Análisis comparativo sobre trabajo rural en la forestoindustria, las semilleras y la fruticultura (Argentina 2008-2011)

Este artículo analiza transversalmente estudios de caso sobre el trabajo rural en la Argentina entre 2008 y 2011 en unidades de producción de capital concentrado: fruticultura en el Alto Valle de Río Negro, forestación en el NO de Misiones y producción de semillas de maíz transgénico en la Zona Núcleo Cerealera. La metodología aplicada fue la etnografía multisitio. Para el análisis que se presenta en este artículo se aplicó el método comparativo, que permitió establecer continuidad entre los casos sobre la base de tres estrategias empresariales: la reducción de puestos de trabajo clásico distinguiendo producción y servicios; la ambientalización de las relaciones laborales y territorios diferenciados para la producción, y el trabajo y la residencia de los trabajadores

Composite auction method for suppressing unreasonable electricity price spikes in a competitive electricity market

The existence of undesirable electricity price spikes in a competitive electricity market requires an efficient auction mechanism. However, many of the existing auction mechanism have difficulties in suppressing such unreasonable price spikes effectively. A new auction mechanism is proposed to suppress effectively unreasonable price spikes in a competitive electricity market. It optimally combines system marginal price auction and pay as bid auction mechanisms. A threshold value is determined to activate the switching between the marginal price auction and the proposed composite auction. Basically when the system marginal price is higher than the threshold value, the composite auction for high price electricity market is activated. The winning electricity sellers will sell their electricity at the system marginal price or their own bid prices, depending on their rights of being paid at the system marginal price and their offers' impact on suppressing undesirable price spikes. Such economic stimuli discourage sellers from practising economic and physical withholdings. Multiple price caps are proposed to regulate strong market power. We also compare other auction mechanisms to highlight the characteristics of the proposed one. Numerical simulation using the proposed auction mechanism is given to illustrate the procedure of this new auction mechanism.

Time trends and predictors of initiation for cigarette and waterpipe smoking among Jordanian school children: Irbid, 2008-2011

Smoking prevalence among adolescents in the Middle East remains high while rates of smoking have been declining among adolescents elsewhere. The aims of this research were to (1) describe patterns of cigarette and waterpipe (WP) smoking, (2) identify determinants of WP smoking initiation, and (3) identify determinants of cigarette smoking initiation in a cohort of Jordanian school children. ^ Among this cohort of school children in Irbid, Jordan, (age ≈ 12.6 at baseline) the first aim (N=1,781) described time trends in smoking behavior, age at initiation, and changes in frequency of smoking from 2008–2011 (grades 7–10). The second aim (N=1,243) identified determinants of WP initiation among WP-naïve students; and the third aim (N=1,454) identified determinants of cigarette smoking initiation among cigarette naïve participants. Determinants of initiation were assessed with generalized mixed models. All analyses were stratified by gender. ^ Baseline prevalence of current smoking (cigarettes or WP) for boys and girls was 22.9% and 8.7% respectively. Prevalence of ever- and current- any smoking, cigarette smoking, WP smoking, and dual cigarette/WP smoking was higher in boys than girls each year (p<0.001). At all time points, prevalence of WP smoking was higher than that of cigarette smoking (p<0.001) for both boys and girls. WP initiation was documented in 39% of boys and 28% of girls. Cigarette initiation was documented in 37% of boys and 24% of girls. Determinants of WP initiation included ever-cigarette smoking, low WP refusal self-efficacy, intention to smoke, and having teachers and friends who smoke WP. Determinants of cigarette smoking initiation included ever-WP smoking, low cigarette refusal self-efficacy, intention to start smoking cigarettes, and having friends and family who smoke.^ These studies reveal intensive smoking patterns at early ages among Jordanian youth in Irbid, characterized by a predominance of WP smoking. WP may be a vehicle for tobacco dependence and subsequent cigarette uptake. The sizeable incidence of WP and cigarette initiation among students of both sexes points to a need for culturally relevant smoking prevention interventions. Gender-specific factors, refusal skills, and smoking cessation of both WP and cigarettes for youth and their parents/teachers would be important components of such initiatives. ^

Determinants of Waterpipe and Cigarette Smoking Progression among a School Based Sample of Adolescents in Irbid, Jordan: A Three-Year Longitudinal Study (2008-2011)

The prevalence of waterpipe smoking exceeds that of cigarettes among adolescents in the Middle East where waterpipe is believed as less harmful, less addictive and can be a safer alternative to cigarettes. This dissertation tested the gateway hypothesis that waterpipe can provide a bridge to initiate cigarette smoking, identified the predictors of cigarette smoking progression, and identified predictors of waterpipe smoking progression among a school-based sample of Jordanian adolescents (mean age ± SD) (12.7 ±0.61) years at baseline. Data for this research have been drawn from Irbid Longitudinal Study of smoking behavior, Jordan (2008-2011). The grouped-time survival analysis showed that waterpipe smoking was associated with a higher risk of cigarette smoking initiation compared to never smokers (P < 0.001) and this association was dose dependent (P < 0.001). Predictors of cigarette smoking progression were peer smoking and attending public schools for boys, siblings’ smoking for girls, and the urge to smoke for both genders. Predictors of waterpipe smoking progression were enrollment in public schools, frequent physical activity, and low refusal self-efficacy for boys, ever smoking cigarettes, friends’ and siblings’ waterpipe smoking for girls. Awareness of harms of waterpipe among boys and seeing warning labels on the tobacco packs by girls were protective against waterpipe smoking progression. In Conclusion, waterpipe can serve as a gateway to cigarette smoking initiation among adolescents. Waterpipe and cigarette smoking progressions among initiators were solely family-related among girls, and mainly peer-related among boys. The unique gender differences for both cigarette and waterpipe smoking among Jordanian adolescents in Irbid call for cultural and gender-specific smoking prevention interventions to prevent the progression of smoking among initiators.

Cultura da representação de arquitetura: concursos de projeto, Brasil 2008-2011

This thesis deepens the issues pointed out in our master's dissertation (2009) and the following texts about architectural projects representation presented in architectural competitions. It aims to identify the representation culture of projects from architectural competitions. Were there common ways to argue among successful architects? Which were them? How extent the various arguments are consistent or what is the discursive coherent? Which interlocutors were privileged in argumentation, the requesting ones or those that evaluate the proposals? To answer these questions, we began from a correlation suggested by TOSTRUP (1999) among some drawings – plans, sections, façades, perspective, details or texts - and emphasized aspects in a project argumentation (place, zoning, environmental comfort, energy efficiency, etc.). On the top of this, we add functions that DURAND (2003) indicates relevant to architectural representations: conception, communication or seduction and execution. Other writers, such as COLLINS (1971), COLLYER (2004), MOON (2005), BANDEIRA (2007), and OXMAN (2008) in different ways, offered us subsidies to relate kinds of architectural representations with specific functions or strategies of persuasion. Thus, for 08 Brazilian competitions, occurred between 2008 – 2011, we analyzed the requests from the brief of the official announcement, the evaluations of the jurors, and the boards of the winning designs – graphical and textual representations. That allowed us to observe a representation culture predominantly based on perspectives and plans, even been articulated in different arguments. This may emphasize since objective aspects as building execution to appeals of mere visual seduction. In what regards to the audience, even when the official announcement resembled to one another, the winners’ argumentation were different, suggesting a possible jury’s privilege as an interlocutor.

University of Southampton thesis end matter template for use with Word 2007/2010/2013/2016 (PC) and Word 2008/2011/2016 (Mac)

This template covers the final sections of a thesis - appendices, glossary, list of references and bibliography. Support materials for using the template are referenced near the start of the file. You will want to use this in conjunction with the Front Matter http://www.edshare.soton.ac.uk/9405/ and Chapter http://www.edshare.soton.ac.uk/9403/ templates.

Valoración de la prueba pericial para determinar la culpabilidad en casos de reincidencia en falsedad documental. Barranquilla 2008-2011

El objetivo de esta tesis es analizar los criterios empleados por el juez en la valoración de la prueba pericial (caligráfica) en la determinación de la culpabilidad en los casos donde se presenta reincidencia en el delito de falsedad documental.

Comunicación para el cambio social: Propuesta y validación de un modelo para medir los efectos en la Reconstrucción de Tejido Social, aplicado a tres acciones comunicativas realizadas en la ciudad de Medellín entre los años 2008 -2011

Esta investigación hace una caracterización de algunas acciones comunicativas llevadas a cabo en Medellín entre los años 2008 y 2011 cuyo fin haya sido la Reconstrucción de Tejido Social. El rastreo de estas acciones se ha realizado desde el primer semestre del año 2013 con el fin de identificar y seleccionar las muestras representativas mínimo una por cada categoría, publicidad social, comunicación para el cambio y arte e intervención cultural. En el texto se encontrarán el marco situacional y conceptual, la metodología, los hallazgos y las conclusiones de la investigación. Se presenta primero el marco situacional donde se expone inicialmente el contexto colombiano en cuanto tejido social se refiere, la situación sociopolítica de Medellín entre los años 2008 y 2011, a partir del acercamiento a los conceptos de tejido social, nacional y local. Seguidamente se define el marco conceptual y se hace una reflexión para dar bases a la pregunta de investigación. En el marco metodológico se detalla el corpus, las categorías y subcategorías, e indicadores para cada una de las acciones, allí mismo se enuncian los instrumentos. Por último se presentarán los resultados y la interpretación basadas en los conceptos definidos., y con base en cada objetivo, se presentan las conclusiones generadas para cada uno de ellos.

La presión fiscal en las cooperativas: una valoración por tamaños, comunidades y sectores para el periodo 2008-2011

Las cooperativas son sociedades con unas características especiales tanto en su regulación como en su tributación, tradicionalmente más ventajosa, a las que se les atribuye importantes funciones sociales. En este trabajo realizamos un cálculo del impuesto sobre sociedades pagado con objeto de medir la presión fiscal de las empresas cooperativas y de esta forma valorar si se producen diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre los diferentes tipos de estas empresas, según tamaños, sectores y comunidades autónomas. Para ello partimos de la información adicional de tipo fiscal que ofrecen los balances anuales a partir del año 2008, como consecuencia de la adaptación de la legislación mercantil a las Normas Internacionales de Contabilidad y trabajamos sobre una muestra de empresas cooperativas durante cuatro años.

The rise and fall in the price of food, fuel and manufactured goods : interdependency between prices and technology determining comparative advantages and development paths

Green innovation, which enables us to extract energy from food crops, caused a food shortage in 2008. Countries suffering severe damage started to reconsider their agricultural policy with the aim of becoming more autonomous. The food price hike of the time looks like a reversal of the celebrated Singer-Prebisch thesis proposed in the 1950s. This paper examines the consequences of this trend on the comparative advantages and development strategies of developing countries. For that purpose, first, trends and short-run fluctuations in the prices of fuel and bio-energy crops are investigated. It is shown that the price series of fuels and the crops are synchronized only after the fuel extracting technology came into effect. Second, the reversal of the Singer-Prebisch thesis is underpinned by the generic form of an endogenous growth model developed by Rebelo (1991). It is shown that as an economy grows, appreciation of the non-reproducible, such as mineral resources and raw labor, over the reproducible, such as capital goods, is the norm rather than an anomaly. Third, the consequences of the food price hike and underlying capital accumulation on the development strategies of labor-abundant and low-income countries are explored. It is concluded that the impact of the food price hikes on the alteration of a development strategy is only incremental, without reinforcement from raw-labor-saving innovation. A case study of inventions by JUKI Corporation, a world-leader in the sewing machine market exemplifies the fact that, of all the major inventions the company have made, raw-labor-saving inventions have not dominated, although JUKI's machines are sold to one of the most raw-labor-intensive industries.

"Food For Thought" Selected Design Installation DIA Homegrown 2011 Life In the Slow Lane Exhibition: Little Stanley Street, South Bank, Brisbane

'Homegrown is an initiative of the Design Institute of Australia–Queensland Branch to promote the collaboration and cultivation of local design talent in Queensland and strengthen the connection between design, plate, planet, people and culture.' Homegrown 2011 Exhibition Catalogue Excerpt

Defining expected cost for the air conditioning to avoid a price spike of electricity market under DSR model

This work presents a demand side response model (DSR) which assists small electricity consumers, through an aggregator, exposed to the market price to proactively mitigate price and peak impact on the electrical system. The proposed model allows consumers to manage air-conditioning when as a function of possible price spikes. The main contribution of this research is to demonstrate how consumers can minimise the total expected cost by optimising air-conditioning to account for occurrences of a price spike in the electricity market. This model investigates how pre-cooling method can be used to minimise energy costs when there is a substantial risk of an electricity price spike. The model was tested with Queensland electricity market data from the Australian Energy Market Operator and Brisbane temperature data from the Bureau of Statistics during hot days on weekdays in the period 2011 to 2012.

Consumers' attitudes towards food prices

High food prices can be a barrier to healthy eating because some of the food products may be perceived as expensive. Understanding the role of price in food purchase situations is important, but only a few studies document attitudes towards expensiveness or cheapness in foods. In this thesis, the role of food price in food choice and consumers attitudes towards food prices were investigated and the aim was to measure the food price attitudes. Food price attitudes were hypothesized to have an impact on consumers willingness to pay judgements and their willingness to buy premium-priced food products. First, using qualitative data consisting of 40 thematic interviews the experiences of the expensiveness and cheapness in foods were explored by using functional food products as a target product category. Second, a Food Price Attitude Scale was developed using four quantitative surveys representing Finnish consumers (2001 N=1158; 2002 N=1156; 2004a N=1113; 2004b N=1027). Food price attitudes were confirmed to compose a multidimensional construct and consumers may perceive positive and negative attitudes towards both high and low food prices. Finnish consumers were clustered into four groups based on their food price attitudes. In the first group, 29% of respondents were negative towards high food prices and they were willing to seek low food prices, whereas respondents in another group (22%) were positive towards high food prices. Additionally, in the third group consumers (17%) were willing to pay for high quality but still looked for low food prices. In the fourth group, consumers (32%) were willing to look for low food prices, unwilling to pay for high quality, but high-priced food was appreciated if offered to others. It was found in qualitative data that consumers willingness to accept high prices in foods was connected to price fairness and to justifications. Feelings of fairness or unfairness might be a core element of food price attitudes. Using quantitative methods, it was confirmed that positive attitudes towards high food prices in terms of high quality enhanced consumers willingness to buy food products with certain benefits (e.g., a health claim). Additionally, the favourable attitude towards low food prices lowered the willingness to pay estimates. This type of tendency, however, can create a possible bias in small convenient samples. In the food price-related research, it is advisable to take into account food price attitudes as possible background variables. The Food Price Attitude Scale needs further development to increase construct validity even though, in the present study, it was shown to be a reliable measure with good predictive and discriminant validity. The theoretical and managerial implications of the results for a better understanding of the role of price in consumers food purchases are discussed.

Análisis de la crisis financiera de estados unidos (2007-2008) y la crisis de deuda (2011): su relación e impacto sobre uno de los fundamentales de la economía colombiana, la tasa de cambio

Este documento presenta una perspectiva de como una economía pequeña y abierta (en temas comerciales y de inversión) como la colombiana, se ve afectada por choques que sufren economías grandes como la estadounidense. Durante el periodo de estudio la economía de Estados Unidos sufrió dos choques: primero la crisis de las hipotecas subprime en los años 2007-2008; luego la crisis de deuda soberana de Estados Unidos en 2011. Estos dos choques afectaron la economía colombiana. En ambos casos, se puede establecer un hecho clave que detonó las crisis. En el primero, la entrada en el capítulo 11 de protección a bancarrotas por parte de Lehman Brothers, el 15 de septiembre de 2008. En el segundo, el detonante fue la baja de la calificación de la deuda soberana de Estados Unidos por parte de Standard and Poor´s el 5 de agosto de 2011. Estos días claves en las crisis, afectaron los principales índices de la bolsa de Estados Unidos, especialmente los relacionados con la actividad financiera, luego es de suponer que posiblemente también afectaron fundamentales de la economía colombiana como lo es la tasa de cambio peso-dólar (USD/COP). Este documento tiene como objeto principal, establecer el impacto de las crisis Norteamericana de 2007-2008 y de 2011, sobre la economía colombiana, específicamente sobre la tasa de cambio USD/COP. El documento también, analiza las causas que generaron dichas crisis en Estados Unidos, haciendo énfasis en la falta de regulación y control por parte de las instituciones del gobierno en la crisis de las hipotecas subprime. De igual forma se analiza el papel de las firmas calificadoras de riesgo, en la crisis de deuda estadounidense.