Efficiency in the management of urban water services. What have we learned after four decades of research?

The analysis of efficiency in the management of urban water services offers valuable information both for the managers of this service and for public bodies in order to introduce improvements in business practices and in the design of public policies. Since the pioneering study carried out by Ford and Wardford (1969), there have been many attempts to follow this line of research. Due to the importance of the subject and the volume of publications in this field, we believe it is necessary to provide a balance of the work carried out over the last four decades. In this overview, we look at the main questions which have arisen over this period, we provide a synthesis of the results obtained and, finally, we point out some challenges for future research.Water utilities; Efficiency; Firm behaviour; Water

Insolvency institutions, contract enforcement and firms

Tesis por compendio de publicacionesPrograma Oficial de Doctorado en EconomíaPresidente: John Armour; Secretario: Mihkail Drugov; Vocal: Emanuele Tarantin

Performance and ownership in the governance of urban water

In this paper the differences in terms of performance between public and the private governance in urban water management are investigated. A statistical ranking is implemented to determine programmatic efficiency differences in DEA, using an incomplete panel data that gathers information on 20 water utilities in Andalusia, in Southern Spain. In the model, labour and operational costs are considered as inputs. The volume of revenue water, the number of connections and the network length are used as outputs. The analysis indicates that private management is more efficient. The efficiency indicators adjusted by a variable related to quality are estimated and demonstrate that privatization of the service does not mean any loss in terms of quality. However, there are no significant differences between both types of management including as a desirable input hydraulic yield as a proxy of the degree of network renovation. A lower hydraulic efficiency in private management would suggest that the need to make significant investments could be an important factor when making the decision to privatize the management of the urban water service: Water supply; Management; Local government;

Building initial models of rotating white dwarfs with SPH

A general procedure to build self-gravitational, rotating equilibrium structures with the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) technique does not exist. In particular, obtaining stable rotating configurations for white dwarf (WD) stars is currently a major drawback of many astrophysical simulations. Rotating WDs with low internal temperatures are connected with both, explosive and implosive scenarios such as type Ia supernova explosions or neutron stars formation. Simulations of these events with SPH codes demand stable enough particle configurations as initial models. In this work we have developed and tested a relaxation method to obtain equilibrium configurations of rotating WDs. This method is straightforward and takes advantage of the excellent mass and angular momentum conservation properties of the SPH technique. Although we focus on rigid rotation and its potential applications to several Type Ia supernova scenarios, we also show that our proposal is also able to provide good initial models in differential rotation, which has the potential to benefit many other types of simulations where rotation plays a capital role, like disk evolution and stellar formation.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The cyclical trend of local public service governance: evidence from urban water management in Spain

The level of public and private involvement in economic activity in societies has changed over time. One may talk about the existence of a cyclical trend in which the most important periods of public governance are replaced by periods in which private management dominates the situation. This phenomenon may also be observed in local areas. Some authors have pointed out the existence of an alternation in the provision of municipal services, resulting in periods dominated by governance compared to other stages dominated by private management. In order to illustrate this cyclical trend at local level, this paper intends to analyze the evolution of the governance of the Spanish water supply since the mid-nineteenth century to the present day. Recent evidence from the industry suggests the possibility that we may currently be witnessing a further change in the trend.: Local Government, urban water supply, privatization, municipalization

Understanding a Version of Multivariate Symmetric Uncertainty to assist in Feature Selection

In this paper, we analyze the behavior of the multivariate symmetric uncertainty (MSU) measure through the use of statistical simulation techniques under various mixes of informative and non-informative randomly generated features. Experiments show how the number of attributes, their cardinalities, and the sample size affect the MSU. We discovered a condition that preserves good quality in the MSU under different combinations of these three factors, providing a new useful criterion to help drive the process of dimension reduction

Principales contribuciones al estudio de la dinámica glaciar y periglaciar andorranas

Los trabajos científicos sobre el glaciarismo del Pirineo catalán se inician a finales del siglo XIX. A partir de entonces y hasta nuestros días, el interés gemorfológico por los relieves debidos al hielo han ido adquiriendo mayor interés. Por lo que respecta a Andorra, los estudios sobre el glaciarismo y periglaciarismo conocen un gran impulso a partir de los años setenta, sobre todo, en cuanto a métodos y técnicas. Fruto de ello son los ensayos sobre cronología glaciar y cartografía temáticaKataluinako Pirinioetako glaziarismoari buruzko zientzi lanak XIX. mendearen bukaera aldean abiatu ziren. Handik abiaturik eta gure egunotariaino, izotzak moldatu dituen erliebeekiko interes geomorfologikoa gero eta handiagoa izan da. Andorrari dagokionez, glaziarismo eta periglaziarismoari buruzko azterlanek bultzada handia izan zuten hirurogeita hamargarren urteetatik aurrera, batez ere metodo eta tekniken alorrean. Guzti horren fruitua glaziareen kronologia eta kartografia tematikoaren inguruko saioak diraC'est à la fin du XIXème siécle qu'on comence à réaliser des travaux scientifiques sur le glaciérisme des Pyrénées catalans. Depuis, et jusqu'à nos jours l'intérêt géomorpholigique pour les reliefs formés par la glace n'a cessé d'augmenter. En ce qui concerne l'Andorre, les études de glaciérisme et de périglaciérisme connaissent un grand essor à partir des annés soixante-dix particulièrement du point de vue des méthodes et des techniques. Les ouvrages sur la chronologie des glaciers et également ceux de cartographie thématique en sont le résulta

Recursos sobre TIC y desarrollo en Internet

Las páginas latinoamericanas ofrecen una mayor variedad de puntos de vista y enfoques y se aprecia la enorme importancia que se otorga a las TIC como factor de desarrollo, tanto para una mejor educación como para una mejor calidad de vida. Sin embargo, es en portales anglosajones donde la información es más abundante, hasta tres veces más páginas web relacionadas con el tema. Este artículo propone una visita a los sitios más relevantes para el tema TIC y desarrollo humano.Les pàgines web llatinoamericanes ofereixen una major varietat de punts de vista i enfocaments i s'aprecia l'enorme importància que s'atorga a les TIC com a factor de desenvolupament, tant per a una millor educació com per a una millor qualitat de vida. Això es repeteix si el que es busca són aspectes relacionats amb el debat sobre aquests temes. Aquest article proposa una visita als portals més rellevants relacionats amb les tecnologies de la informació i la comunicació i el desenvolupament humà.Peer Reviewe

Recursos sobre desenvolupament agropecuari a Internet

Buceando por la red se pueden encontrar muchos enlaces a administraciones, asociaciones y organismos relacionados con el desarrollo agropecuario, que abarcan desde el ámbito internacional hasta el regional, de variadas titularidades, que incluyen entidades públicas, empresas privadas y organizaciones sociales.Navegant per la xarxa es poden trobar molts enllaços a administracions, associacions i organismes relacionats amb el desenvolupament agropecuari, que comprenen des de l'àmbit internacional fins al regional, de variades titularitats, que inclouen entitats públiques, empreses privades i organitzacions socials.Peer Reviewe

Los valores sobre la participación de la infancia en la vida familiar: un análisis de la encuesta mundial de valores en Andalucía

En esta comunicación se trata de analizar en qué medida la transformación social operada en las sociedades contemporáneas puede estar afectando a la relación adultos-infancia en lo referente a los modelos de participación de los niños en la vida familiar. Para el estudio empírico de esta cuestión hemos hecho uso de la base de datos de la Encuesta Mundial de Valores, Andalucía (1998), de la que se han seleccionado ítems especialmente útiles para el objetivo de esta investigación, esto es, aquéllos que nos informan sobre las concepciones de los adultos respecto a la educación de los niños en el contexto de las relaciones de familia.In this paper, we pretend to analyze how and in what extent the social change in contemporary societies, over all in the relationship among adults and childhood, has involved more prominence of the children in a sense of more participation level in the familiar life. For the empirical research, it will be used the data base of the World Survey of Values, in particular, the results related to Andalusia, obtained in 1998. From this survey, it has been selected various items that report about the adults conceptions in relations to the childhood, especially in the context of the family relationship