Managerial appraisal and compensation: The case of Spain

This paper explores some fundamental tasks associated with corporate governance: manager appraisal and compensation. Most of the empirical research in this area has been centered on Anglo-Saxon countries. Some European countries, such as Spain, have a very different governance tradition. Given this context, the work presented here has two objectives: 1.- To describe existing appraisal and compensation practices in Spain, comparing them with those used in the USA. 2.- To study the determinants of CEO compensation, and the relationship between CEO compensation and certain Board practices, using agency theoryAppraisal; compensation; agency

Influence of the Feedback Filter on the Response of the Pulsed Digital Oscillator

This paper introduces a new feedback topology for the Pulsed Digital Oscillator (PDO) and compares it to the classical topology. The `classic' or single feedback topology, introduced in previous works, shows a strong behavior dependence on the damping losses in the MEMS resonator. A new double feedback topology is introduced here in order to help solving this problem. Comparative discrete-time simulations and preliminary experimental measurements have been carried out for both topologies, showing how the new double feedback topology may increase PDO performance for some frequency ranges.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions

Digital Image Compression Using Artificial Neural Networks

The problem of storing, transmitting, and manipulating digital images is considered. Because of the file sizes involved, large amounts of digitized image information are becoming common in modern projects. Our goal is to described an image compression transform coder based on artificial neural networks techniques (NNCTC). A comparison of the compression results obtained from digital astronomical images by the NNCTC and the method used in the compression of the digitized sky survey from the Space Telescope Science Institute based on the H-transform is performed in order to assess the reliability of the NNCTC

Analysis of Tutoring in the Professional Development of STEM Teachers

Altres ajuts: Research Group FQM-126 (Junta de Andalucía, Spain)The aim of this work is to explore the impact of the use of five lenses for the professional development of mathematics teachers in a Practicum environment of a master's degree in Teaching in Secondary Schools in Spain, based on based on the video-related model and facilitated by a tutor. This qualitative ethnographic study is part of an action research and focuses on two cases of future secondary mathematics teachers who share a university tutor. The results indicate that the application of the lenses in the video-related model produces signs of changes in professional development, both in terms of the notable events noticed by the teachers and in their narrative, and, in addition, promotes self-regulation of training. It should be noted that, throughout this process, the intervention of the university tutor or facilitator is essential. It is concluded that this model can be replicated in other STEM teacher training specializations

Short-timescale Fluctuations in the Difference Light Curves of QSO 0957+561A,B: Microlensing or Noise?

From optical R band data of the double quasar QSO 0957+561A,B, we made two new difference light curves (about 330 days of overlap between the time-shifted light curve for the A image and the magnitude-shifted light curve for the B image). We observed noisy behaviours around the zero line and no short-timescale events (with a duration of months), where the term event refers to a prominent feature that may be due to microlensing or another source of variability. Only one event lasting two weeks and rising - 33 mmag was found. Measured constraints on the possible microlensing variability can be used to obtain information on the granularity of the dark matter in the main lensing galaxy and the size of the source. In addition, one can also test the ability of the observational noise to cause the rms averages and the local features of the difference signals. We focused on this last issue. The combined photometries were related to a process consisting of an intrinsic signal plus a Gaussian observational noise. The intrinsic signal has been assumed to be either a smooth function (polynomial) or a smooth function plus a stationary noise process or a correlated stationary process. Using these three pictures without microlensing, we derived some models totally consistent with the observations. We finally discussed the sensitivity of our telescope (at Teide Observatory) to several classes of microlensing variability.Comment: MNRAS, in press (LaTeX, 14 pages, 22 eps figures