Producción ovina agroecológica en áreas periurbanas con regulaciones ambientales. ¿Una opción productiva y económicamente factible?

En Argentina, la intensificación de los sistemas agrícolas y las consecuencias sociales y ambientales derivadas del proceso, han generado cuestionamientos respecto del modelo productivo imperante. Esta situación se ha traducido en la sanción de normas que regulan el uso de agroquímicos en las zonas urbanas, periurbanas que se convierten en restricciones como la ley provincial N° 3288, que establece zonas de resguardo ambiental. Esta nueva situación de las zonas de transición urbano-rural genera una necesaria evolución hacia sistemas con bases agroecológicas. La Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias de la Universidad Nacional de la Pampa gestiona un Campo Escuela en inmediaciones de la Ciudad de General Pico que se encuentra alcanzado por la citada ley, lo que implica un importante desafío de gestión lograr en forma exitosa este proceso de transición. En este contexto, surgen una serie de medidas y estudios, entre otros la creación de la Unidad Demostrativa Ganadera de Producción Pastoril Agroecológica (UDGPPA) en el Campo Escuela UDEP “Dr. Hugo Roberto Álvarez” y el proyecto de investigación “Análisis de la rentabilidad económica de un sistema de producción ovina agroecológica en el periurbano de la ciudad de General Pico”. El proyecto citado tiene como objetivos: a) Evaluar la factibilidad económica del sistema de producción ovina de la UDGPPA, de la Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias de la UNLPam. b) Determinar la escala de un sistema mínimo rentable que permita mantener una familia tipo por encima de la línea de pobreza. Básicamente, intenta contribuir al fortalecimiento de la transición de los sistemas pecuarios periurbanos hacia prácticas sostenibles, en línea con las metas propuestas por los ODS con un enfoque de escala local. El documento expone el marco conceptual desarrollado por el equipo de investigació

Evaluation of full field automated photoelastic analysis based on phase stepping

A full field automated polariscope for photoelastic analysis has been developed in the author's laboratory and has been described in detail elsewhere. Briefly, the system uses phase-stepping to determine both the fractional isochromatic fringes and isoclinic parameter at all points in the field of view independently of their neighbouring points. A wrapping algorithm is then employed to produce continuous ischromatic and isoclinic data, which can be subsequently be used in stress separation procedures. The idea of using phase stepping in photoelasticity is a fairly recent innovation and can be described as changing incremently the absolute phase of the reference wave by rotating the output elements of the polariscope and measuring the local light intensity after each step. In the apparatus described here, the output elements are rotated to six different positions providing six images of the specimen. Maps of the periodic values of the isoclinic and isochromatic parameters are subsequently obtained by combining, mathematically, these six images. A number of full field techniques have been developed. Poloshin and Redner have developed half fringe photoelasticity, and two laboratories in Japan are working on the technique of phase stepping. It appears, however, that no detailed evaluation has been made of the accuracy and reliability of the results generated by the technique. The objective of the work described in this paper has been provided such an evaluation. Five different models were selected for analysis using the automated system and manually using the Tardy compensation method: (a) a disk in diametral compression: (b) a constrained beam subject to a point load: (c) a tensile plate with a central hole: (d) a turbine blade; and (e) a turbine disk slot. These models provided a range of different fringe patterns, orders and stress gradients to test the performance of the system

The application of evolutionary and maximum entropy algorithms to photoelastic spectral analysis

Over the past 10 years, spectral analysis has been shown to have the potential to be a reliable means of automating photoelasticity. However, the four methods of analyzing the spectra that have previously been proposed are slow and, in some cases, inaccurate. This paper describes three new methods for spectral analysis based on the maximum entropy method, a genetic algorithm and a memetic algorithm. Thirty-five spectra for known fringe orders were recorded and used in testing the four existing methods and the three new ones. It was found that the new methods were all considerably faster than the existing methods, although less accurate than the best existing method. By combining the maximum entropy method with either the genetic algorithm or the memetic algorithm, spectra could be analyzed up to 30 times as fast as they could with any of the existing methods and with comparable accuracy

The Global Alliance for Infections in Surgery: defining a model for antimicrobial stewardship-results from an international cross-sectional survey

Contains fulltext : 177987.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (ASPs) have been promoted to optimize antimicrobial usage and patient outcomes, and to reduce the emergence of antimicrobial-resistant organisms. However, the best strategies for an ASP are not definitively established and are likely to vary based on local culture, policy, and routine clinical practice, and probably limited resources in middle-income countries. The aim of this study is to evaluate structures and resources of antimicrobial stewardship teams (ASTs) in surgical departments from different regions of the world. METHODS: A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted in 2016 on 173 physicians who participated in the AGORA (Antimicrobials: A Global Alliance for Optimizing their Rational Use in Intra-Abdominal Infections) project and on 658 international experts in the fields of ASPs, infection control, and infections in surgery. RESULTS: The response rate was 19.4%. One hundred fifty-six (98.7%) participants stated their hospital had a multidisciplinary AST. The median number of physicians working inside the team was five [interquartile range 4-6]. An infectious disease specialist, a microbiologist and an infection control specialist were, respectively, present in 80.1, 76.3, and 67.9% of the ASTs. A surgeon was a component in 59.0% of cases and was significantly more likely to be present in university hospitals (89.5%, p < 0.05) compared to community teaching (83.3%) and community hospitals (66.7%). Protocols for pre-operative prophylaxis and for antimicrobial treatment of surgical infections were respectively implemented in 96.2 and 82.3% of the hospitals. The majority of the surgical departments implemented both persuasive and restrictive interventions (72.8%). The most common types of interventions in surgical departments were dissemination of educational materials (62.5%), expert approval (61.0%), audit and feedback (55.1%), educational outreach (53.7%), and compulsory order forms (51.5%). CONCLUSION: The survey showed a heterogeneous organization of ASPs worldwide, demonstrating the necessity of a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach in the battle against antimicrobial resistance in surgical infections, and the importance of educational efforts towards this goal