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The aim of this paper is to assess the current operating and safety conditions of biological treatment systems for wastewater in the centers of swinish and poultry breeding at Villa Clara Water Management Company, with the purpose of setting a group of organizational, technical and human measures that contributes to prevent contamination and minimize biological risks. In this way it can be guaranteed the protection to the workers, the facilities, community and the environment, to have a sure occupational atmosphere in the organization. As a result of the evaluation the factors that affect the operation of the biodigestion system and the security of the process are defined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe meteorological events are the main threat in the country, as there is a large population living in areas at risk from hurricanes, tropical storms, heavy rains and flooding for different reasons. For specialized decision makers it would be useful to have historical information on the behavior of the basin under extreme events and the consequences thereof in the region. In most cases, historical rainfall records are present in the basins from the installed equipment. In this paper a procedure is presented to obtain these events from historical rainfall records. The method allows to obtain the events in the basin for further modeling, which is an important tool for decision makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aquifers vulnerability maps allow differentiating the natural characteristics of the geological environment to protect the aquifer from the action of multiple pollutants that can infiltrate from the surface, associated to natural phenomena or to man's activity. This paper evaluates the natural vulnerability and risk of contamination of the Cuenca Dolores - Sagua La Chica, located northeast of Villa Clara, Cuba. The PATHS methodology is applied, which values aquifers vulnerability analyzing: Precipitations and groundwater level, Aquifer, Tectonic and Topography of the land and Soil Hydraulic Conductivity. As a final result the Map of Vulnerability and the Map of Contamination Risk are obtained for the basin at a scale of 1:100 000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to focus on mutual relations between various aspects of monolingual dictionaries that can be witnesses of history of vocabulary, a genre of pedagogical discourse or a symbol of national sovereignty. We will exemplify the study on the case of Gypsy loanwords testified in the two editions of the Catauro by Fernando Ortiz (1923, 1985), paying attention to changes suffered in their macrostructure as well as in the microstructure in both editions. We sustain that these lexicographic data could reflect the history of the Cuban Spanish vocabulary in the 20th century as well as the contemporary Cuban history in general and they could mirror the evolution of the Cuban identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study on the future of the Cuban cultural thought of the Republic is of vital importance for the understanding of their essences into the national culture. This paper aims to make a critical- descriptive analysis of the book: The Cuban Cultural Thought in the Republic. ¿Art Theory in the Caribbean? From the young Cuban researcher Yaneidys Arencibia Coloma. The work proposes the redefinition of the Republican cultural thought from a paradigmatic analysis of titles within the work of Fernando Ortiz, Jorge Mañach, Juan Marinello, Alejo Carpentier and Jose Lezama written between 1923 and 1961. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism is one of the main sources of income for the Cuban economy which is threatened by restrictions determined by circumstances that force to promote the right use of the available resources. Therefore, the quality management in all hotel facilities is an important theme for the accomplishment of the satisfaction of the costumers. A vital parameter to take into account in this theme is determined by the cost of quality because they show those fails or flaws that occurred and that constitute reserves of efficiency; besides, its evaluation helps to increase the improvement programs. In the current research paper, an evaluation of the quality costs was carried out in a hotel located in the tourist resort of Varadero to support the proposal of actions for the improvement of the tourist trade. Regarding this it was determined that the total cost of the quality was $ 2 959 187,31 (that represented 13% of the sells) with, 23,7 % linked to the prevention, 2,5 % of evaluation and the rest 73,8 % due to fails. The annual cost for lost costumers and the replacement cost accumulated a total of 90,4 % of the lost, for this reason they were the priority of the actions proposed for the improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Cuban sugar industry needs to implement methods to quantify the influence of technological process variables on the sugar cane industrial output as accurately as possible. It is needed to predict the behavior of its productive process in order to plan and optimize the use of the technical, financial and human resources to improve those technological variables that most influence on sugar cane industrial output. In this context the present paper seeks, firstly, to identify those technological variables that are correlated with the industrial performance and the main losses in the process, through the principal component analysis; and secondly, to quantify the effect of these variables on the sugar cane industrial output, losses in final molasses and bagasse losses, by using multiple regression models of log-log. The analysis of the results obtained by these statistical tools and their use to simulate different operating conditions of the process is shown. The developed models are useful to act from a technological point of view of the process and improve control over it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The links between knowledge, information and decision making in tourism industry have been addressed mainly at the level of tourist destinations, however there have been described deficiencies in the study of these relationships at the level of business organizations that interact in those destinations. The fact is shown in the weak production of academic articles that help to explain the decision-making and knowledge management in these entities, where although its importance is recognized there are factors that affect the development and implementation of both processes such as the lack of systemic approaches, models and methodologies. In this paper a theoretical analysis of the research topics is done, showing its evolution and current trends, which supported the development of a conceptual framework, and dimensions from which a procedure is proposed to study the alignment of decision making with knowledge management in business organizations related to tourism. The procedure is applied in entities placed on Holguin Tourist Destination located to the east of Cuba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research work is aimed at characterizing the educational practice of the Elderly's University Chair in Havana. For data recollection, the following methods were used: documentary analysis of 15 texts referred to the program, 15 classes' observation, and 15 interviews to professors. It was characterized the educational practice in terms f three dimensions of the analysis: theoretical, methodological, and practical. A comparison was established between the application space, and that which refers to the official documents. The educational program is characterized for being humanist-adaptive, with an eclectic orientation, and confers privilege to the lecture-workshop as a gerontal methodology. Besides, the paper emphasizes the evaluation of the quality of life to the end of the course, over some other aspects. Differences were found between that which was stated in official documents, and the professors' practice. The article suggests recommendations in order to improve professors' educational role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the different cultural consumptions of young people, the musical consumption is one of the most trascendent. This is the topic of the following paper, which main proposal lies on the constant presence of musical sounds in youth daily life. Leisure, relaxation, sensation of company and moods are transmitted by music. Besides, other cultural productions, artistic or not, such as, audiovisual materials are blended with musical products and take high places on people's preferences. This research i based on the theoretical frameworks of consumption and youth. The narrow communion of quantitative and qualitative methodologies has allowed to articulate it and get an interpretative criteria about the musical consumption process, in which it has been important the consideration of the sound singularity and its influence in the media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the knowledge society and information sciences face new social challenges, including the need for a more humanistic vision committed to its current context, going beyond the traditional academic and research processes. In the Cuban revolutionary practice, authentic source where theory is enriched, speaking of an update of the economic model, but no debate on political economy, nor taken into account in the analyzes. However, it is argued that positive outcomes are expected from the ideology where the economy is the locomotive and guide that process. This paper is an approach to the problem and the exposure of a number of elements that must be taken into account when talking about teaching and research of political economy and social science and its place in the construction of a prosperous socialism and sustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urbanization acceleration of growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, from the eighties, has increased the demand for natural resources and the volume of Municipal Solid Wastes (MSW) to be transported, treated and finally disposed. Environmental management in the administration of Domestic Solid Wastes (DSW) of Havana, short for MSW, has focused on the pollution control and the use of some environmental instruments, in isolated way. This paper propose a model with systems approach, linking the management of DSW environmental management through the environmental assessment of impacts generated by the strategies implemented in the province. Theoretical methods were used, statistical tools and life cycle analysis as well as the expert consultation and application of statistical tests to determine the degree of reliability of the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Castilian grammar became a teaching discipline in Spain and Latin America in 1813, when its study was generalized; before that, Latin grammar was mandatory. This paper aims at making a structural and content analysis of the text Brevísimas nociones de Analogía Castellana (1891) taking into account the context of the teaching of this discipline in Cuba. The book was edited in Santiago de Cuba in 1891 by Julio Severiano Hernández y García, "Full Professor of incomplete teaching" and Director of the private college San Severiano; the book follows the peculiarities of the manuals of that time, but it also stands out, unlike others, by the use of example belonging to the colloquial level in the language of the region at the time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doctoral training in pedagogical science has had a sustained development in Cuba that has caused a steady increase of doctoral theses; however, the quality of the theses defended has not been systematically subjected to an evaluation to determine the difficulties that affect them. The aim of this paper is to assess their quality through the shortcomings identified by expert judgment, so a survey was applied to several specialists from different universities in the country, according to their professional experience in the training of doctors in this specialty. The criteria were processed through a qualitative methodology, which have a high degree of overlap and reveal several problems related to insufficient cultural and scientific background of the candidates, the weaknesses of the theoretical and methodological designs and the little rigor of the results contributed by scientists. Several suggestions to continue researching this problem are proposed, as well as ways to improve the professionalism of PhD already trained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article evidences the result of studying the role of the intellectual capital in the sustainable development of organizations, as well as the diagnosis about the management of the intangible assets in the Cubans companies, where 210 Havana's companies were used as samples. The present paper suggests a model for the measurement of the efficiency of intangibles's management, adapted to the conditions of Cuban economy. For the determination of intangible inductive variables of value in our context, a research with 210 businessmen of all the country was carried out. The feasibility and pertinence of proposed mode is evaluated through its application to a Cuban metallurgic industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to make an estimate of the effectiveness and efficiency of the Public Sector in Cuba, in comparison with all Latin American and Caribbean countries in the period 2001-2012. The work followed the scheme of the composite indicators, through Afonzo, Shuknecht, and Tanzi's methodology. The empirical results reveal the existence of positive results in the fulfillment and scope of the functions of the Public Sector in Cuba, especially in the field of healthcare and education, although the efficiency index obtained was one of the lowest in the region. However, this methodology proved to have inaccuracies that introduce bias in the comparison. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a simultaneous use of simulation and optimization techniques for the logistic operation planning is presented, specifically aimed to support the decision making processes related with fleet size determination in the supply--distribution process. The study is developed for a Cuban company dedicated to the transportation of goods and warehousing services. The implementation of the proposed tools enabled suggesting the optimal number of trucks to be used, considering minimization of the idle time of trucks and maximization of the customer service level. Experimental results show a significant improvement regarding the lead time reduction and the increment of order fulfillment for the customers of the company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue about public service in Cuba has become extremely complex since the recent transformation occurred on the economic model, as well as in its socio-political conditions. This paper provides a general approach in the relation between the public administration recognized as public services and the commercial law emphasizing the different legal form of organizations --individual and collective-- recognized by law. It is analyzed the doctrinal elements that shape the public services, its management and control. Then, it is analyzed the Cuban situation of the public services and its relation with the commercial law under a new economic, political and social model taking place in Cuba. Finally it is analyzed a bunch of norms that may make that relation possible in the near future in Cuba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the main characteristics of the several software developed in the Higher Institute of Nuclear Sciencies and Technology directed to personnel qualification and probabilistic safety analysis. In adition, the paper shows some of the main results of its applications to the national industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Business Intelligence solutions provide signi ficant benef i ts to organizations such as the reduction of time in collecting and consolidating relevant information to make decisions about business performance. In the context of the academic management of higher education in Cuba there is a need to extend the integration of docent information not only from the Management System of the New University SIGENU. To this end one must consider two scenarios: universities that no automated system for academic administration and universities that have a different management system SIGENU academic system. This paper presents a mechanism of integration and consulting information to support decision making SIGENU-DSS-LITE allowing you to have the Ministry of Higher Education of Cuba new skills for decision making by having more information available from no only universities SIGENU environment but all institutions of higher education that whether or not this system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research conducted at the facility Canimar River Tourist Park, settled in implementing an Audit of Marketing whose main objective was to determine the current state of marketing in the organization and develop marketing strategies based on the results obtained. A literature review on distends aspects addressed Marketing Audit, methods and techniques that contributed to the development of it such as were applied: observations, interviews with experts using the questionnaire Kotler and matrix being RMG validation by Kendall method, SWOT matrix, these contributed to obtain the strategic assessment about marketing problems. With the validation of the RMG matrix, the entity is located at the position of wall, which translates to not have a good marketing, allowing designing marketing strategies to strengthen conclusively proposing in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This text discusses sustainability in architecture and its relation to vernacular building techniques, i. e., how adaptation and invention marked the creation of some of the first places of worship of the Chilean evangelical church. An analytical method was adopted for the study of how the temples were designed and built, and a mixed inductive-deductive method was employed for the identification of key practices that made possible low-power consumption and a minimal impact on the environment. Two main practices were identified. The first one consists in the reuse of buildings, structures, materials, furniture and typologies (adaptation). The second practice involves the creation ex nihilo of solutions for load-bearing structures, construction details and modes of financing (invention). Having demonstrated the sustainable qualities of the temples' construction, in the early twentieth century, and with the certainty that such techniques are perfectly feasible today, this paper concludes that the impediment to sustainable construction today is ethical -- not technical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the results of a study conducted over five years (2006-2010) with the objective of determining agroecological zones occur handle (Manguifera indica L.) in Unit Fruit of Cienfuegos, in order to optimize the production process culture and make more efficient use with the genotype-environment interaction. Three varieties (Chino, Haden and Super Haden), replicated in environments that formed the combination of three units with five years were used. The rains were more discriminating power of agroecological zones soil variables, mainly dry period, determining the existence of two areas; one consisting of the unit three lower yield potential and another for the remaining two units, which can contribute to the efficiency of production management if a pattern is followed by specific site. The investigation also found that there is significant interaction between cultivars and environments, suggesting that these results are used in the use of genotypes according to their stability and adaptability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a very important the classification of the Cubans petroleum, and stiller, the determination of its destination, to make more efficient its use. The objetive of this paper is to carry out a procedure to get a classification of the Cuban petroleum. For this it was analyzed the nature of the national data of the raw ones and their attributes, which consisted initially of 30 attributes with 54 samples of petroleum and it was determined to process them as attributes divided by intervals. The recognition patterns tools were applied to classify the Cuban petroleum in five established groups: Slight, Medium, Semi-heavy, Heavy and Extra-heavy. The most representative attributes were selected starting from the Informative Weight. Five cases were recognized that were in contradiction with their defined locations initially in the Learning Matrix, these eliminations were justified. The strict similarity was used as proximity measure among the cases. The magnitude of the Learning Matrix was of 22 attributes and 49 cases. Finally, an automatic program was designed for the classification of the raw ones and 98.0% of effectiveness was obtained in the classification of the Control Matrix of 49 samples of Cuban petroleum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the actions toward a more sustainable development, a poor understanding of the role of architecture and urban design to achieve this goal is appreciated in Cuba. The objective of this paper is to show how it is possible to improve the sustainability in a built environment, by simple and economic transformations, taking as study object the Universidad de Ciencias Informáticas (UCI). A qualitative urban diagnosis was carried out in order to define the main performance strategies. The proposals are progressive, based on minimum intervention and maximum impact. Some of them are: rezoning to reduce distances, using alternative transportation means as bicycles and zero energy minibuses, incorporating new services, using renewable sources of energy and creating an ecological park with a wetland for the gray water treatment. This diagnosis allowed to select the more problematic buildings to be transformed based on a qualitative and quantitative evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some solid fuels which are very pollutant and with low value could be transformed into a clean gas that could be used in many industrial applications for its physical properties and for being easy transported. Then, electricity generation is one of the most important applications. In this case, electricity could be generated, cleanly and efficiently, through the use of synthesis gas that replaces the natural gas in a combined cycle (Biomass Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (BIGCC)). In this paper, we carry out an economic feasibility study of the project about the implementation of Biomass Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (BIGCC) in a 10000 tc/d sugar mill from bagasse gasification in order to demonstrate, from the economic point of view, the possibility of investment in this kind of technology considering the current conditions of Cuban sugar industry. Later, a sensitivity analysis is presented to show first, the break-even point associated to the project and second, the variations of financial indicators due to changes on the total amount of investments, which is a very helpful element for making right decisions in the project investment process.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to analyze the evolution of the most important scientific results related to the management of grazing systems for dairy production in Cuba, during the last 40 years of research. The compilation made allowed to generate a group of principles that rule the management with improved grasses, twining legumes and trees for browsing. The challenges in the conception of milk production systems in Cuba, which constitute the new paradigm: food and energy production on improved grasses in association with fodder, energy, timber and other trees, that cover 80 % of the animals' requirements, were analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to develop an Environmental Management Strategy that is intended to reduce the environmental impacts in the Naranjo river drainage basin. In order to reach this objective, a diagnosis was done, that consisted in the literature review on the topic as well as the realization of participatory workshops involving different techniques, tools and methods, such as brainstorming, SWOT matrix, DPSIR framework and experts' approach, for identifying the main environmental problems that affect the basin. A geographic information system (GIS) was designed for managing natural resources in the basin. Results show that the main environmental problems are: soil degradation, ,deforestation (loss or lack of hidroregulatory fringes on river and reservoir beds), Deterioration of sanitary-hygienic conditions in human settlements, groundwater and air pollution were maily caused by the inadequate land-use planning, which, along with the population's lack of environmental education, not only contributes to maintaining the environmental impact, but also to increasing it, and can lead to irreversible damages. As part of the strategy, a series of agreed actions was planned to diminish the environmental problems in the basin, where the social actors take part actively in managing those problems, and favor the decision making process which focus on sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is required of methods to evaluate water productivity for the best economic and social use of it, in order to make better decisions as for political and strategies of use in a sustainable way. Water irrigation user need to identify tendencies in the use patterns and levels of efficiency with a view to state goals and to improve the productivity for unit of used volume and/or consumed. The objective of this paper was to present the indicators of water productivity of 17 crops starting from the information obtained in more than 100 field experiments available in the database on water requirements of the Research Institute on Agricultural Engineering (IAgric). The maximum and minimum yields and their respective values of consumption, irrigation water applied and the irrigation water productivity for these crops were determined. Cultivations like the beans, corn, sweet potato and bananas obtain superior yield increments to 100% when the required water is applied to satisfy its water requirement, while cassava obtained values smaller than 50%. The high values obtained of productivity based on the irrigation water applied are not a good indicator of the efficient use of the water for the plants for the conditions of the study area, where they are informed for the analyzed years, percentages of profitable rain of until 41%, replacing this an important part of the needs of the agricultural crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to create and calibrate a two-dimensional regional groundwater model for the "Cuentas Claras" aquifer. First, an overall model was conceived and it was subjected to a calibration process. For that purpose AQÜIMPE groundwater simulation software was applied. As the calibration was not achieved for the overall model, the idea of conceiving a partial model representing only the exploitation zone was carried through. The recharge coming from the mountains was introduced to this second model as a groundwater intake, and therefore it had to be calibrated as well. As a final result, a logical calibration of the model was achieved with high accuracy. The present work also attempts to contribute with the groundwater management strategies of this aquifer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the entities linked to tourism, innocuousness collects bigger importance, because he is a part of the certainty that we can make a toast to you to our customers, insisting on the image and positioning of destiny. It is indisputable, the paper that play the human resources linked to the elaboration of foods, every time that this staff is in charge of watching over the fulfillment from the hygienic standards. The present investigation aimed at identifying the labor necessary competitions for the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system implementation. The study developed in a restaurant of the tourist pole of Varadero. For it, a characterization of the entity took effect and of the key jobs. During the study methods and techniques like the documentary analysis, expert selection method, group dynamics, direct observation and consent method were used. It was identified the labor competitions for the key jobs and they manufactured the competitive profiles where the requirements of the implementation of the system approached HACCP themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper used a newly built database covering the hotel chains Cuabanacán and Gran Garibe. Using econometric models I estimated the impact of variables such as quantity of rooms (a proxy for capital) and the number of employees on the occupation index. The results suggested that these variables have only a small impact on the occupation index. It allowed us to point out then, that the way to improve the occupation of the hotels, more in line with the competitors in the same area, is not an increase of the capital endowment or labor, but an improvement of efficiency. With the help of second degree relationships I tried to estimate the optimal size for the hotels. Results suggested that about a half of the hotels are oversized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the management of methodological work that takes place in five Cuban universities as part of the university management. The methodology designed considered for impact assessment two dimensions: Political Dimension that responds to which are the priorities, how it is implemented and how it controls the methodological work being done in the universities, and the Strategic Dimension, given by their relevance. Does it respond to the needs of the school? Does it respond to the training needs of the student? The head teachers recognized the impact of methodological work in university, but identified that this is still marked by the inexperience of those who manage and direct, inadequate educational category structure, and insufficient educational preparation of the teachers, the lack of a diagnosing problems in the formation and the absence of an integrated and systemic view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the actions toward a more sustainable development, a poor understanding of the role of architecture and urban design to achieve this goal is appreciated in Cuba. The objective of this paper is to show how it is possible to improve the sustainability in a built environment, by simple and economic transformations, taking as study object the Universidad de Ciencias Informáticas (UCI). A qualitative urban diagnosis was carried out in order to define the main performance strategies. The proposals are progressive, based on minimum intervention and maximum impact. Some of them are: rezoning to reduce distances, using alternative transportation means as bicycles and zero energy minibuses, incorporating new services, using renewable sources of energy and creating an ecological park with a wetland for the gray water treatment. This diagnosis allowed to select the more problematic buildings to be transformed based on a qualitative and quantitative evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the results of research conducted in order to propose a system of lightweight sun protection devices that can be produced in Cuba and added to the facades of the buildings in order to reduce the heat load through the architectural envelope and the energy consumption. For this, a modular indoor air- conditioned space with three possible functions, of which the requirements were derived to satisfy the elements of sun protection design, was defined. Its performance in terms of reduced heat transfer and natural lighting inside was assessed using automated simulation with Ecotect V5. The application in a case study helped to show that the required investment for the solar protection of the building facade can be amortized in less than two years from reducing air conditioning load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of indexes to value the water quality facilitates its communication and understanding by specialists and public in general. One of the mostusedis the index proposed by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment(known as CCME_WQI) for its flexibility in the selection of the variables to be considered. In this paper the CCME_WQI was used to evaluate the water quality for irrigation of superficial and groundwater sources of Naranjoriver watershed, Las Tunas province, Cuba. FAO directives and recommendations of the Institute of Agricultural Engineering of Cuba were used to define the desirable values. The results show that the waters are classified as Poor for irrigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Customer service, its design and its logistic component are poorly comprehended and wasted in Cuban enterprises' present activities. Though most of them take into account the relationship between logistics and customer service, such relationship is only regarded as a support to the service, and not as an important way to increase the efficiency and competitiveness levels. This paper aims at introducing a procedure for customer service logistic design in the service industry, such procedure has been applied in different companies, and such has made possible to confirm its validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various aspects are analysed related to the photovoltaic energy, namely: environmental aspects, production, markets, costs, crystalline silicon solar cells (c-Si) progress, economic analysis and forecast of photovoltaic (PV) energy. The paper comments on the characteristics of the components for PV systems, the reduction cost tendency for each kWh FV vs. kWh fossil. Some economic actions are suggested to promote a national PV program in Cuba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper has its genesis in the absence of constitutional protection in the proposals for updating the Cuban economic model. The overall objective of the research is to substantiate, through a contextualized doctrinal study on the principles of the economic order established in the constitution, the need for various constitutional amendments in Cuba that would provide constitutional backing for the changes taking place in the country as part of the bid to update its economic model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high frequency of tropical storms in Cuba has made Cuban people to follow informations released by the forecast department of the Instituto de Meteorología (Meteorology Institute) together with instructions emitted by the Estado Mayor Nacional de Defensa Civil (Civil Defense National Headquarters), with the purpose of planning relevant protection measures aimmed at disaster mitigation. These informations deal mainly with wind intensity among others but very little is said about rainfall amounts and their consequent flooding danger. The authors of this paper present a first approach to a classification scale of tropical storms according to their associated rainfall considering only rainfall-related variables. Other important variables, such as soil properties, soil use, etc. are left aside for later analysis which in a near future will allow better classification criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high frequency of tropical storms in Cuba has made Cuban people to follow informations released by the forecast department of the Instituto de Meteorología (Meteorological Institute) together with instructions emitted by the Estado Mayor Nacional de Defensa Civil (Civil Defense National Headquarters), with the purpose of planning relevant protection measures aimmed at disaster mitigation. These informations deal mainly with wind intensity among others but very little is said about rainfall amounts and their consequent flooding danger. The authors of this paper are herein presenting, as a first part, a very short synthesis of the state of the art situation of this important subject. The subject will be treated subsequently in the second part. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preventive work is a determining factor in the personality development of adolescents and young people and a way for the formation of the new man. This paper refers to different concepts related to prevention from a social approach. It reflects on the current situation and trends in Cuba and other countries, we evaluate the preventive role of the School and the Family and its influence on youth behavior. Besides the different levels of prevention as well as the ground for their work and the principles to betaken into account for the implementation of preventive actions are exposed. The theme promotes discussion of everyday life in the social context in which we operate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper the antecedents of the current process of civic formation in the higher education centers in the colonial and neocolonial stage of our national history are revealed. In both prerevolutionary stages it is confirmed as a tendency the confrontation among conceptions and educational practices of civic formation methodologically opposed and due to their classist and political content, as expression of the contradictory development of the sociopolitical life of the country. These experiences constitute, without doubts, referential antecedents for the new citizen's formative process that emerges with the revolutionary changes starting from 1959. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the levels of concentration of copper, zinc, lead and cadmium in waters and sediments from the ecosystem San Juan in the Santiago of Cuba province were evaluated. Two sampling of the ecosystem in two stations belonging to the high and middle part of the river, in rainy and little rainy periods were carried out. The conservation and treatment of the samples were developed according to established standards and the determinations of the elements were realized using atomic emission spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma. The concentrations intervals of the studied elements were established so much in the superficial waters like in the sediments and it was demonstrated that exists statistical significant differences for the factors station, period and type of sample, being the middle part of the river, the little rainy period and the sediments, where the grater concentrations of the pollutants appear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foreign students that do not speak Spanish in the faculty of architecture in Cuba receive Spanish classes for the first two years of their career. An essential content is to analyze different types of texts, specifically descriptive ones. The purpose of this paper is to present a teaching experience about the instruction of content description. The experience is centred on how the content related to the profession. The novel "Cecilia Valdés" from Cirilo Villaverde was chosen because it is an extraordinary picture of the XIX century and where students can learn the characteristics of social life in Cuba during that period. Students were greatly motivated by the experience and developed professional skills which are very important to future architects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A holography team in the Physics Department of the Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría and various institutions of the country developed applications for museums in Cuba. With support from the National Council of Culture Heritage, permanent holographic exhibitions were set up in museums around the country. This paper analyzes the internal and external damage factors that could affect the exposed holograms in some museums of the Havana. It also presents findings about their conservation status in order to propose a set of preventive measures to improve the preservation of these items. We conclude that the main causes of deterioration of the exposed hologram are through various errors, shortcomings in handling the pieces, and ignorance about the norms to be followed to achieve adequate conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

King Grass production as food for livestock is a priority of the Cuban agriculture at present. Among clones to be developed, the Pennisetum Cuba CT -169 requires a technological package that includes the use of fertilizers and water for an appropriate development of the crop with productions that satisfy requirements of more than 20 animals. The objective of this paper are to determine the productive potential of the forage, to evaluate the number of animals which are able to keep King Grass production with the application of water through stationary and semi-stationary sprinkling irrigation systems in small areas of cooperatives. This low intensity irrigation technique has been selected for delivering irrigation standard to the crop during its vegetative cycle with an irrigation interval of 7 to 10 days allowing cuts to the King Grass starting from 45 days. The irrigation systems designed for 1 ha, response to the outlined needs and the production of them has as premise that the pieces and parts of stationary semi systems contain 76% of components of national production, while the stationary ones only have 40%. The efficiency of water application is evaluated in both cases; as well as yields of green. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the beginning of 1970s,the author has been involved in the use of Ferrocement for the civil construction in Cuba. He learned much by studying the work of engineers from Brazil and Canada. He has also worked as a planner or an adviser in the field of building construction throughout Cuba. With more than 40 years of experience, and several monographs and books published, the author describes in this paper the application and its results in different types of buildings like vessels, urban works, monuments, houses, tanks, swimming pools and others, which placed Cuba as one of the countries with larger use and development of ferrocement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variety of singular factors have shaped the development of the Cuban sugar industry, and they have left distinct regional imprints across the island. Camaguey, one of the most under-populated provinces at the turn of the 20th century, had unique regional geographic conditions that contributed to the growth of sugar-cane production. This paper identifies those conditions as they shaped the construction of sugar mills and their surrounding hinterlands. Clusters of sugar-cane production are identified through traditional archival work and graphic analysis. Findings show a clear pattern of axes of growth which gave structure to the province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper Productive Development vs. Technological Innovation in Sugar Agroindustry. Cienfuegos Case Study 1980-2005 period, was aimed assessing the innovative processes behavior that was carried out in the sugar production in Cienfuegos province from 1980-2005. A non-experimental explanatory research was structured using as main methods the documents analysis and structured interview to different people who were working in this industry while the study was conducted. The introduction of scientific results became sensitive. As a result, the list of the main introduced result, and the institutional behavior in this process was obtained. In conclusion, the lack of a business vision about the transformative role of the use of science and knowledge, as well as the lack of an objective analysis of the reasons and purposes of the scientific results to be introduced were evident; so was the absence of well-founded demands for the introduction of science and technology. In addition, the lack of objectivity showed by users when providing reference and remuneration to scientific results, which are discarded without a rigorous analysis of what the reasons were, was also appreciated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]