Optimal safety incentives in road concession contracts

Changes in the roles of the government and the private sector in the provision of public services along with budget constraints are resulting in an increasing use of the concession approach for financing and managing roads. In the last few years, many of these contracts set up incentives linked to bonuses to encourage the concessionaire to render a better service to the users. Road safety is one the aspects on the basis of which concessionaires can be rewarded according to their performance. The goal of this paper is to evaluate whether road safety incentives are being defined in the right way nowadays in different European countries and also identify what incentives would need to be implemented to achieve a socially optimal road safety level. To that end, we develop a specific incentive for road concession contracts that encourages companies to achieve the optimal level. We apply this methodology to three case studies of concessions recently awarded in order to determine to what extend the incentives they set up are closer or farther to the optimum.

Option contracts for allocating water in inter-basin transfers: the case of the Tagus-Segura Basin in Spain

Users in the Mediterranean region face significant water supply risks. Water markets mechanisms can provide flexibility to water systems run in tight situations. The largest water infrastructure in the Iberian Peninsula connects the Segura and Tagus Basins. Stakeholders and politicians in the Tagus Basin have asked that water transfers between the two basins be eventually phased out. The need to increase the statutory minimum environmental flow in the middle Tagus and to meet new urban demands is going to result in a redefinition of the Transfer?s management rules, leading to a reduction in the transferable volumes. To minimise the consequences of such restrictions to irrigators in the Segura Basin who depend on the transferred volumes, we propose the establishment of water option contracts between both basins that represents an institutional innovation with respect to previous inter-basin spot market experiences. Based on the draft of the new Tagus Basin Plan, we propose both a modification of the Transfer?s management rule and an innovative inter-basin option contract. The main goal of the paper is to define this contract and evaluate it with respect to non-market scenarios. We also assess the resulting impact on environmental flows in the Tagus River and water availability for users in the Segura Basin, together with the economic impacts of such contract on both basins. Our results show that the proposed option contract would reduce the impact of a change in the transfer?s management rule, and reduce the supply risks of the recipient area.

Analysis of the Optimal Sharing of Construction Risk in Public Procurement Contracts

This paper discusses a model based on the agency theory to analyze the optimal transfer of construction risk in public works contracts. The base assumption is that of a contract between a principal (public authority) and an agent (firm), where the payment mechanism is linear and contains an incentive mechanism to enhance the effort of the agent to reduce construction costs. A theoretical model is proposed starting from a cost function with a random component and assuming that both the public authority and the firm are risk averse. The main outcome of the paper is that the optimal transfer of construction risk will be lower when the variance of errors in cost forecast, the risk aversion of the firm and the marginal cost of public funds are larger, while the optimal transfer of construction risk will grow when the variance of errors in cost monitoring and the risk aversion of the public authority are larger

Optimization of water procurement decisions in an irrigation district: the role of option contracts

Water supply instability is one of the main risks faced by irrigation districts and farmers. Water procurement decision optimisation is essential in order to increase supply reliability and reduce costs. Water markets, such as spot purchases or water supply option contracts, can make this decision process more flexible. We analyse the potential interest in an option contract for an irrigation district that has access to several water sources. We apply a stochastic recursive mathematical programming model to simulate the water procurement decisions of an irrigation district?s board operating in a context of water supply uncertainty in south-eastern Spain. We analyse what role different option contracts could play in securing its water supply. Results suggest that the irrigation district would be willing to accept the proposed option contract in most cases subject to realistic values of the option contract financial terms. Of nine different water sources, desalination and the option contract are the main substitutes, where the use of either depends on the contract parameters. The contract premium and optioned volume are the variables that have a greater impact on the irrigation district?s decisions. Key words: Segura Basin, stochastic recursive programming, water markets, water supply option contract, water supply risk.

Labor risk prevention culture encouragement among students from building degree in the Technical University of Madrid

The influence of training in labor risk prevention and the development of the resulting pre-emptive culture are analyzed within this paper. In order to achieve this, a quantitative analysis of the students of Building Degree in the Technic University of Madrid has been developed. This study has been made in all grades, valuating the previous knowledge acquired during compulsory education. It must be kept in mind that the students in 3rd and 4th grade have received general and specific compulsory training in prevention and safety in the building sector.

Monitoring compliance with E-contracts and norms

Date of Acceptance: 09/07/2015

Division of Labor among the α6β4 Integrin, β1 Integrins, and an E3 Laminin Receptor to Signal Morphogenesis and β-Casein Expression in Mammary Epithelial Cells

Contact of cultured mammary epithelial cells with the basement membrane protein laminin induces multiple responses, including cell shape changes, growth arrest, and, in the presence of prolactin, transcription of the milk protein β-casein. We sought to identify the specific laminin receptor(s) mediating the multiple cell responses to laminin. Using assays with clonal mammary epithelial cells, we reveal distinct functions for the α6β4 integrin, β1 integrins, and an E3 laminin receptor. Signals from laminin for β-casein expression were inhibited in the presence of function-blocking antibodies against both the α6 and β1 integrin subunits and by the laminin E3 fragment. The α6-blocking antibody perturbed signals mediated by the α6β4 integrin, and the β1-blocking antibody perturbed signals mediated by another integrin, the α subunit(s) of which remains to be determined. Neither α6- nor β1-blocking antibodies perturbed the cell shape changes resulting from cell exposure to laminin. However, the E3 laminin fragment and heparin both inhibited cell shape changes induced by laminin, thereby implicating an E3 laminin receptor in this function. These results elucidate the multiplicity of cell-extracellular matrix interactions required to integrate cell structure and signaling and ultimately permit normal cell function.

Expression of a Hox gene, Cnox-2, and the division of labor in a colonial hydroid

We report the isolation and expression of the Hox gene, Cnox-2, in Hydractinia symbiolongicarpus, a hydrozoan displaying division of labor. We found different patterns of aboral-to-oral Cnox-2 expression among polyp polymorphs, and we show that experimental conversion of one polyp type to another is accompanied by concordant alteration in Cnox-2 expression. Our results are consistent with the suggestion that polyp polymorphism, characteristic of hydractiniid hydroids, arose via evolutionary modification of proportioning of head to body column.

Common endocrine and genetic mechanisms of behavioral development in male and worker honey bees and the evolution of division of labor.

Temporal polyethism is a highly derived form of behavioral development displayed by social insects. Hormonal and genetic mechanisms regulating temporal polyethism in worker honey bees have been identified, but the evolution of these mechanisms is not well understood. We performed three experiments with male honey bees (drones) to investigate how mechanisms regulating temporal polyethism may have evolved because, relative to workers, drones display an intriguing combination of similarities and differences in behavioral development. We report that behavioral development in drones is regulated by mechanisms common to workers. In experiment 1, drones treated with the juvenile hormone (JH) analog methoprene started flying at significantly younger ages than did control drones, as is the case for workers. In experiment 2, there was an age-related increase in JH associated with the onset of drone flight, as in workers. In experiment 3, drones derived from workers with fast rates of behavioral development themselves started flying at younger ages than drones derived from workers with slower rates of behavioral development. These results suggest that endocrine and genetic mechanisms associated with temporal polyethism did not evolve strictly within the context of worker social behavior.

Exposure to Chinese imports andlocal labor market outcomes. An Analysis for Spanish provinces

In the period 1999-2007 Spanish imports from China multiplied by six, making that Asian country the fourth largest supplier to the Spanish economy. In this paper, we analyse whether this massive increase in imports impacted on the labour markets of Spanish provinces to differing degrees, due to differences in their initial productive specialization. Our results show that Spanish provinces with a higher exposure to Chinese imports experienced larger drops in manufacturing employment as a share of the working-age population. However, this reduction was compensated for by increases in non-manufacturing employment.

La labor científica de fray Jerónimo de Alcalá, OFM: una etnografía misionera del siglo XVI

En el presente artículo revisamos el trabajo etnográfico que un misionero franciscano del siglo XVI, fray Jerónimo de Alcalá, realizó por medio de la traducción. Su principal obra, la Relación de Michoacán, constituye uno de los más valiosos manuscritos coloniales de toda América. Para su elaboración recopiló, tradujo y fijó en el papel la tradición oral purépecha, rescatando del olvido el testimonio histórico y antropológico de la riqueza cultural michoacana. El rigor científico de su trabajo de campo, que acometió humildemente como “fiel intérprete” y con mera intención misional, ha hecho de su obra una fuente documental imprescindible.

Information systems contracts and relationships: A Spanish perspective

Despite the proliferation of academic research on information systems outsourcing, not many studies analyze the characteristics of outsourcing contracts. This research aims to provide an in-depth description of information systems outsourcing. An additional objective is to examine how these characteristics evolve over time. Finally, this study reports on the usefulness of measuring such characteristics over time to assess the maturity level of the information systems outsourcing. This study gathers the data from the responses of the information systems managers of the largest Spanish firms to a questionnaire. This longitudinal study covers 12 years of research and compares authors' previous research results with the results of this study.

Conditions of labor in American industries: a summarization of the results of recent investigations

by W. Jett Lauck and Edgar Sydenstricker.

Immigration and labor: the economic aspects of European immigration to the United States

by Isaac A. Hourwich.