A framework for analysing the adoption of New Zealand pastoral farming systems in central Veracruz State, Mexico : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science in Farm Management at Massey University

Tropical areas of developing countries have significant potential for increased food production. In the case of Mexico, an important economic activity in the tropics is livestock production based on pasture. Tropical regions represent 25% of the total area of Mexico and support more than 50% of the country's cow production. Historically, however, animal production in Mexican, and other tropical areas, has been low. Low pasture utilisation, and associated poor herbage quality, is one factor that contributes to poor animal performance in the tropics. This situation contrasts with the success of New Zealand pastoral systems, which in comparative terms have been able to obtain high levels of animal production and efficient use of pasture. Differences in pasture productivity (both in quality and quantity) and social and economic conditions between the Mexican tropics and New Zealand are large. Nevertheless it was proposed that some of the pastoral farming methods used in New Zealand, could be adapted to the conditions of tropical farmers in Mexico, particularly in relation to effective planning and control of the farming system. To test this hypothesis, the consequences of implementing some of New Zealand's pastoral farming techniques under tropical conditions in Central Veracruz State were explored by developing a spreadsheet model to simulate local farming systems. The model included linked submodels for pasture growth and quality, livestock transactions, milk production and enterprise gross margins. The effect of improved farming systems of milk output and cash returns were evaluated relative to the average levels of performance currently achieved from a medium-sized farm in the Central region of Veracruz State in Mexico. Straight forward changes in the design of the farming system, such as synchronising calving with the pattern of pasture growth rather than year-round calving, would significantly affect milk production and cash returns to the farm family. The modelling process was seriously constrained by the lack of farm-level data on pasture production and animal performance. Nevertheless, the model framework clearly identifies which data should be collected, and priority should now be given to assembling these data so simulation decision support models such as that developed in this study, can be effectively used to plan improved farming systems. Keywords: tropical agricultural, Mexico, farming systems, spreadsheet model

La industria electrónica de consumo de Tierra del Fuego en el período 2005-2015. Evolución del sector e impacto de las modificaciones al régimen promocional

En Argentina, la industria electrónica de consumo se encuentra localizada prácticamente en su totalidad en la provincia de Tierra del Fuego, al amparo de un régimen promocional que inició en los años setenta. El sector se caracteriza fundamentalmente por el ensamble de productos electrónicos a partir de distintas partes y componentes, en su mayoría importadas, en general bajo licencia con las principales marcas internacionales. Hacia fines del año 2009, el esquema promocional fue modificado, impulsándose aún más la actividad de esta industria. El objetivo principal del presente trabajo consiste en analizar el impacto de la ampliación de los beneficios promocionales en distintas facetas: la producción, la balanza comercial, el empleo y los salarios, y el consumo. Para los tres primeros se utilizaron fuentes de datos secundarias, mientras que para el consumo se hizo un relevamiento propio de precios de venta en distintos portales de internet. Tras los cambios se observa, por un lado, una notable expansión de la producción, con un consecuente aumento del empleo y un cambio en el perfil importador a nivel nacional (de productos finales hacia bienes intermedios). Por otro lado, los precios resultan elevados para los consumidores locales; en parte debido a los altos salarios del sector.Fil: Krasser, Nicolás Alejandro. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Sociales; Argentina

Implementación de protocolo triple chequeo de movimiento de tierra en conformidad con el estandar minero

Tesis (Ingeniero Constructor)El movimiento de tierra como tantas otras actividades en la construcción consta de un procedimiento constructivo que puede variar dependiendo de los factores intrínsecos de cada tipo de obra, teniendo la obligación de cumplir con las normas vigentes. Hoy en día vemos que el cumplimiento de estos procedimientos están en manos del profesional a cargo de la obra y de la Inspección Técnica, la cual debe dar conformidad constantemente al proceso. La experiencia también puede revelar que este proceso no se lleva a cabo de manera óptima, generando así retrasos por malas ejecuciones e índices de accidentabilidad mayores a los que se podrían obtener cumpliendo con una lista de verificación basada en la norma chilena y Estándares Mineros. Esta herramienta ofrece al profesional facilitar la verificación del cumplimiento del procedimiento. Todos los puntos a verificar están separados e identificados de manera que se haga un correcto inicio, desarrollo y cierre de cada actividad. Además este documento permite identificar a qué tipo de Movimiento de Tierra se ve enfrentado, cuáles son los estándares y/o normas que se están cumpliendo, y a que listas de verificación se debe acudir. Luego cada checklist consta con un espacio que permite individualizar e identificar claramente cada actividad y a sus responsables lo que genera trazabilidad al proyecto. Para finalizar con una instancia de evaluación, comentarios y eventualidades que nos permitan generar una mejora. Los beneficios de esta herramienta es generar un documento de apoyo a los profesionales que necesitan cumplir con estándares de calidad, accidentabilidad y normalización. Con esto se podrá dar conformidad a los procesos quedando respaldo de un correcto actuar de los trabajadores y profesionales de la construcción, evitando malos entendidos, negligencias por olvidos y consecuentemente atrasos indeseados.Una comunicación fiable y correcta del trabajo en obra entre los especialistas dentro y fuera del terreno, ya sea del área técnica, de ingeniería, suministros o montaje, asegura que se entregue valor al cliente y se reduzcan los desperdicios. Este sistema de gestión de calidad y mejora continua va enfocada en primer lugar a tener conocimiento que parte de nuestras actividades van a ser improductivas y no van a aportar valor desde la perspectiva del cliente. A partir de ahí, llevamos a cabo un control del proceso que se redefine como pasar de “monitorizar los resultados” a “hacer que la calidad se cumpla”.Earth movement as many other items in the building business has a constructive process that can oscillate depending on the intrinsic factors of each type of work, having the duty to comply with current standards. Today we see that the fulfillment of these procedures it´s in the hands of the technical inspection, who must give constantly his compliance at the process. The experience can also reveal to us that this process is not carried out optimally generating delays by poor implementation and higher accident rates than those that we could get fulfilling a checklist based on 3 things; Chilean law, Mining standards, and the specifications that each work demands The benefits of this tool is to generate a document of support which can help at the professionals who confront an earth movement and need to fulfill with standars of quality, accidents and standardization. With this we could give the acquiescence at the processes backed by documents which prove the correct action of workers and construction professionals, avoiding misunderstandings, omissions and negligence and therefore delays which are directly related with the costs. A reliable and accurate communication on the work site, among the specialists inside and outside the field, either the technical area, engineering, supply or assembly, ensures that we can provide value at the customer and also reduce the remains. This formality of quality and continuous improvement is focused first of all to be aware that part of our activities will be unproductive and will not add value from the customer's perspective. From there, we conducted a process control which it´s redefined as “going from monitoring results to make things happen"

An Analysis of the Holiday Rental Issue in Spain

Holiday lets and holiday rentals have generated a major debate in recent years in Spain with regard to their regulation. Their impact, not only on tourism, but also on urban sustainability and local planning, have led to public intervention to control their expansion. This article analyses the origin of holiday lets, their problems, and how the public authorities have intervened in this regard, thus providing an overview of the impact of this type of accommodation in Spain

Heterogeneous Porous Media Simulation

Intracranial aneurysms are vascular disorders in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation of the blood vessel. Flow diversion is an endovascular technique where a flow diverter stent is placed in the parent blood vessel to divert blood flow away from the aneurysm itself. Simulation by computational fluid dynamics is an attractive method to study flow diverters, particularly to model the small gaps between stent struts as a porous media. In many cases obstructions are not equal across the free medium and the porous one must be heterogeneous. Finite Volume Method solves numerical problems of computational fluid dynamics, splitting the region of interest in cells of small volumes. Porous media are usually modeled as a set of simulation cells described in a dictionary with constant porosity parameters (Homogeneous medium). An heterogeneous medium can be described as multiple homogeneous media, one by one. However, creating multiple homogeneous porous media is a tedious job if each simulation cell requires different parameters. Also, porous medium sets creates overheads on memory and processor load. The open source tool OpenFOAM is a open source C++ toolbox for field operations and partial differential equations solving using Finite Volume Method, including computational fluid dynamics. The tool is well prepared to describe heterogeneous fields. In this work, porous media coefficients are described as tensor fields. A steady state flow solver considering this fields is developed. The fidelity of the solver is then studied qualitatively and quantitatively.Fil: Dazeo, Nicolás Ignacio. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Grupo de Plasmas Densos Magnetizados. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comision de Investigaciones Científicas. Grupo de Plasmas Densos Magnetizados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil; ArgentinaFil: Dottori, Javier Alejandro. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Grupo de Plasmas Densos Magnetizados. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comision de Investigaciones Científicas. Grupo de Plasmas Densos Magnetizados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil; ArgentinaFil: Boroni, Gustavo Adolfo. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Grupo de Plasmas Densos Magnetizados. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comision de Investigaciones Científicas. Grupo de Plasmas Densos Magnetizados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil; ArgentinaFil: Larrabide, Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Grupo de Plasmas Densos Magnetizados. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comision de Investigaciones Científicas. Grupo de Plasmas Densos Magnetizados; Argentin

Entanglement in fermion systems

We analyze the problem of quantifying entanglement in pure and mixed states of fermionic systems with fixed number parity yet not necessarily fixed particle number. The mode entanglement between one single-particle level and its orthogonal complement is first considered, and an entanglement entropy for such a partition of a particular basis of the single-particle Hilbert spaceHis defined. The sum over all single-particle modes of this entropy is introduced as a measure of the total entanglement of the system with respect to the chosen basis and it is shown that its minimum over all bases ofHis a function of the one-body density matrix. Furthermore, we show that if minimization is extended to all bases related through a Bogoliubov transformation, then the entanglement entropy is a function of the generalized one-body density matrix. These results are then used to quantify entanglement in fermion systems with four single-particle levels. For general pure states of such a system a closed expression for the fermionic concurrence is derived, which generalizes the Slater correlation measure defined in [J. Schliemann et al, Phys. Rev. A 64, 022303 (2001)], implying that particle entanglement may be seen as minimum mode entanglement . It is also shown that the entanglement entropy defined before is related to this concurrence by an expression analogous to that of the two-qubit case. For mixed states of this system the convex roof extension of the previous concurrence and entanglement entropy are evaluated analytically, extending the results of previous ref. to general states.Facultad de Ciencias Exacta