María Inmaculada Rodríguez García

Verified @gm.uca.es

Universidad Cádiz

16

Scopus Publications

Scopus Publications

  • Multicriteria Decision Model for Port Evaluation and Ranking: An Analysis of Container Terminals in Latin America and the Caribbean Using PCA-TOPSIS Methodologies
    Adriana Pabón-Noguera, María Gema Carrasco-García, Juan Jesús Ruíz-Aguilar, María Inmaculada Rodríguez-García, María Cerbán-Jimenez, and Ignacio José Turias Domínguez

    MDPI AG
    In recent years, despite a decline in international trade and disruptions in the supply chain caused by COVID-19, the main container terminals in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have increased their container volumes. This growth has necessitated significant adaptations by seaports and their authorities to meet new demands. Consequently, there has been a focused analysis on the performance, efficiency, and competitiveness, particularly their most relevant logistical aspects. In this paper, a multi-objective hybrid approach was employed. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) technique was combined with the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to rank LAC container terminals and identify operational criteria affecting efficiency. The analysis considered all input variables (berth/quay length, quay draught, yard area, number of quay cranes (portainer), number of yard cranes (trastainer), reachstacker, multicranes, daily montainer movement capacity, number of station reefer container type, number of terminals, and distance to the Panama Canal) and output variable (port performance expressed in TEUs from 2014 to 2023). The results revealed noteworthy findings for several terminals, particularly Colón, Santos, or Cartagena, which stands out as the main container port in LAC not only in annual TEUs throughput, but also in resource utilization.

  • Virtual Sensor for Estimating the Strain-Hardening Rate of Austenitic Stainless Steels Using a Machine Learning Approach
    Julia Contreras-Fortes, M. Inmaculada Rodríguez-García, David L. Sales, Rocío Sánchez-Miranda, Juan F. Almagro, and Ignacio Turias

    MDPI AG
    This study introduces a Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) model that functions as a virtual sensor for estimating the strain-hardening rate of austenitic stainless steels, represented by the Hardening Rate of Hot rolled and annealed Stainless steel sheet (HRHS) parameter. The model correlates tensile strength (Rm) with cold thickness reduction and chemical composition, evidencing a robust linear relationship with an R-coefficient above 0.9800 for most samples. Key variables influencing the HRHS value include Cr, Mo, Si, Ni, and Nb, with the MLR model achieving a correlation coefficient of 0.9983. The Leave-One-Out Cross-Validation confirms the model’s generalization for test examples, consistently yielding high R-values and low mean squared errors. Additionally, a simplified HRHS version is proposed for instances where complete chemical analyses are not feasible, offering a practical alternative with minimal error increase. The research demonstrates the potential of linear regression as a virtual sensor linking cold strain hardening to chemical composition, providing a cost-effective tool for assessing strain hardening behaviour across various austenitic grades. The HRHS parameter significantly aids in the understanding and optimization of steel behaviour during cold forming, offering valuable insights for the design of new steel grades and processing conditions.

  • Oil Spill Classification Using an Autoencoder and Hyperspectral Technology
    María Gema Carrasco-García, María Inmaculada Rodríguez-García, Juan Jesús Ruíz-Aguilar, Lipika Deka, David Elizondo, and Ignacio José Turias Domínguez

    MDPI AG
    Hyperspectral technology has been playing a leading role in monitoring oil spills in marine environments, which is an issue of international concern. In the case of monitoring oil spills in local areas, hyperspectral technology of small dimensions is the ideal solution. This research explores the use of encoded hyperspectral signatures to develop automated classifiers capable of discriminating between polluted and clean water and distinguishing between various types of oil. The overall objective is to leverage these classifiers to be able to improve the performance of conventional systems that rely solely on hyperspectral imagery. The acquisition of the hyperspectral signatures of water and hydrocarbons was carried out with a spectroradiometer. The range of the spectroradiometer used in this study covers the ranges between [350–1000] (visible near-infrared) and [1000–2500] (short-wavelength infrared). This gives detailed information regarding the targets of interest. Different neural autoencoders (AEs) have been developed to reduce inputs into different dimensions, from 1 to 15. Each of these encoded sets was used to train decision tree (DT) classifiers. The results are very promising, as they show that the AE models encoded data with correlation coefficients above 0.95. The classifiers trained with the different sets provide accuracies close to 1.

  • Air Pollution PM<inf>10</inf> Forecasting Maps in the Maritime Area of the Bay of Algeciras (Spain)
    María Inmaculada Rodríguez-García, María Gema Carrasco-García, Maria da Conceição Rodrigues Ribeiro, Javier González-Enrique, Juan Jesús Ruiz-Aguilar, and Ignacio J. Turias

    MDPI AG
    Predicting the levels of a pollutant in a given area is an open problem, mainly because historical data are typically available at certain locations, where monitoring stations are located, but not at all locations in the area. This work presents an approach based on developing predictions at each of the points where an immission station is available; in this case, based on shallow Artificial Neural Networks, ANNs, and then using a simple geostatistical interpolation algorithm (Inverse Distance Weighted, IDW), a pollutant map is constructed over the entire study area, thus providing predictions at each point in the plane. The ANN models are designed to make 1 h ahead and 4 h ahead predictions, using an autoregressive scheme as inputs (in the case of 4 h ahead as a jumping strategy). The results are then compared using the Friedman and Bonferroni tests to select the best model at each location, and predictions are made with all the best models. In general, to the 1 h ahead prediction models, the optimal models typically have fewer neurons and require minimal historical data. For instance, the best model in Algeciras has an R of almost 0.89 and consists of 1 hidden neuron and 3 to 5 lags, similar to Colegio Los Barrios. In the case of 4h ahead prediction, Colegio Carteya station shows the best model, with an R of almost 0.89 and a MSE of less than 240, including 5 hidden neurons and different lags from the past. The results are sufficiently adequate, especially in the case of predictions 4 h into the future. The aim is to integrate the models into a tool for citizens and administrations to make decisions.

  • A Machine Learning Approach for Modelling Cold-Rolling Curves for Various Stainless Steels
    Julia Contreras-Fortes, M. Inmaculada Rodríguez-García, David L. Sales, Rocío Sánchez-Miranda, Juan F. Almagro, and Ignacio Turias

    MDPI AG
    Stainless steel is a cold-work-hardened material. The degree and mechanism of hardening depend on the grade and family of the steel. This characteristic has a direct effect on the mechanical behaviour of stainless steel when it is cold-formed. Since cold rolling is one of the most widespread processes for manufacturing flat stainless steel products, the prediction of their strain-hardening mechanical properties is of great importance to materials engineering. This work uses artificial neural networks (ANNs) to forecast the mechanical properties of the stainless steel as a function of the chemical composition and the applied cold thickness reduction. Multiple linear regression (MLR) is also used as a benchmark model. To achieve this, both traditional and new-generation austenitic, ferritic, and duplex stainless steel sheets are cold-rolled at a laboratory scale with different thickness reductions after the industrial intermediate annealing stage. Subsequently, the mechanical properties of the cold-rolled sheets are determined by tensile tests, and the experimental cold-rolling curves are drawn based on those results. A database is created from these curves to generate a model applying machine learning techniques to predict the values of the tensile strength (Rm), yield strength (Rp), hardness (H), and elongation (A) based on the chemical composition and the applied cold thickness reduction. These models can be used as supporting tools for designing and developing new stainless steel grades and/or adjusting cold-forming processes.

  • Forecasting air pollutants using classification models: a case study in the Bay of Algeciras (Spain)
    M. I. Rodríguez-García, M. C. Ribeiro Rodrigues, J. González-Enrique, J. J. Ruiz-Aguilar, and I. J. Turias

    Springer Science and Business Media LLC
    AbstractThe main goal of this work is to obtain reliable predictions of pollutant concentrations related to maritime traffic (SO2, PM10, NO2, NOX, and NO) in the Bay of Algeciras, located in Andalusia, the south of Spain. Furthermore, the objective is to predict future air quality levels of the principal maritime traffic-related pollutants in the Bay of Algeciras as a function of the rest of the pollutants, the meteorological variables, and vessel data. In this sense, three scenarios were analysed for comparison, namely Alcornocales Park and the cities of La Línea and Algeciras. A database of hourly records of air pollution immissions, meteorological measurements in the Bay of Algeciras region and a database of maritime traffic in the port of Algeciras during the years 2017 to 2019 were used. A resampling procedure using a five-fold cross-validation procedure to assure the generalisation capabilities of the tested models was designed to compute the pollutant predictions with different classification models and also with artificial neural networks using different numbers of hidden layers and units. This procedure enabled appropriate and reliable multiple comparisons among the tested models and facilitated the selection of a set of top-performing prediction models. The models have been compared using several quality classification indexes such as sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and precision. The distance (d1) to the perfect classifier (1, 1, 1, 1) was also used as a discriminant feature, which allowed for the selection of the best models. Concerning the number of variables, an analysis was conducted to identify the most relevant ones for each pollutant. This approach aimed to obtain models with fewer inputs, facilitating the design of an optimised monitoring network. These more compact models have proven to be the optimal choice in many cases. The obtained sensitivities in the best models were 0.98 for SO2, 0.97 for PM10, 0.82 for NO2 and NOX, and 0.83 for NO. These results demonstrate the potential of the models to forecast air pollution in a port city or a complex scenario and to be used by citizens and authorities to prevent exposure to pollutants and to make decisions concerning air quality.

  • Air pollution relevance analysis in the bay of Algeciras (Spain)
    M. I. Rodríguez-García, J. González-Enrique, J. A. Moscoso-López, J. J. Ruiz-Aguilar, and I. J. Turias

    Springer Science and Business Media LLC
    AbstractThe aim of this work is to accomplish an in-depth analysis of the air pollution in the two main cities of the Bay of Algeciras (Spain). A large database of air pollutant concentrations and weather measurements were collected using a monitoring network installed throughout the region from the period of 2010–2015. The concentration parameters contain nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter (PM10). The analysis was developed in two monitoring stations (Algeciras and La Línea). The higher average concentration values were obtained in Algeciras for NO2 (28.850 µg/m3) and SO2 (11.966 µg/m3), and in La Línea for PM10 (30.745 µg/m3). The analysis shows patterns that coincide with human activity. One of the goals of this work is to develop a useful virtual sensor capable of achieving a more robust monitoring network, which can be used, for instance, in the case of missing data. By means of trends analysis, groups of equivalent stations were determined, implying that the values of one station could be substituted for those in the equivalent station in case of failure (e.g., SO2 weekly trends in Algeciras and Los Barrios show equivalence). On the other hand, a calculation of relative risks was developed showing that relative humidity, wind speed and wind direction produce an increase in the risk of higher pollutant concentrations. Besides, obtained results showed that wind speed and wind direction are the most important variables in the distribution of particles. The results obtained may allow administrations or citizens to support decisions.

  • Long Short-Term Memory Approach for Short-Term Air Quality Forecasting in the Bay of Algeciras (Spain)
    María Inmaculada Rodríguez-García, María Gema Carrasco-García, Javier González-Enrique, Juan Jesús Ruiz-Aguilar, and Ignacio J. Turias

    MDPI AG
    Predicting air quality is a very important task, as it is known to have a significant impact on health. The Bay of Algeciras (Spain) is a highly industrialised area with one of the largest superports in Europe. During the period 2017–2019, different data were recorded in the monitoring stations of the bay, forming a database of 131 variables (air pollutants, meteorological information, and vessel data), which were predicted in the Algeciras station using long short-term memory models. Four different approaches have been developed to make SO2 and NO2 forecasts 1 h and 4 h in Algeciras. The first uses the remaining 130 exogenous variables. The second uses only the time series data without exogenous variables. The third approach consists of using an autoregressive time series arrangement as input, and the fourth one is similar, using the time series together with wind and ship data. The results showed that SO2 is better predicted with autoregressive information and NO2 is better predicted with ships and wind autoregressive time series, indicating that NO2 is closely related to combustion engines and can be better predicted. The interest of this study is based on the fact that it can serve as a resource for making informed decisions for authorities, companies, and citizens alike.

  • Air Pollution forecasting using Long Short-Term Memory Networks in the Bay of Algeciras (Spain)
    M.I. Rodríguez-García, M.G. Carrasco-García, J. González-Enrique, J.J. Ruiz-Aguilar, and I.J. Turias

    Elsevier BV

  • Hyperspectral technology for oil spills characterisation by using feature selection
    M.G. Carrasco-García, M.I Rodríguez-García, J. González-Enrique, J.J. Ruiz-Aguilar, and I.J. Turias-Domínguez

    Elsevier BV

  • Hyperspectral Technology for Oil Spills Detection by Using Artificial Neural Network Classifier
    María Gema Carrasco-García, María Inmaculada Rodríguez-García, Javier González-Enrique, Paloma Rocío Cubillas-Fernández, Juan Jesús Ruiz-Aguilar, and Ignacio José Turias-Domínguez

    Springer Nature Switzerland

  • A Machine Learning Approach to Predict MRI Brain Abnormalities in Preterm Infants Using Clinical Data
    Arantxa Ortega-Leon, Roa’a Khaled, María Inmaculada Rodríguez-García, Daniel Urda, and Ignacio J. Turias

    Springer Nature Switzerland

  • A SO<inf>2</inf> Pollution Concentrations Prediction Approach Using Autoencoders
    M. I. Rodríguez-García, J. González-Enrique, J. J. Ruiz-Aguilar, and I. J. Turias

    Springer Nature Switzerland

  • Virtual Sensor to Estimate Air Pollution Heavy Metals Using Bioindicators
    María Inmaculada Rodríguez-García, Nawel Kouadria, Arantxa M. Ortega León, Javier González-Enrique, and Ignacio J. Turias

    Springer Nature Switzerland

  • Comparison of maritime transport influence of SO2 levels in Algeciras and Alcornocales Park (Spain)
    M.I. Rodríguez-García, J. González-Enrique, J.A. Moscoso-López, J.J. Ruiz-Aguilar, J.C. Rodríguez-López, and I.J. Turias

    Elsevier BV

  • Prediction of container filling for the selective waste collection in Algeciras (Spain)
    Juana Carmen Rodríguez López, M. Inmaculada Rodríguez-García, Jose Antonio Moscoso Lopez, Juan Jesus Ruíz Aguilar, Jose Manuel Alcántara Pérez, and Ignacio J. Turias Domínguez

    Elsevier BV