“Social Return and Financing of Urban Regeneration Policiesâ€

This paper analyses an alternative measurement framework capable of capturing the return on investment of urban regeneration projects through a cost-benefit analysis. Financial returns on investment are calculated as the ratio between the benefits accruing from the performance of a given project and the funds involved in their implementation. Both, benefits and funds, must be named in monetary terms. However in urban regeneration projects, due to their dual economic and social nature, is more difficult to quantify the profits generated because most of them are subjective (greater quality of life, better community welfare, etc.). There is a wide array of value taking place in a urban regenerative process (economic value, blended value, social value) some of which are measurable in a traditional Investment/Return framework (with its implicit economic returns assumption) and more of which are not so that they remain partially hidden from stakeholders. Based on the foregoing, the purpose of this study is twofold: to go deeply on the cost-effectiveness ratio of urban regeneration projects through consideration of social impacts and to analyze some new alternative funding formulas that arise particularly in a time of financial constraint. The papers argues that the SROI (Social Return On Investment) method appears as the most appropriate measurement tool to capture the full public benefit as well as the Tax Increment Financing and the Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas –Jessica, seem to be two innovative financing formulas based on a market approach.

Modulation above pump beam energy in photoreflectance

Photoreflectance is used for the characterisation of semiconductor samples, usually by sweeping the monochromatized probe beam within the energy range comprised between the highest value set up by the pump beam and the lowest absorption threshold of the sample. There is, however, no fundamental upper limit for the probe beam other than the limited spectral content of the source and the responsivity of the detector. As long as the modulation mechanism behind photoreflectance does affect the complete electronic structure of the material under study, sweeping the probe beam towards higher energies from that of the pump source is equally effective in order to probe high-energy critical points. This fact, up to now largely overseen, is shown experimentally in this work. E1 and E0 + Δ0 critical points of bulk GaAs are unambiguously resolved using pump light of lower energy. This type of upstream modulation may widen further applications of the technique

Donor Reaction to Non-Financial Information Covering Social Projects in Nonprofits: A Spanish Case

The notion of accountability in nonprofits suggests that these organisations should disclose financial and non-financial practices following a holistic model. In practice, the interest of both managers and researchers has focused primarily on donors and financial disclosures, for funding and methodological reasons respectively. From the perspective of impact investment, all of them, government, beneficiaries, private donors, managers and volunteers are expected to make their decisions based on non-financial information as investors expecting social returns. However, to what extent does project information that demonstrates that the non-profit organisation has achieved its social mission actually matter? The main objective of this paper is to analyse whether the donations received by non-governmental organisations NGOs are related to the information disclosed on the projects undertaken. We perform our analysis separately for individual, private and public donors. Our results show that public donors are more interested in financial disclosures, private donors find information about outcomes and impacts to be most useful and individual donors do not tend to use non-financial information when it comes to making decisions about whether to donate or not

Capturing the Invisible Wealth in Nonprofits to Overcome Myopic Perceptions

Since nonprofits use third-party funds for their activities, they are often perceived as resource managers or spending units, instead of being considered as social wealth generating entities. The aim of this study is to help to overcome this myopic perception by showing how the invisible wealth generated by these organizations can be made visible. We use the SROI methodology to do so, by identifying stakeholders, outcomes (tangible, intangible) and social impacts in a drug addiction treatment centre. The results show that social impact in monetary terms exceeds that of the inputs used, confirming the idea that addiction-based nonprofits are social wealth generating units. The conclusion drawn is that social impact measurement should be widely used as a management tool and a mechanism for reinforcing the social image of nonprofits

Climate-related prudential regulation tools in the context of sustainable and responsible investment: a systematic review

Several major economies have already committed to achieving a carbon-neutral economy by 2050, in accordance with the Paris Agreement. The banking system in all countries has a key role to play in supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy, and academia has been researching the prudential regulation tools that will enable the incorporation of climate risk management into banking. However, no studies to date have attempted to systematize research on Climate-related Prudential Regulation Tools. This study conducts a systematic review of the English-language peer-reviewed literature produced on this topic in the period since the 2007–2008 financial crisis, revealing the state of the art and the research gaps. The thematic synthesis carried out in this study shows the experience of some countries in the implementation of these tools and the advancement of academic knowledge in this field. These findings can serve as a reference for the further development of a harmonized international framework to address climate risk in banking

Development of new methods and tools for advanced characterization of the atmospheric aerosol based on remote sensing measurements

Los aerosoles atmosféricos son partículas en estado sólido o líquido es supensión en la atmósfera. Estas partículas, de origen natural o antropogénico, afectan al clima, a la actividad humana y a la salud. Es por ello que la monitorización y evaluación de los aerosoles es de suma importancia dentro de los estudios atmosféricos. En las últimas décadas distintas iniciativas tratan de obtener más y mejores datos para la caracterización de los aerosoles. Las redes en tierra son capaces de obtener sus propiedades con gran calidad, mientras que diferentes misiones satelitales son capaces de tomar grandes volúmenes de datos con una excelente cobertura espacial. A partir de las medidas y mediante la aplicación de complejos algoritmos se pueden obtener las propiedades ópticas y microfísicas de los aerosoles. GRASP es un reciente algoritmo de inversión que nace como una evolución del algoritmo utilizado por la red AERONET, y que puede aplicarse a diversos tipos de instrumentos (desde instrumentos de laboratorio, redes en tierra o sensores de satélites) e incluso sus sinergias (combinando las medidas de varios de ellos). Además, incluye modernas metodologías como la inversión multi­ pixel,que permite añadir restricciones a priori sobre la variabilidad temporal o espacial. Por último, este trabajo desarrolla una aplicación específica del algoritmo GRASP: el desarrollo de una inversión para medidas de espesor óptico de aerosoles. Los resultados muestran que se pueden separar los modos fino y grueso dentro de un error menor del 1% del valor de la medida de espesor óptico. La modelización del modo fino es más precisa si se aporta información del índice de refracción real. El modo grueso es menos estable pero mejora si se aporta información extra, como el índice de refracción complejo.Departamento de Física Teórica, Atómica y ÓpticaDoctorado en Físic

CÆLIS: Software de asimilación, gestión y procesado de datos atmosféricos.

En e l campo de los estudios atmosféricos, y más concretamente en el estudio de los aerosoles mediante métodos radiométricos, surge CÆLIS. Éste es un software de desarrollo por el GOA-UVa que proporciona una solución informática y automatizada a los problemas de la gestión y estudio de las redes de captación de este tipo de medias.Máster en Investigación en Ingeniería para el Desarrollo Agroforesta

Early Phonological Acquisition in a Set of English-Spanish Bilingual Twins

Producción CientíficaThis study is the first attempt to examine the early phonological development of bilingual twins. It sought to determine the extent to which the phonological acquisition of twins was similar, and the extent to which the phonological acquisition of the two languages was similar. Language samples from twin boys acquiring English and Spanish simultaneously were taken at 18, 19 and 20 months of age, in English and Spanish. The samples were analyzed using nine measures of phonological acquisition. A scale of phonological similarity was developed to quantify comparisons between the languages and between the children. The results indicated that the phonologies of the twins were 92% similar in each language, showing highly similar, but not identical systems. The phonologies of the languages were 71% similar, indicating that being twin did not impede early language separation

Predicted photoreflectance signatures on QD selective contacts for hot carrier solar cells

The CO2 emission of our present energy transformation processes, based mainly on burning fossil fuels, is possibly the main cause of global climatic change. The photovoltaic conversion of solar energy is a clean way of producing which for sustainability should (and most probably will) become a major source of electricity. The sun is a huge resource but relatively diluted and it is reasonable to expect that only high efficiency extraction can be cost effective for mass exploitation. New concepts are neccessary such as hot carrier solar cells

Tecnología de la información y comunicación y el desempeño laboral del personal administrativo de la Unidad Ejecutora 404 Hospital II-2 Tarapoto, 2016

La presente investigación titulada: “Tecnología de la información y comunicación y el desempeño laboral del personal administrativo de la Unidad Ejecutora 404 Hospital II-2 Tarapoto, 2016”, tiene como objetivo establecer la relación existente entre el uso de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación y el desempeño laboral del personal administrativo de la Unidad Ejecutora 404 Hospital II-2 Tarapoto, 2016; se tuvo como hipótesis de trabajo Ho: Existe una relación directa y significativa entre el uso de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación y el desempeño laboral del personal administrativo de la Unidad Ejecutora 404 Hospital II-2 Tarapoto, 2016, para contrastar ello se utilizó el diseño no experimental correlacional, los instrumento de recolección de datos fueron dos cuestionarios uno para cada variable y se aplicó a todo el personal administrativo de la Unidad Ejecutora 404 Hospital II-2 Tarapoto, que son en un total de 70 Trabajadores, los resultados encontrados en la investigación principalmente son los siguientes: el coeficiente de correlación lineal de Pearson r = 0.876, el coeficiente de determinación es de 0.0; el 83% del personal que equivale a 58 trabajadores indicaron que el nivel de uso de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación es de ¨uso regular” y el nivel de desempeño laboral es ¨regular”, 59 colaboradores que representan el 84.2% indicaron ello; en base a éstos resultados se llegando a las siguientes conclusiones: Existe relación positiva y altamente significativa entre el uso de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación y el Desempeño Laboral del personal administrativo de la Unidad Ejecutora 404 Hospital II-2 Tarapoto; además, tanto para el nivel de uso de las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación como para el desempeño laboral es regular, 83% y 84.2% respectivamente