Basic emotions do not reliably co-occur with predicted facial expressions: reply to Witkower et al. (2023)

A core assumption of Basic Emotion Theory is that the conscious experience of a basic emotion co-occurs with a facial expression signal of that same emotion. Our analysis of available evidence found co-occurrence in only 13% of cases – thus calling into question basic and applied studies in which the emotion is inferred from the face. Our 2nd analysis counted as a co-occurrence even when only part of the facial signal was observed. Co-occurrence was found in only 23% of cases. Witkower et al’s rebuttal failed to undermine these important findings. They claimed that similar degrees of correlation are found in other areas of psychology, but they confuse co-occurrence of two intrinsic manifestations of the same event (expression and experience of emotion) with the correlation between one potential causal antecedent and an observed event (e.g., effects of meditation on anxiety). Our results stand as a major challenge to Basic Emotion TheoryThis research was funded by the Spanish Government’s grant PSI2017-88776-

Fuentes de variabilidad individual en el ajuste de modelos de árbol: el caso de las conjunciones ilusorias

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Psicología, Departamento de Psicología Social y Metodología. Fecha de lectura: 14-09-201

Tributación de actividades turísticas: revisión de los 50 principales destinos turísticos

Public authorities have played a key role in tourism competitiveness, as this agent is obliged to provide certain infrastructure and services. This has led to incurring certain additional costs that may be financed by contributions from the implementation of fiscal instruments. The objective of the present work is to identify the tourist taxes implemented in the 50 main world tourist destinations. To do this, different official, national and international sources have been consulted. Tourist taxes have been identified in 49 of the 50 main tourist destinations; and have been configured, therefore, as an effective instrument for obtaining the necessary financingLos poderes públicos han desempeñado un papel clave en la competitividad turística, al recaer sobre este agente la obligación de proporcionar determinadas infraestructuras y servicios. Ello ha provocado incurrir en determinados costes adicionales, ante lo cual, la implantación de instrumentos fiscales puede contribuir a obtener la financiación necesaria. El objetivo del presente trabajo es identificar los tributos de carácter turístico implantados en los cincuenta principales destinos turísticos mundiales. Para ello, se han consultado distintas fuentes oficiales, nacionales e internacionales. Se han identificado tributos de carácter turístico en 49 de los 50 principales destinos turísticos; configurándose, por tanto, como un instrumento eficaz para obtener la financiación necesari

Tourists’ willingness to pay to improve sustainability and experience at destination

Consolidated tourism destinations face certain challenges derived from aspects such as new client demands, growing competition, the problems of overtourism and tourism-phobia, and the modernization of infrastructures. The creation of taxes and/or public fees that affect tourism activities is one potential option for public managers facing these difficulties. The objective of this study is to determine tourists’ willingness to pay in order to increase the income of public managers to create these types of policies. The study was carried out in Andalusia, a region of southern Spain with high rates of tourism, which received some 32.4 million tourists in 2019. A survey was conducted on 1068 tourists at the main tourism arrival points of this region. First, factors influencing the willingness and amount to be paid by each tourist were identified; for this, distinct statistical techniques were used (binary logistic regression and decision trees). Second, the sensitivity of tourism demand was analyzed with regard to the establishment of these types of taxes and public fees, concluding that tourism demand is inelastic in the face of a moderate increase in prices resulting from the creation of taxes and/or public fees

The Fear of COVID-19 Scale: A Reliability Generalization Meta-Analysis

A reliability generalization meta-analysis was carried out to estimate the average reliability of the seven-item, 5-point Likert-type Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), one of the most widespread scales developed around the COVID-19 pandemic. Different reliability coefficients from classical test theory and the Rasch Measurement Model were meta-analyzed, heterogeneity among the most reported reliability estimates was examined by searching for moderators, and a predictive model to estimate the expected reliability was proposed. At least one reliability estimate was available for a total of 44 independent samples out of 42 studies, being that Cronbach’s alpha was most frequently reported. The coefficients exhibited pooled estimates ranging from .85 to .90. The moderator analyses led to a predictive model in which the standard deviation of scores explained 36.7% of the total variability among alpha coefficients. The FCV-19S has been shown to be consistently reliable regardless of the moderator variables examined.2020-2

Simulación financiera aplicada a la valoración del riesgo de crédito con el modelo de opciones

This paper presents financial simulation as the best alternative for valuating credit risk with the Merton Model on a real option. We propose this in contrast to the Black and Scholes model introduced by Hull, Nelken and White in 2004 for the same case study. To demonstrate this, we begin by reviewing the basic concepts of a financial option. Then we present the Black-Scholes model for the valuation of European options with special emphasis on the assumptions and the limitations that this possibility implies. We introduce the analogy between real options and financial options that allows the measurement of credit risk on investment opportunities. We explain the Merton model, and finally, we propose financial simulation as a general and powerful methodology to quantify credit risk in the Merton model, including an application on an investment project with “Crystal Ball”.El presente documento muestra cómo la simulación financiera puede ser una buena alternativa para valorar el riesgo de contraparte de una opción real con el Modelo de Merton, en contraposición del modelo de Black-Scholes introducido por Hull, Nelken y White en el año 2004 para el mismo caso de estudio. Para tal fin, se revisan los conceptos básicos de opción financiera, se presenta el modelo de Black-Scholes para la valoración de opciones europeas sobre acciones haciendo especial énfasis en los supuestos y las limitaciones que implica éste par ael caso colombiano; se introduce la analogía entre opciones reales y opciones financieras, que permite medir el riesgo de crédito en las oportunidades de inversión; se explica el modelo de Merton y, por último, se propone la simulación financiera como una metodología más general y potente para cuantificar el riesgo crediticio con el modelo de opciones, haciendo a su vez una aplicación sobre un proyecto de Inversión en “Crystal Ball”

Simulación financiera aplicada a la valoración del riesgo de crédito con el modelo de opciones

This paper presents financial simulation as the best alternative for valuating credit risk with the Merton Model on a real option. We propose this in contrast to the Black and Scholes model introduced by Hull, Nelken and White in 2004 for the same case study.To demonstrate this, we begin by reviewing the basic concepts of a financial option. Then we present the Black-Scholes model for the valuation of European options with special emphasis on the assumptions and the limitations that this possibility implies. We introduce the analogy between real options and financial options that allows the measurement of credit risk on investment opportunities. We explain the Merton model, and finally, we propose financial simulation as a general and powerful methodology to quantify credit risk in the Merton model, including an application on an investment project with “Crystal Ball”.El presente documento muestra cómo la simulación financiera puede ser una buenaalternativa para valorar el riesgo de contraparte de una opción real con el Modelode Merton, en contraposición del modelo de Black-Scholes introducido por Hull,Nelken y White en el año 2004 para el mismo caso de estudio.Para tal fin, se revisan los conceptos básicos de opción financiera, se presenta elmodelo de Black-Scholes para la valoración de opciones europeas sobre accioneshaciendo especial énfasis en los supuestos y las limitaciones que implica éste parael caso colombiano; se introduce la analogía entre opciones reales y opcionesfinancieras, que permite medir el riesgo de crédito en las oportunidades deinversión; se explica el modelo de Merton y, por último, se propone la simulaciónfinanciera como una metodología más general y potente para cuantificar el riesgocrediticio con el modelo de opciones, haciendo a su vez una aplicación sobre unproyecto de Inversión en “Crystal Ball”

TOURISTS’ MEANING OF SUSTAINABILITY AS A TOOL FOR SEGMENTATION. A BIOSPHERE RESERVE CASE STUDY

This paper provides empirical evidence on the potential use of the meaning of sustainability for the tourist in segmentation studies. The analysis has been applied to a nature destination, specifically, in the “Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas” Biosphere Reserve. In the first place, this research identifies, through a cluster analysis, three segments of tourists based on what the tourist considers sustainability to be (level of knowledge and commitment, as well as its implications for the destination), analyzing for each segment their sociodemographic and socioeconomic variables and their willingness to pay to improve the sustainability of destinations. The results show that it is possible to identify one or several segments of demand that show different levels of commitment, attitude, knowledge and/or behavior towards sustainability and calculate the amount of money that each segment is willing to pay to visit a more sustainable destination. This research shows, however, that more than 70% of those surveyed are not willing to pay more to achieve a more sustainable destination, the reasons being very diverse, but, in any case, no significant differences being identified between the segments with respect to this question. The study concludes by discussing the potential of using the meaning of sustainability for the tourist as an important segmentation tool, aimed at facilitating the change towards a more sustainable tourism behavior, and allowing the design of pro-sustainable strategies and policies in tourist destinations

THE COVID-19 AND THE STOCK MARKET BEHAVIOUR OF THE TOURISM SECTOR IN SPAIN.

The global pandemic caused by COVID-19, declared in March 2020, has had a dramatic impact on tourism, especially in Spain, as it was one of the first countries affected by the pandemic, as well as being one of the world’s biggest tourist destinations. Stock market values are responding to the evolution of the pandemic, especially in the case of tourist companies, so being able to quantify this relationship allows us to predict the effect of the pandemic on shares in the tourism sector, improving the response to the crisis. To this end, a model has been developed to predict the behaviour of shares in the Spanish tourism sector, according to the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in the medium term. It has been confirmed that both the number of deaths and the number of cases diagnosed are good predictors of abnormal stock prices in the tourism sector

Model Predictive Control based on Dynamic Voltage Vectors for Six-phase Induction Machines

Model predictive control (MPC) has been recently suggested as an interesting alternative for the regulation of multiphase electric drives because it easily exploits the inherent advantages of multiphase machines. However, the standard MPC applies a single switching state during the whole sampling period, inevitably leading to an undesired x y voltage production. Consequently, its performance can be highly degraded when the stator leakage inductance is low. This shortcoming has been, however, mitigated in recent work with the implementation of virtual/synthetic voltage vectors (VVs) in MPC strategies. Their implementation reduces the phase current harmonic distortion since the average x y voltage production becomes null. Nevertheless, VVs have a static nature because they are generally estimated offline, and this implies that the flux/torque regulation is suboptimal. Moreover, these static VVs also present some limitations from the point of view of the dc-link voltage exploitation. Based on these previous limitations, this article proposes the implementation of dynamic virtual voltage vectors (DVVs), where VVs are created online within the MPC strategy. This new concept provides an online optimization of the output voltage production depending on the operating point, resulting in an enhanced flux/torque regulation and a better use of the dc-link voltage. Experimental results have been employed to assess the goodness of the proposed MPC based on DVVs.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades RTI2018-096151-B-100