Survival of the firm and territory.

El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar el riesgo de mortalidad empresarial. Para ello, en una muestra de más de 11.741 empresas pertenecientes al sector textil-confección se ha estudiado, junto con otros factores, la influencia de la proximidad geográfica (efecto distrito) y la actividad productiva principal (efecto subsector) en la supervivencia de las empresas textiles españolas. Desde un punto de vista teórico-práctico esta industria es especialmente relevante para realizar ese tipo de estudios al menos por dos motivos: 1) porque después de la liberalización del comercio textil se ha visto inmersa en una profunda crisis en las economías más desarrolladas, y 2) porque tiende a agruparse geográficamente en torno a clusters o distritos industriales. Los resultados obtenidos sugieren que el riesgo de mortalidad empresarial se ve reducido por aspectos relativos a la empresa como la antigüedad y el subsector de actividad y, bajo determinadas circunstancias, por la localización en un distrito industrial. PALABRAS CLAVE: mortalidad empresarial, textil, distrito industrial

Health care provider choice in the case of patient-initiated contacts. An extended version of discrete choice of model demand

This paper analyzes the nature of health care provider choice in the case of patient-initiated contacts, with special reference to a National Health Service setting, where monetary prices are zero and general practitioners act as gatekeepers to publicly financed specialized care. We focus our attention on the factors that may explain the continuously increasing use of hospital emergency visits as opposed to other provider alternatives. An extended version of a discrete choice model of demand for patient-initiated contacts is presented, allowing for individual and town residence size differences in perceived quality (preferences) between alternative providers and including travel and waiting time as non-monetary costs. Results of a nested multinomial logit model of provider choice are presented. Individual choice between alternatives considers, in a repeated nested structure, self-care, primary care, hospital and clinic emergency services. Welfare implications and income effects are analyzed by computing compensating variations, and by simulating the effects of user fees by levels of income. Results indicate that compensating variation per visit is higher than the direct marginal cost of emergency visits, and consequently, emergency visits do not appear as an inefficient alternative even for non-urgent conditions.Health care demand, emergency visits, nested multinomial logit, compensating variation, time costs

Vertical facing panel-joint gap analysis for steel-seinforced soil walls

This paper reports the results of a numerical parametric study focused on the prediction of vertical load distribution and vertical gap compression between precast concrete facing panel units in steel-reinforced soil walls ranging in height from 6 to 24 m. The vertical compression was accommodated by polymeric bearing pads placed at the horizontal joints between panels during construction. This paper demonstrates how gap compression and magnitude of vertical load transmitted between horizontal joints are influenced by joint location along the height of the wall, joint compressibility, and backfill and foundation soil stiffness. The summary plots in this study can be used to estimate the number and type (stiffness) of the bearing pads to ensure a target minimum gap thickness at the end of construction, to demonstrate the relative influence of wall height and different material component properties on vertical load levels and gap compression, or as a benchmark to test numerical models used for project-specific design. The paper also demonstrates that although the load factor (ratio of vertical load at a horizontal joint to weight of panels above the joint) and joint compression are relatively insensitive to foundation stiffness, the total settlement at the top of the wall facing is very sensitive to foundation stiffness. This paper examines the quantitative consequences of using a simple linear compressive stress–strain model for the bearing pads versus amultilinear model that is better able to capture the response of bearing pads taken to greater compression. The study demonstrates that qualitative trends in vertical load factor are preserved when a more advanced stress-dependent stiffness soil hardening model is used for the backfill soil as compared with the simpler linear elastic Mohr–Coulomb model. Although there were differences in vertical loads and gap compressionwith the use of both soilmodels for the backfill, the differenceswere small and not of practical concern.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

The Reform of the CMO in Fruits and Vegetables: A Holistic Approach

The main characteristics of EU's market in fruits and vegetables are trend towards overproduction, price fluctuations, and relatively low protection and public support. The key instruments of the CMO are processing aids and support to Operational Funds. The current regulation has been more successful in encouraging improvements in quality and marketing than in stabilising prices and guaranteeing adequate income levels, mainly in fruits and in the great southern countries. The lack of common European action in the fields of import control and access to new foreign markets creates more pressure in the common market. The proposal of CMO's reform comes after the great CAP's change of 2003 -and its new paradigm- and the budget agricultural agreement until 2013. In practice, this reduces the real policy options for the new regulation. Main changes should occur in processing aids, where forces to decouple are strong; given that exports refunds are already phasing out and markets withdrawals are in decline. The main political defy is how to promote horizontal concentration through PO and to avoid the price crisis. To solve the issue of stability (or decline) of the human consumption, more can be done from the policy. The farmer's influence in political decision seems weak. The scope for radical changes in fund distribution will be possible at national level.Agricultural and Food Policy, Marketing,

Public entities driven robotic innovation in urban areas

Cities present new challenges and needs to satisfy and improve lifestyle for their citizens under the concept “Smart City”. In order to achieve this goal in a global manner, new technologies are required as the robotic one. But Public entities unknown the possibilities offered by this technology to get solutions to their needs. In this paper the development of the Innovative Public Procurement instruments is explained, specifically the process PDTI (Public end Users Driven Technological Innovation) as a driving force of robotic research and development and offering a list of robotic urban challenges proposed by European cities that have participated in such a process. In the next phases of the procedure, this fact will provide novel robotic solutions addressed to public demand that are an example to be followed by other Smart Cities.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

The influence of geographical concentration and structural characteristics on the survival chance of the firms

El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar el riesgo de mortalidad empresarial. Para ello, en una muestra de más de 11.741 empresas pertenecientes al sector textil-confección se ha estudiado, junto con otros factores, la influencia de la proximidad geográfica (efecto distrito) y la actividad productiva principal (efecto subsector) en la supervivencia de las empresas textiles españolas. Desde un punto de vista teórico-práctico esta industria es especialmente relevante para realizar ese tipo de estudios al menos por dos motivos: 1) porque después de la liberalización del comercio textil se ha visto inmersa en una profunda crisis en las economías más desarrolladas, y 2) porque tiende a agruparse geográficamente en torno a clusters o distritos industriales. Los resultados obtenidos sugieren que el riesgo de mortalidad empresarial se ve reducido por aspectos relativos a la empresa como la antigüedad y el subsector de actividad y, bajo determinadas circunstancias, por la localización en un distrito industrial

Procesado e industrialización hortofrutícola en California

Este artículo viene a complementar el presentado por los mismos autores en el n° 56 (1.12.97) de Vida Rural sobre la mecanización de las explotaciones hortofrutícolas en California. Con él se completa una visión global de la hortofruticultura en este Estado americano

Mecanización de las explotaciones hortofrutícolas en California

Con motivo de la celebración del 5o Simposio Internacional de Ingeniería de la Producción de Frutas y Hortalizas en la primera semana de septiembre de 1997 en Davis. California, se realizaron una serie de visitas técnicas a explotaciones hortofrutícolas del Valle Central de California, que es una de las zonas de mayor producción y riqueza agrícola del mundo. Creemos de interés para el sector hortofrutícola español presentar aquellos aspectos más relevantes de las explotaciones visitadas

Augmented state Kalman filtering for AUV navigation

This paper addresses the problem of estimating the motion of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), while it constructs a visual map (“mosaic ” image) of the ocean floor. The vehicle is equipped with a down-looking camera which is used to compute its motion with respect to the seafloor. As the mosaic increases in size, a systematic bias is introduced in the alignment of the images which form the mosaic. Therefore, this accumulative error produces a drift in the estimation of the position of the vehicle. When the arbitrary trajectory of the AUV crosses over itself, it is possible to reduce this propagation of image alignment errors within the mosaic. A Kalman filter with augmented state is proposed to optimally estimate both the visual map and the vehicle position.