Implementación del “Kaizen-Innovación de Procesos-Jidoka” para hacer frente al COVID-19: un caso de estudio en un hospital público

Mexico’s public hospitals are experiencing major operational problems, such as process and service failure, as well as the lack of supplies and medical equipment. Some hospitals have started kaizen philosophy-based efforts to improve this situation. The main objective of the research is to explore the implementation of the kaizen philosophy in the above-mentioned hospitals. The research used a qualitative methodology and the case study strategy. The results show that it is feasible to optimize the Covid-19 emergency and treatment process by applying kaizen philosophy, process innovation and jidoka techniques.Los hospitales públicos de México están viviendo grandes problemas operativos, tales como fallos en los procesos y servicios, además de errores en la falta de insumos y equipo médico. Algunos hospitales han iniciado esfuerzos basados en la filosofía kaizen para mejorar esta situación. El objetivo principal de la investigación es explorar la implementación de la filosofía kaizen en hospitales públicos mexicanos. La metodología utilizada en esta investigación fue cualitativa, con la estrategia del caso deestudio. Los resultados encontrados en esta investigación son que es factible optimizar el proceso de urgencias y el de atención a la Covid-19 aplicando técnicas de la filosofía kaizen, innovación de procesos y jidoka

Particionado de elementos en dos carbones del sur-occidente colombiano

Se presentan los resultados del particionado de elementos al beneficiar dos carbones del Sur-Occidente Colombiano mediante separación ciclónica en medio denso. Las fracciones beneficiadas de carbón se obtuvieron empleando dos etapas de separación en serie. Tanto las fracciones de alimento de la primera etapa como las fracciones de fondo de la segunda etapa se analizaron por Fluorescencia de Rayos X (XRF) para determinar la concentración de 33 elementos. A partir de estos datos se determinó el factor de partición elemental con el fin de conocer su afinidad hacia las fases ricas en materia orgánica o materia mineral. Se encontró que cuando el tamaño de partícula de las fracciones de carbón disminuye se aumenta la afinidad de los elementos hacia la materia mineral

Position Affects Performance in Multiple-Object Tracking in Rugby Union Players

We report an experiment that examines the performance of rugby union players and a control group composed of graduate student with no sport experience, in a multiple-object tracking task. It compares the ability of 86 high level rugby union players grouped as Backs and Forwards and the control group, to track a subset of randomly moving targets amongst the same number of distractors. Several difficulties were included in the experimental design in order to evaluate possible interactions between the relevant variables. Results show that the performance of the Backs is better than that of the other groups, but the occurrence of interactions precludes an isolated groups analysis. We interpret the results within the framework of visual attention and discuss both, the implications of our results and the practical consequences

Estimating flooded area and mean water level using active and passive microwaves: the example of Paraná River Delta floodplain

This paper describes a procedure to estimate both the fraction of flooded area and the mean water level in vegetated river floodplains by using a synergy of active and passive microwave signatures. In particular, C band Envisat ASAR in Wide Swath mode and AMSR-E at X, Ku and Ka band, are used. The method, which is an extension of previously developed algorithms based on passive data, exploits also model simulations of vegetation emissivity. The procedure is applied to a long flood event which occurred in the Paraná River Delta from December 2009 to April 2010. Obtained results are consistent with in situ measurements of river water level

Cadmium isotope fractionation in soil-cacao systems of Ecuador: a pilot field study

The often high Cd concentrations of cacao beans are a serious concern for producers in Latin America due to the implementation of stricter Cd limits for cocoa products by the European Union in 2019. This is the first investigation to employ coupled Cd isotope and concentration measurements to study soil – cacao systems. Analyses were carried out for 29 samples of soils, soil amendments and cacao tree organs from organic farms in Ecuador that harvest three distinct cacao cultivars. The majority of soils from 0–80 cm depth have very similar δ114/110Cd of about −0.1‰ to 0‰. Two 0–5 cm topsoils, however, have high Cd concentrations coupled with heavy Cd isotope compositions of δ114/110Cd ≈ 0.2%, possibly indicating Cd additions from the tree litter used as organic fertilizer. Whilst cacao leaves, pods and beans are ubiquitously enriched in Cd relative to soils there are distinct Cd isotope signatures. The leaves and pods are isotopically heavier than the soils, with similar Δ114/110Cdleaf–soil values of 0.22 ± 0.07‰ to 0.41 ± 0.09‰. In contrast, the data reveal differences in Δ114/110Cdbean–leaf that may be linked to distinct cacao cultivars. In detail, Δ114/110Cdbean–leaf values of −0.34‰ to −0.40‰ were obtained for Nacional cacao from two farms, whilst CCN-51 hybrid cacao from a third farm showed no fractionation within error (−0.08 ± 0.13‰). As such, further work to investigate whether Cd isotopes are indeed useful for tracing sources of Cd enrichments in soils and to inform genetic efforts to reduce the Cd burden of cocoa is indicated

Behavior of multitemporal and multisensor passive microwave indices in Southern Hemisphere ecosystems

©2014. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. This study focused on the time series analysis of passive microwave and optical satellite data collected from six Southern Hemisphere ecosystems in Australia and Argentina. The selected ecosystems represent a wide range of land cover types, including deciduous open forest, temperate forest, tropical and semiarid savannas, and grasslands. We used two microwave indices, the frequency index (FI) and polarization index (PI), to assess the relative contributions of soil and vegetation properties (moisture and structure) to the observations. Optical-based satellite vegetation products from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer were also included to aid in the analysis. We studied the X and Ka bands of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS and Wind Satellite, resulting in up to four observations per day (1:30, 6:00, 13:30, and 18:00-h). Both the seasonal and hourly variations of each of the indices were examined. Environmental drivers (precipitation and temperature) and eddy covariance measurements (gross ecosystem productivity and latent energy) were also analyzed. It was found that in moderately dense forests, FI was dependent on canopy properties (leaf area index and vegetation moisture). In tropical woody savannas, a significant regression (R2) was found between FI and PI with precipitation (R2->-0.5) and soil moisture (R2->-0.6). In the areas of semiarid savanna and grassland ecosystems, FI variations found to be significantly related to soil moisture (R2->-0.7) and evapotranspiration (R2->-0.5), while PI varied with vegetation phenology. Significant differences (p-<-0.01) were found among FI values calculated at the four local times. Key Points Passive microwave indices can be used to estimate vegetation moisture Microwave observations were supported by flux data Passive microwave indices could be used to estimate evapotranspiratio

Na busca de um espaço de sustentabilidade: um estudo empirico da aplicaçao da melhoria continua de processos em governos municipais espanhóis

Os governos locais tambem nao tem permanecido isentos das mudanças que tem sofrido o entorno global dos negócios. Inclusive, alguns governos municipais espanhóis, desde principios dos anos noventa, tem aplicado aproximaçoes gerenciais tais como a Melhoria Continua de Processos (MCP), com o objetivo de melhorar seus processos e serviços públicos. Baseado no contexto anterior, a pergunta de pesquisa que rege este estudo é: Como as Administraçoes Locais podem sustentar a Melhoria Continua de Processos?  Emergem desta pesquisa um conjunto de etapas e niveis evolutivos resultado da aplicaçao da MCP assim como, um esquema conceitual em forma de fotografia fixa sintetica -o espaço de sustentabilidade-, que nos mostra os elementos necessarios para sustentar a MCP no decorrer dos anos.Les gouvernements locaux n'ont pas ete exempts des changements de l'environnement global du monde des affaires. De fail, certaines municipalités espagnoles ont applique, á partir des années 90, des approches de gestion telles que I'amelioration continuelle de procedures ("Mejora Continua de Procésos (MCP)"), dans Ie but d'ameliorer les procedures el services publiques. Sur base de ce contexte, la question posee par cette recherche est la suivante: Commenlles Administrations Locales peuvent-elles soutenir l'Amélioration Continuelle de Procedures? Un ensemble d'etapes et de niveaux d'evolulions emergent de cette recherche, en tant que resultat de l'application de l'amelioration continuelle de procedures, airlsi qu'un schema conceptuel sous forme de photographie synlhelique fixe -espace de durabilité-, qui nous montre les elemerlls necessaires pour soutenir l'amelioration continuelle de procedures au cours des années.Los gobiernos locales no han estado exentos de los cambios que ha surtido el entorno global de los negocios. De hecho, algunos ayuntamientos españoles desde principios de los años noventa del siglo pasado han aplicado aproximaciones gerenciales tales como la mejora continua de procesos (Mep), con el fin de mejorar sus procesos y servicios públicos. Con base en el contexto anterior, la pregunta de investigación que rige este estudio es: ¿Cómo pueden las administraciones locales sostener la mejora continua de procesos?Emergen de esta investigación un conjunto de etapas y niveles evolutivos, resultado de la aplicación de la Mep, est como un esquema conceptual en forma de fotografía fija sintética el espacio de sostenibilidad-, que muestra los elementos necesarios para sostener la MCP a 10 largo de los años.Local governments have not been exempt from the changes which the global business setting has suffered. In fact, some Spanish town/city councils have been applying managerial approaches such as ongoing process improvement (OPI) since the start of the 1990s to improve their public processes and services, based on the foregoing context.  The research question governing this study has been. How can local administrations sustain OPI?A set of evolutionary stages and levels emerged from this investigatiorl resulting from applyirlg OPI, such as a conceptual scheme for fixed synthetic photography (the space for sustainability) showing the necessary elemerlts for sustaining OPI throughout the years