Field measurements of the CO2 evolution rate under different crops during an irrigation cycle in a mountain oasis of Oman

For millennia oasis agriculture has been the backbone of rural livelihood in the desertic Sultanate of Oman. However, little is known about the functioning of these oasis systems, in particular with respect to the C turnover. The objective was to determine the effects of crop, i.e. alfalfa, wheat and bare fallow on the CO2 evolution rate during an irrigation cycle in relation to changes in soil water content and soil temperature. The gravimetric soil water content decreased from initially 24% to approximately 16% within 7 days after irrigation. The mean CO2 evolution rates increased significantly in the order fallow (27.4 mg C m^−2 h^−1) < wheat (45.5 mg C m^−2 h^−1) < alfalfa (97.5 mg C m^−2 h^−1). It can be calculated from these data that the CO2 evolution rate of the alfalfa root system was nearly four times higher than the corresponding rate in the wheat root system. The decline in CO2 evolution rate, especially during the first 4 days after irrigation, was significantly related to the decline in the gravimetric water content, with r = 0.70. CO2 evolution rate and soil temperature at 5 cm depth were negatively correlated (r = -0.56,n = 261) due to increasing soil temperature with decreasing gravimetric water content.

Factors influencing a conversion to organic farming in Nepalese tea farms

Organic agriculture in developing countries has increased in past decades especially due to the high demand of organic products in developed countries. The rate of conversion to organic production in Nepal, however, is observed much slower than expected. This study investigates factors that determine the conversion to organic production using Nepalese tea producers as a case study. A survey of 181 farmers was conducted in the Ilam and Panchthar district of Nepal, among which 86 were organic farmers and 95 were conventional farmers. A discriminant analysis was used to identify socio-economic characteristics that distinguish conventional and organic farmers. Results from the estimated discriminant function suggest that farmers located in a distance from regional markets, older in age, better trained, affiliated with institutions and having larger farms are more likely to adopt organic production. Similarly, a factor analysis shows that environmental awareness, bright market prospects, observable economic benefit and health consciousness are the major factors influencing farmers’ decisions on the conversion to organic production. While planning programs for the development of the organic tea sector in Nepal, policy makers should consider the support of farmers’ institutions, provision of training to farmers and raise farmers’ awareness about the environmental, economic and health benefits of organic farming.

Effects of grassland conversion and tillage intensities on soil microbial biomass, residues and community structure

Agricultural intensification has a strong impact on level of soil organic matter (SOM), microbial biomass stocks and microbial community structure in agro-ecosystems. The size of the microbial necromass C pool could be about 40 times that of the living microbial biomass C pool in soils. Due to the specificity, amino sugar analysis gives more important information on the relative contribution of fungal and bacterial residues to C sequestration potential of soils. Meanwhile, the relationship between microbial biomass and microbial necromass in soil and its ecological significance on SOM are not fully understood and likely to be very complex in grassland soils. This thesis focuses on the effects of tillage, grassland conversion intensities and fertilisation on microbial biomass, residues and community structure. The combined analyses of microbial biomass and residue formation of both fungi and bacteria provided a unique opportunity to study the effect of tillage, grassland conversion and fertilisation on soil microbial dynamics. In top soil at 0-30 cm layer, a reduction in tillage intensity by the GRT and NT treatments increased the accumulation of saprotrophic fungi in comparison with the MBT treatment. In contrast, the GRT and NT treatments promoted AMF at the expense of saprotrophic fungi in the bottom soil layer at 30-40 cm depth. The negative relationship between the ergosterol to microbial biomass C ratio and the fungal C to bacterial C ratio points to the importance of the relationship between saprotrophic fungi and biotrophic AMF for tillage-induced changes in microbial turnover of SOC. One-season cultivation of winter wheat with two tillage events led to a significant loss in SOC and microbial biomass C stocks at 0-40 cm depth in comparison with the permanent grassland, even 5 years after the tillage event. However, the tillage induced loss in microbial biomass C was roughly 40% less in the long-term than in the short-term of the current experiment, indicating a recovery process during grassland restoration. In general, mould board tillage and grassland conversion to maize monoculture promoted saprotrophic fungi at the expense of biotrophic AMF and bacteria compared to undisturbed grassland soils. Slurry application promoted bacterial residues as indicated by the decreases in both, the ergosterol to microbial biomass C ratio and the fungal C to bacterial C ratio. In addition, the lost microbial functional diversity due to tillage and maize monoculture was restored by slurry application both in arable and grassland soils. I conclude that the microbial biomass C/S ratio can be used as an additional indicator for a shift in microbial community. The strong relationships between microbial biomass and necromass indices points to the importance of saprotrophic fungi and biotrophic AMF for agricultural management induced effects on microbial turnover and ecosystem C storage. Quantitative information on exact biomass estimates of these two important fungal groups in soil is inevitably necessary to understand their different roles in SOM dynamics.

Methods of generating carrier-envelope-phase stabilized, intense, few-cycle laser pulses

Ultrafast laser pulses have become an integral part of the toolbox of countless laboratories doing physics, chemistry, and biological research. The work presented here is motivated by a section in the ever-growing, interdisciplinary research towards understanding the fundamental workings of light-matter interactions. Specifically, attosecond pulses can be useful tools to obtain the desired insight. However access to, and the utility of, such pulses is dependent on the generation of intense, few-cycle, carrier-envelope-phase stabilized laser pulses. The presented work can be thought of as a sort of roadmap towards the latter. From the oscillator which provides the broadband seed to amplification methods, the integral pieces necessary for the generation of attosecond pulses are discussed. A range of topics from the fundamentals to design challenges is presented, outfitting the way towards the practical implementation of an intense few-cycle carrier-envelope-phase stabilized laser source.

Nanostructures and energy conversion

The unique properties of nanostructures associated with their low dimensionality give rise to new opportunities for research on nanoscale heat transfer and energy conversion. Inspired by Majumdar’s analysis of the novel aspects of heat, mass, and charge flow across the interface between hard and soft materials, some perspectives about research frontiers in nanoscale heat transfer and energy conversion are provided.

The Personal tutorial guidance sessions in the framework of the teaching-learning field of the Bologna process: University of Minho (first cycle) courses students’ perceptions

The Bologna Process defends the adoption of a higher education in teaching-learning methodologies that – in contraposition to the previous model based on the transmission of knowledge, which for being essentially theoretical, gives the student a passive role in the knowledge construction process – allows a (pro) active, autonomous and practical learning, where the student acquires and develops his competences. The personal tutorial guidance sessions are included in the teaching contact hours. This abstract presents a study about the University of Minho (first cycle) Courses Students’ perceptions of the personal tutorial guidance sessions’ relevance in the scope of the learning-teaching process, so as to confirm if the implementation/implantation of the commonly called tutorial (type) education, as an approach to an active, autonomous and practical learning, is sensed by the learners themselves

Breaking the Cycle

A radio program requires several creation and work stages before it can be aired on a radio station. It is very important to begin with a defined concept that can be presented to media. Breaking the Cycle will be a radio talk show designed to feature lifestyle subjects. This document will expose all the production phases of the program, including the complete presentation of the edition on obesity, which is the pilot program. Together with detailed format information, the reader will find all the elements necessary in order to produce this radio product, such as work team, budget, technical completion and more. The information gathered in this document can work as a program proposal, in order to sell the show to any radio media organization suitable for the format. In addition to this written presentation, this project includes a recorded audio pilot that features the final product of Breaking the Cycle¿s concept.

La reintegración social y económica de los grupos armados ilegales en Colombia: reflexiones a partir de la trayectoria de nueve excombatientes

Esta investigación toma como marco general la Política de Reintegración Social y económica de personas y grupos alzados en armas en Colombia, en donde tras el estudio de las trayectorias en el conflicto de un grupo de 9 excombatientes, se aborda la relación existente entre los beneficios otorgados por dicha política y aquello que facilitó y motivó el ingreso, la permanencia y desmovilización de los grupos armados. Se presenta una caracterización e interpretación conceptual de las denominadas trayectorias en el conflicto, son establecidas relaciones y diferencias entre las organizaciones ilegales FARC y las AUC, se revisan las percepciones que frente a los beneficios del programa de reintegración tienen excombatientes y profesionales de la entidad que lidera dicho proceso y a partir de ello, es argumentada la incidencia que sobre el éxito de esta política tienen las características individuales y particulares, tanto de los excombatientes como de las organizaciones armadas ilegales.

Plan de negocios para la creación de una empresa dedicada a la atención, entrenamiento, estética y cuidado de los perros como mascota, ubicada en un centro comercial de la ciudad de Bogotá

Descripción del Negocio Kinderpup es una guardería para perros como mascota ubicada en el centro comercial Unicentro en la ciudad de Bogotá, creada para atender las necesidades de las personas propietarias de éstas mascotas, las cuales presentan inconvenientes al dar un paseo por varios lugares en los cuales no es permitido el acceso de estos animales. Los lugares más comunes son los centros comerciales, y es precisamente por esto que el proyecto se concentra en este tipo de establecimientos. El objetivo es ofrecer tranquilidad y comodidad a los usuarios de nuestros servicios, brindando atención y cariño a sus mascotas y entendiéndolas como parte importante de las familias. Para cumplir con nuestro objetivo, Kinderpup contará con personal calificado siempre dispuesto a prestar servicios de guardería, veterinaria, peluquería y entrenamiento, esenciales para mantener a las mascotas saludables, hermosas y felices. El servicio de peluquería incluye corte de pelo, arreglo de uñas y dientes; entrenamiento, incluye salida a pasear alrededor del centro comercial y adiestramiento por un entrenador capacitado. El servicio veterinario incluye diagnostico, historia clínica del canino, revisión general y recomendaciones. También se cuenta con artículos para la venta, concentrado y productos de estética animal, que podrán ser adquiridos por los usuarios de las mascotas en la sede de Kinderpup. Mercado En Colombia actualmente no existe un espacio adecuado para atender a las mascotas en los centros comerciales, aún se mantiene prohibido el acceso de animales a estos establecimientos y las personas propietarias de mascotas que frecuentan estos lugares plantean la necesidad de proporcionar un espacio para que puedan dejar sus animales allí. Dado a lo que sugiere el mercado potencial y a la localización central del centro comercial Unicentro, se da la oportunidad de ofrecer diferentes servicios además de guardería a las personas de estratos 4, 5 y 6 que frecuentan los centros comerciales y que necesitan un lugar de confianza para dejar a sus mascotas cuando tengan que salir y no los puedan llevar, quieran peluquear a su perro o adiestrarlo. De igual manera, este servicio es muy beneficioso para las personas que viven alrededor del centro comercial debido a que durante la semana tienen la preocupación de dejar a su mascota sola en casa o con una persona inexperta. Según el estudio de mercados, existe un porcentaje interesante de personas que visitan los establecimientos comerciales en fines de semana, el 26% de 100 personas encuestadas asisten al centro comercial entre 2 y 3 veces al mes y el 22%, van 4 veces al mes, además el 44% de los encuestados dicen que el centro comercial de su preferencia es Unicentro y una cifra todavía más significativa es que el 78% de las personas llevarían a su perro al centro comercial si esto no fuera prohibido. Operaciones El ciclo de servicio comienza a partir de que el cliente se acerca a solicitar información en la recepción de Kinderpup, al recibir un volante publicitario o comunicándose con nosotros por teléfono o email. A partir del momento en que las personas deseen dejar su mascota a nuestro cuidado, se procede a un acercamiento con la mascota que le proporcione tranquilidad tanto a la mascota como a su amo y, a continuación se ejecuta el servicio indicado según el caso. Equipo de Gestión El equipo gestor de Kinderpup estará formado por los siguientes integrantes:  Silvia Valencia: Veterinaria, responsable de asesorar sobre el cuidado de las mascotas, las normas de higiene y protección y administrar la guardería.  José Segura: Promotor de ventas encargado de hacer los contactos con las empresas proveedoras, agencias de publicidad y Unicentro.  Ana María Romero: Directora encargada de dirigir a los empleados y de planear las estrategias de mercadeo y competitividad. Viabilidad económica La inversión a realizar es de $47’599.463, financiados en un 60% por una entidad financiera, se asume un incremento en ventas del 4% según la investigación de mercados, además un aumento de los costos y precios en un 3%. Tras este análisis podemos identificar los principales indicadores financieros que nos guiaran en la toma de decisión acerca de la viabilidad del mismo: Los flujos de caja que tenemos para obtener los anteriores indicativos son los siguientes: 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 $ -47.599.463,20 $ 17.056.542,57 $ 13.744.893,02 $ 25.924.959,20 $ 39.316.390,43 $ 52.499.868,67

Incremento de la salud financiera mediante la utilización de la relación estratégica comunitaria y marketing.

Debido a las crisis mundiales, la perdurabilidad empresarial se ha convertido en la primera preocupación de las organizaciones, puesto que los problemas económicos en otros países pueden generar un efecto negativo en las condiciones del mercado doméstico, que junto con el entorno empresarial complejo y dinámico en el que se deben desempeñar las empresas hoy en día gracias a la globalización, sumado al aumento en la competitividad nacional e internacional, la perdurabilidad de las empresas se está viendo seriamente comprometida. Lo anterior, ha llevado a las empresas a buscar nuevas formas de mejorar su salud financiera. Para medir la salud financiera empresarial, se pueden usar distintos indicadores como lo es el flujo de caja que está asociado con la rentabilidad, el patrimonio que está asociado a las dificultades financieras, entre otros, o a través de varios modelos de bancarrota, los cuales, por medio de un conjunto de ratios financieros, reflejan el estado actual de la organización y su probabilidad de fracaso en el futuro. Las estrategias comunitarias y el marketing permiten incrementar la salud financiera de las empresas a través de la orientación al cliente y el establecimiento de relaciones gana-gana a largo plazo con las diferentes comunidades con las que se relaciona la organización.

Sustain Cycle

En la búsqueda de preservar el medio ambiente y estandarizar la disposición final de los residuos generados, Sustain Cycle nace como un gestor de residuos de aceite vegetal usado, reforzando la carente oferta del mercado. Fortaleciendo el compromiso de los generadores de este residuo además de una reducción de costos, la creación de Sustain Cycle se desarrolla bajo la figura jurídica de Fundación, deduciendo en los contribuyentes del impuesto el valor de las donaciones efectuadas. El aporte ambiental se basa en minimizar el riesgo de una mala disposición en la red de alcantarillado y su componente social se enfoca en evitar la reutilización ilegal y perjudicial para el consumidor. Sustain Cycle se centra en la recolección, acopio, filtrado y comercialización del AVU generado por todos los establecimientos comerciales que produzcan alimentos como papas a la francesa, empanadas, buñuelos, churros, plátanos y demás productos que requieran del aceite para su cocción.

On the design of education conditional cash transfer programs and non education outcomes: the case of teenage pregnancy

We investigate the effect of education Conditional Cash Transfer programs (CCTs) on teenage pregnancy. Our main concern is with how the size and sign of the effect may depend on the design of the program. Using a simple model we show that an education CCT that conditions renewal on school performance reduces teenage pregnancy; the program can increase teenage pregnancy if it does not condition on school performance. Then, using an original data base, we estimate the causal impact on teenage pregnancy of two education CCTs implemented in Bogot´a (Subsidio Educativo, SE, and Familias en Acci´on, FA); both programs differ particularly on whether school success is a condition for renewal or not. We show that SE has negative average effect on teenage pregnancy while FA has a null average effect. We also find that SE has either null or no effect for adolescents in all age and grade groups while FA has positive, null or negative effects for adolescents in different age and grade groups. Since SE conditions renewal on school success and FA does not, we can argue that the empirical results are consistent with the predictions of our model and that conditioning renewal of the subsidy on school success crucially determines the effect of the subsidy on teenage pregnancy

Business cycle asymmentries: An investment cost approach

In this paper, investment cost asymmetry is introduced in order to test wheter this kind of asymmetry can account for asymmetries in business cycles. By using a smooth transition function, asymmetric investment cost is modeled and introduced in a canonical RBC model. Simulations of the model with Perturbations Method (PM) are very close to simulations through Parameterized Expectations Algorithm (PEA), which allows the use of the former for the sake of time reduction and computational costs. Both symmetric and asymmetric models were simulated and compared. Deterministic and stochastic impulse-response excersices revealed that it is possible to adequately reproduce asymmetric business cycles by modeling asymmetric investment costs. Simulations also showed that higher order moments are insu_cient to detect asymmetries. Instead, methods such as Generalized Impulse Response Analysis (GIRA) and Nonlinear Econometrics prove to be more e_cient diagnostic tools.

Business cycle asymmetries: Loss aversion, sticky prices, and wages

In this chapter, the Smets-Wouters (2003) New Kenesian model is reformulated by introducing the loss aversion utility function developed in chapter two. The purpose of this is to understand how asymmetric real business cycles are linked to asymmetric behavior of agents in a price and wage rigidities set up. The simulations of the model reveal not only that the loss aversion in consumption and leisure is a good mechanism channel for explaining business cycle asymmetries, but also is a good mechanism channel for explaining asymmetric adjustment of prices and wages. Therefore the existence of asymmetries in Phillips Curve. Moreover, loss aversion makes downward rigidities in prices and wages stronger and also reproduces a more severe and persistent fall of the employment. All in all, this model generates asymmetrical real business cycles, asymmetric price and wage adjustment as well as hysteresis.