La influencia de los objetivos del milenio del PNUD en la implementación de políticas públicas ambientales en Tailandia para el periodo del 2000 al 2013

La presente investigación tiene como objetivo principal, explicar la influencia de los ODM del PNUD en la implementación de políticas públicas medioambientales de Tailandia en el periodo del 2000 al 2013, basado en la teoría de los complejos de socialización y la transferencia de normas que implican un buen comportamiento medioambiental. De esta manera, demostrar que los agentes socializadores han cumplido un papel fundamental para la implementación de políticas públicas en Tailandia en su interés por cumplir con sus compromisos internacionales. Esta monografía utilizara un método cualitativo, desde el análisis de las fuentes primarias y secundarias, realizando especial énfasis en la teoría de complejos de socialización que permita un análisis descriptivo y explicativo del fenómeno.

La implementación de la trayectoria de desarrollo sostenible por parte de los pequeños estados insulares en desarrollo del Pacífico frente a su condición de vulnerabilidad

La investigación busca determinar el propósito que persiguen los pequeños Estados insulares en desarrollo del Pacífico al adoptar una trayectoria de desarrollo sostenible. Se plantea que la adopción de una trayectoria de desarrollo sostenible es la estrategia por medio de la cual estos Estados buscan hacer frente a su condición de vulnerabilidad; lo cual logran a través del uso de la diplomacia en distintos escenarios multilaterales, con el fin de modificar tanto sus prácticas como las de otros actores.

Análisis de la relación entre la gestión del riesgo y la vulnerabilidad. Caso de estudio: Brisas del Volador, Ciudad Bolívar

Este estudio analiza la relación entre la gestión del riesgo y la vulnerabilidad en el barrio Brisas del Volador, ubicado en Ciudad Bolívar, Bogotá. Se explicó el cambio en el enfoque de estudio y manejo de los desastres a partir de la consolidación de términos relacionados a procesos sociales, como lo son la vulnerabilidad y el riesgo. Así mismo, se describieron los cambios que se han establecido en la forma de abordar el riesgo en Colombia, tanto a nivel nacional como distrital. La investigación reveló la forma como se ha generado la vulnerabilidad a partir de la intersección de distintos procesos en un asentamiento informal y como se materializan diferentes elementos para conformar la vulnerabilidad global. A partir de esto, se recopilaron las acciones implementadas en la zona de estudio desde la gestión del riesgo, se clasificaron en cada uno de los tres procesos: conocimiento, reducción o manejo del desastre y posteriormente se estudiaron. Con base en esto, se analizaron las medidas que tuvieron una incidencia en la reducción de la vulnerabilidad y los resultados que generaron.

Stress Concentration Factor and Fatigue Life Evaluation in offshore tubular KT-Joints

In the last few decades, offshore field has grown fast especially after the notable development of technologies, explorations of oil and gas in deep water and the high concern of offshore companies in renewable energy mainly Wind Energy. Fatigue damage was noticed as one of the main problems causing failure of offshore structures. The purpose of this research is to focus on the evaluation of Stress Concentration Factor and its influence on Fatigue Life for 2 tubular KT-Joints in offshore Jacket structure using different calculation methods. The work is done by using analytical calculations, mainly Efthymiou’s formulations, and numerical solutions, FEM analysis, using ABAQUS software. As for the analytical formulations, the calculations were done according to the geometrical parameters of each method using excel sheets. As for the numerical model, 2 different types of tubular KT-Joints are present where for each model 5 shell element type, 3 solid element type and 3 solid-with-weld element type models were built on ABAQUS. Meshing was assigned according to International Institute of Welding (IIW) recommendations, 5 types of mesh element, to evaluate the Hot-spot stresses. 23 different types of unitary loading conditions were assigned, 9 axial, 7 in-plane bending moment and 7 out-plane bending moment loads. The extraction of Hot-spot stresses and the evaluation of the Stress Concentration Factor were done using PYTHON scripting and MATLAB. Then, the fatigue damage evaluation for a critical KT tubular joint based on Simplified Fatigue Damage Rule and Local Approaches (Strain Damage Parameter and Stress Damage Parameter) methods were calculated according to the maximum Stress Concentration Factor conducted from DNV and FEA methods. In conclusion, this research helped us to compare different results of Stress Concentration Factor and Fatigue Life using different methods and provided us with a general overview about what to study next in the future.

Patrimoni storici e fondi speciali nelle biblioteche d'ateneo. Valutazione e impatto dell'Università

Quali benefici possono apportare alla società le biblioteche degli atenei che conservano patrimoni storici e fondi speciali? Per rispondere a questa domanda occorre indagare l’impatto delle loro attività, cioè il cambiamento che il contatto coi servizi della biblioteca determina in un individuo o in un gruppo, secondo la definizione della ISO 16439:2014. Scopo della ricerca è proporre una metodologia per valutare l’impatto delle iniziative di valorizzazione di tali patrimoni attuate dalle biblioteche degli atenei. Il campo d’indagine coincide con il contesto universitario pubblico italiano, osservato criticamente in una prospettiva internazionale grazie all’analisi di esperienze non italiane. Dopo un inquadramento storico della biblioteca di università e della sua apertura alla società, il lavoro si sofferma sull’interpretazione del concetto angloamericano di «special collections» ed esamina le più diffuse modalità di valorizzazione adottate dalle biblioteche di ateneo. Per disporre di un quadro sulla gestione dei patrimoni storici e dei fondi speciali nelle biblioteche degli atenei italiani, il lavoro ha previsto una ricerca sui sistemi bibliotecari degli atenei pubblici del nostro Paese. Le attività di valorizzazione svolte dalle biblioteche di ateneo possono contribuire allo sviluppo culturale del contesto in cui sono radicate, nell’ottica della Terza Missione dell’Università. Alle sollecitazioni della Terza Missione si aggiunge che i benefici della valorizzazione possono legarsi al concetto di «cultural welfare» e promuovere altresì il valore della biodiversità culturale, fattore concorrente alla realizzazione della società auspicata dall’Agenda 2030 delle Nazioni Unite. La tesi propone una metodologia per valutare la risposta delle biblioteche di ateneo che svolgono attività di valorizzazione dei patrimoni storici e dei fondi speciali rispetto alle cornici strategiche di Terza Missione e di Agenda 2030. A completamento della parte teorica, si presentano due casi studio posti a confronto, l’uno riferito alla Biblioteca Històrica della Universitat de València (Spagna) e l’altro alla Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna.

Nat2, Xrcc1 And Hogg1 Polymorphisms, Cigarette Smoking, Alcohol Consumption And Risk Of Upper Aerodigestive Tract Cancer.

To evaluate associations between polymorphisms of the N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2), human 8-oxoguanine glycosylase 1 (hOGG1) and X-ray repair cross-complementing protein 1 (XRCC1) genes and risk of upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) cancer. A case-control study involving 117 cases and 224 controls was undertaken. The NAT2 gene polymorphisms were genotyped by automated sequencing and XRCC1 Arg399Gln and hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphisms were determined by Polymerase Chain Reaction followed by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) methods. Slow metabolization phenotype was significantly associated as a risk factor for the development of UADT cancer (p=0.038). Furthermore, haplotype of slow metabolization was also associated with UADT cancer (p=0.014). The hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism (CG or GG vs. CC genotypes) was shown as a protective factor against UADT cancer in moderate smokers (p=0.031). The XRCC1 Arg399Gln polymorphism (GA or AA vs. GG genotypes), in turn, was a protective factor against UADT cancer only among never-drinkers (p=0.048). Interactions involving NAT2, XRCC1 Arg399Gln and hOGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphisms may modulate the risk of UADT cancer in this population.

Crescimento fisico e aptidão fisica relacionada a saude em escolares de alto nivel socioeconomico

Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Educação Física

A novel electrocatalyst support with proton conductive properties for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell applications

The objective of this study is to graft the Surface of carbon black, by chemically introducing polymeric chains (Nafion (R) like) with proton-conducting properties. This procedure aims for a better interaction of the proton-conducting phase with the metallic catalyst particles, as well as hinders posterior support particle agglomeration. Also loss of active surface call be prevented. The proton conduction between the active electrocatalyst site and the Nafion (R) ionomer membrane should be enhanced, thus diminishing the ohmic drop ill the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). PtRu nanoparticles were supported on different carbon materials by the impregnation method and direct reduction with ethylene glycol and characterized using amongst others FTIR, XRD and TEM. The screen printing technique was used to produce membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) for single cell tests in H(2)/air(PEMFC) and methanol operation (DMFC). In the PEMFC experiments, PtRu supported on grafted carbon shows 550 mW cm(-2) gmetal(-1) power density, which represents at least 78% improvement in performance, compared to the power density of commercial PtRu/C ETEK. The DMFC results of the grafted electrocatalyst achieve around 100% improvement. The polarization Curves results clearly show that the main Cause of the observed effect is the reduction in ohmic drop, caused by the grafted polymer. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Environmental assessment of residential buildings with an emphasis on water conservation

The construction, operation and demolition of buildings represent one of the most damaging human activities in the global environment nowadays and water use and conservation is one of the most representative environmental loads to be considered. Brazil, unlike some other countries, has not yet implemented its own body building environmental assessment. The development of an environmental assessment system requires the identification of the most important topics to be considered in each theme for each country or region, due to local environmental agenda. This article presents a summary of the main topics concerning water conservation considered in some international environmental building assessment systems and presents a proposal of topics to take into account in a Brazilian assessment system. Practical application: The civil construction industry is not only one of the biggest sectors in the economy but is also one of the greatest polluters. Along with standardisation, it is also necessary to establish measures to attract significantly higher levels in different topics related to sustainable construction. New mechanisms that allow users to recognise the difference between buildings with different sustainable performance levels need to be developed. This article will be used as a base for the development of a Brazilian system of assessment and rating for building environmental performance and sustainability in terms of water use and conservation.

A new species of Proctolaelaps Berlese (Acari : Ascidae) from northeastern Brazil

Proctolaelaps bulbosus n. sp. (Acari: Ascidae) is described from adult females and males of a laboratory colony derived from a collection from Cocos nucifera L. (Arecaceae) in northeastern Brazil. This species is distinguished from other Proctolaelaps species by the absence of the setae z3 and R3, knobbed seta Z5 and long spermatodactyl.

Exploration of the acarine fauna on coconut palm in Brazil with emphasis on Aceria guerreronis (Acari : Eriophyidae) and its natural enemies

Coconut is an important crop in tropical and subtropical regions. Among the mites that infest coconut palms, Aceria guerreronis Keifer is economically the most important. We conducted surveys throughout the coconut growing areas of Brazil. Samples were taken from attached coconuts, leaflets, fallen coconuts and inflorescences of coconut palms in 112 localities aiming to determine the Occurrence and the distribution of phytophagous mites, particularly A. guerreronis, and associated natural enemies. Aceria guerreronis was the most abundant phytophagous mite followed by Steneotarsonemus concavuscutum Lofego & Gondim Jr. and Steneotarsonemus furcatus De Leon (Tarsonemidae). Infestation by A. guerreronis was recorded in 87% of the visited localities. About 81% of all predatory mites belonged to the family Phytoseiidae, mainly represented by Neoseiulus paspalivorus De Leon, Neoseiulus baraki Athias-Henriot and Amblyseius largoensis Muma; 12% were Ascidae, mainly Proctolaelaps bickleyi Bram, Proctolaelaps sp nov and Lasioseius subterraneus Chant. Neoseiulus paspalivorus and N. baraki were the most abundant predators on attached coconuts. Ascidae were predominant on fallen coconuts, while A. largoensis was predominant on leaflets; no mites were found on branches of inflorescences. Leaflets harboured higher mite diversity than the attached coconuts. Mite diversity was the highest in the state Para and on palms surrounded by seasonal forests and Amazonian rain-forests. Neoseiulus paspalivorus, N. baraki and P. bickleyi were identified as the most promising predators of A. guerreronis. Analyses of the influence of climatic factors revealed that dry ambient conditions favour the establishment of A. guerreronis. Neoseiulus paspalivorus and N. baraki have differing climatic requirements; the former being more abundant in warm and dry areas, the latter prevailing ill moderately tempered and humid areas. We discuss the significance of our findings for natural and biological control of A. guerreronis.

Identification of "pathologs" (disease-related genes) from the RIKEN mouse cDNA dataset using human curation plus FACTS, a new biological information extraction system

Background: A major goal in the post-genomic era is to identify and characterise disease susceptibility genes and to apply this knowledge to disease prevention and treatment. Rodents and humans have remarkably similar genomes and share closely related biochemical, physiological and pathological pathways. In this work we utilised the latest information on the mouse transcriptome as revealed by the RIKEN FANTOM2 project to identify novel human disease-related candidate genes. We define a new term patholog to mean a homolog of a human disease-related gene encoding a product ( transcript, anti-sense or protein) potentially relevant to disease. Rather than just focus on Mendelian inheritance, we applied the analysis to all potential pathologs regardless of their inheritance pattern. Results: Bioinformatic analysis and human curation of 60,770 RIKEN full-length mouse cDNA clones produced 2,578 sequences that showed similarity ( 70 - 85% identity) to known human-disease genes. Using a newly developed biological information extraction and annotation tool ( FACTS) in parallel with human expert analysis of 17,051 MEDLINE scientific abstracts we identified 182 novel potential pathologs. Of these, 36 were identified by computational tools only, 49 by human expert analysis only and 97 by both methods. These pathologs were related to neoplastic ( 53%), hereditary ( 24%), immunological ( 5%), cardio-vascular (4%), or other (14%), disorders. Conclusions: Large scale genome projects continue to produce a vast amount of data with potential application to the study of human disease. For this potential to be realised we need intelligent strategies for data categorisation and the ability to link sequence data with relevant literature. This paper demonstrates the power of combining human expert annotation with FACTS, a newly developed bioinformatics tool, to identify novel pathologs from within large-scale mouse transcript datasets.

Understanding and enhancing research-policy linkages in Australian housing: A discussion paper

This project aimed to develop a systematic framework for understanding the relationship between social science research and public policy, and to build more effective linkages between social researchers and policy practitioners in the Australian housing system, particularly through AHURI. The project is explicitly applied and solution-focused. It was undertaken in close collaboration with AHURI and has contributed to AHURI's overall mission and strategy to enhancing research-based housing policy. It provided an opportunity for the AHURI policy community to engage in a process of action-oriented, self-reflection around its core business of applied housing policy research.

Stability of nonlinear difference inclusions

The stability of difference inclusions x(k+1) is an element of F(x(k)) is studied, where F(x) = {F(x, gimel) : is an element of Lambda} and the selections F(., gimel) : E -->E assume values in a Banach space E, partially ordered by a cone K. It is assumed that the operators F(.,gimel) are heterotone or pseudoconcave. The main results concern asymptotically stable absorbing sets, and include the case of a single equilibrium point. The results are applied to a number of practical problems.