Using torsion to manipulate spin currents

We address the problem of quantum particles moving on a manifold characterised by the presence of torsion along a preferential axis. In fact, such a torsion may be taylored by the presence of a single screw dislocation, whose Burgers vector measures the torsion amplitude. The problem, first treated in the relativistic limit describing fermions that couple minimally to torsion, is then analysed in the Pauli limit We show that torsion induces a geometric potential and also that it couples generically to the phase of the wave function, giving rise to the possibility of using torsion to manipulate spin currents in the case of spinor wave functions. These results emerge as an alternative strategy for using screw dislocations in the design of spintronic-based devices

Modelling of the behavior of post-tensioned concrete structures subjected to long term thermal loads

Congreso celebrado en la Escuela de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Sevilla desde el 24 hasta el 26 de junio de 2015.The effect of the reduction of concrete material strength and the deformations and stress level due to the non-uniform temperature distribution within a structural element such as a storage tank has a coupled negative effect on the post-tensioned concrete design. Heated strands embedded in a heated concrete element will elongate, hence reducing the post-tensioning force. This reduction will reduce the confinement of concrete, which added to the temperature gradient derived tension results in a greater level of damage and cracking. This study sets up a strongly non-linear model that attempts to account for all these effects. The results show that cracking localization grows surrounding the tendon duct, producing a sharp decrease in the post-tensioning force and a significant reduction of global stiffnes

The Environmental Institution in Chile, A Political Representation of the Ecological Crisis

In the present scenario of increasing sustainable global governance for ecological issues, the approval of Law 19.300 “Environmental Bases” 1994 in Chile is presented generally as the beginning of a modernization process of environmental institution, which culminates with the creation of the Environmental Ministry 2010 through Law 20.417. The paper will challenge the common understanding of this modernization process simply as institutional improvement and will raise the alternative thesis of a co-production in the representation of the ecological crisis and its solution between the politics and scientific systems. With the historical emergence of the National Environmental Commission (1994) the research shows the emergence of a particular form of relation society-nature in Chile based on: i) the previous environmental institution existing in the country oriented to tackle pollution conflicts ii) the international influences by the official reports of United Nations Environmental Program and the Organization for the Economic Cooperation and Development with a center in the institutionalization of the environmental impact assessment and market instrument to regulate environmental problems and, iii) the global market integration of Chile as a supplier of raw material with a high pressure over land, water and energy in territories inhabited by indigenous population. Together, these three influences are at the bottom of a representation of the ecological crisis only in terms of pollution management and rational use of natural resources which exclude the possibility to understand the human and social consequences provoked. In this scenario, the emergence of social movements against mega extractive and energetic projects show the need to review the manner in which the political system renders the environmental crisis. The notion of socio- ecological conflict is presented to understand how the search for sustainability could reinforce environmental problems especially for the mining activity, forestry industry and energy production, milestones of the ecological debate, nowadays

La representación social en el cómic posmoderno

La posmodernidad nos es útil para elaborar un texto que nos permita entender la proliferación de formas diversas en un marco de desorden, de incertidumbre económica y en un entorno en el que exponencialmente crecen las formas de mediación electrónica que construyen nuevos discursos. Este estudio muestra el cómic como un discurso social y crítico de la cultura de consumo y de los modelos estéticos del posmodernismo.Posmodernism is useful to the extent that it provides a discourse that might be used to understand the proliferation of diversity amid the diminution of authority, the economic uncertainty and the exponential increase in forms of electronic mediation that come together to inform and to construct youth. This paper teach about the comix like a social and critical speech of the Consumer Culture and the aesthetic models of the postmodernism

Elementos dos estudos visuais: uma análise crítica da visão desde o essencialismo visual até os regimes escópicos

El objetivo de este artículo es el examen de aquellos elementos integrantes de los estudios visuales que nos ofrecen una visión nítida sobre los regímenes escópicos desde el origen de la modernidad. La investigación analiza este fenómeno de la cultura visual provocado por las innovaciones tecnológicas y los avances científicos, las corrientes ideológicas y la propia influencia de la herencia cultural y filosófica del pasado. La metodología de esta investigación de carácter teórico se basa en el enfoque interdisciplinar de los estudios visuales. El conocimiento de lo visual avanza desde la hermenéutica a la teoría crítica, en busca de la comprensión desde la interdisciplinariedad (que incluye las disciplinas tradicionales como la teoría del arte, historia del arte y estética). Entre los resultados conseguidos destacamos la definición de los conceptos más importantes para los estudios visuales: la cultura visual, los objetos visuales, el esencialismo visual y los regímenes escópicos. En las conclusiones, subrayamos la liberación de la textualidad que experimentan las imágenes en la cultura contemporánea. Lo visual se presta a las interpretaciones que bajo sus hábitos de vida ahora trazan los espectadores. La vivencia de las imágenes queda supeditada a la mirada de la ciencia o de las creencias e ideologías de aquellos individuos que pertenecen a una cultura concreta. El artículo ofrece una visión innovadora al revelar las reglas establecidas por los regímenes escópicos y lo que caracteriza un modo determinado de contemplación del mundo (una manera determinada de mirar) a partir de las formas de vida de sus actores.The objective of this article is to examine the integrating elements of visual studies that offer us a clear vision of scopic regimes ever since the origin of modernity. The research analyzes this phenomenon of visual culture caused by technological innovations and scientific advances, ideological currents of thought, and the influence particular to the cultural and philosophical heritage of the past. The methodology of this theoretical research is based on the interdisciplinary approach of visual studies. Knowledge or comprehension of the visual progresses from hermeneutics to critical theory, in search of understanding through interdisciplinarity (which includes traditional disciplines such as art theory, history of art and aesthetics). Among the results, the authors define the most important concepts visual studies; namely, visual culture, visual objects, visual essentialism and scopic regimes. In the conclusions, they emphasize the liberation of textuality that images experience in contemporary culture. The visual lends itself to interpretations that now delineate or define spectators according to their living habits or lifestyles. The way images are experienced is subject to the gaze of science or the beliefs and ideologies of those individuals who belong to a specific culture. The article offers an innovative view by revealing the rules established through scopic regimes and what characterizes a particular way of contemplating the world (a certain way of looking at things) based on the different ways of life of its actors.Elementos dos estudos visuais: uma análise crítica da visão desde o essencialismo visual até os regimes escópico

The Renaissance of humanism in cybercultures : an approach from art

Presentamos una recuperación del espíritu humanista en la corriente estética del arte de medios (media art) de las ciberculturas. Para mostrar el giro cultural hacia el neorrenacimiento, hacemos un recorrido por los conceptos que fundan el humanismo clásico y que aproximan el arte contemporáneo a la racionalidad tecnológica y mediática. Este artículo revisa el encuentro del hombre consigo mismo, las subjetividades del arte y la expresión en el paradigma de las nuevas tecnologías, la ciencia y la creatividad, así como la renovación de una emergente epistemología visual que desplaza la concepción moderna de obra de arte, de la figura del artista y del lugar del espectador.We present a recovery of the humanistic spirit in the current aesthetics of the media art in the cybercultures. To show the cultural shift towards Neo-Renaissance, we tour the concepts underlying the classical humanism and contemporary art closer to technologic and mediatic rationality. This article reviews the meeting of man with himself, the subjectivities of the Art and the expression in the paradigm of new technologies, science and creativity, as well as the renewal of an emerging visual epistemology that moves the modern concept of the work of art, the figure of the artist and the place of the viewer

Estudio sobre los planteamientos teóricos y metodológicos de los Estudios Visuales

Este artículo muestra los principales planteamientos teóricos y explica la función de metodologías interdisciplinares en los Estudios Visuales. Para ello realizamos un recorrido por los conceptos centrales del análisis del arte visual (el esencialismo visual, los objetos visuales, la cultura visual, el pensamiento visual, los regímenes escópicos), así como tratamos relevantes debates críticos sobre las carencias de la historia del arte, la teoría del arte o la estética en el análisis de las nuevas imágenes mediáticas. El estudio demuestra que la evolución teórica del análisis visual sobrepasa la interpretación histórica del arte y se extiende en el conocimiento de la construcción social de la experiencia visual, o dicho de otro modo, en la construcción visual de lo social.This article shows the main theoretical approaches and explains the role of interdisciplinary methodologies in Visual Studies. In order to do this we take a tour of the central concepts of the analysis of visual art (visual essentialism, visual objects, visual culture, visual thinking, scopic regimes), as well as discuss relevant critical debates about the shortcomings of art history. Art theory or aesthetics in the analysis of new media images. The study demonstrates that the theoretical evolution of visual analysis surpasses the historical interpretation of art and extends in the knowledge of the social construction of the visual experience, or in other words, in the visual construction of the social