquest petit conjunt de dades, i tenint en compte els resultats maxtree en alguns aspectes, no eren tan bons com esperàvem, vam decidir provar una CNN basada en U-Net. Vam aplicar tècniques específiques per a petits conjunts de dades i vam provar diferents parametritzacions de la xarxa. Finalment, obtenim un 70% de puntuació global IoU aprox. en la validació de la CNN