Does eurosclerosis matter ? - institutional reform and labor market performance in Central and Eastern European countries in the 1990s

This paper examines the labor market dynamics of six CEE countries over the last 10 years, paying special attention to the nature of labor market institutions these countries have adopted and their impact on labor market performance. This paper finds that, compared to EU countries, CEE countries fall in the"middle"of the flexibility scale regarding their employment protection legislation. While the effect of labor market institutions is hard to uncover, it should not be disregarded and they are likely to play an important role in the coming years.Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Markets,Banks&Banking Reform,Health Economics&Finance,Municipal Financial Management

Numerical Validation Methods

In the last years, numerical simulation has seen a great development thanks to costs reduction and speed increases of the computational systems. With these improvements, the mathematical algorithms are able to work properly with more realistic problems. Nowadays, the solution of a problem using numerical simulation is not just finding a result, but also to ensure the quality. However, can we say that the model results are correct regarding the behaviour of the system? In other words, how could we quantify the similarity between reality and simulations? To answer these questions, it is necessary to establish a validation criterion that allows an objective quantification of the difference between the results and the reality. Another way to say this is, how “true” our results are. In the case of numerical methods, the main objective is to replicate as closely as possible the behaviour of the "real" world through numbers. Normally, the results of the numerical methods are expressed in terms of graphics, pictures, etc. These results represent the view of reality that the chosen method provides. In order to affirm that the result of a numerical solution is fully consistent with the reality, it must be satisfied that: a. The mathematical model must incorporate all aspects of the real world. b. The numerical method has to solve exactly the equations of the mathematical modelling. The problem starts with these two conditions that guarantee the "truth" of the results, since none of them are fully accomplished and it must be admitted that the numerical prediction never completely matches the "real" world behaviour. Then you can only be sure that the numerical solution is a good approximation of the reality. Now, new questions arise: How much does the result obtained by a numerical method resemble the reality? How can we objectively quantify this similarity? The answers to these questions are those that give rise to the validation methods.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Study of transient phenomena with feature selective validation method

In recent years, computational electromagnetism has had a great development thanks to the computational systems speed increase and their cost reduction. With those improvements the mathematical algorithms are able to work properly with more practical EMC issues. The problem that arises many times is to become condent with the results, in other words, to be able to quantitatively validate the results of the numerical simulation. In this paper we present a method to evaluate the diference between results obtained by visual expert opinion and those obtained from the FSV method.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Formación de andina Podcast

El proyecto Andina Podcast surge en la Agencia de Noticias Andina a finales del 2018 como una forma de producir nuevas narrativas digitales e ir más allá del contenido clásico ya ofrecido por su redacción. Las historias son narradas, principalmente, por sus protagonistas, y presentadas al público como podcasts de formato narrativo con una duración variable en los que el periodista detrás de la producción de cada episodio es responsable de la coherencia y verificación de los hechos narrados. Sin embargo, Andina Podcast sigue en evolución y se mantiene vigente. Los cambios experimentados demuestran que la Agencia Andina desea sostener este proyecto a largo plazo. Es por esto que también fue necesario establecer estándares de producción en un documento que sea la base para el siguiente paso en la elaboración de contenido: conformar una productora de podcast que preste sus servicios a otras instituciones que también tengan en sus planes el desarrollo de nuevas narrativas digitales. La redacción de este manual de estilo fue una consecuencia del progreso del proyecto no solo se limita a una visión cortoplacista del proyecto, sino que ve hacia el futuro y propone nuevos tipos de contenido y formatos que puedan ser implementados a lo largo del tiempo según las necesidades de la Agencia AndinaThe Andina Podcast project emerged in the Andina News Agency in late 2018 as a way to produce new digital narratives and go beyond the classic content already offered by Andina's newsroom. The stories are narrated mainly by their protagonists and presented to the audience in a narrative podcast format with variable duration. The journalist behind the production of each episode is responsible for the coherence and verification of the narrated events. However, Andina Podcast continues to evolve and remains active. The changes experienced show that Andina News Agency wishes to sustain this project in the long term. That is why it was also necessary to establish production standards in a document that would be the basis for the next step in content development: to form a podcast production company that provides its services to other institutions that also have in their plans the development of new digital narratives. The creation of this style manual was a consequence of the projects progress and is not limited to a short-term vision of it, but also looks to the future and proposes new types of content and formats that can be implemented over time according to the needs of the Andina News Agency

Factors influencing the successful validation of transient phenomenon modelling

An increased requirement for validation of computational electromagnetic simulation and modelling through the publication of IEEE Standard 1597.1 brings to light some interesting issues surrounding the validation of transients. The structure of a transient event has three particular regions of interest that can have an influence on the results, of which only two are generally well defined. These are the initial quiescent phase from t = 0 to the transient event; the transient event itself up to the point where the energy has fallen to a predefined limit, and the post-transient phase where residual energy is still present in the system. This latter region is generally ill-defined and changes the way that a validation comparison should be made, from, for example a frequency domain coupling study where the region of interest is usually well defined. This study looks at the influence of the three regions on the validation results and suggests how the Feature Selective Validation (FSV) method can be applied in transient studies.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Transient perturbation analysis in digital radio

This paper presents a new simulation methodology to study the effect of radiated transient disturbances on digital communication systems. The procedure is divided in two stages. In the first one, FDTD numerical simulation is used to determine the transient levels coupled to the antennas. In the second stage, these levels are analyzed by means of a signal processing simulation software to determine the degradation caused in the system. The procedure is applied to a DAB system in car when a radiated interference is generated by a transient in a vehicle cable. The results show that the amplitude of the radiated transient coupled signal is a key parameter, but it is also essential to take into account other parameters such as burst duration and frequency.Postprint (published version

Characterization of EMI filters based on metamaterials

This paper analyzes the behavior of EMI filters based on metamaterials. The filters are developed by means of sub-wavelength resonators and designed to have notch-type attenuation in the 2.45 GHz band. Two types of filters based on SRR and CSRR rings are presented. The simulated responses by MoM and FDTD are compared with the measurement data obtained from the developed prototypes.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Noche del terror viviente: o cómo el nuevo horror amenaza al antiguo

During the 1970s and 1980s, a new type of horror movies born in United States and marked a milestone in the genre by impressing a young generation of film lovers. Today, the big producers take advantage of the cult status of some of these films to remake them, adjusting to new parameters of current terror. However,the changes that the so-called remakes make to the original screenplays, reveal differences between these works in terms of cinematographic resources.Durante las décadas de los setentas y ochentas nació en Estados Unidos un nuevo tipo de cine de terror que marcó un hito en el género al impresionar a una joven generación de amantes del séptimo arte. Hoy en día, las grandes productoras aprovechan el estatus de culto de algunas de estas películas para rehacerlas, ajustándolas a los nuevos parámetros del terror actual. No obstante, los cambios que los llamados remakes ejercen sobre los argumentos originales revelan las diferencias entre los discursos cinematográficos de estas obras

Whole plant chamber to examine sensitivity of cereal gas exchange to changes in evaporative demand

Background: Improving plant water use efficiency (WUE) is a major target for improving crop yield resilience to adverse climate change. Identifying genetic variation in WUE usually relies on instantaneous measurements of photosynthesis (An) and transpiration (Tr), or integrative measurements of carbon isotope discrimination, at the leaf level. However, leaf gas exchange measurements alone do not adequately represent whole plant responses, especially if evaporative demand around the plant changes. Results: Here we describe a whole plant gas exchange system that can rapidly alter evaporative demand when measuring An, Tr and intrinsec WUE (iWUE) and identify genetic variation in this response. An was not limited by VPD under steady-state conditions but some wheat cultivars restricted Tr under high evaporative demand, thereby improving iWUE. These changes may be ABA-dependent, since the barley ABA-deficient mutant (Az34) failed to restrict Tr under high evaporative demand. Despite higher Tr, Az34 showed lower An than wild-type (WT) barley because of limitations in Rubisco carboxylation activity. Tr and An of Az34 were more sensitive than WT barley to exogenous spraying with ABA, which restricted photosynthesis via substrate limitation and decreasing Rubisco activation. Conclusions: Examining whole plant gas exchange responses to altered VPD can identify genetic variation in whole plant iWUE, and facilitate an understanding of the underlying mechanism(s)