Enhanced transport through desorption-mediated diffusion

We present a master equation approach to the study of the bulk-mediated surface diffusion mechanism in a three-dimensional confined domain. The proposed scheme allowed us to evaluate analytically a number of magnitudes that were used to characterize the efficiency of the bulk-mediated surface transport mechanism, for instance, the mean escape time from the domain, and the mean number of distinct visited sites on the confined domain boundary.Fil: Rojo, Félix. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; ArgentinaFil: Budde, Carlos Esteban. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Wio, Horacio Sergio. Universidad de Cantabria; España. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas; España. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Budde, Carlos Ernesto. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física; Argentin

Which criteria matter most in the evaluation of venture capital investments?

This study identifies the importance assigned to the various criteria used by the Portuguese Venture Capitalists (VCs) to evaluate and select early stage venture capital projects. The data was collected through a questionnaire answered by 20 Portuguese VCs. We use descriptive statistics techniques and non-parametric tests to identify the most valued criteria and test differences in the importance assigned to the criteria of several types of VCs and investments. The study reveals that the personality and experience of the entrepreneur and of the management team are the most valued groups of criteria. VCs with a majority of private share capital value more the personality of the entrepreneur and management team than the companies with a majority of public share capital. Additionally, the VCs that did not yet internationalize consider the personality of the entrepreneur and management team and the financial aspects, to be more important than the VCs that have already expanded abroad.Venture capital; Evaluation criteria; Early-stage investments; Internationalization.

Intelligent Integrated Management for Telecommunication Networks

As the size of communication networks keeps on growing, faster connections, cooperating technologies and the divergence of equipment and data communications, the management of the resulting networks gets additional important and time-critical. More advanced tools are needed to support this activity. In this article we describe the design and implementation of a management platform using Artificial Intelligent reasoning technique. For this goal we make use of an expert system. This study focuses on an intelligent framework and a language for formalizing knowledge management descriptions and combining them with existing OSI management model. We propose a new paradigm where the intelligent network management is integrated into the conceptual repository of management information called Managed Information Base (MIB). This paper outlines the development of an expert system prototype based in our propose GDMO+ standard and describes the most important facets, advantages and drawbacks that were found after prototyping our proposal

La Seguridad Social y la Sanidad Pública

Este artículo pretende ofrecer una panorámica sintética y breve de la situación y principales transformaciones experimentadas en los últimos años por la Seguridad Social y la Sanidad Pública en España. Se describen sus características más notables y sus datos fundamentales y se enuncian los problemas más importantes desde las perspectivas de la financiación y del gasto

Marine biodiversity assessments using aquatic internet of things

While Ubiquitous Computing remains vastly applied in urban environments, it is still scarce in oceanic environments. Current equipment used for biodiversity assessments remain at a high cost, being still inaccessible to wider audiences. More accessible IoT (Internet of Things) solutions need to be implemented to tackle these issues and provide alternatives to facilitate data collection in-the-wild. While the ocean remains a very harsh environment to apply such devices, it is still providing the opportunity to further explore the biodiversity, being that current marine taxa is estimated to be 200k, while this number can be actually in millions. The main goal of this thesis is to provide an apparatus and architecture for aerial marine biodiversity assessments, based on low-cost MCUs (Microcontroller unit) and microcomputers. In addition, the apparatus will provide a proof of concept for collecting and classifying the collected media. The thesis will also explore and contribute to the latest IoT and machine learning techniques (e.g. Python, TensorFlow) when applied to ocean settings. The final product of the thesis will enhance the state of the art in technologies applied to marine biology assessments.A computação ubíqua é imensamente utilizada em ambientes urbanos, mas ainda é escassa em ambientes oceânicos. Os equipamentos atuais utilizados para o estudo de biodiversidade são de custo alto, e geralmente inacessíveis para o público geral. Uma solução IoT mais acessível necessita de ser implementada para combater estes problemas e fornecer alternativas para facilitar a recolha de dados na natureza. Embora o oceano seja um ambiente severo para aplicar estes dispositivos, este fornece mais oportunidades para explorar a biodiversidade, sendo que a taxa de marinha atual é estimada ser 200 mil, mas este número pode estar nos milhões. O objetivo principal desta tese é fornecer um aparelho e uma arquitetura para estudos aéreos de biodiversidade marinha, baseado em microcontroladores low-cost e microcomputadores. Adi cionalmente, este aparelho irá fornecer uma prova de conceito para coletar e classificar a mídia coletada. A tese irá também explorar e contribuir para as técnicas mais recentes de machine learn ing (e.g. Python, TensorFlow) quando aplicadas num cenário de oceano. O produto final desta tese vai elevar o estado da arte em tecnologias aplicadas a estudos de biologia marinha

Narrow-escape-time problem: the imperfect trapping case

We present a master equation approach to the \emph{narrow escape time} (NET) problem, i.e. the time needed for a particle contained in a confining domain with a single narrow opening, to exit the domain for the first time. We introduce a finite transition probability, $\nu$, at the narrow escape window allowing the study of the imperfect trapping case. Ranging from 0 to $\infty$, $\nu$ allowed the study of both extremes of the trapping process: that of a highly deficient capture, and situations where escape is certain ("perfect trapping" case). We have obtained analytic results for the basic quantity studied in the NET problem, the \emph{mean escape time} (MET), and we have studied its dependence in terms of the transition (desorption) probability over (from) the surface boundary, the confining domain dimensions, and the finite transition probability at the escape window. Particularly we show that the existence of a global minimum in the NET depends on the `imperfection' of the trapping process. In addition to our analytical approach, we have implemented Monte Carlo simulations, finding excellent agreement between the theoretical results and simulations.Comment: 9 page

An Expert System to Improve the Energy Efficiency of the Reaction Zone of a Petrochemical Plant

Energy is the most important cost factor in the petrochemical industry. Thus, energy efficiency improvement is an important way to reduce these costs and to increase predictable earnings, especially in times of high energy price volatility. This work describes the development of an expert system for the improvement of this efficiency of the reaction zone of a petrochemical plant. This system has been developed after a data mining process of the variables registered in the plant. Besides, a kernel of neural networks has been embedded in the expert system. A graphical environment integrating the proposed system was developed in order to test the system. With the application of the expert system, the energy saving on the applied zone would have been about 20%.Junta de Andalucía TIC-570