From foot-draggers to strategic counter-partners : the dynamics of U.S. and Chinese policies for tackling climate change

As can been seen from the U.S.'s non-ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, together with the negotiations toward the post-Kyoto Protocol framework, the U.S. and China have been quarrelling over their responsibilities and have contradicted one another over the introduction of compulsory domestic greenhouse gases emission reduction targets. Therefore, for a long time, it has been argued that the controversy between the two countries has hindered the process of forging an international agreement to deal with climate change. On the other hand, Sino-U.S. bilateral cooperation on climate change has significantly increased in recent years in summit talks and their Strategic & Economic Dialogue (S&ED), especially after the 15th Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen, one of whose aims was to facilitate positive negotiations for the post-Kyoto Protocol agreement. Analyzing this in the light of recent developments, we find that the U.S. and China have tended to address climate change and related issues from a pluralistic viewpoint and approach, by regarding the achievement of bilateral cooperation and global agreements as their common strategic objective.

Some challenges for constraint programming

We propose a number of challenges for future constraint programming systems, including improvements in implementation technology (using global analysis based optimization and parallelism), debugging facilities, and the extensión of the application domain to distributed, global programming. We also briefly discuss how we are exploring techniques to meet these challenges in the context of the development of the CIAO constraint logic programming system.

Informe que propuso a la ... Reyna ... Ioseph Gil de Torres, Ciudadano, y Sindico de la ... Ciudad de Valencia, embiado por aquella, y su insigne Consejo Consejo General en el año 1674

En el texto aparece la fecha de 1675

A cost-effective methodology applied to videoconference services over hybrid clouds

This paper tackles the optimization of applications in multi-provider hybrid cloud scenarios from an economic point of view. In these scenarios the great majority of solutions offer the automatic allocation of resources on different cloud providers based on their current prices. However our approach is intended to introduce a novel solution by making maximum use of divide and rule. This paper describes a methodology to create cost aware cloud applications that can be broken down into the three most important components in cloud infrastructures: computation, network and storage. A real videoconference system has been modified in order to evaluate this idea with both theoretical and empirical experiments. This system has become a widely used tool in several national and European projects for e-learning and collaboration purposes.

Bulla Eugenii papae IIII de praeferendis naturalibus civitatis, & Dioces. Valentiae in assequutione beneficiorum extraneis [Texto impreso]

Bula datada en Roma en 1435

Reduction of emerging micropollutants, organic matter, nutrients and salinity from real wastewater by combined MBR–NF/RO treatment

To study the possibility of producing better water quality from municipal wastewater, a membrane bioreactor (MBR) pilot plant with flat sheet (FS) and hollow fiber (HF) membranes coupled with another pilot plant equipped with nanofiltration (NF)/reverse osmosis (RO) membranes were operated to treat municipal wastewater from the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) Rincón de León, Alicante (Spain). This study was focused on improving the quality of the permeate obtained from the MBR process when complemented by NF or RO stages with respect to salinity, organic matter and nutrients. Furthermore, the removal efficiencies of 10 EMPs were evaluated, comparing the reductions achieved between the wastewater treatment by MBR (adsorption to sludge and biodegradation) and the later treatment using NF or RO (mainly size exclusion). The results showed that the high quality of water was obtained which is appropriate for reuse with salinity removal efficiencies higher than 97%, 96% for total organic carbon (TOC), 91% for nitrates View the MathML sourceNO3- and 99% for total phosphorous (TP). High removal efficiencies were obtained for the majority of the analyzed EMP compounds.

Me pongo en tu lugar

El RD 1393/2007 por el que se establece la ordenación de las enseñanzas universitarias oficiales, indica, entre otros aspectos, que la formación en cualquier actividad profesional debe contribuir al conocimiento y desarrollo de los principios de accesibilidad universal, diseño para todos y todas, igualdad entre hombres y mujeres y la protección del medioambiente. Atendiendo a estas necesidades formativas que deben ser recogidas en los títulos de grado, desde la Universidad de Alicante se ha puesto en marcha a través del Secretariado de Desarrollo de Campus del Vicerrectorado de Campus y Sostenibilidad el proyecto “Campus Accesible Campus Igualitario” para potenciar un campus inclusivo que tenga en cuenta esta perspectiva tanto en el espacio urbano como en el arquitectónico. El objetivo de esta comunicación es exponer la metodología seguida para potenciar el proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje de estas competencias básicas, que deberían estar incluidas en todos los planes de estudio. Para ello se expone un modelo de taller práctico que pretende potenciar la adquisición de las competencias necesarias sobre igualdad y accesibilidad en el espacio urbano y arquitectónico, así como desarrollar el pensamiento crítico y constructivo para que cada estudiante que se gradúe en nuestra universidad pueda contribuir a la construcción de una sociedad más inclusiva.

Comparison of the predictability of refractive cylinder correction by laser in situ keratomileusis in eyes with low or high ocular residual astigmatism

Purpose: To compare the manifest refractive cylinder (MRC) predictability of myopic astigmatism laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) between eyes with low and high ocular residual astigmatism (ORA). Setting: London Vision Clinic, London, United Kingdom. Design: Retrospective case study. Methods: The ORA was considered the vector difference between the MRC and the corneal astigmatism. The index of success (IoS), difference vector ÷ MRC, was analyzed for different groups as follows: stage 1, low ORA (ORA ÷ MRC <1), high ORA (ORA ÷ MRC ≥1); stage 2, low ORA group reduced to match the high ORA group for MRC; stage 3, grouped by ORA magnitude with low ORA (<0.50 diopters [D]), mid ORA (0.50 to 1.24 D), and high ORA (≥1.25 D); stage 4, high ORA group subdivided into low (<0.75 D) and high (≥0.75 D) corneal astigmatism. Results: For stage 1, the mean preoperative MRC and mean IoS were −1.32 D ± 0.65 (SD) (range −0.55 to −3.77 D) and 0.27, respectively, for low ORA and −0.79 ± 0.20 D (range −0.56 to −2.05 D) and 0.37, respectively, for high ORA. For stage 2, the mean IoS increased to 0.32 for low ORA. For stage 3, the mean IoS was 0.28, 0.29, and 0.31 for low ORA, mid ORA, and high ORA, respectively. For stage 4, the mean IoS was 0.20 for high ORA/low corneal astigmatism and 0.35 for high ORA/high corneal astigmatism. Conclusions: The MRC predictability was slightly worse in eyes with high ORA when grouped by the ORA ÷ MRC. Matching for the MRC and grouping by ORA magnitude resulted in similar predictability; however, eyes with high ORA and high corneal astigmatism were less predictable.

Sharḥ al-ʻallāmah al-muḥaqqiq al-fahhāmah al-mudaqqiq al-muqriʼ al-naḥrīr al-walī al-ṣāliḥ al-shahīr al-Shaykh Sayyidī ʻAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Makhlūf al-Thaʻālibī al-Jaʻfarī al-musammá al-Mukhtār min al-jawāmiʻ fī muḥādhāt al-Durar al-lawāmiʻ fī aṣl maqraʼ al-Imām Nāfiʻ lil-Shaykh Abī al-Ḥasan ʻAlī al-maʻrūf bi-Ibn Barrī

Includes the text of Ibn Barrī's "al-Durar al-lawāmiʻ".

Mihr va Mushtarī : manuscript, undated

According to a note in a later hand on fly leaf 1, poem composed in 1376 AD.

Hādhā kitāb al-Thaʻālibī al-musammá bi-Riyāḍ al-ṣāliḥīn wa-tuḥfat al-muttaqīn : manuscript, 1742

بسم الله الرهمن الرحيم وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وسلم هذا كتاب الثعالبي ... :Incipit

Surgical exposures and options for instrumentation in acetabular fracture fixation: Pararectus approach versus the modified Stoppa.

BACKGROUND As an alternative to the modified Stoppa approach, the Pararectus approach is used clinically for treatment of acetabular fractures involving the anterior column. The current study assessed the surgical exposure and the options for instrumentation using both of these approaches. METHODS Surgical dissections were conducted on five human cadavers (all male, mean age 88 years (82-97)) using the modified Stoppa and the Pararectus approach, with the same skin incision length (10cm). Distal boundaries of the exposed bony surfaces were marked using a chisel. After removal of all soft-tissues, distances from the boundaries in the false and true pelvis were measured with reference to the pelvic brim. The exposed bone was coloured and calibrated digital images of each inner hemipelvis were taken. The amount of exposed surface using both approaches was assessed and represented as a percentage of the total bony surface of each hemipelvis. For instrumentation, a suprapectineal quadrilateral buttress plate was used. Screw lengths were documented, and three-dimensional CT reconstructions were performed to assess screw trajectories qualitatively. Wilcoxon's signed rank test for paired groups was used (level of significance: p<0.05). RESULTS After utilization of the Pararectus approach, the distances from the farthest boundaries of exposed bone towards the pelvic brim were significantly higher in the false but not the true pelvis, compared to the modified Stoppa approach. The percentage (mean±SD) of exposed bone accessible after utilizing the Pararectus approach was 42±8%, compared to 29±6% using the modified Stoppa (p=0.011). In cadavers exposed by the Pararectus approach, screws placed for posterior fixation and as a posterior column screw were longer by factor 1.8 and 2.1, respectively (p<0.05), and screws could be placed more posteromedial towards the posterior inferior iliac spine or in line with the posterior column directed towards the ischial tuberosity. CONCLUSION Compared to the modified Stoppa, the Pararectus approach facilitates a greater surgical access in the false pelvis, provides versatility for fracture fixation in the posterior pelvic ring and allows for the option to extend the approach without a new incision.