INSTITUTIONS, CONTRACTS AND REGULATION OF INFRASTRUCTURE IN ARGENTINA

Massive privatization in the Argentine infrastructure and public service sectors gave an opportunity to explore why we observe notorious differences in regulatory design choices and performance outcomes across sectors, under the umbrella of similar nation-specific institutional characteristics -same federal government producing reform during a short period of time (1990-95)-. Following the Levy and Spiller (1996) conceptual framework, we propose that some institutional characteristics (namely the nature of conflicts among groups affected by reform and administrative capabilities) determined a wide variety of government choices for regulatory incentives, producing different outcomes across sectors. Despite the will of the executive power to respect stable "rules of the game", episodes of government opportunism appeared in most sectors. Poor regulatory incentive design and weak agencies, on the other hand, prompted ex-post opportunistic behavior from regulated firms, which renegotiated contractual conditions to their favor.regulation; institutional economics; post-privatization; infrastructure; utilities

Damage Valuation of Indirect Expropriation in Public Services

damage valuation, expropriation, public services, contracting, privatization

Evaluation study of IEEE 1609.4 performance for safety and non-safety messages dissemination

The IEEE 1609.4 was developed to support multi-channel operation and channel switching procedure in order to provide both safety and non-safety vehicular applications. However, this protocol has some drawback because it does not make efficient usage of channel bandwidth resources for single radio WAVE devices and suffer from high bounded delay and lost packet especially for large-scale networks in terms of the number of active nodes. This paper evaluates IEEE 1609.4 multi-channel protocol performance for safety and non-safety application and compare it with the IEEE 802.11p single channel protocol. Multi-channel and single channel protocols are analyzed in different environments to investigate their performance. By relying on a realistic dataset and using OMNeT++ simulation tool as network simulator, SUMO as traffic simulator and coupling them by employing Veins framework. Performance evaluation results show that the delay of single channel protocol IEEE 802.11p has been degraded 36% compared with multi-channel protocol

The Buenos Aires water concession

The signing of a concession contract for the Buenos Aires water and sanitation system in December 1992, attracted worldwide attention, and caused considerable controversy in Argentina. It was one of the world's largest concessions, but the case was also interesting for other reasons. The concession was implemented rapidly, in contrast with slow implementation of privatization in Santiago, for example. And reform generated major improvements in the sector, including wider coverage, better service, more efficient company operations, and reduced waste. Moreover, the winning bid brought an immediate 26.9 percent reduction in water system tariffs. Consumers benefited from the system's expansion and from the immediate drop in real prices, which was only partly reversed by subsequent changes in tariffs, and access charges. And these improvements would probably not have occurred under public administration of the system. Still, the authors show information asymmetries, perverse incentives, and weak regulatory institutions could threaten the concession's sustainability. Opportunities for the company to act opportunistically - and the regulator, arbitrarily - exist, because of politicized regulation, a poor information base, serious flaws in the concession contract, a lumpy and ad hoc tariff system, and a general lack of transparency in the regulatory process. Because of these circumstances, public confidence in the process has eroded. The Buenos Aires concession shows how important transparent, rule-based decision-making is to maintain public trust in regulated infrastructure.Health Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water Conservation,Water and Industry,Decentralization,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Water Conservation

Use of multivariate analysis in the non-genetic factors assessment of Creole goats

El peso al nacimiento en caprinos es un factor que siempre se pondera en los esquemas productivos por estar positivamente correlacionado con la tasa de crecimiento, con el tamaño del adulto, con el tiempo que tardan las crías en alcanzar peso de faena y con el tipo de alimentación que reciben. El peso al nacimiento varía en las distintas razas por ser determinado genéticamente. Hay productores que llegan a cambiar la raza de cabra buscando mejores pesos al nacimiento y desarrollos más precoces. Existen, sin embargo, factores no genéticos, que influyen en el peso al nacimiento y el desarrollo inicial que pueden llevar a confundir los resultados cuando se comparan diferentes razas buscando la producción de cabritos de mejores pesos al nacimiento y desarrollos más precoces. Sexo y número de camada son dos factores no genéticos relevantes en la determinación del peso al nacimiento y ya han sido demostrados en otras razas. En cabras Criollas, además de estos, se detecta que edad de la madre, número de parto de la madre, y mes de nacimiento también influyen. Se realizó un estudio de la influencia de todas estas variables en el peso al nacimiento y desarrollo inicial en un rebaño caprino de la Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero (UNSE), en el que se pesaron crías al nacimiento y en desarrollo inicial en cinco pariciones sucesivas. Se aplicó un análisis conjunto de todas las variables o multivariado, empleándose el método de componentes principales ACP, el cual detectó relaciones muy estrechas entre las variables en los tres ejes principales: 1) edad de la madre con número de parto, 2) peso con el tamaño de la camada y 3) otras relaciones, aunque débiles entre sexo y tamaño de camada. El ACP sirvió para sintetizar la información y mejorar la eficiencia en la interpretación de resultados, concentrando a los ejemplares en base a la influencia de las variables estudiadas con sus respectivos pesos al nacimiento, siendo los grupos 2 y 3 los de mayores pesos (3,18 kg y 3.4 kg respectivamente) y los bajos pesos para los grupos 1 y 4 (2,22 kg y 2,25 kg promedio, respectivamente).In goats, birth weight is a factor that is always taken into account in the production systems since it correlates positively with growth rate, with adult size, with the time required for the offspring reach slaughter weight and with the type of food they receive. Birth weight varies in different races to be genetically determined. There are breeders who change the race of goat focusing on the better birth weight and more early development. However, there are non-genetic factors that influence on the birth weight and early development that can lead to confusing results when comparing different races to looking offspring production of better birth weight and early development. Sex and number of litter are two non genetic factors relevant in determining birth weight, that in addition already it was demonstrated in other races. In Creole goats in addition to these, we found that age of mother, calving number of the mother, and birth month also have influence. A study of the influence of these variables on birth weight and initial development in a goat herd was conducted at the Na-tional University of Santiago del Estero. In this study the offspring were weighed at birth and during early developmental conducted in five successive calving. A pooled analysis of all variables or multivariate analyzes were applied, using the method of principal component ACP, which detect very close relations between the variables in the three major axis: 1) age of mother with calving number, 2) weight with the litter size and 3) other relationships, though weak between sex and litter size. This method, ACP, helped to summarize information and improving efficiency in the interpretation of results, bringing together animals based on the influence of the variables studied and their birth weight. Thus the groups 2 and 3 they presented the higher weights (3.18 kg and 3.4 kg respectively), and groups 1 and 4, lower weights (2.22 kg and 2.25 kg average respectively).Fil: David, R. N.. Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero. Facultad de Agronomía y Agroindustrias; ArgentinaFil: Abdala, G. C.. Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero. Facultad de Agronomía y Agroindustrias; ArgentinaFil: Abdala, María Eugenia. Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero. Facultad de Agronomía y Agroindustrias; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Lescano, J. A.. Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero. Facultad de Agronomía y Agroindustrias; Argentin

Tingkat Kesukaan Konsumen Terhadap Ikan Cakalang (Katsuwonus Pelamis L.) Asap Yang Direndam Dalam Ekstrak Kulit Manggis

The purpose of this study was to determine consumer acceptance of smoked skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis L) pre-treated in a solution of mangosteen peel with a concentration of 3%, 4% and 5%, in various soaking time 15 min or 30 min. The results showed that the pH and moisture content were relatively constant. Based on sensory evaluation, smoked fish pre-treated with 5% mangosteen peel and soaked for 30 min had higher value of taste, odor, and texture attribute