Viabilidad de la agricultura familiar con riego informal en montaña

La agricultura irrigada juega un papel fundamental en la viabilización de los sistemas de producción agrícolas. De forma paralela a los esfuerzos del estado por construir distritos de riego, amplios sectores de agricultores han desarrollado sistemas de riego informal, especialmente en la zona andina. Se inicia localizando la agricultura familiar irrigada en las zonas altas de latinoamérica, identificando su basta presencia gracias a herramientas cartográficas; luego se estudia el desarrollo de la agricultura irrigada en 5 países andinos; después se caracteriza el riego informal en Colombia. El segundo capítulo se centra en Fómeque, la zona de estudio, donde se analizan y comparan sistemas de riego formal, semi-formal e informal. Después de caracterizar la zona, se calculan varios indicadores económicos de los sistemas de producción, complementados con indicadores de conflicto en el acceso al agua. Finalmente, basado en indicadores económicos y de consumo de agua, se caracterizan los sistemas de producción y se desarrolla un modelo de regresión lineal múltiple con el fin de explicar los excedentes familiares agrícolas. Se encuentra que si bien el acceso al agua para riego juega un papel crucial en la viabilización de los pequeños sistemas agrícolas familiares andinos, el desempeño económico no puede explicarse por el tipo de sistema de riego del que se abastece cada usuario. Así mismo, para optimizar el funcionamiento de los sistemas de riego, es necesario incluir algunas ventajas de los sistemas formales e informales en la concepción y operación.Irrigated agriculture plays a significant role in making agricultural production systems viable. Several farming groups have developed their own informal irrigation systems, alongside the State’s efforts to build irrigation districts, especially in the Andean zone. This study begins with the localization of irrigated family agriculture in the high lands in Latin America and it is possible to identify its widespread presence thanks to cartographic tools; afterwards, the development of irrigated agriculture in five Andean countries is studied; later, informal irrigation in Colombia is characterized. The second chapter focuses in Fómeque, the study zone, where formal, semi-informal and informal irrigation systems are analyzed and compared. After characterizing the zone, various economic indicators of the production systems are calculated and complemented with indicators of water access conflicts. Finally, based on economic and water consumption indicators, the production systems are characterized and a multiple lineal regression model is developed in order to explain the family agricultural surplus. Irrigated agriculture plays a significant role in making agricultural production systems viable. Several farming groups have developed their own informal irrigation systems, alongside the State’s efforts to build irrigation districts, especially in the Andean zone. This study begins with the localization of irrigated family agriculture in the high lands in Latin America and it is possible to identify its widespread presence thanks to cartographic tools; afterwards, the development of irrigated agriculture in five Andean countries is studied; later, informal irrigation in Colombia is characterized. The second chapter focuses in Fómeque, the study zone, where formal, semi-informal and informal irrigation systems are analyzed and compared. After characterizing the zone, various economic indicators of the production systems are calculated and complemented with indicators of water access conflicts. Finally, based on economic and water consumption indicators, the production systems are characterized and a multiple lineal regression model is developed in order to explain the family agricultural surplus. As a result, it is found that access to water for irrigation is vital in making small Andean family farming systems viable; nevertheless, the economic performance cannot be explained by the type of irrigation system each user is part of. Besides, in order to optimize any irrigation system, it is necessary to include some advantages of the informal and formal irrigation systems on how they were conceived and the way they operate. As a result, it is found that access to water for irrigation is vital in making small Andean family farming systems viable; nevertheless, the economic performance cannot be explained by the type of irrigation system each user is part of. Besides, in order to optimize any irrigation system, it is necessary to include some advantages of the informal and formal irrigation systems on how they were conceived and the way they operate.Doctor en Estudios Ambientales y RuralesDoctorad

Nota editorial

Con este boletín conmemoramos 10 años ininterrumpidos de difusión del conocimiento que se desarrolla al interior de los diversos semilleros de investigación de la Facultad de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales y de contribuciones provenientes de otros contextos. En esta ocasión tenemos el mayor número de contribuciones, doce, que se han publicado en los nú- meros de la primera mitad de año, este mayor numero está asociado a una buena calidad y a un riguroso proceso de selección de las contribuciones que presentan diversas miradas a problemas ambientales de distinto tipo, sus implicaciones, posibles causas y medidas de respuesta

Performance assessment of a kinetically-powered network for herd localization

Developing a herd localization system capable to operate unattended in communication-challenged areas arises from the necessity of improving current systems in terms of cost, autonomy or any other facilities that a certain target group (or overall users) may demand. A network architecture of herd localization is proposed with its corresponding hardware and a methodology to assess performance in different operating conditions. The system is designed taking into account an eventual environmental impact hence most nodes are simple, cheap and kinetically powered from animal movements-neither batteries nor sophisticated processor chips are needed. Other network elements integrating GPS and batteries operate with selectable duty cycles, thus reducing maintenance duties. Equipment has been tested on Scandinavian reindeer in Lapland and its element modeling is integrated into a simulator to analyze such localization network applicability for different use cases. Performance indicators (detection frequency, localization accuracy and delay) are fitted to assess the overall performance; system relative costs are enclosed also for a range of deployments

Temporal task allocation in periodic environments. An approach based on synchronization

In this paper, we study a robot swarm that has to perform task allocation in an environment that features periodic properties. In this environment, tasks appear in different areas following periodic temporal patterns. The swarm has to reallocate its workforce periodically, performing a temporal task allocation that must be synchronized with the environment to be effective. We tackle temporal task allocation using methods and concepts that we borrow from the signal processing literature. In particular, we propose a distributed temporal task allocation algorithm that synchronizes robots of the swarm with the environment and with each other. In this algorithm, robots use only local information and a simple visual communication protocol based on light blinking. Our results show that a robot swarm that uses the proposed temporal task allocation algorithm performs considerably more tasks than a swarm that uses a greedy algorithm

Effects of large-scale PV self-consumption on the aggregated consumption

Self-consumption is modifying the classical structure of the electrical grids worldwide. This energy supply method allows a distributed energy generation and the possibility of involving citizens in the electrical grid. Many countries have defined or are defining rules regarding self-consumption because of the evidence of its unstoppable growth. From the technical point of view, there are numerous associated advantages to the self-consumption, nevertheless it represents a new challenge in the management and design of the electrical grids. In general, the main generation technology for self-consumption is the PV energy. The PV generators are installed in a facility and their generation can be considered as a reduction on the local consumption or even negative consumption. Therefore, high penetration of PV self-consumption will modify the aggregated consumption shape of the electrical grid. The electrical grid should be able to respond to this new shape by adapting generation, controlling consumption or using storage systems. In this paper, we analyze the effects of high penetration of PV self-consumption on the aggregated consumption of the Spanish electrical grid. For this analysis we use historical solar resource data from different cities of Spain and historical data of the aggregated consumption of the country. The results show that PV self-consumption can smooth the aggregated consumption shape, mainly during summer periods. On the other hand, the PV self-consumption can increase the variability of the aggregated consumption shape for high penetration levels

Distributed bees algorithm for task allocation in swarm of robots

In this paper, we propose the distributed bees algorithm (DBA) for task allocation in a swarm of robots. In the proposed scenario, task allocation consists in assigning the robots to the found targets in a 2-D arena. The expected distribution is obtained from the targets' qualities that are represented as scalar values. Decision-making mechanism is distributed and robots autonomously choose their assignments taking into account targets' qualities and distances. We tested the scalability of the proposed DBA algorithm in terms of number of robots and number of targets. For that, the experiments were performed in the simulator for various sets of parameters, including number of robots, number of targets, and targets' utilities. Control parameters inherent to DBA were tuned to test how they affect the final robot distribution. The simulation results show that by increasing the robot swarm size, the distribution error decreased

Los procesos logísticos y su relación con las exportaciones de la SPN 0810.40.00.00 de arándanos hacia Estados Unidos desde el puerto de Salaverry entre el periodo 2015 al 2019

El objetivo del presente trabajo de investigación es determinar cómo influyen los procesos logísticos en las exportaciones de la SPN 0810.40.00.00 de arándanos hacia Estados Unidos desde el puerto de Salaverry entre el periodo 2015 al 2019. Cabe resaltar que una de las principales regiones que realizan exportaciones de arándanos es la región Norte, entre las cuales se encuentran las ciudades de Lambayeque, Ancash y Piura. Por ello, es necesario identificar los principales factores del proceso logístico en que han incurrido para poder llegar a tales cifras a lo largo del tiempo y establecer si es recomendable establecerlos como procesos estándares para cualquier empresa del rubro y se implementen para llegar a ser escalables y sostenibles en el tiempo. Por tanto, es de vital importancia identificar la relación entre las dos variables, para poder determinar si la variable proceso logístico influyen en las exportaciones. Para analizar la relación entre los procesos logísticos y las exportaciones de arándanos, se realizó una investigación cuantitativa, utilizando el cuestionario en escala de Likert y haciendo participes a 30 ejecutivos correspondientes a los rubros de comercio exterior, logística y exportaciones de las empresas exportadoras de arándanos. Además, para el análisis de resultados, se utilizó el programa SPSS, con el objetivo de corroborar las hipótesis planteadas. De esta manera, a partir de los resultados obtenidos del SPSS, se concluyó que los procesos logísticos se relacionan con las exportaciones de arándanos durante el periodo analizado, siendo las dimensiones estudiadas; almacenamiento, infraestructura, embalaje, transporte y manipulación de materiales.The objective of this research is to determine the relationship between the logistic processes and exports of the tariff item 0810400000 blueberries to the United States from the port of Salaverry between 2015 and 2019. It is worth mentioning that one of the main regions that export blueberries is the Northern region, among which are the city of Lambayeque, Ancash and Piura. For that reason, it is necessary to identify the main factors of the logistic process in which they have incurred to be able to arrive at such numbers throughout the time and to establish if it is advisable to establish them as standard processes for any company of the heading and they are implemented to become scalable and sustainable in the time. Therefore, it is of vital importance to identify the relationship between the two variables, in order to determine whether the logistics process variable influences exports. To analyze the relationship between logistic processes and blueberry exports, a quantitative research was carried out, using the Likert scale questionnaire, and involving 30 people corresponding to the areas of foreign trade, logistics, exports, coordinators, managers, and directors of blueberry exporting companies. In addition, the SPSS program was used for the analysis of results, with the objective of corroborating the hypotheses raised. In this way, from the results obtained from SPSS, it was concluded that the logistic processes are related to the blueberries exports during the analyzed period, being the dimensions studied, Storage, Infrastructure, Packaging, Transport and Material Handling.Tesi

Social Odometry: Imitation Based Odometry in Collective Robotics

The improvement of odometry systems in collective robotics remains an important challenge for several applications. Social odometry is an online social dynamics which confers the robots the possibility to learn from the others. Robots neither share any movement constraint nor access to centralized information. Each robot has an estimate of its own location and an associated confidence level that decreases with distance traveled. Social odometry guides a robot to its goal by imitating estimated locations, confidence levels and actual locations of its neighbors. This simple online social form of odometry is shown to produce a self-organized collective pattern which allows a group of robots to both increase the quality of individuals’ estimates and efficiently improve their collective performanc

Artificial Pheromone for Path Selection by a Foraging Swarm of Robots

Foraging robots involved in a search and retrieval task may create paths to navigate faster in their environment. In this context, a swarm of robots that has found several resources and created different paths may benefit strongly from path selection. Path selection enhances the foraging behavior by allowing the swarm to focus on the most profitable resource with the possibility for unused robots to stop participating in the path maintenance and to switch to another task. In order to achieve path selection, we implement virtual ants that lay artificial pheromone inside a network of robots. Virtual ants are local messages transmitted by robots; they travel along chains of robots and deposit artificial pheromone on the robots that are literally forming the chain and indicating the path. The concentration of artificial pheromone on the robots allows them to decide whether they are part of a selected path. We parameterize the mechanism with a mathematical model and provide an experimental validation using a swarm of 20 real robots. We show that our mechanism favors the selection of the closest resource is able to select a new path if a selected resource becomes unavailable and selects a newly detected and better resource when possible. As robots use very simple messages and behaviors, the system would be particularly well suited for swarms of microrobots with minimal abilitie

Volatile-mediated interactions between Trichoderma harzianum and Acanthoscelides obtectus: A novel in vitro methodology to evaluate the impact of microbial volatile compounds on dry grain storage pests

.Biological interactions mediated by Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (BVOCs) is a well-established field that has been researched for decades. Although extensive focus is currently given to the control of insect pests using natural molecules, the study of volatile interactions between microorganisms and insects has been largely neglected and has only begun to attract more attention in recent years. In this work, we developed a novel protocol to assess the effects of microbial BVOCs directly produced by growing microbial strains on dry grain insect pests and the seed damage they cause, using VOC Chambers to evaluate both sealed and unsealed conditions. Four Trichoderma harzianum strains were tested against Acanthoscelides obtectus, a wild type and three of its transformants. These had been previously obtained by introducing the tri5 gene and thus overproducing the volatile trichodiene, or by silencing the erg1 gene, which encodes for a squalene epoxidase, therefore reducing ergosterol levels and increasing squalene ones in the fungus. Results demonstrated that ventilation plays a key role in these interactions. All fungal strains significantly increased adult mortality in sealed conditions, while this effect was barely noticeable in unsealed ones. Nevertheless, subsequent insect emergence from bean seeds and bean damage were still significantly reduced in both conditions. The erg1 silenced strains caused significantly higher levels of adult mortality than the rest in sealed conditions and lower insect emergence in both sealed and unsealed ones. Bean damage produced by insects was lower also when exposed to BVOCs from these strains in sealed conditions. Conversely, trichodiene overproduction did not show enhanced toxicity or significant reduction of insect emergence and bean damage in the tested conditions. Therefore, T. harzianum BVOCs, especially those from erg1 silenced strains, should be further researched for their potential use in the biological control of A. obtectus infestation in dry grain storing facilities. VOC Chambers have shown themselves to be a reliable method in the screening of in vitro volatile mediated interactions between growing microbial strains and insect pests.S