China: el gigante ha despertado

“China es un gigante dormido. Dejadlo dormir porque, cuando despierte, el mundo se sacudirá” dijo Napoleón Bonaparte en 1816. Dos siglos después, el gigante ya ha despertado. Actualmente, la República Popular China es la segunda economía del mundo y ha logrado, sin dejar de lado su lugar como potencia regional en Asia, extender su poderío por los cinco continentes. De manera pacífica, y con el softpower como su mayor estrategia, ha sabido ganarse un lugar en la agenda política y económica de cada país con el cual ha iniciado vínculos diplomáticos. En el presente trabajo se analizará el camino recorrido por el gigante asiático en el siglo XX y su transición hacia el siglo XXI. Su sistema político, su relación con los países vecinos, Estados Unidos y Europa; y su política exterior para África, la región latinoamericana y la República Argentina serán los ejes centrales.‘China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will shake the world’ said Napoleon in 1816. Two centuries later, the giant has awakened. Currently the People's Republic of China is the second largest economy in the world and, without neglecting its place as a regional power in Asia, has extended its power to the five continents. Peacefully, and using the soft power as its main strategy, it has succeeded in gaining a place in the political and economic agenda of each country with which it has initiated diplomatic ties. In the present work the path traveled by the Asian giant in the 20th century and its transition towards the 21st century will be analyzed. The focus will be in its political system, its relationship with the neighboring countries, United States and Europe; and its foreign policy towards Africa, Latin American region and Argentina.Universidad Católica de Santa F

Distance optical sensor for quantitative endoscopy.

We present a novel optical sensor able to mea- sure the distance between the tip of an endoscopic probe and the anatomical object under examination. In medical endoscopy, knowledge of the real distance from the endo- scope to the anatomical wall provides the actual dimen- sions and areas of the anatomical objects. Currently, en- doscopic examination is limited to a direct and qualitative observation of anatomical cavities. The major obstacle to quantitative imaging is the inability to calibrate the ac- quired images because of the magnification system. How- ever, the possibility of monitoring the actual size of ana- tomical objects is a powerful tool both in research and in clinical investigation. To solve this problem in a satisfac- tory way we study and realize an absolute distance sensor based on fiber optic low-coherence interferometry FOLCI. Until now the sensor has been tested on pig tra- chea, simulating the real humidity and temperature 37°C conditions. It showed high sensitivity, providing correct and repeatable distance measurements on biologi- cal samples even in case of very low reflected power down to 2t o 3n W, with an error lower than 0.1 mm. © 2008 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. DOI: 10.1117/1.287013