Effect of cooking on arsenic concentration in rice

This study assessed the effect of rinsing and boiling on total content of As (tAs) and of its inorganic and organic forms in different types of rice (polished and brown) from Spain and Ecuador. Rice was subjected to five different treatments. The results showed that the treatment consisting of three grain rinsing cycles followed by boiling in excess water showed a significant decrease in tAs content compared with raw rice. Regarding As species, it is worth noting that the different treatments significantly reduced the content of the most toxic forms of As. The estimated lifetime health risks indicate that pre-rinsing alone can reduce the risk by 50%, while combining it with discarding excess water can reduce the risk by 83%; therefore, the latter would be the preferable method.Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas-ESPE through Project 2015- PIC-017, Xunta de Galicia-Consellería de Educación, Universidades e Formación Profesional, Plan Galego IDT, Consolidation of competitive research groups (ref. ED31C2018/12), and Cross-Research in Environmental Technologies (CRETUS, AGRUP2015/02, ref. 2018-PG100). XLOP is grateful for the financial support from the Proyecto PROMETEO (SENESCYT Ecuador).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Arsenic in rice agrosystems (water, soil and rice plants) in Guayas and Los Rios provinces, Ecuador

Geogenic arsenic (As) can accumulate and reach high concentrations in rice grains, thus representing a potential threat to human health. Ecuador is one of the main consumers of rice in South America. However, there is no information available about the concentrations of As in rice agrosystems, although some water bodies are known to contain high levels of the element. We carried out extensive sampling of water, soil, rice plants and commercial rice (obtained from local markets). Water samples were analysed to determine physico-chemical properties and concentrations of dissolved arsenic. Soil samples were analysed to determine total organic C, texture, total Fe and amorphous Fe oxyhydroxides (Fe-ox), total arsenic (tAs) and the bioavailable fraction (As-Me). The different plant parts were analysed separately to determine total (tAs), inorganic (iAs) and organic arsenic (oAs). Low concentrations of arsenic were found in samples of water (generally 80%) in all parts of the rice plants. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Valuation and credit risk in Colombia

The exercise of assessing the credit risk in Colombia, is a difficult task, since they are different elements of context that must be considered in that process, a situation that leads necessarily to the combination of methods, both quantitative and qualitative, order to improve the criteria for decision making. In this sense, this document begins with a review of the sources of corporate financing more common in the Colombian financial system from them, identifies the main elements to consider in advance the time of credit process. Next, we examine the traditional financial analysis methodology, we proceed to highlight some Latin American experiences at probabilistic models with new financial analysis and finally outlines the benefits of such models, based on their advantages and disadvantagesEl ejercicio de valorar el riesgo crediticio en Colombia es una tarea ardua, toda vez que los elementos del contexto que deben ser considerados en el mencionado proceso son diversos. Esta situación conduce necesariamente a la combinación de métodos, tanto cuantitativos como cualitativos, en aras de mejorar los criterios para la toma de decisiones. En este sentido, el presente documento inicia con la revisión de las fuentes de financiación empresarial más comunes en el sistema financiero colombiano, a partir de las cuales, identifica los principales elementos a considerar en el momento de adelantar un proceso crediticio. Enseguida, se examina la metodología de análisis financiero tradicional, se procede a destacar algunas experiencias a nivel de Latinoamérica con nuevos modelos probabilísticos de análisis financiero y, finalmente, se señalan las bondades de dichos modelos, a partir de sus ventajas y desventaja

Contagio financiero entre economías: análisis exploratorio desde la econometría caso Colombia-Estados Unidos

El artículo, estudia las relaciones de dependencia entre los mercados financieros internacionales, indagando sobre el efecto del contagio financiero entre dos series de retornos de índices accionarios: el Dow Jones (DJ) y el índice general de la Bolsa de Valores de Colombia (IGBC). Lo anterior, gracias a que Estados Unidos es el principal país con el que Colombia mantiene un fuerte nexo comercial y económico. Se hará uso de información histórica de carácter público, comprendida entre enero 1 de 2007 y diciembre 31 de 2010, proveniente de fuentes objetivas y reconocidas en el mercado. Se desarrollará un ejercicio de tipo econométrico, en el cual se establece el nivel de relacionamiento existente entre los dos índices mencionados. El principal aporte de este trabajo es la implementación de la econometría como técnica para el análisis del contagio, que permite inferir las relaciones de causalidad entre los mercados y determinar modelos de predicción robustos que generan un mayor acervo informativo e interpretativo sobre la dinámica implícita en los retornos de los diferentes activos financieros.This paper studies the relationships of dependence between financial markets, particularly the investigation of the effect of financial contagion between two sets of returns of stock indices: Dow Jones (DJ) and the General Index of the Stock Exchange of Colombia (IGBC), being the United States, the leading country with which Colombia has a strong business relationship and economic. It will make use of historical information of a public nature, between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2010, from objective sources and recognized in the market. They develop an econometric exercise type, which sets the level of relationship between the two indices mentioned The main contribution of this work is the implementation of econometrics as a technique for the analysis of contagion, which, we infer relations causality between markets and identify robust predictive models that generate a larger pool and interpretive information about the underlying dynamics in the returns of different financial assets

Creación de empresa de un restaurante de comida rápida mexicana en Cartagena de Indias

Ingeniero (a) IndustrialPregrad

THE EFFECT OF CREDIT DERIVATIVES USAGE ON THE RISK OF EUROPEAN BANKS

Banks are the major participants in the derivatives credit markets. It was generally believed by top regulators that credit derivatives make banks sounder. After the international financial crisis, the positive view of the role of credit risk transfer has changed and credit derivatives have been blamed as one of the responsible of the subprime credit crisis. There are very few empirical works regarding this subject, but in particular in the case of the European banking sector. We use as measures of risk the Z-score, the two components, ZP1 and ZP2, and other proxies of credit risk like the risk-weighted assets and non-performing loans (NPL) ratio. In summary, our results show that European banks that use credit derivatives for hedging experience an improvement in their level of financial stability, while those who opt for a speculative position test negative. Accordingly and based on these data, the cause of the current crisis in Europe could not be directly attributed to the use of credit derivatives

Reingeniería de los Procesos Productivos de la Empresa Omega, Ubicada en la Ciudad de Riobamba.

Se elabora un estudio para la propuesta de redistribución de planta en la empresa “OMEGA” con la finalidad de aumentar la capacidad de producción y productividad anual. Para el efecto se realiza un estudio del proceso la capacidad de producción y productividad actual de la empresa en tres productos: Taque de almacenamiento de 3000 lt, Pasteurizadora de 500 lt, y Yogurtera de 300 lt., con los respectivos diagramas de Procesos, Recorrido y Flujo. Con los datos obtenidos se elabora tablas de doble entrada y triangular, que ayudan a diseñar la nueva distribución de la planta mediante los diagramas de proximidad, este método es eficiente para la ubicación de los lugares de trabajo en sitios estratégicos. Finalmente se realiza el diagrama de distribución propuesto de los puestos de trabajo con sus áreas suficientemente adecuadas para el buen desempeño del trabajador, así como, el diseño de diagramas de Proceso, Flujo y Recorrido propuestos, con sus respectivos tiempos y distancias, logrando una buena organización dentro de la planta. Con los estudios realizados de la distribución se determina mediante comparación estadística de la situación actual con la propuesta que al disminuir el tiempo, los costos y la distancia de cada producto se logra un aumento en la capacidad de producción y productividad anual de los tres productos, logrando los siguientes resultados: Modelos % Capacidad de Producción % Productividad Tanques de almacenamiento de 3000 lt 75% 43,43 % Pasteurizadora de 500 lt 64 % 39,35 % Yogurteras de 300 lt 137 % 57,27

The Rapid Effects of Yellow-Legged Gull (Larus michahellis) Colony on Dune Habitats and Plant Landscape in the Atlantic Islands National Park (NW Spain)

[Abstract] The Atlantic Islands of Galicia Maritime/Terrestrial National Park hosts one of the largest breeding colonies of yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) in the world. In 2002, a new yellow-legged gull breeding colony was established on the Punta Muxieiro dune complex, which also harbors rare and threatened plant species and habitat types of community interest according to Directive 92/43/EEC. This study assesses the effect of this colony on two habitats of community interest: white dunes and grey dunes. For this purpose, plant cover and soil properties, composition, and nutrient content were monitored in plots with different gull densities. Moreover, historic aerial images were compiled to observe changes in the plant landscape of the dune system. The results showed that, despite the recentness of the occupation of the dune system by yellow-legged gull species, significant changes in acidic–alkaline processes and nutrient availability were already observed in soils. Soils in plots with higher gull density showed more acidic pH values and a higher content of the most labile N and P fractions. Moreover, a decrease in plant cover and number of species was also demonstrated in plots with higher gull densities. Finally, the presence of ruderal and alien species such as Urtica membranacea and Parietaria judaica was also observed.This study has been funded by the BBVA Foundation and CRETUS. Thanks are due to the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science for the FPU grant to S. De la Peña-Lastr

Assessment of variations in air quality in cities of Ecuador in relation to the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic

This study analyzes the effect of lockdown due to COVID-19 on the spatiotemporal variability of ozone (O3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations in different provinces of continental Ecuador using satellite information from Sentinel - 5P. The statistical analysis includes data from 2018 to March 2021 and was performed based on three periods defined a priori: before, during, and after lockdown due to COVID-19, focusing on the provinces with the highest concentrations of the studied gases (hotspots). The results showed a significant decrease in NO2 concentrations during the COVID-19 lockdown period in all the study areas: the Metropolitan District of Quito (DMQ) and the provinces of Guayas and Santo Domingo de los Ts & PRIME;achilas. In the period after lockdown, NO2 concentrations increased by over 20% when compared to the pre-lockdown period, which may be attributable to a shift towards private transportation due to health concerns. On the other hand, SO2 concentrations during the lockdown period showed irregular, non-significant variations; however, increases were observed in the provinces of Chimborazo, Guayas, Santa Elena, and Morona Santiago, which could be partly attributed to the eruptive activity of the Sangay volcano during 2019-2020. Conversely, O3 concentrations increased by 2-3% in the study areas; this anomalous behavior could be attributed to decreased levels of NOx, which react with ozone, reducing its concentration. Finally, satellite data validation using the corresponding data from monitoring stations in the DMQ showed correlation values of 0.9 for O3 data and 0.7 for NO2 data, while no significant correlation was found for SO2.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Planificación S-TDMA en redes submarinas de comunicaciones inalámbricas

Las redes submarinas de sensores son de importancia en la vigilancia y monitorización del medio submarino. Si se desea que las redes sean inalámbricas y con un alcance superior a unos pocos metros, las comunicaciones han de ser acústicas. El canal acústico submarino es de poca capacidad de transmisión y muy hostil en términos de ruido y desvanecimiento, ya que es selectivo en frecuencia. Además, estas redes inalámbricas plantean el problema añadido de la alimentación eléctrica. En redes de tráfico saturado, el procedimiento más eficiente de acceso al medio es TDMA espacial, por los menores “overheads” y la práctica ausencia de “handshaking”. En esta comunicación se presenta un procedimiento para la obtención de una planificación eficiente en redes submarinas de comunicaciones que utilicen TDMA espacial. El procedimiento está basado en dos algoritmos heurísticos encadenados y encuentra una planificación temporal eficiente para conseguir la misma cantidad de información de los sensores de cada nodo de la red.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec