Evaluating Labor Market Reforms: A General Equilibrium Approach

Job security provisions are commonly invoked to explain the high and persistent European unemployment rates. This belief has led several countries to reform their labor markets and liberalize the use of fixed-term contracts. Despite how common such contracts have become after deregulation, there is a lack of quantitative analysis of their impact on the economy. To fill this gap, we build a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents and firing costs in the tradition of Hopenhayn and Rogerson (1993). We calibrate our model to Spanish data, choosing in part parameters estimated with firm-level longitudinal data. Spain is particularly interesting, since its labor regulations are among the most protective in the OECD, and both its unemployment and its share of fixed-term employment are the highest. We find that fixed term contracts increase unemployment, reduce output, and raise productivity. The welfare effects are ambiguous.Fixed-term contracts, Firing costs, General equilibrium, Heterogeneous agents

EVALUATING LABOR MARKET REFORMS: A GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM APPROACH

Job security provisions are commonly invoked to explain the high and persistent European unemployment rates. This belief has led several countries to reform their labor markets and liberalize the use of fixed-term contracts. Despite how common such contracts have become after deregulation, there is a lack of quantitative analysis of their impact on the economy. To fill this gap, we build a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents and firing costs in the tradition of Hopenhayn and Rogerson (1983). We calibrate our model to Spanish data, choosing in part parameters estimated with firm-level longitudinal data. Spain is particularly interesting, since its labor regulations are among the most protective in the OECD, and both its unemployment and its share of fixed-term employment are the highest. We find that fixedterm contracts increase unemployment, reduce output, and raise productivity. The welfare effects are ambiguous.

Student-Generated Videos to Promote Understanding of Chemical Reactions

Published as part of the Journal of Chemical Education virtual special issue “Teaching Changes and Insights Gained in the Time after COVID-19”.[Abstract] Students were tasked with the creation of videos of ordinary reactions to promote significant learning of complex concepts underlying chemical transformations. Interactive infographics were used to deliver instructions. Afterward, students planned the experimental setup for the reaction execution and video recording using their mobile phones. The videos and an online questionnaire, also created by the students, were shared with other class members using the visual platform Padlet. The reasoning required to elaborate the questions contributed to a better understanding of the principles underpinning the chemical equation. An exit survey showed that planning and performing the activity were not time-consuming for the students. Marks attained by the students in questions related to chemical reactions improved after completing the activity

A Highly Available Cluster of Web Servers with Increased Storage Capacity

Ponencias de las Decimoséptimas Jornadas de Paralelismo de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha celebradas el 18,19 y 20 de septiembre de 2006 en AlbaceteWeb servers scalability has been traditionally solved by improving software elements or increasing hardware resources of the server machine. Another approach has been the usage of distributed architectures. In such architectures, usually, file al- location strategy has been either full replication or full distribution. In previous works we have showed that partial replication offers a good balance between storage capacity and reliability. It offers much higher storage capacity while reliability may be kept at an equivalent level of that from fully replicated solutions. In this paper we present the architectural details of Web cluster solutions adapted to partial replication. We also show that partial replication does not imply a penalty in performance over classical fully replicated architectures. For evaluation purposes we have used a simulation model under the OMNeT++ framework and we use mean service time as a performance comparison metric.Publicad

Identification and Analysis of Conserved cis-Regulatory Regions of the MEIS1 Gene

Meis1, a conserved transcription factor of the TALE-homeodomain class, is expressed in a wide variety of tissues during development. Its complex expression pattern is likely to be controlled by an equally complex regulatory landscape. Here we have scanned the Meis1 locus for regulatory elements and found 13 non-coding regions, highly conserved between humans and teleost fishes, that have enhancer activity in stable transgenic zebrafish lines. All these regions are syntenic in most vertebrates. The composite expression of all these enhancer elements recapitulate most of Meis1 expression during early embryogenesis, indicating they comprise a basic set of regulatory elements of the Meis1 gene. Using bioinformatic tools, we identify a number of potential binding sites for transcription factors that are compatible with the regulation of these enhancers. Specifically, HHc2:066650, which is expressed in the developing retina and optic tectum, harbors several predicted Pax6 sites. Biochemical, functional and transgenic assays indicate that pax6 genes directly regulate HHc2:066650 activity.This work was funded through grants BFU2009-07044 (MICINN) and Proyecto de Excelencia CVI 2658 (Junta de Andalucía) to FC and BFU2010-14839 (MICINN), CSD2007-00008 and Proyecto de Excelencia CVI-3488 to JLGS. JLR is a recipient of a JAE-DOC contract from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)

Nanoscale mechanically induced structural and electrical changes in Ge 2Sb 2Te 5 films

We demonstrate that the microstructure and electrical properties of Ge 2Sb 2Te 5 films can be changed by a nanoscale mechanical process. Nanoscratching is used to define modified areas onto an as-deposited crystalline Ge 2Sb 2Te 5 film. Scanning tunneling microscopy measurements show that the modified areas have a very low electrical conductivity. Micro-Raman measurements indicate that the mechanically induced microstructural changes are consistent with a phase transformation from crystalline to amorphous, which can be reversed by laser irradiation.Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas 201060E102Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CSD2008-00023Junta de Andalucía TEP21

Creation of a virtual museum as a learning tool in the teaching of the Manufacturing Engineering subject

Teaching subjects such as Manufacturing Engineering requires the use of effective teaching tools, which help students in their learning process. While the traditional transmission model can be effective when teaching concepts and theoretical contents, others activities are essential to allow students to participate, act or reflect, thus developing skills and competences, such us communication, teamwork, and creativity. This paper presents a learning tool based on the creation of a virtual museum related to the Manufacturing Engineering field, which is included as a coursework in the teaching program of the subject "Manufacturing Engineering". This subject is taught at the second year of different degrees at the Industrial Engineering School of the University of Malaga and a percentage of its final grade comes from this activity. The museum is materialized through the posters whose format is similar to those presented at conferences and whose content may be referred to three topics (object, process or biography). Once the students are given the necessary instructions, each project is selected by a work group and its development is supervised in the next two sessions by the lecturer. In the final stage, each group give the presentation about their work. The analysis of the students’ grades obtained from both this activity and the whole subject makes it possible to quantify the impact of this type of activities on the student learning and achievement. Eventually, best posters will be part of the department collection, being accessible to students in subsequent years.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

A control system for low-head diversion run-of-river small hydro plants with pressure conduits considering the tailwater level variation

This paper presents a control system for low-head diversion run-of-river small hydro plants with pressure conduits. Since these hydropower plants usually have low or null water storage capacity, the water discharged through the turbines should be adapted to the possible extent to the natural river inflow. For this purpose, a control scheme aimed at maintaining a constant water level in the head pond is normally used in these cases. As an alternative, the option of maintaining a constant water level in the surge tank is studied in this paper. Furthermore, since in low-head hydro plants the tailwater level variation may represent a relatively important contribution to total head losses, it has been explicitly considered in the proposed control system. A small-perturbation stability analysis has been carried out in order to analyze the influence of the plant design and controller parameters in the plant dynamic response. Finally, in order to illustrate the applicability of the proposed control system, several simulations have been carried out using data gathered from a real hydro plan

Color comparison in fuzzy color spaces

In this paper we study the problem of color comparison in computers in the setting of fuzzy color spaces. First, we study resemblance relations between precise colors induced by fuzzy colors and fuzzy color spaces. Such resemblance relations are equivalent to fuzzy categorizations of color spaces, that are crucial in order to capture the human's perception of color. Second, we consider the case of color information expressed by means of fuzzy colors used either in a conjunctive or disjunctive way. In order to match pieces of color information we use concepts of resemblance, inclusion, compatibility, and possibility/necessity between the fuzzy colors involved in the definition of different pieces of color information, using well known results from the fuzzy set and possibility theories. Finally, we define inclusion/similarity indexes for comparison of fuzzy colors, including a novel approach to calculate inclusion and overlapping between fuzzy colors on the basis of quantification techniques.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund - ERDF (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional - FEDER) under project TIN2014-58227-PSpanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the European Regional Development Fund - ERDF (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional - FEDER) under project PGC2018-096156-B-I0