Price caps, efficiency payoffs, and infrastructure contract renegotiation in Latin America

Twenty years ago, as the United Kingdom was getting ready to launch the privatization of its public services, Professor Littlechild developed and operationalized the concept of price caps as a regulatory regime to control for residual monopoly conditions in those services. Ten years later, Latin American countries, as they embarked into their own infrastructure reforms, also adopted the price cap regulatory model. Relying on a large data base on the factors driving contract renegotiation in the region and a survey of the literature on efficiency gains, the authors assess the impact of this regulatory regime in Latin America. They show that while the expected efficiency gains were amply achieved, these gains were seldom passed on to the users. Instead they were shared by the government and the firms. Moreover, the adoption of price caps implied higher costs of capital and hence, tariffs, and brought down levels of investment.International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Decentralization,Labor Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Water Supply and Sanitation Participation,Community Participation in Water Supply and Sanitation

Análisis de roles de trabajo en equipo : un enfoque centrado en comportamientos /

Consultable des del TDXTítol obtingut de la portada digitalitzadaEl objetivo general de la tesis, es aportar una mayor comprensión de los comportamientos de rol que realizan las personas cuando participan en los equipos de trabajo en las organizaciones, y que los investigadores han relacionado con la eficacia del trabajo equipo. La investigación se centra en: I) identificar un conjunto de comportamientos que se dan durante el desarrollo del trabajo en equipo. II) diferenciar los diferentes comportamientos de rol de equipo, III) describir y redefinir estos comportamientos de rol para poder ser observados por cualquier persona que tenga que diseñar o liderar equipos de trabajo. En la primera parte se realiza una revisión del la literatura y del marco teórico del trabajo en equipo, estructurada en cuatro capítulos. En el primer capitulo se realiza una revisión de las diferentes teorías de la organización, para contextualizar lo que supone el trabajo de los grupos, desde una perspectiva critica, en cuanto a los factores que favorecen o inhiben el trabajo en equipo. El capitulo segundo se centra en una revisión de la amplia literatura, que aborda el concepto de equipos de trabajo, la construcción de los equipos, tratando de reflexionar sobre que se entiende por trabajo en equipo. En el capitulo tercero, se analiza el concepto de rol, y se abordan las diferentes teorías acerca de los roles de equipo. Finalmente, en el capitulo cuarto se realiza una revisión acerca de la gestión por competencias, abordando los diferentes modelos propuestos por los investigaciones actuales, para focalizar nuestro interés en la competencia del trabajo en equipo. En la segunda parte se definen las estrategias y el diseño de la investigación, basada en una metodología cualitativa, y de carácter observacional, en un universo de 584 personas que han participado en 22 sesiones de trabajo en equipo, durante el periodo 2000-2005. Para el análisis cualitativo del corpus visual (poco habitual en las ciencias sociales), se ha utilizado una herramienta informática del tipo CAQDAS, más concretamente el Atlas-ti, para la cual, se ha tratado de explicar con el mayor detalle posible, como se ha procedido durante la investigación. La investigación, aporta una plantilla de observación, configurada por 51 comportamientos observables, configurados en nueve roles, que desarrollan las personas, en una dinámica de trabajo grupal y que contribuyen al trabajo en equipo. Para cada uno de estos comportamientos, se realiza una detallada descripción del mismo, y además se facilitan unos ejemplos ilustrativos obtenidos a partir de la investigación. Estos comportamientos se han manifestado, de forma recurrente a lo largo del periodo analizado, con independencia de las personas y de las sesiones de trabajo, por lo que resultan fácilmente observables en un contexto organizacional, incluso por personas no expertas en psicología. Son por tanto unos comportamientos más unívocos, que ofrecen un menor margen de interpretación. Esta plantilla de observación, aporta conocimiento a los profesionales que habitualmente diseñan y lideran equipos, que les permitirá trabajar de forma más eficaz, para aprovechar las contribuciones de las personas trabajando en equipo. En cuanto a la gestión por competencias, la investigación aporta unas evidencias mas claras y cualitativas, respecto de cómo se desarrolla la competencia del trabajo en equipo. Finalmente, la tesis plantea futuras líneas de investigación sobre: la idoneidad de cada uno de estos comportamientos, en las diferentes etapas que atraviesan los equipos; la combinación ideal de roles de equipo en función de las diferentes modalidades de grupos (GTA, Círculos de Calidad, Tasck Force, Comités, etc.); su aplicación dentro Balanced Scorecard (indicadores de efecto) para inducir y evaluar la realización de productos colectivos por parte de los equipos; una investigación más cuantitativa de estos comportamientos en determinadas situaciones y/o tareas.The general aim of the thesis is to contribute to a major comprehension of the behaviours within the roles that people realizes when they take part in work teams within organizations, and to determine what the investigators have related to the efficiency of the work team. The investigation centers on: I) Identifying a set of behaviours that are showed during the development of the work in a team. II) Differentiating the different behaviours of roles within a team. III) Describing and to re-defining these behaviours of roles, so that they can be observed by any person who should have to design or to lead work teams. In the first part a review of the literature and of the theoretical framework of the work in team is made, constructed in four chapters. In the first chapter a review is made of different theories of the organization, to contextualize the work of the group does, from critical perspective taking into account the factors that they favour or inhibit the participants working in a team. The second chapter centers on a review of the vast amount of literature that broaches the concept of work teams and the construction of such teams, trying to reflect on that can be understood by working in a team. In the third chapter, the role concept and different theories over team's roles has been analyzed. Finally, in the fourth chapter, a review is made over the management for competences, approaching the different models proposed by current investigations, to focalize our interest in the competence of work in teams. In the second part, the design and strategies of the research, based on a qualitative methodology, and of character observation of a test group of 584 persons who have participated in 22 sessions of teamwork, during the period 2000-2005. For the qualitative analysis of the visual corpus (not very common in the social sciences), the informatics tool CAQDAS, more correctly the Atlas-ti, has been used, so that an explanation of how the investigation proceeded has been given with as much detail as possible. The research puts forward a template for observations consisting of 51 observable behaviours, formed into nine roles which people develop in a group dynamic and that contribute to teamwork. A detailed description is given for each one of these behaviours. In addition there are some illustrative examples obtained from the research. These behaviours have been demonstrated repeatedly over throughout the analyzed period, separately from the people and the work sessions, so that they can easily be observed in organizational context, even by those who are not experts in psychology. There are, therefore, some beaviours that offer a lesser margin of interpretation. This observation template, provides an understanding for professionals that usually design and lead teams, which will allow them to work more effectively in order to make the most of the contributions from each team member. As for the management of competences, the research provides clearer and more qualitative evidence in relation to how competence develops within a team. Finally, the thesis poses future lines of research on: The suitability of each of these behaviours and the different stages that the teams goes trough; the ideal combination of roles in a team depending on the different modalities of groups (Circles of Quality, Tasks Force, Committees, etc.); its application within Balanced Scorecard (indicators of effect) to induce and to evaluate the realization of collective products on the part of the teams; a more quantitative research of these behaviours in several situations and tasks

Multidimensionality and renegotiation : evidence from transport-sector public-private-partnership transactions in Latin America

Multidimensional auctions are a natural and practical solution when auctioneers pursue more than one objective in their public-private-partnership transactions. However, it is difficult to achieve auction efficiency with multiple award criteria. Using auction data from road and railway concessions in Latin America, the probability of renegotiation this paper estimates by a two-stage least squares technique with a binary selection in the first-stage regression. The findings show that auctioneers tend to adopt the multidimensional format when the need for social considerations, such as alleviation of unemployment, is high. This implies that such political considerations could hinder efficiency and transparency in auctions. The analysis also shows that the renegotiation risk in infrastructure concessions increases when multidimensional auctions are used. Rather, good governance, particularly anti-corruption policies, can mitigate the renegotiation problem.Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Debt Markets,Infrastructure Economics,E-Business,Emerging Markets

Preface: Introduction to special issue

Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

Increased activity of a factor (“transferangiotensin”) favoring the binding of angiotensin II to arterial wall in hypertension

Increased activity of a factor (“transferangiotensin”) favoring the binding of angiotensin II to arterial wall in hypertension. A plasma protein component with an apparent mol wt of 700,000 increases angiotensin II binding by macromolecules in arterial wall extracts. Its activity is increased in several types of hypertension, most prominently in essential hypertension

Oceanographic Research Platform

A singular research facility, taking advantage of and old fish plant structure, is presented in this paper. The current project describes the objectives, the possibilities and the main scientific applications of this future oceanographic research facility.Peer Reviewe

Real time diagnosis for a large gas turbine based on a deep model of the controller

The ESPRIT project 6862 TIGER addresses the development of a real-time knowledge based diagnosis system for two gas turbines: a large scale industrial gas turbine and an auxiliary power unit for aviation. The project will combine the qualitative model based with the rule based diagnosis approach. This paper describes the rule based approach taken in the development of a real-time diagnostic system for a large scale gas turbine. Deep models will be automatically extracted from the deterministic knowledge embedded within the controller ladder logic diagrams. Heuristic knowledge will be extracted from the domain expert and engineering manuals.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Simplifying the verification of simulation models through Petri net to FlexSim mapping

Simplifying the encoding of a simulation conceptual model representation reduces the number of errors that will be detected in the verification phase. In this paper, we present a mapping between Petri nets, a well-known formalism, and FlexSim, a well-known simulation tool. The proposal is illustrated through an example of how a model specified in a Petri net can be encoded easily, reducing the time needed to understand and verify the model. In the proposed methodology, the mapping must be defined at the initial stage of the encoding, starting from (in this case) a Petri net conceptual model, and ending at the encoding tool (FlexSim in this case). The main advantages of the proposed methodology are discussed.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A Galileo IOV Assessment: Measurement and Position Domain

The European GNSS, Galileo, is currently in its In-Orbit Validation (IOV) phase where four satellites are finally available for computing the user position. In this phase, the analysis of the measurements and Position Velocity and Time (PVT) obtained from the IOV satellites can provide insight on the potentialities of the Galileo system. A methodology is suggested for the analysis of the Galileo IOV pseudorange and pseudorange rates collected from the E1 and E5 frequencies. Several days of data were collected and processed to determine figures of merits such as RMS and maximum errors of the Galileo observables. From the analysis, it emerges that Galileo is able to achieve better accuracy with respect to GPS. A thorough analysis of the PVT performance is also achieved using broadcast ephemerides. Galileo and GPS PVTs are compared under similar geometry conditions showing the potential of the Galileo system.JRC.G.5-Security technology assessmen

Diagnóstico de la promoción de los ciclos formativos en las Islas Baleares

Inclou referències bibliogràfiques p. 2