Reusable Knowledge-based Components for Building Software Applications: A Knowledge Modelling Approach

In computer science, different types of reusable components for building software applications were proposed as a direct consequence of the emergence of new software programming paradigms. The success of these components for building applications depends on factors such as the flexibility in their combination or the facility for their selection in centralised or distributed environments such as internet. In this article, we propose a general type of reusable component, called primitive of representation, inspired by a knowledge-based approach that can promote reusability. The proposal can be understood as a generalisation of existing partial solutions that is applicable to both software and knowledge engineering for the development of hybrid applications that integrate conventional and knowledge based techniques. The article presents the structure and use of the component and describes our recent experience in the development of real-world applications based on this approach

Commuting Time and Labour Supply: A Causal Effect?

We analyze the causal effect of the length of the worker’s commute on worker's productivity, by examining whether commuting time has any effect on worker's labour market supply. Using the Spanish Time Use Survey 2002-03, our GMM/IV estimation yields a positive causal impact of commuting time on the time devoted to the labour market, with one hour of commuting increasing the time devoted to the labour market by 35 minutes in a working day. Our results shed light on the relationship between commuting and workers behaviour, since daily labour supply should be considered in theoretical models to provide a comprehensive view of commuter behaviour.commuting, labour supply, productivity, causality, Time Use Survey

El impulso de la economía desde la participación ciudadana

El desarrollo se puede entender como un proceso en donde los ciudadanos se integran para impulsar sus oportunidades como personas, como emprendedores, como grupos sociales, con la capacidad de atraer recursos privados y públicos que favoreciendo el bien común, desarrollen la actividad económica de su entorno. Los agentes tradicionales del desarrollo , gobierno, actividades privadas empresariales, organizaciones sociales, familias y un apoyo de los medios de comunicación, son instrumentos para este nuevo modelo de plataforma de desarrollo local, que con las capacidades existentes, de capital humano y financieros, impulse proyectos que mejoren la calidad de vida, incremente la eficiencia económica y dé impulso a los recursos de los municipios, lo que nos facilitará un mayor desarrollo de las personas, además de un aprendizaje con un proceso más educativo. Un cambio cultural en la actividad pública y privada que busque más un rol activo de los foros de reindustrialización para el desarrollo local. La participación es, en estos casos, un factor de modernización y es parte de ese cambio, además de constituir un elemento esencial para la eficacia en la descentralización, en donde hay que involucrar las competencias de gestión con los cambios institucionales para una nueva visión del Estado. Una democracia local de todos exige una planificación comprometida, y aceptar que la triada poder/dinero/éxito no domine la sociedad local, porque el desarrollo lo entiendo como un equilibrio entre la igualdad, la dignidad y el ejercicio del poder compartido. La Unión Europea, en su nueva en su nueva estrategia H2020, considera que las instituciones de educación superior y de investigación han de jugar un papel clave en las iniciativas de crecimiento inteligente (smart growth) y deben convertirse en agentes activos participativos de las políticas locales (European Commission, 2014). Estamos en el momento de abrir debates y de profundizar en cómo los CIU (Centros de Investigación Universitaria) pueden incorporarse a estas iniciativas de desarrollo local. La justificación del carácter innovador de la estrategia para un desarrollo local está estrechamente relacionada con la pregunta « ¿Qué se quiere cambiar en el municipio, en el barrio, o en la región?» El poder de transformar de una sola vez las condiciones de vida de todos ha de concentrarse en las acciones que poseen efecto multiplicador o bola de nieve en el desarrollo local, porque no basta con hablar de instituciones públicas emprendedoras, hay que comprometerse y construir esa sociedad del futuro, para lo cual debemos crear estrategias de crecimiento a largo plazo, y aceptar que los fracasos se producen, y son parte del proceso. Para ello hay que mejorar los gobiernos de las instituciones, potenciarlos, y darles la eficacia necesari

El reto del cambio climático para las administraciones públicas

El impacto del cambio climático es uno de los problemas que la ciudadanía tiene que asumir como uno de los grandes objetivos irrenunciables de todos los pueblos. El deterioro del capital natural a lo largo del siglo XXI lo ha puesto de relieve. Es un debate del presente para el porvenir de la humanidad. Estamos ante uno de los principales retos de la sociedad actual para la sociedad futura, con la responsabilidad generacional que supone. Y ese es el reto de este trabajo. Y para ello tenemos que pedir a las Administraciones Públicas respuestas, pero nos olvidamos con frecuencia que también debemos ejercitar con más contundencia, exigir responsabilidades. Las AAPP son responsables de los efectos de las decisiones que toman, y también de las que no toman, porque la omisión de respuesta puede ser tan dañina para el futuro como la decisión equivocada. El cambio climático es un problema prioritario de la humanidad, pero en esa discusión de situarlo en un orden ocurren cosas sorprendentes, donde no es la economía la que prima, sino la ideología y la presión de los grupos de interés. Hay que tomar la iniciativa como una nueva esperanza, que no es ni ingenua ni confiada, porque tenemos la amarga experiencia de haber crecido en una sociedad inmersa en la crisis, y esto os da la fortaleza de no volver a fiarnos de las promesas, porque ahora aspiramos a lo mejor y debemos consolidar vuestro futuro, sin confundirnos donde surgen los apoyos y donde las amenaza

Unemployment and Time Use: Evidence from the Spanish Time Use Survey

In this paper we use a time use approach to analyze the average effect of aggregate unemployment on the daily life of individuals, focusing on the relationship between reduced market work and additional household production of unemployed individuals. Using the Spanish Time Use Survey 2002-2003, we find that, in general, the unemployed devote most of the reduced market time to additional leisure, and only a small proportion of time is devoted to household production activities. However, we find that the relationship between market work and household production with unemployment of individuals depends on regional unemployment rates, since in areas with high unemployment rates reduced market work is made up by additional time spent in household production. Our paper sheds light on the relationship between individuals’ time allocation decisions and aggregate macroeconomic variables.Unemployment, Time Use, Aggregate Unemployment, Enjoyment Data

The Motherhood Wage Penalty in a Mediterranean Country: The Case of Spain

We present evidence for the motherhood wage penalty in Spain as a representative Southern European Mediterranean country. We use the European Community Household Panel (ECHP, 1994-2001) to estimate, from both pool and fixed-effects methods, a wage equation in terms of observed variables and other non-observed individual characteristics. The empirical results confirm that there is clear evidence of a wage penalty for Spanish working women with children. Specifically, the fact that there is a birth in the family during the current year means that the woman loses 9% of her wage. We also find that having one child living in the household means a significant loss in wages of 6%, having two children, almost 14%, and having three or more, more than 15%.motherhood wage penalty, fixed-effects estimation, Spain

Partial extinction and reinstatement

Fear extinction is not permanent but more vulnerable than the original fear memory, as relapse phenomena have traditionally shown. Partial extinction has been proposed as a strategy that may serve to mitigate relapses. Partial extinction differs from the standard procedure as it includes the occasional presentation of CS-US trials at the beginning of the extinction training. The present experiment, using an aversive differential conditioning procedure, evaluates whether partial extinction can reduce reinstatement, a specific form of relapse. The results showed that partial extinction did not mitigate reinstatement but proved effective to diminish the magnitude of the US expectation after a first reacquisition trial in a final test phase. The results reported are more consistent with theories that conceives extinction as the acquisition of new inhibitory learning rather than the erasure of the original conditioning.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

New efficient constructive heuristics for the hybrid flowshop to minimise makespan: A computational evaluation of heuristics

This paper addresses the hybrid flow shop scheduling problem to minimise makespan, a well-known scheduling problem for which many constructive heuristics have been proposed in the literature. Nevertheless, the state of the art is not clear due to partial or non homogeneous comparisons. In this paper, we review these heuristics and perform a comprehensive computational evaluation to determine which are the most efficient ones. A total of 20 heuristics are implemented and compared in this study. In addition, we propose four new heuristics for the problem. Firstly, two memory-based constructive heuristics are proposed, where a sequence is constructed by inserting jobs one by one in a partial sequence. The most promising insertions tested are kept in a list. However, in contrast to the Tabu search, these insertions are repeated in future iterations instead of forbidding them. Secondly, we propose two constructive heuristics based on Johnson’s algorithm for the permutation flowshop scheduling problem. The computational results carried out on an extensive testbed show that the new proposals outperform the existing heuristics.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación DPI2016-80750-

Influence of sustainability practices and green image on the re-visit intention of small and medium-size towns

This study set a model to predict the e ect of corporate social responsibility and green image on visit intention in small and medium-size towns (SMST). At present, there is a keen social awareness towards environmental problems, and cities are required to reduce their ecological footprint and make more sustainable use of natural resources. Increasingly, tourists are considering “green options” in their decision making. The questionnaire responses, obtained from a sample of 221 tourism in Malaga town (Spain) were analyzed using a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to test the research hypothesis related to the positive influence of sustainability practices, green image, trust with the intention of revisiting related to the loyalty of the destination. This study shows that there is a positive relationship between sustainability practices and re-visit intention and between the green image and re-visit intention, both directly and indirectly, through trust. Also, the fact that this relationship is more significant if it is part of the green image than if it is part of sustainability actions. To practice, this study provides managerial implications to help executives adopt green actions, thanks to their positive e ects on tourist loyalty and the di erent way of manifesting this loyalty.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio