Water Governance in the Lerma-Chapala Basin of Mexico: A Shift from State-centred to a Multi-stakeholder Approach?

The purpose of this dissertation is to develop a framework for assessing water governance by consolidating and refining disparate principles of water governance in the existing research literature. The developed framework is then applied in a case study of the Lerma Chapala basin in Mexico to assess the state of water governance, and identify accomplishments and constraints in the implementation of an effective water governance system. The study conducts a content analysis of primary data collected through semi-structured interviews with multiple stakeholders in the basin (N=51) and secondary data from national water policy documents (N=18). Overall, the study identified one major achievement and five major constraints in the implementation of water governance in the Lerma-Chapala basin. The achievement pertains to successful stakeholder negotiations that resulted in a treaty for the allocation of scarce surface water resources in the basin; hence, mitigating allocation conflicts. Constraints include (1) the failure of water user representatives to advance issues that pertain to their stakeholder group in the Basin Council, (2) a fragmented approach to water management that hinders the success of programs and activities at the basin level, (3) the persistence of a centralized decision making protocol that neglects local context, among other issues. Overall, the application of the developed framework in a content analysis of policy documents and stakeholder interviews reveals a major disconnect between policy and practice in the Lerma-Chapala’s water governance experience. The dissertation contributes to the existing literature by providing a conceptual framework for assessing water governance systems. The refined set of five meta-principles allows for better conceptualization, and makes it easier to identify policy-practice disconnects and tease out achievements and constraints to water governance. In this sense, the framework could assist in guiding water sector reforms where changes are needed, and improve the water governance system

Growth, Inequality and Poverty: Some Empirical Evidence from Minas Gerais State, Brazil

This chapter is motivated by the fact that the Brazilian economy has one of the highest income inequality index in the world. According to Paes de Barros et al(2000), average income of the 10% richest people in Brazil is 28 times higher than the average income of the 40% poorest people. In Argentina, it is 10 times, 13 times in Costa Rica and 5 times in France. Brazilian growth did not benefit all classes and inequality is increasing since the 60´s. While the 10% richest people get 48% of total income, the 10% poorest people get 0,8% of total income. The inequality problem also arises in the Brazilian regional income analysis. Minas Gerais is a rich and dynamic state with 300.000 km2 divided into 10 different regions, 66 microregions and 853 towns. It is located in the Southeast developed part of the country and is responsible for 10% of Brazilian GDP. As the rest of Brazil, it has a dual economy with prosperity and poverty and social and economic heterogeneity. This chapter empirically analyses the economic growth and income inequality behavior in Minas Gerais towns and microregions from 1970 to 2000, using the income convergence hypothesis. Convergence tests such as Barro and Sala-i-Martin(1992), σ- convergence, Drennan & Lobo(1999) and Quah(1993) are performed. The role of human capital in growth is analysed for Minas Gerais 66 microregions. A comparison is also made between very rich regions and very poor regions of this state to see the relationship between regional inequality and poverty.

Evolving Material Porosity on an Additive Manufacturing Simulation with the Generalized Method of Cells

The effect of material porosity on final part distortion and residual stresses in a selective laser sintering manufacturing simulation is presented here. A time-dependent thermomechanical model is used with the open-source FEA software CalculiX. Effective homogenized material properties for Inconel 625 are precomputed using NASAs Micromechanics Analysis Code with Generalized Method of Cells (MAC/GMC). The evolving porosity of the material is estimated with each pass of the laser beam during simulation runtime. A comparison with a homogenous model and the evolving model shows that the evolving porous model predicts larger distortions with greater residual stresses

On the 2D Dirac oscillator in the presence of vector and scalar potentials in the cosmic string spacetime in the context of spin and pseudospin symmetries

The Dirac equation with both scalar and vector couplings describing the dynamics of a two-dimensional Dirac oscillator in the cosmic string spacetime is considered. We derive the Dirac-Pauli equation and solve it in the limit of the spin and the pseudo-spin symmetries. We analyze the presence of cylindrical symmetric scalar potentials which allows us to provide analytic solutions for the resultant field equation. By using an appropriate ansatz, we find that the radial equation is a biconfluent Heun-like differential equation. The solution of this equation provides us with more than one expression for the energy eigenvalues of the oscillator. We investigate these energies and find that there is a quantum condition between them. We study this condition in detail and find that it requires the fixation of one of the physical parameters involved in the problem. Expressions for the energy of the oscillator are obtained for some values of the quantum number $n$. Some particular cases which lead to known physical systems are also addressed.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, matches published versio

Local and Global Superconductivity in Bismuth

We performed magnetization M(H,T) and magnetoresistance R(T,H) measurements on powdered (grain size ~ 149 micrometers) as well as highly oriented rhombohedral (A7) bismuth (Bi) samples consisting of single crystalline blocks of size ~ 1x1 mm2 in the plane perpendicular to the trigonal c-axis. The obtained results revealed the occurrence of (1) local superconductivity in powdered samples with Tc(0) = 8.75 \pm 0.05 K, and (2) global superconductivity at Tc(0) = 7.3 \pm 0.1 K in polycrystalline Bi triggered by low-resistance Ohmic contacts with silver (Ag) normal metal. The results provide evidence that the superconductivity in Bi is localized in a tiny volume fraction, probably at intergrain or Ag/Bi interfaces. On the other hand, the occurrence of global superconductivity observed for polycrystalline Bi can be accounted for by enhancement of the superconducting order parameter phase stiffness induced by the normal metal contacts, the scenario proposed in the context of "pseudogap regime" in cuprates [E. Berg et al., PRB 78, 094509 (2008)].Comment: 12 pages including 9 figures and 1 table, Special Issue to the 80th birthday anniversary of V. G. Peschansky, Electronic Properties of Conducting System

Automatic Segmentation of Monofilament Testing Sites in Plantar Images for Diabetic Foot Management

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is a major complication of diabetes mellitus, and it is the leading cause of foot ulceration and amputations. The Semmes–Weinstein monofilament examination (SWME) is a widely used, low-cost, evidence-based tool for predicting the prognosis of diabetic foot patients. The examination can be quick, but due to the high prevalence of the disease, many healthcare professionals can be assigned to this task several days per month. In an ongoing project, it is our objective to minimize the intervention of humans in the SWME by using an automated testing system relying on computer vision. In this paper we present the project’s first part, constituting a system for automatically identifying the SWME testing sites from digital images. For this, we have created a database of plantar images and developed a segmentation system, based on image processing and deep learning—both of which are novelties. From the 9 testing sites, the system was able to correctly identify most 8 in more than 80% of the images, and 3 of the testing sites were correctly identified in more than 97.8% of the images.Partially supported by FCT-UIDB/04730/2020 and FCT-UIDB/50014/2020 projects.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio