Evaluation of a customer loyalty strategy with system dymamics

The customer loyalty programs are a tool of differentiation and high impact to create long term relationships with customers of a company, so as to achieve an improvement in the portfolio and collections, redu­ced costs of customer service, increased revenue from higher sales to the most profitable customers, cross selling, among many other benefits. Ac­cordingly, we present a system dynamic model to analyze the economic benefits, in terms of profitability, which would be to implement a customer loyalty strategy. To adjust and validate the proposed model, its implemen­tation is done in a real case of a marketer of agricultural products in the department of Valle del Cauca - Colombia. The simulation results show that indeed the model fulfills its purpose, and that the loyalty program achieved significant results in the finances of the organization.Los programas de fidelización de clientes son una herramienta de diferen­ciación y alto impacto para crear relaciones de largo plazo con los clientes de una empresa, de tal forma que se logre una mejora en cartera y recaudo, reducción de costos de atención a clientes, incremento en ingresos por mayores ventas a los clientes más rentables, ventas cruzadas, entre muchos otros beneficios. De acuerdo con esto, se presenta un modelo de dinámica de sistemas que permita analizar los beneficios económicos, en términos de rentabilidad, que se tendrían al implementar una estrategia de fideliza­ción de clientes. Para ajustar y validar el modelo propuesto, se aplica en un caso real de una empresa comercializadora de productos agrícolas de la región. Los resultados de la simulación muestran que efectivamente el modelo cumple con su objetivo, y que el programa de fidelización logra importantes resultados en las finanzas de la organización

Bartenders and Customers' Interactions. Influence on Sexual Assaults in Nightlife

Nightlife establishments are meeting points for what the scientific literature has called "hookups" or "one-night stands" that is, uncommitted sexual relationships that can sometimes result in unwanted or even violent experiences. The scientific literature has identified that sexual assault has usually been connected with alcohol abuse. Other studies have found that nightlife staff can be an active or passive party to violent events (sexual or otherwise), especially bouncers. However, less attention has been paid to bartenders, and their involvement in such events has not been analyzed in depth. This article presents an exploration of how some male bartenders interact with some male customers in the nightlife context to promote sexual relationships and how their interactions might influence possible sexual assault situations. The results of this study shed light on and help us to understand why sexual assault occurs in these spaces

Biological Degradation and Biostability of Nanocomposites Based on Polysulfone with Different Concentrations of Reduced Graphene Oxide

Increasing incorporation of rGO in the polysulfone polymer generates materials with improved chemical and mechanical stability and less prone to biodegradation at the end of the nanocomposite life cycle. The results of attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR?IR) and mechanical strength, after exposure to wastewater influent, show that the increasing concentrations of rGO into the polymer matrix reduce changes in the nanocomposite properties. The increasing incorporation of rGO also increases growth inhibition of the wastewater microbial population on the surface of nanocomposites. Highest biofilm inhibition and material stability are observed with nanocomposites containing 3 wt% rGO. These results suggest that reduction in the material biodegradation is linked to the inhibition of biofilm growth on the nanocomposite surface due to the antimicrobial properties of rGO. This study demonstrates, for the first time, that the amount of rGO incorporated in the nanocomposite impact the biodegradability and end of life of polysulfone nanocomposites

Caracterización molecular de papas nativas (Solanum spp.) del distrito de Chungui, Ayacucho, mediante AFLP

Genetic diversity of 25 morphotypes of native potatoes Solanum spp. from Chungui (La Mar, Ayacucho) were assess. Morphotypes collected were micropropagated in Murashigue Skoog medium (1962). DNA extraction proceeded using the CTAB method modified from 3 weeks leaves crop, good quality and quantity of DNA was able to use the AFLP. Enzymatic digestion of the DNA was performed using EcoRI and MseI. Three combinations of AFLP primers with three selective nucleotides were used, resulting in a total of 85 clearly discernable bands, of which 63 were polymorphic. The combination E37 – M50 showed the most informative polymorphic index content of 0.43. The presence/absence of polymorphic bands was evaluated using the Simple Matching coefficient similarity and clustering analysis using the UPGMA. The dendrogram produced had a cophenetic correlation coefficient r= 0.7. At the level 0.64 of Simple Matching coefficient similarity, the dendrogram grouped the morphotypes of native potatoes in 4 genetic groups, it not found duplicated morphotypes, despite having some morphotypes very similar. Our results would be showing the highly informative power of AFLP markers for the analysis of genetic diversity of native potatoes.Con el objetivo de evaluar la diversidad genética de Solanum spp. del distrito de Chungui, La Mar, Ayacucho, se colectaron 25 morfotipos de papas nativas los cuales fueron introducidos y micropropagados en el medio de cultivo Murashigue Skoog (1962). La extracción de ADN se procedió utilizando el método CTAB modificado a partir de hojas de 3 semanas cultivo, se logró buena calidad y cantidad de ADN para emplear el AFLP. La digestión enzimática del ADN se realizó utilizando EcoRI y MseI. Se emplearon tres combinaciones de primers AFLP con tres nucleótidos selectivos, originándose un total de 85 bandas claramente diferenciables, de las cuales 63 fueron polimórficas. La combinación E37 – M50 fue la más informativa obteniendo un índice de contenido polimórfico de 0.43. La lectura de la presencia o ausencia de bandas polimórficas de los morfotipos evaluados empleando el coeficiente de similitud Simple Matching y el análisis de agrupamiento según el algoritmo UPGMA originó un dendograma con un índice de correlación cofenética de r= 0.7. El dendograma con un coeficiente de similitud de 0.64 agrupó a los morfotipos de papas nativas en 4 grupos genéticos y no se encontró morfotipos duplicados a pesar de tener algunas características morfológicas muy semejantes. Estos resultados demuestran el alto poder informativo de los marcadores AFLP en el análisis de la diversidad genética de papas nativas

Financing of residential rooftop photovoltaic projects under a net metering policy framework: the case of the colombian caribbean region

The inclusion of photovoltaic energy in the Colombian energy matrix has had several difficulties due to the lack of energy policies and regulations in renewable energy projects. The lack of government support with subsidies that extend the coverage of PV energy projects in residential areas has made the collection of funds more challenging. This paper presents a techno-economic analysis for the implementation of grid-connected photovoltaic projects on the roofs of residential areas, under the net metering policy framework. For the profitability analysis, the discounted cash flow (DCF) method was used. The revenues were obtained from the forecasts of the electrical power production of the PV system, based on the characteristics of the Colombian Caribbean Region. For this purpose, the meteorological data (2013-2017) of this region were used as an input for the calculation of the economic benefits that can be achieved with the implementation of PV systems. Based on the technical sizing and economic assumptions, it was proved that the DCF method allows to accurately determine the optimal debt ratio. After evaluating the three scenarios proposed, it was demonstrated that profitability and self-sustainability, with investment from creditors, is obtained from the implementation of PV systems of at least 3 kWp

Enabling CUDA acceleration within virtual machines using rCUDA

The hardware and software advances of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have favored the development of GPGPU (General-Purpose Computation on GPUs) and its adoption in many scientific, engineering, and industrial areas. Thus, GPUs are increasingly being introduced in high-performance computing systems as well as in datacenters. On the other hand, virtualization technologies are also receiving rising interest in these domains, because of their many benefits on acquisition and maintenance savings. There are currently several works on GPU virtualization. However, there is no standard solution allowing access to GPGPU capabilities from virtual machine environments like, e.g., VMware, Xen, VirtualBox, or KVM. Such lack of a standard solution is delaying the integration of GPGPU into these domains. In this paper, we propose a first step towards a general and open source approach for using GPGPU features within VMs. In particular, we describe the use of rCUDA, a GPGPU (General-Purpose Computation on GPUs) virtualization framework, to permit the execution of GPU-accelerated applications within virtual machines (VMs), thus enabling GPGPU capabilities on any virtualized environment. Our experiments with rCUDA in the context of KVM and VirtualBox on a system equipped with two NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 cards illustrate the overhead introduced by the rCUDA middleware and prove the feasibility and scalability of this general virtualizing solution. Experimental results show that the overhead is proportional to the dataset size, while the scalability is similar to that of the native environment.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Embedded real-time stereo estimation via semi-global matching on the GPU

Altres ajuts: the Spanish DGT project SPIP2014-01352Dense, robust and real-time computation of depth information from stereo-camera systems is a computationally demanding requirement for robotics, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous vehicles. Semi-Global Matching (SGM) is a widely used algorithm that propagates consistency constraints along several paths across the image. This work presents a real-time system producing reliable disparity estimation results on the new embedded energy-efficient GPU devices. Our design runs on a Tegra X1 at 42 frames per second (fps) for an image size of 640×480, 128 disparity levels, and using 4 path directions for the SGM metho

Purificadora para el acceso a agua potable

Este proyecto, parte del PAP: San Pedro de Valencia: renovación urbana, saneamiento ambiental y emprendimientos turísticos, se trata de la Gestión de la estandarización de la Purificadora Ahuisculco, el cual es un trabajo colaborativo que se lleva a cabo junto con el comité del agua del poblado de Ahuisculco, en el que se busca como objetivo principal el establecimiento de una purificadora comunitaria, que se propuso en el PAP de primavera 2022, que pueda brindar a la comunidad la oportunidad de consumir su recurso tan abundante que es el agua, de una manera segura y saludable. Se genera un proyecto arquitectónico y ejecutivo, con el objetivo de generar una correcta gestión del agua, a través de la construcción de una planta potabilizadora de agua. Se va avanzando parcialmente, en comunicación y colaboración con la Mesa directiva del Colectivo Ahisculco Defiende su Agua y Comité del Agua potable Ahuisculco. También se genera una proyección de cuantificación y costos, en la que se pueden ver plasmados los estimados de inversión, teniendo la oportunidad de realizar comparaciones y ajustes del presupuesto.ITESO, A.C

Análisis de linajes maternos y paternos de bovinos criollo del Centro de Ecología Aaplicada Simón I. Patiño - Bolivia

Se determinaron los linajes maternos y paternos de 33 bovinos Criollo (27 hembras y 6 machos) del Centro de Ecología Aplicada Simón I. Patiño (Ceasip) mediante marcadores genéticos del ADN genómico, mitocondrial y del cromosoma Y. El ADN genómico se extrajo utilizando el kit Wizard ® Genomic Purification. Los linajes maternos se determinaron mediante secuenciación del ADN mitocondrial (región control D-loop) y los linajes paternos se determinaron analizando siete marcadores genéticos del cromosoma Y, dos SNP (Polimorfismo de Nucleótido Simple) y cinco microsatélites (Secuencias Repetidas en Tándem). La diversidad genética se estimó tipificando 18 microsatélites. Se analizaron los datos con MStools, GenePop y Arlequin. La secuenciación de D-loop mitocondrial permitió detectar seis linajes maternos, que incluían cuatro haplotipos mitocondriales de origen europeo y dos africanos. A través del análisis de los marcadores del cromosoma Y se determinaron tres linajes paternos, dos taurinos y uno cebuino. En el hato del Ceasip, la diversidad alélica (na) fue de 6.11, mientras que la heterocigosidad esperada (He) fue de 0.70 y la observada (Ho) fue de 0.68. Los valores de diversidad genética observada en los bovinos del Ceasip son similares a los estimados para la mayoría de los biotipos del Criollo boliviano (na Yacumeño= 6.82; na Saavedreño= 5.95), siendo los valores promedios para el ganado Criollo boliviano analizados anteriormente de na= 6.39, He= 0.72 y Ho= 0.65. Los análisis de Componentes Principales y de distancia genética mostraron que sería factible intercambiar material genético entre las poblaciones Criollo bolivianas sin pérdida significativa de su diversidad genética.Fil: Pereira, J. A. C.. Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno; BoliviaFil: Giovambattista, Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Peña, S.. Centro de Ecología Aplicada Simón I. Patiño; BoliviaFil: Liron, Juan Pedro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria ; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Loza, A. J.. Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno; BoliviaFil: Posik, Diego Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria ; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Baudoin, M.. Centro de Ecología Aplicada Simón I. Patiño; BoliviaFil: Bomblat, C.. Centro de Ecología Aplicada Simón I. Patiño; Bolivi