Analysis of the maritime logistic system in Chile and the design of a parametric model to decision making

The internationalisation of investments and the globalisation of the markets have created a high level of competition among manufacturing and services companies which has transcended the competition among nations. In this environment, quality information and exact timing are the sole answers for generating comparative and competitive advantages with respect to other manufacturers and providers. Inspired by these challenges, Latin American countries have searched for ways to increase and diversify their exports in order to heighten their trade balance surpluses. This, in turn, helps them to overcome their debt problems and gain access to a better quality of life. With these criteria in mind, these countries have begun to join the economic aperture and globalisation processes. United by their common ethnic heritage, they are driven by the growing need to co-ordinate national and regional decisions in order to achieve a harmonic community development. The efficiency principle imposed by the present international trade scenario requires extreme attention to detail in the administration of production costs and in placing products on the market. Because a product's success is highly sensitive to cost and distribution methods, maritime transport and its associated systems require very specific management techniques. Those management techniques must take into account that as transport is a service it gives added value to the cargo. Thus, the management model, costs involved, planning processes, and area policies are topics of vital importance for achieving these nations' development objectives. The design of specific policies, both operational as well as for development (investments), should comply with certain minimum conditions. The resulting policies should satisfy integrally and harmoniously the requirements the State establishes in its general National Development Strategy. This strategy considers factors of monetary and trade uncertainty. States must be particularly careful to interpret changes, tendencies, circumstances and difficulties which emerge in the international markets they serve, correctly. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyse the existing maritime transport logistic system in Chile, beginning with the history of ports and economic development. Subsequently, this study will analyse all relevant information related to logistics and the lessons learnt during the process of modernization. For analytical purposes, the study establishes an evaluation area which has been represented by a "graph" built up from nodes and links.These symbolise the complex network of port systems, hinterlands, roads, railways and coastal shipping. Likewise, the links and nodes have direction, intensity and values that the study intends to describe and evaluate. Moreover, hinterlands are not as exclusive as they were before. Consequently, most of the port systems face a very competitive market in offering services for international hinterlands/foreland. Therefore, this thesis will conclude that at least some Latin American countries establish land bridges between them. There have been some studies about the land bridges, "inter-oceanic corridors" or "integration corridors" options in South America.The Pacific Ocean Basin and the APEC countries represent a huge market for those Atlantic countries which have products to export and import from that vast area of the globe. The existence of the main industrial site of South America running from the Atlantic side of South America to the Pacific Coast, which forms an "Industrial Banana", is the foundation of a massive demand to and from both coasts. The study evaluated the logistics system through different criteria, such as logistics, physical capacities, and economic, social, environmental and political considerations. Having established these criteria, the researcher can better evaluate the relevant parameters and variables to consider in the design of the parametric model.La internacionalizacion de las inversiones y la globalizacion de los mercados, han creado un alto nivel de competitividad entre los proveedores de manufactura o de servicios, lo que trasciende a la competitividad entre las naciones. En este escenario, la informacion de calidad y respuesta en tiempo real son la respuesta para generar ventajas comparativas y competitivas respecto de otros productores y proveedores. Inspirados en estos cambios, los paises Latinoamericanos han buscado formas como aumentar y diversificar sus exportaciones, con el proposito de incrementar sus balanzas comerciales. Esto les ayuda a sobrellevar sus problemas de deuda, accediendo a mejor calidad de vida. Con estos criterios en mente, los paises de la Region han accedido a los procesos de apertura economica y globalizacion de los mercados. Unidos por la herencia etnica comun, ven una creciente necesidad por la coordinacion de sus decisiones nacionales y regionales, de manera de alcanzar el desarrollo comun de manera harmonica. Los principios de eficiencia impuestos por el presente esquema de comercio internacional, requiren de una atencion especial en la gestion de los costos de produccion y en la colocacion de los productos en los mercados. Considerando que el exito del producto es sensible a su costo, los sistemas de distribucion y logistica requiren de tecnicas especificas de gestion. Por ello, los modelos de gestion, costos, procesos de planificacion y politicas sectoriales son de vital importancia para alcanzar los objetivos nacionales de desarrollo. El diseno de politicas sectoriales, tanto operacionales como de desarrollo (inversiones), deberian cumplir con los minimas condiciones para lograr su objetivo pais. Las politicas resultantes debieran satisfacer de manera integral y harmonica, los requirimientos que el Estado ha establecido en su Estrategia Nacional de Desarrollo. Dicha estrategia debe incluir las incertidumbres monetarias y de commercio. Los Estados deben ser particularmente cuidadosos para interpretar correctamente los cambios, tendencias, circunstancias y dificultades que emergen de los mercados internacionales que ellos sirven. Por lo indicado anteriormente, el proposito de esta tesis es analizar el sistema de logistica maritima en Chile, comenzando con la historia de sus puertos y desarrollo economico, posteriormente el analisis de la informacion relevante a logistica y las lecciones aprendidas durante el proceso de modernizacion economica. Con propositos analiticos, el estudio determino una zona fisica de evaluacion que esta representada por la "teoria de grafos". Esta simboliza la compleja red de puertos, hinterlands, caminos, ferrovias y transporte maritimo costero. Los nodos y sus enlaces tienen direccion, intensidad y valores que el estudio pretende evaluar y dimensionar. Mas aun, en la actualidad el hinterland de los puertos ha dejado de ser exclusivo, consecuentemente, los sistemas portuarios enfrentan una agresiva competencia para ofertar servicios a sus hinterland/foreland, por lo cual algunos paises latinoamericanos construyeron "puentes terrestres" entre ellos, el estudio indica algunas opciones de "puentes terrestres", "corredores inter-oceanicos" o "corredores de integracion" identificados en America del Sur. La cuenca del Pacifico y los paises APEC representan un mercado enorme para los paises de la costa Atlantica. La existencia de la principal area industrial de Sudamerica se configura entre el Atlantico y Pacifico, forma lo que el autor denomina como la "Banana Industrial", lo que origina una enorme demanda en los dos sentidos. El estudio evalua los sistemas desde diferentes criterios, tales como: sus capacidades fisicas y logisticas, sus consideraciones economicas, politicas, sociales, y medio ambientales. Una vez establesidos los criterios, el investigador puede identificar y evaluar de mejor forma los parametros y variables a considerar en el diseno del "modelo parametrico".Postprint (published version

Lithological and Geochemical Responses to Abrupt Global and Regional Paleoenvironmental Changes During the Aptian in a Hemipelagic Setting of the Eastern Iberian Peninsula: A Multi-Proxy Approach

Intense episodes of environmental perturbations and regionally to globally distributed, oxygen-deprived marine facies characterize the Cretaceous sedimentary record. The Organyà Basin in the Spanish Pyrenees chronicles this period in expanded stratigraphic sequences that enabled high-resolution sampling and detailed analysis of disturbances poorly recorded in more lithologically condensed sections. Here, I present an integrated multi-proxy study aimed at understanding the Basin’s response to changing paleoenvironmental conditions during the early Aptian stage of the Cretaceous. Results from the El Pui section indicate that large-scale (\u3e 1‰), negative carbon isotope excursions (CIEs) that show no corresponding shifts in local sources of organic matter (OM) and are simultaneously recorded at coeval localities result from the increased input of isotopically light carbon into the oceanic/atmospheric system, altering the isotopic ratio (δ13C) of the global carbon reservoir. The El Pujal section, in continuation with the series previously recorded at El Pui, registers a δ13Corg curve that is consistent with the pattern reported for carbon isotope segment C5 within Oceanic Anoxic Event 1a (OAE1a). Pulses of fluvial fluxes associated with climatic fluctuations explain the alternating lithology, with limestones representing the least terrestrially influenced end-member and marlstones representing episodes of highest terrigenous influence. Primary production sustained by fluvial inputs of biolimiting elements provided abundant labile OM conducive to oxygen-deprived conditions, as attested by concomitant peaks in total organic carbon (TOC), relatively lower benthic faunal counts, lower bioturbation index, higher concentration of pyrite and peaks in redox-sensitive trace elements. However, OM preservation was not chiefly controlled by redox conditions as physical encapsulation by clay minerals and coincident inputs of terrestrial OM with more recalcitrant properties likely played a significant role. A demise of previous conditions is registered in the uppermost portion with hard limestone low in TOC, and major elements and with lower ratios of autochthonous to allochthonous OM, indicating a reduction in fluvial fluxes and surface-water fertility suggesting dryer climatic conditions. Changes in microfacies, with coarser grain packstones, fewer planktonic foraminifera and an increase in benthic taxa, imply a shallowing of the basin, similar to conditions previously reported in the neighboring Basque-Cantabrian Basin at the end of segment C5

Impact of climate change on agricultural and natural ecosystems

This book illustrates the main results deriving from fourteen studies, dealing with the impact of climate change on different agricultural and natural ecosystems, carried out within the Impact of Climate change On agricultural and Natural Ecosystems (ICONE) project funded by the ALFA Programme of the European Commission. During this project, a common methodology on several Global Change-related matters was developed and shared among members of scientific communities coming from Latin America and Europe. In order to facilitate this interdisciplinary approach, specific mobility programmes, addressed to post-graduate, Master and PhD students, have been organized. The research, led by the research groups, was focused on the study of the impact of climate change on various environmental features (i.e. runoff in hydrological basins, soil erosion and moisture, forest canopy, sugarcane crop, land use, drought, precipitation, etc). Integrated and shared methodologies of atmospheric physics, remote sensing, eco-physiology and modelling have been applied

Address in Portuguese and Spanish: Studies in diachrony and diachronic reconstruction

The volume Address in Portuguese and Spanish: Studies in Diachrony and Diachronic Reconstruction provides the first systematic contrastive approach to the history of forms of address in Portuguese and Spanish in their European and American varieties. From a methodological point of view, the volume is innovative as it links historical linguistics with diachronic reconstruction based on synchronic variation. It includes theoretical reflections as well as fine-grained empirical studies.Der Band Address in Portuguese and Spanish: Studies in Diachrony and Diachronic Reconstruction ist die erste systematische kontrastive Analyse der Geschichte der Anredeformen im Portugiesischen und Spanischen. Er ist methodologisch innovativ, indem er Sprachgeschichte mit diachroner Rekonstruktion auf der Grundlage synchronischer Variation verknüpft. Er enthält theoretische Untersuchungen ebenso wie detaillierte empirische Studien

The Age of the Soybean

The soybean is far more than just a versatile crop whose derivates serve the protein needs of a meatless diet. One of the world’s most important commodities, soy represents the embodiment of mechanised industrial agriculture and is one of the main actors behind the socioeconomic, political and ecological transformations of industrial farming in several world regions. Despite the crop’s potential as a cheap source of vegetal protein for human consumers, most industrial soybean production has fuelled the global meat industrial complex, as animal feed. Soybean is thus, paradoxically, still a relatively ‘invisible’ crop to the public at large, although its global yields continue to increase at stupendous rates, lining the pockets of agribusiness and to the detriment of traditional agriculture. The transnational socio-ecological and economic entanglements characterising this versatile legume’s global expansion have prompted scholarly attention as researchers around the world have begun to unveil the main historical drivers behind the rise of the soybean in the global food chain. This book aims to expand the analysis, offering the most significant effort so far at an environmental history of soybeans. Interrogating the socioeconomic and ecological transformations determined by (and determining) the rise of soy in international food chains during the Great Acceleration, the volume gathers contributions from an international cast of researchers, working in numerous geographical contexts, from Japan and China, to India, African nations, the Southern Cone of Latin America, Northern Europe and the United States. Soybean farming, breeding, processing and marketing have bound together the histories of these diverse regions and altered beyond recognition their ecological and socio-economic contexts

Failure of Participation & “Missing Women” in South Mediterranean Economies

This paper aims at showing that women are “missing” because also of their limited participation in development. It also intends to show that market mechanisms as well as limited alternative institutions are among the factors that negatively affect access to health, to education and to economic opportunities. The emphasis is placed on South Mediterranean countries. The results attained and the evidence mobilized consistently show the interdependencies of health, education and poverty and the potential gains that can be transversally achieved with the promotion of the roles of women and children

Failure of Participation & “Missing Women” in South Mediterranean Economies

This paper aims at showing that women are “missing” because also of their limited participation in development. It also intends to show that market mechanisms as well as limited alternative institutions are among the factors that negatively affect access to health, to education and to economic opportunities. The emphasis is placed on South Mediterranean countries. The results attained and the evidence mobilized consistently show the interdependencies of health, education and poverty and the potential gains that can be transversally achieved with the promotion of the roles of women and children

The Limits of Bioenergy : A Complex Systems Approach to Land Use Dynamics and Constraints

This thesis aims to use a novel methodology to obtain an understanding of the potential limits of bioenergy by using a complex systems approach for assessing land use dynamics and constraints. Although bioenergy is classified as a renewable energy source, land is a finite resource and its expansion limited. The anthropogenic demands on land result from a combination of multiple provisioning services. These include global food consumption, dietary preference, crop and livestock yields, land use integration, wastes and residues, and bioenergy yields and forms, as well as the allocation of surplus land for forestry and energy crops, and the potential role of negative emission technologies. Thus, bioenergy is just one part of a complex land-use system. The general hypothesis is that there are fundamental limits to the overall scale and rate of the sustainable expansion of bioenergy, which can be assessed by means of combinations of empirical data, mapping tools and complex systems models. To this end, a novel methodological approach is proposed, which is based on a combination of two original models. The first one is termed the Global Calculator Land Use Change Model (GCLUC), developed as part of the Global Calculator Project, in which land is freely allocated worldwide and food security is assumed a priority. The second considers land for dedicated energy crops as a delimited reserve, by integrating Hubbert’s curve principles (originally proposed for peak oil assessments) in agro-ecological zoning schemes (as recently done for sugarcane ethanol in Brazil), resulting in a new model here termed green-Hubbert. The results show ranges of bioenergy potentials and expansion rates in the context of different land use futures. The potential public policies necessary to support sustainable bioenergy are also discussed. Finally, the conclusions show that, indeed, there are fundamental limits to bioenergy, and these limits are dynamic over time.Open Acces