New directions in water resources management: The role of water pricing policies

Water resources will face increasing competition and higher environmental concerns during this century. To meet these challenges, the new Water Framework Directive has drawn up an integrated framework and established the basic principles for a sustainable water policy in the European Union. The introduction of water prices reflecting the true cost of irrigation is one of its most innovative components. In this paper, a positive mathematical programming model is developed to assess the environmental and socio-economic impacts of water pricing policies in Spanish irrigated lands. The model interface allows friendly use and easy replication in a large number of irrigation districts, selected throughout the Spanish territory. The model results show the impact on environmental indicators, water consumption, cropping patterns, technology adoption, labor, farmers' income, and the water agency revenues when different scenarios of cost recovery are considered. It is argued that this modeling approach may be used as a management tool to assist in the implementation of the cost recovery approach of the new Water Framework Directive

USING A POINT SYSTEM IN THE MANAGEMENT OF WAITING LISTS: THE CASE OF CATARACTS

The objective of this study is to explore the possibility of applying a point system as a guide to the management of waiting lists in National Health Systems. Following recent contributions in the axiomatic theory of justice, the ethical properties of a point system are illustrated. In addition, we present the results of an experiment whose objective was to develop a point system for cataract extraction, based on social preferences. The results of the experiment have shown that the analytic methods used here, of focus groups, interview-administered questionnaires, conjoint analysis, and rank-ordered logit, can be usefully combined to determine the total priority score for each patient.Point System; Priority Criteria; Waiting Lists; Cataract.

Wearable Fabry-Pérot Antenna

A wearable version of Fabry-Perot antenna is presented. This is a simple way of designing a medium- to high-gain antenna with low back radiation. The study of the effect of antenna bending in the performances is presented. Besides, the replacement of a superstrate layer by a metallic frequency selective surface is proposed. In this way, there is no need of finding a specific material and thickness for a targeted gain and frequency. Experimental validation confirms the viability of this design.This work has been funded by projects TEC2013-44019-R and TEC2016-79700-C2-2-R and S2013/ICE-3000

Estudio de las tendencias y estado del arte en el desarrollo de dispositivos miniatura y su aplicación en entornos inteligentes

Una de les activitats que està tenint més embranzida és la definició d'entorns intel•ligents basats en el que es coneix com a Ubiqutuos Computing/Communication, el desenvolupament de sensors miniatura basats en nanotecnologia i la seva integració en materials de construcció. El projecte consistirà en realitzar un estudi de l'estat de l'art a nivell internacional sobre la aplicació de sensors i actuadors en entorns intel•ligents i la elaboració d'un prospectiva i casos d'aplicació d'aquestes dispositius

Measuring uncertainty and assessing its predictive power in the euro area

Expectations and uncertainty play a key role in economic behavior. This paper deals with both, expectations and uncertainty derived from the European Central Bank Survey of Professional Forecasters. Given the strong turbulences that the euro area macroeconomic indicators observe since 2007, the aim of the paper is to check whether there is any room for improvement of the consensus forecast accuracy for GDP growth and inflation when accounting for uncertainty. We propose a new measure of uncertainty, alternative to the ad hoc equal weights commonly used, based on principal components. We test the role of uncertainty in forecasting macroeconomic performance in the euro area between 2005 and 2015. We also check the role of surprises in the considered forecasting sampleMinisterio de Economía y CompetitividadFinancial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, project numbers ECO2015-70331-C2-1-R, ECO2015-66593-P and ECO2014-56676C2-2-P and Universidad de Alcalá is acknowledged

Modeling the Cost of International Trade in Global Supply Chains

In a global economy, international trade plays an important role of the economic development. This is especially relevant in emerging markets, where trade could contribute significantly to the economic growth of the country. Many studies have pointed out the relationship between logistics performance and the volume of bilateral trade. Limão and Venables (2001) analyze transport costs, Hummels (2001) analyzes transport time and Hausman et al. (2013) evaluate the impact of specific improvements in logistics performance in terms of time, cost and reliability (variability in time) on increased trade. International Trade ads complexity as goods move across borders where are subject to import and export activities that increase lead times and variability on financial and physical flows (e.g. more documents per trade transaction, more signatures per trade transaction, export clearance, and customs inspection). Also, these global supply chains often involve more actors and agencies that support the trade process such as inspection agencies and custom brokers. Surveys aimed at calculating these costs suggest that they may range from 2% to 15% of the value of traded goods. This paper provides a general framework to model the impact of international trade of a global supply chain. A cost function is proposed for the buyer, the seller and the upstream suppliers that explicitly refers to the additional elements of international trade. The model is applied to compare the impact of different Incoterms rules (see section 3.2.1) in an International Trade taking into account the total cost of the supply chain Blanco, E.E. and Ponce-Cueto, E. – MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics – March 2015 2 for the main actors, including the buyer (importer) and the seller (exporter). The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 includes a succinct literature review of relevant papers in global trade management, and more specifically a review of those papers that focus on the total cost in global supply chains. Section 3 defines the global supply chain under study and presents the key events in a global trade. A total global trade function is formulated in Section 4, one function cost for buyers and another for upstream sellers. In section 5 the supply chain costs under various trade scenarios are presented and a numerical example is developed in order to illustrate the applicability of the model. Discussion and conclusion are included in section 6

English collocations and intercultural communication

In this paper we emphasize the importance of learning a lexico-grammatical type of unit known as collocation when learning English as a second language, as the teaching of these units has been traditionally neglected in favour of more idiomatic units such as phrasal verbs and idioms. However, their mastery proves essential for natural sounding English. Although they should be learned at every language level of the learner they gain additional importance when the learner has advanced level of English or uses this lingua franca for intercultural communication, e.g. English for specific purposes. We present a multimedia self learning tool tailored to the needs of the advanced learner of English as a second languageEn este artículo defendemos la importancia del aprendizaje de un tipo de unidad lingüística conocida como colocación en la adquisición de inglés como segunda lengua, ya que la enseñanza de este tipo de unidad ha sido relegado a un segundo plano a favor de la enseñanza de unidades fraseológicas con mayor grado de idiomaticidad, como los verbos frasales y las expresiones idiomáticas. Sin embargo, su dominio es fundamental para hablar inglés con propiedad. Aunque deben ser aprendidas en todos los niveles de adquisición, cobran especial importancia en los niveles avanzados de aprendizaje o cuando el aprendiz usa esta lengua franca para la comunicación intercultural, como por ejemplo, en el uso del inglés para el terreno profesional. Como contribución práctica, presentamos una herramienta multimedia para el aprendizaje de las colocaciones diseñada para aprendices de nivel avanzado de inglés como segunda lengu

Notas corológicas del macrofitobentos de Andalucía (España). VII

El presente trabajo añade nuevas especies a los catálogos de algas Rhodophyceae (Conde et al., 1996b), Phaeophyceae (Flores- Moya et al., 1995a) y Chlorophyceae (Flores-Moya et al., 1995b) existentes para las costas andaluzas, aumentando de este modo el conocimiento florístico del macrofitobentos de Andalucía. La mayoría de las aportaciones proceden de cubetas intermareales de la Isla de las Palomas (Tarifa, Cádiz), excepto una de Punta Carnero (Cádiz) y una de Marina del Este (Granada). En conjunto se aportan una cita nueva para Andalucía (señalada con un asterisco), cinco citas nuevas y tres confirmaciones para la provincia de Cádiz, y una novedad para el catálogo de la provincia de Granada.El material recolectado fue preservado en formol al 4% en agua de mar, identificado y depositado en el herbario de la Universidad de Málaga (MGC Phyc)

Influencia de la carrera a pie sobre el hábito tabáquico

ObjetivoInvestigar si la carrera a pie influye sobre el hábito tabáquico.DiseñoEstudio de casos y controles, con emparejamiento 1:1. Observación longitudinal retrospectiva.EmplazamientoAtención primaria. Ciudad de Toledo.ParticipantesCasos: 48 corredores voluntarios sanos de 47 ± 7,8 años de edad. Controles: 48 sujetos sanos, emparejados por sexo y año de nacimiento, elegidos al azar entre la población adscrita al medico investigador.Mediciones principalesHábito tabáquico y gramos semanales de alcohol mediante cuestionario, peso, talla, presión arterial y frecuencia cardíaca de reposo. Se obtuvieron las odds ratio (OR) de las proporciones de sujetos que fumaban o habían fumado alguna vez, de los que seguían fumando y de las probabilidades de abandono del tabaco de cada grupo.ResultadosLa OR de la proporción de sujetos que fumaban o habían fumado entre los grupos de corredores (54,2%) y controles (70,9%) era de 0,486 (intervalo de confianza [IC] del 95%, 0,205-1,149; χ2=2,8; p=0,093). La OR para continuación del hábito entre los grupos de corredores (8,4%) y controles (41,7%) era de 0,127 (IC del 95%, 0,035-0,456; χ2=14,0; p=0,0002). En el grupo de corredores había abandonado el tabaco el 45,8% y en el de controles, el 31,2% (OR=7,85; IC del 95%, 1,89-32,52; χ2=11,8; p=0,0007). El 50% de los corredores que fumaban lo había dejado desde que comenzó a correr y el 76,9% de éstos lo había dejado justo en el momento de comenzar a correr.ConclusionesHay una asociación negativa entre carrera a pie y tabaco. Si un fumador decide comenzar a correr regularmente, tiene muchas probabilidades de dejar de fumar y mantenerse así.ObjectiveTo investigate whether running influences smoking habits.DesignStudy of cases and controls, with 1:1 pairing. Retrospective longitudinal observational study.SettingPrimary care City of Toledo, Spain.ParticipantsCases: 48 healthy volunteer runners of 47±7.8 years of age. Controls: 48 healthy subjects, paired by gender and year of birth, chosen at random from the medical list assigned to the medical researcher.Principal measurementsSmoking habits and alcohol consumption in grams per week using a questionnaire, weight, height, blood pressure, and heart rate at rest. The odds ratio (OR) was obtained on the proportion of subjects who smoked or smoked at some time, those who continued smoking and the probabilities of giving up tobacco in each group.ResultsThe OR of the proportion of subjects who smoked or had smoked between the groups of runners (54.2%) and controls (70.9%) was 0.486 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.205-1.149; χ2=2.8; P=.093). The OR for continuing the habit between groups of runners (8.4%) and controls (41.7%) was 0.127 (95% CI, 0.035-0.456; χ2=14.0; P=.0002). In the group of runners, 45.8% had stopped smoking, as well as 31.2% of the controls (OR=7.85; 95% CI, 1.89-32.52; χ2=11.8; P=.0007); 50% of the runners who smoked had given it up since starting to run and 76.9% of these had given it up just at the time of starting to run.ConclusionsThere is a negative association between running and tobacco. If a smoker decides to run regularly he/she has high probabilities of giving up smoking and continue to do so

Designing Sorting Facilities in Reverse Logistics Systems

The main aim of this paper is to propose a multi-waste mix integer lineal programming model for locating sorting facilities in a three-level (local, regional, and central) reverse logistic network. The objective of the model is to decide the location of the storage and sorting facilities across the network. The model was applied in end of life battery recycling network in Spain. As capacity is constrained, the optimal solution moves towards a combination of regional and local facilities for storage and a central facility for sorting