1,495 research outputs found
EQUITY SCHEMES IN SOUTH AFRICA: BENEFITS DELIVERED TO FARM WORKERS AS FUNCTION OF COMMERCIAL FARMERS' STRATEGY
With the end of Apartheid, the South African Government created and corrected agricultural factor and product market failures in its attempt to improve the distribution of wealth and incorporate previously disadvantaged farmers into the mainstream of agricultural activities. Some commercial farmers responded strategically to the new equity-based policies on factor and product markets by initiating equity-schemes with farm workers in order to maintain/increase their profits given the new local economic and political environment and global competition. Hence, most equity-schemes are organized according to the commercial farmers' capacities. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the organizational structure of the equity-schemes as a function of the commercial farmers strategy (production vs. marketing). This study is based on interviews of emerging farmers, former and present farm workers, commercial farmers, non-Governmental Organizations and Governmental agencies. The results show that equity-schemes tend to benefit commercial farmers but the degree to which farm workers' gain access to factor and product markets depends on commercial farmers' strategy. Then, the paper assesses alternative organizational structures of equity-schemes to maximize the benefits delivered to farm workers. Finally, utilizing the Peterson-Wysocki-Harsh Model, the issues of why the Government policies have not accomplished its objectives are discussed and recommendations to broaden the implementation of equity-schemes are suggested.Farm Management, Labor and Human Capital,
La invenciĂłn del mito de Diego Portales: La muerte y el rito fĂşnebre en la tradiciĂłn republicana chilena
Diego Portales has become a true legend of Chilean political history, a controversial figure who has prompted very differentki nds of interpretation. The aim of this article is to analyze the origin of his political myth. We will study the final phase of the minister's political activities in 1837 from the perspective of Machiavelli's The Prince. By means of the Florentine philosopher's modern political theory, we may explain the circumstances which surrounded the death of Portales. A look at Portales's funeral reveals that it responded to a need to create a republican tradition at the time of the birth of the Hispano-American nations
Las Medicationis Parabolae del Maestro Arnau de Vilanova : consideraciones en torno a la elaboraciĂłn de su texto crĂtico
De entre la abundante producción médica del catalán del Medioevo
Arnau de Vilanova, ninguna obra original lograrĂa una difusiĂłn tan
amplia y sostenida como aquella colecciĂłn de aforismos que suele
conocerse por el tĂtulo de Medicationis parabolae (1). Verdad es que -a
juzgar por el nĂşmero y la antigĂĽedad de los manuscritos que se
conservan- más profusa fue aún la difusión inmediata del Regimen
sanitatis ad regem Aragonum; obra que se vio, además, prontamente
acogida por la imprenta, a través de varias ediciones incunables, cosa
que no ocurre con las «Parábolas». Pero -fuera de las colecciones de
Opera Arnaldi- el «Régimen» mencionado pronto dejó de editarse,
oscurecido por el «salernitano» (2). En cambio, el texto de Medicationis
parabolae, que tambiĂ©n habĂa gozado de una considerable -aunque no
tan alta- difusiĂłn manuscrita, ya que no fuera impreso antes del
comienzo del siglo XVI, sĂ que conocerĂa numerosas ediciones a lo largo
de esta centuria: entre los años 1502 y 1586 (3). Será también el único libro genuino de Arnau de Vilanova que haya merecido los honores de
comentarios renacentistas -el de las ediciones generales (1 504 y
sucesivas), el de Chanca (1 514) y el de Pictorius (1565)- y de traducciones
hechas en nuestros dĂas (4), lo que denota el mantenido interĂ©s
por este texto
«Must be Chilote»: transnational migrant life in the Patagonian territories of Chile and Argentina
Este artĂculo presenta avances de investigaciĂłn etnográfica considerando hitos histĂłricos en la migraciĂłn transnacional de chilotes desde los años
cincuenta hasta los ensamblajes actuales en lugares de la Patagonia chilena y argentina. En particular, se analizan etapas de movilidad vinculadas al auge
econĂłmico en territorios australes, destacando sectores de inserciĂłn laboral en ambos lados de la frontera. Los resultados preliminares muestran las conexiones culturales reservadas a lugares de origen y residencia a travĂ©s de la formaciĂłn de comunidades, circulaciĂłn de mercancĂas, extensiĂłn de significados y nuevas trayectorias migratorias interregionales. La plataforma metodolĂłgica
corresponde a etnografĂas en movimiento derivadas de acercamientos circunstanciales en diferentes localidades de ChiloĂ© y la Patagonia, entre diciembre de 2015 y mayo de 2017. Las reflexiones en este trabajo hacen un aporte a los estudios sobre movilidades humanas en el sur de Chile analizadas desde perspectivas multilocales, que permiten localizar continuidades culturales en la
migraciĂłn vividaThis article presents new ethnographical information on milestones in the history of the transnational migration of Chilotes (inhabitants of Chiloe
Island, southern Chile), from the 1950s up to the assemblages existing today in different parts of Chilean and Argentinean Patagonia. In particular, we analyse stages in the development of mobility linked to the economic boom in these southern territories, highlighting sectors in which jobs were created on both sides of the border. The preliminary results show how cultural connections are retained with places of origin and residence through the formation of communities, the circulation of goods, the extension of symbolic meanings and
new inter-regional migratory trajectories. The methodology used was that of ethnographies in movement derived from circumstantial approaches in different locations in Chiloe and Patagonia between December 2015 and May 2017. The reflections in this work are a contribution to studies on human mobility in southern Chile from multi-local perspectives that allow cultural continuities to be identified in the experience of migratio
Adaptive Function Segmentation Methodology for Resources Optimization of Hardware-Based Function Evaluators
This thesis presents a new adaptive function segmentation methodology (AFSM), for the evaluation of mathematical functions through piecewise polynomial approximation (PPA) methods. This methodology is planned to be employed for the development of an efficient hardware-based channel emulator in future development steps of the current project. In contrast to state-of-art segmentation methodologies, which applicability is limited because these are highly dependent on the function shape and require significant intervention from the user to setup appropriately the algorithm, the proposed segmentation methodology is flexible and applicable to any continuous function within an evaluation interval. Through the analysis of the first and second order derivatives, the methodology becomes aware of the function shape and adapts the algorithm behavior accordingly. The proposed segmentation methodology aims towards hardware architectures of limited resources that resort to fixed-point numeric representation where hardware designer should make a compromise between resources consumption and output accuracy. An optimization algorithm is implemented to assist the user in searching the best segmentation parameters that maximize the outcome of the design trade-offs for a given signal-to-quantization-noise ratio requirement. When compared to state-of-the-art segmentation methodologies, the proposed AFSM delivers better performance of approximation for the hardware-based evaluation of transcendental functions given that fewer segments and consequently fewer hardware resources are required.Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y TecnologĂ
Endogenous Singlet Oxygen Photosensitizers in Plants.
Singlet oxygen, a highly reactive oxygen species, is inherently produced in chloroplasts of plants. Chlorophylls are used by plants to harvest light and to transport the singlet electronic excitation from the antenna complexes to the reaction centre (RC) of photosystem I (PSI) and PSII. However, chlorophylls are also efficient photosensitizers of singlet oxygen when they are isolated, when the excitation energy flow is impaired in the antenna complexes, or when the electron transport in PSII is inhibited. In the last case, chlorophyll triplets are formed, and transfer their electronic excitation to molecular oxygen. That chlorophylls act as donors of singlet excitation to other chlorophylls or as donors of triplet excitation to carotenoids as well as molecular oxygen makes singlet oxygen a constant threat for plants. However, plants have developed protection mechanisms for dealing with the danger. Several molecular processes work together in chloroplasts to cope with photosensitization of singlet oxygen and to minimize the resulting damage. Protection utilizes two strategies: to forestall the formation of singlet oxygen (either by preventing the formation of the would-be sensitizer or through deactivating it by a quencher other than molecular oxygen), and to quench, by physical or chemical means, any singlet oxygen that does get formed. Among the photosynthetic complexes, PSII is unique in that its primary electron donor is unprotected by carotenoids and singlet oxygen oxidizes the pigments of PSII RC; intriguingly the carotenoid oxidation products are signalling molecules that can reprogram gene expression. Finally, the distance over which singlet oxygen can diffuse in a viscous cellular medium, as found inside chloroplasts, is analysed.K.R.N and J.B.A are very grateful to the Research Council of Norway (Project
191102) and Junta de Castilla y LeĂłn (Project CSI002A10-2).Peer reviewe
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