Economies of Scope between Research and Teaching in European Universities

The estimation of economies of scope between research and teaching has been the object of a large literature in economics of education and efficiency analysis, with parametric and non-parametric specifications. The paper contributes to the literature by building a pan-European dataset that integrates official statistics on higher education at country level with bibliometric indicators. The dataset allows a breakdown by scientific and educational field, accounting for the heterogeneity among disciplines. We applied a technique which has not been used for the efficiency estimation of economies of scope in higher education, namely seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) applied to separate input–output equations describing the production of education and research. We found confirmation for economies of scope in some fields and with some specifications, or no relation between the equations. In no case did we find diseconomies of scope between teaching and research.

Means and Methods of Efficiency Estimation of Video Stream Transmission Based on GigE Vision Technology Using Application Processor

The paper investigates the possibility of efficient implementation of a GigE Vision compatible video stream source on a computing platform based on a system-on-a-chip with general-purpose ARM processor cores. In particular, to implement the aforementioned video source, a proprietary prototype of a GigE Vision compatible camera was developed based on the Raspberry Pi 4 single-board computer. This computing platform was chosen due to its widespread use and wide community support. The software part of the camera is implemented using the Video4Linux and Aravis libraries. The first library is used for the primary image capturing from a video sensor connected to a single board computer. The second library is intended for forming and transmission of video stream frames compatible with GigE Vision technology over the network. To estimate the delays in the transmission of a video stream over an Ethernet channel, a methodology based on the Precise Time Protocol (PTP) has been proposed and applied. During the experiments, it was found that the software implementation of a GigE Vision compatible camera on single-board computers with general-purpose processor cores is quite promising. Without additional optimization, such an implementation can be successfully used to transmit small frames (with a resolution of up to 640 × 480 pixels), giving a delay less than 10 ms. At the same time, some additional optimizations may be required to transmit larger frames. Namely, a MTU (maximum transmission unit) size value plays the crucial role in latency formation. Thus, to implement a faster camera, it is necessary to select a platform that supports the largest possible MTU (unfortunately, it turned out that it is not possible with Raspberry Pi 4, as it supports relatively small MTU size of up to 2000 bytes). In addition, the image format conversion procedure can noticeably affect the delay. Therefore, it is highly desirable to avoid any frame processing on the transmitter side and, if it is possible, to broadcast raw images. If the conversion of the frame format is necessary, the platform should be chosen so that there are free computing cores on it, which will permit to distribute all necessary frame conversions between these cores using parallelization techniques.

The Robust Efficiency Estimation in Lower Secondary Education: Cross-Country Evidence

In this study, we assessed the efficiency of compulsory lower secondary education. We selected three variables that may significantly affect students’ performance in a particular country. First, we assumed that student scores achieved in PISA testing determine the number of monetary funds spent on these three variables, specifically student–teacher ratio, class size, and the annual number of hours spent in school. Second, we evaluated the efficiency of education in a sample of 24 different OECD countries, comparing the students’ performance in PISA 2018. Third, we used the two-stage data envelopment analysis with a bootstrapping procedure for estimating technical efficiency scores. Finally, we applied OLS and quantile regression, where our regression estimates in both models showed a positive effect of GDP per capita on students’ achievement across countries. The positive impact of GDP per capita was significant only for the least efficient countries. Conversely, the level of impact of parental education was much stronger and more positive for the inefficient countries and proved to be negative for more efficient countries.

Recommendations for the multilateral wells design selection in various geological conditions based on lessons learned

The authors of the article have summarized the experience of multilateral well application, performed an efficiency analysis of multilateral wells vs horizontal wells in Rosneft Oil Company's fields with various subsurface architecture. The algorithm for multilateral well efficiency estimation, compared to other type of well completions, was developed. This algorithm is based on the selection of areas for well locations with similar reservoir properties, reservoir energy conditions, and reservoir development conditions to evaluate production startup parameters, decline rates, cumulative parameters for the areas of over 6 month production. A matrix of multilateral well applicability in various geological conditions was generated, and recommendations for preferable well design were made. This type of analysis was conducted for the first time due to collection of sufficient statistical data, because of a multiple increase in the amount of drilling complex wells in the recent years. The obtained results provide an opportunity to design an efficient field development system for new assets, perform an adjustment of brownfields development systems, select multilateral well design for certain geological conditions based on lessons learned.

Evaluation of the Efficiency of European Health Systems Using Fuzzy Data Envelopment Analysis

Many studies that assess efficiency in health systems are based on output mean values. That approach ignores the representativeness of the average statistic, which can become a serious problem in estimation. To solve this question, this research contributes in three different ways: the first aim is to evaluate the technical efficiency in the management of European health systems considering a set of DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) and FDEA (Fuzzy Data Envelopment Analysis) models. A second goal is to assess the bias in the estimation of efficiency when applying the conventional DEA. The third objective is the evaluation of the statistical relationship between the bias in the efficiency estimation and the macroeconomic variables (income inequality and economic freedom). The main results show positive correlations between DEA and FDEA scores. Notwithstanding traditional DEA models overestimate efficiency scores. Furthermore, the size of the bias is positively related to income inequality and negative with economic freedom in the countries evaluated.