Does rating shopping exist in spanish securitization issues?

[EN] Debt issue credit ratings can lead to conflicts of interest as the issuer itself is entrusted with contracting and compensating the rating agency. Into the bargain, the credit rating agency may be involved in designing the issues that the same agency subsequently rates. Credit rating agencies thus could have incentives to rate issues advantageously. Given the economic importance of this issue, in this paper we have proposed to analyze this phenomenon, known as rating shopping in academic literature, for Spanish market securitization issues for the period of time comprehensive from January 1993 to December 2011. In sum 3,665 published ratings are been analysed, for an issued nominal amount of 791,090 million Euros. The results show an association between the credit rating agency contracted and the mean rating awarded. Significant differences are observed in the ratings associated to the contracting manager (or special purpose vehicle SPV- manager firm), to the number of ratings or to the type of collateral. Furthermore, a pattern compatible with rating shopping was observed for some types of collateral: abnormally high market shares associated with certain agencies awarding unusually generous ratings. However, this phenomenon is not seen to be widespread on the rating market associated to Spanish securitization issues.

Uptake and factors that influence the use of 'sit less, move more' occupational intervention strategies in Spanish office employees

Background: Little is known about the types of 'sit less, move more' strategies that appeal to office employees, or what factors influence their use. This study assessed the uptake of strategies in Spanish university office employees engaged in an intervention, and those factors that enabled or limited strategy uptake. Methods: The study used a mixed method design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with academics and administrators (n = 12; 44 +/- 12 mean SD age; 6 women) at three points across the five-month intervention, and data used to identify factors that influenced the uptake of strategies. Employees who finished the intervention then completed a survey rating (n = 88; 42 +/- 8 mean SD age; 51 women) the extent to which strategies were used [never (1) to usually (4)]; additional survey items (generated from interviewee data) rated the impact of factors that enabled or limited strategy uptake [no influence (1) to very strong influence (4)]. Survey score distributions and averages were calculated and findings triangulated with interview data. Results: Relative to baseline, 67% of the sample increased step counts post intervention (n = 59); 60% decreased occupational sitting (n = 53). 'Active work tasks' and 'increases in walking intensity' were the strategies most frequently used by employees (89% and 94% sometimes or usually utilised these strategies); 'walk-talk meetings' and ` lunchtime walking groups' were the least used (80% and 96% hardly ever or never utilised these strategies). 'Sitting time and step count logging' was the most important enabler of behaviour change (mean survey score of 3.1 +/- 0.8); interviewees highlighted the motivational value of being able to view logged data through visual graphics in a dedicated website, and gain feedback on progress against set goals. 'Screen based work' (mean survey score of 3.2 +/- 0.8) was the most significant barrier limiting the uptake of strategies. Inherent time pressures and cultural norms that dictated sedentary work practices limited the adoption of 'walk-talk meetings' and ` lunch time walking groups'. Conclusions: The findings provide practical insights into which strategies and influences practitioners need to target to maximise the impact of 'sit less, move more' occupational intervention strategies.

Isla San Cristóbal [Spanish]

includes map

Judgmental-analytical procedures for adapting tests: Adaptation to Spanish of the Reasoning Tests Battery

Adapting a test between cultures or languages requires taking into account legal, linguistic, metric, and use-related considerations. Significantly more attention has been paid to the methodological aspects involved in the study of metric equivalence than to judgmental-analytical procedures prior to the empirical confirmation stage. However, considering the latter is crucial in the adaptation process. Along these lines, this paper seeks to describe and focus on the relevance of the previous stages, thereby offering a systematization process that comprises ten sections. This approach contributes to ensuring the construction of a test adapted and equivalent in as much as possible to the original. This process is exemplified by means of a Spanish language adaptation of a cognitive test originally designed in Portuguese for the Portuguese population, the Reasoning Test Battery. Copyright (C) 2013, Konrad Lorenz University Foundation. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U.

Feature Selection for Speech Emotion Recognition in Spanish and Basque: On the Use of Machine Learning to Improve Human-Computer Interaction

Study of emotions in human-computer interaction is a growing research area. This paper shows an attempt to select the most significant features for emotion recognition in spoken Basque and Spanish Languages using different methods for feature selection. RekEmozio database was used as the experimental data set. Several Machine Learning paradigms were used for the emotion classification task. Experiments were executed in three phases, using different sets of features as classification variables in each phase. Moreover, feature subset selection was applied at each phase in order to seek for the most relevant feature subset. The three phases approach was selected to check the validity of the proposed approach. Achieved results show that an instance-based learning algorithm using feature subset selection techniques based on evolutionary algorithms is the best Machine Learning paradigm in automatic emotion recognition, with all different feature sets, obtaining a mean of 80,05% emotion recognition rate in Basque and a 74,82% in Spanish. In order to check the goodness of the proposed process, a greedy searching approach (FSS-Forward) has been applied and a comparison between them is provided. Based on achieved results, a set of most relevant non-speaker dependent features is proposed for both languages and new perspectives are suggested.

Organization, functions, and achievements of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission

ENGLISH: The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) operates under the authority and direction of a Convention originally entered into by the governments of Costa Rica and the United States. The Convention, which came into force in 1950, is open to the adherence by other governments whose nationals participate in the fisheries for tropical tunas in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The member nations of the Commission now are t in addition to Costa Rica and the United States, Canada, France, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Panama.This report is a description of the organization, functions, and achievements of the Commission. It has been prepared to provide in a convenient format answers to requests for information concerning the Commission. It replaces a similar, earlier report (Carroz, 1965), which is now largely outdated. SPANISH: La Comisión Interamericana del Atún Tropical (CIAT) funciona bajo la autoridad y dirección de un Convenio firmado originalmente por los gobiernos de Costa Rica y los Estados Unidos de America. El Convenio, que entro en vigencia en 1950, se encuentra libre para que otros gobiernos cuyos ciudadanos participen en la pesca de atunes tropicales en el Océano Pacifico oriental se afilien a el. Las naciones miembros de la Comisión, además de Costa Rica y los Estados Unidos, son Cañada, Francia, Japón, México, Nicaragua y Panamá. Este informe es una descripción de la organización, funciones y resultados de la Comisión. Ha sido preparado para suministrar en forma conveniente respuestas a preguntas sobre la Comisión. Reemplaza un informe anterior similar (Carroz 1965), que ya es anticuado en su mayor parte.

Front pages of No. 49, 1991, Spanish version

Front cover. Title page. Photo of Prince Philip.

Front pages with contents of No. 51, 52, 53, 1994, Spanish version

Cover. Contents.

Front pages with contents of No. 54 and 55, 1995, Spanish version

Cover. Contents.

Front pages with contents of No. 56 and 57, 1997, Spanish version

Front cover. Contents.

Report of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna commission for the year 2000

ENGLISH:The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) operates under the authority and direction of a convention originally entered into by Costa Rica and the United States. The convention, which came into force in 1950, is open to adherence by other governments whose nationals fish for tropical tunas and tuna-like species in the eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO). Under this provision Panama adhered in 1953, Ecuador in 1961, Mexico in 1964, Canada in 1968, Japan in 1970, France and Nicaragua in 1973, Vanuatu in 1990, Venezuela in 1992, El Salvador in 1997, and Guatemala in 2000. Canada withdrew from the IATTC in 1984. SPANISH: La Comisión Interamericana del Atún Tropical (CIAT) funciona bajo la autoridad y dirección de una convención suscrita originalmente por Costa Rica y los Estados Unidos de América. La convención, vigente desde 1950, está abierta a la afiliación de cualquier país cuyos ciudadanos pesquen atunes tropicales y especies afines en el Océano Pacífico oriental (OPO). Bajo esta estipulación, la República de Panamá se afilió en 1953, Ecuador en 1961, México en 1964, Canadá en 1968, Japón en 1970, Francia y Nicaragua en 1973, Vanuatu en 1990, Venezuela en 1992, El Salvador en 1997, y Guatemala en 2000. Canadá se retiró de la CIAT en 1984.

Report of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission for the year 2001

ENGLISH: The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) operates under the authority and direction of a convention originally entered into by Costa Rica and the United States. The convention, which came into force in 1950, is open to adherence by other governments whose nationals fish for tropical tunas and tuna-like species in the eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO). Under this provision Panama adhered in 1953, Ecuador in 1961, Mexico in 1964, Canada in 1968, Japan in 1970, France and Nicaragua in 1973, Vanuatu in 1990, Venezuela in 1992, El Salvador in 1997, and Guatemala in 2000. Canada withdrew from the IATTC in 1984. SPANISH: La Comisión Interamericana del Atún Tropical (CIAT) funciona bajo la autoridad y dirección de una convención suscrita originalmente por Costa Rica y los Estados Unidos de América. La convención, vigente desde 1950, está abierta a la afiliación de cualquier país cuyos ciudadanos pesquen atunes tropicales y especies afines en el Océano Pacífico oriental (OPO). Bajo esta estipulación, la República de Panamá se afilió en 1953, Ecuador en 1961, México en 1964, Canadá en 1968, Japón en 1970, Francia y Nicaragua en 1973, Vanuatu en 1990, Venezuela en 1992, El Salvador en 1997, y Guatemala en 2000. Canadá se retiró de la CIAT en 1984.

Report of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission for the year 2004

ENGLISH: The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) operates under the authority and direction of a convention originally entered into by Costa Rica and the United States. The convention, which came into force in 1950, is open to adherence by other governments whose nationals fish for tropical tunas and tuna-like species in the eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO). Under this provision Panama adhered in 1953, Ecuador in 1961, Mexico in 1964, Canada in 1968, Japan in 1970, France and Nicaragua in 1973, Vanuatu in 1990, Venezuela in 1992, El Salvador in 1997, Guatemala in 2000, Peru in 2002, and Spain in 2003. Canada withdrew from the IATTC in 1984. The IATTC’s responsibilities are met with two programs, the Tuna-Billfish Program and the Tuna-Dolphin Program. SPANISH: La Comisión Interamericana del Atún Tropical (CIAT) funciona bajo la autoridad y dirección de una convención suscrita originalmente por Costa Rica y los Estados Unidos de América. La Convención, vigente desde 1950, está abierta a la afiliación de cualquier país cuyos ciudadanos pesquen atunes tropicales y especies afines en el Océano Pacífico oriental (OPO). Bajo esta estipulación, la República de Panamá se afilió en 1953, Ecuador en 1961, México en 1964, Canadá en 1968, Japón en 1970, Francia y Nicaragua en 1973, Vanuatu en 1990, Venezuela en 1992, El Salvador en 1997, Guatemala en 2000, Perú en 2002, y España en 2003. Canadá se retiró de la CIAT en 1984. La CIAT cumple su mandato mediante dos programas, el Programa Atún-Picudo y el Programa Atún-Delfín.