eDemocracia

eDemocracia: Plataforma de votación electrónica que implementa el concepto de “democracia líquida”, facilitando de este modo la participación de todos los ciudadanos en las decisiones relativas a cualquier cuestión de su interés, ya sea de forma directa o delegando su voto en representantes de su elección.Ingeniería Técnica en Informática de Gestió

Propuesta de rediseño del proceso de logística de materiales para el área de motores de Siemens Manufacturing S.A.

El presente trabajo de grado contiene una propuesta de rediseño del proceso de logística de materiales para el área de motores de Siemens Manufacturing S.A., para el desarrollo de esta propuesta fue necesario realizar un diagnóstico de los problemas existentes en el aprovisionamiento de materias primas y productos en proceso hasta llegar a sus causas raíces. Después se diseñaron las características y el modo de operación del nuevo proceso, indagando sobre modelos exitosos que hayan implantado algunas empresas del sector manufactura, tomando sus mejores prácticas como referencia para así poder establecer la metodología para adoptar la propuesta, teniendo en cuenta los indicadores de seguimiento que deben ser utilizados para evaluar el desempeño del nuevo proceso. Posteriormente se establece la estrategia para implementar la propuesta, en donde se definen los requerimientos, las etapas de implementación y las ventajas que tendrá la aplicación del proceso en el área. Finalmente se realizará la evaluación financiera, con la cual se busca establecer si el proyecto contribuye o no a la reducción de costos por falta de material y no calidad.This project contains a proposal redesign of the material logistics process for the motors area of Siemens Manufacturing S.A., for the development of this proposal it was necessary to make a diagnostic of the current problems in the supply of raw material, in order to reach the root causes. Then the characteristics and the operation mode of the new process were designed, searching for successful models applied in some manufacture companies, having their best practices as a reference to establish the methodology to adopt the proposal, taking into account the indicators that should be used to evaluate the performance of the new process. Subsequently, the strategy to implement the proposal is established, where the requirements, the steps of implementation and the advantages that the application of the new process would have in the area are defined. Finally the financial evaluation will be held and it is made to conclude if the project contributes to the reduction of the costs due to the lack of material and non-quality.Ingeniero (a) IndustrialPregrad

Macroeconomic uncertainty : measurement and impact on the Spanish economy

Artículo de revistaThis article characterises the level of uncertainty in the Spanish economy. Various indicators are analysed, distinguishing their source: financial market volatility, degree of disagreement between agents on the economic situation and economic policy uncertainty. Aggregate uncertainty in the Spanish economy increased in 2016, although it remained at levels below the average for the 2008-2013 recession. The changes in uncertainty captured by financial indicators are shown to have a higher impact on economic activity, and particularly on investment. Finally, it is illustrated how a significant part of the macroeconomic effect of the heightened uncertainty in the past year originated outside the Spanish econom

Measuring economic and economic policy uncertainty, and their macroeconomic effects: the case of Spain

En este documento proporcionamos nueva evidencia acerca del impacto de la incertidumbre sobre la actividad económica. Para ello construimos, utilizamos y desarrollamos un conjunto amplio de indicadores sobre la incertidumbre económica y sobre las políticas económicas, para el caso de la economía española. Las medidas se agrupan en tres bloques: i) volatilidad de los mercados financierosii) desacuerdo entre los agentes económicos, y iii) incertidumbre sobre las políticas económicas. Los aumentos inesperados de la incertidumbre (perturbaciones asociadas a los indicadores) afectan negativamente al crecimiento económico, medido por el crecimiento del PIB real, en particular las de los bloques i) y iii). Además, en este trabajo se muestra que las perturbaciones en las medidas de incertidumbre sobre las políticas económica y financiera producen efectos negativos significativos en el consumo privado. Finalmente, la respuesta de la inversión en equipo es más pronunciada en el corto plazo, pero presenta un efecto menos persistenteWe provide additional evidence on the relationship between uncertainty and economic activity. For this purpose, we gather and construct a wide range of proxy indicators of economic and economic policy uncertainty from Spain. We distinguish between the relative merits of different types of measures based on: (i) the volatility of financial markets(ii) economic analysts’ disagreement(iii) economic policy uncertainty. We show that the first and the third block of measures are the most relevant to grasp the negative effects of unexpected changes in uncertainty on aggregate economic developments, as measured by real GDP. In addition, we find that economic policy uncertainty and financial uncertainty shocks produce visible negative effects on private consumption. The negative responses on capital goods investments are initially bigger in magnitude but vanish more quickl

The relationship between quantity and level of competition, and cognitive expertise in Spanish tennis players

This work evaluates the relationship between quantity and level of competition, and cognitive expertise. To this end, cognitive expertise has been evaluated in Spanish tennis players (N=150) by means of declarative knowledge (DK) and procedural knowledge (PK) levels. DK and PK were assessed through a specific questionnaire (DK/PK-QT; García-González, Moreno, Moreno, Iglesias, & Del Villar, 2008). ANOVAs showed significant differences in both DK and PK with regard to the quantity of competitions played (F(2, 147)=23.28; p<.001; ηp 2=.24 for DK; F(2,147)=44.52; p<.001; ηp 2=.37 for PK) and with regard to the level of competition (F(2, 147)=20.91; p<.001; ηp 2=.22 for DK; F(2, 147)=37.59; p<.001; ηp 2=.34 for PK). Furthermore, the Spearman’s Rho test showed that DK and PK were strongly correlated to quantity and level of competition. These results suggest that quantity and level of competition could be of central importance for the development of expertise in tennis players. In sport training stages, we recommend coaches to plan participation in competitions (in the short and medium term), so that competitions would provide appropriate and significant experiences in real setting conditions (I.e. they should be ecologically valid). These competitions must be high level ones and sufficiently challenging so as to foster the development of cognitive expertise. Competitive structures (e.g. season competitions), which favor cognitive elements (e.g. DK and PK) and develop expertise in athletes, will also have to be put into practice

The relationship between quantity and level of competition, and cognitive expertise in Spanish tennis players

This work evaluates the relationship between quantity and level of competition, and cognitive expertise. To this end, cognitive expertise has been evaluated in Spanish tennis players (N=150) by means of declarative knowledge (DK) and procedural knowledge (PK) levels. DK and PK were assessed through a specific questionnaire (DK/PK-QT; García-González, Moreno, Moreno, Iglesias, & Del Villar, 2008). ANOVAs showed significant differences in both DK and PK with regard to the quantity of competitions played (F(2, 147)=23.28; p<.001; ηp 2=.24 for DK; F(2,147)=44.52; p<.001; ηp 2=.37 for PK) and with regard to the level of competition (F(2, 147)=20.91; p<.001; ηp 2=.22 for DK; F(2, 147)=37.59; p<.001; ηp 2=.34 for PK). Furthermore, the Spearman’s Rho test showed that DK and PK were strongly correlated to quantity and level of competition. These results suggest that quantity and level of competition could be of central importance for the development of expertise in tennis players. In sport training stages, we recommend coaches to plan participation in competitions (in the short and medium term), so that competitions would provide appropriate and significant experiences in real setting conditions (I.e. they should be ecologically valid). These competitions must be high level ones and sufficiently challenging so as to foster the development of cognitive expertise. Competitive structures (e.g. season competitions), which favor cognitive elements (e.g. DK and PK) and develop expertise in athletes, will also have to be put into practice

The population of white dwarf-main sequence binaries in the SDSS DR 12

We present a Monte Carlo population synthesis study of white dwarf-main sequence (WD+MS) binaries in the Galactic disc aimed at reproducing the ensemble properties of the entire population observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 12. Our simulations take into account all known observational biases and use the most up-to-date stellar evolutionary models. This allows us to perform a sound comparison between the simulations and the observational data. We find that the properties of the simulated and observed parameter distributions agree best when assuming low values of the common envelope efficiency (0.2-0.3), a result that is in agreement with previous findings obtained by observational and population synthesis studies of close SDSSWD+MS binaries.We also show that all synthetic populations that result from adopting an initial mass ratio distribution with a positive slope are excluded by observations. Finally, we confirm that the properties of the simulated WD+MS binary populations are nearly independent of the age adopted for the thin disc, on the contribution of WD+MS binaries from the thick disc (0-17 per cent of the total population) and on the assumed fraction of the internal energy that is used to eject the envelope during the common envelope phase (0.1-0.5).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Enhanced extended state observer-based control for systems with mismatched uncertainties and disturbances

[EN] This paper presents an enhanced Extended State Observer (ESO)-based control strategy to deal with the disturbance attenuation problem for a class of non integral-chain systems subject to non-linear mismatched uncertainties and external disturbances. The proposed control strategy does not assume the integral-chain form and it is formed by a state-feedback plus a dynamic disturbance compensation term, which is designed to reject the disturbance effect in the system output. From a theoretical point of view, the proposed strategy is reduced to the conventional ESO when the integral chain form and the matched condition hold. In this sense, this paper is presented as an extension of the ESO principles to cover a wider class of systems. The theoretical results show that the internal zero-dynamics plays an important role in ESO-based control design. Also, the closed-loop stability is analyzed and some numerical simulations show the effectiveness of the proposal in comparison with previous ESO-based techniques.This work was partially supported by projects FPU15/02008, FPI-UPV 2014 and TIN2014-56158-C4-4-P-AR, Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Spain.Castillo-Frasquet, A.; García Gil, PJ.; Sanz Díaz, R.; Albertos Pérez, P. (2017). Enhanced extended state observer-based control for systems with mismatched uncertainties and disturbances. ISA Transactions. 73:1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isatra.2017.12.005S1107

Highly anisotropic crosslinked HDPE foams with a controlled anisotropy ratio: Production and characterization of the cellular structure and mechanical properties

Producción CientíficaIn this paper a two-step foaming process was used to produce highly anisotropic foams with controlled anisotropy ratio. Anisotropic cellularmaterials are of great interest due to the enhanced mechanical properties that they show in the anisotropy direction. Therefore, the production of foams with high and controlled anisotropy ratios is an essential topic when it comes to designmaterialswith goodmechanical performance. In thiswork, high density polyethylene (HDPE) foams with anisotropy ratios larger than 3 have been produced. A foaming process consisting of two consecutive heating steps: pre-foaming and foaming, has been employed. Foaming kinetics at four different pre-foaming temperatures (145 °C, 155 °C, 170 °C and 180 °C) and at a constant foaming temperature (180 °C) have been performed. Results showed that the pre-foaming temperature is the key parameter that allows controlling the anisotropy ratio of the final foam. A relationship between the pre-foaming temperature, the number of cells and the anisotropy ratio has been established. Low pre-foaming temperatures lead to low numbers of cells, which eventually results in high anisotropy ratios. Mechanical properties in compression were measured and compared with the anisotropy of the cellular structure, being that the elastic modulus increases with the anisotropy ratio.Financial support from FPU grant FPU14/02050 (V. Bernardo) from the Spanish Ministry of Education and from PIRTU contract (E. Laguna-Gutierrez) by Junta of Castile and Leon (EDU/289/2011) and cofinanced by the European Social Fund are gratefully acknowledged. Financial assistance from MINECO and FEDER program (MAT 2012 – 34901)MINECO, FEDER, UE (MAT2015-69234-R) and the Junta de Castile and Leon (VA035U13) are gratefully acknowledged

An application of dynamic factor models to nowcast regional economic activity in Spain

El objetivo de este trabajo es el desarrollo de modelos de factores dinámicos para generar estimaciones de crecimiento del PIB a corto plazo (nowcast) a escala regional. El uso de esta metodología permite incorporar, de una manera parsimoniosa, la información relevante disponible en el momento de realizar las estimaciones. Se utiliza una perspectiva bayesiana para conseguir estimaciones robustas de todos los ingredientes del modelo. Así, se introduce el modelo de factores bayesiano para las regiones (BayFaR, denominación en inglés), que permite incluir indicadores con observaciones no disponibles, así como combinar distintas frecuencias: tasas de crecimiento del PIB para las diferentes regiones en frecuencia trimestral (obtenidas tanto de AIReF como de los institutos de estadística regionales) e información mensual procedente de los indicadores de actividad regional. Aplicamos el modelo de factores bayesiano con el propósito de obtener estimaciones de crecimiento del PIB a corto plazo para las cuatro mayores regiones de España, y se ilustra la evolución de las estimaciones en tiempo real en cada uno de los casos. También se aplica el mismo modelo para realizar el nowcast del PIB del conjunto de la economía a fin de poder valorar la evolución relativa de cada una de las regionesThe goal of this paper is to propose a model to produce nowcasts of GDP growth of Spanish regions, by means of dynamic factor models. This framework is capable to incorporate in a parsimonious way the relevant information available at the time that each forecast is made. We employ a Bayesian perspective to provide robust estimation of all the ingredients involved in the model. Accordingly, we introduce the Bayesian Factor model for Regions (BayFaR), which allows for the inclusion of missing data and combines quarterly data on regional real output growth (taken from the database of the AIReF and from the individual regional statistics institutes, when available) and monthly information associated to indicators of regional real activity. We apply the BayFaR to nowcast the GDP growth of the four largest regions of Spain, and illustrate the real-time nowcasting performance of the proposed framework for each case. We also apply the model to nowcast Spanish GDP in order to be able to assess the relative growth of each regio