New Estimates on Educational Attainment Using a Continuous Approach (1970-2010)

In this paper we introduce a new set of estimates on educational attainment and inequality measures of education for 142 countries over the period 1970?2010. Most of the previous attempts to measure educational attainment have treated education as a categorical variable, whose mean is computed as a weighted average of the official duration of each cycle and attainment rates, thus omitting differences in educational achievement within levels of education. This aggregation into different groups may result in a loss of information, introducing, therefore, a potential source of measurement error. We explore here a more nuanced alternative to estimate educational attainment, which considers the continuous nature of education. This "continuous approach" allows us to impose more plausible assumptions about the distribution of years of schooling within each level of education, and to take into account the right censoring of the data in the estimation, thus leading to more accurate estimates of educational attainment and education inequality. These improved estimates may help to better understand the role of education on different aspects of development

Do neighbourhood renewal programs reduce crime rates? Evidence from England

ABSTRACT: Neighbourhood renewal programs have transformed crime reduction strategies in many developed countries. These place-based initiatives emphasise the preventative value of multi-agency work to enhance community safety and social inclusion. The purpose of this paper is to present empirical evidence on the effectiveness of neighbourhood renewal programs by estimating the impact of the UK's Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) program on crime rates across England between 2000 and 2007. Because the NRF was only made available to the most deprived local areas in England, we are able to estimate its effects using a Differences-in-Differences (DiD) approach and a Regression Discontinuity (RD) design. Our DiD estimates indicate that the NRF led to improvements in the rates of property and violent crime of between 10-25%, with analysis of treatment intensity effects suggesting that for every £1 per capita of NRF monies, crime rates improved by 0.3-0.6%. Our RD estimates reveal that these improvements are especially strong around the threshold for program eligibility - a finding that is particularly robust for reductions in property crime. Furthermore, using a spatial DiD, we identify the diffusion of crime prevention benefits from areas receiving NRF funding to neighbouring areas that did not receive funding. Our results therefore suggest that neighbourhood renewal programs are effective strategies for reducing crime

Patrones multimodales estables con simetría pentámera: el caso de los Crinoideos Rhodocrinítidos

[ES] El origen de la conspicua simetría pentámera existente en los equinodermos es objeto de debate. Sin embargo, la organización de estos organismos pentarradiales jamás ha sido caracterizada, a ningún nivel de estudio, desde un punlo de vista matemático. Partiendo de una ecuación de formade gradiente, triadas de ondas resonantes ínteraccionando entre sí determinan el diagrama de estabilidad de los patronesde simetría pentámera generados por cinco ondas planas confinadas en regiones circulares. En este sistema, cada onda plana puede ser desarrollada como una serie infinita de modos de Bessel. Sin embargo, las condiciones del límite reducen el número posible de modos de Bessel a un conjunto discreto. Esta aproximación general al problema de los patrones de simetría radial es desarrollada en este trabajo para estudiar la distribución y estructura de los elementos esqueléticos que integran los cálices globosos o en forma de bol de crinoides Camerados. Bajo las mismas condiciones leoricas generales la disposíclon de las placas en estos organismos pueden ser comparadas con experimentos hidrodinámicos. La estructura multimodal de estructura del cáliz de los crinoideos considerados demuestra que varios estados propios coexisten bajo un conjunto discreto de condiciones del límite, lo cual es el sello de un proceso altamente no lineal y por lo tanto de un patrón altamente no trivial.[EN] The origin of the conspicuous pentamerism of echinoderms remains controversial. Curiously, the organization of diese living fivefoid structures has not been characterized from a mathematical point of view in any case, at any level. Starting from an amplirude equation of grandient form, triad rcsonarn inieractions determine the stability diagram of fivefold pattems generated by five plane waves in circular regions. Each plane wave can be developed as an infinite series of Bessel modes. However, boundary constraints reduce the number of modes to a discrete set. This general approach is used here to study the skeleton plate arrangement of bowl or globose cup crinoids. The biological samples are compared lo hydrodynamical experimcnts under the same general conditions of pattern selection. The mulyimodal structure of plate anangemenr shows that many elgenstates coexist for a single set of boundary conditions which is the signature of a highty nonlinear, and hence, highíy nontrivial patlern. The present mathematical tool could be analogously useful lo study echinoid skeletons.Este trabajo es una contribución al Equipo Europeo-Africano (Coord. F. Paris) del proyecto IGCP nº 410 «Ihe Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event» (IUGS-UNESCO) y al Proyecto PB-97-l 232 «Resonancia paramétrica de ondas y sus aplicaciones».Peer reviewe

On the calculation of energy produced by a PV grid-connected system

This study develops a proposal of method of calculation useful to estimate the energy produced by a PV grid-connected system making use of irradiance-domain integrals and denition of statistical moment. Validation against database of real PV plants performance data shows that acceptable energy estimation can be obtained with rst to fourth statistical moments and some basic system parameters. This way, only simple calculations at the reach of pocket calculators, are enough to estimate AC energy

GALENA: tabular DCG parsing for natural languages

[Abstract] We present a definite clause based parsing environment for natural languages, whose operational model is the dynamic interpretation of logical push-down automata. We attempt to briefly explain our design decisions in terms of a set of properties that practical natural language processing systems should incorporate. The aim is to show both the advantages and the drawbacks of our approach.España. Gobierno; HF96-36Xunta de Galcia; XUGA10505B96Xunta de Galcia; XUGA20402B9

Une approche formelle pour la génération d'analyseurs de langages naturels

[Abstract] Un processus d'analyse syntaxique et d'annotation efficace est déterminante dans l'élaboration de structures d'analyse de langages naturels. Ce papier introduit un environnement de programmation permettant l'implémentation du support formel des langages naturels depuis deux points de vue, analyse syntaxique et annotation. Le problème de l'analyse syntaxique se pose dans le domaine de l'analyse de grammaires algébriques sans restrictions, et celui de l'annotation dans le contexte des automates finis non déterministes. L'analyseur syntaxique prends en entrée un texte arbitraire, suivant la structure désignée par une grammaire algébrique. La structure de la forêt partagée résultante est étudiée par rapport à l'optimisation du partage syntaxique, de façon à favoriser l'élimination des ambigüités pendant le processus sémantique. Les automates à états finis sont utilisés comme formalisme opérationnel pour annoter les corpora de façon efficace, spécialement pour les langages autres que l'Anglais, pour lesquels l'analyse morphologique a une relevance accrue. Les deux activités, analyse syntaxique et annotation, sont intégrées dans un même outil, qui a pour nom Galena (pour Generador de Analizadores para Lenguages Naturales), fournissant l'incrémentalité comme fonctionnalité favorisant la réutilisabilité des composantes d'un point de vue génie logiciel.Xunta de Galcia; XUGA10501A9

Energy payback time of grid connected pv systems: comparison between tracking and fixed systems

A review of existing studies about LCA of PV systems has been carried out. The data from this review have been completed with our own figures in order to calculate the Energy Payback Time of double and horizontal axis tracking and fixed systems. The results of this metric span from 2 to 5 years for the latitude and global irradiation ranges of the geographical area comprised between −10◦ to 10◦ of longitude, and 30◦ to 45◦ of latitude. With the caution due to the uncertainty of the sources of information, these results mean that a GCPVS is able to produce back the energy required for its existence from 6 to 15 times during a life cycle of 30 years. When comparing tracking and fixed systems, the great importance of the PV generator makes advisable to dedicate more energy to some components of the system in order to increase the productivity and to obtain a higher performance of the component with the highest energy requirement. Both double axis and horizontal axis trackers follow this way, requiring more energy in metallic structure, foundations and wiring, but this higher contribution is widely compensated by the improved productivity of the system

Radio escolar: "El Trocadero": "Una experiencia educativa, nuestra experiencia"

 The use of radio in schooling is not new. Despite this, all new experiences can be a source of learning. This work brings together the distinct experiences shared during the ten-year project of school radio C.E.I.P. In the school radio “El Trocadero”, the student is the real protagonist. In this project families participate, teachers coordinate, curricular becomes globalised, and in this light the radio becomes a powerful medium to project the work done within the classroom. This project helps foment values such as: involvement, motivation, participation, cooperation, and makes it an initiative for all the educative community. La utilización de la radio en el ámbito escolar no es novedosa. Pese a ello, toda experiencia es fuente de aprendizaje  para otras personas. El presente trabajo recoge la experiencia de Radio Escolar llevada a cabo, a lo largo de los últimos diez años, en el C.E.I.P. “El Trocadero”, exponiéndose las líneas esenciales de su proyecto: el alumnado es el protagonista, las familias participan, el profesorado coordina, el currículum se globaliza y donde la radio es un potente medio de proyección del trabajo diario de las aulas. Los principios de implicación, motivación, globalización, participación, cooperación, solidaridad afloran a lo largo de la puesta en funcionamiento de este proyecto. En definitiva, un proyecto de toda la comunidad educativa.&nbsp

On the complexity of radiation models for PV energy production calculation

Several authors have analysed the changes of the probability density function of the solar radiation with different time resolutions. Some others have approached to study the significance of these changes when produced energy calculations are attempted. We have undertaken different transformations to four Spanish databases in order to clarify the interrelationship between radiation models and produced energy estimations. Our contribution is straightforward: the complexity of a solar radiation model needed for yearly energy calculations, is very low. Twelve values of monthly mean of solar radiation are enough to estimate energy with errors below 3%. Time resolutions better than hourly samples do not improve significantly the result of energy estimations