Influence of loudspeaker directivity on the measurement uncertainty of the acoustic testing of facades.

One of the most significant aspects of a building?s acoustic behavior is the airborne sound insulation of the room façades, since this determines the protection of its inhabitants against environmental noise. For this reason, authorities in most countries have established in their acoustic regulations for buildings the minimum value of sound insulation that must be respected for façades. In order to verify compliance with legal requirements it is usual to perform acoustic measurements in the finished buildings and then compare the measurement results with the established limits. Since there is always a certain measurement uncertainty, this uncertainty must be calculated and taken into account in order to ensure compliance with specifications. The most commonly used method for measuring sound insulation on façades is the so-called Global Loudspeaker Method, specified in ISO 140-5:1998. This method uses a loudspeaker placed outside the building as a sound source. The loudspeaker directivity has a significant influence on the measurement results, and these results may change noticeably by choosing different loudspeakers, even though they all fulfill the directivity requirements of ISO 140-5. This work analyzes the influence of the loudspeaker directivity on the results of façade sound insulation measurement, and determines its contribution to measurement uncertainty. The theoretical analysis is experimentally validated by means of an intermediate precision test according to ISO 5725-3:1994, which compares the values of sound insulation obtained for a façade using various loudspeakers with different directivities. Keywords: Uncertainty, Façade, Insulation

Metro de Madrid rolling stock models and comparative studies relating to comfort

This paper presents the work carried out by Metro de Madrid and the Railway Technology Research Centre (Polytechnic University of Madrid), aimed at setting up rolling stock simulation models with a high level of detail. To do this, the features of the SIMPACK simulation tool used to create models have been briefly outlined, explaining the main features of models in two of the series modelled: 7000 and 8000. Finally, the results obtained from comparing comfort in the 7000 and 8000 series are presented.

International for-profit investiments in microfinance institutions equity

In recent years international investors are increasing the focus on the social consequences of their investments along with its financial returns. The microfinance sector, considered as an asset class is a relatively young concept but the microfinance industry is experiencing a tremendous growth and has a high potential for the future. Today most social responsible investments in microfinance are performed through loans or fixed income structured finance vehicles. The possibilities to invest in the equity tranche of the industry are still scarce since the number of listed microfinance institutions is reduced and the private equity investments are limited and difficult to reach for the majority of investors. In this document we present a study on the characteristics of the MFIs and we try to shed some light on this subsector of the equity assets universe that may become important in the coming future. Keywords: Microfinance institutions, Micro-credits, Financial Institutions, Equity; Stock Exchange

International For-Profit Investments in Microfinance Institutions Equity

Purpose: The purpose of this document is to review the funding options for Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), define the size of the holdings of international investors in MFI equity and in particular the MFIs listed in stock exchanges, analyze the characteristics of these subset of the financial world and study the stock exchange evolution of some listed MFIs amid the financial crisis. Design/methodology/approach: Since academic literature on listed MFI equity is virtually inexistent, most of the information has been obtained from the World Bank, annual accounts of the listed MFIs, stock exchanges and from equity research documents. Findings and Originality/value: Microfinance Institutions share several common characteristics that make them a resilient business and the few MFIs that are listed in stock exchanges seem to have performed better in the financial crisis. Microfinance can be considered as one of the new frontiers of the expansion of the global banking industry. Practical implications: Presently, international for-profit investors have very few ways of investing in microfinance equity. Most of the equity of the MFI equity is funded locally or thanks to the local public sector. The stock exchange listing of the MFIs should drive MFIs towards a more professional management, more transparency and better governance. Social implications: Microfinance Institutions provide credit to microenterprises in poor countries that have no other alternative sources of external capital to expand its activity. If global investors could easily invest in the listed equity of the MFIs these institutions would expand its lending books and would improve its governance, part of the population living in poor areas or with lower income could ameliorate its standard of living. Originality/value: The number of Microfinance Institutions that are professionally run like commercial banks is still scarce and even more scarce are the MFI listed in public stock exchanges. Therefore the published literature on the characteristics and performance of the listed equity of the Microfinance Institutions is extremely reduced. But microfinance assets are rapidly growing and MFIs will need to list their equity in stock exchanges to sustain this expansion.

Inter-operator reliability of live football match statistics from OPTA Sportsdata

The aim of the study was to evaluate the inter-operator reliability of OPTA Client System which is used to collect live football match statistics by OPTA Sportsdata Company. Two groups of experienced operators were required to analyze a Spanish league match independently. Results showed that team events coded by independent operators reached a very good agreement (kappa values were 0.92 and 0.94) and average difference of event time was 0.06±0.04 s. The reliability of goalkeeper actions was also at high level, kappa values were 0.92 and 0.86. The high intra-class correlation coefficients (ranged from 0.88 to 1.00) and low standardized typical errors (varied from 0.00 to 0.37) of different match actions and indicators of individual outfield players showed a high level of inter-operator reliability as well. These results suggest that the OPTA Client System is reliable to be used to collect live football match statistics by well trained operators.

Return of Equity Issues in the Spanish Stock Market from the Investor’s Perspective, during the 1997-2012 Period

Is it profitable for an investor, from a risk-return perspective, to acquire a stake in a quoted company when a capital increase is announced? This paper analyses the return obtained from the investment in equity issues with cash contribution and pre-emptive rights, aimed at funding corporate activities: acquisitions, investments in new facilities and/or strengthening the balance sheet of the companies undertaking the equity issue. During the 16 years covered by the study, the results show a negative average excess risk-adjusted return of almost 5%, from the moment that the equity offer is announced until the completion of the preferential subscription period. To obtain this excess return, the difference between the nominal Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and the expected return, using the CAPM, is computed for each equity issue. The intention behind this method is to eliminate the effects of time and any other possible effect on the stock price during the period of the analysis.The results from this article are consistent with the Pecking Order theory for the Spanish Stock Market also six months after the preferential subscription period. However, there is a positive return after three months.

Explanation of changes in real estate stock market

The aim of this study is to explain the changes in the real estate prices as well as in the real estate stock market prices, using some macro-economic explanatory variables, such as the gross domestic product (GDP), the real interest rate and the unemployment rate. Several regressions have been carried out in order to express some types of incremental and absolute deflated real estate lock market indexes in terms of the macro-economic variables. The analyses are applied to the Swedish economy. The period under study is 1984-1994. Time series on monthly data are used. i.e. the number of data-points is 132. If time leads/lags are introduced in the e regressions, significant improvements in the already high correlations are achieved. The signs of the coefficients for IR, UE and GDP are all what one would expect to see from an economic point of view: those for GDP are all positive, those for both IR and UE are negative. All the regressions have high R2 values. Both markets anticipate change in the unemployment rate by 6 to 9 months, which seems reasonable because such change can be forecast quite reliably. But, on the contrary, there is no reason why they should anticipate by 3-6 months changes in the interest rate that can hardly be reliably forecast so far in advance.