Soil management system effects on N availability and tree productivity in chestnut planatations under Mediterranean conditions

Soil tillage with chisel ploughing is the conventional soil management system in chestnut stands for fruit production in Northern Portugal. A study was developed to assess the effects of three soil management systems on in situ soil N mineralization dynamics, tree nutrition status and fruit productivity, in a 50-yr old chestnut stand. The treatments were: conventional tillage with a chisel ploughing twice a year (CT), no-tillage with rainfed improved pasture with leguminous and grasses plants (NIP), and no-tillage with spontaneous herbaceous vegetation - natural pasture (NP). The CT treatment showed a strong increase of the soil N mineral concentration following soil disturbance by tillage, but the cumulative net N mineralized along the year was significantly lower (51.8 kg ha-1) than in the NIP (85.1 kg ha-1) treatment. The NP treatment (65.9 kg ha-1) did not cause a reduction in the soil N mineralization when compared to the CT treatment. The mineralization rate (g mineralized N kg-1 total N) in 2004 was about 26, 30 and 38 in the treatments CT, NP and NIP, respectively. Treatments showed different soil N dynamics, the proportion of mineralized NO3--N being lower in the NP (10-48%) than in CT and NIP treatments (53-74%). Our study indicates that no-tillage systems improve the tree nutrition status and enhance productivity

Performance analysis of brazilian public and philanthropic hospitals

This paper presents the results of a research that aimed at identifying optimal performance standards of Brazilian public and philanthropic hospitals. In order to carry out the analysis, a model based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was developed. We collected financial data from hospitals’ financial statements available on the internet, as well as operational data from the Information Technology Department of the Brazilian Public Health Care System – SUS (DATASUS). Data from 18 hospitals from 2007 to 2011 were analyzed. Our DEA model used both operational and financial indicators (variables). In order to develop this model, two indicators were considered inputs: Values (in Brazilian Reais) of Fixed Assets and Planned Capacity. On the other hand, the following indicators were considered outputs: Net Margin, Return on Assets and Institutional Mortality Rate. As regards the proposed model, there were five hospitals with optimal performance and four hospitals were considered inefficient, upon the analysis of the variables, considering the analyzed period. Analysis of the weights indicated the most relevant variables for determining efficiency and scale variable values, which is an important tool to aid the decision-making by hospital managers. Finally, the scale variables determined the returns on production, indicating that 14 hospitals work with scale diseconomies. This may indicate inefficiency in the resource management of the Brazilian public health-care system, by analyzing this set of proposed variables.