1,720,960 research outputs found
Energy intensity of the Argentine economy and agriculture sector : a decomposition exercise and policy evaluation
Full text linkFil: Ghersa, Felipe. Universidad de San Andrés. Departamento de Ciencias Sociales; Argentina.Argentina is the seventh largest producer of agricultural products in the world, and as such, its economy is highly dependent upon the relative health of its ecological systems to sustain agricultural production. Understanding energy intensity, the amount of energy used to produce one unit of output, is a key metric in order to gage the sustainability of a system. Considering that all physical systems are constrained by the laws of thermodynamics, the way they use energy to maintain structure and function tells us about their capacity to persist in time, what Ludwig Bolztmann stated as a “fight against entropy”. In this thesis, the economic energy intensity of the Argentine economy and agriculture sector between 1960 and 2013 is examined. This research project has two main objectives, the first is to decompose energy intensity and evaluate the weight of two contributing factors, the efficiency of energy use and the sectoral composition of the economy through Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI I). The second objective is to provide an energy efficiency policy evaluation scheme under which we suggest certain proposals to future policymakers. Our results show that changes in technical energy efficiency have played a dominant role, relative to economic structure, in the trends of energy intensity. The general economy has an inverted U-shaped curve in its intensity trend, such that between 1960 and 2013 there have been no real improvements in either energy consumption or energy efficiency. At the sectoral level, the economic energy intensity trends have been either inverted U-shaped or strictly increasing, which provides a partial explanation behind the patterns at the aggregate level. The agriculture sector has both increasing intensity, consumption and a high dependence on fossil fuels. Considering that we only take into account the energy used within the economic system (as opposed to all ecosystemic energy flows) our trends only show a partial view of the true situation. Thus, the evidence presented suggests that Argentina is treading down an unsustainable path from a systemic standpoint, in both its general economy and agriculture sector. Feeble energy efficiency oriented public policy and institutions, together with high dependence on fossil fuels, increasing consumption and either stable or increasing energy intensity propose serious difficulties to ensure the longevity of the productive forces behind the Argentine economy and agriculture sector. The incapacity of the productive systems to increase their efficiency could stem from the fact that the degradation of natural capital has exceeded that which technology and higher quality energy can compensate for
Predicting land use and environmental dynamics in Argentina's Pampas region: An agent-based modeling approach across varied price and climatic scenarios
No full textThis study, employing the AGRODEVS Agent-Based Model (ABM), systematically examined land use dynamics in Argentina´s Pampas Region. Simulations under diverse scenarios highlighted the significant role of economic determinants, particularly crop price relationships, in influencing maize or wheat/soybean double cropping prevalence. Maize-dominated landscapes consistently achieved carbon sequestration goals, while wheat/soybean landscapes faced challenges, notably in ecotoxicity. Scenarios encompassed varying climatic conditions and soybean/maize price ratios, providing insights into the interplay shaping agricultural land use decisions among individual agents. The AGRODEVS model´s robust performance underscored its effectiveness in integrating economic and environmental factors, contributing to a practical understanding of sustainable land use planning complexities.Fil: Ferraro, Diego Omar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; ArgentinaFil: Ghersa, Felipe. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones Fisiológicas y Ecológicas Vinculadas a la Agricultura; ArgentinaFil: Castro, Rodrigo Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias de la Computación. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias de la Computación; Argentin
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
AgrOptim : una plataforma de simulación y optimización para el diseño de agroecosistemas sustentables
No full textLos objetivos económicos y ambientales de productores agrícolas a menudo presentan compromisos. Diseñar sistemas agrícolas que cumplan con estos objetivos y reduzcan los compromisos que existen entre ellos requiere evaluar un gran conjunto de combinaciones de variables de decisión agronómica. Esto se ve obstaculizado cuando se utilizan experimentos de campo,que requieren una gran cantidad de espacio, tiempo y recursos para medir adecuadamente las complejas interrelaciones entre los componentes humanos y naturales de los sistemas de producción. Los modelos de simulación de cultivos acoplados con algoritmos de optimización pueden proporcionar una herramienta sólida para diseñar los sistemas de cultivo bajo condiciones ambientales y de manejo actuales y futuras. En esta tesis, se presenta AgrOptim un framework que integra un modelo de simulación de cultivos (DSSAT), un modelo de simulación de riesgo ecotoxicológico (RIPEST), indicadores de Síntesis Emergética y algoritmos genéticos para optimizar objetivos económicos y biofísicos utilizando diferentes combinaciones de variables de decisión agronómica (es decir, secuencia de cultivos, estructura de cultivo, tipos y dosis de pesticidas y fertilizantes). El framework se implementó en Pergamino, Argentina, para (1) caracterizar la relación entre los objetivos económicos y ambientales y (2) evaluar el estado actual y las mejoras potenciales de tres sistemas de cultivo en la región. Para esto, se diseñó un experimento de optimización multiobjetivo para sistemas de cultivo extensivos de 30 años, de acuerdo con prácticas agrícolas modales. Se utilizó la optimalidad de Pareto para optimizar simultáneamente un objetivo económico (retorno de la inversión) y cuatro objetivos biofísicos (entradas de carbono de residuos de cultivo, eficiencia de uso de la precipitación, relación de energía no renovable a renovable, y la ecotoxicidad de fitosanitarios). Los resultados mostraron que, aunque con intensidad variable, existen compromisos entre los objetivos económicos y todos los objetivos ambientales. Además, las variables de decisión que proporcionaron un mejor rendimiento biofísico en términos de residuos de carbono, eficiencia de uso de la precipitación y riesgo ecotoxicológico presentan niveles más altos de uso de energía no renovable. Los sistemas de cultivo mostraron brechas de mejora tanto en los objetivos económicos como biofísicos y se identificaron variables de decisión que permitieron mejorar el rendimiento biofísico mientras se mantenía o mejoraba el rendimiento económico. Estos resultados destacan los desafíos que enfrentan los productores agrícolas a la luz de los compromisos que existen entre sus objetivos económicos y ambientales. Además, exponen las mejoras potenciales que se pueden obtener utilizando modelos de simulación y algoritmos de optimización para rediseñar los sistemas de cultivo.Fil: Figarola, Lucas Adriel. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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