The World as Evolving Information

This paper discusses the benefits of describing the world as information, especially in the study of the evolution of life and cognition. Traditional studies encounter problems because it is difficult to describe life and cognition in terms of matter and energy, since their laws are valid only at the physical scale. However, if matter and energy, as well as life and cognition, are described in terms of information, evolution can be described consistently as information becoming more complex. The paper presents five tentative laws of information, valid at multiple scales, which are generalizations of Darwinian, cybernetic, thermodynamic, and complexity principles. These are further used to discuss the notions of life and cognition and their evolution

Publishing IS Research in and about Latin America

Recent surveys show that Latin America is home to approximately 10% of the world’s population and possesses nearly 10% of its wealth. This data alone should be enough to justify the importance of this region. However, and notwithstanding AMCIS’ decision to host this year’s conference in the Latin American region, relatively little IS research from or about Latin America is published in the conferences and journals of the IS discipline. We do not believe that this situation reflects poor quality research being undertaken in Latin America, but we do think that Latin American scholars may need additional support for their research, support that can usefully come from both journal editors and international scholars from Latin America who have succeeded in internationalising their work about Latin America

Improving the understanding of Circular Economy potential at territorial level using Systems Thinking

The definition of Circular Economy (CE) has evolved over time. It includes intervention options for reducing consumption, improving the efficiency of production, introducing recycling and reuse for materials management, including new business models geared at waste prevention. With the use of Systems Thinking and the creation of Causal Loop Diagrams (CLDs) we explore how CE strategies are related to territorial dynamics and how the outcomes of such strategies can support sustainable development. We first reviewed the literature, to identify the main drivers of change (i.e. feedback loops) triggered by CE interventions. We then applied the same systemic approach to six case studies across Europe in synergy with ESPON CIRCTER project. This allowed us to review, validate and improve the general systemic approach and further explore the role that specific territorial characteristics can play in the identification, selection and effective implementation of CE interventions. We find that some of the feedback loops emerged from the case studies are not found in the literature. On the one hand, new balancing loops have emerged, representing localized challenges to the implementation of CE strategies. On the other hand, new dynamics related to behavioural change have also emerged, which lead to self-reinforcing mechanisms in the case studies analysed, creating a stronger will for the implementation of CE interventions. The main result of our research is comprehensive CLD that can be used to assess and compare different CE strategies, fully considering the complexity of the CE and its various outcomes across social, economic and environmental indicators

Active management in mutual funds with concentrated benchmarks: A major dilemma to fulfill the EU directive on portfolio concentration limits.

his doctoral thesis is focused on the increasing importance of mutual funds as saving vehicles for the finances of individuals in the economies of developed countries over the last half of the twentieth century. Among them, the equity funds that take the form of open-end funds like mutual funds are becoming one of the most relevant instruments. Mutual funds collect money from investors and invest it in stocks, bonds, other funds, and so on, and their performance depends on the mix of the allocated securities. Its main objectives were to contribute to the topic of the Active Share (AS) as applied to mutual funds in Eurozone countries. This investigation was mainly motivated by the need to analyse how both the level of concentration of the benchmarks and the level of concentration of the mutual fund industries in the Eurozone affect active management. Due to the scarce number of studies focused on this topic in Europe our results have relevant implications to investors, market supervisors, and policymakers. In Chapter 1, we analysed how article 52 in Directive 2009/65/EC (UCITS IV) on risk of portfolio diversification could distort the accuracy of AS due to the higher level of concentration in Eurozone domestic benchmarks. In this chapter, we were able to identify truly active management in Eurozone mutual funds. Thus, we developed an algorithm to capture the spurious AS (sAS), which is defined as the minimum AS, that is not a consequence of active decisions made by equity fund managers. The results provide evidence that the Directive negatively influences the accuracy of the AS shown for managers who work with very concentrated domestic Eurozone benchmarks such as the PSI 20 (Portugal), ATX 20 (Austria), and IBEX 35 (Spain). In contrast, the evidence from the sAS for the least concentrated domestic Eurozone benchmarks shows that AS reported by managers who work in France, Germany, and Finland are much more accurate. Hence, these results prove that direct AS comparisons in the Eurozone are not feasible and lead us to obtain three AS thresholds per domestic equity benchmark, which are the minimum values of AS needed to confirm that domestic equity funds are significantly active at 90%, 95%, and 99% confidence levels.We also analysed the level of active management in the domestic equity funds registered in each Eurozone country. Our findings also show that the high concentration level and the heterogeneity present in the domestic equity funds in the Eurozone prevent the direct comparability of the AS. Therefore, we had to consider the level of AS over the spurious level and the characteristics of each market that produces significant and different styles of active management. For that, we formulated an actual active share (aAS) that considered the level of concentration in the domestic equity funds of the Eurozone markets and the limits of the portfolio concentration on European regulation. We define aAS as the difference between the monthly AS obtained for each domestic equity fund minus its monthly AS threshold obtained previously at 90%, 95%, and 99% confidence levels. Focusing on the most relevant mutual fund industries in the Eurozone countries, we find that France is the most active domestic equity fund market. Spanish and Italian markets also show high levels of actual active management despite the large concentration in their domestic benchmarks. Conversely, domestic equity funds registered in Germany show lower levels of active management. Our research results support the hypothesis that aAS corrects the potential bias in the original AS caused by both the domestic benchmark concentration and the EU portfolio diversification rules.In summary, our study is the first to evaluate the consequences of both the assorted characteristics of domestic Eurozone benchmarks and the European regulation that prevents portfolio concentration (UCITS IV) in the appropriate estimation of AS. Furthermore, our study identifies truly active management in domestic equity funds in the Eurozone markets. This chapter has important implications for policymakers and practitioners of the domestic equity funds in the Eurozone. In the strongly regulated European markets, our unbiased approach allows both investors and market supervisors to identify the accurate levels of active management of each industry after considering both the regulation of portfolio diversification and the concentrated domestic equity benchmarks. Market supervisors will have a better picture of the active management map to develop appropriate regulations for the mutual fund industry. In addition, our approach should help practitioners and investors to effectively find out the level of active management of domestic equity funds and therefore provide information for fund management companies to replace actual performing managers. Further, our results should help to reduce the opacity in the management fees that funds charge by providing accurate measures of active management. In Chapter 2, we analysed how some market and fund characteristics play a crucial role in explaining the portfolio concentration default on Directive 2009/65/EC (UCITS IV). This chapter should help market supervisors to improve the monitoring process of defaults by domestic equity funds in the Eurozone mutual fund industries. On the one hand, the origin of UCITS directives was considered the beginning towards market protection and increased transparency in the Eurozone. On the other hand, the structure of mutual funds allows retail investors to access sophisticated active strategies that comply with liquidity and transparency restrictions protected by regulatory oversight. Their rules are based on a certain degree of portfolio diversification with the goal of reducing their vulnerability to portfolio risks. This chapter is the first to analyse how concentrated strategies could lead to non-compliance with article 52 in UCITS IV. First, we analysed several market characteristics that may influence the probability of a fund manager failing to meet the portfolio concentration limits. Using a logic panel data model (fixed effects), we estimated the probability of incurring defaults. Our findings provide evidence that should lead market supervisors to pay attention to concentrated fund industries with concentrated domestic benchmarks to prevent defaults on Eurozone concentration limit. The level of concentration of the domestic equity benchmarks would make the defaults almost twice as likely to occur. The level of concentration of the domestic fund industry also has positive and significant effects on the likelihood of incurring defaults. That is, defaults are approximately 12% to 17% more likely to occur when the level of concentration in the domestic fund industry increases. This evidence is consistent with the findings in the literature that link competition with active management strategies such as concentrated portfolios (see Dyck et al., 2013). Second, in the same line of Chapter 1, we analysed several funds characteristics that may influence the probability of a fund manager failing to meet the portfolio concentration limits. In Eurozone markets, market supervisors should especially monitor the most experienced funds that are solo-managed to prevent portfolio weights over the 10% limit. This finding is in accordance with Goldman et al., (2016) who shows that individual managers have much more concentrated portfolios than management teams. The fund’s age has a positive and significant influence on the likelihood of defaults. That is, the probability of incurring defaults is approximately 18% to 26% higher among older funds. Thus, this evidence is in accordance with the literature that links older funds with higher levels of idiosyncratic risk as a consequence of having more concentrated portfolios (see Amihud and Goyenko, 2013). Further, we analysed the characteristics of those stocks that were especially subject to more concentrated strategies and, therefore, more vulnerable to mutual funds’ investment policies. For that, we applied a multinomial logic panel data model (fixed effects) and found that the weight of the stocks in their benchmarks had a positive and significant effect on default on the EU portfolio concentration limit. The results show how the probability of a stock being subject to default is approximately 8% to 25% higher when the stock weight in the domestic benchmark increases. Thus, market supervisors should monitor stocks with large weights in domestic equity benchmarks.In addition, we also find how the stocks of domestic benchmarks that have been held longer are likely to be subject to concentration defaults. That is, defaults are approximately 13% to 24% more likely to occur when choosing stocks that belong to the benchmarks during the last 24 months. Thus, this result is consistent with the literature that argues the local advantage of reducing information asymmetry problems.Thus, we find how stocks that present low volatility have a greater likelihood of being subject to non-compliance with EU portfolio concentration limits. In terms of percentages, the probability approximately lowers between 19% to 27% when stock volatility increases. This finding is in accordance with the commitment to controlled risk strategies (see Huang et al., 2011). Therefore, market supervisors should pay more attention to these stock characteristics to monitor stocks that are more frequently overweighted above EU concentration limits. In summary, this chapter is the first to both analyse and identify the determinants of domestic equity funds’ failure to comply with the portfolio concentration limits of EU Directive 2009/65/EC. Furthermore, our study also determines the characteristics of the stocks subject to these non-compliant portfolios in domestic equity funds in the Eurozone. This chapter has important implications for market supervisors and policymakers in the mutual fund industries of the Eurozone. Our approach allows market supervisors with limited resources to identify and control non-compliant domestic equity funds by monitoring only some fund-specific characteristics. The improvement of this monitoring process should contribute to the financial stability of the EU asset management industry in terms of investor protection and market transparency. That is, mutual fund unitholders should be completely certain that their money is allocated to portfolios fulfilling the concentration limits required by the EU. Our findings also show a tool to assist EU market supervisors in identifying some explanatory mechanisms for stock weights that are over the EU concentration limits. Thus, our results may help supervisors identify what kind of domestic equity funds are more inclined to default and what kind of stocks are likely overweighted by these funds. Market supervisors could especially monitor these stocks to verify that domestic equity funds are meeting the concentration limits. Market supervisors should focus their limited resources on these types of stocks held by domestic equity funds to prevent defaults in portfolio concentration. Finally, our approach could also help retail investors control their risk profiles in terms of exceeding portfolio concentration limits. This application is in line with the reinforcement of investor protection of portfolio concentration. Investors could be sure that domestic equity funds fully follow the diversification requirements and market transparency provided by the UCITS directives.Chapter 3 presents a new perspective in the analysis of active management. We introduced dynamism by proposing a new version of AS that considers how the managers deviate their portfolios in two consecutive periods. We define dynamic Active Share (dAS) as a measure to capture over time the actual level of activity by comparing the differences against the benchmark in two consecutive periods. Our measure captures not only the long and short static positions in each stock included in the benchmark but also the previous long (short) positions that have been overweighted (underweighted) in the next period. Thus, dAS allows us to divide between investment decisions driven to spread portfolio weights closer to the benchmark (i.e., decisions that lead to a lower differentiation to the benchmark) and the other which is further from the benchmark (i.e., decisions that lead to a higher differentiation). Focusing on the most relevant fund industries in the Eurozone, we analysed the predictive power of AS first. The best results were found in the Spanish industry and, with less robustness, in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Belgium. France only shows this relationship in the long term when we consider the CAPM alpha; while Italy, Finland, Portugal, and Greece fail to offer significant results or even present negative relationships. These results indicate that the prediction ability of AS presents assorted results as this relation is less clear than that presented in the literature (Cremers and Petajisto, 2009) Second, we examined the influence on the prediction power for performance of AS by splitting stocks in the portfolios of our sample into benchmark and non-benchmark . The results allow us to identify how the high proportion of prediction ability for performance of AS is explained by the investment in non-benchmark stocks. Although the AS’s share of overweight or underweight benchmark stocks is really related to stock picking ability, investing in overweighted stocks may mean distortions in their performance evaluations that can lead to spurious contributions to portfolio performance.Third, we applied and analysed the predictive power of dAS. The results provided evidence that the performance of non-benchmark stocks in high AS funds did not extend to mutual funds with high dAS. Thus, this measure is less sensitive to the weight of the portfolio that is invested in non-benchmark securities that is very relevant in Eurozone countries where domestic benchmarks are highly concentrated. The main advantage of the dAS compared to the AS is that our measure provides more information and can be split according to different investment decisions. For that reason, we proposed splitting up the dAS to examine which trading decisions add value to the portfolio. Our most interesting results showed that German funds presents a robust relationship between selling investment decisions and subsequently better performance. This relationship was also found for Dutch, Austrian, and Portuguese funds but with actual limited significance. This finding is in accordance with the level of activity showed by these industries in Chapter 1.Further, we analysed the contributions to dAS that was generated by those trading decisions that might be considered as managers’ bets. These bets could be those decisions that increased holdings that were already overweighted (buy bets) or decrease those holdings that were already underweighted (sell bets). Our findings show as in Germany and in some cases in the Austrian and Portuguese industries that there is subsequent significantly better performance in buying decisions. Focusing on selling decisions, only Finnish funds show positive and strong beliefs and performance. The results for predicting performance show that those portfolios with a higher concentration of these bets offer subsequent abnormal returns as this prediction ability is even higher than the seminal AS in some of the markets in this study.Accordingly, the results shown in this chapter are an interesting addition to Cohen et al. (2010) who try to identify the trades in which the managers have more confidence. The empirical findings show that those mutual funds with trading decisions with a stronger belief from the manager (i.e., decisions that lead them to deviate even more from the benchmark) outperform the remaining funds, especially when buying decisions are considered. This evidence is consistent with Karoui and Patel (2020) who show that the benefit of AS lies in the selection decision rather than the weighting decision.In summary, Chapter 3 is the first to introduce a dynamic perspective on AS to capture managers’ activity and skill. This chapter is relevant for investors who should be interested in knowing whether their fund manager is active and whether their decisions on new investment opportunities add value to the portfolio (i.e., undervalued assets) or on the contrary, the fund manager is passive. The common argument is related to the fees because the management fees charged by these two types of funds should be different. In addition, the chapter is also relevant to regulators in order to adjust the management fees charged by management companies to the actual level of activity carried out by mutual funds. Several fields for further investigation have been identified in this dissertation. Regarding the EU Directive, an extensive test of the level of enforcement that the UCITS IV has implemented in each Eurozone country (including emerging markets) could be useful for making decisions about possible changes in the regulation. Furthermore, a complementary analysis of chapter VII in UCITS IV in terms of its appropriateness with the characteristics of each Eurozone country could allow a more complete assessment of the limits of portfolio concentration and the implementation of the protection to investors. In addition, this dissertation makes an important advance in the topic of active management to help further an analysis in other areas or regions with similar characteristics that could be relevant to the financial literature. <br /

Cosmology with baryons: modelling the cosmic matter distribution for Large-Scale Structure analyses.

La interacción entre las fuerzas gravitatorias e hidrodinámicas en la formación de la estructura del Universo es compleja y aún se desconoce en gran medida. Las fuerzas gravitatorias son dominantes a gran escala, donde las perturbaciones de la densidad son pequeñas y, por tanto, se pueden describir mediante una teoría lineal. Sin embargo, en las escalas pequeñas surgen no linealidades y, por lo tanto, la teoría analítica no es suficiente. El gas es perturbado tanto por las fuerzas hidrodinámicas como por la gravedad, y tienen lugar varios procesos astrofísicos. La formación de galaxias desencadena explosiones de supernovas y la inyección de energía de los agujeros negros supermasivos que se acrecientan, perturbando la distribución de la masa y remodelando el potencial gravitatorio, lo que provoca posteriormente una reacción inversa en la materia oscura.La falta de una modelización precisa de estos procesos bariónicos es una de las principales fuentes de incertidumbre en los actuales estudios de lentes gravitatorias débiles, y se espera que su impacto aumente drásticamente en las próximas campañas de observación previstas.En esta tesis, queremos desarrollar un marco para modelar de forma consistente la distribución espacial y la evolución temporal de la materia oscura, el gas y las galaxias, en la Estructura a Gran Escala del Universo. Utilizamos un enfoque basado en simulaciones, variando simultáneamente la cosmología y los procesos astrofísicos. El núcleo de nuestro marco está dado por grandes simulaciones de alta resolución, que garantizan una modelización robusta de las no linealidades a pequeñas escalas, y predicciones precisas a grandes escalas. En una fase de posprocesamiento, desplazamos las partículas en nuestras simulaciones para explorar diferentes escenarios cosmológicos y bariónicos, mediante la combinación de dos algoritmos de última generación: el modelo de escalado cosmológico y el de corrección bariónica. Implementamos versiones extendidas y optimizadas de ambos algoritmos, para alcanzar la precisión requerida por los estudios de próxima generación, y los probamos sistemáticamente por separado y en combinación. Por último, utilizamos técnicas modernas de aprendizaje automático, y en concreto redes neuronales artificiales, entrenadas para aprender las conexiones entre los parámetros cosmológicos y astrofísicos y las estadísticas relevantes del campo de materia cósmica, tal y como se miden en nuestras simulaciones. De este modo, nuestras predicciones pueden realizarse con un coste computacional insignificante, y la contribución lineal, no lineal y bariónica puede calcularse por separado. Nuestros emuladores de redes neuronales están disponibles públicamente y pueden incorporarse fácilmente a una análisis de lentes gravitatorias débiles. Utilizando nuestro marco de trabajo, la modelización de la densidad cosmica puede extenderse a escalas pequeñas sin precedentes, de forma muy precisa y con una aceleración consistente en el tiempo de cálculo. Esperamos que las técnicas desarrolladas y los resultados presentados aquí sean útiles para una amplia gama de aplicaciones en los análisis de estructuras a gran escala, y en particular en studios de lentes gravitatorias débiles y galaxias.<br /

Precise and Robust Visual SLAM with Inertial Sensors and Deep Learning.

Dotar a los robots con el sentido de la percepción destaca como el componente más importante para conseguir máquinas completamente autónomas. Una vez que las máquinas sean capaces de percibir el mundo, podrán interactuar con él. A este respecto, la localización y la reconstrucción de mapas de manera simultánea, SLAM (por sus siglas en inglés) comprende todas las técnicas que permiten a los robots estimar su posición y reconstruir el mapa de su entorno al mismo tiempo, usando únicamente el conjunto de sensores a bordo. El SLAM constituye el elemento clave para la percepción de las máquinas, estando ya presente en diferentes tecnologías y aplicaciones como la conducción autónoma, la realidad virtual y aumentada o los robots de servicio. Incrementar la robustez del SLAM expandiría su uso y aplicación, haciendo las máquinas más seguras y requiriendo una menor intervención humana.En esta tesis hemos combinado sensores inerciales (IMU) y visuales para incrementar la robustez del SLAM ante movimientos rápidos, oclusiones breves o entornos con poca textura. Primero hemos propuesto dos técnicas rápidas para la inicialización del sensor inercial, con un bajo error de escala. Estas han permitido empezar a usar la IMU tan pronto como 2 segundos después de lanzar el sistema. Una de estas inicializaciones ha sido integrada en un nuevo sistema de SLAM visual inercial, acuñado como ORB-SLAM3, el cual representa la mayor contribución de esta tesis. Este es el sistema de SLAM visual-inercial de código abierto más completo hasta la fecha, que funciona con cámaras monoculares o estéreo, estenopeicas o de ojo de pez, y con capacidades multimapa. ORB-SLAM3 se basa en una formulación de Máximo a Posteriori, tanto en la inicialización como en el refinamiento y el ajuste de haces visual-inercial. También explota la asociación de datos en el corto, medio y largo plazo. Todo esto hace que ORB-SLAM3 sea el sistema SLAM visual-inercial más preciso, como así demuestran nuestros resultados en experimentos públicos.Además, hemos explorado la aplicación de técnicas de aprendizaje profundo para mejorar la robustez del SLAM. En este aspecto, primero hemos propuesto DynaSLAM II, un sistema SLAM estéreo para entornos dinámicos. Los objetos dinámicos son segmentados mediante una red neuronal, y sus puntos y medidas son incluidas eficientemente en la optimización de ajuste de haces. Esto permite estimar y hacer seguimiento de los objetos en movimiento, al mismo tiempo que se mejora la estimación de la trayectoria de la cámara. En segundo lugar, hemos desarrollado un SLAM monocular y directo basado en predicciones de profundidad a través de redes neuronales. Optimizamos de manera conjunta tanto los residuos de predicción de profundidad como los fotométricos de distintas vistas, lo que da lugar a un sistema monocular capaz de estimar la escala. No sufre el problema de deriva de escala, siendo más robusto y varias veces más preciso que los sistemas monoculares clásicos.<br /

Attitudes Towards Indebtedness and Relationship with the Psychological Well-Being of Postgraduate Students at Temuco

Globalization has impacted the dynamics of relationships within Chilean society, with important changes at all levels, both social, cultural, and economic, where emphasis has been placed on practices associated with consumption and indebtedness. The purpose of the research was to know the relationship between attitudes towards indebtedness and psychological well-being, for postgraduate students of Temuco. A non-experimental exploratory cross-sectional research design was used, with a correlational explanatory scope. The information was collected through the measurement instrument that allowed measuring attitudes towards indebtedness through 2 dimensions: austere and hedonistic, and on the other hand, an instrument which allowed measuring psychological well-being through 6 dimensions: self-perception, positive relationships, autonomy, mastery of the environment, personal growth, and purpose in life. The results indicate that there is a relationship between attitudes towards indebtedness and psychological well-being in postgraduate students. It was determined that the hedonistic profile has an inverse relationship with some dimensions of psychological well-being such as autonomy, personal growth, and mastery of the environment, while the austere profile is directly related to the dimension, positive relationships, corresponding to psychological well-being

Caracterización del sangramiento digestivo alto en el centro internacional de retinosis pigmentaria “Camilo Cienfuegos”.

El sangramiento digestivo alto es una urgencia médica importante. Estudios epidemiológicos muestran que constituye un problema de salud en la actualidad. Con el objetivo de caracterizarlo se realizó un estudio descriptivo transversal a 157 pacientes del Centro Internacional de Retinosis Pigmentaria “Camilo Cienfuegos” en el período de tiempo comprendido entre octubre 2002 y septiembre 2009. Los mismos fueron determinados según edades, sexo, síntomas, diagnóstico endoscópico, clasificación de Forrest, localización del sangrado según órgano y parte de este. Se identificó la relación entre el sangrado y la infección por helicobacter pylori, consumo de AINEs, hábito de fumar, consumo de café y consumo de alcohol. Entre los principales resultados se encontró que fue más frecuente el sangrado en el sexo masculino con 52,2%, en las edades de 60 y más años con 36,3 %. El síntoma más frecuente fue la melena con 48,0 %, la úlcera hemorrágica el diagnóstico mayoritario con 38,9 %. La localización prevaleciente según órgano fue estómago con 65,6 % y la localización dentro del órgano el antro con 21,0 %. La clasificación de Forrest más frecuente fue Ib y IIc con 37,5 % y 34,2 %   respectivamente. Se encontró una relación estadísticamente significativa p=0,05 entre el diagnóstico endoscópico y la infección por helicobacter pylori, consumo de AINES, y hábitos tóxicos como fumar, consumo de café y consumo de alcohol.Palabras clave: Hemorragia digestiva alta, úlcera sangrante, clasificación de Forrest, Helicobacter pylori