Nanoporous PMMA: A novel system with different acoustic properties

The acoustic properties of closed cell nanoporous and microporous poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) foams have been well characterized, showing that nanoporous PMMA exhibit a different absorption coefficient and transmission loss behavior in comparison with microporous PMMA. Experimental differences may be explained by the different wave propagation mechanism in the micro and nanoscale, which is determined by the confinement of both the gas (Knudsen regime) and the solid phases. These results place nanoporous materials as a new class of polymeric porous material with potential properties in the field of acoustics, especially in multifunctional systems requiring a certain degree of soundproofing

Stream Learning in Energy IoT Systems: A Case Study in Combined Cycle Power Plants

The prediction of electrical power produced in combined cycle power plants is a key challenge in the electrical power and energy systems field. This power production can vary depending on environmental variables, such as temperature, pressure, and humidity. Thus, the business problem is how to predict the power production as a function of these environmental conditions, in order to maximize the profit. The research community has solved this problem by applying Machine Learning techniques, and has managed to reduce the computational and time costs in comparison with the traditional thermodynamical analysis. Until now, this challenge has been tackled from a batch learning perspective, in which data is assumed to be at rest, and where models do not continuously integrate new information into already constructed models. We present an approach closer to the Big Data and Internet of Things paradigms, in which data are continuously arriving and where models learn incrementally, achieving significant enhancements in terms of data processing (time, memory and computational costs), and obtaining competitive performances. This work compares and examines the hourly electrical power prediction of several streaming regressors, and discusses about the best technique in terms of time processing and predictive performance to be applied on this streaming scenario.This work has been partially supported by the EU project iDev40. This project has received funding from the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 783163. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and Austria, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Romania. It has also been supported by the Basque Government (Spain) through the project VIRTUAL (KK-2018/00096), and by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain (Grant Ref. TIN2017-85887-C2-2-P)

Propuesta de aprendizaje basado en proyectos para Primaria. "Pasapalabreando con los medios de transporte”

El sistema educativo a día de hoy necesita un gran cambio, convirtiendo a la enseñanza en un modelo de aprendizaje significativo dejando de lado la transmisión-recepción del paradigma tradicional. Las metodologías activas convierten al alumno en el protagonista de su propio aprendizaje, aprendiendo de una forma activa y dinámica. Además, de trabajar a través de los interés y necesidades del alumnado. Asimismo, el trabajo en primer lugar nos introduce en una revisión bibliográfica sobre las metodologías activas, centrándonos en el Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos (ABP), las inteligencias múltiples, la gamificación y el aprendizaje cooperativo. En segundo lugar, muestra una propuesta de intervención educativa basada en el ABP. Finalmente, se exponen los resultados y reflexiones obtenidos en la puesta en práctica.Grado en Educación Primari

Propuesta escénica: ¿Un oratorio para la Primera Cruzada?

Ocho actores, cinco músicos y un coro de ocho voces dan vida a un rico universo creado más que probablemente por Miguel de Cervantes. El texto, concebido originalmente en cuatro jornadas, ayuda mucho a pautar el ritmo con el que contamos, representamos y cantamos la historia militar, religiosa y humana de un conflicto que desgarró Europa y Oriente Próximo hace un milenio. Nuestra propuesta escénica se asemejaría mucho a la de un oratorio representado con elementos como el uso de un coro, solistas que en este caso también interpretan, un conjunto musical varios personajes protagonistas, una temática trascendente «bañada de cuestiones religiosas» o la alternancia de coros y partes dramatizadas

Duration and cost variability of construction activities: an empirical study

The unique nature of construction projects can mean that construction activities often suffer from duration and cost variability. Because this variability is unplanned, it can present a problem when attempting to complete a project on time and on budget. Various factors causing this variability have been identified in the literature, but they predominantly refer to the nature and/or context of the whole project rather than specific activities. In this paper, the order of magnitude of and correlation between activity duration and cost variability is analyzed in 101 construction projects with over 5,000 activities. To do this, the first four moments (mean, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis) of actual versus planned duration and cost (log) ratios are analyzed by project, phase of execution, and activity type. Results suggest that, contrary to common wisdom, construction activities do not end late on average. Instead, the large variability in the activity duration is the major factor causing significant project delays and cost overruns. The values of average activity duration and cost variability gathered in this study will also serve as a reference for construction managers to improve future construction planning and project simulation studies with more realistic data

Cost-effectiveness of a specialized oral nutritional supplementation for malnourished older adult patients in Spain

Malnutrition has been related to prolonged hospital stays, and to increases in readmission and mortality rates. In the NOURISH (Nutrition effect On Unplanned Readmissions and Survival in Hospitalized patients) study, administering a high protein oral nutritional supplement (ONS) containing beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HP-HMB) to hospitalised older adult patients led to a significant improvement in survival compared with a placebo treatment. The aim of this study was to determine whether HP-HMB would be cost-effective in Spain. We performed a cost-effectiveness analysis from the perspective of the Spanish National Health System using time horizons of 90 days, 180 days, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years and lifetime. The difference in cost between patients treated with HP-HMB and placebo was €332.75. With the 90 days time horizon, the difference in life years gained (LYG) between both groups was 0.0096, resulting in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of €34, 700.62/LYG.With time horizons of 180 days, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years and lifetime, the respective ICERs were €13, 711.68, €3377.96, €2253.32, €1127.34 and €563.84/LYG. This analysis suggests that administering HP-HMB to older adult patients admitted to Spanish hospitals during hospitalisation and after discharge could be a cost-effective intervention that would improve survival with a reduced marginal cost

Maximal superintegrability on N-dimensional curved spaces

A unified algebraic construction of the classical Smorodinsky-Winternitz systems on the ND sphere, Euclidean and hyperbolic spaces through the Lie groups SO(N+1), ISO(N), and SO(N,1) is presented. Firstly, general expressions for the Hamiltonian and its integrals of motion are given in a linear ambient space $R^{N+1}$, and secondly they are expressed in terms of two geodesic coordinate systems on the ND spaces themselves, with an explicit dependence on the curvature as a parameter. On the sphere, the potential is interpreted as a superposition of N+1 oscillators. Furthermore each Lie algebra generator provides an integral of motion and a set of 2N-1 functionally independent ones are explicitly given. In this way the maximal superintegrability of the ND Euclidean Smorodinsky-Winternitz system is shown for any value of the curvature.Comment: 8 pages, LaTe

SPECIES DIVERSITY OF SOIL FUNGI FROM A CORN PLANTATION AT ECHAGUE, PHILIPPINES

Soil fungi are a critical component of the agroecosystems and provide ecological services that affect food and bio-product production. Awareness of the composition and distribution of local species is necessary to maximize the productivity and sustainability of the agroecosystems. This study aimed at isolating fungi from the soil samples collected from a corn plantation at Echague, Isabela, morphologically defining, characterizing, and determining the diversity of fungal isolates species. Soil samples from five (5) different sampling units were collected and microbiological techniques were used to isolate the fungi. Identification was performed by morphological characterization of fungal isolates guided by taxonomic keys and textbooks. Fungal diversity was assessed using Simpson's indices of diversity.  Sixteen (16) fungal isolates were found; 12 were known and four (4) were unidentified. Ten (10) species belong to the Ascomycota group, and two (2) belong to the Zygomycota class. The Aspergillus species dominated the region amongst all the species isolated and established.  Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus flavus are densely populated and well distributed. A potent biocontrol agent was also identified, namely Trichoderma harzianum and Trichoderma viride.  The Mucor sp. and the Rhizopus stoloniferous, Zygomycota fungi, were also identified