Can we make a Finsler metric complete by a trivial projective change?

A trivial projective change of a Finsler metric $F$ is the Finsler metric $F + df$. I explain when it is possible to make a given Finsler metric both forward and backward complete by a trivial projective change. The problem actually came from lorentz geometry and mathematical relativity: it was observed that it is possible to understand the light-line geodesics of a (normalized, standard) stationary 4-dimensional space-time as geodesics of a certain Finsler Randers metric on a 3-dimensional manifold. The trivial projective change of the Finsler metric corresponds to the choice of another 3-dimensional slice, and the existence of a trivial projective change that is forward and backward complete is equivalent to the global hyperbolicity of the space-time.Comment: 11 pages, one figure, submitted to the proceedings of VI International Meeting on Lorentzian Geometry (Granada

Evaluación probabilista de la amenaza sísmica de Colombia con fines de actualización de la Norma Colombiana de Diseño de Puentes CCP-14

ResumenLa Asociación Colombiana de Ingeniería Sísmica (AIS) ha realizado una actualización del Código Colombiano de Diseño Sismorresistente para Puentes (CCP-14). Entre las diferentes tareas realizadas, ha establecido el valor de los coeficientes de diseño sismorresistente compatibles con la forma funcional del espectro elástico de diseño seleccionado. Para ello, se ha actualizado la evaluación probabilista de la amenaza sísmica a escala nacional y, a partir de ella, se han calculado dichos coeficientes para todo el territorio nacional. Con respecto al último estudio general de amenaza sísmica de Colombia, se dispone de cinco años más de registros de sismicidad y, por consiguiente, de un mejor entendimiento del entorno sísmico colombiano, lo cual ha permitido realizar actualizaciones relacionadas con los parámetros de sismicidad de las fuentes sismogénicas y utilizar relaciones de atenuación de movimiento fuerte calibradas a partir de registros locales. Se presentan los mapas de zonificación sísmica para los tres coeficientes de diseño incluidos en el CCP-14 así como la herramienta gratuita de visualización en línea de los resultados.AbstractA recent update of the Colombian earthquake resistant building code for bridges (CCP-14) was developed by the Colombian Association for Earthquake Engineering (AIS). Among the different tasks developed, the values for the seismic design coefficients, compatible with the functional form of the selected elastic design spectra were established. For that reason an update of the probabilistic seismic hazard assessment was performed from which the seismic design coefficients have been estimated for Colombia. With respect to the latest national seismic hazard assessment, 5 more years of earthquake records and the consequent better understanding of the Colombian seismic environment are included in the analysis by updating the seismicity parameters of the seismogenetic sources and using ground motion prediction equations calibrated with local strong ground motion records. The seismic zonation maps for the three seismic design coefficients included in the CCP-14 are presented as well as the free online results visualization too

The effects of access to health insurance: Evidence from a regression discontinuity design in Peru

In many countries large parts of the population do not have access to health insurance. Peru has made an effort to change this in the early 2000’s. The institutional setup gives rise to the rare opportunity to study the effects of health insurance coverage exploiting a sharp regression discontinuity design. We find large effects on utilization that are most pronounced for the provision of curative care. Individuals seeing a doctor leads to increased awareness about health problems and generates a potentially desirable form of supplier-induced demand: they decide to pay themselves for services that are in short supply

Container description ontology for CaaS

[EN] Besides its classical three service models (IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS), container as a service (CaaS) has gained significant acceptance. It offers without the difficulty of high-performance challenges of traditional hypervisors deployable applications. As the adoption of containers is increasingly wide spreading, the use of tools to manage them across the infrastructure becomes a vital necessity. In this paper, we propose a conceptualisation of a domain ontology for the container description called CDO. CDO presents, in a detailed and equal manner, the functional and non-functional capabilities of containers, Dockers and container orchestration systems. In addition, we provide a framework that aims at simplifying the container management not only for the users but also for the cloud providers. In fact, this framework serves to populate CDO, help the users to deploy their application on a container orchestration system, and enhance interoperability between the cloud providers by providing migration service for deploying applications among different host platforms. Finally, the CDO effectiveness is demonstrated relying on a real case study on the deployment of a micro-service application over a containerised environment under a set of functional and non-functional requirements.K. Boukadi; M.a Rekik; J. Bernal Bernabe; Lloret, J. (2020). Container description ontology for CaaS. International Journal of Web and Grid Services (Online). 16(4):341-363. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJWGS.2020.11094434136316

Quality of Life in Spanish Patients with Liver Transplant

Background: Liver transplantation is the optimal method of treatment in patients with end-stage liver failure. Transplantation medicine has significantly progressed in the last time, but some psychology and psychosomatic problems still remain unsolved. Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL) in liver transplant is considered a useful measure of evolutionary process of the illness. Objective: The authors analyzed the evolution of HRQL in pre-transplant (waiting-list patients) and post-transplant (first year after liver transplant) periods of liver transplant Spanish patients. Methods: A prospective and longitudinal study was carried out among patients who received a liver transplant from a deceased donor. They were assessed in four phases: at the time of inclusion on the transplant waiting-list, and 3, 6, and 12 months after receiving the graft. We used a structured interview and SF-36 and Euroqol-5D (EQ-5D) Health Questionnaires. Results: The greater differences were found between pre-transplant and post-transplant stages with less well-being in the stage before the transplant. No significantly differences were observed when comparing the 3, 6 and 12 months from posttransplant stage. Conclusion: The HQRL of liver patients improved after the transplant, being appreciated a tendency to the stabilization from three months onwards. We suggest that the psychological intervention, in liver patients, should be conducted in waiting- list patients and in the first 3 months post-transplant, periods with a poor mental health (anxiety, depression, and stress by fear to the unknown thing) and a low adhesion to the treatment that can generate a smaller graft and/or patient survival.Transplant Research Network RETIC FIS C03/03Junta de Andalucí

APROXIMACIONES FENOMENOLÓGICAS A LA ARQUITECTURA ANDINA: LIENZO AZUL, TEJIDOS HORIZONTALES, LÍMITES DEL INFINITO Y ESPACIOS DE SILENCIO.

La falta de importancia en la relación entre el entorno y las personas, reflejada en la visión del mundo como sujeto-objeto, ha llevado al olvido del legado andino acerca de la sacralidad del entorno. Con el objetivo de establecer algunos principios teóricos para la arquitectura andina mediante la reflexión fenomenológica, se llevó a cabo una investigación que empleó diversas fuentes, como visitas espontáneas de campo a los lugares de interés a través de la corporalidad, visitas a exposiciones artísticas de paisajes andinos para captar las esencias expresadas por los artistas y entender el mensaje poético de las letras de vals y yaravíes. En la reflexión fenomenológica se utilizó la escritura para expresar la esencia de los significados de la arquitectura andina. Se discute la exploración de métodos fenomenológicos en arquitectura y la teoría arquitectónica para la aplicación de proyectos contemporáneos en las regiones andinas. Los resultados muestran que el lienzo azul representa el cielo despejado que se une con los tejidos horizontales para crear espacios de silencio y mostrar señales y mensajes que nos conectan con el mundo vivid

Eliminación/Degradación de Triazinas Mediante Biorreactor de Membrana con Post-Tratamiento de Ozonización

The aim of the research was to evaluate the removal of micropollutants in a combined system MBR + ozonation. The research was carried out in a MBR scale laboratory plant which was fed with synthetic wastewater, doped with simazine (SIM), atrazine (ATZ) and terbutilazine (TBZ). The MBR operational conditions were: hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 20 h, organic loading rate (OLR) of 0.23 KgCOD/KgSSV·day, sludge retention time (SRT) of 30 d, and flux of 5.5 LMH. Two ozone doses were tested: low dose (16 mg O3/L) and high dose (45 mg O3/L). The removal eficiency of organic matter was 96%. For the studied triazines, low biodegradation effiencies were reached by biological treatment (MBR): 57%, 53% and 63% for SIM, ATZ and TBZ, respectively. The complementary treatment of ozonation improved the quality  of the effluents. At low ozonation dose the overall removal efficiencies increased to 95%, 92% and 96% for SIM, ATZ and TBZ, respectively. At high ozonization dose the overall removal efficiencies were 98%, 97% and 97 % for SIM, ATZ and TBZ, respectively, percentages slightly higher than those obtained at low dose. The results showed the combination of MBR + O3 is effective to remove micropollutants from wastewater, contributing to the preservation of a good ecological state of water bodies.Keywords: Bioreactor, Membrane, Ozone, Triazines, Herbicides

The hydration state of HO−^-(aq)

The HO$^-$(aq) ion participates in myriad aqueous phase chemical processes of biological and chemical interest. A molecularly valid description of its hydration state, currently poorly understood, is a natural prerequisite to modeling chemical transformations involving HO$^-$(aq). Here it is shown that the statistical mechanical quasi-chemical theory of solutions predicts that $\mathrm{HO\cdot[H_2O]_3{}^-}$ is the dominant inner shell coordination structure for HO$^-$(aq) under standard conditions. Experimental observations and other theoretical calculations are adduced to support this conclusion. Hydration free energies of neutral combinations of simple cations with HO$^-$(aq) are evaluated and agree well with experimental values.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

On the geometrization of matter by exotic smoothness

In this paper we discuss the question how matter may emerge from space. For that purpose we consider the smoothness structure of spacetime as underlying structure for a geometrical model of matter. For a large class of compact 4-manifolds, the elliptic surfaces, one is able to apply the knot surgery of Fintushel and Stern to change the smoothness structure. The influence of this surgery to the Einstein-Hilbert action is discussed. Using the Weierstrass representation, we are able to show that the knotted torus used in knot surgery is represented by a spinor fulfilling the Dirac equation and leading to a mass-less Dirac term in the Einstein-Hilbert action. For sufficient complicated links and knots, there are "connecting tubes" (graph manifolds, torus bundles) which introduce an action term of a gauge field. Both terms are genuinely geometrical and characterized by the mean curvature of the components. We also discuss the gauge group of the theory to be U(1)xSU(2)xSU(3).Comment: 30 pages, 3 figures, svjour style, complete reworking now using Fintushel-Stern knot surgery of elliptic surfaces, discussion of Lorentz metric and global hyperbolicity for exotic 4-manifolds added, final version for publication in Gen. Rel. Grav, small typos errors fixe