Thermal conductivity measurements of nanomaterials

Thermal conductivity “k” can be defined as a material property where heat is diffused due to a temperature gradient within the material. Among the applications for thermal conductivity are: thermoelectrics, thermal interface materials, thin films, insulation, among many others. A study was made to compare the different types of studies of thermal conductivity of nanomaterials, as well as, a comparison among the different types of setups used to measure thermal conductivity. For this study a custom made thermal conductivity tester was built, this tester was validated by measuring materials with both low and high thermal conductivity, and comparing the results with the ones found in literature. After the validation, materials with unknown thermal conductivity were measured. The low thermal conductivity material was PVDF along with PVDF samples that contained different wt% of boron nitride. The high thermal conductive material was carbonized PVA fibers, the carbonized PVA fibers showed an increment of almost 10 times what was recorded for the pre-carbonized PVA sample. In addition, carbonized PVA coated with copper was also measured, it displayed and increment of 2 times what was measured for the carbonized PVA samples

Cover crops and compost influence soil enzymes during 6 years of tillage-intensive, organic vegetable production

Soil enzymes are considered sensitive indicators of soil health but are not well understood in tillage-intensive vegetable systems. The activities of soil enzymes involved in nutrient cycling (β-glucosidase, β-glucosaminidase, alkaline phosphatase, dehydrogenase, aspartase, and L-asparaginase) were evaluated during 6 yr of commercial-scale production in five organic vegetable systems in Salinas, CA. The systems differed in yard-waste compost inputs (none or 15.2 Mg ha–1 yr–1), winter cover crop frequency (annually or every fourth year), and cover crop type (legume-rye, mustard, or rye). Large differences in cumulative organic matter input (7.4 to 136.8 Mg ha–1) from compost and cover crop shoots affected soil enzyme activities. With exception of aspartase, all enzyme activities were on average lowest without compost, intermediate with compost and infrequent cover cropping, and highest with compost and annual cover cropping. After 6 yr of vegetable production there was a positive relationship between microbial biomass and activities of all enzymes except aspartase. Despite lower inputs of cover crop shoot biomass from mustard compared with rye and the legume-rye, and differences in shoots residue quality, cover crop type had relatively little influence on enzyme activities. We conclude that soil enzyme activities were influenced primarily by annual cover cropping. These results and other attributes of soil health in this long-term study illustrate the importance of frequent cover cropping in tillage-intensive vegetable production. This raises questions about the sustainability of organic and conventional vegetable systems if cover crops are seldom used, and highlights the need for innovative strategies to increase cover cropping

Análisis de la concienciación formal en el desarrollo de la negación en inglés como lengua extranjera

Las secuencias de desarrollo de la negación en inglés han sido ampliamente documentadas en estudios de adquisición de segunda lengua. La evidencia aportada por algunas investigaciones realizadas al respecto (Milon, 1974; Cancino et al. 1978; Stauble, 1984) sugiere que, durante el proceso de adquisición, los aprendientes siguen las mismas etapas de desarrollo de manera sistemática sin importar cuál sea su lengua materna. Lo anterior sugiere que existen mecanismos cognitivos generales o lingüísticos universales (G.U.)1 implicados en el proceso de adquisición de una segunda lengua. No obstante, existen otros estudios que atribuyen un papel importante a la lengua materna, la cual es considerada como un factor que incide directamente en el desarrollo de las etapas de la negación. Wode (1978) por ejemplo, señala que la lengua materna puede influir en las secuencias de desarrollo de la negación en inglés (etapas) y provocar que el aprendiente pase por sub-etapas en dicho desarrollo. Por su parte, Alonso (2005) sugiere que en contextos institucionales de enseñanza de inglés como lengua extranjera, la lengua materna podría llegar a tener una mayor influencia y, en consecuencia, provocar cierta variación en el orden de las etapas de la negación en inglés

Procedimientos de Control Interno Administrativo y Financiero en la pequeña Empresa Comercial “Ferretería El Progreso” del Municipio de Matagalpa en el I semestre del año 2011

El tema abordado en este seminario trata sobre Sistemas Contables y Procedimientos de Control Interno Administrativo y Financiero en las pequeñas empresas del municipio de Matagalpa durante el I semestre del año 2011, con el propósito de evaluar los procedimientos de Control Interno Administrativo y Financiero para verificar las debilidades que presenta la empresa. La importancia de los Procedimientos de Control Interno Administrativo y Financiero que debe seguir una empresa es para regular la actuación de los empleados, las actividades que realizan y poner en práctica los conocimientos que ayuden a la toma de decisiones. Los resultados obtenidos indican que no existe ningún tipo de Manual de Control Interno, es de vital importancia que se considere la necesidad de un manual basado en el modelo COSO, que permita conocer el funcionamiento interno de la empresa, como descripción de tareas y requerimiento de los puestos responsables en la ejecución de actividade

On-line policy learning and adaptation for real-time personalization of an artificial pancreas

The dynamic complexity of the glucose-insulin metabolism in diabetic patients is the main obstacle towards widespread use of an artificial pancreas. The significant level of subject-specific glycemic variability requires continuously adapting the control policy to successfully face daily changes in patient´s metabolism and lifestyle. In this paper, an on-line selective reinforcement learning algorithm that enables real-time adaptation of a control policy based on ongoing interactions with the patient so as to tailor the artificial pancreas is proposed. Adaptation includes two online procedures: on-line sparsification and parameter updating of the Gaussian process used to approximate the control policy. With the proposed sparsification method, the support data dictionary for on-line learning is modified by checking if in the arriving data stream there exists novel information to be added to the dictionary in order to personalize the policy. Results obtained in silico experiments demonstrate that on-line policy learning is both safe and efficient for maintaining blood glucose variability within the normoglycemic range.Fil: de Paula, Mariano. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingeniería Olavarria. Departamento de Electromecánica. Grupo INTELYMEC; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Pcia.de Bs.as.. Centro de Investigaciones En Fisica E Ingenieria del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - Tandil. Centro de Investigaciones En Fisica E Ingenieria del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. - Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernacion. Comision de Invest.cientificas. Centro de Investigaciones En Fisica E Ingenieria del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Acosta, Gerardo Gabriel. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingenieria Olavarria; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Martinez, Ernesto Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo y Diseño; Argentin

Melhoria da Detecção de Câncer de Colo de Útero e de Mama na UBS Dourados, São Miguel do Gostoso-RN

A importância epidemiológica do câncer no Brasil e sua magnitude social, as condições de acesso da população brasileira à atenção oncológica, os custos cada vez mais elevados na alta complexidade refletem a necessidade aperfeiçoar o atendimento individualizado e garantir o aceso na atenção básica e especializada. Considerando a alta incidência e a mortalidade relacionadas a essas doenças, é responsabilidade dos profissionais de saúde realizar ações que permitam o controle dos cânceres do colo do útero e da mama e que possibilitem a integralidade do cuidado, aliando as ações de detecção precoce com a garantia de acesso a procedimentos diagnósticos e terapêuticos em tempo oportuno e com qualidade. A população alvo atendida pela unidade básica de saúde (UBS) é de 533 mulheres entre 25-64 anos (80%) e 173 entre 50-69 anos (81%) o que representa uma baixa cobertura no atendimento deste grupo específico de mulheres. A atenção desta população considera-se que não seja boa pelas cifras baixas dos indicadores de qualidades: exame citopatológico para câncer de colo de útero em dia, 75%; exame citopatológico para câncer de colo de útero com mais de 6 meses de atraso, 43%; avaliação de risco para câncer de colo de útero, 29%; mamografia em dia, 63%; mamografia com mais de 3 meses em atraso, 38%; e avaliação de risco para câncer de mama, 55%. A equipe de saúde da família (ESF) decidiu focalizar a intervenção na prevenção precoce e controle dos cânceres de colo de útero e mamas objetivando melhorar a detecção de câncer de colo de útero e de mama na UBS Dourados, São Miguel do Gostoso-RN, durante 12 semanas entre os meses de fevereiro a maio de 2015. As metas propostas foram ampliar a cobertura de detecção precoce do câncer de colo de útero e de mama para um 90% e melhorar os indicadores de qualidade na atenção para um 100%. Ao longo da intervenção a equipe aumentou a cobertura do atendimento das mulheres com exames em dia para detecção precoce do câncer de colo de útero, 612 (91,8%) e das mulheres com mamografia em dia para detecção precoce do câncer de mama, 217 (100%), e se alcançaram resultados ótimos nos indicadores de qualidade, 100%. A intervenção exigiu que a equipe se capacitasse para seguir as recomendações do ministério da saúde (MS) relativas ao rastreamento, diagnóstico, tratamento e monitoramento do câncer de colo de útero e mama. Esta atividade promoveu o trabalho integrado da equipe e acabou tendo impacto também em outras atividades no serviço como: o acolhimento de qualidade da população adstrita na UBS, atendimento clínico integral médico, odontológico e de enfermagem, monitoramento e avaliação dos principais indicadores de saúde, cadastros e registros das informações individuais e promoção de saúde e prevenção de fatores de risco e doenças de maior incidência e prevalência. As usuárias demonstraram satisfação com a prioridade e qualidade no atendimento. Apesar da ampliação da cobertura do programa ainda temos algumas usuárias sem cobertura

The production of university technological knowledge in European regions: evidence from patent data

This paper explores the European regional distribution of the production of new technological knowledge generated by universities, as measured by patent counts. The empirical basis for this study is a unique panel data set of 4,580 European university patents from 1998 to 2004. Our main findings were a strong regional and sectoral concentration of patents, and no average relation between university technological specialization and industrial specialization. Furthermore, our results suggest that variations in regional R&D funding do affect patenting activities in regions, with elasticities showing constant returns to scale, but no evidence was found regarding the industrial potential of the region encouraging the production of new university technological knowledge

Genetic diversity and relationships in accessions from different cultivar groups and origins in the tree tomato (Solanum betaceum Cav.)

Abstract Tree tomato (Solanum betaceum) is an Andean small tree cultivated for its juicy fruits. Little information is available on the characterization of genetic resources and breeding of this neglected crop. We have studied the molecular diversity with AFLP markers using 11 combinations of primers of a collection of 25 S. betaceum accessions belonging to four cultivar groups, most of which had been previously morphologically characterized, as well as one accession of the wild relative S. cajanumense.Atotal of 197 AFLP fragments were scored, of which 84 (43 %) were polymorphic. When excluding S. cajanumense from the analysis, the number of polymorphic AFLP fragments was 78 (40 %). Unique AFLP fingerprints were obtained for every accession, but no AFLP fragments specific and universal to any of the four cultivar groups were found. The total genetic diversity (HT) of cultivated accessions was HT = 0.2904, while for cultivar groups it ranged from HT = 0.1846 in the orange group to HT = 0.2498 in the orange pointed group. Genetic differentiation among cultivar groups (GST) was low (GST = 0.2248), which was matched by low values of genetic distance among cultivar groups. The diversity of collections from Ecuador, which we hypothesize is a center of diversity for tree tomato, was similar to that from other origins (HT = 0.2884 and HT = 0.2645, respectively). Cluster and PCoA analyses clearly separated wild S. cajanumense from the cultivated species. However, materials of different cultivar groups and origins were intermingled in both analyses. The Mantel test correlation coefficient of the matrices of morphological and AFLP distances was low (-0.024) and non-significant. Overall, the results show that a wide diversity is present in each of the cultivar groups, indicate that Ecuador may be regarded as a center of accumulation of diversity for this crop, and confirm that AFLP and morphological characterization data are complementary. The results obtained are of value for the conservation of genetic resources and breeding of tree tomato, as an assessment of the genetic diversity and relationships among differe

¿Todos los caminos conducen a La Haya? Reflexiones de política criminal tras 17 años de examen preliminar en Colombia

Este ensayo constituye un diagnóstico alrededor de la decisión adoptada por la Fiscalía de la Corte Penal Internacional de cerrar el examen preliminar más extenso de su historia.  Así, plantea consideraciones sobre la política criminal de este organismo y las repercusiones y expectativas de tal determinación de acuerdo con el contexto colombiano. Para ello, parte por caracterizar el examen preliminar adelantado por 17 años; luego, valora la incidencia de su cierre; y finalmente, estudia las condiciones actuales de la situación de derechos humanos en Colombia y la capacidad institucional para hacerle frente de cara al papel de la Fiscalía de la Corte.  De esta manera identifica las siguientes reflexiones: (i) la necesidad de delimitar las etapas de los exámenes preliminares; (ii) que la decisión de cerrar el examen preliminar en Colombia tuvo (y tendrá) más efectos políticos que prácticos en virtud de la complementariedad positiva; y (iii) los crímenes cometidos luego de la firma del Acuerdo Final de Paz entre el gobierno colombiano y las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) constituyen una preocupación latente a la luz de los fines que persigue el Estatuto de Roma