Determining the Feasibility of Yellow Corn Production in Mexico

Mexico produces large quantities of white corn for human consumption. Yellow corn production, mostly used for feed, has increased lately. Driving factors include higher domestic demand (growing livestock industry) and greater international demand (ethanol industry). This study uses enterprise budgeting to determine the feasibility of producing yellow corn in Mexico.Yellow corn, White corn, Mexico, Production Economics,

Nonequlibrium particle and energy currents in quantum chains connected to mesoscopic Fermi reservoirs

We propose a model of nonequilibrium quantum transport of particles and energy in a system connected to mesoscopic Fermi reservoirs (meso-reservoir). The meso-reservoirs are in turn thermalized to prescribed temperatures and chemical potentials by a simple dissipative mechanism described by the Lindblad equation. As an example, we study transport in monoatomic and diatomic chains of non-interacting spinless fermions. We show numerically the breakdown of the Onsager reciprocity relation due to the dissipative terms of the model.Comment: 5pages, 4 figure

Moving forward faster : trade facilitation reform and Mexican competitiveness

Improved competitiveness is at the top of the agenda for Mexico as it moves to leverage economic progress made over the past decade. The authors evaluate the impact of changes in trade facilitation measures on trade for main industrial sectors in Mexico. They use four indicators of trade facilitation: port efficiency, customs environment, regulatory environment, and e-commerce use by business (as a proxy for service sector infrastructure). The authors use gravity model results to consider how much trade among countries might be increased under various scenarios of improved trade facilitation. They follow a simulation strategy that uses a formula to design a unique program of reform for each country in the sample, and apply it to the case of Mexico. The formula brings the below-average countries in the group half-way to the average for the entire set of countries. After simulating these improvements in trade facilitation in all four areas, the authors find that the total increase in trade flow in manufacturing goods is estimated to be $348.2 billion (about 7.4 percent of total world trade). The analysis indicates that Mexico has a large scope for trade promotion from trade facilitation reform: overall increments from domestic reforms are expected to be on the order of$31.8 billion, equivalent to 22.4 percent of total Mexican manufacturing exports for 2000-03. On the imports side, these figures are $17.1 billion and 11.2 percent, respectively. In total exports as well as in textiles, increases in exports result from improvements in port efficiency and the regulatory environment (that is, the perception of corruption). In turn, exports of transport equipment are expected to get a greater increment from improvements in port efficiency, whereas exports of food and machinery seem to be more related to improvements in the regulatory environment. On the imports side, Mexican improvements in port efficiency appear to be the most important factor, although for imports of transport equipment improvements in service sector infrastructure are also of relative importance.Free Trade,Trade Policy,Economic Theory&Research,Common Carriers Industry,Transport and Trade Logistics

Distribution of the least-squares estimators of a single Brownian trajectory diffusion coefficient

In this paper we study the distribution function $P(u_{\alpha})$ of the estimators $u_{\alpha} \sim T^{-1} \int^T_0 \, \omega(t) \, {\bf B}^2_{t} \, dt$, which optimise the least-squares fitting of the diffusion coefficient $D_f$ of a single $d$-dimensional Brownian trajectory ${\bf B}_{t}$. We pursue here the optimisation further by considering a family of weight functions of the form $\omega(t) = (t_0 + t)^{-\alpha}$, where $t_0$ is a time lag and $\alpha$ is an arbitrary real number, and seeking such values of $\alpha$ for which the estimators most efficiently filter out the fluctuations. We calculate $P(u_{\alpha})$ exactly for arbitrary $\alpha$ and arbitrary spatial dimension $d$, and show that only for $\alpha = 2$ the distribution $P(u_{\alpha})$ converges, as $\epsilon = t_0/T \to 0$, to the Dirac delta-function centered at the ensemble average value of the estimator. This allows us to conclude that only the estimators with $\alpha = 2$ possess an ergodic property, so that the ensemble averaged diffusion coefficient can be obtained with any necessary precision from a single trajectory data, but at the expense of a progressively higher experimental resolution. For any $\alpha \neq 2$ the distribution attains, as $\epsilon \to 0$, a certain limiting form with a finite variance, which signifies that such estimators are not ergodic.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figure

Accelerated modernity

This paper aims to show how current undergraduate students use social media in their daily lives, taking the first ten minutes of the day as a concentrated insight into their priorities of practice. The work draws on primary data from four focus groups of UK business students in higher education. Through the application of Rosa’s construct of social acceleration, initial findings indicate a hierarchy of priorities, shaped by economic, cultural and structural drivers in what social media is engaged with, in what sequence, and for what purpose. These choices reflect acceleration in the changes to the technology, the pace of social changes and the accelerated expectations of the pace of life. This article seeks to reimagine transmedia in the context of social media identity in an accelerated modernity. Here we have the intersection of three important rapidly changing constructs for the analysis of the use of media. These are the widespread, ubiquitous use of social media, the acceleration of late modernity and the impact of transmedia practice on how users engage with media

Plio-Pleistocene time-averaged field in southern Patagonia recorded in lava flows

Paleomagnetic directions were obtained from stepwise alternating-field or thermal demagnetization of 53 lava flows from southern Patagonia (latitudes 49.5°-52.1 °S) that include the Pali-Aike volcanic field and the Meseta Viscachas plateau lavas. In addition to previous Miocene-late Quaternary ages of these flows, 40Ar/39Ar dates spanning from 0.1 to 15.4 Ma were obtained for 17 of the sites. All except one of the magnetic polarities coincide with the expected polarities of the magnetic polarity timescale [Cande and Kent, 1995] for the obtained 40Ar/39Ar ages. The mean direction from 33 sites (eliminating sites <4 Ma) that pass a selection criteria of α95 ≤5° is Dec = 358.7°,Inc = - 68.2°, α95 = 3.5°, a value that coincides within the statistical uncertainty with the direction of the geocentric axial dipole for that area (Inc = - 68.1°). Likewise, the mean virtual geomagnetic pole (VGP) coincides within the statistical uncertainty with the geographic North Pole. The secular variation described by the VGP angular standard deviation for these sites is 17.1°, a value expected for that latitude according to Model G of paleosecular variation [McFadden et al., 1988]. The characteristics of the data presented are optimum for time-averaged field (TAF) studies because of the good age control and good quality of the paleomagnetic data: (1) primary components of magnetization were obtained using principal component analysis [Kirschvink, 1980] from at least five points and maximum angular deviation ≤5°, (2) site means were calculated with Fisher statistics using at least three samples, and (c) 38 of the 53 flows had α95 ≤ 5°. No results (five sites) or high α95 values (≤5°) were obtained primarily from sites affected by lightning.Fil: Mejia, V.. University of Florida; Estados UnidosFil: Opdyke, N. D.. University of Florida; Estados UnidosFil: Vilas, Juan Francisco A.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Geología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geociencias Básicas, Aplicadas y Ambientales de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Singer, B. S.. University of Wisconsin; Estados UnidosFil: Stoner, J. S.. State University of Colorado at Boulder; Estados Unido