Vicente Blanca Giménez

Credit risk management: A multicriteria approach to assess creditworthiness

Abstract Credit risk management is a key issue for any company at anytime, but is especially important in the case of the banking industry. This fact is more than evident in times of financial crises, when financial institutions can suffer high losses due to unpaid credits. For this reason, international financial supervisors and authorities have forced banks to monitor their credit risk and this risk is a variable that is constantly under the scrutiny of all financial agents in the international markets. There are currently several methodologies that aim to predict the default probability of debtors. Many of them use logit analysis to discriminate among debtors. New methodologies make use of neural networks or multicriteria methods. This paper presents a new proposal based on goal programming, which allows the judgement of experts to be incorporated into the model, as suggested by the Basel Committee. Our approach combines the objective information of financial variables with the subjective judgement of experts about the different relevance of these variables, so observing the Basel Committee guidelines.

Maximum Incident Erythemally Effective UV Exposure Received by Construction Workers, in Valencia, Spain.

This article analyzes the influence of Ultraviolet Erythematic Radiation (UVER) dose received by construction workers in Valencia highlighting the upper limit of the dose received for a worker in different periods of a year. Building construction usually implies workers to stand for several hours outdoors while working until roof top is finished. In Valencia, construction carried out near the coastline has been very intense in the last few years with the construction of a great amount of summer flats. This article focuses on the maximum values UVER can reach in different seasons of the year for cities with similar latitude to Valencia (39°28′N, 0°22′W), as an important way of warning construction workers about the necessity of taking preventive actions. Viospor dosimeters placed on a mannequin have been used in this study. The measurements took place between 2012 December and 2013 July.

Analysis of Erythemal UVB Dose Received Inside a Car in Valencia, Spain

Continuous exposures to ultraviolet radiation can lead to harmful effects on human skin. Professional drivers may spend more than 8 h per day inside a vehicle. This study describes an analysis of the UVER (erythemal ultraviolet radiation) received by a driver and passenger inside a vehicle. A three‐door Peugeot 206 was used for the study. VioSpor Blue Line dosimeters (with a response profile close to that of human skin) were used to measure the erythematic dose of UV radiation (able to produce erythema on human skin). Four dosimeters were placed in the drivers position and another four in the passengers position. Daily irradiance was analyzed for a day in April using PMA radiometers. The measurements were obtained on relatively clear days from February to December 2009 between 9:30 A.M. and 3 P.M. Additionally, a prediction was made of the time required to produce an erythema on the drivers skin. UVER exposure, in some of the drivers positions, exceeds the Exposure Limits given by the International Commission on Non‐Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). Skin protection measures should be taken into account by professional drivers to prevent the harmful effects of UVER radiation.