Sunflower seed hull: Its value as a broad mushroom substrate

Sunflower (Heliantus annus) seed hull (SSH), an abundant and cheap lignocellulosicresidue from edible oil-seed industries, was evaluated as an alternative substrate formushroom cultivation. Different edible and medicinal mushroom species were grownsuccessfully, bringing a positive use of material that could be problematic for disposal.In this review we display different studies that linked the SSH with mushroom productionand other derivations of its use as mushroom substrate.Fil: Figlas, Norma Débora. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Centro de Recursos Naturales Renovables de la Zona Semiárida. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Centro de Recursos Naturales Renovables de la Zona Semiárida; ArgentinaFil: Gonzalez Matute, Ramiro. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Centro de Recursos Naturales Renovables de la Zona Semiárida. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Centro de Recursos Naturales Renovables de la Zona Semiárida; ArgentinaFil: Curvetto, Nestor Raul. Universidad Nacional del Sur; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Waves, currents and sediment transport modelling at the Wave Hub site

Primary supervisory team: Qingping Zou and Shunqi PanThis research project uses an integrated modelling system to investigate the effects of a wave farm on nearshore sediment transport at the Wave Hub site. The Wave Hub project is a large scale demonstration site for the development of the operation of arrays of wave energy generation devices located at the southwest coast of the UK where multiple field measurements took place. Particular attention of this study was paid to the interaction between waves and tides due the presence of the wave farm and its effects on radiation stress, bottom stress, and consequently on the sediment transport and the coast adjacent to the wave farm, using an integrated complex numerical modelling system. The modelling system consisted of the SWAN model for waves and the ROMS model for currents, and a sediment transport model for morphological computations. The two-way coupled SWAN and ROMS models with nested model grids were set up and run with and without the wave farm at the Wave Hub site. The results from this study show that tidal elevation and tidal currents have a significant effect on the wave height and direction predictions, and tidal forcing and wind waves have a significant effect on the bed shear-stress, mainly during spring tide. Also, the wave radiation stresses can considerably alter the long-shore and cross-shore velocity components. Interactions between waves and tides at the Wave Hub site are found to be important when modelling coastal morphological change due to the presence of wave energy devices. The wave action can impact on bottom boundary layer and mixing in the water column, which consequently impact on the nearshore sediment transport and the resulting morphological changes. Model results indicate that wave and long-shore currents are attenuated in the area sheltered by the wave farm. Bed-load rates show a decrease in magnitude when the wave farm is present, even during storm conditions. Wave impacts on averaged flood and averaged ebb tidal cycles show significant changes during flooding cases, when including the wave farm, it has major effects for the averaged flood cases on current speeds, bottom stresses, suspended sediments and bed-load transports. The results highlight the importance of the interactions between waves and tides when modelling coastal morphology with presence of wave energy devices. It was observed that the presence of the wave farm has significant impacts on the nearshore circulation, bed shear stresses and sediment transport. The morphological changes are also altered by the wave farm. This integrated modelling system provides a useful tool to help the study of physical impacts of a wave farm on coastal areas, which is the key element for the wave resource characterization, ocean circulation, sediment transport, morphodynamic changes and environmental impact assessment for the ongoing Wave Hub projects.CONACYT - MEXIC

Guatemalan unaccompanied children migration : a case study of unaccompanied children in guatemala

This thesis examines the motives and conditions of migration of Guatemalan unaccompanied children through a case study. Unaccompanied children have been arriving in large numbers than in the past. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in fiscal year 2014, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol apprehended more than 68,000 unaccompanied children (DHS Statistical Yearbook 2014), and approximately 69,000 migrants traveling together as families. Based on ethnographic, semi-structure interviews with families, NGOs, lawyers, and community members I argue that new migration communities are emerging as a result of systemic legal violence. There is little consensus among analysts regarding why the number of Central American minors abandoning their homes in hope of entering the United States has increased so significantly. Nevertheless, structural conditions of high levels of poverty, unemployment, violence, and instability in the region has contributed to the influx of child migration.Mexican American Studie

Systemic intervention to manage ccomplexity in Mexican SMEs to last over time

The purpose of this research is to develop a new methodology based upon ideas on managing complexity from the Viable System Model. The context for the research is Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Mexico. Worldwide, SMEs represent the segment of the economy that contributes the largest number of economic units and employees, both in industrialised countries and in those that are less developed. However, the astonishing rate of change today influences most human activities, including business organisations, and, therefore SMEs. Organisational complexity continues to grow as organisations are forced to address more issues and greater diversity in their operating environments. So, the current challenges imposed by modern-day complexity suggest to think about new ways of approaching managementpractice. The research aims to adopt systems thinking approaches applied on daily life as an ongoing process, based on a learning system which aims to increase the ability to manage complexity in SMEs to last over time. The research design is based on an action research approach developing a single case study intervention, based on Yin's work, in a Mexican SME in order to provide the empirical data. To do so, this work presents a novel model (ModK+) and multi-methodology (MetK+) as a way of thinking and acting, respectively, to perform a systemic intervention, linking the philosophical, methodological and practical levels. Finally, and based on the sources of evidence, the researcher realised two main findings. First, the MetK+ facilitated the adoption of systems thinking approaches in the daily practice of organisational management: it helped managers to identify and to overcome their main challenges and it enabled them to better manage their complexity. Second, the researcher identified the positive impact of building a learning system because it helped managers to refine their learning cycle to manage complexity; however, despite having such a learning system it was clear that managers would still require further accompaniment after the systemic intervention to overcome inertia in their busy daily agenda

Probability and Common-Sense: Tandem Towards Robust Robotic Object Recognition in Ambient Assisted Living

The suitable operation of mobile robots when providing Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) services calls for robust object recognition capabilities. Probabilistic Graphical Models (PGMs) have become the de-facto choice in recognition systems aiming to e ciently exploit contextual relations among objects, also dealing with the uncertainty inherent to the robot workspace. However, these models can perform in an inco herent way when operating in a long-term fashion out of the laboratory, e.g. while recognizing objects in peculiar con gurations or belonging to new types. In this work we propose a recognition system that resorts to PGMs and common-sense knowledge, represented in the form of an ontology, to detect those inconsistencies and learn from them. The utilization of the ontology carries additional advantages, e.g. the possibility to verbalize the robot's knowledge. A primary demonstration of the system capabilities has been carried out with very promising results.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech