Assessment of insurance coverage and claims in rainfall related risksin processing tomato in Western Spain

An extension of guarantees related to rainfall-related risks in the insurance of processing tomato crops hasbeen accompanied with a large increase in claims in Western Spain, suggesting that damages may havebeen underestimated in previous years. A database was built by linking agricultural insurance records,meteorological data from local weather stations, and topographic data. The risk of rainfall-related dam-ages in processing tomato in the Extremenian Guadiana river basin (W Spain) was studied using a logisticmodel. Risks during the growth of the crop and at harvesting were modelled separately. First, the riskrelated to rainfall was modelled as a function of meteorological, terrain and management variables. Theresulting models were used to identify the variables responsible for rainfall-related damages, with a viewto assess the potential impact of extending insurance coverage, and to develop an index to express thesuitability of the cropping system for insurance. The analyses reveal that damages at different stages ofcrop development correspond to different hazards. The geographic dependence of the risk influences the scale at which the model might have validity, which together with the year dependency, hampers the possibilityof implementing index based insurances is questioned.

Definition of masks related to psychovisual features for video quality assessment

Video Quality Assessment needs to correspond to human perception. Pixel-based metrics (PSNR or MSE) fail in many circumstances for not taking into account the spatio-temporal property of human's visual perception. In this paper we propose a new pixel-weighted method to improve video quality metrics for artifacts evaluation. The method applies a psychovisual model based on motion, level of detail, pixel location and the appearance of human faces, which approximate the quality to the human eye's response. Subjective tests were developed to adjust the psychovisual model for demonstrating the noticeable improvement of an algorithm when weighting the pixels according to the factors analyzed instead of treating them equally. The analysis developed demonstrates the necessity of models adapted to the specific visualization of contents and the model presents an advance in quality to be applied over sequences when a determined artifact is analyzed.

An integrated assessment of two decades of air pollution policy making in Spain: Impacts, costs and improvements

This paper analyses the effects of policy making for air pollution abatement in Spain between 2000 and 2020 under an integrated assessment approach with the AERIS model for number of pollutants (NOx/NO2, PM10/PM2.5, O3, SO2, NH3 and VOC). The analysis of the effects of air pollution focused on different aspects: compliance with the European limit values of Directive 2008/50/EC for NO2 and PM10 for the Spanish air quality management areas; the evaluation of impacts caused by the deposition of atmospheric sulphur and nitrogen on ecosystems; the exceedance of critical levels of NO2 and SO2 in forest areas; the analysis of O3-induced crop damage for grapes, maize, potato, rice, tobacco, tomato, watermelon and wheat; health impacts caused by human exposure to O3 and PM2.5; and costs on society due to crop losses (O3), disability-related absence of work staff and damage to buildings and public property due to soot-related soiling (PM2.5). In general, air quality policy making has delivered improvements in air quality levels throughout Spain and has mitigated the severity of the impacts on ecosystems, health and vegetation in 2020 as target year. The findings of this work constitute an appropriate diagnosis for identifying improvement potentials for further mitigation for policy makers and stakeholders in Spain.

Evaluation of an integrated system for classification, assessment and comparison of services for long-term care in Europe: the eDESDE-LTC study

Background: The harmonization of European health systems brings with it a need for tools to allow the standardized collection of information about medical care. A common coding system and standards for the description of services are needed to allow local data to be incorporated into evidence-informed policy, and to permit equity and mobility to be assessed. The aim of this project has been to design such a classification and a related tool for the coding of services for Long Term Care (DESDE-LTC), based on the European Service Mapping Schedule (ESMS). Methods: The development of DESDE-LTC followed an iterative process using nominal groups in 6 European countries. 54 researchers and stakeholders in health and social services contributed to this process. In order to classify services, we use the minimal organization unit or “Basic Stable Input of Care” (BSIC), coded by its principal function or “Main Type of Care” (MTC). The evaluation of the tool included an analysis of feasibility, consistency, ontology, inter-rater reliability, Boolean Factor Analysis, and a preliminary impact analysis (screening, scoping and appraisal). Results: DESDE-LTC includes an alpha-numerical coding system, a glossary and an assessment instrument for mapping and counting LTC. It shows high feasibility, consistency, inter-rater reliability and face, content and construct validity. DESDE-LTC is ontologically consistent. It is regarded by experts as useful and relevant for evidence-informed decision making. Conclusion: DESDE-LTC contributes to establishing a common terminology, taxonomy and coding of LTC services in a European context, and a standard procedure for data collection and international comparison.