De la mano de Keynes: "A tract on monetary reform"

In A Tract on Monetary Reform John Maynard Keynes proposed to use the monetary base and the reserve-deposit ratio as main instruments of a monetary policy considered until then as no required. Beyond the concept of cycle credit developed in this book we find the first steps leading towards the notion of liquidity preference enlarged in A Treatise on Money and fully defined in the general theory such us we are presently using it. At the same time A Tract foresees the end of a process through which money and foreign reserves have became in many countries practically fiduciary loosing any relation with gold. Consequently, this work tries to call the attention towards A Tract which display to the reader some of the first contributions of Keynes to the progress of economics.exchange rates, monetary speculation, monetary policy, keynes, cambridge monetary theory

On the role of pre and post-processing in environmental data mining

The quality of discovered knowledge is highly depending on data quality. Unfortunately real data use to contain noise, uncertainty, errors, redundancies or even irrelevant information. The more complex is the reality to be analyzed, the higher the risk of getting low quality data. Knowledge Discovery from Databases (KDD) offers a global framework to prepare data in the right form to perform correct analyses. On the other hand, the quality of decisions taken upon KDD results, depend not only on the quality of the results themselves, but on the capacity of the system to communicate those results in an understandable form. Environmental systems are particularly complex and environmental users particularly require clarity in their results. In this paper some details about how this can be achieved are provided. The role of the pre and post processing in the whole process of Knowledge Discovery in environmental systems is discussed

Learning complex games through self play - Pokémon battles

En aquest projecte s'analitza la viabilitat d'utilitzar aprenentatge per reforç i "self- play" per entrenar un agent a jugar Batalles Pokémon. El joc és analitzat en detall i les seves propietats úniques són revelades. El projecte analitza diverses plataformes d'aprenentatge per reforç.In this project we analyze the feasibility of using reinforcement learning and self-play to train an agent playing Pokémon Battles. The game is analyzed in depth and it's unique properties and challenges revealed. The project surveys different reinforcement learning libraries

Captura y análisis de datos para inferir el estado de una ciudad

In this work I will make a study with the help of a previously designed and performed application that is in charge of obtaining and analysing tweets delimited in a certain geolocation, in this case the location will be the city of Barcelona. To achieve this I will use data mining, which allows to obtain information from the social network Twitter. Then I will do an analysis that will provide an approximate idea of the mood of the city

Electromagnetic interference prediction in an in-house power-line

Abstract —In this paper a new methodology for the prediction of the conducted-emission propagation in an in-house power- line network is presented. This methodology is based on the modal S -parameter characterization of the devices present in the power-line network, as well as on the modal modeling of branch- line connections. The modal S parameters relate common- and di ff erential-mode waves, and give more information regarding interference propagation. With this methodology, common- and di ff erential-mode attenuations, and modal conversion between common and di ff erential modes can be accurately predicted, which is of great interest for power-line communication devel- opment and conducted-emission mitigation. This methodology is tested by accurately predicting the interference levels up to 100 MHz of an in-house power-line network composed by thermal- magnetic circuit breakers, residual-current circuit breakers, single-phase wires and light bulbs.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

Higher education instructors' intention to use educational video games: an fsQCA approach

Educational video games (EVGs) offer instructors a myriad of opportunities to motivate and engage students in the learning process. Nevertheless, instructors can be influenced by barriers that prevent them from using EVGs in their courses (e.g. lack of expertise with EVGs). Instructors can also be influenced by different drivers that might increase their intention to use EVGs. This research analyses the effects of four variables (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attention, and relevance) as factors contributing or preventing the use of EVGs by instructors serving in Higher Education institutions. Data of 170 instructors, who were surveyed through an online questionnaire using a snowball sampling, is analysed via fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). Main results suggest that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of EVGs are sufficient conditions for Higher Education instructors to show behavioural intention to use EVGs in their courses. Results also suggest that both instructors' perceived capacity of EVGs to attract students' attention and perceived relevance of EVGs affect instructors' behavioural intention. Managerial implications for Instructor Training Programmes (ITP), limitations of the study, and future research lines are also addressed

Shaping the niche of Taxus baccata, a modelling exercise using biologically meaningful information

Widely used Correlative Species Distribution Models (C-SDMs) usually make some simplifying assumptions, often failing to consider important ecological and evolutionary attributes potentially hindering the characterization of the species niche. Here, we use the tree species Taxus baccata to explore the effects of including biologically meaningful information on processes and features beyond purely abiotic factors that are expected to determine its niche and range size. To elucidate how these often neglected factors affect C-SDM results, we modelled the current niche in the species' southernmost European range using Maxent. More specifically, we included available basic information regarding biotic interactions, local adaptation and non-equilibrium demographic dynamics. The potential effect of biological interactions was introduced using habitat suitability of co-occurring tree species as predictive variables. Local adaptation was included modelling two distinct regional adaptive groups. We also used individual growth estimated under field conditions as a surrogate for demographic behaviour to control for the quality of model predictions and empirically assess the effect of biotic interactions. Including information on co-occurring tree species improved model performance and decreased the projected range size in most cases. These effects were not a result of biological interactions per se, but instead a consequence of co-occurring species accounting for fine-scale environmental variability not described by any of the climatic variables used. Considering local adaptation allowed detecting the role of different climatic variables in shaping the niche of each adaptive group that could potentially also act as selective pressures in the near future. Finally, and more importantly, we found that including populations that are probably currently found under non-equilibrium suboptimal conditions might largely overestimate the species niche

El papel del psicólogo deportivo en el asesoramiento académico-vocacional del deportista de élite

Los perfiles profesionales de los deportistas de elite a lo largo de su ciclo competitivo son esenciales para entender la planificación de su vida post-competitiva. Por ello, el estudio de dichos perfiles, es un tema de relevancia tanto teórica como práctica en la psicología del deporte. Basándonos en el modelo holístico de desarrollo de la carrera deportiva de Wylleman y Lavallee (2003), en este estudio se presentan la información obtenida a partir de las entrevistas semiestructuradas a 33 deportistas olímpicos espanoles referentes a su trayectoria deportiva y su desarrollo personal y profesional. El análisis del contenido de las entrevistas revela que tanto el grado de profesionalización del deporte como el ivel competitivo de los deportistas son claves en el planteamiento y el desarrollo vocacional y en la trayectoria profesional postpractica deportiva de alto nivel. Se discuten las implicaciones que los resultados tienen sobre el diseno y aplicación de programas de asesoramiento para la vida post-competitiva de deportistas de elite.Professional profiles of elite athletes throughout their competitive sporting career are essential to understand athletes' post-competitive life planning. Therefore, the study of such profiles is relevant in Sport Psychology from both a theoretical and an applied point of view. Based on Wylleman and Lavallee's (2003) holistic career development model, the present study analysed the answers of 33 Spanish Olympic athletes obtained using semi-structured interviews. The athletes were asked about both their sporting career and their personal and professional development. A content analysis of the interviews showed that both the degree of professionalism of the sport practised and the level of competition of the athletes was fundamental for the planning and development of a vocational activity, and had a direct impact on their postcompetitive life trajectory. The implications of the findings for both the design and application of counselling programmes for elite athletes' post-competitive life are discussed