Rent-seeking measurement in coal mining by means of labour unrest: an application of the distance function

We propose a method based on the distance function to empirically estimate the social cost arising from rent seeking behaviour in declining industries. Due to import competition, the factors of a particular industry undergo losses in real income, and have incentives to seek protection. In the case of declining industries, workers play a central role and the losses in output due to strikes are used to quantify the social cost of rent seeking. In our model, strikes are considered as a “bad” input into the production process. We apply our approach to the case of Spanish coal mining. We have estimated a system of equations formed by the input distance function and cost share equations using annual data over the period 1974-1997. This procedure has allowed us to calculate the cost that strikes have imposed on the sectorProduction theory; rent seeking; input distance function; shadow prices; coal sector

MEASURING POVERTY IN AN ULTRAPERIPHERAL REGION - THE CASE OF THE CANARY ISLANDS

The Canary Islands (one of Spain's 17 autonomous communities) is considered in the EC Treaty "ultra-peripheral region" which means: i) differences in the development processes and integration that justify certain specific policies (six out of the seven regions involved are among the poorest in the EU). This is related with remoteness, insularity, small size, difficult topography and climate, and the dependence on a small number of products; ii) the remoteness from the mainland countries and climatic conditions (tropical or subtropical) and, iii) the role of EU frontier and the geographical structure characterized by size and distance. With data of the Survey of Social Conditions (2001) we study the income inequality of individuals in The Canary Islands. Individuals are divided into various subgroups along several dimensions, such as island of residence, age, employment status etc. The difference in inequality between and within the various subgroups is studied using absolute-relative poverty line. We estimate poverty using a subjective approach too, where the level of the poverty line is derived using the opinion of the individual, rich or poor, on poverty. The subjective poverty line used is the Leyden Poverty Line based on subjective questions regarding income and economic welfare.

Experimental validation of a SAR-Based RFID localization technique exploiting an automated handling system

The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) approach has attracted a considerable interest in the context of phase-based techniques for the localization of UHF-RFID passive tags. In this letter, the results of an extensive experimental activity are presented, when the reader antenna is moved in front of a set of static passive UHF-RFID tags by means of a planar handling system. Measured performance is evaluated with respect to several system parameters: tag number and typology, tag reciprocal distance and orientation, trajectory and speed of the moving reader antenna. It is shown that the SAR processing can guarantee an accurate two-dimensional localization of multiple tags, with a localization error comparable to the size of typical commercial tags, by using a single reader antenna and without the need for any reference tag

Effect of the axial jet on the optimal response in Batchelor vortex

En este póster se estudia la respuesta óptima del torbellino de Batchelor para distintos números de onda. Se demuestra que incluso teniendo la velocidad axial, un torbellino es capaz de tener grandes amplificaciones de energía.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Wingtip vortex in a NACA0012 airfoil and its active control

Contribución mediante sesión pósterWe conduct experiments in a towing-tank to analyse the flow patterns of wingtip vortices in a NACA 0012 airfoil. In this experimental research, we provide PIV measurements and flow visualisations. Without active control, several parameters are given experimentally as function of the Reynolds number, so we compare these data with the theoretical models of Batchelor, and Moore and Saffman together with DNS. Secondly, we analyse the effect of a continuous injection in the spanwise direction. The continuous jet has a strong influence on the wing-tip vortex formation. We explore this effect at low chord based Reynolds number ranging from 7000 up to 20000. We change the aspect ratio of the injection, R, defined as the ratio of the velocities between the jet (Uj) and free-stream (U). For R=1, we find that the jet strongly affects the wingtip vortex formation with a sudden decrement of the axial vorticity and the azimuthal velocity. This technique is a challenge and a promising tool to reduce the intensity of the vortex core.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Innovative concepts of Integrated Solar Combined Cycles (ISCC) using a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC)

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is one of the most promising ways for electricity production of the upcoming years with high penetration of intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar-photovoltaics. This is due to the fact that CSP when coupled to Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system enables large, inexpensive and flexible energy dispatch, which contributes to energy grid stabilization. At the same time, TES allows for steady operation of the power block by reducing undesirable fluctuations due to weather transient conditions and increasing the number of hours that the power block operates at design conditions 1. Despite the abovementioned advantages of CSP systems, a step further is needed for increase overall system efficiency and decrease CO2 emissions. Several studies have been performed considering high efficiency plant layouts such as combined cycle. For the latter, several works have been investigated about solar integration of combined cycle using parabolic trough and solar tower technologies. In both cases, solar energy was used for water/steam preheating and evaporation steps of the Rankine cycle in combination with the exhaust gases of fossil-fuel gas turbine engine. However, no research has been performed considering ISCC coupled with a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC). In this research, two innovative layouts of ISCC power plants will be analyzed. First considers a ISCC based on solar tower and second a ISCC with a parabolic trough collector field coupled to the Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG). The objective of this research is analyze the energy behavior of both layouts, selecting the best ISCC scheme to be coupled with a SOFC. The simulations will be performed using Thermoflex software. In both layouts, a SOFC is introduced before the combustion chamber at the topping cycle, and a Rankine cycle (bottoming cycle) with 2 pressures is considered.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Magnetic Reconnection, Cosmic Ray Acceleration, and Gamma-Ray emission around Black Holes and Relativistic Jets

Particle acceleration by magnetic reconnection is now recognized as an important process in magnetically dominated regions of galactic and extragalactic black hole sources. This process helps to solve current puzzles specially related to the origin of the very high energy flare emission in these sources. In this review, we discuss this acceleration mechanism and show recent analytical studies and multidimensional numerical SRMHD and GRMHD (special and general relativistic magnetohydrodynamical) simulations with the injection of test particles, which help us to understand this process both in relativistic jets and coronal regions of these sources. The very high energy and neutrino emission resulting from the accelerated particles by reconnection is also discussed.Comment: Invited Review at the International Conference on Black Holes as Cosmic Batteries: UHECRs and Multimessenger Astronomy - BHCB2018, 12-15 September, 2018, Foz du Iguazu, Brasil, in press in Procs. of Science. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1608.0317

MEASURING POVERTY IN AN ULTRAPERIPHERAL REGION - THE CASE OF THE CANARY ISLANDS

The Canary Islands (one of Spain's 17 autonomous communities) is considered in the EC Treaty "ultra-peripheral region" which means: i) differences in the development processes and integration that justify certain specific policies (six out of the seven regions involved are among the poorest in the EU). This is related with remoteness, insularity, small size, difficult topography and climate, and the dependence on a small number of products; ii) the remoteness from the mainland countries and climatic conditions (tropical or subtropical) and, iii) the role of EU frontier and the geographical structure characterized by size and distance. With data of the Survey of Social Conditions (2001) we study the income inequality of individuals in The Canary Islands. Individuals are divided into various subgroups along several dimensions, such as island of residence, age, employment status etc. The difference in inequality between and within the various subgroups is studied using absolute-relative poverty line. We estimate poverty using a subjective approach too, where the level of the poverty line is derived using the opinion of the individual, rich or poor, on poverty. The subjective poverty line used is the Leyden Poverty Line based on subjective questions regarding income and economic welfare