Spatial spillovers in public expenditure on a municipal level in Spain

A key function of local governments is to provide a wide array of public services. The supply of these services has been found to create spatial spillovers among neighbouring municipalities. Although it is generally agreed that spillovers are present in models that explain government expenditures, their type—whether endogenous, exogenous or residual—and sign—whether positive or negative—remain ambiguous. In most cases, a subjective process is used to select the type of spatial regression model used in analysis, with mixed results. Per capita expenditures of ten subprogrammes (Security, Housing, Welfare, Environment, Social services, Employment promotion, Health, Education, Culture and Sport) are analysed for all Spanish municipalities with more than 5000 inhabitants in the 2010–2012 period. A Spatial Seemingly Unrelated Regression methodology in a panel framework is used to incorporate correlation between different subprogrammes and spatial dependence. Our results show that the three types of spatial effects are present. Furthermore, substantive dependence is positive in most cases, while negative residual dependence is observed in some.We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of three anonymous reviewers in helping us improve the quality of this paper. Prof. Fernando A. López , grateful for the financial support offered by the projects from Programa de Ayudas a Grupos de Excelencia de la Región de Murcia, Fundación Seneca (#19884-GERM-15) and Ministry of Economy and Competiveness (ECO2015-651758)

Propuesta de un modelo simplificado de detección del riesgo empresarial: estudio empírico aplicado al sector de construcción (PYMES)

Ante la importancia de la actividad constructora en la economía española, tanto por su notable contribución a la formación del Producto Nacional Bruto como al elevado porcentaje de población activa que participa en su proceso productivo, y dada la escasa investigación del sector en España, el objetivo de esta investigación es doble: por una parte, identificar las variables o ratios más significativos de solvencia empresarial en las empresas constructoras, mediante el análisis de una muestra de pequeñas y medianas empresas del sector en España, unas sin problemas de continuidad en su actividad y otras en situación de quiebra o suspensión de pagos. En segundo lugar, una vez detectadas las variables de solvencia construimos, utilizando el análisis gráfico y el análisis multivariante, un sistema de alerta temprana que permita detectar una situación de riesgo empresarial.Before the importance of the construction activity in the Spanish economy, so much for his notable contribution to the training of the National Gross Product as to the high percentage of active population who takes part in his productive process, and given the scanty research of the sector in Spain, the aim of this research is double: on one hand, to identify the variables or the most significant ratios of managerial solvency in the building firms, by means of the analysis of a sample of small and medium companies of the sector in Spain, some without problems of continuity in his activity and others in situation of bankruptcy or suspension of payments. Secondly, once detected the variables of solvency we construct, using the graphical analysis and the analysis multivariant, a system of early alert that allows to detect a situation of managerial risk

A Cholinergic Synaptically Triggered Event Participates in the Generation of Persistent Activity Necessary for Eye Fixation

An exciting topic regarding integrative properties of the nervous system is how transient motor commands or brief sensory stimuli are able to evoke persistent neuronal changes, mainly as a sustained, tonic action potential firing. A persisting firing seems to be necessary for postural maintenance after a previous movement. We have studied in vitro and in vivo the generation of the persistent neuronal activity responsible for eye fixation after spontaneous eye movements. Rat sagittal brainstem slices were used for the intracellular recording of prepositus hypoglossi (PH) neurons and their synaptic activation from nearby paramedian pontine reticular formation (PPRF) neurons. Single electrical pulses applied to the PPRF showed a monosynaptic glutamatergic projection on PH neurons, acting on AMPA-kainate receptors. Train stimulation of the PPRF area evoked a sustained depolarization of PH neurons exceeding (by hundreds of milliseconds) stimulus duration. Both duration and amplitude of this sustained depolarization were linearly related to train frequency. The train-evoked sustained depolarization was the result of interaction between glutamatergic excitatory burst neurons and cholinergic mesopontine reticular fibers projecting onto PH neurons, because it was prevented by slice superfusion with cholinergic antagonists and mimicked by cholinergic agonists. As expected, microinjections of cholinergic antagonists in the PH nucleus of alert behaving cats evoked a gaze-holding deficit consisting of a re-centering drift of the eye after each saccade. These findings suggest that a slow, cholinergic, synaptically triggered event participates in the generation of persistent activity characteristic of PH neurons carrying eye position signals.Unión Europea Grants BI04-CT98-0546España, Ministerio de Ciencia PB98-0011, BFI2000-00936, BFI2000-1190, y BFI2002-0137

Preliminary study of the impact of Guadalhorce river mouth channeling (Málaga, Spain) on groundwater and related wetlands

Se trata de resultados preliminares que se están obteniendo en el Bajo Guadalhorce, en el marco de la tesis doctoral del primer firmanteIn riverine areas, many anthropogenic actions (modification of natural water courses, burying or channeling works, etc.) have been commonly applied worldwide to prevent floods in rivers, having negative environmental impacts on their dependent ecosystems. In the Guadalhorce River mouth (Málaga, Southern Spain), channeling works -including the splitting of the main channel into two branches before arriving to the sea- were conducted to reduce the flood risk in the surrounding urbanized areas near to the Mediterranean coast. In the framework of the monitoring program of the Guadalhorce Delta Wetlands, located between the branches of the ending river stretch, measurements of electrical conductivity in wetland water and groundwater table were performed, as well as the sampling of both water types. The results show a progressive increasing in the mineralization of wetland water, reaching values 50 times higher than the original ones. In the underlying aquifers, the mineralization of groundwater is generally less variable and lower than the recorded in the eighties and nineties, when a salt intrusion episode occurred. Before the river channel modification, the water flow from the aquifer to the wetlands and toward the river in its mouth was deduced. Today, the wetlands recharge locally the Quaternary aquifer and, consequently, induce the groundwater flow towards the both branches of the river and Mediterranean Sea. The variation of the morphodynamics in the Guadalhorce River mouth and the associated changes in land use have caused significant impacts on ground and surface water and their dependent wetlands.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Applying the random variable transformation method to solve a class of random linear differential equation with discrete delay

We randomize the following class of linear differential equations with delay, x 0 τ (t) = axτ(t) + bxτ(t − τ), t > 0, and initial condition, xτ(t) = g(t), −τ ≤ t ≤ 0, by assuming that coefficients a and b are random variables and the initial condition g(t) is a stochastic process. We consider two cases, depending on the functional form of the stochastic process g(t), and then we solve, from a probabilistic point of view, both random initial value problems by determining explicit expressions to the first probability density function, f(x, t; τ), of the corresponding solution stochastic processes. Afterwards, we establish sufficient conditions on the involved random input parameters in order to guarantee that f(x, t; τ) converges, as τ → 0 +, to the first probability density function, say f(x, t), of the corresponding associated random linear problem without delay (τ = 0). The paper concludes with several numerical experiments illustrating our theoretical findings.Ministerio de Economía y CompetitividadJunta de Andalucí

Influencia del ruido de fondo en ambientes universitarios sobre los procesos cognitivos básicos

En este trabajo, se presenta un estudio cuyo objetivo fue determinar la influencia del ruido de fondo producido dentro de instalaciones universitarias sobre procesos cognitivos básicos tales como: la percepción y la atención. Se realizaron grabaciones de ruido de fondo en aulas de clase, bibliotecas, etc., para luego exponer a estudiantes universitarios a estos ambientes sonoros. Se registró la actividad cerebral a través de electroencefalografías (EEG), estudiando los cambios en las bandas de frecuencia relacionadas con procesos atencionales (beta 13-30 Hz. y theta 4-7 Hz.). Los resultados preliminares aquí presentados, muestran un decremento en estas bandas al exponer a los voluntarios a ruido de fondo. Así mismo, se aplicó una prueba psicométrica para determinar cambios en la atención. Los resultados obtenidos en esta prueba, no permiten relacionar directamente la influencia del ruido de fondo sobre los procesos atencionales

Aircrafts' taxi noise emission

During planning stages, when noisy activity has not been implanted or while evaluating operation changes, it is necessary to find an environmental noise mapping prediction tool for future scenarios. When an activity is already implanted, it is possible to measure noise emissions, but this is expensive, so prediction tools can also be useful. Because of these reasons, for the last 10 years, as a response to the increasing concern for noise pollution in developed countries, several simulation models have appeared to predict noise levels outdoors. Many of those models are customized for specific noise sources

Sociotipo y políticas asistenciales: Un nuevo instrumento de evaluación de las intervenciones biomédicas y de sociabilización

La presente Tesis pretende aproximarse a las políticas públicas desde un nuevo ángulo: el de la sociabilidad. Está basada en un concepto novedoso, el “sociotipo”, que ha sido acuñado en la investigación del grupo de Bioinformación del Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud (IACS) al que esta autora pertenece. Como vamos a argumentar a lo largo de esta Tesis, un análisis en profundidad y una reorientación de las políticas asistenciales resultan apremiantes en la época actual. Desde el estudio teórico y empírico del sociotipo pretendemos contribuir a este debate de interés público. En concreto, se van a abordar las prácticas asistenciales de dos ámbitos: el propiamente socio-asistencial y el de la sanidad. Como veremos, el sociotipo proporciona una nueva perspectiva desde la que se hacen más evidentes determinadas carencias del conjunto de nuestro sistema asistencial.<br /

Alpine tectonic framework of south-western Duero basin

The tectonic activity in the south-western area of the Spanish Northern Meseta (Ciudad Rodrigo and Duero basins) during most of the Tertiary was determined by u transpressive regime that reactivated Hercynian to Late-Hercynian faults. The record of the Alpine Orogeny is complex because the sedimentary record indicates a compresive regime in the sour e areas coeval with the extensionall to transpresive regime indicated by normal or strike-slip faults. This duality is due 10 the geotectonics position of this area between two compressive areas, the Cantabrian Range and the Central System, and the extensional Atlantic margin