Assessment of information-driven decision-making in the SME

The use of analytics in decision -making processes is a key element for organizations to be competitive. However, experience indicates that many organizations still have not managed to fully understand how to use properly the available data for diagnosing, improving a nd controlling processes or modelling, predicting and discovering business opportunities. This situation is even more exaggerated among small and medium enterprises (SMEs). An essential first step for SMEs to start using analytics is a correct assessment o f their decision -making processes and use of data. This will help them understanding their current situation, seeing the potential of adopting analytical practices and decide their approach to analytics. Therefore, the assessment we propose is managerial a nd strategic; thus, it is not aimed at detecting problems such as: errors in the data to make an invoice, not having the correct version of a drawing in the shop or a wrong date in a project plan... Undoubtedly, t hese issues are very important but they are not the objective. The results from applying the proposed assessment tool in several pilot SMEs are expected to serve as the basis for improving the tool and developing a maturity model and a roadmap for improving their proficiency in information -driven d ecision -makingPostprint (published version

Geodesic Diagrams, Gravitational Interactions & OPE Structures

We give a systematic procedure to evaluate conformal partial waves involving symmetric tensors for an arbitrary CFT$_d$ using geodesic Witten diagrams in AdS$_{d+1}$. Using this procedure we discuss how to draw a line between the tensor structures in the CFT and cubic interactions in AdS. We contrast this map to known results using three-point Witten diagrams: the maps obtained via volume versus geodesic integrals differ. Despite these differences, we show how to decompose four-point exchange Witten diagrams in terms of geodesic diagrams, and we discuss the product expansion of local bulk fields in AdS.Comment: typos corrected, references adde

Els verbs de canvi d'estat en català: la participació en l'alternança causativa

L’article analitza, en primer lloc, la participació dels diferents tipus de verbs de canvi d’estat del català en l’alternança causativa: la possibilitat d’un verb de tenir un oes transitiu i un d’intransitiu, amb la particularitat que l’argument objecte en el primer alternant passa a ser subjecte en el segon (v. (i) En Joan va rompre la finestra, (ii) La finestra es va rompre). L’anàlisi ens permetrà comprovar que la generalització que fa Alexiadou (2006) respecte del funcionament dels verbs de causa externa no se segueix en català. Pel que fa als verbs de canvi de causa interna, els quals no havien estat estudiats en català, veiem que el seu comportament és poc uniforme i que n’hi ha que permeten l’alternança, contra el que s’ha indicat tradicionalment. Finalment, respecte dels verbs de causa inespecificada comprovem que presenten restriccions semàntiques pel que fa als elements que poden aparèixer com a subjecte en la variant intransitiva.També mostrem que el test usat tradicionalment per mostrar que els verbs de canvi d’estat tenen un component de causa en la seva estructura lexicosemàntica (l’acceptabilitat d’un adjunt per si sol) no funciona en català. Finalment, analitzem la incorporació del clític "se" en la variant intransitiva de l’alternança. Com ocorre també en altres llengües, hi ha verbs que l’incorporen obligatòriament, d’altres que no l’incorporen mai i d’altres encara que l’incorporen optativament

Efficient heuristics for the parallel blocking flow shop scheduling problem

We consider the NP-hard problem of scheduling n jobs in F identical parallel flow shops, each consisting of a series of m machines, and doing so with a blocking constraint. The applied criterion is to minimize the makespan, i.e., the maximum completion time of all the jobs in F flow shops (lines). The Parallel Flow Shop Scheduling Problem (PFSP) is conceptually similar to another problem known in the literature as the Distributed Permutation Flow Shop Scheduling Problem (DPFSP), which allows modeling the scheduling process in companies with more than one factory, each factory with a flow shop configuration. Therefore, the proposed methods can solve the scheduling problem under the blocking constraint in both situations, which, to the best of our knowledge, has not been studied previously. In this paper, we propose a mathematical model along with some constructive and improvement heuristics to solve the parallel blocking flow shop problem (PBFSP) and thus minimize the maximum completion time among lines. The proposed constructive procedures use two approaches that are totally different from those proposed in the literature. These methods are used as initial solution procedures of an iterated local search (ILS) and an iterated greedy algorithm (IGA), both of which are combined with a variable neighborhood search (VNS). The proposed constructive procedure and the improved methods take into account the characteristics of the problem. The computational evaluation demonstrates that both of them –especially the IGA– perform considerably better than those algorithms adapted from the DPFSP literature.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Implementació i verificació d'un model de radiació solar a Catalunya

Màster Oficial en Meteorologia, Departament d'Astronomia i Meteorologia (DAM), Facultat de Física, Universitat de Barcelona, Any: 2013, Director: Joan Bech RustulletResum (cat): En aquest treball s'ha implementat un model de radiació solar que permet obtenir un valor teòric per cel serè de la radiació incident en un punt qualsevol de la superfície de la Terra. Posteriorment, s'ha realitzat una verificació d'aquest model mitjançant la comparació dels valors teòrics obtinguts amb les mesures d'un període de 5 anys (2008-2012) de l'estació automàtica de l'Observatori Fabra (Barcelona) gestionada pel Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya. Els resultats obtinguts indiquen que les variacions habituals en les condicions atmosfèriques no modelitzades indueixen errors inferiors al 9% en el càlcul de la radiació teòrica per cel serè. Abstract (eng): In this academic paper a solar radiation model has been implemented, which allows us to obtain a theoretical value of solar radiation in clear sky conditions at any point on Earth's surface. After implementation, a verification of the model has been conducted by comparing the obtained values over a period of 5 years (2008-2012) with data from the automatic meteorological station of Observatori Fabra (Barcelona) managed by the Meteorological Service of Catalonia. Obtained results indicate that usual variations in atmospheric conditions not modeled produce errors which are inferior to 9% in the calculation of the theoretical value of solar radiation for clear sky

L'evolució del risc del preu de l'IBEX 35 i de l'or de 24 quirats durant el període 2008-2012

Curs 2012-2013En aquest treball es porta a terme l’anàlisi del comportament i l’anàlisi del risc del preu de l’índex borsari IBEX-35 i de la matèria primera Or de 24 quirats, durant el període comprès entre els anys 2008-2012. Concretament s’analitza com han evolucionat determinades mesures del risc, com la Volatilitat, el VaR i el CVaR, en IBEX-35 i en l’Or de 24 quirats. La finalitat d’aquests càlculs, és aconseguir evidencies del diferent comportament del preu de l’IBEX-35 i de l’Or de 24 quirats entre els anys 2008 i 2012, i poder tenir arguments a favor de la idea de que l’Or és un valor refugi, sobretot en temps de crisi.In this project an analysis of the behaviour and an analysis of the price risk of the stock market IBEX-35 and of the raw material 24 carat gold between 2008 and 2012 is carried out. To be more precise, the development of some risk measures such as the Volatiliy, the VaR, and the CVaR in IBEX-35 and in the 24 carat gold are being analysed. The main aim of these calculations is to achieve evidences of the different behaviour of the price of both the IBEX-35 and the 24 carat gold between 2008 and 2012 and, to prove that gold is a “value refuge”, even more so in periods of economic crisis

Cria possible de pinsà trompeter Bucanetes githagineus a Mallorca

Possible breeding of Trumpeter finch Bucanetes githagineus in Mallorca. An adult female with a receding brood patch and signs of active body moult was trapped at a drinking source at La Trapa (Andratx, Mallorca), on 4th July 2010. Despite this, it is not possible to be sure where breeding took place. Key words: Trumpeter finch, Bucanetes githagineus, reproduction, La Trapa, Andratx, Mallorca