Wrong Choices, Missed Chances: The Motivations of Opposition Politicians and the Ensuing Failures at Regime Change in Venezuela, 2013-2022

This work presents a study of the failures to achieve regime change in Venezuela between 2013 and 2022. By using the critical juncture framework, this thesis shows that there have been moments of opportunity where permissive conditions (i.e., structural factors) were present to achieve regime change, that the Venezuelan opposition was incapable of seizing upon those moments of opportunity because they made sub-optimum strategic and coordination choices, and that these choices were influenced by the motivations that opposition actors have to be in politics

Statistical thermodynamics of aligned rigid rods with attractive lateral interactions: Theory and Monte Carlo simulations

The phase behaviour of aligned rigid rods of length k (k-mers) adsorbed on two-dimensional square lattices has been studied by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and histogram reweighting technique. The k-mers, containing k identical units (each one occupying a lattice site) were deposited along one of the directions of the lattice. In addition, attractive lateral interactions were considered. The methodology was applied, particularly, to the study of the critical point of the condensation transition occurring in the system. The process was monitored by following the fourth order Binder cumulant as a function of temperature for different lattice sizes. The results, obtained for k ranging from 2 to 7, show that: (i) the transition coverage exhibits a decreasing behaviour when it is plotted as a function of the k-mer size and (ii) the transition temperature, Tc, exhibits a power law dependence on k, Tc∼k0,4, shifting to higher values as k increases. Comparisons with an analytical model based on a generalization of the Bragg–Williams approximation (BWA) were performed in order to support the simulation technique. A significant qualitative agreement was obtained between BWA and MC results.Fil: Dos Santos Mendez, Gonzalo Joaquín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Fisico Matemáticas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Linares, Daniel Humberto. Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas y Naturales. Departamento de Física; ArgentinaFil: Ramirez Pastor, Antonio Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - San Luis. Instituto de Física Aplicada "Dr. Jorge Andrés Zgrablich". Universidad Nacional de San Luis. Facultad de Ciencias Fisico Matemáticas y Naturales; Argentin

Capacidad de carga en senderos turísticos del centro de cultura para la conservación Piedra Herrada, México.

El turismo de naturaleza se plantea como una aspiración que pretende el aprovechamiento recreativo de los recursos y la justa distribución de los beneficios que genera. No obstante en la actualidad, numerosas iniciativas difieren poco de la valorización económica del patrimonio y su uso intensivo. Por ello, es necesario dar continuidad a los estudios ambientales del turismo, que identifican sus implicaciones físicas y plantean medidas de mitigación para el adecuado desarrollo de la actividad. El trabajo tuvo como principal objetivo, determinar la capacidad de carga en los senderos turísticos del Centro de Cultura para la Conservación Piedra Herrada, con base al método propuesto por Cifuentes (1992; et. al, 2009), para el cálculo de las capacidades de carga física, real, de manejo y efectiva (turística) del lugar de estudio.El turismo de naturaleza se plantea como una aspiración que pretende el aprovechamiento recreativo de los recursos y la justa distribución de los beneficios que genera. No obstante en la actualidad, numerosas iniciativas difieren poco de la valorización económica del patrimonio y su uso intensivo. Por ello, es necesario dar continuidad a los estudios ambientales del turismo, que identifican sus implicaciones físicas y plantean medidas de mitigación para el adecuado desarrollo de la actividad. El trabajo tuvo como principal objetivo, determinar la capacidad de carga en los senderos turísticos del Centro de Cultura para la Conservación Piedra Herrada, con base al método propuesto por Cifuentes (1992; et. al, 2009), para el cálculo de las capacidades de carga física, real, de manejo y efectiva (turística) del lugar de estudio

Clindamycin-induced maculopapular exanthema with preferential involvement of striae distensae: a Koebner phenomenon?

No abstract availabl

Influence of zirconium addition on microstructure, hardness and oxidation resistance of tantalum nitride thin films

Ta1-xZrxN thin films were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering aiming to investigate the influence of zirconium addition on the microstructure, hardness and high temperature oxidation resistance of the coatings. GAXRD showed that all Ta1-xZrxN thin films maintained ZrN crystalline structure, forming a TaZrN solid solution. Zr incorporation did not alter hardness values of Ta1-xZrxN coatings, however, promoted significant improvements in the oxidation resistance when compared to pure TaN thin films.Keywords: Thin films; Magnetron sputtering; Tantalum nitride; Nanohardness; High temperature oxidation.

Assessing Urban Accessibility in Monterrey, Mexico: A Transferable Approach to Evaluate Access to Main Destinations at the Metropolitan and Local Levels

Cities demand urgent transformations in order to become more affordable, livable, sustainable, walkable and comfortable spaces. Hence, important changes have to be made in the way cities are understood, diagnosed and planned. The current paper puts urban accessibility into the centre of the public policy and planning agenda, as a transferable approach to transform cities into better living environments. To do so, a practical example of the City of Monterrey, Mexico, is presented at two planning scales: the metropolitan and local level. Both scales of analysis measure accessibility to main destinations using walking and cycling as the main transport modes. The results demonstrate that the levels of accessibility at the metropolitan level are divergent, depending on the desired destination, as well as on the planning processes (both formal and informal) from different areas of the city. At the local level, the Distrito Tec Area is diagnosed in terms of accessibility to assess to what extent it can be considered a part of a 15 minutes city. The results show that Distrito Tec lacks the desired parameters of accessibility to all destinations for being a 15 minutes city. Nevertheless, there is a considerable increase in accessibility levels when cycling is used as the main travelling mode. The current research project serves as an initial approach to understand the accessibility challenges of the city at different planning levels, by proving useful and disaggregated data. Finally, it concludes providing general recommendations to be considered in planning processes aimed to improve accessibility and sustainability

Multi-Messenger Astronomy with Extremely Large Telescopes

The field of time-domain astrophysics has entered the era of Multi-messenger Astronomy (MMA). One key science goal for the next decade (and beyond) will be to characterize gravitational wave (GW) and neutrino sources using the next generation of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs). These studies will have a broad impact across astrophysics, informing our knowledge of the production and enrichment history of the heaviest chemical elements, constrain the dense matter equation of state, provide independent constraints on cosmology, increase our understanding of particle acceleration in shocks and jets, and study the lives of black holes in the universe. Future GW detectors will greatly improve their sensitivity during the coming decade, as will near-infrared telescopes capable of independently finding kilonovae from neutron star mergers. However, the electromagnetic counterparts to high-frequency (LIGO/Virgo band) GW sources will be distant and faint and thus demand ELT capabilities for characterization. ELTs will be important and necessary contributors to an advanced and complete multi-messenger network.Comment: White paper submitted to the Astro2020 Decadal Surve

Percepción de la relación comercial entre el productor de palma de aceite y su cliente principal: departamento del Meta – Javier Vargas – Paula Arias – José Santos – Laura Parra – Ingrit Fandiño – Darline Gallo – Charles Arosa

The objective of this document is to understand trade relations between palm growers and their main costumers, with the purpose to describe the perceived relationship involved in the transaction. The analysis is performed in production areas (Centro, Pie de Monte y Altillanura) in the Meta province, considering variables such as size, time, culture and company legalization, which may affect the relations between oil palm growers and their main costumers, the majority of which are harvesters. Each zone has its important singularities, many of them usually depend on the type of grower settled in the area, because in some zones there is a great business informality, there are small and medium crops and other companies with large areas of crops, with different commercial interests. Trade relations in the areas are mostly perceived as equal, for both small and large oil palm producers, however there are important cases in which dissatisfaction is at large, mostly due to the payment, including lack of periodicity and punishments for quality in price, in contrast it can be seen in cases where the sales price goes to the background in the business relationship since both customers and producers understand that this price is placed internationally.La presente ponencia tiene como objetivo caracterizar las relaciones comerciales entre los productores de palma de aceite y su cliente principal, donde se describe la equidad percibida que tienen los agricultores con respecto a las condiciones que median la transacción. El análisis se realiza por zonas de producción (Centro, Pie de Monte y Altillanura) en el departamento del Meta, teniendo en cuenta las variables como tamaño, tiempo de cultivo y formalización de la empresa, que pueden incidir en la forma en que se relaciona éste primer eslabón de la cadena de palma de aceite con su cliente, el cual en su mayoría son extractoras. Cada Zona presenta singularidades, las cuales son importante comprender, mucha de ellas dependen por lo general de la clase de productor que se establezca en la zona, pues en algunos territorios hay gran informalidad en el productor, el cual posee pequeños y medianos cultivos, por otro lado están las empresas formales que cuentan con grandes extensiones de siembra, con intereses diferentes a nivel comercial y una mayor integración hacia adelante

Current situation of endemic mycosis in the Americas and the Caribbean: Proceedings of the first international meeting on endemic mycoses of the Americas (IMEMA)

Background: The Americas are home to biologically and clinically diverse endemic fungi, including Blastomyces, Coccidioides, Emergomyces, Histoplasma, Paracoccidioides and Sporothrix. In endemic areas with high risk of infection, these fungal pathogens represent an important public health problem. Objectives: This report aims to summarise the main findings of the regional analysis carried out on the status of the endemic mycoses of the Americas, done at the first International Meeting on Endemic Mycoses of the Americas (IMEMA). Methods: A regional analysis for the Americas was done, the 27 territories were grouped into nine regions. A SWOT analysis was done. Results: All territories reported availability of microscopy. Seventy percent of territories reported antibody testing, 67% of territories reported availability of Histoplasma antigen testing. None of the territories reported the use of (1–3)-β-d-glucan. Fifty two percent of territories reported the availability of PCR testing in reference centres (mostly for histoplasmosis). Most of the territories reported access to medications such as trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, itraconazole, voriconazole and amphotericin B (AMB) deoxycholate. Many countries had limited access to liposomal formulation of AMB and newer azoles, such as posaconazole and isavuconazole. Surveillance of these fungal diseases was minimal. Conclusions: A consensus emerged among meeting participants, this group concluded that endemic mycoses are neglected diseases, and due to their severity and lack of resources, the improvement of diagnosis, treatment and surveillance is needed.Fil: Caceres, Diego H.. Universidad Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario; Colombia. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Estados UnidosFil: Echeverri Tirado, Laura C.. Universidad de Antioquia; ColombiaFil: Bonifaz, Alexandro. Hospital General de Mexico; MéxicoFil: Adenis, Antoine. Inserm; FranciaFil: Gomez, Beatriz L.. Universidad Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario; ColombiaFil: Bnada Flores, Claudia Lizett. Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia; PerúFil: Canteros, Cristina Elena. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas; ArgentinaFil: Santos, Daniel Wagner. Universidade Federal do Maranhao; BrasilFil: Arathoon, Eduardo. Asociación de Salud Integral; GuatemalaFil: Ramirez Soto, Elia. Centro Nacional de Enfermedades Tropicales; BoliviaFil: Queiroz-Telles, Flavio. Universidade Federal do Paraná; BrasilFil: Schwartz, Ilan S.. University of Alberta; CanadáFil: Zurita, Jeannete. Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador; EcuadorFil: Serra Damasceno, Lisandra. Universidade Estadual do Ceará; BrasilFil: Garcia, Nataly. Sociedad Venezolana de Microbiología; VenezuelaFil: Fernandez, Norma B.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Hospital de Clínicas General San Martín; ArgentinaFil: Chincha, Omayra. Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia; PerúFil: Araujo, Patricia. Ministerio de Salud Pública y Bienestar Social; ParaguayFil: Rabagliati, Ricardo. No especifíca;Fil: Chiller, Tom. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Estados UnidosFil: Giusiano, Gustavo Emilio. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Instituto de Medicina Regional; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste; Argentin