Search results for "INPUTS"
showing 10 items of 14 documents
A review of DEA models when the internal structure of the decision making units is considered
2005
Classical Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models consider each Decision Making Unit (DMU), whose relative efficiency they evaluate, as a "black box", i.e., its internal structure is disregarded. The paper presents a comprehensive framework of the most advanced theoretical findings in DEA when the internal structure of the. DMUs is taken into account, thus giving directions for novel applications of such methodology and introducing it as a powerful toot for complex processes performance evaluation.
Bacterial community structure along the subtidal sandy sediment belt of a high Arctic fjord (Kongsfjorden, Svalbard Islands)
2018
Open fjords are subject to contrasting environmental conditions, owing to meltwater glacial inputs, terrestrial runoff, and marine water mass exchanges, which are exacerbated by anthropogenic and climate perturbations. Following a slope-dependent water circulation, the subtidal sandy sediment belt regulates the convergent transport of nutrients downward the fjord depths, and the effective entrapment of suspended particles and microorganisms. In this study, we aimed at testing how glacial and seawater inputs may influence the bacterial community structure of subtidal sand deposits in the Kongsfjorden. Through total and viable cell counting and an amplicon sequencing approach, we found releva…
Daily patterns of mixing and nutrient concentrations during early autumn circulation in a small sheltered lake
2005
17 pages, 11 figures, 1 table.-- Printed version published May 2005.
Precision Agriculture: Past, Present and Future
2011
From 1978 the Global Positioning System, needed for sensing the position of military targets (e.g. buildings, machinery), was developed as a pure military system, while in 1983 it was made available also for public use. Therefore, at the beginning of 80s precision agriculture, requiring GPS for sensing the position to which any measured field parameter must be geo-referenced, was implemented for the first time in US. In fact, soil and crop parameters are spatially variable in a field, so that spatially uniform rate crop input applications cause increased environmental impact and crop input waste. In order to reduce the environmental impact and optimise the use of crop inputs, precision agri…
Average flow constraints and stabilizability in uncertain production-distribution systems
2009
We consider a multi-inventory system with controlled flows and uncertain demands (disturbances) bounded within assigned compact sets. The system is modelled as a first-order one integrating the discrepancy between controlled flows and demands at different sites/nodes. Thus, the buffer levels at the nodes represent the system state. Given a long-term average demand, we are interested in a control strategy that satisfies just one of two requirements: (i) meeting any possible demand at each time (worst case stability) or (ii) achieving a predefined flow in the average (average flow constraints). Necessary and sufficient conditions for the achievement of both goals have been proposed by the aut…
Terrestrial Inputs Drive Seasonality in Organic Matter and Nutrient Biogeochemistry in a High Arctic Fjord System (Isfjorden, Svalbard)
2020
Climate-change driven increases in temperature and precipitation are leading to increased discharge of freshwater and terrestrial material to Arctic coastal ecosystems. These inputs bring sediments, nutrients and organic matter (OM) across the land-ocean interface with a range of implications for coastal ecosystems and biogeochemical cycling. To investigate responses to terrestrial inputs, physicochemical conditions were characterized in a river- and glacier-influenced Arctic fjord system (Isfjorden, Svalbard) from May to August in 2018 and 2019. Our observations revealed a pervasive freshwater footprint in the inner fjord arms, the geochemical properties of which varied spatially and seaso…
The Role of Capital Accumulation in the Evolution of Total Factor Productivity in Spain
2017
GDP growth in Spain was strong for much of the last half century, whereas the country’s productivity performance during these years has been mediocre. The reasons for this situation have frequently been analysed with the focus on labour productivity. But, as this article highlights, the evolution of capital productivity should also be taken into account when looking for explanations for poor productivity performance. This article analyses the sources of growth in the Spanish economy, in comparison with major economies, and takes into account the effects that the improvements in the measurement of inputs (labour and capital) have on TFP estimates. Once problems are identified and the role pl…
Information decomposition of multichannel EMG to map functional interactions in the distributed motor system
2019
AbstractThe central nervous system needs to coordinate multiple muscles during postural control. Functional coordination is established through the neural circuitry that interconnects different muscles. Here we used multivariate information decomposition of multichannel EMG acquired from 14 healthy participants during postural tasks to investigate the neural interactions between muscles. A set of information measures were estimated from an instantaneous linear regression model and a time-lagged VAR model fitted to the EMG envelopes of 36 muscles. We used network analysis to quantify the structure of functional interactions between muscles and compared them across experimental conditions. Co…
New cropping systems in semi-arid Mediterranean environments: potential role of medicinal and aromatic plants
2005
The semi-arid Mediterranean environments represent somehow “fragile” ecosystems, whose correct management needs some special attention. It is crucial therefore to study and point out some innovative farming systems able to deal with an income for workers, but in the meantime environmentally friendly and requiring the minimum energetic and technical inputs. In such sense, the cultivation of some selected medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) could be an important strategy. In our work we made an attempt to to sketch a comprehensive evaluation of the input levels required by 23 selected herbaceous MAPs, taking into consideration the indicative average levels of the energetic (including manpowe…
Cell type-specific circuits of cortical layer IV spiny neurons
2003
Sensory signal processing in cortical layer IV involves two major morphological classes of excitatory neurons: spiny stellate and pyramidal cells. It is essentially unknown how these two cell types are integrated into intracortical networks and whether they play different roles in cortical signal processing. We mapped their cell-specific intracortical afferents in rat somatosensory cortex through a combination of whole-cell patch-clamp recordings and caged glutamate photolysis. Spiny stellate cells received monosynaptic excitation and inhibition originating almost exclusively from neurons located within the same barrel. Pyramidal cells, by contrast, displayed additional excitatory inputs fr…