Microfinance institutions and efficiency

Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) are special financial institutions. They have both a social nature and a for-profit nature. Their performance has been traditionally measured by means of financial ratios. The paper uses a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to efficiency to show that ratio analysis does not capture DEA efficiency.Special care is taken in the specification of the DEA model. We take a methodological approach based on multivariate analysis. We rank DEA efficiencies under different models and specifications; e.g., particular sets of inputs and outputs. This serves to explore what is behind a DEA score. The results show that we can explain MFIs efficiency by means of four principal components of efficiency, and this way we are able to understand differences between DEA scores. It is shown that there are country effects on efficiency; and effects that depend on Non-governmental Organization (NGO)/non-NGO status of the MFI

Segmentation of bone structures in 3D CT images based on continuous max- ow optimization

In this paper an algorithm to carry out the automatic segmentation of bone structures in 3D CT images has been implemented. Automatic segmentation of bone structures is of special interest for radiologists and surgeons to analyze bone diseases or to plan some surgical interventions. This task is very complicated as bones usually present intensities overlapping with those of surrounding tissues. This overlapping is mainly due to the composition of bones and to the presence of some diseases such as Osteoarthritis, Osteoporosis, etc. Moreover, segmentation of bone structures is a very time-consuming task due to the 3D essence of the bones. Usually, this segmentation is implemented manually or with algorithms using simple techniques such as thresholding and thus providing bad results. In this paper gray information and 3D statistical information have been combined to be used as input to a continuous max- ow algorithm. Twenty CT images have been tested and di erent coe cients have been computed to assess the performance of our implementation. Dice and Sensitivity values above 0.91 and 0.97 respectively were obtained. A comparison with Level Sets and thresholding techniques has been carried out and our results outperformed them in terms of accuracy.Ministerio de ciencia e innovación TEC2010-21619-C04-02Junta de Andalucía P11-TIC-772

Professional Identity of Social Science Teachers in Training

La identidad determina nuestra forma de ser y de actuar. El objetivo de este trabajo es conocer la percepción de los estudiantes que serán, en un trabajo futuro, los profesores de la enseñanza secundaria, y cómo crean su identidad profesional en su formación inicial. Así, mediante un cuestionario, se recogieron pruebas que nos llevan a observar, entre otras cosas, que, por un lado, el grado de estudio de origen determina mucho el papel de los docentes y sus argumentos, lo que refuerza la opinión disciplinar de esta etapa. Por el otro, están recibiendo formación didáctica que les lleva a conocer más y a formar mejor su identidad profesional. Y, por último, a pesar de los requisitos administrativos, los estudiantes se sienten poco capacitados para enseñar en otro idioma.The identity determines our way of being and acting. The aim of this work is to know the students’ perception who will be teachers in secondary education on their future work, and how they create their professional identity in their initial training. Thus, using a questionnaire, we collected evidence that lead us to observe, among other things, that on the one hand, the study degree of origin determines much the role of teachers and their arguments, reinforcing the view discipline of this stage. On the other, they are receiving didactic training that leads them to learn more and better to form their professional identity. And lastly, that, despite the administrative requirements, students feel few qualified to teach in another language

"Cayas" un nuevo asentamiento celtibérico en Malón (Aragón, España)

En el presente trabajo se presenta el estudio de un pequeño asentamiento rural celtibérico inédito documentado mediante prospección arqueológica en el término municipal de Malón perteneciente a la Comunidad Autónoma de Aragón. La cultura material estudiada y la tipología del asentamiento indican que se trata de una pequeña unidad de producción rural tipo granja vinculada al modelo social de las ciudades-estado celtibéricas, lo que nos lleva a proponer una cronología para este asentamiento entre finales del siglo III a.C. y la primera mitad del siglo II a.C.In the present work we present the study of a small unpublished Celtiberian rural settlement documented by archaeological survey in the municipality of Malón, belonging to the Autonomous Community of Aragon. The material culture studied and the settlement typology indicate that it is a small unit of rural farm production linked to the social model of Celtiberian city-states, which leads us to propose a chronology for this settlement between the end of the third century BC. And the first half of the second century BC

Instalaciones de agua caliente sanitaria y calefacción con uso significativo de energías renovables

En el presente proyecto se va a calcular y diseñar una instalación solar térmica en una vivienda en Madrid para abastecer agua caliente sanitaria y calefacción. Primero se va a estudiar el emplazamiento de la vivienda para poder tener en cuenta las características de la zona climática y poder realizar un mejor estudio de sus necesidades, además de estudiar la vivienda en sí, sus planos, superficies actuales y su ocupación. Después se va a calcular la demanda de agua caliente sanitaria y la carga térmica, es decir, las pérdidas y ganancias del edificio para saber qué necesidades se van a tener que cubrir con la instalación. Se va a fijar la superficie de captación en unos 30 m2. El siguiente paso será calcular las pérdidas que tiene la propia instalación. Es decir, las pérdidas térmicas en los captadores, en los conductos tanto exteriores como interiores y en el tanque de acumulación. Estos cálculos van ligados a los cálculos de la instalación. Para ellos, se va a hacer un balance de energía en los elementos de la instalación y se resolverán unas ecuaciones con el programa MATHCAD con las que se obtendrán las temperaturas del circuito y la fracción solar aportada por la instalación. Se comprobará que existe un calor excedente en los meses de verano, que se disipará a la piscina de la vivienda. A continuación se realizará un estudio de impacto ambiental de la instalación para calcular el ahorro de las emisiones de CO2 a la atmósfera. Después se realizará un estudio económico de la instalación, calculando tanto el coste inicial de la instalación (material), como el ahorro que supone el combustible, y el periodo de amortización. Por último, se concluirá acerca de si es viable y rentable o no la implantación de la instalación en la vivienda a modo de análisis final de los objetivos planteados a lo largo del proyecto. Se recogerán también una serie de posibles mejoras y futuros proyectos. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This project deals with a thermal solar installation design and calculation for a house in Madrid, in order to ensure an adequate central heating and hot water supply. In a first step, the house location will be analyzed, so as to better assess specific climate zone characteristics affecting general requirements; this analyze shall include other elements such as drawings, actual surfaces and occupation. Then, in order to assess energy needs to be covered by the installation, thermal load and hot water requirements will be calculated including building´s energy gains and losses. Collecting area is set up at 30 sq. Meters. The next step is to calculate installation thermal losses including all components, i.e. internal and external ducts, collectors and accumulator as part of the installation calculation itself. This calculation includes an energy balance for all installation elements, solving some equations using MATHCAD and obtaining as a result circuit temperatures and solar fraction. Excess heat in summer months will be dissipated in the swimming pool. An environmental impact analysis shall also be performed, in order to calculate the reduction of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. An installation economic analysis including initial investments (material), labour costs, fuel savings and payback period will follow. All previous analyses, assessments and studies will indicate whether or not the implementation of such installation is profitable, thus fulfilling the Project objectives. Conclusions shall also include potential improvements and future developments.Ingeniería Técnica en Mecánic

El productor de moldes CAP y su presencia en los alfares de Los Villares de Andújar y Tritium Magallum

Los moldes de Los Villares de Andújar (antigua ciudad de Isturgi) son actualmente objeto de una Tesis Doctoral. En este artículo se analizan aquellos moldes que muestran el grafito CAP y que se han recuperado tanto en los alfares isturgitanos como en el complejo alfarero de Tritium Magallum. Abordamos todas las posibilidades que plantea el productor CAP de Isturgi, con el objetivo de esclarecer su origen y, en función de ello, si nos encontraríamos ante un traslado de alfareros, una creación de sucursales, la venta de los moldes en cuanto instrumentos o simplemente si son homónimos

Two Post-tensioned Thin Folded Plates Designed by E. Torroja for San Nicolás Church

The long-span structure of the San Nicolás church was designed in 1959 by the renowned engineer E. Torroja. His innovative solution consists of two Z-shaped folded plates mutually independent spanning 29 m. In this paper the technical advances used by the engineer to carry out its daring structure are explained. A series of ribs provide stiffness to the slabs facing biaxial bending and torsion and support cantilevered roof. The set of post-tensioned tendons contribute to the strength capacity of the slabs as well as avoid the cracking of concrete. Rotation and the horizontal displacement of the plates are released by the twofold articulation of the main frame. The simplified structural design carried out by the engineer is explained and his results are compared with the structural analysis obtained by a virtual finite element model. The aggressive environment caused corrosion in reinforced concrete elements, but not in the post-tensioned concrete plates

How does Household Income Affect Access to Housing?

[EN] Accessing to housing, in addition to being a right, should be part of a market sufficiently accesible and diverse so as not to generate excessive expenses for households, which do not allow other necessities to be met or may jeopardisee the quality of life.This article considers the issue of access to housing by analysing the relationship between the average net income per household and the housing rental cost index, with the aim of quantifying the extent to which housing costs affect household income within the Comunitat Valenciana. It focuses especially on the rental system, regarded as the tenure regime prevailing for the most vulnerable households.A compilation of the available data is undertaken, and with this information, the percentage of the average household income of families that must go to rent payment is calculated, and to what extent this economic effort is excessive. Different income brackets are established to analyse which sectors of the population have trouble accessing a home.The results obtained suggest that a high percentage of households have to spend over 30% of income on paying rent, and it is in households with lower income in which this percentage soares, emphasising the situation of vulnerability.Due to a lack of available data, it was not possible to geographically locate the areas with a strained residential market, defined by the Draft Law on the Right to Housing, from which it can be deduced that adding data collection mechanisms to existing ones is necessary to achieve a detailed analysis, essential to implement more effective housing access policies in highly vulnerable areas. Conselleria de Vivienda y Arquitectura Bioclimática - IVESerrano Lanzarote, AB.; Subirón Rodrigo, MDC. (2023). How does Household Income Affect Access to Housing?. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 30-42. https://doi.org/10.4995/VIBRArch2022.2022.15211304

Eficiencia en instituciones de microfinanzas

Microfinance Institution (MFIs) are special financial institutions. The have both a social nature and a for-profit nature. Their performance has been traditionally measured by means of financial ratios. The paper uses a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to efficiency to show that ratio analysis does not capture DEA efficiency. Special care is taken in the specification of the DEA model. We take methodological approach based on multivariate analysis. We rank DEA efficiencies under different models and specifications: e.g. particular sets of inputs and outputs. This serves to explore what is behind a DEA score. The results show that we can explain MFIs efficiency by means of four principal components of efficiency, and this way are able to understand differences between DEA scores. It is shown that there are country effects on efficiency; and effects that depend on Non-governmental Organizations (NGO)/non-NGO status of the MF

Diseño de un sistema de aseguramiento de la calidad de ensayos de inmisión en el aire ambiente

Siendo el hombre consciente de la presencia de contaminación atmosférica a lo largo de la historia, también ha tratado de establecer una legislación para el control de la misma. Una detallada visión de la evolución de la legislación en lo que a contaminación atmosférica se refiere es también aportada por Kenneth y Cecil(2006). Los grandes cambios en la legislación surgieron a raíz del previamente mencionado incidente de Londres, y así en 1956 se aprobó la Ley del Aire Limpio en Reino Unido, y en 1963 en los Estados Unidos. Esta ley ha sido enmendada en 1970, 1977 y 1990, y ha servido de modelo para la legislación antipolución de otros muchos países