Texas A&M International University: Research Information Online (RIO)
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The evolution of remotely sensed precipitation products for hydrological applications with a focus on the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM)
No full textThis study examines the evolution of how remotely sensed precipitation products have impacted hydrologic modeling from six basins across the continental United States. Precipi- tation products include both ground-based (Multisensor Precipitation Estimator - MPE) and space-based products. Two space-based products are from the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) and include the real-time TRMM Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA-RT) and TRMM 3B42 Research product. Precipitation products are compared be- tween early (2004-2007) and late (2008-2010) periods. Additionally, version 6 and the new version 7 of these TRMM products are examined. Watersheds examined were moderately large (1233 to 8905 square kilometers) and include the San Pedro (Arizona), Cimarron (Oklahoma); Alapaha (Georgia), mid-Nueces (Texas), San Casimiro (Texas), and the mid-Rio Grande basins, which is a bi-national basin that spans the Texas-Mexico border. Precipitation products are used to drive streamflow simulations using the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The main results of this study concludes that MPE is a mature remote sensing product that generally supports superior hydrologic simulations based on standard performance metrics such as mass balance error and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient. Both versions of TRMM products generally support acceptable simulations. Improved performance during the late period for TMPA-RT is noted and this improvement is related to modification of TRMM in January 2009 with the addition of more satellite data and a climatologic bias correction, which greatly improves the real-time TMPA-RT product
Sensitivity analysis framework for large-scale system-of-systems applications
No full textSensitivity analysis (SA) is studying the impact input changes (nature and magnitude) have on outputs. The objective of this paper is to present a methodology to perform sensitivity analysis on a system dynamics simulation model that was developed in support of the Secure Border Initiative (SBI). Specifically the analysis will investigate Section 287(g) of The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (1996). Due to the fact that the systems dynamics model used is a deterministic model, there was a need to induce variability using random sampling. The variability was propagated through the outputs and allowed the researchers to identify not only point estimates of what increases are required to bring the 287(g) policy to baseline values, but also calculate confidence bands. Implementing the 287(g) policy with no other system adjustments has a detrimental impact on performance in terms of fugitives and non-criminal removals. Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
La cobertura mediática de la estatización de YPF en la prensa Argentina. Un análisis comparativo entre los principales diarios del país.
No full textEl 16 de abril de 2012 el gobierno argentino anunció la decisión de expropiar el 51% de las acciones de YPF S.A. pertenecientes a la petrolera española Repsol. El Poder Ejecutivo esgrimió como argumentos centrales la necesidad de enfrentar una política de vaciamiento ejercida por la controlante y de recuperar la soberanía energética mediante el manejo estatal del petróleo. YPF, además de ser la mayor empresa de Argentina, posee una participación mayoritaria en el mercado de combustibles en el país. Días más tarde, la medida fue ratificada por el Congreso Nacional. La noticia penetró rápidamente en la agenda de los principales medios nacionales e internacionales. El objetivo general del presente trabajo es analizar la cobertura informativa del proceso de estatización de YPF en la prensa gráfica argentina. A partir de un análisis de contenido de las noticias sobre el caso publicadas en portada por los diarios Clarín, La Nación y Página/12, se pretende determinar: 1) la frecuencia informativa de la estatización de YPF; 2) la jerarquía de este issue para cada medio y 3) la valoración de la noticia en las coberturas de cada matutino. El presente trabajo se enmarca en la perspectiva teórica de la Agenda Setting. AbstractOn April 16th 2012 the Argentine government announced the decision to expropriate 51% of the shares of YPF S.A. belonging to the Spanish oil company Repsol. The Executive Branch put forward the need to face the emptying policy exercised by the parent company and the pressing concern to regain its energy sovereignty through state control of oil, as the most important arguments. Besides being the largest company in Argentina, YPF owns a majority stake in the fuel market in the country. A few days later, the measure was ratified by National Congress. The news quickly entered the agenda of major national and international media. The aim of this paper is to analyze the coverage of the nationalization process of YPF in the Argentine print media. From the content analysis on the news published on covers by Clarín, La Nación and Página/12, this work intends to determine: 1) the information frequency of the nationalization of YPF, 2) the hierarchy of this issue for each newspaper and 3) the evaluation of the news in the coverage made by each of the newspapers. This paper is written within the context of the Agenda Setting theoretical perspective
Muñiz, C. (Ed.). (2011). Comunicación, política y ciudadanía. Aportaciones actuales al estudio de la comunicación política. México: Fontanamara.
No full textReseña de la obra de Carlos Muñiz (Ed.). (2011). Comunicación, política y ciudadanía. Aportaciones actuales al estudio de la comunicación política. México: Fontanamara
The Effect of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Diffusion on Corruption and Transparency (A Global Study)
Get PDFIs the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) the “magic bullet” for effectively reducing corruption? Can government transparency be increased by ICT diffusion? Does ICT diffusion increase governmental transparency, thereby reducing corruption? A few previous studies have measured the relationship between ICTs, transparency, and corruption. Generally, such studies focus on the role of electronic governance (e-governance) in facilitating state-citizen interactions and how e-governance acts as a corruption deterrent. This study digresses from past literature by directly exploring the effects of the ICT environment, using the Networked Readiness Index (NRI), and diffusion of two specific ICTs (e.g. the number of Internet users per 100 people and mobile cellular phone users per 100 people) on corruption and transparency through structural equation modeling. This study also examines how macroeconomic and national sociocultural variables mediate and moderate the relationships of ICTs on transparency and corruption. The results show that for each increase unit in NRI, transparency increased by 9.423% and corruption decreased by 14.017%. Furthermore, increasing access to the Internet by 27 people per 100 persons increased transparency by 17.581% and reduced corruption by 15.239%. Additionally, each unit increase in per capita GDP results in an increase in transparency by 7.068% and a decrease in corruption by 10.507%. Conversely, increases in FDI and mobile cellular diffusion demonstrated marginal results on increasing transparency and reducing corruption. Implications of these findings as well as avenues for further research are discussed
Albornoz, L. y García Leiva, T. (Eds.). (2012). La Televisión Digital Terrestre. Experiencias nacionales y diversidad en Europa, América y Asia. Buenos Aires: La Crujía
No full textReseña de la obra de Luis A. Albornoz y M. Trinidad García Leiva (Eds.). (2012). La Televisión Digital Terrestre. Experiencias nacionales y diversidad en Europa, América y Asia. Buenos Aires: La Crují
Los vínculos y la conversación 2.0. Miradas de adolescentes argentinos sobre Facebook
No full textEste trabajo explora cómo adolescentes de diferentes barrios de la ciudad de Buenos Aires sostienen vínculos con sus amigos y con otras personas por medio de la conversación virtual en Facebook. A través de entrevistas en profundidad a chicos y chicas de 17 y 18 años, el objetivo fue indagar sobre las nuevas formas de contacto y las transformaciones de las relaciones de amistad a partir de la retroalimentación entre el mundo virtual y el “real”, en una etapa vital marcada por la búsqueda de la identidad personal y la relevancia de los vínculos con los pares. El análisis cualitativo de las entrevistas mostró que la dimensión física y presencial de la amistad sigue ocupando un lugar fundamental para los adolescentes. Asimismo, la conversación constante que las redes introducen en la vida cotidiana se perfila como una manera de mantener un contacto permanente, en el que la función fática de la comunicación se impone sobre el contenido de los mensajes. La aprobación de los pares –condensada en el botón “Me gusta”– resulta determinante para los jóvenes, quienes encuentran en estos espacios virtuales nuevas formas de sociabilidad, sin por eso perder los modos de construir amistad previos a la “era Facebook”. AbstractThis paper analyzes how teenagers from different neighborhoods of Buenos Aires (Argentina) use Facebook in order to keep in touch with their friends and other people. Several 17 and 18-year-old adolescents were in-depth interviewed in order to explore how the relationships they hold with their friends have been affected by the new possibilities of interaction that the social network offers. This article deals as well with the difference between virtual and “real” interactions, in a life stage that is defined by the search for self-identity and the importance of peer relationships. The qualitative analysis of the interviews revealed that the physical aspects of friendship and face-to-face encounters are still crucial for teenagers. Furthermore, the constant conversation that social networks have introduced in everyday life appears as a way of keeping permanent contact, in which the phatic function of communication prevails over the content of messages. Peer approval –condensed in the “Like” button– is critically important for adolescents, who find in this virtual spaces new ways of sociability, along with the persistence of other ways of building friendship prior to the emergence of Facebook
Comunicación política y opinión pública: el caso del primer gobierno de alternancia política en Puebla
No full textEl presente artículo es un análisis de la comunicación política en el primer gobierno de alternancia en el Estado de Puebla y la divergencia pública entre logros, avances y resultados y una desconfianza social producto de la falta de consensos y la limitada participación social. El estudio evalúa la estrategia de comunicación política de un gobierno promotor de mayores espacios democráticos pero que en la práctica poco contribuyó a mejorar la confianza social, tanto por la ponderación excesiva del valor simbólico de sus acciones como por la construcción de escenarios ficticios de legitimidad. La investigación analiza el contenido de los documentos oficiales, los tratamientos periodísticos de cinco periódicos referentes en el Estado y los resultados de diversos sondeos de opinión, a partir de cinco categorías de análisis propuestas por los especialistas para un gobierno de alternancia centrado en una relación dialógica con los ciudadanos.Palabras clave: políticas públicas, marketing político, niveles de gobernabilidad, confianza social y transición democrática AbstractThis paper is an analysis of political communication in the first alternative government in the state of Puebla and the public divergence between achievements, progress and results with respect to a social distrust due to lack of consensus and limited social participation. The study evaluates the communication strategy of a government which promotes more democratic spaces, but in practice does little to improve social confidence, both due to the excessive weight of the symbolic value of their actions as well as its construction of fictional scenarios of legitimacy. The research analyzes the contents of official documents, journalistic treatments concerning five newspapers in the state and the results of various opinion polls, with regards to five categories deemed by the specialist as a necessary requirement for a government to maintain a dialogic interaction with its citizens.Key Words: Public Policies, Political Communication, Governability Level, Social Acceptance, Democratic Transitio