Optimization-based design of a heat flux concentrator

To gain control over the diffusive heat flux in a given domain, one needs to engineer a thermal metamaterial with a specific distribution of the generally anisotropic thermal conductivity throughout the domain. Until now, the appropriate conductivity distribution was usually determined using transformation thermodynamics. By this way, only a few particular cases of heat flux control in simple domains having simple boundary conditions were studied. Thermal metamaterials based on optimization algorithm provides superior properties compared to those using the previous methods. As a more general approach, we propose to define the heat control problem as an optimization problem where we minimize the error in guiding the heat flux in a given way, taking as design variables the parameters that define the variable microstructure of the metamaterial. In the present study we numerically demonstrate the ability to manipulate heat flux by designing a device to concentrate the thermal energy to its center without disturbing the temperature profile outside it.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Los retos actuales de la economía española

La economía española acaba de alcanzar recientemente el mismo PIB que tenía en 2007. Ha costado toda una década volver a igualar el nivel de renta anterior a la crisis. Durante estos diez años algunas cosas han cambiado profundamente en nuestra economía, al tiempo que se mantienen casi inalteradas otras características de nuestro modelo productivo. En esta conferencia se revisarán los principales elementos de cambio y continuidad presentes hoy en la economía española, con especial énfasis en los grandes retos que en este momento tiene la política económica en nuestro país.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Medicamentos inapropiados para el adulto mayor en patologías incluídas en el GES.

Tesis (Químico Farmacéutico)Son cincuenta y seis las patologías contempladas dentro del plan AUGE, dentro de ellas, la hipertensión arterial, el infarto agudo al miocardio, la diabetes mellitus tipo 2, la depresión, la neumonía adquirida en comunidad y la enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica; son las de mayor prevalencia en adultos mayores, quienes a su edad presentan un envejecimiento biológico, experimentando modificaciones fisiológicas, con deterioro progresivo de las respuestas y capacidades del organismo a adaptarse a las alteraciones del estado de salud y a la susceptibilidad al padecimiento de enfermedades. El objetivo del estudio fue identificar los medicamentos inapropiados con que son tratados los pacientes geriátricos, en las patologías más prevalecientes incluidas en el GES. Dependiendo del tratamiento farmacológico de cada enfermedad, se identificaron 6 fánnacos incluidos en .criterios Beers: Amiodarona, Clorpropamida, Nifedipino, Amitriptilina, Diazepam y Fluoxetina; los cuales pueden ocasionar prolongaciones en el intervalo QT, hipoglicemia, hipotensión, somnolencia, caídas, demencia, problemas gastrointestinales, entre otras complicaciones que pueden estar asociadas con medidas de hospitalización en los ancianos de la comunidad. Debido a esto, se categorizan de acuerdo a recomendaciones de las guías clínicas y a protocolos ya investigados y validados en la literatura correspondiente a la especialidad de geriatría. Se entregan resultados en tablas que indican las patologías más prevalentes del GES en el adulto mayor versus medicamentos contraindicados con potenciales RAM y riesgos atribuidos a cada uno de éstos. Además se incluyen los costos aproximados de las alternativas para los pacientes geriátricos. Finalmente se consideran resultados importantes los medicamentos garantizados en el GES, que demostraron una condición clínica que indica que el tratamiento provoca más perjuicios que beneficios, y para las alternativas propuestas analizadas que han demostrado tener menores riesgos de efectos adversos

Control of heat flux using computationally designed metamaterials

To gain control over the diffusive heat flux in a given domain, one has to design metamaterials with a specifc distribution of the generally anisotropic thermal conductivity throughout the domain. Until now, the appropriate conductivity distribution was usually determined using transformation thermodynamics. By this way, only a few particular cases of heat flux control in simple domains having simple boundary conditions were studied. As a more general approach, we propose to define the heat control problem as an optimization problem where we minimize the error in guiding the heat flux in a given way, taking as design variables the parameters that define the variable microstructure of the metamaterial. Anisotropic conductivity is introduced by using a metamaterial made of layers of two materials with highly dfferent conductivities, the thickness of the layers and their orientation throughout the domain are the current design variables. As an application example we design a device that thermally shields the region it encloses, while it keeps unchanged the flux outside it.Preprin

Weakly compact operators and the strong* topology for a Banach space

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The alternative Dunford-Pettis property on projective tensor products

A Banach space X has the Dunford–Pettis property (DPP) if and only if whenever (xn) and (pn) are weakly null sequences in X and X*, respectively, we have pn(xn)→ 0. Freedman introduced a stricly weaker version of the DPP called the alternative Dunford–Pettis property (DP1). A Banach space X has the DP1 if whenever xn ! x weakly in X, with kxnk = kxk, and (xn) is weakly null in X*, we have that xn(xn)→ 0. The authors study the DP1 on projective tensor products of C*-algebras and JB*-triples. Their main result, Theorem 3.5, states that if X and Y are Banach spaces such that X contains an isometric copy of c0 and Y contains an isometric copy of C[0, 1], then Xˆ_Y , the projective tensor product of X and Y , does not have the DP1. As a corollary, they get that if X and Y are JB*-triples such that X is not reflexive and Y contains `1, then Xˆ_Y does not have the DP1. Furthermore, if A and B are infinite-dimensional C*-algebras, then Aˆ_B has the DPP if and only if Aˆ_B has the DP1 if and only if both A and B have the DPP and do not contain `1

La influencia de la financiación sobre el gobierno corporativo de la empresa : el papel de los inversores institucionales

El objeto de este trabajo es analizar cómo el proceso de financiarización vivido por la economía mundial durante estas últimas tres décadas, atendiendo en particular al desarrollo y auge de los mercados financieros internacionales, ha alterado los criterios de gestión empresarial de las grandes sociedades no financieras de los países de la OCDE. Para estudiar esta influencia sobre los criterios de gestión empresarial, analizamos el papel que han adquirido los inversores institucionales, así como su creciente presencia en la estructura accionarial de las empresas. La masiva presencia de estos inversores institucionales en el capital de las empresas ha propiciado la adopción y extensión de los criterios de gestión propios del corporate governance, posibilitando (a través de los nuevos instrumentos de control garantizados por la liquidez de los mercados internacionales) la primacía de los objetivos financieros en el interior de estas organizaciones._________________________The aim of this paper is to analyze how the financialization of the world economy during the last decades –in particular, the growth and expansion of international financial markets– has modified corporate governance of large non financial companies in OECD countries. To study the influence of international financial markets on corporate governance, we analyze the prominent role achieved by institutional investors, as well as their growing presence on the capital structure of large non financial companies. The massive presence of institutional investors in companies’ capital structure has implied the adoption and extension of corporate governance principles. The adoption of these principles has permitted –by means of the controlling capacity exerted by liquidity– the preeminence of financial objectives within non financial companies

Impact of international offshoring on the labour market. A reflection on the conceptual and methodological aspects.

The objective of this paper is to analyse the conceptual and methodological aspects of international offshoring (IO) and its impact on the labour market. This paper presents therefore two necessarily complementary levels. On the one hand, the more general one, which aims to pinpoint the conceptual keys of the offshoring dynamic; on the other hand, we review different instruments and approaches, in order to measure this phenomenon and to evaluate its impact on the labour market. We first ascertain a brief conceptual demarcation of international offshoring. After that, we examine different methodological tools in order to measure international offshoring and the impact of IO’s on the labour market. The implications of IO for the labour market -complex, diverse and not always easy to establish– depend on a series of factors which must be considered simultaneously: the magnitude of the process, its characteristics, the underlying causes and the strategies and responses generated by economic, social and institutional agents. All of these aspects will be addressed –from a conceptual and methodological point of view- in different sections of the present paper.The objective of this paper is to analyse the conceptual and methodological aspects of international offshoring (IO) and its impact on the labour market. This paper presents therefore two necessarily complementary levels. On the one hand, the more general one, which aims to pinpoint the conceptual keys of the offshoring dynamic; on the other hand, we review different instruments and approaches, in order to measure this phenomenon and to evaluate its impact on the labour market. We first ascertain a brief conceptual demarcation of international offshoring. After that, we examine different methodological tools in order to measure international offshoring and the impact of IO’s on the labour market. The implications of IO for the labour market -complex, diverse and not always easy to establish– depend on a series of factors which must be considered simultaneously: the magnitude of the process, its characteristics, the underlying causes and the strategies and responses generated by economic, social and institutional agents. All of these aspects will be addressed –from a conceptual and methodological point of view- in different sections of the present paper