Comparison of observed and modeled surface fluxes of heat for the Volta river basin

Land-surface processes and their modeling play an important role in planetary boundary modeling, due to their role of providing the surface boundary conditions to the atmosphere. In particular, processes regarding clouds and precipitation are strongly influenced by land-surface processes. To get a further understanding of those interactions we focus on the validation and calibration of a Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere-Transfer (SVAT) model (The Oregon-State-University-Land-Surface Model) for the Volta River Basin in West Africa. This is a typical example of a semi-arid region in which studies on the interaction within soil, vegetation, atmosphere and water are still needed. For the validation of the model scintillometer measurements from three different sites in Ghana are used to calculate an areal average sensible heat flux density. The three sites show major differences concerning the vegetation, soils, land use, slopes and also climate. All data used in this study are part of long-term observations of the water- and energy balance in the Volta Basin. The calculated fluxes are compared with the output of the model. For the first step an off-line, uncoupled version of the SVAT model is used, driven by measured atmospheric forcings. These were obtained at a weather station on every research site. The second step is the adaptation of the SVAT model to the conditions in the Volta River Basin. The results from the adapted model are validated with the scintillometer measurements. Besides, a comparison with the results of the original model reveal potential shortcomings of the standard SVAT model used under semi-arid condition

El uso de la psicología jurídica: su función y aplicación en casos de violencia de género

Memoria para optar al grado de Licenciada en Ciencias Jurídicas y SocialesLa introducción de la psicología en el derecho ha resultado ser una herramienta de gran utilidad, especialmente cuando hablamos de casos de alta complejidad, en los cuales se requiere llevar a cabo un análisis que vaya más allá de la labor que pueda realizar la policía y los médicos. Es aquí donde entran en juego las distintas herramientas que pone a disposición del derecho la psicología forense, como lo son la autopsia psicológica y la perfilación criminológica, las cuales serán explicadas y analizadas en este trabajo. Se establecerá cómo el aporte de un procedimiento de investigación y análisis minucioso de la víctima y del victimario de parte de psicólogos forenses ayudará a aclarar cuestiones tales como la determinación del tipo medicolegal de la muerte, las poblaciones de riesgo para ciertos crímenes de alta violencia y, los perfiles de ciertos criminales y víctimas. También se analizará el déficit que tiene la aplicación de estas herramientas en Chile, dónde aún se las mira con suspicacia. Además, se verá cómo la autopsia psicológica y la perfilación criminológica pueden ser un aporte en el área de la violencia de género, específicamente en el delito de femicidio, destacándose la función que pueden cumplir en la prevención y combate de este delit

REPARATUR- UND UNTERHALTSKOSTEN VON TRAKTOREN IN DEUTSCHLAND

Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Farm Management, Financial Economics, Industrial Organization,

Repair and Maintenance Costs for Agricultural Machines

The paper presents an approach for deriving repair and maintenance factors intended to indicate the accumulated repair and maintenance costs for agricultural machines. In a two-stage approach, an annual ‘repair and maintenance cost’ function is estimated and afterwards aggregated for the machine’s estimated service life. Based on cross-sectional data, the approach is applied for tractors, ploughs, mowers and self-loading trailers in Switzerland, covering a wide range of agricultural mechanisation. The results of our study show that, in line with the literature, an additional year in service increases annual repair and maintenance costs for all machine types under consideration. Furthermore, annual utilisation strongly influences repair and maintenance costs, a fact which, to our knowledge, has so far not been taken account of in the literature. For all analysed machines, increasing annual utilisation leads to a disproportionately low increase in repair and maintenance costs, revealing the existence of an economy-of-scale effect. Assuming that the machine’s estimated service life (also called estimated useful life) is completely exploited, the accumulated repair and maintenance costs depend strongly on the machine’s annual utilisation. Accordingly, in order to minimise accumulated repair and maintenance costs, high annual utilisation coupled with a short length of service life is beneficial

Abwanderungsdruck oder Abwanderungssog?: Zu den Triebkraeften des agrarstrukturellen Anpassungsprozesses in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Summary in EnglishAvailable from Bibliothek des Instituts fuer Weltwirtschaft, ZBW, Duesternbrook Weg 120, D-24105 Kiel W 700 (9403) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman