Conceptualización de requerimientos: Propuesta de proceso y técnicas asociadas

El proceso de captura de requisitos constituye un proceso con connotaciones sociales relacionadas con diferentes personas (stakeholders), una circunstancia que hace que ciertos problemas se presenten cuando se lleva adelante el proceso de conceptualización de requisitos. Se propone un proceso de conceptualización de requisitos que se estructura en dos fases: (a) Análisis Orientado a al Problema: cuyo objetivo es comprender el problema dado por el usuario en el dominio en el que este se lleva a cabo, y (b) Análisis de Orientado al Producto: cuyo objetivo es obtener las funcionalidades que el usuario espera del producto de software a desarrollar, teniendo en cuenta la relación de estas con la realidad expresada por el usuario en su discurso. Se proponen seis técnicas que articulan cada una de las tareas que componen las fases de proceso propuesto.

Latin American Agricultural Trade: The Role of the WTO in Sustainable Virtual Water Flows, European Association of Agricultural Economists

International agricultural trade has been growing significantly during the last decade. Many countries rely on imports to ensure adequate food supplies to the people. A few are becoming food baskets of the world. This process raises issues about the food security in depending countries and potentially unsustainable land and water use in exporting countries. In this paper, we analyse the impacts of amplified farm trade on natural resources, especially water. Farm exports and imports of five Latin America countries (Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Chile) are examined carefully. A preliminary analysis indicates that virtual water imports can save valuable water resources in water-short countries, such as Mexico and Chile. Major exporting countries, including Brazil and Argentina, have become big exporters due to abundant natural resource endowments. The opportunity costs of agricultural production in those countries are identified as being low, because of the predominant green water use. It is concluded that virtual water trade can be a powerful tool to alleviate water stress in semi-arid countries. However, for exporting nations a sustainable water use can only be guaranteed if environmental production costs are fully reflected in the commodity prices. There is no basis for erecting environmental trade tariffs on exporters though. Setting up legal foundations for them in full compliance with WTOs processes would be a daunting task.

The determinants of the quality of Sales-Marketing Interface in a Multinational Customer Brand Focused Company: The Latin American Branches

Customer evolution and changes in consumers, determine the fact that the quality of the interface between marketing and sales may represent a true competitive advantage for the firm. Building on multidimensional theoretical and empirical models developed in Europe and on social network analysis, the organizational interface between the marketing and sales departments of a multinational high-growth company with operations in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay is studied. Both, attitudinal and social network measures of information exchange are used to make operational the nature and quality of the interface and its impact on performance. Results show the existence of a positive relationship of formalization, joint planning, teamwork, trust and information transfer on interface quality, as well as a positive relationship between interface quality and business performance. We conclude that efficient design and organizational management of the exchange network are essential for the successful performance of consumer goods companies that seek to develop distinctive capabilities to adapt to markets that experience vertiginous changes

Pozzuolanic properties of the natural zeolites of some latin american deposits

This paper shows the results of the study of physical, mechanic and chemical behaviour of some natural zeolite types sampled in different outcrops of the world, mainly from Mexico, Cuba and Spain, as well as their incidence in certain practical applications, by means of the utilization of its pozzuolanic properties. Results emphasize that every natural zeolite variety gives different answers in the assays, probably influenced by the subtle variability of their chemical composition. Key words: zeolites, pozzuolanic, density, geometric, strength