3D optimal perturbations developing in homogeneous mixing layers in presence of subharmonic vortex-pairing

Many experimental and numerical studies have found that the pairing of primary Klevin-Helmholtz (KH) vortices in mixing layers generally inhibits the growth of infinintesimal three-dimensional disturbances, delaying the transition to turbulence. In this work, we investigate the existence of 3D perturbations that grow fast enough to survive the subharmonic merging instability. For this purpose, we perform a numerical study of the transient linear evolution of 3D perturbations emerging in a homogeneous time-evolving mixing layer which undergoes pairing. We look at the optimal perturbation that yields the largest gain of energy at a specific time horizon, by use of an optimization method which solves iteratively the linearized direct and adjoint Navier-Stokes equations. In particular, we consider the influence of the time horizon relative to the saturation time of both the primary KH and subharmonic pairing instabilities

ESPACIOS DES-DIFERENCIADOS EN EL CLÚSTER TURÍSTICO DE MAZATLÁN. LA PROPUESTA DE UN MUSEO VIVO EN LA CIUDAD

El turismo es una actividad dinámica que pasó de organizar su producción de manera fordista a través de paquetes estandarizados, a un esquema personalizado, sustentado en la economía de la experiencia. En la nueva forma de consumo los visitantes influyen en la modificación de la estructura de la oferta al incorporar, a través de la praxis, espacios de los destinos que tradicionalmente no están contenidos en el paquete turístico, hecho que es aprovechado por los agentes económicos para ampliar su mercado. La nueva forma de consumo turístico incluye como parte de los atractivos buscados por el visitante, a la vida diaria de los habitantes comunes y su cultura popular, tal y como la viven a diario, convirtiéndose en museos vivientes en los cuales el cliente no sólo observa objetos inertes, sino que observa e interactúa con sujetos vivos, enmarcados en un paisaje o escenario de su vida natural. En este tenor, el objetivo de este documento es demostrar que el Casco Antiguo de Mazatlán es un espacio des-diferenciado de la ciudad, y que a pesar de que su eje central se incorporó a la oferta turística del destino, no ha perdido su característica de ser un espacio local por la preeminencia de sus habitantes en la zona y afluencia de visitantes, aunque los agentes económico pugnen por una rehabilitación que a mediano plazo puede desplazar a los habitantes tradicionales

Benefits of Educational Services for Students with Disabilities

This capstone research project examines the benefits of educational services that schools offer to students with disabilities for a smooth transition from elementary school level to middle school and high school level. Federal and state laws, e.g. the Re-authorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Educational Act (IDEA) of 2004, ensure that students with disabilities receive a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) specifically designed to provide services to meet the needs of individual student with disabilities through the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Through the use of relevant literature review and surveys with special education teachers, principals, and parents, various types of educational services have been identified and recommended to schools and various organizations serving students with disabilities in the Monterey County Area

Technology Trends in ICT – Towards Data-Driven, Farmer-Centered and Knowledge-Based Hybrid Cloud Architectures for Smart Farming

Over the past four decades, advances in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have resulted in unprecedented opportunity and innovation for improving farming outcomes. Ongoing innovations such as mobile, social media, agricultural drones, Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, and cloud computing present new challenges and opportunities for agribusinesses to redefine and rethink the role of ICT towards achieving better farming outcomes. With recent advances in infrastructure, data (collection, storage and retrieval), and a better understanding of all aspects of the food chain, new challenges and opportunities are presented. Unstructured data is now being generated real time, in large volumes, at high speed and unknown quality that results in challenges to current approaches for decision making, and require a focus on analytics. These new sources of data create the opportunity to inform and drive a change in decision making from one that is highly intuitive to one that is data driven and processed in real-time. This paper highlights recent trends in ICT and introduces a hybrid cloud architecture for smart farming. The proposed architecture emphasizes data-driven, farmer-centered, and knowledge-based decision tools through service integration, aggregation and interoperation. As a customized solution for farmers, the proposed architecture contains components of 1) data integration of on-farm sensors and data from public sources, 2) farm management modules, 3) knowledge-based software solutions from different providers, 4) service integration, aggregation and interoperation, and 5) a customized dashboard focused on usefulness and usability. This cloud-based solution allows the integration of businesses services, things, and technology from any channel and can be used anywhere. At this time, hybrid cloud environments have shown promise to integrate these different services and provide smart farming solutions to both big and smallholder farmers. 

Milk against Poverty: Nutrition and the Politics of Consumption in Twentieth-Century Mexico

This dissertation examines how and why food consumption and nutrition became legitimate public policy issues in Mexico between the 1930s to the 1980s. In the post-revolutionary era, Mexican public officials began to systematically consider diet a social problem that affected not only individual well-being but could influence the economic development of the nation. This belief resulted in the implementation of policies with the goal of improving the quality of the Mexican diet. Several government actors participated in formulating and executing food and nutrition policies. Economic authorities, doctors and nutritional experts became convinced that food consumption could be managed, rationalized and perfected to obtain optimal results both in terms of expenses and health benefits. For economic officials, the primary goal of food policies was to maintain the stability of the factors of production, primarily labor costs, to encourage industrialization. Thus, from the early 1930s, the Mexican government regulated prices and intervened in food markets to control the supply side. Since the 1970s, government officials also sought to influence the demand side through the behavior of consumers. Diet came to be regarded not only as an object of health intervention and macroeconomic policy, but also as a crucial component of the new consumer culture. The Mexican government also promoted the study of food consumption scientifically, looking for ways to optimize food consumption with low wages. This scientific research done at public hospitals helped solidify diets as a legitimate sphere of intervention. Most doctors and nutritional experts agreed that Mexicans in general were malnourished due to the quality of their diets, which lacked animal proteins. Based on the findings of their studies, which indicated that diets had effects on mental development, these experts insisted that malnourishment was the explanation for the poverty and backwardness of Mexican society. Milk production and distribution is presented as a case study of the multiplicity of processes and actors involved in food consumption and nutrition policies in Mexico. For both doctors and economic planners, it was not enough to recommend increased consumption of animal proteins if these products were not available in the market or were not affordable enough for low income consumers to buy them. Government officials implemented policies to increase the production and consumption of the product. This dissertation traces how the milk sector was transformed and how the interactions between local producers, government agencies and transnational companies shaped an incipient industry in the early twentieth century into an important economic sector in several regions of Mexico

ICT, Innovation and Knowledge Challenges as seen by a World Conference of Experts

The World Conference on Computers in Agriculture (WCCA), held in San Jose Costa Rica in 2014, provided a forum where professionals from different disciplines exchanged research finding and experience on the use of ICT in a wide variety of contexts. This special issue is a collection of manuscripts by experts in agriculture and food related disciplines presenting the results of their research and experience on uses of ICT, which although not comprehensive in their scope, partially address the issues discussed in the editorial

Modernidades e intimidad: aproximaciones conceptuales para el estudio de las transformaciones de las parejas heterosexuales en México

El artículo tiene como objetivo presentar una reflexión informada sobre los planteos teóricos de la modernidad y su impacto en las parejas heterosexuales en los países desarrollados, elaborados por autores europeos y las investigaciones realizadas en las últimas décadas sobre las concepciones y relaciones de género, así como los conflictos y transformaciones de las parejas y las familias heterosexuales mexicanas (y latinoamericanas). El contraste entre ambas producciones académicas se realiza a través de cinco dimensiones analíticas. Finalmente, del análisis se deriva, una reflexión sobre la necesidad de pensar en las diferentes “modernidades” que existen en las diversas regiones del mundo y la importancia de la crítica a un discurso unívoco sobre la modernidad y el desarrollo al momento de realizar estudios en el ámbito de la pareja y la familia

Myocardial creatine levels do not influence response to acute oxidative stress in isolated perfused heart

Background: Multiple studies suggest creatine mediates anti-oxidant activity in addition to its established role in cellular energy metabolism. The functional significance for the heart has yet to be established, but antioxidant activity could contribute to the cardioprotective effect of creatine in ischaemia/reperfusion injury. Objectives: To determine whether intracellular creatine levels influence responses to acute reactive oxygen species (ROS) exposure in the intact beating heart. We hypothesised that mice with elevated creatine due to over-expression of the creatine transporter (CrT-OE) would be relatively protected, while mice with creatine-deficiency (GAMT KO) would fare worse. Methods and Results: CrT-OE mice were pre-selected for creatine levels 20–100% above wild-type using in vivo 1 H– MRS. Hearts were perfused in isovolumic Langendorff mode and cardiac function monitored throughout. After 20 min equilibration, hearts were perfused with either H2O2 0.5 mM (30 min), or the anti-neoplastic drug doxorubicin 15 mM (100 min). Protein carbonylation, creatine kinase isoenzyme activities and phospho-PKCd expression were quantified in perfused hearts as markers of oxidative damage and apoptotic signalling. Wild-type hearts responded to ROS challenge with a profound decline in contractile function that was ameliorated by co-administration of catalase or dexrazoxane as positive controls. In contrast, the functional deterioration in CrT-OE and GAMT KO hearts was indistinguishable from wildtype controls, as was the extent of oxidative damage and apoptosis. Exogenous creatine supplementation also failed to protect hearts from doxorubicin-induced dysfunction. Conclusions: Intracellular creatine levels do not influence the response to acute ROS challenge in the intact beating heart, arguing against creatine exerting (patho-)physiologically relevant anti-oxidant activity

Low-Order Nonlinear Animal Model of Glucose Dynamics for a Bihormonal Intraperitoneal Artificial Pancreas

Objective: The design of an Artificial Pancreas to regulate blood glucose levels requires reliable control methods. Model Predictive Control has emerged as a promising approach for glycemia control. However, model-based control methods require computationally simple and identifiable mathematical models that represent glucose dynamics accurately, which is challenging due to the complexity of glucose homeostasis. Methods: In this work, a simple model is deduced to estimate blood glucose concentration in subjects with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. Novel features in the model are power-law kinetics for intraperitoneal insulin absorption and a separate glucagon sensitivity state. Profile likelihood and a method based on singular value decomposition of the sensitivity matrix are carried out to assess parameter identifiability and guide a model reduction for improving the identification of parameters. Results: A reduced model with 10 parameters is obtained and calibrated, showing good fit to experimental data from pigs where insulin and glucagon boluses were delivered in the intraperitoneal cavity. Conclusion: A simple model with power-law kinetics can accurately represent glucose dynamics submitted to intraperitoneal insulin and glucagon injections. Importance: The parameters of the reduced model were not found to lack of local practical or structural identifiability