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Inefficiency persistence and heterogeneity in Colombian electricity distribution utilities
The electricity reform in Colombia has exhibited gains in terms of reliability but its effects on firms efficiency and service quality have not been clear. Previous studies evaluating the performance of distribution companies after the reform have not found evidence of improvements, although large differences in efficiency have been found among firms. This suggests high inefficiency persistence and heterogeneity in the Colombian distribution sector. In this paper, we propose an extension of dynamic stochastic frontier models that accounts for unobserved heterogeneity in the inefficiency persistence and in the technology. The model incorporates total expenses, service quality and energy losses in an efficiency analysis of Colombian distributors over fifteen years after the reform. We identify the presence of high inefficiency persistence in the sector, and important differences between firms. In particular, rural companies and firms with small customers present low persistence and evidence the largest gains in efficiency during the period. However, increases in efficiency are only manifested during the last five years when the main improvements in service quality and energy losses are presented. Overall, inefficiency persistence, customer density and consumption density are found to be important criteria to be considered for regulatory purposes
Inefficiency persistence and heterogeneity in Colombian electricity distribution utilities
The electricity reform in Colombia has exhibited gains in terms of reliability but its effects on firms efficiency and service quality have not been clear. Previous studies evaluating the performance of distribution companies after the reform have not found evidence of improvements, although large differences in efficiency have been found among firms. This suggests high inefficiency persistence and heterogeneity in the Colombian distribution sector. In this paper, we propose an extension of dynamic stochastic frontier models that accounts for unobserved heterogeneity in the inefficiency persistence and in the technology. The model incorporates total expenses, service quality and energy losses in an efficiency analysis of Colombian distributors over fifteen years after the reform. We identify the presence of high inefficiency persistence in the sector, and important differences between firms. In particular, rural companies and firms with small customers present low persistence and evidence the largest gains in efficiency during the period. However, increases in efficiency are only manifested during the last five years when the main improvements in service quality and energy losses are presented. Overall, inefficiency persistence, customer density and consumption density are found to be important criteria to be considered for regulatory purposes
Bayesian estimation of inefficiency heterogeneity in stochastic frontier models
Estimation of the one sided error component in stochastic frontier models may erroneously attribute firm characteristics to inefficiency if heterogeneity is unaccounted for. However, unobserved inefficiency heterogeneity has been little explored. In this work, we propose to capture it through a random parameter which may affect the location, scale, or both parameters of a truncated normal inefficiency distribution using a Bayesian approach. Our findings using two real data sets, suggest that the inclusion of a random parameter in the inefficiency distribution is able to capture latent heterogeneity and can be used to validate the suitability of observed covariates to distinguish heterogeneity from inefficiency. Relevant effects are also found on separating and shrinking individual posterior efficiency distributions when heterogeneity affects the location and scale parameters of the one-sided error distribution, and consequently affecting the estimated mean efficiency scores and rankings. In particular, including heterogeneity simultaneously in both parameters of the inefficiency distribution in models that satisfy the scaling property leads to a decrease in the uncertainty around the mean scores and less overlapping of the posterior efficiency distributions, which provides both more reliable efficiency scores and rankings
Entropy and temperature of black holes in a gravity's rainbow
The linear relation between the entropy and area of a black hole can be
derived from the Heisenberg principle, the energy-momentum dispersion relation
of special relativity, and general considerations about black holes. There
exist results in quantum gravity and related contexts suggesting the
modification of the usual dispersion relation and uncertainty principle. One of
these contexts is the gravity's rainbow formalism. We analyze the consequences
of such a modification for black hole thermodynamics from the perspective of
two distinct rainbow realizations built from doubly special relativity. One is
the proposal of Magueijo and Smolin and the other is based on a canonical
implementation of doubly special relativity put forward recently by the
authors. In these scenarios, we obtain modified expressions for the entropy and
temperature of black holes. We show that, for a family of doubly special
relativity theories satisfying certain properties, the temperature can vanish
in the limit of zero black hole mass. For the Magueijo and Smolin proposal,
this is only possible for some restricted class of models with bounded energy
and unbounded momentum. With the proposal of a canonical implementation, on the
other hand, the temperature may vanish for more general theories; in
particular, the momentum may also be bounded, with bounded or unbounded energy.
This opens new possibilities for the outcome of black hole evaporation in the
framework of a gravity's rainbow.Comment: 11 pages, 2 new references added, version accepted for publication in
Physical Review
Variación anual de la concentración de aeropolen de Compositae en la atmósfera de Córdoba
La familia Composirae corwi tU)'C un grupo CU)'OS representantes son cntomófilas,
por ello las concentraciones deted adas en la atmósfera han sido bajas. El muestreo se llevó a
cabo en Córdoba durante los años 1982. 1983 y 1984 mediante un mucstrcador BURKARD
sporc-trap colccado a unos 15m de altura. Se han reconocido un total de 7 tí pos morfológico!>
de granos de polen pertenecientes a esta ramilia: tipo Aruflemis,Artemisia, Clutaurea, tipo fleliam!
tuJ, Iipo Taraxawm, Srneáo yXa11lhium. Las mayorcscantidadm. tic granos de polen de·
teClados pertenecen al tipo l!t !illntlzus, considerados como alergcnos por algunos autores. Sus
altas conccnt.radoncs en el aire, en la época de. rccolc.cción del girasol, hace que posiblemente
tenga alguna importanci<~ e~~ las polinosis cslivalu. Se han detectado granos de polen. de procedencia
lejana, deArtemi.fia, planta con polen ahamenlc alcrgógcno, por tanto pueda ser causa
de polioosis de verano en aquellas zonils de !a pro\'incia donde es abundanlcThc Composírae bclong 10 a broad systcmatic group allhough, duc to rhe cntomophylous
charactcr of thc spccics, the pollcn conccnltations of lhc samplcs in thc atmosphcrc
in thc city of Córdob3 were not beco vcry high. Sampling of poli en grains was e<1rricd out for
thrcc ycars (1982, 1983 and 1984) by n1eans ola Burkard sporc- trap samplcr locatcd about t5
m abovc ground leve!. Scvcn morphologica1 typcs of rollen grain~ wcrc recognizcd: AnOzemir,
Artemisia, Ccntaurcu typc, Helianrhus typ::, Toraxocum, Su:r:cio and Xanrhium rypc~. Thc largeSI
annual amounts of poUeo glilins U::tcclcd wcrc of Hefiamlms typ:, considcrcd allcrgcnic
by many authors. Thc higl1er lc-.·els in thc a.ir (ounU duriog tbc. harvcsling scason of sunflowcrs
may be rc.spansible for summcr pollinoscs. Arlt misia pollcn g.rains dcvcloping far from thc
sampling point wcrc dctcctc:d. Thcsc !.pccics are probably responsible for parl of summcr polli noses
duc lo their higb aJlergenic polcntial, at lcast in thc arcas whcrc this plant is abundan!
Graphic Classes in the Worldwide Classroom: A Comparison of Two MOOC Experiences
Graphics are present in the day-to-day professional practice of architects and engineers, not only to receive and transmit information, but also to design and create. Students who are accepted on university courses have varied curriculum vitae, and some may initially lack skills. Consequently, engineering schools have developed a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) entitled “The Language of Engineering” (ELI), which reviews basic geometry concepts and develops spatial intelligence, among others. The Barcelona School of Architecture has produced “From reality to design. From design to augmented reality” (RA), which covers topics including traditional architectural representation and the latest techniques. The goal of this study was to explain and analyse the main characteristics and learning strategies of these two MOOC (strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for improvement). The results show that although strategies vary depending on the subjects, the contents and exercises should be practical and adapted to students (interests, level, time availability and aesthetics), always considering motivation as a key point (gamification). These topics have been found to have a considerable influence on the success of a MOOC. Therefore, the conclusions should be considered in subsequent versions of these courses and other MOOCs.Postprint (author's final draft
The discrimination capabilities of Micromegas detectors at low energy
The latest generation of Micromegas detectors show a good energy resolution,
spatial resolution and low threshold, which make them idoneous in low energy
applications. Two micromegas detectors have been built for dark matter
experiments: CAST, which uses a dipole magnet to convert axion into detectable
x-ray photons, and MIMAC, which aims to reconstruct the tracks of low energy
nuclear recoils in a mixture of CF4 and CHF3. These readouts have been
respectively built with the microbulk and bulk techniques, which show different
gain, electron transmission and energy resolutions. The detectors and the
operation conditions will be described in detail as well as their
discrimination capabilities for low energy photons will be discussed.Comment: To be published in the proceedings of the TIPP2011 conference
(Physics Procedia
Gaseous time projection chambers for rare event detection: Results from the T-REX project. II. Dark matter
As part of the T-REX project, a number of R&D and prototyping activities have
been carried out during the last years to explore the applicability of
Micromegas-read gaseous TPCs in rare event searches like double beta decay
(DBD), axion research and low-mass WIMP searches. While in the companion paper
we focus on DBD, in this paper we focus on the results regarding the search for
dark matter candidates, both axions and WIMPs. Small ultra-low background
Micromegas detectors are used to image the x-ray signal expected in axion
helioscopes like CAST at CERN. Background levels as low as
c keVcms have already been achieved in CAST while values
down to c keVcms have been obtained in a
test bench placed underground in the Laboratorio Subterr\'aneo de Canfranc.
Prospects to consolidate and further reduce these values down to
c keVcmswill be described. Such detectors, placed at the
focal point of x-ray telescopes in the future IAXO experiment, would allow for
10 better signal-to-noise ratio than CAST, and search for solar axions with
down to few 10 GeV, well into unexplored axion
parameter space. In addition, a scaled-up version of these TPCs, properly
shielded and placed underground, can be competitive in the search for low-mass
WIMPs. The TREX-DM prototype, with 0.300 kg of Ar at 10 bar, or
alternatively 0.160 kg of Ne at 10 bar, and energy threshold well below 1
keV, has been built to test this concept. We will describe the main technical
solutions developed, as well as the results from the commissioning phase on
surface. The anticipated sensitivity of this technique might reach
cm for low mass ( GeV) WIMPs, well beyond current
experimental limits in this mass range.Comment: Published in JCAP. New version with erratum incorporated (new figure
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