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Using illustrations from some of Latin America's largest cities, the chapter examines the causes and consequences of urban expansion and the more recent phenomenon of urban sprawl. It reflects on the role of transport and mobility, both as consequences of urban growth and as causes of it. It reflects on the equity and sustainability dimensions of this phenomenon.

"May 1997"--P. [4] of cover. ; Shipping list no.: 97-0353-P. ; Cover title. ; Mode of access: Internet.

El presente white paper presenta una estrategia integral para la conservación de la Amazonía mediante la diplomacia científica. Aborda la situación crítica de esta región vital, destacando su importancia ecológica y cultural. Este documento es el resultado de una metodología basada en dos procesos participativos, siendo el primero un ejercicio colaborativo dentro del Congreso de Investigación e Innovación en Sostenibilidad (SRI) y el segundo un grupo focal con expertos en diplomacia científica de América Latina, así como en el análisis de literatura. Como resultado, proponen una serie de recomendaciones prácticas y viables agrupadas en 4 categorías: 1) cooperación transdisciplinaria científica y académica, 2) el fortalecimiento de una plataforma de monitoreo conjunto, 3) la creación de un Science-Policy Hub y 4) el desarrollo de capacidades. A su vez, estas recomendaciones se categorizan en instrumentos de política pública: regulatorios (R), operacionales (O), financieros (F) y blandos (B). Un enfoque integral que combine investigación, conocimiento indígena y cooperación internacional se sugiere, junto con otras recomendaciones generales, para abordar de manera efectiva los retos ecológicos y sociales que enfrenta la Amazonía se enfatizan.

"780-022-b"--Colophon. ; Introduction to an upcoming conference. ; Cover title. ; Mode of access: Internet.

This works presents the design of wireless power transfer systems that can transfer power through materials such as stainless steel, aluminum, carbon fiber, and fiberglass. Wireless power transfer research has been limited to through-air applications, focusing on short distances and high efficiencies. However, complex scenarios require specific design criteria to provide the advantages of wireless power transfer for critical applications. Taking this into consideration, this work presents the extensive research towards enabling wireless power transfer systems for unconventional barriers. In the first chapter a new approach is taken towards the design of compact and embedded wireless power transfer solutions. A miniature coil is designed to transfer power through a 1 mm thick aluminum metal plate. The results are unprecedented, P_rx=100 mW, considering that through metal power transfer had only being demonstrated using large diameter coils. In addition to that, the metal barrier used is aluminum, a high conductivity material. This is important because traditional research focused on less conductive material such as stainless steel or tin. In the next chapter, we demonstrated a wireless power and data transfer system that uses a miniature coil with a size of 15 mm × 13 mm × 6 mm. Our system demonstrated that not only power but data could be transferred through an aluminum barrier using the same coil for power and data transmission. The maximum coil-to-coil power transfer efficiency is 2.4%, and the maximum harvested power is 440 mW operating at 2 kHz. Additionally, our system demonstrated that power can be harvested in variety of materials of different thicknesses. The next chapter presents a breakthrough in the field of wireless power transfer through metal by enabling long distance wireless power transfer. A large portion of the technologies for wireless power transfer are limited to short operation distances, distances around 1-10 millimeters to less than 20 cm. The operation distances are even shorter for the ...

El documental "Encounters at the End of the World" (2007) de Werner Herzog reflexiona sobre los ideales humanos de exploración en el medioambiente extremo de la Antártida. A lo largo de la película, Herzog y sus personajes dan un rol a la Antártida como lugar de deseo y como lugar incomprensible en las narrativas que los personajes cuentan ellos mismos sobre sus propias vidas. Su habilidad para hacer esto es consecuencia del mito popular que muestra la Antártida como un páramo estático y vacío, así como de los modos de gobierno nacionalista que promueven la ciencia pero apartan otras formas de saber hacia la periferia. Los personajes de la película de Herzog están condenados a un ciclo de repetición interminable: forzados por un mito a revivir constantemente el momento del descubrimiento, y restringidos por los modos de gobierno que niegan la expresión formal de la sensibilidad exacerbada que experimentan al encontrarse en el espacio de la Antártida. Por último, este ciclo genera desesperanza y la película lleva a los espectadores hacia una inmersión en los tropos de las fronteras: En lugar del héroe hombre blanco yendo a rescatar a la naturaleza en peligro, encontramos al heroico hombre blanco angustiado con la mirada fija contemplando el vacío imposible. De esta manera, la película de Herzog se convierte en una parábola sobre la historia limitando y refrenando nuevas formas de saber. En una era de cada vez más incertidumbre medioambiental, y con la Antártida actuando como un test de tornasol para el impacto de los humanos en el planeta, así como una evaluación del futuro de la raza humana. "Encounters" nos pide que rechacemos la historia que no nos enseña nada nuevo, y nos pide que encontremos maneras de renovar el gran experimento de vivir en el mundo. Werner Herzog’s 2007 documentary Encounters at the End of the World concerns human ideals of exploration in the extreme environment of the Antarctic. Throughout the film, Herzog and his characters enrol the Antarctic variously as a site of desire and as a site of incomprehensibility in self-told narratives about their own lives. Their ability to do so is a consequence of both popular myth that casts the Antarctic as a static and empty wasteland, and nationalistic modes of governance that promote science but squeeze other modes of knowing to the fringe. The characters in Herzog’s film are thus doomed to a cycle of endless repetition: forced by myth to constantly revisit the moment of discovery, and constrained by modes of governance that deny formal expression of the heightened sensibility they experience when engaging with Antarctic space. Ultimately, this cycle generates despair and so the film bears witness to an inversion of frontier tropes: Instead of heroic white male coming to the aid of nature in distress we instead find the heroic white male in distress staring into an utterly hopeless void. In this way, Herzog’s film becomes a parable about history constraining new forms of knowing. In an age of increasing environmental uncertainty, and with the Antarctic enrolled as both a litmus test for human impacts on the planet, and for gauging the future of the human race, Encounters asks us to reject history where history teaches us nothing new, and it asks us to find ways to renew the great experiment of living in the world.

Este artículo examina el proceso en que la agricultura itinerante está siendo marginada en la biosfera Río Plátano de la Mosquitia hondureña. Mientras la región se vincula cada vez más con la sociedad nacional de Honduras, varios procesos socioeconómicos están transformando las comunidadesde la reserva. Esta investigación se enfoca en tres comunidades ubicadas a lo largo del límite oriental de la biosfera. Pocas casas todavía están orientadas totalmente en la subsistencia. La mayoría combina la subsistencia con varias otras actividades que rinden el dinero. Este estudio demuestra que la sostenibilidad de la agricultura itinerante no es una cuestión solamente de sus límites ambientales, sino su valor en comparación a otras actividades económicas que existen ahora en la Mosquitia hondureña, así como en otras regiones fronteras de la América Central.Palabras claves: Mosquitia hondureña, río Plátano, sostenibilidad, agricultura itinerante, cambio socioeconómico.AbstractThis article examines the process in which shifting cultivation is becoming marginalized in the Río Plátano Biosphere of the Honduran Mosquitia. As the region becomes increasingly tied to the national society of Honduras, various socioeconomic processes are transforming communities in the reserve.This investigation focuses on three communities located along the eastern boundary of the biosphere.Few houses are still oriented solely on subsistence. The majority combine subsistence with various other money-making activities. This research demonstrates that the sustainability of shifting cultivation is not solely a question of its environmental limits, but also its value in comparison to other economic activities that are now present in the Honduran Mosquitia, as well as in other frontier regions of Central America.Keywords: Honduran Mosquitia, Río Plátano, sustainability, shifting cultivation, socioeconomic change

"June 1997"--P. [4] of cover. ; Shipping list no.: 97-0334-P. ; Cover title. ; Mode of access: Internet.

Funding: Este trabajo fue posible gracias al financiamiento de la Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) y realizado bajo convenio entre WCS y el Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana (IIAP). ; New infrastructure that seeks to connect Iquitos with Saramiriza includes building a ~350-km paved road alongside the Tigre river in Loreto. This project is a threat to the conservation of one of the largest areas of tropical forest on the planet and the largest and deepest peatlands in the Amazon basin. In this study, focused on the second section of the proposed road (Huambé – Marsella), we used a “business-as-usual” scenario (BAU) and a “road” scenario to show that road construction would lead to substantial loss of forest cover and increase CO2 emissions. The current loss of forest cover in a buffer zone of 20 km around the Huambé-Marsella road, estimated up to 2018, was 3.4 %. Using a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural network, we estimated deforestation of 80 071.11 ha and emissions of 35.55 Mt CO2 -eq for the period 2019-2064 in the BAU scenario, while the scenario with the construction of the road would generate greater loss of forests (303 248.79 ha) and higher emissions (135.56 Mt CO2 -eq). Avoiding the construction of the road alongside the Tigre river would therefore prevent the loss of 83 462.58 ha of forests and the emission of 41.49 Mt CO2 -eq from 2019 to 2030. Therefore, the Peruvian government should assess alternative proposals for transportation in this area. For example, improved fluvial boat services could be used for the transport of cargo and people, while an air taxi service could also help to meet the needs of indigenous communities and riverine settlers. Compliance with international commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will potentially be impossible if the road is constructed as it is estimated that will increase national emissions by 1.31 % from 2019 to 2030. The funds saved from not constructing the road could subsidize the use of a modern river fleet, the air taxi ...