European Economies in the First Epoch of Imperialism and Mercantilism. 1415-1846.

The costs and benefits of European Imperialism from the conquest of Ceuta, 1415, to the Treaty of Lusaka, 1974.Twelfth International Economic History Congress. Madrid, 1998.Patrick K. O'Brien and Leandro Prados de la Escosura (eds.)Editada en la Fundación Empresa PúblicaJorge M. Pedreira. «To Have and To Have not». The Economic Consequences of Empire: Portugal (1415-1822).-- Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla. The American Empire and the Spanish Economy: An Institutional and Regional Perspective.-- Pieter C. Emmer. The Economic Impact of the Dutch Expansion Overseas, 1570-1870.-- Paul Butel and François Crouzet. Empire and Economic Growth: the Case of 18th Century France.-- Stanley L. Engerman. British Imperialism in a Mercantilist Age, 1492-1849: Conceptual Issues and Empirical Problems.Publicad

Biphasic effect of insulin on beta cell apoptosis depending on glucose deprivation

AbstractInsulin resistant states are associated with an increase in the beta cell mass and also high levels of circulating insulin. Ultimately the beta cells undergo a failure that leads to diabetes. At this stage, a question arises if those persistent high levels of circulating insulin may contribute to beta cell damage. To address this important issue, we submitted beta cells to a prolonged effect of increasing concentrations of insulin. We observed that a prolonged effect of high levels of insulin on the presence of serum (15–24h) in glucose-deprived beta cells induced apoptosis. This apoptotic effect was both dose- and cycloheximide-dependent

Analysis of thermal resistance evolution of ash deposits during co-firing of coal with biomass and coal mine waste residues

Co-firing biomass or waste fuels with coal in conventional thermal plants is a promising way to reduce environmental impact of human activities with an acceptable economic investment. One of the main issues to be addressed is the worsening in ash fouling and the reduction of heat transfer rate. In the present paper, the deposits thermal resistance during direct combustion of different blends of coal and various native fuels is investigated by using a deposition probe, kept at 550 °C in order to emulate the conditions of superheaters of conventional power units. Two energy crops (Cynara cardunculus L. and Populus spp.), a forest residue (Pinus pinaster) and a waste coal (coal mine waste residues) were successfully tested in a semi-industrial scale pilot plant. A thermal model of the probe is presented to estimate heat transfer rate and thermal resistance of ash deposits. After the validation with experimental data, a sensitivity analysis allows to identify the deposit surface emissivity and the flue gas temperature as the most influential parameters. The heat uptake in air flow decreases with time for all the experimental tests in spite of the increase in flue gas and walls temperatures. Except for poplar blends, under similar operation conditions, a rise in the substitution percentage means faster decreasing rates in heat transfer and higher thermal resistance due to the ash deposits, especially for cynara and coal mine waste residues. The present work demonstrates the usefulness of thermal models to estimate the thermal resistance of ash deposits without the need of sophisticated instrumentation. Dedicated thermal models, similar to the developed one, could serve to design smart cleaning sequences to improve efficiency in power generation processes

Comparativa

Dibujo de Miguel C. Clementson Lop

El sueño del cautivo

Dibujo de Miguel C. Clementson Lop

Geogonía

Dibujo de Miguel C. Clementson Lop

Homilía de los sueños

Dibujo de Miguel C. Clementson Lop

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and intralayer interactions in a single layer of CoPt nanoparticles

The multilayer films Al2O3/tCo Co/tPt Pt]N, produced by sequential deposition of Co and Pt on alumina consist in layers of CoPt alloyed nanoparticles. They show perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) below a freezing temperature Tf, an asperomagnetic-like phase below that temperature, and hard ferromagnetic ordering below a transition temperature T1 < Tf. A single layer granular film (N = 1) with deposition thicknesses tCo=0.7 nm, tPt=1.5 nm and particle diameter of 3 nm is presently studied. SQUID magnetometry shows that a single layer presents the three phases as well. Para-, aspero-and ferromagnetic phases are observed upon lowering the temperature, with transition temperatures Tf ˜ 375 K and T1 ˜ 200 K, respectively. In addition, the PMA persists, proving that there is no interlayer coupling in the multilayer system. SQUID results also reveal a core-shell structure in the CoPt nanoparticles

Zero-temperature spin-glass freezing in self-organized arrays of Co nanoparticles

We study, by means of magnetic susceptibility and magnetic aging experiments, the nature of the glassy magnetic dynamics in arrays of Co nanoparticles, self-organized in N layers from N=1 (two-dimensional limit) up to N=20 (three-dimensional limit). We find no qualitative differences between the magnetic responses measured in these two limits, in spite of the fact that no spin-glass phase is expected above T=0 in two dimensions. More specifically, all the phenomena (critical slowing down, flattening of the field-cooled magnetization below the blocking temperature and the magnetic memory induced by aging) that are usually associated with this phase look qualitatively the same for two-dimensional and three-dimensional arrays. The activated scaling law that is typical of systems undergoing a phase transition at zero temperature accounts well for the critical slowing down of the dc and ac susceptibilities of all samples. Our data show also that dynamical magnetic correlations achieved by aging a nanoparticle array below its superparamagnetic blocking temperature extend mainly to nearest neighbors. Our experiments suggest that the glassy magnetic dynamics of these nanoparticle arrays is associated with a zero-temperature spin-glass transition.Comment: 6 pages 6 figure

Effectiveness of a Surgery Admission Unit for patients undergoing major elective surgery in a tertiary university hospital

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The increasing demand on hospitalisation, either due to elective activity from the waiting lists or due to emergency admissions coming from the Emergency Department (ED), requires looking for strategies that lead to effective bed management. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a surgery admission unit for major elective surgery patients who were admitted for same-day surgery.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We included all patients admitted for elective surgery in a university tertiary hospital between the 1st of September and the 31st of December 2006, as well as those admitted during the same period of 2008, after the introduction of the Surgery Admission Unit. The main outcome parameters were global length of stay, pre-surgery length of stay, proportion of patients admitted the same day of the surgery and number of cancellations. Differences between the two periods were evaluated by the T-test and Chi-square test. Significance at P < 0.05 was assumed throughout.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We included 6,053 patients, 3,003 during 2006 and 3,050 patients during 2008. Global length of stay was 6.2 days (IC 95%:6.4-6) in 2006 and 5.5 days (IC 95%:5.8-5.2) in 2008 (p < 0.005). Pre-surgery length of stay was reduced from 0.46 days (IC 95%:0.44-0.48) in 2006 to 0.29 days (IC 95%:0.27-0.31) in 2008 (p < 0.005). The proportion of patients admitted for same-day surgery was 67% (IC 95%:69%-65%) in 2006 and 76% (IC 95%:78%-74%) in 2008 (p < 0.005). The number of cancelled interventions due to insufficient preparation was 31 patients in 2006 and 7 patients in 2008.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The implementation of a Surgery Admission Unit for patients undergoing major elective surgery has proved to be an effective strategy for improving bed management. It has enabled an improvement in the proportion of patients admitted on the same day as surgery and a shorter length of stay.</p