Análisis de la influencia del conflicto armado de la República Federal Democrática de Nepal en su relación con China e India. Periodo 1996 - 2012

El interés de esta monografía es evaluar la influencia del conflicto armado nepalí sobre las relaciones de Nepal con India y China. Se analiza y se explica como un conflicto armado interno puede influir desde sus causas, desarrollo y desenlace en las relaciones regionales y bilaterales de un país con sus vecinos. El presente texto pretende probar que la guerra civil de Nepal influyo positivamente en sus relaciones con India y China, planteando al país nepalí como un escenario en disputa entre estas dos potencias emergentes. Mediante el Realismo Estructural de Keneth Watlz se evaluaran las lógicas y los patrones de cambio que puedan modificar el sistema conformado por Nepal, China e India, para posteriormente examinar los cambios reales o parciales que sufrieron las relaciones de estos países al termino del conflicto armado.

Conformations of poly{G}-poly{C} π stacks with high hole mobility

Charge transfer properties of DNA depend strongly on the π stack conformation. In the present paper, we identify conformations of homogeneous poly-{G}-poly-{C} stacks that should exhibit high charge mobility. Two different computational approaches were applied. First, we calculated the electronic coupling squared, V2, between adjacent base pairs for all 1 ps snapshots extracted from 15 ns molecular dynamics trajectory of the duplex G15. The average value of the coupling squared 〈 V2 〉 is found to be 0.0065 eV2. Then we analyze the base-pair and step parameters of the configurations in which V2 is at least an order of magnitude larger than 〈 V2 〉. To obtain more consistent data, ∼65 000 configurations of the (G:C)2 stack were built using systematic screening of the step parameters shift, slide, and twist. We show that undertwisted structures (twist<20°) are of special interest, because the π stack conformations with strong electronic couplings are found for a wide range of slide and shift. Although effective hole transfer can also occur in configurations with twist=30° and 35°, large mutual displacements of neighboring base pairs are required for that. Overtwisted conformation (twist38°) seems to be of limited interest in the context of effective hole transfer. The results may be helpful in the search for DNA based elements for nanoelectronics

Industria y concentración de cultivos: la contribución de la industria del frío en la fruticultura leridana

Para avanzar en el estudio de la concentración espacial de cultivos, se ha elegido el caso de la manzana, la pera y el melocotón en Lleida, desde 1962 a 2000. La evolución de ese fenómeno se ha estudiado mediante técnicas de equilibrio espacial y análisis shift share, encontrándose una pauta espacial de comportamiento distinta entre la manzana y la pera por una parte y el melocotón por otro. En el caso de las técnicas shift share se ha modelado el efecto diferencial como el resultado de un juego de suma nula, y suponiendo que las transferencias de efectos son más probables hacia las regiones más cercanas, se ha avanzado una explicación de las transferencias de superficie que se produjeron entre 1962 y 2000. La diferencia encontrada en el distinto comportamiento espacial de esos cultivos se ha atribuido a la susceptibilidad de cada cultivo para ser conservado frigoríficamente. Se ha desarrollado un modelo que relaciona los incrementos de la capacidad en la industria frigorífica y de la superficie.

O papel do farmacêutico em programas de educação e promoção para a saúde nas escolas

Num tempo em que a obesidade já é considerada uma epidemia, e que este é um problema que atinge cada vez mais crianças, é urgente agir. Por isso a educação e promoção para a saúde surgem com o objectivo de estimular as crianças a adoptar estilos de vida saudáveis. No entanto não se pode limitar a educação e promoção para a saúde apenas às crianças, mas estende-las às suas famílias e a toda acomunidade escolar. Os estudos de avaliação custo-efectividade demonstram os custos das acções preventivas vão resultar em ganhos em saúde a posteriori. O objectivo principal desta monografia é identificar qual o papel do farmacêutico e compreender até que ponto consegue, através da aplicação de programas de educação e promoção para saúde junto das escolas, actuar na prevenção da obesidade infantil, ao nível da alimentação e exercício físico. Trata-se de um estudo observacional descritivo, no qual se realizaram inquéritos numa escola do ensino básico em Torres Vedras a 104 indivíduos dos quais apenas 80 se enquadravam nos critérios de inclusão pré-definidos: familiares, pessoal docente e não docente, de crianças com idades compreendidas entre os 5 e os 10 anos de idade. No final do estudo pode-se confirmar a importância do farmacêutico no desenvolvimento de projectos no âmbito da educação e promoção para a saúde, junto das escolas, como uma medida de prevenção da obesidade e as suas comorbilidades.

Numerical study of 2D heat transfer in a scraped surface heat exchanger

A numerical study of fluid mechanics and heat transfer in a scraped surface heat exchanger with non-Newtonian power law fluids is undertaken. Numerical results are generated for 2D steady-state conditions using finite element methods. The effect of blade design and material properties, and especially the independent effects of shear thinning and heat thinning on the flow and heat transfer, are studied. The results show that the gaps at the root of the blades, where the blades are connected to the inner cylinder, remove the stagnation points, reduce the net force on the blades and shift the location of the central stagnation point. The shear thinning property of the fluid reduces the local viscous dissipation close to the singularity corners, i.e. near the tip of the blades, and as a result the local fluid temperature is regulated. The heat thinning effect is greatest for Newtonian fluids where the viscous dissipation and the local temperature are highest at the tip of the blades. Where comparison is possible, very good agreement is found between the numerical results and the available data. Aspects of scraped surface heat exchanger design are assessed in the light of the results. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fractal quantization

A Fractal Quantizer is proposed that replaces the expensive division operation for the computation of scalar quantization by more modest and available multiplication, addition and shift operations. Although the proposed method is iterative in nature, simulations prove a virtually undetectable distortion to the naked eve for JPEG compressed images using a single iteration. The method requires a change to the usual tables used in JPEG algorithins but of similar size. For practical purposes, performing quantization is reduced to a multiplication plus addition operation easily programmed in either low-end embedded processors and suitable for efficient and very high speed implementation in ASIC or FPGA hardware. FPGA hardware implementation shows up to x15 area-time savingscompared to standars solutions for devices with dedicated multipliers. The method can be also immediately extended to perform adaptive quantization(1).

Spectroscopy of ultrathin epitaxial rutile TiO[sub 2](110) films grown on W(100)

Epitaxial ultrathin titanium dioxide films of 0.3 to similar to 7 nm thickness on a metal single crystal substrate have been investigated by high resolution vibrational and electron spectroscopies. The data complement previous morphological data provided by scanned probe microscopy and low energy electron diffraction to provide very complete characterization of this system. The thicker films display electronic structure consistent with a stoichiometric TiO2 phase. The thinner films appear nonstoichiometric due to band bending and charge transfer from the metal substrate, while work function measurements also show a marked thickness dependence. The vibrational spectroscopy shows three clear phonon bands at 368, 438, and 829 cm(-1) (at 273 K), which confirms a rutile structure. The phonon band intensity scales linearly with film thickness and shift slightly to lower frequencies with increasing temperature, in accord with results for single crystals. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.

The Press in a world of technological change, 1970–2000

Oxford University Press’s response to technological change in printing and publishing processes in this period can be considered in three phases: an initial period when the computerization of typesetting was seen as offering both cost savings and the ability to produce new editions of existing works more quickly; an intermediate phase when the emergence of standards in desktop computing allowed experiments with the sale of software as well as packaged electronic publications; and a third phase when the availability of the world wide web as a means of distribution allowed OUP to return to publishing in its traditional areas of strength albeit in new formats. Each of these phases demonstrates a tension between a desire to develop centralized systems and expertise, and a recognition that dynamic publishing depends on distributed decision-making and innovation. Alongside these developments in production and distribution lay developments in computer support for managerial and collaborative publishing processes, often involving the same personnel and sometimes the same equipment.

Cross-layer design for multiuser MIMO MRC systems with feedback constraints

Cross-layer techniques represent efficient means to enhance throughput and increase the transmission reliability of wireless communication systems. In this paper, a cross-layer design of aggressive adaptive modulation and coding (A-AMC), truncated automatic repeat request (T-ARQ), and user scheduling is proposed for multiuser multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) maximal ratio combining (MRC) systems, where the impacts of feedback delay (FD) and limited feedback (LF) on channel state information (CSI) are also considered. The A-AMC and T-ARQ mechanism selects the appropriate modulation and coding schemes (MCSs) to achieve higher spectral efficiency while satisfying the service requirement on the packet loss rate (PLR), profiting from the feasibility of using different MCSs to retransmit a packet, which is destined to a scheduled user selected to exploit multiuser diversity and enhance the system's performance in terms of both transmission efficiency and fairness. The system's performance is evaluated in terms of the average PLR, average spectral efficiency (ASE), outage probability, and average packet delay, which are derived in closed form, considering transmissions over Rayleigh-fading channels. Numerical results and comparisons are provided and show that A-AMC combined with T-ARQ yields higher spectral efficiency than the conventional scheme based on adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), while keeping the achieved PLR closer to the system's requirement and reducing delay. Furthermore, the effects of the number of ARQ retransmissions, numbers of transmit and receive antennas, normalized FD, and cardinality of the beamforming weight vector codebook are studied and discussed.

An analytical method for capacity dimensioning of WCDMA with high speed wireless link

Capacity dimensioning is one of the key problems in wireless network planning. Analytical and simulation methods are usually used to pursue the accurate capacity dimensioning of wireless network. In this paper, an analytical capacity dimensioning method for WCDMA with high speed wireless link is proposed based on the analysis on relations among system performance and high speed wireless transmission technologies, such as H-ARQ, AMC and fast scheduling. It evaluates system capacity in closed-form expressions from link level and system level. Numerical results show that the proposed method can calculate link level and system level capacity for WCDMA system with HSDPA and HSUPA.

Identified consumers: an experiment on the informativeness of cross-demand price effects

Often, firms have no information on the specification of the true demand model they are faced with. It is, however, a well established fact that trial-and-error algorithms may be used by them in order to learn how to make optimal decisions. Using experimental methods, we identify a property of the information on past actions which helps the seller of two asymmetric demand substitutes to reach the optimal prices more precisely and faster. The property concerns the possibility of disaggregating changes in each product’s demand into client exit/entry and shift from one product to the other.

Stylised worlds: Colour Separation Overlay in BBC television plays of the 1970s

This essay aims to understand and interrogate the use of Colour Separation Overlay (CSO) as a mode of experimental production and aesthetic innovation in television drama in the 1970s. It sets out to do this by describing, accounting for and evaluating CSO as a production technique, considering the role of key production personnel, and analysing four specific BBC productions. Deploying methodologies of archival research, practitioner interview, and close textual analysis, the essay also delivers a significant reassessment of the role of the producer and designer in the conceptualisation and realisation of small-screen dramatic fiction.