On the Role of Relative Prices and Capital Flows in Balance-of-Payments Constrained Growth: the Experiences of Portugal and Spain in the Euro Area

Broadly speaking, the balance-of-payments constraint hypothesis as developed by Thirlwall has been empirically supported. Yet, it shows some shortcomings highlighted in the literature. In our opinion, two of them must be analysed. First, temporary disequilibria and capital flows must be incorporated into the balance-of-payments constrained growth models. Second, the role of relative prices must be made explicit, since it can be relevant even in an external constraint framework. This study is aimed at developing a model that incorporates both possibilities: temporary external disequilibria and a the impact of relative prices. This model is subsequently used to analyse the evolution of the Spanish and Portuguese economies in last decades, and, in particular, the different path shown by both countries since their accession to the Eurozone.Pese al respaldo empírico con el que ha contado la teoría de la restricción externa desarrollada a partir del modelo de Thirlwall, éste muestra algunas deficiencias destacadas en la literatura. En nuestra opinión, dos de ellas merecen ser analizadas. Por un lado, la necesidad de incorporar desequilibrios transitorios de la balanza de pagos y los consiguientes flujos de capital. Por otro, creemos los precios relativos pueden desempeñar un papel importante en el comercio exterior, sin que ello invalide la existencia de una restricción externa. El objetivo del presente trabajo consiste en desarrollar un modelo que incorpore ambas cuestiones, permitiendo, así, un mayor protagonismo a los precios relativos y a los desequilibrios temporales de la balanza de pagos. Este modelo se emplea posteriormente para analizar la evolución de las economías española y portuguesa en las últimas décadas y, en especial, las diferencias mostradas desde su incorporación a la Eurozona.Growth, Balance of payments constraint, Exchange rate.

Evaluation of the implementation of smart meters in business clients

El actual desarrollo tecnológico ha incrementado las herramientas para el seguimiento, medición y control de los consumos de los usuarios y clientes del servicio eléctrico, por lo tanto la empresa CODENSA ESP ha decidido evaluar cuales son las ventajas de utilizar medidores inteligentes en los clientes empresariales con antecedentes de hurto, con el objetivo de la disminución de los costos en la operación, tener una administración de la información más oportuna, con mayor disponibilidad y con alta confiabilidad. La información recolectada es transmitida por un operador de red que la envía a los administradores del sistema y de esta manera realizar los análisis de la información para definir los planes en cumplimiento de las estrategias del negocio. Dentro de los resultados de implementar esta nueva tecnología, ha permitido disminuir las pérdidas de energía, identificar las horas pico y valle en los consumos personalizados y de esta manera establecer tarifas horarias que faciliten la planeación en el uso de la energía de manera óptima que reduzca sus costos. La implementación de esta tecnología ha generado impactos negativos como la aceptación del cliente y positivos como la generación de nuevas estrategias para el consumo que disminuyen sus costos.Current technological development has increased the tools for monitoring, measurement and control of consumption of users and customers of electric service, therefore the company has decided to evaluate ESP CODENSA what are the advantages of using smart meters on business customers with history of theft, with the goal of decreasing costs in the operation, management have a more timely, more availability and high reliability. The information collected is transmitted by a network operator that sends system administrators and thus perform data analysis to define plans in compliance with business strategies. Among the results of implementing this new technology, it has reduced energy losses, identify the peak and valley in custom consumption and thus establish hourly rates to facilitate planning on using energy optimally to reduce their costs. The implementation of this technology has generated negative impacts such as customer acceptance and positive as generating new strategies for consumption decreasing costs

Desarrollo de un modelo estequiométrico para el cálculo del número TC en aplicaciones cuantitativas

Las imágenes de Tomografía Computarizada (TC) son empleadas de forma cuantitativa en diferentes aplicaciones, entre otras, el cálculo de la dosis absorbida en tratamientos de radioterapia, la corrección de la atenuación en imágenes de emisión en equipos híbridos SPECT/CT y PET/CT, o la cuantificación del contenido mineral en hueso y caracterización tisular. Estas aplicaciones son posibles porque una imagen de TC está formada a partir de una magnitud física definida de forma precisa: el coeficiente de atenuación lineal. El valor mostrado en cada píxel (número TC) es el coeficiente de atenuación lineal del material en esa posición relativo al del agua, expresado en unidades Hounsfield (HU). El número TC se introdujo históricamente para que fuera independiente de la máquina en cuestión. Las diferencias en el número TC de los tejidos son un problema para las aplicaciones cuantitativas ya que dificultan las comparaciones entre escáneres diferentes e implican un proceso de calibración individualizado. Estas variaciones se producen porque los haces de rayos X empleados son polienergéticos. Las diferencias de atenuación entre las energías dan lugar a que el espectro del haz emergente detectado por la matriz de detectores sea dependiente de la proyección, efecto denominado endurecimiento del haz. El coeficiente de atenuación medido por el escáner es el correspondiente a la energía efectiva del haz, definida como aquella para la cual el coeficiente de atenuación lineal del agua es igual al medido por el escáner. Desde los comienzos de la utilización clínica de la TC se ha propuesto que los estudios cuantitativos con números TC estén conectados con el valor de la energía efectiva implicada; de ahí la importancia de contar con un método adecuado para poder determinar la energía efectiva de un haz para cada condición particular. El espectro detectado y los detalles de la corrección por endurecimiento del haz en los actuales escáneres son, en principio, desconocidos, por lo que el cálculo de la energía efectiva a partir de la definición del párrafo anterior es inviable. Existe una definición empírica propuesta por varios autores que permite medirla: es la energía que produce máxima correlación lineal entre los números TC medidos y los coeficientes de atenuación para un conjunto de materiales. Sin embargo, al no contar con una expresión paramétrica para el número TC su aplicación no es sencilla. Estos problemas han motivado la utilización de métodos alternativos para la calibración de los escáneres TC que se describen a continuación..

Is Gastronomy A Relevant Factor for Sustainable Tourism? An Empirical Analysis of Spain Country Brand

Tourism has become a fundamental industry for the economic growth of many countries. Due to this, there is growing competitiveness among the different destinations to attract as many tourists as possible. As a result, disciplines such as marketing have developed tools to differentiate some destinations from others and concepts such as place branding and country brand have emerged. One of the key factors forming the country brand is gastronomy, as food tourism is one way to reduce the growing problem of sustainability in tourism, as it impacts different aspects of the country’s environment. However, there is a great lack of scientific works that relate both variables. In this paper, we propose to establish that, in the case of Spain, tourists’ perception of Spanish gastronomy is a key element of its country brand. To do that, this study relies on the use of Partial Least Squares Structural Equations Modeling (PLS-SEM) using a 496 cases data set

On the Comparison of Stochastic Model Predictive Control Strategies Applied to a Hydrogen-based Microgrid

In this paper, a performance comparison among three well-known stochastic model predictive control approaches, namely, multi-scenario, tree-based, and chance-constrained model predictive control is presented. To this end, three predictive controllers have been designed and implemented in a real renewable-hydrogen-based microgrid. The experimental set-up includes a PEM electrolyzer, lead-acid batteries, and a PEM fuel cell as main equipment. The real experimental results show significant differences from the plant components, mainly in terms of use of energy, for each implemented technique. Effectiveness, performance, advantages, and disadvantages of these techniques are extensively discussed and analyzed to give some valid criteria when selecting an appropriate stochastic predictive controller.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad DPI2013-46912-C2-1-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad DPI2013-482443-C2-1-

Delay effects on the limit cycling behavior in an H-bridge resonant inverter with zero current switching control strategy

Celebrado en Tarragona del 2-6 de septiembre de 2018.In this paper, bifurcations of limit cycles in a H-bridge LC resonant inverter under a zero current switching control strategy with delay in the switching action are analyzed. Mathematical analysis and numerical simulations show that the delay can degrade the quality of the oscillations and even inhibit them.Agencia Estatal de Investigación DPI2017- 84572-C2-1-RFondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional DPI2017- 84572-C2-1-RMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación MTM2015-65608-PJunta de Andalucía Consejería de Economía y Conocimiento P12-FQM-165

Pig slurry incorporation with tillage does not reduce short-term soil CO2 fluxes

Tillage and organic fertilization impact short-term soil CO2 fluxes. However, the interactive effect of these two management practices has been rarely studied under field conditions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of tillage (NT, no-tillage, and CT, conventional tillage) and fertilization strategy (PS, pig slurry, and MF, mineral fertilizer) on short-term soil CO2 fluxes in a rainfed Mediterranean agroecosystem. Soil CO2 fluxes were measured several times during two tillage and pre-sowing fertilization periods in 2012 and 2013 (7 and 6 times in 2012 and 2013, respectively). In the two years studied, tillage and fertilization significantly affected soil CO2 fluxes, but the interaction between both factors was not significant. The application of PS resulted in a sharp and immediate increase in the soil CO2 flux. One hour after the application of the organic fertilizer, soil CO2 emissions increased from 0.05 to 0.70 g CO2 m−2 h−1 and from 0.08 to 0.82 g CO2 m−2 h−1 in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Unlike fertilization, 1 h after tillage similar soil CO2 fluxes were observed in CT and NT plots. However, after 7 h, larger fluxes were observed in CT compared with NT in both years. Cumulative CO2 flux during the first 24 h after fertilization and tillage was about three- and two-fold greater in PS than in MF and in CT than in NT, respectively. The results of this study showed that in rainfed Mediterranean systems, soil management and fertilization have a noteworthy impact on short-term soil CO2 losses though no interactive effects were observed between both management practices.This research was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain (AGL2010-22050-C03-01/02; AGL2013-49062- C4-4-R) and the COMET-Global project (FACCE-JPI grant)

Estimating adaptive setpoint temperatures using weather stations

Reducing both the energy consumption and CO 2 emissions of buildings is nowadays one of the main objectives of society. The use of heating and cooling equipment is among the main causes of energy consumption. Therefore, reducing their consumption guarantees such a goal. In this context, the use of adaptive setpoint temperatures allows such energy consumption to be significantly decreased. However, having reliable data from an external temperature probe is not always possible due to various factors. This research studies the estimation of such temperatures without using external temperature probes. For this purpose, a methodology which consists of collecting data from 10 weather stations of Galicia is carried out, and prediction models (multivariable linear regression (MLR) and multilayer perceptron (MLP)) are applied based on two approaches: (1) using both the setpoint temperature and the mean daily external temperature from the previous day; and (2) using the mean daily external temperature from the previous 7 days. Both prediction models provide adequate performances for approach 1, obtaining accurate results between 1 month (MLR) and 5 months (MLP). However, for approach 2, only the MLP obtained accurate results from the 6th month. This research ensures the continuity of using adaptive setpoint temperatures even in case of possible measurement errors or failures of the external temperature probes.Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities 00064742/ITC-20133094Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness BIA 2017-85657-

On the Role of Relative Prices and Capital Flows in Balance-of-Payments Constrained Growth: the Experiences of Portugal and Spain in the Euro Area

Broadly speaking, the balance-of-payments constraint hypothesis as developed by Thirlwall has been empirically supported. Yet, it shows some shortcomings highlighted in the literature. In our opinion, two of them must be analysed. First, temporary disequilibria and capital flows must be incorporated into the balance-of-payments constrained growth models. Second, the role of relative prices must be made explicit, since it can be relevant even in an external constraint framework. This study is aimed at developing a model that incorporates both possibilities: temporary external disequilibria and a the impact of relative prices. This model is subsequently used to analyse the evolution of the Spanish and Portuguese economies in last decades, and, in particular, the different path shown by both countries since their accession to the Eurozone