Does access to improved grain storage technology increase farmers' welfare? Experimental evidence from maize farming in Ethiopia

Hugo De Groote Bart Minten (2024, [Artículo])

Seasonal price variability for cereals is two to three times higher in Africa than on the international reference market. Seasonality is even more pronounced when access to appropriate storage and opportunities for price arbitrage are limited. As smallholder farmers typically sell their production after harvest, when prices are low, this leads to lower incomes as well as higher food insecurity during the lean season, when prices are high. One solution to reduce seasonal stress is the use of improved storage technologies. Using data from a randomised controlled trial, in a major maize-growing region of Western Ethiopia, we study the impact of hermetic bags, a technology that protects stored grain against insect pests, so that the grain can be stored longer. Despite considerable price seasonality—maize prices in the lean season are 36% higher than after harvesting—we find no evidence that hermetic bags improve welfare, except that access to these bags allowed for a marginally longer storage period of maize intended for sale by 2 weeks. But this did not translate into measurable welfare gains as we found no changes in any of our welfare outcome indicators. This ‘near-null’ effect is due to the fact that maize storage losses in our study region are relatively lower than previous studies suggested—around 10% of the quantity stored—likely because of the widespread use of an alternative to protect maize during storage, for example a cheap but highly toxic fumigant. These findings are important for policies that seek to promote improved storage technologies in these settings.

Hermetic Storage Randomised Controlled Trial CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA STORAGE PILOT FARMS SEASONALITY WELFARE MAIZE

Distribución de elementos mecánicos en pilas sujetas a fuerzas en la cabeza y ante la incidencia de ondas sísmicas

LUCIANO ROBERTO FERNANDEZ SOLA JAVIER AVILES LOPEZ DAVID MURIA VILA (2012, [Artículo])

El diseño convencional de pilas y pilotes ante cargas laterales considera de manera casi exclusiva la

acción de las fuerzas que induce la estructura en su cabeza. El paso de las ondas sísmicas a través de los elementos de cimentación también produce solicitaciones mecánicas debidas a la incompatibilidad de deformaciones entre el suelo y la pila o el pilote. La distribución y magnitud de los elementos mecánicos debidos a ambos fenómenos difiere en gran medida, y depende de la estratigrafía y las condiciones de apoyo de la pila o pilote. En este trabajo se utiliza un método de estratos finitos para estimar los elementos mecánicos en pilas y pilotes ante cargas dinámicas. Se considera la restricción parcial al giro en la punta del elemento de cimentación y la conexión de la cabeza con la superestructura. Estos aspectos tienen influencia en la respuesta lateral de pilas y pilotes, sobre todo para elementos de gran diámetro. Se desarrolla un análisis paramétrico para determinar las diferencias cualitativas entre los elementos mecánicos introducidos por la aplicación de fuerzas en la cabeza de la pila o pilote y aquellos generados por el paso de ondas sísmicas.

Pilas y pilotes Cimentaciones Sismos INGENIERÍA Y TECNOLOGÍA

El génesis de la distopía. Elementos distópicos en el cuento “La última guerra” de Amado Nervo

Javier Martínez Javalois (2023, [Otro, Trabajo terminal, especialidad])

55 páginas. Especialización en Literatura Mexicana del Siglo XX.

Esta investigación recibió el apoyo del Sistema Nacional de Posgrados (SNP) del Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencias y Tecnologías (México). CONAHCYT.

El presente estudio tiene como objetivo principal analizar el cuento “La última guerra” (1906) de Amado Nervo (1870-1919), partiendo desde la literatura de ciencia ficción, en particular desde la temática de la distopía. En el cuento “La última guerra”, el autor evidencia el conflicto que se da entre la humanidad y una sociedad animal por el caos que ha provocado el dominio del hombre sobre el mundo y sobre las criaturas; ante la imposibilidad de estas últimas para revertir esta condición a lo largo del tiempo, se gesta una animadversión que desencadena una batalla entre ambas especies: los humanos y los animales. Este trabajo pretende mostrar el cambio en la sociedad ficcionalizada por Amado Nervo, el surgimiento y alcance máximo como sociedad y su crisis partiendo desde el punto inicial de la conflagración. La animadversión que acontece entre humanos y animales en un mundo cuya posesión está en disputa brinda elementos para un análisis de la antes mencionada sociedad distópica. A mi modo de ver, el acercamiento al análisis desde esta perspectiva resulta útil para entender cómo operan la desigualdad y la estratificación social en la estructura narrativa y el tiempo propuestos por Nervo en la ficción.

Nervo, Amado, 1870-1919--Criticism and interpretation. Dystopias in literature. Human-animal relationships--Fiction. Aggressive behavior in animals--Fiction. Distopías en la literatura. Relaciones hombre-animal en el arte. Animales en la literatura. PQ7297.N5 HUMANIDADES Y CIENCIAS DE LA CONDUCTA CIENCIAS DE LAS ARTES Y LAS LETRAS TEORÍA, ANÁLISIS Y CRÍTICA LITERARIAS

Voter´´´'s dilemma between honest and competent candidates in the 2018 elections in Mexico and Brazil

José Daniel Sousa Oliva (2023, [Artículo, Artículo])

This article is dedicated to understanding and explaining the electoral dilemma “Dishonest, but competent” and “Honest, but incompetent” in the elections of legislators, governors and municipal presidents in 2018 in Mexico and Brazil. The research questions that guided the investigation are: Why are there voters in Mexico and Brazil who vote for “dishonest” candidates? And how do the voters of those countries decide their vote in the face of this dilemma? The theoretical approach of this work is Social Psychology through two analytical tools: the Funnel of Causality and the Tripartite Model of Attitudes. The methodology is mixed, quantitative and qualitative, using statistical models with data from the international surveys World Values Survey and Comparative Studies of Electoral Systems, as well as the application of Focus Groups in the distance modality. In this way, four categories of voter are proposed: moralist, moralist-moderate, pragmatic-moderate and pragmatic. The arguments of this work are: first, that regardless of cultural differences, there is an “affective voter” “non-rational” who makes decisions based on emotions and intuition, demonstrating that the affective components of attitudes are more relevant than the cognitive ones in electoral choice; second, that voting for “dishonest” candidates is determined under a greater influence of “short-term factors” such as candidate characteristics and short-term events rather than “long-term factors” such as party loyalties and ideology.

politics, electoral behavior, political culture, democracy, public opinion. política, comportamiento electoral, cultura política, democracia, opinión pública. CIENCIAS SOCIALES CIENCIAS SOCIALES

Underwater vessel noise in a commercial and tourist bay complex in the Mexican Central Pacific

David Alonso Rosales Chapula CHRISTIAN DANIEL ORTEGA ORTIZ Myriam Llamas González ARAMIS OLIVOS ORTIZ ERNESTO TORRES OROZCO Braulio Leon-Lopez Eduardo Romero Vivas (2022, [Artículo])

"Noise generated by ship traffic is increasing around the world. Hence, there is need to effectively evaluate anthropogenic noise levels in marine habitats. In this study, the noise contribution of ships in the Santiago–Manzanillo bay complex, on the Pacific coast of central Mexico, was assessed. The semienclosed bay complex is one of the most important commercial ports in Mexico, and it is an area with high biological richness and tourism demand, including demand by the informal humpback whale watching industry. Bottom-fixed recording systems were deployed at the entrance to the bay, near the commercial port (Manzanillo Bay), and within the tourist area (Santiago Bay). Monthly acoustic records were obtained from September 2015 to August 2016. Boat categories confirmed by visual sightings were associated with their acoustic signals. According to the diagnostic frequency range, vessel noise was classified into noise coming from large ships (50–220 Hz) or from small vessels (290–500 Hz). Large ships were always detected at both stations, while, as expected, small vessels were more common in tourist areas. Vessel noise in the entire area ranged from 130 to 170 dB (RMS re 1 μPa) and was present up to a median of 81.8% of the time throughout the year, with higher prevalence from 1200 to 1600 hours. Marine traffic activities were constant in the area, but frequency content and sound pressure levels were not equally distributed across the bay. Therefore, it is important to consider the possible differential impacts on marine fauna inhabiting the area."

"El ruido generado por el tránsito de embarcaciones ha ido en aumento a nivel mundial, por lo que se requiere evaluar objetivamente los niveles de ruido antropogénico en los hábitats marinos. En este estudio, se evaluó la contribución de las embarcaciones a los niveles de ruido en el complejo de bahías Santiago-Manzanillo, en la costa del Pacífico central mexicano. Este complejo de bahías semicerradas es uno de los puertos comerciales más importantes de México y, a su vez, un área con alta riqueza biológica y demanda turística, incluida la demanda de la industria informal de avistamiento de ballenas jorobadas. Desde septiembre de 2015 hasta agosto de 2016, se obtuvieron registros acústicos mensuales de sistemas de grabación fijos colocados en la entrada a la bahía, cerca del puerto comercial (bahía de Manzanillo) y dentro del área turística (bahía de Santiago). Los barcos avistados durante las grabaciones se asociaron a sus señales acústicas y se agruparon por categoría. De acuerdo con su rango diagnóstico de frecuencia, el ruido de los barcos se clasificó en barcos grandes (50–220 Hz) y pequeños (290–500 Hz). Los barcos grandes siempre se detectaron en ambas estaciones, mientras que, como se esperaba, los barcos pequeños fueron más comunes en las zonas turísticas. El ruido de embarcaciones en toda la zona osciló entre 130 y 170 dB (RMS re 1 μPa) y estuvo presente en una mediana de hasta el 81.8% del tiempo a lo largo del año, con mayor prevalencia entre las 1200 y 1600 horas. Las actividades del tráfico marítimo fueron constantes en el área, pero el contenido de frecuencias y los niveles de presión sonora no se distribuyeron por igual a lo largo de la bahía, por lo que se deben diferenciar los posibles impactos sobre la fauna marina que habita en el área."

ruido de embarcaciones, puerto comercial, puerto turístico, disturbio, ballenas vessel noise, commercial port, tourist port, disturbance, whales BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL

Voter´´´'s dilemma between honest and competent candidates in the 2018 elections in Mexico and Brazil

José Daniel Sousa Oliva (2023, [Artículo, Artículo])

This article is dedicated to understanding and explaining the electoral dilemma “Dishonest, but competent” and “Honest, but incompetent” in the elections of legislators, governors and municipal presidents in 2018 in Mexico and Brazil. The research questions that guided the investigation are: Why are there voters in Mexico and Brazil who vote for “dishonest” candidates? And how do the voters of those countries decide their vote in the face of this dilemma? The theoretical approach of this work is Social Psychology through two analytical tools: the Funnel of Causality and the Tripartite Model of Attitudes. The methodology is mixed, quantitative and qualitative, using statistical models with data from the international surveys World Values Survey and Comparative Studies of Electoral Systems, as well as the application of Focus Groups in the distance modality. In this way, four categories of voter are proposed: moralist, moralist-moderate, pragmatic-moderate and pragmatic. The arguments of this work are: first, that regardless of cultural differences, there is an “affective voter” “non-rational” who makes decisions based on emotions and intuition, demonstrating that the affective components of attitudes are more relevant than the cognitive ones in electoral choice; second, that voting for “dishonest” candidates is determined under a greater influence of “short-term factors” such as candidate characteristics and short-term events rather than “long-term factors” such as party loyalties and ideology.

politics, electoral behavior, political culture, democracy, public opinion. política, comportamiento electoral, cultura política, democracia, opinión pública. CIENCIAS SOCIALES CIENCIAS SOCIALES

Taxonomic versus ecological prey traits among arthropodophagous bats: implications for surveying trophic partitioning patterns

CINTYA ARACELI SEGURA TRUJILLO SERGIO TICUL ALVAREZ CASTAÑEDA SUSETTE SAMI CASTAÑEDA RICO Jesus Maldonado (2022, [Artículo])

"Species can coexist spatially and temporally by partitioning the niche space and forming complex assemblages made up of different species that share the prey resource. Chiroptera is the second most species-rich mammalian order and about 75% of bat species feed on arthropods, which makes these bats a good model group for studying complex trophic interactions. Next-generation parallel sequencing techniques allow a detailed analysis of arthropod resource partitioning patterns in bats. However, previous studies have not reached a consensus on the concordance between diet composition, habitat use, and segregation of trophic resources in bats. We analyzed diet composition in terms of taxonomy of the insect prey, and the prey characteristics. Feces of 16 bat species were examined in the Mexican Neotropics. We carried out a SIMPER (similarity percentage) test, nonmetric multidimensional scaling, and principal component analyses to identify general segregation patterns of trophic resources in relation to the habitat-use guild of bats and computed Pianka’s niche overlap index between species and Levin’s index to estimate the niche width of each species. Bats from the same locality tend to partition their diet, with a niche overlap ranging between 0.5 and 0.8. The highest values were found between species with different foraging behaviors. We suggest that future bat diet studies should incorporate the ecological and taxonomic information of arthropod prey to better understand the trophic interactions with bats."

"Aproximadamente el 75% de las especies de murciélagos se alimentan de artrópodos, algunas de estas especies pueden coexistir espacial y temporalmente al particionar el espacio del nicho. Los murciélagos forman ensamblajes complejos compuestos por diferentes especies que comparten su recurso trófico. Por tanto, los murciélagos pueden utilizarse como grupo modelo para estudiar interacciones tróficas complejas. Las técnicas de secuenciación masiva paralela del ADN permiten un análisis detallado de sus patrones de partición de recursos tróficos. Sin embargo, los estudios no han llegado a un consenso sobre la concordancia entre la composición de la dieta, el uso del hábitat y la partición de los recursos tróficos en los murciélagos. Analizamos la composición de la dieta en términos de taxonomía de los artrópodos presa y sus características ecológicas. Examinamos las heces de 16 especies de murciélagos a lo largo del Neotrópico Mexicano. Se utilizaron análisis de similitud porcentual (SIMPER), escalamiento multidimensional no métrico y análisis de componentes principales para identificar patrones generales de partición de recursos tróficos en relación con el gremio de uso de hábitat de los murciélagos. Calculamos el índice de superposición de nicho de Pianka entre especies y el índice de Levin para estimar la amplitud del nicho de cada especie. Encontramos que los murciélagos de la misma localidad tienden a diferenciar su dieta, con una superposición de nicho que varía entre 0.5 y 0.8. Los valores más altos se encontraron entre especies con diferentes hábitos de alimentación. Sugerimos que, en el futuro, los estudios de dieta de murciélagos consideren las características ecológicas de sus presas y utilicen la información taxonómica como clave para recuperar información sobre la biología de las presas y comprender la ecología de estas interacciones tróficas."

arthropods, bats, foraging ecology, next-generation sequencing, prey traits, resource partitioning, trophic ecology artrópodos, ecología trófca, murciélagos, partición de recursos, rasgos de presa, secuenciación de nueva generación BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL

Trophic ecology of Mexican Pacific harbor seal colonies using carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes

MARICELA JUAREZ RODRIGUEZ (2020, [Artículo])

There is limited information that provides a comprehensive understanding of the trophic ecology of Mexican Pacific harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardii) colonies. While scat analysis has been used to determine the diet of some colonies, the integrative characterization of its feeding habits on broader temporal and spatial scales remains limited. We examined potential feeding grounds, trophic niche width, and overlap, and inferred the degree of dietary specialization using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) in this subspecies. We analyzed δ13C and δ15N on fur samples from pups collected at five sites along the western coast of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. Fur of natal coat of Pacific harbor seal pups begins to grow during the seventh month in utero until the last stage of gestation. Therefore pup fur is a good proxy for the mother's feeding habits in winter (∼December to March), based on the timing of gestation for the subspecies in this region. Our results indicated that the δ13C and δ15N values differed significantly among sampling sites, with the highest mean δ15N value occurring at the southernmost site, reflecting a well-characterized north to south latitudinal 15N-enrichment in the food web. The tendency identified in δ13C values, in which the northern colonies showed the most enriched values, suggests nearshore and benthic-demersal feeding habits. A low variance in δ13C and δ15N values for each colony (<1‰) and relatively small standard ellipse areas suggest a specialized foraging behavior in adult female Pacific harbor seals in Mexican waters. © 2020 Juárez-Rodríguez et al.

carbon, delta carbon 13, delta nitrogen 15, isotope, nitrogen, unclassified drug, carbon, nitrogen, Article, correlational study, feeding behavior, latitude, Mexico, nonhuman, organism colony, Pinnipedia, population abundance, species richness, troph BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA)

Protein retention assessment of four levels of poultry by-product substitution of fishmeal in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) diets using stable isotopes of nitrogen (δ15N) as natural tracers

DANIEL BADILLO ZAPATA (2014, [Artículo])

This is second part from an experiment where the nitrogen retention of poultry by-product meal (PBM) compared to fishmeal (FM) was evaluated using traditional indices. Here a quantitative method using stable isotope ratios of nitrogen (δ15N values) as natural tracers of nitrogen incorporation into fish biomass is assessed. Juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were fed for 80 days on isotopically distinct diets in which 0, 33, 66 and 100% of FM as main protein source was replaced by PBM. The diets were isonitrogenous, isolipidic and similar in gross energy content. Fish in all treatments reached isotopic equilibrium by the end of the experiment. Two-source isotope mixing models that incorporated the isotopic composition of FM and PBM as well as that of formulated feeds, empirically derived trophic discrimination factors and the isotopic composition of fish that had reached isotopic equilibrium to the diets were used to obtain a quantitative estimate of the retention of each source of nitrogen. Fish fed the diets with 33 and 66% replacement of FM by PBM retained poultry by-product meal roughly in proportion to its level of inclusion in the diets, whereas no differences were detected in the protein efficiency ratio. Coupled with the similar biomass gain of fishes fed the different diets, our results support the inclusion of PBM as replacement for fishmeal in aquaculture feeds. A re-feeding experiment in which all fish were fed a diet of 100% FM for 28 days indicated isotopic turnover occurred very fast, providing further support for the potential of isotopic ratios as tracers of the retention of specific protein sources into fish tissues. Stable isotope analysis is a useful tool for studies that seek to obtain quantitative estimates of the retention of different protein sources. © 2014 Badillo et al.

nitrogen 15, nitrogen, protein intake, animal behavior, animal experiment, animal food, animal tissue, aquaculture, Article, biomass, controlled study, energy metabolism, food composition, juvenile animal, nonhuman, poultry by product meal, protein a CIENCIAS FÍSICO MATEMÁTICAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA Y DEL ESPACIO OCEANOGRAFÍA OCEANOGRAFÍA