Overview geotechnical model tests on dike safety at Deltares

Three on-going dike safety studies (on: macro stability, piping and flow slides) in the Netherlands make use of geotechnical physical models. A short outline of these projects is presented; the physical models chosen are described and discussed. The three studies use different physical models, depending on the research questions at the beginning of the model test series, the heterogeneity that is anticipated in the field, the scaling laws and the knowledge level. The paper describes why a certain model was chosen

Depletion-mode Quantum Dots in Intrinsic Silicon

We report the fabrication and electrical characterization of depletion-mode quantum dots in a two-dimensional hole gas (2DHG) in intrinsic silicon. We use fixed charge in a SiO$_2$/Al$_2$O$_3$ dielectric stack to induce a 2DHG at the Si/SiO$_2$ interface. Fabrication of the gate structures is accomplished with a single layer metallization process. Transport spectroscopy reveals regular Coulomb oscillations with charging energies of 10-15 meV and 3-5 meV for the few- and many-hole regimes, respectively. This depletion-mode design avoids complex multilayer architectures requiring precision alignment, and allows to adopt directly best practices already developed for depletion dots in other material systems. We also demonstrate a method to deactivate fixed charge in the SiO$_2$/Al$_2$O$_3$ dielectric stack using deep ultraviolet light, which may become an important procedure to avoid unwanted 2DHG build-up in Si MOS quantum bits.Comment: Accepted to Applied Physics Letters. 5 pages, 3 figure

Fortalecimiento institucional al municipio de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

El programa de Apoyo para la Implementación de los Planes Nacionales de Acción SINPA (Support for Implementation of National Plans of Action) surge para dar cumplimiento a las políticas y directrices proclamadas durante la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas para los Asentamientos Humanos - HABITAT II (Estambul 1996) (UNCHS 1997) en tres ciudades de diferentes países. En Bolivia, SINPA materializa el fortalecimiento del Gobierno Municipal de Santa Cruz de la Sierra, ciudad tropical prometedora y de grandes contrastes (motor del desarrollo económico, concentra los mayores índices de pobreza absoluta del país), se rige por un convenio suscrito entre el gobierno municipal el Instituto de Estudios de Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano IHS (Holanda) y dos universidades locales. El país de fuerte tradición centralista y con bajo nivel de relacionamiento y articulación entre los estamentos político y civil, introduce a partir de 1994 drásticas reformas al Estado una de las cuales es la descentralización que se da como municipalización. Con este surgimiento se presentan e identifican una serie de debilidades en los gobiernos locales para enfrentar las nuevas responsabilidades y competencias. SINPA es un intento de subsanar esta realidad desarrollando capacidades de gestión desde el interior del gobierno municipal, enfatizando la planificación desde cuatro pilares: gestión ambiental, fortalecimiento institucional, participación ciudadana y desarrollo económico local

El Plan Estratégico y el Desarrollo Económico Local de la Ciudad de Córdoba, Argentinade

The Strategic Plan of Córdoba (PEC) is one of the few strategic urban development plans in Latin America which has actually been implemented in the majority of its components. The PEC was conceived as a collective and global project of the city as a whole without excessive protagonism or special ownership by a few. The PEC integrated a policy of public works – oriented at the “social debt” which existed in the city – with a work on urbanistic norms and directions and economic development. The PEC as a space for articulation achieved to organise a great number of representatives from civil society organisations, achieving legitimacy and representation in the work of the PEC

Resonant tunnelling features in the transport spectroscopy of quantum dots

We present a review of features due to resonant tunnelling in transport spectroscopy experiments on quantum dots and single donors. The review covers features attributable to intrinsic properties of the dot as well as extrinsic effects, with a focus on the most common operating conditions. We describe several phenomena that can lead to apparently identical signatures in a bias spectroscopy measurement, with the aim of providing experimental methods to distinguish between their different physical origins. The correct classification of the resonant tunnelling features is an essential requirement to understand the details of the confining potential or predict the performance of the dot for quantum information processing.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures. Short review article submitted to Nanotechnology, special issue on 'Quantum Science and Technology at the Nanoscale