Proyectos

La propuesta tiene como objetivo describir la relación entre el nivel de estrés, medido a través del nivel de cortisol, con una de las funciones ejecutivas, memoria de trabajo, a través de distintos niveles socioeconómicos. Estas interacciones son de interés ya que la capacidad de la memoria de trabajo es predictiva del desempeño académico en contextos educativos formales, y a su vez, hay una relación entre la capacidad de memoria de trabajo y el nivel socioeconómico. Sin embargo, hay evidencia de que no sería el nivel socioeconómico propiamente tal lo que afecta la capacidad de la memoria de trabajo, sino que el nivel de estrés asociado a dicho contexto social. Por tanto, se explorarán en las interacciones entre las variables cortisol, capacidad de memoria de trabajo y nivel socioeconómico. Esto se hará en dos cohortes de estudiantes de prebásica (70 estudiantes de prekinder y 90 de kínder) de un colegio sin selección (método aleatorio), y que por lo tanto tiene estudiantes de distintos niveles socioeconómicos en los mismos cursos. Es el primer estudio de este tipo realizado en Chile a la fecha, y se espera encontrar evidencia suficiente para diseñar programas de intervención temprana que regulen el nivel de estrés en niños con el fin de disminuir los niveles de cortisol, evitando así un efecto perjudicial en la memoria de trabajo. Esto, esperando que resulte en un mayor desempeño académico independiente del nivel de estrés que pudiese estar asociado a ciertos niveles socioeconómicos.

La experiencia internacional (Israel, Holanda, España) muestra que la recarga artificial de acuíferos es una herramienta eficaz para lograr gestionar la cantidad y calidad del recurso hídrico considerando integralmente las fuentes superficiales, subterráneas y su interacción. La presente iniciativa tiene como propósito diseñar un piloto de Recarga artificial para el acuífero de Pan de Azúcar y Elqui Bajo. Esto significa seleccionar la localización óptima con criterios hidrogeológicos (capacidad de almacenamiento, niveles piezométricos, velocidad de recarga, transmisibilidad, modelo hidrogeológico de recarga, etc), hidrogeoquímicos (calidad del agua, interacción suelo-agua, factores antrópicos, etc), socio-económicos (salud de la población, productividad, empleo, etc) y ambientales (aspectos ambientales, impactos ambientales). Una vez seleccionada la localización, está será caracterizada. Para ello se utilizará información bibliográfica general y específica disponible. Parte importante de esta información ha sido generada por el equipo UCN que en los últimos años ha ejecutado proyectos estudiando los acuíferos costeros en la región. También se generará información complementaria, con campañas de caracterización y monitoreo, necesaria para la aplicación de los criterios establecidos. Con la información de caracterización se determinará la técnica de infiltración más adecuada a partir de criterios técnicos-científicos. Para esto se modelará hidrogeológicamente la efectividad en el corto, mediano y largo plazo de la infiltración definida. Finalmente, se realizará el diseño ingenieril a nivel de detalle de la planta piloto que permita la inyección artificial el acuífero.

Desarrollo de habilidades de lenguaje y matemáticas en niños con diagnóstico de TEL de estudiantes de primer año básico en la región de O'Higgins

Dislocations are at the source of plastic behavior of metals and alloys, yet it is very difficult to quantitatively study their behavior. In order to improve this situation, it is proposed to use their interaction with elastic waves as a nonintrusive probe. The long-term aim of the research presented in this proposal is to enable the development of ultrasound technology as a practical non-intrusive tool for the characterization of plastic behavior of materials. In recent years, proposers have shown, using Resonant Ultrasound Spectroscopy (RUS), that an increase of dislocation density in aluminum by a factor of 6 leads to a change for the speed of shear waves on the order of 1%, a quantity that can be measured with an accuracy on the order of 0.1%. They have also shown that local measurements of the speed of shear waves in aluminum under standard testing conditions in tension provide a quantitative, accurate, nonintrusive and continuous relation between dislocation density and externally applied stress, and that an increase in dislocation density by a factor of ten in copper and aluminum leads to an increase in the value of the (nonlinear) parameter that characterizes second harmonic generation by 20 to 60%. This proposal seeks to go one more step towards a practical implementation of the proposed ultrasonic testing tool for pieces in service. Materials of wide use in industry, 304L steel and TWIP steel, will be used. And in addition to bulk ultrasonic and shear waves, surface Rayleigh waves will be tested, in order to develop techniques that are useful when pieces in service have a geometry that does not lend itself to bulk wave measurement. Both linear (wave propagation velocity and attenuation) and nonlinear (second harmonic generation) acoustics measurements will be performed, using bulk and surface waves, ex situ after mechanical treatment, and in situ under standard testing conditions. In addition, dislocation density will be measured using X-ray diffraction (XRD) , using both the modified Warren-Averbach and Rietveld methods. Additional characterization will be performed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The expected result of the proposed research is a set of measurements that relate acoustics parameters to dislocation density in 304L and TWIP steels. The specific goal is that these measurements will provide a framework for the development of devices to nondestructively measure the dislocation density of pieces in service.

This research project has as its overarching question, the following: To what extent have political contexts shaped the evolution of sustainable development praxis? Rather than sustainable development being a single, universal paradigm that has been uniform in its conceptual progression, its integration into public policy, and in public and private practice, the argument that will be explored in this project is that sustainable development is a hybrid conceptual form that has been adapted by different institutions and organizations to fit within specific dominant political frameworks. The hypothesis that guides the research is as follows: Sustainable development, from its emergence at the Stockholm Conference in 1972, has been coopted and adapted by different institutions and organizations to specific, dominant political frameworks, and is therefore a hybrid socio-ecological paradigm that exhibits considerable contextual diversity rather than as a singular global narrative. Since the Stockholm Declaration of 1972 which set in motion the agendas around sustainable development and subsequent Summits, leading to the current Agenda 2030, there has been a political struggle to define its conceptual underpinnings and the nature of this evolving socio-ecological paradigm. Considerable research has been undertaken on sustainability issues, and the concept has been brought firmly into public policy considerations. However, most of this work is apolitical, in that – as a normative concept – it promotes desirable processes and outcomes, but fails to consider the political frameworks in which sustainable development is situated. The proposed research project seeks to repoliticize the debate around the sustainable development paradigm and understand the different geographies of promotion and diffusion that have taken place since 1972, focusing on the political frameworks that have shaped its incorporation. During the period 1972-2022 (to the next Sustainable Development Summit, Rio+30), the international development context has been defined by ideological positions of capitalism, communism, socialism, neoliberalism, neostructuralism, social democracy and populism, which are themselves often hybridized and heterodox. These ideologies are rarely discussed with reference to sustainable development. The proposed research will analyze the evolution of the paradigm as a political construct at three scales: global, regional (Latin America) and Chile. The three principal objectives are to: 1. Analyze the relationship between political theory and frameworks and the evolution of the sustainable development paradigms at different scales; 2. Examine the factors that shape homogeneity and heterogeneity in the integration of the paradigm in different contexts; 3. Explain the ways in which sustainable development has been coopted and adapted by different political positions, and the relevance of this for understanding sustainable development praxis within the context of Agenda 2030. The methodology is mixed, interpretivist and post-structural. It involves three methods: the analysis of sustainable development theory and political theory in order to develop a conceptual framework for examining the nexus of politics and sustainable development; the analysis of the translation of this nexus into public and practice through the revision of secondary materials and ‘grey’ sources (e.g. policy agendas and related documents, declarations), involving content analysis and discourse analysis; interviews with key informants to understand perceptions of the paradigm and its politicization in Chile. The expected results will contribute to the critical analysis of the paradigm of sustainable development, its strengths and weaknesses in specific contexts, and a more nuanced appreciation of how Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals will be pursued over the coming decade, in Chile and Latin America more widely. In terms of its contribution to knowledge, it will complement work in the fields of political geography, political ecology and historical geography.