Analysis of the impact and importance of re-wholesalers in the ornamental market

Sales by ornamental nurseries in the United States have grown, recently, at an impressive rate. For example, sales of the greenhouse and nursery crops component increased about 18% from 2000 to 2006 (USDA, 2007). The evolution of a diverse set of market channel alternatives, including the garden center, landscaper, home center, mass merchandiser and re-wholesaler channels, has been one of the reasons for this growth. Knowledge about growers’ use of the individual marketing channels is indispensable for the development of appropriate sales strategies for better income and profits. Periodic survey data indicates that the re-wholesaler channel is a frequently used alternative, and in recent years, there has been the perception that this is one of the fastest-growing channels in the industry. Utilizing a survey conducted in 2004, this study aims to estimate the impacts of growers’ business characteristics on (i) market channel choice, and on (ii) proportion of producers’ sales through each market channel, by firm size and by region. These objectives are achieved by using the multinomial logit model and the two-limit tobit models. The producer’s choices about marketing channels and the proportion of sales through each of these channels are a function of business characteristics including firm age, categories of plants sold, trade shows attendance, contracts with specific kinds of buyers, and advertising expenditures. The estimated coefficients and marginal effects calculated for each model suggest that producers with a more diversified marketing strategy were associated with higher use of the mass merchandiser and garden center channel. Furthermore, producers selling specific categories of plants chose different marketing channels. Trade shows advertising had a strong positive impact on choice and sales to the re-wholesaler and mass merchandiser channels. The results demonstrate that sales to specific channel are affected by the location of the nurseries. Producers in the West used the re-wholesaler channel more than did producers in the South. Large firms in the Northeast behaved differently than large firms in the South when they used any marketing channel except for re-wholesaler. This study’s results support the thesis that nurseries characteristics affect marketing channel choice and sales addressed toward specific middleman

Estrategia didáctica para la enseñanza de la Formación Cristiana en el tercer nivel del Bachillerato General Unificado de la Unidad Educativa “La Inmaculada”

1. Introducción. --2. Planteamiento de la Propuesta de Trabajo. --3. Marco Teórico. --4. Metodología. --5. Resultados. --6. Conclusiones y Recomendaciones.El presente trabajo de titulación narra la aplicación de una Estrategia Didáctica para la enseñanza de la Formación Cristiana en el tercer nivel de Bachillerato General Unificado de la Unidad Educativa “La Inmaculada” de la ciudad de Ambato. El estado de arte y la construcción teórica permiten dilucidar la importancia y justificación en el contexto educativo, que muestra como imperante necesidad generar entusiasmo a través del conocimiento de la asignatura consolidando bases para un futuro compromiso y respuesta a la sociedad desde la mirada de Dios. La metodología que se usó fue: cuantitativa y cualitativa, de diseño experimental de corte transversal/transeccional por realizarse en un espacio de tiempo determinado entre el primer y segundo parcial del quimestre 1, alcanzando niveles: 1) exploratorio, 2) descriptivo, 3) correlacional (método de Pearson). Se utilizó la metodología cualitativa Grupo de Enfoque con expertos en Teología y Pedagogía, y las técnicas cuantitativas Encuesta a través de un cuestionario validado con el método Cronbach Alpha, y escalas de valoración (promedios de rendimiento de las estudiantes) aplicados antes y después de la intervención con la Estrategia Didáctica. Los resultados evidenciaron la estrecha relación entre la estrategia didáctica y la enseñanza de Formación Cristiana, sin embargo, en la triangulación realizada con la información recogida y al ser una asignatura de contenidos subjetivos se concluye que la estrategia aplicada por sí sola no es suficiente, se recomienda trabajos futuros sobre temas intervinientes para la idónea transmisión del Evangelio de Jesucristo y la formación integral de la persona.Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Dirección de Investigación y PosgradosMagíster en Ciencias de la Educació

The Integration of Solar Generation on a Power System: Operational and Economic Evaluation

In recent years, the accelerated deployment of renewable electricity generation resources, especially wind and photovoltaic (PV) solar, has added challenges to the operation and planning of the power grid. One of the challenges is that the variability of solar and wind power output may increase the variation of the load that must be followed by dispatchable resources and increase the ramping capacity needs. Moreover, the decision about the configuration of a PV solar generation systems has operational and economic implications because peak solar energy production does not always precisely occur when the wholesale electricity prices of the system are highest. Therefore, as the renewable capacity levels grow, it becomes increasingly important to examine the potential impacts on the system cost and portfolio of conventional generating units to respond to the intermittent nature of some renewable generation technologies. Three related analyses explored in this dissertation address some of the challenges of integrating utility-scale PV solar and wind projects into a power system using a case study for Indiana. The first analysis identifies the optimal azimuth and tilt angles of solar PV installations that alternatively maximize the annual electricity generation or the economic value of the resource. The economic implications of the configuration of solar PV installations within Indiana are estimated based on wholesale prices of electricity and simulated solar output for different combinations of angles and types of array installations. The results show that solar projects across the state would need to have azimuth angles within the 177 and 182 degrees range to obtain maximum annual energy and 180 to 190.5 degrees to maximize annual value, independently of their array types. Furthermore, southern and northwestern zones showed the highest impacts from using an optimal angle configuration of the solar installations. Nevertheless, on average, the benefits in annual electricity generated or economic value from their reconfiguration across the state are minor, amounting to less than one percent. The second analysis explores the effects of additional solar and wind power investments on the 2035 requirements for baseload and peaking generation capacity, the amount of energy supplied by various types of generation technologies and the costs of Indiana’s electric supply system. From a capacity planning and unit commitment/dispatch perspective, the results of this analysis indicated that with a portfolio that includes more solar and/or wind power generation, there would be need to add new peaking generation units. However, the total need for additional peaking resources declines as more renewables are added to the generation mix. Because Indiana still heavily relies on coal and other baseload resources to generate electricity, no new baseload capacity is required in the future. Generally, additions of PV solar and wind capacity amplify the variation in load net of renewable generation and create greater needs for ramping services from conventional units. However, results of the analysis show that the existing portfolio of conventional generation resources in Indiana would have sufficient operational flexibility to be able to accommodate ramping requirements even with PV solar and wind capacity penetration levels as high as 30% of total electricity generation. However, at those levels of renewables capacity there are a times during the year when the optimal operational strategy is to curtail solar and wind generation

Deuda agropecuaria en el sistema financiero formal. Situación actual y perspectiva de solución en Honduras

81 P.Velástegui, M., 2003. Deuda agropecuaria en el sistema financiero formal. Situación actual y perspectiva de solución en Honduras. Proyecto Especial del Programa de Ingeniero en Desarrollo Socioeconómico y Ambiente. Zamorano, Honduras. 81p. El sistema financiero privado hondureño ha experimentado en los últimos años un incremento importante de mora en su cartera agropecuaria. Las razones principales de este fenómeno se encuentran en: los efectos del Huracán Mitch de 1998, la disminución de los precios internacionales de las exportaciones agropecuarias, y el aumento de las tasas de interés reales. El Estado hondureño buscando solucionar el problema y reactivar la producción agrícola aprobó los Decretos No.28-2000, 32-2001, 81-2002 y 68-2003, los cuales incluyen medidas de alivio de deuda como tasas de interés subsidiadas y condonación de saldos. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar cualitativamente los mecanismos específicos promulgados en los decretos, así como las percepciones de sus resultados prácticos con base en entrevistas a los principales actores involucrados. La metodología incluye la recopilación de diferentes fuentes, además de las entrevistas seleccionadas de acuerdo al método de muestras no probabilísticas. Los resultados nos presentan la forma operativa de los mecanismos de alivio de deuda, los problemas de su implementación, así como el costo fiscal incurrido. Al mismo tiempo se detalla las percepciones de los diferentes actores sobre la consistencia de los mecanismos de alivio y su probables resultados en el corto y mediano plazo. El trabajo concluye que los decretos han solucionado de manera parcial el problema de sobre endeudamiento debido al contexto general en que fueron aplicados, beneficiando a un sector de productores, al sistema financiero, pero al mismo tiempo elevando el “riesgo moral” que se traduce en una reducción de préstamos en el corto plazo al sector agropecuario

Diversification of fuel costs accounting for load variation

A practical mathematical programming model for the strategic fuel diversification problem is presented. The model is designed to consider the tradeoffs between the expected costs of investments in capacity, operating and maintenance costs, average fuel costs, and the variability of fuel costs. In addition, the model is designed to take the load curve into account at a high degree of resolution, while keeping the computational burden at a practical level. The model is illustrated with a case study for Indiana's power generation system. The model reveals that an effective means of reducing the volatility of the system-level fuel costs is through the reduction of dependence on coal-fired generation with an attendant shift towards nuclear generation. Model results indicate that about a 25% reduction in the standard deviation of the generation costs can be achieved with about a 20–25% increase in average fuel costs. Scenarios that incorporate costs for carbon dioxide emissions or a moratorium on nuclear capacity additions are also presented