Modelo de gesti��n del conocimiento para una empresa del sector de insumos qu��micos para la industria farmac��utica, cosm��tica y de alimentos: caso Disaromas S.A.

La creaci��n de conocimiento al interior de las organizaciones es visible mediante la direcci��n adecuada del conocimiento de los individuos, sin embargo, cada individuo debe interactuar de tal manera que forme una red o sistema de conocimiento organizacional que consolide a largo plazo las empresas en el entorno en el que se desenvuelven. Este documento revisa elementos centrales acerca de la gesti��n de conocimiento visto desde varios autores y perspectivas e identifica puntos clave para dise��ar un modelo de gesti��n de conocimiento para una empresa del sector de insumos qu��micos para la industria farmac��utica, cosm��tica y de alimentos de la ciudad de Bogot��.

Harinera Pardo S.A.: experiencias de crisis y recuperaci��n en empresas colombianas

Este estudio de caso consiste en analizar el funcionamiento al interior de la empresa Harinera Pardo S.A, las inversiones realizadas y las decisiones tomadas. Tambi��n en ver el comportamiento del sector agroindustrial molinero, espec��ficamente de trigo, ya que la empresa se desenvuelve en este mercado. Y por ��ltimo, entender los factores que llevaron a la empresa objeto de estudio a verse afectada por una crisis empresarial. Con base en el concepto de ���crisis��� que cita Martin (2008), las causas que la generan en la empresa pueden ser internas, como problemas comerciales, de producci��n, de calidad, inadecuada infraestructura de costos, problemas de direcci��n, inversiones y dem��s o externas, como cambios en el mercado, el fen��meno de la globalizaci��n, influencia de los competidores, entre otros. Decidimos citar este autor ya que su visi��n sobre el concepto de crisis encierra varios factores que hacen parte del desarrollo del estudio de caso. De este estudio se espera aprender con una empresa del sector real, que caer en una crisis no necesariamente significa llegar a su fin, sino que con una adecuada reestructuraci��n, esta puede enfrentar y superar el mal momento que est�� atravesando. Para ello tendremos en cuenta la influencia del mercado internacional en la ��poca de los 90��s y la coyuntura que se presentaba alrededor del sector molinero, al igual que el comportamiento al interior de la empresa durante este mismo periodo de tiempo, que fue previo a la reca��da de la empresa. A dem��s, expondremos las opiniones y estrategias utilizadas por Rafael Pardo, presidente de Harinera Pardo, con las que gracias a su puesta en marcha durante los a��os de crisis, finalmente logr�� recuperarse en el a��o 2009. El trabajo es desarrollado por estudiantes de pregrado de Administraci��n de Empresas y Administraci��n de Negocios Internacionales de la Universidad del Rosario, y la investigaci��n a realizar trata temas administrativos de crisis y recuperaci��n.

Factores perinatales para riesgo de sobrepeso y obesidad en ni��os de 4 a 5 a��os en Colombia 2010.

Introducci��n: La OMS revela que en 2010 alrededor de 43 millones de ni��os menores de 5 a��os presentan sobrepeso. En Colombia seg��n la Encuesta Nacional de Situaci��n Nutricional en Colombia en su versi��n 2005, mostraba una prevalencia general de sobrepeso de 3.1% ni��os de 0 a 4 a��os. Es una condici��n de salud de origen multifactorial en la que interviene factores gen��ticos, ambientales, maternos y perinatales. Objetivo: Establecer la asociaci��n de riesgo entre el bajo peso al nacer y el desarrollo de sobrepeso y obesidad en ni��os de 4 a 5 a��os. Metodolog��a: Se realiz�� un estudio observacional descriptivo retrospectivo de corte transversal con los datos nutricionales, maternos y perinatales de la Encuesta Nacional de Demograf��a en Salud del a��o 2010 en Colombia. Se analiz�� la asociaci��n entre la variable independiente bajo peso al nacer con el desenlace sobrepeso y obesidad en menores de 4 a 5 a��os, usando como medida el IMC seg��n la edad. Se realizaron an��lisis univariados, bivariados y de regresi��n log��stica con un modelo de riesgo seg��n las variables que inciden en el desenlace y la variable independiente. Resultados: La muestra obtenida para el estudio fue de 2166 ni��os de 4 a 5 a��os de edad quienes cumpl��an los criterios de inclusi��n. La prevalencia de sobrepeso u obesidad en la primera infancia fue de 21.8% (472) y el bajo peso al nacer. Los resultados sugieren la asociaci��n de bajo peso y sobrepeso u obesidad es de ORajustado= 0.560 (0.356 ��� 0.881). Conclusiones: Los resultados sugieren que existe una asociaci��n como factor protector entre el bajo peso y el sobrepeso u obesidad en la primera infancia. Sin embargo, debido al comportamiento de las variables consideradas en la muestra no hay suficiente informaci��n para rechazar completamente la hip��tesis nula.

Time misalignments in fault detection and diagnosis

El desalineamiento temporal es la incorrespondencia de dos se��ales debido a una distorsi��n en el eje temporal. La Detecci��n y Diagn��stico de Fallas (Fault Detection and Diagnosis-FDD) permite la detecci��n, el diagn��stico y la correcci��n de fallos en un proceso. La metodolog��a usada en FDD est�� dividida en dos categor��as: t��cnicas basadas en modelos y no basadas en modelos. Esta tesis doctoral trata sobre el estudio del efecto del desalineamiento temporal en FDD. Nuestra atenci��n se enfoca en el an��lisis y el dise��o de sistemas FDD en caso de problemas de comunicaci��n de datos, como retardos y p��rdidas. Se proponen dos t��cnicas para reducir estos problemas: una basada en programaci��n din��mica y la otra en optimizaci��n. Los m��todos propuestos han sido validados sobre diferentes sistemas din��micos: control de posici��n de un motor de corriente continua, una planta de laboratorio y un problema de sistemas el��ctricos conocido como hueco de tensi��n.

Birding 2.0: Citizen Science and Effective Monitoring in the Web 2.0 World

The amateur birding community has a long and proud tradition of contributing to bird surveys and bird atlases. Coordinated activities such as Breeding Bird Atlases and the Christmas Bird Count are examples of "citizen science" projects. With the advent of technology, Web 2.0 sites such as eBird have been developed to facilitate online sharing of data and thus increase the potential for real-time monitoring. However, as recently articulated in an editorial in this journal and elsewhere, monitoring is best served when based on a priori hypotheses. Harnessing citizen scientists to collect data following a hypothetico-deductive approach carries challenges. Moreover, the use of citizen science in scientific and monitoring studies has raised issues of data accuracy and quality. These issues are compounded when data collection moves into the Web 2.0 world. An examination of the literature from social geography on the concept of "citizen sensors" and volunteered geographic information (VGI) yields thoughtful reflections on the challenges of data quality/data accuracy when applying information from citizen sensors to research and management questions. VGI has been harnessed in a number of contexts, including for environmental and ecological monitoring activities. Here, I argue that conceptualizing a monitoring project as an experiment following the scientific method can further contribute to the use of VGI. I show how principles of experimental design can be applied to monitoring projects to better control for data quality of VGI. This includes suggestions for how citizen sensors can be harnessed to address issues of experimental controls and how to design monitoring projects to increase randomization and replication of sampled data, hence increasing scientific reliability and statistical power.

Assimilation of stratospheric ozone from MIPAS into a global general-circulation model: The September 2002 vortex split

Ozone and temperature profiles from the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) have been assimilated, using three-dimensional variational assimilation, into a stratosphere troposphere version of the Met Office numerical weather-prediction system. Analyses are made for the month of September 2002, when there was an unprecedented split in the southern hemisphere polar vortex. The analyses are validated against independent ozone observations from sondes, limb-occultation and total column ozone satellite instruments. Through most of the stratosphere, precision varies from 5 to 15%, and biases are 15% or less of the analysed field. Problems remain in the vortex and below the 60 hPa. level, especially at the tropopause where the analyses have too much ozone and poor agreement with independent data. Analysis problems are largely a result of the model rather than the data, giving confidence in the MIPAS ozone retrievals, though there may be a small high bias in MIPAS ozone in the lower stratosphere. Model issues include an excessive Brewer-Dobson circulation, which results both from known problems with the tracer transport scheme and from the data assimilation of dynamical variables. The extreme conditions of the vortex split reveal large differences between existing linear ozone photochemistry schemes. Despite these issues, the ozone analyses are able to successfully describe the ozone hole split and compare well to other studies of this event. Recommendations are made for the further development of the ozone assimilation system.

How global is the global biodiversity information facility?

There is a concerted global effort to digitize biodiversity occurrence data from herbarium and museum collections that together offer an unparalleled archive of life on Earth over the past few centuries. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility provides the largest single gateway to these data. Since 2004 it has provided a single point of access to specimen data from databases of biological surveys and collections. Biologists now have rapid access to more than 120 million observations, for use in many biological analyses. We investigate the quality and coverage of data digitally available, from the perspective of a biologist seeking distribution data for spatial analysis on a global scale. We present an example of automatic verification of geographic data using distributions from the International Legume Database and Information Service to test empirically, issues of geographic coverage and accuracy. There are over 1/2 million records covering 31% of all Legume species, and 84% of these records pass geographic validation. These data are not yet a global biodiversity resource for all species, or all countries. A user will encounter many biases and gaps in these data which should be understood before data are used or analyzed. The data are notably deficient in many of the world's biodiversity hotspots. The deficiencies in data coverage can be resolved by an increased application of resources to digitize and publish data throughout these most diverse regions. But in the push to provide ever more data online, we should not forget that consistent data quality is of paramount importance if the data are to be useful in capturing a meaningful picture of life on Earth.

Open Air Laboratories (OPAL): a community-driven research programme

OPAL is an English national programme that takes scientists into the community to investigate environmental issues. Biological monitoring plays a pivotal role covering topics of: i) soil and earthworms; ii) air, lichens and tar spot on sycamore; iii) water and aquatic invertebrates; iv) biodiversity and hedgerows; v) climate, clouds and thermal comfort. Each survey has been developed by an interdisciplinary team and tested by voluntary, statutory and community sectors. Data are submitted via the web and instantly mapped. Preliminary results are presented, together with a discussion on data quality and uncertainty. Communities also investigate local pollution issues, ranging from nitrogen deposition on heathlands to traf���c emissions on roadside vegetation. Over 200,000 people have participated so far, including over 1000 schools and 1000 voluntary groups. Bene���ts include a substantial, growing database on biodiversity and habitat condition, much from previously unsampled sites particularly in urban areas, and a more engaged public.

Stratospheric temperature trends: our evolving understanding

We review the scientific literature since the 1960s to examine the evolution of modeling tools and observations that have advanced understanding of global stratospheric temperature changes. Observations show overall cooling of the stratosphere during the period for which they are available (since the late 1950s and late 1970s from radiosondes and satellites, respectively), interrupted by episodes of warming associated with volcanic eruptions, and superimposed on variations associated with the solar cycle. There has been little global mean temperature change since about 1995. The temporal and vertical structure of these variations are reasonably well explained bymodels that include changes in greenhouse gases, ozone, volcanic aerosols, and solar output, although there are significant uncertainties in the temperature observations and regarding the nature and influence of past changes in stratospheric water vapor. As a companion to a recent WIREs review of tropospheric temperature trends, this article identifies areas of commonality and contrast between the tropospheric and stratospheric trend literature. For example, the increased attention over time to radiosonde and satellite data quality has contributed to better characterization of uncertainty in observed trends both in the troposphere and in the lower stratosphere, and has highlighted the relative deficiency of attention to observations in the middle and upper stratosphere. In contrast to the relatively unchanging expectations of surface and tropospheric warming primarily induced by greenhouse gas increases, stratospheric temperature change expectations have arisen from experiments with a wider variety of model types, showingmore complex trend patterns associated with a greater diversity of forcing agents.

Benchmarking and valuation issues in measuring depreciation for European office markets

Purpose ��� The paper addresses the practical problems which emerge when attempting to apply longitudinal approaches to the assessment of property depreciation using valuation-based data. These problems relate to inconsistent valuation regimes and the difficulties in finding appropriate benchmarks. Design/methodology/approach ��� The paper adopts a case study of seven major office locations around Europe and attempts to determine ten-year rental value depreciation rates based on a longitudinal approach using IPD, CBRE and BNP Paribas datasets. Findings ��� The depreciation rates range from a 5 per cent PA depreciation rate in Frankfurt to a 2 per cent appreciation rate in Stockholm. The results are discussed in the context of the difficulties in applying this method with inconsistent data. Research limitations/implications ��� The paper has methodological implications for measuring property investment depreciation and provides an example of the problems in adopting theoretically sound approaches with inconsistent information. Practical implications ��� Valuations play an important role in performance measurement and cross border investment decision making and, therefore, knowledge of inconsistency of valuation practice aids decision making and informs any application of valuation-based data in the attainment of depreciation rates. Originality/value ��� The paper provides new insights into the use of property market valuation data in a cross-border context, insights that previously had been anecdotal and unproven in nature.

Transport impacts on atmosphere and climate: shipping

Emissions of exhaust gases and particles from oceangoing ships are a significant and growing contributor to the total emissions from the transportation sector. We present an assessment of the contribution of gaseous and particulate emissions from oceangoing shipping to anthropogenic emissions and air quality. We also assess the degradation in human health and climate change created by these emissions. Regulating ship emissions requires comprehensive knowledge of current fuel consumption and emissions, understanding of their impact on atmospheric composition and climate, and projections of potential future evolutions and mitigation options. Nearly 70% of ship emissions occur within 400 km of coastlines, causing air quality problems through the formation of ground-level ozone, sulphur emissions and particulate matter in coastal areas and harbours with heavy traffic. Furthermore, ozone and aerosol precursor emissions as well as their derivative species from ships may be transported in the atmosphere over several hundreds of kilometres, and thus contribute to air quality problems further inland, even though they are emitted at sea. In addition, ship emissions impact climate. Recent studies indicate that the cooling due to altered clouds far outweighs the warming effects from greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) or ozone from shipping, overall causing a negative present-day radiative forcing (RF). Current efforts to reduce sulphur and other pollutants from shipping may modify this. However, given the short residence time of sulphate compared to CO2, the climate response from sulphate is of the order decades while that of CO2 is centuries. The climatic trade-off between positive and negative radiative forcing is still a topic of scientific research, but from what is currently known, a simple cancellation of global mean forcing components is potentially inappropriate and a more comprehensive assessment metric is required. The CO2 equivalent emissions using the global temperature change potential (GTP) metric indicate that after 50 years the net global mean effect of current emissions is close to zero through cancellation of warming by CO2 and cooling by sulphate and nitrogen oxides.

On the reprocessing and reanalysis of observations for climate

The long observational record is critical to our understanding of the Earth���s climate, but most observing systems were not developed with a climate objective in mind. As a result, tremendous efforts have gone into assessing and reprocessing the data records to improve their usefulness in climate studies. The purpose of this paper is to both review recent progress in reprocessing and reanalyzing observations, and summarize the challenges that must be overcome in order to improve our understanding of climate and variability. Reprocessing improves data quality through more scrutiny and improved retrieval techniques for individual observing systems, while reanalysis merges many disparate observations with models through data assimilation, yet both aim to provide a climatology of Earth processes. Many challenges remain, such as tracking the improvement of processing algorithms and limited spatial coverage. Reanalyses have fostered significant research, yet reliable global trends in many physical fields are not yet attainable, despite significant advances in data assimilation and numerical modeling. Oceanic reanalyses have made significant advances in recent years, but will only be discussed here in terms of progress toward integrated Earth system analyses. Climate data sets are generally adequate for process studies and large-scale climate variability. Communication of the strengths, limitations and uncertainties of reprocessed observations and reanalysis data, not only among the community of developers, but also with the extended research community, including the new generations of researchers and the decision makers is crucial for further advancement of the observational data records. It must be emphasized that careful investigation of the data and processing methods are required to use the observations appropriately.

Selecting algorithms for Earth observation of climate within the European Space Agency Climate Change initiative: introduction to a special issue

This special issue is focused on the assessment of algorithms for the observation of Earth���s climate from environ- mental satellites. Climate data records derived by remote sensing are increasingly a key source of insight into the workings of and changes in Earth���s climate system. Producers of data sets must devote considerable effort and expertise to maximise the true climate signals in their products and minimise effects of data processing choices and changing sensors. A key choice is the selection of algorithm(s) for classification and/or retrieval of the climate variable. Within the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative, science teams undertook systematic assessment of algorithms for a range of essential climate variables. The papers in the special issue report some of these exercises (for ocean colour, aerosol, ozone, greenhouse gases, clouds, soil moisture, sea surface temper- ature and glaciers). The contributions show that assessment exercises must be designed with care, considering issues such as the relative importance of different aspects of data quality (accuracy, precision, stability, sensitivity, coverage, etc.), the availability and degree of independence of validation data and the limitations of validation in characterising some important aspects of data (such as long-term stability or spatial coherence). As well as re- quiring a significant investment of expertise and effort, systematic comparisons are found to be highly valuable. They reveal the relative strengths and weaknesses of different algorithmic approaches under different observa- tional contexts, and help ensure that scientific conclusions drawn from climate data records are not influenced by observational artifacts, but are robust.

COMPARISONS OF THE INTERSTELLAR MAGNETIC FIELD DIRECTIONS OBTAINED FROM THE IBEX RIBBON AND INTERSTELLAR POLARIZATIONS

Variations in the spatial configuration of the interstellar magnetic field (ISMF) near the Sun can be constrained by comparing the ISMF direction at the heliosphere found from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft observations of a ""Ribbon"" of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs), with the ISMF direction derived from optical polarization data for stars within similar to 40 pc. Using interstellar polarization observations toward similar to 30 nearby stars within similar to 90 degrees of the heliosphere nose, we find that the best fits to the polarization position angles are obtained for a magnetic pole directed toward ecliptic coordinates of lambda, beta similar to 263 degrees, 37 degrees (or galactic coordinates of l, b similar to 38 degrees, 23 degrees), with uncertainties of +/- 35 degrees based on the broad minimum of the best fits and the range of data quality. This magnetic pole is 33 degrees from the magnetic pole that is defined by the center of the arc of the ENA Ribbon. The IBEX ENA ribbon is seen in sight lines that are perpendicular to the ISMF as it drapes over the heliosphere. The similarity of the polarization and Ribbon directions for the local ISMF suggests that the local field is coherent over scale sizes of tens of parsecs. The ISMF vector direction is nearly perpendicular to the flow of local interstellar material (ISM) through the local standard of rest, supporting a possible local ISM origin related to an evolved expanding magnetized shell. The local ISMF direction is found to have a curious geometry with respect to the cosmic microwave background dipole moment.