Search

The number of foreign owners in football clubs has recently increased in Europe and especially in England. This study aims to analyze whether clubs owned by foreign investors show different parameters of sporting and managerial efficiency. We use data on expected performance (from betting odds), wage costs, and the results of football clubs in the English Premier League (EPL) and English Football League Championship (EFL) over 13 seasons. We estimate different measures of efficiency using three alternative methods: expected vs. actual performance index, nonparametric conditional data envelopment analysis (DEA), and stochastic frontier, while considering foreign ownership as an exogenous factor. Our results suggest that there are not significant differences between domestic-and foreign-owned clubs.

This paper uses a novel semi‐non‐parametric approach, the so‐called stochastic non‐parametric envelopment on Z‐variables data (StoNEZD), to measure the performance of 279 European regions (in 28 EU member states and Norway) in the years 2000, 2007, and 2014. The StoNEZD approach combines the main virtues of the parametric and non‐parametric methods in a unifying framework. The proposed model accounts explicitly for the presence of contextual/exogenous factors that might affect the regional performance and allows for the use of statistical inference methods to explore the effects of such variables (agriculture‐to‐ gross value added (GVA) share, employment rate, and euro area membership). According to our results, a larger agriculture‐to‐GVA ratio has a negative impact on regional growth rates, whereas a higher employment rate has a positive influence on regional economic levels. In overall terms, the euro area membership appears to reduce regional average growth rates but seems to enhance regional average efficiency scores. Este trabajo utiliza un novedoso enfoque semi no parametrico, conocido como analisis envolvente estocastico no parametrico sobre datos de Z variables (StoNEZD, por sus siglas en ingles), para medir el desempeno de 279 regiones europeas (en 28 estados miembros de la UE y Noruega) en los anos 2000, 2007 y 2014. El enfoque StoNEZD combina las principales virtudes de los metodos parametricos y no parametricos en un solo marco. El modelo propuesto tiene en cuenta explicitamente la presencia de factores contextuales o exogenos que podrian afectar el desempeno regional y posibilita el uso de metodos de inferencia estadistica para explorar los efectos de esas variables (contribucion de la agricultura al valor anadido bruto (VAB), la tasa de empleo y la pertenencia a la zona del euro). De acuerdo con los resultados, una mayor contribucion de la agricultura al VAB tiene un efecto negativo en las tasas de crecimiento regional, mientras que una tasa de empleo mas elevada influye positivamente en los niveles economicos regionales. En terminos generales, la pertenencia a la zona del euro parece reducir las tasas promedio de crecimiento regional, pero parece mejorar los valores regionales promedio de eficiencia. 土地データは計画立案と行政に非常に重要であるが、開発途上国においてこのリソースは管理が不十分かつ利用できない場合が多い。最近独立した国では、データが削除されるなど問題が深刻化しており、新たな取り組みが必要となっている。この問題に対処するため、東ティモールにおける土地データを統合する際の法的、行政的、技術的な問題の解決策を検討し、提案する。ユーザーの視点から、データ・アクセス・インターフェースのプロトタイプを作成しテストした。このプロトタイプの実行可能性と、国土を所管する国家機関と公的と民間の両方の利害関係者に対する有用性を測定した。このプロトタイプは実用的であり、東ティモールにおける将来の土地情報システム (LIS)のあるべきかたちを予測するのに役立つことが分かった。

The paper applies some of the latest advances of probabilistic approach to account directly for unobserved heterogeneity in the estimation of efficiency measures of performance for a sample of 154 Spanish municipalities over the period 2005–2012. Specifically, we develop time-dependent nonparametric conditional measures considering unobserved factors like local government strategies or institutional arrangements that might affect local governments performance. Moreover, we apply a second-stage approach to estimate measures of pure or managerial efficiency, which are an approximation of the unexplained part of the conditional measures after removing the effect of those latent factors. The empirical results suggest that the dynamic effect of those unobserved conditions play an important role as influencing efficiency distribution and the production set. Likewise, we identify that this influence has been more emphatic towards the core of the economic and financial crisis period. In terms of policy implications, our empirical findings suggest that Spanish municipalities could not cope and adapt their administration strategies properly and in time with the ongoing volatile crisis environment.

This paper aims to contribute to the literature on subjective well-being by exploring the extent to which certain economic, social and institutional variables may affect the levels of well-being declared by individuals from different countries. To do this, we adopt a novel methodological approach based on frontier techniques in order to identify whether the maximum possible levels of well-being are achieved given the available resources. Specifically, the technique used to conduct the analysis is the stochastic nonparametric envelopment of data model, which combines the advantages of parametric methods and the flexibility of the nonparametric approach. This methodology has been adapted to deal with contextual variables by reformulating the original mathematical syntax of convex nonparametric least squares. Our empirical analysis is based on longitudinal information gathered from the World Values Survey for a set of 82 countries. Our results suggest that the most efficient countries in terms of well-being include mainly developing Latin American nations together with some European countries. Moreover, we find that several social indicators, such as the quality of government, the unemployment rate or different inequality indices, have a significant effect on the estimated efficiency measures.

Lignin is a heterogeneous aromatic polymer responsible for cell wall stiffness and protection from pathogen attack. However, lignin represents a bottleneck to biomass degradation due to its recalcitrance related to the natural cell wall resistance to release sugars for fermentation or further processing. A biological approach involving genetics and molecular biology was used to disrupt lignin pathway synthesis and decrease lignin deposition. Here, we imaged three-dimensional fragments of the petioles of wild type and C4H lignin mutant Arabidopsis thaliana plants by synchrotron cryo-ptychography. The three-dimensional images revealed the heterogeneity of vessels, parenchyma, and fibre cell wall morphologies, highlighting the relation between disturbed lignin deposition and vessel implosion (cell collapsing and obstruction of water flow). We introduce a new parameter to accurately define cell implosion conditions in plants, and we demonstrate how cryo-ptychographic X-ray computed tomography (cryo-PXCT) provides new insights for plant imaging in three dimensions to understand physiological processes.

Background In Latin American and Caribbean countries the main concern of public health care managers has been traditionally placed on problems related to funding, payment mechanisms and equity of access. However, more recently, there is a growing interest in improving the levels of efficiency and reducing costs in the provision of health services. In this paper we focus on measuring the efficiency of public hospitals in Panama, where no such studies have been conducted so far. One of the most interesting features of the public hospital system in this country is that there are two different management schemes that coexist, thus we can make a distinction between hospitals operating under the Social Security Fund (SSF) and those belonging to the Ministry of Health (MoH). Methods Our dataset includes data about 22 public hospitals (11 for each model) during the period 2005–2015. We rely on the use of Data Envelopment Analysis and the Malmquist Productivity index to calculate technical efficiency and productivity change of hospitals. In addition, we also apply bootstrapping techniques to calculate confidence intervals for the obtained efficiency and productivity scores in order to obtain more robust results. Results We find that, until the period 2012–2013, the performance of hospitals belonging to different systems experienced a similar trend. However, during the last years of the evaluated period the hospitals operating under the Social Security Fund clearly outperformed Ministry´s hospitals. The main explanation for these divergences seems to be the growth of technological change. Nevertheless, the use of bootstrapping to make statistical inferences reveals that some differences detected may not be significant. Conclusion We demonstrate that the results of traditional DEA and Malmquist index analyses need to be tested for statistical significance. Otherwise, the conclusions reached could be wrong.

The aim of this paper is the estimation of a measure of the fiscal effort made by certain countries taking into account the heterogeneous contexts in which they operate over a ten-year peri...

La utilización de la técnica del Real Decreto Ley en materia de Seguridad Social: la prolongación de la vida activa de los trabajadores y su conformidad constitucional

The chemical properties of materials are dependent on dynamic changes in their three-dimensional (3D) structure as well as on the reactive environment. We report an in situ 3D imaging study of defect dynamics of a single gold nanocrystal. Our findings offer an insight into its dynamic nanostructure and unravel the formation of a nanotwin network under CO oxidation conditions. In situ/operando defect dynamics imaging paves the way to elucidate chemical processes at the single nano-object level towards defect-engineered nanomaterials.

This paper tests whether competition and collaboration as well as a broad range of other factors lead to improved efficiency in the UK independent school sector. These schools have always operated in a competitive environment, but collaborative groupings are also observed. To answer our main aim, a robust conditional efficiency estimation is employed. Greater efficiency is associated with higher market share, at least at the low levels of market share observed in the sector. There is also some evidence of a positive effect on efficiency of collaboration. Findings regarding the efficiency of schools in the independent sector will be of interest to both independent and state schools as Government policy in the UK has over time encouraged schools in the state sector to become more competitive as an initiative designed to enhance efficiency. The Government is also encouraging greater collaboration between state schools such that they gain benefits from collaboration and sharing of good practice.

One of the most important issues accompanying the publication of the main results of the well-known Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is the classification of countries according to student attainment. However, this ranking does not take into account some highly relevant factors, such as the different resource endowments of each education system or the heterogeneous context in which schools operate. This study aims to provide a fuller picture of education system operation worldwide by assessing the managerial efficiency of secondary schools in a cross-country framework. To do this, we use data from OECD countries participating in PISA 2015 and apply a robust nonparametric approach that accounts for the fact that schools were operating under heterogeneous conditions before the efficiency measures of performance were estimated. Our results suggest that the consideration of both school resources and environmental factors significantly modifies the country ranking based solely on student results.

Mitochondria are dynamic organelles that change morphology to adapt to cellular energetic demands under both physiological and stress conditions. Cardiomyopathies and neuronal disorders are associated with structure-related dysfunction in mitochondria, but three-dimensional characterizations of the organelles are still lacking. In this study, we combined high-resolution imaging and 3D electron density information provided by cryo-soft X-ray tomography to characterize mitochondria cristae morphology isolated from murine. Using the linear attenuation coefficient, the mitochondria were identified (0.247 ± 0.04 µm−1) presenting average dimensions of 0.90 ± 0.20 µm in length and 0.63 ± 0.12 µm in width. The internal mitochondria structure was successfully identified by reaching up the limit of spatial resolution of 35 nm. The internal mitochondrial membranes invagination (cristae) complexity was calculated by the mitochondrial complexity index (MCI) providing quantitative and morphological information of mitochondria larger than 0.90 mm in length. The segmentation to visualize the cristae invaginations into the mitochondrial matrix was possible in mitochondria with MCI ≥ 7. Altogether, we demonstrated that the MCI is a valuable quantitative morphological parameter to evaluate cristae modelling and can be applied to compare healthy and disease state associated to mitochondria morphology.

BackgroundThe aim of this paper is to analyze the differences in the coordination of chronic illness care between the different public hospital management models coexisting in the Spanish region of Madrid (25 hospitals) during the period 2013–2017.MethodsThe performance of hospitals might be affected by the characteristics of the population they serve and, therefore, this information should be taken into account when estimating efficiency measures. For this purpose, we apply the nonparametric Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) conditioned to some contextual variables and adapted to a dynamic framework, so that we can assess hospitals during a five-year period. The outputs considered are preventable hospitalizations, readmissions for heart failure and readmissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, whereas the inputs considered are the number of beds, personnel (physicians and other healthcare professionals) and total expenditure on goods and services.ResultsThe results suggest that the level of efficiency demonstrated by the public-private collaboration models of hospital management is higher than traditionally managed hospitals throughout the analyzed period. Nevertheless, we notice that efficiency differences among hospitals are significantly reduced when contextual factors were taken into account.ConclusionsHospitals managed under public-private collaboration models are more efficient than those under traditional management in terms of chronic illness care coordination, being this difference attributable to more agile and flexible management under the collaborative models.

The glycoside hydrolase family 39 (GH39) is a functionally expanding family with limited understanding about the molecular basis for substrate specificity and extremophilicity. In this work, we demonstrate the key role of the positive-subsite region in modulating substrate affinity and how the lack of a C-terminal extension impacts on oligomerization and structural stability of some GH39 members. The crystallographic and SAXS structures of a new GH39 member from the phytopathogen Xanthomonas citri support the importance of an extended C-terminal to promote oligomerization as a molecular strategy to enhance thermal stability. Comparative structural analysis along with site-directed mutagenesis showed that two residues located at the positive-subsite region, Lys166 and Asp167, are critical to substrate affinity and catalytic performance, by inducing local changes in the active site for substrate binding. These findings expand the molecular understanding of the mechanisms involved in substrate recognition and structural stability of the GH39 family, which might be instrumental for biological insights, rational enzyme engineering and utilization in biorefineries.

Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of public services and at the same time reducing public deficit have become an important concern in the public sector. Undoubtedly, local governments could benefit from adhering to these objectives. They play an important role in providing public goods and services to citizens in many countries, since they are the closest political level to the population and their needs. Moreover, local authorities and public managers are increasingly under pressure to conform to the standards demanded by the general public in terms of both quantity and quality. Nevertheless, the resources to fulfill the demand for more and better local public services are scarce, especially after the cutbacks and debt constraints imposed by the economic and financial crisis. In this framework, the assessment of municipal efficiency has become a very important factor in providing additional guidance for policy makers worldwide.

The present study proposes an international comparison of education production efficiency using cross-country data on secondary schools from different countries participating in PISA 2015. Given that the context in which schools are operating might be heterogeneous, we need to account for those divergences in the environmental conditions when estimating the efficiency measures of school performance. In this way, each school can be benchmarked with units with similar characteristics regardless of the country they belong to. For this purpose, we use a robust nonparametric approach that allows us to clean the effect of contextual factors previously to the estimation of efficiency measures. Since this approach needs smoothing in the conditional variables in the middle of the sample and not at the frontier (where the number of units is smaller), it seems to be a better option than other nonparametric alternatives previously developed in the literature to deal with the effect of external factors. Likewise, by using this novel approach, we will also be able to explore how those contextual factors might affect both the attainable production set and the distribution of the efficiencies.

The treatment of the contextual variables (Z) has been one of the most controversial topics in the literature on efficiency measurement. Over the last three decades of research, different methods have been developed to incorporate the effect of such variables in the estimation of efficiency measures. However, it is unclear which alternative provides more accurate estimations. The aim of this work is to assess the performance of two recently developed estimators, namely the nonparametric conditional DEA method (Daraio and Simar in J Prod Anal 24(1):93–121, 2005; J Prod Anal 28:13–32, 2007a) and the StoNEZD (Stochastic Non-Smooth Envelopment of Z-variables Data) approach (Johnson and Kuosmanen in J Prod Anal 36(2):219–230, 2011). To do this, we conduct a Monte Carlo experiment using three different data generation processes to test how each model performs under different circumstances. Our results show that the StoNEZD approach outperforms conditional DEA in all the evaluated scenarios.

This paper reports an efficiency analysis of local tax management by provincial tax agencies in Spain based on supramunicipal delegation. To conduct this study, we used the robust order-m conditional model that directly accounts for some socioeconomic environmental variables to estimate the efficiency scores. This is a key issue, as tax agencies do not have control over the context in which they operate, and this may have a severe impact on their performance. Our results suggest that several of the provincial contextual variables accounted for (the net property tax base, population density and inhabitants of the municipalities that have delegated management to the provincial tier of government) have a negative impact on efficiency, especially at higher variable value levels. Considering that the provincial tier of government can opt to set up specific self-governing agencies to perform these tasks, we also applied metafrontier analysis to assess their share in inefficiency. We concluded that the establishment of such self-governing agencies does not lead to higher efficiency levels.

Measuring local government efficiency is a complex task that has to take into account that they usually operate in a heterogeneous context. Therefore, the estimation of relative efficiency measures of their performance needs to account for the effect of contextual and exogenous variables. This should assure that the respective measures adequately reflect the portion of inefficiency that may be attributable to local authorities. In this paper, we apply time-dependent conditional frontier estimators to assess the performance of the 278 Portuguese mainland municipalities for the 2009–2014 period. By applying this nonparametric approach, we can avoid the strong assumptions on the specification of the estimated production function required by traditional two-stage methods. Furthermore, we examine the effect of contextual variables and time on the shape of the frontier and the distribution of inefficiencies. The results reveal that the local reforms do not seem to have achieved the pursued objective of improving the efficiency of local government performance. However, we can observe a small improvement in the last year of the period after the amalgamation of some civil parishes, thus it seems that this specific process might have had a certain impact in the short term. Moreover, we find that the economic and demographic indicators included as contextual variables in our model play an important role as influencing the production set, although those effects do not seem to vary much over time. This evidence is corroborated after conducting a second-stage nonparametric regression of the conditional efficiency measures over those variables.

El envejecimiento de la población mundial es, ante todo, un logro social que se vincula a la mejora en las expectativas de vida de los ciudadanos. El hecho de llegar a cierta edad desemboca, sin embargo, en la salida del mercado laboral de trabajadores que, en principio, se encontrarían en condiciones de proseguir su actividad profesional y de aportar experiencia y conocimientos. Este fenómeno, generalizado en la mayoría de países desarrollados, es aún más relevante en España, donde confluyen simultáneamente dos características que inciden en la toma de decisiones a la hora de fijar una edad ordinaria de jubilación, no siempre tenida en cuenta por las empresas: la baja tasa de natalidad y la segunda mayor esperanza de vida del mundo, que pueden provocar en un futuro más o menos próximo, problemas de financiación en el sistema de Seguridad Social.Este dato se complica aún más si tenemos en cuenta la brecha de género en materia de protección social, que sitúa a las mujeres en una peor posición a causa de su tardía incorporación al mercado laboral y de las frecuentes interrupciones ligadas a la maternidad, que limitan la duración de su carrera profesional y que, en definitiva, culminan en una discriminación que debería ser eliminada.En este estudio se pretende analizar algunas medidas de acción positiva adoptadas en España en los últimos años, tendentes a acabar con estereotipos de género que impiden la plena igualdad entre mujeres y hombres, haciendo también referencia a posibles efectos adversos que de tales actuaciones pudieran derivarse., Le vieillissement de la population mondiale est, tout d´abord, un accomplissement social lié à l´amélioration de l´espérance de vie des citoyens. Le fait d´atteindre un certain âge conduit cependant à la sortie du marché du travail des travailleurs qui, en principe, devraient être en mesure de poursuivre leur activité professionnelle et contribuer à l´expérience et à la connaissance. Ce phénomène, répandu dans la majorité des pays développés, est encore plus pertinent en Espagne, où deux caractéristiques convergent simultanément dans la prise de décision, au moment de fixer un âge ordinaire de retraite, pas toujours pris en compte par les entreprises : le faible taux de natalité et la deuxième plus grande espérance de vie dans lemonde, ce qui peut conduire à des problèmes de financement futurs, dans un avenir plus ou moins proche dans le système de sécurité sociale.C’est encore plus compliqué si l’on tient compte de l´écart entre les sexes, en ce qui concerne la protection sociale, qui désavantage les femmes en raison de leur incorporation tardive sur le marché de travail, et des interruptions fréquentes liées à la maternité, qui limitent la durée de leur carrière professionnelle et aboutissent finalement à une discrimination que devrait être éliminée.Cette étude a pour objectif l’analyse de certaines mesures d´action positive, adoptées en Espagne ces dernières années, qui visent à mettre fin aux stéréotypes sexistes qui entravent l`égalité totale entre les hommes et les femmes, en mentionnant également les éventuels effets néfastes qui pourraient résulter de telles actions., O envelhecimento da população mundial é, antes de tudo, uma conquista social que se vincula à melhoria nas expectativas de vida dos cidadãos. O facto de chegar a uma certa idade desemboca, porém, na saída do mercado laboral de trabalhadores que, em princípio, se encontrariam em condições de seguir com a sua actividade profissional e de contribuir com experiência e conhecimentos. Este fenómeno, generalizado na maioria dos países desenvolvidos, é ainda mais relevante em Espanha, onde confluem simultaneamente duas características que incidem na tomada de decisões na hora de definir uma idade ordinária de aposentadoria, nem sempre tida em conta pelas empresas: a baixa taxa de natalidade e a segunda maior esperança de vida do mundo, que podem provocar num futuro mais ou menos próximo problemas de financiamento no sistema de Segurança Social.Este dado complica-se mais ainda se temos em conta a diferença de género em matéria de protecção social, que situa as mulheres numa pior posição devido à sua tardia incorporação no mercado laboral e das frequentes interrupções ligadas à maternidade, que limitam a duração da sua carreira profissional e que, em definitivo, culminam numa discriminação que deveria ser eliminada.Neste Estudo pretende-se analisar algumas medidas de acção positiva adotadas em Espanha nos últimos anos, tendentes a acabar com estereótipos de género que impedem a igualdade plena entre mulheres e homens, fazendo também referência a possíveis efeitos adversos que de tais actuações pudessem derivar., The ageing of the population worldwide is, above all, a social achievement that links to the improvement in the expectations of citizens. The fact of reaching a certain age ends, however, at the exit from the labour market of workers who, in principle, be able to continue their professional activity and bring experience and knowledge. This phenomenon, widespread in most developed countries, is even more relevant in Spain, where converge simultaneously two features that influence decision-making in an ordinary retirement age not always considered by the companies: the low birth rate and the second highest life expectancy in the world, which can result in the more or less near future funding problems in the social security system. This fact is further complicated if we take into account the gender gap in the field of social protection, which places women in a worse position because of their late incorporation into the labour market and the frequent work interruptions linked to motherhood that limit the length of his professional career and that, ultimately, culminate in a discrimination that should be eliminated. This Study seeks to analyse some positive action measures taken in Spain in recent years, aimed at ending gender stereotypes impeding full equality between men and women, also referring to possible adverse effects arising from such actions, Trayectorias Humanas Trascontinentales, N° 5 | 2019