A spreading method to improve efficiency prediction.

In efficiency analysis by means of a stochastic frontier production function, the composite error variable includes the inefficiency component. For this reason, individual prediction cannot be made directly from an estimation of the error in the model. In order to solve this problem, Jondrow et al (1982), and Battese and Coelli (1988) separately developed two different procedures, based on the expectation operator of the conditional distributions. Although the two predictors are different, each suffers from a shrinkage effect with respect to the distribution of theoretical efficiency. Our study of the behaviour of these two predictors leads us to conclude that the value of the gamma parameter has a great influence on the above-mentioned effect, producing a truncation of the distribution that could be more than 50%, so that the extreme values of the efficiency can never be estimated by the predictors considered. We also propose a method that spreads out the predicted efficiencies in order to minimise the shrinkage effect. The Monte Carlo results demonstrate that the corrected predictions have a better behaviour than the original predictors.Efficiency, Frontier models, Monte Carlo methods.

Morphological variations in bipedal dinosaur tracks from the Aguada de Tuco tracksite, Candeleros Formation (Cenomanian, Upper Cretaceous) of northwestern Patagonia, Argentina

New bipedal dinosaur tracks from the Aguada de Tuco tracksite of the Cenomanian Candeleros Formation (Neuquén Group, Neuquén Basin, Argentina) are reported here. These tracks are preserved in medium grain-sized sandstones from fluvial deposits in three different stratigraphic levels (Level 1-3). The Level 1 comprises deep tridactyl tracks with apparent metatarsal impressions (average length of 31 cm) preserved as true tracks and undertracks, perhaps generated due to simply sinking of the pes into a soft substrate. The Level 2 includes large tridactyl tracks (average length of 58 cm) found a few meters close to a previously studied sauropod trackway. These bipedal and quadrupedal large tracks differ in several preservational features probably due to differences in the pedal shape and substrate interaction between these trackmakers. Level 3 comprises small to large tridactyl tracks (length from 6 to 34 cm) with a broad variety of morphologies including intra-trackway variation, suggesting changes in the substrate properties, mainly moisture content, along the tracking surface. Considering that the footprints studied here are poorly preserved, they were not assigned to any particular ichnotaxon. The large tridactyl tracks were attributed to theropod trackmakers while medium and small tracks to undetermined bipedal dinosaurs. This tracksite exemplifies inter- and intra-trackways morphological variability of dinosaur tridactyl tracks controlled mainly by the substrate properties.Fil: Heredia, Arturo Miguel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber"; ArgentinaFil: Pazos, Pablo Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber"; ArgentinaFil: Díaz Martínez, Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; Argentina1° Reunión Virtual de Comunicaciones de la Asociación Paleontológica ArgentinaBuenos AiresArgentinaAsociación Paleontológica Argentin

Bearings Fault Detection Using Inference Tools

The most used electric machine in the industry is the Induction Motor (IM), due to its simplicity and reduced cost. The analysis of the origin of IMs failures exhibits that the bearings are the major source of fault, and even a common cause of degradation in other kinds of motors as Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Analysis of substrate variations related to dinosaur track preservation from the Aguada de Tuco area, Candeleros Formation (Cenomanian), Neuquén Basin, Argentina

Fossil tracks provide direct information of the activity of a trackmaker during the interaction with the substrate. Track morphology can exhibit differences as a response to changes in substrate physical parameters like humidity, grain-size and sediment composition, as well as response to the limb dynamics and foot anatomy of the trackmaker. Recently, several dinosaur tracks with different preservational variants were found in a tracksite under study of the Candeleros Formation (Aguada de Tuco). An unusual narrow-gauge sauropod trackway preserved in fine-grained sandstones from floodplain deposits was documented. Each left track shows bulky and high (vertical) rims, significantly larger than the right ones. Thus a different substrate property between them is envisaged. These bulky rims also show well-preserved and non-deformed ripples on the top, suggesting a moist underlying substrate but with a dried or stabilised top that was only displaced upward during the track formation. The same stratigraphic surface contains a set of three extended tridactyl trackways, deeply impressed with no variation in the morphology of each track. In consequence no changes in substrate properties are interpreted between them. However, some discontinuous and shallow sauropod tracks were produced before the tridactyl trackways as they are overimprinted. Interestingly, 10 m apart a cluster of theropod trackways exhibit larger and shallower tracks than the previous one, which indicate a more consistent substrate, considering that they correspond to larger producers in the last case. In conclusion, the general track morphology is mainly conditioned by changes in substrate consistency over time in the same area.Fil: Heredia, Arturo Miguel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber"; ArgentinaFil: Pazos, Pablo Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber". Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Estudios Andinos "Don Pablo Groeber"; ArgentinaFil: Díaz Martínez, Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Paleobiología y Geología; ArgentinaReunión de Comunicaciones de la Asociación Paleontológica ArgentinaPuerto MadrynArgentinaAsociación Paleontológica Argentin

Evaluation of Citriculture Mechanisation Level in Valencia Region (Spain): Poll Results

[EN] The increase of the technology level of citrus production operations is required to improve production profitability and reduce production costs. In the framework of the project CITRUSTECH ("Technological advances for modernisation and sustainability in citrus production"), three different poll questionnaires were developed and conducted in the Valencia region to assess the citriculture mechanisation level. In total, 142 questionaries for small and medium-size plantations, 32 for cooperative technicians and 16 for large-size plantations were conducted. From a socioeconomic point of view, clear age and sex inequalities were found. From the technological point of view, relevant differences were found between plantation sizes. The role of the cooperative mechanisation services (custom cost) and other customer services was revealed, with a higher percentage of the area under cultivation at the expense of the small-size plantations. The use of some manual tools was confirmed in pruning, even in large-size orchards. In small-size orchards, the use of backpack sprayers was verified. Regarding farm machinery, besides tractors, hydro-pneumatic sprayers and agricultural shredders were employed. No farm machinery was used during harvesting operations, apart from transport equipment, due to the reduced plantation frames.This research has been funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and cofounded by the Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentacion (project GO "Avances tecnologicos para la modernizacion y la sostenibilidad en la produccion de citricos CITRUSTECH").Ortiz Sánchez, MC.; Torregrosa, A.; Martínez, JM. (2022). Evaluation of Citriculture Mechanisation Level in Valencia Region (Spain): Poll Results. Agronomy. 12(6):1-6. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy120613661612

Researcher Vulnerability in Doing Collaborative Autoethnography: Moving to a Post-Qualitative Stance

As educational researchers, we hold monthly meetings to discuss our methodological and personal feelings and uncertainties while transitioning from a qualitative to a post-qualitative stance, which involved using artistic/cartographic methods. This shift affected us, unveiling our professional and personal vulnerability. In an exercise of collaborative autoethnography, in this text we describe what it meant for us to engage in this type of study and how the resulting shift in our academic logic, which was originally grounded in more traditional orthodoxies, made us vulnerable and uncomfortable, thus allowing a more ethical investigation. Through these processes we reveal the effect of a research process that placed us in an uncomfortable situation, which in turn allowed new questions to emerge. Finally, we reclaim the need to make not only these professional tensions public but perhaps our failures as well.Als Bildungsforscher*innen veranstalten wir monatliche Treffen, um unsere Erfahrungen und Unsicherheiten auf dem Weg von einer qualitativen hin zu einer post-qualitativen Position zu diskutieren, wobei wir künstlerische und kartografische Verfahren verwenden. Dieser Prozess hat uns affiziert und unsere persönliche und professionelle Vulnerabilität sichtbar werden lassen. Mittels einer kollaborativen Autoethnografie beschreiben wir in diesem Beitrag, was dieses Engagement für uns bedeutet (hat) und wie die Veränderung unserer eigenen akademischen Logik, ursprünglich eher traditionellen und orthodoxen Methodologien verpflichtet, uns verletzbar gemacht, zugleich aber eine ethischere Forschung erlaubt hat. Insoweit zeigen wir, dass diese Prozesse uns zwar einerseits in eher unbehagliche Situationen brachten, andererseits aber erst ermöglichten, uns neuen Forschungsfragen zuzuwenden. Am Ende sollten jedoch nicht nur professionelle Spannungen öffentlich werden können, sondern es bedarf wahrscheinlich zusätzlich der Bereitschaft, eigene Fehler aufzudecken

MMP-2 and sTNF-R1 variability in patients with essential hypertension: 1-year follow-up study

The aim of this study is to analyze MMP-2 and sTNF-R1 variability, potent predictors of cardiovascular events, in stable hypertensive patients during a 12-month followup. 234 asymptomatic patients (age 6 0 ± 1 3 , 136 male) out of 252 patients with essential hypertension were followed up. MMP-2 and sTNF-R1 were measured at baseline and after 12 months (stage I). To compare MMP-2 and sTNF-R1 levels over time interval, we used the statistical method of Bland-Altman. MMP-2 and sTNF-R1 reproducibility was good in our patients for the two intervals with a coefficient of reproducibility of 8.2% and 11.3%, respectively. The percentages of patients within 1.96 × standard deviation of the mean were 93.6% and 92.7%. An elevated coefficient of correlation was obtained for MMP-2, basal versus stage I

EMA Fault Detection Using Fuzzy Inference Tools

Acoustic emission (AE) is one of the most important non-destructive testing (NDT) methods for materials, constructions and machines. Acoustic emission is defined as the transient elastic energy that is spontaneously released when materials undergo deformation, fracture, or both. This interdisciplinary book consists of 17 chapters, which widely discuss the most important applications of AE method as machinery and civil structures condition assessment, fatigue and fracture materials research, detection of material defects and deformations, diagnostics of cutting tools and machine cutting process, monitoring of stress and ageing in materials, research, chemical reactions and phase transitions research, and earthquake prediction.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version