Evaluación de la seguridad ciudadana: las instituciones de prevención, control y justicia penal de la República de Panamá como caso de estudio

Esta tesis doctoral se enfoca en el estudio de la problemática de la inseguridad ciudadana tomado como caso de estudio la República de Panamá considerando fundamentalmente tres dimensiones para su análisis: la dimensión de las instituciones del Sistema de Justicia Penal, la dimensión del marco jurídico de la seguridad ciudadana y la dimensión de las estrategias de política gubernamental, delimitando el estudio a los períodos de gobierno 2004-2009 y 2009-2014.Importancia y Justificación de la investigación.La investigación es importante para el caso de Panamá debido a que el problema de inseguridad ciudadana es un problema real y crítico que se refleja en altos niveles de violencia y criminalidad, altos niveles de percepción ciudadana de inseguridad, y altos niveles de desconfianza en las instituciones de justicia y seguridad. Igualmente, es importante porque aborda un problema real y de verdadera importancia y preocupación para la sociedad panameña y para su desarrollo y bienestar individual y colectivo y,porque además, la temática ha sido insuficientemente estudiada desde el punto de vista de las instituciones del sistema de justicia penal, el marco jurídico y regulativo y las políticas públicas, ya que los estudios a nivel nacional 1 sobre la temática han privilegiado los análisis sociológicos y criminológicos enfocándose en los factores individuales que explican el comportamiento delictivo, los análisis estadísticos y comparativos de la criminalidad, los análisis de algunos factores sociales como el pandillerismo y el narcotráfico y su influencia sobre el crimen, y estudios sobre la gestión municipal de la seguridad, observándose una carencia significativa en el análisis de los factores políticos,legales y organizacionales que forman parte del marco institucional de la seguridad ciudadana y de las consecuencias que estos puedan tener ya sea en la mejora del problema de inseguridad o en su agravamiento.

Long-Term Measurement of Piglet Activity Using Passive Infrared Detectors

Measuring animal activity is useful for monitoring animal welfare in real time. In this regard, passive infrared detectors have been used in recent years to quantify piglet activity because of their robustness and ease of use. This study was conducted on a commercial farm in Northwest Spain during six complete breeding cycles. The hourly average activity of weaned piglets with a body mass of 6–20 kg was recorded and further analyzed by using a multiplicative decomposition of the series followed by a wavelet analysis. Finally, the real series were compared to the theoretical models of activity. Results showed a high level of movement immediately after weaning and a sustained level of activity throughout the cycles. The daily behavior of the piglets followed a clear circadian pattern with several peaks of activity. No differences in behavior were observed between spring–summer cycles and autumn–winter cycles. Single-peak models achieved the best predictive results. In addition, the installed sensors were found to underestimate mild activityThis research was funded by Consellería de Educación, Universidade e Formación Profesional and Consellería de Economía, Emprego e Industria da Xunta de Galicia, grant number ED431B 2018/12-GPCS

New Fertilizer Strategies Combining Manure and Urea for Improved Rice Growth in Mozambique

The cost of chemical fertilizers is increasing and becoming unaffordable for smallholders in Africa. The present study aimed to assess the impact of combined fertilization strategies using urea and animal manure (beef cattle manure and poultry litter manure) on rice yield and nutrient uptake. For this, a field experiment was carried out on a loam sandy soil in the Chókwè Irrigation Scheme. We set seven treatments in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD), namely: T0: no fertilizer, T1: 100% urea, T2: 100% beef cattle manure, T3: 100% poultry litter, T4: 50% urea + 50% beef cattle manure, T5: 50% urea + 50% poultry litter and T6: 40% urea + 30% beef cattle manure + 30% poultry litter, replicated four times each. All treatments, except T0, received an amount of nitrogen (N) equivalent to 100 kgN ha1. Results revealed that the highest yield grain (425 g m2), plant height (115 cm), number of tillers (18) and thousand-grain weight (34g) were observed in treatments combining urea with manure (T4, T5 and T6) indicating that N supply in the mixture (urea + manure) is more efficient than in isolated applications of N (T1, T2 and T3). The data obtained in this study suggest that a combination of fertilizers (T6) lead to competitive yields and is thus recommended for best soil management practicesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evolution of NH3 Concentrations in Weaner Pig Buildings Based on Setpoint Temperature

Ammonia (NH3) concentration has seldom been used for environmental control of weaner buildings despite its impact on environment, animal welfare, and workers’ health. This paper aims to determine the effects of setpoint temperature (ST) on the daily evolution of NH3 concentration in the animal-occupied zone. An experimental test was conducted on a conventional farm, with ST between 23 °C and 26 °C. NH3 concentrations in the animal-occupied zone were dependent on ST insofar as ST controlled the operation of the ventilation system, which effectively removed NH3 from the building. The highest NH3 concentrations occurred at night and the lowest concentrations occurred during the daytime. Data were fitted to a sinusoidal model using the least squares setting (LSS) and fast Fourier transform (FFT), which provided R2 values between 0.71 and 0.93. FFT provided a better fit than LSS, with root mean square errors (RMSEs) between 0.09 ppm for an ST of 23 °C and 0.55 ppm for an ST of 25 °C. A decrease in ST caused a delay in the wave and a decrease in wave amplitude. The proposed equations can be used for modeling NH3 concentrations and implemented in conventional controllers for real-time environmental control of livestock buildings to improve animal welfare and productivityThis research was funded by Xunta de Galicia, grant number GPC-ED431B 2018/012S

Consequences of habitat fragmentation on the reproductive success of two Tillandsia species with contrasting life history strategies

Fragmentation of natural habitats generally has negative effects on the reproductive success of many plant species; however, little is known about epiphytic plants. We assessed the impact of forest fragmentation on plant pollinator interactions and female reproductive success in two epiphytic Tillandsia species with contrasting life history strategies (polycarpic and monocarpic) in Chamela, Jalisco, Mexico, over three consecutive years. Hummingbirds were the major pollinators of both species and pollinator visitation rates were similar between habitat conditions. In contrast, the composition and frequency of floral visitors significantly varied between habitat conditions in polycarpic and self-incompatible T. intermedia but not in monocarpic self-compatible T. makoyana. There were no differences between continuous and fragmented habitats in fruit set in either species, but T. makoyana had a lower seed set in fragmented than in continuous forests. In contrast, T. intermedia had similar seed set in both forest conditions. These results indicate that pollinators were effective under both fragmented and continuous habitats, possibly because the major pollinators are hummingbird species capable of moving across open spaces and human-modified habitats. However, the lower seed set of T. makoyana under fragmented conditions suggests that the amount and quality of pollen deposited onto stigmas may differ between habitat conditions. Alternatively, changes in resource availability may also cause reductions in seed production in fragmented habitats. This study adds to the limited information on the effects of habitat fragmentation on the reproductive success of epiphytic plants, showing that even related congeneric species may exhibit different responses to human disturbance. Plant reproductive systems, along with changes in pollinator communities associated with habitat fragmentation, may have yet undocumented consequences on gene flow, levels of inbreeding and progeny quality of dry forest tillandsias.Fil: Sáyago, Roberto. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; México. Universidad Autonoma de Guerrero; MéxicoFil: Quesada, Mauricio. Universidad Autonoma de Guerrero; México. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Aguilar, Ramiro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Ashworth, Lorena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Lopezaraiza-Mikel, Martha. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; México. Universidad Autonoma de Guerrero; MéxicoFil: Martén-Rodríguez, Silvana. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Méxic

Validation of an AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average model for the prediction of animal zone temperature in a weaned piglet building

An AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average model was validated for the prediction of temperatures in the animal zone of conventional weaned piglet barn. The validation period covered seven cycles and recorded values at 10-min intervals for 292 days. Average weight was 5.75 ± 0.86 kg at the beginning of the production cycle and 18.41 ± 2.12 kg at the end of the cycle. Mean outdoor air temperatures ranged 6.14 to 17.85 °C with deviations in the range 2.49 °C to 5.24 °C, which involved marked differences in the operation of the ventilation system. The Mean Average Percentage Error was below 4%, with a mean error of ≤1 °C. The Root Mean Square Error was in the range 0.77 °C to 1.19 °C, whereas the coefficient of determination ranged between 0.52 and 0.81. Despite the changes in environmental conditions and in animal weight and management, the accuracy of the model remained stable with low dispersion of values. The model showed good accuracy and reliability covering all the seasons under changing meteorological conditions because it considered the operation of the heating and ventilation systems and changes in animal weight. The residuals obtained from the validation of the seven production cycles were Gaussian distributed, which confirmed the validity of the model. The generated model can be used for more effective environmental control systems that are capable of anticipating events and show a better response, which helps improve energy savings and animal welfareThe authors are grateful to the regional government Xunta de Galicia for funding this research through the “Programme of consolidation and structuring of competitive research units” (GPC2014/072)S

Energy, Production and Environmental Characteristics of a Conventional Weaned Piglet Farm in North West Spain

Postweaning is one of the most sensitive and energy-demanding phases of swine production. The objective of this research was to assess the energy, production and environmental characteristics of a conventional farm with temperature-based environmental control. The selected energy, environmental and production variables were measured on farm, in a high livestock density area of NW Spain, for seven production cycles. The quantification of variables was aimed at obtaining the maximum performance with the lowest possible use of resources, focusing on animal welfare and production efficiency. The Brown–Forsythe, Welch and Games-Howell tests revealed significant differences in terms of temperature, relative humidity and CO2 concentrations among production cycles, and among the critical, postcritical and final periods. Improved humidity management resulted in a 17% reduction of climate control energy, which involved energy savings in the range of 33% to 47% per kg produced at the end of the postweaning cycle. Accordingly, adding humidity as a control variable could result in higher ventilation rates, thereby improving animal welfare, reducing heating energy use and increasing weight gain per unit climate control energy. In addition, the strong correlations found between heating energy and relative humidity (R2 = 0.73) and ventilation energy and CO2 (R2 = 0.99) suggest that these variables could be readily estimated without additional sensor costsThis research has received funding from European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (2007–2013) under the project Control and automation strategies for energy and production efficiency in weaned farms, included in the research and innovation programme for Galicia, PEME I+D SumaS

Evolution and neural network prediction of CO2 emissions in weaned piglet farms

This paper aims to study the evolution of CO2 concentrations and emissions on a conventional farm with weaned piglets between 6.9 and 17.0 kg live weight based on setpoint temperature, outdoor temperature, and ventilation flow. The experimental trial was conducted during one transition cycle. Generally, the ventilation flow increased with the reduction in setpoint temperature throughout the cycle, which caused a reduction in CO2 concentration and an increase in emissions. The mean CO2 concentration was 3.12 g m–3. Emissions of CO2 had a mean value of 2.21 mg s−1 per animal, which is equivalent to 0.195 mg s−1 kg−1. A potential function was used to describe the interaction between 10 min values of ventilation flow and CO2 concentrations, whereas a linear function was used to describe the interaction between 10 min values of ventilation flow and CO2 emissions, with r values of 0.82 and 0.85, respectively. Using such equations allowed for simple and direct quantification of emissions. Furthermore, two prediction models for CO2 emissions were developed using two neural networks (for 10 min and 60 min predictions), which reached r values of 0.63 and 0.56. These results are limited mainly by the size of the training period, as well as by the differences between the behavior of the series in the training stage and the testing stageThis research was funded by Consellería de Educación, Universidade e Formación Profesional and Consellería de Economía, Emprego e Industria from the Galician Government (Xunta de Galicia). Granted with reference ED431B 2018/12-GPCS

Assessment of nocturnal aerosol optical depth from lunar photometry at the Izaña high mountain observatory

This work involves a first analysis of the systematic errors observed in the AOD retrieved at nighttime using the Sun–sky–lunar CE318-T photometer. In this respect, this paper is a first attempt to correct the AOD uncertainties that currently affect the lunar photometry by means of an empirical regression model. We have detected and corrected an important bias correlated to the Moon's phase and zenith angles, especially at longer wavelength channels.AERONET Sun photometers at Izaña have been calibrated within the AERONET Europe TNA, supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 654109 (ACTRIS-2)

Propuesta de ruta de degradación del BPA durante la reacción del ozono

Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDC) are present in surface water bodies that supply water to the population. One of them is bisphenol A (BPA), which is listed as a carcinogen. This research addresses its degradation through the ozone reaction and presents a likely pathway established by analyzing products and degradation products using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). BPA degradation was carried out under pseudo-first-order conditions, where liquid phase ozone was the limiting reactive, in doses of ≈2.29 × 10-4 M and BPA doses of 1.25 × 10-4, 17.5 × 10-4, and 35.0 × 10-4 M, looking to have molar ratios [BPA]> [O3]; the oxidation reaction was carried out in a stopped-flow system that allows obtaining results in the order of seconds. The degradation pathway obtained shows the rupture of one of the benzene rings, decreasing the phenolic toxicity of the BPA compound. The proposed pathway can contribute to the understanding of the degradation of BPA in the environment and tertiary treatment processes with the use of ozone. Likewise, it is intended to contribute with new data to the issues of drinking water treatment to offer safe water to the population