The main objective of this work has been the development of a virtual sensor (VS) based on the water balance dynamics of tomato crops in greenhouses, using coconut coir substrate as an example in this case. Such sensors are used to provide a viable and economical alternative to expensive or...

In the location of ambulance bases for medical assistance, an adequate time of response must be guaranteed for each area in the region covered, incurring the minimum operating costs. Several linear models (such as the maximal covering location problem, MCLP) have been developed for designing...

This paper presents a method based on a new interpretation of the concept productiveness in order to manage local energy resources through smart loads. The assumption that electricity demand is almost completely inelastic is changing as a result of deregulated wholesale markets. In this line,...

Free-drainage or "open" substrate system used for vegetable production in greenhouses is associated with appreciable NO3- leaching losses and drainage volumes. Simulation models of crop N uptake, N leaching, water use and drainage of crops in these systems will be useful for crop and water...

In this paper, an alternative skew Student-<italic>t</italic> family of distributions is studied. It is obtained as an extension of the generalized Student-<italic>t</italic> (GS-<italic>t</italic>) family introduced by McDonald and Newey [10]. The extension that is obtained can be seen as a reparametrization of the skewed GS-<italic>t</italic> distribution...

Existing work in growth empirics either assumes linearity of the growth function or attempts to capture non-linearities by the addition of a small number of quadratic or multiplicative interaction terms. Under a more generalized failure of linearity or if the functional form taken by the...

This paper introduces a new and comprehensive Human Development Index (HDI) trends dataset for 135 countries and 40 years of annual data. We apply this dataset to answer several empirical questions related to the evolution of human development over the last 40 years. The data reveal overall...

Since its introduction in the first Human Development Report in 1990, the Human Development Index (HDI) has attracted great interest in policy and academic circles, as well as in the media and national audiences around the world. Its popularity can be attributed to the simplicity of its...

This paper presents empirical estimates of a gravity model of bilateral migration that properly accounts for non-linearities and tackles causality issues through an instrumental variables approach. In contrast to the existing literature, which is limited to OECD data, we have estimated our model...