De lo familiar y lo perverso. La poética de Laura Contreras

Más allá de las pretensiones de la artista, creo que la función de los cuadros de Laura es inquietarnos. A partir del ensimismamiento que nos produce la solvencia técnica y la destreza de las formas que constituyen su discurso, reconocemos lo que se nos presenta —en un inicio bajo la convención del cuadro/escena, o ventana del mundo— como algo extraño y familiar a la vez. Los signos que identificamos nos hablan de lo ya conocido, sin embargo, son fruto de una imaginación desbordada que pretende comunicar su angustia y que, por lo tanto, elabora un corpus plástico con características tan ricas y complejas como lo requiere cada particular deseo expresado. Estas escenas tienen su origen en el universo oscuro, cerrado, pastoso de la familia clasemediera de pueblo. La arquitectura de la casa delimita y sintetiza los motivos que celebran de manera simbólica la ideología, las costumbres y, en cierta manera, el modo de ser de las relaciones que se establecen entre los habitantes de ese espacio. En la forma de decorar y hasta en el color de las paredes se manifiesta la manía de llenarlo todo —desde los cuadros y diplomas familiares, las fotos de bodas, de fiestas de quince años y de graduaciones escolares, hasta las figuras decorativas, las carpetas para muebles, el mobiliario sencillo y mimético con respecto al conjunto, etc.—. Todas esas existencias adoptadas como iconografía fueron el hogar de las primeras miradas infantiles de Laura, las cuales le infundieron la idea de que así es el mundo. Ahora, la parte oscura de ese universo familiar, las ideas silenciosas que se desplazan en el aire hogareño acerca de la muerte, de los valores familiares y sociales, se enlazan con el arte

Viscosities, diffusion coefficients, and mixing times of intrinsic fluorescent organic molecules in brown limonene secondary organic aerosol and tests of the Stokes-Einstein equation

Viscosities and diffusion rates of organics within secondary organic aerosol (SOA) remain uncertain. Using the bead-mobility technique, we measured viscosities as a function of water activity (aw) of SOA generated by the ozonolysis of limonene followed by browning by exposure to NH3 (referred to as brown limonene SOA or brown LSOA). These measurements together with viscosity measurements reported in the literature show that the viscosity of brown LSOA increases by 3&ndash;5 orders of magnitude as the aw decreases from 0.9 to approximately 0.05. In addition, we measured diffusion coefficients of intrinsic fluorescent organic molecules within brown LSOA matrices using rectangular area fluorescence recovery after photobleaching. Based on the diffusion measurements, as the aw decreases from 0.9 to 0.33, the average diffusion coefficient of the intrinsic fluorescent organic molecules decreases from 5.5&times;10&minus;9 to 7.1&times;10&minus;13&thinsp;cm2&thinsp;s&minus;1 and the mixing times of intrinsic fluorescent organic molecules within 200&thinsp;nm brown LSOA particles increases from 0.002 to 14&thinsp;s. These results suggest that the mixing times of large organics in the brown LSOA studied here are short (&lt;1&thinsp;h) for aw and temperatures often found in the planetary boundary layer (PBL). Since the diffusion coefficients and mixing times reported here correspond to SOA generated using a high mass loading (&thinsp;&sim;&thinsp;1000&thinsp;&micro;g&thinsp;m&minus;3), biogenic SOA particles found in the atmosphere with mass loadings &thinsp;&le;&thinsp;10&thinsp;&micro;g&thinsp;m&minus;3 are likely to have higher viscosities and longer mixing times (possibly 3 orders of magnitude longer). These new measurements of viscosity and diffusion were used to test the accuracy of the Stokes&ndash;Einstein relation for predicting diffusion rates of organics within brown LSOA matrices. The results show that the Stokes&ndash;Einstein equation gives accurate predictions of diffusion coefficients of large organics within brown LSOA matrices when the viscosity of the matrix is as high as 102 to 104&thinsp;Pa&thinsp;s. These results have important implications for predicting diffusion and mixing within SOA particles in the atmosphere.</p

What were the historical reasons for the resistance to recognizing airborne transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic?

The question of whether SARS-CoV-2 is mainly transmitted by droplets or aerosols has been highly controversial. We sought to explain this controversy through a historical analysis of transmission research in other diseases. For most of human history, the dominant paradigm was that many diseases were carried by the air, often over long distances and in a phantasmagorical way. This miasmatic paradigm was challenged in the mid to late 19th century with the rise of germ theory, and as diseases such as cholera, puerperal fever, and malaria were found to actually transmit in other ways. Motivated by his views on the importance of contact/droplet infection, and the resistance he encountered from the remaining influence of miasma theory, prominent public health official Charles Chapin in 1910 helped initiate a successful paradigm shift, deeming airborne transmission most unlikely. This new paradigm became dominant. However, the lack of understanding of aerosols led to systematic errors in the interpretation of research evidence on transmission pathways. For the next five decades, airborne transmission was considered of negligible or minor importance for all major respiratory diseases, until a demonstration of airborne transmission of tuberculosis (which had been mistakenly thought to be transmitted by droplets) in 1962. The contact/droplet paradigm remained dominant, and only a few diseases were widely accepted as airborne before COVID-19: those that were clearly transmitted to people not in the same room. The acceleration of interdisciplinary research inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that airborne transmission is a major mode of transmission for this disease, and is likely to be significant for many respiratory infectious diseases. &nbsp;</p

The Effects Of The Distribution Of Agricultural Direct Payments

The Common Agricultural Policy (the CAP) is the most important common policy of the European Union, for which reason it traditionally monopolizes a large part of the European Union budget. Without doubt, the aids that farms receive from this policy are the pillar on which it sustains the battered agricultural sectors. Among CAP aid, direct payments are particularly important, in 2008 accounting for about 37% of the total EU budget. The main objective of this paper is to analyse the effects that the distribution of the CAP direct payments have on the agrarian economy. Specifically, we have analysed the equality level in distribution of CAP direct aid in the countries of the European Union using a concentration index. In this way, we have examined the fairness of distribution of CAP direct aid in the agricultural sector

The Use Of Analogies As A Methodology In The School Of Medicine

In recent years, the School of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico has been largely engaged in the global medical education trend, through the implementation of curriculum changes which include new methods of teaching and learning. These "new" methods seek to change from the use of teacher-centered strategies or traditional ones, to the student-centered strategies or innovating ones.The fulfillment of this study is due to the need to find educative strategies which help improve our students learning in a clinical subject which is taught in the basic sciences cycle (this cycle comprises the first and second year of the degree), allowing the interrelation between basic sciences and clinical sciences subjects

Universal Service in a Broader Perspective: The European Digital Divide

Ensuring universal service is a top objective in many countries in order that all the citizens can have access basic communications services. Although the ICT equipment in households and its usage by individuals are essential prerequisites for benefiting from ICTs, the situation in the European Union is far from uniform. This article provides a description of the European information society development scenario using the values reached by the member states in a set of indicators selected for measuring said progress in households. Two tools are used for providing a broader perspective of the digital divide: a composite index and the cluster analysis. Below, a study is provided on what variables are relevant for interpreting the situation that is presented

El paisaje como destino. El Acueducto del Padre Tembleque. Patrimonio Cultural de la Humanidad

Vestigio del esfuerzo humano, el Acueducto del Padre Tembleque representa la conjugación de ideales y saberes con un objetivo imprescindible: la modificación de un entorno natural magnífico, pero que se ha tornado hostil. En una época de reconfiguración de un país que se debate entre la grandeza de un pasado que permanece sólo en la memoria y un porvenir incierto y prefigurado por las necesidades más inmediatas. El Acueducto del Padre Tembleque es una maravillosa obra que vincula saberes diversos de distintas épocas, desde la ingeniería romana a la arquitectura renacentista, y milenarios conocimientos constructivos mesoamericanos que permanecen latentes. La técnica, los materiales y el trabajo de cientos de manos anónimas transformaron —en el siglo xvi— un territorio que hoy prevalece inerte bajo la vida de su rica naturaleza que, sin embargo, permanece oculta en medio de la tensión entre la industrialización, el desarrollo y las formas de vida que conservan la referencia a tradiciones y costumbres que reclaman su vigencia. A lo largo de cada uno de sus 48 kilómetros, la presencia de esta obra hidráulica se funde con el contexto natural hasta convertirse en el eje de la construcción de un singular paisaje que demanda la atención sobre múltiples elementos que lo constituyen, entre ellos: arcadas, impresionantes arcos, pueblos y caseríos, aljibes y cajas de agua, iglesias y capillas, depósitos naturales y artificiales del vital líquido, manantiales, cerros, montes y peñascos, arroyos y un río, sembradíos de temporal y especialmente, una flora diversa y peculiar enmarcada por magueyes y nopales del altiplano que hacen único este territorio limítrofe entre los estados de México e Hidalgo. Son las relaciones espaciales y vitales de estos elementos —ocultos y visibles—, las que conforman el verdadero paisaje, aquel que se extiende horizontal y emotivamente a la vista y a los sentimientos, y que logra ampliar su influencia sensible a través de la lente. La fotografía, como horizonte artístico, devela modos inéditos de interactuar este paisaje; crea una idea propia a partir de la experiencia colectiva entre el acueducto y el entorno del que es parte. Recientemente, gracias al impulso y al trabajo que ha venido realizando en materia de preservación de nuestras riquezas naturales y arquitectónicas el gobierno de la república, encabezado por el Lic. Enrique Peña Nieto, así como por la iniciativa y la labor del gobierno del Estado de México, que preside el Dr. Eruviel Ávila Villegas, este importante sistema hidráulico del siglo xvi recibió el Certificado que lo acredita como Patrimonio Mundial de la unesco. Mi reconocimiento por su amplia visión y vocación de servicio a los mexicanos y especialmente a los mexiquenses. Para la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México ha sido un asunto primordial participar en la inscripción del Acueducto del Padre Tembleque en el Patrimonio Mundial de la unesco, situación que nos compromete a seguir desarrollando proyectos que investiguen, valoren y difundan la enorme riqueza cultural de nuestro país, entendida como un patrimonio que, en su divulgación, busque hacer coincidir las distintas miradas acerca de nuestra identidad