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

Metrics and methods for characterizing dairy farm intensification using farm survey data

Evaluation of the sustainability of intensification requires comprehensive analysis of trends in farm performance across physical and socio-economic aspects, which may diverge across farm types. Typical reporting of economic indicators at sectorial or the average farm level may not represent farm diversity and is potentially insufficient to evaluate and guide the sustainability of intensification. Using farm business data from a total of 7281 farm survey observations of English and Welsh dairy farms over a 14-year period we calculate a time series of 16 key performance indicators (KPIs) pertinent to farm structure and environmental and socio-economic aspects of sustainability. We then apply principle component analysis and model-based clustering analysis to identify statistically distinct dairy farm typologies for each year of study, and link these clusters through time using multidimensional scaling. Between 2001 and 2014, dairy farms have largely consolidated and specialized into two distinct clusters: more extensive farms relying predominantly on grass, with lower milk yields but higher labour intensity and more intensive farms producing more milk per cow with more concentrate and more maize, but lower labour intensity. There is some indication that these clusters are converging as the extensive cluster is intensifying slightly faster than the intensive cluster, in terms of milk yield per cow and use of concentrate feed. In 2014, annual milk yields were 6,835 and 7,500 l/cow for extensive and intensive farm types, respectively, whilst annual concentrate feed use was 1.3 and 1.5 tonnes per cow. For several KPIs such as milk yield the mean trend across all farms differed substantially from the extensive and intensive typologies. The indicators and analysis methodology developed allows identification of distinct farm types and industry trends using readily available survey data. The identified groups allow the accurate evaluation of the consequences of the reduction in dairy farm numbers and intensification at national and international scales

The application of Bayesian change point detection in UAV fuel systems

AbstractA significant amount of research has been undertaken in statistics to develop and implement various change point detection techniques for different industrial applications. One of the successful change point detection techniques is Bayesian approach because of its strength to cope with uncertainties in the recorded data. The Bayesian Change Point (BCP) detection technique has the ability to overcome the uncertainty in estimating the number and location of change point due to its probabilistic theory. In this paper we implement the BCP detection technique to a laboratory based fuel rig system to detect the change in the pre-valve pressure signal due to a failure in the valve. The laboratory test-bed represents a Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) fuel system and its associated electrical power supply, control system and sensing capabilities. It is specifically designed in order to replicate a number of component degradation faults with high accuracy and repeatability so that it can produce benchmark datasets to demonstrate and assess the efficiency of the BCP algorithm. Simulation shows satisfactory results of implementing the proposed BCP approach. However, the computational complexity, and the high sensitivity due to the prior distribution on the number and location of the change points are the main disadvantages of the BCP approac

Latina/o Adolescents\u27 Funds of Knowledge Related to Engineering

Background: According to a growing body of research, many Latinas/os experience dissonance between their everyday cultural practices and the cultural practices prevalent in engineering. This dissonance contributes to many Latinas/os\u27 sense that engineering is “not for me.” Purpose: This study sought to explore the meaning in the relationship between engineering cultural practices and the funds of knowledge found in Latina/o adolescents\u27 familial, community, and recreational settings. Design/Method: This ethnographic study followed seven groups of Latina/o adolescents as they identified problems in their communities and solved them through engineering design processes. Using a modified form of constant comparative analysis, we analyzed three data sources: individual interviews, observations of group meetings, and concurrent or retrospective protocols. We developed a coding scheme that categorized the participants\u27 funds of knowledge as they related to engineering. Results: The participants\u27 everyday skills and bodies of knowledge aligned with engineering practices. Specifically, their familial, community, and recreational funds of knowledge mapped onto the application of engineering design processes, systems thinking, ethical and empathetic reasoning, knowledge of production and processing, use of communication and construction tools, scientific and mathematical knowledge, and teamwork. Conclusions: Engineering instruction for Latina/o adolescents can be reconceptualized as a third space of learning and knowing where adolescents\u27 everyday familial, community, and recreational practices are actively solicited and connected with the cultural practices of engineering

Funds of Knowledge and Literacies in Latino/a Youths\u27 Community-Based Engineering Design Work

STEM fields in the US continue to be dominated by people whose cultural backgrounds are White, English-speaking, and middle class (National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council, 2009). Many reasons have been offered to explain this phenomenon: Students’ backgrounds may include worldviews, beliefs, and communicative practices that do not cohere with those practiced in STEM classrooms (Aikenhead & Jegede, 1999; Lee, 1999); instructional materials may present STEM fields as a-cultural, decontextualized practices with no evident connection to students’ lives and communities, such as the routine completion of numerical exercises (O’Halloran, 2005); students’ identities—shaped in part by their desired life trajectories, their personal histories, and the social groups by which they want to be accepted—may contrast with identities as STEM experts (Aschbacher, Li, & Roth, 2010); scientific and mathematical discourse, difficult for many adolescents to comprehend and use, may be especially challenging for those who are learning English (Fang, 2005); and societal inequities and prejudices may actively work to drive people of color and women out of STEM fields (Johnson, Brown, Carlone, & Cuevas, 2011). To address some of these challenges, the National Research Council (2011) has argued that STEM instruction “needs to connect with students’ own interests and experiences” (p. 2-4). While a growing body of research has begun to address how teachers might draw from adolescents’ diverse cultural resources, linguistic resources, and community concerns in science (Barton, Tan, & Rivet, 2008; Moje, Collazo, Carrillo, & Marx, 2001) and mathematics (Civil, 2002; Martin, 2006), very little research has been conducted on how the same task might be accomplished with adolescent English learners in the field of engineering. This study was therefore based on a theoretical model that embeds engineering design within social, cultural, and linguistic activity, seeking to understand how adolescent English learners draw from various linguistic, representational, and social resources as they work toward solving community-based engineering design challenges. Ultimately, we hope that obtaining information in these domains will enable engineering education to be more responsive to the cultural and linguistic needs of diverse learners

Editorial

El numero 11 de la revista Perspectivas se caracteriza por un abordaje transdisciplinario en la sección de perspectivas desde las ciencias sociales y humanas en donde los autores y las autoras asumen una proximidad en sus escritos con los grupos estudiados. En la sección perspectivas desde las ciencias políticas el abordaje es interdisciplinario en la medida en que se ponen en dialogo distintas disciplinas sobre el eje de las ciencias políticas, tales como la economía, la sociología y las ciencias ambientales respectivamente. En la sección perspectivas desde el psicoanálisis el abordaje es disciplinario en dialogo con momentos epocales que permiten la reflexión en la contemporaneidad

PRODUCTIVIDAD DE LOS GRUPOS DE INVESTIGACIÓN ENFOQUE DE COLCIENCIAS VERSUS EL ANÁLISIS ENVOLVENTE DE DATOS

Este articulo analiza y compara la metodología propuesta por Colciencias para medir la productividad de grupos de investigación, la cual utiliza pesos evaluativos dados por expertos y el enfoque tras el modelo DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) que utiliza pesos evaluativos óptimos, obtenidos tras la solución a un modelo fraccional de programación lineal. Como resultado se derivó un método alternativo para calcular e intervenir positivamente en la productividad de los grupos de investigación de la universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, en el periodo 2006-2007, cuantificando las eficiencias e ineficiencias de cada grupo, al mismo tiempo que se trazaron lineamientos para mejorarles su eficiencia

SISTEMA INTELIGENTE DE DIAGNÓSTICO MÉDICO DE INFECCIONES RESPIRATORIAS AGUDAS DE NIÑOS MENORES DE 5 AÑOS

El desarrollo del Sistema inteligente de diagnóstico médico de infecciones respiratorias agudas (IRA)  de niños menores de 5 años, es un trabajo de investigación que integra a las ciencias medicas y la informática, por lo tanto podrá ser usado por médicos y personal ligado en este campo, con la finalidad de  mejorar y apoyar a la toma de decisiones medicas correctas y efectivas en la prescripción de esta enfermedad, además lograr disminuir la automedicación de los pobladores en el campo de estudio, con un diagnóstico rápido y accesible. Este trabajo es una aplicación dentro del campo de la Inteligencia Artificial, específicamente en el área de Sistemas Inteligentes con Redes Neuronales. Con la finalidad de seguir estándares establecidos para el desarrollo se utilizó la metodología de Jhon Durkin  y Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 y SQL Server 2005 para el desarrollo del Framework de Redes Neuronales, interfaces de usuario, manipulación de la información necesaria para el entrenamiento de la red neuronal y funcionamiento para el diagnóstico

La producciòn académica como uno de los indicadores del desempeño de las universidades públicas colombianas desde la perspectiva del análisis envolvente de datos

Este articulo compara los resultados obtenidos por un modelo propuesto por la Subcomisión Técnica del Sistema de Universidades Estatales basado en la técnica multivariada “Análisis de Componentes Principales”, combinada con Regresión Lineal, y que fue usado para medir el desempeño en investigación y formación en las universidades publicas Colombianas versus la perspectiva resultante de aplicar a éste mismo problema la técnica del Análisis Envolvente de Datos-DEA. La compresión obtenida mediante la comparación de los dos modelos nos lleva a considerar como mas adecuado el enfoque DEA para valorar las eficiencias de la universidades con respecto al factor de producción