Learning from 20 Years of Payments for Ecosystem Services in Costa Rica

Costa Rica's Payments for Ecosystems Services (PES) programme has become something of an icon in the world of conservation. Its innovative blend of economic and regulatory instruments - and its hitches and successes - provide a valuable source of inspiration for other countries that are looking for effective ways to conserve and regenerate ecosystems. Since 1997, nearly one million hectares of forest in Costa Rica have been part of the PES programme at one time or another, and forest cover has now returned to over 50 per cent of the country's land area, from a low of just 20 per cent in the 1980s. What lessons can be learnt from the 20 years since it was founded? Also published in Spanish, this paper is for local practitioners, international researchers and donors who are interested in the Costa Rican experience

La función social de la aviación del ejército, autosostenible en el futuro

El estado colombiano en su momento vio la necesidad de crear la aviación militar, como apoyo a la misión constitucional que cumple el Ejército Nacional, es por eso que hace 17 años se reactivo nuevamente el arma de Aviación del Ejército, con el fin de contrarrestar el problema de orden público que amenazaba la institucionalidad del estado. Esta institución tubo un gran apoyo llamado plan Colombia, lo cual permitió que creciera rápidamente, llegando a alcanzar en muy poco tiempo una organización eficiente, efectiva, entrenada y capacitada con instalaciones y personal necesario para soportar las mas de cien aeronaves entre rotatorias y ala fija que tiene la División de Aviación Asalto Aéreo

Economías colaborativas: cambios recientes en las preferencias de los usuarios de Taxi desde la llegada de Uber a Bogotá

Trabajo de InvestigaciónLos taxis convencionales han dejado de ser la forma predeterminada de la gente para transportarse de sus hogares al trabajo, o simplemente para ir de un lugar a otro con urgencia. Recientemente, han llegado al país distintas plataformas tecnológicas, no solamente para solicitar servicios de transporte, sino también, para intercambiar productos y/o servicios remotamente. Uber y Cabify hacen parte de estás nuevas plataformas que buscan modernizar la forma en que se transportan los ciudadanos. La puntuación del demandante y el oferente es valor característico de las economías colaborativas que rigen estas tecnologías. Este trabajo se centra en las preferencias de los usuarios de taxi convencional y servicios de lujo. Para este trabajo se recurrió al modelo binario Logit, al ser el más indicado para la variable dependiente cualitativa y así, mediante el signo de los coeficientes, pronosticar el servicio que usaría el usuario. Luego, se hace un análisis exhaustivo de las variables aceptadas más relevantes dentro del modelo para litigar la influencia de algunos factores en la preferencia de los usuarios de transporte individual. Por último, se muestra en las conclusiones las características propias de cada servicio y su convergencia con las elecciones de los usuarios. Además, se expresan varias recomendaciones para la interpretación de estas conclusiones para trabajos futuros.Trabajo de Investigación. [email protected]ÓN 1. LITERATURA RELACIONADA 2. METODOLOGÍA 3. RESULTADOS 4. CONCLUSIONES BIBLIOGRAFÍAPregradoEconomist

Estrategias Digitales Para Los Negocios

Este trabajo es para fines institucionales de la Universidad del Rosario. A lo largo del segundo semestre del año 2016 entendimos la importancia de los medios digitales para las empresas, por lo cual el profesor Juan Manuel Méndez nos dio el caso de las bicicletas de Nairo Quintana con el cual teníamos que desarrollar un plan de estrategias digitales acorde con el contexto actual del sector de las bicicletas, en donde se creara y desarrollara la marca de la agencia digital creada por los estudiantes, describir el producto innovador, desarrollar nuestros objetivos en los medios digitales, identificar y definir nuestro mercado objetivo (Target), crear todo un flow de medios con cronogramas, fechas y porcentaje de inversión en cada medio y por ultimo identificar los KPI´s de nuestra campaña propuesta según los objetivos planteados.This work is for institutional purposes of the Universidad del Rosario. Throughout the second half of 2016 we understood the importance of digital media for companies, so Professor Juan Manuel Méndez gave us the case of the bicycles of Nairo Quintana with which we had to develop a plan of digital strategies according to the current context of the bicycle sector in Colombia, where a brand of the digital agency created by students will be created and developed, describing an innovative product, developing our objectives in digital media, identifying and defining our target market, so we created a flow of media with schedules, dates and percentage of investment in each medium and finally we identify the KPIs of our proposed campaign according to set objectives.Universidad del Rosari

Structural analysis and sintering aids effects in La2Ce2O7 proton conductors

Global warming is an important problem that has to be solved without delay. The development of environmental-friendly energy technology is needed to deal with this issue. Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) technology has been proposed as a real alternative to fossil fuel combustion. Proton conductors like La2Ce2O7 (LDC), has several advantages in comparison with BaCeO3 due to its high stability in H2O or CO2 conditions [1]. Furthermore, for industry application is necessary to low the high sintering temperature of typical electrolyte materials. La2Ce2O7 was synthesized by the freeze-drying precursor method and calcination conditions have been optimized to obtain single phase with high compaction at 1400 ºC for 1h. A fully characterization has been carried out using X-ray powder diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The total conductivity was determined by complex impedance spectroscopy in dry and wet air. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) was used to clarify certainly the structure of La2Ce2O7 due to its still unknown. SAEDs patterns revealed a disordered fluorite, not appearing secondary reflections typical of pyrochlore superstructure, finishing the controversy around the correct structure in this material [2,3]. Moreover, an exhaustive study about lowering the sintering temperature with Co and Zn as sintering aids has been investigated obtaining electrolytes that can be used for SOFC. The sintering aids were impregnated using cobalt and zinc nitrates in ethanol media. Both sintering aids allow for obtain high dense pellets lowering the sintering temperature 300 ºC and 400 ºC for samples with cobalt and zinc, respectively, without compromising the electrical and microstructural properties (Fig 1).Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Ce0.8Gd0.2O2‐δ / La0.6Sr0.4CoO3 Heterostructures prepared by pulsed laser deposition

Oxide interfaces have received greater attention due to the possibility to obtain properties that are very different from bulk materials. Due to the wide variety of electronic and ionic phenomena than can be detected at the interfaces, such materials have many technological applications [1]. Attention is being drawn to oxide heterostructures, a new family of artificial materials where electronic and ionic properties can be modulated at the interfaces by varying the characteristics of the layers [2, 3]. Slight variations in the near anionic-cationic order might take place if there exists strained interfaces. The interest in multilayared heterostructures derives from the mobility deffects and the space-charge-zone effects at the interfaces. In addition, a new degree of freedom related to the capacitive and resistive contributions is provided as a consequence of the size effects of these artificial structures. In the present work, for the first time, we investigate the structure, microstructure and electrical properties of a new family of heterostructured materials with alternated thin layers of La0.6Sr0.4CoO3 (LSC) and Ce0.8Gd0.2O2-δ (CGO) deposited by pulsed laser deposition on (110) NdGaO3 (NGO) single crystal substrates. In order to evaluate the interfacial contribution to ionic-electronic conductivity and know what is actually happens at the interface of MIECs, different heterostructures were prepared by varying both the number of bilayers (N) and the total thickness of the samples (N = 2 and 5; and the thickness were 50, 100 and 300 nm).Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Novel microstructural strategies to enhance the electrochemical performance of La0.8Sr0.2MnO3-δ cathodes

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are one of the most efficient technologies for direct conversion of fuels to electricity. La0.8Sr0.2MnO3-δ (LSM) is the cathode material most widely used in SOFCs [1], however, LSM exhibits high activation energy for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and low ionic conductivity, which limits its application at reduced temperatures. In this material the electrochemically active reaction sites are restricted to the triple-phase boundary (TPB) near the electrolyte/electrode interface, where the electrolyte, air and electrode meet. Different strategies have been investigated to enlarge the TPB area of LSM, such as the production of nanocrystalline powders by precursor routes, preparation of composites by infiltration methods and thin films [2-4]. Here we present and compare innovative procedures to extend the TPB of LSM in contact with yttria-stabilized zirconia electrolyte: i) nanocrystalline LSM films deposited by spray-pyrolysis on polished YSZ electrolyte; ii) the addition of polymethyl methacrylate microspheres as pore formers during the spray-pyrolysis deposition to further increase the porosity of these films and (iii) the deposition of LSM by spray-pyrolysis on porous backbones of Zr0.84Y0.16O1.92 (YSZ), Ce0.9Gd0.1O1.95 (CGO) and Bi1.5Y0.5O3- (BYO) electrolytes previously fixed onto the YSZ electrolyte. The most remarkable peculiarity of this novel preparation method, compared to the traditional impregnation, is the formation of LSM thick film of 500 nm on the electrode surface (Fig. 1), which improves the electrical conductivity of the composite cathode. Thus, the optimization of this novel method would be an alternative to the classical infiltration with several advantages for the industry of planar SOFCs allowing the deposition of a wide variety of ceramic films over large areas with more uniform distribution of the catalyst, lower cost and only one deposition step is required to form the electrode. The morphology and electrochemical performance of the electrode have been investigated by scanning electron microscopy and impedance spectroscopy. Very low values of area specific resistance were obtained ranging from 1.4 cm2 for LSM deposited on polished YSZ to 0.06 cm2 for LSM deposited onto BYO backbone at a measured temperature of 650 ºC. This electrodes exhibit high performance even after annealing at 950 ºC making them interesting for applications at intermediate temperatures.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Crecimiento empresarial mediante modelos de franquicias con respecto a las estrategias tradicionalistas en el sector de alimentos en Colombia.

El desarrollo empresarial de las empresas pymes en Colombia tienen como núcleo central adoptar una posición estratégica en el mercado el cual le permita reducir brechas frente a competidores de mayor dimensión y, mantener crecimientos estables en el sector donde pertenezcan. Sin embargo, a pesar de que durante los últimos años las empresas pequeñas y medianas reflejen un considerable auge de crecimiento, se enfrentan a múltiples limitaciones por diferentes circunstancias para la creación de valor y expansiones de negocio. En este orden de ideas, este trabajo muestra cómo los modelos de franquicias se convierten en estrategias de crecimiento, de supervivencia e innovación para que las empresas pymes sean rentables y capaces de generar flujos de efectivo para sus proyectos de expansión. El contenido del estudio abarca generalidades del modelo de franquicias mostrando sus ventajas, su esquema de operación y algunos casos de éxito en diferentes sectores del país; así mismo, se aplicará la estructura de dicha estrategia en una empresa local llamada “Don Jediondo Sopitas y Parrilla” para evaluar sus beneficios financieros.Introducción ; Planteamiento del problema ; Objetivo general ; Marco teórico ; Estado del arte ; Marco metodológico ; Crecimiento empresarial ; Apalancamiento en las empresas pymes ; Estrategia de supervivencia y crecimiento ; Estado de resultados ; Conclusiones.Magíster en Finanzas CorporativasThe core business development of SME (small and medium enterprise) companies in Colombia is to adopt a strategic position in the market that allows it to reduce gaps compared to larger competitors and maintain stable growth in the sector where they belong. However, despite the fact that these companies have reflected a considerable growth boom in recent years, they face multiple limitations due to different circumstances for value creation and business expansions. In this order of ideas, this project shows how franchise models become growth, survival and innovation strategies so that SME companies are profitable and capable of generating cash flows for their expansion projects. The content of this study covers generalities of the franchise model showing its advantages, its operation scheme and some success stories in different sectors of the country; likewise, the structure of said strategy will be applied in a local company called "Don Jediondo Sopitas y Parrilla" to assess his financial benefits