Reinforcement-matrix interactions and their consequences on the mechanical behavior of basalt fibers-cement composites

In order to prepare basalt fibers-reinforced cement-based mortars with higher compatibility between reinforcement and matrix, basalt fibers with new surface treatments (sizing) were studied looking for enhanced interaction at the interphase between basalt fibers and cement matrix. As-received, calcinated, activated and silanized (by three silane aqueous solutions: i) aminopropyltriethoxysilane, APTES; ii) ¿-aminopropylmethyldiethoxysilane, APDES and iii) a mixture APTES APDES 50% by weight) basalt fibers were dispersed in Portland cement matrix. Performances of the composites were evaluated by mechanical tests. Final correlation between the fibers surface characteristics and mechanical performance was carried out considering the induced microstructural changes and adhesion at the interface. Fractographic analysis by SEM and laser and optical profilometry were performed. A clear improvement in mechanical properties was obtained when basalt fibers were dispersed in cement matrix. Results suggest that better behavior is achieved when basalt fibers modified with a complex mixture of silanes are dispersed in cement matrix.This work was financially supported by the Projects MAT2014-59116-C2 (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad); 2012/00130/004 (Fondos de Investigación de Fco. Javier GonzalezBenito, política de reinversión de costes generales, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) and 2011/00287/002 (Acción Estratégica en Materiales Compuestos Poliméricos e Interfases, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid). The research was financially supported also by the Project Bando per il Finanzia- mento di Progetti di Ricerca Congiunti per la Mobilit`a all Estero di Studenti di Dottorato prot. n 0051266 (Universit`a degli Studi di Roma, La Sapienza) in the frame the PhD Thesis of Morena Iorio. Finally, the authors would like to thank the group In-service Material Performance (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid) for supporting the project in the mechanical tests

Worst cases for a one-hop high frequency link

The characterisation of a HF channel by means of monthly electron density profiles can be complemented with a detailed study of radio propagation «worst cases» on situations with extremes conditions of radiopropagation for a given period. These «worst cases» correspond to conditions that can be identified by means of cumulative distributions of the key parameter f0F2. This paper analyses the main parameters of the HF channel: time delay, apogee, elevation angle and transmission frequency with mean and extreme conditions. The method used to characterise the ionospheric channel is based on ray-tracing techniques.National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA)Dr. Moorhead of Neptune Radar Ltd.Gloucester U.

A Decade of GRB Follow-Up by BOOTES in Spain (2003–2013)

This article covers ten years of GRB follow-ups by the Spanish BOOTES stations: 71 follow-ups providing 23 detections. Follow-ups by BOOTES-1B from 2005 to 2008 were given in a previous article and are here reviewed and updated, and additional detection data points are included as the former articlemerely stated their existence. The all-sky cameras CASSANDRA have not yet detected any GRB optical afterglows, but limits are reported where available.The authors appreciate the auspices of INTA, IHSM-UMA/CSIC, and UMA as well as the financial support by the Junta de Andaluca and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the Research Projects P07-TIC-03094, P12-TIC2839, AYA2009-14000-C03-01, AYA 2010-39727-C03-01, and AYA-2015-71718-R. Martin Jelinek was supported by the postdoctoral fellowship of the Czech Academy of Sciences. This study was carried out in the framework of the Unidad Asociada IAA-CSIC at the Group of Planetary Science of ETSI-UPV/EHU. This work was supported by the Ikerbasque Foundation for Science. The Czech CVUT FEL team acknowledges the support by GA CR Grant 13-33324S

Conformational changes on PMMA induced by the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles and the processing by Solution Blow Spinning

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films filled with titanium oxide (TiO2) nanoparticles were prepared by solution blow spinning (SBS). The influence of the presence of nanoparticles (up to 10% by weight) in the physicochemical properties of the material was studied, focusing on the morphology, structure, and thermal properties, by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetry (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). It was demonstrated that SBS allows obtaining PMMA/TiO2 nanocomposites with a relatively high amount of nanoparticles uniformly dispersed within the polymeric matrix, varying the surface characteristics of the films according to the amount of TiO2. The results indicate that the flow of the macromolecules is somewhat forced by the SBS process, and that specific interactions between the ester group of the MMA and the surface of the nanoparticles induce a preferential conformation of the functional group with respect to the PMMA backbone, at least at low loads of nanopartciles, conditions in which the self-aggregation of the nanofiller takes place in a lesser extent

The Spanish Network on Environmental DMAs: introduction and main activities

Comunicación presentada en: V Reunión Española de Ciencia y Tecnología de Aerosoles – RECTA 2011 celebrada del 27 al 29 de junio de 2011 en CIEMAT, Madrid

La radiación solar: efectos en la salud y el medio ambiente

140 páginasEl incremento de cierto tipo de radiaciones ultravioletas procedentes del sol, perjudiciales para la salud y el medio ambiente es un tema de candente actualidad, a pesar de la aparente recuperación de la capa de ozono, filtro protector de la biosfera y de la calidad de vida de los seres que habitan el Planeta. La obra ha tratado de definir la situación actual de este gas a escala planetaria, analizando las causas físicas de su aparición y de su destrucción y las consecuencias que para el medio ambiente y la salud tiene el incremento de radiación ultravioleta

A decade of GRB follow-up by BOOTES in Spain (2003-2013)

This article covers ten years of GRB follow-ups by the Spanish BOOTES stations: 71 follow-ups providing 23 detections. Follow-ups by BOOTES-1B from 2005 to 2008 were given in the previous article, and are here reviewed, updated, and include additional detection data points as the former article merely stated their existence. The all-sky cameras CASSANDRA have not yet detected any GRB optical afterglows, but limits are reported where available

Molecular dissection of structural variations involved in antithrombin deficiency

Inherited antithrombin deficiency, the most severe form of thrombophilia, is predominantly caused by variants in SERPINC1. Few causal structural variants have been described, usually detected by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification or cytogenetic arrays, which only define the gain or loss and the approximate size and location. This study has done a complete dissection of the structural variants affecting SERPINC1 of 39 unrelated patients with antithrombin deficiency using multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification, comparative genome hybridization array, long-range PCR, and whole genome nanopore sequencing. Structural variants, in all cases only affecting one allele, were deleterious and caused a severe type I deficiency. Most defects were deletions affecting exons of SERPINC1 (82.1%), but the whole cohort was heterogeneous, as tandem duplications, deletion of introns, or retrotransposon insertions were also detected. Their size was also variable, ranging from 193 bp to 8 Mb, and in 54% of the cases involved neighboring genes. All but two structural variants had repetitive elements and/or microhomologies in their breakpoints, suggesting a common mechanism of formation. This study also suggested regions recurrently involved in structural variants causing antithrombin deficiency and found three structural variants with a founder effect: the insertion of a retrotransposon, duplication of exon 6, and a 20-gene deletion. Finally, nanopore sequencing was determined to be the most appropriate method to identify and characterize all structural variants at nucleotide level, independently of their size or type.Supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) for the NIHR BioResource project (grant numbers RG65966 and RG94028), by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III grant; Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) grant PI18/00598; and Fundación Séneca 19873/GERM/15. M.E.d.l.M.-B. has a postdoctoral contract from University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain. C.B.-P. has a Río Hortega fellowship. B.d.l.M.-B. has a postdoctoral fellowship from Fundación Séneca. J.C.-G. has a predoctoral fellowship from the Ministry of Universities FPU19/03662

Synergetic monitoring of Saharan dust plumes and potential impact on surface: a case study of dust transport from Canary Islands to Iberian Peninsula

The synergetic use of meteorological information, remote sensing both ground-based active (lidar) and passive (sun-photometry) techniques together with backtrajectory analysis and in-situ measurements is devoted to the characterization of dust intrusions. A case study of air masses advected from the Saharan region to the Canary Islands and the Iberian Peninsula, located relatively close and far away from the dust sources, respectively, was considered for this purpose. The observations were performed over three Spanish geographically strategic stations within the dust-influenced area along a common dust plume pathway monitored from 11 to 19 of March 2008. A 4-day long dust event (13–16 March) over the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Observatory (SCO), and a linked short 1-day dust episode (14 March) in the Southern Iberian Peninsula over the Atmospheric Sounding Station "El Arenosillo" (ARN) and the Granada station (GRA) were detected.This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation (MICINN) under the Complementary Actions CGL2008-01330-E (2009) in the frame of the Spanish and Portuguese Aerosol LIdar NETwork (SPALINET), and CGL2010-10012-E (Evaluation of lidar observations in the frame of CIEMAT/EARLINET intercomparison by airborne in-situ measurements of trace gases and aerosols, MISPA-LIDAR, 2010); projects CGL2008-05939-C03-03/CLI, CGL2007-66477-C02-01, CSD2007-00067 and CGL2010-18782 of the Spanish Ministry of Education; projects P08-RNM-3568 and P10-RNM-6299 of the Autonomous Government of Andalusia; and the EARLINET-ASOS project (EU Coordination Action, contract no. 025991 (RICA)). JLG-R thanks the Spanish Ministry of Education and the Portuguese Fundaçao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia for supporting under grants EX2009-0700 and SFRH/BPD/63090/2009, respectively