Infrared (IR) Sensors applied to Fire detection and to people’s safety

The IR Imaging and Remote Sensing Laboratory – LIR-UC3M of Universidad Carlos III, has developed IR multi and hyper spectral analysis techniques for passive (no emitters) and reliable (low false alarm rate) threat sensing. Specifically, they are based on sensors development and spectral processing for classifying the scene to optimize the discrimination of threats from backgrounds, decoys or other spurious emitting sources, for a dramatic decrease of false alarm rate

Multi and Hyper-spectral passive Infrared (IR) Sensors for reliable detection of threats

The IR Imaging and Remote Sensing Laboratory – LIR-UC3M of Universidad Carlos III, has developed IR multi and hyper spectral analysis techniques for passive (no emitters) and reliable (low false alarm rate) threat sensing. Specifically, they are based on sensors development and spectral processing for classifying the scene to optimize the discrimination of threats from backgrounds, decoys or other spurious emitting sources, for a dramatic decrease of false alarm rate

Vertical externalities in the provision of public inputs

This paper studies the provision of public inputs in a federal system. A vertical tax externality is also considered. A simple general equilibrium model is used to analyze the efficiency of the equilibria under different scenarios. The results show that the state provision of public inputs may affect ambiguously federal tax revenues, depending on vertical tax externality, among others things. Moreover, it is proved that achieving a second best allocation is not straightforward for a federal government that plays a Stackelberg leader.Fiscal federalism, vertical externality, productive public spending.

On the states' behavior with equalization grants

This paper discusses how the state government's behavior is affected when the so-called Representative Tax System (RTS) equalization scheme is implemented. In particular, we study the changes in the marginal cost of the public funds (MCPF), and in the first order conditions for the optimal provision of a public input. A reduction in the MCPF is to be expected when lump-sum grants are replaced by RTS equalization transfers. However, this result has to be qualified under certain assumptions. Also we find that there does not exist an unambiguous relationship between the degree of fiscal equalization and the marginal cost of providing the public input and the tax setting. Production efficiency condition in the provision of public inputs holds with both types of vertical transfers.Fiscal federalism, MCPF, vertical transfers.

Linking public investment to private investment. The case of the Spanish regions

Public investment constitutes one of the main axes of the regional policies. The existence of a direct link between infrastructure and regional income per capita is generally accepted. Also literature describes a positive effect of public investor effort on private capital accumulation. This paper seeks to offer empirical evidence of this latter relationship for the case of the Spanish regions over period 1965-1995. We use a crowding-out theoretical framework and panel data methodology. The results show a positive effect of productive and social public capital on private investment and productivity of private capital. The spillovers effects generated by infrastructures located in other regions do not seem to encourage private investment in an individual region.Crowding-out, infrastructures, panel data, unit roots.

Linking public investment to private investment.

Literature describes a positive effect of public investment on private capital accumulation. This paper seeks to provide new empirical evidence on this latter relationship for the case of Spanish regions over period 1965-1997. We use a crowding-out theoretical framework and panel data methodology. The results show a positive effect of productive and social public investment (especially in education) on private investment. The spillover effects generated by productive infrastructures located in other regions do not seem to encourage private investment in neighbouring regions. Public consumption and interest rate exert a negative influence on private capital accumulation. These results are robust to changes in the econometric specification.Crowding-out, regional economics, investment, panel data.

The role of new technologies in the economic growth of Andalucia

This paper explores the contribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on economic growth and labor productivity growth of Andalucía during 1995-2004. We find that the contribution of ICT assets to total market GVA growth is quantitatively modest. Anyway the contribution to GVA growth and employment growth within the intensive ICT sectors has experienced a considerable increase in Andalucía. Although our analysis detects that intensive ICT sectors exhibit a high productivity level with respect to that of the non intensive ones, our main conclusion is that the advantages that might emerge from the use of ICT are nor yet observable in the economic dynamics of Andalucía, at least in a similar manner to that of the most developed.Information and Communication Technologies, productivity growth, regional growth

An Exploration into the Effects of Fiscal Variables on Regional Growth

This paper explores the effects of several fiscal variables on regional economic growth in Spain over period 1965-1997. Panel estimates are provided for this sample. The results show that public consumption affects negatively growth, public investment exerts a positive (but non significant) effect on growth rate and public deficit reduces private investment and hence economic growth. The effects of taxes and social benefits seem not to be beneficial for regional growth. Alternative estimates to deal with specification problems are considered.Economic growth, fiscal policy, regional economics.

On the use of the l(2)-norm for texture analysis of polarimetric SAR data

In this paper, the use of the l2-norm, or Span, of the scattering vectors is suggested for texture analysis of polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data, with the benefits that we need neither an analysis of the polarimetric channels separately nor a filtering of the data to analyze the statistics. Based on the product model, the distribution of the l2-norm is studied. Closed expressions of the probability density functions under the assumptions of several texture distributions are provided. To utilize the statistical properties of the l2-norm, quantities including normalized moments and log-cumulants are derived, along with corresponding estimators and estimation variances. Results on both simulated and real SAR data show that the use of statistics based on the l2-norm brings advantages in several aspects with respect to the normalized intensity moments and matrix variate log-cumulants.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version