Generalising Exponential Distributions Using an Extended Marshall-Olkin Procedure

This paper presents a three-parameter family of distributions which includes the common exponential and the Marshall–Olkin exponential as special cases. This distribution exhibits a monotone failure rate function, which makes it appealing for practitioners interested in reliability, and means it can be included in the catalogue of appropriate non-symmetric distributions to model these issues, such as the gamma and Weibull three-parameter families. Given the lack of symmetry of this kind of distribution, various statistical and reliability properties of this model are examined. Numerical examples based on real data reflect the suitable behaviour of this distribution for modelling purposes

The role of accounting information in mechanisms of manager’s evaluation

Ante las constantes demandas de una gestión eficiente y responsable que sea capaz de integrar los intereses de un amplio conjunto de colectivos interesados en la marcha empresarial, entre ellos y con una participación razonablemente más elevada, los propietarios, el papel de la información contable en un sentido amplio resulta esencial. No sólo permite comunicar la situación y resultados de la empresa en cuestión sino que ayuda en la compleja labor de estimar la idoneidad de la actuación directiva. Sin embargo, la anterior afirmación que parece tan evidente resulta no ser tan clara desde el punto de vista práctico, pues existen importantes interferencias que pueden aconsejar la revisión de tales mecanismos de control. A esta cuestión desde un punto de vista teórico nos dedicamos en el presente trabajo.In a broad sense the role of the accounting information, is essential before those frequent demands from an efficient and responsible management. It must be able to integrate the interest of a broad group of collectives interested in the functioning of the firm. Among them, we can note the owners, with the highest participation. That accounting information does not only allows us to communicate the situation and results of the firm at issue, but it also contributes to the difficult task of estimating the suitability of the management action. Nevertheless, however evident the above statement may look, it is not so clear from a practical view, because there is important interference which can recommend the revision of such control mechanisms. We devote the present work to such matter, from a theoretical viewpoint

La revelación social en sociedades cooperativas: una visión comparativa de las herramientas más utilizadas en la actualidad

In the area of Social Responsibility (SR) cooperative societies are based on an advantage against other companies. The parallelism of cooperatives principles and values and the concept SR, leads us to consider features of this type of social action such as cooperatives, the SRCoop. We will focus on it but more specifically in social disclosure or communication of the social dimension of theses companies to discuss both the substance or justification for its being reason as how to implement it. We will especially review the diagrams and models of most commonly used reports, analyzing both those can be classified as pioneers, the Cooperative Balance, as the most recent or current, ESR COOP and the Global Reporting Initiative Social Economy.En el terreno de la Responsabilidad Social (RS) las sociedades cooperativas parten de una situación de ventaja frente al resto de las empresas. El paralelismo de los principios y valores cooperativos y el concepto de RS, nos lleva a plantear peculiaridades de este tipo de actuación social en cooperativas, la llamada RSCoop. Nos centraremos en ella pero de forma más específica el trabajo se orienta a la revelación social o comunicación de la dimensión social de estas empresas para analizar tanto el fondo o justificación de su razón de ser como la forma de llevarla a la práctica. Especialmente revisaremos los esquemas o modelos de informes más utilizados, analizando tanto aquellos que pueden catalogarse como pioneros, el Balance Cooperativo, como los más recientes o actuales, RSE COOP y la Guía Global Reporting Initiative de la Economía Social

La revelación social en sociedades cooperativas: una visión comparativa de las herramientas mas utilizadas en la actualidad

En el terreno de la Responsabilidad Social (RS) las sociedades cooperativas parten de una situación de ventaja frente al resto de las empresas. El paralelismo de los principios y valores cooperativos y el concepto de RS, nos lleva a plantear peculiaridades de este tipo de actuación social en cooperativas, la llamada RSCoop. Nos centraremos en ella pero de forma más específica el trabajo se orienta a la revelación social o comunicación de la dimensión social de estas empresas para analizar tanto el fondo o justificación de su razón de ser como la forma de llevarla a la práctica. Especialmente revisaremos los esquemas o modelos de informes más utilizados, analizando tanto aquellos que pueden catalogarse como pioneros, el Balance Cooperativo, como los más recientes o actuales, RSE COOP y la Guía Global Reporting Initiative de la Economía Social

Public Relations and Events: The Organization of Festivals as a Tool for Cultural Promotion

Festivals not only fulfill their traditional role as an institution that allows to present, spread or preserve the culture of a society, but also stand out for their ability to generate wealth in the cities where they are celebrated, for their contribution to the diversification of the tourism product or the improvement of the image of the place (Devesa, Báez, Figueroa and Herrero, 2012). Specifically, film festivals have a much greater importance playing a fundamental, but not recognized, role for the development of the industry and the history of cinema (Vallejo, 2014, p.14). Under this perspective, the main objective of this work is to observe the organization of the SCC Express Short Film Festival, in order to propose a sequenced model for the organization of events as a tool for communication and promotion of the cultural industry. The application of the methodological design designed for the application of the proposed case study allows to establish a 9-phase model for the organization of festivals as a technique of promotion and cultural development at the local level

Incorporating patients' characteristics in cost-effectiveness studies with clinical trial data: a flexible Bayesian approach

Most published research on the comparison between medical treatment options merely compares the results (effectiveness and cost) obtained for each treatment group. The present work proposes the incorporation of other patient characteristics into the analysis. Most of the studies carried out in this context assume normality of both costs and effectiveness. In practice, however, the data are not always distributed according to this assumption. Altervative models have to be developed.In this paper, we present a general model of cost-effectiveness, incorporating both binary effectiveness and skewed cost. In a practical application, we compare two highly active antiretroviral treatments applied to asymptomatic HIV patients. We propose a logit model when the effectiveness is measured depending on whether an initial purpose is achieved. For this model, the measure to compare treatments is the difference in the probability of success. Besides, the cost data usually present a right skewing. We propose the use of the logtransformation to carry out the regression model. The three models are fitted demonstrating the advantages of this modelling. The cost-effectiveness acceptability curve is used as a measure for decision-making.Peer Reviewe

Incorporating patients' characteristics in cost-effectiveness studies with clinical trial data: a flexible Bayesian approach

Most published research on the comparison between medical treatment options merely compares the results (effectiveness and cost) obtained for each treatment group. The present work proposes the incorporation of other patient characteristics into the analysis. Most of the studies carried out in this context assume normality of both costs and effectiveness. In practice, however, the data are not always distributed according to this assumption. Altervative models have to be developed.In this paper, we present a general model of cost-effectiveness, incorporating both binary effectiveness and skewed cost. In a practical application, we compare two highly active antiretroviral treatments applied to asymptomatic HIV patients. We propose a logit model when the effectiveness is measured depending on whether an initial purpose is achieved. For this model, the measure to compare treatments is the difference in the probability of success. Besides, the cost data usually present a right skewing. We propose the use of the logtransformation to carry out the regression model. The three models are fitted demonstrating the advantages of this modelling. The cost-effectiveness acceptability curve is used as a measure for decision-making.Peer Reviewe

Eliciting expert opinion for cost-effectiveness analysis: a flexible family of prior distributions

The Bayesian approach to statistics has been growing rapidly in popularity as an alternative to the classical approach in the economic evaluation of health technologies, due to the significant benefits it affords. One of the most important advantages of Bayesian methods is their incorporation of prior information. Thus, use is made of a greater amount of information, and so stronger results are obtained than with frequentist methods. However, since Stevens and O’Hagan (2002) showed that the elicitation of a prior distribution on the parameters of interest plays a crucial role in a Bayesian cost-effectiveness analysis, relatively few papers have addressed this issue. In a cost-effectiveness analysis, the parameters of interest are the mean efficacy and mean cost of each treatment. The most common prior structure for these two parameters is the bivariate normal structure. In this paper, we study the use of a more general (and flexible) family of prior distributions for the parameters. In particular, we assume that the conditional densities of the parameters are all normal. The model is validated using data of a real clinical trial. The posterior distributions have been simulated using Markov Chain Monte Carlo techniques.Peer Reviewe

Marco teórico y metodológico para la validación cualitativa de un modelo explicativo de las responsabilidad social en sociedades cooperativas

En este trabajo se presenta un marco teórico y una propuesta metodológica para la validación cualitativa de un modelo explicativo de la Responsabilidad Social en las Sociedades Cooperativas. La variable central de análisis, la llamada Orientación a la Responsabilidad Social en Cooperativas (ORSCOOP), no es directamente observable, siendo necesario medirla a través de un conjunto de indicadores. Igualmente ocurre con el resto de variables estratégicas con las que la ORSCOOP está relacionada en el modelo que proponemos (satisfacción de los socios, innovación, calidad del servicio y resultado cooperativo o desempeño). Para la validación de los indicadores se recurre a una metodología cualitativa en base a la valoración y acuerdo de un grupo de profesionales expertos quienes, por aplicación de la técnica Delphi, colaborarán para lograr una definición única y consensuada. A partir de sus opiniones y recomendaciones se llevarán a cabo las modificaciones oportunas con el fin de unificar los criterios procedentes de los distintos expertos. Como resultado se obtendrá una escala consensuada para cada variable del modelo propuesto. Esta unanimidad de opiniones en el resultado final será la base para un posterior tratamiento cuantitativo del modelo conceptual propuesto

Marco téorico y metodológico para la validación cualitativa de un modelo explicativo de la responsabilidad social en sociedades cooperativas

This paper presents a theoretical framework and a methodological proposal for qualitative validation of a model explaining Social Responsibility in Cooperative Societies. The main variable of analysis, called Orientation to Social Responsibility in Cooperatives (OSRCOOP), is not directly observable, and it is necessary to measure it through a set of indicators. Likewise with the other strategic variables with which OSRCOOP is related to the model we propose (member satisfaction, innovation, quality of service and cooperative outcome or performance). For validation of the indicators we use a qualitative methodology based on the assessment and agreement of a group of experts who, by application of the Delphi technique, will work together to achieve a single and agreed definition. From its views and recommendations the necessary changes will be implemented in order to unify the criteria from the various experts. As a result a consensus scale for each variable of the proposed model will be obtained. This unanimity in the opinions in the final result will be the basis for further quantitative treatment of the proposed conceptual model.En este trabajo se presenta un marco teórico y una propuesta metodológica para la validación cualitativa de un modelo explicativo de la Responsabilidad Social en las Sociedades Cooperativas. La variable central de análisis, la llamada Orientación a la Responsabilidad Social en Cooperativas (ORSCOOP), no es directamente observable, siendo necesario medirla a través de un conjunto de indicadores. Igualmente ocurre con el resto de variables estratégicas con las que la ORSCOOP está relacionada en el modelo que proponemos (satisfacción de los socios, innovación, calidad del servicio y resultado cooperativo o desempeño). Para la validación de los indicadores se recurre a una metodología cualitativa en base a la valoración y acuerdo de un grupo de profesionales expertos quienes, por aplicación de la técnica Delphi, colaborarán para lograr una definición única y consensuada. A partir de sus opiniones y recomendaciones se llevarán a cabo las modificaciones oportunas con el fin de unificar los criterios procedentes de los distintos expertos. Como resultado se obtendrá una escala consensuada para cada variable del modelo propuesto. Esta unanimidad de opiniones en el resultado final será la base para un posterior tratamiento cuantitativo del modelo conceptual propuesto