The teaching of Spanish in Maltese secondary schools : an overview of the current state and needs

This contribution looks at the teaching of Spanish in Maltese secondary schools. However, before looking more closely at its establishment and development in Malta, it is probably desirable that we review the growth of Spanish in the world. In this manner we will be in a position to better understand the specific context of the teaching of Spanish in Forms IV and V in Maltese secondary schools.peer-reviewe

Robotic Ironing with 3D Perception and Force/Torque Feedback in Household Environments

As robotic systems become more popular in household environments, the complexity of required tasks also increases. In this work we focus on a domestic chore deemed dull by a majority of the population, the task of ironing. The presented algorithm improves on the limited number of previous works by joining 3D perception with force/torque sensing, with emphasis on finding a practical solution with a feasible implementation in a domestic setting. Our algorithm obtains a point cloud representation of the working environment. From this point cloud, the garment is segmented and a custom Wrinkleness Local Descriptor (WiLD) is computed to determine the location of the present wrinkles. Using this descriptor, the most suitable ironing path is computed and, based on it, the manipulation algorithm performs the force-controlled ironing operation. Experiments have been performed with a humanoid robot platform, proving that our algorithm is able to detect successfully wrinkles present in garments and iteratively reduce the wrinkleness using an unmodified iron.Comment: Accepted and to be published on the 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2017) that will be held in Vancouver, Canada, September 24-28, 201

The Two-Dimensional Bose-Einstein Condensate

We study the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov mean-field theory as applied to a two-dimensional finite trapped Bose gas at low temperatures and find that, in the Hartree-Fock approximation, the system can be described either with or without the presence of a condensate; this is true in the thermodynamic limit as well. Of the two solutions, the one that includes a condensate has a lower free energy at all temperatures. However, the Hartree-Fock scheme neglects the presence of phonons within the system, and when we allow for the possibility of phonons we are unable to find condensed solutions; the uncondensed solutions, on the other hand, are valid also in the latter, more general scheme. Our results confirm that low-energy phonons destabilize the two-dimensional condensate.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, REVTeX 4. To appear in J. Low Temp. Phys. Corrected a mistake in a calculation and changed the conclusions accordingl

The cost of market power in banking: social welfare loss vs. inefficiency cost

This paper analyses the relationship between market power in the loan and deposit markets and efficiency in the EU15 countries over 1993-2002. Results show the existence of a positive relationship between market power and cost X-efficiency, allowing rejection of the so-called quiet life hypothesis (Berger and Hannan, 1998). The social welfare loss attributable to market power in 2002 represented 0.54% of the GDP of the EU15. Results show that the welfare gains associated with a reduction of market power are greater than the loss of bank cost efficiency, showing the importance of economic policy measures aimed at removing the barriers to outside competition.market power, welfare loss, X-inefficiency, banking

Regional Financial Development and Bank Competition: Effects on Firms' Growth

This paper analyzes the effect of regional financial development and bank competition on firms’ growth using the Spanish provinces as a testing ground. Our results show that firms in industries with a greater dependence on external finance grow faster in more financially developed provinces. The results also show that bank monopoly power has an inverted-U effect on firms’ growth, suggesting that market power has its highest effect at intermediate values. The effect is heterogeneous among firms according to the financial dependence of the industry they belong to. This result is consistent with the literature on relationship banking which argues that bank competition can have a negative effect on the availability of finance for more informationally opaque firms.economic growth; regional financial development; bank competition

Factors Explaining the Interest Margin in the Banking Sectors of the European Union

This study analyses the interest margin in the principal European banking sectors (Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain) in the period 1993-2000 using a panel of 15,888 observations, identifying the fundamental elements affecting this margin. Our starting point is the methodology developed in the original study by Ho and Saunders (1981) and later extensions, but widened to take banks’ operating costs explicitly into account. Also, unlike the usual practice in the literature, a direct measure of the degree of competition (Lerner index) in the different markets is used. The results show that the fall of margins in the European banking system is compatible with a relaxation of the competitive conditions (increase in market power and concentration), as this effect has been counteracted by a reduction of interest rate risk, credit risk, and operating costs.margins, competition