Cycle of Knowledge in the Management of the Supply Chain of Corn for Human Consumption

The objective of this study is to characterize the cycle of knowledge in the supply chain of the industry of corn for human consumption. White corn is cultivated almost exclusively for human consumption and it has a significant value in the food supply in countries whose diet has a high proportion of this variety of corn, such as: Venezuela, México and Colombia in America, and the Republic of South Africa and Sahel countries in Africa. Corn is produced in Venezuela, under rainfed conditions and in a highly mechanized production system. The cycle of knowledge is defined as a progressive spiral in which knowledge is created, stored, transferred, applied and preserved, in order to increase the competitiveness and  sustainability of organizations and companies in the food supply chain. This non experimental and crosssectional research is of a descriptive type. It was conducted in Venezuela during the second semester of 2009 in the supply chain of white corn, specifically, at the level of first tier producers (primary sector). The population is constituted by 1,754 producers of corn in the most important producing regions of the country. The representative sample was selected by the stratified sampling technique with proportional allocation: by association of corn producers and according to the grain yield. A questionnaire was designed and conducted according to the structured survey method. Its validity was verified by discriminant tests of items and its reliability through Bartlett's test, variance factorial analysis, Kaiser/Meyer/Olkin and Cronbach Alpha, achieving the last one a value of 0.9276.The production units have an average area of 67.17 ha, with 1.97 permanent workers and 4.06 temporary workers. They obtained a physical productivity of 4,210.45 kg/ha. The Knowledge Index (KI) achieved a value of 69.78% and the Perception Index of the results (PI) was 76.06%. The Pearson correlation among these indices was positive and significant with a value of 0.51. The factorial analysis for principal components with rotated factors allows obtaining four factors from the five dimensions originally considered. These factors are: (1) knowledge creation, (2) knowledge storage, (3) knowledge transfer and application, and (4) preservation of knowledge.The results allow us to conclude that the cycle of knowledge is managed in four stages in an intuitive and predominantly tacit manner which is the reason why those practices related to explicit knowledge become the agents of differentiation. Moreover, the existence of a positive correlation between the Knowledge Index and the Perception Index of the positive results by the producer was also proven

El ciclo del conocimiento en la producción de maíz (Zea mays L.)

El estudio tuvo por objeto caracterizar el ciclo del conocimiento en la producción de maíz (Zea mays L.). Venezuela tiene una importante producción de este rubro que forma parte de su dieta diaria. El conocimiento se crea, se almacena, se transfiere, se aplica y se preserva, en un ciclo que tiene la finalidad de incrementar la competitividad y sustentabilidad de las organizaciones. Se dise- ñó y aplicó una encuesta de 36 ítems a una muestra de 234 productores. El índice de conocimiento fue de 69,78% y el índice de percepción de resultados fue de 76,06%, encontrándose una relación positiva entre ambas variables. Se evidenció la ocurrencia del ciclo del conocimiento en cuatro etapas en las que interactuaron medios explícitos y tácito

Evaluation of appendicitis risk prediction models in adults with suspected appendicitis

Background Appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency worldwide, but its diagnosis remains challenging. The aim of this study was to determine whether existing risk prediction models can reliably identify patients presenting to hospital in the UK with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain who are at low risk of appendicitis. Methods A systematic search was completed to identify all existing appendicitis risk prediction models. Models were validated using UK data from an international prospective cohort study that captured consecutive patients aged 16–45 years presenting to hospital with acute RIF in March to June 2017. The main outcome was best achievable model specificity (proportion of patients who did not have appendicitis correctly classified as low risk) whilst maintaining a failure rate below 5 per cent (proportion of patients identified as low risk who actually had appendicitis). Results Some 5345 patients across 154 UK hospitals were identified, of which two‐thirds (3613 of 5345, 67·6 per cent) were women. Women were more than twice as likely to undergo surgery with removal of a histologically normal appendix (272 of 964, 28·2 per cent) than men (120 of 993, 12·1 per cent) (relative risk 2·33, 95 per cent c.i. 1·92 to 2·84; P < 0·001). Of 15 validated risk prediction models, the Adult Appendicitis Score performed best (cut‐off score 8 or less, specificity 63·1 per cent, failure rate 3·7 per cent). The Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score performed best for men (cut‐off score 2 or less, specificity 24·7 per cent, failure rate 2·4 per cent). Conclusion Women in the UK had a disproportionate risk of admission without surgical intervention and had high rates of normal appendicectomy. Risk prediction models to support shared decision‐making by identifying adults in the UK at low risk of appendicitis were identified

La entrevista motivacional: llave de proceso de cambio en la dependencia nicotín-tabáquica

Objetivo: Conocer la posibilidad de sistematización de la entrevista motivacional en el contexto del abordaje clínico de la dependencia nicotin-tabáquica, con la finalidad de ampliar el foco de la intervención, centrado en el cliente. Material y métodos: Se aplicó la entrevista motivacional dirigida a los intereses del cliente con el objeto de establecer un espacio reflexivo, deconstructor de mitos y activador de expectativas de cambio. El número de pacientes a estudio fue de 135. Se estudió la integración en programa multicomponente, después de 24-72 h de sedimentación de la información en el marco de un centro especializado en adicciones. Resultados: El 85,40% de las personas aceptaron la inclusión en el programa de cesación tabáquica, y verbalizaron un alto grado de motivación respecto a su estado basal previo a la entrevista motivacional. Conclusiones: La entrevista motivacional, adaptada a la dependencia nicotin-tabáquica, parece ser una herramienta semiestructurada que favorece la disminución de la urgencia por comenzar el programa. Disminuye la ansiedad, así como la percepción del conflicto frente al síndrome de abstinencia proyectado o experimentado. Aumenta la motivación positiva y disminuye la incertidumbre como elemento de máximo estrés frente a la decisión de paso al acto

Energy consumption and energy efficiency in olive oil mills: case studies in Portugal and Spain in the frame of TESLA project

TESLA project (Transfering Energy Save Laid on Agroindustry) financed by the European Commission, had the main goals of evaluating the energy consumption and to identify the best available practices to improve energy efficiency in key agro-food sectors, such as the olive oil mills. A general analysis of energy consumptions allowed identifying the partition between electrical and thermal energy (approximately 50%) and the production processes responsible for the higher energy consumptions, as being the in the mill and paste preparation and the phases separation. Some measures for reducing energy waste and for improving energy efficiency were identified and the impact was evaluated by using the TESLA tool developed by Circe and available at the TESLA website

Valoración del uso recreativo de un humedal español. Tests y comparación de diferentes métodos de valoración

En este trabajo se ha procedido a la valoración del uso recreativo del humedal español Tablas de Daimiel, que posee el estatus de Zona Especial de Protección de Aves en la Unión Europea. El método básico de valoración ha sido el de valoración contingente con elección dicotómica. El procedimiento ha sido sometido a diversos tests: de fiabilidad (valoración en dos épocas), de contenido (efecto encuestadores y de los «yea-saying»), de validez teórica (influencia en la valoración de distintas variables socioeconómicas) y de convergencia (comparando con valoraciones obtenidas mediante el método del coste de viaje y mediante la valoración contingente con pregunta abierta). Estos tests, con excepción del de convergencia, no invalidan la valoración obtenida mediante valoración contingente con eleccion dicotómica. Los resultados obtenidos en este trabajo, por otra parte, no permiten concluir que exista convergencia entre las estimaciones de la medida de bienestar obtenidas utilizando distintos procedimientos. Esto es coherente con las conclusiones a las que llegan otros estudios de comparación entre métodos de valoración revisados por los autores.......This study presents the valuation of the recreational use of a Spanish wetland, the «Tablas de Daimiel National Park», an area classified by the European Union as one of Special Zone of Bird Protection. The basic method of valuation used is that of contingent valuation with dichotomous choice. The procedure was submitted to tests for reliability (by valuing the wetland in two periods), for content (studying the influence of interviewer and of «yea-saying»), for theoretical validity (analysing the influence of various socioeconomic variables), and for convergence (utilising other valuation methods: travel cost and contingent valuation with openended questions). Except for the convergence tests these did not invalidate the valuation made by contingent valuation with dichotomous choice. The welfare measure valuations obtained with different methods are not convergent. This is coherent with conclusions from other studies of comparison between valuation methods revised by the authors