Mentoring, educational services, and economic incentives longer-term evidence on risky behaviors from a randomized trial

This paper is the first to use a randomized trial in the US to analyze the short- and long- term impacts of an afterschool program that offered disadvantaged high-school youth: mentoring, educational services, and financial rewards to attend program activities, complete high-school and enroll in post-secondary education on youths' engagement in risky behaviors, such as substance abuse, criminal activity, and teenage childbearing. Outcomes were measured at three different points in time, when youths were in their late-teens, and when they were in their early- and their latetwenties. Overall the program was unsuccessful at reducing risky behaviors. Heterogeneity matters in that perverse effects are concentrated among certain subgroups, such as males, older youths, and youths from sites where youths received higher amount of stipends. We claim that this evidence is consistent with different models of youths' behavioral response to economic incentives. In addition, beneficial effects found in those sites in which QOP youths represented a large fraction of the entering class of 9th graders provides hope for these type of programs when operated in small communities and supports the hypothesis of peer effects.

Teachers' reactions on students' responses: essential for an adequate task monitoring

This research project analyzes the reactions the teacher has on students' responses. Different techniques as discourse markers, types of questions and repair sequences are taken into account, but the author puts a special emphasis on non-verbal communication. To be aware of all these ways of reacting in a class interaction is essential for an adequate task monitoring

Air services on thin routes: Regional versus low-cost airlines

An examination of the impact in the US and EU markets of two major innovations in the provision of air services on thin routes - regional jet technology and the low-cost business model - reveals significant differences. In the US, regional airlines monopolize a high proportion of thin routes, whereas low-cost carriers are dominant on these routes in Europe. Our results have different implications for business and leisure travelers, given that regional services provide a higher frequency of flights (at the expense of higher fares), while low-cost services offer lower fares (at the expense of lower flight frequencies). Keywords: air transportation; regional jet technology; low-cost business model; thin markets. JEL Classification Numbers: L13; L2; L93.

Environmental Tax on Products and Services Based on Their Carbon Footprint: A Case Study of the Pulp and Paper Sector

The main aim of this work is to define an environmental tax on products and services based on their carbon footprint. We examine the relevance of conventional life cycle analysis (LCA) and environmentally extended input-output analysis (EIO) as methodological tools to identify emission intensities of products and services on which the tax is based. The short-term price effects of the tax and the policy implications of considering non-GHG are also analyzed. The results from the specific case study on pulp production show that the environmental tax rate based on the LCA approach (1,8%) is higher than both EIO approaches (0,8% for product and 1,4% for industry approach), but they are comparable. Even though LCA is more product specific and provides detailed analysis, EIO would be the more relevant approach to apply economy wide environmental tax. When the environmental tax considers non-GHG emissions instead of only CO2, sectors such as agriculture, mining of coal and extraction of peat, and food exhibit higher environmental tax and price effects. Therefore, it is worthwhile for policy makers to pay attention on the implication of considering only CO2 tax or GHG emissions tax in order for such a policy measure to be effective and meaningful. Keywords: Environmental tax; Life cycle analysis; Environmental input-output analysis.

Informatització d'una empresa tradicional

Aquest projecte consisteix en la informatització d'una empresa tradicional dedicada a la fabricació i venda de productes de pastisseria. El projecte es divideix en dos parts essencials: millora i dotació de la nova xarxa informàtica amb tots el serveis necessaris pels nous requeriments de creixement de l'empresa en l’obertura de nous punts de venda i la seva gestió, i proporcionar presència a Internet, a través d’una botiga on‐line.

Diseño y Desarrollo de un cliente Web Processing Services (WPS) para gvSIG

Configuració d'un entorn de desenvolupament en el IDE Eclipse. Introducció als SIG. Usos, utilitats i exemples. Conèixer la eina gvSIG. Conèixer els estàndards més estesos de l'Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) i en especial del Web Processing Services. Analitzar, dissenyar i desenvolupar un client capaç de consumir serveis wps.

Estudio comparativo de la calidad de la información ofrecida sobre los servicios en las webs de las bibliotecas virtuales de universidades a distancia

S'exposa el resultat d'un estudi comparatiu sobre la comunicació web dels serveis de les biblioteques virtuals universitàries d'una selecció d'universitats a distància entre les quals hi ha la UNED, la UOC i l'Open University. Aquest estudi es fa observant les diferències qualitatives de diversos aspectes, com ara l'organització, l'accessibilitat, els formats, el redactat, la utilitat i la presentació de la informació sobre els serveis de la biblioteca oferta en la web als usuaris d'aquelles universitats i/o Biblioteques que han realitzat el procés de gestió de qualitat o han confeccionat la carta de serveis i les que no. Entre diverses recomanacions i exemples de bones pràctiques, l'estudi conclou que les universitats i biblioteques que no mostren cap tipus de procés de qualitat en la seva institució podem veure que són les que obliden alguns elements essencials i molts detalls pel que fa a la descripció de la oferta de serveis es refereix. Conclusió i recomanacions extensibles a qualsevol biblioteca universitària que ofereixi informació en línia sobre els seus serveis. A partir de l'elaboració de fitxes que recullen els diversos aspectes a observar de cadascuna de les biblioteques hem ponderat, d'acord amb la diversa bibliografia consultada, cadascun com desaconsellable, recomanable i excel·lent amb el resultat d'un informe que mostra totes les recomanacions per a cadascun dels elements.

Tecnologías de la información aplicadas a los servicios bibliotecarios

La Biblioteca Virtual, és el resultat de l'entorn d'aprenentatge i de model pedagògic dissenyat per a la comunitat virtual de la UOC que fa imprescindible la creació, disseny i organització de serveis bibliotecaris àgils i adaptats al perfil de l'usuari virtual, i amb la capacitat d'anticipar-se a les seves necessitats.

Virtual Library Services for a Virtual University : User-Oriented Virtual Sites in an Open Library

La llegada de las tecnologías de la información, y su uso cada vez mayor y generalizado que se está haciendo de ellas, ha permitido para que una nueva situación aparezca que, a su vez, ha originado - de hecho, que ha precipitado - una serie de cambios de gran importancia en todos los niveles, pero especialmente en los niveles sociales, económicos y culturales. Este nueva escena ha tenido una gran influencia en el entorno pedagógico. De hecho, la aparición de nuevos modelos educativos como resultado de este cambio ha estado sucediendo de una manera continuada e ininterrumpida durante la década pasada. Estos cambios recientes en los sistemas actuales de enseñanza y de aprendizaje han significado un aumento y un cambio en el tipo de demandas hechas desde las bibliotecas y los centros de documentación.

Virtual Library Services for a Virtual University

Es presenta el concepte de biblioteca virtual tal com es desenvolupa a la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya una institució d'educació a distància que proporciona educació universitària. La UOC basa l'organització del seu model educatiu en l'explotació del paradigma del Campus Virtual i en l'ús de les darreres tecnologies disponibles en telemàtica, ordinadors personals i multimèdia. En aquest context, la Biblioteca Virtual de la UOC s'ofereix com un nou model del servei de biblioteca, flexible i dissenyat de manera que els usuaris puguin aprofitar-se de les noves tecnologies de la informació i accedir a les dades registrades i emmagatzemades a qualsevol lloc del món.

E-government and Public Services : a Case Study of the Inter-administrative Portal CAT365. Research report (sythesis document)

Aquest estudi analitza els usos de les TIC a l'administració autonòmica catalana. De forma més específica, l'estudi se centra en la interacció entre l'ús d'un vessant concret de les TIC, la xarxa Internet, per part de l'administració pública, i determinats aspectes centrals d'aquest tipus d'institucions: la seva organització i estructura internes, la provisió de serveis públics o la relació amb altres agents socials. Hem analitzat, doncs, el fenomen del govern electrònic en el marc particular de la Generalitat de Catalunya, estudiant-ne el grau de desenvolupament i penetració, les seves característiques més remarcables i els problemes més importants que s'hi plantegen. El projecte de recerca es concreta en un estudi de cas sobre un projecte d'innovació específic però de gran abast, que es trobava en el moment de realització de l'estudi en la seva primera fase d'implementació: el projecte Administració Oberta de Catalunya (AOC). Concretament ens hem centrat en el vessant d'aquesta iniciativa pública que es concretava en la creació d'un portal interadministratiu a Internet, el portal www.cat365.net, destinat a proveir electrònicament serveis públics de totes les administracions que operen a Catalunya. L'estudi analitza les transformacions internes de l'administració que s'hi poden trobar associades i els elements que les condicionen, tant positivament com negativa. Igualment, intentem analitzem el que aquestes transformacions poden suposar per a la relació entre els ciutadans i les institucions públiques.

Multicast extension of unicast charging for QoS Services

In order to successfully deploy multicast services in QoS-aware networks, pricing architectures must take into account the particular characteristics of multicast sessions. With this objective, we propose a charging scheme for QoS multicast services, assuming that the unicast cost of each interconnecting link is determined and that such cost is expressed in terms of quality of service (QoS) parameters. Our scheme allows determining the cost distribution of a multicast session along a cost distribution tree (CDT), and basing such distribution in those pre-existing unicast cost functions. The paper discusses in detail the main characteristics of the problem in a realistic interdomain scenario and how the proposed scheme would contribute to its solution

Desencuentros comunicativos dentro y fuera del aula L2 para inmigrantes adultos

In the past few years, the studies on communicative troubles emerging in intercultural communication highlight cultural differences. Some disciplines have created training guides where those differences are made explicit so that in the case of international communication misunderstandings are avoided. Examples can be found in non-verbal communication protocols for health services and in the business world. In this regard the field of second-language teaching is beginning to include the socio-pragmatic features of language in the teaching materials. For this reason, this dissertation attempts to describe the communicative conflicts that arise in conversation between immigrants and natives in the city of Barcelona. Thanks to the theoretical and methodological tools provided by Conversation Analysis and Discourse Analysis, we can ethnographically analyze the interviews held with the informants, and the interactions they had with Barcelonan people, by taking into account the linguistic and paralinguistic features which are salient in the interaction (Gumperz y Roberts, 1991; Gumperz, 1992; Hérédia, 1996 y Trognon y Saint-Dizier, 1999). For this purpose, we first examine the causes that produce the conflict as well as the consequences that derive from it. Second, we describe the strategies that the speakers use in the negotiation of the meaning that generated the misunderstanding. Although it is obvious that the nature of the conversations, the personal characteristics of the participants and the context of the conversations have a noticeable influence on the participants’ communicative attitudes (Hinnenkamp, 1987; Codó, 2003; van Dijk, 2003 y Bertrán, 2009), there are somemisunderstandings that none of the interlocutors are able to detect or solve. The results show that not all of the misunderstandings that emerge in intercultural communication have a negative effect and, therefore, its usage in the L2 teaching classroom is essential for acquiring socio-cultural and intercultural competence (Miquel, 1997; Oliveras, 2000 y Miquel y Sans 2004).

CAC controlled services sharing a link with connectionless data services in an ATM network: a performance evaluation study

In the B-ISDN there is a provision for four classes of services, all of them supported by a single transport network (the ATM network). Three of these services, the connected oriented (CO) ones, permit connection access control (CAC) but the fourth, the connectionless oriented (CLO) one, does not. Therefore, when CLO service and CO services have to share the same ATM link, a conflict may arise. This is because a bandwidth allocation to obtain maximum statistical gain can damage the contracted ATM quality of service (QOS); and vice versa, in order to guarantee the contracted QOS, the statistical gain have to be sacrificed. The paper presents a performance evaluation study of the influence of the CLO service on a CO service (a circuit emulation service or a variable bit-rate service) when sharing the same link

Possible solution of some essential zero problems in compositional data analysis

One of the tantalising remaining problems in compositional data analysis lies in how to deal with data sets in which there are components which are essential zeros. By anessential zero we mean a component which is truly zero, not something recorded as zero simply because the experimental design or the measuring instrument has not been sufficiently sensitive to detect a trace of the part. Such essential zeros occur inmany compositional situations, such as household budget patterns, time budgets,palaeontological zonation studies, ecological abundance studies. Devices such as nonzero replacement and amalgamation are almost invariably ad hoc and unsuccessful insuch situations. From consideration of such examples it seems sensible to build up amodel in two stages, the first determining where the zeros will occur and the secondhow the unit available is distributed among the non-zero parts. In this paper we suggest two such models, an independent binomial conditional logistic normal model and a hierarchical dependent binomial conditional logistic normal model. The compositional data in such modelling consist of an incidence matrix and a conditional compositional matrix. Interesting statistical problems arise, such as the question of estimability of parameters, the nature of the computational process for the estimation of both the incidence and compositional parameters caused by the complexity of the subcompositional structure, the formation of meaningful hypotheses, and the devising of suitable testing methodology within a lattice of such essential zero-compositional hypotheses. The methodology is illustrated by application to both simulated and real compositional data