Anàlisi cronològica de la pesca al Port de Llançà: període 1977-1996

A partir del buidatge exhaustiu dels fulls de subhasta del peix i de les fitxes tècniques de les embarcacions de la Confraria del Port de Llançà, es fa una anàlisi cronològica qualitativa i quantitativa dels darrers vint anys de pesca. La flota, inicialment constituïda per barques d'arrossegament i de pesca artesanal (palangre petit i tresmail), ha anat evolucionant, i ha quedat bàsicament constituïda actualment pel ròssec i el palangre de fons, que ha substituit progressivament la pesca artesanal. Les pesqueries, notablement multiespecífiques els primers anys, van donar pas, bàsicament amb la incorporació del radar, a una pesca molt més selectiva, dominada essencialment per la captura de lluç entre els anys 1980 i 1985. La progressiva incorporació del palangre de fons fa que a partir del 1986 es tendeixi novament cap a una captura més multiespecífica, perd amb canvis qualitatius importants en la composició d'espècies capturades en relació amb els primers anys

The effect of host plant and isolation on the genetic structure of phytophagous insects: A preliminary study on a bruchid beetle

Genetic differentiation is a consequence of the combination of drift and restriction in gene flow between populations due to barriers to dispersal, or selection against individuals resulting from inter-population matings In phytophagous insects, local adaptation to different kinds of host plants can sometimes lead to reproductive isolation and thus to genetic structuring, or even to speciation Acanthoscelides. obtectus Say is a bean bruchid specialized on beans of the Phaseolus vulgaris group, attacking both wild and domesticated forms of P vulgaris., and P coccineus This study reveals that the genetic structure of populations of this bruchid is explained mainly by their geographical location and is not related to a particular kind (wild or domesticated) of bean In contrast, the species of bean might have led, to some extent, to genetic structuring in these bruchids, although our sampling is too limited to address such process unambiguously. If confirmed, it would corroborate preliminary results found for the parasitoid species that attack Acanthoscelides species, which might show a genetic structure depending on the species of host plant

An analysis of the influence of discount sales promotion in consumer buying intent and the moderating effects of attractiveness

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of discount sales promotion in the purchase intention and the moderating effects of attractiveness in the relationship between intention to purchase a discounted product and the impulsiveness, hedonic perception and financial risk. Thus, an experiment involving 613 students was conducted. The hypotheses predicted that a product with discount promotion would relate positively with impulsivity, as well as with a hedonic perception about the good offered, and negatively with the perception of financial risk associated with the product offered with discount. A positive moderation was expected of the perceived attractiveness of the announced discount promotion on the intentions of behaviors. The results confirmed the hypothesis, indicating positive effects of impulsivity and hedonic perception by purchasing the discounted products, in addition to the negative link between the intention of purchasing discounted products and the perception of a financial risk. The moderating effects were not confirmed. Final considerations conclude the work.

Understanding the hierarchy governance choice of some wineries in Brazil - case study of 3 Brazilian wineries

ABSTRACT This study aims to contribute towards understanding the multiple factors, which influence firm's governance decisions. To identify some of these factors, three cases in the Brazilian wine industry were analyzed: Miolo located in Vale dos Vinhedos (South of Brazil) and in Vale do Rio São Francisco (Northeast of Brazil); Don Laurindo located in Vale dos Vinhedos; and ViniBrasil located in Vale do Rio São Francisco. For the most part, all three firms procure the grapes they use for their wine production in-house. Only Miolo purchases an insignificant amount of grapes outside of its production. By Brazilian standards, these regions have a long tradition of grape production and it is not difficult to purchase sufficient quantity of grapes to produce wine. However, the wineries are concerned also about the quality of the grapes they use and purchasing high-quality grapes might be critical issue. On the other hand, the quality of grapes is easily measured and the cost to buy in the market is cheaper than producing in-house. Furthermore, also the level of asset specificity present in the grape-grower-wine-producer transaction seems, by itself, insufficient to justify the use of hierarchical governance forms. Then, the aim of the article is to analyze the reasons why these wineries largely rely on hierarchy governance forms to procure their grape-inputs. What explains their use of hierarchy governance, given that both asset specificity and measurement problems appear to be relatively low?

Disseny i implementació d'una aplicació web per a la reserva on-line de localitats d'espectacles

Aquest treball presenta un terminal de reserva d'espectacles. Es tracta d'una aplicació web que permet als seus usuaris registrats reservar localitats de diferents tipus d'espectacles a través d'internet i amb total llibertat d'horaris. L'aplicació s'ha dissenyat amb tecnologia Java (servlets, JSP, beans ...) i s'ha llicenciat com a aplicació de programari lliure amb la llicència GPL.

Aplicació web per a gestió de pressuposts a Ncora

El projecte que s’ha presentat correspon a la titulació d’Enginyeria en Informàtica i conté diversos aspectes relacionats al desenvolupament d’una aplicació web per a gestionar els pressupostos de l’empresa Ncora. Es presenta un estudi i anàlisi de requeriments, una compra de servidors, una instal·lació i configuració dels servidors en l’entorn hardware del núvol de Ncora, un anàlisi i disseny de la base de dades i un desenvolupament a mida de l’aplicació software. L’objectiu principal del projecte és l’estalvi de temps en la creació de pressupostos i la ràpida cerca de pressupostos fets així com dels seus components.

Développement de l'irrigation et évolution des régimes fonciers dans la région de Gaya (Niger)

Since the mid 90's, international actors as well as governmental actors have raised their interest into the development of irrigation's potential that is still largely unexploited in Niger. It seems all the more interesting as it could answer the needs of a fast growing population (3.3% per year). However, if everyone agrees on the need to development this system, the current implementation triggers questions on the process itself and its side effects. National and international policies on this matter were build upon an historical process through colonial, post-colonial and then the late 1980's neoliberal structures, leading to a business model that reveals a discrepancy between the state logic and the farming one. This business model asks for a high capacity of mobilization of resources unachievable for many, especially when they want to address small-scale irrigation (area purchase land. When there are only few areas available for selling, the. purchasing processes are undermining the farmers with insecure rights. If the withdrawal of lands is supposed to be smoothened by social measures, such as replacement of the land and primary offers to purchase the land, those measures are often not attractive. The proposed land of replacement is frequently too far away located or lesser fertile to be of any use and the economic capacity of purchasing is too little, eventually leading the farmers to leave their terroirs. Those in charge of the application of the Rural Code have succeeding in answering the need of written secured land tenure, but have difficulty to meet the challenge of doing the same to secure rights for farmers with loans or lease agreements. The small-scale irrigation could bring an answer for their financial needs to buy the land, but it would require mobilizing resources to invest or an easier access to supportive projects. The economic benefice from small-scale irrigation is now widely recognized, but we have to take also into account the risks of marginalization of part of the small farmers. For a more widely spread exploitation of small-scale irrigation, the mechanism of land regulation as well as the process to access the financial and technical support of projects must be revised in order to reach more small farmers. Développement de l'irrigation et évolution des régimes fonciers dans la région de Gaya (Niger) - Le secteur de l'irrigation a bénéficié d'un regain d'intérêt de la part des acteurs internationaux du développement et de l'Etat nigérien depuis le milieu des années 1990. Cet intérêt est à la hauteur du potentiel en terres irrigables (300Ό00 ha environ) du pays, largement sous-exploité alors que les besoins alimentaires sont grandissants, la population augmentant de 3.3% par an. Si le diagnostic est correct, les stratégies mises en oeuvre en matière d'irrigation posent question. Les interventions, aussi bien publiques qu'internationales, reposent sur un modèle entrepreneurial qui parachève une longue trajectoire historique. Initiée par l'Etat colonial, poursuivie par l'Etat post-colonial et transformé par les politiques néolibérales des années 1980, elle se caractérise par un hiatus constant entre logiques étatiques et logiques paysannes. En matière de petite irrigation privée (surfaces < 1-2 ha, technologies à faible coût), ce modèle présuppose une mobilisation de ressources (économiques, sociales, éducationnelles et foncières) inégalement réparties au sein de la population rurale. Cette recherche s'est intéressée à expliciter les liens qui existent entre le développement de la petite irrigation privée et l'évolution des régimes fonciers. Les trois questionnements qui ont guidé l'analyse empirique portent sur la sécurisation foncière, les dynamiques de marchandisation de la terre et l'accès à la terre pour tous les producteurs. Le Département de Gaya dispose d'un potentiel très important en ressources hydriques, facilement mobilisables. Les productions maraîchères et fruitières ont connu un essor très important à partir des années 1980. Initialement pratiquées par les cultivateurs, elles ont progressivement attiré l'attention d'acteurs externes au monde rural (fonctionnaires, commerçants), du fait de leur haute valeur ajoutée. La Banque mondiale a fortement soutenu cette dynamique à travers un projet à vocation entrepreneuriale, qui s'est pourtant révélé hors de portée de la majorité des petits paysans et a principalement bénéficié à ces acteurs extra-ruraux ainsi qu'à certaines élites locales. Au plan foncier, il a en particulier exclu tous les emprunteurs des terres, qui ne sont pas à même de produire des documents écrits confirmant leurs droits sur la terre. Ce projet, et plus largement l'intérêt que les acteurs extra-ruraux portent à la petite irrigation, ont contribué à alimenter la marchandisation de la terre. Sans ancrage familial dans les terroirs villageois, ces acteurs sont obligés d'acheter la terre pour faire de l'irrigation. Leur demande vient s'inscrire dans un contexte général où la pression démographique et le morcellement successif des capitaux fonciers familiaux ont progressivement individualisé la relation entre les producteurs et la terre, au point d'affaiblir ou de faire tomber les interdits coutumiers en matière de vente. Dans les espaces disposant de faibles réserves foncières, les ventes se font principalement au détriment des acteurs qui, comme les emprunteurs, disposent de droits fonciers peu stables et sécurisés. Si le retrait de la terre est socialement encadré (terre en remplacement, possibilité d'acheter la terre qui va être vendue), il pose également des contraintes agronomiques (sols de moindre qualité) et économiques (nécessité de disposer des liquidités pour racheter la terre) qui peuvent, en dernier ratio, obligent les acteurs concernés à quitter les terroirs. Les instances du Code rural, qui ont su apporter des réponses satisfaisantes à la demande de sécurisation foncière par l'établissement de documents écrits, rencontrent aujourd'hui de grandes difficultés à en faire de même pour les droits de prêt. Dans ce contexte, l'irrigation peut apporter les sommes nécessaires à l'achat des terres. Encore faut-il que ces emprunteurs disposent des ressources financières propres pour la développer ou qu'ils puissent y avoir accès grâce à l'appui d'un projet. Si l'intérêt économique de la petite irrigation privée est indiscutable, les risques de marginalisation d'une partie de producteurs ruraux qu'elle peut produire sont bien réels. Pour en faire une activité accessible au plus grand nombre, il faut revoir les mécanismes de régulation foncière, ainsi que les montages techniques et financiers qui supportent le développement de ce secteur d'activité très prometteur.

Influence of the Premium Subsidy on Farmers’ Crop Insurance Coverage Decisions, April 2005

The Agricultural Risk Protection Act greatly increased the expected marginal net benefit of farmers buying high-coverage crop insurance policies by coupling premium subsidies to coverage level. This policy change, combined with cross-sectional variations in expected marginal net benefits of high-coverage policies, is used to estimate the role that premium subsidies play in farmers’ crop insurance decisions. We use county data for corn, soybeans, and wheat to estimate regression equations that are then used to obtain insight into two policy scenarios. We first estimate that eventual adoption of actuarially fair incremental premiums, combined with current coupled subsidies, would increase farmers’ purchase of high-coverage policies by almost 400 percent from 1998 levels across the three crops and two plans of insurance included in the analysis. We then estimate that a return to decoupled subsidies would decrease farmers’ high-coverage purchase decisions by an average of 36 percent.

Cooperatives and Contracting in Agriculture: The Case of West Liberty Foods, October 2005

The West Liberty Foods turkey cooperative was formed in 1996 to purchase the assets and assume operations of Louis Rich Foods (an investor-owned processing rm), which, at the time, announced the imminent shutdown of its West Liberty, Iowa, processing facility. We study the creation and performance of this �new generation� cooperative using eld interviews with grower members and company management. We describe changes, before and after the buyout, in the contractual apparatus used for procuring live turkeys, and in the communication requirements, work expectations, and nancial positions of growers. During the private ownership period, most of the inputs (except labor and facilities) were provided by the rm; there was substantial supervision of the growers' actions; growers faced little price and production risk; and growers' equity was due largely to ownership of land and other farm assets. Our interviews reveal that, after cooperative formation, growers were exposed to considerable additional risk; monitoring of growers by the rm was less intensive; grower time and effort commitments to turkey production increased substantially; and a signicant fraction of rm (cooperative) equity came from growers' willingness to leverage their farm and personal assets (and hence indirectly their existing relationships with local lenders). We argue that some of these changes are consistent with a nancial contract where asset pledging and its corollary risk generate higher work effort by growers and a reduction in agency rents. These economies likely compensate for an organizational deadweight loss traditionally associated with cooperative governance.

Consumers’ Demand for Pork Quality: Applying Semantic Network Analysis, May 2006

Abstract Consideration of consumers’ demand for food quality entails several aspects. Quality itself is a complex and dynamic concept, and constantly evolving technical progress may cause changes in consumers’ judgment of quality. To improve our understanding of the factors influencing the demand for quality, food quality must be defined and measured from the consumer’s perspective (Cardello, 1995). The present analysis addresses the issue of food quality, focusing on pork—the food that respondents were concerned about. To gain insight into consumers’ demand, we analyzed their perception and evaluation and focused on their cognitive structures concerning pork quality. In order to more fully account for consumers’ concerns about the origin of pork, in 2004 we conducted a consumer survey of private households. The qualitative approach of concept mapping was used to uncover the cognitive structures. Network analysis was applied to interpret the results. In order to make recommendations to enterprises, we needed to know what kind of demand emerges from the given food quality schema. By establishing the importance and relative positions of the attributes, we find that the country of origin and butcher may be the two factors that have the biggest influence on consumers’ decisions about the purchase of pork.

Characterization of cocoa butter and cocoa butter equivalents by bulk and molecular carbon isotope analyses: Implications for vegetable fat quantification in chocolate

The fatty acids from cocoa butters of different origins, varieties, and suppliers and a number of cocoa butter equivalents (Illexao 30-61, Illexao 30-71, Illexao 30-96, Choclin, Coberine, Chocosine-Illipe, Chocosine-Shea, Shokao, Akomax, Akonord, and Ertina) were investigated by bulk stable carbon isotope analysis and compound specific isotope analysis. The interpretation is based on principal component analysis combining the fatty acid concentrations and the bulk and molecular isotopic data. The scatterplot of the two first principal components allowed detection of the addition of vegetable fats to cocoa butters. Enrichment in heavy carbon isotope (C-13) of the bulk cocoa butter and of the individual fatty acids is related to mixing with other vegetable fats and possibly to thermally or oxidatively induced degradation during processing (e.g., drying and roasting of the cocoa beans or deodorization of the pressed fat) or storage. The feasibility of the analytical approach for authenticity assessment is discussed.

Executive Order Number Eleven, September 1972

Authorize and direct the transfer of powers providing for the purchase of all state-owned vehicles to the General Services Department.

Prime Property Institutions for a Subprime Era: Exploring Innovative Models of Residential Development and Finance

This paper breaks new ground toward contractual and institutional innovation in models of homeownership, equity building, and mortgage enforcement. Inspired by recent developments in the affordable housing sector and in other types of public financing schemes, this paper suggests extending institutional and financial strategies such as timeand place-based division of property rights, conditional subsidies, and credit mediation to alleviate the systemic risks of mortgage foreclosure. Alongside a for-profit shared equity scheme that would be led by local governments, we also outline a private market shared equity model, one of bootstrapping home buying with purchase options.

On Consumer Decision Strategies: New Approaches for Studying and Aiding Preferential Choices

This dissertation focuses on the strategies consumers use when making purchase decisions. It is organized in two main parts, one centering on descriptive and the other on applied decision making research. In the first part, a new process tracing tool called InterActive Process Tracing (IAPT) is pre- sented, which I developed to investigate the nature of consumers' decision strategies. This tool is a combination of several process tracing techniques, namely Active Information Search, Mouselab, and retrospective verbal protocol. To validate IAPT, two experiments on mobile phone purchase de- cisions were conducted where participants first repeatedly chose a mobile phone and then were asked to formalize their decision strategy so that it could be used to make choices for them. The choices made by the identified strategies correctly predicted the observed choices in 73% (Experiment 1) and 67% (Experiment 2) of the cases. Moreover, in Experiment 2, Mouselab and eye tracking were directly compared with respect to their impact on information search and strategy description. Only minor differences were found between these two methods. I conclude that IAPT is a useful research tool to identify choice strategies, and that using eye tracking technology did not increase its validity beyond that gained with Mouselab. In the second part, a prototype of a decision aid is introduced that was developed building in particular on the knowledge about consumers' decision strategies gained in Part I. This decision aid, which is called the InterActive Choice Aid (IACA), systematically assists consumers in their purchase decisions. To evaluate the prototype regarding its perceived utility, an experiment was conducted where IACA was compared to two other prototypes that were based on real-world consumer decision aids. All three prototypes differed in the number and type of tools they provided to facilitate the process of choosing, ranging from low (Amazon) to medium (Sunrise/dpreview) to high functionality (IACA). Overall, participants slightly preferred the prototype of medium functionality and this prototype was also rated best on the dimensions of understandability and ease of use. IACA was rated best regarding the two dimensions of ease of elimination and ease of comparison of alternatives. Moreover, participants choices were more in line with the normatively oriented weighted additive strategy when they used IACA than when they used the medium functionality prototype. The low functionality prototype was the least preferred overall. It is concluded that consumers can and will benefit from highly functional decision aids like IACA, but only when these systems are easy to understand and to use.

OVERLAND FLOW AND SURFACE RUNOFF / Hydrological Science and Engineering

Cape Verde, off the coast of Senegal in western Africa, is a volcanic archipelago where soil and water conservation techniques play an important role in the overall subsistence of half a million inhabitants. In fact, the step slopes in the more agricultural islands due to it's volcanic origin, together with semi-arid and arid environments (the country is located in the Sahelian region), characterized by a very irregular wet season, with high intensity rainfall events, make life tough. The hard conditions lead during the first half of the XX century to frequent cycles of drought with severe implications on the local populations, with impressive numbers of deaths by famine, and a decrease of the number of local inhabitants by more than halve in some islands. Maintain the soil in place and the water inside the soil was there after a mater of survival, and the CapeVerdians implemented over the last half century a number of soil and water conservation techniques that cover all the landscape. In this work, we monitored a number of slope soil and water conservation techniques, such as terraces, half moons, live barriers, etc, together with two cultural strategies, used to plant corn and beans on one side and peanuts on the other, with a semi-quantitative methodology, to evaluate their effectiveness. A discussion is given on the costs and effectiveness of the techniques to reduce overland flow production and therefore erosion, and to promote rainfall infiltration.