Interpolation methods for geographical data: Housing and commercial establishment markets

The estimation of commercial property prices in a touristic city can be explored through spatial interpolation methods, but in the presence of small sample sizes, auxiliary stochastic processes that are correlated with the prices of commercial establishments are needed. The aim of this paper is to compare the various estimates of commercial establishment prices in Toledo (Spain) provided by methods based on inverse distance weighting, 2-D shape functions for triangles, kriging and cokriging (the housing prices being the auxiliary stochastic process). The results indicate that kriging improves the classical interpolation methods and that cokriging has a clear advantage over kriging.

Anti-Crime Programs: An Evaluation of the Comuna Segura Program

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact that the anti-crime program Comuna Segura: Compromiso 100 had on the reporting rate of different types of crimes. This program, implemented in Chile starting in 2001, was very highly criticized and, therefore, was eliminated in 2006. This paper provides statistical evidence, using the impact assessment methodology, which shows that the program was successful in increasing the reporting rate in targeted municipalities and also in decreasing levels of crimes associated with other crimes, such as rape. All this underlies the importance of carrying out formal impact assessments in order to determine benefits that are associated with a particular program. However, financial issues are also very important too and it is necessary to take them in account when making a fair statement about the cost-effectiveness of the program. This point is, however, not addressed in this paper but should be kept in mind in order to have a complete picture of the program.Crime, Program evaluation, Matching.

Dynamics of magnetized relativistic tori oscillating around black holes

We present a numerical study of the dynamics of magnetized, relativistic, non-self-gravitating, axisymmetric tori orbiting in the background spacetimes of Schwarzschild and Kerr black holes. The initial models have a constant specific angular momentum and are built with a non-zero toroidal magnetic field component, for which equilibrium configurations have recently been obtained. In this work we extend our previous investigations which dealt with purely hydrodynamical thick discs, and study the dynamics of magnetized tori subject to perturbations which, for the values of the magnetic field strength considered here, trigger quasi-periodic oscillations lasting for tens of orbital periods. Overall, we have found that the dynamics of the magnetized tori analyzed is very similar to that found in the corresponding unmagnetized models. The spectral distribution of the eigenfrequencies of oscillation shows the presence of a fundamental p mode and of a series of overtones in a harmonic ratio 2:3:.... These simulations, therefore, extend the validity of the model of Rezzolla et al.(2003a) for explaining the high-frequency QPOs observed in the spectra of LMXBs containing a black-hole candidate also to the case of magnetized discs with purely toroidal magnetic field distribution. If sufficiently compact and massive, these oscillations can also lead to the emission of intense gravitational radiation which is potentially detectable for sources within the Galaxy.Comment: 10 pages,7 figures, submitted to MNRA

Efectos económicos de una posible salida del euro en España

Estados Unidos, 2008. La Gran Recesión. Así se denomina la crisis que comenzó por aquel entonces, que se extendió a varios países, y que aún sigue sin cerrarse en nuestra economía. Algunos analistas han sugerido que una solución para España podría pasar por la salida del euro. Antes de continuar, le pregunto yo al lector… ¿recuerda Argentina 2001? Hagamos memoria: La crisis económica dispara los déficits públicos. Los gastos que produce el Estado son superiores que los ingresos no financieros, sembrándose un caos en el sistema financiero. El Gobierno pretende rescatar a los bancos mediante medidas de austeridad sobre las cuentas públicas, apoyado en todo momento por el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI). Esta austeridad hace aumentar el paro y no soluciona el problema de la deuda que debe de hacer frente el país. Le resultará familiar. Exacto, nos encontramos en España ante un caso no muy distante al de Argentina 2001. Como consecuencia de esa situación, en el país sudamericano se restringió el efectivo disponible para los ciudadanos así como el acceso a sus ahorros (el denominado Corralito argentino). En Argentina existía por aquel entonces una paridad cambiaria fija frente al dólar, que acabó rompiéndose para devaluar el „peso argentino‟. En la crisis actual española ¿es la salida del euro la solución? ¿Qué consecuencias tendría para las empresas exportadoras/importadoras? ¿Habría corralito en España? A estas preguntas trato de dar una respuesta con este Trabajo Fin de GradoFacultad de Ciencias de la EmpresaUniversidad Politécnica de Cartagen

Essays on Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Policy Design and Evaluation

This dissertation comprises two essays. The unifying theme is the evaluation of non-pecuniary (information or norm based messages) conservation programs. These types of policies are widely applied in developing and developed countries to promote conservation, however, their empirical evidence and their effectiveness are not well documented. Each chapter examines some methodological facets of the heterogeneity of non-pecuniary conservation programs and the reliability of non-experimental methods (program evaluation and econometric techniques) to evaluate treatment effects in the context of non-pecuniary conservation programs

Fully covariant and conformal formulation of the Z4 system in a reference-metric approach: comparison with the BSSN formulation in spherical symmetry

We adopt a reference-metric approach to generalize a covariant and conformal version of the Z4 system of the Einstein equations. We refer to the resulting system as ``fully covariant and conformal", or fCCZ4 for short, since it is well suited for curvilinear as well as Cartesian coordinates. We implement this fCCZ4 formalism in spherical polar coordinates under the assumption of spherical symmetry using a partially-implicit Runge-Kutta (PIRK) method and show that our code can evolve both vacuum and non-vacuum spacetimes without encountering instabilities. Our method does not require regularization of the equations to handle coordinate singularities, nor does it depend on constraint-preserving outer boundary conditions, nor does it need any modifications of the equations for evolutions of black holes. We perform several tests and compare the performance of the fCCZ4 system, for different choices of certain free parameters, with that of BSSN. Confirming earlier results we find that, for an optimal choice of these parameters, and for neutron-star spacetimes, the violations of the Hamiltonian constraint can be between 1 and 3 orders of magnitude smaller in the fCCZ4 system than in the BSSN formulation. For black-hole spacetimes, on the other hand, any advantages of fCCZ4 over BSSN are less evident.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure

A validated clinical approach for the management of aspergillosis in critically ill patients: ready, steady, go!

The clinical relevance of recovering Aspergillus species in intensive care unit patients is unknown. Diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis is extremely difficult because there are no specific tests sensitive enough to detect it. The rapidly fatal prognosis of this infection without treatment justifies early antifungal therapy. A clinical algorithm may aid clinicians to manage critically ill patients from whose respiratory specimens Aspergillus spp. have been isolated. This new tool needs to be validated in a large cohort of patients before it can be recommended

An Alternative To Test Independence Between Expectations And Disconfirmation Versus The Positive Version Of The Assimilation Theory. An Application To The Case Of Cultural/Heritage Tourism

Despite the emergence of new strategies, models of expectancy/disconfirmation are still very popular in tourist research. This is why they are revisited by presenting an alternative for testing independence between expectations and disconfirmation versus what we call the positive version of the assimilation theory. A derivation of the chi-square statistic including an asymmetric continuity correction is provided to carry out such a test.  This article relies on the information given by 1,500 respondents who were given a small questionnaire specially designed to measure tourist satisfaction in the emblematic part of Toledo, Spain (a UNESCO World Heritage City)