Necessary Reconstruction: The Child Welfare System

This research has been composed of both primary and secondary research aimed to shine light on the most pressing issues within the child welfare system. It not only demonstrates the detrimental tolls the system has had on the children but also the tolls it has had on the public servants working within the system. This research is a gateway to awareness of the realities and necessary changes the system so desperately needs

Duality of Chiral N=1 Supersymmetric Gauge Theories via Branes

Using a six-orientifold on top of a NS-fivebrane we construct a chiral N=1 supersymmetric gauge theory in four dimensions with gauge group SU(N_c) and matter in the symmetric, antisymmetric and (anti)fundamental representations. Anomaly cancellation is fulfilled by the requirement of a smooth RR 7-form charge distribution and leads us to the introduction of 8 half D-sixbranes ending on the NS-fivebrane. We obtain the dual model from branes by a linking number argument. We check explicitly the 't Hooft anomaly matching conditions and the map between deformations in the original and the dual model.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, TeX, harvmac, table

Supersymmetric Gauge Theories from Branes and Orientifold Six-planes

We study brane configurations in the presence of orientifold six-planes. After deriving the curves for N=2 supersymmetric SU(Nc) gauge theories with one flavor in the symmetric or antisymmetric representation and Nf fundamental flavors, we rotate the brane configuration, reducing the supersymmetry to N=1. For the case of an antisymmetric flavor and less than two fundamental flavors, nonperturbative effects lead to a brane configuration that is topologically a torus. Using the description of the orientifold six-planes as Dn singularities we discuss the Higgs branches for N=2 brane configurations with Sp/SO gauge groups and the related N=1 theories with tensor representations.Comment: 30 pages (harvmac b-mode), 5 figures, (v2 minor corrections), (v3 sign error corrected

Pseudo-K\"ahler Lie algebras with abelian complex structures

We study Lie algebras endowed with an abelian complex structure which admit a symplectic form compatible with the complex structure. We prove that each of those Lie algebras is completely determined by a pair (U,H) where U is a complex commutative associative algebra and H is a sesquilinear hermitian form on U which verifies certain compatibility conditions with respect to the associative product on U. The Riemannian and Ricci curvatures of the associated pseudo-K\"ahler metric are studied and a characterization of those Lie algebras which are Einstein but not Ricci flat is given. It is seen that all pseudo-K\"ahler Lie algebras can be inductively described by a certain method of double extensions applied to the associated complex asssociative commutative algebras

Nuevo modelo explicativo para la violencia contra las mujeres en la pareja: el modelo piramidal y el proceso de filtraje

Después de un proceso largo y no siempre fácil de visibilización, la violencia del compañero íntimo contra las mujeres (o de la violencia de género, de acuerdo con el marco legal en España) ha sido reconocida como un problema social y de salud de primer orden por los diferentes organismos internacionales (ONU, OMS, UE,...) y también por muchos Estados, entre ellos España.Este reconocimiento ha dado lugar a avances importantes, incluyendo su penalización, o el desarrollo de programas de prevención, de atención a las mujeres víctimas y sus hijos, y así sucesivamente. Sin embargo, son todavía muchos retos que aún quedan. Y entre ellos, uno importante es desentrañar los mecanismos que explican la ocurrencia de este tipo de violencia.En un intento de profundizar en esta cuestión, se ha desarrollado un modelo explicativo, denominado modelo piramidal, que se ha formulado a partir de los resultados de la investigación empírica previa sobre el tema, y con el objetivo de que sea aplicable a las distintas formas de violencia contra la las mujeres, incluyendo la que se produce también en la pareja.Este modelo incluye algunos de los principales elementos de los modelos explicativos multicausales y ofrece algunas complementarias, proponiendo cinco etapas o pasos (sustrato patriarcal, la socialización diferencial, las expectativas de control, factores desencadenantes y los brotes de violencia) y un proceso de filtración. El objetivo de este trabajo es profundizar en el análisis de este último

Barreras que dificultan la denuncia de la violencia de género : reflexiones a propósito de los resultados de la macroencuesta

La violencia contra las mujeres (en general y en la pareja) constituye un problema oculto que se denuncia poco en proporción a su ocurrencia real. Las razones para no denunciar son diversas. Este trabajo profundiza en estas razones, tomando como ejemplo el caso de España y los procedentes de la macroencuesta 2011 (datos secundarios). Los resultados muestran que únicamente ¼ parte de las mujeres maltratadas lo había denunciado y quienes habían denunciado y quienes no lo habían hecho había más semejanzas que diferencias. La única variable estructural que las diferenciaba y predecía significativamente el hecho de denunciar era tener hijos/as menores que hubieran padecido maltrato. Como razones para no denunciar, las mencionadas por una mayor proporción de mujeres maltratadas fueron similares a las señaladas en estudios previos: falta de conciencia de la gravedad del maltrato, miedo, y consideración del maltrato como un problema finalizado con la marcha del maltratador.Violence against women is a hidden problem, but they are little legal complaint in proportion to their actual occurrence. The reasons for not reporting about it are different. This paper explores these reasons, taking as an example the case of Spain and the macro-survey (secondary data) carried out in 2011. The results show that only ¼ of abused women had denounced, and they were more similarities than differences between the women that had denounced or not. The only variable that differed between them, and predicted the denounce was have children abused. As reasons for not reporting, those mentioned by a higher proportion of abused women were similar to those identified in previous studies: lack of awareness of the seriousness of abuse, fear, and consideration of maltreatment as a problem ended with the departure of the perpetrator

Gasification and Pyrolysis of Posidonia oceanica in the Presence of Dolomite

Resumen del póster presentado en Symposium on Renewable Energy and Products from Biomass and Waste, CIUDEN (Cubillos de Sil, León, Spain), 12-13 May 2015Thermochemical conversion pathways of biomass for the production of primary energy by direct combustion, as well as other thermal processes, have a remarkable drawback among others: tar formation. In the present work, a detailed study of the reforming of syngas produced in the decomposition of Posidonia oceanica is done. The effect of the presence of different amounts of dolomite is analysed. Gasification of the species is done in the presence of sub-stoichiometric air, analyzing the produced gases. Also pyrolysis is studied, in nitrogen atmosphere, and gasification in the presence of air, oxygen and different amounts of steam. A discussion on formation and destruction of tars is done. Furthermore, the effect of the heating rate in the decomposition and the residence time of the evolved gases are discussed. Syngas with ratio H2/CO from 0.3 to ca. 3 can be obtained from this interesting material. It can be concluded that: 1) The presence of increasing percentages of water vapor in the reaction gases in the presence of dolomite increases the ratio H2/CO and decreases the NCV of the gas for all reaction atmospheres and residence times; 2) The highest values of the ratio H2/CO and less NCV are obtained for combustion in sub-stoichiometric air and low residence time; 3) The possible use of syngas goes from heat engines use with internal and external combustion to the processing fluid for obtaining biofuels, methanol, ammonia, synthetic natural gas and hydrogen; 4) If atmospheres are used with an amount of oxygen, it would be necessary a post-treatment aimed to remove the oxygen gas. Marine species (microalgae) are usually studied with the aim of cultivate them for gas or oil production, but in this work we draw attention to the possibility of using a natural resource with a very small impact in the ecosystem.Authors kindly wish to thank the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain): CTQ2013-41006-R and Valencian Community Government (Spain): PROMETEOII/2014/007 for provided support of this work. The author M.E. Iñiguez also thanks the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain), for a Ph.D. grant (contract grant number BES-2014-069473)

Pollutant content in marine debris and characterization by thermal decomposition

Marine debris (MDs) produces a wide variety of negative environmental, economic, safety, health and cultural impacts. Most marine litter has a very low decomposition rate (plastics), leading to a gradual accumulation in the coastal and marine environment. Characterization of the MDs has been done in terms of their pollutant content: PAHs, ClBzs, ClPhs, BrPhs, PCDD/Fs and PCBs. The results show that MDs is not a very contaminated waste. Also, thermal decomposition of MDs materials has been studied in a thermobalance at different atmospheres and heating rates. Below 400–500 K, the atmosphere does not affect the thermal degradation of the mentioned waste. However, at temperatures between 500 and 800 K the presence of oxygen accelerates the decomposition. Also, a kinetic model is proposed for the combustion of the MDs, and the decomposition is compared with that of their main constituents, i.e., polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), nylon and polyethylene-terephthalate (PET).Support for this work was provided by the CTQ2016-76608-R project from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain) and the PROMETEOII/2014/007 project from the Valencian Community Government (Spain). The author also thanks the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (Spain) for a Ph.D. grant (BES-2014-069473)