The digital transformation of the banking industry: case of Caixa Geral de Depósitos

This project emerges from the evidence of failures in terms of the Digital Marketing strategy at Caixa Geral de Depósitos, and its ambition to achieve the leadership position in digitalization of banking services, while transforming it with a focus on digital inclusion, to boost sales and guarantee competitiveness in the open banking era. CGD has been evolving its digital offer, but it presents several areas with a lot of potential for evolution. This project aims to provide information and highlight the relevance of this topic, as well as defining an efficient digital marketing strategy and establish the most suitable methods for the company to improve its online presence. It was found that it will not be easy to expand Digital Marketing at CGD, has there are many barriers such as compliance and data protection regulations in the banking industry. The strong hierarchical structure, dispute of resources and priorities, need of alignment between several departments, archaic softwares, analytics limitations and lack of knowledge and autonomy, will definitely slow down all the processes. Despite of this process not being easy, there are many quick wins that can be implemented that will improve the company’s Digital Marketing drastically. Increasing traffic and engagement on the various touchpoints, both for potential customers and current customers, either through our own channels or paid channels; Optimizing the digital conversion ratio in the various acquisition journeys, through the optimization and customization of the conversion funnel; and maximizing the customer experience, end-to-end, from the landing page to the purchase decision.Este projeto surge na sequência da evidência de falhas ao nível da estratégia de Marketing Digital na Caixa Geral de Depósitos, e da sua ambição de alcançar a posição de liderança na digitalização de serviços bancários, focando na inclusão digital, para impulsionar vendas e garantir competitividade na era do open banking. A CGD tem vindo a evoluir a sua oferta digital, mas apresenta várias áreas com muito potencial de evolução. Este projeto pretende fornecer informação e realçar a relevância deste tema, bem como definir uma estratégia de Marketing Digital eficiente para determinar os métodos mais adequados para a empresa melhorar a sua presença online. Verificou-se que não será fácil expandir o Marketing Digital na CGD, visto que existem muitos entraves, como o compliance e as normas de proteção de dados no setor bancário. A forte estrutura hierárquica, disputa de recursos e prioridades, necessidade de alinhamento entre diversos departamentos, softwares arcaicos, limitações de analítica e falta de conhecimento e autonomia, certamente irão desacelerar todos os processos. Apesar deste processo não ser fácil, há muitos quick wins que irão melhorar drasticamente o Marketing Digital da empresa. Aumentar o tráfego e engagement nos vários pontos de contato - tanto para clientes potenciais como para clientes atuais, seja por meio de canais próprios como canais pagos; Otimizando a taxa de conversão digital - nas várias jornadas de aquisição, através da otimização e customização do funil de conversão; e maximizar a experiência do cliente, de ponta a ponta, desde a página de destino até a decisão de compra

Seasonal dynamic factor analysis and bootstrap inference : application to electricity market forecasting

Year-ahead forecasting of electricity prices is an important issue in the current context of electricity markets. Nevertheless, only one-day-ahead forecasting is commonly tackled up in previous published works. Moreover, methodology developed for the short-term does not work properly for long-term forecasting. In this paper we provide a seasonal extension of the Non-Stationary Dynamic Factor Analysis, to deal with the interesting problem (both from the economic and engineering point of view) of long term forecasting of electricity prices. Seasonal Dynamic Factor Analysis (SeaDFA) allows to deal with dimensionality reduction in vectors of time series, in such a way that extracts common and specific components. Furthermore, common factors are able to capture not only regular dynamics (stationary or not) but also seasonal one, by means of common factors following a multiplicative seasonal VARIMA(p,d,q)×(P,D,Q)s model. Besides, a bootstrap procedure is proposed to be able to make inference on all the parameters involved in the model. A bootstrap scheme developed for forecasting includes uncertainty due to parameter estimation, allowing to enhance the coverage of forecast confidence intervals. Concerning the innovative and challenging application provided, bootstrap procedure developed allows to calculate not only point forecasts but also forecasting intervals for electricity prices.Dynamic factor analysis, Bootstrap, Forecasting, Confidence intervals

NILM techniques for intelligent home energy management and ambient assisted living: a review

The ongoing deployment of smart meters and different commercial devices has made electricity disaggregation feasible in buildings and households, based on a single measure of the current and, sometimes, of the voltage. Energy disaggregation is intended to separate the total power consumption into specific appliance loads, which can be achieved by applying Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring (NILM) techniques with a minimum invasion of privacy. NILM techniques are becoming more and more widespread in recent years, as a consequence of the interest companies and consumers have in efficient energy consumption and management. This work presents a detailed review of NILM methods, focusing particularly on recent proposals and their applications, particularly in the areas of Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) and Ambient Assisted Living (AAL), where the ability to determine the on/off status of certain devices can provide key information for making further decisions. As well as complementing previous reviews on the NILM field and providing a discussion of the applications of NILM in HEMS and AAL, this paper provides guidelines for future research in these topics.Agência financiadora: Programa Operacional Portugal 2020 and Programa Operacional Regional do Algarve 01/SAICT/2018/39578 Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia through IDMEC, under LAETA: SFRH/BSAB/142998/2018 SFRH/BSAB/142997/2018 UID/EMS/50022/2019 Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La-Mancha, Spain: SBPLY/17/180501/000392 Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (SOC-PLC project): TEC2015-64835-C3-2-R MINECO/FEDERinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Clinkering and hydration study of non-active and active Belite-Alite-Ye'elimite (BAY) cements

The aim of AIM is to promote industry-driven, interdisciplinary research in material science and engineering in order to provide leading-edge, sustainable solutions to the challenges facing engineers in today’s changing society and environment. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/aim/conference-info/37ccsThe manufacturing process of ye'elimite rich cements emit about 15-37% less CO2 to the atmosphere than OPC. Cements that contain belite, ye’elimite and ferrite, known as BYF cements, are promising eco-friendly binders. However, belite, their main phase, shows a slow hydrating behaviour; therefore the corresponding mortars present lower mechanical strengths than OPC at early ages. To solve this problem, BYF clinkers can be activated by: i) forming alite jointly with belite and ye’elimite during clinkering, known as BAY clinkers. The alite and ye’elimite reaction with water should develop high mechanical strengths at early ages, besides, belite contributes to later curing times. ii) A second activation is based on the stabilisation of alpha forms of belite by dopants. The objective of this work is to obtain two types of BAY clinkers (standard and active BAY) using CaF2 as mineraliser and borax as dopant agent to stabilize alpha forms of belite phase. After that, anhydrite was added as sulphate source to obtain the corresponding cements. The hydration behaviour of these cements has been studied through rheological and x-ray diffraction measurements, the latter combined with Rietveld quantitative phase analysis. In addition, mechanical and dimensional properties of BAY mortars are also presented and discussed.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Incorporating Uncertainty and Cero Values into the Valuation of Protected Areas and Species

Under the Spanish conservation law, compensation is envisaged for the damage associated with all actions that reduce the quantity or quality of protected areas and species. This paper provides a tool to evaluate the monetary equivalent of this damage. We conduct a contingent valuation exercise to estimate the existence value related to protected areas and species in Aragon. This estimate is then reconsidered including the possibility of zero bids and also the possibility of uncertain preferences for non-familiar goods. Considering these two effects, mean values are reduced significantly giving support to previous recommendations of dividing by two contingent valuation estimates from dichotomous choice question formats.natural heritage, contingent valuation, Spike model, uncertainty, Land Economics/Use, B23, C24, C42, C52, D62, Q26,

Percepción de la violencia psicológica en parejas jóvenes en función del sexo del agresor y del tipo de violencia ejercida

El estudio de la violencia psicológica es uno de los tipos de violencia más presentes en el inicio de las relaciones de noviazgo. Una de las principales variables estudiadas es la percepción de la violencia de pareja en función del sexo de quién la ejerce, encontrando que la violencia es percibida de forma más grave cuando la ejercen los hombres que cuando la ejercen las mujeres. La percepción de diferentes tipos de violencia psicológica ha sido menos abordada. El principal objetivo del presente estudio es profundizar en las diferencias a la hora de percibir la responsabilidad del agresor y la gravedad del suceso en función del sexo del agresor y del tipo de violencia psicológica ejercida. Para lo anterior se ha realizado un diseño 2 X 3 (sexo del agresor x tipo de violencia psicológica. En el presente estudio participaron 694 personas de edades comprendidas entre los 17 y los 25 años. Los participantes, tras leer un escenario de violencia psicológica, respondieron a preguntas sobre la percepción del grado de violencia del suceso y sobre la responsabilidad del agresor y de la víctima. Los resultados mostraron que las puntuaciones en gravedad del suceso fueron más altas cuando el hombre es el agresor que cuando era una mujer. También se observó un efecto de interacción sexo del agresor x tipo de violencia. En la VD culpabilización del agresor se observan un efecto principal del tipo de violencia, siendo la violencia tipo 3. También es significativa la interacción sexo del agresor x del tipo de violencia psicológica, observando las puntuaciones más altas en la violencia tipo 1 cuando el agresor es un hombre. El presente trabajo permite concluir que la violencia psicológica es percibida de forma diferente en función de si la ejerce un hombre o una mujer pero también que estas variables se perciben de forma diferente en función del tipo de violencia psicológica ejercida.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Early hydration study of standard and doped Alite-Belite-Ye’elimite (ABY) cements through Synchrotron Radiation

The manufacturing of ye'elimite-rich cements releases from 15 to 37%, depending on their composition, less CO2 to the atmosphere than ordinary Portland cement (OPC). BYF cements containing belite, ye’elimite and ferrite as main crystalline phases, are promising eco-friendly binders. Nevertheless, belite, its main phase, shows a slow hydrating behaviour and the mechanical strengths are lower than OPC at early ages. Some alternatives to solve this problem are: i) forming alite jointly with belite and ye’elimite during clinkering, Alite Belite Ye’elimite (ABY) clinkers. The hydration of alite and ye’elimite would develop high mechanical strengths at early ages, and belite contributes to later curing times; ii) a second alternative is the stabilisation of alpha forms of belite using dopants such as boron named here after dABY. In this work, two different types of ABY clinkers (standard and doped) have been prepared and characterized to understand their different hydration mechanisms at the same water-to-cement (w/c) ratio. The clinkers have been prepared using CaF2 and ZnO as mineralizers, and borax as dopant agent to stabilize alpha forms of belite (’H-C2S). Afterwards, 14 wt% of anhydrite (as soluble sulphate source) was added to prepare the corresponding cements. Finally, the hydration study was performed at w/c ratio of 0.5. Here, an in-situ hydration study using synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction (SXRPD) for the first 14 hours of hydration is reported. Moreover, these results will be combined with the ex-situ laboratory X-ray powder diffraction study (LXRPD) at 1 day of hydration and calorimetric results. Rietveld quantitative phase analysis has been used to establish the phase evolution across the time.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. MINECO ( BIA2017-82391-R), co-funded by FEDER, and I3 [IEDI-2016-0079]

Water-to-cement ratio influence on low-carbon cements performances

Portland Cement (PC) is the most important active ingredient in most of the construction concrete. However, the PC production is associated with a high carbon dioxide release (around 1 ton of CO2 per ton of PC). One approach to reduce CO2 emissions consists on the reformulation of the clinker with less calcite demanding phases, such as, belite rich clinkers. The drawback of this kind of clinkers is the low reactivity of belite (beta-belite). In order to compensate this problem, belite rich clinkers can be prepared with ye’elimite and ferrite or with alite [known as belite-ye’elimite-ferrite (BYF) and belite-alite-ye’elimite (BAY), respectively]. In addition, it can be improved by using a high reactive belite polymorph, such as alpha-belite. In this work, the hydration and mechanical behaviour of BYF and BAY cements (with beta and/or alpha-belite) with different water-to-cement ratios have been studied. The clinkers were produced using natural raw materials, and were mixed with anhydrite (CaSO4) to prepare the corresponding cements. At early ages, the main hydration products of these cements were ettringite, calcium monosulfoaluminate and amorphous aluminium hydroxide. At later ages, stratlingite, katoite and amorphous C-S-H were found. The compressive strength values of the corresponding mortars were correlated with the mineralogy evolution of the pastes (mainly obtained by XRD and TGA).Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. I3-Ramón y Cajal Universidad de Malag

Synchrotron x-ray pair distribution function: A tool to characterize cement gels

Cement matrices contain large amounts of crystalline phases jointly with amorphous and/or nanocrystalline phases. Consequently, their analyses are very challenging. Synchrotron powder diffraction in combination with the pair distribution function (PDF) methodology is very useful to characterize such complex cement pastes. This work is focused on the study of the short and medium range atomic arrangement(s) in the different nanocrystalline gels which are present in the cement pastes through total scattering Pair Distribution Function quantitative phase analyses.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Acknowledgments: We thank CELLS-ALBA (Barcelona, Spain) for providing synchrotron beam time and the financial support by BIA2014-57658-C2-1-R and BIA2014-57658-C2-2-R, which is co-funded by FEDER. We also thank Dr. Monica Dapiaggi for her contribution with the PDF study of Ca(OH)2 monolayer

Rietveld Quantitative Phase Analysis of Oil Well Cement: in Situ Hydration Study at 150 Bars and 150 °C

Oil and gas well cements are multimineral materials that hydrate under high pressure and temperature. Their overall reactivity at early ages is studied by a number of techniques including through the use of the consistometer. However, for a proper understanding of the performance of these cements in the field, the reactivity of every component, in real‐world conditions, must be analysed. To date, in situ high energy synchrotron powder diffraction studies of hydrating oil well cement pastes have been carried out, but the quality of the data was not appropriated for Rietveld quantitative phase analyses. Therefore, the phase reactivities were followed by the inspection of the evolution of non‐overlapped diffraction peaks. Very recently, we have developed a new cell specially designed to rotate under high pressure and temperature. Here, this spinning capillary cell is used for in situ studies of the hydration of a commercial oil well cement paste at 150 bars and 150 °C. The powder diffraction data were analysed by the Rietveld method to quantitatively determine the reactivities of each component phase. The reaction degree of alite was 90% after 7 hours, and that of belite was 42% at 14 hours. These analyses are accurate, as the in situ measured crystalline portlandite content at the end of the experiment, 12.9 wt%, compares relatively well with the value determined ex situ by thermal analysis, i.e., 14.0 wt%. The crystalline calcium silicates forming at 150 bars and 150 °C are also discussed.This research was funded by Spanish MINECO, grant number BIA2017‐82391‐R which is co‐funded by FEDER. We thank Marc Malfois for his help during the experiment performed at NCD‐SWEET beamline at ALBA synchrotron. We also thank Marcus Paul (Dyckerhoff GmbH) for providing the OWC sample with its characterization and helpful discussions