Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Ecuador: Evolution and Challenges

The main objective of this article is to analyze the evolution of Ecuadorian Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SME), their contribution to the national economy, institutional framework, and internal operating characteristics. To this end, the focus is on companies related to the manufacturing sector in Ecuador. The main periods of the analysis are: i) the 1990s, ii) 2000-2008 and iii) 2009-2019; however, the decades of the 1970s and 1980s have been included in the first part of the article for their relevance. Literature review is the main data collection methodology, and the databases used are from official sources. Data from the Banco Central del Ecuador (BCE, Central Bank of Ecuador), the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Censos (INEC, National Institute of Statistics and Census), regulations and research around the SME sector have been used. The main findings are that SMEs are crucial within the Ecuadorian industrial fabric, because of its specialization in products that contribute to satisfying basic needs, but also because they provide parts and supplies to other companies. The quantitative contribution of SMEs, however, has been declining over time, both in number of establishments, staffing, and production, which reveals the increasing relevance of large industries. In this process, the institutional framework has had an influence in the evolution of SMEs, with certain strengths and weaknesses in terms of supporting the development of SMEs. In turn, in regards to internal operation, it becomes apparent that despite some improvement, there has not been significant progress during the period under analysis. In short, this work contributes to the larger discussion about the relevance of SMEs in Ecuador, their history, and whether there might be grounds for public policies to support their development.

Preference and possible consumption of provided enrichment and bedding materials and disinfectant powder by growing pigs

Background Domestic pigs have an evolutionary conserved exploratory behaviour. To comply with this requirement, the European Union aims at setting standards for appropriate enrichment materials for pigs (Council Directive 2008/120/EC). As recommended characteristics include ‘chewable’ and ‘edible’, pigs might also consume these materials (Commission Recommendation (EU) 2016/336), which are often additionally advertised to enhance lying comfort and hygienic conditions in stables. To date, a wide range of bedding, enrichment and disinfectant materials is available on the market to ensure environmental enrichment, a dry, hygienic environment or lying comfort. Previous studies revealed considerable amounts of undesirable substances in some of these materials possibly being a risk for food safety considering oral uptake by the animal. To determine interest and indicators for consumption of different types of materials by pigs during exploratory behaviour, a camera-assisted observational study with 12 female pigs (German Landrace) was conducted. We tested their preference for a disinfectant powder, peat, biochar and straw as reference material in a 4 × 6 factorial arrangement. Results Pigs manipulated and consumed all offered materials. However, longest manipulation time per pig was observed for biochar (63 min/day) and peat (50 min/day) (p < 0.05). Analyses of the bulk molecular-chemical composition and n-alkanes and acid insoluble ash as markers in the materials and in faeces clearly revealed the consumption of these materials by pigs. Conclusions Whether the consumption of considerable amounts together with certain levels of undesirable substances represents a risk for pig and consumer health could yet not be established. Future studies will address the quantitative contribution of undesirable substances by oral ingestion of bedding and enrichment materials and disinfectant powders to the daily feed ration.

Using deep learning to predict the East Asian summer monsoon

Accurate prediction of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) is beneficial to billions of people’s production and lives. Here convolutional neural networks (CNN) and transfer learning are used for predicting the EASM. The results of the constructed CNN regression model show that the prediction of the CNN regression model is highly consistent with the reanalysis dataset, with correlation coefficient of 0.78, which is higher than that of each of the current state-of-the-art dynamic models. The heat map method indicates that the robust precursor signals in the CNN regression model agree well with previous theoretical studies, and can provide the quantitative contribution of different signals for EASM prediction. The CNN regression model can predict the EASM one year ahead with a confidence level above 95%. The above method can not only improve the prediction of the EASM but also help to identify the involved physical predictors.

EVALUATION OF MG-25 FUSE QUALITY AT LIFE CYCLE AND IDENTIFICATION OF OCCURRING FAULTS

The paper presents an analysis of faults of MG-25 fuse which affect the efficiency of this article in the life cycle and were detected at testing its technical status. The analysis was made on the grounds of test results [1] received for production lots of MG-25 fuses from years 1970-2000. The quantitative contribution of particular faults affecting the quality of this article was illustrated by Pareto-Lorenz method.