A family of mixed graphs with large order and diameter 2

A mixed regular graph is a connected simple graph in which each vertex has both a fixed outdegree (the same indegree) and a fixed undirected degree. A mixed regular graphs is said to be optimal if there is not a mixed regular graph with the same parameters and bigger order. We present a construction that provides mixed graphs of undirected degree qq, directed degree View the MathML sourceq-12 and order 2q22q2, for qq being an odd prime power. Since the Moore bound for a mixed graph with these parameters is equal to View the MathML source9q2-4q+34 the defect of these mixed graphs is View the MathML source(q-22)2-14. In particular we obtain a known mixed Moore graph of order 1818, undirected degree 33 and directed degree 11 called Bosák’s graph and a new mixed graph of order 5050, undirected degree 55 and directed degree 22, which is proved to be optimal.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Agglomeration, accessibility and industrial location: evidence from spanish municipalities

This paper deals with the location decisions of manufacturing firms in Spain. We analyse how agglomeration economies and transport accessibility influence the location decisions of firms at municipality level and in three industries. The main empirical contributions of this paper are the econometric techniques used (spatial econometric models) and some of the explanatory variables (local gross domestic product, road accessibility, and the characteristics of firms in neighbouring municipalities). The results show that agglomeration economies and accessibility are important in industrial location decision-making.Agglomeration, Accessibility, Industrial location, Spatial econometrics, Spain

The category of Place: Grammar to Discourse

El objetivo de este trabajo es discutir algunas nociones relacionadas con el Método sincrónico-diacrónico de análisis lingüístico de textos (de aquí en más MSDALT), (PARDO, 1996, 2011). Se trata de una investigación exploratoria. Específicamente intentaremos dar cuenta de la categoría gramaticalizada y, por lo tanto, obligatoria de Lugar. Es reconocida la función orientadora de la categoría Lugar; sin embargo, esta puede cambiar su función en el texto y constituirse en una categoría de carácter semántico-discursivo. Además, dicha categoría se torna uno de los tópicos del texto en que se incluye. Esta re-funcionalidad de la categoría de Lugar parecería guardar un vínculo con la discusión posmoderna acerca del espacio, así como en la modernidad esto sucedía con la categoría gramaticalizada de Tiempo. Este tema queda esbozado en este trabajo para investigaciones futuras. El marco teórico de esta investigación es el Análisis del Discurso. La metodología es cualitativa y el corpus seleccionado está conformado por crónicas noticiosas relevadas en YouTube, de las cuales se toman dos a modo de ejemplos. El análisis lingüístico se realiza mediante el método antes mencionado (PARDO, 2011).The aim of this paper is to discuss some concepts related to synchro-diachronic method to the linguistic analysis of texts (from now on MSDALT) (PARDO, 1996, 2011). This is an exploratory research. Specifically we try to account for the grammaticalized category and, therefore, obligatory Place. It is recognized the orientative role of the category Place; however, this can change its role in the text and become a category of semantic-discursive character. In addition, this category becomes one of the topics of the text in which it is included. This re-functionality of the category of Place seems to keep a link with the postmodern discussion about space, and this happened in modernity with grammaticalized Time category. This topic is outlined in this paper for future research. The theoretical framework of this research is Discourse Analysis. The methodology is qualitative and the selected corpus is made up of news on YouTube chronic surveyed, of which two are taken as examples. The linguistic analysis is performed by the aforementioned method (PARDO, 2011).Fil: Pardo, Maria Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentin

The concept of identity in relation to motherhood in the discourse of teenagers who attend a pregnancy from a linguistic and psychoanalytical perspective

Mi objetivo en este trabajo es discutir brevemente la noción de identidad y cómo puede unificarse el concepto psicoanalítico con el discursivo, con el fin de llevar a cabo una investigación multidisciplinar sobre este tema. Dicho trabajo parte de historias de vida recogidas en el Hospital Larcade, desde el 2008 hasta el 2011, de adolescentes que cursan un embarazo. Mediante el análisis lingüístico de las garantías argumentacionales, siguiendo el modelo de Toulmin (17), tal como ha sido redefinido por Pardo (14) y Molina (12), pretendo dar cuenta de las bases discursivas y psicológicas de lo que conformará luego una identidad para estas jóvenes sobre la maternidad. Ellas viven en situación de pobreza extrema en el conurbano bonaerense y conviven con una gran dosis de violencia familiar que vincula sus identidades como madres a la imagen (o identidades del otro) que tienen sobre sus propias madres, padres, parejas en dichos contextos de violencia. También se confrontan estos datos con casos de violencia intrafamiliar que aparecen en los medios y cómo son tratados discursivamente en estos. Se da cuenta así de las contradicciones que impone la identidad cultural de un grupo (los espectadores o lectores de medios, que son una gran parte de la sociedad) frente a la propia experiencia de la violencia de estas mujeres-madres. Esta investigación tiene como marco teórico el Análisis Crítico del Discurso y la metodología es cualitativa.My aim in this paper is to briefly discuss the notion of identity and how can unify the Psychoanalytical concept with the discursive, in order to carry out multidisciplinary research on this topic. This work is based on life stories collected in the Hospital Larcade, from 2008 to 2011, from teenagers who attend a pregnancy. Through the linguistic analysis of the guarantees, following the model of Toulmin (17), as it has been redefined by Pardo (14) and Molina (12), I intend to give an account of the discursive and psychological bases of what will then form an identity for these young women on maternity. They live in extreme poverty in the Buenos Aires suburbs and are combined with a large dose of family violence that links their identities as mothers to the image (or identities of the other) who have over their own mothers, parents, couples in these contexts of violence. These data are also confronted with domestic violence cases that appear in the media and how they are dealt with discursively at these. Thus realizes the contradictions imposed the cultural identity of a group (the viewers or readers of means, which are a large part of society) against the experience of violence of these mothers. This research has as theoretical framework the Critical Discourse Analysis and the methodology is qualitative.Fil: Pardo, Maria Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones en Antropología Filosófica y Cultural; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentin

Foliar spectra accurately distinguish the invasive common reed from co-occurring plant species throughout a growing season

Les espèces végétales envahissantes sont l'un des principaux facteurs de changement de la biodiversité dans les écosystèmes terrestres. Une détection précise et précoce des espèces exotiques est donc cruciale pour surveiller les invasions en cours et pour prévenir leur propagation. Présentement, les méthodes de surveillance des invasions biologiques permettent de suivre la propagation des envahisseurs à travers les aires de répartition géographique, mais une attention moindre a été accordée à la surveillance des espèces envahissantes à travers le temps. Les plates-formes de télédétection, capables de fournir des informations détaillées sur les variations des traits foliaires dans le temps et l'espace, sont particulièrement bien placées pour surveiller les plantes envahissantes en temps réel. Les changements temporels des traits fonctionnels sont exprimés dans la signature spectrale des espèces par des caractéristiques d'absorption spécifiques de la lumière associés aux pigments photosynthétiques et aux constituants chimiques tous deux liés à la phénologie. Ainsi, les variations temporelles dans la réponse spectrale des plantes peuvent être utilisées afin de mieux identifier des espèces individuelles. L'un des envahisseurs les plus problématiques au Canada est le roseau commun, Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steudel sous-espèce australis, dont la propagation menace la biodiversité des écosystèmes de zones humides en Amérique du Nord. Déterminer la période de l'année où cet envahisseur se distingue d’avantage, du point de vue spectral et fonctionnel, des autres plantes de la communauté serait centrale dans une meilleure gestion du roseau commun. Pour ce faire, nous avons utilisé des traits fonctionnels et une série temporelle de données spectrales foliaires à haute résolution au cours d'une saison de croissance à Boucherville, Québec, Canada, afin de déterminer la séparabilité spectrale de l'envahisseur par rapport aux espèces co-occurrentes et comment cette dernière varie à travers le temps. Nos résultats ont révélé que la spectroscopie foliaire a permis de distinguer le phragmite des espèces co-occurrentes avec une précision de plus de 95% tout au long de la saison de croissance – un résultat prometteur pour le futur de la télédétection des espèces végétales envahissantes.Invasive plant species are one of the main drivers of biodiversity change in terrestrial ecosystems. Accurate detection of exotic species is critical to monitor on-going invasions and early detection of incipient invasions is necessary to prevent further spread. At present, surveillance methods of biological invasions allow to track the spread of invaders across geographic ranges, but less attention has been given to invasive species monitoring across time. Remote sensing platforms, capable of providing detailed information on foliar trait variations across time and space, are uniquely positioned for monitoring invasive plants in real time. Temporal changes in foliar traits are expressed in a species spectral profile through specific absorption features related to variation in photosynthetic pigments and chemical constituents driven by phenology. Thus, variations in a plant’s spectral response can be used to improve the identification of individual species. One of Canada’s most problematic invaders is the common reed, Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steudel subspecies australis, whose spread threatens biodiversity in wetland ecosystems in North America. Determining the time of year when the invader is spectrally and functionally more distinct from other plants in the community would be central to better management of common reed. To do so, we collected a time-series of foliar traits and high-resolution leaf spectral data over the course of a growing season at Boucherville, Quebec, Canada, to determine the spectral separability of the invader from co-occurring species and how its detection varies over time. Our results revealed that leaf-level spectroscopy distinguished Phragmites and co-occurring species with > 95% accuracy throughout the growing season – a promising result for the future remote detection of invasive plant species

Uncertainty in electric bus mass and its influence in energy consumption

Throughout recent years, a public awareness of climate change and a social trend for preserving the environment have emerged. Transport sector is the principal contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, consequently electric buses are a great opportunity to reduce these emissions and fossil fuel dependence. To increase the competitiveness of electric buses, batteries with an accurate size are needed in order to optimize the charging infrastructure and reduce the total costs. Therefore, it is necessary to analyse the influence of certain parameters on electrical consumption. This thesis evaluates the impact of passenger loads on the electrical consumption of an electric city bus and provides a reliable energy consumption forecast. An electrical consumption sensitivity analysis was created with the number of passengers in the bus as uncertainty. This uncertainty is stochastically modelled for each stop in the bus route based on actual data and it is evaluated with the Monte Carlo method. In addition, the uncertainty in the number of stops is also considered. An algorithm for passenger load calculation was created in Matlab, based on driving cycles generated randomly (with a random number of stops and different speed profiles). Passenger data for each bus stop were represented by a normal probability distribution and they were related to each other using a multivariate normal distribution. These are the uncertain inputs of the model, as well as the number of stops which was modelled previously by another normal distribution. A validated electric bus model created in Simulink was simulated by means of the Monte Carlo sampling method, varying in each iteration the driving cycle and passenger flow introduced. The results obtained for a particular bus route, described as a probability distribution, define an electrical consumption with an average of 0.549 kWh/km. It is also possible to assure with an 80% of probability that the electrical consumption in this route will be between 0.485 kWh/km and 0.613 kWh/km. These results represent an electrical consumption forecast for the route, including all the possible outcomes taking into account the uncertainties of the model. Moreover, the analysis of the results indicates that the passenger load has a clear influence on the bus electrical consumption that increases with the number of passengers. In addition, the results show a clear influence of driving cycle average speed and number of stops on the consumption. Electrical consumption increases as the number of stops increases and as the average speed decreases. The results also confirm that Monte Carlo method provides an efficient tool for estimating the consumption of an electric city bus since it enables to obtain results for the different possible scenarios and cover all the variations

Neutral macrocycles and their interactions with amino acids and amines. Thermodynamic, electrochemical and structural studies in non-aqueous media.

The first part of this work deals with the interactions of amino acids and neutral macrocyclic ligands (18-crown-6 and cryptand 222). Solubilities and Gibbs energies of solution of several amino acids and their complexes with 18-crown-6 in acetonitrile, as well as of some amino acid ester salts in chloroform have been determined at 298.15 K. An increase in the solubility data for the amino acid complexes relative to the free amino acids has been found, as a result of the interactions of the guest molecules with the macrocyclic ligands. Stability constants, Gibbs energies, enthalpies and entropies of complexation of a series of L- and D-amino acids with 18-crown-6 and with cryptand 222 in methanol at 298.15 K were obtained by titration calorimetry. The similar Gibbs energies of complexation found for these systems are the result of an enthalpy-entropy compensation effect. No significant differences have been found between the thermodynamic parameters of complexation of the L- and D-amino acids with these ligands in this solvent with corresponding data previously reported for DL- amino acids and the same macrocycles in methanol. 1H NMR studies on these systems have been carried out to gain a better understanding of the interactions involving amino acids with 18-crown-6 or with cryptand 222 in methanol. These NMR data are the first reported for these systems. The second part of this thesis concerns the interactions of calixarene macrocycles with organic solvents (neutral species). Solubilities and Gibbs energies of solution of p-tert-butylcalix(n)arenes (n = 4,6,8) in various solvents at 298.15 K are reported. Derived transfer Gibbs energy data from acetonitrile to various solvents reflect that the parent calixarenes are better solvated in most reaction media considered than in the reference solvent. Structural studies on calix(4)arene esters in chloroform, acetonitrile, benzonitrile and acetone at 298 K suggest that among these solvents, acetonitrile is likely to be included in the hydrophobic cavity of the calixarene esters. The final part of this thesis concerns conductimetric, thermodynamic and structural studies on the interactions of parent calixarenes and amines in benzonitrile. An important consequence of amine-calixarene interactions in solution is the generation of new electrolytes, as a result of a proton transfer reaction from the calixarene to the amine. Thermodynamic and structural studies reflect the distinctive properties of cryptands relative to cyclic and aliphatic amines; suggesting that cryptand 222 and cryptand 22 are likely to host the proton released from the calixarene in the cavity of the former ligand or in the hole of ciyptand 22. To conclude, the extraction of amines from aqueous solution by calixarenes is presented. It is shown that the transfer of amines from water to benzonitrile is favoured by the presence of calixarenes in the organic phase. Although the ion-pair formation in benzonitrile gives the main contribution to the extraction process, the selective extraction of amines by calixarenes is mainly controlled by the transfer Gibbs energies of these amines from water to the organic medium

A modeling of the carbon-nitrogen cycle transport at Igap\'o I Lake - Londrina, Paran\'a, Brazil

This work is a contribution to better understand the effect that domestic sewage discharges may cause in a water body, specifically Igap\'o I Lake, in Londrina, Paran\'a, Brazil. The simulation of the dynamics of pollutant concentrations all over the water body is conducted by means of structured discretization of the geometry of Igap\'o I Lake, together with the finite differences and the finite elements methods. Firstly, the hydrodynamic flow (without the pollutants), modeled by Navier-Stokes and pressure equations, is numerically resolved by the finite differences method, and associated with the fourth order Runge-Kutta procedure. After that, by using the hydrodynamic field velocity, the flow of the reactive species (pollutants) is described through a transport model, which considers advective and diffusive processes, as well as through a reactions model, restricted to the carbon-nitrogen cycle. The transport and reactions model is numerically resolved by the stabilized finite elements method, by means of a semidiscrete formulation. A qualitative analysis of the numerical simulations conducted in function of the diffusion coefficient provided better understanding of the dynamics of the processes involved in the flow of the reactive species, such as the dynamics of the nitrification process, of the biochemical requirement of oxygen and of the level of oxygen dissolved in the water body at Igap\'o I Lake