A novel ranking procedure for forecasting approaches using Data Envelopment Analysis

To compare the accuracy of different forecasting approaches an error measure is required. Many error measures have been proposed in the literature, however in practice there are some situations where different measures yield different decisions on forecasting approach selection and there is no agreement on which approach should be used. Generally forecasting measures represent ratios or percentages providing an overall image of how well fitted the forecasting technique is to the observations. This paper proposes a multiplicative Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model in order to rank several forecasting techniques. We demonstrate the proposed model by applying it to the set of yearly time series of the M3 competition. The usefulness of the proposed approach has been tested using the M3-competition where five error measures have been applied in and aggregated to a single DEA score

Efficiency in Spanish banking: A multistakeholder approach analysis

Searching for greater inter efficiency has been used as a reason tomodify the Spanish banking system since 2009. This paper aimsto contribute to quantify the magnitude of efficiency, but not onlythe economic one, but also social and overall efficiency from 2000to 2011. The case of Spain – compared to other banking systems –provides unique information regarding the stakeholder governancebanking literature because over the last century savings banks havebecome rooted in the Spanish culture. The results – confirmed bya two-stage frontiers analysis, a DEA and a model combined withbootstrapped tests – indicate that Spanish savings banks are notless efficient globally than banks and are more efficient socially.Moreover, our results – with potentially important implications –encourage the participation of stakeholders in banking systems andunderline the importance of attaining long-term efficiency gains tosupport financial stability objectives

A narrative review of preschool teacher burnout

Preschool teacher burnout is a significant concern, including the lack of professionals in the field, high turnover rates, and understaffed facilities and schools. Burnout in general, has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic as preschool teacher stress is at an all-time high. Preschool teachers are an understudied population exiting the workforce at a high rate, and a lot of the focus is on attrition. The majority of literature involving teachers has focused on the K-12 sector, or the higher education population, indicating a significant need to study the pre-school population more in-depth. This narrative serves as a review of the literature in journals and educational organizational sites on burnout among early childhood educators over the last ten years. The current review of literature focused on poor wages, work-family conflict, and lack of support in the classroom. Future research should assess burnout and determine ways to counter stress among this population. The literature on burnout in the preschool and early childhood education professions are scarce, and further research is needed to understand how to combat burnout in this population

Operational Research in Education

Operational Research (OR) techniques have been applied, from the early stages of the discipline, to a wide variety of issues in education. At the government level, these include questions of what resources should be allocated to education as a whole and how these should be divided amongst the individual sectors of education and the institutions within the sectors. Another pertinent issue concerns the efficient operation of institutions, how to measure it, and whether resource allocation can be used to incentivise efficiency savings. Local governments, as well as being concerned with issues of resource allocation, may also need to make decisions regarding, for example, the creation and location of new institutions or closure of existing ones, as well as the day-to-day logistics of getting pupils to schools. Issues of concern for managers within schools and colleges include allocating the budgets, scheduling lessons and the assignment of students to courses. This survey provides an overview of the diverse problems faced by government, managers and consumers of education, and the OR techniques which have typically been applied in an effort to improve operations and provide solutions

Enhancing Supplier Development: An Efficiency Perspective

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147112/1/jbl12197_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147112/2/jbl12197.pd

Organic electrode coatings for next-generation neural interfaces

Traditional neuronal interfaces utilize metallic electrodes which in recent years have reached a plateau in terms of the ability to provide safe stimulation at high resolution or rather with high densities of microelectrodes with improved spatial selectivity. To achieve higher resolution it has become clear that reducing the size of electrodes is required to enable higher electrode counts from the implant device. The limitations of interfacing electrodes including low charge injection limits, mechanical mismatch and foreign body response can be addressed through the use of organic electrode coatings which typically provide a softer, more roughened surface to enable both improved charge transfer and lower mechanical mismatch with neural tissue. Coating electrodes with conductive polymers or carbon nanotubes offers a substantial increase in charge transfer area compared to conventional platinum electrodes. These organic conductors provide safe electrical stimulation of tissue while avoiding undesirable chemical reactions and cell damage. However, the mechanical properties of conductive polymers are not ideal, as they are quite brittle. Hydrogel polymers present a versatile coating option for electrodes as they can be chemically modified to provide a soft and conductive scaffold. However, the in vivo chronic inflammatory response of these conductive hydrogels remains unknown. A more recent approach proposes tissue engineering the electrode interface through the use of encapsulated neurons within hydrogel coatings. This approach may provide a method for activating tissue at the cellular scale, however, several technological challenges must be addressed to demonstrate feasibility of this innovative idea. The review focuses on the various organic coatings which have been investigated to improve neural interface electrodes

Output-based incentive regulation in electricity distribution: evidence from Italy

Incentive regulation in electricity distribution is expected to enlarge its scope, from an input-oriented instrument to one that includes additional, output-based incentives. This creates a potential conflict with more traditional concerns for productive efficiency. In the case of Italy, together with input-oriented instruments, output-based incentives have been applied to indicators of quality for over a decade. Using micro-data from the largest Italian distribution company, we conduct an assessment of the effects of this regulatory framework. The aim of this word is threefold. First, we measure performance in terms of cost-efficiency and find that similar cost-reducing efforts were exercised in all distribution units. Second, we measure performance with respect to the overall regulatory framework. Using quality-related rewards and penalties, we find that more cost-efficient areas were also more successful in earning rewards/avoiding penalties: favorable external conditions have similar, positive effects on both cost and quality performance. Using the cost of the energy not supplied, we find no evidence of a conflict between cost efficiency and social cost efficiency. Results indicate, however, that is preferable to use social costs when measuring a single unit's performance. From these results we derive specific policy indication

Ocular inflammatory disease and ocular tuberculosis in a cohort of patients co-infected with HIV and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Mumbai, India: a cross-sectional study.

The prevalence and the patterns of ocular inflammatory disease and ocular tuberculosis (TB) are largely undocumented among Multidrug Resistant TB (MDR-TB) patients co-infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and on antituberculosis and antiretroviral therapy (ART)

Accelerated neuritogenesis and maturation of primary spinal motor neurons in response to nanofibers

Neuritogenesis, neuronal polarity formation, and maturation of axons and dendrites are strongly influenced by both biochemical and topographical extracellular components. The aim of this study was to elucidate the effects of polylactic acid electrospun fiber topography on primary motor neuron development, because regeneration of motor axons is extremely limited in the central nervous system and could potentially benefit from the implementation of a synthetic scaffold to encourage regrowth. In this analysis, we found that both aligned and randomly oriented submicron fibers significantly accelerated the processes of neuritogenesis and polarity formation of individual cultured motor neurons compared to flat polymer films and glass controls, likely due to restricted lamellipodia formation observed on fibers. In contrast, dendritic maturation and soma spreading were inhibited on fiber substrates after 2 days in vitro . This study is the first to examine the effects of electrospun fiber topography on motor neuron neuritogenesis and polarity formation. Aligned nanofibers were shown to affect the directionality and timing of motor neuron development, providing further evidence for the effective use of electrospun scaffolds in neural regeneration applications. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 70: 589–603, 2010Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/77438/1/20792_ftp.pd