The production process in basketball: Empirical evidence from Spanish league

The main objective of this paper is to provide an empirical assessment of the production process in a basketball team. We estimate a logit model in which the output produced by a team is the game outcome (win or loss) and the inputs are those play characteristics that impact on that outcome. From the results obtained it is clear that, on average, there is a substantial difference between the impact of each play characteristic on a basketball team’s winning probability and that probability varies as the quality/quantity of the inputs used changes, albeit not proportionally.sports economics, team sport, professional basketball, productive process, logit model

The economic geography of football success: empirical evidence from european cities

Introduction. – 1. The geography of successful football teams: an analytical framework – 2. Empirical analysis – 2.1. Data, model estimation and results – 2.2. Cities and teams: some remarks about market size and teams’ performance – 3. Conclusions – 4. Annex

The "other" typographic models. The case of galician typography as identity assertion

The aim of this investigation is to analyze a reference model in the world of typography creation which has not followed traditional guidelines associated with mechanical printing and printing presses but has been developed in a local environment, and has ties with the arts such as architecture, craft production, stonemasonry, drawing and illustration. Despite the fact that this model has often been placed in the background, unnoticed by typography’s “official history”, it has played an important role in generating local identities, advocating political ideas and cultural demands. This modus operandi can be found in regions or countries where there has been no typographic tradition or whose typographic design has been imported from other countries. This case study will analyze this so-called “Galician typography or letter”, a medieval letter which has links to stonemasonry guilds that appeared during the 20th century Galician graphic design scene. This Galician letter was “canonized” by Galician nationalist artists and intellects, as an identity-generating and vindicating vehicle which had a strong political component

A collaborative company commited to ethics and labor conditions

Estudia2 es un proyecto empresarial joven y colaborativo, con menos de cinco años de andadura, que ha nacido con la intención de ser una plataforma internacional de encuentro entre personas para compartir conocimientos, una plataforma de E-learning llevada a cabo con la conjunción de un diseño propio y el empleo de una serie de herramientas TIC de acceso libre. Una de las máximas más importantes con las que ha nacido esta empresa es el respeto absoluto por unos valores éticos basados en el cumplimiento de las condiciones laborales de los trabajadores, los derechos de autoría de los creadores de contenidos y la privacidad de los datos de los usuarios.Estudia2 is a young and collaborative business project, with less than five years operating, that was born with the goal of being an international platform for connecting people to share knowledge. An E-learning platform developed with the conjunction of an own design and the use of a mixture of free access ICT tools. One of the most important ideas which this project has been born in, is the absolute respect to several ethical values based on the fulfillment of the workers’ labor conditions, the intellectual property rights of the content creators and the privacy of the user data.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CSO2016-78386-

CYCLIC: A Locality-Preserving Load-Balancing Algorithm for PDES on Shared Memory Multiprocessors

This paper presents a new load-balancing algorithm for shared memory multiprocessors that is currently being applied to the parallel simulation of logic circuits, specifically VHDL simulations. The main idea of this load-balancing algorithm is based on the exploitation of the usual characteristics of these simulations, that is, cyclicity and predictability, to obtain a good load balance while preserving the locality of references. This algorithm is useful not only in the area of logic circuit simulation but also in systems presenting a cyclic execution pattern, that is, repetition over time, making the future behavior of the tasks predictable. An example of this is Parallel Discrete Event Simulation (PDES), where several tasks are repeatedly executed in response to certain events. A comparison between the proposed algorithm and other load-balancing algorithms found in the literature reveals consistently better execution times with improvements in both load-balancing and locality of references that can be of help on current multicore desktop computers

La crisis inmobiliaria en la ciudad de La Coruña

[Resumen]El objetivo de esta Tesis es determinar las distintas variables que afectan al sector inmobiliario con especial hincapié en una ciudad como La Coruña, concluyendo las posibles soluciones para salir de la crisis y cuales son las perspectivas de futuro tras un análisis del mercado que permita determinar el nivel de preferencias y tipo de viviendas demandadas tanto por los Coruñeses como por los desplazados a esta población y zonas de influencia en función a su nivel de ingresos, capacidad de pago, posibilidades de ahorro teniendo en consideración el número de miembros de la unidad familiar y otras variables que pueden influir en la toma de decisión y búsqueda de la financiación externa. Los datos se comparan con los de otras provincias de la Comunidad Autónoma de Galicia y con los publicados a nivel nacional pudiendo expresarse las diferencias y desviaciones. La tesis contempla los diversos instrumentos de pago; la optimización e impacto fiscal que supone la adquisición de la vivienda y determinación mediante un algoritmo de cálculo que contemple las diferentes variables que se ponen de manifiesto en cada sujeto en particular para encontrar el nivel máximo de optimización atendiendo al endeudamiento con la mayor desgravación fiscal. Se basa en el estudio que analiza las ofertas inmobiliarias en esta delimitación geográfica durante un plazo medido en años que permite estimar la evolución de los precios y cuales son las zonas dentro de la ciudad que han tenido las variaciones más significativas y cuales son las expectativas futuras. La tesis pretende definir los motivos por los que en una población de tamaño medio como La Coruña, la crisis inmobiliaria que tiene implicaciones internacionales, nacionales, Regionales, comarcales y locales, afecta de manera similar, pero con diferente repercusión y consecuencias tanto a la ciudad como a sus residentes. Se pretende determinar por el método científico cuales son las causas por las que se produce el efecto “contagio de crisis” entre las distintas ciudades así como descubrir que tipo de preferencias tiene los habitantes de esta zona geográfica integrada en el conjunto nacional y poblaciones de influencia próxima por cercanía a la hora de elegir la opción de comprar o alquilar una vivienda y que tipo de residencia es la que prefieren y si se tiene capacidad dineraria como para poder adquirirla y en que condiciones. Contiene la novedad de utilizar para el estudio de carácter científico, una amplia base de datos que ha sido obtenida por la colaboración de las Agencias de la Propiedad Inmobiliaria aportando datos específicos de inmuebles en expectativa de venta y enajenados durante el período de investigación, lo que unido a la recogida de muestras o valores testigos directamente del mercado por los distintos medios publicitarios y canales de comunicación, nos permitan llegar a unas conclusiones que suponen un avance en el conocimiento científico de la materia objeto del estudio. Se trata de una tesis de tipo monográfico que trata un tema relacionado con el sector inmobiliario en el que concurren pluralidad de variables

An efficient implementation of the synchronization likelihood algorithm for functional connectivity

Measures of functional connectivity are commonly employed in neuroimaging research. Among the most popular measures is the Synchronization Likelihood which provides a non-linear estimate of the statistical dependencies between the activity time courses of different brain areas. One aspect which has limited a wider use of this algorithm is the fact that it is very computationally and memory demanding. In the present work we propose new implementations and parallelizations of the Synchronization Likelihood algorithm with significantly better performance both in time and in memory use. As a result both the amount of required computational time is reduced by 3 orders of magnitude and the amount of memory needed for calculations is reduced by 2 orders of magnitude. This allows performing analyses that were not feasible before from a computational standpoint

An efficient implementation of the synchronization likelihood algorithm for functional connectivity

Measures of functional connectivity are commonly employed in neuroimaging research. Among the most popular measures is the Synchronization Likelihood which provides a non-linear estimate of the statistical dependencies between the activity time courses of different brain areas. One aspect which has limited a wider use of this algorithm is the fact that it is very computationally and memory demanding. In the present work we propose new implementations and parallelizations of the Synchronization Likelihood algorithm with significantly better performance both in time and in memory use. As a result both the amount of required computational time is reduced by 3 orders of magnitude and the amount of memory needed for calculations is reduced by 2 orders of magnitude. This allows performing analyses that were not feasible before from a computational standpoint

Precise Non-Intrusive Real-Time Gaze Tracking System for Embedded Setups

This paper describes a non-intrusive real-time gaze detection system, characterized by a precise determination of a subject's pupil centre. A narrow field-of-view camera (NFV), focused on one of the subject's eyes follows the head movements in order to keep the pupil centred in the image. When a tracking error is observed, feedback provided by a second camera, in this case a wide field-of-view (WFV) camera, allows quick recovery of the tracking process. Illumination is provided by four infrared LED blocks synchronised with the electronic shutter of the eye camera. The characteristic shape of corneal glints produced by these illuminators allows optimizing the image processing algorithms for gaze detection developed for this system. The illumination power used in this system has been limited to well below maximum recommended levels. After an initial calibration procedure, the line of gaze is determined starting from the vector defined by the pupil centre and a valid glint. The glints are validated using the iris outline to avoid glint distortion produced by changes in the curvature on the ocular globe. In order to minimize measurement error in the pupil-glint vector, algorithms are proposed to determine the pupil centre at sub-pixel resolution. Although the paper describes a desk-mounted prototype, the final implementation is to be installed on board of a conventional car as an embedded system to determine the line of gaze of the driver

Expansion of non-native brown trout in South Europe may be inadvertently driven by stocking: Molecular and social survey in the North Iberian Narcea River

The biological and anthropogenic (management) factors that may contribute to the expansion of non-native lineages in managed fish have been studied in this work taking brown trout (Salmo trutta) as a model species. The changes of users’ opinion about stocking was studied employing social science methodology (surveys). The evolution of hatchery stocks together with the outcome of stocking were analysed with two genetic tools: the LDH-C1* locus (marker of non-native stocks) and six microsatellite loci (for assignment of wild trout to the natural population or putative hatchery stocks). Consulted stakeholders were convinced of the correctness of releasing only native stocks, although in practice the hatcheries managed by them contained important proportions of non-native gene carriers. Our results suggest that allochthonous individuals perform better and grow faster in hatchery conditions than the native ones. We also find a dilution of the impact of this kind of suplementation in wild conditions. The use of only native individuals as hatchery breeders tested for the presence of non-native alleles previously to the artificial crosses must be a priority. Surveys can help steer policy making toward decisions that will be followed by the public, but they should not be used to justify science