The effect of the rupture distance of the earthquake on the seismic response of wind turbine support towers

The global growth in wind energy suggests that wind farms will increasingly be deployed in seismically active regions, with large arrays of similarly designed structures potentially at risk of simultaneous failure under a ma-jor earthquake. The distance between the wind farm and the epicentre of the earthquake affects the frequency content of the seismic action and this may in turn have a significant impact on the performance of the wind tur-bines. This study presents the seismic analysis of a wind turbine subject to a large number of seismic records corresponding to events with different rupture distances, and the nonlinear dynamic analysis of a detailed finite element model of the structure with realistic imperfections. The geometrically and materially nonlinear dynamic analyses conducted demonstrate that apart from the typical long-period vibration modes there are higher-order frequencies of the structure that can have a significant contribution in the response, and the importance of these is affected by the epicentral distance of the earthquake and by the imperfections of the tower

Phenotypic and genetic characterisation of bacterial sexually transmitted infections in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, West Africa: a prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Knowledge regarding characteristics and transmission of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis and Mycoplasma genitalium and antibiotic resistance in N gonorrhoeae in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, is entirely lacking. OBJECTIVES: To characterise N gonorrhoeae, C trachomatis and M genitalium samples from Guinea-Bissau and to define bacterial populations, possible transmission chains and for N gonorrhoeae spread of antibiotic-resistant isolates. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Two sexual health and family planning clinics, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. PARTICIPANTS: Positive samples from 711 women and 27 men. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Positive samples for N gonorrhoeae (n=31), C trachomatis (n=60) and M genitalium (n=30) were examined. The gonococcal isolates were characterised with antibiograms, serovar determination and N gonorrhoeae multiantigen sequence typing (NG-MAST). The C trachomatis ompA gene and the M genitalium mgpB gene were sequenced, and phylogenetic analyses were performed. RESULTS: For N gonorrhoeae, the levels of resistance (intermediate susceptibility) to ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, rifampicin, ampicillin, tetracycline, penicillin G and cefuroxime were 10% (0%), 6% (10%), 13% (10%), 68% (0%), 74% (0%), 68% (16%) and 0% (84%), respectively. All isolates were susceptible to cefixime, ceftriaxone, spectinomycin and azithromycin, and the minimum inhibitory concentrations of kanamycin (range: 8-32 mg/l) and gentamicin (range: 0.75-6 mg/l) were low (no resistance breakpoints exist for these antimicrobials). 19 NG-MAST sequence types (STs) (84% novel STs) were identified. Phylogenetic analysis of the C trachomatis ompA gene revealed genovar G as most prevalent (37%), followed by genovar D (19%). 23 mgpB STs were found among the M genitalium isolates, and 67% of isolates had unique STs. CONCLUSIONS: The diversity among the sexually transmitted infection (STI) pathogens may be associated with suboptimal diagnostics, contact tracing, case reporting and epidemiological surveillance. In Guinea-Bissau, additional STI studies are vital to estimate the STI burden and form the basis for a national sexual health strategy for prevention, diagnosis and surveillance of STIs

Effects of seismic devices on transverse responses of piers in the Sutong Bridge

The Sutong Bridge in China opened to traffic in 2008, and is an arterial connection between the cities of Nantong and Suzhou. It is a cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 1,088 m. Due to a tight construction schedule and lack of suitable seismic devices at the time, fixed supports were installed between the piers and the girder in the transverse direction. As a result, significant transverse seismic forces could occur in the piers and foundations, especially during a return period of a 2500-year earthquake. Therefore, the piers, foundations and fixed bearings had to be designed extraordinarily strong. However, when larger earthquakes occur, the bearings, piers and foundations are still vulnerable. The recent rapid developments in seismic technology and the performance-based design approach offer a better opportunity to optimize the transverse seismic design for the Sutong Bridge piers. The optimized design can be applied to the Sutong Bridge (as a retrofit), as well as other bridges. Seismic design alternatives utilizing viscous fluid dampers (VFD), or friction pendulum sliding bearings (FPSB), or transverse yielding metallic dampers (TYMD) are thoroughly studied in this work, and the results are compared with those from the current condition with fixed transverse supports and a hypothetical condition in which only sliding bearings are provided on top of the piers (the girder can move “freely” in the transverse direction during the earthquake, except for frictional forces of the sliding bearings). Parametric analyses were performed to optimize the design of these proposed seismic devices. From the comparison of the peak bridge responses in these configurations, it was found that both VFD and TYMD are very effective in the reduction of transverse seismic forces in piers, while at the same time keeping the relative transverse displacements between piers and the box girder within acceptable limits. However, compared to VFD, TYMD do not interact with the longitudinal displacements of the girder, and have simpler details and lower initial and maintenance costs. Although the use of FPSB can also reduce seismic forces, it generally causes the transverse relative displacements to be higher than acceptable limits

Co-creation Initiatives in Healthcare in Small Communities

The uses of technology in public spaces are not new, but now we find new forms of social interactions and practices, socio-spatial representations and relationships. The close relationship between real and virtual worlds also opens up new ways of advancing knowledge. In order to facilitate the implementation of Open Science, we explore different co-creation methods with multiple stakeholders. All groups are involved and have influence throughout the project lifecycle: from the beginning, to planning, to implementation, to dissemination. Research activities should involve a wide variety of stakeholders interested, including government, educators, nurses, charities, civil societies, patient groups and the publics, based in a way to (1) obtaining contributions by customers, (2) selecting the best of these contributions, and (3) incorporating these selected contributions into products, processes, or services. Interactions between Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), public spaces, and healthcare are considered as s a tool for connecting people in small communities (enhancing participation). A Platform (DXP - Digital eXperience Platform) through “headless” technologies may provide content management capabilities and easy integration with devices and various sources, driven by user needs and developed with the concept of “Community in mind” in order to create strong and active communities and transform our small communities into more human environments, rather than just more high-tech places, and to understand that “smartness” should be people-friendly. It was applies the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) principles on the scientific process and governance, identify drivers and barriers, interests and values for current and future societal challenges.This research was financially supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No 741527 (project ORION).S

Jóvenes y espíritu emprendedor: autoeficacia, motivación y procesos psicológicos

Background: Numerous texts and articles relate different psychological aspects with entrepreneurship, for example we can talk about self-efficacy, locus of control, expectations, propensity to risk.Objectives: The objective of this work is to understand how different psychological processes influence the promotion of the entrepreneurial spirit in young people.Method: For this we have carried out a bibliographic review analyzing different works and scientific studies that address this issue from 2008 to the present.Results and Conclusions: After the analysis we observed that different psychological aspects are positively associated with entrepreneurial skills, reflecting the importance of including these factors in educational practices. Antecedentes: Numerosos textos y artículos relacionan distintos aspectos psicológicos con el emprendimiento, por ejemplo podemos hablar de autoeficacia, locus de control, expectativas, propensión al riesgo.Objetivos: El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en comprender cómo distintos procesos psicológicos influyen en el fomento del espíritu emprendedor en población joven.Método: Para ello hemos llevado a cabo una revisión bibliográfica analizando distintos trabajos y estudios científicos que abordan esta temática desde el año 2008 hasta la actualidad.Resultados y Conclusiones: Tras el análisis realizado observamos que distintos aspectos psicológicos se asocian de manera positiva con las habilidades emprendedoras, reflejando la importancia de que en las prácticas educativas se incluyan estos factores

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

A Methodology for Updating Agricultural Forest and Range Resource Inventory in Mexico

This paper presents the experiences, results and conclusions of a two year research effort on the feasibility of updating Land Use-Land Cover maps through digital processing of Landsat data. The project has been conducted by the Dirección General de Geograffa del Territorio Nacional (DGGTN), which has in charge the realization of the natural - resources inventory of Mexico\u27s National Territory. Several approaches for developing training statistics were used, and their advantages and shortcomings are discussed. A classification scheme and a general outline of an operational procedure for updating our Agricultural, Forest and Range Resource Inventory is presented

Evaluación del taller de educación integral para alumnos del primer semestre del instituto de humanidades y Ciencias

Ante la realidad que vive el joven actual en la preparatoria, se presenta un proyecto de taller integral cuyo objetivo central es ayudar al estudiante de preparatoria a formarse integralmente, a integrarse al Instituto donde estudia, a su grupo y a hacer su proyecto de vida. El proyecto de evaluación que se presenta, tiene como base un diagnóstico hecho a alumnos, profesores, directores y administrativos, padres de familia y exalumnos. Su diseño consiste en la evaluación del taller que se desarrolla en sesiones de trabajo que incluyen objetivos, contenidos temáticos, actividades de enseñanza-aprendizaje, recursos didácticos, bibliografía y sistema de evaluación, además de un manual para el maestro y otro para el alumno. La evaluación consiste en valorar si el proyecto es útil y viable en la implementación para los alumnos que ingresan al primer semestre de preparatoria para crecer en la adquisición de conocimientos, actitudes y valores que le ayuden para la vida. Por medio de encuestas realizadas a los alumnos, profesores, padres de familia y exalumnos, se obtuvo la información de la validez de este taller de Formación Integral y evaluar los frutos que han tenido en los alumnos y la involucración de los interesados.Maestría en Administración de Instituciones Educativa