Long Term Dynamics in CO2 Allowance Prices and Carbon Capture Investments

In this paper we analyse the behaviour of the EU market for CO2 emission allowances; specifically, we focus on the contracts maturing in the Kyoto Protocol's second period of application (2008 to 2012). We calibrate the underlying parameters for the allowance price in the long run and we also calibrate those from the Spanish wholesale electricity market. This information is then used to assess the option to install a carbon capture and storage (CCS) unit in a coal-fired power plant. We use a two-dimensional binomial lattice where costs and profits are valued and the optimal investment time is determined. In other words, we study the trigger allowance prices above which it is optimal to install the capture unit immediately. We further analyse the impact of several variables on the critical prices, among them allowance price volatility and a hypothetical government subsidy. We conclude that, at current permit prices, from a financial point of view, immediate installation does not seem justified. This need not be the case, though, if carbon market parameters change dramatically and/or a specific policy to promote these units is adopted.

Cyclical Features of Uzawa-Lucas Endogenous Growth Model

This paper analyzes the cyclical properties of a generalized version of Uzawa-Lucas endogenous growth model. We study the dynamic features of different cyclical components of this model characterized by a variety of decomposition methods. The decomposition methods considered can be classified in two groups. On the one hand, we consider three statistical filters: the Hodrick-Prescott filter, the Baxter-King filter and Gonzalo-Granger decomposition. On the other hand, we use four model-based decomposition methods. The latter decomposition procedures share the property that the cyclical components obtained by these methods preserve the log-linear approximation of the Euler-equation restrictions imposed by the agent’s intertemporal optimization problem. The paper shows that both model dynamics and model performance substantially vary across decomposition methods. A parallel exercise is carried out with a standard real business cycle model. The results should help researchers to better understand the performance of Uzawa-Lucas model in relation to standard business cycle models under alternative definitions of the business cycle.

Paper unemployment: the irish experience

When asked to give a paper at this conference I choosee "Incentive to encourage youth employment" but very soon into my research I felt that the overall approach to unemployment by succesive Irish Governments offered more valuable insights into this serious problem and the lack of recognition of how serious this problem is. This is particulary so for small economies and regions on the periphery of the EU.

Interface electronics for an RF resonance-based displacement sensor

6 p. Paper of the 17th Conference on Sensors and Their Applications held in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Sep 16-18, 2013

Kalman Filtering in R

Support in R for state space estimation via Kalman filtering was limited to one package, until fairly recently. In the last five years, the situation has changed with no less than four additional packages offering general implementations of the Kalman filter, including in some cases smoothing, simulation smoothing and other functionality. This paper reviews some of the offerings in R to help the prospective user to make an informed choice.

Utilización de la lógica borrosa en la selección de personas e ideas para la participación en programas públicos de ayuda a la creación de empresas

[ES] Se propone en este trabajo un modelo de control borroso que ayude a filtrar y seleccionar las solicitudes de subvención que pueda recibir una institución pública en un programa de fomento para la creación y desarrollo de nuevas iniciativas empresariales. Creemos que la utilización de la lógica borrosa presenta ventajas sobre los procedimientos ordinarios ya que nos movemos en un escenario de actuación complejo y vago. El control borroso introduce el conocimiento de los expertos de un modo muy natural mediante variables lingüísticas y procesos de inferencia propios del lenguaje ordinario, lo que facilita la toma de decisiones en situaciones complejas. Nuestro modelo considera por un lado la idea empresarial y por otro la persona . Los indicadores y criterios que los expertos consideran relevantes para la evaluación de la subvención son modelados mediante variables lingüísticas y tratados como antecedentes y consecuentes de un motor de inferencia borroso, cuya salida nos proporciona la valoración final de la solicitud. Al final de nuestro trabajo resolvemos un caso práctico sencillo para aclarar el procedimiento.

Paper Art. Fibras papeleras en la Creación Artística. Producción y Edición

Nivel educativo: Grado. Duración (en horas): De 21 a 30 horas

A Reliable Method for Rhythm Analysis during Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation

nterruptions in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) compromise defibrillation success. However, CPR must be interrupted to analyze the rhythm because although current methods for rhythm analysis during CPR have high sensitivity for shockable rhythms, the specificity for nonshockable rhythms is still too low. This paper introduces a new approach to rhythm analysis during CPR that combines two strategies: a state-of-the-art CPR artifact suppression filter and a shock advice algorithm (SAA) designed to optimally classify the filtered signal. Emphasis is on designing an algorithm with high specificity. The SAA includes a detector for low electrical activity rhythms to increase the specificity, and a shock/no-shock decision algorithm based on a support vector machine classifier using slope and frequency features. For this study, 1185 shockable and 6482 nonshockable 9-s segments corrupted by CPR artifacts were obtained from 247 patients suffering out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The segments were split into a training and a test set. For the test set, the sensitivity and specificity for rhythm analysis during CPR were 91.0% and 96.6%, respectively. This new approach shows an important increase in specificity without compromising the sensitivity when compared to previous studies.