Los efectos de la formación ocupacional: ¿Importa la duración de las acciones?

En este artículo se evalúa el Plan FIP desarrollado en Cataluña durante 2005 a partir de datos de registro administrativo. Dada su heterogeneidad, los cursos se dividen en tres grupos según su duración. Utilizando como técnica de evaluación el propensity score matching y como grupo de control a los parados registrados no formados, los resultados muestran que los cursos de duración media y larga son los que más aumentan la probabilidad de ocupación en los ocho trimestres siguientes a la participación. También se obtienen diferencias sustanciales en los efectos según sexo, edad, duración del desempleo y percepción de prestaciones.evaluación microeconómica, políticas del mercado de trabajo, formación ocupacional.

Proteins and pathways in atrial fibrillation and atrial cardiomyopathy underlying cryptogenic stroke

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most prevalent causes of cryptogenic stroke. Also, apart from AF itself, structural and remodelling changes in the atria might be an underlying cause of cryptogenic stroke. We aimed to discover circulating proteins and reveal pathways altered in AF and atrial cardiomyopathy, measured by left atrial volume index (LAVI) and peak atrial longitudinal strain (PALS), in patients with cryptogenic stroke. An aptamer array (including 1310 proteins) was measured in the blood of 20 cryptogenic stroke patients monitored during 28 days with a Holter device as a case-control study of the Crypto-AF cohort. Protein levels were compared between patients with (n = 10) and without AF (n = 10) after stroke, and the best candidates were tested in 111 patients from the same cohort (44 patients with AF and 67 without AF). In addition, in the first 20 patients, proteins were explored according to PALS and LAVI values. Forty-six proteins were differentially expressed in AF cases. Of those, four proteins were tested in a larger sample size. Only DPP7, presenting lower levels in AF patients, was further validated. Fifty-seven proteins correlated with LAVI, and 270 correlated with PALS. NT-proBNP was common in all the discovery analyses performed. Interestingly, many proteins and pathways were altered in patients with low PALS. Multiple proteins and pathways related to AF and atrial cardiomyopathy have been revealed. The role of DPP7 as a biomarker for stroke aetiology should be further explored. Moreover, the present study may be considered hypothesis-generatin

Clay calcination technology: state-of-the-art review by the RILEM TC 282-CCL

The use of calcined clays as supplementary cementitious materials provides the opportunity to significantly reduce the cement industry’s carbon burden; however, use at a global scale requires a deep understanding of the extraction and processing of the clays to be used, which will uncover routes to optimise their reactivity. This will enable increased usage of calcined clays as cement replacements, further improving the sustainability of concretes produced with them. Existing technologies can be adopted to produce calcined clays at an industrial scale in many regions around the world. This paper, produced by RILEM TC 282-CCL on calcined clays as supplementary cementitious materials (working group 2), focuses on the production of calcined clays, presents an overview of clay mining, and assesses the current state of the art in clay calcination technology, covering the most relevant aspects from the clay deposit to the factory gate. The energetics and associated carbon footprint of the calcination process are also discussed, and an outlook on clay calcination is presented, discussing the technological advancements required to fulfil future global demand for this material in sustainable infrastructure development

Paper of RILEM TC 282-CCL: mineralogical characterization methods for clay resources intended for use as supplementary cementitious material

status: publishe

Paper of RILEM TC 282-CCL: mineralogical characterization methods for clay resources intended for use as supplementary cementitious material

To respond to the rapid introduction and development of calcined clays as supplementary cementitious material (SCM), the toolbox of characterization methods for cementitious materials requires extension to raw clay characterization. Borrowing concepts and methods developed in the field of clay mineralogy, this paper outlines the merits and limits of widely accessible characterization techniques for raw clays intended for use as SCM, when calcined. The paper focuses mainly on the identification and quantification of the raw clay mineral components, as these characteristics have important implications for further material processing and performance. General notes are provided on clay sampling and pre-treatment as well as bulk chemical analysis. The main techniques considered are X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis and infrared spectroscopy. Their application on raw clays is introduced, highlighting clay-specific aspects of sample preparation, data acquisition, and processing. Guidelines and interpretation tables are provided to aid in the analysis of the acquired data, while limitations and potential interferences are identified. Options for remote prospection by infrared spectroscopy are included as well. To illustrate the type of information to be gained and the complementarity of the techniques, two representative raw clays are fully characterised. This paper aims to highlight that mineralogical characterization is a feasible and often necessary step in the study and assessment of raw clays that can deliver a wealth of informative data if carried out appropriately

Evaluation of kaolinite clays of Moa for the production of cement based clinker-calcined clay-limestone (LC3 )

Clay materials from two outcrops of the Moa region were analyzed to determine their potential use as supplementary cementitious material in the production of ternary cements based on limestone-calcined clay. The clays were characterized by atomic absorption spectroscopy (EAA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (ATG). These methods revealed high aluminum in clays, moderate kaolinite content, a disordered structure and the presence of impurities. The solubility of aluminum and silicon in alkali and the compressive strength of LC3 systems is proportional to their content in clay, being higher for the one with higher kaolinite content and greater structural disorder (outcrop D1), although the clay of both outcrops may constitute supplementary cementitious materials in the production of ternary cements based clinker-calcined clay-limestone. The suitable thermal activation range for both clays is between 650 ° C and 850 ° C