Secure Distributed System inspired by Ant Colonies for Road Traffic Management in Emergency Situations

We have proposed an algorithm, based on ant colonies, for road traffic management. The implementation of the algorithm does not rely on fixed infrastructures in order to operate in emergency situations. It only uses the VANET V2V communications and location systems that do not require contact with a fixed infrastructure. The algorithm uses signature aggregation and reputation lists to ensure system security. Furthermore, the algorithm has an implicit security that minimizes the risks in case of attacks. A scale prototype has been designed and implemented to validate the algorithm using RFID location system.In this work, we present a distributed system designed for road traffic management. The system is inspired by the behavior of the ant colonies. The distributed design responds to the particular limitations of an emergency situation; mainly, the fixed infrastructures are out of service because no energy supply is available. The implementation is based on the VANET facilities complemented with passive RFID tags or GPS localization. The vehicles can use the information of previous vehicles to dynamically decide the best path. A scale prototype has been developed to validate the system. It consists of several small size robotic vehicles, a test road circuit and a visual monitorization system. The security of the system is provided by a combination of data aggregation and reputation lists.Proyecto TIN 2011-25452 (TUERI: Technologies for secUre and Efficient wiReless networks within the Internet of things with applications in transport and logistic). Y Universidad de Málaga-Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucia Tech

Three empirical essays on urban economics /

La ciudad es el resultado de la confluencia entre firmas y trabajadores e, implícitamente, una relación entre las capacidades productivas de las firmas y la productividad de las áreas en donde están localizadas. Además, la localización residencial de los trabajadores representa las ventajas y desventajas en el mercado laboral debido a que deben asumir los costos de desplazamiento. Bogotá y Cali, las ciudades que son objeto de estudio en esta tesis doctoral, son usadas para abordar tres temas cruciales que afectan a las ciudades en los países en desarrollo: el desempleo, la informalidad y el crimen. Bogotá, como la mayoría de las grandes ciudades en América Latina, ha experimentado problemas debido al descontrolado crecimiento urbano y la segregación espacial desde 1950. Este crecimiento descontrolado ha resultado en una expansión urbana que ha incrementado la distancia entre las viviendas de los trabajadores y las áreas donde se generan oportunidades de empleo. En el Capítulo 1 estimamos el efecto del acceso al empleo en la probabilidad de ser empleado. Para esto usamos microdatos de encuestas de hogares e información de localización de empleos a nivel de Census Tract. Estimamos ecuaciones de probabilidad de empleo para analizar la desconexión entre los trabajadores y las oportunidades de empleo controlando por características de los trabajadores. Además, usamos la metodología de variables instrumentales para abordar el problema de la endogeneidad. El principal resultado es que el acceso al empleo tiene un efecto positivo y significativo en la probabilidad de que el trabajador se encuentre empleado. La evidencia empírica con respecto a temas de aglomeración y localización espacial tiene que ver con empresas formales. La literatura ha mencionado marginalmente lo que sucede con las firmas informales. En el Capítulo 2 estimamos el efecto de la aglomeración espacial en el porcentaje de firmas informales a nivel de barrio. Las firmas informales son aquellas que producen bienes y servicios legales, pero que no cumplen con la regulación oficial. Este tema es relevante porque, al igual que en otros países en desarrollo, el sector informal en Colombia emplea más del 50% de la mano de obra. En este estudio encontramos que un incremento de una desviación estándar en los niveles de aglomeración espacial el porcentaje de firmas informales se reduce en 16%. Estos resultados son consistentes con la idea de que las firmas informales se benefician menos de las economías de aglomeración debido a que las restricciones legales bloquean su relación con firmas formales. Latinoamérica domina la lista de las ciudades más violentas del mundo. La literatura señala que las altas tasas de crimen representan una pérdida significativa de bienestar. Además, las tasas de crimen no se distribuyen de manera homogénea en el área urbana. En respuesta a los riesgos que impone el crimen, las personas tienen dos opciones: votar por políticas contra el crimen o moverse a otros barrios. En 2015, la ciudad con más homicidios fue Caracas (Venezuela) con 120 por cada 100,000 personas y la ciudad de Cali (Colombia) registró 65. Sabemos que el crimen tiene un efecto en el mercado de la vivienda, por lo tanto, el objetivo del Capítulo 3 es estimar la relación entre los precios de las viviendas y las tasas de homicidio en Cali. Encontramos que un incremento de 10% en las tasas de homicidio están relacionadas con una disminución entre el 2% y el 2.5% en los precios de las viviendas.A city is a confluence between firms and workers and, implicitly, a relationship between the productive capacities of firms and the productivity of the areas in which they are located. Moreover, the residence location of workers represents advantageous or disadvantageous opportunities in the labour market because they have to assume commuting costs. Bogotá and Cali, the urban areas that we shall study in this thesis, are used to raise the crucial concerns of cities in developing countries. In the three empirical studies that make up this thesis, the central character is the city, but the main subjects are unemployment, informality and crime. Bogotá, like the majority of large Latin American cities, has experienced urban problems due to the uncontrolled growth of peripheral neighbourhoods and the socio-spatial segregation process that began in the 1950s. The rapid uncontrolled urbanization of the city has resulted in severe urban sprawl and this phenomenon has increased the distance between workers and job opportunities. In Chapter 1 we estimate the effect of job accessibility on the probability of being employed. Data used at individual level come from household surveys, while information about job location at census tract level comes from the Urban Planning Office. We estimate employment probability equations to analyse the disconnection between workers and job opportunities including controls at individual level. Moreover, the paper focuses on the treatment of the location endogeneity problem using instrumental variables. The main result is that job accessibility has a significant positive effect on the probability of being employed. Most of the empirical findings on spatial agglomeration and localization concern firms in the formal sector, and the literature say little about the effect of agglomeration on the localization of informal firms. In Chapter 2 we estimate the effect of agglomeration on the local share of informal firms that produce legal goods but do not comply with official regulations. This issue is relevant because, like other developing countries, the informal sector in Colombia employs more than 50% of the workforce. Our results demonstrate that one standard deviation increase in agglomeration reduces the local share of informal firms by 16%. Our results are consistent with the idea that informal firms benefit less from agglomeration because of legal restrictions that block the relationship with formal firms. The literature points out that high crime rates represent a significant welfare loss, reducing expected lifespan and increasing uncertainty about the future. However, crime rates are not homogeneously distributed within an urban area. This characteristic has a strong association with neighbourhood quality. In response to crime risk, residents generally have two options: they can vote for anti-crime policies or vote with their feet. In Chapter 3 we analyse this subject. Indeed, Latin America dominates the list of the world's most violent cities. In 2015, Cali (Colombia) registered 65 homicides per 100,000 people in a ranking headed by Caracas (Venezuela) with 120. The literature points out that the local response to crime will be observed in the housing market. The objective of the analysis is to estimate the relationship between housing prices and homicide rates in Cali. We found that a 10% increase in the homicide rate is related with a decrease of between 2% and 2.5% in housing prices

Desafío tecnológico: herramienta para trabajar y evaluar las competencias básicas y generales en los estudios de grado de la E.T.S.I. de Telecomunicación

This work presents the evolution of the five editions of the educational activity named “Technological Challenge” specially focused on the students at “Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Telecomunicación” (ETSIT), but open to all students of the “Universidad de Málaga” (UMA). This initiative has been developed in the context of the educational innovation project PIE17-021 funded by UMA. The “Technological Challenge” consists on the formulation of specific real problems, which students must face in a competitive regime. This activity allows the reinforcement and evaluation of basic and general competences reached by the graduate students in the ETSIT. After nearly five years, this paper describes the evaluation of the results, regarding interest and participation of the students in the “Technology Challenge” along with the basic and general competences reached by the students.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. PIE17-02

Growth Differentiation Factor 15 is a potential biomarker of therapeutic response for TK2 deficient myopathy

GDF-15 is a biomarker for mitochondrial diseases. We investigated the application of GDF-15 as biomarker of disease severity and response to deoxynucleoside treatment in patients with thymidine kinase 2 (TK2) deficiency and compared it to FGF-21. GDF-15 and FGF-21 were measured in serum from 24 patients with TK2 deficiency treated 1–49 months with oral deoxynucleosides. Patients were grouped according to age at treatment and biomarkers were analyzed at baseline and various time points after treatment initiation. GDF-15 was elevated on average 30-fold in children and 6-fold in adults before the start of treatment. There was a significant correlation between basal GDF-15 and severity based on pretreatment distance walked (6MWT) and weight (BMI). During treatment, GDF-15 significantly declined, and the decrease was accompanied by relevant clinical improvements. The decline was greater in the paediatric group, which included the most severe patients and showed the greatest clinical benefit, than in the adult patients. The decline of FGF-21 was less prominent and consistent. GDF-15 is a potential biomarker of severity and of therapeutic response for patients with TK2 deficiency. In addition, we show evidence of clinical benefit of deoxynucleoside treatment, especially when treatment is initiated at an early age

Growth Differentiation Factor 15 is a potential biomarker of therapeutic response for TK2 deficient myopathy

GDF-15 is a biomarker for mitochondrial diseases. We investigated the application of GDF-15 as biomarker of disease severity and response to deoxynucleoside treatment in patients with thymidine kinase 2 (TK2) deficiency and compared it to FGF-21. GDF-15 and FGF-21 were measured in serum from 24 patients with TK2 deficiency treated 1-49 months with oral deoxynucleosides. Patients were grouped according to age at treatment and biomarkers were analyzed at baseline and various time points after treatment initiation. GDF-15 was elevated on average 30-fold in children and 6-fold in adults before the start of treatment. There was a significant correlation between basal GDF-15 and severity based on pretreatment distance walked (6MWT) and weight (BMI). During treatment, GDF-15 significantly declined, and the decrease was accompanied by relevant clinical improvements. The decline was greater in the paediatric group, which included the most severe patients and showed the greatest clinical benefit, than in the adult patients. The decline of FGF-21 was less prominent and consistent. GDF-15 is a potential biomarker of severity and of therapeutic response for patients with TK2 deficiency. In addition, we show evidence of clinical benefit of deoxynucleoside treatment, especially when treatment is initiated at an early age

Case-Control Analysis of the Impact of Anemia on Quality of Life in Patients with Cancer: A Qca Study Analysis

The impact of anemia on the quality of life (QoL) in cancer patients has been studied previously; however, the cut-off point used to define anemia differed among studies, thus providing inconsistent results. Therefore, we analysed the clinical impact of anemia on QoL using the same cut-off point for hemoglobin level to define anemia as that used in ESMO clinical practice guidelines. This post-hoc analysis aimed to determine the impact of anemia on QoL in cancer patients through the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of life questionnaire version 3.0 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and Euro QoL 5-dimension 3-level (EQ-5D-3L) questionnaire. We found that cancer patients with anemia had significantly worse QoL in clinical terms. In addition, anemic patients had more pronounced symptoms than those in non-anemic patients. Anemia is a common condition in cancer patients and is associated with a wide variety of symptoms that impair quality of life (QoL). However, exactly how anemia affects QoL in cancer patients is unclear because of the inconsistencies in its definition in previous reports. We aimed to examine the clinical impact of anemia on the QoL of cancer patients using specific questionnaires. We performed a post-hoc analysis of a multicenter, prospective, case-control study. We included patients with cancer with (cases) or without (controls) anemia. Participants completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life questionnaire version 3.0 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and Euro QoL 5-dimension 3-level (EQ-5D-3L) questionnaire. Statistically significant and clinically relevant differences in the global health status were examined. From 2015 to 2018, 365 patients were included (90 cases and 275 controls). We found minimally important differences in global health status according to the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire (case vs. controls: 45.6 vs. 58%, respectively; mean difference: -12.4, p < 0.001). Regarding symptoms, cancer patients with anemia had more pronounced symptoms in six out of nine scales in comparison with those without anemia. In conclusion, cancer patients with anemia had a worse QoL both clinically and statistically

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe