Sistema tecnológico para alinear en tiempo real los buques en su paso por las esclusas del Canal de Panamá

Visita Técnica InternacionalLas esclusas del Canal de Panamá hacen parte de la infraestructura crítica del mundo, ya que por ellas transita gran porcentaje de la mercancía que soporta la economía de la mayoría de países con una balanza comercial activa y su objetivo es la mejora continua de todo lo que les permita crecer y convertirse en líder de servicios marítimos. Una visita técnica y guiada por los ingenieros, a cargo de las instalaciones del Canal, permitió observar el proceso actual utilizado con las grandes embarcaciones al momento de requerir el paso inter-oceánico; la visita no solo permitió evidenciar los procedimientos de manejo de los buques e infraestructura que soporta las instalaciones y los sistemas que son necesarios para mantener el control y orden, también permitió justificar el interrogante planteado antes de realizar el viaje, ¿Por qué han ocurrido incidentes de choques con buques de grandes dimensiones? ¿No hay suficientes herramientas para evitar estos incidentes? ¿Cómo se realiza el procedimiento de alineación en el ingreso y como se mantiene durante su recorrido? La observación y las respuestas proporcionadas permitieron desarrollar el trabajo a continuación, el cual describe a profundidad la propuesta de un sistema de apoyo en el proceso de alineación para disminuir los incidentes ocurridos.1. GLOSARIO 2. RESUMEN 3. INTRODUCCIÓN 4. GENERALIDADES 5. LÍNEA DE INVESTIGACIÓN 6. DELIMITACIÓN - ALCANCE 7. PLANTEAMIENTO DEL PROBLEMA 8. JUSTIFICACIÓN 9. OBJETIVOS 10. MARCOS DE REFERENCIA 11. ESTADO DEL ARTE 12. METODOLOGÍA 13. DESARROLLO DE LA PROPUESTA 14. PRESUPUESTO 15. PRODUCTOS A ENTREGAR 16. CONCLUSIONES 17. RECOMENDACIONES 18. APORTES 19. TRABAJOS FUTUROS 20. ANEXOS 21. BIBLIOGRAFÍAPregradoIngeniero de Sistema

Revisiting the Technological and Non-Technological Challenges to Municipal E-Government in Spain

In the past decade, society and technology have made remarkable progress in the realm of the digital economy. Public administrations, in their double role as part and servant of society, must keep up with this progress, but this development does not happen without its difficulties. This paper aims to explore whether the transformation of local e-government environment has made a significant impact in the way municipalities face their challenges when implementing an e-government strategy. To do so, a longitudinal research was conducted to explore any changes within the perceived value of challenges to municipal e-government initiatives over the past 8 years by local Chief Information Officers in Spain. This theoretical and empirical research contributes to the ongoing discussion on the varying role of technology as an explicit hindrance and as base for other challenges, and the impact of other non ICT-driven challenges for e-government. It also proposes a set of managerial implications to help overcoming said challenges based on the knowledge of local government experts in a contingent manner. The paper’s results establish the significant and persistent effect of political interference in local e-government success in Spain, asserting that they are mostly non ICT-driven challenges that are viewed as significantly bigger obstacles today

Are Spanish Local Governments Preparing for Digital Era Governance? A Stakeholders´ Perspective

According to the principles of the Digital Era Governance (DEG) current, establishing a network of relationships with public sector stakeholders (i.e. public employees, public managers and users of public services) will aid in producing the necessary changes to overcome conflictive values, rules, behaviors and frameworks in public service provision. The management of this network is thus essential for the performance of public service provision processes, since the diversity of values, needs, attitudes and competence levels of said stakeholders will affect the outcome of e-government strategies. In this paper, we want to know which municipalities are perceived to have developed better e-government relationships with their stakeholders than others, by comparing the level of interaction. Also, we question if the level of success in the development of these relationships is reflected in common practices that may relate to good practices revealed by the literature. By means of fuzzy ordering techniques applied to a sample of Spanish municipalities, and the definition of an ideal provided by experts, our results show that those municipalities that take care about relations and interactions with their stakeholders are successful e-government-wise, while not-so-successful ones have to improve some practices to provide a better public service

E-Government Implementation, Work Process Changes and Competency Training in Spanish Town Councils

This paper aims to empirically explore whether changes in technological infrastructures and working processes have been perceived by local public employees, and if training programs have been used as a way to introduce these changes in a strategic manner. The analysis of the differences in the situation between 2005 and 2014 reveals an increased investment in technology and a decreased investment in training, and that public employees have not perceived a significant improvement in the way they work and in their efficiency levels. These findings emphasize the importance of competence-based management for the effective provision of public services. Purpose – This paper has as its aim to empirically explore whether changes in technological infrastructures and working processes have been perceived by local public employees, and if training programs have been used as a way to introduce these changes in a strategic manner. Design/Methodology/Approach – A longitudinal analysis was carried for this purpose asking about the presence of training actions addressed to the employees of Spanish public administrations and about the perception that ICT area managers have in regards to the effects caused by the introduction of e-government strategies. Findings – The results obtained show that town councils have increased their investment in technical aspects of e-government, but not in the development of competences to use the technology. In addition, the fact that public employees have not perceived a significant improvement in the way they work and in their efficiency levels leads to the conclusion that a decreased investment in competency training is not conducive to a greater sense of efficiency in the provision of public services. Research limitations/implications – The limitations of this paper lie on the lack of consideration of certain parameters which might influence strategic e-government implementation; plus incurring in single-bias response and considering only one case (Spain) in the research. The statistical analysis is merely descriptive, although it provides the researchers with clear results. Practical implications – Public managers and policy makers should reflect on the long-term effects of their e-government decisions or ‒ alternatively ‒ the absence of such effects. Shortterm ‘patches’ are only useful to meet a specific need during a certain period, whereas change management requires a more far-reaching, long-term look which can overcome the budgetary limits and the traditional bureaucratic barriers. Originality/Value – This paper presents the results of a longitudinal analysis carried out over nine years that explores first-hand opinions of e-government professionals, linking competency-base management and e-government success

LTCC microflow analyzers with monolithic integration of thersmal control

Recently, the low temperature co-fired ceramics technology has shown to be an excellent alternative to silicon-based microfabrication techniques for the production of three-dimensional structures using a multi-layer approach. This enables the integration of several unitary operations of a classical analytical process and also the integration of sensors, actuators and electronics in the same substrate. In this work, we show the integration of the actuators and the sensors needed for the control of temperature inside a miniaturized fluidic device. The proposed device presents enough thermal accuracy to be used in chemical systems where temperature control is a crucial factor, such as enzyme reactions or polymerase chain reaction systems.The authors would like to thank the Spanish MEC for its financial support through: Consolider-Ingenio 2010 (CSD2006-00012), TEC2006-13907-C04-04/MIC and CIT-310200-2007-29. CSM is also thankful to the Alban Program (High-level grants from the European Union to Latin America for its financial support (Grant number: E05D053315MX)

Ephippial and subitaneous egg abortion: relevance for an obligate parthenogenetic Daphnia population

We experimentally analysed the importance of egg abortion in the reproduction strategies of Daphnia pulicaria (Forbes) in Lake Río Seco, a high mountain lake. Adult animals were exposed to different treatments under continuous or dynamic conditions (temperature and photoperiod) to test whether the simulation of field conditions, with changing temperature and photoperiod, induces differences in their reproductive traits in comparison to continuous conditions, with the aim of extrapolating results to the lake. Continuous conditions were the photoperiod and temperature values recorded in the lake at the time when ephippial reproduction is induced. Dynamic conditions were the changing values in the field from the continuous conditions until autumn. The number of healthy ephippial eggs per ephippium was also recorded by using sediment traps in the lake. Our results show that subitaneous and ephippial egg abortion has a major influence on an obligate parthenogenetic Daphnia population in both the laboratory and field. The total number of healthy ephippial eggs per ephippium (mean ± SE; 0.52 ± 0.12) and the proportion of released empty ephippia obtained in the sediment traps (0.73 ± 0.05) were similar to those experimentally obtained under dynamic conditions (healthy eggs per ephippium: 0.29 ± 0.16; proportion of released empty ephippia: 0.79 ± 0.11), suggesting that ephippial egg abortion and empty ephippia production are frequent in nature. This is the first study to describe Daphnia ephippial egg abortion and compare subitaneous and ephippial egg abortion between experimental and field conditions. This approach is recommended for future research into Daphnia or cladoceran reproduction.Financial support was obtained from CICYT Project CGL2004-03031/BOS and MMA Projects 129B/2003 and 87/2007

Marketing social corporativo en el sector hostelero: una revisión sistemática

Objectives: To determine the incidence of different aspects about corporate social marketing in the hostelry sector. Methods: The research was realized with a qualitative methodology of previous research’s systematic review. Results: The hostelry industry’s peculiarities have been extensively investigated on corporate social responsibility terms; but its potential use as a competitive advantage and the possible action typologies structured by many authors in corporate social marketing form are newer and developed in lesser degree. The main results show that activities are focused largely on the business practices’ area socially responsible and on which are linked to environmental aspects, with a broad spectrum of additional activities to realize. Conclusions: Companies in the hostelry industry have the opportunity and the challenge to use their activities of corporate social responsibility as a competitive advantage. For this reason, it will certainly be necessary to deepened through empirical research in the use and the corporate social marketing policies’ results in the hostelry sector in the future.Objetivos: Determinar la incidencia de las diferentes vertientes del marketing social corporativo en el sector hostelero. Métodos: Investigación realizada con una metodología cualitativa de revisión sistemática de las investigaciones previas. Resultados: Las peculiaridades del sector hostelero han sido ampliamente investigadas en términos de responsabilidad social empresarial; pero su potencial utilización como ventaja competitiva y las tipologías posibles de actuación estructuradas por varios autores en forma de marketing social corporativo son más recientes y desarrolladas en menor grado. Los principales resultados muestran que las actividades se centran en gran parte en el área de las prácticas empresariales socialmente responsables y en aquellas vinculadas a aspectos medioambientales, con un amplio espectro de actividades adicionales a realizar. Conclusiones: Las empresas del sector hostelero tienen la oportunidad y el desafío de utilizar sus actividades de responsabilidad social empresarial como una ventaja competitiva. Por esta razón, sin duda será necesario profundizar mediante investigaciones empíricas en el uso y los resultados de las políticas de marketing social corporativo en el sector hostelero en el futuro

Compact and autonomous multiwavelength microanalyzer for in-line and in-situ colorimetric determinations

Nowadays, the attainment of microsystems that integrate most of the stages involved in an analytical process has raised an enormous interest in several research fields. This approach provides experimental set-ups of increased robustness and reliability, which simplify their application to in-line and continuous biomedical and environmental monitoring. In this work, a novel, compact and autonomous 10 microanalyzer aimed at multiwavelength colorimetric determinations is presented. It integrates the microfluidics (a three-dimensional mixer and a 25 mm length "Z-shape" optical flow-cell), a highly versatile multiwavelength optical detection system and the associated electronics for signal processing and drive, all in the same device. The flexibility provided by its design allows the microanalyzer to be operated 15 either in single fixed mode to provide a dedicated photometer or in multiple wavelength mode to obtain discrete pseudospectra. To increase its reliability, automate its operation and allow it to work under unattended conditions, a multicommutation sub-system was developed and integrated to the experimentalset-up. The device was initially evaluated in the absence of chemical reactions using four acidochromic dyes and later applied to determine some key environmental parameters such as phenol index, chromium 20 (VI) and nitrite ions. Results were comparable with those obtained with commercial instrumentation and allowed to demonstrate the versatility of the proposed microanalyzer as an autonomous and portable device able to be applied to other analytical methodologies based on colorimetric determinations.The authors would like to acknowledge the Spanish, Brazilian and Mexican authorities and agencies for its financial support through projects CTQ2009-12128, CONSOLIDER INGENIO2010-CSD2006-12, PHB2010-0064-PC (MEC-50 CAPES) and P509AC0376 (CYTED). Z.M da Rocha would like to acknowledge FAPESP (Project 2009/08486-4) for their financial support

A monolithic continuous-flow microanalyzer with amperometric detection based on the green tape technology

The development of micro total analysis systems (muTAS) has become a growing research field. Devices that include not only the fluidics and the detection system but also the associated electronics are reported scarcely in the literature because of the complexity and the cost involved for their monolithic integration. Frequently, dedicated devices aimed at solving specific analytical problems are needed. In these cases, low-volume production processes are a better alternative to mass production technologies such as silicon and glass. In this work, the design, fabrication, and evaluation of a continuous-flow amperometric microanalyzer based on the green tape technology is presented. The device includes the microfluidics, a complete amperometric detection system, and the associated electronics. The operational lifetime of the working electrode constitutes a major weak point in electrochemical detection systems, especially when it is integrated in monolithic analytical devices. To increase the overall system reliability and its versatility, it was integrated following an exchangeable configuration. Using this approach, working electrodes can be readily exchanged, according to the analyte to be determined or when their surfaces become passivated or poisoned. Furthermore, the electronics of the system allow applying different voltamperometric techniques and provide four operational working ranges (125, 12.5, 1.25, and 0.375 muA) to do precise determinations at different levels of current intensity.The authors would like to thank the Spanish MEC for its financial support through: Consolider-Ingenio 2010 (CSD2006-00012), TEC2006-13907-C04-04/MIC and CIT- 310200-2007-29