Applying Probabilistic Risk Assessment and Decision Analysis Techniques to Avoid Excessive Remedial Investigation Costs

The majority of remediation resources have been consumed by costly and lengthy remedial investigation studies to characterize the human health risk. Unable to deal directly with the uncertainty resulting from the convolution of the uncertainties in a multitude of variables, and heavily persuaded by the liabilities, decision makers and regulators have relied on conservative assumptions and more studies to take appropriate actions. The main objective of this research is to provide tools and techniques to aid risk analysts in determining whether it would be beneficial to gather additional information or whether the decision to take an appropriate action can be made without further investigation. This research provides some probabilistic risk assessment and decision analysis techniques to avoid using simple conservative assumptions to deal with the complex uncertainties to evaluate the value of information of additional studies in the complex remediation decision process. The methodologies in this research were tested on Operable Unit 2, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, and Site 4, Air Force Plant 44, Arizona

Representación matemática del cambio uniforme en estudiantes del nivel medio superior

La manera en que el cálculo es presentado en las escuelas, como reglas y algoritmos, permite a los estudiantes resolver problemas matemáticos, pero sin comprensión e incapacidad de aplicarlo en la resolución de problemas reales, ha propiciado el desarrollo de diversas investigaciones en Didáctica de las Matemáticas, como la implementación de secuencias didácticas no formales en la educación superior; basando la instrucción en la propuesta didáctica del libro Elementos del Cálculo de Salinas, Alanís, Pulido, Escobedo y Garza, se genera una evaluación para alumnos de bachillerato con el fin de determinar su nivel de comprensión de las funciones lineales en contexto del cálculo diferencial

Graficación y visualización con el uso de tecnología para la significación del cálculo

Este taller busca mostrar que las acciones de interpretar, decodificar, relacionar y vincular, son necesarias en el desarrollo de la habilidad de visualización para el cálculo diferencial, como fuentes que propician la construcción social del conocimiento del cambio y la variación. Concretamente en ambientes tecnológicos, la graficación funge como una práctica que permite predecir el comportamiento de funciones. Las actividades se separan en dos momentos, el uso de applets de GeoGebra y el uso de la calculadora ClassPad fx-CP400 para llevar a cabo trabajos de resolución y resignificación de problemas de optimización por métodos gráficos. De esta manera se pretende comprobar que las gráficas obtenidas con GeoGebra y las opciones de la calculadora son congruentes entre sí y pueden utilizarse de manera complementaria para propiciar la construcción social del conocimiento

Roger Verneaux y su obra, Epistemología general o crítica del conocimiento, un acercamiento didáctico a la filosofía

El contenido de esta publicación puede ser clasificado como filosofía, pues trata de conocimientos aportados generalmente en el nivel medio superior que no siempre llegan sanos y salvos a niveles superiores o de posgrado, y la sola mención de una materia llamada epistemología puede desmotivar al más entusiasta.La interacción multidisciplinaria que se presenta en algunos grupos de estudio de posgrado donde convergen alumnos provenientes de las ciencias sociales, con un respaldo de lo que es la filosofía y la epistemología, y por otro lado los alumnos provenientes de las llamadas ciencias duras, sin idea de lo que esto significa, resulta difícil; de tal manera que tener la oportunidad de leer el texto de Roger Verneaux es un alivio. Este autor expone en su obra un recorrido por los principalesUniversidad Autónoma del Estado de Mexic

Breve recorrido por el discurso matemático escolar de la serie de Fourier en el contexto del ingeniero en electrónica

La serie de Fourier se presenta en diversas asignaturas durante la formación del ingeniero en electrónica. Dicho conocimiento matemático es una herramienta esencial en su quehacer profesional, pero ¿qué dice la institución universitaria acerca de este conocimiento? Para el presente escrito y con base en el análisis del plan curricular de ingeniería en electrónica de una institución educativa mexicana, se describe brevemente el discurso matemático escolar alrededor de este conocimiento en asignaturas de ciencias de ingeniería e ingeniería aplicada

Identification des risques de perte de biodiversité face aux pressions anthropiques et au changement climatique à l’horizon 2100 : Application de la conservation dynamique au territoire des Alpes-Maritimes

The work aims at understanding how the land transformation and climatic change synergy could affect the Alpes-Maritimes biodiversity. This thesis contains four chapters. In the first chapter, the purpose is to provide the conceptual basis and the framework that support the scientific foundations of this thesis and the main conceptual definitions of the studied problematic. In the second chapter, the purpose is to study the artificialization process in the French Riviera area, its probable potential dispersion, the conditions and the factors involved in the phenomenon in order to give an intuitively understanding of the landscape transformation and their principal trend. The landscape transformation of the last 40 years has been studied with the aim of identifying the spatial transition rules that have been introduced in the cellular automata model. We present a synthesis of landscape transformation in the French Riviera up to 2050 and 2100. The resulting scenarios provide information about future urban expansion according to historic behavior and the evolutionary patterns. The results of this part show that urban surfaces could double by 2050 and triplicated by 2100 compared with 2011. In the third chapter we assess the biodiversity loss according to land use dynamic and climate change. We first defined the ecosystem diversity by the landscape units. The landscape units are composed by the different ecological factors that have had an influence on ecosystems repartition like geomorphology, soil, climate, and vegetation. Then, we studied how landscape transformation could affect the biodiversity in the future by the spatial superposition of the first and second chapter results. Next, we realized a bioclimatic calibration for the landscape units with the aim of understanding the limits of ecological tolerance to the climatic conditions and the different ecological conditions like geomorphology, soil, and aspect. The bioclimatic calibration of the landscape units has allowed the definition of climatic change impact on ecosystem biodiversity for 2050 and 2100.The synergy between climatic change impact and landscape transformation shows that almost 30% (68 ecosystem expressions) of Alpes-Maritimes biodiversity could be affected at the end of the XXIst century, and at least five ecosystems expressions could disappear for 2100 due to both forces or some of these driving forces.In the fourth chapter we propose a method that allows the integration of climatic change impacts and landscape transformation on conservation process and politic assessment. Moreover, this chapter proposes the possibility to integrate both phenomena into the ecological networks structuration, especially into “Trame verte et bleue” in France.L'objectif est de comprendre comment la synergie entre la transformation du territoire et le changement climatique pourra affecter la biodiversité des Alpes-Maritimes à l'horizon 2100. Cette thèse comprend quatre chapitres. Dans le premier chapitre sont présentées les notions, les bases théoriques et conceptuelles ainsi que la problématique générale de recherche. Le deuxième chapitre est consacré à l'étude des processus d'artificialisation et de transformation territoriale. Dans cette partie sont évalués le processus de dispersion ainsi que les facteurs qui interviennent dans les phénomènes d'artificialisation du territoire et les tendances futures de changement sur les Alpes-Maritimes. Les règles de transition spatiale ont été extraites à partir de l'étude de la transformation territoriale des 40 dernières années pour comprendre les trajectoires de changement, mais aussi dans le but d'avoir une base de connaissances solide permettant de faire la simulation par automate cellulaire. A partir de ces connaissances et de l'interprétation des règles de transition sont élaborés les scénarios de transformation future du paysage aux horizons 2050 et 2100. Les résultats montrent la possible expansion de l'artificialisation selon le comportement et les tendances historiques observés sur le territoire. Les résultats de ce chapitre montrent que les surfaces artificielles pourraient doubler pour 2050, et tripler pour 2100 par rapport à leur occupation actuelle. Le troisième chapitre concerne l'évaluation de la perte de biodiversité selon les pressions anthropiques et climatiques. La première partie du chapitre trois est dédiée à la définition de la diversité écosystémique à partir des unités du paysage. Pour cette définition ont été considérés les différents facteurs écologiques qui ont une influence sur la répartition des écosystèmes tels que la géomorphologie, le sol, le climat et la végétation. Avec les informations obtenues dans la partie précédente, est étudié l'impact potentiel de la transformation territoriale sur la biodiversité. La deuxième partie de ce chapitre consiste en la réalisation d'un étalonnage bioclimatique des unités du paysage, afin de comprendre les limites écologiques de tolérance des expressions écosystémique aux conditions climatiques et géomorphologiques. Au total sont définies 236 unités du paysage sur lesquelles sont estimés les impacts synergiques de la transformation territoriale et du changement climatique afin d'évaluer les risques de perte de biodiversité vers la fin du siècle. Les résultats montrent que 68 unités du paysage (soit presque 30% de la diversité́ des Alpes-Maritimes) seront affectées par ces deux phénomènes d'ici la fin du XXIème siècle et 5 d'entre elles devraient disparaître, que ce soit en raison du changement climatique ou de la dynamique de l'artificialisation du sol. Le dernier chapitre propose une méthode permettant l'intégration des impacts du changement climatique et des impacts de la transformation territoriale dans les processus de conception et définition de politiques de conservation dynamique de la biodiversité. De plus, ce chapitre propose la possibilité d'intégrer les deux phénomènes dans la conception de réseaux écologiques de conservation, notamment dans le cadre de la Trame verte et bleue

Los certámenes de pintura rápida al aire libre en España, historia, organización y participación

Entendidos en su conjunto, como un fenómeno cultural y artístico de fuerte arraigo y popularidad en España, los certámenes de pintura rápida al aire libre son tomados como objeto de estudio y análisis en este trabajo de investigación doctoral, con la intención de ser clasificados, descritos y comprendidos, desde un enfoque académico-científico, dentro del género de la pintura paisajista y las prácticas artísticas, representacionales y de interacción social con el territorio y los espacios compartidos de la cotidianidad. Además de indagar sobre sus orígenes históricos, desarrollo, evolución y organización, el trabajo establece el registro y la clasificación comparativa de 620 certámenes, a partir de la información extraída de sus bases reglamentarias. Para completar y contrastar estos datos, se ha usado el método de las encuestas, lo cual nos ha facilitado la obtención de diversa información, necesaria para conocer el fenómeno desde el punto de vista y la opinión de los artistas participantes. Planteamos, que los certámenes de pintura rápida al aire libre pueden suponer un ejemplo, que manifiesta, como la conciencia, valoración e identificación social con el paisaje, a través de su plasmación pictórica y artística, se ha consolidado y democratizado en las últimas seis décadas; alcanzado en la actualidad, no sólo el nivel de espectáculo, atracción turística o actividad de entretenimiento de masas, sino también, un espacio de formación y encuentro directo entre los artistas, su actividad creativa y la sociedad. A su vez, consideramos que estos certámenes, suponen un espontáneo y accesible campo de experimentación y aprendizaje de las técnicas o las metodologías pictóricas, paralelo al marco reglado y académico que son las Facultades de Bellas Artes y escuelas de arte

“Can joo belieb it?”: The Racial Politics of Chican@ Linguistic Scripts in U.S. Media (1925-2014)

Language has long been used as a means of indexing one’s ethnic, gendered, racial and, arguably, their sexual identities. One’s perceived “accent” drawl, tone or even word choice communicates socially constructed cues to listeners. Studies have shown that white listeners often detect an “accent” from speakers of Color even when one is not apparent. My dissertation project focuses on these politics of language within the field of ethnic and media studies. I examine how patterns of “accent” are linked to troubling representations for Chican@ and Latin@ actors have remained noticeably similar throughout the twentieth century despite drastic changes in media technologies. For instance, from celebrity magazine of the 1920s to the digital era Spanish inflected English (SIE) “accents” are perceived and represented in the media in strikingly similar fashion.I analyze racialized linguistic representations across four media formats: print media (1920s-1940s), television (1970s), animated film (2000), and the Internet (2010-2014). Each period represents different moments of heightened racial, immigrant strife often expressed in coded humorous, language play. For instance, staged “accents” and slang worked to racialize Chican@ and Latin@ comedic actors and voiceovers as sidekicks, peripheral characters and non-citizens. “Accent,” encased in quotes, is used to emphasize the relational nature and notion that certain people are heard as having one and other not. Two of my dissertation chapters focus on the visual representation of vocal SIE “accents” through word play in subtitles (print media, Internet). The first chapter focuses on Mexican film actress Lupe Vélez and the representation of her linguistic “accent” in fan magazines while the last chapter investigates how web celebrity “La Coacha” uses of accented subtitles in her parody YouTube videos. Two other chapters examine how vocal “accents” and slang are heard and performed in relation to the written directives in scripts (television and animated film). The second chapter addresses the characters Chico Rodriguez and Louie Wilson in the 1970s sitcom Chico and the Man and the subsequent third chapter examines language use and Benjamin Bratt’s accented voice over acting of Mexican villain “El Macho” in Despicable Me: 2 (2013). Together, these four case studies demonstrate how language has long been a primary mode of racialization, which recurrently casts People of Color as both funny and foreign across different media forms.I use a feminist critical discourse (FCD) analysis as my primary approach. This analysis focuses on how knowledge is produced, reported, and used. FCD refers to how the systems of gender are produced in cultural productions by focusing on the linguistic tactics in relation to struggles of power and agency. The literal language is investigated as well as the power dynamics that are not made explicit by the text. Archival materials such as magazines, television and film scripts, and analog videos were consulted. I also engaged in acousmatic listening in order to analyze the “accent” in question, for example a video clip’s sound was transcribed, meaning the dialogue, without the visual image, in order to analyze and interrogate how the “accent” is vocalized. My project makes key contributions to topics related to Chican@ and Latin@, media, and linguistic fields. This interdisciplinary approach to language and media representation pushes the boundaries of how to study language in a fictionalized context when viewers read the speaker as a real person and not a scripted character. Ultimately, I investigate how the racial politics of language helped craft several character tropes largely assigned to performers, actors, and comedians of Color in media

Athlete Perceptions of Hydration When Competing on Natural Grass Versus Artificial Turf in Extreme Heat Conditions

Third generation (3G) artificial turf sports fields have been utilized since the 1990s. Research has shown the surface temperature of these turf fields can reach up to 170°F. This temperature is significantly higher than natural grass fields and raises concerns for athletes. No known literature currently has examined the hydration status and performance of athletes on artificial turf versus natural grass fields. We made comparisons of artificial turf and natural grass, focused on performance, different surface temperatures, and possibly investigate further research regarding hydration on only artificial turf. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the athletes’ perception of hydration status and performance on natural grass versus artificial turf and how they prepare for each surface. We hypothesized that the participants would say they’ve become dehydrated more quickly playing on artificial turf in comparison to natural grass. Additionally, we hypothesized sharing results of the hydration study would alter the athletes’ perspective on dehydration when competing on natural grass versus artificial turf fields. Athletes ranging from 18-28 years old were given two surveys using RedCap. The two surveys consisted of their hydration preparation and game behavior. The participants were divided into two groups. The first group was the hydration group, where we took measurements of their weight loss, sweat production, urine samples, heart rate, active participation, distance traveled, and body temperature. The second group was the non-hydration group, where only heart rate, active participation, and distance traveled was measured. Participants had previously completed a two-day hydration study playing on both artificial turf and natural grass. The surveys were distributed six months after the hydration study in a class setting. The first survey was given before presenting the hydration study results, and the second survey was given after. We surveyed all the athletes that were part of TAMU Men’s Soccer club team, however, we primarily looked at the ones that participated in the hydration study. It was found that most participants had a preference of performing on natural grass, as the athletes unanimously voted that there is a temperature difference between artificial turf and natural grass. Prior to the presentation, in the second survey it was recorded that 90% of participants stated they would change their hydration habits in the future. These findings are in support of our hypothesis, as the participants have learned of the extreme water loss that takes place on only one outdoor sports event in hot conditions and made conscious acknowledgements to properly hydrate in the future

Essays on Housing and Macroeconomics

Chapter 1: House Prices and Aggregate Markups: A VAR Approach Based on the empirical results of Stroebel and Vavra (2019), who find that a local increase in house prices translates into higher local retail markups and prices, I investigate whether this relationship holds at the aggregate level. I first construct a quarterly aggregate markup series and find that house prices and aggregate markups have a positive relationship. This result emerges from a Vector Autoregression (VAR) system that includes the nominal interest rate, the inflation rate, aggregate house prices, aggregate markups, and real output. I use the Impulse Response Functions (IRFs) to understand the joint behavior of the variables in the system. This positive relationship between house prices and aggregate markups is robust to different specifications or sample periods, different methods of estimating the responses, such as local projections and generalized IRFs, and a Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) estimation. Chapter 2: House Prices, Aggregate Markups, and Monetary Policy I study the empirical relationship between house prices, aggregate markups, and inflation in a Vector Autoregressive (VAR) setting. I find that following a positive housing price shock, both markups and inflation increase, which is the aggregate counterpart of the findings of recent studies that find a positive relationship between house prices, retail prices, and markups at the local level. To rationalize these empirical results I develop a New Keynesian model with a housing sector in which the evolution of markups depends both on the evolution of house prices, which are endogenous, and an exogenous shock. The presence of endogenous markups changes the dynamics of the interest rate, inflation, markups, and output only after a housing price shock. The responses of these variables to other structural shocks are the same as those of a model with purely exogenous markups, which suggests that the optimal monetary policy response to house prices should not be too different from the response to other shocks. Consequently, the standard Taylor rule that reacts to the output gap and to inflation approximates the optimal policy even if the Central Bank believes markups are exogenous. Chapter 3: Do Aggregate House Prices Influence Aggregate Markups in the Euro Zone? Based on recent evidence about house prices positively affecting aggregate markups in the U.S., I investigate whether this is the case for other advanced economies. In particular, I focus on the twelve countries that initially joined the euro area. Using an EU-level VAR, a panel VAR and country-level VARs, I find that house prices do not affect aggregate markups for these countries. These results are independent of the weighing used to compute aggregate markups