Statistical inference for testing gini coefficients: an application for Colombia

This paper uses Colombian household survey data collected over the period 1984-2005 to estimate Gini coeficients along with their corresponding standard errors. We �find a statistically signi�cant increase in wage income inequality following the adoption of the liberalisation measures of the early 1990s, and mixed evidence during the recovery years that followed the economic recession of the late 1990s. We also �nd that in several cases the observed diferences in the Gini coeficients across cities have not been statistically signi�cant.Inequality, Gini coe¢ cient, bootstrap, Colombia.

An analysis of the relationship between wages in the public and private sector in colombia: a panel data approach

This document examines the time-series properties of the wage differentials that arise between the public and private sector in Colombia during the sample period 1984 to 2005. We find conflicting results in unit-root and stationarity tests when looking at wage differentials at an aggregate level (such as for men, women or both). However, when we analyse wage differentials at higher levels of disaggregation, treat them jointly as a panel of data, and allow for the presence of potential cross section dependence, there is more supportive evidence for the view that wage differentials are stationary. This implies that although wage differentials do exist, they have not been consistently increasing (or decreasing) over time.

Hemolytic activity and siderophore production in different aeromonas species isolated from fish

P. 5612-5614The hemolytic activity and siderophore production of several strains of motile aeromonads were determined. The hemolytic activity of Aeromonas caviae and Aeromonas eucrenophila was enhanced after trypsinization of the samples. The enhancement of hemolysis was observed in strains that carried an aerolysin-like gene, detected by a PCR procedure. Siderophore production was demonstrated in all but one strain of Aeromonas jandaei. No apparent relationship was observed between the presence of plasmid DNA and hemolysis or siderophore production.S

Standardizing Innovation Management: An Opportunity for SMEs in the Aerospace Industry

In a globalized marketplace, the competition in the aerospace industry has increased significantly. Producers can choose between many suppliers. These suppliers have to comply with more requirements and technical specifications, as well as take on greater responsibilities that originally fell on producers. In this context, business opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are limited, but still suppliers must try to leverage the maximum strategic advantage of the few that present. Adopting research, development and innovation (R+D+i) practices has proven to bring great benefits to companies and allows them to gain significant competitive advantages. However, the process of designing, implementing and testing R+D+i-related processes is not straightforward, nor it has been addressed in the recent research on SMEs. In this paper, a case study of a Spanish innovative small company providing industrial metrology and quality services is analyzed. Thanks to an internal decision-making process, an R+D+i management system based on the UNE 166.002:2014 standard is eventually adopted. A pilot project is closely followed up to test the robustness of the system implementation. The R+D+i management system has allowed the company to streamline its innovation activities, establish objectives to better allocate essential resources, organize high performing innovation units within the organization structure, increase the clients’ confidence, improve the company’s competitiveness, carry out technological surveillance, and get more patented technology, among many others. Adoption steps taken by this SME are generalizable to other SMEs from other industries and show how an R+D+i management system can be chosen, designed, implemented and tested in the context of Industry 4.0 (I4.0)

Manipulación de objetos deformables en entornos multi-robot

Se estudia un caso en el que múltiples robots IRB120 de la empresa ABB manipulansimultáneamente un objeto de tipo deformable, como pudiera ser una tela. El objetivoes desarrollar una simulación en el que al menos dos robots puedan realizar movimientosen sincronización para realizar cambios en el objeto deformable, como pudieran ser undesplazamiento o una deformación, sin que estos colisionen con el objeto durante lamanipulación. Se plantea además que sea una simulación que no esté intrínsecamenterelacionada con los robots que se vayan a utilizar, y que permita enviar comandosde forma independiente a todos los robots. Se utiliza para esto el sistema operativorobótico (ROS™) para la comunicación entre las distintas partes de la simulación,mientras que para albergar el entorno de la simulación, así como sus físicas, se utiliza laherramienta Gazebo. Para la planificación de trayectorias de movimientos del robot seha empleado la biblioteca MoveIt, y para la realización de pruebas, la interfaz RViz. Seha desarrollado una serie de programas que simulan los robots de forma independiente,así como un objeto deformable con un modelo Masa-Muelle-Amortiguador y se hanrealizado múltiples pruebas para evaluar su comportamiento. Los primeros programasejecutan diversos movimientos en un entorno de varios robots de forma independiente,mientras que también se han desarrollado otras pruebas, en las que dos robots muevenun objeto de tipo tela elástica a la vez, moviéndola y estirándola de formas diversaspara finalmente soltarla. Además, se ha realizado una implementación para observarel comportamiento de la tela en presencia de gravedad, con las cuatro esquinas sinmovimientos permitidos. Podemos observar que los comportamientos son los esperadospara una tela y los robots son capaces de evitar colisiones con la misma.<br /

"Engineering Design" course transformación: From a conceive - design towards a complete CDIO approach

“Engineering Design” is a discipline aimed at improving our understanding about the development processes of novel and successful products, processes and systems in general, and at providing engineers with methodical steps for enhancing such processes. It may well be the engineering discipline more linked to the CDIO approach and to the conceive-design-implement-operate process. The benefits of applying “Engineering Design” principles are better appreciated when facing the development of complex systems. In the field of Mechanical Engineering some of the more complex systems an engineer can develop are advanced mechanical systems and machines. In this study we present the transformation process of an “Engineering Design” course, carried out in parallel to the implementation of the new Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering at ETSII – TU Madrid. In the old Industrial Engineering plan of studies, implemented in 2000, the “Engineering Design” course was taught in the 5th academic year for Industrial Engineering students specializing in Mechanical Engineering and lasted for one semester. In the new Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering, which started in 2014-2015, the “Engineering Design” course can be chosen by students from all Industrial Engineering specializations. The new subject lasts for two semesters and it is taught, in the 1st academic year of the Master’s Degree, to students having finished a four-year Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Technologies. When transforming the course, our first aim was to let students live through a complete CDIO process, as having a two-semester structure gave us additional time for reaching the implementation and operation stages. With the old one-semester structure they could just focus on the conceptual and design phases. With the new approach their experience is more complete but several challenges arise, which are systematically analyzed in the following pages. A comparative study, taking account of the opinions of students and teachers is also presented and helps to support the benefits from complete CDIO experiences. Key aspects, including: student motivation, coordination between teachers, supervision of the projects under a tight schedule, rapid prototyping resources for reaching the implementation and operation stages, among others, are discussed and the more relevant lessons learned and proposals for improvement are put forward. To our knowledge it constitutes the first subject following a complete CDIO cycle in the field of Engineering Design applied to machines engineering in our country

Torres Quevedo's mechanical calculator for second-degree equations with complex coefficients

Leonardo Torres Quevedo worked intensively in analogue calculating machines during the last years of the 19th century. The algebraic calculators were calculating machines in which numbers are represented by quantities of a given physical magnitude(s). The physical result is a magnitude of a physical quantity whose measurement in the coherent unit is the result of the algebraic equation. This article shows the three-dimensional (3D) modelling, virtual reconstruction and simulation of the first mechanical calculating machine for solving second-degree equations with complex coefficients, to prove that the functionality was correct and the machine could be built. Sketches of said machine provide enough information on the shape and mechanisms of the machine. By means of the simulation, it has been possible to prove its operation and feasibility of construction so that it is possible to replicate it as a real physical model. The mechanical calculator for second-degree equations with complex coefficients constituted a major milestone in the technological development of the time and helped to originate and improve the design of other algebraic calculators like the machine for solving eighth-degree equations

Environmental screening tools for assessment of infrastructure plans based on biodiversity preservation and global warming (PEIT, Spain).

Most Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) research has been concerned with SEA as a procedure, and there have been relatively few developments and tests of analytical methodologies. The first stage of the SEA is the ‘screening’, which is the process whereby a decision is taken on whether or not SEA is required for a particular programme or plan. The effectiveness of screening and SEA procedures will depend on how well the assessment fits into the planning from the early stages of the decision-making process. However, it is difficult to prepare the environmental screening for an infrastructure plan involving a whole country. To be useful, such methodologies must be fast and simple. We have developed two screening tools which would make it possible to estimate promptly the overall impact an infrastructure plan might have on biodiversity and global warming for a whole country, in order to generate planning alternatives, and to determine whether or not SEA is required for a particular infrastructure plan

Case-Control Analysis of the Impact of Anemia on Quality of Life in Patients with Cancer: A Qca Study Analysis

Anemia is a common condition in cancer patients and is associated with a wide variety of symptoms that impair quality of life (QoL). However, exactly how anemia affects QoL in cancer patients is unclear because of the inconsistencies in its definition in previous reports. We aimed to examine the clinical impact of anemia on the QoL of cancer patients using specific questionnaires. We performed a post-hoc analysis of a multicenter, prospective, case-control study. We included patients with cancer with (cases) or without (controls) anemia. Participants completed the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life questionnaire version 3.0 (EORTC QLQ-C30) and Euro QoL 5-dimension 3-level (EQ–5D–3L) questionnaire. Statistically significant and clinically relevant differences in the global health status were examined. From 2015 to 2018, 365 patients were included (90 cases and 275 controls). We found minimally important differences in global health status according to the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire (case vs. controls: 45.6 vs. 58%, respectively; mean difference: −12.4, p < 0.001). Regarding symptoms, cancer patients with anemia had more pronounced symptoms in six out of nine scales in comparison with those without anemia. In conclusion, cancer patients with anemia had a worse QoL both clinically and statistically