Cibercultur@ as a strategy for complex communication from the edge

Las sociedades que han sido históricamente desplazadas de los “beneficios” de la globalización, tienen la necesidad estratégica de conocer las formas concretas en que sus poblaciones se relacionan con las tecnologías, con la información, con la comunicación y con el conocimiento. Mediante este proceso de apropiación es posible diseñar y desplegar una estrategia crítica y propositiva que les permita no sólo disminuir, sino reorientar los efectos perniciosos (desplazamiento, incomunicación, desconocimiento, desinformación) debidos a la fuerza y dirección del vector tecnológico que se imponen en la densidad de la vida cotidiana de dichas sociedades.Societies that have been historically off the benefits of globalisation, do need to know the ways and means whereby their peoples display technologies, knowledge, information and communication. For it is only through this knowledge that they will produce their own strategies and lay the ground for devising a critical move to downplay and bypass the undesired effects (miscommunication, lack of knowledge and information) that the technological vector carries, and gear the direction and strength of this such a vector in the daily life of those peoples

El debate de la seguridad en América Latina

Se da cuenta del incremento de la violencia y el delito vividos en América Latina y se señalan las estrategias seguidas por algunos actores latinoamericanos frente al asunto. La simple generación de oportunidades no es suficiente para disminuir el delito sino que es necesario fortalecer la dimensión asociativa y comunitaria.ITESO, A.C

Highly-complex optical signal generation using electro-optical systems with non-linear, non-invertible transmission functions

We present a scheme whereby a static non-linear, non-invertible transmission function performed by the electro-optic Mach-Zehnder modulator produces highly complex optical chaos. The scheme allows the deterministic transformation of low-dimensional band-limited chaotic signals into much higher-dimensional structures with broadband spectra and without using any delay elements or feedback. Standard benchmark tests show that all the considered complexity indices are highly increased due to this transformation in a controlled fashion. This mechanism allows the design of simple optoelectronic delayed oscillators with extremely complex chaotic output.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. To appear in Applied Physics Letters (August 2012

Functional and structural modifications associated with hypertension, obesity and diabetes in the resistance vasculature

"December 2014."Dissertation Supervisors: Dr. Luis A. Martinez-Lemus and Luis Polo-Parada.Includes vita.Cardiovascular diseases are considered the leading cause of death nowadays. Hypertension, obesity and type-2 diabetes are deemed major risk factors for the development of cardiovascular diseases. In essential hypertension, one of the most important structural changes is the inward remodeling of the resistance arteries. I found that the mechanical properties of inwardly remodeled cremasteric-arterioles from rats are affected. Furthermore, it is the F-actin components of the cytoskeleton the ones that are strongly modified. In old spontaneously hypertensive rats, my results showed that, resistance arteries undergo hypertrophic inward remodeling; and, adrenergicvasoconstriction and vasodilation pathways are impaired. In diet-induced-obesity, micemesenteric arterioles were observed to undergo remodeling of the extracellular matrix components. Obesity and type-2 diabetes have been associated with insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction and arterial stiffening. Jejunal-submucosal arterioles from diabetic obese patients had a reduced vasorelaxation to insulin in comparison to obese non-diabetics, while acetylcholine-vasodilation was similar in both groups. Reduced amounts of the subunit-alpha of the insulin receptor and MMP-9 were found in diabetics as well. This suggests that, in type-2 diabetes, the presence of a blunted insulinvasodilation response is a form of endothelial dysfunction that is not correlated with the body-to-mass index, but whose mechanism may be related with the activity of MMPs.Includes bibliographical references (pages 124-146)

Performance and ownership in the governance of urban water

In this paper the differences in terms of performance between public and the private governance in urban water management are investigated. A statistical ranking is implemented to determine programmatic efficiency differences in DEA, using an incomplete panel data that gathers information on 20 water utilities in Andalusia, in Southern Spain. In the model, labour and operational costs are considered as inputs. The volume of revenue water, the number of connections and the network length are used as outputs. The analysis indicates that private management is more efficient. The efficiency indicators adjusted by a variable related to quality are estimated and demonstrate that privatization of the service does not mean any loss in terms of quality. However, there are no significant differences between both types of management including as a desirable input hydraulic yield as a proxy of the degree of network renovation. A lower hydraulic efficiency in private management would suggest that the need to make significant investments could be an important factor when making the decision to privatize the management of the urban water service: Water supply; Management; Local government;

What is the best alternative to the use of cycloplegic in the objective refraction

Comunicação Ora

Influence of fogging lenses and cycloplegia on peripheral refraction

Purpose: To compare objective peripheral refraction measured with an open-field autorefractor without cycloplegia with the values obtained with fogging lenses or with cycloplegia to inhibit accommodation. Methods: For one hundred and sixty young adults aged 18 to 28 (mean 21.5 ± 2.3 years) their refraction was measured with the Grand Seiko (GS) autorefractor at the center and at four peripheral locations in the nasal and temporal directions under three different conditions: 1) without cycloplegia (GS); 2) without cycloplegia, but using a +2.00D fogging lens (GS_2D) and 3) with cycloplegia (GS_cycl). Results: Mean spherical equivalent refraction (M) was significantly more negative with the GS method in the hyperopic group for central and peripheral refraction, and only at the center and at 10º nasal eccentricity for the emmetropic group (P<0.05, Kruskal- Wallis). Paired comparison showed that differences of M values across techniques were larger for the GS-vs.-GS_2D comparison in myopes and emmetropes, and for the GS-vs.-GS_cycl one in hyperopes (P<0.001, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test). The gap between M values for all paired comparisons remained almost constant across all eccentric positions under analysis. Conclusions: Fogging lenses used with open-field autorefraction up to 20º in the nasal and temporal fields seem to provide similar accommodative relaxation to that provided by a cycloplegic. This is particularly important when refracting emmetropes and hyperopes. Moreover, this behavior seems to be independent of the eccentricity at which measurements are taken.Objetivo: Comparar las medidas objetivas de refracción periférica realizadas sin cicloplégico con los valores obtenidos con “lentes de miopización” o con cicloplegia, ambas técnicas utilizadas para inhibir la acomodación. Métodos: Se midió la refracción a 160 adultos jóvenes, con edades comprendidas entre 18 y 28 años (media=21,5± 2,3 años), con un autorrefractómetro Grand Seiko (GS), tanto en el centro del campo visual como en 4 regiones de la periferia situadas nasal y temporalmente, y todo ello en 3 condiciones diferentes: 1) sin cicloplegia (GS); 2) sin cicloplegia , pero utilizando una lente translúcida de +2.00 D (GS_2D) y 3) con cicloplegia (GS_cycl). Resultados: La media del equivalente esférico de la refracción (M) resultó ser significativamente más negativa en la condición GS en el grupo de los hipermétropes en lo que respecta a refracción central y periférica, mientras que en el grupo de los emétropes sólo ocurrió esto en el centro y a una excentricidad de 10º nasal (P<0,05, Kruskal-Wallis). La comparación por pares de muestras relacionadas reveló que la mayor diferencia de M entre distintas condiciones se obtuvo al comparar GS y GS_2D en el grupo de los miopes y en el de los emétropes, y al comparar GS y GS_cycl en el de los hipermétropes (P<0,001, contraste de Wilcoxon de rangos con signo). La discrepancia entre valores de M para las distintas comparaciones por pares se mantiene prácticamente constante para todas las excentricidades analizadas. Conclusiones: Las lentes de miopización, utilizadas con un autorrefractómetro con ventana de observación para medir excentricidades de hasta 20º en las direcciones nasal y temporal parece que logran una relajación acomodativa similar a la que proporciona el agente cicloplégico. Esto resulta especialmente relevante cuando se evalúa la refracción en emétropes e hipermétropes. Además, este comportamiento parece ser independiente de la excentricidad en la que se realiza la medida.(undefined