Scheduling commercial advertisements for television

The problem of scheduling the commercial advertisements in the television industry is investigated. Each advertiser client demands that the multiple airings of the same brand advertisement should be as spaced as possible over a given time period. Moreover, audience rating requests have to be taken into account in the scheduling. This is the first time this hard decision problem is dealt with in the literature. We design two mixed integer linear programming (MILP) models. Two constructive heuristics, local search procedures and simulated annealing (SA) approaches are also proposed. Extensive computational experiments, using several instances of various sizes, are performed. The results show that the proposed MILP model which represents the problem as a network flow obtains a larger number of optimal solutions and the best non-exact procedure is the one that uses SA

Bootstrap based uncertainty bands for prediction in functional kriging

The increasing interest in spatially correlated functional data has led to the development of appropriate geostatistical techniques that allow to predict a curve at an unmonitored location using a functional kriging with external drift model that takes into account the effect of exogenous variables (either scalar or functional). Nevertheless uncertainty evaluation for functional spatial prediction remains an open issue. We propose a semi-parametric bootstrap for spatially correlated functional data that allows to evaluate the uncertainty of a predicted curve, ensuring that the spatial dependence structure is maintained in the bootstrap samples. The performance of the proposed methodology is assessed via a simulation study. Moreover, the approach is illustrated on a well known data set of Canadian temperature and on a real data set of PM$_{10}$ concentration in the Piemonte region, Italy. Based on the results it can be concluded that the method is computationally feasible and suitable for quantifying the uncertainty around a predicted curve. Supplementary material including R code is available upon request

THE ANDEAN PRICE BAND SYSTEM: EFFECTS ON PRICES, PROTECTION AND PRODUCER WELFARE

The Andean Community's Price Band System (APBS), introduced in 1995, had the announced goal of reducing domestic price instability by buffering fluctuations in international prices through use of a variable import tariff. This paper evaluates the effects of the Andean Price Band System on domestic producer price variability, levels of nominal protection and changes in producer welfare. Application is made to four important food products - maize, rice, sugar and milk - in Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, from the period 1990 to 1998. The effects of the APBS on producer price variability are analyzed through 1) comparing coefficients of variation of detrended, monthly deseasonalized real prices before and after the harmonization of the APBS in 1995, and 2) variance decomposition of real domestic prices. For Colombia and Ecuador, the APBS is shown to have successfully reduced real price instability below levels of instability which existed prior to its introduction. Real exchange rate instability also decreased sharply in these two countries following introduction of the APBS. In Venezuela, real price instability is shown to have increased following introduction of the APBS, while real exchange rate instability was unchanged. The APBS' effects on producer price protection are examined through estimation of average nominal protection coefficients for the twelve country-commodity combinations identified above before and after the introduction of the APBS. Results show that in all three countries and four virtually all products, the APBS contributed to increased producer protection. Finally, this paper uses a variant of the Newbery-Stiglitz approach to calculate efficiency benefits due to risk reduction among producers and the transfer benefits created by redistributing income among producers, consumers and government. The results show that the risk reduction benefits created by the APBS are small. Similarly, the income transfer effects, though larger, are also low, and both contribute to generally low levels of estimated producer welfare effects. Overall, the paper concludes that the APBS has been of limited usefulness as a policy instrument designed to reduce producer price variability in an economically efficient manner.Andean Community, price band system, agricultural prices, price stabilization, Demand and Price Analysis,

Female wastelanders revisited: gender equality in The Waste Land

Durante muchos años, la crítica literaria ha tachado The Waste Land, de T. S. Eliot, de poema misógino, pero ambos sexos parecen estar condenados bajo el tema principal del poema: la esterilidad de las relaciones humanas. El enfoque de este análisis libera al poema de tal etiqueta, ofreciendo así una visión más conciliadora y ecuánime del poeta, el cual no culpabiliza ni victimiza en su totalidad al género femenino, sino que retrata a ambos sexos tanto como culpables como de víctimas de la automatización de las relaciones sexuales y sus consecuencias: la incomunicación y la falta de regeneración.Departamento de Filología InglesaMáster en Estudios Ingleses Avanzados: Lenguas y Culturas en Contact

Legal Aspects which Implement Good Practice Measures in the Management of Construction and Demolition Waste

The construction industry, one of the most important ones in the development of a country, generates unavoidable impacts on the environment. The social demand towards greater respect for the environment is a high and general outcry. Therefore, the construction industry needs to reduce the impact it produces. Proper waste management is not enough; we must take a further step in environmental management, where new measures need to be introduced for the prevention at source, such as good practices to promote recycling. Following the amendment of the legal frame applicable to Construction and Demolition Waste (C&D waste), important developments have been incorporated in European and International laws, aiming to promote the culture of reusing and recycling. This change of mindset, that is progressively taking place in society, is allowing for the consideration of C&D waste no longer as an unusable waste, but as a reusable material. The main objective of the work presented in this paper is to enhance C&D waste management systems through the development of preventive measures during the construction process. These measures concern all the agents intervening in the construction process as only the personal implication of all of them can ensure an efficient management of the C&D waste generated. Finally, a model based on preventive measures achieves organizational cohesion between the different stages of the construction process, as well as promoting the conservation of raw materials through the use and waste minimization. All of these in order to achieve a C&D waste management system, whose primary goal is zero waste generatio

Pensamiento ilustrado y ciencia traducida

En este estudio se presenta una visión global de Antonio José Navarro como sacerdote, como científico y como traductor. Fue un distinguido cura ilustrado, representativo del siglo XVIII español. Sin embargo, dedicó sus mayores esfuerzos a la ciencia y estudio de la naturaleza, a ejemplo de la escuela naturalista francesa. Como naturalista preocupado por lograr el bienestar de sus conciudadanos se sirvió de la ciencia para conseguir este empeño. La traducción fue la herramienta para culminarlo. Utilizó la traducción de formas diferentes: como formación e información y como base metodológica de trabajo para sus hallazgos. No obstante, éste no fue para Navarro un mero trasvase de ideas y textos. Tuvo la habilidad de enriquecerlos con sus observaciones personales de la naturaleza.This paper offers a global view of Antonio José Navarro as priest, scientist and translator. He was a prominent enlightened priest, representative of the Spanish XVIII century. However, his secret and strong efforts were devoted to science and nature, following the steps of the French Naturalist School. He was a passionate naturalist worried for the well being of his fellow countrymen. Science was the path to fulfill this endeavour, and translation the best tool to achieve it. He used translation in different ways: as scientific data and research, and as methodological basis for his findings. Nevertheless, to Navarro translation was not a mere carrier of ideas and texts, he had the ability to enrich them with his personal observations of natur

Propuesta de intervención en los prerrequisitos lectoescritores: diseño de una prueba de observación e intervención

La lectoescritura es la base del desarrollo y del aprendizaje. Es necesaria para aprender, para comunicarnos y para transmitir información. Hoy en día las dificultades de lectoescritura están muy presentes en los centros escolares, agravándose a medida que los alumnos ascienden de curso. La actuación temprana, por ello, es crucial para solventar estas dificultades. Tomando como base algunos prerrequisitos lectoescritores, se ha diseñado una Prueba de Observación y una intervención, que siguen la misma línea, con el fin de solventar las dificultades lectoescritoras. Se ha puesto en práctica con un alumno y se analizan y comentan los resultados obtenidos y ciertas propuestas de mejora.Literacy is the basis of development and learning. It is necessary to learn to communicate and to transmit information. Today, reading and writing difficulties are very prevalent in schools, and are more serious as students move up the grade. Early action is crucial to overcome these difficulties. Based on some prerequisites, an Observation Test and an intervention has been designed, following the same line, in order to solve the reading difficulties. It has been implemented with a student and the results obtained and certain proposals for improvement are analyzed and discussed.Grado en Educación Primari