The effects of agglomeration economies on the productivity of manufacturing local units in Ireland

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of agglomeration economies on the productivity of manufacturing local units in Ireland. Four types of agglomeration economies are considered in this study. These are internal economies of scale, localization economies, related variety and urbanization economies. This study makes a number of contributions to the literature. Firstly, this is the first study to conduct an investigation of the effects of agglomeration economies on the productivity of manufacturing local units operating in Ireland. Secondly, this study distinguishes between indigenous and foreign-owned local units which is important given the dual nature of the Irish economy (Krugman, 1997). Thirdly, in addition to considering the effects of agglomeration economies, this study examines the impact of spurious agglomeration on the productivity of foreign-owned local units. Using data from the Census of Industrial Local Units and a series of IV GMM estimators to control for endogeneity, the results of the analysis conducted in Chapter 6 reveal that there are differences in the effects of agglomeration economies on the productivity of indigenous and foreign-owned local units. In Chapter 7 the Census of Industrial Local Units is supplemented by additional data sources and more in-depth measures are generated to capture the features of each of the external agglomeration economies considered in this analysis. There is some evidence to suggest that the availability of local inputs has a negative and significant impact on productivity. The NACE based measures of related variety reveal that the availability of local inputs and knowledge spillovers for related sectors have a negative and significant impact on productivity. There is clear evidence to suggest that urbanization economies are important for increasing the productivity of indigenous local units. The findings reveal that a 1% increase in population density in the NUTS 3 region leads to an increase in the productivity of indigenous local units of approximately 0.07% to 0.08%. The results also reveal that there is a significant difference in the effects of agglomeration economies on the productivity of low-tech and medium/high-tech indigenous local units. The more in-depth measures of agglomeration economies used in Chapter 7 are also used in Chapter 8. A series of IV GMM regressions are estimated in order to identify the impact of agglomeration economies and spurious agglomeration on the productivity of foreign-owned local units operating in Ireland. There is some evidence found to suggest that the availability of a pool of skilled labour has a positive and significant on productivity of foreign-owned local units. There is also evidence to suggest that localization knowledge spillovers have a negative impact on the productivity of foreign-owned local units. There is strong evidence to suggest that the availability of local inputs has a negative impact on the productivity. The negative impact is not confined to the NACE 4-digit sector but also extends into related sectors as determined by Porter’s (2003) cluster classification. The cluster based skills measure of related variety has a positive and significant impact on the productivity of foreign-owned local units. Similar to Chapter 7, there is clear evidence to suggest that urbanization economies are important for increasing the productivity of foreign-owned local units. Both the summary measure and each of the more in-depth measures of agglomeration economies have a positive and significant impact on productivity. Spurious agglomeration has a positive and significant impact on the productivity of foreign-owned local units. The results indicate that the more foreign-owned local units of the same nationality in the country the greater the levels of productivity for the local unit. From a policy perspective, urbanization economies are clearly important for increasing the productivity of both indigenous and foreign-owned local units. Furthermore, the availability of a pool of skilled labour appears to be important for increasing the productivity of foreign-owned local units. Another policy implication that arises from these results relates to the differences observed between indigenous local units and foreign-owned local units and also between low-tech and medium/high-tech indigenous local units. These findings indicate that ‘one-size-fits-all’ type policies are not appropriate for increasing the productivity of local units operating in Ireland. Policies should be tailored to the needs of either indigenous or foreign-owned local units and also to specific sectors. This positive finding for own country spurious agglomeration is important from a policy perspective and is one that IDA Ireland should take on board.

Self-assessments of memory correlate with neuroticism and conscientiousness, not memory span performance

Self-report measures of cognitive problems may have value, but there are indications that scores on such measures are influenced by other factors such as personality. In an online correlational study, 523 non-clinical volunteers completed measures of personality, digit span, and the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire. Self-reported prospective and retrospective memory failures were associated positively with neuroticism and negatively with conscientiousness, but not with digit span performance. These findings are consistent with other indications that conscientiousness and neuroticism may underpin self-reports of cognitive problems.

Physical activity in the school setting: cognitive performance is not affected by three different types of acute exercise

Recent studies indicate that a single bout of physical exercise can have immediatepositive effects on cognitive performance of children and adolescents. However, thetype of exercise that affects cognitive performance the most in young adolescents isnot fully understood. Therefore, this controlled study examined the acute effects ofthree types of 12-min classroom-based exercise sessions on information processingspeed and selective attention. The three conditions consisted of aerobic, coordination,and strength exercises, respectively. In particular, this study focused on the feasibilityand efficiency of introducing short bouts of exercise in the classroom. One hundredand ninety five students (5th and 6th grade; 10–13 years old) participated in a doublebaseline within-subjects design, with students acting as their own control. Exercise typewas randomly assigned to each class and acted as between-subject factor. Before andimmediately after both the control and the exercise session, students performed twocognitive tests that measured information processing speed (Letter Digit SubstitutionTest) and selective attention (d2 Test of Attention). The results revealed that exercisingat low to moderate intensity does not have an effect on the cognitive parameters testedin young adolescents. Furthermore, there were no differential effects of exercise type.The results of this study are discussed in terms of the caution which should be takenwhen conducting exercise sessions in a classroom setting aimed at improving cognitive performance.

Sysselsättningseffekter i svenska aktiebolag av införandet av RUT-avdraget : En Difference-in-Differenceanalys

Detta arbete har gjorts med syftet att utvärdera sysselsättningseffekterna i svenska aktiebolag av införandet av RUT-avdraget. RUT-avdraget infördes 2007 och innebär att privatpersoner kan få göra skattereduktion för olika typer av hushållsarbeten. Datamaterialet som används i denna studie är bokföringsdata för alla Sveriges aktiebolag mellan 2000 – 2010, aggregerat till tresiffriga SNI-koder för alla de svenska kommunerna. Utifrån datamaterialet har RUT-avdragets sysselsättningseffekter analyserats med hjälp av en Difference-in-Differencemodell. Resultatet visar att RUT-avdraget gjort att 6930 nya arbeten har skapats i de svenska aktiebolag som ingår i RUT-sektorn. Detta innebär alltså att RUT-avdraget har haft en positiv effekt på sysselsättningen.

A probabilistic approach to the estimation of regional photovoltaic power generation using meteorological data

In Germany the upscaling algorithm is currently the standard approach for evaluating the PV power produced in a region. This method involves spatially interpolating the normalized power of a set of reference PV plants to estimate the power production by another set of unknown plants. As little information on the performances of this method could be found in the literature, the first goal of this thesis is to conduct an analysis of the uncertainty associated to this method. It was found that this method can lead to large errors when the set of reference plants has different characteristics or weather conditions than the set of unknown plants and when the set of reference plants is small. Based on these preliminary findings, an alternative method is proposed for calculating the aggregate power production of a set of PV plants. A probabilistic approach has been chosen by which a power production is calculated at each PV plant from corresponding weather data. The probabilistic approach consists of evaluating the power for each frequently occurring value of the parameters and estimating the most probable value by averaging these power values weighted by their frequency of occurrence. Most frequent parameter sets (e.g. module azimuth and tilt angle) and their frequency of occurrence have been assessed on the basis of a statistical analysis of parameters of approx. 35 000 PV plants. It has been found that the plant parameters are statistically dependent on the size and location of the PV plants. Accordingly, separate statistical values have been assessed for 14 classes of nominal capacity and 95 regions in Germany (two-digit zip-code areas). The performances of the upscaling and probabilistic approaches have been compared on the basis of 15 min power measurements from 715 PV plants provided by the German distribution system operator LEW Verteilnetz. It was found that the error of the probabilistic method is smaller than that of the upscaling method when the number of reference plants is sufficiently large (>100 reference plants in the case study considered in this chapter). When the number of reference plants is limited (<50 reference plants for the considered case study), it was found that the proposed approach provides a noticeable gain in accuracy with respect to the upscaling method.

Deteção da simulação em indivíduos com e sem diagnóstico de depressão

A simulação consiste na produção voluntária de sintomas físicos e psicológicos para obter compensações externas. O presente estudo tem como objetivo avaliar a eficácia de um conjunto de instrumentos utilizados na identificação de situações de simulação, bem como averiguar se esses instrumentos são sensíveis a sintomas psicopatológicos. Deste modo, espera-se que os resultados obtidos pelos grupos com depressão e sem depressão honestos difiram significativamente dos resultados obtidos pelo grupo sem depressão simulador. Para tal, foi recolhida uma amostra de 59 sujeitos, todos do sexo feminino, divididos por três grupos: com diagnóstico de depressão (n=19), sem diagnóstico de depressão simuladores (n=20) e sem diagnóstico de depressão honestos (n=20). O protocolo de avaliação incluiu o Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM: Tombaugh, 1996), o Structured Inventory Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS: Widows & Smith), os subtestes de Memória de Dígitos e dos Cubos da WAIS-III, (Wechsler, 1997) e a Figura Complexa de Rey (FCR: Rey, 1988). Os resultados não sugerem diferenças significativas no primeiro e segundo ensaios de aprendizagem do TOMM entre os grupos em estudo. No ensaio de retenção, o grupo sem diagnóstico de depressão simulador difere significativamente do grupo sem diagnóstico de depressão honesto. No SIMS, apenas a subescala Psicose (P) difere significativamente entre os grupos com diagnóstico de depressão e sem diagnóstico de depressão simulador. As subescalas Défices Neurológicos (NI), Perturbações Afetivas (AF), P e Perturbações Mnésicas (AM), com exceção da escala Capacidade Intelectual Reduzida (LI) diferem significativamente entre os grupos com diagnóstico de depressão e sem diagnóstico de depressão honesto e entre este e o grupo sem diagnóstico de depressão simulador. No subteste de Memória de Dígitos verifica-se diferenças significativas entre os grupos sem diagnóstico de depressão simulador e honesto. No subteste dos Cubos não foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre os grupos estudados e na cópia da FCR foram encontradas diferenças significativas entre os grupos com diagnóstico de depressão e sem diagnóstico de depressão simulador. Este estudo contribui para o enriquecimento da literatura nacional e internacional, uma vez que inclui um grupo clínico e alguns instrumentos que não são habitualmente utilizados numa avaliação de simulação. Para além disso, estes resultados têm implicações no contexto clínico e forense, no sentido preventivo e de conhecimento da doença mental.

Assessment of iodine intake and related cognitive function impairments in elementary schoolchildren from Terceira Island, Azores (Portugal)

Dissertação de Mestrado, Ciências Biomédicas, 28 de Junho de 2016, Universidade dos Açores.

Balancing the demands of two tasks: an investigation of cognitive-motor dual-tasking in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis

Background: People with relapsing remitting MS (PwRRMS) suffer disproportionate decrements in gait under dual-task conditions, when walking and a cognitive task are combined. There has been much less investigation of the impact of cognitive demands on balance. This study investigated whether: (1) PwRRMS show disproportionate decrements in postural stability under dual-task conditions compared to healthy controls; (2) dual-task decrements are associated with everyday dual-tasking difficulties. In addition, the impact of mood, fatigue and disease severity on dual-tasking were also examined. Methods: 34 PwRRMS and 34 matched controls completed cognitive (digit span) and balance (movement of centre of pressure on a Biosway, on stable and unstable surfaces) tasks under single and dual-task conditions. Everyday dual-tasking was measured using the DTQ. Mood was measured by the HADS. Fatigue was measured via the MFIS. Results: No differences in age, gender, years of education, estimated pre-morbid IQ or baseline digit span between the groups. Compared to healthy controls, PwRRMS showed a significantly greater decrement in postural stability under dual-task conditions on an unstable surface (p=0.007), but not a stable surface (p=0.679). PwRRMS reported higher levels of everyday dual-tasking difficulties (p<0.001). Balance decrement scores were not correlated with everyday dual-tasking difficulties, or with fatigue. Stable surface balance decrement scores were significantly associated with levels of anxiety (rho=0.527, p=0.001) and depression (rho=0.451, p=0.007). Conclusion: RRMS causes difficulties with dual-tasking, impacting balance, particularly under challenging conditions, which may contribute to an increased risk of gait difficulties and falls. The striking relationship between anxiety/depression and dual-task decrement suggests that worry may be contributing to dual-task difficulties.

O ensino por investigação, favorecendo o desenvolvimento de atitudes e procedimentos : uma proposta didática aplicada em sala de aula

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Decanato de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Instituto de Física, Instituto de Química, Faculdade UnB Planaltina, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ensino de Ciências, Mestrado Profissional em Ensino de Ciências, 2016.

Sistema de gestión administrativa basado en competencias con enfoque de calidad para el Fondo Universitario de Protección de la Universidad de El Salvador.

Una buena administración trata de facilitar el trabajo a todos los miembros de un equipo interrelacionando las actividades individuales de las diferentes áreas, departamentos y personas para integrar un todo asegurando la efectiva operación y control de los procesos, además de las mediciones y datos usados para determinar un funcionamiento satisfactorio. El presente documento contiene el diseño de un Sistema de Gestión Administrativa Basado en Competencias con el cual se pretende, fortalecer y orientar el accionar de la gerencia y el personal del Fondo Universitario de Protección (FUP) de la Universidad de El Salvador, relacionado básicamente, con una estructura de dirección basado en competencias, interrelacionando la unidades que lo conforman, con todos los elementos y procesos que coadyuven el buen funcionamiento de las mismas en la gestión y prestación de los servicios. Este estudio se origina a raíz de las fallas observadas en la actual gestión del Fondo de Protección, lo cual no permite aprovechar adecuadamente los recursos. El objetivo principal del presente trabajo de investigación es dotar de una herramienta valiosa, que facilite la gestión de los servicios y el personal, contribuyendo al buen funcionamiento del Fondo de Protección. La investigación consta de tres etapas, en la primera parte se ha recopilado un marco teórico, que sirve de referencia para el conocimiento del tema en estudio y en el cual se exponen la generalidades del Fondo de Protección Universitario, de Seguridad Social y de Sistemas de Gestión Administrativos y conceptos sobre gestión por competencias, enfoque de calidad en la administración y herramientas técnicas administrativas entre otros. Posteriormente se procedió a la elaboración del diagnóstico a través del uso de herramientas como la encuesta la cual se efectuó a través de una entrevista para la gerencia y a los órganos de dirección y el cuestionario para el personal administrativo, así mismo se utilizó la técnica de la observación directa para tener un criterio más amplio de cómo se desarrollan las funciones administrativas. La información obtenida fue tabulada manualmente en el caso de las encuestas y para las entrevistas fue elaborado un resumen en base a las respuestas brindadas por la gerencia y órganos de dirección del Fondo Universitario. Con base a lo anterior se determinó que el Fondo Universitario no cuenta con los principales planes estratégicos como objetivos, misión, visión, valores, políticas, estructura organizacional claramente definida, así como la falta de herramientas técnicas administrativas como: Manual de Análisis y Descripción de Puestos por Competencias, Políticas, Procedimientos y un instrumento para realizar evaluaciones del desempeño. En base a lo anterior se elaboran una serie de conclusiones y recomendaciones lo cual sirve de insumo para la propuesta desarrollada en la tercera y última parte de este trabajo, que describe la Propuesta de un Sistema de Gestión Administrativo Basado en Competencias para El Fondo Universitario de Protección.

Análisis predictivo para clasificar dígitos escritos a mano utilizando la base de datos MNIST

En el presente trabajo de fin de máster se realiza una investigación sobre las técnicas de preproceso del dataset de entrenamiento y la aplicación de un modelo de predicción que realice una clasificación de dı́gitos escritos a mano. El conjunto de dataset de train y test son proporcionado en la competencia de Kaggle: Digit Recognizer y provienen de la base de datos de dı́gitos manuscritos MNIST. Por tratarse de imágenes las técnicas de preproceso se concentran en obtener una imagen lo más nı́tida posible y la reducción de tamaño de la misma, objetivos que se logran con técnicas de umbralización por el método de Otsu, transformada de Wavelet de Haar y el análisis de sus componentes principales. Se utiliza Deep Learning como modelo predictivo por ajustarse a este tipo de datos, se emplean además librerı́as de código abierto implementadas en el lenguaje estádisto R. Por último se obtiene una predicción con las técnicas y herramientas mencio- nadas para ser evaluada en la competencia de Kaggle, midiendo y comparando los resultados obtenidos con el resto de participantes.

Liquidity, Governance and Adverse Selection in Asset Pricing

A plethora of recent literature on asset pricing provides plenty of empirical evidence on the importance of liquidity, governance and adverse selection of equity on pricing of assets together with more traditional factors such as market beta and the Fama-French factors. However, literature has usually stressed that these factors are priced individually. In this dissertation we argue that these factors may be related to each other, hence not only individual but also joint tests of their significance is called for. In the three related essays, we examine the liquidity premium in the context of the finer three-digit SIC industry classification, joint importance of liquidity and governance factors as well as governance and adverse selection. Recent studies by Core, Guay and Rusticus (2006) and Ben-Rephael, Kadan and Wohl (2010) find that governance and liquidity premiums are dwindling in the last few years. One reason could be that liquidity is very unevenly distributed across industries. This could affect the interpretation of prior liquidity studies. Thus, in the first chapter we analyze the relation of industry clustering and liquidity risk following a finer industry classification suggested by Johnson, Moorman and Sorescu (2009). In the second chapter, we examine the dwindling influence of the governance factor if taken simultaneously with liquidity. We argue that this happens since governance characteristics are potentially a proxy for information asymmetry that may be better captured by market liquidity of a company’s shares. Hence, we jointly examine both the factors, namely, governance and liquidity – in a series of standard asset pricing tests. Our results reconfirm the importance of governance and liquidity in explaining stock returns thus independently corroborating the findings of Amihud (2002) and Gompers, Ishii and Metrick (2003). Moreover, governance is not subsumed by liquidity. Lastly, we analyze the relation of governance and adverse selection, and again corroborate previous findings of a priced governance factor. Furthermore, we ascertain the importance of microstructure measures in asset pricing by employing Huang and Stoll’s (1997) method to extract an adverse selection variable and finding evidence for its explanatory power in four-factor regressions.

Patologías lumbares: determinación de los factores ocupacionales y carga prestacional en una entidad promotora de salud en Bogotá

Resumen: Introducción El dolor lumbar es un trastorno músculo esquelético que afecta la parte baja de la espalda, considerado como un problema de salud pública y catalogado como un desastre en el sitio de trabajo, se encuentra en las 10 primeras causas de enfermedad profesional reportadas por las entidades prestadoras de servicios de salud, generando ausentismo y discapacidad laboral en los países industrializados, con costos que oscilan de los 20 mil a los 98 millones de dólares en los Estados Unidos. Objetivo Determinar la prevalencia de patologías lumbares calificadas y sus factores ocupacionales asociados en una entidad promotora de salud de Bogotá Colombia durante 2013 al 2014. Metodología Se realizó un estudio de corte transversal con datos secundarios pertenecientes a 318 pacientes de una entidad promotora de salud en la ciudad de Bogotá que fueron diagnosticados con patologías lumbares (lumbalgia-lumbago, discopatía lumbar, trastorno de disco intervertebral, espondilolistesis, espondilólisis, hernia discal), y remitidos a medicina laboral o solicitaron calificación de origen en primera oportunidad, en el periodo comprendido entre el año 2013 al 2014. Las variables incluidas fueron sociodemográficas, ocupacionales y diagnósticos médicos, específicamente patologías lumbares. Se realizó distribuciones de frecuencias, medidas de tendencia central y dispersión, análisis de asociación mediante la prueba Chi cuadrado de Pearson y un análisis multivariado a través del modelo de regresión binaria logística y el análisis de concordancia usando el índice de Kappa. Para las pruebas se utilizó un nivel de significación de 0,05. Se digitó y depuró en SPSS versión 23. Resultado El total de usuarios diagnosticados con patologías lumbares fue de 318 de los cuales el 57,2% fueron de sexo masculino con edad promedio de 43 años (D.E 7,9 años). Se encontró asociación significativa entre lumbalgia y movimientos de columna lumbar y levantamiento de carga (p<0,05); discopatía lumbar y movimientos de columna lumbar y factores multicausales (p<0,05); trastorno de disco intervertebral y factores multicausales (p<0.05), hernia de disco y levantamiento de cargas (p<0,05). Respecto a espondilolistesis y espondilólisis no se encontró asociación con ningún factor de riesgo, pero si se encontró asociación significativa entre origen y movimientos de columna lumbar (p= 0.010), con postura mantenida (p= 0.014), con causas multifactoriales (p= 0.000). El grado de concordancia entre la entidad promotora de salud y la administradora de riesgos laborales arrojó un valor en el índice de kappa de 0.432 (p= 0.000) correspondiendo a un grado de acuerdo moderado; para la concordancia entre la entidad promotora de salud y la junta de calificación el índice de kappa fue de 0.680 (p= 0.000) grado de acuerdo alto. Conclusión Las patologías lumbares tienen un alta prevalencia en la población trabajadora como en la no trabajadora, encontrándose un gran número de factores condicionantes a estas enfermedades generando altos costos en días perdidos laborales y en días de incapacidad: Por lo tanto, es importante determinar si estas son catalogadas de origen común o de origen laboral, para establecer programas de vigilancia epidemiológica y programas preventivos.