Monetary policy rules in a small open economy: An application to Mexico

We estimate a small-scale macro model for the Mexican economy under the New Keynesian (NK) framework and alternative interest rate rules for Mexico. With these results we evaluate the performance of the Bank of Mexico against a set of optimality principles derived in the NK literature. We show that the Bank of Mexico holds a preference for stabilizing not only inflation around target, but also acts to achieve an output gap close to zero. Furthermore, we show the central bank responds non-linearly to real exchange rate depreciations. We also show that, although the central bank has attempted to contain inflation, it has not conclusively satisfied the Taylor principle, so moderate inflation during the period may be partly a consequence of a favorable macroeconomic environment, rather than active policy.Taylor Rule, New Keynesian, Monetary Policy, Interest Rate Rules, Small Open Economy

The role of social effects and perceived risk in driving profitable online customer interactions

The emergence of online channels has been of special relevance, as it has promoted a more active participation of consumers in the value creation process. In this study, we draw from the Stimulus-Organism-Response model to provide a theoretical understanding of the role played by two critical factors that drive online customer initiated interactions (OnCICs): social effects and perceived risk. In addition, we also investigate their consequences by establishing a direct link between these interactions and customer profitability. Merging longitudinal objective data with subjective data for a sample of 1,990 customers in the financial services and applying Partial Least Squares (PLS), the results reveal that social effects influence perceived risk. Perceived risk consequently promotes the development of OnCICs, while social effects reduce the need for such interactions. In addition, OnCICs help promote high-quality relationships and leads to higher performance

Desarrollo de las microhabilidades matemáticas en el contexto escolar

El trabajo fin de grado que presento pretende realizar una investigación sobre cuáles son las microhabilidades básicas necesarias para el aprendizaje de los algoritmos que se adquieren en primero de educación primaria. Una vez expuestas, el objetivo será analizar cómo se trabajan estos elementos en la escuela. Para ello hemos utilizado como metodología el análisis cualitativo y documental de diferentes libros de texto utilizados en el aula. Por último y con el fin de mejorar las prácticas educativas y docentes, proponemos una serie de actividades basadas en una metodología activa y participativa, fomentando el trabajo en equipo, así como el contacto con la vida cotidiana. Estas actividades tienen el fin de trabajar las microhabilidades para el aprendizaje de las matemáticas, intentando prevenir e intervenir ante las posibles dificultades que surgen en el aprendizaje de las matemáticas.Grado en Educación Primari

Impact of intellectual impairment on basketball performance through coaches and referees' opinion : a qualitative approach

Basketball for players with intellectual impairment (II) is not included as a Paralympic modality due to the lack of evidence based eligibility systems to ensure that only athletes with significant limitations performing basketball participate in II-competitions. Eligibility systems in II-basketball are under development but is necessary to investigate the impact of the impairment in basketball. The aim of this study was to know the point of view of II- coaches and referees about the limitations of their players and the components that should be considered as eligibility criteria. Qualitative method was used in our research. For that 5 open questions were elaborated based on the components of the game identified in the literature. 47 coaches and 6 referees were interviewed through an online survey. The findings of this study indicated that tactical aspects was the component in which II-players present more limitations and should discriminate between eligible and no eligible players followed by technical skills, emotional aspects and cognitive aspects. Physical and motor skills were not considered as limitation but specific positions and roles during the game could be influenced by these components. These results as well as other similar studies that show the opinion of coaches and referees should be taken into consideration to orientate future research to develop evidence-base eligibility systems in this sport.El baloncesto para personas con discapacidad intelectual (DI) no está incluido como modalidad paralímpica debido a la falta de sistemas de elegibilidad basados en la evidencia que aseguren que, sólo deportistas con limitaciones significativas para practicar baloncesto participan en competiciones específicas. Los sistemas de elegibilidad en jugadores DI están en desarrollo pero es necesario investigar sobre el impacto de la discapacidad en el baloncesto. El objetivo del presente estudio fue conocer, desde el punto de vista de los entrenadores y árbitros, las limitaciones que sus jugadores DI presentan y aquellos componentes que deberían de ser considerados como criterios de elegibilidad. La metodología utilizada en nuestro estudio es cualitativa. Para ello, cinco preguntas abiertas fueron elaboradas basadas en los componentes del juego identificados en la literatura. 47 entrenadores y 6 árbitros fueron entrevistados a través de una encuesta on-line. Los resultados muestran que los aspectos tácticos fueron aquellos en los que los jugadores presentaban mayores limitaciones y permitían discriminar que un jugador fuese elegible o no; seguido de las habilidades técnicas, aspectos emocionales y aspectos cognitivos. Las habilidades físicas y motoras no se consideraron como una limitación pero podrían estar influenciados por las posiciones y roles específicos durante el juego. Estos resultados, así como otros estudios similares que muestren la opinión de los entrenadores y árbitros, deberían de ser tenidos en cuenta para orientar futuras investigaciones con el fin de desarrollar sistemas de elegibilidad basados en la evidencia de este deporte

La opinión de los entrenadores y árbitros sobre la influencia de la discapacidad intelectual en las

Uno de los principales problemas a los que se enfrenta actualmente el baloncesto para personas con discapacidad intelectual (DI) es la falta de sistemas de elegibilidad basados en la evidencia que aseguren que sólo deportistas con limitaciones significativas para practicar baloncesto participan en competiciones específicas. Por otra parte, se hace necesario resolver dicha situación para reincluir esta modalidad como deporte paralímpico. Un primer paso para desarrollar estos sistemas es investigar cómo influye la DI en la práctica del baloncesto. Debido a ello, el objetivo de este estudio fue analizar la opinión de entrenadores y árbitros con experiencia en DI sobre cómo la DI influye en las actividades fundamentales del baloncesto. 40 entrenadores y 6 árbitros completaron el cuestionario diseñado “ad hoc” para evaluar su opinión sobre la influencia de la DI en las actividades fundamentales en baloncesto. Los participantes expresaron que los jugadores con DI presentan limitaciones para llevar a cabo el 92.68% de las actividades expresadas en el cuestionario. Los valores de táctica individual ofensiva fueron significativamente mayores que los de habilidades técnicas y táctica individual defensiva. Estos resultados indicaron que los jugadores con DI presentan limitaciones practicando baloncesto y son relevantes para orientar investigaciones futuras para el desarrollo de sistemas de elegibilidad basados en la evidencia en este deporte

Spray dried plasma as an alternative to antibiotics in piglet feeds, mode of action and biosafety

The use of growth promoting and therapeutic antibiotics in piglet feed has been a concerning subject over the last few decades because of the risk of generating antimicrobial resistance that could be transferred to humans. As a result, many products have been proposed as potential alternatives to the use of antibiotics, and among these, spray dried plasma is considered one of the most promising. However, there have been concerns about its biosafety, particularly during periods of emergence or re-emergence of swine diseases in different regions of the world, such as the recent porcine epidemic diarrhea virus outbreak in North America. The objectives of this paper are to review recent publications about the use of spray dried plasma as an alternative to antibiotics in weaned pig diets, the possible mechanisms of action of spray dried plasma, and the existing evidence related to the biosafety of spray dried animal plasma. Particular attention is given to studies in which spray dried plasma has been directly compared to antibiotics or other alternative antimicrobial products. Several studies on the possible modes of action for spray dried plasma, such as preservation of gut barrier function or modulation of the immune response, are also reviewed. Finally, the paper focuses on the review of the existing studies on the risks of disease transmission with the use of spray dried plasma from porcine origin. Overall, spray dried plasma is a promising alternative to in-feed antimicrobials for piglets, particularly during the early stages of the post-weaning phase. Additionally, there is enough evidence to support that commercial spray dried porcine plasma is a safe product for pigs

Spray dried plasma as an alternative to antibiotics in piglet feeds, mode of action and biosafety

The use of growth promoting and therapeutic antibiotics in piglet feed has been a concerning subject over the last few decades because of the risk of generating antimicrobial resistance that could be transferred to humans. As a result, many products have been proposed as potential alternatives to the use of antibiotics, and among these, spray dried plasma is considered one of the most promising. However, there have been concerns about its biosafety, particularly during periods of emergence or re-emergence of swine diseases in different regions of the world, such as the recent porcine epidemic diarrhea virus outbreak in North America. The objectives of this paper are to review recent publications about the use of spray dried plasma as an alternative to antibiotics in weaned pig diets, the possible mechanisms of action of spray dried plasma, and the existing evidence related to the biosafety of spray dried animal plasma. Particular attention is given to studies in which spray dried plasma has been directly compared to antibiotics or other alternative antimicrobial products. Several studies on the possible modes of action for spray dried plasma, such as preservation of gut barrier function or modulation of the immune response, are also reviewed. Finally, the paper focuses on the review of the existing studies on the risks of disease transmission with the use of spray dried plasma from porcine origin. Overall, spray dried plasma is a promising alternative to in-feed antimicrobials for piglets, particularly during the early stages of the post-weaning phase. Additionally, there is enough evidence to support that commercial spray dried porcine plasma is a safe product for pigs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Probabilistic policy reuse for safe reinforcement learning

This work introducesPolicy Reuse for Safe Reinforcement Learning, an algorithm that combines ProbabilisticPolicy Reuse and teacher advice for safe exploration in dangerous and continuous state and action reinforce-ment learning problems in which the dynamic behavior is reasonably smooth and the space is Euclidean. Thealgorithm uses a continuously increasing monotonic risk function that allows for the identification of theprobability to end up in failure from a given state. Such a risk function is defined in terms of how far such astate is from the state space known by the learning agent. Probabilistic Policy Reuse is used to safely balancethe exploitation of actual learned knowledge, the exploration of new actions, and the request of teacher advicein parts of the state space considered dangerous. Specifically, thepi-reuse exploration strategy is used. Usingexperiments in the helicopter hover task and a business management problem, we show that thepi-reuseexploration strategy can be used to completely avoid the visit to undesirable situations while maintainingthe performance (in terms of the classical long-term accumulated reward) of the final policy achieved.This paper has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2015-65686-C5-1-R and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 730086 (ERGO). Javier García is partially supported by the Comunidad de Madrid (Spain) funds under the project 2016-T2/TIC-1712

Customer experience management: Expanding our understanding of the drivers and consequences of the customer experience

The present doctoral dissertation aims to analyze thenew business landscape that suggests the importance of customer experience ¿ its drivers and consequences from a dynamic perspective. The drivers of customer experience provide firms with crucial knowledge about the experience expectations and desires of the customers, thereby enabling firms to identify the key determinants which significantly shape customer perceptions toward the experience with the firm. This is very important for firms, since the effort dedicated by firms to improve customer experience is not always equally perceived and/or valued by customers. Likewise, integrating the consequences of customer experience allows firms to translate their investment in customer experience into specific opportunities and enhanced performance outcomes (financial, behavioral, and relational). This is specifically critical, considering that a customer experience perceived as favorable by customers might not have a positive impact on firm outcomes. Customer experience is not static but evolve over time. By taking into account the dynamic nature of customer experience, firms may capture the occurred changes in customers and adjust the factors under their controls immediately, thereby ensuring the alignment between customer experience expectations and firms¿ offerings. In this way, through a dynamic lens, we establish the linkage across what firms do, what customers think, what customers do, and finally what firms get. The thesis is consisted of three studies. Study 1 investigates the impact of firms¿ investments in three key strategic levers (i.e., value, the brand, and the relationship) on the customer experience as well as the direct and moderating role played by social influence. We integrate research in customer relationship management (i.e., customer equity framework) (Rust, Lemon, & Zeithaml, 2004) and customer experience management (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016; Verhoef et al., 2009) and offer a unifying framework to understand the linkages between the three equity drivers (i.e., value equity, brand equity, relationship equity), social influence, the customer experience, and its ultimate impact on profitability. Study 2 focuses on the separate and joint effects of customer experience and lock-in on customer retention. Building barriers to lock customers and improving the customer experience are two key strategies employed by firms to enhance customer retention. Although pursuing the same goal, these strategies work differently: the former relies more on a calculative, cost¿benefit approach to the exchange, while the latter promotes the affective aspects of the relationship. Finally, study 3 investigates how different dimensions of customer experience (recency effect, peak effect, trend effect, and fluctuation effect) and different relationship marketing (RM) actions (i.e., advertising communication, product innovation, and conflict) impact customer relationship expansion from a dynamic perspective, and distinguishes their short-term and long-term effects. Self-determination theory posits that motivation for pursuing activities are consisted of intrinsic (the ones originating from the self and one¿s desire) and extrinsic factors (originating from external demands).<br /