Energy harvesting from vehicular traffic over speed bumps: A review

Energy used by vehicles to slow down in areas of limited speed is wasted. A traffic energy-harvesting device (TEHD) is capable of harvesting vehicle energy when passing over a speed bump. This paper presents a classification of the different technologies used in the existing TEHDs. Moreover, an estimation of the energy that could be harvested with the different technologies and their cost has been elaborated. The energy recovered with these devices could be used for marking and lighting of roads in urban areas, making transportation infrastructures more sustainable and environmentally friendly

Software basado en el método de elementos finitos para la enseñanza de electromagnetismo

Se presenta una herramienta software para la enseñanza de electromagnetismo. Ésta, permite analizar una gran variedad de fenómenos electromagnéticos en las bandas de microondas y ondas milimétricas. Dos aspectos muy cuidados en el desarrollo han sido la portabilidad y la difusión, estando disponible para sistemas operativos Linux y Windows y en diferentes idiomas. El interfaz gráfico, está basado en un pre-post procesador de propósito general para análisis computacionaL Por otra parte, el análisis electromagnético está asentado en programas autónomos desarrollados con propósitos de investigación, que hacen uso del Método de los Elementos Finitos. La flexibilidad en el diseño de la arquitectura del software desarrollado, permite una fácil introducción de nuevos núcleos de cálculo. De este modo, aumenta periódicamente el número de problemas electromagnéticos que pueden ser analizados.Peer Reviewe

Software basado en el método de elementos finitos para la enseñanza de electromagnetismo

Se presenta una herramienta software para la enseñanza de electromagnetismo. Ésta, permite analizar una gran variedad de fenómenos electromagnéticos en las bandas de microondas y ondas milimétricas. Dos aspectos muy cuidados en el desarrollo han sido la portabilidad y la difusión, estando disponible para sistemas operativos Linux y Windows y en diferentes idiomas. El interfaz gráfico, está basado en un pre-post procesador de propósito general para análisis computacionaL Por otra parte, el análisis electromagnético está asentado en programas autónomos desarrollados con propósitos de investigación, que hacen uso del Método de los Elementos Finitos. La flexibilidad en el diseño de la arquitectura del software desarrollado, permite una fácil introducción de nuevos núcleos de cálculo. De este modo, aumenta periódicamente el número de problemas electromagnéticos que pueden ser analizados.Peer Reviewe

Tratamiento quirúrgico de las roturas del manguito de los rotadores: estudio retrospectivo de 30 casos

Se presenta un estudio retrospectivo de 30 casos de rotura del manguito de los rotadores tratadas quirúrgicamente. Las décadas más frecuentemente afectadas fueron la 5.a y la 6.a . Veinte casos fueron tratados mediante acromioplastia y reparación abierta, 5 con acromioplastia abierta y los 5 restantes con sutura simple. El tiempo de seguimiento fue de 4 años y 3 meses. Los resultados se valoraron según la escala de Wülker respecto al dolor, la función y la estabilidad. Los mejores resultados se obtuvieron cuando se realizó simultáneamente la acromioplastia y reparación del manguito, en los pacientes con roturas simples, en los de menor edad y cuando se realizó una rehabilitación precoz. En tres casos se pudo comprobar una rotura secundaria.The authors present a retrospective study of 30 patients with tears of the rotator cuff treated surgically. The ages of the patients were distributed mainly among the 5th and 6th decades of life. Twenty cases were treated with anterior acromioplasty and open reparation, 5 of them with open acromioplasty and the othen 5 with single suture. The follow-up time was 4 years and 3 months. The clinical result was graded according to Wülker's scala used in various shoulder conditions (Pain, function and stability). Singles tears in the youngest. In the best results were obtained with acromioplasty and the rotator cuffs reparation simultaneously, together with an early phisical rehabilitation. In 3 cases, a recurrent rotator cuff tear it could be prove

Molecular evolution of the ependymin protein family: a necessary update

BACKGROUND: Ependymin (Epd), the predominant protein in the cerebrospinal fluid of teleost fishes, was originally associated with neuroplasticity and regeneration. Ependymin-related proteins (Epdrs) have been identified in other vertebrates, including amphibians and mammals. Recently, we reported the identification and characterization of an Epdr in echinoderms, showing that there are ependymin family members in non-vertebrate deuterostomes. We have now explored multiple databases to find Epdrs in different metazoan species. Using these sequences we have performed genome mapping, molecular phylogenetic analyses using Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian methods, and statistical tests of tree topologies, to ascertain the phylogenetic relationship among ependymin proteins. RESULTS: Our results demonstrate that ependymin genes are also present in protostomes. In addition, as a result of the putative fish-specific genome duplication event and posterior divergence, the ependymin family can be divided into four groups according to their amino acid composition and branching pattern in the gene tree: 1) a brain-specific group of ependymin sequences that is unique to teleost fishes and encompasses the originally described ependymin; 2) a group expressed in non-brain tissue in fishes; 3) a group expressed in several tissues that appears to be deuterostome-specific, and 4) a group found in invertebrate deuterostomes and protostomes, with a broad pattern of expression and that probably represents the evolutionary origin of the ependymins. Using codon-substitution models to statistically assess the selective pressures acting over the ependymin protein family, we found evidence of episodic positive Darwinian selection and relaxed selective constraints in each one of the postduplication branches of the gene tree. However, purifying selection (with among-site variability) appears to be the main influence on the evolution of each subgroup within the family. Functional divergence among the ependymin paralog groups is well supported and several amino acid positions are predicted to be critical for this divergence. CONCLUSION: Ependymin proteins are present in vertebrates, invertebrate deuterostomes, and protostomes. Overall, our analyses suggest that the ependymin protein family is a suitable target to experimentally test subfunctionalization in gene copies that originated after gene or genome duplication events

High-accuracy adaptive modeling of the energy distribution of a meniscus-shaped cell culture in a Petri dish

Cylindrical Petri dishes embedded in a rectangular waveguide and exposed to a polarized electromagnetic wave are often used to grow cell cultures. To guarantee the success of these cultures, it is necessary to enforce that the specific absorption rate distribution is sufficiently high and uniform over the Petri dish. Accurate numerical simulations are needed to design such systems. These simulations constitute a challenge due to the strong discontinuity of electromagnetic material properties involved, the relative low field value within the dish cultures compared with the rest of the domain, and the presence of the meniscus shape developed at the liquid boundary. The latter greatly increases the level of complexity of the model in terms of geometry and intensity of the gradients/singularities of the field solution. In here, we employ a three-dimensional (3D) hp-adaptive finite element method using isoparametric elements to obtain highly accurate simulations. We analyze the impact of the geometrical modeling of the meniscus shape cell culture in the hp-adaptivity. Numerical results showing the error convergence history indicate the numerical difficulties arisen due to the presence of a meniscus-shaped object. At the same time, the resulting energy distribution shows that to consider such meniscus shape is essential to guarantee the success of the cell culture from the biological point of view

A comparison between PML, infinite elements and an iterative BEM as mesh truncation methods for HP self-adaptive procedures in electromagnetics

Finite element hp-adaptivity is a technology that allows for very accurate numerical solutions. When applied to open region problems such as radar cross section prediction or antenna analysis, a mesh truncation method needs to be used. This paper compares the following mesh truncation methods in the context of hp-adaptive methods: Infinite Elements, Perfectly Matched Layers and an iterative boundary element based methodology. These methods have been selected because they are exact at the continuous level (a desirable feature required by the extreme accuracy delivered by the hp-adaptive strategy) and they are easy to integrate with the logic of hp-adaptivity. The comparison is mainly based on the number of degrees of freedom needed for each method to achieve a given level of accuracy. Computational times are also included. Two-dimensional examples are used, but the conclusions directly extrapolated to the three dimensional case

Goal-oriented self-adaptive hp-strategies for finite element analysis of electromagnetic scattering and radiation problems

In this paper, a fully automatic goal-oriented hp-adaptive finite element strategy for open region electromagnetic problems (radiation and scattering) is presented. The methodology leads to exponential rates of convergence in terms of an upper bound of an user-prescribed quantity of interest. Thus, the adaptivity may be guided to provide an optimal error, not globally for the field in the whole finite element domain, but for specific parameters of engineering interest. For instance, the error on the numerical computation of the S-parameters of an antenna array, the field radiated by an antenna, or the Radar Cross Section on given directions, can be minimized. The efficiency of the approach is illustrated with several numerical simulations with two dimensional problem domains. Results include the comparison with the previously developed energy-norm based hp-adaptivity

Health education in the community pharmacy: controlled in the province of Castellón study.

Introducción: La educación para la salud es una de las actividades que debe realizar el farmacéutico comunitario orientada hacia el paciente. Con el objetivo de conocer la influencia de la educación sanitaria en los pacientes, se realizó un estudio controlado en farmacias comunitarias de la provincia de Castellón.Material y métodos: En el estudio participaron catorce oficinas de farmacia (siete en el grupo control y siete en el grupo intervención). En todas ellas se realizó una encuesta inicial a los pacientes sobre educación para la salud. En las farmacias del grupo intervención se realizaron cinco campañas de educación sanitaria y al finalizar cada campaña los pacientes completaron una encuesta para valorar la educación sanitaria recibida. En las farmacias del grupo control se pasaron las encuestas a los pacientes pero no se realizaron las campañas de educación sanitaria.Resultados y discusión: Los pacientes están significativamente más satisfechos con la formación que reciben en las farmacias que realizan educación sanitaria. Además, se incrementa significativamente la percepción que tiene la población del farmacéutico en la oficina de farmacia como punto de referencia a la hora de ayudar a resolver sus problemas de salud. La educación sanitaria permite que los pacientes reciban formación completa acerca de temas de salud que les preocupan y les proporciona más capacidad para resolverlos por ellos mismos.Introduction: Health education is one of the roles of the community pharmacist.A controlled study of pharmacies in the Spanish province of Castellón was carried out with the aim of determining the influence of health education on the general public.Material and methods: Fourteen pharmacies took part in the study: seven in the group control and seven in the intervention group. An initial survey about health education was conducted among the patients of all fourteen pharmacies. In the pharmacies in the intervention group five campaigns of health education were instigated; after each campaign patients answered a survey to evaluate the health education received. In the pharmacies in the control group the same surveys were carried out without the implementation of any educational campaigns.Results and discussion: Patients of the pharmacies in the intervention group were significantly more satisfied with their level of knowledge about health matters than those in the control other group. In addition, the same patients had a significantly more satisfied with the formation they received in the pharmacies that implemented the educational campaigns. In addition, patients of the pharmacies in the intervention group had a significantly better perception of the pharmacist and of the pharmacy as a reference point with respect to resolving their health problems. Health education informs patients about aspects of health and endows them with the aptitude to make decisions related to their health problems

Educación sanitaria en la farmacia comunitaria: estudio controlado en la provincia de Castellón

Introducción: La educación para la salud es una de las actividades que debe realizar el farmacéutico comunitario orientada hacia el paciente. Con el objetivo de conocer la influencia de la educación sanitaria en los pacientes, se realizó un estudio controlado en farmacias comunitarias de la provincia de Castellón. Material y métodos: En el estudio participaron catorce oficinas de farmacia (siete en el grupo control y siete en el grupo intervención). En todas ellas se realizó una encuesta inicial a los pacientes sobre educación para la salud. En las farmacias del grupo intervención se realizaron cinco campañas de educación sanitaria y al finalizar cada campaña los pacientes completaron una encuesta para valorar la educación sanitaria recibida. En las farmacias del grupo control se pasaron las encuestas a los pacientes pero no se realizaron las campañas de educación sanitaria. Resultados y discusión: Los pacientes están significativamente más satisfechos con la formación que reciben en las farmacias que realizan educación sanitaria. Además, se incrementa significativamente la percepción que tiene la población del farmacéutico en la oficina de farmacia como punto de referencia a la hora de ayudar a resolver sus problemas de salud. La educación sanitaria permite que los pacientes reciban formación completa acerca de temas de salud que les preocupan y les proporciona más capacidad para resolverlos por ellos mismos.Introduction: Health education is one of the roles of the community pharmacist.A controlled study of pharmacies in the Spanish province of Castellón was carried out with the aim of determining the influence of health education on the general public. Material and methods: Fourteen pharmacies took part in the study: seven in the group control and seven in the intervention group. An initial survey about health education was conducted among the patients of all fourteen pharmacies. In the pharmacies in the intervention group five campaigns of health education were instigated; after each campaign patients answered a survey to evaluate the health education received. In the pharmacies in the control group the same surveys were carried out without the implementation of any educational campaigns. Results and discussion: Patients of the pharmacies in the intervention group were significantly more satisfied with their level of knowledge about health matters than those in the control other group. In addition, the same patients had a significantly more satisfied with the formation they received in the pharmacies that implemented the educational campaigns. In addition, patients of the pharmacies in the intervention group had a significantly better perception of the pharmacist and of the pharmacy as a reference point with respect to resolving their health problems. Health education informs patients about aspects of health and endows them with the aptitude to make decisions related to their health problems