Solución de gestión y control de la integridad de pozos

El objetivo de este proyecto es la creación de un modelo de gestión y control de la integridad de pozo, basado en el seguimiento de la operación y el análisis de su diseño y construcción. Para ello se diseña una herramienta tecnológica que permita disponer de la información necesaria y gestionarla según estándares internacionales. En la fase inicial del proyecto se realizó una revisión bibliográfica de los estudios más relevantes sobre integridad de pozos, tanto de la asociación SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers), de Universidades de Noruega y México, o de empresas como ECOPETROL, con el fin entrar en el contexto y analizar antecedentes de modelos y herramientas similares. En segundo lugar se ha realizado un estudio de las bases de datos, comenzando por un análisis de los estándares de PPDM (The Professional Petroleum Data Management Association) sobre los que se realiza la herramienta y se ha seleccionado la base de datos que más se adecua a la herramienta, considerando Access como la mejor opción por ser de fácil acceso e incorporar el módulo de informes. Para la creación de la solución se diseñó un modelo de datos, condicionado por los requisitos de integridad de pozos de la normativa noruega NORSOK D-010 y de la guía de recomendaciones para la integridad de pozos de la asociación de petróleo y gas de Noruega. La materialización de este modelo se realizó mediante la creación de una base de datos en la plataforma Access, y empleando lenguaje propio de Access combinado con programación SQL. Una vez definido y construido el modelo de datos, es posible crear una capa de visualización de la información. Para ello se define un informe de estado de pozo. Este informe será visible por el usuario según sus roles y responsabilidades. ABSTRACT The objective of this project is to create a model for managing and controlling the well integrity. It is based on the monitoring of the operation and the analysis of its design and construction. Therefore a technological tool is designed; to allow having the necessary information and to manage it according to international standards. At the beginning of the project, a literature review of the most relevant studies on well integrity was performed. It was made to enter into context and to analyze the history of the models and available similar tools. It included texts from the association SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers), universities from Norway and Mexico, and companies like ECOPETROL. Secondly there has been a study of the databases. It began with an analysis of PPDM (The Professional Petroleum Data Management Association) standards; about which, the tool is made. After the analysis, Access was considered the best option because it is easily accessible and incorporates the reporting module. In order to create the solution a data model was designed. It was conditioned by the requirements of integrity of wells, in the Norwegian standards and in the NORSOK D010 recommendations guide for well integrity of the Norwegian oil and gas Association. This model was performed by a database in the Access platform, and using Access language, combined with SQL programming. Once the data model is defined and built, it is possible to create a layer of data visualization. A report of this well is defined to create it. This report will be visible for the user according to their roles and responsibilities.

Una propuesta de modelado del estudiante basada en ontologías y diagnóstico pedagógico-cognitivo no monótono

Los recientes avances tecnológicos han encontrado un potencial campo de explotación en la educación asistida por computador. A finales de los años 90 surgió un nuevo campo de investigación denominado Entornos Virtuales Inteligentes para el Entrenamiento y/o Enseñanza (EVIEs), que combinan dos áreas de gran complejidad: Los Entornos Virtuales (EVs) y los Sistemas de Tutoría Inteligente (STIs). De este modo, los beneficios de los entornos 3D (simulación de entornos de alto riesgo o entornos de difícil uso, etc.) pueden combinarse con aquéllos de un STIs (personalización de materias y presentaciones, adaptación de la estrategia de tutoría a las necesidades del estudiante, etc.) para proporcionar soluciones educativas/de entrenamiento con valores añadidos. El Modelo del Estudiante, núcleo de un SIT, representa el conocimiento y características del estudiante, y refleja el proceso de razonamiento del estudiante. Su complejidad es incluso superior cuando los STIs se aplican a EVs porque las nuevas posibilidades de interacción proporcionadas por estos entornos deben considerarse como nuevos elementos de información clave para el modelado del estudiante, incidiendo en todo el proceso educativo: el camino seguido por el estudiante durante su navegación a través de escenarios 3D; el comportamiento no verbal tal como la dirección de la mirada; nuevos tipos de pistas e instrucciones que el módulo de tutoría puede proporcionar al estudiante; nuevos tipos de preguntas que el estudiante puede formular, etc. Por consiguiente, es necesario que la estructura de los STIs, embebida en el EVIE, se enriquezca con estos aspectos, mientras mantiene una estructura clara, estructurada, y bien definida. La mayoría de las aproximaciones al Modelo del Estudiante en STIs y en IVETs no consideran una taxonomía de posibles conocimientos acerca del estudiante suficientemente completa. Además, la mayoría de ellas sólo tienen validez en ciertos dominios o es difícil su adaptación a diferentes STIs. Para vencer estas limitaciones, hemos propuesto, en el marco de esta tesis doctoral, un nuevo mecanismo de Modelado del Estudiante basado en la Ingeniería Ontológica e inspirado en principios pedagógicos, con un modelo de datos sobre el estudiante amplio y flexible que facilita su adaptación y extensión para diferentes STIs y aplicaciones de aprendizaje, además de un método de diagnóstico con capacidades de razonamiento no monótono. El método de diagnóstico es capaz de inferir el estado de los objetivos de aprendizaje contenidos en el SIT y, a partir de él, el estado de los conocimientos del estudiante durante su proceso de aprendizaje. La aproximación almodelado del estudiante propuesta ha sido implementada e integrada en un agente software (el agente de modelado del estudiante) dentro de una plataforma software existente para el desarrollo de EVIEs denominadaMAEVIF. Esta plataforma ha sido diseñada para ser fácilmente configurable para diferentes aplicaciones de aprendizaje. El modelado del estudiante presentado ha sido implementado e instanciado para dos tipos de entornos de aprendizaje: uno para aprendizaje del uso de interfaces gráficas de usuario en una aplicación software y para un Entorno Virtual para entrenamiento procedimental. Además, se ha desarrollado una metodología para guiar en la aplicación del esta aproximación de modelado del estudiante a cada sistema concreto.---ABSTRACT---Recent technological advances have found a potential field of exploitation in computeraided education. At the end of the 90’s a new research field emerged, the so-called Intelligent Virtual Environments for Training and/or Education (IVETs), which combines two areas of great complexity: Virtual Environments (VE) and Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS). In this way, the benefits of 3D environments (simulation of high risk or difficult-to-use environments, etc.) may be combined with those of an ITS (content and presentation customization, adaptation of the tutoring strategy to the student requirements, etc.) in order to provide added value educational/training solutions. The StudentModel, core of an ITS, represents the student’s knowledge and characteristics, and reflects the student’s reasoning process. Its complexity is even higher when the ITSs are applied on VEs because the new interaction possibilities offered by these environments must be considered as new key information pieces for student modelling, impacting all the educational process: the path followed by the student during their navigation through 3D scenarios; non-verbal behavior such as gaze direction; new types of hints or instructions that the tutoring module can provide to the student; new question types that the student can ask, etc. Thus, it is necessary for the ITS structure, which is embedded in the IVET, to be enriched by these aspects, while keeping a clear, structured and well defined architecture. Most approaches to SM on ITSs and IVETs don’t consider a complete enough taxonomy of possible knowledge about the student. In addition, most of them have validity only in certain domains or they are hard to be adapted for different ITSs. In order to overcome these limitations, we have proposed, in the framework of this doctoral research project, a newStudentModeling mechanism that is based onOntological Engineering and inspired on pedagogical principles, with a wide and flexible data model about the student that facilitates its adaptation and extension to different ITSs and learning applications, as well as a rich diagnosis method with non-monotonic reasoning capacities. The diagnosis method is able to infer the state of the learning objectives encompassed by the ITS and, fromit, the student’s knowledge state during the student’s process of learning. The proposed student modelling approach has been implemented and integrated in a software agent (the student modeling agent) within an existing software platform for the development of IVETs called MAEVIF. This platform was designed to be easily configurable for different learning applications. The proposed student modeling has been implemented and it has been instantiated for two types of learning environments: one for learning to use the graphical user interface of a software application and a Virtual Environment for procedural training. In addition, a methodology to guide on the application of this student modeling approach to each specific system has been developed.

Contribución a la caracterización espacial de canales con sistemas MIMO-OFDM en la banda de 2,45 Ghz

La tecnología de múltiples antenas ha evolucionado para dar soporte a los actuales y futuros sistemas de comunicaciones inalámbricas en su afán por proporcionar la calidad de señal y las altas tasas de transmisión que demandan los nuevos servicios de voz, datos y multimedia. Sin embargo, es fundamental comprender las características espaciales del canal radio, ya que son las características del propio canal lo que limita en gran medida las prestaciones de los sistemas de comunicación actuales. Por ello surge la necesidad de estudiar la estructura espacial del canal de propagación para poder diseñar, evaluar e implementar de forma más eficiente tecnologías multiantena en los actuales y futuros sistemas de comunicación inalámbrica. Las tecnologías multiantena denominadas antenas inteligentes y MIMO han generado un gran interés en el área de comunicaciones inalámbricas, por ejemplo los sistemas de telefonía celular o más recientemente en las redes WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network), principalmente por la mejora que proporcionan en la calidad de las señales y en la tasa de transmisión de datos, respectivamente. Las ventajas de estas tecnologías se fundamentan en el uso de la dimensión espacial para obtener ganancia por diversidad espacial, como ya sucediera con las tecnologías FDMA (Frequency Division Multiplexing Access), TDMA (Time Division Multiplexing Access) y CDMA (Code Division Multiplexing Access) para obtener diversidad en las dimensiones de frecuencia, tiempo y código, respectivamente. Esta Tesis se centra en estudiar las características espaciales del canal con sistemas de múltiples antenas mediante la estimación de los perfiles de ángulos de llegada (DoA, Direction-of- Arrival) considerando esquemas de diversidad en espacio, polarización y frecuencia. Como primer paso se realiza una revisión de los sistemas con antenas inteligentes y los sistemas MIMO, describiendo con detalle la base matemática que sustenta las prestaciones ofrecidas por estos sistemas. Posteriormente se aportan distintos estudios sobre la estimación de los perfiles de DoA de canales radio con sistemas multiantena evaluando distintos aspectos de antenas, algoritmos de estimación, esquemas de polarización, campo lejano y campo cercano de las fuentes. Así mismo, se presenta un prototipo de medida MIMO-OFDM-SPAA3D en la banda ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) de 2,45 Ghz, el cual está preparado para caracterizar experimentalmente el rendimiento de los sistemas MIMO, y para caracterizar espacialmente canales de propagación, considerando los esquemas de diversidad espacial, por polarización y frecuencia. Los estudios aportados se describen a continuación. Los sistemas de antenas inteligentes dependen en gran medida de la posición de los usuarios. Estos sistemas están equipados con arrays de antenas, los cuales aportan la diversidad espacial necesaria para obtener una representación espacial fidedigna del canal radio a través de los perfiles de DoA (DoA, Direction-of-Arrival) y por tanto, la posición de las fuentes de señal. Sin embargo, los errores de fabricación de arrays así como ciertos parámetros de señal conlleva un efecto negativo en las prestaciones de estos sistemas. Por ello se plantea un modelo de señal parametrizado que permite estudiar la influencia que tienen estos factores sobre los errores de estimación de DoA, tanto en acimut como en elevación, utilizando los algoritmos de estimación de DOA más conocidos en la literatura. A partir de las curvas de error, se pueden obtener parámetros de diseño para sistemas de localización basados en arrays. En un segundo estudio se evalúan esquemas de diversidad por polarización con los sistemas multiantena para mejorar la estimación de los perfiles de DoA en canales que presentan pérdidas por despolarización. Para ello se desarrolla un modelo de señal en array con sensibilidad de polarización que toma en cuenta el campo electromagnético de ondas planas. Se realizan simulaciones MC del modelo para estudiar el efecto de la orientación de la polarización como el número de polarizaciones usadas en el transmisor como en el receptor sobre la precisión en la estimación de los perfiles de DoA observados en el receptor. Además, se presentan los perfiles DoA obtenidos en escenarios quasiestáticos de interior con un prototipo de medida MIMO 4x4 de banda estrecha en la banda de 2,45 GHz, los cuales muestran gran fidelidad con el escenario real. Para la obtención de los perfiles DoA se propone un método basado en arrays virtuales, validado con los datos de simulación y los datos experimentales. Con relación a la localización 3D de fuentes en campo cercano (zona de Fresnel), se presenta un tercer estudio para obtener con gran exactitud la estructura espacial del canal de propagación en entornos de interior controlados (en cámara anecóica) utilizando arrays virtuales. El estudio analiza la influencia del tamaño del array y el diagrama de radiación en la estimación de los parámetros de localización proponiendo, para ello, un modelo de señal basado en un vector de enfoque de onda esférico (SWSV). Al aumentar el número de antenas del array se consigue reducir el error RMS de estimación y mejorar sustancialmente la representación espacial del canal. La estimación de los parámetros de localización se lleva a cabo con un nuevo método de búsqueda multinivel adaptativo, propuesto con el fin de reducir drásticamente el tiempo de procesado que demandan otros algoritmos multivariable basados en subespacios, como el MUSIC, a costa de incrementar los requisitos de memoria. Las simulaciones del modelo arrojan resultados que son validados con resultados experimentales y comparados con el límite de Cramer Rao en términos del error cuadrático medio. La compensación del diagrama de radiación acerca sustancialmente la exactitud de estimación de la distancia al límite de Cramer Rao. Finalmente, es igual de importante la evaluación teórica como experimental de las prestaciones de los sistemas MIMO-OFDM. Por ello, se presenta el diseño e implementación de un prototipo de medida MIMO-OFDM-SPAA3D autocalibrado con sistema de posicionamiento de antena automático en la banda de 2,45 Ghz con capacidad para evaluar la capacidad de los sistemas MIMO. Además, tiene la capacidad de caracterizar espacialmente canales MIMO, incorporando para ello una etapa de autocalibración para medir la respuesta en frecuencia de los transmisores y receptores de RF, y así poder caracterizar la respuesta de fase del canal con mayor precisión. Este sistema incorpora un posicionador de antena automático 3D (SPAA3D) basado en un scanner con 3 brazos mecánicos sobre los que se desplaza un posicionador de antena de forma independiente, controlado desde un PC. Este posicionador permite obtener una gran cantidad de mediciones del canal en regiones locales, lo cual favorece la caracterización estadística de los parámetros del sistema MIMO. Con este prototipo se realizan varias campañas de medida para evaluar el canal MIMO en términos de capacidad comparando 2 esquemas de polarización y tomando en cuenta la diversidad en frecuencia aportada por la modulación OFDM en distintos escenarios. ABSTRACT Multiple-antennas technologies have been evolved to be the support of the actual and future wireless communication systems in its way to provide the high quality and high data rates required by new data, voice and data services. However, it is important to understand the behavior of the spatial characteristics of the radio channel, since the channel by itself limits the performance of the actual wireless communications systems. This drawback raises the need to understand the spatial structure of the propagation channel in order to design, assess, and develop more efficient multiantenna technologies for the actual and future wireless communications systems. Multiantenna technologies such as ‘Smart Antennas’ and MIMO systems have generated great interest in the field of wireless communications, i.e. cellular communications systems and more recently WLAN (Wireless Local Area Networks), mainly because the higher quality and the high data rate they are able to provide. Their technological benefits are based on the exploitation of the spatial diversity provided by the use of multiple antennas as happened in the past with some multiaccess technologies such as FDMA (Frequency Division Multiplexing Access), TDMA (Time Division Multiplexing Access), and CDMA (Code Division Multiplexing Access), which give diversity in the domains of frequency, time and code, respectively. This Thesis is mainly focus to study the spatial channel characteristics using schemes of multiple antennas considering several diversity schemes such as space, polarization, and frequency. The spatial characteristics will be study in terms of the direction-of-arrival profiles viewed at the receiver side of the radio link. The first step is to do a review of the smart antennas and MIMO systems technologies highlighting their advantages and drawbacks from a mathematical point of view. In the second step, a set of studies concerning the spatial characterization of the radio channel through the DoA profiles are addressed. The performance of several DoA estimation methods is assessed considering several aspects regarding antenna array structure, polarization diversity, and far-field and near-field conditions. Most of the results of these studies come from simulations of data models and measurements with real multiantena prototypes. In the same way, having understand the importance of validate the theoretical data models with experimental results, a 2,4 GHz MIMO-OFDM-SPAA2D prototype is presented. This prototype is intended for evaluating MIMO-OFDM capacity in indoor and outdoor scenarios, characterize the spatial structure of radio channels, assess several diversity schemes such as polarization, space, and frequency diversity, among others aspects. The studies reported are briefly described below. As is stated in Chapter two, the determination of user position is a fundamental task to be resolved for the smart antenna systems. As these systems are equipped with antenna arrays, they can provide the enough spatial diversity to accurately draw the spatial characterization of the radio channel through the DoA profiles, and therefore the source location. However, certain real implementation factors related to antenna errors, signals, and receivers will certainly reduce the performance of such direction finding systems. In that sense, a parameterized narrowband signal model is proposed to evaluate the influence of these factors in the location parameter estimation through extensive MC simulations. The results obtained from several DoA algorithms may be useful to extract some parameter design for directing finding systems based on arrays. The second study goes through the importance that polarization schemes can have for estimating far-field DoA profiles in radio channels, particularly for scenarios that may introduce polarization losses. For this purpose, a narrowband signal model with polarization sensibility is developed to conduct an analysis of several polarization schemes at transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) through extensive MC simulations. In addition, spatial characterization of quasistatic indoor scenarios is also carried out using a 2.45 GHz MIMO prototype equipped with single and dual-polarized antennas. A good agreement between the measured DoA profiles with the propagation scenario is achieved. The theoretical and experimental evaluation of polarization schemes is performed using virtual arrays. In that case, a DoA estimation method is proposed based on adding an phase reference to properly track the DoA, which shows good results. In the third study, the special case of near-field source localization with virtual arrays is addressed. Most of DoA estimation algorithms are focused in far-field source localization where the radiated wavefronts are assume to be planar waves at the receive array. However, when source are located close to the array, the assumption of plane waves is no longer valid as the wavefronts exhibit a spherical behavior along the array. Thus, a faster and effective method of azimuth, elevation angles-of-arrival, and range estimation for near-field sources is proposed. The efficacy of the proposed method is evaluated with simulation and validated with measurements collected from a measurement campaign carried out in a controlled propagation environment, i.e. anechoic chamber. Moreover, the performance of the method is assessed in terms of the RMSE for several array sizes, several source positions, and taking into account the effect of radiation pattern. In general, better results are obtained with larger array and larger source distances. The effect of the antennas is included in the data model leading to more accurate results, particularly for range rather than for angle estimation. Moreover, a new multivariable searching method based on the MUSIC algorithm, called MUSA (multilevel MUSIC-based algorithm), is presented. This method is proposed to estimate the 3D location parameters in a faster way than other multivariable algorithms, such as MUSIC algorithm, at the cost of increasing the memory size. Finally, in the last chapter, a MIMO-OFDM-SPAA3D prototype is presented to experimentally evaluate different MIMO schemes regarding antennas, polarization, and frequency in different indoor and outdoor scenarios. The prototype has been developed on a Software-Defined Radio (SDR) platform. It allows taking measurements where future wireless systems will be developed. The novelty of this prototype is concerning the following 2 subsystems. The first one is the tridimensional (3D) antenna positioning system (SPAA3D) based on three linear scanners which is developed for making automatic testing possible reducing errors of the antenna array positioning. A set of software has been developed for research works such as MIMO channel characterization, MIMO capacity, OFDM synchronization, and so on. The second subsystem is the RF autocalibration module at the TX and RX. This subsystem allows to properly tracking the spatial structure of indoor and outdoor channels in terms of DoA profiles. Some results are draw regarding performance of MIMO-OFDM systems with different polarization schemes and different propagation environments.

Cognitive Surveillance Architecture for Scenario Understanding

Uno de los mayores retos para la comunidad científica es conseguir que las máquinas posean en un futuro la capacidad del sistema visual y cognitivo humanos, de forma que, por ejemplo, en entornos de video vigilancia, puedan llegar a proporcionar de manera automática una descripción fiable de lo que está ocurriendo en la escena. En la presente tesis, mediante la propuesta de un marco de trabajo de referencia, se discuten y plantean los pasos necesarios para el desarrollo de sistemas más inteligentes capaces de extraer y analizar, a diferentes niveles de abstracción y mediante distintos módulos de procesamiento independientes, la información necesaria para comprender qué está sucediendo en un conjunto amplio de escenarios de distinta naturaleza. Se parte de un análisis de requisitos y se identifican los retos para este tipo de sistemas en la actualidad, lo que constituye en sí mismo los objetivos de esta tesis, contribuyendo así a un modelo de datos basado en el conocimiento que permitirá analizar distintas situaciones en las que personas y vehículos son los actores principales, dejando no obstante la puerta abierta a la adaptación a otros dominios. Así mismo, se estudian los distintos procesos que se pueden lanzar a nivel interno así como la necesidad de integrar mecanismos de realimentación a distintos niveles que permitan al sistema adaptarse mejor a cambios en el entorno. Como resultado, se propone un marco de referencia jerárquico que integra las capacidades de percepción, interpretación y aprendizaje para superar los retos identificados en este ámbito; y así poder desarrollar sistemas de vigilancia más robustos, flexibles e inteligentes, capaces de operar en una variedad de entornos. Resultados experimentales ejecutados sobre distintas muestras de datos (secuencias de vídeo principalmente) demuestran la efectividad del marco de trabajo propuesto respecto a otros propuestos en el pasado. Un primer caso de estudio, permite demostrar la creación de un sistema de monitorización de entornos de parking en exteriores para la detección de vehículos y el análisis de plazas libres de aparcamiento. Un segundo caso de estudio, permite demostrar la flexibilidad del marco de referencia propuesto para adaptarse a los requisitos de un entorno de vigilancia completamente distinto, como es un hogar inteligente donde el análisis automático de actividades de la vida cotidiana centra la atención del estudio. ABSTRACT One of the most ambitious objectives for the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition research community is that machines can achieve similar capacities to the human's visual and cognitive system, and thus provide a trustworthy description of what is happening in the scene under surveillance. Thus, a number of well-established scenario understanding architectural frameworks to develop applications working on a variety of environments can be found in the literature. In this Thesis, a highly descriptive methodology for the development of scene understanding applications is presented. It consists of a set of formal guidelines to let machines extract and analyse, at different levels of abstraction and by means of independent processing modules that interact with each other, the necessary information to understand a broad set of different real World surveillance scenarios. Taking into account the challenges that working at both low and high levels offer, we contribute with a highly descriptive knowledge-based data model for the analysis of different situations in which people and vehicles are the main actors, leaving the door open for the development of interesting applications in diverse smart domains. Recommendations to let systems achieve high-level behaviour understanding will be also provided. Furthermore, feedback mechanisms are proposed to be integrated in order to let any system to understand better the environment and the logical context around, reducing thus the uncertainty and noise, and increasing its robustness and precision in front of low-level or high-level errors. As a result, a hierarchical cognitive architecture of reference which integrates the necessary perception, interpretation, attention and learning capabilities to overcome main challenges identified in this area of research is proposed; thus allowing to develop more robust, flexible and smart surveillance systems to cope with the different requirements of a variety of environments. Once crucial issues that should be treated explicitly in the design of this kind of systems have been formulated and discussed, experimental results shows the effectiveness of the proposed framework compared with other proposed in the past. Two case studies were implemented to test the capabilities of the framework. The first case study presents how the proposed framework can be used to create intelligent parking monitoring systems. The second case study demonstrates the flexibility of the system to cope with the requirements of a completely different environment, a smart home where activities of daily living are performed. Finally, general conclusions and future work lines to further enhancing the capabilities of the proposed framework are presented.

Evaluación de nuevos dispositivos en la interacción de niños con necesidades específicas de apoyo educativo

Durante la realización de este trabajo de fin de grado se realizará el diseño y desarrollo de un juego orientado a niños con necesidades específicas de apoyo educativo. Este grupo de usuarios repercute en el diseño de los elementos del juego los cuales han de ser simples, sin distracciones, textos de ayuda claros y bien definidos, alto contraste en los elementos, ayuda textual y visual, selección de colores evitando referencias conocidas (rojo como referencia a peligro); y una serie de patrones más, que se han tenido que tener en cuenta. El juego es compatible con distintos dispositivos (teclado, pantalla táctil y Kinect), por lo que, como parte del análisis previo, se ha tenido que ver el trabajo realizado anteriormente referente a estos dispositivos (un reconocedor de gestos de pantalla táctil y un reconocedor de gestos de Kinect), que realizaron otros alumnos. En este sentido y como parte de este y otros proyectos, se han tenido que mejorar o complementar las implementaciones de estos reconocedores. Además se han tenido que definir los distintos gestos o teclas, que producirán respuestas en el juego. Como parte de la interacción de los usuarios con el juego mediante los distintos dispositivos, el juego se ha diseñado de tal forma, que es capaz de capturar ciertos datos de forma automática (precisión al realizar un gesto en pantalla, realización de un gesto incorrecto, etc.). Además como soporte adicional a la obtención de datos con el juego, se han planteado distintos formularios (según el dispositivo), los cuales aportan información que el juego no es capaz de recoger de forma automática, y que serán capturados por el pedagogo. Toda esta información recogida será parte de un modelo de datos el cual, en un futuro, servirá para analizar el comportamiento de este grupo de usuarios frente a los distintos dispositivos analizados. Viendo sus ventajas y desventajas tanto en tiempo de respuesta, curva de aprendizaje, dificultad de realización de los gestos, etc.---ABSTRACT---This thesis project will showcase the design and development of a game oriented towards children with special educational needs. This group impacts the design of the game elements, which have to be simple and avoid distractions. There must be clear and well defined help text, high contrast in the elements, text and visual help, color selection that avoids known references (red as a reference to danger), and more series of patterns. The game is compatible with various devices (keyboard, touchscreen and Kinect), by which, as part of the preliminary analysis, the work previously conducted by other students concerning these devices was researched (a touch screen gesture recognizer and a Kinect gesture recognizer). In this regard, and as part of this and other projects, the use of these recognizers must be improved or complemented. In addition the different gestures or keys that will produce answers in the game must be defined. As part of the users’ interaction with the game through the various devices, the game is designed in such a way that it is able to capture certain data automatically (precision making a gesture to the screen, making an improper gesture, etc.). Also as additional support to obtain data with the game, different forms were used (depending on the device), which provide information that the game is not able to pick up automatically, and that will be caught by the teacher. The information collected will be part of a data model which, in the future, will serve to analyze the behavior of this user group with the various devices analyzed. Seeing their advantages and disadvantages both in response time, learning curve and difficulty of making gestures, etc.

The role of private sector in development: The relation between public-private investment in infrastructure and agricultural exports in developing countries

Increasing foreign private investment in developing countries explains why the Public-Private Investment (PPI) is becoming a key tool to reach the development goal. This article analyzes the relation between PPI in infrastructure and agricultural exports in developing countries. We use the panel data approach (52 countries and 17 years). Results show that PPI in infrastructure has a positive impact on agricultural exports of developing countries. The impact is greater in developing countries with higher income rates. This suggests that the lower income countries require the intervention of public sector without which private investment cannot help to economic development.

Sustentabilidade Empresarial: Um Estudo Comparativo Sobre o Desempenho e Valor Financeiro de Empresas Listadas no Mercado Acionário Brasileiro

Com o crescente aumento da cultura de proteção ambiental, o tema sustentabilidade vem ganhando cada vez mais espaço na vida das pessoas e principalmente na rotina das organizações. Existem algumas correntes teóricas propondo que para existir uma perenidade das organizações, estas devem incorporar em seu plano estratégico, todos os elementos que permitam um equilíbrio nas relações com os stakeholders. Já outras linhas teóricas, defendem que as empresas devem focar todos seus esforços para atender os acionistas (shareholders), maximizando os lucros e agregando valor. Neste contexto, alguns índices de sustentabilidade foram surgindo mundo afora, visando combinar com a já presente visão de resultados financeiros das organizações, também o alcance do bem estar para a sociedade e proteção do meio ambiente. No Brasil, em Novembro de 2005, foi lançando o ISE Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial, que foi desenvolvido para uma gama de empresas que apresentam boas práticas de sustentabilidade. Surge, então, o questionamento se a adoção das práticas de sustentabilidade pode de alguma forma, proporcionar melhor desempenho financeiro para as organizações que as adotam, pois de acordo com a teoria dos stakeholders, as instituições que conseguem atender as necessidades das partes interessadas têm seu valor maximizado ao longo do tempo. Com relação a isto, este presente estudo procura averiguar se as empresas que estão listadas no ISE, excluindo as empresas do setor de materiais básicos, utilidade pública, e financeiro, do período de 2006 a 2008, desenvolveram desempenho financeiro superior às outras empresas que não fazem parte do índice no mesmo período. Foram selecionados dados secundários, utilizando a base de dados da Economática, criando dois grupos para comparação, onde um grupo consta de empresas que estão exclusivamente listadas no ISE, consideradas sustentáveis e outro grupo de empresas, formado por empresas listadas no IBOVESPA e que não participaram do ISE. Tomando o Q de Tobin como a variável dependente e índices de Tamanho da Empresa, Distribuição de Dividendos, Debt to Equity, ROA, Crescimento de Vendas, Crescimento dos Investimentos, Diversificação de Mercado, Endividamento como variáveis independentes, foram aplicados testes estatísticos comparando as médias dos índices, seguido do teste t de student, e regressões de dados em painel pooled, fixed e random effects para encontrar a possível correlação entre sustentabilidade e valor da empresa. Os resultados encontrados apontam uma relação entre sustentabilidade empresarial e desempenho financeiro.(AU)

Sustentabilidade Empresarial: Um Estudo Comparativo Sobre o Desempenho e Valor Financeiro de Empresas Listadas no Mercado Acionário Brasileiro

Com o crescente aumento da cultura de proteção ambiental, o tema sustentabilidade vem ganhando cada vez mais espaço na vida das pessoas e principalmente na rotina das organizações. Existem algumas correntes teóricas propondo que para existir uma perenidade das organizações, estas devem incorporar em seu plano estratégico, todos os elementos que permitam um equilíbrio nas relações com os stakeholders. Já outras linhas teóricas, defendem que as empresas devem focar todos seus esforços para atender os acionistas (shareholders), maximizando os lucros e agregando valor. Neste contexto, alguns índices de sustentabilidade foram surgindo mundo afora, visando combinar com a já presente visão de resultados financeiros das organizações, também o alcance do bem estar para a sociedade e proteção do meio ambiente. No Brasil, em Novembro de 2005, foi lançando o ISE Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial, que foi desenvolvido para uma gama de empresas que apresentam boas práticas de sustentabilidade. Surge, então, o questionamento se a adoção das práticas de sustentabilidade pode de alguma forma, proporcionar melhor desempenho financeiro para as organizações que as adotam, pois de acordo com a teoria dos stakeholders, as instituições que conseguem atender as necessidades das partes interessadas têm seu valor maximizado ao longo do tempo. Com relação a isto, este presente estudo procura averiguar se as empresas que estão listadas no ISE, excluindo as empresas do setor de materiais básicos, utilidade pública, e financeiro, do período de 2006 a 2008, desenvolveram desempenho financeiro superior às outras empresas que não fazem parte do índice no mesmo período. Foram selecionados dados secundários, utilizando a base de dados da Economática, criando dois grupos para comparação, onde um grupo consta de empresas que estão exclusivamente listadas no ISE, consideradas sustentáveis e outro grupo de empresas, formado por empresas listadas no IBOVESPA e que não participaram do ISE. Tomando o Q de Tobin como a variável dependente e índices de Tamanho da Empresa, Distribuição de Dividendos, Debt to Equity, ROA, Crescimento de Vendas, Crescimento dos Investimentos, Diversificação de Mercado, Endividamento como variáveis independentes, foram aplicados testes estatísticos comparando as médias dos índices, seguido do teste t de student, e regressões de dados em painel pooled, fixed e random effects para encontrar a possível correlação entre sustentabilidade e valor da empresa. Os resultados encontrados apontam uma relação entre sustentabilidade empresarial e desempenho financeiro.(AU)

ANÁLISE DAS MUDANÇAS DOS FATORES DETERMINANTES DA ESTRUTURA DE CAPITAL EM FUNÇÃO DO CICLO DE VIDA DAS EMPRESAS BRASILEIRAS

As várias teorias acerca da estrutura de capital despertam interesse motivando diversos estudos sobre o assunto sem, no entanto, ter um consenso. Outro tema aparentemente pouco explorado refere-se ao ciclo de vida das empresas e como ele pode influenciar a estrutura de capital. Este estudo teve como objetivo verificar quais determinantes possuem maior relevância no endividamento das empresas e se estes determinantes alteram-se dependendo do ciclo de vida da empresa apoiada pelas teorias Trade Off, Pecking Order e Teoria da Agência. Para alcançar o objetivo deste trabalho foi utilizado análise em painel de efeito fixo sendo a amostra composta por empresas brasileiras de capital aberto, com dados secundários disponíveis na Economática® no período de 2005 a 2013, utilizando-se os setores da BM&FBOVESPA. Como resultado principal destaca-se o mesmo comportamento entre a amostra geral, alto e baixo crescimento pelo endividamento contábil para o determinante Lucratividade apresentando uma relação negativa, e para os determinantes Oportunidade de Crescimento e Tamanho, estes com uma relação positiva. Para os grupos de alto e baixo crescimento alguns determinantes apresentaram resultados diferentes, como a singularidade que resultou significância nestes dois grupos, sendo positiva no baixo crescimento e negativa no alto crescimento, para o valor colateral dos ativos e benefício fiscal não dívida apresentaram significância apenas no grupo de baixo crescimento. Para o endividamento a valor de mercado foi observado significância para o Benefício fiscal não dívida e Singularidade. Este resultado reforça o argumento de que o ciclo de vida influência a estrutura de capital.

BIND—The Biomolecular Interaction Network Database

The Biomolecular Interaction Network Database (BIND; http://binddb.org) is a database designed to store full descriptions of interactions, molecular complexes and pathways. Development of the BIND 2.0 data model has led to the incorporation of virtually all components of molecular mechanisms including interactions between any two molecules composed of proteins, nucleic acids and small molecules. Chemical reactions, photochemical activation and conformational changes can also be described. Everything from small molecule biochemistry to signal transduction is abstracted in such a way that graph theory methods may be applied for data mining. The database can be used to study networks of interactions, to map pathways across taxonomic branches and to generate information for kinetic simulations. BIND anticipates the coming large influx of interaction information from high-throughput proteomics efforts including detailed information about post-translational modifications from mass spectrometry. Version 2.0 of the BIND data model is discussed as well as implementation, content and the open nature of the BIND project. The BIND data specification is available as ASN.1 and XML DTD.

Technical efficiency in the retail food industry: the influence of inventory investment, wage levels, and age of the firm

The objective of this paper is to estimate technical efficiency in retailing; and the influence of inventory investment, wage levels, and firm age on this efficiency. We use the output supermarket chains’ sales volume, calculated isolating the retailer price effect on its sales revenue. This output allows us to estimate a strictly technical concept of efficiency. The methodology is based on the estimation of a stochastic parametric function. The empirical analyses applied to panel data on a sample of 42 supermarket chains between 2000 and 2002 show that inventory investment and wage level have an impact on technical efficiency. In comparison, the effect of these factors on efficiency calculated through a monetary output (sales revenue) shows some differences that could be due to aspects related to product prices.

Nonlinear dynamics in discretionary accruals: An analysis of bank loan-loss provisions

Several studies have analyzed discretionary accruals to address earnings-smoothing behaviors in the banking industry. We argue that the characteristic link between accruals and earnings may be nonlinear, since both the incentives to manipulate income and the practical way to do so depend partially on the relative size of earnings. Given a sample of 15,268 US banks over the period 1996–2011, the main results in this paper suggest that, depending on the size of earnings, bank managers tend to engage in earnings-decreasing strategies when earnings are negative (“big-bath”), use earnings-increasing strategies when earnings are positive, and use provisions as a smoothing device when earnings are positive and substantial (“cookie-jar” accounting). This evidence, which cannot be explained by the earnings-smoothing hypothesis, is consistent with the compensation theory. Neglecting nonlinear patterns in the econometric modeling of these accruals may lead to misleading conclusions regarding the characteristic strategies used in earnings management.

Do agricultural subsidies crowd out or stimulate rural credit institutions? The Case of CAP Payments. Factor Markets Working Paper No. 4, September 2011

In this paper we estimate the impact of subsidies from the EU’s common agricultural policy on farm bank loans. According to the theoretical results, if subsidies are paid at the beginning of the growing season they may reduce bank loans, whereas if they are paid at the end of the season they increase bank loans, but these results are conditional on whether farms are credit constrained and on the relative cost of internal and external financing. In the empirical analysis, we use farm-level panel data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network to test the theoretical predictions for the period 1995–2007. We employ fixed-effects and generalised method of moment models to estimate the impact of subsidies on farm loans. The results suggest that subsidies influence farm loans and the effects tend to be non-linear and indirect. The results also indicate that both coupled and decoupled subsidies stimulate long-term loans, but the long-term loans of large farms increase more than those of small farms, owing to decoupled subsidies. Furthermore, the results imply that short-term loans are affected only by decoupled subsidies, and they are altered by decoupled subsidies more for small farms than for large farms; however, when controlling for endogeneity, only the decoupled payments affect loans and the relationship is non-linear.

Empirical Evidence of the Distributional Effects of the CAP in the New EU Member States. Factor Markets Working Document No. 58, August 2013

This study, carried out in the context of the Factor Markets research project, investigates the impact of the SAPS (Single Area Payment Scheme) on farmland rental rates in the new EU member states. Using a unique set of farm level panel data with 20,930 observations for 2004 and 2005 we are able to control for important sources of endogeneity. According to our results, the SAPS has a positive and statistically significant impact on land rents in the EU. However, the estimated incidence is smaller than predicted theoretically. Land rents capture only 19 cents of the marginal SAPS euro, and around 10% of the SAPS benefit non-farming landowners through higher farmland rental prices. As the share of rented land is higher in corporate farms than individual ones, family farms benefit more from the SAPS than corporate farms do.

Continuous Off-the-Job Training in East Germany After Unification: Preliminary Results of an Evaluation of the Effects for Individual Workers, CES Germany & Europe Working Papers, No. 05.9, 19 July, 1995

Retraining the labor force to match the demands of a modem economy is seen as an important task during the transition process from a centrally-planned to a market economy. This need was particularly pressing in East Germany, because the transition process has proceeded much faster than in the rest of Eastern Europe. Therefore, substantial resources have been devoted to this purpose. This paper analyzes the impact of continuous off-the-job training in East Germany from the point of view of individuals who were part of the labor force before German unification in 1990. It tries to answer questions about the average gains from participating in a specific type of training. Typical outcomes considered to measure those gains are income, employment status, job security, and expected future changes in job position. The methodology used for the evaluation is the potential outcome approach to causality. This approach has received considerable attention in the statistical literature over the last fifteen years and it has recently been rediscovered by the econometric literature as well. It is adapted to allow for important permanent and transitory shocks, such as unemployment, which influence the decision to participate in the training as well as future labor market outcomes. The empirical part is based on the first four waves of the Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP)-East (1990-1993). This panel data set has the advantage that the fourth wave contains a special survey on continuous training and that it allows keeping track of individual behavior on a monthly, respectively yearly, basis. The econometric analysis focuses on off-the-job training courses that began after unification and were completed not later than in early 1993. Although it is obviously too early to evaluate the long-term implications, the results suggest that there are no positive effects in the short run.