Energy innovation in Latin America: R&D effort, deployment, and capability accumulation

Ibero-America, just as the rest of the world, faces an increasing urgency to transform existing energy systems. In the past, incentives to develop energy systems were induced mainly by changes in demand (derived from industrialization and urbanization) and by price shocks in fuels. Diversification of energy sources followed a growing need of use of particular energy forms. For developing countries, innovating in energy systems meant fundamentally gaining control over natural resources and moving away from primary, export-oriented enclaves into industrial integration, as well as improving energy security. Today, however, environmental constraints and the pressing need to reduce energy poverty forge additional challenges and set new directions to change the ways in which we use and produce energy. Improving current technologies along the same trajectory is simply not enough. Fundamental changes must take place in our economic systems in order to combine energy efficiency with low-carbon, sustainable energy sources, for which new abilities and solutions need to be targeted.energy innovation; Latin America

A Majestic Presence: A Study of the Development of the Majestic Theater In Gettysburg

In an era of collective entertainment, before private home entertainment systems, people sought amusement within their communities. One aspect of this community entertainment, the theater, offered a social gathering place. Theaters provided an important dual role for the community—both for entertainment and also a certain amount of public service. Theaters in the 1920s and 1930s, in small towns such as Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, served a much different purpose than they do today, with a more prominent and more important role within society. In the 1920s and 1930s, Gettysburg had several theaters. The two most prominent were the Majestic and the Strand (known as the Photoplay before the 1926 renovation). These buildings acted as true centers and hubs for Gettysburg and the surrounding area. These theaters, “served as a showplace and a gathering place for people of all ages from Adams County and the surrounding area of Northern Maryland.” The building’s primary use, as a theater, provided a much needed social environment where people could come, relax, and be entertained, people would come from all over to attend the movies. As the years went on, renovations were made to improve the building. Even more important than the Majestic’s role as a theater were its ties with the community

RENDERING PRINCIPAL DIRECTION CONTOUR LINES WITH ORIENTED TEXTURES

In this paper we explore the use of contour lines in computer graphics as a means of conveying shape to the end-user. Contour lines provide an alternative to traditional realistic rendering styles and may even provide a more appropriate visualization for certain situations. For our images, contour line orientation is established in accordance with principal curvature directions. We present a method for rendering a texture, oriented in the principal curvature direction, across a traditionally-modeled geometric surface that effectively forms suggestive contour lines to enhance the visualization of that surface. We further extend the method to create animated contour textures, wherein lines move across a surface to suggest its shape. We demonstrate how the animation can be made more intuitive and easier to follow through a meaningful generalization of the generated vector space

Can Libertarianism or Compatibilism Capture Aquinas\u27 View on the Will?

The contemporary free will debate is largely split into two camps, libertarianism and compatibilism. It is commonly assumed that if one is to affirm the existence of free will then she will find herself in one of these respective camps. Although merits can be found in each respective position, I find that neither account sufficiently for free will. This thesis, therefore, puts the view of Thomas Aquinas in dialogue with the contemporary debate and argues that his view cannot be capture by either libertarianism or compatibilism and that his view offers a promising alternative view that garners some of the strengths from both contemporary positions without taking on their respective shortcomings

Postpartum Weight Retention In First Time Mothers And Weight Outcomes In Their Offspring

Background and Purpose: Overweight and obesity are common problems in the United States contributing to significant morbidity. Women may have increased risk for overweight and obesity over their lifetimes if they retain weight postpartum and never lose it. Increasingly, children are diagnosed as overweight or obese. Identification of overweight and obesity in young children coupled with the increased obesity rates in the adult population suggests that maternal factors may be associated with offspring obesity. Body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain are two factors that have been associated with increased weights postpartum in women, but these studies have mainly utilized participants who have had more than one baby in their lifetimes. There is little information on postpartum weight and offspring outcomes for women having their first baby. The purpose of this study was to investigate the importance of BMI and excessive gestational weight gain on postpartum weight retention and offspring weight out to 2 years in women having their first baby. Study Design and Theoretical Framework: This is a retrospective secondary analysis of a prospective longitudinal study of women who were followed during their first pregnancy and up to two years postpartum. Postpartum weight retention and offspring weights were examined by maternal body mass index and ability to gain within the pregnancy guidelines set by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The developmental model for origins of disease (Barker Hypothesis) is the theory used to frame this study. This theory hypothesizes that a critical event during gestation alters gene expression resulting in potential long-term consequences on human development. Specific Aims: 1) To determine if overweight or obese first time mothers retain more weight gained in pregnancy than first time mothers of normal weight at 6 weeks, 6 months, 1 year and 2 years postpartum; 2) To determine if first time mothers who gain in excess of IOM guidelines during pregnancy retain more weight than women who gain within the IOM guidelines at 6 weeks, 6 months, 1 year and 2 years postpartum; 3) To determine if the offspring of overweight or obese first time mothers have higher weight for length percentiles than the offspring of first time mothers of normal weight mothers at 6 weeks, 6 months, 1 year and 2 years of life; and, 4) To determine if the offspring of first time mothers who gain in excess of IOM guidelines during pregnancy have higher weight for length percentiles than the offspring of first time mothers who gain within the guidelines at 6 weeks, 6 months, 1 year and 2 years postpartum. Sample: Data from 652 mother/infant dyads were available for analysis. The women who provided the data were eligible for midwifery care in a low risk obstetrical setting. Underweight women at the initiation of pregnancy care were excluded from analysis. Methods: A series of one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to compare normal, overweight and obese participants on demographic variables, postpartum weight retention (PPWR) and offspring weight for length percentiles. A 3x2 between subjects ANOVA was used to compare postpartum weight retention and offspring weight for length percentiles by adherence to weight gain guidelines. Follow-up non-parametric tests were then run because the Shapiro-Wilk test for normality of data was significant and the Levene’s test of homogeneity of variances was significant (p \u3c.01). Kruskal-Wallis and Mann Whitney tests to determine significant differences between groups were completed. Results: In the analysis of the demographic data, three observations were made: 1) normal weight women had significantly more years of education than obese women (p = .01), 2) obese women gained significantly less weight during pregnancy than normal weight women (p \u3c .05), and 3) offspring of obese women were statistically significantly heavier at birth compared to normal weight women (p \u3c .01), but the amount by which they were heavier is unlikely to be clinically significant. Specific Aim 1: Obese women retained significantly less weight than normal and overweight women at 6 weeks (p \u3c .05). Normal weight women retained significantly less weight than overweight women at the 6-month time point (p \u3c .05). Normal weight women retained significantly less weight than overweight women at the 1year time point (\u3c.05). Specific Aim 2: In an analysis between groups, significant differences for weight gain in excess of the IOM guidelines were seen at the 6-week time period only (p \u3c .01). Subsequent Mann-Whitney tests for weight gain in excess of IOM guidelines revealed that normal weight women who gained in excess of their guideline retained significantly more weight than obese women who gained outside of their guideline (p\u3c.01) and overweight women who retained in excess of their guideline retained significantly more than obese women who gained in excess of their guideline. No other pairwise comparisons were significant. In an analysis within groups, normal weight women who gained within their IOM guideline retained significantly less weight than normal weight women who gained in excess of the IOM guidelines at 6 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year time point (p \u3c .01). No difference was seen for normal weight women who gained within their guidelines and those who did not at 2 years. Overweight women who gained within the IOM guidelines retained significantly less weight than overweight women who gained in excess of the IOM guideline at 6 weeks, 6 months and 1 year (p \u3c .01). No difference was seen for overweight women who gained within their guideline and those who did not at 2 years. Obese women who gained within their IOM guideline retained significantly less weight at 6 weeks only (p \u3c.05). No significant differences were seen for postpartum weight retention for obese women who gained within their guidelines and those who gained in excess of their guideline at any other time point. Specific Aim 3: No significant differences were detected for offspring weight for length percentiles at any time point for any maternal BMI category. Specific Aim 4: Offspring of normal weight women who gained within the IOM guidelines had significantly lower weight for length percentiles at the 1-year time point only (p=.05). For all other women in all BMI groups there were no differences at any time point. Conclusions: Obese women had better outcomes than expected with less overall weight gain and less weight retention at 6 weeks. In general, while women who gained in excess of the guidelines tended to retain more weight, this was only seen at the 6-week time period for obese women and compared to normal and overweight women obese women who gained in excess of guidelines retained less weight postpartum. In this study of first time mothers with relatively uncomplicated pregnancies the offspring outcomes were not influenced by maternal BMI. Offspring of normal weight women who gained within their IOM guideline had significantly lighter babies at 1 year compared to normal weight women who over-gained

DÉBAT / DISCUSSSION

A Reply to John Bainbridge

Review Essay / Essai critique

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A Comprehensive Analysis on the Healthcare Systems in Latin America

This comprehensive report summarizes and analyzes the current state of healthcare in Latin America, specifically in the countries of Mexico, Brazil, the Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras), the Andean Region (Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia) and the Rioplatense Region (Uruguay, and Argentina). Each country's healthcare system is examined in depth, in terms of health infrastructure, the healthcare providing industry, and the effects of healthcare on the countries' respective populations.Mosser, Michael W.International Relations and Global Studie

Intermolecular interactions in N-(ferrocenylmethyl)anthracene-9-carboxamide

The title compound, [Fe(C₅H₅)(C₂₁H₁₆NO)], was synthesized from the coupling reaction of anthracene-9-carboxylic acid and ferrocenylmethylamine. The ferrocenyl (Fc) group and the anthracene ring system both lie approximately orthogonal to the amide moiety. An amide-amide interaction (along the a axis) is the principal interaction [N...O = 2.910 (2) Å]. A C-H...π(arene) interaction [C...centroid = 3.573 (2) Å] and a C-H...O interaction [C...O = 3.275 (3) Å] complete the hydrogen bonding; two short (Fc)C...C(anthracene) contacts are also present