An investigation into the performance of a very shallow borehole thermal energy store for a solar-assisted ground source heat pump

Ground-source heat pumps (GSHP) have been used in building applications to meet heating needs at lower energy costs. Likewise, solar thermal systems have been integrated into conventional GSHP to reduce the size of the ground heat exchanger and provide seasonal heat storage. So far, this technology has mainly been used in large commercial or residential buildings due to its high installation costs. The present work focuses on an experimental and numerical investigation on the thermal performance of a very shallow borehole heat exchanger for a solar-assisted ground source heat pump (SAGSHP) for small-scale applications. For the experimental part, energy analysis of a small domestic SAGSHP was conducted. The main innovation of this system is the use of an array of 16 very shallow (1.5-metre depth) boreholes to store heat seasonally into an underground earth energy bank (EEB). In the numerical investigation, different models were developed to study the thermal performance of the natural soil as well as the thermal response of very shallow borehole heat exchangers. A comparison in accuracy and time of simulation was carried out between the Infinite Line Source (ILS) model, the Infinite Cylindrical Source (ICS) model, and a new model developed by the author based on the Finite Difference Method (FDM). To consider in the model the interaction between adjacent boreholes as well as the impact of the natural soil temperature, the superposition technique was applied. Results show that the proposed model based on the FDM is faster and more accurate than the conventional analytical models (ILS and ICS) to study the thermal response of very shallow boreholes. Likewise, dimensionless graphical representations (a.k.a. G-functions) were developed for the study of very shallow boreholes for different types of soil thermal properties and different borehole diameters

An Evaluation of the Contemporary Uses and Cultural Significance of Mammals in Mexico

We evaluated current uses of wild mammals by indigenous and mestizo communities in Mexico by extracting data from 59 sources published or produced between 1987–2017, covering data from 240 localities and 3,905 questionnaires. We then calculated a Cultural Value Index (CVI) previously applied to plants to quantify resource use and assess the cultural significance of each mammal. A total of 82 species were reported, and the animals with the highest cultural importance according to their CVI (in brackets) were two species of deer (Odocoileus virginianus [18.32] and Mazama temama [10.04]), as well as the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus [14.18]), white-nosed coati (Nasua narica [14.75]), collared peccary (Pecari tajaccu [11.90]), northern raccoon (Procyon lotor [11.28]) and spotted paca (Cuniculus paca [9.84]). The most common uses were for food, to reduce the damage or harm they cause, and for medicinal purposes, with O. virginianus, P. lotor, N. narica, and D. novemcinctus frequently hunted for all these reasons. Our analysis also highlighted the hunting of rarer species of national conservation concern, including commercial trading of body parts of the felids Panthera onca, Leopardus pardalis, and Leopardus wiedii. By quantifying the ethnozoological significance of wildlife to indigenous communities, indices such as CVI provide a robust measure of the extent of use and preference for particular species or taxa. This adds to the body of evidence used to develop effective regulations and laws related to harvesting and hunting, and helps promote a more sustainable and long-term approach to the use of natural resources

Propuesta de un modelo de gestión de Recursos Humanos considerando los indicadores pertinentes de acreditación del CACES para el Instituto Superior San Isidro

El presente trabajo de titulación expone una propuesta de un modelo de gestión del talento humano para el Instituto Superior Tecnológico Universitario San Isidro que apoye al cumplimiento de los indicadores de acreditación que el Consejo de Aseguramiento de la Calidad de la Educación Superior exige para las Instituciones Educativas Superiores pretendiendo así garantizar una educación de calidad. Para el desarrollo de la propuesta, se ha considerado dividir la gestión del talento humano en cuatro pilares fundamentales: planeación, capacitación, evaluación de desempeño y compensación; y, posteriormente, analizar la influencia de los indicadores de acreditación del CACES en cada uno de los procesos de gestión. Finalmente, con la validación de la influencia de los indicadores, se crea la propuesta del modelo en la que cada uno de los sistemas del talento humano debe ser parte de la estructura organizacional que apoye para la acreditación, mejora continua y eficacia en el crecimiento institucionalThe present degree work exposes a proposal of a human talent management model for the Instituto Superior Tecnológico Universitario San Isidro that supports compliance with accreditation indicators that the Consejo de Aseguramiento de la Calidad de la Educación Superior requires for Higher Educational Institutions, thus trying to guarantee quality education. For the development of the proposal, it has been proposed to divide the management of human talent into four fundamental pillars: planning, training, performance evaluation and compensation; and, subsequently, analyze the influence of the CACES accreditation indicators on each of the management processes. Finally, with the validation of the influence of the indicators, the proposal of the model is created in each one of the human talent systems must be part of the organizational structure that supports accreditation, continuous improvement and effectiveness in institutional growthLicenciado en EmpresasCuenc

Proyecto de inversión para la implementación de una empresa de lavado de autos a domicilio para la ciudad de Guayaquil

La implementación de una empresa de lavado de autos a domicilio se proyecta como una industria planificadora para cubrir las necesidades de la zona de Guayaquil y facilitadora al brindar asesoramiento en el cuidado y mantenimiento de su vehículo. Los negocios de limpieza pueden representar una mina de oro ya que se enfocan en las tareas que otras personas ya sea por comodidad o por falta de tiempo no pueden realizar. Y el lavado de autos representa uno de esos negocios que se pueden iniciar con poco presupuesto, fácil de montar, con mano de obra económica y que no requieren un alto grado de experiencia para administrarlos. Actualmente no existe ningún tipo de negocio que ofrezca el servicio de lavado automotriz a domicilio, específicamente a zonas residenciales y que ofrezca un servicio personalizado, con lo cual podemos decir que nuestra empresa cuenta con una ventaja comparativa. Nuestros clientes potenciales serán todas aquellas personas de clase media y alta que posean un vehículo y que vivan en zonas residenciales de la Ciudad de Guayaqui

A comparison of analytical and numerical model predictions of shallow soil temperature variation with experimental measurements

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.In several fields of enquiry such as geothermal energy, geology and agriculture, it is of interest to study the thermal behaviour of shallow soils. For this, several analytical and numerical methodologies have been proposed to analyse the temperature variation of the soil in the short and long term. In this paper, a comparative study of different models (sinusoidal, semi-infinite and finite difference method) is conducted to estimate the shallow soil temperature variation in the short and long term. The models were compared with hourly experimental measured data of soil temperature in Leicester, UK, at depths between 0.75 and 2.75 m. The results show that the sinusoidal model is not appropriate to evaluate the short-term temperature variations, such as hourly or daily fluctuations. Likewise, this model is highly affected by the undisturbed ground temperature and can lead to very high errors. Regarding the semi-infinite model, it is accurate enough to predict the short-term temperature variation. However, it is useless to predict the long-term variation at depths greater than 1 m. The finite difference method (FDM) considering the air temperature as a boundary condition for the soil surface is the most accurate approach for estimating both short and long-term temperature variations while the FDM with heat flux as boundary condition is the least accurate approach due to the uncertainty of the assumed parameters. The ranges of errors for the sinusoidal, semi-infinite and FDM are found to be from 76.09 to 142.13%, 12.11 to 104.88% and 1.82 to 28.14% respectively